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PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 COLONY AND COMMONWEALTH 
 
 BY 
 
 SYDNEY GEORGE FISHER 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE MAKING OF PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 897 ^1^" 
 
 V *- 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 HENRY T. COATES AND COMPANY 
 
 MDCCCXCVII 
 
 (XtUxa 
 
 1- 
 
//A'OAVA/ 
 
 MAP OK COLONIAL PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
oft 
 
 Copyright, 1896, 
 By Henry T. Coates and Company. 
 
 Sanitorrsttg press: 
 John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 Introduction vii 
 
 I. Penn takes Possession i 
 
 II. The Administration of Governor Evans . 35 
 III. The Administration of Gookin and the 
 
 Death of Penn 51 
 
 IV. Mrs. Penn becomes Proprietary .... 66 
 
 V. Gordon's Wise Administration 78 
 
 VI. Governor Thomas and the Spanish War . 87 
 
 VII. The Quakers and the Indians 98 
 
 VIII. Commerce, Wealth, and Education . . . 131 
 
 IX. The Seven Years' War Begins 145 
 
 X. Braddock's Defeat 153 
 
 XI. The Indians revenge Themselves on Penn- 
 sylvania 161 
 
 XII. The Indians Checked 182 
 
 XIII. The Violence of Party Spirit 190 
 
 XIV. The End of the War 206 
 
 XV. The Estates are Taxed 215 
 
 XVI. Pontiac's Conspiracy 221 
 
 XVII. The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers . . . 230 
 
 V 
 
Contents 
 
 Chapter p AGE 
 
 XVIII. The Conspiracy Broken 251 
 
 XIX. The Attempt to abolish the Proprietor- 
 ship .... 255 
 
 XX. Life and Manners at the Time of the 
 
 Revolution 268 
 
 XXI. The Rise of the Revolution 284 
 
 XXII. The Movement for Independence . . . 310 
 
 XXIII. War 333 
 
 XXIV. The British pass a Pleasant Winter in 
 
 Philadelphia 357 
 
 XXV. Toryism and Paper Money 369 
 
 XXVI. Dickinson and the Provost return from 
 
 Banishment 380 
 
 XXVII. The Whiskey Rebellion 393 
 
 XXVIII. The Hot- Water Rebellion 399 
 
 XXIX. The Civil War 402 
 
 XXX. The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia ... 413 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 In the previous volume, "The Making of Penn- 
 sylvania," a full account was given of the numerous 
 nationalities and religions which made up the popu- 
 lation of the province. The Dutch, Swedes, English, 
 Germans, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish, together with their 
 different religions, Quaker, Lutheran, Reformed, Epis- 
 copalian, Tunker, Mennonite, Schwenkfelder, Moravian, 
 and Presbyterian, were each considered in detail, and 
 there was also a chapter on the Connecticut Invasion, 
 which introduced a New England element into the 
 population. 
 
 This discussion was necessary to an intelligent under- 
 standing of the history of the State, not only because 
 it showed of what sort of people we were composed, 
 but because many of these divisions, especially the 
 Germans, Scotch-Irish, and Connecticut people, lived 
 an isolated life, forming almost distinct colonies of their 
 own ; and in any truthful history of the State it is 
 necessary that this should clearly appear. 
 
 "The Making of 'Pennsylvania" having shown this 
 original isolation of the elements of the population, 
 
Introduction 
 
 and having given with some detail the history of each, 
 as it grew in its own way, and having also described 
 the boundary disputes with Connecticut, Maryland, and 
 Virginia, by which the size of the territory which was 
 to contain this very miscellaneous population was deter- 
 mined, it remains to give the general history of the 
 State as a whole. This may be described as the narra- 
 tive or social and political history, — the history which 
 shows the growth of civil and constitutional liberty, 
 the gradual formation of a colony into a common- 
 wealth, and the adventures and trials through which 
 it passed. 
 
 The first and most important point to notice in rela- 
 tion to this history is, that for nearly a hundred years, 
 from 1682 to 1776, it is concerned principally with only 
 one of the great divisions of the population ; namely, the 
 Quakers. The province was theirs ; and they controlled 
 its policy and legislation down to the summer of 1776, 
 when their power was destroyed almost in a moment. 
 The present history is therefore compelled to leave in 
 the background most of the diversified elements of the 
 people and their social life among themselves, and to 
 bring forward and make conspicuous only one of them. 
 The Quakers are our heroes, and the other divisions 
 are subsidiary characters. 
 
 During the first seventy years the political history 
 of the colony may be said to be exclusively a history 
 of the Quakers, because the Church of England people, 
 who were their opponents during that time, were so few 
 in numbers that they played a comparatively insig- 
 
Introduction 
 
 nificant part. During those same years, the Germans 
 were pouring into the colony by thousands and the 
 Scotch-Irish by hundreds, and going off into the 
 wilderness to live by themselves, leaving the Quakers 
 in undisturbed control of politics. At the same time 
 the Church of England people were also gradually 
 increasing, and other elements were adding themselves 
 to the population. 
 
 It was not, however, until about the year 1755, when 
 the French and Indian Wars began, that we find any 
 of the other elements assuming an important position 
 in political contests. At that time, both the Church- 
 men and the Scotch-Irish became very bitter oppo- 
 nents of the Quakers, but utterly failed to drive them 
 from power, because the Germans never forgot the 
 debt of gratitude they owed the Quakers, and always 
 voted on their side. From 1755, therefore, until the 
 Revolution, we are able to see something of other ele- 
 ments of the population than the Quakers. During the 
 Revolution the Quakers disappear entirely, and the 
 Presbyterians and Scotch-Irish are in the ascendant. 
 
 Another very important point to be noticed in this 
 history is the gradual but sure and steady way in which 
 the Quakers, during their long control, developed the 
 civil liberty of the province. In Massachusetts the col- 
 onists, for the first fifty years, enjoyed what was in 
 effect political independence, elected their own gov- 
 ernors, and made their own laws without any interfer- 
 ence from England. At the end of that time their 
 Charter was annulled, their liberties lost, and they 
 
Introduction 
 
 came under direct royal rule through governors 
 appointed by the crown. At the accession of Wil- 
 liam III. to the throne, they rebelled to regain their 
 liberties, but lost them again, and were held under 
 closer rule than ever, which, being increased after the 
 passage of the Stamp Act, made them the most violent 
 agitators in the Revolution. Virginia had a somewhat 
 similar experience of an easy, almost independent, 
 government at first and tyranny afterward. Other 
 colonies went through somewhat the same varied ex- 
 periences, except Connecticut and Rhode Island, whose 
 forms of government, liberal in the beginning, went on 
 without change through the whole colonial period. 
 
 But Pennsylvania, starting as a feudal proprietary 
 province, under the treble control of deputy-governors, 
 proprietor, and king, gradually worked out for herself a 
 body of constitutional liberty, which, at the time of the 
 Revolution, gave her such a satisfactory form of gov- 
 ernment that it was a great obstacle in the way of the 
 movement for independence. The development of this 
 civil liberty was very slow, step by step and year by 
 year, without rebellions, revolutions, or violence of any 
 kind; but there were no backward steps. Indeed, the 
 regularity of it is very curious and remarkable, and has 
 never yet been described. It was accomplished by 
 continual yearly disputes with the deputy-governor 
 and proprietors on all sorts of questions, most of them 
 extremely petty at first sight, but all of them involving 
 great constitutional principles of which the sturdy colo- 
 nists never lost sight. The patience and persistence 
 
Introduction 
 
 with which they worried and worried over these prob- 
 lems, the ingenuity with which they tried to turn every 
 trifling circumstance into an advantage, and their end- 
 less tenacity and endurance, were extremely Anglo- 
 Saxon. 
 
 It must be admitted that to unravel the tangled 
 skein of their efforts through nearly a hundred years 
 is very tedious; but at the same time it is interesting 
 to see the resistance of king, proprietor, and governor 
 slowly yielding before their determined purpose. 
 When the time of the French and Indian Wars ar- 
 rives, their struggles become dramatic and tragic ; and 
 there are few things in history more pathetic than the 
 driving from power and influence in 1776 of the men 
 who had so patiently built up the noble fabric of the 
 liberties of the province. 
 
 Unfortunately the historians of Pennsylvania have 
 always failed to grasp this slow development of our 
 civil liberty. In its earliest movements they see in it 
 nothing but petty disputes, which they make still more 
 petty by their ridicule; and in the heroic struggle to 
 preserve the province's liberty in the French and Indian 
 Wars, they are again stupidly blind to the true situa- 
 tion, and place the province in the position of oppos- 
 ing the best interests of America. 
 
 There is no State whose early history has been so 
 thoroughly misunderstood. Our own writers have mis- 
 understood it, and other writers, like Parkman, in his 
 " Conspiracy of Pontiac," have indulged themselves in 
 an insanity of abuse of every act and motive of our 
 
Introduction 
 
 people, until it is hard to find in the general literature 
 of the country a single passage containing a good word 
 for Colonial Pennsylvania. 
 
 Our position during the Revolution is another unex- 
 plored domain of which there is no connected account. 
 There were two revolutions going on in Pennsylvania 
 during the war for independence, — one was part of the 
 general revolution affecting the whole continent, and 
 the other was a revolution within the State, reversing 
 its policy of a hundred years and bringing into power 
 entirely new forces and new people. It was a turmoil 
 and confusion very difficult to understand at this late 
 day. Our own writers have scarcely touched upon it; 
 and the little that has been written is by opponents of 
 the State, inspired by prejudice, and not inclined to 
 uphold either the conduct of our people or the char- 
 acters of our public men. 
 
 The present volume completes our history to the 
 time of the Whiskey Rebellion, or in effect to the close 
 of the eighteenth century. The history of the present 
 century would require another volume, and would be 
 extremely difficult to write in a way that would interest 
 readers, because the material is not yet collected. 
 
 It has been thought well, however, to add to the 
 present volume two chapters, — one on the services of 
 the State in the Civil War, and the other on the Pre- 
 eminence of Philadelphia. The chapter on Philadelphia 
 includes a discussion of the effects of the introduction 
 of the public-school system in 1834, which in many 
 respects was the most important event in our history 
 
Introduction 
 
 during the present century; and the Civil War and our 
 resistance to Lee at Gettysburg form, of course, an- 
 other great event. These two are our most important 
 episodes since 1800, and the material from which they 
 may be described is easily accessible. 
 
PENNSYLVANIA: 
 COLONY AND COMMONWEALTH 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PENN TAKES POSSESSION 
 
 In " The Making of Pennsylvania " the occupation of 
 the Delaware by the Dutch and Swedes was described, 
 and the easy, contented life they led on the meadows 
 and marshes without any attempt to penetrate the in- 
 terior. There was a vast abundance of game and fish, 
 and they pastured their cattle on the rich grass. But 
 other eyes were turned upon the land ; and it was de- 
 sired by more earnest souls, who intended to penetrate 
 far beyond the marshes. 
 
 It is commonly supposed that the idea of having a 
 great province on the Delaware as a refuge for the 
 Quakers originated with William Penn. It was sug- 
 gested to him, it is said, by his connection with New 
 Jersey, — of one part of which he was a co-owner and 
 of the other part a trustee, — and also by the thought 
 that the crown still owed him the ,£16,000 due to his 
 father, and might be willing to pay it in wild land. 
 A careful investigation, however, shows that the origi- 
 nal conception of Pennsylvania as a commonwealth was 
 not with William Penn at all, but with George Fox and 
 1 x 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the Quakers, and Penn was merely the instrument to 
 carry out their purpose. 
 
 Soon after the year 1650, when the Quakers were or- 
 ganized as a sect, George Fox, their leader, appears to 
 have made definite inquiries as to the availability for 
 settlement of the mountains and forests which were 
 said to lie north of Maryland. A certain Quaker, 
 Josiah Cole, had travelled in America and been much 
 among the Indian tribes. Fox consulted with him ; 
 and on his second visit to America, in 1660, he was 
 commissioned to treat with the Susquehanna Indians, 
 whose territory seemed to be the only available land 
 near the seashore not already taken by white men. 
 In November, 1660, Cole wrote to Fox the result of his 
 inquiries; and the letter is quoted in Bowden's "His- 
 tory of the Friends in America" (vol. i. p. 389): 
 
 " Dear George, — As concerning Friends buying a piece 
 of land of the Susquehanna Indians I have spoken of it to 
 them & told them what thou said concerning it ; but their 
 answer was, that there is no land that is habitable or fit for 
 situation beyond Baltimore's liberty till they come to or near 
 the Susquehanna's Fort." 
 
 The letter goes on to say that nothing could be 
 accomplished in the way of purchase because the 
 Indians were at war with one another, and William 
 Fuller, a Maryland Quaker of much influence, was 
 absent. But although nothing definite could be done, 
 the subject was no doubt much debated among the 
 followers of Fox in England. 
 
 The discussion reached the ears of a student of Christ 
 Church College, Oxford, — a tall, strong young man, 
 devoted to athletic sports, but with a serious cast of 
 
Penn takes Possession 
 
 countenance and large handsome eyes. Christ Church 
 College, the training-school of the English nobility, was 
 not exactly a place for religious enthusiasm. Young 
 William Penn, though not a nobleman, was the asso- 
 ciate of noblemen, for his father was one of the great 
 admirals of the age, and stood high in favor at court. 
 He looked forward to court preferment and high dis- 
 tinction for his son, and educated him for that purpose. 
 But young Penn had wandered occasionally from the 
 college precincts and listened to a Quaker preacher, 
 and, as his father, the admiral, would have said, had 
 become infatuated. 
 
 A youth of such broad sympathies as Penn was 
 easily led away by the refined spirituality of the early 
 Quakers; and how attractive to such a boy must have 
 been the thought of a refuge in the American wilder- 
 ness, — a home for his pure faith in the virgin woods, 
 far from corruption, imprisonment, tithes, and cruel men ; 
 a commonwealth reared afresh out of nature by manly 
 effort and adventure, where they could try the experi- 
 ment of their principles in their truest form. How a 
 college lad would dwell and enlarge on such a theme ! 
 And did he exaggerate when afterward he spoke of it as 
 " an opening of joy "? We can see him now in his room 
 at Christ Church, that nurse of so many leaders of men, 
 with his athletic figure and his great sincere black eyes, 
 as he pondered and dreamed and built up the ideal. 
 
 Twenty years afterward, when he had obtained the 
 grant of Pennsylvania from the crown, he wrote, " I 
 had an opening of joy as to these parts in the year 
 1661 at Oxford." 1 Every year there are college boys 
 
 1 Janney's Life of Penn, 163. 
 3 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 that have dreams, but very few bring them to fulfil- 
 ment like Penn. 
 
 The dreamer became a man. He left his college, and 
 for twenty years learned the world. He became by- 
 turns a soldier, traveller, fop, fanatic, courtier, his nature 
 shifting and hesitating between the two influences he 
 had received at Oxford, — the love of pleasure and dis- 
 tinction and a courtier's life, and the religious infection 
 which his father detested. He was whipped for that 
 religious infection and driven from home by that stern 
 father, who, after Blake, was the greatest naval officer of 
 the century. Sometimes he yielded to his father's 
 wishes, sometimes to the impulses of the new religion. 
 At his father's wish he became a soldier for a time, and 
 at another time travelled in France with the gay people 
 of the court. But in the end the religious feeling tri- 
 umphed, and in spite of the father it rapidly began to 
 absorb the young man's whole life. So much did it 
 absorb him, and so famous did he become as an advocate 
 of the new faith, that the father yielded and forgave him. 
 
 About the year 1680 young Penn found himself at 
 the age of thirty-six, with his father dead, and a debt 
 due him from the crown of ^"16,000 for services which 
 his distinguished father had rendered. The subject 
 of a home in the new world was still in the minds 
 of his sect ; and Penn saw an opportunity in the debt 
 due him from the crown to secure a grant of the 
 necessary land. He applied to Charles II. in 1681, and 
 the debt of ;£ 16,000 was cancelled by a gift to 
 Penn of the largest tract of territory that had ever 
 been given in America to a single individual. In addi- 
 tion to this and for the sake of controlling the free navi- 
 
% 
 
 Penn takes Possession 
 
 gation of the Delaware all the way to the sea, Penn 
 secured from the Duke of York the free gift of the 
 territory now included in the State of Delaware. The 
 vastness of these grants and the^ease with which they 
 were obtained shows how powerful was Penn's influence 
 at court. He held the extraordinary position of being 
 popular among the aristocracy, who despised his religion 
 and, so far as that religion was concerned, believed him 
 to be nothing but a disturber of the peace. This good 
 fortune of being liked by opposing classes he owed to 
 the broadness of his sympathy and his perfect courage, 
 frankness, and sincerity. 
 
 The charter or grant of Pennsylvania, unlike many of 
 the colonial charters, was not for the purpose of creating 
 a trading corporation, but simply gave the land of the 
 province into the hands of a single individual, and gave 
 also to that individual the privilege of creating a political 
 government. Penn had the fee-simple title to over forty 
 thousand square miles of territory, and could adopt for 
 it any form of government he chose, provided that the 
 majority of his colonists consented. If, however, on 
 any sudden emergency, the freemen could not assemble, 
 the Charter gave Penn the right to make laws without 
 their consent. 
 
 Penn was by his Charter governor of the province as 
 well as proprietor, and it was often in his mind to live in 
 his colony, and exercise the powers of a governor in 
 person. But various circumstances prevented the fulfil- 
 ment of this, and he enjoyed the pleasure of direct rule 
 over his people on only two occasions, when he made 
 short visits to his colony. He and his children after 
 him ruled their possessions almost exclusively by depu- 
 
 5 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 The creation by one man of such a huge, prosperous, 
 and powerful empire, and its possession by himself and 
 his children as a feudal barony for such a length of 
 time, has, we believe, no parallel in the history of the 
 world. Kings have possessed themselves of such 
 domains, but never before a private citizen, who 
 scorned all titles. 
 
 When we consider the education and surroundings of 
 Penn, his romantic youth, his learning and accomplish- 
 ments, his extraordinary position of religious, enthusiast 
 and courtier, and that he established his great province 
 on the most liberal and advanced principles of his time, 
 — principles, indeed, which the rest of the world has 
 only recently adopted, — we can understand why Penn- 
 sylvania became the wonder and talk of all Europe, as 
 a most remarkable experiment by a most interesting 
 man, and why Voltaire would never to the end of his 
 life give up the thought that it was an ideal spot for 
 human existence, and the refuge for all lovers of liberty 
 as well as philosophers. 
 
 Penn expected his colony to be peopled by Quakers ; 
 and as soon as he had obtained his Charter, he advertised 
 for settlers and appointed his cousin, William Markham, 
 to be deputy-governor. Markham sailed almost imme- 
 diately, and seems to have gone by way of Boston, 
 where lie recorded his commission. He travelled by 
 way of New York^naarrived on the Delaware July 
 I, 1 68 1, which may be considered as the date when 
 Penn took possession^ — -^ 
 
 Markham immediately began to arrange for the pur- 
 chase of the land from the Indians. He fixed on 
 Upland, now Chester, for his headquarters, where he 
 
Perm takes Possession 
 
 held court and ruled over the Swedes and Dutch, and 
 also the English that he found on the land. He con- 
 tinued in this way for more than a year with but 
 few additions to his people, until on the 27th of Octo- 
 ber, 1682, Penn arrived at New Castle with many settlers 
 in the ship " Welcome." 
 
 Penn landed at New Castle, exhibited the deeds of 
 the Duke of York giving him what is now the State 
 of Delaware, and, having placed the government of 
 that country in safe hands, proceeded to Upland to 
 take possession of Pennsylvania and form its consti- 
 tution. Immediately upon landing at Upland, he turned 
 to his friend Pearson, saying that this was a memorable 
 event and asking him to name the town ; and Pearson 
 gave it the name of his native city, Chester. 
 
 A day or so afterward, Penn, it is said, was rowed in 
 a barge from Chester to the present site of Philadel- 
 phia, — a memorable excursion upon which the fancy 
 of historian and biographer has long delighted to dwell. 
 It was one of the last days of October ; and that reach of 
 the river now so familiar to Philadelphians must have 
 been a fascinating scene in its perfect wildness, the 
 autumn tints upon the shores, the millions of birds 
 upon the waters, and the deep stillness of the wilderness 
 all around. He landed where the high land had long 
 shown to explorers the site for a great city. The steep 
 bank was penetrated by a little stream, deep at its 
 mouth, with a low sandy beach making a natural land- 
 ing-place, and the line of it is now marked by Dock 
 Street. It was a pretty spot ; a stray settler had already 
 built his house there ; and Penn was charmed with the 
 situation. 
 
 9 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 The Indians, it is said, were there to meet him; and 
 there is also a tradition that on this occasion he sat 
 with them on the ground, ate their roasted acorns, and 
 afterwards recalled his college days by contending with 
 them in a jumping match in which his agility surprised 
 them. The story is not at all unlikely ; for Penn cared 
 little for formal dignity, and when he erred in such 
 matters it was usually on the side of levity. He was, 
 moreover, at that time only thirty-eight years old, with 
 the athletic, handsome figure that his cavalier training 
 had developed. 
 
 Philadelphia had already been decreed into exist- 
 ence, its streets mapped out by his commissioners, and 
 perhaps some progress made in marking them on the 
 ground. The present Walnut Street was called Pool 
 Street, and Chestnut Street was Union Street; but Penn 
 afterward gave them the names they now bear, from 
 the trees that grew near them. 
 
 But although Philadelphia was begun, business must 
 still be transacted at Chester; and writs were issued, 
 summoning the freeholders to meet at that place and 
 elect representatives to a General Assembly which was 
 to meet in December and accept or reject the " Frame 
 of Government " and the " Laws Agreed upon in 
 England." These two documents had been published 
 by Penn in England during the previous spring, and 
 were spoken of as the " Printed Laws " and the 
 " Written Laws, or Constitution." 
 
 " The Printed Laws," or the " Laws Agreed upon in 
 England," gave the Assembly little trouble, and were 
 readily passed. They had already been considered in 
 England, and they contained nothing more than simple 
 
Perm takes Possession 
 
 rules of order, and raised no disputed questions of 
 principle. They defined who should be freemen and 
 have the right to vote, and the term included land- 
 holders and also such inhabitants and artificers as 
 paid " scot and lot to the government." They pro- 
 vided for courts, trial by jury, prisons, marriages, and 
 register of births. The only provisions at all striking 
 or new were those for registering deeds, giving the 
 estates of murderers to the next of kin of the sufferer 
 and of the criminal, abolishing oaths, and establishing 
 freedom of worship. 
 
 The " Erame of Government." as it was called, was 
 what we should now call a constitution, and carried out 
 that portion of the Charter which gave Penn the privi- 
 lege of joining with the freemen in creating the political 
 government. In this constitution he enlarged on govern- 
 ment as a divine institution ; and as we read this rather 
 dull preamble we soon come to the passage so often 
 quoted, wherein he says that any government is free 
 where the laws rule and the people are a party to the 
 laws, which is immediately followed by another passage 
 equally sensible and Saxon : — 
 
 " But lastly, when all is said, there is hardly one frame of 
 government in the world so ill designed by its founders, that 
 in good hands would not do N well enough. . . . 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." 
 
 Coming more to particulars, he provided for a pro- 
 vincial council of seventy-two members, to be elected 
 by the people ; and this council was to propose laws, 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 which should be submitted for the approval of the 
 General Assembly, also to be elected by the people. 
 The governor and this provincial council were to form 
 the executive part of the government, guard the peace 
 and safety of the colony, see that all laws were en- 
 forced, locate cities, ports, streets, and roads, inspect the 
 management of the treasury, establish public schools, 
 courts of justice, and appoint judges, sheriffs, justices 
 of the peace, and coroners. The evident intention was 
 that the governor and Council should be the ruling 
 body, with the General Assembly as a check on their 
 proceedings, but without any power in the Assembly to 
 originate laws, which were to be first proposed in every 
 instance by the Council. This Frame, as he called it, 
 Penn professed to regard as a contract between him and 
 the people, not to be altered without the consent of 
 himself or his heirs and six parts out of seven of the 
 freemen in Council and General Assembly. 
 
 The Assembly accepted the Frame, and it became the 
 first Constitution of Pennsylvania. The laws they also 
 accepted, and re-enacted them with many additions in 
 what became known as the " Great Law." It begins by 
 establishing religious liberty in the manner in which it 
 was then understood, by allowing freedom of worship to 
 all who acknowledged one God; and the further qual- 
 ification is added that members of Assembly and all 
 officers of government, as well as those who voted for 
 them, should be such as believed Jesus Christ to be the 
 Son of God and Saviour of the world. 
 
 The Great Law goes on with many minute provisions 
 against swearing, cursing, drunkenness, health-drinking, 
 card-playing, scolding, and lying in conversation, a law 
 
Penn takes Possession 
 
 making every prison a work-house or reformatory, and 
 various other regulations and details which the careful 
 consideration of the Assembly suggested. There was 
 also a law to naturalize the Swedes and other foreigners 
 that were found on the land, and an Act of Union, as it 
 was called, which annexed to Pennsylvania the province 
 of Delaware, then called " The Territories," or " three 
 lower counties." 
 
 The people of Delaware had of their own accord 
 asked to be under the government of Pennsylvania, 
 and this made Penn's rule over them more legitimate ; 
 for the deeds from the Duke of York giving him Dela- 
 ware conveyed only a title to the land and gave no 
 power of political government. 
 
 The province was now a commonwealth, and began 
 to have politics. For many years these politics con- 
 sisted of what seem like very petty disputes, tiresome to 
 investigate and equally tiresome to read. But in one 
 sense they were important; for they show the instincts 
 of the people and the gradual manner in which they 
 developed their liberties. 
 
 At the first meeting of the Council and Assembly 
 they objected to the large number ef representatives, 
 and asked also that the Assembly might have the right 
 to originate laws. Penn listened patiently to them and 
 finally assented to the Act of Settlement, as it was called, 
 which reduced the Council to eighteen members and 
 the Assembly to thirty-six, but gave no right to the 
 Assembly to originate laws. 
 
 Penn, as governor of his own province, had thus far 
 found everything favorable ; and it has usually been the 
 opinion of historians that if he could have always re- 
 
 T 3 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 mained governor in person it would have been better 
 for Pennsylvania as well as for himself. His first stay 
 in the colony lasted only about a year and ten months, 
 from October, 1682, to August, 1684, but was full of 
 activity and usefulness. He had brought a State into 
 being, given it laws and a constitution, and doubtless 
 settled innumerable small questions and disputes of 
 which we have no record. He had been to New York 
 to pay his duty to the Duke of York by visiting his 
 province. He had made his famous treaty with the 
 Indians under the Elm at Kensington. He had begun 
 to build his mansion and lay out the grounds of his 
 country-place at Pennsbury, near Bristol on the Dela- 
 ware. He had travelled to Maryland to meet Lord 
 Baltimore and discuss the boundary disputes, and he 
 had made expeditions into the interior of the province 
 among the Indians. 
 
 In all these journeys through New York, Long Island, 
 Jersey, and Maryland, he preached at all the meetings 
 of the Quakers wherever he could find them ; and in 
 the intervals of time when he was on the Delaware, he 
 superintended the laying out of Philadelphia's streets. 
 Within nine months after his arrival he reported to 
 England that he had eighty houses built, and three 
 hundred farms laid out round the town. Fifty sail, he 
 said, had come into the river since the previous sum- 
 mer ; and it has been supposed that during the first 
 year nearly three thousand persons arrived. It must 
 have been an interesting scene at Philadelphia with 
 the handsome, accomplished young proprietor moving 
 about among the people and suggesting plans for their 
 houses, while all were stimulated with the novelty of 
 
 14 
 
Penn takes Possession 
 
 the enterprise, the freshness of the wilderness, and the 
 abundance of game. The wild pigeons came in such 
 numbers, and flew so low, that they could be knocked 
 down with sticks ; and those that were not immediately 
 used were salted and stored away. 
 
 The year and ten months of his stay must have been 
 as happy as any Penn had spent. His affability, fair- 
 ness, and frankness of manner won the complete devo- 
 tion of the people. His industry and keen observation 
 are abundantly shown in the long letter he wrote to the 
 Free Society of Traders, with a description of the 
 province, its woods and waters, its animals and men, 
 which can still be read with the greatest interest, and is 
 all the more valuable because of its excellent tone and 
 manner. Penn was far above the fulsome and nauseous 
 boasting, as well as the mock-modest advocacy, 
 which then, as now, were only too common with land 
 speculators. 
 
 Unfortunately, while in the midst of these pleasures, 
 the dispute with Lord Baltimore about the Maryland 
 boundary took him back to England. Lord Baltimore 
 had already started, and evidently with the intention of 
 appealing to the king. Penn must follow, and he sailed 
 on the I2th of August, 1684. 
 
 He provided that during his absence in England his 
 power as governor should be delegated to the Provincial 
 Council, whose president, a prominent Welsh Quaker 
 named Thomas Lloyd, naturally became the executive 
 of the province. As the Assembly had not been allowed 
 to originate bills, they were determined to use to the 
 utmost their power to reject them when originated by 
 the Council. They took advantage of the slightest 
 
 15 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 mained governor in person it would have been better 
 for Pennsylvania as well as for himself. His first stay 
 in the colony lasted only about a year and ten months, 
 from October, 1682, to August, 1684, but was full of 
 activity and usefulness. He had brought a State into 
 being, given it laws and a constitution, and doubtless 
 settled innumerable small questions and disputes of 
 which we have no record. He had been to New York 
 to pay his duty to the Duke of York by visiting his 
 province. He had made his famous treaty with the 
 Indians under the Elm at Kensington. He had begun 
 to build his mansion and lay out the grounds of his 
 country-place at Pennsbury, near Bristol on the Dela- 
 ware. He had travelled to Maryland to meet Lord 
 Baltimore and discuss the boundary disputes, and he 
 had made expeditions into the interior of the province 
 among the Indians. 
 
 In all these journeys through New York, Long Island, 
 Jersey, and Maryland, he preached at all the meetings 
 of the Quakers wherever he could find them ; and in 
 the intervals of time when he was on the Delaware, he 
 superintended the laying out of Philadelphia's streets. 
 Within nine months after his arrival he reported to 
 England that he had eighty houses built, and three 
 hundred farms laid out round the town. Fifty sail, he 
 said, had come into the river since the previous sum- 
 mer ; and it has been supposed that during the first 
 year nearly three thousand persons arrived. It must 
 have been an interesting scene at Philadelphia with 
 the handsome, accomplished young proprietor moving 
 about among the people and suggesting plans for their 
 houses, while all were stimulated with the novelty of 
 
 14 
 
% 
 
 Penn takes Possession 
 
 the enterprise, the freshness of the wilderness, and the 
 abundance of game. The wild pigeons came in such 
 numbers, and flew so low, that they could be knocked 
 down with sticks ; and those that were not immediately 
 used were salted and stored away. 
 
 The year and ten months of his stay must have been 
 as happy as any Penn had spent. His affability, fair- 
 ness, and frankness of manner won the complete devo- 
 tion of the people. His industry and keen observation 
 are abundantly shown in the long letter he wrote to the 
 Free Society of Traders, with a description of the 
 province, its woods and waters, its animals and men, 
 which can still be read with the greatest interest, and is 
 all the more valuable because of its excellent tone and 
 manner. Penn was far above the fulsome and nauseous 
 boasting, as well as the mock-modest advocacy, 
 which then, as now, were only too common with land 
 speculators. 
 
 Unfortunately, while in the midst of these pleasures, 
 the dispute with Lord Baltimore about the Maryland 
 boundary took him back to England. Lord Baltimore 
 had already started, and evidently with the intention of 
 appealing to the king. Penn must follow, and he sailed 
 on the 12th of August, 1684. 
 
 He provided that during his absence in England his 
 power as governor should be delegated to the Provincial 
 Council, whose president, a prominent Welsh Quaker 
 named Thomas Lloyd, naturally became the executive 
 of the province. As the Assembly had not been allowed 
 to originate bills, they were determined to use to the 
 utmost their power to reject them when originated by 
 the Council. They took advantage of the slightest 
 
 15 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 mistakes the Council made; and this was the first 
 decided stand of the Assembly, and the beginning of 
 a long contest : which the liberty- of the province 
 
 .5 developed. They worried the proprietorship 
 what seem very trifling disputes; but in fifty ye us the 
 result was large. 
 
 They had a great advantage in the custom of pa s 
 laws which should be in force only one year. At the 
 end of the year, if the Council would not yield to their 
 wishes they would refuse to renew the laws, which 
 in effect to threaten to leave the colony without any 
 laws at alL They produced a dead lock several times 
 in this way, to the great annoyance of Penn. He 
 wanted to go out and again take personal charge, but 
 the boundary dispute with Baltimore kept him in 
 E gland. He was indignant that no money came from 
 the province, and he declared he was already .£5,000 
 behindhand. He would never, he said, be governor 
 in unless the people provided for his table, cellar, 
 and stable, and gave him a barge and a yacht. 
 
 He saw that he had made a mistake in delegating 
 his power to the Council, which was. in effect, an 
 attempt to place eighteen governors over the province 
 and he thought if he reduced the number to five t 
 would succeed better than the eighteen. He accord- 
 ingly commissioned five of the councillors, Thomas 
 Lie :>las More, James Claypoole, Robert Turner, 
 
 and John Eckky authorizing them, or any three of 
 them, to act as the executive under the name of Com- 
 
 :f State. More and Claypoole neva acts 
 and Arthur Cook and John Symcock were appointed 
 
 in their pla: 
 
 16 
 
Penn takes Possession 
 
 Although their commission was dated the 1st of 
 February, 1686, it was long before it reached the 
 province ; and the commissioners did not take control 
 until February, 1688. Penn was thoroughly disgusted 
 with the confusions in the province, and had evidently 
 determined to use his full authority. In his instructions 
 to the commissioners he told them that they had power 
 to enact, annul, or vary laws as if he himself were 
 present. They were to keep the Provincial Council 
 to its duty ; and if that body continued in its slothful 
 and dishonorable attendance, he would without more 
 ado dissolve the Frame of Government. No more 
 open parleys or conferences between Council and 
 Assembly were to be allowed. At the next meeting 
 of the Assembly the commissioners were to announce 
 that all laws except the fundamentals were abrogated. 
 They were then to dismiss the Assembly, and, having 
 called it again, to pass such of the laws afresh as 
 seemed proper. 
 
 These extraordinary assumptions of power over the 
 colony would have created a great commotion among 
 the people if they had become known. But the 
 commissioners wisely kept them secret, and went on 
 governing in the usual way. 
 
 Whether Penn really had these great powers, the 
 right to vary and annul laws as he pleased, and to call 
 and dismiss the Assembly, is still an open question ; 
 for his commissioners saved him from the misfortune 
 of putting it to the test and it is now perhaps hardly 
 worth while to argue it. The Charter gave him the 
 right to make laws " by and with the advice, assent, 
 and approbation of the freemen of the said country, or 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the greater part of them, or of their delegates." If he 
 could not make laws without the consent of the free- 
 men, it is reasonable to suppose that he could not annul 
 them without their consent. This power which he 
 claimed of annulling laws was the same which his friend 
 James II. was at that time claiming in England; and as 
 it was soon settled that the English king had not this 
 power, it is not to be supposed that Penn had, without 
 express words to that effect in his Charter. 
 
 The experiment of five deputies seems to have 
 pleased the proprietor no better than the eighteen; and 
 before they had been in office a year he appointed 
 Capt. John Blackwell to be the sole deputy-governor. 
 Penn was annoyed by the jealousies and petty quarrels 
 among the people. He was becoming very anxious 
 about the failure of money returns from quit-rents 
 and sales of land, and the vicious habit the province 
 had acquired of drawing on him to defray the ex- 
 penses of government. Blackwell was an old Crom- 
 wellian soldier, and his strong hand might be of much 
 assistance. 
 
 But Blackwell was a worse stirrer up of strife than 
 any of the others. His appointment was not considered 
 a compliment to Lloyd and the rest of the governing 
 class. A soldier governor was not pleasing to the 
 Quakers, and was inconsistent with the foundation and 
 objects of the colony. They made it very hot for him ; 
 and he earnestly besought Penn to relieve him from a 
 situation that was useless and ludicrous, and Penn 
 granted his request. After having been deputy a year 
 and a month, he joyfully announced on the ist of 
 January, 1790, that his rule was at an end. " T is a 
 
Penn takes Possession 
 
 good day," he said ; " I have given and do unfeinedly 
 give God thanks for it." 
 
 Such was the end of the first attempt to put a soldier 
 over Quakers, — a soldier, too, who was all the more 
 disliked for being a Puritan from New England. Penn's 
 next experiment was to offer the Council two methods 
 of obtaining a deputy, and they might choose either 
 one or the other, as pleased them best. The Provincial 
 Council could nominate three persons for the office, and 
 Penn would select one of them ; or, if they liked it 
 better, the whole Provincial Council could again act 
 as governors. The Council chose the latter method, 
 and they all became deputy-governors, with Thomas 
 Lloyd, their president, once more the most important 
 man in the colony. 
 
 But soon there was another change in the govern- 
 ment and a return to a single head. Thomas Lloyd 
 was made deputy-governor in 1692. Thus in ten years 
 the government had been changed six times. At first 
 Markham as deputy, then Penn as governor in person, 
 then the whole Council of eighteen, then five of the 
 Council, then a single deputy, then the whole Council, 
 and now a single deputy again. In a few months 
 there was another change, not made by Penn, but by 
 William III , who, by virtue of his royal prerogative, 
 took possession of Pennsylvania and appointed over it 
 a military governor, or captain-general, as he was 
 called, Col. Benjamin Fletcher. 
 
 The reasons given for the seizure of Pennsylvania 
 by the crown were, that the province by the absence 
 of its proprietor had been misgoverned and was in a 
 state of great disorder ; that no provision for military 
 
 19 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 defence had been made ; and that it, as well as the 
 adjacent colonies, might at any moment during the war 
 fall into the hands of France. But Pennsylvania was 
 so soon restored to Penn that the chief reason for 
 taking it away, besides the military one, seems to have 
 been a certain political expediency.] William under- 
 stood Perm's character and position, and had no dislike 
 for him. But Penn had been so closely associated with 
 James II., and so many reports were circulated against 
 him, that the new government under William must at 
 least have the appearance of dealing with him some- 
 what severely. He was accordingly several times called 
 before the Privy Council and tried, but always easily 
 acquitted, and his province was taken under royal con- 
 trol at the same time that New York and Maryland 
 were taken under that control. 
 
 Fletcher, who was also Captain-General of New York, 
 arrived in Philadelphia, April 26, 1693, and forthwith 
 proceeded to carry out the new form of government 
 described in his commission. Thomas Lloyd sturdily 
 refused to serve under him ; and so he appointed 
 William Markham to be his deputy, and superseded 
 the Council by one of his own appointing, which by 
 his commission could not exceed twelve in number. 
 He also decreased the numbers of the Assembly, — a 
 change which his advisers earnestly protested against, 
 but in vain. 
 
 Within a month after Fletcher's arrival the new 
 Assembly met, and their first act was to dispute his 
 authority. They sent an address to him, suggesting 
 that their old laws and Constitution under Penn were 
 still in force, and asking him to confirm them. They 
 
 20 
 
Perm takes Possession 
 
 received a masterly reply reminding them very pointedly 
 of their condition. Their old Constitution and laws, 
 they were told, had been superseded by the royal com- 
 mission. The commission was in force, and Penn's laws 
 and Constitution dissolved. This was strong, plain 
 doctrine, and should have given the people a taste of 
 royal government which neither they nor their de- 
 scendants could forget. In the present instance there 
 was nothing for them to do but submit, which they did 
 as gracefully as they could. 
 
 Fletcher's principal business with them was to obtain 
 a supply to assist the province of New York in defend- 
 ing its frontiers against the French. He also wanted a 
 supply to pay the expense of his own government over 
 them ; and the plan he suggested for both was a tax of 
 one penny per pound on the clear value of all personal 
 estates, and six shillings a head on all who were not 
 otherwise rated. 
 
 This was the first experience of the Assembly with 
 two questions which were very familiar to most of the 
 other colonies, and soon became familiar enough in 
 Pennsylvania, — the question of aid to Great Britain in 
 carrying, on her wars, and the question of the governor's 
 salary. Round these two questions nearly all import- 
 ant colonial controversies centred ; and the way in 
 which these questions were dealt with, shaped the 
 relations of the colonies to the mother-country. 
 
 The success of William and Mary in dethroning the 
 Catholic James II. had brought on war with France, 
 and the French in Canada directed their efforts against 
 the English colonists. These wars with Canada and 
 with the Indians under French control continued at 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 intervals until 1764; and during all that time the 
 questions were continually debated, — what part of the 
 expense the colonies should bear, and whether this 
 colony or that colony had furnished its fair share of 
 men or money. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Assembly saw at once the essential 
 point in all these questions of supplies, and acted as all 
 the other colonial assemblies, similarly situated, acted 
 for the next eighty years. The governor wanted sup- 
 plies, and the Assembly wanted certain laws; and by 
 delaying the supplies they could usually secure his con- 
 sent to the laws. In the royal colonies this method of 
 exchanging supplies for favorable laws became at last 
 the only source of liberty left the people ; and the fear 
 of losing this last resource through stamp acts and tea 
 acts brought on the Revolution. 
 
 In the present instance, however, the dispute with 
 Fletcher over these matters was not of long continu- 
 ance ; for he was recalled, and the province restored to 
 Penn, who had been deprived of it from Oct. 20, 1692, 
 to August 20, 1694, exactly a year and ten months. 
 
 Penn was unfortunately still unable to leave England, 
 although he had several times attempted it and had 
 been on the eve of departure. Thomas Lloyd, the 
 excellent Welsh Quaker, and undoubtedly the best man 
 for governor, was dead. Markham was appointed 
 deputy and given two assistants, John Goodson and 
 Samuel Carpenter, by the advice of both or of one of 
 whom he must act. This change was in effect to create 
 an executive composed of three deputies. 
 
 Markham immediately restored the government to 
 the condition it had been in before the arrival of 
 
Penn takes Possession 
 
 Fletcher. But this did not prevent the Council, which 
 assembled in 1695, from entering upon a long debate 
 for a new modelling of the Constitution ; and they 
 seemed determined to worry out of Markham more 
 privileges than Penn had granted them. As soon as he 
 wanted a supply bill, they added to it some changes in 
 government, so that one could not be rejected without 
 the others. They secured an agreement between them- 
 selves and the Council which allowed either themselves 
 or the Council to originate legislation. When Markham 
 announced that he would pass none of their laws until 
 they had given a proper supply, the Assembly informed 
 him that it was the custom of the Commons in England 
 never to give assent to money bills until their privileges 
 had been first accorded them, and they intended to be 
 no worse off than the Commons. Nothing was left to 
 Markham but to be angry and adjourn them, which he 
 accordingly did. 
 
 Soon afterward he attempted to coerce them. He 
 refused to carry on the old system of Penn. In fact, he 
 abrogated it, and began to enforce Fletcher's govern- 
 ment, appointing a council like Fletcher's, and calling 
 a meeting of the Assembly composed as Fletcher's had 
 been. But he overreached himself. The people stood 
 firm; and in the end he had to give them a complete 
 new frame of government, allowing both Council and 
 Assembly the right to originate legislation, allowing the 
 Assembly to sit on their own adjournments, and allow- 
 ing the governor to perform no public act of treasury 
 or trade without the consent of a majority of the 
 Council. The old laws and privileges under Penn were 
 restored ; and all these provisions were to remain in 
 
 2 3 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 force until changed by the proprietor. This new Con- 
 stitution was called " Markham's Frame; " and although 
 never formally approved by Perm, it seems to have been 
 always regarded as valid, and continued in force until 
 1700. It was the foundation of the colony's liberties. 
 There were no backward steps, but, on the contrary, an 
 increase of popular freedom which was maintained down 
 to the Revolution. 
 
 At the close of the year 1699, Penn returned to be 
 again governor in person. He was anxious about his 
 colony, for many complaints had come to his ears of 
 disorders and excesses. But there was nothing seriously 
 wrong. It was growing in spite of its many governors; 
 and complaints, gossip, and changes were to be expected 
 in such a rapid development, where so many races and 
 religions were jostling one another. The prosperity of 
 Philadelphia had attracted characters not contemplated 
 in the ideal of Quaker doctrine; and among the respect- 
 able and earnest settlers, lower orders, as they were 
 called, began to appear. Some of these had taken 
 possession of the caves in the river-bank, which had 
 been occupied for a short time by the first immigrants 
 before houses were built ; and these caves had now be- 
 come the scene of riot and low life. The licensing of 
 drinking-houses was then, as ever since, a source of 
 much difficulty. But all these things were the inevitable 
 troubles of growth ; and the people who wrote about 
 them and exaggerated them were mere busybodies or 
 foolish ones who expected the impossible. 
 
 Penn had, however, other reasons for returning. He 
 was now fifty-five years old ; and since he had left the 
 province he had passed through many trying scenes, 
 
 24 
 
Perm takes Possession 
 
 and borne many burdens. The dangerous years of the 
 Revolution of 1688, his struggles for religious liberty and 
 for his sect, his journeys, his arrests, and his imprison- 
 ments ; and with these the substantial success of so many 
 of his undertakings, and the establishment of the prin- 
 ciples for which he had contended, — gave him a feeling 
 that he had done his part in England and had earned 
 a retirement to his wilderness domain. The one point 
 where his plans had failed, the impairing of his fortune, 
 could be remedied only by going to Pennsylvania. He 
 gathered his family about him, took leave of his friends 
 and his sect, and sailed for his province with the full 
 intention of spending there the remainder of his life. 
 
 A long voyage of three months brought him to 
 Chester, in the beginning of December, 1699. The 
 next day he went to Philadelphia, where a crowd of the 
 people received him at the landing; and he stepped 
 ashore, recognizing old acquaintances in his usual 
 hearty, unpretentious manner. It was Sunday; and 
 after a short formal visit at Markham's house, he went 
 in the afternoon to meeting, where he preached, and 
 thence to Edward Shippen's, where he lived for the 
 next month. 
 
 At the end of that month he took a home for himself 
 and his family on the east side of Second Street, between 
 Chestnut and Walnut, known down to our own time as 
 the " slate-roof house." Soon afterward his son John 
 was born there, the only one of his children born in this 
 country, and on that account always called "the Amer- 
 ican," and always spoken of with peculiar interest and 
 respect by the masses of the people. 
 
 The active, bustling life which had been Penn's habit 
 
 25 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 on his first visit was again followed. He travelled over 
 the country on horseback, preaching at Quaker meet- 
 ings, visiting the Susquehanna, Maryland, and New York ; 
 and the rest of his time was filled with meetings of 
 Council and Assembly, consultations and amusements, 
 and the planting and care of his country-seat, Pennsbury 
 Manor. This place had been begun under his own 
 directions on his first visit eighteen years before ; and 
 while in England he had continued to send over in- 
 structions for its improvement. It was situated on the 
 river twenty miles above the city, and not far from the 
 present town of Bristol. The house cost .£5,000, 
 and there were gardens and lawns with terraces 
 and an avenue of poplars leading to the water. The 
 kitchen, larder, and wash-house, as was common at that 
 time, were in separate buildings grouped around the 
 main house, and there was a stable for twelve horses. 
 Vistas were opened in the neighboring forests, and walks 
 laid out among the trees. As soon as spring came, he left 
 the slate-roof house and retired to this very luxurious 
 abode in the midst of a wilderness. 
 
 The house contained several guest-chambers and 
 a large hall for entertaining Indians and holding meet- 
 ings of the Provincial Council. It was built of brick 
 wainscoted with English oak and furnished in a man- 
 ner which, considering the surroundings, may be called 
 extravagant. There were Turkey worked chairs, plush 
 and satin cushions, satin curtains, and a carpet, which at 
 that time was an article seldom seen outside of palaces. 
 The liberality of his entertainments may be judged from 
 the presence of " six vessels called cisterns for holding 
 water or beer." He believed that he understood the art 
 
 26 
 
Penn takes Possession 
 
 of dining, and had a great contempt for French cookery, 
 of which he has left a rather amusing description. 
 Madeira was his favorite wine ; but his cellar was not 
 without canary, claret, and sack, and he built a brew- 
 house as a part of his country-place. He was by far the 
 most sumptuous of all the colonial governors, and a 
 striking contrast to the economical rulers of New 
 England. 
 
 He experimented in cultivating the native wild-flow- 
 ers, imported many trees from England and Maryland, 
 and employed a landscape-gardener from Europe. 
 He brought over with him some fine horses, — on his 
 first visit three full-bred mares, and on the second 
 visit a famous colt called Tamerlane, a descendant of 
 Godolphin. Unlike most of his sect, he approved of 
 dancing and sports and encouraged them by his presence. 
 He astonished the Indians by his ability in jumping and 
 running, a part of his Oxford life which he still retained. 
 Judging by the entries in his cash-book, he gave away a 
 great deal in charity. He took great pleasure in his 
 barge in which he was rowed to and from Philadelphia, 
 and he also had a great coach, a light calash, a sedan- 
 chair, and saddle-horses for his wife and children. They 
 all went to "fairs, or Indian Canticoes." When he felt 
 unwilling to meet the Provincial Council at Philadelphia, 
 he sent his barge to bring them up to dine with him. 
 At a feast he gave the Indians at a great table under the 
 trees in front of his house, there are said to have been 
 one hundred turkeys, besides venison and other food 
 There is also a pleasant tradition of his meeting a little 
 barefooted girl as he was riding to meeting, and taking 
 her up behind him on his horse. He lived as he was, 
 
 27 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 — an unceremonious, broad-minded man, of great ac- 
 quaintance and plentiful estate. 
 
 When the crowd met him at the landing at Philadel- 
 phia, there were two men in it who were not there out of 
 friendliness, — Col. Robert Quarry, the Judge of Ad- 
 miralty, and the advocate of his court, John Moore. 
 They were Church of England men, and their office 
 in the admiralty was to represent and protect in the 
 province the interests of the British crown. They had 
 been most industrious in sending complaints to the Com- 
 mittee of Plantations and Trade in England, charging 
 the colony with harboring pirates, violating the naviga- 
 tion laws, providing no military defence, and conducting 
 government and administering law by judges and other 
 officials who had not been sworn, and who refused to 
 administer oaths to others. While in England, Penn's 
 position and influence with the Privy Council, of which 
 the Committee of Plantations and Trade was a part, had 
 prevented any serious result from such complaints. 
 But Quarry, being entirely independent of Penn's gov- 
 ernment, was an alien influence which could not be 
 controlled ; and he and his party, though able to ac- 
 complish but little, could always be a nuisance and 
 create an alarm that the province might again be seized 
 by the crown. 
 
 There was also another troublesome man who rep- 
 resented another element. This was David Lloyd, a 
 Welsh lawyer, of considerable ability, but of a revengeful, 
 bitter nature, and the greatest obstinacy. He was a 
 member of the Council, and Penn had made him attorney- 
 general of the province. But he now turned against the 
 proprietary interest, and began to create what became 
 
 28 
 
Penn takes Possession 
 
 known as the " popular " party. For the next twenty or 
 thirty years he exercised great influence in the Assembly, 
 and may be said to have assisted in framing nearly all 
 the early laws of the colony, to many of which he is said 
 to have given a Welsh coloring. A great deal of his 
 leadership of the popular party was entirely justifiable ; 
 but his personal attacks on Penn, who had always shown 
 him and his family the greatest kindness, disclosed that 
 beneath all his ability there was a narrow, mean spirit 
 that could not bear the consciousness of owing gratitude 
 to another. 
 
 Lloyd was as hostile toward Quarry and the Church- 
 men as toward Penn ; and there were thus three parties 
 in the province — the proprietary party, the Churchmen, 
 and Lloyd's popular party — to squabble among them- 
 selves and make trouble. Fortunately Penn had brought 
 with him a young man well qualified to resist both 
 Quarry and Lloyd. This was the famous James Logan, 
 afterward Secretary of the Province, President of the 
 Council, and Chief Justice. 
 
 At the meeting of the Assembly in 1700, the great 
 question was the revision of the Constitution. The 
 amendments allowed by Markham, giving the Assembly 
 the right to originate laws and to sit on their own 
 adjournments, had been acted under for several years, 
 but were not yet formally approved by Penn. In the 
 changes of the last fifteen years the validity of the whole 
 Constitution had become doubtful. " Was the old frame, " 
 said Penn to them, " living, dead, or asleep? Was it 
 vacated by Markham's Amendments?" The Assembly 
 seemed to be of the opinion that all the old laws were 
 still in force; but Penn thought that Markham's settle- 
 
 29 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 ment had put the old frame in abeyance, and it could be 
 revived only by writ. He had already acted on this idea 
 and had summoned the Assembly then before him by 
 his own writ, as if it had no power to meet of itself. 
 
 He thus disregarded the old laws as well as Markham's 
 settlement, and placed himself in absolute power. He 
 was much given to this assertion of power; and as he 
 never used it for an evil purpose or to oppress the 
 colonists, it is difficult to find much fault with him. He 
 felt that he had already sacrificed a large part of his 
 fortune for the province; and his only hope of reim- 
 bursing himself, of carrying out his favorite ideas of re- 
 ligion and government, and preventing the colony from 
 falling into the hands of the king, was to keep it well 
 under control. 
 
 The Assembly, however, felt that they had also some- 
 thing to preserve. They could not very well stop this 
 assumption of power; so they shrewdly pretended to 
 take a part in it, and entered in their minutes that it had 
 been done with their advice and consent, which they of 
 course hoped would be a precedent against its ever again 
 being done without their consent. 
 
 But Penn was very gracious, and to settle all doubts 
 told them to prepare for themselves a new Constitution 
 and embody in it anything they wanted. They seemed 
 unable to agree on one, but meantime they formally 
 surrendered to him the old one, and were summoned 
 to meet again in the autumn. 
 
 They were unable, however, to reach any conclusion 
 in their autumn meeting ; nor was anything accomplished 
 at -their meeting in August of the following year, 1701. 
 Penn's visit was now drawing to a close. He had re- 
 
 30 
 
Penn takes Possession 
 
 ceived word of what he had always feared. A move- 
 ment was on foot in England to have the crown pur- 
 chase all the proprietary colonies ; and a bill for that 
 purpose was already before the House of Lords. The 
 proprietor of Pennsylvania must meet this danger, and 
 he made preparations to sail. The August session 
 of the Assembly had only just adjourned; but he im- 
 mediately called another to meet on the 15th of Septem- 
 ber and settle the question of the Constitution before 
 his departure. 
 
 The Assembly being met, Penn urged them to review 
 their laws and propose new ones, and they soon pre- 
 pared for him a long list of twenty-one small requests, 
 some of which he granted, and some he refused. Then 
 came the Constitution, the Constitution of 1701, as it 
 was called; and under it without further change the 
 province flourished from that time until the Revolution. 
 It was more liberal than any that had preceded it, and 
 yet Penn signed it without hesitation or delay. What- 
 ever may have been his assertions of supreme power at 
 times, — and if he was to maintain his position of feudal 
 lord and proprietor it was natural he should err on 
 the side of power, — he certainly had no deliberate in- 
 tention of oppressing his people. It may be said that 
 it was not for his interest to oppress them, and that in 
 giving them a liberal constitution he protected himself 
 in case the crown should take his government. With 
 Pennsylvania a royal colony, Penn would have been 
 merely the largest landholder in it, and his lot would 
 have been cast in with the people against the crown. 
 The more he built up the liberties of the people against 
 that evil day, the more chance would he have to protect 
 
 3 1 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 both himself and the people against the oppression of a 
 royal governor. 
 
 But independently of any motives we may suppose 
 him to have had, there is no doubt that whenever he 
 governed in person he was more generous and more 
 successful and popular than any deputy he appointed. 
 He gave rights and privileges with a free hand. He 
 dealt frankly and openly with the people, and, as he 
 himself expressed it, yielded in circumstantials to pre- 
 serve essentials. He was the only man who could stop 
 the petty bickerings and jealousies among the colonists; 
 and Pennsylvania would have been a better and greater 
 province if he had not returned to England. 
 
 The Constitution which he and the people now agreed 
 upon gave to the Assembly the right to originate bills, 
 determine their adjournments, choose their Speaker and 
 other officers, judge of the qualifications and election 
 of their own members, appoint committees, impeach 
 State criminals, and to have in general the same powers 
 and privileges of an assembly according to the rights of 
 freeborn subjects of England as was usual in any of 
 the king's plantations in America. The Provincial 
 Council as a body elected by the people was abolished. 
 Apparently one would suppose there was to be no 
 Council, if it were not for a passage which said that 
 no cases were to be heard before the governor and 
 Council unless they should be constituted by law a 
 court of appeals. This side reference to a council is 
 hard to understand unless there was a tacit agree- 
 ment that Penn should appoint a council. At any 
 rate, he immediately appointed one ; and the custom 
 was continued by his heirs down to the Revolution 
 
 3 2 
 
 \ 
 
Penn takes Possession 
 
 the people occasionally protesting that it was uncon- 
 stitutional. 
 
 The question of tavern licenses was then as now a 
 source of much trouble ; and this Constitution curiously 
 enough settled the question as it has since been settled 
 in our own time, by authorizing the judges to grant the 
 licenses to suitable persons. Liberty of conscience was 
 more secure than ever, and this part of the Consti- 
 tution, it was declared, could never be changed. The 
 rest could be altered by a vote of six-sevenths of 
 the Assembly. Election day was fixed for the first 
 of October, and remained unchanged down to the 
 Revolution. 
 
 Our people lived under this Constitution for seventy- 
 five years, — a longer period than they have lived under 
 any other frame of government. / The Constitution of 
 1776 lasted only fourteen years ; that of 1790 forty-eight 
 years ; that of 1838 thirty-five years ; and we are still 
 under the Constitution of 1873. The Constitution of 
 1 701, which, it will be remembered, was not prepared 
 by Penn, but by the Assembly with Penn assenting, was 
 thoroughly American. It is impossible to read it with- 
 out seeing how like it is to modern instruments of the 
 same sort ; and several of its provisions bear a striking 
 resemblance to parts of the National Constitution. It 
 might readily have lasted more than seventy-five years. 
 If it had not been for a faction that was bent on destroy- 
 ing the influence of the Quakers, this Constitution, 
 like the charters of Rhode Island and of Connecticut, 
 might have carried us through the Revolution and 
 lasted far down into the present century. 
 
 The Constitution was granted by Penn, and accepted 
 3 33 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 by the Assembly, October 28. He then appointed 
 Andrew Hamilton, a former governor of the Jerseys, to 
 be his deputy, and James Logan to be provincial secre- 
 tary and clerk of the Council, and he gave Hamilton a 
 council of ten to advise and assist him. This done, and 
 having incorporated Philadelphia as a city, he stepped 
 aboard the ship " Dalmahoy," which had dropped down 
 to New Castle, issued his last letters of instruction and 
 farewell, and sailed never to return. 
 
 34 
 
The Administration of Governor Evans 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR EVANS 
 
 THE experimental period of the colony's history was 
 now finished. The form of government was settled, 
 definite relations between proprietor and people estab- 
 lished, and life and success assured. 
 
 Those first eighteen or twenty years had been a 
 struggle, but an easy one compared with the first years 
 in other colonies. There was none of the famine, dis- 
 aster, suffering, and Indian massacres through which 
 Virginia and Massachusetts struggled into existence. 
 The temperate climate, fertile soil, abundance of game, 
 and friendliness of the Indians had made pioneering a 
 mere holiday adventure. The population increased 
 rapidly with English, Welsh, and German immigrants, 
 and trade and prosperity followed. 
 
 As soon as Penn had departed, the Territories, as 
 Delaware was called, took advantage of a clause in the 
 new Constitution which allowed them to break the 
 union. This separation, although the Territories were 
 afterward somewhat inclined to repent of it, was final. 
 From that time until the Revolution, Pennsylvania and 
 Delaware, though always under the same governor, 
 had separate legislatures. 
 
 Penn's departure for England and the reason for his 
 going were a great delight to Quarry and the Church- 
 
 35 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 men. The bill before Parliament to turn the proprietary 
 colonies into royal ones was in exact accordance with 
 their views. If it should pass, the Quakers would no 
 longer rule the province, the executive offices would be 
 given to Episcopalians, and the Church of England be 
 established by law, as in Virginia. Everything looked 
 promising for the Churchmen. They had just suc- 
 ceeded with much difficulty in establishing their first 
 parish o( Christ Church ; and though overwhelmingly 
 outnumbered by Quakers and Germans, the}- would 
 soon, if a royal governor were appointed, be able to 
 carry their heads above them all. 
 
 Quarry redoubled his diligence to send reports and 
 arguments to England. The Quakers, he said, were 
 totally unlit to govern, with war prevailing between 
 France and England. They would provide no militia, 
 and would not even protect themselves from pirates. 
 The smallest French privateer might blockade the 
 Delaware, destroy all the shipping, and burn every 
 town. Their supposed religious liberty and scruples 
 of conscience about war and oaths oppressed the 
 Churchmen, who were not allowed to protect their lives 
 and property by arms against the violence of the 
 enemy, and when tried for their life or liberty in court 
 were obliged to appear before judges and jurors none 
 oi' whom had been sworn. 
 
 Quarry had also many charges to make against 
 Penn himself. He had permitted illegal trade; he 
 had invaded the jurisdiction o\ the Admiralty; lie 
 had invited villanous French Indians to settle in the 
 country, so that he could monopolize trade with them, 
 together with other supposed offences. All these 
 
 36 
 
The Administration of Governor Evans 
 
 charges, together with Penn's answers, were laid before 
 the Privy Council, and can now be found printed in the 
 Penn-Logan correspondence. Penn seems to have had 
 no difficulty in convincing the Council that Quarry was 
 simply a malicious fault-finder. Indeed, it was some- 
 what bold of Quarry to attack a man of such influence; 
 for Penn as long as he lived was always a power, no 
 matter who was on the throne. 
 
 He stopped the bill in Parliament to change the 
 proprietorships to royal colonies; and being a favorite 
 with Anne, who had now become Queen of England, 
 he returned to his old court life. He took lodgings in 
 London ; and his nights and days were busy with con- 
 ferences with lawyers, members of Parliament, and 
 ministers, to ward off the movement against proprietor- 
 ships, resist Lord Baltimore in his boundary dispute, 
 and assist the Quakers. It was an expensive life, and 
 he describes the guineas as melting away every day. 
 
 He could at one time easily have borne the expense ; 
 but now he was losing money by Pennsylvania. On 
 the eve of his departure from the province he declared 
 that after all the sales of lands he was still £20,000 out 
 of pocket. His quit-rents were in arrear ; and he still 
 bore the burden of paying the deputy's salary as well 
 as the salaries of the attorney-general and several other 
 officials. A man who attempts to pay the govern- 
 ment expense of a small empire and at the same time 
 lead the life of a courtier and travelling preacher must 
 needs be very rich. In addition to all this, his son 
 William by his first wife had taken up extravagant 
 habits while his father was in the province, and was 
 another source of loss. 
 
 37 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 But no matter what the expense or risk, Penn could 
 not now check himself in his career, or abandon the 
 great purposes of his life. He must go on and protect 
 his province and his sect, and continue to be the same 
 man of influence and prominence. In the midst of all 
 his business at court, we find him again moving about 
 over England to preach at Quaker meetings, writing 
 tracts and pamphlets like " More Fruits of Solitude," 
 and a preface to a book in defence of Quaker prin- 
 ciples ; and also unfortunately at the same time con- 
 tinually borrowing money. 
 
 The administration of Governor Hamilton was a 
 short one of only two years ; and until a new deputy 
 was appointed, the office devolved on Edward Shippen, 
 President of the Council. Quarry was now ready to 
 spring a trap he had been preparing. He had obtained 
 an order from Queen Anne to enforce in Pennsylvania 
 two English statutes, which, while they allowed Quakers 
 to affirm, required that those who were willing to take 
 an oath should be permitted to do so. He appeared 
 with this order before the Council. Two of the mem- 
 bers were willing to take an oath, and said they would 
 comply with the order. But this did not suit Quarry. 
 The Council, he said, was a unit, and he must administer 
 the oath to all or none ; and when they refused to 
 comply with this ridiculous request, he considered that 
 he had something to report to England. 
 
 The collector of customs was, however, called in, 
 and administered the oaths in a reasonable way. But 
 Quarry could still work mischief with his royal order. 
 The Quaker judges were as tender about administering 
 an oath to those who wickedly wanted to take it as they 
 
 38 
 
The Administration of Governor Evans 
 
 were about taking one themselves. Quarry hoped to 
 compel the resignation of all of them, and have Church- 
 men appointed in their places ; and although he did not 
 succeed in this, he compelled the resignation of some, 
 suspended the business of the courts, and stirred up a 
 great scandal and talk. 
 
 The Council soon raised an interesting constitutional 
 dispute with the Assembly men, who believed that under 
 the Constitution of 1701 they had a right to adjourn 
 whenever they pleased. The Council contended that 
 they had a right to adjourn from day to day, or for 
 short periods within the session ; but the session could 
 be closed and the Assembly adjourned finally until the 
 ► next session only by the governor and Council. The 
 Assembly, however, laughed at them, and fixed their 
 adjournment to suit themselves, — a fresh step in the 
 establishment of this important popular right which was 
 soon settled beyond question. The Council, after the 
 manner so often adopted at that time, attempted to pre- 
 vent this boldness becoming a precedent by proroguing 
 the Assembly to the day to which it had adjourned. 
 
 The new deputy, John Evans, a young Welshman 
 twenty-six years old, began his administration in 1704. 
 His first act was to refuse his assent to a bill confirming 
 the right of the Assembly to adjourn at pleasure, and 
 this was the end of all further legislation during the 
 session; for the Assembly would pass no bills until 
 their favorite measure was approved. 
 
 Perm seems to have approved of Evans' course. He 
 had been for some years negotiating for the sale of his 
 political power to the crown, in the hope that he would 
 in this way be relieved from the expense of maintaining 
 
 39 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the government for the future, and that the sum received 
 would relieve him from his present embarrassment. 
 With that load removed and remaining proprietor of 
 the land, the sales and quit-rents would in a few years 
 restore his fortune. He thought that the stronger 
 Evans made the government against the people, and the 
 fewer privileges he allowed them, the more the crown 
 would be inclined to buy it, and the higher the price 
 they would give. The crown would not be likely to 
 want to step into the shoes of a weak governor among 
 a people who were accustomed to their liberties. In a 
 letter to Roger Mompesson, referring to Evans' conduct, 
 he says, " What a bargain should I have made for my 
 government with the crown. after such a bill had taken 
 from me the power I should dispose of." x 
 
 He gained, however, little or nothing by this shrewd- 
 ness, for the people were indignant at Evans, and 
 the Assembly resolved to send a memorial of their 
 grievances to the proprietor. There was not time 
 before the end of the session to prepare the memorial 
 at length ; but nine resolutions were passed which were 
 referred to a committee which prepared the address; 
 and the address, after being approved by a second com- 
 mittee, was sent to England without ever having been 
 submitted to the Assembly. 
 
 It was a long, detailed attack upon the proprietor, full 
 of invective, bitterness, and insinuation, and evidently 
 prepared or inspired by David Lloyd. Penn was 
 accused of having instructed his deputy to resist the 
 right of adjournment, of allowing his colonists' con- 
 sciences to be oppressed by oaths under royal orders, 
 
 1 Janney's Life of Penn, 478. 
 
 40 
 
The Administration of Governor Evans 
 
 of suffering their laws to remain unconfirmed by the 
 crown, and of extortion and corruption in the sale of 
 land. His personal government, it was said, while in 
 the province, had been one of resentment and recrimi- 
 nation, and he had taken sides with the enemies of the 
 province rather than with its friends. The smallest 
 point was seized upon, and by adroit language magnified 
 against him. He was reminded of his neglect to pay 
 Thomas Lloyd's salary while deputy-governor; and he 
 was impudently asked if the province was expected to 
 discharge it. And finally he was informed that some- 
 thing should be done to suppress vice, which had greatly 
 increased since the arrival of his son. 
 
 This last allusion to Perm's greatest trouble doubtless 
 gave David Lloyd infinite pleasure. Penn's son William, 
 though married, and with a family of children, was lead- 
 ing a life of dissipation and extravagance which was 
 rapidly helping to ruin his father. He was sent out to 
 Pennsylvania with Evans, who, it was hoped, would help 
 to restrain him ; and letters were written to James Logan 
 and the influential Quakers to do all they could to 
 change the young man's course of life. He was made 
 a member of Council, the house at Pennsbury was pre- 
 pared for him, and attempts made to occupy his mind 
 with hunting and visits to the Indians. He promised 
 well at first, and Logan felt much encouraged. But 
 soon his real disposition got the better of him. He 
 consorted much with the young governor, whose youth 
 and propensities were not as restraining as had been 
 expected ; and very soon the pair got into a drunken 
 row at night in which, after the old English roistering 
 fashion, they attempted to beat the watch. 
 
 41 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 The memorial of grievances prepared by Lloyd and 
 the rest of the committee, which was never submitted 
 to the Assembly and never seen by them, was signed 
 by Lloyd as Speaker, long after the Assembly had 
 adjourned, when he was no longer its Speaker. To 
 overcome this irregularity, he had interlined in the 
 minutes, as Logan charges, an order authorizing this 
 signing. At the next meeting of the Assembly the 
 memorial was read, and being disapproved, Lloyd, who 
 was again Speaker, was ordered to recall it, which he 
 did, but accompanied the recall with a private letter to 
 the bearer, instructing him not to execute the recall. 
 
 The memorial was not at all popular among the 
 people of the province ; and there was a strong reaction 
 in favor of Penn, which for a time quite unseated Lloyd 
 and the anti-proprietary party. They were obliged to 
 smooth over matters with respectful and affectionate 
 expressions for the founder, and to vote ,£1,200 for the 
 support of government, besides the proceeds of a tax 
 on wines and spirits. 
 
 Evans, in spite of all his folly, was now in a triumph- 
 ant position ; and he sought to revenge himself on the 
 Assembly of 1705 by prosecuting Biles, one of its mem- 
 bers, who had said of him, " Me is but a boy; he is not 
 fit to govern; we will kick him out." He brought suit 
 against Biles in the courts, and attempted to have the 
 process served on him while the Assembly was in 
 session. He demanded that the Assembly should expel 
 him, and raised a small tempest with them, at the end of 
 which he ordered them to adjourn; and instead of stand- 
 ing on their own right to adjourn, for which they had 
 fought for over twenty years, the Assembly broke up 
 
 42 
 
The Administration of Governor Evans 
 
 and scattered, and a quorum could not be kept together. 
 This was the result of David Lloyd's leadership and 
 excess. The violence of his attack upon the proprietor 
 had produced such an overwhelming tide of popular 
 feeling in the proprietor's favor that for the time the 
 courage of the Assembly was destroyed and the people's 
 liberties eclipsed. 
 
 The next Assembly of 1706 was as well behaved and 
 as moderate as possible. Only eleven members of the 
 former house were returned ; and of these, seven were 
 favorable to the governor. They passed excellent laws, 
 forbidding the sale of Indian slaves, and placing a duty 
 on the importation of black ones. They were loyal to 
 the proprietor as well as to his young deputy. Every- 
 thing was in Evans' favor ; and if he had only used a 
 little discretion, he might have continued for a long time 
 in that state. 
 
 He was trying to organize a militia, and believed it 
 very necessary to do something of this sort, or at least 
 have the appearance of doing it, in order to withstand 
 those in England who were trying to turn the proprietor- 
 ships into royal provinces. The war with France and 
 Spain had been severely felt in the New England 
 provinces ; and it was feared that privateers or men-of- 
 war might at any time enter the Delaware and land a 
 force. The youthful and bumptious Evans had no 
 faith in the sincerity of the Quaker principles against 
 war. He believed they would fight like other people 
 the moment they thought their property or their lives 
 in danger, and he set about giving them that thought. 
 He arranged his plans for the day of the annual fair in 
 Philadelphia, and had a messenger arrive in great haste 
 
 43 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 and terror, with the news that the French had entered 
 the river in force, and were moving on the city. Buck- 
 ling on his sword and mounting his horse, the governor 
 rode up and down among the people, entreating them 
 to arm and assemble for the public defence. 
 
 Logan is charged with having taken part in these 
 extraordinary proceedings, and is said to have exhibited 
 pretended signals from the river and displayed the 
 French colors from the mast of a sloop. But in his 
 letters to Penn he speaks of himself as having seen 
 through the device from the beginning, and as having 
 opposed it. To have taken part in it was certainly not 
 like all the rest we know of his character, and there is 
 every reason to suppose that what he has said of his 
 opposition to it was true. 
 
 Evans succeeded in creating a panic among some of 
 the people. The large vessels were sailed up the river 
 to Burlington; the small boats hidden in the creeks; 
 silver and valuables thrown into wells ; and several 
 pregnant women untimely delivered. But the greater 
 part of the Quakers were undismayed ; most of them 
 attended their religious meeting, and only four attended 
 with their weapons at the meeting. 
 
 The farce was soon over, and what it could have 
 accomplished in any event is difficult to see. But 
 Evans evidently thought that he could, by this sudden 
 excitement, break the spell of Quaker doctrine and 
 recruit the whole sect into militiamen. But instead of 
 breaking the spell of Quaker doctrine, he broke the 
 spell of his own success as a governor. The people 
 were again disgusted with him ; and the Assembly that 
 met in September, 1706, denied his power to erect 
 
 44 
 
The Administration of Governor Evans 
 
 courts of law without their consent. The election held 
 the next month returned an Assembly entirely against 
 him, and Lloyd was again in power. 
 
 The great question of debate was now the bill for 
 establishing a judiciary. The Assembly had prepared 
 one providing for a supreme court, county courts, and 
 quarter sessions for criminal cases. Evans resisted 
 every part of it, and insisted on the right of the pro- 
 prietor to create such courts as he pleased. He also 
 insisted that the proceeds of granting tavern licenses 
 and all fines and forfeitures should go to the proprietary 
 instead of being appropriated, as the Assembly wished, 
 to the paying of judges' salaries and other government 
 expenses. 
 
 The fines and the payments for licenses were likely 
 to increase with years ; and the Assembly feared that if 
 they all went to the proprietor, he might become too 
 rich and independent, and their liberty be endangered. 
 They were fully impressed with the importance of that 
 fundamental principle of colonial constitutional law, 
 that the governor, whether royal or proprietary, must 
 be kept poor ; that his salary or income must never 
 become a fixed sum, but must be dependent on the 
 favor and grants of the people. On this question and 
 on the right of the proprietor to create courts of law, 
 they contended with all the oldtime courage and 
 keenness they had shown before Lloyd's memorial put 
 them at the mercy of the governor. 
 
 A conference between the governor and the Assembly 
 was proposed and held ; and it might have turned out 
 favorably if Evans had not been the champion on one 
 side, and Lloyd on the other. They were soon in a 
 
 45 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 personal altercation, demanding apologies from one 
 another; and as the Assembly supported Lloyd and 
 neither side would yield, all hope of compromise failed, 
 and Evans established a judiciary by proclamation in 
 accordance with the powers he claimed. 
 
 The Assembly now determined to strike at Logan, 
 the secretary, who was supposed to have much influence 
 over Evans and to be the author of much of his policy. 
 He was accordingly formally impeached by the Assem- 
 bly, and thirteen articles or charges exhibited against him. 
 This brought on another long controversy, in which 
 the popularity of Evans was by no means increased. 
 Logan was not tried on the articles of impeachment; 
 and the Assembly, finding they could do nothing either 
 with the secretary or the governor, decided to appeal 
 to Penn himself by means of a remonstrance to be 
 more carefully worded than the memorial which Lloyd 
 had prepared. 
 
 The document when completed was not altogether a 
 direct attack on Penn, and contained nothing offensive. 
 He was reminded, however, in the first sentence of it 
 that if the evil practices of his deputy and secretary 
 were not remedied, the Assembly must appeal to the 
 Queen. He had neglected, they said, to have his 
 people relieved from administering oaths, which had 
 kept many Quakers from government employment, 
 and without Quakers in the government it could not 
 be restored to its original purity. He had not settled 
 the Maryland boundary, which caused great difficulty 
 with land titles near the line ; and although they had 
 given him ,£2,000 in consideration of his obtaining the 
 royal sanction for their laws, the best of them had been 
 
 46 
 
The Administration of Governor Evans 
 
 repealed. This was all the direct complaint of Penn 
 they had to make ; and the rest of the remonstrance was 
 taken up with the mal-administration of Evans, who in 
 addition to his political offences was charged with gross 
 immoralities with the Indians. 
 
 Perm's troubles were now increasing fast, with debts 
 piling up upon him ; and he was also beginning to feel 
 the first symptoms of the gout. The French privateers 
 and the disgraceful administration of Evans checked 
 the growth of the province and made it more and more 
 of a burden to its proprietor. The produce of the 
 colony could not be sold. Vessels sent to sea were 
 next heard of as prizes in the admiralty courts of 
 France, and some of the richest merchants lost a large 
 part of their estates. Wheat, flour, and salted pro- 
 visions, which had in the early clays of the province 
 brought enormous prices, were now a drug upon the 
 market. Not only were the sales of land and collec- 
 tions of quit-rents retarded, but the people and their 
 Assembly, exasperated by the deputy Penn had ap- 
 pointed, refused to vote him supplies, and left the 
 expense of government to be paid by the proprietor. 
 In a letter written to Logan in 1704, Penn had said: 
 
 "O Pennsylvania, what hast thou cost me? Above ^£30,000 
 more than I ever got by it, two hazardous and most fatiguing 
 voyages, my straits and slavery here, and my child's soul al- 
 most." 
 
 By the reference to his child he meant that during 
 his absence in the province his son William had taken 
 up the extravagant habits and the keeping of "top 
 company," as he called it, which were now proving to 
 be his ruin. Penn always thought that if he had stayed 
 
 47 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 in England with his son, instead of going to Pennsylvania, 
 the son would not have taken up such evil courses; and 
 he rather unfairly blamed the result on the province. 
 
 But besides this son, his daughter Letitia had married 
 a young merchant, William Aubrey, and the economy of 
 this son-in-law was worse than the extravagance of the 
 son. Aubrey was very much of a man of business, — 
 " a scraping man," Penn called him ; and he insisted on 
 the prompt payment of his wife's portion in a way that 
 materially assisted to bring the founder of Pennsylvania 
 to his sad end. 
 
 In the mean time, Penn had for several years been 
 under another financial difficulty, revealed only to a 
 few, but now, at the close of Evans' administration, 
 brought to light. He had had for some time a steward, 
 or manager, Philip Ford, who took charge of his estates 
 in England and Ireland. Ford was supposed to be a 
 most exemplary Quaker; and like all others whom he 
 employed, Penn trusted him implicitly and grew fond 
 of him. He took particular pains that Ford should 
 have ten thousand acres in Pennsylvania, a city lot in 
 Philadelphia, and one hundred and fifty acres in the 
 suburbs as a present, and seemed to think that he was 
 scarcely giving him enough. Ford seems to have 
 thought so too, for he took additional means to enrich 
 himself. He rendered accounts from time to time 
 which Penn received and set aside without exami- 
 nation and without even opening them. Finally, 
 when an investigation was made, it appeared that al- 
 though Ford had received £17,000 of Penn's money 
 and expended only £16,000, yet Penn owed him 
 £10,500. He accomplished this result by charging 
 
 48 
 
The Administration of Governor Evans 
 
 compound interest at eight per cent every six months 
 on all advances, to which he added large commissions 
 charged again and again on the same sum, and an 
 enormous salary. He allowed Penn no interest on 
 receipts, and sometimes failed to set down money 
 received. 
 
 When the debt against Penn was already large, Ford 
 pressed for payment. Penn still neglected to make an 
 investigation, and as security for the debt foolishly gave 
 Ford a deed in fee simple of the colony. Some time 
 afterward he committed another piece of folly, and 
 accepted from Ford a lease of the province. The lease 
 was of course strong evidence to show that the deed was 
 intended to be an absolute conveyance ; and yet there is 
 no doubt that the transaction between the two men was 
 regarded by both of them as only a mortgage. 
 
 During Ford's lifetime the whole affair was kept 
 secret; it was never known that the great proprietor 
 had been juggled out of his colony by a book-keeper. 
 But when Ford died, his widow and son made every- 
 thing public, declared that the deed passed an absolute 
 title, and professed to be the owners of Pennsylvania. 
 They treated Penn as their tenant, and brought suit 
 against him for £3,000 rent in arrear, and, having ob- 
 tained a judgment for that amount, had Penn arrested 
 and imprisoned for debt. They even went so far as to 
 attempt to get a proclamation from the crown declaring 
 them to be the proprietors of Pennsylvania, and com- 
 manding the colonists to obey them. 
 
