USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania, colonial and federal : a history, 1608-1903, Volume One > Part 38
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
532
ORTHUM
1
SUGAR LOAF MASSACRE
NAMAIL TO ..
DUPUIS FOAT
·
PORT AUGUSTA
CARBO
N
SUNBURY
ERLAND
1
FORT LEM'OF
-
O
1
P. DOLLS TIND LA
₦
MAHANDY CH
-
,
FRANKLIN
AALSION
#
CASION
evenen
W-
- E
FORT CLIN
Fort
MTS
DIETRICH
BLUE
--
1
S
2
AMATARA
B
R
DE
N
WOMELSDORF
C
FORT MUNTER
₦
--
C
HARRISBURG
M
ALSO HARRIS FERRY AND FORT HARRIS
EPHRATA
LANCASTER
L
NCA S
ER
COLUMBIA
c
H
5
E
A
RIVER
Frontier forts between the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers
Erected during the eighteenth century.
From a drawing made especially for this work
-
-
POTTSVILLE
LEHIG
NORTHAMPTON
BLOCA NOUSE
STOGRADED
-
S C H U Y L K ILL
BETHLEHEM
DELAWARE
FISHING
0
K
RIVER
PARTANE
SCHUYLKILL
S
O
SUSQUEHANNA
PHILADELPHIA
T
& PENN
FORT ALLEN PORNIS
-
1
- PENN'S MT
9
OF REAP
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
The conduct of the last Assembly and of the present one, in which there were twenty-two Quaker members, had failed to sat- isfy not only the royal and Proprietary officers, but also the Pres- byterians, ever ready to take up arms, and particularly the Scotch- Irish on the frontier, who saw large sums of money lavished in presents to Indians, while they themselves lay destitute from the ravages of an Indian war. And as every now and then some of their kinsmen or neighbors fell by the tomahawk, they became exasperated, coupling their vengeance against the guilty savages with jealousy of the Assembly's partiality, and also suspicion against those Indians who were treated as friends. A cry like the old Covenanters' came from their descendants in Pennsyl- vania : loud exhortations were heard on the frontier to carry out against the heathen red men the decrees of Heaven against the Canaanites. The more desperate of the young men about Paxton banded together, and on December 14 destroyed the peaceable In- dian village at Conestoga, and killed and scalped all whom they found at home except one small boy. The remainder of the little tribe, fourteen in number, were conducted by Robert Beatty and John Miller, the Proprietaries' Indian agents at the manor, who did so at the risk of their lives, to Lancaster, and placed in the jail or work-house for safety. The Governor issued a proclamation calling for diligence by the authorities to bring the perpetrators of the crime to punishment, and warning all persons not to molest the Bethlehem and Nazareth Indians now on Province Island or elsewhere in the neighborhood of the city of Philadelphia : but a few days later about one hundred horsemen appeared at Lancas- ter, broke into the work-house, and against the expostulations of the sheriff and coroner, massacred the Conestogas; then, rapidly leaving the town, threatened to go in greater force to Province Island. The Governor issued a second proclamation, offering a reward of 200/. for the apprehension and conviction of any three of the ringleaders, and promising the influence of the government for the pardon of any accomplices not immediately concerned in
534
Men of the Frontier
the shedding of blood who would make discovery, apprehend, and prosecute to conviction any of the ringleaders. The Assembly having been summoned during a recess to meet the new Governor to give answer to General Gage's request for 1,000 men, a resolu- tion to grant such a force was followed by a vote of credit for the additional force necessary "to frustrate the further wicked designs of those lawless rioters." Sir William Johnson having been informed of both massacres, so that he might acquaint the Six Nations with the actual facts, and remove any bad impres- sions as to the good faith of Pennsylvania in dealing with friendly Indians, it being very important that the Six Nations should not be alienated from British interests, Governor Penn seized the op- portunity afforded by the presence in the city of a detachment of Highlanders marching to New York to accede to the wish of the Indians on Province Island to be returned to their families, and packed them off, to make a journey through New Jersey and New York to Johnson's on the Mohawk, whence they could easily be sent to their kindred at the headwaters of the Susquehanna. The mob of the city was to be feared at the coming of an organized force of rebels; the Presbyterians even of substance would have hailed the overthrow of both Proprietary and Quaker; in the minds of the Governor's councillors the Provincial troops could not be depended upon to act against their neighbors. Accord- ingly regular soldiers were a necessity; and application for them was made to General Gage, who promised three companies of the Royal American regiment then on their way from Albany, and also put the troops at Carlisle under the Governor of Pennsyl- vania's orders. Franklin came forward with a pamphlet describ- ing the proceedings of the rioters, so as to turn public opinion against them, and subsequently at the Governor's request formed an association of citizens for the defence of public authority. When the Governor of New York heard that 140 or 150 Indians were to be sent through his territory, he had them stopped at Perth Amboy, and a part of the Royal American regiment brought
