On these propositions we shall take the liberty of making a few observations.
To the first we answer,—We shall, we are persuaded, satisfactorily prove, that in the middle colonies, viz. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, there is hardly any vacant land, except such as is monopolized by great landholders, for the purpose of selling at high prices;—that the poor people of these colonies, with large families of children, cannot pay these prices;—and that several thousand families, for that reason, have already settled upon the Ohio;—that we do not wish for, and shall not encourage one single family of his Majesty's European subjects to settle there [and this we have no objection to be prevented from doing], but shall wholly rely on the voluntary super-flux of the inhabitants of the middle provinces for settling and cultivating the lands in question.
On the second,—It is not, we presume, necessary for us to say more, than that all the conjectures and suppositions "of being a kind of separate and independant people," &c. entirely lose their force, on the proposition of a government being established on the grant applied for, as the Lords of Trade have themselves acknowledged.
On the third,—We would only briefly remark, that we have fully answered this objection in the latter part of our answer to the sixth paragraph.
And as the fourth proposition is merely the Governor's declaration of his knowledge of something of the situation and state of things in America, and what, from some little occurrences, that have already really happened, he can very easily figure to himself what may and will certainly happen, if not prevented in time:—We say, that as the Governor has not mentioned what these little occurrences are,—we cannot pretend to judge, whether what he figures to himself, is any ways relative to the object under consideration, or, indeed, what else it is relative to.
But as the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations have thought proper to insert in their Report the above-mentioned letters from General Gage and Governor Wright, it may not be improper for us to give the opinion of his Majesty's house of burgesses of the dominion of Virginia, on the very point in question, as conveyed to his Majesty in their address of the 4th of August 1767, and delivered the latter end of that year, to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, by Mr. Montague, agent for the colony.—The house of burgesses say,—"We humbly hope, that we shall obtain your royal indulgence, when we give it as our opinions, that it will be for your Majesty's service, and the interest of your American dominions in general, to continue the encouragements" (which were a total exemption from any consideration-money whatsoever, and a remission of quit-rent for ten years, and of all kinds of taxes for fifteen years) "for settling those frontier lands." By this means the house observed, "New settlements will be made by people of property, obedient subjects to government; but if the present restriction should continue, we have the strongest reason to believe, that country will become the resort of fugitives and vagabonds, defiers of law and order, and who in time may form a body dangerous to the peace and civil government of this colony."
We come now to the consideration of the 9th, 10th, and 11th paragraphs.
In the 9th, the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations observe, "That admitting the settlers over the mountains, and on the Ohio, to be as numerous as report states them to be," [and which we shall from undoubted testimony, prove to be not less than five thousand families, of at least six persons to a family, independent of some thousand families, which are also settled over the mountains, within the limits of the province of Pennsylvania] yet their Lordships say, "It operates strongly in point of argument against what is proposed." And their Lordships add, "if the foregoing reasoning has any weight, it ought certainly to induce the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council, to advise his Majesty to take every method to check the progress of these settlements; and not to make such grants of the land, as will have an immediate tendency to encourage them."
Having, we presume, clearly shewn, that the country southward of the Great Kenhawa, quite to the Cherokee river, belonged to the Six Nations, and not to the Cherokees;—that now it belongs to the king, in virtue of his Majesty's purchase from the Six Nations;—that neither these tribes, nor the Cherokees, do hunt between the Great Kenhawa and the land opposite the Sioto River;—that, by the present boundary line, the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations would sacrifice to the Cherokees an extent of Country of at least 800 miles in length—which his Majesty has bought and paid for; that the real limits of Virginia do not extend westward, beyond the Allegany mountains;—that since the purchase of the country from the Six Nations, his Majesty has not annexed it, or any part of it, to the colony of Virginia;—that there are no settlements made under legal titles, on any part of the lands we have agreed for, with the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury;—that in the year 1748, the strongest marks of royal encouragement were given to settle the country over the mountains; that the suspension of this encouragement, by the proclamation of October 1763, was merely temporary, untill the lands were purchased from the natives;—that the avidity to settle these lands was so great, that large settlements were made thereon, before they were purchased;—that although the settlers were daily exposed to the cruelties of the savages, neither a military force, nor repeated proclamations could induce them to vacate these lands;—that the soil of the country over the mountains is excellent, and capable of easily producing hemp, flax, silk, tobacco, iron, wine, &c.;—that these articles can be cheaply conveyed to a seaport for exportation;—that the charge of carriage is so very small, it cannot possibly operate to the prevention of the use of British manufactures; that the king's purchasing the lands from the Indians, and fixing a boundary line with them, was for the very purpose of his subjects settling them; and that the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations in 1768,—declared, That the inhabitants of the middle colonies would have liberty for that purpose.—
And to this train of facts,—let us add,—that the congress, held with the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix in 1768,—when his Majesty purchased the territory on the Ohio, Messrs. Penn also bought from these nations a very extensive tract of country over the Allegany mountains and on that river (joining the very lands in question).—That in the spring 1769, Messrs. Penn opened their land-office in Pennsylvania, for the settling the country which they had so bought at Fort Stanwix: and all such settlers as had seated themselves over the mountains, within the limits of Pennsylvania, before the lands were purchased from the natives, have since obtained titles for their plantations:—That in 1771, a petition was presented to the assembly of the province of Pennsylvania, praying that a new county may be made over these mountains:—That the legislature of that province, in consideration of the great number of families settled there, within the limits of that province, did that year enact a law, for the erection of the lands over the mountains into a new county, by the name of Bedford County: That in consequence of such law, William Thompson, Esq. was chosen to represent it in the General Assembly: That a sheriff, coroner, justices of the peace, constables, and other civil officers are appointed and do reside over the mountains: That all the king's subjects, who are not less than five thousand families, who have made locations and settlements on the lands, southward of, and adjoining to the southern line of Pennsylvania, live there, without any degree of order, law, or government: That being in this lawless situation, continual quarrels prevail among them: That they have already infringed the boundary line, killed several Indians, and encroached on the lands, on the opposite side of the Ohio; and that disorders of the most dangerous nature, with respect to the Indians, the boundary-line and the old colonies, will soon take place among these settlers, if law and subordination are not immediately established among them.—Can these facts be possibly perverted so as to operate, either in point of argument or policy, against the proposition of governing the king's subjects on the lands in question?