Local History: Chapter VII: William Penn's Arrival in America: Bean's 1884 History of Montgomery Co, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Susan Walters USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. บบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบ BEAN'S HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA บบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบบ 91 (Cont.) CHAPTER VII. WILLIAM PENN'S ARRIVAL IN AMERICA - HIS COLONY FOUNDED ON THE DELAWARE. Having obtained his charter, Penn at once commissioned William Markham his deputy, and urged his prompt departure for the new field of labor. Markham was in New York by June, 1681. He secured the friendly offices of Governor Anthony Brockholls, and then hastened to Upland to meet Lord Baltimore, whose friendship he courted in order to arrange boundary lines on the south and west of the new colony. Unable to adjust the southern boundary of the grant without making concessions which He deemed unjust to William Penn, he deferred further action, and immediately organized the Council of Nine, as the first exercise of "duly constituted authority" under the charter of Charles II. This Council of Nine was, in fact, a provisional government, with power to make public Purveys, establish boundary lines, constitute courts, appoint justices of the peace, constables, sheriffs, to suppress violence, and generally to institute and enforce such measures as inured to the peace and good order of the province. The following is the self-instituted warrant for the Council of Nine: "Whereas, wee whose hands and Seals are hereunto Sett are Chosen by Wm. Markham (agent to Wm. Penn, Esq., Proprietor of ye said Province of Pennsylvania) to be of the Councill for ye sd province, doe hereby bind ourselves by out hands & Seals, that wee will neither act nor advise, nor Consent unto anything that shall not be according to our own Consciences the best for ye true and well Government of the sd Province, and Likewise to Keep Secret 92 all ye votes and acts of us The sd Councell, unless Such as by the General Consent of us are to be published. Dated at Upland ye third day of August, 1681. "Robert Wade, Morgan Drewet, William Woodmanse, (W. W. The mark of) William Warner, Thomas Fairman, James Sandlenes, Will Clayton, Otto Ernest Koch, and ye mark (L) of Lacy (or Lasse) Cock." By September, 1681, Deputy Markham had the new arrangement of things in working order, and the first court for jury trials was held at Upland. The justices present at the meeting of this newly organized court were William Clayton, William Warner, Robert Wade, William Byles, Otto Ernest Cock, Robert Lucas, Lasse Cock, Swen Swenson, and Andreas Bankson, five of them being members of Markham's Council. The clerk of the court was, Thomas Revell, and the sheriff's name was John Test. The first jury drawn in the court -the first drawn in Pennsylvania -was in a case of assault and battery (Peter Ericksen vs. Harman Johnson and his wife) and their names were Morgan Drewet, William Woodmansee, William Hewes, James Browne, Henry Reynolds, Robert Schooley, Richard Pittman, Lasse Dalbo, John Akraman, Peter Rambo, Jr., Henry Hastings William Oxley; two more of the Deputy Governors Council being on this jury. At the next time of Upland Court, in November, Markham was present, and he attended all the subsequent sessions up to the time of Penn's arrival. Deputy Governor Markham was, thoroughly conversant with the purposes and plans of Penn. He carried with him instructions which were broad enough to cover all possible contingencies, and enabled him to prepare a warm welcome to the distinguished colonist upon his advent on the Delaware River. Meantime, Penn was addressing his entire energies to his scheme of colonization. He gave the utmost publicity to his chartered privileges, and invited the co-operation of all classes in founding a free and industrial State. He published a pamphlet entitled "Some Account of the Province of Pennsylvania in America." It contained a truthful account of the resources of the country. The author was candid in pointing out to all the possible hardships and perils likely to be experienced in the New World, and impressed upon the mind of his followers the necessity of careful preparations for the long voyage and the life of toil and self-denial essential to their success. Referring to the country he says, "I shall say little in its praise to excite desires in any, whatever I could truly write as to the soil, air, and water; this shall satisfy me, that by the blessing of God and tile honesty and industry of man, it may be a good and fruitful land." Penn made direct overture to men and family of all religious persuasions, assuring them of a tolerant government in all things. He invited purchasers and renters of the land and made special provisions for those without means. "To the first, the share I still shall be certain as to number of acres; that is to say, every one shall contain five thousand acres, free from any encumbrance, the price a hundred pounds, and for the quit-rent but one English shilling, or the value of it, yearly, for a hundred acres; and the said quit-rent not to begin to be paid till 1684. To the second sort, that take up land upon rent, they shall have liberty so to do, paying yearly one penny per acre, not exceeding two hundred acres. To the third sort, to wit, servants that are carried over, fifty acres shall be allowed to the master for every head, and fifty acres to every servant when their time is expired. And because some engaged with me that may not be disposed to go, it were very advisable for every three adventurers to send over an overseer with their servants, which would well pay the cost." Referring to the peculiar fitness of certain persons for frontier life, Penn classified them as follows: "First, industrious husbandmen and day laborers that are hardly able (with extreme labor) to maintain their families and portion their children "Second Laborious handicrafts, especially carpenters, masons, smiths, weavers, taylors, tanners, shoemakers, shipwrights, etc., where they may be spared or low in the world and as they shall want no encouragement, so their labor is worth more there than here, and there previous cheaper." Third, Penn invites ingenious spirits who are low in the world, younger brothers with small inheritances and (often) large families; "Lastly", he says, "there are another sort of persons, not only fit for, but necessary in plantation, and that is men of universal spirits, that have an eye to the good of posterity, and that both understand and delight to promote good discipline and just government among a plain and well-intending people; such persons may find room in colonies for their good counsel and contrivance, who are shut out from being of much use or service to great nations under settled customs; these men deserve much esteem and would be hearken'd to." He enumerates and commends the resources of the country. "Timber was abundant, also game, wildfowl, and fish, flax, hemp, cider, wood, madder, liquorish, tobacco, and iron, bides, tallow, staves, beef, pork, sheep, wool, corn, wheat, rye, barley, also furs, minks, raccoons, martins, and such like store of furs which is to be found among the Indians that are profitable commodities in England." Referring to the arrival of colonists in the fall months he says, "Two men may clear as much ground by spring (when they set the corn in that country as well brim, in that time, twelve month, forty barrels, which makes twenty-five quarters of corn. So that the first year they must buy corn, which is usually very plentiful. They must, so soon as they come buy cows, more or less as they want or are able which are to be had at an easy rate. For swine they are plentiful and cheap these will quickly increase to a stock. So that 93 after the first year, what with the poorer sort sometimes laboring for others, and the more able fishing & fowling, and sometimes buying, they may do very well till their own stocks are sufficient to supply them and their families, which will quickly be, and to spare, if they follow the English husbandry, as they do in New England and New York, and get winter, fodder for their stock." "To conclude, I desire all my dear country-folks, who may be inclined to go into those parts to consider seriously the premises, as well the inconvenience 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: and I would further advise all such at least to have the permission, if not the good liking, of their near relations, for that is both natural, and a duty incumbent upon all. And by this will natural affections be preserved, and a friendly and profitable correspondence between them in all which I beseech Almighty God to direct us, that His blessing may attend our earnest endeavors, and then the consequence of all our undertakings will turn to the glory of His great name, and all true happiness to us and our posterity. Amen." Feeling assured of a large and intelligent following to the New World, be was anxious to facilitate trade and commerce between the colony and the mother country. To this end he encouraged the organization of "The Free Society of Traders," [See NOTE 7-1.] looking, upon the enterprise as a potent and peaceful agent in maintaining frequent intercourse between the inhabitants of the two continents, and as a certain avenue for continued emigration, which he felt sure once opened to the superior advantages of a new and fertile country, where religious and political freedom could be fully enjoyed, would never be closed. [NOTE 7-1.] On publishing these proposals concerning the new colony, a great number of purchasers soon appeared in London, Liverpool, and especially about Bristol; among these were James Claypole, Nicholas Moore, Philip Forde, and others, who formed a colony called The Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania. These last-mentioned persons, with William Sarloe, Edward Pierce, John Simcock, Thomas Bracy, and Edward Brooks, having purchased twenty thousand acres of land, in trust for the said company, published articles of trade, and entered into divers branches thereof themselves, which were soon improved upon by others. [FINIS NOTE 7-1.] In his solicitude for the person is forming his colony Penn showed his humanity; in his forecast of a commercial future for the State he was founding be disclosed the character of a benefactor. One thing more, however, remained for him to do, and that was to frame a government. This was the work of statesmanship. There were three distinct subjects of consideration for framing our code of laws for the colony : 1. the limitations imposed by the charter of Charles II.; 2. the peaceful relations with the native Indians; [SEE NOTE 7-2.] 