Pittsburg.

Girard. This gentleman, a native of Bordeaux, came to the city a pennyless sailor boy. By frugality and industry, directed by a sound judgment, from the smallest beginnings of a poor trader, he amassed one of the largest estates in the Union, amounting to several millions. He was the sole proprietor of one of the richest banks in the city. He died December 28th, 1831, at the age of eighty-four years, leaving the whole of his property, amounting from six to ten millions of dollars, with the exception of a few legacies, not sensibly diminishing its amount, to the city, for various charitable purposes. One of the principal, was the founding of an orphan college. Funds were appropriated to this object sufficient to erect adequate buildings, and support a competent number of teachers, and to board and clothe the beneficiaries. The place designed in his will for the site of the college, was on a tract of forty-five acres of land, purchased by him shortly before his death for this purpose, on Peel hill in Penntownship, a healthy and elevated place, about three miles from Independence square. The size, proportion, and form of the building, is particularly pointed out; the leading points are firmness, convenience, and proportion, without superfluous ornament. It is to be sufficiently large to accommodate three hundred scholars, which it is calculated his benefaction will support. They are to be taken, first, from the city of Philadelphia; next, from the state at large; thirdly, from the city of New York, and fourthly, from New Orleans. Two millions of dollars are appropriated to this object, and if that should prove inadequate, such further sum as should be found necessary, is to be taken from other bequests. The will contains this singular provision: "that no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister, of any sect whatever, shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever, in said college, nor shall any such person ever come within the premises appropriated to the purposes of said college." An immense sum has already been expended on this building, and it is yet in an unfinished state.

PITTSBURG. The second city for size and importance, is Pittsburgh, the capital of western Pennsylvania, containing a population within its chartered limits of 21,115. The city is built at the forks of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, which, at their junction, take the name of Ohio; distant from Philadelphia, in a direct line, 300 miles; from Harrisburg, on the Susquehanna, 200; and from New Orleans, 2000 miles by water, and 1100 by land.

Manufactures of various kinds are carried on to a great extent, to the success of which, the cheapness of provisions, and the abundance of coal, in the immediate neighborhood, essentially contribute. Under almost any circumstances, Pittsburg must continue to increase; and should the united exertions of eastern and western Pennsylvania succeed in making it the entrepot for

397

Pennsylvania Capitol, Harrisburg.

the merchandize destined for the west, it will soon take rank among the first cities of the Union. Harrisburg, the capital of the state, contains 5980 inhabitants.

BRADDOCK'S FIELD. Nine miles east of Pittsburg, on the north bank of the Monongahela, is the battle ground, celebrated in history as Braddock's field, and famed for the destruction of an army of two British regiments of infantry and provincial militia, amounting to 2200 men, by 50 Frenchmen, and 250 Indians, on the 16th of July, 1775. The object of the expedition was to dislodge the French from fort Duquesne, erected the year before at the forks, now the site of Pittsburg. The occasion of the defeat was the unskillfulness of the commanding general, Braddock, and his persevering obstinacy in fighting Indians according to the rules of European tactics. The general being killed, a retreat, conducted with great skill by Major Washington, saved a remnant of the army. It was confidently believed that the general was shot by one of his own party. Thomas Fawcet, late a resident at Laurel hill in western Pennsylvania, a short time before his death, gave the following account of the transaction. The general, in the course of the battle, ordered the provincial troops, Pennsylvania and Virginia militia, to form a column and march upon the enemy; but they adhering to the Indian mode of fighting, from behind trees, disobeyed the order, and the general, in his vexation, rode up to a young man named Fawcet, and cut him down with his sword; the slaughtered soldier was the brother of the narrator; the latter witnessing the transaction, watched his opportunity, and shot the general through the body. By whatever means Braddock was slain, his death saved the remains of the army.

WILLIAM PENN. Pennsylvania was first settled in 1638, by

WILLIAM PENN.

a colony of Swedes, and soon after a colony of Dutch and Finns, settled on the banks of the Delaware below. In 1682, Charles the Second, having conquered the New Netherlands, as the country from New York to the Chesapeake was then called, granted the province of Pennsylvania, including Delaware, to William Penn, in satisfaction of a debt due from the crown to his father. This singular and distinguished statesman was born at London in 1644, the only son of William Penn, vice admiral of England under Cromwell, and a distinguished naval officer under Charles the Second. William, the younger, at the age of twelve years, became deeply imbued with the religious sentiments of a then poor and despised sect, called Quakers. His father, disappointed and irritated at what he considered the boy's folly, after many fruitless attempts to dissuade him, beat him severely, and turned him out of doors. He was banished to Ireland, and there imprisoned as a culprit on account of his religion. His father subsequently relenting, took him home, and offered to compound with him, and to indulge him in all his peculiarities, except that he should take off his hat in the presence of the royal family. To this species of man-worship, William refused his assent, and was again banished from his father's house.

