Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. X, Part 16

Author:
Publication date: 1838
Publisher: [Harrisburg] : By the State
Number of Pages: 810

USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. X > Part 16

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"I shall do every Thing in my Power to avoid Contentions and Disorders among His Majesty's Subjects. At the same Time both my Duty and Interest will prompt me to assert the Rights of this Government, and support its lawful Jurisdiction ; and if any disa- greeable Consequences shall follow the Proceedings your Colony have adopted, I shall not look upon myself to be at all chargeable with then.

" I am, Sir, " Your Obedient humble Servant,. " JOHN PENN.

" To The Honorable JONATHAN TRUMBULL, Esq"., Governor and Commander-in Chief of the Colony of Connecticut, Lebanon."

153

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

MEMORANDUM, 28th February, 1774.

"The Governor received by Express from two of the Justices of Northumberland County, a Copy of an Advertisement which had been lately dispersed through the Counties of Northampton and Northumberland, by Zebulon Butler, at Wyoming, in the Words following, Viz* :

[Here follows half page of blank in Council Book.]

The Governor and Council taking the same, together with the Letter lately received from the Governor of Connecticut, into Con- sideration, His Honor, by their Advice, issued a Proclamation in the following Words, Vizt :

" By the Honorable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Governor and Com- mander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, and Coun- ties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware.

" A PROCLAMATION.

" WHEREAS, the Assembly of this Province in their last Ses- sions made the following Resolves, viz' :

"Resolved, that a number of Persons emigrating from the Col- ony of Connecticut, under a pretence of Right to Lands within the Limits and Boundaries of the Royal Grant to the Proprietaries of this Province, without prosecuting their Claim before His Majesty in Council, the only proper Place of Decision, have in a riotous and tumultious Manner, taken Possession of a Tract of Country within the said known Limits and Boundaries, and have held, and still retain their said Possession, in an hostile Manner, to the great disturbance of the Peace of the Province.

" Resolved, that the said Emigrants, together with a number of ill-disposed Persons with whom they have confederated, have, in defiance of the Laws of the Country and executive Powers of this Government, afforded Protection to offenders of the most heinious kind, and have, moreover, embodied themselves, and in an hostile manner attempted to dispossess the peaceable Inhabitants, Settled far within the Limits of this Government.

" Resolved, that this House will concur with the Governor in every reasonable measure to strengthen the Hands of Government, in preserving the Peace and suppressing all Riots and Tumults, and illegal attempts whatsoever, to disturb the Inhabitants of this Province in their peaceable Possessions.

" Resolved, that the Governor be earnestly requested to give special Directions to all the Magistrates, Sheriffs, and other Officers concerned in the administration of Justice, to be vigilant and active in the discharge of their Duty within their several Jurisdic- tions, and to exert themselves in suppressing all acts of Violence, and every illegal Attempt to dispossess the peaceable Inhabitants of this Province.

154

MINUTES OF THE

" AND WHEREAS, the said Assembly, in order the more effectually to restrain those lawless disturbers of the Peace, and preserve the Public Tranquility, did also, at ther last Sessions, frame a Bill 'for preventing Tumults and riotous Assemblies, and for the more speedy punishing the Rioters,' which has been enacted into a Law ; In compliance, therefore, with the said Requisition of the House of Assembly, and to promote the Salutary Ends proposed by the said Resolves and Act of General Assembly, I have thought proper, with the advice of the Council, to issue this, my Proclamation ; And do hereby strictly enjoin and require all Magistrates, Sheriffs, and all other Officers concerned in the administration of Justice, to be vigilant and active in the discharge of their Duty within their several Jurisdictions, and to exert themselves in quieting and sup- pressing all acts of Violence, and every illegal attempt to dispossess the peaceable Inhabitants of this Province, and also to enforce and carry the said Riot Act into strict Execution.

