XI. thirteenth of March, by a counter proclamation from Gov- CHAP. ernor Wentworth, declaring that the grant to the duke of York was void, and that the grantees should be encouraged 1764. in the possession of their lands. Meanwhile, the assembly, through their agent Mr. Charles, laid the question in dispute before the board of trade, setting forth in their petition, "that it would be greatly to the advantage of the people settled on those lands to be annexed to New York." The result was, that on the twentieth of July, 1764, an order was made by the king in council, declaring "the western banks of Connecticut river, from where it enters the province of Massachusetts bay, as far north as the forty-fifth degree of latitude, to be the boundary line, between the two provinces of New Hampshire and New York." This decision of the crown was received by the latter province in September, with great satisfaction. Had the matter been allowed to rest here, all would have been well; Governor Wentworth in obedience to the royal authority, ceased issuing patents westward of the Connecticut river; and those who had settled upon the grants, were indifferent as to which government received their allegiance, provided they could cultivate their lands in quietness. No sooner however, was this decision received, than the government of New York chose to interpret the words to be as referring to past time, and construed them as a virtual admission that the Connecticut river always had been the eastern boundary of its province. It therefore declared that the grants from Wentworth were invalid, and insisted that the grantees either should surrender or repurchase the lands upon which they had settled and in many instances improved. To this unjust demand the majority of the settlers refused to accede. Notwithstanding which the governor of New York regranted their lands anew to others, who forthwith brought ejectment suits against them and obtained judgments at the courts of Albany. All attempts however, to enforce these judgments thus obtained, were met by the settlers CHAP. With a spirited resistance. The civil officers sent to eject XI. them "were seized by the people, and severely chastised 1764. with twigs of the wilderness"; and a proclamation from Governor Tryon offering a reward of one hundred and fifty pounds for the apprehension of Ethan Allen, the principal offender, was met by a burlesque proclamation from the latter, offering five pounds for the attorney general of the colony of New York. Thus arose that fierce controversy between the hardy Green Mountain Boys and the authorities of New York, which lasting with great violence for twenty-six years, was finally terminated by the long disputed New Hampshire grants being, in 1791, received into the federal union as the state of Vermont.1 The effect of Colonel Bradstreet's ill-starred expedition was in a measure counteracted by the success of the one under Colonel Bouquet. In the early part of October, that officer left Fort Pitt with one thousand Provincials and five hundred regulars, and after a march of ten days through a trackless wilderness, encamped on the banks of the Muskingum near the deserted wigwams of a Tuscarora village, whose inhabitants had fled at his approach. The advance of Colonel Bouquet into the very heart of their country, filled the Shawanese and Delawares with alarm. Their experience at Bushy Run the previous year, had taught them that the man with whom they now had to deal, was made of different stuff from the officer whom they had so lately cajoled on the shores of Lake Erie. They felt that their temporizing policy would no longer answer, and that the time had come when they must either submit or be exterminated. Two men, who had been seized by the Delawares on their way to Bradstreet with letters from Bouquet, were therefore now brought into the camp charged with a message to the effect that their chiefs would soon come and conclude a treaty of 1 Belknap. Allen's Narrative. Slade's Vermont State Papers. XI. peace. Accordingly, a few days after, a deputation of the CHAP. head chiefs of the Delawares, Shawanese, and a Seneca. tribe settled on the Ohio, made their appearance at the 1764. camp, bringing with them eighteen of their captives. The remaining prisoners, they said, should be brought in as soon as they could be collected. In his reply to their speech, in which the whole responsibility of their past conduct was thrown upon the western nations, Bouquet was stern, and unyielding. He told them plainly that their behavior was without excuse, and that he saw through all their subterfuges. He then entered into a relation of their past treachery and their numerous murders of the traders, while they were yet in a state of professed peace; their attacking Fort Pitt, and those other posts that had been built with their permission; and their black treachery in the massacre of those garrisons that had surrendered. They had refused, moreover, to attend the meeting at Niagara in July, and while their former allies, the Ottawas, Ojibwas, and Wyandots, were suing for peace, they, the most relentless and inhuman of savages, were committing their horrid butcheries upon the frontiers. They were then given to understand, that it would be owing entirely to the clemency of the English, if their nations were not utterly exterminated, and that their treatment in future would depend solely upon their behavior. "I now," concluded he, "give you twelve days from this date to deliver into my hands all the prisoners in your possession, without exception; Englishmen, Frenchmen, women and children; whether adopted into your tribes, married or living among you under any denomination or pretense whatever. And you are to furnish these with clothing, provision, and horses, to carry them to Fort Pitt. When you have fully complied with these conditions, you shall then know on what terms you may obtain the peace you sue for." This serious rebuke, and the determined character of the man who now addressed them, were sufficient. The XI. CHAP. chiefs now really anxious to conciliate, hastened to send to Bouquet their prisoners. Every day added a few more 1764. to the number, until in a short time there were nearly two hundred in the camp. A few captives were still among the Indians, but as they belonged to warriors away from their homes and could not be brought in without their permission, the chiefs delivered up some of their own people as hostages for their future surrender. Then and not till then, did Bouquet relax the sternness which he had hitherto purposely assumed in his dealings with the rebellious chieftains. But now convinced of their sincerity, he consented to hold friendly communications with them. The answer of the colonel to their request for peace was right manly, and spoke the true soldier. "The king, my master," said he, "has commissioned me, not to make treaties for him, but to fight his battles; and though I now offer you peace, it is not in my power to settle its precise terms and conditions. For this, I refer you to Sir William Johnson, his majesty's agent and supèrintendent for Indian affairs, who will settle with you the articles of peace and determine every thing in relation to trade." They were then required to deliver up additional hostages for their good faith, and as a pledge that they would send to the superintendent a deputation of their chiefs, who should be fully authorized to treat in behalf of their nation. These conditions, which, it will hereafter appear, were faithfully performed, were readily agreed to and the required hostages at once given. The main objects of the expedition having been thus successfully accomplished, Colonel Bouquet, with two hundred of the rescued captives and fourteen hostages, returned to Fort Pitt on the twenty-eighth of November, to receive from his sovereign the appointment of brigadier, and the command of the southern department.1 1 Parkman. Manuscript letter Johnson to Lieut. Col. Eyre 17 Dec. 1764. Johnson to the lords of trade 26 Dec. 1764. |