LESSON 23
KING CHARLES II AND WILLIAM PENN

King Charles. Well,friend William!I have sold you a noble province in North America; but still, I suppose you have no thoughts of going thither yourself?

Penn. Yes,I have,I assure thee,friend Charles;and I am just come to bid 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 two hours after setting foot on their shores?

P. The best security in the world.

K.C. I doubt that,friend William;I have no idea of any security against those cannibals but in a regiment of good soldiers, with their muskets and bayonets. And mind, I tell you beforehand, that, with all my good will for you and your family, to whom 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,no doubt;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 have treated my subjects so barbarously as they have done.

P. That is no proof of the contrary, friend Charles.Thy subjects were the aggressors. When thy subjects first went to North America, they found these poor people the fondest and kindest creatures in the world. Every day they would watch for them to come ashore, and hasten to meet them, and feast them on the best fish, and venison, 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 to be wondered at, that these much-injured people should have been driven to desperation by such injustice; and that, burning with revenge, they should have committed some excesses?

KC. Well,then,I hope you will not complain when they come to treat you in the same manner.

P. I am not afraid of it.

K.C. Ah!how will you avoid it?You mean to get 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 to buy 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 to get thy good will, not that I thought thou hadst any right to their lands.

K.C. How,man?no right to their lands?

P. No,friend Charles,no right;no right at all:what right hast thou to their lands?

K.C. Why,the right of discovery,to be sure;the right which the Pope and all Christian kings have agreed to give 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 to claim 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, do that which thou so utterly condemnest in these people whom thou callest savages? And suppose, again, that these Indians, on thy refusal to give up thy island of Great Britain, were to make war on thee, and,having weapons more destructive than thine, were to destroy 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,who call myself a Christian,do what I should abhor even in the heathen? No. I will not do it. 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 to plant one in North America.

—Mason L. Weems

STUDY GUIDE

A. Word Definition

1.cannibals:people that eat human flesh.

2.regiment:body of troops,usually with ten companies.

3.muskets:soldier's light guns.

4.bayonets:blade attached to the muzzle of a rifle.

5.barbarously:brutally.

6.aggressors:those who commence hostilities.

7.venison:deer flesh.

8.excesses:misdeeds,evil acts.

9.impudence:rudeness,disrespect.

10.abhor:regard with disgust.

B. Study Note

Charles II. was king of England from A.D. 1660 to 1685. William Penn: b. 1644, d. 1718 was a noted Englishman who belonged to the sect of Friends. He came to America in 1682, and founded the province which is now the state of Pennsylvania. He purchased the lands from the Indians, who were so impressed 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.

C. Comprehension Questions

1. Why did the Indians mistreat English soldiers?

2. This story takes place in the seventeenth century. How might William Penn have travelled to North America?

3. What is the moral of this story?

4. Which of these American states is close to Pennsylvania?

a. California

b. New Jersey

c. Texas

d. New York

5. Did the Indians eat what we would consider a healthy diet today? Explain.

6. Do you think Penn was intelligent? Why or why not?

7. What kinds of weapons did English soldiers use?

8. Label these statements true or false.

a. Cannibals are vegetarians. _____

b. William Penn was a Christian _____

c. Canoes are used on land. _____

D. Writing Work

Write a letter to your parents about North America.