" And Whereas, I have received information that a certain Zebulon Butler, under pretence of Authority from the Government of Connecticut, hath lately presumed to issue and disperse through the Counties of Northampton and Northumberland, in this Pro- vince, a Summons or Advertisement, setting forth that the General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut had appointed him a Jus- tice of the Peace for the County of Litchfield, and in a Town lately made and set off by the Assembly of the said Colony, called by the Name of Westmoreland, beginning on the West side of Delaware River, at the Bank of said River, extending westerly fifteen miles from Wyoming, North and South, as the Grant of the said Colony extends, requiring all the Inhabitants of the said Town to meet at Wyoming on a Day therein mentioned, to chuse the several Town Officers, by the Laws of the said Colony, to be chosen at their an- nual Town Meeting, and to do any other Business proper to be done at the said Meeting. Now I do hereby strictly prohibit and forbid the Inhabitants of the said Counties of Northampton and Northumber- land, and all other the Inhabitants of this Province, to yield any Obedience, or pay the least Regard whatsoever to the aforesaid Summons or Advertisement, or to any Orders which may be here- after given or issued by the said Zubulon Butler, or any other Per- son or Persons whatsoever, who shall presume to act under his au- thority, or exercise any Jurisdiction within the said Counties of Northampton or Northumberland, or any other Parts within the Limits of this Province, by virtue of any Powers or Instructions from the Government of Connecticut; And I do, in His Majesty's Name, Charge and Command all Persons whatsoever, within the said Counties, as well as all other Inhabitants within the Limits of this Province, to yield due Submission and Obedience to the Laws of this Government, as they will answer the contrary at their Peril; And I do hereby, also, strictly forbid all His Majesty's Sub- jects of this or any other Province, or Colony, on any pretence

155

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

whatsoever, to intrude upon, Settle, or possess any Lands within the said Counties of Northampton or Northumberland, or any other Lands within the Limits of this Province, without a Grant or Licence obtained from the Proprietaries of the said Province ; And I do further hereby enjoin and require all Magistrates, Sheriffs, and other Officers, as well as all other His Majesty's Liege Subjects within this Province to exert themselves, and use their utmost En- deavours to prosecute and bring to Justice all Offenders in the Premises.

" Given under my Hand and the Great Seal of the said Province, at Philadelphia, the twenty-eighth day of February, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, and in the fourteenth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the third, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth. "JOHN PENN.

"By his Honour's Command.

"JOSEPH SHIPPEN, Jr., Secr'y.

"GOD SAVE THE KING."

MEMORANDUM, 4th March, 1774.

The Governor this day issued a Commission appointing Alex- ander Wilcorks, Esquire, a Justice of the Court of, General Quarter Sessions of the Peace and of the County Court of Common Pleas for the County of Philadelphia.

At a Council held at Philadelphia on Wednesday 9th March, 1774. 1

PRESENT :

The Honourable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Governor.

Richard Peters, James Tilghman,

Benjamin Chew, Edward Shippen, JunT., Esquires.

The Board taking into Consideration the Necessity of an Addi- tion being made to the Commission of the Peace for the County of Northampton, to supply the Place of those Justices who have re- moved from that County, as well as to accommodate such parts of the County where none at present reside, it was agreed that a new General Commission be issued, and that the Names of those who are now recommended for that purpose, be inserted therein, and a Commission was accordingly issued by the Governor, appointing the following Gentlemen Justices of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and of the County Court of Common Pleas for the said County of Northampton, Vizt.,:

156

MINUTES OF THE

The Members of the Proprietary and Governor's Council; and

George Taylor,

Lewis Nichola,

Aaron Dupui,

Arthur Lattimore,

Lewis Klotz,

Peter Kachlein,

Lewis Gordon,

John Wetzel,

Jacob Orndt,

Simon Triesbach,

James Allen,

Jacob Lesh,

John Jennings,

John Okely,

Esquires.

Robert Levers,

Nicholas Dupui,

Christopher Waggoner,

Jacob Morrey,

Henry Kooken,

Peter Trexler,

Joseph Gaston,

Samuel Ray,

Garret Brodhed,

Felix Lynn,

John Vancamper,

Dedimus Potestatem, directed to

GEORGE TAYLOR, Esquires. LEWIS GORDON,

MEMORANDUM, 16th March, 1774.

The Governor this day received the following Letter from Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, by Express, in answer to His Ho- nor's Letter of the 31st of January :

" WILLIAMSBURG, 3d March, 1774.

" Sir :

" I have been favoured with your Letter of the 31st January, 1774, and Duplicate of the same, the occasion of which having been the appointment of certain Officers by me in a remote District of the County of Augusta, in this Colony, which includes Pittsburg, which having been done as is always my Rule, with the advice of His Majesty's Council, I could not till I had an Oppurtunity of Laying your Letter before them return you an Answer, and it is not till now that I am enabled so to do.

