"The government of Massachusetts Bay, as well as the proprietors of large tracts to "After what we have already stated with the eastward of the province of Maine, ex-respect to the policy of encouraging colonies cited by the success of these settlements, are in the interior country as a general princigiving every encouragement to the like set-ple, we trust it will not be necessary to enter tlements in that valuable country, lying between them and Nova Scotia; and the proprietors of the twelve townships lately laid out there, by the Massachusetts government, now solicit your majesty for a confirmation of

a greater or lesser degree every inland settle ment, and therefore ought, in our humble opinion, to be carefully guarded against, by encouraging the settlement of that extensive tract of sea-coast, hitherto unoccupied; which, together with the liberty that the inhabitants of the middle colonies will have (in consequence of the proposed boundary line with the Indians) of gradually extending themselves backwards, will more effectually and beneficially answer the object of encouraging population and consumption, than the erection of new governments; such gradual extension might, through the medium of a continued population, upon even the same extent of territory, preserve a communication of mutual commercial benefits between its extremest parts and Great Britain, impossible to exist in colonies separated by immense tracts of unpeopled desert.-As to the effect which it is supposed the colonies may have to increase and promote the fur trade, and to prevent all contraband trade or intercourse between the Indians under your majesty's protection, and the French or Spaniards; it does appear to us, that the extension of the fur trade depends entirely upon the Indians being undisturbed In the possession of their hunting grounds; that all colonizing does in its nature, and must in its consequences, operate to the prejudice of that branch of commerce, and that the French and Spaniards would be left in possession of a great part of what remained; as New Orleans would still continue the best and surest market.

"As to the protection which it is supposed these new colonies may be capable of affording to the old ones, it will, in our opinion, appear upon the slightest view of their situation, that so far from affording protection to the old colonies, they will stand most in need of it themselves.

were to exist, and no such assistance to be expected from it, the objections stated to the plan now under our consideration are superior to this, or any other advantage it can produce; and although civil establishments have frequently rendered the expense of an armed force necessary for their protection, one of the many objections to these now proposed, yet we humbly presume there never has been an instance of a government instituted merely with a view to supply a body of troops with suitable provisions; nor is it necessary in these instances for these settlements, already existing as above described, which being formed under military establishments, and ever subjected to military authority, do not, in our humble opinion, require any other superintendence than that of the military officers commanding at these posts."

"In addition to this opinion of the board of trade, expressed in the foregoing recital, we further beg leave to refer your lordships to the opinion of the commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces in North America, who, in a letter laid before us by the earl of Hillsborough, delivers his sentiments with regard to settlements in the interior parts of America in the following words, viz

"VII. As to increasing the settlements to respectable provinces, and to colonization in general terms in the remote countries, I conceive it altogether inconsistent with sound policy; for there is little appearance that the advantages will arise from it, which nations expect when they send out colonies into foreign countries; they can give no encouragement to the fishery, and though the country might afford some kind of naval stores, the distance would be too far to transport them; and for the same reason they could not supply the sugar islands with lumber and provisions. As for the raising wine, silk, and other commodities, the same may be said of the present colonies without planting others for the purpose at so vast a distance; but on the supposition that they would be raised, their very long transportation must probably make them too dear for any market. I do not apprehend the inhabitants could have any commodities to barter for manufactures, except skins and furs, which will naturally decrease, as the country increases in people, and the deserts "The present French inhabitants in the are cultivated; so that in the course of a few neighbourhood of the lakes will, in our hum-years necessity would force them to provide ble opinion, be sufficient to furnish with pro- manufactures of some kind for themselves; visions whatever posts may be necessary to and when all connexion upheld by commerce be continued there; and as there are also French inhabitants settled in some parts of the country lying upon the Mississippi, between the rivers Illinois and the Ohio, it is to be hoped that a sufficient number of these may be induced to fix their abode, where the same convenience and advantage may be derived from them; but if no such circumstance

"It cannot be denied, that new colonies would be of advantage in raising provisions for the supply of such forts and garrisons as may be kept up in the neighbourhood of them; but as the degree of utility will be proportioned to the number and situation of these forts and garrisons, which upon the result of the present inquiry it may be thought adviseable to continue, so the force of the argument will depend upon that event.