 For nine months Penn was confined in the Old Bailey, 
 where he was visited by his friends and displayed all 
 that serene courage and endurance which had upheld 
 4 49 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 him in so many difficulties. The Fords had gone a 
 little too far in having him imprisoned, for such severe 
 treatment of a great man brought him unusual sympathy 
 and assistance. 
 
 Isaac Norris, one of the prominent men of the colony, 
 was in England, and did everything in his power for the 
 proprietor, and assisted to raise money and compromise 
 with the Fords. The sum of ,£7,600 was finally agreed 
 upon as a settlement ; but difficulties arose about the 
 complaints that had reached England from the colony. 
 The old memorial sent by David Lloyd and the later 
 remonstrance of the Assembly against Evans were in 
 the hands of three sturdy Quakers, — George White- 
 head, William Meade, and Thomas Lowther, agents of 
 the people of the colony, and not altogether in accord 
 with Penn. They made good use of Penn's position to 
 force him to recall Evans, and their visits to him in the 
 Old Bailey were effectual. The money was raised, a 
 mortgage given on the province to secure it, Evans 
 was dismissed, and Penn was a free man. 
 
 50 
 
The Administration of Gookin 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOOKIN AND THE 
 DEATH OF PENN 
 
 The deputy appointed to take Evans' place was 
 Col. Charles Gookin, who began his administration 
 in 1709. Perm, as usual, was infatuated with him, and 
 described him to his friends in the province as a man 
 of good family, the grandson of Sir Vincent Gookin, 
 an early planter in Ireland in the days of King James 
 and King Charles, highly recommended by prominent 
 men, a soldier weary of war, anxious to retire to peace- 
 ful Pennsylvania and leave there his fortune and his 
 bones. 
 
 The Assembly was in session when Gookin arrived, 
 the same angry, anti-proprietary Assembly that had 
 been attacking Evans; and from force of habit its first 
 act was to address Gookin on the subject of his pre- 
 decessor, asking that he might still be prosecuted and 
 punished, and intimating that he had been influenced 
 by certain evil counsel, which was a hit at Logan. 
 The governor quieted them by saying that he had no 
 authority to punish Evans, but that he was ready to 
 redress any other grievances they had, and that it 
 would be well to lay aside all the old animosities and 
 jealousies and apply themselves to the business of the 
 hour. 
 
 51 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 But the Assembly under the leadership of Lloyd 
 were in a captious mood. They were soon making 
 petty complaints of the governor. When he wanted 
 one hundred and fifty men and money for the expe- 
 dition against Canada, they replied that they could not 
 in conscience raise money to hire men to kill one 
 another, but in gratitude to the Queen for many favors 
 they would present her with ,£500. This the governor 
 refused ; and the Assembly would make no change 
 except that £300 of the grant should be for Indian 
 expenses, and the remaining £200 for the governor's 
 own use, provided he should concur in their bills. 
 
 In refusing to accept their amended grant, the gov- 
 ernor brought on another quarrel by accidentally letting 
 it be known that his instructions prohibited him from 
 passing any law without the consent of his Council. 
 This the Assembly thought a violation of the Constitu- 
 tion. The Council, which had been given no legislative 
 power nor even existence by the Constitution of 1701, 
 was by this means, they said, to be given a secret 
 control of legislation; and the Assembly would never 
 know who was the real cause of their grievances, the 
 governor or some member of his Council. The object 
 of the instructions was, they thought, to give Logan, 
 already predominant in the Council, a greater power 
 than ever, and enable him to control not only the 
 governor, but the Assembly ; and the Assembly there- 
 upon proceeded to state their opinion of Logan, who 
 had been the cause, they said, of all the evil in the last 
 government. 
 
 Soon after this the Assembly adjourned ; and the 
 election held in October of that year, 1709, returned a 
 
 52 
 
The Administration of Gookin 
 
 body of the same complexion, with the anti-proprietary 
 party still in power and Lloyd for its Speaker. They 
 immediately began a quarrel with Logan, in which he 
 defended himself with his usual ability, and so exas- 
 perated them with taunts on their past conduct and 
 treatment of Penn that they ordered his arrest, and he 
 was taken on the warrant of the Speaker. 
 
 The governor released him on the ground that the 
 Assembly could not arrest any one outside of its own 
 membership, and least of all a member of the Council. 
 Logan embarked for England, and laid before Penn the 
 whole subject of his controversy with the Assembly, 
 including the former articles of impeachment ; and after 
 an investigation he was acquitted of all blame. 
 
 But still greater triumphs awaited him and Penn in 
 the province. The Assembly had again gone too far. 
 The people were convinced that Evans and his abuses 
 were entirely disposed of, and they began to have 
 confidence in Gookin. At the next election in October, 
 1 710, they returned an Assembly every member of 
 which was of the proprietary party. Lloyd was so 
 discomfited that he went to live in Chester, and for 
 the next two years he and his friends were seldom 
 heard of. 
 
 This change in the feeling of the people as soon as 
 they saw the prospect of a little good government shows 
 that Penn was in reality very popular among them, and 
 that if he had governed in person or appointed fairly 
 discreet deputies there would have been no anti- 
 proprietary party and few difficulties. 
 
 In June, 17 10, while Logan was in England, and 
 probably at his suggestion, Penn wrote a long letter to 
 
 53 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the people of the province, which, if it had arrived before 
 the election, would have made the result more certain. 
 Coming afterward as it did, it strengthened the hands 
 of his friends and confirmed the people in their regard 
 for him. It was a pathetic letter, with many touches of 
 feeling: — 
 
 " The many combats I have engaged in, the great pains and 
 incredible expence to your welfare and ease, to the decay of 
 my former estate, of which (however some there would repre- 
 sent it) I too sensibly feel its effects, with the undeserved 
 opposition I have met with from thence, sink me into sorrow 
 that, if not supported by a superior hand, might have over- 
 whelmed me long ago. And I cannot but think it hard 
 measure, that, while that has proved a land of freedom and 
 flourishing, it should become to me, by whose means it was 
 principally made a country, the cause of grief trouble and 
 poverty." 
 
 He goes on to speak of what they had called their 
 grievances, dealing with them in the same gentle, 
 kindly spirit he had always shown when in direct com- 
 munication with his people, and then goes on to state 
 some of his own grievances : — 
 
 " The attacks on my reputation ; the many indignities put 
 upon me in papers sent over hither into the hands of those who 
 could not be expected to make the most discreet and chari- 
 table use of them ; the secret insinuations against my justice, 
 besides the attempt made upon my estate ; resolves passed in 
 the Assemblies for turning my quit-rents, never sold by me, to 
 the support of government ; my lands entered upon without 
 any regular method ; my manors invaded (under pretence I 
 had not duly surveyed them) and both these by persons princi- 
 
 54 
 
The Administration of Gookin 
 
 pally concerned in these attempts against me here ; a right to 
 my overplus land unjustly claimed by the possessors of the 
 tracts in which they are found ; my private estate continually 
 exhausting for the support of that government, both here and 
 there, and no provision made for it by that country; to all 
 which I cannot but add the violence that has been particularly 
 shown to my Secretary." 
 
 They were not an oppressed people, he said. The 
 trifles of which they complained showed that they were 
 strangers to real oppression. They complained that 
 officers' fees were not settled by Act of Assembly. By 
 all means, let them settle those fees and make them such 
 as to encourage fit persons to undertake the offices. 
 They had complained of the tavern licenses; but that 
 matter was now settled. They should remember that 
 the eyes of all Europe were upon them ; that many 
 nations looked to them as a land of ease and quiet, 
 wishing to themselves in vain the same blessings. 
 
 " What are the distresses, grievances and oppressions, that 
 the papers, sent from thence, so often say you languish under, 
 while others have cause to believe you have hitherto lived or 
 might live, the happiest of any in the Queen's dominions." 
 
 This last criticism of Penn's is one which might be 
 applied all through the colonial history of Pennsylvania. 
 As we read the political history of the province, the 
 doings of its Assembly, and the squabbles with the 
 various governors, we might suppose it one of the most 
 distracted and troubled commonwealths on earth, al- 
 ways in difficulties and always struggling for something 
 it could not get. So strong is this impression that some 
 writers have gone so far as to say that the common 
 
 55 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 belief in the prosperity and ease of life in the province 
 was a mere delusion. But such people are much misled. 
 The men who carried on these contests went home in 
 the evening to very cheerful firesides. Their wealth 
 rapidly increased in spite of the supposed oppression 
 of the proprietors ; and there were few, if any, other 
 colonies where the people enjoyed more amusements 
 and pleasures. The severity of the language with which 
 they contended with the governors did not always ex- 
 press a personal animosity ; and Franklin in one of his 
 best stories tells us how he used to abuse a certain 
 deputy-governor all day in the Assembly, and then 
 dine with him in friendly intercourse in the evening. 
 They were hearty Saxon spirits, jealous of the slightest 
 infraction of their liberties, but not disposed to grow 
 frantic or hysterical, or lose any of their sleep or 
 pleasure. 
 
 Their ways were plain and simple. When the hour 
 for the Assembly meeting came, a bell was rung, prob- 
 ably a very necessary ceremony to bring them together 
 from the taverns and houses where they were gossiping. 
 The same bell was tolled when they adjourned. As the 
 shadows lengthened and the sun sank below the houses 
 of the little town, a member would move that candles 
 be brought in; and the minutes invariably record that 
 " candles were brought in accordingly." 
 
 The method of their proceedings is spread out before 
 us in their minutes, — most interesting volumes, which 
 show these Quaker legislators to have been very busi- 
 ness-like and well skilled in the parliamentary arts. 
 Their constant intercourse with the deputy-governor 
 was conducted by message and reply; and when there 
 
 56 
 
The Administration of Gookin 
 
 was no message of the governor to furnish a basis for a 
 reply, they addressed him by remonstrance or memorial. 
 These messages and replies, or remonstrances, appear 
 in the minutes every few pages, and are all of striking 
 ability. The messages of the governors are very digni- 
 fied and well expressed in rich, idiomatic old English; 
 and one is very apt to be persuaded that the governor 
 is right until he reads the sarcastic reply of the Assembly. 
 The members of the Assembly, and especially David 
 Lloyd, became very skilful in drawing up replies which 
 would be entirely respectful, and yet contain a sting. 
 
 Lloyd was a learned man in his way and a very astute 
 lawyer ; and the keen practical sense on all questions of 
 English constitutional history and law which the Assem- 
 bly showed was doubtless largely due to him. He went 
 to extremes at times ; but it must be said in his excuse 
 that he was on those occasions often leading the people 
 against the acts of very unsuitable deputies who should 
 not have been appointed. On ordinary occasions, and 
 when his spite against Penn was not aroused, he was a 
 very efficient and useful Assembly man, and his temper 
 seems to have improved with age. He and Joseph 
 Wilcox seem to have drawn the greater part of the 
 Assembly's replies. Franklin afterward performed the 
 same service, and was always very proud of his work. 
 Indeed, the man who could frame these replies so that 
 they would be effective, not merely with the governor, 
 but with the people, who learned of their contents at the 
 coffee-house, became very naturally an important person 
 in the colony. 
 
 The Assembly was a small body, composed of only 
 about twenty-five or thirty members, and could manage 
 
 57 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 its business very easily, meet at the governor's house, if 
 in conference with him, or at the treasurer's office or the 
 loan office, if investigating accounts. They were true 
 tribunes of the people, and in their course of ninety 
 odd years built up a goodly fabric of civil liberty. 
 
 In reading their history, however, in these years, we 
 must remember that it is not the history of the whole 
 people of the province, but merely the political doings 
 of the sect that was in power. While the Quakers were 
 controlling the Assembly, fighting the deputies, and 
 developing constitutional liberty, thousands and thou- 
 sands of people, consisting of Germans and Scotch-Irish, 
 were arriving in the province and scattering themselves 
 among the woods and mountains without taking any 
 part in the government. These people in the course of 
 years far outnumbered the Quakers; and yet, though 
 composing the majority of inhabitants, they lived to 
 themselves, and had language, literature, customs, and a 
 history of their own, separate from the political history 
 that was made by the Quakers. When the French and 
 Indian wars reached the Pennsylvania frontier, the 
 Scotch-Irish and the Germans began to take a more 
 active part in affairs, but until that time they left every- 
 thing to the Quakers. 
 
 Penn's letter having been read in the Quaker meet- 
 ings and the prospects being favorable for a good ad- 
 ministration from Gookin, the ruling class or sect were 
 now in a very easy humor. Pills were rapidly passed 
 by the new Assembly. With the assistance of the 
 governor, and in spite of the disapproval of his bill by 
 the crown, they succeeded in establishing some sort of 
 judiciary system. Gookin yielded them the right to 
 
 5 s 
 
The Administration of Gookin 
 
 adjourn at pleasure; and when the usual application 
 came for money to assist in the war against Canada, 
 they were very compliant, and voted the sum of £2,000. 
 They regulated the fees of officers, established a regular 
 revenue, and, by these and other wholesome laws, gave 
 the province a more settled and substantial government. 
 In this way five peaceful years, 171 1 to 17 16, passed 
 away. 
 
 Those years were a great relief to Penn ; and it was 
 fitting that his last days should see some respite from 
 the troubles the province had caused him. The settle- 
 ment of the Ford claim helped him, for it stopped a 
 most exhausting drain on his resources; and under a 
 new manager his estates in England and Ireland began 
 to bring in some returns. He was now in the decline 
 of life, being nearly seventy years old. He had ceased 
 from his active work at court ; for nearly everything 
 that could be accomplished for his sect had been done, 
 and there was but little more to do even for the cause 
 of the proprietary colonies. He was becoming gouty, 
 and the cessation from active life probably increased 
 the disease. 
 
 It was about this time or a little earlier that he had 
 become very stout; and several of the pictures of him 
 were doubtless produced by persons who knew him in 
 this stage of his life, and in some of them he looks like 
 a fat, prosperous butcher. But we may console our- 
 selves with the thought that none of these pictures were 
 taken from life, but only from recollection or description. 
 The only authentic portrait we have of him is the one 
 taken when he was a young soldier of twenty-one, with 
 a beautiful, fresh, expressive face, and the long hair and 
 
 59 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 armor of a Cavalier. The bronze statue on the City 
 Hall in Philadelphia, in which he appears tall, well pro- 
 portioned, and strong, is probably as it is intended to be, 
 a very faithful representation of him as he was in his 
 prime, when he first took possession of Pennsylvania. 
 
 As he felt himself growing old, his great object was 
 still to sell the government of the province, pay his 
 debts, and restore his family to prosperity. He grasped 
 eagerly at the report of a silver mine in the Allegheny 
 Mountains. He was solicitous, he said, " to pry into 
 this affair whence help may arrive to deliver me." But 
 he was soon convinced that there was more chance for 
 help in a sale to the crown than in anything the Alle- 
 ghenies contained. His great difficulty was in the con- 
 ditions on which the sale must be made. He wanted 
 money ; but he also had a great reputation to maintain. 
 He could not sell his right in a way that would jeopard- 
 ize the principles on which the colony was founded and 
 its civil and religious liberty; and it must also remain 
 a secure asylum for the Quakers. All this must be 
 secured before he received a shilling ; and so particular 
 was he on this point in negotiating with the officers of 
 the crown that the sale was delayed, and delayed until 
 it could not be accomplished. 
 
 He, however, had brought the matter to a state that 
 was almost satisfactory when, on the 4th of October, 
 171 2, while writing to Logan, he was stricken with 
 paralysis. He recovered in a few months so far as to go 
 on with the negotiations and come to an agreement, with 
 a deed ready to be signed, and ,£1,000 was paid him on 
 account of the purchase-money, which was to be^"i8,i5 - 
 But again he was stricken with paralysis, which this time 
 
 60 
 
The Administration of Gookin 
 
 reached his mind ; and the deed would not have been 
 valid if he had signed it. The sale was never completed ; 
 and the great proprietor lingered for six years with a 
 clouded intellect, gradually growing weaker and weaker. 
 
 He lived at that time at Ruscombe near Twyford in 
 a large house, too large for his means, where he was 
 tenderly nursed by his faithful wife, and seemed to find 
 pleasure in wandering from room to room. At times 
 he was taken to meeting, where he was sometimes able 
 to speak a few sentences. He was very cheerful, and 
 glad to see his friends, who described him as very de- 
 fective in memory, but with occasional flashes of intel- 
 ligence and clear statement which showed that his strong 
 mind was not yet entirely subdued. 
 
 Fortunately, during these six years when he was 
 gradually sinking to his grave, the province was quiet, 
 and his wife had no difficulty in managing it. In 171 3, 
 the year after he was stricken with paralysis, peace was 
 declared ; and the trade of the Delaware River im- 
 mediately began to revive. This was the event for 
 which he had been waiting many years. He had even 
 hesitated in selling the government, expecting that he 
 might hear of the cessation of hostilities at any time. 
 He was confident that, as soon as peace came, his returns 
 from sales of land and quit-rents would enormously 
 increase, and soon place him beyond any necessity of 
 selling. But now the good time had come when his 
 mind could scarcely appreciate it, and the results had 
 hardly time to gather much headway before he had 
 ceased to live. 
 
 Everything, however, was easier. The Assembly bore 
 part of the expense of government, which had hitherto 
 
 61 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 depended entirely on Penn ; and they began by giving 
 Gookin ,£150. The proprietor had agreed to give 
 him ,£200 a year, and the Assembly usually gave him 
 about /"500 annually; but the appropriations on which 
 the Assembly's grant depended were very irregularly 
 paid, and the governor felt far from secure in his income. 
 He was a bachelor, and had been chosen, it is said, for 
 that reason, because it was thought he would be a cheap 
 governor. But he was none the less persistent in his 
 demands on the Assembly. He never lost an op- 
 portunity to worry money out of them; and continual 
 disappointment in these endeavors is said to have 
 brought on his final quarrel with them. 
 
 He is supposed to have become a little deranged; for 
 he quarrelled in a most extraordinary way with the As- 
 sembly of 1 714, because they had not a quorum on the 
 first day of their meeting, and refused to recognize them, 
 and he soon had another opportunity to make a mistake. 
 The royal orders which Quarry had obtained, compelling 
 oaths to be administered to those who were willing to 
 take them, were still giving trouble. They did not ac- 
 complish their object of keeping the Quakers as a body 
 out of office; but they undoubtedly prevented certain 
 strict members of the sect from accepting office, and in 
 any event were to be gotten rid of, if possible. 
 
 The colonists had a very convenient way of dealing 
 with matters of this sort. Their laws had to be sent to 
 England for approval within five years, and were valid 
 unless disapproved by the crown within six months after 
 the expiration of that time. But meanwhile the people 
 would live under the law for five years, and when it was 
 disapproved pass it again and live under it for another 
 
 62 
 
The Administration of Gookin 
 
 period. The history of quite a number of their laws 
 shows them to have been re-enacted at regular intervals 
 of five years. They took this course with the question of 
 oaths. In 1704, soon after Quarry obtained the orders, 
 they passed a bill substituting affirmations for oaths ; but 
 Evans, who was deputy at that time, refused to sign it. 
 In 17 10 they passed a similar bill, which was signed by 
 Gookin and became a law, but was afterward disap- 
 proved by the crown, and now in 171 5 they passed the 
 same bill again, which Gookin also signed. 
 
 But Queen Anne had died in 17 14, and under George 
 I., who was now on the throne, an Act of Parliament 
 was passed, extending to the colonies for five years an 
 Act of William III., intended to prevent Quakers from 
 giving evidence in criminal cases, sitting on juries, or 
 holding any office under government. This was exactly 
 what the Church of England party in the province had 
 always insisted should be the law, and they were ac- 
 cordingly much gratified. Gookin made the great 
 mistake of his life by taking sides with them, and de- 
 claring that the new Act of Parliament repealed the law 
 of the province allowing affirmations, which he had just 
 signed. He could not be moved from this position by 
 the entreaties of the Council, or by the Assembly. 
 
 The address sent him by the Assembly argued the 
 question most ably, and seems to have been prepared 
 by Lloyd. It was impossible, he urged, that an act 
 preventing Quakers from being witnesses in criminal 
 cases could apply to Pennsylvania. It would defeat 
 the administration of justice. So many of the people 
 were Quakers that there might be many instances in 
 which the only witnesses to the most atrocious crimes 
 
 63 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 would be of that faith, and one instance had already 
 occurred in which a murderer had escaped under this Act 
 of Parliament. The Act, if valid in the province, would 
 also render void the whole government of the province 
 and all its acts ; for if no Quaker could hold office, then 
 everything done by the proprietor or through his au- 
 thority was annulled. The Act allowing affirmations 
 recently passed was, by the royal charter, a law unless 
 directly vetoed by the king within five years ; and the 
 Act of Parliament could not by mere implication repeal 
 this provincial Act. The colonists had a right by their 
 charter to live under their own law until the king 
 expressly disallowed it. 
 
 Not satisfied with arousing the enmity of the whole 
 Quaker community on the subject of oaths, Gookin 
 attacked the characters of Hill, the Speaker of the As- 
 sembly, and of Logan, accusing them of favoring the 
 pretender to the English throne. There was not the 
 slightest evidence for these extraordinary accusations ; 
 and such a deputy, no matter what his merits might 
 have been in the past, could no longer be endured. 
 The whole Council joined in an address to Perm, 
 asking for his recall. This was in 171 6, when the 
 proprietor was far too weak in his mind to attend to such 
 matters. But Mrs. Penn received the address and, by 
 great good luck or good judgment, appointed Sir 
 William Keith. The office did not have to go begging, 
 for in a letter to Logan she mentions one applicant who 
 offered to pay £200 for the position. But she declined 
 all such candidates and took the man who was most 
 highly recommended by her friends. 
 
 Penn had now grown very weak and could no longer 
 
 64 
 
The Administration of Gookin 
 
 walk without assistance. But his powerful constitution 
 yielded slowly, and the decline was gradual and steady, 
 until, on the 30th of July, 1718, he died in the seventy- 
 fourth year of his age. The Indians, when they heard 
 of the death of Onas, as they called him, — the man of 
 treaties unbroken and friendships inviolate, — sent his 
 widow a present which they said was " material for a 
 garment of skins suitable for travelling through a thorny 
 wilderness;" and Mrs. Perm replied that she wished to 
 put it on, " having the woods and wilderness to travel 
 through, indeed." 
 
 5 6 5 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 MRS. PENN BECOMES PROPRIETARY 
 
 Penn had been twice married. By his first wife, 
 Gulielma Maria Springett, he had two children, — a 
 son William, who had caused him so much trouble by 
 his dissipation, and a daughter, who was now Letitia 
 Aubrey. By his will he left to this son William all 
 his estates in England and Ireland, inherited from his 
 father and his first wife, and to Letitia Aubrey, in 
 addition to the marriage portion already given her, ten 
 thousand acres of land in Pennsylvania. The English 
 and Irish estates left to William were worth ,£1,500 a 
 year, and in direct returns were more valuable at this 
 time than Pennsylvania. 
 
 He disposed of Pennsylvania by leaving it to his 
 second wife, who survived him, and her father, Thomas 
 Callowhill, and others, in trust to pay his debts and 
 give legacies of ten thousand acres each to his daughter 
 Letitia and to the children of his son William, and 
 after that to convey the remainder, in such portions as 
 his wife should think best, to his children by her, — 
 John, Thomas, Margaret, Richard, and Dennis, — who 
 were at the time of his death all under age. 
 
 The government of Pennsylvania and Delaware, 
 which was always distinct from the ownership of the 
 land he gave by his will to the Earl of Oxford, Earl 
 
 66 
 
% 
 
 Mrs. Penn becomes Proprietary 
 
 Mortimer, and Earl Pawlet, in trust to sell to the 
 crown. These noblemen, however, were in doubt as 
 to their power to act in this trust, because it was a 
 question whether the trust was valid against William, 
 the heir-at-law, and there was also a question whether 
 the trust to sell was necessary when there was already 
 in existence an agreement to sell to the crown. 
 
 A chancery suit was instituted to test these ques- 
 tions, and meanwhile William claimed the government 
 as heir-at-law. But the trustees never accomplished a 
 sale; and the death of William in about two years, and 
 of his son Springett some years after, left Pennsylvania 
 to the children of the second wife. 
 
 While the chancery suit was in progress, and William 
 and his son Springett were alive, there was much un- 
 certainty as to the person who, of right, controlled 
 the government. William several times undertook to 
 assume it, and issued orders and instructions. But no 
 one paid much attention to him, partly because of his 
 well-known character, and principally because there 
 was a conviction in most minds that the trustees who 
 were to sell the government were the true legal owners 
 of it. The trustees, however, declined to take any 
 part, either in selling or governing; and after the death 
 of William, his son, Springett Penn, the heir-at-law, 
 always seems to have acted in full accord with his step- 
 mother. By a compromise of all interests, therefore, 
 Mrs. Penn became in effect the owner of both the land 
 and the government as executrix and guardian of the 
 children, probably the only instance in history of a 
 woman occupying the feudal office of Lord Proprietor 
 of such a great province. 
 
Pennsj Colony md Co ionvt ealth 
 
 rule was \ a j muc i facilitated -\ Ke '■. w ho 
 
 \ i in t bo - 1 le 
 
 o s ; Scotchman family, a] 
 
 familial with ce as well as w I i 
 
 sun eyor of < . n colonies, and 
 
 having ten vis tiladelphia, where he knew 
 
 Morris ominent people, lie had 
 
 oi lVnns\ Ivania politics, and 
 
 knev the history and the weaknesses oi past adminis 
 
 is 
 
 >m this knov o ha\ e made up 
 
 - - • , : ... ie < i -. i olon} . and he applied 
 
 i put} l te had been In England 
 during the time I aid no longei beat court, and 
 
 had been oi much service in getting the provi 
 laws approved b) the Privy Council He was willing, 
 ssume the expense oi the fees neces* 
 sary to obtain his confirmation by the crown, rhe 
 Provincial Council In Pennsylvania, as well as 1 ogan 
 and all the friends of the Penn family, recommended 
 him. In short, ever} circumstance marked him out .is 
 the man above all others suitable foi the post oi deputy- 
 governor. 
 
 One of his first acts on his arrival was to quiet 
 the rerritories, where the people had become inclined 
 
 : . a royal governor, instead of the Pennsylvania 
 deputy, lie was seen after very fortunate in his speech 
 to the Assembly of Pennsylvania. 1 K v had post 
 poned his meeting with them, he said, until they were 
 through with the labors of harvest; and he continued 
 
 his remarks in the same conciliatory tone, promis- 
 es 
 
.Mr-,. Pcnn becomes Pro] 
 
 ing to - them 
 
 • 
 m on tl 
 
 in a i' 
 ;ome qii( 
 no lo 
 
 'I hey voted him 
 
 beral to him in the mati 
 p nt in Luxurious living at 
 Hoi 
 
 dep ty -governor before his i 
 he proprietor In : 
 mainten; 
 
 ilar an< if it. had b 
 
 done a ' irlier, would have be lief 
 
 to Penn. So popular did K ... 
 
 Quakei 
 
 lish the thii all, — a court 
 
 .• and <-< militia. 
 
 I I': bad ' Of rulin; 
 
 whi' ' all the 
 
 d in 
 1 t of Chano I A Qw, 
 
 lawyer, John K d the court with hi-. 
 
 Keith, it. 
 
 <M. 'J 
 
 and the Quarterly 
 
 appoinl 
 privilege ording to 1 1 
 
 rnor lik^r Evans tvould 
 have turned such s ion into a mighty conflict, 
 
 69 
 
Pennsylvania; Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 which would have both the people and the 
 
 Vssembl) against him, and prevented all beneficial 
 
 legist; in} j eai - Bui Keil 
 
 to then n ind entered an ordei allowing them to 
 
 ss h is cou '. w ithout uncovei 
 
 Keith had, however, some decided faults oi char- 
 
 riuui^h able and broad minded in his way, he 
 
 was insanely ambit inns, and courted popularity b) 
 
 even means, fair and foul, He had fallen into the 
 
 icn often acquire ol giving profuse promises 
 
 on ever) occasion He found it a cheap way oi tiding 
 
 K>rary difficulties ; and though Loud complaints 
 
 I his numerous failures to keep his word, 
 
 he still seem< he time, to gain more than he Lost 
 
 b) this method, and also seemed to flourish, foi the 
 
 debt Franklin, who came 
 
 hia as a boy oi seventeen, during Keith's 
 
 administration, was one of his victims, and w.is sent 
 
 fruitless voyage to England by the governor's 
 
 falsehoods. 
 
 Such men usually ruin themselves in the end, and 
 Keith was no exception He had scarcely been in 
 office a year before he began to ignore his Council; and 
 his intention was evidently to abolish that department 
 of the government and make himself more populai with 
 the Assembly, who believed that t ho Council was not 
 authorized by the Constitution ol i"oi 
 
 rhe colony was now rapidly increasing in wealth; 
 
 the quit-rents and sales of Ian ! soon enabled Mis. 
 
 Penn to pay off the mortgage on the province, and .ill 
 
 the rest of her husband's debts. l>ut although the 
 
 ocean was now free from the enemy's cruisers, there 
 
 70 
 
VI r,. Penn \>" o Pro 
 
 not a suffi< 
 which, under the infi ,.j, mild 
 
 -.it':, and rapidly incr< 
 terabundant With I tiori of K 
 
 passed to create a honi mption* B 
 
 confined undei . of grain and . : 
 
 manufa* ture oi beer, and forbu i 
 01 sugai ; distil 
 
 products in theii busi and home pi 
 
 J tendei for debts, 
 J he great indust ) oi th( p . what K 
 
 desci ibed as the manul .. [n 
 
 r daily before the French cruisers be 
 nt on the ocean, 
 a high reputation for flour, bra ted supp 
 
 oi all kinds, which had usually b ried to 
 
 I hoped that if .vas 
 
 . it would consume some oi tin 
 farm supplies; and rigid inspection laws w< ;ed, 
 
 whu tlyimpnn quality of the manufaci 
 
 provisions, and again broughl them into 
 But even thi ot a sufficient remedy for th< 
 
 abundance; and the coldnisl 
 difficulty in their commercial life, whi< 
 oi ( urrency for the ordinary purposes oi ex< hai 
 'I he province, like all the other i i In Ame 
 
 compelled to buy all \i<-.r manufaci in 
 
 England, and not allowed to i h tnanuf; 
 
 of hei own It. is true that Penn ylvania violated I 
 rule many times, but not enough to prevent her impo 
 far exceeding her exports. Si. therefore in l 
 
 position of having more produce than 
 
 7' 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 to do with, and was nevertheless buying and bringing 
 into the country more than she sold and sent out. 
 Money, as a consequence, was very scarce, for it was 
 all drawn off to pay the unequal balance of trade. The 
 remedies for turning the superabundant produce into 
 money failed, and, likewise, attempts to lower the rate 
 of interest, stay executions for debt, and raise the value 
 of the coin. Keith suggested a paper currency, which 
 proved successful, was issued during all the rest of the 
 colonial period, and formed one of the regulation 
 subjects of dispute between the Assembly and the 
 governor. 
 
 The same remedy of a paper currency was tried in 
 other colonies, but usually with very disastrous results, 
 because it was overissued, lost the confidence of the 
 people, and depreciated so as to cause great loss and 
 suffering. The difficulty with a paper currency in a 
 colony was that if very little of it was issued it failed 
 to entirely supply the place of the money drawn off to 
 England, and became in great demand, so that specula- 
 tors, or "sharpers," as the colonists called them, would 
 buy it up to hold and sell gradually at an enormous 
 profit. This was a great injury to the people, and 
 defeated the purpose for which the paper had been 
 issued. On the other hand, if much of it were issued, 
 its depreciation caused even greater injury. 
 
 The point to be attained was therefore to issue just 
 so much as would about supply the place of the money 
 taken to England, and no more and no less. To do 
 this in a popular assembly, subject to the clamor of 
 those who were extremely conservative and wanted no 
 paper currency at all, and of those who believed in an 
 
 72 
 
Mrs. Penn becomes Proprietary 
 
 unlimited issue of paper money, was a difficult task. 
 That Pennsylvania, nevertheless, had a paper currency 
 issued from time to time for a period of fifty years, that 
 was always sound and of a steady value for all pur- 
 poses of trade, is another proof of how well the province 
 was ruled down to the time of the Revolution. When 
 the classes that had ruled in colonial times were driven 
 from power in the Revolution, and a mob of the igno- 
 rant and inexperienced were in possession of the com- 
 monwealth, the previous success with paper money 
 deluded them, and they rushed to the conclusion that 
 it could be safely issued in unlimited quantities, the 
 more of it the better, and that, no matter how low its 
 value sank, people could be compelled to accept it by 
 penal laws. 
 
 There had been people in the province, usually 
 debtors, with the same opinions previous to the Revo- 
 lution, but they were held in check by the conserva- 
 tism and good sense of the Quaker Assembly and the 
 proprietary officials, who never allowed the issues to 
 go beyond a safe basis. In the first issue under Keith, 
 ,£50,000 in notes were issued in loans to individuals 
 secured on silver plate or land. 
 
 This plan of issuing a currency or creating money 
 based on the property of citizens is most plausible in 
 theory, but extremely dangerous in practice as soon as 
 attempted on a large scale. It was in the minds of 
 many people at that time, and was an important part 
 of the system of the famous John Law, whose banking 
 scheme had a few years before ruined so many people 
 in France. Law believed that money stimulated 
 trade, that credit could be used as money, and that 
 
 73 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the way to have plenty of money and plenty of stimu- 
 lation was through a generous issue of paper currency 
 based on mortgages of land. His theories had come to 
 grief in France in 1720; and doubtless the Pennsylvania 
 Quakers had his lesson in their minds in 1722, when 
 they issued their first paper money. They certainly 
 acted upon the very reverse of Law's principle; for, 
 instead of regarding money as the cause of trade, they 
 regarded trade as the cause of money, and they con- 
 fined their issues of paper money very closely to the 
 one purpose of offsetting the drain of their currency to 
 England, and they were careful to keep the issues far 
 within the value of the security. 
 
 The minutes of the Assembly show how carefully the 
 subject was debated. Petitions came in from the mer- 
 chants and other classes in the community, displaying 
 various views and suggesting various remedies. The 
 petitioners who differed in opinion answered each other 
 back and forth ; and the whole experience of the English 
 nation in coinage matters as well as the experience of 
 the other colonies was reviewed. There was, in fact, 
 a most thorough investigation; and the people, as well 
 as the Assembly, became familiar with all the phases of 
 the question. Nothing saved them from ruin but their 
 extreme care and moderation, and the limitations with 
 which their undertaking was surrounded. 
 
 The loans on plate were for only a year, and those 
 on lands were for eight years. No one could borrow 
 more than ^"ioo except after the loan office had been 
 open four months; and the sum allowed to be issued 
 had not been all taken when one person could bor- 
 row ,£200. Every loan was to be repaid by yearly 
 
 74 
 
Mrs. Perm becomes Proprietary 
 
 instalments ; and as soon as an instalment was due 
 more than two months, there could be a foreclosure 
 and sale of the land. Money received on the loans 
 was to be used to buy in the notes, and in this way the 
 whole issue was to be gradually absorbed. But in the 
 next year, as the plan proved successful, a provision 
 was adopted for reissuing the notes, so that the benefit 
 of providing the people with a currency should be 
 continued. 
 
 Persons who refused to receive the paper money at 
 the value of gold and silver were to be punished by a 
 fine of from thirty shillings to fifty pounds. But pun- 
 ishments of this sort were unnecessary as long as the 
 people believed that the paper could be redeemed in 
 gold ; and if they lost that faith, all the fines and punish- 
 ments in the world would not restore the paper's value 
 in their eyes, or compel them to accept it at par. This 
 was afterward fully tested in the Revolution, when 
 the new rulers in control of Pennsylvania attempted to 
 regulate values by legislation and force. 
 
 So popular was Keith, so successful his measures, 
 and so prosperous the province under his rule, that the 
 Assembly gave him a vote of thanks and gratitude, a 
 distinction awarded to no other colonial governor of 
 Pennsylvania. His treatment of the Council, which 
 was in effect to abolish it, was quietly endured under 
 the spell of his success; and Mrs. Penn, though 
 extremely doubtful of the wisdom of the paper money, 
 did not ask for its repeal in the hope that it would be 
 carefully managed, and no more issues of it permitted. 
 The governor might have gone on for some time undis- 
 turbed if he had not lost his head and thought himself 
 
 75 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 more powerful than Logan and the proprietors. Logan 
 had, about the time of the first issue of paper money in 
 the year 1722, entered a statement in the Minutes of 
 the Council which Keith thought had not been approved 
 by the other members; and, seizing upon this as a pre- 
 text, Keith took upon himself as governor to dismiss 
 Logan from the Council as well as from his office of 
 secretary of the province. Logan immediately sailed 
 for England, and laid the whole matter before the pro- 
 prietary family. 
 
 This was the end of Keith. Logan returned, and 
 had the satisfaction of handing to him Mrs. Penn's 
 rebuke. He must reinstate Logan at once, restore the 
 Council to its former importance, and hereafter be 
 guided by its advice. He might still have remained 
 governor if he had yielded. But he not only resisted 
 and argued against Mrs. Penn's rebuke, but laid the 
 whole matter before the Assembly, and asked them to 
 take his side. They supported him most heartily, and 
 Mrs. Penn at once recalled him. The Assembly, hear- 
 ing that their favorite was doomed, deserted him, gave 
 him only ^400, and, when he urged them for a vote of 
 approval, prepared a half-hearted address, in which 
 they said as little as possible. His successor, Patrick 
 Gordon, arrived in the summer of 1726, closing nine 
 years of as beneficial an administration as the colony 
 had ever had, which, but for the folly of Keith himself, 
 might just as well have lasted ten years longer. 
 
 Keith remained in the province for awhile, and was 
 elected to the Assembly, in which he tried to create a 
 party to overthrow the proprietary power. But in the 
 spring of 1728 he was obliged to escape secretly to 
 
 76 
 
Mrs. Perm becomes Proprietary 
 
 avoid his creditors. Soon after he published a pam- 
 phlet in England on the state of the colonies, and is 
 said to have been the first person to suggest to the 
 crown the taxation of the Americans. He was finally 
 imprisoned for debt, and died in the Old Bailey. 
 
 77 
 
Pennsylvania: Colonv and Commonwealth 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Gordon's wise administration 
 
 Gordon was an old soldier who had served with dis- 
 tinction under Queen Anno; and, after the experience 
 with Black well j this appointment of a warrior to rule 
 a Quaker colonv was not a very favorable sign of a 
 quiet administration. Gordon, however, seems to have 
 thought himself all the better qualified. He had been 
 born in the same year as William Penn, [644, and was 
 now a discreet old man o\ eighty-two, calmed by years 
 and vicissitudes, with a face which, in the portraits we 
 have oi him, shows great benevolence, not unlike the 
 typical Quaker. In his first address to the Assembly, 
 he assured them that the simplicity and frankness he 
 had acquired in camps would prevent refined or art I nl 
 politics, and they would never have any difficulty in 
 understanding him. It was easy enough, he said, to 
 do right, and that was what he intended to do. 
 
 Those who expected to have trouble with him were 
 certainly disappointed, and his administration oi ten 
 years was a distinct success, lie profited by Keith's 
 mistakes, made no attempts to dispense with the 
 Council, and achieved the happy medium o\ balancing 
 between the interests of the proprietors and the interests 
 of the people. In reality, he made the two interests 
 almost identical, and there was no reason why they 
 
 7S 
 
Gordon's Wise Administration 
 
 should be otherwise. The best method ol ruling the 
 colony was now, aftei fifty years ol experience, becom- 
 ing very well settled ; and we hear no more of the < rude 
 mistakes and ridiculous scandals and quarrels which 
 
 were SO common in the time ol the founder. 
 
 Gordon began his administration by a very sensible 
 sa^e to the Assembly on the subject of the paper 
 money. The five years since the passage of the paper- 
 currency acts had now elapsed, and they had been sub- 
 mitted to the Privy Council. The Committee of the 
 Council on Trade and Plantations had warned the 
 province that such acts were of a very dangerous ten- 
 dency; and while in this instance they woidd not re- 
 commend the king to annul them, because so much 
 of the paper money was already in the hands of the 
 people, yet it must be distinctly understood that no 
 more should he issued, and that the notes now out- 
 Standing must be sunk as rapidly as possible. Gordon 
 confessed' that on coming to the province he had been 
 of the Privy Council's way of thinking, but had been 
 convinced by what he saw and heard that the paper 
 money had been a benefit, not only to the colony, but 
 also to England. The importations from England had 
 greatly increased. More ships were built; and the 
 currency, instead of depreciating, as it had in other 
 colonies, had actually risen in value. Moreover, the 
 colonists had helper! the situation by establishing iron 
 furnaces and cultivating hemp, which enabled them to 
 check the drain of their gold and silver to England; 
 and, as these industries increased, the paper money 
 would become more valuable and secure, and in time 
 could be dispensed with altogether. Under such cir- 
 
 79 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 cumstances he thought the Privy Council would be 
 indulgent, and the people need not dread their 
 interference. 
 
 The people were indeed just at that time clamorous 
 for more of the money. It had, they thought, been a 
 great convenience in trade. But many of the notes 
 had been redeemed, and there was evidently not enough 
 of the paper to offset the drain of gold to England, for 
 trade had again begun to languish, merchants had 
 large quantities of unsold goods on hand, navigation 
 was discouraged, and the shipyards were idle. The 
 Assembly prepared an address to the Privy Council, 
 repeating the old arguments in favor of the money, and 
 reminding the Council that they must not be too much 
 influenced by the disastrous results of paper money in 
 the other colonies, where it had been secured only on 
 the credit of the government, for in Pennsylvania it 
 had the additional security of the property of individual 
 citizens pledged for its redemption. 
 
 The Assembly also prepared a bill to reissue the 
 amounts already authorized, and add thereto an issue 
 of £50,000, all to be repayable by instalments in six- 
 teen years. Gordon, however, persuaded them to reduce 
 the £50,000 to £30,000, so that the whole sum current 
 should be £75,000, and this issue continued until the 
 year 1739. 
 
 It was in this paper-money controversy that Franklin 
 made his first appearance in political life with his 
 pamphlet on "The Nature and Necessity of a Paper 
 Currency." He was only twenty-three years old, had 
 been in the province six years, and, though still a fore- 
 man in Keimer's printing-shop, was about to estab- 
 
 80 
 
Gordon's Wise Administration 
 
 lish himself with some partners as a rival to his old 
 employer. His pamphlet has been absurdly praised, 
 as a remarkable production, in advance of his time, 
 and an enlightenment to the province. But those who 
 have bestowed this praise were not familiar with the 
 votes and debates of the Assembly, or, indeed, with 
 any of the essential circumstances of the controversy. 
 The pamphlet was in reality a very crude performance, 
 far inferior to any of the papers on the subject to be 
 found in the Assembly's minutes, and it maintained 
 what were then well known to be very mischievous 
 fallacies. 
 
 Franklin was at that time only half educated, and, 
 like many other men of that sort, before and since, he 
 believed in what he called plenty of money. He took 
 up many pages in showing what a great stimulant to 
 trade and prosperity was this plenty of money. He 
 was completely carried away by the land-bank scheme, 
 speaks of the paper currency as "coined land," and 
 argued that any one who had land should be able to 
 coin it into the new money. He believed that the 
 money should be issued up to the full value of the land 
 pledged for its security, and there was no danger in 
 this, he thought, because the land in Pennsylvania was 
 steadily rising in value, and the paper money that was 
 issued on it by stimulating trade would make the land 
 rise all the more. He also very ingenuously argued 
 that no man would be so foolish as to borrow more 
 of the paper money than his land was worth, and 
 thereby impair the value of the very money he was 
 borrowing. 
 
 Though he did not go so far as some other deluded 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 ones have gone, and advocate an unlimited issue of 
 paper money, he believed that it should be issued in 
 very large amounts, and kept even with the advancing 
 value of land ; and he seems to have thought that this 
 was very conservative, and far within the limits of 
 safety. He lived, however, to have a different opinion ; 
 and in the part of his autobiography written in 1771, 
 he says, "I now think there are limits beyond which 
 the quantity may be hurtful." 
 
 But he still clung to the opinion that his boyish 
 pamphlet had carried great weight and conviction, and 
 says that no one answered it. Fortunately, it was not 
 necessary at that time to answer such rubbish and 
 nonsense. The men who were controlling public affairs 
 had thought and read of financial questions before 
 the young pamphleteer was born, had already carried 
 through with safety one issue of paper money, and 
 had no intention of accomplishing any more with it 
 than to offset the drain of gold and silver to England, 
 while, at the same time, they kept the amount of it far 
 within the value of the land on which it was secured. 
 This had been their intention in 1722, before they had 
 heard of the young printer or his enlightenment. It 
 was again their intention in 1729, and they do not 
 appear to have been moved from their purpose by any- 
 thing he said. Fifty years afterward, in the Revolu- 
 tion, when men of that sort had been removed from the 
 government of Pennsylvania, and a party was in power 
 that accepted doctrines similar to those of Franklin's 
 boyhood, and attempted to put them in practice, 
 the disaster and suffering among the people were 
 terrible. 
 
 82 
 
Gordon's Wise Administration 
 
 Franklin's pamphlet was a bright and rather interest- 
 ing production for a young man of twenty-three with 
 few advantages. Among reckless people of the lower 
 class, who hoped for some millennium from paper 
 money which would make all the poor rich and all the 
 rich poor, it was of course considered wonderful. The 
 well informed either disregarded it entirely or excused 
 its faults for the sake of a certain power of statement it 
 displayed, which gave promise of better things. 
 
 The ten years of Gordon's administration passed away 
 amidst the greatest peace and prosperity; and he was 
 soon able to say in one of his messages that the oftener 
 he met the Assembly, the more their confidence in each 
 other was increased. A permanent agent was appointed 
 to represent the Assembly in England, explain the 
 operation of the colony's laws, and prevent their hasty 
 or inconsiderate repeal by the crown. The appoint- 
 ment of this agent seems to have been a cause of much 
 satisfaction to every one, the proprietors as well as 
 the people, and the person selected for the office was 
 Ferdinando John Paris. 
 
 Mrs. Penn, who, ever since the death of the founder, 
 had showed herself such a prudent proprietary, died in 
 1733, after suffering for some time, like her husband, 
 from a stroke of paralysis, Springett Penn had died 
 in 1 73 1, and Dennis in 1722, so that the heirs of the 
 founder were now John, Thomas, and Richard. John, 
 always known as "the American," because he had been 
 born in Philadelphia during the founder's second visit, 
 came out to the colony during Gordon's administration, 
 but was obliged to return in a few months to resist Lord 
 Baltimore in matters relating to the boundary dispute 
 
 83 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 with Maryland. Thomas also came out and remained 
 nine years, — from 1732 to 1741. During that time 
 he sat as a member of the Council, and studied atten- 
 tively the affairs of the colony, but unfortunately not 
 to much purpose. He acquired a strong appreciation, 
 in a narrow way, of his own interest, and learned to be 
 suspicious and ill-natured toward the people. He was 
 the business man of the family, and the others played 
 such an unimportant part that they were seldom heard 
 of or mentioned. For the next thirty-five or forty 
 years people often spoke of the proprietor of Pennsyl- 
 vania as if there were none besides Thomas. 
 
 He appears to have been no more than a very careful 
 man of affairs, and a gentleman of some accomplish- 
 ment ; and we look in vain for any of the exuberance 
 of spirit, daring energy, or broad, generous principles 
 of bis father, the great founder of our State. But 
 although we cannot forgive him for defrauding the 
 Indians in the Walking Purchase, and although he 
 often ruled the colony narrowly and meanly, we must 
 remember that he had a difficult task and great respon- 
 sibility. He had to control a rapidly increasing popu- 
 lation of nearly half a million English, Scotch-Irish, 
 and Germans filled with the most advanced ideas of 
 liberty and jealous of interference. He had not only 
 to rule these people, but to collect from the lands they 
 occupied the purchase-money, rent, and interest of a 
 great estate, rapidly rolling up into millions of pounds 
 of value, for which he was responsible not only for 
 himself, but for his relations. He had to arrange for 
 treaties with the Indians, and the purchase of their 
 title to the land, to fight off the boundary disputes of 
 
Gordon's Wise Administration 
 
 Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia, which threatened 
 to reduce his domain to a mere narrow strip of land 
 containing neither Philadelphia nor Pittsburg. He 
 was in the extraordinary position of having the rights 
 and powers of a feudal lord hundreds of years after all 
 the reasons for the feudal system had ceased to exist, 
 and of having to exercise those rights in a new and 
 wild country, among a people whose convictions, both 
 civil and religious, were utterly opposed to them. 
 That he succeeded at all was remarkable, and that he 
 succeeded so long must be put down as something to 
 his credit. 
 
 The large fortune which rapidly began to accrue to 
 himself and his brothers was spent upon their country- 
 seats in England. John Penn died in 1746, and does 
 not appear to have had much of an establishment. 
 But Thomas purchased, in 1760, Stoke Park, which 
 had been the property, successively, of Sir Christopher 
 Hatton of Queen Elizabeth's time, of Lord Coke, and 
 of the Cobham family. His son John, grandson of the 
 founder, greatly enlarged and beautified the place; and 
 far down into the present century it was one of the 
 show country-seats of England, with its magnificent 
 mansion-house, library, game, and herds of deer. This 
 same John also built another country-seat, called 
 Pennsylvania Castle, as picturesque and interesting as 
 Stoke Park, and situated on the Island of Portland, of 
 which he was governor. 
 
 While Thomas Penn was still in the province, a 
 member of the Provincial Council, and engaged in 
 studying the resources of his great estate, Governor 
 Gordon died in August, 1736, in his ninety-second 
 
 85 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 year. Two years elapsed before another deputy was 
 appointed, and in that time Logan, as President of the 
 Council, acted as governor. He had, however, noth- 
 ing of great importance to trouble him except a quarrel 
 and some bloodshed between the Marylanders and 
 Pennsylvanians living near the disputed boundary. 
 
 86 
 
Governor Thomas and the Spanish War 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 GOVERNOR THOMAS AND THE SPANISH WAR 
 
 Lord Baltimore was at this time pushing his claims 
 against Pennsylvania with considerable vigor ; and be- 
 sides the armed invasions he succeeded in delaying for a 
 year the confirmation of a new deputy. George Thomas, 
 a rich planter of Antigua, had been appointed in 1737; 
 but Baltimore appealed to the crown against his con- 
 firmation as Governor of Delaware, which he declared 
 was a part of Maryland. The Penns, however, as in all 
 their other disputes with Baltimore, were again success- 
 ful. Thomas was confirmed by the crown as Governor 
 of both Pennsylvania and Delaware, and arrived in the 
 province in the summer of 1738. 
 
 The first important event of his administration was 
 the enlargement of the paper currency, which had been 
 fixed at ,£75,000 ten years before, and was now largely 
 paid off. A bill was passed providing for a reissue so 
 as to make the whole amount outstanding £80,000; 
 and this amount, continued by another Act in 1745, re- 
 mained until 1773, when it was increased to £150,000. 
 
 The Quaker scruples about war had now been undis- 
 turbed for twenty-five years. During that time their 
 province had grown prodigiously in wealth and pros- 
 perity under the benign rule of Keith and of Gordon; 
 their commerce had been unvexed by the privateers of 
 
 87 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the French, and their public treasury undiminished by 
 taxes to support the wars of England. But now Eng- 
 land had been cutting too much logwood at Campeachy 
 and gathering too much salt at theTortugas; and Spain 
 had been claiming the right to search English ships, 
 and she searched them not in the gentlest manner. 
 War was declared in October, 1739, and privateers were 
 soon scouring the seas. 
 
 Thomas began the routine request for aid from the 
 Assembly ; and the Assembly, as the Assembly had 
 often done before, reminded him in pious terms of their 
 consciences. They said frankly : " The Quakers do not 
 (as the world is now circumstanced) condemn the use 
 of arms in others, yet are principled against it them- 
 selves." 2 Those who thought it right to fight had, they 
 said, " an equal right to liberty of conscience with 
 others; " and in accordance with this doctrine they did 
 more than any previous Assembly had done, and gave 
 the governor a loop-hole for escape. He could, they 
 said, if he chose, as representing the proprietor, who 
 was captain-general, organize a voluntary militia with- 
 out the aid of any laws and without consulting the 
 Assembly. 
 
 If Thomas had been at all familiar with the history of 
 Pennsylvania, or if he had taken the trouble to read 
 over the minutes of the Assembly in Evans' or 
 Gookin's time, he would have thankfully accepted such 
 an opportunity as the Assembly gave him, and not 
 undertaken to force them. But, ignorant of their skill 
 at reply and sarcasm, and fully convinced that their 
 
 1 Voles of the Assembly, iii. 362. 
 88 
 
Governor Thomas and the Spanish War 
 
 scruples were foolish, he thought he could turn them 
 from their purpose and change opinions that were the 
 growth of a hundred years. He was soon surprised 
 beyond measure at the strength of their position, their 
 nimbleness in turning phrases, the adroitness with which 
 they seized on every unguarded point in his messages, 
 repeating his words with mock respect and then turning 
 them to ridicule, meanwhile calling to their aid all the 
 resources of religion and sentiment. He found himself 
 beaten and humiliated in the eyes of the people, who 
 rapidly learned of the controversy at the coffee-house ; 
 and he soon added to his mortification when he com- 
 plained that his salary was unpaid, and was reminded 
 by the Assembly that they were not in the habit of 
 paying much salary to a governor who opposed them. 
 
 The Duke of Newcastle, however, wisely instructed 
 the governor, if he found difficulty in raising supplies 
 from the Assembly, to allow one of the officers of the 
 regular army to recruit volunteers. This plan proved 
 so successful that seven hundred men were raised, 
 although the quota required from the province was 
 only four hundred. But many of the recruits were 
 redemptioners glad of the opportunity to enlist and 
 escape for a time their servitude ; and this made a 
 new difficulty with the Assembly. They refused at 
 their next session to vote a single shilling until 
 the servants were returned to their masters and some 
 assurance given that no more should be enlisted. If 
 the servants were returned, they offered to vote ,£"3,000. 
 But Thomas rejected this grant and raised funds by his 
 own efforts on the credit of the British government. 
 The Assembly used their money in indemnifying the 
 
 89 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 masters who had lost servants, and paid out in this 
 way £2,500. 
 
 The people approved the conduct of the Assembly, 
 and at the next election returned the same members. 
 The Quaker government and its war policy was at this 
 time and for long afterward very popular with the 
 majority. Even the combatant portion of the people 
 largely supported it. 
 
 But the people and the Assembly were completely out 
 with Governor Thomas. He laid an embargo without 
 consulting them ; and when he afterward asked them to 
 lay an embargo on wheat, they had the opportunity not 
 only to refuse his request, but to comment severely on 
 his conduct. When the Assembly of 1741 was elected, 
 he asked them for nothing. But they voted of their 
 own accord a grant of £3,000 to the crown. They 
 wished, they said, to bear part of the public burdens 
 from which their fellow-subjects in England were suf- 
 fering. But to Thomas they would not pay a penny of 
 salary, or pass a single law he wanted. 
 
 He went on fighting them, however, sent letters to 
 England denouncing the Quakers, and complaining of 
 the manufacturing industries they were establishing. 
 He collected a small party in his favor, which became 
 known as the " gentlemen's party," while that led by 
 the Quakers was called the " country party." The 
 leaders of the gentlemen's party were William Allen, 
 afterward chief justice and a leader of the proprietary 
 party, and Tench Francis, the attorney-general. 
 
 This was a rather new division of parties in the 
 province. The anti-proprietary party of the times of 
 Evans and Gookin had long since ceased to exist; and 
 
 90 
 
Governor Thomas and the Spanish War 
 
 David Lloyd for many years before his death had had 
 no occasion to show his power of popular leadership. 
 Under Keith's brilliant rule and the administration of 
 wise old Governor Gordon, there were no parties at all, 
 and there need have been none now but for the per- 
 versity of Thomas. The party that was arrayed against 
 him was not in any sense an anti-proprietary party, for 
 the proprietors were now very popular; but it was an 
 anti-governor party. 
 
 The two factions had a trial of their strength at the 
 election in the autumn of 1742. Great preparations 
 were made on both sides, and the excitement was 
 intense. The Quakers had secured the support of 
 almost the entire German population, and were there- 
 fore strongest in the country districts; while the gov- 
 ernor's party relied on Philadelphia for any success 
 they were to attain. 
 
 The reason why the Quakers were always able to 
 secure the votes of the province, and maintain their 
 supremacy over a people who differed from them in 
 religion and outnumbered them, was partly by the 
 effectiveness of their political organization, and partly 
 through the friendship of the Germans. Every Quaker 
 meeting was a source of political influence and a means 
 of persuading and compelling votes, and by many years 
 of practice and experience the people had become very 
 skilful. As for the Germans, they always expressed 
 great gratitude to the Quakers, who, they said, had 
 received and protected them with liberal laws, and 
 treated them with a kindness they had not experienced 
 in any other English colony. Thomas, however, always 
 said that the Quakers won over the Germans by scaring 
 
 91 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 them about the militia law, which was represented as 
 likely to reduce them to the slavery they had endured 
 in their own country, and would drag them from their 
 farms to work on fortifications. 
 
 On the morning of election day, the governor's party 
 secured the services of seventy sailors from the shipping 
 in the river. Many of the citizens objected to their 
 presence in the streets as likely to lead to riot, and 
 appealed to the magistrates. But the magistrates, who 
 had been appointed by the governor, replied that they 
 were no more a menace to peace than the alien Ger- 
 mans. An attempt was made to elect William Allen, a 
 governor's man, inspector of the election; and the 
 moment this failed and a Quaker, Isaac Norris, was 
 elected, the sailors rushed in and with clubs and fists 
 cleared the ground of the country party. As soon as 
 the polls were opened, they rushed in again to clear off 
 the country party ; but this time they were repulsed, 
 driven back to their ships, and about fifty of them 
 captured and locked up in the jail. The country party 
 was also successful in the election, and all the old 
 members of the Assembly were returned. 
 
 Thomas now began to be convinced that he was 
 beaten. He came down from his high horse, assented 
 to the bills the Assembly wanted, and was soon after 
 rewarded by a grant of all his back pay. The Assembly 
 were justly proud of him, for in his reformed state he 
 was altogether the work of their hands. Their other 
 evil governors they had gotten rid of, but this one they 
 had kept by them until they had kicked him into shape. 
 He soon had an opportunity to show his change of 
 heart; for war was now again on between France and 
 
 92 
 
Governor Thomas and the Spanish War 
 
 England. He accepted the hint given him five years 
 before, and proceeded to enlist men from the comba- 
 tant portion of the people, and asked for no assistance 
 from the Assembly. 
 
 In this he was ably assisted by Franklin, who wrote, 
 in defence of the undertaking, one of his characteristic 
 pamphlets. In fact, Franklin was the most active pro- 
 moter of the recruiting. A few days after the appear- 
 ance of his pamphlet he called a meeting of citizens, and, 
 after urging them to form an association for defence, he 
 distributed papers among them, and in a few minutes 
 had twelve hundred signatures. They were called 
 Associators, — a name used for many years after to de- 
 scribe the Pennsylvania militia. In a few days he had 
 enrolled ten thousand volunteers, armed and equipped 
 at their own expense, which shows how large the 
 combatant population had become, and how much in 
 earnest they were for war. 
 
 This was Franklin's first real and serviceable appear- 
 ance in public life. Sixteen years before he had, as a 
 youthful printer of twenty-three, written a pamphlet in 
 favor of paper money, which, though full of crude and 
 reckless suggestions, had attracted much attention. It 
 was, however, so far as it had any influence at all, an 
 injury to public opinion. But Franklin was now a very 
 different man. In the eighteen years that had elapsed 
 he had established himself comfortably in business, and 
 by reading and study had made himself one of the 
 most learned and accomplished men in the colonies. 
 He had already for some time been devoting himself to 
 science, and was on the eve of his great discovery that 
 thunder and lightning were manifestations of elec- 
 
 93 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 tricity. He was thirty-nine years old, an experienced, 
 prudent man, gathering to himself great influence ; and 
 his success in organizing the Associators gave him such 
 reputation that the people retained him in the public 
 service for the rest of his life. 
 
 He was ably assisted by Logan and other Quakers, 
 who believed in defensive war, and they lent their aid 
 in erecting a battery below the city. The Scotch- Irish 
 Presbyterians, who had been gradually becoming more 
 numerous in the colony during the last twenty years, 
 now appeared for the first time in politics, and their 
 preachers published sermons in the cause of defence. 
 The enthusiasm even spread among the Quakers, 
 especially the younger ones; and many of the older 
 ones were in secret sympathy with the proceedings, 
 which they could not openly advocate without losing 
 caste among the weaker brethren. Franklin tells us 
 how the Quaker members of a fire company allowed 
 money to be appropriated for the defensive measures, 
 by purposely absenting themselves from the meeting at 
 which the money was voted; and he estimated that 
 nineteen out of every twenty Quakers were in favor 
 of war. This estimate seems rather large; but it was 
 fully justified by the events of after years. There is 
 no doubt that the scruple against war was a whimsical 
 fancy of which many of the leaders and more intelli- 
 gent members would have gladly been rid, and they 
 were ready to welcome any quibble and vote money 
 "for the king's use" or for " other grain," or anything 
 else that would serve. 
 
 Penn himself had always professed to be opposed to 
 war, but he had appointed a professional soldier to be 
 
 94 
 
Governor Thomas and the Spanish War 
 
 governor of his colony, was given by his charter the 
 powers of a captain-general with the right to levy war, 
 and on one occasion is said to have addressed a me- 
 morial to the king asking for men-of-war to protect 
 Pennsylvania from the French. In fact, it was not un- 
 common for Quaker merchants to have convoys to 
 protect their ships. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Quakers of the year 1745, especially 
 those in the city, had become very much like the 
 founder of their province, and were largely men of the 
 world. They had grown rich and prosperous, and they 
 had grown accustomed to political power. They were 
 rapidly becoming in Pennsylvania a sect of the upper 
 class. They were beginning to find many parts of their 
 discipline a trifle inconvenient, and hundreds of them 
 were for that reason becoming Episcopalians. 
 
 Their Assembly was soon asked to contribute to the 
 expedition Massachusetts had planned against Louis- 
 burg ; and as soon as the home government approved 
 the expedition, the Pennsylvania Assembly voted £4,000, 
 " to be expended," they said, " in the purchase of bread, 
 beef, pork, flour, wheat, or other grain." This was the 
 famous law of which Franklin tells us in his Auto- 
 biography that the words " other grain " were pur- 
 posely inserted by the Assembly so that the Governor 
 could purchase gunpowder. Some of his friends urged 
 him to insist on a better bill. But he said he had 
 learned by experience, and knew what was meant, and 
 accordingly bought the powder, and no one objected. 
 
 After carrying on the government for four years in 
 entire harmony with the Assembly, Thomas resigned 
 in the summer of 1746. Of the other governors, some 
 
 95 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 had taken sides with the proprietors and some with the 
 people; and old Gordon had taken sides with neither, 
 while preserving with the utmost fidelity the interests of 
 both. But Thomas had, like Fletcher, differed from 
 all the others by taking sides with the king against 
 both proprietors and people, — a foolish attempt of 
 which the Assembly abundantly cured him, so that they 
 parted from him with regret. 
 
 After his departure Anthony Palmer, President of the 
 Council, acted as governor; and he soon had to call the 
 attention of the Assembly to the French and Spanish 
 privateers which boldly entered the bay and plundered 
 the inhabitants along the shores. One of the Spanish 
 privateers, commanded by Don Vincent Lopez, came 
 up the river under the English flag, capturing all the 
 small craft she met and towing them after her. She 
 evidently intended to take a Jamaica-man that was lying 
 in front of New Castle. 
 
 When she anchored some miles below New Castle at 
 ten o'clock in the evening, George Proctor, an English 
 sailor serving against his will on board of her, slipped 
 into one of the captured shallops and cut it adrift. 
 The ebb-tide carried him rapidly away into the darkness, 
 and when at a safe distance he made sail and steered for 
 Salem. But when within a few miles of his destination 
 the wind fell calm, and he was obliged to jump overboard 
 and swim ashore. He reached Salem at three in the 
 morning, gave the people the alarm, and then crossed 
 over to the Pennsylvania side and reached New Castle 
 soon after daylight. 
 
 The Spaniard was approaching, and he told the people 
 what she was. As she slowly neared the town with the 
 
 96 
 
Governor Thomas and the Spanish War 
 
 ebb-tide running strong against her, the wind suddenly 
 fell and she was obliged to anchor. The townsmen 
 manned their little battery and blazed away at her 
 for an hour, to which she deigned no reply but a single 
 shot, hoisting the Spanish colors, and three huzzas. 
 Soon afterward she dropped down the river and went 
 
 to sea. 1 
 
 The Assembly seemed to care very little about this 
 privateering in the bay, and could not be persuaded to 
 take measures against it. They were quite confident 
 that the province and its chief city were safe, for the 
 long reaches of the river were full of shoals, and the 
 privateers feared going aground, or being becalmed or 
 wind-bound in some narrow passage where they would 
 be at the mercy of any devices the combatant portion of 
 the people might invent. 
 
 i Col. Rec. v. 248, 253. 
 
 7 97 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE QUAKERS AND THE INDIANS 
 
 ALTHOUGH the Assembly cared but little for the war- 
 fare of privateers in Delaware Bay, they were by no means 
 easy in their minds about another war which, though as 
 yet far off, was clearly foreseen. The Indians, who for 
 the seventy years since the founding of the colony had 
 never given the colonists an anxious thought, were be- 
 coming hostile. The French were urging them on and 
 coming nearer and nearer to the western frontier of the 
 province. 
 
 It had been a fundamental principle with Penn and 
 his followers to be particularly fair and just with the 
 Indians. As Puritans and reformers, the Quakers had 
 always professed to be very much shocked at the way 
 in which Christians deprived heathen nations of their 
 lands, and robbed, defrauded, and murdered them. The 
 legal theory of Indian land-ownership at that time was 
 the familiar one that the Indians owned only the land 
 they actually lived on and cultivated. Their right was 
 simply a right of occupancy, and was lost as to any par- 
 ticular piece as soon as they ceased to live on it; and 
 an Indian right of occupancy was not inconsistent with 
 the ownership of the fee simple by a white man. An 
 Indian land-title was about the same as the land-title of 
 a wolf or bear. Expressed in other language, the In- 
 
 98 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 dians may be said to have had an easement on the 
 land for the purposes of hunting, fishing, and building 
 their wigwams ; and it was for the Indian and white 
 man to agree when this easement should be discharged, 
 but meanwhile the white man might continue to own 
 the land. 
 
 The general rule of law, as laid down at that time by 
 every writer and judge, was that no heathen people 
 could acquire a title to land except that of occupancy, 
 which would be valid against a Christian who wanted it ; 
 and the first Christian who took it could keep it. This 
 rule of law, sometimes called the " heavenly title," has 
 been recognized by modern courts as the original basis 
 of the ownership of a large part of the territory of the 
 United States ; and in excuse for its seeming injustice 
 a modern judge always reminds us that it has been 
 long and universally acted upon, and is a practical 
 necessity of civilization. 
 
 It originated with the Pope, and was part of the policy 
 for the increase of the temporal power. When Colum- 
 bus discovered America, it will be remembered that the 
 Pope claimed it as his of right, and kindly gave it to 
 Spain ; and the comment has often been made that the 
 Romans were arrogant despots and conquerors ; they 
 took what they wanted and because they wanted it, but 
 they never claimed that there was enough magic in 
 their religion to change the universal rights of prop- 
 erty. It remained for the Supreme Pontiff to announce 
 that Christianity was a good excuse for theft. 
 
 The Spaniards always carried out this doctrine to the 
 letter, and believed that as Christians they had a divine 
 right to rob and murder every man, woman, and child 
 
 99 
 
Pennsylvania : Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 in Mexico and Peru. But the English and Americans 
 have always shrunk from the original theory, and have 
 compromised by trying to pay to the savages at least a 
 nominal price for their lands, and avoiding as far as pos- 
 sible any cruelty or ill-treatment of them. 
 
 There is no doubt that public opinion among certain 
 classes in England in the seventeenth century discoun- 
 tenanced all harsh treatment of the Indians ; and there 
 is also no doubt that the actual treatment of the Indians 
 in New England, Virginia, and the Carolinas was far in 
 advance of what was known to be the practice in the 
 Spanish colonies. But this actual treatment in the 
 English colonies was far below the standard adopted 
 by advanced people like the Quakers. The settlers of 
 New England paid the Indians for some of their land, 
 and great praise has been lavished on them for such 
 generous conduct. But a large part of New England 
 was obtained from the Indians by conquest. 1 When 
 Roger Williams, who had in his mind some of the ideas 
 that afterward went to form the Quakers, was banished 
 from Massachusetts, one of the causes of his dispute 
 with the authorities of the colony' was that he had up- 
 braided them for their treatment of the Indians and 
 their failure to pay for the land, which he said could 
 not be granted to them by the king until it had been 
 bought from the Indians. 
 
 Even when they bought the land, we find them gain- 
 ing enormous tracts of country for a few bundles of 
 hatchets, beads, and clothes. The price was not a 
 compensation, and was not intended to be a compensa- 
 
 1 Palfrey's History of New England, ill. 137, 138. 
 100 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 tion. It was simply a method of quieting the Indians 
 and obtaining a claim of right which could be asserted 
 against them. Any one who has studied the law-suits 
 over Indian titles knows the absurdity of these pur- 
 chases. Deeds were often taken from drunken Indians, 
 or from members of a tribe who had no authority to 
 make a grant. Massacres and wars were frequent in 
 New England as well as in Virginia and other Southern 
 colonies. These difficulties, it has generally been 
 believed, checked the advance of many of the colonies ; 
 while the entire absence of such difficulties in Penn- 
 sylvania for the first seventy years of her history has 
 usually been put down as one of the causes of her 
 wonderful growth and prosperity. 
 
 The seizure of the heathen's land, once done in the 
 name of religion and now in the name of civilization, 
 the Quakers tried to mitigate without entirely abrogat- 
 ing it. Perm paid the Indians for every rod of land he 
 took from them ; and the price seems to have been much 
 more than was usually paid in other colonies. At any 
 rate, the Indians were always satisfied. Penn's sons 
 adopted their father's policy; and although in one or 
 two instances, as we shall see, the Indians considered 
 themselves overreached, yet it may be said that the 
 whole commonwealth was fairly bought from them, 
 because for a large part of it they were paid twice over, 
 and this made up for any parts on which the price 
 seemed insufficient. 
 
 In the great purchase of 1754, about seven million 
 acres were obtained for £750, which was at the rate 
 of about one penny for every thirty-nine acres. The 
 United States purchased from France the great Louis- 
 
Pennsylvania: Colotiv and Commonwealth 
 
 Lma ti-'.. ning ovei seven hundred million icr* 
 
 cents an acre, and Florida was bought 
 
 from Spain for about thirteen cents an acre, In both 
 
 the price w >od deal more than 
 
 the Indian's penny foi ever} thirt) nine acres; and yet 
 
 under all the circumstances the Indian's price can 
 
 hardly be called unfair, It' I ouisiana and Florida had 
 
 . i bought in >4, when the Pennsylvania Indians 
 
 sold their land, they would have been obtained much 
 
 than in the succeeding century, But any 
 
 of thirt> nine acres foi a penny was 
 
 ward large!} cured; foi the Indians becoming 
 
 satisfied with the bargain, the land was all bought 
 
 tin from them in smaller tra< 
 
 It is necessary to remember also that the Indian land 
 was m a certain sense not very valuable* A. people 
 who use land only for hunting cannot expect to be paid 
 
 as much tor it vis a people who use it tot ei\ ill ation. 
 Even it' the Indians had been paid ten times as inueli, it 
 
 would have done them no good, They could use monej 
 
 for no other purpose than gambling and dunk, a\\<\ 
 
 although this is aside from the question of fairness in 
 
 paying them tor what belonged to them, it nevertheless 
 
 rves some consideration, Hie proprietors and the 
 
 Pennsylvania Assembly were continually giving them 
 
 presents in addition to the amounts paid foi theil land, 
 so that so far as money could compensate them tor the 
 loss of their hunting-grounds, they may be said to have 
 been in most instances very fairly treated. 
 
 Hut whatever may have been the complaints ol the 
 Indians against the sons o\ Penn, they never \\^\ a t :om 
 plaint to make against the father; and this was the 
 
 
The (Quakers and the Indians 
 
 at merit in his treatment of them, that he satisfied 
 them and they liked him. 
 
 In his famous treaty with them in 1682 or 1683, un- 
 der the great elm at Philadelphia, he gave them no 
 unusual privileges or favors. The- document itself, if 
 it e-ver existed, is lost. No one knows its contents; and 
 we have only vague traditions of what was done on 
 that picturesque occasion, when the tribes are said to 
 have come swarming through the woods and laid down 
 their bows and arrows before- the peaceful (Quaker, 
 whom the historians attempt to exalt by saying he was 
 clad in the simple dress of his sect, and in almost the 
 
 1. sentence say that he was distinguished above all 
 others by a gorj of sky-blue round his waist. 
 
 So far a Mown, Penn probably indulged in the 
 
 usual Indian harangue about trees and streams, — a 
 of language that is sometimes called eloquence, but 
 more- properly " baby talk," and can be imitated to 
 perfection by any Indian agent. But the speech 
 usually assigned to Penn on that occasion is now 
 known to have been delivered by him nearly twenty 
 years afterward, when the Indians complained of the- 
 deed of the Susquehanna Valley obtained from Colonel 
 Dongan, Governor of New York. 
 
 The treaty under the elm has been so exalted and 
 embellished by historians and painters that it may be 
 well to reduce it to its true proportions, and see what 
 light it throws upon the colony's relations with the 
 Indians. First of all, it may be said that the usual 
 school-book story of the grandeur and solemnity of the 
 occasion, and the picture of the scene by Benjamin 
 West, are pretty much pure fiction with hardly even a 
 
 103 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 respectable tradition to rest upon, [ndeed, all the 
 
 traditions that create the picturesqueness of the scene 
 
 ently after-thoughts, dn<\ have increased with 
 
 time. That Penn wore a sky blue sash is a clever 
 supposition; but beyond the tradition ot it in a certain 
 family in England that believed it had the very sash 
 itself, it has no firmer basis than Penn's well-known 
 fancy for handsome dross and the likelihood that ho 
 would want to make an impression on the savage 
 mind. 
 
 rhe great bubble of popular tradition about the 
 treaty was fust pricked by the publication of certain 
 documents in the early part of the present century ; m\<.\ 
 in 1834 Mr. Peter S, Duponceau and Mr. J. Francis 
 Fisher prepared a report on the subject for the His- 
 torical Society of Pennsylvania, in which they gave all 
 
 that was certainly known, a\\A drew the few inferences 
 that seemed warranted. Their work was reviewed, seme 
 new material added, a\u\ somewhat different conclusions 
 drawn, by Mr. Frederick IX Stone in 1882, Read in 
 the light of the cold investigations ol those learned men, 
 the great treaty dwindles to very small proportions, and 
 many people have been disposed to treat it as alto- 
 gether a myth. 
 
 It was always supposed that the treaty was held in 
 l oS J. But Mr. Stone has shown quite conclusively 
 that, if held at all, it must have been held in [683. 
 There is no record o\ any treaty or purchase oi kind 
 from the Indians in [682, except a purchase made by 
 Markham. Penn*s agent, July 15. [682, before Venn 
 arrived. In [683 there were two purchases, -one on 
 June 23, and the other on June 25 a\\(\ July 1.} It was 
 
The (Quakers and the Indians 
 
 at one of these, probably the one on June 23, that the 
 treaty was made that lias attracted so much attention. 
 The deeds show a greater number of chiefs to have- 
 been present on June 23 than at the later dates. This 
 is slight evidence, but it is all we have. The only 
 direct, written evidence that can be found to show that 
 the great treaty was ever held at all, is a passage in the 
 letter written by Penn to the Free Society of Traders, 
 August J 6 of that year: — 
 
 "When the Purchase was agreed, great Promises passed 
 between us, of Kindness and good Neighbourhood, and that 
 the Indians and English must live in Love as long as the 
 Sun give bight: Which done, another made a speech to the 
 Indians, in the name of all the Sachamakan, or Kings, first 
 to tell them what was done; next, to charge and command 
 them To love the Christians, and particularly live in peace 
 with me, and the People under my Government. That many 
 Governors had been in the River, but that no Governor had 
 come himself to live and stay here before; and having now 
 such an one that had treated them well, they should never do 
 him or his any wrong. At every sentence of which they 
 shouted, and said, Amen, in their way." 
 
 The tradition of the great treaty among the Indians 
 is, however, quite distinct. We have the records of 
 their speeches at treaties many years afterward, in 
 which they refer to the promises made of old by 
 Penn ; and their description of these promises closely 
 resembles what Penn describes in his letter to the 
 Society of Traders. The Indians said that they often 
 assembled in the woods and spread out a blanket on 
 which they laid all the words of Penn, that they might 
 
 *°5 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 go over them and refresh their memories. By this they 
 meant that they laid on the blanket the belts of wam- 
 pum, eaeh one oi which represented a clause of the 
 treat}'. Each belt had been originally given to an 
 Indian, with the clause of the treaty he was to remem- 
 ber ; and it was in this way that they preserved the 
 memory of past events. 
 
 In the records of the treaties in which the Indians 
 give their recollections, the governors of the province 
 also speak of the old understanding with Penn ; and at 
 a treaty held in 1728, Governor Gordon gave a brief 
 summary of that understanding, which agrees with what 
 Penn says in his letter and also with a document called 
 " Conditions or Concessions," which Penn had prepared 
 at the founding of the colony, and which contained the 
 general principles on which the Indians were to be 
 treated. The governor also intimated that the treaty 
 was in writing, and at a previous treaty in 1722 Gov- 
 ernor Keith appears to have exhibited the parchment 
 itself. In 1685 Penn wrote as if the Indians had signed 
 some such agreement : — 
 
 " If any of them break our Laws they submit to be punished 
 by them; and this they have tyed themselves by an obligation 
 under their hands." 
 
 It seems as if there must have once been a document 
 containing an agreement of conduct and friendship in 
 addition to the purchase of land ; and in the secretary's 
 office at Harrisburg there was once found an envelope 
 which, from the indorsement on it, might be supposed 
 to have contained this treaty. If it ever really existed, 
 a duplicate of it must have been given to the Indians, 
 
 106 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 and some have gone so far as to hope that it might still 
 be found among some of the western tribes. 
 
 What it contained we can only guess from what Penn 
 and his governors have said of it. Fair treatment seems 
 to have been promised on both sides. The Indians 
 were not to be overreached or imposed upon in trade ; 
 their persons were not to be insulted or abused ; and 
 complaints on either side were to be tried by a mixed 
 jury of Indians and white men. 
 
 There was nothing at all wonderful in this. Such 
 treaties had been made before with the Indians. Al- 
 most thirty years previously, in 1654, when the Swedes 
 controlled the Delaware, their governor, Rising, had 
 made a treaty with the Indians with similar stipulations. 
 Some years later the Quakers of Burlington, New Jer- 
 sey, had also joined with the Indians in a treaty of 
 amity and friendship ; and it may also be said that the 
 Swedes and Dutch had always bought the land from 
 the Indians. Penn was not aware that he was doing 
 anything very remarkable, nor were his followers and 
 friends ; and this accounts for their failure to keep care- 
 ful records of it. 
 
 Penn was a very busy man at that time. He was 
 organizing the government of his province; he was lay- 
 ing out the streets of Philadelphia, as v/ell as the lawns 
 and gardens of his own country-place. He was visiting 
 New York and Maryland, and travelling about to preach 
 among the Quakers. He was surrounded by confusion 
 of all sorts, — newly arriving immigrant ships unloading, 
 houses being built, felled trees, stumps, and all the 
 bustle and distraction of clearing a place for settlement 
 in a wilderness. He had time neither for shows nor for 
 
 107 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 talking of them. He wont on organizing his govern- 
 ment; and part of that organization, as expressed in 
 documents he had prepared, was to establish a good 
 feeling between his people and the Indians. He was 
 not at first successful In this The Indians appear to 
 have misunderstood him, and their relations with him 
 were not what was desired ; for in the passage that 
 comes just before the one already quoted from the 
 
 letter to the Society of Free Traders, he says: — 
 
 •• hirst prayed mo to excuse them, that they had not com- 
 plied with me, the last time ; he feared there might he some 
 fault iti the interpreter, being neither Indian nor English ; 
 besides, it was the Indian eastern to deliberate, and take up 
 much time, in council, before they resolve ; and that if the 
 young people and owners o( the land had been as ready as 
 he, 1 had not met with so much delay." 
 
