letters to be made patent. Witness ourself, at Westminster, the fourth day of March, in the three and thirtieth year of our reign, Annoque Domini one thousand six hundred and eighty

one.

"By wit of privy seal,

PIGOTT."

CHAPTER V.

PROCEEDINGS OF PENN AFTER THE GRANT OF HIS CHARTER.

Penn's Joy-His Visit to the King-Surprise at the Name-Offers Twenty Guineas - Solicits the King-Refusal of the King-Letter to Robert Turner-Penn's Publication - Farewell to the King-Interesting Colloquy with the King-Letter to his Family.

ILLIAM PENN had expended much money, and offered

many prayers, that he might settle a colony in North America; and, when first informed that his petition was granted, he, with much excitement, exclaimed, that " God had heard the voice of his prayer! God had appointed unto him the honors of Joshua,—to lead a remnant into the land of rest. The nobles have been made to consent; and even the king himself is stirred up to convey the grateful tidings."

He soon hastened to court, to thank his Majesty for his royal generosity. The king was in readiness to receive him, having got the deed fairly drawn up and indorsed,—A DEED OF A NEW PROVINCE IN NORTH AMERICA, FOR MY BELOVED SUBJECT AND FRIEND, WILLIAM PENN.

As soon as he was introduced into the drawing-room of the palace, the king presented him this deed, with his own hand, and, in a jocular way, said, "Well, friend William, you'll see in this paper that I have done something handsome for you. Yes, man, I have given you there a territory in North America as large as my own island of Great Britain; and, knowing what a fighting family you are sprung from, I have made you governor and captain-general of all the coasts and seas and bays and rivers, and mountains and forests, and population; and now, in return for all this, I have but a few conditions to make with you."

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William Penn courteously asked his Majesty to please let him know what they were. Why, in the first place," replied Charles, "you are to give me a fifth of all the gold and silver you may find there. But, as you Quakers care but little about the precious metals, I don't count on much from that quarter.

"In the second place, friend William, you are to be sure not to make war on the nations, without my consent; but, in case of a war, you are always to remember that you are an Englishman, and therefore must never use the scalping-knife.

"In the third place, if any persons of my religion — the honest Episcopalians — would wish to come and settle in your Quaker province, you shall receive them kindly; and if, at any time, they should invite a preacher of their own, he shall be permitted to come among you. And, moreover, if they should like to build what we call a church (but you, a steeple-house), you will not forbid it.”

Smiling, Penn addressed the king with the same epithet which the king had applied to him. "Friend Charles, thee shall certainly be gratified in all these things; for I, who have drank so deeply of the bitter waters of persecution myself, will never, I hope, consent to persecute others on the score of religion."

As soon as Penn retired from the presence of the king, he inspected his charter and deed, when, to his great astonishment, he found it named "PENNSYLVANIA," that is, in English, "Penn's woods." He considered that this would savor so much of vanity in him, that he hastened to the recorder, to have the name changed. The recorder was a Welshman. He said to Penn, "Well, then, what name would hur like to give to hur province ?" Penn replied, "New Wales." The Welshman said that ought to be pleasing to him, as a compliment to his native country, "but, though hur should be well pleased to have hur province called 'New Wales,' yet hur had no business to alter the present name."

Upon this refusal, Penn offered him twenty guineas to alter the name. The Welshman still declining to do it, Penn went to his Majesty to get it done. The king, in his jocular way, replied, that, as he had stood "godfather to the new province, he thought he had a fair right to give it a name."

Penn was so perplexed, and the shock was so great, as he supposed, to his vanity, that, failing to get the name changed either by the recorder or the king, the next day, he wrote the following letter to his friend Robert Turner :

TO ROBERT TURNER.

5th of 1st mo., 1681.

Dear Friend,- My true love in the Lord salutes thee, and dear friends that love the Lord's precious truths in those parts. Thine I have; and for my business here, know that after many waitings, watchings, solicitings, and disputes in council, this day my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania, a name the king would give it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, being, as this, a pretty hilly country; but Penn being Welsh for a head (as Penmanmoire in Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in Buckinghamshire, the highest land in England), called this Pennsylvania, which is, the high or high woodlands; for I proposed, when the secretary, a Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvania, and they added Penn 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 feared lest it should be looked on as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the king, as it truly was, to my father, whom he often mentions with praise. Thou mayest communicate my grant to friends, and expect shortly my proposals. It is a clear and just thing, and my God, that has given it me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless, and make it the seed of a nation. I shall have a tender care to the government, that it will be well laid at first. No more now, but dear love in the truth.

Thy true friend,

WILLIAM PENN.

The charter being thus given, and the name not to be altered, William Penn immediately made the following publication to his Quakers, and to all other Englishmen as well: —

"In the first place, That while lands in England sold from twenty to sixty pounds sterling per acre, William Penn offered his lands, fresh and heavy timbered, for forty shillings the hundred acres, being but little more than fourpence an acre, with but one shilling per hundred acres as quit-rent to the proprietor forever.

"Secondly, That, while lands in England rented from one to three pounds sterling per acre, William Penn offered his for one shilling.

"Thirdly, That while it was in England a transportation offence to kill a rabbit or partridge, and few except the nobility ever tasted venison, in Pennsylvania, any boy big enough to draw a trigger might knock down a fat buck in the woods whenever he pleased. And as to rabbits and partridges, they were so abundant, that the very children, if they but knew how to set traps, and pack thread-snares, might always keep the house full of such savory game."

If these are esteemed by all as great natural recommendations of Pennslyvania, the moral recommendations were still greater; for it was observed,

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Fourthly, That while, in England, the servants were a people but poorly rewarded for their services, in Pennsylvania, all servants, men or women, were to be allowed fifty acres in fee-simple, to be paid them, with a good suit of clothes, at the expiration of their servitude; and the more cheerfully, if they had acted with fidelity as servants, doing all things cheerfully, as with an eye to the glory of God.

"Fifth, That while, in England, there was but one creed, one catechism, one form of prayer, one baptism, from which no man or woman might dissent without peril of the whipping-post or pillory, in Pennsylvania, all who acknowledged ‘one almighty and eternal God to be the moral governor of the world,' and honored him as such by an honest and peaceable life, should be equally protected in their rights, and made capable of promotion to office, whether they were Jews, Gentiles, or Christians.

"Sixth, That while in Virginia, Maryland, and New England, the settlers were charged with cheating the Indians, by putting bad merchandise upon them in exchange for their furs, in