with the mother-country shall cease, it may be expected, that an independency on her government will soon follow; the pretence of forming barriers will have no end; whereever we settle, however remote, there must be a frontier; and there is room enough for the colonists to spread within our present limits, for a century to come. If we reflect how

are both in the northern department; and your lordships will be the best judge, which of them has given you the least trouble; ir which we have had the fewest quarrels with, or complaints from the Indians.

the people of themselves have gradually re- by the natives, is now become a necessary; tired from the coast, we shall be convinced they are disused to the bow, and can neither they want no encouragement to desert the sea- hunt or make war without fire-arms, powder, coast, and go into the back, countries, where and lead. The British provinces can only the lands are better, and got upon easier terms; supply them with their necessaries, which they are already almost out of the reach of they know, and for their own sakes would the law and government; neither the endea- protect the trader, which they actually do at vours of government, or fear of Indians, has present. It would remain with us to prevent kept them properly within bounds; and it is the traders being guilty of frauds and imposiapparently most for the interest of Great Bri- tions, and to pursue the same methods to that tain to confine the colonies on the side of the end, as are taken in the southern district, back country, and to direct their settlements and I must confess, though the plan pursued along the sea-coast, where millions of acres in that district might be improved by proper are yet uncultivated. The lower provinces laws to support it, that I do not know a better, are still thinly inhabited, and brought to the or more economical plan for the management point of perfection that has been aimed at for of trade; there are neither forts nor settlethe mutual benefit of Great Britain and them-ments, in the southern department, and there selves. Although America may supply the mother-country with many articles, few of them are yet supplied in quantities equal to her consumption, the quantity of iron transported is not great, of hemp very small, and there are many other commodities not necessary to enumerate, which America has not yet been able to raise, notwithstanding the encouragement given her by bounties and premiums. The laying open new tracts of fertile territory in moderate climates might lessen her present produce; for it is the passion of every man to be a landholder, and the people have a natural disposition to rove in search of good lands, however distant. It may be a question likewise, whether colonization of the kind could be effected without an Indian war and fighting for every inch of ground. The Indians have long been jealous of our power, and have no patience in seeing us approach their towns, and settle upon their hunting grounds; atonements may be made for a fraud discovered in a trader, and even the murder of some of their tribes, but encroachments upon their lands have often produced serious consequences. The springs of the last general war are to be discovered near the Alleghany mountains, and upon the banks of the Ohio.

"It is so obvious, that settlers might raise provisions to feed the troops, cheaper than it can be transported from the country below, that it is not necessary to explain it; but I must own I know no other use in settlements, or can give any other reason for supporting forts, than to protect the settlements, and keep the settlers in subjection to government.

"I conceive, that to procure all the commerce it will afford, and at as little expense to ourselves as we can, is the only object we should have in view in the interior country, for a century to come; and I imagine it might be effected, by proper management, without either forts or settlements. Our manufactures are as much desired by the Indians, as their peltry is sought for by us; what was originally deemed a superfluity, or a luxury

"I know of nothing so liable to bring on a serious quarrel with Indians as an invasion of their property. Let the savages enjoy their deserts in quiet; little bickerings that may unavoidably sometimes happen, may soon be accommodated; and I am of opinion, independent of the motives of common justice and humanity, that the principles of interest and policy, should induce us rather to protect than molest them: were they driven from their forests, the peltry trade would decrease; and it is not impossible that worse savages would take refuge in them, for they might then become the asylum of fugitive negroes, and idle vagabonds, escaped from justice, who in time might become formidable, and subsist by rapine, and plundering the lower countries."

VIII. The opinions delivered in the foregoing recitals are so accurate and precise, as to make it almost unnecessary to add any thing more: but we beg leave to lay before your lordships the sentiments of his majesty's governor of Georgia, upon the subject of large grants in the interior parts of America, whose knowledge and experience in the affairs of the colonies give great weight to his opinion.

In a letter to us, on the subject of the mischiefs attending such grants, he expresses himself in the following manner, viz.

"And now, my lords, I beg your patience a moment, while I consider this matter in a more extensive point of view, and go a little further in declaring my sentiments and opinion, with respect to the granting of large bodies of land in the back parts of the province of Georgia, or in any other of his majesty's northern colonies, at a distance from the sea-coast, or from such parts of any province as is already settled and inhabited.

