The Columbian informer, or, Cheshire journal — Keene, N.H., 1794-10-14 00:00:00, page 1

A T 2 conference between Thomas
M'Kcan and William Irvine,
Commissioners appointed by the Gover
nor of Pennfylva ia. in behalf of said
fate, and Metfrs, Kirkpatrick, Smith,
Powers, Bradford, Marshal, Edgar, Cook,
Gallatin, Lang, Brackenridge, Morton
and Lucas, appointed at a meeting of
Committees from the fcveral townihipa
within the counties of Westmorland, Wash
ington, Fayette and Alleghany, for the
purpose, in behalf of said Counties, had
It Pittsburgh, in presence of three Com
miffieners, appointed by the President of
the United States, August ioth, 1794.
Ift. It is infilled upon as a preliminary
by the Commissioners for the date, that
the gentlemen conferees for the four coun
ties, each far himlelf, will sign an inlbu
ment in writing, expressing that they will
at all times b^ obedient,and fabmit to the
laws of the date, and also of the United
States of America; and that they will
jointly and severally recommend the like
obedience and submission to our fellow
citizens within the laid counties, and
Moreover engage to ule their turnoff exer
tions and influence to infuie the lime.
zd. It is proposed that rhe Committee
of Sixty, denominated the Committee of
Safety for the f^d counties, Ihall joint)
and feveraily give fatisfador, affiances
to the Cemmiffioners of the date in an in
llrament in writing signed by them, of
the fam; iipport and efte& with the pre
ceding article, and that on or before the
day of August inlt.
3d. In case the above articles are bona
fide complied with, and the people of said
counties lhall keep the peace and be of
good behaviour until the tft day of June
next, the Commiflioners to the state, con
formable to the power and authority to
them delegated by His Excellency Tho
mas Mifflin, Esq. Governor of the state of
Pennsylvania, do promise an atl of free
and general pardon and oblivion cf all
treasons, infarredions, arsons, riots and
other offenses inferior ;o riots, committed,
perpetrated, counfelled or Suffered by any
person or persons, complying as aforefaid,
within the counties of Weft(her land, W^v
ingtoo, Fayette and Alleghany, since the
fourteenth day of July last past, so far as
the fame concerns the date of Pennsylva
nia or the government thereof.
THOM AS M-KEAN,
W M . IRVINE.
Pitforgb, Aug. 21, 17,41
Th# Committee of Conference haying
made up their opinion, and expressed it to
the Commissioners on the pert of the oni
on, that it is the interell of this country,
that on the terras of accommodation, pro
posed by them-,there Should be a fubmif
fen to that law which has been the occa
sion of certain ads of oppofnion lately said
to be committed within the jurifdiQion of
Pennsylvania, it will of course be the
©pinion of this committee that a&s of op
position Shall ceefe, and they will be dis
posed to recommend this temper and prin
ciple to others- .They will report it par
ticularly to the Committee of Safety, to
whom they are to make report, and they
will state the tritons which have influen
ced themselves, in being disposed to wish
a general fobordination to the laws of the
©ftbe proceedings of the Committee appoint
' erf at the mating at Parkitfa'i Firry,
Uc. ^c.
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[No. 29. ofVoL. ll.]
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[CONTINUED FROM CUR LAST.]
Pilfargb, Aug. 22, 1794.
Gentlemen,
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 5.
REPORT
THE
Columbian Informer;
Or, CHESHIRE JOURNAL.
PRINTED and PUBLISHED by HE NRr BLAKE, ^ CO. in KEENE, New-Hampshiri.
WE have received your answer, signed
Edward Cook, chairman, of this day's
date, and obfrtve that you have in a de
cree confined yourselves to a subordination
of the laws of the Union. These we con
fider as a part of the laws of Pennsylvania,
but independent es the breach of the laws
of the United States, you cannot be insen
sible that the laws, the peace and dignity
as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
have been more essentially violated in the
county of Alleghany ; and though from,
knowledge of your charadera and confi
dence in your dispositions we left allured
of your cheerful obedience to the laws of
the State, and that you will inculpate the
like among our fellow citizens yet we
would have been pleased, had it been ex-,
pressed.,
Your objections to signing year names
refpeaively to your answer we have con
fidered, and, though the signing the name
as Chairman, Speaker, or President, in
regular constituted bodies, implies the
consent of the majority, which birds the
whole, yet it means no more, and in the
present body of twelve one half of the
number present may hot have acquiefeed
in the ad,and yet it may be formally true.
