CHAPTER VII.

RICHARD AND THOMAS PENN, PROPRIETORS, 1746-1771.

ANTHONY PALMER, President of the Council, May,

1747, to November 23, 1748. Soon after his resig nation, Governor Thomas departed for Europe, and left the government in the hands of the Council, of which Anthony Palmer was president. It was a period in which many dangers threatened the Province. The enemy's privateers continued to infest the waters of the Delaware. The Assembly was urged to provide means of defence. The dominant element was by principle opposed to a resort to force, and framed ingenious excuses for refusing to vote the necessary means, alleging that the Colony must look to the Crown of England for protection; that to volunteer provision for defence was virtually to assume the responsibility and expense which the home government was now willing to bear. The Quakers, Moravians, Mennonists, and other kindred sects, strenuously opposed even a defensive war, while other religious sects, with equal warmth, advocated a vigorous force policy. The pulpit and the press were deeply involved in the discussion, and the population was divided into opposing factions upon this question.

The French, who were now laboring to connect their possessions in Canada with those upon the Mississippi, by establishing a line of forts and posts along the Alleghany and Ohio rivers, were busy in their efforts to seduce the natives from their alliances of peace and friendship with the English, employing artful blandishments and the most showy and attractive presents. The policy of Pennsylvania had always been to spend the money which the other Colonies had used for military operations against the savages, in pro

viding for their wants and ministering to their native taste for display. The Indians soon discovered the advantage of this policy, and became very artful in making the most of it. They desired frequent councils for brightening the chain of friendship. They took good care to magnify the arts of the French to win them over, and to insinuate that without strong and substantial inducements they would be unable much longer to withstand the pressure. Insignificant and roving bands sent frequent deputations to smoke the calumet of peace and cement friendship with suitable tokens. At a great council held at Albany in 1747, Maryland and Virginia were induced to join Pennsylvania, at which the latter distributed goods to the value of one thousand pounds. A short time previous to the holding of the Albany council, Pennsylvania dispatched a messenger, in the person of Conrad Weiser, to visit the tribes dwelling in the central and western parts of the Province, charged with observing carefully the disposition of the Indians, their number, their means of warfare, the position of the French, their designs, and especially the arts which they practised to gain the favor of the red men. He was especially to magnify the power of the English, their present pacific disposition, and their designs of distributing costly and countless presents, and to particularly revive the remembrance of the peaceful policy of Pennsylvania above every other colony, in order to secure for it immunity from future peril.

On the 1st of October, 1748, the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which secured peace between France and Great Britain, was concluded, and the excuse for hostilities between the representatives of these nations upon the North American continent was removed; but the fell passions of the savages had been aroused, and they were not easily nor long kept in subjection. The sway of the Council under the presidency of Palmer lasted a little more than two years. He was a gentleman of wealth, who had removed to the Colony in 1708 from the West Indies. "He lived," says Watson, "in a style suited to his circumstances, keeping a coach-then a great

luxury and a pleasure-barge. He is said to have had twenty-one children by his first wife, all of whom died of consumption: some of his descendants by a second wife are now living in Philadelphia." He died in 1749.

JAMES HAMILTON, Deputy Governor, November 23, 1748, to October 3, 1754.-On the 23d of November, James Hamilton, American-born and possessed of considerable landed estate, son of Andrew Hamilton, formerly for several successive years speaker of the Assembly, arrived in the Province from England, bearing the commission of Lieutenant-Governor. His first attention was directed to removing grievances of the Indians dwelling west of the Susquehanna, who complained that white settlers had seized and occupied the choicest lands and most eligible locations along the streams and water-coursestheir own native haunts - territory which had never been acquired by the Proprietors, and were of right their own possessions. Richard Peters, secretary of the Province, and Conrad Weiser, Indian interpreter, and an old friend of the red men, were sent to remove these intruders, — squatters, in more modern parlance. They executed their delicate duty in a spirit of firmness, but with exemplary prudence. The settlers generally consented to give up their lands without opposition, entering into recognizances for their appearance, and even helping with their own hands to reduce their cabins to ashes. To the needy the Secretary gave money, and freely offered them homes on his own lands, a tract of two million of acres which had been formally acquired of the natives.

But the troubles resulting from these encroachments were of small moment compared with those which were now threatening the entire line of English settlements from Nova Scotia to the Gulf. The treaty of peace which had been concluded between the London and the Paris governments was scarcely felt across the ocean. To the complaints made by the British ambassador at Versailles, that the French in America were encroaching upon the English Colonies, fair promises of