is a trait of his character that well deserves discovered an envelope in a bundle of papers to be noticed. "Among those objects, that of conciliating the Indians was by no means the least important and it is not to be presumed that William Penn postponed it to the last. For, after his return from Maryland, every thing else was done that we have mentioned. He had organized his government at Chester, in December; he had before that visited NewYork and New-Jersey, and on the way, no doubt, his friends on the Delaware; he had fixed upon the site of his new city, and had it located and surveyed; in short all that remained was to treat with the Indians, and it would have been bad policy in him to have neglected them to the last moment. We cannot, therefore, suppose that he did so. there, relating to the Shawanese Indians, with the following endorsement: Minutes of the Indian Conference in relation to the great Treaty made with William Penn, at the Big Tree, Shackamaxon, on the 14th of the tenth month, 1682.' "We have written to Mr. Conyngham to obtain from him more particular information upon the subject, and here is his answer, dated the 12th of March last: "The endorsement on the envelope which you found in page 603, of Gordon's History of Pennsylvania, is a faithful copy of the original (I believe) at Harrisburg. I made some inquiry as to the circumstance of its being thus found in the closet, and received the following information. Some years since, the "Another reason is, that on his return Indian treaties were transcribed in a book for from Maryland, the winter had already set their better preservation, and this envelope of in, and it was a bad season to hold a treaty one of them was carefully folded up, and in the open air. If he could have done other-placed in the closet with the historical papers. wise, he would not surely have chosen it. The Indian treaty said to have been contained Now, he tells us himself that he met Lord in this envelope, is dated June 15th, 1682, Baltimore at West river, on the 19th of De- and was the result of a conference held under cember. We learn from other sources, that the elm-tree at Shackamaxon, between Wilafter a conference of three days, Lord Balti-liam Markham, the commissioners of William more accompanied him on a visit to different Penn (William Crispin, John Bezar and Naparts of Maryland, and particularly to Chop-thaniel Allen) and the Shackamaxine tribes tank, on the other side of the bay, where of Indians. The treaty was in the open air, there was a meeting of the principal persons but signed in Captain Lassee Cocke's house, in the colony. All this must have taken fronting the Delaware, in Shackamaxon. The time, and we do not find him returned to Chester, until the 29th of that month, which we learn by a letter which he wrote from thence to a friend under that date. The treaty, then, according to that supposition, must have been held in January, too late in the season, we should think, if it could have been done before. It is true that he describes that winter as pleasant, when compared with the same season in England. With that comparison we have nothing to do, but at the same time he says that it was the coldest winter that was known in this country within the memory of the oldest settlers, which must carry us back to a period of at least forty years. The cold must have been, therefore, very intense, and the season not very eligible for holding a treaty in the open air, on the banks of the Delaware, under an elm-tree. "Mr. Gordon, in one of the notes to his History of Pennsylvania, states that the Indians, at a conference with Governor Keith, in 1722, exhibited the roll of parchment containing the treaty, (meaning the great treaty of 1682;) and it would seem, continues he; that a copy of the conference, at least, held at the making of this treaty, was once in the office of the secretary of this commonwealth, since Mr. R. Conyngham assures us that he land granted was to begin at a white oak, on the ground in the tenure of John Wood, called by him Grey Stones. The minutes of the conference in June, and also those of the conference in December, 1682, are not to be found. "From the facts above stated, Mr. Conyngham has concluded that the great treaty was held on the 14th of December, 1682, and others have shared in his opinion. We would not object to that date, if it was not proved by William Penn himself to be impossible. In his letter to the lords of plantations above cited, he tells us that the 19th of December was the day agreed upon between him and Lord Baltimore for their meeting at West river, on the western shore of Maryland. In the same letter, almost in the same breath, he says-The 11th of the month I came to West river, where I met the proprietor, attended suitably to his character." This at first appears contradictory, but it may be clerks at Harrisburg, but it can mean nothing else *This, we presume, was the language of the than that the deed for the lands was executed at the house of Lassee Cocke, which is very probable. This is the description of the Pennsbury tract, and therefore must refer to Markham's purchase. conference, if ever they should chance to be discovered. It is certain that they have existed, and that they were in the possession of Governor Gordon