W55 
 

 DELIVERED 
 
 ON THE TWENTY-FOURTH OF OCTOBER, 1S26, 
 
 ^MB S(^(Oa^^T 
 
 FOR 
 
 THE COMMEMORATION OF THE LANDING 
 
 IVILLIAM PENN. 
 
 BY -ti I.' WHARTON, Esq. 
 
 PUBLISHES BT R£%tr£ST OF THE SOCIETI. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 H. C. CAREY & I. LEA— CHESNUT STREET 
 
 1836. 
 
fi 
 
 
 >N 
 
 SKEBHETT NINTH STREllT, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
At a meeting of the Society for the Commemoration of 
 the landing of William Penn, held at the Masonic Hall, 
 24th Oct. 1826, it was resolved, unanimously. 
 
 That the thanks of this Society be presented to Thomas 
 I. Wharton, Esquire, for the learned and eloquent dis- 
 course delivered by him this day, and that he be request- 
 ed to furnish a copy of it for publication. 
 
 By order, 
 
 RICHARD PETERS, President. 
 
 Attest, 
 
 Peter S. Du Ponceau, Secretary. 
 
DISCOURSE, ^c. 
 
 The memorable landing upon these shores of the 24th 
 of October, 1682, deserves, and must elsewhere receive, 
 a deeper consideration and a more elaborate survey, than 
 custom sanctions for a public discourse. There were con- 
 nected with that event so many circumstances of deep 
 root and extended ramification ; its moving causes are to 
 be sought so far from the sphere of its operation ; and it 
 contained within itself the seeds of so many momentous 
 occurrences, that the subject could not be exhausted with- 
 out larger draughts upon time and patience than are 
 usually honoured upon occasions like the present, when 
 little more is expected or can conveniently be attempted, 
 than a rapid sketch of some of the most important features 
 which the anniversary recals to mind. 
 
 Moved by these considerations, I shall leave to some 
 future and better-gifted orator, the task of delineating the 
 personal growth — if I may so call it — of our " great town." 
 The antiquary — for Pennsylvania has already her antiqui- 
 ty and her antiquaries — may recal from their long obli- 
 vion, the rude and sylvan shores of Coaquannock^ " the 
 grove of the tall pines," as they appeared a century and a 
 half ago, and contrast the minute subdivisions of property 
 at the present day, with the ample domains of the three 
 sons of Swen^ the Swede, who at the period of the land- 
 ing owned the whole of the city plot, and whose humble 
 wooden dwelling was standing, eighty years ago, at the 
 corner of Christian and Swanson streets. 
 
 The society, to whose good nature rather than judg- 
 ment, I owe the honour of addressing you on this occa- 
 sion, are in negotiation with an eminent artist, residing 
 
6 
 
 among ourselves, to paint the landing of the founder at 
 New Castle. The expense of this undertaking, which is 
 to be executed on a scale of no inconsiderable extent, has 
 had due weight with the Directors ; but they rely confi- 
 dently, and I am sure safely, upon the public feeling, of 
 whose existence they have had abundant evidence, in re- 
 lation to the patriarchs, whose blessed visit to this soil that 
 painting is intended to commemorate. The addition of 
 two hundred members to our list will be sufficient to cover 
 the expense ; and the expectation that they will be obtained 
 before the next anniversary, will not be thought extrava- 
 gant among a people, who have in a few years given no less 
 than seventeen thousand dollars for the privilege of view- 
 ing a single painting. At some future period the Society 
 may consign to the canvass the scarcely less memorable 
 landing upon the territory of the Swansons, at that " low 
 sandy beach," where the waters of the Dock creek, flow- 
 ing from some unknown interior, reflecting only the wild 
 grass and bushes which grew upon their margin, and bear- 
 ing upon their quiet surface nothing but the canoe of the 
 Indian, mingled their stream with that of the Delaware, 
 then equally wild, smooth, and undisturbed. In the suc- 
 cessive phases of the settlement as it waxed towards a city, 
 the laudator temporis acti would find enough to awaken 
 public interest. It is not for the sake of a poetical con- 
 trast only that it may be worth while to trace the progress 
 of local habitations from the primitive caves dug in the 
 steep bank of the river, to the wooden huts which more 
 adventurous settlers raised above ground ; from these to 
 the then costly edifices, two stories in height, and in which 
 bricks imported from England were the principal materi- 
 als ; and from this sera to that when dwelling houses were 
 erected at some distance from the river, and when Water 
 street ceased to be the resort of fashion and the abode of 
 all that was then wealthy or distinguished. 
 
 But it is not in the simplicity of private buildings only 
 that an antiquarian might find something worthy of com- 
 
memoration in primitive Philadelphia. When Juvenal 
 spoke of the 
 
 "Uno contentam carcere Romam," 
 
 he as little dreamed of the generation that was to come 
 after him, whose entire prison was to be contained in a 
 small hired room in a house of very moderate dimensions, 
 as he did of the existence of the hemisphere in which that 
 simple race was to flourish. Patrick Robinson^ is not a 
 very poetical name ; but it will doubtless find its way into 
 the verses of some future satyrist, who shall come to con- 
 trast the wealth, and the crimes, and the prisons of our 
 modern Rome, with the purity of that period, when the 
 said Patrick rented to the province of Pennsylvania an 
 apartment in his dwelling house for its bridewell, its pri- 
 son, and its penitentiary. The successive stages of civi- 
 lization, to apply the theory of a well known anecdote, 
 may be found in the hired room, in the wooden house 
 which stood on the scite of the present Jersey market, op- 
 posite to Lsetitia court, and which formed the second pri- 
 son, and in the more extensive buildings at the corner of 
 Third and Market streets, the next in the series, which 
 continued, I believe, to be the city prison until the erec- 
 tion of the present penitentiary. Passing from the recep- 
 tacles of crime to the administration of justice, a lively 
 interest might doubtless be created by anecdotes of that 
 happy simplicity, which dispensed with the forms as well 
 as with the profession of the law, and inflicted upon a cul- 
 prit convicted of forgery, no other punishment than the 
 payment of ten pounds, " in good money," towards the 
 building of a court house, and the obligation of listening 
 to a disquisition on the nature of right and wrong from 
 the worthy magistrate who happened to preside. 
 
 In questions of dress and manners a large portion of 
 every community finds itself deeply interested. No record, 
 I believe, exists of the prevailing fashions of Philadelphia 
 in the vear 1700; but some traits have come down to us. 
 
8 
 
 which hereafter may not be found unworthy of recollec- 
 tion. Those who are accustomed to consider broad cloth, 
 put together in certain shapes, as the only infallible test 
 of civilization, will doubtless be shocked to hear that 
 many of their christian predecessors, both male and fe- 
 male, were clothed in the skins of wild animals, made up, 
 I am afraid, without much regard to their set^ numbers of 
 which pervaded the remote and mysterious localities west 
 of Fourth street, and often crossed the paths of the pious 
 settlers on their way to the meeting house at the Centre 
 Square. Carpets, and curtains, and mirrors, which in this 
 age of refinement are as indispensable as chairs and tables, 
 were then matters to be read of and wondered at, rather 
 than used ; and I find it recorded, that in many of their 
 humble, but clean and peaceful dwellings, they enjoyed 
 no other light than what struggled through the dim and 
 cloudy isinglass. 
 
 If, however, inconveniences were experienced, and if 
 luxuries were wanting, which in this age have ripened into 
 necessities, there were, perhaps, circumstances to make 
 amends for the seeming evils, in the purity of life and in- 
 nocence of manners which a village population and village 
 habits, and the universal and hearty belief in the great 
 truths of the gospel, were sure to produce. That happy 
 period of simple manners and open doors has passed away; 
 and with the increase of population and the growth of lux- 
 ury if we have gained some advantages, we have parted 
 with others, which however insignificant they may sound 
 to the ears of persons accustomed to dwell upon the con- 
 flicts of parties and the revolutions of empires, had yet a 
 beneficial influence in producing that rich simplicity, that 
 sedate and quiet strength, that aversion to all mere glitter 
 and display, and that preference for the solid and substan- 
 tial, which constitute, and long may they constitute, the 
 distinguishing characteristics of Philadelphia. 
 
