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SCIENTIA
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LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
FLURIBUS UNUM
SI QUALRIS PENINSULAM AMOENAMŰ
CIRCUMSPICE
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Bradshaw & Bladklode Se Manchester.
THE PROVINCE OF
WILLIAM PENN'S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS, WHEN HE FOUNDED
PENNSYLVANIA IN 1681.

'
MEMOIRSor se
OF THE
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE
CF
WILLIAM PENN.
BY THOMAS CLARKSON, MA,
New Edition,
WITH A PREFACE,
IN REPLY TO THE CHARGES AGAINST HIS CHARACTER MADE BY
MR. MACAULAY IN HIS "HISTORY OF ENGLAND,"
BY W. E. FORSTER.
ILLUSTRATED WITH AN ENGRAVING OF PENN'S TREATY WITH THE
INDIANS, A PLAN OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA,
AND A MAP OF PENSYLVANIA.
LONDON:
C. GILPIN, 5, BISHOPSGATE STREET WITHOUT, AND
W. J. ADAMS, 59, FLEET STREET.
MANCHESTER:
BRADSHAW AND BLACKLOCK, 47, BROWN STREET.
NEW YORK:
JOHN WILEY, 161, BROADWAY.
PHILADELPHIA:
JOSEPH SCATTERGOOD, FRIENDS' BOOK STORE, ARCH STREET
AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.
1849.
1
BRADSHAW AND BLACKLOCK, PRINTERS,
47, BROWN-STREET, MANCHESTER.
ΤΟ
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
HENRY RICHARD, LORD HOLLAND,
BARON OF HOLLAND IN LINCOLNSHIRE,
6-10
AND
OF FOXLEY IN WILTS,
THESE MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF WILLIAM PENN,
THE FIRST STATESMAN,
WHO, BANISHING POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY,
FOUNDED HIS PUBLIC CONDUCT
SOLELY ON THE PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE,
BY WHICH HE FURNISHED A MODEL OF GOVERNMENT,
CAPABLE OF PRODUCING TO HIS OWN PEOPLE
A SUPERIOR DEGREE OF MORALITY AND HAPPINESS,
AND ENSURING TO FOREIGNERS CONNECTED WITH THE SAME
PEACE, SECURITY, MORAL IMPROVEMENT,
AND THE RIGHTS OF MEN,
ARE INSCRIBED
ENTIRELY OUT OF RESPECT
TO HIS LORDSHIP'S OWN POLITICAL CONDUCT,
ONCE AS IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE KINGDOM,
AND NOW AS A PEER OF PARLIAMENT,
WHEREBY HE HAS SHOWN HIMSELF
A VINDICATOR OF THE RIGHTS OF INJURED AFRICA,
A FRIEND TO PEACE AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM,
A PATRON OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY,
IN ALL WHICH THE GREAT WILLIAM PENN
WAS AN EMINENT FORERUNNER,
BY HIS FRIEND,
THOMAS CLARKSON.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES
PREFACE to the Original Edition
PREFACE to the Present Edition, in Reply to the Charges made by Mr. Macaulay,
in his "History of England," against the Character of William Penn, by
W. E. FORSTER
PAGE
xiii.
IV.
xvii. to lx.
CHAPTER I.
WILLIAM PENN-his origin or lineal descent-as collected from published
accounts
CHAPTER II.
1
Is born in 1644-goes to Chigwell School-religious impressions there-goes
to Oxford his verses on the death of the Duke of Gloucester-is further
impressed by the preaching of Thomas Loe-fined for nonconformity-
and at length expelled-turned out of doors by his father-is sent to
France-rencontre at Paris-studies at Saumur-visits Turin-is sent for
home-becomes a student at Lincoln's Inn
CHAPTER III.
A. 1666-67.-Is sent to Ireland-attends the Court of the Duke of Ormond-
meets again with Thomas Loe-impression again made by the sermon of
the latter is put into gaol for being at a Quaker's meeting-writes to
Lord Orrery-is discharged from prison-is reported to be a Quaker-
ordered home on that account by his father-interesting interview between
them-conditions offered him by his father-is again turned out of doors
CHAPTER IV.
A. 1668.-Becomes a minister of the Gospel-publishes "Truth Exalted "-
also "The Guide Mistaken"-holds a public controversy with Vincent
in the Presbyterian Meeting-house-publishes "The Sandy Foundation
Shaken"-general contents of the same-is sent in consequence to the
Tower-sends an answer from thence to the Bishop of London-writes
there "No Cross No Crown"-particular contents and character of this
work-substance of his letter to the Lord Arlington-writes "Innocency
with her Open Face"-is discharged from the Tower.......
CHAPTER V.
A. 1669.-Visits Thomas Loe on his death-bed-exhortation of the latter-is
sent again to Ireland-writes "A Letter to the Young Convinced"-
procures the discharge of several from prison-returns to England-is
reconciled to his father
3
10
12
22
vi.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
:
CHAPTER VI.
PAGE
A. 1670.-Preaches in Gracechurch-street-is taken up and committed to
Newgate-is tried at the Old Bailey and acquitted-account of this memo-
rable trial-attends his father on his death-bed-dying sayings of the latter
-publishes "The People's Ancient and Just Liberties Asserted"-disputes
publicly with Jeremy Ives at High Wycomb-writes to the Vice Chancellor
of Oxford-publishes "A Seasonable Caveat against Popery"-is again
taken up for preaching, and sent to the Tower, and from thence to Newgate 24
CHAPTER VII.
A. 1671.-Writes, while in Newgate, to the High Court of Parliament-to the
Sheriffs of London-to a Roman Catholic-publishes "A Cautionary Post-
script to Truth Exalted"-"Truth rescued from Imposture "-"A Serious
Apology for the Principles and Practice of the Quakers"-"The Great Case
of Liberty of Conscience Debated and Defended"-general contents of the
latter-comes out of prison-travels into Holland and Germany
CHAPTER VIII.
-Returns to England-marries-settles at Rickmansworth-travels as
eacher-writes "The Spirit of Truth Vindicated"—"The New Wit-
es proved Old Heretics"-"Plain Dealing with a Traducing Anabaptist"
A Winding-sheet for the Controversy Ended "-" Quakerism a New
-name for Old Christianity"-letter to Dr. Hasbert
CHAPTER IX.
3.-Travels as a minister-writes "The Christian Quaker”—also "Reason
against Railing, and Truth against Fiction"-also "The Counterfeit
Christian Detected"-holds a public controversy with the Baptists at
Barbican-his account of it to G. Fox-writes "The Invalidity of John
Faldo's Vindication”—also "A Return to J. Faldo's Reply”—also “A Just
Rebuke to One-and-Twenty Learned and Reverend Divines "encomium
of Dr. Moore on the latter-writes “ Wisdom Justified of her Children,” and
“Urim and Thummim "-and against John Perrot-and "On the General
Rule of Faith," and on "The Proposed Comprehension "-also six letters-
extract from that to Justice Fleming
CHAPTER X.
38
42
44
A. 1674.-Tries to stem the torrent of religious persecution by a letter to Justice
Bowls-and to two other Justices-and to the King-writes for the same
purpose "A Treatise of Oaths"-also "England's Present Interest Con-
sidered"-contents of this work-also "The Continued Cry of the Oppressed
for Justice"-short extracts from the latter-also a letter to the Senate of
Embden-publishes "Naked Truth needs no Shift"-"Ives's Sober Request
proved False"-and "Libels no Proofs "-letter to G. Fox on the subject of
his release....
51
CHAPTER XI.
A. 1675.-Continues at Rickmansworth-converts many-holds a public dispute
there with Richard Baxter-corresponds with the latter-publishes "Saul
Smitten to the Ground"-writes to a Roman Catholic-arbitrates between
Fenwick and Byllinge-two letters to the former
58
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vii.
CHAPTER XII.
A. 1676.-Writes "The Skirmisher Defeated"-also to two Protestant ladies of
quality in Germany-becomes a manager of Proprietary concerns in New
Jersey-divides it into East and West-draws up a Constitution, and invites
settlers to the latter
PAGE
61
CHAPTER XIII.
. 1677.-Continues his management of West New Jersey-appoints Commis-
sioners to go there-sells a portion of the land-sends off three vessels
undertakes a religious visit to Holland and Germany-writes to the King
of Poland from Amsterdam-his kind reception and employment at the
Court of Herwerden-occurrences at Krisheim-Duysburg-Mulheim-
Harlingen-Wonderwick-and other places-writes at Frankfort A
Letter to the Churches of Jesus throughout the World"-and at Rotter-
dam "A Call or Summons to Christendom," and other tracts-disputes
with Galenus Abrams-returns to England-holds a dispute with William
Rogers at Bristol ..
CHAPTER XIV.
"
A. 1678.—Continues his management of West New Jersey-sends two other
vessels there-petitions Parliament in behalf of the persecuted Quakers-
is heard by a Committee of the Commons-his two speeches before them—
remarks upon these-writes "A Brief Answer to a False and Foolish Libel”
-also "An Epistle to the Children of Light in this Generation"
CHAPTER XV.
A. 1679.-Continues his management of West New Jersey-writes “An Address
to Protestants of all Persuasions "-general contents of this work-writes
a Preface to the Works of Samuel Fisher-also "England's Great Interest
in the Choice of a New Parliament"-assists Algernon Sidney in his
election for Guildford--two of his letters to the latter-writes "One Project
for the Good of England"-general contents of this work..
CHAPTER XVI.
A. 1680.-Continues his management of West New Jersey-writes a Preface to
an anonymous publication-also to the Works of J. Penington-petitions
Charles the Second for letters patent for a certain tract of land in America
in lieu of the debt due by the Government to his father-his motives for
soliciting the same
•
CHAPTER XVII.
A. 1681.-Becomes a proprietor of East New Jersey-publishes "A Brief
Examination and State of Liberty Spiritual"-writes “A Letter to the
Friends of God in the City of Bristol"-obtains a grant of the tract
solicited-substance of the Charter for the same-named Pennsylvania by
the King-his modest feelings at this name-publishes an account of Penn-
sylvania and the terms of sale-draws up conditions-his great care of the
natives therein-draws up a Frame or Government-his great care of
liberty of conscience therein-extract of his letter to R. Turner-sends off
three vessels with passengers-and with Commissioners-writes to the
Indians by the latter-is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society-letter to
R. Vickris...
64
78
84
94
98
viii.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
PAGE
A. 1682.-Has a narrow escape from prison-assists R. Davies-his sickness on
the death of his mother-letter written by him at that time-publishes his
Frame of Government-admirable Preface thereto-substance of the said
Frame and of the Laws-bars all future claim upon Pennsylvania by the
Duke of York-obtains a fresh grant called the Territories-leaves a letter
to his wife and children-embarks in the Downs-writes a farewell epistle
from thence and a letter to S. Crisp-sails, and arrives at Newcastle-calls
the first General Assembly at Upland, then new named Chester-business
done there-visits New York and Maryland-returns, and makes his Great
Treaty with the Indians-goes to Pennsbury-fixes on a site for his new
city-plan of it-calls it Philadelphia-divides the land into counties-
lays out townships-two of his letters while so employed-reserves a
thousand acres for G. Fox-receives new reinforcements of settlers --gives
them a plan for huts-amount of the latter-their way of living after their
arrival-appoints Sheriffs to the different counties-issues writs to these
for calling the Assemblies in the spring..
CHAPTER XIX.
A. 1683.-Members returned for the Province and Territories-list of those sent
to the Assembly-meets his Council-and afterwards the Assembly-which
sit twenty-two days-business done there--grants a new Charter-first
judicial proceedings-trial of Pickering and others-names of those of the
first jury-great progress in the building of Philadelphia-and in agriculture
by the settlers-their manner of living, as described by R. Townsend--
goes on a journey of discovery into the interior of Pennsylvania-sends the
Natural History of it to "The Free Society of Traders"-copy of his letter
on that subject-fails in settling a dispute with the Lord Baltimore-sends
his case to the Lords' Committee of Plantations in England
CHAPTER XX.
A. 1684.-Violent Conduct of the Lord Baltimore-opposes it by lenient
measures-receives accounts of fresh persecutions for religion in England
-determines to repair thither to use his influence with the Court to stop
them-in the mean time settles a system of discipline for his own religious
society-holds conferences and makes treaties with the Indians-settles
the dispute about the bank-lots-and forwards the building of his city-
number of houses and population-total population of the settlers-provides
for the Government in his absence-letter from S. Crisp-embarks-writes
a farewell epistle to his friends-arrives in England-writes to Margaret
Fox-and to S. Crisp-contents of the above letters
CHAPTER XXI.
A. 1685.-Gives an account of the death of Charles the Second-is in great
favour with James the Second-has frequent interviews with the King-
endeavours to stop persecution-intercedes for John Locke becomes un-
popular by his attendance at court-called Papist and Jesuit-correspond-
ence between him and Tillotson on this subject-present at two public
exccutions-affairs of Pennsylvania-irregularities and abuses in his absence
-writes over to correct them-Assembly impeach Moore and arrest
Robinson-their letter to him on the subject
...
103
13.
149
157
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
ix.
CHAPTER XXII.
PAGE
A. 1686.-Cry of Papist and Jesuit continued-further correspondence between
lím and Tillotson on the subject-writes "A Further Account of Pennsyl-
vania ”—also “A Defence of the Duke of Buckingham "—also “A Per-
suasive to Moderation"-contents of the latter-proclamation for religious
indulgence follows-goes to Holland on a religious errand-but undertakes
a commission from the King to the Prince of Orange-meets Scotch fugitives
there-his services to Sir Robert Steuart-travels as a preacher in England
--affairs of Pennsylvania-displeased with the conduct of the Assembly-
and also with that of the Council-alters the Government by a Commission
--lodges the Executive in five persons-reinstates Moore-copy of the
Commission
164
CHAPTER XXIII.
A. 1687.-Carries up Address of the Quakers to James the Second on his
Declaration for Liberty of Conscience-his speech to the King-the King's
answer-travels into different counties-preaches at Bristol fair-and at
Chew under an oak-and at Chester, where the King hears him-goes to
Oxford-meets the King there, who interferes unjustly in the election of a
President for Magdalen College-his noble reproof of the latter-his inter-
view with a Deputation from the College-writes "Good Advice to the
Church of England and Catholic and Protestant Dissenters"-also "The
Great and Popular Objection against the Repeal of the Penal Laws Stated
and Considered"-affairs of Pennsylvania
CHAPTER XXIV.
179
A. 1688.-Introduces Gilbert Latey to the King-becomes very unpopular
-reputed causes of it-beautiful letter written to him by Mr. Popple on
this account-his answer to the same-is arrested (King William having
come to the throne) and brought before the Lords of the Council-and
examined-and made to give bail for his appearance-affairs of Pennsylvania 190
CHAPTER XIV.
A. 1689.-Appears according to his bail-no witness being found against him,
is discharged-Toleration Act passes-the great privileges it conferred-
his joy on the occasion-the great share he had in bringing it to pass-
affairs of Pennsylvania
CHAPTER XXVI,
A. 1690.-Letter of thanks to a Friend-is arrested again on a charge of cor-
responding with James the Second-his open and manly defence before
King William-is made to find bail-appears in Court, and is discharged-
prepares for returning to Pennsylvania-is again arrested-tried-and
acquitted-writes to the widow of George Fox on the death of her husband
-is on the point of sailing for Pennsylvania, but accused by Fuller-
constables sent to take him-the voyage stopped -goes into retirement-
affairs of Pennsylvania
CHAPTER XXVII.
A. 1691.-Continues in retirement-new proclamation for his apprehension-
becomes more unpopular than ever-falls under the censure of some of his
own society-writes in consequence a general letter to the members of it-
is visited in his retirement-message sent to him there by John Locke-
writes a Preface to Barclay's Apology-affairs of Pennsylvania
205
210
216
X.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A. 1692. Continues in retirement-writes "Just Measures"-general contents
of this work-also "A Key whereby to Know and Distinguish the Religion
of the Quakers "-general contents of it-also "New Athenians no Noble
Bereans"-affairs of Pennsylvania
CHAPTER XXIX.
PAGE
A. 1693.-Continues in retirement-is deprived of his Government by King
William-his forlorn situation at this period-resolves upon returning to
Pennsylvania-letter to that effect-but is prevented by embarrassed
circumstances-writes "Fruits of Solitude"-Preface and Contents of the
same also "Essay towards the Present and Future State of Europe"-
analysis of the latter-letter to N. Blandford-is heard before King William
and his Council, and acquitted-death of his wife-her character-affairs
of Pennsylvania
CHAPTER XXX.
"
A. 1694.-Writes "An Account of the Rise and Progress of the Quakers
general contents of this work-also "A Visitation to the Jews"-extract
from thence-publishes his "Journey into Holland and Germany, as
Performed in 1677"-is restored to his Government by King William-
handsome manner of wording the royal order for this purpose-travels in
the ministry-letter to John Gratton-affairs of Pennsylvania-death and
character of Thomas Lloyd
...
CHAPTER XXXI.
A. 1695.-Writes "A Reply to a Pretended Answer to William Penn's Key
delivers a Paper to the House of Commons on the subject of making the
Quakers' affirmation equal to their oath-travels in the ministry-is present
at a religious dispute at Melksham-preaches at Wells-some curious
particulars during his stay there-affairs of Pennsylvania
CHAPTER XXXII.,
A. 1696.-Marries a second time-loses his eldest son-writes an account of his
sayings and behaviour during his sickness, and of his character-writes
also "Primitive Christianity Revived"-analysis of the work-also "More
Work for G. Keith "-visits the Czar of Muscovy, then in England-im-
pression made upon the latter-affairs of Pennsylvania..
CHAPTER XXXIII.
A. 1697.—Publishes "A Caution humbly offered about Passing the Bill against
Blasphemy"-Bill is dropped-affairs of Pennsylvania..
CHAPTER XXXIV.
A. 1698.-Goes to Ireland as a minister of the Gospel-writes "The Quaker a
Christian "-and "Gospel Truths as held by the Quakers"-preaches at
Dublin, Lambstown, Wexford, Waterford, Clonmel, Cork, and many other
places-bas his horses seized at Ross-incident and interview with the
Bishop at Cashel-returns to Bristol-writes "Gospel Truths Defended
against the Bishop of Cork's Exceptions"-goes to London to take leave of
adventurers to Pennsylvania in the ship Providence-returns to Bristol-
writes "Truth of God as Professed by the People called Quakers".
220
224
237
243
247
256
258
TABLE OF CONTENTS,
xi.
PAGE
CHAPTER XXXV.
A. 1699.-Religious dispute at West Dereham between the Quakers and the
Norfolk clergy-writes a paper against " A Brief Discovery," the production
of the latter also "A Just Censure of Francis Bugg's Address"-prepares
for a voyage to America-draws up " Advice to his Children for their Civil
and Religious Conduct"-also, on embarking, "A Letter to the People of
God called Quakers, wherever Scattered or Gathered"-arrives in the
Delaware--incidents there-yellow fever-proceeds to Philadelphia-visits
in the country-anecdote related of him while at Merion-meets the
Assembly-passes bills against piracy and illicit trade-extreme severity
of the weather
264
CHAPTER XXXVI.
A. 1700.-Proposes and carries in his own Monthly Meeting resolutions relative
to Indians and Negro slaves--removes obstructions and nuisances in the
city-calls the Assembly-proceedings of the same-visits and receives
Indians-travels in the ministry through the Province and Territories, and
in the Jerseys and Maryland-anecdotes of him while on this excursion-
calls a new Assembly at Newcastle-substance of his speech to them-
proceedings of the same-their dissentions-these allayed by his wisdom
and justice-particulars relative to their rules, &c......
263
CHAPTER XXXVII.
A. 1701.-Sets out for East Jersey to quell a riot there-extracts from a letter
written on that occasion-makes a treaty with the Susquehannah and other
Indians -suggests a plan of trade with them, to secure them from impo-
sition and to improve their morals-calls the Assembly-their proceedings
---issues an order to watch against invasion-renews a treaty with another
tribe of Indians-account of it-being called to England, summons the
Assembly again-its proceedings-several tribes of Indians come to take
their leave of him-his reply to the same-signs a new Charter-constitutes
and incorporates Philadelphia a city-appoints a Council of State-and a
Deputy Governor-embarks for England-arrives there
277
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
A 1702-3.-Carries up the Address of the Quakers to Queen Anne-writes
"Considerations upon the Bill against Occasional Conformity"-also "More
Fruits of Solitude "--also a Preface to "Vindicke Veritatis"-and
to "Zion's Travellers Comforted "-affairs of Pennsylvania
other
291
CHAPTER XXXIX.
A. 1704-5-6-7-8-Writes a Preface to "The Written Gospel Labours of John
Whitehead"-travels as a minister into the West of England-writes a
General Letter to the Society-is involved in a law-suit with the executors
of his Steward-obtains no redress in Chancery-obliged in consequence
to live within the Rules of the Fleet-affairs of Pennsylvania
293
xii.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XL.
PAGE
A. 1709-10-11-12.-Is obliged to mortgage his Province-causes of this necessity
-travels again in the ministry-writes a Preface to the "Discourses of
Bulstrode Whitlocke "-constitution begins to break-removes to Rush-
comb in Berkshire-determines upon parting with his Province-but is
prevented by illness-writes a Preface to the "Works of John Banks".
has three apoplectic fits-affairs of Pennsylvania
CHAPTER XLI.
A. 1713-14-15-16-17-18.-Gradually declines-account of him during this period
-dies at Rushcomb-concourse of people at his funeral-malevolent reports
concerning him after his death-certificates of Simon Clement and Hannah
Mitchell-short account of his will
CHAPTER XLII.
Some account of his person-of his inanners and habits-and of his private
character
CHAPTER XLIII.
298
310
315
Examination of the outcry against him of "Papist and Jesuit"-of the charges
against him by Burnet-and of those contained in the State Papers, of
Nairne--and in the insinuations of Lord Lyttelton-and Dr. Franklin 321
CHAPTER XLIV.
....
View of him as a Legislator upon Christian principles in opposition to those of
the policy of the world-and first as it relates to the governed-his general
maxims of Government-superiority of these over others as to the extension
of morals-mechanism of the Government of Pennsylvania-reputed ex-
cellence of it-one defect said to belong to it-but this no defect at the
time-removed by him when it became so-hence the first trait in his
character as a Christian legislator, namely, his readiness to alter the
Constitution with time and circumstances-second trait to be seen in his
law for universal toleration-reasons upon which it was founded-contrast
between it and the opposite one under political legislators-both as to
principle and effect-this law the great cause of the rapid population of
Pennsylvania-third trait to be seen in the abolition of the punishment of
death, and in making the reformation of the offender an object of legislative
concern-comparison between this system and that of the sanguinary
legislator of the world-noble effects of the former, as witnessed in its
improved state at the present day
CHAPTER XLV.
View of him as a Statesman upon Christian principles, as it relates to aliens or
foreigners-first, as to Dutch and Swedes-secondly, as to the aborigines
or Indians-his Christian object in connecting himself with these-his
Christian conduct towards them-honourable and grateful result to him
and his followers from the same-object and conduct of those towards the
same who have proceeded upon the policy of the world-miserable result
to the latter-peculiar reason of this result-thirdly, as to the Negroes-
his Christian treatment of these-happy effects of the same-misery pro-
duced by those who have had any concern with them on the principle of
the policy of the world
335
347
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
xlii.
PAGE
CHAPTER XLVI.
Recapitulation of the traits in the preceding chapters of his legislative character
as a Christian-has exhibited himself besides as the Ruler of a kingdom
without a soldier—and also without an oath-Great Treaty with the Indians
never ratified by an oath and yet never broken-Indians made incursions
into Pennsylvania in 1754, but never while the Quakers ruled-causes of
these incursions-peace restored by the Quakers-Father O'Leary's Eulo-
gium on the Government of William Penn-happy condition of Pennsylvania
under it-conclusion
....
363
LIST OF AUTHORITIES
FОВ ТПЕ
FOLLOWING WORK.
Life of William Penn, prefixed to the Collection of his Works, in 2 vols. folio.
The Select Works of William Penn, including his Life, in 5 vols. 8vo.
William Penn's Rules for the Regulation of his Family; or Christian Discipline, or
Good and Wholesome Orders for the Well Governing of the same.
History of the People called Quakers, by William Sewel.
Gough's History of the People called Quakers.
General History of the Quakers, by Gerard Croese.
Besse's Defence of Quakerism, in Answer to Patrick Smith.
Besse's Confutation of the Charge of Deism.
Life of Gilbert Latey.
Account of the Life of Richard Davies.
James Dickinson's Journal.
John Whiting's Memoirs.
Brief Account of the Life of Roger Haydock.
Life of Oliver Sansom.
Life of John Taylor (of York).
The History of the Life of Thomas Ellwood.
Account of the Life of John Richardson.
Journal of the Life and Travels of George Fox.
A Collection of the Works, and Journal of the Life and Travels, of Thomas
Chalkiey.
Account of the Life and Travels in the Ministry of John Fothergill.
Journal of the Life of Thomas Story.
Anderson's Historical and Chronological Deduction of the Origin of Commerce,
Bayle's Dictionary.
Wood's Athens Oxoniensis.
British Empire in America, by Oldmixon.
Burnet's History of His Own Times.
-'.
xiv.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
Negotiations of Count D'Avaux, Ambassador from Louis the Fourteenth to the
States General of the United Provinces.
Picart's Religious Customs and Ceremonies of all Nations, translated from the
French.
History of the Old and New Testament, translated from the Works of the Learned
Le Sieur de Royaumont, by Joseph Raynor, and supervised by Dr. Anthony
Horneck, Henry Wharton, B.D., and others.
Collins's Memoirs of the Sidneys, prefixed to the Sidney State Papers.
Douglas's Summary.
Ward's Life of Dr. Henry Moore.
Life of John Locke, by John Le Clerc.
Salmon's Chronological Historian.
Macpherson's History of Great Britain, including Original State Papers.
Dialogues of the Dead, by George Lord Lyttelton.
Dr. Jonathan Swift's Letters, collected by Deane Swift, Esq.
Noble's Continuation of Granger.
Sutcliff's Travels in North America.
Monthly Magazine.
Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle.
European Magazine and London Review.
Manuscript Letters of William Penn.
Authenticated Copies of the same.
Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, beginning
Dec. 4, 1682 (an American publication).
The History of Pennsylvania, by Robert Proud (ditto).
Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania from its
Origin (ditto).
Inquiry into the Causes of the Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians
from the British Interest (ditto).
American Geography, by Jedadiah Morse (ditto).
Picture of Philadelphia (ditto).
American Museum (ditto),
&c. &c. &c.

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73
i
PREFACE TO THE READER.
THERE are two principles, by which men usually regulate their
conduct, whether in private or in public life. The one is built upon
political expediency; the other upon morality and religion.
That, which is built upon the basis of policy, looks almost wholly
at the consequences of things, regarding but little whether they be in
themselves honest or not. It springs out of the worst part of the
nature of man. It has no pretension to any other name than that of
Cunning. It is of all others the most pernicious in its effects. It
leads to oppression at home, to wars abroad, and to every moral
evil, of which mankind has had to complain; and it is in general,
besides, as far as the actor himself is concerned, productive of
disgrace and ruin.
That, which is founded on the basis of religion, is, on the other
hand, never concerned with consequences but in a secondary point of
view, regarding solely whether that which is in contemplation be just.
Its motto is "Fiat Justitia, ruat Cælum." It has its origin in the
mind of man,
but only where it has been first illuminated from above.
Its name is Wisdom. No other species of action has a title to that
sublime appellation. It is the only one whose effects are blessed. It
removes all evils. It promotes all good. It is solid and permanent.
It lasts for ever.

xvi.
PREFACE.
I have now to observe, that it is under the influence of this latter
principle that we are to see the conduct of William Penn, but more
particularly as a public man, in the sheets which follow; or, in other
words, we are to have a view of him as a Statesman, who acted upon
Christian principles in direct opposition to the usual policy of the
world. Such a view of him must be highly gratifying. It must be
also highly useful. Suffice it then to say, that the desire I had to
contemplate it myself, and to exhibit it to others, furnished the prin-
cipal motive for the present work


PREFACE
TO THE PRESENT EDITION.
IN offering to the public a new edition of CLARKSON'S LIFE OF
PENN, the charges lately made against his character by a popular
writer seem to need some preliminary notice.
Of the nature of these charges hardly any on will be ignorant.
Mr. Macaulay's "History of England" has throughout England been
read and admired. Whether its accuracy will stand the test of
critical inquiry the future public will decide; but there can be no
question that, as a story well told and pleasant to listen to, it has
bewitched the ears of the public of to-day, and that eventually it will
rank, if not as an actual history, at least as a most attractive and
eloquent historical romance.
In turning over its pages, so full of descriptive and oratorical
power, we feel as though we were wandering through a gallery of
pictures, or rather in quick succession they flit before our eyes, for
the reader has no work to do—is merely required to look, not think—
portraits so vivid, features so striking, that, in our admiration of the
artist's talent, we care not to inquire whether they are really like-
nesses, true copies from nature, or merely the creations of his own
fancy.
Still, when a figure comes before us such as Penn's, which we
think we ought to know, we cannot but start up and ask, can this
mean and repulsive countenance, in real truth, belong to one whom
we have so long been accustomed to regard with respect, we may
almost say with reverence?
For the page of our history is not so rich in illustrations of nobility
and worth, that we can afford to barter away any one of them, not
even in exchange for all the fine pictures of Mr. Macaulay; and if his
portrait of Penn be in truth a caricature, the talent of the painter
makes it all the more necessary to attempt to prove that it is not a
likeness.

xviii.
PREFACE.
That it is not the portrait by which Penn is generally known, Mr.
Macaulay himself allows:-"To speak the whole truth concerning him,"
he says, in his brief sketch, at the first mention of his name, "is a task
which requires some courage; for he is rather a mythical than a
historical person. Rival nations and hostile sects have agreed in
canonizing him. England is proud of his name. A great common-
wealth beyond the Atlantic regards him with a reverence similar to
that which the Athenians felt for Theseus, and the Romans for
Quirinus. The respectable society of which he was a member honours
him as an apostle. By pious men of other persuasions he is generally
regarded as a bright pattern of Christian virtue. Meanwhile admirers
of a very different sort have sounded his praises. The French philo-
sophers of the eighteenth century pardoned what they regarded as his
superstitious fancies in consideration of his contempt for priests, and
of his cosmopolitan benevolence, impartially extended to all races and
to all creeds. His name has thus become, throughout all civilised
countries, a synonyme for probity and philanthropy."
11*
But is not this verdict of posterity, so unanimous and so favourable,
which the historian thus records, not because he agrees with it, but
rather to enhance his own valour in daring to dispute it, in itself, by
the very fact of its existence, strong argument in behalf of its own
truthfulness? for man is not so prodigal of praise as to bestow it on
his fellow without a reason. If a reputation outlives the power of its
possessor, there is good ground to believe it is the reward of his
deeds. Time tests us by what we are, not seem to be: only the
fruitful plant escapes its scythe; the weed, however rank, is relent-
lessly mown down. Many a world-wide renown follows its owner to
the grave; the bubble bursts when the breath leaves him who blows
it; but it is hard to find an instance in which after ages have wasted
honour on the worthless-lavished laurels where contempt would have
been fitting. Posterity pays rather than gives-is just more than
generous. A man who was persecuted during his lifetime, then
slandered and hated by not a few, but who, now that almost two
centuries have elapsed, is thus honoured and revered by all creeds and
parties, may perchance be what Mr. Macaulay chooses to term a
"mythical person," but if so, there is at least a meaning in the myth,
*Macaulay, vol. i. p. 506.
"
t
PREFACE.
xix.
for in fact no myth can be formed out of a falsehood; the very con-
dition of its existence is that there must be truth and worth in its
subject: it is only the heroes of history whom she deigns to clothe
with a mythical garment; the halo, however misty, proves that within
must shine a light.
Mr. Macaulay, however, it is plain, does not believe in Penn, not
even as the subject of a myth. He is a historical sceptic, or at best a
rationalist. See how ingeniously he tries to undermine the fabric of
this mythical renown :-" Nor is this reputation," he adds, "altogether
unmerited. Penn was without doubt a man of eminent virtues. He
had a strong sense of religious duty, and a fervent desire to promote
the happiness of mankind. On one or two points of high importance
he had notions more correct than were in his day common, even
among men of enlarged minds; and, as the proprietor and legislator
of a province, which, being almost uninhabited when it came into his
possession, afforded a clear field for moral experiments, he had the
rare good fortune of being able to carry his theories into practice
without any compromise, and yet without any shock to existing
institutions. He will always be mentioned with honour as the
founder of a colony, who did not, in his dealings with a savage
people, abuse the strength derived from civilisation, and as a lawgiver,
who, in an age of persecution, made religious liberty the corner-stone
of a polity. But his writings and his life furnish abundant proofs
that he was not a man of strong sense. He had no skill in reading
the characters of others. His confidence in persons less virtuous than
himself led him into great errors and misfortunes. His enthusiasm
for one great principle sometimes impelled him to violate other great
principles which he ought to have held sacred. Nor was his integrity
altogether proof against the temptations to which it was exposed in
that splendid and polite, but deeply corrupted society, with which he
now mingled. The whole court was in a ferment with intrigues of
gallantry and intrigues of ambition. The traffic in honours, places,
and pardons was incessant. It was natural that a man who was
daily seen at the palace, and who was known to have free access to
majesty, should be frequently importuned to use his influence for
purposes which a rigid morality must condemn. The integrity of
Penn had stood firm against obloquy and persecution. But now,
attacked by royal smiles, by female blandishments, by the insinuating
XX.
PREFACE.
eloquence and delicate flattery of veteran diplomatists and courtiers,
his resolution began to give way. Titles and phrases against which
he had often borne his testimony dropped occasionally from his lips
and his pen. It would be well if he had been guilty of nothing worse
than such compliances with the fashions of the world. Unhappily it
cannot be concealed that he bore a chief part in some transactions
condemned, not merely by the rigid code of the society to which he
belonged, but by the general sense of all honest men. He afterwards
solemnly protested that his hands were pure from illicit gain, and
that he never received any gratuity from those whom he had obliged,
though he might easily, while his influence at court lasted, have made
a hundred and twenty thousand pounds. To this assertion full credit
is due. But bribes may be offered to vanity as well as to cupidity,
and it is impossible to deny that Penn was cajoled into bearing a
part in some unjustifiable transactions, of which others enjoyed the
profits."*
It is difficult not to admire the skill with which, in this passage,
the writer glides from praise to contempt, ingeniously giving the
impression that the praise is but in complaisance to the probable
prejudices of his reader, the blame his own courageous conviction;
and yet, if the two opinions be contrasted together, they can hardly,
all allowance being given for the inconsistency of human nature, be
made to fit. "A sense of religious duty" can scarcely be called
"strong" which does not save its possessor from "transactions con-
demned by the sense of all honest men," even though "bribes be
offered to his vanity;" and it is strange that one "whose life furnishes
abundant proof that he was not a man of strong sense" should not
only have "notions on points of high importance more correct than
were in his day common even among men of enlarged minds," but
should be "able to carry his theories into practice," and practice so
successful, that "he will always," excepting of course by Mr. Macaulay,
"be mentioned with honour."
But leaving for the present this preliminary sketch, which, consisting
merely of assertion without attempt at proof, does not indeed of itself
need notice, except as evidence of the animus of its author, we must
pass on to the special charges upon which this general character
appears to be grounded.
*Macaulay, vol. i. p. 507.
PREFACE.
xxi.
The first charge is in connexion with the infamous profit to which
the maids of honour of James's court succeeded in turning Monmouth's
rebellion, by the bargain which they drove with the friends of the
young girls of Taunton, who, in the Duke's march through that town,
had presented him with a standard. Mr. Macaulay's statement is as
follows. After mentioning the thousand guineas which the Queen
Mary of Modena had cleared on a cargo of rebels sentenced to be
transported, he adds:-"We cannot wonder that her attendants should
have imitated her unprincely greediness and her unwomanly cruelty.
They exacted a thousand pounds from Roger Hoare, a merchant of
Bridgewater, who had contributed to the military chest of the rebel
army. But the prey on which they pounced most eagerly was one
which it might have been thought that even the most ungentle natures
would have spared. Already some of the girls who had presented
the standard to Monmouth at Taunton had cruelly expiated their
offence.
Most of the young ladies, however, who
had walked in the procession were still alive. Some of them were.
under ten years of age. All had acted under the orders of their
schoolmistress, without knowing that they were committing a crime.
The Queen's maids of honour asked the royal permission to wring
money out of the parents of the poor children; and the permission
was granted. An order was sent down to Taunton that all these
little girls should be seized and imprisoned. Sir Francis Warre, of
Hestercombe, the Tory member for Bridgewater, was requested to
undertake the office of exacting the ransom. He was charged to
declare in strong language that the maids of honour would not endure
delay, that they were determined to prosecute to outlawry, unless a
reasonable sum were forthcoming, and that by a reasonable sum was.
meant seven thousand pounds. Warre excused himself from taking
any part in a transaction so scandalous. The maids of honour them
requested William Penn to act for them; and Penn accepted the
commission. Yet it should seem that a little of the pertinacious scru-
pulosity which he had often shown about taking off his hat would not
have been altogether out of place on this occasion. He probably
silenced the remonstrances of his conscience by repeating to himself
that none of the money which he extorted would go into his own pocket;
that if he refused to be the agent of the ladies they would find agents
less humane; that by complying he should increase his influence at the
xxii.
PREFACE.
court; and that his influence at the court had already enabled him,
and might still enable him, to render great services to his oppressed
brethren. The maids of honour were at last forced to content them-
selves with less than a third part of what they had demanded.”*
This is the story, and one disclosing more contemptible cruelty
it is scarcely possible to imagine. Innocent girls, whose sole offence
was obedience to the orders of their mistress, thrown into a dungeon
in order that maids of honour may exact a ransom for their liberty-
the scrupulous Quaker acting as broker in this vile speculation,
accepting the commission which the Tory cavalier had refused: if
this story be as he tells it, Mr. Macaulay may well say that Penn's
integrity was no proof against "female blandishment." A transaction
so mean, so hypocritical, would indeed deserve the opprobrium "of
all honest men. No defence could be attempted of a deed which no
possible motive could justify, and the reader could only wonder what
can be Mr. Macaulay's definition of the "religious duty,” with “a
strong sense" of which he declares its perpetrator to have been
endued.
""
Doubtless the charge is bad enough, but now what are the proofs?
The only one of the authorities Mr. Macaulay quotes in reference
to this case, in which there is any allusion to Penn, is the following
letter from the Earl of Sunderland, the then Home Secretary, a copy
of which is in the State Paper Office:
"Whitehall, Febry. 13th, 1685-6.
“MR. PENNE-Her Majties Maids of Honour having acquainted me, that
they designe to employ you and Mr. Walden in making a composition with
the Relations of the Maids of Taunton for the high Misdemeanor they have
been guilty of, I do at their request hereby let you know that her Majty has
been pleased to give their Fines to the said Maids of Honor, and therefore
recommend it to Mr. Walden and you to make the most advantageous
composition you can in their behalfe.
"I am Sir, your humble servant,
"SUNDERLAND P."†
This letter, to which no reply can be found either in the State Paper
Office or elsewhere, is the sole proof upon which the charge is grounded :
there exists no collateral evidence whatever confirming its receipt
* Macaulay, vol. i. p. 655.
† State Paper Office.
No. 629, page 324.
Letter Book 1679-1688. Domestic Various.
PREFACE.
xxiii.
by Penn, much less his acceptance of its commission: it is not even
certain that it was addressed to him. The address in the State Paper
Office is not "William Penn, Esq.," nor William Penn at all, but
plain Mr. Penne, and therefore it is quite possible that it was in-
tended for a certain "George Penne," who it appears was instrumental
in effecting the release from slavery of a Mr. Azariah Pinney, a
gentleman of Bettescombe, near Crewkerne, in Somersetshire, whose
sentence to death had been commuted to transportation.†
But allowing that Sunderland's letter was addressed to William
Penn, what does it prove? Not that he undertook the office in
question, but merely that "the maids of honour having acquainted"
the Secretary" that they designed to employ him and a Mr. Walden,
he therefore recommended it to Mr. Walden and to him to make the
most advantageous composition they can in their behalf."
Mark, Sunderland rests his recommendation not on any previous
communication between himself and Penn, nor between Penn and the
maids of honour, but merely on their "design to employ" him and
another, how then can we tell that Penn was even privy to such
design? The case of the Taunton maids excited no little interest both
at the time and since, but neither in the official documents connected
therewith, nor in any general history, nor in the local records, is
there any other allusion to Penn, nor is there any mention whatever
of the matter in either his own letters or biography.
Surely then, even on his own authority, Mr. Macaulay's positive
assertion that " the maids of honour requested William Penn to act for
them," and that he "accepted the commission," is an unwarrantable
assumption.
There is, however, one historian, and that too a contemporary,
almost an eye-witness, by whom this assertion is not confirmed but
contradicted. Oldmixon, in his History, gives the following account
of the transaction:-"The Court was so unmerciful, that they ex-
cepted the poor girls of Taunton, who gave Moumouth colours, out of
their pretended pardon, and every one of them was forced to pay as
much money as would have been a good portion to each for particular
* Possibly the same G. Pen mentioned by Pepys in his "Diary,"
April 4, 1660.
† See Roberts' Life of Monmouth (vol. ii. p. 243), whose authority is
family letters in the possession of Mr. Pinney's descendants.
xxiv.
PREFACE.
pardons. This money, and a great deal more, was said to be for the
maids of honour, whose agent Brent, the Popish lawyer, had an
under agent, one Crane of Bridgewater, and 'tis supposed that
both of them paid themselves very bountifully out of the money which
was raised by this means, some instances of which are within my
knowledge.'
."* Now, though it may be alleged that Oldmixon is by
no means an infallible guide, not bearing a very high character for
accuracy, yet, in a case like this, some of the circumstances of which
he declares to have been "within his own knowledge," which may be
well believed, seeing he was, as Mr. Macaulay says, when quoting
him in reference to Monmouth's entrance into Taunton, "then a boy
living very near the scene of these events,"† in fact at Bridgewater
itself,‡ so that he was Crane's fellow-townsman, his testimony would
at least seem worthy of notice.
+
Moreover, Penn having been his personal acquaintance,§ had he
really acted as broker in this business, Oldmixon could scarcely have
been ignorant of the fact. Still, strange as it may seem, Mr. Macaulay,
who often quotes || him, in one case by himself, and even gives him
as an authority** in an earlier part of this very story of the Taunton
maids, completely passes him by, when his evidence would thus
disturb his hypothesis of Penn's hypocrisy. This account also has
some slight collateral support, which Mr. Macaulay's has not, for we
find, from a petition in the State Paper Office from one suspected of
having been engaged in the rebellion, endorsed Brent, and also from
passage in the second Lord Clarendon's Diary, wherein he says that
"Lady Tipping had offered Mr. Brent £200 to get a noli prosequi,”††
that "this vile wretch," as Oldmixon‡‡ calls him, was an acknowledged
pardon-broker, and therefore a very probable agent for these maids
* Oldmixon, vol. ii. p. 708.
† Macaulay, vol. i. p. 580. Also Mackintosh's History of the Revolution,
pp. 13, 21, 24.
‡ Macaulay, vol. i. p. 612.
§ Oldmixon's Account of British Colonies, printed 1708; quoted in
Proud's History of Pennsylvania, vol. i. pp. 244-486.
Macaulay, vol. i. p. 588, 596, 602-4-5, 635, &c.
Macaulay, vol. i. p. 593.
** Macaulay, vol. i. p. 586.
+ Clarendon's Diary, March 19, 1687-8,
* Oldmixon, p. 708.
PREFACE.
XXV.
:
of honour to employ. Again, the wording of the warrant dated
March 11, 1686-7, is worth attention. It states, that it is "his
Majesty's pleasure that these maids, or their relations and friends,
who have compounded or shall compound, with the agent employed
by her Majesty's said maids of honour, shall not,”* &c. The word
agent is applicable enough to Oldmixon's version, viz., that Brent
was the agent of the maids of honour and Crane merely his sub-agent,
but if Sunderland's recommendation had been carried out, and both
Penn and Walden employed, the plural number would probably have
been used.
But granting, which we think the reader will hardly be disposed
to do, that Brent's agency is an invention of Oldmixon, and Penn's
interference is proved, even then, as is stated by a previous historian,
"the transaction presents two phases," and Penn might doubtless
have "thought not of the lucre of the traffickers, but of the mercy
which they sold." In our utter ignorance of all the circumstances
which preceded his interference, allowing he did interfere, why should
we not suppose that the relations of the girls, who it must be remem-
bered had been seized and their ransom allotted before the date of
Sunderland's letter, had applied to Penn as a man of influence, honesty,
and benevolence, to intercede in their behalf, and that the Secretary's
commission was in consequence of such application, and the diminution
of the ransom "to less than one-third of the original demand"‡ his
reward for his trouble. This view of the matter Mr. Roberts, the
writer above quoted, we observe takes, and though also an assump-
tion, it is no ways more gratuitous than Mr. Macaulay's, and has at
least the advantage of being in accordance with Penn's general cha-
racter. In one expression which he uses, Mr. Macaulay seems himself
to lean to this interpretation, when he states that the Quaker probably
"silenced the remonstrances of his conscience by repeating to himself
that if he refused to be the agent they would find others less humane,"
but in this case he would not have designated the commission which
he says Penn accepted as a "scandalous transaction," nor called it an
"office of exacting ransom." These terms, together with his previous
* State Paper Office Warrant Book, ii. 219.
↑ Roberts, vol. ii. p. 241.
‡ Macaulay, vol. i. p. 656.
xxvi.
PREFACE.
remarks, show clearly enough that he chooses to consider Penn as
having been, not an intercessor for mercy, but an abettor of cruelty,
pandering to oppression in order that his vanity might be pampered.
Possibly Mr. Macaulay may conceive that no one, not even a
Quaker, gifted with "a strong sense of religious duty," can withstand
the "blandishments" of a maid of honour, but at least he should have
satisfied himself that these blandishments were used, before he gives
this least probable-this most uncharitable interpretation of a fact,
which, though asserted by himself as undoubted, is in itself most
doubtful, contradicted by the testimony of a competent contemporary
-the sole evidence in support of which is a commission which we can
not be sure was addressed to, and which we have no reason to believe
was accepted by, the party whom he accuses.
If by "mythical" Mr. Macaulay means fabulous, distorted, ex-
aggerated, it is now easy to understand why he calls Penn a "mythical
person." He would indeed be such if his character depended on his
description, for assertions thus established, deductions thus inferred,
may make up a romance, or, if men choose to believe them, even
constitute a myth, but can scarcely claim the title of history.
Dismissing the maids of honour, the next mention of Penn by
Mr. Macaulay, and therefore the next insinuation against his character,
for he never, after the first introduction of his name, alludes to him
except disparagingly, is in his description of the legal murders of
Gaunt and Cornish. The manner in which he describes Penn's
presence at these executions, "for whom," he says, "exhibitions
which humane men generally avoid seem to have had strong attrac-
tion,”* affords a striking instance of his unaccountable determination
to give the worst possible colour to every one of his acts. He seems
to suppose that his motive must have been, like Selwyn's, a passion
for seeing hanging, or at best an idle curiosity. Clarkson's remarks
and quotations from Burnet, who notoriously disliked him, show that
it was much more probably a wish to be able to make a true report,
and therefore an effective remonstrance to the King; and enable us
to pass on to another charge, upon which also it is not needful to
dwell, for though a direct it is by no means a dangerous attack, Mr.
Macaulay himself providing the defence, the statement he makes in
• Macaulay, vol. i. p. 665.
PREFACE.
xxvii. :
his text being contradicted by the authority he quotes in its margin.
In his description of the efforts which James made, towards the end
of his reign, to win the aid of the Dissenters in his struggles, he gives
the case of Kiffin, a London Baptist, of high influence, both from his
wealth and worth. Two of Kiffin's grandsons had been executed,
or rather murdered, by sentence of the Bloody Assizes; no wonder,
therefore, that, justly regarding the King with personal as well as
political abhorrence, he wished to decline the alderman's gown,
which was offered to him to secure his support.
While his acceptance of this office was in suspense (for though
Mr. Macaulay gives the impression that Kiffin did not accept it, his
own Memoirs state distinctly that, after six weeks' consideration, he
did), "Penn," says Mr. Macaulay, was employed in the work of
seduction, but to no purpose."
At the foot of the page containing this sentence are two references,
viz., "Kiffin's Memoirs," and "Luson's Letter to Brooke." In the
Letter there is no allusion to Penn, but in the Memoirs we find the
following :—“In a little after a great temptation attended me, which
was a commission from the King to be one of the aldermen of the
city of London, which, as soon as I heard of it, I used all the means
I could to be excused, both by some lords near the King, and also by
Sir Nicholas Butler and Mr. Penn."† The prejudice, for we can really
find no better word, must indeed be powerful, which can thus induce
an historian to pervert Kiffin's acknowledgment that he made use of
Penn to get excused into a proof that "Penn was employed by the
King in the work of seduction."
The accusation which must now be noticed is one which will require
a more detailed examination. The Quaker is again represented as
acting the base part of a political pimp, but the object of the King is
not now merely the gain of the vote and interest of one London
alderman, though a Baptist to boot, but the delivery of the fair
foundation of Magdalen College, with all its rich lands, into the arms
of the greedy Jesuits. In order, however, to form a just judgment
of Penn's conduct in this matter, the story of the case, up to the time
of his interference, must, though well known, be briefly recapitulated.
* Macaulay, vol. ii. p. 230.
+ Kiffin's Memoirs, edited by Orme, p. 84.
xxviii.
PREFACE.
In March, 1687, the President of Magdalen College died; the King,
not satisfied with having secured University and Christ Church Col-
leges for the Koman Catholics, seized this opportunity to spread the
sway of his faith, and sent down letters mandatory to the fellows,
recommending them to elect to the vacant place one Anthony Farmer,
a notorious libertine, but as a renegade Papist a fit man to serve the
purpose of the Court, though therefore all the more odious to the
members of the College. By the statutes of the foundation the right
of election rested with the fellows, but in case the Court proposed a
candidate duly qualified, it had not been unusual to accept its nomi-
nation. Against such an appointment as this, however, the fellows
protested, most reasonably, but in vain, and at length, having post-
poned as long as possible the election, in the fruitless hope that some
attention would be paid to their protest, they appointed, on the 15th
of April, Dr. Hough, a divine, whom Mr. Macaulay justly describes
as a man of eminent virtue and prudence." At this act, by which,
while vindicating their rights, they defied the Royal wish, James was,
as might be expected, greatly enraged: accordingly, in June, the
fellows were cited to appear before the High Commission, by whom
Hough's election was annulled; but abundant proof having been
given of Farmer's vicious habits, his name was silently dropped as
too disgraceful to press, and fresh letters mandatory were sent down
in August, ordering the fellows forthwith to choose as their President
Parker, the Bishop of Oxford.
66
Parker, though not an avowed was a suspected Papist, and as such,
and as a well-known partisan of the Papist party, most distasteful to
the fellows, who, fortunately for the expression of their dislike, were
able to rest their opposition to his appointment on two valid legal
objections. Hough was their duly elected President; their oath,
therefore, bound them to support him; and even had the Presidency
been vacant, they were sworn to appoint a fellow of either New College
or Magdalen, neither of which conditions Parker fulfilled. On these
grounds, therefore, they respectfully declined to obey the King's
order, stating they could not without perjuring themselves. Thus
far had the dispute proceeded, when, on the 3rd of September, James,
in the course of his progress, arrived at Oxford. On the day after
his arrival he sent for the disobedient fellows, they tendered him a
petition, he refused to accept it, and in great wrath ordered them to
PREFACE.
xxix
be "gone to their home"-that instant "to repair to their chapel,"
and as they feared the "weight of his hand,”
""elect the Bishop of
Oxford." To their chapel they retired, to consult whether they
should obey their Sovereign or abide by their oath, and to their lasting
honour they boldly resolved to do the latter.
At this stage of the conflict Penn for the first time appears on the
field, and it will now be necessary to quote Mr. Macaulay at full
length, in doing which it may be well to put side by side with his
account that contained in Wilmot's Life of Hough, from which he
probably obtained his information. The word probably is used,
because, as Mr. Macaulay quotes no reference in his story of Penn's
interference, it is impossible to define with certainty the authorities
on which he grounds it; but though the Life of Hough is not in the
list of authors which, at the end of his report of the Magdalen College
case he gives en masse, leaving his reader to allot as he best can the
special circumstances to each, still as it is evident, from his text, that
he consulted this work, and as, moreover, it contains a statement
impartial, or, if biassed at all, certainly against Penn, and the only one
professing to be a complete relation of the facts, its comparison with
Mr. Macaulay will show how far he is justified in his assertions.
One remark, however, is needed before making these quotations.
By a mode of lumping facts, which, though with most historians it
would be accounted strange, is by no means rare with Mr. Macaulay,
whose artistic fancy not unfrequently induces him to sacrifice accuracy
of perspective in his pictures to effect in the grouping of his figures,
he manages to give the impression that the transaction he describes
was one incident, or at least an unbroken series of events, instead of
comprising, as was the case, three distinct incidents, occupying
altogether a space of more than a month. In order, therefore, fairly
to test, or in fact to understand his narrative, it will be needful to
follow the example of a previous critic,† and to divide it into three
distinct parts; and if, in so doing, it be objected that sentences which
are intended to apply to one occurrence are quoted as referring to
another, all that can be said is, that every care has been taken to
apportion the descriptions to those circumstances to which they appear
to be least inapplicable:-
* Wilmot's Life of Hough, p. 15.
↑ Tablet, March 10, 1849.
XXX.
PREFACE.
MACAULAY.*
WILMOT'S LIFE OF HOUGH.†
"The King, greatly incensed and "It appears, from Anthony A.
mortified by his defeat," (viz., the Wood's account of this visit" (viz.,
refusal of the fellows to admit Parker the King's visit to Oxford), "that
as their President), "quitted Oxford W. Penn, who attended the King to
and rejoined the Queen at Bath. His, Oxford, went afterwards to Magdalen
obstinacy and violence had brought College; and although he at first
him into an embarrassing position. hoped to persuade the fellows to
He had trusted too much to the comply with the King's wishes, yet,
effect of his frowns and angry tones, when he heard the statement of their
and had rashly staked not only the case, he was satisfied that they could
credit of his administration, but his not comply without a breach of their
personal dignity, on the issue of the oaths. This account is confirmed by
contest. Could he yield to subjects some original letters now in the Bod
whom he had menaced with raised leian Library at Oxford, from Dr.
voice and furious gestures? Yet Sykes and Mr. Creech to Dr. Charlett,
could he venture to eject in one day of the 6th, 7th, and 9th of September,
a crowd of respectable clergymen 1687, in which, after giving exactly
from their homes because they had the same account of the King's re-
discharged what the whole nation ception and treatment of the fellows,
regarded as a sacred duty ? Perhaps they both state that Mr. Penn went
there might be an escape from this afterwards to Magdalen College, and
dilemma. Perhaps the College might having had some conference with the
still be terrified, caressed, or bribed fellows, wrote a letter to the King in
into submission. The agency of Penn their behalf, observing 'that their
was employed. He had too much case was hard; that in their circum-
good feeling to approve of the unjust stances they could not yield without
and violent measures of the govern a breach of their oaths; and that
ment, and even ventured to express such mandates were a force upon
part of what he thought. James conscience, and not agreeable to the
was, as usual, obstinate in the wrong." King's other gracious indulgencies.""
This interview of Penn with the fellows must have occurred between
the 3rd of September, the day of the King's arrival at Oxford, and the
9th of the same month, the date of the last of the letters referred to
by Wilmot. Some time afterwards, on what exact day is not known,
but probably about the end of the month, an anonymous letter was
received by Dr. Thomas Bailey, one of the fellows, which he chose to
attribute to Penn, to whom he sent a reply, on which two epistles
Mr. Macaulay rests the following declamation, or at least must be
supposed to rest it, all other authority being utterly wanting :-
MACAULAY.‡
"The courtly Quaker therefore did
his best to seduce the College from
* Macaulay, vol. ii. p. 298.
‡ Macaulay, vol. ii. p. 298.
WILMOT.Ş
"It was now rumoured that the
King had issued an order to proceed
+ Wilmot's Life of Hough, p. 15.
Wilmot, p. 18.
PREFACE.
XXXI.
the path of right. He first tried
intimidation. Ruin he said impended
over the society. The King was
highly incensed. The case might be
a hard one. Most people thought it
So. But every child knew that his
Majesty loved to have his own way,
and could not bear to be thwarted.
Penn, therefore, exhorted the fellows
not to rely upon the goodness of their
cause, but to submit, or at least
to temporise. Such counsel came
strangely from one who had himself
been expelled from the University
for raising a riot about the surplice,
who had run the risk of being disin-
herited rather than take off his hat
to the princes of the blood, and had
been more than once sent to prison
for preaching at conventicles.
He
did not succeed in frightening the
Magdalen men. In answer to his
alarming hints he was reminded that
in the last generation thirty-four out
of the forty fellows had cheerfully
left their beloved cloisters and gardens,
their hall and their chapel, and had
gone forth, not knowing where they
should find a meal or a bed, rather
than violate the oath of allegiance.
The King now wished them to violate
another oath. He should find that
the old spirit was not extinct.”
against the College by a writ of Quo
Warranto, but however this was, the
fellows appear to have listened to an
application made to Dr. Thomas
Bailey, one of the senior fellows,
from William Penn, who was said to
be in great favour at that time with
the King, and had written to the
Doctor" a letter, of which the follow-
ing is a copy:*-
'A COPY OF A LETTER DIRECTED TO
DR. BAYLY, FELLOW OF MAGDALEN
COLLEGE, OXON, SUPPOSED TO BE
WRIT BY MR. WILLIAM PENN.
SIR-Upon an inquiry made of
your present fellows of Magdalen
College, I am informed that you are
a person eminent in that learned
body, for your temper, prudence, and
good conduct in affairs, and therefore
very fit to be addressed to by me,
who do not send you this to trepan
you and your brethren, but out of a
passionate concern for your interest;
to persuade you either to a compliance
with his Majesty's letters mandatory,
or to think among yourselves of some
expedient to prevent the ruin of your
College and yourselves; and to offer
it to his Majesty's royal consideration,
that the order for the Quo Warranto
against the College may be recalled,
before it be too late; for you cannot
but be sensible how highly his Ma-
jesty is incensed against you, neither
can you give one instance whether
ever that sort of proceeding was
judged against the Crown. Your
cause most think it very hard; but
you are not in prudence to rely on
the goodness of your cause, but to do
what the present instance of affairs
will permit, and in patience to expect
a season that will be more auspicious
* Quotations only from this letter are given in Wilmot, but the reader
will understand it better if he read it all, and it is therefore given above in
fall, as printed in the State Trials, vol. iv. p. 270.
xxxii.
PREFACE.
to persons of your character. Every
mechanic knows the temper of his
present Majesty, who never will re-
ceive a baffle in anything that he
heartily espouseth; and that he doth
this, yourselves have had too late and
manifest an instance to doubt of his
zeal in the affair.
"Where there are so many statutes
to be observed, it is impossible but
some must be broken at one time or
another; and I am informed by the
learned of the law, that a failure in
any one point forfeits your grant,
and lays your College open to the
Royal disposal.
"I could give many other prudent
arguments that might possibly incline
you to a speedy endeavour of putting
an end to your troubles almost at any
rate; but I shall suggest this one
thing to you, that your fatal over-
throw would be a fair beginning of
80 much aimed at reformation, first
of the University, then of the Church,
and administer such an opportunity
to the enemy as may perhaps not
occur in his Majesty's reign.
"Your affectionate servant, &c.
"There was no signature to this
letter, but, from what passed after-
wards, there is every reason to be-
lieve that it was written by William
Penn, to whom it was ascribed.
"Dr. Bailey returned a long and
argumentative answer to this letter,
on the 3rd of October, directed to
Mr. Penn, in which he says, 'The
paper inclosed is a copy of a letter,
which, by the charitable purpose of
it, seems to be written by you, who
have been already so kind as to appear
in our behalf, and are reported by all
who know you to employ much of
your time in doing good to mankind,
and using your credit with his Majesty
to undeceive him in any wrong im-
pressions given him of his conscien-
tious subjects, and, where his justice
í
PRETACE.
xxxiii.
and goodness have been thereby
abused, to reconcile the persons in-
jured to his Majesty's favour, and
secure them by it from oppression
and prejudice. In this confidence, I
presume to make this application to
you, desiring your excuse for not
subscribing it; for if you did write
the letter you know to whom it was
directed; and if you did not, I hope
your charity will induce you to make
such use of your light you have by it into
the affairs of our College, as to mediate
for us with his Majesty to be restored
to his good opinion, as the only thing
which is desired by us, who are zealous,
above all earthly things, for his felicity
and glory."
What reply Penn sent to Bailey's letter, or whether he sent any, is
not known, but very soon after this,* "viz., on the 9th of October, a
deputation from the College, of which Dr. Hough was one, had a con-
ference with Mr. Penn at Windsor, where the Court at that time was
held," which is described by Dr. Hough in the following letter to a
relation, a copy of which is among the MSS. of the British Museum,
and paraphrased by Mr. Macaulay as follows:-
MACAULAY.†
"Then Penn tried a gentler tone. He
had an interview with Hough and with
some of the fellows, and, after many
professions of sympathy and friend-
ship, began to hint at a compromise.
The King could not bear to be crossed.
The College must give way. Parker
must be admitted. But he was in
very bad health. As his preferments
would soon be vacant,
C 'Doctor
Hough,' said Penn, may then be
Bishop of Oxford. How should you
like that, gentlemen?' Penn had
passed his life in declaiming against
a hireling ministry. He held that
he was bound to refuse the payment
of tithes, and this even when he had
WILMOT. (Hough's Letter.)
"October the 9th, at night."
"DEAR COUSIN-I gave you a
short account of what passed at
Windsor this morning: but having
the convenience of sending this by
Mr. Charlett, I fancy you will be well
enough satisfied to hear our discourse
with Mr. Penn more at large.
'He was in all about three hours
in our company, and at his first
coming in, he began with the great
concern he had for the welfare of our
College, the many efforts he had
made to reconcile us to the King, and
the great sincerity of his intentions
and actions; that he thought nothing
* Wilmot, page 22.
↑ Macaulay, vol. ii. p. 299.
↑ Wilmot, p. 25 to 30.
xxxiv.
PREFACE.
bought land chargeable with tithes,
and had been allowed the value of
the tithes in the purchase money.
According to his own principles, he
would have committed a great sin if
he had interfered for the purpose of
obtaining a benefice on the most
honourable terms for the most pious
divine. Yet to such a degree had
his manners been corrupted by evil
by evil
communications, and his understand-
ing obscured by inordinate zeal for a
single object, that he did not scruple
to become a broker in simony of a
peculiarly discreditable kind, and to
use a bishopric as a bait to tempt a
divine to perjury. Hough replied
replied
with civil contempt that he wanted
nothing from the Crown but common
justice. 'We stand,' he said, 'on
our statutes and our oaths; but, even
setting aside our statutes and oaths,
we feel that we have our religion to
defend. The Papists have robbed us
of Christ Church. The fight is now
for Magdalene. They will soon have
all the rest.'
"Penn was foolish enough to
answer that he really believed that
the Papists would now be content.
'University,' he said, 'is a pleasant
is a pleasant
college. Christ Church is a noble
place. Magdalene is a fine building.
The situation is convenient. The
walks by the river are delightful. If
the Roman Catholics are reasonable,
they will be satisfied with these."
This absurd avowal would alone have
made it impossible for Hough and his
brethren to yield. The negotiation
The negotiation
was broken off, and the King hastened
to make the disobedient know, as he
had threatened, what it was to incur
his displeasure.'”
in this world was worth a trick, or
any thing sufficient to justify collu-
sion or deceitful artifice, and this he
insisted so long upon, that I easily
perceived he expected something of a
compliment, by way of assent, should
be returned; and therefore, though I
had much ado to bring it out, I told
him that whatever others might con-
ceive of him, he might be assured we
depended upon his sincerity, otherwise
we would never have given ourselves
the trouble to come thither to meet
him.
"He then gave an historical ac-
count, in short, of his acquaintance
with the King; assured us it was not
Popery but Property that first began
it; that however people were pleased
to call him Papist, he declared to us
that he was a dissenting Protestant;
that he dissented from Papists in
almost all those points wherein we
differ from them, and many wherein
we and they are agreed.
"After this we came to the College
again. He wished with all his heart
that he had sooner concerned himself
in it, but he was afraid that he had
now come too late; however, he
would use his endeavours, and if they
were unsuccessful, we must refer it to
want of power, not of good will, to
serve us. I told him I thought the
most effectual way would be to give
his Majesty a true state of the case,
which I had reason to suspect he had
never yet received; and therefore I
offered him some papers for his in-
struction, whereof one was a copy of
our first petition before the election,
another was our letter to the Duke
of Ormond and the state of our case;
a third was that petition which our
society had offered to his Majesty
here at Oxford, and a fourth was that
sent after the King to Bath. He
seemed to read them very attentively,
PREFACE.
XXXV
and after many objections (to which
he owned I gave him satisfactory
answers), he promised faithfully to
read every word to the King, unless
he was peremptorily commanded to
forbear. He was very solicitous to
clear Lord Sunderland of suspicion,
and threw the odium upon the Chan-
cellor, which I think I told you in the
morning, and which makes me think
there is little good to be hoped for
from him.
"He said the measures now re-
solved upon were such as the King
thought would take effect; but he
said he knew nothing in particular,
nor did he give the least light, or let
fall any thing wherein we might so
much as ground a conjecture, nor did
he so much as hint at the letter which
was sent to him.
C
"I thank God he did not so much
as offer at any proposal by way of
accommodation, which was the thing
I most dreaded; only once, upon the
mention of the Bishop of Oxford's
indisposition, he said, smiling, 'If
the Bishop of Oxford die, Dr. Hough
may be made Bishop. What think
you of that, gentlemen?' Mr. Cradock
answered, they should be heartily
glad of it, for it would do very well
with the Presidentship.' But I told
him seriously, 'I had no ambition
above the post in which I was, and
that having never been conscious to
myself of any disloyalty towards my
Prince, I could not but wonder what
it was should make me so much more
incapable of serving his Majesty in it
than those whom he had been pleased
to recommend.' He said, 'Majesty
did not love to be thwarted; and
after so long a dispute we could not
expect to be restored to the King's
favour without making some con-
cessions.' I told him that we were
ready to make all that were consistent
C
XXXVI.
PREFACE.
with honesty and conscience;' but
many things might have been said
upon that subject, which I did not
then think proper to mention. 'How-
ever,' said I, 'Mr. Penn, in this I will
be plain with you. We have our
statutes and oaths to justify us in all
that we have done hitherto; but
setting this aside, we have a religion
to defend, and I suppose yourself
would think us knaves if we should
tamely give it up. The Papists have
already gotten Christ Church and
University: the present struggle is
for Magdalen; and in a short time
they threaten they will have the rest.'
He replied with vehemence, 'That
they shall never have, assure your-
selves; if once they proceed so far,
they will quickly find themselves des-
titute of their present assistance. For
my part, I have always declared my
opinion that the preferments of the
Church should not be put into any
other hands but such as they at
present are in; but I hope you would
not have the two Universities such
invincible bulwarks for the Church of
England, that none but they must be
capable of giving their children a
learned education. I suppose two or
three colleges will content the Papists:
Christ Church is a noble structure,
University is a pleasant place, and
Magdalen College is a comely building.
The walks are pleasant, and it is
conveniently situated, just at the
entrance of the town,' &c. &c. When
I heard him talk at this rate, I con-
cluded he was either off his guard, or
had a mind to droll upon us. "How-
ever,' I replied, "when they had ours
they would take the rest, as they and
the present possessors could never
agree.' In short, I see it is resolved
that the Papists must have our Col-
lege; and I think all we have to do
fs, to let the world see that they TAKE
PREFACE.
XXXVII.
Summitage
it from us, and that we do not GIVE
it up.
"I count it great good fortune that
so many were present at this discourse
(whereof I have not told you a sixth
part, but I think the most consider-
able); for otherwise I doubt this last
passage would have been suspected
as if to heighten their courage through
despair. But there was not a word
said in private, Mr. Hammond, Mr.
Hunt, Mr. Cradock, and Mr. Young
being present all the time.
"Give my most humble service to
Sir Thomas Powell and Mrs. Powell.
"I am, dear Sir,
"Your very affectionate and faithful
Servant,
"J. H."
With this interview ended, so far as history informs us, Penn's
interference.
The disagreement between the two narratives above quoted is almost
too evident to need remark, but it may be worth while to recapitulate
Mr. Macaulay's perversions and omissions.
First, as regards Penn's earliest share in the business, viz., his
conference with the fellows at Oxford, Mr. Macaulay says, "Penn's
agency was employed." None of Wilmot's authorities, neither
Anthony A. Wood, nor Sykes' and Creech's letters, mention any
employment; they merely state that, after the King had met the
fellows, Penn went to Magdalen College, but whether at the instigation
of the Court or of his own feelings they do not add. His object may,
as has been well stated, have been "either to save the King from his
lilemma or the College from its peril."* The imputation of either
notive is an assumption, but Mr. Macaulay's positive assertion that
he was employed is certainly unwarranted.
66
But Mr. Macaulay assumes much more than the fact of agency;
he asserts not only that Penn was employed, but employed in order to
terrify, caress, or bribe the College into submission." If this was
the task imposed on him, he certainly did not fulfil it, nor even
attempt to fulfil it, for though, says Wilmot, "he at first hoped to
persuade the fellows to comply with the King's wishes, yet, when he
Tablet, March 10, 1849.
Xxxviii.
PREFACE.
:
heard the statement of the case," that is, when he ascertained the true
facts," he was satisfied that they could not comply without a breach of
their oaths, and wrote a letter to the King on their behalf."
Again, when Mr. Macaulay says that Penn, having "too much
good feeling to approve of the violent and unjust proceedings of the
government" (wonderful admission !)" even ventured to express part
of what he thought," it would have been well to have stated what part
of his thoughts he can have concealed. The Fellows allege their oath
as their excuse for disobedience, this excuse they represent to Penn,
who boldly and plainly repeats it to the King. "Their case," he says,
f
was hard,” “they could not yield obedience without a breach o
their oaths," "such mandates were a force on conscience." What
more could he or any one have said? and what other of James's
courtiers, who vied in his desertion and in fawning on his successor,
when the "courtly Quaker" had courage to declare that the fallen
monarch "had been his friend and his father's friend,"* would have.
dared to say as much?
"
Next, as to the letter addressed to Bailey, and attributed to
Penn in the first place there is no proof, or rather no probability,
that this letter was his writing. It bears no signature, he never
acknowledged any share in it, it is not alluded to as his by Hough
in his account of the Windsor conference, and though Wilmot
seems to suppose he never denied it, there is good reason to believe
he did, inasmuch as the cotemporary copy of the proceedings in this
case, preserved in the archives of Magdalen College, bears on the
margin of this lettera manuscript memorandum, "Mr. Penn disowned
this." Moreover, its very wording, the terms "Sir and Majesty," are
contrary to his notorious scruples and style of writing. Mr. Macaulay
does indeed state, either on the authority of this anonymous epistle, or
his own imagination, that" titles and phrases against which he had
borne his testimony, dropped occasionally from his lips and his pen;"
and possibly the fact that such phrases were inconsistent with his pro-
fession, and therefore with his sincerity, may be, in Mr. Macaulay's
mind, reason why he should ascribe them to Penn, but as no other
occasion is recorded in which they fell from him, and as no motive
can be imagined for him to have thus belied the scruples of a life
Penn's Speech before the Lords of the Council, 1688; Life prefixed to
Works, p. 139.
I
PREFACE.
xxxix.
for which he had so often suffered (nor indeed for him to conceal his
name at all), their use in this case would appear to be strong internal
evidence against his authorship.
But even supposing that it is fair to charge him with the contents
of this document, which plainly it is not, they by no means justify
Mr. Macaulay's insinuations of "intimidation," attempts to "seduce
the College from the path of right," to "frighten the Magdalen men,"
&c.
66
So far from the letter having given such ideas to Dr. Bailey, he
grounds his guess that it was Penn's on "its charitable purpose"
making it "
seem to have been written by one who had been already
so kind as to appear on their behalf," and was reported by all who
knew him to employ much of his time in doing good to mankind, and
using his credit with his Majesty to undeceive him in any wrong
impression."
It is a pity Mr. Macaulay has not quoted this reply of Bailey, his
readers could then have judged how far the impression he gives of
Penn's conduct was that felt by the parties most interested.
Lastly comes the final interview at Windsor, in Mr. Macaulay's
account of which the incorrect notion given by his disregard of time
and place is plain enough.
Any one of his readers would suppose that this interview was
sought by Penn in performance of his office of seduction. "He did
not succeed in frightening the Magdalen men," so he "tried a gentler
tone," and accordingly "had an interview with Hough," &c., and
began to hint at a compromise." Who would imagine, after reading
such sentences as these, that this conference took place, not at the
College, but at Windsor, a deputation of the fellows going forty miles
to see the Quaker, more than a month after the interview at Oxford,
and six days after the date of Bailey's letter, in consequence of whose
entreaty for his intercession it was probably held?
Nor are the distortions by Mr. Macaulay of Bishop Hough's report
of this interview less evident.*
"Mr. Macaulay represents Penn as employed to solicit the fellows;
Dr. Hough represents the fellows as coming to solicit him.
These differences between the two writers are so clearly given in the
critic previously alluded to (Tablet, March 10, 1849), that they hardly admit
of alteration, and are therefore quoted at length in the text.
xl.
PREFACE.
"Mr. Macaulay says that, after many professions of friendship,
Penn 'began to hint at a compromise;' Dr. Hough 'thanks God he
did not so much as offer at any proposal by way of accommodation,
which was the thing I most dreaded.'
"Mr. Macaulay makes his readers believe that the topics urged by
Penn were urged to persuade them to compromise; Dr. Hough de-
scribes them as used to convince the fellows that there was little hope
of success from his intercession.
“Mr. Macaulay represents Penn as trying to overcome the scruples
of the fellows to the commission of perjury; Dr. Hough represents
him as admitting that the fellows 'gave satisfactory answers to his
'objections.'
"Mr. Macaulay represents Penn as talking the merest drivel,
relying solely on James's moderation, and willing to give the 'Papists'
two or three colleges. in mere wanton injustice; Dr. Hough (most
unwillingly) shows that Penn thought the 'Papists' had a right to
two or three colleges, and believed they would abstain from further
demands because it would be dangerous to ask for more.
"Mr. Macaulay describes the result of the interview as the 'break-
ing off of a negotiation' by the fellows; Dr. Hough describes it as the
concession of a favour by Penn.
"In short, in every part of it, in general and in detail, no version
of the interview could be imagined or invented more remote from the
truth than that given by Mr. Macaulay. It is true that when some-
body mentioned the Bishop of Oxford's indisposition, Penn 'smiling'
asked the fellows how they would like Hough to be made a Bishop.
This remark, made as a joke, answered by Mr. Cradock as a joke, and
-even by Dr. Hough, who answered it more seriously, not taken as
an offer at any proposal by way of accommodation'--this casual
piece of jocosity; picked out of a three hours' conversation; reported
by one interlocutor without the privity of the other; and, if taken
seriously, at variance with every other part of the conversation, and
unconnected with its general tenour, is gravely brought forward as a
roof that a man otherwise honest deliberately intended to use 'simony'
as a bait to tempt a divine to what both parties knew to be ‘perjury.'
"If Mr. Macaulay were Crown counsel arguing for Penn's conviction
before a common jury, such a 'point' would be too gross even for the
license of the Old Bailey. But if this be admitted as a canon, not of
PREFACE.
xli
1
the venal advocate, but of the grave historian, who, by virtue of his
function, is bound to judicial soberness and impartiality, God help the
characters of all honest men."
Before leaving this case, it may be well to quote Sewell's notice of
it in his " History of the Quakers," in order that the reader may
observe how completely Wilmot's account is confirmed, and Mr.
Macaulay's contradicted, by an entirely independent narrator, who
was, as Clarkson says, "then in corrrespondence with Peun, knowing
almost every thing relating to him as it happened, and who must have
obtained his information from sources quite distinct from Wilmot,
none of the documents quoted by the latter having been published till
after his death."
"The King having thus granted liberty of conscience to people of
all persuasions," says Sewell,*
*"did whatever he could to introduce
Popery in England, for he permitted the Jesuits to erect a College in
the Savoy at London, and suffered the fryars to go publickly in the
dress of their monastical orders. This was a very strange sight to
Protestants in England, and it caused no small fermentation in the
minds of people, when the fellows of Magdalen College, at Oxford,
were by the King's order dispossessed, to make way for Romanists.
This was such a gross usurpation, that W. Penn, who had ready
access to the King, and who endeavoured to get the penal laws and
test abrogated, thinking it possible to find out a way, whereby to
limit the Papists so effectually that they should not be able to pre-
vail, did, for all that, not omit to blame this usurpation at Oxford,
and to tell the King, that it was an act which could not in justice be
defended; since the general liberty of conscience did not allow of
depriving any of their property, who did what they ought to do, as
the fellows of the said College appeared to have done."
Objection might possibly be made to this testimony of Sewell, if
taken by itself, though hardly with reason, inasmuch as his reputation
for honesty as a historian is unquestioned, and his feeling as a Dutch-
man and a Protestant, in favour of William and his policy, and in
opposition to James (abundantly shown in his work), was such as
would counteract any bias to which his Quakerism and friendship for
Penn might expose him; but certainly, as corroborative evidence,
such testimony is as indisputable as strong.
* Servell D. 609.
xlii.
PREFACE.
Surely, then, an examination into the true facts of this Oxford
business makes it not unjust to Mr. Macaulay to assert, that his
charges against Penn of "intimidation," of being a "broker in simony
of a peculiarly discreditable kind," of endeavours "to tempt a divine
to perjury,' to "terrify or bribe" men to forsake "the path of right,"
are all groundless; that his statement, that even in the first instance
he was employed by the Court, is unproved; and that the impression
given, that he was its agent in the last and most important interview,
is the very reverse of the truth, the requests for his intercession, which
his reputation for "doing good to mankind," and honest struggles to
"undeceive" the King, induced such men as Bailey to make to him,
being construed, as in the case of Kiffin, into attempts on his part to
seduce and efforts to frighten.
It would be hard to find any other history in which the very virtues
of a man are thus twisted inte grounds for the most injurious attacks
upon his character.
But however unwarranted these attacks, this much must be allowed,
that the tone of Hough's letter does give ground to believe that he
regarded Penn with some suspicion, as a supposed supporter of the
King's general policy, and possible participator in his designs against
the interests of the Protestant Church. It remains, therefore, to be
considered how far this suspicion, which indeed forms the sole excuse
for Mr. Macaulay's strictures, was justified-on what facts it was
grounded, and whether these facts were in themselves discreditable or
not.
In order to reply to these questions, a few remarks respecting
Penn's connection with the Court, and its cause, will be needed.
When James came to the throne, there were in the prisons of his
kingdom about 1400* Quakers, more than 200 of them women,
unoffending people, forced by the very tenets of that faith for which
they suffered to be loyal subjects and peaceable citizens, whose sole
alleged crime was their obedience to the voice of conscience. For
this obedience, from the time they had first gathered together as a
sect, each religious party, as it gained political sway, had measured
its power by their persecution. As Penn said, when stating their
wrongs to the Parliament of 1679, they had been as the "
whipping-stock of the kingdom: all laws had been let loose upon
common
* Petition of Quakers to Parliament, 1685; Sewell, p. 588; and Petition
to the King, id. p. 592.
PREFACE.
xliii.
them, as if the design had been, not to reform, but to destroy
them."
;
66
George Fox, their founder and leader, would have been qualified tc
draw up a report of the state of the gaols of the island, so universal
and experimental was his acquaintance with them, and a sad list it
would have shown of noisome holes and stifling dungeons, for those
were days in which Prison Reform had been but little agitated.
More than 320* Quakers had died in confinement between 1660
and James's accession at that very time many were tending
towards their destruction ;" and very shortly before "several poor
innocent tradesmen had been so suffocated by the closeness of Newgate,
that they had been taken out sick of a malignant fever, and had died
in a few days." Nor were their sufferings restricted to imprison-
ment their meetings for worship were dispersed, their wives and
daughters ill-treated, their goods spoiled, often "not a bed left to rest
upon;" informers-hardened wretches, their own consciences long
seared in sin-were set upon them, encouraged to turn their con-
sciences to profit, to make merchandise of their misery. These
bloodhounds of the law were the missionaries-sanguinary enactments
were the arguments employed in the conversion of the Quaker alike
by cavalier parson and puritan preacher.
Few persecutions, indeed, have been more cruel or severe than that
endured by the first generation of the "Friends," and in none have the
patience and faithfulness of its victims been exceeded. History
records no instance in which they, any one of them, denied or concealed
their principles, or attempted to retaliate on their oppressors. Thus
long and fiercely had the storm of bigotry raged against Penn's fellow-
religionists, nor had he himself fled from its fury. Bravely had he
borne up against it. Four times he had been imprisoned, twice sent
to the Tower; once at the instigation of the Bishop of London, he had
for writing a book in defence of his faith, been immured there in close
confinement, none of his friends allowed access to him: his father, the
old Admiral, whose distaste to enthusiasm was almost equal to
Mr. Macaulay's, then managed to inform him "that the Bishop was
resolved he should either publicly recant or die a prisoner." "Tell
my father," he replied, "that my prison shall be my grave before I
* Petition, Sewell, p. 588.
↑ Croese, p. 101.
xliv.
PREFACE.
will budge a jot, for I owe my conscience to no mortal man. I have
no need to fear. God will make amends for all!"*
Once, indeed, he did succeed in defeating the malice of his foes,
when, after having been kept untried some months in Newgate, he was
brought to the bar of the Old Bailey, and, thanks to his own ability
and courage, acquitted. That famous trial would alone explain the
fact, which is so puzzling to Mr. Macaulay, the honour paid to his
name by posterity, for it is hard to say how much of our present
religious freedom is not due to a defence which so ably proved that
the rights of conscience are inseparable from the civil liberties of a
British citizen.t
But at length there was a ray of hope for this despised and perse-
cuted people. The justice and mercy which had been denied to them,
when demanded on public grounds, they had some reason to look for
as boons to private friendship, "for between the new Sovereign and
Penn there had long been a familiar acquaintance."‡ The Admiral had,
on his deathbed, besought the Duke of York to protect his son, and
James had honestly fulfilled his promise to a beloved and faithful
servant, and indeed had already shown his goodwill by procuring
Penn's liberation from the Tower.§
The Quakers had therefore a friend at court, if they chose to use his
influence, and most culpable would he have been if he had neglected
to do so, seeing how much and for what purpose it was needed.
Hence it was that he "became a courtier," and, so great was the
affection and esteem of his Sovereign, "almost a favourite. He was
every day summoned from the gallery into the closet, and sometimes
had long audiences while peers were kept waiting in the ante-
*Life prefixed to Works, p. 6.
†
See "The People's Ancient and Just Liberties Asserted in the Trial of
William Penn and William Mead, at the Old Bailey, September, 1670."-
Works, vol. i. p. 7.-This trial, in fact, gave occasion to proceedings against
Bushel, the foreman of the jury, in which Lord Chief Justice Vaughan pro-
nounced his noble vindication of the right of jurors to deliver a free verdict,
which, by giving independence to juries, made the institution so effectual a
protection to the liberty of the subject.--See Bushel's Case, Vaughan's Reports,
p. 135.
Macaulay, vol. i. p. 506.
§ Penn's Letter to Popple.
■ Macaulay, vol. i. p. 506.
PREFACE.
xlv.
:
chambers. It was noised abroad that he had more real power to help
and hurt than many nobles who filled high offices. He was soon
surrounded by flatterers and suppliants. His house at Kensington
was sometimes thronged, at his hour of rising, by more than 200
suitors." Mr. Macaulay quotes in his margin the passage in Croese's
"Historia Quakeriana" describing these levies, but not that explaining
their cause. "When the carrying on these affairs required expences
at Court for writings and drawing out of things into acts, copyings,
fees, and other moneys which are due, or at least are usually payed,
Penn," says Croese, so discreetly managed matters, that out of his
own, which he had in abundance, he liberally discharged all emergent
expences."* No wonder that a courtier, who, in those days of universal
and unblushing corruption, not only did not sell his influence, but
actually paid out of his own pocket the expences of his petitioners,
had them rush in crowds to his gates. This passage, which Mr.
Macaulay does not quote, immediately follows one which he does, but,
as it is scarcely reconcileable with the estimate his after remarks show
him to have formed of Penn's conduct, it is not surprising that he
makes no mention of it.
"The first use," however, "which he made of his credit"-his
successful efforts to procure the liberation of the 1400 captive Quakers,
he allows "to have been highly commendable." But this success
did not, and indeed could not satisfy him: his friends were pardoned
by the King's mercy, but there was no security that the unjust laws
which had imprisoned them would not be again enforced. Nor was
it for the relief of his own persuasion alone that he laboured for the
repeal of the penal laws, but in order to ensure to all his fellow-
countrymen permission to worship their God as they pleased. The
fact is, he was an enthusiast in the cause of religious liberty: it was
a cause for which, ever since he had arrived at manhood, he had been
talking, writing, suffering.
* Croese, Cotemporary English Translation, book ii. p. 107. The Latin
is as follows:-"At qui hic, cum magni in his negotiis sumptus essent
faciendi, in aula, in curiis, pro scripturis, pro relationibus in acta, ex iisque
repetitionibus, pro cerariis, pro cæteris pecuniis, quæ sic debent, et etsi non
debent, tamen solent solvi. Pennus hæc omnia ita tractabat, ut quemad-
modum ei facultates abunde suppetebant, ita liberaliter ad omnia hæc sumptus
faceret."-Gerardi Croesi, Historia Quakeriana, lib. ií. p. 370.
+ Macaulay, vol. i. p. 50s.
xlvi.
PREFACE,
"Freedom in things relating to conscience,' was his petition to the
Earl of Orrery, in his carliest letter on record, written in his twenty-
third year; and three years after, when "a prisoner for conscience sake
in Newgate," he wrote his "Great Case of Liberty of Conscience,"
claiming it as "the undoubted right" of all, "by the law of God, of
nature, and of our own country."†
These were rare notions in those days, when the virtue of bigotry
was preached and practised alike by Independent, Presbyterian, and
Episcopalian; when liberty to serve God their own way, and to force
others to do the same, were the aims of each of the three great
divisions of British Protestants. Especially did they all three agree
in a firm belief in their duty to persecute the Papists. Catholics and
Quakers, professing as it were the two extremes of Christianity, they
often met in the dungeon, and thus it was that, in 1678, when
Churchmen and Dissenters forgot their mutual hatred in their frenzied
fear of the Popish plot, they could yet spare some cruelty for the
poor "Friends." The memory of the Marian persecution gives some
ground, if not excuse, for their hatred of the Romanists, but why they
should include the Quakers in their wrath it is hard to determine,
unless indeed their avowed respect for the conscience even of a Papist
was so unaccountable, that it could only be ascribed to a concealed
adherence to his faith.
Hence possibly the reason that many of them, and Penn especially,
were often called Papists-Jesuits in disguise. Nevertheless, spite of
this prejudice, and at the very height of the anti-Popery fury, he yet,
when protesting before a Committee of Parliament against the in-
justice of whipping Quakers for Papists," ventured to add that he
did not "think it fit that even Papists should be whipt for their
consciences, for such arguments," he said, "did not seem to him to be
convincing, or indeed adequate to the reason of mankind." Such
words as these seem to us simple truisms, but those who have read
Mr. Macaulay's vivid description of the Reign of Terror, resulting
from the professed disclosures of the Popish Plot, will feel that only a
man who feared God, and no one else, would have dared to give them
utterance in presence of the Parliament of 1678.
• Life prefixed to Works, p. 3.
+ Penn's Works, vol. i. p. 443.
+ Life prefixed to Works vol. i. p. 118.
PRBFACE.
xlvii.
So then Penn might well say, in his letter to Popple,*" that liberty
of conscience is the first step to have a religion: this is no new
opinion with me. I have writ many apologies within the last twenty
years to defend it;" but he adds, as though anticipating the publication
of Mr. Macaulay's History, yet" did I never once think of promoting
any sort of liberty of conscience for any body which did not preserve
the common Protestancy of the kingdom and the ancient rights of the
government; for to say truth the one cannot be maintained without
the other."
This sentence recalls us to the question at issue. Did "his enthu-
siasm for one great principle impel him to violate other great prin-
ciples which he ought to have held sacred?" Did he, in his zeal
for liberty of conscience, forget the liberties of the subject, or try to
undermine the Protestant religion?
Fairly to consider this question, we must put ourselves in his
position, and view the circumstances around him, not by the light
which after events have cast upon them, but by that with which we
should have seen them frem his point of view.
His position was in truth a peculiar one. The faith in which the
King was a sincere, though a superstitious believer, was a persecuted
religion; to repeal, therefore, those penal laws, which, in punishing all
want of conformity with the Established Church, pressed so heavily
on the Papists, became the object of his reign. The interests of his
religion compelled him to appear at least to believe in the great prin-
ciple of religious freedom: whether he did so in truth is certainly
questionable. Mr. Macaulay takes great pains to show that he did
not, that throughout he was at heart a bigot, wanting the power not
the will to rekindle the fires of Smithfield. James's general character
certainly does not disprove this charge, nor again, on the other side,
do the facts of history prove it, for the persecutions of the Dissenters
during the early part of his reign might have arisen not so much
from religious as political hatred to the party which had sent his
father to the scaffold and himself into exile, and was even then in
actual rebellion or undisguised opposition against his prerogative.
Probably his exact motives will never be ascertained, nor is it of
importance that they should be; enough for our purpose, that Penu
Works, vol. i. p. 186. This letter was written October 24th, 1688.
↑ Macaulay, vol. i. p. 507.
(-
xlviii.
PREFACE.
had good reason for giving faith to his professions, for, so far as his
own experience went, he had proved their sincerity. "Whatever
practices of Roman Catholics we might," he says, in his letter to
Popple, "reasonably object against, and no doubt but such there are,
yet he (the King) has disclaimed and reprehended these ill things by
his declared opinion against persecution, by the ease in which he
: actually indulges all Dissenters, and by the confirmation he offers in
Parliament for the security of the Protestant religion and liberty of
conscience. And in his honour, as well as in my own defence, I am
obliged in conscience to say that he has ever declared to me, it was
his opinion, and on all occasions, when Duke, he never refused me
the repeated proofs of it, as often as I had any poor sufferer for
conscience-sake to solicit his help for."
But even had Penn doubted the King's word, which plainly he had
no reason to do, he would have acted very foolishly not to have turned
it to advantage, for his cause wanted all the help it could gain. By
an accident, as it were, the ruling party was for him, but its tenure
of power was uncertain, depending solely on the King's rule, and
against him were combined the two great parties, between whom had
hitherto alternated all political sway. The High Church Tory sup-
ported the penal laws, because he thought it his duty to persecute
both Papist and Puritan; the Puritan Whig wished indeed to repeal
them for his own sect, but to continue them for the Catholic, for
though now under oppression himself, the traditions of Quakers im-
prisoned during the Commonwealth, and still later of Catholics hunted
to death at the cry of Oates and his pack of informers, were memories
too sweet to allow him to forego all hope of oppressing others.
What, then, was the course for a man to take, who, like Penn, was
anxious to secure to all his fellow-subjects the freedom which he
claimed for himself? He could join neither of the parties in oppo-
sition; he knew them both too well; he himself owed a close confine-
ment in the Tower to a bishop, and not ten years before he had been
forced to protest "against laws made" by the Whig Parliament
'against Papists, but unjustly turned" against his friends,* at which
time also he would remember that the Puritans in New England had
proved what he might expect from Puritan rule, for "persecution,
says Sewell, "being then (1677) hot in Old England, it made those
46
Life prefixed to Works, vol. i. p. 117.
PREFACE.
xlix.
in New England the worse, insomuch that they did not only whip the
Quakers that were there, but also some masters of ships that were no
Quakers, only for bringing some of that persuasion thither."* Plainly,
then, his part was to do precisely what he did do, namely, first to
support the King in his efforts to give present freedom of opinion, and
then to do his utmost to secure this freedom for the future, by basing
it not upon the caprice or life of the sovereign, but the firm foundation
of a law secured by the concurrence of the people, expressed by Par-
liament. To gain this concurrence he struggled hard, by appealing
to the common sense of the nation, and to the true interests of all
parties, for doing which he reaped the unfailing reward of interference
with prejudice, abuse from them all; but, though accused often enough
by an "undiscerning multitude of being a Papist, nay a Jesuit,"† and
suspected even by such men as Hough of a wish to subvert the Pro-
testant Church, the one charge was as true as the other, and his
assailants may be defied to produce evidence that he either advised or
supported any attack by the King on the religion or rights or property
of his subjects.
So far from desiring to supplant Protestant by Papal supremacy,
his writings abundantly prove that he always felt and advocated
the necessity of providing against the possibility of such change.
In a pamphlett he published in 1679, he dwelt much on the dis-
tinction which the obedience to the foreign power of the Pope made
between the Catholic and the Protestant Dissenter, and in 1687,
during the heat of the ferment caused by the Royal measures, in his
"Good Advice to the Church of England, Roman Catholic, and Pro-
testant Dissenter, in which it is endeavoured to be made appear that
it is their Duty, Principle, and Interest to Abolish the Penal Laws
and Tests,"§ he declares positively that " a toleration, and no more,
is that which all Romanists ought to be satisfied with."|| In fact,
every word in his writings confirms the statement in Hough's letter,
that though he was in advance of his age even so far as to conceive that
the members of the Church of England should not alone be "capable
*Sewell, p. 567.
† Macaulay, vol. i. p. 506.
Project for the Good of England. Works, vol. i. p. 682 to 691.
§ Works, vol. ii. p. 749.
↑ Idem, vol. ii. p. 768.
1.
PREFACE.
of giving their children a learned education," yet he "always declared
his opinion that the preferments of the Church should not be put into any
other hands but such as they at present are in." Sewell's testimony
to the same effect has already been quoted, viz., that though he
"endeavoured to get the penal laws and test abrogated," he yet
thought "it possible to find out a way whereby to limit the Papists
so effectually that they should not be able to prevail."*
Nor even in that most difficult question of the Declaration of
Indulgence can Penn's conduct fairly be blamed. That famous act,
the persistence in which was the immediate cause of James's loss of
his crown, may be designated as an attempt to attain a good end by
bad means.
The penal laws were a disgrace to the Statute-book and
a grievous oppression to many of his subjects. James suspended
them, but without the consent of his Parliament, by a simple exertion
of his prerogative. Liberty of conscience, therefore, was obtained by
an unconstitutional encroachment on the liberty of the subject. It
was received by the members of the Church, both lay and clerical,
with universal terror and indignation; the Dissenters were divided as
to its reception; some feared and suspected the giver too much to
thank him for his boon, which others hailed, regardless of the motive
which might have induced him to offer it. Peun was among the
grateful ones. “Our sufferings,” he said, in presenting the Quakers'
address, "would have moved stones to compassion, so we should be
harder if we were not moved to gratitude."† For feeling and expressing
this gratitude he incurs the reproach of Mr. Macaulay, but a little
consideration will show how strange it would have been if he had
acted otherwise. Mr. Macaulay himself acknowledges that when the
King thus tried to bribe the Nonconformists to aid him, the Church
suddenly became tolerant, and sought to outbid him, offering them
legal toleration, a Parliamentary indulgence, provided they would help
to maintain the enactments against the Catholics. To many of the
Dissenters the offer of the Church was the most tempting; their hatred
to Rome, their suspicion of the King's sincerity, their distrust of his
power, all induced them to accept it; but very diff rent motives would
influence Penn: his earnest desire was not to persecute but to tolerate
• Sewell, p. 609.
↑ Idem, p. 606.
Macaulay, vol. ii. p. 219 to 222.
PREFACE.
li.
the Papist; he had, as has been stated above, no ground to suspect
the King, but he had good ground to fear the Church, for he had
suffered from its power, and to suspect its offer, for he could not be
sure that his friends would benefit by it. Cavaliers and Roundheads,
Whig and Tory Parliaments, had each proved their hostility to the
Quakers, how then could he trust that an act passed by an union
between Whigs and Tories would not exclude his clients from relief?
Can we then wonder that, to so uncertain a future hope, he preferred
a certain present gain?
Surely, if Mr. Macaulay had recalled to his memory the vast differ-
ence which the Puritan persecution of the Quakers made, as he had
himself previously shown,* between their position and that of the
other Dissenters, he would not, in order to explain Penn's support of
a measure which gave his friends the justice they could expect no
where else, be compelled to imagine that "the life which he had been
leading during two years had not a little impaired his moral sen-
sibility."†
Seeing, therefore, what was his experience of the mercy and justice
of Parliaments-the laws which had been passed in the last reign, and
that even during this the petition to Parliament for his captive brethren
had been of no avail, while that to the King had resulted in their
freedom, "his conscience" could scarcely have "reproached him"‡ if
he had supported his Sovereign in his defiance of the constitution, for
what to him was a constitution which punished him for worshipping
his God?
But even this he did not do: he not only did not uphold the King in
any attempt to rule without the aid of Parliament, but, on the con-
trary, he throughout advised him against such course. This fact is
not alluded to by Mr. Macaulay, though twice stated by Sir James
Mackintosh, to whose authority he generally pays the attention it
deserves. "Penn," says Mackintosh,§ quoting Johnstone's corre-
spondence of 6th February, 1688, "desired a Parliament, as the only
mode of establishing toleration without subverting the laws." Again
he says that after the second proclamation of the Declaration of
* Macaulay, vol. i. p. 508.
✦ Macaulay, vol. ii. p. 224.
↑ Idem.
§ Mackintosh, p. 219.
lii.
PREFACE.
}
**
Indulgence (April, 1688), he "desired a Parliament, from a hope that,
if the convocation were not too long delayed, it might produce a com-
promise, in which the King might, for the time, be contented with an
universal toleration of worship." The wording of the address he
presented of the yearly meeting of Quakers confirms this view, inas-
much as, while thanking the King for his "Christian Declaration for
Liberty of Conscience," "it looks forward to such a concurrence from
Parliament as may secure it to their posterity in after times." "Tis
plain, therefore," says Besse, in his Life, prefixed to Penn's Works,
they, the Quakers, gratefully accepted of the suspension of the penal
laws by the King's prerogative (as who in their case would not?) a
thing in itself just and reasonable, in hopes of having the same
afterwards confirmed by the legislative authority, there being at that
time much talk of an approaching Parliament, and that their expecta-
tion centered not in the King's dispensing power is evident by our
author's continuing his endeavours to show the necessity of abolishing
the penal laws, for soon after this he writ a large tract, called 'Good
Advice to the Church of England,' &c.”‡
One word more about this Declaration of Indulgence: Mr. Macaulay
says Penn tried to gain William's assent to it, "sent copious disqui-
sitions to the Hague, and even went there, in the hope that his elo-
quence, of which he had a high opinion, would prove irresistible."§
All this is gratuitous assumption, for which indeed the author quotes
Burnet, but had he read him, he would see that Penn's argument with
the Prince was about the abolition of the Test, and that the Declaration
of Indulgence was not then named, nor is it mentioned till several
pages afterwards, and had he condescended to glance at Clarkson's
Life, he would have learnt that this journey to the Continent, which,
by the way, was a religious mission to both Holland and Germany,
was during the year 1686, while the Declaration, it is well known, was
* Mackintosh, p. 241.
† Life prefixed to Works, vol. i. p 130. As this address is probably one
of those which Mr. M. alludes to as "fulsomely servile" (vol. ii. p. 225), it will
be well for the reader to refer to it (Clarkson, p. 180), in order that he may
judge how far this epithet is applicable.
Life prefixed to Works, vol. i. p. 131 (1726).
§ Macaulay, vol. ii. p. 234.
Burnet's Own Times, vol. i. p. 693. (Ed. 1724.)
Idem, p. 714.
PREFACE.
liii.
not in existence till April, 1687. Had he also observed the following
passage, in one of those letters from Van Citters, the Dutch ambassador,
from which he so often quotes, which proves that Penn's eloquence
was exerted the year before the Declaration, and simply in regard to
toleration, he would, though losing an opportunity for a sneer at the
Quaker, have been saved from so glaring a chronological mistake :—
“With regard to the point of toleration," writes Van Citters, “West-
minster, 26 Nov.
1686, it is reported here that both his Highness
and my Lady the Princess have declared in favour of it, and that this
will be reported in the next Parliament, and that they have discoursed
at length thereon with the well-known Pen, the arch Quaker, who is
Governor of Pennsylvania, and have declared themselves to this extent
on that subject.”
6 Dec.
*
The reader will now be able to judge how far the epithet "intem-
perate," applied by Mr. Macaulay to Penn's labours for religious.
liberty, is warranted by the history of his conduct. Not only does
that history give no evidence that he abetted the Court in any act of
"Aan Syn Hoogheyt en den Raedpensionaris van Hollant.
"Westminster den,
6 Dec.
26 Nov.
1686.
"Aengaende het point der Tollerantie wert hier nu opentlyk voorgegeven,
dat soo syn Hoogheyt als Mevrouw de Princes haer daer vooren souden
verclaert hebben, en dat men in het aenstaende Parlement dat mede soo
debiteren zal, en dat hoogstgedaghte syn hoogheyt met den bekenden Pen
die Archiquaecker, wie patron is van Pensilvania in America, daerover in 't
lange soude gesproken hebben, en denselve hem dien aengaende diermaten,
soude verclaert hebben."-Van Citter's Letters, Dutch Archives.
† Macaulay, vol. ii. p. 241. This charge of intemperance had been made
against Penn in his life-time, and his spirited defence is worth quoting :-
Some "nameless author had charged him with showing in the late reign an
intemperate zeal for a boundless liberty of conscience. Not more intem
perate," he replied, "in the reign that favoured it than in the reign I con-
tended with that did not favour it. And no man but a persecutor, which I
count a beast of prey, and a declared enemy to mankind, can, without great
injustice or ingratitude, reproch that part I had in King James's court; for
I think I may say without vanity, upon this provocation, I endeavoured at
least to do some good, at my own cost, and would have been glad to have
done more. I am very sure I intended, and I think I did harm to none,
neither parties nor private persons, my own family excepted, for which I
doubt not the author's pardon, since he shows himself so little concerned for
the master of it."-Life prefixed to Works, p. 142.
liv.
PREFACE.
cruelty or injustice, or conspired with it in any plot to rob the Church
or establish tyranny, but it does give evidence that he opposed both
such special acts and such general policy. His remonstrance with
the King against his attempt to despoil Magdalen College has been
stated above-his desire that he should not dispense with Parliament
has just been mentioned. Johnstone, moreover, in his Correspondence,*
expressly states that he advised against the most despotic of James's
deeds, that order to the clergy to read the Declaration, which resulted
in the committal of the Bishops to the Tower; and, as to his general
policy, we have in his favour the testimony of two most unexceptionable
authorities, both of them cotemporary, and both devoted to the Pro-
testant cause. Lord Clarendon informs us, in his Diary,† that "he
laboured to thwart the Jesuitical influence that predominated in
James's reign, and of this there is most full confirmation in a letter
from Van Citters, deposited in the State Paper Archives at the Hague,
"One of these
in which he writes the Prince of Orange as follows:
days the well-known Arch Quaker Penn had a long interview with
the King, and, as he has told one of his friends, has, he thinks, shown
to the King that the Parliament would never consent to the revocation
of the Test and Penal Laws, and that he never would get a Parliament
to his mind so long as he would not go to work with greater mode-
ration, and drive away from his presence, or at least not listen to
these immoderate Jesuits, and other Papists, who surround him daily,
and whose immoderate advice he now follows."‡
• Johnstone, 23rd May, 1688. This is another fact, which, though quoted
by Sir James Mackintosh (p. 241), is not adverted to by Mr Macaulay. See
also another" cotemporary authority, in Mr. Lawton's Memoir of William
Penn, in Mem. Pen. Hist. Soc., vol. iii. part ii. page 230, 231," quoted in
Bancroft's Hist. of United States, vol. ii. p. 397 n.: "Penn was against the
commitment of the Bishops." "He pressed the King exceedingly to set
them at liberty."
† June 23, 1688.
"Aan Syn Hoogheyt & Raedpensionaris van Hollant.
29
19
"Windsor den, July, 1687.
"Dezer dagen was den bekenden Archiquaecker Pen zeer lange by den
Coning, en soo hy aen een syner vrienden verhaelt heeft soude. soo hy meynt,
aen S. M. vertoont hebben, dat het Parlement noyt tot vernietieginge van
den Test en Poenale Wetten sal willen verstaen ook noyt een Parlement
PREFACE.
lv.
·
This letter was written some time after the proclamation of the
indulgence (July, 1687), by a man whose business it was to learn
the character and sentiments of every person of influence in the Court,
and who had the best opportunity for getting at the truth; and it
is therefore somewhat strange that Mr. Macaulay, although he
acknowledges* the great assistance he has obtained from the perusal
of his dispatches, has so entirely neglected in this case also to make
use of the information they afford.
If, then, truth-telling loyalty to his Sovereign, and honest gratitude
to his benefactor-if earnest endeavours to rescue his brethren from
oppression, and to free the consciences of his fellow-subjects, were
acts of intemperance, then was Penn's conduct "intemperate" evidence
that a Court had "impaired his moral sensibility;" and if the preaching
of principles which were not practised, because too pure for his age,
was a folly, then did his political life give "proof that he was not a
man of strong sense;" but, if such be Mr. Macaulay's rule of judgment,
he must excuse his readers if they apply it to himself. The temptation
is irresistible to appeal from the historian to the politician, and to ask
him whether "his conscience reproaches" him for his eloquence in
behalf of freedom of thought-whether he looks back with regret, as
upon youthful indiscretions, upon any attempts which he may have
made to aid his country in its progress-to improve the imperfect
present by holding out the ideal future?
True it is, that Penn's efforts were unsuccessful-that the King,
turning a deaf ear to his counsel, was hurled from his throne-that
Catholic and Dissenter, disregarding his "Good Advice,” his “Per-
suasive to Moderation," rivetted each of them his own chains in
striving to fasten them on the neck of the other, and so the one kept
his Penal Laws and the other his Test Act, and for a time Penn's
policy was a failure, or rather its accomplishment was delayed—until,
by abolishing the Test and emancipating the Catholics, Mr. Macaulay
and his friends succeeded in putting his theories into practice.
Yes, strange as it may seem, to fulfil the visions of this man, declared
tot syn sin krygen, soo hy met geen meerder moderatie wil te werk gaen en
van hem eloigneren, immers soo verre geen gehoor geven, die immoderate
Jesuyten en Andere Papisten die dagelyks om hem zyn en wiens immoderate
Concilia hy nu opvolgt."-Van Citter's Letters, Dutch Archives.
*Macaulay, vol. i. p. 440.
Ivi.
PREFACE.
to have been so vain and so foolish, have been, ever since his death, the
aim, the glory, of our best and wisest statesmen. Like as the citizens of
Philadelphia are even now building the streets which he planned on the
unpeopled waste, so are the workmen in the temple of freedom yet
labouring at the design which he sketched out. Possibly his notions
were dreams, but if so, they were at least dreams which Mr. Macaulay
would be proud to be told he had spent his political life in the effort
to realise.
There now remains for notice only one charge, or rather one state-
ment needing examination-for it can scarcely be considered a charge
-viz., the assertion, that "the Friends" disapproved of his conduct,
that "even his own sect looked coldly on him, and requited his services
with obloquy."* Whether this statement be a fact or not is a matter
of but little importance, for Quakers not being infallible, their good
opinion of a line of policy is by no means necessary for its defence. It
certainly is not improbable that Penn may have had "notions more
correct than were in his day common," even among "the Friends,"
and that they also may have paid to his superior enlightenment its
usual reward of obloquy, but for their credit more than his, it is but
fair to state that this assertion also is carelessly if not groundlessly
made.
Mr. Macaulay's authority is Gerard Croese, but he, it must be
remembered, did not belong to the Quakers himself, nor has his book
ever been acknowledged by them as a fair and exact history, and
therefore his testimony as to the opinion of their sect is of no value,
compared with that of their own accredited historians, Sewell, Besse,
and Gough. The favourable sentiments of the two first-named of
these writers, whose means of getting information were far superior
to any Croese can have possessed, have already been quoted, and
Gough writes to the same effect;† and indeed Mr. Macaulay would not,
it may confidently be stated, be able to find, either in the records of
the Society of Friends, or in any work allowed to be a fair expression
of its views, or in the journals of any of its leading members, any
passage which would support his insinuation, but, on the contrary,
Penn is in these documents always spoken of in terms which prove
that "the society of which he was a member" loved and respected
*Macaulay, vol. i. p. 506.
↑ Gough's History of the Quakers, vol. iii. p. 179; vol. iv. p. 177 to 179
PREFACE.
lvi
him, or, interpreting their sober reverence into Mr. Macaulay's bold
and somewhat exaggerated language, "honoured him as an Apostle."
It is possible, indeed, that, inasmuch as the early Friends looked
upon themselves as a peculiar people set apart to be the specia' servants
of Him whose kingdom is not of this world, some of them may have
looked with uneasiness on his exertions in the service of his country i
but even of such uneasiness there is no sufficient proof, and were
there, his character would be no ways affected. Enough, that the
form of his religion, his feelings as a Quaker, did not seem to him to
interfere with the fulfilment of his duty as a citizen. Had it done so,
that form would have been changed rather than his work left undone,
for he was not a man who could make one duty an excuse for shirking
another within his conscience there was no conflict between the
claims of religion and patriotism: he did not fly from the world, but
faced it with true words and true deeds, as one who, as he said himself
when, during the storm of persecution, he rebuked a powerful perse-
cutor, "was above the fear of man, whose breath is in his nostrils, and
must one day come to judgment, because he only feared the living
God, that made the heavens and the earth." This reverential
fear of God-this it was that made him fearless of man, that
gave him "integrity" to "stand firm against obloquy and perse-
cution," and not against them alone, but gave him power over
himself, strength to resist temptations from within as well as to
sustaiu violence from without; for it must be borne in mind,
that he was not one of those who take to piety only when wearied of
pleasure, ceasing to pluck the rose because they have been pricked by
its thorns. This "strong sense of religious duty" was not his because
his other senses were weak, or because he had satiated them; nor did
he refrain from enlisting himself in the service of God till he had
proved Mammon to be a hard master, but in the strength of his
passions he controlled them: in the spring-time of life, when the
prizes of pleasure and ambition were before him, he chose the path of
self denial, and walked in it to the end. Hear his own simple and
touching account of the experiences of his youth, as he thought it
right to relate them to some God-fearing men whom he met with in his
travels, in order, as he said, that "those who were come to any measure
of a divine sense" might be "as looking-glasses to each other, as face
Letter to Vice Chancellor of Oxford: Works, vol. i p. 155.
lviii.
PREFACE.
answereth face in a glass.' "Here I began to let them know," he
says, "how and when the Lord first appeared unto me (anno 1656),
which was about the twelfth year of my age; how at times, betwixt
that and the fifteenth, the Lord visited me, and the divine impressions
he gave me of himself; of my persecution at Oxford, and how the
Lord sustained me in the midst of that hellish darkness and de-
bauchery; of my being banished the College; the bitter usage I
underwent when I returned to my father; whipping, beating, and
turning out of doors in 1662; of the Lord's dealings with me in
France, and in the time of the Great Plague in London: in fine, the
deep sense he gave me of the vanity of this world, of the irreligious-
ness of the religions of it. Then, of my mournful and bitter cries to
Him, that He would show me His own way of life and salvation, and
my resolutions to follow him, whatever reproaches or sufferings should
attend me, and that with great reverence and brokenness of spirit.
How, after all this, the glory of the world overtook me, and I was
even ready to give up myself unto it, seeing as yet no such thing as
the Primitive Spirit and Church on the earth, and being ready to faint
concerning my hope of the restitution of all things," had not "at this
time the Lord visited me with a certain sound and testimony of His
eternal word, through one of these the world calls Quakers, namely,
Thomas Lbe." And then "I related to them the bitter mockings and
scornings that fell upon me, the displeasure of my parents, the in-
vectiveness and cruelty of the priests, the strangeness of all my
companions; what a sign and wonder they made of me; but above all,
that great cross of resisting and watching against mine own inward
vain affections and thoughts."
And this son of a courtier, who thus preferred a prison to a court-
who chose as the companions of his youth men, whose very name was
a byeword of scorn,† who until his forty-first year had led a life of
* Life prefixed to Works, p. 92.
"A Quaker," or "some very melancholy thing," Pepys describes him in
“A very
his Diary (December 29, 1667), on his return from Ireland.
pleasant" fact to Pepys, who hated the Admiral, and rejoiced in his per-
plexities at his son's religion, but, doubtless, in his eyes, a strange fancy to
be taken by the youth, who, three years before (Diary, August 16, 1664),
"had come back from France a most modish person, grown, my wife says, a
fine gentleman."
་་
PREFACE.
lix.
consistent self-control, and proved his sincerity by his sufferings and
sacrifices, can it be believed that he could have thus suddenly found
his "resolution give way," even though "courtly smiles and female
blandishments" had been "offered" as "bribes to his vanity"?
Mr. Macaulay's faith in human virtue must indeed have been sorely
tried--his estimate of the strength of religious duty must be but slight
-or, instead of suspecting "the eminent virtues of such a man,'
he would have questioned the probability of so strange a fall. But, ke
most men who are over doubting in one direction, he is too little so in
another, for if he has little faith in the truth of Penn's professions, he
has at least a firm confidence in the certainty of his own suspicions-
if he be sceptical of virtue, he compensates for it by being credulous of
vice; and so, if he refuses to listen to the concurrent testimony of
"rival nations and hostile sects," he yet gives full credence to the
insinuations of party prejudice, and makes up for his disbelief in the
general estimate of Penn's character by an admission of charges
respecting which it is hard to discover the facts of which they are the
distortion.
But the voice of history cannot be thus silenced: she has already
recorded her judgment, from which there is no appeal; and why need
Mr. Macaulay cavil at its justice, for. strange as it may seem to him,
there is in it no mystery,
This Quaker was a strong and a brave, and therefore a free man :
he ruled himself, and fearing God, feared no other; and so he made
posterity his debtor, for that spirit which won freedom for himself he
left to it as a legacy, and there is no fear that the debt due to him will
be unpaid, so long as the inheritance remains.
The memory of good men is sacred: we treasure it, as we value
our safety in the present-our hope for the future; for on what, after
all, depends our national freedom, of which Mr. Macaulay so often and
so loudly vaunts?-most assuredly not, as he would seem to think,* ov
the limitations of the prerogative of our rulers, handed down to us from
our ancestors, but on that spirit of individual justice, which, inasmuch
as it breathed in their hearts, made their freedom both possible and
necessary, of the strength whereof these limitations were and are the
exact measure. It is not to the fact that for ages past Englishmen
have had the habit of preventing their kings from taking their money
• Macaulay, vol. i. chap. 1.

