Issuing the Bills of Credit in those particular Colonies where after a full Enquiry they found such Emissions injurious to the Trade of Great Britain or not calculated to do Justice between Man and Man, and have left Us, as we presume, exonerated from the Burden of this additional Instruction and in full Power over our Laws upon, the Terms of our Charters; and so long as we ask nothing further than is warranted by these, we hope it neither will nor can interfere with the Royal Prerogatives.

"It may be presumed the Representatives of this Province when met in their Assemblies have some valuable Privileges yet left in framing their Laws to do Justice between Man and Man without the aid of an additional Instruction; and we hope it cannot be expected that we should very easily part with those Rights and depend on Royal Instructions over which we are to allow the Governor the Power he is pleased to contend for; and we have no reason to doubt all Men of Understanding and Candour will prefer a regular Course of Laws occasionally suited to the Times, and framed by the Representatives of the People annually chosen and assented to by their Governor, to a Series of Instructions sent for that Purpose from so great a Distance.)

"For our own Part we are fully satisfied and assured that so long as we continue in our Duty and Loyalty to the best of Kings, who has been pleased to declare 'That nothing in this World can give him so much Pleasure as to see (his Subjects) a flourishing and happy People,' and neither claim nor desire other or greater Privileges than those we have a Right to under the Grant of his Royal Predecessors, we can have nothing to fear from the King or a British Parliament; and as it is our Duty to defend these in the best Manuer we are able, in the faithful Discharge of so high a Trust we shall have the Satisfaction of our own Minds, and we hope the Countenance of all good Men, notwithstanding the Governor's Opinion that the Charge made against this Province (among other Charter Provinces) by the Board of Trade is not much to our advantage.

"Upon the whole, your Committee beg leave to add they apprehend it must be not only a Loss of Time to the Representatives, but a great Expence to the Country to prepare Bills for the Governor's Assent if he should be bound by private Instructions from our Proprietaries and should not be able to bring himself to think he could ever be freed from the Obligation of paying a strict obedience to these Instructions until the same should be revoked. That there are such Obligations or Instructions which may possibly have some Weight in the present Dispute, as well as the additional Instruction of 1740, your Committee have good Reason to believe. In order, therefore, to do Justice to our Governor as well as our Constituents, and to save all unnecessary Expence and Loss of Time to both, we submit to the Consideration of the House how far they

may judge it necessary to reccommend this Enquiry to the succeeding Assembly. Submitted to the Correction of the House by

"EVAN MORGAN,
"JOSHUA MORRIS,
"BENJ. FRANKLIN,
"HUGH ROBERTS,

"MAHLON KIRKBRIDE,

"GEORGE ASHBRIDGE,

"JAMES WRIGHT,
"JOHN WRIGHT,
"JOHN ARMSTRONG,
"MOSES STARR,
"JAMES BURNSIDE.

"In Assembly, 11th Sept 1753."

This Report discovers so much Heat and Unreasonableness in the Assembly that the Council thought it would be better to return the Bill with a Negative than amend it; and to recomend some other Method of raising Money.

Whereupon the Governor proposed the following Message, which was read and approved, and sent by the Secretary to the House.

A Message from the Governor to the Assembly.

"Gentlemen:

"As neither my Inclination, the Shortness and Urgency of the Time, nor the Circumstances of my Health, will admit of my engaging in Controversy on the Subject of the Paper Money Bill lately presented for my Approbation, I will cut off all Occasions for that by giving, as I hereby do, an absolute Negative to the Bill.

"You cannot but be sensible, Gentlemen, that the Funds You are now possessed of, which are to continue yet for several Years without Diminution, are greatly more than sufficiont for the Support of Government; and notwithstanding what You are pleased to say of your 'present Deliberations depending in a great Measure upon the Success of your Money Bill,' I promise myself I shall find You much better Subjects to his Majesty, as well as greater Lovers of your Country, than to suffer your Duty to the One or your Zeal for the Preservation of the Other to be governed by a Concurrence or Disagreement of Sentiments between You and Me, upon a Point in which each of us have an independant Right to judge for ourselves.

"If, however, You should be of Opinion that there will be a Necessity to strike a further Sum in the Bills of Credit to defray the Charges of raising Supplies for his Majestie's Service in this Time of imminent Danger, and will create a proper Fund or Funds for sinking the same in a few Years, I will concur with You in

passing a Law for that Purpose, thinking myself sufficiently warranted so to do in cases of real Emergency.

"And now, Gentlemen, I hope you will, upon due Consideration, be of Opinion with me that the chief End of your Bill will be hereby in a great measure answered, as the Sum to be struck and circulated upon this occasion will be such an Addition to your present Currency as probably may be thought sufficient for some

time.

"I have nothing farther to say at present but to thank you for your Acknowledgments of my Care in Indian Affairs, and to press you to hasten your Resolutions upon the Matters recommended in my last Message, that I may as soon as possible be able to acquaint the Governor of Virginia what assistance he may expect from this Province.

"February 19th, 1754."

"JAMES HAMILTON.

At a Council held at Philadelphia Wednesday the 20th of February, 1754.

The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved. The Governor ordered the Secretary to inform the Council that Andrew Montour and John Patten were come from the River Ohio; that he had acquainted the Assembly of it by a verbal Message, and told the House he would lay their Dispatches before the Council this afternoon, and before them to-morrow; that the Transactions with the Indians were contained in a Journal sent by Mr. Croghan, and in a Diary taken by Mr. Patten, which he desired might be read and sent to the House.