 Leaving, however, these antiquarian details to persons 
 better versed in that pursuit, I shall confine myself to the 
 
9 
 
 moral of the great drama ; and in taking a brief survey of 
 the circumstances which led to the eventful landing of the 
 patriarchs, and a hasty summary of some of its principal 
 results, I shall, perhaps, impose a heavy tax upon the pa- 
 tience and indulgence of at least a portion of thisavidience. 
 In the history of mankind there are certain great epochs, 
 which stand out, as it were, in bold relief, and manifest 
 the magnitude of their elevation, by the depth of the 
 shadow which they seem to throw upon the ages around 
 them. The seventeenth century of the Christian sera will 
 always be considered as one of those prominent periods 
 of human existence to which philosophy will resort for in- 
 struction, and poetry for inspiration, and upon whose 
 heights religion seems to have had a closer communica- 
 tion with " the Author and finisher of our faith." The 
 heavings of the human mind, weighed down by the accu- 
 mulated oppression of ages, were felt throughout Europe, 
 and were visible sometimes in religious, at others in politi- 
 cal convulsions, which rocked thrones and dominions, prin- 
 cipalities and powers, to their very foundation. In the 
 various changes and agitations of that eventful period 
 new elements were introduced into the political systems, 
 new combinations took place, and the seeds of principles, 
 which had been covered up for centuries, were thrown out 
 by this intellectual earthquake, and germinated anew. Of 
 the many remarkable events, however, of the seventeenth 
 century, perhaps no one is more memorable than the colo- 
 nization of the United States. Within the period of se- 
 venty-five years, from 1608 to 1982, the foundation was 
 laid in the wilderness of twelve vigorous republics, of a 
 lineage of freemen, destined by Providonce not only to 
 flourish and prosper under the benign auspices of free in- 
 stitutions, but even to exercise a controlling influence upon 
 the fortunes of the continent from which they sprung. 
 From the moment that the first footstep of the English 
 race was set upon these shores, the liberties of mankind 
 every where received an impulse and a security, which 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 might have been in the prayers but were hardly in the 
 hopes of men. The planting of a continent, upon which 
 God in his infinite mercy had bestowed a teeming soil, 
 and various but temperate climate, by a race of hardy, 
 virtuous, and pious republicans, at once scattered to the 
 winds all the monopolies of government and religion un- 
 der which the old world groaned. When the liberties of 
 his country perished beneath the sword of a military chief- 
 tain, Cato could discover no alternative between submis- 
 sion and the grave. Happily for the oppressed of our 
 days the horizon of human hope is enlarged. The sound 
 of the first axe that was applied to the forests of the United 
 States was heard beyond their confines, and across the At- 
 lantic. It echoed through the dungeons and palaces of 
 Europe, and rung the knell of many an ancient and many 
 a crying evil. It taught mankind, that from that time 
 forth there was thrown open to them a land of refuge, 
 to whose limits there seemed no bounds, and whose re- 
 moteness secured it even from the proverbially long arms 
 of monarchs ; and that, however general and grievous 
 might be the oppression and the persecution, the tyranny 
 and the bigotry of the old continent, another and a better 
 world was laid before them even on this side of the tomb. 
 The last in order of time of the English settlements 
 during the seventeenth century, and, with the single excep- 
 tion of Georgia, the last original settlement of English- 
 men upon this continent, was our own Pennsylvania. And 
 if ever it be allowable for men to give utterance to feel- 
 ings of pride and exult&tion in contemplating the charac- 
 ter and achievements of their ancestors, it may be permit- 
 ted to us, who on this day would recal to public recollec- 
 tion the virtues and the sufferings of those by whom the 
 foundations of this state were laid. History has pre- 
 served a record of colonies who have gone forth in quest 
 of mines of gold and silver, to recruit decayed fortunes, 
 and bankrupt characters ; others, like the first travellers 
 in Florida, have wasted their lives in the vain search for 
 
It 
 
 the fountains of immortality ; and others, again, have em- 
 barked in crusades against the heathen, for the glory ot 
 God and the acquisition of their lands ; but the patriarchs 
 of Pennsylvania, with a single eye to the welfare of their 
 race, reared up their primitive settlement as an asylum 
 for the desolate and oppressed, as a land of refuge for vir- 
 tuous and pious men, and of hope for a long posterity ot 
 freemen and christians. 
 
 About the middle of the seventeenth century a sect of 
 Christians, remarkably humble in their demeanour, scru- 
 pulous and intolerant of the ornaments of dress, and the 
 amusements of society, spiritualized and abstract in their 
 form of worship, and whose doctrines breathed the very 
 essence of" peace on earth and good will to all men," be- 
 gan to attract the notice of men in power by the rapidity 
 of their increase and the boldness of their assaults upon 
 established opinions. In the English dictionary, dissent 
 and persecution were for a long time convertible terms. 
 In their penal code, non-conformity with the established 
 church in religious practice constituted one of the most 
 heinous offences. It is not surprising, therefore, that the 
 penalties of crime were visited upon the Quakers with the 
 full measure of severity which the grievous sin of preach- 
 ing without license, and bearing their testimony, (as they 
 called it,) against the fashions of dress and furniture, so 
 abundantly deserved. They submitted, however, with 
 exemplary resignation, to imprisonment, fines, corporal 
 punishment, and what is still harder to bear, ridicule and 
 misrepresentation of their motives and deeds, until perse- 
 cution itself became wearied of victories from which no 
 laurels were to be won. The stubbornness of English 
 opinion, which centuries as they wash over it seem only 
 to consolidate and harden, left for the Quakers of 1680 as 
 little hope of emancipation as seems to be entertained for 
 the Roman Catholics of 1826, and compelled them to turn 
 their thoughts beyond the confines of Europe for some 
 vacant and unpolluted soil, where they might worship God 
 
12 
 
 according to the dictates of their conscience, and far from 
 kings and armies dwell under the shadow of their own 
 popular government. 
 
 At the head of the little but virtuous band, who for 
 freedom and conscience' sake, abandoned all the comforts 
 of home, and severed all the ties which bound them to 
 their mother country, to contend with the perils and hard- 
 ships of a distant and untried land, was that truly illus- 
 trious man, whom succeeding ages have delighted to ho- 
 nour as The Founder of Pennsylvania. I leave to others 
 the task of drawing the character, and relating the actions 
 of William Penn. Neither time nor opportunity admits of 
 that enlarged examination, which the subject demands and 
 deserves. Were I to confine myself on this occasion, to 
 a review of his personal history, and an enunciation of 
 his merits, and make them the subject of my discourse, 
 how could I hope, in the narrow space allotted to me, to 
 do justice to his vigorous but polished intellect, to the 
 fervour and honesty of his faith, the liberality of his views, 
 the sagacity of his designs, and the matchless purity of 
 his life and doctrines ? One hundred and eight years have 
 elapsed since the decease of this eminent man ; time 
 enough for testing the durability of reputations, and for 
 measuring the chances for what is called immortality. It 
 may be said with truth, — and it is worthy of consideration 
 of how few it may be said with equal truth, — that nothing 
 which the progress of time has unveiled, has diminished 
 a particle of the pure fame, with which his great light 
 went down below our horizon. In the setdement of Penn- 
 sylvania he proposed to himself no sordid or unworthy 
 object. No man ever went forth on the perilous enterprize 
 of colonizing, with loftier thoughts, or more enlarged 
 ideas. He looked undoubtedly to some personal recom- 
 pense for his losses and sufferings in England ; but such 
 considerations appear always to have been made subordi- 
 nate to his great object, the protection of conscience, and 
 the cultivation of virtue, of piety, and of freedom. His 
 
13 
 
 own words, which, as if he desired to be distinctly under- 
 stood as to his motives, he has twice repeated in his wri- 
 tings, afford a memorable index to his views : " Let the 
 Lord guide me by his wisdom, and preserve me to honour 
 his name, and serve his truth and people ; that an exam- 
 ple and standard may be set up to the nations : there may 
 be room there though none here^ (i. e. in England,) for 
 such an holy experiment^ 
 
 The experiment^ which was thus proposed to be tried 
 in Pennsylvania, was one of the most important which 
 human beings have ever attempted. In other hemispheres, 
 and under other circumstances, men have enjoyed partial 
 gleams of liberty, in civil or religious matters ; but it was 
 reserved for the lawgiver of Pennsylvania to determine 
 how great a measure of freedom is consistent with a vi- 
 gorous and well managed government, and to prove that 
 entire liberty of speech and action in matters of religion, 
 may well consist with an earnest adherence to the faith of 
 the gospel, and with a sincere and practical piety. 
 
 The example which he proposed to set up to the nations, 
 was one, of which, unfortunately for mankind, there have 
 been few precedents. In was an example of Christian 
 charity in its broadest and most Catholic sense, an exam- 
 ple of moderation and self-control in a persecuted sect 
 becoming themselves able to persecute ; and, finally, an 
 example of just and fair dealing towards the original in- 
 habitants and proprietors of the soil. 
 
 I propose to ask your attention on the present occasion 
 to abrief review of the several subjects I have just men- 
 tioned; and to a rapid consideration of the results of that 
 "holy experiment" which the Founder was happily ena- 
 bled to make in his beloved province. 
 
 I. No one circumstance, in the annals of Pennsylvania, 
 has made a deeper impression upon history, than the 
 treaty, or, more correctly speaking, the conference under 
 the £/m, which took place shortly afttr the landing of Wil- 
 liam Penn. That memorable and honoured tribute at the 
 
14 
 
 ahrine of public justice, which has called forth eulogiums 
 from philosophers and moralists in every part of Europe, 
 undoubtedly furnishes a legitimate subject of thanksgiving 
 for the people of this state. Whether we consider the ho- 
 nesty of the motive, the fairness of the whole proceeding, 
 or the faith which preserved it, we are entitled to look 
 upon it as an event by itself, one of those unique and 
 striking occurrences, which redeem and dignify the cha- 
 racter of our species, and gladden the dark pages of the 
 diplomatic dealings of civilized men with savages. 
 
 On a recent occasion, however, the opinion has been 
 expressed — by one to whose opinions on all subjects great 
 deference is due — that the example of treating with the 
 Indians for the purchase of their lands was not first set 
 by William Penn ; and that in this respect he merely con- 
 formed to a precedent set by others. With all the respect 
 I feel for the source of this opinion, I cannot subscribe to 
 it; at least without great qualification. 
 
