The grant to Penn made him sovereign proprietary not only of Pennsylvania, but of the settlements of the Swedes, Dutch and English, on the western bank of the Delaware and the mouth of the Schuylkill. A royal proclamation, announcing this fact to these settlers, accompanied by the letter to his new subjects above given, was immediately sent over by William Penn by the hand of his young relative, William Markham. At the same time companies were formed in London for commercial purposes, and for the purchase of land and emigration; lands were sold at the rate of 40s. for every 100 acres, the purchasers being entitled also to lots in the city, all land being subject to a quit-rent of 1s. for each 100 acres. In the course of the summer, three vessels of emigrants, with three commissioners on board, set sail for the new land; but good fortune seemed not to attend them; one was driven to the West Indies, another frozen up on the Delaware.
Penn, though he inherited a considerable property from his father, was not by any means a wealthy man. Owing to the liberality of his expenditure on behalf of his suffering brethren, his circumstances were straitened, and he had a growing family; yet such was the integrity of his mind, that he refused £6,000 which were offered him by a London trading company, for a monopoly of the Indian traffic between the Delaware and the Susquehannah. Monopoly was contrary to his principles of justice, and he replied, nobly, that “he would not abuse the love of God, nor act unworthy of his providence, by defiling what came to him clean.” No; his government in Pennsylvania was to be “a Holy Experiment,” for which there was no room in England, and self-aggrandisement, even though himself profited by it, could have no place there.
In September, Penn sent out instructions regarding the laying out of the new city. Wishing to avoid the fault of the cities of the Old World, which, built during times of disquiet, were crowded within narrow bounds, so as to be easily defended in case of need, he desired that his new city should be laid out with ample space, allowing to each house its garden, so as to form “a green country town.” He also sent a friendly letter to the Indians, addressing them as brethren, as children of the same Heavenly Father, “having the same law written in their hearts, and alike bound to love and help to do one another good.”
The “Grand Model” constitution was not the result of more thought than was the frame of government which the deeply religions mind of Penn prepared for his province. According to his views, government, like religion, was based on love, and had for its purpose the advancement and happiness of the people, even more than the correction of evil-doers. Although acknowledging in himself the supreme head of the state, “yet for the matters of liberty,” said he, “I purpose that which is extraordinary—to leave myself and successors no power of doing mischief; that the will of one man may not hinder the good of a whole country.” And again, “It is the great end of government to support power in reverence with the people, and to secure the people from the abuse of power; for liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery.” Shaftesbury counselled with Locke, and the intellect of the age produced the “Grand Model;” Penn counselled with Algernon Sidney and his quaker brethren, who, like himself, listened to the Divine Voice within their own souls, and a frame of government suitable to the “Holy Experiment” was the result; and fundamental principles of government were acknowledged, which, though too pure for that age and for that province even, have since become not only the avowed basis of legislature in Pennsylvania, but in Great Britain itself. Truth is immortal, and no “Holy Experiment” is ever tried in vain.
According to the proposed constitution, the legislative and executive authority was vested in a council of seventy-two persons, elected by the freemen for three years, one-third to go out annually; the proprietary or his deputy to preside and have a triple vote. Laws thus proposed were to be submitted for approval or rejection to an assembly of freemen. To this frame of government were subjoined forty “fundamental laws,” agreed upon by Penn and his intending emigrants, religious toleration being of course one of these. The words of this provision were:—“All persons living in this province, who confess and acknowledge the one Almighty and Eternal God to be the creator, upholder and ruler of the world, and that hold themselves obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly in civil society, shall in nowise be molested or prejudiced for their religious persuasion or practice in matters of faith and worship.”
The proposals which Penn had published soon attracted attention; and a “Free Society of Traders” was immediately formed, who took up, on his terms, 20,000 acres of land, and received in consequence their appurtenant city lots of 100 acres, constituting an entire street of the new city. A German emigration society was also formed, and from the neighbourhood of Frankfort and “the highlands above Worms,” where the simple peasantry had gladly embraced quaker principles at the preaching of Penn, Fox, and others, great numbers not only now, but for several years, continued to flock over to the new land of hope and promise; and Germantown, among other settlements, was founded.
In August, 1682, Penn obtained from the Duke of York a surrender of all claims on his part to the province of Pennsylvania; and soon afterwards a grant of the settlements on the western and southern banks of the Delaware river and bay, which had hitherto been included in the duke’s charter, and claimed as an appurtenance of New York. These now took the title of “The Territories,” and furnished to Pennsylvania the important advantage of an ocean-outlet.
These measures being secured, Penn prepared to embark, together with 100 of his friends, emigrants to the new country. Penn took leave of his wife, the noble and beautiful daughter of Isaac Pennington, to whom he was sincerely attached, in an affecting letter, recommending his children to her love and care, and praying her “to live sparingly till his debts were paid;” yet, as regarded the education of the children, to “let it be liberal; to spare in that respect no cost, for by such parsimony all is lost,” said he, “that is saved.”
The voyage was long and disastrous, owing to the small-pox which broke out in the ship and destroyed one-third of the passengers. On the 27th of October, the ship arrived at Newcastle, on the Delaware, where crowds were gathered to receive their distinguished governor. The following day, the surrender of the Duke of York being read in the court-house, Penn received from the duke’s agent earth and water, in token of the solemn delivery of “the territory” into his hands. After this, he addressed the people, recommending to them peace and sobriety, and assuring them on his part of liberty of conscience and civil freedom. He then proceeded up the broad majestic Delaware to Upland, or Chester, where again crowds of rejoicing simple people, like dwellers in Arcadia, thronged to bid him welcome.