PREFACE.
or making or breaking laws at their pleasure, that they owe w
liberties they possess. These "three great constitutional principle
as Mr. Macaulay calls them, are indeed the signs of our freedom, i
prevalence has been the measure of its growth, but to suppose the
be its origin is to commit the absurdity of taking the effect
cause. Individual self-government, that alone is the cause of nat
freedom-the source and guarantee of the liberty of the subject-
that alone makes personal liberty compatible with social order; and
this power of self-control, the force whercof guages the freedom of
governments, and without which all constitutions-yes, even t
"glorious constitution of 1688”—are mere waste-paper, of this powe
the highest possible ideal is "a strong sense of religious duty."
Alas, then, for our liberties, if ever, as a nation, we follow the example
of Mr. Macaulay, and reverence, in place of this spirit, those forms
which are but its expression, for then indeed will they become to us a
mockery and a stumbling-block, but until we do so, there is no fear
that we shall forget that "for the authority of law, for the security of
property, for the peace of our streets, for the happiness of our homes, our
gratitude is due," not alone" to the Long Parliament, to the Convention,
and to William of Orange,"† to them indeed, but if to them, then also to
that "mythical person," whose life, grotesque as may have been its
garb, was, more than that of any politician of his day, the incarnation
of this spirit of self-control, and whose words and deeds yet dwell
vithin our memories as witnesses of its power.
• Macaulay, vol. i. p. 29.
↑ Macaulay, concluding paragraph of vol. fi.
MEMOIRS
OF THE
LIFE OF WILLIAM PENN.
CHAPTER I.
WILLIAM PENN-HIS ORIGIN, OR LINEAL DESCENT, AS COLLECTED
FROM PUBLISHED ACCOUNTS.
WILLIAM PENN was descended from an ancient family, respectable both in
point of character and independence as early as the first public records
notice it. The following is a concise account of his origin:-
Among his early ancestors were those of the same name, who were
living, between four and five centuries ago, at the village of Penn in
Buckinghamshire. Further traces of this family are to be found in Penlands,
Pen-street, Pen-house, Pen-wood, all of them the names of places in the same
county.
From the Penns of Penn in Buckinghamshire came the Penns of Penn's
Lodge, near Myntie, on the edge of Bradon Forest, in the north-west part of
the county of Wilts, or rather in Gloucestershire, a small part of the latter
being inclosed within the former county. Here, that is, at Penn's Lodge,
we know that two, if not more, of the male branches so descended lived in
succession. The latter, whose name was William, was buried in Myntie
Church. A flat grave-stone, which perpetuates this event, is still remaining.
It stands in the passage between two pews in the chancel. It states, how-
ever, only that he died on the 12th of March, 1591.
From William, just mentioned, came Giles Penn. Giles, it is known, was
a captain in the royal navy. He held alsc for some time the office of
English Consul in the Mediterranean. Having intermarried with the family
of the Gilberts, who came originally from Yorkshire, but who then lived in
the county of Somerset, he had issue a son, whom he called William.
The last-mentioned William, following the profession of his father, became
a distinguished naval officer. He was born in the year 1621, and com-
manded at a very early age the fleet which Oliver Cromwell sent against
Hispaniola. This expedition, though it failed, brought no discredit upon
him, for Colonel Venables was the cause of its miscarriage. It was con
B
2
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
sidered, on the other hand, as far as Admiral Penn was concerned, that he
conducted it with equal wisdom and courage. After the restoration of
Charles the Second he was commander under the Duke of York in that great
and terrible sea-fight against the Dutch, under Admiral Opdam, in the
year 1665, where he contributed so much to the victory, that he was
knighted. He was ever afterwards received with all the marks of private
friendship at court. Though he was thus engaged both under the Parliament
and the King, he took no part in the civil war, but adhered to the duties of
his profession, which, by keeping him at a distance from the scene of civil
commotion, enabled him to serve his country without attaching himself to
either of the interests of the day. Besides the reputation of a great and
patriot officer, he acquired that of having improved the naval service in
several important departments. He was the author of several little tracts
on this subject, some of which are preserved in the British Museum. From
the monument erected to his memory by his wife, and which is to be seen
in Radcliffe Church in the city of Bristol, we may learn something of his
life, death, and character. "He was made captain (as this monument
records) at the years of twenty-one, rear-admiral of Ireland at twenty-three.
vice-admiral of Ireland at twenty-five, admiral to the Streights at twenty-
nine, vice-admiral of England at thirty-one, and general in the first Dutch
war at thirty-two; whence returning anno 1655, he was parliament-man
for the town of Weymouth; 1660 made commissioner of the admiralty and
navy, governor of the town and fort of Kingsale, vice-admiral of Munster
and a member of that provincial council, and anno 1664 was chosen great
captain commander under his royal highness in that signal and most
evidently successful fight against the Dutch fleet. Thus he took leave of
the sea, his old element, but continued still his other employs till 1669: at
that time, through bodily infirmities contracted by the care and fatigue of
public affairs, he withdrew, prepared, and made for his end; and with a
gentle and even gale, in much peace arrived and anchored in his last and
best port, at Wanstead in the county of Essex, the 16th of September, 1670,
being then but forty-nine years and four months old." These are the
words of the monument.
It will be proper now to observe, that Admiral Sir William Pent,
descended in the manner I have related, married Margaret, the daughter of
John Jasper, a merchant of Rotterdam in Helland, and that he had a son,
William, the person whose life is the subject of the present work.

IN
1
OF WILLIAM PENN.
CHAPTER II.
IS BORN IN 1644–GOES TO CHIGWELL SCHOOL-RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS
THERE-GOES TO OXFORD-HIS VERSES ON THE DEATH OF THE DUKE
OF GLOUCESTER-IS FURTHER IMPRESSED BY THE PREACHING OF
THOMAS LOE--FINED FOR NONCONFORMITY, AND AT LENGTH
EXPELLED-TURNED OUT OF DOORS BY HIS FATHER-IS SENT TO
FRANCE-RENCONTRE AT PARIS-STUDIES AT SAUMUR-VISITS TURIN
-IS SENT FOR HOME—BECOMES A STUDENT AT LINCOLN'S INN.
WILLIAM last mentioned, and now to be distinguished from Admiral Sir
William Penn, was born in London, in the parish of St. Catherine on Tower
Hill, on the 14th day of October, 1644.
He received the first rudiments of his education at Chigwell in Essex,
where there was an excellent free grammar school, founded only fifteen
years before by Samuel Harsnett, Archbishop of York. Chigwell was
particularly convenient for this purpose, being but at a short distance from
Wanstead, which was then the country residence of his father. As some-
thing remarkable is usually said of all great men in the early part of their
lives, so it was said of William Penn that, while here and alone in his
chamber, being then eleven years old, he was suddenly surprised with an
inward comfort, and as he thought an external glory in the room, which
gave rise to religious emotions, during which he had the strongest conviction
of the being of a God, and that the soul of man was capable of enjoying
communication with him. He believed also that the seal of divinity had
been put upon him at this moment, or that he had been awakened or called
upon to a holy life. But whatever was the external occasion, or whether
any or none, or whatever were the particular notions which he is said to
have imbibed at this period, certain it is, that while he was at Chigwell
school his mind was seriously impressed on the subject of religion.
Having left Chigwell at twelve years of age, he went to a private school
on Tower Hill, which was near his father's London residence. Here he had
greater advantages than before; for his father, to promote his scholarship,
kept for him a private tutor in his own house.
At the age of fifteen he had made such progress in his studies, that it was
thought fit to send him to college. He was accordingly entered a gentleman
commoner at Christ's Church, Oxford. He is said to have paid great
attention to his college exercises, and yet to have allowed himself all
reasonable recreation. The latter consisted partly of manly sports, in which
he took great delight, and partly of the society of those young men in the
university, who were distinguished either by their talents or their worth.
Among those of promising genius he was intimate with Robert Spencer,
afterwards the well-known Earl of Sunderland, and the venerable John
Locke.
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
It happened, while here, that the Duke of Gloucester, the second brother
of Charles the Second, died. He was taken off suddenly by the small-pox
in the twenty-first year of his age. The King, who loved him tenderly,
appeared to be more concerned for his loss than for any misfortune which
had ever befallen him. Indeed all historians agree in giving this young
prince an amiable character, so that there was great sorrow in the nation
on account of his death. Many belonging to the university of Oxford,
partaking of it, both students and others, gave to the world the poetic
effusions of their condolence on this occasion; and among these William Penn
was not behind hand, if we may judge from the following specimen, taken
from the Epicedia Academiæ Oxoniensis in Obitum celsissimi Principis Henrici,
Ducis Glocestriensis. 4to. 1660.
"Publica te, Dux magne, dabant jejunia genti,
Sed facta est, nato principe, festa dies.
Te moriente, licet celebraret læta triumphos
Anglia, solennes solvitur in lachrymas.
Solus ad arbitrium moderaris pectora; solus
Tu dolor accedis, deliciæque tuis.”
The foregoing elegy I cannot translate, particularly into metre, so as
either to comprehend the full sense of it, or to do justice to its merits; and.
unless it appear in a poetic dress, the force of it would be lost. I shall,
however, make an attempt, for the benefit of those who are English readers
only:-
Though 'twas a fast-day when thon cam'st, thy birth
Turn'd it at once to one of festive mirth.
Though England, at thy death, still made her show
Of public joy,* she pass'd to public woe.
Thou dost, alone, the public breast control,
Alone, delight and sorrow to the soul.
But though William Penn was a youth of a lively genius, as this little
specimen intimates, and though he indulged himself at times in manly
sports and exercises, as has been before mentioned, yet he never forgot the
religious impressions which he had received at Chigwell school. These, on
the other hand, had been considerably strengthened by the preaching of
Thomas Loe. This person, a layman, had belonged to the university of
Oxford, but had then become a Quaker. The doctrines which he promul-
gated seem to have given a new turn to the mind of William Penn, who was
incapable of concealing what he thought it a duty to profess. Accordingly,
on discovering that some of his fellow-students entertained religious senti-
ments which were in unison with his own, he began, in conjunction with
them, to withdraw himself from the established worship, and to hold
meetings where they followed their devotional exercises in their own way.
This conduct, which soon became known, gave offence to the heads of the
* On account of the Restoration.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
5
college, who in consequence of it fined all of them for nonconformity. This
happened in the year 1660.
But the imposition of this fine had not the desired effect. It neither
deterred him nor his associates from their old practices, nor from proceeding
even further where they thought themselves justified in so doing. An
opportunity for this presented itself soon afterwards; for an order came
down to Oxford from Charles the Second, that the surplice should be worn
according to the custom of ancient times. It was an unusual sight then at
that university. This sight operated differently upon different persons, but
so disagreeably upon William Penn, who conceived that the simplicity and
spirituality of the Christian religion would be destroyed by the introduction
of outward ceremonies and forms, that he could not bear it. Engaging,
therefore, his friend Robert Spencer, before mentioned, and some other
young gentlemen to join him, he fell upon those students who appeared in
surplices, and he and they together tore them everywhere over their heads.
This outrage was of so flagrant and public a nature, that the college
immediately took it up, and the result was, that William and several of his
associates were expelled.
William Penn, after his expulsion from college, returned home. His
father is said to have received him coldly. Indeed he could not be otherwise
than displeased with his son on account of the public disgrace which he had
thus incurred: but that which vexed him most was the change now ob-
servable in his habits; for he began to abandon what was called the
fashionable world, and to mix only with serious and religious people. It
was this dereliction of it which proved the greatest disappointment; for the
Admiral was fearful that all the prospects in life which he had formed for
his son, and which he could have promoted by his great connexions, would
be done away.
Anxious, therefore, to recover him, he had recourse to
argument. This failing, like one accustomed to arbitrary power, he proceeded
to blows; and the latter failing also, he turned him out of doors.
The Admiral, after a procedure so violent, began at length to relent. He
was himself, though perhaps hasty in his temper, a man of an excellent
disposition, so that his own good feelings frequently opposed themselves to
his anger on this occasion. His wife too, an amiable woman, lost no oppor-
tunity of intercession. Overcome, therefore, by his own affectionate nature
on the one hand, and by her entreaties on the other, he forgave his son.
But he was desirous of meeting the evil for the future, and he saw no other
means of doing it than by sending his son to France. He indulged a hope
that the change of scene might wean him from his old connexions, and that
the gaiety of French manners might correct the growing gravity of his
mind. Accordingly, in 1662, he sent him to that country, in company with
certain persons of rank who were then going upon their travels.
The place where William first resided was Paris. While here, but one
anecdote concerning him is recorded. It happened that he was attacked
6
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
one evening in the street by a person who drew his sword upon him in
consequence of a supposed affront. A conflict immediately ensued. William,
in the course of it, disarmed his antagonist, but proceeded no further, sparing
his life, when, by the confession of all those who relate the fact, he could
have taken it; thus exhibiting, says Gerard Croese, a testimony not only of
his courage, but of his forbearance.
It is nowhere said how long he remained at Paris; but it is probable that
his stay there was very short, and moreover that the gaiety and dissipation
of that city was far from pleasing him; for we find him afterwards, with his
companions, a resident for some months, in the years 1662 and 1663, at
Saumur, whither he had gone to avail himself of the conversation and
instruction of the learned Moses Amyrault, who was a Protestant minister
of the Calvinistic persuasion, professor of divinity at Saumur, and at this
time in the highest estimation of any divine in France. His works, such as
his "Paraphrase on the New Testament and Psalms," his "Apology for his
Religion," his "Treatise on Free-will," his "Exaltation of Faith and
Abasement of Reason," with many others, had been then widely circulated
and read. The greatest men in that kingdom, both Calvinists and Catholics,
honoured him with their friendship; and he was so highly esteemed by the
Cardinal Richlieu, that the latter imparted to him his design of uniting the
10 churches.
The learned Monsieur du Bosc, on seeing the print of his friend Moses
when it came out, wrote under it this distich :--
43
A Mose ad Mosem par Mosi non fuit ullus;
More, ore, et calamo mirus uterque fuit."
These lines the English biographer, who has noticed the life of Moses
Amyrault, has translated thus:-
From Moses down to Moses none,
Among the sons of men,
With equal lustre ever shone
In manners, tongue, and pen.
!
Under a man so conspicuous William Penn renewed his studies. He read
the Fathers: he turned over the pages of theology: he applied himself to
the rudiments of the French language, so as to become a proficient in the
knowledge of it. His residence here I beg the reader to remember, because
it will throw light upon a circumstance which will require development in
the course of the present work.
It appears when he left Saumur that he directed his course towards Italy,
and that he had reached Turin in his way thither; for, while there, a letter
reached him from his father desiring his return home. His father had then
received notice that he was to command the fleet against the Dutch, and
wished his son to take care of the family in his absence. William in conse-
quence returned. This was in 1664. During the few opportunities he had
OF WILLIAM PENN.
7
with his father, he is said to have given satisfaction; for though he had not
gone back (as indeed it would seem impossible under the care of Moses
Amyrault) in his regard and concern for religion, he was yet more lively in
his manners than before. He had contracted also a sort of polished or
courtly demeanour, which he had insensibly taken from the customs of the
people among whom he had lately lived.
It was thought advisable, as he had now returned from the Continent,
that he should know something of the laws of his own country; and
accordingly, on the suggestion of his father, he became a student of Lincoln's
Inn. He remained there for about a year, when the great plague making
its appearance in London, he quitted it, with many others, on the reasonable
precaution of self-preservation. This took place in the year 1665, in which
year he became of age.
CHAPTER III.
A. 1666-1667-IS SENT TO IRELAND-ATTENDS THE COURT OF THE
DUKE OF ORMOND-MEETS AGAIN WITH THOMAS LOE-IMPRESSION
AGAIN MADE BY THE SERMON OF THE LATTER-IS PUT INTO GAOL
FOR BEING AT A QUAKERS' MEETING-WRITES TO LORD ORRERY—
IS DISCHARGED FROM PRISON-IS REPORTED TO BE A QUAKER—
ORDERED HOME ON THAT ACCOUNT BY HIS FATHER-INTERESTING
INTERVIEW BETWEEN THEM-CONDITIONS OFFERED HIM BY HIS
FATHER-IS AGAIN TURNED OUT OF DOORS.
It is not probable, where men have pursued a path in conformity with their
belief of divine truths, that any ordinary measures taken to divert them
from it will be successful. The fire kindled in their minds may indeed be
smothered for a time, but it will eventually break forth. Such was the state
of the mind of William Penn at this period. He had come from the continent
with an air of gaiety and the show of polite manners, which the Admiral
had mistaken for a great change in his mind. But now, in 1666, all volatilǝ
appearances had died away. The grave and sedate habits of his countrymen,
the religious controversies then afloat, these and other circumstances of a
similar tendency had caused the spark which had appeared in him to revive
in its wonted strength. He became again a serious person. He mixed again
only with grave and religious people. His father, when he returned from
sea, could not but notice this change. It was the more visible on account of
the length of his absence. He saw it with all his former feelings; with the
same fear for the consequences, and the same determination to oppose it.
Not easily to be vanquished, he determined a second time to endeavour to
break up his son's connexions; and to effect this, he sent him to Ireland.
One reason which induced him to make choice of Ireland for this purpose
was his acquaintance with the Duke of Ormond (who was then lord lieutenant
8
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
of that country), as well as with several others who attended his court. The
Duke himself was a man of a graceful appearance, lively wit, and cheerful
temper; and his court had the reputation of great gaiety and splendour.
The Admiral conceived, therefore, if his son were properly introduced among
his friends there, that he might even yet receive a new bias, and acquire a
new taste. But this scheme of the Admiral did not answer. Nothing which
William saw there could shake his religious notions, or his determination to
a serious life. Everything, on the other hand, which he saw, tended to
confirm them. He considered the court, with its pomp and vanity, its parade
and ceremonies, as a direct nursery for vice; and as to its routine of
pleasures, it became to him only a routine of disgust.
Thus disappointed again in his expectations, but not yet overcome, the
Admiral had recourse to another expedient-an expedient, indeed, which he
had always contemplated in case of the failure of the other. He had large
estates in Ireland, one of which, comprehending Shannigary Castle, lay in
the barony of Imokelly, and the others in the baronies of Ibaune and
Barryroe, all of them in the county of Cork. He determined therefore to
give his son the sole management of these, knowing at least, while he
resided upon them, that he would be far from his English connexions, and
at any rate that he would have ample employment for his time. William
received his new commission. He was happy in the execution of it. He
performed it also, after a trial of many months, to the entire satisfaction
and even joy of his father; and he was going on in the yet diligent
performance of it, when, alas! this his very occupation (so often do the
efforts made to prevent an apprehended evil become the means of introducing
it) brought him eventually into the situation which his father of all others
deprecated! Being accidentally on business at Cork, he heard that Thomas
Loe (the layman of Oxford, mentioned in the preceding chapter to have
been the person who first confirmed his early religious impressions), was to
preach at a meeting of the Quakers in that city. It was impossible that he
could return to his farm without seeing the man whom he considered as his
greatest human benefactor, and still more without hearing his discourse.
Accordingly he attended. The preacher at length rose. He began with the
following text: "There is a faith which overcomes the world, and there is a
faith which is overcome by the world." On this subject he enlarged, and
this in so impressive a manner that William was quite overcome.
words indeed of the text were so adapted to his situation, that he could
hardly help considering them as peculiarly addressed to himself; for, from
the time of his leaving Chigwell school to the present, there had been a
constant struggle between himself and the world, and this entirely on
account of his faith. Such a discourse, if ably handled, must have come
home to him in every sentence. He must have seen his own arduous conflict
personified as it were and pourtrayed before him. He must have seen the
precipice on which he had stood, with the gulf terrible below. He must have
The
WILLIAM PENN.
9
seen some angel in the pictare cheering him for the efforts he had already
made, and some other holding up to his view at a distance a wreath of
never-fading glory, which he might gain by perseverance for the time to
come. But whatever were the topics of this discourse, it is certain that
William was so impressed by it, that though he had as yet not discovered a
partiality for any particular sect, he favoured the Quakers as a religious body
from that day.
The result of this preference was, that he began to attend their religious
meetings. But, alas! he soon learnt, from the ignorant prejudices of the
times, that in following the path which his own conscience dictated to him,
he had a bitter cup to drink: for being at one of these meetings, on the 3rd
of September, 1667, he was apprehended, on the plea of a proclamation
issued in 1660 against tumultuous assemblies, and carried before the mayor.
The latter, looking at him and observing that he was not clothed as others
of the society were, offered him his liberty if he would give bond for his good
behaviour. But William not choosing to do this, he was committed with
eighteen others to prison.
He had not been long there when he wrote to Lord Orrery, then president
of the council of Munster, to request his release. We find in this letter
nothing either servile or degrading. It was written, on the other hand, in a
manly and yet decorous manner. "Religion," says he,
Religion," says he, “which is at once my
crime and mine innocence, makes me a prisoner to a mayor's malice, but
mine own free man." He then informed the Earl of the reason of his
imprisonment: he showed him, that the proclamation did not reach his
case; and concluded by an appeal to his own good sense, and to his better
knowledge of theology, and by reminding him of his own conduct, when he
himself was a solicitor in behalf of liberty of conscience as one of the
greatest blessings which could be bestowed upon the land. This request, as
far as William was concerned, was quickly granted; for the Earl imme-
diately ordered his discharge.
William Penn had now for the first time tasted persecution for having
gratified his religious predilections, and had received an earnest of what he
might expect if he continued publicly to indulge them in his own way. This
experience, however, had not the effect of making him desert his new
Christian connexions. On the other hand, it strengthened him in the
resolution of a closer union with them. He had begun to suffer with them.
He had begun too to suffer for their cause. Mixing, therefore, more
intimately with them than ever, from this period, he began to be considered
by many, and even to be called by some, a Quaker.
The rumour that he had become a Quaker soon reached his father. It was
conveyed to him by a nobleman then resident in Ireland, who addressed'
him purposely on the subject. The Admiral, on the receipt of this letter, sent
for his son. William immediately obeyed, and returned home. At the first
interview all appeared to be well. There was nothing discoverable, either in
}
B 2
10
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
The
his dress or his manners, by which the information sent concerning him
could be judged to be true. In process of time, however, the concern of
mind under which he occasionally laboured, his dereliction of the customs of
the world, and particularly of the ceremony of the Hat, and his communion
with those only of the same peculiar cast, left no doubt of the fact.
Admiral, now more uneasy than ever (for he had tried his last expedient),
could no longer contain himself, but came to a direct explanation with his
son on the subject. The scene which passed between them is described as
having been peculiarly affecting. “And here,” says Joseph Besse (the first
collector of the works of William Penn, with a Journal of his Life prefixed),
my pen is diffident of her abilities to describe that most pathetic and
moving contest which was between his father and him: his father actuated
by natural love, principally aiming at his son's temporal honour; he, guided
by a divine impulse, having chiefly in view his own eternal welfare: his
father grieved to see the well accomplished son of his hopes, now ripe for
worldly promotion, voluntarily turning his back upon it; he, no less afflicted
to think a compliance with his earthly father's pleasures was inconsistent
with his obedience to his heavenly one: his father pressing his conformity
to the customs and fashions of the times; he, modestly craving leave to
refrain from what would hurt his conscience: his father earnestly entreating
him, and almost on his knees beseeching him, to yield to his desire; he, of
a loving and tender disposition, in an extreme agony of spirit to behold his
father's concern and trouble: his father threatening to disinherit him; he,
humbly submitting to his father's will therein: his father turning his back
on him in anger; he, lifting up his heart to God for strength to support him
in that time of trial."
This interview, though some of the best feelings of the human mind were
called forth in the course of it on the part of William, had not the desired
effect for the die was then cast; he had actually become a Quaker. The
Admiral, after this, gave up all thought of altering the general views of his
son. He hoped only to be able to prevail upon him to give up certain
peculiarities which appeared to have little to do with conscience, and to be
used merely as the distinguishing marks of a sect. He therefore told his son,
that he would trouble him no more on the subject of his conversion, if he
would only consent to sit with his hat off in his own presence, and in that of
the King and the Duke of York. William, on receiving the proposition
desired time to consider of it. This agitated his father. He had no concep-
tion that the subject of his solicitation required thought. He became
immediately suspicious, and told his son, that he had only asked for time,
that he might consult his friends, the Quakers. William assured his father
that he would do no such thing; and having pledged his word to this effect,
he left him, and retired to his own chamber.
It will be asked by some, what necessity there could be, in a matter,
apparently so trivial, to retire either for serious meditation or for divine
OF WILLIAM PENN.
11
help? The answer can be furnished only by representing what were the
notions of the Quakers on this subject at the time in question. I may
observe then, that, when they were first gathered out of the world, they
considered themselves as a select people, upon whom it devolved to bear
their public testimony by abandoning all those fashions and customs
belonging to it, which either corrupted or had a tendency to corrupt the
mind. Among others they discarded what may be called the ceremonial use
of the hat, such as the pulling it off on complimentary occasions. This they
did in particular for the following reasons. First, they took it for granted
that the use of the hat in the way described was either to show honour,
respect, submission, or some similar feeling of the mind; but they contended,
that, used as it then was, it was no more a criterion of these than mourning
garments were criterions of sorrow. The custom therefore, in their opinion,
led to repeated acts of insincerity. A show was held out of the mind's
intention where no such intention existed. Now Christianity was never
satisfied but with the truth. It forbad all false appearances. It allowed no
action to be resorted to that was not correspondent with the feelings of the
heart. Secondly, in the case where the custom was intended to have a
meaning, it was generally the sign of flattery. But no man could give way
to flattery without degrading himself, and at the same time unduly exalting
the person whom he distinguished by it. Hence they gave to the custom the
name of Hat-worship, a name which it bears among them at the present
day. Thirdly, it was the practice of their ministers, a practice enjoined by
the apostle Paul, to uncover their heads, that is, to pull off their hats, both
when they preached and prayed. But if they took off their hats as an
outward act enjoined in the service of God, neither they nor their followers
could with propriety take them off to men, because they would be thus
giving to the creature the same outward honour which they gave to the
Creator.
From this account it will be obvious, that the ceremonial use of the hat
was considered by the early Quakers as more connected with the conscience
than the Admiral had imagined it to be: and in this point of view it was
considered by his son also; for he looked upon the request of his father as
neither more nor less than a call upon him to pull down one of the human
barriers which he had but just erected in defence of his own virtue. This
thought produced in him an awful feeling; for, if one of these barriers were
destroyed, the citadel itself would be less safe. He conceived that if an
inroad, however small, were once suffered to be made on principle, other
inroads would become more easy. If the mind gave way but to one
deviation from what was right, it would more easily give way to others;
for, as in no instance it could do so without losing a portion of its
virtue, so, this portion being lost, its powers of resistance would be weakened.
Under this impression, conjoined with the circumstance of his father's
application, he experienced a severe conflict. He loved his father, and

12
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
respected him; yet he dared not do that which he conceived would obstruct
his religious growth. He was sensible of the duty which he owed him as a
parent; but he was equally sensible of a superior duty to God, to whom
ultimately he was responsible. Yielding at length to these considerations, he
found himself compelled to inform his father, that he could not accede to
his request. This he did with expressions of the greatest tenderness and
affection, as well as of filial submission. The Admiral heard his answer; but
could not bear it. Unable to gain the least coneession from his son, and
in a point where he judged it impossible that persons bred up as gentlemen
could disagree, he gave way to his anger, and in the violence of the blast,
which followed it, he once more turned him out of doors.
CHAPTER IV.
A. 1668-BECOMES A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL-PUBLISHES "TRUTH
EXALTED"-ALSO "THE GUIDE MISTAKEN"-HOLDS A PUBLIC CON-
TROVERSY WITH VINCENT IN THE PRESBYTERIAN MEETING-HOUSE
—PUBLISHES “THE SANDY FOUNDATION SHAKEN"-GENERAL CON-
TENTS OF THE SAME-IS SENT IN CONSEQUENCE TO THE TOWER—
SENDS AN ANSWER FROM THENCE TO THE BISHOP OF LONDON-
WRITES THERE “NO CROSS NO CROWN"-PARTICULAR CONTENTS
AND CHARACTER OF THIS WORK-SUBSTANCE OF HIS LETTER TO
THE LORD ARLINGTON-WRITES "INNOCENCY WITH HER OPEN
FACE"-IS DISCHARGED FROM THE TOWER.
WILLIAM was now thrown upon the wide world. Having no independent
fortune of his own, and having been brought up to no trade or profession,
he had not the means of getting his livelihood like other people. This
sudden change from affluence to poverty could not but at first have affected
him: but the thought of having broken the peace of mind, however
innocently, of so valuable a father, and of being apparently at variance with
him, was that which occasioned him the most pain. He is said to have
borne his situation with great resignation, deriving support from the belief
that they who left houses and parents for the kingdom of God's sake should
eventually reap their reward. He began, however, to find, that even in this
his temporal state he was not deserted. His mother kept up a communica-
tion with him privately, feeding him as well as she could from her own
purse; and several kind friends administered also to his wants.
In 1668, being then twenty-four years of age, he came forth in the
important character of a minister of the Gospel; having, as has been before
stated, joined in membership with the religious society of the Quakers.
In this year he became an author also. His first work bore the following
title: "Truth Exalted, in a short but sure Testimony against all those
Religions, Faiths, and Worships, that have been formed and followed in the
OF WILLIAM PENN.
19
Darkness of Apostasy, and for that glorious Light, which is now risen and
shines forth in the Life and Doctrine of the despised Quakers, as the alone
good old Way of Life and Salvation." This work, in which he thought it
his duty to stand forth to the world as the champion of his own particular
faith, was an address to kings, priests, and people, and to persons of various
denominations in religion; to the Catholics first, then to those of the Church
of England, and lastly to the different Protestant Separatists. He exhorted
them severally to examine the ground on which their faith and worship
stood; to inquire how far these were built on divine authority, or only on
the notions of men; and how far they were vitally supported, or dependent
upon carnal forms. He put questions to all of them concerning their
doctrine and practice, by which it was plain he conceived their religion to
stand "not in the divine, but in the fallen or apostate nature; not in the
broken, but in the stony heart." He then called their attention towards the
faith and practice of the Quakers, by means of which he contended that the
Truth, that is Christianity, was exalted; and that this was the only system
of faith and practice which would radically redeem from human traditions,
carnal ceremonies, and a persecuting spirit.
It is probable that some, judging from the title of this work, and from the
substance of it as it has now been given, may accuse William Penn of no
small share of arrogance as the author of it. But these must be informed,
that it was the belief of the early Quakers, that the system of religious
doctrine and practice, which was introduced by George Fox, was really a
new dispensation to restore Christianity to its primitive purity, and that they
were to have the honour of being made the instruments of spreading it
through the earth. This belief arose out of various considerations. In the
first place, they who followed this system led a life of great self-denial. They
abstained from the pleasures of the world, that they might avoid every thing
that could contaminate their moral character. They discarded all customs
which could bring their sobriety, chastity, and independence, into danger.
They watched over their very words, and changed the very names of things,
that they might always be found in the truth. They submitted to a
discipline strict and severe, that they might be continued in the proper
path. Friends of peace, they avoided, as far as was possible, all recourse to
law, and they refused to bear arms against their fellow-creatures on any
pretence whatever. Taking then into consideration this their system, and
comparing it with the practice of the world, it appeared to them like the
renovation of the primitive Christian system upon earth. It approached
also, in their opinion, like the latter, the nearest to the letter and spirit of
the new Covenant. When ushered into the world by them, it was followed,
considering the severity of its discipline, by an almost miraculous proselytism.
Priests, magistrates, and people left their religion in great numbers, many
of the former giving up valuable livings, to support it. They too, who thus
espoused it, were ready, like the apostles of old, to stamp the sincerity of

14
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
!
their conversion by martyrdom. From these and other considerations, the
early Quakers looked upon the system in question in the light now
mentioned; and hence it was that they spoke with an authority which
might have the appearance of arrogance with others.
Much about this time a person of the name of Jonathan Clapham published
"A Guide to the True Religion." His object, as there stated, was to assist
persons in making a proper choice of their faith. For this purpose he drew
up a number of articles, which he considered to compose the true Christian
creed. Those who embraced other articles, he pronounced to be incapable of
salvation, but particularly the Papists, Socinians, and Quakers; the last of
whom he treated with the most severity. This publication happened to fall
into the hands of William Penn. It set him as it were on fire, and he
brought out almost immediately "The Guide Mistaken." This book con-
tained four chapters. In the first he attempted to confute the Guide's
system of religion; in the second, he reprehended his aspersions; in the
third, he laboured to detect his hypocrisy; and in the fourth, he compared
his contradictions.
"The Guide Mistaken" had not been out long, when a circumstance
happened, which, as far as William Penn was concerned, led to a most
disagreeable result, the particulars of which I must now explain. Two
persons belonging to a Presbyterian congregation in Spitalfields went one
day to the meeting-house of the Quakers, merely to learn what their
religious doctrines were. It happened that they were converted there. This
news being carried to Thomas Vincent, their pastor, it so stirred him up,
that he not only used his influence to prevent the converts in question from
attending there again, but he decried the doctrines of the Quakers as
damnable, and said many unhandsome things concerning them. This
slander having gone abroad, William Penn, accompanied by George
Whitehead, an eminent minister among the Quakers, who had already
written twenty-nine pamphlets in their defence, went to Vincent, and
demauded an opportunity of defending their principles publicly. This,
after a good deal of demur, was agreed to. The Presbyterian meeting-
house was fixed upon for this purpose, and the day and hour appointed
also.
When the time came, the Quakers presented themselves at the door; but
Vincent, to insure a majority on his side, had filled a great part of the
meeting-house with his own hearers, so that there was but little room for
them. Penn, however, and Whitehead, with a few others of the society,
pushed their way in. They had scarcely done this, when they heard it
proclaimed aloud, "that the Quakers held damnable doctrines." Immediately
upon this Whitehead showed himself. He began, in answer to the charge,
to explain aloud what the principles of the society really were; but here
Vincent interrupted him, contending that it would be a better way of
proceeding for himself to examine the Quakers as to their own creed. He

OF WILLIAM PENN.
15
then put a proposal to this effect to the auditors. They agreed to it, and
their voice was law.
Vincent, having carried his point, began by asking the Quakers, "Whether
they owned one Godhead subsisting in three distinct and separate persons?”
Penn and his friend Whitehead both asserted that this, delivered as it was
by Vincent, was no scriptural doctrine. Vincent, in reply, formed a
syllogism upon the words "There are three that bear record in heaven, the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one," and
deduced from them the doctrine of three separate subsistences and yet of
out one Deity. Whitehead immediately rejected the term " subsistence," as
nowhere to be found in the Scriptures, and demanded that their opponents
should explain it, as God did not wrap up his truths in heathenish
metaphysics, but deliver them in plain language. Upon this several
attempted an explanation: but the sum of all their answers was, that
subsistence meant either person or the mode of a substance. To these
substitutes William Penn and Whitehead both objected. They urged many
texts from Scripture in behalf of their objection; and having done this, they
begged leave to ask Vincent one question in their turn, namely, "whether
God was to be understood in an abstractive sense from his substance?" but
the auditors pronounced this to be a point more fit for admiration than
dispute.
It will not be necessary to detail the arguments brought forward in this
controversy, in which much was said but nothing settled. It will be proper,
however, to say something of the manner in which it was conducted, as well
as of the result of it. While the debate was going on, great intemperance
was betrayed on the part of several of the Presbyterians. They laughed,
hissed, and stigmatized the Quakers by various opprobrious names, of which
that of Jesuit was exclusively bestowed upon William Penn. On an answer
which George Whitehead gave to a question, the indignation of the audience
increased, so that Vincent immediately went to prayer. In the course of his
supplications he accused the Quakers of blasphemy; and having finished
them, he desired his hearers to go home, and he withdrew himself at the
same time from the pulpit. In this situation the Quakers knew not what to
do. The congregation was leaving the meeting-house, and they had not yet
been heard. Finding they would soon be left to themselves, some of them at
length ventured to speak; but they were pulled down, and the candles (for
the controversy had lasted till midnight) were put out. They were not,
however, prevented by this usage from going on; for, rising up, they
continued their defence in the dark, and, what was extraordinary, many
staid to hear it. This brought Vincent among them with a candle.
Addressing himself to the Quakers, he desired them to disperse. To this at
length they consented, but only on the promise that another meeting should
be granted them for the same purpose in the same place.
William Penn and George Whitehead, having waited many days, during
16
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
which they could not make Vincent perform his promise, went to the
meeting-house again. This happened on a lecture-day. They waited till
the service was over, when they rose up, and begged that they might be
permitted to resume their defence. Vincent, however, who had by this time
left the pulpit, made the best of his way home; nor would any other of the
congregation, though repeatedly called upon, supply his place, either to
defend his conduct, or to argue the point in question.
William Penn, deprived now of an opportunity of defending the doctrine
which had been the subject of so much warmth during the controversy,
determined upon an appeal to the public. Accordingly he brought out " The
Sandy Foundation Shaken." He introduced it by a preface, in which he
noticed the proceedings relative to Vincent as now mentioned, and observed
upon the arguments then adduced. He then attempted to refute "The
Notion of One God subsisting in Three Distinct and Separate Persons;" also
The Notion of the Impossibility of God Pardoning Sinners without a
Plenary Satisfaction;" and "The Notion of the Justification of Impure
Persons by means of an Imputative Righteousness." This he attempted to
do by quotations from the Scriptures, by right reason, by an account of the
time and origin of these doctrines, and by the consequences which must flow
from them, if admitted. This work, when it came out, gave great offence.
It was then a high crime to defend publicly and openly, as in print, the
Unity of God detached from his Trinitarian nature. Among the offended
persons were some of the Prelates, of whom the Bishop of London was most
conspicuous. These made it an affair of public animadversion by the
government; and the consequence was, that William Penn was soon
afterwards apprehended, and sent as a prisoner to the Tower.
In this his new habitation he was treated with great severity. He was
not only kept in close confinement, but no one of his friends was permitted
to have access to him. A report was conveyed to him, to aggravate his
sufferings, that the Bishop of London had resolved that he should either
publicly recant, or die in prison. But his conduct was like that of all who
suffer for conscience-sake. He was too sincere in his faith to be changed by
such treatment. The law of force, the old State-argument in such cases,
never conquered religious error. In his reply to the Bishop of London,
instead of making any mean concession, he gave him in substance to under-
stand, "that he would weary out the malice of his enemies by his patience;
that great and good things were seldom obtained without loss and hardships;
that the man who would reap and not labour must faint with the wind and
perish in disappointments; and that his prison should be his grave, before
he would renounce his just opinions; for that he owed his conscience to no
man."
While he was in the Tower, he could not, consistently with his notions of
duty, remain idle. To do good by preaching, while immured there, was
impossible: he therefore applied himself to writing. His first effort ended in

