The President having received a Letter from Governor Clinton, the same was read & order'd to be enter'd:

"Sir:

"NEW YORK, March, 1747.

"I would have done myself the pleasure of answering the favour of Your Letter, which I received by the Gentleman that came hither to assist Your sollicitation for the loan of some Cannon for the Service and Defence of Pennsylvania Province, but that the Gentleman went away in a hurry; and I am glad I had it in my power to oblige You and them on that Occasion. As I suppose they are by this time return'd to Philadelphia, I shall refer you to their Report how far I have been able to comply with your Request; & I suade myself, if the Cannon which I have spared get safe to Your Province, they will contribute greatly to the Defence and Satisfaction of His Majestie's Subjects there, and I heartily wish You Success in the use of them till You can be better Supplied elsewhere. "I am, with great Regard, Sir,

"Your most humble Servant,

per

"GEORGE CLINTON.

"P. S.—I am inform'd that Don Pedro is upon the Coast with one or two Vessels, which makes me think the sending the Cannon by Water will be hazardous, therefore wou'd much rather chuse to have them sent by Land, as first propos'd.

"The Honourable ANTHONY PALMER, Esq""

At a Council held at Philadelphia 5th April, 1748.

PRESENT:

The Honoble. ANTHONY PALMER, Esqr., President.

The Minutes of the preceding Council were read & approv'd.

The following Letter in answer to Governor Clinton's was Sign'd by the President:

"Sir :

"PHILADA., 5th April, 1748.

"I have the honour to acknowledge the Receipt of Yours by last Post. The Gentlemen employ'd to sollicit the Loan of the Cannon had given in their Report before your obliging favour came to hand, and had made the Board so sensible of the readiness with which Your Excellency & the Council acceded to their Application, that I

find it difficult to make their acknowledgements in Terms that will sufficiently express their Gratitude.

"The People of this Province saw themselves in imminent Danger, and as they had been disappointed in every scheme they had form'd for the procuring of Cannon, if Your Excellency had not enter'd with so much zeal into the Consideration of their Calamitous Circumstances, we shou'd have had reason to dread the Consequences in case of an Attack.

"The Council have these reasons, in common with their fellowCitizens, for their grateful sense of Your Excellency's kindness, but they find even these heightened by the personal Regard You have been pleas'd to shew to them, & by the obliging manner in which you have always express'd yourself towards them. This they desire me to say they will ever remember with the utmost affection. After having endeavour'd to do Justice to my fellowCounsellors, be pleas'd to believe I am imspir'd with the same Sentiments & the some Gratitude, & that no one can be with truer Esteem,

"Your Excellency's most obedient Servant,

"ANTHONY PALMER.

"His Excellency GEORGE CLINTON, Esqr."

A Letter from the honoble. the Proprietaries was read:

"Gentlemen:

"LONDON, Oetober, 16th, 1747.

"We have received the Duplicate of Your Letter of the 29th of July, the Original of which was sent by Captain Mesnard, who was taken, & also duplicate of the Minutes of Council to the 22d of the same Month, by which we bave the satisfaction to see you have taken the most proper Measures that the Circumstances of the several Affairs that came before You required, & with a dispatch that shews your attachment to the Service of your Country. This is what we expected from the knowledge we had of the former Gentlemen of your Board; and we are much pleas'd with your late worthy Governor's having fill'd up the number of Council with Gentlemen so capable of Assisting the Public Service, & which must make the attendance less burthensome by increasing the number.

"We are very sensible that the sending Flags of Truce from our Enemies to a place situated as Philadelphia is, so far within Land, and at so great a distance from the Countrys they came from, when they might in much less time have gone to other Settlements, must be chiefly with a view to make themselves Masters of the Navigation of the Bay in order to come in another manner, & shou'd be prevented by all methods in your power. The regulations drawn up by Your Committee are very good ones, and we shall hope to hear the President will procure the same to be obser'd in the Lower

Government; this we recommend to You to inforce the Execution of, and to prevent as much as possible any communication between our People and those with whom we are engaged in War, which perhaps an Inclination to advantageous Trade may tempt some People to.

"The daring attack made by the Crew of the Privateer, as well on the Plantations at Bombay Hook as the Ship in the Bay, are fully sufficient to increase the uneasiness of the People, & if Acts of Assembly cou'd put a stop to it they would very soon have those in their Power, as it can depend on us; but former Experience fully shew us, and your own Minute of your conference with the Members of Assembly as fully confirms, that Your Assembly will not pass any Act, or be active in any thing tending to Your Defence; they may give a little Money, just as they shall see proper, after other Gentlemen shall have advanced their Money for the Public Service. What appears to us the only thing that can be done for Your Security is to procure a Ship or Sloop to be Station'd at Lewis; this we shall immediately apply for and sollicit in the strongest manner, and we hope we shall meet with Success.

"We are well pleased to find by your Minutes that some considerable Nations of Indians on the Lakes are come over to the English Interest, & into confederacy with the Six Nations. We recommend it to you to encourage such Inclinations in them, and as You have given that You will continue to give the necessary orders for keeping up a good Correspondence with the several Tribes with whom we are allied, & who, having ever been faithful to Us, are justly entitled to our Regard, as well as that in point of Pollicy their further Friendship may be of great use. We observe Complaints have been made of the injustice of the Indian Traders towards some of that poor People, and desire You will cause the most speedy & effectual enquiry to be made into that Business, that Justice may be done to them, the most exact performance of which is the only Basis on which a firm Union can be establish'd.

