description of scenes of blood, murder, and devastation. | to look upon, an example for them to imitate. But the But what country on earth ever presented such a spec- potentates of the earth did not see, or if they saw, they tacle as this fortunate commonwealth held out to view turned away their eyes from the sight; they did not hear, for the space of near one hundred years, realizing all or if they heard, they shut their ears against the voice that fable ever invented or poetry ever sang of an ima- which called out to them from the wilderness, ginary golden age. Happy country, whose unparalleled innocence already communicates to thy history the interest of romance! Should Pennsylvanians hereafter degenerate, they will not need like the Greeks, a fabulous Arcadia to relieve the mind from the prospect of their crimes and follies, and to redeem their own vices by the fancied virtues of their forefathers. Pennsylvania once realized what never existed before except in fabled story. Not that her citizens were entirely free from the passions of human nature, for they were men and not angels; but it is certain that no country on earth ever exhibited such a scene of happiness, innocence, and peace, as was witnessed here during the first century of our social existence.

Discite justitiam moniti, et non temnere Divos. The character of William Penn alone sheds a never fading lustre upon our history. No other state in tis union can boast of such an illustrious founder; none began their social career under auspices so honourable to. humanity. Every trait of the life of that great man, every fact and anecdote of those golden times will be sought for by our descendants with avidity, and will furnish many an interesting subject for the fancy of the novelist, and the enthusiasm of the poet. It is, there fore, highly important, that while recent tradition and numerous authentic but perishable documents, are still in our power, we should collect all those valuable materials, and embody their substance in an historical work worthy of being handed down to posterity. Although such a work will not be fruitful of great incidents, still it will exhibit human nature under many a varied aspect; great faults will be found associated to great vir tues; the reader will, more than once, while he admires the latter, be compelled, with regret, to acknowledge, as the former strike his view, that no efforts of the human mind can ever produce absolute perfection in this sublunary world, and that it is in vain for us to expect to be angels on this side of the eternal mansions; and, upon the whole, it my, with truth, be asserted that there will be found in the History of Pennsylvania, much to instruct and much to delight.

The historian will take a cursory view of the various vicissitudes that attended the first settlement of the ancient colony of Virginia, during a quarter of a century, from the time when it was taken possession of for the English crown by Sir Water Raleigh, in 1594, to the yer 1610, when Lord Delaware, arriving there from England, as captain general, found its population reYet amidst this simplicity, what grand and magnifi-duced, by a dreadful famine, to the inconsiderable cent scenes court the pencil of the historian! His it number of 60 souls. Yet three years afterwards the will be to delineate the majestic features of one of the colony had so far recovered from that calamity, that her greatest legislators that ever appeared among mankind next governor. Dale, sent an expedition to the northDid I say one of the greatest? I hasten to correct my ward, under Argl, which destroyed the French seterror: WILLIAM PENN stands the first among the law-tlements in remote Acadia, and compelled the Dutch, givers whose names and deeds are recorded in history. already est blished at Manhattan island, to submit to Shall we compare with him Lycurgus, Solon. Romulus, the sovereignty of England. those founders of military commonwealths, who organ- It was on his voyage to Virginia that Lord Delaware ized their citizens in dreadful array against the rest of discovered the great bay and river to which he gave his their species, taught them to consider their fellow men name, and which Hudson, sailing in the Dutch service, as barbarians, and themselves as alone worthy to rule had passed by in the preceding year. The Dutch callover the earth? What benefit did mankind derive from ed it the South River, by which name it was known for their boasted institutions? Interrogate the shades of more than half a century, to recover afterwards and those who fell in the mighty contests between Athens preserve for ever that of the gallant commander who and Lacedæmon, between Carthage and Rome, and be-had saved the first English colony in America from imtween Rome and the rest of the universe. But see our Wm. Penn, with weaponless hands, sitting down peaceably with his followers in the midst of savage nations whose only occupation was shedding the blood of their fellow men, disarming them by his justice, and teaching them, for the first time, to view a stranger without distrust. See them bury their tomahawks in his presence, so deep that man shall never be able to find them again. See them under the shade of the thick groves of Coaquannock extend their bright chain of friendship, and solemnly promise to preserve it as long as the sun and moon shall endure. See him then with his companions establishing his commonwealth on the sole basis of religion, morality and universal love, and adopting as the fundamental maxim of his government, the rule handed down to us from heaven, "Glory to God on high, and on earth peace and good will to all men. "3 Here was a spectacle for the potentates of the earth

