themselves into certain destruction, but to leave their complaints to God and the authorities.

As the second point, he considered it was unadvisable for them to go armed into Philadelphia, as it might produce a great and distressing massacre. They should sooner send some of their most reasonable people as deputies, unarmed, to the Governor in the city, and in that manner, with God's assistance, they would get their complaint remedied in a peaceful manner.

All this appeared to make an impression, and to cause reflection among them. They answered, that only two hundred and fifty of them had arrived, and by midnight they expected their comrades to join them, which would make their number about 1500, although three thousand had signed their roll, and then they would consider further. As Pastor Brycelius, amongst other things, had truly stated that even the Quakers had taken up arms, they laughed heartily, and wondered at such a phenomenon.

Mr. B. wished to order them some liquor to drink to refresh them, but they would on no account permit it, saying that they were accustomed to hardships of all kinds.

They had a law amongst themselves that if any person fired a gun without orders, he was to be forthwith shot down by the nearest to him; and as it happened in the presence of Mr. Brycelius that the piece of one of them went off accidentally, the others immediately cried out, shoot him down, until it was stated that it was an accident.

They became so cordial with Mr. B. that they told him the parole of the approaching night. He afterwards asked them who was their captain, but here they were too cunning, and answered according to the fashion of the Indians, that they were all brothers, and had some old people among them whose advice they followed. After Mr. Brycelius had done all in his power, and besides two English clergymen of the High Church, and one Presbyterian Professor of the Academy, had been requested by the Governor to visit these people, he took his leave of them, and returned home to us. He thought there were very few Germans among them, and the mass were English and Irish dissenters. In other respects, he said they appeared resolute, warlike, and at the same time steady and decent, most of them were mounted and armed with cut rifles, a pair of pistols and Indian hatchets.

Tuesday, Feb. 7.-The volunteer militia were called together by the ringing of the bells and beating of drums in the city, as it was not known how things would terminate. The militia exercised to-day in the large Quaker meeting house near the market.

Wednesday, Feb. 8.-I learned to-day that the Honorable Council and Dr. Wrangel had yesterday agreed upon an amnesty with the chiefs of the frontiersmen, and that two deputies should settle matters with the Government. About noon the deputies came in from Germantown, escorted by a small body of their armed companions. The volunteer militia of the city, composed of Quakers, Germans, &c., about 500 heads and 1000 feet, were called out to escort them with flying colors to the market place, where the Governor had proclamation made from the Council house that the militia were discharged, as matters were to be peaceably settled.

XI.—Some Account of the Reception of the Stamp Act in Philadelphia. (From the same.)

Monday, April 15, 1765.-To-day we have news from England that the supreme government have laid a Stamp Act on us in America. By degrees the wild colt has a bit put into his mouth, and a saddle on his back, so that the people will be homesick for their old homes in Europe. There was also a great murmuring in the city because all the cannon in the battery on the Delaware and at the barracks were spiked. All kinds of stories are afloat, and suspicion rests now on this person, now on that, and rigid enquiry is made.

Saturday, October 5, 1765.-The leading English merchants in this city sent two deputies to say that, in the afternoon at high water, a ship from London, under the protection of a ship of war, would reach the city and land the stamped papers, according to an act of the Royal Parliament. And as on this account, all the bells on the high church, and on the State House would be tolled, all the ships at the wharves and in the stream would hang out signs of distress, and the drums muffled in crape would be beaten along the streets, and a general town meeting at the State House would take place to consider what else was to done; and they wished to know whether I would allow our bells on the school house to be muffled and tolled. I answered that I could not do do this of my own accord, but must first consult the vestry. I therefore sent for the nearest members of the vestry and several members of the congregation, and asked their opinions and advice. They wished to know what I thought of the matter. I answered, be obedient to the authorities set over you. The intended proceedings about the landing of the stamped papers were all contained in the New York papers, and detailed there, and as we Germans were made black enough in England already by our envious opponents, we should be careful in our actions. We should keep quiet, and let the English act, as they expected to be held responsible, and, as much as possible, keep our Germans away from the State House, and not take part in any tumult. And so it was done on our part.

