egarded at that time as riotous breaches of the peace, gave
the Government at first a legal excuse to hunt them down; but as they
grew in numbers and influence, laws were enacted to suppress them. Some
of them, though not the wildest extremists, escaped to the colonies in
America. There, however, they were made welcome to conditions no less
severe.

The first law against the Quakers in Massachusetts was passed in 1656,
and between that date and 1660 four of the sect were hanged, one of them
a woman, Mary Dyer. Though there were no other hangings, many Quakers
were punished by whipping and banishment. In other colonies, notably New
York, fines and banishment were not uncommon. Such treatment forced the
Quakers, against the will of many of them, to seek a tract of land
and found a colony of their own. To such a course there appeared no
alternative, unless they were determined to establish their religion
solely by martyrdom.

About the time when the Massachusetts laws were enforced, the principal
Quaker leader and organizer, George Fox (1624-1691), began to consider
the possibility of making a settlement among the great forests and
mountains said to lie north of Maryland in the region drained by the
Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. In this region lay practically the only
good land on the Atlantic seaboard not already occupied. The Puritans
and Dutch were on the north, and there were Catholic and Church of
England colonies on the south in Maryland and Virginia. The middle
ground was unoccupied because heretofore a difficult coast had prevented
easy access by sea. Fox consulted Josiah Coale, a Quaker who had
traveled in America and had seen a good deal of the Indian tribes, with
the result that on his second visit to America Coale was commissioned to
treat with the Susquehanna Indians, who were supposed to have rights in
the desired land. In November, 1660, Coale reported to Fox the result
of his inquiries: "As concerning Friends buying a piece of land of the
Susquehanna Indians I have spoken of it to them and told them what thou
said concerning it; but their answer was, that there is no land that is
habitable or fit for situation beyond Baltimore's liberty till they come
to or near the Susquehanna's Fort." * Nothing could be done immediately,
the letter went on to say, because the Indians were at war with one
another, and William Fuller, a Maryland Quaker, whose cooperation was
deemed essential, was absent.

* Jame