BOOK II. a General Assembly was convened at Hartford, on the 8th of March, 1764. The assembly were by no means insen1764. sible that, from their local situation, they were entirely safe from the incursions of the Indians; and that, by their extraordinary exertions in the preceding war, they had greatly exhausted their resources, and made it a matter of extreme difficulty to afford assistance in a new war. Nevertheless, as it was his majesty's pleasure, and urged by the commander in chief, they complied with his majesty's requisition. They wished to promote his majesty's service, and to manifest their obedience. The assembly therefore enacted, That provision should be made for levying, clothing and paying two hundred and sixty-five able bodied men, officers included, with the utmost dispatch. The men were all to be between twenty-one and fifty years of age. They were directed to march to any place in North-America, where the commander in chief should order them. It was enacted that the troops should consist of one battalion, and be commanded by a field officer of the rank of major and that it should be composed of five companies, each company including one captain, two subalterns and fifty men. The command of the battalion was given to major Israel Putnam, afterwards general Put A new corps rais. ed to an noy the Indians. Peace is made in September. Peace. nam. To defray the expense of this little armament, the assembly ordered an emission of seven thousand pounds, in bills of credit, at five per cent, and for the purpose of redeeming them, levied a tax of one penny on the pound. Reinforced with the new recruits, colonels Bouquet and Bradstreet, in such a spirited manner, attacked and harassed the enemy, the next spring and summer, that they became willing to bury the hatchet, and adopt articles of pacification. In September, a treaty was completed. The English appear rather to have dictated and imposed the terms than to have given them equal advantages. The articles in substance were, That in twenty days after the ratification Articles of of the articles, they should deliver up all the prisoners in their hands: That they should renounce all claim to the forts which the English had then in their country: That the English should build as many more as they should judge necessary to secure their trade; and that they should cede to them forever, all the land within cannon shot of the forts. It was also stipulated, that if any Indian should kill an Englishman, that he should be delivered up to be judged by the English laws, and that half of the jury should consist of Indians: and that if any of the Indian nations should renew the war, that the rest should join with the Book II. English to bring them to reason. Ten of the Indians who assisted as deputies in the convention.for treating of peace, 1764. were to abide as hostages, until the Indian nations should be certified of the peace, and return the captives agreeably to the present treaty." * There is no mention of any cession on the part of the ObservaEnglish, nor any valuable consideration for those little tions. townships of land which they were obliged to grant around every fort which the English then possessed, and around all others which they should judge proper to build. Neither does there appear to be the least stipulation on the part of the English to deliver up the murderers of the Indians among them to public justice, nor any such care to secure the liberty, property and lives of the natives, as to impose whatever might serve their own interest and safety. Indeed, this is too observable in almost all their treaties with the Indians, that they stipulate and bind themselves to the English in every thing which can secure their interests, while the English on their part stipulate little or nothing for the security or benefit of the Indians. They have too often imposed on them unequal terms, and even the articles of peace given them, have been grounds of uneasiness, and laid the foundation of new wars. The Indians are quick sighted to their own honor and interests, they are susceptible of just and humane treatment, and could universal justice and kindness become part of the national character, as it respects them, and a proper attention be given to their particular ideas of honor and decorum, we might generally, no doubt, enjoy peace with them. This Indian war, which it seems originated in the inattention, haughtiness and injustice of the English, made a considerable addition to the loss and expense which the colonies had sustained in the long war by which it was preLeded. They were called upon, by his majesty and by the commander in chief, again to furnish considerable quotas of men. Connecticut, though remote from danger, was obliged to furnish men, and be at considerable expense, for the protection and safety of the southern colonies. For about nine years, she had employed more or less of her men constantly in the field, and, though less exposed, and less interested in the war than any of the other colonies, had done more in proportion to her numbers than any of them. Though all the colonies were more or less injured by Book II. this unhappy insurrection of the Indians, yet the southern sustained by far the greatest burthens and losses. Their frontiers were more immediately exposed to the murders and depredations of the enemy; large and fruitful tracts of country were abandoned, and the inhabitants driven in upon its more safe and populous parts. Distressing as the war was to these colonies, it was nevertheless attended with some favorable circumstances. The precipitancy of several of the warriors in the beginning of the war, before the enemy were generally prepared, in some measure defeated the more methodical and general mischief which had been designed, by giving the country too early an alarm. This gave an opportunity to a greater proportion of the frontier inhabitants to make their escape, and to save more of their valuable effects. The country had more time, also, to rally and to prepare for the more general and forcible attack. Other favorable circumstances were, that the Cherokees, during the whole time, kept the peace and though the Senecas engaged in the war, yet, by the influence of sir William Johnson, the most of the other Indians were restrained from hos tilities. 