Chap. III. of the E N G L I S ] 
and by the coming of the EngUfj, the peiltry Trade 
became fo profitable, that they were foon in a Condition 
to better their Manner of houfing, cloathing, and liv- 
ing, as they did very much, and are now in thefe Arti- 
cles as well accommodated as the European Peafantry, in 
many Places. 
When the Province began to be planted, almolf to the 
Mouth of de la WaVy it was laid out into the before- 
mentioned Counties, in order to chufe Reprefentatives, 
and eftablifh Courts for the Diftribution of Juftice. The 
original Draught of the Conftitution for this Province 
was made by that great Lawyer Sir William JoneSy and by 
it the Governor and People have a legiflative Power. Sir 
William Jones had too much Underfbanding, Virtue, 
and Honour, to throw the People out of the Queftion, 
when their Religion, their Liberty, their Well-being in 
this World and the next, were fo nearly concerned in it. 
No Law can be here made, nor Money raifed, but by 
Confent of the Inhabitants. The Rights and Freedom 
of England were to be in force. , They were to make 
no Law againft Allegiance, and then they might enaft 
what Laws they pleafed for the Profperity and Se- 
curity of the Province. Mr. Penn held two General Af- 
femblies while he was in the Country, and with fuch 
Unanimity and Difpatch, that tho’ they made Laws by 
Scores, no lefs than Seventy, yet they had done their 
Bufinefs in three Weeks time. They prefented the 
Proprietary with an Impoft on certain Goods, but he re- 
mitted it j which was artful enough, to have a Thing 
given on purpofe to give it away again to thofc that 
gave it. He eftabli&ed Courts of Juftice in every 
County, with proper Officers, to prevent Law-fuits and 
Contentions. Among thefe paffive People there are 
.alfo three Peace-makers, chofen by every County Court, 
in the Nature of common Arbitrators, to hear and 
end Differences between Man and Man. Every Spring 
and Fall there is an Orphans Court in each County, 
to infpedt and regulate the Affairs of Widows and 
Orphans. 
Mr. Penn was vifited by the Kings, and Queens, and 
great Men among the Indians, of v/hom the greateft did 
not think himfelf too good to go on the Proprietaries 
Errands, if he had thought fit to fend him. Both the 
Butch and the Swedes, within this Jurifdidion, were 
very well pleafed with his coming, and his Condud: ; 
and there were, at that Time, almoft as many Swedes 
^ndiButch in Penfylvania d^sEnglip. Mr. Pejin ftaid here 
above two Years, till he had fettled I'kings to his own 
and the People’s Liking •, he then returned to England, 
to forward the Affairs of the Propriety there, as he had 
done here : He was generous and free of his Thoughts and 
Expreftions, which were not always fufficiently guarded ♦, 
and after the Revolution he became fufpeded,. from his 
Credit with King James. That we may form fome Idea 
of the Manner in which this truly great Man acted in this 
Part of the World, and eftabliffied his Government upon 
the folid Bafts of a perfed Agreement with the Natives, 
let us hear what he himfelf fays upon this Subjed : Mr. 
Penn, in a Letter to his Friends in England, on the 
Situation of his Affairs at that Time, relates. That he 
had attended the Indian Kings and their Councils in 
feveral Treaties, for the Purchafe of their Lands, and for 
adjufting the Terms of Trade between them. And that 
their Order was thus : “ Their King (fays Mr. Penn) was 
feated in the Middle of an half Moon, or Serni- 
“ circle his Council, the Old and Wife, fitting on each 
“ Eland ; behind them, at a little Diftance, fat the 
“ young Men, in the fame Figure : Having refolved 
“ their Bufinefs, the King commanded one of them to 
“ fpeak to me. He ftood up, and came to me, and 
in the King’s Name fainted me *, taking me by the 
“ Hand, and telling me ; he was ordered by his King 
“ to fpeak to me, and that now it was not he, but the 
King that fpoke, becaufe what he fhould fay was the 
King’s Mind. He firft prayed me to excufe them, 
that they had not complied with me in a former Meet- 
ing : He feared there might be fome Fault in the 
Interpreter, being neither Indian or Efiglijh ; beftdes, 
it was the Indian Cuftom to deliberate before they 
“ refolved; and that if the younger People, and Owners 
of the Land, had been as ready as he, I had not met 
“ with fo much Delay.’’ Having thus introduced nis 
Matter, he fell to the Bounds of the Land they had agreed 
to difpofe of, and the Price. During the Time this 
Perfon fpoke, not a Man of them was obferved to 
whifper or fmile ; the Old were grave, the Young re- 
verend in their Deportment *, when they fpoke, which 
was but feldom, it was warmly and elegantly. I have 
never feen moi e natural Sagacity, confidering them with- 
out the Help of Tradition; and he will deferve the 
Name of Wife that is too hard for them in any Treaty 
about a Thing they imderftand. When the Purchafe was 
agreed, great Promifes paffed between us, of Kindnefs 
and good Neighbourhood ; and that the Indians and 
Englijh muft live in Love as long as the Sun gave Light. 