in 1728, otherwise he could not have cited from them literally nine articles, which it is impossible not to believe to have been a part of the great treaty. easily reconciled, by supposing that William and conferences. The same is also described Penn, who wrote a great deal, and was not by Campanius, and by other writers. very particular in the selection of his words, "It will be in vain to look for a record of made use of the word came instead of went this treaty and of the stipulations that it conor set out for, a grammatical error not un-tained, elsewhere than in the minutes of that common among fast speakers and fast writers. West river, twelve miles below Annapolis, lies at a considerable distance from Philadelphia, and the journey must have been performed by water as well as by land. It is natural to suppose, that anxious to be at the appointed place on the 19th, the day agreed upon, and considering the season, the uncertainty of the winds, the badness of the roads, and all the circumstances that might have impeded his progress, he chose to set out with his retinue in sufficient time to meet and overcome all the impediments that he might find on the road, and a week was not too long a time for that purpose. If, as he tells us, he left Philadel-means peculiar to them. We regret that we phia on the 11th, he must have been on the 14th on his way to Maryland, and could not have been at Shackamaxon to treat with the Indians. We must, therefore, reject that date, the envelope notwithstanding. "But no one must expect ever to see a parchment roll signed and executed by all the parties. It was not the way in which treaties were made at that time, or at any time with the Indians. They could neither read nor write; they trusted to our records and their own strong retentive memories, assisted by cannot make a more splendid display on this occasion. We leave that to the painter and to the poet, who, no doubt, will for a long time hereafter employ their pencil and their pen to this noble theme. We hope that the memory of the great treaty, and of our illustrious founder, will remain engraved on the memory of our children and our children's children to the end of time." "We then consider ourselves at liberty to fix the epoch of the great treaty, at such time as we shall think most consistent with probability, and we believe that to be on his return from New-York, about the latter end of November. The season was then beautiful, as This imperfect account of the great treaty, is generally the fall season in our country. the best now upon record, serves to show that His journey lasted about a month, and he had the conditions were faithfully observed by the sufficient time to go to New-York and Long Indians. It also indicates that a record of it Island, visit his friends on the way in Penn- was then in existence. It was mentioned sylvania and New-Jersey, and treat with the about the middle of last century, by Voltaire, Indians on his return. On his departure as the only treaty that had been made between from New-Castle, his friend Markham had the Indians and Christians, which was not full time to give notice to the chiefs to meet ratified by an oath; and was never infringed. him at Shackamaxon; in short, by adopting This intercourse thus begun with the native this period, we find ourselves free from the inhabitants of the country, and the extraordiobjections that meet us at every step in choos-nary kindness uniformly manifested towards ing any other. It is possible that documents may yet be discovered, which will induce us to alter this opinion; but until then we do not think that we can offer a better. them, produced in their minds a feeling of uncommon veneration for him, and secured the peace of the province during the life of William Penn, and for several years after his "As to the Indian tribes that met William death. The peaceable manner in which the Penn, at this famous treaty, our opinion is first settlement of Pennsylvania was effected, that they were those called the River Indians, and the friendship established and maintained chiefly if not all, of the Lenni Lenape or with the native inhabitants, as long as the Delaware stock. To these must be added principles of William Penn and his coadjutors the Mingoes and other Susquehanna tribes, were permitted to govern the councils of the who came to solicit his protection; they must province, may be fairly considered as having have formed, together, a very respectable as-settled the question whether the intercourse of semblage. nations could be carried on without the aid of "Of the ceremonies of the treaty, we have military force. The people among whom the a full and very satisfactory account by Wil-first settlers in Pennsylvania erected their liam Penn himself, in his letter to the free peaceful habitations, were inured to the chase, traders, leaving out only what relates to the an occupation more nearly allied, than any purchase of lands. It is the form in which other, to war, and they were not only destitute the Indians hold their most solemn treaties of the arts of civilized life, but ignorant of the principles and doctrines of Christianity. If the strict observance of justice, and a conduct uniformly pacific, could preserve the relations of friendship and peace with such a