56 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



in number, for the most part of two storeys.* It is to 

 be regretted that there is no thorough and impartial 

 history of this city, and it is especially deplorable that 

 no such history is to be had for this province, of which 

 the rise and wonderfully rapid growth would form so 

 valuable a contribution to the history of mankind. The 

 historical fragments which exist are but the prejudiced 

 accounts of political quarrels, neither instructive nor 

 interesting. The stedfast spirit of enterprise of the 

 honored founder, his amiable and philanthropic plan, 

 his unwearied efforts and conscientious fairness in the 

 acquisition of land from the aborigines, the wise, toler- 

 ant laws of the colony, the rapid increase of the popu- 

 lation and of its trade, the advance of the arts and 

 sciences, the gradual betterment of taste and morals, 

 the harmony among so many religious sects, and in- 

 deed the rise of new sects all this would supply fruit- 

 ful and rich material for a history of wide acceptance. 

 There is no lack of men in Philadelphia who would be 

 entirely capable of this work, but these few are at this 

 time overwhelmed with other business. From predilec- 

 tion for his religious principles, and deluded by his 

 own goodness of heart, the first design of the founder 

 seems to have been to establish a colony free of earthly 

 authorities, free of soldiers, of priests, of individual 

 property, and also, it is said, free from doctors of 

 medicine. Quite after the manner of the Golden Age, 

 all this, and as Voltaire + remarks, not to be found any- 

 where in the world outside of Pensylvania. Penn, as 

 it seems, felt and sought to avoid all the hardship which 

 inequality among men entails, those conditions de- 



* In a recent news item the number is given as 4600. 



