more reason every day from talking with the Indians to be confirmed in this Suspicion. I am inclined to believe that this purchase was publicly consented to at Albany, some of the Six Nations are disgusted at it, and others repent their consenting to it, and that part of them do underhand connive at the Disturbance between the Susquehannah Indians and the Province of Pensilvania whose raising forces and building Forts on the Susquehana, tho' it hath very plausible pretences is at the bottom bad policy and really intended to secure Lands which it would be more for the true interest of the community to give up at least for the present. I conceive the most effectual method of producing tranquility to that province. would be a voluntary and open surrender of that Deed of Sale, fix with the Indians in the best manner they can the Bounds for their Settlements and make them Guarantees to it. "The Proprietors are pleased to introduce their observations with a challenge to Sir William Johnson and all the World to shew any one Instance of their Conduct that has given dissatisfaction to the Six Nations and which they say those Nations will readily acknowledge in any free Conference." Tho' the real Intent of the above paragraph from Sir William Johnson's letter was, and its obvious meaning is, to assign a cause to which he suspected the Indians' Hostilities in Pensilvania were in a great measure owing. Yet upon Sir William Johnson saying he was inclined to believe &ca The Proprietors are pleased to sound this unprovoked challenge, which thô to answer as well as to have given is departing from the main argument, Yet Sir William Johnson begs leave to say something in answer to it. First, He will now presume to assert that from many Private conversations he hath hadd with severall of the Chiefs of the Six Nations, they are not satisfied with the conduct of the Government of Pensilvania in General, nor with the aforesaid purchase in particular. Secondly, He will adduce some facts public and upon Record in support of the above assertion. At the Treaty of Lancaster in the year 1744 the Six Nations complained to Governour Thomas that the Connoge Indians had not been satisfied for their Lands. The Gouvernour promised redress. In the yeare 1749 the Six Nations renewed the aforesaid Complaint to Governor Hamilton. (NB. It doth not appear upon Record that the Connoge Indians are to this day satisfied.) In the year 1750 Connageriwa a Sachim of the Six Nations living on the Ohio came at the head of a Deputation from thence to Mr. Croghan's house, and told Mr. Peters he was sent down from Ohio to enquire about the purchase they had heard the Governour had made on the East side of the Susquehannah the year before, from the Onondaga Council and said they were entitled to part of the goods paid for those Lands as well as the Onondaga Council, but they had received no part. That they were come down to desire the Gouvernour to purchase no more Lands without giving them notice and desired the Gouvernour might send that Belt of Wampum to the Onondaga Council and let them know what the Ohio Indians had said on this head. Gave a large belt. The Indians of the Six Nations who were settled on the Ohio were so dissatisfied with the Albany purchase made by the Proprietary Agents and saw such bad consequences arising from it that they left the Ohio and returned to their own Country. In a Speech of the Six Nations at a publick meeting with Sir William Johnson on the 3d July 1755 They said BROTHER, You desire us to unite and live together and draw all our allies near us, but we shall have no land left either for ourselves or them, for your people when they buy a small piece of land of us, by stealing they make it large. We desire such things may not be done and that your people may not be suffered to buy any more of our lands. Sometimes its bought of two men, who are not the proper owners of it. The land which reaches down from Oswego to Schahandowana (Wyoming) we beg may not be settled by Christians. The Governour of Pensilvania bought a whole track and only paid for half, and desire you will let him know that we will not part with the other half but keep it. These things makes us constantly uneasie in our minds, and we desire you will take care that we may keep our land for ourselves. At a Meeting between Governour Denny George Croghan Esqr Sir William Johnson's Deputy, and sundrey Six Nations and other Indians held at Lancaster in May 1757, a coppy of the proceedings of which lays before the Board of Trade. There is a speech of the Six Nations bearing date Thursday 19th May from the whole letter and speech of which it appears that the Six Nations have been, and are very far from that satisfaction of mind, with the conduct of the Province of Pensilvania which the Proprietors boast of and found their challenge upon. The Proprietors are further pleased to add to their challenge this assertion, that the Six Nations will readily acknowledge the truth of it in any free conference. As the truth of this assertion can depend only upon a Contingent event, Sir William Johnson begs leave