USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > Historical sketch of Chester, on Delaware > Part 25
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as soon as may be, greet these warriors of the Lenni Lenape, for they are curiously jealous of the vanities of form and ceremony, and deem no king even should take precedence of their great chief."
Penn: "So it ought to be, and I will straightway follow thee, for I long to see the man of whose bravery, virtue and wisdom even we in England have heard."
The entire party then, Penn and Markham leading, followed im- mediately by the resident Friends and Penn's companions, and at a little distance by the other characters, including the seamen, walk- ed slowly to where Tamanand was sitting, surrounded by his noted chiefs. The other Indians gathered about in a circle. Penn seated himself on a stone opposite the chief. Then one of the younger chiefs rose slowly and with dignity spoke thus:
"I am called Bears Meat. I am not oll. When I was a child the white man first cime to this shore in his big canoe with wings. I have lived to see many things First came one tribe. They built forts and sometimes took our land. The hatchet was not al- ways buried. Sometimes it was very red. Then came Corlær. They were just men. The chain was not often dull. There were few clouds between us. Then came the Yengese. The chain that Corlær held they took. They, too, were just. The stranger was always welcome to the Lenni Lenape for the sake of Corlær. We have been told that a great chief was coming He is here. It was whispered that he was a great and good and just man; a warrior whose words were not blown away about the Council fire. It is so; we can see it in his face; he will keep the chain bright. Here is Tamanand of many years. The Father of his people will welcome the stranger who comes as the friend of the Delawares."
A short silence followed, after which Tamanand rose slowly and addressed Penn:
"My young man has spoken truly. He is a wise chief. I am Tamanand of many years: the Father of the Delawares: the world rests upon my turtle. When Tamanand was a little child there was no white man in the land. When the white man came he was welcome. My people gave him venison and corn. The Great Spirit has brought this chief here. The Manitou of our Fathers is now among us listening to our words and looking at our hearts. This is not a Council. All should be said and thought for the best. Tamanand has always been the friend of the stranger. He cannot now make himself a liar. The Great White Chief is welcome. We have heard he is good and just. That is well. The Manitou loves just men. Tamanand had a vision many summers ago. He dream- ed he saw these hills and valleys covered with white men, many as the sand on the shore, but he saw no Lenape. At first his heart
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was hot within him; then it became as the heart of a little child. It was the will of the Manitou. The Lenape will go back to their homes, near the setting sun, when that time comes. The stranger is welcome. It is the wind of the Manitou that has blown his canoe to our shore. He is welcome."
Tamanand then resumed his seat. A short silence followed, with gutteral murmurs of assent froni the Indians, and then with a dignity equal to that of Tamanand, Willian Penn rose:
Penn: "It is pleasant to hear the words of wisdom and of peace from the lips of the old. Thy words, Tamanand, have gone deep into my heart; thou art a good and wise chief; the chain shall be kept bright; the hatchet shall be buried forever between me and thee; if the white man wishes for land to plant corn, he will come to thee and say: 'Give me land where thou wilt and I will pay thee.' It shall be justly done. The stranger shall not take that which is not his own. Thy treaties with Corlær shall be as they have been. What Corlær promised we will do. What the stranger needs he shall pay for; there shall be no cloud of unjust dealing between thee and me; only the broad sunshine of justice and peace. I, too, have looked far away into the dream world; into that land of clouds when you and I shall have passed away to the Happy Hunting Grounds, as thou wouldst terni the Heaven of our God. I saw a great town where we now stand. I saw noble industries and broad farms about it. I saw countless ships at its wharvesand strange forms of new devices which I could not understand. I saw a just and a free people honoring God and their own manhood. But I, too, saw none of thy people. Thou art right. When that time comes they will have gone back to their far off homes bearing gifts and kind words from their white brothers. That time has not yet come. Thou art the owner here. Thou hast welcomed us. For myself and these, my friends, I thank thee and thy people. God shall judge between us, if either wrong the other."
Another murmur of approval from the Indians. Then Robert Wade approached and said:
"Will it please thee, friend William, to eat thy food in my poor house? Thou shalt be right welcome. Thou and thy people."
Penn: "I am right willing to do so, friend Robert, and it is but right that we should seek refreshment for these weak bodies of ours. Lead thou the way and I shall follow."
