USA > Pennsylvania > Greene County > History of Greene County, Pennsylvania > Part 6
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HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
It was a joyful day for Penn when he received, at the hands of the King, the great charter, drawn with sneh liberality, conferring almost unlimited power, and with so many marks of the kindness of heart and personal favor of his sovereign. He had long meditated of a free commonwealth where it should be the study of the law- giver to form his codes with an eye to the greatest good and happi- ness of his subjects, and where the supreme delight of the subject would be to render implicit obedience to its requirements. Plato's dream of an ideal republic, a land of just laws and happy men, " the dream of that city where all goodness should dwell, whether such has ever existed in the infinity of days gone by, or even now exists in the gardens of the Hesperides far from our sight and knowledge, or will perchance hereafter, which, though it be not on earth, must have a pattern of it laid up in heaven," -- such a dream was ever in the mind of Penn. The thought that he now had in a new country an almost unlimited stretch of land, where he could go and set up his republic, and form and govern it to his own sweet will. and in con- formity to his cherished ideal, thrilled his soul and filled him with unspeakable delight. But he was not puffed up with vain glory. To his friend Turner he writes: " My true love in the Lord salutes thee, and dear friends that love the Lord's precious truth in those parts. Thine epistle I have, and, for my business here, know that after many waitings. watchings, solicitings and disputes in council, this day my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsyl- vania, a name the king would give it in honor of my father.
Thon mayest communicate my grant to Friends, and expect shortly my proposals. It is a clear and just thing, and my God, that has given it me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation." And may we not cherish the belief that the many and signal blessings which have come to this common- wealth in succeeding years, have come through the devont and pions spirit of the founder.
Ile liad seen the companions of his religious faith sorely treated throughout all England, and for them he now saw the prospect of a release from their tribulations. Penn himself had come up through bitter perseention and scorn on account of his religion. At the age of fifteen he entered Oxford University, and for the reason that he and some of his fellow-students practiced the faith of the Friends, they were admonished and finally expelled. Returning to his home in Ireland, where his father had large estates, his serious deportment gave great offence, the father fearing that his advancement at court would thereby be marred. Thinking to break the spirit of the son. the boy was whipped, and finally expelled from the family home. At Cork, where he was employed in the service of the Lord Lien-
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tenant, he, in company with others, was apprehended at a religious meeting of Friends, and cast into prison. While thus incarcerated he wrote to the Lord President of Munster, pleading for liberty of conscience. On being liberated he became more devoted than before. and so impressed was he with a sense of religious duty that he be- came a minister of the gospel. Religious controversy at this time was sharp, and a pamphlet, which he wrote, gave so much offense to the Bishop of London that Penn was thrown into the Tower, where he languished for eight and a half months. But he was not idle, and one of the books which he wrote during his imprisonment, -- " No Cross, No Crown,"-attained a wide circulation, and is still read with satisfaction by the faithful in all lands. Fearing that his motives might be misconceived, he made this distinct statement of his belief, " Let all know this, that I pretend to know no other name by which remission, atonement and salvation ean be obtained but Jesus Christ, the Savior, who is the power and wisdom of (fod." Upon his release he continued to preach and exhort, was arrested with his associate Mead. and was tried at the Old Bailey. Penn plead his own cause with great boldness and power, and was acquitted; but the court imposed a fine for contempt in wearing his hat, and, for non-payment, was east into Newgate with common felons. At this time, 1670, the father, feeling his end approaching, sent money privately to pay the fine, and summoned the son to his bedside. The meeting was deeply affecting. The father's heart was softened and completely broken, and, as would seem from his words, had be- come converted to the doctrines of the son, for he said to him with his parting breath, "Son William. I am weary of the world! I would not live over again my days, if I could command it with a wish: for the snares of life are greater than the fears of death. This troubles me, that I have offended a gracious God. The thought of that has followed me to this day. Oh! have a care of sin! It is that which is the sting both of life and death. Let nothing in this world tempt to wrong your conscience; so you will keep peace at home, which will be a feast to you in the day of trouble." Before his death he sent a friend to the Duke of York with a dying request, that the Duke would endeavor to protect his son from persecution, and use his influence with the King to the same end.
