42 AUTHENTIC HISTORY 



ware.^ His father, Sir William Penn, renowned in English history by the 

 conquest of Jamaica and by his conduct, discretion and courage in the 

 signal battle against the Dutch in 1665, had left to him a claim against 

 the government for sixteen thousand pounds, consisting to a great extent 

 of money advanced by him in the sea service, and of arrearages in his 

 pay. In 1680 William Penn petitioned Charles II. to grant him in lieu 

 of said sum " letters-patent for a tract of land in America, lying north 

 of Maryland, on the east bounded with Delaware Eiver,^ on the west 

 limited as Maryland, and northward to extend as far as plantable." This 

 petition was referred to the "Committee of tlie Privy Council for the 

 Affairs of Trade and Plantations," who ordered copies to be sent to Sir 

 John Werden, the Duke of York's agent, and to the agents of Lord Bal- 

 timore, "to the end that they may report how far the pretensions of Mr. 

 Penn may consist with the boundaries of Maryland, or the Duke's pro- 

 priety of New York, and his possessions in those parts." The duke of 

 York desired to retain the three lower counties,^ that is the State of Dela- 

 ware, as an appendage to New York, but his objection was finally with- 

 drawn, being the result of an interview between him and Mr. Penn. 

 Lord Baltimore's agent wanted the grant, if made to Penn, to be 

 expressed as "land that shall be north of Susquehanna Fort, also north 

 of all lands in a direct line westward from said fort, for said fort is the 

 boundary of Maryland northward." After sundry conferences and dis- 

 cussions concerning the boundary lines and other matters of minor 

 importance, the Committee finally sent in a favorable report and pre- 

 sented the draft of a charter constituting William Penn, Esq. absolute 

 proprietary of a tract of land in America therein mentioned to the King 

 for his approbation and leaving to him also the naming of the province. 

 The king affixed his signature on March 4, 1681, naming the province 

 Pennsylvania for reasons explained in the subjoined extract from a letter 

 of William Penn to his friend Robert Turner, dated 5th of 1st mo. 1681 : 

 " This day my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of Eng- 

 land, with large powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania; 

 a name the hing tvould give it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, 

 being, as this, a pretty hilly country, but Penn being Welsh for a liead, 

 as Penmaumoire in Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in 

 Buckinghamshire, the highest land in England, called this Pennsylvania, 

 which is, the high or head woodlands, for I proposed, when the Secretary, 

 a Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvania, and they 

 added Peyiyi to it, and though I much opposed it, and went to the king to 

 have it struck out and altered, he said it was past, and would take it 

 upon him ; nor could twenty guineas move the under Secretary to vary 

 the name, for I fear lest it should be looked on as vanity in me, and not 

 1 Gordon. 2 Hazard. 3 Ibid. 



