Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1882-12-23
THE ORIGIN OF WILLIAM PENNS AMER.
ICAN SCHEME.

When the Dutch provinces i
America came by conquest into pos
session of the English crown, tn
King mad graciously made a presen
of the whole of that vast tract o
new settled country to his brother
His Royal Highness had in turl
granted that portion of his territor,
now comprising the State of New
Jersey to his humble servants Lore
Berkeley and Sir George Carteret
At that time (about 1863 the north
eastern part of this province had be
gun to be sparsely settled here ant
there. Elizabethtown had grown t,
four houses, and was the capital q
the province. Middletown, too. hat
been planted, and Shrewsbury. Bu
all the western part, lying upoI
the Delaware River and Bay, wa,
still untouched, saving by few scat
tered Swedish and Finish settlers.
Toward this tract of country, com
paratively near the ocean coast upon
one side, and washed by a broad
river and bay upon the other, the at
tention of certain Quakers began tc
be directed. John Fenwick and Ed
ward Byllinges, the former of Buck
inshire, the latter London merchant
both prominent members of the SO
ciety, purchased of Lord Berkeley all
his rights and interests iu the JERSEYS
for the sum of one thousand pounds
sterling. The province was then di
vlded by agreement with Sir George
Carteret into the East and West Jer
sey, called collectively in the old
times The Jerseys" This was ac-
complished by line drawn from
Little Egg Harbor to a point on the
Delaware River in the 41St degree Of
northern latitude.
But in the mean time the settle
ment of this territory with regular
provincial government came practi
cally to naught. Fenwick seems to
have been of litigious, disputatious
disposition; chickering's and back talk
ensued between the two proprietaries.
Unable, because of the rules of their
sects,..to have the matter settled by
law, the difficulty reached such a
stage that it became necessary to call
for arbitration to arrange the matter
between them. After casting about
for some one to whom to appeal
William Penn was selected to finally
adjudge the master. And so his at
tention first became attracted to the
New World, and his interest awak
ened,in IT., The matter was satisfac
torily adjusted. but West Jersey was
destined never to become a proprie-
tary or rather a bi-proprietary gov
ernnent. Beth Byllinges and Fen
wick became involved in financial
difficulties, and their estates passed
into the hands of trustees. one of
whom was William Penn. In this
position he became still more inter
ested in the country; he devoted his
attention wholly to the settlement
and improvement of this part Of the
jerseys, and, as his letters afterward
showed, he thereby made himself
well acquainted with the resources of
that which was to him heretofore an
almost unknown world. He saw at
glance the vast possibilities it held
forth to such as would undertake the
development of them, and finally de-
termined to found a province there
himself, not in the loose, unsystem-
ATTIC way in which West Jersey was
being peopled, but endowed with a
good internal government for its
foundation and support. 30. -..
1t is thus that great events move
upon little things, as a heavy door
does upon small hinges. If John
Fenwck had not been of disputa
tious nature, in all Likelihood Viii
liam Penn would never have found
a province. - Harper's.