people, it is a libel on the religion which we profess, to deny that the same relations might be maintained among Christians, by similar means. And when we observe the rapid advances of Pennsylvania in population and wealth, we must admit that the experiment of William Penn has sufficiently proved the superiority of the pacific policy, when viewed as a question of political expediency, above that usually adopted. One of the objects of attention with William Penn, before the end of the year 1682, was to lay out the principal town of the province. The situation chosen for this purpose, was remarkably favourable. The name assigned to this new capital of the province, was expressive of the principles of its founder. The Indian name of the place where that city now stands was Coaquannock. tions and vices of Europe, that they might lead quiet and peaceable lives, and worship God according to their conscientious persua sion. The diffusion of the doctrines of Christianity among the ancient inhabitants of the land, appears to have been one of the objects in view, with these early settlers in Pennsylvania. Though these emigrants were not generally rich, yet many of them possessed considerable estates, and were persons of good education. They were mostly sober, industrious people, of reputable characters, well qualified to advance the interests of this rising So favourable an opinion was entertained of the country assigned to William Penn, and of the character of its proprietor, that within little more than a year after the arrangements were made for settling it, between twenty and It is true, that William Penn was not the thirty vessels arrived with emigrants, amountonly one, nor the first, who obtained posses- ing collectively, to more than two thousand sion of the Indian lands by purchase. The individuals. A large part of these, were memexample had been set in Massachusetts, New-bers of the religious Society of Friends. They York, Maryland, New-Jersey, and by the had left their own country, to avoid the vexaDutch, Swedes and Fins, on the Delaware. It does not, however, appear, that in any other colony, was so favourable and permanent an impression made, upon the original inhabitants, as in Pennsylvania. And it is not unreasonable to suppose, that if William Penn could have seen his way clear to settle himself and his family permanently in Pennsylvania, at the time of his first visit; to have superintended in person, the intercourse between the new settlers and the native inhabitants, and to have added the influence of his character and religious weight, to the efforts which were made to enlighten the minds and improve the condition of these people, that the soil of Pennsylvania, might, at this day, have contained no inconsiderable number of To protect the natives from these fearful conseits native occupants, enjoying the comforts of quences, the wise and virtuous lawgiver of Penncivilized life, and the benefits of the Christian sylvania saw, on his arrival, the necessity of interposing his authority to correct mischiefs which had religion. It is cause of poignant regret, that existed antecedent to his possession of the province; the settlement of the Europeans in their vicini- he therefore, in 1682, declared and enacted, that, ty, instead of extending the benefits of civili-"Whereas, divers persons, as English, Dutch, zation and Christianity, among the untutored Swedes, &c., have been wont to sell to the Indiinhabitants of the wilderness, should be the ans, rum and brandy, and such like distilled spirsignal for their extinction. Even in Pennsyl-its, though they know the said Indians are not able to govern themselves in the use thereof, but do vania, notwithstanding the prohibitory laws of commonly drink of it to such excess as makes the founder, the sale of spirituous liquors to the themselves destroy one another, and grievously anIndians, was prosecuted to a considerable ex-noy and disquiet the people of this province, and tent, and was attended with its usual deteriorating consequences. * fire threatened with swift destruction to sweep them from the face of the earth. peradventure, those of neighbouring governments, whereby they may make the poor natives worse, and not better, for coming among them, which is an heinous offence to God, and a reproach to the *The most formidable evil visited upon the blessed name of Christ and his holy religion; it Indians, and flowing from their connection with is, therefore, enacted, that no person within this the Europeans, was the introduction of ardent spir- province, do henceforth presume to sell or exchange its. That terrible agent did not fail to ensnare the any rum or brandy, or any other liquors, at any unreflecting Indian, and feeding the fierce passions time, to any Indian within this province; and if of his unsubdued nature, fitted him for every atro- any one shall offend therein, the person so convict city, and made him the prey of every evil artifice. ed, shall, for every such offence, pay five pounds." The indulgence in the use of inebriating draughts, The same subject claimed the attention of the had, moreover, the effect to introduce physical Yearly Meeting of Friends, in 1685, and 1687, maladies before unknown among them, and to and advice correspondent with the efforts of the