OUR Indian War still greatly distresses our Frontier Counties, great Numbers are driven from their Habitations, and Want and Poverty force many to live on their Plantations, tho' they never go to Bed without Danger of being cut off by the Savages before the Morning. This was the Fate of some Families lately, who were our Neighbours and intimate Friends some Years ago, while they lived in the interior Counties. They murdered a Woman with Child, cut the Infant out of her Womb, and made her and it most horrid Spectales of their Cruelty. They also, not many Weeks ago, stole down thro' the Inhabitants and massacred a Schoolmaster and his Scholars in a most barbarous Manner. These Murders are generally committed by Indians who lived either near or among the Europeans in the Time of Peace; they know the State of the Frontiers, and how to distress them, and steal off without Discovery. These Indians are the Remains of a Part of the Indian Nation from whom we bought our Lands. They are a free independent People; they are no Subjects of England, as some believe, nor did they ever give up their National Independency; they have been in Alliance with England, but still have all the Powers of a free Nation, and make War and Peace with us, as with others, as they please. The Quakers are chiefly in our three interior Counties, as they were the first Settlers; and the five Frontier Counties are settled in general with People of other Denominations, chiefly Luthe­rans, and Dutch and English Presbyterians, with a Mixture of Baptists and the Church of England. In all our Troubles the Quakers, at least a Quaker Faction, have secretly supported the Indians, held Treaties and Correspondence with them in our Wars, and bestowed on them Arms and Ammunition, and Tomahawks, even when they were murdering our Frontier Inhabitants. When a Peace was con­cluded, if we may use an Indian Idiom, they wiped away the Blood shed by the Indians without obliging them to return our Captives. We put 500 l. into the Hands of our Governor, who entrusted it to our Provincial Commissioners, to redeem our Captives so shamefully deserted; but we did not receive above a Score, if so many, notwith­standing our utmost Endeavours. The very Indians who lived among us, and had done us great Mischiefs, during the War, sat in the Council with the Nations to whom they belonged, and concluded this Peace: And even in Time of Peace, before this War broke out, they told the Inhabitants among whom they lived, that they had [Page ii] scalped and carried them into Captivity, and would do it again. The War broke out, and in a few Days above 750 Families were driven from their peaceable Habitations, were forced to adandon their Cattle, Crops, and Houshold Furniture, nay many were glad to escape with­out bringing Bed [...]ths and wearing Apparel with them, and they lived in Wig-wams like the Indians, hardly sheltered from the In­clemency of the Weather. When ready to perish for want of the Necessaries of Life, our Society sent them 150 l. as we wrote you Word; and soon after Collections were made by every Religious Society in this City (the Quakers only excepted) tho' they were earnestly pressed to contribute to their Relief: Even the Roman Catholics, unasked, generously made a Collection for their Relief. You desired to know the Reason why the Quakers were so backward, I really can give none that they have assigned, save this, that they knew other Societies would relieve them, and they would afterwards assist, if there was occasion; but had all taken this cold Method, many of them must have perished; and tho' their Distresses are still great, and tho' it is acknowledged even in our Assembly, that 100,000 l. would not pay their Losses, yet they would do Nothing then, nor now, to help them: Yet, during the last War, they expended 5000 l. in Presents to the Indians, while they were drenching our Frontier Settlements in the Blood of the distressed Inhabitants. We know no Reason for this Conduct, but an envious Temper, because the Frontier Counties, who are of different Denominations, must share the Power with them, that they now abuse; and to prevent this, they have, in forming the new Counties, ordered it so, that but ten Representatives are sent from five Frontier Counties, and twenty-six are sent from the three Interior Counties, under the Quakers Influence. These Frontier Inhabitants complain that they are not fairly represented, or else they had not been such Sufferers; and as the Charter allows every County at least four to represent them, they desire this Charter Privilege; and this occasions, as far as I can judge, all our Quakers Uncharitableness. No Men were ever fonder of Power. The Frontier Inhabitants exposed to daily Incursions of the Indians, formed a Party of Volunteers to go and destroy some Indian Town, near our Borders, on Susquehanna; accordingly 116 Men marched almost to their Towns, and were informed that 50 of those Indians, against whom they had set out, were on their March against the Frontiers. They returned and overtook the Indians, and routed them at the Munsey Hill on Susquehanna. They then proposed to follow their Blow, and applied to Colonel Armstrong, who commanded the Provincial Forces. Two Hundred Volunteers went out with him, and 150 Provincials; but the Indians among us gave Notice to our Enemies, and they escaped; but our People destroyed about 300 Acres of Corn, and burnt their Dwellings, and returned enraged to find that an Indian Town of about twenty or thirty Persons had now informed their Friends, against whom our Men had marched, and [Page iii] who were perfidiously playing the same Pranks as they did last War; they marched to their Town and cut off some of them, others fled to a Borough named Lancaster, and there they came and cut them off. This the Quakers have painted as a Massacre and a most horrid Murder, tho' it was no more but what our People suffered on all Occasions. After their Corn was destroyed, and that troublesome Nest were obliged to remove, a Party of Indians among the Inhabitants that carried the Ene­mies Arms and Ammunition, and had conducted them into the Settle­ment, and assisted in murdering the Inhabitants, applied to the Quakers, and they found Means to bring them down to Philadelphia, and have maintained them at the Expence of the Province. Afterwards some of the very Indians that were beat at the Munsey Hill, and that had their Corn destroyed, sued for the same Privileges, and were brought to Philadelphia, and maintained by the Province. This inflamed the Resentment of a Number of the Inhabitants on the Frontiers, and about 500 came down well armed, without forming themselves into Companies, determined to cut off these Enemies. The Indians were then under the Governor's Protection, and at the Request of the Quaker Faction were guarded by a Company of the King's Forces. These Insurgents declared they were Loyal Subjects, and had fought the King's Battles since Braddock's Defeat, and would not do what looked like Rebellion, tho' they thought it exceeding hard that they should be obliged to pay Taxes to maintain their Enemies. They complained of Grievances and Sufferings that would have drawn Tears from Stones; the Mayor of our City, two leading Members of the Assembly, and the King's Attorney-General, and about ten Ministers and Gentlemen, were at the Conference, and they were solemnly promised a Redress of Grievances, if they appointed two of their Number to lay them before the Governor and Assembly, and returned in Peace to their Dwellings: This they did; and marched Abroad and Home with Decency above 100 Miles, paying every One for what they had on their Journey. But they are still without Redress of their Grievances. This has inflamed the Quaker Faction, who are foolishly attached to the Indians, and is made a Plea for with-holding their Charity. We have been able to do Nothing to spread the Gospel either among the Indians or the Europeans since the War broke out: We have assisted and are deter­mined to assist the distressed Inhabitants; and we rejoice that thro' your Liberality, a kind Providence has enabled us at any Time, when their Distresses grow very great, to give them Relief.

IN the London Chronicle, No. 1223, is a very extra­ordinary Letter, dated at Philadelphia, August 22, 1764, which, tho' not sign'd with your Names, carries evident Marks of your being the Authors. I confess it gave me real Concern to find that Men of your holy Function, could cooly and deliberately publish to the World so many defamatory Untruths, as that Letter contains, against a Society of People, whose Merit and virtuous Demeanor, ever since the Settlement of the Colony, had gain'd them the Confidence and Esteem or the Publick. You have therein endeavoured to make the prudent Policy of the Government appear criminal, by wickedly misrepresenting its Transactions; and, having done this, you impute the imaginary Crimes to the Quakers with the uncharitable Design of rendering their Conduct obnoxious to their Sovereign and odious to Mankind.

WITH this View it is, you alledge, ‘That the Qua­kers have secretly supported the Indians, held Treaties and Correspondence with them, in our Wars, and be­stowed on them Arms and Ammunition and Tomhawks, even when they were murdering our Frontier Inhabitants.’ I am at a Loss what Words to use in remarking on this Charge. I am not fond of using harsh Ones, and yet when the Manner of making it, and the Heinousness of [Page 2] the Accusation is considered, every honest Mind must determine none can be found too severe. The Charge is general, and in the Affirmative, and therefore by the Policy and Reason of all Laws ought to be proved before it is credited; otherwise the most abandoned Wretch, may at any Time take the Life, and ruin the Reputation, of the most innocent and virtuous on his bare Assertion. And indeed, a great Writer observes, that a general Charge in a Libel ought not to be credited, tho' it was supported by the Oath of the Libeller. The Laws of the Land are made to punish Offenders, and no one ought to be publickly disgraced before he has had an Opportunity of vindicating his Innocence. The Crime you accuse this People with is High Treason. The Courts of Justice have ever been open to receive your Informations against them, and the Government ready to inflict the Punishment on Men that deserve it. Had you then the least Proof of the Facts, What Reason can be given, why the same Malice and Ill-will have not prompted you to bring them to Justice, which induced you thus publickly to defame them in your Letter? Your Duty to the Community, and your Loyalty to your Sovereign, should have incited you to the First: The Rules of Morality and the Precepts of the Religion you profess and publickly teach, should have deter'd you from the other. How then shall we account for this Breach of the Duties of Morality and Religion? Why did you not make this Charge before some proper Judicatory, instead of publishing it in a Libel? It must be because you were conscious it sprung from the wicked Invention of your own Brains, and therefore impossible to be supported.

