Note 42 — Chapter XXII · THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA—SETTLEMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Mr. Bannister, in an excellent little work (British Colonization and the Coloured Tribes), just published, and which ought to be read by every one for its right-mindedness and sound and most important views, has regretted that William Penn did not take a guarantee from the British crown, in his charter, for the protection of the Indians from other states, and from his own successors. It is to be regretted; nor is it meant here to assert that the provisions of his government were as complete as they were pure in principle. Embarrassments of various kinds prevented him from perfecting what he had so nobly begun; yet the feeling with which his political system is regarded, must be that of the following passage:—

“Virtue had never perhaps inspired a legislation better calculated to promote the felicity of mankind. The opinions, the sentiments, and the morals, corrected whatever might be defective in it. Accordingly the prosperity of Pennsylvania was very rapid. This republic, without either wars, conquests, struggles, or any of those revolutions which attract the eyes of the vulgar, soon excited the admiration of the whole universe. Its neighbours, notwithstanding their savage state, were softened by the sweetness of its manners; and distant nations, notwithstanding their corruption, paid homage to its virtues. All delighted to see those heroic days of antiquity realized, which European manners and laws had long taught every one to consider as entirely fabulous.”—Raynal, vol. vii. p. 292.