that I could not mean to disapprove any arrangement which, in your opinion, was essential to the security of N. York or to the dignity of its Govern'; I certainly, however, did mean to convey an opinion that such arrangements ought not to be made until the nature & extent of them have been fully stated, and the King's pleasure signified thereupon. I have read and considered your letter 35 with great attention, and still remain of opinion, that a License given without the King's previous consent and Instruction, to private persons to make purchases from the Indians of above a million of acres of Land, accompanied with an engagement to confirm their title by letters Patent under the Seal of the Colony, was contrary to the plain intention of the Royal Proclam, of 1763. incompatible with the spirit of the King's Instructions, and an improper exercise of the power of granting Lands, vested in the Govr and Council. At the same time, Sir, if I have expressed any thing in my letters to you upon that subject, which conveyed the most distant censure of the motives on which you acted, it was more than I either felt or intended to express, being fully satisfied, that your conduct did not proceed from any unworthy motives, but was the result of an opinion in which you was misled by the practice of some of your predecessors It will not however become me, thinking as I do of this transaction, to advise the King, in the present moment, to permit the Royal Fiat to be given to a Grant of the Lands; nor do I at the same time wish that the persons, who have really and bona fide, incurred expenses upon this occasion, should be discouraged from the hope of a reasonable and just compensation in some shape or other; but I must be better informed of many circumstances before I can judge in what mode it can be given; and it is for this reason, as well as from a consideration of the want of a more ample and precise explanation of the state of the province in general respecting those different claims to lands which have been the source of so much disquiet and disorder, that I have humbly moved the King that you may be directed to come, for a short time to England, & His Maj'* having been graciously pleased to approve thereof. Enclosed I send You the Royal sign Manual for that purpose, not doubting that you will come fully prepared with every information that may be necessary in the consideration of a business that involves such variety of pretensions, and is entangled with such uncommon difficulty. I am to acquaint you however, that it is not expected that you should come away immediately, if either the King's service or your own private affairs should, in your own opinion, make it inconvenient to you. I am ettc. DARTMOUTH. Sir Earl of Dartmouth to Sir William Johnson. [Plantation! General ( 8. P. 0., No. 5. ) CCLIX. ] Whitehall 4,h Aug. 1773 I have received and laid before the King your Dispatches of the 22nd and 30,h of April. . The importance of keeping the Confederacy of the Six Nations firmly attached to us must be obvious to every one, and your attention to that object and to preventing any defection of the Senecas is approved by the King What you state in your letter N* 5 respecting the view with which you endeavored to bring back such of the Six Nations as had separated themselves from the Confederacy, is very full and satisfactory, and from your explanation of your conduct on that occasion, and of the situation to which they had removed, I see clearly the utility and advantage of your plan and am persuaded it will have a good effect What you have said also of the entire acquiescence of the Six Nations in the Plan for establishing a Governm' on the Ohio, has satisfied all my doubts on that head, and I hope the other Tribe will by degrees, be better reconciled to that measure No event can be more desirable or more essential to this Colony, than a generous & equitable plan, for accommodating the disputes concerning the Lands, between Connecticut & Hudson's Rivers, and on Lake Champlain; and it is among my warmest wishes that, the great pains & anxiety which your Lord has been pleased to bestow on these delicate points, may yet be productive of success. My own sentiments I submitted to your Lord's consideration in my dispatch N° 37. and to which after the most deliberate consideration I am obliged to adhere, firmly persuaded, as I am, that nothing but a provision for the New Hampshire occupants out of the waste lands, can afford any tolerable prospect of a settlement to this Branch of the controversy. Emboldened by impunity and under no restraint of Law, the turbulent part of these people, are continually guilty of the most flagrant excesses, which, while they call aloud for the animadversion of Govern', lead this Country earnestly to wish, that whatever expedient to extinguish these troubles, shall be dictated by His Majty" wisdom and Justice, its effects may be immediate and decisive, for until each event, that part of the Country which is the object of the dispute, will continue in a state of Riot, barbarity & confusion. I may venture to assure your Lord that while the New Hampshire Claimants can flatter themselves with