Assurances to all the Indians of our maintaining our ffriendship with them, and the Offer of my Mediation to them, but desire like wise y' I will make the same Offer to the Governor of Virginia; they give me assurance also of defraying all the Expences that shall be incurred on this Occasion."

Which was approved of by the Board.

Then was read a Message from the Assembly to the Governor in Answer to his of Yesterday, as follows:

A Message to the Governor from the Assembly.

"May it please the Governor :

"As it has ever been the Care of this Government to cultivate a good understanding with the Indians in general, and particularly with the six Nations, the late unhappy Action between some of the Inhabitants of the upper part of Virginia and a party of those Nations,' gives us just Cause of Concern.

"We highly approve of the Measures the Governor is pleased to Inform us he proposes to take to prevent the flame from spreading wider by dispatching a Messenger to Conrad Weiser, the province Interpreter, with Directions to proceed forthwith to Shamokin, and there to take the most proper measures for giving the Indians of the six Nations and all others in alliance with us the strongest Assurances in his Name of the Continuance of our friendship;' And if the Governor will also be pleased by the same Messenger to propose to them his good Offices to Mediate and obtain a reconciliation before any violent Methods are taken, it may prevent future Bloodshed, and divert those sudden Resolutions which on the first Hearing of this unhappy Affair they may have been prompted to take.

"We would further offer it to the Governor's Consideration whether it may not also be fit to transmit to the Goverment of Virginia an Account of the manner in which the Indians represent this Action, to Point out to them the necessity of an Enquiry therein, that Justice may be done, and the ill Consequences which otherwise might happen to the back parts of most of the British Colonies in America be prevented.

"Whatever Sums of Money shall become necessary to expend to these good purposes we shall cheerfully pay, and give the proper Orders to the Treasurer to this End.

"It is not to be doubted but that this Accident may have given some uneasiness to the Inhabitants on the other Side of Sasquehannah, but the prudent Steps the Governor is determined to take on this Occasion will we hope have the proper Effect, and restore them to the Quiet they formerly enjoy'd.

"Signed by Order of the House,

"JOHN KINSEY, Speaker.

"11th Month, 26, 1742."

At a Council held at Philada, ffeb" 3d, 1742-3.

PRESENT:

The Honble GEORGE THOMAS, Esqr., Lieutenant Govern

our.

Clement Plumsted,

William Till,

Robert Strettell,

Ralph Assheton,
Abraham Taylor, Esqrs.

The Governor acquainted the Board that he had received a Message from the Assembly, desiring to know when they should attend him in Order to present the Bills now ready, and that he had appointed this Day at 12 o'Clock.

Accordingly the House, with their Speaker, came up, and presented the following Bills entituled, Viz":

1st. "An Act imposing a Duty on persons convicted of heinous Crimes brought into this Province & not warranted by the Laws of Great Britain, and to prevent poor and impotent Persons being im ported into the same."

2. "An Act for continuing and amending an Act of Assembly entituled a Supplement to the Act for Electing Members of Assem bly.'"

3. "An Act for the more easy and Speedy recovery of small Debts."

4. "An Act for vesting the Province Island and the Buildings thereon erected and to be erected, for providing an Hospital for such sick Passengers as shall be imported into this Province, and to prevent the spreading of infectious Distempers."

5. "An Act for the more easy recovery of Legacys within this Province;" and

6. "An Act for naturallizing such foreign Protestants as are settled or shall settle in this Province, who, not being of the People called Quakers, do conscientiously refuse the taking of any Oath."

All which the Governor passed into Laws, and appointed William Till and Robert Strettell, Esq A Committee, in Conjunction with a Committee of the Assembly, to see the Great Seal affixed to the

same.

The Speaker then delivered to the Governor two Orders of the Assembly, the one upon the Trustees of the Loan Office for £500, and the other upon the Provincial Treasurer for £1,000.

Whereupon the Governor spoke to the Assembly in the following

manner:

"I thank you Gentlemen for this Instance of your Regard, which I am the more pleased with as it gives an agreeable Prospect of future Harmony between me & the Representatives of the People;

But a good Understanding between the two Branches of the Legislature, is not alone what I aim at. It is my hearty Desire that all Party Animosities may be laid aside, that all Differences on this Account between one Man & another may Cease, and that all may Unite in promoting the true Interests of the Country."

Then the Assembly withdrew.

At a Council held at the Philadelphia, Feb 14, 1742-3.

PRESENT:

The Honble GEORGE THOMAS, Esq' Lieut. Governor.

Samuel Preston,

William Till,

Samuel Hasell,
Abraham Taylor,

Esqrs.

Robert Strettel,

The Minutes of the preceeding Council being read and approv'd, the Governor inform'd the Board that Mr. Baird, finding him self in a declining State of Health, had desired Liberty to resign his Offices of Provincial Secretary and Clerk of the Council, which, as well as that of his private Secretary, he must do the Doctor the Justice to say he had discharged with strict Probity and greatly to his Satisfaction. And all the Members expressing the same Sentiments with Regard to Mr. Baird's Diligence and Exactness in the Discharge of his Duty, Mr. Baird return'd thanks to his Honour and the Board for their kind Acceptance of his Services, and deliver'd up the Governor the Lesser Seal of the Province, the Chancery Seal, and His Honour's Seal at Arms.

The Governor then signified to the Board his Inclination to appoint Mr. Richard Peters to succeed Mr. Baird in those Offices, if they had no Objection; and they unanimously approving of him, he was admitted, and received the Seals from the Governor, with Directions to prepare the Usual Bond for the just Performance of his Duty, that the same might be executed and he take the Qualifications the next Council. And Mr. Till and Mr. Strettel were appointed to see the Delivery of the Council Books and Papers, & and that a List of them should be made out and interchangeably sign'd by the Late and Present Secretary in their Presence, to remain as a Record in the Secretary's Office.

