Forgery or even of a Cheat in this State as there has been no Publication of the suppositious Pass in this State. As to treasonable Practices we had a Law some Time ago vesting a very ample Power in the Council to apprehend suspicious Characters, but it being unfavourable to Liberty it was properly made temporary & occasionally renewed, but this has been omitted by the present House of Assembly so that we now stand upon the old & accustomed Fouting of the criminal Law in which strict legal Proof will be required.The Attention of the Court & your own in particular I am desired by the Council to acknowledge, & we most sincerely wish a like Vigilance prevailed in every Part of the Country as we are persuaded it would have a happy Tendency to disappoint the Machination of our artful & insidious Enemy. Catalogue of Sundry Necessaries for pulling down the Wood-work of the steeple at the State-house, and Repairing the remainder, &c. 30 Scaffolds from 40 to 45 feet long, and not less than 3 inches Diameter at top. 30 Ditto,-from 35 to 40 feet, the same diameter at the top, because less than 3 inches diameter at the top end of a scaffold pole is of little use. 100 Poles of a more slender Construction, so they be tough & straite, from 30 to 40 feet long, and from 5 to 6 inches diameter at butt & 3 inches at top; this last mentioned article of Poles are chiefly for ledgers, & don't require so great a thickness of butt as the upright poles. 160 Pieces of good tough Oake Scantling for Pullocks clear of Nots, 16 feet long each, 3 by 4, 42 Rafters, 24 feet long, 7 by 5 & 3, 21 Collar-beams, 15 feet long, 7 by 2, Reduced. 2360 feet. 1512 357 4229 feet. 3500 feet of Laths,-5000 feet of inch Boards. 8000 Shingles-2000 feet of 3 inch pine. Plank Reduced, 10 of which plank must be 30 feet long & good stuff. 1 Takel & fall, and a Leading Block. 1 Coile of the largest sort of Ratling, for Lashings, &c. About 100 lbs. of 20 & 200 lbs. of 10 Nails for present use, till such time as the Wood-work is pulled down, when I Expect there will be a sufficient supply.* DUBOIS AND GOFORTH TO PRES. REED, 1781. May it Plcase your Excellency, We just read your favour of the 27th Inst., in which you are fearfull some mistake had taken place with respect to those Gentlemen who had been in Captivity, as you Imagine they had not been refer'd to a settlement of their Prison Acct in Phil"; the fact is, we have settled with Capt Turnbull for his Depreciation and that only, being furnish'd with the accounts from the Paymaster of the Regiment and Directed to settle by the Pay Roles, we concluded that every Payment between the first Jan, 1777, unto the 1st August, 1780, was to be made good by an allowance-agreeable to the scale of Depreciation, on this principle we proceeded so far and no farther; Refering the prison ace to be settl'd in Phil. We have sent for Capt Turnbull, who is coming to settle his Prison Accts, and will wait on your Excellency. Council is Pleas'd to observe that they do not perfectly understand what is meant by Settleing with those on Command at Fort Pitt. With respect to which we would beg leave to observe that we conceive that it was not only the Intent of the Legislature, but also a matter that your Excellency has much at heart that the whole of the Pensylvania line should be settled with on the Score of Depreciation, and that for this purpose different Posts were assigned for the different Regiments, and that all such accts should be settled agreeable to the Pay Roles. On this principle we proceeded with regard to those on Command at Fort Pitt, Stating their acets and completing their Certificates in the Books, to be under the Immediate direction of the Honorable the Supreme Executive Council. We still hope no mistake has yet taken place that can in any respect effect the Public Interest, Permit us to say that we shall at all times pay the greatest Respect to your Excellencys orders and are never more happy than when we have them There is no date to this paper-but it was probably the foundation of the Assembly's action on page 52, being found among the papers of this year. See also Col. Rec., Vol. XII., p. 682. Pointedly, and therefore shall Proceed no farther in that Respect untill we are Honor'd with your positive Order. In the mean while we beg leave to subscribe ourselves your most Obedient & verry Humble Servants, WILLIAM GOFORTH.* Directed, His Excellency Joseph Reed, President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pensylvania. JOHN NICHOLSON TO PRES. REED, 1781. Carlisle, April 1st, 1781. Sir, I arrived at this place last night. The settlement with the troops at York Town lasted longer than the time published and I could not leave any part of the business, however it is no inconvenience to the Troops here. I have finished the business at each post before I left it (a few at Downings town excepted.) There are yet numbers of the discharged men unsettled with who have not attended, many of them may plead ignorance of the time fixed for settlement, I would beg leave to suggest the propriety of publishing a reasonable time for revisiting the several posts on my return; after which, I think, their having neglected to attend ought to deprive them of the priviledge of any future settlement. I shall wait at this place for the further orders of Council. I fear I