USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Warwick's Keystone commonwealth; a review of the history of the great state of Pennsylvania, and a brief record of the growth of its chief city, Philadelphia > Part 5
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XX. "In sickness, impatient to be cured; and for it, give any thing, especi- ally for their children; to whom they are extremely natural. They drink, at those times, a teran, or decoction of some roots in spring water; and, if they eat any flesh, it must be of the female of any creature. If they die, they bury them with their apparel, be they man or woman; and the nearest of their kin fling in something precious with them, as a token of their love: Their mourning is blacking of their faces; which they continue for a year. They are choice of the graves of their dead; for, lest they should be lost by time, and fall to com- mon use, they pick off the grass, that grows upon them, and heap up the fallen earth, with great care and exactness.
XXI. "These poor people are under a dark night in things relating to religion, to be sure the tradition of it: yet they believe a God and immortality, without the help of metaphysics: for, they say, There is a Great King that made them, who dwells in a glorious country, to the southward of them; and that the souls of the good shall go thither, where they shall live again. Their wor- ship consists of two parts, sacrifice and cantico. Their sacrifice is their first fruits ; their first and fatest buck they kill, goeth to the fire ; where he is all burnt, with a mournful ditty of him, that performeth the ceremony ; but with such marvellous fervency, and labour of body, that he will, even, sweat to a foam. The other part is their cantico, performed by round dances, sometimes words, sometimes songs, then shouts; two being in the middle, that begin; and, by singing and drumming on a board, direct a chorus. Their postures, in the dance, are very antick and differing, but all keep measure. This is done with equal earnest- ness and labour, but great appearance of joy. In the fall, when the corn cometh in, they begin to feast one another. There have been two great festivals al- ready ; to which all come, that will. I was at one myself: their entertainment was a great seat by a spring, under some shady trees, and twenty bucks, with hot cakes of new corn, both wheat and beans; which they make up in a square
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form, in the leaves of the stem, and bake them in the ashes: and after that they fall to dance. But they that go must carry a small present, in their money; it may be six pence ; which is made of the bone of a fish : the black is, with them, as gold; the white, silver; they call it wampum.
XXII. "Their government is by Kings; which they call Sachama; and those by succession, but always of the mother's side. For instance, the children of him, who is now king, will not succeed, but his brother by the mother, or the children of his sister, whose sons (and after them the children of her daugh- ters) will reign; for no woman inherits. The reason, they render for this way of descent, is, that their issue may not be spurious.
XXIII. "Every king hath his council; and that consists of all the old and wise men of his nation; which, perhaps, is two hundred people. Nothing of moment is undertaken, be it war, peace, selling of land, or traffick, without ad- vising with them; and, which is more, with the young men too. It is admirable to consider how powerful the Kings are, and yet how they move by the breath of their people. I have had occasion to be in council with them, upon treaties for land, and to adjust the terms of trade. Their order is thus: The King sits in the middle of an half moon, and hath his council, the old and wise, on each hand ; behind them, or at a little distance, sit the younger fry, in the same figure. Having consulted and resolved their business, the King ordered one of them to speak to me: he stood up, came to me, and, in the name of his King, saluted me; then took me by the hand, and told me, 'He was ordered by his King to speak to me; and that now it was not he, but the King, that spoke ; because what he should say was the King's mind.'-Ile first prayed me, 'To excuse them that they had not complied with me, the last time, he feared there might be some fault in the Interpreter, being neither Indian nor English: besides, it was the Indian custom, to deliberate, and take up much time in council, before they resolve; and that, if the young people, and owners of the land had been as ready as he, I had not met with so much delay.'-llaving thus introduced his matter, he fell to the bounds of the land, they had agreed to dispose of, and the price; which now is little and dear; that which would have bought twenty miles, not buying two now. During the time, that this person spoke, not a man of them was observed to whisper or smile, the old, grave; the young, reverent, in their deportment. They speak little, but fervently, and with elegance. I have never seen more natural sagacity, considering them without the help (I was going to say, the spoil) of tradition; and he will deserve the name of wise, that outwits them, in any treaty, about a thing, they understand. When the pur- chase was agreed, great promise passed between us 'of kindness and good neighbourhood, and that the Indians and English must live in love as long as the sun gave light': Which done, another made a speech to the Indians, in the name of all the Sachamakers, or Kings; first, to tell them what was done; next, to charge and command them, 'To love the Christians, and particularly live in peace with me, and the people under my government ; that many Governors had been in the river; but that no Governor had come himself to live and stay here before; and having now such an one, that had treated them well, they should never do him, or his, any wrong.'-At every sentence of which they shouted, and said, Amen, in their way.
