At a Council held at Philadelphia, the 24th January, 1756. Robert Strettell, Benjamin Shoemaker, Joseph Turner, PRESENT: Benjamin Chew, Thomas Cadwalader, Esquires. A Letter from the Governor to the Council dated 21st Instant, from Lancaster was read and ordered to be entered, as follows: "Gentlemen "I am at last got to this Town, having in Conjunction with the Commissioners done every thing we thought would contribute towards the Defence of the Western Frontier, and I am well assured if the Orders we have given are carried into Execution, and the Men employed in that Quarter do their duty, the Inhabitants will be for the future secured against any small scalping Parties. The Force on the West Side of Susquehannah consist of three hundred Men, who are divided into four Companies, and are to take Post in four Forts that are to form a Line from the Sugar Cabin to Matchitongo, within about twelve Miles of Sasquehannah; three of these Forts are already in hand, and I hope will soon be finished, the fourth I have ordered to be laid out as soon as possible, and expect it will be complete in about ten days. What makes me think the higher of the Western Force than I do of those employed to the Northward, is, that they are all regularly inlisted in the King's Service for a certain Term, and the Officers were chose by the Govern ment, and not by themselves. "Mr. Peters has been very much out of order ever since we got to Carlisle, with a sore throat, but is very much recovered and now on his way hither; was he come up, I would send you the Minutes of what passed with the Indians, but as I have not the Papers, I can only say that the few that met me gave warm Assurances of their Affection, and offered to assist me against the French, but could not undertake to act against our Indian Enemies, till they knew what the Six Nations would do, who they imagined in consequence of the Messages sent them in behalf of this Province, would chastise the Shawonese and Delawares for their Behaviour. "They strongly and repeatedly requested that we would build a Fort at Shamokin, which I have given them reason to expect, and hope that measures will be resolved on and steps taken to carry it into Execution before we return, but this matter for Reasons that I shall communicate when I have the Pleasure to see you, must be kept secret. I propose to go from hence to Reading, when I have seen some Indians that live on the Manor of Connestogoe, and given them Assurances of the Protection of the Government while they behave in such a manner as to deserve it, But what stay I shall make there, or where I shall go from thence, I cannot at present say, as it depends upon the Circumstances in which I find the Northern Frontier. "I am, Gentlemen, Your most faithful and obedient humble Servant, "Lancaster, Jan. 21, 1756. "To the Gentlemen of the Council." "ROBT. II. MORRIS. The Council in the Absence of his Honour, the Governor, taking into Consideration the Affair of the recruiting Officers beginning to enlist indented Servants, and the Clammors and Commotions raised among the Inhabitants on that occasion, unanimously agreed to send the following Letter by Express to his Excellency General Shirley, to acquaint him therewith, and entreat his immediate Interposition and Orders to the Recruiting Officers here to return the Servants already enlisted to their Masters, and to forbid their enlisting any more for the future, which Letter was sent accordingly by Express to New York. A Letter to his Excellency General Shirley from the President of the Council, in these words: "Honoured Sir "His Honour Governor Morris being at this time on a Tour to the Back parts of this Province, his Council having desired me to apply to you in an affair, which for some Days past has thrown the Inhabitants of this City into the greatest Consternation, and if a Timely Stop is not put to it will raise most violent Commotions throughout every Part of the Province. The officers recruiting here had carefully avoided enlisting indented Servants in Obedience to the kind Orders General Braddock in his Life Time, and your Excellency since the Command of his Majesty's Forces was deservedly conferred upon you, had given them to that Purpose till about three days ago, when their Sergeants on beating up for Voluntiers publicly invited all Servants to enlist in his Majesty's Service, and declared that they had Instructions from their superior Officers to do so. Contentions immediately ensued between the Masters of great Numbers of Servants that enlisted and the Sergeants and their recruiting Parties, and no one can say where it would have ended, if Captain Hobson and the rest of the recruiting Officers, on the Interposition and Request of some of the Magistrates, had not forbid their Sergeants taking any more Servants till your Excellency's Pleasure could be known upon the Occasion. I need not remonstrate to you, who is so well acquainted with the Circumstances of this province, and knows every kind of Business here, as well among the Tradesmen and Mechanics as the Planters and Farmers, is chiefly carried on and supported by the Labour of indented Servants, nor what Distress must be brought on the Province in general if the Inhabitants are deprived of the only means of subsisting their Families and contributing their reasonable Quota towards any future Expedition his Majesty may set on Foot on this Continent against his Enemies, nor how much his Service in general will be affected and prejudiced by the Deficiency in the Quantities of Grain and other Provisions usually raised in, and I presume expected to be supplied from this Province, that must necessarily follow our Farmers losing so many of their Servants, especially now after the Loss of the Produce of so much of the Lands in our back Counties, which are laid waste and deserted by the terrible Slaughter and