Class Book COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT William Penn in America ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE I'ROM THE TIME HE RECEIVED THE GRANT OF PENNSYLVANIA IN 1681, UNTIL HIS FINAL RETURN TO ENGLAND. Givinif, as far as possible, his every-day occurrences ivhile in the Province. liV ^\\ WILLIAM jf BUCK, MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, Author of " History of Bucks County," "History of Mor eland," "History 0/ Montgomery County tuithin the Schuylkill Valley," "History of Montgom- ery County," '■'Life of Chief Justice Layighorne'" " Contribzitions to the Hist'ory of Bucks County," "The Cuttelossa," "The Local Historian," " History of the Indian Walk," " Local Sketches and Legends" "Early Discovery of Coal in Pennsylvania," "Early Accounts of Petro- leu7n in the United States" etc., etc. PHILADELPHIA : PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 1888. PV' Edition limited to Three Hundred Copies. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by WILLIAM J. BUCK, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. All Rights Reserved. PREFACE. Although several biographies have appeared re- specting the Founder of Pennsylvania, the author believes that there is still room for another ; relating to that particular portion of his life which he spent in the Province : commencing with his first application for the grant until his final return to England, extend- ing through a period of more than twenty years. Within this time transpired the most important events by which he will continue to be best known. Judging by the little space given hitherto to these matters would go to show that there must have been either inattention, or a paucity of materials. Though his several biographers have written with different motives, but not one with a view of enlarging upon the details of his residence in America. During the author's long connection with the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania, he observed that no information was more sought after than that of Penn while living in his Province. The object of this work is to supply this want, and what is now offered is the result of upwards of thirty-five years diligent labor in bringing together the materials, involving considerable travel and expense. When we remember that nearly the whole of its contents relate to almost two centuries ago, we are gratified at our success in thus producing a valuable addition, not only to the life of Penn, but to the early history of Pennsylvania, derived, as it chiefly is, from original sources, and that of the most reliable kind, particularly official documents and correspond- ence, from which we have been enabled to give nu- merous extracts. Our object as far as possible was to show the every- day movements of Penn whilst among us ; this has enabled us to detect as well as to correct several errors respecting dates. With the exception of Janney, his biographers appear to have given little attention to chronology, particularly Clarkson and Dixon. At the remissness of the latter in this respect we wonder when we consider how well his work has been digested. From the extensive use made of early original manuscripts we were necessitated to take some liberties therewith. While we have in some cases made literal extracts, in others we have modernized the phraseology, or filled up the abbreviations ; but in no instance did we alter the language or endeavor to give it a construction different from the original ; our intention in this respect 5 was only to perform the part of a careful editor. This work naturally divides itself into two parts, namely : his first and second visits here. The former begins with Penn's grant and ends with his arrival in Eng- land, the next with his second return and final de- parture to the appointment of Governor Evans. To avoid too many notes or references, a list is fur- nished of the various authorities consulted in the pre- paration of this work. It will be noticed that among those published, about one-fourth are rare and little known, whilst of the manuscripts perhaps no other complete copies exist. On any disputed points, or where the author's opinion might differ, he was the more careful to furnish his authorities. Taken on the whole, Penn's character by this work is favorably sus- tained ; at the same time we did not desire to be partial, but to do him that ju.stice to which he is fairly entitled. Neither have we sought to raise him up by reviling his enemies, but to let his actions speak for themselves. We attribute most of his troubles, not so much to the opposition that he encountered, as to his own pecuniary mismanagement; this was his dire afflic- tion and if it did not follow him through his whole career, it did at least through most of it. It was his weak- ness ; — naturally generous, warm-hearted and indulgent as a parent, he could not resist the strong appeals continually made to him, and hence his em- barrassments. Among published works we have derived great aid from the Penn and Logan Correspondence, the Colonial Records and Archives, and the Memoirs and Col- lections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. From manuscript sources we have obtained considerable from the Penn Manuscripts, the Dreer Collection of Penn and Markham Manuscripts, the Penn Private Correspondence, the Claypoole Letter Book, the Har- rison Letters, the Logan Papers, and the Records and Minutes belonging to at least five Monthly Meetings of the Society of Friends, were all personally ex- amined. In the way of assistance for information fur- nished, tender grateful acknowledgements to Ferdinand J. Dreer, to whose invaluable collection of manuscripts I owe much, also to John Jordan, Jr., and the Histori- cal Society of Pennsylv^ania ; thanks are also due for favors to the several custodians of the Records men- tioned in the following list. This work we know might have been greatly extended, but our object was to be concise, while we aimed at fullness with detail. To a work of this kind we have noticed several references. Peter S. Du Ponceau, in his Address be- fore the Philosophical Society in 182 1, remarks, " No other State in this Union can boast of such an illustri- ous founder; none began their social career under auspices so honorable to humanity. Every trait of the life of that great man, every fact and anecdote of those golden times, will be sought for by our descendants with avidity, and will furnish many an interesting subject for the fancy of the novelist, and the enthusi- asm of the poet. It is, therefore, highly important, that while recent traditions and numerous authentic but perishable documents are still in our power, we should collect all those valuable materials, and embody their substance in an historical work worthy of being handed down to posterity. Although such a work will not be fruitful of great incidents, still it will ex- hibit human nature under a varied aspect ; great faults will be found associated with great virtues ; the reader more than once, while he admires the latter, be com- pelled with regret to acknowledge, as the former strikes his view, that no efforts of the human mind can ever produce absolute perfection in this sublunary world ; and upon the whole, it may with truth be asserted, that there will be found in the history of Pennsylvania, much to instruct and much to delight." William Rawle, in his address before the Historical Society in 1825, expressed the following views : "Of the founder of Pennsylvania, though the public knows much, it does not perhaps know all. There is reason to believe that many private documents are still in ex- istence, which would present to us in colors strong and true, the enlightening, vivifying and chastening power of his genius on all around him ; while the colony hung on him as their judge, their legislator, and their guide." " That such a character," remarks James Bowden, " as William Pcnn should have had many biographers cannot excite surprise. His fame may be said to be world-wide, and men of far different senti- ments to have inscribed his name on the pages of history, as one of the most illustrious of his age — an age, it should be remembered, of stirring events, and conspicuous for men of brilliant attainments." W. J. B. Jenkhitoton, Montgomery County, Pa., November, 1888. LIST OF AUTHORITIES. Correspondence between Wm. Penn and James Logan, 2 vols., Phila., 1870. Pennsylvania Archives, vol. 1. Edited by Samuel Hazard, Phila., 1852. Annals of Pennsylvania, by Samuel Hazard, Phila., 1850. Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, commonly called Colonial Records, vols. I. and H., Phila., 1852. History of Pennsylvania, by Robert Proud, 2 vols., Phila., 1797. Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, 16 vols. Phila., 1828 to 1836. Life of William Penn, by Samuel M. Janney, Phila., 2ded., 1856. Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York, Albany, vols. 111. and IV., 1854. Present State of America, by Robert Blome, London, 1687. British Empire in America, by J. Oldmi.xon, 2 vols., London, 1708 and 1 741. William Penn : An Historical Biography, by Wm. Hepworth Di.xon, Phila. ed., 1851. Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, by John F. Watson, 2 vols., Phila., 1844. History of Pennsylvania, by Thomas F. Gordon, Phila., 1829. Histoiy of Delaware County, Penna., by George Smith, Phila., 1862. Friends' Library, Phila., 1840, vol. IV., and vol. X. for 1846. History of Friends in America, by James Bowden, London, 2 vols., 1854- Travels in North America, by Robert Sutcliff, Phila., 1812. Life of William Penn, by Thomas Clarkson, 2 vols., London, 1813. Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, vols. I., II., III., and IV. Address to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, by Ed. Armstrong, in 1851, Phila., 1852. Friends' Miscellany, Phila., vol. VII. for 1835. Collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania., vol. VI., 1853, Phila. The Friend, Phila., 1829-30, vol. III. Original Settlements on the Delaware, by Benj. Ferris, Wilmington, 1846. Friends' Weekly Intelligencer, vol. II. for 1845, and vol. IV. for 1848. lO Historical Review of the Government of Pennsylvania, London, 1759. History of Bucks County, Penna., by Wm. J. Buck, Doylestown,i8ss. Contributions to the History of Bucks County in B. C. Intelligencer, by Wm. J. Buck, 1859. Life of William Penn, by George Ellis, in Sparks' Amer. Biog., vol. XXII., Boston, 1847. History of the United States, by George Bancroft, 12th ed., Boston, 1846, vols. II. and III. History of Chester, Pa., by J. Hill Martin, Phila., 1877. Plantation work, or English Plantations in America, London, 1682. Peasant Life in Germany, by A. C. Johnson, N. Y., 1858. History of Montgomery County, Penna., by Wm. J. Buck, Phila., 1877. Account of Pennsylvania, by Gabriel Thomas, London, 1698. Catalogue of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Phila., 1872. A Further Account of the Province of Pennsylvania, by Wm. Penn, Lon- don, 1685. The Penns and Peningtons, by Maria Webb, London, 1867. History of Philadelphia, by Thompson Westcott, in the the Sunday Dis- patch. Geographische Beschreibung Pennsylvania, by F. D. Pastorius, Leipzig, 1700. Geschichte von Pennsylvania, by Ebelung. William Penn, the Founder of Pennsylvania, by John Stoughton, D. D., London, 1882. History of Montgomery County, Everts and Peck, Phila., 1884, contribu- tions by Wm. J. Buck. History of the Indian Walk, by Wm. J. Buck, 1886. II MANUSCRIPTS Private Correspondence in Penn MSS., vol. I. (i.) Dreer Collection of Penn and Markham Papers. (2.) Penn-Physick Correspondence, vol. I. (3.) Letter Book of Wm. Penn, 1699 to 1703. (4.) Official Correspondence, Penn MSS., vol. I. Marriage Record of Falls Monthly Meeting, Book A. Births and Deaths of Falls Monthly Meeting. Records of Middletown Monthly Meeting. Land Records of Philadelphia. Records of Surveyor-General's Office, Harrisburg. Bucks County Court Records. Registry of Arrivals in Philadelphia, 1682. Book of Ear Marks, Bucks County Records. James Claypoole's Letter Book. Marriage Records of Phila. Monthly Meeting, Book A. Bucks County Land Records, vol. VL Marriage Records of Burlington Monthly Meeting. Records of Chester Monthly Meeting. Minutes of Middletown Monthly Meeting. Records of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Penn's Correspondence with James Harrison. Bucks County Quarterly Meeting Records. The Logan Manuscripts. Warrants and Surveys in Philadelphia County, vols. L, IL, III. and IV. 12 CONTENTS, CHAPTER. PAGE. I. — The Grant of Pennsylvania i" II. — Markham despatched to Pennsylvania 27 III. — Penn's exertions for the welfare and prosperity of his Province, 44 IV. — Penn's departure and arrival in America, 58 V. — The Landing at New Castle, Upland and Philadelphia, . 66 VI. — The first Assembly. — Liberty of Conscience. — Conference with Lord Baltimore, 78 VII. — Penn's Correspondence. — Evil reports concerning him, . 87 VIII. — Penn's first meeting in Council in Philadelphia. — Friends' Meetings, • 96 IX. — Another meeting with Lord Baltimore. — Purchases from the Indians 102 X. — More Indian Purchases. — Pennsbury. — Further Accounts of the Province 109 XI. — E.xertions of Penn on the boundary question. — Writes a pamphlet on the Province. — Arrival of Pastorius, . . 124 XII. — More Indian Purchases. — Additional troubles respecting the boundaries. — Visits Umbilicamense. — Selects a tract for the Manor of Springfield 134 XIII. — More of Penn's correspondence. — Presides at a trial for witchcraft, 143 XIV. — The Welsh tract. — Letters to the Duke of York and others 151 XV. — Penn's preparations for departure.- — Safe arrival in England. 163 XVI. — Penn writes and has published another account of his Prov- ince 173 XVII. — Opinions respecting the results of Penn's labors in the es- tablishment of his Colony 181 XVIII. — The Society of Friends. — Several matters about Penn and Pennsbury 194 13 CHAPTER. PAGE. XIX. — Penn reinstated in his government. — Resolves to return. — Proposes a union of the Colonies 202 XX. — Penn departs with his family to the Province. — His arrival and reception at Chester and Philadelphia 219 XXI. — Troubles respecting Pirates. — The Governor has a son born on whom he bestows the Manor of Perkasie 234 XXII. — Penn's proposals for the moral improvement of the Negroes and Indians. — Meanness in allowing him no compensa- tion. — His abilities as a writer 246 XXIII. — Penn suggests the night watch in Philadelphia. — Attends Haverford Meeting. — Makes additional improvements at Pennsbury, 258 XX I\". — Too much the practice to cheat the Governor. — Pacifies a troublesome Indian. — Visits New York with the Gov- ernors of Virginia and New Jersey, 268 XXV. — Important meeting at New Castle. — Intercession and self- sacrifice for a condemned vessel. — Able reply to Colonel Quarry, 277 XXVI. — The Proprietary officials given to land speculations. — Courts of Inquiry established. — Pamphlets printed and circu- lated in Germany to promote emigration, 292 XXVII. — A beautiful letter sent to the Countess of Bellomont on the death of her husband. — Additional treaty with the Sus- quehanna Indians. — A second charge of witchcraft, . 306 XXVIII. — Penn's journey to the Susquehanna. — Visits Maryland, Merion and Gwynedd. — Retires to Pennsbury. . . . 317 XXIX. — Penn's advice sought in treating with the Indians. — Attends Falls Meeting. — Has a long account pending with Thomas Fairman 324 XXX. — Efforts made in Parliament to deprive Penn of his Colony. — Political knavery no new thing. — Writes numerous letters in defence of himself and government 333 XXXI. — Remarkable industry of the Governor. — Illness of Phineas Pembertoh. — Interesting address to the Assembly. — Notice of Joseph Growdon 339 XXXII. — The Assembly not harmonious. — A delegation of Indians come to bid the Governor farewell. — Marriage in the olden time, with some account of John Sotchcr. — The German purchase 349 XXXIII. — Philadelphia incorporated a city. — The Swedish purchase at Morlatton. — The Proprietarj' makes additional pro- H CHAPTER. PAGE. vision for his children. — The new Charter of Privileges. — Makes his will at New Castle. — Arrives safely in Eng- land 363 XXXIV. — Penn's troubles in England. — How Evans became Deput\ Governor. — Account of Letitia Penn. — The Proprie- tary no financier. — Affairs at Pennsbury 386 XXXV. — Divers opinions respecting the results of Penn's labors and policy, particularly in relation to his last visit to the Colony 405 WILLIAM PENN IN AMERICA WILLIAM PENN IN AMERICA. CHAPTER I. THE GRANT OF PENNSVLVANIA. The Government having become indebted to V^ice- Admiral Sir William Penn, a distinguished officer in the British Navy, to the amount of about i^i6,ooo, including interest; his son, in consequence of the long delay, became desirous of winding up the affairs of his estate, and to have the same settled. Either unable or unwilling to pay the same, the latter conceived the plan of asking in lieu thereof the grant of a tract of land in America, for the purpose of more particularly establishing a colony. A conveyance was made August 1 6th (6th mo.). i68d,* to Edward Billinge, William Penn, G. Laurie, N. Lucas, John P^ldridge, and Edward Warner, of all the territory of the province of West New Jersey. It was this, no doubt, that helped to attract the attention of the subsecjuent great founder to this portion of the country, as he first became interested in the same in 1675. * The year then commenced with March as the first month, and the old style will be retained throughout this work. 1 8 \VM. PEXX IX AMERICA. It niList have been about the date of the aforesaid grant that he first prepared his proposals in a petition to the then reigning monarch, Charles II. His Majesty referred the same to the consideration of the Committee of the Lords of Trade and Plantations, accompanied by a draft for a grant of a tract of land for settling a colony and plantation in America, which he desires may pass to William Penn for the government of that colony. On November 19th, the Secretary was authorized to hand to the Attorney-General for his observations the powers proposed, and to report whether there was any- thing to object. The latter, on the 21st, presented his views at some length as to the nature, requirements and conditions of the patent. The Committee met again P'ebruary 24th, reading over carefully the grant as prepared, and then made a favorable report to the King, in which they say : " May it please Your Majesty. In Obedience to Your Majesty's Orders signifyed unto us by the PLarl of Sunderland on the ist of June last. We have pre- pared the Draught of a Charter constituting William Penn, Esq., Absolute Proprietary of a Tract of Land in America therein mentioned, which we humbly present to Your Majesty for Your Royal Approbation, leaving also the Naming of the Province unto Your Majesty. Which is most humbly submitted. 2^t]i Fcbry., iSSo-i^ THE CRANT OF PENNSYLVANIA. I9 We possess sufficient evidence in the aforesaid, that the King bestowed on the grant the name of Pennsyl- vania. From the beginning it required a vexatious attendance on the part of Penn on the Committee, the Chief Justice, Attorney-General, and agents of Lord Baltimore, before he could reach the consummation of his wishes. At length, after many delays and much solicitude, he had the gratification of learning that his patent was j)repared, and to which the King affixed his signature, March 4th, 1681. This venerable docu- ment may be seen in the office of the Secretary of State at Harrisburg, written in the old P^nglish style, every line underscored with red ink, and the borders gorgeously ornamented with heraldic devices, and at the beginning a likeness of his Majesty. Penn must have received this information with great satisfaction, if we are to judge his feelings as expressed in a letter written the next day to his friend, Robert Turner, a merchant of Dublin, very probably just after he had received his charter. " 5th of 1st mo., 1 68 1. " Dear Friend : — My true love in the Lord salutes thee and dear friends that love the Lord's precious truth in those parts. Thine I have, and for my business here, know that after many waitings, watchings, solici- tudes, and disputes in council, this day my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of hjigland, with large powers and privileges, by the name of 20 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. Pennsylvania; a name the King would give it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, being, as this, a pretty hilly country, but Penn being Welsh for a head, as Penman moire in Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in Ikickinghamshire, the highest land in PLngland, called this Pennsylvania, which is the Iiig/i. or head zvoodlaiids ; for I proposed, when the Secretary, a Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvauia, and they added Pe)in to it ; and though I much opposed it, and went to the King to have it struck out and altered, he said it was past, and would take it upon him ; nor could twenty guineas move the under-secretary to vary the name ; for I feared lest it should be looked on as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the King, as it truly was to my father, whom he often mentions with praise. Thou mayest communi- cate my grant to P^riends, and expect shortly my proposals. "It is a clear and just thing and my God that hath given it me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation. I shall have a tender care to the government, that it be laid at first. No more now, but dear love in the truth. Thy true friend, Wm. Penn." By said charter, William Penn is made absolute pro- prietary, saving to the King and his successors the sovereignty of the country, and due allegiance being THE GRANT OF PENNSVT.VANIA. 2 I rcfiuircd from all. The grant was not " /// capita," but in " free and common socage by fealty only," yielding and paying to the King tivo beaver skins aiunially, to be delivered at the castle of Windsor, and also the fifth part of all gold and silver ore which shall be found within said limits. The proprietary, with the assent and approbation of the freemen of the colony, was em- powered to make all necessary laws not inconsistent with the laws of England. The laws of the province were to be transmitted to the privy council for appro- bation. Appeals from the judgment of the colonial courts might, in certain cases, be taken to the King. The extent of this grant is stated to comprise " all that tract or parte of land in America, with all the is- lands therein conteyned, as the same is bounded on the East by Delaware River, from twelve miles distance, Northwarde of New Castle Towne, unto the three and fortieth degree of Northern latitude if the said River doth extend soe farre Northwards; But if the said River shall not extend soc farre Northwards ; then by the said River soe farre as it doth extend, and from the head of the said River the Eastern bounds are to be determined by a meridian line, to bee drawn from the head of the said River unto the said three and fortieth degree, the said lands to extend Westwards five de- grees in longitude, to be computed from the said Eastern Bounds, and the said lands to be bounded on the North by the beginning of the three and fortieth 22 \VM. PENN IN AMERICA. degree of Northern latitude, and on the South by a chxle drawn at tweK^e miles distance from New Castle, Northwards and Westwards unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of Northern latitude ; and then by a straight line Westwards to the limitt of Longitude above menconed." The fruits and commodities of the province might be imported into any of the ports of England, and not into any other port whatsoever, but within a year after the landing of the same in England they might be re- shipped to any other country, paying such duties as British subjects are bound to pay. Penn and his heirs were to enjoy such customs on imports and exports in the province as he or they and the people there, when assembled, may reasonably assess, saving to the King and his successors such impositions and customs as are, or by act of Parliament shall be appointed. But the King was to levy no taxes upon the inhabitants of the province without the~consent of the proprietary or as- sembly, or by act of Parliament. Penn was invested with all the powers of a " captain-general," also " to levy muster, and train all sorts of men " to make war by sea and land against barbarous nations, pirates and robbers. For the greater security of his province, the Duke of York also executed a deed for Pennsylvania to William Penn for any pretensions or claims that might be set up at any time in the future, either by himself, his heirs, successors, or others. It was dated August 20th, 1682, THE (IRANT OF PENXSVLVAXIA. 