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Page 61
(1682)
BY GEORGE E. ELLIS[1]
There has been much discussion of late years concerning the far-famed
Treaty of Penn with the Indians. A circumstance, which has all the
interest both of fact and of poetry, was confirmed by such unbroken
testimony of tradition that history seemed to have innumerable records
of it in the hearts and memories of each generation. But as there
appears no document or parchment of such criteria as to satisfy all
inquiries, historical skepticism has ventured upon the absurd length
of calling in question the fact of the treaty. The Historical Society
of Pennsylvania, with commendable zeal, has bestowed much labor upon
the questions connected with the treaty, and the results which have
been attained can scarcely fail to satisfy a candid inquirer. All
claim to a peculiar distinction for William Penn, on account of the
singularity of his just proceedings in this matter is candidly waived,
because the Swedes, the Dutch, and the English had previously dealt
thus justly with the natives. It is in comparison with Pizarro and
Cort�s that the colonists of all other nations in America appear to an
advantage; but the fame of William Penn stands, and ever will stand,
preeminent for unexceptionable justice and peace in his relations with
the natives.
Penn had several meetings for conference and treaties with the
Indians, besides those which he held for the purchase of lands. But
unbroken and reverently cherished tradition, beyond all possibility of
contradition, has designated one great treaty held under a large
elm-tree, at Shackamaxon (now Kensington)[2], a treaty which Voltaire
justly characterizes as "never sworn to, and never broken." In Penn's
Letter to the Free Society of Traders, dated August 16, 1683, he
refers to his conferences with the Indians. Two deeds, conveying land
to him, are on record, both of which bear an earlier date than this
letter; namely, June 23d and July 14th of the same year. He had
designed to make a purchase in May; but having been called off to a
conference with Lord Baltimore, he postponed the business till June.
The "Great Treaty" was doubtless unconnected with the purchase of
land, and was simply a treaty of amity and friendship, in confirmation
of one previously held, by Penn's direction, by Markham, on the same
spot; that being a place which the Indians were wont to use for this
purpose. It is probable that the treaty was held on the last of
November, 1682; that the Delawares, the Mingos, and other Susquehanna
tribes formed a large assembly on the occasion; that written minutes
of the conference were made, and were in possession of Governor
Gordon, who states nine conditions as belonging to them in 1728, but
are now lost; and that the substance of the treaty is given in Penn's
Letter to the Free Traders. These results are satisfactory, and are
sufficient corroborated by known facts and documents. The Great
Treaty, being distinct from a land purchase, is significantly
distinguished in history and tradition.
The inventions of romance and imagination could scarcely gather round
this engaging incident attractions surpassing in its own simple and
impressive interest. Doubtless Clarkson has given a fair
representation of it, if we merely disconnect from his account the
statement that the Indians were armed, and all that confounds the
treaty of friendship with the purchase of lands. Penn wore a sky-blue
sash of silk around his waist, as the most simple badge. The pledges
there given were to hold their sanctity "while the creeks and rivers
run, and while the sun, moon, and stars endure."
While the whites preserved in written records the memory of such
covenants, the Indians had their methods for perpetuating in safe
channels their own relations. They cherished in grateful regard, they
repeated to their children and to the whites, the terms of the Great
Treaty. The Delawares called William Penn _Miquon_, in their own
language, though they seem to have adopted the name given him by the
Iroquois, _Onas_; both which terms signify a quill or pen. Benjamin
West's picture of the treaty is too imaginative for a historical
piece. He makes Penn of a figure and aspect which would become twice
the years that had passed over his head. The elm-tree was spared in
the war of the American Revolution, when there was distress for
firewood, the British officer, Simcoe, having placed a sentinel
beneath it for protection. It was prostrated by the wind on the night
of Saturday, March 3, 1810. It was of gigantic size, and the circles
around its heart indicated an age of nearly three centuries. A piece
of it was sent to the Penn mansion at Stoke Poges, in England, where
it is properly commemorated. A marble monument, with suitable
inscription was "placed by the Penn Society A.D. 1827 to mark the site
of the Great Elm Tree."
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