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XXIV. "The justice they have is pecuniary: In case of any wrong, or evil fact, be it murder itself, they atone by feasts, and presents of their wampum; which is proportioned to the quality of the offence, or person injured, or of the sex they are of. For in case they kill a woman, they pay double; and the reason . they render is, 'That she breedeth children; which men cannot do.' It is rare that they fall out, if sober; and, if drunk, they forgive it, saying, 'It was the drink, and not the man, that abused them.' ,
XXV. "We have agreed, that, in all differences between us, sir of each side shall end the matter. Do not abuse them, but let them have justice, and you win them. The worst is, that they are the worse for the Christians; who have propagated their vices, and yielded them tradition for ill, and not for good things. But as low an ebb as these people are at, and as inglorious as their own condition looks, the Christians have not outlived their sight, with all their pretensions to an higher manifestation. What good, then, might not a good people graft, where there is so distinct a knowledge left between good and evil? '1 beseech God to incline the hearts of all that come into these parts, to outlive the knowledge of the natives, by a fixt obedience to their greater knowl- edge of the will of God; for it were miserable, indeed, for us to fall under the just censure of the poor Indian conscience, while we make profession of things so far transcending.
XXVI. "For their original, I am ready to believe them of the Jewish race ; I mean, of the flock of the ten tribes; and that, for the following reasons: First, they were to go to a 'land not planted, nor known'; which, to be sure, .Isia and Africa were, if not Europe; and he, that intended that extraordinary judgment upon them, might make the passage not uneasy to them, as it is not impossible in itself, from the castermost parts of Asia, to the westermost of America. In the next place; I find them of the like countenance, and their children of so lively resemblance, that a man would do himself in Duke's place, or Berry street, in London, when he seeth them. But this is not all; they agree in rites; they reckon by moons; they offer their first fruits; they have a kind of feast of tabernacles; they are said to lay their altar upon twelve stones; their mourning a year; customs of women, with many other things, that do not now occur.
"So much for the natives; next, the old planters will be considered in this relation, before I come to our colony, and the concerns of it.
XXVII. "The first planters, in these parts, were the Dutch; and soon after them, the Swedes and Finns. The Dutch applied themselves to traffick ; the Swedes and Finns to husbandry. There were some disputes between them, some years ; the Dutch looking upon them, as intruders upon their purchase and possession ; which was finally ended in the surrender, made by John Riscing. the Swedish Governor, to Peter Stuyvesant, Governor for the states of Holland, anno 1055.
XXVIII. "The Dutch inhabit mostly those parts of the province, that lie upon, or near the bay; and the Savedes, the freshes of the river Delaware. There is no need of giving any description of them; who are better known there than here; but they are plain, strong, industrious people; yet have made no great progress, in culture, or propagation, of fruit trees; as, if they desired to
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have enough, than plenty, or traffick. But, I presume, the Indians made them the more careless, by furnishing them with the means of profit, to wit, skins and furs, for rum, and such strong liquors. They kindly received me, as well as the English, who were few, before the people, concerned with me, came among them. I must needs commend their respect to authority, and kind behavior to the English; they do not degenerate from the old friendship, between both kingdoms. As they are people proper and strong of body, so they have fine children, and almost every house full; rare to find one without three or four boys, and as many girls ; some, six, seven and eight sons. And I must do them that right ; I see few young men more sober and laborious.
