PENN'S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS

After the painting by Benjamin West

a familiar illustration. Whether the story be true or not regarding a special treaty, it represents faithfully the spirit in which Penn carried on all his intercourse with the natives. During his life no Quaker blood was shed by an Indian, and Penn's memory was long cherished among the natives as that of a benefactor.

Purchases of Lands from the Indians. In the summer of 1683 many tracts of land were bought from the Indians which together included most of the three counties of Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester. The limits of these purchases were indefinite; such as "to run two days' journey with an horse up into the country as said river doth go." Land was so plenty that a few acres, or even considerable tracts, more or less, made little difference. There was room in this method for a great amount of fraud, as was afterwards abundantly shown, but in these early days with Penn's just and liberal treatment there was no reason for trouble. All these purchases were paid for in the usual manner at that time, with guns, axes, hoes, knives, needles, blankets, kettles, scissors, gimlets, fish hooks, powder, lead, and other articles valued by the Indians. These things seem trifling to us, but to the Indian they were most desirable, and there is every reason to suppose in Pennsylvania at least, that the Indian was satisfied that he was receiving a full equivalent for the land he sold.1

In many cases in colonial history the Indians had been grossly cheated and had been made drunk at the times of

1 As a matter of fact an Indian title was worth nothing in the eye of the law. The Indian was, according to the European law, simply an occupier, the crown owned the lands, and the power to give titles was vested in the crown or in those delegated by the crown. To buy from the Indian was the recognition of a moral right, and its only value was a possible protection against other Indians.

negotiations, but so sure were the Indians of Penn's honesty and justice that one chief, the Tammany of tradition, sold a tract of land for "so much wampum, so many guns

and other goods as the said William Penn shall please to give

unto me." Penn was so much impressed with the injurious effects of rum upon the natives that it was not used as an article of trade with them after his arrival, and a law prohibiting the sale of rum to the Indians was passed.1

The fair and friendly treatment of the Indians was appreciated by them, and for seventy-three years the borders of Pennsylvania were free from attacks of Indians. More than that, a profitable trade was carried on with them.

The Letitia House; Education. Some time in 1683 William Penn took up his residence in the modest brick house 1 Owing mainly to the greed of the traders the law was difficult to enforce.

which he had built for himself on the square between Front and Second, Market and Chestnut streets. He afterwards gave it to his daughter Letitia, and it has since been known as the "Letitia House." It is said to have been the first house in Philadelphia which had a cellar. This house, in excellent preservation, now stands in Fairmount Park, having been removed there in 1883.

One of the earliest matters which claimed attention was that of education. Under date of December 26, 1683, a minute of the Council reads, "The Governor and Provincial Council having taken into their serious consideration the great necessity there is of a School Master for the instruction and sober education of youth in the town of Philadelphia, sent for Enoch Flower an inhabitant of the said town who for twenty years past hath been exercised in that care and employment in England." Enoch Flower was forthwith engaged, and the school was started.1

The Early Immigrants. Penn wrote in the summer of 1683 that "fifty sail of ships and small vessels" had arrived within the year. The immigrants were chiefly English Quakers, though there were some Welsh and Irish among them. But during the succeeding years large numbers came not only from Great Britain and Ireland, but also Germans from the Palatinate (South Germany), who had become acquainted with Penn's colony through the German pamphlets circulated by Benjamin Furly or who had made the acquaintance of Penn when he traveled in Germany, in 1677. Some French Huguenots also came.

1 His terms were, "To learn to read English 4 shillings by the quarter, to learn to read and write 6 shillings by the quarter, to read, write, and cast accounts 8 shillings by the quarter; for boarding a scholar, that is to say, diet, washing, lodging and schooling, ten pounds for one whole year."