 That, prior to the landing of William Penn, deeds of 
 cession were made in several cases by the Indians to their 
 European visitants, collectively or individually, is a fact 
 too well established to be denied, if there was a disposi- 
 tion any where to dispute it. Such was the case in New 
 Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, Maryland, and the 
 Carolinas, according to their several historians. But, what 
 appears to me to constitute the great and distinguishing 
 merit of the treaty under the elm, is the perfect fairness 
 of the transaction towards the Indians ; the equality oi 
 advantages with which they met the whites ; and the sin- 
 cerity and good faith with which the negotiations were 
 commenced and concluded. In that ancient fable which 
 describes the progress and consummation of the diploma- 
 tic alliance between the lion and the other beasts, we may 
 find a type of the treaties between Christians and the In- 
 dians of this continent. In most instances of negotiation 
 with the natives for the purchase of their land — I believe 
 I may say in all — prior to the time of Penn, the colonisf^ 
 
15 
 
 backed their suit with that powerful argument, that last 
 reason of kings, whose persuasiveness the defenceless na- 
 tives were unable to resist. They perceived on the part 
 of the Europeans a determination to keep hold of their 
 lands, for possession they had already taken, without 
 license ; and they could not but be sensible that the means 
 were at hand to enforce that determination which they 
 had no power to resist j and that peaceably or forcibly 
 their territory was to be obtained. William Penn, how- 
 ever, approached them with naked hands, with no other 
 armour than honesty of intention, no weapons but reason 
 and justice. No band of armed men was ready as make- 
 weights to fill up the deficiencies of argument; no for- 
 tresses frowned defiance upon the aborigines, and admo- 
 nished them to submit to inevitable necessity ; no reve- 
 rend expounder of the Divine Will applied to them the 
 scriptural prophecy, which gave to Christians " the hea- 
 then for an inheritance and the uttermost parts of the 
 earth for their possession," and denounced everlasting 
 vengeance upon them if they should presume to stand 
 between the Almighty and the fulfilment of his prophecy; 
 but all was openness and peace ; the dealings of men 
 whom the common father created equal in rights ; and 
 who — in the language which Penn himself addressed to 
 the Indians — were " equally accountable to him for all 
 the deeds done in the flesh." It was the unfeigned desire 
 of our progenitors — I again use the language of the Foun- 
 der — " to enjoy the province with the love and consent" 
 of those whom they found in the partial occupation of it, 
 and that love they hoped to gain "by a kind, just, and 
 peaceable life ;" and to preserve by the most exact and 
 even justice. 
 
 Herein, then, consists one of the points, (and a sufficientl)' 
 remarkable one,) of distinction between the negotiations 
 of Penn with the Indians, and those of other provinces; 
 that whereas, I repeat, in most other cases the Indians 
 were overawed by a military array or other irresistible 
 
16 
 
 force, and yielded their claims to what the emigrants were 
 already in possession of; in the instance of our own state, 
 the Founder, a year before his arrival, made known to 
 them his determination not to occupy an inch of the soil 
 without their full and free consent ; and in the never-to- 
 be-forgotten interview under the Elm, consummated that 
 intention, by a compact in which he met them as brethren 
 of a common lineage, and treated with them as the right- 
 ful proprietors of the soil. 
 
 Another remarkable circumstance about the treaties of 
 Penn, and which would itself be sufficient to distinguish 
 them from others made during that century, was their du- 
 rability. Unlike some other articles of the same name 
 which have been manufactured in different parts of this 
 continent, in recent as well as in the olden time, which 
 scarcely survived the cooling of the wax with which they 
 were sealed, the treaties of Penn were made for posterity 
 as well as for the existing generation. They were calcu- 
 lated, in honest good faith, for use, and not merely for 
 show, and to serve some present purpose. From the 
 landing of the Founder to about the middle of the last 
 century, a space of more than seventy years, the harmony 
 between the whites and Indians was uninterrupted by a 
 single deed of violence. During this period the positions 
 and the relative strength of the parties were entirely re- 
 versed. From a small and unarmed band with which the 
 settlement was commenced, the colonists had increased to 
 a powerful and populous nation ; while on the other hand, 
 by that fatality which seems every where to attend them, 
 the Indians had wasted to the very skeleton of their for- 
 mer strength. Of their rapid advances in strength, how- 
 ever, no advantage was taken by the government or people 
 of Pennsylvania. Their compacts were preserved invio- 
 late, the rights of these children of a common humanity 
 were scrupulously respected, and thus a prouder title and a 
 higher glory was gained for Pennsylvania than the most 
 brilliant triumphs that military tactics could obtain over 
 
17 
 
 this defenceless race. I allude to the appellation justly 
 bestowed upon the land of " unbroken faith." 
 
 That a similar degree of harmony existed between the 
 colonists of other provinces and the Indians of their vici- 
 nity, will not be asserted by those who have looked into 
 their histories with any attention. If we were to admit 
 that their treaties were made in good faith, and without 
 military control, it must still be conceded, on the other 
 hand, that they were not maintained in the same spirit. 
 The history of many of these states is in fact little more 
 than a monotonous detail of minute warfare with the ori- 
 ginal proprietors of the soil, a lamentable record of deso- 
 lated fields and smoking wigwams, of ambuscades, sur- 
 prisals, captivity, or bloodshed. Let these annals be con- 
 sulted, in no unfriendly spirit, and then let us turn to the 
 virgin page of Pennsylvania, pure as the character of her 
 Founder, and find renewed occasion for reverencing the 
 magnanimous but humble-minded men to whom we owe 
 so great a trophy. 
 
 I have been thus, perhaps tediously, diffuse on this 
 point, because the opinions I have alluded to are calcu- 
 lated, although certainly not intended, to dim the well- 
 earned glory which Penn has so long enjoyed among the 
 founders of empires. 
 
 II. In the settlement of Pennsylvania, William Penn 
 proposed to himself to set an example to mankind of re- 
 ligious charity ; to prove to the world that the forbear- 
 ance recommended by our holy religion can be practised 
 by its votaries ; that the reviled and persecuted need not 
 revile and persecute in their turn, and that the most ardent 
 piety, both of doctrine and life, is compatible with the 
 utmost allowance for errors of opinion in others. How 
 far he succeeded in this experiment is written in legible 
 characters upon our annals. At the very outset of his 
 government, he proclaimed to Europe principles, which, 
 at that benighted period, must have seemed like an emana- 
 tion from the fountain of all light. " Almighty God be- 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 ing the only Lord of conscience," (these are the words 
 of the first body of laws,) "the Father of Lights, and Spi- 
 rits, and the Author, as well as object of all divine know- 
 ledge, faith and worship, who only can enlighten the 
 minds, and persuade and convince the understandings of 
 ■people, in due reverence to his sovereignty over the souls 
 of mankind ;" and again, " Because no people can be 
 truly happy, though under the greatest enjoyment of civil 
 liberties, if abridged of the freedom of conscience, as to 
 their religious profession and worship;" it was studiously 
 provided, that "all persons 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 to live peaceably and justly in civil society, shall 
 in nowise be molested or prejudiced for their religious 
 persuasion or practice, in matters of faith or worship ; nor 
 shall they be compelled at any time to frequent or main- 
 tain any religious worship, place, or ministry whatever." 
 Here then is the corner-stone, which the builders of 
 other countries rejected, th£ broad and eternal basis 
 upon which the religious liberties of this commonwealth 
 were erected. In this single sentence, may be found the 
 secret of that rapid growth, and prolific prosperity, which 
 the first half century of Pennsylvania exhibited to the 
 astonished eyes of Europe. A commonwealth was erected, 
 with a rapidity only equalled by the massiveness of the 
 structure, which excluded from its limits nothing but per- 
 secution and intolerance. While in some other parts of 
 this continent a stern and cruel bigotry stood warder at 
 the threshold, and barred the gates against the entrance 
 even of Christians worshipping the same Saviour, or ad- 
 mitted only to persecute even unto death their brethren of 
 the same lineage ; Pennsylvania threw open her broad and 
 magnificent portals to every creed, to every complexion, 
 to everv race of mankind. In her vocabulary, the words 
 privilege and toleration were never found. Community of 
 rights and equality of power rendered the words obsolete. 
 