to be of a very different opinion, and from a variety of circumstances is well perswaded the Six Nations never will be reconciled to the conduct of the Proprietors, their Deputies and Agents unless the deed of the Albany purchase be surrendered and the claims founded thereupon in a great measure given up. The Proprietors say they cannot conceive that the last purchase made of land to the Westward of Susquehanna could possibly be the Cause of the hostilities committed by the Indians living on that River &ca. Sir William Johnson gave it as his opinion that the hostilities which Pensilvania had suffered from some of the Indians living on the Susquehanna did in some measure arise from the large purchase made by the Governour two years ago. This is the point to be proved and more than this it is apprehended will be proved by the following Quotations from authentick Records & Papers. "Before the year 1742 the Delaware Indians complained that they were defrauded out of some lands or not paid for them. "It is well known that the purchase made at Albany in 1754 gave a great uneasiness to the Susquehanna Indians and from the time the County Surveyor began to survey Juniatta, and up the Susquehana: The Delewars, Shawanese and Nanticokes then settled on the River began to remove farther back, some to Tirjahoga some to Ohio. “The Ohio Indians at a Meeting with Mr Wiser (the Pensilvania Interpreter) at Aughwick, after the defeat of Col° Washington asked Mr Wiser how those lands came to be sold. He said in answer that the Six Nations had only made over their right of sale, and taken an earnest piece, and that when the lands came to be settled, that they should receive a consideration for them. At the same time John Schecelany, a Delaware Indian, burned some houses that were built on Penns creek (below Shamokin on the West side) and said there should be no plantations made on their hunting grounds, and all the Indians at Shamokin seemed very uneasie, and indeed obliged the Surveyor to come away, and quit surveying." In the Spring of 1756. Gouvernour Morris sent several messages with Belts and strings of Wampum by an Onondaga Indian to the Five Nations, amongst which is the following just and remarkable Confession. "That he found by woful experience that making purchases of Lands was the cause of much blood having been shed, he was determined therefore to buy no more." As a Confirmation of Sir William Johnsons said opinion he refers himself to the following extract from Margaret Williams deposition who was a prisoner amongst the Delaware Indians, sworn before him the 8 h day of September 1756. "The said Margaret says she often heard the Indians say and declare most solemnly they never would leave off killing the English as long as there was an Englishman living on their lands that they were determined to drive them all off their lands, naming Minisinck almost to the North River East, (in the provinces of New York & Jersey) also Bethlehem and the lands in parallel to it West which the English cheated them out of." In further support of his opinion Sir William Johnson refers himself to the Treaty Governour Denny held with Tedinscung the Delaware Chief at Easton last autumn, and which is before the Board of Trade Sir William Johnson also refers himself to the Extract from a Speech of the Six Nations to Govr Denny and Mr Croghan (before mentioned in these Remarks) in answer to their earnest call upon the Six Nations to assign if they knew the Cause of the hostilities and Discontents of the Susquehana Indians. The Indian proceedings this Summer which past at Easton between Governor Denny, Mr Croghan & the sundry Indians therein mentioned, & which Sir William Johnson transmits herewith to the Right Honorable the Lords of Trade puts beyond dispute and demonstrates the Truth of what Sir William Johnson gave as his opinion in his aforesaid letter to the Lords of Trade and he apprehends it doth very fully evidence the conclusions of belief he then drew from that opinion. Lastly Sir William Johnson refers himself to the following Extract from the Examination of John Morris of Lancaster County, who was taken by, and made his escape from, the Delaware Indians sworn before him 27th August 1757. The Examinant says he often heard the Delawares say that the reason of their quarrelling with and killing the English in that part of the country was on account of their lands which the people of Pensilvania Government cheated them out of, and drove them from their settlement at Shamokin by crowding upon them, and by that means spoiled their hunting and that the people of Minisinck used to make the Indians always drunk whenever they traded with them and then cheated them out of their furs and skins, also wronged them with regard to their lands. This he has heard from many of the chief and oldest men amongst them both in the English and Delaware Language which he sufficiently understands The Proprietors say, that as the Six Nations are not well satisfied with the sale of those lands on the Ohio, they are willing to waive that part of the Treaty provided &ca. As Sir William