On the 19th of January 1768, Mr. Galloway, the speaker of the assembly in Pennsylvania, and the committee of correspondence, wrote on the subject of the Indians disquietude, by order of the house, to their agents Richard Jackson and Benjamin Franklin, Esquires, in London, and therein they said, "That the delay of the confirmation of the boundary, the natives have warmly complained of, and that although they have received no consideration for the lands agreed to be ceded to the crown on our side of the boundary, yet that its subjects are daily settling and occupying those very lands."
In April 1768, the legislature of Pennsylvania finding that the expectations of an Indian war were hourly increasing, occasioned by the settlement of the lands over the mountains, not sold by the natives; and flattering themselves, that orders would soon arrive from England for the perfection of the boundary line, they voted the sum of one thousand pounds, to be given as a present, in blankets, strouds, &c. to the Indians upon the Ohio, with a view of moderating their resentment, until these orders should arrive:—and the governor of Pennsylvania being informed, that a treaty was soon to be held at Fort Pitt by George Croghan, Esq; deputy agent of Indian affairs, by order of General Gage and Sir William Johnson, he sent his secretary and another gentleman, as commissioners from the Province, to deliver the above present to the Indians at Fort Pitt.
On the 2d of May 1768, the Six Nations made the following speech at that conference:
"Brother,
"It is not without grief that we see our country settled by you, without our knowledge or consent; and it is a long time since we complained to you of this grievance, which we find has not yet been redressed; but settlements are still extending further into our country: some of them are made directly on our war-path, leading to our enemies' country, and we do not like it. Brother, you have laws among you to govern your people by; and it will be the strongest proof of the sincerity of your friendship, to let us see that you remove the people from our lands; as we look upon it, they will have time enough to settle them, when you have purchased them, and the country becomes yours."
The Pennsylvania commissioners, in answer to this speech, informed the Six Nations, that the governor of that province had sent four gentlemen with his proclamation and the act of assembly (making it felony of death without benefit of clergy, to continue on Indian lands) to such settlers over the mountains as were seated, within the limits of Pennsylvania, requiring them to vacate their settlements, but all to no avail:—That the governor of Virginia had likewise, to as little purpose, issued his proclamations and orders, and that General Gage had twice ineffectually sent parties of soldiers to remove the settlers from Red Stone Creek and Monongehela.
As soon as Mr. Jackson and Dr. Franklin received the foregoing instructions from the general assembly of Pennsylvania, they waited upon the American minister, and urged the expediency and necessity of the boundary line being speedily concluded; and in consequence thereof, additional orders were immediately transmitted to Sir William Johnson for that purpose.
It is plain therefore, that the proclamation of October 1763 was not designed, as the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations have suggested, to signify the policy of this kingdom, against settlements over the Allegany mountains, after the King had actually purchased the territory; and that the true reasons for purchasing the lands comprized within that boundary, were to avoid an Indian rupture, and give an opportunity to the King's subjects, quietly and lawfully to settle thereon.
V. Whether the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations are well founded in their declarations, That the lands under consideration "are out of all advantageous intercourse with this kingdom," shall be fully considered in our observations on the sixth paragraph;—and as to "the various propositions for erecting new colonies in the interior parts, which their Lordships say, have been, in consequence of the extension of the boundary line, submitted to the consideration of government, particularly in that part of the country, wherein are situated the lands now prayed for, and the danger of complying with such proposals have been so obvious, as to defeat every attempt for carrying them into execution,"—we shall only observe on this paragraph, that as we do not know what these propositions were, or upon what principle the proposers have been defeated, it is impossible for us to judge, whether they are any ways applicable to our case.—Consistent however with our knowledge, no more than one proposition, for the settlement of a part of the lands in question, has been presented to government, and that was from Dr. Lee, 32 other Americans, and two Londoners, in the year 1768, praying that his Majesty would grant to them, without any purchase-money, 2,500,000 acres of land in one or more surveys, to be located between the 38th and 42d degrees of latitude, over the Allegany mountains, and on condition of their possessing these lands 12 years without the payment of any quit-rent, (the same not to begin until the whole 2,500,000 acres were surveyed) and that they should be obliged to settle only 200 families in 12 years.—Surely, the Lords Commissioners did not mean this proposition as one that was similar, and would apply to the case now reported upon;—and especially as Dr. Lee and his associates did not propose, as we do, either to purchase the lands, or pay the quit-rents to his Majesty, neat and clear of all deductions, or be at the whole expence of establishing and maintaining the civil government of the country.
VI. In the sixth paragraph the Lords Commissioners observe, That "every argument on the subject, respecting the settlement of the lands in that part of the country now prayed for, is collected together with great force and precision in a representation made to his Majesty by the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, in March 1768."