XXIX. "The Dutch have a meeting place, for religious worship, at New- castle; and the Swedes, three; one at Christina, one at Tenecum; and one at Wicoco, within half a mile of this town.
XXX. "There rests that I speak of the conditions we are in, and what set- tlement we have made: in which I will be as short as I can; for I fear, and not without reason, that I have tried your patience with this long story. The coun- try lieth, bounded on the east, by the river and bay of Delaware, and eastern sea; it hath the advantage of many creeks, or rivers rather, that run into the main river, or bay ; some navigable for great ships, some, for small craft. Those of most eminency are, Christina, Brandywine, Skilpot, and Sculkil; any one of which have room to lay up the royal navy of England; there being from four to eight fathom of water.
XXXI. "The lesser creeks, or rivers, yet convenient for sloops and ketches of good burden, are Lewis, Mespilion, Cedar, Dover, Cranbrook, Feversham and Georges, below; and Chichester, Chester, Toacawony, Pammapecka, Port- quessin, Neshimenck and Pennbury, in the freshes; many lesser, that admit boats and shallops. Our people are mostly settled upon the upper rivers; which are pleasant and sweet, and generally bounded with good land: The planted part of the province and territories is cast into six counties, Philadelphia, Buck- ingham, Chester, New-castle, Kent and Sussex; containing about four thou- sand souls. Two general assemblies have been held, and with such concord and dispatch, that they sat but three weeks; and, at least seventy laws were passed without one dissent, in any material thing. But of this, more hereafter, being yet raw and new, in our gear. However, I cannot forget their singular respect to me, in this infancy of things; who, by their own private expenses, so carly considered mine, for the public, as to present me with an impost, upon certain goods imported and exported. Which after my acknowledgement of their af- fection, I did as freely remit to the province, and the traders to it. And for the well government of the said counties, courts of justice are established in every county, with proper officers, as justices, sheriffs, clerks, constables, &c., which courts are held every two months. But, to prevent law suits, there are three peace makers chosen by every county court, in the nature of common arbitrators, to hear and end differences betwixt man and man. And spring and fall there is an orphans' court, in each county to inspect and regulate the affairs of or- phans and widows.
XXXII. "Philadelphia, the expectation of those, that are concerned in this province, is, at last, laid out, to the great content of those here, that are any.
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ways interested therein. The situation is a neck of land, and lieth between two navigable rivers, Delaware and Sculkill; whereby it hath two fronts upon the water, each a mile; and two from river to river. Delaware is a glorious river ; but the Sculkill, being an hundred miles boatable above the falls, and its course north cast, towards the fountain of Susquehanna ( that tends to the heart of the province, and both sides our own) it is like to be a great part of the settlement of this age. I say little of the town itself, because a platform will be shown you by my agent; in which those who are purchasers of me, will find their names and interests. But this I will say, for the good providence of God, that, of all the many places, I have seen in the world, I remember not one better seated; so that it seems to me to have been appointed for a town, whether we regard the rivers, or the conveniency of the coves, docks, springs, and loftiness and soundness of the land, and the air, held by the people of these parts to be very good. It is advanced, within less than a year, to about four score houses and cottages, such as they are; where merchants and handicrafts are following their vocations, as fast as they can; while the country men are close at their farms, some of them got a little winter corn in the ground last season; and the generality have had an handsome summer-crop, and are preparing for their winter corn. They reaped their barley, this year, in the month called May ; the wheat in the month following; so that there is time, in these parts, for another crop of diverse things, before the winter season. We are daily in hopes of ship- ping, to add to our number ; for, blessed be God, here is both room and accom- modation for them: The stories of our necessity being either the fear of our friends, or the scare-crows of our enemies: For the greatest hardship, we have suffered, hath been salt meat; which by fowl, in winter, and fish, in summer, together with some poultry, lamb, mutton, veal, and plenty of vemson, the best part of the year, hath been made very passable. 1 bless God, I am fully satisfied with the country and entertainment I got in it: For I find that particular content, which hath always attended me, where God, in his providence, hath made it my place and service to reside. You cannot imagine my station can be, at present, free of. more than ordinary business; and, as such, I may say, it is a troublesome work. But the method, things are putting in, will facili- tate the charge, and give an easier motion to the administration of affairs. However, as it is some men's duty to plow, some to sow, some to water, and some to reap ; so it is the wisdom, as well as the duty, of a man, to yield to the mind of Providence, and chearfully, as well as carefully, embrace and follow the guidance of it.
