It is doubtful whether there ever was any real foundation for this atrocious charge based by Oates upon letters and papers intrusted to him by the Jesuits and which he had opened from curiosity. Nevertheless the story was generally credited in spite of the absurdity of the statements of such a worthless wretch, and aroused the wildest excitement throughout the country, in consequence of which the established church, alarmed for its safety, enforced more rigorously than ever the edicts against all dissenters. Seeing his hopes of religious freedom in England once more fading, Penn bent his efforts the more resolutely toward the establishment of a haven in America. He had long ago decided the principles by which his new commonwealth was to be governed; namely, the equality of all men in the eyes of the law, full liberty of conscience and the free worship of religion, self-government by the people, and the inviolability of personal liberty as well as of personal property—a form of government which, if justly and conscientiously carried out, must create indeed an ideal community such as the world had never yet seen. Nor was it an impossibility, as was proved by the gratifying success of the New Jersey colony, where a part of these principles, at least, had already been put into practice. But where was this model State to be founded? It must be on virgin soil, where no government of any kind already existed, and where the new ideas could be instituted from the beginning. As the most suitable spot for this purpose Penn’s glance had fixed upon a tract of land lying west of New Jersey and north of the royal province of Maryland, which had been founded in 1632 by a Catholic nobleman, Lord Baltimore, as a refuge for persecuted members of his own faith, but which also offered liberty to those of other sects. The only occupants of this territory were a few scattered Dutch and Swedish settlers, but they were so small in number and so widely separated that they need scarcely be taken into consideration as possible obstacles to Penn’s plans after the arrival of the class of colonists he favored in numbers sufficient to populate this wide extent of land. For the rest the country was still an unbroken wilderness, where one could wander for days hearing no sound but the songs of the countless birds that filled the vast forests. As to the natives, in spite of their undeniable cruelty and savage cunning when provoked or wronged, it was quite possible to make friends and allies of them by kindness and fair treatment, as the New Jersey settlers had already learned.