535
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
them back to Philadelphia, where they were lodged in the bar- racks in the Northern Liberties. This roused the Scotch-Irish. who gathered in numbers designed to overwhelm the force which might protect the unfortunates. A Quaker merchant said to Robert Fulton of Lancaster, "I hear you intend to kill the Qua- kers." Fulton answered, "No, God forbid, but they or any others who oppose us will be killed." On January 29 the Governor sent an express to Carlisle ordering all the King's troops there to Lan- caster, and on February 3 the Assembly passed an act for pre- venting tumults and riotous assemblies. Next day came news that the frontiersmen were on the march, and had fixed on the following morning for the destruction of the Indians. At once measures were taken. The British officer at the barracks was told to defend his charges to the utmost. The inhabitants of the city were notified to meet the Governor at the State House that afternoon, to take arms immediately in support of the laws. One hundred and fifty gentlemen were to assist the soldiers in guard- ing the barracks that night, and the inhabitants were upon the ringing of bells to repair to the barracks, or, if the town were at- tacked, to meet at the Court House. The next day cannon were planted around the barracks, but the insurgent horde did not ar- rive. It sent to the Governor a declaration too long to be here printed that the "injured frontier inhabitants" had seen the In- dians, some of whom had been proved to be murderers, and who by knowledge of the state of the frontier were capable of doing much mischief, cherished and caressed as dear friends ; at the last Indian treaty at Lancaster the blood of murdered brethren had been tamely covered, and captured friends had been abandoned to slavery; last summer not a man had been granted to escort provisions, etc., to relieve Fort Pitt, although the frontier had depended under God upon the success of the campaign ; the public was required to support savages pretending friendship but guilty of murder, with others known to have been in battle against Colonel Bouquet, while the King's subjects flying from their homes .
5.36
Men of the Frontier
were left to private charity, "wherein they who are most profuse towards savages have carefully avoided having any part;" no thanks had been given by the legislature to the volunteers, who, equipped at their own expense, had gone up the Susquehanna in
John Morgan
Physician; born 1735; died 1789; studied med- icine in Europe and in 1765 became professor of medicine in College of Philadelphia. Photo- graphed especially for this work from an en- graving in possession of Mrs. William Darling- ton
September, and defeated the enemy, and no notice was taken of their wounded, but a doctor had been sent to cure an Indian, a confessed enemy, when he got a cut in his head in a quarrel with his cousin ; when his Majesty's "cloaked enemies had been struck by a distressed, bereft, injured frontier" a reward had been of- fered for apprehending the perpetrators, and their conduct painted
537
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
in the most atrocious colors, while the "horrid ravages, cruel mur- ders, and shocking barbarities" committed by Indians had been excused as their method of making war; nor could there be sur- prise at the conduct of the Indians when, as those of Wyalusing had told Conrad Weiser, Israel Pemberton, the old leader of the faction which had so long enslaved Pennsylvania to the Indians, with others of the Friends, had told them that the Proprietaries had cheated them in the matter of land and the traders had de- frauded them in the price of goods-this was the unhappy situa- tion "under the villainy, infatuation, and influence of a certain faction that have got the political reins in their hands;" and could it be thought strange that the adding of the burden of supporting in the very heart of the province one or two hundred Indians, to the great disquietude of the majority of the inhabitants, had awakened the resentment of "a people grossly abused, unright- eously burdened, and made dupes and slaves to Indians"? and the design was to rescue a laboring land from a weight so oppressive. unreasonable, and unjust. The declaration ends : "It is this we are resolved to prosecute, though it is with great reluctance we are obliged to adopt a measure not so agreeable as could be de- sired and to which extremity alone compels-God save the King." At two o'clock Monday morning, February 6, the people were called from their beds by the ringing of the bells. Governor Penn repaired to Franklin's house, which he made his headquar- ters; and about 600 persons, among them a number of Quakers. assembled in arms. The middle ferry (Market Street) and upper ferry (now Spring Garden Street bridge) were secured : but the advance guard of the rebels, about two hundred strong, crossed the Schuylkill at Swedes' Ford, and proceeded to Ger- mantown, where, having heard of the preparations to receive them. they rested. Rain fell in the city, and the armed citizens sought cover, three companies filling the market house, and a company, embracing Quaker youth. taking the Monthly Meeting room at the Friends meeting-house, although it was the day appointed for .