3. the unrestrained exercise of religious liberty and the institution of self-government among the freemen of the province. [NOTE 7-2.] "LONDON, the 18th of the eighth month, 1681. "My FRIENDS: 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 heir, 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 to 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 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 towards 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 find patience unto you, which I bear bath been a matter of trouble to you, and caused great grudgings and animosities, sometimes 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 towards you, and desire to win and 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 anything 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 myself, at which time we may more largely and freely confer and discourse of these matters; in the mean time I have sent any commissioners to treat with you about land, and a firm league of peace; let me desire you to be kind to them and the 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. "I am your loving friend, "WILLIAM PENN." [FINIS NOTE 7-2.] It is a rare occurrence in the history of public men to find a broad humanity associated with a high order of executive ability and commercial sagacity, and it is still more exceptional to find these two qualities combined with that degree of foresight and conservatism that always characterizes the true statesman. It is said that it required the corollated powers of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan to match one Napoleon Bonaparte; and, without extravagance, we may say that William Penn alone foreshadowed the policy of state and republic that was later formulated in national unity by the combined wisdom of Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton. In the marvelous sight of two centuries we turn back and read his remarkable State papers. He was in his thirty-eighth year when he prepared his "Certain Conditions or Concessions," [See NOTE 7-3.] and his "Frame of Government and Laws," including "The Great Law," all of which evidence great thoughtfulness, a thorough knowledge of details; and a master mind. We think the "Preface" to the "Frame of Government" is the best illustration of the man, and his purposes: its promulgation and acceptance by the colonists as the fundamental law of the province was a safe guide in those primitive days, and implanted in Pennsylvania a love for self government which has continued through all later generations, as marked in peace as it has been sacrificial in war. This state paper, unique and comprehensive, is an essential part of our history, and should be the property of every household, as it has been, and still is, the subject of study among all true political economists. [NOTE 7-3.] "CERTAIN CONDITION'S OR CONCESSIONS, agreed upon by, William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of the Province or Pennsylvania, and those who are adventurers and purchasers in the same provience, the eleventh of July, One thousand six hundred and eighty-one. "First. That so soon as it pleaseth God that the above said persons arrive there, a quantity of land or Ground plat shall be laid out for a large Town or City. In the root convenient place upon the river for health and navigation; and every purchaser and adventurer shall by lot have so much land therein as will answer to the proportion which be hath bought or taken up upon rent. "But it is to be noted that the surveyors shall, consider what Roads or Highways will be necessary to the Cities Towns, or through the lands. Great roads from City to City, not to contain less than forty feet in breath shall be out first and declared to be highways before the Dividend of acres laid out for the purchaser, and the like of, observation to be had for the streets in the Towns and Cities that there may be convenient roads and streets preserved not to be encroached upon any planter or builder, that none may build irregularly to the damage of another. In this custom governs "Secondly, That the land in the Town be laid out together, after the 94 proportion of ten thousand acres of the whole country, that is, two hundred acres, if the place will bear it. However, that the proportion, be by lot and entire, so as those that desire to be together, especially those that are by the catalogue laid together, may be so laid together both in Town and Country. "Thirdly. That when the Country lots are laid out, every purchaser from one thousand to ten thousand acres or more, not to have above one thousand acres together, unless in three years they plant a family upon every thousand acres; but that all such as purchase together, lie together; and if as many as comply with this condition, that the whole be laid out together. "Fourthly. That where any number of purchasers, more or less, whose number of acres amounts to five or ten thousand acres, desire to sit together in a lot or Township, they shall have their lot or Township cast together in such places as have convenient harbours or navigable rivers attending it, if such can be found, and in case any one or more Purchasers plant not according to agreement in this concession, to the prejudice of other of the same Township upon complaint thereof, made to the Governor or his deputy, with assistance they may award (if they see canoe) that the complaining purchaser way, paying the survey money and purchase money and interest thereof, be entitled, enrolled, and lawfully invested in the land so not seated. "Fifthly. That the proportion of lands that shall be laid Our in the first, great Town or City for every purchaser shell be after the proportion (if Ten acres for every Five hundred acres purchased, if the place will allow it. "Sixthly. That notwithstanding there, be no mention made in the several Deeds made to the purchaser, yet the paid William Penn loss accord and declare, that all Rives, Rivulets, Woods and Underwood, Waters, Watercourses, Quarries, Mines, end Minerals (except mines Royal), shall be freely and fully enjoyed and wholly by the purchasers into whose lot they fall. "Seventhly. That for every Fifty acres that shall be allotted to a servant at the end of his service, his Quitrent shall be two shillings per annum, and the master or owner of the Servant, when he shall take up the other Fifty acres, his Quitrent shall be Four shillings by the year, or if the master of the servant (by reason in the Indentures he is so obliged to do) allot out to the Servant Fifty acres in his own division, the said master shall have on demand allotted him from the Governor, the One hundred acres at the chief rent of Six shillings per annum. "Eighthly. And for the encouragement of such as are ingenious and willing to search out Gold and silver ships in this province, it is hereby agreed that they have liberty to bore and dig in any man's property, fully paying the damage done, and in case a Discovery should be made, that the discoverer have One Fifth, the owner of the soil (if not the discoverer) a Tenth part, the Governor Two fifths, and the rest to the public Treasury, saving to the king the share reserved by patent. "Ninthly. In every hundred thousand acres the Governor and Proprietary by lot reserveth Ten to himself, which shall lie but in one place. "Tenthly. That every man shall be bound to plant or man so much of his share of Land as shall be set out and surveyed within three years after it is so set out and surveyed, or else it shall be lawful for new comers to be settled thereupon, paying to them their survey money, and they go up higher for their shares. "Eleventhly. There shall be no buying and selling, be it with an Indian, or one among another of any Goods to be exported but what shall be performed in public market, when such place shall be set apart or erected, where they shall pass the public Stamp or Mark. If bad ware are prized as good, or deceitful in proportion or weight, to forfeit the value as if good, and full weight and proportioned to the public Treasury of the Province, whether it be the merchandise of the Indian or that of the Planters. "Twelfthly. And forasmuch as it is usual with the planters to overreach the poor natives of the Country in Trade, by goods not being good of the kind, or debased with mixtures, with which they are sensibly aggrieved, it is agreed whatever is sold to the Indians in consideration of their furs shall be sold in the market place, and there, suffer the test, whether good or bad; if good to pass, if not good, not to be sold for good, that the natives may not be abused nor