"fects that they shall have on this purchase, and also be voted out of this Company unless upon. "some extraordinary occasion, such as sickness, "&c. without leave first had and obtained from. "the Committee."

The whole body of citizens capable of bearing arms, was formed into a militia, of which a list of those in each township constituted a section, who did garrison duty in the forts, and took their tour upon guard in regular succession..

The Proprietors were the owners of the whole purchase which extended one hundred and tem miles west of the Susquehanna River, and was. about one hundred miles in width North and South. This territory, or a great portion of it, was laid off into townships, generally five miles square,. and except in the vicinity of the Susquehanna riv◄ er, these townships formed regular ranges, extending East and West through the whole purchase ;they were surveyed into lots of different sizes, of which a certain quantity was called a right or share,. and a less quantity, an half-share. They were sold under various terms and conditions, and the proceeds of the sales went into the treasury of the Company. A town was laid out immediately adjoining the Wyoming Fort, by Col. Durkee, who gave it the united names of Wilkes and Barre, two distinguished members of the British Parliament, conspicuous for their devotion to the rights of the American Colonies.

While these peaceful measures were progressing the General Assembly of Connecticut passed res.

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olutions declaring their intention to support their claim to the lands within the limits of their Charter West of the Province of New York, and appointing Commissioners to negociate a settlement of all disputes with the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and an Act giving full powers to the Commissioners to make a final settlement of all boundaries. and claims in dispute..

The Commissioners, having received their full powers, proceeded to Philadelphia in December 1773, and having produced their credentials, presented to Gov. Penn a letter from Gov. Trumbulk of Connecticut, dated at Lebanon the 22d. of November 1773, in which, among other things, he says:

"The case hath been stated and council of the first eminence in Great Britain consulted on the right and title of the Governor and Company of the Colony of Connecticut to the lands within the limits and bounds of their Patent lying westward of the Province of New York. Notwithstanding the several settlements of the boundaries between the Colony on the East and the Province on the West, made, as well by agreement between the parties, as under the royal authority, and notwithstanding the subsequent Charter to Sir William Penn, their opinion is in favor of the Governor and Company of such lands. The General As-sembly of this Colony, holden at New Haven in October last, resolved to make their claim to those lands, and in a legal manner support the same. Thereupon Col.. Dyer, Doct. Johnson and Mr Strong are duly appointed and commissioned to

treat with your honor and the agent or agents of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania on that subject; and further to consult and agree with you upon such measures as shall tend to preserve peace and good order among the inhabitants on such lands, and prevent mutual violence and contention during the time the boundaries between this Colony and your Province remain undetermined ”

"We do not doubt the compliance of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania to a legal and constitutional decision of the case in question, nor your willingness to agree on proper measures to pre-. serve peace and good order in the mean time.”

The Commissioners at the same time communicated the proceedings of the General Assembly of Connecticut relative to the controversy. The Council of Pennsylvania having taken these matters into consideration, on the 15th. of December,. made a request in writing that the Connecticut Commissioners should state the limits of the Connecticut claim in a written declaration. This was complied with on the same day, in which declaration the Commissioners state that they were directed To negociate rather a mode of obtaining an amicable settlement of the controversy between the Colony and the Proprietaries, than an actual and precise settlement of the boundaries between them. We therefore apprehend that the claim on the part of the Colony of Connecticut is to the purpose of the negociation with which we are charged, sufficiently designated in the Act of Assembly now Defore you; but as we bring with us the most sin

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cere dispositions to effect if possible an amicable settlement of this controversy, that we may give every facility in our power towards the accomplishment of so desirable an object, we will further mention to you that the title to the lands in question on the part of the Colony of Connecticut is -principally founded upon the royal Charter to the Governor and Company of that Colony from his late majesty King Charles the second, dated at Westminster, Anno. 1662, the boundaries of which are thus expressed, viz: [Here follows the des-cription of the boundaries mentioned in the Charter as given in the second chapter.] Which limits and boundaries do include a considerable part of the lands afterwards granted by the crown to Sir William Penn in 1681, and which constitute a part of the Province of Pennsylvania, as now claimed by the Proprietaries; but what part in certain of those lands are so contained within the limits of the prior Patent to Connecticut can now be known only by actually running and ascertaining the lines of that Patent, which we conceive will be best done by Commissioners mutually appointed by the Colony and the honorable Proprietaries, and we on the part of the Colony are now ready to agree to such Commissioners who shall be authorised to execute the same in the most effectual manner as soon as possi Die."

Gov. Penn, in his answer to the letter of the Commissioners, dated Philadelphia, Dec. 17, 1773, after mentioning the uncertainty of the limits of the Connecticut Charter as well as many other

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of the New England grants, and referring to the settlement of the line from the mouth of Mamavonak river to be the western bounds of Connecticut, says: Being clearly of opinion for these and many other reasons that the present claim made by your Government of any lands westward of the Province of New York is without the least foundation, you cannot reasonably expect that I should accept of the proposal of settling and ascertaining the boundaries between the Colony of Connecticut and the Province,' or enter with you into a negociation on that subject, nor can I with any propriety agree to the alternative proposed in the Act of Assembly of your Colony which you have laid before me, namely: That if we cannot agree amicably to ascertain these boundaries, then to join in an application to his majesty to appoint commissioners for that 999 purpose.

Several communications afterwards passed between the Commissioners and Gov. Penn, calculated on their part to pursuade to a negociation and on the part of the Governor to prevent it. To give the whole of this correspondence would swell this chapter beyond its intended size, and would form perhaps, to many persons, an uninteresting detail; but as this was an early and sincere attempt on the part of the Colony and actual settlers, to adjust and settle all disputes amicably, an extract from it is given that the reader may see the manner and spirit with which the correspondence was conducted. The Commissioners, in a long letter to the Governor, dated Dec., 18, 1773, in which the