the command of Capt. Swift, on the evening of the 29th September, supported by a strong corps in reserve, pushed up their frame towards a house occupied by Patterson. A battle ensued; the house was abandoned and set on fire, and Messrs. Henderson and Reed, in attempting to escape to the fort were shot down. Capt. Swift received a wound in the throat, which was supposed to be mortal.* The garrison was now closely invested, the Yankees occupying two houses from which the opposing party had been driven. Two of the same name belonged to the investing company, designated as little William and big William Smith. The latter, in attempting to obtain water from the river, was shot through the body. He reached the house and said, "they have killed me," and almost instantly expired. Capt. Franklin was wounded in the wrist. Keen as were the Yankee sharp shooters, the Pennymites showed themselves in no respect their inferiors. A small opening, or eye-hole had been made in the house to watch the garrison, the distance being about fifty rods. Nathan Stevens in taking an observation from this aperture, received a rifle ball directly in his eye, and fell dead on the floor. The loss of Franklin and Swift wounded, with two or three others, whose names we have not been able to ascertain; Stevens and Smith, having been killed, the Yankees were compelled to abandon the siege. Col. Armstrong returned a day or two preceding, or immediately subsequent, to Philadelphia. An incident happened about this time well deserving to be recorded, as it exhibited a high degree of promptitude, courage and selfpossession, marking the hero. A Pennymite named Ogden, out reconnoitering, had been taken prisoner by William Slocum and John Satterlee, pinioned tightly and placed in a canoe, to be conveyed to the west side of the river. "Be careful," said Satterlee, “our canoe is very unsteady, and I can't swim." "Nor I neither," replied Slocum, "so you need n't fear." "Ah ha!" cried Ogden, "but I can-good bye gentlemen," and instantly upset the boat, throwing himself coolly upon his back, his arms tied behind helping to buoy him up; thus he floated, and swam with the ease of a duck till he reached the shore, and escaped to tell the tale to his companions in the The following day, two companions, to remove Swift to a place where he could be safely and carefully nursed, took him in a canoe, and began to ascend the river, when one of them observed, 'There is a deer on yonder shore.' The ruling passion "strong in death” was exhibited by Swift, who suffering, and as all believed dying, begged they would turn him over and place the rifle in his hands. The old hunter still true to the mark, dropped the deer in his tracks and fainted. Though slowly, and long first, Swift recovered. fort. Slocum seized the rope of the canoe, and escaped. Satterlee sunk to the dark shades of death. He was a fine young fellow, of noble port, a generous spirit, and unquestionable bravery. Whether this gallant young Pennymite, who so daringly escaped, was a relative of Capt. Amos Ogden, we cannot ascertain.* On arriving in the city, Col. Armstrong learned to his surprise, if not dismay, that his proceedings at Wyoming, and those previously of justice Patterson, had aroused a spirit of opposition and resentment, which now began to display itself in official acts, which could not fail to produce an important influence on the course of policy pursued. By the first constitution of Pennsylvania, which was established immediately after the declaration of independence, the Government of the Commonwealth was vested in a House of Representatives, and a President, and Council. Another Council was also established, called the "Council of Censors," who were chosen by the people, and directed to meet every seventh year; "and whose duty it shall be," says the constitution, " to inquire whether the constitution has been preserved inviolate in every part, and whether the Legislative and Executive branches of the Government have performed their duty as guardians of the people, or assumed to themselves, or exercised, other, or greater powers than they are entitled to by the constitution. They are also to inquire whether the public taxes have been justly laid, and collected in all parts of the Commonwealth; in what manner the public moneys have been disposed of, and whether the laws have been duly executed. For these purposes they shall have power to send for persons, papers, and records. They shall have authority to pass public censures, to order impeachments, and to recommend to the the Legislature the repealing such laws as appear to them to have been enacted contrary to the principles of the constitution." This Council of Censors met at Philadelphia in the summer of 1784, and having received information of the transactions at Wyoming, on the 7th of September, ordered that the President and Supreme Executive Council should furnish certain documents in relation to their proceedings in the case of the Connecticut settlers, at and near that place; and that William Bradford, Jr., and James Wilson, Esqrs., * Our admiration for their valour, leads us earnestly to wish we could trace those gallant Ogdens up into seats of honour and prosperity. They deserved it. There is still existing in New Jersey, a noble family of that name, if every manly virtue can constitute nobility. Counsel for Pennsylvania in this case, should furnish all the documents in their hands on the subject. On the 8th, Mr. Bradford surrendered the documents in his possession, in obedience to the order, and the Secretary of the Supreme Executive Council informed the Council of Censors by letter, that the documents required of them had been transmitted to the General Assembly. On the following day, the Council of Censors passed a resolution requiring the General Assembly to furnish the said documents. The Assembly proceeded immediately into the consideration of the order, and passed a resolution refusing to comply with it. In consequence of this refusal on the part of the Assembly, the Council of Censors, on the 10th of the same month, issued process against the General Assembly in the following words: "The Council of Censors in the name, and by the authority of the people of Pennsylvania, to the General Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania, Send greeting:-We demand of you that you without delay, or excuse, forthwith send into this Council of Censors, the documents and papers hereunder mentioned, now, as it is said, in your keeping; that is to say, the report of the committee appointed the 9th of December last, to inquire into the charges contained in a petition from a number of the inhabitants of Wyoming, and the papers and affidavits accompanying the same, and the letter from Zebulon Butler, and others of Wyoming, read in the Supreme Executive Council on the 28th of May 1784, and which was by them transmitted to the House. Signed by order of the Council of Censors, now sitting in the State House, in the city of Philadelphia, on this 10th day of September, Anno Domini, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four.