This mockery of a bill, drawn by Benjamin Franklin while the savages
were raging in the colony and the smoke of a hundred villages was
ascending to the skies, was received with indignation by the people,
and this rose to such a height that the Assembly must have yielded
unconditionally, had not a circumstance occurred which gave them a
decent pretext for retreat.
The governor informed them that he had just received a letter from the
proprietors, as Penn's heirs were called, giving to the province five
thousand pounds to aid in its defence, on condition that the money
should be accepted as a free gift, and not as their proportion of any
tax that was or might be laid by the Assembly.
Thereupon, the Assembly struck out the clause taxing the proprietory
estates, and the governor signed the bill. A small force was then
raised, which enabled the Indians to be to some extent kept in check;
but there was no safety for the unhappy settlers in the west of
Pennsylvania during the next three years, while the French from
Montreal were hounding on their savage allies, by gifts and rewards, to
deeds of massacre and bloodshed.
The northern colonies had shown a better spirit. Massachusetts, which
had always been the foremost of the northern colonies in resisting
French and Indian aggression, had at once taken the lead in preparation
for war.
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