and fidelity to the Lord Proprietor, except that the oath was refused by one of the Representatives from Shrewsbury. He was dismissed.

Laws were enacted at this session for the defence of the province, against "any enemies or dangers that may accrue," by providing for the establishment and arming of military bodies, and the erection of places of security in the several towns. Provision was also made for the institution of regular courts to go under the denomination of County Courts.17 Two of these courts were to be held in every year in each one of the counties, adjacent towns forming a county, and a rate of fees for the court officers was also established. Regulations were made for the assessment of taxes throughout the province, and a "Country Treasurer" was appointed. 18 A code of capital laws was also adopted, very similar in its provisions to that which had been passed in 1668.

An act of amnesty concluded the proceedings of the session. By this last mentioned act it was prescribed, that all inhabitants and members of the province should be freely pardoned of all offences, whether capital or other, committed between the year 1670 and the 1st of June 1673, and also that "all reviling speeches practices, or intents" tending in times past, to the disturbance of amity, should be pardoned by the Governor, and be buried in oblivion.

This favorable beginning seemed to give a promise of future harmony and success, a promise however, which was not in the event entirely fulfilled.

But before proceeding to consider the further course of affairs, it may be proper to notice the events which relate to the other portion of the province.

17 Previous to this time there had been no other courts than those established by particular corporations.

19 Samuel Moore, of Woodbridge, was appointed to this office, who was to have nine pence per pound for his care and pains.

CHAPTER X.

PURCHASE BY FENWICK AND BYLLINGE.-PARTITION BETWEEN FENWICK AND BYLLINGE.-SETTLEMENT OF FENWICK.—QUINTIPARTITE DIVISION.-PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.-PROPRIETARY GO

VERNMENT.

IT has been stated that on the 18th of March, 1673, Lord Berkely, one of the original proprietors of New Jersey, disposed of the whole of his right and interest in the province. The purchase was made by John Fenwick and Edward Byllinge.' These persons were members of the Society of Quakers or Friends, a religious people who had experienced much opposition and persecution, and there is reason to believe that a principal object proposed by Fenwick and Byllinge in making their purchase, was to secure a place of retreat for themselves and their religious associates. The Society of Friends had arisen in England at a time when all the elements which go to the constitution of general society, were in motion. It was a period of inquiry and of action. In the temporal affairs of men a most searching disposition had been working; the origin and nature of civil and political rights were inquired into, and the particular circumstances by which these might be endangered, as well as the points at which they had been actually encroached upon, were carefully noted. - A spirit not unlike to this had also been in action in those higher investigations which relate to the spiritual concerns of man. The dogma which gave infallibility to one person as the head of the Church had long been utterly rejected, and the decisions of Councils and of Kings were no longer received as the true exponents of Christian doctrine. Man, individual man, claimed the right to know and to judge for himself, concerning the relation in

They gave the sum of one thousand pounds.

which he stood to the maker and preserver of all. The Quakers or Friends became somewhat distinguished for the boldness with which they pursued their inquiries, and for the position they assumed in religious concerns. They went further than others in their questionings, and rejected almost every thing belonging to the "accidents or circumstances" of religion. They were resolved to stop at no shadow, but to reach to the substance. But this independence of thought and of action caused these persons to become objects of suspicion to those who were incapable of comprehending their singleness of purpose. The earthly themselves, formed no conception of the spiritual, except as mingled with the earthly. They were unable to comprehend an aim that was far above every thing connected with mere worldly advantage or aggrandizement. Hence, at the restoration of Monarchy, the Quakers were classed amongst those who were supposed to hold sentiments inimical to the peace and safety of the State, and were visited in consequence, with most rigorous persecution. A Royal proclamation was issued including them with persons known to be disturbers, and forbidding them to meet under the pretence of religious worship, except in the established parochial churches. A law applying particularly to them was also enacted, subjecting them to the severest penalties, and this law was enforced in many instances, in a manner the most unsparing. Under such an enactment too, escape was impossible; it operated not merely in the case of overt acts, but was directed against a name, and a mere negative offence. All Quakers who should refuse to take the oaths of allegiance were subject, and were subjected, to the penalties set forth, and this too, though it was constantly asserted by the sufferers, that their refusal to take the oath proceeded from no want of attachment to the State, but from a regard to the high injunction "swear not at all." Besides the proceedings against the Quakers on the charge of disaffection to the State, they were visited also in the name of the Church. At the restoration, Charles had issued a specious declaration giving a promise of liberty of conscience to his people, but he was wanting either in disposition, or in power, to fulfil his engagement. The English Church had rejected the authority of Rome and asserted the right to freedom of thought, but it resolved that this right should only be enjoyed within its own particular