BUT permit me to ask you, when, where, and how was this heinous Offence against your Sovereign and the Government committed by the Quakers? If you cannot tell the Time, Place, or the Manner, were you, or ten Thousand like you, to make the Charge even upon Oath, you must not expect to be credited—And if you can give [Page 3] such Information, how dare you conceal an Offence of High Treason from the Goverment? Is your Loyalty so faint, and your Virtue so low, as not to be powerful enough to prevail on you to discharge your Duty to your King and your Country?

AFTER making this Charge against the Quakers in general, you descend to say, "at least a Quaker Faction" have done this. Pray inform us how many compose this Faction? If they are numerous, it affords you a better Opportunity of fixing it on some of them, and of bringing them to Justice. If a few, how base and wicked is it in you, Reverend Sirs, to endeavour from the Crimes of a few Individuals, supposing your Accusation to be just, to calumniate the Reputation of a whole Society? Fifty Seven Presbyterian Ruffians attacked the Indians, the antient Friends and Allies of the English, who had been long peaceably settled at Conestogo, a Place far within the inhabited Parts, and barbarously murdered in cool Blood, disarmed Men, helpless Women, and innocent Infants, when on their bended Knees protesting their Innocence, and with uplifted Hands imploring their Lives. Now, would you think it just in the Quakers to impute these horrid Deeds to your whole Society, and publish them to the World in the London Chronicle? I am sure you would not.—But why then, Reverend Sirs, have you so widely deviated from that golden Rule, Do unto others as you would they should do unto you? Think of this Question—Think seriously of it on your Pillows— think of it in your Pulpit and when at Prayers; and, if no Remorse or Penitence is the Effect of your Reflections, your Hearts must be harder than the Nether Mill-stone. For it is written, ‘Who so privily slandereth his Neighbour, him will I destroy." And, "with what Judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.’

I DO not mean to deny, that there are some weak and wicked Men, among the Quakers. There are, and ever will be such among all Societies. Was not this a Truth, the [Page 4] P—y Faction, (to whom it seems you have united against your Sovereign's Interest^*) would never have had the least Pretence to represent this Society as disloyal to the Crown, and against contributing to the Defence of the Province. It was the Folly and Rashness of one Man, that furnished them with the Means of giving their Mis­representations of the Conduct of the Assembly an Appear­ance of Truth, at a Time when the House had given the most evident Proof of their Obedience to the Royal Orders. [Page 5] And it is this officious, mischeivous and ambitious Man, against whom alone you have heretofore made the Charges, which you now impute to the Society, ‘of holding Treaties and Correspondence with the Indians, and bestowing on them Tomhawks in Time of War,’ —with how much Justice and Truth, you and he alone can deter­mine. The Dexterity and Success with which you and your Party have used the Follies of this Man, to abuse and discredit the Society he unhappily belongs to, are now fatally notorious. The Task of reciting all the Mis­chiefs which he has brought on the Society, the Disgrace he has, and is continually subjecting them to, his wild Schemes to promote his own Importance, the Numbers his absurd Conduct has driven from the Society, and the other Effects of his fickle, yet headstrong impetuous Temper, would take up more Time than I can at present spare: I shall therefore only add, that Confusion and Discredit have constantly attended the Affairs of those who have had any Connections with him; and that it would have been happy for the Society, and the Liberties of Pennsylvania, if they had never had any Fellowship with a Person of his Disposition: For your Malevolence will never want a plausible Pretext for Misrepresentation and Slander against the whole Society, while he continues a Member, and your Consciences will permit you to aggra­vate the Follies of an Individual into heinous Crimes, and to impute them to the Society in general, who either never thought of them or gave them Opposition.

I shall now leave this high Charge against the Quakers, which, without one probable Circumstance attending it, rested solely on your meer Assertion. And how much Credit ought to be given to that, I shall make evident before I conclude.

THERE are some Men who, determined to succeed in their Designs, are utterly regardless of Truth, and so indifferent to the Shame of being detected in a Falsehood; that they never reflect whether the Facts they affirm are [Page 6] true or false. This Part you have acted; being determined at all Events, to destroy the Reputation of the Quakers.

BUT when I consider the Falsehoods you, and your Ad­herents, have had the Hardiness to publish, with this Intent, even upon the Spot where they might be easily detected, I the less admire at your Wickedness in publish­ing your venomous Slanders in England, where they might chance not to fall in the Hands of those who were able to refute them. In some of your inflammatory Publi­cations you did not scruple to assert, that the Assembly had employed the Publick Money in hiring the Indians to destroy the back Inhabitants. But tho' the Author of the Preface to Mr. Galloway's Speech, soon after tax'd you with downright Lying on the Occasion, you have never thought fit to deny the Charge, nor indeed will you ever be able to wipe off the Infamy with which you have thereby covered yourselves. I must beg Leave, however, to repeat some of that Author's Words, as I think them very expressive of your Conduct. ‘Are there not, says he, Pamphlets continually written and daily sold in our Streets to justify and encourage a Spirit of Riot and Violence? —Are not the mad armed Mob in those Writings insti­gated to imbrue their Hands in the Blood of their Fellow Citizens;—by first applauding their Murder of the Indians, and then representing the Assembly and their Friends as worse than Indians, as having privately stirr'd up the Indians to murder the white People, and arm'd and rewarded them for that Purpose?—LIES, Gentlemen, villainous as ever the Malice of Hell invented; and which to do you Justice, not one of you believes,—tho' you would have the Mob believe them.’

To proceed,—In hopes that some of your slanderous Slime might stick, you wickedly assert, That ‘when a Peace was concluded, they (the Quakers) wiped away the Blood shed by the Indians without obliging them to return our Captives;’ confessing at the same Time that [Page 7] the wiping away the Blood is an "Indian Idiom" for making of Peace. I say you have wickedly asserted this, as I am convinced that you must at the very Time have known, that the Messages of Invitation to the Indians were sent by the Governor; that the Negotiations were conducted by him, with the Advice of his Council; that the Peace was concluded, or the Blood wiped away as you term it, by the same Authority; and that the few Quakers who attended the Treaty, were never consulted on the Occa­sion, and even the Provincial Commissioners were but seldom treated with that Respect. Had either of these been the Case, the Measure you complain of would have been at least recommended.—If this Step was prudent or necessary, it was the Province of the Governor, and those who had the Management of the Treaty under their Direc­tion, to insist on and enforce it. And, if any Persons are culpable, they must be those whose Duty it was to obtain a Restitution of the Captives, and not those who had the Inclination without the Power. But if, Reverend Sirs, it was your Opinion, that it was the Duty of others, besides the executive Part of Government ‘to oblige the Indians to return our Captives’ why did you not perform this important Service? It was as much in your Power as in that of the Quakers; and some of you actually attended the Treaty. Was it because you at that Time had really but little Concern about the Captives? Or was it because you had not then resolved to lay aside the arduous Duties of your sacred Offices, for the Sake of Politics and becom­ing Politicians?—Give me leave to tell you seriously, that the Zeal you, and those you can influence, have lately shown in vilifying the Quakers, is thought, by the sensible moderate Men of every Persuasion in the Province, to be owing to your political Designs. It is imagined, that you expect you shall, by rendering the Quakers odious, recommend yourselves to the Proprietors, and thereby the easier engross all Power, and reduce all other Societies, the Church of England not excepted, to your Will and [Page 8] Pleasure, as your Society have in a great Degree already done in several other of his Majesty's Colonies.

IN the next Sentence you tell us, that you ‘put £. 500, into the Hands of the Governor, who entrusted it to the Provincial Commissioners, to redeem our Cap­tives so shamefully deserted.’ I am obliged to you, Gentlemen, for this Discovery. It seems then that the Authors of so many bold Untruths and uncharitable Censures, as are contained in the Letter before me, are the same Persons who gave into the Governor's Hands £. 500, for the Redemption of Captives.—And when I have Recourse to the Receipt signed by the Governor for that Money, I find it was paid by the Corporation for the Relief of Presbyterian Ministers, their Widows and Children,—not out of your private Purses, or from any Contributions of your Society in this Province, as you have left the World to conclude; but from the cha­ritable Donations of the good People of England, Scotland and Ireland, for this very Purpose, and not for the Purpose to which you have applied the Bulk of those Donations. Wherein then does your Charity consist? Is it in abusing your Neighbours, and assuming the Charity of others to yourselves? But are you not yet ashamed to keep the Amount of this Donation a Secret from the World—and not give an Account thereof either to the Contributors in Europe, or to the People of this Province? The first have a Right to expect it, because the Money was theirs, and it was given by them on this express Condition; and the latter, because it was given to relieve them from an Expence which otherwise they must have necessarily provided for.

