Penn then placed the written treaty on the ground between himself and the Indian chiefs, who retired to hold a brief consultation, after which Tamemund answered for his companions that they were satisfied with the treaty and would keep it in the letter and in the spirit. This was all. No oaths were taken, no seal set; the simple word of both was sufficient. It has been said of this treaty made by Penn with the Indians, in contrast to the many signed and sealed between Christian peoples only stands alone as the only treaty never sworn to and never broken. While the other settlers in the New World were perpetually at warfare with the Indians, and many were slain by them in the most cruel manner, there was never a drop of blood shed in this manner in the Quaker colony. The memory of Penn, the great Onas, was cherished by the natives long after he had left America and even after his death, and none of his children ever lacked shelter and hospitality from them. Nor have his countrymen forgotten the service rendered to them by this treaty with the Indians. When in 1810 the great elm under which it was concluded was blown down in a terrific storm, Penn’s descendants in England were sent a block of wood from this famous tree, which, according to its rings, had attained an age of nearly three hundred years and the enormous circumference of twenty-four feet. On the spot where it had stood a simple monument of granite was afterward placed in memory of that invaluable covenant to which Pennsylvania was so largely indebted for its quick and prosperous development. The original constitution drawn up by Penn proving in some respects no longer adapted to existing conditions in the colony, it was subjected to some changes, though the fundamental principles were retained unaltered. The government was now placed entirely in the hands of the people, to be exercised through their deputies, and a council also chosen by them, Penn resigning all share in the administration. “My aim,” he wrote one of his friends, “is to leave no power to my successors by which any single individual may work harm to or interfere with the welfare of the whole country.” How much this was appreciated is shown by the passage of a resolution by the government to impose a tax on certain articles for Penn’s benefit. He refused to accept it, however, although he might have done so with a clear conscience, as it was well known that he had spent over twenty thousand pounds at various times in paying the Indians for the land they had given up, but in which they still retained the right to hunt and fish. On the thirtieth of March, 1683, the newly revised constitution was accepted, signed by Penn, and then submitted to the English government for approval.