WILLIAM PENN, IMPRISONED IN THE TOWER OF LONDON, 1668, writes NO CROSS NO CROWN"
by W. Willas.
*
OF WILLIAM PENN.
17
the production of "No Cross, No Crown;" a work which gave general
satisfaction, and which in his own lifetime passed through several editions.
The design of this work seems to have arisen from the nature of his
situation, combined with the view of doing good. He was then, as we have
seen, a prisoner for conscience-sake. He was enduring hardships for the sake
of his religion. He felt therefore the necessity of laying down and enforcing
the great doctrine implied in the title of it, which was, that unless men are
willing to lead a life of self-denial, and to undergo privations and hardships
in the course of their Christian warfare, or unless they are willing to bear
the Cross, that is, of Christ, they cannot become capable of wearing the
Crown, that is, of eternal glory.
The work was divided into two parts, in the first of which he handled his
subject thus. This great doctrine, he showed, had been disregarded by men,
though essentially necessary to their salvation. Hence, they had degenerated
from their primitive ancestors, the early converts to Christ. They had gone
from purity to lust, from moderation to excess, and from love and charity to
persecution. -By this their conduct they might see as in a mirror how
foul their lapse was; yet mercy was to be found in repentance, through the
propitiation of the blood of Jesus, and in bearing his cross, the glory of
which had triumphed over the Heathen world.-The Cross, he said, was
an expression borrowed from the wooden cross of Christ, on which he
submitted to the will of God, who permitted him to suffer death at the
hands of evil men. Hence, the cross mystical was that divine grace and
power which crossed the carnal wills of men, and gave a contradiction to
their corrupt affections, and which constantly opposed itself to the inordinate
and fleshly appetite of their minds, and so might be justly termed the
instrument of man's holy dying to the world, and being made conformable
to the will of God. This cross was to be borne within, that is, in the heart
and soul; for the heart of man was the seat of sin. Where the man was
defiled, there he must be sanctified; where sin lived, there it must die, there
it must be crucified. The way in which it was to be borne was spiritual,
that is, by an inward submission of the soul to the will of God, as it was
manifested by the light of Christ in the consciences of men, though it was
contrary to their own inclinations.The great work and business of the
cross was self-denial. Of this Christ was the great
Of this Christ was the great example; and as he
denied himself, and offered himself up by the eternal Spirit to the will of
God, undergoing the tribulations of his life and the agonies of his death
upon the cross for man's salvation, so men were to deny themselves, and to
offer themselves up by the same Spirit to do or suffer the will of God for his
service and glory. In self-denial there was a lawful and unlawful self. The
lawful self was connected with convenience, ease, enjoyment, plenty, which
in themselves were so far from being evil, that they were God's bounty and
blessings to us, as husband, wife, child, land, reputation, liberty, and life
itself. These were God's favours, which we might enjoy with lawful pleasure,
18
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
and justly improve as our lawful interest; but when he, the lender, required
or called for them, we must part with them, however great the self-denial.
The unlawful self was connected, first, with religious worship; and,
secondly, with moral conversation.—As it related to worship, it was to be
seen in carnal, formal, pompous, and superstitious practices, in stately
buildings, images, rich furniture and garments, rare voices and music, costly
lamps, wax candles, and perfumes, by which men made God a being sensual
like themselves. This was such a cross as flesh and blood could bear, but
not such an one by which flesh and blood could be crucified. Such external
means could never remove internal causes. True worship was only from
an heart prepared by God's holy Spirit, without which the soul of man was
dead, and incapable of glorifying him.-Unlawful self, as it related to
moral conversation, was to be seen in pride and other unlawful passions.
Pride was the first capital lust of degenerate Christendom. It coveted
inordinate knowledge. Such coveting had been productive of many evils.
-It coveted inordinate power. By such coveting it had broken the peace
both of private families and of nations. It coveted inordinate honour
and respect. By so doing, it had imposed degrading customs and fashions
upon some. It had given false and flattering titles to others. But true
honor and respect consisted not in observances like these.By so doing it
had introduced terms into speech, which were abhorrent from simplicity
and truth. Such customs and fashions neither he nor his associates in
religion, who were bound to deny the lusts of the flesh, could follow.-
Pride, too, led people to an excessive value of their persons. It sought
distinction by decorations, the very cost of which would keep the poor; but
it became the beautiful to endeavour to make their souls like their bodies. It
made distinction by blood and family; but God made all out of one blood
aid one family; there was no true nobility but in virtue.—————— -The proud
man was a glutton upon himself; insolent and quarrelsome; cowardly and
cruel; an ill child, servant, and subject, inhospitable, mischievous in power.
-Avarice was the second capital lust. It had a desire of unlawful things.
It had unlawful desire of lawful things. It was treacherous and oppressive. f
It marked the false prophet, and was a reproach to religion.—Luxury!
was the third capital lust. This was a great enemy to the cross of Christ.
It consisted in voluptuous or excessive diet, which injured both mind and
body; in gorgeous or excessive apparel, to the loss of innocence; and in
excess of recreations, contrary to the practice of the good men of old, whose
chief recreation was to serve God and do good to mankind, and follow
honest vocations. Sumptuous apparel, rich unguents, stately furniture, costly
cookery, balls, masks, music-meetings, plays, and romances were not the
many tribulations through which men were to enter the kingdom of God.-
Against such things there were heavy denunciations. Man, having but few
days, ought to spend his time better. Not only much good was omitted, but
much evil committed, by a luxurious life.- -Such luxuries ought not to be
1
OF WILLIAM PENN.
19
encouraged by Christians. They made no part of the cup which Christ
drank, and therefore they did not constitute the cup which his disciples
ought to drink. Against these, as well as against all customs and fashions
which made up the attire and pleasure of the world, he protested, as
enemies to inward retirement, and as borrowed from the Gentiles, who
knew not God. It was said in their favour, that they afforded a livelihood
t› many: but we were not to do evil that good might come. However
convenient, yet if the use of them was prejudicial in example, they ought to
be done away. He concluded by an exhortation to temperance, and to self-
denial with respect to the customs and fashions in question, as the true
means of preparing the way to eternal rest.
These were, as concisely as I have been able to give them, the great heads
of the first part or division of the work, which took up no less than eighteen
chapters. But no just idea can be formed of the merits of it by so partial an
account for each chapter was a regular dissertation of itself on the subject
it contained; in which, as opportunity offered, he explained the nature and
origin of the evil complained of; in which he exhibited a picture of its
effects; in which he contrasted this picture with that which might have
been drawn where there had been self-denial; in which he reasoned, drew
his inferences, and gave his warnings, enforcing all he said by a copious
appeal to history, apostolical usage, and holy writ. In those chapters where
he touched upon the practices of the world, from which he and his own
religious society had departed, he took occasion to defend their conduct in so
doing; first, by exhibiting the reasons which they themselves gave for it;
and secondly, by maintaining its consistency both with the letter and spirit
of the Gospel. He considered too this their departure from such practices,
by which they submitted to become singular and therefore more liable to
ridicule, as that proper public declaration of their testimony against
corruptive example, which was implied in the proper denial of self, or in
the bearing of the cross of Christ.
The second part or division of the work consisted of a voluminous
collection of the living and dying sayings of men eminent for their
greatness, learning, or virtue, in divers periods of time, and in divers
nations of the world.
First he noticed the Greeks and Persians, making quotations concerning
Cyrus, Artaxerxes, Agathocles, Philip, Alexander, Ptolomy, Xenophanes,
Antigonus, Themistocles, Aristides, Pericles, Phocion, and twenty others.
Secondly, he gave anecdotes of the following persons among the Romans:
of Cato, Scipio Africanus, Augustus, Tiberius, Vespasian, and Trajan.
Adrian and eight others were also included in this account.
Thirdly, he appealed to the lives and doctrines of some of the Heathen
philosophers both among the Greeks and the Romans; of Thales, Pythagoras,
Solon, Chilon, Socrates, Plato, Quintillian, Seneca, and Epictetus. This
appeal was of considerable length, as it contained biographical memoirs of
20
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
no less than twenty-three philosophers of the same description, besides those
just mentioned.
Fourthly, he quoted the accounts handed down to us of the conduct of
virtuous Heathen women. He selected twelve for this purpose, among
whom were Penelope, Lucretia, and Cornelia.
From the Heathen he went to Scripture history and that of the primitive
Christians. He quoted sayings from Solomon, the doctrine of Christ as
recorded by Matthew about denial of self, the example of John the
Baptist, the testimonies of the apostle Peter, and the exhortation of Paul
against pride, covetousness, and luxury. To this he added an account of
the nonconformity of the primitive Christians to the world, sayings and
observations by the Fathers of the Church from Ignatius down to Augustine,
quotations from canons and epistles, and the examples of some of the
ancient Christian bishops.
Lastly, he gave an account of the lives and sayings of many of those who
lived in more modern times: of Charles the Fifth, Michael de Montaigne,
Cardinal Woolsey, Sir Philip Sidney, Secretary Walsingham, Sir John
Mason, Sir Walter Rawleigh, and twenty-six others, among whom were
Kings, Princes, Chancellors, Counts, Cardinals, and others, who had
distinguished themselves in England, France, Spain, Italy, Holland, and
other parts of the world.
His great object in making the above collection was to corroborate and
enforce all that he had laid down in the first part or division of his work,
namely, that a life of strict virtue, that is, to do well and to bear or suffer
ill, was the way to everlasting happiness; or that, where there was no
bearing of the cross of Christ, there would be no wearing of the crown of
glory.
Such then were the contents of "No Cross, No Crown," as consisting of
its two divisions, of which it may be truly said, that taking it altogether, it
was a great work, and more especially when we consider the youth of the
author, and the short time in which he composed it. It was rich in doctrine,
rich in scriptural examples, and profuse in a display of history.
discovered great erudition, extensive reading, and a considerable knowledge
of the world.
It
Among other employments of William Penn, while in the Tower, he
wrote to the Lord Arlington, then principal secretary of state, by whose
warrant he had been sent there. Having reflected upon his own case, during
his confinement, he was of opinion, the more he considered it, that the
government, by depriving him of his liberty, had acted upon principles not
to be defended either by the laws of the Christian religion or by those of
the realm. He therefore wrote to him to desire his release. We find in this
letter several just and noble sentiments. He tells the Lord Arlington, "that
he is at a loss to imagine how a diversity of religious opinions can affect the
safety of the State, seeing that kingdoms and commonwealths have lived
OF WILLIAM PENN.
21
under the balance of divers parties.He conceives that they only are unfit
for political society who maintain principies subversive of industry, fidelity,
justice, and obedience; but to say that men must form their faith of things
proper to another world according to the prescriptions of other mortal men in
this, and, if they do not, that they have no right to be at liberty or to live in this
is both ridiculous and dangerous. He maintains that the understanding can
never be convinced by other arguments than what are adequate to its own
nature. Force may make hypocrites, but can make no converts; and if, says he,
I am at any time convinced, I will pay the honour of it to truth, and not to
base and timorous hypocrisy. He then desires, as many of his enemies
have retracted their opinions about him, and as his imprisonment is against
the privileges of an Englishman, as well as against the forbearance inseparable
from true Christianity, that he may receive his discharge. Should this be
denied him, be begs access to the King; and if this should be denied him
also, he hopes the Lord Arlington will himself hear him against such
objections as may be thought weighty; so that, if he is to continue a
prisoner, it may be known for what. He makes, he says, no apology for his
letter, the usual style of suppliants, because he conceives that more honour
will accrue to the Lord Arlington by being just, than advantage to himself
as an individual by becoming personally free.”
William Penn, notwithstanding this letter, continued still in prison; when
understanding that "The Sandy Foundation Shaken," which had occasioned
such an outcry against him, had been misrepresented, he wrote, by way of
apology for it, and to correct any misapprehension about it, a little tract,
which, in allusion to the conscious rectitude of his own conduct and the
undisguised manner in which he there explained himself, he called
"Innocency with her Open Face." In this new work he reviewed the three
subjects which constituted the contents of the former. He argued, as before,
against the notion of the impossibility of God pardoning sinners without a
plenary satisfaction, which was one of them, and also against that of the
justification of impure persons by an imputative righteousness, which was
another; and he appealed additionally to the high authority of Stillingfleet,
in his late discourse about Christ's sufferings, against Crellius, in his favour.
With respect to the third notion, he maintained that he had been misunder-
stood. A conclusion had been drawn that, because he had denied one God
subsisting in three distinct and separate persons, he had denied the divinity
of Christ. He cited, therefore, several passages from Scripture to prove that
Christ was God. This doctrine, he asserted, was an article of his own faith;
and, as a proof that it had been so, he desired those who thought otherwise
to consult his "Guide Mistaken," which he had published before "The
Sandy Foundation Shaken," and in which they would find that he had
acknowledged both the divinity and eternity of Christ. His enemies,
therefore, he said, had been beating the air and fighting with their owe
shadows in supposing what he himself had neither written nor even thought
•
22
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
of. These were concisely the contents of his last work. When it came out,
it is said to have given satisfaction. Some, however, of his enemies
contended that he had disgraced himself by producing it; that he had read
his own recantation in it; and that from a Socinian he had all at once
become a defender of the Trinity. They, however, who asserted this, did
not know that he rejected the latter doctrine, merely on account of the
terms in which it had been wrapped up by Vincent; terms which, he
said, were the inventions of men three hundred years after the Christian
æra, and which were nowhere to be found in the Scriptures. In this
respect, that is, as far as the doctrine comprehended three separate
persons in one God, he uniformly rejected it; but he never denied that of
the divinity of Christ, or of "a Father, Word, and Spirit."
Soon after the publication of "Innocency with her Open Face," he was
discharged from the Tower, after having been kept there on terms of unusual
severity for seven months. His discharge came suddenly from the King,
who had been moved to it by the intercession of his brother, the Duke of
York. It is not known whether William Penn's father, the Admiral, applied
to the Duke for this purpose, or whether the Duke out of compliment to the
Admiral made a voluntary application of himself: certain however it is,
that but for this interference he would have remained in prison.
CHAPTER V.
A. 1669-VISITS THOMAS LOE ON HIS DEATH-BED-EXHORTATION OF
THE LATTER-IS SENT AGAIN TO IRELAND-WRITES A "LETTER TO
THE YOUNG CONVINCED"-PROCURES THE DISCHARGE OF SEVERAL
FROM PRISON-RETURNS TO ENGLAND-IS RECONCILED TO HIS
FATHER.
THE first place in which we find William Penn after his liberation from the
Tower was at the bed-side of Thomas Loe, who was then on the eve of
departing from the world. It cannot but be remembered that Thomas Loe
was the person, who, while William Penn was at Oxford, confirmed the
religious impressions he had received at Chigwell school. He was the person
also who had given a bias to his mind, while in the city of Cork, by which
he was disposed, at a time when looking out for some practical system of
religion for himself, to fix upon that of the Quakers. Here then we see the
master and the disciple brought together, and this at an awful crisis. It
must have been a most gratifying circumstance to Thomas Loe, when he
considered the imprisonment of William Penn, the undaunted manner in
which he had borne it, and the useful way in which he had spent his time,
while under it (but particularly in the production of "No Cross, No Crown,*
in which work he inculcated, even when in bonds, that bonds were to be
OF WILLIAM PENN.
93
endured for religion's sake), to find that one, who had received as it were
his own baptism, had, when tried by the fire, come out of it like pure gold.
And that these sentiments were then uppermost in the mind of the dying
minister, there is no doubt; for, though the particulars of this interesting
interview are not known, it is yet recorded that Thomas Loe, in taking his
final leave of William, gave him the following exhortation: "Bear thy cross,
and stand faithful to God; then he will give thee an everlasting crown of
glory that shall not be taken from thee. There is no other way that shall
prosper than that which the holy men of old walked in. God hath brought
immortality to light, and life immortal is felt. His love overcomes my
heart. Glory be to his name for evermore!"
| prosper
It is now pleasing to relate that the Admiral, though he had discarded
his son, began again to relent. He could not help thinking, however his son
might have been mistaken, that at least he was sincere, or that his steady
perseverance in the course he had taken, in spite of all persecution, was a
proof of his integrity. He now allowed him to be at his own house, though
he did not see him, and caused it to be signified to him through his mother,
that he might return to Ireland, there to execute a commission for him.
William Penn was greatly cheered by this, though partial, gleam of
returning love on the part of his father, and accordingly prepared for his
journey. In the month of August he reached Cork. He entered immediately
upon his father's business. In the intervals, however, of his leisure he
attended to the concerns of his own religious society. He preached, as
occasion offered, both at Cork and Dublin. He attended the national
meeting of the Quakers in the latter city. He wrote also several little tracts
to promote the religion he had espoused. Among these was his Letter "To
the Young Convinced." He meant by the latter appellation such as had
lately become converts to his own religious faith. He began by explaining
to these, whom he considered to have been called out of the pleasures and
vanities of the world, the nature of their new calling. He visited them, he
said, as a traveller in the same path, in bowels of tenderness and compassion,
to exhort them to make this their calling and election sure. For this
purpose he invited them to hold meetings for worship frequently, to beware
of all lightness, jesting, and a careless mind, and to endeavour as much as
possible, both by their conversation and conduct, to keep in the simplicity
of the cross of Christ. If the world was constant to its own momentary
fashions, the more it became them to be constant in their testimony against
it. If, however, in doing this, they should meet with heavy exercises, they
were not to murmur against God, but to give themselves up to his will. No
external fear was to shake them: for that same Power, which had wrought
a change in their hearts, was able to carry them through this their
terrestrial trial.
But his great employment, during his leisure, was in visiting those of his
poor brethren who were in prison on account of their religion, a case which
24
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
he could well estimate by reflecting upon that which had been his own. He
held religious meetings with these in their gaols, in which he endeavoured
to comfort them to the utmost of his power. He drew up also an account
of the cases of several, most of whom were then in confinement for no other
reason than that they had been found worshiping in places which the law
did not then recognise. This account, which was of the nature of an
address, he presented to the Lord Lieutenant with his own hand; and he
followed it up with such unremitting zeal, calling in the aid of his father,
and of all those courtiers whom he could interest, that at length an order in
council was obtained for their release.
Having executed his father's commission, he returned to England. On
his arrival there a reconciliation took place, to the joy of all concerned, but
particularly of his mother; after which he took up his residence in his
father's house.
CHAPTER VI.
A. 1670-PREACHES IN GRACECHURCH-STREET-IS TAKEN UP AND
COMMITTED TO NEWGATE-IS TRIED AT THE OLD BAILEY AND
ACQUITTED-ACCOUNT OF THIS MEMORABLE TRIAL-ATTENDS HIS
FATHER ON HIS DEATH-BED-DYING SAYINGS OF THE LATTER—
PUBLISHES "THE PEOPLE'S ANCIENT AND JUST LIBERTIES
ASSERTED”—DISPUTES PUBLICLY WITH JEREMY IVES AT HIGH
WYCOMB-WRITES TO THE VICE-CHANCELLOR OF OXFORD-PUB-
LISHES "A SEASONABLE CAVEAT AGAINST POPERY" IS AGAIN
TAKEN UP FOR PREACHING, AND SENT TO THE TOWER, AND FROM
THENCE TO NEWGATE.
In the year 1670 the famous Conventicle Act was passed by Parliament,
which prohibited Dissenters from worshiping God in their own way. It had
been first suggested by some of the bishops. The chaplain to the Archbishop
of Canterbury had previously printed a discourse against toleration, in which
he asserted as a main principle, that it would be less injurious to the
government to dispense with profane and loose persons than to allow a
toleration to religious Dissenters. "This act," says Thomas Ellwood,
"brake down and overran the bounds and banks anciently set for the
defence and security of Englishmen's lives, liberties, and properties, namely,
trials by jury, instead thereof directing and authorizing justices of the peace
(and that too privately out of sessions) to convict, fine, and by their warrants
distrain upon offenders against it, directly contrary to the Great Charter." It
was impossible that an act like this could pass without becoming a source
of new suffering to William Penn, situated as he then was, first, as a
minister of the Gospel, and secondly, as a man who always dared to do
what he thought to be his duty. Accordingly he was one of the earliest
OF WILLIAM PENN.
25
victims to its decrees: for, going as usual with others of his own religious
society to their meeting-house in Gracechurch-street to perform divine
worship, they found it guarded by a band of soldiers. Being thus hindered
from entering it, they stopped for a while about the doors. Others who
came up joined the former, and stopped also, so that in a little time there
was a considerable assembly on the spot. By this time William Penn felt
himself called upon to preach; but he had not advanced far in his discourse,
when he and another of the society, William Mead, were seized by
constables, who produced warrants signed by Sir Samuel Starling, then lord
mayor, for that purpose. The whole plan of the arrest had been previously
concerted, and the warrants contrived accordingly. The constables, after
they had seized them, conveyed them to Newgate, where they were lodged,
that they might be ready to take their trial at the next session at the Old
Bailey.
On the 1st of September the trial came on; and here I have to express
my regret that the limits which I have proposed to this work should prevent
me from presenting it at full length to the notice of the reader, because
altogether it is a very interesting event in our history, and one of which no
part that is recorded ought to be lost to posterity. I will, however, give, as
far as I am able, the most prominent features in it.
The persons who were present on the bench as Justices, on this day, were
Sir Samuel Starling, lord mayor; Jolin Howel, recorder; Thomas Blud-
worth, William Peak, Richard Ford, John Robinson, Joseph Shelden,
aldermen; and Richard Brown, John Smith, and James Edwards, sheriffs.
The Jury, who were impanelled, and whose names ought to be handed
down to the love and gratitude of posterity, were Thomas Veer, Edward
Bushel, John Hammond, Charles Milson, Gregory Walklet, John Brightman,
William Plumstead, Henry Henley, James Damask, Henry Michel, William
Lever, and John Baily.
The indictment stated, among other falsehoods, that the prisoners had
preached to an unlawful, seditious, and riotous assembly; that they had
assembled by agreement made beforehand; and that they had met together
with force and arms, and this to the great terror and disturbance of many
of his Majesty's liege subjects.
Very little was done on this day. The prisoners were brought to the bar;
and having made their observations on several things as they passed, they
pleaded Not Guilty to the indictment. The Court was then adjourned. In
the afternoon they were brought to the bar again; but they were afterwards
set aside, being made to wait till after the trial of other prisoners.
On the 3rd of September, the trial of those last mentioned being over,
William Penn and William Mead were brought again into court. One of
the officers, as they entered, pulled off their hats. Upon this the Lord
Mayor became furious, and in a stern voice ordered him to put them on
again. This being done, the Recorder fined each of the prisoners fort
C
26
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
marks, observing that the circumstance of being covered there amounted to
a contempt of Court.
The witnesses were then called in and examined. It appeared, from their
testimony, that on the 15th of August between three and four hundred persons
were assembled in Gracechurch-street, and that they saw William Penn
speaking to the people, but could not distinguish what he said. One, and
one only, swore that he heard him preach; but, on further examination, he
said that he could not, on account of the noise, understand any one of the
words spoken. With respect to William Mead, it was proved that he was
there also, and that he was heard to say something; but nobody could tell
what. This was in substance the whole of the evidence against them.
The witnesses having finished their testimony, William Penn acknowledged
that both he and his friend were present at the place and time mentioned.
Their object in being there was to worship God. "We are so far," says he,
"from recanting, or declining to vindicate the assembling of ourselves to
preach, pray, or worship the eternal, holy, just God, that we declare to all the
world, that we do believe it to be our indispensable duty to meet incessantly
upon so good an account; nor shall all the powers upon earth be able to
divert us from reverencing and adoring our God, who made us." These
words were scarcely pronounced, when Brown, one of the sheriffs, exclaimed,
that he was not there for worshiping God, but for breaking the law.
William Penn replied, that he had broken no law, and desired to know by
what law it was that they prosecuted him, and upon what law it was that
they founded the indictment. The Recorder replied, the common law.
William asked, where that law was. The Recorder did not think it worth.
while, he said, to run over all those adjudged cases for so many years,
which they called common law, to satisfy his curiosity. William Penn
thought, if the law were common, it should not be so hard to produce. He
was then desired to plead to the indictment; but, on delivering his
sentiments on this point, he was pronounced a saucy fellow. The following
is a specimen of some of the questions and answers at full length, which
succeeded those now mentioned:-
RECORDER.-The question is, whether you are guilty of this indictment.
W. PENN.-The question is not, whether I am guilty of this indictment,
but whether this indictment be legal. It is too general and imperfect an
answer to say it is the common law, unless we know where and what it
is; for where there is no law, there is no transgression; and that law
which is not in being, is so far from being common, that it is no law
at all.
RECORDER.-You are an impertinent fellow. Will you teach the Court what
law is? It is lex non scripta, that which many have studied thirty or forty
years to know, and would you have me tell you in a moment?
W. PENN. Certainly, if the common law be so hard to be understood, it is
far from being very common; but if the Lord Coke, in his Institutes, be of
OF WILLIAM PENN.:
27
any consideration, he tells us, that common law is common right, and
that common right is the Great Charter privileges confirmed.
RECORDER.—Sir, you are a troublesome fellow, and it is not to the honour
of the Court to suffer you to go on.
W. PENN.-I have asked but one question, and you have not answered me,
though the rights and privileges of every Englishman are concerned in it.
RECORDER.-If I should suffer you to ask questions till to-morrow morning,
you would never be the wiser.
W. PENN.-That is according as the answers are.
RECORDER.-Sir, we must not stand to hear you talk all night.
W. PENN.—I design no affront to the Court, but to be heard in my just.
plea; and I must plainly tell you, that if you deny me the oyer of that
law, which you say I have broken, you do at once deny me an acknow-
ledged right, and evidence to the whole world your resolution to sacrifice.
the privileges of Englishmen to your arbitrary designs.
RECORDER.-Take him away. My Lord, if you take not some course with
this pestilent fellow to stop his mouth, we shall not be able to do anything
to-night.
MAYOR. Take him away. Take him away. Turn him into the bale-dock.
W. PENN.-These are but so many vain exclamations. Is this justice or
true judgment? Must I therefore be taken away, because I plead for the.
fundamental laws of England? However, this I leave upon the consciences
of you, who are of the Jury, and my sole Judges, that if these ancient
fundamental laws, which relate to liberty and property, and which are
not limited to particular persuasions in matters of religion, must not be
indispensably maintained and observed, who can say he hath a right to
the coat upon his back? Certainly our liberties are to be openly invaded;
our wives to be ravished; our children slaved; our families ruined; and
our estates led away in triumph by every sturdy beggar, and malicious
informer; as their trophies, but our (pretended) forfeits for conscience-
sake. The Lord of heaven and earth will be Judge between us in this
matter.
RECORDER.-Be silent there.
W. PENN.-I am not to be silent in a case where I am so much concerned;
and not only myself, but many ten thousand families besides.
Soon after this they hurried him away, as well as William Mead, who
spoke also, towards the bale-dock, a filthy, loathsome dungeon. The
Recorder then proceeded to charge the Jury. But William Penn, hearing a
part of the charge as he was retiring, stopped suddenly, and, raising his
voice, exclaimed aloud, "I appeal to the Jury, who are my judges, and this
great assembly, whether the proceedings of the Court are not most arbitrary,
and void of all law, in endeavouring to give the Jury their charge in the
absence of the prisoners. I say it is directly opposite to and destructive of
the undoubted right of every English prisoner, as Coke on the chapter of
28
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
.
Magna Charta speaks." Upon this some conversation passed between the
parties, who were still distant from each other; after which the two
prisoners were forced to their loathsome cells.
Being now out of all hearing, the Jury were ordered to agree upon their
verdict. Four, who appeared visibly to favour the prisoners, were abused
and actually threatened by the Recorder. They were then, all of them, sent
out of Court. On being brought in again, they delivered their verdict
unanimously, which was, "Guilty of speaking in Gracechurch-street.”
The Magistrates upon the bench now loaded the Jury with reproaches.
They refused to take their verdict, and immediately adjourned the Court,
sending them away for half an hour to reconsider it.
The time having expired, the Court sat again. The prisoners were then
brought to the bar, and the Jury again called in. The latter having taken
their place, delivered the same verdict as before, but with this difference,
that they then delivered it in writing, with the signature of all their names.
The Magistrates were now more enraged at the conduct of the Jury, and
they did not hesitate to express their indignation at it in terms the most
opprobrious in open court. The Recorder then addressed them as follows:
"Gentlemen, you shall not be dismissed till we have a verdict such as the
Court will accept; and you shall be locked up without meat, drink, fire, and
tobacco: you shall not think thus to abuse the Court: we will have a
verdict by the help of God, or you shall starve for it."
William Penn, upon hearing this address, immediately spoke as follows:
My Jury, who are my judges, ought not to be thus menaced: their verdict
should be free, and not compelled: the Bench ought to wait upon them, and
not to forestall them. I do desire that justice may be done me, and that
the arbitrary resolves of the Bench may not be made the measure of my
Jury's verdict."
Other words passed between them; after which the Court was about to
adjourn, and the Jury to be sent to their chamber, and the prisoners to their
loathsome hole, when William Penn observed, that the agreement of twelve
men was a verdict in law; and such a verdict having been given by the
Jury, he required the Clerk of the Peace to record it, as he would answer it
at his peril; and, if the Jury brought in another verdict contrary to this, he
affirmed that they would be perjured in law. Then, turning to the Jury, he
said additionally, "You are Englishmen. Mind your privilege. Give not
away your right."
One of the Jury now pleaded indisposition, and desired to be dismissed.
This request, however, was not granted. The Court, on the other hand, swore
several persons to keep the Jury all night without meat, drink, fire, tobacco,
or any other accommodation whatsoever, and then adjourned till seven the
next morning.
The next morning, which was September the 4th, happened to be
Sunday. The Jury were again called in, but they returned the same verdict
OF WILLIAM PENN.
29
as before. The Bench now became outrageous, and indulged in the most
vulgar and brutal language, such indeed as would be almost incredible if it
were not upon record. The Jury were again charged, and again sent out of
court again they returned: again they delivered the same verdict: again
they were threatened. William Penn having spoken against the injustice of
the Court in having menaced the Jury, who were his judges by the Great
Charter of England, and in having rejected their verdict, the Lord Mayor
exclaimed, "Stop his mouth, jailor, bring fetters, and stake him to the
ground." William Penn replied, "Do your pleasure, I matter not your
fetters." The Recorder observed, "Till now I never understood the reason
of the policy and prudence of the Spaniards in suffering the Inquisition
among them; and certainly it will never be well with us till something like
the Spanish Inquisition be in England." Upon this the Jury were ordered
to withdraw to find another verdict; but they refused, saying, they had
already given it, and that they could find no other. The Sheriff then forced
them away. Several persons were immediately sworn to keep them without
any accommodation as before, and the Court adjourned till seven the next
morning.
On the 5th of September the Jury, who had received no refreshment for
two days and two nights, were again called in, and the business resumed.
The Court demanded a positive answer to these words, "Guilty or not
guilty?" The Foreman of the Jury replied, “Not guilty." Every juryman
was then required to repeat this answer separately. This he did to the
satisfaction of almost all in court. The following address and conversation
then passed.
RECORDER.-Gentlemen of the Jury, I am sorry you have followed your
own judgments rather than the good advice which was given you. God
keep my life out of your hands! But for this the Court fines you forty
marks a man, and imprisonment till paid.
W. PENN.-I demand my liberty, being freed by the Jury.
MAYOR.-No. You are in for your fines.
W. PENN.-Fines for what?
MAYOR.-For contempt of Court.
W. PENN.-I ask if it be according to the fundamental laws of England,
that any Englishman should be fined or amerced but by the judgment of his
peers or jury, since it expressly contradicts the fourteenth and twenty-ninth
chapters of the Great Charter of England, which says, "No freeman shall
be amerced but by the oath of good and lawful men of the vicinage."
RECORDER.-Take him away.
W. PENN.-I can never urge the fundamental laws of England but you
cry, Take him away; but it is no wonder, since the Spanish Inquisition
has so great a place in the Recorder's heart. God, who is just, will judge
you for all these things.
These words were no sooner uttered than William Penn and his friend,
**
30
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
1
William Mead, were forced into the bale-dock, from whence they were sent
to Newgate. Every one of the Jury also were sent to the latter prison. The
piea for this barbarous usage was, that both the prisoners and the Jury
refused to pay the fine of forty marks which had been put upon each of
them; upon the former, because one of the Mayor's officers had put their
hats upon their heads by his own command; and upon the latter because
they would not bring in a verdict contrary to their own consciences, in
compliance with the wishes of the Bench.
Thus ended this famous trial, through which, as sustained by William
Penn with so much ability at the age of twenty-five, I have conducted the
reader by as short a path as I well could, considering its vast importance;
a trial, by which we see the assertion proved, that the noble institution of
Juries is the grand palladium of our liberties; a trial which, for the good it has
done to posterity, ought to be engraved on tablets of the most durable marble;
for it was one of those events which, in conjunction with others of a similar
sort, by showing the inadequacy of punishment for religion to its supposed end,
not only corrected and improved the notions of succeeding ages in this
respect, but by so doing lessened the ravages of persecution, and the enmity
between man and man. Nor ought posterity to be less grateful for it as a
monument of the ferocity and corrupt usages of former times; for,
contrasting these with the notions and customs of our own age, we behold
that which we ought to contemplate, of all other things, with the greatest
gratitude and delight, namely, the improvement of our social and moral
being. In those times of bigotry the world seemed to be little better than a
state of warfare between man and man-a state of warfare between man
and his government; and this merely because the one differed from the
other in those matters of which God only was the proper and lawful judge.
But now happily the case is altered. We behold indeed the fabric of the
Tower yet remaining. We see Newgate, with its renovated walls, upon the
same spot. But we know these no longer as the receptacles of innocent
individuals suffering for conscience sake. We have our courts of law
remaining; but we see an order, a decorum, and an improvement in the
administration of justice unknown at the period of this memorable trial.
Nor will the prospect be less grateful, if we quit the present for a moment
and direct our eyes to the future. We have the best reason to hope, on
contemplating the signs of the times,* that the day is rapidly approaching,
when the Christian religion, which is capable of cementing men in the
strongest possible union and for the noblest purposes, will be no longer the
cause either of unnecessary division or of unmerited suffering.
*I allude to the voluntary repeal, on the part of government, last year, of this
very Conventicle Act, and of the Five Miles Act; also to an extension of privilege to
Dissenters; and particularly to those most noble institutions, "The British and
Foreign Auxiliary Bible Societies," the business of which is conducted by an equal
number of Churchmen and Dissenters acting harmoniously together.
OF WILLIAM PENN
31
i
William Penn and
continued in Newgate.
William Mead, though acquitted by the Jury,
They could not conscientiously pay the fines which
had been imposed upon them; and until these were paid they could not
obtain their discharge. The Admiral being informed of this, and being
particularly anxious to see his son, sent the money privately, and thus
procured the liberation of both of them. As to the poor Jurymen, who had
been fined at the same time, I can nowhere learn what became of them, or
how long they were allowed to languish in their prison.
The Admiral had been now long ill, and for some time confined to his
chamber. His constitution, in consequence of hard service, change of climate,
and anxiety of mind, though he was not then fifty years of age, had begun
to break, and this so rapidly as to create in him an expectation of his
approaching end. He wanted, therefore, the conversation, kind offices, and
consolation of his son. He had now a great regard for him. He had always
indeed set a due value on the goodness of his heart, and on his exemplary
moral conduct, though he had differed from him on the score of religion;
but when he saw a person of such qualities and character seized, imprisoned,
and punished, he considered his treatment in no other light than that of
oppression, and therefore clave to him more than ever. Besides, having no
hope of his own recovery, he wished to confer with him as to the settlement
of his family affairs.
The more he saw of his son during his confinement, the more he esteemed
him; and the worse he grew in body, the more he became interested about
his temporal welfare. He was sensible, while his religious turn and
resolution, and while the existing laws of the country remained, that he
would have many trials and much suffering to undergo. Impressed with this
notion, he sent one of his friends to the Duke of York to desire of him, as a
death-bed request, that he would endeavour to protect his son as far as he
consistently could, and to ask the King to do the same, in cases of future
persecution. The answer was gratifying, both of them promising their
· services on a fit occasion.
P
+
1
}
After this he grew worse. At a time of serious reflection, and not long
before his death, he spoke thus:-" Son William, I am weary of the world!
I would not live over my days again, if I could command them with a wish;
for the suares of life are greater than the fears of death. This troubles me,
that I have offended a gracious God. The thought of this has followed me
to this day. Oh, have a care of sin! It is that which is the sting both of life
and death. Three things I commend to you. First, let nothing in this world
tempt you to wrong your conscience. I charge you, do nothing against your
conscience; so will you keep peace at home, which will be a feast to you in
a day of trouble. Secondly, whatever you design to do, lay it justly, and
time it seasonably; for that gives security and dispatch. Thirdly, be not
troubled at disappointments; for if they may be recovered, do it: if they
› cannot, trouble is then vain. If you could not have helped it, be content;
32
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
there is often peace and profit in submitting to Providence; for afflictions
make wise. If you could have helped it, let not your trouble exceed
instruction for another time. These rules will carry you with firmness and
comfort through this inconstant world."
At another time he addressed his son in terms of complaint against the
great profaneness and impiety of the age. He lamented that many of the
nobility, and those in other respectable stations in life, should be so dissolute
in their morals, and afford so grievous an example. He expressed his fear,
too, lest his country, thus overwhelmed with corruption, should sink to ruin.
He seemed to be never less concerned and disordered than just before he
died. Looking at his son with the most composed countenance, he said, "Son
William! if you and your friends keep to your plain way of preaching, and
keep to your plain way of living, you will make an end of the priests to the
end of the world-Bury me by my mother-Live all in love-Shun all
manner of evil-and I pray God to bless you all; and he will bless you
all."
Soon afterwards he expired.
These were some of the last expressions of Vice-Admiral Sir William
Penn. They are very important, on account of the instruction they give us,
as well as of the light they throw upon his character. With respect to life,
indeed, they afford us an important lesson. They furnish a proof, that even
where a man has been glutted with the honours of the world, it is so full of
snares, and subject to so many drawbacks, that it is not worth living over
again. They lay open to us, again, the true path to be pursued in our
passage through it. The Admiral at length found, though he had been twice
so grievously displeased with his son, that nothing could make a man
amends for wronging his own conscience. With respect to his character,
they show him to have had a mind ingenuous and open to conviction; for
we see that the religious prejudices which he had imbibed in his youth had
been succeeded by candour. They show him to have been a well-disposed
man; for that, however unwarrantable his conduct was to his son on certain
occasions, it was to be set down rather to sudden warmth of feeling, or to a
temper suddenly irritable by untoward circumstances, than to any badness
of heart. And here it ought to be recollected, that he had been brought up
as a naval officer, and accustomed to undisputed command-to a profession,
where orders are no sooner issued than obedience is required, and slowness
to execute is punished. Neither must it be forgotten, how grievous his
disappointment must have been as a parent on these occasions. At the time
alluded to he was in an exalted situation; he had great interest at Court;
and he had probably notions of life and manners very different from those
which we have seen him entertain in his dying hour. He had figured out to
himself large prospects for his son. He could not but have had hopes of him
from his education and his genius. He had seen him endued with talents
sufficient to enable him to fill even the higher offices of State. How heart-
breaking then must it have been, in such a situation, to see all his prospects
OF WILLIAM PENN.
33
+
at once broken; to see his son mixing with the lowly, the humble-minded,
nay, the reputed dregs of the earth; to see him uniting with a society whose
very dress and manners, compared with his own and those of the circles
with which he mixed, must have been repulsive; and to see him leave the
Established Church, the church of his family, and take up the opinions of
those who were considered little better than fanatics!
William Penn, in consequence of the death of his father, came into the
possession of a very handsome estate, supposed to be worth at that time not
less than fifteen hundred pounds per annum; so that he became, in point of
circumstances, not only an independent but a rich man.
He entitled it,
One of his first employments, indeed immediate one, after his father's
death, was to give to the world, for the benefit of posterity, an account of
his late trial. He entitled it, "The People's Ancient and Just Liberties
Asserted, in the Trial of William Penn and William Mead, at the Sessions
held at the Old Bailey in London, on the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th of September,
1670, against the most Arbitrary Procedure of that Court." He detailed,
first, the proceedings of the Court on those days. He gave, secondly, "An
Appendix, by way of Defence for the Prisoners, or what might have been
offered against the Indictment and illegal Proceedings of the Court thereon,
had it not violently over-ruled and stopped them." He entered, thirdly, into
"A Rehearsal of the Material Articles of the Great Charter of England,"
and "A Confirmation of the Charter and Liberties of England and of the
Forest by Edward the First." He then introduced "The Curse and Sentence
Issued by the Bishops and Clergy against the Breakers of these Articles,"
the latter of which he explained both historically and argumentatively, so
that they who read it might have a clearer knowledge of their own privileges
and rights. He concluded, for their further information, by a postscript,
containing "A Copy of Judge Keeling's Case, as taken out of the Parliament
Journal, dated the 11th of December, 1667.”
Not long after the publication of this trial a circumstance took place,
which brought him before the public again. A Baptist preacher at High
Wycomb, in Buckinghamshire, of the name of Ives, had reflected in his own
meeting-house in the pulpit, not only upon the Quakers in general, but upon
William Penn in particular. This coming to the ears of the latter, he
insisted upon it, and it was at length finally agreed, that a meeting should
be held at West Wycomb between the parties concerned, where the-
obnoxious parts of the Quakers' doctrines should become matter of public
dispute he himself was to be the disputant in behalf of his own society,
and Jeremy Ives on the part of the Baptists. Jeremy, however, was not the
person, but the brother of the person, who had made the reflections above
alluded to, the offender himself being thought unequal to the controversy.
The position to be maintained on the part of the Quakers was the
universality of the Divine Light. The Baptists were to speak against it.
According to the laws of dispute then in force upon such occasions, it
:
34
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
devolved upon Jeremy to speak first. He began accordingly, and went on
boldly till he had expended all the arguments he had brought with him;
when finding from appearances that his auditors were not as well satisfied
as he expected, he stepped down suddenly from his seat, and left the place.
In doing this, he indulged a hope that his example would have been
generally followed. But he was sorely disappointed; for a small number
only, who were immediately of his own party, withdrew, while the great bulk of
the audience remained. To these William Penn then addressed himself. In
what he advanced he experienced neither interruption nor opposition. So
far he may be said to have triumphed. But he triumphed in another
respect; for Jeremy, when he found that his hearers continued in their
places, was so mortified, that he returned, and injudiciously expressed his
disapprobation of their conduct; the consequence of which was, that they
in their turn expressed their dislike of him. At this controversy Thomas
Ellwood, one of the early Quakers, and a pupil of the great John Milton,
was present, who sent an account of it to a friend in these lines, written
extempore on the spot:-
:
·
"Prævaluit Veritas: inimici terga dedere:
Nos sumus in tuto: laus tribuenda Deo."
The literal translation of this, which I have attempted in bad poetry, is
the following:
"Truth has prevail'd: the foe his back has shown:
Thank God! we're safe: the praise is his alone.”
William Penn soon after this controversy took a short journey, in the
course of which it happened that he stopped at Oxford. Learning there
that several of the members of his own society had been treated with great
cruelty by the students on account of their religious meetings, and having
reason to believe that the Vice-Chancellor himself was not blameless in that
respect, he addressed to him a letter, of which I copy for its singularity the
introductory sentence:-
"Shall the multiplied oppressions which thou continuest to heap
upon innocent English people for their peaceable religious meetings,
pass unregarded by the eternal God? Dost thou think to escape his
fierce wrath and dreadful vengeance for thy ungodly and illegal perse-
cution of his poor children? I tell thee, No. Better were it for thee thou
hadst never been born. Poor mushroom, wilt thou war against the Lord,
and lift up thyself in battle against the Almighty? Canst thou frustrate
his holy purposes, and bring his determinations to nought? He has decreed
to exalt himself by us, and to propagate his Gospel to the ends of the earth."
Never perhaps before were the learning and dignity of a Vice-Chancellor
of Oxford, as appears by this extract, so little thought of, or a Vice-Chancellor
of that university looked down upon with such sovereign contempt, as on
OF WILLIAM PENN.
35
this occasion by William Penn. To most people, the language of this letter
will be unaccountable. it must be remarked, however, that the early
Quakers paid but little deference to human learning, and that at this very
time they were at variance with the Universities concerning it, denying it to
be an essential qualification for the priesthood. It must be remarked also,
that honouring those ordinations of men, and those only, to the sacerdotal
office, which were considered to be sealed in their hearts by the Divine
Spirit, they allowed no dignity to belong to ordinations which were the
mere work of the hands of men. We must remember also, what has been
before noticed, their belief that they had a divine commission, in consequence
of which, by preaching and bearing their testimony against religious
ceremonies and worldly fashions, they were to become instruments in
purifying the rest of mankind. Hence they spoke with an authority not
usual with others. To these considerations we must add, that the treatment
which the poor Quakers had then received at Oxford was enough to excite
anger in any feeling mind, and that William Penn himself was still sore, if
I may so speak, of his old wounds; for it was but a few weeks since he had
left the bale-dock of Newgate prison, the loathsomeness of which he had
experienced in consequence of the unjust interference of some formerly
belonging to this very university, and who were then at the head of the
Established Church.
Having finished his journey, he retired to the ancient family seat of Penn
in Buckinghamshire. Here a pamphlet falling in his way, which contained
the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith, he wrote in answer to it, "A
Seasonable Caveat against Popery; or, An Explanation of the Roman
Catholic Belief briefly examined." He attempted in this work to refute
certain doctrines of the church of Rome, namely, such as related to the
Scriptures-the Trinity-prayers to saints and angels-justification of merits
-the holy Eucharist-communion in one kind-the sacrifice of the altar-
prayer in Latin-prayer for the dead-the moral law of obedience to civil
magistrates-and ecclesiastical hierarchy. It must be observed, however,
that though he was severe against the Catholics as to their doctrine on these
points, he was a decided enemy to all persecution of them on that account. He
allowed in his preface to this work, that a great number of them might be
abused zealots through the idle voluminous traditions of their church, whom
he rather pitied than dared to wrong; and that, in giving this his seasonable
caveat to the public, nothing was further from his intention than to incense
the civil magistrate against them; for he professed himself a friend to
universal toleration of faith and worship, so that he would have had such
toleration extended even to them, provided they would give security that they
would not persecute others on the same score.
About the latter end of the year he returned to London, when an
occurrence, which shortly after happened, subjected him to new suffering;
for preaching at a meeting-house belonging to the Quakers in Wheeler-
¡
36
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
street, a serjeant with a military guard, which had been posted near the
door on purpose, pulled him down from his place, and forced him into the
street. Here a constable and his assistant, who were ready also, joined the
soldiers, and these conducted him to the Tower. He had not been there
long, when he was brought before Sir John Robinson, then lieutenant of the
same (by whose order he had been apprehended), to be examined. This was
the same John Robinson, who has been before mentioned as sitting upon
the bench as a magistrate during the late memorable trial at the Old
Bailey. There were present on this occasion Sir Samuel Starling, another of
his old persecutors, Sir John Shelden, Colonel Ricraft, and others. The
constable and his assistant were then sworn. They deposed that William
Penn, the prisoner, was at a meeting in Wheeler-street, speaking to the
people, but they would not swear, to an unlawful assembly. Their refusal
to do this very much mortified Sir John Robinson, for he had relied upon
the Conventicle Act for his conviction. Being obliged to give this up, he
fled to the Oxford Act; but William Penn showed clearly, that neither did
he come under this act, nor had he transgressed any written law. This
defence of himself in the presence of so many persons, by which it appeared
that he could not be legally detained in custody, so chagrined Robinson.
that, when he found he could not punish him on one account, he resolved to
do it on another. Determining not to be overcome in the end, he offered
him, as the old custom was in those days when a magistrate was unable to
convict a Quaker on the ground of his apprehension, the oath of allegiance,
knowing beforehand that he could not take it consistently with his religious
scruples, and yet that a refusal to take it, when legally offered, was
imprisonment by law. He knew also that the very oath, which he thus
offered him, was unnecessary; for, if the Quakers could not conscientiously
take up arms against the enemies of their country, much less could they
take them up against their King. William Penn accordingly refused to take
it, giving his reasons at the same time for so doing. But no reasoning could
avail with Robinson. He still pressed the oath. William Penn still rejected
it. The following are some of the questions and answers which were then
put and given :-
SIR J. ROBINSON.-Do you yet refuse to swear?
W. PENN.-Yes, and that upon better grounds than those for which thou
wouldst have me swear, if thou wilt please to hear me.
SIR J. ROBINSON.--I am sorry you should put me upon this severity: it is
no pleasant work to me.
W. PENN.-These are but words: it is manifest that this is a prepense
malice; thou hast several times laid the meetings for me, and this day
particularly.
SIR J. ROBINSON.-No. I profess I could not tell you would be there.
W. PENN.-Thine own corporal told me you had intelligence at the
Tower, that I would be at Wheeler-street to-day, almost as soon as I
OF WILLIAM PENN.
37
knew it myself. It is disingenuous and partial. I never gave thee
occasion for such unkindness.
SIR J. ROBINSON.-I knew no such thing; but if I had, I confess I should
have sent for you.
W. PENN. That might have been spared; I do heartily believe it.
SIR J. ROBINSON.-I VOW, Mr. Penn, I am sorry for you: you are an
ingenuous gentleman; all the world must allow you and do allow you
that: and you have a plentiful estate: why should you render yourself
unhappy by associating with such a simple people?
W. PENN.-I confess I have made it my choice to relinquish the company
of those that are ingeniously wicked, to converse with those that are more
honestly simple.
SIR J. ROBINSON.-I wish you wiser.
W. PENN.And I wish thee better.
SIR J. ROBINSON.—You have been as bad as other folks.
W. PENN. When and where? I charge thee to tell the company to my
face.
SIR J. ROBINSON.-Abroad and at home too.
Upon this Sir John Shelden, hurt at the reflection cast upon the character
of William Penn, interfered, crying out "No, no, Sir John, that's too
much." William Penn also, upon hearing it, was set as it were on fire.
Conscious that he had endeavoured from early youth to lead a life of purity,
he could no longer contain himself, but broke out at once into this
impassioned appeal: "I make this bold challenge to all men, women, and
children upon earth, justly to accuse me with having seen me drunk, heard
me swear, utter a curse, or speak one obscene word, much less that I ever
made it my practice. I speak this to God's glory, who has ever preserved
me from the power of these pollutions, and who from a child begot an hatred
in me towards them. But there is nothing more common, than when men are
of a more severe life than ordinary, for loose persons to comfort themselves
with the conceit, that these were once as they themselves are; and as if there
were no collateral or oblique line of the compass or globe, from which men
might be said to come to the arctic pole, but directly and immediately from
the antarctic. Thy words shall be thy burthen, and I trample thy slander
as dirt under my feet."
After this the conversation was renewed for some time, when Sir John
Robinson informed him, that he must send him to Newgate for six months,
and that, when these were expired, he might come out. To this William
Penn immediately replied, "And is that all? Thou well knowest a larger
imprisonment has not daunted me. I accept it at the hand of the Lord, and
am contented to suffer his will. Alas! you mistake your interest ! This is
not the way to compass your ends. I would have thee and all men know,
that I scorn that religion which is not worth suffering for and able to
sustain those that are afflicted for it. Thy religion persecutes, and mine
38
MEMOIRS OF THE LITE
forgives. I desire God to forgive you all that are concerned in my commit-
ment, and I leave you all in perfect charity, wishing your everlasting
salvation."
Directly after this he was escorted by a corporal and a file of musqueteers
to Newgate, there to expiate by a six months' imprisonment the crime of
having refused to take the oath which had been offered him.
'
CHAPTER VII.
A. 1671-WRITES, WHILE IN NEWGATE, TO THE HIGH COURT OF PAR-
LIAMENT TO THE SHERIFFS OF LONDON-TO A ROMAN CATHOLIC-
PUBLISHES "A CAUTIONARY POSTCRIPT TO TRUTH EXALTED"-
"TRUTH RESCUED FROM IMPOSTURE"-" A SERIOUS APOLOGY FOR
"A
THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF THE QUAKERS"—" THE GREAT
CASE OF LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE DEBATED AND DEFENDED"-
GENERAL CONTENTS OF THE LATTER-COMES OUT OF PRISON-
TRAVELS INTO HOLLAND AND GERMANY.
2
:
WHILE he was in Newgate, he had ample employment for his pen. Under-
standing that Parliament was about to take measures to enforce the
Conventicle Act with still greater severity, he addressed a paper to that
body in behalf of himself and friends, in which he stated in substance, that
though the Quakers could not comply with those laws which prohibited
them from worshiping God according to their consciences, it being the
prerogative of Him alone to preside in all matters of religious faith, yet
they owned civil government as God's ordinance, and were ready to yield
obedience to it in all temporal matters, and this for conscience sake; that
they renounced all plots and conspiracies, as horrible impiety; and that, as
they had conducted themselves patiently and peaceably under all the
changes of the government that had taken place since their first appearance
as a society, so it was their determination to continue in the same path. He
concluded by expressing a hope, that Parliament, before it proceeded to
extremities, would give them a free hearing, as it had done upon the first
Act for uniformity, and that, upon a better knowledge of them as a people,
it would remove their hard burthens.
་
He wrote two letters about the same time; one to the Sheriffs of London,
calling their attention to the keeper of Newgate prison, who had been
abusive to some of the society, then in confinement there, on account of
their religion; and another to a Roman Catholic, who, having been offended
with his "Seasonable Caveat against Popery," had replied to him with
considerable warmth.
He wrote and published also during his confinement the four following
works:-" A Cautionary Postcript to Truth Exalted."-" Truth Rescued
"A
from Imposture; or, A Brief Reply to a mere Rhapsody of Lyes, Folly, and
OF WILLIAM PENN.
39
•
Slander, but a Pretended Answer to the Trial of William Penn and William
Mead."" A Serious Apology for the Principles and Practices of the People
called Quakers, against the Malicious Aspersions, Erroneous Doctrines, and
Horrid Blasphemies of Thomas Jenner and Timothy Tayler, two Presbyterian
Preachers, in their Book entitled Quakerism Anatomized."" The Great
Case of Liberty of Conscience once more Briefly Debated and Defended by
the Authority of Reason, Scripture, and Antiquity." Of the first three I
shall make no further mention; but with respect to the fourth, considering
the vast importance of the subject, I should feel myself culpable if I were
not to say a few words concerning its contents.
In the first place I may observe of this book, that it was written upon the
same ground as the paper which we have just seen him address to the
Parliament; namely, because the said Parliament were then going to bring
in a new bill, or one more severe than the former, against those who
dissented from the Established Church. It began with an address to "The
Supreme Authority of England," of which the following is a copy :-
Toleration for these ten years past has not been more the cry of some,
than Persecution has been the practice of others, though not on grounds
equally rational.
"The present cause of this address is to solicit a conversion of that
power to our relief, which hitherto has been employed to our depression;
that after this large experience of our innocency and long since expired
apprenticeship of cruel sufferings you will be pleased to cancel all our bonds,
and give us a possession of those freedoms to which we are entitled by
English birthright.
This has been often promised to us, and we as earnestly have expected
the performance; but to this time we labour under the unspeakable pressure
of nasty prisons, and daily confiscation of our goods, to the apparent ruin of
entire families.
"We would not attribute the whole of this severity to malice, since not a
little share may justly be ascribed to misintelligence.
"For 'tis the infelicity of governours to see and hear by the eyes and ears
of other men; which is equally unhappy for the people.
And we are bold to say, that suppositions and mere conjectures have
been the best measures that most have taken of us and of our principles;
for, whilst there have been none more inoffensive, we have been marked for
capital offenders.
"Tis hard that we should always lie under this undeserved imputation,
and, which is worse, be persecuted as such without the liberty of a just
deferce.
"In short, if you are apprehensive that our principles are inconsistent
with the civil government, grant us a free conference about the points in
question, and let us know what are those laws essential to preservation that
our opinions carry an opposition to: and if, upon a due inquiry, we are
40
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
found so heterodox as represented, it will be then but time enough to inflict
these heavy penalties upon us.
"And as this medium seems the fairest and most reasonable, so can you
never do yourselves greater justice either in the vindication of your
proceedings against us, if we be criminal, or, if innocent, in disengaging
your service of such as have been the authors of so much misinformation.
"But could we once obtain the favour of such debate, we doubt not to
evince a clear consistency of our life and doctrine with the English govern-
ment; and that an indulging of Dissenters in the sense defended is not only
most Christian and rational, but prudent also; and the contrary, however
plausibly insinuated, the most injurious to the peace, and destructive of that
discreet balance, which the best and wisest states have ever carefully
observed.
"But if this fair and equal offer find not a place with you on which to
rest its foot, much less that it should bring us back the olive-branch of
Toleration, we heartily embrace and bless the Providence of God, and in his
strength resolve by patience to outweary persecution, and by our constant
sufferings seek to obtain a victory more glorious than any our adversaries
can achieve by all their cruelties."
This excellent address was followed by a preface. He began the latter by
observing, that, if the friends of persecution were men of as much reason as
they counted themselves to be, it would be unnecessary for him to inform
them, that no external coercive power could convince the understanding, neither
could fines and imprisonments be judged fit and adequate penalties for faults
purely intellectual. He maintained the folly of coercive measures on such
occasions on another account; for the enaction of such laws as restrained
persons from the free exercise of their consciences in matters of religion was
but the knotting of whipcord on the part of the enactors to lash their own
posterity, whom they could never promise to be conformed for ages to come to a
national religion. He then defined liberty of conscience to be "the free and
uninterrupted exercise of our consciences in that way of worship we were
most clearly persuaded God required of us to serve him in, without
endangering our undoubted birthright of English freedoms, which, being
matter of faith, we sinned if we omitted, and they could not do less who
should endeavour it.” After this he showed how this liberty of conscience
had been invaded by the plundering and oppressing of those who had used
it; and concluded by pronouncing that, if such desolation were allowed to
continue, the state must inevitably proceed to its own decay.
Having finished the preface, he went to the body of the work, which
consisted of six chapters. But here I find it impossible for want of room to
detail the contents of these. The reader, therefore, must be satisfied with the
following account. He coincided, he said, with many, in considering the
urion (for the oppressive bill in question) "to be very ominous and
unhappy, which made the first discovery of itself by a John Baptist's head
OF WILLIAM PENN.
41
in a charger, by a feast to be made upon the liberties and properties of free-
born Englishmen; for to cut off the entail of their undoubted hereditary
rights, on account of matters purely relative to another world, was a severe
beheading in the law." He then maintained that they who imposed fetters
upon the conscience and persecuted for conscience sake defeated God's work
of grace, or the invisible operation of his holy Spirit, which could alone
beget faith; that they claimed infallibility, which all good Protestants
rejected; and that they usurped the divine prerogative, assuming the
judgment of the Great Tribunal, and thereby robbing the Almighty of a
right which belonged exclusively to himself that they overthrew the
Christian religion in the very nature of it, for it was spiritual, and not of
this world; in the very practice of it, for this consisted of meekness; in the
promotion of it, for it was clear that they never designed to be better
themselves, and they discouraged others in their religious growth; and in
the rewards of it, for where men were religious out of fear, and this out of
the fear of men, their religion was condemnation, and not peace--that
they opposed the plainest testimonies of divine writ, which concurred in
condemning all force upon the conscience-that they waged war against
the privileges of nature, by exalting themselves and enslaving their fellow-
creatures; by rendering null and void the divine instinct or principle in
man, which was so natural to him, that he could be no more without it and
be, than he could be without the most essential part of himself (for where
would be the use of this principle, if it were regulated by arbitrary power?)
and by destroying all natural affection-that they were enemies to the
noble principle of reason- -that they acted contrary to all true notions of
government, first, as to the nature of it, which was justice; secondly, as to
the execution of it, which was prudence; and, thirdly, as to the end of it,
which was happinesss. Having discussed these several points, he pro-
ceeded to answer certain objections, which he supposed might be made to
some of the positions he had advanced, and concluded by attempting to
show, by means of a copious appeal to history, that they who fettered the
consciences of others and punished for conscience sake reflected upon the
sense and practice of the wisest, greatest, and best of men, both of ancient
and modern times.
When he had finished the above works the time for his liberation from
prison approached. This having taken place, he travelled into Holland and
Germany. His object was to spread the doctrines of his own religious
society in these parts. Of the particulars of his travels we have no detailed
account. We know only that he was reported to have been successful, and
that he continued employed on the same errand during the remainder of
the year.
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
42
CHAPTER VIII.
A. 1672-RETURNS TO ENGLAND-MARRIES-SETTLES AT RICKMANS-
WORTH-TRAVELS AS A PREACHER-WRITES "THE SPIRIT OF
TRUTH VINDICATED"-" THE NEW WITNESSES PROVED OLD HERE-
TICS"-" PLAIN DEALING WITH A TRADUCING ANABAPTIST"-"A
WINDING SHEET FOR THE CONTROVERSY ENDED"-" QUAKERISM
A NEW NICK-NAME FOR OLD CHRISTIANITY"-LETTER TO DR.
HASBERT.
WILLIAM PENN, after his return from the Continent, entered into the
married state. He was then in the twenty-eighth year of his age. He took
for his wife Gulielma Maria Springett, daughter of Sir William Springett, of
Darling in Sussex, who had fallen at the siege of Bamber, during the civil
wars, in the service of the Parliament. She was esteemed an extraordinary
woman, and not more lovely on account of the beauty of her person than of
the sweetness of her disposition. After their marriage they took up their
residence at Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire.
i
It must be obvious that William Penn, now married and settled, and in
the possession of an abundant fortune, might have led the life of a gentleman
of leisure. But he had entered upon the important office of a minister of the
Gospel. This, therefore, kept him in no inconsiderable employ; for meetings
for worship were then held at one place or another (many ministers
travelling) almost every day in the week. The disputes too in the religious
world, which obtained in these times, and in which the Quakers were
engaged, called him frequently forth as an author. Of these disputes the
following were conjoint and fruitful causes. In the preceding year Charles
the Second had issued a declaration of indulgence to tender consciences in
matters of religion, in consequence of which not less than five hundred
Quakers had been released from prison. This indulgence was extended also
to Dissenters at large. Now one would have thought that the leaders of the
different religious sects, all of which had felt the iron hand of persecution,
would have enjoyed this respite in solacing each other, and enlarging the
boundaries of love between them. But far otherwise was the fact. Enjoying
the sunshine of the King's indulgence, and feeling a liberty to which they
had not been accustomed, many of them began to grow bold, and to have a
longing to venture out into controversy. Thus, when man has been lorded
over, he feels too generally a disposition to play the tyrant himself. In this
situation, however, they did not dare to attack the Church. Now it
happened at this time that the great body of the Dissenters were well
affected towards the Quakers; for, first, the Quakers never sculking under
persecution, but worshiping at regular times, and this openly in their own
meeting-houses, and on the very ruins of the same when they were
OF WILLIAM PENN.
43
i
destroyed, were always to be found by the civil magistrate; and, secondly,
the number to be so found was sufficient to glut the most insatiable
executioners of the laws. From these two causes the Quakers helped to bear
off the blow, or to keep the great force of the stroke, from the other
Dissenters. Hence the latter, and particularly the Baptists, began to be
attached to them; and this attachment became at length such, that many
left their own particular societies and joined them. The leaders then of
several of the religious sects, finding their congregations growing less by
such defections, and feeling that the fetters were in some measure taken
from their arras by the King's indulgence, thought they could not use their
liberty better than by trying to crush the Quakers. Hence many publications
appeared against the latter, which had been otherwise unknown. Placed,
then, as William Penn was in one or other of the occupations which have
been mentioned, that is, either in that of a public preacher or a controversial
writer in behalf of his own society, he had but little time left him for repose
during the present year.
The first instance of industry which we find in him as a minister of the
Gospel, after his marriage, was on the Midsummer following, when he
traversed three counties in that capacity, Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, and
this with such rapidity, that he preached to no less than twenty-one
different congregations of people, and some of these at considerable distances
the one from the other, in twenty-one days. This must have been no easy
performance, considering the comparative paucity and state of the roads at
this period.
As an author we find him equally indefatigable. An anonymous writer
had published "The Spirit of the Quakers Tried." This was one of the
works alluded to which first roused him, and he answered it by "The Spirit
of Truth Vindicated."
John Morse, a preacher at Watford, having written against him in
particular, and the Quakers in general, he repelled the attack by "Plain
Dealing with a Traducing Anabaptist."
Controversy Ended" soon followed, which was the production of Henry
Hedworth, another preacher, and which was of a similar stamp with the
former. His answer to this paper was contained in "A Winding Sheet for
Controversy Ended."
r
John Faldo, an Independent preacher near Barnet, finding that some of
his hearers had gone over to the Quakers, was greatly incensed, and gave
vent to his anger by writing a book, which he called Quakerism no
Christianity." This very soon attracted the notice of William Penn, and, as
a reply to it, "Quakerism a new Nickname for Old Christianity" followed.
About this time Reeve and Muggleton made a great noise in the religious
world, by pretending to wonderful revelations received immediately from
Heaven. Reeve, who compared himself to Moses, asserted that he was
ordered to communicate his new system to Muggleton, whom he likened to
44
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
i
Aaron. William Penn, to expose the doctrines of these, published "The
New Witnesses proved Old Heretics."
There is a letter extant, which he wrote this year to Dr. Hasbert, a
physician at Embden in Germany, whom he had found, on his late tour to
the Continent, ready to embrace the religious principles of the Quakers.
This letter was merely to encourage and strengthen him to pursue the path
he had thus taken.
CHAPTER IX.
A, 1673-TRAVELS AS A MINISTER-WRITES "THE CHRISTIAN QUAKER"
-ALSO "REASON AGAINST RAILING AND TRUTH AGAINST FICTION"
-ALSO "THE COUNTERFEIT CHRISTIAN DETECTED"-HOLDS A
PUBLIC CONTROVERSY WITH THE BAPTISTS AT BARBICAN-HIS
ACCOUNT OF IT TO G. FOX-WRITES "THE INVALIDITY OF JOHN
FALDO'S VINDICATION”—ALSO “ A RETURN TO J. FALDO'S REPLY"
-ALSO "A JUST REBUKE TO ONE-AND-TWENTY LEARNED AND
REVEREND DIVINES"-ENCOMIUM OF DR. MOORE ON THE LATTER-
WRITES "WISDOM JUSTIFIED OF HER CHILDREN," AND "URIM AND
THUMMIM "—AND AGAINST JOHN PERROT-AND "ON THE GENERAL
RULE OF FAITH," AND ON "THE PROPOSED COMPREHENSION "---
ALSO SIX LETTERS-EXTRACT FROM THAT TO JUSTICE FLEMING.
WILLIAM PENN continued to be employed as in the preceding year. As
the spring advanced he undertook a journey to the western parts of the
kingdom, in which he was joined by George Whitehead. Travelling as
ministers of the Gospel, they spread their principles as they went along.
Gulielma Maria Penn accompanied her husband on this occasion. When
they came to Bristol, it was the time of the great fair. It happened,
unexpectedly, that they were joined by George Fox, the founder of their
religious society. He had just landed from a vessel, which had brought him
from Maryland in America, whither he had gone some months before on a
religious errand. All the parties staid at Bristol during the fair, and,
uniting their religious labours, they brought over many to their persuasion.
As a writer, there was no end of his employment this year. The first
who called him forth was Thomas Hicks, a Baptist preacher in London.
Alarmed, like those mentioned in the preceding chapter, at the defection of
many of his congregation, this person began his attack upon the Quakers by
writing a dialogue between a Christian and a Quaker, which he forged so
well, that many considered it not as a fiction, but as a discourse which had
actually taken place between the parties described. By making, too, his
Quaker say every thing that was weak and silly, he paved the way for such
answers from his Christian as ensured the victory on his own side. This
publication being such, William Penn could not but notice it; and he
OF WILLIAM PENN.
45
brought out accordingly "The Christian Quaker and his Divine Testimony
Vindicated," by way of reply.
This work contained an explicit statement of the religious creed of the
Quakers in those points which were then matter of controversy between
them and those of Hicks's persuasion. The great subject of it was the Light
of Christ within, which he handled thus. He began by explaining what this
Light was, calling it among other things The Principle of God in Man, and
asserting it to be the same as the Word, Spirit, Life, Light, Seed, Truth, as
used in the Holy Scriptures.- -This Light manifested and reproved sin and
led to salvation; to salvation, first, from sin, and, secondly, from the wrath
to come. The argument that men were wicked notwithstanding they had
this Light within them, was no more an argument against its existence,
than that men were wicked was an argument against the existence of the
Scriptures, which also they had in their possession. -Neither, because all
matters were not revealed by it, was this an argument against its sufficiency.
As this Light had manifested and reproved sin and led to salvation
since the coming of Christ, so it had performed the same offices before;
namely, from Adam through all the patriarchs and prophetsand as the
Jews had a certain measure of this Light, so had the Gentiles also. This
was manifest from the tenets of their wise men, who acknowledged one
God; who believed that the same God had imprinted the knowledge of
himself on the minds of all mankind; that it became men to live piously;
that the soul was immortal, and that there was an eternal recompense;
tenets which were professed by Orpheus, Hesiod, Thales, Sybilla, Pythagoras,
Heraclitus, Anaxagoras, Socrates, Timæus, Antisthenes, Plato, Zeno,
Chrysippus, Antipater, Bias, Sophocles, Menander, Chilon, Pittacus, and
many others. This was the Gentile divinity; and though Jews and
Christians had the advantage of the Gentiles in the measure of this Light,
yet the latter had sufficient for their own salvation.-Some of them had a
Light of the coming of Christ-Christ was this Light according to the
Scriptures.- It was no argument against this, that he was not so called
either by Jews or Greeks-nor was it an argument against this, that he was
typified to come, when he was come before--nor did a belief that Christ was
this Light in man invalidate his life, death, or resurrection, or the doctrine
that he bore our iniquities, or that men were redeemed by his blood.-As
Christ, then, was the Light within, so this Light had been given without
exception, that is, to mankind universally.- It had been given to them
also in a measure sufficient for their salvation-and all those who obeyed
it forsook their evil ways, and became transformed in their lives and
characters.
These were simply the heads of the work, in which he conducted himself
with great dignity; for instead of launching out against Hicks in terms of
severity, he nowhere mentioned his name, but satisfied himself with giving
a compendium of the principles of his own society in those points which
46
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
were then at issue between them, leaving him and others to compare the
substance of it with that of the dialogue in question.
In a short time after this, Hicks produced another publication. It was a
continuation of the same dialogue by the addition of a second part. It is
remarkable that he took no notice whatever in this of "The Christian
Quaker and his Divine Testimony Vindicated." This unfair treatment
offended William Penn, who immediately attacked him by opposing to his
dialogue a little work, which he called "Reason against Railing, and Truth
against Fiction." But Hicks was not even yet silenced; for he resumed his
operations against the Quakers, by adding a third part to the dialogue. The
part now mentioned, when published, produced from William Penn, in
return, "The Counterfeit Christian Detected, and the Real Quaker Justified."
Hicks after this appeared no more in print. The controversy, however, did
not end here; for he had fabricated so many falsehoods respecting the
Quakers, that they appealed as a society to the Baptists themselves against
him; in consequence of which a meeting was appointed at Barbican, where
both parties might be heard. But it was fixed so as to take place in the
absence of George Whitehead and William Penn, who, it was known, were
then travelling; so that great attendance having been procured on one side,
and there being but little on the other, Hicks was declared by a majority of
voices to be acquitted.
These proceedings were soon sent to William Penn, who on receiving
them hastened to London. On his arrival there, he laid his complaint before
the public in a printed paper, and demanded another meeting of the
Baptists, in which the grievances of the Quakers might be heard. The paper
was called "William Penn's Just Complaint Against, and Solemn Offer of
a Public Meeting to, the Leading Baptists." This demand, after much
opposition, was complied with, and a second meeting appointed. When the
parties met, there was much noise and rioting. The Baptists were clamorous
against "The Christian Quaker and his Divine Testimony Vindicated."—
"If," cried they, "Christ was the Light within, where was his manhood ?"
and they made so much noise, that they obliged as it were the Quakers to
sustain a controversy on this point. This having been acceded to, the tumult
subsided, and the meeting passed into silence, decorum, and good order.
I can nowhere find any printed account of this controversy; but as there
is extant the fragment of a very curious letter written by William Penn to
George Fox on this occasion, I shall make an extract from its contents.
"Thy fatherly love," says he, " and tender care I do with all gentleness and
true respect receive; but thou shalt understand the occasion of our answer,
wherein we stated that the holy manhood was a member of the Christ of
God.'
“The question was, 'If the manhood were a part of Christ?' To this we
must either have answered nothing, or only a Scripture, or in the terms of
the question, or as we did.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
47
"If we had answered nothing, we had gratified the enemy, stumbled the
moderate, and grieved friends.
"If a Scripture, it had been no way satisfactory; for the question, they
would have said, was not about the text, but about the understanding of it;
and they would have charged us with so wresting it to a mystical sense, as
to shut out the person that appeared in the flesh; so that, if we had
answered them in any of those Scriptures, they would have asked in all
probability, What man do you mean? the spiritual and heavenly man? the
new creature or creation? or that outward man, that was outwardly born
of the Virgin in Palestine, and was there outwardly crucified? If we had
said No, we had been lost. That they would have put a mystical construction
on our words, if we had not answered them plainly, that is, by what we
understood by the Scripture rather than by the Scripture itself, I have cause
to believe, because the same person that proposed the question thus
expounded, after the meeting, our belief in Christ, that he was born of a
virgin, that is, of a virgin-nature and spirit; crucified, that is, slain by sin in
us; rose, that is, rose up to rule us, and the like,'-making the people
believe, that we denied that person, that outwardly appeared, to be the true
Christ.
<
C
"Further, if we had answered in the terms of the question, we had taken
Christ into parts, whereas I cried twice to them, 'Christ is not to be divided
into parts.' But they still pressed the question, six thousand people, I
believe, being present, and many of them were desirous of an answer. Upon
this, Friends consented that it should be answered them, that the manhood
was a part of Christ.' But I feared the word part, and chose rather to say
that we believed the holy manhood to be a member of the Christ of God, and
my reasons for so doing were these: first, what needed we to grant more
than was asked? Friends only desired to have us grant that the manhood
was a part of Christ, in order to overthrow T. Hicks's attempts to prove us
no Christians; and that was of so great moment in that solemn and great
assembly as tongue cannot utter. Secondly, since we were willing to go no
further in our confessions than they asked at our hands, this was my reason
for rejecting the word part for member, to wit, that a body may be taken
into members without breach of union, but not into parts. A member
divides not: parts divide. Christ is called the head, that is, the most noble
member, the Church the body, and particulars are styled members of that
body. Now calling these members divides them not into parts. Thirdly, I did
not say, it was but a member, and I often repeated, that it was of and
belonging to Christ, and in my confession at the close I said, that we believed
in Christ, both as he was the man Jesus, and God over all blessed for ever. And
I am sure that Paul divides him more than we did (Rom. ix. 5), since he
makes a distinction between Christ as God, and Christ as man. Now if that
hold, the one was not completely Christ without the other, as said these
Baptists. Therefore G. K said, that he was most excellently called so as
:
48
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
God, less excellently as man, and least excellently as to his body. We
might truly say then, that the body was a member or belonging to the true
Christ; and if we had said more, we had gone too far, as I have learned
But, blessed be the Lord! I have not sought to comprehend or imagine;
but as I am furnished upon the occasion, so it goes. I value the invisible
touches and feeling of heavenly virtue and life beyond it all, nor am I
delighted with these matters: but, dear George, I confess I never heard any
Friend speak so fully as to Christ's manhood as thyself. I think so much in
print in our name as a people would remove much prejudice, and the contest
would come more to power against power, than words against words; only
we must remember, that Christ is said to have been in the wilderness, and
to have brought the people out of Egypt. If so, then he was Christ before
he was born of the Virgin, and the apostles say that Christ is God, and that
all things were made by him; though doubtless the great and glorious
appearance might by way of eminency most properly deserve and require
that title. As for those gross terms of human flesh and human blood, I never
spoke or wrote them since I knew the Lord's truth. And this I must needs
say, we have been as poor tossed sheep up and down, much abused, vilified,
and belied: but over all God is raising the strong horn of his salvation;
and he has magnified his name in all these bustles and stirs; and Truth
has manifestly gotten ground, and in no one thing more than our plain
confessions of Christ: so much had the Devil roosted and nestled himself in
them under their misapprehensions of our words in that particular: and if
any weakness attended the phrasing of it, I hope and believe the simplicity
in which it was delivered will hide it from the evil watcher."-Here the
first sheet of the letter ends, the second being lost, and with it all further
knowledge of this controversy, as well as of the proceedings of Hicks, or of
those who were associated with him on this occasion.
The person who, next to Hicks, gave this year the most trouble to William
Penn, was John Faldo. He had produced, as stated in the preceding
chapter, his book, called Quakerism no Christianity," which had been
answered: but in the present year he appeared in print by publishing "A
Vindication" of his former work. This brought forward a rejoinder, called
"The Invalidity of John Faldo's Vindication," from William Penn. Upon
this Faldo sent his antagonist a challenge to meet him in public dispute.
William Penn, however, declined it. His reason, he said, for so doing was,
that the points, upon which he had been challenged, were then in discussion
between the Quakers and other people. In his answer, however, to the
challenge, he stated, "that he loved, and therefore that he should at any
time convenient embrace, a sober discussion of the principles of religion, for
that he aimed at nothing more than Truth's triumph, though to his own
abasement." Modest as this declaration was, Faldo was not satisfied, but
published "A Curb to William Penn's Confidence," which the latter
immediately opposed by " A Return to John Faldo's Reply." After this Faldo
OF WILLIAM PENN.
49
did not renew the contest himself: but he became an instrument of
continuing it; for he assembled a large council of divines, by whose advice
his first work called " Quakerism no Christianity" was republished. This,
the second edition of it, was accompanied by a commendatory preface,
produced by the joint labours of this learned body. As the work in its first
form had attracted so much notice from William Penn, it may be easily
supposed that it could not do less in the present. Accordingly he wrote a
reply to it, which, on account of the number of clergymen concerned in the
preface, he called "A Just Rebuke to One-and-twenty Learned and
Reverend Divines." After this the controversy ceased between them. I may
just observe, with respect to the books written by William Penn on occasion
of John Faldo, that Dr. Henry Moore, who was then considered one of the
most learned and pious men in the Church of England, passed an encomium
upon them. In a letter written to William Penn he expresses himself thus:
“Indeed meeting with the little pamphlet of yours newly come out, wherein
some twenty and odd learned and reverend divines are concerned, I had
the curiosity to buy and read it: and though I wish there were no occasion
for these controversies and contests betwixt those who have left the Church
of Rome; yet I found such a taste both of wit and seriousness in that
pamphlet, and the argument it was about so weighty, that I was resolved to
buy all of John Faldo's and all of yours touching that subject; but before
that little pamphlet, I never met with any of your writings."-" As to
your other two books against John Faldo, whatever passages there be that
may not be agreeable to my sentiments, you will easily perceive of
what nature they are, by perusing my remarks upon G. K's immediate
revelation. But there are sundry passages in those two books of yours nobly
Christian, and for which I have no small kindness and esteem for you,
they being testimonies of that, which I cannot but highly prize wherever I
find it."
ર
The persons who kept him employed next, were Henry Halliwell, who
wrote an account of "Familism, as it was Revived and Propagated by the
Quakers," and Samuel Grevil, a clergyman living near Banbury, who wrote
"A Discourse against the Testimony of the Light Within." In answer to
the first he published "Wisdom Justified of Her Children," and to the other
"Urim and Thummim, or the Apostolical Doctrines of Light and Perfection
Maintained.”
He was now obliged to take up his pen against John Perrot, one of his
own society. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit speaking as it were within
men and guiding them into the way of truth, which was the great corner-stone
of Quakerism, had been received by many of that persuasion in too large a
latitude, so that these, interpreting every ordinary motion within themselves
as springing immediately from the divine impulse, and obeying it in its
several tendencies, ran out into extravagancies in various ways. This
conduct began to bring the rising name of the Quakers into some disrepute.
D
:
50
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
Hence, and on account of the error which gave birth to it, the society was
obliged to notice it, and in consequence several so acting were disowned,
Among these was John Perrot. The said John Perrot and John Luft.
supposing themselves to have been moved in this manner, or to have had a
divine revelation for the purpose, undertook a journey to Rome with a view of
converting the Pope. They had not been long there when they were taken
up and put into prison. Luff was sent to the Inquisition, where he died, but
not without a reasonable suspicion of having been murdered there. Perrot
was put into a bedlam or hospital for madmen; from which being extricated,
and this only by great interest, he returned to England. He had not beeu
long at home, when he maintained that in the time of prayer men should
keep their hats on, unless they had an immediate internal motion or notice
to take them off; and he exemplified this doctrine by his practice into
whatever meetings he went. It was in consequence of this irregularity of
conduct, after many admonitions, that he was disowned. Soon after this his
exclusion from membership an anonymous pamphlet appeared, but yet
written by himself, called "The Spirit of the Hat." This occasioned William
Penn to publish a reply, to which he gave the curious title of "The Spirit of
Alexander the Coppersmith lately Revived, and now Justly Rebuked." He
had, however, scarce ushered it into the world, before Perrot wrote against
the church order and discipline of the Quakers. This compelled him to enter
the lists again, when a publication called Judas and the Jews Combined
against Christ and his Followers" was the result of his labour.
"A
Besides the works now mentioned, he wrote in the same year,
Discourse of the General Rule of Faith and Practice, and Judge of
Controversy," and "The Proposed Comprehension Soberly and Not Unsea-
sonably Considered;" also Six Letters of public concern, all of which are
extant: one to the suffering Quakers in Holland and Germany; another to
the little Church of the same established in the United Netherlands; a third
to those who were then settled in Maryland, and in whose behalf he had
interfered with the Attorney General of that colony and the Lord Baltimore
relative to their scruples against oaths; the fourth to John Collenges, a
doctor of divinity, in defence of his own book called "The Sandy Foundation
Shaken;" a fifth to Mary Pennyman, who had taken offence at his book
entitled "Judas and the Jews Combined against Christ and his Followers;"
and the sixth to Justice Fleming, who was deputy lieutenant of the county
of Westmoreland, and who had been harsh as a magistrate towards the
Quakers. From the latter I give the following extract, on account of the
just sentiments it contains. "The obligation (says he) which thy civility
laid upon the person who is now my wife, when in the north in 1664, is,
with her being so, become mine. Not to acknowledge, though I could
never retaliate it, were a rudeness I have not usually been guilty of; for,
however differing I am from other men circa sacra, that is, relative to
religious matters, and to that world which, respecting men, may be said to
OF WILLIAM PENA.
51
begin when this ends, I know no religion which destroys courtesy, civility,
and kindness. These, rightly understood, are great indications of true men,
if not of good Christians."-And a little further on he adds, "That way is
but a bad way of making Christians which destroys their constitution as
men."
CHAPTER X.
A. 1674-TRIES TO STEM THE TORRENT OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION
BY A LETTER TO BOWLS-AND TO TWO OTHER JUSTICES-AND TO
THE KING-WRITES FOR THE SAME PURPOSE "A TREATISE OF
OATHS"-ALSO "ENGLAND'S PRESENT INTEREST CONSIDERED"-
CONTENTS OF THIS WORK-ALSO "THE CONTINUED CRY OF THE
OPPRESSED FOR JUSTICE "-SHORT EXTRACTS FROM THE LATTER
-ALSO A LETTER TO THE SENATE OF EMBDEN-PUBLISHES "NAKED
TRUTH NEEDS NO SHIFT"-"IVES'S SOBER REQUEST PROVED FALSE"
-AND "LIBELS NO PROOFS"-LETTER TO G. FOX ON THE SUBJECT
OF HIS RELEASE.
THE declaration of indulgence to tender consciences in matters of religion,
which was stated to have been granted by Charles the Second in 1671, had,
for the short time it was in force, secured both the Quakers and other Dis-
senters from persecution; but in the year 1674, to which I now come, an
occurrence took place, which became the means of removing it. The Par-
liament, though upon the whole friendly to religious toleration, considered
this declaration of indulgence by the King as an undue extension of his pre-
rogative, and therefore called it in as illegal. This measure was wilfully
misinterpreted by those in office, who were bigots, as implying a wish on the
part of Parliament that all privileges to Dissenters should be withdrawn ;
and therefore, to gratify their own barbarous prejudices, they availed them-
selves of this opportunity to consider the Conventicle Act as in force, and to.
renew their old practices. These cruel and wicked proceedings roused again
the spirit of William Penn, and kept him employed, as we shall see, for
nearly the remainder of the year.
Justice Bowls having led the way in Wiltshire by the persecution of
Thomas Please, he was the first to attract the notice of William Penn; but
the latter, not aware that this example would be so soon and so extensively
followed, addressed to him only a short letter on the occasion.
The next breaking out of intolerancy was in Middlesex, where two justices
of the peace summoned several Quakers before them, who had been charged
with having met together in religious worship contrary to law. William
Penn, on being made acquainted with the fact, addressed a moderate and
respectful letter to them, in which he appealed to their own good sense on
this subject. Among the many excellent passages contained in it, I shall
52
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
select the following: "Next, let it be weighed," says he, "that ce come not
to our liberties and properties by the Protestant religion. Their late rises higher.
Why then should a nonconformity to it, purely conscientious, deprive us of
them? This or that sort of religion was not specified in the ancient civil govern-
ment "—and further on he observes thus: "The nature of body and soul, of
earth and heaven, of this world and that to come, differs. There can be no
reason, then, to persecute any man in this world about any thing that belongs
to the next. Who art thou, says the Holy Scripture in this case, that judgest
another man's servant? He must stand or fall to his master, the great God. Let
tares and wheat grow together till the harvest. To call for fire from heaven
was no part of Christ's religion. Indeed he reproved the zeal of some of
his disciples. His sword is spiritual, like his kingdom. Be pleased to
remember, that faith is the gift of God, and what is not of faith is sin. We
must either be hypocrites in doing what we believe in our consciences we
ought not to do, or in forbearing what we are fully persuaded we ought to
do. Either give us better faith, or leave us with such as we have; for it
seems unreasonable in you to disturb us for that which we have, and yet be
unable to give us any other."
But, alas, the evil began seriously to spread! The same spirit of perse-
cution appeared in Somersetshire. Humsheer, the town clerk of Bridge-
water, and William Bull and Colonel Stawell, two justices of the peace for
that county, were conspicuous for their severity there. Several Quakers
were fined on suspicion only. Fines were levied upon others without
warrants, and this to the breaking of locks and bolts. Goods were seized
and taken, which were of twice the value of the fines; and, where the former
were not of equal value with the latter, the parties were sent to gaol. These
proceedings becoming known to William Penn, he thought it time to interfere
more seriously; and therefore, hoping to set aside these practices by a
summary proceeding, he addressed a letter immediately on the subject to
the King.
This letter appears to have been of no avail (nor indeed could the King
help himself); for persecution still continued, and it not only spread to other
counties, but was carried on by a revival of that unjust procedure, by which
William Penn himself had been sent to Newgate by Sir John Robinson, as
mentioned in a preceding chapter; that is, when magistrates could not
convict Quakers of the charges brought against them, they offered them the
oath of allegiance; knowing that, if they obeyed their own scruples, they
could not take it, and that, if they refused, they might be sent to prison.
This being the case, and innocent men being thus tortured legally, William
Penn was of opinion, that the country at large ought to know what the
Quakers had to say for their conduct, when put to the test, on such occasions.
Accordingly he published "A Treatise of Oaths," in which, first, he gave to
the world all those reasons, both argumentative aud scriptural, upon which
they grounded their refusal to swear before the civil magistrate; hoping
OF WILLIAM PENN.
53
that these, when known, would at any rate shield them from the charge of
disaffection, and, by so doing, that possibly they might put an end to the
oppressive process in question. He then endeavoured to enforce these reasons
by a learned appeal to the opinion and practice of the ancients, as it related
to the Heathen world; by a reference to the testimony of the most famous
Jewish writers; and by quotations from the sayings and writings of Christians
of all ages, taking in those of fathers, confessors, martyrs, and others eminent
both among the laity and the church.
Persons were
But this work, however it might have softened some, had not the least
influence (such was the religious fury of the times) where it was most to be
desired. Bigots, who had power, still continued to abuse it.
thrown into gaol, so that parents and their children were separated. Cattle
were driven away. The widow's cow was not even spared. Barns full of
corn were seized, which was thrashed out and sold. Household goods were
distrained, so that even a stool was not left in some cases to sit on, and the.
very milk boiling on the fire for the family thrown to the dogs in order to
obtain the skillet as a prize. These enormities sometimes took place on
suspicion only that persons had preached to or attended a conventicle; and
to such length were they carried, that even some of those who went only to
visit and sit by their sick relations were adjudged to be a company met to
pray in defiance of the law. In this trying situation William Penn attempted
again to stem the torrent by a work of a new kind. He indulged a hope,
that, if he could not affect some men's minds by one kind of argument, he
might by another. In addition, therefore, to his moral and religious Treatise
upon Oaths, he published a political one under the following title: "England's
present Interest considered with Honour to the Prince and Safety to the
People, in Answer to this one Question, What is most fit, easy, and safe at
this Juncture of Affairs to be done for quieting Differences, allaying the Heat
of contrary Interests, and making them subservient to the Interest of the
Government, and consistent with the Prosperity of the Kingdom? submitted
to the Consideration of our Superiors."
Of this admirable work I cannot but notice the contents. He began it
by a short preface. In this he showed the heated and divided state in which
the kingdom then was on account of religious differences. He maintained
that what had been done by the Government to produce uniformity had
failed; and that it had been productive not only of no good, but of much
misery. He explained the nature of this misery by specific instances. He
then stated the question as I have just given it in the title of the book, and
answered it by asserting, that the thing most fit, safe, and easy to be done,
would be a determination by the Government, first, upon an inviolable and
impartial maintenance of English rights; secondly, upon conducting itself
so as to act upon a balance, as nearly as it could, towards the several re-
ligious interests; and, thirdly, upon a sincere promotion of general and
practical religion.
*
54
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
Having finished this, the preface, he came to the body of the work, in
which he considered the three parts or divisions of the answer as now given.
In handling the first, or the determination by Government upon an in-
violable and impartial maintenance of English rights, he explained what he
meant by the latter. Englishmen, he said, had birth-rights. The first of
these consisted of an ownership and undisturbed possession, so that what they
had was rightly their own and nobody's else, and such possession and ownership
related both to title and security of estate, and liberty of person from the violence
of arbitrary power. This was the situation of our ancestors in ancient British
times. They who governed afterwards, the Saxons, made no alteration in
this law, but confirmed it. The Normans, who came next, did the same.
William, at his coronation, made a solemn covenant to maintain the good,
approved, and ancient laws of the kingdom, and to inhibit all spoil and
unjust judgment. The same covenant was adopted by his successors, and
confirmed by Magna Charta.-The second birth-right of Englishmen con-
sisted in the voting of every law that was made, whereby that ownership in
liberty and property might be maintained. This also was the case, as he proved
by quotations from laws and an appeal to history, in British, Saxon, and
Norman times.The third birth-right of Englishmen consisted in having
an influence upon and a great share in the judicatory power, so that they were
not to be condemned but by the votes of freemen. This practice, he said, though
not perhaps British, obtained very early in Saxon times. It was among the
laws of Ethelred, that in every hundred there should be a court, where twelve
ancient free men, together with the lord of the hundred, should be sworn
that they would not condemn the innocent or acquit the guilty. The same
law continued to be the law of the land under different kings, till it was
violated by John; when Magna Charta restored it. Magna Charta, however,
he maintained, was not the nativity, but the restorer of ancient English privi-
leges. It was no grant of new rights, but only a restorer of the old.He
then explained the Great Charter of England, and endeavoured to show by
an appeal to reason, law, lawyers, and facts themselves, that the people of
England could not be justly disseized of any of these fundamentals without
their own consent collectively; nor could their representatives, whatever else
they might do, constitutionally alter them. If, however, any alteration
should be made in these great fundamentals of the constitution, the reason
should be the inconvenience or evil of continuing them. No other reason
could be pleaded in excuse; but no such justification had been attempted.
Nothing then, he maintained, could be more unjust than to sacrifice the
liberty and property of any man for religion, where he was not found breaking
any law which related to natural or civil things. Religion, under any modi-
fication or church government, was no part of the old English constitution.
"Honestè vivere, alterum non lædere, jus suum cuique tribuere," that is, To
live honestly, to do no injury to another, and to give every man his due, was
enough to entitle every native to English privileges. It was this, and not his
OF WILLIAM PENN.
55
religion, which gave him the great claim to the protection of the Government
under which he lived. Near three hundred years before Austin set his foot on
English ground the inhabitants had a good constitution. This came not in with
him. Neither did it come in with Luther; nor was it to go out with Calvin.
We were a free people by the creation of God, by the redemption of Christ, and
by the careful provision of our never-to-be-forgotten honourable ancestors; so that
our claim to these English privileges, rising higher than Protestantism, could
never justly be invalidated on account of nonconformity to any tenet or fashion
it might prescribe. This would be to lose by the Reformation, which was
effected only that we might enjoy property with conscience. But if these
ancient fundamental laws, so agreeable to nature, so suited to the dispositions
of our nation, so often defended with blood and treasure, so carefully and
frequently ratified by our ancestors, should not be to our great state-pilots
as stars or compass for them to steer the vessel of the kingdom by, or as
limits to their legislation, no man could tell how long he would be secure of
his coat, enjoy his house, have bread for his children, or liberty to work for
it, or life to eat it.He then argued the folly, the inconsistency, the evil
tendency of acting in such cases by any other rules than those of the people's
rights, and brought examples from history to show how a contrary conduct
had operated to the downfall of many states.
With respect to the second part of the answer, that is, a determination by
the Government of conducting itself so as to act upon a balance, as nearly
as it could, towards the several religious interests, he proved, first, that our
Saviour prohibited all force in producing an uniformity of religious opinion.
He contended, secondly, that, if any one party should use force for such
a purpose, it ought to have the preponderance in numbers, wisdom, wealth,
sober life, industry, and resolution on its own side. But this was then not
the case with the Church. If, however, the Church of England had then by
the favour of the Government a greater share of authority than any other
in the land, he maintained not only that the said Government ought not to
favour one class of religious Dissenters more than another, but that it ought
to preserve a due balance by treating all alike, and by freely giving, not a
comprehension, but toleration to all. This latter sentiment he supported
by eight arguments chiefly of a prudential nature, and drawn partly from
general principles and partly from the political state of the kingdom, of
which I have only room for the following. "It is not," says he, "the interest
of Governours to blow coals in their own country, especially when it is to
consume their own people, and it may be themselves too." Again: "Such
conduct not only makes them enemies, but there is no such excitement to
revenge as a raped conscience. Whether the ground of a man's religious
dissent be rational or not, severity is unjustifiable with him; for it is a
maxim with sufferers, that, whoever is in the wrong, the persecutor cannot
be in the right. Men not conscious to themselves of evil, and hardly treated,
not only resent it unkindly, but are bold to show it." Again: "Suppose
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
the prince by his severity should conquer any into compliance, he could upon
no prudent ground assure himself of their fidelity, that is, of the fidelity of
those whom he taught to be treacherous to their own convictions."
Having detailed his eight arguments, he anticipated three objections which
might be made to them, and then gave to each of these a distinct considera-
tion and reply.
With respect to the third part of the answer, that is, a determination by
the Government upon a sincere promotion of general and practical religion,
I shall only observe, that, however excellent his sentiments were on that
subject, it is unnecessary to repeat them, because the advantage of such a
determination, if put in practice, must be obvious.
Notwithstanding this excellent work, persecution still followed those who
dared to dissent practically from the Established Church, but particularly
the Quakers; and continuing to rage with unabated fury, he resolved to make
one other effort in behalf of his suffering brethren. Finding that an appeal
to reason, and to the laws and constitution of the country, had failed with
those to whom he had lately addressed himself, he determined to try to
make an impression upon their feelings. He wrote therefore a small book,
which he called “The continued Cry of the Oppressed for Justice, being a
farther Account of the late unjust and cruel Proceedings of unreasonable
Men against the Persons and Estates of many of the People called Quakers,
only for their peaceable Meetings to worship God: presented to the serious
Consideration of the King and both Houses of Parliament." He began this
book with an appropriate address to the three branches of the Constitution,
after which he satisfied himself with relating in a plain and simple manner
several of the atrocities which had taken place in different parts of the king-
dom, hoping that the bare recital of them would do good. That the reader
may judge of some of these, I shall lay before him the following extracts:
"Four persons were sent to prison only for attending a meeting at Long
Claxton in Leicestershire, from whom goods of various kinds were seized to
the amount of two hundred and thirty-six pounds (an enormous sum in those
days), their very bed-clothes and working-tools being taken from them. In
clearing the meeting-house on this occasion, not only men but women were
forcibly dragged out, some by the heels and others by the hair of their heads.
Many were also purposely trod upon, and several bruised and wounded in
different ways.In Nottinghamshire, James Nevil, a justice of the peace,
took from T. Samsun by warrant, on account of his attending two meetings,
nineteen head of beasts and goods to the value of sixty pounds and upwards.
-In the county of Norfolk John Patteson had two hundred sheep taken
from him, and William Barber cows, carts, a plough, a pair of harrows, and
hay, for the same offence, to the amount of fifty pounds. Barber's house
had been rifled before ten times, and he was then a prisoner upon a writ de
excommunicato capiendo.-William Brazier, shoemaker at Cambridge, was
fined by John Hunt, mayor, and John Spencer, vicechancellor, twenty pounds
OF WILLIAM PENN.
57
for holding a peaceable religious meeting in his own house. The officers
who distrained for this sum took his leather, last, the seat he worked upon,
wearing clothes, bed, and bedding.In Somersetshire F. Pawlett, justice
of the peace, fined thirty-two persons only for being at a burial, and seized
for the fines cows, corn, and other goods to the amount of eighty-two pounds
and upwards. No one appearing to buy the distrained cattle, the Justice
employed a person to buy them for himself. -In Berkshire Thomas Curtis
was fined three pounds fifteen shillings by Justice Craven, who ordered his
mare to be seized, which was worth seven pounds. Curtis put in an appeal
against this proceeding, according to the act; but it was thrown out. The
officers also offered the fine to Craven; but he would not take it, but had the
mare valued at four pounds, and then kept her for himself.In Cheshire
Justice Daniel, of Daresbury, took from Briggs and others the value of one
hundred and sixteen pounds fifteen shillings and tenpence in corn, kine, and
horses. The latter he had the audacity to retain and to work for his own
use. In the same county, near Nantwich, Justice Manwaring took by
warrant, for fines which amounted to eighty-seven pounds, goods to the value
of one hundred and one pounds in kine, bacon, bedding, brass, pewter, corn,
cloth, shoes, and cheese. Some of the sufferers appealing, the Jury acquited
them; but the Justices would not receive the verdict. The same Justices,
on the other hand, at the next sessions, gave judgment for the informers,
with treble costs. Such was the nature of "The continued Cry of the
oppressed for Justice;" a work, though small, yet valuable, inasmuch as it
shows us what man is capable of when under the dominion of bigotry and
superstition; furnishing us with facts, which, but for the known truth of
them, we, who live in this improved age, should have thought incredible
under a government calling itself Protestant, and crying out against the
persecution of the Romish Church.
The same spirit of love and hatred of oppression, which made William
Penn so warm an advocate for his brethren at home, impelled him to become
the champion of their interests abroad. A decree had come out this year at
Embden, by which all Quakers were to be banished from that city. He
wrote therefore a letter to the Senate of Embden, worded in Latin, and of
considerable length, in their behalf.
We find that he was engaged in three works of a controversial nature
during the present year. An anonymous person had published "The
Quaker's last Shift found out." This he answered by "Naked Truth needs
no Shift."
He wrote, secondly, "Jeremy Ives's sober Request proved in the
Matter of it to be false, and impertinent, and impudent," and soon after this
"Libels no Proofs."
About this time he interested himself in procuring the release of George
Fox. The latter, after his return from America, went to London, and after
staying there some time left it, partly to visit his mother, who was then on
her death-bed and partly to return home with his wife into Lancashire. In
D 2
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
This
passing, however, through Worcestershire, he happened to preach.
was just after the Act of Indulgence had been called in.
The consequence
was, that he was taken up and committed to Worcester goal, where he had
been then a prisoner for some months. In this situation William Penn
exerted himself in his favour, as appears by the following letter:-
"DEAR GEORGE FOX!-Thy dear and tender love in thy last letter I
received, and for thy business thus: A great lord, a man of a noble mind,
did as good as put himself in a loving way to get thy liberty. He prevailed
with the King for a pardon, but that we rejected. Then he prest for a more
noble release, that better answered hath. He prevailed, and got the King's
hand to a release. It sticks with the Lord Keeper, and we have used and
do use what interest we can. The King is angry with him (the Lord Keeper),
and promiseth very largely and lovingly; so that, if we have been deceived,
thou seest the grounds of it. But we have sought after a writ of error these
ten days past, well nigh resolving to be as sure as we can; and an habeas
corpus is gone or will go to-morrow night. My dear love salutes thee and
thy dear wife. Things are brave as to Truth in these parts, great conviction
upon the people. My wife's dear love is to you all. I long and hope ere
long to see thee.-So, dear George Fox, am, &c.
"WM. PENN."
There is another letter from William Penn to George Fox on the same
subject, but it is unnecessary to copy it. It may suffice to say, that, after a
discovery of several errors in the indictment, the release of his friend followed.
CHAPTER XI.
A. 1675-CONTINUES AT RICKMANSWORTH-CONVERTS MANY-HOLDS
A PUBLIC DISPUTE THERE WITH RICHARD BAXTER-CORRESPONDS
WITH THE LATTER-PUBLISHES "SAUL SMITTEN TO THE GROUND"
-WRITES TO A ROMAN CATHOLIC-ARBITRATES BETWEEN FENWICK
AND BYLLINGE-TWO LETTERS TO THE FORMER.
In the year 1675 we find him still living at Rickmansworth, where, as well
as in other places, he became eminent as a minister of the Gospel. In his
own neighbourhood indeed he had converted many; and from this cause,
as well as from a desire which others of his own society had to live near
him, the country about Rickmansworth began to abound with Quakers.
This latter circumstance occasioned him, oddly enough, to be brought forward
again as a public disputant; for the celebrated Richard Baxter, who was
then passing that way, when he saw so many of the inhabitants of this
description, began to be alarmed for their situation. He considered them as
little better than lost people, and was therefore desirous of preaching to them,
in order, to use his own words, "that they might once hear what was to be
OF WILLIAM PENN.
59
said for their recovery." This coming to the ears of William Penn, he wrote
to Baxter, and one letter followed another, till at length it was mutually
agreed that they should hold a public controversy on some of the more
essential articles of the Quaker faith. What these were I could never learn.
It is certain, however, that the parties met, and that they met at Rickmans-
worth. It is known also, that the controversy began at ten in the morning,
and lasted till five in the afternoon, and that the disputants addressed them-
selves, each in turn, to two rooms filled with people, among whom were
counted one lord, two knights, and four conformable ministers, that is,
clergymen of the Established Church.
Of the issue of this controversy I can find no record. Richard Baxter
seems to have been satisfied with himself on the occasion, for he says, in
allusion to it, "that the success of it gave him cause to believe that it was
not labour lost." William Penn, on the other hand, spoke of it with some
confidence; for, in a letter which he addressed to Richard Baxter soon
afterwards, he stated, "that if he had taken advantage of him, he could
have rendered him more ridiculous than he feared his principles of love
would have borne." From the same letter we have reason to think that
the meeting was not a well conducted one; for William Penn says, that “if
he should be informed when Richard Baxter's occasions would permit a
debate more methodically, and like true disputation (which he judged more
suitable before the same audience), he would endeavour to comply, though
he was not without weighty affairs almost continually on his hands to furnish
him with an excuse."
This letter and the public dispute preceding it gave rise to a correspondence
between the parties, in which three or four other letters were exchanged.
Of the contents of those written by Richard Baxter I can find nothing,
except what may be inferred from those which are extant of William Penn.
I shall therefore pass both of them over, observing only, that William
Penn's last letter manifested a spirit of forgiveness which exalted his cha-
racter, and a spirit, by which it was apparent that, whatever he might think
of the doctrine or temper of his opponent, he believed in the soundness of
his heart. The conclusion of it was this: "in which dear love of God,
Richard Baxter, I do forgive thee, and desire thy good and felicity. And
when I read thy letter, the many severities therein could not deter me from
saying that I could freely give thee an apartment in my house and liberty
therein; that I could visit, and yet discourse thee in much tender love,
notwithstanding this hard entertainment from thee.-I am, without harder
words, thy sincere and loving friend,
"WILLIAM PENN."
In the course of this year Matthew Hide, who had been very troublesome
in the Quakers' meetings, by interrupting and opposing their ministers when
in the performance of their worship, became sick; and being on his death-
bed, and under great remorse of conscience for what he had done, he could
not be easy till he had sent for George Whitehead and others of the
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
society, to express to them the sorrow he felt for the opposition he had
given them as a people. This gave occasion to William Penn to publish a
smail work, which he called "Saul smitten to the Ground, being a brief but
faithful Narrative of the Dying Remorse of a late Living Enemy (to the
People called Quakers, and their Faith and Worship), Matthew Hide, at-
tested by Ear- and Eye-Witnesses; whereof his Widow was one:-published
in Honour to God, for a Warning to Gainsayers, and a Confirmation to the
Honest-hearted."
He wrote also a Letter to a Roman Catholic, but the occasion of it is not
mentioned. "The Church of Rome," he said, "had lost her chastity, having
taken in discipline and principles which were neither of Christ, nor to be
found in the Holy Scriptures. She had departed from the simplicity, purity,
meekness, patience, and self-denial of the first churches. They only were
Christ's who took up their cross against the glory and spirit of this world.
It was a mistake to think that to be a church of Christ which had lost its
heavenly qualifications because it once was; for what was become of
Antioch and Jerusalem, both churches of Christ, and before Rome ?" He
then called his (the Roman Catholic's) attention to the New Dispensation,
which he and his friends were promoting, and exhorted him "to build no
more upon the fancies and traditions of men, but upon Christ, the sure
foundation, as he appeared in the consciences of men.”
After this he was engaged in an arbitration between John Fenwick and.
Edward Byllinge, two members of his own religious society, who had pur-
chased of Lord Berkeley his half share of New Jersey in North America..
Having well considered the case, he had made his award; but Fenwick
refused to abide by it. This gave him great uneasiness, and produced from
him the following friendly letter:--
"JOHN FENWICK!-The present difference betwixt thee and Edward
Byllinge fills the hearts of Friends with grief, and with a resolution to take
it in two days into their consideration to make a public denial of the person
that offers violence to the award made, or that will not end it without
bringing it upon the public stage. God, the righteous judge, will visit him.
that stands off. Edward Byllinge will refer the matter to me again, if thou
wilt do the like. Send me word; and, as opprest as I am with business, I
will find an afternoon to-morrow or next day to determine, and so prevent.
the mischief that will certainly follow divulging it in Westminster Hall.
Let me know by the bearer thy mind. O John! let Truth and the honour
of it in this day prevail! Woe to him that causeth offences! I am an
impartial man.
WILLIAM PENN."
This letter in about ten days was followed by a second, in which he could'
not help rebuking Fenwick on account of his conduct. He stated, however,
that the original of the dispute reflected upon both parties, and, what was
worse, upon Truth, that is, upon their religious profession as Quakers. It
was to hide this their high profession from shame, that he undertook the
OF WILLIAM PENN.
61
office of an arbitrator; and he was willing to continue his mediation for the
same reason.
In thirteen days he wrote another letter to Fenwick, which, as it shows
the openness of his mind, and is withal full of good sense, or rather true
wisdom, I submit to the perusal of the reader :-
"JOIN FENWICK!-I have, upon serious consideration of the present
difference (to end it with benefit to you both, and as much quiet as may be),
thought my counsel's opinion very reasonable: indeed, thy own desire to
have the eight parts added was not so pleasant to the other party that it
should now be shrunk from by thee as injurious; and when thou hast once
thought a proposal reasonable, and given power to another to fix it, 'tis not
in thy power, nor indeed a discreet or civil thing, to alter or warp from it,
and call it a being forced. O John! I am sorry that a toy, a trifle, should thus
rob men of their time, quiet, and a more profitable employ. I have had a good
conscience in what I have done in this affair; and if thou reposest confidence
in me, and believest me to be a good and just man, as thou hast said, thou
shouldst not be upon such nicety and uncertainty. Away with vain fancies,
I beseech thee, and fall closely to thy business. Thy days spend on, and make
the best of what thou hast. Thy grandchildren may be in the other world before
the land thou hast allotted will be employed. My counsel, I will answer for it,
shall do thee all right and service in the affair that becomes him, who, I told
thee at first, should draw it up as for myself. If this cannot scatter thy
fears, thou art unhappy, and I am sorry.-Thy Friend,
"WILLIAM PENN.*
CHAPTER XII.
A. 1675-WRITES "THE SKIRMISHER DEFEATED"-ALSO TO TWO
PROTESTANT LADIES OF QUALITY IN GERMANY-BECOMES A MA-
NAGER OF PROPRIETARY CONCERNS IN NEW JERSEY-DIVIDES IT
INTO EAST AND WEST-DRAWS UP A CONSTITUTION, AND INVITES
SETTLERS IN THE LATTER.
In the year 1676 John Cheney, who lived near Warrington, and who had
written frequently against the religious principles of the Quakers, brought
out a work which he called "A Skirmish upon Quakerism." He took occasion
in this to lay hold of a passage in one of the books which William Penn
had written in the course of his controversy with Faldo. This coming to
the knowledge of the latter, he produced, by way of reply, "The Skirmisher
Defeated and Truth Defended," in which he was so successful that Cheney
never ventured to provoke him again.
There is extant a letter, which he wrote in the present year to two Pro.
testant women of quality in Germany. The one was the Princess Elizabeth,
daughter of the deceased Frederic the Fifth, Prince Palatine of the Rhine
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
and King of Bohemia, and granddaughter of King James the First, The
other was Anna Maria de Hornes, Countess of Hornes, the friend and
companion of the former. These ladies had long discovered a serious dispo-
sition of mind, and one of them, the Princess, had shown her liberality and
humanity by affording an asylum in her dominions to persons who had been
persecuted on account of their religion. Since that time they had looked
favourably upon those doctrines which the Quakers taught; for R. Barclay,
the celebrated Apologist, and B. Furley, who were then travelling on the
Continent as ministers, had paid them a religious visit, and had been well
received by them. The object therefore of this letter (a very long one) was
chiefly to afford them consolation, and to exhort them to constancy and
perseverance in the way to which they had been thus providentially directed.
About this time William Penn came accidentally into the situation of
a manager of colonial concerns in New Jersey in North America, a situation
not only important in itself, but which produced the most important results;
for, by being concerned there, he was by degrees led to, and fitted for, the
formation of a colony of his own. The way in which he became so con-
cerned was the following:-Lord Berkeley, who was joint proprietor of New
Jersey with Sir George Carteret, had in the preceding year sold his half
share of it to John Fenwick in trust for Edward Byllinge. It was on this
subject that the dispute arose between the latter, which William Penn has
been just mentioned to have arbitrated, and which since that time he had,
by means of the most exemplary perseverance, brought to an amicable issue.
As soon as the adjustment took place, Fenwick, in company with his wife
and family and several Quakers, embarked for America in the ship Griffith,
and took possession of the land. Byllinge, however, who had been drained
of his money by the purchase, and who since the sailing of Fenwick had
experienced misfortune, found himself unable to meet the pecuniary demands
which were brought against him. He agreed, therefore, to deliver over his
new property in trust for his creditors; but, in consenting to do this, he had
his eye fixed upon the friendly assistance of William Penn. He therefore
supplicated the latter, with the most earnest entreaty, to become a joint
trustee with Gawen Laurie of London and Nicholas Lucas of Hertford, two
of the said creditors, to carry his intention into effect. To this, but not till
after much consideration, he assented; and thus, though he was in no way
concerned in the affairs of Byllinge, he came into the situation described.
His new office requiring exertion, and this immediately, he was all at
once overwhelmed in business. The first thing he did, in conjunction with
the trustees, was to agree with Sir George Carteret upon a division of the
province. They allotted to the latter the eastern part of it, which by this
time was tolerably well peopled; and the western, in which no settlements
had been yet made, they took in behalf of Byllinge to themselves. From
this time the former took the name of East, and the latter that of West New
Jersey, according to this their relative situation to each other.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
63
This division having been made, they then subdivided their own portion
into a hundred lots. Ten of these they gave to Fenwick as a repayment
for time, trouble, and money advanced by him to Lord Berkeley, and the
remaining ninety they reserved for sale, for the benefit of the creditors of
Byllinge.
The next step was to form a constitution for those who, in consequence of
purchase, were to settle in the new land. This task, the most difficult, fell
almost exclusively upon William Penn. He therefore drew up what he
called Concessions, or terms of grant and agreement, which were to be
mutually signed. The great outline of these may be comprehended in few
words. The people were to meet annually to choose one honest man for
each proprietary who had signed the Concessions.They, who were so
chosen, were to sit in assembly. They were then to make, alter, and
repeal laws. They were there also to choose a Governor, or Com-
missioner, with twelve assistants, who were to execute these laws, but only
during their pleasure. Every man was to be capable both of choosing
and being chosen.- -No man was to be arrested, imprisoned, or condemned
in his estate or liberty, but by twelve men of the neighbourhood. -No
man was to be imprisoned for debt; but his estate was to satisfy his
creditors as far as it would go, and then he was to be set at liberty to work
again for himself and family.- -No man was to be interrupted or molested
on account of the exercise of his religion.Such was the simple outline of
the Concessions, "by an adherence to which he hoped he had laid a founda-
tion for those in after ages to understand their liberty both as men and
Christians, and by an adherence to which they could never be brought into
bondage but by their own consent."
Having made these and other arrangements, he and his colleagues gave
notice of the same in a public letter, which they signed and circulated
through the kingdom. Through the medium of this, they particularly
mvited those who were of their own religious society to become the new
settlers. They cautioned these, however, against leaving their country out
of any idle curiosity, or rambling disposition, or improper motive, or to the
violation of the feelings of their kindred, or of their religious unity as
Friends. To this caution they annexed "A Description of West New
Jersey," of its climate, soil, and produce, in order that none might be
deceived, or have occasion afterwards to repent of their undertaking.
Thus was William Penn employed during a part of the present year.
Thus, by becoming a trustee for Byllinge, he was unexpectedly thrown into
a situation which brought before him the great question of Settlements in
the then newly discovered world, which enabled him to gain considerable
knowledge with respect to the formation of these, and which therefore by
degrees qualified him for that station which he filled afterwards, as the
founder of Pennsylvania, with so much credit to himself, with so much
honour to his country, and to the admiration of succeeding ages.
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
CHAPTER XIII.
A. 1677-CONTINUES HIS MANAGEMENT OF WEST NEW JERSEY-
APPOINTS COMMISSIONERS TO GO THERE-SELLS A PORTION OF THE
LAND-SENDS OFF THREE VESSELS-UNDERTAKES A RELIGIOUS
VISIT TO HOLLAND AND GERMANY-WRITES TO THE KING OF
POLAND FROM AMSTERDAM-HIS KIND RECEPTION AND EMPLOY.
MENT AT THE COURT AT HERWERDEN-OCCURRENCES AT KRISHEIM
-DUYSBURG-MULHEIM-HARLINGEN-WONDERWICK-AND OTHER
PLACES-WRITES AT FRANKFORT "A LETTER TO THE CHURCHES
OF JESUS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD"-AND AT ROTTERDAM "A
CALL OR SUMMONS TO CHRISTENDOM," AND OTHER TRACTS-DIS-
PUTES WITH GALENUS ABRAMS-RETURNS TO ENGLAND-HOLDS A
DISPUTE WITH WILLIAM ROGERS AT BRISTOL.
IN the early part of 1677 William Penn continued to be employed on behalf
of Byllinge. It appears that he had then left his house at Rickmansworth
in Hertfordshire, and that he had established himself at Worminghurst in
Sussex. Here then, in the calm retreat of the country, he took thought for
his new colony. The more he considered his situation as a principal manager
of it, the more he became interested in it. It was his duty to take care of
the individual for whom he acted; but it was a more pleasing consideration
that, in attending to his interests, he had an opportunity of becoming useful
on a larger scale.
While at Worminghurst applications came to him, in consequence of the
public letter which had been circulated, for shares in the new adventure, by
which it appeared that there was a probability of disposing of a considerable
portion of West New Jersey. He consulted therefore with his colleagues;
and the result was, that they determined to appoint and send over Com-
missioners, who should be empowered to purchase lands of the Indians, to
examine the rights of such as might claim property in the new territory, to
give directions for laying out the allotments there, and to administer, for
the first year, the government according to the spirit of the Concessions
before mentioned.
They resolved next to open proposals for the immediate sale of the lands.
These offers were no sooner made, such was the high character of William
Penn, than they were accepted. Among the purchasers were two companies.
both consisting of Quakers, the one of persons from London, the other from
Yorkshire. These contracted for large shares, and had patents for them.
The members of the Yorkshire company were principal creditors of Byllinge,
and they received a tenth part of the whole land in consideration of their
debts.
As no persons could more properly act as commissioners than they who
OF WILLIAM PENN.
65
had a stake or interest in the new territory, it was judged advisable that
some of the most respectable of the purchasers should be appointed to this
office, and that the purchasers in general should nominate the rest. Ac-
cordingly Thomas Olive and Daniel Wills were chosen from among the
London, and Joseph Helmsley and Robert Stacey from among the Yorkshire
proprietors. To these were added Richard Guy, who was then in America
with Fenwick, and John Kinsey, Benjamin Scott, and others.
Matters having been thus prepared, the Commissioners, with several of
the proprietors and their families and servants, to the number of two hundred
and thirty, embarked in the ship Kent, Gregory Marlow master. As they
were lying in the Thames ready to sail, it happened that King Charles the
Second was passing by in his pleasure-barge. Seeing a number of person
on board, he went alongside, and inquired whither they were bound. On
receiving information, he asked if they were all Quakers. And being
answered in the affirmative, he gave them his blessing, and departed. Soon
after this the ship weighed anchor and proceeded to sea. It may be proper
to observe, that two other vessels, one from London and the other from
Hull, followed the ship Kent, the one carrying seventy and the other one
hundred and fourteen passengers, to the same parts.
We hear nothing more of William Penn till the month of June, when he
left Worminghurst to attend the yearly meeting of the Quakers. This
meeting, which lasted several days, was held in London, and persons
belonging to the society flocked to it from all parts. Among those who
came to it were George Fox and John Burnyeat, the latter of whom was an
eminent minister at that time. These two, on the breaking up of the
meeting, returned with William Penn to Worminghurst, where they wrote
their great work, called "A New England Firebrand Quenched," in answer
to a publication which a person of the name of Williams, then a settler in
New England, had brought out against the Quakers. It is probable, from
this circumstance, that they were assisted in it by William Penn.
It was here too, and at this time, that it became a growing concern with
William Penn to visit Holland and Germany. His object was to communi.
cate "with many seeking persons" there, and to bring these to the know-
ledge of what he conceived to be the Truth. He had already, as has been
before mentioned, visited the Continent on the same errand, where many
had been converted by his labours; but since that time such an accession
had been made to these by different Quakers, who had travelled there, that
meetings both for worship and discipline had in some instances been esta-
blished among them. He had besides many correspondents, and invitations
from various persons in these parts. It happened also at this time, while
the religious visit in question occupied his mind, that he received a letter
from Elizabeth, Princess Palatine of the Rhine, before mentioned, which, as
it showed her kind disposition towards him, as well as the modest and pious
frame of her mind, could not but have the effect of inclining him still more
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
towards the same course.
ran thus:-
This letter was in answer to one of his own, and
"This, my Friend, will inform you that both your letters were acceptable,
together with your wishes for my obtaining those virtues which may make
me a worthy follower of our great King and Saviour Jesus Christ. What I
have done for his true disciples is not so much as a cup of cold water. It
affords them no refreshment. Neither did I expect any fruit of my letter to
the Duchess of L, as I expressed at the same time to B. Furley. But
as R. Barclay desired I would write it, I could not refuse him, nor omit to
do anything that was judged conducing to his liberty, though it should
expose me to the derision of the world. But this a mere moral man may
reach at the true inward graces are yet wanting in your affectionate Friend,
"ELIZABETH."
Called upon, then, by the religious workings of his own mind, and
additionally by such favourable circumstances, William Penn prepared for
his journey. At length he took leave of his wife and family; and passing
through London, and visiting his mother in his way through Essex, he
reached Harwich, from whence, after attending a meeting for worship, in
which he says "he felt a blessed earnest of the divine love and presence
which should accompany him on his voyage," he went on board the packet,
and set sail for the Dutch coast.
George Fox, Robert Barclay, and several others of the society, accom-
panied him, all of whom went on the same errand, but each according to
what he conceived to be his appointed course. It appears that they held
religious meetings while on board, and that they were particularly well
accommodated, the captain of the packet having served under Vice-Admiral
Sir William Penn.
After landing at the Brill, they proceeded to Rotterdam. During their
stay there they had two meetings, at which, says William Penn in his usual
energetic manner, "the Gospel was preached, the dead were raised, and the
living comforted."
They went next to Leyden, and from thence to Harlem, where they
preached, and afterwards to Amsterdam. Here they organized a system of
discipline for such as had been converted by former preachers, and held
religious meetings, at which a mighty concourse of people attended, con-
sisting of Baptists, Presbyterians, Seekers, Socinians, and others. Letters
arriving here from Dantzic, complaining of the sufferings which the Quakers
underwent in that city, it was allotted to William Penn to write to the
King of Poland in their behalf. This task he undertook. He explained to
the King in this letter, first, what the religious principles of the Quakers
really were. He then stated in a respectful manner the reasons why they,
as a people, absented themselves from the common ministry or worship,
and concluded with an eloquent appeal to his reason to protect them in their
religious rights. "Give us poor Christians," says he, "leave to expostulate
OF WILLIAM PENN.
67
with thee.-
-When did the true church offer violence for religion? Were
not her weapons prayers, tears, and patience? Did not Jesus conquer by
those weapons, and vanquish cruelty by suffering? Can clubs, and staves,
and swords, and prisons, and banishments reach the soul, convert the heart,
or convince the understanding of man? When did violence ever make a
true convert, or bodily punishment a sincere Christian? This maketh void
the end of Christ's coming, which was to save men's lives, and not to destroy
them to persuade them, and not to force them. Yea, it robbeth God's
Spirit of its office, which is to convince the world. This is the sword by
which the ancient Christians overcame. It was the Apostles' testimony,
that their weapons were not carnal, but spiritual; but the practice of their
pretended successors proveth that their weapons are not spiritual, but carnal·
Suppose we are tares, as the true wheat has always been called, yet
pluck us not up for Christ's sake, who saith, Let the tares and the wheat
grow up until the harvest, that is, until the end of the world. Let God
have his due as well as Cæsar. The judgment of conscience belongeth unto
him, and mistakes about religion are known to him alone. And here give me
leave to remind thee of a noble saying of one of thy ancestors, Stephen,
King of Poland: 'I am King of men, not of consciences; King of bodies,
and not of souls.'"
Leaving George Fox at Amsterdam, they went through Naerden to
Osnaburg. William Penn had been about six years before at the inn where
he was then to sleep. During the evening they conversed with the master
of it on the subject of religion, and presented him with several books con-
taining the principles of their society, not only that he might read himself,
but distribute them to others: and here I may observe, to prevent repetition,
that it was their practice to do the same thing as they travelled along,
conversing in like manner with and giving books to such passengers as the
boats or waggons were accustomed to bring to their own quarters.
The next day they arrived at Herwerden, where Elizabeth, the Princess
Palatine, before spoken of, held her court, and with whom the Countess of
Hornes, as before mentioned, lived as a companion.
The next morning at seven* they waited upon her by appointment, and
were received both by the Princess and Countess with such extraordinary
expressions of kindness as deeply affected them. This conduct on the part
of persons in such an elevated station confirmed their hope that the great
day of the restoration of Christianity was approaching. William Penn,
cherishing this feeling, delivered himself as a preacher before them. His
brethren followed him in like manner; so that the visit, which in fact was
a religious meeting, was not over till eleven. On withdrawing they were
It appears, from the journal from which this account is taken, that the Princess
must have breakfasted between six and seven, dined at one, and supped at eight;
hours of meal which afford a striking contrast to those of modern times.
68
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
invited to dinner, but they excused themselves. In the afternoon they
returned to the palace, where not only the Princess and Countess, but
several others, were ready to receive them. A meeting for worship then
began according to the custom of the Quakers. "It was at this meeting,"
Bays William Penn, "that the Lord in a more eminent manner began to
appear." The hearers are said to have been greatly affected. The preachers
also were not less so; for when the meeting was over, which lasted tilk
seven in the evening, they returned to their lodgings with hearts full of
thanksgiving for the mercies bestowed upon them on that day.
The next being the day on which the Princess received addresses and
petitions, they did not obtain an audience of her till nine o'clock. A meeting
was then held, at which all the inferior servants of her household were
ordered to attend. In the afternoon they visited her again. During this
visit William Penn performed a promise which he had made in the morning,
that he would give an account of his conversion, and of those tribulations
and consolations which he had experienced in the prosecution of his religious
professions. He accordingly began; but before he had finished his narrative
Two
the supper was announced. They then withdrew to another room.
persons were present at this who were not on any of the former occasions, a
sister to the Countess of Hornes, and a French lady. After supper they
returned to their first apartment. William Penn then resumed and con-
tinued his history, and at eleven he and his friends took their leave and
departed for their inn.
On the third day they assembled for worship again, when, by an arrange-
ment previously made, not only the family but several of the inhabitants of
the town were present. This meeting," says William Penn, "began with
a weighty exercise and travail in prayer, that God would glorify his name
on that day;" and in describing the effect of it, he speaks thus: "and by
his own power he made way to their consciences, and sounded his wakening
trumpet in their ears, that they might know that he was God, and that there
was none like unto him.Yea, the quickening power and life of Jesus
wrought and reached them; and virtue from him, in whom dwelleth the
Godhead bodily, went forth and blessedly distilled upon us his own heavenly
life, sweeter than the pure frankincense, yea, than the sweet-smelling myrrh.
which cometh from a far country. And as it began, so it was carried on,
and so it ended."And as the effect is described to have been great both
upon the preachers and upon the hearers, so upon no one more than the
Princess, who was so overcome, that when she went to William Penn after
the meeting to take leave of him, she could scarcely find utterance for her
words.
At length they left Herwerden. R. Barclay returned to Amsterdam;
but William Penn and the rest proceeded to Paderborn, and from thence to
Cassel, where many are said "to have tenderly and lovingly received them;"
among whom was one Dureus, a man of seventy-seven years of age, who
OF WILLIAM PENN.
69
had forsaken his learning and school divinity for the teachings of the Holy
Spirit." Travelling on after this, they were met within three miles of
Frankfort by two of its inhabitants, who informed them that, having been
made previously acquainted with their route, they had come out to meet and
welcome them, and to conduct them to that city.
They staid there two days, during which they held meetings at privato
houses, where several both of the Calvinistic and Lutheran persuasion were
converted, particularly Joanna Eleonora de Merlau, a young lady of noble
birth. The impression made at the last of these meetings is said to have
been more powerful than on any former occasion. Here William Penn,
encouraged by the great progress he had made in what he conceived to be
the Truth, wrote a long letter "To the Churches of Jesus throughout the
World." By churches he meant those individuals in a country, whether in
Germany or elsewhere, who, professing the same principles as the Quakers,
were, though scattered in various parts, "gathered and settled in the divine
Light and Spirit, to be one holy flock and family to the Lord." This letter
exhibits, what I have before explained, the belief which the early Quakers
had, that they had a divine commission for the restoration of primitive
Christianity; for "God," says he, in this letter, "hath laid upon us, whom
he hath honoured with the beginning of his great work in the world, the
care both of this age and of ages to come." In this letter he "reminded
those who professed the true faith, that, whatever trials had befallen them
on account of such a profession, they had never been finally forsaken, but
had found strength equal to their burthens. He admonished them, that,
having once tasted the good word of God, they ought not to lose it and thus
fall into temptation. He exhorted them, above all things, to esteem the
cross of Christ, to crucify themselves as to the world, to disentangle them-
selves of its cares and vanities; not to gratify the lust of the eye, the lust of
the flesh, and the pride of life, but to redeem their time: such as were rich
he advised not to heap up their riches, but to keep themselves in mode-
ration, and to do good; such of them as were poor, not to murmur, but to
be patient; and such as were then suffering, to persevere, on account of the
far more exceeding weight of glory, which was at hand."
Having left Frankfort, they arrived by the way of Worms at Krisheim.
Here they held a meeting, notwithstanding the inspector of the Calvinists
had ordered the Vaught or chief officer to prevent it. Of the persons then
assembled a coach full of passengers from Worms made a part, among whom
was a governor of that country, and one of the chief Lutheran priests.
Hearing that the Elector Palatine of Heydelburg granted indulgence to
those religious people within his dominions who could not conscientiously
submit to the national worship, they went to Manheim to see him; but, not
finding him at home, they returned to Krisheim. At a meeting there the
next day, "the divine power is said to have been sweetly opened to many."
It appears that the Vaught himself, who had stood at the door behind the
70
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
1
barn, where he could hear but not be seen, was so impressed as to have
carried a good report of it to his employer. In the evening another meeting
took place; but this was a select one, consisting only of those who, in con-
sequence of the visits of former Quakers, had adopted the principles of the
society. And here it may be remarked, that in no place were the fruits of
this early preaching more conspicuous than at Krisheim; for several of its
inhabitants emigrated to Pennsylvania on the settlement of that country by
William Penn, where many of their descendants are to be seen as Quakers
at the present day.
From Krisheim they went, accompanied by several persons, to Worms,
and from Worms to Mentz, and from Mentz to Frankfort again. Here they
returned to their old quarters, visited their old friends, and held three
meetings, of which one was a silent one for such as "had appeared to be
more inwardly affected with Truth's testimony," and the other for all persons
indiscriminately who would attend it.
Leaving Frankfort, and passing through Mentz, Hampuch, Bacherach,
Coblentz, Tressy, and Cologne, at which last place they both visited indi-
viduals and preached, they arrived at Duysburg. The person friendly to
them there was Dr. Maestricht, a civilian. On inquiring of him "if there
were not retired and seeking persons in the neighbourhood," he informed
them that he knew a young Countess, the daughter of the Graef or Earl of
Falckensteyn and Bruck, who answered this description. This, he said, was
the very time to see her; for being Sunday, she would spend the day at the
house of the minister of Mulheim, which was on the opposite side of the
river to her father's castle. He offered them a letter of introduction to her;
but they must be shy of making themselves known, not only for their own.
sakes, but for that of the young lady, for that she had been severely treated
by her father on account of the religious bias of her mind, though he pre-
tended to be a Protestant. Upon this they set off; but they did not reach
Mulheim till after she had returned home. They wrote her therefore a
letter, which she answered by saying, "that she would most willingly come
to them if she could, and that the minister's house at Mulheim should in that
case be the place for conversing with them; but that she was not her own
mistress." Soon after this, as they were walking near the castle, the Graef
himself came out, and seeing them habited as strangers demanded who they
were, and from whence they came. They replied, they were Englishmen
arrived from Holland, and that they were going no further in these parts
than to his own town of Mulheim. As they had not paid him the homage
which was expected from them, some of his attendants asked if they knew
before whom they were, and if they did not use to deport themselves in a
different manner before noblemen and in the presence of princes. They
replied, they were not conscious to themselves of any disrespect or unseemly
behaviour. One of them sharply replied, Why do you not then pull off your
hats? Is it respectful to stand covered in the presence of the Sovereign of
OF WILLIAM PENN.
71
the country? They told him it was their practice so to do in the presence
of their own Sovereign, who was a great King, and that they never
uncovered their head but in the performance of their devotion to the
Almighty. Upon this the Graef said, We have no need of Quakers here.
Get out of my dominions. You shall not go to Mulheim." They told him
they were an innocent people, who feared God, and had a good will towards
all men that they had a due respect in their hearts towards him, and
would be glad to do him any real good; but that it had become a matter of
conscience with them not to conform to the vain and fruitless customs of the
world. Upon this he ordered soldiers to take them out of his dominions.
These, having done their duty, left them to pursue their course, which they
did through a dreary wood of three miles; after which, travelling on, they
returned to the walls of Duysburg; but it being between nine and ten at
night, the gates were shut, so that there was no admission for them. In this
situation they waited in the fields till the morning, when they returned to
their inn. William Penn, after his return there, wrote a letter to the young
Countess, which he began thus:-" Though thou art unknown to me, yet
art thou much beloved for the sake of thy desires and breathings of soul
after the living God; the report whereof, by some in the said estate, hath
made deep impression of true kindness upon my spirit, and raised in me a
very fervent and singular inclination to visit thee; and the rather because
of that suffering and tribulation thou hast begun to endure for the sake of
zeal towards God, myself having from my childhood been both a seeker
after the Lord, and a great sufferer for that cause from parents, relations,
companions, and the magistrates of this world; the remembrance whereof
hath so much the more endeared thy condition unto me, and my soul hath
often, in the sweet sense and feeling of the holy presence of God and the
precious life of his dear Son in my heart, with great tenderness implored his
divine assistance unto thee, that thou mayest be both illuminated to do and
made willing to suffer for his name sake, that the Spirit of God and of Glory
may rest upon thy soul."He concluded by explaining to her his opinion
as to what were the true principles of the Christian religion, and by giving
her encouragement to follow them. After this he wrote a letter to her
father, of which the following is the introductory sentence:-"I wish thee
salvation, and the Lord reward good for the evil which thou showedst unto
me and my friends last night, if it be his will; but since thou art but a
mortal man, one who must give an account in common with all to the
immortal God, let me a little expostulate with thee."-He then reasoned
with him on the subject of his late conduct.
From Duysburg they proceeded to Utrecht. On going through Wesel
on their way thither they held two meetings, which were well attended. At
Rees they had a good opportunity with a counsellor, at Emric with an
eminent Baptist preacher, and at Cleves with a lady of quality, and two
persons of note, her visitors, with whom they dined. The lady is described
72
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
to have been "a woman of great wit, high notions, and very ready utter-
ance, so that it was very difficult to obtain a true silence, a state in which
alone she could be reached. In process of time, however, her spirit yielded,
and the witness was raised in her, and they really and plainly beheld a
true nobility in her, yea, that which was sensible of their testimony."
At Utrecht they parted company to go to different places; but William
Penn, accompanied by P. Hendrick, proceeded to Amsterdam. He beheld
with satisfaction the great increase of converts in that city since he had left
it. Having held two meetings, which were numerously and respectably
attended, he visited Horn, Enckhuysen, Worcum, and Harlingen. At the
latter place he met George Fox. He attended there two meetings, one for
members of the society, and the other a public one, to which people of various
religious denominations resorted, and among the rest a doctor of physic and
a Presbyterian minister. All sat with great attention, but particularly the
two latter, who were so impressed with the preaching of George Fox, that
though they were obliged to leave the meeting, the one to deliver a sermon
to his congregation, and the other to visit his patients, they could scarcely
withdraw from it. The former, indeed, "as a man in pain to be gone, yet
willing to stay, sat at the door till George Fox had done, and then stood up.
and pulling off his hat, and looking up to Heaven, in a solemn manner and
with a loud voice spake to this purpose: The almighty, the all-wise. the
omnipotent great God, and his Son Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever and
ever, confirm his word that hath been spoken this day!" Both of them.
however, when they had performed their engagements, returned to the
place again.
William Penn, leaving George Fox, and taking J. Claus, a converted
Dutchman, for his companion, went to Leeuwarden. The meeting there was
largely attended, and consisted of persons who had never been present at
one before. He then proceeded to Wiewart, a mansion-house of one of the
Somerdykes, who were " people of great breeding and inheritances." In
this mansion, as in a college, lived several persons, who made up a religious
society or church of their own, and lived in love and harmony together. J.
de Labadie, who was then dead, had established it. This person was once
a Jesuit, but had deserted his order, and embraced the Protestant religion.
Ivon was then the head pastor to this little flock, and Du Lignon his as-
sistant. Among the occupiers of the mansion were three of the Somerdykes,
daughters of a nobleman of that name, to whom it belonged, and an ancient
maiden lady of the name of Anna Maria Schurmans. The latter was
about sixty years of age. She was of great note for learning in languages
and philosophy, and had obtained a considerable place among the most
learned men of that age. These then, with several others, having been
affected by the discourses of De Labadie, and awakened to seek after a
more spiritual fellowship, had separated themselves from the common Cal-
vinistic assemblies, and, having followed him in the way of a refined inde-
OF WILLIAM PENN.
73
pendency, had established themselves in this place. They formed altogether
a serious and plain people, and approached near to the Quakers in many
points, such as in silent meetings, women's exhortations there, preaching by
the Spirit, and plainness both in their dress and in the furniture of their
houses. William Penn, having heard of these singular people, had deter-
mined upon visiting them. On being introduced into Anna Maria Schur-
man's apartments, he found almost all the party there. He was particularly
anxious to know what it was that had induced them to separate from the
common way in which they had formerly lived. Upon this, Ivon began by
giving the history of J. de Labadie's education and life. Anna Maria
Schurmans followed, giving an account of her former life, of her conversion
under the ministry of De Labadie, and of her present religious state. One
of the Somerdykes related, next, her own spiritual experience. This she
did in a reverent frame of mind, going over the same ground and touching
upon the same points as the former. After her, Du Lignon gave the reasons
which had induced him to become a pastor there. A doctor of physic spoke
next. Among other things he stated himself to have been bred up at the
University for the Church; that he had studied there with the character of a
serious person, but that he had never experienced a living sense of what
divine things were till he heard J. de Labadie; and that, in consequence, he
left the University and became one of the family at the mansion.-
William Penn was highly gratified with this narrative, and returned the
civility by giving an account of his own life and conversion, labours, suffer-
ings, and travels, up to the present time, which he concluded by religious
exhortation and advice. Rising up at length to depart, they gave him their
hands in a friendly manner, and the two pastors and the doctor accompanied
him to the post waggon which was to convey him the next stage.
After this he held two meetings, one at Lippenhausen, and the other at
Groningen. From thence he went to Delfzyl, where he took boat for
Embden. While on his passage there, he wrote a letter, which is extant
"To Friends everywhere, concerning the present Separatists and their Spirit
of Separation." This alluded to a schism which had taken place on the
subject of discipline among the Quakers in England. Having landed, he
visited the mother and sister of the late Dr. Hasbert, who had been the first
Quaker in that place. The society having been bitterly persecuted there, and
the members of it scattered by banishment, he called upon Dr. Andrews,
President of the Council of State, who was reported to have been the
author of such oppression. He informed him, that he was the Englishman,
who, about two years before, had written a Latin letter to the Council of
Embden on that subject. He wondered how he, Dr. Andrews, “being a
Commonwealth's man and a Protestant," could persecute for religion. Re
then argued the case with him, and this so successfully as to obtain a
promise from him that he would use his interest with the Council, if he,
William Penn, would address to them another letter.
E
74
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
The next place he went to was Leer, and afterwards Bremen. He visited
four persons in this last city, and had a religious opportunity with others who
were staying at his own inn.
After hard travelling for two days he arrived again at Herwerden, the
residence of the Princess Elizabeth, as before mentioned. Among those
whom he met at her court was the Graef of Donau. They soon fell into
conversation with each other. The points in discussion were the nature and
end of Christianity, and the way which led to eternal rest. Both agreed,
after a short debate, "that self-denial and mortification and victory therein
were the duty, and therefore ought to be the endeavour, of every true
Christian." William Penn then gave the Graef some account of his retreat
from the world, and explained his inducements to it, and the necessity of an
inward work. After this, the conversation turned, on the suggestion of the
Graef, upon the custom of taking off the hat as a matter of respect. William
Peen laboured to prove that this custom was a weed of degeneracy and
apostacy, a carnal and earthly honour, and the effect as well as the feeder
and pleaser of a vain mind. He showed, next, "wherein the sincere and
serviceable respect consisted, which Truth substituted in the place thereof,"
and, finally, exhorted him to simplicity and humility of spirit. I shall only
observe, that while he staid at Herwerden, he held his religious meetings,
and was treated with the same friendship and attention as before. In taking
his leave, which was a final one, he was much affected. He bade farewell
to the Princess, falling upon bis knees, and asking the divine blessing for
her preservation. He then tenderly exhorted the Countess, her companion,
who implored his prayers in her behalf. He addressed himself next to the
French lady of quality before mentioned, whom he desired to be faithful and
constant to that which she knew. He then spoke to the rest, giving to
each separately such advice as he judged to be suitable to their condition.
Getting into the post waggon, in company with his friend J. Claus, he
resumed his travels. In this waggon, which was covered only by a ragged
sheet, he rode three nights without lying down upon a bed, or sleeping. The
Most of them, on the approach
passengers were much straitened for room.
of evening, sung what were called Luther's hymns or psalms. This custom
troubled him; for he had had occasion to observe that their conversation
was generally very vain, and therefore he took an opportunity of testifying
against it; "for to be full of all vain and often of profane talk in one hour,
and to sing psalms to God in the next, was deceit and an abomination." As
he proceeded through Lipstad, Ham, and other places, he and the passengers
held discourses upon what was the nature of that religion and worship which
was most Christian. At length, after a continued journey of two hundred
miles he was again at Wesel. Here, and at Duysburg, Dusseldorp, Cologne,
and Cleves, he employed himself in visiting old friends, making new ones,
and otherwise promoting the object of his journey.
At Amsterdam, where he arrived again by the way of Nimmeguen and
OF WILLIAM WILLIAM
75
PENN.
Utrecht, he was engaged in a public dispute. Galenus Abrahams, the great
father of the Socinian Menists in these parts, denied that there was any new
Christian dispensation or apostolical commission then going on in the world
by the instrumentality of the Quakers. This denial was to become the subject
of discussion. Both parties went to the place of meeting, Galenus Abrahams
attended by several preachers and others of his own congregation, and
William Penn by George Fcx and a body of Quakers. At length the dispute
began: but all we know of it is, that it lasted from eight in the morning till
one in the afternoon, and this successively for two days.
The meeting being over, he proceeded with George Fox by the way of
Leyden to the Hague, and from thence to Delft, and from thence to Rotter-
dam. He employed himself, while in this city, in visiting Friends and
friendly people; in holding public meetings, which were numerously and
respectably attended; and in writing letters, which he intended to leave
behind him on his return to England, in order that they might be printed
and circulated throughout Germany. The first of these was “A Call or
Summons to Christendom to prepare for the great and notable Day of the
Lord, which was then at hand." He appealed through the medium of this
Summons to different denominations of persons; to Catholics; to Evange-
licals or Gospellers; to the Reformed, including all the subdivided Sects; to
degenerated, fallen, and titular Christians; to Kings and Princes; to
Nobles; to Judges; to Lawyers; to Merchants; to Farmers and Country-
People; and to Priests and Pastors. He exposed with great boldness the
different failings of these, and endeavoured to impress upon them what
belonged to their relative situations in life. His language was clear, nervous,
and animated. It was enriched by metaphor and scriptural expressions,
and manifested the pen of a ready writer. The second was
The second was "An Address,
by way of Advice, to those who were sensible of this Summons or Call,
wherever scattered throughout the world." He exhorted these to dwell in
the Spirit which God had begotten in their hearts; to be careful, having once
come out of the world, to keep out of it; to be aware of, and therefore to
examine, their own thoughts and imaginations; to watch against their own
will, that it might be kept under due subjection; to be frequent in waiting
upon God; not to be discouraged or overpowered by afflictions or persecu-
tions, but to hold fast to Christ. On each of these topics he enlarged in a
spiritual manner. The third was "An Address to those Professors of
Christianity who separated themselves from the visible Sects or Churches of
the Times;" and the fourth, "A Tender Visitation to those, but particularly
among the High and Low Dutch Nations, who desired to know and worship
God in Sincerity and Truth; containing a plain Testimony to the ancient
and apostolical Life, Way, and Worship, which God was then reviving in
the Earth." Of the contents of the two latter I must leave the reader to
judge by their titles.
Hearing that a nobleman, a man of serious and retired habits, lived at
76
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
2
}
the village of Wonderwick, he and G. Fox made an excursion to visit him.
The nobleman, on learning their errand, invited them in. His house was
stately, but yet plain. On receiving them he shook them by the hand, and
bad them welcome. As soon as they were properly seated, he gave them a
sober and pathetic account of his life and religious experience. When this
was over, he took them into another room, where he introduced them to his
wife, under the name of some Christian Friends who had come to see her.
She received them kindly. Having sat in silence for some time, after the
manner of the Quaker ministers, William Penn delivered a discourse. He
began by proving the proposition, that death had reigned from Adam to
Christ. He then explained what Christ's day was. He showed, next, that
though this day had come, there were but few who had seen it. He then
pointed out the way which led to Christ, and what it was to be in him, and
under the government of his grace; "directing them to the blessed principle,
which God had shed abroad in their hearts;" and concluded by declaring
the nature and manner of the appearance and operation of this principle,
and by appealing to their own consciences for the truth of it. This discourse
appears to have had a powerful effect upon the hearers, and even upon
William Penn himself; for he was so affected by what had come un-
expectedly from his own mouth, that he felt himself constrained to kneel
down and pray. "Great brokenness," says he, "fell upon all; and that
which was before the world began was richly manifested in and among us,”
The nobleman and his wife then blessed their visitors, and the work which
was in their hands. They considered, they said, their house as blessed
for their sakes, and expressed great thankfulness that they had lived to see
them.
Returning to Rotterdam, he held two meetings, the one a public one, in
which he took leave of the country; and the other a select one, that is, for
those of the society only, whom he exhorted earnestly to grow up as a holy
people. After this he procceded to the Brill, and from thence went on board
the packet. During the whole passage there was a dreadful storm of wind,
rain, and hail intermixed. The weather was entirely against them, and the
vessel so leaky, that, unless two pumps had been going night and day, it
must have foundered. There were also many passengers on board, so that
they were in each other's way. Some of the seamen were near being washed
overboard. At length they arrived at Harwich, but not till after they had
been three nights and two days at sea. Here, says he, it was observable,
speaking of the passengers, that, “ though they had experienced such won-
derful preservation, some of the inconsiderate soon forgot it, and returned
quickly to their wanton talk and conversation, not abiding in the sense of
that hand which had delivered them."
After landing at Harwich, he rode on horseback to London, stopping and
attending several meetings in his way. He staid also in London a few days
for the same purpose. He then went down to his seat at Worminghurst in
OF WILLIAM PENN.
Sussex, where he arrived after an absence of about three months and ten
days, and after a journey in the service of the Church of nearly three
thousand miles within that period. He had the pleasure, to use his own
words, "to find his dear wife, child, and family well. Blessed be the name
of the Lord God of all the families of the earth!" And here, as a proof of
the constantly pious frame of his mind, and of his constant thankfulness to
the Divine Being for benefits already received, and of his reliance upon him
for those to come, it must not be omitted, that on the afternoon of his
arrival he assembled all his family for worship, thus making the first fruits
of his domestic meeting an oblation to the Father of all mercies. This
little meeting is described by him to have been "a sweet meeting, in
which the divine presence made them glad together," and in which he was
sensible, whatever sacrifices he had made by his journey, that "they were
blessed who could cheerfully give up to serve the Lord."
Having reposed for two or three weeks with his family, he went to London,
from whence he addressed a letter to John Pennyman on the subject of his
apostacy. In about a month after this we find him at Bristol. Here he,
G. Fox, C. Marshall, and others, held the great dispute with William Rogers,
and some of the separatists, on the subject of church discipline. Rogers,
who was a merchant of Bristol, and who had joined the society, had attacked
Robert Barclay's "Anarchy of the Ranters," and had been so defeated by
the reply, as to have acknowledged his error under his own hand. Notwith-
standing this, he had afterwards published his objections to the same werk,
and had been defeated by R. Barclay again. Not even yet satisfied, he had
lately circulated papers on the same subject, and this it was that at length
brought him to such a public settlement of the affair between them.
After the controversy, William Penn returned to London, and from
thence to Worminghurst. While he was at home, he wrote letters to his
friends in Germany, which have been preserved, such as to J. Claus, and
P. Hendricks, who were in part companions of his late travels, and to
others who belonged to the Quaker Churches which had been established
there. I see no occasion to lay these letters before the reader, for they are
mostly of the same cast. He makes one general use of them, namely, to
encourage his friends, as young persons or beginners in the faith, to put
them in mind of the great principle on which they became a religious society,
and to recommend to them peace and union with each other.
78
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
CHAPTER XIV.
A. 1678.-CONTINUES HIS MANAGEMENT OF WEST NEW JERSEY-SENDS
TWO OTHER VESSELS THERE-PETITIONS PARLIAMENT IN BEHALF
OF THE PERSECUTED QUAKERS-IS HEARD BY A COMMITTEE OF THE
COMMONS - HIS TWO SPEECHES BEFORE THEM-REMARKS UPON
THESE-WRITES "A BRIEF ANSWER TO A FALSE AND FOOLISH
LIBEL "-ALSO "AN EPISTLE TO THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT IN THIS
GENERATION."
WILLIAM PENN continued active in his station as a trustee for Byllinge.
He had, as we have seen before, in conjunction with his colleagues, sent off
Fenwick in the ship Griffith, accompanied by several families, to take
possession of the land in West New Jersey, which had been purchased of the
Lord Berkeley. This was in 1676. In the last year, 1677, he had des-
patched commissioners, and three vessels, carrying no less than four hundred
and fourteen passengers, proprietors, with their servants and children, to the
same parts. In the early part of the present year, he was employed in the
same manner. He had influence to freight two other ships, one from London,
and the other from Hull, with persons on the same errand; so that now
about eight hundred settlers, mostly Quakers and persons of property and
character, had set sail for the new land.
But while he was thus occupied in the arrangement of these his foreign
concerns, his attention was called to the situation of things at home, and
particularly as they related to his own religious society. In the early part
of this year, the different acts which had been enacted against the Roman
Catholics began to be enforced with extraordinary rigour. Only a few years
before, the great fire in London had taken place, the cause of which had
been imputed to them. The fires on St. Margaret's-hill, and in Southwark,
which followed, had been attributed to them also. And now, to add to the
public consternation, a design of a most wicked and mischievous nature was
said to have been discovered, which, on account of its nature and intended
effects, was denominated the Popish Plot. Under these circumstances, both
the Parliament and the people were so incensed against the Roman Catholics,
that all the laws which had been passed against them were pressed to their
full length. Hence it happened that the Dissenters, against whom these
laws were never intended, became unexpectedly the objects of them; for,
wherever Roman Catholicism was suspected, it was sure of being put to the
test. Now it happened that William Penn was considered by many to be a
Jesuit, and this circumstance gave occasion to these to consider the Quakers,
to whom he belonged, in the same light. Hence almost immediately they ex-
perienced the same severe prosecutions in the Exchequer as the Roman Catholics
for penalties of twenty pounds a month for absence from the national wor-
ship, or of two-thirds of their estates for the like offence, though there was
actually no existing law against them. The evil then, as may be well sup.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
79
posed, where so many might be suspected, had been carried on to an alarm-
ing length, of which the Parliament had indeed become so sensible, that it
took under its consideration a distinguishing clause in the bill against
Popery, or a clause for the discrimination of Protestant Dissenters from
Papists, so that they who would take the oath, and subscribe the declaration
therein contained, should not suffer by such laws. Now this measure,
though reasonable in itself, and sufficient as it related to other Dissenters,
was of no use to the Quakers; for being unable, on account of their reli-
gious tenets, to swear at all, they had not even the door which was intended
them for their escape. William Penn therefore drew up a petition in their
behalf, which was presented to both Houses of Parliament, in which he set
forth their hard case, and requested that, in the discriminating clause then
in agitation, the word of a Quaker might be taken instead of his oath, with
this proviso, that if any one of that description should utter a falsehood on
such an occasion, he should be liable to the same punishment as if he had
taker a false oath.
The petition having been presented, he was admitted to a hearing before
a Committee of the House of Commons, when he addressed the members
of it in the following manner:
"If we ought to believe that it is our duty, according to the doctrine of
the Apostle, to be always ready to give an account of the hope that is in us,
and this to every sober and private inquirer, certainly much more ought we
to hold ourselves obliged to declare with all readiness, when called to it by
so great an authority, what is not our hope; especially when our very safety
is eminently concerned in so doing, and when we cannot decline this discri-
mination of ourselves from Papists without being conscious to ourselves of
the guilt of our own sufferings, for so must every man needs be who suffers
mutely under another character than that which truly belongeth to him and
his belief. That which giveth me a more than ordinary right to speak at
this time, and in this place, is the great abuse which I have received above
any other of my profession; for of a long time I have not only been sup-
posed a Papist, but a Seminary, a Jesuit, an emissary of Rome, and in pay
from the Pope-a man dedicating my endeavours to the interest and ad-
vancements of that party. Nor hath this been the report of the rabble, but
the jealousy and insinuation of persons otherwise sober and discreet. Nay,
some zealots for the Protestant religion have been so far gone in this mistake,
as not only to think ill of us, and decline our conversation, but to take courage
to themselves to prosecute us for a sort of concealed Papists; and the truth is,
that, what with one thing and what with another, we have been as the
woolsacks and common whipping-stock of the kingdom: all laws have been
let loose upon us, as if the design were not to reform, but to destroy us; and
this, not for what we are, but for what we are not. It is hard that we must
thus bear the stripes of another interest, and be their proxy in punishment; but
it is worse, that some men can please themselves in such a sort of administration.
80
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
But mark: I would not be mistaken. I am far from thinking it fit, because
I exclaim against the injustice of whipping Quakers for Papists, that Papists
should be whipped for their consciences. No: for though the hand, pretended
to be lifted up against them, hath, I know not by what discretion, lighted
heavily upon us, and we complain, yet we do not mean that any should take
a fresh aim at them, or that they should come in our room, for we must give the
liberty we ask, and cannot be false to our principles, though it were to relieve
ourselves; for we have good will to all men, and would have none suffer for a
truly sober and conscientious dissent on any hand. And I humbly take leave
to add, that those methods against persons so qualified do not seem to me to
be convincing, or indeed adequate to the reason of mankind; but this I
submit to your consideration. To conclude: I hope we shall be held excused of
the men of that (the Roman Catholic) profession in giving this distinguish-
ing declaration, since it is not with design to expose them, but, first, to pay
that regard we owe to the inquiry of this Committee, and, in the next place,
to relieve ourselves from the daily spoil and ruin which now attend and
threaten many hundreds of families, by the execution of laws which, we
humbly conceive, were never made against us."
Such was the speech of William Penn, and such was to be expected from
him, if he remained faithful to his former principles. They who declaim
for liberty at home, but yet who would be friends to slavery in other lands;
or they who, while they make a noise about liberty, civil and personal,
would yet impose fetters on the religious freedom of the mind, show at once
the inconsistency of their opinions, as well as that these proceed from a
corrupt source. The true friend to liberty, on the other hand, who collects
his notions concerning it from the pure and sacred fountains of truth and
justice, feels no spirit of exclusion in his breast. That portion of it which
he enjoys himself he wishes to be communicated to others. He confines it
not to climate. He limits it not to complexion or colour, but he is anxious
that it should fly from region to region, and extend itself, under a rational
control, from the meridian to the poles. Such was the disposition manifested
in this speech. William Penn had the courage to declare, and this before
persons in authority, who could have no pleasant feelings towards those who
should be well disposed to the Catholics, what he had maintained during his
life, that it was unlawful to occasion others to suffer, even Catholics themselves,
on account of a conscientious religious dissent. This fundamental proposition,
which extended to all, he would not deny or falsify, either to relieve himself or his
friends; nor did he or they wish to enjoy the privileges it contained at the expense
or suffering of others, much less that this their intercession for themselves.
should occasion the Catholics to be marked afresh. Bold as this language was,
he offended no one. That which would have been of itself an offensive sen-
timent was lost or overlooked in the nobleness of those which followed it.
The Committee, on the other hand, heard him with extraordinary attention.
Their attention, indeed, was such as to have made a more than ordinary im-
OF WILLIAM PENN.
81
pression upon him; and, therefore, by way of grateful return, thinking he
could do no less than unbosom himself to them on certain other subjects
(by which he and they whose cause he had then pleaded might be better
known to them), he addressed them a second time in the following words:
"The candid hearing our sufferings have received from you, and the fair
and easy
entertainment you have given us, oblige me to add whatever can
increase your satisfaction about us. I hope you do not believe I would tell
you a lie. I am sure I should choose an ill time and place to tell it in; but,
I thank God, it is too late in the day for that. There are some here who
have known me formerly. I believe they will say I was never that man;
and it would be hard if, after a voluntary neglect of the advantages of this
world, I should sit down in my retirement short of common truth.
"Excuse the length of my introduction; it is for this I make it. I was
bred a Protestant, and that strictly too. I lost nothing by time or study.
For years, reading, travel, and observations, made the religion of my educa-
tion the religion of my judgment. My alteration hath brought none to that
belief; and though the posture I am in may seem odd or strange to you, yet
I am conscientious; and, till you know me better, I hope your charity will
call it rather my unhappiness than my crime. I do tell you again, and here
solemnly declare, in the presence of Almighty God, and before you all, that
the profession I now make, and the society I now adhere to, have been so
far from altering that Protestant judgment I had, that I am not conscious
to myself of having receded from an iota of any one principle maintained
by those first Protestants and Reformers of Germany, and our own martyrs
at home, against the See of Rome. On the contrary, I do with great truth
assure you, that we are of the same negative faith with the ancient Pro-
testant Church; and, upon occasion, shall be ready, by God's assistance, to
make it appear that we are of the same belief, as to the most fundamental
positive articles of her creed too; and therefore it is we think it hard, that
though we deny in common with her those doctrines of Rome so zealously
protested against (from whence the name Protestants), yet that we should
be so unhappy as to suffer, and that with extreme severity, by those very
laws on purpose made against the maintainers of those doctrines which we
do so deny. We choose no suffering; for God knows what we have already
suffered, and how many sufficient and trading families are reduced to great
poverty by it. We think ourselves an useful people; we are sure we are a
peaceable people: yet, if we must still suffer, let us not suffer as Popish
Recusants, but as Protestant Dissenters.
"But I would obviate another objection, and that none of the least that
hath been made against us, namely, that we are enemies to government in
general, and particularly dissaffected to that which we live under. I think
it not amiss, but very reasonable, yea, my duty, now to declare to you, and
this I do with good conscience, in the sight of Almighty God, first, that we
believe government to be God's ordinance; and, next, that this present
E 2
82
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
government is established by the providence of God and the law of the land,
and that it is our Christian duty readily to obey it in all its just laws, and
wherein we cannot comply through tenderness of conscience, in all such cases not
to revile or conspire against the government, but with Christian humility and
patience tire out all mistakes about us, and wait the better information of
those who, we believe, do as undeservedly as severely treat us; and I know
not what greater security can be given by any people, or how any government
can be easier from the subjects of it.
"I shall conclude with this, that we are so far from esteeming it hard or
ill that this House hath put us upon this discrimination, that, on the con-
trary, we value it, as we ought to do, an high favour, and cannot choose
but see and humbly acknowledge God's providence therein, that you should
give us this fair occasion to discharge ourselves of a burthen we have not
with more patience than injustice suffered but too many years under. And
I hope our conversation shall always manifest the greatful resentment of our
minds for the justice and civility of this opportunity; and so I pray God
direct you."
This speech also had a considerable effect upon the Committee. Indeed
nothing more agreeable could have been offered them at this juncture than
the explanation now given. The Quakers at that time laboured under the
suspicion, in common with other Dissenters, that they were hostile to the
government, and that they might therefore watch for an opportunity of
destroying it. William Penn, to do away with this suspicion, laid before
them the creed of the Quakers on this subject. These, when called upon by
magistrates to do what their consciences disapproved, refused obedience to
their order. No threats could intimidate them. Satisfied with such refusal,
they bore with fortitude the sufferings which followed, and left to their
oppressors the feelings only of remorse for their conduct. By such means
they performed their duty to God in a quiet and peaceable manner, that is,
they made no sacrifice of their just convictions, and yet they did not disturb the
harmony of society or interrupt the progress of civil government by rebellion. At
this time then, when the nation had been convulsed by civil war and com-
motions, when the Government had been frightened by reported plots and
conspiracies, and when Dissenters of all descriptions were considered only
as peaceable because the chains in which they were held prevented them
from being otherwise, it particularly became the Committee to know that
they, whose petition was then before them, were persons who espoused the
opinion in question. And here a wide field for observation would present
itself, if I had room for stating those thoughts which occur on this subject,
involving no less than the question, How far mankind, when persecuted by
their respective governments for matters relating to the conscience, have
gained more advantages to themselves in this respect by open resistance,
than by the Quaker-principle of a quiet and peaceable submission to the
penalties which the laws inflict? To solve this we might look to the nature
OF WILLIAM PENN.
83
The
of the human mind, and then to examples from history. In taking a survey
of the former, it would be obvious, that the oppressor for religion (and
indeed every other oppressor) would become irritated, and rendered still
more vindictive, by opposition; while, on the other hand, his mind might
be softened by the sight of heroic suffering. To resistance he would attach
nothing but a common, or perhaps an ignominious character, whereas he
might give something more than a common reputation, nay, even nobility,
to patience and resignation under supposed injury. In punishing the man
who opposed him, he would lose all pity; but his feelings might be called
forth where he saw all selfish notions done away, and the persecuted dying
with satisfaction for a public good. Add to which, that he could not but
think something of the cause for which men thus thought it worth their while
to perish. In looking at historical example, that of the Apostles would first
strike us.
Had they resisted the government, or stirred up the multitudes
which attended them to do it, they had lost their dignity and their useful-
ness. Their resistance had been a bar to the progress of their religion,
whereas their suffering is universally confessed to have promoted it.
same may be said of those martyrs, after whom followed the Established
Church-nay, of the very persons now in question; for to the knowledge,
which succceding governments had, that it was the custom of the Quakers
never to submit to the national authority in matters of conscience, and
yet never to resist this authority by force, it is to be ascribed, that at
this moment they enjoy so many privileges. They are allowed to so-
lemnize their own marriages. Their affirmation is received legally as
their oath. Exceptions are always made in their favour in all acts of
Parliament which relate to military service. And this reminds me, that if
this principle could be followed up, I mean generally and conscientiously,
sources of great misery might be done away. For if the great bulk of man-
kind were so enlightened, either by scriptural instruction or divine agency,
as to feel alike on the subject of any evil, and to feel conscientiously at the
same time the absolute necessity of adhering to this principle as its cure, no
such evil could be perpetrated by any government. Thus, for example, if
war were ever to be generally and conscientiously viewed in this light, how
could it ever be carried on for ambitious or other wicked purposes, if men
could be forced neither by threats, imprisonment, corporal suffering, nor
the example of capital punishments, to fight? I do not mean here, if a
cominon combination were to take place for such a purpose, that such an
effect would be produced. A combination, the result of mere policy, could
never have in it sufficient virtue to stand the ordeal to which it might be
exposed on such an occasion. It must be a general harmony of action,
arising out of a vivid sense of the evil in question, and out of a firm con-
viction, at the same time, that this was the remedy actually required as a
Christian duty, and that no other was allowed. In this point of view
Christianity contains within itself the power of removing the great evils of
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
wicked governments, without interrupting those other parts of their system witicks
are of essential use to the good order, peace, and happiness of mankind.
But to return.
The two speeches of William Penn, as now quoted, made
a favourable impression on the Committee, so that they agreed to insert a
clause in the bill then in agitation for relief in the case complained of. This
clause they reported to the Commons, and the Commons actually passed it.
It was afterwards carried to the Lords; but a sudden prorogation of Par-
liament taking place before the bill could be read a third time, the clause
was rendered useless.
I find two publications by William Penn in this year. An anonymous
person had written, "The Quakers' Opinions." This book contained a col-
lection of the different religious tenets which the author supposed the society
to entertain, and quotations from the writings of Fox, Whitehead, and
others, in confirmation of the same. William Penn wrote an answer to it,
to which he affixed only the name of "A Brief Answer to a False and Foolish
Libel." His other publication was "An Epistle to the Children of Light in
this Generation." It was dated from Worminghurst, and written entirely
on occasion of the times; for people's minds continued still in a state of
alarm on account of the Popish plot. There were then apprehensions also
about a French invasion: there was a belief, in short, that some dreadful
storm was about to burst upon the nation. William Penn, therefore, anti-
cipating that the members of his own society might partake of the popular
uneasiness, and that, by thus admitting earthly cares and fears, they might
lose that heavenly spirit which would best fit them to meet the distress
which was coming on, wrote them this letter. He exhorted them in it as
an highly professing people, that is, as the Children of Light in this Gene-
ration, to show an example worthy of this their high calling-to throw away
as so much dross the fears, anxiety, and uneasiness of the world-to mount
the watch-tower-to be in a state of preparation, and so to live in righteous-
ness, as to be enabled to stand in the gap between the wickedness of the
nation and the vengeance of God, confiding in him alone as their only solid
support in time of trouble.
CHAPTER XV.
A. 1679.—CONTINUES HIS MANAGEMENT OF WEST NEW JERSEY—WRITES
"AN ADDRESS TO PROTESTANTS OF ALL PERSUASIONS"-GENERAL
CONTENTS OF THIS WORK-WRITES A PREFACE TO THE WORKS OF
SAMUEL FISHER-ALSO "ENGLAND'S GREAT INTEREST IN THE
CHOICE OF A NEW PARLIAMENT"-ASSISTS ALGERNON SIDNEY IN HIS
ELECTION FOR GUILDFORD-TWO OF HIS LETTERS TO THE LATTER-
WRITES "ONE PROJECT FOR THE GOOD OF ENGLAND"-GENERAL
CONTENTS OF THIS WORK.
In 1679 I And nothing recorded of William Penn relative to the manage-
OF WILLIAM PENN.
85
ment of his American concerns. The truth is, that almost every thing neces-
sary for the peopling of West New Jersey having been agreed upon and
executed by him and his colleagues, the lands having been mostly laid out
and disposed of, and the political constitution of the colony fixed, he had
then little more to do than to extend to it his protecting vigilance.
With respect to affairs at home, the nation was still restless and uneasy
on account of the fear it entertained of designs for subverting the Protestant
religion and restoring Popery. In the preceding year William Penn, observing
this its agitated state, had, as I have just stated, written an epistle to those
of his own religious society to prepare them against the calamities which.
were supposed to be then approaching. In the present he appealed to those
of other religious denominations on the same subject. His appeal was
entitled "An Address to Protestants of all Persuasions upon the Present
Conjuncture, more especially to the Magistracy and Clergy, for the Promotion
of Virtue and Charity." The contents of this book were peculiarly im-
portant, as the reader will perceive by the following specimen of its
contents:-
He began by stating what he conceived to be the great and crying sins of
the day, that is, those which were then most notoriously prevalent. Upon
each of these he dilated as to their nature and tendency; and then, addressing
himself to the magistracy and clergy, he exhorted these to examine them-
selves respecting the same, and to use the authority with which they were
armed to discourage them in others.
He then stated the objects of his address. The first of these was, that
God might be glorified. The second, that the government might be pre-
served, which could not but be weakened where so much wickedness pre-
vailed. In handling the latter topic, he made use, among others, of the
following observation :-" No government," says he, without the preservation
of virtue, can maintain its constitution, though it be the very best that can
be made. And however some particular men may prosper, who are wicked,
and some private good men may miscarry in the things of this world, in
which sense things may be said to happen alike to all-to the righteous as to
the wicked-yet I dare boldly affirm and challenge any man to the truth
thereof, that in the many volumes of the history of all the ages and kingdoms-
of the world, there is not one instance to be found where the hand of God
was against a righteous nation, or where it was not against an unrighteous.
nation, first or last; nor where a just government perished, or an unjust
government long prospered. Kingdoms are rarely as short-lived as men,
yet they also have a time to die; but as temperance giveth health to men,
so virtue gives time to kingdoms; and as vice brings men betimes to the
grave, so nations to their ruin." Having made this assertion, he supported
it by a vast chain of historical evidence, drawn from the first kingdom of
antiquity under Nimrod, and continued through many others to the last,
which was Rome itself. From ancient he then proceeded to modern history,
.
}
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
that is, he completed his facts relative to the same assertion, by continuing
the chain through those nations which sprung up after the fall of Rome,
down to his own times.
The third object of his address was, that posterity might be benefited. He
observed here, among other things, that "there were few parents so vicious
as not to dislike to see their children so; and yet nothing appeared plainer
to him than that, as the former left the government at their death, so the
latter would find it. It were far better that the world ended with the
parents than that these should transmit their vices, or should sow those
seeds which would ripen to the ruin of their children, and fill their country
with miseries, when they themselves were gone."
:
Having finished his address, as it related to the great and prominent
immoralities, he proceeded to the great and prominent errors of the day.
The first great and prominent error was that of making opinions articles of
faith, and of making them at the same time the bond of Christian communion.
By opinions he meant propositions formed by men from their own interpre-
tation of the Scriptures, but which were neither expressly laid down in
Scripture, nor yet often well deducible from it-that is, not so evidently
deducible from it as not to be doubtful to many who were yet sincere
believers of the text. These propositions, he said, were expressed, not in the
language of Scripture, but often in the sophistical terms of the schools, so
that they were frequently unintelligible, and became therefore a bone of
contention to many, and unhappily, according as men received or denied
them, they were honoured or disgraced. Here he noticed, among other
things, the great noise which had been made about the Greek word
Episcopos. He who maintained that it signified a higher office than the
Greek word Presbuteros was to have no fellowship with one party, and he
who maintained the contrary was considered as a degrader of episcopal
dignity, and was to be punished by the other. From hence he passed to the
divisions, heats, and animosities which the debates about free will, election,
Under Archbishop Abbot
and reprobation had produced in the kingdom.
one set of ideas had prevailed upon these subjects, and under Archbishop
Laud another, so that men had been reputed Heretics in turn, and fit only.
for excommunication, as they received the one or the other. He proceeded
then to the Synod of Dort; then to the flame kindled in Holland between
Arminius and Episcopius for the Remonstrants, and Gomarus, Sibrandus,
and others, for the Predestinarians; then to disputes about Easter Day, as if
men's eternal happiness had been involved in this question; then to the
tragical story of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, and Arius, his priest;
and then to the anathemas, banishments, wars, and bloodshed which
followed upon the question, whether the Greek word Homousia or Homoiousia
should be received for faith. Among the observations made upon some of
the foregoing points, I shall notice the following:-" We must do violence
to our understandings, if we can think that the men who hated their brethren
}
:
OF WILLIAM PENN.
87
and shed one another's blood could be true followers of that Jesus who loved
his enemies, and gave his blood for the world."" But how easily might
all these confusions have been prevented, if men's faith about Christ had
been delivered in the words of Scripture, since all sides pretend to believe
the text? And why should any man presume to be wiser or plainer in
matters of faith than the Holy Spirit ?"—" Are not things come to a sad
pass, that to refuse any other terms of expression than those which the Holy
Spirit hath given us, and which are confessed to be the rule or form of sound
words, is to expose a man to the censure of being unsound in the faith, and
unfit for the Christian communion? Will nothing do but man's comment
instead of God's text? or man's consequences and conclusions in the room
of sacred revelation ?"———“ All this while," says he, "the head is set at
work, not the heart; and that which Christ most insisted upon is least con-
cerned in this sort of faith and Christianity, and that is keeping his command-
ments; for it is opinion, not obedience, it is notion, not regeneration, which some
men pursue.
This kind of religion leaves them as bad as it finds them, and
worse, for they have something more to be proud of. Here is a creed indeed,
but of what ?-of the conclusions of men. But what to do?—to prove that
they believe in Christ, who it seems never made them. It had been happy
for the world if there had been no other creeds than what Christ and his
Apostles gave and left; and it is not the least argument against their being
needful to Christian communion, that Christ and his Apostles did not think
so, who were not wanting to declare the whole counsel of God to the
Church."
The second great and prominent error was that of mistaking the nature
of true faith, or of taking that for fuith which was not Gospel-faith. Here he
laid down what he conceived the Gospel-faith to consist of. He then entered
into a long discussion in behalf of his own position; but as this was a regular
dissertation in a connected chain, I cannot give one part of it without
another, and to give the whole of it would take up too much of the space of
this volume.
The third great and prominent error was that of debasing the true value of
morality, under the pretence of higher things. It was the custom, he said, to
decry men of moral lives, even those who feared God and worked righteous-
ness, because they were not of a particular faith. Such men were considered
as mere general believers. Their faith was thought not to be properly cir-
cumscribed, but to be too much at large. He inveighed against this custom.
He ridiculed the notion that a man who repeated his creed by heart was
sure of being within the pale of salvation, however profane his life, while
another was denied and esteemed dead, whose life was upright, if he
happened not to be so well skilled in what may be called the mysteries of
the Christian religion. They who maintained this notion denied in fact that
morality was a part of Christianity, or that virtue had any claim to grace.
They mistook one of the great ends of Christ's coming, which was, as St.
<
88
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
Paul to the Romans says, to deliver from actual sinning, and to give newness
of life to the souls of men; or, as the same Apostle to Titus has it, to redeem
men from all iniquity.
The fourth great and prominent error was the preferring human authority
above reason and truth. But here it is impossible to follow him, for want of
room, through his voluminous observations on this subject. I shall therefore
do little more than explain the proposition, which may be worded thus -
"The conclusions of men from Sacred Writ, whether in synods or other
assemblies, have been thrown into creeds, and imposed upon men as bonds
of external communion. Now the text from whence these conclusions were
drawn must, as having been delivered by inspiration, be more true than the
conclusions themselves. Hence, wherever these conclusions have been set
up as dogmas beyond the text itself, it will follow, that human authority has
been preferred above reason and truth." This part of the essay related in a
great measure to the power of the clergy, and the people's reliance upon
them for their knowledge of religion and the way of life and salvation.
Such a state of things he deprecated. He contended that the keys of heaven
were not given to them exclusively, that their dogmas or authority should
be preferred above reason and truth. It must be observed, however, when
he referred to the clergy, that he had generally in his eye those of the Church
of Rome. He concluded this part of his address by expressing a hope, that
only that which the Scriptures themselves suggested to every one might be the
common creed of men, and that pious living might become the test of their
value as moral beings.
The last great and prominent error was the propagation of faith by force.
He began his refutation of this error by asserting, that cruel laws had been
made against men for no other crime than that of dissenting from the
national worship, and that these laws had been executed in a most unmerciful
manner. Having established this proposition, he divided his subject into
two parts-into Cæsar's authority, and the power of the Church in things
which related to faith and conscience. This was the division, he said, which
Christ himself made on the same subject in those memorable words, "Render
unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and to God the things which are
God's."
He defined next what were the things which belonged to Cæsar. These
were, to love justice, to do judgment, to relieve the oppressed, to right the
fatherless, and to be a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them who should
do well. The evil-doers were thieves, adulterers, murderers, and they who
violated the laws, which were for the preservation of civil society, and not
persons of good lives, who happened to differ from the creed of the National
Church. Whenever Cæsar meddled with what did not belong to him, he
confounded his own things with the things of God. Thus he confounded divine.
worship with civil obedience, and Church with State. He erected new
mensures, by which to try the members of worldly societies, and gave occasion
OF WILLIAM PENN.
89
to another power than that which was necessary to the constitution of civil
government. Such a conduct, he maintained, was pernicious. It made
property floating and uncertain; for it was then both the cry and the practice,
"No conformity to the Church, no property in the State." It made a man
owe more to Church than to State; for the anchor, by which he rode, was
not his obedience to laws relating to the preservation of civil society, but
conformity to the doctrines of the Church. It weakened Cæsar's own state,
because it irritated so many of his subjects against him. It was contrary to
the universal goodness of God, whom Cæsar ought to imitate, and who was
found to dispense his sun, light, air, and showers to all. It barred up
heaven against all further illumination; for, let God send what light he
pleased, Cæsar's people could not receive it without Cæsar's license. It
tended to stifle and punish sincerity. It led directly to Atheism, because it
extinguished the sense of conscience for worldly ends. Of such a conduct,
he observed further, that the very conformity, to which it tried to enforce
men, did not make them better livers, nor was this conformity necessary to
salvation. Add to which, that such a conduct had never yet obtained its
own end.
He then proceeded to the things which belonged to God. He defined
what a New Testament or Scripture Church was. It was, as far as it might
be called visible, a society of people professing and practising according to
the doctrine and example of Christ and his Apostles, and not according to
the Scribes and Pharisees, who taught for doctrine the traditions of men.
It consisted, in fact, of persons who were meek in heart, lowly in spirit,
chaste in life, virtuous in all conversation, long suffering and patient, and
not only forgiving but loving their very enemies. With respect to the power
of such a Church, he observed that it was not worldly. Christ would not
allow fire to be called down from heaven, but rebuked those who desired it,
for their revengeful spirit. He allowed the tares to grow up with the wheat.
He said there were not many masters (in his Church), but one. He gave his
Church power to bind and to loose, but not to bind with fetters. He ordered
every offender belonging to it to be treated as a Heathen, but said nothing
of fines, whips, stocks, and imprisonment. The Apostles maintained the same
doctrine. No man was to judge the servant of another. To his own lord
he was to stand or to fall. The flock of God was to be fed, but not by
constraint. Where the Spirit of the Lord was, there was liberty; but where
chains, pillories, and gaols were, there could be none. Men were to avoid
foolish questions and genealogies, and contentions and strivings about the law.
An Heretic after the first and second admonition was to be rejected, that is,
not banished from his native land, but denied communion with the flock. By
Heretic the Apostle meant a self-condemned person, that is, "one who was
subverted, and had sinned, and who was condemned (by or in) himself.” But
Dissenters were not of this latter cast. They were not self-condemned. They
were not conscious to themselves of religious errors.
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
The remaining part of this address consisted of observations on the causes
of religious persecution. The first of these he apprehended to be a want of
true religion; that is, the authors and promoters of such persecution had
little or no religion at heart. The second was a misapprehension of the
word religion.- The third was the gross but general mistake, under which
people laboured concerning the nature of the Church and Kingdom of Christ.
-The fourth lay in this, that men made too many things necessary to be
believed to salvation and communion. Upon this he observed, that persecution
began with creed-making.- -The fifth was visible in the prejudice of education,
and in that bias which tradition gave to those who had never made their
religion the religion of their judgment.- A sixth sprang from self-love, and
the impatience of men under contradiction. The last was, that holy
living had then become no test among men, except against the liver; that
is, he who could persuade his conscience to comply with the times, if he were
ever so vicious, was protected, if not preferred; while a man of wisdom, or
sobriety of life, if a Dissenter, was branded as a fanatic, and a factious and
disloyal person.
After this we find him a writer upon a smaller scale. He composed a
preface to the works of Samuel Fisher, then printing in folio. Samuel
Fisher had been originally a clergyman of the Church of England. He
became afterwards a Baptist preacher, Joining at length in society with
the Quakers, he was apprehended with others of the same profession on the
old score of religion, and died a prisoner on that account in 1665. His
object, therefore, in this preface, was to bear his testimony concerning the
author, who had thus suffered martyrdom in behalf of what he believed to
be the Truth.
At this time the ferment in the nation relative to the Popish plot con-
tinued as violent as ever. Men's minds, whether Catholics or Protestants,
were still unduly heated. In this situation of things, it happened that writs
were issued for summoning a new Parliament. This circumstance, which
afforded an opportunity to parties to try their strength, involved the nation
în new anxiety, and added to the heat already described. William Penn,
therefore, had no sooner finished the above-mentioned preface, than he felt
himself called upon to become a writer again. The result of his new labour
was a small pamphlet, which he called "England's Great Interest in the
Choice of a New Parliament, dedicated to all her Freeholders and Electors.”
He proposed in this pamphlet, first, to pursue the discovery and punish..
ment of the Popish plot; to remove and to bring to justice those evil
counsellors and corrupt and arbitrary ministers of state who had been so
industrious in advising the King to wrong measures, and in alienating his
affections from his people; to detect and punish the pensioners of the former
Parliament, such a breach of trust on their part being treason against the
fundamental constitution of the government; to secure to the nation the exe-
cution of its ancient laws by others, among which should be one in favour of
OF WILLIAM PENN.
91
frequent Parliaments, this being the only true check upon arbitrary ministers,
and therefore a measure which they always feared, hated, and opposed; and to
secure the people from Popery and slavery, and to ease all Protestant Dis-
senters. He was of opinion that the King ought to be eased of his burthen-
some debts, in case these terms were complied with. He explained, secondly,
to the electors the meaning of the words in the writs then issued. He laid
before them their great fundamental rights and privileges, and then gave
them his advice as to whom they ought both to choose and to reject. He
would have no reputed pensioners, no officers at court, whose employment
was at will or pleasure, no indigent, or ambitious, or prodigal, or voluptuous
persons elected. He would have the old members returned only according
to their former upright way of voting. Sincere Protestants he recommended
as essentially necessary, and he hoped they would fix their choice upon men
of large and liberal principles, and such as would not rob their other Pro-
testant brethren because they happened to differ from them in the doctrinal
parts of the Christian religion.
Soon after the publication of this work the elections began: and here it
will be proper to observe, that the Quakers, from particular scruples, do not
interfere in matters of this sort either as eagerly or as frequently as other
people. Some of them, indeed, do not even use their elective franchise at
all. William Penn partook in some degree of the same scruples, and perhaps
would have been satisfied with writing the pamphlet just mentioned, had
there not been one man in the kingdom about whom he could not be indif-
ferent at this crisis. This was the great Algernon Sidney. He had been
acquainted with this distinguished person for some time, and had loved his
character. Indeed in this very year he had acted in a case between him and
Osgood, Mead, and Roberts. But now that the elections were begun, he
could not control the wish he had to do him service in a department where
he believed his free spirit and noble talents would be attended with good to
his country. Accordingly he went to Guildford, where Colonel Sidney was
then a candidate against Dalmahoy, who was one of the Court party. He
procured him there several votes among those of his own religious pro.
fession. He accompanied him also to the hustings, where he interested
himself with others. While in the act of encouraging these, he was stopped
by the Recorder, who, in order to make him odious, branded him publicly
with the name of Jesuit. The latter, finding this attempt ineffectual, would
have tendered him oaths, but that it was shown that it was then illegal so
to do. Disappointed, therefore, in all his expectations, the Recorder had no
resource left him but that of force, and using this he actually turned him out
of court.
Though Colonel Sidney had a majority of voices, Dalmahoy was returned.
The plea was, that the Colonel was not a freeman of Guildford. The election
being over, William Penn returned to Worminghurst. Ruminating, in his
way home, on all the base transactions which had taken place both before
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
and at the meeting now mentioned, which it is foreign to my purpose to
detail, he was of opinion that Colonel Sidney should petition against the
return, and therefore the next day wrote him the following letter:-
"DEAR FRIEND-I hope you got all well home, as I by God's goodness
have done. I reflected, upon the way, of things past at Guildford, and that
which occurs to me as reasonable is this, that so soon as the articles or
exceptions are digested, show them to Serjeant Maynard, and get his opinion
of the matter. Sir Francis Winnington and Wallope have been used on
these occasions too. Thou must have counsel before the committee; and to
advise first upon the reason of an address or petition with them, in my
opinion, is not imprudent, but very fitting. If they say that (the conjuncture
considered, thy qualifications and alliance, and his ungratefulness to the
house), they believe all may amount to an unfair election, then I offer to
wait presently upon the Duke of Buckingham, Earl of Shaftsbury, Lord
Essex, Lord Halifax, Lord Hollis, Lord Gray, and others, to use their
utmost interest in reversing this business. This may be done in five days,
and I was not willing to stay till I come, which will be with the first.
Remember the non-residents on their side, as Legg and others. I left order
with all our interest to bestir themselves, and watch, and transmit an
account to thee daily. I bless God, I found all well at-home. I hope the
disappointment so strange (a hundred and forty poll-men as we thought last
night considered) does not move thee. Thou, as thy friends, had a con-
scientious regard for England; and to be put aside by such base ways is really a
suffering for righteousness. Thou hast embarked thyself with them that seek, and
love, and choose the best things; and number is not weight with thee. I hope it
is retrievable, for to me it looks not a fair and clear election. Forget not
that soldiers were made free three weeks ago in prospect of the choice (and
by the way they went, as we may guess, for Dalmahoy's sake), and thyself
so often put by, a thing not refused to one of thy condition. Of the Lower
House the Lord Cavendish, and especially Lord Russell, Sir Jo. Coventry,
Powell, Saychevrill, Williams, Lee, Clergis, Boskowen, Titus, men, some able,
some hot (ardent), and fit to be nearly engaged in the knowledge of these
things. 'Tis late, I am weary, and hope to see thee quickly. Farewell.
"Thy faithful Friend,
"WILLIAM PENN.”
The Parliament had not been seated long, after the election, before it was
again dissolved. This, as it gave another opportunity to Algernon Sidney,
so it brought fresh anxiety to William Penn on his account. He was grieved
to think that such a man in such times should be excluded from the councils
of his country. He therefore proposed to him to try Bramber, which was in
his own county, and interested himself in paving the way for him to that
borough. The following is one of the letters which he wrote him on this
subject:-
"DEAR FRIEND-I am now at Sir John Fagg's, where I and my relations
dined. I have pressed the point with what diligence and force I could; and,
OF WILLIAM PENN.
93
to say true, Sir John Fagg has been a most zealous, and, he believes, a
successful friend to thee. But, upon a serious consideration of the matter, it
is agreed that thou comest down with all speed, but that thou takest Hall-
Land in thy way, and bringest Sir John Pelham with thee, which he ought
less to scruple, because his having no interest can be no objection to his
appearing with thee; the commonest civility that can be is all desired. The
borough has kindled at thy name, and takes it well. If Sir John Templo
may be credited, he assures me it is very likely. He is at work daily.
Another, one Parsons, treats to-day, but for thee as well as himself, and
mostly makes his men for thee, and perhaps will be persuaded, if you two
carry it not, to bequeath his interest to thee, and then Captain Goreing is
thy colleague; and this I wish, both to make the thing easier and to prevent
offence. Sir John Pelham sent me word, he heard that thy brother Henry
Sidney would be proposed to that borough, or already was, and till he was
sure of the contrary, it would not be decent for him to appear. Of that
thou canst best inform him. That day you come to Bramber Sir John Fagg
will meet you both; and that night you may lie at Wiston, and then, when
thou pleasest, with us at Worminghurst. Sir John Temple has that opinion
of thy good reasons to persuade, as well as quality to influence the electors,
that, with what is and will be done, the business will prosper; which, with
my true good wishes that it may be so, is all at present from thy true
Friend,
"WILLIAM PENN.
"Sir John Fagg salutes thee."
It may be proper just to observe, that Algernon Sidney was not chosen at
this time, Sir John Pelham having previously made all the interest that was
necessary for his (Algernon's) brother Henry, who followed a different line
of politics, and who was afterwards Earl of Romney.
The elections having taken place, and the Parliament having at length
been returned, William Penn published a book, which he addressed to
it, under the title of "One Project for the Good of England; that is, our
Civil Union is our Civil Safety." In this book he laid it down, that civil
interest, using the word interest in a good sense, was the foundation and
end of civil government; and then proceeded to show, that the preservation
of that civil interest entire was also the preservation of civil government.
insomuch that where the former was not preserved entire, the latter must
needs decline. He maintained next, that all English Protestants, whether
Conformists or Nonconformists, agreed in this, that they owed allegiance
and subjection to the civil government of England alone; whereas the
Catholics, owning another temporal power as superior to the government
they properly belonged to, made themselves the subjects, not of the govern-
ment under which they were born, but of the government of the Pope.
Hence, whatever restrictions the existing Parliament might think it right to
put upon the latter, it was its duty to maintain the civil interest entire, as it
related to Churchmen and Dissenters; for, it being to the advantage of loth
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
that the Pope should have no dominion in England, the Church-Protestant
could not injure the Dissenting Protestant without weakening and destroying
his own civil interest. Having discoursed largely upon this principle, he
proposed as his one project, a certain public Declaration or Test, by which
all Protestant Dissenters might be enabled to show that they were not
Catholics. This Declaration, which he drew up himself, denied the Pope's
right to depose any Sovereign, or absolve the subjects of such Sovereign
from their allegiance. It denied him to be Christ's Vicar. It denied a
purgatory after death, transubstantiation in the Lord's Supper, and the
lawfulness and efficacy of prayers to saints and images. The Declaration
was to be made in all the towns and parishes on a certain day. Ash Wed-
nesday was mentioned as not an improper day, because it was on that day
that the Pope cursed all Protestants. Every abuse of this Declaration was
to be punished. In stating this his project, however, I may observe, that he
never spoke of the Catholics so as to call in question their religious rights.
His only object was to show that, Churchmen and Protestant Dissenters
having the same civil interest in the government of England, the one ought
not to oppress the other, and particularly for shades of difference as to their
religious faith.
CHAPTER XVI.
A. 1680.-CONTINUES HIS MANAGEMENT OF WEST NEW JERSEY—
WRITES A PREFACE TO AN ANONYMOUS PUBLICATION-ALSO TO
THE WORKS OF J. PENNINGTON-PETITIONS CHARLES THE SECOND
FOR LETTERS PATENT FOR A CERTAIN TRACT OF LAND IN AMERICA
IN LIEU OF THE DEBT DUE BY THE GOVERNMENT TO HIS FATHER
-HIS MOTIVES FOR SOLICITING THE SAME.
WILLIAM PENN, who in the last year had but little to do for Byllinge with
regard to West New Jersey, was called upon in the present to make con-
siderable exertions in his favour. A duty of ten per cent had been laid by
the government of New York, and renewed in the year 1669, on all im-
ports and exports at Hoarkill, now Lewis Town, at the mouth of the
Delaware Bay. This duty had been exacted of all persons who had arrived
and taken up their lands in West New Jersey, to their great grievance; and
as these had now greatly increased, it had become considerable in its
amount. The settlers therefore, complaining to the trustees of Byllinge,
William Penn felt himself called upon to take a part on the occasion. He
was aware that, if he succeeded in getting rid of this tax, it would be to
the detriment of his friend the Duke of York, and that he might even offend
him on this account; but when he considered that his trusteeship involved
in it a serious duty, and that the demands in question were unjust, he had
no hesitation in pursuing the right path. Accordingly, in conjunction with
the other trustees, he made a formal application to the Duke on the subject.
OF WILLIAM PENN..
95
:
The Duke referred the matter to the Council. There it lay for some time.
The Council at length reported in favour of Byllinge; for William Penn
had made it appear that Byllinge had purchased the government of the
country with the soil; that the country therefore ought not to be subject to
any imposition of duties by the government of New York; that the Duke
of York having granted all his right to the said country to the assigns of
Lork Berkeley, and the latter to Byllinge, in as ample a manner as it had
been granted to the Duke by the King, which was expressly "to make,
ordain, and establish all manner of orders, laws, directions, instruments and
forms of government, and magistrates fit and necessary for the territory
aforesaid," with this limitation, "so always as the same be not contrary
to the laws and statutes of this our realm of England, but as near as may
be agreeable thereto," it was plain that the colony could not be of right
subject to any laws or impositions but those made by itself or by Great
Britain. The report having been thus made in favour of Byllinge, Sir John
Werden communicated it by the Duke's order to the government of New
York, after which the duty was discontinued. Having settled this matter,
he returned to Worminghurst, where he spent the greatest part of the
present year.
The persecution of the Quakers still going on, on account of their religion,
during which some were whipped, others put in the stocks, and others
banished, three books were published by an anonymous person, addressed
to the King, Lords, and Commons, in their favour. The first of these was
called, "The Case of the People called Quakers stated in relation to their
late and present Sufferings, especially upon old Statutes made against Popish
Recusants." The second, "A particular Account of the late and present
great Sufferings of the same upon Prosecutions against them in the Bishops
Court." The third, “A brief Account of some of the late and present Suffer-
ings of the same, for meeting together to Worship God in Spirit and in
Truth, upon the Conventicle Act: with an Account of such as died Pri-
soners, from the year 1660, for several Causes." To each of these William
Penn wrote an appropriate preface, which he signed, in conjunction with
others, in behalf of his own religious society.
He wrote also a Preface to the Works of Isaac Pennington, an eminent
minister among the Quakers, which were printed in folio, and who died in
this same year. Isaac Pennington, by marrying the widow of Sir William
Springett, had become the father-in-law of William Penn. Knowing as the
latter did the many virtues of the deceased, he took the opportunity of this
publication to bear his testimony concerning them to the world.
In this year died his amiable friend, Elizabeth, Princess Palatine of the
Rhine, who had received him so kindly when in Germany, and with whom
he had kept up a correspondence till her death. This event is said to have
affected him. He had, indeed, a true regard for her; and two years after
this, when he published his second edition of "No Cross, no Crown,” he
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
endeavoured to perpetuate her memory by inserting hier aame there among
those, both of ancients and moderns, who by their serious living and dying
had become the benefactors of mankind. He closed his eulogy concerning
her in the following manner :-" She lived her single life till about sixty
years of age, and then departed at her own house at Herwerden, as much
lamented as she had lived beloved of her people; to whose real worth I do,
with a religious gratitude for her kind reception, dedicate this memorial."
After this he was occupied in winding up the affairs of his father with the
government. His father had advanced large sums of money from time to time
for the good of the naval service, and his pay had been also in arrears. For
these two claims, including the interest upon the money due, government
were indebted to him no less a sum than sixteen thousand pounds. William
Penn was desirous therefore of closing the account. He was, however, not
anxious for the money.
or the money. He wished, on the other hand, to take land in
America in lieu of it, and therefore petitioned Charles the Second that
letters patent might be granted him for the same. The tract he solicited was to
lie north of Maryland. It was to be bounded on the east by the Delaware
River. It was to be limited on the west as Maryland was, and it was to
extend northward as far as it was plantable. It has been said that he was
led to this step by his father, who, before his death, had received a good
report of this tract from a relation, and who had received the promise of
a grant of it by way of reimbursement from the Crown. But this is the
assertion merely of a solitary writer, and is in other respects improbable;
for William Penn came to a knowledge of it, far more accurate than any
which could have been furnished him by his father, in consequence of
constant communications concerning it from those settlers whom he himscif
had sent to West New Jersey, directly opposite to which it lay. Nor had
he any desire to possess it from any views of worldly interest, such as his
father might have entertained, but chiefly from the noble motive of doing
good. Having acted as a trustee of Byllinge for four years, he had seen
what a valuable colony might be planted by a selection of religious families,
who should emigrate and dwell together, and v ho should leave behind them
the vicious customs and rotten parts both of the political and religious con-
stitution of the Old World. In this point of view any payment of the debt
in money would, as I have said before, have been nothing to him compared
with the payment of it in American land: and that something like this was
his motive for soliciting the grant in question may be abundantly shown.
Oldmixon, who was his contemporary, states, that, "finding his friends,
the Quakers, were harrassed over England by Spiritual Courts, he resolved
to put himself at the head of as many as would go with him, and thus con-
duct them to a place where they would be no longer subjected to suffering
on account of their religion." Anderson, who succeeded Oldmixon, speaks
the same language. In his "Historical and Chronological Deduction of the
Origin of Commerce," he uses the following words:-"The same year gave
"he
OF WILLIAM PENN.
97
Mr.
.r
rise to the noble English colony of Pennsylvania in North America.
William Penn, an eminent Quaker, and a gentleman of great knowledge
and true philosophy, had it granted to him at this time.He designed it
for a retreat or asylum for the people of his own religious persuasion, then
made uneasy at home through the bigotry of Spiritual Courts." Such is the
statement of these writers. The truth, however, is, that he had three
distinct objects in view when he petitioned for this grant. In a letter to a
friend on this subject he says, "that he so desires to obtain and to keep the
New Land, as that he may not be unworthy of God's love, but do that
which may answer his kind providence, and serve his Truth and people; that
an example may be set up to the nations; that there was room there (in America)
though not here (in England) for such an holy experiment."- -Here then
are two of his objects: for to serve God's Truth and people meant, with him,
the same thing as to afford the Quakers the retreat from persecution men-
tioned; and by the words which followed these, it is clear he had a notion,
that by transporting the latter he might be enabled to raise a virtuous em-
pire in the New Land, which would diffuse its examples far and wide, and
to the remotest ages; an idea worthy of a great mind, and such only as a
mind undaunted by difficulties could have hoped to realise. The third object
may be seen in his petition for this grant; for in this he stated, that he had
in view the glory of God by the civilization of the poor Indians, and the
conversion of the Gentiles by just and lenient measures to Christ's kingdom.
In short, his motives may be summed up in the general description of them
given by Robert Proud, one of his more modern historians, and who had
access to hundreds of his letters, and who spared no pains to develop his
mind in the most material transactions of his life. "The views of William
Penn," says he, "in the colonization of Pennsylvania, were most manifestly
the best and most exalted that could occupy the human mind-namely, to
render men as free and happy as the nature of their existence could possibly
bear in their civil capacity, and, in their religious state, to restore them to
those lost rights and privileges with which God and nature had originally
blessed the human race. This, in part, he effected; and by those means,
which Providence in the following manner put into his hands, he so far
brought to pass, as to excite the admiration of strangers, and to fix in pos-
terity that love and honour for his memory, which the length of future time
will scarcely ever be able to efface."
F
Uor M
98*
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
CHAPTER XVII.
A. 1681.-BECOMES A PROPRIETOR OF EAST NEW JERSEY-PUBLISHES
"A BRIEF EXAMINATION AND STATE OF LIBERTY SPIRITUAL "-
WRITES "A LETTER TO THE FRIENDS OF GOD IN THE CITY OF
BRISTOL"-OBTAINS A GRANT OF THE TRACT SOLICITED-SUBSTANCE
OF THE CHARTER FOR THE SAME NAMED PENNSYLVANIA BY THE
KING-HIS MODEST FEELINGS AT THIS NAME-PUBLISHES AN AC-
COUNT OF PENNSYLVANIA AND THE TERMS OF SALE-DRAWS UP
CONDITIONS-HIS GREAT CARE OF THE NATIVES THEREIN-DRAWS
UP A FRAME OF GOVERNMENT-HIS GREAT CARE OF LIBERTY OF
CONSCIENCE THEREIN-EXTRACT OF HIS LETTER TO R. TURNER-
SENDS OFF THREE VESSELS WITH PASSENGERS, AND WITH COM-
MISSIONERS-WRITES TO THE INDIANS BY THE LATTER-IS ELECTED
A FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY-LETTER TO R. VICKRIS.
WILLIAM PENN was still indefatigable in promoting the interests of Byllinge.
By the influence he had in Ireland he sent off this year two vessels from that
quarter freighted with settlers, most of whom were Quakers. A great part
of these went from Dublin, and the rest from other parts of the country
where he had been best known. As to Byllinge himself, he prevailed upon
the proprietors to make him Governor, and Samuel Jennings, a Quaker and
an able minister of the Gospel, Deputy Governor of the colony. The latter
went out also in the present year, and ruled it with so much virtue as to
infuse strength into its infant sinews, to the great advancement of its civil
and moral growth.
While he was thus attentive to the welfare of West New Jersey, he be-
came unexpectedly concerned for another colony. East New Jersey, of
which Elizabeth Town was the capital, was sold this year, according to the
will of Sir George Carteret. This province was in good order, populous, and
flourishing. He became the purchaser of it, but took in as partners R. West,
T. Rudyard, S. Groome, T. Hart, R. Mew, T. Wilcox, A. Rigg, J. Hay-
wood, H. Hartshorne, C. Plumstead, and T. Cooper. These soon afterwards
admitted twelve others into the concern: James Earl of Perth, J. Drummond,
R. Barclay (the apologist), R. Gordon, A Sonmans, G. Lawrie, E. Byllinge,
J. Braine, W. Gibson, T. Barker, R. Turner, and T. Warne. Of the
twenty-four now mentioned, all except two or three were Quakers. The
partnership having been completed, William Penn published an account of
the country, a fresh project for a town (Perth Amboy), and a method of
disposing of such lands as remained unoccupied. His plan became popular,
and many, particularly the Scotch, accepted the terms which accompanied it.
At this time the difference of opinion, which has been before stated to have
arisen among the Quakers relative to the establishment of a church-discipline
among them, continued, and much to the interruption of the peace of the society.
They who were against the introduction of such a discipline contended, that the
mind of man being acted upon and influenced by impressions from the Holy
OF WILLIAM PENN.
99
Spirit, he had a sufficient guide in these, and that he ought therefore to be left to
himself: but this discipline did not leave him to himself: it did not leave him
free to conform himself to such impressions, but unduly biassed him, and sub-
jected him to ecclesiastical authority. They who took the opposite side of the
question contended, that an unlimited liberty to man to follow all internal
suggestions would lead him to anarchy and confusion, and would most
assuredly be productive of evil. Among these discordant opinions William
Penn published his own on this subject in a little tract, called, "A Brief
Examination and State of Liberty Spiritual, both with respect to Persons
in their Private Capacity and in their Church Society and Communion." In
this he defined, first, what liberty spiritual was. He then stated in sub-
stance, that there were things ordinary and indifferent, and that men were
not to wait for spiritual motions and notices for these, or expect such
motions and notices in every trivial concern and affair of life: that there
were, on the other hand, things positively enjoined them by God, which
they were bound to perform; that, as far as the latter were concerned, they
had no liberty or choice, but must be put under restraint: in fact, that
there was a discipline for Christians; for there was no true liberty to these
but by obedience to the laws of Christ, nor any free man, but such as bore
the yoke of Christ, and conformed himself to his will.
At this time a most severe persecution of the Quakers took place in
Bristol, at the instigation of Sir J. Knight (sheriff), Ralph Oliffe (alderman),
and John Helliar (attorney-at-law). These, accompanied by several others,
went to their meeting-house at the Friars, and, under a pretence of a fine
of five pounds imposed upon it for not sending out a man in arms to the
trained bands, though it had never been imposed before, entered it, and
broke the forms, windows, benches, and galleries. They then seized the
house for the King. Having done this they departed, and made similar havoc
in their meeting-house in Temple-street, even though no fine was pretended
there. Not satisfied with what they had done, they watched their oppor-
tunity for further mischief. They followed the Quakers to other places
were they met for religious worship, made conventicles of all these, and
fined them accordingly. The fines levied upon T. Goldney, T. Jordan, T.
Callowhill, R. Marsh, R. Snead, J. Love, C. Harford, C. Jones, R. Vickris,
and others, amounted, being all doubled, to several hundred pounds. At
other times they sent them to prison for pretended breaches of the peace,
driving them there like cattle, the men to Newgate, and the women to
Bridewell. To the latter no less than eighteen women were sent at one
time, namely, Catherine Evans, Joan Haly, Elizabeth Harford, Margaret
Thomas, and others. There were also at times not less than one hundred
in the latter, so that for want of room some were obliged to lie on the floor
on whatever mats and beds they could get, and others in hammocks over
them. In the very streets too they pursued them with the same bitter spirit,
pulling off and throwing away the hats of the men in derision, and tearing
Uor M
100
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
the women's hoods and scarfs. They persecuted also this year no less than
fifty Quakers in this one city on the statute made against Popish Recusants
for twenty pounds a month for absence from the national worship. These
transactions, when they came to the knowledge of William Penn, over-
whelmed him with grief. He knew not what to do. He had already pro-
mulgated the grievances of those thus persecuted, and this over and over
again, by means of repeated publications. He had made them known to
the King by letter. He had laid them also personally before the Legislature,
and yet no legal redress had followed. He had therefore only the expedient
left him, of which he availed himself, of addressing the unhappy sufferers
in one common letter, which he called "A Letter to the Friends of God ir
the City of Bristol." This, he informed them, he wrote for their Christian
consolation and encouragement. He advised them, as the cruel laws of
their country still existed, to submit to them with patience and resignation.
He exhorted them not to be cast down, for there was food and nourishment
in affliction; to remember the sufferings of the first Christians; their scourg-
ings, mockings, and imprisonments; to endeavour, by the assistance of God's
Holy Spirit, to raise themselves above the fear or trouble of earthly things,
and to look steadfastly to an inheritance incorruptible, which no human
power could take away.
But to return to the petition. It was presented, as I have before stated,
to the King. I have now to observe, that the King, having read it, sent it
to the Privy Council; and that the Privy Council, having considered its
contents, sent it to the Lords' Committee of Trade and Plantations. Great
opposition was made to it in both places, and for no other reason than be-
cause William Penn was a Quaker. Several meetings took place, in which
the objections of the Duke of York (by his agent Sir John Werden), as
proprietor of a large tract of land in the neighbourhood of that which was
the object of the petition, and those of Lord Baltimore, as proprietor of
Maryland, were fully heard and debated. The advice too of the Chief Justice
North, and the Attorney-General, Sir William Jones, was taken on the subject
of the grant. The matter at length ended in favour of William Penn; and
he was, by charter, dated at Westminster, the fourth of March, 1681, and
signed by writ of Privy Seal, made and constituted full and absolute pro-
prietor of all that tract of land which he had solicited and marked out, and
invested with the power of ruling and governing the same.
This charter consisted of twenty-three sections. In these the extent and
boundaries of the new province were specified, and the free use of all ports,
bays, rivers, and waters there, and of their produce, and of all islands,
mountains, soils, and mines there, and of their produce, were wholly
granted and given up to him. He was made absolute proprietary of the
said territory, which was to be held in free and common soccage by fealty
only, paying two beaver skins annually and one fifth of all the gold and silver
discovered to the King; and the said territory was to be called Pennsylvania.
Mou
OF WILLIAM PENN.
101
after his own name. He had the power of making laws, with the advice,
assent, and approbation of the free men of the territory assembled, for the
raising of money for public uses; of appointing judges and other officers;
and of pardoning and reprieving, except in the cases of wilful murder and
high treason. In these cases reprieve was to be granted only till the
pleasure of the King was known, who also reserved to himself the right of
hearing appeals. He had the power also in new and sudden circumstances,
where the free men could not be suddenly and conveniently assembled, of
making ordinances, which, however, were to be agreeable to reason and not
repugnant to the laws of England, or to be extended in any sort to bind,
change, or take away the right or interest of persons for, or in, their lives,
members, freeholds, goods, and chattels; and all property as well as
felonies were to be regulated by the laws of England, until the said laws
should be altered by himself, or assigns, and the free men of the said pro-
vince. Duplicates of all laws made there were to be transmitted to the
Privy Council within five years after they were passed; and if, within six
months after having been so transmitted, such laws were not pronounced
void by the said Council, they were to be considered as having been ap-
proved of and to be valid. Permission was given to English subjects to
transport themselves to, and to settle in Pennsylvania; to load and freight
in English ports, and transport all merchandise from thence to the said
province, and to transport the fruits and produce of the said province to
England on paying the accustomary duties. He had the power of dividing
the province into towns, hundreds, and counties; of erecting and incor-
porating towns into boroughs, and boroughs into cities; of erecting manors,
holding courts baron, and of having and holding view of frankpledge; of
selling or alienating any part or parts of the said province, in which case
the purchasers were to hold by his grant; of constituting fairs and markets;
and of making ports, harbours, and quays, at which ports, harbours, and
quays, and at which only, vessels were to be laden and unladen. All
officers, however, appointed by the Farmers or Commissioners of the
King's Customs were to have free admission thereto. He had the power
of assessing, reasonably, and with the advice of the free men assembled,
custom on goods to be laden and unladen, and of enjoying the same,
saving however to the King such impositions as were and should be ap-
pointed by act of Parliament. He was to appoint, from time to time,
an agent to reside in or near London, to answer for any misdemeanour
on his part against the laws of trade and navigation; and in case of such
misdemeanour, he was to make good the damage occasioned thereby within
one year; in failure of which, the King was to seize the government of the
said province and retain it till the said damage was made good. He was
not to maintain correspondence with any King or power at war with England,
nor to make war against any King or power in amity with the same.
case of incursion by neighbouring barbarous nations, or by pirates or robbers,