I well remember them, those patriarchal times, when simple, yet not inelegant manners prevailed every where among us; when rusticity was devoid of roughness, and polished life diffused its mild radiance around, unassuming and unenvied; when society was free from the constraint of etiquette and parade; when love was not crossed by avarice or pride, and friendships were unbroken by ambition and intrigue. This was the spectacle which Pennsylvania offered even in the midst of the storms of our revolution, and which she continued to exhibit until a sudden influx of riches broke in upon the land, and brought in its train luxury, more baneful than war.* This torrent has been checked in its course; we are gradually returning to those moderate habits, which we never should have abandoned. But we are too far advanced in population and arts ever to see our ancient manners restored in their primitive purity; all that we can do now is to preserve their memory in the historical page, as a subject of pride to our descendants, and of admiration to succeeding generations throughout the world.

Sævior armis.
Luxuria incubuit ---LUCAN.

pending destruction.

But the Dutch on the Manhattan did not long acknowledge the supremacy of the English crown. In the year 1614, they erected Fort Amsterdam, where New York now stands, and put themselves in a posture of defence against foreign assailants. Then commenced in America the empire of the Dutch nation, flushed with the pride of her young independence, and of her victories over Spain, at that time considered the greatest power in Europe. She claimed all the country be tween the two great rivers which Hudson had discovered, one of which still retains the name of North river, which he gave to it, and even extended her pretensions to the south side of the river Connecticut. At the time the soil of New England was yet untrodden by European feet; but a numerous and hardy population was soon to press on the Dutch settlements from the east, and in less than fifty years to put an end to their dominion on this continent. This was to have been expected by those who considered the different spirit in which the two nations colonized the country, where the

1833.]

A DISCOURSE DELIVERED BY PETER S. DU PONCEAU, LL. D.

freedom and a home.

Here, says their historian Campanius, can empire. Dutch sought only trade, while the English sought | New Gottenburg, the metropolis of the Swedish AmeriThere a church governor Printz built an elegant mansion house for himself and his dependants, with a garden, a pleasurehouse, and other appurtenances.* was built, and there the principal inhabitants had their houses and plantations. What is become of that seat of luxury and grandeur? Not a trace of its former glory is to be seen, it lies waste and desolate, tenanted only by grazing cattle; and near it, where perhaps, formerly rian describes, is an impure lazaretto, the chosen abode stood one of those handsome dwellings which the histoof pestilence and death. Such are the vicissitudes which our young country has already experienced.

A different scene will soon open to our view. The Dutch expel their rivals from this continent, and Nova At New Amstel, now New Castle, is established the Suecia again becomes a part of the New Netherlands. seat of delegated authority; and Old Upland,† since honoured by our first colonial legislature, is made he chief place of a judicial district. But this new order of things was not to be of long duration. In 1664 the English expel the Dutch from all their North American territory, with as little ceremony as these had done their former neighbors. Three years afterwards, the treaty of Breda sanctioned the irregular conquest.

That nation was Sweden, then governed by the illustrious daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, aided by the counsels of chancellor Oxenstiern, one of the greatest ministers that a sovereign was ever blessed with. Their genius carried into execution the establishment planned while Gustavus was yet on the throne, of a colony on the banks of the Delaware, which was doomed to last no longer than the reign of the one and the life of the other.* A cession of the British title to that part of the country was obtained from the unfortunate Charles; but the Dutch claim subsisted in its full force, and after nineteen years' unquiet possession, the Swedes were compelled, in 1655, to submit to the superior force of Now another race of men is about to appear upon The names of both Dutch and Swedes are that nation, which in less than ten years afterwards was to see her own power annihilated by the same means which she had employed against her weaker neighbors. the stage. The first settlement of the Swedes on the Delaware going to be merged into that of Englishmen, which, took place in the year 1638, at which period our histo-after the lapse of a century, is to be changed for anothry properly begins. The descendants of those sons of er destined to still greater fame the north make part of our present population, and we trace with pleasure among the names of many of those who shone at that time among the first ranks of society, and one of their public edifices still meets our view, and strikes our minds with that veneration which never fails to be inspired by relics of former times. The historian will not pass over that period in silence. By the mu-ry is so full of interesting scenes that I am at a loss how nificence of Mr. Russell, our society is in possession of to choose the few traits that I am permitted to exhibit valuable authentic records from the chancery of Stock holm, which throw considerable light on the colonial views and policy of Christiana's government

