USA > Pennsylvania > The history of Pennsylvania : from its discovery by Europeans, to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 > Part 28
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Hist. Rev. Append.
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manly people, to find him, who ought to be their father and protector, taking advantage of public calamity and distress, and their tenderness for their bleeding country, to force down their throats laws of imposition, abhorrent to common justice, and common reason ! Why will the governor make himself the hateful instrument for reducing a free people to the abject state of vassalage, for depriving them of those liberties which have given reputation to our country throughout the world, and drawn inhabitants from the remotest parts of Europe to enjoy them? Liberties not only granted us of favour, but of right; liberties in effect which we have bought and paid for; since we have not only performed the conditions on which they were granted, but have actually given the higher price for our lands on that account; so that the proprietary family have been doubly paid for them-in the value of the lands, and the increase of people. Let not our affections be torn in this manner from a family we have long loved and ho- noured; let that novel doctrine, hatched by their mistaken friends, ' that privileges granted to promote the settlement of a country, are to be abridged when the settlement is obtained,' iniquitous as it is, be detested as it deserves, and banished from all our public councils ; and let the harmony, so essential to the welfare of both governors and governed, be once again restored, since it can never be more necessary to our affairs, than in their present melancholy condition."
These representations made no impression on the governor; though whilst declining to tax the proprietary estate, on the ground that his instructions forbade him to do any thing by which it would be hurt or encumbered, he proposed to sti- mulate exertions against the enemy, by a grant of lands be- yond the Allegheny mountains, to those who should engage in an expedition against the French on the Ohio. He pro- posed, to every colonel, one thousand, to a lieutenant-colonel and major, seven hundred and fifty, to captains, five hundred, to lieutenants and ensigns, four hundred, and to common sol- diers, two hundred, acres of land, with an exemption from quit-rents for fifteen years. This offer, the assembly held to be inconsistent with the limitation of his authority over the
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proprietary estate, and, therefore, they inferred, insincere; and, if sincere, not advantageous. Because no assurance was given that the lands should be of good quality, nor were there any lands better than those of Virginia, which were gratuitously granted, subject only to a quit-rent of two shil- lings sterling, the payment of which was also suspended for fifteen years; whilst the common quit-rent of the province was four and six-pence. Therefore, an offer of the best pro- prietary lands, west of the Allegheny, was a proposal, that, to those who would, at the hazard of their lives, recover the proprietary's country from the enemy, they would graciously sell a part thereof, at twice the price demanded by their neigh- bours. They added, that, if the proprietary, to encourage the settlement of the western frontier, would, bona fide, grant good lands on reasonable terms, they would give equal encouragement to settlers in provisions, carriages, cattle, and instruments of husbandry. But, as the governor's power to make such grants was not apparent, they would refer the sub- ject to future consideration. The apparent inconsistency of his proposal with his instructions, the governor attempted to reconcile, by reference to the commission of property, whence he derived his power to grant lands, which were of greater value than those of other provinces, from the nature of the population, and the equality of rights which existed in Penn- sylvania. He declared, had the assembly seconded him, he would have offered, by proclamation, the best lands to those enlisting to expel the French. The house, having examined the commission to which the governor referred, and discover- ing that he was prohibited from granting lands on any other terms than fifteen pounds ten shillings per hundred acres, and a quit-rent of four shillings and two-pence, treated his proposition as a mere illusion, intended to procure an ex- emption from taxes by a seeming equivalent. In truth, the letters of the governor to the proprietaries, show, that the proposition was made solely with the view of obtaining po- pularity, but without expectation that the offer would be ac- cepted. *
* Penn. Records,
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The house then proceeded to review all the objections of the governor, and his conduct towards them, with great abi- lity, strength, and eloquence ; this was followed by the reply of the governor, and that by the rejoinder of the house, con- cluding with the following passage. " We are now to take our leave of the governor; and, indeed, since he hopes no good from us, nor we from him, 'tis time we should be parted. If our constituents disapprove of our conduct, a few days will give them an opportunity of changing us by a new election ; and could the governor be as soon and as easily changed, Pennsylvania would, we apprehend, deserve much less the character he gives it, of an unfortunate country." The ad- dresses of the house were written by Franklin.