In the afternoon the ships arrived, and the English tolled all their bells until night, beat the drums, and several thousand citizens assembled at the State House, where some of the principal merchants and lawyers of the English nation delivered addresses. They sent several deputies to the person who had received from England the appointment of collector of stamps, a rich merchant, J. H., and desired him to declare whether he intended to accept the office or would resign. The collector of stamps was very sick and could not give an immediate answer in a matter so much affecting his interests, and asked time for consideration until next Monday. When the deputies came back with the answer, the moderator and orators had enough to do to calm the people, and to get each one to return to his home and to await the answer next Monday. For a single spark would have set the whole in

flammable mass in a blaze, and then the house of the collector of stamps would have been destroyed, so that not one stone would have remained on the other. A kind Providence, however, prevented this; the crowd dispersed, the ship of war took on board the stamped paper from the merchant ship for protection.

There was a good deal of complaint heard that we Germans had not tolled our bells on the school house. I was, on the contrary, glad that it had not been done, for the English like to push the Germans ahead and urge them on, and then often put the blame on us.

XII.-Derivation of the name of the Village of the Trappe, in Montgomery County.

(From the same.)

November 13th, 1780.-Christian Schrack, who was burried yesterday, is a son of the deceased John Jacob Schrack and wife, Eva Rosina, who came to this country in the year A. D. 1717, with four children, and settled in New Providence Township, which had then but few inhabitants. They built a cabin and dug a cave in which they cooked. They kept a shop in a small way, and a tavern with beer and such things, As once an English inhabitant who had been drinking in the cave fell asleep and came home late and was in consequence scolded by his wife, he excused himself by saying he had been to the Trapp.

From that time this neighborhood is called the Trapp, and is known as such in all America, so that travellers are told the distance from Philadelphia to the Trapp, (or New Providence.) Both parents were pious, holding fast to the Evangelic Lutheran religion; carried on their shop and tavern, allowed no disorder or vice, so that the tavern had the best name in the whole country, among the virtuous inhabitants, and in no manner deserved the name of Trapp. The above mentioned John Jacob Schrack was one of the German inhabitants of Philadelphia, New Providence and New Hannover, who frequently wrote in moving terms to the most Reverend Fathers in God at London and Halle, for help and for evangelic preachers. But when I arrived in November, 1742, I found he had died the summer of the same year. The widow lived till 1756.

XIII.-Presentation of the Freedom of the City of New York to Andrew Hamilton, Esq., of Philadelphia.

[The original document, written in large German text upon vellum, as well as the gold box which accompanied it, is in the possession of Septimus H. Palairet, Esq., of The Grange, near Bradford, England,

*Note, so spelled in every place through this narration. H.H.M.

who married a great-great-grand-daughter of Mr. Hamilton. A copy of the original was lately presented by him to John F. Watson, Esq., of Germantown; from this the following is printed.]

Paul Richard, Esq., Mayor, and the Recorder, Aldermen and Council, &c. Whereas, honour is the just reward of virtue, and publick benefits demand a publick acknowledgment, We, therefore, under a grateful sense of the remarkable service done to the Inhabitants of this City and Colony by Andrew Hamilton, Esquire, of Pennsylvania, Barrister at Law, by his learned defence of the rights of mankind and the liberty of the press in the case of John Peter Zenger, lately tryed on an information exhibited in the Supreme Court of this Colony, Do by these presents bear to the said Andrew Hamilton, Esq., the publick thanks of the Freemen of this Corporation for that signal service which he cheerfully undertook under great indisposition of body, and generously performed without any Fee or Reward. And In Testimony of our great esteem for his person and sense of his merit, Do hereby present him with the freedom of this Corporation. These are therefore to certifie and declare that the said Andrew Hamilton, Esquire, is hereby admitted, received and allowed a Freeman and Citizen of said City; to have and to hold, enjoy and partake of all the Benefits, Liberties, Privileges, Freedoms and Immunities whatsoever granted or belonging to a Freeman of the same City.