provoked. "Thirteenthly. That no man shall by any ways or means, in word or deed, affront or wrong any Indian, but he shall incur the some penalty of the Law as if he had committed it against his fellow planters; and if any Indian shall abuse in word or Deed any planter of this province that he shall not be his own Judge upon the Indian, but he shall make his complaint to the Governor of the Province, or his Lieutenant or Deputy, or some inferior magistrate near him, who shall to the utmost of his power take care the king of the said Indian that all reasonable Satisfaction be made to the said injured planter. "Fourteenth. That all differences between the planters and the natives shall also be ended by Twelve men, that is by Six planters and Six natives, that so we may live friendly together as much as is in us lieth, preventing all occasions of Heart burnings and mischief. "Fifteenth. That the Indians shall have liberty to do all things relating to the improvement of their Ground, and providing sustenance for the families that any of the planters shall enjoy. "Sixteenth. That the laws as to Slanders, Drunkenness, Swearing, Cursing, Pride in apparel, trespasses, distresses, replevins, Weights and measures, shall be the same as in England till altered in this province. "Seventeenth. That all shall mark their hogs, sheep, and other cattle, and what are not marked within three months after it is in their possession, be it young or old, it shall be forfeited to the Governor, that so, people may be compelled to avoid the occasions of much strife between Planters. "Eighteenth. 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. "Nineteenth. That all ship masters shall give all account of their Countries, Names, Ships, Owners, Freights, and Passengers, to an officer to be appointed for that purpose, which shall be registered within two days after their arrival; and if they shall refuse so to do that then none presume to trade with them upon forfeiture thereof, and that such masters be looked upon as having an evil intention to the province. "Twentieth. That no person leave the Province without publication bring made thereof in the marketplace, three weeks before, and certificate from some justice of the peace of his clearness with his neighbors and those he dealt with, so far as such an assurance can be attained and given; and if any master of a ship shall contrary hereunto receive, and carry away any person that hath not given that public notice, the said master shall be liable to all debts owing, by the said person transported from the province. Lastly that these are to corrected by and with consent of the parties hereunto subscribed. "Sealed and delivered in the presence of "William PENN "Griffith JONES "Humphrey SOUTH "Hugh LAMBE "Thomas BAKER "Thomas FARRINBORROUGH "Samuel JOBSON "John GORDON "John Joseph MOORE "William BOELHAM "William POWEL "Harbert SPRINGET "Richard DAVIE "Thomas PRUDYARD "Sealed and delivered in the presence of all the presence of all the proprietors who have hereunto subscribe except Thomas FARRINBORROUGH AND John GOODSON in the presence of "Hugh CHAMBERLEN "R. MURRAY "Harbert SPRINGET" [FINIS NOTE 7-4.] 95 THE PREFACE "When the great and wise, God had made, the world, of all his creatures it pleased him to choose man his deputy to rule it, and to fit him for so great a charge and trust, he did not only qualify him with skill and power. but with integrity to use them justly. This native goodness was equally his honour and his happiness; and whilst be stood here, all went well; there was no need of coercive or compulsive means; the precept of divine love and truth in his bosom was the guide and keeper of his innocency. But lust prevailing against duty, made a lamentable breach upon it; and the law, that before bad no power over him, took place upon him and his disobedient posterity, that such as would not live conformable to the holy law within, should fall under the reproof and correction of the just law without, in a judicial administration. "This the apostle teaches in divers of his epistles. The law (says he) was added because of transgression: In another place, knowing that the law was not made for the righteous man; but for the disobedient and ungodly, for sinners, for unholy and prophane, for murderers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, and for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, &c. "But this is not all, he opens and carries the matter of government a little further: Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God: whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to Evil: wilt then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.-- He is the minister of God to thee for good.-- Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake. "This settles the divine right of government beyond exception, and that for two ends: that, to terrify evil doers; secondly, to cherish those that do well; which gives government a life beyond corruption, and makes it as durable in the world, as good men shall be. So that government seems to me a part of religion itself, a thing sacred in its institution and end. "For if it does not directly remove the cause, it crushes the effects of evil, and is as such (tho' a lower yet) an emanation of the same Divine Power, that is both author and object of pure religion; the difference lying here, that the one is more free and mental, the other more corporal and compulsive in its operations; but that is only to evildoers; government itself being otherwise as capable of kindness, goodness, and charity, as a more private society. "They weakly err, that think there no there use of government than correction, which is the coarsest part of it: daily experience tells us, that the care and regulation of many other affairs more soft and daily necessary, make up much the greatest part of government; and which must have followed the peopling of the world, had Adam never fell, and will continue among men on earth under the high attainments they may arrive at, by the coming of the blessed second Adam, the Lord from Heaven. Thus much of government in general, as to its rise and end. "For particular frames and models, it will become me to say little; and comparatively I will say nothing. My reasons are: first, that the age is too nice and difficult for it; here being nothing the wits of men are more busy and divided upon, 'Tis true, they seem to agree in the end, to wit, happiness; but in the means they differ, as to divine, so to this human felicity ; and the cause is much the same, not always want of light and knowledge, but wanting of rising them rightly. Men side with their passions against their reason, and their sinister interests have so strong a bias upon their minds, that they lean to them against the good of the things they know. "Secondly, I do not find a model in the world, that time, place, and some, singular emergencies have not necessarily altered; nor is it easy to frame a civil government, that shall serve all places alike. "Thirdly, I know what is said try the several admirers of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, which are the rule of one, a few, and many, and are the three common, ideas of government, when men discourse on that subject. But I choose to solve the controversy with this small distinction, and it belongs to all three: any government is free to the people under it (whatever be the frame) where the laws rule, and the people are a party to those laws, and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, and confusion. "But lastly, when all is said, there is hardly one frame of government in the world so ill designed by its first founders, that in good hands would not do well enough; and story tells us, the best in ill ones can do nothing that is great or good; without the Jewish and Roman states. Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men than men upon Government. Let men be good, and the Government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn. "I know, some say, let us have good laws, and no matter for the men that execute them: but let them consider, that though good laws do well, good men do better: for good laws may want good men, and be abolished or invaded by ill men; but good men will never want good laws, nor suffer ill ones. "'Tis true, good laws have some awe upon ill ministers, but that is where they have not power to escape or abolish them, and the people are generally wise and good: but a loose and depraved people (which is to the question) love laws and an administration like themselves. "That therefore, which makes a good constitution, must keep it, viz: men of wisdom and virtue, qualities, that because, they descend not with worldly inheritances, must be carefully propagated by a virtuous education of youth, for which after ages will owe more to the care and prudence of founders, and the successive magistracy, than to their parents for their private patrimonies. "These considerations of the weight of government and the nice and various opinions about it, made it uneasy to me to think of publishing the entering frame and conditional laws, foreseeing both the censures they will meet with from men of differing humors and engagements, and the occasion they may give of its course beyond my design. "But next to the power of necessity (which is a solicitor that will take no denial). This induced me to a compliance, that we have (with reverence to God, and good conscience to men) to the best of our skill, contrived and composed the FRAME and LAWS of this government, to the great end of all government, viz: to support power in reverence with the people, and to secure the people from the abuse of