xxiv REVOLT OF THE INDIANS 307 



allies the first army " that ever reached our peaceful 

 city of Brotherly Love." " A cloud of darkness came 

 with them," wrote Catherine Payton. Braddock was 

 defeated and mortally wounded before Fort Duquesne 

 (now Pittsburg) on July 9, 1755. Consternation fol- 

 lowed, and wrath broke out against the Quakers ; yet 

 at the next annual election their large majority was 

 maintained. 



'Urgent complaints were sent to the home government, 

 and the society in England incurred no little odium and 

 unpopularity on account of the doings of the Assembly. 

 The Proprietaries too were incensed at its action relative 

 to their own secret instructions to the governor and to 

 other privileges. The Friends in London had already 

 attended in May before the Board of Trade to mediate 

 on behalf of their fellows. Fothergill brought to the 

 Meeting for Sufferings in July a letter from Philadelphia 

 Quarterly Meeting. This and one he had received from 

 Pemberton explained the true causes of the troubles. 

 Richard How received copies from him in order to show 

 them to Lord Shelburne, the Lord President of the Council. 

 Fothergill was Lady Juliana Penn's medical adviser, 

 and was able to bring the matter favourably before her 

 husband. T. Jackson, John Hanbury and Fothergill 

 were also appointed by the Meeting to wait upon Thomas 

 Penn. It was a satisfactory conference, and the Meeting 

 was enabled to send a letter through Fothergill (October 4) 

 to Friends in Philadelphia, giving news of an amicable 

 adjustment : the Proprietaries had no desire, they said, 

 to abridge the rights and privileges granted under the 

 charter, and would consider and redress any just cause 

 of complaint. The letter goes on to enjoin esteem and 

 respect towards the Proprietaries, however they were 

 mistaken or misled. 



But the home government could take no light view of 

 the situation in the colonies. It was a day of dark clouds. 

 The Seven Years' War on the continent of Europe was i 

 involving England in no little sacrifice and disaster, and 

 France had begun that victorious campaign in which the 