Then followed a courteous and dignified farewell to the Indians, Penn touching hands with the principal chiefs, and the whole party, headed by Penn and Wade, crossed to the site of the Essex House.
The part of Tamanand was well taken by Arthur Martin, and that of Bears Meat by Henry Greenwood. The braves, all of whom
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with their chiefs were in full Indian costume, were personated by Herbert Tunnicliffe, Terrill T. Williams, Henry P. Haney, John Coffin, James Thompson, C. George Hiorth, Eli MI. Weest and Frazer S. Stanley.
After this successtul inauguration of the day the crowd made its way to the open lot, corner of Concord avenue and Second street, where the grand stand had been erected and seats for two thous- and public school children arranged on the two sides of the square fronting the stand, with a raised platform for the band, in the cor- ner of the square. The sight of those eager young faces of children, dressed in holiday garb, with their school flags, badges and medals, was one that will not easily be forgotten, and the music of those hundreds of sweet young voices will long linger in the memory of those who listened.
On the grand stand were a number of prominent citizens, includ- ing the invited guests from Philadelphia and elsewhere, and the civic dignitaries from surrounding cities. Among these were Governor Hoyt, Col. A. Wilson Norris, Adjutant General James W. Latta, Col. D. Stanley Hassinger, Col. Campbell Tucker, Chief Engineer Samuel L. Smedley, the Executive Committee of the Bi-Centennial Association, Captain Dean, U. S. R. M .; Col. M. Richards Muckle, Major Charles K. Ide, President John McDonald, of the Produce Exchange, Frederick Lovejoy, Charles Lain, Carl Edelhein and S. J. Linch, Hugh J. Hamill, Galloway C. Morris, John E. Ford, Lewis Wiener and Alexander Barrows, of Baltimore. Mayor Barton, ex- Mayors Larkin and Forwood, Messrs. G. P. Denis and D. F. Hous- ton, Hons. William Ward and Robert Chadwick, Cols. W. C. Gray and P. M. Washabaugh, of Chester ; George E. Darlington, of Me- · dia ; Hon. W. B. Waddell and Robert E. Monaghan, of West Ches- ter ; William Simpson, Benjamin Gartside, Samuel Riddle, Daniel C. Abrams, Samuel Lewis, Hon. John M. Broomall, George Broom- all, David S. Bunting, Charles Roberts, Hugh Shaw, John B. Roach, Abram Blakeley, Richard Miller, HI. B. Black, Orlando Harvey, Revs. Thos. J. McCauley, Wm. J. Paxson, Henry Brown and others.
The number of people assembled in the square and streets near by must have exceeded ten thousand. They thronged upon the ground, the fences and the porches of the neighboring dwellings, while all convenient windows and housetops were filled with expec-
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tant faces, and the trees and lamp-posts bore a large crop of the ubi- quitous small boy.
The exercises began with some fine music by Oglesby's band of fifty pieces, stationed on the music stand, and when the last strains had died away, JAMES BARTON, Jr., Mayor of the City of Ches- ter, stepped forward and spoke as follows :
"Benjamin Ferris, in a letter written by him December 31st, 1851, which letter is now in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, refers to an old manuscript book or diary of Evan Oliver, one of the passengers on the ship 'Welcome,' in which is found the following passage: 'We came out of Radnorshire, in Wales, about the beginning of the 6th month, ( August ) 1682, and arrived at Upland, in Pennsylvania, in America, the 28th of the 8th month, 1682.'
"We know from William Penn's own manuscript that he was in the town of Upland the next day, namely the 29th. It is therefore probable that William Penn landed in Upland, now Chester, on the 28th.
"By an Act of the English Parliament, passed in 1751, for equal- izing the style of computation of time with the other countries of Europe, eleven days were omitted from the calendar, and the legal year was made to begin on the first day of January, instead of the 25th day of March. In consequence of the passage of that Act, the 200th anniversary of the landing of Penn falls on the 7th of No- vember, 1882.
"It may be asked why the citizens of Chester celebrate the land- ing on the 23d of October, fifteen days in advance of the admitted time.
