AMERICA,

HISTORICAL-STATISTICAL-AND DESCRIPTIVE.

CHAP. I.

Origin of the settlement of Pennsylvania-Parentage and education of William Penn-Origin of the name of PennsylvaniaArrival of the first emigrants in the Delaware-Publication of Penn's first "frame of government"-Treaty with the Indians for their lands-First design for the city of Philadelphia-Penn's return to England-Affectionate farewell to his settlement-First institution for the education of youth-Penn deprived of his government by royal warrant-Friendship of John Locke and Lord Somers-Restoration of Penn to his proprietary government -Illness and death of Penn-Cessation of the Quaker authority in Pennsylvania-Declaration of American Independence in Philadelphia-Progress of Pennsylvania in wealth and population -Description of the State, in its scenery and resources-Towns, manufactures, and public improvements.

Or all the cities in the American Union, there is not one, probably, that bears so visibly upon its surface the impress of its founder, as that of Philadelphia. The symmetry of its plan, the neatness of its buildings, the air of repose and contentment, and its multiplied institutions of benevolence, are all as prominent features of its Quaker origin, and striking proofs of Quaker influence, as the names of Pennsylvania for the State, and Philadelphia for the city, are indicative of the benign spirit in which these appellations

were conceived. It is desirable, therefore, to trace the leading incidents of the history of this settlement so far as these may illustrate the origin, progress, and present condition of this portion of the Union, one of the most interesting of the States.

It was in the year 1680 that a charter for the settlement of Pennsylvania and Delaware was first granted by Charles the Second to William Penn; so that from this period its history may be most properly dated. The circumstances which preceded and led to this grant are sufficiently curious, however, to deserve mention. The father of William Penn was an admiral in the British navy, under the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell; and in 1664, he made the conquest of Jamaica, and first added that valuable island to the British colonial possessions. He was subsequently unfortunate in an expedition against St. Domingo, for his failure in which he was imprisoned by Cromwell in the Tower of London, and never after employed under the Commonwealth. At the restoration of the Stuarts, he rose again into 'favour, and commanded at sea in the Dutch war of 1665 with the Duke of York; but in 1668 he was impeached by the House of Commons for embezzlement of prize-money, though the impeachment was never prosecuted to an issue.

At this time his son, William Penn, was a student at the University of Oxford, and was expected, from his father's known interest at court, to have made a figure in the world in some public walk of life. But at the age of sixteen he became so impressed with the discourses of a Quaker preacher, whom he heard at Oxford, that the warmth and openness with which

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he espoused the doctrines of this sect, led to his expulsion from the University. His father, in the true style of an admiral of those days, endeavoured to cure him of his "new-fangled notions," as they were then called, by first giving him a severe flogging, with blows, and then banishing him from his house and presence. This had the natural effect of attaching him the more strongly to the principles for which he was so bitterly persecuted.

The admiral then resorted to another and more insidious method of curing this early "eccentricity," as he considered it, which was, to send him on a course of travels throughout Europe, with some of the gayest young men of rank and family in France; the result of which was, that he returned to his approving parent with a complete change of manners and sentiments, as "a man of the world." Soon after, however, he had occasion to visit Ireland, in the year 1666, to inspect an estate; and meeting there with the same Quaker preacher, whose discourses had made so powerful an impression on him at Oxford, all his former veneration for the principles of Quakerism was revived, and he made an open, public, and solemn profession of his determination to embrace them, and act upon them through life.

According to the testimony of different writers, the conduct of Penn seems, after this, to have exhibited a mixture of good and evil, which is very remarkable at one time upholding, with all his ability and influence, the despotic prerogative of the crown-at another appealing to the House of Commons for a repeal of the penal laws against dissenters, attaching himself to Algernon Sydney, and

of

assisting his election for Guildford, as the friend of the people, against a court candidate who opposed him ;-soon after this, seeing his friend Sydney perish on the scaffold for his patriotism, and yet keeping up, during all this time, his cordial intimacy with the despotic sovereign and court by whom this outrage was perpetrated;-being present at the execution of a most pious and benevolent, as well as aged lady, Mrs. Grant, who was burnt alive, because she gave shelter to a person who had escaped from the rebel army the Duke of Monmouth, but of whom she knew nothing except that he was a person in distress ;-and being present also at the execution of Alderman Cornish, who was hung at his own door, on an imputation of treason which was never proved, and in which no one but his accusers believed. This was under James the Second, with whom, in the very height of his tyranny, Penn maintained a confidential intimacy and apparent friendship, which it is as difficult to understand, as it has been found impossible to explain.

In 1680, when Charles the Second was on the throne and when Penn, from his share in the direction of the affairs of New Jersey, with other members of the Society of Friends with whom he was associated, had become well acquainted with the value of the territory west of the Delaware river, he presented a petition to Charles, setting forth his relationship to the deceased admiral, and stating that a debt was due to his father from the crown, which had not been paid, in consequence of the shutting up of the exchequer by the Earl of Shaftesbury. For this debt he expressed his willingness to receive a grant of the territories west of the Delaware, and north of Mary

ORIGIN OF THE NAME.

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land, which was then already in the possession of Lord Baltimore; and the grounds on which he justified his application were, a belief that by his interest with the Quakers he should be enabled to colonize the territory, and make it productive of a considerable revenue to the British treasury; and that at the same time he should be able to enlarge the British dominions, and promote the glory of God by the conversion of the native Indians to Christianity. This petition was referred to the Duke of York and Lord Baltimore; and their approbation, after certain restrictions, being accorded, and some technical and legal difficulties being removed, the charter was granted to William Penn, in consideration of the merits of the father, and the good purposes of the son; and by it, himself and his heirs were made perpetual proprietors of the extensive, rich, and fertile province, now constituting the State of Pennsylvania.

The origin of the name is thus explained. It was a proposition of King Charles, that the province should be called Penn: or that this name should form part of any appellation that might be fixed on. This was resisted by Penn, lest it should be imputed to him as vanity. He himself proposed to call it New Wales, but this was for some reason disapproved. - Penn next suggested Sylvania, as the province was so beautifully diversified with wood; to which the king insisted on prefixing the name of Penn, in honour of the admiral, whose memory he revered.

The conditions on which "the Proprietary," as Penn was now called, held his vast and valuable grant, was the payment of two bear-skins annually, and a