23 and in which he says, " Now, therefore, this indenture witnesseth, that his said royal hi<^hness, out of a special regard to the memory and many faithful and eminent services heretofore performed by the said Sir W^illiam Penn to his said majesty and royal highness, and for the better encouraging him, the said William Penn, to proceed in culti\'ating and impro\ing the said tract of ground and islands therein and thereunto belonging, and reducing the savage and barbarous natives thereof to civility, and for the goodwill which his said royal highness hath and beareth to the said William Penn, and for other good causes and considerations hath re- mised, released, and forever quit claim." This was deemed necessary on account of its jurisdiction having been for some time previously under the governors of New York. Penn deemed it also prudent but it was not ob- tained without some negotiation from the Duke, two additional conveyances or deeds of feoffment from him on the 24th of the same month. By one of which he conveyed the town of New Castle and the country lying within a circle of twelve miles about it, and by the other all the land on Delaware Bay south of said circle to Cape Henlopen. These now comprise the State of Delaware, and were to be held " in free and common socage." For the first, he was to pay to the Duke the yearly rent of five shillings, and for the sec- ond ''one rose at the feast of St. Michael the Archangel 24 WM. PENX IN AMERICA. yearly, if demanded," together with the moiety of all the rents and profits thereof However, the Duke did not obtain for himself a regular conveyance for the same from his brother, the King, till March 22d, 1683. The leading object in this was to secure these terri- tories from the claim entered upon by Lord Baltimore, and \\hich led to so long and expensive a controversy afterwards. This section had been successively held by the Swedes and Dutch, and latterly by the govern- ment of New York under the Duke. Th ' Ro\'al Charter, in its beginning, thus alludes to Penn's petition for the grant : "Whereas our trusty and well-beloved subject, William Penn, P^squire, son and heir of Sir William Penn, out of a commendable de- sire to enlarge our British Empire, and promote such useful commodities as may be of benefit to us and our dominions, as also to reduce the savage natives by just and gentle manners to the love of civil society and Christian religion, hath humbly besought leave of us, to transport an ample colony into a certain country, hereinafter described, in the parts of America, not yet cultivated and planted, and hath likewise so humbly besought our royal Majesty to give, grant, and confirm all the said country, with certain privileges and juris- dictions requisite for the good government and safety of the said country and colony, to him, and his heirs forever." W'e observe in the aforesaid a positive mention, if not Tllli (iKANT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 25 a i)ronii.se faithfully made, by the Proprietary, that "out of a commendable desire," among other matters, "to reduce the savage natives by just and gentle manners to the love of civil society and Christian religion," as de- serving some consideration hereafter. As respects the original proposals, John Stoughton [JVut. Penn, the Founder, p. 165) gives us the following information : " The petition existed, but in a mutilated state, in 1735, when it was adduced in evidence during a trial in ref- erence to the Penn possessions." No copy was dis- covered among the recently-acquired Penn manuscripts in possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and its disappearance is therefore to be regretted. ■ It was the fortune of William Penn to have warm friends in Charles II. and his brother James, Duke of York. The former knighted his father for his distin- guished services, and always held his memory in last- ing esteem, as we also know by his naming this noble commonwealth after him when he had been consigned to the tomb upwards of ten years. P"or the Stuarts few good words are found, and we hesitate for these actions in the life of Penn, whether justice has been done them. In speaking of this family, Bancroft says that "North America acquired its British colonies dur- ing their rule, and towi.s, rivers, headlands, and even states, bear their names. The pacific disposition of James I. promoted the settlement of Virginia ; a timely neglect fostered New England ; the favoritism 26 \VM. FENN IN AMERICA. of Charles I. opened the way for religious liberty in Maryland; Rhode Island long cherished the charter which its importunity won from Charles II. ; the hon- est friendship of James II. favored the grants which gave liberties to Pennsylvania, and extended them to Delaware; the crimes of the dynasty banished to our countrv men of learning, virtue, and fortitude." CHAPTER II. MARKHAM DESPATCHED TO PENNSYLVANIA. A MONTH had nearly elapsed from the sii^ning of the charter, when the King issued a declaration of the fact in the following address to the inhabitants of Pennsyh^ania, which, it would appear, was to prepare them for the coming of the Proprietary, and the re- ception of his government: — " Charles R. — Whereas his majesty, in consideration of the great merit and faithful services of Sir William Penn, deceased, and for divers other good causes him thereunto moving, hath been graciously pleased, by letters-patent bearing date the 4th day of March last past, to give and grant unto William Penn, Esq., son and heir of the said Sir William Penn, all that tract," [etc., as described in the charter.] " His majesty doth, therefore, hereby publish and declare his royal will and pleasure, that all persons settled or inhabiting within the limits of said province, do yield all due obedience to the said William Pcnn_ his heirs and assigns, as absolute proprietaries and governors thereof, as also to the deputies, agents, or 28 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. lieutenants, lawfulh' commissioned by him or tliem, according to the powers and authorities granted by the said letters-patent, wherewith his majesty expects and requires a ready compliance from all persons whom it may concern, as they tender his majestie's displeasure. Given at Court, etc., 2d April, thirty -third )'ear of reign, By his majesty's command. Conway." About this time Penn had decided to appoint his cousin, William Markham, of London, his Deputy- Governor, to proceed in a few days to the new prov- ince and assume the government, and also be prepared for his coming as soon as he could make all the re- quisite arrangements in his business affairs to take charge of those duties. In the selection of his kins- man for so important a post he no doubt made an ex- cellent choice, and it is remarkable that in the several biographies of Penn, nothing appears relative to so conspicuous a character. He was the son of the Ad- miral's sister, and we infer from the Penn manuscripts that his father's name was also William, and that he had died some time previous. Some authorities state that he was a captain, and others a colonel in the British Army; we have also noticed in some documents his being called "gentleman," and he is mentioned in the Admiral's will, which bears date January 20th, 1669, as his "nephew," at which time he must have been quite young. MAKKIIAM DKSrATCIIED TO TENNSVLVANM A. 29 Venn also prepared an address a few days after, which we give as copied verbatim from the original : " For the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania. To be read by my Deputy," and is indorsed, " The Proj)rietor's Letter to ye Inhabitants of Pennsilvania." " My Friends: — I wish you all happiness here & hereafter. Thes are to lett you know that it liath pleased god in his providence to cast you within my Lott & care. It is a business yt though I never undertook before, yet god has given me an under- standing of my Duty & an honest minde to doe it upright!}'. I hope you will not be troubled at ye chainge & the King's choice, for you are now fixt, at ye mercy of no Governour yt comes to make his for- tune great, you shall be govern'd by laws of yr own making, & live a free and if you will a Sober & in- dustrious People. I shall not usurp the right of any, or oppress his person. God has furnisht me with a Better resolution, & has given me his grace to keep it. In short wt ever sober & free men can reasonably de- sire for ye security & improvement of their own happi- ness, I shall heartily comply with, & in five months resolve if it pleas god to sec you. In ye mean time, pray submitt to ye commands of my Deputy, so larr as they are consistant with ye law, & pay him thos dues (yt formerly you paid to ye order of ye Govern- ours of New York) for my use & benefitt, & so I 30 \VM. PENN IN AMERICA. beseech god to divert you in ye way of righteousness & therein prosper you & yr children after you, I am your true Frd. Wm. Penn. London, Sth of yc month caird Aprill, idSiT (2.*) The necessary arrangements having been made with Markham for his speedy departure, the Proprietary proceeded forthwith to give him such instructions as the short interval would allow since he came in possession of the charter. For a copy of his appoint- ment we are indebted to Mr. Hazard, who in his Annals says he unexpectedly found the original in the Secretary of State's office at Boston, in a volume marked "Colonial." "The commission given by William Penn, governor and proprietor of the province of Pennsylvania, to his cousin, William Markham, to be deputy governor for him, of the aforesaid province. At Westminster, this 10th of 2d mo. 1 68 1. " Whereas the king hath graciously, upon divers good considerations, to settle upon me and my heirs forever, by his letters-patent, under the great seal of ICngland, dated the 4th of March last, a tract of land in America, by the name of Pennsylvania, lying and bounded as in the said letters-patent is particularly expressed, with * These figures have reference to our manuscript authorities mentioned at the beginning. MAKKIIAM DESrATCIlEI) TO PENNSYLVANIA. 3 I ample powers and authorities for the well-governing;" of the same, to be exercised by me or my deputy. Out of the special regard that I have to the care and fidelity of my cousin William Markh^n, I do hereby appoint him my deputy, and fully authorize him in my stead and for my behoof, and for the benefit of the said province, to act and perform what may be fully needful to the })eace and safety thereof, till I myself shall arrive, or he shall receive further orders; that is to say, he has hereby power. To call a council," etc. Is also directed to read a letter and the King's declaration to the in- habitants, settle boundaries with neighbors, erect courts, appoint officers, call on the inhabitants to suppress tumults, and generally do all but calling an assembly to make laws. Witnesses to the same are Henry West and John West. Hazard appears to express some surprise that noth- ing is therein mentioned in relation to the Indians, but this will be found in another paper to Markham, dated the 1 8th of 8th month following, of which he could have had no knowledge. Markham at this time has-been represented as being scarcely of age, but we question this, for he was a married man, and, like Penn in his first voyage, thought it prudent to leave his partner behind till he had at least got comfortably fixed in the thinly-settled coun- try whither he was going, l^^rancis Richardson ac- companied him, but the name of the vessel he em- 32 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. barked on is not known, which would indicate that there could have been at most but few passengers on board. He arrived at New York June 15th, with all the necessary papers aifd instructions from the King, the Duke, the Proprietary, his kinsman, as well as of others, so as to facilitate and open the way for the mission on which he had been sent. Before he left New York, he received from the Lieu- tenant-Governor there an order dated June 21st, ad- dressed " To the justices of the peace, magistrates, and other officers within the bounds and limits mentioned now called Pennsylvania," and which had hitherto been under his jurisdiction, be now surrendered. It is very probable that Markham proceeded overland, en- tering the newly-acquired territory at the Falls, now op- posite Trenton. Near the beginning of October, he was at Passyunk, now near the south-western portion of the built-up part of the city of Philadelphia. In evidence from an original document we copy the following : " Whereas, the selling of Strong Lickers was pro- hibited in Pensilvania, and not att Newcastell and ther beeing Rom and making themselves more debeiched then before (in spite of this prohibition). Therefore we, whouse Name are heare under written doe desire that the prohibition may be taken off and Rome and Strong Lickers may be sould (in the fore said Prov- ince) as formerly, untill it be prohibited in Newcastell and in that Governmt of Deleware. MAKKIIAM DKSI'ATCIIKI) TO PENNSVIAANI A. T, T, Pesienck in Peiisilvania, Stli ()ct(.)br, i6et me desire you to be kind to them and the people, and receive these presents and tokens which I have sent to you, as a testimony of my good will to you, and my resolution to live justly, peaceably and friendly with you. I am your loving friend, WiiJJAM Penx." Markham had not left England three months before Penn appointed three Commissioners, who were to proceed to Pennsylvania, and with whom they were to act in settling the colony. The original Instructions to the aforesaid are now in possession of the Historical Society, who have lately had it framed. It was found amongst the Hamilton papers at the Woodlands. The last two lines and signature are in the handwriting of the Proprietary. As they are of some length, I will a\'ail myself only of that portion that relates to the Indians. They are dated "30th of 7 ber, 168 1," and addressed " To my Trusty and loving Friends, William Crispin, John Bezar and Nathaniel Allen, my Commissioners for the settling of the present Colony this year transported into ye said Province." " Be tender of offending the Indians, and harken by honest Spyes, if you can hear yt anybody inveigles ye MARK II AM DESPATCHED TO PENNSYLVANIA. 39 Indians not to sell, or to stand off, and raise the valine npon yon. You cannot want those yt will inform you, but to sofften them to mee and the people, let them know yt you are come to sit down Lovingly among them. Let my Letter and Conditions with my Pur- chasers about just dealing with them be read in their Tongue, that they may see wee have their good in our eye, equall with our own Interest, and after reading my Letter and ye said Conditions, then present their Kings with what I send them, and make a Friendshipp with them according to those Conditions, wh carefully observe, and get them to comply with you ; be Grave they love not to be smiled on. From time to time in my Name and for my use buy Land of them, where any justly pretend, for they will sell one another's, if you be not CarefuU, that such as buy and come after these Adventurers may have Land ready, but by no means sell any Land till I come, allow no old Patents, they have forfeited them by not planting according to the Law of the place and it cost mee too dear to allow such old Storyes, rather than fail offer them the Patent Charge, and where Survey'd the Survey money, but this is understood only of unplanted places only." By two deeds, dated July 15th and August ist, 1682, Markham purchased for Penn a considerable tract of land from the Indians, situated on the west side of the Delaware river, for some distance above and be- low the Falls. This business, it appears, was concluded 40 \\M. PENN IN AMERICA. at the liou.se of Capt. Lasse Cock. The first was granted by twelve " Indyane Sachamakers," as they are therein called. In the other, mention is made of "ye land called Soepassincks, and ye island of ye same name." Not long after, this constituted Pennsbury Manor, comprising 6558 acres, and on which Penn had his mansion erected, and where he dwelt for a consider- able time while in this country. Both these purchases lay wholly within the limits of Bucks County, which was not established till in the following year. These deeds may be seen in the first volume of the Pennsyl- vania Archives. Capt. Thomas Holme, a resident of Waterford, Ire- land, was commissioned by Penn Surveyor-General of Pennsylvania, April 1 8th, 1682. He was to survey the whole of the province, for which purpose he reposed "special confidence" in his "integrity and ability." He embarked on the ship Amity, which left the Downs on the 23d, for America. He brought with him four children, John Claypoole, an assistant, and Silas Crispin, afterwards his son-in-law. Penn confided to Capt. Holme another letter to the Indians, which he read to them through an interpreter. A fac-simile of the original is framed at the Historical Society, pre- sented by the late Benjamin Ferris, of Wilmington, in 1842. The following is copied from the same: " The great God, who is the power and wisdom that made you and me, incline your hearts to righteousness, MARKHAM DESPATCH F-:n TO PENNSVrA'ANIA. 4 I love, and peace. This I send to assure you of my love, and to desire your love to my friends, and when the ijreat God brings me among you, I intend to order all things in such a manner that we may all live in love and peace one with another, which I hope the great God will incline both me and you to do. I seek nothing but the honour of His name, and that we, who are His workmanship, may do that which is well pleasing to Him. The man which delivers this unto you is my special friend, sober, wise, and loving; you may believe him. I have already taken care that none of my people wrong you, by good laws I have pro- vided for that purpose; nor will I ever allow any of my people to sell rum, to make your people drunk. If any thing should be out of order, expect, when I come, it shall be mended, and I will bring you some things of our country that are useful and pleasing to you. So I rest in the love of our God that made us. I am your loving friend, William Penn. England, 21st of Second mouth, 1682. " I read this to the Indians by an interpreter, the Sixth month, 1682. — Thomas Holme." It has been supposed that this was done at Shacka- maxon, and a late discovery of a bill of charges made by Thomas Fairman against William Penn, for 1682, states, " To lodging Capt. Holme, his two sons and 42 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. two daughters, with their and his other friends' accom- modations in the Proprietor's service, ^50." This clearly estabUshes the fact at least that he resided for a time there^ He has also a bill of £],, for horse hire for him and Markham and accompanying them to " Piahe Wickon," most probably as a guide. The Friends, we know by the Abington Records, held a meeting for worship at Fairman's house as early as Fourth month of this year. We thus find it a place of note several months before Penn's arrival. Before we close this chapter, it may be worth while to state a kw additional matters relative to this early period of the colony. In a letter sent from Fngland, under date of 30th of 9th month, 1 681, the writer mentions that " Ships come pretty often from New York, New Jersey, or Maryland, by one of which ways I believe, thou maycst send almost every month in the summer." This shows his opinion that communication between the two countries was now becoming more and more frequent. The Swedes at this time had erected three houses of worship ; one at Upland or Chester, one at Wicacoe, and one at Tinecum. The Friends held meetings at Upland, Shackamaxon, and at the Falls of Delaware. Ellis, in his Life of Penn, estimates the population of the Dutch, Swedes, and English residing within the patent on the arrival of Markham, at about three thousand. No mean number for the commencement MAKKHAM DESFATCHED TO AMERICA. 43 of a colony. Dixon compliments his Deputy-Gover- nor as "an excellent choice. Bold, resolute, devoted to the proprietor," and that " he set about his work with equal zeal and discretion." 44 \VM. PENN IN AMERICA. CHAPTER III. PENN's exertions for the welfare and PROSI'ERITY OF HIS PROVINCE. As soon as he had received the grant of Pennsyl- vania, Penn set himself earnestly at work to carry out his plans and to promote the interests of the colony, which he was fully aware stood iu need of fostering hands. Amongst the means adopted was to secure all the information he possibly could relating to the newly- acquired territory, from which he prepared a description, and had it published in a folio pamphlet of ten pages. We give its title followed by several extracts : " Some Account of the Province of Pennsilvania in America ; lately granted under the Great Seal of England to William Penn, &c. Together with Privi- leges and Powers necessary to the well-governing thereof Made publick for the Information of such as are or may be disposed to Transport themselves or servants into those Parts. London : Printed and sold by Benjamin Clark Bookseller in George-Yard, Lom- bard Street, 1681. " Since (by the good providence of God) a country in America is fallen to my lot, I thought it not less PENN S EXERTIONS I'-OK HIS I'KOVINCE. 45 my duty than my honest interest to give some pubUck notice of it to the world ; that those of our own, or otlier nations, that are inchned to transport- themselves or families beyond the seas, may find another country added to their choice, that if they shall happen to like the places, conditions and constitutions (so far as the present infancy of things uill allow us any prospect) they may, if they please, fix with me in the province hereafter described. But before I come to treat of ni)' particular concernment, I shall take leave to say some- thing of the benefit of plantations or colonies in general, to obviate a common objection. Colonies then are the seeds of nations begun and nourished by the care of wise and populous countries ; as conceiv- ing them best for the increase of humane stock, and beneficial for commerce. " Of old time the nobility and gentry spent their estates in the country, and that kept the people ih it ; and their servants married and sate at easie rents under their masters' fa\-our, which peopled the place ; now the great men (too much loving the town, and resort- ing to London) draw many people thither to attend them, who either don't marry; or if they do, they pine away their small gains in some petty shop; foi' their are so many, they prey upon one another. The country being thus neglected, and no due balance kept between trade and husbandry, city and country, the poor countryman takes douljle toil, and cannot (for 46 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. want of hands) dress and manure his lands to the ad- vantage it formerly yielded him, yet must he pay the old rents, which occasions servants, and such children as go not to trades, to continue single, at least all their youthful time ; which also obstructs the increase of our people. " The decay of some of our country manufacturers (where no provision is made to supply the people with a new way of living) causes the more industrious to go abroad to seek their bread in other countries, and gives the lazy an occasion to loiter and beg or do worse, by which means the land swarms with beggars ; formerly it 'twas rare to find any asking alms but the maimed, or blind, or very aged ; now thousands of both sexes run up and down, both city and country, that are sound and youthful, and able to work, with false pretences and certificates ; nor is there any care taken to emjjloy or deter such vagrants, which weakens the country, as to people and labour." He gives therein a number of cogent reasons, very ingeniously expressed, showing how beneficial emigra- tion would be to the mother country, to the colony, but above all to the emigrant. Treats in this new and inviting field of the great advantages conferred and en- couragements offered, also of the many evils in old settled countries that prevail and arise from luxury, effeminacy and fashion or custom. Among the in- ducements held forth was the easy terms on which the PENN S EXERTIONS FOR HIS PROVINCE. 4/ lands should be sold. Forty shillings sterling for one hundred acres, and one shilling per annum forever as quitrent. " To conclude," he says, " I desire all my dear country-folks, who may be inclined to go into those parts, to consider seriously the premises, as well as the inconveniency as future ease and plenty ; that so none may move rashly, or from a fickle, but from a solid mind; having, above all things, an eye to the pro\i- dence of God, in the disposing of themselves ; and I would further advise all such, at least, to have the per- mission, if not the good liking, of their near relations ; for that is both natural, and a duty incumbent upon all. And by this will natural affections be preserved, and a friendly and profitable correspondence between them; in all which I beseech Almighty God to direct us ; that his blessing may attend our honest endeavours ; and then the consequence of all our imdertakings will turn to the glory of his great name, and all true happiness to us, and our posterity. Amen." James Claypoole, in a letter dated the 26th of Second month, says in regard to his " judgment of Penns)'l- vania, I and many others wiser than I am, do very much approve of it, and do judge William Penn as fit a man as any in Europe, to plant a country." In re- lation to a paper that Penn hatl given him respecting the province, he remarks, " I would have some discourse 48 \VM. PENN IN AMERICA. with him, but he was in such extreme haste to be gone." Respecting emigration, " there is great en- couragement both as to the country and go\'ernor, who I beheve, will establish good laws, as near as he can." Lewis Morris, recently from Barbadoes, and an intimate friend of Penn, sent him a letter from New York, dated 3d of Fourth month, in which he says, " I was not a little rejoyced to read thine, but rest in some hopes that 'tis possible I may live to see thy Face in these Parts, especial!