the idea even of the possibility of a determination in their favor, they will never submit to Govern', and the authority of the Laws, and if the verdict of the Courts of Law should be against them, nothing less, than compulsion will quiet or remove the Banditti flocking to those parts. It is a misfortune that no suite can be brought fully to comprehend the merits of every case and lay the foundation of a general question which could be decisive, for though all the N. Hampshire claims originate from the same source, and depend on the same authority, yet there are particular circumstances that distinguish them. In some instances the New York grantees have the first title, in others and most generally the N. Hampshire Charters are prior; tho' I am told in some of these cases, a few N. York Patentees are the first occupants. Vol. VIII. 50 Again in some instances the New Hampshire intrusions preceeded the Royal Decree of 1764. though in general they were subsequent. In some they have encroached within 20 miles of Hudson's River, in others, kept at a greater distance, and lastly, the reasons assigned in my Dispatch N° 37. will show the impracticability to collect the numerous New York Proprietors, or obtain their sentiments on any system for a general pacification. These hints I have thought it my duty to suggest, that your Lord may be fully informed of every thing that occurs to me on the occasion. On the principle, My Lord, that the Grants from the Govern' of New Hampshire, or from the Crown of France, or its officers were issued without Lawful authority, and consequently convey no right to the grantees, nothing can be more just and proper, than, that the King should reserve to himself the determination of what is adviseable to be done thereon, and that the Claimants unable to sustain their pretensions, should be referred to His Maj's grace and indulgence. These are sentiments, which I formed after a deliberate consideration of every thing which could throw light upon the subject, and it is with singular satisfaction, that I observe, they so well agree with what your Lord is pleased to express on this occasion. I shall not at present trouble your Lord with any remarks respecting the Indian purchases; I can truly say it is to me a subject of pain and uneasiness, as if any thing wrong (and that innocently) has been done, it is to be ascribed to me alone. I foresee, that the repayment of the purchaser's whole expenses, at a remote day, and out of lands, which they consider as their own, will neither be thought a compensation, nor relieve me from their importunities nor complaints. Permit me therefore to beseech your Lord to give my Dispatch N° 35, which relates expressly to this business a favorable perusal, and to recommend it to His Maj's gracious attention. The very alarming Insults and injuries that have been lately offered by the N. Hampshire Rioters to the persons and Properties of His Maju'* subjects settled under titles from this Province, on the East side of Lake Champlain, having compelled this Govern' to seek the protection of the Military power, in aid of the Civil authority. I am to request your assistance, agreable to the advice given me yesterday by His Maj Council set forth in the Extract of the Minutes of the Council Board, which I have the honor herewith to inclose to you. I am with much respect and esteem Sir Your most obedient servant Wm TRYON. Sir, Major-General Haldimand to Governor Tryon. [New-York Papers (8. P. O.) CLXV.] New York. 1 Sept 1773. I have just received the honor of your letter of this day's date, with the minutes of Council therewith sent, on which I beg to make the following observations. That in the present circumstances of affairs in America, it appears to me of a dangerous tendency to employ Regular Troops, where there are Militia Laws, and where the Civil Magistrate can at any time call upon its trained Inhabitants to aid and assist them in the performance of their office, and the execution of the Laws in force against Rioters, and for the protection of the lives and properties of His Majesty's subjects. That the idea, that a few lawless Vagabonds, can prevail in such a Govern' as that of New York, as to oblige its Govr to have recourse to the Regular Troops to suppress them, appears to me to carry with it such reflection of weakness as I am affraid would be attended with bad consequences, and rendered the authority of the Civil Magistrate when not supported by the Troops, contemptible to the Inhabitants. I have further to observe that Crown Point, being entirely destroyed and unprovided for the quartering of Troops, and Tieonderoga, being in a most ruinous state; such Troops as might be sent thither, would not be able to stay a sufficient time at those posts to render them of much utility. If however you persist in your request and think it absolutely necessary to send troops thither, I beg to know the number of Troops you will think necessary, & when they may be wanted. You will also please to provide for the expenses that may attend their transportation ettc to these Posts. 