Area History: Warner-Beers' History of Franklin County, PA, 1887--Part I: Chapters V-VII Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joyce Moore USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commerical individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites require permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. __________________________________________________ HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO: WARNER, BEERS & CO., 1887 Chicago: JOHN MORRIS COMPANY, PRINTERS 118 and 120 Monroe Street. __________________________________________________ PART I -- HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA CHAPTER V. Sir Edmund Andros, 1674-81--Edmund Cantwell, 1674-76-- John Collier, 1676-77--Christopher Billop, 1677-81 WILLIAM PENN, as Trustee, and finally as part owner of New Jersey, became much interested in the subject of colonization in America. Many of his people had gone thither and he had given much prayerful study and meditation to the amelioration of their condition by securing just laws for their government. His imagi- nation pictured the fortunate condition of a State where the law giver should alone study the happiness of his subjects, and his should be chiefly intent on rendering implicit obedience to just laws. From his experience in the management of the Jerseys, he had doubtless discovered that if he would carry out his ideas of government successfully, he must have a province where his voice would be potential and his will supreme. He accordingly cast about for the acquirement of such a land in the New World. PENN had doubtless been stimulated in his desires by the very roseate accounts of the beauty and excellence of the country, its salubrity of climate, its balmy airs, the fertility of its soil, and the abundance of the native fish, flesh and fowl. In 1680, one MALHON STACY wrote a letter which was largely circulated in England, in which he says: "It is a country that produceth all things for the support and furtherance of man, in a plentiful manner. * * * I have seen orchards laden with fruit to admira- tion; their very limbs torn to pieces with weight, most delicious to the taste, and lovely to behold. I have seen an apple tree, from a pippin kernel, yield a barrel of curious cider; and peaches in such plenty that some people took their carts a peach gathering; I could not but smile at the conceit of it; they are very delicious fruit, and hang almost like our onions, that are tied on ropes. I have seen and know, this summer, forty bushels of bold wheat of one bushel sown. From May till Michaelmas, great store of very good wild fruits as strawberries, cranberries and hurtle- berries, which are like our billberries in England, only far sweeter; the cranberries, much like cherries for color and bigness, which may be kept till fruit comes again; an excellent sauce is made of them for venison, turkeys, and other great fowl, and they are better to make tarts of than either gooseberries or cherries; we have them brought to our houses by the Indians in great plenty. My brother ROBERT had as many cherries this year as would have loaded several carts. As for venison and fowls, we have great plenty; we have brought home to our countries by the Indians, seven or eight fat bucks in a day. We went into the river to catch herrings after the Indian fashion. * * * We could have filled a three-bushel sack of as good large herrings as ever I saw. And as to beef and port, here is great plenty of it, and good sheep. The common grass of this country feeds beef very fat. Indeed, the country, take it as a wilderness, is a brave country." The father of WILLIAM PENN has arisen to distinction in the British Navy. He was sent in CROMWELL's time, with a considerable sea and land force, to the West Indies, where he reduced the Island of Jamaica under English rule. At the restoration, he gave in his adhesion to the royal cause. Under JAMES, Duke of York, ADMIRAL PENN commanded the English fleet which descended upon the Dutch coast, and gained a great victory over the combined naval forces led by VAN OPDAM. For this great service to his country, PENN was knighted, and became a favorite at court, the King and his brother, the Duke, holding him in cherished rememberance. At his death, there was due him from the crown the sum of 16,000 pounds, a portion of which he himself had advanced for the sea service. Filled with the romantic idea of colonization, and enamored with the sacred cause of his people, the son, who had come to be regarded with favor for his great father's sake, petitioned KING CHARLES II to grant him, in liquidation of this debt, "a tract of land in America, lying north of Maryland, bounded east by the Delaware River, on the west limited as Mary- land, and northward to extend as far as plantable." There were conflicting interests at this time which were being warily watched at court. The petition was submitted to the Privy Council, and afterward to the Lords of the committee of plantations. The Duke of York already held the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. LORD BALTIMORE held a grant upon the south, with an indefinite northern limit, and the agents of both these territories viewed with a jealous eye any new grant that should in any way trench upon their rights. These claims were fully debated and heard by the Lords, and, being a matter in which the King manifested special interest, the Lord Chief Justice, North, and the Attorney General, SIR WILLIAM JONES, were consulted both as to the grant itself, and the form or manner of making it. Finally, after a careful study of the whole subject, it was determined by the high- est authority in the Government to grant to PENN a larger tract than he had asked for, and the charter was drawn with unexampled liberality, in unequivocal terms of gift and perpetuity of holding, and with remarkable minuteness of detail, and that PENN should have the advantage of any double meaning conveyed in the instru- ment, the twenty-third and last section provides: "And, if perchance hereafter any doubt or question should arise concerning the true sense and meaning of any word, clause or sentence con- tained in this our present charter, we will ordain and command that at all times and in all things such interpretation be made thereof, and allowed in any of our courts whatsoever as shall be adjudged most advantageous and favorable unto the said WILLIAM PENN, his heirs and assigns." It was a joyful day for PENN when he finally reached the con- summation of his wishes, and saw himself invested with almost dictatorial power over a country as large as England itself, des- tined to become a populous empire. But his exultation was tempered with the most devout Christian spirit, fearful lest in the exercise of his great power he might be led to do something that should be displeasing to God. To his dear friend, ROBERT TURNER, he writes in a modest way: My true love in the Lord salutes thee and dear friends that love the Lord's precious truth in those parts. Thine I have, and for my business here know that after many waitings, watchings, solicitings and disputes in coun- cil, this day my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania, a name the King would give it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, being, as this, a pretty hilly county; but PENN being Welsh for a head, as Penmanmoire in Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in Buckinghamshire, the highest land in England, called this Pennsylvania, which is the high or head wood- lands; for I proposed, when the Secretary, a Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvania, and then added Penn to it; and though I much opposed it and went to the King to have it struck out and altered, he said it was past and would take it upon him; nor could twenty guineas move the Under Secretary to vary the name; for I feared lest it should be looked on as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the King, as it truly was to my father, whom he often mentions with praise. Thou mayest communicate my grant to Friends, and expect shortly my proposals. It is a clear and just thing, and my God, that has given it me through many diffi- culties, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation. I shall have a tender care to the government, that it will be well laid at first." PENN had asked that the western boundary should be the same as that of Maryland; but the King made the width from east to west five full degrees. The charter limits were "all that tract, or part, of land, in America, with the islands therein contained as the same is bounded, on the east by Delaware River, from twelve miles distance northward of New Castle town, unto the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude. * * * * The said land to extend westward five degrees in longitude, to be computed from the said eastern bounds; and the said lands to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, and, on the south, by a circle drawn at twelve miles dis- tance from New Castle northward and westward unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude; and then by a straight line westward to the limits of longitude above mentioned." It is evident that the royal secretaries did not well under- stand the geography of this section, for by reference to a map it will be seen that the beginning of the fortieth degree, that is, the end of the thirty-ninth, cuts the District of Columbia, and hence Baltimore, and the greater part of Maryland and a good slice of Virginia would have been included in the clear terms of the chartered limits of Pennsylvania. But the charters of Maryland and Virginia antedated this of Pennsylvania. Still, the terms of the PENN charter were distinct, the beginnings of the fortieth degree, whereas those of Maryland were ambiguous, the northern limit being fixed at the fortieth degree; but whether at the beginning or at the ending of the fortieth was not stated. PENN claimed three full degrees of latitude, and when it was found that a controversy was likely to ensue, the King, by the hand of his royal minister, CONWAY, issued a further declaration, dated at Whitehall, April 2, 1681, in which the wording of the original chartered limits fixed for Pennsylvania were quoted verbatim, and his royal pleasure declared that these limits should be respected "as they tender his majesty's displeasure." This was supposed to settle the matter. But LORD BALTIMORE still pressed his claim, and the question of southern boundary remained an open one, causing much disquietude to PENN, requiring watchful care at court for more than half a century, and until after the proprietor's death. We gather from the terms of the charter itself that the King, in making the grant, was influenced "by the commendable desire of PENN to enlarge our British Empire, and promote such useful com- modities as may be of benefit to us and our dominions, as also to reduce savage nations by just and gentle manners, to the love of civil society and Christian religion," and out of "regard to the memory and merits of his later father, in divers services, and particularly to his conduct, courage, and discretion, under our dearest brother, JAMES, DUKE OF YORK, in the signal battle and victory, fought and obtained, against the Dutch fleet, commanded by HERR VAN OPDAM in 1665." The motive for obtaining it on the part of Penn may be gather- ed from the following extract of a letter to a friend: "For my country I eyed the Lord in obtaining it; and more was I drawn in- ward to look to Him, and to owe it to His hand and power than to any other way. I have so obtained and desire to keep it, that I may be unworthy of His love, but do that which may answer His kind and providence and people." The charter of KING CHARLES II was dated April 2, 1681. Lest any trouble might arise in the future from claims founded on the grant previously made to the Duke of York, of "Long Island and adjacent territories occupied by the Dutch," the prudent fore- thought of PENN induced him to obtain a deed, dated August 31,1682 of the Duke, for Pennsylvania, substantially in the terms of the royal charter. But PENN was still not satisfied. He was cut off from the ocean except by the uncertain navigation of one narrow stream. He therefore obtained from the Duke a grant of New