The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle

Doubt many of our Readers have for some Time
been curious to know the Causes of the late Riots
and tragical Violences committed in the Province
of Pennsylvania especially in Lancaster County,
by so large a Number of the Inhabitants; who
must have been highly agitated by some general
Cause of Discontent or Resentment, which we
could not discover till last Week, when a Declaration
and Remonstrance relating to the Affair, was
published in Philadelphia; of which we shall
give our Readers as full an Account, as the Compass
of our Paper will admit:

The Declaration is in Substance as follows,

That as the killing these Indians at Conestoga
and Lancaster, has been, and may be the
Subject of much Conversation; and by being
invidiously represented by designing Men, may
incur the severest Censures of others, who are
unacquainted with the true State of Affairs;--
And, as they suppose, that if all Matters were
duly understood and deliberated, their Actions
would appear in a more favourable Light; They
therefore make an open tho' brief Declaration
of the Reasons of their Conduct which they
confess, could only be justified by Necessity, as
they appear to fly in the Face of Authority, and
were attended with much Labour, Fatigue and
Expence to themselves.

They profess themselves, to a Man, loyal
Subjects to his Majesty George the Third, firmly
attached to his Person, Interest and Government
and equally opposite to his Enemies, whether
openly avowed, or concealed under a mask of
Friendship, and cheerfully willing to offer their
Substance and Lives in his Cause.

They complain, That Those Indians, some
of whom were proved to be Murderers, firmly
connected in Friendship with our avow'd and
bitter Enemies, who by their better Acquaintance
with the Situation and State of the Frontiers,
were more capable of doing Mischief, they saw,
with Indignation, were cherished and caressed as
dearest Friends. That the excessive Regard
shewn to Indians, together with other Grievances,
had enflamed them with Resentment, and
displeased the greatest Part of the People in the
Province. That exorbitant Presents made to
Indians in former Treaties, and the Servility
therein paid them, have long been oppressive
Grievances under which they have groaned.

That at the late Treaty at Lancaster, with the
Indians, the Murders and Ravages they have
committed, were tamely passed over, the unhappy
Captives they had made were abandon'd to
Slavery, and a Friendship was concluded with
them, allowing them a full and plenteous Trade,
altho' a spirited Requisition was made of the
Prisoners, &c. But, That notwithstanding
these Matters of general Complaint, and infatuated
Measures, manifestly and mainly partial to
the Indians, these Complainants would tamely have
borne their Grievances, without having Recourse
to their late extraordinary Expedient, dictated by
Distress, Resentment and Despair, had it not
been for still later and more provoking Causes
of Uneasiness: But that last Summer, when
Col. Bouquet marched thro' the Province, and a
Demand was made by Gen. Amherst, of Assistance
to escort Provisions and relieve that important
Post, Fort Pitt, on the Support of which,
and the almost despaired of Success of our little
Army, the Safety of the Frontier Inhabitants
entirely depended;

Yet that not one Man was granted; But that
when a Number of Indians, falsely pretended
Friends, having among them, some proved on
Oath to have been guilty of Murder since the
War began, together with others known to be
Enemies, who had been in the Battle against
Col. Bouquet, and had been reduced to Distress
by the Destruction of their Corn at the great
Island, and up the East Branch of the Susquehanna,
pretend themselves Friends and desired
Subsistence, they were openly caressed; and the
Publick that could not be indulged the Liberty
Of contributing to his Majesty's Assistance, obliged,
as Tributaries to Savages, to support those
Villains, those Enemies to our King and Country.--That
the Hands which were close shut
against his Majesty's General a single Farthing
against a Savage Foe, were liberally opened, and
the publick Money lavishly prostituted, to hire,
at an exorbitant Rate, mercenary Guard to protect
his Majesty's worst of Enemies, tho' pretended
Friends; while at the same Time, Hundreds of poor
distressed Subjects, obliged to abandon their
Possessions, and flee for their Lives.
(except a small Relief at first) in the most distressed
Circumstances, were left to starve neglected.
save what the Friendly Hand of private Donations
contributed to their Support; wherein those
who were most profuse to Savages, carefully
avoided bearing any Part. That last Summer
when the Troops raised for the Defence of the
Province, were limited to certain Bounds, and
not permitted to annoy the Indians in their Habitations;
and a Number of Volunteers, at their
Own Expence, marched to Susquehanna, defeated
the Enemy, with the Loss of some of their
own Number, and several dangerously wounded,
the Legislature took not the least Care of the
wounded, nor gave them any Assistance or Thanks;
but that when a Seneca Indian, who had through
last War, been an inveterate Enemy received a
Cut on the Head in a private Quarrel with his
Own Cousin; a Doctor was immediately sent
from Philadelphia to cure him if possible. That
no Premium has been given for Indian Scalps,
or any Encouragement to Volunteers to go against
them; yet, when a few Indians, some of
whom were known to be fast Friends to our
Enemies, and Murderers themselves, were struck,
by distress, bereft, injured Frontier, a liberal Reward
was offered, for apprehending the Perpetrators
of the horrible Crime, of killing his Majesty
's cloaked Enemies, and their Conduct painted
in the most atrocious Colours; while the
horrid Ravages, cruel Murders, and most shocking
Barbarities committed by the Indians, are
covered and excused, under the charitable Term,
of this being their Method of making War.

But it would tire the Patience of Job to recount
(say they) the Grievances they sustained
from a violent Partiality in the Leaders of a
Faction, who for a long Time have found Means
to enslave the Province to Indians, whose Insolence
and Villainy they have encouraged, so that
they the Indians of the Great Island and Wya-
using declared to Conrad Weiser, that these
Leaders of the Faction had given a Rod to
scourge the White People, who were settled on
the purchased Lands: for that ONAS had cheated
them out of a great deal of Land, in not
giving them a sufficient Price; and that the
Traders ought also to be scourged for selling
them Goods at too high a Price.--The Complainants
further declare, That in such an
unhappy Situation--under the Villainy, Infatuation,
and Influence of a certain Faction, who
have got the political Reins in their Hands, and
tyranize over the other good Subjects of the
Province, to have, in Addition to their former
Distresses, the disagreeable Burden of supporting
in the Heart of the Province between 20 and 300
Savages, to the great Disquietude of the Majority
of the Inhabitants, cannot but awaken the
Resentment of a People greatly abused, unrighteously
burden'd and made Dupes and Slaves to
Indians; And that they hope all well disposed
People will entertain charitable Sentiments of
them, who, at their own Expence and
Trouble attempt to rescue a labouring Land
from a Weight of oppressive, unreasonable and
unjust; That this is the Design, which they
resolve to prosecute, though with Reluctance,
they are compelled to disagreeable Measures,
which nothing but their Extremity could justify.

The Substance of the Remonstrance We are obliged
to postpone till our next.