His Honour further desired that they would examine Mr. Montour and Mr. Patten very strictly concerning the Distance of the Mouth of Mohongialo, Log's Town, Shannoppin, Weningo, and the other Parts of Ohio that were actually seized or going to be seized by the French, giving it as his Opinion that as the Courses and Distances were set down by Mr. Patten in his Diary, in which Mr. Montour had given him his Assistance, he should be desired to make a Map of his Journey, setting them down truly and reducing them to a strait Line.

Accordingly Mr. Croghan's Journal and Mr. Patten's Diary

were read by the Secretary, and the former ordered to be enter'd in the Minutes of Council, but as Mr. Patten in his Diary had given pretty much the same Account as Mr. Croghan of the publick Business done with the Indians, they did not think it necessary to be transcribed, and agreed with the Governor that a Map should be carefully made by Mr. Patten of the Courses and Distances from the Susquehannah to the Ohio, and reduce to a strait Line; and that all possible Information should be obtained of this Matter, Mr. Peters acquainted them that a Temporary Line was run by Commissioners of Pennsylvania and Maryland, one hundred and forty-four Miles West from this City; that as soon as Mr. Patten should finish his Map he could shew them where a Meridian would strike the Path he went, and from thence the Distance to the Ohio might be easily calculated so as to admit of very little Doubt.

He further informed them that Mr. Weiser had set down the Distances from the Sasquehannah to Log's Town in his Journal of the Year 1748, and Mr. Montour and other Indian Traders had likewise been frequently examined by the Governor and had given an Account of the Distances of that River from Sasquehannah according to the Roads they went. All which might be compared in order to find out the true Distance.

George Croghan's Journal, 1754.

"January 12th, 1754.

"I arrived at Turtle Creek about eight miles from the Forks of Mohongialo, where I was informed by John Frazier, an Indian Trader, that Mr. Washington, who was sent by the Governor of Virginia to the French Camp, was returned. Mr. Washington told Mr. Frazier that he had been very well used by the French General; that after he delivered his Message the General told him his Orders were to take all the English he found on the Ohio, which Orders he was determined to obey, and further told him that the English had no business to trade on the Ohio, for that all the Lands of Ohio belonged to his Master the King of France, all to Alegainay Mountain. Mr. Washington told Mr. Frazier the Fort where he was is very strong, and that they had Abundance of Provisions, but they would not let him see their Magazine; there are about one hundred Soldiers and fifty Workmen at that Fort, and as many more at the Upper Fort, and about fifty Men at Weningo with Jean Coeur; the Rest of their Army went home last Fall, but is to return as soon as possible this Spring; when they return they are to come down to Log's Town in order to build a Fort somewhere thereabouts. This is all I had of Mr. Washington's Journey worth relating to your Honour.

"On the thirteenth I arrived at Shanoppin's Town, where Mr. Montour and Mr. Patten overtook me.

"On the fourteenth we set off to Log's Town, where we found the Indians all drunk; the first Salutation we got was from one of the Shawonese who told Mr. Montour and myself we were Prisoners, before we had time to tell them that their Men that were in Prison at Carolina were released, and that we had two of them in our Company. The Shawonese have been very uneasy about those Men that were in Prison, and had not those Men been released it might have been of very ill consequence at this time; but as soon as they found their Men were released they seem'd all overjoyed, and I believe will prove true to their Alliance.

"On the fifteenth Five Canoes of French came down to Log's Town in Company with the Half King and some more of the Six Nations, in Number an Ensign, a Serjeant, and Fifteen Soldiers.

"On the sixteenth in the morning Mr. Patten took a Walk to where the French had pitched their Tents, and on his returning back by the Officer's Tent he ordered Mr. Patten to be brought in to him, on which Word came to the Town that Mr. Patten was taken Prisoner. Mr. Montour and myself immediately went to where the French was encamped, where we found the French Officer and the Half King in a high Dispute. The Officer told Mr. Montour and Me that he meant no hurt to Mr. Patton, but wondered he should pass backward and forward without calling in. The Indians were all drunk, and seemed very uneasy at the French for stopping Mr. Patten, on which the Officer ordered his Men on board their Canoes and set off to a small Town of the Six Nations about two Miles below the Log's Town, where he intends to stay till the Rest of their Army come down. As to any particulars that pass'd between the Officer and Mr. Patten I refer your Honour to Mr. Patten.

"By a Chickisaw Man who has lived amongst the Shawonese since he was a Lad, and is just returned from the Chickisaw Country where he has been making a Visit to his Friends, we hear that there is a large Body of French at the Falls of Ohio, not less he says than a thousand Men; that they have abundance of Provisions and Powder and Lead with them, and that they are coming up the River to meet the Army from Canada coming down. He says a Canoe with Ten French Men in her came up to the Lower Shawonese Town with him, but on some of the English Traders' threatning to take them they set back that night without telling their Business.

"By a Message sent here from Fort De Troit by the Owendats to the Six Nations, Delawares, and Shawonese, we hear that the Ottoways are gathering together on this Side Lake Erie, several hundreds of them, in order to cutt off the Shawonese at the Lower Shawonese Town. The French and Ottoways offered the Hatchet to the Owendats but they refused to assist them.

"We hear from Scarrooyady that the Twightwees that went last Spring to Canada to counsel with the French were returned last