APPENDIX E. 359 



nor need we be surprised at Indians Insolence and Villainy, when it is 

 considered, and which can be proved from the public Records of a certain 

 Count J, that some Time before Conrad Weiser died, some Indians belong- 

 ing to the Great Island or Wyalousing, assured him that Israel Pember- 

 ton, (an ancient Leader of that Faction which, for so long a Time, have 

 found Means to enslave the Province to Indians,) together with others of 

 tlie Friends, had given them a Rod to scourge the white People that were 

 settled on the purchased Lands ; for that Onas had cheated them out of 

 a great Deal of Land, or had not given near sufficient Price for what he 

 had bought ; and that the Traders ought also to be scourged, for that 

 they defrauded the Indians, by selling Goods to them at too dear a Rate ; 

 and that this Relation is Matter 'of Fact, can easily be proved in the 

 County of Berks. — Such is our unhappy Situation, under the Villainy, 

 Infatuation and Influence of a certain Faction, that have got the political 

 Reins in their Hands, and tamely tyrannize over the other good Subjects 

 of the Province ! — And can it be thought strange, that a Scene of such 

 Treatment as this, and the now adding, in this critical Juncture, to all 

 our former Distresses, that disagreeable Burden of supporting, in the very 

 Heart of the Province, at so great an Expence, between One and Two 

 hundred Indians, to the great Disquietude of the Majority of the good 

 Inhabitants of this Province, should awaken the Resentment of a People 

 grossly abused, unrighteously burdened, and made Dupes and Slaves to 

 Indians ? — And must not all well-disposed People entertain a charitable 

 Sentiment of those who, at their oAvn great Expence and Trouble, have 

 attempted, or shall attempt, rescuing a laboring Land from a Weight so 

 oppressive, unreasonable, and unjust 1 — It is this we design, it is this 

 we are resolved to prosecute, though it is with gi-eat Reluctance we are 

 obliged to adopt a Measure not so agreeable as could be desired, and to 

 which Extremity alone compels. — God save the King. 



