however, that the Historical Society of Pennsylvania commissioned 

 Peter du Ponceau and J. Francis Fisher to investigate the truth con- 

 cerning the famous treaty, and their report published in 1834, but as 

 too often happens, lying unread in the archives of the Society, sheds 

 much light upon a story which must always be of interest to lovers of 

 history. 



It clearly shows that the treaty was simply a guarantee of friend- 

 ship and good-will, in order that the tribes might be assured of the 

 white mens' desire for peace and fair dealing. Penn's fame should rest 

 not upon the fact of having entered into such an agreement, various 

 other treaties of similar character having previously been made be- 

 tween the whites and Indians, but upon the manner in which he lived 

 up to the spirit of it. 



His personal friend, Mr. Oldmixon, who, in 1708, published a 

 book entitled "The British Empire in America," records that the 

 Indians "have been very civil and friendly to the English, who never 

 lost man, woman or child by them, which neither the colony of Mary- 

 land nor that of Virginia can say, no more than the great colony of 

 New England. This friendship and civility of the Pennsylvania 

 Indians are imputed to Mr. Penn, the Proprietary's extreme 

 humanity and bounty to them, he having laid out some thousands of 

 pounds to instruct, support and oblige them. 



Heckewelder, who wrote a history of the Indians of Pennsylvania 

 and nearby States, says, that the tribes "frequently assembled in the 

 woods, in some spot, as nearly as possible similar to those where they 

 used to meet their brother Miquon," (the Dela wares' name for Penn) , 

 "and there lay his words or speeches, with those of his successors, on 

 a blanket or clean piece of bark, and with great satisfaction go succes- 

 sively over the whole. This practice, which I have repeatedly wit- 

 nessed, continued until the year 1780, when the disturbances which 

 then took place put an end to it, probably forever." 



Unfortunately, the text of the "Great Treaty" has not been pre- 

 served. Governor Gordon, of Pennsylvania, (the same who styled 

 William Penn, "The Father of this Country") referred to it as having 

 been recorded in writing, but as no such record could be found in 

 possession of the Provincial Council at Harrisburg, one or another of 

 the Provincial governors was accused of having carried it away, 

 though there seems to have been no good reason for any such rumor. 

 Our fullest authentic version of its stipulations is contained in Gov- 

 ernor Gordon's speech to "Civility" and other Indian Chiefs with 

 whom he met, at Conestogo, in 1728, on the occasion of another treaty. 

 He then referred to the "chief heads" of the Penn Treaty as in sub- 

 stance as follows: that all William Penn's people and the Indians 

 should be brethren, showing each other hospitality; that they should 

 believe no false rumors about each other without ascertaining the 

 truth, but should 'bury them as in a bottomless pit' ; that they should 

 promptly acquaint each other of any tidings of danger; that neither 



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