Duponceau,[36] 1760-1844._=
From "An Address."
=_117._= CHARACTER OF PENN.
WILLIAM PENN stands the first among the lawgivers whose names and deeds
are recorded in history. Shall we compare him with Lycurgus, Solon,
Romulus, those founders of military commonwealths, who organized their
citizens in deadly array against the rest of their species, taught them
to consider their fellow-men as barbarians, and themselves as alone
worthy to rule over the earth?... But see William Penn, with weaponless
hand, sitting down peaceably with his followers, in the midst of
savage nations whose only occupation was shedding the blood of their
fellow-men, disarming them by his justice, and teaching them, for the
first time, to view a stranger without distrust. See them bury their
tomahawks in his presence, so deep that man shall never be able to
find them again. See them, under the shade of the thick groves of
Coaquannock, extend the bright chain of friendship, and solemnly promise
to preserve it as long as the sun and moon shall endure. See him then,
with his companions, establishing his commonwealth on the sole basis of
religion, morality, and universal love, and adopting, as the fundamental
maxim of his government, the rule handed down to us from Heaven, "Glory
to God on high, and on earth peace and good will towards men.
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