 It was after-events, and not the treaty itself, which 
 made it famous. The Indians had often before, and 
 often after, heard fair promises. But IVim kept his, 
 not merely in his own opinion or in the opinion o( his 
 followers, but in the opinion of the Indians. As ten, 
 fifteen, twenty, and thirty years rolled by, and the In- 
 dians \ound every word in the treat) fulfilled by 
 Mignon, as the Delawares called him, and Onas, as he 
 was called by the Iroquois, the fame o( the one white 
 man and Christian who could keep his faith with the 
 savage spread far and wide, and the savage sent it 
 across the Atlantic, 
 
 Still, it was not such a wonder in England ; and if the 
 great treaty had depended on Penn's countrymen, we 
 should not have heard so much about it. But in 
 
 1 08 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 France and on the continent of Europe the great 
 men and writers seized upon it as the most remarkable 
 occurrence of the age. To these men, brought up 
 under Latin Christianity, and accustomed to the atroci- 
 ties and horrors inflicted by Cortez and Pizarro on the 
 natives of South America, the thought of a Christian 
 keeping his promise inviolate for forty years with 
 heathen Indians was like refreshment in a great, weary 
 desert. Who was the man, and to what church did he 
 belong, that he had done what had never been done 
 before, and what it was supposed never would be 
 done? 
 
 The man, it was answered, was a gentleman of 
 education, the son of an English admiral, and the 
 founder of the province of Pennsylvania, who had 
 joined himself to a despised sect of simple people who 
 had rejected all the doctrines and forms of mediaeval 
 Christianity. That delighted Voltaire. It was the 
 foundation of his love for the Quakers, and soon he 
 wrote of the great treaty the immortal sentence: 
 " This was the only treaty between these people and 
 the Christians that was not ratified by an oath and that 
 was never broken." 
 
 Raynal is less concise, but he shows the feeling of 
 the time: — 
 
 " Here it is the mind rests with pleasure upon modern 
 history and feels some kind of compensation for the disgust, 
 melancholy, and horror which the whole of it, but particularly 
 that of the European settlements in America inspires." 
 
 To the Frenchman it seemed as if Penn had brought 
 in a new era and taught the world for the first time that 
 
 109 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the lives And property of a heathen nation were to be 
 respected. Our own people have caught this enthusi- 
 asm ; And it has somewhat exaggerated the surroundings 
 and details o\ the great treaty And obscured the plain 
 truth of history. Returning to those details, it may he 
 said that there is little reason to doubt that the treaty 
 was held under the great elm at Kensington in Philadel- 
 phia, where the monument now stands. We have noth- 
 ing but tradition for this, but the tradition is not vague. 
 A tradition which points to a particular spot and a par- 
 ticular tree as the scene o\ aw event; a tradition which 
 has been handed down from generation to generation, 
 which can be traced in old records and letters, And 
 which in those evidences never varies in its statement, - 
 is deserving of great respect When the British occu- 
 pied Philadelphia in 1777. General Simeoe was careful 
 to put a guard around the elm to preserve it from Injury, 
 The elm was also elose to the Fairman house, where 
 Penn lived, and was the natural place for the treaty. 
 
 Tt lias been often said that the effect of lVnn's un- 
 swerving faith with the Indians preserved Pennsylvania 
 in peaee for seventy years; and this is true, for there 
 were no Indian wars in Pennsylvania until i";s. But 
 the good accord and friendly feeling with the Indians 
 lasted only a few years after lVnn's death, and the 
 opposite feeling is generally believed to have set in 
 soon after 1/22, But more than thirty years after this 
 passed away before new circumstances And the conduct 
 of lVnn's sons brought the Indians to actual and open 
 hostility. 
 
 In " The Importance of the British Plantations in 
 America," a book published in 1731, the author, who 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 had travelled in America, contrasts tin; condition of the 
 Indian, in Pennsylvania with, their condition as he had 
 n and known it in the other colonies j and he says 
 in v.vy positive language that the Indians were generally 
 ill-treated, defrauded, and irritated in the other colonies, 
 but were fairly dealt with, peaceful, and contented in 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 It has sometimes been said that the Pennsylvania 
 Indians were peaceful because they were cowardly and 
 vassals of the Six Nations of New York, which kept 
 them in order. But, as we shall see, they always com- 
 plained very promptly of ill-treatment, and even as 
 »als were capable of inflicting much annoyance when 
 irritated. 
 
 During Penn's life, the settlers being still compara- 
 tively few in numbers and not pressing closely on the 
 Indian hunting-grounds, matters were easily and loosely 
 managed. Many deeds were obtained from the Indians 
 in that time, all of them vaguely expressed, with boun- 
 daries by uncertain and almost unknown mountain- 
 chains or by the heads of streams that no one had ex- 
 plored. One of these deeds gave the land on both sides 
 the Susquehanna River without describing the distance 
 either east or west. This deed was obtained in \f><f), 
 from the- Six Nations of New York, who held the Penn- 
 sylvania tribes as vassals. The Six Nations in some- 
 instances declared that they owned all the land in Penn- 
 sylvania; but they usually claimed only the land along 
 the Susquehanna, and probably for the reason that they 
 wished to make sure of controlling that great highway 
 to the South. When Penn established himself in Penn- 
 sylvania, they gave all their land to Colonel Dongan, the 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Governor of New York, to take care of for them ; and 
 from him Penn bought the Susquehanna country, which 
 he was as anxious as the Six Nations to control as 
 a great natural highway. The Pennsylvania Indians 
 afterward complained to Penn that they had never 
 been consulted in the purchase ; and he thereupon laid 
 the deed before them and said that he and they should 
 hold the land in common. He paid again for the land, 
 and in 1700 they gave him another deed confirming the 
 sale in language equally vague. But they never forgot 
 his fairness in the matter. 
 
 It was in this way that many of the early grants were 
 obtained by deeds and deeds confirming deeds. The 
 vague language of the Susquehanna deed probably 
 meant that the valley was intended to be conveyed; 
 that is, the land on each side as far as the heads of the 
 streams that flowed into the river. 
 
 After Penn's death, the colony increased so rapidly, 
 and settlers became so eager for new land, that greater 
 care had to be exercised, and after 1 722 the deeds became 
 more accurate in their descriptions. Serious disputes 
 with the Indians arose, some of which, however, were 
 successfully compromised. Governor Keith settled, 
 with but little trouble, a dispute between the South- 
 ern and the Pennsylvania Indians in relation to 
 hunting-grounds, and his action was ratified by the 
 Six Nations. Soon afterward two settlers named 
 Cartledge killed an Indian with much cruelty near 
 Conestoga, and great fears were entertained of a general 
 Indian uprising. But messengers were sent to the Six 
 Nations, and ample reparation was offered. Keith, to- 
 gether with the Governors of Virginia, New York, and 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 the New England colonies, were invited to meet the 
 Indians at Albany, where the King of the Six Nations 
 pardoned the white men's offence. 
 
 " The great King of the Six Nations is sorry for the death 
 of the Indian who was killed, for he was of his own flesh and 
 blood. He believes the Governor is also sorry ; but now that 
 it is done, there is no help for it. And he desires that Cart- 
 ledge may not be put to death, nor that he should be spared 
 for a time and afterward executed. One life is enough to be 
 lost ; there should not two die. The King's heart is good to 
 the Governor and all the English." 
 
 But the worst difficulty which began to arise about 
 this time was that the settlers began to clear land and 
 build cabins on tracts which had not been purchased 
 from the Indians. This was a direct violation of numer- 
 ous treaties and agreements, — agreements which had 
 been confirmed over and over again ; and there were very 
 strict laws of the province to carry these agreements 
 into effect. The Indians entered complaints every time 
 the intrusions occurred; and as time went on, and the 
 settlers' love of fresh land increased, the complaints 
 became loud and bitter. The proprietary government 
 could not buy the land fast enough to keep pace with 
 the advancing pioneers. It is difficult to fix the blame 
 for this state of affairs on any particular persons ; and 
 it must be confessed that the government made great 
 efforts to prevent the inroads of the settlers, and some- 
 times removed them from the unpurchased land, and in 
 any event made haste to purchase the land as soon as 
 possible. 
 
 But in truth it was impossible to restrain the settlers. 
 To the ordinary Scotch-Irish or German frontiersman, 
 8 113 
 
Colo 15 ( iwealth 
 
 . . '. ( lOt M I 
 
 . ■■ ' 
 
 Re 
 
 1 ■ . . on tin •■ 
 
 . -, 
 
 ig their < 
 
 1 S e 
 
 it \:\, '.:.:■ this S} 
 
 ( .ul 
 
 :ni men in the 
 •\ gre\» y j •■ \ 1 neas) foi the} sa>& the ine\ 
 
 w ho would 
 • • ■ ' , l< , the most dangerous and 
 
 \. last n • .> . an event occurred which made mat 
 eal vvors< nost the 
 
 hull. ins This was the famous Walk 
 eed of the people foi Fresh, fertile 
 land ha< ■ this time become centred on the Mini 
 
 sink h laj along the I >ela^ w e, just north of 
 
 •. and was usually spoken of -it that time as 
 the land in the Forks of the Delaware William Allen, 
 the chief justice* who was connected by marriage with the 
 Penns, was Interested in tins tract He had .» general 
 warrant for ten thousand acres which could be taken up 
 
'I he ( )uakeri and the India 
 
 in a 
 
 location, 1 h< prop 
 
 and all thi 
 
 j ..' if fertility 
 
 ame imp< out of them, 'J 
 
 it in large numbers and 
 
 [ma . to - 
 
 i 
 ing do - . their ruler*, th< 
 
 i 
 
 , ished by this, and the propi 
 made up their mind the .Mini-j'nk iaru 
 
 i 
 'J :.' '. . - '.' ■ .. p ported tob 
 
 d for a line start- 
 from the D< 
 iton, and running 
 . ith tin.- Deli 
 '1 a half. At the end of 
 to be 
 
 ltd the i 
 Lonj tob 
 
 ound \>y having the line of th< 
 /'■''■' 
 ight a . 
 
 tiin' 
 
 promptl) 
 npanted bi their pro 
 
 and blan 
 
 and tie Indian-, jvho <A 
 
 their nation, and | fair play. 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 The men selected to do the walking were the strong- 
 est and most active woodsmen that could be found. 
 The Indians soon complained that they could not keep 
 up with them and repeatedly called to them not to run. 
 Finally, toward the end of the first day, being unable to 
 stop the running, the Indians retired and left the white 
 men to conduct the walk as they pleased. 
 
 It had been generally understood by the Indians that 
 the Walking Purchase extended only to the Lehigh 
 River; and it was their opinion that a walk of a day and 
 a half would reach only that far. But the walkers passed 
 beyond the river on the first day. They travelled for 
 twelve hours by the sheriff's watch ; and when at twilight 
 he suddenly gave the signal that the time was up, Ed- 
 ward Marshall, one of the walkers, fell against a tree, to 
 which he clung for support, saying that a few rods more 
 would have finished him. The next half-day the walk- 
 ers reached a point thirty miles beyond the Lehigh ; and 
 when the line was drawn from this point to the river, 
 instead of taking it directly to the river, it was slanted 
 upward for a long distance so as to include the whole 
 of the valuable Minisink country. 
 
 That this Walking Purchase was a fraud on the 
 Indians no one has ever doubted. It was regarded as 
 such at the time and treated as a joke. It sank deep 
 into the Indian heart, and was never forgotten. As 
 they never forgot the kindness and justness of Penn, so 
 they never forgot this treachery of his sons; and in a 
 few years the mutilated bodies and scalps of hundreds 
 of women and children throughout the whole Pennsyl- 
 vania frontier told the tale of wrong. 
 
 The proprietors had made one mistake in their treat- 
 
 116 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 ment of the Indians, and they now proceeded to make 
 another. The Indians refused to quit the Minisink 
 lands; and they procured white persons to write letters 
 to the governor and magistrates, in which the pro- 
 prietors were roundly abused, and the announcement 
 made that the Indians would hold their lands by force. 
 Upon this the proprietors sent for the deputies of the 
 Six Nations in New York, and a treaty was held in 
 1742, at which the deputies of the Pennsylvania Indians 
 were also present. The situation was explained to the 
 deputies of the Six Nations, and they were asked to 
 remove the Indians from the Forks of the Delaware. 
 The Pennsylvania Indians were not called upon for a 
 defence, and made none. 
 
 The next day the Six Nations' deputies having de- 
 liberated upon the matter and received a present of 
 ^"300, answered through their spokesman, Canassatego: 
 
 " That they saw the Delawares had been an unruly People, 
 and were altogether in the Wrong ; that they had concluded 
 to remove them, and oblige them to go over the River 
 Delaware, and quit all Claim to any Lands on this Side for 
 the future, since they have received Pay for them, and it is 
 gone through their Guts long ago : Then addressing the 
 Delawares, he said, ' They deserved to be taken by the Hair 
 of the Head and shaken severely, till they recovered their 
 Senses and became sober — That he had seen with his Eyes 
 a Deed signed by nine of their Ancestors above fifty Years ago 
 for this very Land, and a Release signed not many Years since 
 by some of themselves and Chiefs yet living, to the Number of 
 fifteen and upwards.' < But how came you ' (says he, con- 
 tinuing his Speech to the Delawares) ' to take upon you to sell 
 Lands at all? We conquered you ; we made Women of you : 
 
 117 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 You know you are Women, and can no more sell Lands than 
 Women ; nor is it fit you should have the Power of selling 
 Lands, since you would abuse it. This Land that you claim is 
 gone through your Guts ; you have been furnished with Clothes, 
 Meat and Drink, by the Goods paid you for it, and now 
 you want it again like Children as you are. But what makes 
 you sell Lands in the Dark? Did you ever tell us that you 
 had sold this Land ? Did we ever receive any part, even the 
 Value of a Pipeshank, from you for it? You have told us a 
 blind story, that you sent a Messenger to us, to inform us of the 
 Sale, but he never came amongst us, nor have we ever heard 
 anything about it. This is acting in the Dark, and very 
 different from the Conduct our Six Nations observe in the 
 Sales of Land. On such occasions they give public Notice, 
 and invite all the Indians of their united Nations, and give 
 them all a Share of the Present they receive for their Lands. 
 This is the behavior of the wise united Nations. But we find 
 you are none of our blood ; you act a dishonest Part not only 
 in this but in other Matters ; your Ears are ever open to 
 slanderous Reports about your Brethren. For all these 
 Reasons we charge you to remove instantly ; we don't give 
 you the liberty to think about it. You are Women. Take 
 the advice of a wise Man, and remove immediately. You 
 may return to the other Side of Delaware where you came 
 from ; but we do not know whether, considering how you 
 have demeaned yourselves, you will be permitted to live there, 
 or whether you have not swallowed that Land down your 
 Throats as well as the Land on this Side. We therefore 
 assign you two Places to go, either to Wyomen or Shamokin. 
 You may go to either of these places, and then we shall have 
 you more under our Eye, and shall see how you behave. 
 Don't deliberate, but remove away, and take this Belt of 
 Wampum." 
 
 118 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 The Delawares appear to have slunk away from the 
 Council like whipped curs. They rapidly obeyed the 
 orders they had received, removed from the Minisink 
 lands, some going to the Ohio, some to Shamokin, and 
 some to Wyoming, where they were some years after- 
 ward found by the Connecticut explorers. The cruelty 
 of bringing upon them their enemies and tyrants, the 
 Six Nations, they never forgot. It deepened their 
 hatred and their revenge, but it turned them from 
 women to men. When their opportunity came in the 
 French Wars, they revenged themselves not only on 
 the white men, but on the Six Nations. They broke the 
 yoke, became independent warriors, gathered together 
 their scattered bands, and formed themselves into a 
 nation of such unity and strength that in 1756 we find 
 them boldly announcing that they intended to cut off 
 all the English except those that might escape in ships ; 
 and at this time the Six Nations, instead of ruling them 
 as women, were humbly offering to make a treaty with 
 them, and trying to persuade them not to destroy the 
 white man. 
 
 But the difficulties with unpurchased lands were not 
 ended when the Indians were removed from the Forks 
 of the Delaware. The conflict of interests moved on, 
 and is given in full details in Charles Thompson's 
 "Alienation of the Indians" and in the learned note to 
 the second volume of Smith's Laws (p. 105). The pro- 
 prietors found that by calling in the assistance of the 
 Six Nations they had rather more than they bargained 
 for. Having disposed of the Delawares in the Forks 
 and ordered them out of the Council, the deputies of 
 the Six Nations turned to the proprietors and said that 
 
 119 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 there was another little matter of land that needed 
 settlement. They had assigned some of the Pennsyl- 
 vania Indians to live along the Juniata and che west 
 bank of the Susquehanna. These lands had never 
 been purchased, and yet settlers were intruding on 
 them. The governor replied that magistrates had 
 been sent to remove the settlers, and they would not 
 stay after that. " We know you sent persons to 
 remove them," said the deputies, " but they fail in 
 their duty ; they make surveys for themselves and are 
 in league with the trespassers. You must send men 
 that are honest." 
 
 The deputies of the Six Nations had just rendered 
 such assistance to the government in removing the 
 Indians from the Minisinks that it was evident that the 
 Juniata difficulty must be settled as quickly as possible. 
 Yet it dragged on for years. The lands were full of game, 
 and used not only by the Delawares and Shawanese, 
 who lived there, but also by the Six Nations, who 
 sometimes came there to hunt. The lands were also 
 fertile, and the white man was pressing in upon them, 
 as he had pressed upon the Minisinks. The Indians 
 were angry and persistent ; and they came so often, and 
 their council-fires and presents were so expensive, that 
 in 1750, Richard Peters, Secretary of the Land Office, 
 went with some magistrates to evict the settlers. The 
 work was done with thoroughness, the settlements 
 broken up, and the cabins and buildings burnt. Peters 
 himself said that if he did not succeed in removing 
 these people, it would not be in the power of the gov- 
 ernment to prevent an Indian war. But he had scarcely 
 returned to Philadelphia before the settlers were all 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 back again, and in a few years were more numerous 
 and farther extended than ever, so inevitable was the 
 march of civilization, and the steady alienation of the 
 Indian. 
 
 Still the Indians hesitated to join themselves com- 
 pletely to the French, when in 1754 came another 
 grasping purchase at the Albany Treaty. The conven- 
 tion that made this treaty at Albany was held by 
 direction of the crown to break up the practice of the 
 colonies making separate treaties ; and it was hoped that 
 all difficulties would be settled in a general agreement 
 of all the colonies and all the Indians. To this treaty 
 came the representatives of the Penns, determined 
 among other things on a big purchase of land ; and the 
 Connecticut people were also there, determined on such 
 a purchase as would assist their claim to the northern 
 half of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The Penns gained only part of what they wanted, 
 and secured a deed giving them a tract bounded on 
 the northerly side by a line drawn from Shamokin to 
 Lake Erie, and on the west and south by the utmost 
 extent of the province. This grant included pretty 
 much the whole of Pennsylvania west of the Susque- 
 hanna. It was obtained by devices not particularly 
 described by the writers of the time, but strongly 
 hinted, and extending over a week. The Indians were 
 deceived by compass courses which they did not 
 understand ; and the deed was irregular, without proper 
 notice according to the custom of the Six Nations, and 
 gave away the land of tribes whose representatives had 
 never signed it. When its import became known among 
 the Pennsylvania Indians, they felt that all their land 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 was gone, and they must retire among the stranger 
 tribes in Ohio. They went over in a body to the 
 French, who promised to get them back their land, and 
 when next heard of were shooting down the British 
 regulars, and tearing scalps from the heads of women 
 and children in Pennsylvania. 
 
 The blame for all this could not be put upon the 
 Quakers, and the Indians seem to have always known 
 that and remembered it. Indeed, at one time in the 
 midst of hostilities, when the Delawares had formed 
 themselves into an independent nation, the Quakers 
 made a very earnest and successful effort to secure 
 peace. 
 
 The alienation of the Indians was of course largely 
 the inevitable result of the ambitious designs of France, 
 and of the progress of our own race, which is very apt 
 to crush inferior people in its course ; but a great deal 
 of the blame rests with Thomas Penn, who was in the 
 province at the time of the Walking Purchase, and 
 directly responsible for it. He was also, through his 
 agents, responsible for the grasping Albany deed of 
 1754, which sent pretty much all the Pennsylvania 
 Indians over to the French. 
 
 But although the Quakers, so far as they had any 
 control of Indian affairs, maintained an unblemished 
 reputation for fairness, they accomplished little or 
 nothing in the way of civilizing the Pennsylvania Indians, 
 and it seemed as if nothing could be done. They 
 could be merely dispossessed, and moved on and al- 
 lowed to dwindle and become demoralized with as little 
 harshness as possible. Their worst enemy was rum ; and 
 if the Delawares had not at last been roused to manhood 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 by their wrongs, the fire-water would have solved the 
 Indian problem for Pennsylvania more rapidly and 
 surely than kindness and treaties. The Delawares, 
 Shawanese, and other tribes of the province were very 
 inferior savages, cowed and degraded by the Six 
 Nations of New York, and they easily succumbed before 
 drink. Laws were continually passed to prevent its 
 sale to them ; but apparently none of these laws could 
 be executed, for in all the records and writings of the 
 time we read of the fire-water's frightful ravages. 
 
 The indifference with which the colonists allowed 
 it to be furnished is well illustrated by what Franklin 
 tells us of an Indian conference he attended at Carlisle. 
 He and his fellow-commissioners had promised the 
 Indians that if they would keep sober during the confer- 
 ence, they should have all the rum they wanted after- 
 ward ; and the promise being faithfully kept on both 
 "sides, there was a most fiendish scene in the night. The 
 drunken Indians, men and women, half-naked, fought 
 each other with fire-brands, and the commissioners took 
 refuge in the houses. Franklin closes his story with 
 the remark that rum had already annihilated all the 
 tribes of the sea-coast, and was possibly the means 
 appointed by Providence to destroy a race that blocked 
 the way of civilization. 
 
 Nor did the Quakers succeed at all in converting the 
 Indians to Christianity, and the only effective work of 
 this sort was done by the Moravians. The Quakers 
 were never very aggressive propagandists ; and even if 
 they had been, it is difficult to conceive of an Indian 
 turning Quaker. Such refined spirituality was beyond 
 him; and he preferred the Catholic, whose elaborate 
 
 123 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 ceremonies and ritual more readily appealed to him, 
 or the New England Puritan, whose sternness he 
 could fully appreciate. There were always, it is said, a 
 large body of " praying Indians," as they were called 
 in Massachusetts; and the French priests were certainly 
 very successful at inculcating the divine duty of making 
 captives of English children. 
 
 But although the Indians seldom joined the Quakers, 
 there was no body of Christians, Catholic or Protestant, 
 for which they had such a deep and permanent respect. 
 The tradition of this has survived among the Western 
 tribes down to the present day, and was so strong after 
 the Civil War that President Grant believed that it 
 would be well to put our Indian affairs entirely in the 
 hands of the one sect for which the savage had no 
 contempt. 
 
 The reason for this feeling of the Indian was not 
 merely the recollection of fair treatment from Penn, but a 
 certain consistency he had observed in Penn's followers. 
 A savage is very quick to detect hypocrisy or a differ- 
 ence between preaching and practice ; and when he heard 
 Catholic or Presbyterian missionaries talk of gentleness, 
 honesty, forgiveness, and sobriety, and looked about him 
 at the Catholic or Presbyterian frontiersmen and traders 
 who habitually cheated him, and whom he had often 
 seen swearing, drunk, or murdering, there was no use in 
 telling him that they were exceptions and not living up 
 to the faith that was true in spite of them. The Indian 
 traders of that time who cheated the Indians most atro- 
 ciously were a very low class, often escaped convicts. 
 They were the class the Indians saw most of, and they 
 passed as representatives of the white race. But the 
 
 124 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 Quakers, who, whatever may have been their faults, were 
 undoubtedly a very sober, industrious population, who, 
 although they might connive at war in the legislature, 
 had seldom to the Indians' knowledge ever committed 
 acts of violence, presented an entirely different appear- 
 ance. There were very few of them on the frontier, and 
 those few were very respectable, quiet people; and there 
 was a story current in colonial times that some Indian 
 chief had said that the Quakers could not possibly be 
 Christians because they never got drunk and never 
 killed. 
 
 But the time when peace could be maintained with 
 the Indians by the recollection of Penn's kindness, their 
 respect for the Quakers, the skill of deputy-governors, 
 or the aid of the Six Nations was rapidly drawing to a 
 close. The war which the French in Canada had been 
 maintaining for half a century against the New England 
 colonies was now working down into the valley of the 
 Ohio. The French intended to get behind all the 
 English colonies and cut them off from the Mississippi. 
 They had planned a chain of forts from the Great Lakes 
 to New Orleans, and they were soon exploring along 
 the line, building camps or settlements and burying in 
 the soil metal plates on which their claims were in- 
 scribed. They were rapidly winning the alliance of 
 the Indians of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and soon seduced 
 three tribes of the Six Nations. It was this war that the 
 Quaker Assembly of Pennsylvania saw in the distance, 
 and determined to do their utmost to prevent. 
 
 The Indians were not unwilling to allow it to be 
 known that the French were tampering with them, for 
 they were anxious to see which nation would bid high- 
 ly 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 est in presents, and in any event they would receive pres- 
 ents from both. A thousand pounds was accordingly 
 provided by the Assembly, and Conrad Weiser, who was 
 now Indian agent and interpreter for the province, was 
 sent to learn in detail their designs. Maryland and 
 Virginia were also urged to send presents and join 
 in a great conference to be held with the tribes. 
 Meantime the treaty of peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was 
 signed Oct. 7, 1748; and the next month the new 
 deputy-governor, James Hamilton, arrived. His father, 
 Andrew Hamilton, had been for a long time a member 
 of the Assembly and a distinguished lawyer of the 
 province. 
 
 The treaty of peace produced only a cessation of 
 hostilities in Europe, and was hardly noticed in America. 
 The Indians, elated with the presents they had received 
 from the French, began to show toward the white man 
 a contempt which they had never before exhibited in 
 Pennsylvania. The Scotch-Irish and Germans west of 
 the Susquehanna had been entering on Indian land 
 which had not yet been purchased by the proprietors. 
 This was now a common offence, and the people had 
 become accustomed to the Indian complaints of it. But 
 an insolence altogether new was now exhibited. The 
 Senecas on their visit to Philadelphia killed the cattle 
 of the people as they passed, and robbed their orchards, 
 and another tribe destroyed the property of Conrad 
 Weiser. Such a depredation as this had been never 
 before experienced in the province, and was very signi- 
 ficant. These Indians had a little before visited Phila- 
 delphia, where they were given £500, but on returning 
 home still greater regard had been shown them by the 
 
 126 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 French, and they had come again to Philadelphia in a 
 very independent mood. 
 
 To quiet the people and prevent retaliation on the 
 Indians, the Assembly paid for all the damage done, 
 and Richard Peters, now secretary of the province in 
 the place of Logan, who had retired, accompanied by 
 Weiser, was sent to expel the Scotch-Irish and German 
 intruders on the Indian lands. But nothing could now 
 stop the course of events. The Indians under the guid- 
 ance of the French had learned the art of extorting 
 presents from their friends the Quakers. Hamilton had 
 scarcely been governor two years before the Assembly 
 had to vote another large sum for presents to quiet the 
 Six Nations as well as the Shawnees, Twightees, and 
 Delawares. 
 
 If such expense should continue and all the damage 
 done by the Indians was to be paid for, it would be a 
 serious drain on the provincial treasury; and as it was 
 for the benefit of the proprietors as well as the colonists, 
 the Assembly insisted that the proprietors should bear 
 a part of it. They had already several times raised this 
 question during the past twenty years, and the proprie- 
 tors had yielded and borne their part of the expense of 
 some of the conferences and treaties. But now they 
 absolutely refused, and began a long and unfortunate 
 controversy. 
 
 The nine years Thomas Penn had spent in the colony 
 and his careful study of its affairs had failed to enlarge 
 his mind, and he had become hard, narrow, and meanly 
 economical. It was to his interest to protect the prov- 
 ince from Indians, for a war on the border would not 
 help the sale of his land. Moreover, the presents that 
 
 127 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 had been given the Indians helped him to buy lands 
 from them all the cheaper. But independently of these 
 considerations it was hardly worth his while to alienate 
 the Assembly and the whole Quaker party for the sake 
 of saving a small contribution to the Indian outlay ; 
 and he made matters much worse by the arrogant and 
 irritating manner in which he replied to the Assembly's 
 request. He threatened them with his displeasure, re- 
 minded them of the respect due his rank, and com- 
 plained of the informality and lack of deference shown 
 in their address to him. His family, he said, had 
 already borne too much of the public expense, and had 
 contributed ^400 for cannon to defend Philadelphia. 
 The provincial treasury contained plenty of money for 
 Indian expenses, and the Assembly might relieve the 
 people of half the excise ; for the interest on the paper 
 money was enough to maintain the government, and 
 that interest would be soon increased by a fresh issue 
 of the money. 
 
 Franklin had been elected to the Assembly of 175 1 
 and drew the Assembly's reply to the proprietors. 
 This was his first state paper, and certainly an able one. 
 It began the long contest against the Penns of which 
 he soon became the avowed leader, and which was con- 
 tinued until the Revolution. In this, his first essay on 
 the subject, he warned the ruling family that the colony 
 might soon be turned into a royal one, and to accom- 
 plish this became shortly afterward the main object of 
 his political career. 
 
 The French were becoming bolder; and they now 
 attacked the Twightee Indians and killed fourteen of 
 them as a punishment for having allied themselves with 
 
 128 
 
The Quakers and the Indians 
 
 the English. An English company called the Ohio 
 Company had taken up lands along the river of that 
 name, and were surveying them preparatory to settle- 
 ment. This the French declared was an invasion of 
 their territory, and they began to arrest English traders 
 and send them to France. 
 
 But still the Assembly of Pennsylvania would do 
 nothing but vote money for presents. The actual 
 hostility of the French was, they said, a matter to be 
 referred to the Six Nations and the Governor of New 
 York; and they refused to build forts or trading-houses 
 on the frontier, although Thomas Penn offered to con- 
 tribute. The fort that was particularly recommended 
 to be built was to be situated at the point of land where 
 the Allegheny and Monongahela unite to form the 
 Ohio, that important strategic point, afterward Fort 
 Du Quesne, Fort Pitt, and Pittsburg. George Croghan, 
 the Indian trader and agent, was very urgent for the 
 building of this fort, which he said had been asked for 
 by some of the friendly Indian tribes as a protection 
 for them against the French. 
 
 In after years, amid the horrors of the French and 
 Indian Wars, the refusal of the Quaker Assembly to 
 build this fort was remembered; and it was said that if 
 it had only been built when asked for, the whole French 
 invasion of the Ohio would have been prevented, the 
 enormous expense and loss of the war rendered un- 
 necessary, Braddock saved from defeat, and thousands 
 of lives saved from torture and death. Some went even 
 farther, and argued that not only would the French 
 have been kept out of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, 
 but the frightful ravages of the war in Europe would 
 9 I2 9 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonweath 
 
 have also been prevented. So the blame for all the 
 evil rested with the Quakers, they said, which showed 
 how much trouble a little false doctrine could cause in 
 the world. 
 
 The Virginia Assembly had, however, also been asked 
 to build the fort, and had refused. Sometime afterward 
 they started to build it, and it was promptly captured 
 by the French, — an event which would have happened 
 just as certainly if it had been built by Quakers, for 
 there was not force enough in the colonies to hold a 
 fort in that situation; and to build it was merely to 
 make a present of it to France. 
 
 [ 3 o 
 
Commerce, Wealth, and Education 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 COMMERCE, WEALTH, AND EDUCATION 
 
 THE province being now on the eve of a long war, it 
 may be well to consider Pennsylvania's advancement up 
 to this time, as well as certain new forces and conditions 
 which began to be felt. 
 
 The proprietors had now become allied with the 
 Church of England ; and this change from the faith 
 of their fathers made it all the easier for the Quaker 
 Assembly to quarrel with them, and laid the foundation 
 for a powerful popular party opposed to the proprietary 
 interest. Quakers were no longer appointed to office. 
 Logan's place as secretary was filled by Richard Peters, 
 an Episcopal clergyman. The old line of Quaker chief 
 justices, like Lloyd and Logan, had come to an end ; 
 and men of the class of Shippen and Chew began to be 
 appointed. The Churchmen, who formerly, under the 
 lead of Colonel Quarry, had been the bitter opponents of 
 the proprietary interest, were now strongly in its favor 
 and enjoying its generosity in the distribution of offices. 
 Instead of the Quakers controlling both the legislative 
 and executive departments of the government, as they 
 had done for sixty years, they now controlled only the 
 Assembly, while the executive offices in the gift of the 
 proprietors were in the hands of the Churchmen. In 
 former years, the proprietary party, when the existence 
 
 i3' 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 of a distinct party of that name was necessary, had been 
 usually made up of Quakers, or nondescripts often 
 called " governor's men." But now there were few, if 
 any, Quakers in the proprietary party, and it was led by 
 the Episcopalians. The rest of the colonial period is a 
 history of the conflicts of these two parties, the Epis- 
 copalian and the Quaker, one of which controlled the 
 executive part of the government, and the other the 
 legislative. 
 
 Logan was dead. For half a century he had lived in 
 the province, and during the greatei part of that time 
 he had been a member of the Council and secretary, 
 and had served the proprietors with untiring fidelity. 
 His leisure time he had devoted to studies a\\^\ the col- 
 lection of a library at his country-seat, Stenton. lie 
 made investigations in botany and other scientific sub- 
 jects, assisted deserving young men like Franklin and 
 Godfrey, wrote books, and corresponded with learned 
 men in Europe. Linnaeus named a class of plants after 
 him, and at the time of his death he was considered 
 one of the most accomplished men in America. In 
 this respect he was Franklin's predecessor; and his 
 library was joined with Franklin's to make the Phila- 
 delphia Library, the first circulating library in the 
 colonies. 
 
 Two such men as Logan and Franklin were quite 
 enough to make a little province only seventy years old, 
 and not yet redeemed from the wilderness, the talk of 
 the civilized world. Franklin had now made his great 
 discovery in electricity, and his name was a household 
 word in Europe. Other prominent men of the province 
 were dabbling in science; and the merchants oi' l'hiladel- 
 
 132 
 
% 
 
 Commerce, Wealth, and Education 
 
 phia had at their own cost sent two expeditions to dis- 
 cover the northwest passage. The colony was certainly 
 not suffering from mental stagnation. 1 
 
 It was, indeed, remarkably successful and rich, and, 
 in spite of all disputes with proprietors, governors, and 
 Assembly, had been very well governed. The paper / 
 money had been so prudently managed that even the 
 British Parliament was convinced of its usefulness, and 
 in an Act passed in 1 75 1 , prohibiting the northern 
 colonies from issuing any more of such currency, 
 Pennsylvania was excepted. Franklin was about this 
 time chairman of a committee of the Assembly which 
 with much complacency and pride prepared a report 
 on the country's condition and prospects. From 1723 
 to 1752 the number of vessels cleared from Philadelphia 
 had risen from eighty-five to over four hundred per 
 annum. In the last twenty years the population had 
 almost doubled itself, and in the last ten years the 
 imports from England had almost doubled. The price 
 of labor was very high, although thirty thousand 
 laborers had been imported in twenty years, for so 
 great was the prosperity that nearly all the laborers 
 imported rapidly became employers. 
 
 Virginia was growing rich and reckless on a single 
 staple, tobacco ; South Carolina on rice and indigo ; 
 Massachusetts on codfish; but Pennsylvania was rap- 
 idly surpassing them all by means of a great variety 
 of products. As far back as 1 731, the variety of her 
 exports had been remarkable, and was most attractively 
 
 1 A full account of the early development of science and the 
 mechanic arts in the province will be found in " The Making of Penn- 
 sylvania," chapter ix. 
 
 '33 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 described in that interesting old book, "The Importance 
 of the British Plantations in America " : — ■ 
 
 " The product of Pennsylvania, for exportation, is wheat, 
 flour, bisket, barrelled beef and pork, bacon, hams, butter, 
 cheese, cyder, apples, soap, myrtle-wax candles, starch, hair- 
 powder, tanned leather, beeswax, tallow candles, strong beer, 
 linseed oil, strong waters, deer skins, and other peltry, hemp 
 (which they have encouraged by an additional bounty of 
 three half pence per pound weight, over and above what is 
 allowed by act of Parliament), some little tobacco, lumber 
 (i.e., sawed boards, and timber for building of houses, cypress 
 wood, shingles, cask staves and headings, masts, and other 
 ship timber), also drugs of various sorts (as sassafras, calamus 
 aromaticus, snake-root, etc.). Lastly, the Pennsylvanians 
 build about 2,000 tons of shipping a year for sale, over and 
 above what they employ in their own trade ; which may be 
 about 6,000 tons more. They send great quantities of corn to 
 Portugal and Spain, frequently selling their ships, as well as 
 cargo ; and the produce of both is sent thence to England ; 
 where it is always laid out in goods, and sent home to Penn- 
 sylvania. They receive no less than from 4,000 to 6,000 
 pistoles from the Dutch isle of Curacoa alone, for provisions 
 and liquors. And they trade to Surinam, in the like manner, 
 and to the French part of Hispaniola, as also to the other 
 French sugar islands ; from whence they bring back molasses, 
 and also some money. From Jamaica they sometimes return 
 with all money and no goods, because their rum and molasses 
 are so dear there. . . . They trade to our province of New 
 England, Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina, and to all the 
 islands in the West Indies, (excepting the Spanish ones) as 
 also to the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores Isles ; like- 
 wise to Newfoundland for fish ; which they carry to Spain, 
 
 '34 
 
Commerce, Wealth, and Education 
 
 Portugal and up the Mediterranean ; and remit the money 
 to England ; which, one way or other, may amount to 
 ^60,000 yearly." 
 
 Four years after Penn obtained his Charter the 
 population of the province had risen from about two 
 thousand to seventy-two hundred. Five or six years 
 after that it had doubled, and so it went on until 
 in 1740 the province had caught up to and passed 
 every other colony except Maryland, Massachusetts, 
 and Virginia. Ten years later Maryland was passed, 
 and just after the Revolution Massachusetts was out- 
 stripped. For over a hundred years Boston was the 
 largest city in the colonies. But about 1750 Phila- 
 delphia was even with her in the race, and soon was 
 far ahead, remaining the metropolis of the country 
 until excelled by New York in the first half of the 
 present century* When it is remembered that most of 
 the colonies were founded thirty or forty years before 
 Pennsylvania, this growth seems very rapid. 
 
 Not only the province, but the proprietors were grow- 
 ing rich. Penn had lost money by the province; but 
 his sons reaped a rich harvest from the quit-rents and 
 sales of land. In 1759 Franklin estimated their wealth, 
 derived from Pennsylvania alone without counting 
 Delaware, at about ;£i 0,000,000 sterling, and their 
 annual income derived from quit-rents at ,£58,936 
 sterling. This was, however, largely guess-work, for 
 the Penns never made their accounts public. In recent 
 years, their accounts have come into the hands of the 
 Historical Society of Pennsylvania; and though no one 
 has yet attempted a complete analysis of the numerous 
 
 135 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 volumes, there is enough in the summary contained in 
 the last volume to throw some light on the subject. 
 From this it appears that their whole estate and 
 property in Pennsylvania, that could be estimated in 
 1 759, was not above ,£4,000,000, instead of the 
 ;£ 10,000,000 estimated by Franklin, and their annual 
 income was only about ;£ 10,000, instead of the ,£58,936 
 of Franklin. To bring these estimates to the equivalent 
 values of our own time, we should multiply them by at 
 least four, which shows the proprietors to have been 
 quite rich enough. 
 
 In the Revolution, the Pennsylvania Assembly of 
 course abolished the political power of the Penns and 
 their feudal title to the land; but they were allowed to 
 keep certain private estates which had been settled on 
 the children of Penn's first wife, all their manors, and 
 some of their quit-rents ; and to reimburse them for 
 what was confiscated, the Assembly gave them ,£130,000 
 in money, and regretted that they could not make the 
 gift larger. This was certainly generous, when we 
 consider that it was done in 1779 in the midst of a 
 Revolution, when the property of Tories was usually 
 confiscated entire without any indemnity. The amount 
 the Penns lost by the Revolution they estimated at 
 ,£944,817, and claimed it from the British government. 
 They were given an annuity of .£4,000 a year, which in 
 1884 was commuted by a grant of £67,000. They 
 still own a few manors in the interior of the State, and 
 collect a few quit-rents through their agents, and some 
 of the land on which quit-rents are paid lies in the most 
 populous part of Philadelphia. 
 
 But although Pennsylvania prospered greatly in 
 
 136 
 
Commerce, Wealth, and Education 
 
 material things, no efforts were made for a long time to 
 establish a college, or seat of learning. In fact, the 
 province was seventy years old and had made no pro- 
 vision for any sort of higher education and very little 
 for even the mere rudiments. There were a few ex- 
 cellent academies, conducted by the Presbyterians, 
 scattered throughout the colony, but none of any 
 importance in Philadelphia. The Quakers as a class 
 were not interested in colleges or universities and con- 
 fined their efforts to schools alone. Many prominent 
 men besides Franklin were alarmed at the ignorance in 
 which not only the masses, but even the sons of the 
 best citizens were growing up. The opinion was gain- 
 ing ground that the people born in the colony were 
 inferior in intelligence to their fathers, who had emi- 
 grated from England. Few could afford to send their 
 children across the Atlantic to be educated, and at 
 that time the only seats of learning in America were 
 Harvard and Yale, far to the north in New England, 
 and the college of William and Mary, far to the south 
 in Virginia. New York and the other middle colonies 
 were as destitute in this respect as Pennsylvania. 
 
 Franklin had attempted to establish an academy, or 
 school of high order, in 1743, but was prevented by the 
 Assembly's disputes with Governor Thomas and the 
 preparations for war which fully occupied the attention 
 of the colonists ; and it was not until 1749 that his plans 
 were successful. The academy was started and occu- 
 pied a great building on Fourth Street, south of Arch, 
 which had been built for the preaching of the famous 
 Whitefield. It was rapidly filled with pupils. Four 
 years afterward, in 1753, a charter was obtained for itl/ 
 
 *37 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 from the proprietors; and two years after, in 1755, such 
 was its success that it was chartered as the College, 
 Academy, and Charitable School of Philadelphia, and 
 for the next twenty-five years always spoken of as The 
 College. 
 
 In a colony so advanced in liberal opinions as Penn- 
 sylvania then was, and so split up into sects, it is natural 
 to find the promoters of this college announcing that it 
 was to be what is now called non-sectarian. Franklin 
 says that the Board of Trustees contained an Episco- 
 palian, a Presbyterian, a Baptist, and a Moravian, with 
 the intention of being very catholic and liberal. He 
 adds that when the place of the Moravian, who was not 
 very congenial to the others, became vacant, the Board 
 were at a loss how to fill it. Some one suggested that 
 Franklin was simply an honest man of no religion at 
 all, and he was immediately elected. 
 
 The theory of this balance and representation among 
 sects seemed very just and desirable, but it was im- 
 possible to carry it out in practice. If the balance had 
 been really maintained, the college would have been a 
 lifeless nonentity. In its actual working the control 
 was sure to gravitate to some one party or one man, 
 and it was much better that it should. The party to 
 which it gravitated was the Episcopal and proprietary 
 party, and the man was the Rev. Dr. Smith, the provost. 
 
 In fact, the greater part of the money which built up 
 the institution was furnished by people of the Church 
 of England. The proprietors gave it apparatus, a 
 yearly sum of money, and also about ^"3,000. The 
 provost visited England and returned with funds which 
 he had collected from the two archbishops, all the 
 
 138 
 
Commerce, Wealth, and Education 
 
 bishops, a large number of the clergy, a long list of 
 noblemen, and almost every college in the English 
 universities. 
 
 The Quakers not caring for a college, it was natural 
 that the control of it should go to the Churchmen, who 
 after the Quakers were the most numerous religious 
 body in the city. The Presbyterians were strong in the 
 country districts, and they afterward had their own 
 college, Dickinson at Carlisle. The Quakers controlled 
 the Pennsylvania Hospital, which, being philanthropic, 
 suited them better than a seat of learning. The college 
 and the hospital became party strongholds, and were 
 developed with the full force of partisan zeal and 
 energy. 
 
 The selection of Smith for provost was fortunate for 
 the college, and has added many an interesting page to 
 the history of Pennsylvania. He was only twenty-seven 
 years old when he was elected, but he rapidly became 
 not only a remarkable college president, but a politician 
 of considerable importance. His name is now mean- 
 ingless to most of us; but in his day he was famous in 
 all the colonies and as well-known among Pennsylva- 
 nians as Franklin or Dickinson. 
 
 He was a Scotchman of good family, educated at the 
 University of Aberdeen, and from his earliest years 
 seems to have had ideas of reform in education which 
 he tried in vain to make popular in his native country. 
 He came to New York when twenty- four years old, as 
 tutor to some young gentlemen who were returning to 
 America. New York was at that time as much in need 
 of good schools and a college as Philadelphia, and her 
 prominent people were looking forward to their estab- 
 
 J 39 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 lishment. Young Smith again broached his ideas, but 
 they were too far advanced for the New Yorkers. 
 They were, however, in almost exact accord with the 
 notions of Franklin and his friends, who had already 
 established the Academy at Philadelphia, and were 
 expecting every year to turn it into a college. 
 
 Franklin's views of the true method of education were 
 very extreme. As there is no department of modern 
 science the beginnings of which he did not develop, so 
 he was the first definitely to state in this country the 
 modern theory of education which discards Latin and 
 Greek with the intention of substituting for them 
 modern languages and useful scientific information ; 
 and it would be difficult to find any recent argument on 
 the subject which is any better than his. 
 
 He was a very earnest advocate of what are now 
 called English branches and what were then called 
 foolishness. He believed that the systematic study of 
 English would give the same knowledge of language 
 structure and the same mental training that was sup- 
 posed to be attainable only through Latin and Greek. 
 Deeply convinced of the command of language he had 
 himself acquired from analyzing and rewriting Addison's 
 Essays, me wished to set up the study of that author 
 and the study of Pope, Milton, and Shakespeare as 
 against Cicero, Virgil, and Homer. It had always 
 impressed him very much that after he had learned the 
 modern languages he found he acquired Latin with 
 great facility. The modern languages, he said, would 
 give all the training that could be obtained from Latin 
 and Greek, and were of more practical utility. Add to 
 these languages a good knowledge of natural science, 
 
 140 
 
Commerce, Wealth, and Education 
 
 astronomy, history, government, with athletic sports 
 thrown in, and your education was complete. 
 
 The other promoters of the college were not quite 
 so extreme as Franklin; but they had the same 
 general ideas, and when they found that young 
 William Smith in New York was also of their 
 way of thinking, they immediately called him to be 
 head of their college. He had recently written a 
 pamphlet in which he expressed his advanced ideas, 
 and he was allowed to put them in practice in Phil- 
 adelphia; so that it may be said that the modern 
 theory of American education had its beginning at 
 Philadelphia nearly a hundred years before it was 
 established in any other community in the country. 
 
 Smith had made known his opinions in New York in 
 a pamphlet called " A General Idea of the College of 
 Mirania," written with the enthusiasm and confidence 
 attainable only at the age of twenty-five. Mirania was 
 an imaginary colony in America, of a rather mixed 
 population, like New York and Pennsylvania. But the 
 Miranians were people of great enlightenment, and had 
 established the ideal colonial college, about which 
 one of them named Evander gave a very interesting 
 
 account. 
 
 The object of such colleges, Evander said, was not 
 to make scholars, but useful citizens ; and to this end 
 his people considered themselves as divided into two 
 classes. The first consisted of those intended for the 
 learned professions, — divinity, law, and medicine, — 
 who must necessarily stay in the old paths and study 
 Latin and Greek. The second class was composed of 
 all the rest of the people; and these were to be taught 
 
 141 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 very much in the manner adopted at the academy in 
 Philadelphia, suggested by the ingenious Dr. Franklin. 
 Then follows a long description of the way in which a 
 knowledge of accounts, mathematics, oratory, poetry, 
 chronology, history, natural and mechanic philosophy, 
 agriculture, ethics, physics, chemistry, anatomy, modern 
 languages, fencing, dancing, religion, and everything 
 else useful was to be pumped into that remnant of the 
 population who were not to stand in the old ways. 
 The students passed through the preparatory schools 
 and the early years of the college course, drenched at 
 every step with all this useful knowledge, which they 
 absorbed through every pore, until they reached the 
 next to the last class, where they were taught oratory 
 and rhetoric, or the art of expressing themselves, so 
 that the mass of knowledge which now distended their 
 skins almost to bursting might be made effective in 
 the world. 
 
 The last or fifth year of the course was to be devoted 
 to agriculture, the philosophy of history, and the 
 philosophy of politics, which would crown the whole. 
 Reserving political history for the last, as requiring 
 the greatest maturity of mind for its comprehension, 
 was not inconsistent with the ideas of education which 
 prevail now in our own time. The prominence given 
 to agriculture was somewhat peculiar. Evander said 
 that, like history and politics, it required the ripest 
 judgment, and, like them, had been neglected in all 
 previous schemes of education. It was considered of 
 great importance at that time, especially in the colonies 
 where there were no manufacturing or business classes, 
 and where the men of substance and even the aris- 
 
 142 
 
Commerce, Wealth, and Education 
 
 tocracies were made up partly of shipowners, but 
 mostly of farmers and planters. The farmer in those 
 days and far down into the times of Jefferson and 
 Madison was a man to be treated with respect, and was 
 never made the stock material for comic journals. 
 
 It would be long to give all the details of this essay 
 on the College of Mirania, which in some respects is 
 more interesting than anything Smith ever wrote. It 
 was too much for New York; but Franklin and the 
 trustees were charmed with it, and declared that, though 
 excellent, it was all perfectly practicable. " For my 
 part," said Franklin, " I know not when I have read a 
 piece that has so affected me, — so noble and just are 
 the sentiments, so warm and animated the language." 
 The young author of it was secured at once for the 
 Provost of Philadelphia College ; and the theories of 
 Mirania were put into practice as far as possible. 
 
 As we read the printed curriculum of the college, with 
 its ethics, natural and civil law, laws of government, laws 
 of trade and commerce, architecture, anatomy, hydro- 
 statics, pneumatics, light, optics, perspective, history of 
 vegetables and animals, the " Spectator," the " Rambler," 
 Dryden, Pope, Vossius, Patoun, Sir Isaac Newton, Lord 
 Bacon, and so on, it forms a most extraordinary contrast 
 to the short, simple statement which at that time described 
 the old-fashioned mental sustenance which satisfied the 
 students of Harvard and Yale in the north and William 
 and Mary in the south. 
 
 These strange courses which Smith introduced also 
 contained the beginnings of the modern elective system. 
 But Smith was more than a college president. His 
 active mind seized on every human interest within his 
 
 J 43 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 reach, and he took his college with him into politics 
 and made it a power for the proprietary party. He 
 became the leader of that party pitted against his old 
 friend Franklin, with broad plans for the advancement 
 of the proprietors' interests, the conquest of the conti- 
 nent from the French, and the conversion of the Germans 
 to English ways. 
 
 144 
 
The Seven Years' War Begins 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR BEGINS 
 
 THE long series of wars between England and France 
 which had now reached a crisis had been known among 
 the colonists by various names. The contest from 1689 
 to 1697 they called King William's War; and in this 
 Massachusetts had distinguished herself by the expedi- 
 tion against Canada under Sir William Phipps. Then 
 there was five years' rest; and in 1702 Queen Anne's 
 War began and lasted to the peace of Utrecht in 1713. 
 After this there was a long peace of over thirty years, 
 during which, the ocean being free from privateers, 
 Pennsylvania prospered so abundantly under the popu- 
 lar rule of her best governors, Keith and Gordon. It 
 was in this period that the province made up for lost 
 time in having been founded so long after all the other 
 principal colonies, and became such a wonder for rapid 
 growth and success. 
 
 The next war, which began in 1744 at the close of this 
 period of thirty years, was called King George's War, 
 and was supposed to have been ended by the treaty of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. But this treaty of peace was 
 merely formal, and in America did not even amount 
 to a cessation of hostilities. France continued to push 
 her advantage on the Ohio, and in 1755 the colonies 
 were precipitated into what became known as the Seven 
 10 145 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Years' War ; and this war ended the series, and put at 
 rest forever the question of who should own the North 
 American continent. 
 
 In all these conflicts down to the Seven Years' War 
 the brunt of the struggle, so far as the colonists were 
 concerned, had been borne by New England and New 
 York. Not only had New England, under the leader- 
 ship of Massachusetts, taken the principal part in the 
 expedition of Sir William Phipps in King William's 
 War, the similar expedition against Canada in Queen 
 Anne's War, and the famous capture of Louisburg in 
 King George's War, but her frontier had been all the 
 time in close contact with the French and their Indian 
 allies, and continually suffered from their incursions. 
 New England had had a long training in military affairs, 
 and before Pennsylvania was founded had fought two 
 wars with the Indians. 
 
 But from all these disasters and horrors Pennsylvania 
 had heretofore been entirely free ; and she had taken no 
 part in the wars against Canada except to send men 
 occasionally from the combatant portion of her people 
 and vote money by the Quaker Assembly to assist New 
 England and New York. Like Virginia and other 
 southern and middle colonies, she was not much inter- 
 ested in these wars, which were so far away. All the 
 colonies south of New York felt themselves protected 
 from the enemy by New England and New York, and 
 were not much excited by the contest. In fact, consid- 
 ering the security of her position, with New York be- 
 tween her and the enemy, and the scruples of the 
 Quakers and German sects, Pennsylvania had done 
 rather more than was to be expected. 
 
 146 
 
The Seven Years' War Begins 
 
 But the enemy had now begun to sting another colony 
 and excite her to exertion. The valley of the Ohio, 
 where the French were penetrating, was claimed by 
 Virginia as part of her territory, and she made efforts 
 to protect it. The expeditions she sent for this pur- 
 pose, conducted by Washington, then a mere youth, are 
 familiar history, and need not be repeated. Governor 
 Hamilton appealed to the Pennsylvania Assembly to 
 assist these expeditions, and entered into a long con- 
 troversy with them to prove by maps and the testimony 
 of hunters that the French were not only on British soil 
 but within the limits of Pennsylvania. The Assembly, 
 however, decided that the enemy were as yet only in 
 Virginia, and the Virginians should attend to them. 
 
 After Washington's defeat at Fort Necessity, Hamilton 
 appealed again, and might have been successful if he 
 had not insisted on amending the money bill which the 
 Assembly offered him. This at once drove them into 
 opposition ; and they felt bound to stand upon their con- 
 stitutional right, the same as the right of the English 
 commons, of having their money bills received or re- 
 jected without amendment. What they should give 
 must be given on their own terms or not at all. 
 
 This was the beginning of difficulties which lasted all 
 through the war. The governors defeated the attempts 
 of the Assembly to defend the country by turning every 
 money or supply bill into a question of constitutional 
 rights. The colonial assemblies, and especially the 
 Assembly of Pennsylvania, have been much blamed for 
 their slowness in supporting the war against the French, 
 but usually by writers who would not take the trouble 
 to investigate and understand the real situation. It was 
 
 47 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 not the Pennsylvania Assembly that was to blame, but 
 her governor, who by the necessity of a war supply 
 wished to force the colony to yield its rights established 
 by the struggles of over seventy years. 
 
 Hamilton, weary of his disputes with the Assembly, 
 resigned; and Robert Hunter Morris arrived to take 
 his place in October, 1754. The Pennsylvania Indians 
 were now rapidly joining the French; and when Morris 
 asked for money, the Assembly promptly passed a bill 
 providing for an issue of ,£40,000 in paper money 
 redeemable in twelve years, of which £20,000 should 
 be for the king's use. This sum of £20,000 was a very 
 large war contribution. It was the same amount that 
 Virginia, the most active of the colonies against the 
 French, had just given, and it was much more than 
 other colonies gave. New York gave only £5,000, 
 Maryland £6,000, and New Jersey nothing. 
 
 But Morris would not assent to the Assembly's bill. 
 He had instructions, he said, to assent to no paper- 
 money bill unless there was a clause suspending it from 
 going into effect until the king approved of it, or unless 
 the money was to be redeemable within five years. 
 These suspending clauses had been tried by previous 
 governors, and always defeated. It was impossible for 
 the Assembly to pass a bill with such a suspending 
 clause. It would have been surrendering one of the 
 colony's most important rights. By its charter, the 
 province had a right to pass laws which need not be 
 submitted to the king for five years and during that 
 time were valid ; and the Assembly dared not make a 
 precedent of passing a law which should not go into 
 effect till the king's pleasure was known. It would 
 
 14s 
 
The Seven Years' War Begins 
 
 have been sacrificing the most important privilege the 
 colony possessed ; and the Assembly knew full well that, 
 in this attempt on their liberties, the proprietors were 
 aided and abetted by the Privy Council. It was fully 
 as much their duty to resist this invasion as to resist 
 the French. 
 
 Nor could they make the money redeemable in five 
 years. It was too short a time, and would ruin the peo- 
 ple on whose land the money was secured. Their land 
 would be sacrificed by early foreclosures. Under the 
 circumstances of the province more time than five years 
 had to be always given for the redemption of paper 
 money. Moreover, this was an attempt, like Hamilton's 
 shortly before, to interfere with the way in which the 
 colony was to raise the money. The king had a right 
 to ask for aid, but it was the right of the colony to use 
 its own methods in furnishing it. 
 
 The Assembly explained all this at length to the new 
 governor, and also reminded him that Governor Thomas 
 had assented to an issue of £5,000 redeemable in ten 
 years; that Governor Hamilton, though bound by bonds 
 and instructions, had considered himself at liberty to 
 pass such bills without a suspending clause, and that 
 this very question of a suspending clause had been 
 raised before and decided in accordance with the 
 opinion of the Assembly. 
 
 To make matters worse, the governor refused to let 
 the Assembly see the instructions from the proprietors 
 under which he was acting. This raised another con- 
 stitutional controversy, for the Assembly had always 
 refused to be governed in the dark by secret instruc- 
 tions ; and they were now the more strenuous on this 
 
 149 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 point because they knew that several bills had been 
 recently introduced in Parliament for the purpose of 
 making royal instructions binding on all the colonial 
 assemblies without regard to their charters or constitu- 
 tional rights. 
 
 These attacks on colonial liberty, the attempt to 
 make royal instructions binding on the assemblies, the 
 attempt to introduce clauses in their laws suspending 
 their operation until the king's pleasure should be 
 known, the attempt to amend their money bills and 
 control the way in which they should raise money, the 
 attempt to control the distribution and expenditure of 
 their money after it was raised, were as far-reaching and 
 dangerous as the stamp acts and tea acts which after- 
 ward caused the Revolution. Indeed, they were more 
 so, and might have created revolution, if revolution had 
 not been hopeless in the face of the French invasion. 
 If almost any one of them — the attempt, for example, 
 to make royal instructions binding on the assemblies — 
 had been successful, it would have destroyed the greater 
 part of their liberty ; and if all the attempts had been 
 successful, their liberties would have been completely 
 eclipsed. If the Pennsylvania Assembly, for the sake 
 of helping the war, had yielded to these attempts, the 
 province might just as well have been conquered by 
 the French; and in fact her chance for liberty under 
 the French would have been better. 
 
 In their dispute with Morris on this occasion, they 
 have been much abused for thwarting the plans of the 
 British Empire against the French and for failure to 
 see the manifest destiny of the continent. But they 
 were no more backward than the other colonies, 
 
 ICO 
 
The Seven Years' War Begins 
 
 which were all very careful not to lose their lib- 
 erties under the plea of assisting the war. New 
 York maintained a stubborn contest against her 
 governor because he tried to use the necessities of 
 the war for forcing a permanent provision for his ex- 
 penses of government instead of leaving it dependent 
 on his ability to please the Assembly. As for the 
 Pennsylvania Assembly, when they found they could 
 not agree upon a supply with their governor without 
 wrecking their liberties, they raised it in their own way 
 by a committee which was authorized to borrow £5,000 
 on the credit of the Assembly. 
 
 During all this time when Virginia was so active and 
 the other colonies were being asked for money, France 
 and England were supposed to be at peace, for the 
 treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, of 1748, was still in force. 
 It was the policy of France to keep it in force, and 
 under its protection quietly push her settlements and 
 forts toward the Mississippi. This was soon observed 
 by the British ministry, and it became their evident 
 duty to break the treaty, and stop this southern growth 
 of France before it became too strong. 
 
 Two regiments of five hundred men each, under 
 Major-General Braddock, embarked in January, 1755, 
 for America, where their numbers were to be increased 
 by enlistment. This was no sooner known in France 
 than eighteen men-of-war with three thousand troops 
 were ordered to prepare for Canada. They sailed in 
 May, four months after Braddock had started, and an 
 English fleet was sent to intercept them. The diplomats 
 on each side protested that there was no hostile intent 
 in these preparations; but the English officers had 
 
 r 5' 
 
S ... V 
 
 tack as s< 
 6 also tol< 
 
 tseli ncai the s 
 
 ■ 
 
 successful!} . - . - 
 
 . - 
 
 . i ■ his ma 
 
 ... .- and 
 
 jeh es al 
 fh< j vi i and ab 
 
 eleven o*clock I i lexl daj the"Di ik $ overhauled 
 S n she \va French 
 
 out, "• Is Accounts 
 
 diffe as I the reply of the English captain, He may 
 have said, " Peace, peac ac 
 
 count, he may have said, " 1 don 1 ! know, but you had 
 ter prepare for wj rhe next moment he settled 
 
 n b) pouring a >ide on the French 
 
 man's deck, It was war, and the treaty of Ai\ la 
 Chapelle was broken. 
 
 
Braddock's Defeat 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 BRADDO< i .' I DEFEA1 
 
 Poob Braddock! They haw overwhelmed him with 
 such a mass of abuse thai h is difUcull to discovei 
 what sort of man ru really was II' was trained only 
 in European warfare, and knew nothing of campaigning 
 in forests 01 of tin bushwhacking tactics of the Indians, 
 But in this respeel he was no different from othei 
 English officers. It was his misfortune to lead the 
 first importanl British expedition that penetrated far 
 into the interior of the American forest He con 
 ducted it, of course, by methods to which h< 
 accustomed; but he adapted himself to circumstan< 
 much mor< than has been generally supposed. 
 After li f : was defeated, it was i asy enough to se< his 
 mistakes, and in future expeditions they wen avoided. 
 \\> had th< bad luck to mak< the first experiment, and 
 be the sacrifice that revealed better methods. 
 
 As he was to march through Pennsylvania to driv< 
 an enemy from the province, the Assembly wen n 
 quired to raise three thousand m< n, supply provisions, 
 and provide Braddock's officers with means of travel 
 ling, b< sides contributing to a g< n< ral fund to be rai ted 
 from all the colonies. But Governor Morris refused to 
 
 acceptthe Assembly's ^rant. of /, 20,000 ; and all tli'y 
 
 could do was to establish a post rout' between Philadel- 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 phia and Winchester on the Virginia i rentier, and 
 furnish wagons and pack-horses. 
 
 Franklin procured the wagons, lie had been sent 
 bv the Assembly to Braddock's headquarters, to give 
 assistance and prevent Braddock from makingaraid into 
 Pennsylvania, as he threatened, to procure the wagons. 
 It was while on this visit that Franklin appears in 
 Thackeray's " Virginians," where he is described as a 
 shrewd, bright, little man. who would drink only water, 
 a good contrast to Braddock's roistering companions, 
 but very unlike the actual Franklin. 
 
 Braddock had been utterly unable to obtain wagons 
 in Virginia, lie caught eagerly at what Franklin said 
 about the abundance o\ wagons in Pennsylvania, and 
 soon tiie supposed water-drinker was commissioned 
 to procure one hundred and fifty wagons And fifteen 
 hundred pack-horses, lie returned to Pennsylvania 
 and in two weeks had delivered all the wagons and two 
 hundred and lift}- of the pack-horses. lie had only 
 £800 from Braddock, and was obliged to advance £200 
 himself and give bond to indemnify the owners o\ such 
 horses as should be lost in the service. Claims to the 
 amount oi £ jo, 000 were afterward made against him, 
 which would have completely ruined him if his credi- 
 tors had not been lenient, and the government after 
 long delay had not at last come to his rescue. This 
 was his most conspicuous public service, since he had 
 organized the Associators in the Spanish war, and his 
 popularity was greatly increased. He had a few years 
 before made his great discovery in electricity, and was 
 rapidly becoming known throughout the world. 
 
 The Assembly also sent a train of twenty pack horses 
 
Braddock's Defeat 
 
 laden with provisions, for the officers of the army, and 
 at Braddock's request prepared to cut a road through 
 the woods, for the march of his army. These were 
 certainly warlike measures for Quakers, and they were 
 going on to raise money for the troops and the general 
 fund, when they were delayed by a silly attack upon 
 them by the governor, for printing with their minutes 
 certain letters which had already appeared in the 
 English newspapers, but which the governor declared 
 should have been kept secret. When in spite of all this, 
 the Assembly passed a bill raising ,£25,000 in paper 
 money for the king's use, he added to all his stupidity 
 by refusing to sign the bill until lie had showed it to 
 the king. The Assembly, however, were determined to 
 assist the war, and by the same plan they had adopted 
 some months before, voted £15,000, to be raised on 
 their own credit without any dealings with the governor. 
 
 This earnestness shows how unfounded is the charge 
 commonly brought against the Assembly, that the prin- 
 ciples of its Quaker majority prevented the defence of 
 the frontier. It was the governor and not the Assembly 
 that was the stumbling-block in the way of war supplies. 
 Morris was one of the worst governors the province had 
 ever had. After half a century of good government 
 and prosperity the people seemed to be returning to 
 the old evil times of Governor Evans. 
 
 Morris, when his whims were not gratified, was con- 
 tinually threatening the displeasure of the king, and 
 also, with some significance, of Parliament. This was 
 the beginning of the appearance of Parliament as an 
 enemy of the colonics. Heretofore the colonies had 
 been ruled by the king, and had had their quarrels with 
 
 '55 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the king. But now the legislative part of the British 
 empire was rising in importance, and Morris was one 
 of the Tories who favored the extension of its jurisdic- 
 tion in America. 
 
 It was now the month of June, and the bumptious 
 Braddock, with something over two thousand men, was 
 creeping down the western slopes of the Alleghenies 
 toward Fort Du Quesne. His little army was completely 
 equipped with all the arms, supplies, tools, and para- 
 phernalia which in European wars were carried with- 
 out difficulty over military roads. But he was not in 
 Europe. Every step of his way to Fort Du Quesne was 
 among the trunks of trees. It was trees, trees, the end- 
 less, monotonous forest, beneath whose shadows, day 
 after day, and week after week, the minds of the 
 soldiers grew weary and despondent. And he was 
 actually attempting to penetrate these woods and pass 
 over the mountains with a train of artillery. Instead 
 of making twenty miles a day with fifteen hundred light- 
 armed men, he was making only three miles a day. 
 His horses, with only the leaves of trees and bushes to 
 eat, were rapidly giving out, and his men were being 
 weakened by dysentery. 
 
 The Indians, now thoroughly in the French interest, 
 watched every step of Braddock's progress and shot and 
 scalped any one who wandered from the line. As soon 
 as they were assured that the white man's army was 
 well into the Alleghenies and the province defenceless, 
 they fell upon the border settlements and killed about 
 thirty people, mostly women and children. This was 
 the first Indian massacre of the war. 
 
 From 1682 to 1755, a period of seventy-three years, 
 
 156 
 
Braddock' s Defeat 
 
 the good faith and honor of the early days when Penn 
 was alive had kept the Indian's tomahawk in his belt. 
 But times had changed ; the Scotch-Irish frontiersman, 
 the Walking Purchase, the Albany deed of 1754, and 
 the cunning Frenchman had done their work, and the 
 scalping-knife and hatchet were drawn. 
 
 Washington persuaded Braddock to leave the main 
 body of his army with their artillery and press on 
 rapidly with twelve hundred men. This advance was 
 conducted by Braddock rather too slowly to suit 
 Washington, but with considerable care ; scouts and 
 reconnoitring parties were used, and Braddock was not, 
 as has been generally supposed, ambuscaded. Modern 
 investigations of the battle show that the defeat was 
 largely an accident, — a piece of bad luck, or good luck, 
 as it seemed to the French. 
 
 He reached the Monongahela about seven miles from 
 Fort Du Ouesne, on the 9th of July, 1755 ; and he was 
 not marching along, as some have said, in serene 
 security and joyous expectation of immediate victory. 
 His men were drawn together in excellent order, with 
 flanking parties and an advance-guard. He had the 
 choice of two ways. One was through a narrow defile 
 where he might have been ambuscaded, and this he 
 carefully avoided, taking a somewhat longer route in 
 which he must twice ford the Monongahela. He ex- 
 pected that the French would attack him at the second 
 ford, and he was right, for they had made every 
 preparation to do so; but a strong advance party 
 which he sent to the ford found no enemy, crossed 
 without opposition, and guarded the opposite shore. 
 
 The truth of the matter was that the French were 
 
 i57 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 greatly alarmed at his approach and scarcely knew 
 what to do, At first they are said to have made 
 preparations for surrendering on the best terms they 
 could get. When they decided to go out and ambus- 
 cade the English, the Indians thought it a reckless 
 enterprise and refused to take part. Finally, at the last 
 moment on the morning of the 9th, they were per- 
 suaded, and about six hundred set out to lie in wait at 
 the ford, accompanied by three hundred French and 
 Canadians, making about nine hundred in all. Open 
 barrels of powder and bullets were placed at the gate 
 of the fort, and, filling their horns and pouches from 
 these as they passed out, the party plunged into the 
 woods. 
 
 Beaujeau commanded them ; but he encountered 
 obstacles in his march. Some of his Indians wandered 
 off and did not join him again for hours; so that he 
 spent the whole morning without reaching the ford. 
 Meantime the English crossed the river, and made as 
 much parade and flourish as possible for the sake of 
 impressing the minds of any French scouts that were 
 watching them. They had eaten their midday meal 
 on the other side, and had taken up their line of march 
 again after crossing, when their advance-guard suddenly 
 met Beaujeau and his Indians face to face as they were 
 marching along the path to the ford. 
 
 Each side was surprised, and one was as much am- 
 buscaded as the other." Their meeting was accidental, 
 and the movement of the Indians which followed was 
 also accidental, in the sense that it had not been 
 planned beforehand. It was one of their regular 
 methods when surprised, and it decided the fate of the 
 
 1 5 S 
 
Braddock's Defeat 
 
 day. The British regulars and the provincials, in a 
 compact body and under perfect control, were driven 
 like a wedge into the middle of their enemy. The 
 Canadians instantly fled, and took no more part in the 
 battle, and Beaujeau gave up all as lost. But the In- 
 dians went off on each side, and in a few minutes every 
 one of them was crouching behind a tree or log on 
 the English flanks. 
 
 Every school-boy knows the rest. On the English 
 right there happened to be a rather steep hill ; and this 
 was another piece of bad luck for Braddock, and prob- 
 ably gave rise to the story that he was ambuscaded. 
 The Indian riflemen swarmed on this hill ; but nothing; 
 of them could be seen but puffs of smoke. Those same 
 puffs of smoke came from every other quarter ; and the 
 heroic English and provincials poured in volley after 
 volley and tore the bark off the trees with artillery in 
 vain. Braddock dashed up and down among his men, 
 cursing and encouraging; and they replied to him that 
 they would fight if he would show them the enemy. 
 During the whole three hours they scarcely saw twenty 
 Indians. Some of the regulars got behind trees and 
 logs, but Braddock beat them away with the flat of his 
 sword. Some of the Virginia provincials also secured 
 a fallen tree and were fighting in Indian fashion, when 
 the regulars, mistaking them for savages, fired from 
 behind and killed and wounded nearly all of them. 
 The confusion became so great that the English were 
 constantly shooting each other, and it was at one time 
 thought that Braddock himself met death in that way. 
 
 Meanwhile the Indians, with rests for their rifles and 
 security for their persons, enjoyed three hours of target 
 
 *59 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 practice, deliberately picking out officers and favorite 
 
 victims, aiming man}' a shot at the general, until, after 
 killing four horses under him, one o\ them sent a ball 
 through his right arm and into his lungs. Of eight) -six 
 officers, sixty-three were killed or disabled; and out oi 
 the thirteen hundred men, only four hundred and fifty- 
 nine escaped. The French lost only three or four; and 
 the Indian loss, though not certainly known, was prob- 
 ably not much over fifty killed and wounded. The 
 Indians did the lighting. And the victor}- was theirs. 
 
 160 
 
The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE INDIANS REVENGE THEMSELVES ON 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 Much of the abuse which has been so freely poured 
 out on Braddock would be more deserved if it were 
 applied to Dunbar, who had been left in command of 
 the rear with a large part of the men and all the heavy 
 baggage. He could have made a stand where he was, 
 and protected the frontier from the Indians, and pos- 
 sibly, with reinforcements, have retrieved the disaster 
 at Fort Du Quesne. He was urged to do so, and 
 promised assistance. But as soon as his flying and 
 demoralized companions fell back upon him, he also 
 took flight, burned his wagons, emptied his barrels of 
 powder into the brooks, scattered his provisions through 
 the woods, and began a hasty retreat to Fort Cumber- 
 land. Arrived there, he turned the place into a hospi- 
 tal. He was entreated to stay and hold his ground by 
 Dinwiddie, the Governor of Virginia, and by Morris, 
 the Governor of Pennsylvania. Even the Quaker 
 Assembly urged it, and suggested to Morris the import- 
 ance of taking any necessary steps that would insure 
 Dunbar remaining to protect the frontier. But noth- 
 ing would stop him, and as soon as he could he retreated 
 to the peace and safety of Philadelphia. 
 
 General Shirley, at one time Governor of Massachu- 
 setts, was now, since Braddock' s death, in command of 
 
 1 1 l6r 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the American forces He was more interested in the 
 part oi the wai that would protect Ne^ England and 
 \ew York, and he wanted Dunbar* s troops to help 
 him; and being thus justified, Dunbar could see no 
 necess j for entering again the shadows ol those tei 
 ests the AJleghenies 
 
 rhis was a signal to the French, and from .ill s 
 the} summoned the Indians, and, putting French 
 
 cers among them, plunged them into the Pennsyl 
 vania frontier, Delawares and Shawanese, the old 
 treat} friends of Penn, Mingoes, renegades oi the 
 Six Nat ions, Hurons, Pottawottamies, Ojibwas, and 
 Ottawas from the west, -all rushed to reap the bar- 
 est of scalps Pumas, now in command of Fort 
 Du Quesne, boasted that he ha J massed his savages 
 through a stretch of country thirty Leagues wide, ami 
 completely ruined the border settlements of Pennsyl 
 vania, Virginia, ami Maryland. The Indian villages, 
 ho said, were full of prisoners, and "the enemy had 
 lost more since the battle than on the day ot his 
 defeat" 
 
 Hie worst onsets oi the Indians occurred in Sop 
 tember and October, The outermost settlements oi 
 Pennsylvania at that time were few and fai between; 
 usually a single wretched cabin oi logs, roofed with 
 hark, fallen trees and stumps all round, ami within a 
 hardy, uncouth family oi Scotch-Irish, A tow yards 
 from the door began the interminable forest, and the 
 nearest neighbor was possibly tour or five miles away, 
 or perhaps ion or twenty, 
 
 As the Indian parties made their way eastward, they 
 
 usually disposed of little clearings Of this sort in a few 
 
 r6a 
 
I he Indians revenge themselves Otl Pennsylvania 
 
 minutes, 01 within an hour. No one knows how many 
 oi these families perished hidden in the depths of the 
 woods; nor can we now describe all the horrors, the 
 agonies oi the women and children, and the di . 
 brutality thai visited hundreds ol these homes unkno 
 01 soon forgotten, Then a a sameness about every 
 attack. The stealthy (talking from tree to tre< until 
 the clearing was reached, the creeping from itump 
 to stump, the sudden mot, and then that familial 
 colonial scene, -the plough standing in the furrow, 
 the horses loose and running, the fathei on his face, 
 with his scalpless skull bleeding into the fresh ground, 
 the mothei and children brained and scalped a1 the 
 <\<)<>v <>\ the cabin, the cabin in Barnes, and the Indians 
 disappearing in the shadows oi the distant wo< 
 
 Sometimes a stray hunter, or a neighbor, who the 
 itiously approached the spot, beheld a still 
 more terrible sight- The Indians had disembowelled 
 the father, and stuffed parts of his body into his mouth. 
 The mother was laid out on the bed of the cabin 
 Iped, and with one oi her scalped children placed 
 under her head for a pillow, a stake was driven through 
 her body into the bed, and there ometimes other 
 
 disgusting mutilations which cannot be related. 
 
 Similar had been more or less familiar in 
 
 . England an< York for a hundred but 
 
 they had never been known before in Pennsylvania. 
 'J he people of the outer settlements usually had hunt- 
 ing weapons, whir.}), however, were about as valuable 
 as sticks against the sudden and stealthy approach of 
 the Indians. But as the Indian partii ed into 
 
 the more settled regions, where some of the clearii 
 
 163 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 had become farms, they found a people totally unpre- 
 pared, and many of them without arms of any kind. 
 So profound and secure had been the seventy years of 
 peace under the treaty of William Perm. 
 
 A few months after the defeat oi Braddock the country 
 round the present site of Harrisburg was ravaged, the 
 .Moravian settlements near Bethlehem attacked, and 
 the people of Gnadenhutten massacred, and their vil- 
 lage burned. The enemy even went so far as to 
 establish a headquarters for prisoners and plunder in 
 Northampton County, not far from Bethlehem. In 
 one place the Indians came upon a schoolhouse, killed 
 and scalped the master and every one oi the chil- 
 dren. Women and children seemed to be their special 
 object; and, in some instances, they indulged them- 
 selves in rape before using the knife and hatchet. 
 The French officers, who were with them, are said to 
 have had instructions to prevent cruelty and brutality, 
 but they were powerless for that purpose; and the 
 slaughter and torturing went on. Families were 
 scalped within fifty miles of Philadelphia. The bodies 
 of one murdered family were brought to the city, 
 exhibited in the streets, and finally laid out before 
 the State-house, in the hope of arousing either sym- 
 pathy or vengeance in the peaceful Quaker breast. 
 
 What were the Quakers and their Assembly doing? 
 Much nonsense and abuse has been written about them ; 
 and they have been described by certain brilliant writers 
 as walking the quiet streets of Philadelphia, fat and 
 well dressed, a placid smile beneath their broad- 
 brimmed hats, safe from alarms and the scalping-knife, 
 and indifferent to the sufferings of others. Their 
 
 164 
 
The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 
 
 religious belief has been decried as preventing at this 
 time the protection of the frontier, and their quarrels 
 with the governor as entirely unnecessary on their part, 
 and, in fact, forced by them upon the governor as an 
 excuse for not granting military supplies. 
 
 But a careful examination of the records of the time 
 shows that all this is a mistake. Pennsylvania behaved 
 as well as, if not better than, the other colonies. Vir- 
 ginia and Maryland were in the same condition, were 
 invaded by the Indians, their border population slaugh 
 tered, and the survivors driven in in herds upon the 
 more settled districts. Virginia did nothing and could 
 do nothing, although she had no people with conscien- 
 tious scruples against war, and although her governor, 
 Dinwiddie, was the most active of all the enthusiasts 
 against the French. Washington was in command of 
 about fifteen hundred Virginians, but he could make 
 no move against the enemy. His men were turbulent 
 and disorderly, and resented every kind of discipline 
 as an infringement of their liberties. Indignant and 
 in despair at the situation, he wrote to Dinwiddie that 
 he was ready to resign and give up his commission, 
 were it not for a stern sense of duty that kept him at 
 his post. 
 
 " The supplicating tears of the women and moving petitions 
 of the men melt me into such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly 
 declare, if T know my own mind, I could offer myself a willing 
 sacrifice to the butchering enemy, provided that would con- 
 tribute to the people's ease." 
 
 The truth was that the whole population of Pennsyl- 
 vania, Maryland, and Virginia was in a state of panic 
 and demoralization. livery day flying families of fron- 
 
 .65 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 tiersmen were coming in by every road. At one gap 
 in the Blue Ridge it was said to have boon difficult, at 
 one time, for a person going westward to make his way 
 against the crowd of fugitives. The withdrawal of 
 Dunbar from the frontier, and the evident intention 
 of the British regulars to leave the middle colonies to 
 their fate, added to the alarm. It was impossible to 
 do anything until the panic had subsided; And the 
 Quaker Assembly of Pennsylvania did the best it could, 
 and fully as mneh as the Assembly oi any other 
 colony. 
 