On the eastern side of the Delaware, Burlington alrea dy appears, but will soon be eclipsed by a rival city, which will be the pride and glory of the western world.

•

·

Our histoBut I perceive that my subject is carrying me far beyond the object and limits of this discourse.

to you.

Here two Swedish governors, Printz and Risingh, successfully exercised a supreme but short lived authority. History will delineate their characters, and trace the consequences of the timidity of the one, who suffer ed the Dutch to erect a fort on the Swedish territory,+ and the rashness of the other, who unseasonably expelled them from it, and by this act of force lost the country, for ever, to his sovereign. The historian will pay a deserved tribute of praise to the mildness of the Swedish government and people, and above all to their strict justice towards the Indian nations, by means of which they firmly secured the love and affection of all He will not fail to interest his the surrounding tribes. reader by a lively description of the face of the country at that time, of the various settlements of the Dutch and Swedes on both sides of our river, and point out the situation of the numerous forts which their mutual jealousy erected, and of which, at present, not a vestige remains. On Tinicum island rose the fortress of

The Dutch and English colonies were now progresWhat was dosing together, but with unequal steps. ing towards the north is of 1 ttle interest to our history, it is enough for us to know that for several years the former nation did not extend her settlements to the Delaware, where she had only a few trading establishments on the eastern shore of the river, when another nation appeared and seated herself on the opposite side, then considered a part of the territory of Virginia.

See you yon gallant ship, sailing with propitious gales up the river Delaware? Her decks are covered with passengers, enjoying the mild temperature of our climate, and the serenity of our autumnal sky. They view with astonishment the novel scenery which strikes their sight; immense forests on each side, half despoiled of their red and yellow leaves, with which the ground save that of the deer rustling through the trees, as she is profusely strewed. No noise is heard around them, Now and then a strange yell strikes the ear flies from the Indian who pursues her with his bow and arrow. Observe the plainness of the dress from a distance, which the echoes of the woods reverberate, and forms a strong contrast to the awful stillness of the scene. of those venerable pilgrims, and see them lift their eyes with silent gratitude to heaven. They are a chosen band of friends who have left the British shores to establish here in peace their philanthropic commonwealth; their ship is called the Welcome, Greenaway commands her and, WILLIAM PENN is among them.

Now they land at New Castle, amidst the acclamations of the diversified population which inhabit these mans, the Swedes, all crowd to hail the great man whom shores. The English, the Welch, the Dutch, the Gerfame had already preceded him to these distant regions. they had been expecting for one long year, and whose The historian will not omit to describe this pleasing scene, and it will be more than once the favorite subject of the painter's pencil. He will choose the instant There you see him when William Penn has just landed with his principal or in boats, making for the shore. From his manly port followers, while the others are still on board the vessel, In 1654, governor Risingh took fort Casimir by sur-supported by his friend Pearson. prise; but the next year the Dutch came in force and and the resolution which his countenance displays, you took possession of the whole Swedish territory.--EB

ELING.

# See Reg. Vol. IV. p. 376.

Christiana abdicated the crown of Sweden, and Oxenstiern died, in 1654.

By Fort Casimir, which was built by the Dutch, in 1651, on the spot where New Castle now stands. this means they obtained the command of the naviga. tion of the Delaware, to counteract which, governor Printz caused another fort to be erected below, on the east side of the river, which was called Elfsborg, from which, however, the Swedes were soon after driven away by the mosquitoes.

