The first Welsh emigrants arrived on the 13th of August, 1682. They were Quakers from Merionethshire who had felt the hand of persecution. They had bought from Penn in England five thousand acres of unsurveyed land, and had been promised by him the reservation of a large tract exclusively for Welsh settlers, to the end that they might preserve the customs of their native land, decide all debates “in a Gospel order,” and not entangle themselves “with laws in an unknown tongue.” At Philadelphia they found a crowd of people endeavoring to have their farms surveyed, for although the site of the city was chosen, the town lots were not laid out. In a few days the Welshmen had the first part surveyed of what became known as the Welsh Barony. It lay on the west side of the Schuylkill, north of Philadelphia. The warrant for surveying the entire tract, which contained forty thousand acres, was not issued until 1684. Special privileges appear to have been accorded to these settlers. Township officers were not chosen for their districts until 1690, and their Friends’ Meetings exercised authority in civil affairs. From these facts it is possible that the intention was to protect the Welsh in the rights of local self-government by erecting the tract into a manor. By a clause in the royal charter, Penn could erect “manors, to have and to hold a court baron, with all things whatsoever to a court baron do belong.” To a company known as the “Free Society of Traders” he had (March 20, 1682) granted these extraordinary privileges, empowering them to hold courts of sessions and jail deliveries, to constitute a court-leet, and to appoint certain civil officers for their territory. This was known as the Manor of Frank. To Nicholas More, the president of the Company, the Manor of Moreland was granted, with like privileges; but neither More nor the Company seem to have exercised their rights as rulers. Whatever special rights the Welshmen had, were reserved until 1690, when regular township officers were appointed. Goshen, Uwchlan, Tredyffren, Whiteland, Newtown, Haverford, Radnor, and Merion,—the names these ancient Britons gave to their townships—show what parts of the present counties of Delaware, Chester, and Montgomery the Welsh tract covered. Some of these people settled in Philadelphia and Bucks County. They were chiefly Quakers, although Baptists were found among them.
The ship which bore Penn to America was the “Welcome.” The small-pox made its appearance among the passengers when they had been out a short time, and nearly one-third of them died. Two vessels which left England after Penn had sailed, arrived before him; but at last, after a trying voyage of nearly two months, the “Welcome” came within the Capes of Delaware. Penn dated his arrival from the 24th of October, 1682, but it was not until the 27th that the vessel lay opposite New Castle. The next day he exhibited his deeds from the Duke of York, and took formal possession of the town and surrounding country. He received a pledge of submission from the inhabitants, issued commissions to six justices of the peace, and empowered Markham to receive in his name possession of the country below, which was done on November 7. The 29th of October (O. S.) found him within the bounds of Pennsylvania, at the Swedish village of Upland, the name of which, tradition says, he then changed to Chester. From this point notices were sent out for the holding of a court at New Castle on the 2d of November. At this meeting the inhabitants of the counties of Delaware were told that their rights and privileges should be the same as those of the citizens of Pennsylvania, and that an assembly would be held as soon as convenient.
LETITIA COTTAGE.
A city residence for Penn was begun by his commissioners before he arrived. Parts of it were prepared in England. A portion of it still stands on the west side of Letitia Street, south of Market. The above cut is a fac-simile of the view given in Watson’s Annals of Philadelphia (1845), p. 158. Cf. Gay’s Popular History of the United States, ii. 492.
The attention which Penn gave to the constitution of his province was a duty which had for him a particular interest. His thoughts had necessarily dwelt much on the subject, and his experience had made him acquainted with the principles of law and the abuses of government. The drafts of this paper which have been preserved show how deeply it was considered. Henry Sidney, Sir William Jones, and Counsellor Bamfield were consulted, and portions of it were framed in accordance with the wishes of the Quakers. In the Introduction to this remarkable paper, the ingenuousness of its author is clearly discernible. Recognizing the necessity of government, and tracing it to a divine origin, Penn continues,—
“For particular frames and models, it will become me to say little, and comparatively I will say nothing. My reasons are, first, that the age is too nice and difficult for it, there being nothing the wits of men are more busy and divided upon.... Men side with their passions against their reason, and their sinister interests have so strong a bias upon their minds, that they lean to them against the good of the things they know.
“I do not find a model in the world that time, place, and some singular emergencies have not necessarily altered, nor is it easy to frame a civil government that shall serve all places alike. I know what is said by the several admirers of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, which are the rule of one, a few, and many, and are the three common ideas of government when men discourse on that subject. But I choose to solve the controversy with this small distinction, and it belongs to all three,—any government is free to the people under it (whatever be the frame) where the laws rule and the people are a party to those laws; and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, or confusion.... Liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery.”