These disputes alarmed the inhabitants, who, beholding with dread the procrastination of the measures for defence, earnestly demanded arms and ammunition. A number of gentlemen, chiefly of the proprietary party, proposed to the house to raise by subscription the sum of five hundred pounds, the estimated amount of the annual tax, that would be pay- able by the proprietaries under the bill. But the house con- sidering this proposition as a snare, and the sum greatly below the amount of the proposed tax, dexterously rid themselves of it by sending it to the governor. They professed to believe from the declaration of the subscribers, that all of them were satisfied that the proprietary would refund this sum, under the conviction of the justice of the tax; and as the assembly had no power to compound for any estate, and were not an incorporated body to sue and be sued, they sent the petition with the amount of the sums subscribed, as a further security to the governor, under a conviction that the subscribers were legally bound to pay, and their estates sufficient to discharge their contracts, and trusted that he would, therefore, assent to their bill.
Jagrea, son-in-law of Scaroyady, returned to Philadel- phia, with some missionaries from the Owandaets, and other Indians, to whom he had kindly offered to show the way, that he might participate in the presents they ex- pected from the province. But the house, with much re-
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Juctance, entertained these visitants, whom, they urged, had been brought upon them unnecessarily, and had equal claims upon the consideration of the proprietaries. To the petitions of the western inhabitants for arms, the assembly were not inattentive; they granted for this purpose the sum of one thousand pounds, to be disbursed by a committee of the house, with the approbation of the governor. After which, they adjourned to the fifteenth of September.
The exertions of the eastern colonies to support the north- ern campaign, had brought into the field a greater force than had been anticipated, and new demands were consequently made on Pennsylvania for clothing and provisions. Lieu- tenant-governor Phipps, of Massachusetts, applied officially to governor Morris on this subject; but that gentleman not having communicated this to the house on the third day of the September session, they inquired of the governor whether such an application had not been made. The governor, in a verbal message, communicated its tenor, but he refused to lay Phipps' letter before the house, having orders from the secre- tary of state to communicate such papers only as he pleased; and the house indignantly refused to inspect the communica- tion by their speaker, or by a committee, and demanded a sight of the secretary's letter, which was denied. Upon this, they resolved, " that great inaccuracies and want of precision having frequently been observed by the house in the gover- nor's manner of stating matters, in his messages, they could not think such messages, without the papers therein referred to, a sufficient foundation for the house to proceed upon, in an affair of moment, or that it would be prudent or safe so to do, either for themselves or constituents; and that, though the governor might possibly have obtained orders not to lay the secretary's letters in some cases before the house, they humbly conceived and hoped that letters from the neighbouring governments, in cases like the present, could not be included in those orders." A member of the house then produced a letter from a member of the Massa- chusetts council to himself, stating the application for provi- sions, and the necessity of an immediate supply, and informa-
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tion being received of the want of blankets and clothing for the army, adapted to the approaching season, the assembly voted, that a voluntary subscription of any sum not exceed- ing ten thousand pounds, paid into the hands of a committee nominated by them, within two weeks, towards furnishing provisions, blankets, or clothing for the troops at Crown Point would be a service to the crown, and acceptable to the public ; that the subscribers ought to be thankfully reimbursed with interest by future assemblies, to whom they were earnestly recommended by the house." On this vote supplies were furnished, which proved essentially serviceable to the troops, and which were gratefully acknowledged by governor Shir- ley. This act closed the session, and the term of the assem- bly, the time for the election of a new one having arrived.
The election produced some change in the house, but it was not material, the leaders being still the same .* Both go- vernor and assembly seemed unwilling to recur to the subject of their disputes, or to reflect further upon the dangers that impended over the frontier. In this apathy, the assembly, with the concurrence of the governor, adjourned, after a ses- sion of a few days, to the second of December.
