[Footnote 3: See paragraphs 62 and 76.]
98. Penn sends out emigrants to Pennsylvania; he gets ready to go
himself; his conversation with the king.--Penn accordingly sent out
a number of people who were anxious to settle in Pennsylvania. The
next year, 1682, he made ready to sail, himself with a hundred more
emigrants. Just before he started, he called on the king in his palace
in London. The king was fond of joking, and he said to him that he
should never expect to see him again, for he thought that the Indians
would be sure to catch such a good-looking young man as Penn was and
eat him. 'But, Friend Charles,' said Penn, 'I mean to buy the land
of the Indians, so they will rather keep on good terms with me than
eat me.' 'Buy their lands!' exclaimed the king. 'Why, is not the whole
of America mine?' 'Certainly not,' answered Penn. 'What!' replied
the king; 'didn't my people discover it?[4] and so haven't I the right
to it?' 'Well, Friend Charles,' said Penn, 'suppose a canoe full of
Indians should cross the sea and should discover England, would that
make it theirs? Would you give up the country to them?' The king did
not know what to say to this; it was a new way of looking at the matter.
He probably said to himself, These Quakers are a strange people; they
seem to think that even American savages have rights which should
be respected.
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