In 1676 William Penn, as trustee for the creditors of Edward Billinge, one of the proprietors of West Jersey, and afterwards by the purchase of a proprietary right in East Jersey, became concerned in the colonization of that Province. Others were associated with him in the undertaking, among whom were several of his own Society, under whose management a peaceful settlement was effected. A form of government was agreed on for West Jersey, and a declaration of fundamental principles, to be incorporated in it, consented to; among which was the stipulation, "No person to be called in question or molested for his conscience, or for worshipping according to his conscience." Many Friends of good estates, and highly esteemed for their religious standing and experience, crossed the Atlantic to this land of liberty, and between 1676 and 1681 about fourteen hundred had arrived and settled; principally in the country bordering the eastern shore of the Delaware. These immigrants suffered the privations and hardships incident to beginning civilized life in an unbroken wilderness, surrounded by savages, who were dependent in great measure upon the uncertain supplies of the chase for their own sustenance, and who rarely laid up much in store for future wants. But, by uniform uprightness in all their dealings with these children of the forest, and their Christian kindness towards them, they soon gained their good-will, and, in times of scarcity, excited their sympathy; so that often they were relieved by voluntary offerings of corn and meat from these untutored red men, when it seemed as though otherwise they must have suffered for food. Proud, in the preface to his "History of Pennsylvania," gives in a note an account of these trials, drawn up by one of the Friends who settled in New Jersey, containing the following passages: "A providential hand was very visible and remarkable in many instances that might be mentioned, and the Indians were even rendered our benefactors and protectors. Without any carnal weapon, we entered the land and inhabited therein, as safe as if there had been thousands of garrisons; for the Most High preserved us from harm, both of man and beast." "The aforesaid people (Friends) were zealous in performing their religious services; for having at first no meeting-house to keep a public meeting in, they made a tent or covert of sail-cloth to meet under; and after they got some little houses to dwell in, then they kept their meetings in one of them till they could build a meeting-house."