Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/158

134, found also among other uncivilized tribes. Shocked and embarrassed though he was, Penn wisely refrained from rebuke, but quietly taking no notice of his visitor, she after a while returned to her own place of rest.

The tract at the confluence of the Schuylkill and the Delaware having appeared to Penn very desirable for the location of his capital city, that locality was fixed upon early in 1683. It was entitled Philadelphia, to show forth to men the brotherly love which the Quakers advocated and endeavored to practice. Its buildings rapidly increased, and by the end of the year eighty houses were erected.

In the midst of active preparation for the future growth of the new city, ill March of this year (1683), Penn summoned his newly constituted legislature to meet him in Philadelphia. This Assembly accepted a frame of government modelled after the late act of settlement, with a proviso that no changes should be made except by the joint consent of the proprietary and six parts in seven of the freemen of the province. By this frame it was ordained, beside the provisions on these points before named, that to prevent lawsuits, three arbitrators, to be called peace-makers, should be chosen by the county courts, to hear and determine small differences between man and man; that factors wronging their employers should make satisfaction, and one third over; that every thing which excites the people to rudeness, cruelty, and irreligion should be discouraged, and severely punished; that no one, acknowledging one God, and living peaceably in society, should be molested for his opinions or his practice, or compelled to frequent or maintain any ministry whatever. A revenue was also voted to the proprietary, to be raised by a duty on imports and exports; unfortunately, however, Penn having consented to suspend the receipt of it for a year or two, it was presently lost altogether. The Assembly of the next year (1684) voted £2,000 towards the expenses of the government, to be raised by a tax on spirits.

At his mansion on Pennsbury manor, about twenty miles above Philadelphia, Penn enjoyed for a season, the soothing tranquillity and beauty of nature, and had the gratification of beholding the unexampled increase of his colony. The news of its prosperity had been carried to Europe, and many settlers from Germany and Holland, of whom he and Barclay had made converts during his tour in those countries, came to seek an asylum from the storms of Europe, while numerous Quakers continued to arrive from England. He might well boast that he " had led the greatest colony into America that ever any man did upon a private credit, and the most prosperous beginnings that ever were in it, are to be found among us."

But the active spirit of Penn prompted him to return, for a while at least, to England. Accordingly, in August, 1684, he set sail for home, having firmly planted and organized his province; and leaving judicial affairs in the hands of five judges chosen from the council, with Nicholas Moore for