In
102
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
he had power to levy, muster, and train to arms all men in the said pro-
vince, and to act as their Captain-General, and to make war upon and
pursue the same. The King was never to impose any tax or custom upon the
inhabitants of it, either upon their lands, tenements, goods, or chattels, or
upon any merchandise to be laden or unladen within it, unless by the
consent of himself, or the Chief Governor appointed by him, or by the
Assembly, or by act of Parliament in England. This Declaration was to
be deemed by all the judges in all the courts of law to be a lawful dis-
charge, payment, and acquittance; and no officer was to attempt any
thing contrary to the premises, but to aid him, his heirs, servants, agents,
and others in the full use and enjoyment of the charter. If any of the in-
habitants, to the number of twenty, should signify their desire to the Bishop
of London to have a preacher sent to them, such preacher should be allowed
to reside and perform his functions without any denial or molestation what-
If any doubt should arise concerning the meaning of any expression
in the charter, the interpretation of it was to be construed in a manner
the most favourable to him and his heirs.
ever.
It may be proper to give here an anecdote of the modesty of William
Penn, as it relates to the above charter. On the day when it was signed he
wrote to several of his friends to inform them of it, and among others to
R. Turner, one of the persons mentioned to have been admitted as a partner
in the purchase of East New Jersey. He says in this letter, that after many
waitings, watchings, solicitings, and disputes in council, his country was on
that day confirmed to him under the Great Seal of England, with large
powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania-a name which the
King gave it in honour of his father. It was his own intention to have
had it called New Wales; but the Under Secretary, who was a Welshman,
opposed it. He then suggested Sylvania, on account of its woods, but they
would still add Penn to it. He offered the Under Secretary twenty guineas
to give up his prejudices, and to consent to change the name; for he feared
lest it should be looked upon as vanity in him, and not as a respect in the
King, as it truly was, to his father, whom he often mentioned with great
praise, Finding that all would not do, he went to the King himself to get
the name of Penn struck out, or another substituted; but the King said it
was passed, and that he would take the naming of it upon himself. He
concluded his letter by hoping that God would make the new land the seed
of a nation, and by promising to use his own best endeavours to that end, by
having a tender care to the government, so that it should be well laid at first.
The Charter having been signed, the King gave it his further authority by
a Declaration, dated April the second, to all persons designing to become
planters and inhabitants of Pennsylvania. This Declaration pointed out to
them the boundaries of the new province, and enjoined them to yield all
obedience to the proprietor, his heirs, and his or their deputies, according to
the powers granted by the said charter.