And are you not also ashamed to say, that the Governor entrusted the Money to the Provincial Commissioners; when you know in your own Consciences, that they never received a single Farthing, or had the least Direction in the Disposal of it; but that it was entrusted by Governor Hamilton, to two Gentlemen of your own Religion, [Page 9] for the Purposes you intended it, and for which they are accountable to the Governor? To prove that you must have been conscious of this, and, that the ‘Cap­tives were not so shamefully deserted’ by the Publick as you represent, but that their not being relieved, was owing to a sudden Turn of Indian Affairs; I shall insert a Copy of a Note sent by one of you to the Secretary, and by him laid before the Commissioners. viz.

IN all this Time, it seems you have disposed of but £. 500, and you have lately requested the Governor and Pro­vincial Commissioners to settle the Accounts thereof. What the Amount of the Collection was is uncertain to us; it may have been £. 5000, or more.—You have confessed there is a Ballance remaining in your Hands; which to be sure you will not venture to appropriate to any other [Page 10] than the Purposes intended by the Contributors, without their Assent.—If this be really your Design, Might you not as well have laid before the same Gentlemen, the whole Accounts of this charitable Donation, containing the Amount thereof, the Sums you have expended, and the Ballance now remaining in your Hands? This would be acting the Part of Men of Honour and Honesty. It would give the Contributors in England the Satisfac­tion the are entitled to, which they have often complained of the Want of; and which they will undoubtedly find out Measures to compel you to do, should you trifle with them much longer.

I will follow you still further in your boasted Cha­rities to the back Inhabitants. ‘When ready to perish for want of the Necessaries of Life," you say, "our Society sent them £. 150, and soon after Collections were made by every Religious Society in this City, the Quakers only excepted.’ It is not my Inclination to depreciate from the Charities of any Religious Society; nor would I willingly employ my Pen to so odious and unchristian a Purpose. This kind of Work, I would chuse to leave to such Lovers of Defamation and Falsehood as are the Authors of the Letter in question. I have Reason to know, that there are many worthy Re­ligious and Loyal Subjects among the Presbyterians in this Province; and I am confident there would be yet many more, had you confined yourselves to the Duties of your sacred Functions, and never dabbled in Politicks. A Science you do not understand; or did you, you could not put your Knowledge in Practice, consistent with your Stations in Life, and the Offices you have under­taken. The Influence you have among your People in the City, the Authority you have assumed over all the Presbyterian Clergy, and their Congregations in the Country, to which the Majority of them implicitly submit, as is plain by the ready Obedience they paid to your Circular Letter, describing the Change from a [Page 11] Proprietary to a Royal Government, as productive of their Ruin, and the great Industry and Pains you have taken to render the latter odious, must have had some Effect with them, and cooled, if not totally alienated the Affections of many from the Person of their Sovereign. For this Peice of Service, his Majesty and Ministry have few others to reward but yourselves, and a noted Church of England Clergyman, who has by uncommon Effrontery repeatedly imposed on the Clergy of Eminence in our Mother Country.—But it is more than probable, that the Time is near when you will all be stripp'd of your borrowed Plumes.—Pardon this Disgression.

IT is I say, a Task no ways agreeable to me, to com­pare the Conduct of different religious Societies: And yet when the Slanders published by the Ministers of one Sect, render the Comparison necessary for the Vindication of another, there needs but little Apology. I shall there­fore lay before you, those Sums of Money which the Quakers have generously bestowed on the Frontier Inha­bitants to relieve their Distress, and to restore Peace to our Borders in which those poor People were so much interested.

IN the Year 1755, the Quakers, affected with the Distresses of the Frontier Inhabitants, who were then attacked by the French and Indians, were the only People that sent them any Relief.—They raised in the City of Philadelphia, upwards of Five Hundred Pounds, and faithfully distributed it among them.—The Friends in the Country also join'd in this Charity, and dispatched several Waggon Loads of Provisions for the Subsistence of those who were rendered destitute of the Necessaries of Life. Who were to be relieved?—not Quakers, for you agree the Quakers are chiefly in the three interior Cities. They were People of other Societies, and principally of your own. At this Time your Bowels of Compassion were not even moved,—all your Charity lay fast asleep!—What a grateful Return have you then made for this early and [Page 12] seasonable Act of Benevolence! For their Charity you have given them Abundence of Slander and Abuse—And for Brotherly Love and Good Will towards your Society, you have endeavoured to ruin their Reputation as a People with all Mankind.

AND, at the very Time you sent up the £. 150, you mention, to the Frontiers, the Quakers in the Country Meetings also made Collections for the same Purpose, and sent up several Sums of Money to relieve the Distresses of the poor People; and you have acknowleged in one of your former Publications, that some ‘worthy Individuals (among the Quakers) in the City, contributed on the Occasion.’ It is true, the Quakers as a Society, did not at this Time raise any Money in the City.—Their Reasons were,—That the Application for Relief was first made to other Societies—to whom it came naturally first, as their People were the Objects in Distress. However, the Qua­kers in the City, had a Meeting on the Occasion, and upon Enquiry, found that the Sums of Money which had been already collected were so liberal, that they were more than sufficient to answer the present Purpose.— And so it afterwards proved; for a Part of the Money sent up to Cumberland and other Places, remained in the Hands of the Persons to whom sent, undistributed for many Months after.—And yet this did not prevent their resolving (as appears by their Minutes) that they would largely contri­bute in the Winter Season, when in all Probability, the Distresses of the Frontiers would demand much greater Relief.—In Pursuance of this Resolution, it is well known upwards of £. 500, was subscribed, a Part of it disposed of, and a Part remains for want of Objects: As does likewise a great Part of the Money raised several Years before by your Missionary in Europe for the same Purpose.

THESE were the only Motives that prevented the Quakers from contributing at this Time, as they had done before, to the Relief of the Frontiers. To have added to the Sums then raised for this Purpose, would [Page 13] have been Wantoness, not Charity, would have savoured more of Pride than Prudence. But any Reason suited your Purpose better than the true One, as you were determined to defame a whole Society of People, the Objects of your Envy and inveterate Malice, which was out of your Power to do, while you adhered to Truth. You therefore after racking your Invention to find out a Falsehood to serve your Purpose, assert, ‘We know of no other Reason for this Conduct but an envious Temper, because the Frontier Counties who are of different Denominations, must share the Power with them which they now abuse.’ It seems then the Quakers have Power. And permit me to ask you why should they not? Are they not in every Respect as much entitled to it as any others?—Have they not Life, Liberty and Property to be represented and protected as well as others? And have they not given as full Proof of a faithful and loyal Attachment to their Sovereign and his Government as those of any other Society, and much more than those of your own who have been under your particular Influence? It is true, you have taken great Pains to represent the People of that Society as principled against granting Aids to the Crown, and against paying the Taxes for the Defence of the Province. You have made Use of a Petition presented to the Assembly, set on foot by a mischievous wrongheaded Man among them, who, with all his Art and Influence, could obtain but 29 Persons besides himself to sign it; and you have basely imposed it on the World as an Act of the whole Society, tho' you well knew that the Assem­bly, even when composed of a great Majority of Quakers, have granted several Hundred Thousand Pounds to the Crown, for those very Purposes. You have also taken Advantage of the Conduct of the same obstinate Person, in refusing to pay his Taxes; tho' you knew there were not one in a Thousand of that Society, but paid them with as much Chearfulness as any of the King's Subjects.

[Page 14]GREAT as your Enmity is to Quakers, you cannot, Rev. Sirs, charge that Sect with having ever attempted to behead or depose their Sovereign, or with treasonable Conspiracies, Murders, Riots, or illegal Opposition to Government. On the contrary, it is well known to the World, that this Province was first settled by Quakers; it's Government carried on, and it's Peace and Welfare promoted, by Measures founded on Wisdom and Prudence; the best Legislative Regulations were made, and Justice administred with the strictest Rectitude at Home, while Peace and Amity were carefully cultivated with the Natives abroad; and those very Indians, whose Interest it was to destroy the White People, were, by their con­summate Policy, made instrumental in promoting the Settlement and Welfare of the Colony. And the same Policy had still continued, and the Happiness of the People been equally promoted, had not Proprietary pri­vate Interest interfered and prevented.

