USA > Pennsylvania > The history of Pennsylvania : from its discovery by Europeans, to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 > Part 42
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In consequence of the unfortunate dispute, the, history of which we have just narrated, the christian Indians, under the care of the Moravian Indians, resolved to emigrate beyond the Ohio river. These people, who had been saved with great difficulty from the vengeance of the Paxton zealots, had seated themselves at Wyalusing, about six miles north of Wyoming. They built a considerable village, containing, beside many huts and cabins, more than thirty good log houses, with shingled roofs and glazed windows, a church and school house, not inferior to many erected by wealthy farmers; and they also cleared and enclosed large tracts of upland and meadow. They made this settlement with the
then
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approbation of the proprietaries and the government in 1765; and when, in 1768, the Six nations sold to the former the country, including these improvements, the Moravian Indians obtained assurances from governor Penn, that neither their lands, nor any within five miles thereof, should be sold to others. Thus comfortably established and protected, as they supposed, from the intrusion of the whites, they anticipated a long season of repose and prosperity. But the tide of po- pulation flowed around them; the strife between the Connec- ticut and Pennsylvania claimants sounded in their ears, and they suffered perpetual anxiety from the visits of Indians of every tribe, on their journies to and from the northern na- tions. In the language of Brother Abo, of the Moravians, who represented their intentions to the assembly, " notwith- standing their sincere and unshaken attachment to the govern- ment of the province, as they were not expert at salving appearances, they could not but be afraid that their innocence and complexion would stand little chance against the suspi- cious insinuations and charges that are, or may be conceived, and laid against them, from the indifferent neighbourhood in which they lived. They thought it high time therefore that they should retire to some Indian country."
The administration of Richard Penn, which commenced, as we have incidentally observed, in October, 1771, was ter- minated by the return of John Penn to the province and its government .* Great harmony prevailed between the former and the assembly. They differed in opinion on several occa- sions, but their consequent discussions were temperate and decorous. The chief subject of dispute was a proposition on the part of the assembly to issue bills of credit to the value of two hundred thousand pounds. The governor objected to the amount, and some details of the proposed law; and both parties adhering to their respective views, the issue was not made until the next assembly, reducing the sum to one hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars, and otherwise modifying their bill, it received his approbation. The attention of governor
· September, 1773.
60
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Richard Penn to the commercial interests of the city obtained for him, in a special manner, the affection of its mercantile inhabitants. The revocation of his commission was unex- pected to him and to them, and seems to have been much regretted by all, and by none more than himself. The mer- chants, after his removal from office, waited on him in a body, and presented him with an affectionate and respectful address. They also gave him a splendid public entertainment, at which governor John Penn, his council, the corporation of the city, the officers of the army and navy, and distinguished strangers, were guests.
The peace of the province was also, this year, disturbed by alarms of Indian hostility, and a vexatious contest with the governor of Virginia, in relation to her western boundary. Both of these grievances are said to have originated in the malicious and heartless policy of lord Dunmore, who, in order to distract the attention of the large and wealthy pro- vinces of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and turn them from a close examination of the designs of the parent state, resolved to involve them in war with the savage, and sow doubts and disunion, which should disable the whites from resisting the inroads of their cruel enemy.
This design has too much horror and depravity to be lightly credited. Nor have we seen any evidence to sustain it. There was sufficient cause for Indian hostility in the injuries the tribes received from the unquenchable animosity of the border Eng- lish; and the want of temper, and defect of judgment, which distinguished the governor of Virginia, may, without seeking worse causes, be assigned as the sources of his untimely claims of jurisdiction over a large portion of Pennsylvania.
In the spring of this year, a robbery was committed on certain land adventurers on the river Ohio. The whites in that quarter undertook to punish this outrage in their usual summary way. Captain Michael Cresap, whose family was distinguished for their deeds and sufferings in Indian warfare, and a certain Daniel Greathouse, at the head of white parties,
Burk's Hist. Vir.
.
