Norwich bulletin., 1920-12-08
ODD INCIDENTS IN AMERICAN
 HISTORY
pENN's TREATMENT OF THE IN.
PLANS

PLANS.
 The methods used by William Penn in occupying his grant in America were in strong contrast with those practiced by other landholders who came from Eng land. The general practice was to en- tirely ignore the Indian ownership when a grant in this country was to be taken up, and the new settlers not only appro- priated what was granted to them by charter rights but they wo lid grab every thing in sight It was this method that kept the early colonlsts in 8 continuous turmoil with the Indians. When William FeEr arrived in America to occupy the land Ml..eh had been allow ed him by the English king in return for 3 debt, he was just wise enough to see that the first thing necessary for him to do was to conciliate the Indians iR the i nelghborhood and make them his friends. and in consequence of this the Penn col ony was the least disturbed of any other in America
 i On the last day of August, 1882, the 1 good ship Welcome left England with William Penn and about enc hundred other passengers on board. They reached ] this country on the 7th of November and after establishing themselves along the Delaware they laid out Philadelphia, and ! in doing so showed every consideration : for the redInen of the vicinity to win at i least their respect if not their favor. One of Penn's fixed purposes was te I allow no land to be occupied until the
 consent of the Indians had been secured. fThe emigrants who had come and those ! who were coming needed land, and so at ! noon of an uncertain day, fixed by some as in November, 1882, and by others as i the 25d of June, 1883, Penn met the lead I ing chiefs beneath tfe bra aches of an old I elm tree at Shackamaxon, much used for Indian council, the name Shackamaxon meaning in the language of the tribe fthe place of kings"
 It is stated that then and there Penn
 bought Indian lands. and that with thu transfer went certain verbal agreements About two months later Penn wrote : promises passed between us of kindnes, and good neightorhood, and that the Eng ! fish and Indians must live in love as Ions } as the sun gave light"
 fl A century later a famous artist Ben 1, jamin West, painted a picture that repre-
 sented the affair as a formal function . instead of as an ordinary business trans action. The unique feature of the incl Si dent is that the agI cement made that da. 3 was faithfully kept for sixty years. Vol Q taire pronounces Pern's treaty "the onl . league between the aborigines and tn nl Christians which was never sworn 10 an never broken"
 Il The great elm at Sha5kamaxon wa . blown down in 1910, and today a hand
 some monument marks its site containin . the words: Treaty ground of Wi,liar 8 Penn and the Indian Nation. 1882. up y broken Faith" The treaty was probabl l. made with the Lenni Lenape or Dela @ ware tribes and some of the SusquehaRn n Indians.
 Tradition has 1t that Penn went to tn | council in 8 barge and wore a blue sasl - A belt of wanpum has come from tf o Penn family winch. it is claimed, wH $ presented to the proprietor on that occs a sion. The great Indian chief. Tamanen D. or Tammany, is said to have been chi, D. spokesman on this occasion, and there al if papers extant in which his dress and tl ,e embleTns he wore are accurately describe = In his letter of Aug. Is, 1888. to u v Society of Free Traders. Penn, writir
 from Philadelphia about the Indian
 whose habits and language lie had bee
 studying closely in the course of tOl i'll among them, he describes minutely u
 conduct of the Indian council T ha, had occasion to be in council with the upon treaties for land and to adjust u 's terms of, trade.
 oi He further wrote, although not namil
 the location, but which fits in every W. 4he Shackamaxon meeting: Every Xii t- hath his council, and that consists ot an the old and wise men of his nation, whic
 perhaps, is two hundred people. The
 order is thus: The king sits in the midd bel of a half-moon and has his council. t ssI old and wise, on either hand. Behil
 them, at a little distance, sit the young
 fry, in the same figure"
 s+ Although Penn lad paid King Charl s for the province he recognized Indi s ownership and purchased from them on the land he acquired, paying a pri
 which, while not large by modern stan ; ards was more than was paid in oth il- colonies Penn not only made promises ed the Indians but kept them, and not or ri i1 the acquiring of land. bit Penn insi,
 ed that wrong -doers to the India
 should be treated as though their erin ,r- had been directed against fellow settle - and that Indian criminals should be pl r ceeded against before magistrates 10 though they were whites.
 (Tomorrow-The Nat Turner Rebellio,