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An Address to the Rev. Dr. Alison - 33

before the Provincial Commissioners, and at their Board it was agreed that the latter, some of them being Members of Assembly, should lay the Matter before the House, with their Opinion thereon, that it was "absolutely necessary that these Indians should be removed into the interior Parts of the Province,—where their Behaviour might be more closely observed."—Upon which the House resolved, "that the Expence of their Removal and Support while it should be necessary, be defrayed by the Government." And it is well known to the Governor and the Board of Commissioners, that the Quakers never interfered in the Matter, nor indeed had they the least Connection with these Indians. This, Reverend Sirs, is the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, relative to the Transaction you impute to Quakers.—It was a meer Act of Government to prevent the Evacuation of the Settlements adjoining to Nain and Weketank, and indeed of the whole County of Northampton. How then could you charge this Fact to the Quakers without Blushing? You might with equal Justice and Reason impute the Murders at Conestogoe and Lancaster, or the late Death of the Emperor of Muscovy, to them.

BUT since you are so violent in censuring the Measures taken by the Government, permit me to ask you, What Method would your Wisdom, Prudence and Humanity have dictated to you, had you had the Power in your Hands? The bringing of them down to Philadelphia it seems you censure as highly criminal, and therefore no doubt but this would be your last Resolution: Would you have driven them into the Woods, and obliged them to seek Protection from the Enemy, and of Consequence to unite with them in their Barbarities against us? You certainly would not have done this: Common Prudence, nay common Sense forbid it.—A Measure of this Kind which would strip them of the Necessaries they had laid up for the Winter Season, must have justly enraged them and rendered them our most dangerous and inveterate Foes.

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