subject them to outrage and wrong in the disposal proprietary, were issued to the members of that of their lands and commodities; in short, that liquid | Society. colony. As they arrived in succession, they legislature was held at Philadelphia, the memwere kindly received and assisted by those bers being chosen as representatives of the who were there before them; and scattering freemen and acting on their behalf. A new along the Delaware, as choice or convenience charter was granted to the inhabitants by the suggested, the country was thinly peopled from proprietary. Very considerable progress was the falls, at Trenton, to Chester. The inhabi- made in the building of the new city, so that tants, including the Dutch and Swedes, who by the end of the year, no fewer than an hunhad been long resident in the country, are dred houses had made their appearance. The computed at the time to which we have ar- land in the vicinity was in places cleared and rived, to be about four thousand; so that Wil- brought into cultivation; and the grains of liam Penn may be said to have raised up a Europe were beginning to flourish on the vircolony at once, in his new domains. gin soil of Pennsylvania. A letter written a It may be readily conjectured, that the es- number of years afterwards, by one of the tablishment of meetings for Divine worship, companions of William Penn, describing the and the preservation of order, would early oc- situation of the colony at this time, is deemed cupy the attention of the settlers in Pennsyl-on account of its native and beautiful simplivania. We accordingly find, that before the city, not unworthy a place in these memoirs. arrival of William Penn, a meeting of Friends was held at Shackamaxon, and that in 1682, a meeting was held in a frame house erected for the purpose, within the present limits of Philadelphia.* A meeting of the Society appears to have been held at Uplands, Chester, several years before the arrival of William Penn, and at that place a meeting of record, probably the first in the province, was held as early as 1681. A meeting was settled at Darby, in 1682. "After our arrival," says he, "we found it a wilderness. The chief inhabitants were Indians and some Swedes, who received us in a friendly manner; and though there was a great number of us, the good hand of Providence was seen in a particular manner, in that provisions were found for us by the Swedes and Indians at very reasonable rates, as well as brought from divers other parts that were inhabited before. In the course of the year 1682, and the two "After some time I set up a mill on Chesfollowing ones, great numbers of emigrants ter creek, which I brought ready framed from arrived from England, Ireland, Wales, Hol- London, which served for grinding of corn land and Germany, who extended their settle- and sawing of boards, and was of great use ments into the interior of the country. The to us. Besides, with Joshua Tittery, I made Welsh settled on both sides of the Schuylkill, a net, and caught great quantities of fish, and have left in the names of the townships, which supplied ourselves and many others; Merion, Haverford, Radnor, Tredyffin, Gwy- so that, notwithstanding it was thought near nedd, &c., a lasting memorial of their original three thousand persons came in the first year, locations. Among the emigrants from Ger- we were so providentially provided for, that many, were a number of Friends, formerly inhabitants of Crisheim in the Palatinate, among whom William Penn had travelled in the service of the Gospel during the year 1677. They formed the flourishing settlement of Germantown; and by their opportune removal to the asylum which was provided for them, escaped the calamity which a few years afterward overtook their native land, when Louis XIV., in the wantonness of power, desolated the Palatinate with fire and sword. During the year 1683, William Penn appears to have been occupied with the secular concerns of the province. A session of the * A brick meeting-house, near the centre of the city, was built in 1684. That on the bank, in Front Street, called the Bank Meeting-house, was built in 1685. The great meeting-house in High Street, in 1695. These are all that were erected in the city, during the life of William Penn; but there were eighteen meetings of Friends in the province, as early as 1684. VOL. V.-No. 5. we could buy a deer for about two shillings, and a large turkey for about a shilling, and Indian corn for, about two shillings and sixpence per bushel. "And as our worthy proprietor treated the Indians with extraordinary humanity, they became very civil and loving to us, and brought us in abundance of venison. As in other countries the Indians were exasperated by hard treatment, which hath been the foundation of much bloodshed, so the contrary treatment here hath produced their love and affection. "After our arrival there came in about twenty families from High and Low Germany 23 the principles and doctrines of Christianity. If the strict observance of justice, and a conduct uniformly pacific, could preserve the relations of friendship and peace with such a people, it is a libel on the religion which we profess, to deny that the same relations might be maintained among Christians, by similar means. And when we