dividing, as it did, New England from the South, there would never have
been any question of revolution or independence. The flash of that
little white flag on that September day, decided the fate of the
continent.

* * * * *

The Duke of York, being of a generous disposition and having many claims
upon him, used a portion of the great territory granted him in America
to reward his friends, and thereby laid the foundation for another great
commonwealth with a unique history. New Jersey was given jointly to Sir
George Carteret and Lord Berkeley, and in 1673, Lord Berkeley sold his
share, illy-defined as the "southwestern part," to a Quaker named Edward
Byllinge. Byllinge soon became insolvent, and his property was taken
over by William Penn and two others, as trustees, and the seeds sown for
one of the most interesting experiments in history.

There are few figures on the page of history more admirable,
self-poised, and clear-sighted than this quiet man. He was born in
London in 1644, the son of a distinguished father, and apparently
destined for the usual career at the court of England. But while at
Oxford, young Penn astonished everybody and scandalized his relatives by
joining the Society of Friends, or Quakers, founded by George Fox only a
short time before. His family at once removed him from Oxford and sent
him to Paris, in the hope that amid the gayeties of the French capital
he would forget his Quaker notions, but he was far from doing so. He
returned home after a time, and his father threatened to shut him up in
the Tower of London, but he retorted that for him the Tower was the
worst argument in the world. We get some amusing glimpses of the
contention in his household.