19 
 
 before they acquired significance. Taking her from her 
 cradle to her present maturity, it is impossible not to per- 
 ceive, that while in the perception and practical enjoyment 
 of the true principles of religious freedom, Pennsylvania 
 has always been a long way ahead of Europe, she is no 
 less clearly entitled to distinction and honour in compari- 
 son with her sister states, for an uniform and consistent 
 course of legislation on this subject. I say this without 
 meaning to except the states of Maryland and Rhode Isl- 
 and, and with a thorough knowledge of the claims that 
 have been advanced for them. I say this too with the 
 most sincere respect for the memory of the illustrious 
 men who were principally concerned in the settlement of 
 those provinces. It would ill become one who professed 
 to honour the principles upon which Pennsylvania was 
 founded, to breath a syllable in disparagement of the 
 names of Roger Williams and Lord Baltimore ; men, who 
 at the opposite extremes of Christianity, united in main- 
 taining the most enlarged and practical religious freedom, 
 and who in an age, even darker than that of Penn, seem 
 to have had distinct revelations of the true lights of poli- 
 tics. But, while these distinguished men will always re- 
 ceive the tribute of admiration for the purity of their 
 views, and the wisdom of their counsels, we must take 
 care not to confound their individual characters and sys- 
 tems, with those of the republics they established. It is 
 of the history of these states as a whole, and of their legis- 
 lation as a system, that I have to speak. When we find 
 then that Rhode Island not only expressly restricted her 
 toleration to believers in Christianity ; but, after the death 
 of Williams, excluded Roman Catholics from the benefit 
 of it; when we remember that in 1661, Maryland passed 
 an act, directing that all Quakers found in the province, 
 should be apprehended and whipped; and in 1696, by a 
 refinement of cruelty and impolicy, in the same breath, 
 enacted laws to encourage the importation of negro slaves, 
 and restrict the importation of Irish papists: when I say 
 
such statutes are found on the records of these states, it 
 is impossible at least to give unmixed praise to their le- 
 gislation. No such enactments stain the pages of our 
 annals. We can without a blush open our statute book, 
 and challenge the enquirer to put his finger on a single 
 enactment, in the long course of years, in which religious 
 impunity has been violated. The stake and the gibbet, 
 the rack and the whip, 
 
 " Luke's iron crown and Damien's bed of steel," 
 
 the tears of exile, even the sigh of imprisonment for re- 
 ligion's sake, happily, and honourably for this common- 
 wealth of ours, are matters, for the import of which, thank 
 God ! we must consult other annals ; I wish I could say 
 we must study other languages. In the midst of the 
 troubles and mortifications to which like all other human 
 institutions our commonwealth may be subject, when 
 taunted in one quarter, or slighted in another, let this be 
 our pride and consolation, that from the landing of the 
 patriarchs to the present day, through all the chances and 
 changes of an untried settlement, through colonial weak- 
 ness and revolutionary fever, the great tenet of free con- 
 science has still been uppermost ; and of the thousands 
 and tens of thousands, who have lived and died in the 
 belief of creeds as various and opposite as the human 
 will, not one being has suffered in person or property 
 from the most public expression of his religious tenets, or 
 the practice, no matter how unusual, of his form of worship. 
 
 III. If in the points I have mentioned, Pennsylvania 
 offered an example to mankind, interesting for its novelty 
 and glorious in its result, the experiments which the 
 illustrious Founder proposed to make in political philoso- 
 phy, were no less valuable and instructive. 
 
 Our excellent ancestors and predecessors M^ere — it is 
 well known — not statesmen by profession nor philosophers 
 by reading. They had not, previous to their arrival here, 
 taken degrees in the art of government j and to them 
 
21 
 
 political economy was as a sealed book. But they were 
 men of good education, and strong natural intellect, of 
 sound minds and unfettered opinions. Bringing with 
 them from their homesteads and workshops, these, and 
 no other materials for government; but animated by an 
 indestructible love for civil and religious freedom, to 
 which persecution had only made them cling more close- 
 ly, and guided by that sober and practical good sense, 
 without which all the philosophy and all the fancy of the 
 world avail nothing, they erected on these shores of re- 
 fuge, an edifice, which, in its material features, succeeding 
 ages can do no more than copy. With these materials 
 common sense and right feeling, it is delightful and in- 
 structive to see what may be effected to reform laws, 
 eradicate abuses, and ameliorate the human condition. 
 What have in other countries been considered political 
 disorders of so much depth and magnitude as almost to de- 
 fy removal, have here been extirpated by a single bold, but 
 as with most other operations in this state, noiseless effort. 
 I repeat, that in the early constitutions of Pennsylvania, 
 are to be found the distinct enunciation of every great 
 principle, the germ, if not the development, of every 
 valuable improvement in government or legislation, 
 which have been introduced into the political systems of 
 more modern epochs. Name to me any valuable feature 
 in the constitutions of our confederacy, or for which pa- 
 triots are contending in other quarters of the globe, and I 
 will show you that our Pennsylvanian statesmen, before 
 the revolution, had sought out the principle, and either 
 incorporated it with their system, or struggled with the 
 rulers of the darkness of the old world for its adoption ; 
 and to secure its benefits maintained a persevering though 
 almost hopeless contest with that blighting privy council, 
 which so often came between them and their hopes, and 
 with all its pompous array of archbishops, chancellors, and 
 nobles, its Marlboroughs and its Sunderlands, set its 
 
g2 
 
 cold and cruel veto on some of the wisest, and some of 
 the purest schemes of human amelioration. 
 
 Indulge me for a few minutes in a brief retrospect of 
 the progress of government and legislation in Pennsylva- 
 nia during the early years of its colonial history. If to 
 some the survey shall want interest in its details, I flatter 
 myself that the result will not be useless, in exhibiting the 
 merits of our predecessors in, perhaps, new points of view. 
 Throughout it must be borne in mind, that the human con- 
 dition, as to intelligence and the dissemination of the true, 
 theories of government, has undergone a prodigious revo- 
 lution since the landing of Penn. When the state of men's 
 minds at that period is considered, we shall find renewed 
 cause of respect for those to whom so prophetic a know- 
 ledge of the coming light was vouchsafed, who could 
 emancipate themselves from the thraldom of prejudice, 
 and innovate and reform so boldly and fearlessly. But 
 let it be remembered, that the founders of our state are 
 entitled to our respect and admiration not only for what 
 they created and what they abolished, but for what they 
 preserved and what they maintained. If reform and in- 
 novation, even of the most radical kind, were at work in 
 the colony, it was not rashly or in mere theory, but in so- 
 ber and practical method, in the fear of God, and in the 
 love and reverence of virtue and order. And herein, I 
 take leave to say, consists the difference between the 
 commonwealth of Penn and those which, before and 
 since his time, visionary schemers have undertaken, in 
 this and other quarters of the globe. The Founder of 
 Pennsylvania was a reformer and an innovator, a repub- 
 lican doubtless in politics, and in religion a sceptic, so far 
 as regarded establishments, and an universalist in his pro- 
 tection of all manner of creeds and practices. But with 
 all this he was a devout and humble Christian, who in all 
 his works sought the glory of God, and the moral and re- 
 ligious improvement of his fellow creatures ; and was clear- 
 
23 
 
 sighted enough to distinguish between the pure light of 
 the gospel and that false and deceitful glitter, which so 
 many vain men had mistaken. The rock upon which this 
 Christian community was erected is that which we are told 
 from the highest authority, " other foundation no man 
 can lay." Our venerable lawgiver never fancied that he 
 had made any great discoveries in religion or morals of 
 which the world had before been ignorant. He issued no 
 declarations of mental independence, and threw off no al- 
 legiance to the sovereign of the universe. If he erected 
 a temple to liberty, it was to that sober and chaste divi- 
 nity, simple but majestic in her attributes, which in his 
 own time Milton and Sydney, and in ours Washington, 
 have worshipped ; not to that gaudy and meretricious idol, 
 which later times have witnessed, fit " to show the eyes 
 and grieve the hearts" of her adorers, and at whose altar 
 hecatombs of human victims have been immolated. 
 
 The political offspring of such minds and hearts as were 
 brought to the settlement of Pennsylvania, purified and 
 strengthened as they were by habitual draughts from the 
 perennial fountains of religion, were if not theoretically 
 imposing, at least practically excellent. 
 
 The constitution of government in Pennsylvania was at 
 all times essentially republican, and secured to the people 
 almost as ample a grasp of sovereignty as they have pos- 
 sessed since the revolution. While preparing his origi- 
 ginal frame of government, the Founder is said to have 
 studied the Oceana of Harrington, a speculative work, 
 written in imitation of Plato's Commonwealth, and abun- 
 dantly democratic in its principles and recommendations. 
 The influence of such pursuits on the mind of Penn is 
 sufficiently apparent in his first constitution, the preamble 
 to which proves, if proof were wanting, how closely and 
 habitually all power and government were in his mind re- 
 ferred to and connected with the true source and fountain 
 of "every good and perfect gift." After proving in this 
 preliminary discourse the divine right, not of kings, as 
 
was then the established theory in England, but of go- 
 vernment in general, because from our nature it is neces- 
 sary to restrain evil doers, and is thus, to use his own 
 words, " an emanation of the same divine power that is 
 both author and object of pure religion," he proceeds to 
 the subject of the particular frames and models of govern- 
 ment existing, which he dismisses with this brief but con- 
 elusive maxim, which embodies all the philosophy of the 
 subject: " Any government is free to the people under it, 
 (whatever be the frame,) where the laws rule and the peo- 
 ple are a party to those laws ; and more than this is ty- 
 ranny, oligarchy, or confusion." " Without a wise and 
 virtuous population, however," (says this great man,) 
 "good laws avail little;" "though good laws do well, 
 good men do better ;" " for good laws may want good 
 men, and be abolished or vacated by ill men ; but good 
 men will never want good laws, nor suffer ill ones." To 
 secure the continuance of a race of wise and good men, 
 he insists upon the importance of education, in a spirit 
 which was more than a century too early for England, in 
 which it was written. " Finally," (he says,) " we have, 
 (with reverence to God, and good conscience to man,) to 
 the best of our skill, contrived and composed the frame 
 and law of this government, viz. to support power in re- 
 verence with the people, and to secure the people from 
 the abuse of power j that they may be free by their just 
 obedience, and the magistrates honourable for their just 
 administration. For liberty without obedience is confu- 
 sion, and obedience without liberty is slavery." 
 