At a Council held at Philadelphia, April 5th, 1743.

PRESENT:

The Honble GEORGE THOMAS, Esq' Licat. Governor.

Clement Plumsted,

Abraham Taylor,

Samuel Hasell,

Robert Strettel,

Esqrs.

The Minutes of the preceeding Council being read and approved,

the present Secretary took the Oaths and delivered in a Bond to the Governor for the safe keeping of the Records, &

02.

His Honour told the Council that as the Place of Chief Justice was Vacant by the Death of Mr. Langhorne, and it would be of very great Advantage to the Province that one of the Profession of the Law presided in the Supream Court, he had made an Offer of it to Mr. Kinsey, a gentleman well Known to them, and that as the Place of third Judge was likewise become Vacant by the Resig nation of Mr. Thomas Griffitts, he had offer'd it to Mr. Till, who had been for many Years at the Head of the Supream Court of the Lower Counties, and both these Gentlemen having accepted, he would proceed to Commissionate them if they had no Objection.

The Board express'd great Satisfaction in what the Governor had done, and approving of these Gentlemen as every way Qualified, His Honour signed separate Commissions to Mr. Kinsey, Mr. Grome, and Mr. Till, and likewise the usual Commission of Over and Terminer & General Goal Delivery directed to the three or any two of them.

The Governor then informed the Board that having wrote a Letter to the Governor of Virginia, agreeable to the Address of the House of Representatives, he had received an Answer thereto with two Depositions inclosed, wherein the Indians are said to have been the Occasion of the late Skirmish, and that he had likewise received a Letter from Conrad Weiser, who was returned from Shamokin with a particular detail of his Transactions there, whereby it appear'd that the Indians concerned in the Engagement had represented it to their Brethren at Shamokin in a Light very Different from the Depositions sent by Col. Gooch, and had actually charged the Virginians with being the Agressors, and firing upon them as they were beginning their March with their Bundles upon their Backs.

All which were Read, and the Secretary was order'd to lay them up amongst the Papers of his Office.

"Conrad Weiser's Report of his Journey to Shamokin, in Obedience to the Governor's Letter of the 26th Jan last:

"On the 30th of January, 1742-3, in the Evening, I received the Governer's Order, together with the Deposition of Thomas McKee, and set out next Morning in Company with the said McKee for Shamokin, over Backstone, where we arrived on the first Day of ffebruary. That same Day the said McKee's two Men arrived with two Canoes loaden with Skins from Chiniotte. They inform'd us that they met ten Warriors who asked them for a little Provision, which they (the Indian Traders) gave them-The Indians being very civil to them, but told nothing of what had happen'd in Virginia. We were also informed by white People there, that four Shawono Indians had been there as Scouts, sent by the Shawonoes to get Intelligence what the white People were a doing. On the third Day of february we overtook the said Shawonoes about 25

Miles this side Shamokin at an Indian Trader's House, they ran into the House when they see Us come, And sat down in the same Corner of the House where their Arms were; every one of them had a Cutlass besides their Guns, and one of them, who was a Brother of Cheekaqueton, had a Pistol. The Indian Trader's Wife told Us, while we lighted from our Horses, that these Shawonese had ill Designs and talk'd very unfriendly. I went into the House first & shook Hands with them; their Hands trembled, and none of them hardly looked to my face till I sat down and began to talk with them in the Mohawks' Language; they said they could not understand me; By that Time McKee and one John (who was pleased to accompany me to Shamokin from Backstone) came in. I desired them to tell the Shawonese that I was sent by the Governor of Pensilvania with a Message both to the Indians at Shamokin and thereabout as also to the six Nations, about the unhappy accident that happen'd lately in Virginia. They seemed to be well pleased with that. They never saw me before neither had I seen them before, but understood by my Companions, who could both talk Shawono, that the oldest of them was Missemediqueety, a Captain of War, and a very noted Man among the Shawonese; the English call him the great Huminy; they accompanied us to Shamokin, where we arrived that Day after sun Set; Shikellimo and Olumapies were very glad to see me. They informed Us that there were several Indians at Shamokin from several Places waiting for me with News from the Governor of Pensilvania. I told them that next Day they should hear the Message from the Governor. On the 4th they met at Shikellimo's House about 25 Men, the noted persons beside Shikellimo were Saghsidowa, a Chief of the Tuscarora (who was present at the Last Treaty in Philadelphia), Olumapies and Lapapeton of the Delawares, the aforesaid Shawonese, with several more of the said Nation, and Andrew, the Son of Madam Montour, who served for Interpreter to the Delawares; And because Shikellimo was Mourning for his Cousin killed by the Virginians lately, I directed my Speech first to him, according to the Custom of the 6 Nations, And in Order to Comfort him, in behalf of the Governor told him :

"Brother Shikellimo, You have just Cause to Mourn for the Loss of your Cousin killed in Virginia lately; I also am sensible of the grievous Accident, but as the Public Welfare calls for Your aid at this Time, I have been sent to Comfort you and to wipe of the Tears from Your Eyes, and, in short, to put your Heart at Ease, for which purpose I present you with these two Shrowds.* Then I spoke to the whole Company:

"Brethren: according to the Treaty betwixt the Government of Pennsilvania and the 6 Nations, which has been renewed Last Sum

• NOTE-Indians never meddle with Publick Affairs whilst they are in Mourning.

VOL. IV.-41.