But the enemy, long restrained by fear of another attack, and scarce crediting his senses when he discovered the de- fenceless state of the frontiers, now roamed unmolested and fearlessly along the western lines of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, committing the most appalling outrages, and wanton cruelties, which the cupidity and ferocity of the sa- vage could dictate. The first inroads into Pennsylvania were in Cumberland county, whence they were soon extended to the Susquehannah. The inhabitants, dwelling at the distance of from one to three miles apart, fell unresistingly, were cap- tured, or fled in terror to the interior settlements. The main body of the enemy encamped on the Susquehannah, thirty miles above Harrs' ferry, whence they extended themselves® on both sides the river. The settlements at the Great Cove. in Cumberland county were destroyed, and many of the in --
* 1755, October.
1
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habitants slaughtered or made captives, and the same fate fell upon Tulpehocken, upon Mahony, and Gnadenhutten, a Moravian settlement. New horrors were given to these scenes by the defection of the Shawanese and Delaware In- dians, who had hitherto continued faithful, and had repeatedly solicited employment against the French and their allies, with threats, that unless engaged by the province they would take part against her. These threats the assembly had humanely, if not wisely, withstood; and now, irritated by the love of enterprise, the desire of plunder, and the hopes fed by the French, of recovering the lands they had sold, these savages openly joined the foe, and actively engaged in the destruction of the English. To the perversion of the Indian disposi- tion, the Delaware chiefs, Shingas and captain Jacobs, were highly instrumental. They had been loaded with favours and presents from the provincial authorities, and principal inha- bitants of Philadelphia; and their defection and perfidy awak- ened the anger of the citizens, who, with the approbation of the governor, proclaimed a reward of seven hundred dollars for their heads. * (1)
.
In consequence of these melancholy tidings, the governor summoned the assembly for the third of November, when he laid before them an account of the proceedings of the enemy, and demanded money and a militia law. Petitions were poured in from all parts of the province; from the fron- tier counties, praying for arms and munitions; from the middle counties, deprecating further resistance to the views of the governor, and requiring, if it were necessary, a partial sacri- fice of the property of the citizens for the defence of their lives ; and that the religious scruples of the members of the as- sembly might no longer prevent the defence of the country.
The governor, in his message, had assigned as a cause of the late Indian defection, the promise of the French to restore their lands to the Indians; and, it was rumoured, that some tracts in the manor of Conedoguinet were held by the proprie- taries, for which they had refused frequent applications of the
* Penn, Gazette.
(1) See Note O 2, Appendix.
.
40
i
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Indians for payment. The house turned aside from all other matters, to fasten upon this rumour, that they might charge the proprietaries with having caused the Indian hostility, and, regardless of vengeance for their slaughtered constituents, resolved to redress the grievances, and regain the affections of the savages.
If the injustice of the proprietaries had aliened the Indians, the course of the assembly was politic and just; but, in truth, there was no foundation for their complaints. The Six na- tions, and the Delawares, had been paid for these manor lands again and again ; and the Shawanese, who had emigrat- ed from the south, and had obtained permission to settle in the province in 1698, had no title to them whatever ;. nor had they or the Delawares at any treaty complained in this respect of the proprietaries. But the Indians were not the less sensible to the recovery of their lands, because they were paid for them, nor more satisfied with beholding the inherit- ance of their fathers pass to strangers. They repented much of their last sale, which embraced the greater part of the remnant of the province, leaving for themselves only a small and mountainous district. This was an extravagant and ill- advised purchase, though sanctioned by Richard Peters and Conrad Weiser, both well acquainted with the temper and disposition of the Indians. But the proprietaries were, at this period, very desirous of extinguishing the Indian title in the province, on account of the continued and irrepressible at- tempts of the whites to settle the Indian lands, and the neces- sity of precluding the interference of Connecticut claimants in Pennsylvania, under an antiquated title .* The first of these reasons was also a strong inducement with the Indians to sell; but when the Delawares beheld themselves without a country to subsist in, their regrets easily subdued them to the will of the French agents, and led to the defeat of Brad- dock, and the butcheries we have just noticed. And however much the assembly might censure and lament this purchase
* Lett, from Weiser to Peters, 1st March, 1755.