 They had no money in the Treasury to use, and they 
 could not raise money by a new issue oi paper currency, 
 because they had attempted that twice, and each time 
 Governor Morris had rejected their bill by foolish 
 excuses about his instructions. They were therefore 
 driven to the necessity o( raising money for defence by 
 a direct tax upon the people, and they passed a bill 
 voting ,£50,000 to the king's use, to be raised by a tax 
 oi twelve pence per pound ami twenty shillings per 
 head for two years on all estates, real and personal, the 
 estate of the proprietors not excepted. 
 
 That the colony should be taxed to support the war, 
 and that the largest landholders ami the richest people 
 of the colony — the proprietors — should be exempt, 
 was manifestly unfair. The money to be raised was 
 to protect the property of tlie proprietors as much as 
 the property of the humblest citizen. Indeed, it was 
 more for the protection of the proprietors' property, 
 which lay west of the Alleghenies, and was the land 
 which the Indians and French were invading. The 
 people of the province lived east of the mountains, 
 
 166 
 
The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 
 
 and most of them east of the Susquehanna; and it was 
 hardly fair that they alone should pay for measures of 
 defence that would enable the proprietors to sell their 
 western lands and -row rich. The Assembly could 
 have never again faced their constituents, and would 
 have been a laughing-stock to all sensible men, if, in 
 passing a law to raise money for defence by taxation, 
 they had exempted the proprietary estate. 
 
 The governor, of course, rejected the Assembly's bill 
 because it taxed the proprietary estate. The tax on 
 the estate was a trifle, —only about ,£500 a year; but 
 the controversy was as long and bitter as if millions 
 had been involved. New demands came in for supplies 
 to assist expeditions against Canada and retrieve Brad- 
 dock's defeat, and the Assembly and governor went on 
 quarrelling. Unable to pass a. supply bill withoul 
 jeopardizing their rights, the Assembly resorted to the 
 plan of raising ,£10,000 by voluntary subscription, on 
 the promise that the Assembly would reimburse the 
 subscribers. 
 
 Indeed, the war feeling among the Quakers and peace- 
 loving Germans was becoming stronger and stronger. 
 Petitions for arms and ammunition were pouring in 
 from every part of the country. The mayor, with some 
 of the principal citizens of Philadelphia, petitioned; 
 and a large body of Germans, four hundred in number, 
 marched to the city, unarmed and quietly, but with a 
 rough bluntness that was quite persuasive, demanding 
 protection. They first applied to the governor, who, 
 of course, referred them to the Assembly, and then they 
 visited the Assembly, crowding into their hall, and 
 talking to the members, face to face. About three 
 
 167 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 hundred Indians still remained faithful to the memory 
 of Penn ; and these also added their supplications, 
 declaring that if they were not protected they would, 
 as a matter of mere self-preservation, be compelled to 
 take sides with the French. When, in the midst of all 
 this, some of the strictest Quakers presented to the 
 Assembly petitions remonstrating against war, they 
 counted for nothing. 
 
 The great majority of the Quakers and the great 
 majority of the Germans, together with a large part of 
 the rest of the province, were not only in favor of 
 defence, but also fully supported the Assembly in their 
 contest with the governor on the principle that defence 
 must not be obtained with the sacrifice of one jot of 
 the province's liberties. The elections in the autumn 
 of 1755, in the midst of all the Indian atrocities, show 
 very clearly that the Assembly had been acting, both 
 as regards defence and as regards the quarrels with the 
 governor, in entire accord with the general sentiment 
 of the people. 
 
 Hoping that a compromise could be effected with 
 the governor, the Assembly passed a bill granting 
 ,£60,000 to the king's use, redeemable in four years by 
 a tax on the people and the proprietors, but providing 
 that if the crown should afterward declare the pro- 
 prietary estates exempt, the tax, if assessed, should not 
 be levied, or if levied should be paid back. This was 
 certainly a good deal of a compromise for the Assembly. 
 The governor rejected it. It was too near what lie 
 wanted, and gave no chance for a dispute; so he sug- 
 gested that another bill be prepared for taxing the pro- 
 prietary estates, by persons chosen both by himself and 
 
 168 
 
The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 
 
 the House, such bill not to go into operation until 
 approved by the king. 
 
 As this amendment would set a precedent for sus- 
 pending the operation of a law until approved by the 
 king, and was also an amendment of a money bill by 
 the executive, the Assembly were obliged to reject it. 
 But they were soon defeated in an unexpected way. 
 A clamor had been raised in England against the pro- 
 prietors for defeating, through their governor, the 
 efforts of the Assembly to raise money for the war. 
 They were compelled to do something, and, accord- 
 ingly, sent over word that they would subscribe ,£5,000 
 for the protection of the colony. Such extraordinary 
 liberality took every one by surprise. The Assembly 
 yielded, and the money bill was passed without taxing 
 the proprietary estates. 
 
 The gift, however, was not without some of the char- 
 acteristic shrewdness of Thomas Penn. The whole 
 .£5,000 was to be collected out of the arrears of quit- 
 rents due the proprietors, and the payment of it was 
 long delayed. So Mr. Penn was not much out of pocket 
 by his beneficence, for he had saddled his bad debts 
 on the province, and given himself a reputation for 
 generosity at the same time. 
 
 About this time Franklin prepared a militia law, 
 which was passed in November, 1755, and was the 
 first law of the kind the colony had ever had. A 
 Quaker militia law is certainly an anomaly; and many 
 would say that such a law was impossible, and could 
 never have been passed in the Quaker Assembly 
 of Pennsylvania. But passed it was, and without 
 difficulty. More than a thousand men were recruited 
 
 169 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 under it, and sent to shoot through port-holes at the 
 
 Indians. 
 
 rhe preamble of the law was rather long, drawn 
 with greal care, largely made up oi sentences taken 
 from previous Quaker utterances on war, ami was a fair 
 statement of what was undoubtedly the general feeling 
 of the majority oi the Quakers and Germans on that 
 question. There has been so much hasty criticism on 
 this point, and so main - sweeping statements of the 
 Quaker belief and its effect on the defence o( the fron- 
 tier, that it may he well to give some consideration to 
 this preamble. 
 
 It began by saying that the colony had been founded 
 b) Quakers, and that the majority oi the Assembly hail 
 always been oi that faith. They had no objection to 
 others bearing arms, but were themselves principled 
 against it. To compel them to bear arms wonld vio- 
 late a fundamental part of the province's Constitution, 
 and be a direct breach oi the Charter oi Privileges. It 
 wonld be, in fact, a persecution. In like manner, it 
 wonld be wrong for the Quakers to compel others to 
 bear arms, and at the same time exempt themselves, 
 Hut as by the general t (deration and equity of the 
 Quaker laws great numbers of people hail come among 
 them, oi various religions, under no restraint against 
 bearing arms, but, on the contrary, thinking it their 
 duty to fight for their country, families, and property, 
 these, if they wished it, should be allowed to organize 
 as soldiers. They had a right to their liberty of con- 
 science, and as the Quaker Assembly represented all 
 the people oi the province, it was bound to give them, 
 if they asked it, the legal means for carrying out their 
 
 170 
 
The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 
 
 belief. If they wanted to fight, and thought it right 
 to fight, they should not be in the least restrained from 
 doing what they judged it their duty to do for their 
 own security and the public good. Wherefore it would 
 now be lawful for them to form themselves into com- 
 panies under certain regulations which were given at 
 length. 
 
 It was to be altogether a volunteer system. But 
 two years afterward, when the war feeling had grown 
 stronger, the Quaker Assembly passed quite a stringent 
 compulsory militia bill, which writers who complain 
 that the Quakers would not protect the frontier are 
 careful not to mention. They also fail to mention 
 that the governor vetoed this bill; and the strict 
 Quakers of modern times of course ignore the whole 
 matter. 
 
 The first law, prepared by Franklin, was, however, not 
 altogether popular among the combatant portion of the 
 people because it exempted from service those who had 
 scruples of conscience. Many flatly refused to fight 
 for the lives and property of men who were Loo foolish 
 to fight for themselves; and Franklin had to write one 
 of his best pamphlets and make unusual exertions to 
 overcome this scruple, which stood in the way of the 
 colony's defence. But he was very successful in this, 
 as in his former attempt many years before, to raise 
 soldiers, and soon not only had men, but was himself 
 their commander. 
 
 That the philosopher, electrician, and Assembly man 
 should be selected as the leader of a provincial war- 
 party against the Indians is a striking proof of the 
 profound peace the colony had enjoyed ever since its 
 
 '7' 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 foundation. The province, which was soon to become 
 so remarkable for generals and military men, had not 
 then a single one. Franklin was chosen because he 
 seemed to know everything, and it was presumed that 
 among other acquirements he might possess the art of 
 war. As a matter of fact, he hated anything like con- 
 tention and warfare; never used a gun even for amuse- 
 ment, and never kept a weapon of any kind in his 
 house. He was well aware of his own unfitness, and 
 as he had declined to be a judge because of his igno- 
 rance of law, so he tried to avoid this military office; 
 but it was forced upon him. Indeed, it would have 
 been difficult to have found any one in whom the men 
 had so much confidence; and the expedition he con- 
 ducted was about as successful as many others. 
 
 He led about five hundred and forty men to Bethlehem 
 and the Lehigh Valley, where the village of Gnaden- 
 hutten had been burned, and its inhabitants massacred, 
 in November. That part of the frontier was supposed 
 to be in great danger; and the Moravians, like the 
 Quakers, had suddenly discovered that they were not 
 as much opposed to war as they supposed. They had 
 obtained arms and ammunition from New York, sur- 
 rounded themselves with a stockade, and collected 
 stones in the windows of their houses for the women 
 to use on hostile heads below. They had some years 
 before obtained an Act of Parliament, exempting them 
 from military service because of their conscientious 
 scruples; and Franklin, in talking to their bishop, 
 Spangenberg, expressed his surprise at the posture he 
 found them in. The reply of the bishop shows that 
 the war feeling had developed among them just as it 
 
 172 
 

 The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 
 
 had among the Quakers. Aversion to war was, he 
 said, not one of their established principles; but at 
 the time of their obtaining the Act of Parliament, it 
 was thought to be a principle with many of their 
 people. On this occasion, however, they, to their 
 surprise, found it adopted by but few. 
 
 Franklin had arrived among them with his little 
 army in December, and immediately began to build 
 small forts to protect the valley. He probably checked 
 the Indians during the two months of his stay. They 
 were, however, all the time sitting on the hill-tops in 
 the coldest weather, with their feet hanging down into 
 holes, where they had built little charcoal fires. They 
 watched every movement of his men and killed ten 
 unfortunate farmers almost under his nose. 
 
 Franklin returned to Philadelphia in February, a 
 triumphant philosopher militant. It was, indeed, ex- 
 traordinary that a man fifty-seven years old, known the 
 world over for his discoveries and writings, should have 
 been appointed to lead a backwoods foray, to sleep on 
 the ground and in barns, to arrange the order of scout- 
 ing parties, and regulate the serving of grog to his 
 men; and still more extraordinary that he should have 
 been somewhat successful. He seems to have fully 
 understood the situation, and handled his men with a 
 knowledge of woodcraft and Indian tactics that would 
 have been of much value to many a British officer. So 
 great was his popularity that he was made colonel of 
 the twelve hundred men raised under his law ; and the 
 governor wanted him to lead an expedition against Fort 
 Du Quesne. 
 
 All that winter and all the spring and summer of 
 
 173 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 1756 the Indians continued, at intervals, their incur- 
 sions. The winter after Franklin left the Lehigh 
 Valley the fort he had built at Gnadenhutten was 
 attacked while the garrison were out skating, the vil- 
 lage again burned, and many of the people captured or 
 killed. Indeed, the invasions of the Indians continued 
 off and on for the next three years. Men were waylaid 
 as they passed along the roads or trails, women killed 
 as they went to visit the sick, children shot as they 
 drove the cows home at evening, and many captives, 
 of all ages and sexes, carried to Canada or to the 
 wilderness of the Ohio. 
 
 The colony's means for protecting itself was very 
 slight. Accustomed to a long peace of seventy years, 
 the people were not in the habit of organizing them- 
 selves for such a serious military undertaking as the 
 protection of two hundred miles of frontier. The few 
 slight attempts they had made in the past had been 
 directed to the protection of the river from privateers, 
 and the troops raised in these few attempts never saw 
 any actual service. 
 
 The soldiery that the province might be supposed to 
 have for its aid consisted of three classes, — the regu- 
 lars, the provincials, and the rangers. The regulars 
 had now been withdrawn to protect New England and 
 New York. In the end they proved to be the only 
 force that could permanently quiet the Indians, because 
 they were the only force that could invade the Indian 
 country and fight the savage on his own ground. The 
 expedition they made in 1758, under General Forbes, 
 checked the Indian atrocities for two years ; and when 
 they broke out again at the time of Pontiac's con- 
 
 '74 
 
The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 
 
 spiracv, they were again stopped by the regulars under 
 Bouquet. 
 
 "The provincials " was a name given at that time to 
 all colonial militia. In Pennsylvania they were often 
 called the " Associators. " They were recruited by the 
 governor without any Act of Assembly, under that 
 clause in the Charter which gave Penn and his heirs 
 the right to levy, muster, and train soldiers, and com- 
 mand them with the powers of a captain-general. 
 While Franklin's Quaker militia law lasted, they were 
 recruited under it, and, in any event, were paid out of 
 the colonial treasury, and subject to the orders of the 
 governors. But they were merely an assistance to 
 the regulars, and could not of themselves withstand the 
 French and Indians. 
 
 The rangers were not much better. They were 
 merely volunteer bands of frontiersmen who chose their 
 own officers, adopted their own rules, and would have 
 laughed at any attempt of the governor to control them. 
 Though accustomed to hunting, they knew little or 
 nothing of Indian fighting, but they gradually learned 
 it in the course of years. As the provincials wasted 
 their energies by garrisoning forts instead of fighting 
 the Indian on his own ground, so the ranger dissipated 
 his strength by acting independently, and in small 
 parties here and there. 
 
 Besides the militia law, another attempt at defence 
 was made in the beginning of 1756. A chain of forts 
 was erected, at a cost of ^85,000, all along the fron- 
 tier, beginning at the Delaware River, near Easton, 
 extending westward to the forks of the Susquehanna, 
 where Fort Augusta stood, near the present site of 
 
 *75 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Sunbury, and thence, in a southwest direction, to the 
 present Fulton County, on the Maryland boundary. 
 The distance was in all about two hundred miles. This 
 was, however, only the general line of the frontier; for 
 the forts were so scattered and irregularly placed that, 
 in reality, the line of defence was a great deal more 
 than two hundred miles. 
 
 The forts were at first about seventeen in number, 
 placed near the principal passes. Beginning at the 
 Delaware, near Easton, there were Depui's, Lehigh, 
 Allen, Everit, Williams, Henry, Swatara, Hunter, 
 Halifax, and Augusta, which completed the line to the 
 Susquehanna. West of the Susquehanna there were 
 Louther, Morris, Franklin, Granville, Shirley, Little- 
 ton, and Loudon, which brought the line to the Mary- 
 land boundary. Others were added from time to time 
 until, within a few years, there were about fifty. The 
 larger ones were each garrisoned by about fifty or 
 seventy-five men, who could merely defend their stock- 
 ade and make no expeditions outside of it. Many of 
 the worst Indian atrocities were committed forty or fifty 
 miles within the line. In Indian warfare, forts were 
 valuable chiefly as places of refuge for settlers and 
 their families, in case of an attack on their homes or 
 as starting-points for scouting-parties and expeditions. 
 But forts had no effect in really subduing the savages or 
 in securing the continued safety of the settlers, because 
 the Indians simply walked by or around them, and en- 
 tered the district within pretty much as they pleased. 
 
 The best method of colonial Indian warfare was that 
 adopted by Bacon, in Virginia, in the previous century, 
 and by Major Rogers and his rangers, in New Hanrp- 
 
 176 
 
The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 
 
 shire; namely, to be continually beating up the Indian 
 hiding-places, cutting off their stragglers, attacking 
 them on their own ground, and driving them from point 
 to point, so as to prevent the maturing of plans, and 
 that most fatal of all Indian tactics, the gradual creep- 
 ing through the grass, and from tree to tree, until a 
 village or farm was surrounded. Little or nothing of 
 this sort could at first be done in Pennsylvania, because 
 such work required a large and regularly organized 
 force, which would scout and range the woods every 
 week and month of the year, over the whole vast range 
 of frontier. 
 
 The forts, however, had to be built, and were the 
 first steps in a system of defence. But their chief 
 value was as starting-points for more aggressive meas- 
 ures, and the failure to institute these aggressive 
 measures was the weak point in the province's method 
 of warfare. From the time of Braddock's defeat, in 
 the summer of 1755, until the following summer of 
 1756, everything was weakly defensive. There were 
 no attacks upon the Indians; and on one occasion, in 
 April, 1756, when some of the people met them at 
 Sideling Hill, the white men were badly defeated, and 
 in the following July the Indians stormed and captured 
 Fort Granville. 
 
 A large party of the soldiery of Pennsylvania, which 
 might have been something of a guard to her frontier, 
 were drawn away to protect the frontiers of New 
 England and New York, and carry the invasion into 
 Canada. Early in 1756 a meeting of the colonial 
 governors decided that ten thousand men were needed 
 for an expedition against Niagara as well as Ticonde- 
 12 177 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 roga, down Point, and other places. Pennsylvania's 
 quota for this was fifteen hundred men. Hie province 
 had already sent a great number of recruits to these 
 northern expeditions, — in fact, rather more than her 
 share; for although a Quaker community, troops were 
 
 easily raised, because there was in the province a great 
 number of redemptioners, or indented servants, as they 
 were called, and these were always -Lid to join an 
 army and escape their servitude. Their masters, oi 
 course, suffered by their absence, ami their claims tor 
 payment tor this loss were continually troubling the 
 Assembly. 
 
 Whatever we may think of the insufficiency of the 
 fort system, we must give the Assembly credit tor hav- 
 ing accomplished a great deal in the way oi defence in 
 spite oi their governor, and in spite oi the large numbers 
 of men and the large sums of money they were send 
 ing to protect New England, The chain of forts was 
 built and garrisoned; and Governor Morris thought so 
 well of it that he said it was amply sufficient to defend 
 the province, ami that the Assembly should devote 
 their energies to the northern campaign against Canada 
 The Assembly declared that their frontier was in a 
 better state oi dcicncc than that of any other colony on 
 the continent. It certainly seems to have been at least 
 as well protected as the frontiers of Maryland and 
 Virginia; for the governors of those two provinces, in 
 the spring of 1756, applied to Pennsylvania for assist- 
 ance, complaining bitterly of their defenceless condi- 
 tion with the enemy pressing in upon them as far as 
 Winchester. 1 
 
 1 Franklin's Historical Review, J34; Votes of Assembly, iv. 560, 561, 
 
 17S 
 
The Indians revenue themselves on Pennsylvania 
 
 Instead of being backward in the war, as Parkman 
 and other writers have insisted, Pennsylvania was 
 fighting her own battles and those of the other colonies 
 as well. Parkman's violent prejudice against every 
 colony outside of New England leads him into the 
 most absurd abuse of Pennsylvania. Whenever the 
 Assembly will not instantly yield to the demands oi 
 the governor, he calls it petty and stupid. The pre- 
 servation of local rights he entirely ignores; and he 
 seems never to have read the records of Pennsylvania 
 on this question, or, if he read, was unable to under- 
 stand them. 
 
 The contemporary opinion of those times is very 
 complimentary to the efforts of Pennsylvania. Brad- 
 dock fully appreciated them; and when Braddock gave 
 praise and refrained from abuse, we may be sure that 
 the praise was deserved. He wrote to Franklin that 
 Pennsylvania had done more for him than any of the 
 other colonies; that Virginia and Maryland promised 
 everything and performed nothing, while Pennsylvania 
 promised nothing and performed everything. 1 Com- 
 modore Spry, writing in August, 175^, thanks the 
 Assembly for the large number of sailors sent to his 
 fleet at the province's expense, and says, " 'T is impos- 
 sible to conceive how much I am obliged." 2 
 
 General Shirley, before he departed for Europe, sent 
 a letter to the Pennsylvania Assembly, thanking them 
 for their valuable services toward his expeditions on 
 two occasions; and the Assembly voted him a reply, in 
 which they thanked him for his justice, which they 
 
 1 I'ennsylvania Magazine of History, xvii. 272. 
 
 2 Franklin's Historical Review, 380; Votes of Assembly, iv. 612. 
 
 179 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 said they had frequently sought in vain in others, from 
 whom they had a right to expect it. It seems to have 
 been a common opinion, and certainly was the opinion 
 of the Assembly, that the province had afforded more 
 free recruits to the king's forces than any other colony. 
 Men had been raised for Shirley's and Pepperell's regi- 
 ments, for Halket's and Dunbar's, for the New York 
 and Carolina Independent Companies, for Nova Scotia, 
 and even for the West Indies. 1 
 
 In the appendix to his "Historical Review of Penn- 
 sylvania," Franklin has given us an itemized statement 
 of the money expended on the war by Pennsylvania, 
 from 1754 to 1758, and the sum total is .£327,851 cur- 
 rency, or ,£218,567 sterling, certainly a handsome con- 
 tribution from a Quaker Assembly, representing a 
 population of only about two hundred thousand souls. 
 
 It should also be remembered that the Assembly 
 could not, as a legislative body, carry on the war. 
 They could only vote money and supplies, and pass 
 general laws. For executing their laws and the con- 
 duct of campaigns, they were obliged to rely on the 
 governor; and in 1757 we find the Assembly upbraid- 
 ing the governor because, although they had furnished 
 him with money, he was not pushing offensive opera- 
 tions, and was allowing the men to remain idle in the 
 forts when they might have been invading the country 
 of the enemy. 
 
 Before he closed his administration in the summer 
 of 1756, Governor Morris gave the Assembly another 
 check, which was not likely to assist campaigns. He 
 showed his hand, or rather the hand of the proprietors 
 
 1 Franklin's Historical Review, 322. 
 180 
 
The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 
 
 and the Privy Council, who were supporting him in his 
 attempts on the liberties of the province. The excise 
 on liquors which had been imposed for ten years was 
 about to expire ; but when a bill for its renewal was 
 sent to the governor, he refused to accept it unless 
 there was an amendment giving him the joint power 
 with the Assembly in disposing of the proceeds. He 
 frankly told the Assembly that he had an instruction 
 forbidding him to assent to any law raising money, 
 unless he or the proprietors could have a hand in 
 disbursing it. 
 
 This was what every one had long suspected, and 
 now the secret was out. This instruction had been the 
 real cause of all the quarrels with the Assembly, all the 
 opposition to money bills to assist the war, and all 
 the excuses and shifting of years. To gradually worry 
 the Assembly into a precedent for giving the proprietor 
 power over their money after they had raised it had 
 been the prime object ; and with a governor bound by 
 a penal bond, under such an instruction, the province 
 could not be protected, or the king served, or any in- 
 terest of the community maintained, unless the people 
 were willing to part with the rights and liberties they 
 had spent nearly a century in establishing. 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE INDIANS CHECKED 
 
 As the year 1756 moved on, efforts were made to do 
 something more decisive against the enemy than look 
 at them through the port-holes of forts. Among the 
 first to move were the Quakers, who seized the oppor- 
 tunity of a situation of affairs which seemed to incline 
 the Delawares and Shawanese to make a treaty of peace. 
 
 These two tribes had been alienated and turned 
 into terrible enemies by no fault of the Quakers or 
 the Assembly, but by the iniquity of the proprietors' 
 Walking Purchase, the Albany Deed of 1754, and the 
 gradual invasion of their lands by the frontiersman. 
 They had joined the western tribes, and, by their 
 knowledge of localities in Pennsylvania, were acting 
 as guides, and assisting the French in the most effec- 
 tive manner. If they could be drawn away from the 
 French and other Indians, the result would be as good 
 as a decisive battle. The governor had hesitated to 
 declare war against them because it was hoped that the 
 Six Nations might still have some control over them. 
 The Quakers upheld him in this, and urged him, to 
 the last moment, to withhold the declaration. But it 
 was finally made, and war formally declared, in April, 
 1756, against the two tribes, and rewards offered to 
 the few Indians that remained friendly for scalps and 
 
 182 
 
The Indians Checked 
 
 prisoners. The effect of this offer was that any pris- 
 oners that were taken were immediately killed, for the 
 prisoner was worth no more than his scalp, and the 
 scalp was easier to transport. Little was accomplished, 
 however, for most of the friendly Indians took alarm, 
 and moved away to join the Six Nations. 
 
 The Six Nations had already been asked to use their 
 influence to restrain the Delawares and the Shawanese. 
 When they started on this undertaking they were ably 
 assisted by the Quakers, some of whom had the princi- 
 pal Delaware chiefs to dine with them in Philadelphia, 
 treating them as equals and friends, and with the 
 assistance of Weiser, the interpreter, urging them to 
 assist in procuring peace. The governor and the 
 Assembly left the whole matter in the hands of the 
 Six Nations and the Quakers, and very soon they had 
 accomplished their purpose. The Delawares and the 
 Shawanese agreed to refrain from further hostilities; 
 the governor, by proclamation, suspended the war 
 against them, and the peace was confirmed by a treaty 
 held at Easton during the last days of July, 1756. 
 
 This successful effort on the part of the Quakers has 
 been often sneered at as mere weakness and an excuse 
 for avoiding actual hostilities, but in the condition of 
 the colonies at that time it was by far the best thing 
 that could be done, and, combined with the military 
 operations that followed, was of decided assistance in 
 checking the French invasions. The colony was doing 
 all it could in a hostile way. It was sending men and 
 money to protect New England and New York, and 
 with the men and means that were left was attempting 
 to protect its own frontier. There was money in the 
 
 183 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 treasury to pay the troops; and troops were constantly 
 moving to the frontier to garrison the forts, and yet, 
 with all this, the frontier was so large and wild that 
 little was accomplished. To draw away, therefore, 
 from the French interest the two tribes that were 
 most bitter and earnest in revenging themselves on 
 the province, and who were acting as guides to the 
 others, was, whatever may have been the motives for 
 it, a decided benefit, even from the point of view of 
 those who advocated war. 
 
 While the treaty that accomplished this result was 
 nearing its final confirmation in July, 1756, plans were 
 laid for an expedition of provincial troops, which 
 should be actively hostile, and change the defensive 
 policy of hiding in forts. The principal strongholds 
 of the Indians in Pennsylvania were Logstown, on the 
 Ohio, a few miles below Fort Du Quesne, and Kittan- 
 ning, or Atique, as the French called it, about forty 
 miles to the northeast, on the Allegheny. At these 
 places they stored their plunder and kept their pris- 
 oners, and at Kittanning they received supplies of arms 
 and ammunition for their expeditions. Kittanning 
 seems also to have been the principal residence of the 
 famous chief, Captain Jacobs, and at times of Shingas. 
 It was a convenient place for forays. It was further 
 east than Fort Du Quesne and nearer to the English 
 settlements. The valley of the Kiskiminetas River, 
 or the ridge that lay north of it, could be followed up 
 to the head -waters of that stream, whence the distance 
 across the mountains to the head-waters of the Juniata 
 was not far, and the Juniata Valley was a natural high- 
 way to the Susquehanna. 
 
 184 
 
The Indians Checked 
 
 It was decided to attack this village of Kittanning 
 and wipe it out ; and the man selected for the purpose 
 was Col. John Armstrong, a Scotch-Irishman of Car- 
 lisle, — the first real soldier the province had produced, 
 and the beginning of the long line of Pennsylvania's 
 distinguished generals. 
 
 By the middle of August Armstrong had begun his 
 preparations, and soon collected his force of about three 
 hundred men on the Juniata, at Fort Shirley, which 
 was well on the way to his destination. The whole 
 expedition had been kept a profound secret, and was 
 exceedingly well managed in all its details. The men 
 were collected in a way that excited no surprise, and 
 were probably supposed, by most people, to be intended 
 for the usual garrison duty in the forts. An advance 
 party was sent out from Fort Shirley, and Armstrong 
 followed them, with the main body, on the 30th of 
 August. They were lucky enough to make their entire 
 march unobserved. The advance guard came upon the 
 tracks of two Indians, and found where they had killed 
 a bear; but the tracks were twenty-four hours old, and 
 the Indians gone on ahead. If the guard had marched 
 a day earlier they might have been discovered by these 
 Indians, and the whole expedition frustrated. 
 
 Cheered by his good fortune, Armstrong pressed on, 
 and in five days was within fifty miles of Kittanning. 
 He sent a party to reconnoitre the town, and on the 
 evening of the ;th of September had his force within 
 six miles of it. He intended to dispose his men round 
 the town in the moonlight and attack at daybreak. But 
 about nine or ten o'clock in the evening his guides told 
 him that there was a fire by the roadside, just ahead, 
 
 185 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 and two or three Indians sitting around it. He 
 scarcely knew what to do. It was too much risk to 
 attempt to cut off these Indians, for if a single one of 
 them escaped it would be fatal, and, luckily, he did 
 not attempt it. Leaving a party to watch, with orders 
 to attack them at daybreak, he took a circuitous course 
 with the rest of his men, and reached the cornfield on 
 the edge of the village. 
 
 It was a warm summer night. The Indians were 
 dancing, beating their drums, and whooping. They 
 were in the full enjoyment of savage happiness, — 
 plenty of ammunition; plenty of provisions, hunting 
 excursions, and excursions for scalps; and this had 
 now continued for nearly two years. They had re- 
 ceived powder and ball enough from the French to 
 last them ten years, and during that time they could 
 carry on the war as they pleased against the whites, 
 who would never dare to cross the mountains. As 
 they grew tired of the dance, some retired to their 
 houses, and others lighted fires in the cornfield to 
 drive away the gnats, while they were composing 
 themselves to sleep beneath the stars. One young 
 buck whistled for his squaw within a few yards of 
 Armstrong, and fired off his gun and cleaned it before 
 lying down. For hours the provincials lay crouched 
 upon the ground among the corn, listening to these 
 strange sounds. But fatigue soon overcame the nov- 
 elty of their situation, and when Armstrong thought 
 it time for the attack he found most of his men 
 asleep. 
 
 Just at daybreak he aroused them ; and having given 
 one division twenty minutes to get near the main part 
 
 1 86 
 
% 
 
 The Indians Checked 
 
 of the town, he began the attack in the cornfield. 
 Almost at the first gun Captain Jacobs gave the war- 
 whoop, and cried out that the white men had come, 
 and there would be scalps enough. But his defence 
 was weak. His forces were scattered and soon driven 
 from the cornfield to make a last stand in the houses. 
 Jacobs' house was able to return a hot fire, and a ball 
 from it wounded Armstrong in the shoulder. The 
 sharp-shooting of the Indians was severe, and they seem 
 to have killed and wounded enough of the white men 
 to fully equal their own losses. But the houses were 
 set on fire, Captain Jacobs was shot, and tumbled to 
 the ground in attempting to escape from his attic win- 
 dow, and soon after his house blew up. As the flames 
 spread among the thirty houses, the loaded guns stored 
 in them exploded; and as the fire reached barrel after 
 barrel of powder, the blazing timbers were sent flying 
 in the air. The enemy soon took refuge in the woods, 
 and the victory was complete. 
 
 No attempt was made to follow them, nor would it 
 have been safe; and now that their work was done, the 
 provincials were anxious to escape. They were farther 
 within the lion's mouth than they liked. They would 
 not even wait to destroy the cornfield. It shows what 
 terror the Indian skill at bushwhacking inspired, that 
 these men, who had boldly penetrated into the heart 
 of the enemy's country and destroyed a town, were in 
 almost as much of a panic as Braddock's men had felt 
 to get back by the road they had come. By a lucky 
 surprise they had succeeded in scattering the Indians 
 for a few hours, and they needed all of those hours to 
 get a start on their return. 
 
 187 
 
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 most opportune. 1 were soon ie 
 
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 \ had been attacked 
 
 Wachinton, with three 01 foui hundred men 
 188 
 
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Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE VIOLENCE OF PARTY SPIRIT 
 
 The plans for Armstrong's expedition had been laid 
 during Morris' administration, and that evil governor 
 may perhaps deserve some credit for them. But he 
 retired from office before they were carried out, and 
 they were turned over to his successor, William Denny, 
 on his arrival in the province, August 20, 1756. Morris 
 had been governor a little less than two years, and in 
 that short time had given more trouble than any other 
 deputy that had been appointed. The change to Denny 
 was, however, as Franklin said, only a change of devils; 
 and, indeed, it was difficult for a governor to be any- 
 thing but a devil, tied down, as he was, by his bond 
 and the instructions of the proprietors. 
 
 But still the people and the Assembly hoped for 
 better things, and were willing to believe that Denny 
 would be very different from his predecessor. They 
 gave him every encouragement. The city corporation 
 gave him a grand public entertainment; and the 
 Assembly gave him a fete at the State-house. He 
 was petted and congratulated; and to show that they 
 were sincere, he was given .£600 to soften his heart. 
 
 The money and the fete were wasted. To save time, 
 and in the hope of a frank understanding from the 
 beginning, the Assembly immediately asked him to 
 
 190 
 
The Violence of Party Spirit 
 
 show them his instructions. This he did without the 
 slightest hesitation, for the proprietors had now given 
 up all secrecy, and were determined openly to force 
 the Assembly to their purpose. The instructions con- 
 tained just what might have been expected. The 
 governor was forbidden to assent to any money bill 
 unless the money to be raised was specially appropri- 
 ated to some particular object, or was to be at the 
 disposal of the governor and Assembly jointly. In this 
 way the proprietors hoped to breakdown the Assembly's 
 privilege of exclusive control of money bills. Other 
 parts of the instructions attempted to exempt the pro- 
 prietary lands from taxation, and to have the quit-rents 
 paid in sterling instead of Pennsylvania currency. 
 
 The attack of the proprietors on the province was 
 well timed, for the English forces had been everywhere 
 defeated by the French, and except for the slight relief 
 Pennsylvania and Virginia had received from the battle 
 of Kittanning, the prospects were very gloomy. The 
 Assembly dared not remain inactive ; and after passing 
 resolutions protesting against the attempts of the pro- 
 prietors, and repeating the old arguments against their 
 tyranny, they resolved that if they adhered to their 
 rights the province would be abandoned to the enemy 
 and lost to the crown. They resolved to waive their 
 rights for the present, in the hope that they might 
 regain them again in the future, and for this they 
 trusted to the justice of the king and the British 
 Parliament. They passed a bill for ,£30,000 to be 
 redeemed from the excise in ten years, the balance of 
 which, after paying certain debts, was to be applied 
 jointly by the governor and the House. The governor 
 
 191 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 signed this Act, and the proprietors, for the time, had 
 triumphed. 
 
 The Assembly were to suffer another mortification 
 and defeat. The proprietary party in the colony was 
 comparatively small, and scarcely represented at all in 
 the Assembly, but capable of making much trouble by 
 writing letters to England and appealing to the Privy 
 Council. This party was composed, largely, of the 
 Church of England people, who were in control of the 
 college; and the college's provost, young William 
 Smith, became the party leader. Petitions had been 
 sent to the king representing the province in a defence- 
 less state because of the Quaker government, and call- 
 ing on the king to interpose and take the government 
 from the Quakers. Smith also wrote two letters, after- 
 ward published as pamphlets, which aroused great in- 
 dignation among the Quakers. 
 
 He was then only twenty-nine years old, an able and 
 brilliant writer, but disposed to violent and exaggerated 
 statements. In his first letter or pamphlet he declared 
 that the French occupation of the Ohio, Braddock's 
 defeat, and all the Indian massacres were entirely due 
 to the Quakers, and would not have happened if other 
 people had been in charge of the government. The 
 Germans, he said, were just as bad, and had supported 
 the Quakers. The Quaker Assembly had entirely too 
 much power; its rights should be abridged, and the 
 governor given more control of it. 
 
 In his second pamphlet he made sport of the Quaker 
 religious meetings, calling them political cabals, and 
 gave currency to the assertion that some Quaker mem- 
 ber of the Assembly had said that the Indians had 
 
 192 
 
The Violence of Party Spirit 
 
 killed only a few Scotch-Irish, who could well enough 
 be spared. He insinuated that the Quakers had some 
 secret agreement or understanding with the Indians. 
 The Quaker religion, he said, being a false one, was 
 at the root of all the evil, and should be extirpated 
 from the face of the earth. He even went so far as to 
 say that there were several ways of getting rid of the 
 Quakers, — one, by driving them from their control of 
 the Assembly, and the other, by cutting their throats. 
 This reckless attack on the liberties of the colony, 
 by a man who was living among them, and who pro- 
 fessed to be conducting the chief seat of learning in 
 the province, was rather more than could be endured. 
 The Assembly voted Smith's letters libellous, and 
 ordered his arrest. He is said to have been brought 
 before them, and questioned, but allowed, on this occa- 
 sion, to go unpunished. But his pamphlets and the peti- 
 tion to the king soon had an effect. The Privy Council 
 appointed a day to hear all parties. The petitioners 
 were represented by their counsel, and the Assembly 
 by theirs. The result was altogether against the 
 Assembly. The committee of the Privy Council, after 
 condemning the conduct of the province during the 
 war, concluded by saying that the province would never 
 be protected, and there was no hope for measures of a 
 different character while the country was ruled by a 
 sect numbering scarcely a sixth part of all the inhabi- 
 tants, with principles avowedly against military ser- 
 vice. Such people should not be allowed to hold 
 offices of trust and profit, or to sit in a legislative body 
 without their allegiance being secured by the sanction 
 of an oath. 
 
 i93 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Beyond the indignation and anger aroused by this 
 successful appeal of the proprietary party, it had no 
 effect on the province except to bring about the resig- 
 nation from the Assembly of four Quakers, — Mahlon 
 Kirkbride, William Hoge, Peter Dicks, and Nathaniel 
 Pennock, — and to induce the Assembly to pass a stricter 
 militia law. A few months before, five other Quaker 
 members, finding they had to vote too often for war, 
 had resigned. But the places of all these were quickly 
 filled, and apparently by Quakers, who found no diffi- 
 culty in serving. 
 
 Some of the modern Quaker writers insist that their 
 people took no active part in the French and Indian 
 Wars ; and that the withdrawal of their society from 
 political power in Pennsylvania dates from the begin- 
 ning of the Seven Years' War. For seventy years, 
 they say, while under their control, the province enjoyed 
 perfect peace and was without guns or forts. Peace 
 only failed when they lost control, and were in the 
 decided minority. Others, knowing that such a state- 
 ment is untrue, insist that those who composed the 
 majority of the legislature during the war were not 
 true Quakers; and Bowden, in his "History of the 
 Friends in America" (vol. ii. p. 281), says, "But few 
 of our members of any religious standing ever after 
 formed part of the local legislature of Pennsylvania." 
 
 Even this cautious statement admits that there were 
 some Quakers of religious standing still in the legis- 
 lature. Of course the very strict Quakers who still 
 held to the letter of their opposition to war, thought 
 that all the others were not in good standing. But 
 those others, who steadily voted for war supplies, had 
 
 194 
 
The Violence of Party Spirit 
 
 all the characteristics of Quakers, considered them- 
 selves such, and were so regarded. There is no ques- 
 tion that at that time a large part of the society, having 
 been long accustomed to political power, and having 
 become prosperous and rich, had acquired a strong 
 tincture of the world, and the more strict members 
 were utterly unable to restrain them. 
 
 The compulsory militia law seems to have been 
 passed by the Quaker Assembly with the full intention 
 of showing the British government that they were ready 
 to do everything in their power to assist the war against 
 France. But even if it had not been vetoed by the 
 governor, and had gone into operation, matters would 
 have been very little improved, for the trouble was not 
 so much in getting soldiers as in getting arms and 
 ammunition. About fourteen hundred men, costing 
 the province over ,£64,000 a year, were distributed 
 among the forts; and though in the beginning they had 
 had good muskets, most of them were now out of order, 
 and there were no means of repairing them or getting 
 others. In Conrad Weiser's battalion more than three- 
 quarters of the guns were more or less out of repair. 
 Flints were scarce and inferior, and the supply of 
 ammunition for the few cannon in the forts very limited. 
 The Assembly had attempted to procure a supply of 
 arms from England, but here, again, they were checked, 
 for the home government was itself limited, and none 
 could be procured. But the proprietors, be it said to 
 their credit, came to the assistance of the colony, and 
 sent over a few brass cannon and a small supply of 
 fusees and muskets. 
 
 The year 1757 was a very gloomy one, not only in 
 
 195 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the colonies, but in England, and was well described by 
 Lord Chesterfield when he said, " I never saw so dread- 
 ful a time." Nothing was wanting but a few more 
 soldiers to enable the French to pass on down the 
 Mississippi and secure their line to New Orleans, or 
 fall upon the rear of the colonies and conquer them. 
 The Indians were becoming more and more convinced 
 that the French were the greater nation, and that they 
 had done right in joining them. The Pennsylvania 
 Assembly felt compelled to vote ,£100,000, the largest 
 single grant they had ever made. It was to be raised 
 by a general tax, and the tax was made to include 
 the proprietary estate. The governor objected ; and the 
 Assembly, influenced by the awful necessities of the 
 war and the persuasions of Lord Loudon, yielded, and 
 passed the bill in February, 1757, without taxing the 
 estates. 
 
 But though they yielded on this point, they were 
 determined to carry on the conflict in another way, and 
 transfer the scene of it to England. There they could 
 attack the proprietors directly and appeal to the jus- 
 tice of the king and Parliament. They appointed two 
 commissioners to go to England for this purpose, — 
 Norris and Franklin, — and Norris being detained by 
 ill health, Franklin started alone. 
 
 The good effects of the battle of Kittanning had 
 now worn away. They had lasted only about six 
 months; and, though the Quaker treaty still kept the 
 Delawares and Shawanese friendly, the western tribes 
 were unrestrained, and their ravages on the frontiers 
 of Pennsylvania again began. 
 
 There were no notable massacres, but the old stealthy 
 
 196 
 
The Violence of Party Spirit 
 
 creeping methods were again adopted, — the red men 
 passing in between the forts, which were not of the 
 slightest protection. All through the spring and sum- 
 mer of 1757 small scalping-parties ranged the woods, 
 and appeared suddenly at clearings and farms. The 
 people were now better armed, and had begun to learn 
 something of Indian fighting. As they tilled their 
 fields, parties of soldiers from the garrison of the 
 nearest fort came out and guarded them ; and when no 
 soldiers could be obtained, they lashed a musket to 
 their plough, and were guarded by their stalwart sons 
 or neighbors. Occasionally an Indian was killed, and 
 occasionally some settlers maintained their ground, 
 fighting, Indian fashion, from behind logs and trees. 
 There was a decided improvement in the methods of 
 resistance; for the people were now aroused from their 
 long sleep of peace. Instead of keeping close to their 
 forts, some of the garrisons now sent detachments to 
 range the woods and break up the Indian hiding- 
 places; and ranging parties were formed among the 
 farmers and frontiersmen. 
 
 But the Indians had much the best of it. They 
 boasted that for every loss among their own number 
 there were at least ten white scalps hanging in smoky 
 wigwams. They did more killing, for they were 
 always at it. They picked off the people as they moved 
 about, shooting a woman here as she went to a neigh- 
 bor's, a child there as he wandered a few steps too far 
 from the cabin, a man as he worked in the field and 
 unconsciously came too near the fringe of the forest. 
 They attacked houses in the night ; and the terror they 
 inspired, and the poverty and suffering they brought 
 
 197 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 upon the people, who were driven from their homes, 
 were even worse than their murders. 
 
 The petitions, coming from all parts of the country 
 at that time, and still to be found among the " Archives " 
 and " Records," are extremely interesting, and tell the 
 story with considerable vividness. Some of them are 
 signed with the English names of Presbyterians, and 
 others with the unpronounceable names of the Pennsyl- 
 vania Dutch. They all have the same burden : a raid, 
 murders, scalps ; send us assistance. Among them are 
 also to be found the reports of the provincial officers, 
 also very much alike : an attack, well resisted, several 
 of us killed and wounded, one Indian killed; followed 
 the trail for a short distance next morning, and found 
 moccasin tracks, with the narrow-toed shoe-marks of a 
 Frenchman. 
 
 The Indians came in closer that year than ever before, 
 even to within thirty miles of Philadelphia; for the 
 outermost settlers, on whom they had previously 
 preyed, were mostly driven in, and were living in the 
 poor houses, or as best they could in the more settled 
 parts of the province. The boundaries of Pennsylvania 
 were evidently contracting; and if the French war con- 
 tinued much longer, the people would be all crowded 
 against the Delaware and conquered. 
 
 As the success of the French became more and more 
 evident, and the gloom and despondency of the colonists 
 deeper and deeper, in this year, 1757, the proprietary 
 party and the Churchmen renewed their attacks on the 
 Quakers and the Assembly, which they charged with 
 all the disasters. The Assembly, goaded by every 
 kind of taunt, were in a state of high irritation. They 
 
 198 
 
The Violence of Party Spirit 
 
 longed for an opportunity to revenge themselves, and 
 it soon came. 
 
 There was a Churchman and member of the pro- 
 prietary party who at this time began to make himself 
 very obnoxious. This was "William Moore, Esq., of 
 Moore Hall," as he called himself. He was Judge 
 of the Common Pleas of Chester County, and had 
 a pleasant little country-seat near the banks of the 
 Schuylkill. He lies buried under the doorway of 
 St. David's Church at Radnor, where a marble slab 
 recounts the long list of his offices and virtues. He 
 was a bold, outspoken man, a great Churchman, with a 
 deep contempt for the Quakers, and a desire to live the 
 life of an English magistrate and country gentleman 
 who scolded everybody and had everything his own 
 way. He had for some time given much offence 
 by his open abuse of the Quakers on the subject of 
 warfare, and soon he was accused of other offences. 
 Numerous petitions were presented to the Assembly, 
 charging him with gross misconduct and injustice 
 in his office of judge; and the Assembly saw their 
 chance. 
 
 In August, 1757, they sent him a copy of the charges 
 against him, and called him before them to answer for 
 his misdeeds. He refused to appear, and denied their 
 authority to try him. They investigated the charges 
 against him, and sent a memorial to the governor ask- 
 ing that he be removed from his office of judge. The 
 memorial was printed in the newspapers, and Moore 
 replied to it in language which certainly did not soothe 
 the Assembly. Both the memorial and Moore's reply 
 to it were published in the " Pennsylvania Gazette;" 
 
 199 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 and Provost Smith, wishing the Germans to see Moore's 
 reply, had it published in a German newspaper which 
 he and some others were conducting. This act of 
 Smith's seems like a trivial offence, but the Germans 
 were the main support of the Quakers in politics, and 
 kept them in power. The Assembly had an old grudge 
 against Smith, and when they met in January, 1758, 
 had both him and Moore arrested for libel. 
 
 Moore defended himself with much ability, refused 
 to be tried, and was sentenced to the common jail for 
 contempt, misconduct as a judge, and publishing a 
 libel on the Assembly; and the sheriff was ordered to 
 pay no attention to any writs of habeas corpus that 
 should be issued for his relief. 
 
 Smith was then brought before the House for trial, 
 and his strong personality and ability soon made an 
 interesting scene. He was accused of aiding in the 
 publication of the libel by Moore. He denied his 
 guilt. The address by Moore, if a libel at all, had 
 been written against a former house, which was not 
 now in being. But the address, he said, was not at all 
 libellous, for every subject had the right to arraign the 
 conduct of officers when they swerved from their duty. 
 The meanest plebeian in Rome could impeach a con- 
 sul ; and the best check which the British nation had 
 imposed upon those clothed with power was the right 
 of citizens freely to animadvert upon their conduct. If 
 the Assembly could go so far as to call a man to account 
 for what he had said about a house lately dissolved, 
 they might, by the same rule, call him to account for 
 censuring a house that had been in being a century 
 ago, and by this means tie up the tongues and pens of 
 
The Violence of Party Spirit 
 
 men forever, sanctify the most iniquitous measures, 
 and make it impossible even to write the history of 
 former times. 
 
 He felt, he said, that he was standing for the liberty 
 of the press ; that if he had done anything, it was as the 
 editor of a newspaper in which he had been exercising 
 his best judgment. But other papers had printed the 
 address ; and it had been printed by the Assembly's own 
 printer by the advice of several members of the House. 
 Moreover, he said, the Assembly had no right to try 
 him, because they were his accusers, and unfit to be 
 his judges. 
 
 Having allowed Smith to withdraw for a time, the 
 House called him in again, and told him that they 
 would hear no arguments calling in question their juris- 
 diction to try him, and that they had appointed the 
 Tuesday following to begin his trial, and that he might 
 have the assistance of counsel. When the day arrived, 
 Smith found that the Assembly had completely headed 
 off any defence he might make. They would hear no 
 arguments questioning their jurisdiction, and none 
 denying that Moore's address was a libel. The trial 
 was a farce. A resolution was passed, finding him 
 guilty; and the Speaker informed him that he was to 
 be committed to the county jail until he should make 
 satisfaction to the House. 
 
 Smith then arose, and, after announcing that he would 
 appeal to the king, declared, with much indignation, 
 that there had been no evidence sufficient to convict 
 him, that others equally culpable had been allowed to 
 escape while he had been singled out as the special 
 object of vengeance. Then drawing himself to his full 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 height, and striking his breast with his hand, he said, 
 with great vehemence and dignity: — 
 
 " Mr. Speaker, I cannot make acknowledgments or express 
 contrition. No punishment which this Assembly can inflict 
 upon me would be half as terrible to me, as suffering my 
 tongue to give my heart the lie." 
 
 The House was crowded with Smith's friends and 
 members of the proprietary party, who were delighted 
 with this dramatic defiance of the Assembly, and imme- 
 diately set up a storm of applause. The House, deter- 
 mined to assert its dignity, ordered the doors closed 
 and the arrest of some of the applauders ; and among 
 those taken were several officers of the crown, and 
 several familiar Philadelphia names, like Willing, 
 Wallace, and Peters. The punishments for this out- 
 burst were prosecuted with considerable vigor. Arrests 
 were again made on the day following; and the 
 applauders were obliged to prove clearly their inno- 
 cence, or apologize and pay a fine. 
 
 As in Moore's case, the sheriff was ordered to pay 
 no attention to any writs of habeas corpus. But Smith 
 was determined to carry on his contest, and informed 
 the House by letter that, though they had refused his 
 appeal to the crown, they could not destroy his consti- 
 tutional right to an appeal, and he was determined to 
 prosecute it. Meantime he used all honorable means 
 to attain his liberty. He wrote to Chief Justice 
 Allen, a very ardent member of the proprietary party, 
 asking for a writ of habeas corpus, and also to the 
 governor; but neither of them were able to assist him. 
 There was nothing left for him but to prosecute his 
 
The Violence of Party Spirit 
 
 appeal to the crown, and meantime he had to stay in 
 prison, where he remained for eleven weeks. 
 
 In a letter he wrote to the Bishop of London, he 
 describes himself as crowded with visitors from morn- 
 ing to night, and it appears that he conducted all his 
 business and carried on the affairs of the college from 
 his cell. The trustees of the college passed a reso- 
 lution, which appears on their minutes of Feb. 4, 
 1758. The Assembly of the province, they said, having 
 taken their provost into custody, and a great incon- 
 venience arising thence, it is ordered that " his classes 
 should attend him at the usual hours, in the place of 
 his present confinement." 
 
 He lived in this way until the nth of April, when, 
 on the adjournment of the Assembly, he was released 
 by order of the Supreme Court. When the Assembly 
 met again, new warrants were issued for his arrest, 
 but they were not executed. At the meeting of the 
 Assembly, however, in September, 1758, he was again 
 arrested and kept in confinement during the whole ses- 
 sion of the House. He also had a warrant issued for 
 him at the meeting of the next Assembly; but it ap- 
 pears never to have been executed, and nothing more 
 was done against him. 
 
 Meantime, among the numerous visitors to the prison 
 was Miss Rebecca Moore, who came to see and com- 
 fort her father, and who may possibly have been at some 
 of the numerous levees that appear to have been held 
 in the provost's cell. Smith was touched by her 
 beauty and her devotion to her father, and in June, 
 during one of his respites from prison, was married to 
 her in her father's house, Moore Hall, on the Schuyl- 
 
 203 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 kill. Smith, like other Philadelphians of that time, 
 had already secured a country-seat of his own near the 
 Falls of Schuylkill; and in this year of his marriage 
 he built himself a mansion there, which still stands, 
 and is now included within Fairmount Park. 
 
 William Moore, the father of his bride, was brought 
 up for trial before the governor on the 24th of August, 
 1758, and, in spite of the violent attacks of the Assem- 
 bly, acquitted of all blame, and allowed to retain his 
 office. 
 
 Smith's means of obtaining justification were longer 
 and more difficult. He sent his appeal to England, 
 and thither he sailed in December, 1758. His arrival 
 created quite a little stir in the circle of learned men 
 and clergy in which he moved; and they were entirely 
 in sympathy with him, as an accomplished and distin- 
 guished young man, who had been martyred and perse- 
 cuted by an Assembly of Quaker fanatics, who would 
 not fight the French. He received the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity from Oxford, and also from Aber- 
 deen, and was feted and encouraged wherever he went, 
 and his appeal to the king was most successful. 
 
 It was argued before the Committee of Trade and 
 Plantations of the Privy Council, and both the Assem- 
 bly and Provost Smith were represented by lawyers. 
 The attorney-general also appeared on behalf of the 
 crown. The committee prepared a long report of the 
 case, which is still to be found among their records. 
 They recommended a decision in the provost's favor, 
 and that a proper warning should be sent to the Assem- 
 bly and Governor of Pennsylvania. The Privy Coun- 
 cil gave judgment, and prepared the warning. The 
 
 204 
 
The Violence of Party Spirit 
 
 Assembly were told that their unwarrantable behavior 
 had aroused the high displeasure of his Majesty; that 
 they had assumed to themselves powers which did 
 not belong to them, which invaded his Majesty's pre- 
 rogative as well as the liberties of the subject ; and 
 the governor was required, for the future, to take the 
 utmost care and use all means to support the laws 
 and his Majesty's prerogative against such encroach- 
 ments. The refusal of the writ of habeas corpus to 
 Smith was severely reproved, and it was ordered that 
 hereafter, in all cases in Pennsylvania, his Majesty's 
 writs should issue freely, according to law, and that no 
 persons whatsoever should presume to disobey them. 
 
 The provost's success in his appeal was well deserved. 
 He had been treated by the Assembly in a manner most 
 unlawful and outrageous, and the rebuke administered 
 by the Privy Council was eminently proper; but it 
 was barren of any political results. The Quakers, 
 supported by the Germans, or, in other words, the 
 majority of the people, continued to control the Assem- 
 bly and conduct warlike operations as before, and it 
 was well they did. Nothing could have been gained 
 by a change, even if the Quakers and Germans had 
 all been disfranchised, and the provost and the minority 
 party put in power. All had been done that could be 
 done; and no greater number of men and no greater 
 number of pounds sterling could have been forced from 
 the colony. Nor could any change in political par- 
 ties have altered the natural difficulties of the wild, 
 mountainous frontier. 
 
 205 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE END OF THE WAR 
 
 THE gloom and disasters of the year 1757 were' 
 dissipated by the rise to power of a brilliant and won- 
 derful man who has not unjustly been described as the 
 creator of modern England. William Pitt had been 
 made prime minister in June, 1757, and by the close of 
 the year a new order of things began. 
 
 The genius of this great man for organizing soon 
 restored the spirit and energy of the colonies. In- 
 stead of making exacting and irritating demands upon 
 them, telling them how many men each was to furnish, 
 and at the same time implying that their best exertions 
 would be almost worthless, he announced that he would 
 send to their assistance a powerful army which would 
 act in concert with their provincial troops ; and that 
 each colony should raise as large a force as it was able. 
 Instead of instructing the governor to drag and hector 
 a minutely described quota of men and money from 
 each Assembly, he told the governors to be careful to 
 appoint only popular men as officers, and give them all, 
 from colonel downward, proper commissions, with due 
 regard to seniority and rank. England, he said, would 
 supply the arms, ammunition, provisions, and tents. 
 The only charge on the colonics would be levying their 
 men, clothing them, and paying them their wages. 
 
 206 
 
The End of the War 
 
 The effect of this change of policy on Pennsylvania 
 was immediate. More men were raised than ever 
 before, and twenty-seven hundred were offered to the 
 English commanders. The Assembly voted ;£ 100,000, 
 and offered a bounty of five pounds to every recruit, 
 and one pound to the recruiting officer. Wagons were 
 provided, quarters for the soldiers, roads put in repair, 
 and a troop of fifty-eight horse equipped. 
 
 The previous plans against the French had contem- 
 plated nothing more than driving them back to Canada 
 and preventing them from getting behind the colonies 
 in the Mississippi Valley. But Pitt now aimed at the 
 conquest of Canada itself. The army he assembled 
 for the various expeditions against it amounted in 
 all to about fifty thousand men, — the largest body of 
 troops that had ever been seen in the new world, — 
 and of the fifty thousand about twenty thousand were 
 provincials. 
 
 Of the three expeditions into which this force was to 
 be divided, only one concerned Pennsylvania, and that 
 was the expedition against Fort Du Quesne. This ex- 
 pedition was in command of Forbes, a Scotchman of 
 good family who had studied medicine in his youth and 
 afterward purchased a commission in the British army. 
 His force consisted of about seven thousand, of whom 
 Pennsylvania furnished twenty-seven hundred, Virginia 
 sixteen hundred, Maryland two hundred and fifty, 
 North Carolina one hundred and fifty, and the rest 
 were British regulars. 
 
 The Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland troops 
 were commanded by Washington, and assembled at 
 Winchester in Virginia. The Pennsylvania provincials 
 
 207 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 assembled at Raystown, now Bedford, occupied by 
 Colonel Bouquet with the regulars. 
 
 Forbes remained behind in Philadelphia to direct oper- 
 ations, and he intended to join the army as soon as it was 
 prepared to move ; but ill-health detained him for a long 
 time in the rear. Bouquet, who was in actual command 
 of the army, was in every respect the equal of Forbes, 
 and one of the most accomplished and attractive officers 
 that had ever been sent to America. He was a French 
 Swiss who had risen in military life on the continent 
 entirely by merit. He had attracted the attention of 
 the Prince of Orange, who secured his services for the 
 Dutch Republic; and when distinguisned and well 
 known, he had been persuaded to join the British army. 
 His French susceptibility and quickness made him even 
 more capable than Forbes in adapting himself to the 
 wilderness life and Indian tactics. He became as shrewd 
 and wary as an old trapper, and invented movements 
 among his troops to counteract the art of the Indians. 
 
 The expedition was delayed so long by the ill health 
 of Forbes and other causes that it was the 9th of Sep- 
 tember before it reached Bedford, where it was joined 
 by Washington with the Southern troops. The delay, 
 it was hoped, however, would prove an advantage. 
 The Indian allies of the French, who had collected in 
 great numbers at Fort Du Quesne, would grow tired of 
 waiting ; and meantime General Forbes and the Quakers 
 in Philadelphia were trying to bring about a peace with 
 the scattered members of the Delaware and Shawanese 
 tribes that were living in the far West. 
 
 The members of these tribes who were living in 
 Pennsylvania had already made a treaty of peace, and 
 
 208 
 
The End of the War 
 
 together with the Six Nations assisted in converting 
 their western brothers. Frederick Post, a devoted 
 Moravian missionary, who had lived among the Indians, 
 was, at the instance of the Friendly Association of the 
 Quakers, sent to the Ohio in July and again in October 
 as an envoy. Unarmed and with only two or three 
 attendants, this heroic man went directly through the 
 woods to the fiercest savages of the West, and preached 
 his mission of peace. His journal of his adventures is 
 most simple and graphic, as well as a striking and 
 interesting picture of the condition of the red men. He 
 openly addressed an assembly of them close to Fort 
 Du Ouesne, with French officers standing by and writ- 
 ing down what he said. A reward was offered for his 
 scalp, and parties lay in wait for him ; yet he escaped 
 them all, and returned after a most successful mission. 
 The Delawares agreed to join their brethren of Pennsyl- 
 vania in a treaty of peace. 
 
 A great convention was held at Easton in October, 
 lasting from the seventh to the twenty-sixth of the 
 month. The Governors of Pennsylvania and New 
 Jersey were present, all the Indian agents and inter- 
 preters, four members of the Council, six members of 
 the Assembly, and a number of magistrates and citizens 
 chiefly Quakers. There were about three hundred 
 chiefs with their women and children, representing a 
 long list of tribes and bands, — Mohawks, Oneidas, 
 Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, Tuscaroras, Nanticokes, 
 Conies, Tutiloes, Cheyennes, Delawares, Unamies, 
 Minisinks, Mohicans, and Wappingers. It was a most 
 picturesque as well as important assemblage. The 
 Indians had full scope to make all their complaints 
 14 209 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 about ill-treatment and land-stealing. The Minisinks 
 were given a thousand pounds to satisfy their claims in 
 New Jersey, and the proprietary agents of Pennsylvania 
 reconveyed to the savages the land of the last purchase 
 at Albany, which had been unjustly taken. It was a 
 great healing, and went far to restore the conditions that 
 had prevailed before the Walking Purchase and other 
 aggressions which had alienated the red men and drawn 
 them to the side of France. 
 
 Post returned to the Ohio with the white wampum 
 belt and its message of friendship. The escort of 
 soldiers that accompanied him as far as the Alleghenies 
 was on its return cut to pieces by members of the 
 very tribes to which the white belt was being carried ; 
 but Post pressed on. 
 
 His reception was at first so terrible that he had to 
 comfort himself with the thought that God had stopped 
 the mouths of the lions that would have devoured 
 Daniel. The young Indians were possessed of a mur- 
 dering spirit, drunk and thirsty for vengeance. But 
 in spite of all the efforts of the French officers against 
 it, the treaty was finally accepted. The Delawares and 
 Shawanese were the friends of the English ; and in 
 Bouquet's opinion Forbes had by this Quaker treaty 
 struck the blow which decided his final success. 
 
 Meantime, while Forbes, with the main body of the 
 army, was moving slowly westward, Bouquet had ad- 
 vanced to Loyalhanna, fifty miles west of Bedford, and 
 sent out Major Grant, of the Highlanders, with thirty- 
 seven officers and eight hundred men, to reconnoitre 
 Fort Du Quesne. He was ordered not to approach too 
 near it, and to avoid discovery and an attack, 
 
 2TO 
 
The End of the War 
 
 The French were well aware of Forbes' expedition, 
 and their scouts were all through the woods ; but Grant 
 and his men eluded them, and on the 14th of September 
 were within eleven miles of Fort Du Quesne. They 
 halted until three in the afternoon, when they marched 
 within two miles of the fort, and left their baggage in 
 charge of a captain and fifty men. It was now dark, 
 and at eleven o'clock at night Grant had his troops 
 within half a mile of the fort on top of a little hill, 
 which long afterward bore his name, and is now in the 
 heart of Pittsburg, and surmounted with the Court- 
 house, one of Richardson's noblest efforts in architec- 
 ture. He could overlook the fort on the level land 
 below, near the river. Everything was still, and during 
 his whole scout Grant had seen neither Indian nor 
 Frenchman. He concluded that the force in the fort 
 must be very small. 
 
 He saw visions of glory and the honors that would 
 be given the man who with a small scouting-party 
 should succeed where Braddock had failed. In spite 
 of his orders, he concluded to make an attack. He sent 
 fifty men to fall upon the Indians who might be sleep- 
 ing outside of the fort; but they saw none, neither were 
 they challenged by sentinels, and as they returned they 
 set fire to a storehouse, which was soon after extin- 
 guished by persons coming out of the fort. 
 
 At daybreak, Grant sent Major Lewis back on the 
 road with two hundred men to lie in ambush near their 
 baggage. Two other detachments were placed on other 
 hills facing the fort. Grant himself remained with a 
 few men on the hill he had first reached ; and the rest 
 were sent against the fort, with drums beating, in the 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 hope of drawing out the enemy into the ambuscades. 
 It seems to have been a complete surprise to the French 
 and Indians; but when they were aroused, they sallied 
 out in great numbers, some of them in their night- 
 clothes. They had evidently grasped the situation as 
 soon as they looked from the fort, for their men were 
 divided into two divisions, the first of which crept along 
 under cover of the river-bank to surround those on the 
 hill, and the other attacked those that had come against 
 the fort. 
 
 Captain MacDonald, who led the attack upon the 
 fort, was driven back to the hills ; but as soon as he 
 was there, the main body found itself flanked and sur- 
 rounded by the division of French and Indians that had 
 crept along the river-bank. A fierce battle followed, 
 and it was Braddock's defeat over again. The provin- 
 cial troops adopted the Indian tactics and fought behind 
 trees ; but the regulars stood up after the European 
 manner and were slaughtered. The few that were not 
 killed fled ; and the provincials, finding themselves un- 
 supported, were obliged to follow. 
 
 Major Lewis, who was near the baggage, hastened 
 forward to Grant's relief, and found himself surrounded 
 in the woods, and shots coming from the trees. His 
 men gave way. The main body soon fell back upon 
 the baggage, and Grant endeavored to rally them. But 
 the enemy were close upon his heels ; and as soon as 
 they came in sight, there was another panic, and both 
 regulars and provincials fled. Two hundred and seventy 
 were killed, and forty-two wounded, and both Grant and 
 Lewis captured. 
 
 As weeks went by and the French noticed that Bou- 
 
The End of the War 
 
 quet was still camped on the Loyalhanna, and the main 
 body under Forbes had not arrived, they decided to 
 make use of the opportunity. On the 12th of October 
 about twelve hundred French and two hundred Indians 
 under the command of De Vetri made a sudden assault 
 upon Bouquet's camp, but after an action of four hours 
 were compelled to withdraw. Another attack during 
 the night was equally futile. Bouquet was not the 
 man to be caught napping. He lost, however, though 
 acting only on the defensive behind fortifications, sixty- 
 seven killed and wounded. 
 
 Toward the end of October Forbes succeeded in 
 joining Bouquet at Loyalhanna; and the season was so 
 far advanced that at a council of war it was decided to 
 abandon the expedition until spring. But a few days 
 afterward three French scouts were caught, and when 
 closely questioned revealed the weak state of the garri- 
 son at Fort Du Ouesne. The Indians had returned home 
 for their winter hunt, and the number of Frenchmen 
 remaining in the fort was trifling. 
 
 Forty-three hundred men were at once selected for 
 an attack, and, adopting the greatest precautions to 
 avoid ambuscades, moved slowly across the mountains. 
 When within twelve miles of the fort, some of the 
 Indians, who had been reconnoitring, came back and 
 reported that the fort was on fire. They had seen a 
 dense cloud of smoke rising and filling the whole river 
 valley. Soon afterward other scouts arrived, who had 
 been close to the fort, and reported that it was burnt 
 and abandoned. Cavalry were immediately sent forward 
 to put out the fire and save the property, and the whole 
 army arrived at the ruins on the 25th of November. 
 
 213 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Fort Du Quesne, of such terrible memory, and such a 
 menace to the colonies for so many years, was nothing 
 but black and smoking timbers. There was no spoil 
 for the conquering army except a few barrels of gun- 
 powder which had not exploded, and a wagon-load of 
 scalping-knives. The cannon and every other article 
 of value had been sunk in the river or removed. The 
 few hundred Frenchmen that had been there had es- 
 caped down the Ohio, or up the Allegheny to Presque 
 Isle and Lake Erie. The army had nothing to do but 
 to bury the bodies of Grant's men, which lay scattered 
 and scalped on the hill and in the woods, and after that 
 to go and gather up the whitened bones on Braddock's 
 field and give them some sort of a soldier's grave. 
 
 General Forbes left two hundred provincial troops to 
 rebuild the fort and garrison it, and the little settlement 
 of cabins where they were to live meantime he called 
 Pittsburg. The next autumn General Stanwix built 
 Fort Pitt. 
 
 The war, so far as Pennsylvania was concerned, was 
 over ; and four thousand farmers that had been driven 
 in among the settlements returned to their homes and 
 began again to cultivate the land. Forbes was the idol 
 of the day. But his health was broken ; and as soon as 
 the victory relieved him of the strain, he was prostrate. 
 He lingered until the following spring, when death 
 rescued him from further suffering, and he was buried 
 with great honor and ceremony in Christ Church, Phil- 
 adelphia. He had ended forever the attempt of the 
 French to press downward from Canada into the Mis- 
 sissippi Valley, and the possession by the Anglo-Saxon 
 race of the Great West was assured. 
 
 214 
 
The Estates are Taxed 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE ESTATES ARE TAXED 
 
 THE Assembly were now relieved from raising war 
 supplies; and their patriotism in having temporarily 
 yielded to the proprietors was soon rewarded. Frank- 
 lin had been steadily working at his mission in England 
 to have the proprietors' estates taxed. For two years 
 he could accomplish nothing. The turmoil of the war 
 overwhelmed all other considerations; and the people, 
 high and low, were generally quite ignorant of American 
 affairs, and still more indifferent to them. Provost 
 Smith and the proprietary party in Pennsylvania were 
 busy sending over information, so that so far as public 
 opinion was informed at all, it was informed against 
 Franklin. 
 
 As soon as he arrived in the summer of 1757, he had 
 been advised by his friend, Dr. Fothergill, not to make 
 immediate complaint to the government until he had 
 first sought redress from the proprietors. But his 
 appeal to the proprietors having proved of no avail, 
 he directed his energies to the powers with whom in 
 the end the final decision would rest, — the members of 
 the Privy Council. His efforts in this direction were 
 equally unsuccessful. He could obtain no audience 
 with William Pitt, who was too busy with the affairs of 
 the great war that was convulsing all Europe to attend 
 to a trifling dispute in one colony. 
 
 2I 5 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Defeated in this second attempt, he decided to appeal 
 to the public in general. The moment lie arrived 
 he had been visited by all the distinguished men in 
 England, who were curious to see the man who had dis- 
 covered that lightning was electricity, and who had 
 become the most learned of his day by living in a little 
 wilderness colony across the Atlantic. His circle of 
 acquaintances was constantly widening. He was invited 
 to dine at London houses, to visit country-seats; and 
 among the people he met in this way he gradually 
 made known the complaints of his province against her 
 proprietors. 
 
 He also seized the first opportunity to make known 
 his grievance in the public press ; and an article having 
 appeared in the " General Advertiser " reflecting on the 
 conduct of the Pennsylvania Assembly, his son, who 
 had accompanied him, wrote an article in reply. The 
 reply was copied into other papers and extensively 
 circulated. It defended Pennsylvania from the misrep- 
 resentations of Smith and the proprietary party, and 
 showed that the province's frontier had been as well, if 
 not better, defended than the frontiers of other colonies, 
 and would have been still better protected had it not 
 been for proprietary instructions to the governor. 
 
 So encouraged was Franklin by the success of this 
 letter of his son that he set this same son to work to 
 write what is now known as the " Historical Review of 
 Pennsylvania," — a book of over four hundred pages, 
 which, though written for partisan purposes, has be- 
 come an important historical authority. Its principal 
 value, however, consists in its numerous quotations 
 from the messages of governors and the replies of the 
 
 216 
 
The Estates are Taxed 
 
 Assembly. For the rest, it is merely an attempt to 
 magnify every dispute to the prejudice of the proprie- 
 tors and their deputies. The long periods when the 
 colony was well governed, as under Keith and Gordon, 
 are passed over in comparative silence; and unfortunate 
 administrations, like those of Evans and Morris, fill the 
 greater part of the book. But it had a great effect in 
 its day; was not only sold, but distributed freely by 
 Franklin wherever he saw an opportunity, and greatly 
 assisted him in his task. 
 
 He had intended when he first came to England to 
 advocate the change of Pennsylvania to a royal 
 province; but the extreme difficulty of this proposal 
 finally induced him to abandon it, and he confined him- 
 self to two points only, — the taxation of the proprietary 
 estates and the relief of the Assembly from proprietary 
 instructions to governors. 
 
 The taxation of the estates was his best chance, and 
 on this he had an argument which carried some weight 
 in England. Even Tories who cared but little for the 
 rest of the colony's liberties could see that the claim of 
 the proprietors to be exempt from taxation was an 
 absurdity. The greatest dukes and feudal lords in Eng- 
 land were taxed, and why should a proprietary gentle- 
 man escape? The English people, lords as well as 
 commons, were quite severely taxed for the war at that 
 time ; and it was a little exasperating to see the Penn 
 estates exempt when they were right upon the American 
 border, and the people at home spending thousands of 
 pounds to protect them. 
 
 Meantime Governor Denny in the province was re- 
 laxing his rigorous obedience to his instructions. For 
 
 217 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 several years he had received no salary from the Assem- 
 bly; and under pressure for want of money, and the 
 belief that Franklin would succeed in England, he gave 
 his assent to a bill subjecting the estates to taxation. 
 The bill was sent to England, and the proprietors 
 opposed it before the Privy Council, as hostile to their 
 rights and ruinous to themselves and their posterity. 
 This was Franklin's opportunity, and he secured coun- 
 sel to resist the lawyers of the proprietors before the 
 Privy Council. 
 
 The proprietors argued that the Act was intended 
 to load the proprietary estate with all the burdens 
 of government and war, so as to spare the estates of 
 the people; and if it were suffered to continue, the 
 proprietors would be taxed out of existence, and the 
 proprietorship broken up. They professed to believe 
 that all their wild and unmarketable lands would be 
 taxed at the same rate as cultivated lands, and that 
 their town lots would be taxed at such rates as to cut 
 off all profit from a rise in value. The taxes would be 
 increased until their income was cancelled, and all hope 
 of speculation gone. In other words, they believed 
 that the colonists would apply to them the single-tax 
 theory which has been so much discussed in our time, 
 and which, by putting all taxes on lands and taxing 
 them to their full value, will, it is supposed, cut off 
 speculative profit and turn it in the direction of the 
 laborer instead of into the hands of the landlord. 
 
 Franklin and his lawyers replied that the Act had no 
 such intention and would have no such effect. All that 
 was asked was equality ; and the assessors were honest 
 men under oath who would take no advantage. 
 
The Estates are Taxed 
 
 At this point an idea occurred to Lord Mansfield. 
 He called Franklin aside and asked him if he really 
 thought no injury would be done the proprietary estate ; 
 and when Franklin said certainly, he asked him if he 
 would enter into an engagement to assure that point. 
 The philosopher readily assented, a paper was drawn, 
 which he signed, and the Act received the royal appro- 
 bation. 
 
 This was in 1759, after Franklin had been in England 
 two years. He had waited long for his opportunity, but 
 when it came he made good use of it, and his reputation 
 was greatly enhanced. The Assembly and province 
 considered themselves deeply indebted to him; and his 
 willingness to risk his own personal engagement was 
 regarded as the highest public spirit. He, however, 
 risked little or nothing ; for the tax was fairly assessed, 
 and the proprietors had to pay only £5 66. 
 
 Their pride was broken and their attacks on the 
 liberties of the colony decisively checked. They had 
 intended to use the necessities of the war to curtail pro- 
 vincial rights ; but the end of the war brought only a 
 curtailment of their own excesses. The sturdy resist- 
 ance that the colonists had always shown was well 
 rewarded, and their acquiescence on one or two occa- 
 sions in the demands of the governor lost them nothing. 
 The constitutional liberties of the province had shown 
 a steady growth from the beginning, and that growth 
 continued. 
 
 The fame of Franklin's success spread to other colo- 
 nies. It was the beginning of his diplomatic career, 
 and Massachusetts, Maryland, and Georgia forthwith 
 made him their agent. 
 
 219 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Governor Denny was at once removed by the Penns; 
 and James Hamilton, who had been governor once 
 before, was in October, 1759, appointed in his place. 
 His instructions were rather mild, and show the change 
 of heart that had come to the proprietors. The tri- 
 umphant Assembly willingly voted in 1760 a grant of 
 £100,000 to complete the conquest of Canada, and the 
 bill taxed the proprietary estate. Hamilton made a 
 feeble attempt to gain control in the expenditure of 
 the money, but was easily defeated ; and the Quaker 
 Assembly went on in their good work, voting £23,500 
 for the king's use, and building, for the protection of 
 the Delaware, a fort on Mud Island at the mouth of the 
 Schuylkill, which afterward became Fort Mifflin. 
 
 Peace was declared, Nov. 3, 1762; and Feb. 10, 
 1763, the treaty of Paris was signed. Franklin returned 
 the following summer covered with honors and glory, 
 and the memory of the greatest pleasures he had 
 ever enjoyed. He had received the degree of doctor 
 of laws from the universities of St. Andrew's, Edin- 
 burgh, and Oxford. He had become a member of 
 numerous learned societies. He had seen and conversed 
 with the greatest men of the age, made new experi- 
 ments in science, furnished Priestley with the infor- 
 mation for his book on electricity, and published 
 essays on all sorts of subjects. The Assembly voted 
 him their thanks and £500 for every year of his 
 absence. 
 
Pontiac's Conspiracy 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 PONTIAC'S conspiracy 
 
 Montreal had been taken Sept. 8, 1760, and at the 
 same time the French surrendered Detroit and all their 
 other posts on the lakes as far as the Straits of Mack- 
 inaw, between Huron and Michigan. This extended 
 the English frontier four hundred miles west of Fort 
 Pitt, far beyond the hopes of the colonists in the be- 
 ginning of the war; for at one time they had looked 
 forward to nothing more than to keep the French west 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The treaty of Paris, signed in February, 1763, seemed 
 to make everything secure; and the Pennsylvania far- 
 mers, who had returned to their homes, looked forward 
 to a long era of quiet and prosperity. But that treaty 
 had not reckoned with an important element in the 
 situation. The stalwart savage, Pontiac, was not con- 
 sulted, and his signature had not been secured. The 
 Indians soon discovered, as they had long suspected, 
 that the English were a far worse enemy to their race 
 than the French. They cut down more trees; they 
 killed and frightened away more game; and they 
 advanced their detested civilization with rapid strides. 
 Pontiac determined to organize all the Indian tribes 
 from Lake Ontario to Georgia, and rush upon the 
 whole colonial frontier. 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 The wonderful skill he showed in organizing, and 
 the craft and cunning with which he took fort after 
 fort from the English, can best be read in the vivid 
 pages of Parkman. Inspired by the genius of their 
 leader, the Indians took, in a short time, Venango, 
 Le Bceuf, Presque Isle, La Bay, St. Joseph's, Miamis, 
 Ouachtumon, Sandusky, and Michilimackinac, massa- 
 cring the garrisons, and leaving only Detroit, Niagara, 
 and Fort Pitt in the hands of the English. 
 
 By the ist of June, 1763, scalping-parties reached 
 Fort Pitt and began to murder all round it. Soon the 
 main body of the savages dashed itself against the 
 Pennsylvania frontier, and made a clean sweep of 
 everything west of the Susquehanna. It was the mas- 
 sacre after Braddock's defeat over again, but a great 
 deal worse. The Indians were more numerous, more 
 thoroughly organized, and had been directed to burn 
 and destroy as well as kill. Pontiac was no trifler 
 in war. He knew that the property of the white man 
 was as valuable as his scalp; and houses, barns, corn, 
 hay, and everything that would burn received the torch. 
 There was a completeness about the devastation unusual 
 with Indians, and showing the direction of a master 
 mind. Armed parties of rangers, who visited the 
 scenes of destruction, found everything levelled to 
 ashes, with burnt bodies in the cinders, and here and 
 there the frightful sight of a human being tomahawked 
 and scalped, but still alive, or the disgusting scene of 
 pigs tearing and feeding on the dead. 
 
 The people, utterly unprepared, supposing they had 
 settled down to a long peace, fled eastward in droves, 
 like frightened sheep, leaving their grainfields waving 
 
Pontiac's Conspiracy 
 
 in the wind, and surrounded by the silent forests. 
 They crowded into Shippensburg and Carlisle, filling 
 houses, stables, cellars, and pig-sties, or lying in 
 open sheds in the streets. On the 25th of July, 1763, 
 there were in Shippensburg alone over thirteen hun- 
 dred of these unfortunates, and hundreds of others in 
 other places, or camped along the banks of the 
 Susquehanna. 
 
 All attempt at resistance, or even the thought of it, 
 seems to have been paralyzed. The terrible war-whoop 
 and the inhuman butchery and cruelty were now so 
 well known that the people were panic-stricken, and 
 fled at the first suggestion of them. It is impossible 
 for us now to realize the effect upon the minds of the 
 bravest, at that time, of the slightest intimation that 
 the Indians were upon them. In New York, near the 
 town of Goshen, in this same year, 1763, four or five 
 men went partridge-shooting among the hills, and, 
 happening to fire all their guns at once at a large covey, 
 immediately depopulated the whole country-side. At 
 the sound of the volley echoing through the woods, 
 farmers cut the traces of their horses from carts and 
 ploughs, and galloped away for their lives. Women, 
 children, and property of all kinds were seized and 
 hurried across the Hudson into New England. Five 
 hundred families fled from their homes, and for many 
 days the neighborhood was completely abandoned. 1 
 
 In Pennsylvania, the first to arouse themselves were 
 the Philadelphians, who began to send assistance to 
 the fugitives. The congregation of Christ Church 
 were particularly active. Besides money, they for- 
 
 1 Penn. Gazette, No. 1809. 
 223 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 warded two chests of arms and half a barrel of powder, 
 with bullets, lead, and flints. A missionary tbey sent 
 out to distribute the relief found seven hundred and 
 fifty abandoned farms, and two hundred frightened 
 women and children huddled together in Fort Pitt. 
 