power; that they may be free by their just obedience, and the magistrates honorable for their just administration: for liberty without obedience is confusion and obedience without liberty is slavery. To carry this evenness is partly owing to the constitution, sad part if to the magistry: where either of these fail, government will be subject to convulsions; but where both are wanting, it must be totally subverted: then where both meet, the government is like to endure. Which I humbly pray and hope God will please to make the lot of this of Pennsylvania, Amen. "WILLIAM PENN" LAWS AGREED UPON IN ENGLAND. "First. That the charter of liberty declared, granted, and confirmed the five and twentieth day of the Second month called April, 1682, before divers witnesses by William Penn, Governor and chief proprietary of Pennsylvania, to all the freemen and planters of the said province, is hereby declared and approved, and shall be forever held for fundamental in the government thereof, according to the limitations mentioned In the said charter. "Second. That every Inhabitant in the said province, that is or shall be a purchaser of one hundred acres of land or upwards, his heirs and assigns, and every person who shall have paid his passage, and taken up one hundred acres of land, at one penny an acre, and have cultivated ten acres thereof, and every person that has been a servant or bondsman, and is free by his service, that shall have taken up his fifty acres of land, and cultivated twenty thereof; and every inhabitant, artificer, or other resident in the said province, that pays scot and lot to the government, shall be deemed and accounted a freeman of the said province; and every such person shall and may be capable of electing or being elected representatives of the people in provincial Council or General Assembly in the said province. "Third. That all elections of members or representatives of and freemen of the province of Pennsylvania, to serve in Provincial Council or General Assembly, to be held within the said province, shall be free and voluntary; and that the elector that shall receive any reward or gift, in meet, drink, moneys, or otherwise, shall forfeit; his right to elect; and such person as shall, directly or indirectly, give, promise, or bestow any such reward as aforesaid, to be elected, shall forfeit his election, and be thereby incapable to serve as aforesaid. And the Provincial Council and General Assembly shall be the sole judges of the regularity or irregularity of the elections of their own respective memebers. "Fourth. That no money or goods shall be raised upon, or paid by any of the people of this province, by way of a public tax, custom, or contribution, but by a law for that purpose made; and whosoever shall levy, collect, or pay any money or goods contrary thereunto, shall be held a publick enemy to the province, and a betrayer of the liberties of the people thereof. "Fifth. That all courts shall be open, and justice shall neither be sold, denied, or delayed. "Sixth. That in all courts all persons of all persuasions may freely 96 appear in their own way, and according to their own manners, and there personally plead their own cause themselves, or if unable, by their friends. And the first process shall be the exhibition of the complaint in court, fourteen days before the trial; and that the party complained against may be fitted for the same, he or she shall be summoned no less than ten days before, and a copy of the complaint delivered him or her, at his or her dwelling-house. But before the complaint of any person be received, he shall solemnly declare in court, that he believes in his conscience his cause is just. "Seventh. That all pleadings, processes and records in courts, shall be abort, and in English, and in an ordinary and plain character, that they may be understood, and justice speedily administered "Eighth. That all trials shall be by twelve men, and as near as may be, peers or equals, and of the neighborhood, and men without just exception. In cases of life, there shall be first twenty-four returned by the sheriff for a grand Inquest, of whom twelve at least shall find the complaint to be true; and then the twelve men, or peers, to be likewise returned by the sheriff, shall have the final judgment. But reasonable challenges shall be always admitted against the said twelve men or any of them. "Ninth. That all fees in all cases shall be moderate, and settled by the Provincial Council and General Assembly, and be hung up in a table in every respective court and whosoever shall be convicted of taking more, shall pay twofold, and be dismissed his employment, one moiety of which shall go to the party wronged. "Tenth. That all prisons shall be workhouses for felons, vagrants, and loose and idle persons; whereof one shall be in every county. "Eleventh. That all prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offences, where the proof is evident or the presumption great. "Twelfth. That all persons wrongfully imprisoned or prosecuted at law shall have double damages against the informer or prosecutor. "Thirteenth. That all prisons shall be free as to fees, food, and lodging. "Fourteenth. That all lands and goods shall be liable to pay debts, except where there is legal issue, and then all the goods and one-third of the land only. "Fifteenth. That all wills and writing, attested by two witnesses, shall be of the same force as to lands as other conveyances, being legally proved within forty days, either within or without the said province. "Sixteenth. That seven years quiet possession shall give an unquestionable right, except in cases of infants, lunaticks, married women, or persons beyond the seas. "Seventeenth. That all briberies and extortions whatsoever shall be severely punished. "Eighteenth. That all fines shall be moderate, and saving mens contenements, merchandize, or wainage. "Nineteenth. That all marriages (not forbidden by the law of God, as to nearness of blood and affinity by marriage) shall be encouraged; but the parents or guardians shall be first consulted, and the marriage shall be published before it be solemnized, and it shall be solemnized and by taking one another as husband and wife, before credible witnesses, and a certificate of the whole, under the hands of parties and witnesses shall be brought to the proper register of that county, and shall be registered, in his office. "Twentieth. And to prevent frauds and vexatious suits within the said province, that all charters, gifts, grants, and conveyances of land (except leases for a year or under), and all bills, bonds, and specialties have five pounds, and not under three months, made in the said province, and be enrolled or registered in the public enrolment office of the said province within the space of two months next after the making thereof, else to be void in law. And all deeds, grants, and conveyances of land (except as aforesaid) within the said province, and made out of the said province, shall be enrolled or registered as aforesaid within six months next after the making thereof, and settling and constituting an enrolment office or registry within the said province, else to be void in law against all persons whatsoever. "Twenty-first. That all defacers or corrupters of charters, gifts. grants, bonds, bills, wills, contracts, and conveyances, or that shall deface or falsify any enrolment, registry, or record within this province, shall make double satisfaction for the same; half whereof shall go to the party wronged, and they shall be dismissed of all places of trust, and be publicly disgraced as false men. "Twenty-second. That there shall be a register for births, marriages, burials, wills, and letters of administration, distinct from the other registry, "Twenty-third. That there shall be a register for all servants, where their names, time, wages, and days of payment shall be registered. "Twenty-fouth. That all lands and goods of felons shall be liable to make satisfaction to the party wronged twice the value; and for want of land or goods, the felons shall be bondmen to work in the common prison or workhouse, or otherwise, till the party injured be satisfied. "Twenty-fifth. That the estates of capital offenders, as traitors and murderers, shall go one-third to the next of kin to the sufferer, and the remainder to the next of kin to the criminal. "Twenty-sixth. That all witnesses, coming or called to testily their knowledge in or to any matter or thing in any court, or before any lawful authority within the said province, shall there give or deliver in their evidence or testimony, by solemnly promising to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to the matter or thing in question. And in case any person so called to evidence shall be convicted of willful falsehood, such person shall suffer and undergo such damage or penalty as the person or persons against whom he or she bore false witness did or should undergo; and shall also make satisfaction to the party wronged, and publickly exposed as a false-witness, never to be credited in any court or before any magistrate in the said province. "Twenty-seventh. And to the end that all officers chosen to serve within this province may with more care and diligence answer the trust reposed in them, it is agreed that no such person shall enjoy more than one public office at one time. "Twenty-eighth. That all children within this province of the age of twelve years shall be taught some useful trade or skill, to the end none may be idle, but the poor may work to live, and the rich, if they become poor, may not want. "Twenty-ninth. That servants be not kept longer than their time, and such as are careful be both justly