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as inexpedient, they had no cause to accuse the proprietaries of injustice.
Returning, therefore, to the defence of the province, the house prepared a bill for granting sixty thousand pounds to the king's use, in bills of credit, redeemable in four years, by a tax on the estates and polls of the inhabitants. This bill embraced the proprietary estates, but provided, that should the proprietaries declare in favour of exempting them, the tax, if assessed, should not be levied, or if levied, should be repaid. The governor, admitting that the crown only was competent to decide the question at issue between them, re- fused to bring it up for consideration in this way. But he proposed to prepare a bill for taxing the proprietary estates, by commissioners mutually chosen by himself and the house, with a clause suspending its operation until approved by the king. The assembly refused this, on the plea that the execu- tive neither could nor ought to propose a money bill; which position they sustained by the authority of parliamentary history against the governor, armed with precedents from their own journals; and they closed their address by de- claring, that if he still refused to pass their bill, they would appeal to the throne, by remonstrance, and petition for his removal .*
In the mean time the partisans of the governor assailed the house with petitions. A memorial from Chester county urged them to decline unnecessary disputes; and a representation of the mayor, and several principal inhabitants of Philadel- phia, rejecting the language of prayer, demanded that means should be taken to defend their lives and properties, by the establishment of a militia and a competent fund. So intem- perate was this representation by the mayor and citizens, that the house denounced it, " as presuming, indecent, insolent and improper."
Nor were complaints and earnest solicitations confined to the proprietary party. The ever-enduring disputes between the governor and assembly wore out, at length, even the Ger-
* Votes.
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man patience, and overcame their constitutional phlegm. The inhabitants of the remote parts of Philadelphia county, chiefly Germans, to the number of four hundred, marched to the city, unarmed, in a peaceable and orderly manner, to implore the protection of their rulers, and the postponement of their unseasonable debates. They first waited upon the governor, who accused the assembly of procrastination; and that body did not fail to rebut the charge, whilst they promised these sturdy petitioners, who crowded their hall, that means for their protection and safety should be speedily. adopted.
To their instances were added the threats of the few Indians remaining faithful to the province. These, about three hun- dred in number, required the whites to take up arms, to furnish ammunition and provisions, to build forts for the protection of their aged, their women, and their children, and give them an immediate answer ; that, in case of refusal, they might seek their own safety by throwing themselves into the. arms of the enemy.
It would have been impossible for the assembly to have withstood the governor so long, had they not been sup- ported by the people; the great mass of whom were op- posed to the militia, and to any system of taxation which did not embrace the proprietaries. This disposition was fully shown at the late election in Berks county .* One Jonas Seely, a candidate for the office of sheriff, at the opening of the poll in Reading, united all voices in his favour; but it being reported that he was of the governor's party,.had asso- ciated and exercised the people, and would compel all persons to assume the musket, the Germans, to a man, left him, and he was not returned. The Quakers too, somewhat indis- creetly, as the assembly thought, chose this moment to utter their testimony against contributing money for military pur- poses.t(1) But the house could not sustain its position much longer. Petitioners of their own party thronged their doors, and prayed, that if it were possible, without a sacrifice of
* Weiser letter, 2nd Oct. 1755. + Votes.
(1) See Note P 2, Appendix.
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their rights, some means might be found to unite the province in the public defence. They had already, by the exertion of Franklin, conceded the militia bill, which the governor hastily passed without amendment,* and were saved from entire defeat on the money bill only by the donation of the proprietaries.
