Table Of Content^
CAUSES OF THE ALIENATION
OF THE
D FLAWARK AND ShAWANKSK
Indians
KROM THE
BRITISH INTEREST.
2 Nri">M—ViS'V.R:r.=^7-
'"-rr
PHILADELPHIA:
JOHN CAMPBELL,
MDCCCLXVII.
No.
Edition OF 250 Copies,
Of which 75 copies arc in quarto, and 25 copies
in folio.
I I
PRINTED BY HENRY B. ASHMEAD,
No. 1101 Sansom Street.
r '%
ENQUA N IRY
INTO THE
Caufes of the Alienation
O F T H E
Delaware and Shawanese Indians
FROM THE
BRITISH INTEREST,
And into the Meafures taken for recovering their
Friendship.
Extraaed from the Public Treaties, and other A-^rlien-
i I tic Papers relating to the Tranfadions of the Gc>^-:.n-
mYecanrts;ofanPdeneftxlpvlaaniinaedanbdy athMe fAaidPIonfdiatnhse^Cfoourntnreya.r tcrty
Together with the remarkable Journal of Chripan Frederic Pojl,
bvwhofe Negotiations,amongthe Indiamonthe Ohio,theywere
withdrawn from the Interell of the French, who thereupon
abandoned the Fort and Country.
With Notes by the Editor explaining fundry Indian Culloms,&c.
Written in Penfylvania.
LONDON:
PrintedforJ. Wilkie,attheBible,inSt. Paul'sChurch-yard.
MDCCLIX.
THE
INTRODUCTION.
IT has been to many a Caufe of Won-
der, how it comes to pafs that the
Englijh have fo few Indians in their In-
tereft, while the French have fo many
at Command; and by what Means and
for what Reafons thofe neighbouring
Tribes in particular, who, at the firft
Arrival of the Englifi in Penfyhania, and
for a long Series of Years afterwards,
(hewed every Mark of Affedtion and
Kindnefs, (hould become our moft bitter
Enemies, and treat thofe whom they had
fo often declared they looked upon as their
Brethren, nay as their own Flefh and
Blood, with fuch barbarous Cruelties.
By fome they are looked on as faithlefs
and perfidious; while others, confidering
their former Friendship, the many Services
they have done the Englijhy and the steady
At-
|4
Attachment they have rtiewed to our In-
tereft during feveral Wars with France,
imagine there muft be fomc Caufe for
this Change in their Behaviour. The
Indians themfelves, when called upon in
a public Treaty, to explain the Motives of
their Condud, declare that the Sollicita-
tions ofthe French^ joined with the Abufes
they have fuffered from the Efiglijh, parti-
cularly in being cheated and defrauded of
their Land, have at length induced them
to become our Enemies and to make War
upon us.
That the French had been ac^tive to
draw off the Indiansy and engage them in
their Intereft, was not doubted But as
:
to the Complaints they made of Abufes
received from the EngUjl\ and of their
being wronged of their Lands, much
Pains have been taken to reprefent them
as groundlefs, and only lame Excufes for
their late Perfidioufnefs. Nay fomc have
gone fo far as to fay, that thefe Complaints
arc the Effeds of the unhappy Divifions
that prevailed in this Government.
In order therefore to clear up thefe
Points, and to examine into the Founda-
tion and Truth of thefe Complaints, Re-
courfe has been had to as many of the
Treaties
! i
5
I I
Treaties and Conferences held between the
Indians and this Government, for above
thirty Years paft, as could be procured.
It is a Matter of no fmall Confequence
to know the Grounds of the Complaints
made by the Indians, that, in cafe they
are falfe, Juftice may be done to the
Characters of thofe who are injured there-
by; and, if true, that proper Remedies
may be applied, and that the Crown of
Great Britain may not, by the Avarice and
Wickednefs of a few, be deprived of the
Friendrtiip and Alliance of thofe Nations
who are capable of being our moll ufcful
Friends, or moft dangerous Enemies.
