PENNSYLVANIA. 



459 



April 2, 1750, which appeared in the Philosophical 

 Transactions in 1756; and, the following year, he 

 was chosen a member of the royal society of Upsal, 

 through the influence of Linnaeus. He commenced, 

 in 1761, a body of British Zoology, which first ap- 

 peared in four vols. folio, and was republished in 

 quarto and octavo, and translated into German by 

 C. Theoph. Murr. This work was followed by his 

 Indian Zoology (1769); Synopsis of Quadrupeds 

 (1771); Genera of Birds (1773); History of Quadru- 

 peds (1781); Arctic Zoology (1786); and Index to 

 Buffon's Natural History of Birds (1787). In 1765, 

 Mr Pennant took a journey to the continent, when 

 he visited Button, Haller, Pallas, and other eminent 

 foreigners. He was admitted into the royal society 

 in 1767; and, in 1769, he undertook a tour into 

 Scotland, of which he published an account in 1771, 

 and a second volume appeared in 1776, relating to a 

 second tour in the same country, and a voyage to the 

 Hebrides. In 1778, he published a tour in Wales; 

 to which was afterwards added, in another volume, 

 a Journey to Snowdon. He produced, in 1782, a 

 narrative of a Journey from Chester to London ; and 

 in 1790 appeared his amusing work, An Account of 

 London (Ito). In 1793, he professedly took leave of 

 the public in a piece of autobiography, the Literary 

 Life of the late Thomas Pennant; but he subse- 

 quently committed to the press a History of White- 

 ford and Holywell, in his native county. He died 

 in 1798. After his death appeared Outlines of the 

 Globe (4 vols., 4to), forming a portion of a very ex- 

 tensive undertaking, which was never completed, 

 and some other posthumous publications. His skill 

 in the selection of interesting subjects for discussion, 

 ?nd his felicity of illustration, attracted admirers, 

 rather than the extent of his researches, or the pro- 

 fundity of his observations 



PENNSYLVANIA, one of the United States of 

 America, extends, as now limited, from N, lat. 39 

 43', to N. lat. 42 16', and from 74 35', to 80 31' 

 W. Ion. from Greenwich. It is bounded north by 

 New York ; east by the river Delaware, which sepa- 

 rates it from New Jersey; south-east by the state of 

 Delaware; south by Maryland and part of Virginia, 

 and west by the latter and the state of Ohio. It lies 

 nearly in the form of a parallelogram. Darby, in 

 his Geographical View, states that its greatest length 

 is due west from Bristol, on the Delaware river, to 

 the eastern border of Ohio county, in Virginia, 

 through 5 56' of longitude, along N. latitude 40 

 9'. This distance, on that line of latitude, is equal 

 to 315 American statute miles. The greatest breadth 

 is 176 miles, from the Virginia line to the extreme 

 northern angle, on lake Erie ; and the mean breadth, 

 157. The same writer calculates the area at above 

 47,000 square miles, and 30,080,000 statute acres. 



The original Swedish colony came over in 1638 

 under the government and protection of Sweden. 

 The Dutch and the Finns had also settled on the 

 Delaware, before the British conquest of the New 

 Netherlands, in 1664. In 1682, William Penn found- 

 ed a colony, having previously obtained a charter 

 from Charles II., which put him in possession of the 

 soil and government of the country. This charter 

 was granted in consideration of an unsettled pecu- 

 niary account between the government and the estate 

 of Penn's father. The emigration from Wales into 

 Pennsylvania was as early as 1683. The emigrants 

 purchased a large body of land, and called the seve- 

 ral settlements after favourite places in Wales. The 

 Indian right was respected by William Penn, and his 

 sense of justice induced him to make an equitable 

 purchase from the aborigines, notwithstanding his 

 charter ; and the same policy was pursued by the 

 constituted government after the revolution, as the 



state of Pennsylvania made new purchases from tha 

 native proprietors at a fair price, and in open treaty, 

 in 1784. Though the state of Pennsylvania might 

 have considered the proprietary claims as a royalty, 

 to which the independent government could lawfully 

 succeed, yet, as a peculiar acknowledgment of the 

 merits and claims of William Penn and his family, 

 by an act of the legislature, the sum of 130,000 

 sterling, together with a confirmation of title to till 

 the manor lands, which were ten per cent, on all 

 surveyed lands in the province, was to be offered to 

 the Penn family, which offer was by them accepted. 

 This was a liberal compensation for revolutionary 

 losses, considering that, in the year 1712, William 

 Penn offered to the queen of England the government 

 and soil of the province for the sum of 12,000, pay- 

 able in four years. This was certainly owing to his 

 pecuniary embarrassments ; and although he actually 

 entered into a contract for this purpose, yet an apo- 

 plectic attack rendered him incapable of perfecting 

 the legal forms. The litigated question with the 

 state of Connecticut touching the right of territory 

 in the northern part of the state, was depending from 

 the year 1750 until a few years since, when the pub- 

 lic and private rights of soil were settled in favour 

 of Pennsylvania, under conciliations and restrictions, 

 determined by special acts of the Pennsylvania legis- 

 lature and the decisions of the supreme court of the 

 United States. The seat of the state government 

 was transferred from Philadelphia to Lancaster in the 

 year 1799, and the progress of improvement and 

 population caused it, in 1812, to be removed to Harris- 

 burg, where handsome buildings are erected for the 

 accommodation of the legislature and the officers of 

 the government. 



The whole state is divided into 52 counties, viz. 

 Adams, Alleghany, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, 

 Berks, Bradford, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Centre, 

 Chester, Clearneld, Columbia, Crawford, Cumber- 

 land, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Fayette, Franklin, 

 Green, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Juniatta, 

 Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, 

 M'Kean, Mercer, Mifflin, Montgomery, Northamp- 

 ton, Northumberland, Perry, Philadelphia, Pike, 

 Potter, Schuylkill, Somerset, Susquehannah, Tioga, 

 Union, Vinango, Warren, Washington, Wayne, West- 

 moreland, York. There are three incorporated 

 cities in this state Philadelphia, Pittsburg, and Lan- 

 caster. There are very few counties which have not 

 a borough and many populous towns, the most con- 

 siderable of which are Harisburg, Reading, Easton, 

 Carlisle, York, Chambersburg, Brownsville, Wash- 

 ington, &c. By an estimate of the population in 

 1782, it was supposed to be 330,000. By the census 

 of 1790, it was ascertained to be 434,373. In 1800, 

 it was 602,545. In 1810, it was 810,091. In 1820, it 

 was 1,049,458 ; and in 1831, it was 1,347,672. 



The government of Pennsylvania consists of three 

 branches legislative, executive, and judicial. The 

 legislature consists of a senate and a house of repre- 

 sentatives. By the present constitution, the house 

 of representatives cannot exceed 100, and are chosen 

 annually. The senate, whose number cannot be 

 more than one third of the lower house, are chosen 

 for four years, one fourth of their body annually ; at 

 this period both branches are full. The governor 

 is elected for three years, but cannot hold the office 

 more than nine years in twelve. These elections 

 are all by the people and by ballot. All judicial 

 officers are appointed by the governor during good 

 behaviour, and are removable by address of both 

 houses or by impeachment. 



The inhabitants are principally descended from 

 the English, Welsh, Irish, Scotch, and Germans, also 

 French, Swedes, and a few Dutch. The language 