Castle and a district of twelve miles around it, dated on the 24th of August, 1682, and on the same day a further grant from the Duke of a tract extending to Cape Henlopen, embracing the two counties of Kent and Sussex, the two grants comprising what were known as the territories, or the three lower counties, which were for many years a part of Pennsylvania, but subsequently constituted the State of Delaware. Being now satisfied with his province, and that his titles were secure, PENN drew up such a description of the country as from his knowledge he was able to give, which, together with the royal charter and proclamation, terms of settlement, and other papers pertaining thereto, he published and spread broadcast through the kingdom, taking special pains doubtless to have the documents reach the Friends. The terms of sale of lands were 40 shillings for 100 acres, or 1 shilling per acre rental. The question has been raised, why exact the annual payment of one shilling per acre. The terms of the grant by the royal charter to PENN were made absolute on the "payment therefor to us, our heirs and successors, two beaver skins, to be delivered at our castle in Windsor, on the 1st day of January in every year," and contingent payment of one- fifth part of all gold and silver which shall from time to time happen to be found clear of all charges." PENN, therefore, held his title only upon the payment of quit-rents. He could con- sequently give a valid title only by the exacting of quit-rents. Having now a great province of his own to manage, PENN was obliged to relinquish his share in West New Jersey. He had given largely of his time and energies to its settlement; he had sent 1,400 emigrants, many of them people of high character; had seen farms reclaimed from the forest, the town of Burlington built, meeting houses erected in place of tents for worship, good Govern- ment established, and the savage Indians turned to peaceful ways. With satisfaction, therefore, he could now give himself to re- claiming and settling his own province. He had of course in his published account of the country made it appear a desirable place for habitation. But lest any should regret having gone thither when it was too late, he added to his description a caution, "to consider seriously the premises, as well the inconveniency as future ease and plenty; that so none may move rashly or from a fickle, but from a solid mind, having above all things an eye to the providence of God in the disposing of themselves." Nothing more surely points to the goodness of heart of WILLIAM PENN, the great founder of our State, than this extreme solicitude, lest he might induce any to go to the new country who should afterward regret having gone. The publication of the royal charter and his description of the country attracted attention, and many purchases of land were made of PENN before leaving England. That these purchasers might have something binding to rely upon, PENN drew up what he termed "Conditions or concessions" between himself as proprietor and purchasers in the province. These related to the settling the country, laying out towns, and especially to the treatment of the Indians, who were to have the same rights and privileges, and careful regard as the Europeans. And what is perhaps a remarkable instance of provident forethought, the eighteenth article provides "that, in clearing the ground, care be taken to leave one acre of trees for every five acres cleared, especially to preserve oak and mulberries, for silk and shipping." It could be desired that such a provision might have remained operative in the State for all time. Encouraged by the manner in which his proposals for settlement were received, PENN now drew up a frame of government, consisting of twenty-four articles and forty laws. These were drawn in a spirit of unexampled fairness and liberality, introduced by an elaborate essay on the just rights of government and governed, and with such conditions and concessions that it should never be in the power of an unjust Governor to take advantage of the people and practice injustice. "For the matter of liberty and privilege, I purpose that which is extraordinary, and leave myself and suc- cessors no power of doing mischief, that the will of one man may not hinder that of a whole country. This frame gave impress to the character of the early government. It implanted in the breasts of the people a deep sense of duty, of right, and of obligation in all public affairs, and the relations of man with man, and formed a framework for the future constitution. PENN himself had felt the heavy hand of government for religious opinions and practice' sake. He determined, for the matter of religion, to leave all free to hold such opinions as they might elect, and hence enacted for his State that all who "hold themselves obliged in conscience, to live peaceably and justly in civil society, shall, in no ways, be molested, nor prejudiced, for their religious persuasion, or practice, in matters of faith and worship, nor shall they be com- pelled, at any time, to frequent, or maintain, any religious worship, place, or ministry whatever." At this period, such governmental liberality in matters of religion was almost unknown, though ROGER WILLIAMS in the colony of Rhode Island had previously, under similar circumstances, and having just escaped a like perse- cution, proclaimed it, as had likewise LORD BALTIMORE in the Catholic colony of Maryland. The mind of PENN was constantly exercised upon the affairs of his settlement. Indeed, to plant a colony in a new country had been a thought of his boyhood, for he says in one of his letters: "I had an opening of joy as to these parts in the year 1651, at Oxford, twenty years since." Not being in readiness to go to his province during the first year, he dispatched three ship loads of settlers, and with them sent his cousin, WILLIAM MARKHAM to take formal possession of the country and act as Deputy Governor. MARKHAM sailed for New York, and upon his arrival there exhibited his commission, bearing date March 6, 1681, and the King's charter and proclamation. In the absence of GOV. ANDROS, who, on having been called to account for some complaint made against him, had gone to England, CAPT. ANTHONY BROCKHOLLS, Acting Governor, received MARKHAM's papers, and gave him a letter addressed to the civil officers on the Delaware, informing them that MARKHAM's authority as Governor had been examined, and an official record made of it at New York, thanking them for their fidelity, and requesting them to submit themselves to the new authority. Armed with this letter, which was dated June 21, 1681, MARKHAM proceeded to the Delaware, where, on exhibiting his papers, he was kindly received, and allegiance was cheerfully transferred to the new government. Indeed so frequently had the power changed hands that it had become quite a matter of habit to transfer obedience from one authority to another, and they had scarcely laid their heads to rest at night but with the consciousness that the morning light might bring new codes and new officers. MARKHAM was empowered to call a council of nine citizens to assist him in the government, and over whom he was to preside. He brought a letter addressed to LORD BALTIMORE, touching the boundary between the two grants, and exhibiting the terms of the charter for Pennsylvania. On receipt of this letter, LORD BALTIMORE came to Upland to confer with MARKHAM. An observation fixing the exact latitude of Upland showed that it was twelve miles south of the forty-first degree, to which BALTIMORE claimed, and that the beginning of the fortieth degree, which the royal charter explicitly fixed for the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, would include nearly the entire State of Maryland, and cut the limits of the present site of the city of Washington. "If this be allowed," was significantly asked by BALTIMORE, "where is my province?" He returned to his colony, and from this time forward an active con- tention was begun before the authorities in England for possession of the disputed territory, which required all the arts and diplo- matic skill of PENN. MARKHAM was accompanied to the province by four Commissioners sent out by PENN--WILLIAM CRISPIN, JOHN BEZER, WILLIAM HAIGE and NATHANIEL ALLEN. The first named had been designated as Surveyor General, but he having died on the passage, THOMAS HOLME was appointed to succeed him. These Commissioners, in conjunction with the Governor, had two chief duties assigned them. The first was to meet and preserve friendly relations with the Indians and acquire lands by actual purchase, and the second was to select the site of a great city and make the necessary surveys. That they might have a suitable introduction to the natives from him, PENN addressed to them a declaration of his purposes, conceived in a spirit of brotherly love, and expressed in such simple terms that these children of the forest, unschooled in book learning, would have no difficulty in apprehending his meaning. The referring the source of all power to the Creator was fitted to produce a strong impression upon their naturally superstitious habits of thought. "There is a great God and power, that hath made the world, and all things therein, to whom you and I, and all people owe their being, and well being; and to whom you and I must one day give an account for all that we do in the world. This great God hath written His law in our hearts, by which we are taught and commanded to love, and help, and do good for one another. Now this great God hath been pleased to make me concerned in your part of the world, and the King of the country where I live hath given me a great province therein; but I desire to enjoy it with your love and consent, that we may always live together, as neighbors and friends; else what would the great God do to us, who hath made us, not to devour and destroy one another, but to live soberly and kindly together in the world? Now I would have you well observe that I am very sensible of the unkindness and injustice that have been too much exercised toward you by the people of these parts of the world, who have sought themselves, and to make great advantages by you, rather than to be examples of goodness and patience unto you, which I hear hath been a matter of trouble to you, and caused great grudging and animosities, sometimes to the shedding of blood, which hath made the great God angry. But I am not such a man, as is well known in my own country. I have great love and regard toward you, and desire to gain your love and friendship by a kind, just and peaceable life, and the people I send are of the same mind, and shall in all things behave themselves accordingly; and if in any- thing any shall offend you or your people, you shall have a full and speedy satisfaction for the same by an equal number of just men on both sides that by no means you may have just occasion of being offended against them. I shall shortly come to you myself, at which time we may more largely and freely confer and discourse of these matters. In the meantime, I have sent my Commissioners to treat with you about land, and form a league of peace. Let me desire you to be kind to them and their people, and receive these presents and tokens which I have sent you as a testimony of my good will to you, and my resolution to live justly, peaceably and friendly with you. In this plain but sublime statement is embraced the whole theory of WILLIAM PENN's treatment of the Indians. It was the doctrine which the Savior of mankind came upon earth to promulgate --the estimable worth of every human soul. ANd when PENN came to propose his laws, one was adopted which forbade private trade with the natives in which they might be overreached; but it was required that the valuable skins and furs they had to sell should be hung up in the market place where all could see them and enter into competition for their purchase. PENN was offered 6,000 pounds for a monopoly of trade. But he well knew the injustice to which this would subject the simple-minded natives, and he refused, saying: "As the Lord gave it me over all and great opposition, I would not abuse His love, nor act unworthy of His providence, and so defile what came to me clean"--a sentiment worthy to be treas- ured with the best thoughts of the