disputes should arise between the two, they should be settled by twelve persons, half of whom should be English and half Indians. He then made them many presents from the merchandise which had been spread before them. Having done this, he laid the roll of parchment on the ground, observing again, that the ground should be common to both people. He then added that he would not compare the friendship between him and them to a chain, for the rain might sometimes rust it, or a tree might fall and break it; but he should consider them 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. He then took up the parchment and presented it to the sachems, and desired them to preserve it carefully for three generations, that their children might know what had passed between them, just as if he had remained himself with them to repeat it.

That William Penn must have done and said a great deal more on this interesting occasion than has now been represented, there can be no doubt. It is also to be regretted that the speeches of the Indians on this memorable day have not come down to us. It is only known that they solemnly pledged themselves, according to their country manner, to live in love with William Penn and his children as long as the sun and moon should endure. It was at this time that William Penn first entered personally into that friendship with them which ever afterwards continued between them, and which, for the space of more than seventy years, was never interrupted, or so long as the Friends retained power in the government. His conduct to these people was so engaging, his

justice so conspicuous, and the counsels which he gave them were so evidently for their advantage, that he became very much endeared to them. The Iroquois called him Onas, and the Delawares Miquon, both words signifying a quill or pen; and wherever any remnants of the Indian tribes who knew him then are found, his name is held in honor; and even a membership in the religious Society with whom he is associated in their memory, is a passport to their confidence.

In the early part of 1683, William Penn met the Provincial Council, and afterwards the Assembly, at Philadelphia.

The three lower counties, now the State of Delaware, having been united, by their request, to the Province of Pennsylvania, the council was composed of three members from each of those counties and from the counties of Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester; and the Assembly had nine members from each. The charter being under consideration, the Proprietary told them "they might amend, alter, or add for the public good, and that he was ready to settle such foundations as might be for their happiness and the good of their posterity."

A new charter was accordingly agreed to, embracing the same principles as the first, but altering a few details. The Assembly voted the Proprietary an impost on certain imports and exports, which he generously declined.

After this it appears that he was occupied in making purchases of land from the Indians. By the terms of one of them it was to extend "as far back as a man could walk in three days." William Penn and some of his friends and a number of Indian chiefs started to measure

it, and walked leisurely up the Delaware, from the mouth of the Neshaminy, for a day and a half, and then stopped, William Penn concluding that that was enough for present settlement, leaving the rest to be measured when it might be needed. The remainder was not marked out till 1733, when the then Governor of Pennsylvania-an unworthy successor, as surveyor, of the generous Proprietary and simple-hearted Indians-employed a noted fast walker, who made eighty-six miles in the remaining day and a half. This disgraceful act made the first breach in the confidence of the Indians.

24*

W

XIV.

THIN little more than a year after the arrangements were made for settling the province, between twenty and thirty vessels arrived, bringing more than two thousand individuals. A large part of these were members of the religious Society of Friends. They had left their own country to avoid the vexations and vices of Europe, that they might lead quiet and peaceable lives and worship God according to their conscientious persuasion. Though these emigrants were not generally rich, yet many of them possessed considerable estates, and were persons of good education. They were mostly sober, industrious people, of reputable characters, well qualified to advance the interests of this rising colony. As they arrived in succession, they were kindly received and assisted by those who were there before them; and scattering along the Delaware, as choice or convenience suggested, the country was thinly peopled from the falls at Trenton to Chester. The inhabitants, including the Dutch and Swedes, who had been long resident in the country, are computed at the time to which we have arrived to be about four thousand, so that William Penn may be said to have raised up a colony at once in his new domains.

In the course of 1682 and the two following years great numbers of emigrants arrived from England, Ireland, Wales, Holland, and Germany, who extended their settle

ments into the interior of the country.

The Welsh set

tled on both sides of the Schuylkill, and have left, in the names of the townships Merion, Haverford, Radnor, Gwynedd, etc., a lasting memorial of their old homes. Among the emigrants from Germany were a number of Friends, formerly inhabitants of Crisheim in the Palatinate, among whom William Penn had travelled in the service of the Gospel during the year 1677. They formed the flourishing settlement of Germantown, and by their opportune removal to the asylum which was provided for them, escaped the calamity which a few years afterward overtook their native land, when Louis XIV., in the wantonness of power, desolated the Palatinate with fire and sword.

William Penn having dispatched the public business of the colony, as far as his presence was necessary, and having superintended the works in his new city, went on a journey of observation into the province. On his return to Pennsbury, his residence on the Delaware above Philadelphia, he wrote a letter to "The Free Society of Traders of Pennsylvania," in which he communicated the result of his discoveries, from which the following extracts are taken :

"MY KIND FRIENDS: The kindness of yours by the ship Thomas and Ann doth much oblige me; for by it I perceive the interest you take in my health and reputation and in the prosperous beginning of this province.

"In the first place I take notice of the news you sent me, whereby I find 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 reason