PERMIT me, before I leave this Point, to contrast the Conduct of the Quakers with your own, and those under your Influence. The Quakers have ever virtuously exerted themselves in favour of the just Rights and Liberties of Mankind, and have endeavoured to restrain the Proprietary Power within its proper Bounds: You, on the other Hand, have join'd with that Power, in the foolish and vain Expectation of usurping the Whole.—The Quakers have ever supported the Government, its Laws and Constitution, and that against all rebellious Riots and Attempts to tread it under Foot: You, and those under your Influence, have been either the Principals or Abettors of all the Riots that have been insolently raised in Defiance of Government and its Laws, as your many insidious Writings, and the Letter now before me will testify. The Quakers, at the Request of the Government, united with others in defending it against the Rioters: But the Congregation under your Care, one or two at most excepted, were either passive, [Page 15] if not joyful Spectators of the imminent Danger, or intermixed with them, abetting and encouraging their horrid Design. The Quakers, when they found Life, Liberty and Property were no longer secure under a P—y Government, did, from a perfect Confidence in their Sovereign, unite in petitioning for a Royal Govern­ment; while you were employed in spreading Disaffec­tion to the King, and an Aversion to a Kingly Government among your whole People; and in prevailing not only on the Men, but even Children at School to petition against it.—The Quakers have expended many Thou­sand Pounds towards restoring Peace to, and relieving the Distresses of the Frontier Inhabitants, and the Re­demption of Captives, tho' scarcely any of their Society are settled there; while you have only contributed a pitiful £. 150, for one of these Purposes, tho' the People of your Society were the very Objects that were to be benefited and relieved. Thus, Reverend Sirs, had you the least Degree of Candor, you would confess, that the Quakers have uniformly shewn by their Actions that they are govern'd by the Principles of Reason, and are Friends to good Government: That while they have with Steadiness promoted the true Interest and Happiness of the Country, and opposed the arbitrary and tyranni­cal Measures of a private Subject, they have at the same Time exerted themselves in maintaining and defending even the Government that was occasionally oppressing them, against every audacious Attempt that has been made to destroy its Laws, and annihilate its Power. And, to do you Justice, Gentlemen, I must confess, you have not been less uniform in the Execution of your Plan of trampling on all Government and Order: For it is well known it was those under the Influence of one of you, that formed the Riot in Gov. Morris's Administration, which was intended to intimidate the Assembly into the arbitrary and unjust Measures of the Proprietaries.—It was People of the same Society, that perpetrated the Murders at [Page 16] Conestogoe and Lancaster, which you can, consistent with your Religion, even endeavour to justify. It was the same People that committed that daring Insult on the Government at Germantown, and have since that seized and destroyed the Goods of the CROWN, and impudently declared, "that they were better Judges of what was right to be done in America, than their Sovereign and the British Parliament united." You formerly join'd with the Pro­prietaries against the Assembly, contrary to your own and the Rights of your Fellow Subjects, and you now unite with the same Power against the Rights of His Majesty himself. Uniformly you have acted indeed, but with how much Reputation and Credit to yourselves and your Society, the candid Part of Mankind will here­after determine.

BUT this Want of Charity in the Quakers proceeds as you alledge from an ‘envious Temper, because the Frontier Inhabitants must share the Power with them.’ To prevent this, you say, ‘they have in forming the new Counties so ordered it, that but ten Representatives are sent from five frontier Counties, and twenty six from the three interior Counties under the Quakers Influence.’ It is no uncommon Thing to find Men who have invented a Falsehood to promote their wicked Designs, to lose themselves when they attempt to offer Reasons in Support of it. This certainly is your Cir­cumstance; for can there be any Reason or Cause for envying a Power which the Frontiers do not enjoy, and which you declare the Quakers have so ordered, that they cannot exercise it.—This weak Reason for the Quakers Uncharitableness I shall leave at present for you to mend, or to invent a new One, as shall be most agree­able to you.— But why would you venture thus, without the least Foundation, to impute to the Quakers a Passion which it is here so well known, may, with the strictest Justice and Propriety, be charged to yourselves. Envy, and a Thirst after Power, are your characteristic Passions. [Page 17] Envy at the Encrease, Happiness and Promotion of the Church of England and the Quaker Religion, is what destroys your Peace, and renders you thus restless and tumultuous: And Thirst after Power, never to be satiated until all other Societies are reduced to your Domain, is the chief Motive of your late Conduct. It requires no great Depth of Penetration to perceive this Truth.— Should the Frontiers succeed in their unreasonable De­mand, which has sprung entirely from your Policy, the Legislative Power would be in the Hands of your Sect, and your whole Scheme of Dominion executed at once. Hence arises your Complaint that the Frontiers are not justly represented. And do you then seriously think, that a People who have thus grossly abused the Share of Power they at present enjoy, who have trampled on all Laws both human and divine, to gratify their frantic Rage and superstitious Fury, and who have spurned at, defied and insulted the Powers of Government itself, should be entrusted with more? This Question, if I am right in judging from your past Conduct, you will certainly answer in the Affirmative: For you seem deter­mined to succeed in your Plan at all Adventures. Hence it is that you deserted the sacred Duties of your Profession for the Sake of Politicks. Hence it is that you have long since laid your Schemes to render your own Sect the most numerous and powerful in America. Hence it is that all those Riots and Tumults which have put an End to all Government in the Province, encouraged and countenanced by your Performances, have arisen. And from these Motives have proceeded all your false Clamours, groundless Abuse and infamous Calumnies against the Quakers, whose Merit has recommended them to that Confidence of the People of other Societies, which your own never could obtain; and whose Conduct in Support of the Government and its Laws against the most wicked Attempts, has been a Mountain of Opposition in your Progress to lawless Power, the great Object of [Page 18] your Wishes. Be not deceived, Rev. Sirs, your Plan is not so deeply laid as to conceal these solemn Truths from Persons of other Professions: They see your Designs, and it is much to be regretted, that the Eyes of those unhappy Men, who have long been made the Dupes of your Folly and Wickedness, were not also opened, that they might see the Ruin which your Doctrines and Con­duct must lead to, sooner or later.

BUT to proceed in manifesting the Weakness of the Foundation upon which you attempt to erect your Power: ‘The Charter, you say, allows to every County four Members at least to represent them,’ and that the Frontiers "desire this Privilege." Here you discover the Folly of Divines when they undertake to expound Temporal Laws. In the Year 1701, the Province and Territories were united in Legislation; they consisted of six Counties, three in each: The Proprietor and People finding the Original Frame of Government defective, agreed on a new Charter; the whole Number of Repre­sentatives was settled at Twenty-four, i. e. four for each County. And therefore the Charter, in erecting and proportioning the Legislative Authority of the Counties then laid out; declares, in §. 2. ‘That there shall be an Assembly yearly chosen by the Freemen thereof, to consist of four Persons out of each County;’ making in the Whole the Number intended.—But as there was then a Probability, from some Differences subsisting between the Members of the three Counties of the Pro­vince, and those of the three Counties of the Territories, that they would separate in Legislation, in the subsequent Part of the Charter a Power is given to them for that Purpose: And, in case they should separate, it was further declared, that the Inhabitants of each of the three Counties of this Province should not have less than 8 Members to represent them in Assembly, without the least Direction for the future Regulation of the Conduct of the Government, in forming new Counties.

[Page 19]IMMEDIATELY after the Execution of this Charter, the Province and Territories separated; and each of the three Provincial Counties elected and sent to the Seat of Legislation 8 Members, making up the Number 24, as the Charter directed. And the three Lower Counties sent 18, i. e. Six for each County, to their Assembly; I suppose by Virtue of a Law made for that Purpose. Hence the Meaning and Design of the Charter appears to be no more than to ascertain the Number of Mem­bers for each of the Counties then in being; and to limit that of the Provincial Assembly to 24, leaving the sub­sequent Legislatures to grant such a Number of Repre­sentatives to the new Counties, if any should thereafter be erected, as upon Consideration of their Circumstances should appear prudent and safe. Any other Construc­tion of the Charter must be absurd and unjust.

IT is scarcely possible to ascertain the Number of Representatives that ought to be in any Country, and much less in a new One, on equitable Principles. I know of no Rule to fix their Proportions, but the Number of Taxables, and the Quantity of Money they pay to­wards the Defence and Support of the Government. And as the Number and Quantity of these are subject to continual Encrease and Changes, even this Mode must be attended with Difficulties if carried strictly into Practice.

HOWEVER, let us for once agree on this as a Rule, as we know of no better at present, and thereby examine into the Justice of the Complaint of the Frontier Counties, that they are not equally represented. To determine the Matter, we must fix on one County as a Standard: None can be settled as such with more Propriety than the County of Philadelphia, because it is the most opulent and numerous, and contains a greater Number of Men, who understand Government and Laws. Now the County of Philadelphia contains about 8300 Taxables, and pays towards the Support and Defence of the Govern­ment annually, upwards of £. 12,400, and sends eight [Page 20] Members to represent it in Assembly. Calculate the Number of Members which the five Frontier Counties ought to send, by the same Rule of Proportion; and Lancaster, York, and Northampton, will be found to be entitled to send no more than what they now have a Right to send by the Laws in force; Cumberland one more than it ought, and Berks one less.^* Thus you find, upon a candid and fair Examination that the Complaint which you have wickedly infused into the Heads of the Frontier Inhabitants against the Quakers, is without the least Justice or Foundation The Frontier Counties are upon the whole, as fully represented as the first and principal County in the Province.—Indeed they are not equally represented among themselves, as one of them enjoys the Right of sending one Member more than it ought, and another sends one less.

