Orded That besides y sayd six pounds formerly directed and advanced as afore sayd, there be 40s more, vizt: 3lbs in all, layd on each County at their next Levyes, to be payd to ye sd Thomas Clifford, in full satisfaction of all his claymes & demands whatsoever, to be returned by ye respective Sheriff's, & that it be recommended to y respective Justices to order and forward the same accordingly.

Agreed nemine Contradicente.

Adjourned till 3 of ye Clock in y° afternoone, pr cize.

POST MERIDIEM.

Present the same pesons as in ye forenoone.

The Govr acquainted y° Councill, That ye reason of his calling them together at this time was to minde them that there had been formerly severall Rumours of danger from y french & Indians, in conjunction with ye Papists, for ye Ruine of the Protestants in these parts, and of y alarme formerly given, as if 9 thousand french & Indians were then neare approaching for yt purpose, upon wch y° Justices & Sheriff's of ye two Lower Countyes, with y people therof, had betaken themselves to arms for their defence; wherof he then gave y Councill an account, from ye Letters he recd out of ye sd Countyes as also, of a Letter he had recd from one Capt Le Tort, (a frenchman, living up in the Countrey,) agreeing therewith; which they did not see any reason to give heed unto: And further, to acquaint them yt had lately recd a letter from Mr. Joshua Barkstead, out of Maryland, advertising there was sufficient proof that y° Papists in Maryland had been tampering with y french & Northern Indians, to assist them to cutt off ye Protestants, or at least to reduce them to y See of Rome, &c., which Letter was read in Councill; adding an account thereto of y Crueltyes and barbarous usage of y french Indians upon y people of New England; murthering about 100 persons, burning houses, & plundering ye people of their goods & Cattell, &c., and (using y Proverb) that there was no smoak without some fyre. That these things might be Expected to come suddanily upon us, as well as our neighbours. That his Office was to be their watchman, & he durst not conceale the Knowledge of these things. Without acquainting them & receiving their opinions & advices what was ffitt to be done therin for their security, and setling the mindes of y People, who in some places (pticularly in New Castle,) upon the apprehension of feare from these things, had been very much disquieted & taken themselves to arms, but were quieted by the Justices of that County residing amongst them. He also acquainted them, That divers of the inhabitants of New Castle had declared themselves unsatisfyed That King Wm. had not been proclaymed as in other Countyes, & that y° same had been signifyed to him by Mr. John Cann, By whom y Govr sayed he had sent them word; he had not recd any orders for ye doing it, nor did he know in what manner or tearmes it was to be done, having never seen any proclamation for that purpose; and that he feared he might either Exceed or fall short of the titles ought to be given him, which would

(he thought) be treason in either case; That he Expected ye first ship out of England would bring orders about it, and yt upon receipt therof, he would do as he should be directed. That having called y Council to advise him in these cases, he had nothing else to trouble them about at this time; but if any damage should happen to them for want of what informacord he had recd he knew he was responsible to y King & state of England, (to y hazard of his life,) if ye Province should be invaded & lost out of his Majtyes Dominions & Therefore, prayed they would be very Serious & Solemne in giving him their opinions & advices what they thought of these informations, and what they would have him do therin, for that he knew he could do nothing without their assistance, but suffer with them, which he feared was neare at hand, &c.

:

Wherupon Peter Alrichs gave an historicall accot of y° proceedings of ye Mohawks in the yeare 1665, Concluding he did not think they were any great number, or that there was cause to be affrayd of them, &c.

Wm. Clark sayd: he believed some thing might have beene heretofore intended of such a nature as was suggested, but that being frustrated, he believed that designe is wholly dead; neverthelesse, that he thought they were obliged to ye Govr for signifying these things to them.

John Symcock sayd: he did not see but that we are as Safe, Keeping peaceable, as those that had made all this strive.

Griffith Jones sayd: he saw no cause of danger if we can but Keepe quiet among ourselves.

