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ANARCHY WITHOUT DISORDER.

133

In this assembly was enacted a body of Fundamental Constitutions, which formed the future basis of their govern

ment.

In 1682, William Penn, and eleven other persons of the society of Friends, purchased from Sir George Carteret the whole province of East New Jersey. Twelve other persons, of a different religious persuasion from their own, were then united with the purchasers, and to these twenty-four proprietaries the Duke of York executed his third and last grant of East New Jersey; on receiving which, they proceeded to organise a proprietary government. The first governor was the celebrated Robert Barclay, author of the Apology for the Quakers;' who was appointed for life. Under his brief administration a large number of emigrants arrived from Scotland. Barclay died in 1690.

On his accession to the throne, James II, utterly disregarding the engagements he had entered into as Duke of York, attempted to deprive New Jersey of its chartered privileges, and was only prevented from the execution of his purpose by the revolution, which deprived him of the throne in 1688.

From that period till 1692, Chalmers asserts, that no government whatever existed in New Jersey; and it is highly creditable to the society of Friends, whose members composed the main part of the population, that the peace of the country and the prosperity of its inhabitants were promoted during this interval by their own honesty, sobriety, and industry.

The pretensions of New York to jurisdiction over New Jersey were revived under William and Mary, which circumstance led to much angry discussion, until, at the commencement of the reign of Queen Anne, the proprietaries, wearied with continual embarrassments and disputes, surrendered their powers of government to the crown. The queen

forthwith united East and West New Jersey into one province, and committed the government of it, as well as of New York, to her kinsman, Lord Cornbury. His administration here, as well as in the neighbouring colony, was only distinguished by his arrogant attempts to overawe and dictate to the colonial assemblies, and their firm and resolute resist ance of his assumptions of arbitrary power.

What was done by it?

What is said by Chalmers ?

Who purchased East New Jersey in What is said of the Friends?

1682?

Who was the first governor ?

What was attempted by James II?
How was his design frustrated?

What was done by the proprieta

ries?

By Queen Anne?

By Lord Cornbury?

134

NASSAU HALL FOUNnded.

After his recall, New York and New Jersey continued for many years to be ruled by the same governor, each choosing a separate assembly; and it was not till 1738, that a separate governor for New Jersey was appointed at the instance of the people. Lewis Morris was the first governor under this new arrangement. The college of Nassau Hall, at Princeton, was founded the same year.

After this period, no remarkable circumstance transpired in this province, until the middle of the eighteenth century, the period to which we are now bringing up the history of the several colonies, with a view to proceed afterwards with an account of their united operations in the French war of 1754.

CHAPTER XVI.

COLONISATION OF DELAWARE.

DELAWARE was first settled in 1627. William Usselin, an eminent Swedish merchant, being satisfied of the advantages of colonising the country in the neighbourhood of New Netherlands, gained the permission of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, to form a company for the purpose. Large sums of money were accordingly contributed, and a colony of Swedes and Finns sent out, who first landed at Cape Henlopen, the delightful appearance of which induced them to give it the name of Paradise Point. They, soon after, bought of the natives the land from that cape to the falls of the Delaware; and scattered their settlements along the shores of the river.

Their first settlement was near Wilmington, at the mouth of Christina creek, and they afterwards built forts at Lewistown and Tinicum isle: which last was the seat of government of their colony of New Swedeland, or New Sweden, as they were pleased to call it. Here John Printz, their governor, built himself a spacious mansion, which he called Printz Hall; and supported the dignity of a colonial viceroy.

The empire was destined, however, to a speedy termination. The Dutchmen of New Netherlands could not bear

How were affairs managed after his | Give an account of the settlement.
recall?
Where did the Swedes build forts?
What is said of Printz?

What took place in 1738?

When was Delaware first settled?

Of the Dutch?

THE LOWER COUNTIES OF THE DELAWARE.

135

the presence of so formidable a rival. They built a fort in 1651 at New Castle, in the very centre, as it were, of New Sweden, and, notwithstanding the protestations of Printz, held it till the accession of Risingh, his successor. This governor employed a most unworthy stratagem for displacing the intruders. Being on an apparently friendly visit to the commander of the fort, and observing the weakness of the garrison, he incontinently took possession of it, disarmed the soldiers, and made them swear allegiance to his sovereign. An account of this important affair, coloured to the life, may be found in Knickerbocker's celebrated History of New York.

Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor of New York, in revenge for this insult, fitted out a grand armament, invaded New Sweden, and reduced the whole colony to complete subjection; sending many of the inhabitants to the mother country, while the remainder quietly mingled with the conquerors, and adopted their government, laws, and manners.

When the English conquered New Netherlands, afterwards called New York, they also obtained Delaware, which was considered a part of that territory. In 1682, New Castle, and the country for a compass of twelve miles round it, were purchased of the Duke of York by William Penn, who afterwards extended his purchase to Cape Henlopen. This country, called the Lower Counties of the Delaware, remained a portion of William Penn's colony of Pennsylvania for twenty years afterwards.

In 1703, the Lower Counties were separated from Pennsylvania; and have since retained their independence of any other colony, under the name of Delaware.

The limited extent of its territory gives this state rather a diminutive appearance on the map; but its soldiers have ever been among the bravest in defence of our liberties, and its statesmen have at all periods exerted a commanding influence in the councils of the nation.

Of Risingh?

Of Stuyvesant?

Of the inhabitants of New Sweden ?
Of the English?

Of William Penn?

Of the Lower Counties on the Delaware?

Of the soldiers and statesmen of Delaware?

136

WILLIAM PENN.

CHAPTER XVII.

COLONISATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

THIS Colony was founded by the celebrated William Penn, in 1681. He was the son of Sir William Penn, a British admiral, who, under the protectorate of Cromwell, effected the conquest of Jamaica, for the British crown. He also performed important services for the Stuart family, and, after the Restoration, enjoyed high favour at the court. Young Penn was early entered as a commoner at Oxford university, but having imbibed a strong predilection for Quaker sentiments, he espoused the cause of that sect with so much warmth that he, with several others, was expelled from the university.

His father, wishing to divert his mind from religious subjects, sent him to travel in France, and this scheme seems to have been attended with partial success; but, after his return, having gone to Ireland, to inspect an estate that belonged to his father, he there met with the same preacher who had first attracted his attention to the principles of Quakerism, ten years before, and the consequence was a new and determined adoption of his former belief. His father, disappointed in his hopes of worldly advancement for his son, abandoned him to his own course.

He then commenced preacher, and gained many proselytes. Though often imprisoned, and constantly persecuted, he still persevered; and such was his sincerity, zeal, and patience, that his father finally became reconciled to him. In 1670, he was tried at the Old Bailey, for preaching in the street, and pleaded his own case with such firmness and resolution, that he was honourably acquitted.

On the death of his father he became heir to a handsome estate, but he continued to preach, write, and suffer persecution as before.

The attention of Penn was attracted to colonisation, by the interest which he took in the affairs of New Jersey. Learning that a large tract of land, lying between the possessions

When was Pennsylvania founded?
What is said of Admiral Penn?

Of William Penn?

What transpired in France?
In Ireland?

What is said of his father?
Of his career as a preacher?

Of his trial?

How was Penn's attention first directed to colonisation?

CHARTER OF PENNSYLVANIA.

137

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of the Duke of York, and those of Lord Baltimore, was still unoccupied, he formed the noble design of founding there a new state, in which the liberal ideas he had formed of civil and religious liberty should be fully realised. He accordingly presented a petition to Charles II, urging his claim for a debt incurred by the crown to his father, and soliciting a grant of the land on which he desired to settle. A charter was readily granted by the king.

This charter constituted William Penn and his heirs true and absolute proprietaries of the province of Pennsylvania, saving to the crown their allegiance, and the sovereignty. It gave him and his heirs, and their deputies, power to make laws, with the advice of the freemen, and to erect courts of justice, for the execution of those laws, provided they should not be repugnant to the laws of England.

Penn now invited purchasers; and a large number, chiefly of his own persuasion, prepared to emigrate. Some merchants forming a company, purchased 20,000 acres of land at the rate of twenty pounds for every thousand acres. In May, 1681, he despatched Markham, his relative, with a company of emigrants, to take possession of the territory. He at the same time despatched a letter to the Indians, assuring them of his just and friendly intentions with respect to themselves.

In the following April, Penn published the frame of government for Pennsylvania,' and, in May, a body of laws which had been agreed upon by himself, and the adventurers in England, which was intended as a great charter, and which

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When?

To whom did Penn write a letter?
What did he publish in April, 1681
What is said of these laws?

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