"The first planters in these parts were the Dutch, and soon after them the Swedes and Finns. The Dutch applied themselves to traffic, the Swedes and Finns to husbandry. There were some disputes between them for some years; the Dutch looking upon them as intruders upon their purchase and possession, which was finally ended in the surrender made by John Rizeing, the Swedish Governor, to Peter Stuyvesant, Governor for the States of Holland, anno 1655.
"The Dutch inhabit mostly those parts of the province that lie upon or near the Bay, the Swedes the Freshes[1] of the River Delaware.
"There is no need of giving any description of them, who are better known there than here; but they are a plain, strong, industrious people, yet have made no great progress in culture, or propagation of fruit-trees; as if they desired rather to have enough than plenty or traffic.... They kindly received me as well as the English, who were few before the people connected with me came among them. I must needs commend their respect to authority, and kind behavior to the English. They do not degenerate from the old friendship between both kingdoms. As they are people proper and strong of body, so they have fine children, and almost every house full: rare to find one of them without three or four boys and as many girls; some six, seven, and eight sons. And I must do them that right, I see few young men more sober and laborious."
It was in the summer of 1683 when Penn had written home that fifty vessels had arrived during the past year, that about eighty houses had been built in Philadelphia, and some three hundred farms were under cultivation in the near neighborhood. It is estimated that about three thousand settlers had now arrived. Penn himself made a long horseback trip into the country, meeting many Indians, living in their wigwams, learning something of their language, and continually gaining their good will and friendship. After this journey he wrote a long letter to the Free Society of Traders, in which he described the country in detail, and gave remarkably accurate accounts of the trees and flowers, the soil and climate, of his great province.
He loved an outdoor life, and was so delighted with his new domain that he planned, and later built, a country home for himself about twenty miles above Philadelphia, near where Bristol is now situated. This place he called Pennsbury. He did not have a chance to do more than plan it at this time, for the boundary disputes with Lord Baltimore had now been referred to the Privy Council in London, and Penn felt that he must go there himself to represent his claims, and also to see his family. So he left his colony on August 16, 1684, sailing in a small ship called a ketch, and reached England after a seven weeks' voyage.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The "Freshes" of the Delaware were the low-lying meadows along the river. The Swedes built their homes on the upland portions and pastured their cattle in the low lands. Their interest centered on the river which provided them with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of fish and game, and on the rich grass of the river meadows where no trees had to be cleared away to provide pasture-land.
CHAPTER X Troublous Days in England
Penn found himself in a curious position when he arrived in England. He was a great man, the governor of a large colony which was reputed to be extraordinarily rich, and at the same time he was one of the leaders of a sect which was once more frowned upon and disliked by both the king and the court. As he himself said, "One day I was received well at court as proprietor and governor of a province of the crown, the next taken up at a meeting by Hilton and Collingwood, and the third smoakt" [smoked out or hunted out] "and informed of for meeting with the men of the whig stamp."
He went to see King Charles and the Duke of York, but, though they were glad to see their former friend, they both now felt that the troubles besetting their government were largely due to dissenting religious parties, and that the Quakers were among the chief of these dissenters. Penn saw that he must not lose the good opinion of the king if he were to have any success in his dispute with Lord Baltimore, a nobleman who had great influence at court; at the same time he found that many Quakers were being ill-treated for their religion and felt called upon to help them. The case of one man in particular appealed to him, Richard Vickris, a quiet man who had been sentenced to execution because he refused to take an oath and who had broken certain statutes for the suppression of dissenters. This case Penn appealed to the Duke of York, and the latter finally secured Vickris's pardon from the king.