 That same Fort Pitt was soon surrounded by the 
 Indians, and all communication with it cut off. Unpro- 
 vided with cannon, and with no knowledge of the reg- 
 ular methods of siege, the red men, nevertheless, seemed 
 to be inspired with greater steadiness and patience 
 than they had ever shown before. They posted them- 
 selves under the banks of both rivers, digging out holes 
 and intrenchments with their knives, and poured upon 
 the fort, from day to day, a steady storm of balls and 
 fire-arrows, which seemed to come out of the ground. 
 The commander was Capt. Simeon Ecuyer, a gallant 
 and genial Swiss, like Bouquet. If we may judge from 
 his letters, he thought it good sport to dodge the fire- 
 arrows as he passed round the port-holes, encourag- 
 ing his grim frontiersmen, who were trying to plant 
 bullets where they had seen the last puff of smoke. 
 The fort was strong and well supplied with provisions; 
 but the fire and the famine of the close investiture 
 would in time reduce it, and the fate of the soldiers 
 and the refugee settlers, with their wives and chil- 
 dren, in the hands of such enemies, was terrible to 
 contemplate. 
 
 General Amherst was commander-in-chief of the 
 British force in America, and every effort was made 
 for a rescue. Relief was sent by water to Detroit and 
 Niagara, and an expedition planned to save Fort Pitt, 
 under the lead of that daring and perfect soldier, 
 
 224 
 
Pontiac's Conspiracy 
 
 Col. Henry Bouquet. He was given only five hun- 
 dred men, the remains of two regiments that had just 
 returned, broken and diseased, from the West Indies. 
 Orders were given to prepare provisions for him at 
 Carlisle; but the frightened people could scarcely 
 supply themselves. When he arrived there he found 
 nothing:, and had to distribute the food that he had 
 brought with him among the unfortunate people. 
 
 But he was no loiterer. He arrived at Carlisle on 
 the 3d of July, and eighteen days afterward started for 
 Fort Pitt with what may be described as a hospital 
 battalion; for his men, though veterans, were many of 
 them so infirm that they had to ride on the wagons. 
 Not a man of the Scotch-Irish frontiersmen joined him. 
 They were slow at furnishing him with wagons, and 
 caused him many delays. They were, indeed, broken 
 and demoralized, and stayed at home, they said, to pro- 
 tect their families; and, moreover, they believed that 
 the colonel and his sick list were doomed. 
 
 They certainly seemed to be walking \into the jaws 
 of death ; for the Indians, as soon as they heard of 
 their march, dropped the siege of Fort Pitt and started 
 to waylay them. The English were not only sick, but 
 were fewer in numbers than the number of the slain at 
 Braddock's defeat, while the Indians were many times 
 more numerous. But these sickly veterans were com- 
 manded by a soldier who, of all the officers in the 
 British army, was the most skilled in the warfare of 
 the woods. Fort Ligonier and Fort Bedford lay 
 between him and Fort Pitt, and his first movement 
 was to strengthen them. They were full of military 
 supplies; and if they and their garrisons were taken, 
 J 5 22 5 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the Indians would have abundant means for attack or 
 siege. He sent thirty men ahead of him, who, by 
 forced marches, reached Fort Ligonier unobserved, 
 dashed through the Indians that surrounded it, and 
 joined the garrison within. Two companies of light 
 infantry relieved Fort Bedford in a similar way, and on 
 the 25th of July Bouquet arrived there with his whole 
 force. 
 
 The Indians were scouting and scalping all round. 
 Communication was cut off. He could learn nothing 
 of the condition of Fort Pitt or obtain any knowledge of 
 the situation except that the woods seemed to be full 
 of the enemy. Nevertheless, on the 28th, he started 
 for Fort Ligonier, where he left his wagons, and with 
 a convoy composed only of pack-horses, moved on. 
 
 He had come within almost twenty miles of Fort 
 Pitt, and he knew that there was before him a danger- 
 ous defile with rough, wooded sides. To elude any 
 ambuscade, he decided to make, a forced march, and 
 pass through this defile quickly in the night. But 
 having started with that intent about one o'clock in 
 the afternoon of August 5, when within half a mile 
 of Bushy Run, and not far from Braddock's fatal field, 
 the Indians suddenly made a savage attack on his 
 advance-guard. The main body came quickly to the 
 support of the guard, and, the whole force advancing, 
 the Indians gave way. It was the same tactics that 
 had been used against Braddock; and when it was 
 found that the Indians were retreating, the pursuit was 
 instantly checked, and the little army drawn together. 
 It was none too soon ; for almost immediately, as with 
 Braddock, the enemy rose up as out of the ground, on 
 
 226 
 
Pontiac's Conspiracy 
 
 the flanks and rear, and those who had retreated rushed 
 back. A charge was made, which dislodged them for 
 a time; but it had no useful effect, for they imme- 
 diately came back again. It was their policy to retreat 
 as soon as attacked, and then return under cover of the 
 trees. Bouquet could do nothing but withdraw to the 
 convoy, forming a circle round it, with the wounded 
 inside. The Indians formed a circle outside, and the 
 battle raged till sunset. 
 
 It was in many respects like the attack on Braddock, 
 and yet how different ! There was not the slightest 
 confusion among those West India invalids; and, won- 
 derful to relate, they succeeded, before night, in driv- 
 ing off the Indians, not by bushwhacking, but with 
 their bayonets. 
 
 Bouquet, however, had grave doubts of his ability to 
 survive the next day; and he sent a messenger, who 
 slipped through the Indian lines, to warn General 
 Amherst that he might expect to hear of a calamity. 
 The men slept in the circle round the baggage, and the 
 next morning were attacked again. The Indians raged 
 and yelled, circling round and round the Englishmen, 
 and several times tried to break into the circle. They 
 were repulsed ; but how long could such a situation 
 be endured? The English were suffering from thirst, 
 unable to move, constantly killed and wounded, losing 
 their horses, and must, in the end, succumb. 
 
 But Bouquet knew the Indian mind, and he also 
 could lay ambuscades. If he could only bring them 
 to a close engagement, he might escape. For this 
 purpose he withdrew two companies from the most 
 advanced part of the circle, as if retreating, and they 
 
 227 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 passed out of the circle at the opposite side of it. The 
 Indians instantly attacked the place that seemed to 
 have been weakened, and they were the more encouraged 
 when they saw the whole circle contracting. They left 
 the woods that had covered them, and rushed in a 
 mass to the point where they believed they could break 
 the circle. It was a terrible onset, and in a few 
 minutes they would have broken in. But the two 
 companies that had passed outside went round half the 
 circle, and suddenly fell upon the Indian flank. The 
 Indians could not withstand their charge; and, as they 
 fled, they were again attacked by two other companies 
 that had slipped out on the other side of the circle. 
 The four companies joined their fire, and, all rushing 
 upon the enemy, scattered them in the woods. 
 
 The sudden and unexpected defeat of their com- 
 panions demoralized the whole body of the Indians, 
 and they gave up the contest. But in their retreat 
 they passed close by Fort Pitt, and sounding their 
 dismal scalp-yell, shook their bloody trophies at Ecuyer 
 and his garrison. Bouquet and his exhausted men 
 were left to pursue their way, unharmed, to the fort. 
 But so severe had been the engagement, so many horses 
 had been lost, and so great the fatigue endured, that 
 the little army spent four days in making the twenty 
 miles. 
 
 But it was a most remarkable victory, snatched, as it 
 was, from what seemed certain defeat. It was the first 
 instance of a successful stand by troops fighting after 
 the European manner, and surrounded by Indians in 
 the woods. It has even been asserted that there was 
 never, either before or since, such a victory of white 
 
 228 
 
Pontiac's Conspiracy 
 
 men over Indians. Bouquet's prompt sagacity had 
 saved the day; and it is almost certain that any other 
 British officer of that time would have left his bones, 
 with those of his men, to whiten in the forest. He 
 deserved greater honors than he has ever received from 
 Pennsylvania, whose people he delivered from a vast 
 increase of death and suffering. The Indians seemed 
 to consider themselves utterly routed, and no more 
 was heard from them that autumn and winter. The 
 frightened settlers returned to their farms, and again 
 believed that peace was secured. Bouquet strengthened 
 himself in Fort Pitt, and secured his line of communi- 
 cation back to the east. 
 
 229 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE SCOTCH-IRISH AND THE QUAKERS 
 
 After Bouquet had left Carlisle, and was moving 
 westward to his victory at Bushy Run, the courage of 
 the frontiersmen was somewhat restored, and they 
 began to organize as rangers and defend themselves. 
 The men in the neighborhood of Carlisle and Shippens- 
 burg were led by James Smith, who had been in cap- 
 tivity among the Indians in the previous war, and 
 wrote an interesting narrative of his adventures. His 
 men painted their faces red and black like the savage 
 warriors, and became such skilful bushwhackers that 
 their part of the frontier was but little molested. In 
 the upper part of the Susquehanna Valley, one hundred 
 and ten rangers intercepted some Indians at Muncey 
 Creek, and, after a battle of half an hour, put them to 
 flight. Colonel Armstrong also collected about three 
 hundred men to surprise the Indians on the Susque- 
 hanna. He arrived, however, too late, for the Indians 
 had fled. But learning of another small village of 
 them, he selected one hundred and fifty of his best 
 men to make a dash upon it, as he had done some 
 years before upon Kittanning. He reached the vil- 
 lage; but the enemy did not wait to fight him, and 
 left the dinner which they were preparing still hot 
 upon their bark plates. He was obliged to satisfy 
 
 230 
 
The Scotch-Irish and the (Quakers 
 
 himself with the destruction of their houses, grain, 
 and provisions. 
 
 The Assembly also raised a force of seven hundred 
 men, who were divided into small parties, to range the 
 Susquehanna Valley and enable the people to gather 
 their crops. Two of these companies, stationed in 
 Lancaster County, were in command of a famous 
 Presbyterian minister, Rev. John Elder, pastor of a 
 church at Paxton. 
 
 The last war had made the Indian name sufficiently 
 detested, but the new outburst, under Pontiac, had 
 inflamed the people to such a pitch of hatred that some 
 of them were ready for any sort of vengeance. We 
 gain an idea of the state of this feeling when we find 
 that Amherst, the commander-in-chief of the British 
 forces, thought it would be well to infect the various 
 tribes with small-pox, that Bouquet said he would try 
 to carry out the suggestion with infected blankets, and 
 that another subordinate officer suggested the distribu- 
 tion among them of greater quantities of rum. It was 
 with the greatest difficulty that Bouquet could protect 
 prisoners, and even the Indian scouts and 'messengers 
 he employed, from the vengeance of the frontiersmen. 
 A few friendly Indians, who sought his protection at 
 Carlisle, had to be carefully guarded from the people; 
 and the solitary prisoner his men took at Bushy Run 
 was shot to death like a rat. The Indians he employed 
 to carry despatches were instructed, when they ap- 
 proached a post or settlement, to put a green branch 
 in the muzzles of their guns; and this signal was 
 supposed to be understood by every one ; yet the poor 
 fellows were sometimes shot at sight. 
 
 231 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 The thirst for the wildest kind of vengeance was 
 most intense and clamorous among the Scotch-Irish 
 frontiersmen, who now for the first time became con- 
 spicuous. Heretofore they had played an insignificant 
 part in the history of the colony; had been content to 
 go out and occupy the wild land, and pay little atten- 
 tion to politics. They were scattered over vast extents 
 of mountain and forest, and their entire energies 
 absorbed in the struggle for existence. But danger 
 and suffering were rapidly driving them into union; 
 and they began at this time to form themselves into a 
 distinct and organized party. 
 
 Their loud complaints against the Quakers and the 
 Assembly, and their demands for protection and ven- 
 geance, may seem somewhat inconsistent when we 
 remember that they had declined to follow Bouquet 
 in his expedition to save Fort Pitt, although that was 
 evidently the only plan that would permanently check 
 invasion and secure the protection and vengeance they 
 desired. They, however, soon afterward formed them- 
 selves into ranging companies, and took very efficient 
 means for their own protection. But they were not 
 much interested in invasions of the enemy's country, 
 and apparently because they thought it more impor- 
 tant to stay at home and protect their families, while 
 the regular troops attended to the distant expeditions. 
 
 As part of this home protection, they soon turned 
 their attacks upon the Quakers and the semi-civilized 
 Indians living in the eastern part of the province. 
 They were certain that the Quakers were responsible 
 for everything; and their Presbyterian preachers, who 
 were now rapidly organizing them, gave them great 
 
 232 
 
The Scotch-Irish and the (Quakers 
 
 encouragement in this opinion. Fiery sermons were 
 preached. The Quaker doctrine was wrong, and only 
 evil could result from it. The Quakers had offended 
 God in the foundation of the colony by making treaties 
 of kindness with the Indians instead of exterminating 
 them as a heathen race; and that policy of treaties and 
 pious friendship, still persisted in, had gradually devel- 
 oped this calamity of continuous murder and scalping 
 from which there seemed no escape. It was the ven- 
 geance of an angry deity. The heathen had not been 
 destroyed, the Scriptures had been disobeyed, and God, 
 as a punishment, had deluged the frontiers with blood. 
 
 " And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before 
 thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them ; thou 
 shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto 
 them." — Deuteronomy vii. 2. 
 
 After Bouquet's victory at Bushy Run, in August, 
 1763, the Indians were almost entirely quiet for some 
 months. But in the autumn some depredations, though 
 by no means so excessive as before, were committed ; 
 and the frontiersmen believed that the whole flood of 
 massacre would be again upon them. They began to 
 suspect that the friendly Indians of Conestoga, near 
 Lancaster, and those that had been converted to Chris- 
 tianity by the Moravians at Bethlehem, were at the 
 bottom of the mischief, and were supplying their red 
 brethren with ammunition and information, and shel- 
 tering them from pursuit. 
 
 The Conestoga Indians were the degenerate descend- 
 ants of some of the clans that met the first settlers, 
 supplied them with game, and made treaties with 
 
 2 33 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 William Penn. They had left the war-path, and even 
 the chase, and were devoting themselves to basket and 
 broom making, and other small occupations. They 
 were supposed to be completely tamed, and were the 
 pets of the proprietary government, which supplied 
 them at times with food and clothes. They were often 
 troublesome, and in the previous war had threatened to 
 go over to the French, but were restrained by fresh 
 presents. 1 One of their number, Will Sock, had been 
 charged with murder; but their offences were usually 
 no worse than continual begging from the government, 
 which, they said, owed them support because it had 
 driven away their game. The people who lived near 
 them seem to have usually regarded them as harmless. 
 But some of the frontiersmen thought differently, and, 
 after having collected what they considered sufficient 
 evidence of their evil disposition, asked Governor 
 Hamilton to remove them, and assured him that .their 
 removal would secure the safety of the frontier. He 
 was himself, however, removed from office before he 
 could reply, and in October, 1763, John Penn, the son 
 of Richard Penn, one of the proprietors, appointed in 
 his stead. 
 
 Governor Penn was in his turn also warned about the 
 Conestogas ; but he told the rangers that these Indians 
 were innocent and helpless, and occupied a part of one 
 of the proprietary manors, having been placed there by 
 a private agreement with his grandfather, the founder, 
 and this agreement had been since confirmed. The 
 government, he said, was therefore pledged to their 
 protection. 
 
 1 8 Col. Rec. 113, 122, 135. 
 
 234 
 
The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 
 
 About the same time a party of rangers encamped 
 near the Moravian Indians in the Lehigh Valley, 
 intending to destroy them in the night, but a violent 
 storm prevented. The governor, however, investigated 
 these Indians in conjunction with some commissioners 
 appointed by the Assembly; and the commissioners 
 reported the Indians dangerous, and in league with 
 the hostile tribes. A resolution passed that they be 
 invited to come to Philadelphia; and one hundred and 
 forty of them were accordingly brought down, jeered 
 at, and cursed by the people in every town they passed 
 through, and with difficulty saved from an attack of 
 the mob in Philadelphia. They were protected by 
 the government in suitable buildings, and their wants 
 supplied by the Quakers. 
 
 It was not a moment too soon. The people at 
 Paxton, near the present site of Harrisburg, were 
 under the preaching of the famous John Elder, who 
 had often addressed an armed congregation with his 
 own rifle resting beside him in the pulpit. Fifty-seven 
 of them, ever after known as the Paxton Boys, finding 
 their warnings unappreciated, went, at the break of 
 day, on the 14th of December, 1763, to the village of 
 the Conestogas, and found only six of them at home, 
 — three men, two women, and a boy, — who were 
 instantly shot down, their bodies mangled, and their 
 cabins and property burned. As the rangers re- 
 turned through the snow, after their bloody work, 
 they met a man, to whom they freely told what they 
 had done. He protested against their cruelty, and 
 was bluntly asked, "Don't you believe in God and 
 the Bible?" 
 
 235 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 At a house where some of them stopped for refresh- 
 ment, a little boy, who went to look at their horses, 
 noticed the bloody tomahawks hanging at the saddle- 
 bows, and after they were gone told his parents. The 
 truth was immediately suspected ; and, on going to the 
 Indian village, the bodies of the six unfortunates were 
 found still burning in the ruins of the cabins. The 
 sheriff and a party soon after arrived ; and the remain- 
 ing fourteen of the tribe, who were away selling brooms, 
 were promptly collected and put, for protection, in the 
 work-house at Lancaster, as the jail was called. 
 
 The rangers heard of it, and in a few days assembled 
 again and started for Lancaster. John Elder, their 
 pastor, had attempted to stop their previous expedition ; 
 and, hearing of this new one, he mounted his horse 
 and overtook them. He drew rein across the road in 
 front, and used all his authority to dissuade them ; but 
 a rifle held against his breast forced him to move aside. 
 They rode into Lancaster at a gallop, fastened their 
 horses, and rushed to the jail. The doors were crushed 
 in, and the poor Indians, men and women and children, 
 shot, and cut to pieces with hatchets. 
 
 This was probably the first instance of the adminis- 
 tration of that lynch law, as it is called, which has 
 now become so common among us that hundreds of 
 lynchings take place in the United States every year; 
 and so far as it is a benefit, the Scotch-Irish may be 
 given the credit for its introduction. The lynching of 
 the Conestogas would not now occasion much surprise, 
 especially in some parts of the country. But in the 
 year 1763, it was altogether a new thing among English- 
 speaking peoples, and the surprise, indignation, and 
 
 236 
 
The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 
 
 disgust shown in the pamphlets and writings of the 
 time were very great. 
 
 These wild Scotch- Irish, it was said, had been cry- 
 ing aloud for protection, and yet were afraid to assist 
 in protecting themselves by marching with Bouquet to 
 save Fort Pitt. Instead of marching westward, where 
 the enemy was, they had come eastward, and murdered 
 a score of poor, degraded, defenceless people, mostly 
 women and children. How could law and order be 
 maintained, and what was the security for life, liberty, 
 or property, if any chance band of ruffians could take 
 the law into their own hands and at their own caprice 
 condemn and execute ? 
 
 Franklin was particularly indignant and outspoken. 
 He wrote a pamphlet, which, like everything else from 
 his pen, had a wide circulation, and was known for a 
 long time as the "Narrative," from the first word of 
 its title. The Assembly and their friends were much 
 delighted with it; and for some months it was almost 
 impossible to enter certain houses without being asked, 
 " Has thee read the ' Narrative ' ? " 
 
 The Arabs, Turks, and Papist Spaniards, said 
 Franklin, in his rich and homely phrases, protect the 
 helpless and unfortunate and all who have broken 
 bread or plighted faith with them ; and the poor 
 Conestoga Indians would have been safer among any 
 of these infidels, or among the negroes of Africa, than 
 among the Christian white savages of Peckstang and 
 Donegal. 
 
 They were the remnants of a tribe, he said, that 
 met the first settlers of the province with presents of 
 corn and venison, and afterward made, with William 
 
 237 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Penn, the great treaty, the admiration of the whole 
 civilized world. The words of this treaty had declared 
 that it was to last as long as the sun should shine or 
 the waters run in the rivers. It had been renewed 
 from time to time, or, as the Indians expressed it, the 
 chain had been brightened; and the twenty remnants 
 of the tribe still kept up the custom of presenting an 
 address of welcome to every new governor. They had 
 only just completed this ancient and interesting cere- 
 mony in the presence of young Penn, the grandson of 
 their great benefactor, when they were annihilated by 
 the Paxtons, — the valorous, heroic Paxtons, prating of 
 God and the Bible, fifty-seven of whom, armed with 
 rifles, knives, and hatchets, had actually succeeded in 
 killing three old men, two women, and a boy. 
 
 But on the frontier, and among a large number of 
 people in the eastern part of the province, the lynchers 
 had the fullest sympathy, and so strong was the feel- 
 ing that the government was powerless. No attempt 
 was made at concealment. The rangers openly boasted 
 of their deed, and as one of them afterward expressed 
 it, were ready to leave their cause with God and their 
 guns. It was generally believed that the Conestogas 
 were more or less guilty; it is probable that one or two 
 of them had been concerned in some of the minor 
 depredations that had been recently committed; and 
 with this for an excuse, the authorities were easily 
 defied. 
 
 Governor Penn issued two proclamations, denouncing 
 the murder of the Indians, and instructed the magis- 
 trates to commit the guilty ones for trial wherever 
 found. But nothing was ever done, and nothing could 
 
 238 
 
The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 
 
 be done. A company of British regulars, encamped 
 near Lancaster, on their way from Fort Pitt, seem also 
 to have been in sympathy with the lynchers, and could 
 not be relied upon to enforce the law. The governor 
 was helpless, and his proclamations meaningless and 
 laughed at. 
 
 As in the previous war, there had been a violent 
 outburst of party feeling, so now there was another. 
 The Scotch-Irish were soon in the full flame of an 
 insurrection, not unlike the Whiskey Rebellion, in 
 which they indulged themselves almost thjrty years 
 afterward. The few Quakers who lived on the frontier 
 were in danger of their lives, or of having their houses 
 burned by mobs. Meetings were held, denouncing the 
 Assembly, and everything else at Philadelphia; and 
 delegates were appointed to proceed to that city and 
 demand redress. 
 
 A large company of backwoodsmen, variously esti- 
 mated at from five hundred to fifteen hundred, set forth 
 in January, 1764, on foot and on horseback, and finally 
 halted at Germantown, seven miles north of the Quaker 
 stronghold. They had intended to enter that strong- 
 hold, but found the ferries on the Schuylkill guarded, 
 and more preparation than they expected. One ferry, 
 however, — the Swedes Ford, — some fifteen miles 
 north of the city, was open, and crossing by this they 
 found themselves between the two rivers, and, turning 
 down toward the city, thought it prudent to venture 
 no farther than Germantown. 
 
 This strange assemblage had both a civil and a mili- 
 tary character. It was composed of the representa- 
 tives of public meetings, and also of the rangers and 
 
 239 
 
y 
 
 Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 j 
 Paxtons with their weapons. The rangers openly 
 declared that they intended to capture Philadelphia, 
 seize the one hundred and forty Moravian Indians, and 
 put them to death as they deserved. They also had 
 some vague intentions, they scarcely knew what, of 
 destroying the political power of the Quakers. They 
 expected much assistance from the mob in the city, 
 which had already shown itself so hostile to the con- 
 verted Indians ; and they hoped that their Presbyterian 
 brethren would also assist them, or, at . least, remain 
 neutral. .As they passed along the roads leading to 
 Philadelphia, they amused themselves by thrusting 
 their rifles into the windows of the farmhouses, shoot- 
 ing chickens and pigs, and occasionally they would lay 
 hold of some man, throw him down, and pretend to 
 scalp him. 
 
 Their coming had been foreseen for some time, and 
 their movements watched by scouts and couriers, who 
 were constantly arriving in the town with their horses 
 all in foam. The greatest excitement and alarm pre- 
 vailed, especially among the Quakers and anti-proprie- 
 tary party. The Presbyterians and Churchmen had less 
 to fear. But all who had property to lose, no matter 
 what their faith, knew what the invasion meant. 
 
 At first it was intended to send the Moravian Indians 
 down the river; but this was changed, and they were 
 sent to New York, to be under the protection of Sir 
 William Johnson and the Six Nations. But the New 
 York governor would not receive them, and the Gov- 
 ernor of New Jersey would not allow them to remain 
 in his province. They were a source of riot and excite- 
 ment among the people wherever they went. So they 
 
 240 
 
The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 
 
 were returned to Philadelphia, and quartered at the 
 soldiers' barracks near what is now Third and Green 
 streets. 
 
 The greatest preparations were made to protect 
 the city. British regulars were summoned. Six com- 
 panies of foot, two of cavalry, and a battery of artillery 
 were hastily formed; and the quarters of the Moravian 
 Indians were fortified with earthworks and cannon. 
 Governor Penn anxiously sought the aid of Franklin, 
 who again became a military man, and superintended 
 the preparations. 
 
 He had no difficulty in raising recruits; for the 
 Quakers had now no scruples whatever against the 
 fleshly arm. The unspeakable Presbyterian was upon 
 them, — the man who in New England had hung four 
 of their sect, and whose religion knew no mercy for 
 the heretic. Human nature asserted itself, and the 
 Quaker rushed to war. Some of them worked on the 
 fortifications, and salved their consciences with the idea 
 that it was not actual fighting. But others, so the 
 pamphlets of that time report, openly shouldered mus- 
 kets, and asked to be led to Germantown, where they 
 declared they would kill every Scotch- Irishman in the 
 colony; that they had force enough to do it; and it was 
 the only way to treat such robbers and murderers. 
 
 Many, however, feared that it would be the rangers 
 who would make the first attack. The day of their 
 arrival, the 4th of February, the Quakers and others, 
 who had hastily become soldiers, assembled at the 
 barracks containing the Indians and a few regulars 
 at Third and Green streets. There they remained all 
 night in a drenching rain, expecting at any moment to 
 16 241 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 hear the crack of Paxton rifles. The next day, although 
 Sunday, it seemed well to let the Scotch-Irish know 
 what might happen to them ; and the cannon which 
 commanded all the approaching streets were fired. 
 The poor Indians in the barracks, not knowing the 
 reason, thought their last hour had come. 
 
 But instead of a battle, some ministers were sent to 
 meet the rioters and pacify them ; and while they were 
 gone, an alarm was raised at the dead of night in the 
 city. The church-bells were rung, the drums beat, 
 and the people, as they sprang from their beds, imme- 
 diately, in conformity with a previous understanding, 
 put lighted candles in every window. With the streets 
 all illuminated, the citizen soldiery assembled again at 
 the barracks, and soon saw their enemy approaching 
 on horseback, up one of the streets. A cannon was 
 levelled at them; the gunner held the match; and in 
 another moment some Presbyterians would test the 
 truth of their theology in the other world. But there 
 was a frantic cry, the gunner's hand was stayed, and 
 directly every one saw that the enemy was a party of 
 Germans, come in from the country to assist their 
 friends the Quakers. 
 
 A day or so afterward there was another night alarm. 
 The candles flamed in every window, and the soldiers 
 were again at the barracks. But no enemy appeared ; 
 and a rain-storm coming up, many of the soldiers shel- 
 tered themselves in a Quaker meeting-house, which 
 for a time bristled with bayonets and swords, an 
 opportunity for satire on Quaker principles of which 
 the Presbyterian pamphleteers were not slow to avail 
 themselves. 
 
 242 
 
The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 
 
 Commissioners were sent out to negotiate at German- 
 town, and among them was, of course, the sagacious 
 and genial Franklin. They conferred with the rebels, 
 and interested themselves in watching their strange 
 appearance and costume, — the blanket-coat, with a 
 belt, the fringed leggings, and the long rifle. They 
 were not as rough always as they seemed, and some 
 of them, in conversation, proved to be quiet, pleasant 
 fellows, with a rather intelligent comprehension of 
 civil rights. Their excitement had been quieted by 
 the preparations they knew had been made in the city, 
 and some of the more agreeable traits of the Scotch- 
 Irishman had begun to show themselves. A com- 
 mittee of them began to prepare a memorial of their 
 grievances; and those who remained at Germantown 
 whiled away the time by practising with their rifles at 
 the old Lutheran church's weather-vane, — the figure 
 of a cock, — which, with the bullet-marks upon it, is 
 still preserved. 
 
 Their document of grievances, when prepared, was 
 expressed in clear, temperate language, with here and 
 there an admirable touch of backwoods simplicity. So 
 far as good taste and strength of argument were con- 
 cerned, it might almost have been written by Franklin; 
 and it was not unequal to some of the state papers of 
 the Revolution. It showed a side of the Scotch-Irish 
 character which fortunately became more conspicuous 
 in after years. 
 
 It complained mildly that the Moravian Indians, the 
 abettors of the massacre of women and children, were 
 protected by the government and secured from righteous 
 vengeance; but it made no demands about them except 
 
 243 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 that they should be removed from the colony, and here- 
 after no Indians allowed to live in the inhabited parts 
 of the country in time of war. It complained that a 
 law had been passed by which the men who killed the 
 Conestoga Indians were to be tried at Philadelphia 
 instead of in the county where their supposed crime 
 had been committed, and it asked that this grievance 
 be remedied. The five frontier counties — Lancaster, 
 York, Cumberland, Berks, and Northampton — had 
 only ten representatives in the Assembly, while the 
 interior counties — Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks 
 — .had twenty-six. The representation, it said, should 
 be more equal. 
 
 The men wounded in border wars, the complaint 
 went on, should be cared for at public expense ; no 
 more trade should be carried on with the Indians until 
 they restored the prisoners they had taken ; and here- 
 after no private person should be allowed to correspond 
 or treat with any hostile tribe. Great complaint was 
 made about the scalp bounty. In the previous war, it 
 was said, Pennsylvania, like the rest of his Majesty's 
 colonies, had offered a bounty for Indian scalps. The 
 practice had been most beneficial ; for it encouraged 
 daring men to invade the Indian country, and inflicted 
 most serious loss on the enemy. They asked for a 
 renewal of this excellent custom, the discontinuance 
 of which had blunted the energies of many a brave 
 ranger. 
 
 Their petition having been finished and presented, 
 most of the rioters prepared to depart for their homes, 
 and the citizen-soldiers in the town were called to- 
 gether, thanked for their services, and dismissed. But 
 
 244 
 
The Scotch-Irish and the (Quakers 
 
 the next morning the alarm was again sounded. The 
 Paxtons had broken the treaty and were in the town. 
 Within fifteen minutes a thousand of the people were 
 under arms, and, according to a Quaker writer of the 
 time, were so infuriated at being disturbed again, that 
 if the whole body of the enemy had come in, there 
 would have been a very bloody engagement. 1 But it was 
 only about thirty of the frontiersmen, who, before they 
 returned home, wanted to see the sights of the town. 
 
 They were allowed to wander about and gratify their 
 curiosity. They asked to be taken to the barracks 
 of the Moravian Indians, where, they said, they could 
 point out some who had been in battles against the 
 white men; but when taken to the Indians, they were 
 unable to find any of those they had described, and 
 were obliged to start the story that the Quakers had 
 secreted the guilty ones. Several of them boasted 
 openly that they had taken part in the Conestoga 
 murders; and one of them is reported to have said, 
 with much swagger, " I am the man who killed Will 
 Sock ; this is the arm that stabbed him to the heart, and 
 I glory in it." 
 
 Will Sock was a well-known character among the 
 Conestogas; and Graydon, in his " Memoirs," relates 
 the boast of the man who professed to have killed him 
 as having been made to a school-teacher, named Davis, 
 in whose school Graydon was a pupil. Davis, like 
 many others, especially Presbyterians, had mingled 
 among the thirty frontiersmen when they came to the 
 city, and talked with them. He was so far carried 
 away by their opinions that he related their deeds to 
 
 1 Haz. Pa. Reg. xii. 1 1 . 
 2 45 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 his school-children with approval. "He was really a 
 kind, good-natured man," says Graydon, "yet from the 
 dominion of his religious or political prejudices he had 
 been led to apologize for, if not to approve of, an out- 
 rage which was a disgrace to a civilized people." 
 
 The incident illustrates very well the state of feeling 
 and the way in which people took sides. So many 
 people, like the good school-master, Davis, sympathized 
 with the rioters that, though they openly spoke of what 
 they had done at Conestoga and Lancaster, the govern- 
 ment dared not arrest them, even when it had them 
 in its grasp in the city. On the other hand, many 
 others, like Graydon and Franklin, although not 
 Quakers, were of a different way of thinking, and 
 were thoroughly disgusted with the Paxtons and their 
 insurrection. There has been much misunderstanding 
 of the situation, because writers have given the impres- 
 sion that only the Quakers opposed the Scotch-Irish. 
 But as a matter of fact, pretty much the whole body of 
 the Germans in the country districts, and many Church- 
 men and others, were on the Quaker side ; and if they 
 had not been, Philadelphia would probably have been 
 sacked and burned, followed by a revolution in the 
 government. 
 
 Only one request of the Scotch -Irish was granted. 
 The governor issued the long -desired scalp proclama- 
 tion. After offering large rewards for prisoners and 
 male scalps, it closed by saying, " And for the scalp of 
 a female Indian Fifty pieces of eight." Such was the 
 melancholy end of Penn's Indian policy, — a policy 
 which for its justice and humanity had at one time 
 aroused the admiration of all the philosophers of 
 
 246 
 
The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 
 
 Europe. But now the tribe with which he made the 
 famous treaty, dwindled by rum and civilization to a 
 miserable remnant of twenty, had turned traitor to the 
 colonists, and was annihilated, and his grandson was 
 offering bounties for women's scalps. 
 
 Party spirit was up. It would not be appeased when 
 the frontiersmen retired from Germantown, and the 
 rest of the contest had to be fought on paper. The 
 Quakers and the anti-proprietary party denounced 
 the Paxtons, and declared that, instead of coming to 
 Philadelphia with rifles in their hands, they should 
 have come with ropes round their necks. On the other 
 side, the proprietary party — the Presbyterians, and 
 many of the Churchmen — were loud in praise of the 
 Paxtons, who, they said, had, by their promptness, 
 delivered the colony from wretches who had been 
 destroying men, women, and children for years. The 
 two factions rushed into one of the fiercest pamphlet 
 wars of which we have any account in colonial history. 
 
 The controversy was not only hot and bitter, but 
 very voluminous; for between fifty and sixty pam- 
 phlets are still to be found in the collection of the 
 Pennsylvania Historical Society, and it is not unlikely 
 that there were others which have been forgotten or 
 lost. Some of them are in verse, and some in dia- 
 logue; but most of them are in plain and sometimes 
 coarse prose. 
 
 The burden of the Quaker argument was that the 
 Presbyterians had unlawfully settled on land belonging 
 to the Indians, and had brought on the war. So long 
 as the Indians were in contact with the Quakers and 
 the Germans there was peace; but as soon as the 
 
 247 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Presbyterians went among them, the trouble began. 
 The Germans lived on the frontier, and suffered 
 severely from Indian raids; but they never com- 
 plained of the Conestogas, and never suspected them 
 of treachery. Moreover, the Presbyterians were bad 
 people in other respects. They were always rebellious 
 and disorderly, as the history of the sect in England 
 clearly showed. Rebellion and Presbyterianism had 
 become interchangeable terms. They propagated their 
 religion by the sword, like the Mahometans, and had 
 a terrible record of cruelty and persecution in Scotland 
 and New England. Their object in Pennsylvania, as 
 everywhere else, was to establish their religion by law, 
 levy taxes for the support of it, and compel everybody 
 to attend the kirk under penalty of fine and imprison- 
 ment. 
 
 The word " Presbyterian," when used by the Quakers, 
 was intended to include Puritans, Independents, and 
 Massachusetts Congregationalists; in fact, all Calvin- 
 ists, who were the people, of all others, that the 
 Quakers hated. They believed them to be a serious 
 menace to religious liberty, and resented their presence 
 in the colony. They looked upon the Pennsylvania 
 Scotch-Irish as belonging to the same sect, which, in 
 Massachusetts, had hung four Quakers, and whipped a 
 hundred or more of them at the cart's tail. The 
 Massachusetts affair is often referred to in the pam- 
 phlets, and usually with great bitterness. In one of 
 the dialogues, a Quaker, after describing how he will 
 overcome the Scotch- Irish at Germantown, says to a 
 Presbyterian, "Then will I remember New England 
 and make thee tremble." 
 
 248 
 
The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 
 
 The Scotch-Irish, and their sympathizers in the 
 proprietary party, answered the Quaker hatred with 
 contempt and ridicule. The sect, they said, was, by 
 its absurd principles, unfit for government, and should 
 be driven out of it. It was impossible for a Quaker 
 to be sincere in his religion and, at the same time, 
 take part in politics ; and, as a matter of fact, the best 
 members abstained altogether from politics, and left 
 the government of the colony to the hypocrites. In 
 the horrors of the French and Indian wars, as well as 
 in Pontiac's conspiracy, these hypocrites, as well as the 
 more pious and deluded ones, had been corresponding 
 with the savages, giving them presents, and attempt- 
 ing to stop their bloodthirsty course with treaties and 
 kindness. They would never go to war while white 
 people were in danger; but the moment the Moravian 
 Indians were threatened they rushed to arms. 
 
 Some of the Presbyterian doggerel verses on this 
 subject were rather good : — 
 
 " Go on good Christians never spare 
 To give your Indians clothes to wear; 
 Send 'em good beef and pork and bread, 
 Guns, powder, flints and store of lead, 
 To shoot your neighbors through the head ; 
 Devoutly then make Affirmation, 
 You're Friends to George and British Nation; 
 Encourage ev'ry friendly savage, 
 To murder, burn, destroy and ravage ; 
 Fathers and mothers here maintain, 
 Whose sons add numbers to the slain ; 
 Of Scotch and Irish let them kill 
 As many thousands as they will 
 That you may lord it o'er the land, 
 And have the whole and sole command." 
 249 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Some of the writers, however, took a coarser view, 
 and found the cause of Quaker affection for the Indians 
 in the charms of the squaws. Several caricatures and 
 doggerels enlarged on this point, and were so indecent 
 that in modern times they would have been suppressed 
 by the police. 
 
 250 
 
The Conspiracy Broken 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY BROKEN 
 
 The relief experienced after Bouquet's victory at 
 Bushy Run, or after the Scotch-Irish victory in the jail 
 at Lancaster, as some insisted, was only a lull. With 
 the first breath of spring the savages were on again. 
 They moved in small, scattered bands, sneaking here 
 and there, destroying isolated farms, and picking off 
 stragglers, as they had done before; and, as had hap- 
 pened soon after Braddock's defeat, they came upon a 
 country schoolhouse, and killed the master and the 
 children. There was only one way to stop them, and 
 that was to invade them by a powerful force in their 
 own country. Colonel Bradstreet was sent through 
 the lakes to relieve Detroit, and Bouquet was to march 
 through Pennsylvania into Ohio. 
 
 Bouquet had two regiments of regulars, some Vir- 
 ginians and friendly Indians, and the Assembly raised 
 for him a thousand men. It is said that the commis- 
 sioners of the Assembly also agreed with him that they 
 would send to England for fifty couple of bloodhounds 
 to hunt the Indian scalping-parties. This plan of 
 using dogs to assist the scouts and rangers had been 
 several times suggested. Much was expected from 
 it by Bouquet and others; and all the details of 
 training the dogs and managing them in the woods 
 
 2 5 J 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 had been prepared. But apparently it was never put 
 in execution. 
 
 The story of this expedition into Ohio, believed by 
 the Indians to be beyond the courage of a white man, 
 the strange adventures of the army, their visits to the 
 remains of curious old French and Indian villages, and 
 their first glimpse of the open savannas, free from 
 trees, is most fascinating, but hardly pertinent to a 
 brief history of Pennsylvania. Bouquet was, as usual, 
 successful beyond expectation. He compelled a peace 
 with the Indians, and they returned to him the two 
 hundred and more prisoners, — men, women, and chil- 
 dren, — many of whom had been in their possession for 
 nearly ten years. 
 
 The relations of many of these prisoners had gone 
 out with the army; and the scene when the prisoners 
 were all brought into camp has often been described. 
 Fathers and mothers suddenly recognized their chil- 
 dren; husbands received their wives, that had been 
 carried from them years before; sisters and brothers 
 met after their long separation, and the excitement and 
 sympathy, even among those who were not expecting to 
 find relatives, was intense. But in the midst of all the 
 delight there were some who ran to and fro in vain, and 
 asked eager questions that no one cared to answer. 
 
 Many of the children were unwilling to return with 
 their white relations, and had to be taken by force, 
 parting from their savage captors with tears. Even 
 some of the grown persons were unwilling to return, 
 and the Indians, in order to fulfil their agreement with 
 Bouquet, were obliged to bind them and carry them 
 to the camp. Nearly all the white women who had 
 
 252 
 
The Conspiracy Broken 
 
 been for any length of time among the Indians showed 
 great reluctance to leave, and many of them afterward 
 returned to their warrior husbands. 
 
 There has probably never been a man connected with 
 Pennsylvania who, in the best sense of the word, was 
 so thoroughly popular with all classes of the people as 
 Bouquet; for he had relieved them from a loss and 
 from a horror of panic and suffering of which we can 
 now scarcely conceive. No single person, not even 
 Meade at Gettysburg, has ever before or since done 
 them such a service. They have erected no monu- 
 ments to his memory, and he is now almost forgotten. 
 But in the year 1764 every man and woman seemed to 
 regard him as a personal friend to whom they owed 
 a debt of gratitude. The social life of Philadelphia, 
 then becoming remarkable, in a provincial way, for its 
 wealth and refinement, was at his feet. Even the Ger- 
 mans, who seldom became enthusiastic about anything 
 outside of the fences that enclosed their farms, idol- 
 ized him; and when he was made a brigadier-general, 
 the whole province was delighted. " You can hardly 
 imagine," writes Captain Etherington to him, from 
 Lancaster, "how this place rings with your promotion; 
 for the townsmen and boors stop us in the streets to 
 ask if it is true that the king has made Colonel Bouquet 
 a general ; and when they are told it is true, they march 
 off with great joy." 
 
 The pleasure of his return to Philadelphia was, how- 
 ever, marred by a disagreeable incident. The Virginia 
 troops that accompanied the expedition, not being able 
 to obtain payment for their services from their own 
 province, entered claims for their wages against 
 
 253 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Bouquet, who, they said, had asked for their assistance 
 in the campaign; and he had to be relieved from his 
 embarrassment by the Assembly, which promptly paid 
 this debt of Virginia. If Virginia had had a Quaker 
 population, Parkman would have had the opportunity, 
 in his "Conspiracy of Pontiac," of assigning this 
 repudiation of a war debt to Quaker scruples; but, as 
 the Quaker Assembly of Pennsylvania assumed and 
 paid the debt, he is compelled simply to record it with- 
 out comment. 
 
 254 
 
The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE ATTEMPT TO ABOLISH THE PROPRIETORSHIP 
 
 THE agreement Franklin made in England, by which 
 the proprietary estates were to be taxed on condition 
 that the tax should be fair, naturally led to further 
 difficulties. The proprietors and the Assembly easily 
 differed as to what was fair; and the proprietors were 
 soon back at their old tactics of trying to gain an 
 advantage. 
 
 The arrangement made by Franklin provided that 
 certain wild lands of the proprietors were not to be 
 assessed any higher than the lowest rate at which sim- 
 ilar lands of the people were assessed. But the gov- 
 ernor construed this to mean that the proprietary 
 lands should be rated at the lowest valuation of the 
 worst lands of the people. In the year 1764, when 
 supplies were being raised for Bouquet's final expedi- 
 tion, which ended the war for Pennsylvania and secured 
 the treaty of peace, the governor attempted to force 
 this construction on the Assembly. It was the last 
 chance to use war necessities to gain an advantage for 
 the proprietors, and the attempt nearly cost them their 
 province. 
 
 The bill in which the point was raised was one for a 
 grant of £50,000 for Bouquet's campaign; and the gov- 
 ernor refused to sign it unless the Penns were given 
 
 2 55 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the advantage of having their best wild lands taxed at 
 the rate paid by the people for their worst. It was a 
 petty attempt. It admitted the principle, long con- 
 tended for by the people, that the estates should be 
 taxed, and yet tried to force a trifling advantage at the 
 last moment by delaying an important money bill. 
 
 But the advantage, though trifling, was gained. The 
 Assembly, anxious to end the war as soon as possible, 
 and determined to be even with the governor and his 
 masters in another way, passed the bill to suit him. 
 Immediately there was a great excitement among a large 
 part of the people, not only the Quakers, but all classes ; 
 and their anger was increased when the governor 
 resorted to the old habit of sending affronting messages 
 to the Assembly. Encouraged by having accom- 
 plished so much against the proprietors, and freed 
 from any fear of French invasion, they rushed at once 
 into a measure which they had long had in mind. This 
 was no less than to abolish the proprietorship, and turn 
 the country into a royal province under the direct 
 government of the king. 
 
 The way in which this was intended to be accom- 
 plished was by completing the agreement to sell to the 
 crown, which Penn had made in his lifetime and had 
 been prevented by failing health from executing. The 
 king was to step into the place of the proprietors, so 
 far as the civil government was concerned, and pay 
 them for the loss of it. Everything else was to stand 
 as it was. The proprietors were to retain their lands, 
 and there was to be no change in laws or charter. The 
 king was simply to buy from the Penn family their 
 right to govern. 
 
 256 
 
The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 
 
 Even if the plan could have been carried out exactly 
 as proposed, without any change in laws or charter, 
 there would seem to have been but little to be gained 
 by having a royal governor. But the worst difficulty 
 lay in the probability that when the king, either by his 
 prerogative or through an Act of Parliament, assumed 
 the position of the proprietors, he might also take some- 
 thing more, and either change the charter and laws, or 
 abolish them and create new ones. The mere fact of the 
 people having petitioned for a change might easily be 
 construed into a surrender of everything. 
 
 It is rather difficult to account for this popular outburst 
 in favor of royal government on the eve of the events 
 which led to the Revolution, except to say that it was a 
 mere outburst of feeling. The Quakers, who were the 
 leaders of the movement, had for a long time been very 
 hostile to the proprietors, partly, no doubt, because they 
 resented their change of religion. The province had 
 always been a Quaker province ; the Quakers had 
 always ruled it; they were proud of their work; it 
 seemed more honorable to be under the crown alone 
 than to be owned by private individuals, who had de- 
 serted the faith of their father. 
 
 As advocates of the abolition of the proprietorship, 
 they became more and more powerful, and were now 
 able to gather to their anti-proprietary party members 
 from all the other divisions. The Scotch-Irish on the 
 frontier sided with them ; not from any love of such 
 companionship, but because they believed that the 
 blame for the defenceless condition of the border could 
 be partly charged to the neglect of the proprietors, and 
 that they would have more protection against Quaker 
 17 257 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 peace, as well as proprietary indifference, under a 
 vigorous administration by a royal governor. They 
 had no more respect for the crosses and candles of a 
 Church of England king than for the " thee " and " thou " 
 of the Quakers ; but they had an intense and ever pres- 
 ent horror of the tomahawk and scalping-knife. The 
 Germans, so far as they interested themselves in the 
 subject, were divided ; and the Churchmen were also 
 divided. But the Quakers and Scotch-Irish, together 
 with portions of the Germans and Churchmen, made 
 the majority in favor of a change of government in the 
 year 1764 very large. 
 
 But the other side, though few in numbers, was strong 
 in ability, character, and wealth. It consisted of the 
 eastern Presbyterians, who, not having the fear of the 
 Indian before their eyes, differed from their brethren of 
 the border. They were led by the Rev. Gilbert 
 Tennent, son of the founder of the Log College, and by 
 the Rev. Francis Allison. They dreaded a royal govern- 
 ment because they believed it would be followed by the 
 establishment by law of the Church of England with 
 bishops, surplices, altars, persecution, and all the 
 iniquities of their ancient enemy. They preferred to 
 take their chances with the proprietors, who, although 
 Episcopalians, had thus far let them alone. 
 
 The Churchmen were also active partisans on the 
 side of the proprietors ; and the provost and the college 
 set were the most active of all. They still found the 
 proprietorship and the Episcopal heirs of Penn con- 
 genial to their tastes. They had more to expect from 
 Thomas Penn's earnest sympathy for their opinions 
 than from a royal government. They were prospering 
 
 258 
 
The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 
 
 very well as things were, and their feelings and senti- 
 ments revolted from any suggestion of a change. 
 
 There was also still in existence the set who were de- 
 pendent on the proprietary system for their incomes, 
 and also the class who, having acquired wealth, were 
 admirers of the proprietorship, because it represented to 
 them the aristocratic feeling of England. People of 
 this sort had by no means diminished with the growth 
 of the colony. Probably most of them were Epis- 
 copalians ; but, as a class, they were made up of mem- 
 bers from all the divisions, and many of them had hard 
 words for the shop-keeping Franklin, who took the 
 Quaker and royal side. 
 
 These people, who took sides with the proprietors, 
 occupied a very important position in the colony. 
 They were patriotic and public-spirited, and many of the 
 best things in Philadelphia are the work of their hands. 
 In the present contest many of them had other reasons 
 than mere feeling or taste for favoring the proprietary 
 system, — reasons based on law, good sense, and a love 
 of liberty. In fact, the condition of things was just the 
 reverse of what it had been in the French and Indian 
 wars, when the Quakers had been defending the 
 liberties of the colony, and the provost and proprietary 
 party had been against them. The Quakers were now 
 jeopardizing those liberties, and the provost and the 
 Churchmen were upholding them. 
 
 It was at this time and in this contest that John 
 Dickinson first became prominent. He had been born 
 in 1732 on the eastern shore of Maryland, but most of 
 his youth had been spent near Dover, in Delaware, 
 where he received his education from a tutor, William 
 
 259 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Killen, who afterward became a chief justice. When 
 eighteen years old, Dickinson came to Philadelphia to 
 study law under John Moland, a very prominent prac- 
 titioner, and went to England to finish his studies. 
 It was the fashion in Philadelphia, and also in the 
 Southern colonies, to send law students to England to 
 complete their equipment at the English inns of court. 
 Nearly all the men who established the great fame of 
 the Philadelphia bar were trained in this way, and the 
 result is still apparent in the jurisprudence of the State. 
 Dickinson drank at this same fountain, and it had con- 
 siderable influence in shaping his career as a statesman. 
 
 He was a Quaker born and bred, and remained so to 
 his dying day. He lived handsomely, drove his coach 
 and four, was a colonel in the Revolution, and a very 
 serious student of history and law. He believed in war, 
 and was more in favor of the higher education than the 
 majority of the sect. He had a large practice at the 
 bar, and acquired in a very few years what was then 
 considered a fortune. At the time of the proposed 
 change of government in 1764, he was only thirty-two, 
 and was twitted by Franklin on his youth and inexpe- 
 rience. His practice then extended from Philadelphia 
 to New Castle and Dover. He had entered political 
 life in 1760 when he was elected to the Assembly of the 
 Lower Counties. Two years afterward he was chosen 
 a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly. 
 
 For forty years he was one of the most conspicuous 
 men in the colony. His integrity was perfect, and his 
 political career is one straight line of principle and con- 
 duct. He had the full measure of Quaker courage and 
 indifference to consequences, which sometimes amounted 
 
 260 
 
The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 
 
 to obstinacy. In the stormy times through which he 
 passed, whenever his opinions became unpopular he 
 went down with colors flying. He never would change 
 a letter or a syllable to satisfy the demands of the hour, 
 and he always had the satisfaction of seeing the people 
 return to him. 
 
 Although the mass of the Quakers were in favor of a 
 change of government, Dickinson took the opposite 
 side. It is not likely that he was influenced by his 
 wealth and position. He was more influenced by his 
 training as a lawyer, his knowledge of affairs in 
 England, where he had studied law, and his instinctive 
 dislike of movements that seemed hurried or pre- 
 mature. 
 
 Isaac N orris, afterward his father-in-law, was another 
 Quaker who took the same side and for somewhat the 
 same reason. His whole life had been passed in the 
 public service. He had been Speaker of the Assembly 
 for fifteen years ; and he had steadily resisted the pro- 
 prietors in their attempts to be exempt from taxes. 
 But when the change to a royal government was pro- 
 posed, he threw the whole force of his influence against 
 it. 
 
 Neither side has left us in doubt about their argu- 
 ments and reasons. The Assembly passed unanimously 
 twenty-five resolutions abusing the proprietorship in 
 every form that language could devise, and throwing 
 upon it the blame of all the wars and every other evil 
 that had ever happened to the province. Then they 
 adjourned, March 20, to consult their constituents. 
 Public meetings were held, petitions circulated for 
 signatures, and Franklin published his pamphlet, " Cool 
 
 261 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Thoughts." They met again May 14. There was a 
 great debate ; and the leaders delivered themselves of 
 elaborate speeches which were afterward published. 
 
 Dickinson admitted, with great frankness, all the 
 evils of injustice and misgovernment that were charged 
 against the proprietors. It would be a great relief, he 
 said, to be rid of them, and a change was greatly to be 
 desired when the proper time should come. But the 
 time had not come. The proprietary system was bad, 
 but a royal government would be worse. The colony 
 had by its charter valuable rights and privileges which 
 it still held unimpaired. It had a system of religious 
 liberty so perfect that emigrants had flocked to it, not 
 only from England, but from several countries of Europe. 
 Its commerce was free and untaxed. The Assembly 
 controlled their own adjournments, were chosen annu- 
 ally, had the sole power of raising and disposing of the 
 public money, and the people had the right to elect 
 sheriffs and coroners. If the colony were surrendered 
 to the crown, every one of these privileges, now firmly 
 established by the struggles of eighty years, might be 
 lost. 
 
 The ministry of the day, he said, were not favorable 
 to Pennsylvania. Complaints had been sent to England 
 that the .Quakers had refused to vote supplies for his 
 Majesty's forces when they were fighting the French 
 and Indians. The recent border riots of the Scotch- 
 Irish had been blamed on the Quakers, and also on 
 the Presbyterians. Accusations against dissenters were 
 readily listened to at court; and if the king and ministry 
 should decide to take the colony into their own hands, 
 they might also decide to establish the Church of 
 
 262 
 
The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 
 
 England by law, disfranchise the Quakers and Presby- 
 terians, and deprive the province of many privileges. 
 
 The proposed plan of surrender to the crown pro- 
 vided expressly that the Penn heirs should be paid the 
 full value of all the rights and franchises that were taken 
 from them. But nothing was said about the rights and 
 privileges of the colonists. They were left to chance 
 and the good pleasure of the ministry and king. The 
 plan was an excellent one for the Penn heirs; they 
 could lose nothing. But the colonists might lose 
 everything. 
 
 The most elaborate reply to Dickinson's speech was 
 made by Joseph Galloway, and published with a 
 preface by Franklin. Galloway, like Dickinson, was 
 a native of Maryland, and came to Philadelphia when 
 a young man to enjoy the opportunities offered by the 
 practice of the law. When his property was confis- 
 cated in the Revolution, it was said to have been worth 
 £40,000, which in present values was equivalent to 
 over half a million dollars, -and is another instance 
 of the ease with which fortunes were acquired. His 
 reputation has suffered from his Toryism. Severe 
 charges were made against him by Dickinson. But 
 as he is one of the neglected characters of Pennsyl- 
 vania history and we know little about him, these 
 charges stand neither proved nor disproved. Beyond 
 this he appears to have been an accomplished man, 
 somewhat given to religious speculations, a friend of 
 Franklin and Allen, and possessed of the usual country- 
 seat. 
 
 His speech against Dickinson was, however, a very 
 weak one. It was absurd, he said, to suppose that 
 
 263 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 the crown would deprive a colony of its liberties. If 
 the present ministry were to attempt such an unpopular 
 act, it would give a great opportunity to the party 
 opposed to them. It would be bad policy for them- 
 selves and bad policy for England. There were plans 
 on foot for founding new colonies, which depended for 
 their success on large numbers of emigrants, who could 
 be persuaded to go only by the promise of free institu- 
 tions. Such schemes would receive a severe check, or 
 be frustrated entirely, if an old colony like Pennsylvania 
 were deprived of its privileges. He went on in this 
 way, spending pages and pages in fulsome eulogy of 
 the king, in the hope of showing that such a good man 
 would never harm Pennsylvania ; and he was almost 
 equally profuse in declaring the righteousness and 
 friendliness of Parliament. But the king whom he 
 eulogized was George the Third ; and the Parliament 
 in which he had so much confidence was at that 
 moment preparing plans to tax all America, and a few 
 months afterward passed the Stamp Act which brought 
 on the Revolution. 
 
 Franklin also had many arguments to make in his 
 " Cool Thoughts " and in the preface to Galloway's 
 speech. He made fun of the proprietors, and was 
 liberal with witticisms and wise sayings in his most 
 inimitable manner. But his reasoning was extraor- 
 dinary. He asserted that the colonies, like Massa- 
 chusetts, the Jerseys, and the Carolinas, which had 
 been changed to royal governments, had been bene^ 
 fited by the change. This was contrary to the general 
 opinion in those colonies, and is unsupported by history. 
 The annoyance from the petty meanness of the Penns 
 
 264 
 
The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 
 
 was nothing compared to the tyranny Virginia and 
 Massachusetts had suffered from the king. Moreover, 
 the Penns had been conquered and their schemes all 
 defeated, which was more than any royal colony had 
 been able to do with the plans of the crown. In 
 the face of all the news that was coming from Eng- 
 land of the disposition of ministry and Parliament, 
 Franklin was still willing to say of the liberties of 
 Pennsylvania: — 
 
 "There is therefore nothing now that can deprive us of 
 those privileges, but an act of Parliament ; and we may rely 
 on the united justice of King, Lords and Commons that no 
 such act will ever pass, while we continue loyal and dutiful 
 subjects." 
 
 That the mass of the people should have swallowed 
 such an assertion is not so surprising. We know, from 
 many sources, that in the year 1764 they were very 
 loyal and ready to trust almost implicitly in the 
 mother-country. But such a shrewd man as Franklin 
 should have been more foreseeing. The letters of 
 Philadelphians written that spring show that all the 
 movements in England were well known. Dickinson 
 was clear-sighted enough to see the end. He called 
 attention to the recent Acts of Parliament, and warned 
 his hearers that the ministry were regulating the new 
 colonies, and " designing the strictest reformations in 
 the old." The events of the next ten years amply ful- 
 filled his prophecy. 
 
 The reason, the logic, and the statesmanship of the 
 situation were with Dickinson. But the feelings of the 
 people were stronger than any of these. They had 
 
 265 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 gained so many successes against the proprietors that, 
 being relieved of both the French War and the Indian 
 War, they lost their heads and were determined to rid 
 themselves of the apron-strings of feudalism, even if 
 the attempt should prove their ruin. The Assembly 
 passed the petition in favor of a change by a vote of 
 twenty-seven to three. At the last moment the vener- 
 able Speaker, Isaac Norn's, resigned, rather than sign 
 such a document. He believed the change to royal 
 government might some day safely be made. But the 
 present moment was too dangerous. Franklin, who 
 had no scruples, was immediately elected to his place. 
 
 The following October was the time of the general 
 election, and the question was fought over anew with 
 great excitement. Franklin and Galloway were candi- 
 dates on the old ticket, as it was called, and were 
 defeated ; but the popular verdict was in favor of the 
 petition ; and no sooner had the Assembly met than 
 they appointed Franklin to be the agent to convey that 
 petition to England, and advocate its cause before the 
 crown and ministry. 
 
 Immediately Dickinson and the proprietary party 
 arose to oppose with all their strength such an appoint- 
 ment. The selection was most unfortunate. The man 
 to be sent was detested alike by proprietors and crown ; 
 had been just rejected by his constituents; and remon- 
 strances against him were pouring into the Assembly 
 from all sorts of citizens. Was he likely to be able to 
 make with the ministry a bargain which would preserve 
 the liberties of the province? He was undoubtedly a 
 great luminary of the learned world. " Let him still 
 shine, but without wrapping his country in flames." 
 
 266 
 
The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 
 
 Nevertheless the luminary started on his mission, 
 having first written a Protest for his enemies to read, 
 and some letters destined to follow the English language 
 through the ages for their force of expression and per- 
 fection of taste. The torrents of abuse, like others which 
 had preceded them, only deepened his philosophy. 
 
 And what was the outcome of it all in England? The 
 petition was presented, but never acted upon. The 
 Assembly soon became a little uneasy, and sent word 
 to Franklin not to press the petition if it would en- 
 danger the province's liberties ; and apparently he did 
 not urge it very strongly. He arrived in December, 
 1764, and found the whole country talking of nothing 
 but the Stamp Act. He was soon made agent for all 
 the colonies, and his great career as a diplomatist began. 
 He may have been convinced that the time was inop- 
 portune for the change to royal government. Either 
 that, or the rush of events and excitements of the next 
 ten years, saved Pennsylvania from the results of what 
 seems to have been a very unwise and hasty impulse. 
 
 267 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 LIFE AND MANNERS AT THE TIME OF THE REVOLUTION 
 
 If it be true that a man is known by the house he 
 lives in and the hat he wears, the colonial Pennsylvani- 
 ans must have been people of very substantial character. 
 It is, perhaps, beneath the dignity of history to enlarge 
 on the subject of hats. But those who have seen the 
 Quaker hat know that there is nothing frivolous about 
 it. The architecture was equally characteristic. 
 
 The province was fortunate in possessing varied and 
 abundant building material. Many parts of the State, 
 and especially Philadelphia and its neighborhood, were 
 largely underlaid with beds of yellow clay, from which 
 excellent bricks were made. The city from the begin- 
 ning was built of brick, which gave it a substantial and 
 permanent appearance, in striking contrast to the wooden 
 houses of some of the other colonies. There were 
 several varieties of building stone which could be easily 
 and cheaply worked. The farmhouses and the country 
 residences near Philadelphia were usually built of this 
 material. Many of these buildings are still standing, 
 some of them more than a hundred and fifty years old. 
 They give us an idea of the colonial life which can be 
 obtained in no other way ; and the best method of ac- 
 quiring a distinct impression of that life is by visiting 
 these old houses, and studying the pictures of those 
 
 268 
 
Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 
 
 which no longer exist in the excellent collections in the 
 Philadelphia Library and the Historical Society. 
 
 The architecture is in strong, simple lines, somewhat 
 richer and less cold than the wooden architecture of the 
 same period in New England. There are seldom any 
 wings, nooks, or oddities. There is some severe orna- 
 mentation attained in frieze, cornice, and moulding; 
 and columns and pilasters are often added. But the 
 proportion of parts is excellent, and is the merit of the 
 type. Prosperity and abundance, ease and contentment, 
 are shown in every line, and reveal the real history and 
 life of the people better than volumes of writing. 
 
 The construction of the buildings was of the most 
 skilful and thorough kind. The mortar became harder 
 than the stone. Those colonists built for time and eter- 
 nity. There seems to be no limit to the life of these 
 buildings ; and when one of them has to be taken down 
 in modern times, it is like quarrying in solid rock. 
 
 The school to which this architecture belongs is that 
 of Sir Christopher Wren ; and St. Paul's Cathedral and 
 the Duke of Devonshire's country-seat, Chatsworth, are 
 the most conspicuous examples of the type in England. 
 The American development of it, though on a smaller 
 scale, is generally admitted to have been in no sense 
 inferior. In none of the colonies was it to be found in 
 such completeness and excellence as at Philadelphia. 
 Our public buildings of colonial times — the Pennsylva- 
 nian Hospital, Christ Church, Carpenter's Hall, and In- 
 dependence Hall — are unequalled anywhere in America. 
 Old Christ Church is said to be the finest specimen of 
 colonial art now in existence. Architects come from 
 other States to measure and study its proportions. 
 
 269 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 But the special pride of Pennsylvania colonial archi- 
 tecture is the country-seat. Those that still survive, 
 like the Woodlands, Belmont, Stenton, Mount Pleasant, 
 Cliveden, and others scattered along the shores of the 
 rivers, or on the water-shed which extends through 
 Germantown to Chestnut Hill, are all built of stone or 
 brick, surrounded with ample grounds, and show in their 
 construction that they were created by a people who 
 had the means and the taste to enjoy life. They have 
 no competitors except perhaps among the few remain- 
 ing halls of the old Virginia aristocracy on the James. 
 
 The German architecture, which in point of con- 
 struction was fully as solid and enduring as the English, 
 deserves some mention. Excellent specimens of it are 
 still to be found in Germantown and at Bethlehem and 
 Ephrata. It is said to be of the Swabian and South- 
 German type. It is plainer than the English ; the 
 houses are lower, with steeper roofs, and often have a 
 curious shingled projection above the first story called 
 a pent-eve. At Ephrata the type becomes very ex- 
 treme, with enormous steep roofs and curious little 
 windows. 
 
 The colonial country-places were the result of a 
 prosperity and wealth, which, though rapidly attained, 
 was on the whole expended without vulgarity or ex- 
 travagance. The fashion of having a town residence 
 and country residence, a rather unusual indulgence for 
 colonial life, began very early in Philadelphia. William 
 Perm set the example. Before the colony was five 
 years old he had provided for himself a town-house 
 and a country-seat, and had made arrangements to be 
 carried between the two in a fine barge with oarsmen. 
 
 270 
 
Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 
 
 The men who could afford such enjoyments were 
 usually the commercial class, — merchant mariners, as 
 they were sometimes called, — and the distinguished 
 lawyers who created the early fame of the Philadelphia 
 bar. The merchants usually owned the vessels which 
 carried their cargoes, and sometimes went as captains 
 of them. Many of those who were exclusively occupied 
 with the merchant's business on shore had been prac- 
 tical seamen in their youth. It was a common practice 
 at one time to sell both vessel and cargo in a European 
 port. Privateering in the numerous wars with France 
 and Spain was a regular part' of the merchant's calling. 
 A list of the private armed ships, with their significant 
 names, which have been built at Philadelphia, would 
 be a long one. For nearly a hundred years, from far 
 back in the colonial period until after the War of 1812, 
 the most characteristic Philadelphia scene to show a 
 stranger was the building or fitting out of a privateers- 
 man at the wharves. A relic of this old life still remains 
 in the numerous cannon now used to mark the corners 
 of streets along the river-front. 
 
 It was a life that produced an accomplished and 
 interesting type of man. The familiarity with foreign 
 trade and foreign countries begat a liberality of thought. 
 The speculative character of the business and the 
 numerous risks to fortune and life developed courage, 
 generous feelings, and not a little of unselfish patriotism. 
 It was this school that bred Robert Morris, the financier 
 of the Revolution, who was ready at any time with a 
 smile and a jest to turn over to General Washington the 
 cargoes of his ships. 
 
 One of the most striking and peculiar men of this 
 
 271 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 class was John Macpherson, a Scotchman, and owner 
 of the country-seat Mount Pleasant, which is now pre- 
 served within Fairmount Park. Like many others of 
 the old commercial aristocracy, his origin is obscure, 
 and it is not known when he came from Scotland. He 
 traded, bought and sold ships, and commanded the 
 privateersman " Britannia," on whose deck, in a fierce 
 conflict with a Frenchman, he lost his right arm. John 
 Adams of Massachusetts dined with him at Mount 
 Pleasant, and described the place, as well as the wife 
 and pretty daughters of its owner. Like other Phila- 
 delphia's, he dabbled in science, delivered lectures 
 on astronomy, and invented machinery for moving 
 buildings. 
 
 Cliveden, the seat of Chief Justice Chew, and the 
 Woodlands and Bush Hill, the homes of the Hamilton 
 family, were instances of the wealth and life of the 
 lawyers. Stenton, the home of James Logan and his 
 descendants, was an instance of the success of a com- 
 mercial Quaker, who was secretary of the province, a 
 believer in war, and a lover of books. Stenton is still 
 standing, but stripped of all its outhouses, shrubbery, 
 and gardens, which once made it so attractive to the 
 British officers. It had its own graveyard, and a 
 curious underground passage to the stables, like the 
 priest's escape in English country-houses. This 
 passage was for protection against the Indians, and 
 similar ways have been found in other old houses in 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 The landscape-gardening round the country-places 
 was quite remarkable, and seems to have been a repro- 
 duction of the best of that art in England. It is a lost 
 
 272 
 
Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 
 
 art now in Pennsylvania, and none of the modern resi- 
 dences equal in this respect the colonial country-seats. 
 It survived, however, for a long time ; and as late as 
 1830, Philadelphia was still described as having more 
 beautiful country-seats than any other city in America. 
 We might mention other colonial country-seats, like 
 the Hills, the home of Robert Morris, to which he was 
 devotedly attached, and which he at last had to exchange 
 for a debtor's prison. There is a description of Fair 
 Hill, the home of the Norris family, written by Mrs. 
 Deborah Logan, part of which may be quoted, not 
 only for what it describes, but because it shows the 
 style and feeling of a Quaker who was herself a typical 
 product of colonial life : — 
 
 "Fairhill, built by Isaac Norris upon the same plan as 
 Dolobran (a seat from long antiquity possessed by the Lloyd 
 family in Montgomeryshire, North Wales), at least as to the 
 ground floor, was finished in 171 7, and was at that time the 
 most beautiful seat in Pennsylvania. The sashes for the win- 
 dows and much of the best work were imported from England. 
 The entrance was into a hall paved with black and white 
 marble, two large parlors on each side, and an excellent stair- 
 case, well lighted. The courts and gardens were in the taste of 
 those times, with gravel walks and parterres. Many lofty trees 
 were preserved round the house, which added greatly to its 
 beauty, and, at the time of my remembrance, the outbuildings 
 were covered with festoons of ivy and scarlet bignonia. Isaac 
 Norris had been very prosperous in trade, which at that period 
 offered uncommon facilities. His son Isaac Norris the 
 Speaker succeeded his father in the possession of Fairhill, as 
 he did in his talents, abilities, and public usefulness. As he 
 was learned and fond of literature, he collected together a 
 18 273 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 very good and extensive library. It was placed in a low build- 
 ing, consisting of several rooms, in the garden, and was a most 
 delightful retreat for contemplative study; the windows 
 curtained with ivy ; the sound of < bees' industrious murmur ' 
 from a glass hive which had a communication from without, 
 and where their wonderful instinct could be viewed. Beauti- 
 ful specimens of the fine arts and many curiosities were also 
 collected there, the shelves were filled with the best authors, 
 and materials for writing and drawing at hand. In this place 
 Isaac Norris the Speaker spent all the time that his health 
 would permit which was not devoted to public business." 
 
 At Belmont, just north of Lansdowne, lived Judge 
 Peters, who for many years presided over the United 
 States District Court in the early days of the Republic. 
 He had planted and improved Belmont until it was a 
 delightful spot. He had that genial humor, ease of 
 manner, and fund of anecdote which old lawyers often 
 acquire. This, added to his intelligence and ability, 
 made him a much-sought companion in the society of 
 that time. Washington was very fond of him, and 
 when he lived in Philadelphia would often slip out to 
 Belmont to enjoy a quiet talk with its owner and walk 
 up and down the famous avenue of hemlocks. There 
 was a large Spanish chestnut-tree on the grounds long 
 afterward carefully preserved by the family because it 
 had been planted by Washington. 
 
 In fact, it is impossible to look very long at the ruins 
 of these old houses without seeming to see one of the 
 fathers of the Republic, in his cocked hat and knee- 
 breeches, step up and lay his hand on the door. The 
 old yellow stable at the Woodlands, even in its decay, 
 looks as if Washington's saddle-horse might be led out 
 
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Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 
 
 of it at any moment. From Bartram's modest little 
 house up to the grand establishment at Lansdowne, 
 there is scarcely a single one of these houses, scattered 
 in a half-circle round Philadelphia from the Delaware 
 to the Schuylkill, in which Washington, Jefferson, 
 Adams, Madison, and the distinguished generals of the 
 Revolution have not dined and sipped their Madeira 
 over and over again. 
 
 One of these worthies, John Adams, has left us in his 
 diary some account of this life, which he seems to have 
 enjoyed to the utmost. It was in 1774, when he was 
 thirty- eight years old and a delegate to the Continental 
 Congress which was to discuss the question of inde- 
 pendence. The first important dinner which he men- 
 tions was at the house of Miers Fisher, a young Quaker 
 and a prominent lawyer. 
 
 "We saw his library," he says, "which is clever. But this 
 plain Friend and his plain though pretty wife, with her Thees 
 and Thous, had provided us the most costly entertainment ; 
 ducks, hams, chickens, beef, pig, tarts, creams, custards, jellies, 
 fools, trifles, floating islands, beer, porter, punch, wine, and a 
 long &c." 
 
 The Quakers, it may be said in passing, while they 
 forbade in their discipline all indulgence in sport, music, 
 and the fine arts, were never known to do anything that 
 would interfere with the art of dining. 
 
 Soon afterward Adams found himself at Cliveden, 
 the home of Chief Justice Chew. 
 
 "We were shown into a grand entry and stair case, and 
 into an elegant and most magnificent chamber until dinner. 
 About four o'clock we were called down to dinner. The 
 furniture was all rich. Turtle and every other thing, flummery, 
 
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Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 jellies, sweatmeats of twenty sorts, trifles, whipped sillabubs, 
 floating islands, fools &c. and a dessert of fruits, raisins, 
 almonds, pears, peaches. Wines most excellent and admirable. 
 I drank Madeira at a great rate, and found no inconvenience 
 in it." (Works, ii. 381.) 
 
 In another place he says, " A most splendid feast 
 again — turtle and everything else; " and in still another 
 passage, " A mighty feast again ; nothing less than the 
 very best of claret, Madeira and Burgundy; melons 
 fine beyond description, and pears and peaches as 
 excellent." 
 
 " A most sinful feast again ! everything which could delight 
 the eye or allure the taste ; curds and creams, jellies, sweet- 
 meats of various sorts, twenty sorts of tarts, fools, trifles, 
 floating islands, whipped sillabubs &c. &c. Parmesan cheese, 
 punch, wine, porter, beer &c. At evening we climbed up the 
 steeple of Christ Church with Mr. Reed, from whence we had 
 a clear and full view of the whole city and of Delaware 
 River." (Works, ii. 370.) 
 
 From other diaries we gather additional glimpses of 
 the life of plainer people. On considering these diaries 
 as a whole, the most striking characteristic which runs 
 through them all is the one already touched upon, — 
 good markets, good living, extreme sociability, and 
 ease of life. Hiltzheimer's diary is conspicuous in 
 this respect, and is largely a record of those " mighty 
 feasts " which made such an impression on Adams. 
 Punch-drinking, beefsteaks and ale taken in true Saxon 
 fashion at the city tavern, more elaborate dinners of 
 friends at various houses and country-places, are 
 mingled with his public business and the needs of his 
 
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Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 
 
 mares and cattle. He was a great fox-hunter, and his 
 diary shows that there was a great deal of fox-hunting 
 in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. On the 12th of 
 December, 1767, he and his friends let loose a fox at 
 Center Woods, which is now the intersection of Broad 
 and Market streets, the site of the City Hall. 
 
 After the Revolution, when Philadelphia became the 
 seat of government and the metropolis of the country, 
 luxury and even extravagance became quite conspicu- 
 ous. The Duke de la Rochefoucault-Liancourt, who 
 was in America from 1795 to 1797, was much impressed 
 by it. 
 
 " The profusion and luxury of Philadelphia on great days 
 at the tables of the wealthy, in their equipages and in the 
 dresses of their wives and daughters, are, as I have observed, 
 extreme. I have seen balls on the President's birthday where 
 the splendor of the rooms and the variety and richness of the 
 dresses do not suffer in comparison with Europe ; and it must 
 be acknowledged that the beauty of the American ladies has 
 the advantage in comparison. The young women of Philadel- 
 phia are accomplished in different degrees, but beauty is 
 general with them. They want the ease and fashion of French 
 women, but the brilliancy of their complexion is infinitely 
 superior." 
 
 The Prince de Broglie, who was in Philadelphia in 
 1782, saw at least one instance of quieter scenes. 
 
 "On the 13th of August, 1782,1 arrived at Philadelphia, 
 the already celebrated capital of quite a new country. M. de 
 la Luzerne took me to tea at Mrs. Morris', wife of the Sec- 
 retary of the Treasury of the United States. Her house is 
 small, but well ordered and neat ; the doors and tables of 
 
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Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 superb, well- polished mahogany ; the locks and andirons of 
 polished brass ; the cups arranged symmetrically ; the mistress 
 of the house good looking and very gray. All was charming 
 to me. I took some of the excellent tea and would have 
 taken more I think, if the ambassador (M. de la Luzerne) 
 had not kindly warned me at the twelfth cup that I must 
 put my spoon across my cup when I wished to bring this 
 warm water question to an end." 
 
 The commercial interest of Philadelphia is of course 
 strongly shown in the diaries. The attention of modern 
 Philadelphians is directed inland. They look to the 
 railroads for everything, and by railroads are their 
 wants supplied. But the attention of the colonists was 
 toward the river and the bay. Nearly everything ar- 
 rived and went that way. Their important letters and 
 their important goods came from England or went 
 there. The captains were the express agents and the 
 mail-carriers. They carried little presents and packages 
 to and fro. On the arrival of their ship half the town 
 would besiege her to get the letters, until, weary of his 
 crowd of tormentors, the captain would send all the 
 letters ashore to be distributed at the coffee-house. 
 
 It was a common practice when people departed for 
 England for some of their friends to accompany them 
 as far as the capes. Passengers often went by land as 
 far as New Castle, where they joined the ship. Often 
 they were wind-bound and lay for days, or even weeks, 
 at Reedy Island, waiting for a chance to put to sea. In 
 returning, the ship was often so slow in beating up the 
 river, that their friends found it convenient to go down 
 and get them in a small boat. 
 
 Ocean travel was not then a few days of luxury with 
 
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% 
 
 Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 
 
 electric lights and sea chairs. Ships from England, in 
 order to avoid the Gulf Stream, usually sailed south to 
 the Madeira Islands, where fruit and fresh provisions 
 were taken aboard ; and thence the vessel was borne by 
 the trade-winds to the coast of the southern colonies, 
 which was followed up to the capes of the Delaware. 
 Franklin describes his return from a mission to Eng- 
 land by one of these voyages, which lasted nine weeks. 
 Yet it was not without its compensations. He read 
 many books, made experiments in science, and thought 
 out problems in navigation. His ship was with a large 
 fleet of merchantmen under convoy of a man-of-war. 
 
 "The weather was so favorable," he says, " that there were 
 few days in which we could not visit from ship to ship, 
 dining with each other, and on board the man of war." 
 
 The arrival of an East Indiaman was an affair of 
 great importance to the town, and such vessels usually 
 fired a salute as they entered the harbor. There were 
 regular lines of packets to the northern and southern 
 colonies, and also to England. The vessels to England 
 were large and brought many emigrants. Marshall 
 speaks in his diary of ships arriving with as many as 
 six hundred passengers. The voyage was usually from 
 thirty to fifty days. 
 
 The gayety and enjoyment of life in Philadelphia was 
 fully indulged in by the Quakers, and they were famous 
 for their good living. We must not judge of them 
 between the year 1700 and the Revolution by what 
 they were before or by what they are now. They had 
 created the colony, were governing it in their own way, 
 and were proud and conscious of their success. They 
 
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Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 were very much alive, and were taking a large part in 
 the life of their time. Hiltzheimer's horse-racing, fox- 
 hunting, punch-drinking, and city-governing friends 
 were three fourths of them Quakers; and all of them 
 were substantial citizens, better in every respect for 
 their sympathy with the good things of life. 
 
 Stephen Collins is described by John Adams as a 
 man of " figure and eminence as well as fortune," in 
 Philadelphia, and though a Quaker " not stiff nor rigid." 
 Adams often dined at his house, and declared that he 
 never knew a more agreeable instance of hospitality. 
 Indeed, it would be long to tell of the households and 
 establishments of Mifflin, Dickinson, Norris, and other 
 distinguished Quakers, and of the liberal manner in 
 which they entertained the members of the Continental 
 Congress in the early years of the Revolution. 
 
 The colonists were a happy and an honorable people. 
 They were successful and rich. But they were not 
 slaves to money. Most of them retired from business 
 when they had secured a moderate fortune. Logan, 
 Dickinson, and Norris, retired while comparatively 
 young. Franklin retired at the age of forty-two, when 
 he had laid by capital enough to produce about $3,000 a 
 year. In purchasing power this was equivalent to about 
 $10,000 or $12,000 of our money. It was not in any 
 sense a large fortune ; but it was the fashion to be content 
 with such prosperity. 
 
