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settled previous to 1672, though it is doubtful if any such meetings existed in Virginia anterior to that date. With regard to the Carolinas at this period, there were but few settlers in them as colonists; and so slowly did the tide of emigration flow towards this part, that in 1688 it is stated, there were not more than eight thousand settlers in the Carolinas and Georgia. Bancroft, the historian of the United States, says, in reference to the early state of this colony, 'there seems not to have been a minister in the land; there was no public worship but such as burst from the hearts of the people themselves, and when at last William Edmondson came to visit his quaker brethren among the groves of Albemarle, he met with a tender people, delivered his doctrine in the authority of truth, and made converts to the Society of Friends. A Quarterly Meeting of Discipline was established, and this sect was the first to organize a religious government in Carolina.'
About the year 1675, the territory of West Jersey came by purchase into the hands of John Fenwicke, in trust for Edward Byllinge, both Friends, between whom a dispute having arisen, and being at last composed by the assistance of William Penn, the latter became, from this circumstance, one of the chief instruments in settling the colony of West Jersey. In adverting to this event the editors thus proceed :
Although the land thus purchased gave Friends a legal right to the soil, in the commonly understood sense of that term, it nevertheless did not, in their estimation, fully entitle them to it, without a further purchase was made from its aboriginal inhabitants, whom they regarded as the alone rightful proprietors of the land. Recognising, then, this principle, we find William Penn and his colleagues in their instructions for the government of the province in 1676, recommending that the commissioners should immediately agree with the Indians for lands!' The first treaty of this kind with the Indians took place in the succeeding year, when the second ship arrived at the colony, bringing about two hundred and thirty persons ; most of whom were Friends from Yorkshire and London, who landed about Rackoon Creek, on the Delaware ; soon after which eight persons, commissioned for the purpose, proceeded further up the river, to the place where Burlington now stands, and treated with the Indians, and entered on the regulation of their settlements, and made several purchases of land from them, but not having, at the time of the negotiation, goods sufficient to pay for all they bought, a further agreement was made with them, not to settle in any part until it was paid for. The number of Friends who emigrated to West Jersey, during the years 1676, 1677, and 1678, is stated to be about eight hundred, and those mostly persons of property. Clarkson, in his Life of William Penn, says, that up to the year 1681, he had sent to it about fourteen hundred people.”
These early settlers in this province coming, as they did, to a country for the most part in an uncultivated state, underwent many hardships before they could bring the land into a state sufficiently productive for their support, and many of them arriving in the latter end of the year, they had only time to erect a kind of wigwam for their accommodation during the approaching winter. In this needful time the untutored Indians proved themselves real benefactors to Friends, and evidenced that their hearts were imbued with generous and humane feelings, by liberally supplying these new occupants of their native lands, in a time of difficulty and distress, with corn and venison, which was their principal food, and by freely bringing Indian corn, peas, beans, fish, and fowl for sale.
We are next favoured with a description of the purchase and peopling of East Jersey. Nearly all the proprietors by this purchase were members of the Society of Friends. ‘Among the proprietaries,' says Oldmixon, in alluding to this purchase, are several extraordinary persons, besides Lord Perth, as Robert West, Esq:, the lawyer, William Penn, the head of the Quakers in England, and Robert Barclay, the head of the Quakers in Scotland and Ireland ; and, at the same time, John Archdale, the Quaker, who was chosen member of parliament for Wycombe, was a proprietary of Carolina.'*
After a cursory glance at the early settlement of the Friends in North America, the authors proceed to notice the course they pursued towards the Indians of whom, by their removal to this land, they were now so near neighbours.
We have already seen,' say they, by tbe treaty which Friends had with the Indians for the purchase of lands in West Jersey, in 1677, that a principle prevailed to recognise in them the undisputed right and disposal of the soil, which from time immemorial they had occupied; and that already there had grown up a feeling of trust and confidence in each other, and that a disposition to render kindly services, existed to no inconsiderable extent between them. This excellent understanding and good feeling, being on the part of the Indians in West Jersey, mainly brought about by the treaties which led them into more intimate intercourse with Friends, than otherwise, in all probability, would have been the case at this date; it is not reasonable to suppose that the same feeling, to such an extent at least, should prevail with the Indians in other provinces, who
It is generally supposed that Messrs. Pease and Bright were the first Friends returned, and that through the effect of the Reform Bill, as members of Parliament. Such, however, is not the case. • We find,' say the editors of this work, on referring to the proceedings of the House of Commons, that John Archdale was voluntarily returned as a member of Parliament for the borough of Chipping Wycombe, or High Wycombe, in 1698. He was not, however, allowed to sit, because he objected to take the oaths then imposed, to qualify for a seat in the house."
hitherto had no transactions of this kind; be that, however, as it may, we find Friends almost as early as they came in contact with the native tribes of America, and many years previous to the settlements of West Jersey, much interested for the promotion of their good. As early as the year 1659, we find that Friends were engaged in gospel labours among this interesting class of their fellow-men.'
The Travels of George Fox, and of his friend Robert Widders, among the Indians in the service of the gospel are next alluded to; and some extracts from epistles, addressed from time to time by George Fox to his transatlantic brethren, show the abiding concern which attended his mind on behalf of the uncivilized tribes in that country, and his desire that Friends might be engaged in the good work of conveying christian instruction to them.