The King had previously given James, Duke of York, a charter for Long Island, with an indefinite western boundary, and, lest this might at some future day compromise his right to some portion of his territory, Penn indneed the Duke to execute a deed for the same territory covered by the royal charter, and substantially in the same words used in describing its limits. But he was still not satisfied to have the shores of the only navigable river communicating with the ocean under the dominion of others, who might in time become
John f Sfruller
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hostile and interfere with the free navigation of the stream. He accordingly induced the Duke to make a grant to him of New Castle and New Castle County, and on the same day a grant of the territory stretching onward to the sea, covering the two counties of Kent and Sussex. the two grants together embracing what were designated the territories, or the three lower counties, what in after years became the State of Delaware; but by which acts became and long remained ยท component parts of Pennsylvania. No such colony as Delaware ever existed. This gave Penn a considerable population, as in these three counties the Dutch and Swedes since 1609 had been settling.
Penn was now ready to settle his own colony and try his schemes of government. Lest there might be a misapprehension respecting his purpose in obtaining his charter, and unworthy persons with un- worthy motives might be induced to emigrate. he declares repeatedly his own sentiments: "For my country I eyed the Lord in obtaining it: and more was I drawn inwards to look to Him, and to owe to His hand and power than to any other way. I have so obtained and desire to keep it. that I may not be unworthy of His love, but do that which may answer His kind providence and people."
In choosing a form of government he was much perplexed. Ile had thought the government of England all wrong. when it bore so heavily upon him and his friends, and he, doubtless. thought in his carlier years, that he could order one in righteousness; but when it was given him to draw a form that should regulate the affairs of the future state, he hesitated. " For particular frames and models. it
will become me to say little. 'Tis true, men 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 want of using them rightly. Men side with their passions against their reason, and their sinister in- terests have so strong a bias upon their minds that they lean to them against the things they know. 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. I know what is said of the several admirers of Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy, which are the rule of one. of a few, and of many, and are the three common ideas of government. when men discourse on that subject. But I propose 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 when all is said, there is hardly one frame of goverment 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
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do nothing that is great and good; witness the Jewish and the Roman states. Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them are they ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men, than men upon governments. 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 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, which stand as a preface to his frame of government, are given at some length here, in order to show the temper of mind and heart of Penn, as he entered upon his great work. He seems like one who stands before the door of a royal palace, and is loth to lay his hand upon the knob, whose turn shall give him en- trance, for fear his tread should be unsanctified by the grace of Heaven, or lack favor in the eyes of his subjects. For he says in closing his disquisition : " These considerations of the weight of government, and the nice and varied opinions about it, made it In- easy to me to think of publishing the ensuing frame and conditional laws. forseeing both the censures they will meet with from men of differing humours and engagements, and the occasion they may give of discourse beyond my design. But next to the power of necessity. 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 in reverence with the peo- ple, 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 withont liberty is slavery. To carry this evenness is partly owing to the constitution, and partly to the magistracy ; where
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either of these fail, government will be subject to confusion; but where both are wanting, it must be totally subverted; then where both meet, the government is like to endure. Which Ihumbly pray and hope God will please to make the lot of this of Pennsylvania. Amen."
In such temper, and with such a spirit did our great founder ap- proach the work of drawing a frame of government and laws for his proposed community, insignificant in numbers at first; but destined at no distant day to embrace millions. It is not to be wondered at that he felt great solicitude, in view of the future possibilities. With great care and tenderness for the rights and privileges of the in- dividual, he drew the frame or constitution in twenty-four sections. and the body of laws in forty. And who can estimate the power for good to this people, of the system of government set up by this pious. God fearing man, every provision of which was a subject of his prayers, and tears, and the deep vearnings of a sanctified heart.
The town meeting works the destruction of thrones. Penn's system was, in effect, at the ontset. a free Democracy, where the in- dividual was supreme. Had King Charles foreseen, when he gave his charter, what principles of freedom to the individual would be em- bodied in the government of the new colony, and would be nurtured in the breasts of the oncoming generations, if he had held the purpose of keeping this a constituent and obedient part of his kingdom. he would have witheld his assent to it, as elements were implanted there- in antagonistic to arbitrary, kingly rule. But men sometimes con- trive better than they know, and so did Charles.
