PENN. 
dient to your dear mother, a woman whofe virtue and 
good name is an honour to you ; for flie hath been ex¬ 
ceeded by none in her time for her integrity, humanity, 
virtue, and good underllanding; qualities not ufual 
among women of her worldly condition and quality. 
Therefore honour and obey her, my dear children, as 
your mother, and your father’s love and delight ; nay 
love her too, for fhe loved your father with a deep and 
upright love, choofing him before all her many fuitors : 
and, though (he be of a delicate conftitution and noble 
1'pirit, yet ftie defcended to the utmoft tendernefs and 
care for you, performing the painfulleft adds of fervice to 
you in your infancy, as a mother and a nurfe too. I 
charge you, before the Lord, honour and obey, love and 
cherifh, your dear mother. 
“Next: betake yourfelves to fome honeft induftrious 
courfe of life, and that not of fordid covetoufnefs, but 
for example and to avoid idlenefs. And if you change 
your condition, and marry, choofe with the knowledge 
and confent of your mother if living, or of guardians, 
or thofe that have the charge of you. Mind neither beau¬ 
ty nor riches ; but the fear of the Lord, and a fweet and 
amiable difpofition, fuch as you can love above all this 
world, and that may make your habitations pleafant and 
defirable to you. And, being married, be tender, affec¬ 
tionate, patient, and meek. Be fure to live within com- 
pafs : borrow not, neither be beholden to any. Ruin 
not yourfelves by kindnefs toothers; for that exceeds 
the due bounds of friendfhip; neither will a true friend 
expert it. Small matters I heed not. Know well your 
in-comings, that your out-goings may be better regulated. 
Love not money nor the world ; ufe them only, and they 
will ferve you; but, if you love them, you ferve them, 
which will debafe your fpirits, as well as offend the 
Lord. In making friends, confider well firft ; and, when 
you are fixed, be true, not wavering by reports, nor de¬ 
ferring in affliftion ; for that becomes not the good and 
virtuous. Watch againft anger, neither fpeak noraft in 
it; for, like drunkennefs, it makes a man a bead, and 
throws people into defperate inconveniences. Avoid 
flatterers, for they are thieves in difguife ; their praife is 
coftly, defigning to get by thofe they befpeak ; they are 
the worft of creatures; they lie to flatter, and flatter to 
cheat; and, which is worfe, if you believe them, you cheat 
yourfelves molt dangeroufly. But the virtuous, though 
poor, love, cherifh, and prefer. Next, my children, be 
temperate in all things ; in your diet, for that is phyfic by 
prevention ; it keeps, nay it makes people healthy, and 
their generation found ; this is exclufive of the fpiritual 
advantage it bripgs. Be alfo plain in your apparel : keep 
out that luft, which reigns too much over fome. Let 
your virtues be your ornaments; remembering that life 
is more than food, and the body than raiment. Let your 
furniture be Ample and cheap. Avoid pride, avarice, and 
luxury. 
“ And as for you who are likely to be concerned in 
the government of Pennfylvania, and my parts of Eaft 
Jerfey; efpecially the firft, I do charge you, before the 
Lord God and his holy angels, that you be lowly, dili¬ 
gent, and tender; fearing God, loving the people, and 
hating covetoufnefs. Let Juftice have its impartial courfe, 
and the Law free paflage. Though to your lofs, proteft 
no man againft it; for you are not above the law, but 
the law above you. Live therefore the lives yourfelves, 
you would have the people live, and then you have right 
and boldnefs to punifh the tranfgreflors. Entertain no 
lurchers, cherifh no informers for gain or revenge; ufe 
no tricks: fly to no devices to fupport or cover injuftice ; 
but let your hearts be upright before the Lord, trufting 
in him, above the contrivances of men, and none fhall be 
able to hurt or fupplant. So farewell to my thrice dearly 
beloved wife and children ! Dated Worminghurft, 4th 
of Sixth Month, 1682. William Penn.” 
