"May it please your Honour: "In September, 1772, the then House of Assembly presented to the Honourable John Penn, late Governor, a Remonstrance relative to Certain Grievances suffered, and Demands made by the People of Lancaster and Cumberland Counties, for the payment of Carriages employed by Lieutenant Colonel Wilkins in his March to Fort Pitt, with the necessary Affidavits and Papers to support them, requesting that he would represent them to his Excellency General Gage. The Remonstrance a papers being Transmitted accordingly, his Honour, in February, 1771, Communicated to the House a Letter from his Excellency, assuring him that the Papers transmitted should be laid before the Proper Officers for examination, with as little delay as Possible, and that he would do all that depends on him to redress the Grievances Complained of.' Neither the late or present House having heard any thing further on this Subject, and the Sufferers remaining unredressed, we request your Honour would obtain Information from his Excellency of what has been further done relative to this Affair. "Signed by Order of the House. "January 8th, 1772." "JOSEPH GALLOWAY, Speaker. To which the Governor soon after returned the following answer by the Secretary, viz": "Gentlemen: "Upon Enquiry, I do not-find that either the late Governor, or the President and Council after his leaving the Province, have Received from General Gage any further Information than what has already been Communicated respecting his proceeding upon the application made to him in Behalf of the people of Cumberland and Lancaster Counties, on account of their Demands for Carriages employed by Colonel Wilkins on his March to Fort Pitt: I will, therefore, agreeable to your Request, immediately write to his Excellency upon the Subject, and when favoured with his answer, make the House acquainted with it. "January 8, 1772." "RICHARD PENN. VOL. X.-2. At a Council held at Philadelphia on Thursday 23d January, 1772. PRESENT: The Honourable RICHARD PENN, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor, &c Benjamin Chew, Edward Shippen, Junior, Esquires. William Hicks, The Governor laid before the Board three Bills which had been sent up to him by the Assembly for his Concurrence, and are entituled as follows, viz": "An Act for enabling the Justices of the Supream Court and Common pleas to Issue Commissions for taking the examination of Witnesses in Foreign parts and for Perpetuating Testimony." "An Act to regulate the assize of Bread, and for other Purposes therein mentioned." "An Act for preventing Frauds and perjuries." Which being severally read, the last mentioned Bill was returned to the House with a few small amendments, and the two others Referred to further Consideration. Monday 27th January, 1772, P. M. The Governor having received a Letter last Saturday from His Excellency General Gage, in answer to a Letter he had wrote to him the ninth Instant, sent the following Messuage to the Assembly by the Secretary, which he delivered this afternoon to the House, and at the same time laid before them the said Letter, with the several papers which accompanied it, and are therein Referred to: "Gentlemen: "In Compliance with the request you were pleased to make at the Begining of this Session, I immediately wrote to General Gage, desiring that I might be acquainted with the Result of the application made to him respecting the demands of the People of Lancaster and Cumberland Counties, for Carriages employed by Colonel Wilkins, in his March to Fort Pitt. I am just now favoured with his Excellency's answer, which I have Ordered the Secretary to lay before you, together with several other papers relating to the Matter, transmitted to me at the same time. "RICHARD PENN. "January 25, 1772." "Sir: "NEW YORK, January 19, 1772. "I have received your Letter of the Ninth Instant, respecting the Papers transmitted to me, which contain Demands of the People of Lancaster and Cumberland Counties for Carriages employed by Lieutenant Colonel Wilkins, on his March to Fort Pitt, with Several Companies of His Majesty's Eighteenth Regiment, in the year 1768. "The distance of Time betwixt the March of said Troops and the Demands of the People concerned, together with the very great Distance of the Regiment, has rendered it difficult to ascertain the Propriety of these Demands, though I have taken every step in my power to do it. "The papers have been laid before the deputy Quarter Master General, to whose department the Contents properly belong, and I transmit you his Report to me thereupon. "It became necessary likewise to send Copies of them, with a Copy of the remonstrance of the Assembly to their late Governor, to Lieutenant Colonel Wilkins, and I inclose you a Copy of his Letter to me in answer thereto, with Copies of Orders given by him relative to the Carriages, and of the Certificates of the Officers who commanded the Several Companies, two excepted, who are since dead, of the Sums they respectively paid to the Waggoners. "If the Waggoners have Received the Sums directed to be paid them by Act of Parliament, Viz: Fourteen pence Sterling per Mile, for a Waggon that carries Twenty-four Hundred Weight, for as many Miles as they Marched with the Troops, it is as much as they were intitled to receive. It appears from the Deputy Quarter Master General's Report and other Papers, that the paymaster of the Regiment has Received the amount thereof, and from the Officers' Certificates that the same was paid to the Waggoners, and no greater Charge can be made to Government on the Head of Carriages for the Marching of