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surprised at different times travelling and hunting parties of the Indians, whom they murdered indiscriminately, sparing neither women nor children. Among these fell the family of Logan, a chief renowned in peace and in war, and dis- tinguished as the friend of the whites. His vengeance was commensurate with his misfortunes, his talents, and his for- mer love of the English, all of which he has portrayed in a speech, whose force, beauty, and eloquence, has elevated his race, and is not surpassed in any nation .*
As soon as these unfortunate events were known to the government of Pennsylvania, messengers were despatched to assure the Indians that they were unsanctioned by the pub- lic authorities of the provinces. This message averted their anger from the inhabitants of Pennsylvania; the Indians not only refrained from actual violence, but they escorted her traders to Pittsburg, at the risk of an attack from their young and heated warriors.
In the garrison at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania had had a bri- dle on the western Indians. But, in despite of the repre- sentations of the traders and inhabitants of Pittsburg, and the recommendations of the governor, the troops were with- drawn early in the last year, by order of general Gage, and the assembly refused to supply their place. After the late outrages, one Connolly, a man of some talent, but of lax morals, who had received much notice from lord Dunmore, and was clothed by him with considerable powers as a ma- gistrate, and as a commissioner among the Indians, by the orders of his lordship, took possession of the fort, under pre- tence that it was within the Virginia boundary; whence he despatched a party to attack the very Indians who had re- stored the traders in safety to their friends. But the spirit of vengeance did not slumber; it solaced itself in the mas- sacre of many Virginians on the west of the Monongahela river.
Lord Dunmore had previously visited the country west of the Allegheny, had invited and encouraged settlers to take
* Jefferson's Notes. Logan's speech. Burk.
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warrants from him for lands within the Pennsylvania boun- dary, and had succeeded, by the agency of Connolly, in se- ducing several hundred of the inhabitants who were seated without any title, to disclaim the authority of that province, and to solicit to be admitted under his government. He sub- sequently published a proclamation, declaring that the country west of the Allegheny mountains had, from its rapid settle- ment, became important to his majesty's interest; that the province of Pennsylvania had unduly claimed a valuable and extensive quantity of his majesty's territory; that the exe- cutive authority of that province had abused the laudable ad- venturers in that part of his majesty's dominions, by many oppressive and illegal measures, in discharge of their imaginary authority; and that the ancient claim laid to that country by the colony of Virginia, founded in reason, on pre-occupancy, and the general acquiescence of all persons, together with the instructions he had lately received from his majesty to take that country under his administration, required him to command all his majesty's subjects west of the Laurel hill to pay due respect to his proclamation, strictly prohibiting the execution of any act of authority on behalf of Pennsyl- vania .*
Governor Penn, under these circumstances, acted with promptitude and prudence. Upon the news of the retaliatory measures of the Indians, the Pennsylvania outsettlers fled with their families to the interior; and the panic became so general, that a great part of the western frontier was deserted. It was stayed by the activity of the magistrates of the county of Westmoreland, who, with the concurrence of the gover- nor, raised and armed a number of rangers, and placed them in proper places to protect the inhabitants in case of an attack. The governor solicited and obtained the happy influence of sir William Johnson with the Six nations, to assist in healing the breach with their western brethren: he remonstrated with lord Dunmore on the misconduct of Connolly, and caused that insidious agent to be arrested and imprisoned, and the -
* Penn. Gaz.
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settlers under the Virginia title to be punished as vagrants and outlaws: he replied to lord Dunmore's proclamation by a counter-proclamation,* requiring all persons west of the Laurel hill, deriving title to lands from the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, to maintain their settlements, and pay obe- dience to the laws of Pennsylvania, regardless of the Vir- ginia proclamation:t and he invoked the assistance of his assembly. But he despatched Messrs. James Tilghman and Andrew Allen, members of council, to Williamsburg, to re- monstrate with lord Dunmore, and to urge him to refer the subject for the king's decision. But this was refused, as be- neath his lordship's dignity, and, as historians assert, incon- sistent with his purpose.