sages of old. And to his Commissioners he gave a letter of instructions, in which he says, "Be impartially just to all; that is both pleasing to the Lord and wise in itself. Be tender of offending the Indians, and let them know that you come to sit down lovingly among them. Let my letter and conditions be read in their tongue that they may see we have their good in our eye. Be grave, they love not to be smiled on." Acting upon these wise and just considerations, the Commissioners had no difficulty in making large purchases of the Indians of lands on the right bank of the Delaware and above the mouth of the Schuylkill. But they found greater difficulty in settling the place for the new city. PENN had given very minute instructions about this, and it was not easy to find a tract that answered all the condi- tions. For seven weeks they kept up their search. PENN had written, "be sure to make your choice where it is most navigable, high, dry and healthy; that is, where most ships may best ride, of deepest draugh of water, if possible to load and unload at the bank or key's side without boating and lightening of it. It would do well if the river coming into that creek be navigable, at least for boats up into the country, and that the situation be high, at least dry and sound and not swampy, which is best known by digging up two or three earths and seeing the bottom." By his instructions, the site of the city was to be between two navigable streams, and embrace 10,000 acres in one block. "Be sure to settle the figure of the town so that the streets hereafter may be uniform down to the water from the country bounds. Let every house be placed, if the person pleases, in the middle of its plat, as to the breadth way of it, that so there may be ground on each side for gardens or orchards or fields, that it may be a green country town, which will never be burnt and always wholesome." The soil was examined, the streams were sounded, deep pits were dug that a location might be found which should gratify the desires of PENN. All the eligible sites were inspected from the ocean far up into the country. PENN himself had anticipated that Chester or Upland would be adopted from all that he could learn of it; but this was rejected, as was also the ground upon Poquessing Creek and that at Pennsbury Manor above Bristol which had been carefully considered, and the present site of Philadelphia was finally adopted as coming nearest to the requirements of the proprietor. It had not 10,000 acres in a solid square, but it was between two navigable streams, and the soil was high and dry, being for the most part a vast bed of gravel, excel- lent for drainage and likely to prove healthful. The streets were laid out regularly and crossed each other at right angles. As the ground was only gently rolling, the grading was easily accomplished. One broad street, Market, extends from river to river through the midst of it, which is crossed at right angles at its middle point by Broad street of equal width. It is 120 miles from the ocean by the course of the river, and only sixty in a direct line, eighty- seven miles from New York, ninety-five from Baltimore, 136 from Washington, 100 from Harrisburg and 300 from Pittsburgh, and lies in north latitude 39 degrees, 56 minutes, 54 seconds, and longitude 75 degrees, 8 minutes, 45 seconds west from Greenwich. The name Philadelphia (brotherly love) was one that Penn had before selected as this founding a city was a project which he had long dreamed of and contemplated with never-ceasing interest. CHAPTER VI. William Markham, 1681-82--William Penn, 1682-84 Having now made necessary preparations and settled his affairs in England, PENN embarked on board the ship Welcome, in August, 1682, in company with about a hundred planters, mostly from his native town of Sussex, and set hi prow for the New World. Before leaving the Downs, he addressed a farewell letter to his friends whom he left behind, and another to his wife and children, giving them much excellent advice, and sketching the way of life he wished them to lead. With remarkable care and minuteness, he points out the way in which he would have his children bred, and educated, married, and live. A single passage from this remarkable document will indicate its general tenor. Be sure to observe," in educating his children, "their genius, and do not cross it as to learning; let them not dwell too long on one thing; but let their change be agreeable, and let all their diversions have some little bodily labor in them. When grown big, have most care for them; for then there are more snares both within and without. When marriagable, see that they have worthy persons in their eye, of good life and good fame for piety and understanding. I need no wealth but sufficiency; and be sure their love be dear, fervent and mutual, that it may be happy for them." And to his children he said, "Betake yourselves to some honest, industrious course of life, and that not of sordid covetousness, but for example and to avoid idleness. * * * * * Love not money nor the world; use them only, and they will serve you; but if you love them you serve them, which will debase your spirits as well as offend the Lord. * * * * * Watch against anger, neither speak nor act in it; for, like drunkenness, it makes a man a beast, and throws people into desperate inconveniences." The entire letters are so full of excellent counsel that they might with great profit be committed to memory, and treasured in the heart. The voyage of nearly six weeks was prosperous; but they had not been long on the ocean before that loathed disease--the virulent small-pox--broke out, of which thirty died, nearly a third of the whole company. This, added to the usual discomforts and terrors of the ocean, to most of whom this was probably their first experience, made the voyage a dismal one. And here was seen the nobility of Penn. "For his good conversation" says one of them, "was very advantageous to all the company. His singular care was manifested in contributing to the necessities of many who were sick with the small-pox then on board." His arrival upon the coast and passage up the river was hailed with demonstrations of joy by all classes, English, Dutch, Swedes, and especially by his own devoted followers. He landed at New Castle on the 24th of October, 1682, and on the following day summoned the people to the court house where possession of the country was formally made over to him, and he renewed the commissions of the magistrates, to whom and to the assembled people he announced the design of his coming, explained the nature and end of truly good government, assuring them that their religious and civil rights should be respected, and recommended them to live in sobriety and peace. He then proceeded to Upland, henceforward known as Chester, where, on the 4th of November, he called an assembly of the people, in which an equal number of votes was allowed to the province and the territories. NICHOLAS MOORE, President of the Free Society of Traders, was chosen speaker. As at New Castle, PENN addressed the assembly, giving them assurances of his beneficient intentions, for which they returned their grateful acknowledgements, the Swedes being especially demonstra- tive deputing one of their number, LACY COCK, to say "That they would love, serve and obey him with all they had, and that this was the best day they ever saw." We can well understand with what satisfaction the settlers upon the Delaware hailed the prospect of a stable government established in their own midst, after having been so long at the mercy of the government in New York, with allegience trembling between the courts of Sweden, Holland and Britain. The proceedings of this first assembly were conducted with great decorum, and after the usages of the English Parliament. On the 7th of December, 1682, the three lower counties, what is now Delaware, which had previously been under the government of the Duke of York, were formerly annexed to the province, and be- came an integral part of Pennsylvania. The frame of government, which had been drawn with much deliberation, was submitted to the assembly, and after some alterations and amendments, was adopted, and became the fundamental law of the State. The assembly was in session only three days, but the work they accomplished, how vast and far-reaching in its influence.! The Dutch, Swedes and other foreigners were then naturalized, and the government was launched in fair running order: That some idea may be had of its character, the subjects treated are here given: 1, Liberty of conscience; 2, Qualification of officers; 3, Swearing by God, Christ, or Jesus; 4, Swearing by any other thing or name; 5, Profanity; 6, Cursing; 7, Fornication; 8, Incest; 9, Sodomy; 10, Rape; 11, Bigamy; 12, Drunkenness; 13, Suffering drunkenness; 14, Healths drinking; 15, Selling liquor to Indians; 16, Arson; 17, Burglary; 18 Stolen goods; 19, Forcible entry; 20, Riots; 21, Assaulting parents; 22, Assaulting Magistrates; 23, Assaulting masters; 24, Assault and battery; 25, Duels; 26, Riotous sports, as plays; 27, Gambling and lotteries; 28, Sedition; 29, Contempt; 30, Libel; 31, Common scolds; 32, Charities; 33, Prices of Beer and ale; 34, Weights and measures; 35, Names of days and months; 36, Perjury; 37, Court proceedings in English; 38, Civil and criminal trials; 39, Fees, salaries, bribery and extortion; 40, Moderation of fines; 41, Suits avoidable; 42, Foreign arrest; 43, Contracts; 44, Charters, gifts, grants, conveyances, bills, bonds and deeds, when recorded; 45, Wills; 46, Wills of non compos mentus; 47, Registry of Wills; 48 Registry for servants; 49, Factors; 50, Defacers, corruptors and embezzlers of charters, conveyances and records; 51, Lands and goods to pay debts; 52, Bailable offenses; 53, Jails and jailers; 54, Prisons to be work- houses; 55, False imprisonment; 56, Magistrates may elect between fine or imprisonment; 57, Freeman; 58 Elections; 59, No money levied but in pursuance of law; 60, Laws shall be printed and taught in schools; 61, All other things, not provided for herein, are referred to the Governor and freemen from time to time. Very soon after his arrival in the colony, after the precept had been issued, but before the convening of the Assembly, Penn, that he might not be wanting in respect to the Duke of York, made a visit to New York, where he was kindly received, and also after the adjournment of the Assembly, journeyed to Maryland, where he was entertained by LORD BALTIMORE with great ceremony. The settle- ment of the disputed boundaries was made the subject of formal conference. But after two days spent in fruitless discussion, the weather becoming severely cold, and thus precluding the possibility of taking observations or making the necessary surveys, it was agreed to adjourn further consideration of the subject until the milder weather of the spring. We may imagine that the two Governors were taking the measure of each other, and of gaining all possible knowledge of each other's claims and rights, prepara- tory to that struggle for possession of this disputed fortieth degree of latitude, which was destined to come before the home government. With all his cares in founding a State and providing a government over a new people, PENN did not forget to preach the "blessed Gospel," and wherever he went he was intent upon his "Master's business." On his return from Maryland, LORD BALTIMORE accompanied him several miles to the house of WILLIAM RICHARDSON and thence to THOMAS HOOKER's where was a religious meeting, as was also one held at Choptauk. PENN himself says: "I have been also at New York, Long Island, East Jersey and Maryland, in which I have had good and eminent service for the Lord." And again he says: "As to outward things, we are satisfied--the land good, the air clear and sweet, the springs plentiful, and provisions good and easy t come at, an innumerable quantity of wild fowl and fish; in fine, here is what an Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would be well con- tented with, and service enough for God; for the fields are here white for the harvest. O, how sweet is the quiet of these parts, freed from the anxious and troublesome solicitations, hurries and perplexities of woeful Europe! * * * Blessed be the Lord, that of twenty-three ships, none