36S
BETTLE'S NOTICES OF
warriors and heroes whose names have been emblazoned
on the historic page.
A century and a half have now nearly elapsed since
the ere at sage and lawgiver of Pennsylvania landed on
her shores, and gave the first impulse to that spirit of
Christian philanthropy which has ever since continued,
amid the wars and miseries of the old world, to shed its
light and diffuse its warmth from the sanctuary of our
native soil; and it is not the mere vaunt of egotism or
the idle declamation of a contracted mind to assert, that
from the humble and unpretending efforts of this youth¬
ful member of the commonwealth of nations have arisen
man}' of those plans of benevolence which are now adopted
and zealously prosecuted by the most enlightened philan¬
thropists of all countries.
The axiom, that the object of all good government is
the freedom, order, and happiness of the governed, is now
considered so self-evident and undeniable, that we may
hardly be able sufficiently to appreciate the great merit
of William Penn in proclaiming the sound and compre¬
hensive doctrines contained in his charter, bill of rights,
and great law, at a period when the most profound states¬
men held and promulgated far different ideas of the true
and proper constitution of government.
In contemplating the character of Penn and his noble
views and plans of melioration, we perceive for the first
time an attempt to found a government upon the basis of
practical Christianity, desiring no other end than the
welfare of those who might live under its happy influence ;
we find a man the personal friend and acquaintance of a
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