When finished, the frame of government was published, and was sent out, accompanied with a description of the country, and especial care was taken that these should reach the members of the society of Friends. Many of the letters written home to friends in England by those who had settled in the country years before, were curious and amnsing, and well calculated to excite a desire to emigrate. Two years before this, Mahlon Stacy wrote an account of the country, which the people of our day would scarcely be able to match. " I have seen," he says, "orchards laden with fruit to admiration; their very limbs torn to pieces with weight, most delicious to the taste, and lovely to behold. I have seen an apple-tree, from a pippin-kernel. vield a barrel of curious cider, and peaches in such plenty that some people took their carts a peach-gathering. I could not but smile at the conceit of it; they are very delicious fruit, and hang almost like our onions. that are tied on ropes. I have seen and know, this snin- iner, forty bushels of bold wheat of one bushel sown .. From May to Michaelmas great store of very good wild fruit as strawberries. cranberries and hurtleberries, which are like our bilberries in Eng- land, only far sweeter; the cranberries, much like cherries for color
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and bigness, which may be kept till fruit comes again; an excellent sauce is made of them for venison, turkeys, and other great fowl, and they are better to make tarts of than either gooseberries or cherries; we have them brought to our houses by the Indians in great plenty. My brother Robert had as many cherries this year as would have loaded several carts. As for venison and fowls we have great plenty; we have brought home to our countries by the Indians, seven or eight fat bucks in a day. We went into the river to catch her- rings after the Indian fashion. We could have filled a three-bushel sack of as good large herrings as ever I saw. And as to beef and pork, here is a great plenty of it, and good sheep. The common grass of the country feeds beef very fat. Indeed, the country, take it as a wilderness, is a brave country.",
If the denizens of England were to accept this description as a true picture of the productions and possibilities of the New World, they might well copelude with the writer that "for a wilderness" it was a " brave country," and we can well understand why they flocked to the new El Dorado. But lest any might be tempted to go with- out sufficient consideration, Penn issued a pronunciamento, urging every one who contemplated removal thither to consider well the in- conveniences of the voyage, and the labor and privation required of emigrants to a wilderness country, "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 that there should be no deception or misunderstanding in regard to the rights of property, Penn drew up "Certain Conditions and Concessions" before leaving England, which he circulated freely, touching the laying ont of roads and highways, the plats of towns, the settling of communities on ten thousand acre tracts, so that friends and relatives might be together; declaring that the woods, rivers, quarries and mines are the exclusive property of those on whose purchases they were found; for the allotment to servants; that. the Indians shall be treated justly; the Indians' furs should be sold in open market; that the Indian shall be treated as a citizen, and that no man shall leave the province without giving three weeks' publie notice posted in the market-place, that all claims for indebted- ness might be liquidated. These and many other. matters of like tenor form the subject of these remarkable concessions, all tending to show the solicitude of Penn for the interests of his colonists, and that none should say that he deceived or overreached them in the sale of his lands. He foresaw the liability that the natives would be under to be deceived and cheated by the crafty and designing, being entirely unskilled in judging of the values of things. He accordingly devotes a large proportion of the matter of these concessions to secure and defend the rights of the ignorant natiyes, If it was possible to
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inake a human being conform to the rights and privileges of civilized society, and make him truly an enlightened eitizen, Penn's treatment of the Indian was calculated to make him so. Ile treated the natives as his own people, as citizens in every important partienlar, and as destined to an immortal inheritance. Ile wrote to them: "There is a great God and power that hath made the world and all things therein, to whom you and I and all people owe their being and well- being; and to whom you and I must one day give an account for all that we do in the world. This great God hath written His law in our hearts, by which we are taught and commanded to love, and help, and do good to one another. Now the great God hath been pleased to make me concerned in your part of the world, and the king of the country where I live hath given me a great province therein; but I desire to enjoy it with your love and consent, that we may always live together as neighbors and friends; else what would the great God do to ns, 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 un- kindness and injustice that have been too much exercised towards you by the people of these parts of the world, who have sought them- selves, and to make great advantages by you, rather than to be ex- amples of goodness and patience unto you, which I hear hath been a matter of trouble to you. and caused great grudging and animosities, sometimes to the shedding of blood, which hath made the great God angry. But I am not such a man, as is well known in my country. I have great love and regard toward you, and desire to gain your love and friendship by a kind, just and peaceable life, and the people I send are of the same mind, and shall in all things behave them- selves accordingly ; and if in anything any shall offend you or your people, you shall have a full and speedy satisfaction for the same by an egnal 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 yon myself, at which time we may more largely and freely confer and discourse of these matters. In the meantime I have sent my commissioners to treat with you about land, and form a league of peace. Let me desire you to be kind to them and their people, and receive these tokens and presents 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." Such was the mild and gentle attitude in which Penn came to the natives.
