Letter from Governour Penn to Governour Trumbull

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The said Letter being taken into consideration, the Governor, with the advice of the Council, wrote a letter in answer thereto, in the words following, viz:

Philadelphia, 11th April, 1774.

SIR: I have your letter of 24th March last by the post . My sentiments of exercising the jurisdiction of this Government, in every part thereof, and the impropriety of extending your jurisdiction within our bounds, before you have laid your claim before his Majesty, are so plainly expressed in the several letters I have wrote you, and in those which passed between your Commissioners and me, that they need not be repeated; and I cannot but think it strange that you should persist in attempting to support a possession gained from the people of this Province in a course of absolute hostility, before your Government had any claim to lands within the bounds of this Province. It appears to me that your taking the latitudes at or beyond Delaware, within the bounds of this Province, is premature, and that no act of your Assembly can authorize such a proceeding. I therefore cannot concur in that step, but, on the contrary, must protest against it, and desire it may not be done, lest it should produce effects which may be injurious to the public peace.

I am, with due regard, your most obedient and humble servant,
JOHN PENN.

To the Honorable Jonathan Trumbull, Esquire, Governor and Commander-in-chief of the Colony of Connecticut, Lebanon.