}- since I have spoken with S. Jennings, who told me he judged thou hadst obtained a grant for the West part of the River Dela- ware, of which myself and all our Friends were glad to hear. I doubt not but .Samuel will sufficiently encourage thee to press forward and perfect the Work of setling there as much as in thee licth. I cannot but let thee know that I am in truth glad, and in my heart sensible of the great goodness of God to us in these Parts, in casting thy Lot amongst us for surely there will be great need of thee." Again, on the 25th of the same month, he says, " I received thy second Letter, and am very glad thy Lot is fallen amongst us; and do assure thee, that I think it the finest Piece or Tract of Land in all this North part of America." He also prepared at this time " Certain Conditions, or Concessions," for "those who are adventurers and purchasers " in the said province. We take from the PENNS EXERTIONS FOR HIS PROVINCE. 49 same the following extracts, which are the more interesting as exhibiting his views in advance of his arrival : " Great roads from City to City not to contain less than forty feet in breadth shall be first laid out and de- clared to be for highways before the dividend of acres be laid out for the purchaser, and the like observa- tion to be had for the streets in the Towns and Cities, that there may be convenient roads and streets pre- served not to be encroached upon by any planter or builder, that none may build irregularly to the damage of another. In this customs governs. Notwithstand- ing there be no mention made in the several deeds made to the purchasers, yet the said William Penn, does accord and declare, that all Rivers, Rivulets, Woods and Underwoods, Waters, Watercourses, Quarries, Mines and Minerals (except mines Royal), shall be freely and fully enjoyed and wholly by the purchasers into whose lot they shall fall. " No man shall by any ways or means, in word or deed, affront or wrong an Indian, but he shall incur the same penalty of the Law, as if he had committed it against his fellow planters; and if any Indian shall abuse, in Word or Deed, any planter of this province, that he shall not be his own Judge upon the Indian, but he shall make his complaint to the Governor of the province, or his Lieutenant or Deputy, or some in- 3 50 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. ferior magistrate near liini, who shall, to the utmost ol his power, take care with the king of the said Indian, that all reasonable satisfaction be made to the said injured planter. All differences between the Planters and the natives shall also be ended by Twelve men, that is by Six planters and Six natives, that so we may live friendly together as much as in us lieth, preventing all occasions of Heart burnings and mischief The Indians shall have liberty to do all things relating to improvement of their ground, and providing susten- ance for their families, that any of the planters shall enjoy. " All shall mark their hogs, sheep and other cattle, and what are not marked within three months after it is in their possession, be it young or old, it shall be forfeited to the Governor, that so people may be com- pelled to avoid the occasions of much strife between Planters. All ship masters shall give an account of their Countries, Names, Ships, Owners, Freights and Passengers, to an Officer to be appointed for that pur- pose, which shall be registered within Two days after their arrival; and if they shall refuse so to do that then none presume to trade with them, upon forfeiture thereof; and that such masters be looked upon as hav- ing an evil intention to the province." In the preface to the Frame of Government he in- geniously observes : " I do not find a model in the world, that time, place, and some singular emergencies PENN S EXERTIONS FOR HIS PROVINCE. 5 I have not necessarily altered; nor is it easy to frame a civil government, that shall serve all places alike. I know what is said by the several admirers of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, which are the rule of one, a few, and many, and are the three common ideas of government, when men discourse on that subject. But I choose to solve the controversy with this small distinction, and it belongs to all three ; any government is free to the people under it (whatever be the frame) where the laws rule, and the people are a party to these laws, and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy and con- fusion. Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men, than men upon governments. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil to their turn." He did not in his benevolence forget his friend, the celebrated George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, for in an indenture dated 20th of Eighth month, he granted to him 1250 acres to be located in Pennsylvania. " Yielding and paying therefore and during the term unto the said William Penn and his Heirs the Rent of one Pepper Corn onely if the same be lawfully demanded, on con- 52 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. sideration of five shillings in hand paid at the time of the agreement." In this instrument he is styled " George Fox of London, gentleman," and who was now in the 58th year of his age. The Frame of Government was followed by a code of laws, forty in number, intended to be altered and amended by an Assembly in Pennsylvania, as was done the following year. In his penal code particu- larly, he was far in advance of his age ; for instance, in England, at this very time, two hundred offences were punishable with death, he reserving this punishment only for one, which was for wilful murder. There were several great defects which were not in his power to remedy. He held his province as a fief from the crown, and of which he was made a feudal sovereign, yet governed it more satisfactorily while here than any of his Deputies. According to said code, no taxes were to be collected but by law ; in the courts, all persons might appear in their own way, and plead their own cause ; all trials were to be by jury ; no oaths to be required ; all fines to be moderate ; all prisons to be workhouses ; all marriages to be published before solemnized, and to be solemnized by the parties taking one another as husband and wife, before witnesses, signing a certificate of the same, and having it recorded. The estates of felons were liable to make satisfaction to the family wronged to twice the value, and in default to such pay- PENNS EXERTIONS FOR HIS PROVINCE. 53 merit being made the felons to be bondsmen in the workhouse until the party injured be satisfied. All children of the age of twelve years to be taught some useful trade. Slanderers to be punished as enemies of the public peace. All courts to be open, and justice to be neither sold, denied or delayed. All prisons to be workhouses for felons, vagrants, and loose and idle persons ; of which one shall be in every county. All persons living in this province, who confess and acknowledge the one almighty and eternal God, to be the Creator, upholder and ruler of the world, and that hold themselves obliged in concience to live peaceably and justly in civil society, shall in no ways be molested or pre- judiced for their religious persuasion or practice in matters of faith and worship, nor shall they be com- pelled at any time to frequent or maintain any religious worship, place or ministiy whatever. These laws were agreed upon and signed by Penn, the 5th of 3d mo, (May), 1682, and clearly show how far in justice and liberality he was in advance of an age distinguished for its sanguinary laws and religious intolerance. At a meeting of the " Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania," held in London the 29th of 3d month, 1682 ; Nicholas More, a physician of London, was elected president for seven years, John Simcock, yeo- man of Pennsylvania, deputy-president, and James Claypoole, merchant of London, treasurer. A com- 54 ^^'^I- PENN IN AMERICA. mittee of twelve were also chosen, to reside in the province ; these were Thomas Brassy, Robert Turner, Thomas Holme, John Bezer, Fra. Plumstead, Griffith Jones, Antho. Elton, James Harrison, John Blumston, Isaac Martin, Walter King, and Wm. Haigue. A pamphlet was published by Benjamin Clark, " printer to the Society," this year, entitled, " The articles, settlement and offices of the Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania : agreed upon by divers merchants and others for the better improvement and government of trade in that province." The preface is dated "London 25th of ist mo. called March, 1682;" and signed by Nicholas More, James Claypoole and James Ford, who appear to be the most conspicuous pro- moters in the enterprise. The extraordinary industry so actively exhibited by Penn in various ways, for the adv^ancement of his great undertaking, was seriously interrupted by the death of his mother in June of this year, to whom he was most tenderly attached, and by whose loss he was deeply affected. She was represented as an excellent woman, and in the many trials he encountered for his religious principles, had in her a ready sympathizer and coun- sellor. Clarkson says that he was so affected by the occurrence that it brought on an illness of several days duration. This lady was Margaret, the daughter of John Jasper, a native of Rotterdam, where the latter was a merchant. Pepys describes her as "a well- 1'enn's exertions for his province. 55 looked, but short old Dutch woman, but one that hath been heretofore pretty handsome, and believe hath more wit than her husband." My friend, Dr. James J. Levick, in a late address on William Penn (see Phila. Public Ledger, Oct. 29th, 1887), remarks, "Unless we attribute it to a special Divine interposition I can ac- count for it in no other way than by the fact that the wife of Sir William Penn and the mother of his boy came of that quiet, thoughtfully earnest race who have made Holland a garden spot, and the purity of whose domestic life has been recognized for generations. Each year of my life I am the more convinced of the influence of heredity in determining the character of the offspring. Had Sir William Penn chosen his wife from the giddy creatures of the court of Charles, or even from among the P^nglish women of what was his own station in early manhood, I fear that William Penn, as the founder of a great, peaceful common- wealth, would have been unknown to history." To encourage emigration still further, Penn prepared another work on his colony, which appeared in a small octavo pamphlet of eighteen images, with the following title: " Plantation Work, the Work of this Generation. Written in True- Love To all such as are weightily in- clined to Transplant themselves and Families to any of the English Plantations in America. The Most material Doubts and Objections against it being removed, they may more cheerfully proceed to $6 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. the Glory and Renown of the God of the whole Earth, who in all Undertakings is to be looked unto, Praised and Feared for Ever. Aspice venturo ItPtetur ut India Seclo. London, Printed for Benjamin Clark in George- Yard in Lombard-street, 1682." Though published anonymously, mention is made on the first page that " W. Penn and his PViends are now engaged in these plantations." At page 3, it is stated, " England was once as rough and rugged as America, and the Inhabitants as blind and barbarous as the Indians." It contains also several letters addressed to Penn from America, of which we have gladly availed ourselves, as this work is but little known. In a Discourse by William Rawle before the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania, delivered Nov. 5th, 1825, we find the following high compliment to such labors : " The first colonists were invited in Europe by William Penn, in the most fair and candid manner, to become not conquerors but cultivators of the soil ; to conciliate not to extirpate the natives — to earn their bread by labour, not to acquire wealth by the prodig- ality of chance, the pursuit of precious metals, or by reducing the helpless natives to slavery. They felt no disappointment when they found, that woods were to be prostrated, cabins to be erected, the earth to be opened, and its slow returns received, before subsistence was obtained. They relied on the smiles of a graciou^ Providence, but they knew that His aid is only granted penn's exertions for his province. 57 to those who exert all their own faculties to help themselves." Janney, not without strong reason, in his Biography remarks : " Is not the superiority of Penn's frame of gov^ernment to be attributed to the peculiar influence of his religious associations ? He was united in fellow- ship with a people whose principles and practice were essentially democratic ; they acknowledged no dis- tinction of clergy or laity ; they placed a low estimate on hereditary rank, and they laid the foundation of their church discipline on the supremacy of that divine principle in man which leads to equality of rights and universal fraternity." These exertions of Penn were not unavailing, they have left their impress on the age, and their influences have been extending. WM. PENN IN AMERICA. CHAPTER IV. PEXN's departure and arrival in AMERICA. \_Aiigiist-Octobcr 2^, i6S2?\ A YEAR and a half had now nearly passed since Penn received his charter, and a few months less when Mark- ham started for the distant colony. All hopes for a year or two at reform in Parliament vanished, and, as a consequence, bigotry and tyranny prevailed the more, which was an additional incentive for Friends to seek an asylum in the wilds of the New World for the en- joyment of that freedom which was denied them at home, and for which they had so long been persecuted for conscience' sake. No wonder that Penn bent all his energies to the noble work on which he was en- gaged, and endeavored to execute that abroad which was found impracticable in the land of his birth. Our greatest admiration is, that he was ever permitted, under the circumstances, to carry out the realization of his darling schemes, however distant. That he achieved this in our opinion is one of his greatest triumphs, though scarcely dwelt on by his biographers. After having made the most necessary arrangements in his business affairs, with a view to his absence in PENN's departure and arrival in AMERICA. 59 America, he engaged passage in the ship ]Velcoine, of three hundred tons burthen, Robert Greenaway, master. Shortly after he prepared at his house in Worminghurst, Sussex, a beautiful, instructive and affecting letter by way of counsel, addressed to his wife and children, dated the 4th of Sixth month, 1682; and from which we take the following extracts : " My dear Wife and Children : — My love, which neither sea, nor land, nor death itself, can extinguish or lesson toward you, most endearedly visits you with eternal embraces, and will abide with you for ever; and may the God of my life watch over you and bless you, and do you good in this world and for ever! — Some things are upon my spirit to leave with you in your respective capacities, as I am to one a husband, and to the rest a father, if I should never see you more "in the world. " My dear wife ! remember thou wast the love of my youth, and much the joy of my life; the most beloved, as well as the most worthy of all my earthly comforts : and the reason of that love was more thy inw^ard than thy outward ex- cellencies, which yet are many. God knows, and thou knowest it, I can say it was a match of Providence's making ; and God's image in us both was the first thing, and the most amiable and engaging ornament in our eyes. Now I am to leave thee, and that without knowing whether I shall ever see thee more in this world, 6o WM. PENN IN AMERICA. take my counsel unto thy bosom and let it dwell with thee in my stead while thou livest. " Cast up thy income, and see what it daily amounts to : by which thou mayst be sure to have it in thy sight and power to keep within compass : and beseech thee to live low and sparingly till my debts are paid; and then enlarge as thou seest it convenient. Remem- ber thy mother's example, when thy father's public- spiritedness had worsted his estate (which is my case.) I know thou lovest plain things, and art averse to the pomps of the world — a nobility natural to thee. I write, not as doubtful, but to quicken thee, for my sake, to be more vigilant herein ; knowing that God will bless thy care, and thy poor children and thee for it. My mind is wrapt up in saying of thy fathers, ' I desire not riches, but to owe nothing ; ' and truly that is wealth, and more than enough to live is a snare attended with many sorrows. I need not bid thee to be humble, for thou art so ; nor meek and patient, for it is much of thy natural disposition but I pray thee be oft in retirement with the Lord, and guard against encroaching friendships. " I choose not they should be married to earthly, cov^etous kindred; and of cities and towns of concourse beware ; the world is apt to stick close to those who have lived and got wealth there : a country life and estate I like best for my children. Next be obedient to your dear mother, a woman whose virtue and good PENN's departure and arrival in AMERICA. 6 I name is an honour to you ; for she hath been ex- ceeded by none in her time for her plainness, integrity, industry, humanity, virtue, and good understanding — qualities not usual among women of her worldly con- dition and quality. Ruin not yourselves by kindness to others ; for that exceeds the bounds of friendship, neither will a true friend expect it." We may well judge the feelings under which the above was written, not knowing when he would return or whether he should indeed ever see them again. He embarked at Deal in company with several friends, and on the 30th he addressed from the Downs, " A salutation to all Faithful Friends in England." Over one hun- dred passengers went on board, a portion of whom were from Sussex and Yorkshire, and nearly all belong- ing to the Society of Friends. On or about Septem- ber I St the vessel weighed anchor, and under a light breeze stood out to sea, and those on deck could observe the Foreland and Dover Castle fading in the distance, the last glimpse of their native land. It may be well at this place in our labors to give a list of those who accompanied the great Founder in this his first voyage across the broad Atlantic. Many of these have numerous descendants and amongst the best citizens of our land, and to whom it will possess an especial interest. My friends, Wm. F. Corbitt and Dr. E. D. Buckman, of Philadelphia, have given the matter particular attention, and we are greatly indebted r 62 \VM. PENN IN AMERICA. to them for assistance in preparing the following list, which is believed to be nearly complete, and will be found to differ somewhat from those published, owing to a more recent and fuller investigation of au- thorities : Passengers in the "Welcome." William Penn, John Barber and wife Elizabeth ; Wm. Buckman, wife Mary, children Sarah and Mary and sister Ruth Buckman ; John Carver and wife Mary; Benjamin Chambers, Thos.Croasdale, wife Agnes and six children ; Ellen Cowgill, a widow, and five children ; John Fisher, wife Margaret and son John ; Thos. Fitzwater, wife Mary and children Thomas, George, Josiah and Mary and John Otley, his servant; Thomas Gillett, Cuthbert Hayhurst, wife and children ; Thomas Heriot, Wm. Hayhurst, John Hey, Richard Ingels, Isaac Ingram, Giles Knight, wife Mary and son Joseph ; Wm. Lushington, Hannah Mogridge, Joshua Morris, David Ogden and two sisters ; Evan Oliver, wife Jean and seven children ; John Rowland and wife Priscilla, Thos. Rowland, John Songhurst, Thomas Stackhouse and wafe Margery; George Thompson ; Richard Townsend, wife Anne and children James and Anne; William Wade; Thos. Walmsley, wife Eliza- beth and six children ; Nicholas Wain, wife and three children ; Joseph Woodroofe ; Thos. Wigglesworth and wife ; Thomas Wynne and wife Elizabeth ; Jane PENN's departure and arrival in AMERICA. 63 and Margery Maud, daughters of Elizabeth Wynne ; Bartholomew Green ; Nathaniel Harrison ; Thomas Jones ; Jean Mathews ; Dennis Rochford, wife Mary and daughters Grace and Mary; William Smith. The aforesaid list contains a mention of one hundred and two persons, besides several children, and it is possible that Penn was accompanied by one or more servants. To the Records of Middletown Monthly Meeting, Bucks County, we are chiefly indebted for the information respecting Thomas Croasdale, Cuth- bert Hayhurst, Wm. Hayhurst, Thos. Stackhouse, Thos. Walmsley, Nicholas Wain and Thomas Wiggles- worth, who, with their families, originally settled there. We may well suppose, as the goodly ship Welcome sped on her way for the distant shores of America, with what anxious hopes Friends in England must have watched her departure, for on Penn and his colony chiefly depended the expectations of their society. However bright the anticipations of those on board in the begin- ning, sickness and sorrow soon saddened their hopes. That terrible malady, the small-pox, appeared, at first in a mild form, but developed itself more and more as the voyage continued, till at last nearly all were attacked, and the deaths alarmingly increased. Richard Townsend, one of the passengers, in his Testimony, says, " I went aboard the ]\^eIcovi€ in company with my worthy friend William Penn, whose good conversation was verv advantafjeous to all the 64 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. company. His singular care was manifested in con- tributing to the necessities of many who were sick on board of small-pox, of whom as many as thirty died. After a prosperous passage of two months, having had in that time many good meetings on board, we arrived there." James Claypoole, a merchant of London, in a letter to Robert Turner, dated the 9th of i ith month, in which he says, he had heard that " thirty-one friends" had died in " William Penn's ship of the small-pox." Being upwards of one-fourth the entire number. From the crowded condition of the vessel, it was impossible to prev^ent contagion spreading, but by all possible care, attention and medicines on the part of those most able, much was done to ameliorate the condition of the sufferers, and keep the malady under. As we see, Penn nobly exerted himself in their behalf, and contributed liberally whatever was needed from his own stores. Need we wonder, under such circum- stances, that they hailed with joy their first glimpse of the low-wooded shores of the Delaware as a timely deliverance from the dread monster that was destroying them. The horrors of the passage were long retained in the recollections of the survivors and of their descend- ants. Of those that died, the following names have been ascertained : John Barber, Mary, wife of Thos. Fitzwater, and children Josiah and Mary, Thomas Heriott, Isaac Ingram, William Wade, and Grace and Mary, the daughters of Dennis Rochford. PENX'S DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL IN AMERICA. 65 Penn had a fondness for horses, and Dixon states that in this voyage he brought over three blooded mares, a fine white horse, and other inferior animals for labor. His inquiries afterwards concerning the mares were as frequent and minute as those about the gardens. After having been at sea about fifty-four days, on the 24th of October (8th mo.j, they arrived in sight of the Capes, and the vessel stood up the bay. Eager excite- ment was now on board, with impatient longings to be speedily delivered from the endurance of confined quarters and a dangerous disease. Not three days more, and they were to set their feet for the first time on the soil of the newly-acc|uired territory. 66 WM. PENX IN AMERICA. CHAPTER V. THE LANDING AT NEW CASTLE, I'l'LANI) AND IMIILA- DELPHIA. [Cr/. 2y-No7K, 1682.'] On the 27th of October, the Welcome arrived before the town of New Castle, in Delaware, and it is likely that Penn and several of his companions at once pro- ceeded on shore to visit some of the princi}:)al inhabit- ants, and make known his most important business. In the forenoon of the next day a meeting was held, when he made an address to the magistrates and others, in which he explained to them the nature of his govern- ment, his designs in coming and what he expected to accomplish. He produced the two deeds of feoffment executed to him August 24th, 1682, by James, Duke of York and Albany. One for this town of New Castle and twelve miles about it, and the other for the two lower counties, the Whorekills and St. Jones's. By virtue of the power conferred in these instruments he now demanded possession of the same from John Moll, Esq., and Ephraim Herman, constituted attorneys by his Royal Highness. According to the usual form, these gentlemen delivered unto him " the fort of said LANniXG AT NEW CASTLE AND PHILADELPHIA. 