 The frame of government to which this admirable com- 
 pendium of the theory of politics is prefixed, carries on 
 its face pretty convincing proofs of the democratical lean- 
 ings of the founder of this democratical state. It pro* 
 vided at the very threshold for universal suffrage in its 
 broadest and most comprehensive meaning. All elec- 
 tions were to be made by the people at large, without dis- 
 tinction of rank, fortune, or freehold ; and the ballot-box. 
 
that " still small voice," that effects more valuable revo- 
 lutions than the sword, was introduced, probably for the 
 first time on this continent. The public affairs of the 
 province were to be administered by a governor, by a pro- 
 vincial council, consisting of seventy persons, elected for 
 three years, but vacating their offices by rotation, one- 
 third at a time, precisely on the principle and in anticipa- 
 tion of what has been so happily introduced into the con- 
 stitutions of the United States and of most of the states j 
 and by a general assembly, consisting of two hundred per- 
 sons, chosen annually by the people ; the number to be 
 increased with the increasing population ; so however as 
 not to exceed five hundred. The power of the governor 
 seems to have been limited in the most cautious manner. 
 He had no other veto on the passage of laws than what 
 arose from his presiding at the council, where he had a 
 treble vote. The judiciary was rendered more dependent 
 upon the popular will, than has been thought in modern 
 times consistent with an impartial exercise of their func- 
 tions. They were annually appointed by the governor, 
 out of a list of persons, annually elected by the provincial 
 council. 
 
 Thus popularly constituted, was the first government 
 of Pennsylvania, and thus prophetically, if I may so 
 speak, was it adapted to the land it was bound to. There 
 were other provisions, which I have not time to notice, in- 
 dicating no less remarkably the enlarged and benevolent 
 views of the author. It was especially provided — for ex- 
 ample, that the governor and council should establish 
 public schools, and encourage and reward the authors of 
 useful sciences and laudable inventions ; and committees 
 of the council were established for the express purpose of 
 preventing the mal-administration of justice, of encourag- 
 ing domestic manufactures, and of superintending "man- 
 ners, education, and arts, that all wicked and scandalous 
 living may be prevented, and that youth may be succes- 
 
sively trained up in virtue and useful knowledge and 
 arts." 
 
 A frame of government, devised in the closet, at a dis- 
 tance from the scene of its intended operation, and with- 
 out experience of the practical workings of constitutions, 
 Xvill probably require frequent amendment. The first 
 constitution of Pennsylvania, however, possessed fewer 
 defects than might have been looked for. The only prac- 
 tical inconvenience suffered from it, was in the clause fix- 
 ing the number of the council and assembly, which were 
 too numerous for the population of the time. In fact, at 
 the first assembly which met at Chester, only seventy-two 
 persons appeared for both these bodies. Shortly after- 
 wards the people petitioned for an alteration in this part 
 of the constitution ; and, with characteristic simplicity 
 and plain speaking, represented, that "the fewness of 
 their numbers, their inability in estate and unskilfulness 
 in matters of government, did not permit them to serve 
 in so large a council and assembly." On the 2d of April, 
 1683, a new charter was granted at Philadelphia, by the 
 provisions of which the number of the council was re- 
 duced to eighteen, three for each county, and the assem- 
 bly to six for each county, or thirty-six in all. In most 
 other respects the features of the original frame were re- 
 tained in the charter. Universal suffrage, rotation in of- 
 fice, in order, as it was expressed, " that all who were 
 capable and qualified may be fitted for government and 
 have a share of the care and burthen of it;" voting by 
 ballot, and other popular provisions were carefully pro- 
 vided for. An important improvement was made in the 
 judicial branch by enlarging the tenure of their offices 
 during good behaviour. The council were, however, to 
 name the judges, treasurers, and masters of the rolls, and 
 were annually to nominate all sheriffs, justices of the 
 peace, and coroners. Among the provisions of this in« 
 strument was one of entire and portentous novelty ; and 
 however excellent in principle it may now be considered 
 
in this country, so much at variance with the established 
 doctrines of the English law, that it must have required 
 considerable vigour of mind to introduce it. 
 
 The spirit of the English legislation respecting foreign- 
 ers is precisely in accordance with the popular theory, 
 which, in their and our common vocabulary, has made out- 
 landish signify something odious and repulsive. The 
 stranger who would seek an asylum in England, as a 
 country of comparative public freedom and personal se- 
 curity, finds the shore bristling with hostilities the mo- 
 ment he sets his foot upon it- He is disabled from hold- 
 ing land, either on purchase or by lease ; if a manufacturer 
 or mechanic he finds a statute in existence which forbids 
 his working on his own account ; and should he at a great 
 expense, and with almost insuperable difficulty, obtain a 
 special act of parliament for his naturalization, he is still 
 subjected to the mortification of perceiving, that he can 
 never become a member of parliament, or hold any office 
 however insignificant. All this supposes him to have 
 emigrated from a country at peace with England. Should 
 war break out, however, the law punishes him for the cir- 
 cumstance of his nativity by forfeiture of all his property ; 
 and even his personal security becomes dependent upon 
 the public favour. Such was the alien code of England 
 when the settlement of Pennsylvania took place. It is 
 well known that its severity has not been mitigated since 
 that period. The enlarged intellect of the Founder at 
 once perceived how cruel and impolitic were these re- 
 strictions ; and as early as 1683 he took care to make it a 
 constitutional provision, that if an alien who purchased 
 lands in the province should die before he could become 
 naturalized, his right and interest therein should, not- 
 withstanding, descend to his relations exactly as if he had 
 been a citizen. In this salutary innovation may be per- 
 ceived the germ of that enlightened system, which, in 
 spite of the counteraction of the privy council, so mate- 
 rially promoted the population and prosperity of the state, 
 
28 
 
 by inviting within her borders the sturdy and honest and 
 industrious Germans, the generous and warm-hearted 
 Irish, and the countless thousands of other races, who 
 have found in this land of blessings that security and en- 
 joyment which their native soil denied them. 
 
 Another provision, in the charter of 1683, destroyed at 
 one blow the whole body of the game laws, if so artificial 
 a system was capable of being transplanted here. " That 
 the inhabitants of this province may be accommodated 
 with such food and sustenance as God in his providence 
 hath freely afforded," liberty was given to all "to fowl 
 and hunt upon the lands they hold, and all other lands 
 therein not enclosed, and to fish in all waters in the said 
 lands, and in all rivers and rivulets." The same anxious 
 provisions for erecting public schools, and encouraging 
 and rewarding the authors of useful sciences, and lauda- 
 ble inventions, appear in this charter as in the first frame 
 of government. 
 
 The constitution, thus adopted, continued to be the 
 rule of government in Pennsylvania, from 1683, and 
 during the temporary recess of the proprietary dominion, 
 until November 1696, when, the Founder being in England, 
 a new charter was enacted by governor Markham with 
 the advice and consent of the assembly, which made some 
 important modifications of the original instrument. Ex- 
 perience seems to have proved the inconvenience of 
 numerous legislative bodies, since we find that the num- 
 ber of the council was again reduced to two for each 
 county, and the assembly to double that number for the 
 same district. The right of suffrage was restricted to 
 such as were free denizens, twenty-one years of age, and 
 who had fifty acres of land, or were otherwise worth fifty 
 pounds, and had been resident in the province for the space 
 of two years before the election. This restriction however 
 must have been little more than nominal, since there 
 were few, if any, at that period, who were not freeholders 
 or otherwise qualified. 
 
S9 
 
 There appears in this instrument, for the first time in 
 our history, a provision for the payment of members of 
 the legislature for their services. This also, it is well 
 known, was an innovation on the English rule. The sum 
 of five shillings per diem was to be allowed to the members 
 of the council, and four shillings to the members of the 
 assembly; sums which, if the alteration in the value of 
 money be considered, are not materially below what the 
 economy of the present generation admits. We also find, 
 for the first time recognized, the right of the people to 
 make use of an affirmation instead of an oath, whenever 
 their conscience appeared to them to require it. The prac- 
 tice was probably coeval with the settlement of the pro- 
 vince. 
 
 From 1696 to 1701, the charter I have just mentioned 
 was the constitution of the colony. On the return of the 
 Founder to the country of his affections, and as he appear- 
 ed earnestly to hope the place of his final rest, he granted 
 a new charter to the people at Philadelphia, on the 28th of 
 October, 1701. The first clause promulgated anew the 
 great principles of religious freedom, which had been 
 avowed at the outset of the province ; and the last sen- 
 tence declared, that " because the happiness of mankind 
 depends so much upon their enjoying of liberty of their 
 conscience, the first article, and every part and clause 
 thereof, should be kept and remain without any alteration 
 inviolably forever." 
 
 The provisions relating to the number of members of 
 assembly, and the rights and qualifications of the electors 
 and elected, appear to have been, in all respects, similar 
 to those of the charter of 1696. 
 
 Among the new principles introduced, however, were 
 two, which, as they were bold and signally valuable inno- 
 vations upon the common law brought over by the colo- 
 nists, deserve particular remark and remembrance. 
 