If, by his measures, lord Dunmore proposed to involve Pennsylvania and Virginia in a civil war, he should have been assured of the support of his council. But that body, well instructed in the nature of the question relative to the boundaries of the two colonies, declined to give their assent for levying troops, for enforcing the asserted rights of Vir- ginia, and moderately but firmly remonstrated with the go- vernor of Pennsylvania, and demanded the release of their citizens, and the submission of their disputes to his majesty.}
The assembly of Pennsylvania having convened,§ pursuant to the governor's call, resolved to take the Westmoreland rangers into pay until September, should it be necessary to retain them so long. One hundred of them were kept under arms until November, when they were disbanded-the fears of Indian inroads in Pennsylvania having subsided.
In Virginia, the Indian war was marked with its accus- tomed atrocity. But it was sustained and repelled by the whites with unwonted spirit. An army of three thousand men was raised with alacrity; and two divisions, the one commanded by the governor in person, the other by colonel Andrew Lewis, marched into the country of the enemy, with the design of administering a severe chastisement, in the de- struction of his crops and villages. The smaller force, about
* 12th Oct. 1774.
+ Votes. Penn. Gaz. . Burk. Penn. Rec. # Burk. § July 18th.
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fifteen hundred men, under colonel Lewis, encountered the enemy with the like number at the confluence of the Great Kanhaway river and the Ohio. The field was hotly contested during the whole day, but was finally abandoned by the In- dians; and a few days' after, colonel Lewis was stopped in the vengeful labour of destroying the Shawanese towns, by an express from the governor, informing him that peace had been granted to the enemy, on condition that their lands on the east side of the Ohio should be for ever ceded to the whites, that their prisoners should be restored, and that hos- tages should be given for the faithful performance of the treaty .*
At the first meeting of the assembly of Pennsylvania after the election of this year, Edward Biddle of Berks county was unanimously elected speaker. Mr. Galloway had filled this re- spectable station for many years, having succeeded Mr. Norris. Mr. Biddle had long represented Berks county, and enjoyed the confidence of the house in an eminent degree, being placed upon the most important committees, and taking an active part in all current business.
In April of this year, Benjamin Chew was commissioned chief justice, and John Lawrence, Thomas Willing, and John Morton, puisne judges of the supreme court.
* Burk.
CHAPTER XX.
Political quiet of the colonies again broken .... India company encouraged to make shipments of tea ···· Means adopted to excite opposition in the colonies .... Resolutions of the as- sembly of Pennsylvania .... Agents appointed for the sale of the tea compelled to resign .... Proceedings in the colonies on the arrival of the tea ships ···· Committees of correspond- ence .... Indignation of the king and ministry .... Ministerial vengeance on Massachusetts ···· Boston port act ···· Subver- sion of the Massachusetts charter .... Law for the trial of offences committed in the colonies ···· Canada act, its charac- ter and effect ···· Spirited conduct of the Bostonians .... Sym- pathy of the colonies with Massachusetts .... Prudent policy of Pennsylvania .... Town meeting .... Provincial convention in Pennsylvania ···· Resolutions thereof .... Frames instruc- tions for the assembly .... Proceedings of the assembly .... Delegates to congress .... Their instructions. ... Meeting of congress at Philadelphia .... Proceedings. ... Resolutions re- lative to non-intercourse ····· Declaration of rights ····· Ad- dresses to the king, to the inhabitants of Great Britain, and continental America ···· Dissolution of congress· ·· · Assembly of Pennsylvania approves of the proceedings of congress .... Appoints delegates to a new congress ···· Mr. Galloway de- clines the appointment of delegate .... His opposition to the proceedings of congress ···· Governor Penn attempts to per- suade the assembly to send a separate address to the king .... Reply of the assembly .... Effect of the proceedings of congress in England ···· Ministry determine to enforce sub- mission ···· Massachusetts declared in rebellion ···· Concilia- tory proposition of lord North .... Rejected in the colonies .... Supported by governor Penn .... Resolutions thereon of the assembly of Pennsylvania ···· Second convention at Philadel- phia .... Proceedings .... Recommend the encouragement of
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manufactures ···· Empower the committee of correspondence to re-assemble the convention ···· Committee of correspond- ence adopts measures of defence ···· Military association formed ···· Assembly provides a military on the recommen- dation of congress ···· Difficulties arising from the scruples of the Quakers in bearing arms .... Their conduct, in reliev- ing the sufferers in New England ···· Quakers claim exemp- tion from bearing arms ·· · Remonstrances against their claim .... Militia system adopted by the assembly. ...