observe the rapid advances of Pennsylvania in population and wealth, we must admit that the experiment of William Penn has sufficiently proved the superiority of the pacific policy, when viewed as a question of political expediency, above that usually adopted. One of the objects of attention with William Penn, before the end of the year 1682, was to lay out the principal town of the province. The situation chosen for this purpose, was remarkably favourable. The name assigned to this new capital of the province, was expressive of the principles of its founder. The Indian name of the place where that city now stands was Coaquannock. had left their own country, to avoid the vexations and vices of Europe, that they might lead quiet and peaceable lives, and worship God according to their conscientious persuasion. The diffusion of the doctrines of Christianity among the ancient inhabitants of the land, appears to have been one of the objects in view, with these early settlers in Pennsyl vania. Though these emigrants were not generally rich, yet many of them possessed considerable estates, and were persons of good education. They were mostly sober, industrious people, of reputable characters, well qualified to advance the interests of this rising So favourable an opinion was entertained of the country assigned to William Penn, and of the character of its proprietor, that within little more than a year after the arrangements were made for settling it, between twenty and It is true, that William Penn was not the thirty vessels arrived with emigrants, amountonly one, nor the first, who obtained posses- ing collectively, to more than two thousand sion of the Indian lands by purchase. The individuals. A large part of these, were memexample had been set in Massachusetts, New-bers of the religious Society of Friends. They York, Maryland, New-Jersey, and by the Dutch, Swedes and Fins, on the Delaware. It does not, however, appear, that in any other colony, was so favourable and permanent an impression made, upon the original inhabitants, as in Pennsylvania. And it is not unreasonable to suppose, that if William Penn could have seen his way clear to settle himself and his family permanently in Pennsylvania, at the time of his first visit; to have superintended in person, the intercourse between the new settlers and the native inhabitants, and to have added the influence of his character and religious weight, to the efforts which were made to enlighten the minds and improve the condition of these people, that the soil of Pennsylvania, might, at this day, have contained no inconsiderable number of To protect the natives from these fearful conseits native occupants, enjoying the comforts of quences, the wise and virtuous lawgiver of Penncivilized life, and the benefits of the Christian sylvania saw, on his arrival, the necessity of interposing his authority to correct mischiefs which had religion. It is cause of poignant regret, that existed antecedent to his possession of the province; the settlement of the Europeans in their vicini- he therefore, in 1682, declared and enacted, that, ty, instead of extending the benefits of civili-"Whereas, divers persons, as English, Dutch, zation and Christianity, among the untutored inhabitants of the wilderness, should be the signal for their extinction. Even in Pennsylvania, notwithstanding the prohibitory laws of the founder, the sale of spirituous liquors to the Indians, was prosecuted to a considerable extent, and was attended with its usual deteriorating consequences.* *The most formidable evil visited upon the Indians, and flowing from their connection with the Europeans, was the introduction of ardent spirits. That terrible agent did not fail to ensnare the unreflecting Indian, and feeding the fierce passions of his unsubdued nature, fitted him for every atrocity, and made him the prey of every evil artifice. The indulgence in the use of inebriating draughts, had, moreover, the effect to introduce physical maladies before unknown among them, and to subject them to outrage and wrong in the disposal of their lands and commodities; in short, that liquid fire threatened with swift destruction to sweep them from the face of the earth. Swedes, &c., have been wont to sell to the Indians, rum and brandy, and such like distilled spirits, though they know the said Indians are not able to govern themselves in the use thereof, but do commonly drink of it to such excess as makes themselves destroy one another, and grievously annoy and disquiet the people of this province, and peradventure, those of neighbouring governments, whereby they may make the poor natives worse, and not better, for coming among them, which is an heinous offence to God, and a reproach to the blessed name of Christ and his holy religion; it is, therefore, enacted, that no person within this province, do henceforth presume to sell or exchange any rum or brandy, or any other liquors, at any time, to any Indian within this province; and if any one shall offend therein, the person so convicted, shall, for every such offence, pay five pounds." The same subject claimed the attention of the Yearly Meeting of Friends, in 1685, and 1687, and advice correspondent with the efforts of the proprietary, were issued to the members of that Society. |