"Without entering into a discussion of the propriety or impro- priety of celebrating an event upon any other day than its anniver- sary, I may say that the date for this celebration was fixed at the re- quest of the Bi-Centennial Association of Pennsylvania. At a meet- ing of that association, held last May, in Philadelphia, a resolution was adopted requesting the people of Chester to observe the 23d of October, and offering their co-operation. They had fixed upon the week commencing October 22d for the general celebration, leav- ing Monday open for Chester, that the ceremonies might properly commence upon the spot where the landing actually occurred. We adopted the suggestion contained in their resolutions, deeming it ex- pedient that the celebrations in the two cities should be continuous and uninterrupted even by the interval of a few days.
"For some reason best known to themselves, the gentlemen having in charge the details of the ceremonies on the 24th in Philadelphia, concluded to have a landing for themselves on that day, notwith- standing the fact that the first landing that William Penn ever made in their town was in 1683, when he went to Philadelphia, possibly
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on horseback, after having decided to change his seat of govern- ment from the former to the latter place.
"As a natural sequence, the encouragement and co-operation as- sured to us by the State Association in its earlier history have not been extended by the subordinate officers, namely by those in whose power it has been recently to rentler substantial assistance without trouble to themselves, and without interference with their own na- val display designed to commemorate the landing of Penn-from horseback, possibly-in their city in 1683. Therefore, while to-mor- row Philadelphia will indulge in a fiction of a Penn's Lan ling, Ches- ter to-day reproduces the counterpart of the original that history recognizes. The naval display which we had expected up to with- in a few days we could present to you as an interesting feature of the ceremonies in commemoration of the original landing, is denied us, while a large fleet is at this very moment lying quietly at anchor within a few miles of us; lacking only the consent of the gentlemen before refered to, to enable them to appear in the waters before our city.
"To our visitors I desire to extend a cordial welcome. I trust that you may be interested in our exercises and that you may return to your homes without accident, and with a pleasant recollection of your visit among us."
On the conclusion of this address the Rev. Henry Brown, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Chester, made the following prayer :
"Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who art the author and giver of all good things, we desire to bless Thee for Thy merciful kindness towards us in the past and to pray that Thou wilt gra- ciously continue Thy goodness to us in the future ; that Thou wilt be with us as Thou wast with our fathers.
"We thank Thee, O Lord, for the good examples of all those, Thy servants, who having finished their course in faith, do now rest from their labors, especially for the good example and good deeds of Thy servant, the Proprietor and first Governor of this great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, who two centuries ago land- ed upon these shores, and was enabled by Thy help to lay founda- tions deep and broad upon principles of truth, justice and peace for the maintenance of peace, for the maintenance of law and good Government, with equal rights for all, and that every man should have liberty to worship Thee according to the dictates of his own conscience, with none to make him afraid. It is of such, Thou hast said, they shall be had in everlasting remembrance. We come to do lionor to-day to the memory of William Penn in calling to mind his pure life, liis faith in God, his wise, beneficent gov- ernment, and to thank Thee for the blessings we now enjoy through his instrumentality. Be with us in the exercises of this day. May we not fall into sin, or run into any kind of danger.
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"Bless our rulers-the President of these United States, the Governors of each State, our Senators and Representatives, the Legislators of the State of Pennsylvania, and all who bear office among us-may they be men fearing God and working righteous- ness. Direct them in all their doings with Thy most gracious favor and further them with Thy continual help. And graciously incline the hearts of all the people of our land to Thy fear and love, that it may be well with them in the land which Thou gavest unto their fathers, and when our work on earth is done receive us unto Thy kingdom in Heaven through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen."
The school children then sang very sweetly and in good time the well known hymn, "America." The singing by two thousand of these little ones, under the able direction of Prof. John R. Sweney, and accompanied by Oglesby's band, was one of the most effective features of the day.
After this Governor Hoyt was introduced to the assemblage and as soon as the applause which greeted his appearance subsided, made a brief address, in which he thanked the Committee for their invitation to be present and congratulated his hearers upon the pro- . gress that had been made in the past two hundred years, at the same time expressing the conviction that the humanizing principles upon which Penn had founded this grand old Commonwealth had spread among the people of the different nationalities who made up its sturdy and industrious population and still had active existence.