John Bristow sayd: he saw no need of raysing forces, for he saw no danger; But that he looked upon it as the privilege of the people to have their members psent if there be, (so also sayd John Symcock.) To wch y Govr replyed he had given order to have all such as were allowed members of ye Councill to be Summoned; but if they refused to come he could not help it. He must & would be satisfyed with y opinion & advice of such as were psent.

John Hill sayd: He had spoken with very eminent knowing men, & saw no liklyhood of danger.

Samll Carpenter sayd: he had spoken with two psons that came from Maryland, who did not believe what was talked; that he did not feare any thing from any news we had thence, and yt he was of opinion wth John Bristow, for having all their members present.

Barth. Coppock sayd: the news was new to him, & it did not appeare to him that we are in any danger [at psent] by the Indians, or papists either; and was of the same opinion about having all their members psent.

John Curtis sayd: he had heard a great while of these things, But they signify nothing but a Rumor: as for y° Indians, they are quiet, & for his owne perticular he had no feare upon him, & that he was of the same opinion about having all their members psent.

Wm. Markham sayd: he apprehended That to speak of danger from y Indians would but skare ye women & children; and that our Constitution will not admitt us to defend ourselves. The only way

is to forbeare all thoughts or seeming fears of the knowledge of it; for that will represent us as people frighted, &c., unless we were under such a Constitution of Governmt as to take to armes, to be ready upon occasion if any thing should come. And as touching the businesse of proclaiming the King, it was unanimously agreed that it was not at psent advisable, unlesse we had orders for doing it.

Wherupon y Goverr gave them thanks for so particularly & freely advising him, & told him he had nothnig further to occasion their stay at psent, unlesse they, or any of them, had any thing to impart from the respective Countyes fitt for psent Consideration. It being Replyed by divers that they had not, he adjourned the Councill to meet at New Castle ye thenth day of y° next month, about some perticulars relating to that County & the adjacent neighborhood.

MEMORANDA. The Governor upon a necessary occasion afterwards, appoynted the meeting of the Councill at New Castle to be on the 17th of September, and accordingly went thither: And by the way, took a view of the Mill & Mill race Erected by Cornelius Empson. (Wherof Complaynd had been made by Petition from several of the inhabitants of Chester County.) But their appearing but five of the members of the Councill, viz:

On the first of October following, Samuell Gillham, master of the Ketch Crane, of Dartmouth, in the Kingdom of England, delivered to y Govr a pacquet, wth this subscriction following, vizt:

For his Ma'ties speciall Service. To William Penn, Esq., Proprietor of their Ma'ties Province of Pennsilvania in America: And in his absence, To the Govr or Comander in Chief of that Province, for the time being in Pensilvania.

4. Wherin was conteyned a Letter bearing date, Whitehall, 13. April, 1689, signed Shrewsbury. Upon the Receipt & reading wherof, The Govr askd the sayd Gillham If that were all he had, and observed perticularly to him, that there was no Proclamation or Instructions about proclayming their Majestyes; and ordered the same to be publiquely read by the Secretary for the satisfaction of the People, who had heard there was such Orders come.

The same day the Govr directed that sumons sould be issued for all the members of the Provinciall Council to appeare at Philadel phia on the first day of Novembr following, in ordr to the imparting the same to them.

The next day the Govr gave the sayd Gillham a Certificate, under his hand, & the Provincial Seale annexed, signifying that he had received the sayd Letter, & should observe the contents therof, and of his proceedings theirin give accot to their Ma'ties Principall Secretary of State by the first opportunity of Conveyance.

At a Council held at the Govers Lodgeings in Philadelphia the first day of the ninth month, 1689.

The Governor caused the Entryes of the Procedings of the last Councill to be Read.

And acquainted the Councill That the most of what he judged needfull for him to say to them at this time was to the purpose of what he spake then. To which he Referred, the same having been Read; only Added, That he had Recd from the Principal Secretary of State, by his Ma'ties Comands, a letter, which he caused to be read over, whch is of ye tenor following, vizt:

DUPLICATE.

WHITEHALL, 13 April, 1689.