"And this matter, my lords, appears to me in a very serious and alarming light; and I

things in America; and from some little occurrences or instances that have already really happened, I can very easily figure to myself what may, and, in short, what will certainly happen, if not prevented in time."

IX. At the same time that we submit the foregoing reasoning against colonization in the interior country to your lordship's consideration, it is proper we should take notice of one argument, which has been invariably held forth in support of every proposition of this nature, and upon which the present proponents appear to lay great stress. It is urged, that such is the state of the country now proposed to be granted, and erected into a separate government, that no endeavours on the part of the crown can avail, to prevent its being settled by those who, by the increase of population in the middle colonies, are continually emigrating to the westward, and forming themselves into colonies in that coun

humbly conceive may be attended with the greatest and worst of consequences; for, my lords, if a vast territory be granted to any set of gentlemen, who really mean to people it, and actually do so, it must draw and carry out a great number of people from Great Britain; and I apprehend they will soon become a kind of separate and independent people, and who will set up for themselves; that they will soon have manufactures of their own; that they will neither take supplies from the mother-country, or from the provinces, at the back of which they are settled; that being at a distance from the seat of government, courts, magistrates, &c. &c., they will be out of the reach and control and law of government; that it will become a receptacle and kind of asylum for offenders, who will fly from justice to such new country or colony; and therefore crimes and offences will be committed, not only by the inhabitants of such new settlements, but elsewhere, and pass with impuni-try, without the intervention or control of goty; and that in process of time (and perhaps at no great distance) they will become formidable enough to oppose his majesty's authority, disturb government, and even give law to the other or first settled part of the country, and throw every thing into confusion.

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vernment, and who, if suffered to continue in that lawless state of anarchy and confusion, will commit such abuses as cannot fail of involving us in quarrel and dispute with the Indians, and thereby endangering the security of his majesty's colonies.

"My lords, I hope I shall not be thought "We admit, that this is an argument that impertinent, when I give my opinion freely, deserves attention; and we rather take noin a matter of so great consequence, as I con- tice of it in this place, because some of the obceive this to be; and, my lords, I apprehend,jections stated by governor Wright lose their that in all the American colonies, great care should be taken, that the lands on the seacoast should be thick settled with inhabitants, and well cultivated and improved; and that the settlements should be gradually extended back into the province, and as much connected as possible, to keep the people together in as narrow a compass, as the nature of the lands, and state of things will admit of; and by which means there would probably be come only one general view and interest amongst them and the power of government, and law would of course naturally and easily go with them, and matters thereby properly regulated, and kept in due order and obedience; and they would have no idea of resisting or transgressing either, without being amenable to justice, and subject to punishment for offences they may commit.

force, upon the supposition that the grants
against which he argues are to be erected
into separate governments.
But we are
clearly of opinion, that his arguments do, in
the general view of them, as applied to the
question of granting lands in the interior
parts of America, stand unanswerable; and
admitting that the settlers in the country in
question are as numerous as report states
them to be, yet we submit to your lordships,
that this is a fact which does, in the nature of
it, operate strongly in point of argument
against what is proposed; for, if the fore-
going reasoning has any weight, it certainly
ought to induce your lordships to advise his
majesty to take every method to check the pro-
gress of these settlements, and not to make
such grants of the land as will have an im-
mediate tendency to encourage them; a mea-
sure which we conceive is altogether as un-
necessary as it is impolitic, as we see nothing
to hinder the government of Virginia from ex-
tending the laws and constitution of that co-
lony to such persons as may have already
settled there under legal titles.

"But, my lords, to suffer a kind of province within a province, and one that may, indeed must, in process of time, become superior, and too big for the head, or original settlement or seat of government, to me conveys with it many ideas of consequences, of such a nature, as I apprehend are extremely dangerous and X. And there is one objection suggested by improper, and it would be the policy of go-governor Wright to the extension of settlevernment to avoid and prevent, whilst in their power to do so.

"My ideas, my lords, are not chimerical; I know something of the situation and state of

ments in the interior country, which, we submit, deserves your lordship's particular attention, viz. the encouragement that is thereby held out to the emigration of his ma

ing report.

