122

PENN PREPARES TO COME TO AMERICA.

some opprobium upon the king and court. His manliness had extorted thei. respect, and he gained the favor of his father. But even he was too proud to petition for the liberty of his son. The Duke of York, however-be this one good thing said to his honor, for he was quite a promising man, till he became king-demanded his release. But in less than twelve months he was found haranguing at Quaker meetings against the infamous Conventicle Act that had just been passed. Remonstrated with again: 'Not all the powers on earth shall divert us from meeting to adore our God who made us.' Summoned before the Recorder of London on a charge of violating a supreme law, and the jury after remaining shut up two days and nights, without refreshment, bringing in a verdict 'Not guilty,' the Recorder fined the prisoners forty marks apiece, and sent Penn back to prison. That jurist volunteered an opinion. also, which I think had better be recorded here, for fear such a precious scrap of jurisprudence should be lost. It never will be well with us,' he said, 'till something like the Spanish Inquisition shall be in England.'

The old Admiral was dying. He paid the fines, and called the boy to his side. Son William, if you and your friends keep to your plain way of preaching and living, you will make an end of the priests.' And they did come pretty near it.

He buried his father, inherited his vast estate, and devoted himself 'to God and the cause of liberty of worship.' His pen was throwing off the boldest and the best defences for conscience that had ever appeared. Everywhere he was speaking at the Quaker meetings; everywhere defying the tyranny that would interfere with 'the freedom of the children of God.' This time he was thrown into Newgate, reeking with filth, the very air loaded with blasphemy and curses. He preached to his companions the love of God, and the hope of Heaven. From his cell he sent to Parliament the grandest, perhaps, of all the pleas for liberty of conscience ever written, closing his argument. with these words: If we cannot obtain the olive-branch of toleration, we bless the providence of God, resolved by patience to outweary persecution, and by our constant sufferings to obtain a victory more glorious than our adversaries can achieve by their cruelties.'

But things had gone too far in England not to meet with a reaction. To the Puritans and the Quakers, to Cromwell and the Republican party, to the great thinkers of the time, to the fathers of English literature and modern thought, the British people were indebted for the strong convictions of the sacredness of personal liberty such as they had never felt before. England was advancing rapidly towards greater purity in morals, and higher philosophy in government. No more such scenes of persecution were to be witnessed; the fires of Smithfield were never again to be relighted; imprisonment for opinion's sake was to be rarer; liberty was growing strong.

Owing to Penn's high social rank and wealth, his intimacy with such men as Russell, Sunderland, Halifax, Shaftesbury, Buckingham and Sidney; a companion of Sir Isaac Newton, and a member, like him, of the Royal Society, enjoying the companionship, the respect and the sympathy of the scholars of

PENN'S FIRST TREATY WITH THE INDIANS.

123

his age, but still finding less scope for his exertions than satisfied his ambition to serve his fellow-men, which was the purest and strongest passion of his life, he formed the scheme of establishing a great settlement in America. He had the wealth and the influence to secure whatever privilege he desired. He wrote a charter for a territory now known as the State of Pennsylvania; it was given to him, and he sailed for the Delaware. 'In that new land,' he said, 'I will try THE HOLY EXPERIMENT.'

Penn Reaches America, Oct. 27, 1682.-The news spread rapidly that 'the Quaker King' had reached Newcastle. On the day after his landing, in presence of a crowd of Swedes, Dutch, and English, who had gathered round the court-house, his deeds of feoffment were produced; the Duke of York's agents surrendered the territory by the solemn delivery of earth and water,' and Penn, invested with supreme and undefined power, addressed the assembled multitude on government; recommended sobriety and peace, and pledged himself to grant liberty of conscience and civil freedom.