"It is needless for Us to say anything further to a Board so well acquainted with their Duty; we have a firm Confidence in your acting such a part as will be most for the honour & safety of Your Country; this is all we have to desire, and with which we should rest satisfied under your administration; but as You have not the power of joining with the Assembly to make Laws, you may be assured if the Affairs of our Family will not one of us to leave this Country the next Summer, we shall make an apointment that the Province may not want that most necessary part of Government.

"We had some expectation the Governor wou'd have continued another Year with You, on account of the late melancholly alteration in our Family, but find his state of health would not permit,

or perhaps we might have been more determined in this affair. We

are,

"Gentlemen, Your very affectionate Friends.

"LONDON, Oct 16, 1747.

"THO. PENN,

"RICH. PENN.

"The Honoble the President & Council of the Province of Pennsylvania."

Nicholas Perie & Captain Charles Higginbotham attending the Council in pursuance of their Order of the 22d of January last, were called in. Nicholas Perie desir'd that as he was a German & did not understand the English Language, that he might be permitted to speak by an Interpreter, & having leave from the Council to do se, Mr. Christian Grasshold, who is usually employed in this Service by the Germans, deliver'd in a Paper, & desir'd it might be received as the Defence of the said Perie; the Paper was read in these words:

"May it please the President & Council:

"I have receiv'd Your Honour's Orders to wait on You this Day to answer some Complaints of one Higginbotham, who gives out that he is to have my Land under a pretence of a Maryland Patent.

"I am one of those Foreigners who Petition'd nine or ten Years ago against the proceedings of Captain Cresap & this very Higginbotham, and His Majesty was pleas'd to make an Order that I, as well as others who were at that time in possession of the Lands contested between the Proprietors of Maryland & Pennsylvania, should remain in possession till the final determination of the Cause between the said Proprietaries.

"I have been guilty of no breach of the Peace; I have liv'd within the Government of Pennsylvania quietly & like a good Subject, and have paid my Taxes regularly for the Support thereof, & in return I expect the protection of this Government of Pennsylvania if my property be attempted to be wrested out of my Hands by violence, and if You will not grant it to me, I will immediately apply to His Majesty that he wou'd graciously enforce obedience to his own Royal Order, and His Majesty on such application will, I doubt not, let fall the Severity of his Displeasure on any one who will presume to disturb his Subjects after such terrible harrassments as they have undergone, and this in opposition to His Gracious Order, obtain'd after a full hearing of both Proprietaries to quiet us in our Possessions.

"With all humility I beg Leave to say, that in as much as I have been in possession before the Royal Order at the time the same was made, & ever since, I will not give up possession, neither at the Instance of Pennsylvania nor Maryland, till there be a final Settlement between the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania & Maryland,

& this ratified by His Majesty, or at least till I have the joint Orders of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania & Maryland served upon me in a legal manner. I in the humblest manner beg leave to say the President & Council have no Power, so long as I behave peaceably & like a good Subject, to make any Orders respecting the possession & Title of my Land. It is true that I hold this very Land by a grant from the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, which I have ready to produce. In all other matters, that only excepted which respects the Title & Possession of my Land, I owe suit & service to the Government of Pennsylvania.

"Higginbotham's Patent is nothing to me, he may have Twenty Patents, but they cannot operate against his Majestie's Royal Order, since I have been in possession of the Land these twelve Years. "NICHOLAS PERIE.

"April 5th, 1748."

The Board taking notice of the incivility of the Language, ask'd Mr. Grasshold if he knew who penn'd the Paper. He said Nicholas Perie dictated the substance of it first in Dutch, & when that was Settled he translated it into English; That neither Perie nor himself intended any Incivility, and if there was any thing of this sort that cou'd give offence, it was owing to his Ignorance of the English Language, & begged it might be seen in that Light, as the Man had his sole dependence on the Justice of this honourable Board.

"Mr. Grasshold further for Nicholas Perie offer'd to the Board another Paper, which he said wou'd shew that Nicholas Perie had possession of the said Land by a Grant from Proprietor Thomas Penn in the Year 1736, desiring it might be taken notice of that the Date of this Grant was prior to Higginbotham's Patent or Right. This Paper the Secretary read in these words, viz.: "Pennsylvania ss.

"Whereas, sundry Germans and others formerly seated themselves by our Leave on Lands Lying on the West side of Sasquehanna River within our County of Lancaster, & within the bounds of a Tract of Land Survey'd the Nineteenth and Twentieth Days of June, Anno Domini, 1722, containing about Seventy thousand Acres, commonly called the Manor of Springetsbury;

"And Whereas A Confirmation to the Persons seated on the same for their several Tracts has hitherto been delayed by reason of the Claim made to the said Lands by the Indians of the Five Nations, which Claim the said Indians have now effectually released to Us by their Deed bearing date the Eleventh Day of this Instant, October;

"And Whereas Nicholas Perie, one of the Persons living within the said Manor, hath now applied for a Confirmation of Two hundred Acres, part of the same where he is now Seated;