and kindly and in their service, and put in fitting equipage at the expiration thereof, according to custom. "Thirtieth. That all scandalous and malicious reporters, backbiters, defamers, and spreaders of false news, whether against magistrates or private persons, shall be accordingly severely punished as enemies to the peace and concord of this province. "Thirty-first. That for the encouragement of the planters and traders in this province, who are incorporated into a society, the patent granted to them by William Penn, governor of the said province, is hereby ratified and confirmed." "Thirty-second. [Apparently omitted or deleted.] "Thirty-third. That all factors or correspondents in the said province wronging their employers, shall make satisfaction, and one third over to their said employers: and in case of the death of any such factor or correspondent, the committee of trade shall take care to secure so much of the deceased party's estate, as belongs to his said respective employers. "Thirty-fourth. That all treasurers, judges, masters of the rolls, sheriff, justices of the peace, and other officers and persons whatsoever, relating to courts or trials of causes, or any other service in the government; and all members elected to serve in provincial Council and General Assembly, and all that have right to elect such members, shall be such as profess faith in Jesus Christ, and that are not convicted of ill fame, or unsomber and dishonest conversation, and that are of one and twenty years of age at least and that all such qualified, shall be capable of the said several employments and privileges as aforesaid. "Thirty-fifth. That all persons, living in this province, who confess and acknowledge the one almighty and eternal Lord, to be the creator, upholder and ruler of the world, and that hold themselves obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly in civil society, shall in no ways be molested or prejudiced for their religious persuasion the practice in matters of faith and worship, nor shall they be compelled at any time to frequent or maintain any religious worship, place or ministry whatever. "Thirty-sixth. That according to the good example of the primitive Christians, end for the ease of creation, every first day of week, called the Lord's day, people shall abstain from their common daily labour, that they may, the better dispose themselves to worship God according in their understandings. "Thirty-seventh. That as careless and corrupt administration of justice draws the wrath of God upon magistrate, so the wildness, and loosness of the people provoke the indignation of God against a country: therefore, that all such offences against God, as swearing, cursing, lying, prophane talking, drunkenness, drinking of healths obscene words, sodomy, rapes, whoredom, fornication, and other uncleanness 97 (not to be repeated). All treasons, misprisons, murders, duels, felonies, seditions, maimes, forcible entries, and other violences, to the person andestates of the inhabitants within this province; all prizes, stage plays, cards, dice, may-games, masques, revels, bull-baitings, cock-fightings, bear-baitings, and the like, which incite the people to rudeness, cruelty, looseness, and irreligion, shall be respectively discouraged, and severely punished, according to the appointment of the governor and freemen in Provincial Council and General Assembly, as also all proceedings contrary to these laws, that are not here made expressly penal. "Thirty-eighth. That a copy of these laws shall be hung up in the Provincial Council, and in public courts of justice, and that they shall be read yearly, at the opening of every Provincial Council and General Assembly, and courts of justice, and their assent shall be testified by their standing up, after the reading thereof. "Thirty-ninth. That there shall be at no time any alteration of any of these laws, without the consent of the governor, his heirs or assigns, and six parts of seven of the freemen, met in Provincial Council and General Assembly. "Fortieth. That all other matters, and things not herein provided for, which shall and may concern the publick justice, peace or safety of the said province; and the raising and imposing taxes, customs, duties, or other charges whatsoever, shall be, and are hereby referred to the order, prudence and determination of the governor and freemen in Provincial Council and General Assembly, to be hold from time to time in the said province. "Signed and sealed by the Governor and freemen aforesaid, the fifth day of the Third month, called May, one thousand six hundred and eighty-two." [FINIS NOTE 7-3.] This code was a practical outline of the "Holy Experiment." It could be agreed upon in England, but must come with devoted colonists to the virgin soil of Pennsylvania for trial. These laws, so free from all repressive measures in relation to religious tolerance, were far in advance of all ecclesiastical or legislative thought in Europe, and, with but one notable exception [See NOTE 7-4.] among the provinces fringing the Atlantic coast in this country, were alike new and startling. [NOTE 7-4.] But we must except the Catholic colony in Maryland, founded by Sir George Calvert, whose charter of 1632 and the act of toleration passed by the Assembly of Maryland in 1649, under the inspiration of Sir George's son, Caecillus, must be placed alongside of Penn's work. Two brighter lights in an age of darkness never shone. Calvert's charter was written during the heat of the Thirty Years religious war, Penn's Constitution at the moment when all Dissenters were persecuted in England and when Louis XIV was about to revoke the Edict of Nantes. The Virginians were expelling the Quakers and other sectaries. In New England the Puritan Separatist themselves refugees for opinion's sake, martyrs to the cause of religious freedom, were making laws which were the embodiment of doubly distilled intolerance and persecution. Roger Williams was banished in 1635, in 1650 the Baptists were sent to the whipping-post, in 1634 there was a law passed for the expulsion of Anabaptists, in 1647 for the expulsion of Jesuits, and if they returned they were to be put to death. In 1656 it was decreed against "the cursed sect of heretics lately risen up in the world, which are commonly called Quakers," that captains of ships bringing them in were to be fined or imprisoned, Quaker books or "writings containing their devilish opinions," were not to be imported, Quakers themselves were to be sent to the house of correction, kept at work, made to remain silent, and severely whipped. This was what the contemporaries of Calvert and Penn did. We have seen Penn's law of liberty of conscience. Calvert's was equally liberal. The charter of Calvert was not to be interpreted so as to work any diminution of God's sacred Christian religion, open to all sects, Protestant and Catholic, and the act of toleration and all preceding legislation, official oath, etc. breathed the same spirit of toleration and determination, in the words of the oath of 1637, that none in the colony, by himself or other, directly or indirectly, will trouble, molest, or discountenance any person professing to believe in Jesus Christ for or on account of his religion." [FINIS NOTE 7-4.] The manner of perpetuating evidences of purchase and titles to landed estates, their liability for debt, the establishment of courts of justice, manner of distributing decedents' property, and the practical sundering of church and state all marked an era of progressive legislation. "There are few more striking differences between the mother-country and her colonies, from the first settlement of the latter down to the present day, than the system of registration of deeds, or, as it is generally called here, their recording. "It was a favorite object of the old common law -I mean long before the Conquest -that possession of land and its transfer should be open and notorious, and the livery of seisin (the mode of transfer long before the introduction of deeds) was made in the presence of others. "And when later, though still in Saxon times, deeds came into use, it was the custom to transact all conveyances at the County Court, and enter a memorial of them in the ledger book of some adjacent monastery, and these gradually became the depositaries of the charters or title deeds of the great landed proprietaries. "All such deeds as could be found were destroyed by William the Conqueror, as part of his policy that all titles should commence from himself, and thenceforth we lose, for several hundred years, all trace of any such thing as registration. Not only this, but with the introduction of Uses lands came to be secretly held and secretly conveyed, so that scantly any person could be certainly assured of any lands by them purchased, nor know surely against whom they should use their actions or executions for their rights, titles, and duties,' -so ran the preamble to the Statute of Uses, -'to the utter subversion of the ancient common law, of this realm.' "In the same year of Henry VIII's reign there was passed both the Statute of Uses and the first of the present register acts still in force, viz., 'The Statute for inrollment of bargains and Sales.' "But this, as also a subsequent local statute of Elizabeth, proved inoperative, first, by reason of being limited to deeds of estates of inheritance of freehold, and the device was soon introduced of a bargain and sale for a term of years followed by a release of the reversion, which effectually evaded the statute, and, secondly, because neither was there a place assigned for keeping the records, nor was the registrar made responsible for his duty. "During