miscarried; only two or three had the small-pox; else healthy and swift passages, generally such as have not been known; some but twenty-eight days, and few longer than six weeks. Blessed be God for it; my soul fervently breathes that in His heavenly guiding wisdom, we may be kept, that we may serve Him in our day, and lay down our heads in peace." And then, as if reproached for not having mentioned another subject of thankful- ness, he adds in a postscript, "Many women, in divers of the ships, brought to bed; they and their children do well." PENN made it his first care to take formal possession of his province, and adopt a frame of government. When this was done, his chief concern was to look to the establishment of his proposed new city, the site of which had already been determined on by his Commissioners. Accordingly, early in November, at a season when, in this section, the days are golden, PENN embarked in an open barge with a number of his friends, and was wafted leisurely up the Delaware to the present site of the city of Philadelphia, which the natives called Coaquannock. Along the river was a bold shore, fringed with lofty pines, which grew close down to the water's edge, so much so that when the first ship passing up with settlers from West Jersey had brushed against the branches, the passengers remarked that this would be a good place for a city. It was then in a wild state, the deer browsing along the shore and sipping the stream, and the coneys burrowing in the banks. The scattered settlers had gathered in to see and welcome the new Governor, and when he stepped upon the shore, they extended a helping hand in assisting him up the rugged bluff. Three Swedes had already taken up tracts within the limits of the block of land chosen for the city. But they were given lands in exchange, and readily relinquished their claims. The location was pleasing to PENN, and was adopted without further search, though little could be seen of this then forest-encumbered country, where now is the home of countless industries, the busy mart, the river bearing upon its bosom the commerce of many climes, and the abiding place of nearly a million of people. But PENN did not consider that he had as yet any just title to the soil, holding that the Indians were its only rightful possessors, and until it was fairly acquired by purchase from them, his own title was entirely void. Hence, he sought an early opportunity to meet the chiefs of the tribes and cultivate friendly relations with them. Tradition fixes the first great treaty or conference at about this time, probably in November, and the place under the elm tree, known as the "treaty tree," at Kensington. It was at a season when the leaves would still be upon the trees, and the assembly was called beneath the ample shade of the wide-sweeping branches, which was pleasing to the Indians, as it was their custom to hold all their great deliberations and smoke the pipe of peace in the open air. the letter which PENN had sent had prepared the minds of these simple-hearted inhabitants of the forest to regard him with awe and reverence, little less than that inspired by a descended god. His coming had for a long time been awaited, and it is probable that it had been heralded and talked over by the wigwam fire throughout the remotest bounds of the tribes. And when at length the day came, the whole population far around had assembled. It is known that three tribes at least were represented--the Lenni Lenape, living along the Delaware; the Shawnees, a tribe that had come up from the South, and were seated along the Lower Susquehanna; and the Mingoes, sprung from the Six Nations, and inhabiting along the Conestoga. PENN was probably accompanied by several officers of his Government and his most trusted friends. There were no implements of warfare, for peace was a cardinal feather of the Quaker creed. No veritable account of this, the great treaty, is known to have been made; but from the fact that PENN not long after, in an elaborate treatise upon the country, the inhabitants and the natives, has given the account of the matter in which the Indians demean themselves in conference, we may infer that he had this one in mind, and hence we may adopt it as his own description of the scene. "Their order is thus: The King sits in the middle of a half moon, and hath his council, the old and wise, on each hand; behind them, or at a little distance, sit the younger fry of the same figure. Having consulted and resolved their business, the King ordered one of them to speak to me. He stood up, came to me, and, in the name of the King, saluted me; then took me by the hand and told me he was ordered by the King to speak to me; and now it was not he, but the King that spoke, because what he would say was the King's mind. * * * * During the time that this person spoke, not a man of them was observed to whisper or smile; the old grave, the young reverant, in their deportment. They speak little, but fervently, and with elegance." In response to the salutation from the Indians, PENN makes a reply in suitable terms: "The Great Spirit, who made me and you, who rules the heavens and the earth, and who knows the innermost thoughts of men, knows that I and my friends have a hearty desire to live in peace and friendship with you, and to serve you to the uttermost of our power. It is not our custom to use hostile weapons against our fellow-creatures, for which reason we have come unarmed. Our object is not to do injury, and thus provoke the Great Spirit, but to do good. We are met on the broad pathway of good faith and good will, so that no advantage is to be taken on either side; but all to be openness, brotherhood and love." Having unrolled his parchment, he explains to them through an interpreter, article by article, the nature of the business, and laying it upon the ground, observes that the ground shall be for the use of both people. "I will not do as the Marylanders did, call you children, or brothers only; for parents are apt to whip their children too severely, and brothers sometimes will differ; neither will I compare the friendship between us to a chain, for the rain may rust it, or a tree may fall and break it; but I will consider you as the same flesh and blood with the Christians, and the same as if one man's body were to be divided into two parts. Having ended his business, the speaker for the King comes forward and makes great promises "of kindness and good neighborhood, and that the Indians and English must live in love as long as the sun gave light." This ended, another Indian makes a speech to his own people, first to explain to them what had been agreed on, and then to exhort 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 him- self to live and stay here before, and having now such an one, that had treated them well, they should never do him nor his any wrong." At every sentence they shouted, as much as to say, amen. The Indians had no system of writing by which they could record their dealings, but their memory of events and agreements was almost miraculous. HECKEWELDER records that in after years, they were accustomed, by means of strings, or belts of wampum, to preserve the recollection of their pleasant interviews with PENN, after he had departed for England. He says, "They frequently assembled together in the woods, in some shady spot, as nearly as possible similar to those where they used to meet their brother MIQUON (PENN), and there lay all his words and speeches, with those of his descendants, on a blanket, or clean piece of bark, and with great satisfaction go successively over the whole. This practice, which I have repeatedly witnessed, continued until the year 1780, when disturbances which took place put an end to it, probably forever." The memory of this, the "Great Treaty," was long preserved by\ the natives, and the novel spectacle was reproduced upon canvas by the genius of BENJAMIN WEST. In this picture, PENN is represented as a corpulent old man, whereas he was at this time but thirty- eight years of age, and in the very height of manly activity. The Treaty Tree was preserved and guarded from injury with an almost superstitious care. During the Revolution, when Philadelphia was occupied by the British, and their parties were scouring the country for firewood, GEN. SIMCOE had a sentinel placed at this tree to protect it from mutilation. It stood until 1810, when it was blown down, and it was ascertained by its annual concentric accretions to be 283 years old, and was, consequently, 155 at the time of making the treaty. The PENN Society erected a substantial monu- ment on the spot where it stood. PENN drew up his deeds for lands in legal form, and had them duly executed and made of record, that, in the dispute possible to arise in after times, there might be proof definite and positive of the purchase. Of these purchases there are two deeds of record executed in 1683. One is for land near Neshaminy Creek, and thence Penypack, and the other for lands lying between Schuylkill and Chester Rivers, the first bearing the signature of the great chieftain, TAMINEND. In one of these purchases it is provided that the tract "shall extend back as far as a man could walk in three days." Tradition runs that PENN himself, with a number of his friends, walked out the half this purchase with the Indians, that no advantage should be taken of them by making a great walk, and to show his consideration for them, and that he was not above the toils and fatigues of such a duty." They began to walk out this land at the mouth of the Neshaminy, and walked up the Dela- ware; in one day and a half they got to a spruce tree near the mouth of Baker's Creek, when PENN, concluding that this would in- clude as much land as he would want at present, a line was run and marked from the spruce tree to Neshaminy, and the remainder left to be walked when it should be wanted. They proceeded after the Indian manner, walking leisurely, sitting down sometimes to smoke their pipes, eat biscuits and cheese, and drink a bottle of wine. In the day and a half they walked a little less than thirty miles. The balance of the purchase was not walked until September 20,1733 when the then Governor of Pennsylvania offered a prize of 500 acres of land and 5 pounds for the man who would walk the farthest. A distance of eighty-six miles was covered, in marked contrast with the kind consideration of Penn. During the first year, the country upon the Delaware, from the falls of Trenton as far as Chester, a distance of nearly sixty miles, was rapidly taken up and peopled. The large proportion of these were Quakers, and devotedly attached to their religion and its proper observances. They were, hence, morally, of the best classes, and though they were not generally of the aristocracy, yet many of them were in comfortable circumstances, had valuable properties, were of respectable families, educated, and had the resources within themselves to live contented and happy. They were provident, industrious, and had come hither with no fickle purpose. Many brought servants with them, and well supplied wardrobes, and all necessary articles which they wisely judged would be got in a new country with difficulty. Their religious principles were so peaceful and generous, and the government rested so lightly, that the fame of the colony and the desirableness of settlement therein spread rapidly, and the numbers coming hither were unparalleled in the history of coloni- zation, especially when we consider that a broad ocean was to be crossed and a voyage of several weeks was to be endured. In a brief period, ships with passengers came from London, Bristol, Ireland, Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire, Holland, Germany, to the number of about fifty. Among others came a company of German Quakers, from Krisheim, near Worms, in the Palatinate. These people regarded their lot as particularly fortunate, in which they recognized the direct interposition and hand of Providence. For, not long afterward, the Palatinate was laid waste by the French army, and many of their kindred whom they had left behind were despoiled of their possessions and reduced to penury. There came also from Wales a company of the stock of ancient Britons. So large an influx of population, coming in many cases with- out due provision for