BUT supposing the Frontier Counties had not been equally represented—Why is this Charge made against the Quakers? Was not the Number of the Representatives established by an Act of the whole Legislature, in which the Governor, whom you will allow was not a Quaker, had an equal Share? And permit me also to remind you that the Inhabitants, at the Time they petitioned for these [Page 21] Counties to be formed out of the old Ones, never requested in any of their Petitions to have a separate Election.— All the Inconveniencies therein complained of, were the Distance from the Courts of Justice, and the Difficulty of attending them to bring Malefactors to Justice, or to recover their civil Rights, when invaded. And the Government might have remedied the Mischiefs pointed out to them, and left the People of these Counties to attend the Election of Representatives in the old Counties, without any reasonable Complaint, as has been done in two neighbouring Provinces.

BUT what fully evinces the Absurdity of some of the back Counties complaining that their Interest suffers by the interior Counties having a greater Number of Repre­sentatives than they, and shows that they have been put upon this Measure to answer Party Purposes, is, that they have generally elected a Part of their Representatives from among the Inhabitants of Philadelphia, owing to their having hardly any Persons of sufficient Liesure and Property in their own Counties, who would be at the Trouble and Expence of serving them in that Capacity. So that if they were to have an additional Number allow'd them, they would be obliged to elect them from the City likewise, which would make the Ballance, if at present against them, still greater in their Disfavour. Even those Members who are chosen among themselves, can scarce ever be got to attend more than half a Sessions, alledging, that they cannot afford to be absent so long a Time from their Families and Business; and I am convinced, that if those Counties were obliged to send 8, or even 4 Members each, to the Assembly, from among their own Inhabitants, and their Wages to be paid by the County, we should have much louder Complaints on that Head, than any we have yet had for Want of Representatives.

I shall add to the Evidences already given of the chari­table Disposition of the Quakers towards the Presbyte­rians on the Frontiers, what you mention in your Letter [Page 22] of their having bestow'd £. 5000, in Presents to the Indians, notwithstanding you have so severely censured them on that Account. What the exact Sums were, which these People have expended in Presents to the Indians, I cannot ascertain; tho' I doubt not but they were considerable, as their Contributions to publick Services generally have been: They may perhaps have amounted to the Sum you mention. I am however fully persua­ded, that the greatest Benevolence and publick Spirit, were manifested by their Conduct on this Occasion; and the Facts will I think prove it.

A FEW of the Quakers, when they considered the Friendship which had subsisted between the first Settlers of the Province and the Indians; the repeated Acts of Love and Benevolence, which the former had on all Occasions shewn to the latter; the Cordiality and brotherly Union which had continued without ever being broken, from the Dawn of the Colony to the Time of the late Indian Hostilities; were prevailed on to think that some extraordinary Cause must have given Rise to such a Change of Conduct in the Indians, from whom they and their Predecessors had received such Proofs of Humanity and Friendship. They also reflected, that little Security was to be expected in the military Way, as the Disputes between the two Branches of the Legislature, obstructed the Aids that were necessary for that Purpose:^* That the [Page 23] Frontiers were then bleeding in every Quarter, the People in the utmost Consternation, and the Country every Day more and more deserted for want of Protection. These Things, I say, led them to think, that if the Indians could be brought to a Conference with the Government, an Explanation of their Aggrievances, if any, might be obtained, and those Aggrievances redressed; that Peace might be restored to the desponding Inhabitants of the Frontiers, and the antient Friends of the Province be taken from their new Allies the French, and restored to the British Interest; which, at that Time, in America, had the most unfavourable Appearance. With this publick spirited Design did a few of the Quakers asso­ciate, and subscribe a large Sum of Money, to assist the Government in holding a Treaty with the Natives. Several other Societies of the same peaceable Principles, joined in the Contributions.—They assumed the Name of the Friendly Association, and that with great Propriety, as their View was only to promote Peace, and to restore the lost Friendship of the Indians. Their Measures were made known to the Governor, and afterwards to the Proprietors, ^† and by them approved.

IN pursuance of this Policy, first thought of, and recommended to the Government by the Quakers. Invi­tations were sent to the Indians, and the Treaty at Easton held with them. And it is a Truth too notorious to be denied, that from the Arrival of the Messengers from the [Page 24] Governor at Tiagon, a Northern Settlement of Indians, the salutary Effects of this Measure were obvious. Hosti­lities immediately ceased on our Northern Frontiers, a Stop was put to the most cruel Devastations, and Peace for a Time restored to those unhappy People, which the Province at that Time was unable to procure from any other Measure whatever.

AFTER this the first Treaty at Easton was held; the Trustees of the Friendly Association attended it, and offered their Purse and their Services to the Government; the Governor chearfully accepted their Presents, and gave them to the Indians in their Names, together with another from the Government.

AND, at the second Treaty at Easton, the Trustees again waited on the Governor with a written Address, and offered their Service; he was pleas'd to approve of their Conduct, agreed to accept their Presents, and invited them to attend the Treaty; which they accordingly did, to the Satisfaction of the Governor, with whose Approbation their Presents were at this Time also deli­vered to the Indians.

THE good Effects of these, with several subsequent Treaties, were soon felt; the Frontier Inhabitants were made easy, many Lives were saved, the Complaints of the Indians against the Proprietors were settled, and a fortunate Issue put to their savage Depredations; which could not otherwise have been effected, without an immense Expence of both Blood and Treasure. Thus benevolent and charitable, and founded on the wisest Policy, were the Presents given by these People, with the Approbation of the Governor, to the Indians, which you, Reverend Sirs, have basely represented as proceeding from a greater Respect and Regard for the Enemy, than for the People of the Province.

THAT the Indians have had frequent just Causes of Complaint against the Proprietaries and their Agents, may be seen in a Pamphlet written in Pennsylvania, and [Page 25] published by J. Wilkie, Bookseller, St. Paul's Church Yard, London, intituled, ‘An Enquiry into the Causes of the Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians, from the British Interest;" and also in a Work intituled, "An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania, printed for R. Grif­fiths, Bookseller, Pater-Noster Row.’ Nay, so many and frequent are the Instances of Injustice being done to the Indians by British Subjects, that Accounts of them have at length reach'd the Throne, and occasioned several wise and humane Orders to be issued, for the Pre­vention of the same in future. In several of the American Gazettes was published a circular Instruction, dated December 9, 1761, to the Governors of the different Colonies, of which the following is an Extract, viz.

‘WHEREAS the Peace and Security of our Colonies and Plantations upon the Continent of America, does greatly depend upon the Amity and Alliance of the several Nations and Tribes of Indians bordering upon the said Colonies, and upon a just and faithful Observance of those Treaties and Compacts, which have been here­tofore solemnly entered into with the said Indians, by our Royal Predecessors, Kings and Queens of this Realm. And whereas, notwithstanding the repeated Instructions which have been, from Time to Time, given by our late Royal Grandfather, to the Governors of our several Colonies upon this Head, the said Indians have made, and do still continue to make great Com­plaints, that Settlements have been made, and Posses­sion taken of Lands, the Property of which they have by Treaty reserved to themselves, by Persons claiming the said Lands, under pretence of Deeds of Sale and Conveyance illegally, fraudulently and surreptitiously obtained of the said Indians: And whereas it has like­wise been represented to us, that some of our Governors, or other chief Officers of our said Colonies, regardless of the Duty they owe to us, and of the Welfare and [Page 26] Security of our Colonies, have countenanced such unjust Claims and Pretensions, by passing Grants of the Lands so pretended to have been purchased of the Indians. We therefore taking this Matter into our Royal Consideration, as also the fatal Effects which would attend a Discontent among the Indians in the present Situation of Affairs, and being determined upon all Occasions, to support and protect the said Indians in their just Rights and Possessions, and to keep inviolable the Treaties and Compacts which have been entered into with them. Do hereby strictly enjoin and command, that neither yourself, nor any Lieutenant Governor, President of the Council, or Commander in Chief of our said Province, do, upon any Pretence whatsoever, upon Pain of our highest Displeasure, and of being forthwith removed from your or his Office, pass any Grant or Grants to any Person whatsoever, of any Lands within or adjacent to the Territories possessed or occu­pied by the said Indians, or the Property or Possession of which has at any Time been reserved to, or claimed by them."—"And it is our further Will and Pleasure, that you forthwith cause these our Instruc­tions to you to be made publick, not only within all Parts of our said Province, inhabited by our Subjects, but also amongst the several Tribes of Indians living in the same; to the End that our Royal Will and Pleasure in the Premises may be known, and that the Indians may be apprized of our determined Resolution to support them in their just Rights, and inviolably to observe our Engagements. G. R.’

AND from His Majesty's Proclamation, dated October 7, 1763, is the following Extract, viz. ‘And whereas great Frauds and Abuses have been committed in the purchasing Lands of the Indians, to the great Prejudice of our Interests, and to the great Dissatisfaction of the Indians; in order therefore to prevent such Irregulari­ties [Page 27] for the future, and to the End that the Indians may be convinced of Our Justice, and determined Resolu­tion to remove all reasonable Cause of Discontent, We do,’ &c.