 In the penal code of England, distinguished as it is for 
 its severity, there were few more revolting features than 
 
30 
 
 those provisions which refused to persons accused oi 
 crime the advantage of counsel ta defend them, and the 
 benefit of witnesses upon oath. Against these inhuman 
 restraints wise and good men long remonstrated in vain ; 
 and the bench and the bar were reduced to the necessity 
 of eluding what they had no power to counteract. After 
 repeated efforts to induce the parliament to rescind or 
 modify these regulations, an act was obtained in 1701, 
 permitting witnesses to be heard on behalf of the accused j 
 but in this nineteenth century it is still the law of England 
 that, with the exceptions of treason and misdemeanour, 
 persons indicted of offences may not have the assistance of 
 counsel to explain their case to the jury, or refute the so- 
 phisms of the advocate for the crown. Even so recently as 
 the last session of the last parliament of Great Britain, an 
 effort to remove this stigma from their code was defeated. 
 The besetting fear of innovation triumphed over the plain- 
 est reasoning and the most humane appeals. It was not so 
 with our single-minded ancestors. To them antiquity was 
 venerable and valuable, precisely as it was useful, and no 
 farther. They had no such superstitious reverence for the 
 common law as to transplant to this soil her weeds as well 
 as her flowers . Innovation was their business, and equal and 
 exact justice between man and man was to be administer- 
 ed, let it cost what it might of Gothic or feudal relics. By 
 a single line, and with nervous brevity, they swept from 
 the criminal code of Pennsylvania these unjustifiable re- 
 straints upon the right of self-defence. By making it a 
 constitutional provision, " that all criminals shall have the 
 same privileges of witnesses and counsel as their prose- 
 cutors," they rendered the benefit permanent. 
 
 Another odious remnant of a barbarous age, which was 
 dispatched with as little ceremony and as much honest 
 boldness, as that I have just mentioned, was the common 
 law respecting suicides. That same code which confound- 
 ed together crime and accusation, by refusing the means 
 of defence to persons indicted, had, in its provisions for 
 
31 
 
 the case of self-destruction, displayed no less humanity 
 and wisdom. It often happens in the calamitous event of 
 suicide, that a family of helpless infants is left without 
 their head and support, to derive what subsistence they 
 may from the estate of their parent. It has pleased the 
 English law to direct in such case, that the goods of the 
 unhappy suicide, his whole property, as it may be, shall 
 be swept into the public coffers, by way, as it is called, of 
 punishment for the crime ; and this rule knows no excep- 
 tion except in case of lunacy. The manly sense of the 
 Founder and his legislature revolted at this hideous in- 
 justice, and extinguished it, together with another super- 
 stitious absurdity of the same system, in one short but 
 comprehensive sentence : " If any person through tempta- 
 tion or melancholy shall destroy himself, his estate, real 
 and personal, shall, notwithstanding, descend to his wife 
 and children, or relations, as if he had died a natural 
 death ; and if any person shall be destroyed or killed by 
 casualty or accident, there shall be no forfeiture to the 
 governor by reason thereof." 
 
 It was under this charter that Pennsylvania was govern- 
 ed from the year 1701 to the period of the revolution. 
 
 Thus, from the foundation of the state to its entire 
 emancipation from foreign control, it will be found that 
 its inhabitants had secured for themselves a degree of po- 
 litical freedom to which the revolution, glorious as it was, 
 could add little ; and, if their form of government be com- 
 pared with those of other colonies, it will be found in most 
 cases far beyond them in practical usefulness as well as 
 in excellence of doctrine. 
 
 From this rapid view of the history of our early consti- 
 tutions, let us turn to the progress of legislation in our 
 commonwealth. Under a popular government legislation 
 may be considered one of the surest indicia of the current 
 of public feeling, and perhaps may be called the barome- 
 ter of public intelligence. If this be true, we shall find 
 \ipon the most critical examination of our statute book, 
 
3;5J 
 
 that, whether we look at the laws relating to political and 
 personal rights, or those affecting property, we shall have 
 no cause to be ashamed of either the sagacity or sound- 
 ness of heart of our early lawgivers. 
 
 The laws relating to political rights will be found in 
 perfect accordance with the liberal provisions of the se- 
 veral charters. In the same lofty spirit of freedom which 
 breathes through the whole frame of government, it was 
 declared by one of the earliest laws, that "no tax should 
 be laid but by virtue of a law made by the freemen of the 
 province ; and whoever should collect or pay a tax, other- 
 wise laid, should be held and punished as an enemy and 
 betrayer of his country." Let it be remembered that this 
 declaration of political orthodoxy was promulgated six 
 years before the revolution, which deprived James II. of 
 his crown, had sanctioned the utterance of similar senti- 
 ments in England. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no branch of legislation, in regard 
 to which Pennsylvania is entitled to so much distinction, 
 as that relating to crimes and punishments. At the period 
 of the settlement of Pennsylvania, the penal code of Eng- 
 land was remarkable, even among the European systems, 
 for the confusion and incongruity of its enactments, and 
 the severity of its denunciations. The philosophy of pe- 
 nalties was then either unknown or unheeded ; and go- 
 vernments who, according to the practice of the times, 
 scattered the punishment of death almost broadcast among 
 offenders, reaped nothing but a renewed harvest of crime. 
 Seventy years before Beccaria enlightened Europe by his 
 sagacious and humane reflections upon punishments, the 
 soundest of his theories and the most judicious o£,,his re- 
 commendations had been put' in, operation bylthe law- 
 givers of Pennsylvania. In their plain and. unvarnished 
 code, without a word of declamation, or a syil^^f about 
 philosophy and the fitness of things, they settled in a few 
 lines the whole of what philanthropists in other countries 
 have since be€n contending for with so much earnestness 
 and anxietv. 
 
33 
 
 The history of this attempt at reformation, (for so it 
 proved,) may be briefly told. By the charter of Charles 
 II. it was provided, with all the tenderness of maternal 
 care, that the laws of the colony respecting felonies should 
 be the same with those of England, until altered by future 
 legislatures, who were directed to make their acts " as 
 near as conveniently may be to those of England." In 
 the opinion of William Penn and his fellow colonists it 
 was not convenient^ for a moment, to naturalize on this 
 shore a code of laws which breathed death in every line. 
 Accordingly, i7i the great law, the whole of the English 
 system was abrogated, and a new and more rational 
 scheme introduced. One crime, and one only, was to be 
 punished with death, namely, malicious and premeditated 
 murder. For all others, in anticipation of the modern 
 theory, the punishment was to be imprisonment at hard 
 labour for various periods, according to the enormity of 
 the offence ; and in some cases forfeiture of estate to the 
 party aggrieved. Thus at one blow, were upwards of 
 one hundred capital felonies extinguished, by providing 
 in their place temperate and practical modes of punish- 
 ment. As soon, however, as the intelligence of this sacri- 
 legious innovation upon the existing code reached Eng- 
 land, the privy council, scandalized and indignant, re- 
 pealed the obnoxious act, and directed the English laws 
 to be forthwith restored. Regardless of their injunction, 
 the assembly of the province, without a moment's delay 
 re-enacted the same merciful provisions ; and holding to 
 them with a tenacity which cannot be sufficiently com- 
 mended, they succeeded in making them the rule of con- 
 duct in Pennsylvania for a quarter of a century. The 
 British government had not, however, given up the con- 
 test. Unable by direct means to force their criminal 
 code upon the legislature, they contrived an ingenious 
 mode of effecting their object. The principal offices of 
 government had been from the first settlement in the 
 hands of the Quakers, whose conscientious scruples pre- 
 vented their taking an oath ; and the privilege of using an 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 aflfirmation in lieu thereof, although adopted in practice, 
 had never been positively granted by the British govern- 
 ment. Thus inflexible on the subject of capital punish- 
 ments, the Quakers were told from high authority, that 
 unless they came into the views of the mother country, in 
 this respect, the laws requiring oaths instead of affirma- 
 tions, would be rigidly executed. Forced then to choose 
 between the restoration of the British code, and the sus- 
 pension of the powers of government, they adopted the 
 first, (or rather a modification of it,) as the least evil ; and 
 in this way did the remarkable stubbornness of the British 
 ministers in the cause of sanguinary punishments triumph. 
 It must not be supposed, however, that capital punish- 
 ments were, in point of fact, inflicted to the extent they 
 desired. The law was rarely, if ever, enforced ; and when, 
 in consequence of the revolution, it became no longer ne- 
 cessary to ask leave of the privy council, the first opportuni- 
 ty was taken, again to introduce the code of reformation 
 and mildness. 
 
 Closely connected with the subject of punishment, prison 
 discipline occupied equally the attention of our predeces- 
 sors; and here fortunately they were not destined to meet 
 with counteraction from the privy council. From their 
 English recollections, however, they derived no benefit. 
 At the period of their emigration, and long afterwards, 
 European prisons were mere dungeons of safe keeping 
 for those who were destined to, or had fortunately escaped 
 the gallows. The security of the prisoner was the sole 
 object of the keeper; the reformation of morals or the 
 public example, seems never to have occupied a moment's 
 consideration ; and pf ovided the usual, but exorbitant fees 
 or garnish were paid to the jailer, the prisoners were per- 
 mitted to pass their hours in idleness or intemperance. With 
 a clearer view of the true principles of the subject, and with 
 a brevity which is remarkable in all their proceedings, 
 our ancestors provided in the tenth section of the great 
 /ctw, that ^^ all prisons shall be work-houses ; and that one 
 shall be erected in each county ;" and in the thirteenth 
 section " that all prisons shall be free as to fees, food, and 
 
35 
 
 lodgings." A provision sotnewhat novel, and of more 
 questionable policy, seems to have limited the labour of 
 prisoners to the remuneration of the individuals whom 
 they had injured, by directing that felons committed to 
 prison should be compelled to hard labour, " until the 
 party injured be satisfied." 
 