* FREDERICK A. MUHLENBERG. President of the Council of Censors. Attest-SAMUEL BRYAN, Secretary." The list of the Council of Censors who met in the summer of 1784 will be found to contain numerous names distinguished for talents and patriotism, viz: Philadelphia city-George Bryan, Thomas Fitzsimons. Philadelphia county-Frederick A. Muhlenberg, Arthur St. Clair.} The mandamus of the Censors was disregarded by the General Assembly, and the House declined even to answer the demand; whereupon the Council proceeded to make the following important declaration, or as it may well be characterized, most solemn denunciation of the measures pursued against the Wyoming settlers: "It is the opinion of this Council, that the decision made at Trenton, early in 1783, between the State of Connecticut and this Commonwealth, concerning the territorial rights of both, was favorable to Pennsylvania. It likewise promised the happiest consequences to the Confederacy, as an example was thereby set, of two contending sovereignties adjusting their differences in a court of justice, instead of involving themselves, and perhaps their confederates, in war and bloodshed. It is much to be regretted, that this happy event was not improved on the part of this State, as it might have been. That the persons claiming lands at, and near Wyoming, occupied by the emigrants from Connecticut, now become subjects of Pennsylvania, were not left to prosecute their claims in the proper course without the intervention of the Legislature. That a body of troops was enlisted after the Indian war had ceased, and the civil government had been established, and stationed at Wyoming, for no other apparent purpose than that of promoting the interests of the claimants under the former grants of Pennsylvania.-That these troops were kept up, and continued there, without the license of Congress, in violation of the Confederation. That they were suffered, without restraint, to injure and oppress the neighboring inhabitants, during the course of the last winter. That the injuries done to these people excited the compassion and interposition of the State of Connecticut, who thereupon demanded of Congress another hearing, in order to investigate the private claims of the settlers at Wyoming, formerly inhabitants of New England, who from this instance of partiality in our own rulers, have been led to distrust the justice of the State, when in the mean time, numbers of these soldiers and other disorderly persons, in a most riotous and inhuman manner, expelled the New England settlers, before mentioned, from their habitations, and drove them towards the Delaware, through unsettled and almost impassable ways, leaving those unhappy outcasts to suffer every species of misery and distress. That this armed force, stationed as Berks county-James Renie, Baltzer Gehr. Northampton county-John Arndt, Simon Dreisbach. aforesaid at Wyoming, as far as we can see, without any public advantage in view, has cost the Commonwealth the sum of £4,460, and upwards, for the bare levying, providing, and paying of them, besides other expenditures of public moneys. That the authority for embodying these troops was given privately, and unknown to the good people of Pennsylvania, the same being directed by a mere resolve of the House of Assembly, brought in and read the first time. on Monday the 22d of September, 1783, when on motion and by special order, the same was read a second time and adopted. That the putting this resolve on the Secret Journal of the House, and concealing it from the people, after the war with the Savages had ceased, and the inhabitants of Wyoming had submitted to the Government of the State, sufficiently marks and fixes the clandestine and partial interests of the armament, no such condition having been thought necessary in the defence of the northern and western frontiers during the late war. And lastly, we regret the fatal example which this transaction has set of private persons, at least equally able with their opponents to maintain their own cause, procuring the interest of the Commonwealth in their behalf, and the aid of the public treasury. The opprobrium which, from hence, has resulted to this State, and the dissatisfaction and prospect of dissension now existing with one of our sister States, the violation of the Confederation, and the injury hereby done to such of the Pennsylvania claimants of lands at Wyoming, occupied as aforesaid, as have given no countenance to, but on the contrary, have disavowed these extravagant proceedings. In short, we lament that our Government has in this business manifested little wisdom or foresight; nor have acted as guardians of the rights of the people, committed to their care. Impressed with the multiplied evils which have sprung from the imprudent management of this business, we hold it up to public censure, to prevent, if possible, further instances of bad government, which might convulse and distract our new formed nation." Contemptuously, and totally disregarding the proceedings of the Council of Censors, the Supreme Executive Council, and the Assembly, still, it is supposed, acting under the influence of the landclaimants, and stimulated by Col. Armstrong, whose pride was now combined with those motives and passions which had at first engaged him in the enterprise, proceeded to advance that officer, as a token of approbation for extraordinary merit and honorable services, to the rank of adjutant-general of the State, and authorized him to raise a competent force, from the militia of Bucks, Berks and Northamp |