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Apology of the Paxton Volunteers - 10

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a Time of War, if another State or Part of a State be allowed to live among them, free & independent, claiming & exercising within themselves all the Powers of Government, the Powers of making War & Peace, harbouring & corresponding with the Enemies of the State wherein they live, receiving their Spies, giving them Intelligence, & furnishing them with the means of Support & Implements of War. No such Privilege has been granted to any Commonwealth in any civilized Nation in the World. But this had been allowed to Indians amongst us, & we justly complain of it as the Source of many of our Calamities; as they had all proved perfidious.

Knowing that the Little Commonwealth of Indians at Conestoga that pretended to be our Friends, had done us much Mischief, & were in Reality our most dangerous Enemies, a Number of Persons living amongst us, who had seen their Houses in Flames, their Parents & Relatives butchered in the most inhuman Manner determined to root out this Nest of perfidious Enemies; & accordingly cut them off. This Action has occasion much warm Debates & some have maliciously represented it as an unparalleled inhuman Massacre of an innocent & harmless People. But let us consider the Matter impartially, & we hope to give such Evidence, as we think, will make it appear unreasonable, to conclude so severely against us.

We hope that it will not be disputed that if the Conestogoe Indians were in Confederacy with our Open Enemies, gave them constant Intelligence of what we were doing, were frequently amongst our Enemies, were trusted and depended upon by the French as their Friends, had gone to War against us & had actually murdered some of us, they were as much Enemies as any other Tribe of Indians on the Continent. We trust that it will also be readily granted, that their living amongst us put it in their Power to be a more dreadful Enemy than any other Tribe that consisted of no more Persons & that their aggravated Perfidy justly exposed them to an aggravated Destruction. And we hope that if we are able to bring as good Evidence of their being Enemies as the Nature of the Thing can admit our Adversaries will be satisfied with it. We have been long fully convinced & upon the plainest Evidence, that they were Enemies; but for the Satisfaction of others we have since collected many Oaths sworn at different Times, before different Magistrates & by Persons of undoubted Probity & Veracity, to prove this point, which we shall lay before the impartial World. And any person that will take the Trouble may collect as many more of the Same Kind as he pleases.---

Contents of this annotation:

  1. Apology of the Paxton Volunteers - 10