Havock made amongst the Inhabitants there by the Indians. When I consider the irreparable Calamities that a Measure of this sort will entail on great Numbers of the Inhabitants of this Infant and late flourishing Colony, and call to mind your known Humanity and Regard for Justice, I cannot doubt but you will be pleased to give Orders to your Officers recruiting here against enlisting indented Servants, and for the restoring to their Masters such as are now detained from them, and am, "Your Excellency's most humble Servant, "Philadelphia, January 24th, 1756." "Presid" of the Council. At a Council held at Philadelphia, Thursday, 29th January, 1756. PRESENT: The Honourable ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS, Esquire, Lieu tenant Governor. Robert Strettell, Benjamin Chew, Benjamin Shoemaker, Lynford Lardner, William Logan, John Mifflin, Esquires. Joseph Turner, Thomas Cadwalader, Richard Peters, The Several Minutes of the Proceedings of the Council, in the Governor's Absence, being now read and approved by his Honour, he directed that they should be entered in their Order of Dates. The Governor communicated to the Council a full and particular Account of his Conferences and Proceedings with the few Indians who met him at the proposed Indian Treaty at Harris' Ferry and Carlisle, and with the Conestogoe Indians at Lancaster, and of the Measures he had taken with the Commissioners for defending the Province against the Incursions and Ravages of the Indians, &c., by erecting Forts or Block Houses at divers proper Places on or near the Frontier of the settled Parts of the Province, and hiring several Companies under proper Officers for the garrisoning them, &c., with the several other material Transactions of his late Journey, and then the Minutes of the Indian Treaty, &c., were read, with all which the Gentlemen of the Council, appeared well pleased, and unanimously declared their approbation, and they were ordered to be entered as follows: "At a Meeting of the Governor and Commissioners at Reading, Friday the 2nd January, 1756. PRESENT: "The Honourable ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor. "The Governor and Commissioners not thinking it right to come to a Determination on several important matters that had been under their Consideration, until it could be known what Number of Indians would come to the proposed Treaty, and with what Dispositions, it was agreed to proceed immediately to hold that Treaty, and as at Harris' there was but one single House and few Conveniences, Mr. Weiser was called in and asked if it might not be better to hold it at Carlisle, where all the Business of the County might be done at the same Time, and proper entertainment provided as well, for the Governor and his Company, and for the Indians should they prove numerous. "Mr. Weiser in answer said, it was his Opinion, that such of the Sasquehannah Indians as were true to us, had removed either among the Six Nations, or to the uppermost Branches of Sasquehannah, and that the rest, headed perhaps by a few French, and some of the Shawonese and Delawares from Ohio, were the Indians now perpetrating the Mischiefs in Northampton County, and as these were begun before Mr. Dupui and his Company were set out for the Susquehannah, they would be thereby prevented from going, and that tho' Hugh Crawford, the Indian Trader, had at his Instance undertaken to carry the Governor's Invitation to the Wyomink Indians by the way of Sasquehannah, and to get Indians at Aucquick go with him as a Safeguard, yet having heard nothing of him, he was apprehensive that he either was not gone or had no Success. He added further that most of the Indians who used to be at Harris' were gone to Mr. Croghan's at Aucquick, and none that he knew of remained there except the Old Belt and an Indian called, by reason he was lame, the Broken Thigh. For these Reasons he doubted whether any Number of Indians would come to Harris', and as Carlisle was nearer to Aucquick and Mr. Croghan might have Notice by Express to attend there and bring the Indians along with him, he thought Carlisle the better place. to "And accordingly an Express was dispatched to Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Croghan, to inform them that the Governor and Commissioners wou'd set out on Monday for Carlisle, and hold the Treaty there instead of Harris', and desired everything necessary might be prepared against they came there and the Indians brought to Town." "At a Council held at the House of Mr. John Harris, on Sasquehannah, in Pextany Township, Lancaster County, on Thursday the 8th January, 1756. "PRESENT: "The Honourable ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor. A Seneca. A Mohock. "Two Indians of the Six Nations, called "The Belt of Wampum, "The Broken Thigh, "Conrad Weiser, Esquire, Interpreter. "The Governor finding here only two Indians and their Families, he sent for them into Council and spoke as follows: "Brethren: "I thank you for staying here. You see that agreeably to my message I am come at the Time appointed, but I find no other In dians here than you two, and indeed I expect no more, as I believe my Messengers were prevented going to Wyomink by the Ravages of the Indians which began in their Neighbourhood at the Time they were preparing to set out on their Journey. "Brethren : "The publick Business requires my presence at Carlisle where I am now going, and I invite you to go along with me. If you incline to take any of your Families with you I shall readily agree to it, and provide a Carriage for them and you.' "A String. "To this the Belt replied: "Brethren : "I thank you for sending for us to Council, and for your kind Speech. What you have said is very agreeable. "Brethren: "The sky is dark all around us. The Mischiefs done to you I consider as done to the Six Nations, and am sorry for what has |