6/ town, and leaving the said William Penn in quiet and peaceable possession thereof, and also by the delivery of turf and twig, and water and soyle of the River Dela- ware." Having received written pledges of fidelity and obedience to him and his government, he at once com- missioned John Moll, Peter Aldricks, Johannes de Haes, William Simple, Arnoldus de la Grange, Justices of the Peace, and a Court of Judicature, for the town of New Castle. His Deputy Markham he appointed his at- torney to receive from Moll and Herman possession of the counties below New Castle, which was accomplished a few days afterwards. Having received the formality of quiet possession, and the requisite business des- patched, Penn without delay went on board the JJW- come, and under a favoring breeze on the afternoon of the same day the passage of near twenty miles was soon made, and he arrived at Upland, a seat of judica- ture, and the most populous place in his province. That Penn arrived here on this day we have the authority of Evan Oliver, one of the passengers, who says, in a manuscript book, "We came out of Radnor- shire in Wales, about ye beginning of ye 6 mo '82, and arrived at Upland in Pensilvania in America, ye 28 of ye 8 month, '82." — From a letter by Benjamin F'erris to Edward Armstrong, dated Twelfth month 31, 185 I, and now in the possession of the Historical Society. 68 WM. PENN IX AMERICA. On the following day (" 29th 8ber ") he dated from here two letters. The first is directed to Ephraim Herman, in which he says, " With my love, this is to desire thee to despatch awa\' a messenger, upon receipt hereof, with the enclosed letters, to several persons and places they are directed to, that so they may be at New Castle, at the court, the 2d of of 9th month, in which thou wilt oblige thy loving and true friend, " William Penn." By way of postscript adds, " Direct the enclosed letters and seal them. I will pay the messenger." He here refers to the following, addressed separately to Wm. Darval, Francis Whitewell, John Hillyard, Robert Starr and John Briggs, and \\hich, from the shortness of the time, now required despatch in their delivery : " Thes are to desire you to meet me at New Castle, next Thursday, (so called,) being ye 2d of November, where I shall hold a General Court for the settlement of the Jurisdiction of thes and your parts, and in so doing you will oblige, " Your Loving Friend, " Willi A.M Penx." And adds, " if, there be any persons of note, or others, yt desire to come, they may freely do it, and this pray signify." LAXDINf! AT NEW CASTLE AND PHILADELPHIA. 69 Upland, distinguished as the place of Penn's first landing in the province, may deserve some further no- tice. It was founded by the Swedes, and known by this name as early as 1648, and is said to have been so called after a province in Sweden on the Gulf of Both- nia, but its Indian name was Mecopanaca. Robert Wade, a Friend from England, who had suffered there for his religion, had settled here as early as 1675, when the first Meetings of Friends in the colony were held at his house, which was visited the same year by William Edmundson, as mentioned in his journal. It stood on a beautiful rising ground on the west side of Chester Creek, but near its mouth, where he had a landing place. At his house, too, the Friends "belong- ing to Marcus Hooke and Upland " held their first Monthly Meeting the loth of nth Month, 168 1 ; which is the date of their earliest records. A court had been held in the place for some time, and a prison built for offenders. No doubt, on landing, Penn proceeded to the house of Robert Wade, the hospitable Friend, and attended on this day (the 29th was First-day) one of the Meet- ings for worship which had now been held here for up- wards of seven years. As regards changing the name of Upland to Chester, the Proprietary has been rather sharply criticised. All this appears to rest on the au- thority of Clarkson, in a work, published at London in 18 1 3, that contains numerous errors. Those who have 70 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. given especial attention to the matter say that they cannot find evidence of any person by the name of Pearson being a passenger in the Welcome. This will, at least in part, explain that it was not done in " a mere whim," by " caprice," or any exhibition of undue vanity, and which it is time should, at least, be ques- tioned, if not exposed. According to notice given, Penn was present at the Court held at New Castle on November 2d, being the fifth day of the week. There was also in attendance his Deputy, Markham, the Mayor, Thomas Holme, William Haigue, John Simcock, and Thomas Brazie of the Council, and John Moll, John de Haes, William Simpell, Arnoldus de la Grange, and John Cann, Jus- tices. The proceedings were opened in the name of "Our sovereign Lord, King Charles II., etc., and by the commissioned appointment of William Penn, Esq., Proprietary and Governor of Pennsylvania." At its close, Penn stated that if any person had requests or petitions to present to him, he desired it done now, for an answer at their next meeting. The Court then ad- journed till the " First Tuesday of December next." It is related on the authority of tradition, that from Upland Penn went with several of his friends in an open boat or barge to the site of Philadelphia. If this was the case, he may have returned from the Court at New Castle by land, unless the former mode of con- veyance had been used by him the whole distance. LANDINCi AT NEW CASTLE AND PHILADELPHIA. /I Near a high, bold shore, covered with lofty pines and called Coaquannock, they entered Dock creek, a small stream, deep at its mouth, with a low, sandy beach, where they landed, and the Proprietary and his com- panions went on shore near a house then building by George Guest on Front Street, and afterwards known as the " Blue Anchor Tavern." He was so pleased with the conveniences of the spot, that he reserved it for a public landing-place in the original city charter. The time of his arrival here is thus noted in the Minutes of Abington Records: "At a Monthly Meeting the 8th of 9th month, 16.S2 : At this time Gov- ernor William Penn,and a multitude of Friends arrived here, and erected a city called Philadelphia, about half a mile from Shackamaxon, where meetings were estab- lished. Thomas Fairman at the request of the Gov- ernor, removed himself and famil)' to Tacony, where there was also a meeting appointed to be kept, and the ancient meeting of Sackamaxon removed to Philadel- phia, from which meeting, also, other meetings were appointed in the province of Pennsylvania." The cause of Fairman removing was, that Penn had now engaged his house, as we learn from his " bill of charges " for 1682, in which he says, " To leaving my house in the winter season for the Proprietor's use." He also mentions therein several journeys made with Penn, and for supplying him with horses. There is one for " taking the courses of Schuylkill above the 72 WM. PEXN IN AxMERICA. town," one " to Senew Sickon," one "to Umboleke- mensin," and another " to search out a svvanip for the Societies tannery." That he was at least nearly two years here before Penn's arrival we have certain evi- dence from the Marriage Records of Burlington Monthly Meeting, wherein it is stated that " Thomas Fairman of Shackamaxon on ye river Delaware," was married to Elizabsth Kinsey the 24th of loth month, 1680, at the house of John Woolston in Burlington. The aforesaid mention of Philadelphia in the Abing- ton Minutes is the earliest known to us of the name, and appears not to have been given to it till after the arrival of Penn. No doubt it was applied by him after that of a city in Lydia, Asia Minor, the seat of one of the seven early Christian churches. Its signi- fication, brotherly love, coincided with his principles, and therefore commended it to his judgment. The site of the city had been determined by three commissioners, appointed September 30th, 168 1 ; sent out in advance of his arrival, and acting under his in- structions. No doubt, under their direction, Thomas Holme, the surveyor-general, with the assistance of Thomas Fairman, had already made some progress in laying out the streets, and several buildings may have been erected. Afterwards, Penn made several changes in the location and names of the streets. It was con- templated in the original plan to allow no buildings to be erected near the banks of the river, and to have LANDING AT NEW CASTLK AM) HIULADELPHIA. 73 there a broad avenue along the entire length of the city. This salutary and beautiful arrangement in time was permitted to be infringed, and to this cause can be attributed the narrow and irregular streets that discom- mode its eastern front. As Penn had determined on calling a meeting of the Assembly at Upland, now called Chester, on the 4th of the following month, and to which his presence as proprietary and gov^ernor would be required, he concluded in the interval to avail himself of a trip to New York, in order "to pay his duty to the Duke of York in \'isiting his province." At what time he set out in this month and the period of his absence is not known. Our information respecting the same is chiefly derived from a letter dated at Chester, 29th of loth month, in which he says, " I have been also at New York, Long Island, East Jersey and Maryland ; in which I have had good and eminent service for the Lord." It seems to have been chiefly made on a religious account, visiting Friends' Meetings, and ex- tending the circle of his acquaintance. In this journey it is likely he proceeded by boat to Burlington, or the Falls, thence by horseback overland to New York. It may have been then that he fixed upon the site of his mansion in Pennsbury Manor, which was on his way between Burlington and the P'alls, on the west side of the river. About this time he must have held his great treaty 74 ^^'M- PENN IX AMERICA. of amity with the Indians, and to which he had refer- ence in his letter to them, dated " London, i8th of 8th month, 1 68 1," wherein he says, " I shall shortly come to you myself, at what time we may more largely and freely confer and discourse on these matters;" mean- ing the harmony and friendship that should exist be- tween them and himself and his people. As stated, he had now taken up his abode for awhile at Fairman's mansion at Shackamaxon, and it looks as if the jour- neys made by him and Fairman on horseback to " Senew Sickon" and " Umbolekemensiif," were ex- pressly for the purpose of engaging and drawing the Indians together in a general council. I have faith in the great treaty, held at Shacka- maxon under the elm, for the same reasons and au- thority that Thomas Holme had read there the Pro- prietary's letter through an interpreter in August previous.'^' The great belt of wampum, given by the Indians to Penn, is another evidence, and which by him was ever after highly regarded. This was pre- sented to the Historical Society by his great-grandson, Granville John Penn, from England, April 13th, 185 i. It is composed of eighteen strings of wampum woven together into a belt, six inches wide and twenty-six inches in length. In the centre is a representation of a man with a hat on, holding another by the hand. I would ask. What does this signify but amity or * See Penn's letter to the Indians in Chapter II. LANDING AT NEW CASTLE AND I'HILADELPHIA. 75 friendship performed in deeds of peace? Such a one it is not Hkely would have been given at any purchase of lands ; according to the Indian idea it would not have been appropriate, and such are my views. On this subject the imagination of Clarkson has been so extravagant, and a few others, that we do not wonder that faith in the great treaty has been impaired. The great elm, or Treaty Tree, stood till the year 1 8 10, when it was blown down. It was 24 feet in girth, and believed to be 280 years old, making its age at the time of the treat}' 152 years; sufficient to have been then a large tree adapted to the purpose. A scion of it is growing vigorously, and is now a fair- sized tree on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Hos- pital. (3n the site of the treaty, the Penn Society erected, several years ago, a small monument with appropriate inscriptions, in commemoration of the spot. Watson, in his Annals, relates that from the time of Penn down to the present day, tradition among the Indians, as well as the inhabitants of Philadelphia, has been uniform in designating the elm tree at Kensing- ton as the spot where the great treaty was held ; and so confidently was this believed during the Revolution that the British General Simcoe, when his troops oc- cupied the town, placed a guard around the venerated tree to protect it from injury, as, from the need they had for fuel, it otherwise might have been destroyed. The name Shackamaxon, or, in old records, Sacha- 76 WM. PENN IX AMERICA. maxing, in the Delaware language signifies the Place of Kings ; Sakema or Sachem being the name for a king or chief From the Penn Papers we learn that our distinguished countryman, Benjamin West, was em- ployed by the Penn family, in 1773, to paint the original historical picture of the treaty of 1682, and for which he received ^"420. It was piuxhased by the late Joseph Harrison, of Philadelphia, from Granville John Penn, in P'ngland, in 185 i, for £500, and may now be seen in the City Museum in the State House. The Historical Society has, framed, a handsome paint- ing of the Treaty Tree, presented by the late Cephas G. Child, made from a drawing taken on the spot by J. J. Barralet, a few years before it was blown down, also showing the regard in which it was held. Penn was at Upland on the 28th of 9th month, we know from a letter he addressed to Markham, at New Castle, and from which we also learn that the JVc/rome had just departed on her return to P>ngland. It is probable that it has never before been published, hav- ing been copied from the original. (2.) " Upland, ye 28, Qbr, 1682. Cousin Markham. Upon receipt hereof dispatch ye Messenger to ye Counties of St. Jones and Whore- kills, alias New Deal, with a letter to ye Deputies in which inclose }'e inclosed severally. Be sure it is a trusty Person that can compass ye business, which LANDING AT NEW CASTLE AND PHILADELPHL\. JJ done, dispatch hitherto immediately, leaving John Moll or Peter Aldricks deputy in the room. If Robert Greenway be not past that sd port, I would willingly bespeak with him ; having received a letter out of Maryland yt concerns Freight of a ship. Pray, let all ships clear at New Castle, ye River now being mine, in wch be civil to ye Commanders and for this year yt nothing be taken of ym. His horse yt brings ye bearer is to go with Tho. Hudson to Barbadoes if he be there, remember m\^ love to him. Thy Loving frd and kinsman, " Wm. Penn." In this month, as we learn from one of James Clay- poole's letters, Nicholas More, President of the Society of P'ree Traders, with sixty or se\'enty servants, and numerous other passengers, arrived here in only twenty- nine days from England. Another ship came about the same time, equally fortunate in having so short a trip. 78 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. CHAPTER VI. THE FIRST ASSEMBLY. LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. CON- FERENCE \YITH LORD BALTIMORE. \_Dec. and Jan., 16S2.'] From notice given the previous month by the Proprietary and Governor to the several Sheriffs to summon all freeholders in their respective districts to meet and elect from amongst themselves " persons of most note for wisdom, sobriety, and integrity, to serve as their deputies and representatives in general assem- bly, to be held at Upland, Pennsylvania, December 4th next, and then and there to consult with him for the common good of the inhabitants of that province and adjacent counties of New Castle, St. Jones, and Whore- kill, alias Deal," and of the result to make him a true return. Accordingly the several members chosen, duly met agreeably to proclamation at the time and place men- tioned. From the minutes it is ascertained that amongst those present was Christopher Taylor from Bucks, Nicholas More from Philadelphia, John Sim- cock from Chester, William Clark from Deal, Francis Whitwell from Jones's, and the names of Griffith Jones, THE FIRST ASSEMllLV. 79 Luke Watson, William Sample, William Yardley, Thomas Brassy, John Briggs, and Ralph Wethers are mentioned the first day as being on committees. Nicholas More was appointed the following day presi- dent of the body. On the fourth day of meeting, this first General As- sembly of PennsyKania distinguished itself by passing the " Great Law," so celebrated for its remarkable provision relating to liberty of conscience. The por- tions relating thereto we extract : " Whereas, the glory of Almighty God, and the good of mankind, is the reason and end of govern- ment, and therefore government, in itself, is a venerable ordinance of God ; and for as much as it is principally desired and intended by the proprietary and governor, and the freemen of the province of Pennsylvania, and territories thereunto belonging, to make and establish such laws as shall best preserve true Christians and civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and unjust practices, whereby God may have his due, Caesar his due, and the people their due from tyranny and oppression of the one side, and insolency and licentiousness of the other, so that the best and firmest foundation may be laid for the present and future hap- piness of both the governor and people of this province and territories aforesaid, and their posterity. Be it therefore enacted, by William Penn, proprietary and governor, by and with the advice and consent of the 8o WM. PENN IN AMERICA. deputies of the freemen of this province and counties aforesaid, in assembly met, and by the authority of the same, that these following; chapters and paragraps shall be the laws of Pennsylvania and the territories thereof " Almighty God being only Lord of conscience, father of lights and spirits, and the author as well as object of all divine knowledge, faith and worship, who only can enlighten the mind, and persuade and con- vince the understanding of people, in due reverence to his sovereignty over the souls of mankind. It is en- acted by the authority aforesaid, that no person now or at any time hereafter living in the province, who shall confess and acknowledge one Almighty God to be the Creator, upholder and ruler of the world, and that professeth him or herself obliged in con- science to live peaceably and justly under the civil government, shall in anN'wise be molested or prejudiced for his or her concientious persuasion or practice, nor shall he or she at any time be compelled to frequent or maintain an}- religious worship, or ministry whatever, contrary to his or her mind, but shall freely and fully enjoy his or her Christian liberty in that respect, with- out any interruption or reflection ; and if any person shall abuse or deride any other for his or her different persuasion and practice in matter of religion, such shall be looked upon as a disturber of the peace, and be punished accordingly." THE FIRST ASSEMBLY. 8 I According to the great work done, the legislature was to consist of two houses, the members of which were to be elected by the freemen of the province. The upper house to be composed of three members from each county and to be called the " Provincial Council," The lower house to be composed of six members from each county, " men of most note for their virtue, wis- dom and ability." This was Penn's idea of what should constitute the qualification essential to a legislator, and that it has not been retained in our statutes is a step backwards, to be regretted. The executive authority was vested in the governor and council, who were charged with the execution of the laws, the care of the public peace, the establish- ment and order of public schools, instituting courts of justice, &c., &c. Every freeman of the province was to be entitled to a vote, and all the laws relating to raising revenue and other purposes to be enacted by the representatives of the people. The estates of aliens were to descend to their legal representatives like those of citizens, and all the settlers had the liberty to fish, fowl and hunt, without restriction on their own lands, and on all not enclosed. The Proprietary as chief lord of the fee or as governor reserved no especial privi- leges. These briefly enumerated rights with the liberty of conscience allowed was a great step in advance over the existing laws of the parent country. Among the acts passed, was the following given 6 82 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. literally, requiring the year to commence with March as the first month : " And be it enacted by the Author- ity aforesaid that ye day of ye week and ye months of ye year, Shall be called as in Scripture, and not by Heathen names, (as are vulgarly used,) as ye first, Second and Third dales of ye week, and first. Second and Third of ye year, beginning with ye day called Sun- day and ye month called March." An Act of Union was also passed for annexing and uniting the counties of New Castle, Jones's, and Whorekill, alias Deal, to the province of Pennsylvania and including the naturalization of all foreigners resid- ing within the aforesaid counties and province. This was probably brought about in justice to the Swedes, Finns and Dutch, who, a few days before, had presented a petition to Penn requesting that he would be pleased to make them as free by the laws as any others, and that also their lands may be entailed on them and their heirs for ever. The aforesaid was signed by the Gov- ernor as done at " Chester alias Upland " on the 7th of lOth month 1682. This is the earliest mention found in any document of the place being called Chester. Clarkson states that the change was made at the time of arrival, forty days previously. Penn was now to make good what he had promised to " the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania ; " in a letter to be read to them by his Deputy Markham, dated " Lon- don 8th of ye month call'd ApriU, 1681 ; " only thirty- four days after he had received his grant. " You shall CONFERENCE WITH LORD BALTIMORE. 83 be governed by the laws of your own making, and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious people. I shall not usurp the right of any, or oppress his per- son. God has furnished me with a better resolution, and has given me the grace to keep it. In short, whatever sober and free men, can reasonably desire for the security and improvement of their own happiness, I shall heartily comply with." The Assembly being over, with his usual activity, Penn set out on the i ith for Maryland to meet Lord Baltimore for the purpose of entering into a negotia- tion respecting the boundaries between the two prov- inces. For this purpose he had sent two messengers, soon after his arrival, preparatory to a conference with the latter. They met at the hospitable mansion of Col. Thomas Taylor near West River in Annarun- del county on the 19th, the time agreed upon. Penn was accompanied by the Council and Lord Bal- timore, by a considerable retinue of the principal per- sons in his province. The illustrious visitors had a spirited debate over the matters in dispute, which con- tinued, however, with courtesy and kindness for three days without arriving at any satisfactory conclusion. Owing to the inclemency of the season, the business was deferred with an understanding to meet again in the following spring. In a letter to the Lords of Plantations, Penn, says his lordship " took occasion by his civilities to show him the greatness of his power." It is probable that he crossed the Bay on his return. 84 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. for he attended a religious meeting at the Choptank on the Eastern shore, and one or two others in that vi- cinity. About this time the province had been divided into three counties, Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester, and the territories into New Castle, Jones and Whorekill alias Deal. On the 25th Jones was changed to Kent and Deal to Sussex, names they continue to bear, and which is rather unusual in so long an interval, all three retaining the same boundaries. Penn also directed that Cape Henlopen be called Cape James, after his kind friend the Duke of York; which was afterwards prevented from going into effect by the ac- cession of William III, prince of Orange. It would appear after Penn's return from Maryland, he continued at Chester, where he dated a letter to a friend on the 29th, in which he says. — " I bless the Lord I am very well, and much satisfied with my place and portion ; yet busy having much to do to please all, and yet to have an eye to those that are not here to please themselves." He also mentions of hav- ing " had good and eminent service for the Lord" in his late visit to Maryland and elsewhere. Of twenty- three ships that arrived in his province none miscar- ried, and only two or three of which had the small- pox on board. Several had made the passage in twenty-eight days, and few longer than six weeks. Lord Culpepper sent him a friendly letter on the 23d from Green Spring, Virginia, in which he says, " I con- CONFERENCE WITH LORD BALTIMORE. 