variety of diet, caused a scarcity in many kinds of food, especially of meats. Time was required to bring forward flocks and herds, more than for producing grains. But Providence seemed to have graciously considered their necessities, and have miraculously provided for them, as of old was provision made for the chosen people. For it is recorded that the "wild pigeons came in such great numbers that the sky was sometimes darkened by their flight, and, flying low, they were frequently knocked down as they flew, in great quantities, by those who had no other means to take them, whereby they supplied themselves, and having salted those which they could not immediately use, they preserved them, both for bread and meat." The Indians were kind, and often furnished them with game, for which they would receive no compensation. Their first care on landing was to bring their household goods to a place of safety, often to the simple protection of a tree. For some, this was their only shelter, lumber being scarce, and in many places impossible to obtain. Some made for themselves caves in the earth until better habitations could be secured. JOHN KEY, who was said to have been the first child born of English parents in Philadelphia, and that in recognition of which WILLIAM PENN gave him a lot of ground, died at Kennet, in Chester County, on July 5, 1768, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. He was born in one of these caves upon the river bank, long afterward known by the name of Penny-pot, near Sassafras street. About six years before his death, he walked from Kennet to the city, about thirty miles, in one day. In the latter part of his life he went under the name of FIRST BORN. The contrasts between the comforts and conveniences of an old settled country and this, where the heavy forests must be cleared away and severe labors must be endured before the sun could be let in sufficiently to produce anything, must have been very marked, and caused repining. But they had generally come with meek and humble hearts, and they willingly endured hardship and privation, and labored on earnestly for the spiritual comfort which they enjoyed. THOMAS MAKIN, in some Latin verses upon the early settle- ment, says (we quote the metrical translation): "Its fame to distant countries far has spread, And some for peace, and some for profit led; Born in remotest climes, to settle here They leave their native soil and all that's dear, And still will flock from far, here to be free, Such powerful charms has lovely liberty." But for their many privations and sufferings there were some compensating conditions. The soil was fertile, the air mostly clear and healthy, the streams of water were good and plentiful, wood for fire and building unlimited, and at certain seasons of the year game in the forest was abundant. RICHARD TOWNSEND, a settler at Germantown, who came over in the ship with PENN, in writing to his friends in England of his first year in America, says: "I, with JOSHUA TITTERY, made a net, and caught great quantities of fish, so that, notwithstanding it was though near three thousand persons came in the first year, we were so provi- dentially provided for that we could buy a deer for about two shillings, and a large turkey for about one shilling, and Indian corn for about two shillings sixpence a bushel." In the same letter, the writer mentions that a young deer came out of the forest into the meadow where he was mowing, and looked at him, and when he went toward it would retreat; and as he resumed his mowing, would come back to gaze upon him, and finally ran forcibly against a tree, which so stunned it that he was able to overmaster it and bear it away to his home, and as this was at a time when he was suffering for the lack of meat, he believed it a direct interposition of Providence. In the spring of 1683, there was great activity throughout the colony, and especially in the new city, in selecting lands and erecting dwellings, the Surveyor General, THOMAS HOLME, laying out and marking the streets. In the center of the city was a public square of ten acres, and in each of the four quarters one of eight acres. A large mansion, which had been undertaken before his arrival, was built for PENN, at a point twenty-six miles up the river, called Pennsbury Manor, where he sometimes resided, and where he often met the Indian sachems. At this time, PENN divided the colony into counties, three for the province (Bucks, Phila- delphia and Chester) and three for the Territories (New Castle, Kent, and Sussex). Having appointed Sheriffs and other proper officers, he issued writs for the election of members of a General Assembly, three from each county for the Council or Upper House, and nine from each county for the Assembly or Lower House. (foot- note: It may be a matter of curiosity to know the names of the members of this first regularly elected Legislature in Pennsyl- vania, and they are accordingly appended as given in official records: Council: WILLIAM MARKHAM CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR THOMAS HOLME LACY COOK WILLIAM HAIGE JOHN MOLL RALPH WITHERS JOHN SIMCOCK EDWARD CANTWELL WILLIAM CLAYTON WILLIAM BILES JAMES HARRISON WILLIAM CLARK FRANCIS WHITEWELL JOHN RICHARDSON JOHN HILLYARD Assembly: From Bucks: WILLIAM YARDLY SAMUEL DARKE ROBERT LUCAS NICHOLAS WAINE JOHN WOOD JOHN CLOWES THOMAS FITZWATER ROBERT HALL JAMES BOYDEN From Philadelphia: JOHN LONGHURST JOHN HART WALTER KING ANDROS BINKSON JOHN MOON THOMAS WYNNE (Speaker) GRIFFITH JONES WILLIAM WARNER SWAN SWANSON From Chester: JOHN HOSKINS ROBERT WADE GEORGE WOOD JOHN BLUNSTON DENNIS ROCHFORD THOMAS BRACY JOHN BEZER JOHN HARDING JOSEPH PHIPPS From New Castle: JOHN CANN JOHN DARBY VALENTINE HOLLINGSWORTH GASPARUS HERMAN JOHN DEHOAEF JAMES WILLIAMS WILLIAM GUEST PETER ALRICH HENRICK WILLIAMS From Kent: JOHN RIGGS SIMON IRONS THOMAS HAFFOLD JOHN CURTIS ROBERT BEDWELL WILLIAM WINDSMORE JOHN BRINKLOE DANIEL BROWN BENONY BISHOP From Sussex: LUKE WATSON ALEXANDER DRAPER WILLIAM FUTCHER HENRY BOWMAN ALEXANDER MOLESTON JOHN HILL ROBERT BRACY JOHN KIPSHAVEN CORNELIUS VERHOOF This Assembly convened and organized for business on the 10th of January 1683, at Philadelphia. One of the first subjects con- sidered was the revising some provisions of the frame of government which was effected, reducing the number of members of both Houses, the Council to 18 the Assembly to 36, and otherwise amending in unimportant particulars. In an assembly thus convened, and where few, if any, had had any experience in serving in a deliberate body, we may reasonably suppose that many crude and impracticable proposals would be presented. As an example of these the follow- ing may be cited as specimens: That young men should be obliged to marry at, or before, a certain age; that two sorts of clothes only shall be worn, one for winter and the other for summer. The session lasted twenty two days. The first grand jury in Pennsylvania was summoned for the 2d of February, 1683, to inquire into the cases of some persons accused of issuing counterfeit money. The Governor and Council sat as a court. One PICKERING was convicted, and the sentence was significant of the kind and patriarchal nature of the government, "that he should make full satisfaction, in good and current pay, to every person who should, within the space of one month, bring in any of this false, base and counterfeit coin, and that the money brought in should be melted down before it was returned to him, and that he should pay a fine of forty pounds toward the building a court house, stand committed till the same was paid, and afterward find security for his good behavior." The Assembly and courts having now adjourned, PENN gave his attention to the grading and improving the streets of the new city, and the managing the affairs of his land office, suddenly grown to great importance. For every section of land taken up in the wil- derness, the purchaser was entitled to a certain plot in the new city. The River Delaware at this time was nearly a mile broad opposite the city, and navigable for ships of the largest tonnage. The tide rises about six feet at this point, and flows back to the falls of Trenton, a distance of thirty miles. The tide in the Schuylkill flows only about five miles above its confluence with the Delaware. The river bank along the Delaware was intended by PENN as a common or public resort. But in his time the owners of lots above Front street pressed him to allow them to construct warehouses upon it, opposite their properties, which importunity induced him to make the following declaration concerning it: "The bank is a top common, from end to end; the rest next the water belongs to front-lot men no more than back-lot men. The way bounds them; they may build stairs, and the top of the bank a common exchange, or wall, and against the street, common warfs may be built freely; but into the water, and the shore is no purchaser's." But in future time, this liberal desire of the founder was dis- regarded, and the bank has been covered with immense warehouses. Seeing now his plans of government and settlement fairly in operation, as autumn approached, PENN wrote a letter to the Free Society of Traders in London, which had been formed to promote set- tlement in his colony, in which he touched upon a great variety of topics regarding his enterprise, extending to quite a complete treatise. The great interest attaching to the subjects discussed, and the ability with which it was drawn, makes it desirable to in- sert the document entire; but its great length makes its use incompatible with the plan of this work. A few extracts and a general plan of the letter is all that can be given. He first notices the injurious reports put in circulation in England during his absence: "Some persons have had so little wit and so much malice as to report my death, and, to mend the matter, dead a Jesuit, too. One might have reasonably hoped that this distance, like death, would have been a protection against spite and envy. * * * However, to the great sorrow and shame of the inventors, I am still alive and no Jesuit, and, I thank God, very well." Of the air and water he says: "The air is sweet and clear, the heavens serene, like the south parts of France, rarely overcast. The waters are generally good, for the rivers and brooks have mostly gravel and stony bottoms, and in numbers hardly credible. We also have mineral waters that operate in the same manner with Barnet and North Hall, not two miles from Philadelphia." He then treats at length of the four seasons, of trees, fruits, grapes, peaches, grains, garden produce; of animals, beasts, birds, fish, whale fishery, horses and cattle, medicinal plants, flowers of the woods; of the Indians and their persons. Of their language he says: "It is lofty, yet narrow; but, like the Hebrew, in signification, full, imperfect in their tenses, wanting in their moods, participles, adverbs, conjunctions, interjections. I have made it my business to understand it, and I must say that I know not a language spoken in Europe that hath words of more sweetness or greatness in accent and emphasis than theirs." OF their customs and their children: "The children will go very young, at nine months, commonly; if boys, they go a fishing, till ripe for the woods, which is about fifteen; then they hunt, and, after having given some proof of their manhood by a good return of skins, they may marry, else it is a shame to think of a wife. The girls stay with their mother and help to hoe the ground, plant corn and carry burdens. When the young women are fit for marriage, they wear something upon their heads as an advertisement; but so, as their faces hardly to be seen, but when they please. The age they marry at, if women, is about thirteen and four- teen; if men, seventeen and eighteen; they are rarely elder. In a romantic vein he speaks of their houses, diet, hospitality, revenge- fulness and concealment of resentment, great liberality, free manner of life and customs, late love of strong liquor, behavior in sickness and death, their religion, their feastings, their government, their mode of doing business, their manner of administering justice, of agreement for settling difficulties entered into with the pen, their susceptibility to improvement, of the origin of the Indian race, their resemblance to