appeal to the ultima ratio regum, had taught the directors of the company that a charter for a new and distinct colonial government from the crown, was not to be expected. In this exigency, the company applied to the General Assembly of Connecticut, to have their Wyoming settlements taken under the protection of the colony until the pleasure of his majesty should be known. But the General Assembly was in no haste to extend its ægis over so broad a territory, at so great a distance from home.* They therefore advised the company in the first instance to attempt an amicable adjustment of their difficulties with the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania; offering to undertake the negotiation in their behalf. In case of a failure to obtain a just and honourable arrangement, the General Assembly next suggested a reference of the whole subject to the king in council. Meantime, while they wished the colony God speed, they advised them to govern themselves by themselves, in the best manner they could.

Pursuant to this advice, the inhabitants of the valley proceeded to elect a government of their own; and the institutions established by them were the most thoroughly democratic, probably, of any government that has ever existed elsewhere among civilized men. "They laid out townships, founded settlements, erected fortifications, levied and collected taxes, passed laws for the direction

* The territory claimed by the Susquehanna Company, extended one hundred miles north and south, and one hundred and ten miles west of the river.

of civil suits, and for the punishment of crimes and misdemeanours, established a militia, and provided for the common defence and general welfare of the colony."* The supreme legislative power was vested directly in the people, not by representation, but to be exercised by themselves, in their primary meetings and sovereign capacity. A magistracy was appointed, and all the necessary machinery for the government of towns, according to the New-England pattern, organized and put in motion. Three courts were instituted, all having civil and criminal jurisdiction; but the Court of Appeals, called the Supreme Court, to which every case might be carried, was formed, like their legislature, of the people themselves in solemn assembly convened.

Under this government the people lived very happily, and the colony advanced with signal prosperity for two years. During this time the General Assembly of Connecticut had made an honest effort to negotiate a settlement between the Company and the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, but in vain. An able commission had been sent to Philadelphia, consisting of Colonel Dyer, Doctor Johnson and J. Strong; but Governor Penn would not listen to their propositions, although they were of the most equitable description. Upon this refusal, even to acknowledge the commission, the General Assembly caused a case to be made up and transmitted to England for the ablest legal

* Chapman.

This case was

opinions that could be obtained. submitted to Edward, afterward Lord Thurlow, Alexander Wedderburn, Richard Jackson, and J. Dunning- all famous for their learning in the law, who gave a united opinion in favor of the Company. Thus fortified, the General Assembly of Connecticut took higher ground, and perceiving how greatly the colony was flourishing, in October, 1773, they passed a resolution asserting their claim to the jurisdiction of the territory, and their determination in some proper way to support the claim.* The Company now renewed their application to be taken into the Colony of Connecticut, in which request the General Assembly acquiesced, and the entire territory was erected into a chartered town, called Westmoreland, and attached to the county of Litchfield. The laws of Connecticut were extended over the settlement; representatives from Westmoreland were admitted to sit in the General Assembly;† and Zebulon Butler and Nathan Denniston were regularly commissioned justices of the peace. All necessary regulations for the due administration of the local affairs of the settlements were made; new townships were opened and entered upon by emigrants, and the colony advanced with unprecedented prosperity. Governor Penn and his Council beheld these movements with high displeasure, and sundry proclamations were issued forbidding the

people to obey the laws and authorities of Connecticut; but these paper missives were no more regarded than would have been an equal number of vermilion edicts from the Emperor of China.

Two years more of repose were enjoyed by the colonists of the Company, during which they flourished to a degree that could scarcely have been anticipated by their founders. The valley was laid out into townships five miles square, and under the hand of industry, the teeming soil soon made the valley to smile in beauty like a little paradise. The town immediately adjoining the Wyoming Fort was planted by Colonel Durkee and named WILKESBARRE, in honour of John Wilkes and Colonel Barré, as heretofore mentioned. But in the autumn of 1775, just at the moment when the Hercules of the new world was grappling with the giant power of Great Britain, the torch of civil war was again lighted by the people of Pennsylvania. Among the settlements of the Connecticut people, which had been pushed beyond the confines of the valley of Wyoming, was one upon the West Branch of the Susquehanna, uniting with the main stream at Northumberland, about sixty miles below. On the 28th of September, 1775, this plantation was attacked by a body of the Northumberland militia, who, after killing one man, and wounding several others, made prisoners of the residue of the settlers, and conducted them to Sunbury, where they were thrown into prison. At about the same time, a

number of boats, trading down the river from Wyoming, were attacked and plundered by the Pennsylvanians. These acts of course produced immediate and extreme indignation on the part of the Connecticut colonists.

But instead of seizing their arms at once, and rushing to the liberation of their imprisoned friends, they petitioned the Provincial Congress, then in session, to interpose for the adjustment of the controversy. On the 9th of November the

petition was considered by Congress, and a conciliatory resolution, with a suitable preamble, was adopted, setting forth the danger of internal hostilities in that critical conjuncture of the affairs of the colonies, and urging the governments of Pennsylvania and Connecticut to the adoption of the most speedy and effectual measures to prevent such hostilities.*

The voice of Congress, however, was unheeded, and the imprisonment of the settlers from the West Branch was rendered more rigid than before. Apprehensions were moreover excited among the people of Northumberland, that the chafed inhabitants of Wyoming might make a descent upon Sunbury, liberate their friends and fire the town. Whether these apprehensions were caused by actual threats, or by a sense of their own wrongdoing, cannot be predicated; but one of the consequences was a proposition, by a Colonel Plunkett

* Journals of the old Congress.