province, and toward the settling of it in a strong and permanent
manner, than the wisest regulations could have done on any other plan."

In 1682 a number of settlers, principally Quakers, having been already
sent out, Penn himself embarked for Pennsylvania, leaving his wife and
children in England. On occasion of this parting, he addressed to them a
long and affectionate letter, which presents a very beautiful picture of
his domestic character, and affords a curious insight into the minute
regularity of his daily habits. He landed on the banks of the Delaware
in October, and forthwith summoned an assembly of the freemen of the
province, by whom the frame of government, as it had been promulgated in
England, was accepted. Penn's principles did not suffer him to consider
his title to the land as valid without the consent of the natural owners
of the soil. He had instructed persons to negotiate a treaty of sale
with the Indian nations before his own departure from England; and one
of his first acts was to hold that memorable assembly, to which the
history of the world offers none alike, at which this bargain was
ratified, and a strict league of amity established. We do not find
specified the exact date of this meeting, which took place under an
enormous elm-tree, near the site of Philadelphia, and of which a few
particulars only have been preserved by the uncertain record of
tradition. Well and faithfully was that treaty of friendship kept by the
wild denizens of the woods; "a friendship," says Proud, the historian of
Pennsylvania, "which for the space of more than seventy years was never
interrupted, or so long as the Quakers retained power in the
government."

Penn remained in America until the middle of 1684. During this time much
was done toward bringing the colony into prosperity and order. Twenty
townships were established, containing upward of seven thousand
Europeans; magistrates were appointed; representatives, as prescribed by
the constitution, were chosen, and the necessary public business
transacted. In 1683 Penn undertook a journey of discovery into the
interior: and he has given an interesting account of the country in its
wild state, in a letter written home to the Society of Free Traders to
Pennsylvania. He held frequent conferences with the Indians, and
contracted treaties of friendship with nineteen distinct tribes. His
reasons for returning to England appear to have been twofold; partly the
desire to