Johnson has never seen the deed of sale for the Albany purchase, he cannot to his knowledge tell how far the purchase extends, but he hath in his possession a Report of several Indian Transactions, relative to the Government of Pensilvania signed by George Croghan Esqr who was for several years employed as an Indian Agent by that Government, in which Report Mr Croghan says as follows: "I never understood from any of the Six Nations that they deemed the Lands west of the Susquehana as a purchase, but rather as a deed of Trust and rec'd 1000 Dollars as an Earnest Price and looked on it that when the lands came to be settled they should receive the Consideration and the Commissioners who were sent from Pensilvania to make that purchase at Albany in 1754, vizt Mr Norris & Mr Peters, with the Interpreter Mr Wiser, have repeatedly acknowledged to me, that the Land West of Allegany Mountains cross to Lake Erie was included in the deed of 1754, that it was neither purchased nor paid for, and which will appear by a private Conference in Mr. Peter's hand at the time of signing." Certainly the proprietors are not apprized of the fact here asserted, or they would not have made an offer to relinquish Land they have never purchased, nor allowed it to have been put in a deed of sale. In answer to Sir William Johnson's opinion about the Government of Pensilvania raising Forces and building Forts on the Susquehanna River "The Proprietors say this Insinuation is without any sort of Foundation, as it never would have been attempted had not the Chiefs of the Indians living on the Susquehannah and Dalaware River on their own Motion entirely desired they should be built at Shamokin and near Wyoming for their own security. "In this the Proprietors must certainly be misinformed for none of the Indians on Susquehanna or Delaware ever requested any Forts to be built there. Indeed after the defeat of General Braddock, Scarayade, Cayseuntenego, and two or three more Ohio Indians who had left their country on the first approach of the French in the year 1753 did desire the Government of Pensilva to build a Fort at Shamokin, in order to protect their interest with the Susquehanna Indians, but the request of those four or five dispossessed Indians can never be fairly construed as an authority of application from the Six Nations, or any other Bodies of Indians. However this request for a Fort was not complied with at that time." In a Message which Sir William Johnson received the 23d May 1756 from the Onondaga Indians they say as follows: "Tell our Brother farther that since we took the hatchet out of the hands of the Delaware and Shawanese they have told us there is an army of the English coming against them, (they mean the Provincial Troops of Pensilvania under Colonel Clapham) and that they think it unreasonable and unnatural for us to hold them in our arms, and preventing them defending themselves when People are just on their backs to destroy them. "We are informed the English are building a Fort at Shamokin. We can't comprehend the method of making War which is made use of by our Brethren the English. When we go to war our manner is to destroy a Nation and there's an End of it. But the English chiefly regard building Forts which looks as if their only scheme was to take possession of the lands." Here is an evident Proof of the jealousy which the Pensilvania levies and Fort building occasioned and a strong hint of the Ends intended by them, as it stood in the minds of the Indians. Sir William Johnson well knowing how extremely tender the Indians in general are, with regard to Forts, near to their country or hunting grounds and naturally judging a Body of Armed Men, to support as it were the building of those, at a time, and in places where he had many reasons to believe the neighbouring Indians (as it hath since fully appeared) were dissatisfied with the Government on the score of Lands, and Encroaching by their purchases on their hunting grounds, and crowding too near upon them by their extended settlements he judged this conduct in the Government of Pensilvania was impolitick, and he must beg leave to be still of the same opinion, and as he looked upon those proceedings to be contrary to the true interest of the Community, he did suspect they were pushed forward upon other motives. And to conclude, unless the Province of Pensilvania is both able and willing to maintaln their land pretensions by force of Arms against the Indians, Sir William Johnson hath not altered his opinion but doth with yet stronger degree of conviction than formerly, humbly offer his conception of the matter in the same words as before. Namely, " that the most effectual method of producing tranquility to that Province would be a Voluntary and open Surrender of that Deed of Sale, to fix with the Indians in the best manner they can, the bounds for their settlements, and make them Guaranties to it." NOTE-See further on this subject, The Susquehannah Title Stated and Examined in a Series of Numbers first published in the Western Star and now Re-published, &c Catskill; by Mackay Croswell. 1796. |