85 gratulate your arrival into your new dominion, where I hope things will answer your expectations, and that you may have all success and prosperity therein, are the wishes of your affectionate humble servant." About this time Penn wrote a letter which has neither address or date, probably to the Earl of Clar- endon or Sunderland, as " My noble friend " is at the beginning. It has been published in the Memoirs (vol. IV, p. 177-8) of the Historical Society, from which we take the following extract: " I thank God I came well in six weeks time, find the land good, the air sweet and serene, the provision divers and excellent in its kind — beef, mutton, veal, pork, all sorts of admirable fowl, good venison, bread, butter, beer and cider, not inferior to England, and of these things great plenty and cheap. There seems to me no want, but of industrious and ingenious people, to render these parts at least equal to the best reputed places of Europe. I shall have that regard to the honour and advantage of the Crown, as well for private profit in the guidance and improvement of this Plantation, that I hope by God's assistance in seven years, to be able to come into the scale against planta- tions of forty years standing. God Almighty recom- pense to thee thy many kindnesses to me and mine." This shows that he entertained a high opinion of the country, and full confidence in the prosperity of his province. James Claypoole, in a letter dated London, 9th of 86 \VM. PENN IN AMERICA. I ith month, 1682, and addressed to his friend, Robert Turner, of DubHn, thus alludes to the new colony: " As for any news from Pensilvania we have of late none but good, there had been twenty-one ships ar- rived last summer in Delaware, and the country is very well liked for pleasantness by the people. Wm. Penn was well and things was like to be settled to con- tent and was received with a great deal of love and respect and had held a Court in Pensilvania and was gone- to hold another at New Castle, and there also the people readily subjected to him and there was like to be a good understanding and a fair settlement of the bounds between Baltimore and him." Again, in another letter of the i6th, addressed to his brother, Edward Claypoole, he hopefully mentions that "here have come letters from Wm. Penn above a month since that he was well in health and was settling the coun- try and they had begun to build a city which they call Philadelphia, and there had been that summer twenty- one sail ships arrived there with passengers." This confirms the fact that Philadelphia was named here and so called at least as early as the beginning of the previous month, making it about three weeks later than the Abincrton Minutes. penn's correspondence. 87 CHAPTER VII. penn's correspondence. EVIL REPORTS CONCERN- IN(; HIM. \_Ft'briiarv, 16S2.'] With his usual activity and industry, when the weather was too rigorous to be abroad, Penn engaged himself in an extensive correspondence relating to the affairs of the province and the interests ot which he was so desirous of promoting. The most troublesome of all w'as the famous boundary dispute with Lord Baltimore. In the latter he had no mean opponent, one, perhaps, equally as devoted and zealous for his cause. This bone of contention, unfortunately, con- tinued down nearly to the Revolution, and the tedious litigation involved in it cost the parties a great amount. From his letters it is quite probable that previous to March loth, Penn had remained most of his time at Ches- ter. It was still much the largest place in the province and where the greatest conveniences abounded. Philadel- phia, the future metropolis, and now one of the great cities of the world, had only sprung into being within a few months, and must still be wanting in many of the comforts that are to be found in longer established com- munities. 05 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. Under date of Chester, 5th of 12th month, 1682, we find no less than three letters written by Penn, all of considerable length and of more than ordinary interest. The want of space compels us reluctantly to make ex- tracts. " I was very glad," he writes to Lord Culpepper, " to hear of thy arrival, not less that there was no need of it. Pray stay, and let us be the better for thy coming. There is more room for parts with less envy, as well as more need of them : and to be happy in solitude, is to live of a man's own, and to be less a debtor to the contributions of others. I am mightily taken with this part of the world : here is a great deal of nature, which is to be preferred to base art, and methinks that simplicity with enough, is gold to lacker, compared to European cunning. I like it so well, that a plentiful estate, and a great acquaintance on the other side have no charms to remove ; my family being once fixed with me, and if no other thing occur, I am like to be an adopted American. " Our province thrives with people, our next increase will be the fruit of their labour. Time, the maturer of things below will give thi best account of this coun- try. Our heads are dull, what fineness transplantation will give, I know not; but our hearts are good and our hands are strong. I hear thou intendest a progress into Maryland this summer. If this place deserve a share of it, all that I can command shall bid thee wel- come. I am, thou knowest an unceremonious man ; penn's correspondence. 89 but I profess myself a man of Christian decency, and besides, a relation by my wife, whose great grand- mother, was thy great-aunt." Thomas, the second Lord Culpepper, was one of the proprietors of Virginia, and had recently arrived there as governor of that colony, and this letter was sent in reply to one of December 23d last. To Lord Hyde : " My Noble Friend, I humbly take this opportunity by a gentleman of Virginia, Colonel Hill, to pay my sincere respects, beseeching God to remember and retaliate to thee and thine the many favours I am indebted to thee. I thank God I am very well and the Province thrives. I hope the Crown will sensibly receive honour and credit, and profit by it. But humanely speaking, it will much depend upon the benign influence of thy power and goodness ; and there I humbly leave it, as thence in a great measure I originally fetched it. " In my last per a Maryland conveyance, I sent a letter with one to the Duke. The draught of the bounds is in my agent's hands, I most humbly pray thy favour in its despatch. The planters must resort to those two counties. The quitrent is a penny per acre, formerly little more than a farthing per acre. I have ordered two manors for the Duke, of ten thousand acres a piece and intend two more. Their value be- sides the quitrent, will be great in a few years. " Pray let Pennsylvania furnish the King, the Duke and thyself, with beavers and otters for hats and muffs. 90 \!FM. PENN IN AMERICA. I have sent some of each accordingly. 'Tis the heart not the gift that gives acceptance." Lord Hyde was the second son of the Earl of Clarendon, and held high offices under Charles, James and Queen Anne. He was esteemed an honorable man and regarded as a sincere friend to Penn. Among the manuscripts of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, is to be found a copy of an original letter of six compact pages, written by Penn at " Chester ye 5th, 12 mo. 1682;" and addressed to Jasper Yates, who had unfavorably reported him. The Gov- ernor here makes a vigorous defence and thrusts at him a most withering rebuke. A few lines of this letter are given in a Life of Penn with the remark that they were " addressed to a friend who had unduly re- flected on him." An evident attempt to suppress the name. A biographer, like an artist, should not neglect the shadows in finishing his picture. " The power," remarks Penn, " I have by Patent runs thus : That I and my Heirs, with the assent of the Freemen or their Deputies from time to time may make Laws, so as they be not repugnant to the Allegi- ance we owe to the king as Sovereign. This has been often flung at us, viz : If you Quakers had it in your power, none should have a part in the Govern- ment, but those of your own way. On the other hand, if all that are freemen may choose or be chosen Members of the Provincial Council and General As- sembly, and that I and my Heir have only three PENN S CORRESPONDENCE. 9 I voices in two hundred and seventy-two in case they should outnumber us in vote we are gone, and this having been hke to be done the last Assembly, in chusing of a Speaker. Friends carrying it but by one voice, and that through the absence of two of the other side that were not Friends. Several of them lamented that I have given so much power away as I have done. At least, till Truth's interest had been better settled, and desire me to accept of it again, saying that as GoS so signally cast it into my hand, and they believe for a purpose of Glory to his Name, and for the good of his People. " I am day and night spending my life, my time, my money, and am not sixpence enriched by this greatness ; costs in getting, settling, transportation and maintainance now in a public manner at my own charge duly considered, to say nothing of my hazard, and the distance I am from a considerable estate, and which is more, my dear wife and poor children. If Friends here keep to God, and in the justice, mercy, equity and fear of the Lord, their enemy will be their footstool. If not, their Heirs and my Heirs too will loose all, and desolation will follow. " No, Jasper, Thy conceit is neither religious, politi- cal nor equal, and without high words, I disregard it as meddling, intruding and presumptous. So Jasper, desiring thou mayest act more righteously, than to smite the innocent behind his back and thy suffering Brother, too, and that in a wrong matter and upon a 92 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. false or an impossible ground, I take my leave and rest. Thy ancient though grieved Friend." Jasper Yates, to whom this reply was made, came from Yorkshire, and had received a collegiate educa- tion and entered on the profession of the law. We learn from Martin's History of Chester that he was married to Catharine, daughter of James Sandeland, and became an extensive landholder there. He was one of the Judges of the Supreme Court from 1705 to 171 5, and afterwards a member of the Council till the time of his death, about 1720. It is said that he was very active in having Chester made the seat of government, and his failure therein, which it is likely occurred at that time, may have been one of the causes that led to this difference with Penn. His .speculations proved unfortunate. Lord Baltimore on the 8th communicated to the Marquis of Halifax the account of his late conference with Penn respecting the boundaries, and of a previous one with Markham. He had also sent another in December, immediately after the meeting, in which he states that it was held " at the house of Colonel Thomas Tailler, in the Ridge, in Ann Arundell Coun- ty." Copies of which have been preserved in the State Paper Office, London. Under date of the 15th of this month, Penn ad- dressed a note " For Capt. William Markham, Deputy Governor," who, it would appear, was still residing at New Castle, in which he says, " Inclosed is an answer PEXN S CORRESPONDENCE. 93 to the Justices below, but remember that the twelve must be chosen for the Provincial Council in pursu- ance of the writt, and after that, a petition to me that 3 A, B, C, should be for the Council and the other 9 for the Assembly, for 4 and 8 will not allow of a yearly rotation of }^, as 3 and 9, then the Council will be 18, a good number at present, and 54 for the Assembly. The 3d Article informs thee in the charter, let all that is done be the Act of the people and so it will be safe." (2.) Although at a considerable distance from his family, home and intimate friends, and assiduously engaged here in promoting the great objects of his mission, namely, founding an asylum for the oppressed or per- secuted of all nations ; one would scarce think that such a one would be attacked abroad with all the power that malice and envy could suggest. The difficulties that beset him here, with those that arose in the accomplishment of his projects, were sufficient, nay, more than sufficient to weary the life of an ordinary mortal. Faith in the integrity of his principles alone must have sustained him amidst the trials and vicissi- tudes of an eventful career. In corroboration, we give extracts from a letter by George Hutcheson, dated "Sheffield, 17th of 12 mo. '82;" and addressed "To my esteemed fifriend William Penn at Buckingham in Pensilvania, in America." With this and occasionally others we have taken the liberty to modernize the phraseology. 94 WM. PENX IN AMERICA. " I can say in truth my heart is made glad and my very soul refreshed in the news that of late is come to hand, concerning tin* safe arrival with the rest of our dear friends in America, and of the joyful reception of thee by the inhabitants, and more especially in that I understand that blessed power and precious life by which we have been quickened and raised up together. Methought I was with you in your first meetings after thou came to land, and in the court house and in measure partook of the joy of the wilderness and of that gladness ; that it break forth of the solitary and desolate land as also with them who were once in a kind of despair, from living to see themselves visited by so many of their dear and elder brethern and to enjoy their society in those remote parts of the world. " I have been concerned not a little, to vindicate thy reputation from slanderous and malicious tongues who had sent it throughout the nation that thou wast dead and a Jesuit, or had declared thyself upon thy death bed thou wast a Roman Catholic, it was not a few combats I had with persons to whom I said I knew thee better than to believe such ridiculous stories, or to heed them any more than a straw under my foot. Since Philip Ford searched and found out the author to be Thomas Hicks, of which I was glad, since it must have a father that it fell through the just judgment of God upon him. I got it at the coffee house where the slander had come from in the Gazette, I mean first penn's correspondence. 95 a copy of thy last letter and then the printed paper." By Buckingham was probably meant Pennsbury, as Bucks county at first was occasionally so called, as may be noticed in the Colonial Records. In the following month we know meetings for worship were held there in the " Governor's house." There can probably be no other explanation given for this address. To Dr. Smith's History of Delaware county (p. 143) we are indebted for the mode of attestation adopted for jurors the 2 2d of this month, as entered in the Court Records at New Castle. It mentions that the following form was to be used in the place of an oath as delivered in Court by " ye Honble William Penn, vizt;" " You solemnly promise in the presence of God and this Court that you will justly try and deliver in your verdict in all cases depending, that shall be brought before you during this session of Court according to evidence and the laws of this government to the best of your understanding." To the popular form he had conscientious scruples, hence the change which by his direction must have been introduced into all the other courts under the jurisdiction of his government. 96 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. CHAPTER VIII. PENN's first meeting in council at PHILADELPHIA. — friends' meetings. \J\Iarch and April, 7(55^.] We now enter into the new year beginning with March as the first month, which we have seen the Assembly recognized by an Act based on the prevail- ing custom of the parent country, and which remained in force till abolished by Parliament in 1752. Hence at that period the change of old to new style. Histo- rians have deemed it best to use the same as they stand, as less liable to mistakes, and such are our own views from experience. The intelligent reader, there- fore, should bear this in mind and a misunderstanding prevented. The Governor held his first Council in Philadelphia on the loth. Amongst those present were William Markham, Christopher Taylor, Thomas Holme, Lasse Cock, William Biles, James Harrison and John Richardson. The Sheriffs of the respective counties were present: John Test for Philadelphia, Thomas Usher for Chester, Richard Noble for Bucks, Edmund Cantwell for New Castle, Peter Bawcomb for Kent, and John Vines for Sussex. PENNS FIRST COUNCIL IN PHILADELPHIA. 97 On the 1 2th the Council met again and the Gover- nor present. Nicholas More, President of the So- ciety of Free Traders, was called before them for speaking in a public house against the Governor, Pro- vincial Council and Assembly, for which he apolo- gized. " However, his discourse being unreasonable and imprudent, he was exhorted to prevent the like in future." On this day the Assembly likewise met in Philadelphia, under a new election. It was agreed in conference with the Council on the following day " That Twelve makes a Quorum in all business relating to the former part of the fifth and sixth articles of the Charter." The Council on the 14th resolved itself into a Grand Committee, Markham acting as Chairman in the absence of the Governor on urgent business. Penn was present the next day when it was " Ordered that John Richardson, one of the Council pay five shillings for being disordered in drink and be reproved." We presume the reproof was made by Penn, a report of which would have been interesting. On the 20th, the petition of Nathaniel Allen was read, showing he had sold a servant to Henry Bowman for £6 Sterling and six hundred pounds of beef, in- cluding the hide and tallow, which he delayed to pay, and likewise that the said Bowman and Walter Hum- phrey had hired a boat of the petitioner for only one month, but had kept the same for eighteen weeks to his great prejudice. It was ordered that William Clarke, 7 98 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. John Simcox, and James Harrison speak to the said Bowman concerning the matter. Among the Bills proposed for the following day, was one that " Hoggs be ringed." The office of Coroner to be established in each county and Grand Juries be held twice a year. A written message was sent in by the Assembly thanking the Governor for his kind speech to them the day before, and gratefully embracing his offer as to what they desired inserted into the Charter. On the 23d, among other things it was " Ordered that the seal of Philadelphia be the Anchor; of the County of Bucks a Tree and a Vine, of the County of Chester, a Plow; of the County of New Castle, a Castle ; of the County of Kent, Three Ears of Indian Corn ; of the County of Sussex, One Wheat Sheaf; " when they adjourned till 4 o'clock in the afternoon. During March the Council held its meetings fifteen days, adjourning on the 31st till the 2d of the following month. Penn was present during the whole session, which was held in Philadelphia, and is probably the earliest mention of the name to be found in the oflicial proceedings of the Proprietar}^ government. A second letter was sent to Penn by George Hutch- eson, dated from London the i8th of the present month, respecting the various evil reports in circulation there respecting his character and designs. We may well imagine the Governor's feelings on receipt of such information ! The whole is nearly given with a slight change in the style. PENN S FIRST COUNCIL IN PHILADELPHIA. 99 " Since I came here to assist friends in their voyage I still find thy person the butt for the arrows of malice to be shot at and thy reputation endeavored to be so blasted. I cannot but be free with whom I love and desire the welfare of, and signify what men say of them as Christ desired knowing the good effects it may pro- duce in them that can bear both good and bad report. Thou art reflected upon in respect to thy laws or gov- ernment, one particularly that is instanced, is the order that none shall teach but per order from thee which looks like this in England, without license for which friends now suffer. " I heard thee yesterday reviled upon the wharf by the searchers for the Customs, and when I told them one tale was good till another was told. One answered it was brought by one of our own tribe : I confess I heard it the same day from a friend, that some had re- flected on him because he would not revile thee at the same rate they did for it. There is another thing I judge not worth troubling thee about especially at present, because I know not the authors shall be silent, and may possibly ere long see thy face, who in haste remains thy true friend." There is no doubt that much the larger proportion of the emigrants into the colony since the grant of the Royal Charter belonged to the Society of Friends. They sought here to enjoy unmolested the principles and opinions they held. Chiefly owing to this cause there was a continuous increase for a number of years, lOO WM. PENN IN AMERICA. which greatly helped the growth and prosperity of the country. Many of those belonged to the middle classes, intelligent and of industrious and economical habits ; the very kind to lay the foundations for a great future commonwealth. Little did they then ex- pect as they felled the forests, built humble homes and turned the virgin soil, what great natural wealth still lay uncovered. The following interesting communication in regard to the Friends' Meetings at this time in Pennsylvania, is taken from a letter dated the 17th of ist month, 1683, and addressed to their brethern in Great Britain, signed by William Penn, S. Jennings, Christ. Taylor, James Harrison and others. "There is one at Falls, one at the Governor's house, one at Colchester riv^er, all in the county of Bucks : one at Tawcony, one at Philadelphia, both in that county: one at Darby at John Blunston's, one at Chester, one at Ridley at J. Simcock's, and one at Wm. Ruse's at Chichester, in Cheshire. There be three monthly meetings of men and women, for truth's service: in the county of Chester one, in the county of Philadelphia another, and in the county of Bucks another. And we intend a yearly meeting in the third month next. Here our care is, as it was in our native land, that we may serve the Lord's truth and people." The Governor's house was undoubtedly at Penns- bury ; by Colchester river the Neshaminy or Middle- town meeting is meant, which was then in existence, PENNS FIRST COUNCIL IN PHILADELPHIA. lOI and Cheshire was strangely substituted for Chester county. Of these nine meetings, the number I infer, six must have been estabhshed since the arrival of Penn, that is within a period of less than five months, showing in so short a time an extraordinary increase. Chiefly brought about by the unceasing exertions of the Proprietary. This was far more than had been previously done by the Dutch, Swedes and English, within the same limits in the rule of half a century. The Governor and Council met again in Philadel- phia on the 2d of 2d month. The Charter of the Province was read in the evening and signed, sealed and delivered by the Proprietary for the inhabitants to James Harrison and the Speaker, who were ordered to return the former one with the unanimous thanks of the House. The Council continued in session on the 3d and 4th, when they adjourned till the 2d of 3d month. I02 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. CHAPTER IX. ANOTHER MEETING WITH LORD BALTIMORE. PUR- CHASES FROM THE INDIANS. [Afaj/ and June, /d//, t68j.