shall run out of Certificates, I am almost certain I shall, I wish I had brought some quires more, but my Sulkey Box would not contain them. I must request Council will forward three or four quires by some safe and sure conveyance. The advances to the prisoners have not yet come on. are a number of Officers here who have been prisoners; hitherto we met with none except those two at Yellow springs mentioned in a former letter. They wish earnestly to have a settlement, I wish we could accommodate them. I suppose the papers from the Auditor General will arrive shortly, then every difficulty will be obviated. The depreciation due to the Penn line will amount to a very great The difficulty in settlement would be very little, if they were all engaged from the same time; but the different times of Commencement, the frequent promotions and reduction of sergeants and Corporals, the desertions of privates and the times of their absense and rejoining their regiments, first examining the muster rolls, &c. for all these things, and then calculating on the time ascertained, is attended with no little trouble. sum. There There are a number of Officers who had been taken prisoners in * See pages 13, 17, 67. the service of this state, have attended at different posts since my setting out, some of them are not long ago released (perhaps since the act was passed,) others a considerable time. These all consider themselves included in the 8th section of the act, They say that they applied within a month after their return to be taken into the line, and that their being left out does not rest with them. There is a Resolution of Congress of the 24th November (I think 1778,) which they also construe in their favour. I should be glad to have the instructions of the Hon'ble Council on this matter, I am sorry to give the trouble but these officers are a good deal clamorous, and consider themselves injured. I have the honor to be with the highest respect, your Excellency's most Obedt verry Humble Servant, JN NICHOLSON. Directed, (Public service.) His Excellency Joseph Reed, Esquire, presidt supreme Ex. Coun cil, Philadelphia. favd pr. Capt Douglas. TITLE OF INDIANS TO CONESTOGA MANOR, 1781. 1 Feb'y, 1717. The Commissioners of Property by their warrant directed to Jacob Taylor, Surveyor General of Pennsylvania, order him to survey a Tract of land lying between Susquehanna River and Conestogoe Creek from the Mouth of the said Creek as far up the River as the lands granted to Peter Charter and then by a line running from the said River to Conestogo Creek and make return thereof to the Secretary's Office for the proper use and Behoof of Wm Penn, Esq Proprietary and Governor in chief of the province of Pennsylvania, his Heirs & Asssigns forever. See Certified Copy.* The said Tract was surveyed pursuant to the above warrants and returned into the Secretary's Office and called 16000 acres in which is included the Tract of land called the Indian Town. See plan.* It is suggested that the said William Penn by some Instrument of writing gave permission for an old Indian named Johass and his Indians to live upon the said Tract of land called the Indian Town containing about 500 acres and the same was allotted to them as a place of Residence by the said W Penn. In or about the year 1763, some of the descendants of the said old Johas then residing on the said Tract were there killed and the remainder (except one or two that escaped) were sent for by the Magistrates of Lancaster and put into the Work House for protection and Safety but were there all killed. Upon the decease of the above Indians the Proprietary's Agents immediately took possession of the said Tract called Indian Town and his Tenants have quietly occupied it and paid the rent to the proprietarys till his Grant in September last. 5 Novem., 1768. By deed of that date at a Treaty held at Fort Stanwix the Sachems of the Six Nations conveyed to the Proprietaries a large Territory in Consideration of 10,000 dollars and also thereby for themselves and for their Confederate and dependant Tribes and their Children, Heirs and descendants among them those that escaped from Indian Town in Consideration of £200 did remise and release all right and Title to a Tract of land part of the Manor of Conestogoe containing abt 500 a whereon old Johass and his Indians lately lived and dwelt by the consent and permission of the said proprietarys who allotted the same to them for a place of residence To hold the same to the said Proprietaries in fee and that free and clear from all claim of the said Nation there descendants. See deed in possession of J. Penn.* 20 May, 1775. By indorsement on the back of the above deed the Surviving Relations of Johass acknowledge to have received of John Penn 300 dollars over and above the within Consideration of £200 in full Satisfaction for all Claim & that the representative of the said Johass might have to the within mentioned Tract of 500 acres where the said Johass and his family dwelt by permission of the proprietary. See the above Indorsement properly executed in the presence of several creditable witnesses.* The above deed and Indorsement intended to be recorded at Lancaster. Indorsed, 1781, April 1st. Concerning the Indian Right in Conestogo manor. The documents here referred to are not found with the paper. |