Penn's first Treaty with the Indians-November, 1682.-In an open boat, with a few companions, clothed in his simple Quaker costume, and surrounded with all the emblems of peace, Penn landed on the west bank of the Delaware, where the foundations of Philadelphia were soon to be laid. Here he met the Indians for the first time. Underneath a large elm tree,' a numerous delegation of the Lenni Lenape tribe had already assembled to receive their sovereign. Other treaties with the natives of the continent had been for the purchase of lands; but this was for a higher purpose. They had the year before received a letter from the great proprietary, through William Markham, his agent, declaring himself equally responsible with them, to one and the same God, who had written his laws in their hearts; and that they were equally bound to love, and help, and do good to one another. Now he had come to redeem his word. We meet,' he said, 'on the broad pathway of good faith and good will; no advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be openness and love. I will not call you children; for parents sometimes chide their children too severely: nor brothers only; for brothers differ. The friendship between me and you, I will not compare to a chain : for that the rains might rust, or the falling tree might break. We are the same as if one man's body were to be divided into two parts; we are all one flesh and blood.'

These were new words to fall from the lips of a white man on the ears of the Indian. They were prepared for friendly assurances; but when they heard them uttered with the dignity and earnest tenderness which characterized the great and good man whom they talked with, all the ferocity of their savage natures melted away. The rich and abundant presents were then

In 1810 this venerable elm was blown down in a storm, and found to be two hundred and eighty-three years old. On the spot where it stood, the Penn So

ciety of Philadelphia erected a monument, which is to be seen near the intersection of Hanover and Beach streets, Kensington, Philadelphia.

124

HIS HISTORY IN PENNSYLVANIA.

opened. The chiefs gathered around, and as they handed the wampum belt, they declared, 'We will live in love with William Penn, and his children, as long as the moon and the sun shall endure.' And there, under the sheltering arms of the broad elm, the golden sun was pouring his light upon the strange group. On all sides, the majestic pines were shooting their tall spires into heaven. The squaws their pappooses laid carelessly on the groundwere inspecting the presents with all the curiosity of woman; while the stern old warriors, erect as the monarchs of the forest around them, pledged to this messenger of peace their fidelity forever. At evening they accompanied Penn and his companions to the boat; and it glided away over the bosom of the calm Delaware, on its return to Chester. The simple sons of the wilderness, returning to their wigwams, kept the history of the covenant by strings of wampum; and long afterwards, in their cabins, would count over the shells on a clean piece of bark, and recall to their own memory, and repeat to their children, or to the stranger, the words of William Penn. New England had just terminated a disastrous war of extermination; the Dutch were scarcely ever at peace with the Algonquins; the laws of Maryland refer to Indian hostilities and massacres which extended as far as Richmond. Penn came without arms; he declared his purpose to abstain from violence; he had no message but peace; and not a drop of Quaker blood has ever been shed by an Indian to this day.''

From this time, Penn became a beloved name. He made frequent visits to the Indians in their villages; he enjoyed the simple, but large hospitality of their cabins, where the rude tables were loaded with wild game-deer from the forest, birds from the skies, and fish from the streams. The yellow hominy, and the roasted acorns, steamed from the board, and their drink was the crystal water, 'brewed by nature's own Arch-Chemist in his cool rocky hills.' This apostle of peace entered heartily into all their amusements: he joined in their athletic games; he played with the pappooses, and kissed the tawny cheeks of the dreamy-eyed maidens. His cheerful laugh was always heard from the cabin where mirth and frolic were going on. The little savages climbed his knees and learned to love him.

Nor was this any hollow truce, to be broken by either party. Right hearty good-will prevailed between the proprietary and all his Indian subjects. They were his children, and he was their loving father. Presents of wild game were continually sent to him. The robes of bears from the Pennsylvania forests, and the skins of buffalo from the distant prairies, were their unfailing offerings. All things which they could bestow to increase comfort, or heighten luxury, were sent to his dwelling; not so much as peace-offerings, but rather, as tokens of filial veneration and love."

Would to God that this had been the spirit with which the Christians of

1 Bancroft, vol. ii. p. 382.

? We have done better than if, with the proud Spaniards, we had gained the mines of Potosí We may make the ambitious heroes, whom the world admires,

blush for their shameful victories. To the poor, dark souls round about us we teach their RIGHTS AS MEN.— Planter's Speech, 1684.