-\ After holding a Council at Philadelphia on the 4th of 5th month, we can find nothing of interest concern- ing Penn till the 14th, when a grant was made for a purchase of lands from Secane and Idquoquehan, " Indian shackamakers," for all the lands lying be- tween Maniaunk or Schuylkill river and Macapanakhan or Chester creek, beginning on the west side Schuyl- kill at a hill called Conshohocken, and from thence by a westerly line to the said Macapanakhan creek. At the same time Neneshickon, Malebore, Neshanocke and Oscrenean dispose of their rights to all the lands between the said Schuylkill river and Pennypack creek, and as far north as the hill called Conshokocken The aforesaid is now better known as Edge Hill, being a long narrow ridge of primal white sandstone crossing the Delaware at Trenton, and running south-westerly into Maryland. It is chiefly remarkable for being the first elevation of any length above tide water, and for the purpose mentioned, served as a prominent natural boundary. no WM. PENN IN AMERICA. From Philadelphia on the i 8th Penn sent a draft of his proclamation to London, in relation to the lands of Thomas Mathews of Burlington, a copy of which is in the State Paper Office. This no doubt has reference to the matter on which he appointed four Commis- sioners on the iith of last month, to treat with the Governor of New Jersey " for certain great wrongs and injustice done unto me and the province about the trade and the islands therein." In this month the Proprietary issued an order for the establishment of a post-office, and granted Henry Waldy, of Tacony, authority to hold one, and also to supply passengers with horses from Philadelphia to the Falls and New Castle. The rates of postage on letters from the Falls to the city was three pence ; to Chester, five pence, and to New Castle, seven pence. It went only once a week ; and it was Phineas Pemberton's duty to put up a notice to this effect at the most pub- lic places, and on the doors of the private houses where the meetings were then held. Phineas Pemberton, just mentioned, arrived here shortly after Penn, and so well and favorably known in the early annals of Bucks, was commissioned the first Clerk of the Court as the following, copied from the records, bears testimony : "William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania and the Territories thereunto belonging. To Phineas Pemberton greeting : Repos- ing confidence in thv integrity and ability, I do here- PENNSBURV. I I I by constitute and appoint thee Clark of the Court of the County of Bucks, to act in the same employment with all diligence, faithfulness and according to law ; and to receive the fees due as by law directed. This Commission to be of force as long as thou shalt well behave thyself therein. Given at Pennsbury the 21st of 5th month, 1683. Wm. Penn." In the aforesaid we have the earliest mention of Pennsbury, and estabhshes the fact that Penn was residing there at this time — during the heated term in the midst of summer. Mention was made of the Friends holding meetings here at the " Governor's house," before the middle of First month last, over five months previous. In consequence, it becomes us now to say something respecting its earlier history. From Lindstrom's map of New Sweden in 1654, we find the stream here called " Sapaessing," which name was also applied to the country in the vicinity, as we learn from the Albany records of 1672. It is an Indian name, and is said to signify "a place of plums," from the abundance of this kind of fruit found grow- ing here. The name was also applied to the island above the place, now generally known as Biddle's island. Deputy Governor Markham purchased for Penn, August 1st, 1682, at the house of Capt. Lasse Cock, 112 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. at Upland, of several Indian chiefs, among other ex- tensive tracts " ye land called Soepassincks, and ye island of ye same name." This manor originally con- tained 8,43 1 acres, fronting on the Delaware for several miles. The soil was fertile, and from accounts was one of the heaviest timbered tracts in the county. Here, by the margin of the Delaware, Penn had his mansion erected in the years 1682-83, ^"^ it is said under the direction of his relative Markham, at a cost of;^7,ooo, which at that day was certainly a large sum. For its better construction a considerable quantity of the most finished and ornamental materials had been brought from England. Here he afterwards resided for a time with his family, and held treaties with the Indians and religious meetings. That he had an attachment to a rural life is exhib- ited in the following extract from the parting address to his wife on the eve of embarkation to America : " Let my children be husbandmen and housewifes. This leads to consider the works of God and nature, and diverts the mind from being taken up with the vain arts and inventions of a luxurious world. Of cities and towns, of concourse beware. The world is apt to stick close to those who have lived and got wealth there. A country life and estate I like best for my children." That he was fond of calling places after the several members of his family, Pennsbury, Wil- liamstadt, Springettsbury, Callowhill, Gilberts and others sufficiently attest. FURTHER ACCOUNTS OF THE PROVINCE. II3 During this month Penn sent four letters with his agent Capt. Markham to England, all of great interest; containing considerable information respecting the colony, the Indians, the natural productions of the country and the progress made in improvements, etc. The prime object, however, of these, it would appear, was to secure influence from those in power, and be of assistance to him in his claims against Lord Baltimore respecting the boundaries between the two provinces. The following, dated Philadelphia, the 24th of 5th month, 1683, "For Colonel Henry Sidney, in Leiches- terfield," who was the third son of the Earl of Leicester, brother to the celebrated Algernon Sidney, and an uncle of Lord Sunderland. For the active part he took in the Revolution of 1688, was created by Wil- liam and Mary, P2arl of Romney. To Penn he con- tinued a sincere and lasting friend. Nearly the whole of this interesting letter is here given : " The great parts of friendship are love, truth, and constancy, and from the time it pleased thee to receive mine, it hath not wandered in any one respect, but I still love and honour thee, and would be glad I could be of any service to thee ; at this distance, to be sure I cannot, but neither can distance wear out the impres- sions a long and kind acquaintance hath made upon my mind. 'Tis with this familiar talk I begin to entertain thee, though a great man, now in the govern- ment, and long deserving to hav^e been so in thyself, 8 I 14 WM. PENN IX AMERICA. nor shall I ask any excuse for this freedom with a person whose good nature will not be offended, and whose good sense loveth little ceremony in writing. " I hav^e been here about nine months, and have had my health, I thank God very well ; I find the country wholesome, land, air, and water good, divers good sorts of wood and fruits that grow wild, of which plums, peaches and grapes are three; also cedar, chestnut and black walnut and poplar, with five sorts of oak, black and white, Spanish, red and swamp oak the most durable of all, the leaf like the English willow. " We have laid out a town a mile long, and two miles deep. On each side of the town runs a navigable river, the least as broad as the Thames at Woolwich, the other about a mile over. I think we have near about eighty houses built, and about three hundred farmers settled around the town. I fancy it already pleasanter than the Weald of Kent, our being clearer, and the country not much closer; a coach might be driven twenty miles end-ways. We have had fifty sail of ships and small vessels, since the last summer in our river, which shows a good beginning. And I hope God will prosper our honest care and industry, yet a friend at Court is a good thing ; and I flatter myself to believe, I shall never want one while thou art there. Wherefore give me leave to recommend the bearer, my agent and kinsman, Captain William Mark- ham, to thy favour and power. " I hear the Lord Sunderland is Secretary of State FURTHER ACCOUNTS OF THE PROVIN'CE. II5 again; I also remember his kind promises, and the mighty influences thou deservedly hast upon him; pray use it in my affair, that only I and my family, but the province may owe a singular acknowledgement to thy kindness. That, in which I so earnestly solicit thy assistance, he will better communicate than I can write it ; and I would not make my letter troublesome. The business is just, and honourable, and prudent for the Crown to hear me in, and that I hope will make it easie to my noble friends to favour me. I have written to the Lord Sunderland about it, for it belongs to his station, and since no man can better welcome it to him than myself, let me throw myself upon thee, and by both thy introduction of him and countenance of the business of the Lord. God will reward thee, and we here shall rest the debtors of thy goodness, with much thankfulness. " I have only to ask pardon for a poor present I send, of the growth of our country. Remember the offer- ings of old were valued by the hearts of them that made them ; which gives me assurance it will be ac- cepted. I hear little news, and am not very careful of it ; but a line of thy health, and success of thy affairs will be very pleasant : nobody interesting himself with more affection and sincerity in thy prosperity than thy very faithful friend." In the aforesaid, Penn remarks he had written a letter at sea soliciting a few fruit trees raised by Lord Sunderland's gardener, with a view of giving them a I 1 6 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. trial as to the success and quality of what may be pro- duced here. The willow or peach oak is somewhat of a rare tree in Pennsylvania, but is still found in the low grounds of Pennsbury manor. " To the Lord Keeper North, My Noble Friend," he writes at the same time, in which he says, " It hath been sometimes a c|uestion with me whether writing or silence would be more excusable, for it is an unhap- piness incident of great men to be troubled with the prospects of those their power and goodness oblige, but because I had rather want excuse for this freedom than be wanting of gratitude to my bene- factor, I determined to render my most humble thanks for the many favours I received at the Lord North's hand, in the passing and great dispatch of my patent. " I thank God I am safely arrived, and twenty-two sail more ; the air proveth sweet and good, the land fertile, and springs many and pleasant. We are one hundred and thirty miles from the main sea, and forty miles up the freshes. The town plat is a mile long and two miles deep ; on each side of the town runs a navi- gable river, the least as broad as the Thames at Wool- wich, the other above a mile, and I suppose above three hundred farms settled as contigiously as may be. We have had since last summer about sixty sail of great and small shipping, which we esteem a good beginning ; a fair we have had, and weekly market, to which the ancient lowly inhabitants come to sell their produce to their profit and our accommodation. FURTHER ACCOUNTS OF THE PROVINCE. \\J " I have also bought land of the natives, treated them largely, and settled a firm and advantageous corres- pondency with them ; who are a careless, merry people, yet in property strict with us, though as kind as can be among themselves ; in council so deliberate, in speech short, grave and eloquent, young and old in their several class, that I have never seen in Europe anything more wise, cautious or dexterous 'tis as ad- mirable to me as it may look incredible on that side of the water. " I have only to add, that it would please the Lord North, to smile favourably upon us, a plantation so well regulated for the benefit of the crown, and so improv- ing and hopeful by the industry of the people, that since stewards used to follow such enterprises in ancient times at least encouragement and countenance might be yielded us, whose aims shall in everything be bounded with a just regard to the King's service ; and we think we may reasonably hope, that England being the mar- ket both of our wants and industry in great measure, there is interest as well as goodness of our side. " I have pardon to ask for a poor present I make by the hands of the bearer my agent and kinsman Capt. Markham ; all I have to say is this ; 'tis our country produce, and that of old time offerings were valued by the heart that made them. I end with a congratulation of the honour the King hath joined to thy great merit, and my sincere and most affectionate wishes for thy prosperity ; being one of those many, whom thy good- I I 8 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. ness hath obHged to own and approve, as I really am, thy very sensible, thankful friend." The following, published in the Memoirs of the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania (vol. II. pp. 243-7), was addressed to the Earl of Sunderland, and is dated on the 28th, from which we give several extracts : " I had rather need an excuse than be wanting of gratitude to my noble benefactors of which the Lord Sunderland was one of the first, in the business of my American country. I am now in a station, where my own weakness or my neighbour's envy may happen to hurt my honest interest and the good work I have in my eye. Please to take me and my poor feeble con- cerns into thy protection, and give us thy smiles and countenance ; and I will venture to say ; that by the help of God and such noble Friends I will show a province in seven years equal to her neighbours of forty years planting. " I have laid out the Province into counties, six are begun to be seated, they lie on the great river and are planted about six miles back. The town plat is a mile long and two deep — has a navigable river on each side, the least as broad as the Thames at Woolwich, from three to eight fathom water. There is built about eighty houses, and I have settled at least three hun- dred farms contigious to it. We have had with pas- sengers twenty-three ships, and trading forty great and small since last summer, not amiss for one year. Here is a hickory nut tree, mighty large, and more tough than FURTHER ACCOUNTS OF THE PROVIN'CE. II9 our ash, the finest white and flaming fire I have ever seen. I have had better venison, bigger, more tender, and as fat as in England. Turkeys of the wood, I had of fort}" and fifty pounds weight. Fish in abundance hereaways yet as I hear of, but oysters, that are monstrous for bigness, though there be a lesser sort. " The Indians are an extraordinary people had not the Dutch, Swedes and English learned them drunken- ness (in which condition, they kill or burn one another) they had been very tractable, but rum is so dear to them, that for six penny worth, one may buy that fur from them, that five shillings, in an\' other community shall not purchase. Yet many of the old men, and some of the young people will not touch such spirits ; and because in those fits they mischief both themselves and our folks too, I have forbid to sell them any. Pardon my noble Friend this length, I thought it my duty to give an account of the place to one whose favour had helped to make it mine, and who was pleased more than once to discourse on the settlement of it. I have only to recommend the bearer my kins- man, Capt. Markham, and to pray access in my affairs, yet not fully fixt, by the unkindness of my neighbour, the Lord Baltimore." The letter to Henry Savill was also written in Philadelphia and dated the 30th, and may be seen in full in the Pennsylvania Archives, vol. I. pp. 68-9. " My Worthy Friend," he writes, " Permit a man that has not troubled thee a lonu" time to do it now a I20 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. little with the news of this new world that by it at least I may continue and preserve my claims to an old and very obliging acquaintance. I thank God I am come well to America and what is more, like it well but that is no news. The land is good, sand and loam some- times strong, the air serene as in Languedoc,the waters cool and sweet. One gteat navigable river the eastern bounds of our Province and three or four smaller, running into that, the woods yield us cypress, cedar, black walnut, sassafras, oak white, black, red, Spanish, chestnut and swamp, the hardest and most lasting pop- lar, the best in the world, I have here a canoe of one tree that fetches four ton of bricks also ash and many that in England we have not. The woods also yield us grapes, plums, peaches, strawberries and chestnuts in abundance. " I have laid out a town, a mile long and two deep, on each side of which is a navigable river ye least of which is as broad as ye Thames at Woolwich, as I re- member, from three to eight fathom. The winter is sometimes three months usually but two, one in three years sharp, I suppose we have eighty houses in our town and about three hundred farmers near it to help us with provisions and the merchants and mechanics to accommodate them with goods. "The natives are proper and shapely, very swift, their language lofty. They speak little, but fervently and with elegancy, I have never seen more natural sagacity, considering them without the help I was FURTHER ACCOUNTS OF THE PROVINCE. 12 1 going to say the spoil of tradition. The worst is that they are the worse for the Christians who have prop- agated their views and yielded them tradition for the worst and not for the better things. They believe in a Deity and immortality without the help of metaphis- ics and some of them admirably sober, though the Dutch, Swedes and English have by brandy and rum almost debaucht them all and when drunk the most wretched of spectacles, of burning and sometimes murdering one another, at which times the Christians are not without danger as well as fear. Though for gain they will run the hazard both of that and the law. They make their worship to consist of two parts, sac- rifices which they offer of their first fruits with mar- velous fervency and labour of body sweating as if in a bath. The other is their canticoes as they call them which is performed by round dances, sometimes words, then songs, then shouts being in the middle that begin and direct the chorus this they perform with equal fervency but great appearance of joy. " In this I admire them, nobody shall want what another has, yet they have propriety, but freely com- municable, they want or care for little, no bills of ex- change, nor bills of lading, no chancery suits nor ex- checiuer accounts have they to perplex themselves with, they are soon satisfied and their pleasure feeds them, I mean hunting and fishing. I have made two pur- chases, and have had two presents of land from them. " Things here go on very prosperously, and with 122 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. God's help and the Kings and my noble Friend's fa- vour I doubt not in seven years to equal plantations forty years older, as in a town (the life of a province) I hav^e already outdone some. I do earnestly recommend the bearer Capt. Markham my kinsman, an ingenious person and my agent at Court for the completing of my affairs. Pray give him access and measures, favour our beginnings and let not this distance rob me of the continuance of thy favour and friendship." These several letters do Penn infinite credit, and show him to have been a careful observer of the habits of the natives, the productions of the soil, and of the growth and progress of the province, as well as its adaptations and capabilities. In correspondence he certainly possessed a ready pen, and few can be found of that day treating on kindred subjects that can ap- proach them in style and information. About this time Penn appears to have had consid- erable anxiety concerning his relations with Lord Baltimore, and which, as we see, induced him to dis- patch Captain Markham as his agent to England. In a letter to John Tucker on the 29th, he says, " My difficulties have been many, and are continued by the backwardness of Lord Baltimore to comply with the King's letter." Two days later he wrote to Col. Thomas Taylor, of Annarundel county, at whose house the conference had been held in December last. " I had his promise at the same time, and treated him at the Georee and Vulture for that verv reason where he FURTHER ACCOUNTS OF THE PROVINCE. 1 23 challenged with me to have spoken so, but hath not performed Again, I finding this place necessary to my province, and that the presence of the Lord Balti- more was against law civil and common, I endeavored to get it, and have it, and will keep it if I can. But the Proprietor is good or bad a charging ; for he charges my suppositions as concessions : If thou hast a title to the lower counties, they are not the farther off, because I have them ; and the 40th degree of North Latitude be higher than common fame giveth it, what wilt thou let me have it at per mile, and so pro rata, and I will waive the King's letter." A communication was sent to his " Esteemed Friend," Philemon Lloyd at Choptank, in Maryland, dated from Philadelphia, on the 31st. It is lengthy and treats chiefly on religious matters. Having heard that he was recovering after considerable sickness, and expresses the desire that he may soon be well again. From the friendliness exhibited therein by Penn, it is very probable that he was entertained by him, and at- tended religious worship when on his return from West River. 124. ^^''^^- PEXX IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XI. EXERTIONS OF PENN OX THE BOUNDARY QUESTION. WRITES A PAMPHLET ON THE PROVINCE. ARRIVAL OF PASTORIUS. {August, 1 683:] The Governor held a Council in Philadelphia, on the 1st of 6th month, Nicholas More, the Secretary, being present. Among other matters, " That 'tis thought fit the care of Magistrates, that due provision be made for the sustenance of the people, and though our provisions are but small, yet that there may be care taken every one may partake." Another meeting was held on the i6th, when they adjourned till the 29th. On the latter day, " The Governor put the question whether a proclamation were not convenient to be put forth to impower Masters to chastise their servants, and to punish any that shall inveigle any servant to go from his Master." The minutes state that this was unanimously agreed upon, " and ordered it accordingly." Among the papers that Penn prepared in his defence to send to England, was a statement made out on the 9th of this month, that at the Conference held at Col. THE BOUNDARY QUESTION. I 25 Taylor's in Maryland, in loth month last, in reply to his arguments about two degrees being only granted to Lord Baltimore, Chancellor Charles Calvert had said, " Sir, to show you that the patent was not to begin by degrees, my father had a grant of more of Virginia then than now my nephew enjoyeth, but that the patent giving only unplanted land, he was advised to let it fall least he forfeited the whole." A few days before Markham's embarkation, Penn prepared a letter to be presented to the King, Charles II. A copy was made by J. R. Coates, h^sq., from the original in London, which was published in 1827, in the Memoirs (vol. II. pp. 241-3) of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. For our purpose it is too lengthy, and therefore give only the following extracts: " Great and Gracious Prince. "It is a barren soil that yields no returns to the dew that feeds it, and they are mean and ungrateful minds that are oblivious of the favours they receive. I would fain excuse this freedom, if I were not bound to use it, for being destitute of better ways, gratitude makes it necessary to me, and necessity is a solicitor that takes no denial. Let the King then graciously please to accept my most humble thanks for his many royal favours, conferred upon me, more especially this of Pennsylvania. I only lament myself, in a way suitable to the sense I have of the great obligations I lie under. * * * * " Give me leave next, to say, so soon as I was 126 WM. PENN IX AMERICA. arrived and made any settlement of this Province ; I thought it my duty to wait upon the King by some person of the Province, in condition of an Agent extraordinary, which is the bearer my kinsman Mark- ham, formerly deputy in this Government, and though this would not look wholy free of vanity, considering my late private capacity, yet I take it to be the duty of those persons whom the goodness of the Kings of England hath at any time clothed with extraordinary powers in these parts of the world, to show their deference to the Imperial Majesty they are tributary to, and their dependence upon it, by the mission and attendance of Agents in their names at the Court I have only now. Great Prince, to pray pardon and acceptance for a poor present of country produce, and that it would graciously please the King to take me still into his favour, his young Province into his pro- tection ; and God, the bountiful rewarder of good and gracious acts, retaliate them both with temporal and eternal glory. I am with reverence and truth Great and Gracious Prince thy most thankful, humble and obedient subject and servant in all I can. Wm. Penn. " Philadelphia, 13th Aug. '8^." On the 14th Penn closed his arduous labors for a short time on the great boundary dispute. For on this day he finished his letter to the Lords of the Com- mittee of Plantations in London, to be forwarded with the other letters. HIS PAMPHLET ON THE PROVINCE. 12/ After going over the controversy he concludes as follows : " I have only humbly to add that the province hath a prospect of an extraordinary improvement, as well by divers sorts of strangers, as English subjects; that, in all acts- of justice, we name and venerate the King's authority ; that I have followed the Bishop of London's counsel, by buying, and not taking away the natives' land ; with whom I have settled a very kind correspondence. I return my most humble thanks for )'our former favours, in the passing of my patent, and pray God reward you. I am most ready to obey all your commands, according to the obligations of them, and beseech you take this province into your pro- tection under his Majesty, and him, whom his good- ness hath made Governor of it, into your favours." In the aforesaid, Penn modestly pays the Bishop a high compliment. But in this respect he was but fol- lowing the example of the Dutch, Swedes and the Eng- lish, in the case of Governor Andros within the same territory. Queen Christina, in her instructions to Gov- ernor Printz, forbid him to take land from the Indians, except by a fair purchase. We are not aware that either the Government or any of the Kings of P>ngland admitted such a right in the natives, at least down to a short time before the middle of last century. There are documents extant to prove this, which state that his Maje.sty was vested in the exclusive ownership of the soil.* * See history of the Indian Walk, chapter II. 128 WM. PEXN IN AMERICA. We have at this time another evidence of the ex- traordinary industry exhibited amidst his multifarious duties in " A Letter from WilHam Penn Proprietary and Governour of Pennsyh'ania in America to the Commit- tee of the Free Society of Traders of that Province, re- siding in London. Containing a General Description of the said Province, its Soil, Air, Water, Seasons and Produce, both Natural and Artificial, and the good Encrease thereof" He gives in it the date of " i6th of 6th Moneth, called August 1683," and at the end signs himself " Your Kind Cordial Friend." It was pub- lished in a pamphlet of 1 1 pages royal octavo size, and on the title page states, " Printed and Sold by Andrew Sowle at the Crooked-Billet in Holloway, Shoreditch, and at several Stationers in London, 1683." We ex- tract the followincr interestinsf account: "The city of Philadelphia, now extends in length, from river to river, two miles, and in breadth near a mile ; and the Governour, as a further manifestation of his kindness to the purchasers, hath freely given them their respective lots in the city, without defalcation of any other cjuantities of purchase lands ; and as its now placed and modelled between two navigable rivers up- on a neck of land, and that ships may ride in good anchorage, in six or eight fathom water in both rivers, close to the city, and the land of the city, dry and wholesome ; such a scituation is scarce to be parallel'd. " The city consists of a large Front-street to each river, and a High street near the middle from Front to HIS PAMPHLET ON THE PROVINCE. 