XXXIII. "For your particular concern, I might entirely refer you to the letters of the President of the society ; but this I will venture to say, your pro- vincial settlements, both within and without the town for situation and soil, are without exception. Your city lot is a whole street, and one side of a street, from river to river, containing near one hundred acres, not easily valued; which is besides your four hundred acres, in the city liberties, part of your twenty thou- sand acres in the country. Your tannery hath such plenty of bark, the saw mill, for timber, and the place of the glass house, are so conveniently posted for water carriage, the city lot, for a dock, and the whalery, for a sound and fruit- ful bank, and the town Leaves, by it, to help your people, that, by God's blessing,
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the affairs of the society will naturally grow in their reputation and profit. I am sure, I have not turned my back upon any offer, that tended to its pros- perity ; and though I am ill at projects, I have sometimes put in for a share with her officers. to countenance and advance her interest. You are already in- formed what is fit for you further to do; whatsoever tends to the promotion of wine, and to the manufacture of linen, in these parts, I cannot but wish you to promote; and the French people are most likely, in both respects, to answer that design. To that end I would advise you to send for some thousands of plants out of France, with some able L'inerans, and people of the other voca- tion : But because, I believe, you have been entertained with this, and some other profitable subjects by your President, I shall add no more, but to assure you, that I am heartily inclined to advance your just interest, and that you will always find me
"Your kind cordial friend, "WILLIAM PENN. "Philadelphia, the 16th, of the sixth month, called August, 1683."
Within two years of the arrival of William Penn, the infant city contained three hundred houses, and the population was estimated to be about twenty-five hundred. It was not his original purpose to return to England at the expira- tion of this time, but matters had arisen which commanded his personal pres- ence. Lord Baltimore had set up a claim which encroached upon the territory of Penn and he was leaving no stone unturned to urge his demands. He had many influential friends, and in every way he endeavored to enlist them in his cause. Penn, however, was alert and began with ardor the protection of his own interests. It was not his purpose to remain long absent from the colony, and at this time he left with great reluctance. Fle had been a wise, provident and kind ruler, had won the friendship of the Indians and the regard and respect of all classes of men who came under his rule. Pastorius claims that "he was loved and praised by all men. Even the old, vicious inhabitants recognized that they had never seen such a wise ruler." It was not to be supposed that the community had many of the class referred to by Mr. Pastorius, but he had such an utter hatred for the Dutch and Swedes that he classed them under this general distinction. Penn embarked on a keich called the "Endeavor," and left luis government in the hands of a Council, whose President was Thomas Lloyd. Well pleased with his work, and looking with pride upon the city that he had so well established, he sent to his friends the following farewell letter:
"DEAR FRIENDS :
"My love and my life is to you and with you and no water could quench it nor distance wear it out, nor bring it to an end. I have been with you, cared over you and served you with unfeigned love and you are beloved of me and dear to me beyond utterance. I bless you in the name and power of the Lord and may God bless you with his richness, peace and plenty all the land over. O, that you would eye him in all, through ali and above all the works of your hands and let it be your first care how you may glorify God in your undertak- ing: for to a blessed end are yon brought hither and if you see and keep but in
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the signs of that Providence your coming, staying and improving will be sancti- fied, but if any forget God and call not upon His Name in truth he will pour out his plagues upon them and they shall know who it is that judgeth the chil- dren of men.
