secretary twenty guineas to give up his prejudices, and to consent to change the name; for he feared lest it should be looked upon as vanity in him, and not as a respect in the King to his father, as it truly was. Finding that all would not do, he went to the King himself to get the name of Penn struck out, or another substituted; but the King said it was passed, and that he would take the naming of it upon himself. He concluded his letter by hoping that God would make the new land the seed of a nation, and by promising to use his own best endeavours to that end.

Having now a colony of his own to settle, Penn was obliged to give up his management of that of West New Jersey; but it was a matter of great satisfaction to him, that he had brought it from infancy to a state of manhood; to a state in which it could take care of itself. He had sent to it about fourteen hundred people, of whom the adults were persons of high character. The town of Burlington had been built. Farms had risen up out of the wild waste; roads had been formed; religious meeting-houses had been erected, in the place of tents covered with sail cloth, under which the first settlers worshipped; a respectable magistracy had been established; and the very Indians too, in the neighbourhood, had been turned into friends and benefactors. Such was the state of West New Jersey when he took his leave of it to attend to his own concerns.

The first thing he did, after obtaining the Charter, was to draw up an account of the Province of Pennsylvania. To this account he annexed a copy of the Royal Charter, and the terms on which he intended to part with the land. Any person wishing to become a planter, might buy an hundred acres of land for forty shillings, but a quit-rent of one shilling was to be reserved to the proprietor for every hundred acres for ever. Renters of land were to pay one shilling an acre yearly, not exceeding two hundred acres, and servants were to have fifty acres when the time of their servitude expired, whether men or women, that quantity of land being allowed their masters for such

purpose. He subjoined also to this account of Pennsyl vania, his advice to those who were inclined to become adventurers. He desired all who might be inclined to go into those parts, to consider seriously the premises, to take present inconveniences into account, as well as future ease and plenty; that so none might 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 He concluded by beseeching Almighty

of themselves.

God to direct them; that his blessing might attend their honest endeavours; that their undertakings might turn to the glory of God's great name, and to the true happiness of them and their posterity.

He next drew up, certain conditions to be agreed upon by William Penn, and those who might become pur. chasers in the same Province. In these conditions it was stipulated, that no purchaser of ten thousand acres or more, should have above a thousand acres lying together, unless in three years he planted a family upon every thousand of the same- -That every man should be bound to plant or man so much as should be surveyed and set out to him, within three years after such survey, or else a new comer should be settled thereon, who should pay him his survey-money, and he himself should go up higher for his share-That in clearing the ground, care should be taken to leave one acre of trees for every five acres cleared, especially to preserve oaks and mulberries for silk and shipping.- -In behalf of the Indians it was stipulated, that, as it had been usual with planters to overreach them in various ways, whatever was sold to them in consideration of their furs, should be sold in the public market-place, and there suffer the test, whether good or bad: if good, to pass; if not good, not to be sold for good; that the said native Indians might neither be abused nor provoked- -That if any man should by any ways or means, in word or deed, affront or wrong any Indian, he should incur the same penalty of the law as if he had committed it against his fellow-planter; and if any Indian should abuse, in word or deed, any planter

of the province, that the said planter should not be his own judge upon the said Indian, but should make his complaint to the Governor of the province, or his deputy, or some inferior magistrate near him, who should, to the utmost of his power take care, with the King of the said Indian, that all reasonable satisfaction should be made to the said injured planter-And that all differences between planters and Indians should be ended by twelve men, six planters, and six Indians, that so they might live friendly together, preventing as much as in them lay, all occasions of heart-burnings and mischief.

These stipulations in favour of the poor natives will for ever immortalize the name of William Penn. How delightful to see him soaring above the prejudices and customs of his time, by which navigators and adventurers thought it right to consider the inhabitants of the lands. they discovered as their lawful prey, whom they might rob or ruin at their pleasure, and treating them as men and brethren, and acting on the principle that, in proportion to their ignorance, they were the more entitled to his fatherly protection and care.

The account of Pennsylvania, and the conditions having been made public, many purchasers came forward both in London and Liverpool. In Bristol a company was formed, called The Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania, who purchased twenty thousand acres, and prepared for embarking in many branches of trade.

Before any of the purchasers embarked, William Penn drew up a rough sketch, to be submitted to their opinion, of that great frame of Government which he wished to become the future and permament constitution of the province. The Great Fundamental, as Penn called it, was as follows:-"In reverence to God, the Father of light and spirits, the author as well as the object of all divine knowledge, faith, and worship, I do, for me and mine, declare and establish for the first fundamental of the government of my province, that every person that doth and shall reside therein, shall have and enjoy the free profession of his or her faith and exercise of worship

toward God, in such way and manner as every such person shall in conscience believe is most acceptable to God.” This noble principle however was clogged with the following provision; "And so long as every such person useth not this Christian liberty to licentiousness or the destruction of others, that is to say, to speak loosely and profanely, or contemptuously of God, Christ, the Holy Scriptures, or Religion, or commit any moral evil or injury against others in their conversation, he or she shall be protected in the enjoyment of the aforesaid Christian liberty by the civil magistrate." This, in effect, annihilated the principle. Even the Inquisition could ask no greater power than that of judging what it was to speak loosely, profanely, or contemptuously of God, Christ, Holy Scripture, and to punish those guilty of sodoing. The Quakers themselves were guilty of this very crime, in the eyes of their orthodox persecutors. It seems strange that Penn should not see this. It seems strange that he should establish a law, which, if the execution of it had fallen into the hands of orthodox professors, would have subjected both him and his friends, to any degree of persecution that could be inflicted on men. But Penn had faith in the persons to whom the administration of his laws was to be entrusted. And we may add, that to the character of the administrators of the laws, more than even to the liberal character of the laws themselves, are to be attributed the freedom, the peace, and the happiness enjoyed by the colony.

The conditions and frame of Government having been mutually signed, three ships full of passengers set sail for Pennsylvania: two from London, and one from Bristol. In one of these ships went Colonel William Markham, a relation of William Penn, attended by several Commissioners, whose object was to confer with the Indians respecting their lands, and to endeavour to make with them a league of eternal peace. They were enjoined by Penn in a solemn manner to treat the Indians with all possible candour, justice, and humanity. They were the bearers also of a letter to them, which William Penn

wrote with his own hand, and of which the following is a copy:

"There is a great God, and Power, which 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 aceount 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 another. 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 together in the world? Now, I would have you well observe, that I am very sensible of the unkindness 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 goodness and patience unto you. This 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 own country. I have great love and regard toward you, and desire to win and 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 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 confer 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 presents and tokens 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.