for the more effectual settling and employing said inhabitants, it was enacted that the overseers of the poor of the several townships of Lancaster county were required and enjoined to accept of, provide for, and receive into their respective townships such of the Nova Scotians as were to be allotted, and sent into their townships, by an order under the hands and seals of at least two of the above named persons; provided, that not more than one family was allotted to the care of the overseers of the poor of any one township. They were to secure them employment, as was most suitable to the circumstances of the families and persons allotted, and appointed for their respective townships, as directed. The overseers were directed to keep just and true accounts of all such unavoidable. charges and expenses as might have accrued; which accounts were directed to be transmitted under oath, or affirmed, to the persons nominated. "Those who had been bred to farming, farms at a reasonable rate were to be rented for them, and some small assistance was to be afforded them toward settlement thereof. The commissioners were authorized to purchase or procure such stock or utensils of husbandry for making settlements, provided the supplies allotted to any single family did not exceed in the whole ten pounds. The expenses incurred were to be defrayed and paid out of the money given to the King's use by an Act of Assembly. "Their condition was such as to make it necessary for the Assembly to pass another Act, January 18, 1757: Whereas, it has been found by experience that the Act of March 4, 1756, has not answered the good intentions of the Legislature of uniting them with his Majesty's loyal subjects by granting the said inhabitants of Nova Scotia equal privileges and immunities with the inhabitants and settlers of the Province, and the grievous burdens of maintaining them in the manner hitherto used is greater than the good people of this province, under their present distressed circumstances, are well able to bear, and for as much as there are numbers of children among them whose real advantage and interest it would undoubtedly prove to be brought up in industry and frugality, and bound out to learn husbandry, or some other profitable art, whereby they might become reputable inhabitants, entitled to the rights of the British subjects, and their parents thereby eased of the charge of their maintenance as well as the public, which by proper care may be in a good degree relieved from the present heavy expenses.' The overseers of the poor were required to bind out the children of indigent Nova Scotians to kind masters and mistresses, on condition that they were taught to read and write the English language and such reputable and profitable occupations as would enable them at the expiration of the term of their apprenticeship to support themselves; males were bound out till twenty-one, females till eighteen. It was also provided that those who by reason of age, impotence, or any bodily infirmity, were unable to support themselves, should, like other poor of the township, be supported, but at the charge of the Province. After the defeat of Braddock on the 9th of July, 1755, began the series of atrocious and barbarous hostilities which has already been described in authentic extracts. The Sieben Tager Baptists of Ephrata provided hospitable shelter for the fugitives from Tulpehocken and Paxton, although they were themselves in imminent peril; the enemy was only thirteen miles distant, and the poor people were hourly apprehensive of being surprised by the savage foe. The Government despatched a company of infantry to Ephrata for the protection of the people. In Lancaster the people erected a block-house early in December. The subjoined letters from Edward Shippen to James Hamilton, supply interesting particulars: "HONORED SIR: I received the favor of yours of the 24th November, and we are all much pleased by your willingness to contribute to the building of a block-house. The savages who committed the murders in Paxton are now believed to be very numerous, perhaps one hundred. A number of families, but thirty-five miles from us, are entirely cut off. Farmers are flying from their plantations to Reading. An alarm, last night, about twelve o'clock; we assembled in the square, say, three hundred, but with fifty guns; it was shocking to hear at such a moment, when in expectation of the savages, that we had neither a sufficiency of guns nor ammunition. Thanks be to God, the alarm was false. The block-house will be built on the north side of the north end of Queen street. There will be a wide ditch around it, a small draw bridge; one important use is to place our wives, girls and children within, that they may be in safety.... These are fearful times. God only knows I am yours, how they will end. Another, dated Lancaster; December 5, 1755: EDWARD SHIPPEN." "HONORED SIR: The fort we have agreed to build, is as follows: For the stockade, the logs split in the middle, and set on end, three feet in the ground, placed on the north side of the town, between Queen and Duke street; with curtains 100 feet. The planks of the bastions, 16 feet'; and the saws of said bastions, 30 feet each. Yours, &c., "James Hamilton, Esq., Bush Hill. EDWARD SHIPPEN." The marauding parties of French and Indians hung on the frontiers during the winter, and in the month of January [1756] attacked the settlements on the Juniata river, murdering and scalping such of the inhabitants as did not escape, or were not made prisoners. To guard against these devastations, a chain of forts and block-houses were erected at an expense of eighty-five thousand pounds, by the Province of Pennsylvania, along the Kittatiny hills, from the river Delaware to the Mary. land line, commanding the principal passes of the mountains, garrisoned with from twenty to seventy-five Provincials, as the situation and importance of the places respectively required. On April 13, [1756] the Governor informed the Council and the As sembly of intelligence received that a number of people from the back counties had resolved to meet at Lancaster on the 16th inst., to march to Philadelphia and make some demands of the Legislature. Benjamin Chew, Alexander Stedman, Edward Shippen and William West were sent to Lancaster to inquire into the causes of the proposed meeting, and these gentlemen reporting their proceedings on the 21st, the Governor convened the Assembly for May 10th next ensuing, to take measures for putting the western part of the Province into a sufficient state of defence, and thereby to meet the demands of the people. And we have to regret another instance of the deliberate inhumanity which has distinguished the belligerents on the North American conti nent, in regard to their employment of the Indians.1 The cruelty of the savage was stimulated by the promise of reward; and, by proclamation, a premium was offered for the prisoners and scalps taken from the Indian enemy. This was rather