After which another made a Speech to the Indians, in the 
Name of all the Sachems, or Kings ; firft, to tell them 
what was done ; next, to charge and command them to 
love the Chriftians, and particularly to live in Peace 
with me, and the People under my Government : That 
many. Governors had been in the River, but that no 
Governor had come himfelf to live and ftay there before, 
and having now fuch an one that had treated them well, 
they fhould never do him or his any Wrong. At every 
Sentence of which they fiioutcd, and faid Amen, in their 
way. 
This Condudl of his had fo good an Effed upon the 
Bidians, that they had him always in the higheft Vene- 
ration, as they ftill have to his Memory, of which the 
Reader will find an exemplary Proof in the following 
Speech, made to Sir William Keith, Governor of this 
Country in 1722 ; only it may not be amifs to ob- 
ferve, that Onas fignifies, in the Indian Language, a 
Pen ; and therefore this is the Name the Indians have 
given to our Proprietor and all his Succeffors, or Re- 
prefentatives. 
“ Brother Onas, You told us how William Penn, that 
“ good Man, did, on the firft Settlement of the Pro- 
“ vince of Penfylvania, make I.eagues of Friendfliip 
“ with the Bidians, and treated them like Brethren ; 
“ and that, like the fame good Man, he left it in 
“ Charge to all his Governors who fhould fucceed him, 
“ and to all the People in Penfylvania, that they fiiould 
“ always keep the Covenant and Treaties he had made 
“ with the five Nations, and treat them with Love and 
“ Kindnefs. We acknowledge that his Governors and 
People have always kept the fame honeftly and truly 
“ to this Day. So we, on our Part, always have kept, 
“ and for ever fiiall keep Peace and Friendffiip with a 
“ good Heart, to all the People of Penjylvania. We 
“ thankfully receive and approve of all the Articles in 
“ your Propofition to us, and acknowledge them to be 
“ good, and full of Love : We receive and approve of 
“ the fame with our whole Flearts ; becaufe we are not 
only made one People by the Covenant Chain, but are 
“ alfo People united in one Head, one Body, and one 
“ Heart, by the ftrongeftTies of Love and Friendfliip. 
“ Brother Onas, you defire there may be a perpetual 
“ Friendfliip between you and the five Nations, and be- 
“ tween your Children and our Children ; and that the 
“ fame may be kept as long as the Mountains and Rivers 
endure. All which we like well, and on our Parts de- 
“ fire, that the Covenant and Union made with a true 
“ and clean Heart between you and us, may laft as long 
“ as the Sun and Moon fliall continue to give light, 
“ And we will deliver this in charge to our Children, 
“ that it may be kept in Remembrance with their Chil- 
“ dren and Childrens Children to the laft Ages : And we 
“ defire that the Peace and Tranquility that is now 
“ eftabliflied between us may be as clear as the Sun 
“ fhining in its Luftre without any Cloud or Darknefs, 
“ and that the fame may continue for ever. 
Brother Onas, We have well confidered all you 
“ have fpoken, and like it well ; becaufe it is only the 
« renewing former Leagues and Treaties, made between 
“ the Government of Penfylvania, and us of the five 
« Nations, which we always believed we were obliged 
to keep. And as to the Accident of one of our 
Friends 