You next proceed to relate the Feats of the Provincials and Volunteers, in destroying the Indian Towns, and their Corn; and to give an Account, such as it is, of that noble and heroic Action of destroying the Indians at Conestogo and Lancaster. Let us have it in your own Words, for I think there is something curious in them; ‘They (the Volunteers) say you, returned enraged to find that an Indian Town of about 20 or 30 Persons▪ had now informed their Friends against whom our Men had marched, and who were perfidiously playing the same Pranks as they did last War; they marched to their Town and cut off some of them, others fled to a Borough called Lancaster, and there they came and cut them off. This the Quakers have painted as a Massacre and most horrid Murder, tho' it was no more but what our People suffered on all Occasions.’ In this Representation of the Murders at Conestogo and Lancaster, you have asserted several of the grossest False­hoods, misrepresented several Circumstances, and omitted the most essential and material Facts:—For, give me Leave to ask you, what Foundation have you for asserting, that these miserable Victims to the Rage of Enthusiasm, ever gave the least Information to the Enemy of the Volunteers design; You, or those whose barbarous Murders you palliate and justify, have taken great Pains to procure some Proof of it, but in vain. Had you succeeded, you would no doubt have laid them before the Government, to show that they were Enemies, or at least that they adhered to the Enemies. But Nothing of this kind has been done; and therefore the whole Province must be convinced, that all your Accusations against them are founded in Policy, not in Truth. They were indeed invented after the Fact done, to palliate a Deed [Page 28] which must excite in every humane [...] utmost Ab­horrence. For it is unfortunate for [...] that the very Perpetrators of the horrid Act at the [...] it was done, gave a very different Reason, viz. ‘That they were Heathens, and therefore should be cut off from the Face of the Earth.’ —But let us enquire in what Light the Governor, Council, and Assembly, of the Province, looked on these barbarous Actions. Let us inspect the Messages which passed between them, and your Misrepresentations and Falsehoods will appear glaring and wicked indeed.—In a Message from the Governor to the Assembly, dated Dec. 21, 1763, he expresses himself in this Manner.

‘I am also to lay before you a Piece of Intelligence I received from Lancaster on Friday last, which has given me the utmost Concern.—On the Fourteenth Instant, a Number of People, well armed and mounted, went to the Indian Town in Conestogo Manor, and, without the least Reason or Provocation, in cool Blood, barbarously killed six of the Indians settled there, and would probably have treated all the rest with the same Cruelty, had they not providentially been abroad at that Time; and after burning all their Houses, the Perpetrators of this inhumane and wicked Action re­tired.’

‘As the Indians were seated on the Manor by the Government, and had lived there peaceably and inoffen­sively during all our late Troubles, I conceived they were as much under the Protection of the Govern­ment, and its Laws, as any others amongst us; where­fore I thought it my Duty to do every Thing in my Power for the immediate apprehending and bringing to Justice the Authors of this horrid Scene; and accordingly, by the Advice of the Council, I have dispatched Letters to the Magistrates of Lancaster, Cumberland and York Counties, requiring and charging them to exert themselves, and endeavour, by all [Page 29] possible Means, to discover and secure the Principals concerned in this outrageous Act, and their Accom­plices. I am also preparing a Proclamation, ordering and requiring all Officers, civil and military, and all His Majesty's Subjects in this Government, to be aid­ing and assisting to the Magistrates in the Execution of the Laws on this unhappy Occasion.—Such of the Conestogoe Indians as had the good Fortune to escape the Fury of the abovementioned lawless Party, are now taken under the Protection of the Magistracy at Lancaster, and are secured in the Workhouse there, but are in great Distress for Want of Necessaries and Apparel, having lost every Thing, except the little they had on their Backs, in their Houses, which were burnt.—As they do not apprehend themselves to be safe where they are, they have, by a verbal Message by one of your Members, requested of me that they may be removed to this City, or its Neighbourhood; and I am very ready to comply immediately with their Desire, provided you will enable me to defray the Ex­pence of it.’

AND in another Message, dated January 3, 1764, his Honour has these Words, viz.

‘I WAS preparing a Message, to inform you of the cruel MASSACRE of the Indians, in the Work-House of the Borough of Lancaster, on the 27th of last Month, by a wicked and lawless Sett of Rioters, when I received a Message by two of your Members, that you were already made fully acquainted with the Particulars of that horrid Scene of Barbarity, and insolent and daring violation of the Laws.’

WIDELY different indeed, Reverend Sirs, is this De­scription of the Facts from that you have basely imposed on the People in England. You here find the Governor and his Council, who are far more proper Judges of the Matter, than Persons in your clerical Offices,—declare, that these unhappy Indians were ‘seated on the Manor [Page 30] by the Government,—that they had lived there peace­ably and inoffensively, during all our late Troubles,— that they were as much under its Protection and its Laws as any others amongst us,—and that they were barba­rously killed, nay cruelly massacred, in cool Blood without the least Reason or Provocation.’ Certainly then, let these Actions be "painted" by Quakers or others, they convey the full Idea of a "Massacre and a most horrid Murder." How then shall we account for the Offence you have taken at the Terms applied to them, and your Manner of glossing over this most infernal Villainy? Is it because you are attached to every Villain, and would screen him from the just Punishment of the Laws, who is of the same Denomination of Religion with yourselves?—or because you think it no Offence to take away the Life of a human Creature who is of a different Colour or Persuasion?

INDEED, several of your Writers in favour of the Paxton Men, have before expressed much Resentment, that the Killing of the Indians should be called Murder. One of them in particular, speaking of the worthy Author of the Narrative, ^* has these Words, viz. ‘But it seems this Gentleman was determined to avail himself of any Thing, that he thought might bring Infamy and Odium upon the Paxton People; and for this End he has not scrupled to call the Killing the Indians [Page 31] MURDER! —But I am persuaded this Writer, with all his Ingenuity, will find it too hard a Task to prove it Murder.’ —Now, to convince this absurd Author, and another equally absurd who dates his Letter from Elizabeth-Town, that it is not so hard a Task, nor does require so much Ingenuity as they represent, to prove that the Killing of the Indians was properly and justly called Murder, I shall give them the following Extract from a new Work, entitled, Lex Coronatoria, viz. ‘When a Man of the Age of Discretion, and compos mentis, unlawfully, publickly or privately, by any external Act of Violence, killeth any reasonable Creature, in rerum Natura, under the King's Protection; Subject, or Alien, Christian, or Heathen, attainted, or not at­tainted, with Malice forethought, either express or implied; and the Party die of the Wound, or the Hurt, within the Year and the Day, this KILLING is MURDER; and even in the Case of a Feme-Covert, if committed with the Husband, Coercion is no Plea.—Vide 1 Hale, 429, 433, 434.—Bro. Cor. 196.—Fitz. Cor. 323.’

BUT the Author of The Conduct of the Paxton-Men im­partially represented (from whom the above Quotation respecting the Author of the Narrative is made) not satisfied with having thus exposed his Folly and Ignorance, has had the horrid Impiety to undertake to justify, from Scripture, the Murdering of Persons in cool Blood, even tho' a Man may have pledg'd his Faith to them, and not­withstanding he may at the very Time be receiving from them Acts of Hospitality and Friendship. Permit me to tell you, Reverend Sirs, that when you, or those you are connected with, publish to the World such horrid Doctrines as these, you do yourselves and your Cause more real Disservice than would ever be in the Power of your warmest Adversaries: For every rational humane Being must necessarily hold the Men who can publickly avow such Tenets in the greatest Detestation! And [Page 32] you may depend that those of your Society who now blindly follow you in thus vindicating Murderers, and in opposing a Royal Government, will ultimately find themselves involved in much Confusion and Disgrace.