the Jews. Of the Dutch and Swedes whom he found settled here when he came, he says: "The Dutch applied themselves to traffick, the Swedes and Finns to husbandry. The Dutch mostly inhabit those parts that lie upon the bay, and the Swedes the freshes of the Dela- ware. They are a plain, strong, industrious people; yet have made no great progress in culture or propagation of fruit trees. They are a people proper, and strong of body, so they have fine children, and almost every house full; rare to find one of them without three or four boys and as many girls--some six, seven and eight sons, and I must do them that right, I see few young men more sober and laborious." After speaking at length of the organization of the colony and its manner of government, he concludes with his own opinion of the country: "I say little of the town itself, but this I will say, for the good providence of God, that of all the many places I have seen in the world, I remember not one better seated, so that it seems to me to have been appointed for a town, whether we regard the rivers or the conveniency of the coves, docks, springs, the loftiness and soundness of the land and the air, held by the people of these parts to be very good. It is advanced within less than a year to about fourscore houses and cottages, where merchants and handicrafts are following their vocations as fast as they can, while the countrymen are close at their farms. * * * I bless God I am fully satisfied with the country and entertainment I got in it; for I find that particular content, which hath always attended me, where God in His providence hath made it my place and service to reside." As we have seen, the visit of PENN to LORD BALTIMORE soon after his arrival in America, for the purpose of settling the boundaries of the two provinces, after a two days' conference, proved fruitless, and an adjournment was had for the winter, when the efforts for settlement were to be resumed. Early in the spring, an attempt was made on the part of PENN, but was prevented till May, when a meeting was held at New Castle. PENN proposed to confer by the aid of counselors and in writing. But to this BALTIMORE objected, and, complaining of the sultryness of the weather, the conference was broken up. In the mean- time, it had come to the knowledge of PENN that LORD BALTIMORE had issued a proclamation offering settlers more land, and at cheaper rates than PENN had done, in portions of the lower counties which PENN had secured from the DUKE OF YORK, but which BALTIMORE now claimed. Besides, it was ascertained that an agent of his had taken an observa- tion, and determined the latitude without the knowledge of PENN, and had secretly made an ex parte statement of the case before the Lords of the Committee of Plantations in England, and was pressing for arbitrament. This state of the case created much uneasiness in the mind of PENN, especially as the proclamation of LORD BALTIMORE was likely to bring the two governments into conflict on territory mutual- ly claimed. But LORD BALTIMORE was not disposed to be content with diplomacy. He determined to pursue an aggressive policy. He accord- ingly commissioned his agent, COLONEL GEORGE TALBOT, under date of September 117, 1683, to go to Schuylkill, at Delaware, and demand of WILLIAM PENN "all that part of the land on the west side of the said river that lyeth to the southward of the fortieth degree." This bold demand would have embraced the entire colony, both the lower counties, and the three counties in the province, as the fortieth degree reaches a considerable distance above Philadelphia. PENN was absent at the time in New York, and TALBOT made his demand upon NICHOLAS MOORE, the deputy of PENN. Upon his return, the proprietor made a dignified but earnest rejoinder. While he felt that the demand could not be justly sustained, yet the fact that a controversy for the settlement of the boundary was likely to arise, gave his disquietude, and though he was gratified with the success of his plans for acquiring lands of the Indians and establishing friendly relations with them, the laying-out of his new city and settling it, the adoption of a stable government and putting it in successful operation, and, more than all, the draw- ing thither the large number of settlers, chiefly of his own religious faith, and seeing them contented and happy in the new State, he plainly forsaw that his skill and tact would be taxed to the utmost to defend and hold his claim before the English court. If the demand of LORD BALTIMORE were to prevail, all that he had done would be lost, as his entire colony would be swallowed up by Maryland. The anxiety of PENN to hold from the beginning of the 40 degree of latitude was not to increase thereby his territory by so much, for two degrees which he securely had, so far as amount of land was con- cerned, would have entirely satisfied him; but he wanted this degree chiefly that he might have the free navigation of Delaware Bay and River, and thus open communication with the ocean. He desired also to hold the lower counties, which were now well settled, as well as his own counties rapidly being peopled, and his new city of Philadelphia, which he regarded as the apple of his eye. So anxious was he to hold the land on the right bank of the Delaware to the open ocean, that at his second meeting, he asked LORD BALTIMORE to set a price per square mile on this disputed ground, and though he had purchased it once of the crown and held the King's charter for it, and the DUKE OF YORK's deed, yet rather than have any further wrangle over it, he was willing to pay for it again. But this LORD BALTIMORE refused to do. Bent upon bringing matters to a crisis, and to force possession of his claim, early in the year 1684 a party from Maryland made forcible entry upon the plantations in the lower counties and drove off the owners. The Governor and Council at Philadelphia sent thither a copy of the answer of PENN to BALTIMORE's demand for the land south of the Delaware, with orders to WILLIAM WELCH, Sheriff at New Castle, to use his influence to reinstate the lawful owners, and issued a declaration succinctly stating the claim of Penn, for the purpose of preventing such unlawful incursions in the future. The season opened favorably for the continued prosperity of the young colony. Agriculture was being prosecuted as never before. Goodly flocks and herds gladdened the eyes of the settlers. An in- telligent, moral and industrious yeomanry was springing into existence. Emigrants were pouring into the Delaware from many lands. The Govern- ment was becoming settled in its operations and popular with the people. The proprietor had leisure to attend to the interests of his religious society, not only in his own dominions, but in the Jerseys and in New York. CHAPTER VII. Thomas Lloyd, 1685-86--Five Commissioners, 1686-88-- John Blackwell, 1688-90--Thomas Lloyd 1690-91--William Markham, 1691-93--Benjamin Fletcher, 1693-95-- William Markham 1693-99 But the indications, constantly thickening, that a struggle was likely soon to be precipitated before the crown for possession of the disputed territory, decided PENN early in the summer to quit the colony and return to England to defend him imperiled interests. There is no doubt that he took this step with unfeigned regret, as he was contented and happy in his new country, and was most usefully employed. There were, however, other inducements which were leading him back to England. The hand of persecution was at this time laid heavily upon the Quakers. Over 1,400 of these pious and inoffensive people were now, and some of them had been for years, languishing in the prisons of England, for no other offense than their manner of worship. By his friendship with JAMES, and his acquaintance with the King, he might do something to soften the lot of these unfortunate victims of bigotry. He accordingly empowered the Provincial Council, of which THOMAS LLOYD was President, to act in his stead, commissioned NICHOLAS MOORE WILLIAM WELCH, WILLIAM WOOD, ROBERT TURNER, and JOHN ECKLEY, Provin- cial Judges for two years; appointed THOMAS LLOYD, JAMES CLAYPOLE and ROBERT TURNER to sign land patents and warrants, and WILLIAM CLARK as Justice of the Peace for all the counties; and on the 6th of June, 1684, sailed for Europe. His feelings on leaving his colony are exhibited by a farewell address which he issued from on board the vessel to his people, of which the following are brief extracts: "My love and my life is to you, and with you, and no water can quench it, nor distance wear it out, nor bring it to an end. I have been with you, cared over you and served over you with unfeigned love, and you are beloved to me, and near to me, beyond utterance. I bless you in the name and power of the Lord, and may God bless you with His righteousness, peace and plenty all the land over. * * * Oh! now are you come to a quiet land; provoke not the Lord to trouble it. And now liberty and authority are with you, and in your hands. Let the government be upon His shoulders, in all your spirits, that you may rule for Him, under whom the princes of this world will, one day,] esteem their honor to govern and serve in their places. * * * And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this province, named before thou wert born, what love, what care, what service and what travail has there been, to bring thee forth, and preserve thee from such as would abuse and defile thee! * * * So, dear friends, my love again salutes you all, wishing that grace, mercy, and peace, with all temporal blessings, may abound richly among you--so says, so prays, your friend and lover in the truth, WILLIAM PENN" On the 6th of December of this same year, 1684, CHARLES II died, and was succeeded by his brother JAMES, DUKE OF YORK, under the title of JAMES II. JAMES was a professed Catholic, and the people were greatly excited all over the kingdom lest the reign of BLOODY MARY should be repeated, and that the Catholic should become the establish- ed religion. He had less ability than his brother, the deceased King, but great discipline and industry. PENN enjoyed the friendship and intimacy of the new King, and he determined to use his advantage for the relief of his suffering countrymen, not only of his sect, the Quakers, but of all, and especially for the futherance of universal liberty. But there is no doubt that he at this time meditated a speedy return to his province, for he writes: "Keey up the peoples' hearts and loves; I hope to be with them next fall, if the Lord pre- vent not. I long to be with you. No temptations prevail to fix me here. The Lord send us a good meeting." By authority of PENN, dated 18 of January 1685, WILLIAM MARKHAM, PENN's cousin, was commissioned Secretary of the province, and the proprietor's Secretary. That he might be fixed near to court for the furtherance of his private as well as public business, he secured lodgings for himself and family, in 1685, at Kensington, near London, and cultivated a daily intimacy with the King, who, no doubt, found in the strong native sense of his Quaker friend, a valued adviser upon many ques- tions of difficulty. His first and chief care was the settlement of his disagreement with LORD BALTIMORE touching the boundaries of their provinces. This was settled in November, 1685, by a compromise, by which the land lying between the Delaware and Chesepeake Bays was divided into two equal parts--that upon the Delaware was adjudged to PENN, and that upon the Chesapeake to LORD BALTIMORE. This settled the matter in theory; but when the attempt was made to run the lines according to the language of the Royal Act, it was found that the royal secretaries did not understand the geography of the country, and that the line which their language described was an impossible one. Consequently the boundary remained undetermined till 1732. The account of its location will be given in its proper place. Having secured this important decision to his satisfaction, PENN applied himself with renewed zeal, not only to secure the release of his people, who were languishing in prisons, but to procure for all Englishmen, everywhere, enlarged liberty and freedom of conscience. His relations with the King favored his designs. The King had said to PENN before he ascended the throne that he was opposed to