" From the Opinion, therefore, of His Majesty's Council of this Colony, I must inform You that, although the Calculations on which you rely, in the Plan accompanying your Letter, may possibly be found exact, yet they can by no means be considered by us, as the Observations on which they were founded were made without the participation of this Government, or the Assistance of any Person on the part of the Crown; and even if they were admitted, we apprehend they would decide nothing in the present Case, for the Right of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania to the Country about Pittsburg, must be founded on better Authority than is there ad- duced to make it valid, and we are strengthened in this Opinion by

157

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

the Principles you yourselves adopt, and the opinion of Lord Cambden, which you have produced in your dispute with Connecti- cut, with respect to the Right of this Colony to that Country ; the Transactions of the late War shew sufficiently what was ever the Sense of the Government of Virginia, with regard to it, and it seems to me that the Step which I have taken ought not to have been either unexpected or surprizing, as you are pleased to say it was to You, when it is well known that formal Declarations were made by the Assembly of Pennsylvania, that Pittsburg was not within the Jurisdiction of that Government at the Time that Re- quisitions were made to them for the Defence of that Place, the burden of which, on that Account, fell on this Government.

" In Conformity to these Sentiments, you will easily see I can- not possibly, in Compliance with your Request, either revoke the Commissions and Appointments already made, or defer the appoint- ing of such other Officers as I may find necessary for the good Government of that part of the Country, which we cannot but con- sider to be within the Dominion of Virginia, until His Majesty shall declare the contrary; and I flatter myself I can rely so far on the prudence and Discretion of the Officers whom I have appointed, that the measure which I have pursued may have no tendency to raise disturbances in your Province, as you seem to apprehend, and if any should ensue, I cannot but believe they will be occasioned, on the Contrary, by the violent proceedings of your Officers, in which Opinion I am Justified by what has already taken place, in the ir- regular Commitment of Mr. John Conolly, for acting under my Authority, which, however, as I must suppose it was entirely with- out your participation, I conclude he is before this time released ; but nevertheless, the Act having been of so outrageous a Nature, and of a tendency so detrimental to both Colonies, that with the Advice of His Majesty's Council of this Dominion, I do insist upon the most ample reparation being made for so great an Insult on the authority of His Majesty's Government of Virginia, and no less can possibly be admitted than the dismission of the Clerk (St. Clair) of Westmoreland County, who had the Audacity, without any au- thority, to commit a Magistrate acting in the legal discharge of his Trust, unless he (St. Clair) can prewail, by proper Submission, on Mr. Conolly to demand his Pardon of me.

"I am Sir, "your most obedient humble Servant,

"JOHN PENN, Esquire."

"DUNMORE.

MEMORANDUM, 31st March, 1774.

The Governor, having taken the foregoing Letter into Consider- ation, with the advice of the Council, wrote a Letter this day to

158

MINUTES OF THE

the Earl of Dunmore, in answer thereto, and sent the same by Ex- press, which Letter follows in these Words, Viz":

PHILADELPHIA, 31st March, 1774.

"My Lord :

" I was favored with yours of the 3d of this Month by Express, which arrived when several of the Gentlemen of the Council were out of Town; and it being also my Rule to consult the Council upon all Occasions of a Public Nature, I could not possibly give your Lordship's Letter an Answer by the return of your Messenger, who stayed but a very short Time in Town.

"I am sorry the Papers I enclosed you had not the desired ef- fect. I never expected they would be taken as decisive of the Boundaries of Pennsylvania, or conclusive upon your Government, but I had reason to hope they contained such information as would shew at least a very strong probability that Pittsburg, the Place of dispute, was within this Province, and not Subject to the Govern- ment of Virginia, and from thence I concluded you would be con- vinced of the Impropriety of a Step which I conceived must have been taken upon a Supposition that that Place was certainly beyond our Limits. But I perceive your Lordship hath taken up an opin- ion that it is not material whether it be within our Charter Bounds or not, and that the Right of the Proprietors of Pennsylvania to . the Country about Pittsburg, must be founded on better Authority than the Royal Grant. And as your Lordship seems to imagine yourself supported in this Sentiment by our own Principles, in Lord Cambden's Opinion, upon our Case with Connecticut, the Transactions of the late War, and the declarations of our Assembly some Time ago, I will take the Liberty of endeavouring to set you · right in some matters which you do not seem to be fully informed of, being persuaded that if I can be so happy as to place them in a different Point of Light from what you have hitherto viewed them in, you will be candid enough to change your Sentiments.