1 have the honor to be with the greatest esteem and respect—Sir—Your ettc Fred: Haldimand. Sir William Johnson to the Earl of Dartmouth. [Plantations General (S. P. O., No. 6) OCLIX.] Johnson Hall Sep 22d 1773 My Lord My late ill state of Health having rendered it necessary that I should go the Sea Side, in order to make use of the Sea Water, It was not sooner in my power to say any thing material, to yr Lordship on the subject of your dispatch of April last (N° 4) especially as I wrote two letters to your Lordship during that month (No 4 & 5) Amongst other particulars of intelligence since my last transmitted by my Deputy to the Southward and from the Indians, I find that a certain Captain Bullet with a large number of * Captain Thomas Bcxlit, of Virginia, the founder of the city of Louisville, Ky., was a man of great energy and enterprise. He served under Washington on the frontier, and was afterwards in the battle which resulted in Braddock's defeat. Having been sent down the Ohio in 1773, by Governor Dunmore, to make surveys, he landed and built the first cabin on the site of the present city of Louisville. The knowledge acquired of the country in this exploration confirmed him in his determination to settle in it, and he accordingly hastened back to his friends to procure supplies and to induce them to accompany him to his new home. But he was unfortunately prevented from accomplishing his purpose by sickness and sudden death. Marshall's Hittory of Kentueky, L, 31.—ED. People from Virginia are gone down the Ohio beyond the Limits of the proposed Government, with authority (as is said) to survey and lay out Lands there, which are to be forthwith Patented this has a good deal alarmed the Indians who sent Six Shawanese from Sioto to Pittsburgh with a message thereupon a copy of which is herewith enclosed. A little before these Messengers were dispatched from Sioto, Two Indians returned to that Town from the Arkansas and Dussesses where they had been on public business, who were called to a meeting by some Spaniards and French who delivered them several Speeches, setting forth the danger all their Nations were in from the designs of the English, who they said had it in view to possess all their Country. Custalaga Cheif of the Delawares with a hundred of his Nation have retired on invitation below the falls of Ohioto,1 the Wabash Indians, there are still eight hundred Delawares & Munsies at their former places of residence about Ohio, but many of them talk of removing lower down, with a view as I understand & have reason to beleive, of joining the other Tribes and becoming more formidable to us—The Indians in April last at Sioto, returned my Deputy for answer to the information I gave them of His Majestys Intentions to form a Colony on Ohio, and of the evacuating of Fort Pitt, that they were very thankfull for the whole they had thereof and hoped that the person appointed to govern there would prove a wise man and restrain the abuses in Trade & irregularities committed by the Frontier Inhabitants, which continued to cause much discontentm' amongst them. After this, they proposed to hold conferences with the Ouabache Indians and Cherokees &c in July, & then if the Season would admit of it, purposed to come to a congress with me whieh they could not do earlier as my dispatches and Belts had been unluckily delayed at Fort Pitt, so long that they could not meet me at the time appointed The Shawanese on the whole appear at present the most attentive to the Six Nations Councils of any to the Southward, but they are much alarmed at the numbers who go from Virginia &0" in pursuit of new settlements leaving large Tracts of Country unsettled behind them, and who I am sorry to find can not be restrained being numerous, & remote from the influence and Seats of Government, and the old claims of Virginia conspiring to encourage them, so long as they confine themselves within the ceded Tract. The Indians can be satisfied that they have little cause of complaint, & this was one principal reason for the extent of the purchase but these People are not to be confined by any Boundaries or Limits, and the rest of their conduct is alike disorderly, so that Robberries & Murders are & will be committed, and I wish it may go no farther, as it assuredly would have done long since, had I not thrown difficulties in the way of their scheme for a general alliance. These settlers generally set out with a general Prejudice against all Indians and the young Indian Warriors or Hunters are too often inclined to retaliate, a Party of the latter from the upper Senecas very lately killed four French men in a Birch Canoe on Lake Ontario, they made light of it till they were told that these men were British Subjects and under our protection, but I have not as yet received the particulars when I do, I shall take the Steps proper on that occasion, most of these evils result from the rapid intrusion on Lands, and the unrestrained irregularities in Trade, to which I see no prospect of a period, from any steps that are likely to be taken in the Colonies. During my absence from this place Mr Richard Shuckburgh Secret" for Indian affairs died suddenly I mentioned in a letter my desire to be permitted to recommend to that office on |