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
(November 15, 1753)
In: Minutes of the Provincial Council
of Pennsylvania, Colonial
Records, Vol. V,
pp. 696-697.
On your Recommendations, signified to me by the Commissioners who were at Carlisle, I have appointed these Two Persons to do the Publick Business of this Government, and expect to see their attestations or certificates to all the Messages which You shall please to send to this Government. They are answerable to me for their Conduct, and I can place a Confidence in what they say or do. But as to other Persons, tho' they may be good Men, yet if they are not known to me it will not be proper, especially in such a dangerous Season as this is, to entrust them with publick Consultations and make them the Messengers of advices. This is the case with those who have subscribed the Interpretation of your Speeches; they may be good Men but I do not know them nor their Characters.
|
JAMES HAMILTON. |
Philadelphia, 20th November, 1753.
Then were read Two Letters, one to Governor Glenn and the other to Governor Dinwiddie, wrote at the instance of the Commissioners of the late Treaty at Carlisle, in these Words:
|
PENNSYLVANIA, October 30th, 1753. |
Sir:
The Shawonese, a Nation of Indians living on the Ohio in the Borders of this Province and of That of Virginia, have heard that some of their young Men who went to War against the Southern Indians in company with a Party of Cogherawagos have been seized within your Government and committed to the publick Jayl of Charles Town, and ignorant of the Reasons why Indians belonging to a Nation in Amity with the English should be so treated, have earnestly besought me to make Enquiry into this matter and to become and Intercessor with You for their Release.
It is at their Instance therefore that I am obliged to give you this Trouble, and to induce You to favour their Sollicitation I think it incumbent on me to acquaint You that the Six Nations, Delawares, Shawonese, Twightwees, and Owendats, all Indian Nations living on the Ohio and its Branches, held a Treaty this Summer with the Government of Virginia at Winchester, in which they set forth the Confinement of these young Warriors in Terms of much Tenderness, and made it a Point with that Government that two of the principal Men of the Six Nations should go to Williamsburg, and there be joined by some Persons on the Part of Virginia, who together should proceed to Carolina to sollicit You for their discharge. That these Indians after finishing their Treaty at Winchester came into this Province, and were met at Carlisle by Commissioners of my appointment (my health not permitting me to be present) where an Account was brought to them from Ohio whilst in Council that a large Army of French who had entered their Country in the Spring and had built a Fort near the Heads of the (page 697) Ohio, were actually coming down that River to a Virginia Settlement situate in the Forks of Mohongialo, with an intent to build another Fort there and drive away the English Traders. Alarmed at this News the Indians made immediate preparation for their Return, and applied to the Commissioners to stop the Journey of their Chiefs to Carolina, setting forth that their Presence was absolutely necessary as well to conduct their Young Men home as to assist against the French; and this really appearing to the Commissioners to be the Truth, and that many bad Consequences might arise from the Absence of Men of their Character and Influence, they prevailed with the Chiefs and with the Shawonese, though not without Difficulty, to drop their intended Journey and leave it to the Governor of Virginia and myself to procure the Release of their young men.
The Commissioners have not only represented these Matters to me, but further add that these young men were bred up amongst the English and have contracted a particular Regard for them; they are the Flower of their Nation for Courage and Activity, and would at this time be of great Service in the Defence of their Country; That Information was given them the Commissioners by the Virginia Interpreter, who came along with these Indians to Carlisle, that Governor Dinwiddie was using his best Endeavours to bring about a Peace between the Northern and Southern Indians, and intended for that Purpose to hold a general Treaty with them the next Summer, to which these Indians were invited and had promised to come, declaring they were sincerely desirous of Peace, and as the Commissioners have not manner of reason to doubt of the Truth of this Information they desire me to mention this to you, believing the Discharge of these young Men would much contribute to the Success of this Union, without which the Indians will in all Probability lose their Countrey and Independancy.
Being entirely ignorant of the Reasons of the Imprisonment of these People, it is not possible for me to do more than lay before You these Considerations, which will I imagine be of sufficient Weight to induce You to put an End to it, unless there be something very particular in their Case. If, therefore, You should agree with me in Opinion with Regard to the Expediency of their Discharge, I should be much obliged to You to consider what Method may be the most proper to conduct them into their own Country, whether by Sea to this Port or by Land to Virginia, and if this last should on the Account of the approaching Winter appear the best, then whether they should not be escorted thro' the Inhabited Parts of your Province to Williamsburg, the Expence of which will be chearfully born by that Government to which they shall be delivered.
I will only add, that their Enlargement will give a sensible Pleasure to This and the neighbouring Provinces whose Nearness to the Nations interesting themselves in their Discharge does at this Junc-
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