OF WILLIAM PENN.
103
William Penn, having now a colony of his own to settle, was obliged to
give up his management of that of West New Jersey; but it was a matter
of great satisfaction to him, that he had brought it from infancy to a state of
manhood-to a state in which it could take care of itself. He had sent to it
about fourteen hundred people, of whom the adults were persons of high
character. The town of Burlington had been built. Farms had risen up
out of the wild waste. Roads had been formed.
Roads had been formed. Religious meeting-houses
had been erected in the place of tents covered with sail-cloth, under which
the first settlers worshipped. A respectable magistracy had been established.
The very Indians too in the neighbourhood had been turned into friends and
benefactors. Such was the situation of West New Jersey when he took his
leave of it, and therefore it was with the less regret he left it to attend to his
own concerns.
""
The first thing he did, after obtaining the charter, was to draw up
"Some
Account of the Province of Pennsylvania in America, lately granted under
the Great Seal of England to William Penn.' To this Account he annexed
a copy of the Royal Charter, and also the terms on which he intended to
part with the land. It appears, from these terms, that any person wishing
to become a planter might then buy a hundred acres of land for forty
shillings, but a quit-rent of one shilling was to be reserved to the proprietor
for every hundred acres for ever. Thus, if a person had bought one thousand
acres, he would have had twenty pounds to pay for them, and ten shillings
per annum quit-rent. The reason of the latter sort of payment was this,
namely, that whereas William Penn held of the King by a small annual
rent, others were obliged to hold of him in the same manner, having no
security or good title to their purchases but by such a mode of tenure. It
appears also, that renters were to pay one shilling an acre yearly, not
exceeding two hundred acres, and servants were to have fifty acres when the
time of their servitude expired, whether men or women, that quantity of
land being allowed their masters for such purpose. He subjoined also to
this Account of Pennsylvania his advice to those who were inclined to become
adventurers, the latter part of which ran thus:-"I desire all my dear
countryfolks, who may be inclined to go into those parts, to consider seriously
the premises, as well the inconveniency as future ease and plenty; that so
none may move rashly, or from a fickle but from a solid mind, having above
all things an eye to the providence of God in the disposing of themselves;
and I would further advise all such at least to have the permission if not the
good liking of their near relations, for that is both natural and a duty
incumbent upon all. And by this, both natural affections and a friendly
and profitable correspondence will be preserved between them, in all which
I beseech Almighty God to direct us; that his blessing may attend our
honest endeavours; and then the consequence of all our undertakings will
turn to the glory of his great name, and all true happiness to us and our
posterity."
104
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
He drew up next "Certain Conditions or Concessions to be agreed upon
by William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania,
and those who may become Adventurers and Purchasers in the same
Province." These Conditions related to the building, forming, and settling
of towns, roads, and lands, and to the treatment of the natives, and other
subjects. They consisted of twenty articles. Among other things, it was
stipulated in these, that no purchaser of ten thousand acres or more should
have above a thousand acres lying together, unless in three years he planted a
family upon every thousand of the same. That every man should be
bound to plant or man so much as should be surveyed and set out to him
within three years after such survey, or else a new comer should be settled
thereon, who should pay him his survey-money, and he himself should go up
higher for his share. -That in clearing the ground care should be taken to
leave one acre of trees for every five acres cleared, especially to preserve
oaks and mulberries for silk and shipping.In behalf of the Indians it
was stipulated, that, as it had been usual with planters to overreach them in
various ways, whatever was sold to them in consideration of their furs
should be sold in the public market-place, and there suffer the test, whether good
or bad: if good, to pass; if not good, not to be sold for good; that the said native
Indians might neither be abused nor provokeå. That no man should by any
ways or means, in word or deed, affront or wrong any Indian, but he should
incur the same penalty of the law as if he had committed it against his fellow-
planter; and if any Indian should abuse, in word or deed, any planter of the
province, that the said planter should not be his own judge upon the said
Indian, but that he should make his complaint to the Governor of the province, or
his deputy, or some inferior magistrate near him, who should to the utmost of
his power take care, with the King of the said Indian, that all reasonable
satisfaction should be made to the said injured planter.-—-—-—And that all
differences between planters and Indians should be ended by twelve men,
that is, by six planters and six Indians, that so they might live friendly together,
as much as in them lay, preventing all occasions of heart-burnings and
mischief. These stipulations in favour of the poor natives will for ever
immortalize the name of William Penn; for, soaring above the prejudices
and customs of his time, by which navigators and adventurers thought it
right to consider the inhabitants of the lands they discovered as their lawful
prey, or as mere animals of the brute-creation, whom they might treat, use,
and take advantage of at their pleasure, he regarded them as creatures
endued with reason, as men of the like feelings and passions with himself,
as brethren both by nature and grace, and as persons, therefore, to whom
the great duties of humanity and justice were to be extended, and who, in
proportion to their ignorance, were the more entitled to his fatherly pro-
tection and care.
The Account of Pennsylvania," which was before mentioned, and the
• Conditions or Concessions," part of which have been just detailed, having

OF WILLIAM PENN.
105
been made known to the public, many purchasers came forward both in
London and Liverpool, and particularly in Bristol. Among those in the
latter city J. Claypole, N. Moore, P. Forde, W. Sharloe, E. Pierce, J. Sim-
cock, T. Bracy, E. Brooks, and others, formed a company, which they called
"The Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania." They purchased twenty
thousand acres of land in trust for the said company, published articles of
Other
trade, and prepared for embarking in many branches of the same.
persons purchased also, and among these a great number of Quakers from
Wales.
It was necessary, before any of the purchasers embarked, that they should
know something of the political constitution under which they were to live
in the New Land, as well as that it should be such as they approved.
William Penn accordingly drew up a rough sketch, to be submitted to their
opinion, of that great frame of government which he himself wished to
become the future and permanent one of the province. It consisted of
twenty-four articles. These were preceded by what he called his first or
great fundamental, by which he gave them that liberty of conscience which
the laws of their own country denied them, and in behalf of which he had
"In reverence," says he,
both written and suffered so frequently himself.
"to God, the father of light and spirits, the author as well as object of all
divine knowledge, faith, and worship, I do, for me and mine, declare and
establish for the first fundamental of the government of my province, that
every person that doth and shall reside therein shall have and enjoy the free
profession of his or her faith and exercise of worship toward God, in such
way and manner as every such person shall in conscience believe is most
acceptable to God. And so long as every such person useth not this
Christian liberty to licentiousness or the destruction of others, that is to say,
to speak loosely and profanely or contemptuously of God, Christ, the Holy
Scriptures, or religion, or commit any moral evil or injury against others in
their conversation, he or she shall be protected in the enjoyment of the
aforesaid Christian liberty by the civil magistrate." With respect to the
articles of the frame or constitution, it is unnecessary to give them here, as
the substance of them will be communicated in another place. It may b
sufficient to observe, that the merchants and adventurers were well pleased
with them, and that they unanimously signed them. Nor was William Penn
less satisfied with himself, as having done his duty in proposing them, if we
may judge from a second letter to R. Turner, which he wrote just at the
time when he had resolved upon them. "I have been," says he, "these
thirteen years the servant of Truth and Friends, and for my testimony's sake
lost much; not only the greatness and preferment of this world, but sixteen
thousand pounds of my estate, which, had I not been what I am, I had long
ago obtained. But I murmur not; the Lord is good to me, and the interest
his truth has given me with his people may more than repair it; for many
are drawn forth to be concerned with me, and perhaps this way of satis-
F 2

106
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
faction hath more the hand of God in it than a downright payment. This
I can say, that I had an opening of joy as to these parts in the year 1661 at
Oxford, twenty years since; and as my understanding and inclinations have
been much directed to observe and reprove mischiefs in government, so it is
now put into my power to settle one. For the matters of liberty and privilege
(alluding to these articles), I purpose that which is extraordinary, and leave
myself and successors no power of doing mischief, that the will of one man may
not hinder the good of a whole country."
The Conditions and Frame of Government having been mutually signed,
three ships full of passengers set sail for Pennsylvania-two from London,
and one from Bristol. It appears that the John and Sarah, from London,
Henry Smith master, arrived first; and the Bristol Factor, Roger Drew
master, the next. The last vessel arrived at the place where Chester now
stands. Here the passengers, seeing some houses, went on shore; and here,
the river being frozen up that night, they remained all the winter. The
other London ship, the Amity, Richard Dimon master, was blown off with
her passengers to the West Indies, and did not arrive at the province till
the spring of the next year.
In one of these ships went Colonel William Markham. He was a relation
of William Penn, and was to be his secretary when he himself should arrive.
He was attended by several commissioners, whose object was to confer with the
Indians respecting their lands, and to endeavour to make with them a league
of eternal peace.
With this view they were enjoined in a solemn manner to
treat them with all possible candour, justice, and humanity. They were the
bearers also of a letter to them, which William Penn wrote with his own
hand, and of which the following is a copy :-
"There is a great God and Power, which hath made the world and all
things therein, to whom you, and I, and all people owe their being and well-
being, and to whom you and I must one day give an account for all that we
have done in the world.
Now
"This great God has written his law in our hearts, by which we are taught
and commanded to love, and to help, and to do good to one another.
this great God hath been pleased to make me concerned in your part of the
world; and the King of the country where I live hath given me a great
province therein; but I desire to enjoy it with your love and consent, that
we may always live together as neighbours and friends; else what would the
great God do to us, who hath made us (not to devour and destroy one
another, but) to live soberly and kindly together in the world? Now, I
would have you well observe, that I am very sensible of the unkindness and
injustice which have been too much exercised toward you by the people of
these parts of the world, who have sought themselves to make great advan-
tages by you, rather than to be examples of goodness and patience unto you.
This I hear hath been a matter of trouble to you, and caused great grudging
and animosities, sometimes to the shedding of blood, which hath made the

OF WILLIAM PENN.
107
great God angry. But I am not such a man, as is well known in my own
country. I have great love and regard toward you, and desire to win and
gain your love and friendship by a kind, just, and peaceable life; and the
people I send are of the same mind, and shall in all things behave them-
selves accordingly; and if in any thing any shall offend you or your people,
you shall have a full and speedy satisfaction for the same, by an equal
number of just men on both sides, that by no means you may have just
occasion of being offended against them.
"I shall shortly come to see you myself, at which time we may more
largely and freely confer and discourse of these matters. In the mean time
I have sent my Commissioners to treat with you about land and a firm league
of peace.
Let me desire you to be kind to them and to the people, and
receive the presents and tokens, which I have sent you, as a testimony of
my good will to you, and of my resolution to live justly, peaceably, and
friendly with you.-I am, your loving Friend,
"WILLIAM PENN.”
About this time William Penn was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
He had before been acquainted with the celebrated Dr. John Wallis, who
had been one of the chief instruments in founding it; but in the present
year he wrote him a letter, in which he expressed to him the satisfaction he
felt on hearing of the progress of the institution, as well as the high opinion
he entertained of the advantages which would result to science from its
labours, and in which (now going out to Pennsylvania) he offered to con-
tribute to its usefulness to the utmost of his power. It is probable, from this
letter, that Dr. Wallis was the person who nominated him to the above
honour.
Among the letters which he wrote this year to private persons, I shall
select one, on account of the simplicity and beauty of expression, as well as
holy feeling, which pervade it. Robert Vickris, who lived at Chew in
Somersetshire, had a son, Richard, who became a Quaker, and afterwards an
eminent sufferer in that society. His father, however, still adhered to his
own religion; but he did not persecute his son for having left it. This
made such an impression on William Penn, who had suffered so much from his
father on that account, that he loved Robert as a brother, and was anxious
above measure for his spiritual welfare. Soon after leaving Bristol, whither
he had been in the autumn to establish "The Free Society of Traders to
Pennsylvania" before spoken of, and where he had again seen Robert, he
wrote him the following short letter:-
"DEAR FRIEND-In my dear and heavenly farewell to the city of Bristol,
thou wert often upon my spirit, and the wishes of my soul are, that the Lord
would abundantly fill thee with the consolations of his Holy Spirit, and that
the days thou hast to pass on this side of the grave thou mayest be fitting
for his coming, that comes as a thief in the night, that at what watch of the
night soever it be, thou mayest awake with his likeness, and enter the rest that is
eternal. So the Lord more and more gather thee out of every visible, fading
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
i
thing, and prepare thee for himself! Dear Friend, be faithful to that appear
ance of God and manifestation of the love of the Lord to thy soul that visits
thee. The Lord is near thee, with thee, and in thee, to enlighten, melt, and
refresh thee. 'Tis his presence, not seen or felt of the wicked, that gathers and
revives the soul that seeks him. So the Lord be with thee, and remember into
thy bosom the sincere love thou hast shown to thy son and his friends! I say no
more, but in the Lord farewell -Thy truly affectionate Friend,
“WILLIAM PENN."
CHAPTER XVIII.
A. 1682.-HAS A NARROW ESCAPE FROM PRISON-ASSISTS R. DAVIES-
HIS SICKNESS ON THE DEATH OF HIS MOTHER-LETTER WRITTEN
BY HIM AT THAT TIME-PUBLISHES HIS FRAME OF GOVERNMENT-
ADMIRABLE PREFACE THERETO-SUBSTANCE OF THE SAID FRAME
AND OF THE LAWS-BARS ALL FUTURE CLAIM UPON PENNSYL-
VANIA BY THE DUKE OF YORK-OBTAINS A FRESH GRANT CALLED
THE TERRITORIES-LEAVES A LETTER TO HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN
-EMBARKS IN THE DOWNS-WRITES A FAREWELL EPISTLE FROM
THENCE AND A LETTER TO S. CRISP-SAILS, AND ARRIVES AT
NEWCASTLE-CALLS THE FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY AT UPLAND,
THEN NEW NAMED CHESTER-BUSINESS DONE THERE-VISITS NEW
YORK AND MARYLAND-RETURNS, AND MAKES HIS GREAT TREATY
WITH THE INDIANS-GOES TO PENNSBURY-FIXES ON A SITE FOR
HIS NEW CITY-PLAN OF IT-CALLS IT PHILADELPHIA-DIVIDES
THE LAND INTO COUNTIES-LAYS OUT TOWNSHIPS-TWO OF HIS
LETTERS WHILE SO EMPLOYED-RESERVES A THOUSAND ACRES
FOR G. FOX-RECEIVES NEW REINFORCEMENTS OF SETTLERS-GIVES
THEM A PLAN FOR HUTS-AMOUNT OF THE LATTER-THEIR WAY
OF LIVING AFTER THEIR ARRIVAL-APPOINTS SHERIFFS TO THE
DIFFERENT COUNTIES-ISSUES WRITS TO THESE FOR CALLING THE
ASSEMBLIES IN THE SPRING.
WILLIAM PENN in the beginning of this year had a narrow escape from
prison. Men's minds were much heated at this time in the city of London
on account of the choosing of sheriffs, so that, when he went on the Sunday
to divine worship in Gracechurch-street, he found the yard in which the
meeting-house stood crowded with soldiers. After sitting awhile in the
meeting he began to preach. Upon this a constable came forward with his
staff, and bad him give over and come down. He went on, however, as if
nothing had happened, till he finished his discourse. George Fox, who rose
up and preached after him, was assailed in the same manner. But the words
delivered by the preachers were so impressive, that the constable, who was
a tender-hearted man, felt himself as it were disarmed, so that he could not
discharge his office. It appeared, that he and others had come with a
warrant to apprehend them on the information of one Hilton, who had set
!
OF WILLIAM PENN.
109
out with them to execute it, but had run away. Finding the informer gone,
and having some doubt as to the legality of executing the warrant on the
Sabbath-day, the constable was willing to allow these to operate upon his
mind as circumstances which would justify him in taking no further notice
of the affair.
A writ having been issued in Wales against Richard Davies, a Welsh
Quaker, who was then in London, for taking him up on his return home, as
an excommunicated person on the statute against Popish Recusants, William
Penn interested himself on his behalf, and procured him a letter from the
Lord Hyde to his diocesan, the learned Dr. Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph; the
consequence of which was, not only that the writ was stayed, but that some
persons similarly circumstanced with Davies were not molested, and others
were discharged from prison.
About this time his mother died, for whom he had the deepest filial
affection. She had often interposed in his behalf, when his father was
angry with him for his dereliction of Church principles and of the honours
and fashions of the world, and she took him under her wing and supported
him when he was turned out of doors for the same reason. It is said that
he was so affected by her death, that he was ill for some days. A letter has
come down to us, which he wrote at this time in answer to a friend who had
solicited his advice, from which we may collect that he had been certainly
indisposed on the occasion; and as the language of grief is usually short, so
the conciseness of this letter, together with the sentiment contained in it,
seems to imply that his mind was then oppressed by the event, and his
religious consideration of it. It runs thus :-
'DEAR FRIEND-Both thy letters came in a few days one of the other.
My sickness upon my mother's death, who was last seventh day interred,
permitted me not to answer thee so soon as desired; but on a serious weighing
of thy inclinations, and perceiving to last thy uneasiness under my constrained
silence, it is most clear to me to counsel thee to sink down into the seasoning,
settling gift of God, and to wait to distinguish between thy own desires and
the Lord's requirings."
Having paid the last earthly offices of respect to his mother, he began by
degrees to turn his mind to his American concerns. The first thing he did
was to publish the Frame of Government or Constitution of Pennsylvania,
mentioned in the last chapter. To this he added a noble preface, containing
his own thoughts upon the origin, nature, object, and modes of government;
a preface, indeed, so beautiful, and full of wise and just sentiments, that I
should fail in my duty if I were to withold it from the reader :
"When the great and wise God had made the world, of all his creatures
it pleased him to choose man his deputy to rule it; and to fit him for so
great a charge and trust, he did not only qualify him with skill and power,
but with integrity to use them justly. This native goodness was equally his
honour and his happiness; and, whilst he stood here, all went well; there
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
was no need of coercive or compulsive means; the precept of divine love
and truth in his bosom was the guide and keeper of his innocency. But
lust, prevailing against duty, made a lamentable breach upon it; and the
law, that had before no power over him, took place upon him and his dis-
obedient posterity, that such as would not live conformable to the holy law
within, should fall under the reproof and correction of the just law without, in
a judicial administration.
C6
This the Apostle teaches in divers of his epistles. The law,' says he,
'was added because of transgression.' In another place, knowing that the
law was not made for the righteous man, but for the disobedient and
ungodly, for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers,' and others.
But this is not all: he opens and carries the matter of government a little
further: Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no
power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God: whosoever
therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God; for rulers are
not a terror to good works, but to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the
power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.
<
-He is the minister of God to thee for good. Wherefore ye must needs
be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake.'
"This settles the divine right of government beyond exception, and that
for two ends: first, to terrify evil doers; secondly, to cherish those that do
well; which gives government a life beyond corruption, and makes it as durable
in the world as good men shall be, so that government seems to me a part of
religion itself, a thing sacred in its institution and end; for, if it does not
directly remove the cause, it crushes the effects of evil, and is, as such,
though a lower, yet an emanation of the same divine power that is both
author and object of pure religion; the difference lying here, that the one is
more free and mental, the other more corporal and compulsive in its
operation; but that is only to evil doers, government itself being otherwise as
capable of kindness, goodness, and charity, as a more private society. They
weakly err who think there is no other use of government than correction, which
is the coarsest part of it. Daily experience tells us, that the care and regu-
lation of many other affairs, more soft and daily necessary, make up much
the greatest part of government, and which must have followed the peopling
of the world, had Adam never fallen, and will continue among men on earth
under the highest attainments they may arrive at by the coming of the
biessed second Adam, the Lord from heaven. Thus much of government in
general as to its rise and end.
1
"For particular frames and models, it will become me to say little, and,
comparatively, I will say nothing. My reasons are, first, that the age is too
nice and difficult for it, there being nothing the wits of men are more busy
and divided upon. 'Tis true they seem to agree in the end, to wit, happiness,
but in the means they differ, as to divine, so to this human felicity; and the
cause is much the same, not always want of light and knowledge, but want of

OF WILLIAM PENN.
111
using them rightly. Men side with their passions against their reason; and their
sinister interests have so strong a bias upon their minds, that they lean to
them against the good of the things they know.
(C
'Secondly, I do not find a model in the world, that time, place, and some
singular emergencies have not necessarily altered; nor is it easy to frame a civil
Jovernment that shall serve all places alike.
"Thirdly, I know what is said by the several admirers of monarchy,
aristocracy, and democracy, which are the rule of one, of a few, and of many,
and are the three common ideas of government when men discourse on that
subject. But I choose to solve the controversy with this small distinction,
and it belongs to all three: Any government is free to the people under it,
whatever be the frame, where the laws rule and the people are a party to those
laws; and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, or confusion.
<<
But, lastly, when all is said, there is hardly one frame of government in
the world so ill designed by its first founders, that in good hands would not
do well enough; and story tells us, that the best in ill ones can do nothing
that is great and good; witness the Jewish and Roman states. Governments,
like clocks, go from the motion men give them; and as governments are
made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore
governments rather depend upon men than men upon governments. Let men be
good, and the government cannot be bad. If it be ill, they will cure it.
But if
men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavour to warp and
spoil it to their turn.
“I know some say, Let us have good laws, and no matter for the men that
execute them. But let them consider, that though good laws do well, good
men do better; for good laws may want good men, and be abolished or invaded by
ill men; but good men will never want good laws, nor suffer ill ones. 'Tis true
good laws have some awe upon ill ministers, but that is where these have not
power to escape or abolish them, and where the people are generally wise
and good; but a loose and depraved people (which is to the question) love
laws and an administration like themselves. That, therefore, which makes a
good constitution must keep it, namely, men of wisdom and virtue, qualities that,
because they descend not with worldly inheritances, must be carefully propa-
gated by a virtuous education of youth, for which after ages will cwe more to the
carc and prudence of founders and the successive magistracy, than to their
parents for their private patrimonies.
**
These considerations of the weight of government, and the nice and
various opinions about it, made it uneasy to me to think of publishing the
ensuing Frame and Conditional Laws, foreseeing both the censures they will
meet with from men of different humours and engagements, and the occasion
they may give of discourse beyond my design.
"But next to the power of necessity, which is a solicitor that will take no
denial, this induced me to a compliance, that we have, with reverence to
God and good conscience to men, to the best of our skill contrived and com-

112
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
posed the frame and laws of this government to the great end of gover-
ment, to support power in reverence with the people, and to secure the peopic
from the abuse of power, that they may be free by their just obedience, and the
magistrates honourable for their just administration; for liberty without obedience
is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery. To carry this evenness
is partly owing to the constitution, and partly to the magistracy. Where
either of these fail, government will be subject to convulsions; but where
both are wanting, it must be totally subverted: then where both meet, the
government is like to endure, which I humbly pray and hope God will please
to make the lot of this of Pennsylvania.-Amen."
The Frame, which followed this preface, consisted of twenty-four articles;
and the Laws, which were annexed to the latter, were forty.
By the Frame the government was placed in the Governor and Freemen
of the province, out of whom were to be formed two bodies-namely, a
Provincial Council and a General Assembly. These were to be chosen by
the Freemen; and though the Governor or his deputy was to be perpetual
President, he was to have but a treble vote. The Provincial Council was to
consist of seventy-two members. One third part, that is, twenty-four of
them, were to serve for three years, one third for two, and the other third
for one; so that there might be an annual succession of twenty-four new
members, each third part thus continuing for three years and no longer. It
was the office of this council to prepare and propose bills, to see that the
laws were executed, to take care of the peace and safety of the province,
to settle the situation of ports, cities, market-towns, roads, and other public
places, to inspect the public treasury, to erect courts of justice, institute
schools, and reward the authors of useful discovery. Not less than two-
thirds of these were necessary to make a quorum; and the consent of not
less than two-thirds of such quorum in all matters of moment. The
General Assembly was to consist the first year of all the freemen, and the
next of two hundred. These were to be increased afterward according to
the increase of the population of the province. They were to have no deli-
berative power; but, when bills were brought to them from the Governor
and Provincial Council, to pass or reject them by a plain Yes or No. They
were to present sheriffs and justices of the peace to the Governor-a double
number for his choice of half. They were to be elected annually. All elections
of members, whether to the Provincial Council or General Assembly, werc
to be
ballot. And this Charter or Frame of Government was not to be
altered, changed, or diminished in any part or clause of it, without the
consent of the Governor, or his heirs or assigns, and six parts out of geven
of the freemen both in the Provincial Council and General Assembly.
With respect to the laws, which I said before were forty in number, I
shall only at present observe of them, that they related to whatever may be
included under the term "Good government of the province;" some of
them to liberty of conscience; others to civil officers and their qualifications;

OF WILLIAM PENN.
113
others to offences; others to legal proceedings, such as pleadings, processes,
fines, imprisonments, and arrests; others to the natural servants and poor
of the province. With respect to all of them it may be observed, that, like
the Frame itself, they could not be altered but by the consent of the Go-
vernor, or his heirs, and the consent of six parts out of seven of the two
bodies before mentioned.
篇
​William Penn, having published the Frame as now concisely explained,
thought it of great importance, in order to prevent all future claim or even
pretence of claim by the Duke of York, or his heirs, upon the province, to
obtain from his Royal Highness a deed of release for the same.
This deed
was accordingly made out. It witnessed, that his Royal Highness, out of
a special regard to the memory and faithful and eminent services performed
by Vice-Admiral Sir William Penn to his Majesty and to his said Royal
Highness, and for the better encouragement of William Penn, his son, to
proceed in the cultivating and improving the tract of land then called
Pennsylvania, and in reducing the savage and barbarous nations thereof to
civility, and for the good will which his said Royal Highness had and bore
to the said William Penn, his son, did for himself and his heirs quit and
release for ever to the said William Penn and his heirs all the said tract of
land. This deed was signed by his Royal Highness on the 21st of August,
1682, and was sealed and delivered in the presence of John Werden and
George Man.
Besides the above, he obtained of his Royal Highness the Duke of York
his right, title, and interest in another tract of land, of respectable extent,
which lay contiguous to Pennsylvania. This was at that time inhabited by
Dutch and Swedes. The Dutch had long before made war upon and con-
quered the Swedes; and the English had afterwards conquered both, and
had annexed the country they occupied to that which belonged to his Royal
Highness, and placed it under his government of New York. This tract
then, which was known afterwards by the name of The Territories, was
presented to William Penn. It was made over to him, his heirs and assigns,
by two deeds of feoffment, dated the 24th of August, 1682, in which the
boundaries were duly specified, and particularly those between the said
Territories and Maryland.
William Penn had now done almost everything that he judged to be
necessary previously to his embarkation. He had barred all claim from
the Duke of York upon his province of Pennsylvania. He had added the
Territories to it, upon which there was a considerable population. He had
published his frame of government and laws, which were suitable to both.
He had engaged a ship for the voyage. He had put most of his stores, fur-
niture, and other articles on board. There was yet, however, one thing
which he was desirous of doing. His mind, as the time of his departure
drew near, began to be seriously affected about his wife and children, and
particularly about their spiritual welfare, during an absence, the length of
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
which, on account of the numerous wants of an infant settlement daily to
be attended to, he could not foresee. He resolved, therefore, to put down
what occurred to him in the way of advice to them as to their conduct
during his absence, and to leave it with them in the form of a letter. This
letter has been preserved; and as it is very beautiful on account of the sim-
plicity and patriarchal spirit in which it is written, and truly valuable on
account of its contents, I shall give it as an acceptable present to such
readers as may not yet have seen it :-
CC
'MY DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN-My love, which neither sea, nor land,
nor death itself, can extinguish or lessen toward you, most endearedly visits
you with eternal embraces, and will abide with you for ever; and may the
God of my life watch over you, and bless you, and do you good in this world
and for ever!-Some things are upon my spirit to leave with
you in your
respective capacities, as I am to one a husband, and to the rest a father, if
'I should never see you more in this world.
"My dear wife! remember thou wast the love of my youth, and much
the joy of my life; the most beloved, as well as the most worthy of all my
earthly comforts: and the reason of that love was more thy inward than
thy outward excellencies, which yet were many. God knows, and thou
knowest it, I can say it was a match of Providence's making; and God's image
in us both was the first thing, and the most amiable and engaging ornament
in our eyes. Now I am to leave thee, and that without knowing whether
I shall ever see thee more in this world, take my counsel into thy bosom,
and let it dwell with thee in my stead while thou livest.
"First: Let the fear of the Lord and a zeal and love to his glory dwell
richly in thy heart; and thou wilt watch for good over thyself and thy dear
children and family, that no rude, light, or bad thing be committed: else
God will be offended, and he will repent himself of the good he intends thee
and thine.
C
Secondly: Be diligent in meetings for worship and business; stir up
thyself and others herein; it is thy duty and place: and let meetings be
kept once a day in the family to wait upon the Lord, who has given us
much time for ourselves: and, my dearest, to make thy family matters easy
to thee, divide thy time, and be regular: it is easy and sweet: thy retire-
ment will afford thee to do it; as in the morning to view the business of the
house, and fix it as thou desirest, seeing all be in order; that by thy
counsel all may move, and to thee render an account every evening. The
time for work, for walking, for meals, may be certain, at least as near as
may be and grieve not thyself with careless servants; they will disorder
thee; rather pay them, and let them go, if they will not be better by ad-
monition: this is best to avoid many words, which I know wound the soul,
and offend the Lord.
Thirdly: Cast up thy income, and see what it daily amounts to; by
which thou mayest be sure to have it in thy sight and power to keep within
OF WILLIAM PENN.
115
compass and I beseech thee to live low and sparingly, till my debts are
paid; and then enlarge as thou seest it convenient. Remember thy mother's
example, when thy father's public-spiritedness had worsted his estate (which
is my case). I know thou lovest plain things, and art averse to the pomps
of the world-a nobility natural to thee. I write, not as doubtful, but to
quicken thee, for my sake, to be more vigilant herein; knowing that God
will bless thy care, and thy poor children and thee for it. My mind is wrapt
up in a saying of thy father's, 'I desire not riches, but to owe nothing;'
and, truly, that is wealth, and more than enough to live is a snare attended
with many sorrows. I need not bid thee be humble, for thou art so; nor
meek and patient, for it is much of thy natural disposition: but I pray thee
be oft in retirement with the Lord, and guard against encroaching friend-
ships. Keep them at arms'-end; for it is giving away our power-aye, and
self too, into the possession of another; and that which might seem engaging
in the beginning may prove a yoke and burden too hard and heavy in the
end. Wherefore keep dominion over thyself, and let thy children, good
meetings, and Friends, be the pleasure of thy life.
"Fourthly: And now, my dearest, let me recommend to thy care my
dear children; abundantly beloved of me, as the Lord's blessings, and the
sweet pledges of our mutual and endeared affection. Above all things en-
deavour to breed them up in the love of virtue, and that holy plain way of
it which we have lived in, that the world in no part of it get into my family.
I had rather they were homely than finely bred as to outward behaviour;
yet I love sweetness mixed with gravity, and cheerfulness tempered with
sobriety. Religion in the heart leads into this true civility, teaching men
and women to be mild and courteous in their behaviour-an accomplish-
ment worthy indeed of praise.
"Fifthly: Next breed them up in a love one of another: tell them it is
the charge I left behind me; and that it is the way to have the love and
blessing of God upon them; also what his portion is, who hates, or calls his
brother fool. Sometimes separate them, but not long; and allow them to
send and give each other small things to endear one another with. Once
more I say, tell them it was my counsel they should be tender and affec-
tionate one to another. For their learning be liberal. Spare no cost; for
by such parsimony all is lost that is saved: but let it be useful knowledge,
such as is consistent with truth and godliness, not cherishing a vain conver-
sation or idle mind, but ingenuity mixed with industry is good for the body
and mind too. I recommend the useful parts of mathematics, as building
houses or ships, measuring, surveying, dialling, navigation; but agriculture
is especially in my eye: let my children be husbandmen and housewives; it
is industrious, healthy, honest, and of good example: like Abraham and
the holy ancients, who pleased God, and obtained a good report. This leads
to consider the works of God and nature, of things that are good, and
diverts the mind from being taken up with the vain arts and inventions of
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
A
:
a luxurious world. It is commendable to the princes of Germany, and the
nobles of that empire, that they have all their children instructed in some
useful occupation. Rather keep an ingenious person in the house to teach
them than send them to schools, too many evil impressions being commonly
received there. Be sure to observe their genius, and do not cross it as to
learning let them not dwell too long on one thing: but let their change be
agreeable, and all their diversions have some little bodily labour in them.
When grown big, have most care for them; for then there are more snares
both within and without. When marriageable, see that they have worthy
persons in their eye, of good life, and good fame for piety and understanding.
I need no wealth, but sufficiency; and be sure their love be dear, fervent,
and mutual, that it may be happy for them. I choose not they be married
to earthly, covetous kindred; and of cities and towns of concourse beware;
the world is apt to stick close to those who have lived and got wealth there :
a country life and estate I like best for my children. I prefer a decent
mansion, of an hundred pounds per annum, before ten thousand pounds in
London, or such-like place, in a way of trade. In fine, my dear, endeavour
to breed them dutiful to the Lord, and his blessed light, truth, and grace in
their hearts, who is their Creator, and his fear will grow up with them.
Teach a child (says the Wise Man) the way thou wilt have him to walk, and
when he is old he will not forget it. Next, obedience to thee, their dear
mother; and that not for wrath, but for conscience sake; liberal to the
poor, pitiful to the miserable, humble and kind to all; and may my God
make thee a blessing, and give thee comfort in our dear children; and, in
age, gather thee to the joy and blessedness of the just (where no death shall
separate us) for ever!
"And now, my dear children, that are the gifts and mercies of the God
of your tender father, hear my counsel, and lay it up in your hearts; love
it more than treasure, and follow it, and you shall be blessed here, and
happy hereafter.
"In the first place, remember your Creator in the days of your youth. It
was the glory of Israel, in the second of Jeremiah: and how did God bless
Josiah because he feared him in his youth! and so he did Jacob, Joseph,
and Moses. O my dear children, remember, and fear and serve Him who
made you, and gave you to me and your dear mother; that you may live to
him and glorify him in your generations!
"To do this, in your youthful days seek after the Lord, that you may
find him; remembering his great love in creating you; that you are not
beasts, plants, or stones, but that he has kept you, and given you his grace
within, and substance without, and provided plentifully for you, This re-
member in your youth, that you may be kept from the evil of the world: for
in age it will be harder to overcome the temptations of it.
Wherefore, my dear children, eschew the appearance of evil, and love
and cleave to that in your hearts which shows you evil from good, and tells
OF WILLIAM PENN.
117
you when you do amiss, and reproves you for it. It is the light of Christ
that he has given you for your salvation. If you do this, and follow my
counsel, God will bless you in this world, and give you an inheritance in
that which shall never have an end. For the light of Jesus is of a purifying
nature; it seasons those who love it and take heed to it; and never leaves
such, till it has brought them to the city of God, that has foundations. O
that ye may be seasoned with the gracious nature of it! hide it in your
hearts, and flee, my dear children, from all youthful lusts; the vain sports,
pastimes, and pleasures of the world; redeeming the time, because the days
are evil!———You are now beginning to live!—What would some give for
your time.
Oh! I could have lived better, were I, as you, in the flower of
youth. Therefore love and fear the Lord, keep close to meetings, and
delight to wait on the Lord God of your father and mother, among his
despised people, as we have done; and count it your honour to be members
of that society, and heirs of that living fellowship which is enjoyed among
them, for the experience of which your father's soul blesseth the Lord
for ever.
"Next: be obedient to your dear mother, a woman whose virtue and
good name is an honour to you; for she hath been exceeded by none in her
time for her plainness, integrity, industry, humanity, virtue, and good un-
derstanding qualities not usual among women of her worldly condition
and quality. Therefore honour and obey her, my dear children, as your
mother, and your father's love and delight; nay, love her too, for she loved
your father with a deep and upright love, choosing him before all her many
suitors and though she be of a delicate constitution and noble spirit, yet
she descended to the utmost tenderness and care for you, performing the
painfulest acts of service to you in your infancy, as a mother and a nurse too.
I charge you, before the Lord, honour and obey, love and cherish your dear
mother.
"Next: betake yourselves to some honest, industrious course of life, and
that not of sordid covetousness, but for example and to avoid idleness.
And if you change your condition and marry, choose, with the knowledge
and consent of your mother, if living, or of guardians, or those that have
the charge of you. Mind neither beauty nor riches, but the fear of the
Lord, and a sweet and amiable disposition, such as you can love above all
this world, and that may make your habitations pleasant aud desirable to
you.
"And being married be tender, affectionate, patient, and meek. Live in
the fear of the Lord, and he will bless you and your offspring. Be sure to
live within compass; borrow not, neither be beholden to any. Ruin not
yourselves by kindness to others; for that exceeds the due bounds of friend-
ship, neither will a true friend expect it. Small matters I heed not.
Let your industry and parsimony go no further than for a sufficiency for
life, and to make a provision for your children, and that in moderation, if
118
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
the Lord gives you any. I charge you help the poor and needy; let the
Lord have a voluntary share of your income for the good of the poor, both
in our society and others; for we are all his creatures; remembering that
'he that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord."
Know well your in-comings, and your out-goings may be better regu-
lated. Love not money nor the world: use them only, and they will serve
you; but if you love them you serve them, which will debase your spirits
as well as offend the Lord.
"Pity the distressed, and hold out a hand to help them; it may be your
case; and as you mete to others God will mete to you again.
"Be humble and gentle in your conversation; of few words I charge you;
but always pertinent when you speak, hearing out before you attempt to
answer, but then speaking as if you would persuade, not impose.
"Affront none, neither revenge the affronts that are done to you; but
forgive, and you shall be forgiven of your Heavenly Father.
CC
In making friends consider well first; and when you are fixed be true,
not wavering by reports nor deserting in affliction, for that becomes not the
good and virtuous.
"Watch against anger, neither speak nor act in it; for, like drunkenness,
it makes a man a beast, and throws people into desperate inconveniences.
"Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in disguise; their praise is costly,
designing to get by those they bespeak; they are the worst of creatures;
they lie to flatter, and flatter to cheat; and, which is worse, if you believe
them you cheat yourselves most dangerously. But the virtuous, though poor,
love, cherish, and prefer. Remember David, who, asking the Lord, 'Who
shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell upon thy holy hill?' answers,
'He that walketh uprightly, worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth
in his heart; in whose eye the vile person is contemned, but honoureth them
who fear the Lord.'
.
"Next, my children, be temperate in all things; in your diet, for that is
physic by prevention; it keeps, nay, it makes people healthy, and their gene-
ration sound. This is exclusive of the spiritual advantage it brings. Be also
plain in your apparel; keep out that lust which reigns too much over some;
let your virtues be your ornaments, remembering life is more than food, and
the body than raiment. Let your furniture be simple and cheap. Avoid
pride, avarice, and luxury. Read my 'No Cross, no Crown.' There is
instruction. Make your conversation with the most eminent for wisdom
and piety, and shun all wicked men as you hope for the blessing of God and
the comfort of your father's living and dying prayers. Be sure you speak no
evil of any—no, not of the meanest; much less of your superiors, as magi-
strates, guardians, tutors, teachers, and elders in Christ.
"Be no busybodies; meddle not with other folk's matters, but when in
conscience and duty prest; for it procures trouble, and is ill manners,
and very unseemly to wise men.