For this reason we wished for your respec
tive signatures ; or that it had been writ
ten, signed by the unanimous consent of
the committee, or that you had otherwise
ascertained the number.
We with to be understood that it will
be one thing for us or them to declare our
feutimemts, and to support th:m by argu
ments, and another to fubferibe our names
to any writing in any other manner than
as other public bodies by their official re
presentatives of Chairman or President. —
We would request, therefore, that the pro
pefition would be rccontidered, and that
feme other evidence of fabmiflion to the
laws may be accepted from the people,
which may substantially have the fame
cfca without a form which may be mis
understood by them, and in which they
may not so readily acquiesce.
. Itis also our with and expectation that
the proposition of an amnesty may extend
to the county of Bedford.
ft is our idea also, that it will have a
good efte& in reconciling the public mind
to have the amnesty confirmed as absolute
at this time, liable to be forfeited only as
to its benefits, by the future violation
the laws by the individual.
By order of the Committee,
EDWARD COOK, Chairman.
Thomas M'Kean and Wil
liam Irvine, Cammiffion
era on the part of Penn
fyivania.
We have never before heard it faggeft
ed, that a person signing his name to any
instrument, implying an engagement or
promise to doa lawful aa, had the air of
a recognizance ; nor -did we ever mean
that it could be supposed, that any gentle
man of this committee was implicated in
the late riots in these counties. We only
wished to have the weight that your names
and characters would give to the effectual
quieting the present uneafutch among the
people.
onion. But the giving any instrument of^
writing will have the air of a recogni
zance, and us having broke the peace or
of being difpoftd to do it on their part,'
whereas in fad we exped to be considered
as a body well affeded to the peace of the
country, and coming forward, not onlyl
on behalf of those who may have violated!
the peace, but of the great body of the!
country who have organized thtmfelveii
in committees in oider to preserve it.|
As to what the committee cf sixty ma,
de, mult remain with themselves. We
ihah make report to them of the propor
tion.
Pittsburgh, Aug. tzd.
Gentlemen,
TUESDAY, October 14, 1794.
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We are fatisfied with the explanation
given of what was intended by regard
ing our individual figaaturfs to any aifur
ance we should have given of oar own dif
pofifon to preserve peace or conciliate
that temper in others.
We are certainly disposed to preserve
peace and to recommend it to others, not
only with regard to the laws of the union
on the terms of accommodation fitdre
with the eammifiioners from thence, but
more especially with regard to the laws of
vur refractive fates, and Pennsylvania in
particular ; we are unanimous in declaring
our refutations to support the laws, so that
no impediment shall cxift to the due and
faithful administration, of Justice, and
we can with the mere confidence engage
this on behalf of our fellow citizens, as
at a general meeting of the Representa
tives of townihips, on the 14th of August,
intt. a reflation to this effed was expres
sed by the unanimous voice of the meet
ing ; and in fad we can assure you, though
it may have been otherwise confirmed,that
a great and leading objed of that meet
ing was the eflablifhment of peace amongU
eurfelves, and subordination to the state
government.
By order of the Committee.
EDW. COOK, Chairman.
The Commiilioners on behalf
of the State.
counties have returned to their duty, to an
obedience to the laws, and that peace,
order and tranquility have been restored,
we ihall rejoice in having the opportunity
of granting it without a days delay.
We are gentlemen,
Your most obedient servants,
THOMAS M'KEAN,
WILLIAM IRVINE.
The Committee deliberating on the a.
bore, the great and Solemn quefbon was
considered whether we Should accede or
rejed ; in other words whether we Should
have peace or a civil war.