"Oh, now you are come to a quiet land. Provoke not the Lord to trouble it and now liberty and authority are with you and in your hands. Let the gov- ernment be upon his shoulders, in all your spirits that you may rule for him under whom the princes of this world will one day esteem it their honor to govern and serve in their places. I cannot but say, when these things conie mightily upon my mind as the Apostle did of old, what manner of persons ought we to be in all Godly conversation, truly the name and honor of the Lord are deeply concerned in you, as to the discharge of yourselves in your present situa- tions, many eyes being upon you; and remember, that as we have been belied about disowning the true religion, so too, all govern to behold us exemplary and christian in the use of that and not only stop our enemies but minister convic- tion to many on that account prejudiced. O, that you may see and know that service and do it for the Lord in this your day.
"And though Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this province, nay be- fore thou wert born, what love, what care, what service, and what travail has there been to bring thee forth and preserve thee from such as would abuse and defile thee! O, that thou mayest be kept from the evil that would overwhelm thee ; that, faithful to the God of thy mercies, in the life of righteousness, thou mayest be preserved to the end :- my soul prays to God for thee that thou mayest stand in the day of trial and thy children may be blessed of the Lord and thy people saved by his power ;- my love to thee has been great and the re- membrance of thee affects my heart and my eye! The God of eternal strength keep and preserve thee to his glory and thy peace.
"So dear friends my love again salutes you all. Wish that God's mercy and peace with all the temporal blessings may abound richly among you -- so says, so prays your friend and lover in the truth.
"WILLIAM PENN." From on board the ketch-"Endeavor" the sixth month, 1684.
This letter in this practical age of ours seems in tone somewhat unctuous and sanctimonious but we must bear in mind that it was the vogue of that period to write and speak in that strain.
CHAPTER IV.
PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH. MENNONITES. TUNKERS AND SCHWENKFELDERS.
FRANCIS DANIEL PASTORIUS. CONRAD BEISSEL. MONASTERY AT EPHIRATA.
ANTHONY KLINCKEN. MORAVIANS. FAMOUS INNS. COUNT
ZINZENDORF. LUTHERANS. PETER MUHLENBERG. SCOTCH-IRISIL.
A T the time Penn returned to England, his province was already occupied by a considerable number of Germans, who in a short time became known as "Pennsylvania Dutch" which appellation they have retained to this very day. The Germans had not taken a very active part in the explorations and discoveries of the new world, they had been occupied at home with their own dissensions, and besides this they were not a sea-faring people as were some of their neighbors. They had, during the period of the Thirty Years' War, as we have already stated, been broken into various sects, the principal of which were the Mennonites, Tunkers and Schwenkfelders, off- shoots from the Anabaptists. The Mennonites claimed to be descendants from the Waldenses. Their leader, Simon Menno, after whom they were called, had been a priest in the Roman Church and organized the sect about 1540. They were what were called Mystics or Quietists, and believed with the Quakers in the "inner light." They opposed war, refused to take oaths and to make payment of taxes. They retained some of the sacraments however, among which were baptism and holy communion. One of their peculiar customs was the washing of each others' feet, which custom is in use among their descendants in certain portions of Pennsylvania to this day. They were a thrifty, serious people, given to devotion and worship. Before leaving Germany to find a refuge in the new world, they had been persecuted not only by the Catholics, but also by the Re- formed and Lutheran churches. They submitted patiently as it was against their teachings to become militant, and as a last resort they took up their scrip and shallop shell as pilgrims and journeyed to America to establish a settlement in the new land that they might escape further persecution.
Penn had offered inducements to them to come to his province and they journeyed thither in great numbers in 1682, and the following year. They were clannish, as might have been expected, and settled down in the land lying to the northwest of Philadelphia, which is today known as Germantown. They built comfortable little cottages, tilled the ground and raised great quantities of flowers. One of the most prominent men among their leaders was Francis Daniel Pastorius. Upon his arrival he became a school teacher, not only among those of his own faith but also among the Quakers. He was a man of vast information, spoke seven or eight languages fluently and made a study of science, history and philosophy. In his younger years, before overtaken by the spirit of religion, he was a sort of Bohemian who wandered through Europe visiting the different cities and acquiring the languages of the various nations,
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