It could have been wirtied, for the Sake
of Truth, that Accefs had been allowed
to the Minutes of Council, which are
the only public Record kept of the Tranf-
adtions between the Government ofPenfyl-
vania and the Indians or that the Minutes
\
offeveral Conferenceswith the Indianshad
been duly taken, and regularly publifhed;
or that all the Deeds granted by the In-
dianshad been recordedin the Rolls-Office,
as they ought to have been: Had thefe
been done, the Matter might have been
fet in a fuller and clearer Light. How-
ever, by perufing the following Extradls,
taken
U; si
[6]
taken from fuch Treaties as could be met
with, from the Votes of the AlTembly,
from fuch Deeds as have been recorded,
M
and from other authentic Papers and Let-
I ters, it will be clearly feen whether the
Complaints ofthe Indians are only invent-
•I ed to palliate their late Condudl; whether
they are the Effeds of Party; or whether
their Pretenfions are reafonable and their
Demands confident with Juftice.
AN
10,
A N
ENQUIRY,
&c.
GOVERNOR
Keith having, in 1722, re-Introduc-
ceived Advice that fome Perfons under^°" ^°
Pretence of fearching for Copper Mines, in-jj^^^'^'
tended to take up Lands, by virtue of Mary-
land Rights on the Weft Side ofthe RiverSuf-
quehannahaboveConefiogOy iflueda Proclamation
to prevent them. Soon after, having Advice
that fome Perfons were actually gone from
Maryland to furvey the Land, he went thither
himfelfwith the Surveyor-General ofthe Pro-
vince, and arriving firft, ordered the Surveyor-
General, byvirtue ofProprietary Rightswhich
he had before purchafed, to furvey for him five
hundred and thirty Acres of Land upon that
Spot, which he perceived was like to prove a
Bone ofContention and the Occafion of Mis-
chief. Upon his Return being informed that
the young Men of Conejiogo were going out to
War, he thought it neceflary to hold a Confer-
ence with thofe Indians^ and accordingly going
to their Town, called a Meeting of the Chiefs
ofthe MingoeSy the Sbawanefe^ and theGanaway
[Conoy) Indians^ at which he reminded them of
the Friendfhip that fubfifted between them andConeftogo
this Government, ofthe Favours he had doneTreaty,
them, how he had gone to Virginia to serve 1722.
them,
«
( )
them, and at their Requeft removed one John
Grijl from a Settlement he had made beyond
theSufquehanmh, and had ftridly forbidden any
Perfon from takeing up Lands or fettling there
without his Leave, ^c. In the Clofe of his
Speech he informs them of the News he had
heard of their going to War, and abfolutely
forbids them to go.
Hereupon the Indians called a Council, and
havingagreed upon an Anfwer, met the Gover-
I
i't nor next Day: And Civility their Chiefhaving,
in the Nameofthe Indians^ thanked the Gover-
nor for the Pains he had taken to ferve them,
and exprefled the Confidence they had in the
Government, declares, that tho' their Warriors
were intended againft the Catawbas, yet as the
Governor difapproved of their going they
fhould be immediately flopped, after which he
proceeds to fay, *'That when the Proprietor,
IVilliam Penn, came into this Country Forty
Years ago, he got fome Perfon at New York to
purchafe the Lands on SuJ'quebannah from the
Five Nations, who pretended a Right to them,
having conquered the People formerly fettled
there; thatwhen William Penn came from New
York he fent for them to hold a Council with
him at Philadelphia^ and (hewed them a Parch-
ment, which he told them was a Right to thofe
Lands, that he had purchafed them from the
Five Nations, for which he had fent a great
many Goods in a VefTel to New York\ that
when the Conejlogoes underftood he had bought
their Land, they were forry; upon which IVil-
liam Penn took the Parchment and laid it upon
the Ground, faying to them, that it fliould be
in common amongll them, viz. the Englijh and
the Indians\ that when William Penn had after
that Manner given them the fame priviledge
i! to
i 1
f
U4