 It was not however only by reforming punishments, 
 and by introducing labour and economy into jails, that 
 William Penn sought to preserve his infant community 
 from crime. That far-sighted patriot reflected deeply on 
 the moral constitutions of men, and seems to have satis- 
 fied himself that the prevention of crime was better for 
 all parlies than the punishment of it ; and to effect this 
 purpose, that the discipline outside of penitentiaries 
 ought to be similar to that within them, namely labour 
 with moral and religious training throughout the commu- 
 nity. Accordingly in the earliest of the laws we find an 
 express provision that " all children of twelve years of 
 age — without discrimination — should be taught some 
 useful trade;" and thus qualified to gain an honest and 
 competent livelihood. Universal education, which at the 
 present sera is the public-spirited care of so many good 
 men among us, was then as it is now, looked upon as the 
 necessary prop of universal suffrage. In 1683, only one 
 year after they had landed, and before they had well 
 housed themselves from the inclement atmosphere, it was 
 enacted " that all children should be taught to read and 
 write by twelve years of age ;" thus early endeavouring 
 to secure a race of intelligent and educated mechanics 
 and tradesmen by teaching them morals before twelve, 
 and an useful trade after that age. In 1693 another act 
 made more particular provision for " the education of 
 youth." 
 
 An enactment of not less value is to be found both in 
 the laws agreed upon in England, and in the great law ; 
 one which nevertheless has not yet been adopted in prac- 
 tice, I allude to that which directs that " the laws shall 
 be printed and taught in schools." If he who hung up 
 
36 
 
 his laws so high that his subjects were punished without 
 the possibility of comprehending them, is deservedly 
 reprobated in history, surely that legislator deserves a 
 distinguished place in the catalogue of public benefactors, 
 who makes his enactments familiar to the humblest capa- 
 city, and enables them to become the theme of daily 
 meditation. In consequence of the multiplicity and in- 
 congruity of our laws, it may not be easy at the present 
 time of day to give full effect to Penn's recommendation; 
 but the excellence of it wherever practicable is sufficiently 
 obvious. In our higher seminaries of learning such as 
 the universities and colleges, it seems to me, that an ab- 
 stract of the laws, which would contain all essential parts, 
 and only prune them of forms, might be taught with per- 
 fect convenience and decided advantage. 
 
 Upon the spirit of our legislation relative to slavery 
 and slaves, I might if time admitted of it, enlarge with 
 equal satisfaction and pride. For, it is no small tribute 
 to our commonwealth to say, that within her borders, so 
 far back as the year 1688, there emanated from an asso- 
 ciation of individuals the first protest against negro sla- 
 very that the world had yet heard. It was literally a voice 
 crying out of the wilderness ; and a century elapsed be- 
 fore that voice found an echo on the other side of the 
 Atlantic. It must not be forgotten, too, that this early 
 denunciation of slavery proceeded from the first German 
 settlement in Pennsylvania ; from the root of that popu- 
 lation which now forms so large a proportion of our state, 
 and which, however it may have suffered from the taunts 
 of other quarters of the union, is entitled to no small 
 praise for its inflexible patriotism, its patient and untiring 
 industry, and its exemplary integrity. This memorable 
 protest was issued by the German Quakers who settled 
 at Germantown near this city about the year 1682. Eight 
 years afterwards the general yearly convention of the 
 Society of Friends in Philadelphia recommended, that no 
 more slaves should be brought in, and that those who 
 were unfortunately in the province should be morally and 
 religiously treated. 
 
37 
 
 Having thus early taken up arms against this pestilent 
 evil, our ancestors went to the extent of their ability in 
 checking its progress. Here, however, as in most other 
 attempts at reformation, they found themselves thwarted 
 by the privy council, which with remarkable pertinacity 
 successively and regularly repealed every law imposing 
 checks on the further importation of slaves. So early as 
 1705 a duty was laid on negroes imported, which was re- 
 newed in 1710; and in 1711, without farther circumlocu- 
 tion, a bold and honest act was passed, forbidding, in ex- 
 press terms, the introduction of slaves for the future. 
 The law, however, did not survive its passage across the 
 Atlantic, but, as may be supposed, was forthwith repealed 
 by the privy council. Foiled in this attempt, the assem- 
 bly endeavoured in the next year to effect the same ob- 
 ject, by imposing a duty of twenty pounds per head, which 
 in fact amounted to a prohibition ; but the ever-waking 
 jealousy of the privy council again interposed, and again 
 defeated them. It would tire the patience of this or any 
 other assembly, if I were to relate the various experiments 
 practised by the provincial legislature to avoid, and the 
 successful measures of the British government to fasten 
 upon them, this accursed traffic. I have counted no fewer 
 than fifteen acts of assembly upon our statute books, all 
 passed prior to the revolution, with the same object, the 
 abolition of slavery. The harvest of good works, which 
 though sometimes delayed, never fails eventually to take 
 place, came for Pennsylvania in 1780, when an act, 
 equally noble in its language and objects, put an end to 
 the slavery of negroes in this state forever. 
 
 Indian slavery existed only for a short period in Penn- 
 sylvania. All that is known respecting it is derived from 
 the act by which it was abolished. The preamble to this 
 law, which was passed in 1705, declares that " the impor- 
 tation of Indian slaves from Carolina or other places hath 
 been observed to give the Indians of this province some 
 umbrage for suspicion and dissatisfaction ;" and the act 
 then provides that no Indian slave should be imported for 
 
38 
 
 the future, and every one then imported should be set at 
 liberty. We may gather from this act, (which fortunately 
 escaped the destroying sword of the privy council,) how 
 tender our ancestors were even of the feelings of the abo- 
 rigines. Of the spirit of the negotiations between the 
 Founder and the Indians I have already spoken. The 
 same mild and generous system appears throughout our 
 whole legislation in respect to them. The utmost cau- 
 tion seems to have been used to guard them in the course 
 of traffic from suffering by the superior acquirements of 
 the whites, and at the same time to secure them an equal 
 measure of justice in all controversies. It was especially 
 provided, that if any one by word or deed should affront 
 or wrong an Indian, he should incur the same penalty as 
 if the offence had been committed against a white man ; 
 and that all differences between the planters and the na- 
 tives should be settled by a jury composed of six of each ; 
 and by another act it was declared, that no individuals 
 should be permitted to purchase lands of the Indians. 
 
 While with a sound policy and a liberal humanity our 
 ancestors encouraged the emigration of Europeans, with 
 moral and industrious habits ; and rendered it their in- 
 terest to become orderly and useful citizens, by granting 
 them at once the right of holding lands, and exercising 
 public offices, they took care to discriminate between 
 these, and the vicious and dissolute, the outcasts of pri- 
 sons, whom the cruel policy of England attempted to force 
 upon this country. Every measure of counteraction short 
 of open resistance to the dominion of England was re- 
 sorted to, to exclude this foul pestilence. Act after act 
 was passed imposing duties upon the importation of con- 
 victs, amounting in substance to a prohibition, which like 
 the tariff on slaves, were as regularly repealed at home, 
 until finally the British government, either wearied with 
 the contest, or learning to respect the motives of the 
 colonial legislature, abandoned their opposition ; and the 
 importation of convicts which never arrived at any con- 
 siderable height, ceased altogether. 
 
39 
 
 I have dwelt so long and I am afraid so tediously upon 
 the spirit of our early laws respecting persons, that al- 
 though an ample and most prolific and gratifying field is 
 before me, I must not venture to do more than briefly al- 
 lude to the legislation upon property. If the rights of 
 persons were guarded by our ancestors with a spirit and 
 sagacity beyond their age and growth, we may see in their 
 laws of property equal proof of their sturdy republican- 
 ism, and admirable good sense. They brought with them 
 from England a code of laws respecting real estates, the 
 legitimate and acknowledged offspring of the feudal sys- 
 tem, and perfectly well adapted to the constitution of that 
 country, but inconsistent with the genius and operations 
 of a republic. Such were the laws relating to the descent 
 and alienation of lands which survived only a short time 
 their transplantation to our soil. The assembly which met 
 at Upland or Chester, in December 1682, and which in a 
 session of three days — about the length of a modern 
 speech — adopted a constitution and passed sixty-one laws, 
 ought to occupy a distinguished station in our history. Its 
 first act was to destroy the odious right — as it is called — 
 of primogeniture, and to distribute equally among all the 
 children, female, as well as male, that which by the law 
 of England went exclusively to the eldest son. Subse- 
 quent laws made certain modifications of this provision ; 
 but the great principle was continued through the whole 
 of the colonial history, until the comprehensive acts of 
 1794 and 1797, placed our law of descents upon a sure 
 and safe footing. 
 
 A change, no less important and desirable, took place 
 with respect to parents. Extraordinary as it may seem to 
 persons not familiar with the firmness of their adherence 
 in England to ancient rules, it is at the present day, as it 
 has been for centuries the law of that land, that an estate 
 — to use the professional phrase — can never ascend. The 
 origin of the rule is to be found, of course, in the 
 feudal system ; the reason for its continuance, as given 
 by some learned writers, is, that by the laws of gravity. 
 
