Now this great God hath been pleased to make me concerned
in your part of the world, and the King of the country where I live
hath given me a great province therein. But I desire to enjoy it
with your love and consent, that we may always live together as
neighbours, and friends, else what would the great God do to us?"
With this letter Penn sent presents to the Indian chiefs and told
them that he would soon come to see them himself, and make arrangements
about the land.
But it was not till the following year that Penn set out for his
colony. When he landed the Dutch and Swedes greeted him with joy.
And to show that they acknowledged him as their Governor they
presented him, as in old feudal times, with a sod of earth, a bowl
of water, and a branch of a tree. Penn then passed on to the spot
which he had chosen for his capital. And as showing forth the spirit
in which his colony was founded, he called his city Philadelphia
or the city of brotherly love.
It was near this town that Penn met the Indian chiefs and made a
treaty with them as he had promised to do. In the Indian language
the spot was called the Place of Kings, and had been used as a
meeting place by the surrounding tribes for long ages. Here there
grew a splendid elm, a hoary giant of the forest which for a hundred
years and more had withstood the tempests.
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