set at defiance, and yet the men in private life are virtuous, and respectable; not cruel, but mild and merciful. The time will arrive when each palliating circumstance will be calmly weighed. This deed, magnified into the blackest of crimes, shall be considered as one of those youthful ebullitions of wrath caused by momentary excitement, to which human infirmity is subjected."

A calm survey of all the facts of the case, as far as known, compels us to reach a different conclusion. The twenty or thirty men engaged in the bloody transactions at Conestogo and Lancaster, were lawless men, and their lawless conduct cannot be justified any more than their indiscriminate slaughter of suspected murderers and helpless old men, women and innocent children. The transactions referred to are foul blots on

the page of our provincial history.

It should be stated that the Rev. Mr. Elder, in a letter to Col. Burd, asserts that the Paxton Boys did not cut the bodies of the Indians to pieces, adding, "the inference is plain, that the bodies were thus mangled after death by certain persons to excite a feeling against the Paxton Boys. This fact, Stewart says he can and will establish in a fair trial at Lancaster, York and Carlisle."

There is no doubt that Stewart imposed upon the amiable Mr. Elder, to whose command of Rangers he and the other persons concerned in the Lancaster murders belonged; but it is difficult to believe Stewart whose record by no means redounds to his credit. He was emphatically a man of violence and lawlessness; he joined the Connecticut men, was a prominent actor in the civil wars of Wyoming and slain there, during the Revolution, in the disastrous battle of July 3, 1778.

The bodies of the murdered Indians were collected and buried in one grave, at the corner of Chestnut and Duke streets, in Lancaster. Peter Maurer told I. Daniel Rupp that he saw them buried in the same place, where the workmen, engaged in making excavations for the Railroad, dug them up in May 1833.1

When the news of the second Indian massacre reached the Governor, be issued another proclamation, as inefficacious in its results as the former, in these words:

"By the Honourable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, and Counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware.

"A PROCLAMATION:

"WHEREAS, on the twenty-second day of December last, I issued a Proclamation for the apprehending and bringing to Justice a number of Persons who, in violation of the Public Faith, and in defiance of all Law, had

1 Rupp's History of Lancaster County, p. 360.

inhumanly killed Six of the Indians who had lived on Conestogoe Manor for the Course of many Years, peaceably and inoffensively, under the Protection of this Government, on Lands assigned to them for their Habitation. Notwithstanding which, I have received Information that on the Twenty-seventh of the same month, a large party of armed men again assembled and met together in a riotous and tumultuous manner, in the County of Lancaster and proceeded to the Town of Lancaster, where they violently broke open the Work House, and butchered and put to death fourteen of the said Conestogoe Indians, Men, Women, and Children, who had been taken under the immediate Care and Protection of the Magistrates of the said County, and lodged for their better Security in the said Work House, till they should be more effectually provided for by order of the Government: And whereas, common Justice loudly demands, and the Laws of the Land, (upon the preservation of which not only the Liberty and Security of every Individual, but the being of the Govern ment itself depend), require that the above offenders should be brought to condign Punishment; I have, therefore, by and with the advice of the Council, published this Proclamation, and do hereby strictly charge and command all Judges, Justices, Sheriffs, Constables, Officers Civil and Military, and all other his Majesty's faithful and liege Subjects within this Province, to make diligent Search and enquiry after the Authors and Perpetrators of the said last mentioned offence, their Abettors and Accomplices; and that they use all possible means to apprehend and secure them in some of the public Gaols of this Province, to be dealt with according to Law. And I do hereby further promise and engage, that any Person or Persons who shall apprehend and secure, or cause to be apprehended and secured, any three of the Ringleaders of the said party, and prosecute them to conviction, shall have and receive for each the publick reward of Two Hundred Pounds; and any Accomplice, not concerned in the immediate shedding the Blood of the said Indians, who shall make discovery of any or either of the said Ringleaders and apprehend and prosecute them to conviction, shall, over and above the said reward, have all the weight and influence of the government, for obtaining his Majesty's pardon for his offence.

"Given under my hand and the great seal of the province, at Philadelphia, January 2, in the 4th year of his Majesty's reign, A. D. 1764. "JOHN PENN."

"By his command.

"JOSEPH SHIPPEN, Jr., Sec'y.

“GOD SAVE THE KING."

With a view to prevent the repetition of similar outrages, the Moravian Indians were removed to Province Island, near Philadelphia. The insurgents threatened to march down to destroy them also; the Assem

bly resolved to resist them, and the Indians, frightened at the fury of their enemies, petitioned the Legislature to send them, a hundred and forty in number, with their two ministers, to England.1

But this being impracticable, the Governer furnished them an escort, to proceed through New Jersey and New York, to sir William Johnson, under whose protection they were desirous to place themselves. William Franklin, then Governor of New Jersey, granted them a passport; but Governor Colden of New York, by advice of his council, refused to admit them within his province. The council of New York were offended by governor Penn sending so large a body of Indians into their colony without their consent; and professed themselves more disposed to punish than to protect the Indians from the east side of the Susquehannah, whom they considered as their worst enemies, composed of the rogues, thieves, and runaways, from other Indian nations. They also condemned the policy which returned these men to strengthen their nation. The progress of the Indians being thus obstructed, General Gage, who had succeeded General Amherst in the chief command of the English forces in America, directed two companies of the royal Americans to re-escort them to Philadelphia, where they were secured in the barracks. Their return, however, reanimated the ire of their enemies in Lancaster, who, assembling in large numbers, marched for the city. The force of the insurgents was very considerable; since six companies of foot, one of artillery, and two troops of horse, were formed to oppose them; and some thousands of the inhabitants, (including many Quakers) who did not appear, were prepared to render assistance, in case an attempt should be made upon the town. The barracks, also, where the Indians were lodged, under the protection of the regular troops, were fortified; several works being thrown up about them, and eight pieces of cannon mounted. But the Governor would not venture to command his forces to attack the insurgents, until he obtained indemnity for himself and them, by the extension to the province of the English riot act. The bill extending it was passed very hastily through the House.3

