APrENDIX E. 345 



butcheries — are injuring tlie character of many of our most respectable 

 people. That printers should have lent their aid astonishes me when they 

 are employed by the Assembly to print their laws. I can see no good in 

 meeting their falsehoods by counter statements. 



The Rev. Mr. Elder and Mr. Harris are determined to rely upon the 

 reputation they have so well established. 



For myself, I can only say that, possessing your confidence, and that 

 of the Proprietaries, with a quiet conscience, I regard not the malignant 

 pens of secret assailants — men who had not the courage to affix their 

 names. Is it not strange that a too ready belief was at first given to the 

 slanderous epistles 1 Resting on the favor I have enjoyed of the Govern- 

 ment; on the confidence reposed in me, by you and the Proprietaries; 

 by the esteem of my fei low-men in Lancaster, I silently remain passive. 

 Yours aflTectionately, 



Edward Shippen. 



Extract from a letter of the Rev. Mr. Elder to Governor Penn, De- 

 cember '27, 1763. 



The storm which had been so long gathering, has at length exploded. 

 Had Government removed the Indians from Conestoga, which had fre- 

 quently been urged, without success, this painful catastrophe might have 

 been avoided. What could I do with men heated to madness ? All that 

 I could do, was done ; I expostulated ; but life and reason were set at 

 defiance. And yet the men, in private life, are virtuous and respectable ; 

 not cruel, but mild and merciful. 



The time will arrive when each palliating circumstance will be calmly 

 weighed. This deed, magnified into the blackest of crimes, shall be con- 

 sidered one of those youthful ebullitions of wrath caused by momentary 

 excitement, to which human infirmity is subjected. 



Extract from " The Paxtoniade," a poem in imitation of Hudibras, 

 published at Philadelphia, 1764, by a partisan of the Quaker faction: — 



O'Hara mounted on his Steed, 

 (Descendant of that self-same Ass, 

 That bore his Grandsire Hudibras,) 

 And from that same exalted Station, 

 Pronounced an hortory Oration : 

 For he was cunning as a Fox, 

 Had read o'er Calvin and Dan Nox ; 

 A man of most profound Discerning, 



Well versed in P n Learning. 



So after hemming thrice to clear 



His Throat, and banish thoughts of fear. 



And of the mob obtaining Silence, 



He thus went on — " Dear Sirs, a while since 



