1763.] MEASURES OF THE QUAKERS. 95 



ing the public calamity. Early in July, Governor 

 Hamilton had convoked the Assembly, and, repre- ^ 

 senting the distress of the borders, had urged them ' 

 to take measures of defence.^ But the provincial 

 government of Pennsylvania was more conducive 

 to prosperity in time of peace than to efficiency in 

 time of war. The Quakers, who held a majority 

 in the Assembly, were from principle and practice 

 the reverse of warlike, and, regarding the Indians 

 with a blind partiality, were reluctant to take meas- 

 ures against them. Proud, and with some reason, 

 of the justice and humanity which had marked 

 their conduct towards the Indian race, they had 

 learned to regard themselves as its advocates and 

 patrons, and their zeal was greatly sharpened by 

 opposition and political prejudice. They now pre- 

 tended that the accounts from the frontier were 

 grossly exaggerated ; and, finding this ground 

 untenable, they alleged, with better show of reason, 

 that the Indians were driven into hostility by the 

 ill-treatment of the proprietaries and their parti- 

 sans. They recognized, however, the necessity of 

 defensive measures, and accordingly passed a bill 

 for raising and equipping a force of seven hundred 

 men, to be composed of frontier farmers, and to be 

 kept in pay only during the time of harvest. They 

 were not to leave the settled parts of the province 

 to engage in offensive operations of any kind, nor 

 even to perform garrison duty ; their sole object 

 being to enable the people to gather in their crops 

 unmolested. 



1 Votes of Assembly, V. 259. 



