secured, as
far as human ordinance was capable, freedom of faith, thought, and
action. He formed some peculiar institutions for the promotion of peace
and good will among his brethren, and for the protection of the widow
and the orphan. By his wise and just dealings with the Indians,[369] he
gained their important confidence and friendship: he sent commissioners
to treat with them for the sale of their lands, and in the year 1682 met
the assembled chiefs near the spot where Philadelphia now stands. The
savages advanced to the place of meeting in great numbers and in warlike
guise, but as the approach of the English was announced, they laid aside
their weapons and seated themselves in quiet groups around their
chiefs.[370] Penn came forward fearlessly with a few attendants, all
unarmed, and in their usual grave and simple attire; in his hand he held
a parchment on which were written the terms of the treaty. He then spoke
in a few plain words of the friendship and justice that should rule the
actions of all men, and guide him, and them, and their children's
children. The Indians answered that they would live in peace with him
and his white brothers as long as the sun and moon shall endure. And in
the Quaker's parchment and the Indian's promise was accomplished the
peaceful conquest of that lovely wilderness, a conquest more complete,
more secure and lasting, than any that the ruthless rigor of Cortes or
the stern valor of the Puritans had ever won.

The prosperity of Pennsylvania advanced with unexampled rapidity.[371]
The founder took out with him two thousand well-chosen emigrants, and a
considerable number had preceded him to the new country. The orderly
freedom that prevailed,[372] and the perpetual peace with the
Indians,[373] gave a great advantage to this colony; emigration flowed
thither more abundantly than to any other settlement, and thus, although
of such recent origin, this state soon equaled the most successful of
its older neighbors.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 350: "On Hudson's return according to the English historians,
he sold his title to the Dutch."--_British Encyc._, vol. ii., p. 236.
Chalmers questions, apparently on good grounds, the validity of this odd
transaction. If, as Forster asserts, Hudson not only sailed from the
Texel, but was equipped at the expense of the Dutch East India Company,
there was no room for sale or purchase of any kind to constitute the
region Dutch.--Chalmers, vol. ii., p.