persecu- tion for religion. On the first day of his reign, he made an address, in which he proclaimed himself opposed to all arbitrary principles in government, 'and promised protection to the Church of England. Early in the year 1686, in consequence of the King's proclamation for a general pardon, over thirteen hundred Quakers were set at liberty, and in April, 1687, the King issued a declaration for entire liberty of conscience, and suspending the penal laws in matters ecclesiastical. This was a great step in advance, and one that must ever throw a luster over the brief reign of this unfortunate monarch. PENN, though holding no official position, doubtless did as much toward securing the issue of this liberal measure as any Englishman. Upon the issue of these edicts, the Quakers, at their next annual meeting, presented an address of acknowledgment to the King, which opened in these words: "We cannot but bless and praise the name of Almighty God, who hath the hearts of princes in His hands, that He hath inclined the King to hear the cries of his suffering subjects for conscience' sake, and we rejoice that he hath given us so eminent an occasion to present him our thanks." This address was presented by PENN in a few well-chosen words, and the King replied in the following, though brief, yet most expressive language: "Gentlemen-- I thank you heartily for your address. Some of you know (I am sure you do Mr. PENN), that it was always my principle, that conscience ought not to be forced, and that all men ought to have the liberty of their consciences. And what I have promised in my declaration, I will continue to perform so long as I live. And I hope, before I die, to settle it so that after ages shall have no reason to alter it." It would have been supposed that such noble sentiments as these from a sovereign would have been hailed with delight by the English people. But they were not. The aristocracy of Britain at this time did not want liberty of conscience. They wanted conformity to the established church, and bitter persecution against all others, as in the reign of CHARLES, which filled the prisons with Quakers. The warm congratulations to JAMES, and fervent prayers for his welfare, were regarded by them with an evil eye. Bitter reproaches were heap- ed upon PENN, who was looked upon as the power behind the throne that was moving the King to the enforcing of these principles. He was accused of having been educated at St. Omer's, a Catholic college, a place which he never saw in his life, of having taken orders as a priest in the Catholic Church, of having obtained dispensation to marry, and of being not only a Catholic, but a Jesuit in disguise, all of which were pure fabrications. But in the excited state of the public mind they were believed, and caused him to be regarded with bitter hatred. The King, too, fell rapidly into disfavor, and so completely had the minds of his people become alienated from him, that upon the coming of the PRINCE OF ORANGE, and his wife MARY, in 1688, JAMES was obliged to flee to France for safety, and they were received as the rulers of Britain. But while the interests of the colony were thus prospering at court, they were not so cloudless in the new country. There was needed the strong hand of PENN to check abuses and guide the course of legislation in proper channels. He had labored to place the govern- ment entirely in the hands of the people--an idea, in the abstract, most attractive, and one which, were the entire population wise and just, would result fortunately; yet, in practice, he found to his sorrow the results most vexatious. The proprietor had not long been gone before troubles arose between the two Houses of the Legislature relative to promulgating the laws as not being in accordance with the requirements of the charter. NICHOLAS MOORE, the Chief Justice, was impeached for irregularities in imposing fines and in other ways abusing his high trust. But though formally arraigned and directed to desist from exercising his functions, he successfully resisted the proceedings, and a final judgment was never obtained. PATRICK ROBINSON, Clerk of the court, for refusing to produce the records in the trial of MOORE, was voted a public enemy. These troubles in the government were the occasion of much grief to PENN, who wrote, naming a number of the most influential men in the colony, and beseeching them to unite in an endeavor to check further irregularities, declaring that they disgraced the province "that their conduct had struck back hundreds, and was 10,000 pounds out of his way, and 100,000 pounds out of the country." In the latter part of the year 1686, seeing that the whole Council was too unwieldy a body to exercise executive power, PENN determined to contract the number, and accordingly appointed THOMAS LLOYD, NICHOLAS MOORE, JAMES CLAYPOLE, ROBERT TURNER, and JOHN ECKLEY, any three of whom should constitute a quorum, to be Commissioners of State to act for the proprietor. In place of MOORE and CLAYPOLE, ARTHUR COOK and JOHN SIMCOCK were appointed. They were to compel the atten- dance of the Council; see that the two Houses admit of no parley; to abrogate all laws except the fundamentals; to dismiss the Assembly and call a new one, and finally he solemly admonishes them, "Be most just, as in the sight of the all-seeing, all-searching God." IN a letter to these Commissioners, he says, "Three things occur to me eminently: First, that you be watchful that none abuse the King, etc.; secondly, that you get the custom act revived as being the equaliest and least offensive way to support the government; thirdly, that you retrieve the dignity of courts and sessions." In a letter to JAMES HARRISON, his confidential agent at Pennsbury Manor, he unbosoms himself more freely respecting his employment in London than in any of his State papers or more public communications, and from it can be seen how important were his labors with the head of the English nation. "I am engaged in the public business of the nation and Friends, and those in authority would have me see the establishment of the liberty, that I was a small instrument to begin in the land. The Lord has given me great entrance and interest with the King, though not so much as is said; and I confess I should rejoice to see poor old England fixed, the penal laws repealed, that are now suspended, and if it goes well with England, it cannot go ill with Pennsylvania, as unkindly used as I am; and no poor slave in Turkey desires more earnestly, I believe, for deliverance, than I do to be with you." In the summer of 1687, PENN was in company with the King in a progress through the counties of Berkshire, Glocestershire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire, during which he held several religious meetings with his people, in some of which the King appears to have been present, par- ticularly in Chester. Since the departure of PENN, THOMAS LLOYD had acted as President of the Council, and later of the Commissioners of State. He had been in effect Governor, and held responsible for the success of the govern- ment, while possessing only one voice in the disposing of affairs. Tiring of this anomalous position, LLOYD applied to be relieved. It was difficult to find a person of sufficient ability to fill the place; but PENN decided to relieve him, though showing his entire confidence by notifying him that he intended soon to appoint him absolute Governor. In his place, he indicated SAMUEL CARPENTER, or if he was unwilling to serve, then THOMAS ELLIS, but not to be President, his will being that each should preside a month in turn, or that the oldest member should be chosen. PENN foresaw that the executive power, to be efficient, must be lodged in the hands of one man of ability, such as to command the res- pect of his people. Those whom he most trusted in the colony had been so mixed up in the wrangles of the executive and legislative departments of the government that he deemed it advisable to appoint a person who had not before been in the colony and not a Quaker. He accordingly commissioned JOHN BLACKWELL, July 27, 1688, to be Lieutenant Governor, who was at this time in New England, and who had the esteem and confi- dence of PENN. With the commission, the proprietor and full instructions chiefly by way of caution, the last one being: "Rule the meek meekly; and those that will not be ruled, rule with authority." Though LLOYD had been relieved of power, he still remained in the Council, probably because neither of the persens designated were willing to serve. Having seen the evils of a many-headed executive, he had recommended the appointment of one person to exercise executive authority. It was in conformity with this advice that BLACKWELL was appointed. He met the Assembly in March, 1689; but either his conceptions of business were arbitrary and imperious, or the Assembly had become accustomed to great latitude and lax discipline; for the business had not proceeded far before the several branches of the government were at variance. LLOYD refused to give up the great seal, alleging that it had been given him for life. The Governor, arbitrarily and without warrant of law, im- prisoned officers of high rank, denied the validity of all laws passed by the Assembly previous to his administration, and set on foot a project for organizing and equipping the militia, under the plea of threatened hostility of France. The Assembly attempted to arrest his proceedings, but he shrewdly evaded their intents by organizing a party among the members, who persistently absented themselves. His reign was short, for in January, 1690, he left the colony and sailed away for England, whereupon the government again devolved upon the Council, THOMAS LLOYD, President. PENN had a high estimation of the talents and integrity of BLACKWELL, and adds, "He is in England and Ireland of great repute for ability, integrity and virtue." Three forms of administering the executive department of the govern- ment had now been tried, by a Council consisting of eighteen members, a commission of five members, and a Lieutenant Governor. Desirous of leaving the government as far as possible in the hands of the people who were the sources of all power, PENN left it to the Council to decide which form should be adopted. The majority decided for a Deputy Governor. This was opposed by the members from the provinces, who preferred a Council, and who, finding themselves outvoted, decided to withdraw, and determined for themselves to govern the lower counties until PENN should come. This obstinacy and falling out between the councilors from the lower counties and those from the province was the beginning of a con- troversy which eventuated in a separation, and finally in the formation of Delaware as a separate commonwealth. A deputation from the Council was sent to New Castle to induce the seceding members to return, but without success. They had never regarded with favor the removal of the sittings of the Council from New Castle, the first seat of government, to Philadelphia, and they were now determined to set up a government for themselves. In 1689, the Friends Public School in Philadelphia was first incor- porated, confirmed by a patent from PENN in 1701, and another in 1708, and finally, with greatly enlarged powers, from PENN personally, November 29, 1711. The preamble to the charter recites that as "the prosperity and welfare of any people depend, in great measure, upon the good education of youth, and their early introduction in the principles of true religion and virtue, and qualifying them to serve their country and themselves, by breeding them in reading, writing, and learning of languages and useful arts and sciences suitable to their sex, age, and degree, which cannot be effected in any manner so well as by erecting public schools," etc. GEORGE KEITH was employed as the first master of this school. He was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, a man of learning, and had emigrated to East Jersey some years previous, where he was Surveyor General, and had surveyed and marked the line between East and West New Jersey. He only remained at the head of the school one year, when he was succeeded by his usher, THOMAS MAKIN. This was a school of considerable merit and pretension, where the higher mathematics and the ancient languages