THE next Thing that calls for my Attention is another Charge equally false and groundless against the Quakers, — ‘That a Party of Indians among the Inhabitants that carried the Enemies Arms and Ammunition, and had conducted them into the Settlements, and assisted in murdering the Inhabitants, applied to the Quakers, and they found Means to bring them down to Philadelphia, and have maintained them at the Expence of the Pro­vince.’ Here I conclude you mean the Moravian Indians of Nain and Weketank, two Plantations of the Brethren; for no Other Indians remained among the Inha­bitants after the Massacre at Lancaster. These Indians you well know were Part of the Moravian Community, converted to the Christian Faith by Missionaries of their and your Society, lived on their Lands, and were daily under their Care. They were also received, as Subjects, and taken under the Protection of the Government at their particular Request upwards of twenty Years ago, by Governor Thomas; afterwards, in the late War, by Governors Morris and Denny. They had ever since lived peaceably and inoffensively in this Situation, if the Testi­mony of their Divines and others who were constantly resident among them may be credited.—But as they were situated near the Frontiers, some of the People of the County were suspicious that they held a secret Correspon­dence with the Enemy: And one of them was charged with the Murder of one Stinson in Company with other Indians, but was acquitted by a Jury of the County on a fair Trial. However, a Pannick seized many of the Inhabitants, and Numbers declared, if those Indians remained among them, they would desert their Habita­tions.—Several Requests came down to the Governor to desire their Removal to some other Place.—He laid them [Page 33] before the Provincial Commissioners, and at their Board it was agreed that the latter, some of them being Mem­bers of Assembly, should lay the Matter before the House, with their Opinion thereon, that it was ‘absolutely necessary that these Indians should be removed into the interior Parts of the Province,—where their Behaviour might be more closely observed.’ —Upon which the House resolved, ‘that the Expence of their Removal and Support while it should be necessary, be defrayed by the Government.’ And it is well known to the Gover­nor and the Board of Commissioners, that the Quakers never interfered in the Matter, nor indeed had they the least Connection with these Indians. This, Reverend Sirs, is the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, relative to the Transaction you impute to Quakers.—It was a meer Act of Government to prevent the Evacuation of the Settlements adjoining to Nain and Weketank, and indeed of the whole County of Northampton. How then could you charge this Fact to the Quakers without Blushing? You might with equal Justice and Reason impute the Murders at Conestogoe and Lancaster, or the late Death of the Emperor of Muscovy, to them.

BUT since you are so violent in censuring the Measures taken by the Government, permit me to ask you, What Method would your Wisdom, Prudence and Humanity have dictated to you, had you had the Power in your Hands? The bringing of them down to Philadelphia it seems you censure as highly criminal, and therefore no doubt but this would be your last Resolution: Would you have driven them into the Woods, and obliged them to seek Protection from the Enemy, and of Consequence to unite with them in their Barbarities against us? You certainly would not have done this: Common Prudence, nay common Sense forbid it.—A Measure of this Kind which would strip them of the Necessaries they had laid up for the Winter Season, must have justly enraged them and rendered them our most dangerous and inveterate Foes. [Page 34] I say most dangerous, because besides adding to the Num­ber of our Enemies, the Men were intimately acquainted with the interior Parts of the Province, and would no doubt have acted as Spies and Conductors to Parties of foreign Indians, to the utter Destruction of the Country.—But one Thing else remained that could be done, and this I make no scruple of saying, I doubt not but your Huma­nity and Christian Love towards them would have pointed out to you: I mean, to deprive them of their Arms, coop them up in a Pen or perhaps some strong House, and put them all to death, Men, Women and sucking Infants, in one general Massacre. This, to be sure, Gentlemen, would have been excellent Policy, it would have rendered these suspected People inoffensive indeed, and removed from the Minds of the Frontier Inhabitants all Apprehensions of Danger from them.—Am I too severe in this Censure? —Must we not suppose that the Men whose wicked Hearts without the least Qualm or Remorse can invent a False­hood with the iniquitous Design of bringing into Dis­grace a whole Society of People, can take Offence at others for calling the most horrid Scenes of Infernal Cru­elty and Cowardice by their proper Names Massacre and Murder, and can even vindicate the Perpetrators of the Savage Acts, would not hesitate to act on such Principles?

DISAGREABLE as it is to me, and unnecessary as it must appear to every candid Mind, after refuting such a Num­ber of malignant Charges against the Quakers, to wade through all the Untruths contained in your Letter, yet since I have undertaken it, I shall proceed. The very next Sentence to the one I have remarked on, contains another Falsehood. You assert, that ‘afterwards some of the very Indians that were beat at the Munsey-Hill, and that had their Corn destroyed, sued for the same Privilege, and were brought to Philadelphia, and main­tained by the Province.’ —Here I again conclude your dark Expressions mean the Wighalousin Indians,—for none others sued for the Protection of the Government, or were [Page 35] brought down after the Moravian Tribes.—These Indi­ans were lately in the Barracks, and if any of them were in the Engagement of Munsey-Hill, why have you not informed the Government and proved the Fact? —I call on you to do it yet. And if you do not, will not all Men unite in determining that your Delight is Falsehood and Defamation, and that you are, notwith­standing your religious Professions, lost to all Sense of Morality and Religion?

BUT suppose some of those Indians were brought down with the Wighalousin Tribe. The Censure cannot remain with the Quakers,—for this Transaction which you have wickedly imputed to them was also the Act of the Govern­ment. These poor Indians, most of whom are converted to the Christian Faith, being our Friends, and apprehen­sive of Danger, not only from the violent Rage of the Frontier Inhabitants, but from the Enemy Indians; sent Messengers down to treat with the Governor respecting their State of Insecurity. And in their Conferences with him, intreated the Protection of the Government, and requested that they might come down and live among us. —The Governor convinced of their Sincerity, warmly recommended, the Matter to the Assembly, who agreed to the Measure, and to provide for them during their Resi­dence among us. This will appear from the following Message, viz.

‘I lay before you the Minutes of several Conferences I have held with Papounan, and some other Indians, who live at Wighalousin, on the River Sasquehanna. I have no Reason to doubt that they have disclosed to me all that they really know of the present State of the Indian War, and of the Causes assigned by the Enemy Indians in their Neighbourhood for their renewing Hostilities against us.—They have intimated to me that they, and a few others, with whom they are con­nected, being really our sincere Friends, are uneasy at their present Situation, and would incline to come and [Page 36] live among us, if we would receive and protect them. They have been very importunate with me for an im­mediate Answer, alledging, as they have been very kindly treated by us, if this Overture should be like­wise favourably accepted, that it would confirm those who are already well disposed, and also incline many others, who are at present in Arms against us, to sue for Peace.’

‘THE Commissioners who are joined with me in the Disposition of the public Money, were made acquainted with this Affair; and though they agreed with me as to the Expediency and Utility of the Measure, yet as it would be attended with Expence, and the public Funds were nigh exhausted, we did not think proper to go into it.—I therefore recommend it to you to consider this Matter; and if you concur with me in Opinion that this will be for the public Service, and will provide a Fund on the Occasion, I desire you will give me your Answer as soon as possible, that I may no longer detain the Indians, who are impatient to return Home with my Messages.’

IN Answer to this, and to what the Governor had informed the House, respecting the Murder of the Indians in Lancaster County, the Assembly sent his Honour the following Message, viz.

THUS you find, and indeed you well knew it before, that this Measure which your Malice has imputed to the Quakers, took its Rise with the Governor, and was appro­ved of by both Branches of the Legislature. A Measure consistent with sound Policy, as it prevented an Increase of the Number of our Enemies, and added to those of our Friends. And as much so with Humanity, as it afforded Protection to those that demanded it, and relie­ved them from the Necessity of uniting with the Enemy, and the Perpetration of Cruelties that their Consciences disapproved of.

TO unfold to the World all your Falsehoods is a tedious Task, not from the Difficulty of refuting them, but from the Number you have the Art of throwing into a small Compass. You next assert, that these Indians, ‘at the Request of a Quaker Faction, were guarded by a Company of the King's Troops.’ You, or some of you, Gentlemen, were on the Spot, and you must know the Facts to be as I shall now relate them.—The Govern­ment receiving daily Accounts of the avow'd Design of the Rioters, to destroy the Indians in the Barracks, remo­ved them to the Province Island, a Place of difficult Access, and more distant from the Danger of being sur­prized: Flats were prepared to carry them off to some Place of Safety, in Case the Rioters should put their rebellious Threats in Execution.—But the cold Weather [Page 38] coming on, and the River being full of Ice, both the Government, which was then destitute of any Mode of defending them, and the Indians themselves, became uneasy at their Situation. This drew a Request from them to be removed to Sir William Johnson's, and pre­vailed on the Governor to gratify them. They were accordingly sent under the Care of Capt. Robinson, of the Regulars, from hence to Amboy, in New-Jersey; Gover­nor Franklin having, at the Request of Governor Penn, readily assented to their Passage through that Province. But from some Reasons of Policy, the Governor and Council of New-York refused them Admittance into that Government. General Gage finding, that the Governor of Pensylvania had ‘thought it adviseable to put them under the Military," resolved, "that they should not be abandon'd by the Escort,’ and ordered them back, with Directions to the Captain, to ‘receive any Orders the Governor of this Province should judge proper to give.’ The Governor's Message to the Assembly on the Occasion, is as follows, viz.

To which the Assembly answered.

Upon the Return of the Indians to this City, they remained under the Protection of the King's Troops; and the brave Citizens of Philadelphia of all Denominations (save the English, Scotch and Irish Presbyterians) for­med themselves into Companies, to support the Govern­ment and defend its Laws.

The Governor soon after sent another Message to the House, in these Words, viz.