1754. CHAPTER XXIV. Susquehannah purchase. Resolve of the assembly in favour of the company. The settlement of the land commences. Colonel Dyer is sent to the court of Great-Britain, as agent for the company. The colony assert their claim to the lands comprised in the purchase. A RESPECTABLE number of gentlemen in this colony, in the year 1754, commonly known by the name of the Susquehannah company, finding a large tract of land, lying west of the province of New-York, on the river Susquehannah, owned by the six nations, for which they represented that they had no use, and wished to sell, at a full counsel of said six nations of Indians, in Albany, at the congress there, made a purchase of a large tract of country, lying on the waters of said river, about seventy miles north and south, and, from about ten miles east of it, extending westward two degrees of longitude. This tract of country had been conveyed away by king James I, in the most ample manner possible, by letters patent, under the Book II. great seal of England, bearing date November 3d, 1620, to the duke of Lenox, the marquis of Buckingham, the earls 1754. of Arundel and Warwick, with divers other persons, by the name of the council established at Plymouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing of New-England, in America. This patent made a conveyance to them, and their successors and assigns, "of all that part of America, lying and being in breadth from forty degrees of north latitude, from the equinoctial line, to the forty-eighth degree of said northerly latitude, inclusively, and in length, of and within all the breadth aforesaid, throughout the main land, from sea to sea." This patent includes the whole of New-York, and the principal part, if not the whole of Pennsylvania. 66 In 1631, March 19th, Robert, earl of Warwick, president The patent of the council of Plymouth, under his hand and seal, did of Connecticut, grant and confirm unto the right honourable viscount Say 1631. and Seal, lord Brook, &c. to the number of eleven, "All that part of New-England, in America, which lies and extends itself from a river, there called Narraganset river, the space of forty leagues, upon a straight line, near the sea shore, towards the south-west, west and by south, as the coast lieth, towards Virginia, accounting three English miles to a league, and all and singular the lands and hereditaments whatsoever, lying and being the lands aforesaid, north and south in latitude and breadth, and in length and longitude of and within all the breadth aforesaid, throughout all the main lands there, from the western ocean to the south seas; and all lands and grounds, soil, wood and woods, ground, havens, ports, creeks and rivers, waters, fishings, and hereditaments whatsoever, lying within the said space, and every part and parcel thereof; and also, all islands lying in America aforesaid, in the said seas, or either of them, on the western or eastern coasts, or parts of the said tracts of land, by these presents to be given or granted.' This territory had been granted to the earl of Warwick the preceding year, and it was confirmed to him, by his 1630. majesty, under the great seal of England, the same year. This territory was again confirmed to the governor and company of the colony of Connecticut, by royal charter, under the broad seal of England, in 1662. After these complete and repeated conveyances of this territory, and confirmations of them, by several kings of England, it was See these patents in the Appendix of the first volume of this history, Nos. 1 and 2. this terri Book II. judged, by the purchasers of the lands on the Susquehannah, that they were undoubtedly covered, and conveyed to 1755. the colony of Connecticut, and that the right of preempAll other tion was vested in the colony. By these conveyances and grants of confirmations of them, the kings of England divested themselves of all right or title to said lands, and invested the to Penn's. patentees with all the title which the royal grants could possibly convey. The original grant to the Plymouth company, was about eighty years before the grant to William Penn; the grant to the earl of Warwick, and from him to lord Say and Seal, lord Brook, &c. fifty years; and the confirmation of it by royal charter to Connecticut, nineteen years prior to the conveyance to Mr. Penn. 、tory, prior Petition to 1755. The purchasers, therefore, considering the lands as unthe assem-doubtedly belonging to Connecticut, at the session in May, bly, May, 1755, preferred a petition to the honourable General Assembly, praying for the consent of the assembly, that they might be formed into a distinct commonwealth, if it should be his majesty's pleasure to grant it, with such privileges and immunities as should be agreeable to his royal wisdom and pleasure. Resolve of The assembly granted their petition, and recommended them to the royal favour, in the following manner: "Upon the petition of Phinehas Lyman, Roger Wolcott, the assem- jun'r. Samuel Gray, and Abraham Davenport, Esq'rs. and petition. others, their associates, to the number of about eight hun dred and fifty, known by the name of the Susquehannah company, by their agents, George Wyllys, Daniel Edwards, Samuel Talcott, Thomas Seymour, and Eliphalet Dyer, representing that the colony, according to the express limits of its royal charter, is in extent from the Narraganset bay on the east, to the south sea on the west, and from the sea shore on the south, to the line of the Massachusetts province on the north: That within, and towards the western part of its limits, are, and, time immemorial, have been, large numbers of Indian nations, commonly called the six nations, dwelling, improving, and claiming a large extent thereof: That a certain large parcel of such their claim, situate and lying on the waters of the Susquehannah, about seventy miles north and south, and from about ten miles east of said river, extending westward two degrees of longitude, they, the said Indian nations, not finding necessary for their own use, have, for very valuable considerations, been induced to relinquish, and to sell to the petitioners; and that some well ordered plantation, in so near a neighbourhood to the said nations, might, most likely, be a means to cement and fix them in friendship |