The first colonists sent out, being chiefly of the Society of Friends, with the predominating characteristics of their people, temperance, industry, and economy, and conducting themselves in the difficulties and hardships of their new situation with much prudence and circumspection, avoided most of the dangers to which a new colony is usually subject, and received with demonstrations of satisfaction the new settlers who arrived at New Castle October 24, 1682. Immediately on his arrival, Penn proceeded to establish his government over the colony, and the first assembly was convened at Chester on December 4. This legislature, in a session of three days, passed laws annexing the lower counties ceded by the Duke of York to the province, confirming an act of settlement, and naturalizing resident foreigners, and also passed in form, after some revision, the laws which had been prepared in England.
After a visit to Lord Baltimore in his government of Maryland, Penn returned to Coaquannock (the site of Philadelphia), and, still conscientiously regarding the Indians as rightful possessors of the soil, he invited them to a conference at Shackamaxon (now Kensington), where they assembled in great numbers. A formal treaty of peace and amity was made: the Indians were paid for their lands, and departed for their homes full of love and admiration for the great and good Onas, as they called Penn. For seventy years this simple but sincere treaty remained inviolate: of it Voltaire says, “It was the only treaty between these people and the Christians that was not ratified by an oath, and which was never broken.” Certain it is that Penn’s strict observance of justice in paying for the soil, and the interest he manifested, during many successive treaties, in their real welfare, not only operated to secure the colony for many years from hostile attacks, but implanted in the generous though uncultivated mind of the Indian a regard for Penn and the Quakers which bids fair to be transmitted to the latest remains of the race.
The capital of the province, Philadelphia, was next to be laid out, of which at the time of Penn’s arrival not a house was completed,—the colonists having in general no better lodgings than caves hollowed out of the high banks of the rivers. The very ground on which it was proposed to locate was in dispute, being claimed by some Swedes, who were induced to relinquish their claim for a larger portion of land elsewhere. The city was located between Wicacoa, now Southwark, and Shackamaxon,—two miles in length and one in breadth, with a navigable river at each end,—and was planned with admirable convenience and regularity under the inspection of the Surveyor-General of the province. During the first year there were erected about eighty houses; and the establishment of various mechanical arts, as well as a profitable trade, soon gave strength to the infant city.
Early in 1683 the first jury was impanelled for the trial of one Pickering, with others as accessories, who were convicted before the governor and council of counterfeiting the Spanish silver money current in the colony. The sentence discovers the same spirit of mildness and equity which at this day constitutes the praise and the efficacy of the criminal code of the State. He was to pay a fine of £40 towards the building of a court-house, standing committed until payment, find securities for his good behavior, and make restitution in good silver to the holders of his base coin, which, being first melted down, was to be restored to him.
Penn’s interest at court had declined considerably, partly caused by ambitious enemies; but it was soon restored upon the death of Charles II. by the accession of his more immediate patron, James II., which occurred shortly after Penn’s arrival in England in 1684. The troubles in that country during the reign of James involved Penn and his colony in difficulty, and after the revolution of 1688, which placed William and Mary on the throne, Penn was several times imprisoned in consequence of his religion and his supposed adherence to the cause of the fallen monarch.
On the prevalence of his enemies at court, he had been deprived of his government of Pennsylvania, which was annexed in October, 1692, to that of New York under Colonel Fletcher.
The suspicions which had so long rendered the king unfriendly to Penn were at last removed. He was honorably acquitted of all charges, religious as well as political, which had been brought against him, and his rights were restored to him by an instrument of William and Mary, dated in August, 1694.
We have given this little sketch of the history of Pennsylvania simply as an episode. It is, however, connected with that portion of our subject which laid the foundation for a system of communication that has, ever since the introduction of trade and commerce, made up one of their chief facilities in business, and identified itself with the cabinet of Washington,—THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.
In connection with William Penn our readers will no doubt be interested in the following letter, which is on file in the Land Department at the Capitol, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
According to the “Harrisburg Telegraph,” it appears to be the credentials of a Society of Free-Traders, an organized body of merchants which once existed in London, whose objects were to trade with Canada, at that time a comparatively unknown country. The “Emperor of Canada” was supposed by the company to be a celebrated Indian chief. The letter is written on a piece of parchment about two and a half feet wide by three feet in length. The letters are about an inch in length, slightly inclined to the right, bold, and of a very symmetrical formation. The first letters of the first and second lines are large and highly ornamented,—a style which is yet kept by some of our first-class publishers, who introduce ornamental initial letters to chapters in their books. The signature of Penn is nearly an inch long, with the same inclination to the right, but the letters are not quite so bold and gracefully formed as those in the body of the document:—