OF WILLIAM PENN.
119
"In your families remember Abraham, Moses, and Joshua, their integrity
to the Lord; and do as you have them for your examples.
Let the fear and service of the living God be encouraged in your
houses, and that plainness, sobriety, and moderation in all things as be-
cometh God's chosen people; and as I advise you, my beloved children, do
you counsel yours, if God should give you any. Yea, I counsel and com-
mand them as my posterity, that they love and serve the Lord God with
an upright heart, that he may bless you and yours from generation to
generation.
"And as for you, who are likely to be concerned in the government of
Pennsylvania and my parts of East Jersey, especially the first, I do charge
you before the Lord God and his holy angels, that you be lowly, diligent,
and tender, fearing God, loving the people, and hating covetousness. Let
justice have its impartial course, and the law free passage. Though to your
loss, protect no man against it; for you are not above the law, but the law
above you. Live therefore the lives yourselves you would have the people
live, and then you have right and boldness to punish the transgressor. Keep
upon the
square, for God sees you: therefore do your duty, and be sure you
see with your own eyes, and hear with your own ears. Entertain no
lurchers, cherish no informers for gain or revenge; use no tricks; fly to no
devices to support or cover injustice; but let your hearts be upright before
the Lord, trusting in him above the contrivances of men, and none shall be
able to hurt or supplant.
"Oh! the Lord is a strong God, and he can do whatsoever he pleases;
and though men consider it not, it is the Lord that rules and over-rules in
the kingdoms of men, and he builds up and pulls down. I, your father, am
the man that can say, 'He that trusts in the Lord shall not be confounded.
But God, in due time, will make his enemies be at peace with him.'
"If you thus behave yourselves, and so become a terror to evil doers and
a praise to them that do well, God, my God, will be with you in wisdom
and a sound mind, and make you blessed instruments in his hand for the
settlements of some of those desolate parts of the world, which my soul
desires above all worldly honours and riches, both for you that go and you
that stay; you that govern and you that are governed; that in the end you
may be gathered with me to the rest of God.
Finally, my children, love one another with a true endeared love, and
your dear relations on both sides, and take care to preserve tender affection
in your children to each other, often marrying within themselves, so as it be
without the bounds forbidden in God's laws, that so they may not, like the
forgetting unnatural world, grow out of kindred and as cold as strangers;
but, as becomes a truly natural and Christian stock, you, and yours after you,
may live in the pure and fervent love of God towards one another, as be-
cometh brethren in the spiritual and natural relation.
"So, my God, that hath blessed me with his abundant mercies, both

120
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
*
this and the other and better life, be with you all, guide you by his counsel,
bless you, and bring you to his eternal glory! that you may shine, my dear
children, in the firmament of God's power with the blessed spirits of the
just-that celestial family-praising and admiring him, the God and Father
of it, for ever. For there is no God like unto him; the God of Isaac and of
Jacob, the God of the Prophets, the Apostles, and Martyrs of Jesus, in
whom I live for ever.
"So farewell to my thrice dearly beloved wife and children!-Yours, as
God pleaseth, in that which no waters can quench, no time forget, nor
distance wear away, but remains for ever,
"Worminghurst, fourth of sixth month, 1682.”
WILLIAM PENN."
William Penn, after having written this letter, took an affectionate leave
of his wife and children, and, accompanied by several friends, arrived at
Deal. Here he embarked on board the ship Welcome, of three hundred tons
burthen, Robert Greenaway commander. The passengers, including himself,
were not more than a hundred. They were mostly Quakers. They were,
also, most of them from Sussex, in which county his house at Worming-
hurst was seated. While lying in the Downs he wrote a farewell epistle,
the title of which ran thus: "An Epistle, containing a Salutation to all
Faithful Friends, a Reproof to the Unfaithful, and a Visitation to the In-
quiring in the Land of my Nativity.”
He wrote also a letter to his friend Stephen Crisp, an able and upright
minister of the Gospel in his own society, who had been a great sufferer for
religion, and for whom he had an extraordinary regard. He had parted
with him but a few days before. His letter, which is well worth copying,
was as follows :-
"DEAR STEPHEN CRISP-My dear and lasting love in the Lord's ever-
lasting truth reaches to thee, with whom is my fellowship in the Gospel of
Peace, that is more dear and precious to my soul than all the treasures and
pleasures of this world; for, when a few years are passed, we shall all go
the way whence we shall never return: and that we may unweariedly serve
the Lord in our day and place, and, in the end, enjoy a portion with the
blessed that are at rest, is the breathing of my soul !
Stephen! we know one another, and I need not say much to thee; but
this I will say, thy parting dwells with me, or rather thy love at my parting.
How innocent, how tender, how like the little child that has no guile! The
Lord will bless that ground (Pennsylvania). I have also a letter from thee,
which comforted me; for many are my trials, yet not more than my supplies
from my Heavenly Father, whose glory I seek, and the renown of his blessed
And truly, Stephen, there is work enough, and here is room to
work in. Surely God will come in for a share in this planting-work, and
that leaven shall leaven the lump in time. I do not believe the Lord's pro-
vidence had run this way towards me, but that he has an heavenly end and
name.

OF WILLIAM PENN.
121
service in it, so with him I leave all, and myself, and thee, and his dear
people, and blessed name on earth.
"God Almighty, immortal and eternal, be with us, that in the body and
out of the body we may be his for ever!-I am, in the ancient dear fellow-
ship, thy faithful friend and brother,
"WILLIAM PENN."
On or about the first of September the Welcome sailed; but she had not
proceeded far to sea when the small-pox broke out, and this in so virulent
a manner, that thirty of the passengers fell a sacrifice to it. In this trying
situation William Penn administered to the sick every comfort in his power,
both by his personal attendance and by his spiritual advice. In about six
weeks from the time of leaving the Downshe came in sight of the American
coast, and afterwards found himself in the Daware River.
Mp
In passing up the river, the Dutch and Swedes, now his subjects, who
were said to occupy the Territories lately ceded to him, and the English, as
well those who had gone the preceding year under Colonel Markham as
others who had settled there before, met and receive aim with equal de-
monstrations of joy. Those of Dutch and Swedish extraction living there
at this time were estimated at between two and three thousandl. At length
he landed at Newcastle. Here the Dutch had a court-house. this, the
day after his arrival, he called together the people. Having taken legal
possession of the country, according to due form, in their presence, he'
made a speech to the old magistrates, in which he explained to them the
design of his coming, the nature and end of government, and of that more
particularly which he came to establish. He then assured all present, that
they should have the full enjoyment of their rights both as to liberty of con-
science and civil freedom. He recommended them to live in sobriety, and
in peace and amity with each other. After this he renewed the magistrates'
commissions.
He now took a journey to New York, to pay his respects to the Duke by
visiting his government and colony. This gave him an opportunity of
seeing Long Island and the Jerseys. He then returned to Newcastle.
His next movement was to Upland, in order to call the first General
Assembly. This was a memorable event, and to be distinguished by some
marked circumstance. He determined, therefore, to change the name of the
place. Turning round to his friend Pearson, one of his own society, who had
accompanied him in the ship Welcome, he said, "Providence has brought
us here safe. Thou hast been the companion of my perils. What wilt thou
that I should call this place ?" Pearson said, "Chester, in remembrance of
the city from whence he came." William Penn, replied, that it should be
called Chester; and that, when he divided the land into counties, he would
call one of them by the same name also.
At length the Assembly met. It consisted of an equal number for the
Province and for the Territories of all such Freemen as chose to atteud, ac-

G


122
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
cording to the sixteenth article of the Frame of Government. It chose for
its Speaker Nicholas Moore President of the "Free Society of Traders of
Pennsylvania"), before spoken of, and then proceeded to business, which
occupied three days.
At this Assembly an Act of Union was passed, annexing the Territories
to the Province, and likewise an Act of Settlement in reference to the Frame
of Government; which Frain of Government, as it related to the Consti-
tution, was, with certain alterations, declared to be accepted and confirmed.
The Dutch, Swedes, and foreigners of all descriptions within the boun-
daries of the Province and Territories were then naturalised.
All the laws agreed upon in England as belonging to the Frame of Go-
vernment were, with some alterations, and with the addition of nineteen
others, thus making togethefty-nine, passed in due form.
peaceably and justly
a
Among these las I shall notice the following:-All persons who con-
fessed the one Almighty and Eternal God to be the Creator, Upholder, and
Ruler of the world, who held themselves obliged in conscience to live
society were in no ways to be molested for their re-
ligious persuasion and practice, nor to be compelled at any time to frequent
All treasurers, however, judges,
ar, religious place or ministry whatever.
sheriffs, justices of the peace, and all whatsoever in the service of the go-
vernment, and all members elected to serve in Provincial Council and
General Assembly, and all electors, were to such as professed faith in Jesus
Christ, and as had not been convicted of ill-fame, or unsober and dishonest
conversation, and who were one-and-twenty years of age. All children of
the age of twelve were to be taught some useful trade or skill, to the end
that none might be idle in the province; but that the poor might work to
Servants were
live. and the rich, if they became poor, might not want.
asi

for
no: to be kept longer than the time of servitude agreed upon, and were to
be put in fit equipage at the expiration of it. All pleadings, processes, and
records in courts of law, were to be as short as possible. All fees of law
were to be moderate, and to be hung up on tables in the courts. All
persons wrongfully imprisoned or prosecuted were to have double damages
With
against the informer or prosecutor. All fines were to be moderate.
respect to the criminal part of these laws, one new principle was introduced
into it. William Penn was of opinion, that though the deterring of others
from offences must continue to be the great and indeed only end of punish-
ment, yet, in a community professing itself Christian, the reformation of
the offender was to be inseparably connected with it. Hence he made but
two capital offences; namely, murder, and treason against the state: and
hence also all prisons were to be considered as workshops, where the offenders
might be industriously, soberly, and morally employed.
The Assembly having sat three days, as I observed before, broke up; but,
sefore they adjourned, they returned their most grateful thanks to the Go-
vernor. The Swedes also deputed for themselves Lacy Cock to return him
OF WILLIAM PENN.
123
their thanks, and to acquaint him that they would love, serve, and obey him
with all they had, declaring it was the best day they had ever seen.
After the adjournment he prepared for a visit to Maryland. On his first
arrival at Newcastle he had dispatched two messengers to the Lord Balti-
more, to "ask his health, to offer kind neighbourhood, and to agree upon a
time of meeting, the better to establish it." By this time the messengers
had returned, from whom it appeared that the Lord Baltimore would be
glad to see him. On receiving this information he set out for West River,
and at the appointed time reached the place of meeting, where he was very
kindly received, not only by his host, but by the principal inhabitants of
the province. There the two governors endeavoured to fix the boundaries
between their respective provinces; but the winter season being expected,
and there being no appearance of speedily determining the matter, after
two days spent upon it, they appointed to meet again in the spring. Wil-
liam Penn accordingly departed. Lord Baltimore had the politeness to
accompany him several miles, till he came to the house of one William
Richardson, where he took his leave of him. And here it may be observed,
that the nobleman just mentioned, whose name was Charles, was the son
and heir of Cecilius Calvert, Baron of Baltimore, who had obtained the
original grant of Maryland, and who, being a Catholic, had peopled it with
those of his own persuasion. Cecilius, however, though he himself and
they who emigrated with him were of this description, had the liberality to
allow liberty of conscience to all who came to settle in his province; so
that, though William Penn is justly entitled to the praise of posterity for
having erected a colony composed of different denominations of Christians,
where the laws respecting liberty, both civil and religious, were equally ex-
tended to all, and where no particular sect was permitted to arrogate to
itself peculiar advantages, yet he had not the honour, as we see (however
the project with him might have been original), of becoming the first to
realise it.
Having refreshed himself at William Richardson's, he proceeded to a re-
ligious meeting of the Quakers, two miles further on, which was to be held
at the house of Thomas Hooker. From thence he went to Choptank, on
the eastern shore of Chesapeak Bay, where "a meeting of colonels, magi-
strates, and persons of divers qualities and ranks," had been purposely ap-
pointed. The visit being over, he returned to Upland, which from hence-
forth I shall call Chester.
The time now arrived when he was to confirm his great treaty with the
Indians. His religious principles, which led him to the practice of the most
scrupulous morality, did not permit him to look upon the King's patent, or legal
possession according to the laws of England, as sufficient to establish his
right to the country, without purchasing it by fair and open bargain of the
natives, to whom only it properly belonged. He had, therefore, instructed
commissioners, as I mentioned in the preceding chapter, who had arrived

124
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
in America before him, to buy it of the latter, and to make with them at
the same time a treaty of eternal friendship. This the commissioners had
done; and this was the time when, by mutual agreement between him and
the Indian chiefs, it was to be publicly ratified. He proceeded, therefore,
accompanied by his friends, consisting of men, women, and young persons
of both sexes, to Coaquannoc, the Indian name for the place where Phila
delphia now stands. On his arrival there he found the Sachems and their
tribes assembling. They were seen in the woods as far as the eye could
carry, and looked frightful both on account of their number and their arms.
The Quakers are reported to have been but a handful in comparison, aud
these without any weapon; so that dismay and terror had come upon them,
had they not confided in the righteousness of their cause.
It is much to be regretted, when we have accounts of minor treaties be-
tween William Penn and the Indians, that in no historian I can find an
account of this, though so many mention it, and though all concur in con-
sidering it as the most glorious of any in the annals of the world. There are,
however, relations in Indian speeches, and traditions in Quaker families
descended from those who were present on the occasion, from which we may
learn something concerning it. It appears that, though the parties were to
assemble at Coaquannoc, the treaty was made a little higher up, at Shacka-
maxon. Upon this Kensington now stands, the houses of which may be
considered as the suburbs of Philadelphia. There was at Shackamaxon an
elm tree of a prodigious size. To this the leaders on both side repaired,
approaching each other under its widely-spreading branches. William Penn
appeared in his usual clothes. He had no crown, sceptre, mace, sword,
halberd, or any insignia of eminence. He was distinguished only by wear-
ing a sky-blue sash* round his waist, which was made of silk net-work, and
which was of no larger apparent dimensions than an officer's military sash,
and much like it except in colour. On his right hand was Colonel Markham,
his relation and secretary, and on his left his friend Pearson, before men-
tioned; after whom followed a train of Quakers. Before him were carried
various articles of merchandise, which, when they came near the Sachems,
were spread upon the ground. He held a roll of parchment, containing the
confirmation of the treaty of purchase and amity, in his hand. One of the
Sachems, who was the chief of them, then put upon his own head a kind
of chaplet, in which appeared a small horn. This, as among the primitive
eastern nations and according to Scripture language, was an emblem of
kingly power; and whenever the chief, who had a right to wear it, put it
on, it was understood that the place was made sacred, and the persons of
all present inviolable. Upon putting on this horn the Indians threw down
their bows and arrows, and seated themselves round their chiefs in the form
of a half-moon upon the ground. The chief Sachem then announced to
This sash is now in the possession of Thomas Kett, Esq., of Seething Hall, near
Norwich.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
125
William Penn, by means of an interpreter, that the Nations were ready to
hear him.
Having been thus called upon, he began. The Great Spirit, he said,
who made him and them, who ruled the heaven and the earth, and who
knew the innermost thoughts of man, knew that he and his friends had a
hearty desire to live in peace and friendship with them, and to serve them
to the utmost of their power. It was not their custom to use hostile
weapons against their fellow-creatures, for which reason they had come un-
armed. Their object was not to do injury, and thus provoke the Great
Spirit, but to do good. They were then met on the broad pathway of good
faith and good will, so that no advantage was to be taken on either side,
but all was to be openness, brotherhood, and love. After these and other
words, he unrolled the parchment, and, by means of the same interpreter,
conveyed to them, article by article, the conditions of the purchase, and
the words of the compact then made for their eternal union. Among other
things, they were not to be molested in their lawful pursuits even in the
territory they had alienated, for it was to be common to them and the
English. They were to have the same liberty to do all things therein re-
lating to the improvement of their grounds, and providing sustenance for
their families, which the English had. If any disputes should arise between.
the two, they should be settled by twelve persons, half of whom should be
English and half Indians. He then
He then paid them for the land, and made
them many presents besides from the merchandise which had been spread
before them. Having done this, he laid the roll of parchment on the
ground, observing again, that the ground should be common to both people.
He then added, that he would not do as the Marylanders did, that is, call
them children or brothers only; for often parents were apt to whip their
children too severely, and brothers sometimes would differ: neither would
he compare the friendship between him and them to a chain, for the rain
might sometimes rust it, or a tree might fall and break it; but he should
consider them as the same flesh and blood with the Christians, and the
same as if one man's body were to be divided into two parts. He then took
up the parchment, and presented it to the Sachem who wore the horn in the
chaplet, and desired him and the other Sachems to preserve it carefully
for three generations, that their children might know what had passed
between them, just as if he had remained himself with them to repeat it.
That William Penn must have done and said a great deal more on this
interesting occasion than has now been represented, there can be no doubt.
What I have advanced may be depended upon; but I am not warranted in
going further. It is also to be regretted, that the speeches of the Indians on
this memorable day have not come down to us. It is only known, that they
solemnly pledged themselves, according to their country manner, to live in
love with William Fenn and his children as long as the sun and moon should
endure. Thus ended this famous treaty, of which more has been said in


126
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
the way of praise than of any other ever transmitted to posterity.
"This,"
says Voltaire, "was the only treaty between those people and the Christians
that was not ratified by an oath, and that was never broken."-" William
Penn thought it right," says the Abbé Raynal, "to obtain an additional
right by a fair and open purchase from the aborigines; and thus he signa-
Lise his arrival by an act of equity which made his person and principles
equally beloved. Here it is the mind rests with pleasure upon modern
history, and feels some kind of compensation for the disgust, melancholy,
and horror, which the whole of it, but particularly that of the European
settlements in America, inspires.". Noble, in his "Continuation of
Granger," says, "He occupied his domains by actual bargain and sale with
the Indians. This fact does him infinite honour, as no blood was shed, and
the Christian and the barbarian met as brothers. Penn has thus taught us
to respect the lives and properties of the most unenlightened nations."-
Being now returned," says Robert Proud, in his " History of Pennsyl-
vania," "from Maryland to Coaquannoc, he purchased lands of the Indians,
whom he treated with great justice and sincere kindness.It was at this
time when he first entered personally into that friendship with them, which
ever afterwards continued between them, and which for the space of more
than seventy years was never interrupted, or so long as the Quakers retained
power in the government.-His conduct in general to these people was so
engaging, his justice in particular so conspicuous, and the counsel and
advice which he gave them were so evidently for their advantage, that he
became thereby very much endeared to them; and the sense thereof made
such deep impressions on their understandings, that his name and memory
will scarcely ever be effaced while they continue a people." *
After the treaty he went up the Delaware, a few miles, to see the mansion
which Colonel Markham had been preparing for him. It was erected, but
not finished. The manor, on which it stood, was beautifully situated,
being on the banks of the Delaware over against the present Burlington,
and only a few miles below the Falls of Trenton. It was a treble island,
the Delaware running three times round it. The mansion was built of brick,
and was large and commodious. There was a spacious hall in it, intended
as a hall of audience for the sovereigns of the soil. Reserving this for his
own residence, he gave it the name of Pennsbury.
From Pennsbury he returned to Chester. Having now fairly purchased
*The great elm tree, under which this treaty was made, became celebrated from
this day. When, in the American war, the British General Simcoe was quartered
at Kensington, he so respected it, that when his soldiers were cutting down
every tree for fire-wood, he placed a sentinel under it, that not a branch of it might
be touched. The year before last it was blown down, when its trunk was split
into wood, and cups and other articles were made of it, to be kept as memo-
rials of it. As to the roll of parchment containing the treaty, it was shown by the
Mingoes, Shawanese, and other Indians, to Governor Keith, at a Conference in
1722.

OF WILLIAM PENN,
127
the land of the natives, he ordered a regular survey of it. This was per-
formed by Thomas Holme, who had come out as surveyor-general of the
province. During the survey he pitched upon Coaquannoc as the most
noble and commodious place for his new city. It was situated between the
rivers Skuylkill and Delaware, and therefore bounded by them on two sides,
and on a third by their confluence. The junction of two such rivers, and
both of them navigable, the great width and depth of the latter so admi-
rably calculated for commerce, the existence of a stratum of brick earth on
the spot, immense quarries of building stone in the neighbourhood-these
and other circumstances determined him in the choice of it. It happened,
however, that it was then in the possession of the Swedes; but the latter,
on application being made to them, cheerfully exchanged it for land in
another quarter.
Having now determined upon the site, and afterwards upon the plan of
the city, he instructed Thomas Holme to make a map of it, in which the
streets were to be laid out as they were to be afterwards built.
There were
to be two large streets, the one fronting the Delaware on the east, and the
other the Skuylkill on the west, of a mile in length. A third, to be called
High-street, of one hundred feet broad, was to run directly through the
middle of the city so as to communicate with the streets now mentioned at
right angles; that is, it was to run through the middle from river to river,
or from east to west. A fourth of the same breadth, to be called Broad-
street, was to run through the middle also, but to intersect High-street at
right angles, or to run from north to south. Eight streets, fifty feet wide,
were to be built parallel to High-street-that is, from river to river; and
twenty, of the like width, parallel to Broad-street-that is, to cross the
former from side to side. The streets running from east to west were to be
named according to their numerical order-such as first, second, and third
street; and those from north to south according to the woods of the country
——such as vine, spruce, pine, sassafras, cedar, and others. There was to be,
however, a square of ten acres in the middle of the city, each corner of
which was to be reserved for public offices. There was to be also in each
quarter of it a square of eight acres, to be used by the citizens in like manner
as Moorfields in London. The city having been thus planned, he gave it a
name, which he had long reserved for it, namely, Philadelphia, in token of
that principle of brotherly love, upon which he had come to these parts; which
he had shown to Dutch, Swedes, Indians, and others alike; and which he wished
might for ever characterise his new dominions.
Scarcely was this plan determined upon, when, late as the season was,
some of the settlers began to build, and this with such rapidity, being
assisted by the Swedes, that several houses were erected in this year. He
himself was employed in the mean while with Thomas Holme in finishing
the survey of his grants and purchases; the result of which was, that he
divided the Province and Territories each into three counties. The Province
128
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
contained those of Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester; the first so named
from the city, which was then building; the second from Buckinghamshire
in England, which was the land of his ancestors; and the third from the
promise before mentioned which he had made to his friend Pearson. The
Territories contained those of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex; the latter of
which he so named out of respect to his wife's family, Sussex in England
having been the county of their nativity for generations.
From the larger he proceeded to the inferior divisions, employed himself in
marking out townships, and laying out lots. And here he did not forget his
venerable friend and companion in the ministry, George Fox, for whom, as
a small testimony of respect, he reserved an allotment of a thousand acres.
The deed of grant for this land is extant, as well as a will made by George
Fox prior to that, which was proved in Doctors' Commons, in which he
devised the said land to John Rouse, Thomas Lower, and Daniel Abrahams,
and their children, to be equally divided among them; reserving, however,
six acres for a meeting-house, a school-house, and a burying-place for Friends,
and also ten acres for a close to put their horses in while at meeting, that
they might not be lost in the woods.
There are two letters written by William Penn while occupied in the
manner I have mentioned, both dated from Chester, extracts from which
may not be unacceptable to the reader. In the first of these he expresses
himself thus:-
"I bless the Lord I am very well, and much satisfied with my place and
portion; yet busy enough, having much to do to please all, and yet to have
an eye to those that are not here to please themselves.
"I have been at New York, Long Island, East Jersey, and Maryland, in
which I have had good and eminent service for the Lord.
"I am now casting the country into townships for large lots of land. I
have held an Assembly, in which many good laws are passed. We could
not stay safely till the spring for a government. I have annexed the Terri-
tories lately obtained to the Province, and passed a general naturalisation
for strangers; which hath much pleased the people.- As to outward
things, we are satisfied; the land good, the air clear and sweet, the springs
plentiful, and provision good and easy to come at; an innumerable quantity
of wild fowl and fish: in fine, here is what an Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
would be well contented with; and service enough for God, for the fields are
here white for harvest. O, how sweet is the quiet of these parts, freed
from the anxious and troublesome solicitations, hurries, and perplexities of
woeful Europe!'
""
In the other letter, which was written to a person who had ungenerously
and unduly reflected upon him, we see the care, anxiety, and vigilance,
which he manifested in his new station, his disinterested motives for seeking
it, and the humility of his mind when he had obtained it. "Keep," says
he, "thy place. I am in mine. I am not sitting down in a greatness
OF WILLIAM PENN.
129
¿
which I have denied. I am day and night spending my life, my time, my money,
and am not sixpence enriched by this greatness (costs in getting, settling
transportation, and maintenance now, in a public manner, but at my own
charge, duly considered), to say nothing of my hazard, and the distance I
am from a considerable estate, and, which is more, from my dear wife and
poor children.
"Well the Lord is a God of righteous judgment. Had I indeed sought
greatness, I had staid at home, where the difference between what I am
here and what was offered, and I could have been there in power and
wealth, is as wide as the places are.-No: I came for the Lord's sake;
and, therefore, have I stood to this day, well, and diligent, and successful:
blessed be his power! Nor shall I trouble myself to tell thee what I am to
the people of this place in travails, watchings, spendings, and to my servants
every way freely, not like a selfish man. I have many witnesses. To con-
clude: It is now in Friends' hands. Through my travail, faith, and patience,.
it came.
If Friends here keep to God in the justice, mercy, equity, and
fear of the Lord, their enemies will be their footstool; if not, their heirs,
and my heirs too, will lose all, and desolation will follow. But, blessed be
the Lord, we are well, and live in the dear love of God, and the fellowship
of his tender heavenly Spirit; and our faith is for ourselves and one another,
that the Lord will be with us a King and Counsellor for ever.-Thy ancient,
"WILLIAM PENN."
though grieved Friend,
After this, a number of vessels arrived in the Delaware from Somerset-
shire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Wales, and Ireland. Out of the twenty-three
which sailed from thence, not one was lost. They brought with them alto-
gether more than two thousand souls. These were mostly Quakers, who
had bought allotments, and had come to occupy them. They had left their -
country, as we learn from "The Planter's Speech to his Neighbours," pub-
lished at this time. "that they might lead a life quiet and peaceable, free
from the vexations they had experienced, and during which they might
worship the great Creator in their own way; that here, as on a virgin
Elysian shore, they might be freed from the sight of odious and infectious
examples, and of the wickedness and profligacy of the European world;
that, as trees were transplanted from one soil to another to make them
better bearers, so here, under the protection of God, they might the better
bring forth fruit to their own edification and his glory; and, lastly, that by
affording an example of holy and pious living they might more effectually
impress the heathen around them, and thus bring them from darkness to
light-to that pure and perfect light which emanated from the Gospel of
Jesus Christ."
When the vessels arrived, the Swedes very kindly volunteered their ser-
vices in unloading them; and as they arrived not all at once, but in succes-
sion, the goods were more speedily brought on shore, and the passengers
more easily accommodated and disposed of. The latter, as they were
G 2
130
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
landed, distributed themselves through the country, some going one way
and some another-some settling within the Territories, others within the
Province, according as their lots or as their friends and expectations lay.
Their number being altogether great, they appeared, when thus distributed.
to occupy a large portion of land. There were people apparently all
the way, though thinly scattered, from the Falls of Trenton to Chester.
Taking in the Dutch and Swedes, and those who had gone out with Colonel
Markham and William Penn, and the new comers just mentioned, and in-
cluding men, women, and children, their total number did not fall short of
six thousand persons; so that William Penn may be said to have raised a
colony at once in his new domains.
Many of those who had arrived being of a sober cast, and having pro-
perty, had brought out with them houses in frame, tools, implements, and
furniture, and also food and raiment sufficient to last them for some time.
after their arrival. All such experienced the benefit of their prudence.
Others were not so well provided; but, coming some weeks before the winter
began, they were enabled to get through it with more comfort than could
have been expected, as it related to their habitations. They used the short
opportunity they had in cutting down wood, and working it, and putting it
together, so as to construct temporary huts. William Penn furnished them
with a general plan for these. They were to be rather better than thirty
feet long, and eighteen wide There was to be a partition in the middle, so
that each was to be divided into two equal parts. When the shell was up,
it was to be covered and defended on the outside by clapboards. It was to
be lined also in the inside by the same. The intervening space between the
external covering and inside lining was to be filled with earth, to keep out
the cold and frost. The ground floor was to be made of clay, and the upper
or loft of wood. The latter was to be divided or not, according to the wants
of the family. As to the roof, it was to be of clapboard also. Others ar-
rived too late in the season to be able to raise themselves habitations. These
suffered more or less from the severity of the winter. Some of them were
kindly taken in by the Swedes and others; but the rest were obliged to betake
themselves to the bank of the river, where the city was building. This
standing high, and being dry, they dug large holes in it, and in these
they lived.
These dwelling-places went by the name of the Caves from this
period.
With respect to provisions, they fared better, all of them, than might
have been expected in a country which all around, except just upon the
shore, was an entire wilderness. Yet in this situation they met with occa-
sional support. The wild pigeons flew about in such numbers, that the air
was sometimes darkened by them; and, flying low, they were sometimes
knocked down in great numbers by those who had no other means of taking
them. The supply from these was sometimes so great, that they could not
consume them while fresh: they therefore salted the overplus. The Indians

OF WILLIAM PENN.
131
also were remarkably kind to them. They hunted for them frequently,
doing their utmost to feed them. They considered them all as the children
of Onas; and, looking upon him ever since the great treaty as their own
father also, they treated them as brothers.
*
William Penn having divided the land into counties, as I have just men-
tioned, appointed sheriffs to each; soon after which he issued writs for the
election of members both to sit in Council and General Assembly, according
to the constitution, as early as possible in the spring. One of these writs
has been preserved. It runs as follows:-
“William Penn, Proprietary Governor of the Province of Penn-
sylvania, and the Territories thereunto belonging:
"I do hereby, in the King's name, empower and require thee to summon
all the freeholders in thy bailiwick to meet on the twentieth day of the next
month at the Falls upon Delaware River, and that they then and there
elect and choose out of themselves twelve persons of most note for wisdom
and integrity, to serve as their delegates in the Provincial Council to be
held at Philadelphia the tenth day of the first month (March) next, that
they may all personally appear at an Assembly at the place aforesaid, ac-
cording to the contents of my Charter of Liberties, of which thou art to
make me a true and faithful return.
"Given at Philadelphia
month
"To Richard Noble, High Sheriff of the county of Bucks."
1682.
The other high sheriffs, to whom the other writs were directed, were
John Test for Philadelphia, Thomas Usher for Chester, Edmund Cantwell
for Newcastle, Peter Bowcomb for Kent, and John Vines for Sussex.
CHAPTER XIX.
―
A. 1683.-MEMBERS RETURNED FOR THE PROVINCE AND TERRITORIES
-LIST OF THOSE SENT TO THE ASSEMBLY-MEETS HIS COUNCIL-
AND AFTERWARDS THE ASSEMBLY-WHICH SITS TWENTY-TWO DAYS
-- BUSINESS DONE THERE - GRANTS A NEW CHARTER FIRST
JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS-TRIAL OF PICKERING AND OTHERS-NAMES
OF THE FIRST JURIES-GREAT PROGRESS IN THE BUILDING OF
PHILADELPHIA-AND IN AGRICULTURE BY THE SETTLERS--THEIR
MANNER OF LIVING AS DESCRIBED BY R. TOWNSEND-GOES ON A
JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY INTO THE INTERIOR OF PENNSYLVANIA-
SENDS THE NATURAL HISTORY OF IT TO "THE FREE SOCIETY OF
TRADERS"-COPY OF HIS LETTER ON THAT SUBJECT-FAILS IN
SETTLING A DISPUTE WITH THE LORD BALTIMORE-SENDS HIS
CASE TO THE LORDS' COMMITTEE OF PLANTATIONS, IN ENGLAND.
SOON after the new year had begun, an infant was born of the family of
Key. His mother had been brought to bed in her habitation in one of the
* Onas was the name for Pen in the Indian language.
132
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
Caves. He was the first-born child of English parents in the colony. This
being a new event, the Governor recorded it by making him a present of a
lot of land. Key lived afterwards to a great age, but he never lost the name
of first-born to the day of his death.
The time being now at hand, as specified in the writs which had been
issued for the organization of the legislative bodies, those who had been
chosen by the freeholders began to move, some from their temporary huts
and others from their houses, to the place of meeting. It appears that only
twelve persons had been returned out of each of the six counties, three of
these for the Council and nine for the Assembly. Thus the Council consisted
only of eighteen and the Assembly of fifty-four, making together seventy-
two. It will be proper to observe here, that, after the division of the land
into counties, the Province still continued to be called the Province, but the
Territories usually went by the name of the Three Lower Counties of the
Delaware.
We have not a perfect list of those who composed the first Council.
Sixteen, however, of their names have been preserved. Among these were
Colonel Markham, the Governor's relation and secretary; Thomas Holme,
his surveyor-general of the colony; and Lacy Cock, the Swede before men-
tioned, who had been deputed by his countrymen to congratulate the
Governor on his arrival, and to acquaint him, after the first Assembly at
Chester, that they would love, serve, and obey him with all they had.
With respect to the names of the first Assembly, we have them complete:
W. Yardley, S. Darke, R. Lucas, N. Walne, J. Wood, J. Clowes, T. Fitz-
water, R. Hall, and J. Boyden, were elected for Bucks; J. Longhurst, J.
Hart, W. King, A. Binkson, J. Moon, T. Wynne, G. Jones, W. Warner, and
S. Swanson, for Philadelphia; J. Hoskins, R. Wade, G. Wood, J. Blunston,
D. Rochford, T. Bracy, J. Bezer, J. Harding, and J. Phipps, for Chester;
J. Biggs, S. Irons, T. Hassold, J. Curtis, R. Bedwell, W. Windsmore,
J. Brinkloe, D. Brown, and B. Bishop, for Kent; J. Cann, J. Darby,
V. Hollingsworth, G. Herman, J. Dehoaef, J. Williams, W. Guest, P. Alric,
and H. Williams, for Newcastle; and L. Watson, A. Draper, W. Futcher,
H. Bowman, A. Moleston, J. Hill, R. Bracy, J. Kipshaven, and C. Verhoof,
for Sussex.
The Freeholders, when they returned the above and no others, were
sensible that, according to the letter of the constitution, they had returned a
far less number to the legislative bodies than they ought, having elected only
seventy-two persons in all, whereas the Council itself should have consisted
of that number. It was impossible, however, in the then state of things, that
they could have done otherwise. They gave, therefore, their reasons in
writing on the Sheriffs' returns for the deficiency; and they added that,
though the number was less than the law required, they considered those
who had been elected as possessing the power of all the Freemen, both of
the Province and Territories. They petitioned the Governor also, before the
OF WILLIAM PENN.
133
members met in their official capacities, that this their non-compliance with
the constitution to its full extent might not deprive them of the benefit of
their charter. To this he replied, "that they might amend, alter, or add, for
the public good; and that he was ready to settle such foundations with them
as might be for their happiness, according to the powers vested in him."
These preliminaries having been adjusted, he met his Council on the
tenth of March.
On the twelfth he met the Assembly. This latter body chose for its
Speaker Thomas Wynne, and then proceeded to business. At this and
subsequent sittings till the twentieth much work was gone through. Several
bills were framed and passed. Outlines also were agreed upon for the
amendment of the old charter. A seal also was established for each county.
To Philadelphia was given an anchor, to Bucks a tree and vine, to Chester
a plough, to Newcastle a cassia, to Kent three ears of Indian corn, and to
Sussex a wheatsheaf.
At a Council held on the twentieth, the Speaker and two members of the
Assembly attending with certain bills which had been sent to them, the
Governor and Council desired a conference with the whole house and freemen
about the charter. They attended accordingly. He then asked them ex-
plicitly, whether they chose to have the old or a new charter. They unani-
mously requested a new one, with such amendments as had already been
agreed upon. Upon this he made a short speech to them, in which he sig-
nified his assent to their request; distinguishing, however, between their
duty and his own willingness to oblige them, and hoping that both would be
found consistent with each other and reconcileable on the present occasion.
On the twenty-first the Assembly sent Griffith Jones and Thomas Fitz-
water to thank him for his speech, and to signify their grateful acceptance
of his offer. After this a committee of each house was appointed to draw
up a new charter.
At a Council held on the thirtieth, the Governor having read, approved,
signed, and sealed the charter, which the committees had drawn up, presented
it in due form to James Harrison, Thomas Wynne, and another member,
who attended in behalf of the Assembly and freemen. These, on receiving
it, returned the old one into his hands with the hearty thanks of the whole
house. By this charter the Provincial Council was to consist of eighteen
persons, three from each county, and the Assembly of thirty-six, men of most
note for wisdom, virtue, and ability; by whom, with the Governor, all laws
were to be made, officers chosen, and public affairs transacted, in the manner
expressed therein. All the laws, however, were still to be prepared by the
Governor and Council, and the number of Assembly-men were to be increased
at their pleasure. This was the last business transacted at this session,
which had continued twenty-two days.
Having spoken of the first legislative, I shall notice the first judicial pro-
ceedings:-

134
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
The first grand jury was summoned in the month of March upon one
Pickering and others, persons of bad character, who had stolen out among
the respectable settlers in their passage from England, in order to make an
advantage of the distress and confusion of a new colony. Those who com-
posed it were Thomas Lloyd (foreman), E. Flower, R. Wood, J. Harding,
J. Hill, E. Louff, J. Boyden, N. Walne, J. James, J. Vanborson, R. Hall,
V. Hollingsworth, A. Draper, J. Louff, J. Wale, S. Darke, J. Parsons, J.
Blunston, J. Fitzwater, W. Guest, J. Curtis, R. Lucas, H. Jones, and C. Pusey. :
Bills having been found by these, a petty jury was impanelled and attested.
It consisted of J. Claypoole (foreman), R. Turner, R. Ewer, A. Binkson,
J. Barnes, J. Fisher, D. Rochford, W. Howell, W. King, B. Whitehead,
T. Rose, and D. Breintnell.
The
The trial then came on. It was held before the Governor and Council,
who sat as a court of justice. The charge against the prisoners was, that
they had coined and stamped silver in the form of Spanish pieces with more
alloy of copper than the law allowed. They were found guilty.
sentence was, that Pickering, as principal, should for this high misdemeanour
make full satisfaction, in good and current pay, to all persons who should,
within the space of one month, bring in any of his false, base, and counterfeit
coin (which was to be called in the next day by proclamation), according to
their respective proportions; and that the money brought in shonld be
melted down before it was returned to him; and that he should pay a fine
of forty pounds towards the building of a Court-house, stand committed till
the same was paid, and afterwards find security for his good behaviour.
The Legislative Assembly being over, and the members returned to their
habitations, William Penn directed his attention to his new city. By this
time Philadelphia had begun to rise out of the ground. The first house
finished there was built by George Guest. The owner of it used it as a
tavern, a good speculation under existing circumstances, and called it the
Blue Anchor. Soon after many small houses were erected. Larger and
more commodious followed, and this so rapidly, that, including ordinary and
good houses, not less than a hundred were found in their proper stations by
the end of the present year. William Penn, indeed, seems to have had a
mind capable of directing its energies usefully to every department of a new
colony, whether in that of agriculture, building, government, or religion.
His plan for the city of Philadelphia has been considered as the work of a
provident and great architect; and to that sleepless spirit of vigilance, that
spirit which he possessed in the highest degree, of constantly overlooking and
forwarding whatever he had begun, it was to be ascribed that so great a
progress had been made in the buildings in so short a time. Dean Prideaux,
in his "Connection of the History of the Old and New Testament," gives a
plan or model of the city of ancient Babylon," after which he speaks thus :-
"Much according to this model hath William Penn, the Quaker, laid out the
ground for his city of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania; and were it all built
114
OF WILLIAM PENN.
135
according to that design, it would be the fairest and best city in all America,
and not much behind any other in the whole world."
The settlers too had by this time made a visible improvement in some of
their allotments. Portions of these had not only in many instances been
cleared, but put into cultivation. Most of those who arrived in the first
ships had been enabled, in consequence of the openness of the winter for a
longer period than usual, to put their winter corn into the ground. Others
had since sown here and there patches of barley. A letter written by
Richard Townsend, who went out with William Penn, is extant, from which
we may collect something as to the way in which they went on, as well as to
their subsequent gradual progress.
<<
"After our arrival," says he, we found it a wilderness. The chief inha-
bitants were Indians, and some Swedes, who received us in a friendly
manner; and though there was a great number of us, the good hand of
Providence was seen in a particular manner, in that provisions were found
for us by the Swedes and Indians at very reasonable rates, as well as brought
from divers other parts that were inhabited before.
"After some time I set up a mill on Chester Creek, which I brought ready
framed from London, which served for grinding of corn and sawing of
boards, and was of great use to us. Besides, with Joshua Tittery, I made a
net, and caught great quantities of fish, which supplied ourselves and many
others; so that, notwithstanding it was thought near three thousand persons
came in the first year, we were so providentially provided for, that we could
buy a deer for about two shillings, and a large turkey for about a shilling,
and Indian corn for about two shillings and sixpence per bushel.
"And as our worthy proprietor treated the Indians with extraordinary
humanity, they became very civil and loving to us, and brought us in
abundance of venison. As in other countries the Indians were exasperated
by hard treatment, which hath been the foundation of much bloodshed, so
the contrary treatment here hath produced their love and affection.
“After our arrival there came in about twenty families from High and
Low Germany of religious good people, who settled about six miles from
Philadelphia, and called the place German Town. About the time when
German Town was laid out, I settled upon my tract of land, which I had
bought of the proprietor in England, about a mile from thence, where I set
up a house and corn-mill, which was very useful to the country for several
miles round; but there not being plenty of horses, people generally brought
their corn on their backs many miles. I remember one man had a bull so
gentle, that he used to bring his corn on him instead of a horse.
Being now settled within six or seven miles of Philadelphia, where I left
the principal body of Friends, together with the chief place of provisions,
flesh-meat was very scarce with me for some time, of which I found the want.
I remember I was once supplied by a particular instance of Providence in
the following manner:--
136
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
"As I was in my meadow mowing grass, a young deer came and looked
I
on me. I continued mowing, and the deer in the same attention to me.
then laid down my scythe and went towards him; upon which he ran off a
small distance. I went to my work again, and the deer continued looking
on me; so that several times I left my work to go towards him; but he still
kept himself at a distance. At last, as I was going towards him, and he
looking on me did not mind his steps, he ran forcibly against the trunk of a
tree, and stunned himself so much that he fell; upon which I ran forward,
and getting upon him held him by the legs. After a great struggle, in
which I had almost tired him out, and rendered him lifeless, I threw him on
my shoulders, holding him fast by the legs, and with some difficulty, on
account of his fresh struggling, carried him home, about a quarter of a mile,
to my house; where, by the assistance of a neighbour, who happened to be
there, and who killed him for me, he proved very serviceable to my family.
I could relate several other acts of Providence of this kind, but omit them for
brevity.
"As people began to spread, and to improve their lands, the country
became more fruitful, so that those who came after us were plentifully
supplied; and with what we abounded we began a small trade abroad; and
as Philadelphia increased, vessels were built, and many employed. Both
country and trade have been wonderfully increasing to this day; so that,
from a wilderness, the Lord, by his good hand of Providence, hath made it a
fruitful land; on which things to look back and observe all the steps would
exceed my present purpose. Yet, being now in the eighty-fourth year of
my age, and having been in this country near forty-six years, and my
memory being pretty clear concerning the rise and progress of the province,
I can do no less than return praises to the Almighty, when I look back and
consider his bountiful hand, not only in temporals, but in the great increase
of our religious meetings, wherein he hath many times manifested his great
loving-kindness in reaching and convincing many persons of the principles
of Truth and those who were already convinced, and who continued
faithful, were not only blessed with plenty of the fruits of the earth, but also
with the dew of Heaven."
William Penn having now dispatched the public business of the colony,
as far as his presence was necessary, and having superintended the works in
his new city, went on a journey of discovery into the province. He had,
indeed, already become acquainted with its boundaries and extent, as well
as with other particulars relating to it, in consequence of the survey of
Thomas Holme; but he had now an object of a more interesting nature in
view. He wished to be better acquainted with the inhabitants of the soil;
to know something more distinctly of their language, genius, character, and
customs: he wished also to know the natural history of the country, its
minerals, its woods, and other produce; its animals, both of the land and the
water, its climate, and the like. With this view he undertook the journey

OF WILLIAM PENN.
137
in question. That he kept a journal of it, as he did of his tour into Holland
and Germany, there can be no doubt; but I have never yet learnt where it
is. Fortunately, however, the contents of it are not lost; for, on his return
to Pennsbury, he wrote a letter to "The Free Society of Traders of Penn-
sylvania," dated August the sixteenth, in which he communicated to the
committee the result of his discoveries. This letter, therefore, I must give in
lieu of the journal. It will answer the same end. I must give it also,
because it notices the progress of the colony in some particulars, which,
knowing they were contained in it, I have omitted to mention, that I might
avoid repetition. It shows too the author to have been a man of extensive
knowledge, to have possessed a mind vigilant as to every thing that passed,
to have had great discernment and penetration, to have been ingenious,
bold, and solid in conjecture, capable of deep research, and fertile in the
adaptation of discoveries to an useful end :---
"MY KIND FRIENDS-The kindness of yours by the ship Thomas and
Ann doth much oblige me; for by it I perceive the interest you take in my
health and reputation, and in the prosperous beginning of this province,
which you are so kind as to think may much depend upon them. In retura
of which I have sent you a long letter, and yet containing as brief an account
of myself and the affairs of this province as I have been able to make.
"In the first place, I take notice of the news you sent me, whereby I find
some persons have had so little wit, and so much malice, as to report my
death; and, to mend the matter, dead a Jesuit too. One might have
reasonably hoped that this distance, like death, would have been a protection
against spite and envy; and indeed absence, being a kind of death, ought
alike to secure the name of the absent as of the dead, because they are
equally unable as such to defend themselves: but they who intend mischief
do not use to follow good rules to effect it. However, to the great sorrow
and shame of the inventors, I am still alive and no Jesuit; and, I thank God,
very well. And without injustice to the authors of this, I may venture to
infer, that they who wilfully and falsely report, would have been glad had it
been so.
But I perceive many frivolous and idle stories have been invented
since my departure from England, which perhaps at this time are no more
alive than I am dead.
"But if I have been unkindly used by some I left behind me, I found love
and respect enough where I came; an universal kind welcome, every sort in
their way.
For here are some of several nations, as well as divers judg-
ments: nor were the natives wanting in this; for their Kings, Queens, and
great men, both visited and presented me, to whom I made suitable returns.
"For the province, the general condition of it take as followeth :-
"1. The country itself, its soil, air, water, seasons, and produce, both
natural and artificial, are not to be despised. The land containeth divers
sorts of earth, as sand, yellow and black, poor and rich; also gravel, both
loamy and dusty; and in some places a fast fat earth, like that of our best
•
138
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
vales in England, especially by inland brooks and rivers: God in his wisdom
having ordered it so, that the advantages of the country are divided; the
back lands being generally three to one richer than those that lie by navigable
rivers. We have much of another soil, and that is a black hazel mould
upon a stony or rocky bottom.
"2. The air is sweet and clear, and the heavens serene, like the south
parts of France, rarely overcast; and as the woods come by numbers of
people to be more cleared, that itself will refine.
"3. The waters are generally good; for the rivers and brooks have mostly
gravel and stony bottoms, and in numbers hardly credible. We have also
mineral waters, which operate in the same manner with those of Barnet and
North Hall, not two miles from Philadelphia.
"4. For the seasons of the year, having by God's goodness now lived over
the coldest and hottest that the oldest liver in the province can remember, I
can say something to an English understanding,
"First of the fall, for then I came in. I found it from the twenty-fourth
of October to the beginning of December as we have it usually in England
in September, or rather like an English mild spring. From December to the
beginning of the month called March we had sharp frosty weather; not
foul, thick, black weather, as our north-east winds bring with them in
England, but a sky as clear as in the summer, and the air dry, cold, piercing,
and hungry; yet I remember not that I wore more clothes than in England.
The reason of this cold is given from the great lakes, which are fed by the
fountains of Canada. The winter before was as mild, scarce any ice at all,
while this for a few days froze up our great river Delaware. From that
month to the month called June we enjoyed a sweet spring; no gusts, but
gentle showers and a fine sky. Yet this I observe, that the winds here, as
there, are more inconstant, spring and fall, upon that turn of nature, than in
summer or winter. From thence to this present month, August, which
endeth the summer, commonly speaking, we have had extraordinary heats,
yet mitigated sometimes by cool breezes. The wind that ruleth the summer
season is the south-west; but spring, fall, and winter, it is rare to want the
north-western seven days together. And whatever mists, fogs, or vapours
foul the heavens by easterly or southerly winds, in two hours time are blown
away; the one is followed by the other; a remedy that seems to have a
peculiar providence in it to the inhabitants, the multitude of trees yet
standing being liable to retain mists and vapours, and yet not one quarter so
thick as I expected.
"5. The natural produce of the country, of vegetables, is trees, fruits,
plants, flowers. The trees of most note are the black walnut, cedar, cypress,
chesnut, poplar, gum-wood, hickory, sassafras, ash, beech, and oak of divers
sorts, as red, white, and black; Spanish chesnut, and swamp, the most
durable of all; of all which there is plenty for the use of man.
"The fruits I find in the woods are the white and black mulberry, chesnut,

OF WILLIAM PENN.
139
walnut, plums, strawberries, cranberries, hurtleberries, and grapes of divers
sorts. The great red grape, now ripe, called by ignorance the fox-grape
because of the relish it hath with unskilful palates, is in itself an extraordi-
nary grape; and by art, doubtless, may be cultivated to an excellent wine,
if not so sweet, yet little inferior to the Frontiniac, as it is not much unlike
it in taste, ruddiness set aside; which, in such things, as well as mankind,
differs the case much. There is a white kind of muscadel, and a little black
grape, like the cluster grape of England, not yet so ripe as the other; but,
they tell me, when ripe, sweeter, and that they only want skilful vinerons to
make good use of them. I intend to venture on it with my Frenchman this
season, who shows some knowledge in those things. Here are also peaches
very good, and in great quantities, not an Indian plantation without them;
but whether naturally here at first I know not. However, one may have
them by bushels for little. They make a pleasant drink, and I think not
inferior to any peach you have in England, except the true Newington. It
is disputable with me, whether it be best to fall to fining the fruits of the
country, especially the grape, by the care and skill of art, or send for foreign
stems and sets already good and approved. It seems most reasonable to
believe, that not only a thing groweth best where it naturally grows, but
will hardly be equalled by another species of the same kind, that doth not
naturally grow there. But to solve the doubt, I intend, if God give me life,
to try both, and hope the consequence will be as good wine as any European
countries of the same latitude do yield.
"6. The artificial produce of the country is wheat, barley,* oats, rye, peas,
beans, squashes, pumkins, water-melons, musk-melons, and all herbs and
roots that our gardens in England usually bring forth.
"7. Of living creatures, fish, fowl, and the beasts of the wood, here are
divers sorts, some for food and profit, and some for profit only: for food as well
as profit the elk, as big rs a small ox; deer, bigger than ours; beaver, raccoon,
rabbits, squirrels; and some eat young bear and commend it. Of fowl of
the land there is the turkey (forty and fifty pounds weight), which is very
great, pheasants, heath-birds, pigeons, and partridges in abundance. Of the
water, the swan, goose (white and gray); brands, ducks, teal, also the snipe
and curloe, and that in great numbers; but the duck and teal excel, nor so
good have I ever eaten in other countries. Of fish there is the sturgeon,
herring, rock, shad, cat's-head, sheep's-head, eel, smelt, perch, roach; and
in inland rivers trout, some say salmon above the Falls. Of shell-fish, we
have oysters, crabs, cockles, conchs, and muscles; some oysters six inches
long, and one sort of cockles as big as the stewing oysters; they make a rich
broth. The creatures for profit only, by skin or fur, and which are natural
to these parts, are the wild cat, panther, otter, wolf, fox, fisher, minx, musk-
* Edward Jones had for one grain of English barley seventy stalks and ears of
barley; and it is common for one bushel sown to reap forty, often fifty, and soe-
times sixty. Three pecks of wheat sow an acre here.

140
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
rat; and of the water, the whale for oil, of which we have good store; and
two companies of whalers, whose boats are built, will soon begin their work,
which hath the appearance of considerable improvement; to say nothing of
our reasonable hopes of good cod in the bay.
"8. We have no want of horses, and some are very good and shapely
enough. Two ships have been freighted to Barbadoes, with horses and
pipe-staves, since my coming in. Here is also plenty of cow-cattle and some
sheep. The people plough mostly with oxen.
"9. There are divers plants, which not only the Indians tell us, but we
have had occasion to prove, by swellings, burnings, and cuts, that they are
of great virtue, suddenly curing the patient; and for smell, I have observed
several, especially one, the wild myrtle, the other I know not what to call,
but they are most fragrant.
"10. The woods are adorned with lovely flowers for colour, greatness,
figure, and variety. I have seen the gardens of London best stored with
that sort of beauty, but think they may be improved by our woods. I have
sent a few to a person of quality this year for a trial. Thus much of the
country next, of the natives or aborigines.
"11. The natives I shall consider in their persons, language, manners,
religion, and government, with my sense of their original. For their persons,
they are generally tall, straight, well built, and of singular proportion; they
tread strong and clever, and mostly walk with a lofty chin. Of complexion
black, but by design, as the gipsies in England. They grease themselves
with bear's fat clarified; and using no defence against sun and weather,
their skins must needs be swarthy. Their eye is little and black, not unlike
a straight-looked Jew. The thick lip and flat nose, so frequent with the
East Indians and blacks, are not common to them; for I have seen as
comely European-like faces among them, of both sexes, as on your side the
sea; and truly an Italian complexion hath not much more of the white; and
the noses of several of them have as much of the Roman.
"12. Their language is lofty, yet narrow; but, like the Hebrew in signi-
fication, full. Like short-hand in writing, one word serveth in the place of
three, and the rest are supplied by the understanding of the hearer; im-
perfect in their tenses, wanting in their moods, participles, adverbs, con-
junctions, interjections. I have made it my business to understand it, that
I might not want an interpreter on any occasion; and I must say that I
know not a language spoken in Europe, that hath words of more sweetness
or greatness, in accent and emphasis, than theirs: for instance, Octocockon,
Rancocas, Oricton, Shak, Marian, Poquesian, all which are names of
places, and have grandeur in them. Of words of sweetness, anna is
mother, issimus a brother, neteap friend, usqueoret very good, pane bread,
metsa eat, matta no; hatta to have, payo to come; Sepassen, Passijon,
the names of places; Tamane, Secane, Menanse,
Tamane, Secane, Menanse, Secatareus, are the
names of persons. If one ask them for anything they have not, they will
OF WILLIAM PENN.
141
answer, Matter ne hatta, which to translate is, 'Not I have,' instead of 'I
have not.'
13. Of their customs and manners there is much to be said. I will
begin with children. So soon
as they are born they wash them in
water, and while very young, and in cold weather to choose, they
plunge them in the rivers to harden and embolden them. Having kept
them in a clout, they lay them on a straight thin board a little more
than the length and breadth of the child, and swaddle it fast upon
the board to make it straight; wherefore all Indians have flat heads;
and thus they carry them at their backs. The children will go very young,
at nine months commonly. They wear only a small clout round their waist
till they are big. If boys, they go a-fishing till ripe for the woods, which is
about fifteen. Then they hunt; and, having given some proofs of their
manhood by a good return of skins, they may marry: else it is a shame to
think of a wife. The girls stay with their mothers, and help to hoe the
ground, plant corn, and carry burthens; and they do well to use them to
that, while young, which they must do when they are old; for the wives
are the true servants of the husbands: otherwise the meu are very affec-
tionate to them.
"14. When the young women are fit for marriage, they wear something
upon their heads for an advertisement, but so as their faces are hardly to be
seen but when they please. The age they marry at, if women, is about
thirteen and fourteen; if men, seventeen and eighteen. They are rarely older.
"15. Their houses are mats or barks of trees, set on poles in the fashion
of an English barn, but out of the power of the winds, for they are hardly
higher than a man. They lie on reeds or grass. In travel they lodge in
the woods about a great fire, with the mantle of dufils they wear by day
wrapt about them, and a few boughs stuck round them.
"16. Their diet is maize or Indian corn divers ways prepared, sometimes
roasted in the ashes, sometimes beaten and boiled with water, which they
call homine. They also make cakes not unpleasant to eat. They have like-
wise several sorts of beans and peas that are good nourishment: and the
woods and rivers are their larder.
"17. If an European comes to see them, or calls for lodgings at their
house or wigwam, they give him the best place and first cut. If they come
to visit us, they salute us with an Itah, which is as much as to say, 'Good
be to you!' and set them down, which is mostly on the ground, close to
their heels, their legs upright: it may be they speak not a word, but ob-
serve all passages. If you give them anything to eat or drink, well, for
they will not ask; and, be it little or much, if it be with kindness, they are.
well pleased: else they go away sullen, but say nothing.
"18. They are great concealers of their own resentments, brought to it,
I believe, by the revenge that hath been practised among them. In either
of these they are not exceeded by the Italians. A tragical instance fell out
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
since I came into the country. A king's daughter, thinking herself slighted
by her husband in suffering another woman to lie down between them, rose
up, went out, plucked a root out of the ground, and ate it, upon which she
immediately died; and for which, last week, he made an offering to her
kindred for atonement and liberty of marriage, as two others did to the
kindred of their wives who died a natural death: for, till widowers have
done so, they must not marry again. Some of the young women are said to
take undue liberty before marriage for a portion; but, when married, chaste.
When with child they know their husbands no more till delivered, and
during their month they touch no meat they eat but with a stick, lest they
should defile it; nor do their husbands frequent them till that time be
expired.
"19. But in liberality they excel. Nothing is too good for their friend.
Give them a fine gun, coat, or other thing, it may pass twenty hands before
it sticks light of heart, strong affections, but soon spent: the most merry
creatures that live; they feast and dance perpetually; they never have
much, nor want much. Wealth circulateth like the blood. All parts partake;
and though none shall want what another hath, yet exact observers of
property. Some kings have sold, others presented me with several parcels
of land. The pay or presents I made them were not hoarded by the par-
ticular owners; but the neighbouring kings and their clans being present
when the goods were brought out, the parties chiefly concerned consulted
what, and to whom, they should give them. To every king then, by tle
hands of a person for that work appointed, is a proportion sent, so sorted
and folded, and with that gravity which is admirable. Then that king
subdivideth it in like manner among his dependants, they hardly leaving
themselves an equal share with one of their subjects: and be it on such oc-
casions as festivals, or at their common meals, the kings distribute, and to
themselves last. They care for little, because they want but little; and the
reason is, a little contents them. In this they are sufficiently revenged on
us. If they are ignorant of our pleasures, they are also free from our pains.
They are not disquieted with bills of lading and exchange, nor perplexed
with Chancery suits and Exchequer reckonings. We sweat and toil to live.
Their pleasure feeds them; I mean their hunting, fishing, and fowling, and
this table is spread everywhere. They eat twice a-day, morning and even-
ing. Their seats and table are the ground. Since the Europeans came
into these parts, they are grown great lovers of strong liquors, rum espe.
cially; and for it exchange the richest of their skins and furs. If they are
treated with liquor, they are restless till they have enough to sleep. That is
their cry, 'Some more, and I will go to sleep ;' but, when drunk, one of the
most wretched spectacles in the world.
"20. In sickness, impatient to be cured, and for it give anything, espe-
cially for their children, to whom they are extremely natural. They drink
at those times a teran or decoction of some roots in spring water; and
OF WILLIAM PENN.
143
they eat any flesh it must be of the female of any creature. If chey die,
they bury them with their apparel, be they man or woman, and the nearest
of kin fling in something precious with them, as a token of their love; their
mourning is blacking of their faces, which they continue for a year. They
are choice of the graves of their dead; for, lest they should be lost by time,
and fall to common use, they pick off the grass that grows upon them, and
heap up the fallen earth with great care and exactness.
"21. These poor people are under a dark night in things relating to reli-
gion, to be sure the tradition of it: yet they believe a God and immortality,
without the help of metaphysics: for they say there is a Great King, who
made them, who dwells in a glorious country to the southward of them;
and that the souls of the good shall go thither, where they shall live again.
Their worship consists of two parts, sacrifice and cantico. Their sacrifice is
their first fruits. The first and fattest buck they kill goeth to the fire, where
he is all burnt, with a mournful ditty of him who performeth the ceremony,
but with such marvellous fervency and labour of body that he will even
sweat to a foam. The other part is their cantico, performed by round
dances, sometimes words, sometimes songs, then shouts; two being in the
middle who begin, and by singing and drumming on a board direct the
chorus. Their postures in the dance are very antic and differing, but all
keep measure. This is done with equal earnestness and labour, but great
appearance of joy. In the fall, when the corn cometh in, they begin to
feast one another. There have been two great festivals already, to which
all come that will. I was at one myself. Their entertainment was a great
seat by a spring under some shady trees, and twenty bucks, with hot cakes
of new corn, both wheat and beans, which they make up in a square form,
in the leaves of the stem, and bake them in the ashes, and after that they
fall to dance. But they who go must carry a small present in their money:
it may be sixpence, which is made of the bone of a fish: the black is with
them as gold; the white silver; they call it wampum.
"22. Their government is by Kings, which they call Sachama, and those
by succession; but always of the mother's side. For instance, the children
of him who is now king will not succeed, but his brother by the mother, or
the children of his sister, whose sons (and after them the children of her
daughters) will reign, for no woman inherits. The reason they render for
this way of descent is, that their issue may not be spurious.
23. Every king hath his council; and that consists of all the old and
wise men of his nation, which perhaps is two hundred people. Nothing of
moment is undertaken, be it war, peace, selling of land, or traffic, without
advising with them, and, which is more, with the young men too. It is
admirable to consider how powerful the kings are, and yet how they move
by the breath of their people. I have had occasion to be in council with
them upon treaties for laud, and to adjust the terms of trade. Their order
is thus: The king sits in the middle of an half-moon, and has his council,
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
1
the old and wise, on each hand. Behind them, or at a little distance, sit
the younger fry in the same figure. Having consulted and resolved their
business, the king ordered one of them to speak to me. He stood up, came
to me, and in the name of his king saluted me, then took me by the hand,
and told me that he was ordered by his king to speak to me, and that now
it was not he but the king who spoke, because what he should say was the
king's mind. He first prayed me to excuse them, that they had not com-
plied with me the last time. He feared there might be some fault in the
interpreter, being neither Indian nor English. Besides, it was the Indian
custom to deliberate and take up much time in council before they resolved;
and that, if the young people and owners of the land had been as ready as
he, I had not met with so much delay. Having thus introduced his matter,
he fell to the bounds of the land they had agreed to dispose of, and the
price; which now is little and dear, that which would have bought twenty
miles not buying now two. During the time that this person spoke, not a
man of them was observed to whisper or smile-the old grave, the young
reverent, in their deportment. They speak little, but fervently, and with
elegance. I have never seen more natural sagacity, considering them
without the help (I was going to say the spoil) of tradition; and he will
deserve the name of wise who outwits them in any treaty about a thing
they understand. When the purchase was agreed, great promises passed
between us of kindness and good neighbourhood, and that the English and.
Indians must live in love as long as the sun gave light: which done, another
made a speech to the Indians, in the name of all the Sachamakers or Kings;
first, to tell them what was done; next, to charge and command them to
love the Christians, and particularly to live in peace with me and the
people under my government; that many Governors had been in the river;
but that no Governor had come himself to live and stay there before and
having now such an one, who had treated them well, they should never do
him or his any wrong; at every sentence of which they shouted, and said
Amen in their way.
"24. The justice they have is pecuniary. In case of any wrong or evil
fact, be it murder itself, they atone by feasts and presents of their wampum,
which is proportioned to the quality of their offence or person injured, or of
the sex they are of. For, in case they kill a woman, they pay double; and
the reason they render is, that she breedeth children, which men cannot
do.' It is rare that they fall out if sober; and if drunk they forgive; saying,
It was the drink, and not the man, that abused them.'
"25. We have agreed, that in all differences between us, six of each side
shall end the matter. Do not abuse them, but let them have justice, and you
win them. The worst is, that they are the worse for the Christians, who
have propagated their vices, and yielded them tradition for ill and not for
good things. But as low an ebb as these people are at, and as inglorious as
their own condition looks, the Christians have not outlived their sight with
I
:
OF WILLIAM PENN.
145
all their pretensions to an higher manifestation. What good then might not
a good people graft, where there is so distinct a knowledge left of good and evil?
I beseech God to incline the hearts of all that come into these parts to out-
live the knowledge of the natives by a fixt obedience to their greater know-
ledge of the will of God; for it were miserable indeed for us to fall under
the just censure of the poor Indian conscience, while we make profession of
things so far transcending.
"26. For their original, I am ready to believe them of the Jewish race,
I mean of the stock of the ten tribes, and that for the following reasons:-
first, they were to go to a land not planted nor known, which to be sure
Asia and Africa were, if not Europe; and he who intended that extra-
ordinary judgment upon them might make the passage not uneasy to them,
as it is not impossible in itself from the easternmost parts of Asia to the western-
most of America. * In the next place, I find them of the like countenance,
and their children of so lively resemblance, that a man would think himself
in Duke's-place or Berry-street, in London, when he seeth them. But this
is not all: they agree in rites; they reckon by moons; they offer their first
fruits; they have a kind of feast of tabernacles; they are said to lay their
altar upon twelve stones; their mourning a year; customs of women; with
many other things that do not now occur. So much for the natives. Next,
the old planters will be considered in this relation, before I come to our
colony and the concerns of it.
"27. The first planters in these parts were the Dutch, and soon after them
the Swedes and Finns. The Dutch applied themselves to traffic, the Swedes
and Finns to husbandry. There were some disputes between them for some
years; the Dutch looking upon them as intruders upon their purchase and
possession, which was finally ended in the surrender made by John
Rizeing, the Swedish Governor, to Peter Styresant, Governor for the States
of Holland, anno 1655.
"28. The Dutch inhabit mostly those parts of the province that lie upon
or near the Bay, and the Swedes the Freshes of the River Delaware. There
is no need of giving any description of them, who are better known there
than here; but they are a plain, strong, industrious people, yet have made
no great progress in culture, or propagation of fruit-trees, as if they desired
rather to have enough than plenty or traffic. But I presume the Indians
made them the more careless by furnishing them with the means of profit,
to wit, skins and furs for rum and such strong liquors. They kindly received
me as well as the English, who were few before the people concerned with
me came among them. I must needs commend their respect to authority,
and kind behaviour to the English. They do not degenerate from the old
friendship between both kingdoms. As they are people proper and strong
of body, so they have fine children, and almost every house full: rare to
This bold conjecture, though thought ridiculous at the time, has since been
orified by the discoveries of Captain Cook and later navigators.
1

I
146
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
find one of them without three or four boys and as many girls; some six,
And I must do them that right, I see few young
seven, and eight sons.
men more sober and laborious.
"29. The Dutch have a meeting-place for religious worship at Newcastle;
and the Swedes three; one at Christina, one at Tenecum, and one at
Wicoco, within half-a-mile of this town.
30. There rests that I speak of the condition we are in, and what settle-
ment we have made; in which I will be as short as I can; for I fear, and not
The
without reason, that I have tried your patience with this long story.
country lieth bounded on the east by the River and Bay of Delaware and
Eastern Sea. It hath the advantage of many creeks, or rivers rather, that
run into the main river or bay, some navigable for great ships, some for small
craft. Those of most eminency are Christina, Brandywine, Skilpot, and
Sculkil, any one of which has room to lay up the royal navy of England,
there being from four to eight fathom water.
"31. The lesser creeks or rivers, yet convenient for sloops and ketches of
good burthen, are Lewis, Mespilion, Cedar, Dover, Cranbrook, Feversham,
and Georges below; and Chichester, Chester, Toacawny, Pammapecka,
Portquessin, Neshimenck, and Pennberry in the Freshes: many lesser, that
admit boats and shallops. Our people are mostly settled upon the upper
rivers, which are pleasant and sweet, and generally bounded with good
land. The planted part of the Province and Territories is cast into
six counties: Philadelphia, Buckingham, Chester, Newcastle, Kent, and
Sussex, containing about four thousand souls. Two General Assemblies
have been held, and with such concord and dispatch that they sat but three
weeks, and at least seventy laws were passed without one dissent in any material
thing. But of this more hereafter, being yet raw and new in our gear.
However, I cannot forget their singular respect to me in this infancy of
things, who, by their own private expenses, so early considered mine for
the public, as to present me with an impost upon certain goods imported and
exported, which, after my acknowledgment of their affection, I did as freely
remit to the province and the traders to it. And for the well government of
the said counties, courts of justice are established in every county, with proper
officers, as justices, sheriffs, clerks, constables; which courts are held every
two months. But, to prevent law-suits, there are three peace-makers chosen by
every county court, in the nature of common arbitrators, to hear and end differ-
ences between man and man. And spring and fall there is an orphan's court
in each county, to inspect and regulate the affairs of orphans and widows.
"32. Philadelphia: the expectation of those who are concerned in this
province is at last laid out, to the great content of those here who are any
ways interested therein. The situation is a neck of land, and lieth between
two navigable rivers, Delaware and Sculkill, whereby it hath two fronts
Delaware is a
upon the water, each a mile, and two from river to river.
glorious river; but the Sculkill, being an hundred miles boatable above the