the time of the Commonwealth unsuccessfully, and it was not until the reign of Anne that there was passed the first of the statutes now in force, providing with some care for the registration of all deeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and this was followed by similar local statutes in the same reign, and in those of William and Mary and George II. "Their sum may be stated in that they applied to all the Ridings of York, the town and county of Kingston-upon-Hull, the county of Middlesex, and the Bedford Level Tract; and in the preambles to those statutes you will find how earnestly are set forth the evils sought to be cured by registration. But such has been the settled dislike of the people, or at least that land- 98 holding portion of it which make the laws, that notoriety or even possibility of knowledge outside of those concerned should attend the transfer of land that there has never been in England even an approach to the system which we have. Not that the subject has not been mooted. "During the eighteenth century six registration bills were presented which never even went to a second reading. In the present century, in 1815, a statute for a general registration was presented by Romilly, which shared the same fate. In 1829 there was appointed the well known commission, with Lord Campbell at its head, 'to inquire into the state of real property in England.' "Prominent in the inquiry was registration, and you will find in the folio volumes of their report hundreds of pages of evidence of the ablest lawyers of the kingdom, -evidence as to the register counties, evidence as to the English colonies, evidence as to some of the United States, evidence as to Continental States, -the great weight of which the commission thought was decisive upon the question. Accordingly they reported a bill, which was introduced in an able speech by Campbell, and opposed by Sugden and others, but it only passed a first reading. "You will find the subject again brought up in 1831, in 1832, in 1833, and finally in 1834, after an elaborate debate, in which the opponents of the measure had really little more to urge than that there was a prejudice against it, the bill was lost on second reading by a vote of nearly three to one, and Campbell tells us in his autobiography just published, with perhaps just a little malice, that it was owing to the country members being persuaded by their attorneys to vote against it. "In 1854 another royal commission was issued, which, after investigation, rejected the scheme for the registration of deeds, and recommended the registration of titles, and such a bill was, in 1859, brought in by Sir Hugh Cairns. It was dropped, however, and then, in 1862, was passed Lord Westbury's act for the registration of indefeasible titles. These were very like the snakes in Iceland, -there were none, or at least very few, and the act practically came to nothing. "Then came the Land Transfer Act of 1875, which was not compulsory, and came practically to nothing. Then, in 1878, was appointed a select committee to report what steps should be taken to facilitate the transfer of land, and a mass of important and interesting testimony was taken under it, including that of Lord Cairns, then Chancellor, who thought that one of the great objections to registration was that 'in the English mind there was, at the bottom, a most profound respect for title deeds, and that when the supreme moment comes at which a man is told that be must part with all his title deeds, and receive in lieu a little piece of paper, which is to be the evidence of his title to the land, the sacrifice is too great for human nature to intake, and he declines to make it.' "The committee reported a bill in the session of 1880, which went further than any of the previous ones. And it might have passed, but t here were several other land bills of confessedly greater importance, such, Mr. Gladstone said, as the one to 'ground game,' and accordingly, as we all remember, the House talked about 'the Hares and Rabbits Bill' till late into a late session. Finally there was passed the 'Conveyancing and Law of Property Act,' which received the royal assent, but which omits any provisions as to general compulsory registration. "It is somewhat curious that it seems to be almost taken for granted in England that no system of registration can be effectual which does not depend upon the good-will of the land-dealing community, --in other words, that there can be no such thing practically as compulsory registration; but it would seem that nothing can be simpler than to provide for the postponement of the unregistered deed to the registered one, and this provision secures the practical, successful working of the system throughout the breadth of this country. "In contrast with the English system, how striking is the fact that from the earliest settlement of our colonies the benefits of registration were seen. In Pennsylvania, some years before the charter to Penn, it had been provided in the early provincial laws that every clerk of every Court of Sessions should enter all grants, bargains, sales, and mortgages of land, 'together with the estates of the grantor and grantee, things and estates granted, together with the date thereof.' "Then, in the 'Laws agreed upon in England,' shortly after the grant to Penn, provision was made for the registration of all charters, gifts, and conveyances of land, except leases for a year and under, 'in the public enrollment office of the province.' This was accordingly approved and enacted in the 'Great Law,' passed at Chester in 1682, and the next year it was declared that the laws as to registry should, like others deemed of great importance, such as those concerning liberty of conscience, liberty of property, liberty of person, open courts, speedy justice, the laws to be in English, etc., be reputed and held for fundamental in the government of the province. "There is, much curious learning about the various recording acts which were passed after this, in 1693, 1700, 1705, 1710, and 1715, all of them except the last repealed by the Queen in Council, and much that is interesting and not generally known as to the repeal of these laws and their reenactment here at the singular intervals of five years "It is enough here to say that finally the act of 1715 was passed, which, escaping the fate of repeal, remains in full force today. It provided, in effect, for a record office in every county and that all deeds of lands properly acknowledged and recorded were to have the force and effect of deeds of feoffment with livery and seisin, or deeds enrolled in any of the king's courts at Westminster. Except as to mortgages, however, the statute was not compulsory and it was not until 1775 that it was re- 99 quired that all deeds and conveyances should be recorded within six months after their execution, or else to be adjudged fraudulent and void against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee for valuable consideration. It is natural to pass from the devolution of estates to their administration. "Penn's charter gave him power to establish among other things officers for the probate of wills, and for the granting of administration. "A little thought as to what was the law in England with respect to this will show how inapplicable was its machinery to the wants of the new colony, for England was then, as now, divided, ecclesiastically, into the provinces of York and Canterbury; each of these was divided into dioceses, and the bishop of each diocese where a decedent had his domicile possessed, by the name and style of the Ordinary, the jurisdiction of the probate of wills, the granting of letters testamentary, the appointment of administrators, and the control over them and their accounts, and the courts in which these and cognate matters came up for judicial action were ecclesiastical courts, of which the principal ones were the Prerogative Courts of Canterbury and York, the Peculiar, the Royal Peculiar, and certain manorial courts. "But while this was so as to the estates of decedents, the care of the persons and estates of infants had been from an early day vested in the sovereign as parens patri๚, and was later exercised, as it is to this day, by the Court of Chancery. "But our colonists needed neither ecclesiastical courts for their decedents nor a parens patri๚ for their infants. Before the charter, provision had been already made for the probate of wills and granting of administration by the Court of Sessions, as also for the distribution and sale of the estates of decedents, and for the filing of an inventory by 'all persons who have any estate in their possession belonging to any that are under age.' "Provisions were made in the 'Laws agreed upon in England, as also in the 'Great Law,' for a register for births, marriages, burials, wills, and letters of administration, and the register general was, after the charter, appointed by the Proprietary and granted letters. "The act of 1705 was precise as to the appointment by the Governor of the register-general, who should keep his office at Philadelphia, and from time to time constitute deputies in each of the other counties. "From the preamble to the act of 1712 it would seem that no register-general, either for the other counties or even for Philadelphia, had been appointed, and the provisions of the act of 1705 were thereby reenacted, with others, providing for. the appointment of a register-general by 'the commissioners, agents, or stewards of the Proprietary,' if he should neglect, and in case of their neglect by the judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. "The law as to registers remained unaltered