hardly have dared thus to address the fallen Jews, after the destruction of their city by Titus. The imperious command was obeyed; part removed to Shamokin, and a still larger portion to Wyoming, who established themselves on the east side of the river, occupying the flats below the present town of Wilkesbarre.

New and interesting personages now appear upon the scene. Zeal for the propagation of the Gospel caused the foot of the first white man to tread the soil of Wyoming. Long the residence of kings, it may not be improper to relate, that the first white visiter, should have been of noble birth,—and of kingly extraction. So admirably is the event related by Mr. Chapman, that I copy his original and well authenticated narrative entire.

"Such was the origin of the Indian town of Wyoming. Soon after the arrival of the Delawares, and during the same season, the (summer of the year 1742,) a distinguished foreigner, Count Zinzendorf, of Saxony, arrived in the valley on a religious mission to the Indians. This nobleman is believed to have been the first white person that ever visited Wyoming. He was the revivor of the ancient church of the United Brethren, and had given protection in his dominions to the persecuted Protestants who had emigrated from Moravia, thence taking the name of Moravians, and who, two years before had made their first settlement in Pennsylvania.

"Upon his arrival in America, Count Zinzendorf manifested a great anxiety to have the Gospel preached to the Indians; and although he had heard much of the ferocity of the Shawanese, formed a resolution to visit them.-With this view he repaired to Tulpehocken, the residence of Conrad Weiser, a celebrated interpreter and Indian agent for the Government, whom he wished to engage in the cause, and to accompany him to the Shawanese town. Weiser was too much occupied in business to go immediately to Wyoming, but he furnished the Count with letters to a Missionary of the name of Mack, and the latter, accompanied by his wife, who could speak the Indian language, proceeded immediately with Zinzendorf on the projected mission.

"The Shawanese appeared to be alarmed on the arrival of the strangers, who pitched their tents on the banks of the river a little below the town, and a Council of the chiefs having assembled, the declared purpose of Zinzendorf was deliberately considered. To these unlettered children of the wilderness it appeared altogether improbable that a stranger should have braved the dangers of a boisterous ocean three thousand miles broad, for the sole purpose of

instructing them in the means of obtaining happiness after death, and that too without requiring any compensation for his trouble and expense; and as they had observed the anxiety of the white people to purchase land of the Indians, they naturally concluded that the real object of Zinzendorf was either to procure from them the lands at Wyoming for his own use, to search for hidden treasures, or to examine the country with a view to future conquest. It was accordingly resolved to assassinate him, and to do it privately, lest the knowledge of the transaction should produce a war with the English, who were settling the country below the mountains.

"Zinzendorf was alone in his tent, seated upon a bundle of dry weeds which composed his bed, and engaged in writing, when the assassins approached to execute their bloody commission. It was night, and the cool air of September had rendered a small fire necessary to his comfort and convenience. A curtain, formed of a blanket, and hung upon pins, was the only guard to the entrance of

his tent.

"The heat of his fire had aroused a large rattlesnake which lay in the weeds, not far from it; and the reptile to enjoy it more effectually crawled slowly into the tent, and passed over one of his legs undiscovered. Without, all was still and quiet, except the gentle murmur of the river at the rapids about a mile below. At this moment the Indians softly approached the door of his tent, and slightly removing the curtain, contemplated the venerable man, too deeply engaged in the subject of his thoughts to notice either their approach, or the snake which lay extended before him. At a sight like this, even the heart of the savage shrunk from the idea of committing so horrid an act, and quitting the spot, they hastily returned to the town, and informed their companions that the Great Spirit protected the white man, for they had found him with no door but a blanket, and had seen a large rattlesnake crawl over his legs without attempting to injure him. This circumstance, together with the arrival soon afterwards of Conrad Weiser, procured Zinzendorf the friendship and confidence of the Indians, and probably contributed essentially towards inducing many of them, at a subsequent period, to embrace the Christian Religion. The Count having spent twenty days at Wyoming, returned to Bethlehem, a town then building by his christian brethren on the north bank of the Lehigh, about eleven miles from its junction with the Delaware."

Count Zinzendorf, learning the supremacy claimed and exercised by the Six Nations, applied to their chiefs for leave to visit the

Indian villages, and instruct the natives in the doctrines of repentance and salvation, through the merits of the Saviour.

He could not have been received and replied to with more politeness, at the most refined court in Europe. The answer is so beautiful in its simple, yet dignified eloquence, that I take pleasure in transcribing it.

"Brother, you have made a long journey over the seas to preach the Gospel to the white people and to the Indians. You did not know that we were here, and we knew nothing of you. This proceeds from above. Come therefore to us, both you and your brethren. We bid you welcome among us. Take this fathom of wampum, in confirmation of the truth of our words.."