*He gave it the name of Printzhoff.-CAMPANIUS. † At present Chester.

would take him to be a warrior, if the mild philanthropy which beams from his eyes did not reveal his profession, still more than the simplicity of his garb. He who stands before him in British regimentals, and whom he shakes affectionately by the hand, is his relation Markham, whom he had sent in the preceding year to explore the land and prepare the way for the new settlers. Those on the right, a numerous band, are your honored ancestors, some of whom accompany him on the voyage, and others had arrived before, and are now assembled here to greet him. 'There stands Pemberton, Moore, Yardley, Waln, Lloyd, Pusey, Chapman, Wood, Hollings worth, Rhoades, Hall, Gibbons, Bonsall, Sellers; Claypoole, whose ancestor, not many years before, ruled the destinies of the British empire; West, one of whose descendants will charm the world by his magic pencil, and for whose name and fame rival nations will, in after ages, contend; and many other worthies whom it would be too long to enumerate. On the left is a number of Swedes, whom their national dress, light hair, and northern countenances, sufficiently designate, there you see the brothers Swanson,† who own the ground on which the city of Philadelphia is soon to stand; and whose name one of our streets will perpetuate. With them are Stille, Bankson,+ Kempe, Rambo, Peterson, and several others, whose names still live in their descendants. Their leader is Lacy Cock, whose merit entitles him to a seat in the first council of the new commonwealth. Observe how he extends his hands; promising, in the name of his countrymen, to love, serve, and obey their reverend proprietor, and declaring that this is the best day they ever saw. The Dutch are seminated through the town which was built by them, as you may easily perceive by the sharp pointed roofs of their houses. They smoke their pipes in silence; and, after their manner, partake of the general joy.

But see, close to that half ruined fort, this motley group of Indians, whose anxiety manifests itself on their countenances, and who view the new comers with looks in which suspicion seems as yet to predominate. They are the Lenni Lenape, whose history and manners are already familiar to you. At their head is TAMANEND, the great and the good, who is said never to have had his equal for virtue and goodness, and whose memory is still held in veneration by the savage nations. His eye is steadily fixed on William Penn! His great mind has already discovered in him a congenial soul; alone among his tribe, he shows by his looks that noble confidence which will not be deceived. He it is, who under that elm tree, which many of us have seen in its vigor, but which, alas! has not long since been destroyed by the violence of the winter storm, will sign that famous treaty which the genius of the west has immortalised, and which a great writer of another nation has, with more wit than truth, described as the only one which was never sworn to and never broken. Nor was it violated while William Penn lived, nor while the ascendency of his great mind was yet operating among us.

Afterwards, indeed!-but I will not anticipate on the painful duty of the historian.

This memorable landing took place on the 24th of October, 1682, a day of proud and glad remembrance, which we ought to celebrate on every returning anniversary. While our brethren of Massachusetts commemorate every year, in the dreary time of winter, the landing of their pious ancestors on the barren rock of Plymouth, which their gratitude has consecrated to perpetual veneration; shall we suffer the epoch of the ar rival of our great founder, and his venerable band of followers, to pass away unnoticed? Let us begin this very year to distinguish ourselves by a similar act of patriotism, at a time when the season invites, and the bosom of our mother earth is covered with her choicest fruits.

The Claypoole family are lineally descended from the protector, Oliver Cromwell. †Their original name was Swenson.

Originally Bengtsen.

Lars or Lawrence Cock. corrupted into Lacy Cock. The same whom we call St. Tammany. For his character, see Heckewelder's History of the Indian Nations, chap. xi. In 1692, we find him by the name of King TAMINENT, a party to a deed of release of a tract of land lying between Neshaminy and Poquessing, on the river Delaware, and extending backwards to the utmost bounds of the province This land he, with others, had previously sold to William Penn. In 1697, he, by the name of the great Sachem TAMINENT, with his brother and sons, signed another deed for lands between Pemmopeck and Neshaminy creeks. See Smith's Laws of Pennsylvania, vol. ii. pp. 111, 112. ¶ Voltaire.