The insurgents, finding the ferries over the Schuylkill guarded, proceeded to Germantown; where, learning the amount of the force raised to oppose them, they listened to the advice of some prudent persons who visited them, and to the remonstrances of the agents of the Governor, and promised to return peaceably to their habitations, leaving two only of their number to represent their views to the government. The alarm in the city was great. The Governor fled to the house of Dr. Franklin for safety; and nothing but the spirited measures of the inhabitants of the city, saved it from the fury of an exasperated armed multitude, who

1 Gordon. 1 Heckewelder.

2 January.

Franklin's Life. Penn. Gaz. 1764. No. 1833.

would not have hesitated to extend their vengeance from the Indians to their protectors.1

Matthew Smith and James Gibson were the two persons selected by the insurgents to lay their grievances before the Governor and Assembly, which they did in the following remonstrance:

"To the Honourable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, and of the Counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex, on Delaware, and to the Representatives of the Freemen of the said Province, in General Assembly met:

"We, Matthew Smith and James Gibson, in behalf of ourselves and His Majesty's faithful and loyal Subjects, the inhabitants of the frontier Counties of Lancaster, York, Cumberland, Berks, and Northampton, humbly beg leave to remonstrate and lay before you the following griev ances, which we submit to your wisdom for redress.

"First. We apprehend that as Freemen and English Subjects, we have an indisputable title to the same privileges and immunities with His Majesty's other Subjects who reside in the interior Counties of Philadel phia, Chester and Bucks, and therefore ought not to be excluded from an equal share with them in the very important privilege of Legislation; nevertheless, contrary to the Proprietor's Charter and the acknowledged principles of common justice and equity, our five Counties are restrained from electing more than ten Representatives, viz: four for Lancaster, two for York, two for Cumberland, one for Berks, and one for Northampton, while the three Counties and City of Philadelphia, Chester and Bucks, elect twenty-six. This we humbly conceive is oppressive, unequal and unjust, the cause of many of our grievances, and an infringement of our natural privileges of Freedom and equality; wherefore, we humbly pray that we may be no longer deprived of an equal number with the three aforesaid Counties, to represent us in Assembly.

"Secondly. We understand that a Bill is now before the House of Assembly, wherein it is provided that such persons as shall be charged with killing any Indians in Lancaster County, shall not be tried in the County where the Fact was committed, but in the Counties of Philadelphia, Chester or Bucks. This is manifestly to deprive British Subjects of their known Privileges, to cast an eternal Reproach upon whole Counties, as if they were unfit to serve their Country in the quality of Jurymen, and to contradict the well known Laws of the British Nation in a point whereon Life, Liberty and Security essentially depend, namely, that of being tried by their equals in the neighborhood where their own, their Accusers, and the Witnesses' Character and Credit, with the Circumstances of the Fact, are best known, and instead thereof putting their Lives in the hands of Strangers, who may as justly be suspected of par

1 Franklin's Mem.

tiality to as the Frontier Counties can be of prejudices against Indians; and this, too, in favour of Indians only, against His Majesty's faithful and loyal Subjects. Besides, it is well known that the design of it is to comprehend a Fact committed before such a Law was thought of. And if such practices were tolerated, no man could be secure in his most valuable Interest. We are also informed, to our great Surprize, that this Bill has actually received the assent of a Majority of the House, which we are persuaded could not have been the case, had our Frontier Counties been equally represented in Assembly. However, we hope that the Legislature of this Province will never enact a Law of so dangerous a tendency, or take away from his Majesty's good Subjects a privilege so long esteemed sacred by Englishmen.

"Thirdly. During the late and present Indian War, the Frontiers of this Province have been repeatedly attacked and ravaged by Skulking parties of the Indians, who have with the most Savage Cruelty murdered Men, Women and Children, without distinction, and have reduced near a thousand Families to the most extreme distress. It grieves us to the very heart to see such of our Frontier Inhabitants as have escaped Savage Fury with the loss of their Parents, their Children, their Wives or Relatives, left destitute by the public, and exposed to the most cruel Poverty and Wretchedness, while upwards of an Hundred and twenty of these Savages, who are with great reason suspected of being guilty of these horrid Barbarities, under the Mask of Friendship, have procured themselves to be taken under the protection of the Government, with a view to elude the Fury of the brave Relatives of the murdered, and are now maintained at the public Expence. Some of these Indians now in the Barracks of Philadelphia, are confessedly a part of the Wyalousing Indians, which Tribe is now at War with us, and the others are the Moravian Indians, who, living with us under the Cloak of Friendship, carried on a Correspondence with our known Enemies on the Great Island. We cannot but observe, with sorrow and indignation, that some Persons in this Province are at pains to extenuate the barbarous Cruelties practised by these Savages on our murdered Brethren and Relatives, which are shocking to human Nature, and must pierce every Heart, but that of the hardened perpetrators or their Abettors; Nor is it less distressing to hear others pleading that, although the Wyalousing Tribe is at War with us, yet that part of it which is under the Protection of the Government, may be friendly to the English, and innocent. In what nation under the Sun was it ever the custom that when a neighboring Nation took up Arms, not an individual should be touched but only the Persons that offered Hostilities? Who ever proclaimed War with a part of a Nation, and not with the Whole? Had these Indians disapproved of the Perfidy of their Tribe, and been willing to cultivate