When the Governor had concluded his remarks the band gave a fine selection, and this was followed by an original poem by the Rev. SAMUEL PANCOAST, of Conshohocken M. E Church :
BI-CENTENNIAL POEM.
With reverent steps we tread this ground. While sacred memories cluster round, And gather o'er historic line -. The past and present in our minds.
Hail, sacred morn, whose rosy light
Dawns on our land so rich and bright,
Where dwells the truths in hearts of men,
Bequeathed us by our Founder Penn.
Borne to this river's quiet side, By gentle winds and Howing tide,
Was that trne man, so good and great,
Whose landing now we celebrate.
A forest vast. stretched far away Beyond the hills of setting day, Where treasures vast were locked in store Of mountain wood and buried ore.
The Sylvan groves, without a bound, For which a name had not been found,
This good man saw like parchment fair, And placed his name forever there.
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In honesty the bounds he laid With lines well drawn and clearly made, With treaty true and title sure. Should stand through centuries secure.
He had not come in quest of wealth. The fruit of avarice. fraud and stealth, But to enrich all hearts and hands, Who sought a home within these lands.
He had not come with cruel heart, To play with shame the Tyrant's part, But that in this domain should be The glorious reign of liberty.
He left a land where men did groan Beneath the power of despotic throne, Where prisons dark and towers strong Were scenes of infamy and wrong.
He taught that conscience should be free, And all mankind should equal be. Before that God, who roles o'er all
With love alike to great and small.
In prison cells he learned to prize The rights of all beneath the skies, And sought this land beyond the sea. Where men forever should be free.
Like peaceful suns which rise to bless. And clothe the world with beanteons dress, So came this man to break the gloom, And make the desert sing and bloom.
With head so wise, with heart so pure, He framed the laws that should endure. That truth and justice should prevail, And righteousness should never fail.
No stars so bright had ever shone Around an earthly mon irch's throne, As gathered in the precepts rare In which his colony should share.
Here patient toil rewards should gain And gather wealth from fertile plain, In peaceful homes the land abound And plenty everywhere be found.
For daizzling court no place was made, For titled rank no plan was laid, But every man a sovereign born,
Whom truth and virtue should adorn.
No ranks of men, with burnished arms, To shelter men from fancied harms, Stood round this band of honest men, Who shared the faith of William Penn.
The brotherhood of men they taught That war with cruelty was naught, And conquest higher they could show Without an arrow from the bow.
No fettered slave among them stood And handed with ignoble biood, No unpaid toil they sought to gain, Secured by stripes or threats of pain.
But every man by birth was free, Whate'er his clime or color be. And thus proclaimed no power can Give right to property in man.
No one was forced by outh to say These truthful precepts they'd obey, For with the good there never needs An oath to bind to sacred deeds.
We learn to-day from many a page Our progress made from age to agr,
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Since first our Fathers landed here, Until this Bi-Centennial year.
From forest deep came fertile fields, Which year by year rich harvest yields. And mines of wealth which constant pour "Their treasures vast in bounteous store.
Where then were wastes now cities stand, And bounteous towns dot all the land, And industry and watchful care Have scattered plenty everywhere.
And science. too, her seat hath spread, And wisdom in her light doth tread, Upon her record names now stand, The peers of any other land.
And in these centuries which have gone What tongue can tell the labor done, Or what the progress mind has made, Or what the gathered stores of trade.
How mines of wealth have been explored. How streams of oil like rivers poured, From mountain side to cities great, Throughout this grand and mighty State.
The peace that early was bestowed Has found with us a safe abode, And yet we stood with courage brave,
The wrong to crush, the right to save.
The right to save the earth has drank 'The blood of men by rank in rank, And their brave deeds gave us renown At Brandywine and Germantown.
Along our valleys thick are spread The graves of our heroic dead, Whose sacred dust we guard with care, And in whose fame we all do share.
And step by step our Nation's power
Has risen like a lofty tower, And spread an arch from sea to sea, While Penn's great State has been the key.
And through the Nation's wondrous life, Of burdened cares and bitter strife, Our Keystone stood, with strength and grace, Which not a hand could e'er entace.
Now while the past we bid adieu, And to the future cast our view, Our vision sweeps the prospect bright, "That every where breaks on our sight.