538
Men of the Frontier
Youth's Meeting. The Governor sent Franklin and three others to hold a parley with the insurgents, and ask the reasons for their conduct. The interview resulted in saving the public authority without bloodshed. Those who had taken up arms against it were induced to say that they would suspend hostilities until an answer should be made to the statement of grievances, and return to their homes, while Matthew Smith and James Gibson should make a formal petition to the Governor and Assembly on behalf of the people of the frontier. The defenders of the city were thanked and disbanded, although called out the next day by the coming into town of some stragglers, who, however, committed no disorder, and soon retreated after their companions. A sec- ond attempt was made by the Governor to get rid of the Indians, but General Gage would not approve of their being sent back to the Indian region, pointing out that they were in fact hostages for the good behavior of their kindred.
The memorial of Smith and Gibson, which was presented while their friends were terrifying the eastern counties on the journey home, or receiving congratulation and admiration on their arrival, called attention to the inequality of representation in the Assembly; the eastern or original counties of Philadelphia (in- cluding the city), Chester, and Bucks electing twenty-six of the members, the other counties only ten, i. e., four from Lancaster, two from Cumberland, two from York, one from Berks, and one from Northampton. Furthermore, protest was made against a proposed act of Assembly, which only such inequality rendered possible, that those charged with the killing of any Indian in Lancaster county should be tried in Philadelphia, Chester, or Bucks. To a restatement of the points in the declaration was added a final complaint that the men at Fort Augusta, doubtless under direction from those outside, had given no assistance to save the crops from ravage, not even patrolling the frontiers.
539
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ATTEMPT TO CHANGE THE GOVERNMENT
W E find a letter of Franklin as early as June 10, 1758, telling the Speaker and committee on correspondence of the Assembly that Robert Charles had at his request drawn up a state of the case to obtain the opinion of lawyers how far the people's privileges then enjoyed would be affected in case of a change of government by Pennsylvania's coming directly under the Crown, and that this had been referred to the agents' counsel, whose opinion Franklin enclosed. The counsel, know- ing the views, connections, and character of the members of the Board of Trade, gave him some hints on a separate sheet, of which he also sent a copy, one suggestion being that before push- ing the matter in Parliament something be done to remove the prejudice of the British public against the people of the province. Accordingly the Historical Review of the Constitution and Gov- ernment of Pennsylvania was written, probably by his son Will- iam and his friend James Ralph. When Franklin in November, 1762, returned to Philadelphia from London, John Dickinson had just been elected to the Assembly. He was a member of the bar who had studied at the Temple, a native of Talbot county, Mary- land, son of Justice Samuel Dickinson of Kent county, Dela- ware, and nephew of Dr. Thomas Cadwalader of the Governor's Council. While the "Paxton boys" were retiring to their homes the Assembly was proceeding to frame a bill for raising the money for the one thousand soldiers which it had promised. By
540
Attempt to Change the Government
the agreement of 1760 it was allowed to tax the Proprietaries' located lands upon certain conditions, among others that "the located uncultivated lands of the Proprietaries shall not be as- sessed higher than the lowest rate at which any located unculti- vated lands belonging to the inhabitants shall be assessed." The Assembly now presented a bill using these words, but with the explanatory clause, "under the same circumstances of situation, kind, and quality." Penn asked that the bill use the words of the agreement. The Assembly said that there was an ambiguity in them; they had stated their construction of them, and would the Governor suggest a clause embodying his? Penn replied that the words were the plainest that could be used. The Assembly asked him if he understood that when the worst lands of the inhabitants were rated at so much, the best lands of the Proprie- taries should be rated at no more. Penn insisted that there was but one meaning to the words, the Assembly was bound by them, and he would be careless of his duty in passing any bill that did not conform to them. The Assembly declaimed against such injustice, and the populace felt wronged, but, however unequal such an arrangement may have been, there is little doubt that it was intended by the Crown, and its reason may be sought in the Proprietaries' dread of unfair discrimination against them by the assessors, in whose appointment they had no voice. Such a pro- vision having been made for their protection, or even granted to them as a privilege, John Penn, their agent, surely would not have been justified in giving away anything so valuable. He remained firm.