Troops in time of Peace; When they are in the Field, different Methods are pursued. "Some of the Drivers having alledged that they received provisions from the King's Magazines, and were made to pay double whatis stopped from the Soldier, I ordered the Commissary General to Inspect into the Issues of 1768, in the Pennsylvania department from Philadelphia to Fort Pitt, who has sent me a Return thereof, and acquainted me by Letter that the Contractors have made no Charge for Rations to Waggoners, and that the whole of the Receipts for Provisions issued, are Included in Lieutenant Colonel Wilkins' General receipt for Stoppages from the Soldiers. "It is, however, possible, that the Drivers may have been victualled with the Soldiers and Receipts given for them as soldiers, in which case we may suppose Stoppages were made from them, as the Soldiers have paid for all that was Issued. This is only Conjecture; but if it proves true, and that the Waggoners can ascertain the Ra tions they received, and the Stoppages made from their Hire on that Account, properly Certified, it will be in my power to redress them on that point, it having been usual to allow Waggoners carrying Baggage on a march with Troops, a ration of Provisions Gratis when they passed the Frontiers. "One of the Claimants, viz: Kilheffer, charges for the loss of a Horse, but there is no regular appraisement of his Value, or Certificate that the Horse was lost in the service; there is, however, a Voucher of his Value, an if Kilheffer produces a proper certificate from the Officers that the Horse was actually lost in the Service, he shall be paid accordingly; this is all in my power to do. "Captain Chapman, of the eighteenth Regiment, at Present in Philadelphia, was on the march with Lieutenant Colonel Wilkins, and may be able to give some account of these matters, and shall be wrote to. "Many unforseen accidents will happen on Marches, which occasion Damage and Loss to the owners and Drivers of Waggons, and the acts of Parliament made in these Respects, as well for Great Britain as America, direct in What manner they are to be indemnified. "I inclose the People's Demands, "and have the Honor to be, Sir, "Your most Obedint and most humble Servant, At a Council held at Philadelphia, on Wednesday 29th January, 1772. PRESENT: The Honourable RICHARD PENN, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor, &ca. Lynford Lardner, Benjamin Chew,, James Tilghman, Andrew Allen, Edward Shippen, jun" Esquires. The Board resumed the Consideration of the Bill intituled "An Act for enabling the Justices of the Supream Court and Common Pleas to Issue Commissions for taking the examinations of Wit- · nesses in foreign Parts and for perpetuating Testimony,"-which being intended to vest in the Courts of Common Law, some of the Powers of a Court of Chancery appears to be expressly Contrary to one of the Proprietary Instructions which the Governor shewed to the Board. The Council therefore concurred with the Governor in Opinion, that he could not Consistent with his duty give his assent to it, and the Governor accordingly ordered the Secretary to Return the Bill to the Assembly, with a Verbal Messuage to the House that he could not agree to pass it into a Law. At a Council held at Philadelphia, on Saturday 8th February, 1772. PRESENT: The Honourable RICHARD PENN, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor, &c. Benjamin Chew, ) James Tilghman, Esquires. The Board resumed the Consideration of the Bill entituled "An Act to regulate the assize of Bread and for other purposes therein mentioned," to which a few amendments were made, and the Bill was returned with the same to the House. The Governor laid before the Board two Bills sent up by the Assembly for his Honor's concurrence, entituled as follows, viz: "An Act for the sale of Goods destreined for Rent, and to secure such Goods to the Persons destreining the same, for the better security of Rents, and for other Purposes therein mentioned." "An Act to prevent Frauds and abuses in the manufactoring of Leather," which were read and refered to further Consideration. The Governor also laid before the Board a letter he just now Received from Sir William Johnson, which was read and is as follows, viz: "Sir: JOHNSON HALL, Janr 29th, 1772. "I am just favoured with your Letter of the 9th instant, and take this first opportunity which has offered, thro' the want of a Personal acquaintance, to Congratulate you on your taking upon you the Government of Pennsylvania which I do with great sincerity, from the Esteem I have for all the Branches of your Family. "I have perused the Papers you transmitted, the design of which I can easily Comprehend, and that you may understand the same, I shall explain the Affair in such a manner as will sufficiently account for the application of the Indians. "The Shawanese, Delawares, Munsies, &c have been, and are to be Considered as Dependants on the Five Nations, and having Nothing to do with the western Indians further than in an Intercourse common with all Indians in time of Peace. But as they resided at a distance from the Chief Residences of the five Nations, I thought it necessary to appoint a Deputy for the District of the Ohio, &c in which they were comprehended; during the War, and afterwards for a time, they partook liberally of his Majesty's Bounty, and another officer was appointed as a Commiss to Inspect the Trade at Fort Pitt and prevent abuses, but the expences of Presents and additional Establishments were thought too Great by the Crown, and therefore, by his Majesty's Orders, the Commiss" &c were |