USA > Pennsylvania > The history of Pennsylvania from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 3
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1876.
skilful expedients, WILLIAM PENN possessed high requisites for the labour he undertook. Like other philanthropists, however, he accomplished more for the world than for himself. It is the penalty of those who win for others to lose for themselves.
CHAPTER II.
Penn's position at the court of Charles II .- His personal rela- tions with all shades of faith and politics-Algernon Sidney -The royal grant of a province to William Penn-Abstract of the charter-Its resemblance to that of Maryland-Nature of Penn's tenure-Character of his powers-Mistake in his terms of sale-His estimate of the grant-Philanthropic mo- tives-Markham sent to America-King's proclamation, and Penn's letter to the inhabitants of his province-Lands offered for sale-Terms-Penn's conditions with purchasers -Commissioners sent over-Their instructions-Site of a town-Letter of Penn to the Indians-Penn refuses to sell a monopoly-Notice of the Society of Free Traders-Their city property-Society Hill.
' ON his death-bed Admiral Penn secured the interest of the Duke of York for his son William. Both of the royal brothers appear to have enter- tained a high respect for Admiral Penn, and were ready to promise any thing which he de- sired. And they could the easier keep their pledge to William Penn, since what the young man desired neither impoverished the exchequer
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LIFE OF PENN.
1681.]
nor interfered with government patronage. He was the suitor neither for place nor pension for himself or his friends. The favours he asked were in behalf of the great principle of tolerance, and freedom of thought and of worship; and his plea availed the more that the inclination of Charles and James to the Latin church put them also in the position of pleaders for tolerance. What they granted to William Penn in behalf of Quakers and other Protestant dissenters, had a beneficial tendency toward the disfranchised members of the Roman communion; and Penn thus became liable to the charge of being a Jesuit. We need not say now how unfounded was this allegation, though it was made a con- temporary means of no small annoyance to him. The Duke of Ormond, whose friendship to young Penn we have had occasion to notice, the Earl of Orrery, who released him from prison at Cork, Lord Arran, and others of Penn's friends, were also adherents of Rome. But, on the other hand, Tillotson and Stillingfleet, and other eminent men in the Church of England, and several of the leading Protestant dissenters, knew and loved the man. In his personal intercourse he stood in friendly relations with whigs, tories, and re- publicans ; though his political sympathies, when it was necessary to avow them, identified him with the latter party. He earnestly acted in behalf of Algernon Sidney, in that gentleman's
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681.
abortive attempts to be returned to Parliament. He spared neither his purse nor his personal in- fluence ; he paid and pamphleteered in behalf of his friend. The result was the return of Sidney twice by the suffrages of the electors; but neither the modes of nullifying a popular election nor the audacity to put them in practice, were want- ing on that day, and Sidney was refused his seat. Living monuments of the friendship of Penn and Sidney abound in some districts of Pennsylvania, where the name of the latter, first given to chil- dren out of respect to the martyr in the cause of popular rights, has been "re-given" to gene- ration after generation, and is indiscriminately conferred upon male and female.
Penn's interest at court procured him in 1681 the grant of the tract of land in America, now known as the State of Pennsylvania. . Penn in- herited from his father a demand of sixteen thousand pounds, in part arrears of pay, and in part money advanced ; and the patent to William Penn cancelled this debt. After the necessary canvassings of rival claims, and the careful con- sideration of provisions, that the grant might not interfere with others, the patent of Penn received the royal signature on the 4th day 'of March, 1681. Penn writes to a friend on the 5th :- "This day my country was confirmed to me, under the great seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsyl-
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CHARTER GRANTED.
1681.]
vania, a name the king would give it, in honour of my father. It is a clear and just thing, and my God that has given it to me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless it, and make it the seed of a nation." The charter is said to have been drafted by Penn himself, after the charter of Maryland, and was revised by the crown officers, who made some amendments. What these amendments were, do not appear. But there are two important variations from the Maryland charter, which may readily be inferred not to have originated with Penn. One of these reserves to Parliament the power to levy taxes and generally to legislate for the country ; and the other requires a copy of the colonial laws to be sent to England for the approbation of the Privy Council. The rest of the charter is in harmony with the charter of Maryland, even to the clause securing to the Bishop of London the appointment of a clergyman to reside in the province, upon the request of twenty inhabitants. The Bishop of London had, ex-officio, the eccle- siastical control of the colonies. Maryland was granted to patentees who were of the Roman church-as much dissenters in England as the Friends were ; and though Penn's principles and practice made such a provision unnecessary, yet to admit it in adopting the rest would have seemed invidious.