From this day the History of Pennsylvania becomes more particularly your own. If I had not already trespassed too much upon your patience, I would with delight pass in review before you, some more at least of the interesting traits with which this history abounds, and which an abler pen than mine, will, I hope, at no distant day fully delineate. Above all, I should love to dwell on the great character of our immortal founder, and to point out, by numerous examples, that astonishing ascendency over the minds of the mass of mankind, which enabled him to raise a flourishing and powerful commonwealth by means of all others the most appa rently inadequate.

To acquire and secure the possession of an extensive country, inhabited by numerous tribes of warlike sadis-vages, without arms, without forts, without the use or even the demonstration of physical force, was an experiment which none but a superior mind would have conceived, which none but a master spirit could have successfully executed. Yet this experiment succeeded in a manner that has justly excited the astonishment of the whole world. "Of all the colonies that ever existed," says Ebeling, "none was ever founded on so philanthropic a plan, none was so deeply impressed with the character of its founder, none practised in a greater degree the principles of toleration, liberty, and peace, and none rose and flourished more rapidly than Pennsylvania. She was the youngest of the British colonies established before the eighteenth century, but it was not long before she surpassed most of her elder sisters in population, agriculture, and general prosperity."* This our author justly ascribes to the genius of William Penn, who disdaining vulgar means, dared to found his power and his commonwealth on the nobler feelings of man.

But I must leave it to the future historian to delineate the character of a legislator who never had a model, and who, though crowned with success, will probab y never have an imitator. He will describe the state of this country, during the two years of that great man's residence here after his first arrival; he will tell us how a legislature was formed and assembled within six weeks at most after his landing, whose first act was to recognize as brethren all who believed in one God, the upholder and ruler of the universe; how a code of laws was enacted in three days, founded on the genuine principles of religion, justice, and morality;† he will show the territory which now forms the state of Delaware, united to this province in legislation as well as in government, the friendship of the Indians secured, large territories obtained of them by fair and honorable purchase, a noble city founded, and its walls rapidly rising as it were by enchantment, the country increasing in population and wealth, and enjoying undisturbed peace, prosperity, and happiness, until his absence showed how

* Geschichte von Pennsylvania, p. 1.

* This code was called the Great Law, and well de serves the name. The Historical Committee is in pos session of a copy of it, extracted by our associate, Mr. R. Conyngham, from the archives of the state. It has never yet been printed entire.

much all these things were due to the immediate operational answer, says his biographer Clarkson, and we tion of his powerful mind. may add, the strongest proof that can be given of the powerful ascendency of this great man over minds of an inferior stamp.

For during the fifteen years which followed his departure, until his next return in 1699, history will have to picture far different scenes. The territories separated from the province, a schism in the church, and fac.nd tions in the state carried to such a degree of violence as to afford a pretext to the British ministry to take into their hands the government of the country, and ignominiously annex it to that of a neighboring colony. The historian will tell how William Penn rose superior to all these difficulties, recovered his former authority, and by his presence here, silenced all factions, re-united the lower counties, and restored the land to its former una nimity and peace. It was then that after four different constitutions had been successively tried and found in efficient, he gave to Pennsylvania that charter, which continued in force until the revolution, and which the people received with expressions of gratitude too soon afterwards forgotten. Unfortunately, this charter contained the seeds of that division between the province and territories, which after his departure broke out again, never to be healed.

It will be the duty of the historian to trace the origin, mark the rise and consequences of those unhappy feuds which so long agitated Pennsylvania, and embittered the whole life of our illustrious founder. He will find much to be ascribed to the weakness or wickedness of the different lieutenant governors, who ruled the province while William Penn lived, and for some time after his death. With a faithful and impartial pencil, he will delineate the characters of those who successively filled that important station. He will describe EVANS, a rash, intemperate, and licentious young man, ignorant of the people he was called upon to govern, and entirely unfit for the trust committed to him; GookIN, an open hearted, honest old soldier, better calculated for the field than for the cabinet; and KELн, a desperate intriguer, who courted the favour of the people by the sacrifice of his duty to his patrons, and whom that people justly rewarded, in the end, with their contempt and neglect. With the same correct and steady hand, he will pourtray the other prominent characters, who figur