On March 24, 1764, the House adopted twenty-six resolutions drawn up by Joseph Galloway complaining of the conduct of the Proprietaries and the dangers to the Crown as well as to the liberties of the people of the continuance of the government in the hands of holders of such growing estates, and then the House voted "to adjourn in order to consult the people whether an humble address should be drawn up and transmitted to his Maj-
541
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
esty praying that he would be graciously pleased to take the people of this province under his immediate protection and government." A message was sent to the Lieutenant-Governor telling him that the bill lay ready for his signature, and for present safety the province would depend upon the King's troops with the blessing of God; and the House adjourned to May 14.
During the recess 3,500 persons signed petitions to George III in favor of the change, the signers of one of the petitions being all of them Friends. After the Assembly reconvened and had these papers laid before it for transmission, Galloway, Frank- lin, and eight others, appointed for the purpose at the morning session on the 23d of May, reported that afternoon a draft of a similar petition from the House. This was debated three days, the Assembly sitting with closed doors. On the second day Norris the Speaker requested that, his sentiments being adverse to the intentions of the majority, as his seat in the chair prevented him from entering into the debate, therefore if in consequence of their order his duty should oblige him to sign the petition as Speaker, he might be permitted to offer his sentiments on the subject before he signed, and that they might be entered on the minutes. This request was granted. Dickinson in a speech which he afterwards published, pleaded with his fellow members and fellow opponents of Proprietary injustice, not to let their resentment produce effects more fatal than the injuries of which they complained. If the change of government could take place with all the colonial privileges preserved, let it do so instantly, but "if they must be consumed in the blaze of royal authority, we shall pay too great a price for our approach to the throne." He thought-as he afterwards did when the declaration of American independence was proposed-that the proper time had not ar- rived. He pointed out that the assemblymen were voting to put themselves under the King, when they were laboring under royal displeasure for their conduct in the late war : and would not the indignation of the Court rise beyond all bounds, when they found .
542
Attempt to Change the Government
this application for a change proceeded from the Governor's ad- herence to stipulations approved by the late and present King? The time might come when the weight of government would be too heavy for the shoulders of a subject; at least too heavy for those of a woman or an infant; and when the point should be agitated either on a proposal from the Crown or the Proprietaries themselves, the province could plead the cause of her privileges with greater freedom and more probability of success than at present. Now they were to request his Majesty to change the government, and yet insist on the preservation of their privileges. His Majesty would not accept the government clogged in that way; and then would they ask it back? or let it go on such condi- tions as he would be pleased to impose? It was the desire of the Ministry to vest the government advantageously in the Crown: let the Assembly petition for a change, and Parliament would pass an act delivering the colony at once from the Proprietors and the privileges claimed under them. "Power is like the ocean : not easily admitting limits to be fixed to it. Let not us then, in expectation of smooth seas and an undisturbed course, too rashly venture our little vessel that hath safely sailed round our well-known shores upon the midst of the untried deep, with- out being first fully convinced that her make is strong enough to bear the weather she may meet with, and that she is well provided for so long and so dangerous a voyage."
How much of Galloway's reply as printed was actually spoken at the time, we cannot say. Dickinson said that the speech was never delivered, and Galloway acknowledged that it was some- what re-written. To Dickinson's claim that the project was ill- timed, when the Colony was so much under displeasure at Court, he said that he had not "the vanity to hope that if we cannot now succeed in removing the prejudices occasioned by Proprietary Misrepresentations we shall ever see the Day while the Powers of Government are united with immense property that Proprietary Influence or Ministerial Prejudice against us will cease. But I
543
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
must fear a little time will shew us in the ridiculous Light that Horace shews his Clown 'who meeting a River in his Road sat down on the Bank to wait till the Stream should pass him :
' Rusticus exspectat dum defluat amnis: at ille
' Labitur; et labetur in omne volubilis ævum.'"