At the age of twenty-four, he became a preacher, and an author, for which he was imprisoned in the Tower; and was indicted at the old Bailey sessions, for being present at, and preaching to, an unlawful and seditious assembly. Penn pleaded his own cause with such force, that the jury acquitted him; for which they were fined, and Penn committed to Newgate. His father died in 1670, fully reconciled to his son, and leaving him a plentiful estate, including a large demand against the crown, for his services as admiral in a successful war against the Dutch. On his death-bed he gave his son this advice. "Son William, let nothing in this world tempt you to wrong your conscience; so will you keep peace at home, which will be a feast to you in a day of trouble."

Persecution continuing to rage, Penn turned his thoughts to a settlement in the new world, where he and his friends might enjoy their religious opinions without molestation; and "where an example might be set to the nations, of a just and righteous government. There may be room enough there," he said, though not here, for such a holy experiment." He readily obtained a patent to such an extent as he wished, from Charles, who, by a grant of a tract of country, not his own, discharged a heavy debt, and at the same time was gratified at the departure of subjects, whose pure morals, and irreproachable lives, were a constant reproof to a dissolute court.

Penn immediately published a description of his province, offering easy terms of settlement, and inviting the oppressed of all nations to go with him; at the same time, sending a message

WILLIAM PENN.

of peace to the natives, informing them of his desire to hold his possessions with their consent and good will, and at a fair equivalent. He then drew up what he called the fundamental constitution of Pennsylvania, embracing a principle hitherto unknown to any nation, "that all persons who confess, and acknowledge one Almighty and Eternal God to be the Creator, and upholder, and ruler of the world, and that hold themselves obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly in civil society, shall in no wise be molested or prejudiced for their religious persuasion or practice, in matters of faith and worship, or be compelled at any time to frequent or maintain any religious worship, place, or ministry whatever." This principle was as politic as it was liberal. On its publication, many respectable families, from various parts of Europe, removed to the land of Penn to enjoy that freedom of religion denied them at home.

Under the shelter of a large oak, near the banks of the Delaware, in that part of Philadelphia now called Kensington, he met the Indian Chiefs, and formed an honest and satisfactory treaty with them, giving a fair equivalent for their lands; the first, and nearly the only treaty of that character ever made between the white man and the Indian. Its policy was evinced in the firm and steady friendship of the Indians to the colony. Penn never had occasion to arm his followers against Indian hostilities. The city of Philadelphia was laid out, and in the course of two years, fifty vessels arrived with settlers from England, Ireland, Holland, and Germany. Penn made use of his influence at court, to procure a suspension of the penal laws against dissenters, and the release of fifteen hundred of his persecuted brethren from the various prisons of England, who immediately took refuge in this asylum. Penn died in England in 1718, at the age of seventy-four. Of his ability as a politician and legislator, the rapid growth and continued prosperity of his colony, is a lasting monument.

CHAPTER XVII.

Delaware. Number of inhabitants. Representation in Congress. Commerce. Canal. Rail Roads. Brandywine River. Maryland. Is constitution. Colleges. Chesapeake and Ohio canal. Its progress and estimated cost. Controversy with the rail road company. Decision of the court; compromise. Baltimore and Ohio rail road; its object; progress and estimated cost. Virginia. Number and character of its population. Eastern and western sections. Its constitu tion. Education. Colleges. Internal improvements. First settlement; price of wives sold to the first settlers. Chief towns. North Carolina. Its constitution. Education. College. Gold region Internal improvements. South Carolina. Its constitution; provi sion for calling a convention. Colleges. Internal Improvements, First settlement. Locke's constitution. Commerce and chief towns. Georgia. Its constitution. Education in the south. Rice and cotton. Invention of the cotton gin. Eli Whitney; anecdotes of him; his patroness, Mrs. Miller. Law suits respecting the patent. Georgia, western lands. Alabama. Its constitution. Appropriation of lands for education and internal improvement. Massacre at Fort Mimms. Creek war of 1813. Speech of the Indian chief, Witherford. Rapid settlement. Mississippi. Its constitution. Internal improvements and education. Mississippi river. Its true source first discovered in 1832. Lands on its upper walers. Controversy relative to its navigation. Valley of the Mississippi. Ils extent, fertility, and means of inland navigation. Louisiana. Its laws. New Orleans. Constitutional questions. Education. Production of sugar. Boundaries of the territory. Governor Clairborne's description of the inhabitants in 1803. Its rapid growth. Tennessee. Ils constitution. Definition of executive power. Education. Colleges. Division into eastern and western sections. Kentucky. Its first settlement. Ancedotes of Daniel Boone. Ohio. The North West territory. Its cession by Virginia. Constitution. Canals. Columbus. Cleveland. Colleges and education. William Henry Harrison. Indiana. Its constitution. Prohibition regarding banks. Education. Canals and rail roads. Illinois. Cumberland road. Constitution of Illinois. Education. Mammoth. Tumuli. Missouri. Debate on slavery. Constitution of Missouri. Colleges. Lead mines. Missouri river. Steam navigation. Jefferson. St. Louis. Arkansas. Its constitution. Michigan. Its constitution. Education. Internal improvements. Missouri Territory. Indian Territory. Oregon. Its extent. District of Columbia. Florida. Florida war. Wis consin Territory. State Debts..