WE have already observed that a state of political quiet throughout the colonies had been induced by the prudence of the European and American parties: the one forbearing to ship, and the other to order tea, subjected to duty. This state, after near three years' continuance, was terminated by the most painful and irritating jealousies, awakened by the impolitic avarice of the British ministry.
The East India company, the boldest, most ambitious, and most successful of commercial associations, had become em- barrassed by lavish expenditure on their territorial acquisi- tions, the peculation of their servants, and by the diminution of their trade, in consequence of the American quarrel. They applied to government for assistance, and proposed that the duty of three pence per pound, payable on teas imported into the colonies, should be abolished, and that six pence per pound should be retained on the exportation. This favourable and honourable mode of removing the causes of the dispute be- tween Great Britain and the provinces, was rejected by the ministry, who proposed and carried a bill, authorizing the company to export their teas altogether free of duty. Lord North, says the English historian,* recommended this mea- sure to parliament with a two-fold view; to relieve the India company, and to improve the revenue. The latter was to be accomplished by tempting the Americans to purchase tea in large quantities, by selling at a low price. But the company was reluctant to ship to the colonies upon its own account;
* Bisset, &c.
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nor would they venture until assured that in no event they should suffer loss.
The export of tea to America under these circumstances was in itself sufficient to arouse opposition. Beside, the oc- casion was eagerly seized by those whose interest would be most promoted by popular resistance. Merchants in England, whose profits were endangered by this operation of the India company, cis-atlantic smugglers, whose trade was threatened with extinction, laboured with the patriot to convince the people of the immutable determination of the parent state to establish her claim to tax the colonies, and for that purpose to compel the sale of the tea in despite of the solemn resolu- tions, and often declared sense of the inhabitants. The cry of endangered liberty was again heard from New Hampshire to Georgia. Town meetings were held in the capitals of the different provinces, and combinations formed to obstruct the sale of the tea. The consignees of the company were gene- rally compelled to relinquish their appointments, and substi- tutes could not be procured.
The conduct of the Pennsylvanians was prompt, bold; yet- temperate. At a meeting of the inhabitants of Philadelphia, held on the eighteenth of October, 1773, it was resolved,
" That the disposal of their own property is the inherent right of freemen: that there can be no property in that which another can, of right, take from us without our consent: that the claim of parliament to tax America, is, in other words, a right to levy contributions on us at pleasure:
"That the duty imposed by parliament on tea, landed in America, is a tax on the Americans, or levying contributions on them without their consent:
" That the express purpose for which the tax is levied on the Americans, namely, for the support of government, adminis- tration of justice, and defence of his majesty's dominions in - America, has a direct tendency to render assemblies useless, and to introduce arbitrary government and slavery :
" That a virtuous and steady opposition to this ministerial plan of governing America, is absolutely necessary to pre- serve even the shadow of liberty, and is a duty which every 61
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freeman in America owes to his country, to himself, and to his posterity:
" That the resolution lately entered into by the East India company to send out their tea to America, subject to the pay- ment of duties on its being landed here, is an open attempt to enforce this ministerial plan, and a violent attack on the liberties of America:
" That it is the duty of every American to oppose this at- tempt:
" That whoever shall directly, or indirectly, countenance this attempt, or in anywise aid or abet, in unloading, receiv- ing, or vending the tea sent, or to be sent out, by the East India company, while it remains subject to the payment of a duty here, is an enemy to his country :
" That a committee be immediately chosen to wait on those gentlemen, who, it is reported, are appointed by the East In- dia company, to receive and sell said tea, and request them, from a regard to their own characters, and the peace and good order of the city and province, immediately to resign their appointment."