OF WILLIAM PENN.
147
Falls, and its course north-east towards the Fountain of Susquahanna (that
tends to the heart of the Province, and both sides our own), it is like to be
a great part of the settlement of this age. I say little of the town itself,
because a platform will be shown you by my agent, in which those who are
purchasers of me will find their names and interests. But this I will say,
for the good providence of God, of all the places I have seen in the world,
I remember not one better seated; so that it seems to me to have been ap-
pointed for a town, whether we regard the rivers, or the conveniency of the
coves, docks, and springs, the loftiness and soundness of the land, and the
air, held by the people of these parts to be very good. It is advanced
within less than a year to about fourscore houses and cottages, such as they
are, where merchants and handicrafts are following their vocations as fast
as they can; while the countrymen are close at their farms. Some of them
got a little winter-corn in the ground last season; and the generality have
had an handsome summer-crop, and are preparing for their winter-corn.
They reaped their barley this year in the month called May, the wheat in
the month following; so that there is time in these parts for another crop of
divers things before the winter season. We are daily in hopes of shipping to
add to our number; for, blessed be God! here is both room and accommo-
dation for them: the stories of our necessity being either the fear of our
friends, or the scarecrows of our enemies; for the greatest hardship we have
suffered hath been salt-meat, which, by fowl in winter and fish in summer,
together with some poultry, lamb, mutton, veal, and plenty of venison, the
best part of the year, hath been made very passable. I bless God I am
fully satisfied with the country and entertainment I got in it; for I find
that particular content, which hath always attended me, where God in his
providence hath made it my place and service to reside. You cannot
imagine my station can be at present free of more than ordinary business;
and, as such, I may say it is a troublesome work. But the method things
are putting in will facilitate the charge, and give an easier motion to the ad-
ministration of affairs. However, as it is some men's duty to plough, some
to sow, some to water, and some to reap, so it is the wisdom as well as the
duty of a man to yield to the mind of Providence, and cheerfully as well as
carefully embrace and follow the guidance of it.
"33. For your particular concern I might entirely refer you to the letters
of the President of the Society: but this I will venture to say, your pro-
vincial settlements, both within and without the town, for situation and soil,
are without exception. Your city-lot is a whole street, and one side of a
street, from river to river, containing near one hundred acres in the city-
liberties, part of your twenty thousand acres in the country. Your tannery
hath plenty of bark. The saw-mill for timber and the place of the glass-
house are so conveniently posted for water-carriage, the city-lot for a dock,
and the whalery for a sound and fruitful bank, and the town Lewis by it to
help your people, that by God's blessing the affairs of the society will
148
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
1
naturally grow in their reputation and profit. I am sure I have not turned
my back upon any offer that tended to its prosperity; and though I am ill
at projects, I have sometimes put in for a share with her officers to coun-
tenance and advance her interest. You are already informed what is tit for
you further to do. Whatsoever tends to the promotion of wine and to the
manufacture of linen in these parts, I cannot but wish you to promote; and
the French people are most likely in both respects to answer that design.
To that end I would advise you to send for some thousands of plants out of
France, with some able vinerons, and people of the other vocation. But
because I believe you have been entertained with this and some other pro-
fitable subjects by your President, Nicholas Moore, I shall add no more, but
to assure you that I am heartily inclined to advance your just interest, and
that you will always find me your kind cordial Friend,
“WILLIAM PENN."
I must mention, before I close this chapter, that the conference between
William Penn and the Lord Baltimore was renewed this year, as agreed
upon in the preceding, relative to the boundaries of their respective terri-
tories. There had been a misunderstanding between them about that tract
of country which lay to the southward of the fortieth degree, north latitude,
according to an eastern line drawn from two observations, each claiming it
by virtue of his own grant. They, therefore, met at Newcastle to adjust
it; but the matter was again put off by the Lord Baltimore to another
season.
William Penn, finding that the difference was not likely to be soon ad-
justed by the claimants, wrote a letter to the Lords' Committee of Planta-
tions in England, to state to them his own case: but before an answer could
be returned, the Lord Baltimore commissioned his relation, Colonel George
Talbot, to make a demand in writing of the tract in question. William
Penn, on receiving it, gave an answer by letter. This letter, together with
that to the Lords of Plantations, are to be seen in the histories of those
times; but, as they are of considerable length, and as the subject in dispute
could only be interesting to those who were then concerned. it would be to
swell this volume unnecessarily to copy them.
OF WILLIAM PENN
149
CHAPTER XX.
A. 1684.-VIOLENT CONDUCT OF THE LORD BALTIMORE-OPPOSES IT
BY LENIENT MEASURES-RECEIVES ACCOUNT OF FRESH PERSE-
CUTIONS FOR RELIGION IN ENGLAND-DETERMINES TO REPAIR
THITHER TO USE HIS INFLUENCE WITH THE COURT TO STOP THEM-
IN THE MEANTIME SETTLES A SYSTEM OF DISCIPLINE FOR HIS OWN
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY-HOLDS CONFERENCES AND MAKES TREATIES
WITH THE INDIANS-SETTLES THE DISPUTE ABOUT THE BANK-LOTS,
AND FORWARDS THE BUILDING OF HIS CITY-NUMBER OF HOUSES
AND POPULATION-TOTAL POPULATION OF THE SETTLERS-PRO-
VIDES FOR THE GOVERNMENT IN HIS ABSENCE-LETTER FROM
S. CRISP-EMBARKS-WRITES A FAREWELL EPISTLE TO HIS FRIENDS-
ARRIVES IN ENGLAND-WRITES TO MARGARET FOX, AND TO S. CRISP
-CONTENTS OF THE ABOVE LETTERS.
THE new year was ushered in by an unpleasant circumstance. The Lord
Baltimore, not feeling satisfied with the letter which has been just men-
tioned to have been sent to him as an answer to his demand, ordered forcible
entry to be made into certain plantations within the Territories, or Three'
Lower Counties of the Delaware. This outrage having been reported, William
Penn summoned his Council for advice. The result was, that William
Welsh was dispatched to Maryland to the Lord Baltimore with another
letter, the exact copy of the former; but he was to see that it was put into
the Governor's own hand. He was instructed also to use his influence to rein-
state those who had been dispossessed of their freeholds, and, in case gentle
means should fail, to prosecute the invaders legally. William Welsh per-
formed his mission; but, in a month afterward, Colonel Talbot went with
three musqueteers to the house of the Widow Ogle, Jonas Erskin, and
others, and made proclamation there, that if they would not forthwith
yield obedience to the Lord Baltimore, and own him as their proprietor, and
pay their rent to him, he would turn them out of their houses, and take-
their lands from them. To meet this new outrage it was thought sufficient,
in the first instance, that the government of Pennsylvania should issue a
public declaration, which should contain the title of William Penn to the
tract in question, and such other statements as the case might seem to
require. This was done accordingly; and as no similar disturbance took
place in this year, so no other measure was adopted.
The mind of William Penn had been, as may naturally be supposed, con-
siderably harrassed by his attention to his various American concerns, but
particularly by the dispute between him and the Lord Baltimore. But that
which grieved him most was the receipt of a series of accounts from England,
all confirming the persecutions under which persons who dissented from the
Established Church, but particularly those of the society to which he himself
belonged, were then labouring there on account of their religion. Meetings
in places of worship not acknowledged by the law continued to be deemed
150
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
riots, so that hundreds convicted on this account were then in a state of
suffering. Let one instance suffice for all:-Sir Dennis Hampson, a justice
of the peace, breaking with a party of horse into a little meeting near
Wooburn, in his own neighbourhood, in the preceding year, sent most of the
men whom he found there, to the number of twenty-three, to Aylesbury
Gaol, though the greater part of them consisted of persons who supported
themselves and families entirely by their own labour. In a few days after-
ward the quarter-sessions were held at Buckingham, where Sir Dennis, not
finding it convenient to attend, directed that they should be indicted for a
riot. Being conveyed to Buckingham, they were indicted accordingly.
They were then asked to give bail. W. Woodhouse, W. Mason, and
J. Reeve, who were none of them Quakers, but who had been only casually
at the meeting, entered into a recognizance to appear at the next session.
The others refused to do this, and begged that they might be tried forth-
with; but, their petition not being granted, they were returned to gaol. In
the mean time, that is, between this and the next session, Mason died, and
Reeves absconded. The rest, however, when the time came, were brought
to trial. They were all found guilty of a riot, though they had been sitting
peaceably together and in silence, and though there had been no proclama-
tion made, and no one had been ordered to depart. The sentence was,
that each should be fined a noble, and kept in prison till it was paid, or
during the King's pleasure. W. Woodhouse, a relation stepping forward
to pay his fines and fees for him, was discharged. T. Dell and E. Moore
were discharged by the like means; and, shortly after, S. Pewsey, the parish
to which he belonged furnishing the money for him, in order that his wife
and family might be no longer chargeable to it. The other seventeen, being
all Quakers, and therefore unable conscientiously to procure bail, namely,
T. and W. Sexton, T. Child, R. Moore, R. James, W. and R. Aldridge,
J. Ellis, G. Salter, J. Smith, W. Tanner, W. Batchelor, J. Dolbin, A.
Brothers, R. Baldwyn, J. Jennings, and R. Austin, lay in gaol till King
James's proclamation of pardon, which did not take place till about three years
afterward.
Accounts of these and similar persecutions coming to his ear, from time
to time, across the Atlantic, gave him great uneasiness, and worked upon
his benevolent feelings so as to produce in him by degrees the resolution of
returning to England. He indulged a hope, that his affairs in America
would not suffer by a short absence, but that in the interim he might
become an instrument, by using his personal influence with the King, of
relieving in some degree, if not putting a stop to, the sufferings of his
oppressed countrymen and friends. To this resolution other considerations,
lawfully and honourably connected, both with his private interest and his
character, contributed. There is no doubt, when he thought of repairing to
England for the purpose now mentioned, that the desire he had to settle the
dispute with Lord Baltimore about the boundary-lines of the two provinces,
OF WILLIAM PENN.
151
Lords' Committee of
Nor did it escape
and which could only be finally terminated by the
Plantations in London, biassed him the same way.
him that, by meeting his enemies there, who were then numerous, he would
be enabled to do away the many calumnies which they had propagated con-
cerning him in his absence. He determined, therefore, but originally and
principally for the first of the reasons given, as we may collect from his own
letters, to leave America for awhile. All the writers too of his life agree in
this as his leading motive. Oldmixon, among others, in his "British Em-
pire in America," speaks thus: "Mr. Penn staid in Pennsylvania two years,
and would not then have removed to England, had not persecution against
the Dissenters raged so violently, that he could not think of enjoying peace
in America while his brethren in England were so cruelly dealt with in
Europe. He knew he had an interest with the Court of England, and was
willing to employ it for the safety, ease, and welfare of his friends."
But though he had determined upon a temporary absence, he foresaw
that he could not realise his intention at once. Many things were to be
done before he could depart with satisfaction. He resolved, therefore, to
apply himself to these, and this with an industry in proportion to the
shortness of his stay.
One object which he had in view was, the better organisation of a system
of discipline for those of his own society within his American dominions. He
had already attended to their religious interest as a minister of the Gospel.
He had preached both throughout the Province and Territories, to the edifi-
cation of many: but, now that he was going to leave them, he was desirous
of improving the rules for their orderly walking, and particularly as disputes
still continued among them on this subject.
Another object, and this near his heart, was to know, not only all the Indians
within his own domains, but those bordering upon them, with a view to
their civilisation and the perpetuation of love and friendship on both sides.
A He had held frequent conferences with them for these purposes; in which
he had advised them against the use of strong liquors, and endeavoured to
inculcate in them a just sense of the benefit of a Christian life and conduct:
but now he redoubled his efforts, and this with so much success, that, before
the time of his departure came, he had made, at Pennsbury and other
places, treaties of amity with no less than nineteen tribes of a different name.
Indeed, nothing could excel his love for these poor people, or his desire of
instructing them, so as to bring them by degrees to a knowledge of the
Christian religion; and in this great work he spared no expense, though
whatever he bestowed in this way came solely out of his own pocket. Old-
mixon says "that he laid out several thousand pounds to instruct, support, and
oblige them." The consequence was, on their part, an attachment to him
and his successors, which was never broken.
Another object was to forward, to the utmost of his power, the buildings
that were to constitute his new city. There was a dispute at this time about
152
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
the high and dry bank near the shore, which fronted the Delaware River,
in which The Caves were described to have been made. This bank, and the
shore adjoining to it, were of particular value, because they were the roads
as it were for goods that were to be passed either to or from the city and
the water. He thought it proper therefore immediately to terminate this
dispute. Accordingly, in answer to an "Address from several of the Ad-
venturers, Freeholders, and Inhabitants in the City of Philadelphia, respect-
ing the Front or Bank-lots along the side of the Delaware, who claimed the privi-
lege to build Vaults or Stores in the Bank against their respective lots, and to
enjoy them as their right," he informed them, that he considered the bank as a
common from end to end; that the rest, next the water, belonged to front-lot
men no more than to back-lot men; that the way bounded them; that they
might build stairs; that they might use the bank for a common exchange or
walk; and that against the street common wharfs might be built freely, but that
he had not sold the shore nor the land in the water to any man. Having thus
settled the matter, by which the advantages to be derived from the bank were to
be common to all, he directed his attention towards promoting the progress of the
city. He gave encouragement to those who were erecting houses to advance with
spirit in their progress, and to those who had determined upon their sites to
proceed forthwith from the ground; and so active was he in this depart-
ment also, that nearly three hundred houses were to be seen on his own plan
before he departed. Moll and Oldmixon both agree in this particular, as
well as that the inhabitants of Philadelphia amounted in this year to two
thousand five hundred persons of all descriptions. He had also by this time
established twenty townships in his dominions; in which, altogether, in-
cluding his own countrymen and naturalised foreigners, he had a population
of about seven thousand souls.
While he was employed in this manner, the ketch Endeavour arrived from
England, and anchored opposite to Philadelphia. She brought both pas-
sengers and letters. Among the latter he received one from his esteemed
friend Stephen Crisp, whom I had occasion to mention in a preceding
chapter. This letter was afterwards published; and though I have nothing
to do either with it or with the life of this worthy minister to which it was
annexed, I cannot, considering how applicable it was to the situation of
William Penn at this time, as well as valuable in other respects, resist the
desire I feel of giving an extract from it:-
"Dear William," says the writer, "I have had a great exercise of spirit
concerning thee, which none knows but the Lord; for my spirit has been
much bowed into thy concern, and difficulty of thy present circumstances;
and I have had a sense of the various spirits, and intricate cares, and mul-
tiplicity of affairs, and these of various kinds, which daily attend thee,
enough to drink up thy spirit, and tire thy soul; and which, if it be not
kept to the inexhaustible Fountain, may be dried up. And this I must tell
thee, which thou also knowest, that the highest capacity of natural wit and
OF WILLIAM PENN.
153
¡
parts will not, and cannot, perform what thou hast to do, namely, to pro-
pagate and advance the interest and profit of the government and planta-
tion, and at the same time to give the interest of truth and testimony of the
holy name of God their due preference in all things: for to make the
wilderness sing forth the praise of God is a skill beyond the wisdom of this
world. It is greatly in man's power to make a wilderness into fruitful
fields, according to the common course of God's providence, who gives
wisdom and strength to the industrious; but then, how he, who is the
Creator, may have his due honour and service thereby is only taught by
the Spirit in them who singly wait upon him."
Having made up his mind to return to England in the vessel which
brought the above letter, he began to consider of all those appointments which
were necessary for carrying on the government of the Province and Terri-
tories during his absence. When, therefore, it was announced to him, that
the Endeavour was ready to return, he signed a commission, empowering
the Provincial Council to act in the government in his stead, of which he
named Thomas Lloyd, a Quaker preacher, who came originally from Wales,
the president. He gave also commissions to the following persons :-to the
before-mentioned Thomas Lloyd, to keep the great seal; to his relation,
Colonel Markham, to be secretary to the Province and Territories, or
Three Lower Counties of the Delaware; to Thomas Holme, to be surveyor-
general of the same; to Thomas Lloyd, James Claypole, and Robert Turner,
to sign patents and grant warrants for lands; to William Clark, to be a
justice of the peace for the whole jurisdiction; and to Nicholas Moore,
William Welsh, William Wood, Robert Turner, and John Eckley, to act
as provincial judges for two years, whose commission ran in these words :-
William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of Pennsylvania and the
Territories thereunto belonging:
К
"To my trusty and loving Friends, N. Moore, W. Welsh, W. Wood,
R. Turner, and J. Eckley, greeting:
Reposing especial confidence in your justice, wisdom, and integrity, I
do, by virtue of the King's authority derived unto me, constitute you Pro--
vincial Judges for the Province and Territories, and any legal number of
you a Provincial Court of Judicature, both fixed and circular, as is by law -
directed, giving you, and every of you, full power to act therein according to
the same; strictly charging you, and every of you, to do justice to all, and
of all degrees, without delay, fear, or reward: and I do hereby require all
persons within the Province and Territories aforesaid to give you due obedi-
ence and respect, belonging to your station, in the discharge of your duties.
This commission to be in force during two years ensuing the date hereof,
you and every of you behaving yourselves well therein, and acting accord-
ing to the same.-Given at Philadelphia, the fourth of the sixth month,
1684, being the thirty-sixth year of the King's reign, and the fourth of my
Government."
H 2
154
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
Having thus provided for the government during his absence, he went
on board the Endeavour; from whence, just before he sailed, he wrote the
following letter:—
"To Thomas Lloyd, J. Claypole, J. Simcock, C. Taylor, and J.
Harrison, to be communicated in Meetings in Pensylvania
and the Territories thereunto belonging among Friends.
My love and my life is to you, and with you, and no water can quench
it, nor distance wear it out, or bring it to an end. I have been with you,
cared over you, and served you with unfeigned love; and you are beloved
of me, and near to me beyond utterance. I bless you in the name and
power of the Lord, and may God bless you with his righteousness, peace,
and plenty, all the land over! O that you would eye him in all, through
all, and above all the works of your hands, and let it be your first care how
you may glorify him in your undertakings! for to a blessed end are you
brought hither; and if you see and keep but in the sense of that Providence,
your coming, staying, and improving, will be sanctified: but if any forget
him, and call not upon his name in truth, he will pour out his plagues upon
them, and they shall know who it is that judgeth the children of men.
"O, you are now come to a quiet land; provoke not the Lord to trouble
it! And now that liberty and authority are with you and in your hands,
let the government be upon His shoulders in all your spirits, that you may
rule for Him under whom the princes of this world will one day esteem it
their honour to govern and serve in their places. I cannot but say,
when these things come mightily upon my mind, as the Apostles said of old,
"What manner of persons ought we to be in all godly conversation?' Truly
the name and honour of the Lord are deeply concerned in you as to the
discharge of yourselves in your present station, many eyes being upon you;
and, remember that, as we have been belied about disowning the true re-
ligion, so, of all government, to behold us exemplary and Christian in
the use of it will not only stop our enemies, but minister conviction to
many on that account prejudiced. O that you may see and know that
service, and do it for the Lord in this your day!
"And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this province, named
before thou wert born, what love, what care, what service, and what
travail, has there been to bring thee forth and preserve thee from such as
would abuse and defile thee!
"O that thou mayest be kept from the evil that would overwhelm thee:
that, faithful to the God of thy mercies, in the life of righteousness thou
mayest be preserved to the end! My soul prays to God for thee, that thou
mayest stand in the day of trial, that thy children may be blessed of the
Lord, and thy people saved by his power. My love to thee has been great,
and the remembrance of thee affects my heart and mine eye. The God
of eternal strength keep and preserve thee to his glory and peace!
So, dear Friends, my love again salutes you all, wishing that grace;
OF WILLIAM PENN.
155
mercy, and peace, with all temporal blessings, may abound richly among
you! So says, so prays, your friend and lover in the truth,
" WILLIAM PENN."
Soon after this he sailed-to the regret of the whole colony ;—to the
regret of the Dutch, Swedes, and Germans, whom he had admitted into full
citizenship with the rest, and who had found in him an impartial Governor
and a kind friend;-to the regret of the Indians, who had been overcome
by his love, care, and concern for them; and to the regret of his own
countrymen, who had partaken more or less of that generosity which was
one of the most prominent features in his character. And here I may ob-
serve, with respect to his generosity, that the whole colony had experienced
it; for, it ought never to be forgotten, that when the first Assembly offered
him an impost on a variety of goods both imported and exported (which
impost, in a course of years, would have become a large revenue of itself),
he nobly refused it; thus showing that his object in coming among them
was not that of his own aggrandisement, but for the promotion of a public
good.
The day on which he sailed was the twelfth of August, and that on which
he landed in England was the third or fourth of October; so that he had a
passage of about seven weeks. A letter has been preserved, dated London,
the twenty-ninth of the eighth month, which he wrote soon after his arrival,
to Margaret Fox, the wife of the celebrated George Fox, which fixes the
latter date, and which makes us acquainted with some other particulars con-
cerning him. "It is now," says he, "a few days above three weeks since I
arrived well in my native land. It was within seven miles of my own house,
where I found my dear wife and poor children well, to the overcoming of
my heart, because of the mercies of the Lord to us." We find by this letter,
in which he thanked her for the love she had shown his wife during his
absence, and by which, he said, his heart and soul were affected, that he
had experienced no sickness or indisposition while in Pennsylvania, “that
he had not missed a meal's meat or a night's rest since he went to that country;
and that wonderfully had the Lord preserved him through many troubles,
in the settlement he had made, both with respect to the government and
the soil." With respect to the settlement, notwithstanding the false reports
in circulation, reports arising from envy, he could say, "that things went
on sweetly with Friends there, that many increased finely in their outward
things, and grew also in wisdom, and that their meetings were blessed-of
which there were no less than eighteen in the province." It appears, by this
letter, that he had already been at Court. "He had seen the King and the
Duke of York. They and their nobles had been very kind to him, and he
hoped the Lord would make way for him in their hearts to serve his suffer-
ing people, as also his own interests as it related to his American concerns."
Another letter has been preserved, which he wrote, some weeks after that
to Margaret Fox, to his friend Stephen Crisp. This worthy minister had
156
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
written to him since his arrival in England, to inform him of the many
reports in circulation that were injurious to his character. The letter, there-
fore, in question, was to satisfy his friend as to the falsehood of what he had
heard. By means of it (for the letter of S. Crisp is lost) we become ao-
quainted with the charges that were made against him. It appears, among
other things, that his enemies had laid hold of some circumstance which
had been reported to have taken place under his government, by which
they would have had it inferred that he had given his sanction to some
military proceedings, and, therefore, that he had dishonoured his religious
profession as a Quaker. To this he replied, that "he knew of no act of
hostility. There was an old timber-house at Newcastle, above the Sessions
Chamber, standing upon a green, on which lay seven old-iron small cannon,
some on the ground, and others on broken carriages; but there was neither
a military man, nor powder, nor bullet, belonging to them. They were the
property of the Governor of New York. How far the people of Newcastle
might, in consequence of Colonel Talbot's threatenings, have drawn them
into security and paled about their prison since he came away, he could not
tell; but he was sure that, while he was there, no soldier or militia-man was
ever seen; nor had any individual any commission of war from him, nor
was there any law to that end. With respect to making money of the settle-
ment, another of the charges, he had never made it a matter of gain; but
had hazarded his life, and maintained government and Governor these four
years past. He had been a gainer, if he had given the land, had trans-
ported free, and had had a house built for him but half as good as he left
behind him. With respect to the alteration of the charter, about which
there had been so much clamour, what had been altered (and that very
little) had been by the people's desire, and not for any end of his own.
Besides, the alteration was not immutable, as it was to be submitted to
time, and place, and the public good. And with regard to the addition
lately made to Philadelphia, it could afford no just cause of complaint. He
had bought the land there of the old inhabitants, the Swedes. This had
enabled him to add eight hundred acres to the city, and a mile on a navi-
gable river.
What he had thus bought, he had given freely to the public;
though, had he retained it, considering its situation, it had been of extra-
ordinary advantage to himself. But he could not,” he said, hope to please
all." Thus we see that the best of men have their enemies; and that, where
prejudice has once taken root in the mind, everything is viewed through a
false medium. The good that is connected with it is diminished, and the
evil magnified-nay, the very name and nature of the thing are changed;
so that avarice itself is fixed upon the most generous and patriotic motives.
CC

OF WILLIAM PENN.
157
CHAPTER XXI.
A. 1685.-GIVES AN ACCOUNT OF THE DEATH OF CHARLES THE SECOND
-IS IN GREAT FAVOUR WITH JAMES THE SECOND-HAS FREQUENT
INTERVIEWS WITH THE KING-ENDEAVOURS TO STOP PERSECUTION
-INTERCEDES FOR JOHN LOCKE-BECOMES UNPOPULAR BY HIS
ATTENDANCE AT COURT-CALLED PAPIST AND JESUIT-CORRES-
PONDENCE BETWEEN HIM AND TILLOTSON ON THIS SUBJECT---
PRESENT AT TWO PUBLIC EXECUTIONS-AFFAIRS OF PENNSYL-
VANIA-IRREGULARITIES AND ABUSES IN HIS ABSENCE-WRITES
OVER TO CORRECT THEM-ASSEMBLY IMPEACH MOORE AND ARREST
ROBINSON-THEIR LETTER TO HIM ON THE SUBJECT.
WILLIAM PENN had two objects in view, as I observed before, in returning.
to England. The first and most important was to try to stop, if possible,
the cruel arm of persecution; and the second was to procure a speedy
adjustment of the difference between him and the Lord Baltimore. With
respect to the first, he had made some little progress in it, having obtained
a sort of promise from the King that he would do something in behalf of
those whose cause he pleaded; and, with respect to the second, he brought
it to a final issue. The Lords' Committee of Plantations, having inspected
the grants and heard the evidence on both sides, made their report to the King;
and the King decided, that the land should be divided into two equal parts.
The part on the Chesapeake was to be given to the Lord Baltimore. The
part on the Delaware was to relapse to the Crown. This latter part, how-
ever, was ultimately intended for William Penn.
Soon after this the King died of an apoplexy. William Peun, in one of his
letters, written at this time to Thomas Lloyd, whom he had left President
of his Provincial Council, gives an account of his death; and, as there are
some curious particulars in it relative to the King himself and those about
him, as well as to what passed both in and out of Court, at the time, which
he, from his frequent access to the Royal Family since his arrival in
England, had an opportunity of knowing, I shall lay an extract from it
before the reader :-
"The King is dead, and the Duke succeeds peaceably. He was well on
the first day (Sunday) night. About eight next morning, as he sat down to
shave, his head twitched both ways or sides; and he gave a shriek and fell
as dead, and so remained some hours. They, opportunely, blooded and
cupped him, and plied his head with red-hot frying-pans. He returned
(revived) and continued till sixth day noon, but mostly in great tortures.
He seemed very penitent, asking pardon of all, even the poorest subject he
had wronged, prayed for pardon, and to be delivered out of the world-the
Duke appearing mighty humble and sorrowful.- -He was an able man for
a divided and troubled kingdom. The present King was proclaimed about
three o'clock that day. A proclamation followed, with the King's speech,
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
to maintain the Church and State as established, to keep property and use
clemency. Tonnage and poundage, with the Excise, are revived de bene esse
till the Parliament meet.-One is now choosing.- The people of West-
minster just gone by to choose.It sits the nineteenth of the third month
next. In Scotland one next month. Severities continue still, but some
ease to us faintly promised.- Be careful that no indecent speeches pass against
the government, for the King, going with his Queen publicly to mass in
Whitehall, gives occasion.He declared he concealed himself to obey his
brother, and that now he would be above-board; which we like the better
on many accounts. I was with him, and told him so; but, withal,
hoped we should come in for a share. He smiled, and said he desired not
that peaceable people should be disturbed for their religion. And till his
coronation, the twenty-third, when he and his Consort are together to be
crowned, no hopes of release; and, till the Parliament, no hopes of any
fixed liberty.My business, I would hope, is better.The late King,
the Papists will have, died a Roman Catholic; for he refused (after his
usual way of evading uneasy things, with unpreparedness first, and then
weakness) the Church of England's communion, Bishop Ken, of Wells,
pressing him, that it would be to his comfort and that of his people to see
he died of that religion he had made profession of when living; but it would
not do. And once, all but the Duke, Earl of Bath, and Lord Feversham,
were turned out; and one Huddlestone, a Romish priest, was seen about
that time near the chamber.- This is most of our news.-The Popish
lords and gentry go to Whitehall to mass daily; and the Tower, or Royal
Chapel, is crammed by vying with the Protestant lords and gentry. The late
King's children, even by the Duchess of Portsmouth, go thither."
Charles the Second being dead, was succeeded by his brother, who then
became James the Second. It may be recollected that Vice-Admiral Penn,
when he was on his death-bed, recommended his son to the care and guardian-
ship of the latter, when Duke of York. From this period a more regular
acquaintance grew up between them, and intimacy followed. During thin
intimacy, however William Penn might have disapproved, as he did, of
the religious opinions of his guardian, he was attached to him from a
belief that he was a friend to liberty of conscience. Entertaining this opinion
concerning him, he conceived it to be his duty, now that he had become
King, to renew his intimacy with him, and this in a stronger manner than
ever, that he might forward the great object for which he had crossed the
Atlantic-namely, the relief of those unhappy persons who were then
suffering on account of their religion. He determined, therefore, to reside
near him for these purposes, and accordingly he took lodgings for himself
and family at Kensington.
It appears, while he resided there, that he spent his time, and that he
used his influence with the King, solely in doing good. All politics he
avoided, never touching upon them unless called upon; and then he never
OF WILLIAM PENN.
159
espoused a party, but did his best to recommend moderation and to allay
heats. If he ever advised the King, it was for his own real interest and the
good of the nation at large. Generally speaking, however, he confined
himself to the object before mentioned; and, in endeavouring to promote
this, he was alive to the situation, not only of those of his own religious
society, but of those of other Christian denominations who were then
languishing in the gaols of the kingdom.
Among the first applications which he made to the King was one, the
remembrance of which will always do honour to his memory. It was in
behalf of the venerable John Locke, who had followed his patron, the Earl
of Shaftesbury, into Holland, when he fled there to avoid the further perse-
cution of his own court. Locke himself had been deprived, only the
preceding year, of his place of Student of Christ Church, Oxford, with all
its rights and advantages, by the command of the late King, and was at
this time in danger of being seized and sent to England, in consequence of
the opposition he had given to Popery and arbitrary power. It was
at this moment, then, that William Penn applied. His application was
successful. At least James the Second permitted William Penn to inform
Locke that he should be pardoned. The message was accordingly sent.
Locke, in return, expressed his sense of the friendship of William Penn, but
said that he had no occasion for a pardon when he had not been guilty of
any crime. This reminds me of a similar answer from George Fox to
Charles the Second. This prince, touched by the hard case of the former,
offered to discharge him from prison by a pardon; but he declined it on the
idea that, as a pardon implied guilt, his innocence might be called in question
by the acceptance of it. Thus men of high moral feeling disdain even
deliverance from oppression on terms which would implicate their honour.
That we may judge of the attention shown to William Penn by James
the Second, and of the almost incessant employment of Penn in behalf of
others, during his residence at Kensington, I shall copy the following passage
from Gerard Croese :-
“William Penn was greatly in favour with the King-the Quakers' sole
patron at Court-on whom the hateful eyes of his enemies were intent. The
King loved him as a singular and entire friend, and imparted to him many
of his secrets and counsels. He often honoured him with his company in
private, discoursing with him of various affairs, and that, not for one, but
many hours together, and delaying to hear the best of his peers who at the
same time were waiting for an audience. One of these being envious, and
impatient of delay and taking it as an affront to see the other more regarded
than himself, adventured to take the freedom to tell his Majesty, that when
he met with Penn he thought little of his nobility. The King made no
other reply, than that Penn always talked ingenuously, and he heard him
willingly. Penn, being so highly favoured, acquired thereby a number of
friends. Those also who formerly knew him, when they had any favour to
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
ask at Court, came to, courted, and entreated Penn to promote their
several requests. Penn refused none of his friends any reasonable office he
could do for them, but was ready to serve them all, but more especially the
Quakers, and these wherever their religion was concerned. It is usually
thought, when you do me one favour readily, you thereby encourage me to
expect a second. Thus they ran to Penn without intermission, as their only
pillar and support, who always caressed and received them cheerfully, and
effected their business by his influence and eloquence. Hence his house and
gates were daily thronged by a numerous train of clients and suppliants
desiring him to present their addresses to his Majesty. There were some-
times there two hundred and more. When the carrying on of these affairs
required money for writings, such as drawing things out into form and
copyings, and for fees and other charges which are usually made on such
occasions, Penn so discreetly managed matters, that out of his own, which
he had in abundance, he liberally discharged many emergent expenses."
But though this reception, and the use he made of his interest at Court,
enabled him to serve many, they were attended with great disadvantages
to himself; for at this time the whole kingdom was in a ferment. The
people, considering James the Second as a professed Papist, were filled
with the most alarming apprehensions, lest (as in the days of Queen Mary)
he should endeavour, by means of persecution, to overthrow the Protestant
and establish the Popish religion in its stead. Knowing, therefore, that
William Penn was so frequently at Court, and that his doors at Kensington
were daily crowded with strangers, of whose errand there they were ignorant,
they began to suspect that he was of the same religious profession with the
King. Hence he was now openly talked of as a professed Papist also. He
was bred, it was said, at St. Omer's, and he had received priest's orders at
Rome. The term Jesuit was revived, but with a tenfold energy. Nay, it
was even supposed that he was planning with the King for the subversion
of the religion of the realm. Reports of this sort not only injured him, but
the Quakers also, in the eyes of the public, so that neither one nor the
other went out of doors without occasionally meeting with abuse.
Among other things invented to prejudice him with the nation, two copies
of verses were printed, in which the author was made to condole on the late
King's death, and to offer his congratulations on the accession of the
present. To each of these copies were affixed "W. P.," which were the
initials of his name. The verses were purposely imputed to him; and
the clamour becoming general against him on this account, he resolved to
try to undeceive the public, but not so much on his own account as because
the members of his own religious society might suffer by his silence. He
wrote, therefore, a paper, dated from his seat at Worminghurst, where he
had gone for a little repose, called "Fiction Found Out," which he addressed
to the Quakers as a body. In this paper, after showing the inconsistency
of the charge against him, and this in a vein of wit and ridicule, he explained
OF WILLIAM PENN.
161
"
the foundation of his religious faith, and his civil conduct as it had been to
all descriptions of men, and concluded with this observation: "I have ever
loved England, and moderation to all parties in it, and long seen and
foreseen the consequences of the want of it. I would yet heartily wish it
might take place, and persuasion instead of persecution, that we might not
grow barbarous for Christianity, nor abuse and undo one another for God's sake.
But this letter produced little or no effect. They who espoused the Pro-
testant cause, from a belief that its prosperity was essentially connected with
the best interests of the kingdom, were so alarmed at this particular moment,
that they did not see as it were with their usual eyes, but allowed themselves
to be carried down with the stream: and, however excellent both the public
and private character of William Penn was acknowledged to be, there were
persons, and these exalted by their station, understanding, and worth-nay,
such as had even known him, who not only began to be shy of him, but to
mention to others the reports that were then afloat concerning him. Among
these was that excellent man Dr. Tillotson, afterwards Archbishop of
Canterbury. William Penn, upon hearing this, was much hurt, and the
more so, because he had a regard for the doctor personally, and because he
knew the high estimation in which he was held in the nation. He wrote to
him, therefore, when he returned to London, the following letter:-
"Being often told that Dr. Tillotson should suspect me, and so report me,
a Papist, I think a Jesuit, and being closely prest, I take the liberty to ask
thee, if any such reflection fell from thee? If it did, I am sorry one I
esteemed ever the first of his robe should so undeservedly stain me, for so I
call it; and, if the story be false, I am sorry they should abuse Dr. Tillotson
as well as myself, without a cause. I add no more, but that I abhor two
principles in religion, and pity those that own them. The first is obedience
upon authority without conviction, and the other the destroying them that differ
from me for God's sake. Such a religion is without judgment, though not
without teeth. Union is best, if right; else charity: and, as Hooker said,
the time will come when a few words spoken with meekness, humility, and
love, shall be more acceptable than volumes of controversies, which
commonly destroy charity, which is the very best part of the true religion;
I mean not a charity that can change with all, but bear all, as I can
Dr. Tillotson in what he dissents from me, and in this reflection too, if said,
which is not yet believed by thy Christian true Friend, WILLIAM PENN."
This letter produced from Dr. Tillotson the following open, candid, and
polite answer; which, as it breathed a spirit of liberality in religion worthy
of his superior education, so it peculiarly qualified him for that high station
which he afterwards filled with no less honour to himself than usefulness to
his country:-
"HONOURED SIR-The demand of your letter is very just and reasonable,
and the manner of it very kind; therefore, in answer to it, be pleased to
take the following account:—
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
1
"The last time you did me the favour to see me at my house, I did,
according to the freedom I always use where I profess any friendship,
acquaint you with something I had heard of a correspondence you held
with some at Rome, and particularly with some of the Jesuits there. At
which you seemed a little surprised; and, after some general discourse
about it, you said you would call on me some other time, and speak further
of it. Since that time I never saw you, but by accident and in passage,
where I thought you always declined me, particularly at Sir William Jones's
chamber, which was the last time, I think, I saw you; upon which occasion
I took notice to him of your strangeness to me, and told what I thought
might be the reason of it, and that I was sorry for it, because I had a par-
ticular esteem of your parts and temper. The same, I believe, I have said
to some others, but to whom I do not so particularly remember. Since your
going to Pennsylvania I never thought more of it, till lately, being in some
company, one of them pressed me to declare whether I had not heard some-
thing of you which had satisfied me that you were a Papist? I answered,
No; by no means. I told him what I had heard, and what I said to you,
and of the strangeness that ensued upon it; but that this never went further
with me than to make me suspect there was more in that report which I had
heard than I was at first willing to believe; and that, if any made more
of it, I should look upon them as very injurious both to Mr. Penn and
myself.
"This is the truth of that matter; and whenever you will please to satisfy
me that my suspicions of the truth of that report I had heard was groundless,
I will heartily beg your pardon for it. I do fully concur with you in the
abhorrence of the two principles you mention, and in your approbation of that
excellent saying of Mr. Hooker, for which I shall ever highly esteem him.
I have endeavoured to make it one of the governing principles of my life, never to
abate anything of humanity and charity to any man for his difference from me in
opinion, and particularly to those of your persuasion, as several of them have
had experience. I have been ready upon all occasions to do them all offices of
kindness, being truly sorry to see them so hardly used; and though I thought them
mistaken, yet in the main I believed them to be very honest. I thank you for
your letter, and have a just esteem of the Christian temper of it, and rest
your faithful Friend,
Jo. TILLOTSON.”
Upon the receipt of this letter William Penn made the following manly
but yet respectful reply
"WORTHY FRIEND-Having a much less opinion of my own memory
than of Dr. Tillotson's truth, I will allow the fact, though not the jealousy ;
for, besides that I cannot look strange where I am well used, I have ever
treated the name of Dr. Tillotson with another regard. I might be grave,
and full of my own business. I was also then disappointed by the Doctor's;
but my nature is not harsh, my education less, and my principle least of all.
It was the opinion I have had of the Doctor's moderation, simplicity,
OF WILLIAM PENN.
163
and integrity, rather than his parts or post, that always made me set a
value upon his friendship, of which, perhaps, I am better judge, leaving the
latter to men of deeper talents. I blame him nothing, but leave it to his
better thoughts, if, in my affair, his jealousy was not too nimble for his
charity. If he can believe me, I should hardly prevail with myself to
endure the same thought of Dr. Tillotson on the like occasion, and less to
speak of it. For the Roman correspondence I will freely come to confession :
I have not only no such thing with any Jesuit at Rome (though Protestants
may have without offence), but I hold none with any Jesuit, priest, or
regular in the world of that communion. And that the Doctor may see
what a novice I am in that business, I know not one anywhere. And yet,
when all this is said, I am a Catholic, though not a Roman. I have bowels
for mankind, and dare not deny others what I crave for myself, I mean
liberty of the exercise of my religion, thinking Faith, Piety, and Providence,
a better security than force; and that, if Truth cannot prevail with her own
weapons, all others will fail her.
CC
Now, though I am not obliged to this defence, and that it can be no
temporising now to make it, yet, that Dr. Tillotson may see how much I
value his good opinion, and dare own the truth and myself at all turns, let
him be confident I am no Roman Catholic, but a Christian, whose creed is
the Scripture, of the truth of which I hold a nobler evidence than the best
Church authority in the world; and yet I refuse not to believe the porter,
though I cannot leave the sense to his discretion; and when I should, if he
offends against those plain methods of understanding God hath made us to
know things by, and which are inseparable from us, I must beg his pardon,
as I do the Doctor's, for this length, upon the assurance he has given me of
his doing the like upon better information; which that he may fully have,
I recommend him to my "Address to Protestants," from p. 133 to the end,
and to the first four chapters of my "No Cross, no Crown," to say nothing
of our most unceremonious and unworldly way of worship and their pompous
cult; where at this time I shall leave the business with all due and sensible
acknowledgments to thy friendly temper, and assurance of the sincere
wishes and respects of thy affectionate, real Friend, "WILLIAM PENN."
In the course of this year William Penn was present at two public execu-
tions; the one of Gaunt, a female, who was burnt; and the other of Cornish.
The former was a most amiable woman. She had spent her life in doing
good, as in visiting the gaols, and in looking after the poor of whatever
persuasion they were. Out of kind feeling to a stranger, apparently in
distress, she received him, for a time, into her house. He proved to be a
rebel; and, because she had thus harboured him, she suffered. Cornish had
been Sheriff of London. Two infamous persons, Rumsey and Goodenough,
had conspired to swear him guilty of that for which the Lord Russell had
suffered. Whether William Penn was in the habit of attending spectacles
of this kind, I know not. It is a fact, however, that men of the most
164
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
:
noted benevolence have felt and indulged a curiosity of this sort. They
have been worked upon by different motives; some, perhaps, by a desire of
seeing what human nature would be at such an awful crisis ;- -what would
be its struggles ;- what would be the effects of innocence or guilt;
what would be the power of religion on the mind;what would be the
influence of particular tenets as to hardened or holy dying.In short, we
cannot fathom the motives of men on such occasions, and, of course, we can
know nothing for certain of those which influenced William Penn. We may
say, at any rate, that the mournful events which took place were extra-
ordinary and, if I were allowed to conjecture, I should say that he consented
to witness the scenes in question with a view to good-with a view of being
able to make an impression on the King by his own relation of things, that
he might induce him to withhold his sanction at a future time to such unjust
determinations of the law: and, in this conjecture, I am in some degree
borne out by a passage in Bishop Burnet's "History of His Own Times;" for,
when he, the historian, in a conversation with William Penn on the subject
of Cornish's execution, said that Cornish asserted his innocence with great
vehemence, and complained with acrimony of the methods taken to destroy
him, and that from these circumstances it had been given out that he died
in a fit of fury, William Penn replied, that "there appeared nothing in
Cornish's conduct at the place of execution but a just indignation that inno-
cence might very naturally give." This was in some measure a censure upon
the King, who had confirmed the bloody sentence: but he went further;
for immediately after this he observed to Burnet, that "the King was much
to be pitied, who was hurried into all this effusion of blood by Jefferies's
impetuous and cruel temper;" and he added, that "if the King's own
inclinations had not been biassed that way, and if his priests had not thought
it the interest of their party to let that butcher loose, by whom so many
men that were like to oppose them were put out of the way, it was not to
be imagined that there would have been such a run of barbarous cruelty,
and that in so many instances."
With respect to America, he had received, since his residence in England,
several letters, both private and official, from that quarter. He was pleased
to find that the members of his own society had conducted themselves
generally well, and that they had endeavoured to promote one of his
favourite objects. They had been careful to prevent the introduction of
strong liquors among the Indians, and they had held several religious
meetings with them. The Indians, it appeared, generally heard with
patience what was said to them at these times, and seemed affected by it;
but the impression was not durable. These efforts, however, were very
pleasing to one who knew well that every work must have a beginning, and
that the best could not be brought to perfection without perseverance.
As to the other intelligence contained in these letters, it was far from
agreeable. Indeed it gave him great uneasiness. We may judge of the
OF WILLIAM PENN.
165
nature of it from some of his answers to Thomas Lloyd, the President of
answe
his Council, which have been preserved. He insisted upon it, that the
number of ordinaries or drinking-houses should be immediately reduced,
and this without respect of persons, those only being allowed to continue
them who had given proofs of their fitness for the situation by their conduct.
All persons also, who had made the Caves in the bank of the river, before
mentioned, receptacles for improper company, were forthwith to be ordered
to get up their houses elsewhere. The above Caves were to be reserved,
when empty, for the accommodation of such poor families as might go over.
He deprecated the heavy charges to which individuals had been subjected
during his absence for the title to their lands. "It is an abominable thing,"
says he, "to have three warrants for one purchase. It is oppression, which
my soul loathes. I do hereby require, that 'P. L.' be called to account for
requests and warrants for Town-lot, Liberty-lot, and the rest of the purchase.
Why not one warrant for all, at least for Liberty-lot and the remainder?
This is true and right oppression. Besides, several things and sums are set
down, which are neither in law nor in my regulations." He was displeased
also with T. Holme for improper charges in his department. He instructed
the President to speak earnestly to him of the reports that had come over
of his drinking collations, by which he felt himself much distressed and his
government dishonoured. A bill of twelve pounds had been sent in to a
purchaser of land for expenses incurred in this manner.
This sum,
together with the charge for the survey, amounted to one quarter of the
whole purchase of the land. But, above all, he was grieved to find that
animosities had begun to creep in on the score of government.
"I am sorTY
at heart," says he, "for these. Cannot more friendly and private courses be
taken to set matters right in an infant province, whose steps are numbered
and watched ? He entreated them, for the love of God, of himself, and
the poor country, that they would not be so open in their dissatisfactions."
Having explained his mind in these particulars, he held out the expectation,
that, if not prevented, he should return to Pennsylvania and resume the
government in the course of the next fall.
It appears, from the above extracts, that he had not long left the colony
before it fell into disorder, which shows how much his presence had been
the life and support of it. And this disorder, which began with one or two
individuals of looser character, spread to the bodies politic. The Assembly,
where the animosities above mentioned first showed themselves, proceeded
so far as to impeach one of their members, and to arrest another. Having
done this, they instructed their Speaker, John White, to inform the Governor
of the fact; which he did in the following letter:-
"MOST EXCELLENT GOVERNOR-We, the Freemen of the Province of
Pennsylvania and Territories, do, with unfeigned love to your person and
government, with all due respect acquaint you, that we have, this last day of
our session, passed all such bills as we judged meet to pass into laws, and
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
impeached Nicholas Moore, a member of the Assembly, of ten articles, con-
taining divers high crimes and misdemeanours, and, in the presence of
the President and Provincial Council, made very clear proof of the said
articles.
"We have had the person of Patrick Robinson under restraint for divers
insolencies and affronts to the Assembly;but there was a right and
good understanding betwixt the President, Council, and Assembly, and a
happy and friendly farewell.
Dear and honoured Sir, the honour of God, the love of your person,
and the preservation of the peace and welfare of the government, were, we
hope, the only centre to which all our actions did tend. And, although the
wisdom of the Assembly thought fit to humble that aspiring and corrupt
minister of state, Nicholas Moore, yet to you, dear Sir, and to the happy
success of your affairs, our hearts are open, and our hands ready at all times
to subscribe ourselves, in the name of ourselves and all the Freemen we
represent, your obedient and faithful Freemen,
"JOHN WHITE, Speaker."
"P. S.-Honoured Sir-We know your wisdom and goodness will make a
candid construction of all our actions, and that it shall be out of the power
of malicious tongues to separate betwixt our Governor and his Freemen,
who extremely long for your presence, and speedy arrival of your person."
This letter, though it had the appearance of being both affectionate and
respectful, was yet the cause of great uneasiness to William Penn; for
Moore had conducted himself so well, not only as a private man, but in his
office as President of the Free Society of Traders of Pennsylvania, that the
Governor had made him one of the Provincial Judges before his departure
for England, as was mentioned in the last chapter. He feared, therefore,
that the public disgrace brought upon him might lessen the weight and
character of the magistracy. He believed, too, that Moore had been far
too rigidly dealt with, the reputed misdemeanours being of a political and
not of a moral nature; and, believing this, he foresaw that he should be
obliged to signify his opinion to the Assembly, by which the first stone
would be cast, as it were, for at least a temporary disagreement between
them.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
167
CHAPTER XXII.
"
"A
A. 1686.-CRY OF PAPIST AND JESUIT CONTINUED-FURTHER CORRE-
SPONDENCE BETWEEN HIM AND TILLOTSON ON THE SUBJECT—
WRITES "A FURTHER ACCOUNT OF PENNSYLVANIA”—ALSO
DEFENCE OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM "-ALSO "A PERSUASIVE
TO MODERATION "-CONTENTS OF THE LATTER-PROCLAMATION
FOR RELIGIOUS INDULGENCE FOLLOWS-GOES TO HOLLAND ON A
RELIGIOUS ERRAND, BUT UNDERTAKES A COMMISSION FROM THE
KING TO THE PRINCE OF ORANGE-MEETS SCOTCH FUGITIVES THERE
-HIS SERVICES TO SIR ROBERT STEUART-TRAVELS AS A PREACHER
IN ENGLAND-AFFAIRS OF PENNSYLVANIA-DISPLEASED WITH THE
CONDUCT OF THE ASSEMBLY, AND ALSO WITH THAT OF THE COUNCIL
-ALTERS THE GOVERNMENT BY A COMMISSION-LODGES THE
EXECUTIVE IN FIVE PERSONS-REINSTATES MOORE-COPY OF THE
COMMISSION.
WILLIAM PENN and Dr. Tillotson had visited each other, since the interchange
of the letters mentioned in the last chapter, in the most friendly manner,
the Doctor having been fully satisfied that there was no foundation for the
charge either of Papist or Jesuit. William Penn resided at that time in a
house at Charing Cross. Since these letters, however, the belief that he
was of the Roman Catholic persuasion had not abated in the public mind.
On the other hand, it had become more general; and, as it was still
increasing, and several continued to use the name of Dr. Tillotson to
strengthen it, William Penn thought he might appeal with propriety to the
Doctor to give him a letter, in which he should express that assurance of
his own conviction on this subject, which he had acknowledged in the
friendly intercourse which had taken place between them. For doing this a
favourable opportunity offered; for a letter having been written to William
Penn, in which the Doctor's name had been improperly used again, he sent
it enclosed to him in the following short note:-
WORTHY FRIEND-This should have been a visit; but, being of opinion
that Dr. Tillotson is yet a debtor to me in this way, I chose to provoke him
to another letter by this, before I made him one; for, though he was very
just and obliging when I last saw him, yet, certainly, no expression, how-
ever kindly spoken, will so easily and effectually purge me from the unjust
imputation some people cast upon me in his name as his own letter will do.
The need of this he will better see when he has read the enclosed, which,
coming to hand since my last, is, I presume, enough to justify this address,
if I had no former pretensions. And, therefore, I cannot be so wanting to
myself, as not to press him to a letter in my just defence, nor so uncharitable
to him as to think he should not frankly write what he has said, when it is
to right a man's reputation and disabuse the too credulous world. For to
me it seems from a private friendship to become a moral duty to the public,
:
•
168
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
which, with a person of so great morality, must give success to the reasonable
desire of thy very real Friend,
“WILLIAM PENN.”
Dr. Tillotson, in answer to the above letter, expressed himself thus :-
“SIR-I am very sorry that the suspicion I had entertained concerning
you, of which I gave you the true account in my former letter, hath occa-
sioned so much trouble and inconvenience to you and I do now declare,
with great joy, that I am fully satisfied that there was no just ground for
that suspicion, and, therefore, do heartily beg your pardon for it. And ever
since you were pleased to give me that satisfaction, I have taken all occasions
to vindicate you in this matter; and shall be ready to do it to the person
that sent you the enclosed, whenever he will please to come to me.
I am
very much in the country, but will seek the first opportunity to visit you at
Charing Cross, and renew our acquaintance, in which I took great pleasure.
-I rest your faithful Friend,
“JO. TILLOTSON.”
This letter was very satisfactory to William Penn, and he showed it to
great advantage whenever Dr. Tillotson had been quoted as either believing
or promoting the report. In the meantime he had been diligently employed
as an author. The first fruits of his labour in this department were "A
Further Account of Pennsylvania." This was followed by a publication of
a very different sort. The Duke of Buckingham had written a book in
favour of liberty of conscience, for which he had long been a known advo-
eate. An anonymous writer had attempted to answer it, and, in this answer,
had reflected upon the Duke, by saying that "the Pennsylvanian had entered
him with his Quakeristical doctrine." This second publication, then, by
William Penn, was "A Defence of the Duke of Buckingham's Book from
the Exceptions of a Nameless Author." Soon after this he ushered into the
world a third work, called "A Persuasive to Moderation to Dissenting
Christians, in Prudence and Conscience, humbly submitted to the King and
his Great Council.”
As the "Persuasive to Moderation" was designed to produce an effect on
the rulers of the land in favour of religious toleration; and as the argu-
ments contained in it may be supposed to be important on that account;
and as the said arguments, if well founded, will always carry their weight
with them in similar circumstances and cases, I shall stop awhile to submit
them to the consideration of the reader.
William Penn, after a proper introductory epistle, reduced the objections
to religious toleration, which were then afloat, to these two points: First,
Toleration, say some, of Dissenting worships from the Established one is
not practicable without danger to the State, with which it is interwoven."
This is political. Secondly: Admitting Dissenters to be in the wrong
which is always premised by the National Church), such latitude, that is,
toleration to them, would be the way to keep up the disunion, and would,
instead of compelling them into a better way, leave them in the possession
and pursuit of their old errors.” This is religious,
OF WILLIAM PENN.
169
.:
After certain observations he took up the first objection. He denied that
toleration endangered any state. "For this, my opinion," says he, "we
have the first and last, the best and greatest evidence, which is fact and ex-
experience, the wisdom of sages, and the journal and resolves of time.
"For, first, the Jews, who had the most to say for their religion, and
whose religion was twin to their state (both being enjoined and sent with
wonders from Heaven), indulged strangers in their religious dissent. They
required but the belief of the Noahchical principles, which were common to the
world. No idolater, and but a moral man, and he had his liberty—aye, and
some privileges too; for he had an apartment in the Temple, and this
without danger to the government. Thus Maimonides, and others of
their own rabbis, and Grotius out of them.
"The wisdom of the Gentiles was also very admirable in this, that, though
they had many sects of philosophers among them, each dissenting from the
other in their moral principles, as well as discipline, yet they indulged them
and the best livers with singular kindness, the greatest statesmen and
captains often becoming patrons of the sects they best affected, honouring.
their readings with their presence and applause. So far were those ages,
which we have made as the original of wisdom and politeness, from think-
ing toleration an error of state, or dangerous to the government. Thus
Plutarch, Strabo, Laertius, and others.
"To these instances I may add the latitude given by the government of
old Rome, that had almost as many deities as houses: for Varro tells us of
no less than thirty thousand several sacra or religious rites among her people,
and yet without a quarrel. Unhappy fate of Christianity, the best of reli-
gions! and yet her professors maintain less charity than idolaters, while it should
be peculiar to them. I fear it shows us to have little of it at heart.
"But, nearer home, and in our own time, we see the effects of a discreet
indulgence, even to emulation. Holland, that bog of the world, neither
sea nor land, now the rival of tallest monarchs, not by conquests, mar-
riages, or accession of royal blood, the usual ways to empire, but by her
own superlative clemency and industry; for the one was the effect of the other:
she cherished her people, whatever were their opinions, as the reasonable stock: of
the country, the heads and hands of her trade and wealth; and, making them
casy in the main point, their consciences, she became great by them. This
made her fill with people, and they filled her in return with riches and
strength."
After the mention of Holland, he proceeded to an argument which he
supposed might be drawn against his conclusions with respect to that country;
namely, that though his position might be true in a commonwealth, where
every individual thought he had a share in the government, it might not be
so in a monarchical state. In reply to this he maintained, that almost every
age of monarchy afforded a cloud of witnesses, that religious toleration was
no more dangerous in this than in the other case. To confirm this he
I
170
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
quoted the conduct of Israel, which he called the most exact and sacred
pattern of monarchy; that of Ahasuerus to Mordecai and the Jews; that
of Augustus, who sent hecatombs to Jerusalem; that of Jovianus, who
settled the most embroiled time of the Christian world even to a miracle,
bringing, by one single act of religious toleration, unity to the state; that of
Valentinian, Gratian, and Theodosius the Great. From thence he took a
survey of the conduct of rulers in succeeding times, such as of the Kings of
Poland and of Denmark, of the Dukes of Savoy and of Newburgh, of the
Electors of Bradenburgh and of Saxony, and of several others exercising
sovereign power, to the same end.
But he not only thus combated the argument against his own position,
but he advanced two others: first, that more evils had befallen princes
living in countries where all conformed, or who were under ecclesiastical union,
than in those living under divided forms of government where toleration was
allowed; and, secondly, that in those countries where men were tolerated in
their religion, and where such evils had taken place, the Conformist was not
less culpable than the Dissenter. Of these positions I have only room to observe,
that he endeavoured to substantiate them by an appeal to history, drawing
apposite instances from it as the case required.
Having finished this topic, he proceeded to show both the prudence and
reasonableness of religious toleration, by the great benefits which would
follow it. Among other arguments-such as that property would be more
secure, and that subjects would be more industrious, flourishing, satisfied,
and happy-he contended, as no trifling additional argument, that the
prince would in that case have the benefit, not of a part only, but of his
whole people. "As things then stood, No Churchman meant No Englishman,
and No Conformist meant No Subject." Thus (says he) it may happen, that
the ablest statesman, the bravest captain, and the best citizen may be disabled,
and the prince forbid their employment in his service.
Some instances (says he) we have had since the late King's restoration:
for, upon the first Dutch war, my father being commanded to give in a list
of the ablest sea officers in the kingdom to serve in that expedition, I dc
very well remember he presented our present King with a catalogue of the
knowingest and bravest officers the age had bred, with this subscribed: "A
to these men, if his Majesty will please to admit of their persuasions, I wil
answer for their skill, courage, and integrity." He picked them by their ability,
and not by their opinions; and he was in the right, for that was the best
way of doing the King's business. And of my own knowledge, Conformity
robbed the King at that time of ten men, whose greater knowledge and
valour, than any one ten of that fleet had in their room, would have saved
a battle or perfected a victory. I will name three of them. The first was
old Vice-Admiral Goodson, than whom nobody was more stout or more a
seaman. The second was Captain Hill, that, in the Sapphire, beat Admiral
Everson hand to hand, who came to the relief of Old Trump. The third was


OF WILLIAM PENN.
171
Captain Potter, that, in the Constant Warwick, took Captain Beach, after
eight hours' smart dispute. And, as evident it is, that if a war had pro-
ceeded between this kingdom and France seven years ago, the business of
Conformity had deprived the King of many land officers whose share in the
late wars of Europe had made them knowing and able.
After dwelling for some time upon the advantages likely to result from
toleration, he proceeded thus: "But I know it will be insinuated, that there
is danger in building upon the union of divers interests. But I will only
oppose to that mere suggestion three examples to the contrary, with this
challenge, that if, after rummaging the records of all time, they find one instance
to contradict me, I shall submit the question to their authority.
"The first is given by those Christian Emperors who admitted all sorts of
Dissenters into their armies, courts, and senates. This the ecclesiastical
history of those times assures us, and particularly Socrates, Evagrius, and
Onuphrius.
"The next instance is that of Prince William of Orange, who, by a
timely indulgence, united the scattered strength of Holland, by which all,
animated by the clemency as well as valour of their captain, contributed to
crown his attempts with extraordinary glory; and what makes, continues
great.
<
"The last is given us by Livy, in his account of Hannibal's army, that
they consisted of divers nations, customs, languages, and religions: that,
under all their successes of war and peace for thirteen years together, they
never mutinied against their general, nor fell out among themselves. What
Livy relates for a wonder the Marquis Virgilio Malvetzy gives the reason of,
to wit, their variety and difference well managed by their general: For,' said
he, it was impossible for so many nations, customs, and religions to com-
bine, especially when the general's equal hand gave him more reverence
with them than they had of affection for one another. This,' says he, 'some
would wholly impute to Hannibal; but, however great he was, I attribute
it to the variety of people in the army; for,' adds he, Rome's army was
ever less given to mutiny when balanced with auxiliary legions than when
entirely Roman.' So far Malvetzy. This argument he concluded by an
appeal to nature. He considered the natural world as full of discordant
things, but yet Providence, by his own all-wise disposition, had so brought
them together, as to produce the most perfect harmony. In like manner he
believed that the concord of discords afforded a firm basis for civil govern-
ment. The business was to tune these discords well, and that could be done
by one who was a skilful musician."
The last argument which he advanced on this subject was, the experi-
ment made at home by the late King, in his Declaration of indulgence to
tender consciences in matters of religion, which came out in the year 1671,
as mentioned in a former chapter. In speaking of the happy effect of this
experiment, he writes thus:-"Whitehall, then, and St. James's, were as
172
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
much visited and courted by the Dissenters and their respective agents, as if
they had been of the family; for, that which eclipsed the royal goodness
being by his own hand thus removed, his benign influence drew the returns
of sweetness and duty from that part of his subjects which the want of
those influences had made barren before. Then it was that we looked like
the members of one family, and children of one parent; nor did we envy
our eldest brother Episcopacy his inheritance, so that we had but a child's
portion. For, not only discontents vanished, but no matter was left for ill
spirits, foreign or domestic, to brood upon or hatch to mischief; which was
a plain proof that it is the union of interests, and not of opinions, that gives
peace to kingdoms." Such a declaration of indulgence he hoped would be
made again. He saw no other way of putting an end to civil animosities,
"which, by fresh accidents falling in, had swelled to a mighty deluge, such
an one as had overwhelmed our former civil concord and security. And,
pardon me (says he) if I say, I cannot see that those waters are like to
assuage, till this olive-branch of indulgence be some way or other restored.
The waves will still cover our earth, and a spot of earth will hardly be
found in this our glorious isle for a great number of useful people to set a
quiet foot upon. And, to pursue the allegory, what was the ark itself but
the most apt and lively emblem of toleration? a kind of natural temple of
indulgence, in which we find two of every living creature dwelling together,
of both sexes too, that they might propagate, and that as well of the unclean
as of the clean kind, so that the baser and less useful sort were saved.”
With respect to the second objection, namely, that "admitting Dissenters
to be in the wrong (which was always premised by the National Church),
such latitude were the way to keep up the disunion; and, instead of com-
pelling them to a better way, to leave them in the possession and pursuit of
their old errors." I have no room to state the arguments which he advanced
against it; nor is it necessary that I should, because every person thinking
liberally will be able to furnish the answer, without any hesitation, from
his own mind.
The above is the substance, though on a limited scale, of the "Persuasive
to Moderation," which, when it came out, was said to have had a considerable
effect both upon the King and his Council; for, very soon after its appear-
ance in public, a proclamation was issued by the former for a general pardon
to all those who were then in prison on account of their consciences. In-
structions were accordingly given to the Judges of Assize to liberate, in
their several circuits, all persons of this description. The result was that,
of the Quakers only, not less than twelve hundred persons were restored to
their families and friends, many of whom had been in confinement for years.
That this happy event might have sprung in part, or, as far as the Council
had any hand in it, from the "Persuasive to Moderation," as was then
believed by many, is not improbable; but certain it is, as far as the King
was concerned, that it was to be ascribed, in a great measure, to the personal
OF WILLIAM FENN.
173
solicitations of William Penn. There is no doubt that he had been pre-
viously influenced to it in consequence of the many conversations which the
former had held with him on this subject, while he resided at Kensington,
during which he never lost sight of the great object which he had left his
own government to promote. By means of these, he had opportunities of
unfolding much more to the King on this subject than the "Persuasive
to Moderation" itself contained; of arguing the case with him; and of
enforcing his arguments by bringing to view the most affecting cases of indi-
vidual suffering, and by painting the misery and wretchedness of the victims
themselves, and the distress and ruin of their nearest and dearest con-
nections, whom they were no longer able to comfort and support. These
opportunities he used for this purpose; and it is highly to his honour, as I
have had occasion to observe before, that, when his most earnest entreaties
were poured forth in behalf of the members of his own religious society,
they were extended for all others of his countrymen, of whatever religious
denomination, who were suffering from the same cause.
William Penn, having witnessed the happy effects of this proclamation,
determined upon a tour to the Continent to visit the churches there, and to
diffuse the principles of his own religious society yet further in these parts.
The King, learning his intention, gave him a commission, which he was to
execute in his way. He was to go to the Hague, and there confer with the Prince
of Orange, and endeavour to gain his consent to a general religious toleration
in England, together with the removal of all tests. It has been usually supposed,
that, when the King wished for toleration to his subjects, he had it princi-
pally in view to ease his favourites the Roman Catholics, knowing that, if a
general law were made to that effect, they would feel the benefit of it in
common with others, and that it was on their account solely that he was
desirous of the measure. William Penn was not of this opinion. It was
his firm belief, that, though James the Second was himself a Papist, he was
yet a friend to religious liberty. But whether this his belief was correct or not,
the commission given him by the King was so congenial to his own principles
and feelings, that he joyfully undertook it. Accordingly, when he went to
the Continent, he went first to the Hague, where he had several interviews
with the Prince on the subject. At this time Burnet, the historian, was at
the same court, endeavouring to prevail upon the Prince to give his sanction
to a toleration in, England, but not to the removal of tests. Here he and Wil-
liam Penn met. They spent several hours together in conversing upon the
point in question. William Penn would not relax in the least. If tests were
to be a security for toleration, they were unnecessary, because, if Dissenters
conducted themselves unconstitutionally, they would come within the
reach of the laws. This perseverance irritated Burnet. Indeed, Burnet
was not well disposed to him before, believing him to be a Papist, if not a
Jesuit. But now he was prejudiced against him, so that he never mentioned
him afterwards but coldly, or sneeringly, or in a way to lower him in the