In Testimony whereof the Common Council of the said City in Common Council assembled have caused the seal of the said City to be affixed, this twenty-ninth day of September, Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty-five.

By Order of the Common Council,

WM. SHARPAS, Ck.

[The gold snuff-box accompanying the original is of oval form, three inches in length by two in breadth, and three-fourths of an inch deep. Around the rim of the face is this inscription: "Demersæ LegesTimefacta Libertas-Hæc tandem Emergunt." Around the rim on the outside, "Ita ciuque eveniat ut de Republica meruit." Inside of the lid, in a scroll, "Non Nummis- Virtute Paratus." Upon the box are the arms of the city. The box is very heavy, and of very yellow pure gold.]

For this and the following papers the Society is indebted to John F. Watson, Esq., of Germantown.

XIV.—An Essay upon Indian Affairs. Written by CHARLES THOMPSON, the Secretary of the Continental Congress.

SIR,-In the year 1757, happening to be present at a treaty held at Easton, in the State of Pennsylvania, with the Indians who are commonly distinguished by the name of Delawares, for the purpose of making peace, and having by a concurrence of circumstances gained the confidence of the Indians who came to trcat, I was admitted into their

council, and obliged to enter deep into their politics and investigate their claims. This led me to enquire touching the state of this nation, and to examine all the treaties and conferences held with them from the first settlement of the province; and having in the year following attended another treaty with the same, at which were present the chiefs of the six nations, and still retaining the confidence of the Delawares, and being by a solemn act adopted into their nation and called to assist in their councils, I had an opportunity of presenting any inquiries, and gaining some knowledge of their internal policy, customs, and manners.

In the year 1682, when William Penn came over to take possession of his province, he found it inhabited by a nation of Indians, who soon came to be distinguished by the appellation Delawares, a name derived from the river Delaware, which divides Pennsylvania from New Jersey, and which had taken its name from Lord de la War, who some years before, on his passage from England to Virginia, had put into that bay on his arrival.

When North America was first discovered by Europeans, it was found to be inhabited by a race of men in customs, manners, and color widely different from those of Europe, but so nearly resembling each other as evidently to mark their being derived from one stock. All the different nations of Indians, from the south point of Florida to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, lived in the hunter state, and drew their subsistence from huuting, fishing, and the fruits of the earth, which were either the spontaneous productions of nature, or such as they planted. They had only one kind of grain, which they planted in the spring and gathered in the autumn, and which is still known by the name of Indian corn. It is a grain well suited to their condition, as it affords great nourishment, is very productive, and requires but little labour in cultivating it. The southern Indians had a root which they also planted, and which is known by the name or description of the sweet potato. It is very nutritive, and yields a great increase with little labor. They had also a kind of beans which they cultivated. They were perfect strangers to the use of iron. The instruments with which they dug up the ground were of wood, or a stone fastened to a handle of wood. Their hatchets for cutting were of stone, sharpened to an edge by rubbing, and fastened to a wooden handle. Their arrows were pointed with flint or bones. What clothing they wore was made of the skins of the animals they took in hunting, and their ornaments were principally of feathers. They all painted or daubed their faces with red. The men suffered only a tuft of hair to grow on the crown of their head; the rest, whether on their head or faces, they prevented from growing by constantly plucking it out by the roots, so that they always appeared as if they were bald and beardless. Many were in the practice of marking their faces, arms, and breast, by pricking the skin with thorns and rubbing the parts with a fine powder made of coal, which penetrating the punctures left an indelible stain or mark which remained as long as they lived. The punctures were made in figures according to their several fancies. The only part of the body which they covered was from the waist half way down, the thighs and their feet they guarded with a kind of shoes made of