ROSS. GEORGE ROSS of Lancaster in Pennsylvania, one of the delegates from that province in the revolutionary congress, was the son of the reverend George Ross, pastor of the episcopal church at New-Castle in the state of Delaware, and was born in that town in the year 1730. In his early youth he displayed a cheerful and affable disposition, and gave proof of promising talents; these his father attentively cultivated, and made him espe cially a good scholar in the ancient languages. At the age of eighteen he commenced the study of the law, and prosecuted it under the instructions of his elder brother John, a lawyer of good standing in the city of Philadelphia; when he had finished the regular course of reading, he was called to the bar. Finding the ranks of the profession well filled in the city, he determined to try his fortunes in the interior country, and settled at Lancaster, then near the western limits of civilization, about the year 1751. He had not been long a resident of that place before he married Miss Ann Lawler, a lady of a respectable family; and devoting himself zealously to his profession, obtained a lucrative and increasing practice, with the honourable office of prosecutor for the king. Actively engaged in his profession, he does not appear to have taken any part in politics for some years, so that the first public notice we obtain of him, is his election as a representative in the assembly of Pennsylvania, in which he took his seat in the month of October, 1768. He remained a member of the same body until he was called to higher offices at a subsequent period, and during the whole time merited and obtained the utmost confidence, both from his colleagues and his constituents. Whilst in the legislature, he seems to have paid particular attention to the situation of our intercourse with the various Indian tribes settled within the state, or wandering near its borders. This had always been a subject of constant anxiety to the people of the province, and very frequently of difference between the assembly and several of the governors; the latter were indeed too fond of interfering in Indian affairs, and often excited feelings, by so doing, which it was rather their intention to prevent and allay. In one instance Mr. Ross was called on to display his sentiments, by being appointed to draught a reply to a message from the governor, which urged on the assembly an increase of the garrison at Fort Pitt, as a protection against the neighbouring "When we considered your message," says savages. the reply of the assembly to the governor, "recommending the support of a garrison at Fort Pitt, we thought it our duty to inquire into the reason and grounds, if any, for those apprehensions. We were |