Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/155

 The charter differed but little from that of Maryland : it created Penn "true and absolute lord" of Pennsylvania, with ample powers of government; but "the advice and consent of the freemen of the province" were necessary to the enactment of laws. A veto was reserved to the crown, and to Parliament the right of levying duties and taxes.

There were already within the limits of Pennsylvania a considerable number of Dutch and Swedish settlers. Penn accordingly, in April of this year (1681,) sent out the royal proclamation, constituting him lord proprietor, by the hands of his kinsman, William Markham; and to engage the good will of these, he tells them "that they are now fixed at the mercy of no governor that comes to make his fortune great; that they shall be governed by laws of their own making, and live free, and, if they will, a sober and industrious people." "I shall not usurp the right of any," he continues, "nor oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution, and has given me His grace to keep it." Markham was also authorized to arrange the question of boundaries with the proprietary of Maryland.

In England, meanwhile, (May, 1681), there were proposals issued for the sale of the lands, at the rate of forty shillings, or about $10 the hundred acres, subject, however, to a perpetual quit-rent of one shilling for every hundred acres. A company was formed, and three vessels set sail in July, with a body of emigrants for the shores of the Delaware—carrying out instructions for building the new city, which Penn desired might resemble a green and open country town. For the first time, probably, the Indians found themselves addressed in the language of genuine philanthropy and good will, as brethren of the great family of man, not as heathen. "The great God," thus he wrote to their sachems, "had been pleased to make him concerned in their part of the world, and the king of the country where he lived had given him a great province therein; but he did not desire to enjoy it without their consent; he was a man of peace, and the people whom he sent were of the same disposition, and if any difference should happen between them, it might be adjusted by an equal number of men chosen on both sides."

Early in 1682, Penn issued his "Frame of Government," wherein he purposed to leave to himself and his successors "no power of doing mischief—that the will of one man may not hinder the good of the whole country; for liberty without obedience is confusion, obedience without liberty is slavery." The Assembly, which was to consist, first, of all the freemen, afterwards, of delegates, never more than five hundred nor less than two hundred freemen, were to elect a council of seventy-two members, one third to go out and be replaced annually, over whom the proprietary or his deputy was to preside and enjoy a triple vote. This council was not only invested with the executive power, but was also authorized to prepare bills for presentation to the Assembly. In addition, a body of forty "fundamental laws," was agreed