The preamble of the charter recites, as the
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681.
reason of the grant, the commendable desire of William Penn to enlarge the boundaries of the British empire by procuring commodities of trade, and to reduce the savage natives by just and gentle manners. And the merits of Admiral Penn were not forgotten in the enumeration of the motives which led to the royal grant. The boundaries defined by the charter were as follows : "On the east by Dela- ware River, from twelve miles distance north- wards of New Castle town, unto the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, if the said river doth extend so far northward; but if the said river shall not extend so far northward, then by the said river so far as it doth extend; and from the head of the said river the eastern bounds are to be determined by a meridian line, to be drawn from the head of the said river unto the said forty-third degree. The said land to extend westward five degrees in longitude, to be computed from the eastern bounds; and the said lands to be bounded on the north by the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude, and on the south by a circle at twelve miles distance from New Castle, northward and westward unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern latitude, and then by a straight line westward to the limits of longitude above mentioned."
The free use of the province, and all its in- cidents and products, and the fee of the soil, was
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1681.] POWERS OF THE CHARTER. 45 .
granted to Penn in "free and common socage, by fealty only, for all services, and not in capite or knight service." This word " socage," de- rived from the Saxon "soke," a plough, is used to denote any tenure not military or quasi-mili- tary, but based on an annual rent. In Penn's charter this rent was fixed at two beaver skins annually, and one-fifth of any gold or silver ore which might be found in the province. Thus his tenure was a feudal one, though divested of burdensome feudal usages, for he was empowered by a special clause of his charter to sell or lease on any terms he chose, granting fee-simple or any other terms ; whereas the English law, with- out this proviso, would have compelled him to lease to his sub-tenants in the same form by which he held of the king. In the contingency of leaving no heirs, the "seignory of Pennsyl- vania," one of the most magnificent ever held, would have reverted to the English sovereign, who, in the eye of the law is lord (or lady) para- mount over all lands.
The powers conferred were ample, and almost absolute. The proprietor was empowered to enact laws with the assent of the freemen of the province ; to appoint judges and other officers ; to pardon crimes, murder and treason excepted ; to grant reprieves in all cases until the pleasure of the crown were known ; to make ordinances, (not affecting the property or persons of indi-
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681.
viduals) in cases requiring a prompt remedy, when the freemen could not be conveniently as- sembled ; to divide the province into towns, hundreds, and counties ; to incorporate towns, boroughs, and cities; to erect manors; to con- stitute fairs and markets, ports and harbours, at which the officers of the king's customs were to have free admission ; to levy duties on imports and exports, saving to the king such duties as should be levied by Act of Parliament. He was clothed with the powers of captain-general, and authorized to levy troops, and to make war by sea and land against neighbouring barbarous nations, pirates or robbers. He was required to keep an agent in or near London, to answer for any misdemeanour, on his part, against the laws regulating trade or navigation; and in case of such misdemeanour, if reparation were not made within one year, the king might seize and retain the government until compensation should be made. He was forbidden to hold correspond- ence with any power at war with England, or to make war with any nation in amity with the parent country.
It was provided that the laws of England, regulating property, defining crimes, and pre- scribing punishments, should continue in force, until altered by the provincial legislature ; and that duplicates of the colonial laws should be transmitted 'to the privy council within five
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1681.]
POWERS OF THE CHARTER.
years after their enactment, and if not disap- proved within six months after, delivery, that they should continue in force; that appeals from the decrees of the courts in civil cases might be made to the king in council ; that English sub- jects might freely transport themselves to the province ; that the colonists might import every species of merchandise from England, and that they should confine their exports to England alone. The king was restrained from imposing any tax or custom on the inhabitants, their lands or goods, unless by the consent of the proprie- tary then chief governor, or by the assembly, or by Act of Parliament in England.
In case twenty of the inhabitants should de- sire of the Bishop of London to send a preacher to reside in the province, he was to be permitted to perform his functions without molestation. And, lastly, if any difference should arise con- cerning the meaning of the charter, it was to be construed in a manner most favourable to the proprietary.
Such is a summary of the charter granted by Charles II. to William Penn. The friendship and good offices of the Duke of York furthered his views, that nobleman causing his desire that Penn should succeed to be communicated to the privy council. A great deal of wisdom was ex- hibited by all the parties to the business, in the careful preparation of a document which should
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. - [1681.
save future disputes. `The proprietary, however, failed to avail himself of its full advantages, by disregarding the clause which released him from the necessity of requiring annual quit rents. He was empowered by the charter to receive the full value, or such an increased price as would have made this reserve unnecessary. Had he done so, a fruitful source of disputes would have been
avoided. In giving to the Parliament the right to tax the colonists, another cause of trouble was left. Probably from neither of these circum- stances was difficulty apprehended. In regard to taxation, Penn leaves us to infer that he was pleased to obtain payment of his claim upon any terms, and would not therefore be too exacting. He writes in April, 1681, a month after the granting of his charter :- "I have been these thirteen years the servant of truth and Friends, and for my testimony sake lost much, not only by the greatness and preferments of this world, but sixteen thousand pounds of my estate, that, had I not been that I am, I had long ago ob- tained. But I murmur not; the Lord is good to me, and the interest of his truth with his people For many are may move them to repay it. drawn forth to be concerned with me, and per- haps this way of satisfaction has more of the hand of God in it than a downright payment."