" In the year 1752, the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, understand- ing that the Government of Virginia were about to erect Forts upon the Ohio, in order to repel the Encroachments of the French on the Properties of the Subjects of His Britannic Majesty, they instructed their then Governor, Mr. Hamilton, to assist in any Measures of that sort, taking an acknowledgment from the Gover- nor of Virginia, that such settlement should not be made use of to prejudice their Right to that Country, and at the same time allowed him to give Assurances that the People should enjoy the Lands they bona fide settled on the common Quit Rent. Of this Instruc- tion Mr. Hamilton, not long after, gave notice to Governor Din- widdie.

" In the year 1754, Mr. Dinwiddie came to a Resolution of rais- ing Men and building Forts to the Westward, in order to repel the invasions of the French. He had fixed upon the Forks of Mo-

159

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

nongahela as a proper Situation for one of these Forts, supposing it to be on His Majesty's Lands, and issued a Proclamation expres- sing his purpose of erecting a Fort at that Place, and inviting the People to enlist in His Majesty's Service against the French, and as an Encouragement, promising that the quantity of 200,000 acres of Land should be laid out and divided amongst the adventurers, when the Service should be at an end, 100,000 Acres of which to be laid out adjoining the Fort, and the other 100,000 acres on the Ohio.

"Upon the appearance of this Proclamation, Mr. Hamilton wrote to Governor Dinwiddie the 13th March 1754, reminding him of his former Intimation respecting these Lands, and inclosing an ab- stract of the Proprietaries' Instructions, and also requesting from him such an acknowledgement as the Proprietaries expected ; to which Mr. Dinwiddie, in his Letter of the 21st March 1754, an- swers, ' Your private Letter of the 13th current I have duly recei- ved, and am much misled by our Surveyors if the Forks of Mo- hongialo be within the Limits of your Proprietors' Grant. I have for some Time wrote home to have the Line run, to have the Boun- daries properly known, that I may be able to appoint Magistrates on the Ohio, (if in this Government,) to keep the Traders and others in good order, and I presume soon there will be Commission- ers appointed for that service. In the mean Time, that no hin- drance may be given to our intended Expedition, it is highly rea- sonable, if these Lands are in your Proprietor's Grant, that the Set- lers should pay the Quit Rent to Mr. Penn, and not to His Majes- ty, and therefore, as much as lies in my Power, I agree thereto, after the Time granted by my Proclamation to be clear of Quit Rent ceases.

" From this Correspondence between the Governors of Virginia and Pennsylvania, it appears beyond a doubt, that the Terms upon which Forts were built, and Settlements made in that country, by the Government of Virginia, were well understood, and the Rights of Pennsylvania carefully guarded, and these Transactions entirely exclude the Idea of that kind of Settlement, and Acquiescence, or Agreement, of which Lord Cambden speaks, and which are the only Principles in his Opinion, from which your Lordship can draw any Conclusions in favor of the Right of Virginia.

" From this view of the matter, I flatter myself your Lordship will readily perceive, that the Principles of Lord Cambden's opinion do not at all apply to the present Case.

" As to the opinion of our Assemblies, on which you seem also to rely, the case is shortly as follows :

"When Governor Dinwiddie resolved to erect Forts on the Waters of the Ohio, and to carry on an Expedition against the French, who had fortified themselves in several Parts of the Country to the Westward, he applied to Governor Hamilton to procure him the Assistance of this Province. Unfortunately, at

160

MINUTES OF THE

this Time, there was no very good Understanding between the Government and the Assembly; and when Mr. Hamilton laid Mr. Dinwiddie's Requisition before them, they declined complying with it, and urged for Reasons that, by the Royal Orders to the several Governors, they were not to act as principals out of their own Governments; that they (the Assembly) would not presume to Determine upon the Limits of the Province ; and that, by the Papers and Evidences sent down to them and referred to by the Governor, the Limits of this Province had not been clearly ascer- tained to their Satisfaction.

" It is to be observed, that at this Time there had been no real Mensurations from Delaware to the Westward, except the Tempo- rary Line between this Province and Maryland, which extends only 144 miles from Delaware. From this Line, and from sundry In- formations of Indian Traders, founded on computed Distances, over Mountains and crooked Roads, Mr. Hamilton concluded that the French Forts were considerably within this Province, and it hath since appeared with certainty that the Fact was so, though the As- sembly were not satisfied with those Proofs; and it appears by a Report of a Committee of Assembly, appointed to examine those Evidences, that they laid no great Stress upon the Opinions of Traders, founded on computed Distances.