The latter had received tidings of Braddock's defeat, and, fully aware of the imminent danger of their province, sent the governor an order for five thousand pounds upon their re- ceiver-general, to be applied to the common use of the colony. This liberal donation terminated the disputes upon the impending supply bill, which, divested of its obnoxious feature, received the governor's sanction. The gift of the proprietaries was payable from the arrears of quit-rents. One thousand pounds were immediately collected, and paid to the committee of the house, but the receiver-general proposed to obtain the remainder by an act of assembly, for striking the amount in bills of credit, to be replaced by him as the rents should be collected. The bill which he prepared stated the sum of five thousand pounds, to be a free gift; the house added, " in consideration of being exempted from the pay- ment of their taxes, towards raising the sum of sixty thousand pounds, granted by the assembly to the king's use." This amendment defeated the bill.
The troops destined for the northern expeditions, were not assembled at Albany until the close of June, and were not provided with necessaries for the expedition until the last of August. General Johnson, having reached the southern shore of lake George, on his way to Ticonderoga, received informa- tion of the approach of baron Dieskau, at the head of twelve hundred regulars, and six hundred Canadians and Indians. The baron had designed to attack Oswego, but, hearing of Johnson's intention, he resolved to assail him in his camp, relying upon information, that he was entirely without artil- lery. Johnson detached colonel Williams with a thousand
* This bill was not compulsory, and it passed the house with four dis- sentient voices only, James Pemberton, Joseph Trotter, Peter Worral, and Joshua Morris, two less than dissented from the money bill voting against it.
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men, to reconnoitre and skirmish with the enemy. This body, engaging with the foe, was soon overthrown, put to flight, and its commander killed. A second detachment, sent to its aid, experienced the like fate, and both were pur- sued to the camp, where they were sheltered behind a breast- work of fallen trees, which the Americans had formed in the front. At this obstacle, the French halted, giving time to the provincialists to recover from their alarm, and prepare for defence. Their artillery, lately arrived, was served with effect; and, though the baron advanced firmly to the charge, his Indians and militia deserted him, and compelled him with his regulars to retreat. In the pursuit, which was close and ardent, Dieskau, mortally wounded and abandoned, was made prisoner. A scouting party, under the command of captains Folsom and M'Gennis, from fort Edward, fell upon the bag- gage of the enemy, and routed the guard; and immediately after engaged with the retreating French army. The enemy, attacked by a force whose number they did not know, aban- doned their baggage, and fled towards their posts on the lake. This repulse of Dieskau, though not at all followed up by Johnson, was magnified into a splendid victory. It served, in some measure, to relieve the effect of Braddock's defeat, and procured the commander a present of five thousand pounds sterling from the house of commons, and the title of baronet from the king. His army was soon after discharged, except six hundred men, retained to garrison fort Edward, and fort William Henry. The French seized and fortified Ticonde- roga.
General Shirley, who had put himself at the head of the expedition against Niagara, and fort Frontignac, did not reach Oswego, on lake Ontario, until late in August. His force was composed of about thirteen hundred regulars, and a hun- dred and twenty militia and Indians. These he divided ; embarking between six and seven hundred men for Niagara, and leaving the remainder to garrison Oswego. But he had scarcely embarked, before the rains set in with fury, and his Indians, discouraged, dispersed. It was apparent, that the season was now too far advanced for the accomplishment of
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his design, and, by the advice of a council of war, it was abandoned. A garrison of seven hundred men was left at Oswego, to complete the works at that place, and the general returned to Albany.
The marauding parties of French and Indians hung on the frontiers during the winter, and in the month of January at- tacked the settlements on the Juniata river, murdering and scalping such of the inhabitants as did not escape, or were not made prisoners. To guard against these devastations, a chain of forts and block-houses were erected at an expense of eighty-five thousand pounds, by the province of Pennsylva- nia, along the Kittatiny hills, from the river Delaware to the Maryland line, commanding the principal passes of the mountains, garrisoned with from twenty to seventy-five pro- vincials, as the situation and importance of the places re- spectively required.
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