were taught, and was the first of this high grade. A school of a primary grade had been established as early as 1683, in Philadelphia, when ENOCH FLOWER taught on the following terms: "To learn to read English, four shillings by the quarter; to write, six shillings by ditto; to read, write and cast accounts, eight shillings by the quarter; boarding a scholar, that is to say, diet, lodging, wash- ing and schooling, 10 pounds for one whole year," from which it will be seen that although learning might be highly prized, its cost in hard cash was not exhorbitant. PENN's favor at court during the reign of JAMES II caused him to be suspected of disloyalty to the government when WILLIAM and MARY had come to the throne. Accordingly on the 10th of December, 1688, while walking in White Hall, he was summoned before the Lords of the Council, and though nothing was found against him, was compelled to give security for his appearance at the next term, to answer any charge that might be made. At the second sitting of the Council nothing having been found against him, he was cleared in open court. In 1690, he was again brought before the Lords on the charge of having been in correspondence with the late King. He appealed to KING WILLIAM, who, after a hearing of two hours, was disposed to release him, but the Lords decided to hold him until the Trinity term, when he was again discharged. A third time he was arraigned, and this time with eighteen others, charged with adhering to the kingdom's enemies, but was cleared by order of the King's Bench. Being now at liberty, and these vexatious suits apparent- ly at an end, he set about leading a large party of settlers to his cherished Pennsylvania. Proposals were published, and the Government, regarding the enterprise of so much importance, had ordered an armed convoy, when he was again met by another accusation, and now, backed by the false oath of one WILLIAM FULLER, whom Parliament subsequently declared a "cheat and an imposter." Seeing that he must prepare again for his defense, he abandoned his voyage to America, after having made expensive preparations, and convinced that his enemies were determined to prevent his attention to public or private affairs, whether in England or America, he withdrew himself during the ensuing two or three years from the public eye. But though not participating in business, which was calling loudly for his attention, his mind was busy, and several important treatises upon religious and civil matters were produced that have great influence upon the turn of public affairs, which would never have been written but for this forced retirement. In his address to the yearly meeting of Friends in London, he says: "My enemies are yours. My privacy is not because men have sworn truly, but falsely against me." His personal grievances in England were the least which he suffer- ed. For lack of guiding influence, bitter dissensions had sprung up in his colony, which threatened the loss of all. Desiring to secure peace, he had commissioned THOMAS LLOYD Deputy Governor of the province, and WILLIAM MARKHAM Deputy Governor of the lower counties. PENN's grief on account of this division is disclosed in a letter to a friend in the province: "I left it to them, to choose either the government of the Council, five Commissioners or a deputy. What could be tenderer? Now I perceive THOMAS LLOYD is chosen by the three upper, but not the three lower counties, and sits down with this broken choice. This has grieved and wounded me and mine, I fear to the hazard of all! * * * for else the Governor of New York is like to have all, if he has it not already." But the troubles of PENN in America were not confined to civil affairs. His religious society was torn with dissension. GEORGE KEITH, a man of considerable power in argumentation, but of overweaning self-conceit, attacked the Friends for the laxity of their discipline, and drew off some followers. So venomous did he become that on the 20th of April, 1692, a testimony of denial was drawn up against him at a meeting of ministers, wherein he and his conduct were publicly dis- owned. This was confirmed at the next yearly meeting. He drew off large numbers and set up an independent society, who termed themselves Christian Quakers. KEITH appealed from this action of the American Church to the yearly meeting in London, but was so intemperate in speech that the action of the American Church was confirmed. Whereupon he became the bitter enemy of the Quakers, and, uniting with the Church of England, was ordained a Vicar by the Bishop of London. He afterward returned to America where he wrote against his former associates, but was finally fixed in a benefice in Sussex, England. On his death bed, he said, "I wish I had died when I was a Quaker, for then I am sure it would have been well with my soul." But KEITH had not been satisfied with attacking the principles and practices of his church. He mercilessly lampooned the Lieutenant Governor, saying that "He was not fit to be a Governor, and his name would stink," and of the Council, that "He hoped to God he should shortly see their power taken from them." On another occasion, he said of THOMAS LLOYD, who was reputed a mile-tempered man, and had befriend- ed KEITH, that he was "an impudent man and a pitiful Governor," and asked him "why he did not send him to jail," saying that "his back (KEITH's) had long itched for a whipping, and that he would print and expose them all over America, if not over Europe." So abusive had he finally become that the Council was obliged to take notice of his con- duct and to warn him to desist. PENN as has been shown, was silenced and thrown into retirement in England. It can be readily seen what an excellent opportunity these troubles in America, the separation in the government, and the schism in the church, gave his enemies to attack him. They represented that he had neglected his colony by remaining in England and meddling with matters in which he had no business; that the colony in consequence had fallen into great disorder, and that he should be deprived of his proprietary rights. These complaints had so much weight with WILLIAM and MARY, that, on the 21st of October, 1692, they commissioned BENJAMIN FLETCHER, Governor of New York, to take the province and territories under his government. There was another motive operating at this time, more potent than those mentioned above, to induce the King and Queen to put the government of Pennsylvania under the Governor of New York. The French and Indians from the north were threatening the English. Already the expense for defense had become burdensome to New York. It was believed that to ask aid for the common defense from Penn, with his peace principles, would be fruitless, but that through the influence of GOV. FLETCHER, as executive, an appropriation might be secured. Upon receiving his commission, GOV FLETCHER sent a note, dated April 19, 1693, to DEPUTY GOV. LLOYD, informing him of the grant of the royal commission and of his intention to visit the colony and assume authority on the 29th inst. He accordingly came with great pomp and spelendor, attended by a numerous retinue, and soon after his arrival, submission to him having been accorded without question, summoned the Assembly. Some differences having arisen between the Governor and the Assembly about the manner of calling and electing the Representatives, certain members united in an address to the Governor, claiming that the constitution and laws were still in full force and must be adminis- tered until altered or repealed; that Pennsylvania had just as good a right to be governed according to the usages of Pennsylvania as New York had to be governed according to the usages of that province. The Legislature being finally organized, GOV. FLETCHER presented a letter from the Queen, setting forth that the expense for the preservation and defense of Albany against the French was intolerable to the inhabitants there, and that as this was a frontier to other colonies, it was thought but just that they should help bear the burden. The Legislature, in firm but respectul terms, maintained that the con- stitution and laws enacted under them were in full force, and when he, having flatly denied this, attempted to intimidate them by the threat of annexing Pennsylvania to New York, they mildly but firmly requested that if the Governor had objections to the bill which they had passed and would communicate them, they would try to remove them. The business was now amicably adjusted, and he in compliance with their wish dis- solved the Assembly and after appointing WILLIAM MARKHAM Lieutenant Governor, departed to his government in New York, doubtless well satisfied that a Quaker, though usually mild mannered, is not easily frightened or coerced. GOV. FLETCHER met the Assembly again in March, 1694, and during this session, having apparently failed in his previous endeavors to induce the Assembly to vote money for the common defense, sent a com- munication setting forth the dangers to be apprehended from the French and Indians, and concluding in these words: "That he considered their principles; that they could not carry arms nor levy money to make war, though for their own defense, yet he hoped that they would not refuse to feed the hungry and clothe the naked; that was to supply the Indian nations with such necessaries as may influence their continued friend- ship to their provinces." But notwithstanding the adroit sugar-coating of the pill, it was not acceptable and no money was voted. This and a brief session in September closed the Governorship of Pennsylvania by FLETCHER. It would appear from a letter written by PENN, after hear- ing of the neglect of the Legislature to vote money for the purpose indicated, that he took an entirely different view of the subject from that which was anticipated; for he blamed the colony for refusing to send money to New York for what he calls the common defense. Through the kind offices of LORDS ROCHESTER, RANELAGH, SIDNEY and SOMERS, the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM and SIR JOHN TRENCHARD, the king was asked to hear the case of WILLIAM PENN, against whom no charge was proven, and who would two years before have gone to his colony had he not supposed that he would have been thought to go in defiance of the government. KING WILLIAM answered that WILLIAM PENN was his old acquaintance as well as theirs, that he might follow his business as freely as ever, and that he had nothing to say to him. PENN was accordingly reinstated in his government by letters patent dated on the 20th of August, 1694, whereupon he commissioned WILLIAM MARKHAM Lieutenant Governor. When MARKHAM called the Assembly, he disregarded the provisions of the charter, assuming that the removal of PENN had annulled the grant. The Assembly made no objection to this action, as there were provisions in the old charter that they desired to have changed. Accordingly, when the appropriation bill was considered, a new consti- tution was attached to it and passed. This was approved by MARKHAM and became the organic law, the third constitution adopted under the charter of KING CHARLES. By the provisions of this instrument, the Council was composed of twelve members, and the Assembly of twenty-four. During the war between France and England, the ocean swarmed with the privateers of the former. When peace was declared, many of these crafts, which had richly profited by privateering, were disposed to continue their irregular practices, which was now piracy. Judging that the peace principles of the Quakers would shield them from forcible seizure, they were accustomed to run into the Delaware for safe harbor. Complaints coming of the depredations of these parties, a proclamation was issued calling on magistrates and citizens to unite in breaking up practices so damaging to the good name of the colony. It was charged in England that evil-disposed persons in the province were privy to these practices, if not parties to it, and that the failure of the Government to break it up was a proof of its inefficiency, and of a radical deflect of the principles on which it was based. PENN was much exercised by these charges, and in his letters to the Lieutenant Governor and to his friends in the Assembly, urged ceaseless vigilance to effect reform.