" Upon the whole, I cannot find that the Assembly ever made any thing like formal Declarations 'that Pittsburg was not within this Government,' but that they rather declined making any Determin- ation upon the extent of the Province; but, if their Declarations had been ever so formal or positive, I cannot conceive how any pro- ceedings of theirs could affect the State of the Province, controul the Jurisdiction, or prejudice the Rights of the Proprietors.

" Your Lordship is pleased to say 'with respect to the Right of this Colony to that Country, the 'Transactions of the late War suf- ficently shew what was ever the Sense of the Government of Vir- ginia with regard to it.'

" I do not know to what particular Transactions you allude, nor can I apprehend upon what Principle the sense of the Govern- ment of Virginia can prejudice the Right of Pennsylvania, espe- cially when the Governor of this Province was so far from concur- ring in any such Sense, that he took the most effectual measures to guard against any Conclusions which might be drawn from it; and I may say, with the strictest Truth, that the Government of Virginia, with great Justice, concurred in this precaution.

"Upon the whole then, My Lord, I hope the Papers I heretofore had the Honor of sending you, when properly attended to, will sat- isfy you that Pittsburg is at least probably within the Charter Limits of this Province, and I flatter myself that what I have now urged will be sufficient to convince you that nothing can be inferred from the Transactions of the late War, the Correspondence between the Governors of the two Provinces, the proceedings of our Assembly,

161

PROVINCIAL OCUNCIL.

or the Principles of Lord Cambden's Opinion, to contract the Ex- tent of our Charter Bounds, or establish the Right of Virginia to any part of this Province. I therefore, still hope that your Lordship will, upon a review of the Subject, be induced to defer attempting to extend the jurisdiction of Virginia within the Bounds of this Province, and thereby avoid the Occasions of Disturban- ces and Dissentions amongst His Majesty's Subjects, which will probably ensue such a Step, however prudent and cautious the Magistrates on each Side may be inclined to be, and the rather as a Petition for a Commission to run out, and mark the Boundaries between us, is now depending before His Majesty ; And to prevent the setting up claims and making conclusions of Right by the Government of Virginia from the Circumstances of Settle- ment on the one side and non-Claim on the other, I must take this Opportunity of notifying to your Lordship, that the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania do claim, by their said Petition, as part of their Pro- vince of Pennsylvania, all the Lands lying West of a South Line to be drawn from Dixon and Mason's Line, as it is commonly called, at the Westormost part of the Province of Maryland, to the beginning of the fortieth Degree of North Latitude, to the Extent of five De- grees of Longitude from the River Delaware, and I must request your Lordship will neither Grant Lands nor exercise the Govern- ment of Virginia within those Limits, till His Majesty's pleasure be known.

" I am truly concerned that you should think the Commitment of Mr. Conolly so great an insult on the authority of the Govern- ment of Virginia, as nothing less than Mr. St. Clair's dismission from his Offices can repair.

"The Lands in the Neighborhood of Pittsburg were surveyed for the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania early in the Year 1769, and a very rapid Settlement under this Government soon took Place, and Magistrates were appointed by this Government to act' there in the beginning of 1771, who have ever since administered Justice with- out any interposition of the Government of Virginia, 'till the present Affair ; It, therefore, could not fail of being both surprising and alarming, that Mr Conolly should appear to act on that stage under a Commission from Virginia, before any intimation of Claim or Right was ever notified to this Government; The Advertisement of Mr. Conolly had a strong Tendency to raise Disturbances, and occasion a Breach of the Public Peace, in a part of the Country where the Jurisdiction of Pennsylvania hath been exercised with- out objection ; and, therefore, Mr. St. Clair thought himself bound, as a good Magistrate, to take a legal Notice of Mr. Conolly.

" Mr. St. Clair is a Gentleman who, for a long Time, had The Honour of Serving His Majesty in the Regulars with Reputation, and in every Station of Life has preserved the Character of a very honest, worthy man, and though perhaps I should not, without first expostulating with You on the Subject, have directed him to take VOL. X .- 11.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. X, Part 16

Author: Publication date: 1838 Publisher: [Harrisburg] : By the State Number of Pages: 810

Author:
Publication date: 1838
Publisher: [Harrisburg] : By the State
Number of Pages: 810