 In modern times a man in Franklin's position would 
 go on accumulating, thinking that it was his surest road 
 to position or power; but in the colonial era there was 
 little to be gained from such a course. A man was 
 more likely to become both popular and powerful by 
 
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Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 
 
 retiring; for these retired men were usually selected for 
 public office and honors. Franklin, with his great ability 
 for all kinds of business, could easily have gone on 
 accumulating, and at the end of his life been a very rich 
 man, but the world would have been poorer. He retired 
 to devote himself more seriously to science, and was 
 taken by his country for diplomacy. 
 
 The Philadelphia in which the colonists enjoyed 
 themselves was as different from the modern city as 
 those colonists were different from the present citizens. 
 Penn had intended the streets to be well planted with 
 trees and every house to be surrounded with a garden. 
 He had planned, as he had expressed it, " a green country 
 town ;" one of those towns with which the Quakers were 
 very familiar in the rural districts of England. His 
 ideas were carried out ; and far down into the present 
 century Philadelphia was still remarkable for the 
 number of trees in the streets. Before the Revolution 
 and for some time afterward many of the houses stood 
 far apart with gardens round them. Those busy 
 thoroughfares, Fourth and Third streets, then contained 
 many such homes surrounded with lawns and trees. 
 Franklin's home was at one time on Second Street, near 
 Race, and his garden extended to the river-bank, where 
 in summer evenings he enjoyed his favorite amusement 
 of swimming, remaining, he tells us, a long time 
 " sporting in the water," and retiring to bed cool and 
 refreshed. 
 
 Before Philadelphia was paved, narrow lines of flag- 
 stones were placed down the middle of each sidewalk 
 and the gutters marked by rows of posts, about four 
 feet high with rounded tops. Posts of this sort were 
 
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Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 still used to ornament certain parts of the city as late 
 as the middle of the present century. The street pump 
 was also a conspicuous landmark ; and in some streets 
 they appear to have been placed at regular intervals to 
 help put out fires. The market-place had its whipping- 
 post, pillory, and stocks ; and women were often publicly 
 whipped down to the time of the Revolution. The men 
 who moved among these scenes would seem very strik- 
 ing and peculiar to our eyes, with their knee-breeches, 
 low shoes, bright-colored coats, and powdered wigs 
 surmounted with three-cornered hats. 
 
 One of the objects most familiar to them still survives 
 in Christ Church. It was almost as old as the colony. 
 Long before Independence Hall and other famous 
 buildings had been thought of, the people had grown 
 accustomed to the old church, and it seems to have been 
 of more interest to them than any other building. 
 When its chime of bells arrived in 1754, they were rung 
 daily for some time to please the citizens ; and for many 
 years they were always rung on the evening before 
 market day, to amuse the countrymen who had come to 
 town. The interest of all the colonists of every sect in 
 these bells seems rather curious. Probably the music 
 reminded many of them of their old life in Germany or 
 England. They were the second set of chimes in Amer- 
 ica, and seem for a long time to have supplied the place 
 of opera and theatre. Captain Budden, who brought 
 them out in the ship " Myrtilla," charged no freight, and 
 the workmen who came from England to put them up 
 would accept no pay. Ever after, it is said, when 
 Captain Budden's ship arrived in the harbor, the bells 
 were rung. They were rung on every public occasion, 
 
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Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 
 
 important or trifling, whether it was the arrival of the 
 favorite captain or the repeal of an obnoxious law. 
 For defeat in battle and the death of distinguished men 
 they were muffled. They were the voice of the people. 
 
 Franklin was sent to England in 1764, carrying the 
 petition to the crown for the abolition of the proprietor- 
 ship. As soon as his arrival after a thirty days' voyage 
 was known, the bells rang out clear and sparkling for 
 the safety of the old philosopher whom the people 
 alternately loved and abused. Some months afterward 
 the Stamp Act was passed, and Franklin declared that 
 he could no more have prevented it than he could have 
 hindered the setting of the sun, and he took pains to 
 have his old friend John Hughes appointed stamp- 
 master for Pennsylvania. But the Philadelphians 
 thought differently; and when the commission for the 
 stamp-master arrived, their philosopher was in disgrace. 
 The bells were muffled for him; and for hours their dull 
 thuds resounded over the little town, more expressive of 
 the people's discontent than the tongues of many 
 orators. 
 
 The early events of the Revolution kept them busy ; 
 but when it became evident that the British would 
 occupy Philadelphia, they were carefully taken down 
 and carried to Bethlehem to be out of harm's way. 
 Beneath their sounds Washington, Adams, Jefferson, 
 and all the distinguished men of the Revolution, with- 
 out regard to creed, have worshipped; and the whole 
 Continental Congress assembled beneath them on July 
 20, 1775, the dav appointed for fasting and prayer. 
 
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Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE RISE OF THE REVOLUTION 
 
 THERE is no doubt that Massachusetts and Virginia 
 were the most active of all the colonies in forcing on 
 the movement for independence. Which of the two 
 was the more effective would be difficult to say. The 
 Massachusetts people seem to have entertained the idea 
 of independence some time before the Virginians, and 
 were more clamorous about it, partly because they suf- 
 fered more. The British government, believing them to 
 be the most unruly, had selected them as an example; 
 had sent regiments to occupy their principal town, fleets 
 to blockade their harbor, and had passed Acts to change 
 their government, long before any attempt was made 
 to interfere with any of the other colonies. 
 
 The New England colonies of New Hampshire, 
 Rhode Island, and Connecticut were very much under 
 the influence of Massachusetts, and followed her lead. 
 In the other colonies, except Virginia, the people were 
 for the most part in favor of nothing more than a 
 redress of grievances. Independence they looked upon 
 as an almost impossible, or at any rate, a last resort. 
 This view prevailed to a considerable extent even in 
 Virginia, but it was strongest in the middle colonies, 
 especially Pennsylvania and New York. Massachusetts, 
 however, intended independence from the very beginning. 
 
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The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 The reason for the more aggressive attitude of 
 Massachusetts and Virginia is to be found in the events 
 of their histories. The Puritans who settled Massachu- 
 setts Bay were a very united and a very peculiar people. 
 They had definite ideas on religion and government 
 which they had no hope of seeing carried out in the 
 old world ; and when they came to America, they in- 
 tended to keep house for themselves. Their charter 
 was extremely liberal ; and for fifty years they enjoyed 
 what was for all practical purposes absolute independ- 
 ence. They elected their own governor and all other 
 officers ; they made their own laws, and were not 
 obliged to submit them to England for approval. 
 They dropped the English oath of allegiance, and 
 adopted a new oath, in which public officers and all 
 the inhabitants swore allegiance to Massachusetts 
 alone. Any one who refused to take this oath was 
 banished or disqualified from holding office. They 
 took upon themselves the sovereign attribute of coin- 
 ing their own money, and issued the famous pine-tree 
 shillings. No appeals were allowed to the king or to 
 the English courts. It was treason even to speak of 
 them. By their definition of treason the king himself 
 would have been guilty of it if he had attempted to 
 interfere with Massachusetts. 
 
 But with the restoration of Charles II. in 1660, a 
 definite colonial policy was adopted. Massachusetts' 
 pretensions to independence were known, and demands 
 were made for the surrender of her charter ; but it was 
 not finally cancelled until 1684. From that time Mas- 
 sachusetts was under royal government and suffered 
 more annoyance than was ever inflicted by the pro- 
 
 285 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 prietors on Pennsylvania. When William III. came to 
 the throne there was a rebellion in Massachusetts which 
 restored for a short time the old order of things ; but 
 royal government was almost immediately restored 
 under a charter from the crown, which abolished every- 
 thing that was dear to the Puritan heart. 
 
 With such a history, having enjoyed all the sweets of 
 absolute liberty for fifty years, having lost them, having 
 gained them again by a rebellion, and having lost them 
 again, it is easy to see that Massachusetts had a training 
 which gave her a greater thirst for independence than 
 was to be found in Pennsylvania or any other colony. 
 When the movement for the Revolution began, Massa- 
 chusetts needed no encouragement. She was in it 
 already, and she grasped at the idea of independence 
 before the others had thought of it. 
 
 Virginia was somewhat in the same state of mind. 
 She did not begin with independence, like Massachusetts, 
 but she gradually acquired it. In 1631 her House of 
 Burgesses declared that the governor could neither 
 raise money nor levy war except by their consent; 
 and two years after they deposed the governor and 
 appointed another. When Cromwell came into power 
 Virginia made an agreement with him which is more 
 like a treaty between two independent nations than the 
 surrender of a colony. Free trade to all parts of the 
 world is guaranteed, and no customs or taxes are to be 
 levied, and no forts maintained in the colony, without 
 the consent of its General Assembly. After the Resto- 
 ration, when the royalists were in control, the people 
 rebelled, and under the lead of Nathaniel Bacon over- 
 threw the royalists' party and got complete control for 
 
 286 
 
The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 a time of the colony. But after this rebellion was 
 crushed, Virginia, like Massachusetts, was held down 
 with an iron hand. The Virginians, like Massachusetts, 
 had enjoyed the blessings of liberty, had had it taken 
 away from them, had rebelled to regain it, and had lost 
 it again. 
 
 The training of both these colonies for the final 
 event of the Revolution had been very different from that 
 of Pennsylvania. The Quaker State had been founded 
 in the time of Charles II., when the stringent policy of 
 colonial control had been adopted, and she had been 
 held down by the double power of proprietor and king. 
 Yet in spite of this control her charter had been so 
 liberal and her prosperity so great that she had never 
 suffered from tyranny. She was doubly controlled, and 
 yet she suffered none of the inconveniences of control. 
 She had no independence, but she had very liberal and 
 easy laws. She was not accustomed, like Massachusetts 
 and Virginia, to associate ease and prosperity with the 
 idea of independence. She had never been afflicted 
 with any of the interferences which had goaded those 
 two commonwealths to desperation. She had never 
 been trained into a violent temper by having enjoyed 
 absolute independence at one time and having endured 
 absolute tyranny at another. 
 
 Among the other colonies some, like Connecticut, 
 New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, were under the 
 leadership of Massachusetts. The southern colonies, 
 Maryland, Georgia, and the Carolinas, were for redress 
 of grievances rather than independence; and the middle 
 colonies. Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, were 
 also for a mere redress of grievances. New York was 
 
 287 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 strongly Tory and the least inclined of all the colonies 
 to enter the Revolution. But New York, as well as 
 Delaware and New Jersey, would be much influenced 
 by the action of Pennsylvania, which, after Massachu- 
 setts and Virginia, was the most populous and powerful 
 colony. In fact, Pennsylvania was the leader of the 
 conservative element. What the middle colonies would 
 do depended largely on her. Massachusetts and Vir- 
 ginia, if they wished to carry out their extreme views, 
 must win Pennsylvania to them ; and this was the 
 beginning of those events which in the next fifty years 
 gave our State the name of Keystone. 
 
 The greater part of Pennsylvania's population was 
 not of the sort that goes into a revolution hastily. The 
 Scotch-Irish were of course in favor of the Revolution 
 from the very first suggestion of it. They had been 
 nourished on such events, and their appetite was still 
 keen. But they were far removed from the seat of 
 government, and until actual fighting began, their 
 influence was slight. The eastern Presbyterians had 
 also considerable ardor, but were more or less con- 
 servative. 
 
 The Quakers, so far as concerned redress of griev- 
 ances and peaceful measures of opposition, were second 
 to none. No sect or division of the English race was 
 more deeply imbued with a love of liberty and a com- 
 plete understanding of its principles. Their history in 
 England and their conduct in framing the government 
 of Pennsylvania and resisting the proprietors shows this 
 abundantly. They were inclined, however, to pursue 
 liberty in their own way ; and as the movement passed 
 from constitutional opposition against stamp acts and 
 
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The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 tea acts to acts of violence and war, there was a strong 
 tendency among them to drop out of it. 
 
 The Germans in the early stages of the Revolution 
 were rather indifferent to it. Many of them were so 
 unfamiliar with the English language and English 
 customs that they could scarcely comprehend the 
 points of the dispute. They were aware, however, that 
 evil and tyranny of some kind were threatened, and 
 they relied for guidance on the Quakers, who had 
 brought them to Pennsylvania and given them a home 
 and liberty. It was, therefore, all the more important 
 that the Quakers should join the Revolution. 
 
 When it came to actual fighting, the sects like the 
 Mennonites, Tunkers, and others, which held the same 
 opinions about war as the strict Quakers, assumed the 
 same neutral position. Some of them left the country 
 after the Revolution, refusing to live under a govern- 
 ment established by force. But the greater part of 
 the Germans belonged to the Lutheran and Reformed 
 churches. They had no particular objection to sol- 
 diering, and, though they took no very conspicuous 
 part in the contest, may be said to have done their 
 share, and furnished Muhlenberg, who was an able 
 general. 
 
 The Episcopal element was also rather conservative. 
 Many of its clergy were Tories. Some of them, how- 
 ever, were in a state of mind favorable to the Revolu- 
 tion, but unwilling to take an active part in it. The 
 laity were more zealous for the cause, but were very 
 much influenced by their liking for the proprietors and 
 their connection with the established government of the 
 province. 
 
 19 289 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 As a conservative, Pennsylvania was first in the field 
 for a redress of grievances, and the first adequate ex- 
 pression of the colonial position was made by one of 
 her citizens, and he was a Quaker. The " Farmer's 
 Letters," by John Dickinson, were a wonderful success. 
 They first appeared in December, 1767, when the serious 
 interferences of the British government had been in agi- 
 tation for about three years. During that time the 
 Sugar Act and the Stamp Act were passed, and the 
 Stamp Act repealed, and in its stead an Act passed 
 putting a tax on paint, tea, and glass. 
 
 Massachusetts, prompt as usual, had suggested a 
 convention of delegates from all the colonies to consider 
 the first two of these acts. This convention met in 
 New York, Oct. 5, 1764, and has usually been known 
 as the Stamp Act Congress. It was there that Dick- 
 inson showed the first signs of leadership in continental 
 politics. He drafted the convention's resolutions, which 
 have since been known as the First American Bill of 
 Rights. 
 
 These resolutions were too short and general to be 
 convincing to any but those already convinced. There 
 was not enough detail in them. The mass of the people 
 needed light. They wanted to have the subject opened 
 out for them. They were discontented ; but they 
 scarcely knew how to express themselves. They knew 
 their liberties were in danger, but they could not tell 
 exactly why. The lawyers seemed to think they knew, 
 but their language was unintelligible. In fact, it required 
 eight more years of training and thought before many 
 of the people were at all competent in this respect. 
 The condensed feeling and reasoning of the Declaration 
 
 290 
 
% 
 The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 of Independence could not have been framed into words 
 in the year 1767. 
 
 The repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766 had quieted the 
 country. The people felt that their agitation against 
 that measure had been successful, and that their liberties 
 were safe. But in June, 1767, a little more than a year 
 after the repeal, an Act appeared putting a tax on all 
 paint, paper, tea, and glass imported into the colonies. 
 It was not so directly burdensome as the Stamp Act, 
 and at first the people seemed unable to understand 
 that in principle it was just as bad as the Stamp 
 Act. 
 
 It was in this state of affairs that the " Farmer's Letters " 
 awoke the country with a bound. The exact legal and 
 constitutional relations between the colonies and the 
 mother-country were vague. Even Dickinson himself 
 when in the convention at New York in 1764 failed to 
 state them in a way to impress the people. The effort, 
 however, seems to have refreshed him ; for three years 
 later, when he made the same attempt as a farmer, 
 instead of as a lawyer, the people ceased to hesitate. 
 
 The title of his book was fortunate. The farmers 
 were by far the largest and most important class in the 
 community. Next in importance was the shipping in- 
 terest. The manufacturers and the classes peculiar to 
 great cities were not worth counting. The farmer's 
 point of view was such a successful hit that any one 
 who searches much in historical collections finds imi- 
 tations of Dickinson's letters for half a century after- 
 ward. The opening sentence was captivating. " I am 
 a farmer," he said, "settled after a variety of fortunes 
 near the banks of the Delaware in the province of Penn- 
 
 291 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 sylvania." His farm was small; his servants few and 
 good; he had a little money at interest; he wished for 
 no more. He had had a liberal education, and had been 
 in the busy scenes of life, but was now content to live 
 without bustle, in easy employment, which allowed him 
 the enjoyment of his library and the friendship of intel- 
 ligent men. What a hearing must the man receive who 
 could thus idealize the most important class in the 
 country ! For homely, beautiful simplicity these first 
 pages could scarcely have been excelled by Franklin. 
 
 The great question at that time in the ordinary mind 
 was this : " You say England will oppress us. Possibly. 
 But exactly how will she do it? What will she do next? " 
 Dickinson answered these questions. Most of us are 
 now well accustomed to the thought that the colonists 
 rebelled, not against actual suffering, or against high 
 taxes, but against the assertion of the right to tax 
 them. Dickinson was the first man who stated the 
 details of this doctrine in plain language. 
 
 You made a great fuss about the Stamp Act, he says 
 to the farmer, because it was direct taxation ; but you 
 were silent about another equally dangerous one, which 
 suspended the legislative power of the Assembly of 
 New York, because the Assembly had refused to vote 
 supplies of salt, pepper, and vinegar for the British 
 troops. If Parliament has the right to punish us for 
 not furnishing pepper, it can punish us for not furnish- 
 ing clothes, and continue this course until it compels us 
 to furnish everything; and what is that but taxation in 
 another form? What signifies the repeal of the Stamp 
 Act if Parliament retains such a right as this? 
 
 Why do you not complain of the recent Act, taxing 
 
 292 
 
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 The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 paint, paper, and glass? It is not so direct as the 
 Stamp Act, but just as bad. Some of you say that we 
 can avoid its burdens by making our own paper and 
 glass. But England has always had the right to pro- 
 hibit any manufacture among us, and has exercised 
 that right, as you know, in the case of iron and steel. 
 All she need do, then, is to lay a tax on some article 
 she prohibits us to manufacture, or prohibit us from 
 manufacturing some article she has taxed ; and what 
 can we do? Do you not see that the moment you 
 admit the principle that England has a right to tax 
 any articles she sends to us, you have surrendered 
 everything? 
 
 He reached a climax when he showed the colonists 
 the real object of the tax on paper and glass. The 
 amount of money it would raise was trifling. But the 
 Act expressly declared that any revenue that was 
 raised should be devoted to maintain the administration 
 of justice and civil government within the colonies, and 
 to defend them. At that time the only political liberty 
 left the colonies, since Charles II. inaugurated the more 
 stringent policy of control, was that their assemblies 
 voted the money necessary to carry on each govern- 
 ment, and pay judges and governors their salaries. 
 England could in most cases appoint the governors, 
 but they were dependent on the colonists for the means 
 to administer their office, and pay for their board and 
 lodging. The colonists never hesitated to use this 
 check, and, as we have seen, would withhold supplies 
 until they obtained from the governor what they wanted, 
 even when they brought the whole civil machinery to a 
 stand. Their right to do this may be called the funda- 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 mental principle of colonial constitutional law. Scarcely 
 a year passed without an attempt by the crown to break 
 it. Scarcely a governor sailed for the colonies, without 
 instructions in his pocket to obtain from the people a 
 fixed and permanent sum for the support of all the 
 offices. 
 
 But what would become of this constitutional prin- 
 ciple if England had the right to levy taxes as she 
 pleased on the colonists to be used in support of their 
 own governments? The governors' salaries would 
 become fixed, the judges' salaries fixed, the appropri- 
 ations for administration fixed; or if increased it would 
 be not by vote of the assemblies, but by Parliament 
 levying more taxes. What governor would call a meet- 
 ing of an Assembly when both his salary and the ex- 
 penses of his office were secure? Or if an Assembly 
 met, what would it have to do? " They may perhaps 
 be allowed," said Dickinson, " to make laws for the 
 yoking of hogs or pounding of stray cattle. Their in- 
 fluence will hardly extend so high as the keeping roads in 
 repair, as that business may more properly be executed 
 by those who receive the public cash." 
 
 There is often a great reward awaiting the man who 
 will condescend to be simple about great things. Never 
 before, and never after, was Dickinson so simple in his 
 language and so near to a pure literary form. The 
 " Farmer's Letters " were his one stroke of genius. 
 America and the civilized world were at his feet. The 
 letters were reprinted in England and translated in France. 
 Eulogies poured in from all sides. At a public meeting 
 called at Faneuil Hall in Boston, Hancock, Samuel 
 Adams, Warren, and others, were appointed a committee 
 
 294 
 
The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 to write him a letter of thanks. They exhausted their 
 vocabulary in such praise as few public men have ever 
 received. 
 
 "Though veiled from our view," they say in concluding, 
 " you modestly shun the deserved applause of millions, permit 
 us to intrude upon your retirement, and salute the Farmer, 
 as the friend of Americans and the common benefactor of 
 mankind." 
 
 For the next eight years, until the Declaration of 
 Independence, Dickinson was the most influential and 
 important public man in America. This sudden eleva- 
 tion was rather unfortunate ; for, added to his already 
 hasty temper, it turned his head. He was only thirty- 
 five when he wrote the " Farmer's Letters," and he soon 
 became arrogant and impatient of contradiction. Feel- 
 ing that he had shaped the whole thought of America 
 at an important crisis, he could see no merit in the plans 
 of others. He aspired to manage the whole revolu- 
 tionary movement, became more defiant than ever of 
 popular opinion, and in the end lost all his influence. 
 
 Events moved on. The colonists were busy per- 
 suading one another to sign the non-importation and 
 non-exportation agreement, which seemed the only 
 peaceable way to cut out the taxes which England was 
 levying on every article that entered or left the country. 
 What was known in England as " the insolence of the 
 town of Boston " increased. Long known to the British 
 government as an aggressive independent colony, Mas- 
 sachusetts now seemed to be the leader of the continent 
 in evil example. The ministry resolved to subdue her; 
 and a man-of-war and two regiments under General 
 
 2 95 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Gage were sent to Massachusetts Bay. From that time 
 all the severe measures of the home government were 
 aimed at Boston. It was the one thing needed to com- 
 plete her education in rebellion. 
 
 Pennsylvania and the other colonies suffered nothing. 
 They were still conservative, still saw before them a 
 long line of peaceful, constitutional measures of oppo- 
 sition, and at the end a dim outline which some said 
 was the shadow of independence. 
 
 In 1770 came the Boston Massacre, when Gage's 
 soldiers fired upon the citizens of the town. Up went 
 the Massachusetts blood to fever heat. But Pennsyl- 
 vania, though sending messages of sympathy, was not 
 yet for war. 
 
 About a month after the Boston Massacre, the tax 
 on paint, paper, and glass was repealed, but allowed 
 to stand on tea. This repeal quieted the apprehension 
 of most people. The conservative measures of resist- 
 ance seemed to have been successful ; and the fame 
 of the Farmer and his Letters was greater than ever. 
 The tax on tea was a trifle. The people could avoid 
 buying and drinking it until Parliament got tired of its 
 foolishness. 
 
 But Boston, as we know, was a little violent in reject- 
 ing the tea; and in the next year, 1774, came the Boston 
 Port Bill, which locked up the harbor of that devoted 
 city, and brought its business to a stand. Massachu- 
 setts had now reached the end of her rope. She had 
 three courses open to her, — submit, starve, or break 
 out in open rebellion. She preferred the last, but 
 could not manage it alone. She could rely on Virginia, 
 however; and if she could only win Pennsylvania, the 
 
 296 
 
The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 rest would follow. So May 19, 1774, Paul Revere 
 arrived in Philadelphia to persuade the Keystone to 
 take its place in the arch. 
 
 The principal letters which he carried from the 
 leaders in Boston were addressed to Joseph Reed and 
 Thomas Mifflin, who were at that time believed to be 
 the least conservative of the public men of Philadelphia. 
 Reed was from New Jersey, and had been settled in 
 Philadelphia only about four years. He was a lawyer, 
 trained, after the manner of the times, in the English 
 inns of court. His interview with Paul Revere was 
 the beginning of his long career in politics. He 
 became a general in the Revolution, and was always 
 closely attached to Washington's military household^ 
 preferring that position without pay to the more 
 lucrative employments that were offered him. 
 
 Mifflin was a thorough-bred Philadelphia Quaker of 
 the commercial class; a man of some wealth, living in 
 a large handsomely furnished house, where he enter- 
 tained with the liberality that was then fashionable. 
 He appears to have been a very vigorous and hand- 
 some man, the very opposite of Reed, who was thin 
 and pale and seldom in good health. His portrait 
 shows a certain refinement and delicacy of features 
 which was not uncommon among the Quakers. 
 
 Like most of the Quakers who took to fighting, 
 Mifflin made an excellent soldier. He commanded the 
 best-disciplined brigade in the Continental Army. 
 Having come of a sect that always talked peace, he 
 was, by a natural process of reaction, very eloquent in 
 talking of war, and was at times sent to raise recruits 
 by his oratory. He is one of the neglected Pennsyl- 
 
 297 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 vanians, and is now almost forgotten, although he filled 
 a very conspicuous place in his lifetime. Besides his 
 distinguished military career, he was President of the 
 Continental Congress, a member of both the State and 
 National Constitutional Conventions, President of the 
 Supreme Executive Council, and three times Governor 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 These men, together with Dickinson, Ross, Clymer, 
 Thomson, McKean, and others, made up the liberty 
 party in Philadelphia. Perhaps the most important 
 man of all was Charles Thomson. He has been called 
 the " Sam Adams of Philadelphia," by which was 
 meant that he watched and nursed the liberty move- 
 ment day and night in small things as well as in great. 
 He had come to Pennsylvania from Ireland when quite 
 young, and had been well educated under Presbyterian 
 influences by the Rev. Dr. Francis Allison at New 
 London. He became a scholarly man, interested him- 
 self in the Indians, and was elected by the Delawares a 
 member of their tribe. They called him " the man of 
 truth;" and his reputation in this respect seems to have 
 been unusual. It was for a long time a saying in 
 Pennsylvania that a statement was as true as if Charles 
 Thomson's name was under it. 
 
 He wrote a translation of the Septuagint, which 
 attracted some attention in England. He was one of 
 those careful, quiet, accurate, and absolutely faithful 
 men, who are none the less valuable for their lack of 
 brilliancy. He was made the Secretary of the First 
 Continental Congress, and remained in that position all 
 through the Revolution and for many years after. He 
 was considered indispensable. He knew everything 
 
 293 
 
The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 and was in a certain sense the secret service department 
 of the government. He kept notes of all his knowledge 
 and experience, from which he wrote a history of the 
 Revolution. If we could now read this production of 
 the man of truth, it would probably alter a good many 
 very firmly fixed opinions. But unfortunately Thom- 
 son, with characteristic delicacy, burnt his manuscript, 
 because he feared that much of it would hurt the 
 feelings of certain families. 
 
 Ross and Clymer were, like Thomson, very conspicu- 
 ous men in their day, with long careers in Assembly, 
 Continental Congress, and constitutional conventions, 
 and now almost forgotten. 
 
 The liberty party were in a peculiar position. They 
 had to be very shrewd and cautious. They could win 
 applause and distinction neither by violent action nor 
 by violent speech. They had opportunities neither for 
 14 tea parties" nor orations on the eternal rights of man. 
 The child of liberty which they were nursing could bear 
 no noise. If they were to build up their party with 
 recruits from Quakers, Episcopalians, and Germans, they 
 must move slowly and with cold and calculating sagacity. 
 
 Thomson, Reed, and Mifflin took charge of Paul Re- 
 vere and his mission. Their first object was to secure 
 Dickinson, for his name must be at the head of every 
 committee. A great deal has been written outside of 
 Pennsylvania touching the motives for the slowness of 
 Dickinson on this occasion. But we prefer the testi- 
 mony of Charles Thomson, who was an eye-witness and 
 an actor in those events. Some years afterward he 
 wrote a long letter to W. H. Drayton of South Carolina, 
 in which he described the whole affair. 
 
 299 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Dickinson, he says, had for some time been convinced 
 that the attempt of the ministry to force the tea on the 
 colonies would end in bloodshed. He had, therefore, 
 been reserving himself until matters became more 
 serious, in order that he might then carry greater 
 weight with the Quakers and other conservative ele- 
 ments. These elements courted and relied on him 
 because of his former moderation, and it was important 
 that he should retain their regard. When the Boston 
 Port Bill was passed, he made up his mind that the time 
 of action had come; and he was preparing a series of 
 letters for the public when Paul Revere arrived. 
 
 The difficulty the liberty party experienced in assist- 
 ing Revere and getting a public meeting for him is well 
 described by Thomson: — 
 
 " As the Quakers, who are principled against war, saw the 
 storm gathering and therefore wished to keep aloof from 
 danger, were industriously employed to prevent anything 
 being done which might involve Pennsylvania farther in the 
 dispute, and as it was apparent that for this purpose their 
 whole force would be collected at the ensuing meeting, it was 
 necessary to devise means so to counteract their designs as to 
 carry the measures proposed, and yet prevent a disunion, and 
 thus if possible bring Pennsylvania with its whole force un- 
 divided to make common cause with Boston. The line of 
 conduct Mr. D. had lately pursued opened a prospect to 
 this." 
 
 Preparations must have been made immediately on 
 the arrival of Paul Revere, for the meeting was held 
 the next day. It was at first suggested that a certain 
 friend of Dickinson should propose radical measures, 
 
 300 
 
The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 and that Dickinson should reply to him and propose 
 more moderate measures, which would be carried. A 
 few hours before the meeting, Thomson, Mifflin, and 
 Reed dined with Dickinson to arrange further details. 
 Dickinson continued to play the conservative, and only 
 after much pressing consented to attend the meeting. 
 The ever-watchful Thomson thought he saw a difficulty 
 with Reed, who disliked to play a second part. He, 
 therefore, suggested that Reed should open the meet- 
 ing, which satisfied everybody, and the Revolution was 
 begun. 
 
 Reed and Mifflin departed early, so as to attend the 
 meeting without seeming to have been with Dick- 
 inson ; but the careful Thomson remained to bring 
 Dickinson. 
 
 The place where this important meeting was held was 
 in the long room of the city tavern, on the west side of 
 Second Street just above Walnut. It was an attempt 
 to get together only the prominent people of the city, 
 and between two and three hundred were present. Reed 
 addressed the meeting in moderate but pathetic terms. 
 Mifflin followed, more impassioned, and with all the 
 warmth and fire of the budding Quaker soldier. Then 
 Thomson spoke, still more impassioned, and pressed so 
 hard for an immediate declaration in favor of Boston 
 that, having had no sleep for several nights, he fainted 
 and was carried out into an adjoining room, leaving 
 behind him an uproarious assembly, shocked beyond 
 control at the violence of the measures proposed. 
 
 This was Dickinson's opportunity, and he doubtless 
 acquitted himself well. But when Thomson had re- 
 covered and returned to the room, pale and weak, it 
 
 301 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 was still in an uproar which he had not strength to 
 allay. He, however, found voice enough to move for a 
 committee to write an answer to Boston. Each party 
 handed a list to the chair; and the clamor was renewed 
 until some one was wise enough to suggest that the 
 committee should be composed of the names on both 
 lists. The meeting broke up, and each party retired, 
 thinking they had partly carried their point. 
 
 The next day, May 21, some of the committee met 
 again at the city tavern, and Provost Smith wrote the 
 letter. It was in the provost's easy, swinging style, 
 full of kind feeling for Boston, and contained some very 
 emphatic declarations of American rights. 
 
 " If satisfying the East India Company, for the damage they 
 have sustained, would put an end to this unhappy controversy and 
 leave us on the footing of constitutional liberty for the future, 
 it is presumed that neither you nor we could continue a moment 
 in doubt what part to act ; for it is not the value of the tax, 
 but the indefeasible right of giving and granting our own money 
 (a right from which we can never recede), that is now the 
 matter for consideration." 
 
 The provost went on to say that in the short time al- 
 lowed them they could not collect the entire sense of 
 so large a city ; and even if they had collected it, the 
 city was not authorized to act for the whole province. 
 But they would as soon as possible collect the sentiment 
 of all the people as well as of the neighboring colonies. 
 As to remedies, they recommended a general congress 
 of deputies from all the provinces. 
 
 This letter and resolutions were given to Paul Revere, 
 and he returned to Boston, by no means discouraged 
 
 302 
 
The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 with the success of his mission. Copies of the letter 
 and resolutions were sent generally throughout the 
 country. 
 
 The meeting at the city tavern had been a compara- 
 tively small one, but it had been successful, and, so far 
 as it went, had committed the province to liberty. The 
 next step was to have a general meeting of all the in- 
 habitants of the city at the State-house, and coax the 
 Quakers to go still farther. This was difficult, because 
 they had an aversion to town meetings of any sort, as 
 tending too much to excitement. But Thomson and the 
 others finally arranged it with them, and even got them 
 to assist in preparing the business for the meeting, 
 which was held June 28, 1774, a little more than a 
 month after the arrival of Paul Revere. Dickinson, 
 Willing, and Pennington were the presidents ; and 
 Provost Smith, Reed, and Thomson made speeches. 
 
 These speeches were written out beforehand and re- 
 vised by the presidents. The provost's speech shows the 
 effect of this revision. It is more concise and restrained 
 than usual. It was well calculated for the occasion. It 
 assumes that the people would be too hot and eager, 
 and the speaker seems to be quieting them and urging 
 moderation. 
 
 The meeting was successful. Resolutions were passed, 
 making common cause with Boston, and denouncing 
 the measure which had closed her port. The governor 
 was asked to convene the Assembly. A Congress 
 of all the colonies was recommended. A committee 
 of correspondence was appointed for Philadelphia, which 
 was to communicate with the county committees 
 throughout the province. 
 
 303 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 These county committees had been established some 
 months before by the leaders of the liberty party, with 
 the design of gradually bringing the whole body of 
 the people into the dispute. Their organization was 
 now completed by this Philadelphia meeting, which 
 created a committee in chief in the city. It was 
 believed that this system would represent the province 
 and act in the place of the Assembly, which, under the 
 leadership of Galloway, was supposed to be largely 
 Tory, and not likely to be called together by the 
 governor. It had been necessary to pass resolutions 
 urging the calling of it, in order to quiet the pacific 
 spirits, and persuade them that the province would not 
 be finally involved without the consent of the regular 
 representatives of the people. But it was shrewdly 
 calculated that the committees, acting as a convention 
 of all the people, would either force the Assembly into 
 the movement, or if it refused act in its stead. 
 
 The Congress of all the colonies, ever afterward 
 known as the Continental Congress, assembled at Phila- 
 delphia in September, 1774, with Galloway, Rhoads, 
 Mifflin, Humphreys, Morton, Ross, and Edward Biddle 
 representing Pennsylvania. None of them took a very 
 prominent position in that session. In October, shortly 
 before the Congress adjourned, Dickinson's friends 
 procured his election to the Assembly, and the Assembly 
 immediately added him to the delegates in. Congress. 
 He took at once a leading part. Congress adjourned 
 about a week after he took his seat, and yet everything 
 important that was done in that Congress was done by 
 him. He drew the famous petition to the king, and 
 also the address to the people of Canada. These papers 
 
 304 
 
The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 set forth the rights and liberties of America in a manner 
 which aroused admiration even in England. 
 
 In the intervals of his Congressional duties, he still 
 labored, with Thomson and the others, to win over the 
 Assembly and bring Pennsylvania as a unit into the 
 struggle. The difficulties to be overcome, and the state 
 of opinion in the province at that time, could scarcely be 
 better described than in Thomson's simple language : 
 
 " The part they had to act was arduous and delicate. A 
 great majority of the Assembly was composed of men in the 
 proprietary and Quaker interest who though heretofore opposed 
 to each other were now uniting, the one from motives of policy, 
 the other from principles of religion. To press matters was 
 the sure way of cementing that union and thereby raising a 
 powerful party in the state against the cause of America. 
 Whereas, by prudent management and an improvement of 
 occurrences, as they happened, there was reason to hope that 
 the Assembly, and consequently the whole province, might be 
 brought into the dispute, without any considerable opposition. 
 And from past experience it was evident that though the people 
 of Pennsylvania are cautious and backward in entering into 
 measures, yet when they engage none are more firm, resolute, 
 and persevering. A great body of the people was composed 
 of Germans ; the principal reliance was on them in case mat- 
 ters came to extremities. And it is well known these were 
 much under the influence of Quakers. For this reason, there- 
 fore, it was necessary to act with more caution, and by every 
 prudent means to obtain their concurrence in the opposition 
 to the designs of Great Britain. And had the Whigs in 
 Assembly been left to pursue their own measures, there is every 
 reason to believe they would have effected their purpose, pre- 
 vented that disunion which has unhappily taken place and 
 brought the whole province as one man, with all its force and 
 
 weight of government, into the common cause." 
 20 305 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 In other words, the Pennsylvania leaders of the liberty 
 party required time, and to be let alone, if they were to 
 swing into line the whole of their cumbersome and slow 
 population of Quakers and Germans. That it was 
 largely a question of time is shown by the success of 
 their efforts, as they moved along, step by step. Dick- 
 inson, returning from the Continental Congress, was able 
 to persuade the Assembly to approve all the proceedings 
 of the Congress, in spite of the opposition of Galloway 
 and the party that were fast drifting into Toryism. The 
 Assembly was at that time a rather permanent body. 
 Many of the members had held their seats in it for a 
 long time, and this length of tenure gave them an 
 importance and position in the community which they 
 were loath to lose. Rather than lose their seats, they 
 would suffer themselves to be led on, step by step, 
 by outside pressure, until they had gone too far to 
 retreat. 
 
 Their steps might have been much quickened by cir- 
 cumstances, or " occurrences," as Thomson calls them. 
 If they could have been made to suffer like the Boston 
 peeple ; if the ministry had sent a war ship, or a few 
 insolent regiments, to Philadelphia, or done anything to 
 irritate that human nature which lurked beneath the 
 Quaker religion, — the movement would have been 
 much more rapid. 
 
 But even without suffering or interference of any kind, 
 and moved by their sympathy for the other colonies, 
 and their belief in American liberty, they were pro- 
 gressing in the cause as well as could be expected. In 
 the winter of 1774-75, although most of them were 
 Quakers, they had voted a sum of money to purchase 
 
 306 
 
I 
 
 The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 ammunition. In the following summer after the battle 
 of Lexington, and when they knew that war and violence 
 were inevitable, they nevertheless allowed themselves to 
 be persuaded to arm the inhabitants, and ordered five 
 thousand new muskets. They even went further, and, 
 to pay for these muskets, ordered bills of credit to be 
 struck for £3,500, and pledged the credit of the province 
 for their redemption, which, as Thomson remarks, was 
 in effect an assuming of sovereign power and a declara- 
 tion of independence. 
 
 Even Reed believed that the Quakers would ultimately 
 be won over. They will wait, he said, " until they 
 see how the scale is likely to preponderate ; then, I 
 doubt not, they will contribute to the relief of Boston, 
 and appear forward in the cause." A month later we 
 find him writing to Lord Dartmouth that the Quaker 
 Assembly had adopted all the measures of Congress, 
 and had refused to obey the request of the governor 
 to repair the barracks for the British troops. Such 
 conduct he seemed to consider not only remarkable for 
 a people who always professed to act a passive part, 
 but also very hopeful. 1 
 
 The mistake Reed made was in not waiting longer for 
 the Quakers. He could not see the importance of edu- 
 cating and coaxing them. Having recently come from 
 New Jersey, he was not as familiar with their history 
 and character as Thomson and Dickinson. He saw so 
 many signs of their earnestness that he believed that if 
 the radical party forged ahead and was successful, the 
 Quakers would follow. But he little knew their pride 
 and stubbornness, and their devotion to the government 
 
 1 Life, i. 86, 88, 89. 
 307 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 of Pennsylvania, which they had controlled so long. 
 The leaders in Congress from the other colonies un- 
 fortunately made the same mistake, or else were de- 
 termined that if they could not have the whole of 
 Pennsylvania, they would have a fraction, and have 
 that fraction at once. They set to work to destroy not 
 only the Assembly, but the whole Constitution of the 
 State. This fabric, except the proprietary part of it, was 
 very dear to the Quakers. If it was to be changed, they 
 must change it themselves. When it was attacked and 
 destroyed, all hope of their joining the party that had 
 attacked it was gone. 
 
 When the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia 
 in September, 1774, the men who, it was feared, would 
 make trouble by their precipitancy were the delegates 
 from Massachusetts. John Adams and his colleagues 
 had to be very self-controlled in that short autumn 
 session of the Continental Congress of 1774. They 
 had to watch their opportunities and insinuate their 
 ideas through others. The Virginia and South Caro- 
 lina delegates were the most congenial to them. But, 
 on the whole, they found the condition of affairs, even 
 among the Quakers, as favorable as could be expected ; 
 and they were soon absorbed in that round of gayety 
 which led Adams to describe Philadelphia as " the 
 happy, the peaceful, the elegant, the hospitable, and 
 the polite." 
 
 He had scarcely arrived in town before Dickinson 
 called on him in his coach with four beautiful horses. 
 Adams described him as at first sight a thin, sickly 
 man, suffering from the gout, and looking as if he might 
 not live six months ; but a close inspection revealed 
 
 308 
 
The Rise of the Revolution 
 
 signs of vitality and force which promised a longer life. 
 He also met Dr. Smith, the provost, whom he describes 
 as a plain, tall man, rather awkward, with an appearance 
 of art. 
 
 Adams made friends rapidly, and Dickinson was 
 the best of all. They opened their minds to each 
 other. He describes in his diary a dinner with the two 
 champions of the cause, Dickinson and Thomson, with 
 no one else present but Mrs. Dickinson and her niece. 
 " A most delightful afternoon we had," he says, " sweet 
 communion indeed." 
 
 So well did he progress among the dinners and 
 suppers, the Burgundy and the port, that by the 17th of 
 September he declared that he was convinced that 
 America would support Massachusetts or perish with 
 her. This was the day when the Suffolk resolutions 
 were passed in Congress, assuring Boston of sympathy. 
 " I saw," he writes his wife, " the tears gush into the 
 eyes of the old, grave, pacific Quakers of Pennsylvania." 
 
 309 
 
Pennsylvania : Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE MOVEMENT FOR INDEPENDENCE 
 
 THE year from the spring of 1775 to the spring of 
 1776 was crowded with momentous events, and yet the 
 people were uncertain, and not yet committed to a 
 struggle for independence. The battle of Lexington 
 was fought in April, and Bunker Hill in June. Ticon- 
 deroga and Crown Point were captured ; Arnold 
 invaded Canada by way of Moosehead Lake, and 
 Montgomery byway of Lake Champlain ; and in the 
 attack on Quebec Montgomery was killed. The British 
 forces were meantime shut up in Boston by a New Eng- 
 land army, which had been adopted as the Army of 
 Congress, and over which Washington had been placed 
 as Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 All this looked very much like war; and yet the 
 
 people argued that it was merely defensive, and they 
 
 were not yet at war with England, because they had 
 
 sent another petition to the king, and were again waiting 
 
 for the result. But they were gradually moving toward 
 
 the idea of independence, and the Quakers were moving 
 
 as rapidly as any of them ; for it was in the summer of 
 
 this year that they voted to arm the people, and ordered 
 
 new muskets and bayonets. Thomson, Dickinson, and 
 
 Mifflin were in the Assembly, and leading them on step 
 
 by step. 
 
 310 
 
The Movement for Independence 
 
 Dickinson had great faith in this policy, and, like 
 Thomson, he believed that in time Pennsylvania would 
 be brought into the Revolution as a unit. He had no 
 patience with the Massachusetts delegates who were 
 trying to force the issue. His plan of action was for all 
 the colonies to keep abreast and move to independence 
 as a solid phalanx. " Nothing can throw us into a 
 pernicious confusion," he writes to Ouincy, " but one 
 colony's breaking the line of opposition by advancing 
 too hastily before the rest." 
 
 It was in this same year 1775 that Tom Paine's 
 pamphlet " Common Sense " appeared. Paine was a 
 reckless young English stay-maker, never able to 
 prosper at any calling, but concealing within himself 
 a spark of literary genius. He seems to have had a 
 fairly good education and to have been well informed 
 on the events of the day. Upon Franklin's recom- 
 mendation he had come to Philadelphia, where he 
 now, with the encouragement of Dr. Rush, prepared 
 the few pages which fired the American heart. This 
 was eight years after the "Farmer's Letters" had ap- 
 peared ; and the difference between Dickinson's argu- 
 ment and that of Paine shows how far the people had 
 advanced. 
 
 Dickinson had found it necessary to explain to the 
 colonists their constitutional relations with the mother- 
 country, and to point out how their liberties were en- 
 dangered by the new attitude assumed by Parliament. 
 He satisfied their minds on this point, and at the 
 time Paine wrote they were hesitating to take hostile 
 measures against their mother, only because they still 
 had a lingering sentiment and affection for her, and 
 
 3" 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 were doubtful whether they could live by themselves. 
 It was this sentiment that Paine attacked. 
 
 " But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the 
 more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour 
 their young, nor savages make war upon their families ; where- 
 fore the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach." 
 
 Wherever he found opportunity he sneered at this 
 relation of mother and daughter, and also at that feel- 
 ing, so universal among the colonists, which led them 
 always to speak of England as home. He had much to 
 say of the " Royal Brute of Great Britain," as he called 
 the king. Government, he declared, was a necessary 
 evil, and the less of it the better; but society and the 
 people were the true source of all things political. 
 
 " In England a king hath little more to do than to make 
 war and give away places, which in plain terms is to im- 
 poverish the nation and set it together by the ears. A pretty 
 business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thou- 
 sand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the bargain ! 
 Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight 
 of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived." 
 
 Simple, vigorous sentences like these expressed what 
 many Americans had already begun to think, but hardly 
 dared to utter. And when he went on to show in the 
 same manner that it was repugnant to reason that this 
 continent should be properly governed by a little island 
 three thousand miles away, that the satellite was already 
 larger than the planet, he struck a chord tightly strung 
 for his touch, and which still vibrates as we read his 
 words. 
 
 The spring of 1775 brought Franklin home. For 
 
 312 
 
The Movement for Independence 
 
 ten years he had been in England, where he had been 
 sent in 1764 by the popular party to change the 
 province into a royal government. That project he 
 soon abandoned. Within a few months after his arrival 
 he was plunged into the Stamp Act controversy, and 
 within a few years discovered that the king, to whose 
 tender mercies he had intended to intrust Pennsylvania, 
 was the worst of all enemies of American liberty. 
 
 He opposed the Stamp Act by every means in his 
 power; but when it was passed he supposed the people 
 would submit to it. He was greatly surprised to hear 
 of their indignation meetings ; and on the 9th of 
 August, 1665, he wrote to his friend, John Hughes, a 
 letter which has never yet appeared in any edition of 
 his works : 1 — 
 
 " Since my last I have received your favor of June 20. The 
 account you give me of the indiscretion of some people with 
 you concerning the government here I do not wonder at. 
 'T is of a piece with the rest of their conduct. But the rash- 
 ness of the Assembly in Virginia is amazing. I hope however 
 that ours will keep within the bounds of Prudence and Mod- 
 eration ; for that is the only way to lighten or get clear of our 
 Burthens. 
 
 " As to the Stamp Act, tho' we purpose doing our endeavor 
 to get it repealed, in which I am sure you would concur with 
 us, yet the success is uncertain. If it continues your under- 
 taking to execute it may make you unpopular for a Time, but 
 your acting with coolness and steadiness and with every cir- 
 cumstance in your Power of Favour to the People, will by 
 
 1 The manuscript of this letter is in the possession of the Penn- 
 sylvania Historical Society. 
 
 3*3 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 degrees reconcile them. In the meantime, a firm Loyalty to 
 the Crown and faithful adherence to the Government of this 
 Nation, which it is the Safety as well as Honour of the Colonies 
 to be connected with, will always be the wisest course for you 
 and I to take, whatever may be the madness of the Populace 
 or their blind leaders, who can only bring themselves and 
 Country into Trouble, and draw on greater Burthens by Acts 
 of rebellious Tendency." 
 
 But as months passed by, and fresh information 
 kept arriving from America, he allowed himself to be 
 instructed, and, in his next important public act, his 
 examination before Parliament, he completely changed 
 his ground. This examination, in which he so em- 
 phatically, and with such perfection of reasoning, 
 declared the ability as well as the willingness of the 
 people to resist taxation, astonished the whole civilized 
 world. Burke always said that the scene reminded him 
 of a master examined by a parcel of school-boys. In 
 that one day Franklin added a new domain to his great- 
 ness. He had been the philosopher and the Penn- 
 sylvania politician. He was now a diplomatist and a 
 statesman. 
 
 But still he did not believe there would be war, and 
 when at last convinced that he must return home, he 
 expected to be back in England the following October 
 and soon afterward see the final settlement of the con- 
 troversy. He had been away ten years ; and what 
 years they had been ! What work, what enjoyment, 
 and what a capacity for work and enjoyment ! The 
 efforts he made as agent for the colonies seem mere 
 incidents among the researches and experiments in 
 science, the attendance at meetings of learned societies, 
 
 3i4 
 
The Movement for Independence 
 
 the clubs, the dinners, the chess-playing, the long de- 
 lightful conversations with the greatest men of the age, 
 the visits to country-houses, and the journeys in England 
 or on the Continent. As he returned slowly on his six 
 weeks' voyage, he explored the pet object of his re- 
 search, the Gulf Stream, discovered that it was not 
 phosphorescent, and guessed successfully at its source 
 and cause. It was on this voyage that the idea oc- 
 curred to him of shortening a ship's voyage by sailing 
 her on a circle of the earth's diurnal motion. 
 
 While engaged in these happy occupations, the battle 
 of Lexington was fought, and he heard of it as soon as 
 he stepped ashore. The next morning the Assembly 
 elected him a delegate to the Continental Congress. 
 Contact with the people, or the news of the battle of 
 Lexington, seems to have rapidly dissolved his con- 
 servatism. In a few days he joined the radicals, and 
 his hopes of returning to settle the controversy in Octo- 
 ber were forgotten. 
 
 This year, 1775, also saw the provost again in politics. 
 Since his activity at the time of Paul Revere's mission 
 he had been silent for more than a year and a half. 
 Rut now, on the 23d of June, 1775, he preached a 
 sermon in Christ Church which attracted wide atten- 
 tion. He had been asked to preach it by the third 
 battalion of Associators, commanded by Col. John 
 Cadwalader. In asking him, they doubtless intended 
 to accomplish something more than to hear an elo- 
 quent discourse. He was closely connected with the 
 proprietors, was the natural leader of the American 
 clergy in the Church of England, was supposed to have 
 a bishopric in expectation, and was strongly suspected 
 
 315 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 of Toryism. It would be important, as well as inter- 
 esting, to make him put himself on record. Such a 
 bold and aggressive man, when challenged in this 
 public manner, would not be likely to halt between 
 two opinions. 
 
 Not only the battalion, but all the members of Con- 
 gress and a large concourse of people assembled to 
 hear the great orator, and it was a most powerful, 
 impressive sermon, and as strongly on the side of the 
 patriots as could be desired. It was printed, ran 
 through edition after edition, and was reprinted in 
 several editions in England. 
 
 Eight months afterward he was again called upon, 
 and this time by Congress itself, to preach a funeral 
 oration in honor of General Montgomery and the 
 officers and soldiers who had fallen with him in the 
 expedition against Canada. It was a fine occasion for 
 an orator. The attack on Canada, so full of heroic 
 daring, partially successful, and yet on the whole a 
 failure, had roused the feelings of the people to the 
 utmost. Several Pennsylvanians had been killed, and 
 among them Capt. John Macpherson, the promising 
 son of the old merchant privateersman and owner of 
 the country-seat Mount Pleasant. 
 
 For the appointed day, the 19th of February, 1776, 
 the provost prepared himself most carefully, — in fact, 
 too carefully. He was to have before him, not only 
 Congress, but the Assembly, the city authorities, the 
 people, and the army. He collected all the gentlemen 
 of Philadelphia who were inclined to music, and sent to 
 Lancaster and New York for others. These were to 
 form a choir, with instruments, which was to take up 
 
 316 
 
The Movement for Independence 
 
 and sing the poetical passages in the oration as soon as 
 the Doctor began to quote them. 
 
 It was altogether a remarkable performance, and 
 quite unusual in the colonies. But the extremists in 
 Congress were offended because the provost congratu- 
 lated his hearers that the Americans had not begun the 
 war, and were still willing to make peace if their 
 liberties were secured. In fact, the extremists had 
 expected him to help break down the majority in Con- 
 gress, which was still rather conservative. John Adams 
 spoke of the oration as an " insolent performance." 
 It is difficult, however, to see how he and others could 
 object in face of the passage which followed imme- 
 diately after the one of which they complained. 
 
 "But suppose these terms cannot be obtained? Why then, 
 there will be no need of further arguments, much less of 
 aggravations. Timid as my heart perhaps is, and ill-tuned as 
 my ear may be to the din of arms and the clangor of the 
 trumpet ; yet in that case, sounds which are a thousand times 
 more harsh — ' even the croaking of frogs in the uncultivated 
 fen,' or the howling of wild beasts round the spot where 
 liberty dwells — would be 'preferable to the nightingale's 
 song,' in vales of slavery, or the melting notes of Corelli in 
 cities clanking their chains." 
 
 The truth of the matter was that the Massachusetts 
 delegates, finding matters going too slow for them, had 
 now for some months been in an open quarrel with the 
 conservatives. John Adams and Dickinson no longer 
 spoke to each other; and Samuel Adams is said to 
 have proposed uniting the New England colonies into 
 a confederacy and making a break for independence. 
 
 317 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 What was actually done, however, was the passage 
 by Congress, on May 10, of the recommendation to 
 all the colonies to change their constitutions, and adopt 
 new governments suited to the new conditions. It was 
 supposed that the strength of the conservatives lay in 
 the old charter governments; and if they could be 
 broken up, the feeling for independence would spread. 
 
 This may have been a good recommendation for 
 some colonies, but it was not for others. Connecticut 
 and Rhode Island rejected it, and retained their original 
 charters until far down into the present century. In 
 Pennsylvania it made more Tories than patriots. It was 
 an attempt to force the people against their will, when 
 they were gradually moving in their own way and of 
 their own accord. 
 
 Our Assembly, though composed of Quakers, had 
 already in effect broken with Great Britain. They had 
 ceased to submit laws to the governor, and carried on 
 the affairs of the province by passing resolutions. It 
 was in this way that they voted supplies of muskets and 
 ammunition, and pledged the credit of the province to 
 pay for them. They appointed a council of safety to 
 be the executive of the province, and act in the place 
 of the governor, whom they now entirely disregarded. 
 He acquiesced in their treatment of him, made no 
 attempt to govern, and soon returned to England. 
 
 These same Quakers in the Assembly were also 
 preparing to repeal the naturalization laws and the 
 laws requiring the oath of allegiance to Great Britain. 
 They had increased the representation and given more 
 members to the western counties. They were organiz- 
 ing a voluntary militia system. On the 8th of June, 
 
 3'S 
 
■ 
 
 The Movement for Independence 
 
 1776, as the desire for independence had greatly in- 
 creased, they resolved by a large majority to bring- 
 in new instructions to their delegates in Congress, who 
 had heretofore been instructed not to favor inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 The Assembly was in effect a convention of the 
 people. Its members were elected annually, adjourned 
 as they pleased, and could not be prorogued by the 
 governor. They could be as easily changed, and made 
 to conform to the will of the people, as any conven- 
 tion, and in fact they were gradually being changed, 
 and were leaning more and more toward the popular 
 side. There was not the reason for abolishing their 
 functions that there was in some colonies, where the 
 Assembly was entirely in the control of a royal 
 governor who remained at his post. The Pennsylva- 
 nia Constitution was in every respect as well suited to 
 the exigencies of the Revolution as the charters of 
 Connecticut and Rhode Island, and should have been 
 retained, as those were. 
 
 But the extremists, led by Reed, Rittenhouse, Frank- 
 lin, Dr. Rush, and McKean were determined to destroy 
 every vestige of the Constitution and charter. They were 
 resisted by Dickinson, Wilson, Robert Morris, Thomson, 
 Mifflin, and the whole body of the Quakers, as well as 
 large numbers of conservatives from other divisions. 
 
 These men, during the two years preceding the spring 
 of 1776, succeeded in staving off the change. But 
 when Congress, May 10, 1776, recommended the 
 change, the movement became too strong for them. 
 Mass meetings of the extremists were held, calling on 
 the Assembly to abdicate its functions. The officers 
 
 3 T 9 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 and men of the five Philadelphia battalions, which had 
 been organized by the Assembly, declined to recognize 
 the authority of the body that had created them, and 
 declared that it should appoint no more officers over 
 them. The various committees of safety and corre- 
 spondence, which had been created to develop the 
 revolutionary movement, were called upon to take 
 charge of the State and call a convention to frame a 
 new Constitution. All these committees met together 
 in Philadelphia on the 1 8th of June. They assumed 
 themselves to be the supreme power of the State, issued 
 the call, and provided for the method of electing the 
 convention. 
 
 The violence and success of these proceedings were 
 captivating to many minds, and the Assembly was fast 
 dying of exhaustion. On the 14th of June it met to 
 pass the new instructions to the delegates in Congress, 
 but found it had not the necessary two thirds to form 
 a quorum. The extremists had persuaded enough 
 members to stay away, and persuaded them so success- 
 fully that they never appeared again. The Assembly 
 repeatedly attempted to meet for the next two months ; 
 but a quorum was never present, and toward the end 
 of August it breathed its last. The charter and institu- 
 tions which William Penn had established, and which 
 had endured for nearly a hundred years, were gone 
 forever. 
 
 And what was gained? What did the extremists 
 gain after their convention had forced upon the people 
 the instrument known as the Constitution of 1776? 
 They gained nothing which they would not have had 
 without it, and without it they might have had a great 
 
 320 
 
The Movement for Independence 
 
 deal more. They lost the Quakers forever. Those 
 stubborn, quiet people, who had made Pennsylvania, 
 and ruled it for nearly a century, could be led, or per- 
 suaded, or would go of their own accord ; but they 
 would not be driven. As a sect, they withdrew from 
 the Revolutionary movement altogether, and their ex- 
 ample influenced many of the other conservatives to do 
 the same. 
 
 This was the end of the political power of the 
 Quakers. They never again controlled a legislature, 
 and never again shaped the policy of the State. They 
 disappeared entirely from government, and became a 
 mere social influence, which for the next fifty years was 
 of some importance, and after that declined. 
 
 The Convention of 1776 which created a new Penn- 
 sylvania was a curious body, and an interesting instance 
 of American skill in government. It combined within 
 itself the functions of legislature, governor, judicial de- 
 partment, and constitutional convention. It had no 
 sooner met, with Franklin as president, and the Rev. 
 William White, afterward bishop, to open the first 
 session with prayer, than it set to work to pass laws 
 and declare Pennsylvania an independent State. It ap- 
 pointed delegates to Congress. It ordered the people 
 to take out their window-weights and clock-weights, 
 and sell the lead in them for bullets. It deprived the 
 non-combatant Quakers of their weapons. They had 
 refused to use them, and they must be given to those 
 who would. It regulated the jails, and released all 
 prisoners convicted of minor offences. It controlled 
 the Associators, as the militia were called, and heaped 
 heavy taxes on non-associators and non-combatants. 
 21 321 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 If the Quakers and Germans would not fight, they 
 should at least pay the expenses of those who did. 
 It appointed a Council of Safety and Conservators of 
 the Peace to take charge of the State, and it adopted 
 laws defining treason and counterfeiting. It made a 
 temporary agreement with Virginia about the disputed 
 boundary line. It was a magnificent example of the 
 instinct of the Saxon race for self-government. With 
 a stroke of the pen it abolished the ancient fabric and 
 tore it out root and branch, and then deliberately and 
 coolly began to build up another. 
 
 All the time that it was passing laws, and regulating 
 the daily concerns of the new State, it was also deliberat- 
 ing on the provisions of the new Constitution, which it 
 finished and gave to the people at the close of Septem- 
 ber, 1776. This instrument shows very clearly how the 
 American mind gradually evolved its ideas of govern- 
 ment from the old colonial charters to the National 
 Constitution of 1789. The Pennsylvania Constitution of 
 1776 shows our constitutional ideas in a crude state of 
 development. It contained many things which are now 
 believed to be useless. The executive power, instead of 
 being committed to a single governor, was given to a 
 council of twelve, — one to be elected by each of the 
 eleven counties and the twelfth by Philadelphia. The 
 president of this council was to be chosen by the legis- 
 lature. The legislative power was given to one body, 
 called the General Assembly. There was no provision 
 for a second house or senate. But the most curious 
 department of all was the Council of Censors, whose 
 duty was to watch over the Constitution, report in- 
 fractions of it, and act the part of general critic and 
 
 322 
 
The Movement for Independence 
 
 scold. It was a clumsy contrivance, and was never 
 successful. 
 
 The only prominent men in the convention were 
 Ross, Clymer, Rittenhouse, and Franklin. There were 
 no great lawyers, and no one of any great skill in 
 constitution-making. Many passages in the instrument 
 seem to remind us of the simplicity of Franklin's mind. 
 Rittenhouse was chairman of the committee that drafted 
 the Constitution, and doubtless had much influence in 
 shaping many of the clauses. So far as this Constitu- 
 tion was not the product of the average intelligence and 
 opinion of the time, it may be said to be the work of an 
 astronomer and a philosopher. 
 
 The convention was in session from July 19 to Sep- 
 tember 28, and the new government went into operation 
 in November, 1776. The effect on the State was very 
 unfortunate. The Constitution had never been submitted 
 to the people. It turned out of power and influence, 
 not only the Quakers, but the proprietary party and all 
 the men who, like Willing, Allen, Morris, Dickinson, 
 Norris, and others, had long occupied positions of prom- 
 inence and importance. It set them more than ever 
 against the Revolution. Instead of dealing justly with 
 their interests and sentiments and leading them toward 
 the Revolution, as it should have done, it shocked and 
 violated their feelings and turned their self-interest away 
 from independence. It made many of them Tories, and 
 the wonder is it did not make more. Its absurd pro- 
 visions for a twelve-headed executive and a council of 
 censors, and the neglect to submit it to popular vote, 
 gave them a chance to ridicule it, and to say that it was 
 a usurpation and had been forced on the people without 
 
 323 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 their consent. Two parties immediately arose, — the 
 Constitutionalists, composed almost entirely of a new 
 set of men, unused to power, who were determined 
 to stand by the new Constitution, and the Anti-Constitu- 
 tionalists, composed of the old leaders and former men 
 of prominence who wanted the Constitution amended. 
 
 The agitation which produced the new Constitution 
 had been contemporaneous with that other agitation 
 which had for its object the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence. These two movements forced Pennsylvania 
 prematurely into the Revolution and destroyed all possi- 
 bility and hope of her people acting as a unit. 
 
 In the spring of 1776 the Pennsylvania delegation 
 in Congress was composed of Franklin, Dickinson, 
 Robert Morris, Wilson, Willing, Morton, and Hum- 
 phreys. They had been instructed by the Assembly 
 to advocate redress of grievances and a permanent 
 constitutional settlement, but not to favor independence. 
 The delegations of most of the other colonies were 
 under similar instructions. But in May, 1776, the desire 
 for independence had become so strong that the two 
 or three colonies which had been all along secretly in 
 favor of it began to speak of it openly; and to the 
 great delight of Massachusetts, Virginia opened the ball, 
 May 22, by instructing her delegates to urge an im- 
 mediate declaration. In obedience to this instruction 
 Richard Henry Lee, on June 7, offered in the Continental 
 Congress his famous resolutions. 
 
 The subject was hotly debated for the rest of the 
 month. Seven of the colonies were in favor of Lee's 
 resolutions, and six were against them. The majority 
 in favor of the resolutions was composed of the four 
 
 324 
 
The Movement for Independence 
 
 New England colonies, Virginia, North Carolina, and 
 Georgia. The minority led by Dickinson was made 
 up of Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New York, New 
 Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware. 
 
 The objection of the minority was entirely one of 
 policy. They believed independence was inevitable, 
 but that the time had not yet come for proclaiming it. 
 The colonies were not yet sufficiently united; the desire 
 for independence not yet sufficiently wide-spread ; and 
 there was no prospect of a foreign alliance to give hope 
 of success to our arms. 
 
 The Congress set to work to remove as many of these 
 objections as possible. A committee was appointed to 
 prepare the Articles of Confederation, which, it was 
 believed, would unite the colonies sufficiently to with- 
 stand the shock of war. Another committee was 
 appointed to prepare a plan for treaties with for- 
 eign powers. Dickinson was on both of these com- 
 mittees, drafted the Articles of Confederation, and also 
 the plan for the treaties. Thus far every important 
 national state paper had been the work of his hands. 
 His opposition, or conservatism, whichever it may be 
 called, had produced the Articles of Confederation, the 
 first real American Union, without which the Revolution 
 could not have been carried on. 
 
 It was absolutely essential that the vote for indepen- 
 dence should be unanimous ; and its advocates used 
 every means in their power to win over the minority. 
 Special efforts were made in the colonies that had not 
 yet changed their instructions to their delegates. Mem- 
 bers of Congress left Philadelphia to visit these colonies 
 and arouse the people. As the month of June wore on, 
 
 325 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 one colony after another fell into line and changed their 
 instructions. Even the Quaker Assembly of Pennsyl- 
 vania voted new instructions just before its functions 
 were destroyed by the convention. By the end of the 
 month every colony, except New York, had given to 
 its delegates authority to vote for independence. The 
 large majority being agreed, the only question was 
 one of time, and how long the time of announcing 
 independence should be delayed was the difficult 
 question. 
 
 Dickinson and nearly the whole Pennsylvania delega- 
 tion were for delay, and for the old reasons, — lack of 
 unity and lack of allies. They were doubtless largely 
 influenced by the position of affairs in their own State. 
 The Quakers and many of the conservatives were al- 
 ready lost by premature measures, and by an attempt 
 to force opinion. Another hasty move might alienate 
 others from the cause. Many of the old proprietary 
 party were hesitating and watching events. If let alone 
 for a while, they would develop into patriots. The 
 numbers of the patriot party were increased every day 
 by men who were thus developing ; but to try to force 
 such men into the contest would be to drive them from 
 it altogether. 
 
 The ist of July was the day fixed for the final de- 
 cision. The debate lasted nine hours; and when the 
 vote was taken, in committee of the whole, all the colo- 
 nies were in favor of Lee's resolutions, except four. 
 South Carolina and Pennsylvania voted directly against 
 them ; Delaware was equally divided, and her vote could 
 not be counted ; New York, being still uninstructed, re- 
 fused to vote. The committee of the whole was about 
 
 326 
 
The Movement for Independence 
 
 to report this result when Rutledge of South Carolina 
 moved an adjournment to the next day. 
 
 The final decision was thus postponed from the 1st 
 of July to the 2d ; and the object of Rutledge was 
 to secure in the intervening time a greater unanimity. 
 Up to that time Franklin was the only one of the Penn- 
 sylvania delegation who was in favor of an immediate 
 declaration. The remaining delegates, Robert Morris, 
 Dickinson, Wilson, Willing, Morton, and Humphreys, 
 were against it. But on the 2d of July, Wilson, 
 after much hesitation, decided to vote with Franklin, 
 and Morton followed suit. Willing and Humphreys 
 continued to vote against it; but as Morris and Dickin- 
 son absented themselves, the vote of Pennsylvania was 
 carried for the Declaration by three to tw r o. Delaware, 
 whose vote had been evenly divided, was brought over 
 to the side of the Declaration by the arrival of Caesar 
 Rodney; and South Carolina was also persuaded. The 
 New York delegation, being still without fresh instruc- 
 tions, declined to vote. 
 
 Thus independence was declared by an almost unani- 
 mous vote on the 2d of July, and not on the 4th, as is 
 usually supposed. The document which we now call 
 the Declaration was adopted on the 4th as a public 
 expression of what had been decided on the 2d. 
 The vital question had been on Lee's resolutions, which 
 were a short, simple statement declaring the colonies 
 independent. 
 
 Neither the passage of Lee's resolutions, nor the 
 document adopted on the 4th, aroused much excite- 
 ment in the country. The Sessions of the Congress 
 were secret ; scarcely any one knew what was being de- 
 
 327 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 bated ; and when the final result was made known, it was 
 received very quietly. On the 8th of July the Decla- 
 ration was read at length by John Nixon in the State- 
 house yard. Mrs. Deborah Logan, sitting at the window 
 of her house at the corner of Fifth and Library streets, 
 heard the reading, and records in her diary that few 
 people were present, except some of the lower orders. 
 It was not made a matter of much ceremony or import- 
 ance. It had not then been signed ; and the signatures 
 were not all appended until August. 
 
 The reason for this apparent lack of interest was that 
 in the minds of most people the Declaration was not 
 considered as very decisive of anything. The point 
 that was troubling their minds was whether we should 
 be able to contend in arms with Great Britain ; and the 
 Declaration was valued only as it would assist us, in 
 that respect, by making us more united, and getting us 
 foreign alliance. The dramatic side of it was not then 
 as apparent as it is now. 
 
 As time wore on, however, and the people looked 
 back at the Declaration, it seemed to them more and 
 more of a landmark. It became the starting-point for 
 a new era. As the Revolution became more and more 
 successful, they learned to take a pride in it, and they 
 gradually substituted for Lee's resolutions and the 
 2d of July, the formal document adopted on the 4th. 
 
 Up to the time of the passage of Lee's resolutions, 
 and for some months afterward, there was no particular 
 mark of unpopularity attaching to the men who had 
 opposed the Declaration. This was natural ; for most 
 of the colonists had all along been in favor of making 
 war on Great Britain, not for the sake of a permanent 
 
The Movement for Independence 
 
 separation and independence, but for the sake of settling 
 disputed questions, and forcing' a closer constitutional 
 union which would better secure American rights and 
 liberties. Robert Morris, although he had opposed the 
 Declaration, and refused to vote for it, was nevertheless 
 re-elected to Congress on the 20th of July. He still 
 thought the Declaration a mistake, and on the day of 
 his re-election wrote " that in his poor opinion it was an 
 improper time, and that it will neither promote the 
 interest nor redound to the honor of America, for it 
 has caused division when we wanted union." Wilson 
 was also re-elected, although he had steadily opposed the 
 Declaration, and voted for it only at the last moment. 
 
 Dickinson was not so fortunate. The convention, 
 which had now usurped the functions of the legislature, 
 and represented the extremists, declined to send him 
 back to Congress; and Willing and Humphreys also 
 failed of re-election. The new delegation elected by 
 the convention was composed of Franklin, Morris, 
 Wilson, Dr. Rush, Morton, Clymer, Ross, James Smith, 
 and George Taylor, and these men appear as the signers 
 to the Declaration. 
 
 As the idea of independence became more popular, 
 and every one felt that the country was committed to it, 
 the men who had opposed it in the last days of June 
 began to suffer in reputation. Even Wilson, who had 
 voted for it at the last moment, and Morris, who had 
 finally signed the declaration of it, came in for a good 
 share of abuse. But Dickinson, who never wavered in 
 his opinion for a moment, was the worst sufferer, and 
 soon became the object of the most virulent, cruel, and 
 unjust attacks that the camp followers of a revolutionary 
 
 329 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 part)-, fresh in power, can heap upon a worthy citizen 
 whose eminence they envy. 
 
 The convention, by destroying the Assembly and the 
 whole fabric of the old government, had brought into 
 authority, or prominence, a set of men to whom political 
 power was a new thing. Many of them were decent 
 people; but the same movement which raised them 
 into light brought with them a set of scribblers and ad- 
 venturers, who in times of peace would be either in jail 
 or obscurity. Such men gratify the strongest passion 
 of their natures when they feel that they are undermin- 
 ing, by innuendo and inference, the people who ^have 
 long been held respectable. All through the Revolu- 
 tion, and for twenty years after, we had among us a 
 swarm of these vermin. Their existence is not usually 
 made apparent in Fourth of July orations; but all who 
 have examined the original authorities of that time are 
 painfully aware of their presence. 
 
 The year and a half which followed the Declaration 
 of Independence justified many of the doubts of Morris, 
 Wilson, and Dickinson. Disasters and defeats followed 
 each other in rapid succession, relieved only by the 
 small success of Washington at Trenton. It was not 
 until the surrender of Kurgoyne at Saratoga that a 
 change came, and help from Europe. With such a 
 victory before her eyes, France within a few months 
 recognized our independence and sent a fleet to assist 
 us. This was in exact accordance with the prediction 
 of Dickinson, that it would be the success of our arms, 
 and not a mere paper declaration! which would bring us 
 foreign recognition and alliance. 
 
 The friends and admirers of Dickinson cannot help 
 
 330 
 
The Movement for Independence 
 
 wishing that he had followed the example of Wilson, 
 and saved himself from abuse by voting for the Decla- 
 ration on its final passage. But if he had done so he 
 would not have been John Dickinson. He was con- 
 sistent to the last; and when years afterward a picture 
 was to be painted of the members of Congress at the 
 time of the Declaration, he refused, though several 
 times urged by the artist, to allow his face to appear 
 among them. " The truth is," he wrote, " that, as I 
 opposed making the Declaration of Independence at 
 the time it was made, I cannot be guilty of so false an 
 ambition as to seek for any share in the fame of that 
 Council." 
 
 Consistency, however, did not drive him to sulk in 
 his tent. Within a week after the Declaration was 
 made he led his regiment to Elizabethtown to confront 
 the enemy, then invading New York. He was colonel 
 of the first battalion, which, by the law of that time, 
 gave him command of the whole body of Pennsylvania 
 militia. But before he marched for New York his 
 enemies succeeded in nominating two brigadiers to be 
 placed over him. He felt the indignity, and spoke of 
 it in an address he made to his battalion, telling them 
 at the same time that as they were going at once into 
 active service, he would pass over the affront and lead 
 them on their tour of duty. 
 
 Arrived before the enemy on Staten Island, he had 
 the entire command for the rest of the summer, and 
 exerted himself to the utmost in disciplining the raw 
 troops and preventing desertions. When the troops 
 returned, he returned with them, and retained his com- 
 mission as colonel until the convention confirmed the 
 
 33' 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 nomination of the two brigadiers, when he immediately 
 resigned. 
 
 As the autumn of 1776 wore on into December, it 
 became more and more evident that the British would 
 take Philadelphia, and the families of patriots be 
 exposed to insult or worse. Dickinson gathered to- 
 gether his family, and retired to his farm near Dover 
 in Delaware. He was in effect exiled ; for although 
 he went away voluntarily in a certain sense, the abuse 
 that was heaped upon him had made Pennsylvania 
 too hot to hold him. He returned some years after- 
 ward to vindicate himself; but he never again regarded 
 Pennsylvania as his true home. It was in Delaware 
 that he carried out his intention of becoming a common 
 soldier. With a musket on his shoulder, the gouty 
 high liver, who drove his coach and four in Philadel- 
 phia, joined a militia company, and remained with them 
 through the campaign which ended with the battle of 
 the Brandywine. 
 
 For this service he was made a brigadier-general 
 of Delaware. Except McKean, he was the only mem- 
 ber of the Continental Congress that saw actual service. 
 Delaware sent him to Congress in 1779 by a unani- 
 mous vote of both branches of her legislature, and 
 the next year elected him president of the State. 
 
 332 
 
w 
 
 ar 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 WAR 
 
 The year 1777 was one of great confusion in Phila- 
 delphia, — a confusion which continued to the end of 
 the Revolution. The die was cast. There was no 
 longer any use in debating about independence. It 
 had been declared, and was to be fought for, and war 
 was in the gates. 
 
 The sick and wounded soldiers came pouring into 
 the city, and hospitals had to be improvised in private 
 houses and public institutions. Camp fever and the 
 other diseases of crowding and dirt raged among them. 
 Two thousand were buried in Washington Square, close 
 along the line of Walnut Street, — that strange plot of 
 ground which has received, at one time or another, the 
 bodies of paupers, Indians, and Continentals. 
 
 But as the scenes of war and destruction increased, 
 Philadelphia became gayer than ever. The fluctua- 
 tions in prices, and in the value of the Continental 
 money, gave opportunities for speculation and the 
 acquisition of sudden wealth which had never been 
 known before. The paper currency gave an impres- 
 sion that money was plenty, or cheap, as it is called, 
 and the whole community became demoralized and 
 reckless. Tories and Whigs set to work to enjoy 
 themselves. For seven years the town was full of 
 
 3.33 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 soldiers and uniforms; sometimes the red coats of the 
 British, sometimes the buff and blue of the Continen- 
 tals.- Congress was there, foreign ministers, and dis- 
 tinguished men. Never, before or since, has the town 
 been so thoroughly interesting as it was for those seven 
 years, — " an attractive scene of debauch and amuse- 
 ment, " as Richard Henry Lee described it. It would 
 have been difficult at that time to have found a city, 
 even on the Continent of Europe, where one could have 
 seen so much and such varied life. 
 
 The same sort of thing was going on in Boston and 
 New York on a smaller scale ; but the metropolis and 
 seat of government naturally had more of it. 
 
 "When I was in Boston last summer," wrote General 
 Greene, " I thought luxury very prevalent there ; but they are 
 no more to compare with those now prevailing in Philadel- 
 phia than an infant babe to a full grown man. I dined at 
 one table where there were an hundred and sixty dishes." 
 
 As the value of the Continental money fell, and 
 prices of necessaries rose, there were great complaints 
 of suffering; but extravagance and amusements appar- 
 ently increased all the more. People who were in the 
 thick of the excitement, entertaining lavishly, and 
 sending their daughters to every ball, wrote letters of 
 great distress, in which they said they must soon quit 
 this scene of frightful expense; but there is no record 
 of their having gone. Franklin's pretty daughter writes 
 to her father, in France, of the shocking prices she 
 pays for everything, — fifty dollars a yard for gauze, 
 six dollars for a pair of gloves, and .£200 for a cloak 
 and hat. But what was she to do when she was 
 
 334 
 
War 
 
 asked to spend the day with General Washington and 
 his wife, or the evening at the French ambassador's. 
 Next winter she must retire and take to spinning 
 again. But she appears to have continued buying 
 what she wanted, and teased her father to send her 
 more things from France. 
 
 By the close of the year 1776, men began to show 
 their true colors. Galloway turned Tory, and went 
 over to the British at New York. So did the Allen 
 family, and many others. Some, who were Tory at 
 heart, remained; and there was an immense body of 
 people, numbering many thousands, who also remained, 
 and whose position was peculiar. 
 
 A large part of them were Quakers, who were un- 
 questionably neutral, and took neither one side nor the 
 other. Individuals among them may have been Tories. 
 But there is no doubt that the mass of the Quakers 
 lived up to what they professed, and assisted neither 
 party. The rest of this peculiar class were the mem- 
 bers of the Anti-Constitutional party, — men who 
 favored the Revolution, but who had been driven from 
 their old power and position by the Constitutionalists, 
 and were now objects of suspicion and dislike. Even 
 men like Robert Morris and Wilson, who were promi- 
 nent in national councils, and earnest Revolutionists, 
 were classed with these people, and came in for their 
 share of the jealousy and distrust of the Constitu- 
 tionalists. 
 
 Others were men like Thomas Willing, who in 
 Congress had voted against the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence to the last, who believed in the Revolution, 
 but not in the way it was being conducted in Pennsyl- 
 
 335 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 vania, who was respected by both sides, and whose 
 high character and popularity saved him from annoy- 
 ance. Others were men like Provost Smith, who hoped 
 the Revolution would be successful, but would not 
 take an active part in it. There were all kinds and 
 shades of opinions of this sort, — some of them now 
 rather hard to understand; and there were also the 
 indifferent ones, who were waiting till it was all over, 
 and would be very well content with any sort of 
 settlement. 
 
 It would have been better, of course, if all these 
 people had been on the side of the patriots, and acting 
 as a unit in conducting the Revolution. But to accom- 
 plish that desirable result, it would have been neces- 
 sary to recreate Pennsylvania from the beginning, and 
 make it a homogeneous commonwealth instead of a 
 commonwealth of races, sects, and factions. 
 
 The Constitutionalists had already tried to convert 
 these conservatives by force, and had failed. So they 
 decided to try again. They determined to make treason 
 odious, and during the summer of 1777 arrested about 
 forty prominent persons, in the hope of striking terror 
 into the rest. It is probable that about seven out of 
 the forty were Tories. John Penn, the late governor, 
 and Benjamin Chew, the late chief justice, were doubt- 
 less fair specimens of that class. But the rest were 
 merely Quakers, conservatives, and indifferents ; and 
 among them, unfortunately, were many members of 
 the best families in the State. Drinker, Pemberton, 
 Wharton, Hunt, Bond, Gilpin, Roberts, Emlen, Kuhn, 
 and Provost Smith are some of the well-known names 
 on the list, 
 
 336 
 
War 
 
 About half of those arrested gave their parole and 
 were discharged. The parole was a promise that they 
 would neither do nor say anything to the injury of 
 the United States. Among these was Provost Smith. 
 There does not appear to have been the slightest ground 
 for suspecting him. He believed the Declaration of 
 Independence to have been premature, and had advo- 
 cated delay. Beyond this there was no more reason 
 for arresting him than there was for arresting Robert 
 Morris or any of the other members of Congress who 
 held the same opinion. But the provost was always in 
 trouble. 
 