The agents of the India company, then resident in the city, some of them cheerfully, others reluctantly, complied with the requests of the town meeting; and Mr. Gilbert Barclay, who arrived with the first tea ship, renounced his commission before a town meeting, to which he was brought for that purpose.
On the approach of the tea ships destined for Philadelphia, the pilots in the river Delaware were warned not to conduct them into harbour; and their. captains, apprized of the fore- going resolutions, deeming it unsafe to land their cargoes, consented to return without making an entry at the custom house; the owners of goods, ordered from England, on board these vessels, cheerfully submitting to the inconvenience of having their merchandise returned to Great Britain. The captains of vessels addressed to New York wisely adopted the same resolution. The tea sent to Charleston was landed and stored, but not offered for sale; and having been placed in damp cellars, became rotten, and was entirely lost. The
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ships designed for Boston entered that port, and the energy of governor Hutchinson prevented their return; but before the tea could be landed, a number of colonists, pursuant to a con- certed plan, dressed as Indians, entered the vessels, and, with- out doing other damage, broke open three hundred and forty- two chests of tea, and emptied their contents into the water. Such was the union of sentiment among the people, and so systematic their opposition, that not a single chest of the car- goes sent out by the East India company was sold for its benefit.
This unanimity was effected by the instrumentality of com- mittees of correspondence, appointed by the several provin- cial legislatures, whose special duty was to obtain the most early and authentic intelligence of such acts of parliament, and proceedings of the ministry, as might affect the colonies, and to maintain a correspondence with the sister provinces on these important subjects. The plan was originally proposed, and the first committee appointed by Virginia on the twelfth of March, 1773, but it was adopted by Massachusetts, Con- necticut, and Rhode Island before September. In that month all these colonies communicated their proceedings to the legislature of Pennsylvania a few days before its dissolution by charter. The appointment of a committee of correspond- ence was therefore referred to the next assembly, by whom the duties of such a committee was imposed on the standing committee of correspondence of the house, consisting of Messrs. Samuel Miles, Thomas Mifflin, William Rodman, Isaac Pearson, and John Morton. *
The conduct of the colonists generally in relation to the tea ships, and especially the daring trespass at Boston, gave great umbrage to the king. In his messaget to parliament he characterized the colonial proceedings as obstructing the commerce of Great Britain, and subversive of her constitu- tion. High and general indignation was excited in that body. His majesty's measures were almost unanimously approved, and pledges were given to secure the due execution of the
* Votes.
+ 7th March, 1774.
-
·
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laws, and the dependence of the colonies. To maintain this dependence, the whole nation seemed disposed to approve and support the severest measures of the ministry. All conside- ration for the just rights of the colonists was lost in the desire to punish their audacity, and, for the moment, the patriot forgot his principles, and the merchant his interest, whilst fired with indignation at the bold resistance to the will of the parent state.
Upon Massachusetts the vials of wrath were first poured out. Before the magnitude of her guilt the offences of other colonies became insignificant. By one act of parliament the port of Boston was closed, and the custom house and its de- pendencies transferred to the town of Salem, until compensa- tion should be made to the East India company, and until the king in council should be satisfied of the restoration of peace and good order in the town of Boston: By another act of parliament the charter of Massachusetts was subverted; the nomination of counsellors, magistrates, and other officers be- ing vested in the crown during the royal pleasure: By a third, persons indicted in that province for any capital offence, if an allegation were made on oath to the governor that such offence had been committed, in aid of the magistracy in the suppression of riots, and that a fair trial could not be had in the province, might be sent to any other colony, or to Great Britain, for trial. A bill was also passed for quartering sol- diers upon the inhabitants. But these penal bills did not pass wholly unopposed in either house of parliament, and in the lords the minority entered their protest against each.
An act passed simultaneously with the foregoing, making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec, excited as much indignation and more dread among the colonies, than the severe measures against Massachusetts. The latter might be palliated as the result of indignation, violent, but not causeless; while the former, vesting the legis- Jative power in a council dependent on the crown, and sub- jecting the whole revenue to the king's disposal, bore strong indications of the resolution of the ministry to take from the colonies generally the right of self-government. Had sym-
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