40 
 
 heavy bodies, such as real estates, must always descend. 
 Consequently, when a son dies leaving real estate in Eng- 
 land, but without children, his father, however needy and 
 meritorious, will, by law, receive no part of it, but the 
 whole will pass to his other relations, however remote. 
 We have reason, I think, to congratulate ourselves, that 
 this never was the law of Pennsylvania. At the moment 
 of the landing of the patriarchs, they abrogated this vestige 
 of a Gothic code, and provided, by a special enactment, 
 that in case an intestate should leave no children, nor bro- 
 thers or sisters, one-half of his estate should go to his 
 parents, and the other half to his next of kin. In the same 
 spirit they threw down the embankments which the Eng- 
 lish policy had raised against the general transmission of 
 real property, in order to confine it in particular channels, 
 and secure the importance of noble families. By an act 
 passed in 1700, they directed that all deeds acknowledged 
 in open court, and duly recorded, should have the same 
 force and effect in barring estates tail, as fines and reco- 
 veries at common law ; modes of proceeding too refined 
 and technical for the simple and straight forward sense of 
 our ancestors. One more instance may be mentioned of a 
 very early as well as very beneficial departure from the code 
 of the mother country. It is another of the principles of that 
 feudal system, from which, if the English law has derived 
 some good lessons, she has also inherited a variety of dis- 
 orders, that landed property cannot in general be made lia- 
 ble for the debts of its deceased owner. It may surprise 
 some, who are familiar with our simple but effectual method 
 of making lands pay debts, to be told, that in this present 
 age, in the enlightened and commercial community of 
 England, a man may die possessed of thousands of acres, 
 and hundreds of houses, and yet, unless under special 
 circumstances, as when he happens to bequeath his real 
 estate for the payment of his debts, a creditor, however 
 meritorious, who has not taken the precaution of securing 
 his debt by a bond in which the heir is expressly named, 
 may find himself without the means,, either in law or 
 
equit)'-, of compelling the payment of a farthing of his 
 claim. Such a system was too unjust in itself, and too 
 little suited to the condition of a new country, to be long 
 tolerated by the lawgivers of Pennsylvania. Accordingly, 
 we find, that by the great law it was directed, that all 
 lands and goods should be liable for the debts of a de- 
 ceased person, unless there was issue, and then all the 
 goods and half the land, in case the land was bought be- 
 fore the debt was contracted. In 1688, however, the whole 
 of the English law, in this respect, was done away with, 
 and it was enacted that all lands whatever should be liable 
 to sale upon a judgment against the defendant, his heirs, 
 executors, or administrators ; and such has ever since 
 been the honest and salutary law of this happy land. 
 
 I might mention many other facts illustrative of the 
 thorough reformation effected in the laws respecting real 
 property ; such, for example, as the enactments so early 
 as 1682, respecting the recording of all charters, gifts, and 
 conveyances of land, mortgages, bills, bonds, and special- 
 ties, except leases for a year and under; whereby a great 
 defect in the English law which that people have suffered 
 from, and been complaining under for centuries, without 
 having the courage or skill to remove it, was obviated at 
 once, and in a few lines. In the succeeding year the as- 
 sembly perceiving the inconvenience and reproach that 
 were produced by the redundancies and technical obscu- 
 rity of the prevailing forms of conveyance, enacted, that a 
 certain simple form, comprised within five lines, and ex- 
 pressed in the plainest language, should thenceforward be 
 used on all occasions of the transfer of property. The 
 deed was to be acknowledged in open court, to be certified 
 under the seal of the court, by the clerk, and duly re- 
 corded. This manly attempt to reform the abuses of 
 conveyancing was not, however, successful. The law was 
 repealed, I believe, a few } ears afterwards, but it has left 
 its traces upon our practice ; and wliether it be owing to 
 the want of skill or the good sense of the early practition- 
 ers, I will not undertake to determine, but it is certain 
 that the broad dull river of words which meanders over 
 
 6 
 
4S 
 
 so manj' feet of English parchment, is with us contracted 
 into a narrower, and I fancy, clearer stream. 
 
 In the laws relating to the administration of justice, the 
 philosophic observer, who reflects upon the character of 
 the system brought over to the province, will find much 
 to admire, and something deserving imitation, even in 
 these days of general reformation. When we find so 
 early as 1682, a provision that persons of all descriptions 
 might appear and plead their own causes, and that all plead- 
 ings, processes, and records, should be in the English 
 language ; in 1683, an anxious attempt to abolish impri- 
 sonment for debt, by introducing writs of summons, in- 
 stead of arrest, and making the sphere of their operation 
 so extensive as to embrace almost the entire community ; 
 in 1706, repeated efforts to simplify the action of eject- 
 ment, that monument of the awkwardness of English 
 pleading, and, (to use the words of the assembly,) to pro- 
 vide " a speedy and expeditious way, void of colour or 
 fiction for trial of titles of land," all of which, with other 
 attempted improvements, such as the abolishing of 
 sheriff's juries, and requiring all issues for the assessment 
 of damages to be tried in court, were defeated by the 
 council, when I say these and many others, which I must 
 omit, are considered, we must again be led to remark how 
 much the early assemblies of Pennsylvania were in ad- 
 vance of their age ; and we must equally be struck with 
 observing, how many of these laws have subsequently 
 been adopted in other states and countries, with evident 
 advantage and satisfaction. When we find them at the 
 same time, though under circumstances of great tempta- 
 tion, rejecting a proposed law to fix a price upon grain, 
 and negativing a bill which went to exclude attornies 
 from pleading for reward ; we cannot fail to admire their 
 calm good sense in avoiding extremes on the popular side 
 of the question, as well as their manly boldness in the 
 eradication of existing abuses. 
 
43 
 
 If, at the period of the settlement of the province, one 
 of the professional statesmen of that sera had been consult- 
 ed upon the probable issue of the experiment, his opinion 
 would probably have contained a lamentation over the 
 folly of the misguided projectors, and a prophecy of all 
 manner of disappointment and evil upon their heads. 
 " What good," (it was probably asked,) " can be expected 
 to come from a people who set out with a declared inten- 
 tion to tolerate every species of religious dissent, and to 
 regard with an equal eye, and favour with an equal hand all 
 the progeny of Christianity? What is to be looked for from 
 such an innovation upon the doctrine of religious primoge- 
 niture but dissent, disorder, indifference, and irreligion? 
 Who can anticipate any thing short of wild and lawless im- 
 morality from a community which almost abolishes the pun- 
 ishment of death, and permits criminals to have the aid of 
 counsel and witnesses on their trial ? What kind of stability 
 is to be looked for in a government which admits foreigners 
 to equal privileges with the founders, and proclaims the 
 mischievous doctrine of universal education ? In a word, 
 what but riot and misrule, early profligacy and premature 
 decay, are to be expected in a people whose government 
 rests on universal suffrage, without the aid of a monarch, 
 a nobility, or an established church ?" 
 
 Such, or similar to these, were doubtless the ejacula- 
 tions of many grave persons when our primitive constitu- 
 tions were promulgated. " Such are still the exclamations 
 of European reviewers and sophists, regardless of the les- 
 son which our history has taught. It is a triumphant an- 
 swer, that the experience of our state enables us to fur- 
 nish ; and it is thus, as I have before said, that we have 
 lived, not for ourselves alone, but happily for the benefit 
 of mankind in general, for the consolation and encourage- 
 ment of the friends of freedom in other parts of the world, 
 and for the signal discomfiture, by our conclusive exam- 
 ple, of those missionaries who are every where preaching 
 that there is no security for property or morals but in the 
 throne ; no permanence for religion but in an established 
 and exclusive faith. 
 
 One hundred and forty-four years have passed over 
 this state. During that period the little colony which came 
 
44 
 
 over in " the good ship Welcome,'" has multiplied to a 
 population of a million and a quarter of souls, not a great 
 way behind the entire population at the time, of one of 
 the three kingdoms from which they came forth.* This 
 numerous people inhabit a territory generally cultivated 
 with considerable industry and skill, and crossed and 
 ploughed with roads and canals, to an extent, and at an 
 expense, which no equal population of Europe has ven- 
 tured to undertake ; are remarkably sedate and obedient 
 to the laws ; are prosperous and contented far beyond any 
 degree of comparison which our language affords; and in 
 the great question of religion and morals, of faith and works, 
 may confidently appeal to their unspotted history, and to the 
 evidences which surround us, of their existing condition. 
 For a delineation and detail, not less just than eloquent, 
 of the manifold blessings of our present situation, I gladly 
 refer to the discourse delivered in this place on the last 
 anniversary by my distinguished predecessor. Did the 
 present time admit of the undertaking, I could not hope 
 to add a single trait of value to the striking exposition he 
 has given, of the indications of substantial prosperity, 
 sound morals, and intellectual excellence, visible in the 
 progress of our population, in the extent and value of our 
 commerce and manufactures, in the successful cultivation 
 of literature and the fine arts, in the rapid and certain in- 
 crease of internal and architectural improvements, and in 
 the results of a strict and general attention to religious 
 and moral discipline. This is the harvest which we are 
 now reaping from the toils and sufferings of our forefa- 
 thers. These are the certain and victorious evidences of 
 the soundness of those principles, which, in spite of evil 
 report and malicious prognostic, our venerable lawgiver 
 incorporated into our political constitutions, which have 
 grown with and corroborated our growth ; and — let us 
 fervently hope — will, with the continuance of the Divine 
 blessing, continue to abide with, and nourish us hereafter. 
 
 * Sir William Petty estimated the population of Ireland in 1672 at 1,320,- 
 000. According- to Captain South, however, it was in 1695, 1,034,102, 
 almost exactly the population of Pennsylvania in 1820. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 L.cfG. 
 
 LB D '04