 The British, having defeated Washington at New 
 York, and driven him across the Jerseys, decided to 
 take Philadelphia, — the capital of the colonies, and 
 the seat of their Continental Congress. For that pur- 
 pose a force, under General Howe, was landed at the 
 head of Chesapeake Bay to proceed northward. The 
 destination of this force was not at first known. Great 
 preparations to start were made by the British in New 
 York ; but it was not apparent whether they would go 
 up the Hudson or out to sea. Washington waited in 
 New Jersey; and when it became evident that they had 
 gone to sea, he marched into Pennsylvania, as it was 
 possible they might intend to come up the Delaware. 
 When he discovered that they were in the Chesapeake, 
 he placed himself between the head of that bay and 
 Philadelphia, determined to give them battle. His 
 final position was on the east side of the Brandywine, 
 at Chadcl's Ford. 
 
 The Brandywine, at that part of its course, has a 
 general direction north and south. On the ioth of 
 22 337 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 September, 1777, the British were at Kennett Square, 
 directly in front of Washington's position, and to the 
 westward of him, with the little river between them. 
 The British numbered about eighteen thousand men, 
 and the Americans about eleven thousand. 
 
 A road ran direct from the British position at Kennett 
 Square to Washington's position at Chadd's Ford; and 
 on the morning of September 11, at nine o'clock, about 
 one quarter of the British army, under Knyphausen, 
 marched along this road, and soon engaged Maxwell's 
 men, who were across the river as an outpost. Driv- 
 ing them back, Knyphausen secured himself on the 
 west side of Chadd's Ford, and began, with great vigor 
 and much display of force, to cannonade Washington's 
 position on the east side. 
 
 It was only a ruse. The main part of the British 
 army had started much earlier in the morning, made a 
 long detour to the northward, crossed the Brandywine 
 at a ford so high up that it had been thought unneces- 
 sary to guard it, and were marching down on the 
 American flank. The movement had been much 
 assisted by a dense fog. 
 
 Washington, after having been amused by Knyphausen 
 all morning, got word of the manoeuvre to the north of 
 him about noon, and immediately decided to cross the 
 Brandywine and attack Knyphausen with his full force. 
 He could easily defeat him, and would then be in a 
 position to deal with the main body, that would be 
 demoralized by finding their enemy in a new position 
 and their ruse a failure. 
 
 If this had been done, the course of history might 
 have been very much altered. But before he could 
 
 338 
 
fW. 
 
 BATTLE FIELDS OF PHILADELPH1 
 
War 
 
 execute the movement, Washington got word from 
 General Sullivan that the British were not coming by 
 the northward way, so he remained where he was. The 
 enemy were shortly upon him from both sides, and the 
 day was lost. He retreated as best he could, ■ — a few 
 of his men, under Armstrong, falling back to Chester, 
 and the main body crossing the Schuylkill, and 
 encamping in Germantown. The wounded were sent 
 in all directions, and, among others, young Lafayette, 
 with a ball in his leg, to the Moravians at Bethlehem. 
 
 Immediately there was a great alarm and scattering 
 in Philadelphia. Cattle and horses were driven off; 
 church -bells taken down and sunk in the river, or 
 carried away to hiding-places. The floating bridges 
 on the Schuylkill were removed; large vessels taken 
 up the Delaware; small boats of all kinds hidden in 
 the Jersey creeks, and those that could not be taken 
 away burned. The public books and papers were taken 
 up to Easton, on the Lehigh. The Whigs moved 
 out with their families and goods, and the Tories 
 complacently remained. 
 
 But the British, though only twenty miles away from 
 the city, spent two weeks in getting into it. In fact, 
 it was by no means easy for them to get in. Phila- 
 delphia lay in the forks between two rivers, a strong 
 situation, selected by that man of peace, William 
 Penn. The British would have to cross the Schuylkill, 
 and how were they to do it? The floating bridges 
 were all taken away. Washington and his army lay 
 at Germantown, whence they could easily cover any of 
 the fords; and an army in the act of crossing a deep 
 stream is easily defeated by a much inferior force. It 
 
 339 
 
BATTLE FIELDS OF PHILADELPHIA. 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 was a crisis. All the results of the defeat at Brandy- 
 wine might be removed. If the British could not cross 
 the river, they would have to retire ignominiously to 
 their ships at the head of the Chesapeake; and if they 
 were defeated in an attempt to cross, they could be 
 driven back to their ships, harassed, and perhaps routed 
 on the way. 
 
 As the British could not hope to force a passage of 
 the river in the face of Washington's army, it became 
 a question of wits and manoeuvring between the two 
 commanders. Howe's object was to entice Washing- 
 ton to the western side, and then slip behind him, 
 and cross the river. To this end a detachment of 
 the British went to Wilmington and Chester, and the 
 main body moved northward to the Lancaster turnpike 
 near Paoli, whence they sent a party to Valley Forge 
 to destroy the stores there. 
 
 Wayne was camped, with fifteen hundred men, near 
 the Paoli Inn, and, on the night of September 20, 
 the British attacked him, rushing into his camp, kill- 
 ing and wounding, with their bayonets, three hundred 
 of his men, and taking over seventy prisoners. This 
 massacre at Paoli, as it was ever afterward called, 
 from the ruthlessness of the slaughter, was a great 
 shock to the feelings of the patriots. It was the first 
 and also the last time that Wayne was ever surprised. 
 
 Washington, not altogether wisely, thought he could 
 do something with Howe on the other side of the river, 
 and he marched from Germantown, and crossed the 
 Schuylkill to attack him. He followed the Lancaster 
 turnpike, and met the British at the Warren Tavern, 
 a little west of Paoli. But a rain-storm coming on, 
 
 340 
 
War 
 
 the ammunition of both parties was wet, and the battle 
 could have been fought only with swords and bayonets, 
 which neither side seemed inclined to risk. 
 
 The British, however, saw their opportunity of get- 
 ting easily into Philadelphia; and in the night they 
 attempted to slip off and cross the Schuylkill at the 
 Swedes Ford, a little below Valley Forge. Washing- 
 ton was on the watch for this move, reached the ford 
 ahead of them, and, crossing to the other side, presented 
 an insuperable barrier. 
 
 But Howe was still able to outwit him. He made a 
 feint of marching up the west bank of the river, appar- 
 ently to get a crossing higher up; and when he had 
 the Americans following along the opposite shore, he 
 slipped his whole force across the Swedes Ford. He 
 was now between the rivers, and had, in effect, taken 
 Philadelphia. He moved down to Germantown Sep- 
 tember 25, and on the 26th entered the city. 
 
 The whole campaign was most disastrous. Washing- 
 ton's force was, it is true, inferior to the British; but 
 a little luck, or, rather, a little accurate information, 
 might have enabled him to win the battle of the 
 Brandywine. After that, he still had a chance, and 
 might have prevented the British crossing the Schuyl- 
 kill, or have inflicted a severe defeat upon them while 
 they were in the act of crossing; but he was distinctly 
 outmanoeuvred by Howe, both at Brandywine and at 
 the ford. The unfortunate affair of the ford was re- 
 garded by many as inexcusable, and was the principal 
 cause of the attempt to remove Washington, and place 
 the successful Gates in command. 
 
 The Hessians, who were always put to the front in 
 
 34' 
 
Pennsylvania : Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 everything, were the first to enter Philadelphia, march- 
 ing in with terrible looks and fierce mustaches, dressed 
 for the occasion, and their music seemed to thunder 
 out plunder, plunder, plunder! The English grena- 
 diers were very different. They entered in an easy, 
 good-humored manner, with none of the airs of the 
 conqueror. To a little lad, who ran up to the front 
 rank as it halted for a moment in the street, some of 
 them said, "How are you, my boy? " and several shook 
 hands with him. The little fellow had been heart- 
 broken at the sight of the awful Hessians. But the 
 tranquil faces of the Englishmen restored him, and he- 
 remembered their pleasant, manly words to his dying- 
 day. 
 
 Most of the army had marched in from the north by 
 Second Street, and they followed that street down until 
 they had crossed Dock Street, where they camped on 
 the ridge of land known as Society Hill, which fol- 
 lowed the southern side of Dock Creek. The artillery 
 took up their quarters in Chestnut Street, between 
 Third and Sixth, and parked their cannon in the State- 
 house yard. The Forty-Second Highlanders were on 
 Chestnut Street, below Third, and the Fifteenth Regi- 
 ment at Fifth and Market. Firewood was scarce, and 
 garden fences, stables, and other structures rapidly 
 disappeared. 
 
 Philadelphia was a comparatively easy place for 
 them to fortify. Lying at the junction of two rivers, 
 which came together like the letter V, the important 
 place to strengthen was the open part of the V, which 
 extended northward toward Germantown and Chestnut 
 Hill. The river-fronts were easily fortified by bat- 
 
 342 
 
War 
 
 teries and guards. The open space to the north they 
 fortified by a line of redoubts extending from river 
 to river on the present lines of Poplar, Green, and 
 Callowhill streets, turning the V into an A. 
 
 This line of redoubts had been begun by General 
 Putnam to keep the British out of Philadelphia, but 
 the work was abandoned after the successful battle of 
 Trenton, which, it was supposed, rendered all defence 
 of the city unnecessary. The British now completed 
 these defences, which had been intended to be used 
 against them, and while they were engaged in the 
 work kept a strong force out at Germantown. This 
 force rested its left on the Schuylkill, near the mouth 
 of the Wissahickon, and extended eastward along 
 Schoolhouse Lane, across Germantown, and along 
 Mill Street to the Old York Road. Washington and 
 his army lay some ten or fifteen miles to the north- 
 ward, at White Marsh; and it seemed to him that it 
 was a good opportunity to attack this outpost and 
 drive it in on the city before the works were completed. 
 
 This plan, which resulted in the battle of German- 
 town, was carried out on the morning of October 4. 
 The American army was divided into three divisions. 
 One division, under Armstrong, passed down near 
 the Schuylkill, to attack the British at the mouth of 
 the Wissahickon and on Schoolhouse Lane. Another, 
 under Wayne and Sullivan, went by what is now the 
 Main Street of Germantown, to attack the British 
 centre at Market Square, and was followed by the 
 reserves. The third division, under Greene, went by 
 way of the Lime Kiln turnpike against the right wing 
 of the enemy, which rested on the Old York Road. 
 
 343 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 The troops under General Potter, which were patrol- 
 ling the country west of the Schuylkill, were ordered 
 to make a feint at some of the ferries close to the city, 
 and prevent reinforcements from going to German- 
 town. The attack, it was hoped, would be almost 
 simultaneous along the whole English line. 
 
 The Americans started in the night, so as to reach 
 Germantown about daybreak, and the king's troops 
 were taken by surprise. Armstrong, on the American 
 right, reached the mouth of the Wissahickon, and 
 fought the enemy there, but was unable to drive them 
 back, and get on the British rear, as was intended. 
 Wayne and Sullivan were more successful. Marching 
 down the turnpike, which formed the Main Street of 
 Germantown, they met a strong outpost at Mount Airy, 
 and drove it before them down to the British centre 
 at Market Square, which was thrown into confusion. 
 Wayne's men had only a week or two before been sur- 
 prised at Paoli, and had seen some of their comrades 
 cruelly butchered. They now revenged themselves, 
 and bayonetted the English without mercy. Nothing 
 prevented their complete triumph except that Greene 
 had been too successful on the American left. He 
 had attacked the English right wing on Mill Street, 
 near the Lime Kiln turnpike, defeated it, arid, turning 
 eastward, along Mill Street, pressed into the English 
 centre just at the time when Wayne was atoning for 
 his misfortunes at Paoli. An early morning fog, 
 mixed with smoke, obscured everything. Wayne and 
 Sullivan mistook Greene for a reinforcement of the 
 enemy, and retreated. 
 
 The reserves which were following Wayne and 
 
 344 
 
War 
 
 Sullivan were delayed. Part of the outpost which 
 Wayne drove back to the centre had taken possession 
 of the mansion of Chief Justice Chew, which still 
 stands about a hundred yards from the east side of the 
 road. As the Reserves came up, and found what 
 appeared to be a stronghold of the enemy, they stopped 
 to besiege it. They acted upon the rule that an advan- 
 cing army must not leave a fortress of the enemy in 
 its rear. But the delay was unfortunate. Greene, 
 deserted by- Wayne and Sullivan, and unassisted by 
 the Reserves, was obliged to retreat; and when he had 
 fallen back as far as the Reserves, they all retreated, 
 and what promised to be a most important victory for 
 the Americans was lost. 
 
 Wayne always insisted that, if it had not been for 
 these unlucky mistakes, he and Greene could have 
 driven the British back into the city and out of it, and 
 ended the war. Washington was also deeply disap- 
 pointed, and fretted himself for a long time over the 
 misfortunes of that day. 
 
 But eminent military authorities have held that the 
 Americans gained all that was possible from the situa- 
 tion. If they had driven the British back upon the 
 town, the whole force, under Cornwallis, would have 
 rushed out, fresh and vigorous, to find before them an 
 inferior force of Americans, worn out with the long 
 pursuit, and twenty miles from their camp. Washing- 
 ton's army might have been annihilated. But, as it 
 was, he gained the credit, among military men in 
 Europe, of having prepared a most excellent plan of 
 battle, which was more than half successful, and failed 
 through almost unavoidable accident. The courage 
 
 345 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 and energy with which the Americans made the attack, 
 and the fierceness with which mere militiamen used 
 the bayonet upon regulars, were well calculated to 
 restore the drooping spirits of the patriots, and, what 
 was equally valuable, inspire France with the impor- 
 tance of an alliance. 
 
 The British continued to hold Germantown. But 
 when their line of redoubts along Green and Poplar 
 streets was completed, the Germantown force was 
 withdrawn. The redoubts, which were built largely 
 of apple-trees and all sorts of material collected on 
 the spot, were ten in number, stretching from river to 
 river, from Green and Front streets, on the Delaware, 
 to the present Park entrance at Spring Garden Street, 
 on the Schuylkill, and the spaces between these 
 redoubts were protected by abatis, stockades, and 
 batteries. Simcoe, with the Queen's Rangers, was at 
 Redoubt No. i, on the Delaware, where he carefully 
 guarded the great Treaty Elm from desecration, and 
 was supposed to let in the few supplies which the 
 farmers of the country could secretly furnish the 
 enemy. The Hessian grenadiers were encamped from 
 Fifth to Seventh streets, and between Vine and Cal- 
 lowhill streets. Next were the English grenadiers, 
 extending to Broad Street, with other divisions beyond. 
 Nearly the whole force was, in this way, massed close 
 against the redoubts in the open portion of the V, 
 which was the important place to protect. But they 
 could not yet settle down to a quiet enjoyment of the 
 city, for the forts and vessels which commanded the 
 river were still in possession of the Americans. 
 
 There were three forts : Mifflin, on the Pennsylvania 
 
 346 
 
War 
 
 side, just below the mouth of the Schuylkill; Red 
 Bank, almost opposite to it, on the Jersey side; and 
 Billingsport, also on the Jersey side, a little farther 
 down. Between these forts the chevaux dc /rise, in- 
 vented by Franklin, were stretched across the channel, 
 and effectually prevented the British men-of-war and 
 supply ships from reaching the city. Above the 
 chevaux de frise, and protected by the guns of the forts, 
 lay the American war vessels, consisting of galleys, 
 floating batteries, and ships. Part of them belonged to 
 the Continental fleet, and the rest to the State navy. 
 When the British entered Philadelphia these vessels 
 had gone up abreast of the town, and fought the bat- 
 teries that were placed upon the wharves, and tried to 
 sweep, with their shot, the streets that led down to the 
 river. They were driven back, several of them cap- 
 tured or destroyed, and they were now content to lie 
 under the shadow of the forts. 
 
 But, in spite of the defeat of these vessels, General 
 Howe was in the peculiar position of having possession 
 of the city, and yet unable to communicate with the 
 ships under command of his brother, Admiral Howe, 
 which lay below the cJievaux de /rise. This was a 
 serious inconvenience ; for, as the country all around 
 was overrun with American scouting and skirmishing 
 parties, he would have to draw most of his supplies by 
 way of his brother's fleet in the river. 
 
 Washington had now another possible chance to 
 atone for Brandywine and Swedes Ford. It might be 
 that the British, in taking Philadelphia, had gone into 
 a trap. Their supplies by land were cut off, and, if 
 the river could be held against them, they could be 
 
 347 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 besieged and starved into a surrender. They and the 
 Tories in the city were already suffering and paying 
 enormous sums for the commonest sort of provisions. 
 Washington was determined to hold the forts as long 
 as possible. He strengthened their garrisons in every 
 way he could devise, and the letters he wrote to the 
 officers on the importance of the situation were pathetic 
 in their appeals. The British were equally determined 
 to take the forts, and the struggle continued for a 
 month after the battle of Germantown; during which 
 time provisions became scarcer and scarcer in the city, 
 and the English soldiers, who could see down the river 
 the masts of the ships containing supplies for them, 
 became more desperate in their attempts than ever. 
 
 Of all the battles of the Revolution, there were few 
 in which there was such desperate, furious fighting 
 and such heroic valor as was seen in the grass and mud 
 of Fort Mifflin and on the sands of Red Bank. 
 
 Billingsport was the first to fall, and it was taken 
 on the ist of October, a few days before the battle of 
 Germantown. Two regiments of British went down 
 to Chester, crossed over to Raccoon Creek, near the 
 present site of Bridgeport, on the Jersey side, and 
 moved up against the fort. It was garrisoned by 
 about two hundred and fifty men, under Col. William 
 Bradford, and was too large to be defended by such a 
 small force. As it was not of much importance com- 
 pared with Mifflin and Red Bank, and could not be 
 defended, Bradford abandoned it, carrying away the 
 ammunition and most of the guns, and spiking the 
 rest. The British entered, and took up the row of 
 chevaux de frise in front; but this was of small advan- 
 
 348 
 
War 
 
 tage, for the obstructions between Mifflin and Red 
 Bank still remained. 
 
 Fort Mercer, at Red Bank, was next attacked. It 
 had been garrisoned by New Jersey militia; but 
 Washington now placed in it four hundred veteran 
 Rhode Island troops, commanded by Colonel Greene, 
 and Greene was warned that the fate of America 
 depended on his exertions. The fort at Red Bank 
 was, like Billingsport, too large to be defended by any 
 force that could at that time be spared. But Greene 
 tried to make it smaller by dividing the outer from the 
 inner works. He decided to make his first stand in 
 the outer works, and then fall back to the interior 
 lines, which he had greatly strengthened by an earthen 
 rampart and an abatis of trees. 
 
 Instead of going down to Chester to cross the Dela- 
 ware, as they had done in the attack on Billingsport, 
 the British succeeded in getting from their fleet a 
 number of small boats, which passed unseen through 
 the ckevaux de frise, and by the forts in the dead of 
 night, and reached Philadelphia. On October 21, these 
 boats transported from the city, across to Cooper's 
 Point, now Camden, about twenty-five hundred men. 
 They were all Hessians, under the command of Count 
 Donop. They began their march down to Red Bank 
 on the morning of the 22d, but it was not till the 
 afternoon that Greene saw them emerging from the 
 woods in front of him. 
 
 They sent an officer to demand a parley with him, 
 who, when allowed to speak, announced that the King 
 of England ordered his rebellious subjects to lay down 
 their arms, and if they should refuse and stand battle, 
 
 349 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 no quarter would be given. The Americans accepted 
 the challenge, and agreed that there should be no 
 quarter on either side. 
 
 The Hessians immediately began to build an earth 
 battery, and about four o'clock opened fire. It was 
 returned by Greene. The American galleys in the 
 river came up within range, and also opened. Under 
 cover of the smoke, Donop divided his men into two 
 columns, and rushed to the assault. The column under 
 Minigerode suffered severely from the fire of Greene's 
 men and the galleys as they ran over the intervening 
 space; but when they reached the outer works, they 
 found them abandoned, and the inner works were 
 silent. Thinking the fort secured, they waved their 
 hats, shouted victory, and rushed on. Greene allowed 
 them to come close to the inner works, when he gave 
 them a volley. Still they pressed on, reached the 
 abatis, and were pushing aside the branches, when 
 they received another volley, from the effects of which 
 their officers with difficulty rallied them. They came 
 on again to the abatis ; and, another volley throwing 
 them into complete confusion, they ran around to the 
 river-front of the fort, where the galleys played upon 
 them until they fled back to the woods. 
 
 Donop' s column met with slightly better success, 
 got beyond the abatis, but was stopped by the wall, 
 eight or nine feet high, surmountable only by scaling- 
 ladders. They could not endure the deadly fire from 
 within, and joined their comrades in flight. 
 
 Greene had lost only eight men killed, and twenty- 
 nine wounded. But four hundred killed and wounded 
 Hessians lay in heaps around the fort. The survivors 
 
 350 
 
War 
 
 hastened back to Philadelphia, cursing the British, 
 who always exposed them to the worst danger, and in 
 this instance had sent them, without ladders, to scale 
 the wall. 
 
 From one of the heaps of Hessian dead came a voice, 
 "Whoever you are, draw me hence." It was Count 
 Donop, still alive. Captain De Manduit, a French 
 officer serving with Greene, went to his assistance, 
 and he was carried on blankets into the fort. The 
 soldiers who bore him could not refrain from remind- 
 ing him that he had agreed that no quarter should be 
 given. "I am in your hands," he said; "you may 
 revenge- yourselves. " De Manduit silenced the men, 
 and Donop said, " You seem to be a foreigner. Who 
 are you ? " " A French officer, " said Manduit. " Then, " 
 said Donop, " I die content. I am in the hands of 
 honor itself." He lived for three days, cared for at the 
 house of a Quaker near by. He begged De Manduit 
 to tell him when the end was approaching; and when 
 that sad duty was performed, Donop said, "It is finish- 
 ing a noble career early; but I die the victim of my 
 ambition and of the avarice of my sovereign." 
 
 At the same time that Donop attacked Red Bank, the 
 British fleet attempted to break through the chcvaux de 
 frise, to support him. The frigates " Augusta " and 
 "Roebuck," and four smaller vessels, succeeded; but 
 the "Augusta " and " Merlin " were soon aground near 
 the mouth of Mantua Creek, and in the evening the 
 " Roebuck " met with the same fate. They could do 
 nothing to aid Donop, and the next day were attacked 
 by the American galleys and fire-ships, assisted by the 
 guns of Fort Mifflin. 
 
 35* 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 It was the most important naval battle the "Dela- 
 ware " had seen. For hours the firing was incessant, 
 and great efforts were made to get other vessels up 
 through the chevaux de /rise. The " Isis " was being- 
 warped through the obstructions, while the guns boomed 
 on both sides, and clouds of smoke rolled over the 
 water. A hot shot set the " Augusta " on fire; and 
 while her crew were jumping overboard, and escaping 
 in boats, the flames reached the magazine and blew 
 her into the air. Soon after the " Merlin " was set on 
 fire and abandoned, and the remaining British vessels 
 returned to the fleet. 
 
 So far the Americans were successful, and still held 
 the forts. The battle of Saratoga had now been 
 fought, and Burgoyne had surrendered to General 
 Gates. There was no enemy in the north, and if 
 Gates' army had been brought to reinforce Fort Mifflin, 
 the British in the city might have been permanently 
 cut off from their ships. But it was a long march to 
 bring Gates' army down to Philadelphia; and Gates, 
 inflated with his success, saw before him the possi- 
 bility of the chief command, and was in no hurry to 
 help Washington. Meantime the British were making 
 every effort to reduce the fort. 
 
 Mud Island, on which Fort Mifflin stood, was at 
 that time almost in the middle of the river, with a 
 channel between it and the Pennsylvania shore, now 
 long since filled up. The fort had been built to fight 
 ships coming up the river, and its weakest side was the 
 one toward the Pennsylvania shore. As the British 
 occupied Philadelphia, they could take advantage of 
 this; and they accordingly began planting batteries on 
 
 352 
 
War 
 
 Province Island, which lay close against the main 
 shore, separated from it only by a narrow creek or 
 thoroughfare. 
 
 One of the first batteries they built was taken by 
 the Americans; but after that they built battery after 
 battery, and were favored with very high tides, which 
 flooded the meadows and prevented an assault. They 
 progressed in their work until they had five batteries 
 mounting twenty -four heavy guns, besides mortars and 
 howitzers. They also prepared two old hulks of ves- 
 sels, with nineteen guns, to be floated close to the fort. 
 The fleet moved up to support the attack, having over 
 two hundred guns on the large vessels, besides those 
 carried by the smaller craft. 
 
 To resist this terrible onset of heavy metal, Col. 
 Samuel Smith, in command of Fort Mifflin, had only 
 three hundred men, and about twenty guns. The 
 galleys in the river could give him some assistance, 
 and also the fort at Red Bank, which was still held 
 by Col. Christopher Greene. But the time for sav- 
 ing Mifflin was evidently passed. The batteries on 
 Province Island should have been attacked before they 
 grew so strong. Plans had been prepared for that end, 
 but they were frustrated; and the garrison must now 
 rely on their own efforts and the strength of the fort's 
 walls. 
 
 On the ioth of November the batteries on Province 
 Island opened, the garrison replied, and the heavy 
 firing only ceased with nightfall, after which the 
 British fired a gun every half- hour. The next day the 
 storming again began. The exhausted garrison, after 
 fighting all clay, had to work through the night, to 
 2 3 353 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 repair the breaches and destruction as best they could. 
 Relief parties were sent from Red Bank every evening, 
 to assist in the repairs, and withdrawn in the morning. 
 Colonel Smith was wounded, and Colonel Russell took 
 the command. Ill health and fatigue soon exhausted 
 him, and Major Simeon Thayer took his place. 
 
 At the close of the fourth day the firing was kept up 
 all night, and the two hulks were brought into the 
 channel between the fort and the Pennsylvania shore. 
 They opened fire as soon as day broke, with terrible 
 execution, the batteries on shore joined in, the guns 
 from the fleet in the river below began to thunder; 
 and the shots were cross-fired in several directions 
 over the fort. A great pall of smoke rose into the 
 air, and covered the river and meadows. 
 
 But the little garrison steadily served their guns, 
 and Commodore Hazlewood, of the galleys, concen- 
 trated his attack on the hulk called the "Vigilant." 
 The wind was against him; and as he kept warping his 
 vessels into position, the cables were repeatedly shot 
 away. But he got to the place he wanted to reach, and 
 opened on the " Vigilant." Thayer sent him word to 
 attack the frigate "Isis," and he himself would attend 
 to the "Vigilant;" and before noon the "Vigilant" 
 was silenced. 
 
 At night the little garrison again repaired their 
 works, and at dawn their flag was still flying. But, 
 under cover of the darkness, the "Vigilant " had moved 
 to a new position, and was within a hundred yards of 
 the fort, on its weakest side, where scarcely any of the 
 guns could be used. The men in her tops could shoot 
 muskets and throw hand grenades down into the fort, 
 
 354 
 
w 
 
 ar 
 
 and when the cannonade from the ships and batteries 
 began, the garrison could not reply ; for not a man could 
 step out on the platform to handle the guns without 
 being shot from the "Vigilant." They could only 
 keep under cover, and let the fort be demolished over 
 their heads. Palisades, parapet, and block houses 
 were shot down and levelled, and at the close of 
 the day there was nothing of Fort Mifflin but a heap 
 of ruins. 
 
 Of the three hundred men two hundred and fifty were 
 killed and wounded. But Thayer would not haul down 
 his flag. When night came, as much of the ammuni- 
 tion as could be saved was placed in boats ; and, after 
 setting fire to the barracks and ruins, the garrison, 
 with their wounded, went across to Red Bank. They 
 had endured a siege of six days, which at the time was 
 considered one of the most remarkable in history. 
 
 Two clays after the fall of Mifflin, Lord Cornwallis, 
 with two thousand men, started to cross the river at 
 Chester, and attack Red Bank. On reaching the Jersey 
 side he was joined by a large force under General 
 Wilson, sent from New York. Varnum was now in 
 charge of Red Bank, and Washington sent General 
 Greene, with two thousand men, to his relief. But, 
 believing the defence of the fort useless and hopeless, 
 Varnum abandoned it to the British. 
 
 With Red Bank in the hands of the enemy, and the 
 British fleet about to remove the chevaiix de /rise and 
 come up the river, there was no safety for the American 
 galleys and other vessels which had done such good 
 service. They attempted to pass up the river and get 
 by the city to the safer waters of the upper Delaware. 
 
 355 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 This also failed, and the ships were either captured 
 or set on fire by their commanders. It was now the 
 middle of November. The British settled down to 
 enjoy themselves in the city, and Washington retired 
 to Valley Forge. 
 
 356 
 
British Pass a Pleasant Winter in Philadelphia 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE BRITISH PASS A PLEASANT WINTER IN 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 Philadelphia, which the British fought so hard to 
 gain, was of very little use to them. They soon became 
 convinced of this ; but they were in it for the winter, 
 and had to pass away the time. 
 
 Their amusements were confined very strictly within 
 the limits of the two rivers and the line of forts on 
 Poplar Street; for the country outside of these bounds 
 was controlled by the Continentals. Potter held the 
 country west of the Schuylkill ; and a dashing free- 
 booter, named McLane, was likely to appear suddenly 
 at any point from within gunshot of the redoubts on 
 Poplar Street to Washington's first camp at White 
 Marsh. 
 
 After the fall of Fort Mifflin and Red Bank, how- 
 ever, the British indulged themselves in one piece of 
 amusement outside of their lines, which may have 
 given them some satisfaction at the time, but which 
 they all probably lived to regret. From the line of 
 their redoubts, at Poplar Street, northward to the out- 
 skirts of Germantown, were many pretty country-seats, 
 — the summer homes of Whig and Tory, — containing, 
 in days of peace, the most typical and pleasant life of 
 the times. A few of them escaped, and are still stand - 
 
 357 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 ing; but twenty-seven of them, which we might now 
 enjoy for their simple and perfect architecture, were 
 ruthlessly burned to ashes. At one hour on a certain 
 day, late in the autumn, the people on the roofs and 
 steeples of the city could see seventeen of these old 
 homes blazing up at once. 
 
 The decline in the value of the paper currency was 
 as troublesome to the Tories, who were now locked up 
 with the British, as it had been a few months before 
 to the Whigs. In the hope of making values more 
 stable, a number of people pledged themselves to take 
 the currency at the value it had had before the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. About six hundred names are 
 signed to this agreement, — all of them presumably 
 Tories, or Tory sympathizers; and the list has often 
 been used to discover who were not patriots in those 
 days. The names of many good men are on it, whose 
 friends and relations would have been very glad, a few 
 years later, if the list had been forgotten. But just at 
 that time most of them were doing very well in the 
 company of the British officers. 
 
 Dining-clubs became more numerous than ever. 
 Even the journeymen tailors had one. There were 
 balls and amusements of every kind. The officers 
 played cricket, and had cock-fights. In all these things 
 Major Andre bore a prominent part. He was unques- 
 tionably the most accomplished and attractive young 
 man in the British army. He could sketch, paint, 
 write verses, and get up sports and entertainments 
 with more than the usual skill of the amateur. Some 
 of his Revolutionary verses, especially those on Wayne's 
 raid, near New York, will probably live as long as the 
 
 358 
 
British Pass a Pleasant Winter in Philadelphia 
 
 memory of the contest. He was young, and, though at 
 that time best known for his gayety, was, nevertheless, 
 a trusted and valued officer. 
 
 It was a loss to mankind that, two years afterward, 
 his first serious business was with that deep-dyed vil- 
 lain, Arnold. But for that we might now remember 
 him as a distinguished general or statesman, and one 
 of England's greatest men. As it is, we have only to 
 record that he was the life and soul of the little theatre 
 on South Street. There was considerable dramatic 
 talent in the army, and a few professional actors to help 
 them out. But copies of the popular plays of the day 
 were not a necessary part of an army's equipment, and 
 the young actors were obliged to advertise for them in 
 the newspapers. About a dozen were obtained, with 
 such titles as "The Mock Doctor," "The Deuce is in 
 it," "The Wonder: a Woman kept a Secret," which, 
 by being repeated, were made to last all winter. 
 
 They painted their own scenery; and Andre painted 
 a particularly pretty piece of landscape, with trees, 
 meadows, and streams. It had his name on the back, 
 and was preserved for a long time. In 1807 lt was use d 
 in a patriotic play, which represented its author's cap- 
 ture by the two soldiers, when he was escaping from 
 the interview with Arnold. It would be a valuable 
 relic now; but it was burned with the theatre, in 
 1827. 
 
 While these things were going on, the American 
 prisoners in the Walnut Street jail, on Washington 
 Square, were in charge of a wild beast named Cun- 
 ningham. It is difficult to believe all that is said 
 of this man. It appears to have contributed to his 
 
 359 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 enjoyment to upset their dishes of food, and sec them 
 scramble for it on the dirty floor. But it was not often 
 he indulged them in toed. At one time they had to 
 powder the rotten wood of an old pump, mix it with all 
 sorts of vile scrapings, including old paint they had cut 
 from the walls, boil the mass in a pot, and eat it. They 
 are said to have watched the holes in the building to 
 catch the rats, which they skinned and ate raw. In 
 the long winter nights they kept warm by sleeping 
 huddled together in one corner in a promiscuous heap. 
 As they died, they were tumbled into pits in Wash- 
 ington Square, to mingle with the bones of Indians, 
 paupers, criminals, and Tory spies. 
 
 Another contrast to the pleasures and gayety of 
 the British in Philadelphia was the suffering of the 
 American army in its winter-quarters at Valley Forge, 
 where they watched the enemy, and kept him penned 
 within the town. The disasters of the campaign, which 
 had aroused a strong party, anxious to deprive Wash- 
 ington of the command, had also resulted in an utter 
 demoralization of all those departments of government 
 which keep an army supplied with clothes and pro- 
 visions. As soon as cold weather set in, the soldiers 
 were in a serious plight, ami ready to break out in 
 mutiny. Washington reported that three or four days 
 of excessively bad weather might leave him without an 
 army. " Few men," he said, " had more than one shirt, 
 many only a moiety of one, and some none at all." 
 More than twenty-eight hundred were unfit for duty 
 because they were barefoot, and many sat up all night 
 round the fires because they had no blankets to sleep 
 in. But the approach of spring brought a change. 
 
 360 
 
British Pass a Pleasant Winter in Philadelphia 
 
 Departments of supply were organized; clothes and 
 food arrived; and, as the good weather appeared, 
 Valley Forge also had its little theatre and plays, and 
 the men indulged themselves in cricket and other 
 games of ball. 
 
 By the time spring came it was evident that the 
 English were weary of the town, and wanted a change. 
 They were accomplishing nothing, and General Howe 
 was not adding to his reputation. He had the city, 
 but Washington made him stay in it, and his only way 
 of liberty was down the river. After the battle of 
 Germantown, and before Washington left White Marsh 
 for Valley Forge, Howe had started out to attack him, 
 but he returned without seeing the American camp; 
 and the intrenchments and redoubts on that long hill- 
 side at Valley Forge kept him quiet for the rest of the 
 winter. His successor, Sir Henry Clinton, arrived 
 May 7, 1778; and the officers decided to give their 
 departing general a grand fete, which would be a token 
 of their regard for him, and a fitting close to the 
 festivities of the winter. 
 
 This fete was the famous Mischianza, — an Italian 
 word, meaning "medley," a great delight to the young 
 men and women who took part in it, and a magnificent 
 folly to some of their elders and all sober-minded 
 historians. Andre said that General Howe was so 
 popular that the whole army would gladly have con- 
 tributed to the expense, but the line had to be drawn, 
 and only twenty-two field officers were allowed to sub- 
 scribe. The invitations were issued for the 18th of 
 May, and had on them the Howe coat-of-arms, with a 
 motto to the effect that the great general's sun was 
 
 361 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 now setting on this side of the Atlantic, only to rise 
 in greater splendor on the other. 
 
 Walnut Grove, the country-place of Thomas Wharton, 
 known as Duke Wharton, a Quaker of considerable 
 dignity, was selected as the scene of the festivity. It 
 was in what is now the southern part of the city, near 
 the river. Its large lawn gave ample room for the 
 tournament, and wooden pavilions, and ball and supper 
 rooms were added to the house. Andre and the other 
 officers exhausted their skill in decorating these rooms 
 in a style and taste which, curiously enough, is now 
 restored to this country, after slumbering a hundred 
 years. The color of the ball-room was a pale blue, 
 panelled with a small gold head, and within the panels 
 were drooping festoons of flowers in their natural 
 colors. But perhaps Andre himself had better finish 
 the description: — 
 
 " Below the surbase the ground was of rose pink with 
 drapery festooned in blue. These decorations were height- 
 ened by 85 mirrors decked with rose pink and silk ribbons 
 and artificial flowers, and in the intermediate spaces were 34 
 branches with wax lights ornamented in a similar manner." 
 
 With the lights all lit, and reflected from eighty-five 
 mirrors, and everything pink, blue, and gold, with 
 uniforms and dresses in harmony, it was unquestionably 
 a perfect dream of a ball-room. Four drawing-rooms, 
 with similar decorations, opened out from it, and there 
 were large sideboards, with refreshments on each. 
 Twenty-four jet-black slaves, in Oriental dresses, with 
 big silver collars round their necks, and silver brace- 
 lets on their naked arms, were drawn up in two lines, 
 
 362 
 
British Pass a Pleasant Winter in Philadelphia 
 
 and bent their heads to the floor, as the great general 
 and conqueror of all America entered. 
 
 The fete began, in the afternoon, with a grand 
 regatta, which started from Knight's Wharf, at the foot 
 of what is now Green Street. There were galleys and 
 barges and boats of all sorts, lined with green cloth, 
 and covered with streamers and pennants; and there 
 were other barges to guard them, and keep the swarms 
 of spectator boats from pressing upon the procession. 
 The men-of-war — the " Fanny," the "Roebuck," and 
 others — manned their yards with men, and covered 
 their rigging with the flags of all nations, among which 
 appeared, here and there, the stars and stripes. The 
 broadsides thundered their salutes, and great clouds 
 of white smoke rolled along the tide. There never had 
 been such a scene upon the Delaware. 
 
 The procession rowed slowly down to the Association 
 Battery, or Old Fort, as the English called it, which 
 was near the spot where Washington Avenue now 
 touches the river. There, while the " Roebuck " and 
 "Vigilant" poured salutes from their sides, the people 
 crowded and marched between lines of grenadiers and 
 cavalry up the slight ascent to Walnut Grove. The 
 lawn was lined with troops, and across the middle of 
 it the gay medley of officers, ladies, and citizens pro- 
 ceeded, headed by all the bands of the army, playing 
 their music. They arranged themselves in the pavil- 
 ions, and immediately the trumpets sounded, a band 
 of horsemen rode into the open space, others followed, 
 and a mock tournament began. 
 
 But why should we enlarge on all the details, and 
 tell how, after the tournament, they crowded into the 
 
 363 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 garden of the old country-place, among triumphal 
 arches, and bomb-shells, and flaming hearts, and how 
 they drank tea and lemonade, and how the knights, 
 on bended knee, received the favors of their mis- 
 tresses ? A faro table was provided in one of the rooms, 
 and soon after dark they began to dance in the ball- 
 room. At ten they stopped for an hour or two to see 
 the fireworks, and at twelve entered that gorgeous 
 supper-room ; and after supper, and healths to all that 
 was royal and destruction to all that was rebellious, 
 they danced again, until the sun, rising over the 
 Jerseys, and shining on the swift tides of the Delaware, 
 told them that the great fete was over, and another day 
 begun. 
 
 Washington and his officers had not been honored 
 with an invitation to this display; neither had Potter 
 and McLane, who raided the country up to the city 
 gates. But McLane determined to have a hand in it 
 in some way. He saw the fireworks go up, and he said 
 he would have some of his own. He divided his men 
 into squads, and, provided with camp-kettles filled 
 with tar, they crept up in the darkness to the long line 
 of redoubts that stretched along Poplar Street from the 
 Delaware to the Schuylkill. They painted everything 
 within reach, at a given signal touched it with fire, and 
 retired. The flames gathered headway slowly, then 
 suddenly shot up high above parapet and embrasure, 
 and the startled soldiers beat the long roll on the whole 
 line, and fired every cannon from river to river. The 
 fleet took it up. Broadside after broadside roared, and 
 even the transports fired their little guns. The bat- 
 teries along the wharves replied, and the artillery that 
 
 3 6 4 
 
British Pass a Pleasant Winter in Philadelphia 
 
 guarded Southwark. All the battles that had been 
 fought round Philadelphia, the siege of Fort Mifflin, 
 and all the noise that has been heard since, could 
 scarcely, together, have equalled this extraordinary 
 midnight serenade. The ladies at Walnut Grove 
 checked their partners in the dance, and startled looks 
 went round the room. The officers scarcely knew what 
 had happened; but they quieted their fears. It was a 
 salute, they said, — part of the ceremony, — which had 
 been arranged from the beginning. 
 
 The men on duty, however, could not regard it in 
 that light. The cavalry passed out of the redoubts, 
 and dashed into the darkness after those unbidden 
 guests. But the guests had a long start, and they were 
 very fleet. Some of them scattered in different direc- 
 tions. Most of them followed the Ridge Road, and, 
 long before their pursuers could see their heels, had 
 plunged into the dark ravines of the Wissahickon. 
 McLane swam his horse across the Schuylkill, and 
 joined Washington at Valley Forge. 
 
 The shivered lances and the slashing swords of the 
 Mischianza tournament seemed to arouse the martial 
 spirit of the British army, and they resolved to have 
 a bout with Washington. He was now offering them 
 a good opportunity. He was expecting Philadelphia 
 to be evacuated almost every day, and had sent 
 Lafayette, on the day of the Mischianza, with about 
 two thousand men, across the Schuylkill to occupy 
 Barren Hill, and descend upon the city at the first 
 opportunity. 
 
 Lafayette's force lay encamped upon the hill between 
 the Schuylkill and the Ridge Road, below Matson's 
 
 365 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Ford, and below the road to White Marsh. It seemed 
 to the English a fine opportunity, and they sent General 
 Grant, with eight thousand men, to make a detour far 
 to the eastward, follow the White Marsh Road, and get 
 behind the young Frenchman. While this was being 
 done, General Grey was to march directly upon Lafa- 
 yette's left flank, and Howe and Clinton, with another 
 force, were to proceed close along the side of the 
 Schuylkill, against Lafayette's front, cut him off from 
 the fords, and join Grant in the rear. 
 
 The plan seems to have been a very close copy of 
 the battle of Germantown. The whole attacking force 
 was sixty-five hundred, more than treble the numbers of 
 Lafayette. The British were jubilant in their expec- 
 tation of success. Sir Henry Clinton had then suc- 
 ceeded to the command ; but Howe seems to have both 
 originated and conducted the expedition. He invited 
 some ladies to dine with him that evening and meet 
 his distinguished prisoner, and a frigate was prepared 
 to take the prisoner to England. 
 
 The attacking force left the city on the evening ot 
 May 19, the day after the Mischianza, intending to 
 surprise their enemy on the following morning, as 
 they themselves had been surprised by Washington 
 at Germantown. Six hundred Pennsylvania militia 
 were guarding the White Marsh Road on Lafayette's 
 rear. They neglected their duty, and moved off, so 
 that the eight thousand British under Grant, coming by 
 that road, were close upon Lafayette when they were 
 discovered. Not in the least disconcerted, he formed 
 part of his force into columns, with orders to show 
 themselves at different points, as if they were advanced 
 
 366 
 
British Pass a Pleasant Winter in Philadelphia 
 
 detachments of larger parties. As soon as the British 
 saw them they halted, and prepared for action; and 
 while they were thus occupied, Lafayette and the rest 
 of his men slipped back to Matson's Ford. The men 
 who had checked the British gradually joined him, and 
 the whole force crossed in safety to Valley Forge. 
 When the two attacking parties, under Grant and Sir 
 William Erskine, finally met at Barren Hill, they 
 found nothing but an empty camp. It was a clever 
 piece of soldiering for the little Frenchman, and 
 resembled the shrewd tactics he afterward displayed 
 in Virginia. 
 
 Howe returned, in deep disgust, to dine with the 
 ladies, without his lively prisoner; and the army and 
 the Tories were equally disappointed. It would have 
 been such a neat ending to the campaign and the 
 Mischienza; it would have atoned for the long indo- 
 lence and imbecility of the winter to have gone back 
 to England with the marquis. 
 
 Almost a month passed before the city was evacu- 
 ated. Washington watched every movement, and 
 Howe and Clinton were careful to make everything as 
 uncertain as possible. It had been difficult to enter 
 the city, and it was no easy matter to leave it, without 
 giving the Americans an opportunity for an attack. If 
 they could come upon the British in the act of crossing 
 the Delaware, they might inflict a terrible defeat. On 
 the 3d of June, three regiments crossed the Delaware 
 to the Jersey side, and camped on the present site of 
 Camden, with their lines extending down as far as 
 Gloucester. On the 18th, the evacuation took place 
 by the remaining troops marching southward into the 
 
 367 
 
Pennsylvania : Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 neck near the junction of the two rivers, and cross- 
 ing over, by boats, to Gloucester, where they joined 
 the three regiments that had preceded them, and all 
 marched through the Jerseys to New York. The 
 crossing was thus amply protected by the troops at 
 Gloucester and by the ships in the river. 
 
 As soon as the troops had all crossed to New Jersey, 
 the fleet sailed, beating slowly down the river, and 
 not reaching the capes for eleven days. About three 
 thousand Tories accompanied them, — a large portion 
 of the population of the city, which never again 
 returned. They amused themselves as best they could 
 on the long voyage down the river, and relieved the 
 monotony by visits from ship to ship. 
 
 The last soldiers had not left the built-up portion of 
 the city before McLane and his cavalry dashed through 
 the gates of the redoubts. They rode fast down Second 
 Street, and as they turned up Walnut, and crossed the 
 bridge over Dock Creek, captured Captain Sandford, 
 who had lingered a little too long. They heard that 
 Howe and his retinue were farther up town, and they 
 started in pursuit; but they were too late. He had 
 just passed beyond South Street, and was joining the 
 troops in the neck. 
 
 Washington immediately put General Arnold in 
 command of Philadelphia, and pursued the British 
 through New Jersey. Their retreat gave him the 
 opportunity he wanted, and he defeated them in the 
 battle of Monmouth. 
 
 368 
 
Toryism and Paper Money 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 TORYISM AND PAPER MONEY 
 
 Philadelphia, though abandoned by the enemy, was 
 in a condition of shocking demoralization, and needed 
 a strong control. The British had left it ruinous and 
 dirty. The town, at that time, was famous for its 
 cleanliness and neatness, the handsome trees in its 
 streets, and its pretty houses, surrounded with gardens. 
 The British had cut down the trees for fire-wood, 
 dumped everything they did not want in the streets, 
 and destroyed houses and buildings of all sorts, with 
 the same impartiality for Tory and patriot which 
 they had shown in the destruction of the country- 
 places. 
 
 But there were worse things than ruined houses and 
 dirty streets, among which Tories and officers had been 
 holding such high carnival. The town was without a 
 government, full of desperate, reckless characters, and 
 parties swayed by violent, bitter feelings. Tories, and 
 even neutrals, had become arrogant from living with 
 the army, and were inclined to be offensive to the 
 patriots. Many of them had not only sympathized 
 with the army, but assisted it, and had been employed 
 by it. The battles, the dead, and the wounded, the 
 cruelty to prisoners, had not tended to soften old 
 hatreds. The patriots were thirsting for vengeance, 
 24 369 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 and many of them were ready for mob violence and 
 lynching. 
 
 In the minds of the extremists among the patriot 
 party, all shades of Toryism were guilty alike; and 
 they determined to stamp them all out by force, and 
 let the scaffold and the rope play an important part. 
 A number of these extreme patriots signed an agree- 
 ment by which they bound themselves to bring all 
 Tories to justice ; and, in reading over their signatures, 
 one cannot but be impressed on finding that, except 
 Reed's, there is scarcely an important or well-known 
 name among them. The prominent people among the 
 patriots, like Robert Morris, Wilson, and others, were 
 inclined to be moderate and easy with the Tories. It 
 was the new and obscure people, just come to power, 
 that wished to be violent. 
 
 To a certain extent, the extremists had their way, 
 and it is true, as has been sometimes said, that at this 
 time Philadelphia was ruled by a mob. But the mob 
 was somewhat restrained by the better element. Men 
 like McKean, Cadwalader, Robert Morris, Dr. Rush, 
 Wilson, Clymer, and Ross, saw the absolute futility 
 of violent measures against the Tories as well as 
 their cruelty. So they managed to give the mob a 
 modified vengeance, allowed them to pick out indi- 
 viduals here and there to be hung as examples, confis- 
 cate property, and frighten people by publishing them 
 as traitors. In this way they prevented what might 
 have been a reign of terror. 
 
 The two victims who finally became the examples, 
 and appeased the fury of the radicals, were Carlisle 
 and Roberts. They were tried, on the recommenda- 
 
 370 
 
Toryism and Paper Money 
 
 tion of Chief Justice McKean, in the criminal court 
 of oyer and terminer, under the State law against high 
 treason. Carlisle was a carpenter, and Roberts was a 
 miller. Both were apparently Quakers. Carlisle, dur- 
 ing the British occupation, had been put in charge of 
 one of the gates of the northern line of redoubts, and 
 had issued passes. Roberts' principal offence had 
 been enlisting, and persuading others to enlist, in the 
 British army; but his persuasions had not been very 
 successful. 
 
 The trial and conviction of these two men aroused 
 the greatest excitement, and brought out all the various 
 shades of opinion in the community. Twelve of the 
 grand jurors, who indicted them, at the same time 
 recommended them to mercy, and ten of the petit 
 jurors, who tried Roberts, and found him guilty, also 
 recommended him to mercy. Petitions for pardon 
 came in from every side. There were three hundred 
 and eighty-seven who signed Carlisle's petition, and 
 among them Dr. Rush, General Cadwalader, and other 
 members of the patriot party. Nine hundred signed 
 in favor of Roberts. But it was all in vain. They 
 were executed in the most public manner, driven in 
 carts with ropes round their necks, and their coffins 
 before them. 
 
 Arnold had been placed, by Washington, in com- 
 mand of Philadelphia, to repress lawlessness; but his 
 insolence and corruption soon made him intolerable 
 to all parties. Great efforts were made to have him 
 removed; and he was finally tried by court-martial, and 
 escaped with only a reprimand. He was deep in spec- 
 ulations and government contracts; grew rich, and 
 
 37i 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 married Miss Shippen, the daughter of one of the most 
 prominent families. He settled a fortune on himself 
 for life, with remainder to his wife and children, and 
 bought Mr. John Macpherson's country-place, Mount 
 Pleasant, for his family mansion. 
 
 The depreciation of the currency and the fluctua- 
 tions in prices gave vast opportunities for speculation. 
 Robert Morris was still following his calling of deal- 
 ing in flour, or lead, or anything that could be carried 
 in a ship, was constantly suspected, attacked, and 
 called on to explain. His explanations always showed 
 his transactions to have been legitimate, and that he 
 turned over a large part of his gains to the Continental 
 Government, which he was constantly assisting with 
 his advice and encouragement. 
 
 But still the mass of the people, especially in the 
 Constitutional party, were not satisfied. They at- 
 tempted to make speculation a crime, to be punished 
 by law. They insisted on regulating prices, and fixing 
 the amount that was to be paid for everything. That 
 would settle the whole question, they said; cut off the 
 noisome race of speculators, and give a stable value 
 to the currency. They were so sure this remedy would 
 be effective that they were ready to fight about it. A 
 writer in Dunlap's "Packet" expresses the general 
 feeling with great simplicity. 
 
 " The regulation of prices is absolutely necessary. We 
 have all been wrong in our notions of getting rich. It is 
 true we have got money. I have more money than ever I 
 had; but I am poorer than ever I was." 
 
 While all this excitement among the Constitution- 
 alists was at its height, in the autumn of 1779, an d 
 
 372 
 
Toryism and Paper Money 
 
 not meeting with much success against either the 
 Tories or the speculators, the militia decided to take 
 a hand in it. They appointed a committee, posted 
 placards against Robert Morris, Wilson, and others, 
 and announced that they were in pursuit of Quakers, 
 speculators, Tories, and all lawyers who defended them. 
 On the 4th of October two hundred of them marched 
 down Chestnut Street, and seized several Quakers as 
 they were coming out of meeting. They then turned 
 along Second to Walnut, and went up Walnut to 
 Wilson's house, which stood at the southwest corner 
 of Walnut and Third streets. 
 
 Wilson, General Mifflin, Clymer, and other Anti- 
 Constitutionalists, and men of moderate views, know- 
 ing that they had been singled out by the mob, had 
 gathered in this house for protection. The city troop 
 of cavalry had also been in readiness, but, as the morn- 
 ing passed quietly, they had gone home. The militia 
 mob was marching up Walnut Street, had almost passed 
 Wilson's house, and all might have been well if a cer- 
 tain Captain Campbell had not leaned out of the win- 
 dow, shaken his pistols at the mob, and ordered them 
 to move on. They instantly fired, and killed him. 
 The fire was returned from the house, and soon became 
 general. The mob got heavy timbers, broke in the 
 doors, and for a time there was fighting and stabbing 
 in the hall and on the stairs. But the rioters were 
 forced out, and the door barricaded with tables. 
 
 The mob were then in Walnut Street; and just at 
 that moment President Reed, who had risen from his 
 sick bed, and had not finished dressing, came riding 
 down Third Street, at the head of seven of the city 
 
 373 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 troop, with pistols in his hands, and his clothes not 
 yet all buttoned. He turned suddenly into Walnut 
 Street, and charged. A cry of " The horse, the horse ! " 
 was raised, and, it being supposed that he was followed 
 by the whole city troop, the militia rioters fled. Reed 
 took many of them prisoners on the spot, and spent a 
 large part of the afternoon in picking up others about 
 the town ; twenty -seven in all. Only two had been 
 killed by the fire from the house. 
 
 As Reed was riding away from Wilson's house, he 
 met Arnold quietly driving to the scene of disturbance 
 in his carriage. Reed instantly ordered him to return, 
 and Arnold obeyed, which shows how he was regarded 
 and treated in Philadelphia. A little while afterward, 
 however, he drove down to Wilson's house, went up- 
 stairs, and, after brandishing a pair of pistols out of 
 the window, said that President Reed seemed to have 
 raised a commotion which he could not quiet. 
 
 The Constitutionalists were now more than ever 
 under the leadership of Reed, who was president of 
 the Supreme Executive Council. He seems, on many 
 occasions, to have been opposed to the violent measures 
 which the extremists of his party wished to take 
 against the Tories and Republicans. But in this year, 
 1779, he made himself responsible for an attack which 
 can scarcely be called justifiable. 
 
 Driven from office and power, and almost even from 
 social influence, the class of men who had once ruled 
 the colony were gathered together in the college. 
 This was their last stronghold, their only title to 
 importance in local politics or power. Men like Robert 
 Morris and Wilson, signers of the Declaration of 
 
 374 
 
Toryism and Paper Money 
 
 Independence, who stood high in national councils, 
 were rapidly becoming mere ciphers in the government 
 of their State. If they could be kicked out of the 
 college, or the college destroyed, it would seem to be 
 all that was necessary to make them utterly contemp- 
 tible among the people, destroy the last vestige of their 
 influence, break up the Anti-Constitutionalists, and 
 make the Constitutionalists the one party of the State. 
 This was the task Reed set himself to perform, and 
 there seems but little doubt that he was inspired by no 
 higher motive than mere partisan success. 
 
 The Constitutionalists had already handled the col- 
 lege as roughly as they could. They had quartered 
 soldiers in it, suspended the functions of its trustees, 
 and called it a nest of Tories and traitors. There was 
 nothing to show that it was a resort of traitors. Treason 
 was not taught there. It had done nothing to favor the 
 British interest ; nor had it failed in showing a proper 
 respect to the government. The Continental Congress 
 had been invited to attend one of its commencements, 
 and many of its officers were active patriots. 
 
 But still every one knew that the college was to be 
 attacked. The old hatred for the proprietary party and 
 the new hatred for the Anti-Constitutionalists could not 
 resist such an opportunity. Even in 1776 the college 
 was believed to be in danger from the party that was 
 forcing upon the State the new Constitution. While 
 the convention was in session that year, a meeting of 
 prominent men was held at the house of Provost Smith; 
 and Franklin, who was in the convention, agreed to 
 propose a clause for the new Constitution, which would 
 protect the college, and also the Philosophical Society, 
 
 375 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 and any other institution which might tempt the 
 cupidity of the extreme Revolutionists. The clause, 
 as finally adopted, was to the effect that all societies 
 of religion and learning should continue to enjoy the 
 same rights and privileges which they had had under 
 the former laws of the Commonwealth. This pro- 
 vision, if it was obeyed, was ample protection to the 
 college, and had thus far protected it. But the Con- 
 stitutionalists now felt that they were strong enough 
 to disregard it. 
 
 Of the twenty-four trustees of the college, all but 
 three had taken the oath of allegiance. The three 
 who had not taken it were Richard Penn, William 
 Allen, and Dr. Bond. Penn and Allen were out-and- 
 out Tories, and had left the country. Dr. Bond still 
 remained; and to show how absolutely insincere Reed 
 and his party were in giving Toryism as a reason for 
 destroying the college, they made Dr. Bond a trustee 
 of the new college, which they created on the ruins of 
 the old, and joined with him three others who had 
 never taken the oath of allegiance, one of whom had 
 been a chaplain in the British army. Their real reason 
 for the attack was not on account of the Tories that 
 were in the college, but on account of the patriots 
 that were in it. The recent vacancies in the Board of 
 Trustees had been filled by Robert Morris, Francis 
 Hopkinson, Alexander Wilcocks, Edward Biddle, John 
 Cadwalader, and James Wilson, three of them signers 
 of the Declaration of Independence, and one of them 
 a general in the Continental army; but, so far as 
 Pennsylvania politics were concerned, Anti-Constitu- 
 tionalists. 
 
 376 
 
Toryism and Paper Money 
 
 It is needless to give the details of the spoiling of the 
 college. All the proceedings against it were consum- 
 mated Nov. 27, 1779, when the Assembly passed an 
 Act declaring the college charter void, dissolving the 
 Board of Trustees and the Faculty, and giving all 
 the property of the institution to new trustees of the 
 Constitutionalist party, who were to be called The 
 University of the State of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The Assembly seem to have supposed that great 
 universities could be created on paper. They destroyed 
 a true college, the slow growth of years, containing the 
 first and greatest medical school in America, and put 
 in its place a sham. The interests of good education 
 in Philadelphia have not yet recovered from this blow. 
 For the next eleven years there were two colleges in 
 Philadelphia, both of them worthless. 
 
 The members of the old college held themselves 
 together in some form, though without corporate exist- 
 ence, and kept working to get back their stolen prop- 
 erty. The new State University also dragged along in 
 opposition, and, though the pet of the Assembly and 
 endowed with confiscated estates, ended its career in 
 bankruptcy. To make up for this double worthless- 
 ness, the Episcopal Academy was founded, which still 
 exists as a school for boys, but could not make up for 
 the loss of the college. Provost Smith was, in effect, 
 banished, and retired to Maryland, as Dickinson had 
 to Delaware. 
 
 Robert Morris and his friends were destined to suffer 
 another defeat. The paper money had depreciated 
 until it was now almost worthless, and the Constitu- 
 tionalists determined to enhance its value by having a 
 
 377 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 fresh issue of it, coupled with a set of laws to enforce 
 its acceptance, more complete than anything of the 
 kind known before, which would teach the world a 
 new lesson in finance. 
 
 These laws were passed on the 6th of April, 1781, 
 and inflicted severe penalties in the way of fines, on 
 any one who refused to accept the paper at its face 
 value. The Anti-Constitutionalists were by this time 
 a well-routed party; but they had the courage of their 
 convictions, and could still make a stand. Robert 
 Morris and General Mifflin led the little minority of 
 them in the Assembly. The debate was long and 
 earnest; and if we could have heard it, or it had been 
 recorded, it would doubtless reveal many now unknown 
 depths of the revolutionary contest in Pennsylvania. 
 At the end of it Morris and Mifflin prepared a protest 
 against the triumph of their adversaries. The pro- 
 test was probably written by Morris, and its trenchant 
 words are those of a man whose mind has been ham- 
 mered into clearness in the heat of conflict. 
 
 1. "Because the value of money, and particularly of paper 
 money depends upon the public confidence, and when that is 
 wanting laws cannot support it, and much less penal laws. 
 
 2. "Because penalties on not receiving paper money must 
 from the nature of the thing be either unnecessary or unjust. 
 If the paper is of full value it will pass current without such 
 penalties ; and if it is not full, compelling the acceptance of 
 it as equal to specie is iniquitous. 
 
 3. " Because such penalties impair the public credit. They 
 show a diffidence of the paper in those who emit it, and thereby 
 raise a like diffidence in those who receive it. Their tendency 
 therefore is to injure instead of benefiting what they are 
 intended to support. 
 
 378 
 
Toryism and Paper Money 
 
 4. " Because it is inconsistent with the principles of liberty 
 to prevent a man from the free disposal of his property on 
 such terms and for such considerations as he may think fit. 
 
 7. " Because every measure to enforce the acceptance of 
 money renders it the interest of debtors to depreciate it. 
 
 8. " Because experience has demonstrated that such meas- 
 ures have not prevented depreciation." 
 
 The man who wrote these words was rightfully 
 trusted by the Continental Government as its financier, 
 and his exertions are generally believed to have saved 
 its credit. But in his own State the mob seem to have 
 believed that in public finance he was stupid, if not 
 corrupt, and they classed him with Tories and Tory 
 sympathizers. 
 
 379 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 DICKINSON AND THE PROVOST RETURN FROM 
 BANISHMENT 
 
 Lord Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown, 
 Oct. 19, 1 78 1. Though the treaty of peace was not 
 signed until 1783, the war was over; and Paine could 
 announce in his last pamphlet that "the times that had 
 tried men's souls had passed." 
 
 The cessation of hostilities relaxed the violence of 
 the extreme patriots, and, indeed, brought on a strong 
 reaction in favor of the Moderates or Anti-Constitu- 
 tional party of Morris and Wilson. Reed, the leader 
 of the extremists, became suddenly very unpopular, 
 especially with the commercial and business classes, 
 and could get no practice on his return to the bar. 
 This was the opportunity for Dickinson and the 
 provost, and they returned to Philadelphia, Dickinson 
 immediately, and the provost some years later. Dick- 
 inson came to secure a vindication, and the provost to 
 get back his college. 
 
 Dickinson was, in 1782, soon after his return, nom- 
 inated as a candidate for the Supreme Executive Coun- 
 cil. The attacks on his motives and conduct during 
 the Revolution were renewed. He wrote to all the 
 newspapers, asking them to publish everything they 
 received against him, but nothing in his favor, — a 
 
 380 
 
Dickinson and the Provost Return 
 
 request which they seem to have fulfilled to the letter. 
 He himself said not a word in his own defence, but 
 left it entirely to the people whom he had lived with 
 and served so long. He was elected by an overwhelm- 
 ing majority, and immediately afterward chosen by 
 the legislature President of the Council, — an office 
 which at that time corresponded to Governor of the 
 State. Then, when the vindication was complete, he 
 published a refutation of all that had been urged against 
 him. 
 
 Twice during his life he had been overwhelmed by 
 unpopularity; and twice the people had returned to 
 him, and each time trusted him more implicitly than 
 before. They recognized in him, with al 1 his faults, 
 a quality more important than mere ability, — a superb 
 moral courage, in which he was equalled by no other 
 character in American history. 
 
 The provost's triumph was longer delayed than 
 Dickinson's, and was not so complete. In 1784, he 
 and the persons who had been the trustees of the col- 
 lege applied to the Assembly for a restoration of their 
 charter and property. A bill in their favor was about 
 to be passed by the majority, which was then largely 
 Anti-Constitutional ; but the minority resorted to the 
 method much in vogue at that time, absented them- 
 selves, and prevented a quorum. It was not until 1789 
 that the provost returned to Philadelphia to receive 
 back again, from the hands of a repentant Assembly, 
 what he always insisted on calling "My college." For 
 a time he was much elated, and believed that every- 
 thing would be as it had been, and looked forward to 
 many years of collegiate success. In the preamble 
 
 381 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 to their Act, the Assembly said that the law of 1779, 
 despoiling the college, had been "repugnant to justice, 
 a violation of the Constitution of this Commonwealth, 
 and dangerous in its precedent to all incorporated 
 bodies." 
 
 But they could not restore the past or bring back 
 life. The wound had been too deep. The eleven years 
 of death had broken up the tone, the traditions, and 
 the spirit of the old College of Philadelphia, and it 
 never could be made to live again. Its rival, the 
 State University, was still alongside of it, and within 
 a year or two it became evident that neither one was 
 accomplishing anything. A union was suggested and 
 effected, and a third institution appeared, which was 
 the present University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 But the provost was not connected with it, and it is 
 doubtful whether he ever cared to be. Its Board of 
 Trustees was made up of representatives from every 
 party, clique, and faction in the city, in the hope that 
 the more dissimilar and disunited they were the more 
 they would work in harmony. It was a miserable 
 failure. From the year 1794 to the year 1830, this 
 hotch-potch University never graduated more than 
 seven students a year in the department of arts, and 
 sometimes went down as low as three. The only part 
 of it which managed to pull itself together and make 
 a name was the medical school, which shows how 
 strongly rooted among us are institutions of science. 
 It was not until after the Civil War that the healing 
 effects of time and the energetic administration of Dr. 
 Stille began to restore some of the ancient strength 
 and usefulness. 
 
 382 
 
Dickinson and the Provost Return 
 
 When the Assembly repented of having destroyed the 
 provost's college, it would have been well if they had 
 repented of an attempt they made to destroy the Bank 
 of North America. Robert Morris and a few other 
 people had long wanted a bank. There were none in 
 the colonies, and as Philadelphia became the capital 
 of the country and a money centre, the need of some 
 such institution was often felt. Morris and others had 
 made a slight attempt before the Revolution by estab- 
 lishing a credit in Europe, which was used for banking 
 purposes among commercial men, and which, in time, 
 they intended to develop into a real colonial bank. In 
 1780, however, the Bank of Pennsylvania, the first in 
 America, was founded, to assist Congress in purchas- 
 ing supplies for the army. The men who established 
 and supported it were the moderate patriots, like 
 Morris, and the same people who had supported the 
 college. They were the Anti-Constitutionalists, in 
 other words, and were bitterly opposed by Reed and 
 the Constitutionalists. The bank, Reed and his party 
 said, was an injury to the paper money of the State, 
 and in 1784 he had the satisfaction of seeing it wound 
 up and closed. 
 
 Meantime, Robert Morris had been made Superin- 
 tendent of Finances for the Continental Congress, and 
 even in 1781, before he assumed that office, he had 
 submitted plans for another bank, to be incorporated 
 by Congress, and called the Bank of North America. 
 It was to be on a specie basis, aid the national govern- 
 ment by its money and credit, and supply the loss of 
 the paper money, which was becoming more and more 
 useless, and the source of infinite mischief and fraud. 
 
 383 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Indeed, at this time the Continental paper money was 
 worse than the State money, and $500 of it were worth 
 only one dollar in gold. Sailors put it in their hat- 
 bands, or wrapped it round the necks of dogs, and 
 paraded the streets. 
 
 The bank was chartered by Congress, and also in 
 April, 1782, by the Pennsylvania Assembly. It proved 
 to be most useful. Morris declared that without it he 
 could not have carried on the finances of the nation. 
 Its effect had been most salutary on business of all 
 kinds. It brought about punctuality among all classes 
 in money matters, and in the government economy and 
 order. The troops were regularly clothed, fed, and 
 paid; the hospitals well supplied, debts paid, and better 
 men secured in the civil service. It brought specie 
 into circulation again, and its own notes passed with 
 the same credit as silver. 
 
 But this restoration of specie was a terrible crime 
 in the minds of Reed and the Constitutionalists. The 
 bank was vilified in every way as a fraudulent 'scheme 
 to enrich its own promoters, and cheat the people and 
 the soldiers. It was said to be overissuing and ex- 
 pending beyond its limits. Its solvency was ques- 
 tioned. Foreigners might buy its stock, and in time 
 make it a means to rule America. It was growing so 
 powerful that it would soon rule the State, and it 
 ruined the State paper money. The feeling against it 
 was one of those fanatical and ill-regulated popular 
 outbursts, which we have known, in our own time, 
 under the name of Granger movements, Populism, or the 
 Greenback or silver craze. It was very much the same 
 feeling, and among the same sort of people, that after- 
 
 384 
 
Dickinson and the Provost Return 
 
 ward, in Jackson's time, wrecked the Bank of the 
 United States. 
 
 Unfortunately, there was in Pennsylvania no consti- 
 tutional check upon such madness of the people, and 
 they could wreak their vengeance, without let or 
 hindrance, on a college or a bank. The Pennsylvania 
 Assembly, in 1785, annulled the bank's charter, as 
 they had revoked, six years before, the charter of the 
 college. The bank, however, still had its charter from 
 Congress, and went on under that. But the Assembly 
 were satisfied in thinking that they had done it all the 
 harm they could. They had driven its stock down 
 below par, and they might have ruined it and every 
 one connected with it, if it had not been for the 
 Congressional Charter. 
 
 There were so many doubts, however, in the public 
 mind, as to the validity of the charter from Congress, 
 that efforts were immediately made to secure another 
 State charter, and one was obtained from Delaware, Feb. 
 2, 1786. In 1787 the Pennsylvania Assembly was per- 
 suaded to re-charter the bank for fourteen years, and this 
 charter was renewed in 1799. In 1790 the bank dis- 
 solved its connection with the national government, and 
 has ever since been among the best, as it was the first, 
 incorporated bank in Pennsylvania and in America. 
 
 The havoc played with the college, and the havoc 
 that might have been played with the bank, was a great 
 warning to the American people, a strong incentive to 
 the adoption of the National Constitution, and one of 
 the reasons for that little sentence in it which says 
 that " No State shall pass any law impairing the 
 obligation of contracts." 
 
 25 385 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 The despoiling of the college had been accomplished 
 directly in the teeth of a provision of the State Consti- 
 tution, which said it should not be done. Every one 
 knew that the Act of Spoliation was unconstitutional, 
 and the men who passed it knew that it was unconsti- 
 tutional, and yet there was no way of preventing it. 
 There was no supreme authority of the United States, 
 and no Supreme Court of the United States, to declare 
 such legislative proceedings void. The spoilers knew 
 this, and knew that they could act with impunity. 
 
 The clause inserted in the National Constitution to 
 prevent such deeds was never construed by the Supreme 
 Court of the United States until 1819, and then, 
 strangely enough, the case was another instance of col- 
 lege spoliation. The Legislature of New Hampshire 
 had attempted to do with Dartmouth College what the 
 Legislature of Pennsylvania, almost fifty years before, 
 had done with the College of Philadelphia ; that is to 
 say, they had attempted, by an alteration of the Charter, 
 to take away the college from one set of people, and 
 give it to another set. This Dartmouth College Case, 
 which attracted so much attention for several years, and 
 was so ably argued by Daniel Webster, decided that 
 the grant of a charter was a contract between the legis- 
 lature and the corporation which could not afterward 
 be impaired or altered by the legislature without the 
 corporation's consent. Upon this decision has been 
 built up the enormous power and usefulness of railroad 
 manufacturing, and other business companies, which 
 have played such an important part in the development 
 of the United States. Under this decision they have 
 been protected from Granger, Populist, and other fanat- 
 
 386 
 
Dickinson and the Provost Return 
 
 ical movements in different States, which would have 
 crippled or destroyed them. 
 
 There have been times when the people have 
 believed that this decision protected the corporations 
 only too well, increased their power for evil, as well as 
 for good, and attempts have been made to restrict the 
 limits of the protection and make exceptions to it. 
 But the ravages that State legislatures committed 
 before there was such protection seem to show that, if 
 the protection is excessive, it is excess on the safer 
 side. It has given a stability to investment and enter- 
 prise, commercial as well as religious, collegiate, and 
 scientific, which could not have been had without it. 
 Its inconveniences, whatever they may be, are prefer- 
 able to the mob rule of the Pennsylvania Assembly of 
 1779 or 1785. 
 
 The Convention which framed the National Consti- 
 tution sat in the old State-house in Philadelphia from 
 May to September, 1787. As has just been shown, 
 the experience with the Pennsylvania Assembly in its 
 treatment of the college and the bank added a most 
 important clause to the national document, — a clause 
 to which is largely due the enterprise and prosperity 
 of the whole Union. 
 
 Wilson proposed this clause to the convention, and 
 secured their adoption of it. He had been a friend 
 and supporter of both the bank and college; he was 
 an able and accomplished lawyer; and there was no 
 one better fitted for such a task, which was not without 
 difficulty, because a check of this sort on the action of 
 States in dealing with charters was rather new. But 
 Wilson's wording of it, "No State shall pass any law 
 
 387 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 impairing the obligation of contracts," though only a 
 simple, short sentence, has stood the test of nearly a 
 hundred years of judicial decision, and is now a firmly 
 established principle. He introduced into the word- 
 ing some of his own personality. He was an ardent 
 student of the Roman law, and the word "obligation" 
 he took from that source. It had no technical mean- 
 ing in the English common law, and was afterward a 
 little puzzling to the lawyers. But it is probable that 
 they have given it the full meaning Wilson intended. 
 
 Pennsylvania's unfortunate experience in boundary 
 disputes with Connecticut and Maryland was an incen- 
 tive to the adoption of some form of national gov- 
 ernment which would give an authority for settling 
 antagonisms between States. A clause was accordingly 
 inserted in the Constitution giving the Supreme Court 
 jurisdiction of such controversies. 
 
 But the most conspicuous addition to the Constitu- 
 tion came from Dickinson. He represented Delaware 
 in the convention and advocated the cause of the small 
 States. It was at first proposed that the representation 
 in the Senate should be like the representation in the 
 House, proportional in some way to the population or 
 wealth. This would have given a great advantage to 
 large States and tended to crush the smaller ones. 
 Dickinson maintained that in the Senate all the 
 States should be equal, and his advocacy secured the 
 adoption of this important provision. He drafted 
 the section which prohibits a mew State from being 
 formed out of parts of two other States without the 
 consent of the States from which the parts are taken. 
 He also took a leading part in the discussion of the 
 
 388 
 
Dickinson and the Provost Return 
 
 powers of the executive. This was his last conspicu- 
 ous public service, and he showed his usual ability and 
 vigor. 
 
 The Constitution, having been framed by the con- 
 vention, was submitted to the States for adoption. A 
 petition signed by over three thousand names was at 
 once presented to the Pennsylvania Assembly, urging 
 them to take such measures as would secure the ratifi- 
 cation of this new frame of National Government. 
 But great opposition was shown, and it appeared prin- 
 cipally among the Constitutional party, — the party of 
 jealousies and suspicions, the party that had suspected 
 the college, as well as the bank, of designs on liberty, 
 and now had the same suspicions of the new form of 
 nationality. 
 
 Moreover, the National Constitution as prepared by 
 the convention had avoided all the defects of a nu- 
 merous executive, single legislature, and council of 
 censors, which were so conspicuous in the State Con- 
 stitution of 1776. If the National Constitution were 
 adopted, it would be a standing comment and rebuke 
 on the State Constitution and would compel its amend- 
 ment or abolition. Everything, therefore, which gave 
 to the Constitutionalists their name compelled them to 
 oppose the new federalism. 
 
 One of their most prominent leaders against federal- 
 ism was William Findley, — a man very conspicuous in 
 politics for the rest of the century and who now ap- 
 pears for the first time. He was a descendant of some 
 of those Scots who fled their native country under 
 the persecutions inflicted on their religion during the 
 reign of the last two Stuart kings. He came to the 
 
 389 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 frontier of Pennsylvania in 1763 when very young, 
 and grew up with all the instincts and opinions of 
 the community. He belonged to the farmer class, 
 and during the early part of his career was too poor 
 to employ any laborers on his little plantation. 
 His education was very deficient, and he was one 
 of the few prominent Scotch-Irishmen of whom this 
 could be said. But he possessed great force of 
 character, incorruptible integrity, and strong com- 
 mon-sense. He was captious, suspicious, and narrow- 
 minded, and his portrait looks like the face of a keen 
 old farmer. 
 
 The most conspicuous leader against him was 
 Wilson, who had been in the Convention, was ardently 
 in favor of the National Constitution, and has the 
 credit of securing its ratification by Pennsylvania. 
 He was ably assisted, of course, by Robert Morris 
 and others and all the Anti-Constitutional or Repub- 
 lican party. 
 
 A motion was made in the Assembly to call a State 
 convention to discuss the question of ratification. 
 There was a majority in favor of it. But the Consti- 
 tutionalists asked for delay, and before the final vote 
 was taken secured an adjournment till afternoon. Hav- 
 ing thus got an excuse for leaving the house, sixteen of 
 them refused to return, and a quorum was prevented. 
 The next day, their device having become well known, 
 a party of citizens seized two of them at their lodgings 
 and dragged them by force to the Assembly. They 
 were compelled to remain, and, their presence securing 
 a quorum, the motion was passed, and the convention 
 ordered to be called. It met, and after long debate the 
 
 390 
 
Dickinson and the Provost Return 
 
 draft of the National Constitution was ratified by it, 
 Dec. 12, 1787, by a vote of 46 to 23. 
 
 The Anti-Constitutionalists, having been so success- 
 ful in securing the Federal Frame of Government, had 
 now an opportunity to get a new Constitution for the 
 State, and abolish the bungling contrivance of 1776. 
 That instrument had been the object of their detesta- 
 tion for nearly fifteen years. So strong was the feel- 
 ing against it among all the better-informed classes 
 that the lawyers, who for the most part belonged to 
 the Anti-Constitutional party, had an understanding 
 among themselves never to accept office under it. The 
 legislature, being only one body, was easily driven by 
 popular clamor to rash, precipitate, and oppressive ac- 
 tion. In this way the college had been despoiled, the 
 attack made on the Bank of North America, and there 
 would doubtless be other oppressions in the future. 
 In addition to this, the judges were not made suffi- 
 ciently independent, the Council of Censors was capa- 
 ble only of making trouble, the numerous executive 
 was weak and ridiculous, and every one who accepted 
 office was obliged to take an oath that he would never 
 do or say anything injurious to the Constitution, — an 
 oath which was a serious infringement of the citizen's 
 right to free speech. 
 
 The National Constitution, which avoided all these 
 difficulties, and was an elaborate contrivance of checks 
 and balances against excessive power in any one body, 
 having now been adopted and approved by the whole 
 country, there was good reason for thinking that Penn- 
 sylvania should have a government of the same sort. 
 A convention was easily obtained, and what has since 
 
 39T 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 been known as the Constitution of 1790 was adopted. 
 It was in almost every respect a copy of the National 
 Constitution, and in its general features has not been 
 very much altered by the constitutions of 1838 and 
 
 1873. 
 
 39 2 
 
The Whiskey Rebellion 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE WHISKEY REBELLION 
 
 The Whiskey Rebellion, or the Western Insurrection, 
 as it was called at the time of its occurrence, was an 
 outbreak among the Scotch-Irish. They were moun- 
 taineers ; and the mountain ranges of the eastern 
 part of the United States have from time immemorial 
 shown a tendency to produce a population which often 
 occupies itself in the distillation of whiskey. Of late 
 years this tendency is more apt to be shown in Ten- 
 nessee and West Virginia ; but in the eighteenth cen- 
 tury it was very prominent in Western Pennsylvania. 
 
 The cause of it was simply that whiskey was the most 
 easily transported form in which grain could be sent to 
 market. Mountain-roads are hard roads to travel even 
 without baggage ; and to transport wheat or corn over 
 them in large quantities is almost impossible. But 
 a great many bushels of grain reduced to a small 
 quantity of whiskey could easily be carried on a pack- 
 horse, and the whiskey was equivalent to more than the 
 value of the grain. A horse could carry about sixteen 
 gallons ; and in crossing from the western to the eastern 
 side of the Alleghenies his load doubled in value. 
 
 During the general high prices that prevailed while 
 the French Revolution lasted, the farmers near the sea- 
 board grew rich. P>ut in the mountains, or west of the 
 
 393 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 mountains, the Scotch-Irishman's wheat and rye were 
 almost useless to him unless he turned them into 
 whiskey. Distilleries were started, and soon in some 
 regions it was difficult to get out of sight of their black 
 smoke. When, therefore, the newly created Congress 
 put a tax on whiskey, it seemed to the excitable 
 Scotch-Irish as if the law was aimed exclusively at 
 themselves ; and it certainly bore more heavily upon 
 them than on any other set of people in the Union. 
 