The Moravians who had established themselves at Bethlehem, were indefatigable in their labour of love to Christianize the Indians. Neither the heats of summer, winter's storms, the dangers of the entangled forests, nor the toil in ascending precipitous mountains, could check the holy enthusiasm of the missionaries. Eight or ten made themselves masters of the Indian languages, with their kindred dialects, that they might be understood. Two bishops, Cammerhoff and De Watteville traversed the wilderness on foot, visited the various tribes and settlements along the Susquehanna, preaching the Saviour and exhorting to repentance; the former sacrificing his life, by exposure, to the behests of duty. So that in Wyoming, the earliest European accents that were heard, were accents of peace and love, breathing of grace, and redolent of mercy. It is now about an hundred years since these pious missionaries penetrated to this, then remote valley, and for thirty years afterwards, uncultivated wilder

ness.

There is pleasure in casting the eye of imagination back, and beholding the learned bishops, with the zeal and eloquence of Paul, at Athens, (How different the scene!) proclaiming to the children of Nature, "The unknown God, whom ye ignorantly worship. Him, declare I unto you."

A large number of converts, whom persecution had compelled to fly from their homes, removed from the eastern borders of New York to be near the Brethren, who had purchased land, and made an establishment for them, above the water-gap of the Lehigh, at the confluence of the Mahony and that stream, opposite to Fort Allen. The name given the place, was Gnadenhutten, or Huts of Mercy. Except the erection of the fort, this was the first settlement in a north direction, in Pennsylvania, above the Kittatinny Ridge or Blue

Mountain. The village was eighteen miles above Bethlehem, and on the warrior's path, about forty miles, southerly, through a most inhospitable wilderness, from Wyoming. For several years the settlement flourished. Agriculture opened to them the stores of plenty; while moral culture and religious hope imparted cheerfulness; and the whole seemed to be pervaded by the "sunshine of the breast." In 1752, the Huts of Mercy numbered five hundred souls. In the midst of these pleasing scenes of present peace and anticipated enjoyment, they were visited by a deputation of Nanticokes and other Indians, from Wyoming, consisting of more than a hundred persons, ostensibly on a mission of peace, with whom a solemn league of mutual friendship was entered into, after which their numerous, perhaps not very welcome visiters, returned to the valley. Doubtless, they were spies, sent by the Iroquois; their large number, with exquisite art, concealing the purpose of the journey. The way traveled, being the warrior's path, thirty or forty young savages, before ignorant of the route, might unsuspectedly attend such an embassy, apparently of friendship, and on the passage receive the instruction of the old braves, who must have led the party, preparatory to being sent themselves, on expeditions against the inhabitants below.

In consequence of this mission, (and probable message) about eighty of the Christian Indians, under Tedeuscung, a Delaware chief, already of some note, and destined to appear more conspicuously on another page, accompanied the party back to the Susquehanna, and established their lodges at Wyoming.

This step was taken as a preparatory measure to the old French war. The sequel is full of stirring and painful events.

LETTER IV.

Old French War-Influence upon Wyoming-Paxinos-Second Mission to Moravian Christian Indians, at Gnadenhutten-Evasive answer-Terrible threat-Paxinos' Queen converted-Massacre at Fort Augusta-Melancholy massacre of Moravians-Cunning and success of Iroquois at Fort Allen-Kings Tadame and Tedeuscung-Grand Council at Easton-Murder of the Governor's messenger, Charles Thompson-Second Congress at Easton-Peace agreed upon.

WITH the movements of France and England, the two chief maritime nations of Europe, the destinies of this distant and secluded valley were, for many years, so intimately blended, that a rapid exposition of their policy, on this continent, may not be regarded as foreign to the purpose of these pages. In 1603, France granted a charter for a large portion of North America. Two years afterward, charters of extensive limits were granted by England. At a very early period, France commenced settlements upon the northeastern coast, on the waters of the St. Lawrence, and on the Mississippi; while England began to plant colonies on the whole line of the Atlantic shore, from the St. Croix to St. Mary's. Sharp collisions arose. Each endeavoured to enlist the Indians in their respective quarrels. To the keen encounter of opposing interests, was added the exciting rivalry of towering ambition, national pride, hereditary hate, and personal revenge. Increasing knowledge of the dormant wealth, and extensive resources of America, gave tenfold impulse to all their passions.

While the centre was rapidly peopling under the auspices of England, France, actuated by a policy vast as her ambition, pursued with a vigour worthy of her power, was endeavouring to limit and overawe the British settlements by a cordon of forts, from Quebec, along the St. Lawrence, at Montreal, Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, Du Quesne, on the Ohio, and onward, embracing the most defensible points to the delta of the Mississippi. The design was grand-the execution