Had the Indian character been capable of being broken and changed, so as to have adopted the careful and laborious habits which Europeans possess, the aborigines might have been assimilated and be- come a constituent part of the population. Such was the expectation of Penn. They could have become citizens, as every other foreign
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race have. But the Indian could no more be tamed than the wild partridge of the woods. Fishing and hunting were his occupation, and if any work or drudgery was to be done, it was shifted to the women, as being beneath the dignity of the free savage of the forest. Two hundred and fifty years of intercourse with European civiliza- tion and customs have not in the least changed his nature. He is essentially the savage still, as he was on the day when Columbus first met him, four hundred years ago.
But this fact does not change the aspeet in which we should view the pious and noble intents of Penn, and they must ever be regarded with admiration, as indicative of his loving and merciful purposes. He not only provided that they should be treated as human beings, on principles of justice and mercy, but he was particular to point ont to his commissioners the manners which should be preserved in their presence: "Be tender of offending the Indians, and let them know that you come to sit down lovingly among them. Let my letter and conditions be read in their tongue, that they may see we have their good in our eye. Be grave. They love not to be smiled on."
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CHAPTER V.
MARKHAM FIRST GOVERNOR-SAILS FOR NEW YORK AND IS ACCORDED PERMISSION TO ASSUME CONTROL ON THE DELAWARE-PURCHASE LAND OF THE INDIANS -- SEEK A SITE OF A GREAT CITY -- PENN SAILS FOR AMERICA-ADVICE TO WIFE AND CHILDREN ON LEAV- ING-LOVE OF RURAL LIFE -- THIRTY PASSENGERS DIE ON THE VOYAGE -- CALLS AN ASSEMBLY AND ENACTS LAWS-CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY -- VISITS SITE OF THE NEW CITY-SATISFIED WITH IT-VISITS GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK AND FRIENDS IN LONG ISLAND AND JERSEY-DISCUSSES BOUNDARY WITH LORD BALTI- MORE-THE GREAT TREATY-METHOD OF THE INDIANS-TERMS OF THE TREATY-SPEECH OF PENN-LEGAL FORMS OBSERVED- " TREATY TREE" PRESERVED -- WALKING PURCHASE-CONSIDER- ATION OF PENN -- INJUSTICE OF LATER GOVERNOR -- RAPID INCREASE PENN DESCRIBES THE NEW CITY-DISTANCES FROM THE CHIEF CITIES-LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE -- DESIGNS RIVER BANK FOR A PUBLIC PARK-DISREGARDED -- NAMES HIS CITY PINILA- DELPHIA-GROWTH OF THE COLONY-COMPARED WITH OTHER COLONIES.
ATOT being in readiness to go immediately to his province, Penn issued a commission bearing date March 6, 1681, to his cousin, William Markham, as Lieutenant Governor, and sent him forward with three ship-loads of settlers to take possession of his province. Markham sailed directly to New York, where he exhibited his com- mission to the acting governor of that province, who made a record of the fact, and gave Gov. Markham a letter addressed to the civil magistrates on the Delaware thanking them for their zeal and fidelity, and directing them to transfer their allegiance to the new Proprietary. Armed now with complete authority, Markham proceeded to the Delaware, where he was kindly received and all allegiance promptly accorded to him as the rightful governor. Markham was accompanied by four commissioners, who were first to establish friendly relations with the Indians and acquire land by purchase, and second to select and survey and lay out the plot of a great city. Penn had received a complete grant and deed of transfer of these lands, and had he fol- lowed the example of the other colonists he would have taken arbi- trary possession without consulting the natives. But he held that their claims to rightful ownership by possession for immemorial
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time, must first be satisfied. Accordingly, following the pacific in- structions of Penn, the commissioners found no difficulty in opening negotiations with the simple inhabitants of the forest, and in pur- chasing long reaches of land on the south and west bank of the Del- aware and far beyond the Schuylkill.
But it was not so easy to find a site for a great city to completely fill all the conditions which the founder had imposed. It must be on a stream navigable, where many boats could ride in safety and of sufficient depth so that ships could come up to the wharf and load and unload withont " boating and lightening of it." " The situation must be high, at least dry and sound, and not swampy, which is best known by digging up two or three earths and seeing the bottom." The site was to contain a block of 10,000 square acres in one square, and the streets to be regularly laid ont. " Let every house be placed. if the person pleases, in the middle of its plat, as to the breadth- way of it, that so there may be ground on each side for gardens or orchards or fields, that it may be a green country town, which will never be burned, and always wholesome."
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