THE Statute for suppressing of Riots, was, agreeable to this Requisition, extended to this Province; and the Governor and his Council, in the greatest Distress, invited the People to support him, against the lawless Violence threatned by these Rebels, whose Cause your Pen is prostituted to vindicate. The Governor himself appeared at the Head of the Citizens, and with the Advice of his Council, and the Provincial Commissioners, conducted the Whole. Which of these Facts will you have the Bold­ness to deny? Surely not that which the General so plainly declares in his Letter, That the Reason of his not permit­ting the Indians "to be abandon'd by the Escort," was because the Governor ‘had thought it adviseable to put them under the Military."—But suppose, for Argu­ment sake, this had been done "at the Request of the Quakers,’ was it not both prudent and humane?—You will answer me, I doubt not in the Negative; because it was, and it seems still is your Opinion, that the Indians should be massacred; or you could not take Offence at the only Measure which saved them from it. But will you consider a Moment, that General Gage's Conduct was approved of by both Governor and Assembly, and they acknowledged themselves under Obligations to him for it? —The Governor informs the Assembly, that they will perceive by the General's Letter, ‘how much we are obliged to him for the kind Part he has taken in this Matter:’ —And the Assembly requests the Governor ‘[Page 43]will be pleased to return his Excellency their Thanks, for this generous and seasonable Act of Goodness.’ And how indecent and foolish is it then in a few Clergymen, to undertake to censure the Conduct of a whole Govern­ment, and of his Majesty's General, only because it did not quadrate with their wicked and rebellious Sentiments, destructive of all Humanity, Allegiance and Order?

BUT as you have repeatedly endeavoured to have it thought, that none but Quakers or their Friends, have painted the Actions of the Paxton Rioters in a horrid Light, I shall therefore give you an Extract of another Message from the Governor, in which he expresses his Sentiments very strongly with Regard to those People. ‘I am sorry to inform you, says he, that the same Spirit and frantic Rage, which actuated those who lately put to Death the Indians in Lancaster County, still prevails among them; and that instead of having any Remorse for, or in the least dreading the bad Consequences of their Conduct, I have just Reason to believe they are daily strengthning their Party, and adding greatly to their Numbers, and threaten to come down armed in a Body, and repeat the same Acts of Cruelty on the Indians in the Barracks, in the Northern Liberties of this City, determined to spare none who oppose their wicked Designs. They have already given abundant Proof, that neither Religion, Humanity or Laws, are Objects of their Consideration, or of sufficient Weight to restrain them.’

I THINK, Reverend Sirs, you will hardly say that these Sentiments were dictated by a Quaker Faction; for among all the Faults you may find with this Gentleman's Admi­nistration, you cannot surely charge him with any Parti­ality to Quakers, whatever you may do to others. 'Tis however more than probable, that his H—r's Language is since altered with respect to those Murderers, but it is impossible that his Sentiments should. Whence this Alte­ration arose is in your Power to unfold, and you may [Page 44] possibly flatter yourselves, that no one else is enabled to do it: I have, notwithstanding great Reason to expect that it will not be long before you are fully convinced to the contrary.

DETERMINED to depress and abuse the Quakers, and to excuse the Rioters, you are pleased to add what you say, were the Declarations of the latter,— ‘These Insurgents (say you) declared that they were Loyal Subjects, and would not do what looked like Rebellion, tho' they thought it exceeding hard that they should be obliged to pay Taxes to maintain their Enemies.’ With what View did you mention this Declaration?—Was it from any foolish Hope you had, that you could persuade Mankind to credit the Assertions of Men, whose Actions had been, and were at the very Time flatly contradictory.—Your moral Philosophy must tell you, that Actions are more evidently indicative of the Mind than Words.—Some of those Rioters were the Men that had committed the Murders at Conestogoe and Lancaster., contrary to the Faith of the Government, the Laws of the Country, and the Gover­nor's Proclamation. Pushed on by the Consciousness of Guilt, and a Dread of Punishment, mixed with an enthu­siastic Rage and Hatred against all Indians, they resolved to take up Arms against the Government itself, prevailed with others to join them, with a View to encrease the Number of Offenders, so much as to render it dangerous or difficult to bring them to justice.—With this View they came down to Germantown, and from thence sent out their Spies to Philadelphia, to observe the Conduct and Preparations of the Government against them, con­tinually publishing their Resolution to destroy the Indians and all that defended them; nor was the Governor himself free from their Menaces. And do you seriously think, Reverend Sirs, that the breaking of Goals and murdering of Indians under the immediate Protection of the Go­vernment, in Defiance of its Proclamations and its Laws, does not "look like Rebellion," and that the Conduct of [Page 45] these Rioters in endeavouring to prosecute their Murders were Proofs of their Loyalty?—That they ought not to submit to the Laws of the Land, but had a Right to trample on all Laws, both Humane and Divine? If you do not, how could you without the highest Remorse, offer a Syllable in Vindication of such Rebels against their King, their Country and their God?

HAVING thus by plain and authentic Evidence refuted all your malignant Slanders against a People whose Conduct in Life has been ever attended with the highest Respect for Government, and the truest Loyalty to their KING, whose publick Spirit has equalled their Loyalty, and whose Benevolence and Charity to Mankind in gene­ral has not fallen short of any one Sect in the World; I shall conclude this Address to you, with a few serious Remarks on your Conduct, in Hopes of prevailing on you to alter it in future, and to amend your Hearts.

To traduce the private Character of an Individual, is an Offence which every moral Man would blush at being charged with. And to asperse the publick Reputation of a whole Society, to accuse them of Crimes of the most atrocious Nature, punishable with Death itself, without the least Foundation, and to publish the Accusation throughout the World in a publick News-paper, is an Offence so much more aggravated, that every good Mind must be struck with Abhorrence at the Thought of it. Surely on a Moment's Reflection you must acknowledge, that it is contrary to the Duty of a good Member of Socie­ty, with the Principles of Morality, and highly inconsistent with the Precepts of the blessed Gospel. It is an Offence that ill becomes any Man, but much more so those that have entrered into the sacred and awful Engagements of the Ministers of Christ, and publickly profess to be his Apostles. Must it not then give your Friends and Hearers, who rely on you for Guidance in the Paths of Religion, great Contempt for your Doctrines, and afflict [Page 46] them with the deepest Sorrow, to find that you are Men who have been guilty of the Crime I have described.

Is it wonderful, then, ‘that you have been able to do Nothing (as you observe) to spread the Gospel either among the Indians or Europeans?’ Have you taken even a probable Method of promoting the Truths of the blessed Gospel?— It is justly observed by a great and good Divine, that Persons in your Offices have Occasion for their whole Time, to employ it ‘in Study, Labour, and the Performance of their Duty, and that all the Powers of Humane Nature are scarcely suffi­cient to discharge it fully.’ I make a solemn Appeal to your own Consciences: Have your Actions of late, discovered any Sense of this Truth; to you an important Truth? Have you not, instead of endeavouring to spread the Gospel, and laying out your Talent in a profitable Merchandize, been entering into the Intrigues of the World, and the Hurry of Politics? Has not your Time been engrossed in the Works of Ambition, in paying court to the Great, and in learning and executing their wicked Artifices? Has it not been employed in the Invention of Falsehoods, to calumniate a religious Society of People, who have been long the Objects of your Envy and Hatred? Has it not been employed in forming the most vile Untruths, to cover the most horrid Crimes, and to rescue from Punishment, Rebels against the Government, and the Murderers of the Innocent un­der it's Protection? Has it not been employed in promot­ing Party Feuds and irreconcileable Discord among the People? In writing, and encouraging the writing of false and infamous Libels, dectructive of the Reputation of your honest Neighbours, which to them is more valuable than Life? Have you not submitted your Judgments and Consciences to the Direction of the Proprietary Poli­ticians, and busied yourselves in rendering the immediate Government of your Sovereign odious and detestable to his honest and faithful Subjects? Have you not wrote [Page 47] your Circular Letters, and sent your Emissaries throughout the Province, representing a Royal Government, as oppressive and tyrannical? Have you not for this very Purpose, prostituted your Churches and Houses, erected alone for the Worship of God, to hold your dirty Cabals, and to lay your Plans for carrying into Execu­tion the Schemes of your Political Matters? These Things have eradicated from your Hearts, that Apostolical Meekness and Simplicity, which eveir distinguished the Conduct of our Divine Instructor, and which ever must be the chief Ornament of his true Ministers. You have left the Paths of Virtue, and become Pro­moters of Vice; you have exchanged true Religion for deceitful Politicks; for as you have used them they may be justly defin'd, Ars non tam regendi quam fallendi hominem. You have exchanged Brotherly Love, Peace and Good­will towards your Neighbours, for Envy, Malice and Falsehood. In fine, was I to search the Defects of human Nature through, it would be impossible to find any Thing more inconsistent with the Principles of Christianity, than the whole of your late Conduct. Could you expect then that the divine Author of all Goodness, Virtue, Meek­ness, Charity and universal Benevolence, would bless the feeble and insincere Endeavours of such, Instruments? If these divine Truths, or the Spirit of the Author of all true Religion, ever touched your Hearts, be exhorted to turn from the Evil of your Ways, like the prodigal Son, and repent in Dust and Ashes, that you may find Accep­tance; for you cannot "serve God and Mammon too."