We now come to one of the most important and interesting portions of this volume, one to the subject of which, if the Friends represent it truly, we can have no hesitation in saying that history has not done full justice. It is well known that William Penn became possessed of the state of Pennsylvania by a grant to him from the crown of England in 1681, in lieu of a debt of sixteen thousand pounds, due to his father, Admiral Penn, for the liquidation of which William Penn petitioned Charles the Second for the territory in question; and it has been generally supposed that his chief motive for peopling it with Friends was, the very natural and accessory one, in his and their peculiar position, of affording them an asylum from the harassing tribulations to which they were subjected at home through the bigotry of the spiritual courts, and where they might enjoy full liberty of conscience in uninterrupted tranquillity. Clarkson, however, alleges three distinct objects which he states that Penn had in view when he petitioned for his grant,--and which objects are deducible from the words of Penn himself; namely, first, that he may serve God's truth and people;' secondly, that an example might be set up to the nations,' inasmuch as there was room there (i.e. America) not here (i.e. England) for such an holy experiment:' and, thirdly, that he had in view the glory of God by 'the civilization of the poor Indians, and the conversion of the Gentiles by just and lenient measures to Christ's kingdom.' The authors of the present publication, however, somewhat paradoxically, we think, give the last as the main object which Penn had in view in his colonization of Pennsylvania. It is true, they endeavour to strengthen their construction of the case by one or two extracts from his writings; but still we cannot help thinking that the principal motive they assign to him ought rather to be
regarded in the light of a commendable after-thought, than the primary actuating inducement that led him to petition for the grant. But we will cite the passage, so that the reader may judge for himself:
Great as we know the desires of William Penn were for the liberation of his friends from the galling yoke of oppression to which they were subjected in this country, for their adherence to what they apprehended were the requirements of Truth, and which, we believe, he was as much engaged to promote as any other individual of his day; and however much, in the tenderness of his feelings for them, he might have been influenced in petitioning for this territory, with a view to provide them with a country, where church domination, and the persecution of spiritual courts should be unknown; it is, nerertheless, clear to us, that this was far from the main object which he had in view. In fact, we cannot bring our minds to believe that William Penn, seeing the noble testimony which was now so conspicuously raised, to the spirituality of the christian religion, and the light which shone so brightly forth in the lives of those with whom be was associated in religious fellowship, should, by persuading these devoted people to emigrate to a comparatively obscure and thinly populated part of the globe, thus place this light as it were under a bushel, and remove it far away from amongst the civilized nations of the earth, for the simple object only of affording them a quiet retreat from a persecution, in and through which, as he had ample opportunity of beholding, the Divine arm so remarkably supported them.
Whatever may be the conjectures of men regarding the object which William Penn had in view, in seeking to obtain the province of Pennsylvania, we are not left in doubt of what he himself aimed at in this great undertaking. In this petition to the Crown he states, that in making the application for the grant, he had in view the glory of God by the civilization of the poor Indians, and the conversion of the Gentiles, by just and lenient measures to Christ's kingdom.' That this was a most prominent feature in his petition, and apparently the main object which he had in view, the preamble of the charter granting the said province to him, fully confirms, and which runs thus, viz. :- Whereas our trusty and well-beloved subject, William Penn, Esquire, son and heir of Sir William Penn, deceased, (out of a commendable desire to enlarge our British empire, and promote such useful commodities as may be of benefit to us and our dominions, as also to reduce the savage natives, by just and gentle manners, to the love of civil society and christian religion), hath humbly besought leave of us to transport an ample colony unto a certain country, hereinafter described in the parts of America not yet cultivated and planted ; and hath likewise so humbly besought our Royal Majesty to give, grant, and confirm all the said.country, with certain privileges and jurisdictions, requisite for the good government and safety of the said country and colony to him and to his heirs for ever.''
If we are required to lay much stress on the passage marked in italics in this quotation, are we not required to lay greater (inasmuch as they are mentioned first) on the other two alleged motives, namely, the enlargement of the British empire and the promotion of useful commodities ? And yet this passage is one of the principal authorities on which the opinion in question is founded. Admirers as we are of the character and principles of the truly philanthropic founder of Pennsylvania, we are still of opinion, in our anxiety for the truth and the accuracy of facts, that the civilization of the Indians was a subordinate and collateral, though a most laudable motive with him. Several reasons and arguments drawn à posteriori might be given, we think, to substantiate this view; but space will not permit us to dwell upon it.
We now arrive at the memorable treaty, in which a firm league of peace was concluded between the Friends, headed by William Penn, and the Indians; and which has won the admiration and praise of all unprejudiced, sound-thinking, and reflective minds; as being a transaction, consonant with the feelings of humanity and an expansive benevolence, and in unison also with the principles of justice and a sound national policy, alike worthy of the christian and the statesman.' Of this famous treaty, Voltaire very pointedly observed, that it was the only treaty between the Indians and the christians that was not ratified by an oath, and that was never broken. The Abbé Raynal; Noble, in his continuation of Granger; Proud, in his History of Pennsylvania, and others, equally bear testimony to the honourable and truly christian character of this celebrated treaty. The reader will find a most interesting account of it in Clarkson as well as in the work before us. Our chief object here is with the consequences resulting from such christian treatment; and the following extract from the testimony of one of the early settlers in Pennsylvania, is to the point: 'As our worthy proprietor,' says he,'treated the Indians with extraordinary humanity, they became very civil and loving to us, and brought in abundance of venison. As, in other countries, the Indians were exasperated by hard treatment, which hath been the foundation of much bloodshed, so the contrary treatment here hath produced their love and affection.' It is recorded also in a manuscript account of John Scarborough, a Friend of London, who emigrated to this colony,
That the Indians were remarkably kind and very assistant to the Friend emigrants in divers respects; frequently supplying them with such provisions as they could spare.' Speaking of William Penn's religious labours among the Indian tribes, Oldmixon says, that he laid out several thousand pounds to