till the Revolution, when, owing to the change of government, the office of register-general was by the act of 1777 abolished, and an office called the 'Register's Office' established in each county and such is substantially the law to the present day. "To the register and the Register's Court was committed that class of cases relating to decedents' estates which were cognizable by the Ecclesiastical Courts in England; and this continued until, by our recent Constitution of 1874, the jurisdiction of the Register's Court was transferred to the Orphans' Court. "The Orphans' Court had a different origin, and was taken from one of the customs of London. If the sovereign had, as we have seen, as parens patri๚, the care of the persons and estates of infants, the 'custom of orphanage, one of the most considerable customs of London, as it respects the children of freemen who died possessed of great personal estates,' was of at least equal antiquity. The Court of Orphans was held before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the city of London, and the custom was that 'if any freeman or free woman die, leaving orphans within age, unmarried, the said court have the custody of their body and goods.' To this end executors and administrators were bound to exhibit true inventories before it, and to become bound to the chamberlain to the use of the orphans to make a true account upon oath, on pain of commitment. "As in the case of a ward in chancery it was a contempt to marry one without the leave of the court, it was equally a contempt of the Court of Orphans, who promptly acted by fine and imprisonment, and, as was and is the case with the Court of Chancery, only released its severity upon submission by the offender and making a proper settlement. "Many of the colonists came from the city of London, and it was natural that some of the laws upon our early statute books, and some of our customs not found in written laws, were the same as those according to the custom of London. We have already noticed the early and vague laws of 1676, of 1683, and of 1693, but in 1701 was passed a law of greater precision. It was an elaborate act for establishing courts of judicature, and gave to the Orphans' Court jurisdiction over all persons intrusted with the property, real and personal, of orphans or persons under age, either as guardians, tutors, trustees, executors, or administrators. You will observe that this was still an Orphans' Court; it had no jurisdiction over executors or administrators, except as to the property of minors in their hands, and as to such property, its jurisdiction extended to both lands and chattels. This was in 1701. "Then in 1705 was passed the intestate law we have already referred to, by which administrators (not executors) were to account to the Orphans' Court (meaning the Orphans' Court under the act of 1701), which also had jurisdiction of the distribution of the surplus, the partition of the real estate of intestates, and its sale for the payment of debts and maintenance of children. But in the same year the 100 Orphans' Court Act of 1701 was repealed in England, and the Intestate Act of 1705 stood, so to speak, alone, and this continued for eight years. Then in 1813 was passed An Act for establishing Orphans' Courts, under which and its supplements we acted until the revised statute of 1832. Reciting the existence and repeal of the former laws, and that thereby orphans and persons concerned for them or intrusted with their estates labored under great inconveniences. The Orphans' Court, composed of the judges of the Court of Quarter Sessions in each county, was established as a court of record, and jurisdiction given over all persons who, as guardians, trustees, tutors, executors, administrators, or otherwise, should be intrusted with or accountable for lands, tenements, goods, or estates belonging to any orphan or person under age. The register was obliged to transmit to the Orphans' Court copies of all inventories, accounts, etc., power was given to the court to dismiss administrators in certain cases, and to exercise all the jurisdiction granted to the Orphans' Court by the Intestate Act of 1705; and so things remained until after the Revolution. Since then various supplements to the act of 1713 and other acts have greatly enlarged the power of the Orphans' Court, and in the Constitutions of 1776 and 1790 the Orphans' Court was enumerated as one of the courts of the Commonwealth. Still, however, its precise position was less settled and defined than that of any court therein. Though expressly created a court of record, and as such coming within the rule of all English-speaking countries, that its judgments could not be inquired into collaterally. Cases were decided in which the rule was applied, and others in which it was not. The reasons for this were clearly given by the revisers of our code when, in 1830, they were expressly directed, such was the urgency of the case, to give their first attention to the several statutes relating to the settlement of accounts before registers and proceedings in the Orphans' Courts. 'The peculiar structure of that court,' said they, 'is extremely ill defined sphere of jurisdiction, the magnitude of the interests upon which it operates, the uncertainty of the code of law by which it is regulated, and its equally uncertain and insufficient practice and process serve to surround with difficulties every attempt to frame a regular system for it.' "The act reported and passed brought harmony and symmetry to the subject, although the court was still composed of judges of the Courts of Common Pleas. Finally, by the Constitution of 1874, the Orphans' Court was erected into a separate and independent tribunal, the separate Registers' Courts were abolished, their jurisdiction given to the Orphans' Court, and the register himself made the clerk of the court. Its jurisdiction and that of the register may be thus, briefly summed up: "1. The register has the old jurisdiction of the ordinary in England as to the probate of wills and the granting of letters testamentary and of administration, and in his office are filed the accounts of executors, administrators, guardians, and testamentary trustees; there his power ceases. "2. The Orphans' Court has the power of dismissal of executor, and administrators and the appointment of others in their place, the settlement of their accounts and the distribution of the personal estate, and so far its jurisdiction is in analogy to that of the Ecclesiastical Courts. "But, above and beyond this, its large and extended jurisdiction, including every case in which the estate of a decedent or the care of infants and their property is involved, is in analogy to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, and is exercised substantially in the same manner. "Meanwhile, in England, it was not until our own time that any substantial change was made, and the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Courts continued as for centuries it had until the year 1857, when by the act of 20 and 21 Victoria, c. 77, the jurisdiction and authority of all ecclesiastical and other courts in the probate of wills and granting administration were given to the Court of Probate. And now by virtue of the Probate Court is exercised by the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice." -- William Henry Rawle, Esq.: Pennsylvania and English Law. Penn's work of preparation for his departure from England was completed by August, 1682. The "Welcome," under command of Robert Greenway, had shipped her stores, her crew was in service, and the "jolly tars" waited with impatience for the "Governor of the Colony" and the adventurous people who were to cross the ocean with them to come on board. August 30th, he wrote his "valedictory epistle to England" and his affectionate farewell to his wife and children. September 1st, he was ready to sail, in the possession of a charter for a province and future State, protected by the flag of his native land, his system of government prepared for submission to the free men of Pennsylvania. His Deputy Governor Markham, Surveyor-General Thomas Holme, and Special Commissioners Nathaniel Allen, John Bezar, and William Crispin were busy in preparing the minds of the settlers and the watchful Indian chiefs for his coming. Surrounded by the hundred and more confiding souls that had taken passage with him, he keenly felt the responsibility of the hour and situation; but, with settled purpose and convictions deepened by years of painful experience, he sought consolation and repose of mind in the hopefulness of a near and still more eventful future among a free people and in a new country. As the time of Penn's arrival approached, expectancy was intense among the settlers on the Delaware. The sale of land by his agents over five hundred thousand acres, with ships 101 sailing from Europe for the province every sixteen days, the arrival of over five hundred emigrants, and the site of a great city located, created a stir and excitement among all classes that only needed the presence of Penn to insure a climax. This was reached on the 27th of October, when the ship "Welcome" anchored off New Castle. The historical account of the event is as follows: "October 28. On the 27th day of October, arrived before the town of New Castle, in Delaware, from England, WILLIAM PENN, ESQ., proprietary of Pennsylvania, who produced two certain deeds of feoffment [sic] from the illustrious prince, James, Duke of York, Albany, etc., for this town of New Castle, and twelve miles about it, and also for the two lower counties, the Whorekill's and St. Jones's, which said deeds bear date the 24th August, 