Our vast resources now revealed, Is pouring wealth from every field And causing rich supplies to come Around the hearth of every home.
By products of our brain and hand We build our homes and til' our land, By lightning, too, our letter write, And chase the darkness from the night.
The near and distant now come nigh, While words o'er lengthened wires fly, And miles away the listening ear, The words of love and profit hear.
And where the ship once anchor cast, With wooden sides and slender mast, And from whose deck the little band Of Penn first looked upon this land,
We build great ships of lengthened keel, With iron sides and ribs of steel, Whose giant prows can ever brave The greatest force of ocean's wave.
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What now is past so strange doth seem, As story told of fairy's dream, But coming men will yet relate
Of greater progress in this State.
By our great schools. in number vast,
The future shall exceed the past,
And cultured care shall make sublime
The glory of the coming time.
And when has passed a century more, And others gather on this shore
To tell of further triumphs, then
They'll bless the name of William Penn. -
Then the children sang again "Two Hundred Years have Rolled Away;" words by George Cooper, of New York, music by Professor Sweney, and after this the Orator of the day, Hon. JOHN M. BROOMALL, of Media, was introduced and spoke as follows :
The event we commemorate stands alone. It has no parallel in the history of the founding of States and Nations. Two centuries ago a few men, back- ed by no military power and proposing to use none, landed here, in a country possessed by barbarous tribes, rendered suspicious and inimical by the treat- ment they had received at the hands of the kindred of the immigrants for more than a century, and by pure force of kindness and justice obtained possession of the country and founded a State. To render the enterprise more difficult, set- tlements had been made at the same place by civilized men of two other na- tions, hostile to one another and to the immigrants, and not living upon the best terms with the natives, men who had left their homes in Europe from a spirit of restlessnes if not lawlessness; and who had effected a precarious lodg- ment among the natives by force or threat of arms, meeting cruelty with cruelty, crime with crime, the tomahawk and scalping knife with the gun and sword. And yet in a few months all these discordant elements had been reduced to peaceable and willing submission to a single master mind.
William Penn was no ordinary man. Living in an age of superstition and bigotry, with the fires of the inquisition hardly extinguished, with the prison and the gallows still the recognized means of advancing the cause of Chris- tianity, he became the champion of universal liberty of conscience, a measure then looked upon as the most insidious form of heresy. When the nations of Europe knew no mode of settling their disputes except by the sword, and when a depraved public taste made war the only occupation of a gentleman, he urged upon the Rulers, both by tongue and pen, the establishment of an in- ternational tribunal, to decide their controversies; thus anticipating by two hundred years, the measure which is now demanding the attention of the civilized world in terms that will not long be denied or evaded. War means national debt; and there is a limit to the ability of nations to borrow. When that limit is reached, Europe must break down in anarchy or quit fighting.
When even the churches taught that uncivilized men have no rights which Christians are bound to respect; and that the only way to deal with a weaker people is with brute force, Penn refused to receive the property of the In- dians except by fair purchase. And he met them, not with ships bristling with cannon, not with armed legions, but as friend meets friend, with hand as open as his heart, inviting the fraternal feeling he extended, the love he felt, in the name of the universal Father. the God of Love. In short he taught the principles inculcated in the Sermon on the Mount were not glit- tering generalities, the effusions of a mere dreamer, but were intended as & rule of human conduct for States and Nations as well as individuals. Will the Christian world in its nineteenth century say he was wrong ?
There are two modes of obtaining the property of another. One is by
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stealing it. If the job is small this is called larceny; if large it is called war. In the former case the perpetrator is locked up; in the latter he is crowned. The other mode is by buying it. This requires the assent of two minds, mutually agreeing to the change of ownership. The watch word of the reform mode is: "To the victors belong the spoils," while that of the latter mode is: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." There are two modes of settling disputes, whether individual or national. One is by sub- mitting them to the arbitrary will of the stronger. In this also, the nomen- clature differs with the magnitude of the job. If small it is called assault and battery, if large it is called war. The other is by agreement. This may be either an agreement to settle, or an agreement to submit the cause of quarrel to the arbitrament of disinterested men. On both these subjects Penn had decided convictions and they governed his conduct through life.
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