Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/52

 32 Sloan's Architectural Review and Builders' Journal. [July, seventy-two feet south southwest, south- erly, or s. 20° w. from where stands the memorial, which was placed to suit the convenience of the owner of the ground. The very spot was formerly marked in the shipyard, by a post, driven deeply in the earth, " about fifty feet back from the line of Beach street." It is to be hoped that the exact triangulation was securely recorded. This monument is of ordi- naiy white Pennsylvania marble, liable to crack in the weathering, is about five and a-half feet high, with a base of about four feet square, and reads, as follows : Northerly Side Facing Beach street. Treaty Ground of William Penn and the Indian Natives, 1682. Unbroken Faith. Easterly Side. Tip Beach street, towards Palmer. Pennsylvania Pounded, 1681. "By Deeds of Peace." Southerly Side. Facing the Delaware. William Penn, Born, 1644, Pied, 1718. Westerly Side. Down, Beach street, towards Hanover. Placed by the Penn Society, A. D. 1827. To mark the Scite of the Great Elm Tree. Site here was unfortunately mispelled scite by the marble-cutter. Just below Hanover street, on the northerly side of Beach, stands the old Bolivar House. Immediately outside the enclosure, west of the obelisk, is a thrifty 3'oung but- tonwood tree, and directly east of it a flourishing elm, whose branches over- arch and droop southward below the monument. Next below the enclosure is a sign projecting at right-angles to the pavement, "J. & G. Vandusen, Penn Treaty Marine Railway." THE YERY SITE. Clarkson observes : "It appears that though the parties were to assemble at Coaquannock, [i. e., Philadelphia,] the Treaty was made a little higher up, at Shackamaxon." Roberts Yaux, Esq., here comments: "The probable cause of the change was the convenience of both the natives and Penn." This may not necessarily be a change. For ex- ceeding impressiveness, they may have formed a joint procession from the first gathering-place to the appointed ground. Though this, our mere speculation, would neither be Indian-like nor Quaker-like, the savages preferring personal inde- pendence in reaching a rendezvous, the Friends disliking pageants. Some have spoken of Upland, or Ches- ter, Pa, as being the Treaty-ground. That was an old settlement, and pro- tected by forts, consequently most un- likely to be chosen by Penn, who would naturally be careful to show the In- dians his sense of the desirable perfect equality of surrounding circumstances. Judge Peters observes : " I have always understood that ' Talks' were held with the Indians at Chester, preparatory to the conclusive Treaty." A likely enough thing, Chester being the seat of govern- ment of the Province. Nicholas Collin, Esq., concludes it "highly probable that " the Treaty was held at [or near] Phila- "delphia, as being pretty far into the "country, and b} r its site destined for a "capital." The more, that it was mid way between the settlements of Burling- ton, N. J., and Chester. [To be continued.]