1 29 Front, of one hundred foot broad, and a Broad street in the middle of the city, from side to side, of the hke breadth. In the centre of the city is a square of ten acres ; at each angle are to be houses for publick affairs, as a Meeting-House, Assembly or State-House, Market-House, School-House, and several other build- ings for public concerns. There are also in each quarter of the city a square of eight acres, to be for the like uses, as the Moore-fields in London ; and eight streets, besides the High Street, that run from Front to Front, and twenty streets, besides the Broad street, that run cross the city, from side to side ; all these streets are of fifty foot breadth." The pamphlet contains an engraved plot or plan of the city, as laid out by the Surveyor- General, with the lots numbered. In this also appeared his full and ex- ceedingly well-written account of the Indians. For its size, in our opinion, the very best in the language on that subject that appeared within said century. Such was the popularity of this work that it was soon after translated into several European languages, and read with great interest. It was republished in The Present State of British America, by Richard Blome, in 1687, in Proud's History of Pennsylvania (vol. I. pp. 245- 264), Hazard's Register (vol. I. p. 433), and in a num- ber of other works. It is remarkable that the square " in the centre of the city," designed by Penn for the Public Buildings, 9 I 30 \VM. PENN IN AMERICA. should, after an interval of more than a century and three-quarters, through a popular vote, be appropriated to that use. This shows the far-seeing plans of the man to whom Philadelphia is now so much indebted for the admirable arrangements of its streets and public squares. If any one is deserving a statue, as is pro- posed, on the lofty dome of the new City Hall, it must be he. In the previous year at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, in Ger- many, was founded the first company for sending colo- nists to America; it was called " Die Auswanderer Ges- elchaft," but here known as the Frankfort Land Com- pany. One of its principal agents was Francis Daniel Pastorius, a native of Limburg, and an accomplished scholar. Hearing of the success of Penn's colony, and pleased with his broad and liberal views, he embarked on the ship America, Captain Wasey, which took its departure from Deal June 7th, 1683; and on the i6th of August made first sight of land, but did not enter the Capes of Delaware until the i8th. On the 20th they passed New Castle and Chester, and towards evening arrived at Philadelphia. He was soon fol- lowed by thirty-three other Germans from Crefeldt, who arrived in the Concord, William Jeffries, master, on the 8th of October. Pastorius says they landed " in perfect health and safety, where we were all welcomed with great joy and love by the governor William Penn and his secretary. He at once made me his confidential friend, and I am ARRIVAL OF PASTORIUS. I3I frequently requested to dine with him, where I can en- joy his good counsel and edifying conversations. Lately, I could not visit him for eight days, when he waited upon me himself, requesting me to dine with him, in future, twice in each week, without particular invitation, assuring me of his love and friendship to- wards m3'self and the German people, hoping that all the rest of the colonists would do the same. " This wise and truly pious ruler and governor did not, however, take possession of the province thus granted without having first conciliated, and at various counsils and treaties duly purchased from the natives of this country the various sections of Pennsylvania. He, having by these means ofltained good titles to the province, under the sanction and signature of the chiefs, I therefore have purchased from him some thirty thou- sand acres for my German colony. Now, although the oft-mentioned William Penn is one of the sect of Friends or Quakers, still he will compel no man to belong to his particular society, but he has granted to every one free and untrammeled exercise of their opinions, and the largest and most complete liberty of concience." These interesting extracts are translated from his " Geographische Beschreibung Der Provintz, Pensyl- vani;t," a work of 120 duo. pages, published at Frank- fort and Leipzig in 1 700. In the preface he says, " That it is worthy of note that this Province in 1684 con- tained a population of 4,000 Christian souls." Pastorius 132 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. and his Germans were the founders of Germantown, of whom Robert Turner, in a letter dated Philadelphia, 3d of 6th mo., 1685, says they go on finely in the manu- facture of fine linen, having gathered one crop of flax • and sowed for the second, and were also preparing to make brick the next year. Pastorius died in 17 19, aged sixty-eight years. We have the authority of Oldmixon, derived from a personal interview, that some time this year Penn made a journey into the interior of the Province. It was made on horseback, and it may be possible that it was one of those to which Thomas Fairman alludes as having accompanied him. The principal object, no doubt, was to become more intimately acquainted with the country and its natural productions, as well as the mode of Indian life from actual observation, for the purpose of communicating the same abroad in his writings for the benefit of the reading public, as has been related in this and the previous chapter. Penn stated how he slept at nights in their wigwams, par- took of their fare, and how they treated their sick when ill of fevers by sweatings in heated ovens and baths. Wherever he came he was kindly received and hos- pitably entertained. To this journey he undoubtedly alludes in his '' Further Account of the Province," written in 1685; wherein he states, " I have made a discovery of about a hundred miles west, and find those back lands richer in soil, woods, and fountains, ARRIVAL OF PASTORIUS. I 33 then that by Delaware ; especially upon the Susque- hanna river." Certainly a pretty good judgment re- specting the present Lancaster county, one of the gar- den spots of America. 134 WM. PENN IX AMERICA. CHAPTER XII. MORE INDIAN PURCHASES. ADDITIONAL TROUBLES RESPECTING THE BOUNDARIES. VISITS UMBILI- CAMENCE. SELECTS A TRACT FOR THE MANOR OF SPRINGFIELD. \_Septci)ibcr and December, i68j.^ Penn attended the meetings of the Council in Phila- delphia on the 7th, 8th, loth, i ith and 12th of this (7th) month. On the 8th, " The Governor proposes a law to be drawn, that servants which run away should serve five days for every day's absence after the time of their servitude, and pay the costs and damages the masters shall sustain by their absence. The Governor stating the question it was carried in the affirmative." Kekelappan of Opasiskunk " conveys to Penn on the loth, all his right to lands along the Susquehanna with a further promise to sell unto him at ye next spring at my return from hunting, ye other half of my land, at as reasonable rates as other Indians have been used to sell on this river." It is likely that this was brought about by the Proprietary's recent journey into the interior, when he may have visited that portion of the province. ADDITIONAL BOUNDARY TROUBLES. 1 35 As has been stated, Penii had troubles respecting his boundaries with both Maryland and West New Jersey, and now, through the aforesaid purchase, there was to be an additional one. Col. Thomas Dungan on the 1 8th sent a letter to the authorities at Albany, in which he says, " I have this day advised with the Council, and after a serious consideration as a cause of so great importance rec|uired, it is for good and weighty reasons thought very convenient and necessary to put a stop to all proceedings in Mr. Penn's affairs with the Indians, until his bounds and limits be adjusted, at the determining of which I think either to be personally present, or else send some on purpose. You are therefore, to suffer no manner of proceedings in that business until you shall have positive orders from me about it, and Mr. Haigue, Penn's agent is to be acquainted with the contents of this letter." This matter induced the Proprietary a few days afterwards to go to New York, and we know that he had not yet returned on the 24th. While there, as will be shortly mentioned, he availed himself of having copies made from the early records to sustain not only his own, but also the Duke's title to the Lower Territories. Lord Baltimore, on the 17th, commissioned George Talbot to proceed to Philadelphia to demand from Penn or his deputy, all the land that lay southward of the Fortieth degree of North latitude. On the 24th, in the absence of the Proprietary, at New York, the same was made on Nicholas More as his aeent. On 136 \VM. PENN IN AMERICA. his return, Penn wrote a reply to Talbot, dated Phila- delphia the 4th of 8th month, in which he stated that the said territory belonged to his grants, and he would therefore refuse to yield the same. In consequence, on the 1 8th (Oct.), he issued a proclamation at New Castle, prohibiting all persons to settle on the lands between the Delaware river and Chesapeake Bay without his leave. Edward Brooks, while on a visit in the province, purchased of Penn on the 12th, 2,000 acres of land for eighty pounds sterling, " good and lawful money of Old England," and promises to pay the same "within ye space of six months after my arrival in England unto Philip Ford, merchant in Bow Lane in London without fail." This appears to be a singular condition of payment, and shows that the Proprietary had already trusted some of his business matters to Ford, and of which exentually the latter was to take undue advantage. Another purchase was make by Penn on the i8th from Macholoha for all his right to lands situated between Chesapeake Bay and Delaware river, and ex- tending upwards to the Falls of the Susquehanna. It must be admitted that such boundaries are vaguely expressed, but still could be the better comprehended by the Indians. Meetings of the Council were held by the Governor on the 25th, 26th, 27th, 29th and 30th. On the 26th he sentenced Charles Pickering for passing counterfeit ADDITIONAL BOUNDARY TROUBLES. 1 3/ coin, to redeem all called in by proclamation within a month and to be then melted down and returned to him, and to pay a fine of forty pounds towards the build- ing of the Court-house, and to stand committed till paid, and then to find security for his future conduct. Samuel Buckley is fined for being concerned in the same ten pounds to go towards the Court-house, and to find security for his behavior. Robert Fenton, a servant concerned in the same, to sit in the stocks one hour the following morning. During 9th month, or November, we find little tran- spiring of interest. William Beekman sent a letter to Penn, dated New York, November 4th, in which he says that two days after his departure from thence he delivered a letter to William Frampton enclosing a copy of an agreement or deed for the land between Cape Henlopen and Bombay Hook, and also a copy of the capitulation made in 1655 between the Swedish and the Dutch Governors. In examining his journal, found mention therein of a visit made to the Delaware in 1663 by Lord Baltimore, Chancellor Calvert, Colo- nel Utie and others, and though they remained there five or six days, they set up no claim to any part of said territory, (i.) Meetings of the Council were held in Philadelphia on the 7th and 21st, at which the Governor presided. But little business was transacted, after which the\^ ad- journed to the following month. Edward Claypoole, who had embarked at Gravesend, 138 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. and shortly after his arrival, in a letter to his brother James, a merchant of London, dated Philadelphia, 2d of loth month, 1683. " Where," he says, " I found my servant had builded me a house like a barn without a chimney, forty by twenty feet v.ith a good dry cellar under it, which proved an extraordinary conveniency for receiving our goods and lodging my family." In regard to land, expresses the opinion that " people come in so fast that it is like to be much dearer in a little time. As judged about one thousand acres being now worth ^^"40 sterling." This denotes a con- siderable immigration at this time. On the 15th, William Clark writes from Lewis, Sus- sex county, to the " Dear Governor " to inform him, " That thine of the 23d of 9th month, and one by the hands of John Hill, with no date, came to my hands, and had no opportunity to send an answer until now. As to Lord Baltimore's pretensions to these parts I hear nothing 'of, and things being quiet. I did intend, according to thy order that my wife should have pickled some oysters to send to thee. In order to obtain them I sent my servants, but it being at the beginning of the severe weather, they ^vere forced to leave the canoe with its contents, but as soon as it is fit I shall give it my attention." Respecting the boundary dispute with Baltimore, Penn received a letter from Nicholas Bayard, of New York, dated December 23d, '83; and from the interest it possesses give it in full. It is likely has never been ADDITIONAL BOUNDARY TROUBLES. 1 39 published before, and to suit our purpose have taken some Hberties with its style. " Honourable Sir. Since your departure I have made an inquir\' by Mr. Frederick Philips concerning your affairs, but as I told them then, I find by him nothing which is material, for he came in the country in the year 165 i, and is very ignorant of what is past in any countr}' affairs about that time. I have made it my business to speak with several of the old standers in the country, but the most having been private per- sons and without public employ, can likewise give no account what right the Dutch formerly had in your parts of Delaware, only that they had possession and built forts there long before the year 1638 ; of which I can procure several testimonies if you desire the same, but I question not you may have such process more ample from Peter Cock in Timor and other old inhabi- tants in your colony. I have earnestly desired my friend Van Rivyvan to furnish me from Holland with all he can give or can procure in your behalf, and am assured he will not be wanting therein, and I promised him satisfaction, and to place it to my account for what charge he should be at for the land. Here enclosed is a copy of a protest I found in the records since your departu're, if it may be of any service you may have a copy of the same attested by ]\Ir. West or some public officer, and wherein I may be further able to serve you. Please freely to command your very humble servant, (i.) Nicholas Bavard." 140 \VM. PENN IN AMERICA. The Governor held a meeting of the Council in Philadelphia on the 26th, at which the following mem- bers were present : Wm. Clayton, Wm. Hague and Lasse Cock. On this occasion the minutes state that " The Governor and Provincial Council having taken into their serious consideration the great necessity there is of a schoolmaster for the instruction and sober education of youth in the town of Philadelphia, sent for Enoch Flower, an inhabitant of the said town, who for twenty years past hath been exercised in that care and employment in England, to whom ha\'ing com- municated their minds he embraced it upon the follow- ing terms : to learn to read English four shillings by the quarter, to learn to read and write six shillings, to learn to read, write and cast accounts eight shil- lings ; for boarding a scholar, that is to say, diet, wash- ing, lodging and schooling, ten pounds for one whole year." This action is highly creditable to Penn and his Council, and shows that there was a desire even at this early period, when the city had not yet been laid out much over a year, that the education of youth be encouraged. A meeting of the Council was held the next day, when they adjourned to the following month. It is remarkable how a few documents, without an intimate relation as to their general contents, may yet disclose and establish important facts. The Hon. Wm. A. Yeakle, a life-long residciit of the valley of the Wissa- hickon, inWhitemarsh, informed the author a few years VISITS UMBILICAMEN'CE. I4I ago, that he had discovered, from a deed of 1 746, that his section had formed "a part of the lands by the Indians called Umbilicamence." As the name appeared not unfamiliar, it suggested to us to make an examination of Thomas Fairman's bill of charges (Penn-Physick MSS.) against William Penn, commencing with the year 1682, wherein is found mentioned an indebtedness " To a journey with the Proprietor and his friends to Umbo- lekimensin with 3 of my horses, 12 shillings." After some further research among the warrants for surveys the following was discovered : " L. S. William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of Pennsylvania and the Territories thereunto belonging. At the request of Jasper Farmer, Junior, in the behalf of his father. Major Jasper Farmer, his brother Richard and himself, that I would grant him to take up five thousand acres of land, being of the lands by the Indians called Umbilicamence, fronting on one end upon the River Schuylkill. These are to will and re- quire thee forthwith to survey or cause to be surveyed unto him the said five thousand acres in the aforemen- tioned place where not already taken up, according to the method of townships appointed b\' me, and make return thereof unto my Secretary's office. Given at Philadelphia the 31st of loth month, 1683. Wm. Penn. " For Thomas Holmes, Surveyor-General." The several aforesaid papers now establish the in- 142 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. teresting information that William Penn, in company with Thomas Fairman and several friends, made a journey on horseback out there some time in the sum- mer or fall of 1683, on purpose to view that section of country. The distance from Philadelphia not exceed- ing fourteen miles, and in coming hither no doubt passed by where is now Chestnut Hill and P'lourtown. The termination of the trip was no doubt in the vicinity of where the Farmers made their settlement some two years later, and near where St. Thomas' Episcopal Church was erected. As an earl)- Indian settlement is mentioned there, it is very probable that its name was Umbilicamence. For it was here where Edward P^armer, Nicholas Scull and John Scull acquired their early knowledge of the Delaware Indian language from the natives, and that enabled them on several subsequent occasions to act as interpreters on behalf of the pro\'incial government. Immediately adjoining the Farmer tract on the southeast lay Gulielma Maria Penn's Mannor," con- taining four thousand and ten acres surveyed by Fair- man. From his bill of charges we learn that he and the Proprietary had made a journey on purpose " to look out some land" that was "afterwards named Springfield." This must have been made also about the aforesaid time. This tract was a good selection, the land fertile and abounding in an abundance of ex- cellent limestone and iron-ore. PENN S CORRESPONDENCE. I43 CHAPTER XIII. MORE OF PENX'.S CORRESPONDENCE. PRESIDES AT A TRIAL FOR WITCHCRAFT. \^Janitary and Fi-bntary, i6Sj.'] We have now arrived near the close of the year 1683, old style, and the persecution of the Friends still continues, but not with that rigor as formerly. Though Charles II. was induced to discountenance it, yet through the indifference of those in power, consider- able distress prevailed. In consequence, Penn did not remain unconcerned in regard to his suffering brethren, for they had his warmest sympathies, with an earnest desire to use his influence to procure them all the relief he possibly could. It is probable that in Ireland they were more harshly dealt with than in England, which induced the Proprietary, as we have seen, amidst his numerous cares and vexations here to address a letter on the 9th of i ith month to the I^arl of Arran, Lord Deputy of the former, whom he calls, " My Noble and Old Friend," desiring him to exercise his sympa- thies in their behalf It is of considerable length and in it expresses himself strongly in favor of liberty of 144 ^'^'^J- PENN IN AMERICA. conscience in matters relating to religion, and hopes that persecution therefore may cease. He concludes with the following information respecting the prov^- ince : " I thank God I am safely arrived in the province that the providence of God and bounty of the King hath made it mine; and which the credit, prudence and industry of the people concerned with me must render considerable. I was received by the ancient inhabitants with much kindness and respect ; and the rest brought it with them. There may be about four thousand souls in all; I speak I think within com- pass ; We expect an increase from France, Holland and Germany as well as our native country. The land is generally good, well watered and not so thick of woods as imagined. There are also many open places that have been old Indian fields. The days are above two hours longer and the sun much hotter here than with you, which makes some recompence for the sharp nights of the winter season, as well as the woods that makes cheap and great fires. Our town of Phila- delphia is seated between two navigable rivers, having from four to ten fathom water, about one hundred and fifty houses up in one year, and four hundred county settlements. We labor to render ourselves an indus- trious colony to the honor and benefit of the Crown as well as our own comfort and advantage, and let them not be separated say I." From Philadelphia on the 2d of 12th month, Penn PRESIDES AT A TRIAL. 145 addressed a letter to the Earl of Rochester, respecting his troubles with Lord Baltimore, and commences it with the following forcible introduction, " My Noble Friend, — It cannot be strange to a lord of so much ex- perience, that in nature, all creatures seek succour against might ; the young from their old and the feeble from the strong, and that the same nature, by reciprocal in- stinct, inspires the old to protect their young, and the strong the weak of their own kind. This, my noble Lord, is much my case and this trouble ; and to whom can I go, with more reason and hope than to him that hath, with so much honour and truth and a perpetual success, been the kind and constant patron of my just cause. Let this therefore, noble Lord, meet with thy usual favour; which will add to the many bonds I am under, in affection and gratitude to thy just interest and service." After which follows a lengthy defence of his claims to the Three Lower Counties, and in which he also sets forth his position, based on the settlements there by the Dutch and Swedes, against whom previously the Proprietary of Maryland had not set up any claims even to a part of the same. On the 9th he addressed a second letter to the Marquis of Halifax in reference to his boundary dis- pute. In it he gives some interesting information in regard to the condition, prosperity and future prospects of his colony. " I hope," he states therein, " my agent 10 146 WM. PENN IN AMERICA. hath presented thee with my last and the respects I bear so honourable a friend. Our capital town is advanced to about one hundred and fifty very tolerable houses for wooden ones ; they are chiefly on both the navigable riv^ers that bound the ends or sides of the town. The farmers have got their winter corn in the ground. I suppose we may be five hundred farmers strong. I settle them in villages, dividing five thou- sand acres among ten, fifteen or twenty families, as their ability is to plant it. Germans, Dutch and French are concerned in our prosperity with their own. The Germans are fallen upon flax and hemp, the French on vineyards. Here grow wild an incredible number of vines, that though savage and not so excellent, beside that much wood and shade sour them. They yield a pleasant grape, and I have drunk a good claret, though small and greenish, of Capt. Rapp's vintage of the savage grape. " I must without vanity say, I have led the greatest colony into America, that any man did upon a private credit, and the most prosperous beginnings that ever were in it, are to be found amongst us ; and, if this lord who may remember that his country was cut out of Virginia, to the great abatement of the interest of that province, and this not for debt, or salaries due, but as mere grace shall carry away this poor ewe lamb too, my voyage will be a ruinous one to me and my partners, which God defend. And my honourable .friend, I shall onl\- pray that my case may be re- PRESIDES AT A TRIAL. 