King Charles. Well,friend William! I have sold you a noble province in North America;but still,I suppose you have nthoughts of going thither yourself ?
Penn. Yes,I have,I assure thee,friend Charles;and I am just come tbid thee farewell.
K.C. What! venture yourself among the savages of North America! Why,man,what security have you that you will not be in their war kettle in twhours after setting foot on their shores?
P. The best security in the world.
K.C. I doubt that,friend William;I have nidea of any security against those cannibals1but in a regiment2of good soldiers,with their muskets and bayonets. And mind,I tell you beforehand,that,with all my good will for you and your family,twhom I am under obligations,I will not send a single soldier with you.
P. I want none of thy soldiers,Charles: I depend on something better than thy soldiers.
K.C.Ah! what may that be?
P. Why,I depend upon themselves;on the working of their own hearts;on their notions of justice;on their moral sense.
K.C. A fine thing,this same moral sense,ndoubt;but I fear you will not find much of it among the Indians of North America.
P. And why not among them as well as others?
K.C.Because if they had possessed any,they would not have1Cannibals,human beings that eat human flesh.2Regiment,a body of troops,consisting usually of ten companies.treated my subjects sbarbarously as they have done.
P. That is nproof of the contrar y,friend Charles. Thy subjects were the aggressors1. When thy subjects first went tNorth America,they found these poor people the fondest and kindest creatures in the world. Every day they would watch for them tcome ashore,and hasten tmeet them,and feast them on the best fish,and venison2,and corn,which were all they had. In return for this hospitality of the savages,as we call them,thy subjects,termed Christians,seized on their country and rich hunting grounds for farms for themselves. Now,is it tbe wondered at,that these much-injured people should have been driven tdesperation by such injustice;and that,burning with revenge,they should have committed some excesses3?
K C.Well,then,I hope you will not complain when they come ttreat you in the same manner.
P.I am not afraid of it.
K.C.Ah! how will you avoid it? You mean tget their hunting grounds,too,I suppose?
P. Yes,but not by driving these poor people away from them.
K.C.No,indeed? How then will you get their lands?
P.I mean tbuy their lands of them.
K.C.Buy their lands of them? Why,man,you have already bought them of me!
P. Yes,I know I have,and at a dear rate,too;but I did it only tget thy good will,not that I thought thou hadst any right ttheir lands.
K.C.How,man? nright ttheir lands?
P. No,friend Charles,nright;nright at all: what right hast thou ttheir lands?
K.C.Why,the right of discovery,tbe sure;the right which the1 Aggressors,those whfirst commence hostilities. 2Venison,the flesh of deer.
3 Excesses,misdeeds,evil acts.
Pope and all Christian kings have agreed tgive one another.
P. The right of discovery? A strange kind of right,indeed. Now suppose,friend Charles,that some canoe load of these Indians,crossing the sea,and discovering this island of Great Britain,were tclaim it as their own,and set it up for sale over thy head,what wouldst thou think of it?
K.C. Why-why-why-I must confess,I should think it a piece of great impudence in them.
P. Well,then,how canst thou,a Christian,and a Christian prince,too,dthat which thou sutterly condemnest1 in these people whom thou callest savages? And suppose,again,that these Indians,on thy refusal tgive up thy island of Great Britain,were tmake war on thee,and,having weapons more destructive than thine,were tdestroy many of thy subjects,and drive the rest away-wouldst thou not think it horribly cruel?
K. C. I must say,friend William,that I should;how can I say otherwise?
P. Well,then,how can I,whcall myself a Christian,dwhat I should abhor even in the heathen? No. I will not dit. But I will buy the right of the proper owners,even of the Indians themselves. By doing this,I shall imitate God himself in his justice and mercy,and thereby insure his blessing on my colony,if I should ever live tplant one in North America.-MasonL.Weems. Notes.-Charles II. was king of England from A.D. 1660 t1685. William Penn （b. 1644,d.1718） was a noted Englishman whbelonged tthe sect of Friends. He came tAmerica in 1682,and founded the province which is now the state of Pennsylvania. He purchased the lands from the Indians,whwere simpressed with the justice and good will of Penn and his associates,that the Quaker dress often served as a sure protection when other settlers were trembling for their lives.1 Condemnest,censure,blame.