bounds. It assumed that the true point had been reached, and that all who should advance beyond this limit, were to be regarded and treated as offenders. The Quakers were summoned to the ecclesiastical courts, and prosecuted and condemned upon various pretences; many were buried in prisons, and suffered the loss of their estates, and even of their lives. It is not wonderful, under these circumstances, that the members of this society should have been desirous to discover and secure a place of retreat. In support of their testimonies they shrank not from suffering, and a few it may be, with questionable zeal, were even disposed to invite it. But the soberer views of the body led to the belief, that suffering in itself, was not to be esteemed as a merit, and that to avoid it, without a compromise of their principles and faith, was not to be condemned as a fault. And a place of escape presented. New Jersey had been in the hands of persons who had been possessed of ample authority, and had established a tolerant government. These persons had been disappointed in the expected pecuniary return, but a pecuniary return from the labor of others, was not the object which the Friends proposed, but rather security and peace for themselves. Hence the offer of Lord Berkely to dispose of his interest in the province was readily met and accepted.

The conveyance from Berkely was made to John Fenwick, in trust, for Edward Byllinge. Some difficulty was afterwards experienced in determining the respective interests of these parties in the property they had purchased. The particular nature or cause of the embarrassment, is rather surmised than known, but it was necessary to effect a settlement. For this purpose the intervention of William Penn was requested; his talents in business and elevated character and standing, both within the limits of his own society, and also in the world, pointed him out as a proper arbitrator. His award was acceded to. It gave one-tenth part of the province, with a considerable sum of money, to Fenwick, and the remainder of the territory was adjudged to be the property of Byllinge.

No long time had elapsed before a new difficulty arose. Byllinge was a merchant, and was overtaken by a change of fortune, in consequence of which he was obliged to make a conveyance of his rights and interests in the province, for the use and benefit

of others. The property in the province, having been acquired, at least in part, with a view to the advantage it might afford to persons of his own profession, it was a proper desire that it should yet be held, so that the contemplated benefit might still be secured. It was therefore assigned to three of his fellow members in religious society, William Penn, Gawen Lawrie, and Nicholas Lucas. On the 10th of February, 1674, Fenwick and his constituent Byllinge, assigned nine undivided tenth parts of the province to the three persons just mentioned, to be held by them, in trust, for the benefit of the creditors of Byllinge. The remaining tenth part of the province continued in the hands of Fenwick. But not long afterwards, circumstances occurred by which this portion also, was placed, in a legal sense, under other control.

At an early period measures were taken by Fenwick to effect a settlement of the province; lands were sold to several individuals who proposed to adventure to the country, and this was also the design of Fenwick himself. But before his departure from England he procured a sum of money from two individuals, John Eldridge and Edmund Warner, and to secure the repayment of this, and some other sums, he executed to Eldridge and Warner a lease upon his portion of the province for one thousand years, with a condition allowing them to sell so much of the land as would reimburse them the amount of their claim. A lease with a discretionary power to sell, effectually placed the control of the whole in the hands of the lessees, subject only to a contingent claim, remaining with Fenwick.

Notwithstanding this conveyance, Fenwick considered himself as still possessing such rights in the province as would warrant his entering at once, and using, for his own particular benefit. Accordingly, he departed from London for the province, in company with a number of settlers; they arrived in June, 1675, and landed not far from the Delaware, at a place they called Salem. Here a permanent settlement was made. Soon after his arrival, Fenwick entered into treaty with the natives, and purchased from them an extensive portion of country. He proceeded to divide

He purchased all the lands included in the present counties of Salem and Cumberland. See Johnson's Salem for particulars in relation to these purchases.