It will ever be a source of regret that William Penn did not, as he had contemplated, fix his permanent resi.ed in these scenes. IN DAVID LLOYD, he will show a dence in his province, and that, after the lapse of a short man of strong, natural, and acquired talents, bred in a year, he again embarked for England, whence it had revolutionary school, skilled in the dangerous art of been decreed by Providence that he never should re- dividing and leading popular assemblies, tenacious of turn. There is too much reason to believe that in this his ends, too little scrupulous about the means, and inhe yielded to the influence of his wife, and of his daugh- dulging his personal resentments against the proprietor, ter Lætitia, who do not appear to have been pleased at the expense of the happiness and welfare of his counwith a residence in the country." Yet Hannah Penn try; while in his antagonist, JAMES LOGAN, he will have was a woman of great merit, and her name will shine to describe a character of a far different stamp; a man conspicuously, and with honor, in our history. But of profound learning, skilled in the useful as well as in when we consider her rank, education, and fortune, the elegant sciences; one possessed of a strong and corand the situation of Pennsylvania at that time, we need rect judgment, faithful to h's trust, and of unshaken innot wonder that she preferred the society of her friends tegrity, but whose stern Roman virtue could not stoop in her native land to a life of hardship and self-denial to defeat by similar means, the intrigues of his adversain a newly settled colony. And it is easy to conceive ries; therefore the world misjudged him; but his great how William Penn's return may have been postponed patron knew him well, and appreciated his worth, and amidst efforts to conquer her reluctance, until other he preserved his confidence and that of his family to the circumstances intervened which prevented it altoge- last day of his life. History will do him justice, and destroy the unfounded prejudice which a too celebrat ed book has excited against him.

ther.

A single trait will be sufficient to show what evils would have been averted from Pennsylvania, if William Penn had remained here to the end of his days. Nine years after his departure, when his country was again rent by intestine divisions, and a factious legislature, taking an unmanly advantage of the misfortunes which had of late fallen heavy upon him, were striving by every means to wrest power from his hands, a letter from him to that assembly, in which he tenderly expostulated with them for their ungrateful conduct, produced an entire and a sudden change in the minds of the deluded people, and at the next election his enemies were hurled from the seats which they had disgraced. A truly na

*William Penn went to England towards the end of 1701, to prevent the passage of a bill which had been brought into Parliament, for the purpose of depriving him of the government of his province, and vesting it in the king. When he arrived at London, he found that the danger was over, and there appears to have been nothing at that time to have prevented his coming back immediately. It was his intention, when he departed from Pennsylvania, to have left his wife and daughter here as a pledge for his speedy return, but they could not be prevailed upon to remain, at which he appears to have been much grieved, and in the pains which he took to quiet the minds of the inhabitants on this occasion, it is easy to perceive forbodings in his mind which | the event but too certainly realized. This is one among the many curious historical facts which are contained in the valuable correspondence of the Honorable James Logan with William Penn, collected and enriched with interesting notes, by a lady whom I shall presently have occasion more particularly to mention.

With such opposite characters, we need not wonder that David Lloyd obtained, more than once. unmerited success over his adversary. In popular governments, as well as in others, the arts of the politician too often triumph over integrity and virtue. Yet, though David Lloyd's political conduct was marked by unjustifiable intrigue, there appears no reason to suppose that his mind was naturally base or corrupt. He was hurried by the violence of his passions, and by resentments for some supposed injustice, which he thought had been done to him by the proprietor, into a system of opposition to his government. Thus he was imperceptibly led into an abuse of his popular talents, which, no doubt, when his feelings became more calin, he afterwards regretted.

We find him at a late period, assisting James Logan, in ascertaining the proprietor's title to the lower counties, and those two great men, acting harmoniously together, for the public good. "It is soothing," says the eloquent annotator to Logan's correspondence, to whom we are indebted for this interesting fact; "it is soothing to observe, in the characters of men who, like these, hitherto have been swayed by prejudice or passions, that when the evening of life advances, the storms which have agitated them subside, and the soul, like the sun of the natural world, emerging from the clouds which have obscured it, illuminates the horizon with its parting beam, and the day closes in serenity and peace.' In this short quotation, gentlemen you have already recognized the elegant and feeling language of our re

* The Historical Review, ascribed, perhaps unjustly, to Dr. Franklin.