Immediately after writing this letter, he embarked, 
and arrived fafely in the Delaware with all his companions. 
545 
The country afllgned to him by the royal charter was 
yet full of its original inhabitants; ,and the principles of 
William Penn did not allow him to look upon that gift 
as a warrant to difpoflefs the firft proprietors of the land. 
He had accordingly appointed his commiflioners, the 
preceding year, to treat with them for the fair purchafe 
of a part of their lands, and for their joint pofleflion of 
the remainder; and, the terms of the fettlement being 
now nearly agreed upon, he proceeded, very foon after 
his arrival, to conclude the fettlement, and folemnly to 
pledge his faith, and to ratify and confirm the treaty, in 
fight both of the Indians and Planters. For this pur- 
pofea grand convocation of the tribes had been appointed 
near the fpot where Philadelphia now ftands; and it was 
agreed that he and the prefiding Sachems (hould meet 
and exchange faith under the fpreading branches of a 
prodigious elm-tree that grew on the bank of the river. 
On the day appointed, accordingly, an innumerable 
multitude of Indians aflembled in that neighbourhood ; 
and were feen, with their dark vifages and brandilhed 
arms, moving, in vaft fwarms, in the depth of the woods 
which then overfhaded the whole of that now-cultivated 
region. O11 the other hand, William Penn, with a mo¬ 
derate attendance of friends, advanced to meet them. 
He came of courfe unarmed; in his ufual plain drefs; 
without banners, or mace, or guards, or carriages; and 
only diftir.guiftied from his companions by wearing a blue 
fafh of filk network (which it feems is ft ill preferved by 
Mr. Kett of Seething-Hall, nearNorwich), and by having 
in his hand a roll of parchment, on which was engrofled 
the confirmation of the treaty of purchafe and amity. 
As foon as he drew near the fpot where the Sachems 
were aflembled, the whole multitude of Indians threw 
down their weapons, and feated themfelveson the ground 
in groups, each under his own chieftain ; and the prefi¬ 
ding chief intimated to William Penn, that the nations 
were ready to hear him. Mr. Clarkfon regrets, and we 
cordially join in the fentiment, that there is no written 
contemporary account of the particulars attending this 
interefting and truly-novel tranfaftion. He allures us, 
however, that they are ftill in a great meafure preferved 
in oral tradition, and that both what we have juft ftated, 
and what follows, may be relied on as perfeftly accurate. 
The fequel we give in his own words. “Having been thus 
called upon, he began. The Great Spirit, he faid, who 
made him and them, who ruled the heaven and the earth, 
and who knew the innermoft thoughts of man, knew 
that he and his friends had a hearty defire to live in peace 
and friendfliip with them, and to ferve them to the utmoll 
of their power. It was not their cuftom to ufe hoftile wea¬ 
pons againft their fellow-creatures; for which reafon they 
had come unarmed. Their objeft was not to do injury, 
and thus provoke the Great Spirit, but to do good. 
They were then met on the broad pathway of good faith 
and good will, fo that no advantage was to be taken on 
either fide, but all was to be opennefs, brotherhood, and 
love. After thefe and other words, he unrolled the parch¬ 
ment, and by means of the fame interpreter conveyed to 
them, article by article, the conditions of the purchafe, 
and the words of the compaft then made for their eternal 
union. Among other things, they were not to be mo- 
lefted in their lawful purfuitseven in the territory they 
had alienated, for it was to be common to them and the 
Englifti. They were to have the fame liberty to do all 
things therein relating to the improvement of their 
grounds, and providing fuftenance for their families, 
which the Englilh had. If any difputes fliould arife be¬ 
tween the two, they fliould be fettled by twelve perfons, 
half of whom fliould be Englifli, and half Indians. He 
then paid them for the land, and made them many pre- 
fents befides, from the merchandile which had been fpread 
before them. Having done this, he laid the roll of parch¬ 
ment on the ground, obferving again, that the ground 
fliould be common to both people. He then added, that 
lie would not do as the Marylanders did, that is, call 
them 