an invitation to murder, than to take and protect prisoners. For as the scalp was worth the living body, no consid eration of religion or humanity induced the Indians to suffer the slightest inconvenience from their prisoners. The Proclamation ran thus: "MEMORANDUM. On the fourteenth instant, the Proclamation of War against the Delawares was published at the Court House in the presence of the Council, Supreme Judges, Magistrates, Officers, &c., and a large concourse of people, and is as follows: "By the Honourable ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS, Esquire, Lieuten ant Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania. and Counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex, upon Delaware: "A PROCLAMATION. "WHEREAS, the Delaware tribe of Indians, and others in confederacy with them, have for some time past, without the least provocation and contrary to their most solemn Treaties, fallen upon this Province, and in a most cruel, savage and perfidious manner, killed and butchered great numbers of the inhabitants, and carried others into barbarous captivity: burning and destroying their habitations and laying waste the country And Whereas, notwithstanding the friendly remonstrances made to them 1 Gordon. by this Government, and the interposition and positive orders of our faithful friends and allies the Six Nations, to whom they owe obedience and subjection, requiring and commanding them to desist from any further acts of hostility against us, and to return to their allegiance, the said Indians do still continue their cruel murders and ravages, sparing neither age nor sex; I have, therefore, by and with the advice and consent of the Council, thought fit to issue this Proclamation; and do hereby declare the said Delaware Indians and all others who, in conjunction with them, have committed hostilities against his Majesty's subjects within this Province, to be enemies, rebels and traitors to his most sacred Majesty; and I do hereby require all his Majesty's subjects of this Province, and earnestly invite those of the neighboring Provinces, to embrace all opportunities of pursuing, taking, killing, and destroying the said Delaware Indians and all others confederated with them in committing hostilities, incursions, murders, or ravages upon this Province. And Whereas, sundry of our good friends and allies, the Six Nations and other friendly Indians, are seated upon and do inhabit the country to the northward of the mouth of a river falling into the Sasquehannah, called Cayuga Branch, and those of the Six Nations now in town have desired that our hostilities against the said enemy Indians might not therefore be carried on more northerly than a line extending from the mouth of the said Cayuga Branch, at an Indian town called Diahoga or Tohiccon, to the station point between the Provinces of New York and Jersey, at the Indian town called Cashetunk, upon Delaware; the said Indians promising us their hearty and best assistance. I do, therefore, hereby declare that the Indians living and being to the northward of a line drawn from the mouth of the said Cayuga Branch to the said Station Point are not included in this Declaration of War. "And Whereas, many Delaware and other Indians, abhorring the ungrateful, cruel and perfidious behavior of that part of the Delaware tribe and others that have been concerned in the late inhuman ravages, have. removed into the settled and inhabited parts of the country, put themselves under the protection of this and the neighboring governments, and live in a peaceable manner with the King's subjects; I do therefore declare, that the said friendly Indians that have so separated themselves from our said enemies, and all others who shall join or act with us in the prosecution of this just and necessary war, are expressly excepted out of this declaration, and it is recommended to all officers and others to afford them protection and assistance. And Whereas, the Commissioners appointed with me to dispose of the Sixty Thousand Pounds lately granted by Act of General Assembly for his Majesty's use have, by their letter to me of the tenth instant, agreed to pay out of the same the several rewards for Prisoners and Scalps hereinafter specified; and, therefore, as a further inducement and encouragement to all his Majesty's liege people, and to all the several tribes of Indians who continue in friendship and alliance with us, to exert and use their utmost endeavor to pursue, attack, take and destroy our said enemy Indians, and to release, redeem and recover such of his Majesty's subjects as have been taken and made prisoners by the same enemies; I do hereby declare and promise that there shall be paid out of the said Sixty Thousand Pounds to all and every person and persons, as well Indians as Christians not in the pay of the Province, the several and respective Premiums and Bounties following, that is to say: For every male Indian enemy above twelve years old who shall be taken prisoner and delivered at any forts garrisoned by the troops in the pay of this Province, or at any of the county towns to the keepers of the common jails there, the sum of One Hundred and Fifty Spanish Dollars or Pieces of Eight; for the scalp of every male Indian enemy above the age of twelve years, produced as evidence of their being killed, the sum of One Hundred and Thirty Pieces of Eight; for every female Indian taken prisoner and brought in as aforesaid, and for every male Indian prisoner under the age of twelve years taken and brought in as aforesaid, One Hundred and Thirty Pieces of Eight; for the scalp of every Indian woman, produced as evidence of their being killed, the sum of Fifty Pieces of Eight; and for every English subject that has been taken and carried from this Province into captivity that shall be recovered and brought in and delivered at the City of Philadel phia to the Governor of this Province, the sum of one Hundred and Fifty Pieces of Eight, but nothing for their scalps; and that there shall be paid to every Officer or Soldier as are or shall be in the pay of this Province who shall redeem and deliver any English subject carried into captivity as aforesaid, or shall take, bring in, and produce any enemy prisoner, or scalp as aforesaid, one-half of the said several and respective premiums and bounties. "Given under my Hand and the Great Seal of the Province, at Philadel phia, the Fourteenth day of April, in the Twenty-Ninth year of His Majesty's reign, and in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Six. "By His Honor's Command, "RICHARD PETERS, Secretary. "GOD SAVE THE KING." "ROBT. H. MORRIS." The disposition which the Province thus displayed towards the Indians, alarmed even those who continued friendly. These had been gathered in from the Susquehannah to the city, lest they should be mistaken for enemies; and now, without assigning any reason, they suddenly resolved. to join the Six Nations. Their departure relieved the city of a consider |