It was not merely, or principally the recovery of his debt that induced Penn to obtain the char-
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PENN'S MOTIVES.
1681.]
. ter of Pennsylvania. In the same letter which we have quoted above, he says: "I had an opening of joy as to these parts in the year 1661, at Oxford, twenty years since ; and as my understanding and inclination have been much directed to observe and reprove mischiefs in go- vernment, so it is now put into my power to settle one. For the matters of liberty and privilege I propose that which is extraordinary, and to leave myself and successors no power of doing mischief, that the will of one man may not hinder the good of a whole country." His friend, Algernon Sidney, assisted him in digesting his plans, and the political equality which could not exist in England was founded in Pennsylvania. He designed that an "example might be set up for the nations," judging that room might be found in the new world, if not in the old, "for such an holy experiment." "The restoration and enjoyment of those natural and civil rights and privileges of which men by their folly and wickedness are often deprived," was the great end he had in view. He wished to establish a refuge for the brethren of his own faith, and others who wished to escape persecution, or to secure immunities from which the customs of older countries debarred them. Though he did not live to see the result of his experiment, the inflence and example of Pennsylvania, and the success of his "experiment" does honour to the
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681.
sagacity of his views; and for the impetus he gave to civil liberty and religious freedom, the world owes a large debt to William Penn.
On the 2d of April, the royal proclamation was issued, defining the limits of the province as laid down in the charter, and requiring the in- habitants within these bounds to yield all due obedience to the proprietary. This document was immediately sent out to the province by William Markham, whom Penn commissioned as his deputy-governor. The commission of Mark- ham authorized him to settle boundaries, erect courts, appoint sheriffs, and conduct the formali- ties necessary to proclaim Penn's authority, and take possession of the province in his name. To the settlers already within his limits, Penn ad- dressed the following letter :-
"MY FRIENDS,-I wish you all happiness, here and hereafter. These are to let you know that it hath pleased God, in his providence, to cast you within my lot and care. It is a busi- ness that, though I never undertook before, yet God hath given me an understanding of my duty, and an honest mind to do it rightly. I hope you will not be troubled at your change and the king's choice, for you are now fixed at the mercy of no governor who comes to make his fortune great; you shall be governed by laws of your own making, and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious people. I shall not usurp
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LANDS OFFERED FOR SALE.
1681.]
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the right of any, or oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution, and has given me his grace to keep it. In short, whatever sober and free men can reasonably de- sire, for the security and improvement of their own happiness, I shall heartily comply with; and in five months resolve, if it please God, to see you. In the mean time pray submit to the com- mands of my deputy, as far as they are con- sistent with the law, and pay him those dues that formerly you paid to the Governor of New York, for my use and benefit ; and so I wish God to direct you in the way of righteousness, and therein prosper you and your children after you."
Having despatched his deputy to take pos- session, William Penn next published such a description of the country as he could command, from his previous acquaintance with New Jersey, and the reports of those who had visited Ame- rica. He «forebore pains and allurements," and warned those disposed to settle of the necessary inconveniences which first settlers must en- counter. He likewise advised all to secure the permission if they could not obtain "the good liking" of their near relatives. "I shall per- suade none," he said. "'T'is a good country ; with a good conscience it will do well." The terms of sale were forty shillings the hundred acres, and one shilling quit rent per annum. To those
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
[1681.
who wished to rent, the terms were one penny per acre, not exceeding two hundred acres. Those who carried servants or labourers were allowed fifty acres for each, on the same terms ; and servants, having fulfilled their contract, were allowed to take up land at a half-penny per acre. This was done "to encourage poor servants to go and be laborious." A great number of pur- chasers immediately presented themselves, and among them certain gentlemen who formed them- selves into a company under the style and title of "The Free Society of Traders in Pennsyl- vania." This society purchased at once twenty thousand acres of land, and issued proposals or articles of trade.