1 47 membered and recommended to the King by my noble friend the Marquis of Hahfax." Thomas Paschall, a factor of a Jean Company in Chippenham, England, wrote during a residence here " A Short Account of Pennsylvania," to which he ap- pended his name and bears the date of Philadelphia, February loth, 1683 ; its object appears to be to en- courage emigration hither. It is likely that it was first published in PIngland and afterwards translated into German. The copy seen by us was printed at Frankfort and Leipzig in i 700, and circulated by the Land Company there. It occupies but three pages and to this work can furnish nothing additional ; however, at this early period of Penn's settlement is deserving of notice. All we have been enabled to ascertain further about Paschall is that he resided in Philadelphia the 17th of 7th month, 170 1, when his name is found in a petition addressed to the Assembly. We find the following compliment paid to Penn in a letter by James Claypoole,* dated Philadelphia, 24th of 1 2th month, and addressed to his friend, Gawan Lawrie: "William Penn, our Governor, has been ex- ceedingly kind, and is so still to me and my family as if we were his nearest relations, and I hope his love will continue. Truly, he is very precious in his testi- mony and conversation, and we may be sure he takes * Formerly a merchant in London, and had only recently arrived here. Became Register of Wills, and died in 1687. To his MS. Letter Book we are indebted for valuable mformation. 148 WM. PENX IN AMERICA. counsel of the Lord, for there is much of the wisdom that is from above manifest in his conduct and manage- ment of affairs here, by which he is made a fit instru- ment in the hand of the Lord for the work and service he is called to, and I wish with all my heart that all the Governors upon the earth were such as he is. I and my wife and eight children are all at this place in good health, and so have been mostly since we came, John my eldest writes for the Register, James is book- keeper to the Society." A meeting of the Council was held by Penn in Philadelphia on the 7th of this ( 12th) month, at which Lasse Cock, Wm. Clayton, John Symcock and Thomas Holme were present. Margaret Matson and Getro Hendrickson were examined and about to be proved witches, whereupon it was ordered that Neels Matson should enter into recognizance of fifty pounds for his wife's appearance before this board on the 27th instant, and that Jacob Hendrickson be required to do the same for his wife. Meetings of the board were held on the 20th and 21st, but nothing transacted of special in- terest. On the 27th, the Governor was present with James Harrison, Wm. Biles, Lasse Cock, Wm. Hague, Chris- topher Taylor, W^m. Clayton and Thomas Holme, members of the Council. The Grand Jury made a return and found a bill. Margaret Matson's indict- ment was read, and pleads not guilty. Lasse Cock was attested interpreter between the Proprietary and PRESIDES AT A TRIAI.. 1 49 the prisoner. A jury of twelve was impanneled, of which John Hastings was foreman. Henry Drystreet, attested, said he was told twenty years ago that the prisoner was a witch, and that several cows were be- witched by her. James Sandeland's mother told him she had bewitched her cow but afterwards saw it was a mistake, for it was not her cow but another person's that should die. Charles Ashcom, attested, says that Anthony's wife being asked why she sold her cattle ; because her mother had bewitched them, having taken it off of Hendrick's cattle and put it on their oxen, which she might keep, but no other cattle. Margaret Matson says she values not Drystreet's evidence; but if Sandeland's mother had came she would have an- swered her, and also denies Charles Ashcom's evi- dence. Anneky Cooling's evidence concerning the geese she denies, saying she was never out of her ca- noe. The prisoner denies the evidence, and that they speak only from hearsay. After which the Governor gave the jury their charge, who brought her in guilty of having the common fame of a witch, but not guilty in manner and form as she stands indicted. Neels Matson and Anthony Neelson were required to enter into a recognizance of fifty pounds each for the good beha\ior of Margaret Matson for six months, and Jacob Hendrickson in fift)' pounds under the same conditions for his wife. In the trial of such an extraordinary case we ha\'e concluded to be as full as our information would per- 150 WM. PEXN IX AMERICA. mit. The parties were all Swedes and appear to have been ignorant of the English language, the proceedings being conducted by Lasse Cock and James Claypoole as interpreters. The Governor's charge to the jury at this day would possess considerable interest. We shall find after his return in 1701, of his presiding at another trial for witchcraft in which the parties appear to have been all English. No doubt the sentiment concerning it was stronger than is now generally supposed. THE WELSH TRACT. I s I CHAPTER XIV. THE WELSH TRACT. LETTERS TO THE DUKE OF YORK AND OTHERS. ^March-July, 1684:] About this time a considerable body of Welsh Friends designed emigrating to this country, and through their agents an arrangement was effected with Penn in Eng- land, for the purchase and location in one great tract of about forty thousand acres, which they proposed to settle and thus be enabled to live contigiousl}^ to each other at no great distance from the city. In conse- quence the Proprietary issued the following warrant to the .Surveyor General to have the same laid out : " Whereas divers considerable persons among the Welsh Friends have requested me that all the lands purchased of me by those of North Wales and South Wales, together with the adjacent counties to them, as Haverfordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire, about forty thousand acres, may be laid out contigiously as one Barony, alleging that the number already come and suddenly come, are such as will be capable of planting the same much within the proportion allowed by the custom of the country and so not lye in large and use- less vacancies. And because I am inclined and deter- 152 \VM. PENN IN AMERICA. mined to agree and favour them with any reasonable conveniency and priviledge : I do hereby charge thee and strictly require thee to lay out the said tract of land in as uniform a manner, as conveniently may be, upon the west side of Schuylkill river running three miles upon the same, and two miles backward, and then ex- tend the parellel with the river six miles and to run west- wardly so far as till the said quantity of land be com- pletely surveyed unto them. — Given at Pennsbury, the 13th I mo. 1684. \Vm. Penx." On the 4th of the following month (April), Thomas Holme, the Surveyor General, authorized his deputy David Powell to proceed in laying out the same con- formably to the Proprietary's instructions. This formed what has been ever since known as the Welsh Tract, and from which the townships of Merion, Haverford, Goshen and others subsequently originated. The aforesaid bounds as fixed by Penn possess quite an in- terest and have hitherto escaped the notice of historians, being derived from the records of the Surveyor Gen- eral's office, Harrisburg. At this time they must have settled on it rapidly, judging not long after by their numbers. Oldmixon, who was here in 1708, in speak- ing of this tract and the Welsh, says that it then was "very populous, and the people are very industrious; by which means this country is better cleared than any other part of the county. The inhabitants have many fine plantations of corn, and breed abundance of cattle. THE WELSH TRACT. I 53 inasmuch that the}- are looked upon to be as thriving and wealthy as any in the province — and this must always be said of the Welsh, that wherever they come, 'tis not their fault if they do not live, and live well, too; for they seldom spare for labor, which seldom fails of suc- cess." Meetings of the Council were held by the Governor in Philadelphia on the 20th, 2 ist, 24th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th and 31st, and at all of which he was present. It is, therefore, certain that he must have spent all or the greater portion of the previous winter in the city, visiting only for a few days Pennsbury near the middle of this the first spring month. During 2d month, or April, the Proprietary held meetings with the Council on the ist, 2d, 3d, 7th and 8th; spending a few days again at Pennsbury between the 4th and 7th. We are reaching now a period in the celebrated boundary dispute in which the respective parties are proceeding to open hostilities for the arrest of each other's authorities in the enforcement of what they deem their respective rights. In consequence, Penn issued on the 6th the following commission to secure his territory from the encroachments of his unwearied neighboring Proprietary. "To my trusty and loving friends, W^m. Welsh, John Simcock and James Harrison, greeting : Being credi- bly informed that a party of men armed some with guns and others with axes, under the command of Col. George 154 ^^"^I- PENX IX AMERICA. Talbot, have in a riotous manner invaded the right of some of the inhabitants of New Castle County, under pre- tence of a Commission from Charles Calvert, Proprietary of Maryland, these are to empower you, or any two of you, to raise the country and to grant Commissions to such as you shall see cause to raise the country, and likewise to charge and command both you and them by the King's Authority derived to me by the assign- ment of James Duke York and Albany, to take all due care, and that with all possible speed, to keep and maintain peace of our sovereign lord the King, and to suppress all riotous and rebellious practices, and them to apprehend and imprison whom you shall so find therein, that they may be proceeded against accord- ing to law, and as also to secure all persons as refuse or neglect to assist you in this service, and whom you have cause to suspect may be unfaithful to the govern- ment, and for so doing this shall be your sufficient warrant. Given at Pennsbury, this 6th of the 2 mo. '84, being the 36th year of the King's reign." The Assembly met at New Castle on the loth of 3d month, to which, at the same time, the Governor ad- journed his Council, which continued in session there till the 22d, when they adjourned to Philadelphia where they met on the 29th and the two following days. On the loth the Goversor informed the Council that he had called the Indians together, and proposed to them to let them ha\'e rum if they would be satisfied to be punished as the English were ; which they agreed to. THE WELSH TRACT. 155 pro\-ided that the law of not selHng them rum be abolished. In a case between Andrew Johnson, plaintiff, and Hans Peterson, defendant, the Governor, and Council advnsed them to shake hands, and to for- give each other, which they accordingly did, and for their future good behavior were ordered to enter into bonds of fifty pounds each. The Governor held meetings of the Council in Phila- delphia on the 3d, 4th, I ith, I2th, i8th and 19th of this (4th) month. On the 1 8th he read the Declaration con- cerning the difference between Lord Baltimore and himself, desiring the Council's approbation ; who ap- proved of it, but suggested that some things mentioned therein might for the present be omitted. In consideration of two matchcoats, four pair of stockings, and four bottles of cider Maughoughsin, grants under his hand and seal at Philadelphia the 3d of 5th month, 1684; all his land upon Pahkehoma to William Penn, his heirs and assigns forever, " with which I own myself satisfied and promise never to molest any Christians so called that shall seat thereon by his orders." This has reference to the lands on the Perkiomen creek in the present Montgomery county. On the 7th another purchase was made by Penn at Philadelphia, from Richard Mettamicont, as owner of the land on both sides of Pennepack creek to the river Delaware, and hereby agrees "never to molest or trouble any Christians so called settled upon any part of the aforesaid land." Poor Indians, 156 \VM. PEXN IX AMERICA. though they and their lands have long since parted, we beheve they faithfully adhered to the aforesaid condi- tions. In regard to these purchases, Oldmixon very sensibly observes in his " British Empire in America," that " As soon as Mr. Penn had got his patent, he in- vited several persons to purchase lands under it. He did not satisfy himself with the title granted by Charles II. and his brother he also bought the land of the In- dians, which doubtless, was the best right he had on them." We need not wonder at the energy displayed by Penn to secure himself against the encroachments of Lord Baltimore. The claims set up by the latter, if successful, would have taken all the lands in the province south of the city of Philadelphia, including the three lower counties or territories. It would have deprived him of several sea ports and the command of Delaware Bay. He very justly observes, " If the Lord Baltimore's patent were title good enough for what Was another's before, and which he never enjoyed since, Connecticut colony might put in for New York as reasonably as the Lord Baltimore can for Delaware, their patent having that part of the Dutch territories within its bounds, on the same mistake. I must take leave to refer the Lord Baltimore to His Royal High- ness, who is a prince, doubtless, of too much honour to keep any man's right, and of too much resolution to deliver up his own ; whose example I am resolved to follow." TO THE DUKE OF YORK. I 57 In addition, the Proprietary resolved to send a letter to his friend the Duke of York, setting forth his griex'ances and the difficulties he labored under, with an intimation that he would shortly follow Lord Balti- more to England, with a view to giving personally his attention to the great interests at stake. The follow- ing is a copy of the address : TO THE DUKE OF YORK. " Great Prince. — It is some security to me, and an happiness I must own and honour, that in these my humble and plain addresses, I have to do with a Prince of so great justice and resolution, one that will not be baffled by crafts, nor blinded by affection ; and such a Prince with humility be it spoken, becometh the just cause I have to lay before him. " Since my last, by which I gave the Duke to under- stand that the Lord Baltimore had sent agents to offer terms to the people, to draw them from their obedience of this government, where his Royal Highness had placed them, and that without having any special order for the same, it hath pleased that lord to com- missionate Colonel George Talbot to come, with armed men, within five miles of New Castle town, there upon a spot of ground belonging to one Ogle, that came with Captain Carr, to reduce that place by force, erected a fort of the bodies of trees, raised a breastwork, and palisaded the same, and settled armed men therein. The president of that town and county, toijether with the sheriff and divers magistrates and 158 \VM. PEXX IX AMERICA. inhabitants of the same, went to the said fort, demanded of Colonel George Talbot the reasons of such actions, being a warlike invasion of the right of his Majesty's subjects, never in his possession. He answered them, after having bid them stand off, presenting guns and muskets at their breasts, that he had Lord Baltimore's commission for what he did. The president being an old experienced man, advised him to depart, and to take heed how he obeyed such commands as these were, since acting in such a way of hostility against the right of his Majesty's subjects not in rebellion, and not by his commission, might cost him and his lord dear in the issue. He still refused, upon which proc- lamations wer» made in the King's name, that they should depart, but he, with some more, would not depart but in the name of Lord Baltimore, refusing to go in the King's name ; and there the garrison is kept, the commander and soldiers threatening to fire upon and kill all such as shall endeavor to demolish the block-house, and say they have express commands so to do from that lord. " How far these practices will please the King or Duke is not fit for me to say ; but, if not mistaken, I shall be able to make evident by law, he hath almost cancelled his allegiance to the King herein, and ex- posed himself to his mercy for all he hath in the world. I hear he has gone for England, and was so just to invite me by a letter in March, delivered in the end of April, informing me that towards the end of TO THE DLKE OF YORK. I 59 March he intended for England. This was contrived that he might get the start of me, that making an in- terest before I arrived, he might block up my way, and carry the point. But such arts will never do, where there is no matter to work upon, which I am abundantly satisfied they will not, they cannot find in the Duke, with whom I know he hath great reason to ingratiate his cause and malconduct, if he could. " I am following him as fast as I can, though Colonel Talbot, since his departure, threatened to turn such out by violence, as would not submit to him, and drive their stocks for arrears : believing that the worse the better, I mean the more illegal and disrespectful he and his agents are, to His Majesty and Royal High- ness, and humble and patient I am, they will the more favour my so much abused interest. I add no more, but to pray, that a perfect stop be put to all his pro- ceedings till I come, who hope to show myself the King's dutiful and in reference to his American Empire, not unuseful subject, and as well the Duke's most faithful friend, to serve him to my power, WiLLi.VM Pexx. " Philadelphia, The 8th of the 4th month (June), 1684." On the same day Penn addressed another letter to his " Noble and Old Friend " the Earl of Sunderland, who had been his classmate at Oxford University to incline his influence to his cause. As it is entireK' too l60 WM. PEXX IN AMERICA. long for our use (see Memoirs of Hist. Society, vol. IV. pp. 183-6), select the following extracts; " The station in which it hath pleased his Imperial Majesty to place me in his American Empire, com- mands this direction from me, and therefore excuseth the freedom of it, though the liberty thy former kind- ness giveth me would not let me despair of accept- ance, at least of pardon. My last gave some ac- count of the carriage of the Lord Baltimore, and his agents in reference to this Province and annexed coun- ties, conveyed to me by deed ' of feoffment from the Duke: since which time, he hath made great advances with what justice to me duty to his Majesty, and safety to himself, I leave to my superiors to judge." After going at some length over his difficulties, he remarks that " This doctrine hath tied the hands of the inhabitants of this place from absolute war on this part. I ^ tell them that our great Justinian must issue this difference, take this fort and get the victory ; and if the Crown itself disowns not the power of raising forces against subjects in rebellion, the Proprietary of Maryland, is more concerned to defend his fort against the King, than we are to defend ourselves against his fort, which .is plainly acting in a way of hostility against the subjects of our sovereign lord the King, now under his obedience and protection. " My humble motion from these premises is this, that though I am following this lord as fast as I can, my circumstances may be so far considered, at the TO THE DUKE OF YORK. l6l first, nothing may be done in this affair till I am on the spot. He took care to prolong my notices of his going for FLngland till gone, or just upon it, that I having all to do in reference to the settlement of this country, he might get the start, and endeavour to block up my way : but I hope these acts will find no matter to work upon to my disadvantage. My case is plain and fortified, by the very opposition of my adversary." Every candid reader, we thfnk, must admit that these letters of Penn are admirable, both in style and logic, with here and there a \'ein of satire mixed with caustic. This was one of the greatest troubles that attended the foundation of his colony, and to which it clung like a parasite to be fostered by its growth. The Governor on the 25th appointed James Harrison, William Yardley, Thomas Janney, John Otter, William Beeks, William Biles and Edmund Bennett, Justices ofthe Peace for the county of Bucks, as the records ofthe Court inform us. This would already denote a considerable increase in population since the organization of the county. On the 27th, Penn was present at the opening of the Court at Chester. A meeting of the Council was held in Philadelphia on the 25th of 5th month, at which the Governor pro- posed a law to suppress the sale of rum to the Indians in quantities. Robert Terrill and all others that are engaged in selling rum as aforesaid are ordered to ap- pear before the Board. For his doings Terrill re- 1 1 1 62 WM. PEXN IX AMERICA. ceived a reprimand from the Governor on the follow- ing day, and a proclamation was ordered to be issued to suppress the same. The Council was in session on the 28th, when they adjourned to the 14th of the fol- lowing month. John White and Robert Hall of Bucks county, on the 26th petitioned the " Dear Governor " that " we formerly did take up i 500 acres of land on Neshamin}- creek, which our father George White did purchase of thee. After this Edward Lovitt took up land back of us and did run upon our line, taking away a piece of meadow next the creek which John Swart lay claim to. Now this is to beseech thee to be mindful of ful- filling thy former promise, and also to inform thee that most people do look upon it as an unreasonable thing for John Swart to have a piece of meadow two miles from his habitation, without title and intercept us from the benefit of the creek for the width of near 1000 acres. So desiring thee to take this into thy consid- eration we remain thy loving friends and addressers." (i.) WHiat action the Governor took on this matter is unknown to us, and present it as an item of local in- terest in our early history not heretofore published. PREPARATIONS P'OR DEPARTURE. 1 63 CHAPTER XV. PENN's PREPARATIONS P^OR DEPARTURE. SAFE ARRR'AL IN ENGLAND. {August-October, 1684.'] We have now arrived in this work to the beg-innincf of August (6th month), 1684; when Penn had left his home, family and most of his friends one year and eleven months, and was actively engaged in making pre- parations for his return. As stated on the boundary question. Lord Baltimore had taken the advantage of him in an earlier start to P^ngland than he had ex- pected, and in consequence had written to the Duke of York and others that he intended speedily to follow to be enabled to confront him and attend to his claims personally before the Lords of the Committee of Trades and Plantations. It is probable, too, that he may have been also induced to return by hearing of his wife's illness, as we infer from his correspond- ence. On the 4th he appointed Nicholas More, William Welch, William Wood, Robert Turner and John PLck- ley, Prox'incial Judges for two years from this date ; 164 ^V-M. PENX IN AMERICA. " you and every of you behaving yourselves well therein, and acting according to the same." Their jurisdiction extended only to " the three Upper Countyes and Towne of Philadelphia." This, in fact, was the origin of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania. The Proprietary deemed it prudent before he em- barked on his voyage, to appoint three Commissioners to act as f^uardians in the government of the Province, in the event of his death or any other causality. The following is copied from the original on parchment with the great seal attached, and probably now pub- lished for the first time : " William Penn Proprietary and Governor of ye Province of Pennsilvania & }'e Territories thereunto belonging. To mj^ Trusty and Loveing Friends Tho. Lloyd, James Harrison & John Simcock. Not knowing how it may please Almighty God to deal with me in this voyage & considering of how great moment it is that the Administration of ye Govern- ment be carefully provided for in case of my Decease, before I return or send any other ordr or Commissions than what I leave behind me, Know yee that out of ye Singular regard I have to ye Wisdome Justice & Fidelit}', I have nominated constituted & appointed & do hereby nominate, constitute & appoint you Commissioners and Guardians in Gov-ernment to my dear Heir Springett Penn, of which the first named to preside according to Charter, &: in case of ye decease PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. 1 65 of my Heir before he comes of Age, then to ye next successively till of Age. Strictly charging all persons that they yield you ye same Obedience in ye Discharge of your Trust as if I myself were living or ye Minor were of Age, Charging you also before God, Angels and Men, that directly or indirectly you Act nothing to ye Injury of his Right or to ye Detriment of ye People, but that with wisdome you preserve ye Union of their Interests to ye mutual Joy & Benefit of }'e Governr & Governmt to ye best of your skill, & in case any of you should decease or remove from ye Province before my Heir come of Age, that then those that survive or remain shall chuse one in his stead for ye service aforesaid. Given at Philadelphia ye Seventh day of ye Sixth Month, One Thousand Six Hundred and Eighty Four, being ye Thirty Sixth year of ye King's Reign & ye Fourth of my Gov- ernment. ( I .) Wm. Penn." Mention has been made of Nicholas More, presi- dent of the Society of Free Traders, who arrived here in 9th month, 1682, and who held several important offices. A warrant was granted him the 5th of iith month of said year, for 9,