434 PENNSYLVANIA. 



privileges which placed the colony on so respectable a footing. Civil 

 and religious liberty, in the utmost latitude, was laid down by that 

 great man as the chief and only foundation of ail his institutions. 

 Christians of all denominations might not only live unmolested, but 

 have a share in the government of the colony. No laws could be 

 made but by the consent of the inhabitants. Even matters of bene- 

 volence, to which the laws of few nations have extended, were by 

 Penn subjected to regulations. The affairs of widows and orphans 

 were to be inquired into by a court constituted for that purpose. The 

 disputes between individuals were not to be subjected to the delay 

 and chicanery of the law, but decided by wise and honest arbitrators. 

 His benevolence and generosity extended also to the Indian nations; 

 instead of taking immediate advantage of his patent, he purchased of 

 these people the lands he had obtained by his grant, judging that the 

 original property, and oldest right, was vested in them ; and by adher- 

 ing to the same just principles of conduct the society of Friends pre- 

 served a peace with the natives for more than 70 years. William 

 Penn, in short, had he been a native of Greece, would have had his 

 statue placed next to those of Solon and Lycurgus. His laws, found- 

 ed on the solid basis of equity, still maintain their force ; and, as a 

 proof of their effects, it is only necessary to mention, that land was 

 lately granted at twelve pounds an hundred acres, with a quit-rent of 

 four shillings reserved ; whereas the terms on which it was formerly 

 granted were at twenty pounds the thousand acres, with one shilling 

 quit-rent for every hundred. Near Philadelphia, before, the com- 

 mencement of the war with the mother country, land rented at twenty 

 shillings the acre, and, even at several miles distance from that city, 

 sold at twenty years purchase. 



It was in Philadelphia that the general congress of America met 

 in September 1774; and their meetings continued to be chiefiv held 

 there till the king's troops made themselves masters of thai city, on 

 the 26th of September 1777. But in June 1778 the British troops 

 retreated to New- York, and Philadelphia again became the residence 

 of the congress. Here they continued, excepting a short absence at 

 New-York, till 1830, when the city of Washington, in the district of 

 Columbia, was made the permanent seat of government. 