1682; and pursuant to the true intent, purpose, and meaning of his royal highness in the same deeds, he the said William Penn received possession of the town of New Castle, the 28th of October, 1682." This delivery was made by John Moll, Esq., and Ephraim Herman, gentlemen, attorneys, constituted by his royal highness, of the town of Delaware, otherwise called New Castle; the witnesses to the formal ceremony, in which the key of the fort was delivered to Penn by one of the commissioners, "in order that he might lock upon himself alone the door," and which was accompanied with presents of "turf and twig, and water and soyle of the river Delaware," were Thomas Holme, William Markham, Arnoldus de la Grange, George Forman, James Graham, Samuel Land, Richard Tugels, Joseph Curles, and John Smith. Robert Proud, who wrote 1780, referring to the voyage and arrival of the "Welcome," says, "The number of passengers in this ship was about one hundred, mostly Quakers; the major part of them from Sussex, the Proprietary's place of residence. In their passage many of them were taken sick with the smallpox, and about thirty of their number died. "In this trying situation the acceptable company of William Penn is said to have been of singular advantage to them, and his kind advice and assistance of great service during their passage; so that, in the main, they had a prosperous voyage, and in little more than six weeks came in sight of the American coast, supposed to be about Egg Harbor, in New Jersey. In passing up the Delaware, the inhabitants, consisting of English, Dutch, and Swedes, indiscriminately met the Proprietary with demonstrations of joy. "He landed at New Castle on the 24th of October, and next day had the people summoned to the court-house, where, after possession of the country was legally given him, he made a speech to the old magistrates and the people, signifying to them the design of his coming, the nature and end of government, and of that more particularly which he came to establish, assuring them of their spiritual and temporal rights, liberty of conscience, and civil freedoms; and recommending them to live in sobriety and peace, he renewed the magistrates' commissions. After this he proceeded to Upland, now called Chester, where, on the fourth day of the tenth month (about three months after his sailing from England), he called an Assembly. It consisted of equal numbers of members from the province and the three lower counties, called the Territories; that is, from both of them so many of the freemen as thought proper to appear, according to the sixteenth article of the Frame of Government. "This Assembly chose Nicholas Moore, who was president of the Free Society of Traders, for their chairman or speaker, and received as ample satisfaction PICTURE OF MEETING-PLACE OF THE FIRST ASSEMBLY AT UPLAND APPEARS HERE. from the Proprietary as the inhabitants of New Castle had done, for which they returned him their grateful acknowledgments. The Swedes for themselves deputed Lacy Cock to acquaint him that 'they would love, serve, and obey him with all they had,' declaring 'that it was the best day they ever saw.' At this Assembly an act of union was passed annexing the three lower counties to the province, in legislation, on the 7th day of December, 1682; likewise an act of settlement, in reference to the Frame of Government, which, with some alterations, was thereby declared to be accepted and confirmed. The Dutch, Swedes, and other foreigners were then naturalized; all the laws agreed on in England, with some alterations, were passed in form. The meeting continued only three days, and notwithstanding the great variety of dispositions, rawness and inexperience of this Assembly in affairs -of this kind, yet a very remarkable candor and harmony prevailed among them." [See NOTE 7-5.] 102 [NOTE 7-5.] THE GREAT LAW; OR, THE BODY OF LAWS OF THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA AND TERRITORIES THEREUNTO BELONGING, PASSED AT AN ASSEMBLY AT CHESTER, ALIAS UPLAND, THE 7TH DAY OF THE 10TH MONTH, DECEMBER, 1682. "Whereas, the glory of Almighty God, the good of mankind is the reason and end of government, and therefore government, in itself, is a venerable ordinance of God; and forasmuch as it is principally desired and intended by the proprietary and Governor, and the freemen of the Province of Pennsylvania, and territories there into belonging, to make and establish such laws as shall beat preserve true Christian and civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and unjust practices, whereby God may have his due, Caesar his due, and the people their due from tyranny and oppression of the one side and insolency and licentiousness of the other, so that the best and firmest foundation may be laid for the present and future happiness of both the governor and people of this province and territories aforesaid, and their posterity Be if therefore enacted by William Penn, proprietary and governor, by Find with the advice and consent of the deputies of the freemen of this province and counties aforesaid in assembly met, and by the authority of the same, that these following chapters and paragraphs shall be the laws of Pennsylvania and the territories thereof: "1. Almighty God being only Lord of conscience, father of lights and spirits, and the author an well is object of all divine knowledge, faith, and worship, who only can enlighten the mind and persuade and convince the understanding of people in due reverence to his sovereignty over the souls of mankind, it is enacted by the authority aforesaid that no person now or at any time here after living in this province, who shall confess and acknowledge one Almighty God to be the creator, upholder, and ruler of the world, and that professeth him or herself obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly under the civil government, shall in anywise be molested or prejudiced for his or her conscientious persuasion or practice, nor shall he or she at any time be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious worship, place, or ministry whatever contrary to his or her mind, but shall freely and fully enjoy his or her Christian liberty in that respect without any interruption or reflection; and if any person shall abuse or deride any other for his or liar different persuasion and practice in matter of religion such shall be looked upon as a disturber of the peace, and be punished accordingly. "But to the end that looseness in religion, and atheism may not creep in under pretense of conscience in this province, be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that according to the good example of the primitive Christians, and for the ease of the creation every first day of the week, called the Lord's Day, people shall abstain from their common toil and labor that, whether masters, parents, children, or servants, they may the better dispose themselves to read the scriptures of truth at home, or to frequent such meetings of religious worship abroad as may beat suit their respective persuasions." 2. Concerning qualifications of officers, etc. 3. Against swearing by God, Christ, or Jesus. 4. Against swearing by any other thing or name. 5. Against speaking profanely of God, Christ, Spirit, or Scripture. 6. Against cursing, 7. Against defiling the marriage bed. 8. Against incest. 9. Against sodomy and bestiality. 10. Against rape or ravishment. 11. Against bigamy. 12. Against drunkenness. 13. Against suffering drunkenness. 14. Against health's drinking. 15. Against selling or exchanging of rum, brandy, or other strong liquors to the Indians. 16. Against willful firing of houses. 17. Against breaking into or taking anything out of houses. 18. Lands and goods or thieves and felons, etc., liable, etc. 19. Against forcible entry. 20. Against unlawful assemblies and riots 21. Against assaulting or menacing of parents. 22. Against assaulting or menacing of magistrates. 23. Against assaulting or menacing of masters. 24. Against assault and battery. 25. Against duels. 26. Against riotous sports and practices, as plays, etc. 27. Against playing at cards, dice, lotteries, etc. 28. Against sedition. 29. Against speaking slightly or abusing of magistrates or officers. 30. Against reporters, defamers and spreaders of false news. 31. Against clamorous persons, scolders, and railers. 32. Provision for the poor. 33. Prices of beer and ale. 34. Measures and weights. 35. Names of days and months. 36 Witnesses lying. 37. Pleadings, processes, and records to be in English. 38. Trials in civil and criminal cases. 39. Fees and salaries, bribery and extortion. 40. Fines to be moderate, etc. 41. Numerous suits avoidable, 42. Arrest of a person departing the province, how. 43. Promises, bargains, and agreements. 44. Charters, gifts, grants, conveyances, bills, bonds, and specialties, deeds, etc., how soon to be recorded. 45. What wills shall convey lands, as well as chattels, (See appendix to the Pennsylvania laws;) 46. Wills of non compos mentis void. 47. Registry of wills, etc. 48. Registry of servants, etc. 49. Factors, and their employ. 50. Against defacers, corrupters, and embezzlers, of charter, conveyances, and records, etc. 51. How land and goods shall pay debts. (See appendix to Pennsylvania laws.) 52. What prisoners bailable. 53. Jails and jailers. 54. Prisons to be work-house. 55. Wrongful imprisonment. 56. Where the penalty is either sum of money or imprisonment, the magistrate shall inflict which he will. 57. Freemen, who. 58. Elections. 59. No money or goods, by way of tax, custom, or contribution, to be raised or paid but by 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. [FINIS NOTE 7-5.] End Chapter VII.