[Drawn up by Dr. Benjamin Franklin.] I. THE first paragraph of the report, we apprehend, was intended to establish two propositions as facts; viz.

First, That the tract of land agreed for with the lords commissioners of the treasury, contains part of the dominion of Virginia.

Second, That it extends several degrees of longitude westward from the western ridge of the Alleghany mountains.

jesty's European subjects; an argument | Observations on, and answers to the foregowhich, in the present situation of this kingdom, demands very serious consideration, and has for some time past had so great weight with this board, that it has induced us to deny our concurrence to many proposals for grants of land, even in those parts of the continent of America where, in all other respects, we are of opinion, that it consists with the true policy of this kingdom to encourage settlements; and this consideration of the certain bad consequences which must result from a continuance of such emigrations as have lately taken place from various parts of his majesty's European dominions, added to the constant drains to Africa, to the East Indies, and to the new ceded islands, will, we trust, with what has been before stated, be a sufficient answer to every argument that can be urged in sup-right to the country westward of the mounport of the present memorial, so far as regards the consideration of it in point of policy.

XI. With regard to the propriety in point of justice, of making the grant desired, we presume this consideration can have reference only to the case of such persons who have already possession of lands in that part of the country, under legal titles derived from grants made by the governor and council of Virginia; upon which case we have only to observe, that it does appear to us, that there are some such possessions held by persons who are not parties to the present memorial; and therefore, if your lordships shall be of opinion, that the making the grant desired would, notwithstanding the reservation proposed, in respect to such titles, have the effect to disturb those possessions, or to expose the proprietors to suit and litigation, we do conceive that, in that case, the grant would be objectionable in point of justice.

XII. Upon the whole, therefore, we cannot recommend to your lordships to advise his majesty to comply with the prayer of this memorial, either as to the erection of any parts of the lands into a separate government, or the making a grant of them to the memorialists; but, on the contrary, we are of opinion, that settlements in that distant part of the country should be as much discouraged as possible; and that, in order thereto, it will be expedient, not only that the orders which have been given to the governor of Virginia, not to make any further grants beyond the line prescribed by the proclamation of 1763, should be continued and enforced, but that another proclamation should be issued, declaratory of his majesty's resolution not to allow for the present, any new settlements beyond that line, and to forbid all persons from taking up or settling any lands in that part of the coun, try. We are, my lords, your lordships most obedient and most humble servants. Whitehall, April 15, 1772.

On the first proposition we shall only re mark, that no part of the above tract is to the eastward of the Alleghany mountains;—and that these mountains must be considered as the true western boundary of Virginia; fo the king was not seised and possessed of a

tains, until his majesty purchased it, in the year 1768, from the Six Nations: and since that time, there has not been any annexation of such purchase, or of any part thereof, to the colony of Virginia.

On the second proposition, we shall just observe, that the lords commissioners for trade and plantations appear to us to be as erroneous in this as in the former proposition; for their lordships say, that the tract of land under consideration extends several degrees of longitude westward. The truth is, that it is not more, on a medium, that one degree and a half of longitude from the western ridge of the Alleghany mountains to the river Ohio.

II. It appears by the second paragraph, as if the lords commissioners for trade and plantations apprehended,-that the lands southwesterly of the boundary line, marked on a map annexed to their lordships' report,-were either claimed by the Cherokees, or were their hunting grounds, or were the hunting grounds of the Six Nations and their confederates.

As to any claim of the Cherokees to the above country, it is altogether new and indefensible; and never was heard of, until the appointment of Mr. Stewart to the superintendency of the southern colonies, about the year 1764; and this, we flatter ourselves, will not only be obvious from the following state of facts, but that the right to all the country on the southerly side of the river Ohio, quite to the Cherokee river, is now undoubtedly vested in the king, by the grant which the Six Nations made to his majesty at Fort Stanwix, in November, 1768.-In short, the lands from the Great Kenhawa to the Cherokee river never were either the dwelling or hunting grounds of the Cherokees;-but formerly belonged to, and were inhabited by the Shawanese, until such time as they were conquered by the Six Nations.

Mr. Colden, the present lieutenant-govern