The petition was adopted by "a great majority," and ordered to be transcribed. On reassembling the next morning, the House received a letter from Norris resigning the speakership. The long sitting and the excitement had been too much for his weak- ened constitution, and, being too unwell to attend, he availed him- self of the excuse to be relieved of the unpleasant duty of signing the paper. Benjamin Franklin was chosen his successor, the petition was finally adopted, and he signed it. Hoping in due time to be relieved of Proprietary rule, and fearing the conse- quences of further delaying the raising of revenue, the Assembly on May 29 finally under protest struck out the clauses in the sup- ply bill to which the Governor had objected, and the bill was passed. Later on the Proprietaries in England sent word waiv- ing their advantage, and requesting the assessors, notwithstand- ing the phraseology of the act, to tax their estates at the lowest rate at which they should assess the inhabitants' lands "under the same circumstances of situation, kind, and quality."
During the winter of such excitement in Pennsylvania the British Ministry were determining upon measures to which they were almost driven by the want of military system among the colonies and the leaving to the Assemblies respectively whether and when and how much they would vote for expeditions for their own or the common protection. A union of delegates mak- ing an apportionment which their constituents would be morally bound to carry out not having been established, Grenville thought he saw in the extension of the stamp law to America the easiest means of securing its contribution to the expenses of the Empire. Apparently the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania delayed the meas-
544
-
Attempt to Change the Government
ure. A letter from London to the Pennsylvania Gazette, dated March 24, 1764, says: "The 15th Resolution relating to the Stamp Duty, will certainly pass next Session, unless the Ameri- cans offer a more certain duty. Had not William Allen, Esq. been here and indefatigable in opposing it, and happily having made Acquaintance with the first Personages in the Kingdom and the greatest part of the House of Commons, it would inevitably have passed this session."
The last document signed by Franklin as Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly was a
Family Flax Hackels
Used by early Pennsylvania Germans. Photo- graphed especially for this work by J. F. Sachse
message to Richard Jackson, "Patron and standing counsel for the province," that the stamp duties and other taxes mentioned in the resolutions of the House of Commons as proposed to be laid on the colonies would deprive the peo- ple of the province of their most essential rights as British subjects and of the right granted to them by the charter of King Charles II, wherein the assessing of their own taxes, and freedom
I-35
545
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
from any impositions but those made by their own representatives was fully granted, and as the Ministry, according to information received, were desirous of consulting the ease, interest, and good will of the Colonies, a remonstrance might prevail upon Parlia- ment to lay aside their intention; furthermore a plan to oblige the colonies to grant the necessary aids to the Crown in time of dan- ger had been under consideration by the Assembly and would be transmitted, and there should be moreover a repeal or amendment of the Act of Parliament for regulating the sugar trade, particu- larly as to its prohibition of the export of lumber to Ireland and other parts of Europe. Grenville had called together the agents of the colonies, and stated his intention to pass a stamp law at the ensuing session, unless they could suggest a duty equally produc- tive after communicating with the Assemblies which they repre- sented.
The one thousand men furnished by Pennsylvania, reduced by the desertion of two hundred before leaving Carlisle, and of others at Fort Bedford, made with a very few regulars and about two · hundred Virginians the army of Bouquet, which advanced from Fort Pitt in October, 1764, marched ninety-six miles to the Mus- kingum, mostly through a wilderness which the savages had deemed their sure defense, and, appearing in such force in the heart of the enemy's country, compelled the liberation of all the white people then in captivity. So thoroughly is Pennsylvania entitled to the credit of this expedition, which not only restored so many of her men, women, and children to their families, but had the chief part in securing peace to adjoining colonies, that, whereas the legislatures of Maryland and Virginia contributed not a penny to the expense, and left Bouquet personally liable for the pay of the volunteers from those provinces, the Pennsylvania Assembly in due time came to his relief, and paid for this also.
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.