New-York tribune., 1902-03-16

Germany, whose coming might be of very dan
gerous consequence" Their tendency to hold
together in communities almost exclusively Ger
man, and their persistence in adheTing 10 their
mother tongue caused uneasiness Franklin
was filled with apprehension and Indignation at
them; they were generally the most stupid Of
their nation; their ignorance Of English mad.
1t impossible to remove their prejudices; thelf
use of German in legal instruments and in the
courts especially incensed him. His structures
on their ignorance were certainly refuted, as
Mr.. Dfenderffer points out, by their large i'm
portations of German books, and later oy their
activities in writing and printing books and
newspapers of their own in Pennsylvania. Nlr.
Dfenderfer, indeed, is of opinion that at the
time DR.. Frankns letter was written there
were many Germans in Pennsylvania incom-
parably superior to him in the learning of the
schools" At all events, the history of Penn
sylvania has shown all the fears of the early
English authorities in the colony TO have been
groundless
Mr.. Dfenderffer's book is made more in
teresting by the large number of appropriate
illustrations it contans-tite pages of German
books relating to Pennsylvania and the German
immigration published in Europe, and in Penn
sylvania; portraits of men prominent in the
movement; pictures of existing houses of the
period and of relics illustrating the life of the
people
Judge Pennypacker's history of the German
town settlement is practically uniform with the
volume just described in its general method
appearance and manner of Illustration. which is
equally lavish of interesting matter. The Ger
mantown settlement was the first step in the
great movement to Pennsylvania that began in
the seventeenth century. lis first impulse came
from Crefeld, on the Lower Rhine, and it was
Set in motion through the eXertions of William
Penn. Vie conveyed large tracts of land to
tain Crefelders, on condition that certain
number of families should go to Pennsylvania
within a certain time. They were Mennonites.
Another force in the settlement of Germantown
was the Frankfort Land Company a band of
Pietists, who bought large tracts of land and
settled them. Their affairs were carried
with the practical application of the religious
principles of these fervent sects; his
toran says of them:
They would do nothing but work or pray. and
their mild c0nsciences made them opposed to the
swearing Of oaths and courts and would not
suffer them to use harsh weapons against
thieves and trespassers.
Judge Pennypacker gives an ample account
of some of the leading men of the community,
for which he makes copious quotations from
their contemporaries and from their own writ
| ings s-Pastorius, Roster, Kelpius, FaIkner etc.
The settlement itself he considers to have intro
duced into America the results of European
learning and cultivation and to have possessed
a larger proportion of men who had dis
tnction abroad in literature and polemics. And
for their principles he claims priority in setting
up for the first time the standard of absolute
religious tOlcration-the keynote of American
civilization and the hope of futurty for all
the races of the world" 1t may be that a pride
| in his ancestors and their race has enlarged his
! appreciation of this influence beyond what the
! facts Of history support; but that his pride
/ is pard0uahle must be confessed by any vino
81 Idy the history and the achievements Of these
/ remarkable people.