 They had at that time reached the height of those 
 feelings of independence and pugnaciousness which had 
 so long characterized them. For nearly a hundred years 
 they had been living in the interior of the country. 
 They had been continually quarrelling with the govern- 
 ment at Philadelphia, and on one occasion had marched 
 with arms in their hands against the Quakers, and the 
 two parties had been on the eve of bloodshed. They 
 had seen themselves growing rich and numerous. They 
 had long been accustomed to resent any interference 
 from any sort of power. They felt that they were a 
 State in themselves. They had just come out of the 
 Revolution, in which they had taken a most active 
 interest and part. They were more than ever in favor 
 of liberty, and more than ever confident of their ability 
 to maintain it. 
 
 In addition to all this, the French Revolution was at 
 that time in its fiercest throes of insanity. Its wild 
 ideas had penetrated the Alleghenies, and for a moment 
 had over-excited the generous impulses and unseated 
 the steady reason of the Scotchman. 
 
 An intense dislike of excise laws and excise officers 
 was hereditary with the Scotch-Irish. Their firesides had 
 
 394 
 
The Whiskey Rebellion 
 
 been entertained for a hundred years with the stories 
 of successful resistance to such demands in the old 
 country. The Pennsylvania excise law could never 
 be enforced among them, and after the Revolution, 
 when an attempt was made to enforce it, the collector 
 of Westmoreland County was caught by a mob, who 
 shaved his head. 
 
 The national excise law which was passed soon 
 afterward created the greatest excitement. Meetings 
 were held; and in September, 1791, Robert Johnson, a 
 collector, was tarred and feathered. An insane man 
 named Wilson, who pretended to be a collector, was 
 treated in the same way ; and others who sympathized 
 with the excise law or rented houses to collectors were 
 also painted with the tar-brush. In one instance the 
 victim was left tied to a tree in the woods. These 
 outrages continued from time to time for several years, 
 until on July 16, 1794, there came an open conflict with 
 the authorities, and blood was shed. 
 
 A company of militia, numbering about thirty-six, 
 presented themselves before the house of the inspector, 
 General Nevelle, and, as they answered his questions in a 
 suspicious manner, were fired upon. They returned the 
 fire, but were obliged to retire with five of their 
 number wounded and one killed. The next day they 
 returned, five hundred strong, set fire to the house, and 
 captured its occupants. 
 
 Two weeks afterward an attempt was made to 
 capture and plunder Pittsburg. A great mass meeting 
 was held at Braddock's Fields, and the townsmen were 
 greatly alarmed. The country people had openly 
 announced that they would take the town. " Sodom," 
 
 395 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 they said, " had been burnt by fire from heaven, but 
 this second Sodom should be burnt by fire from earth.' 1 
 Countrymen coolly walked into the stores, priced the 
 goods, and remarked that they would get them cheaper 
 in a few days. The countrywomen said of their city sis- 
 ters, " There is a fine lady, but her pride will be hum- 
 bled by-and-by." Pittsburg was then a straggling village 
 of about twelve hundred people. But in reading these 
 accounts one would suppose it was the capital of the 
 world, rotten to the core with wealth, luxury, and vice. 
 
 In fact, in all the speech and action of this time we 
 can trace the effects of the French Revolution. To the 
 Scotch-Irishman, half hunter, half farmer, with a touch 
 of the illicit distillery, Pittsburg was Paris and the 
 Alleghenies were France. The stray newspaper and the 
 stray traveller had brought him the ideas of Robespierre, 
 and he expressed them in the language of the Old 
 Testament. 
 
 The townsmen sent a committee to the Braddock's 
 Fields meeting to conciliate the leaders, and if possible 
 ward off an attack. When this committee arrived at 
 the field, a wild scene met their sight. Thousands of 
 armed men were already on the ground, wandering 
 about, shooting at marks, or discharging their guns in 
 the air from mere excitement. There was a continual 
 cracking of rifles; and the smoke hung thick in the 
 woods and all along the banks of the river. Most of 
 the men were dressed in hunting-shirts with handker- 
 chiefs tied round their heads. This was the dress 
 always adopted in Indian expeditions, and it had a 
 distinct meaning. It was equivalent to the Indian's 
 war-paint. During the Whiskey Rebellion, when acom- 
 
 396 
 
The Whiskey Rebellion 
 
 pany of men had been seen on the roads, it was often 
 anxiously asked, " Had they hunting-shirts on? " 
 
 The townsmen's committee spent a long time in 
 expostulating and humoring. But the mass meeting 
 was determined to march to Pittsburg, and the com- 
 mittee had to consent and pretend it was a good thing. 
 The town was warned by messengers, and every 
 preparation made, not for defence, but, as Brackenridge 
 said, " to extinguish the fire of the ' Whiskey boys' " 
 thirst, which would prevent the necessity of having to 
 extinguish the fire they might apply to houses. 
 Fifty-four hundred of " the boys " were carefully 
 led into the town by the road farthest away from the 
 garrison, to prevent temptation and accidents. They 
 were led through the town and camped on the outskirts 
 of it to the eastward. 
 
 Then the work began. Every citizen who had a 
 house, or anything valuable in a house, worked like a 
 slave to carry provisions and buckets of whiskey to 
 that camp. The taverns had all been closed; but their 
 keepers were compelled to distribute their contents at 
 the camp for nothing. None worked harder than the 
 committee; and Brackenridge tells us that it was an 
 expensive as well as a laborious day, and cost him four 
 barrels of old whiskey. 
 
 Pittsburg was saved ; but the insurrection had become 
 so serious that the National Government had decided to 
 move ; and preparations were made about a week after 
 the attempted attack on Pittsburg. It was decided to 
 send both a commission and an army, — the commission 
 to pacify and the army to enforce its suggestions. The 
 commission went first, getting out to the western 
 
 397 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 country about the middle of August. The army did 
 not start until about the ist of October, arriving after the 
 commission had done its work, so that it was always 
 debated whether there was any need for an army 
 at all. 
 
 The commissioners called a great convention of the 
 people and labored by every means in their power 
 to dispose them to submission, so that there would be 
 no need of an army. After a month of this work they 
 had brought matters to such a pass that it was con- 
 sidered safe to take a canvass of the people on the 
 I ith of September, when they were all to sign papers 
 signifying their submission to the government. But the 
 returns from this canvass were very unsatisfactory ; and 
 this, coupled with their own observations, gave the 
 commissioners a very unfavorable impression of the 
 loyalty of the people. The march of an army seemed 
 a necessity. The Scotch-Irish had been living by them- 
 selves so long, administering their own laws and 
 customs, and carrying on their own frontier wars, that 
 they could not be convinced that they belonged to the 
 National Government until the strong hand of that 
 government was laid upon them. 
 
 Accordingly the army marched, fifteen thousand 
 strong. No resistance was offered, and the insurrection 
 melted away at the sight of the bayonet. 
 
 398 
 
The Hot- Water Rebellion 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 THE HOT-WATER REBELLION 
 
 The Scotch-Irish having had their rebellion, the 
 Germans must needs have theirs. It was a trifling 
 affair, however, and influenced apparently by none of 
 the causes which had been at work in the Whiskey 
 Rebellion. 
 
 At the time of the alien and sedition laws, which 
 were passed during the administration of John Adams, 
 a house-tax law was also passed, which required the 
 measuring and registering of the panes of glass in 
 windows. As the tax on whiskey had aroused among 
 the Scotch-Irish the remembrance of their old-world 
 struggles against oppression, so this house-tax law 
 seemed to the Germans the beginning of a petty inquisi- 
 torial tyranny, like many they had suffered from in 
 their native land. 
 
 They rapidly passed from indignation to violence. 
 In the counties of Bucks, Montgomery, and North- 
 ampton, north of Philadelphia, they threatened and 
 intimidated the assessors, and the law was not ad- 
 ministered. In one instance, while an assessor was 
 measuring a house, a woman poured hot water on 
 him, which gave the insurrection its name. It was 
 also called the House-Tax Rebellion, but more usu- 
 ally Fries' Rebellion. 
 
 399 
 
Pennsylvania : Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Fries was an auctioneer, with a strong voice, and 
 accustomed to harangue and amuse a crowd. He 
 travelled all over the country between Philadelphia and 
 Bethlehem, conducting small sales, and gaining a very 
 intimate acquaintance with people of all classes. He 
 had served in the Revolution, and was a man with a 
 certain small amount of natural leadership and a good 
 deal of distinctive character, which was increased by a 
 little dog called " Whiskey," his constant companion. 
 
 He understood the art of drawing attention to himself 
 and arousing the people among whom he lived. He 
 spoke to them vigorously and plainly against the house 
 tax, and dressed himself in an old chapeau and plume 
 with a pistol and sword in his belt. In this manner and 
 accompanied by about sixty armed men, he went from 
 place to place, marching to the sound of fife and drum, 
 haranguing, persuading, and intimidating. He seems 
 to have begun this course some time toward the close 
 of the year 1798, and kept it up for many months with- 
 out any interference from the government, and in that 
 time he certainly succeeded in stirring up a great 
 excitement. 
 
 But during his absence one day a United States 
 marshal arrested twelve of his followers and took them 
 to Bethlehem and Fries immediately attempted a rescue. 
 On the 7th of March, 1799, he appeared with a 
 hundred armed men before the Sun Inn at Bethlehem, 
 where the prisoners were confined, and with fifes and 
 drums playing, demanded in a most dramatic manner 
 the surrender of his friends. He was allowed to take 
 them, and marched away in great triumph. 
 
 But the governor now took a hand in the matter, and 
 
 400 
 
The Hot-Water Rebellion 
 
 at the first appearance of a sufficient force this German 
 rebellion, like that of the Scotch-Irish, melted away. 
 Fries hid himself in a swamp where he might have re- 
 mained a long time, but his little dog " Whiskey " be- 
 trayed him. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 
 death. A new trial was granted, and he was again con- 
 victed ; but President Adams pardoned him. Some of 
 his followers were also tried and received fines or light 
 imprisonment. 
 
 26 
 
 401 
 
Pennsylvania : Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 If the course of history followed the lines men lay down 
 for it, we should expect to find that Pennsylvania had 
 always been a land of peace, where the din of arms was 
 never heard and skill in fighting unknown. But, strange 
 to say, the commonwealth founded by an English peace 
 sect, assisted by German sects of the same faith, has pro- 
 duced more distinguished military men, 1 manufactured 
 more war material, and had more important battles in 
 more different wars fought on its soil than any other 
 State in the Union. 
 
 If we count the labor riots of recent years, the amount 
 of fighting and bloodshed in the Quaker commonwealth 
 is really quite extraordinary. The reader who has fol- 
 lowed our history must be familiar with the horrors of 
 the French and Indian Wars and the fierce fighting of 
 the Revolution at Brandywine, Paoli, Germantown, and 
 Mifflin. It now remains to tell of the last field of 
 slaughter our State has seen, — Gettysburg, which, as the 
 turning-point in the Civil War, makes good our state- 
 ment of the peculiar characteristic of Pennsylvania. 
 
 There was no question as to the side on which the 
 vast majority of our people stood in the great contest 
 between slave and free. The inaugural addresses of 
 
 1 See " The Making of Pennsylvania," 236. 
 402 
 
The Civil War 
 
 governors, the resolutions of the legislature, and the 
 general expression of opinion, all breathed devotion to 
 the Union and a determination to stop secession by force. 
 During Secretary Floyd's administration of the War De- 
 partment at Washington in the years 1859 and i860, he 
 was much occupied in depleting the Northern arsenals by 
 sending their arms and ammunition to the South. From 
 the arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts, alone, he sent 
 muskets enough to arm all the militiamen of Alabama 
 and Mississippi. But when he attempted to remove 
 from the Pittsburg arsenal forty-two Columbiads and 
 four thirty-two-pounders, he was checked. The citizens 
 of the town were aroused, committees appointed, and the 
 volunteer militia companies put under arms. The 
 excitement of the people was discreetly restrained by 
 calling a public meeting, which sent a committee to 
 Washington, and the order for removal of the guns 
 was revoked. 
 
 In his memorable journey to Washington to assume 
 the office of President, in the beginning of 1861, 
 President Lincoln stopped at Pittsburg, Harrisburg, and 
 Philadelphia, making many of his most characteristic 
 addresses to the people, and inspiring much confidence 
 by his evident sincerity and determination to settle the 
 controversy peaceably if he could, by war if he must. 
 In Philadelphia he raised a flag over Independence Hall, 
 the birthplace of the Constitution he was called upon 
 to defend. He took off his coat, in a simple backwoods 
 fashion, and laid his hands upon the rope in an earnest 
 way that was never forgotten by those who saw it. A 
 month or two afterward, on April 15, when he issued his 
 call for seventy-five thousand volunteers, Pennsylvania 
 
 403 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 was the first to respond, and sent the first troops to 
 Washington. 
 
 The way in which those troops went to Washington 
 is one of the numerous instances that show how unpre- 
 pared the North was for war. The national capital was 
 in great danger of being seized by the emissaries or 
 soldiers of the Confederacy. As soon as Governor 
 Curtin received the call for troops, he telegraphed it all 
 over the State, and five militia companies immediately 
 responded, — the Ringgold Light Artillery of Reading, 
 the Logan Guards of Lewistown, the Allen Rifles of 
 Allentown, and the Washington Artillery and the 
 National Light Infantry of Pottsville. The Ringgold 
 Artillery was the first to reach Harrisburg, arriving there 
 on the 1 6th, and the other four companies came in the 
 next day. All were immediately sent off to Washington, 
 but without arms or ammunition. Some regulars who 
 accompanied them had muskets, and except for these 
 there were no weapons save the sabres carried by the 
 Ringgolds. 
 
 Arrived in Baltimore, they nearly had the same ex- 
 perience with the mob that soon afterward befell the 
 Sixth Massachusetts. They were four hundred strong, 
 but, being unarmed, had to be taken through the town 
 with some care, and were guarded by a squad of police. 
 Fists were brandished under their noses and every vile 
 epithet that would rouse their temper applied. A single 
 burst of irritation from one of them, or even a look, 
 might have precipitated an attack. But they marched 
 through with the indifference of veterans, reached the 
 cars, and amid showers of stones and brickbats from the 
 mob started on their way again. 
 
 404 
 
The Civil War 
 
 On their arrival at Washington, their numbers were 
 much exaggerated, and the exaggeration undoubtedly 
 assisted in stopping the execution of the plans for 
 seizing the city and government. They were welcomed 
 with great delight, supplied with arms and accoutre- 
 ments, and immediately began barricading the Capitol 
 with barrels of flour and cement. 
 
 Immediately after the call for troops had been issued 
 by the President, Governor Curtin appointed Gen. 
 Robert Patterson and Gen. William H. Keim to the 
 command of all the Pennsylvania troops that were 
 rapidly assembling. As Pennsylvania seemed so for- 
 ward, General Scott, at that time at the head of the 
 regular army, placed General Patterson with the Penn- 
 sylvania forces in command of what was called the 
 Department of Washington, which embraced the States 
 of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and the District 
 of Columbia. Patterson's headquarters were in Phila- 
 delphia, and the primary object of his command was to 
 protect the Capitol at Washington, and keep open the 
 routes of communication through Maryland by which 
 troops could be brought from the north and west. 
 
 The route through Baltimore was closed by the mob 
 and the burning of the railroad bridges. But another 
 route by way of Annapolis was at once secured, by 
 which the Massachusetts and New York troops made 
 their way to Washington. The Seventeenth Pennsylva- 
 nia Regiment, with some companies of the Third Regu- 
 lars, then went to Baltimore and reopened the route 
 through that city. It remained undisturbed during the 
 rest of the war, and poured hundreds of thousands of 
 volunteers into the Union armies. 
 
 405 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Having been the first to protect the National Govern- 
 ment and its Capitol, Pennsylvania's attention was now 
 turned to the defence of her own southern border, upon 
 which was the rebel State of Virginia. Maryland gave 
 but little trouble. But where our border touched Vir- 
 ginia was the natural highway of the Shenandoah 
 Valley, and one of the easiest routes for invasion from 
 the south. The other route from the south was by way 
 of Washington. Mountainous and impassable country 
 lay between these two routes. The whole contest cen- 
 tred on the possession of one or the other of them. 
 The North must hold them both ; and if the South could 
 break through either one or the other, it would be 
 victorious. 
 
 The Washington line, being the most important, was 
 long and stubbornly contested ; and failing to break it, 
 General Lee twice attempted the Shenandoah way into 
 Pennsylvania. His defeat, first at Antietam and after- 
 ward at the battle of Gettysburg, showed that the South 
 could break neither line and could not invade the North. 
 This really decided the conflict; and two years after- 
 ward, when Lee was defeated by Grant and driven from 
 the Washington line, the war was ended. 
 
 'Pennsylvania sent in all to the war three hundred and 
 sixty-six thousand men. On the first call of the Presi- 
 dent she sent her required quota of sixteen regiments. 
 When the requirement was increased to twenty-five, she 
 not only supplied that number, but offered thirty more, 
 which had to be refused. In other words, if all the 
 troops offered by the State had been accepted, they 
 would have amounted to more than half the whole 
 seventy-five thousand asked for by the President. 
 
 406 
 
The Civil War 
 
 The volunteer corps, afterward so well known as the 
 Pennsylvania Reserves, was also authorized by the legis- 
 lature at this time. It was to consist of about fifteen 
 thousand men, to serve three years, to be carefully 
 trained and equipped, and ready to respond to any call 
 from the State or Nation. 
 
 It was needed sooner than was expected. The battle 
 of Bull Run was fought July 21, 1861, the Union forces 
 overwhelmingly defeated, and every one supposed Wash- 
 ington would surely be taken. The President instantly 
 called for the Pennsylvania Reserves, and they marched. 
 They entered Washington at the critical moment, and 
 for the second time within four months the Keystone 
 State secured the safety of the national capital. 
 
 The Reserves were retained by the government, and 
 never returned to the service of the State. They became 
 famous for their steadiness and courage, and there was 
 no body of troops during the war that was more re- 
 spected. One of their regiments, recruited in the moun- 
 tainous region along the Susquehanna, wore a buck tail 
 in their hats, and was always known as the Bucktail 
 Regiment. Its success and popularity led to the forma- 
 tion of the Bucktail Brigade, which also achieved no 
 little renown. 
 
 About a month after the battle of Antietam a raid 
 was made into Pennsylvania by the famous Jeb Stuart, 
 which was quite successful. With eighteen hundred 
 horsemen and four pieces of flying artillery, he pene- 
 trated into the State as far as Chambersburg, which he 
 easily captured, burning the warehouses, depot, ma- 
 chine-shops, and military stores, and retiring in safety 
 with his booty to Virginia. 
 
 407 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 By the spring of 1863, having recovered from the 
 effects of the battle of Antietam, Lee was ready for 
 his second attempt to invade Pennsylvania. Great 
 things were expected from it. Not only would the 
 line of railroads that brought Union troops from the 
 west be cut, and Pittsburg, where the heavy guns were 
 made, be taken, but it might be possible to invade the 
 anthracite coal-fields, destroy the mining machinery, 
 and set the mines on fire. The navy of the North, its 
 railroads, manufacturing industries, and its homes were 
 largely dependent on this anthracite coal supply, which 
 lay within a circle of a few square miles in Pennsylvania, 
 and was to be found nowhere else. 
 
 If the railroads entering this field were destroyed, the 
 supply would be cut off for a long time. If the valuable 
 and difficult-to-obtain machinery of the mines was de- 
 stroyed, the supply would be cut off for a still longer 
 time. But it was also possible to set on fire a mine, 
 and the smouldering flame, once started underground, 
 would burn for centuries, gradually destroying every 
 vein of coal, and no human ingenuity could extinguish 
 it. As the Richmond Whig tersely put it, Lee " might 
 set fire to the pits, withdraw the forces sent out on this 
 special duty, and leave the heart of Pennsylvania on 
 fire, never to be quenched until a river is turned into 
 the pits, or the vast supply of coal is reduced to 
 ashes." 
 
 Sweeping up the Shenandoah Valley and driving the 
 frightened people before him like animals escaping from 
 a forest fire, Lee entered our State, and attempted to 
 reach Harrisburg with part of his force, and secure the 
 bridge across the Susquehanna at Columbia with an- 
 
 408 
 
The Civil War 
 
 other part. Defeated in these attempts, he selected 
 Gettysburg as the best place to give battle to the Army 
 of the Potomac, and began to move toward it. Meade 
 also moved toward the same place ; and Reynolds, being 
 in the advance, met the first divisions of Lee's army just 
 as they were about to enter the town. 
 
 A battle at once began, which has usually been called 
 the First Day at Gettysburg. Reynolds was killed in 
 the first fire. He was a Pennsylvania!!, born at Lancaster 
 in 1820, and served through the Mexican War, earning 
 promotion every time he met the enemy; and when the 
 rebellion opened, he advanced in the same steady man- 
 ner, until on the day he was killed he was second in 
 command to Meade in the Army of the Potomac. 
 
 Doubleday succeeded him in command, and continued 
 the effort to keep up the resistance. But he was slowly 
 driven back from Seminary Ridge, where the battle 
 had begun, to the opposite side of Gettysburg, where, 
 meeting the rest of the Union army, they all encamped 
 for the night on Cemetery Hill, which was strongly 
 fortified and proved to be the key to victory on the 
 following day. 
 
 Lee had taken Gettysburg; but it had cost him dear. 
 He had inflicted terrible loss on the two corps of the 
 Union army in front of him, but his own losses had been 
 greater, and he had driven his enemy into an impreg- 
 nable position on Cemetery Hill. The next day the 
 two armies were facing each other, — Lee on Seminary 
 Ridge northwest of the town, and Meade southeast of 
 the town on Cemetery and Culp's hills with his left 
 extending southward to the Round Tops. 
 
 The morning passed away, and late in the afternoon 
 
 409 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Lee attacked the extreme Union left, which was weakly 
 protected. Neither cavalry nor any strong fortification 
 had been placed in that position, although the rocky 
 eminence known as Little Round Top was in itself 
 almost a fortress. But it was left unoccupied, and the 
 enemy, seeing their advantage, made a dash for it. If 
 they had taken it, they would have turned the Union 
 flank, could easily have completed their assault on 
 Cemetery Hill, and the day would have been lost. It 
 was saved at the last moment by the wise foresight of 
 Warren and the almost superhuman exertions of Vin- 
 cent ; and the fighting at this point, which included the 
 famous Devil's Den, was the most furious of the whole 
 war. The Union troops fought from behind stone 
 walls and inflicted terrible slaughter on the Confederates 
 as they rushed to the charge. 
 
 Soon after this the Union right was attacked by the 
 Louisiana Tigers, who, rushing through the volleys of 
 musketry, sprang over the walls among the men, spiking 
 guns and fighting hand to hand. Darkness had come, 
 and there was a fierce confusion of men fighting with 
 clubbed muskets, stones, and rammers, the Pennsyl- 
 vanians shouting to one another that they must die 
 on the soil of their State rather than yield. What 
 might have been the result would be difficult to say if 
 Carroll's brigade had not come to the rescue, restored 
 the men to their guns, and driven back the enemy. 
 The Tigers lost nearly half their numbers, and were 
 never again heard of in the war. 
 
 The next day, the third of the battle, Lee, finding that 
 he had succeeded only in driving Meade into a more 
 compact position, in which all the weak points were 
 
 410 
 
^ glllliliafliiiil^,^ Seminary Ridge 
 
 ***■ 
 
 Ifeth 
 
 J?Ol^i 
 
 
 
 "v^ 
 
 Hancock 
 
 Cemefery) 
 
 mu j 
 
 SicAe/s Humphreys 
 
 W&SXSS %/|\fll?7#^~ Meade's 
 
 %iWW ^M^ yfarre* Headquarters 
 
 '«*. 
 
 
 
 BATTLE FIELD OF GETTYSBUI 
 
The Civil War 
 
 being rapidly discovered and secured, decided to risk 
 everything on one final desperate charge with Pickett's 
 division. The point he selected for attack was on 
 Cemetery Hill, about the centre of the Union line; 
 and bringing all his artillery of one hundred and fifty 
 guns to bear on that one spot, he cannonaded it with 
 terrible intensity. Shells and solid shot hissed and 
 burst in every direction, smashing the Union guns, 
 exploding their ammunition, and disembowelling men 
 and horses. Then, when the road was thought to be 
 cut open, Pickett rushed in, eighteen thousand strong. 
 
 It was one of the most desperate and remarkable 
 charges in the annals of war. But again the Union 
 soldiers were behind those loose stone walls that bound 
 so many fields round Gettysburg. The musketry fire 
 of the Confederates as they came up spattered against 
 the rocks in vain. The artillery that had reserved itself 
 poured upon them its shrapnel and canister, and the 
 men in blue behind the walls waited for the near and 
 deadly distance. 
 
 " In a few moments," says Professor Jacobs, who was watch- 
 ing from Gettysburg, " a tremendous roar, proceeding from the 
 simultaneous discharge of thousands of muskets and rifles, 
 shook the earth ; then in the portion of the line nearest us, a 
 few, then more, and then still more rebels, in all to the num- 
 ber of about two hundred, were seen moving backwards 
 towards the point from which they had so defiantly pro- 
 ceeded ; and at last two or three men carrying a single 
 battle- flag, which they had saved from capture, and several 
 officers on horseback followed by fugitives. The wounded 
 and dead were seen strewn amongst the grass and grain ; men 
 with stretchers stealthily picking up and carrying the former 
 

 Serninaty Ridge 
 
 '-■'■«/,, 
 
 fifth. 
 
 Pl d<t 
 
 &J0 
 
 pe<> 
 
 Jjancock 
 
 lees 
 
 Headquarters 
 
 GETTYSBURG 
 
 ^itife .-''"^r^- — *'' 
 
 ' */ji. r '" C irtrre' t 
 
 JJeadqiiorters ,., \ 
 
 Hill • ' - 
 
 JATTLE FIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 to the rear ; and officers for a moment contemplating the s jne 
 with evident amazement, and riding rapidly towards the Sem- 
 inary Ridge. ... So sudden and complete was the slaught^- 
 and capture of nearly all of Pickett's men that one of ins 
 officers who fell wounded among the first on the Emmetts- 
 burg road, and who characterized the charge as foolish and 
 mad, said that when, in a few moments afterwards, he was 
 enabled to rise and look about him, the whole division had 
 disappeared as if blown away by the wind." 
 
 Pickett's division was annihilated. A large nunu.r 
 of them surrendered ; most of the rest were left dead 
 or wounded on the grass ; and thus ended the battle of 
 Gettysburg, which had raged for three days, — the 1st, 
 2d, and 3d of July. 
 
 412 
 
The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 THE PRE-EIVJINENCE OF PHILADELPHIA 
 
 The history of Philadelphia ought to be very instruc- 
 tive, as that of an old American city, of extremely rapid 
 growth in its early years, surpassing all other cities of 
 the continent, attracting the attention and admiration of 
 the whole civilized world for its success, liberality, and 
 devotion to science, becoming the metropolis of the 
 country, and enjoying the highest reputation for pro- 
 gress, and after that, suffering a decay and a loss of spirit 
 and enterprise, and becoming a by-word for backward- 
 ness and slowness. The causes of such a change, if we 
 could only discover them, would certainly be valuable 
 knowledge. 
 
 The part of this change most frequently discussed is 
 the loss of our commerce. Ship-building and trading 
 with the West Indies and England were among the first 
 occupations of the colonists. In the very beginning, 
 before the forests were cut away, one of the most profit- 
 able things for a settler to do was to combine with a few 
 others, build a small ketch or a snow, and carry the 
 farm produce of the Swedes to the South. As the land 
 was cleared by the English, such business became more 
 and more profitable. Timber was abundant, and it 
 became a common practice to build a ship, freight her, 
 and sell ship and cargo in the West Indies or England. 
 
 413 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Commerce grew steadily all through the colonial period, 
 assisted by the reputation of the colony for its products, 
 and by the encouragement given by the home govern- 
 ment to privateering during the wars with France and 
 Spain. Commercial transactions became large, devel- 
 oped the first strong desire for banking institutions that 
 was felt on the American continent, and produced 
 Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution. 
 
 This success continued after the colonies became in- 
 dependent, and Philadelphia rose to be the common 
 emporium of the United States. She had her India 
 Wharf at Walnut Street, and the list of places regularly 
 visited by her ships included nearly all the commercial 
 marts of the world. Enormous fortunes were made. 
 It was in that period that Stephen Girard amassed his 
 $10,000,000, and became the richest man in the Union. 
 Ten millions is a trifle now ; but in that day it attracted 
 as much attention and created as much astonishment as 
 the $100,000,000 or $200,000,000 of a Vanderbilt or a 
 Gould. Until recently old people were still alive in 
 different parts of the country, who could remember the 
 excitement and talk about Girard and his money; his 
 will, contested by Daniel Webster; his orphan college 
 and his supposed atheism. 
 
 But Girard was not the only man who profited. A 
 large number of the families who have formed an im- 
 portant part of that society in Philadelphia which has 
 so long been famous for its refinement can trace their 
 wealth and their importance to those years of com- 
 mercial supremacy, as any list of the old merchants and 
 shipowners clearly shows. 
 
 This flourishing state of affairs lasted up to the War 
 
 414 
 
The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 
 
 of 1812, which temporarily destroyed all American 
 commerce, and Philadelphia was not able to recover 
 from the shock. Some of the old merchants still clung 
 to their calling ; but the business steadily decayed. The 
 exports, which had been $17,500,000 in 1796, and 
 $31,000,000 in 1806, had by the year 1843 sunk 
 to $2,300,000, and looked as if they would disappear 
 altogether. It is pathetically reported in the history of 
 the times that the last ship of the old trade to make the 
 voyage to Canton and return was the " Globe, " which 
 went out in 1832 and came back in 1833. The " Osage " 
 sailed for Canton in 1842 ; but on her return she went 
 to New York, and that was the end. The great days of 
 China and the Indies were gone. 
 
 The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 doubtless 
 assisted in this decay, for it gave New York the ad- 
 vantage of receiving the vast freightage of the western 
 lakes. A large part of the energy and wealth that had 
 been in Philadelphia commerce at that time is said to 
 have turned itself toward internal improvements in 
 railroads and canals, intended to tap the resources of 
 the West, as New York had tapped them with the Erie. 
 
 But although these railroads and canals were an ad- 
 vantage to the State to a certain extent, they proved of 
 but small gain to the city, which seemed to have lost all 
 skill in turning things to account. The railroads, instead 
 of delivering their freight in Philadelphia, to build up 
 the city's wealth and restore commerce, carried their 
 freight straight through the State and delivered it in 
 New York. They became mere conduit pipes for pass- 
 ing trade through the State instead of into it. As 
 Philadelphia became more and more of a manufacturing 
 
 415 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 town, the products of such industries, instead of increas- 
 ing her own commerce, were all sent to New York for 
 sale and shipment; and even to this day Philadelphians 
 travel all the way to New York to buy articles which 
 are manufactured in their own city. 
 
 At the same time that we were achieving such success 
 in commerce after the Revolution, our city was also be- 
 coming the great book-publishing centre of the country. 
 The great publishing-houses were there, and it was also 
 the headquarters for the successful magazines, like the 
 "Portfolio" and "Graham's," which during the early 
 part of the present century occupied the position now 
 filled by the " North American," " Forum," " Century," 
 " Harper's," and others. Longfellow, Bryant, Cooper, 
 Willis, Lowell, and Poe, then young men rising into 
 fame, were among the contributors to these old Phila- 
 delphia periodicals. It was supposed at one time that 
 a magazine could not succeed unless it was printed and 
 mailed between the Delaware and the Schuylkill; and 
 when " Harper's " was started in New York, its failure 
 was prophesied because it was not within the limits of 
 the magazine city. 
 
 The combination of all these elements of progress — 
 the scientific research, the great medical schools, the 
 flourishing commerce, and the literary activity — made 
 Philadelphia a very attractive city; and this condition 
 was intensified when after the Revolution the National 
 Government was established there. The lawyers then 
 became pre-eminent as well as the doctors, and the 
 high reputation of the Philadelphia bar lasted until far 
 down into the present century. 
 
 We find the city at that time bearing the marks of a 
 
 416 
 
The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 
 
 general ascendency in all things. It was famous for 
 the excellence of its schemes of philanthropy, charitable 
 organizations, and prison discipline, which were the first 
 and the best in the country, and set the standard for 
 other places. The first American novelist who was 
 also the first American to adopt literature as a profes- 
 sion was Charles Brockden Brown, a Philadelphian. 
 The first American theatre was established there ; the 
 first medical, and the first legal periodical, the first 
 medical school, the first hospital, the first circulating 
 library, the first law school, as well as the first banking 
 company and the first fire and life insurance companies. 
 
 But all this progressiveness and prominence passed 
 away. The commerce, as we have already seen, had 
 sunk to almost nothing by the year 1843. The pub- 
 lishing business soon after went to other cities. One 
 by one the old ascendencies were lost, and the city, 
 instead of its former reputation for progress, became 
 known as the most backward city for its size on the 
 continent; and its people, instead of being known the 
 world over for their liberality and enlightenment, began 
 to be accused of narrowness. 
 
 This slowness of Philadelphia has often been blamed 
 on the Quakers, but without much justice. In the 
 days of her ascendency the city was largely controlled 
 by Quakers ; and in the list of persons who developed 
 her prominence we usually find a large proportion plain 
 Quakers, and many of the others Quakers in transit to 
 Episcopacy. During the present century, while the 
 city was becoming slow, the Quakers were rapidly dis- 
 appearing, and other kinds of people taking their place 
 in influence and control. As the backwardness of the 
 27 417 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 city has become more and more apparent the more the 
 Quakers have been driven from power, it is hardly fair 
 to say that the backwardness is their fault. 
 
 Indeed, although the Quakers have been gradually dis- 
 appearing ever since the Revolution, there is still among 
 the remnant of them a large number who are among 
 our most progressive and enlightened people, leaders of 
 movements for better municipal government, organizers 
 of charity and benevolence, heads of substantial busi- 
 ness and industrial firms, and shining examples of hon- 
 esty, good taste, and conservatism. In the matter of 
 education they are more progressive than they were 
 before the Revolution, as three colleges — Swarthmore, 
 Haverford, and Bryn Mawr — clearly testify. 
 
 Nor will the building of the Erie Canal, which gave 
 New York such an advantage in commerce, altogether 
 account for the change. It may partially account for 
 the change in commerce, but not entirely even for that. 
 Philadelphia commerce, like the commerce of all other 
 American ports, was greatly impaired by the War of 
 1812. The other places, however, like Boston, Balti- 
 more, and New Orleans, were able to revive after the 
 war and even to increase their trade. But Philadelphia 
 could not recover; her commerce kept declining, and 
 the building of the Erie Canal was merely an additional 
 blow. 
 
 Another severe blow was the failure of the United 
 States Bank in 1841. The people had become accus- 
 tomed to relying on it, it had become a part of the city, 
 and its downfall spread ruin on all sides. But we would 
 in the natural course of things have recovered from this 
 disaster, as other places have recovered from similar 
 
 418 
 
The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 
 
 calamities ; and neither the disaster to the bank nor 
 the Erie Canal, nor both of them together, will explain 
 the situation ; for the ability of our people seemed to 
 be changed. The spirit of enterprise and progressive- 
 ness was gone, and they seemed like a new race. 
 Their losses extended beyond commerce and beyond 
 anything that the Erie Canal would explain. All their 
 ascendencies passed away from them, and they seemed 
 to have a totally different character and mind. 
 
 The truth is they were a different set of people, and 
 the old set had disappeared. At the time of the 
 Revolution the political government of Pennsylvania 
 and the social influence of Philadelphia were in the 
 hands of certain classes, and had been in their hands 
 ever since the foundation of the colony. The Quakers 
 controlled the Assembly, and made of it a very conser- 
 vative body. The members, though elected yearly, 
 often held their seats for a long time, and acquired a 
 position and dignity unknown in our modern rapidly 
 changing legislatures. The Speaker usually held office 
 for many years, and became, like the Speaker of Parlia- 
 ment, a person of much importance in the community. 
 The executive portion of the government, the judge- 
 ships, and other offices were in the control of the pro- 
 prietors, who usually appointed Episcopalians to fill 
 the places ; and here also the terms of service were 
 long, and the class who held them acquired much influ- 
 ence and power. 
 
 It was by such people as these among the Quakers 
 and Episcopalians that Philadelphia was built up and 
 made the great and progressive city she was at the time 
 of the Revolution. Her rulers may have been some- 
 
 419 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 what arrogant from the long possession of power; but 
 there is no question of their ability, their enlightenment, 
 and their devotion to the best interests of the city. 
 The position their city occupied speaks for them and 
 proves their capacity beyond a doubt. 
 
 They, however, neglected one point. They provided 
 means for their own education by private schools and 
 the College of Philadelphia. But the other people of 
 the province, being without any general system of 
 schools or education of any sort, grew up in great 
 ignorance, and had but little voice in the government 
 of the province, and none at all in the government of 
 the city. The governing classes not only failed to 
 provide for the education of the masses of the popula- 
 tion, but they kept them from political power. All 
 through the colonial period it was the continual com- 
 plaint of the frontier counties that they had not their 
 fair representation in the Assembly, and that their 
 wishes and needs were disregarded. When the Scotch- 
 Irish marched to Germantown to seize the Indians 
 whom the Quakers were protecting, they again with 
 arms in their hands made this demand for representa- 
 tion, and were again denied or put off with excuses. 
 Thus the Quakers and Episcopalians prepared for 
 themselves a day of vengeance when a turn in affairs 
 should put the masses in power. 
 
 It is only fair to say, however, that some attempt was 
 made to educate the mass of the people. The Episco- 
 palians and the proprietary party, under the lead of 
 Provost Smith, and assisted by Franklin and others, 
 established schools for the education of the Germans, 
 which were successful for a few years and contained a 
 
 420 
 
The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 
 
 large number of pupils. But the opposition of the 
 majority of the Germans and the coming on of the 
 French and Indian Wars soon destroyed this solitary 
 endeavor at anything like general public education. 
 
 At the outbreak of the Revolution, therefore, the 
 population of the province was divided into a pro- 
 gressive and comparatively well-educated ruling class, 
 composed of Quakers and Episcopalians, who had 
 always been in power and knew no other life, and the 
 great mass of the populace, who were unaccustomed to 
 power and were very illiterate. 
 
 In his book on the " History of Education in Pennsyl- 
 vania," Wickersham tells us that at the beginning of the 
 Revolution the education of the masses in Pennsylvania 
 was at a lower ebb than it had ever been before. The 
 educated people among them that had come from the 
 old country had died off, and their children had had 
 few, if any, opportunities to improve themselves. The 
 better classes among the Quakers and Episcopalians 
 in Philadelphia were rather well educated, — the Episco- 
 palians by private tutors, small schools, and the college ; 
 and the Quakers at their own schools. But outside in 
 the counties there were only six private schools for all 
 the rest of the province, although some of these which 
 were conducted by the Presbyterians were very good. 
 They educated, however, only the better classes; and 
 the number of pupils at all these schools, including 
 those in Philadelphia and at the college, is estimated 
 by Wickersham at not above four hundred in a popula- 
 tion of three hundred and fifty thousand. The rest of 
 the people were in darkness. 
 
 This unfortunate condition was fully understood by 
 
 421 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 a few able men like Provost Smith and Franklin ; but 
 they seem to have been powerless to remedy it. Wil- 
 liam Penn had had some very advanced and excellent 
 ideas on the subject of general public education which 
 he had embodied in the Charter ; but they had never 
 been carried out. No attempt was made at any sys- 
 tematic common-school system ; few of the people 
 seemed to understand or value it; and many, especially 
 among the Germans, were unalterably opposed to it. 
 
 The Revolution wrought great changes in Philadel- 
 phia ; and as we have seen in previous chapters, the 
 Quakers were completely driven from power. The 
 people who took their places were Presbyterians and 
 others who had long been kept from power and had 
 cultivated a bitter hatred for the ruling classes. They 
 were under the leadership of Reed, who was himself a 
 Presbyterian and a stranger in the State. 
 
 The Episcopalians, who represented the executive 
 and proprietary side of the government as the Quakers 
 did the legislative side, were equally the objects of 
 dislike among the Presbyterians and those who felt 
 themselves deprived of their share in government. 
 Some of the Episcopalians, being closely allied with the 
 proprietary interest, turned Tory and left the country; 
 others, while sympathizing with the patriot cause, were 
 disgusted to see the province in the control of what 
 they thought a set of disorderly, ignorant upstarts, who 
 had no experience in government and no reverence for 
 the past. They could not act with such people, who 
 were tearing the province to pieces, although, like 
 them, they believed in the Revolution. Some of them 
 hung back so much that they were considered Tories. 
 
 422 
 
The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 
 
 Others, like Robert Morris and Wilson, tried to take 
 part in the national movement and at the same time 
 cling to the old regular and orderly conditions of the 
 province, and suffered accordingly. 
 
 But the result was that as a class they were utterly 
 driven from power, and their descendants, like the 
 descendants of the Quakers, could not restore the 
 old ascendency. Their stronghold in colonial times 
 had been the college. But the moment Reed and his 
 party reached supreme power in the Commonwealth, 
 the charter of this valuable institution was annulled and 
 its property confiscated. It was a severe blow to the 
 slender means of education, and the State was long in 
 recovering from it. 
 
 Philadelphia during the Revolution was ruled by a 
 mob. For although Reed, Cadwalader, McKean, Mif- 
 flin, Dr. James Hutchinson, and others who acted with 
 the mob were men of education and sense, they could 
 not restrain their followers, had to yield to their desires 
 to control them at all, and were powerless to alter events. 
 Men like Robert Morris, John Dickinson, and James 
 Wilson, who believed in the Revolution, but wanted it 
 conducted in Philadelphia rather differently from the 
 methods of the mob, were often in a dangerous position. 
 
 The success of the Revolution strengthened the con- 
 trol of the new people, and they began to increase and 
 fill all the avenues of life. At first their hold was only 
 political, and the old set retained much influence socially 
 and also in trade and business. They could not be 
 completely destroyed at once. The work they had 
 done and the moral effect and influence of it continued 
 for some time. Indeed, for a few years after the Revo- 
 
 423 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Iution closed, there was a slight reaction in their favor. 
 Dickinson returned from Delaware and was made 
 President of the State, — an office which nearly corre- 
 sponded with that of our modern governor. 
 
 The presence of the National Government, which had 
 its home in the city until 1800, was also an assistance 
 to the remains of the old set, and gave them a position 
 and importance they might not have had without it 
 But their hold was slight; they were no longer encour- 
 aged by the consciousness of power and success ; and 
 soon after the year 1800 the new people began to take 
 their places in everything. The old set grew weaker 
 and weaker, though retaining portions of their influence 
 down to the War of 1812, which was a severe blow to 
 them in the commercial interest, and by the year 1820 
 their functions as a class were extinguished. 
 
 The man of them who seems to have retained the 
 old-fashioned influence longest was Bishop White. He 
 had been a young Episcopal clergyman during the 
 Revolution and had acted a very discreet part. It was 
 known that he favored the patriot cause, although as a 
 clergyman he declined to take any prominent part in it. 
 Perfect in his tact and of much personal attraction, he 
 rose afterward to a very distinguished position, and far 
 down into the present century we find him presiding at 
 political meetings, and treated by all parties and persons 
 with a respect and regard to which no one of his class 
 has since been able to attain. 
 
 The new people had been quite effective in their way 
 in the Revolution ; but when it came to taking charge 
 of the city, continuing its progressiveness and fame, 
 and filling the places of the former rulers, they were a 
 
 424 
 
The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 
 
 lamentable failure. It had been possible to assist the 
 Revolution by mob excitement and the wild passions of 
 ignorance, but the real greatness of Philadelphia could 
 not be continued by such methods. The new people 
 were a very inferior people, made up from the masses, 
 who all through the colonial period had been kept from 
 education and power. 
 
 They were alike incapable in business and in govern- 
 ment. When the commerce was impaired by the War 
 of 1812, they could not restore it. The publishing busi- 
 ness, in which the city was pre-eminent, slipped away, 
 like the commerce, to other places, and one by one the 
 old ascendencies were lost. The city which had once 
 been known as the cleanest in the United States rapidly 
 became the dirtiest. 
 
 The old rulers had always believed that nothing was 
 too good for their city, and had always demanded the 
 highest excellence in everything. The new men were 
 just the reverse. Recruited from the classes who had 
 never had education, or were opposed to it on principle, 
 they believed that inferior things were, after all, the best, 
 and they were determined to nave them. Progress and 
 advancement had been well enough for the arrogant old 
 colonial rulers, but a new and simpler way had now been 
 discovered, the way of mediocrity. So thoroughly did 
 they succeed in establishing this love of mediocrity that 
 it pervaded the whole life of the city, and began to dis- 
 appear only within the last ten or fifteen years. 
 
 After the year 1820 began the great influx of foreign 
 immigrants, adding new forces of disunion and ignorance, 
 and bringing in large numbers of men who cared noth- 
 ing for our past and were naturally suspicious. Dis- 
 
 425 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 order, riot, and bloodshed were now to be added to 
 the other evils of the new order. 
 
 The volunteer fire companies, which had been started 
 by Franklin in 1736, had always been valuable aids in 
 saving property, and previous to 1825 were composed 
 of respectable people, and were most orderly and effi- 
 cient. But after 1825 they rapidly became a curse, 
 were filled with men of the roughest and lowest char- 
 acter, who saw in the calamity of a fire an opportunity 
 to fight their rival companies and pillage the burning 
 house. It became a common occurrence for them to 
 fight one another on the way to the fire with paving- 
 stones and fire-arms ; fires were often deliberately 
 started to give them a chance, and Sunday was not in- 
 frequently selected as a proper day for this amusement. 
 
 Arrived at the burning building, they would fight for 
 the possession of a fire plug while the flames were 
 gaining headway; and when at last they began their 
 operations, there was so much rivalry among them in 
 throwing water that they often ruined more goods with 
 it than were destroyed by the fire. They allowed thieves 
 to wear their uniform and enter the houses ; they 
 became a power in politics, levied contributions on the 
 city, the insurance companies and individuals, under the 
 fear that they might do even worse things than were 
 already done. They had been known to refuse to ex- 
 tinguish fires that had been lighted by mobs. Their 
 power was so complete that there was scarcely a news- 
 paper in the city that dared stand out against them ; they 
 maintained their supremacy for nearly fifty years, and 
 were not finally abolished by the growing intelligence of 
 the people until 1870. 
 
 426 
 
The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 
 
 Along with the rise of the brigand firemen came the 
 Schuylkill Rangers and other gangs of desperadoes and 
 footpads which ruled the nights in certain districts. 
 District fought with district; the boys imitated their 
 elders, and the frequent stone fights are well remembered 
 by many persons now living. The City of Brotherly 
 Love, the home of the gentle Quaker, became one of 
 the roughest cities in the Union. The period 1840 to 
 1850 seems to have been the time when the results of 
 the changes reached their lowest ebb in all respects, 
 and in that time the rioting and disorder were very 
 serious. 
 
 Richard Rush, a very prominent man of that time, 
 had left Philadelphia in 181 1 to begin his long official 
 and diplomatic career under the National Government. 
 He went away, leaving his native city still the metropolis 
 of America, the leader in every element of progress. 
 He returned in 185 1, and in a letter written to Eli K. 
 Price, he describes his surprise and disappointment on 
 finding the city sunk to third place and continuing to 
 lose ground. 
 
 The worst rioting began in 1835, when a negro boy 
 attempted to kill a white man with whom he lived. 
 There had in previous years been attacks on the 
 negroes, and this incident was all that was needed to 
 inflame the worst passions among the ignorant and 
 brutal masses that had been collecting in the city. For 
 two nights the mob hunted the negroes, maiming and 
 mangling them, destroying and burning their houses, 
 and preventing the firemen from extinguishing the flames 
 until most of the poor creatures had been driven beyond 
 the limits of the town. 
 
 427 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 Three years after, in 1838, a similar mob attacked 
 " Pennsylvania Hall," where an antislavery convention 
 of women was meeting, and burned it to the ground. 
 The mayor was warned of the danger, but made no 
 attempt at defence. The next night the mob burned the 
 Friends' Shelter for Colored Children, and the following 
 morning the Bethel Colored Church. In 1842 there 
 were similar riots against the colored people, and again 
 in 1849, in which halls and churches were burned with- 
 out the slightest attempt at protection by the authori- 
 ties. In 1843 there were labor riots in Kensington ; and 
 although the sheriff went out with his posse to subdue 
 them, he was overwhelmingly defeated, saved his own 
 life only by concealment, and the rioters had free scope 
 to destroy the machinery, which was the object of their 
 vengeance. 
 
 In 1844 occurred the native American and Catholic 
 riots, which lasted with intermittent intervals for several 
 months, and would require for their description a sepa- 
 rate chapter. They resembled mediaeval wars or the 
 fights of the Revolutionists in the streets of Paris. The 
 fighting in the streets with the militia continued some- 
 times day and night. Churches, houses, and semina- 
 ries were destroyed. The mob had cannon, which they 
 loaded with old iron and bottles, and moved silently with 
 muffled wheels in the darkness to be fired suddenly upon 
 the soldiers. When the soldiers learned to fire where 
 they had seen the flash of the cannon, the mob used 
 slow-matches, and with long ropes drew the cannon 
 back to be reloaded. They fired from windows and 
 house-tops, and drew ropes across the street to throw 
 the cavalry. 
 
 428 
 
The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 
 
 Judge Porter, in his essay on Chief Justice Gibson, 
 has very concisely summed up the condition of affairs 
 in those years : — 
 
 " The people of the State, and perhaps of the Union, will 
 not soon forget the popular commotions which prevailed in 
 Philadelphia between the years 1836 and 1846. We had the 
 Abolition riots, the Railroad riots, the Negro riots, the 
 Weaver's riots, the Native American riots, and the Military 
 riots. Having run short of names, territorial designations 
 were adopted, and we had the Moyamensing, Southwark, and 
 Kensington riots. Interspersed with these were the riots of 
 various fire companies, who seemed to have achieved little 
 distinction until their members had been bound over to each 
 successive term of Quarter Sessions." 1 
 
 All the disorder, mismanagement, and riot were 
 greatly increased by the extraordinary condition into 
 which the government of the city had been allowed to 
 develop. The original city had been a small territory 
 two miles long and a mile wide, bounded on the north 
 by Vine Street, on the south by South Street, and ex- 
 tending east and west from the Delaware to the Schuyl- 
 kill, containing about 1,280 acres. With the increase of 
 population spreading out beyond these limits, new dis- 
 tricts were created ; and as time went on whole boroughs 
 and townships were organized, each one contiguous to 
 the city without being absorbed by it, and allowed to 
 retain more or less of its former local government and 
 authority. 
 
 Thus Southwark was incorporated in 1762, Northern 
 Liberties in 1771, Moyamensing in 18 12, Spring Garden 
 in 18 1 3, Kensington in 1820, Penn in 1844, Richmond 
 
 1 Essay on Gibson, 87. 
 429 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 in 1847, West Philadelphia in 185 1, and Belmont in 
 1853. Then there were the boroughs of Germantown, 
 Frankford, Manayunk, White Hall, Bridesburg, and 
 Aramingo ; and the townships of Passyunk, Blockley, 
 Kingsessing, Roxborough, Germantown, Bristol, Oxford, 
 Lower Dublin, Moreland, Northern Liberties, Byberry, 
 Delaware, and Penn. 
 
 All these twenty-eight divisions acting with the origi- 
 nal city as the twenty-ninth division, and the county as 
 the thirtieth, tried to create a sort of general government 
 for the whole, which resulted in ten or more other 
 bodies, — County Commissioners, Guardians of the 
 Poor, Board of Health, Port Wardens, School Boards, 
 Prison Inspectors, Board of Police, and others with 
 more or less irresponsible and undefined powers, which 
 made the confusion still greater. There were in all about 
 forty corporate, or quasi-corporate, bodies to govern the 
 people, overlapping in their jurisdiction and intertwined 
 with one another in such a manner that their powers 
 and doings could not be understood by the citizens, and 
 could with difficulty be unravelled even by those who 
 had made the subject the study of their lives. 
 
 It was disputed whether it was the duty of the mayor 
 or of the sheriff to put down riots. In a walk or drive 
 of two miles, a citizen might come under three or 
 four different sets of regulations. Thieves and rioters 
 stepped over an imaginary line in the middle of a 
 street and laughed defiance at the police. The city 
 was illiberal to the districts, and the districts retaliated. 
 If a mob came out of the city to pillage and burn in a 
 district, the commissioners of the district did not con- 
 sider themselves responsible for what happened. 
 
 430 
 
The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 
 
 There were nineteen distinct sets of taxes, each with 
 its army of collectors to gather it in the most expensive 
 way, and there were at least twelve distinct debts. 
 Each division had its own customs and code, its petty 
 jealousy for all the others, and its fire companies and 
 gangs of rowdies ready at all times to fight for their 
 imaginary supremacy. Each district attempted to pro- 
 vide everything for itself at great waste and expense. 
 Not only was it impossible to administer police regula- 
 tions with any effect, but it was difficult to unite even 
 the better classes for any important municipal purpose, 
 for all were more or less affected with local jealousy, 
 their minds narrowed by the ignorance and barbarism 
 which surrounded them, and their energies fettered by 
 the system to which they had grown accustomed. 
 
 This widespread disintegration had reached a dread- 
 ful condition by 1840; and the riots that followed called 
 attention to it more strongly than ever, and at last 
 aroused the energies of what remained of the enlight- 
 ened people. The city was sinking rapidly, and from 
 the first place had fallen to the second in wealth and 
 the fourth in population. A reform movement was 
 organized and debated for ten years before anything 
 could be accomplished. It was not until 1854 that the 
 Consolidation Act was passed, which wiped out at one 
 stroke the whole vicious system, and has been right- 
 fully regarded as the refounding of Philadelphia. It 
 may be added that the most active leader of this move- 
 ment, its representative in the State Senate, and its histo- 
 rian, was Eli K. Price, a plain Quaker of the old school. 
 
 Without the Consolidation Act Philadelphia would 
 soon have sunk to a mere collection of villages. It 
 
 431 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 was a measure essential to existence, and cleared the 
 ground for restoration. The divisions and confusions 
 of the old system continued among the people for a 
 long time, and have only recently passed away. Indeed, 
 we are not yet, by any means, a homogeneous people. 
 We still retain a large part of the habits and tone of 
 thought engendered by long years of divisions, cliques, 
 and sects ; and the foreign immigration of modern 
 times has not tended to mitigate them. 
 
 Although the Consolidation Act gave authority to 
 adopt a paid fire department, the brigand volunteer 
 system was at first only mitigated, and not abolished 
 until 1870. One of the most powerful causes of all the 
 trouble had been the lack of education for the masses 
 of the people, and that cause has been overcome only 
 in recent years. The attempts to overcome it began 
 before the reform movement for consolidation, and con- 
 tinued afterward. 
 
 After the Revolution was over, the deplorable con- 
 dition of education was fully appreciated by many 
 people. During the seven years of the Revolution, 
 there seems to have been no education at all, and very 
 little of it for some years after. The College of Phila- 
 delphia, destroyed by the new party in 1779, was, in 
 1789, restored to its rights, and for some time existed 
 side by side with the University of the State of Penn- 
 sylvania, which had been created by the new party to 
 supply its place. The two institutions antagonized 
 each other, and were useless. In 1794, they were com- 
 bined in the present University of Pennsylvania, which 
 led a crippled existence until raised to life by Provost 
 Stille after the Civil War. 
 
 432 
 
The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 
 
 The Episcopal Academy was founded in 1785, in 
 the hope of partially supplying the loss of the college ; 
 and in 1783 the Presbyterians founded Dickinson Col- 
 lege at Carlisle. But these were not attempts at the 
 general education of the people. They were merely 
 efforts to restore the sort of limited education for the 
 better classes which had existed before the Revolution. 
 
 After 1790 there was considerable activity to estab- 
 lish general public education; but the nature of the 
 attempts shows how utterly inexperienced in the 
 subject everybody was. At first the efforts accom- 
 plished nothing but grants of land or money from the 
 legislature. For a long time the only system that 
 could be adopted was to assist the church and 
 neighborhood schools that sprang up here and there. 
 Then academies, something like the colonial Presby- 
 terian academies, were founded in the different counties, 
 and each of them compelled to give free instruction to 
 five or ten poor children. Soon a more general plan 
 was attempted ; but by the frequent use of the words 
 " poor " and " gratis " it cast such a stigma of pauperism 
 on the parents of any children who attended the schools 
 that it was a failure. It was not until 1834, after years 
 of controversy and struggle and the most determined 
 opposition from the Germans and others, that the free 
 common-school system was at last adopted for the whole 
 State. 
 
 Any one who reads the story of that struggle, and the 
 difficulties that attended the adoption of a system so 
 evidently beneficial, will have the key to many things 
 in the history of our State which are otherwise tin- 
 explainable. Nothing else but the adoption of that 
 28 433 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 system has raised Philadelphia from the slough into 
 which she had sunk by the year 1840. 
 
 The effect of general public education was of course 
 not immediate. The instruction was at first inferior. 
 Two generations had to be brought under the influence 
 of the system before anything very definite was accom- 
 plished ; and it is only within the last fifteen or twenty 
 years that we have begun to feel its best effects. 
 
 The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 was a great as- 
 sistance and a powerful reinforcement to our public 
 education. It was like adding a university course to 
 the common schools. It enlarged the minds of the 
 people, appealed to their tastes, their sense of beauty 
 and their feelings, and went a long way toward 
 destroying that extraordinary opinion that there is 
 something essentially impractical and wrong in beauty 
 of design, and high excellence, and distinction. 
 
 Certain it is that within the last few years we have 
 experienced a revival of intellectual life ; and the forces 
 of the city are apparently becoming more united and 
 are being inspired anew. Our commerce has been 
 gradually restored ; and though not yet in the supreme 
 condition it was before the War of 18 12, it is far in 
 advance of the decay and hopelessness of 1840. Our 
 manufacturing interests, which have always existed in 
 some form, have since the Civil War been inspired with 
 new life and grown to enormous proportions ; and the 
 men whom they are raising to wealth and influence will 
 play an important part in the development of the next 
 hundred years. Our architecture is rapidly improving, 
 and there are signs of better ideas in widening and lay- 
 ing out streets and abolishing grade crossings. 
 
 434 
 
The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 
 
 Indeed, within the last few years the city has begun 
 to put on a totally different appearance. The people in 
 favor of honest municipal government are becoming 
 more united, more effective in organization, and have 
 already in the last fifteen years accomplished decided 
 reforms. Our college, which was ruined in the Revolu- 
 tion, has been restored by Provost Stille, and within the 
 last ten years raised to a still stronger position by 
 Provost Pepper and Provost Harrison. The manufactur- 
 ing interests of the city, which were scattered over a 
 wide extent of territory, are being centralized and made 
 more effective by the Bourse. The islands in front of 
 the city have been cut away, the harbor enlarged and 
 deepened, the navigation of the river improved, the 
 wharves extended and connected with the railroad 
 system by the belt line. 
 
 The men who are now rising into importance and 
 prominence are educated men, and they will in the 
 future have an educated population to support them. 
 The discussion, of which we hear so much, about a new 
 Philadelphia, has a meaning, and seems to mark a turn- 
 ing-point in municipal history. There are many signs 
 of unity and enlightenment which have been gradually 
 gathering force since the public-school system and the 
 Consolidation Act were adopted ; and there is every 
 reason to suppose that they will continue and increase 
 until pre-eminence is restored. 
 
 The Consolidation Act has been reinforced in recent 
 years by the Bullitt Bill, as the new city charter is 
 called. After the consolidation of the city, in 1855, 
 some of the old forces of disunion continued to work, and 
 the city government gradually again grew complicated, 
 
 435 
 
Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 
 
 until there were twenty-five departments more or less 
 independent of each other, and the mayor a mere 
 figure-head with none of the controlling powers of an 
 executive officer. Agitation for a reform began about 
 1877, an d the Bullitt Bill passed in 1885, and went into 
 force in 1887. It reduced the departments to nine, 
 made them report to the mayor, gave him power to 
 investigate their conduct and to remove officials. A 
 steady improvement has since been observed in the 
 whole city government. 
 
 It required forty or fifty years to overcome and undo 
 the good work of the old colonial rulers, and reduce 
 the city to the decay of 1840; and it has naturally 
 required about the same length of time to restore and 
 renew and bring us to the state we might have reached 
 long ago if the old conditions had gone on in their 
 regular course. 
 
 43 6 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adams, John, 275, 308, 317. 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 126, 145, 
 
 151, 152. 
 Albany treaty of 1754, 121. 
 Allen, William, 90, 114, 376. 
 Allison, Rev. Francis, 258. 
 Amherst, General, 224. 
 Ammunition, scarcity of, 195. 
 Andre in Philadelphia, 358. 
 Anne, Queen, 37, 38, 63. 
 Anthracite coal-fields, 408. 
 Anti-Constitutionalists, 324. 
 Antietam, battle of, 406, 408. 
 Architecture in Pennsylvania, 268- 
 
 270. 
 Arms, scarcity of, 195. 
 Armstrong, Col. John, 185, 230, 
 
 343- 
 
 Arnold, Benedict, 368, 371, 374. 
 
 Assembly, right to originate laws, 
 32; right to adjourn, 32, 39, 58; 
 memorial of, against Penn, 40, 
 42; simple methods of, 56; un- 
 justly blamed, 147 ; refuse to be 
 governed by secret instructions, 
 149 ; attempts on the liberty of, 
 150; earnestness in war, 155, 
 178, 179, 180; waive their rights, 
 191 ; condemned by Privy Coun- 
 cil, 193, 204; position of, in Rev- 
 olution, 319; abolished, 320. 
 
 Associators, 93. 
 
 Aubrey, Letitia, 66. 
 
 Aubrey, William, 48. 
 
 Bacon, Nathaniel, 176. 
 
 Baltimore, Lord, 15, 16, 83, 87. 
 
 Bank of North America, 383. 
 
 Bank, U. S., 41S. 
 
 Barren Hill, battle of, 365. 
 
 Beaujeau, 158. 
 
 Bedford, Fort, 225. 
 
 Biles, prosecution of, 42. 
 
 Billingsport, 348. 
 
 Blackwell, Capt. John, 18. 
 
 Bond, 336, 376. 
 
 Boston, oppression of, 296. 
 
 Bouquet, Col. Henry, character of, 
 208; attacked by French, 213; 
 saves Fort Pitt, 225-229; starts 
 for Ohio, 251; popularity of. 253 ; 
 claim of Virginia troops against, 
 254. 
 
 Bourse, the, 435. 
 
 Brackenridge, 397. 
 
 Braddock, Major - General ; em- 
 barks for America, 151 ; charac- 
 ter of, 153; marches to Fort Du 
 Quesne, 156; defeat of, 157-160. 
 
 Bradford, Col. William, 348. 
 
 Brandywine, battle of, 338. 
 
 Brown, Charles Brockden, 417. 
 
 Bullitt Bill, 435. 
 
 Cadwalader, Col. John, 315, 370. 
 Carlisle, 370. 
 
 Centennial Exhibition, 434. 
 Chancery, Court of, 69. 
 Charter of Pennsylvania, 5. 
 
 437 
 
Index 
 
 Chew, Chief Justice, 131, 272, 336. 
 
 Christ Church, 282. 
 
 Churchmen, 28,36. 
 
 Claypole, James, 16. 
 
 Clinton, Sir Henry, 361. 
 
 Clymer, 298, 299, 323. 
 
 Cole, Josiah, 2. 
 
 College, the, 137, 375, 377, 381, 
 
 43 2 , 435- 
 Commerce, 133, 278, 413, 434. 
 Conestoga Indians, 233, 235. 
 Congress, Continental, 304, 318. 
 Consolidation Act, 431. 
 Constitution of 1701, 29-33; °f 
 
 !776, 33> 3 22 > 390 5 of r 790> 33> 
 392; of 1873, 33; National, 387. 
 
 Constitutionalists, 324. 
 
 Contracts, obligation of, 386, 387. 
 
 Convention of 1776, 321. 
 
 Cook, Arthur, 16. 
 
 Council, Provincial, 32, 52, 75, 76. 
 
 Country Party, 90, 92. 
 
 Country-seats, 270, 275, 357. 
 
 Curtin, Governor, 401. 
 
 Delaware, 13, 35, 66, 326, 327. 
 
 Delaware Indians, 117, 119, 123. 
 
 Denny, Gov. William, 190, 220. 
 
 Dickinson, first appearance in pol- 
 itics, 259; favors proprietorship, 
 261, 262 ; writes " Farmer's Let- 
 ters," 290-295 ; motives of, in 
 Revolution, 299; Adams' descrip- 
 tion of, 308 ; friendship with 
 Adams, 309 ; wants the colonies 
 to keep abreast, 311 ; drafts the 
 Articles of Confederation, 325 ; 
 wishes to delay Declaration of 
 Independence, 326, 329 ; unpop- 
 ularity of, 329; commands the 
 militia, 331 ; retires to Delaware, 
 332 ; becomes a common soldier, 
 332 ; returns from banishment, 
 
 Constitution, 388. 
 
 Dongan, Colonel, III. 
 Donop, Count, 351. 
 Drinker, 336. 
 Dumas, 162. 
 Dunbar, 161. 
 
 Du Quesne, Fort, 129, 156, 161, 173, 
 207, 214. 
 
 Eckley, John, 16. 
 
 Ecuyer, Captain, 224. 
 
 Education, 137, 140, 420-423, 432- 
 
 434- 
 
 Elder, Rev. John, 231, 235, 236. 
 
 Emlen, 336. 
 
 Erie Canal, 415. 
 
 Estates taxed, 166, 219, 255. 
 
 Evans, Gov. John, 39 ; attack on 
 Biles, 42 ; tries to organize mili- 
 tia, 43 ; dismissed, 50. 
 
 Farmer's Letters, 290-295. 
 
 Fire companies, 426. 
 
 Fletcher, Col. Benjamin, 19, 20, 22. 
 
 Floyd, Secretary, 403. 
 
 Forbes, General, 174, 207, 210, 213. 
 
 Ford, Philip, 48. 
 
 Fort Bedford, 225. 
 
 Fort Du Quesne, 129, 156, 161, 173, 
 207, 214. 
 
 Fort Ligonier, 225. 
 
 Fort Mifflin, 352. 
 
 Fort Pitt, 214, 224, 228, 395. 
 
 Forts on the Delaware, 346, 347. 
 
 Forts on the frontier, 176. 
 
 Fox, George, r. 
 
 Frames of Government, 11, 12, 24. 
 
 France, alliance with, 330. 
 
 Francis, Tench, 90. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, deceived by 
 Governor Keith, 70 ; in paper- 
 money controversy, 80; recruits 
 the Associators, 93 ; attacks the 
 proprietors, 128; report of, 
 on condition of province, 133 ; 
 founds the college, 137 ; his the- 
 
 433 
 
Index 
 
 ory of education, 140 ; assists 
 Braddock, 154; his militia law, 
 169; expedition of, against the 
 Indians, 171 ; goes to England 
 to tax the estates, 196, 215; his 
 "Historical Review," 216; taxes 
 the estates, 219; returns from 
 England, 220 ; raises recruits 
 against the Scotch-Irish, 241 ; 
 indignation of, at the " Paxton 
 Boys," 237 ; his argument for 
 royal government, 264 ; goes to 
 England to abolish the proprie- 
 torship, 266 ; retires from busi- 
 ness, 280; opinion of Stamp Act, 
 313; returns to the province, 
 315; influence on Constitution 
 of 1776, 323; favors Declaration 
 of Independence, 327. 
 
 French, the, plan the conquest of 
 the colonies, 125; press in on 
 the colonies, 196, 198. 
 
 French Revolution, 394, 396. 
 
 French wars, Pennsylvania's posi- 
 tion in, 21, 22, 146; summary of, 
 145 ; used to destroy Pennsylva- 
 nia's rights, 147, 150. 
 
 Fries, rebellion of, 399. 
 
 Galloway, Joseph, 263, 304, 335. 
 Gentlemen's party, 90, 92. 
 Germans, arrive in the province, 
 
 58 ; vote with the Quakers, 91 ; 
 
 position of, in Revolution, 289. 
 Germantown, battle of, 343. 
 Gettysburg, battle of, 409-412. 
 Gilpin, 336. 
 Girard, Stephen, 414. 
 Gnadenhutten,m'assacre 0^164,174. 
 Good living in Pennsylvania, 275. 
 Gookin, Gov. Charles, 51-65. 
 Gordon, Gov. Patrick, 76-85. 
 Goshen, alarm at, 223. 
 Grant, General, 366. 
 Grant, Major, 210. 
 
 Grant, President, 124. 
 Great Law, the, 12. 
 Greene, Colonel, 349. 
 Greene, General, 344. 
 Grey, General, 366. 
 
 Hamilton, Governor, 34, 38, 147, 
 
 148. 
 Harrison, Provost, 435. 
 Hot-Water Rebellion, 399. 
 Howe, General, 337. 
 Humphreys, 327. 
 Hunt, 336. 
 
 Independence, 324-32S. 
 
 Indians, the, their title to the land, 
 99 ; purchase of their land, 102 ; 
 their treaty with Penn, 103-110; 
 encroachment on their lands, 113; 
 defrauded of land, 114, 121; 
 alienation of, 119; lands of, on 
 the Juniata, 119; settlers re- 
 moved from lands of, 120 ; effect 
 of fire-water on, 122; Quaker 
 efforts to civilize, 122, 123; their 
 respect for the Quakers, 124 ; 
 become insolent, 126; presents 
 to, 127 ; attack the Pennsylvania 
 frontier, 162 ; success in war, 
 197 ; attack Fort Pitt, 224 ; ha- 
 tred against, 231 ; of Conestoga, 
 233, 235. 
 
 Instructions to governors, 1S1. 
 
 Judiciary, bill for establishing, 45. 
 
 Keim, Gen. William H., 405. 
 
 Keith, Sir William, appointed gov- 
 ernor, 64 ; success as a governor, 
 68 ; faults of, 70 ; ruin of, 76. 
 
 Keystone, name of, 288. 
 
 Kittanning, attack on, 184. 
 
 Kuhn, 336. 
 
 Lafayette, 339, 
 Law, John, 74. 
 
 439 
 
 365. 
 
Index 
 
 Lee, Richard, 324, 
 
 Legislation, right to originate, n 
 
 12, 13, 15, 23. 
 Liberty of the province, 150. 
 Licenses, tavern, 24, 33. 
 Ligonier, Fort, 225. 
 Lincoln, President, 403. 
 Living, good, in Philadelphia, 275. 
 Lloyd, David, 28, 29, 40, 45, 52, 57, 
 Lloyd, Thomas, 15, 16, 19, 22. 
 Logan, Deborah, 273, 328. 
 Logan, James, 29, 34, 44, 46, 47, 53, 
 
 64, 75' 76, 94, 13L i3 2 - 
 Luxury in Philadelphia, 277, 333. 
 Lynching, 236. 
 
 Macpherson, Capt. John, 272, 
 
 316. 
 McKean, 319, 332, 370. 
 McLane, 357, 364, 36S. 
 Mansfield, Lord, 219. 
 Markham, William, 8, 20, 22, 23, 29. 
 Marvland, boundary of, 15. 16, 46, 
 
 S3, 86, 87. 
 Massachusetts, 285. 
 Massacres, 162, 197, 222. 
 Memorial against Penn, 40, 42. 
 Mifflin, Fort, 352. 
 Mifflin, Thomas, 297, 301, 304,319, 
 
 373, 37&- 
 Military of the province, 174. 
 Militia, 43, 69, 93, 169, 171, 174, 195, 
 
 2 4i, 3 J 5> 33*- 
 Militia laws, 169, 171, 195. 
 Minisink, 114. 
 Mirania, College of, 141. 
 Mischianza, fete of, 361-365. 
 Monmouth, battle of, 368. 
 Moore, John, 28. 
 Moore, William, 199, 204. 
 Moravian Indians, 235, 240. 
 Moravians, their opinion of war, 172. 
 More, Nicholas, 16. 
 Morris, Gov. R. H., 148, 150, 153, 
 
 155, 161, 166, 168, 178, 180, 190. 
 
 Morris, Robert, 271. 273, 329, 372, 
 
 373^ 37&- 
 Mortimer, Earl, 67. 
 Morton, 327. 
 
 New England, treatment of Indi- 
 ans in, 100. 
 Norris, Isaac, 50, 261, 266, 273. 
 North America, Bank of, 383. 
 
 Oaths, 36, 38, 62, 63, 69. 
 Oxford, Earl of, 66. 
 
 Paine, Tom, 311, 3S0. 
 
 Palmer, Anthony, 96. 
 
 Paoli, 340. 
 
 Paper money, 72-75, 79, 81, 83, 87, 
 
 333, 372, 37%- 
 
 Paris, treaty of, 220. 
 
 Patterson, Gen. Robert, 405. 
 
 Pawlet, Earl, 67. 
 
 Paxton Boys, the, 235. 
 
 Pemberton, 338. 
 
 Penn, Admiral, 3, 4. 
 
 Penn, Dennis, 66, S3. 
 
 Penn, John, "the American," 25, 
 66, S3, 85. 
 
 Penn, Gov. John, 234. 
 
 Penn, Margaret, 66. 
 
 Penn, Mrs., 64, 67, 83. 
 
 Penn, Richard, 66, 376. 
 
 Penn, Springett, 67, 83. 
 
 Penn, Thomas, 66, 84, 122, 127, 
 128, 169. 
 
 Penn, William, first thoughts of 
 Pennsylvania, 3 ; early life, 4 ; 
 secures grant of Pennsylvania, 
 5 ; as a feudal lord, 6 ; impulses 
 of his character, 7 ; takes posses- 
 sion of Pennsylvania, 8, 9; visits 
 the site of Philadelphia, 9 ; activ- 
 ity of, 14 ; assumptions of power, 
 17, 30; colony restored to, 22; 
 returns to Pennsylvania, 24; his 
 country-place, 26 ; returns to 
 
 440 
 
Index 
 
 court life, 37 ; losses from Penn- 
 sylvania, 37 ; attempts to sell 
 the government, 39, 40, 60; at- 
 tacked by Lloyd, 40; dissipation 
 of his son, 41, 47 ; memorial 
 against, 46; troubles with Ford, 
 48; imprisonment for debt, 49; 
 popularity of, 53 ; letter to the 
 people of Pennsylvania, 53, 58 ; 
 portraits of, 59 ; stricken with par- 
 alysis, 60 ; death of, 65 ; will of, 
 66 ; his treatment of the Indians, 
 101 ; his treaty with the Indians, 
 103. 
 Penn, William, Jr., 41, 47, 66, 
 
 67. 
 
 Pennsbury, 26. 
 
 Pennsylvania seized by the Crown, 
 19 ; restored, 22. 
 
 Pepper, Provost, 435. 
 
 Peters, Judge, 274. 
 
 Philadelphia, site of, 9; mapped 
 out, 10; in colonial times, 281 ; 
 gayety of, in Revolution, 333 ; 
 taken by the British, 342 ; de- 
 fences of, 342, 346; British in, 
 357 : evacuation of, 367 ; condi- 
 tion of, after evacuation of, 369; 
 commerce of, 414; ascendency of, 
 416 ; decline of, 417 ; new people 
 in control of, 424 ; rioting in, 427 ; 
 government of, 429-436. 
 
 Pitt, William, 206, 215. 
 
 Pitt, Fort 214, 224, 228, 395. 
 
 Pittsburg, 214, 395. 
 
 Pontiac, 221. 
 
 Population, 135. 
 
 Porter, Judge, 429. 
 
 Post, Frederick, 209, 210. 
 
 Potter, 357. 
 
 Price, Eli K., 431. 
 
 Prisoners, 231, 252, 359. 
 
 Proctor, George, 96. 
 
 Proprietary party, 29, 42, 53, 192, 
 198, 258. 
 
 Proprietors, wealth of , 135 ; estates 
 of, taxed, 166, 219, 255 ; subscribe 
 for defence of province, 169; at- 
 tempts of on the liberty of the 
 province, 181, 191. 
 
 Proprietorship, success of, 7, 135; 
 method of abolishing, 256; de- 
 bate on abolishing, 262. 
 
 Public-school system, 433 
 
 Quakers, the, originate the idea 
 of Pennsylvania, 1 ; their opinion 
 of war, 88, 94, 95, 164, 167, 170, 
 194 ; treatment of the Indians, 98 ; 
 respect of the Indians for, 124; 
 as the cause of the French wars, 
 129; treaty of, with the Indians 
 in 1756, 182 ; supposed retirement 
 of, from the Assembly, 194 ; want 
 to fight the Scotch-Irish, 241 ; 
 controversy of, with Presbyte- 
 rians, 247 ; enjoy good living, 279 ; 
 position of, in Revolution, 288 ; 
 almost join the Revolution, 300, 
 305-308, 318; neutrality of, in 
 Revolution, 335 ; influence of, on 
 Philadelphia, 417. 
 
 Quarry, Colonel, 28, 35, 36, 38, 62. 
 
 Quit-rents, 6. 
 
 Railroads, 415. 
 
 Raynal, 109. 
 
 Red Bank, 349. 
 
 Redemplioners, 89. 
 
 Reed, Joseph, 297, 301, 303, 307, 
 
 3 r 9> 374, 375- 
 Reserves, Pennsylvania, 407. 
 Revere, Paul, 297, 299. 
 Rioting in Philadelphia, 427. 
 Rittenhouse, 319, 323. 
 Roberts, t,^6. 
 Rogers, Major, 176. 
 Ross, 298, 299, 323. 
 Rush, Dr., 319, 370. 
 Rush, Richard, 427. 
 
 441 
 
Index 
 
 Scalps, 182, 244, 246. 
 
 Schools, 137, 421, 433. 
 
 Scotch-Irish, the, enter the prov- 
 ince, 58 ; favor war, 94 ; opinion 
 of the Indians, 114; complaints 
 against the Quakers, 232 ; march 
 to Philadelphia, 239; alarm the 
 Philadeiphians, 242 ; at German- 
 town, 243 ; grievances of, 243 ; 
 visit Philadelphia, 245 ; pam- 
 phlet war of, with Quakers, 247 ; 
 favor abolishing the proprietor- 
 ship, 257 ; dislike of excise laws, 
 394; attempt to capture Pitts- 
 burg, 395. 
 
 Seneca Indians, 126. 
 
 Shippen, Edward, 25, 131. 
 
 Shirley, General, 161. 
 
 Sideling Hill, battle of, 177. 
 
 Simcoe, General, 1 10, 346. 
 
 Slate roof house, 25. 
 
 Smith, James, 230. 
 
 Smith, Rev. William, provost of 
 the College, 139 ; his pamphlet 
 on education, 141 ; attacks the 
 Assembly, 192 ; arrested by the 
 Assembly, 200; appeals to the 
 King, 204; writes the reply to 
 Boston, 302 ; preaches to the As- 
 sociators, 315; preaches before 
 Congress, 316 ; supposed toryism 
 of, 337 ; banished, 377 ; returns, 
 381. 
 
 Spanish privateers, 96. 
 
 Stille, 382, 435- 
 
 Stuart, Jeb, 407. 
 
 Symcock, John, 16. 
 
 Tennent, Rev. Gilbert, 258. 
 
 Thayer, Simeon, 354. 
 
 Thomas, Gov. George, 8j, 95. 
 
 Thomson, 29S, 300, 301, 305. 
 
 Tories, 335, ^6, 370. 
 
 Traders, free society of, 15, 105. 
 
 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 126, 145, 
 
 151, 152. 
 Treaty of Paris, 220. 
 Treaty, the Great, 103-111. 
 Turner, Robert, 16. 
 
 University of Pennsylvania, 
 
 377, 432, 435. 
 
 Valley Forge, 360. 
 Virginia, 133, 165, 254, 286. 
 Voltaire, 109. 
 
 Walking Purchase, the, 114- 
 
 118. 
 War, Quaker opinion of, 88, 94, 95, 
 
 164, 167, 170, 194. 
 Washington, 147, 157, 165, 188, 
 
 207, 274, 338, 341. 
 Wayne, Gen. Anthony, 340, 343, 
 
 344, 345- 
 Wharton, 336. 
 Whiskey Rebellion, 393. 
 Whiskey, tax on, 394. 
 White, Bishop, 424. 
 Wickersham, 421. 
 Will Sock, 234, 245. 
 Willing, 303, 327, 335. 
 Wilson, Fort, 273- 
 Wilson, James, 324, 327, 373, 3S7, 
 
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