Sr-I am by his Ma'ties Comands, to acquaint you that his Maty. being sensible of the great & frequent injuryes his subjectsd ayly receive from the ffrench, in apparent violation of the treatyes between the two Crowns and particularly by the assistance that King has lately given, and continues to give his Enemys in Ireland; and by the invating his Ma'ties Territoryes in America, and disturbing the trade of his subjects in those parts for severall years last past: His Maty has therefor, directed all necessary Preparations to be made for a speedy warr with the ffrench king, which has occasioned the giving you this notice of it, That you may with all possible diligence take effectual care for the opposing & resisting any attempt of the ffrench upon his Ma'ties Province of Pensilvania; And that all ships coming from thence, do not sayle hereafter otherwise than in fleets: And you are also to Assure his Maties Subjects in that Province of his Maties Protection, by sending forthwith a considerable squadron of ships into the West Indyes, and other Succours that shall be requisite, not only securing his Maties Plantations in America, but obliging the ffrench to make Reparation for the many unjust & violent proceedings & attempts against his Maties Subjects in those parts. I am, Sr., yor very humble servant, SHREWSBURY.

Upon the Reading herof in Councill, The Govr desired their advice, both as to what they thought fit to be done thereupon, and what answer returned to the Secretary of State about it. And that they would be very serious in it, for that the danger was not only now as formerly, suggested by private uncertaine hands, but from the Secretary of state, by his Maties Comands, &c. Mr. Alrichs declared He thought it necessary some thing should be done.

Mr. D'Haes, Desired the Govr would not take ill that he sayd He would not Act either as a Magistrate in New Castle or here, untill he knows who is King: which he Repeated severall times, adding, It is not safe to act without Proclayming the King.

The Govr told him, He believed that King William & Queen Mary,

The Prince & Princess of Orange, were King & Queen of England, &c. But he had not seen the Proclamation, and so knew not how to Proclayme them, &c.

Mr. D'Haes his opinion (that it was not safe to act without proclayming the King,) occasioned severall others to declare their minds about it, and that the people were earnestly sett upon doing it themselves in some of the Countyes, &c.

The Govr Declared He was as ready and desirous to do it as any body, if he had ye Proclamation and orders for doing it; but having not, Proposed for their satisfaction who were impatient about it, that a middle way might be considered of, Which he thought might be done by a Declaration of the Govr & Councill, owning their authority, and declaring their readinesse Solemnly to Proclayme them as soon as we should receive orders, or an authentique coppy of the Proclamation, which he Expected by the next vessel that should come out of England.

Mr. Symcock said: If a forme of Declaration had been sent to us to have Proclaymed them I think we must have observed it: But in as much as there is no comand sent us by the King of England (who so ever he be, nor from the Secretary, to Proclayme any King here, I think we have no reason to do it. But I would submit my self to better understanding. The case is doubtfull. We are not to believe but to be certain in such matters, &c.

The Govr told them, They had Proclaymed King James without Order.

John Symcock replied: King James was by an Act of Parliamt voted the heir to his brother and so he came in: Now who ever comes in to put him out, Pray let us consider how he comes in: We have an act of Parliament for the one, but not for the other. It my be dangerous for us to do it without an Order.

Mr. Markham said: How the King came in, We are not to dispute: There is nobody here to question How King William came to the Crowne. No man doubts but that he hath it: The Govr himself does not question it. If so, why may it not be safe for us to yield all due obedience to him. We believe King William and Queen Mary are the King and Queen of England, and so of these dominions; and since we believe it, where is the prejudice in obligeing of those who would have them declared to be so, as the Govr hath propounded. We suppose this Letter is come from the Secretary of State to King William.

John Symcock replied: How do we know that.

Wm. Markham. The letter says their Majesties, and it can be meant of no other. I believe it's meant of them.

John Symcock said: We are not to Act by fayth in this matter, but with certaynty.

Mr. Markham said: Since we believe it, where is the prejudice. The Govr proposed a methodicall way for Our declaring our Obedience to King William and Queen Mary, and that we are wayting for the forme and manner of proclayming them. To do this will give satisfaction to all.