This Report has been referred by the King's command to the consideration of such of His Servants, upon whose advice His Majesty relies in matters of the greatest importance ; and I am thereupon to signify to you, that if you have not been able, in consequence of my letter of the 4^^ of January last N^ 8, to induce the Six Nations and their Allies to except out of the cession to His Majesty the lands lying South of the Ohio below the Kanawa, upon the ground and argument suggested in that letter, or if you shall be of opinion that insisting upon such an alteration will have the effect to excite Jealousy and Discontent ; in that case His Majesty, rather than risk the defeating the important object of establishing a final Boundary Line, will upon your Report of this matter, give the necessary directions for the confirmation of it as agreed upon at Fort StanM^is : It is not however His Majesty's
SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON. 939
intention, that the settlements of His Subjects should be carried beyond the Boundary of Virginia, as proposed to be fixed near the Kanawa River.
As to the Grant ojf Land made to the Indian Traders and to M"" Croghan, it is His Majesty's pleasure that you should acquaint the Indians, that His Majesty does not think fit at present to confirm those Grants, reserving that matter for further consideration, when those persons shall make application to His Majesty thereupon and when the nature, extent, and situation of the Grants themselves, and the foundation on which they have been solicited shall be further explained.