“The country assigned to him by the royal charter was yet full of its original inhabitants; and the principles of William Penn did not allow him to look upon that gift as a warrant to dispossess the first inhabitants of the land. He had accordingly appointed his commissioners the preceding year to treat with them for the fair purchase of part of their lands, and for their joint possession of the remainder; and the terms of the settlement being now nearly agreed upon, he proceeded very soon after his arrival to conclude the settlement, and solemnly to pledge his faith, and to ratify and confirm the treaty, in right both of the Indians and the planters. For this purpose a grand convocation of the tribes had been appointed near the spot where Philadelphia now stands; and it was agreed that he and the presiding Sachems should meet and exchange faith under the spreading branches of a prodigious elm-tree that grew on the banks of the river. On the day appointed, accordingly, an innumerable company of the Indians assembled in that neighbourhood, and were seen, with their dark faces and brandished arms, moving in vast swarms in the depth of the woods that then overshaded that now cultivated region. On the other hand, William Penn, with a moderate attendance of friends, advanced to meet them. He came, of course, unarmed—in his usual plain dress—without banners, or mace, or guard, or carriages, and only distinguished from his companions by wearing a blue sash of silk network (which, it seems, is still preserved by Mr. Kett, of Seething Hall, near Norwich), and by having in his hand a roll of parchment, on which was engrossed the confirmation of the treaty of purchase and amity. As soon as he drew near the spot where the Sachems were assembled, the whole multitude of the Indians threw down their weapons, and seated themselves on the ground in groups, each under his own chieftain, and the presiding chief intimated to William Penn that the natives were ready to hear him.