The next step taken, was the establishment of "certain conditions or concessions" between Penn and those who had purchased of him. This agreement comprised twenty articles. The first ten provided for the survey of a city plot upon some proper site, with the apportionment of the city lots to country purchasers ; the laying out of roads, and regulation of the country allot- ments ; the assurance to purchasers of the full property in rivers, watercourses and mines ; and the encouragement of the search for precious metals. The remaining ten articles regulated the trade and intercourse with the aborigines, requiring open sales to guard against frauds, and subjecting those who wronged the Indians to the
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1681.] COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED.
same penalties as they would incur by deceiving a fellow-planter. All differences between planters and Indians were directed to be settled by juries composed of six planters and six natives. The . Indians were to be allowed the same privileges as the' planters in the improvement of their grounds. The English laws relative to manners and morals, weights and measures, were to be in force until altered. An acre of woodland was to be reserved for every five acres cleared, and oak and mulberry especially to be preserved for shipping and silk. A registry was directed to be kept of all vessels, owners, freights and pas- sengers arriving in the province; public notice was required to be given by all persons leaving the colony, otherwise the master of the vessel in which they took passage was made liable for their debts.
Such was the substance of the concessions. Two ships sailed with emigrants in the autumn of 1681; the John and Sarah, Captain Smith, from London, and the Bristol Factor, Captain Drew, from Bristol. In one of these vessels came three commissioners, Mr. Crispon, John Bezar, and Nathaniel Allen, who were deputed by William Penn to lay out a town, and make other arrangements for a settlement, and to treat with the Indians. In regard to the town, the commissioners were instructed to choose a place where it is most navigable, high, dry, and healthy;
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 1 [1681.
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where ships could ride, and, if possible, load and unload at the quay-side without boating or light- erage. "Let every house be placed, if the owner pleases, in the middle of its plat, as to the breadth-way of it; so that there may be ground on each side for gardens, or orchards, or fields, that it may be a great country town which will never be burned, and always wholesome." In the treatment of the natives, the commissioners were instructed :- " Be tender of offending the Indians, and hearken by honest spies, if you can hear that any body inveigles them not to sell, or to stand off, and raise the value upon you. You cannot want those that will inform you ; but to soften them to me and the people, let them know that you are come to sit down lovingly among them. Let my letter, and con- ditions with my purchasers about just dealing with them, be read in their tongue, that they may see we have their good in our eye, equal with our own interest; and after reading my letter and the said conditions, then present their king with what I send them, and make a friend- ship and league with them, according to those conditions, which carefully observe, and get them to comply with. Be grave; they love not to be smiled upon." The letter referred to above was as follows :-
"MY FRIENDS :- There is one great God and Power that hath made the world and all things
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PENN TO THE INDIANS.
1681.]
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 have done in the world.
"This great God has written his law in our hearts, by which we are taught and commanded to love, and to help, and to do good to one an- other. 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 great province therein; but I desire to enjoy it with your love and consent, that we may always live together as neighbours 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 to- gether in the world? Now, I would have you well observe, that I am very sensible of the un- kindness and injustice which have been too much exercised toward you by the people of these parts of the world, who have sought themselves to make great advantages by you, rather than to be examples of justice and goodness unto you. This I hear hath been a matter of trouble unto 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 own country. I have great love and regard toward you, and de- sire to win and gain your love and friendship by
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681.
a kind, just, and peaceable life; and the people I send you are of the same mind, and shall in all things behave themselves accordingly ; and if in any thing any 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 see you myself, at which time we may more largely and freely con- fer and discourse of these matters. In the mean time I have sent my commissioners to treat with you about land and a firm league of peace. Let me desire you to be kind to them, and to the people, and receive the tokens and presents which I have sent you, as a testimony of my good-will to you, and of my resolution to live justly, peaceably, and friendly with you.
" I am your loving friend, "WILLIAM PENN." :
Having thus prepared the way, William Penn prepared himself to go over to "his country," during the year following. Meanwhile he re- fused what he acknowledges was " a great tempta- tion." He was offered six thousand pounds for six shares, the purchasers to have a monopoly of the Indian trade, and to pay annually two and a half per cent. of their profits as acknowledg- 'ment or rent. This was just ten times as much
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SOCIETY OF FREE TRADERS.
1681.]
as he received from other settlers. "But," says Penn, "as the Lord gave it me over all and great opposition, and that I never had my mind so ex- ercised to the Lord about any outward substance, I would not abuse his love, nor act unworthy of his Providence, and defile what came unto me clean."
The Society of Free Traders, to whom Penn sold, and of which he was also a member, held no monopoly. In the articles of settlement, the managers say, "It is a very unusual society, for it is an absolute free one and in a free country ; a society without oppression, wherein all may be concerned that will, and yet have the same liberty of private traffic as though there were no society at all; so that this society is calculated to pro- mote the public good and to encourage the pri- vate." The Philadelphia city property which they held was an entire street from river to river, embracing nearly all the ground between Spruce and Pine streets. The original intention of their business operations was comprehensive, including agricultural settlements, manufactories, the lum- ber trade, and whale fishery. They had a tan- yard, a saw-mill, a glass-house, and other works. William Penn released their quit rents, but the enterprise does not appear to have been success- ful. In their constitution is introduced the first provision for the emancipation of negro servants.
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