It was considered that a convulsion at
this time might effect the great interests
of the union—that notwithstanding an un
worthy debt was accumulated in the hard,
of monied men by means of the funding
fifteen, yet the foreign debt was justly
due, and also a considerable part of the
domestic, for which adual fetvice had
been rendered, or value given—that it
might efted the payment of these two spe
cies of debt, to countenance an opposition
which might communicate itfeif to other
branches of the revenue.—That a convul
sion of this nature becoming general,
might affed a nation of Europe Struggling
at this moment for life and liberty, by
impending the United States in making
those remittance, in payment of the debt
due to them, which their Situation essen
tially demanded ; that a convulsion even
in this country might effc& the negotia
tions pending, in which our interefta were
effcntially concerned—the free navigation
of the Miflifippi—the delivery of the wes
tern posts, and our protection from a
frontier enemy-=That it might give of
fence to our fellow citizens elfewhece, who
might excefe a sudden outrage, but
When we were commissioned to the
present pacific and humane service, it was
not known to the governor, that any ag
gressions of the nature you allude to had
been committed in the county of Bedford,
and of course oar powers de not extend
to them, but if no futdre violations of the
peace Ihall happen on a similar occasion,
it no more than probable that his Excel
lency will extend his pardon to what has
paged fixe, and which may require an
amnerty.
We cannot grant a general pardon as
yet, but when we ffiall have reasonable af
finances, that the inhabitants of these
Pittffiurgh, Aug. 23, 1794.
Gentlemen,
gret,
This attack has been so wanton and un
provoked, that it would be vain to pro
pnfe any terms of accommodation, vnlefa
the persons who have made it are punished.
I have done my duty, peace was com
pletely restored,and in away that appear
ed to fatiaf, your Excellency, that the In
dians meant cordially to observe the term#
of it. It new remains with the gevern
mentof Georgia to puoifh those of its cit
izens who have thus wantonly violated ie
on their part, or to prepare for a war
with the whble Creek Nation, the mif
chiefs of which arc not so easily calcula
ted.
might resent a formed fyflem undertaken
without their consent ; more especial
-1, as they might not yet know the Iq
cal and peculiar grievances of this coun
try, and yet be disposed to make a proper
allowance for the cenfequences ; that the
constitutional means cf remot&ance might
not yet be altogether exhausted and so it
might become as Bill yet to preserve ;
that even a contest with tie United States,
(hoold it be fuccefsfal must involve this
country, for a time at least, in ruin.
That for this reason, ever, man ought
to lay his hand on his heart and eafwer,
whether he would think bimfelf jadifiable
in countenancing the idea of a war ; he
ought to make up his mind, and be fare
that oil every principle be was justifiable;
having a confinement not only of right,
but of power also.
For these and other reafohs it web
thought advifeable to concede, as con
tained in the aofwer to the commissioners.
On Friday last -week, a very melancholy
ly accident happened, in this place, at
the house of Mr. David Doud, while the
heads of the family was away from heme.
A kettle of boiling wort had just been ta
ken cff the fire, when a son of Mr. David
Doud and a son of Mr. Guiles D^ud con -
ing near, the one taking the other on bis
back, making a fJfe step, both fell acci
dentally into it, and were Scalded. Ab
tho they were seen failing, immediately
taken out, and every assistance afforded
them, the son of Mr. David Doud conti
nued till the next day, in greet distress,
when he died : Aged fix years.—The Sen
of Mr. Guiles Doud continued till the fol
lowing Thursday, with doubtful sy mptoms
of recovery, when being Seized with the
canker-raffi, be expired: Aged seven
years. - Likewise, on this week Monday,
the son of Mr. Enoch Ass„, was feizrd
with uncommon Symptoms and a complaint
of being cold ; and growing worse, he di
ed on the fallowing Wetinefday : Aged
fix years end a half, These oilcanfolate
families, being within ±fe than hog mile
of teach oth,r, are est in an hcer net
Extras of a letter from fames Seagrove, A
gent for Indian Afrire to Governor Mat
-Ihew of Giorgia.
SI R,
I received left evening, the letter you
did me the honor to write on the 11th inst.
It is impnffible to express to year Excellen
cy the mortification I fed at the intelji
gence conveyed by it. After having sub,
mitted, for fix months pall, to live- , t
mong the Indians, fubjed myfelf to every
poflible inconvenience, and exposed evri,
moment to the danger of being deftroyea,
far the purpose of eltablilhing peace, to
fee the fruit of my labors deployed in a
moment by the raffi and lawless condua
of individuals, at a time when an entire
good understanding was eftabliffied, and
io a manner which promised to be perma
nent, fills my mind with the deepen re-
Extrad of a letter dated, (Vermont,) Niv^
haven, Se,t. iz, 1794.
PER M,O N T.
BENNINGTON,
Sept. 26.
[Whole No. 81.]
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