THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
Minutes of the Provincial
Council of Pennsylvania
(May 30, 1753)
In: Minutes of the Provincial Council
of Pennsylvania, Colonial
Records, Vol. V,
pp. 614-616.
(page 614) tion to our Trade now as Eighty Thousand Pounds did then. And it is certain that as the Money circulating among us diminishes, so must our Trade and Usefulness to Great Britain and our Consumption of its Manufactures diminish.
Upon the whole, we entreat the Governor to consider the distressing Circumstances under which the Trade, and in Consequence the whole Province, must languish if contrary to our Expectations the Bill we now present him should not be enacted into a Law; and we are well assured that as the Governor has been pleased to declare his sentiments of the many Advantages we derive from the use of Paper Money, his transmitting it home in a true Light will make our application to the Crown as effectual as it is seasonable.
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Signed by Order of the House. |
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ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker. |
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25th May, 1753.
Mr. James Galbraith, one of the Justices of Lancaster County, Mr. John Harris who keeps the Ferry over Sasquehanna at Pextang, Messieurs Michael Taafe and Robert Calendar, Partners in the Indian Trade, came to Town from Ohio and waited on the Governor. Their Intelligence, which by his Honor's Order was put down in writing by Robert Calendar, is as follows, vizt.: "That on the Seventh of this Instant, May, he was at Pine Creek, a Place about twenty miles above the Log's Town, in company with Cap Trent, Mr. Croghan, and several other Traders; they received a Letter the same day from John Fraser, a Trader who lives at Weningo on the Ohio, about one hundred miles above the Log's Town; it was directed to all or any of the Traders at Log's Town; he wrote that he was inform'd by some of the Mingos that there were then and had been since March last one hundred and fifty French and Indians at a Carrying Place which leads from Niagara to the Heads of the Ohio, building Canoes and making other Preparations for the Reception of a large Body of French and Indians who were expected there every Day with Eight Pieces of Brass Cannon and a large Quantity of ammunition and Provisions. That on the eighth of May they received a full Confirmation of the above account by Two Indians who were sent by the Council at Onondago to give the Ohio Indians Notice of the Preparations the French were making to attack them. When our Indians received this Intelligence one of the Mingoes went to a French Trader at the Log's Town and told him of it, and said that he had amused them with fine stories this last Winter, as sweet as if his Tongue was sweetned with Sugar; that if the French made any Attempt to attack them or the English, he might depend he should be the first Man killed.
Mr. Croghan and the other Traders upon this Intelligence thought it adviseable to send for the Half King to inform him of it. He arrived the same day and seemed much concerned at the News, he (page 615) said he expected Monighotootha every day up the River, and that as soon as he arrived they would call a Council and see what ought to be done. Monighotootha is deputed by the Six Nations to look after the Shawonese.
The twelfth of May John Harris arrived with the advices from his Honor the Governor; Monighotootha arrived the same day, there were Messengers immediately dispatched to the Log's Town, &ca. to the Delawares and Shawonese to invite them to Council, but they being all drunk none of them came.
Mr. Croghan delivered the string of Wampum that accompanied Governor Clinton and Coll. Johnson's Letters to the Half King and the other Indians present, and interpreted to them the said Letters. After which Mr. Trent delivered four Strings of Wampum in behalf of the Governor of Virginia, telling them that he look'd upon the Ohio Lands to belong to them the Indians, and that if the French attempted to settle them or to build any Forts, the Virginians would supply them with Arms and Ammunition. Mr. Croghan pressed the Indians to let us know whether they wou'd oppose the French or not, or whether it was safe for the Traders to continue among them.
The Indians seemed all much concerned, and said it was an affair of great Consequence which they wou'd take some time to consider; accordingly they counselled all that night and next day till about two o' the Clock in the afternoon, when the Half King, in behalf of the Six Nations' Indians at Ohio, stood up and addressing himself to the English, said they were greatly obliged to their Brother Onas for his care in forwarding the News to them, which they had Intelligence of before and now believed too true; that if the French came peaceably they would receive them as Friends, but that if they came as Enemies they would treat them as such; that they hoped their Brethren the English wou'd consider how they were circumstanced and send them a supply of arms and ammunition, which if they did they did not doubt but that they wou'd be able to strike the French; that as to their Brethren the English Traders, any of them that had any skins to carry into the Inhabitants or any Business to do there might go, and that those who had goods might leave their Serants with them under their care, and that they wou'd be safe under their Protection while they were safe themselves. The Sixteenth they receiv'd another Letter from John Fraser, informing them that some Frenchmen had come down the Ohio to Weningo with a Parcel of Deer skins, which they said they brought with them to swap for Furs; these French Men told the Indians that a Body of French was coming there with a considerable Present for them from the Governor of Canada, the Indians as well as Fraser imagined that they were come as Spies to see what Situation they were in.
That when he came away the Shawonese and Delawares had not (page 616) delivered an answer to the Message sent by the Mingoes, as they were not all got quite sober, but several of their chief Men declared they wou'd agree to what the Half King had said.
Captain Trent wrote a Letter to the Governor by them of the same Import, which the Governor sent to the Assembly with a Verbal Message by the Secretary, informing them that these several Persons were in Town and would wait on the House whenever they pleased to order their attendance.
The Governor and Council having no reason to alter their former Opinion express'd in the Minutes of the twenty sixth of January, concerning the great risque of making more Paper Money, and not knowing but more encouraging accounts might arrive from England before the August Sessions, the Governor returned the following verbal Message to the Assembly by his Secretary:
A Verbal Message from the Governor to the Assembly.
That as the Governor presumes the Assembly, agreeable to the usual Custom, will meet again in the month of August, now near approaching to finish the Business of the Year, he chooses for that and some other Reasons to keep the Paper Money Bill lately presented him by the House under consideration till that time.
MEMORANDUM.
The Thirty-First Day of May the following Message was deliv. by two Members to the Governor:
A Message to the Governor from the Assembly
May it please the Governor:
We have on all Occasions acknowledged our grateful Sentiments of the Governor's Regard and Justice towards the Indians our Allies, and we now again return our hearty Thanks for his continued Care, and for communicating the Intelligence he has received concerning their present Distresses. In Pursuance of which we have resumed the Consideration of the Letters laid before the House, with the Message of the sixteenth of October last, together with the Governor's late Messages and Papers sent down to us before and since the Return of the Expresses dispatched to Ohio. We have also carefully examined the Messenger himself and such Indian Traders and others who could give Us any Information of the Numbers and Designs of the Forces raised by the Governor of Canada, and of the Condition of the Twightwees as well as the other Indians our Allies upon the waters of Ohio, and upon mature Deliberation have resolved to contribute generously to their Assistance by a Present suitable to their want of the Necessaries of Life.
Tho' the Alliance between the Crown of Great Britain and the Six Nations, and the Protection and Assistance they expect to receive in Vertue of that Alliance, is more immediately under the
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