174
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
estimation of the reader, whenever he had occasion to speak of him in the
"History of His Own Times."
C
While William Penn was executing his commission, he found an intro-
duction to several persons, both English and Scotch, who had fled their
country on account of persecution for their religion, and, among others, to
one, to whom, it is said, he rendered important service afterward. The
service alluded to is explained by the Earl of Buchan, in his "Lives of
Fletcher, of Saltoun, and Thompson," in whose words I shall relate it :-In
the year 1686, "when the business of the test was in agitation, William
Penn was employed at the Court of Holland to reconcile the Stadtholder to
the views of his father-in-law. Penn became acquainted with most of the
Scotch fugitives, and, among the rest, with Sir Robert Steuart, of Coltness,
and his brother James, who wrote the famous Answer to Fagel;' and
finding that the violence of their zeal reached little further than the enjoy-
ment of their religious liberty, on his return to London he advised the
measure of an indemnity and recall to the persecuted Presbyterians who had
not been engaged in treasonable acts of opposition to the civil government.
Sir Robert availed himself of this indemnity to return to his own country;
but found his estate, and only means of subsistence, in the possession of the
Earl of Arran, afterwards Duke of Hamilton. Soon after his coming to
London he met Penn, who congratulated him on his being just about to feel
experimentally the pleasure so beautifully expressed by Horace of the
mihi me reddentis agelli. Coltness sighed, and said. Ah! Mr. Penn,
Arran has got my estate, and I fear my situation is about to be now worse
than ever.''What dost thou say?' says Penn: thou surprisest and
grievest me exceedingly. Come to my house to-morrow, and I will set
matters to right for thee.'
C
C
"Penn went immediately to Arran. 'What is this, friend James,' said
he to him, that I hear of thee? Thou hast taken possession of Coltness's
estate. Thou knowest that it is not thine. That estate,' says Arran, 'I
paid a great price for. I received no other reward for my expensive and
troublesome embassy in France except this estate; and I am certainly much
out of pocket by the bargain.'
<
"All very well, friend James,' said the Quaker; but of this assure
thyself, that if thou dost not give me this moment an order on thy chamber-
lain for two hundred pounds to Coltness to carry him down to his native
country, and a hundred a-year to subsist on till matters are adjusted, I will
make it as many thousands out of thy way with the King.' Arran instantly
complied, and Penn sent for Sir Robert and gave him the security. After
the revolution Sir Robert, with the rest, had full restitution of his estate;
and Arran was obliged to account for all the rents he had received, against
which this payment only was allowed to be stated. This authentic particular
I received from my illustrious uncle, the late Sir James Steuart Denham,
father of the present worthy member for Clydesdale."
OF WILLIAM PENN.
175
',
Having left the Hague, he proceeded to Amsterdam to promote the
object for which he had originally come into these parts. Here he visited
the members of his own religious society, and used occasionally his gift as a
minister of the Gospel. While here he was at the house of William Sewel,
a man of great learning, who wrote afterwards the " History of the Rise,
Increase, and Progress of the People called Quakers." Sewel was at this
time translating his "Account of the Province of Pennsylvania," and his
"No Cross, No Crown," into the Belgic language. They had before known
each other, and had corresponded together. This correspondence, which
was conducted in Latin, was afterwards continued. I have had access to
work.
a part of it, and shall find it useful as I proceed in my
From Amsterdam he pursued his travels in the ministry, directing his
course to Utrecht; but we know nothing after this of the particular places
which he visited. All we know is, that he extended his journey to Germany,
and that he was satisfied with the result of it; for, in a letter which he
wrote to one of his friends in America, after his return from it, he says, in
his usual way of speaking on such occasions, that "he had had a blessed
service for the Lord.”
On his arrival in England he proceeded directly to Worminghurst. But
here he did not remain long. The same cause which had occasioned him to go
into Holland and Germany impelled him to travel over a considerable part
of his native land. He visited Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire,
Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the counties of West-
moreland and Durham. In all these he laboured in the vineyard of the
Gospel; and it appears that he was equally satisfied with this as with his
foreign journey, thankfully confessing that "the Lord had been with him at
this season, in a sweet and melting life, to the great joy of himself and
refreshment of his friends.”
Having now traced his movements for this year, as far as they appear to
be known in Europe, it will be proper to see how his American concerns
went on for the same period. And, first, it appears, by a letter dated
Worminghurst, addressed to Thomas Lloyd, the President of his Council,
to have been his opinion that the Assembly had conducted themselves
rashly, both in the cases of Patrick Robinson and Nicholas Moore, as men-
tioned in the last chapter. "I rejoice," says he, "that God has preserved
your health so well, and that his blessings are upon the earth, but grieved
at the bottom of my heart for the heats and disorders among the people.
This quarrel about the Free Society of Traders' has made your great
guns heard hither. I blame nothing, nor the society here to be sure; but I
could wish N. Moore and P. Robinson could have been softened, and that
J. Claypole had been more composed. It may be a mighty political vice, but
it is not a moral one. I entreat thee to consider of the true reason of our
unhappiness, of that side (Pennsylvania), among our magistrates. Is it
not their self-value? Men should be meek, humble, grave. This draws
C
176
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
reverence and love together. This wise and good men will do. Is any one
out of the way? They should not so much look at his infirmities, as take
care they are not also overtaken; eyeing how many good qualities the
offender has to serve the public, and not cast a whole apple away for one
side being defective."
By two letters written subsequently, dated Loudon, one of them to the
before-mentioned Thomas Lloyd, and the other to James Harrison, his
agent for the estate and manor of Pennsbury, it appears that he had serious
cause to be grieved on other accounts. He complained that the Provincial
Council had neglected and slighted his letters; that he had religiously con-
secrated his labour, but that it was neither valued nor understood by them;
that they had conducted themselves in such a manner in other respects as to
have forfeited their charter over and over again, if he had chosen to ake
advantage of it; and that they had entirely neglected the supply which
they had promised him. On this latter subject he descended to particulars.
He stated, "that his quit-rents were then at least of the value of five
hundred pounds a-year, and then due, though he could not get a penny.
God is my witness," said he, "I lie not. I am above six thousand pounds
out of pocket more than ever I saw by the Province; and you may throw
in my pains, cares, and hazard of life, and leaving of my family and friends
to serve them."
From the same letters it may be collected, that he began to be em-
barrassed for want of remittances from America-so that, though it was his
intention to have returned there in the autumn of the present year, he was
prevented in some measure from doing so on this account. He declared that
the neglect of the supply, which the Council had promised him in couse-
quence of his great expense on account of the Province, was one cause
which kept him from Pennsylvania; adding, "that he would not spend his
private estate to discharge a public station."
By another letter, written afterwards to James Harrison, his agent, all
the above particulars are confirmed. Besides," says he, "that the country
think not of my supply (and I resolve never to act the governor, and keep
another family and capacity on my private estate), if my table, cellar, and
stable may be provided for, with a barge and yacht, or sloop, for the service
of
governor and government, I may try to get hence; for, in the sight of
God, I am six thousand pounds and more behind-hand, more than ever I
received or saw for land in that Province. There is nothing my soul
*We may now estimate the sacrifices of William Penn. If his quit-rents
amounted to 5007. per annum, he must have sold one million of acres of land, for
which, according to the terms of sale, he must have received 20,000. To this add
the 6,0007. now mentioned, and he must have spent 26,0007. upon the Province,
in presents to the Indians, in re-purchases of the land from these, in the mainte-
nance of the government and Governor, and in other public matters--a sum not
much short of 100,000%. in these days.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
177
breathes more for in this world, next my dear family's life, than that I may
see poor Pennsylvania again-but I cannot force my way hence, and see
nothing done on that side inviting."
To remedy these and other matters, it appears that, after having taken
into consideration the conduct of the Council, he resolved, though they had
forfeited their charter, to let them remain as such; but he would no longer
allow them to have also the executive power in their hands. One reason of
their tardiness and negligence he conceived might be their number, great
bodies being more unwieldy and moving with less celerity than smaller. He
determined, therefore, to reduce the Executive to five persons, and made
out a fresh commission accordingly. Considering that Nicholas Moore had
been unjustly treated by the Assembly, who had removed him from his high
situation as a Provincial Judge, he took this opportunity of repairing the
injury by appointing him one of the new commissioners. This step was
particularly honourable to William Penn, as it could only have proceeded
from his love of justice-Nicholas Moore never having belonged to the
society of the Quakers. It was a step, too, particularly bold, when we
consider the imputation it threw upon the Assembly, and the clamour it
would be likely to produce against himself. Bold, however, as it was, he
ventured upon it; and Nicholas Moore never disgraced his appointment,
continuing in it with honour for the remainder of his life. The following is
a copy of the commission:-
"WILLIAM PENN, PROPRIETOR AND GOVERNOR-
66
"To my trusty and well-beloved Friends, Thomas Lloyd, Nicholas
Moore, James Claypole, Robert Turner, and John Eckley, or
or any three of them, in Philadelphia :-
Trusty and well-beloved! I heartily salute you. Lest any should
scruple the termination of President Lloyd's commission with his place in
the Provincial Council, and to the end that there may be a more constant
residence of the honorary and governing part of the government, for the
keeping all things in good order, I have sent a fresh Commission of Depu-
tation to you, making any three of you a quorum, to act in the execution
of the laws, enacting, disannulling, or varying of laws, as if I myself were
there present; reserving to myself the confirmation of what is done, and my
peculiar royalties and advantages.
"First: You are to oblige the Provincial Council to their charter-
attendance, or to take such a council as you think convenient to advise and
assist you in the business of the public; for I will no more endure their
slothful and dishonourable attendance, but dissolve the frame without any
more ado. Let them look to it, if any further occasion be given.
<<
Secondly: That you keep to the dignity of your station, both in Council
and out, but especially that you suffer no disorder in the Council, nor the
Council and Assembly, nor either of them, to entrench upon the powers and
privileges remaining yet in me.
I 2
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
Thirdly: That you admit not any parleys or open conferences between
the Provincial Council and Assembly; but let one, with your approbation,
propose, and let the other consent or dissent, according to the charter.
"Fourthly: That you curiously inspect the past proceedings of both,
and let me know in what they have broken the bounds or obligations of the
charter.
"Fifthly: That you, this very next Assembly General, declare my abro-
gation of all that has been done since my absence; and so of all the laws
Du: the fundamentals; and that you immediately dismiss the Assembly and
call it again; and pass such of them afresh, with such alterations as you
and they shall see meet; and this to avoid a greater inconveniency, which
I forsee, and formerly communicated to Thomas Lloyd.
"Sixthly Inspect the qualifications of members in Council and Assembly,
and see they be according to charter; and especially of those that have the
administration of justice; and whatever you do, let the point of the laws be
turned against impiety, and your severe brow be upon all the troublesome
and vexatious, more especially trifling appealers.
"You shall shortly have a limitation from the King, though you have
power, with the Council and Assembly, to fix the matter and manner of
appeals, as much as to do any justice, or prevent any disorder in the
Province, at all.
Seventhly That, till then, I have sent you a proclamation to that
effect, according to the powers of ordinance making, as declared in my
letters patent, which you may expose as you please.
Eighthly Be most just, as in the sight of the all-seeing, all-searching
God; and, before you let your spirits into an affair, retire to Him (who is
not far away from any of you, and by whom kings reign and princes decree
justice), that he may give you a good understanding and government of
yourselves in the management thereof; which is that which truly crowns
public actions, and dignifies those that perform them. You shall hear
further from me by C. King. The ship is ready to sail: so I shall only
admonish you in general, that, next to the preservation of virtue, you have
a tender regard to peace and my privileges, in which enact from time to
time. Love, forgive, help, and serve one another; and let the people learn
by your example, as well as by your power, the happy life of concord.
So, commending you to God's grace and keeping, I bid you heartily
farewell.
"Given at Worminghurst, in Old England, the first of the twefth
month, 1686."
OF WILLIAM PENN.
179
CHAPTER XXIII.
A. 1687.-CARRIES UP ADDRESS OF THE QUAKERS TO JAMES THE
SECOND ON HIS DECLARATION FOR LIBERTY FOR CONSCIENCE-HIS
SPEECH TO THE KING-THE KING'S ANSWER-TRAVELS INTO
DIFFERENT COUNTIES-PREACHES AT BRISTOL FAIR, AND AT CHEW
UNDER AN OAK--AND AT CHESTER, WHERE THE KING HEARS HIM
-GOES TO OXFORD-MEETS THE KING THERE, WHO INTERFERES
UNJUSTLY IN THE ELECTION OF A PRESIDENT FOR MAGDALEN
COLLEGE-HIS NOBLE REPROOF OF THE LATTER-HIS INTERVIEW
WITH A DEPUTATION FROM THE COLLEGE-WRITES "GOOD ADVICE
TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, AND CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT
DISSENTERS" - ALSO "THE GREAT AND POPULAR OBJECTION
AGAINST THE REPEAL OF THE PENAL LAWS STATED AND CON-
SIDERED "-AFFAIRS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
WILLIAM PENN, having come to England in behalf of religious liberty, could
not but look back with pleasure upon the Proclamation which had been
made the preceding year. Anxiously as he desired to return to America,
and much as his presence was wanted there, he could not leave the kingdom
just when success began to dawn upon his endeavours. He resolved, there-
fore, to stay awhile longer, that he might continue his exertions in the same
cause.
In the month of April, the King, influenced in part by his representations,
issued a Declaration of Liberty of Conscience for England, and for sus-
pending the execution of all penal laws in matters ecclesiastical. In the
preamble to this he expressed his abhorrence of persecution for religion, in
which he said he did not doubt of the concurrence of his Parliament. He
renewed his promise of maintaining the Church of England. He suspended
all the laws made against Dissenters. He declared all his subjects equally
capable of employment in the state. He suppressed, therefore, all oaths
and tests which limited them in this respect, and concluded by promising
that he would maintain all equally in their properties, and particularly in
the possession of the Abbey-lands.
By this Declaration Protestant Dissenters experienced a general ease, and
enjoyed their meetings peaceably. The Quakers, who had smarted more
than others by the penal laws, could not be less sensible of their relief than
these. They could not see such a Declaration as the preceding without
feeling thankful to the author of it; and, therefore, though they did not
approve of all the political acts of the King during the short time he had
reigued, they determined, at their yearly meeting, the representatives of
their body being then assembled, to express their gratitude for this season-
able respite from oppression. Accordingly, the following Address to James
the Second, containing the humble and grateful acknowledgments of his
peaceable subjects called Quakers, was proposed and carried :—
"We cannot but bless and praise the name of Almighty God, who hath
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
:
the hearts of princes in his hand, that he hath inclined the King to hear
the cries of his suffering subjects for conscience' sake; and we rejoice that
instead of troubling him with complaints of our sufferings, he has given us,
so eminent an occasion to present him with our thanks. And since it hath
pleased the King, out of his great compassion, thus to commiserate our
afflicted condition, which hath so particularly appeared by his gracious pro-
clamation and warrants, whereby twelve hundred prisoners were released
from their several imprisonments, and many others from spoil and ruin in
their estates and properties, and by his princely speech in Council and
Christian Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, in which he doth not only
express his aversion to all force upon conscience, and grant all his Dissenting
subjects an ample liberty to worship God in the way they are persuaded is
most agreeable to his will, but gives them his kingly word the same shall
continue during his reign: We do, as our friends of this city have already
done, render the King our humble, Christian, and thankful acknowledg-
ments, not only in behalf of ourselves, but with respect to our friends
throughout England and Wales; and pray God, with all our hearts, to bless
and preserve thee, O King, and those under thee, in so good a work. And,
as we can assure the King, it is well accepted in the several counties from
which we came, so we hope the good effects thereof for the peace, trade, and
prosperity of the kingdom will produce such a concurrence from the Parlia-
ment as may secure it to our posterity in after times; and, while we live,
it shall be our endeavour, through God's grace, to demean ourselves, as in
conscience to God and duty to the King we are obliged, his peaceable,
loving, and faithful subjects."
William Penn, having been appointed by the Yearly Meeting, with
certain others, to present this their address, was admitted, with his associates,
to the King, before whom he delivered himself in these words:
C
"It was the saying of our blessed Lord to the captious Jews in the case
of tribute, Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the
things that are God's.' As this distinction ought to be observed by all men
in the conduct of their lives, so the King has given us an illustrious example,
in his own person, that excites us to it: for while he was a subject he gave
Cæsar his tribute, and now he is Cæsar he gives God his due, namely, the
sovereignty over consciences. It were a great shame, then, for any English-
man that professes Christianity not to give God his due. By this grace he
has relieved his distressed subjects from their cruel sufferings, and raised to
himself a new and lasting empire, by adding their affections to their duty.
And we pray God to continue the King in this noble resolution; for he is
now upon a principle that has good nature, Christianity, and the good
of civil society on its side-a security to him beyond the little arts of
government.
"I would not that any should think that we come hither with design to
fill the 'Gazette' with our thanks: but, as our sufferings would have moved
OF WILLIAM PENN.
187
stones to compassion, so we should be harder if we were not movea →
gratitude.
44
Now, since the King's mercy and goodness have reached to us throughout
the kingdom of England and principality of Wales, our General Assembly
from all those parts, met at London about our Church affairs, has appointed
us to wait upon the King with our humble thanks, and me to deliver
them; which I do, by this address, with all the affection and respect of a
dutiful subject."
After this introductory speech the address was read; to which the King
made the following reply :-
CC
Gentlemen, I thank you heartily for your address. Some of you know
(I am sure you do Mr. Penn), that it was always my principle, that con-
science ought not to be forced, and that all men ought to have the liberty
of their consciences. And what I have promised in my Declaration I will
continue to perform so long as I live. And I hope, before I die, to settle it
so, that after ages shall have no reason to alter it."
The summer coming on, William Penn travelled into Hampshire, Berk-
shire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Cheshire,
and the counties of Stafford and Warwick.
While in Gloucestershire, he took the opportunity of going to Bristol fair,
where there was usually a great concourse of people. He held several
meetings for worship during the fair, which appear to have been particularly
crowded. John Whiting, in speaking of these in his "Memoirs," writes
thus: "I and my wife went to Bristol fair as usual, our friend William Penn
being there, where were mighty meetings, notwithstanding the late persecu-
tion in that city. I never knew greater, though I had been acquainted with
them and frequented them at times, when at liberty, for sixteen years, even
from the time of building the great meeting-house there. People flocked to
them like doves to the windows, which I note to show the ineffectualness of
persecution."
While at Bristol he went to Chew, in Somersetshire, about five or six
miles from that city. There being, at this place, no house or building to be
had sufficient to hold those who came to hear him, he held the meeting in
the open air, in a close belonging to Richard Vickris, and under the boughs
of his great oak. "A large and heavenly meeting it was," says the same
author, "many Friends and others of the country round about being there,
and the more, that it was the first time, as I remember, that William Penn
was ever in our county."
Among the places he visited in Cheshire was Chester itself. The King,
who was then travelling, arriving there at the same time, went to the
meeting-house of the Quakers to hear him preach. This mark of respect
the King showed him also at two or three other places, where they fell in
with each other in the course of their respective tours.
At Oxford they came in together; and here William Penn had an
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
opportunity of showing not only his courage, but his consistency in those
principles of religious liberty which he had defended during his whole life.
When the King's Declaration, before mentioned, came out, some of the
bishops, who were supposed to have been gained over by the Court, set on
foot addresses of thanks to his Majesty for the promise he had made in that
Declaration of supporting the Church of England, "though," says Bishop
Barnet, "it was visible that their intent was to destroy the Church." Among
these was Parker, Bishop of Oxford, who had been an Independent, and
was now suspected of Popish principles. The King was desirous of obliging
this prelate in his turn; and therefore, when he was on his visit to Oxford
at this time he recommended him (the election of Dr. Hough having been
unjustly pronounced null and void) as a fit person to fill the Presidentship
of Magdalen College. To support him more effectually, the King ordered
the fellows of that college to attend him. They came accordingly, but could
not agree to his recommendation. The King, however, would neither hear
them speak, nor receive a petition to the contrary, but dismissed them,
commanding them to return and elect the bishop immediately. In conse-
quence of this they withdrew, but on the same evening returned, and each
gave in his own answer in writing. There were twenty present. Nineteen
of them, it appears, stated, that they could not in conscience comply with
the King's request. Only one gave a dubious answer. This happened ou
the Sunday night. Next morning William Penn was on horseback ready
to leave Oxford; but knowing what had taken place, he rode up to Magdalen
College, and conversed with the fellows on the subject. After this conver-
sation he wrote a letter, and desired them to present it to the King, and
then took his departure. In this letter he signified to his Majesty, as
mildly as he could, his disapprobation of his conduct on this occasion. Dr.
Sykes, in relating this anecdote of William Penn by letter to Dr. Charlett,
who was then absent, mentions that Mr. Penn, "after some discourse with
the fellows of Magdalen College, wrote a short letter directed to the King.
He wrote to this purpose:-that their case was hard, and that, in their
circumstances, they could not yield obedience without breach of their oaths."
Mr. Creech also, who was at Oxford at the time, in giving an account of
the same event to the same person, said that "Mr. Penn, the Quaker, with
whom he dined the day before and had a long discourse concerning the
college, wrote a letter to the King in behalf of the fellows, intimating that
such mandates were a force on conscience, and not very agreeable to his other
gracious indulgencies." In this account Sewel, who was then in correspondence
with William Penn, and who knew almost everything relating to him as it
happened, agrees in a striking manner. Sewel, it must be observed, had
never seen the letters either of Dr. Sykes or Mr. Creech, for they were not
made public till long after his death; and yet, in his History of the Rise
and Progress of the Quakers," he writes thus:-"It caused no small fer-
mentation in the minds of people, when the fellows of Magdalen College,
cr
!
OF WILLIAM PENN.
183
Oxford, were by the King's order dispossessed to make way for Romanists.
This was such a gross usurpation, that William Penn, who had ready access
to the King, and who endeavoured to get the penal laws and tests abro-
gated, thinking it possible to find out a way whereby to limit the Papists so
effectually that they should not be able to prevail, did for all that not omit
to blame this usurpation at Oxford, and to tell the King, that it was an
act which could not in justice be defended, since the general liberty of conscience
did not allow of depriving any of their property, who did what they ought to do,
as the fellows of the said college appeared to have done."
William Penn, having left the above letter for the King, took his departure
home. The affair, however, with respect to the Presidentship of the College
was not settled, neither was it settled as it related to William Penn. The
fellows remained resolute, and the King angry. At length the King took
his departure also. Soon after this it was reported,* that his Majesty had
issued an order to proceed against the College by a writ of Quo Warranto.
This report was strengthened by a letter to Dr. Thomas Bailey, one of the
senior fellows, in which the writer said, that he addressed him out of a
compassionate concern for him and his brethren, to persuade them either to
comply with his Majesty's letters mandatory, or to think of some expedient
to prevent the ruin of the College and themselves, that the order for the Quo
Warranto against the College might be recalled before it was too late. The
writer also suggested to him and his brethren the necessity of some con-
cession to the King for their past conduct.
As this letter was sent without any signature to it, the author was not
known. Dr. Bailey, however, chose to attribute it to William Penn, and this
expressly on account of the benevolent object it had in view. He therefore
ventured to answer it, as if it had actually come from the latter. This was
on the third of October. "The paper inclosed," says the Doctor to William
Penn, "is a copy of a letter, which, by the charitable purpose of it, seems to
be written by you, who have already been so kind as to appear in our behalf,
and are reported by all who know you to employ much of your time in doing
good to mankind, and using your credit with his Majesty to undeceive him in
any wrong impressions given him of his conscientious subjects; and, when his
justice and goodness have been thereby abused, to reconcile the persons
injured to his Majesty's favour, and secure them by it from oppression and
injustice. In this confidence I presume to make application to you.".
After this the Doctor stated the merits of the case, and solicited his mediation
to restore him and his brethren to his Majesty's good opinion.
It is not known whether William Penn ever wrote the one or answered
the other letter. It is certain, however, that the College, still alarmed by
the report of the writ, as before mentioned, thought it worth while to try
his influence with the King, and therefore sent a deputation of five persons,
Hough, Hunt, Hammond, Young, and Cradock, to Windsor, where he then
* See Wilmot's Life of Dr. Hough.
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
was, to ask his interference in their behalf. An account of the conversation
which passed on this occasion was given by Dr. Hough in a letter to a
relation, which he wrote on the evening after it had taken place.
It appears, by this letter, that William Penn gave them two interviews,
which together lasted about three hours. In the first he "began by stating
to them the great concern he had for the welfare of their College, the many
efforts he had made to reconcile them with the King, and the great sincerity
of his intentions and actions; that he thought nothing in this world wes
worth a trick, or anything sufficient to justify collusion or a deceitful artifice.”
-Upon the Delegates telling him that they relied upon his sincerity, he
gave them an historical account of his acquaintance with the King; assured
them that it was not Popery, but Property, that began it; that, however
people were pleased to call him Papist, he was a dissenting Protestant; and
that he dissented from Papists in almost all those points wherein they (the
Delegates) differed from them, and in many wherein they (the Delegates)
and the Papists agreed." The first interview appears to have been taken
up in preliminaries of this sort.
In the second he told them, he wished with all his heart that he had
sooner concerned himself in their business, for he owned to them he feared
they had come too late. IIe would use, however, his endeavours; and if
they were unsuccessful, they (the Delegates) must attribute it to want of
power in him, and not of good will to serve them. Upon this it was stated,
that the most effectual way to serve them would be to give his Majesty a
true state of the case, which they had reason to suppose his Majesty had
never received. They then presented him with certain papers for this
purpose. On receiving them, he read them attentively; and after making
objections, which were answered by Dr. Hough, he promised faithfully to
read every word to the King, unless he was peremptorily commanded to
forbear. He said, however, that the measures which had been resolved
upon against the College were such as the King thought would take effect,
but he himself knew nothing in particular.
After this the illness of Bishop Parker (whom the King had nominated
to the Presidentship) became a subject of conversation; when William Penn
observed with a smile, that, if he were to die, Dr. Hough (who had been
elected but displaced) might be made Bishop. Hough replied, he had no
ambition above the post in which he was; and that, never having been
conscious to himself of any disloyalty towards his Prince, he could not but
wonder what it was should make him so much more incapable of serving
his Majesty in the College than those his Majesty had been pleased to
recommend. William Penn said, that Majesty did not love to be thwarted,
and after so long a dispute they could not expect to be restored to the
King's favour without making some concessions. Hough told him, in reply,
that they were ready to make all that were consistent with honesty and
conscience; but that they were justified in all that had been done by their
OF WILLIAM PENN.
185
:
The
oaths and statutes, besides which they had a religion to defend.
Papists had already gotten Christ Church and University Colleges. The
present struggle was for Magdalen, and in a short time they threatened
they would have the rest. Upon this William Penn replied with vehemence
thus: "That," says he, "they shall never have, assure yourselves. If once
they proceed so far, they will quickly find themselves destitute of their
present assistance. For my part, I have always declared my opinion, that
the preferments of the Church should not be put into any other hands but
such as they at present are in; but I hope you would not have the two
Universities such invincible bulwarks for the Church of England, that none
but they must be capable of giving their children a learned education. I
suppose two or three colleges will content the Papists. Christ Church is a
noble structure; University is a pleasant place, and Magdalen College is a
comely building."
Here the conversation ended, and this rather abruptly; for the Delegates
began to be dissatisfied with their interview. They thought, strange to
relate, that William Penn had been rambling, and, because he spoke
doubtfully about the success of his intended efforts, and of the superior
capacity of the Established clergy that they alone should monopolise
education, that his language was not to be depended upon as sincere! How
this could have come into their heads, except from the terror into which the
situation of the College had thrown them, it is not easy to conceive; for
certainly William Penn was as explicit as any man could have been under
similar circumstances. He informed them that, after repeated efforts with
the King, he feared they had come too late, and that the King expected
that the measures he had taken would prove effectual. This was plain
language. He informed them again, that he would make another trial
with the King; that he would read their papers to him, unless peremptorily
commanded to forbear; but that, if he failed, they must attribute his want
of success not to his want of will but to his want of power. This, though
expressive of his doubts and fears, was but a necessary caution, when his
exertions had already failed; and it was still more necessary, when there
was reason to suppose that, though the King had a regard for him, and was
glad to employ him as an instrument in forwarding his public views, yet
that he would not gratify him where his solicitations directly opposed them.
That William Penn did afterwards make a trial with the King to serve the
College there can be no doubt, because no instance can be produced wherein
he ever forfeited his word or broke his promise; but all trials with this view
must of necessity have been ineffectual. The King and his ministers had
already determined the point in question, and what had been deemed
necessary as political conduct was not to be prevented by private inter-
ference or intercession; for in a few days afterwards Commissioners went
down to Oxford for the purpose of carrying the King's views into effect:
the consequence of which was, that, after a noble resistance on the part of
¿
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
Dr. Hough and almost all the fellows, both he and they were displaced;
though afterwards, when the King began to see the impolicy of this and
other of his unjust proceedings, they were restored.
William Penn, having returned from his journey, as before mentioned,
became an author again. He had observed, during his travels, that, how-
ever sincere the King himself might be in his late Declaration for the
removal of Tests and Penalties, as unjust in principle and burdensome to
conscience, the Church of England was inimical to it, believing that, though
the King might wish thereby to relieve Protestant Dissenters, his great
object was to protect the Roman Catholics in their worship, and to give a
spread to their religion. The late Declaration, therefore, had become
unpopular. But, unpopular as it was, he considered it to be just, and not
only just, but to be conducive to the public interest; and therefore, without
any regard to it as a measure of the King, he determined to defend it upon
broad and general principles. He brought out accordingly a work (to which,
however, he did not affix his name, lest it might prejudice the reader) called
"Good Advice to the Church of England, and Roman Catholic and Pro-
testant Dissenters, in which it is endeavoured to be made appear, that it is
their Duty, Principle, and Interest, to Abolish the Penal Laws and Tests.”
He began his book by showing, first, that it was the Christian duty of the
Church of England. Among the arguments used were these:-that Faith
was the gift of God, and of him alone; that God alone was the Lord of
Conscience; that Christianity was built on love; that Christ was sent to us
in love, that he lived in love, and that he died, and died for us also, in love.
He considered, he said, these sanguinary laws to be like the abomination of
the Jews, or the sacrifice of their children to Moloch, for which they were
grievously punished. They were equally sinful; for men, women, and
children were offered up by means of them without mercy. But to whom? It
was said, to God. But this rendered the case worse; because then it was to
be taken for granted, that the only good, just, wise, and merciful Being
delighted in cruelty. He adverted also, in proof of his position, to the
conduct of our Saviour on two occasions. First, when his disciples would
have called down fire from heaven on the Samaritans, because on account of
their religious prejudices they would not receive him, he rebuked them for
the very thought. Secondly, he opposed them also, when, on seeing a man
casting out devils in his name, they forbad him, because he would not follow
them. Here," says he, reasoning upon the latter instance, "was at least a
dissenting Christian and a believer. But what did our Saviour say to all
this? He said, 'Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is with us.'
The prohibition then by the disciples was taken off by our Lord, and their
judgment was reversed." He considered it also to be the duty of Christians
to do as they would be done by. Now the Church of England complained
bitterly of the severities exercised by that of Rome upon poor Protestants in
France, and yet practiced them herself upon poor Protestants in England.
CC
He said,
!
OF WILLIAM PENN.
187
If there was also anything in Popery which the Church of England disliked
more than another, it was the violence of the former. She did not count
the Popish doctors conjurors for their transubstantiation, or dangerous to
the state for their beads and purgatory. It was the forcing others to their
faith, or ruining them for refusing it, which was the terrible thing she
apprehended; and yet she herself hanged, banished, and imprisoned, and
this even unto death. It was her duty, again, to avoid severity where it
would be useless. But what was the use of penal laws, but to show the
sincerity of those who suffered, and the cruelty of those who made them?
He showed next, that it was not the principle of the Church of England
to persecute. "That I may do,” says he, "the Reformation right, and the
principles of the Church of England justice, I must say, that hardly one
person of any note died in the time of Queen Mary, who did not pass sentence
upon persecution as antichristian, particularly Latimer, Philpot, Bradford,
and Rogers, who were very eminent Reformers. The Apologies which were
written in those times were in the same strain, as may be seen in Jewel,
Haddon, Reynolds, and others."-"But why need we go far back? Is it
not recent in memory, that Bishop Usher was employed on a mission to
Oliver Cromwell by some of the clergy of the Church of England for liberty
of conscience ?"He then appealed to the writings of Dr. Hammond, and,
after that, to the Sermons of Bishop Saunderson, from which he made
copious extracts, one of which I will insert:-"The Word of God," says
Bishop Saunderson, "doth expressly forbid us to subject our consciences to
the judgment of any other, or to usurp a dominion over the consciences of
any one." He then cited from the writings of Dr. Taylor, Bishop of Down,
no less than eight passages, among which I select the three following:-"I
am," says this learned prelate, "most of all displeased that men should be
persecuted and afflicted for their religious opinions. If I should tie another
man to believe my opinion, because I think I have a place of Scripture
which seems to warrant it to my understanding, why may not he serve up
another dish to me in the same dress, and exact the same task of me to
believe the contradictory ?"-" If a man never changes his opinion heartily
or resolutely but when he cannot do otherwise, then to use force may make
him an hypocrite, but never a right believer, and so, instead of erecting a
trophy to God, we build a monument for the Devil."" The experience
which Christendom has had in this last age is argument enough, that tole-
ration of differing opinions is so far from disturbing the public peace, or
destroying the interests of princes and commonwealths, that it does advantage
to the public. It secures peace, because there is not so much as the pretence
of religion left to such persons to contend for, it being already indulged to
them."Last of all, he brought together extracts from the Sermons of the
Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Stillingfleet, Dr. Tillotson, and others, in proof of
the same point; but I have, unfortunately, no room for their insertion.
He then went to his third point, namely, to show that it was the interest
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
of all parties, but more particularly of the Church of England, that the
penal laws and tests should be abolished. He appealed to the reigns of
Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, Queen Mary, and Charles the First,
and argued, from the circumstances of those times, in favour of the propo-
sition as now stated; but as his arguments were all of them suited to the
political state of the kingdom as it then existed, it would be unnecessary to
repeat them. It would be equally useless to repeat those which he advanced
to prove that it would be to the interest of Dissenters that these legal
penalties should be removed. I may observe then, that, when he had
finished these, he proceeded to the consideration of the late Royal Declaration,
and that he manfully defended it. He allowed, however, that if it were the
wish of a majority of the kingdom that the established religion, as it then
stood, should be the national one, it ought to be so. He allowed, also, that
if there must be an established national religion, he had rather that the
extraordinary power attached to it should be vested in the hands of the
Church of England* than in those of the Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, or
any Dissenting Church; yet he insisted upon toleration for all, even for
Roman Catholics, who did so dissent; and he advised the latter to be satisfied
with a bare toleration, seeing that the whole nation was against them. In
the concluding part of his work, after having stated that since the late
King's restoration above fifteen thousand families had been ruined, and more
than five thousand persons had died in bonds for matters of mere conscience to
God, he earnestly recommended to all parties, that if they could not agree
to meet in one common profession of religion, they would at least do all in
their power to promote one common civil interest, the great good of their
country, in which they were all equally concerned as subjects, and as living
in the same land.
Soou after the publication of this he brought out another work, which he
called "The Great and Popular Objection against the Repeal of the Penal
Laws Briefly Stated and Considered." This indeed might, from its con-
nexion and contents, be considered as a sort of supplement or second volume
to the former. I do not intend, however, to give any analysis of its contents,
because the arguments contained in it were directed against objections not
essential or permanent, but such as were local and temporary, and drawn
from the peculiar circumstances of the times.
With respect to his American concerns, which I am now to notice, it has
been stated that he had taken the executive part of the government from
the Provincial Council, and that he had lodged it in the hands of five Com-
missioners of State, of whom Thos. Lloyd was to be the President. It
appears that in the month of June he addressed a letter to these, one of the
first since that which conveyed to them their appointment, by which we see
under his own hand his reason for the change. "I found,” says he, “my
*This sentiment entirely coincides with his declaration to the Magdalen delegates,
as just stated, though they were so displeased with him.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
189
former Deputation clogged with a long and slow tale of persons rarely got
together, and then with unwillingness, and sometimes with reflections even
upon me for their pains of hearing one letter read." He instructed the
Commissioners to revive the Custom Act, as the most equal and least
offensive way of supporting the government. He reminded them also of
their new appointment, and among many other excellent suggestions for
their conduct gave them the following advice:-"Be diligent, faithful,
loving, and communicate one with another in things that concern the public.
-Draw not several ways: have no cabals apart, nor reserves from one
another: treat with a mutual simplicity, an entire confidence in one another;
and if at any time you mistake, or misapprehend, or dissent from one another,
let not that appear to the people. Show your virtues, but conceal your
infirmities. This will make you awful and reverent with the latter. Justice,
mercy, temperance of spirit, are high qualities, and necessary ones in govern-
ment. I beseech God to fit you for his work more and more, by whom all
governors and people in authority ought to be influenced in their admi-
nistration of temporal things committed to their care.”
It does not appear that, even so late as December in this year, he had
received any accounts from America, which gave him reason to think that
matters were going on better there than before; for, in a letter which he
wrote to the Commissioners, dated in that month from Holland House, we
find the old topics of complaint relative to neglect in writing to him, and in
collecting his quit-rents, revived.
"I am heartily sorry," says he, "that I had no letter from the government.
Indeed I have hardly had one at all; and for private letters, though from
public persons, I regard them but little-I mean as to taking my public
measures by; for I find such contradictions, as well as diversity, that I
believe I may say I am one of the unhappiest proprietors with one of the best
of people. If this had not been complained of in mine by Edward Blackfan,
I should have been less moved at this visible incomplacency and neglect.
Had the government signed-I mean those who are most eminent in
authority-by consent of the rest, it had given me some ease and satisfaction;
but as it is, 'tis controversy rather than government; for government stands,
and lives, and prospers in unity, at least of the governing part, whatever be
their affections; for men may agree in duty who dislike one another's natural
tempers.I shall henceforth, therefore, expect letters from the govern-
ment, recounting the affairs of it, that they may be authoritative to me, and
as many private ones as you please besides.
"I wrote to you about my quit-rents. I am forced to pay bills here to
supply my family there, while I have five hundred pounds per annum in
quit-rents there. You may remember the Votes of Council to pay my
charges in this expedition. I could draw a large sum on the Provincial
Council in this respect. I am sure I need it, but have forborne, though it is
none of the endearingest considerations that I have not had the present of
1
190
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
.
a skin or a pound of tobacco since I came over; though they are like to
have the most advantage by it, and though they promised me so much."
He was also grieved, as appears by another of his letters, with the intended
resignation of President Lloyd, who was a very honourable and upright
man, and who was probably not satisfied with the conduct of his colleagues.
"I am sorry," says he, "that my esteemed friend covets a quietus, who is
young, active, and ingenious. From such it is that I expect help; and such
will not sow, I hope, in vain.”
It appears also, by a letter which he wrote to his agent, James Harrison,
that the only reason of his stay in England was, that he might consummate
the great object for which he had gone thither. He wished to see the
"establishment of the liberty which he was a small instrument to begin in
the land. The Lord," says he, "has given me great entrance and interest
with the King, though not so much as is said; and I confess I should rejoice
to see poor old England fixed, and the penal laws repealed, that are now
suspended; and if it goes well with England, it cannot go ill with Pennsyl-
vania. But this I will say, no temporal honour or profit can tempt me to
decline poor Pennsylvania, as unkindly used as I am; and no poor slave in
Turkey desires more earnestly, I believe, for deliverance, than I do to be
with you: wherefore be contented awhile, and God in his time will bring us
together."
CHAPTER XXIV.
A. 1688.- INTRODUCES GILBERT LATEY TO THE KING-BECOMES
VERY UNPOPULAR-REPUTED CAUSES OF IT-BEAUTIFUL LETTER
WRITTEN TO HIM BY MR. POPPLE ON THIS ACCOUNT-HIS ANSWER
TO THE SAME-IS ARRESTED (KING WILLIAM HAVING COME TO THE
THRONE) AND BROUGHT BEFORE THE LORDS OF COUNCIL-AND
EXAMINED-AND MADE TO GIVE BAIL FOR HIS APPEARANCE –
AFFAIRS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
WILLIAM PENN staid in England only for the purpose of seeing religious
liberty established by a law of the land. Of course he was a frequent
attendant at Whitehall. Going there one day in company with George
Whitehead they met Gilbert Latey, an experienced minister of the society.
They asked him if he would go with them and wait upon the King. "Gilbert
paused for a while, and as he thus stood silent, it opened in his heart what
he should say to the King; whereupon he told the Friends that he was
ready to go with them; and accordingly they went, and had admittance
into the King's presence, there being only one other person present besides
the King and his Friends. George Whitehead and William Penn having
OF WILLIAM PENN.
191
<
spoken what they had to say, the King was pleased to ask Gilbert, whether
he had not something to say, upon which he in a great deal of humility
spake in the manner following: The mercy, favour, and kindness which the
King hath extended to us as a people in the time of our exercise and sore
distress, we humbly acknowledge; and I truly desire that God may show
him mercy and favour in the time of his trouble and sore distress.' To which
the King replied, 'I thank you;' and so at that time they parted. But
what was then spoken by Gilbert lived with the King, who, some time after,
when he was in Ireland, desired a Friend to remember him to Gilbert.
'Tell him,' said the King, the words he spake to me I shall never forget,'
adding that one part of them had come true (the Revolution and sore distress
thereby), and that he prayed to God that the other might come to pas.
Upon this Gilbert caused it to be signified to him, that the second part of
what he had said was also in a great measure come to pass, for that the
Lord had given him his life" (alluding to the battle of the Boyne). I mention
this as a curious anecdote of the constitution of the King's mind, he having
viewed the words spoken by Gilbert Latey in a prophetic light.
C
In the month of April the King renewed his Declaration for liberty of
conscience, with this addition, that he would adhere firmly to it, and that he
would put none into public employments but such as would concur with him
in maintaining it. He also promised that he would hold a Parliament in
the November following. This was what William Penn desired. He wished
the King to continue firm to his purpose; but he knew that neither tests
nor penalties could be legally removed without the consent of Parliament.
He rejoiced therefore that the Parliament were to be consulted on the
measure; for he indulged a hope, that the substance of the Royal Declara-
tion would be confirmed by both houses, and thus pass into a law of the
land.
At the time when this Declaration was renewed, an Order of Council
came out, that it should be read in the churches within the ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of the kingdom. Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, and six
other bishops, namely, St. Asaph, Ely, Bath and Wells, Peterborough,
Chichester, and Bristol, presented a petition to the King in behalf of them-
selves and several other bishops, and a great body of the clergy, in which
they laid before him the reasons why they had opposed the reading of the
Declaration in the churches, as the Order in Council had prescribed. They
intended, they said, no disrespect to his Majesty, nor did they breathe any
spirit of hostility towards the Dissenters; but the Declaration being founded
on a dispensing power, which had been declared illegal no less than three
times in eight years, they could not become parties to it by giving it the
extraordinary publicity required. The King having heard the petition, of
which this was the substance, took time to deliberate upon it; after which
the seven bishops were sent to the Tower. In process of time they were
brought to trial, and they were acquitted among the plaudits of the nation.
192
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
After this event William Penn became more unpopular than ever. It had
transpired, probably by means of Burnet, that he had been employed by the
King on the embassy to the Hague to obtain the Prince of Orange's consent,
not only to a toleration, but to the removal of tests. It had been suspected
that he was the mover of the Royal Proclamation in 1686, and of the
Declaration in 1687. It had become known, though he had concealed his
name, that he was the author of "Good Advice to the Church of England,
and Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters." It was therefore now
taken for granted, that he had a hand in the imprisonment of the Bishops,
though he had never any concern,
any concern, on any occasion, in the recom-
mendation of force. The consequence was, that he became very odious to the
Church. The Dissenters too, whose very cause he had been pleading, turned
against him. Considering his intimacy with James the Second, they judged
him to be a creature of the same stamp, and to have the like projects and
pursuits. Now it happened that the King had made this year a more open
acknowledgment of Popery than ever. He had permitted the Jesuits to
erect a College in the Savoy in London, and suffered the friars to go publicly
in the dress of their monastical orders, which was a strange sight to Pro-
testants. He had permitted also the Pope's Nuncio D'Ada to make his
public entry into Windsor in great state. He was therefore most openly a
Catholic. Hence they considered William Penn to be of the same religious
persuasion. But they carried the matter still further; for, believing that the
King, when he wished to establish a toleration and to abolish tests, had no
other motive than that of protecting the Roman Catholic religion, and thus
giving it an opportunity to flourish, they attached to William Penn the
same motive in his furtherance and defence of the measure. From this time
the names of Papist and Jesuit were revived with double fury. It was added,
that he was disaffected to the free part of the constitution, and a friend to
arbitrary power.
The clamour, indeed, was so great against him, being
spread both by Dissenters and the Church, that several, who had not the
courage to go against the spirit of the times, avoided his acquaintance.
Others, who were of a firmer texture, and who valued him from what they
knew of his worth and character, did not follow the stream; but, either to
exculpate themselves for not doing so, or to try if possible to recover his
expiring reputation, required of him, as Dr. Tillotson had done before, a
Voucher from his own hand, that there was no ground for those epithets
which the public had fixed upon him. Among these was Mr. Popple,* who
was the intimate friend both of him and of John Locke. His letter to this
purpose was friendly, modest, and respectful, yet firm and manly. It dis-
covered great good sense, and a liberal and highly cultivated mind. As a
composition it was masterly, with respect to words, sentences, and argu-
ments, as will be seen from the following copy of its contents:-
*This gentleman was Secretary to the Lords Commissioners for the Affairs of
Trade and Plantations.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
193
To the IIonourable William Penn, Esq., Proprietor and Governor of
Pennsylvania.
"HONOURED SIR-Though the friendship with which you are pleased to
honour me doth afford me sufficient opportunities of discoursing with you
upon any subject, yet I choose rather at this time to offer unto you in
writing some reflections which have occurred to my thoughts in a matter of
no common importance. The importance of it doth primarily and directly
respect yourself, and your own private concernments; but it also conse-
quently and effectually regards the King, his government, and even the
peace and settlement of this whole nation. I entreat you therefore to bear
with me, if I endeavour in this manner to give somewhat more weight unto
my words than would be in a transient discourse, and leave them with you
as a subject that requires your retired consideration.
"You are not ignorant that the part you have been supposed to have had
of late years in public affairs, though without either the title, or honour, or
profit of any public office, and that especially your avowed endeavours to
introduce among us a general and inviolable liberty of conscience in matters
of mere religion, have occasioned the mistakes of some men, provoked the
malice of others, and in the end have raised against you a multitude of
enemies, who have unworthily defamed you with such imputations as I am
sure you abhor. This I know you have been sufficiently informed of, though
I doubt you have not made sufficient reflection upon it. The consciousness
of your own innocence seems to me to have given you too great a contempt
of such unjust and ill-grounded slanders; for, however glorious it is and
reasonable for a truly virtuous mind, whose inward peace is founded upon
that rock of innocence, to despise the empty noise of popular reproach, yet
even that sublimity of spirit may sometimes swell to a reprovable excess.
To be steady and immoveable in the prosecution of wise and honest reso-
lutions, by all honest and prudent means, is indeed a duty that admits of no
exception; but nevertheless it ought not to hinder that, at the same time
there be also a due care taken of preserving a fair reputation.
'A good
name,' says the Wise Man, 'is better than precious ointment.' It is a
perfume that recommends the person whom it accompanies, that procures
him everywhere an easy acceptance, and that facilitates the success of all his
enterprises; and for that reason, though there were no other, I entreat you,
observe, that the care of a man's reputation is an essential part of that very
same duty that engages him in the pursuit of any worthy design.
"But I must not entertain you with a declamation upon this general
theme. My business is to represent to you more particularly those very
imputations which are cast upon yourself, together with some of their
evident consequences; that, if possible, I may thereby move you to labour
after a remedy. The source of all arises from the ordinary access you have
unto the King, the credit you are supposed to have with him, and the deep
jealousy that some people have conceived of his intentions in reference to
K
194
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
$
religion. Their jealousy is, that his aim has been to settle Popery in this
nation, not only in a fair and secure liberty, but even in a predominating
superiority over all other professions; and from hence the inference follows,
that whosoever has any part in the councils of this reign must needs be
popishly affected; but that to have had so great a part in them as you are
said to have had can happen to none but an absolute Papist. That is the
direct charge: but that is not enough; your post is too considerable for a
Papist of an ordinary form, and therefore you must be a Jesuit: nay, to
confirm that suggestion, it must be accompanied with all the circumstances
that may best give it an air of probability; as, that you have been bred at
St. Omer's in the Jesuits' College; that you have taken orders at Rome, and
there obtained a dispensation to marry; and that you have since then fre-
quently officiated as a priest in the celebration of the mass at Whitehall, St.
James's, and other places. And this being admitted, nothing can be too
black to be cast upon you. Whatsoever is thought amiss either in Church
or State, though never so contrary to your advice, is boldly attributed to it;
and, if other proofs fail, the Scripture itself must be brought in to confirm.
That whosoever offends in one point (in a point especially so essential as
that of our too much affected uniformity) is guilty of the breach of all our
laws.' Thus the charge of Popery draws after it a tail like the et cætera
oath, and by endless inuendos prejudicates you as guilty of whatsoever malice
can invent, or folly believe. But that charge, therefore, being removed, the
inferences that are drawn from it will vanish, and your reputation will
easily return to its former brightness.
"Now, that I might the more effectually persuade you to apply some
remedy to this disease, I beseech you, sir, suffer me to lay before you some
of its pernicious consequences. It is not a trifling matter for a person,
raised as you are above the common level, to lie under the prejudice of so
general a mistake in so important a matter. The general and long preva-
lency of any opinion gives it a strength, especially among the vulgar, that is
not easily shaken. And as it happens that you have also enemies of a
higher rank, who will be ready to improve such popular mistakes by all sorts
of malicious artifices, it must be taken for granted that those errors will be
thereby still more confirmed, and the inconveniences that may arise from
thence no less increased. This, sir, I assure you, is a melancholy prospect
to your friends; for we know you have such enemies. The design of so
universal a liberty of conscience, as your principles have led you to promote,
has offended many of those whose interest it is to cross it. I need not tell
you how many and how powerful they are; nor can I tell you either how
far, or by what ways and means, they may endeavour to execute their
revenge. But this, however, I must needs tell you that, in your present
circumstances, there is sufficient ground for so much jealousy at least as
ought to excite you to use the precaution of some public vindication. This
the tenderness of friendship prompts your friends to desire of you; and this
!
OF WILLIAM PENN.
195
the just sense of your honour, which true religion does not extinguish,
requires you to execute.
"Pardon, I entreat you, sir, the earnestness of these expressions; nay,
suffer me, without offence, to expostulate with you yet a little further. I
am fearful lest these personal considerations should not have their due
weight with you, and therefore I cannot omit to reflect also upon some
more general consequences of your particular reproach. I have said it
already, that the King, his honour, his government, and even the peace and
settlement of this whole nation, either are or have been concerned in this
matter: your reputation, as you are said to have meddled in public affairs,
has been of public concernment. The promoting a general liberty of con-
science having been your particular province, the aspersion of Popery and
Jesuitism, that has been cast upon you, has reflected upon his Majesty, for
having made use, in that affair, of so disguised a personage as you are
supposed to have been. It has weakened the force of your endeavours,
obstructed their effect, and contributed greatly to disappoint this poor nation
of that inestimable happiness, and secure establishment, which I am per-
suaded you designed, and which all good and wise men agree that a just and
inviolable liberty of conscience would infallibly produce. I heartily wish
this consideration had been sooner laid to heart, and that some demon-
atrative evidence of your sincerity in the profession you make had accom-
panied all your endeavours for liberty.
"But what do I say, or what do I wish for? I confess that I am now
struck with astonishment at that abundant evidence which I know you have
constantly given of the opposition of your principles to those of the Romish
church, and at the little regard there has been had to it. If an open pro-
fession of the directest opposition against Popery that has ever appeared in
the world, since Popery was first distinguished from common Christianity,
would serve the turn, this cannot be denied to all those of that society with
which you are joined in the duties of religious worship. If to have main-
tained the principles of that society by frequent and fervent discourses, by
many elaborate writings, by suffering ignominy, imprisonment, and other
manifold disadvantages, in defence thereof, can be admitted as any proof of
your sincere adherence thereunto; this, it is evident to the world, you have
done already. Nay, further: if to have inquired, as far as was possible for
you, into the particular stories that have been framed against you, and to
have sought all means of rectifying the mistakes upon which they were
grounded, could in any measure avail to the setting a true character of you
in men's judgments, this also I know you have done. For I have seen,
under the hand of a reverend dean of our English church (Dr. Tillotson), a
full acknowledgment of satisfaction received from you in a suspicion he had
entertained upon one of those stories, and to which his report had procured
too great credit. And though I know you are averse to the publishing of
his letter without his express leave, and perhaps may not now think fit to
196
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
ask it; yet I am so thoroughly assured of his sincerity and candour, that I
cannot doubt but he has already vindicated you in that matter, and will
(according to his promise) be still ready to do it upon all occasions. Nay, I
have seen also your justification from another calumny of common fame,
about your having kidnapped one, who had been formerly a monk, out of
your American province, to deliver him here into the hands of his enemies ;
I say, I have seen your justification from that story under that person's own
hand; and his return to Pennsylvania, where he now resides, may be an
irrefragable confutation of it to any that will take the pains to inquire
thereinto.
46
Really it afflicts me very much to consider that all this does not suffice.
If I had not that particular respect for you which I sincerely profess, yet I
could not but be much affected, that any man, who had deservedly acquired
so fair a reputation as you have formerly had, whose integrity and veracity
had always been reputed spotless, and whose charity had been continually
exercised in serving others, at the dear expense of his time, his strength,
and his estate, without any other recompense than what results from the
consciousness of doing good: I say, I could not but be much affected, to see
any such person fall innocently and undeservedly under such unjust re-
proaches as you have done. It is a hard case; and I think no man
that has any bowels of humanity can reflect upon it without great
relentings.
"Since, therefore, it is so, and that something remains yet to be done-
something more express, and especially more public, than has yet been done
-for your vindication; I beg of you, dear sir, by all the tender efficacy
that friendship, either mine or that of your friends and relations together,
can have upon you; by the due regard which humanity, and even Chris-
tianity, obliges you to have to your reputation; by the duty you owe unto
the King; by your love to the land of your nativity; and by the cause of
universal religion, and eternal truth; let not the scandal of insincerity,
that I have hinted at, lie any longer upon you; but let the sense of all
these obligations persuade you to gratify your friends and relations, and to
serve your King, your country, and your religion, by such a public vindi-
cation of your honour, as your own prudence, upon these suggestions, will
now show you to be most necessary and most expedient.-I am, with un-
feigned and most respectful affection, honoured sir, your most humble and
most obedient servant,
"WILLIAM POPPLE."
William Penn was at Teddington, near London, when this letter reached
him. It was dated the twentieth of October, and on the twenty-fourth
he answered it. His answer, which I shall now give to the reader, seems
to have been more finished than most of his compositions of the same sort ;
and affords a proof that, however high others might rise in their style,
diction, and the manner of their argument, in those letters which they
OF WILLIAM PENN.
197
addressed to him, he also was able, when there was sufficient ground of
incitement, to attain an equal height:-
"WORTHY FRIEND-It is now above twenty years, I thank God, that I
have not been very solicitous what the world thought of me: for, since I
have had the knowledge of religion from a principle in myself, the first
and main point with me has been to approve myself in the sight of God
through patience and well-doing so that the world has not had weight
enough with me to suffer its good opinion to raise me, or its ill opinion to
deject me. And if that had been the only motive or consideration, and not
the desire of a good friend in the name of many others, I had been as silent
to thy letter as I use to be to the idle and malicious shams of the times:
but, as the laws of friendship are sacred with those that value that relation,
so I confess this to be a principal one with me, not to deny a friend the
satisfaction he desires, when it may be done without offence to a good
conscience.
"The business chiefly insisted upon is my Popery, and endeavours to
promote it. I do say, then, and that with all sincerity, that I am not only
no Jesuit, but no Papist; and, which is more, I never had any temptation
upon me to be it, either from doubts in my own mind about the way I
profess, or from the discourses or writings of any of that religion. And, in
the presence of Almighty God, I do declare, that the King did never once,
directly or indirectly, attack me, or tempt me, upon that subject, the many
years that I have had the advantage of a free access to him; so unjust, as
well as sordidly false, are all those stories of the town.
"The only reason, that I can apprehend, they have to repute me a
Roman Catholic, is, my frequent going to Whitehall, a place no more
forbid to me than to the rest of the world, who yet, it seems, find much fairer
quarter. I have almost continually had one business or other there for our
Friends, whom I ever served with a steady solicitation through all times
since I was of their communion. I had also a great many personal good
offices to do, upon a principle of charity, for people of all persuasions,
thinking it a duty to improve the little interest I had for the good of those
that needed it, especially the poor. I might add something of my own
affairs too, though I must own (if I may without vanity) that they have ever
had the least share of my thoughts or pains, or else they would not have
still depended as they yet do.
"But because some people are so unjust as to render instances for my
Popery (or rather hypocrisy, for so it would be in me), 'tis fit I contradict
them as particularly as they accuse me. I say, then, solemnly, that I am
so far from having been bred at St. Omer's, and having received orders at
Rome, that I never was at either place, nor do I know anybody there; nor
*He means the spirit in man, which is illuminated by the Spirit of God, so that
the more the former bows itself for instruction to the latter, the more the man
advances, both inwardly and outwardly, to a holy life.
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
had I ever a correspondence with anybody in those places: which is another
story invented against me. And, as for my officiating in the King's chapel,
or any other, it is so ridiculous as well as untrue, that, besides that nobody
can do it but a priest, and that I have been married to a woman of some
condition above sixteen years (which no priest can be by any dispensation
whatever), I have not so much as looked into any chapel of the Roman
religion, and, consequently, not the King's, though a common curiosity
warrants it daily to people of all persuasions.
*C
And, once for all, I do say that I am a Protestant Dissenter, and to that
degree such, that I challenge the most celebrated Protestant of the English
Church, or any other, on that head, be he layman or clergyman, in public
or in private. For I would have such people know, 'tis not impossible for a
true Protestant Dissenter to be dutiful, thankful, and serviceable to the
King, though he be of the Roman Catholic communion. We hold not our
property or protection from him by our persuasion, and, therefore, his per-
suasion should not be the measure of our allegiance. I am sorry to see so
many, that seem fond of the reformed religion by their disaffection to him,
recommend it so ill. Whatever practices of Roman Catholics we might
reasonably object against (and no doubt but such there are), yet he has
disclaimed and reprehended those ill things by his declared opinion against
persecution, by the ease in which he actually indulges all Dissenters, and by
the confirmation he offers in Parliament for the security of the Protestant
religion and liberty of conscience. And, in his honour, as well as in my
own defence, I am obliged in conscience to say, that he has ever declared
to me it was his opinion; and on all occasions, when Duke, he never
refused me the repeated proofs of it, as often as I had any poor sufferers for
conscience sake to solicit his help for.
"But some may be apt to say, 'Why not anybody else as well as I?
Why must I have the preferable access to other Dissenters, if not a Papist ?'
I answer, I know not that it is so. But this I know, that I have made
it my province and business; I have followed and prest it; I took it for my
calling and station, and have kept it above these sixteen years; and, which
is more (if I may say it without vanity or reproach), wholly at my own charges
too. To this let me add the relation my father had to this King's service,
his particular favour in getting me released out of the Tower of London, in
1669, my father's humble request to him upon his death-bed to protect me
from the inconveniences and troubles my persuasion might expose me to,
and his friendly promise to do it, and exact performance of it from the
moment I addressed myself to him; I say, when all this is considered,
anybody, that has the least pretence to good nature, gratitude, or generosity,
must needs know how to interpret my access to the King. Perhaps some
will be ready to say, 'This is not all, nor is this yet a fault; but that I
have been an adviser in other matters disgustful to the kingdom, and which
tend to overthrow the Protestant religion and the liberties of the people.

OF WILLIAM PENN.
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-A likely thing, indeed, that a Protestant Dissenter, who from fifteen
years old has been (at times) a sufferer in his father's family, in the
University, and by the government, for being so, should design the destruc-
tion of the Protestant religion! This is just as probable as it is true that I
died a Jesuit six years ago in America.- -Will men still suffer such stuff
to pass upon them?Is any thing more foolish, as well as false, than
that because I am often at Whitehall, therefore I must be the author of all
that is done there that does not please abroad?-But, supposing some
such things to have been done, pray tell me, if I am bound to oppose any
thing that I am not called to do? I never was a member of council,
cabinet, or committee, where the affairs of the kingdom are transacted. I
have had no office, or trust, and, consequently, nothing can be said to be
done by me; nor, for that reason, could I lie under any test or obligation
to discover my opinion of public acts of state; and, therefore, neither can
any such acts, or my silence about them, in justice be made my crime.
Volunteers are blanks and cyphers in all governments. And, unless calling
at Whitehall once a day, upon many occasions, or my not being turned out
of nothing (for that no office is), be the evidence of my compliance in dis-
agreeable things, I know not what else can, with any truth, be alleged
against me. However, one thing I know, that I have everywhere most
religiously observed, and endeavoured, in conversation with persons of all
ranks and opinions, to allay heats, and moderate extremes, even in the
politics. It is below me to be more particular; but I am sure it has been
my endeavour, that if we could not all meet upon a religious bottom, at
least we might upon a civil one, the good of England, which is the common
interest of King and people; that he might be great by justice, and we free
by obedience; distinguishing rightly, on the one hand, between duty and
slavery; and, on the other, between liberty and licentiousness.
'But, alas! I am not without my apprehensions of the cause of this
behaviour towards me, and in this I perceive we agree-I mean my constant
zeal for an impartial liberty of conscience. But if that be it, the cause is
too good to be in pain about. I ever understood that to be the natural
right of all men; and that he that had a religion without it, his religion
was none of his own. For what is not the religion of a man's choice is the
religion of him that imposes it: so that liberty of conscience is the first step
to have a religion. This is no new opinion with me.
I have writ many
apologies within the last twenty years to defend it, and that impartially.
Yet I have as constantly declared that bounds ought to be set to this
freedom, and that morality was the best; and that as often as that was
violated, under a pretence of conscience, it was fit the civil power should
take place. Nor did I ever think of promoting any sort of liberty of con-
science for anybody, which did not preserve the common Protestancy of the
kingdom, and the ancient rights of the government: for, to say truth, the
one cannot be maintained without the other.
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Upon the whole matter, I must say, I love England; I ever did so; and
that I am not in her debt. I never valued time, money, or kindred, to
serve her and do her good. No party could ever bias me to her prejudice,
nor any personal interest oblige me in her wrong: for I always abhorred
discounting private favours at the public cost.
“Would I have made my market of the fears and jealousies of the people,
when this King came to the crown, I had put twenty thousand pounds into
my pocket, and an hundred thousand into my Province; for mighty numbers
of people were then upon the wing: but I waived it all; hoped for better
times; expected the effects of the King's word for liberty of conscience, and
happiness by it: and, till I saw my friends, with the kingdom, delivered
from the legal bondage which penal laws for religion had subjected them to,
I could with no satisfaction think of leaving England, though much to my
prejudice beyond sea, and at my great expense here, having in all this time
never had either office or pension, and always refusing the rewards or
gratuities of those I have been able to oblige.
"If, therefore, an universal charity-if the asserting an impartial liberty
of conscience-if doing to others as we would be done by, and an open
avowing and steady practising of these things, in all times, and to all
parties, will justly lay a man under the reflection of being a Jesuit, or Papist
of any rank, I must not only submit to the character, but embrace it too;
and I care not who knows, that I can wear it with more pleasure than it is
possible for them, with any justice, to give it me. For these are corner-
stones and principles with me; and I am scandalised at all buildings which
have them not for their foundations. For religion itself is an empty name
without them—a whited wall, a painted sepulchre, no life or virtue to the
soul, no good or example to one's neighbour. Let us not flatter ourselves ;
we can never be the better for our religion, if our neighbour be the worse for
it. Our fault is, we are apt to be mighty hot upon speculative errors, and
break all bounds in our resentments; but we let practical ones pass without
remark, if not without repentance: as if a mistake about an obscure pro-
position of faith were a greater evil than the breach of an undoubted
precept. Such a religion the devils themselves are not without; for they
have both faith and knowledge: but their faith doth not work by love, nor
their knowledge by obedience. And, if this be their judgment, can it be our
blessing? Let us not, then, think religion a litigious thing, nor that Christ
came only to make us good disputants, but that he came also to make us
good livers: sincerity goes further than capacity. It is charity that de-
servedly excels in the Christian religion; and, happy would it be if, where
unity ends, charity did begin, instead of envy and railing, that almost ever
follow. It appears to me to be the way that God has found out and
appointed to moderate our differences, and make them, at least, harmless
to society; and, therefore, I confess, I dare not aggravate them to wrath
and blood. Our disagreement lies in our apprehension or belief of things;
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201
and, if the common enemy of mankind had not the governing of our
affections and passions, that disagreement would not prove such a canker, as
it is, to love and peace, in civil societies.
"He that suffers his difference with his neighbour, about the other world,
to carry him beyond the line of moderation in this, is the worse for his
opinion, even though it be true. It is too little considered by Christians,
that men may hold the truth in unrighteousness; that they may be orthodox,
and not know what spirit they are of. So were the Apostles of our Lord:
they believed in him, yet let a false zeal do violence to their judgment,
and their unwarrantable heat contradict the great end of their Saviour's
coming, love.
"Men may be angry for God's sake, and kill people too. Christ said it,
and too many have practised it. But what sort of Christians must they be,
I pray, that can hate in his name who bids us love, and kill for his sake,
that forbids killing, and commands love, even to enemies?
"Let not men, or parties, think to shift it off from themselves. It is not
this principle, or that form, to which so great a defection is owing, but a
degeneracy of mind from God. Christianity is not at heart; no fear of God
in the inward parts; no awe of his Divine omnipresence. Self prevails,
and breaks out, more or less, through all forms, but too plainly (pride,
wrath, lust, avarice), so that, though people say to God, Thy will be done,
they do their own; which shows them to be true heathens, under a mask of
Christianity, that believe without works, and repent without forsaking;
busy for forms, and the temporal benefits of them; while true religion,
which is to visit the fatherless and the widow, and to keep ourselves un-
spotted from the world, goes barefoot, and, like Lazarus, is despised. Yet,
this was the definition the Holy Ghost gave of religion, before synods and
councils had the meddling with it and modelling of it. In those days bowels
were a good part of religion, and that to the fatherless and widow at large.
We can hardly now extend them to those of our own way. It was said by
him that could not say amiss, Because iniquity abounds, the love of many
waxeth cold.' Whatsoever divides man's heart from God separates it
from his neighbour; and he that loves self more than God can never love
his neighbour as himself. For,' as the Apostle said, 'if we do not love
him whom we have seen, how can we love God, whom we have not
seen?'
C
C
"O that we could see some men as eager to turn people to God as they
are to blow them up, and set them one against another! But, indeed,
those only can have that pure and pious zeal, who are themselves turned to
God, and have tasted the sweetness of that conversion, which is to power,
and not to form; to godliness, and not to gain. Such as those do bend
their thoughts and pains to appease, not increase heats and animosities; to
exhort people to look at home, sweep their own houses, and weed their own
gardens. And in no age or time was there more need to set men at work in
Vor M
...
K 2
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their own hearts than this we live in, when so busy, wandering, licentious
a spirit prevails; for, whatever some men may think, the disease of this
kingdom is sin, impiety against God, and want of charity to men. And,
while this guilt is at our door, judgment cannot be far off.
"Now this being the disease, I will briefly offer two things for the cure
of it:
"The first is David's clean heart and right spirit, which he asked and
had of God: without this we must be a chaos still for the distemper is
within; and our Lord said, all evil comes from thence. Set the inward man
right, and the outward man cannot be wrong; that is the helm that governs
the human vessel; and this nothing can do but an inward principle, the
light and grace that came by Christ, which, the Scripture tells us, enlightens
every one, and hath appeared to all men. It is preposterous to think that he,
who made the world, should show least care of the best part of it, our souls.
No: he that gave us an outward luminary for our bodies, hath given us an
inward one for our minds to act by. We have it; and it is our condemna-
tion that we do not love it; and bring our deeds to it. 'Tis by this we see
our sins, are made sensible of them, sorry for them, and finally forsake
them. And he that thinks to go to heaven a nearer way, will, I fear, belate
his soul, and be irrevocably mistaken. There are but goats and sheep at
last, whatever shapes we wear here. Let us not, therefore, dear friend,
deceive ourselves. Our souls are at stake; God will not be mocked; what
we sow we must expect to reap. There is no repentance in the grave; which
shows that, if none there, then no where else. To sum up this divinity of
mine: It is the light of Jesus in our souls that gives us a true sight of
ourselves, and that sight that leads us to repentance; which repentance
begets humility, and humility that true charity that covers a multitude of
faults, which I call God's expedient against man's infirmity.
"The second remedy to our present distemper is this: Since all of all
parties profess to believe in God, Christ, the Spirit, and Scripture; that
the soul is immortal; that there are eternal rewards and punishments;
and that the virtuous shall receive the one, and the wicked suffer the other:
I say, since this is the common faith of Christendom, let us all resolve in the
strength of God to live up to what we agree in, before we fall out so
miserably about the rest in which we differ. I am persuaded, the change
and comfort, which that pious course would bring us to, would go very far
to dispose our natures to compound easily for all the rest, and we might
hope yet to see happy days in poor England, for there I would have so
good a work begun. And how it is possible for the eminent men of every
religious persuasion (especially the present ministers of the parishes of
England) to think of giving an account to God at the last day, without
using the utmost of their endeavours to moderate the members of their
respective communions towards those that differ from them, is a mystery to
me. But this I know, and must lay it at their doors; I charge also my own
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203
soul with it; God requires moderation and humility from us; for he is at
hand, who will not spare to judge our impatience, if we have no patience
for one another. The eternal God rebuke (I beseech him) the wrath of man,
and humble all under the sense of the evil of this day; and yet (unworthy
as we are) give us peace for his holy name's sake.
"It is now time to end this letter, and I will now do it without saying
any more than this: Thou seest my defence against popular calumny; thou
seest what my thoughts are of our condition, and the way to better it; and
thou seest my hearty and humble prayer to Almighty God to incline us to
be wise, if it were but for our own sakes. I shall only add, that I am
extremely sensible of the kindness and justice intended me by my friends on
this occasion, and that I am for that, and many more reasons, thy obliged
and affectionate Friend,
"WILLIAM PENN."
Officers and men,
In about a fortnight after the writing of this letter, the nation being in a
ferment on account of the arbitrary proceedings of James the Second,
William, Prince of Orange, landed at Torbay. He was received there with
open arms, as well as afterwards by the country at large.
abandoning their former banners, deserted to serve under him. The
national discontent indeed was such, that James found it necessary to leave
the kingdom and to retire to France. In process of time, as is well known,
the Prince of Orange and his Consort were advanced to the sovereignty of
the realm.
The state of mind, which William Penn must have experienced on this
sudden turn of things, may be imagined. He lost, by the flight of the
King, one who, with all his political failings, had been his firm friend. But
he lost (what most deeply afflicted him) the great patron, on whom he
counted for the support of that plan of religious toleration, for which chiefly
he had abandoned his infant settlement in America, at a time when his
presence was of great importance to its well-being. Neither had he any
prospect that all he had laboured for or brought about would not, on account
of the prejudices of the times, be utterly undone. Fallen, too, from power,
and from the protection which power gave him, he was left exposed to the
popular indignation as a Papist and Jesuit, and as one who had aimed to
establish Popery and arbitrary power in the kingdom.
To return to America, though she presented to him a peaceful asylum, he
dared not, for that would have led persons to conclude that he had been
guilty of what had been laid to his charge. To stay in England was
dangerous. Conscious, however, of his own innocence, he resolved to
remain where he was, and to go at large as before, following those occu-
pations by which he thought he could best promote the good of his fellow-
creatures.
But it was not long after this determination before he felt the effect of
the political change which had taken place; for, on the tenth of December,
walking in Whitehall, he was sent for by the Lords of the Council, who
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were then sitting. Here he underwent an examination. In reply to some
questions which were put to him, he protested, that "he had done nothing
but what he could answer before God, and all the princes in the world; that
he loved his country and the Protestant religion above his life, and had
never acted against either; that all he had ever aimed at in his public
endeavours was no other than what the Prince himself had declared for;
that King James had always been his friend, and his father's friend; and
that, in gratitude, he himself was the King's, and did ever, as much as in
him lay, influence him to his true interest." Notwithstanding this manly
and open declaration, and that nothing appeared against him, the Council
obliged him to give security for his appearance the first day of the next
term. Having complied with their mandate, he was discharged.
With respect to America, things did not go on to his satisfaction there,
for he determined upon another change in the government by reducing the
Executive to three persons. Instead of five Commissioners it was to consist
of a Deputy Governor and two assistants. This arrangement he communi-
cated by letter to President Lloyd, who had before signified his intention of
resigning his office, in which he offered him the Deputy Governorship.
Now, though I have," says he in this letter, "to please thee, given thee a
quietus from all public business, my intention is to constitute thee Deputy
Governor, and two in the character of assistants, either of whom and thyself
to be able to do all as fully as I myself can do: only I wait thy consent to
the employment, of which advise me.”
President Lloyd, still persisting in his resignation, William Penn was
obliged to look out for another person, and, in the course of his inquiries,
fixed upon Captain John Blackwell. He, therefore, notified this appoint-
ment to the commissioners. In his letter to them he states that, when he
determined upon this change, it "was not because he was dissatisfied with
their care or service." He then adverted to the character of Blackwell:
"For your ease I have appointed one that is not a Friend, but a grave,
sober, wise man, to be Governor in my absence. He married old General
Lambert's daughter; was Treasurer to the Commonwealth's army in
England, Scotland, and Ireland: I suppose, independent in judgment.
Let him see what he can do awhile. I have ordered him to confer in private
with you, and square himself by your advice. If he do not please you, he
shall be laid aside. I desire you to receive him with kindness, and let him
see it, and use his not being a Friend to Friends' advantage. He has a
mighty repute of all sorts of honest people, where he has inhabited; which,
with my own knowledge, has made me venture upon him." He then epoke
of his quit-rents as if still in arrear, and as if Blackwell had been appointed
as being a particularly proper person to superintend the collection of them.
“I have rough people to deal with about my quit-rents, that yet cannot pay
a ten-pound bill, but draw, draw, draw, still upon me. And it being his
talent (Blackwell's) to regulate and set things in method, easy and just, I
D
OF WILLIAM PENN.
205
have pitched upon him to advise therein." It appears by the same letter as
if he had been dissatisfied with the conduct of the Assembly. "I will add
this," says he, "that the Assembly, as they call themselves, are not so
without Governor and Privy Council, and that no speaker, clerk, or book,
belongs to them; and that the people have their representatives in the
Privy Council to prepare bills, and the Assembly, as it is called, has only
the power of aye or no, yea or nay. If they turn debaters, judges, or com-
plainers, they overthrow the charter quite in the very root of the constitu-
tion of it, for it is to usurp the Privy Council's part in the charter, and to
forfeit the charter itself."
At this time Captain Blackwell was in New England, and, of course, not
far from his new government; but his commission had been sent him, and
with it a letter, in which we find, among others, the following instructions:
"That things should be transacted in his name by the style of his patent
only, namely, absolute Proprietor of Pennsylvania; that Commissions,
signed and sealed by him in England, should be sufficient warrants to pass
them under the great seal; that the laws which were in being should be
collected and sent over to him in a stitched book by the very first oppor-
tunity; that the sheriffs of the respective counties should be charged with
the receipt of his rents and fines, as in England, and give security to the
Receiver-general for the time; that care should be taken of the roads and
highways in the country, that they might be straight and commodious for
travellers, having been improperly turned about by planters for their own
convenience; that speedy and impartial justice should be done, and virtue
cherished and vice punished; that fines should be in proportion to the fault
and ability of the offender; that feuds between persuasions and nations
should be extinguished, as well as by good conduct prevented; and that the
widow, the orphan, and the absent, might be particularly regarded in their
rights."
!
CHAPTER XXV.
A. 1689.-APPEARS ACCORDING TO HIS BAIL-NO WITNESS BEING FOUND
AGAINST HIM, IS DISCHARGED-TOLERATION ACT PASSES-THE
GREAT PRIVILEGES IT CONFERRED-HIS JOY ON THE OCCASION--
THE GREAT SHARE HE HAD IN BRINGING IT ABOUT-AFFAIRS OF
PENNSYLVANIA.
THE time drew near when William Penn was to answer the charges, which
might be made against him, in a public court. Accordingly, on the last day
*It is to be observed here, that when he changed the Executive to five Com-
missioners, the Council still existed separately, and so it did when he changed it to a
Deputy-Governor and two assistants.
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
of Easter Term, he made his appearance there. After waiting a consider-
able time, not one person could be produced against him. Not one person
could be found who would either say that he was a Papist or Jesuit, or who
would even try to prove that he had aided in any manner the late
King in an attempt either to establish Popery or arbitrary power. Ac-
cordingly, nothing having been laid to his charge, he was discharged in
open court.
Soon after this he had the satisfaction of seeing the great Act of Tolera-
tion passed by King, Lords, and Commons. It is true, indeed, that this
noble act did not come up to the extent of his own wishes. And yet, how
vast the change! All Dissenters were now excused from certain penalties, if
they would only take the oaths to government. They were allowed to apply for
warrants for those houses which they intended to worship in, and the magi-
strates were obliged to grant them; and, provided they worshipped in these
with the doors not shut, they were not to be molested. There was a more par-
ticular exemption in the act to the Quakers for the same purpose. Here,
then, was an end of those vexatious arrests, painful imprisonments, and
deaths in bonds, which had afflicted and desolated the country for years.
From this time men could go to their respective churches, and worship God
in security in their own way. This must have been a most gratifying con-
sideration to one to whose labours the act itself was in part owing; for,
while at the Hague, he had greatly impressed the mind of the Prince of
Orange, now King William, in its favour. He had been the means of
bringing over also many of his own countrymen, and these in the legislature,
to its support. For, in the course of his numerous publications, he had
examined the question thoroughly, and diffused light concerning it through
the kingdom. He had held up pictures of individual suffering, as it had
occurred in all its varied shapes, to public view. He had appealed to
reason and humanity on the subject. He had anticipated and combated
objections. By urging James the Second to issue out, as speedily as he did, and
then to renew, his indulgence to tender consciences, he had given an oppor-
tunity to persons of public character, and to his fellow-citizens at large,
to see what would be the effects of toleration. It had clearly appeared that,
while this indulgence continued, the nation was in a state of unexampled
quiet, and that its interest had been greatly promoted by an extraordinary
diffusion of industry, prosperity, and happiness. And here it may be ob-
served, that Dr. Burnet, who was then Bishop of Salisbury, and who had
taken an active part in favour of the act in question, gives, in the History
of His Own Times," those as reasons why it had passed, which William
Penn had long before given as reasons why it ought to pass. One would
think, indeed, that the one had made use of the very words of the other.
"Wise and good men," says Burnet, "did very much applaud the quieting
of the nation by the toleration. It seemed to be suitable both to the spirit
of the Christian religion and to the interest of the nation. It was thought very
I
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1
unreasonable, that, while we were complaining of the cruelly of the Church
Rome, we should fall into such practices among ourselves, and this while we
were engaging in a war, in the progress of which we would need the united
strength of the whole nation."
This great act having passed, William Penn thought of returning to
America. But as the authors of infant projects, when ushered into the
world, feel interested both in watching their progress and their fate, so he felt
his inclination checked in this respect, for a time, from the same cause. He
telt a desire to see how this new-born babe would be received in the kingdom;
how far the popular fury would be likely to retard, or its favour to promote
its growth. Impressed by such feelings, he resolved to protract his stay to
the ensuing year.
In the beginning of this year Captain Blackwell left Boston for Phila-
delphia. On his arrival there he delivered his appointment to the Commis-
sioners, and, as soon as it was acknowledged by these, he took into his
hands the reins of the government. After a suitable time he summoned
the Council and Assembly. He made a speech to the latter, after which he
held himself ready to proceed upon the business of the Province. He had
not, however, been long in office, before a misunderstanding took place
between him and some of the Council, so that the public affairs were not
managed with the desired harmony. He found it often difficult to get so
many of them together as would make a legal meeting for business, though
more than this number were known to be in the city at the time. He not
only saw, but lamented to the Assembly, that dissentions still existed
among them.
At one time, the Keeper of the Great Seal refused him the
use of it on what he (Blackwell) thought (though he might have been mis-
taken) a proper occasion. These differences between the Deputy-Governor
and the two legislatures were early reported to William Penn. All their
sides made their complaints to him. Of course he was called upon to
consider them. Having done this, he wrote to Blackwell, and advised his
resignation. The latter, finding that he could not do what had been
expected of him in the administration of the Province, honourably resigned
his office, and returned to England, after a short stay in Philadelphia of
only a few months.
In a letter written by William Penn to a Friend there, he unfolded more
particularly than before the reason why he had appointed Blackwell to the
high station of Deputy Governor. It appears that it had always been his
wish to confer the government on a Quaker, as one in whom he himself
would have had the most confidence; but there was no Quaker fit for it
who would undertake it, persons of that persuasion being generally averse
from high political employments. Obliged, then, to seek one elsewhere, he
preferred one who was a stranger to the Province, under a notion that he
might be more impartial and more reverenced; but of all strangers, Black-
well seemed to him to be the most eligible: "For," says he, "he is, in
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(
England and Ireland, of great repute for ability, integrity, and virtue. I
thought I did well. It was for good, God knows, and for no end of
my own."
What was the cause of dispute between Blackwell and the other branchies
of the legislature is not known. It is possible that Blackwell might have
made himself obnoxious by attending to the business of the quit-rents more
closely than was liked. It is possible, again, that he might have disgusted
some by the levity of his deportment; for he was a polished man: he had
mixed with great and fashionable people, and had seen the world. The
members of the legislature, on the other hand, were mostly of the class of
Puritans, and of severe manners. They had been rendered still more sour
by persecution. It is possible, therefore, that they might, at their first
interview, under these opposite aspects, have appeared cool and reserved to
him; and that he, fancying this appearance real, might have looked shy
upon them.
It is possible, again, that they might have been prejudiced
against him as a military man. But, whatever was the case, certain it is,
from the letter just mentioned, that William Penn was induced to suspect,
after an attentive consideration of all the evidence before him, that Black-
well's peevishness did not so much arise from any misconduct in him, in the
first instance, as in them. "You see,” says he, "what I have done upon
the complaints; but, I must say, that his peevishness to some Friends has
not risen out of the dust without occasion."
On the departure of Blackwell the Executive government reverted, ac-
cording to the constitution, to the Council, of which Thomas Lloyd, not
willing to desert the state at this juncture, resumed the presidency; so that,
having passed through the two changes-first of five Commissioners, and
then of a Lieutenant-Governor with two assistants-it came back to its old
form, as settled by the first General Assembly in 1683.
CC
There are several letters extant, which William Penn wrote to his Friends
in America this year. In the first of these, which was written in the early
part of it, and before the coronation of William and Mary, he repeated the
cause which had so long hindered him from seeing them. Europe," says
he, "looks like a sea of trouble. Wars are like to be all over it this
summer. I strongly desire to see you before it be spent, if the Lord will;
and I can say, in his sight, that, to improve my interest with King James for
tender consciences, and that a Christian liberty might be legally settled, though
against my own interest, was that which has separated me from you chiefly."
In the same letter he manifested his great love and tender regard for them
as a people. If," says he, "it be with you as I can say it is with me in
the presence of God, then are we one with him; for neither length of days,
nor distance of place, nor all the many waters between us, can separate my
heart and affection from you."
In a second, he invited them to that Divine love, which he has just been
described to have experienced himself, as their greatest earthly blessing.

OF WILLIAM PENN.
209
“And now, Friends," says he, "I have a word more for you, and that is
this that Faith, Hope, and Charity, are the great helps and marks of
true Christians; but, above all, Charity is the Love of God.-
-Blessed are
J
they who come to it, and who hold the truth in it, and work and act in it ;
for they, though poor, indeed, in spirit of their own, are yet rich in God's;
though they are meek, they inherit. -This will preserve peace in the
church; peace in the state; peace in families; peace in particular bosoms.
God Almighty draw, I beseech him, all your hearts into this heavenly love
more and more, so that the work of it may shine out more and more to his
glory and your comfort!"
In a third, which was a private one to Thomas Lloyd, he advised him of
a present which he had sent him, and "which he was to value by the heart,
and not by the thing itself.”
In a fourth, which was addressed to the same, after the Presidentship of
the Council had reverted to him, he instructed him to set up a Public
Grammar School in Philadelphia, which he (William Penn) would incor-
porate, by charter, at a future time.
In a fifth, which was addressed to the Council after their restoration to
power, he expressed himself thus: "I heartily wish you all well, and do
beseech God to guide you in the ways of righteousness and peace. I have
thought fit, upon my further stop in these parts, to throw all into your
hands, that you may all see the confidence I have in you, and the desire I
have to give you all possible contentment. I do earnestly press your constant
attendance upon the government, and the diligent pursuit of peace and
virtue; and God Almighty strengthen your hands in so good a work!
If you desire a Deputy Governor rather, name three or five persons, and I
will name one of them. I do not do this to lay a binding precedent, but to
give you and the people you represent the fullest pledges I am able, at this
distance, of my regard to them. Whatever you do, I desire, beseech, and
charge you all, to avoid factions, and parties, whisperings, and reportings,
and all animosities; that, putting your common shoulders to the public
work, you may have the reward of good men and patriots; and so I bid you
heartily farewell."
210
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
CHAPTER XXVI.
A. 1690-LETTER OF THANKS TO A FRIEND-IS ARRESTED AGAIN ON
A CHARGE OF CORRESPONDING WITH JAMES THE SECOND-HIS
OPEN AND MANLY DEFENCE BEFORE KING WILLIAM-IS MADE TO
FIND BAIL-APPEARS IN COURT AND IS DISCHARGED-PREPARES
FOR RETURNING TO PENNSYLVANIA-IS AGAIN ARRESTED-TRIED
-AND ACQUITTED-WRITES TO THE WIDOW OF GEORGE FOX ON
THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND-IS ON THE POINT OF SAILING FOR
PENNSYLVANIA, BUT ACCUSED BY FULLER - CONSTABLES SENT
TO TAKE HIM-THE VOYAGE STOPPED — GOES INTO RETIREMENT
-AFFAIRS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
WILLIAM PENN, though he saw no disposition either in the King or in the
Parliament to amend the Toleration-act, so as to bring it nearer to his own
wishes, had yet the pleasure to find that it had at least become so popular,
except among some of the clergy, that it was likely to maintain its ground.
Finding, therefore, that he must be satisfied with it as it then stood, and
being, at the same time, thankful to Divine Providence for what had been
so far obtained, he resolved to embark for Pennsylvania in the course of the
present year.
About this time he wrote to a friend on the following occasion. He
himself had been in the habit of writing letters to the Duke of Buckingham,
who was then deceased. His friend had fallen in with some of these, and
was then collecting them, with a view of preventing them from passing into
improper hands; for he supposed, probably, that they might contain po-
litical matter; and, as William Penn was then daily watched by the new
government, as a person suspected to be hostile to it, there might be ex-
pressions in them, which might be so twisted and misinterpreted, if his
enemies should see them, as to afford a handle for putting him to trouble.
The letter then, written by William Penn, was a letter of thanks to his
friend, for the service intended him, and ran thus :
Though nothing of an interest of my own was the reason of the ancient
esteem I have had for thee, yet that only is the motive at this time to this
freedom; for, being informed by Jer. Grimshaw, that some of my letters to
the late Duke of Buckingham are in thy hands, and that thy wonted
kindness to all of our communion had shown itself in my regard by collecting
them apart, to prevent their falling under any improper notice, I thought
myself obliged both to return my acknowledgments for that friendly
caution, and to desire thee to let them follow him they were written to, who
can be no more known to the living. Poor gentleman! I need not trust
another hand than that, which was unwilling any other should be trusted
with them but my own. I know not what the circumstances of that time
might draw from me; but my only business with him ever was to make his
superior quality and sense useful to this kingdom, that he might not die under
OF WILLIAM PENN.
211
the guilt of misspending the greatest talents that were among the nobility of any
country. However, in the rubbish of those times, and the late extraordinary
revolution, let them lie, and let us all think of this only way to the peace
and happiness we pretend to seek, namely, to give God his due out of us,
and then we shall have our dues out of one another; and without it let us
not wonder at the nimble turns of the world, nor reflect upon the mischiefs
that attend them. They are the natural effects of our breach of duty to
God, and will ever follow it. We, like the Jews, are full of jealousy, humour,
and complaint, and seek for our deliverance in the wrong place. When we
grow a better people, we shall know better days; and when we have cast
off Satan's yoke, no other can hold longer upon us. Things do not change.
Causes and effects are ever the same; and they that seek to over-rule the
eternal order, fight with the winds, and overthrow themselves. But what is
this to my subject? I close with a true sense of all thy tenderness to our
poor folks, and regards to myself, beseeching God, that more than the
reward of him that gives a cup of cold water, in the name of a disciple, may
be thy portion, when this very trifling world may be no more. I am thy
affectionate, true Friend,
“WILLIAM PENN.”
Soon after the writing of this letter, and while he was turning his thoughts
towards the things to be done preparatory to his voyage, he was arrested
by a body of military, and brought again before the Lords of the Council.
The charge then against him was, that he was holding a traitorous cor-
respondence with the late King, who was then in France. Upon this he
desired to appeal to King William in person. His request was granted.
The King and Council appeared together. A letter was then produced,
which had been written to him by James, and which had been intercepted
by government on its way, in which he (James) "desired him (Penn) to
come to his assistance, and to express to him the resentments of his favour
and benevolence." The question first put to William Penn was, why King
James wrote to him? He answered, that it was impossible for him to
prevent the King from writing to him, if he, the King, chose it.
He was
then questioned as to what resentments these were, which James seemed to
desire of him. He answered, he knew not; but he supposed the King meant
that he should endeavour his restoration. Though, however, he could not
avoid the suspicion of such an attempt, he could avoid the guilt of it. He
confessed he had loved King James, and, as he had loved him in his
prosperity, he could not hate him in his adversity; yes, he loved him yet
for the many favours he had conferred on him, though he could not join
with him in what concerned the state of the kingdom. He owned again,
that he had been much obliged to the King, and that he was willing to
repay his kindness by any private service in his power; but that he must,
observe, inviolably and entirely, that duty to the state, which belonged to
all the subjects of it; and, therefore, that he had never had the wickedness.
even to think of endeavouring to restore him that crown, which had fallen

212
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
1
from his head; so that nothing in that letter could, in any wise, fix guilt
upon him." This defence, which was at once manly, open, and explicit, had
its weight with the King, so that he felt himself inclined to dismiss him as
an innocent person; but some of the Council interfering, he, to please them,
ordered him to give bail to appear at the next Trinity Term. After this he
was permitted to withdraw, and go at large, as before.
There can be no doubt but that, in a sitting which occupied two hours, many
more questions were put to, and of course answers given by, William Penn,
than those which we have now communicated; but these are all that have
come down to us, and, but for Gerard Croese, they might have remained as
if they had never been. That his account, as now given, is generally true,
is highly credible; for the editors of that splendid work, generally termed
"Picart's Religious Customs and Ceremonies of all Nations," speaking of
William Penn, allude to the defence which he made on this occasion.
This," say they, "was confirmed by a letter King James wrote to Penn,
from France, after the Revolution had been brought about by King William
the Third. Penn was strictly examined concerning this correspondence. His
answer was noble, generous, and wise: but party animosity made it be looked
upon, in the hurry of spirits at that time, as a barefaced espousing King
James's cause. And most Protestants, chiefly news and libel-writers,
thought it no less a crime than high treason to profess a friendship for that
Prince.
William Penn, being now at large for a time, was so conscious of his own
innocence, and, therefore, so fearless of the consequences of his approaching
trial, that he actually employed himself in preparing for his voyage to Penn-
sylvania. At the time appointed he appeared in court: but here, as before,
no one coming forward as evidence against him, he was hononrably dis-
charged.
Being once more at liberty, he returned to his home, when his voyage
occupied his attention again. At this time the country was in great
consternation on account of an expected invasion by the French. The
French fleet had already beaten the English in conjunction with the Dutch,
and was then hovering off the coast. King William, too, was in Ireland.
The Queen, therefore, was obliged to exert herself in defence of the nation.
This she did by calling out the militia, and in other ways: but, in order to
strike terror, at this moment, into the supposed conspirators with France,
she issued a proclamation for apprehending Edward Henry, Earl of
Lichfield; Thomas, Earl of Aylesbury; William, Lord Montgomery; Roger,
Earl of Castlemain; Richard, Viscount Preston; Henry, Lord Bellasis;
Sir Edward Hales; Sir Robert Thorold; Sir Robert Hamilton; Sir Theo-
philus Oglethorpe; Colonel Edward Sackvile; Lieutenant Colonel William
* Picart's book was a Roman Catholic publication, printed at Paris, and after-
wards translated into the English language.

OF WILLIAM PENN.
213
Richardson; Major Thomas Soaper; Captain David Lloyd; Edmond
Elliott; Marmaduke Langdale; Edward Rutland; and William Penn.
Here, then, we see William Penn brought into trouble again; for the above
proclamation was not out long, before he was again apprehended and sent
to prison. He was obliged to lie there till the last day of Michaelmas Term,
when he was brought up before the King's Bench Court, Westminster, for
trial. The result was equally honourable as in the former cases; for, though
evidence appeared, it failed to prove anything against him.
William Penn began now to think that there was no security for his person
in England. No sooner had he been honourably and legally acquitted of one
charge than he was arrested upon another. Under these circumstances, he
looked to his departure from England both with anxiety and delight.
Having accomplished, in a great degree, the principal object for which he
had crossed the Atlantic, he longed now, with a most earnest longing, for a
quiet retreat in Pennsylvania. He used, accordingly, double diligence, for
that purpose.
He was already far advanced in his preparation for the
voyage. The vessel had been taken up which was to carry him over.
Numbers of persons also, in consequence of certain proposals, which he had
published this summer, for a new settlement in Pennsylvania, had been
preparing to accompany him, some in his own, and others in other vessels.
The Secretary of State, also, had gone so far as to appoint him a convoy,
which was to be ready on a given day.
Just at this time, George Fox, his beloved friend, and founder of the
religious Society of the Quakers, died in London. It fell to his lot to com-
municate this event to his wife, who was then in Lancashire. His letter
was very short. "I am to be," says he, "the teller to thee of sorrowful
tidings, in some respect, which is this, that thy dear husband, and my
beloved and dear friend, finished his glorious testimony this night, about
half an hour after nine, being sensible to the last breath. O! he is gone, and
has left us in the storm that is over our heads, surely in great mercy to
him, but as an evidence to us of sorrows to come!" In alluding to his
powers as a minister of the Gospel, he says, "a Prince, indeed, is fallen in ·
Israel to-day;" and to his irreproachable life, "he died, as he lived, a lamb,
minding the things of God and his Church to the last, in an universal
spirit." After this, when the time came, he attended his remains to the
grave. Here he spoke publicly, and for a considerable time, to about two
thousand persons, who attended the funeral; thus paying the last earthly
respect in his power to his deceased friend, and thus endeavouring to make
even his death useful to those present.
It appeared now as if he had little more to do than to take leave of his
numerous Friends, and to embark. But, alas, how short-lived and transitory
are sometimes our best hopes! In an instant all his happy dreams, all his
expectations came to nothing; for, but a day or two before the funeral of
George Fox, a wretch, of the name of Fuller, one whom Parliament
214
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
afterwards had occasion to declare a cheat and impostor,* had come forward
with an accusation against him, upon oath, so that messsengers had been sent
to the very funeral itself, with a warrant to apprehend him; but, mistaking
the hour, they arrived too late for their purpose. Thus his voyage was en-
tirely stopped for the present year.
"
Unable now to leave the kingdom with honour, the vessels proceded
without him to Pennsylvania. He wrote by them, of course, to explain the
causes which had hindered him from arriving at the same time, but no e of
these letters have been preserved. One, bowever, is forthcoming, whi h he
wrote by a subsequent conveyance, and which relates to the event in que tion.
By this time," says he, “thou wilt have heard of my troubles, the only
hinderance of my return, being in the midst of my preparations, with a great
company of adventurers, when they came upon me.The jealousies of
some, and unworthy dealings of others, have made way for them; but,
under and over it all, the ancient Rock has been my shelter and comfort;
and I hope yet to see your faces with our ancient satisfaction. The Lord
grant it, if it be for his glory, whose I desire to be in all conditions; for this
world passeth away, and the beauty of it fadeth: but there are eternal habi-
tations for the faithful, among whom I pray that my lot may be, rather
than among the Princes of the earth.
"I desire that my afflictions may cease, if not cure, your animosities or dis-
contents among yourselves, if yet they have continued, and that thou wilt,
both in government and to my Commissioners, yield thy assistance all thou
canst.- -By all this, God may prepare me to be better for future service,
even to you there. I ask the people forgiveness for my long stay; But when
I consider how much it has been my own great loss, and for an ungrateful
generation, it is punishment. It has been twenty thousand pounds damages
in the country, and above ten thousand pounds here, and to the Province
five hundred families. But the wise God, who can do what he pleases as
well as see what is in man's heart, is able to requite all; and, I am per-
suaded, all yet shall work together for good, in this very thing, if we can
overlook all that stands in the way of our views God-ward in public
matters. See that all be done prudently and humbly, and keep down irre
verence and looseness, and cherish industry and sobriety. God Almight
be with you, and amongst you, to his praise and to your peace! "
William Penn, after this new accusation by Fuller, determined upon
retirement. To have gone to Pennsylvania, merely with the view of making
his escape, would have been useless, for he would have been equally amenable
* The House resolved, "That William Fuller was a notorious impostor, a cheat,
and a false accuser, having scandalised the Magistrates and the Government, abused
this House, and falsely accused several persons of honour and quality;" and they
resolved on an address to His Majesty to command his Attorney General to pro-
secute the said impostor. He was accordingly prosecuted, and sentenced to the
pillory, in which he is said to have stood without either modesty or remorse.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
215
:
there to British laws. But to have gone there, even if no laws could have
reached him, would have been disgraceful. It would have been, while such
an accusation hung over his head, to lose his reputation, and, of course, his
influence and future usefulness in his own Province. To have delivered
himself up voluntarily, on the other hand, into the hands of the magistracy,
and this after three trials, in all which he had been acquitted, seemed un-
necessary, and to answer no public end. This, indeed, would have been to
sacrifice his health in a prison; and then, after a fourth acquittal, there
would have been no security that some profligate wretch would not have
accused him again, and this in the midst of expensive preparations for
another voyage. He judged it, therefore, best to retreat from the world for
a while. By this resolution he did not throw himself wantonly in the way
of the government, nor did he endeavour to fly from it. If those in the
administration chose to press another trial, they might discover where he
was, or they might seize him if he ventured abroad; for his person had
been often marked, and he was generally known. It was his belief, too,
that innocent men, who offered up their prayers to the Almighty, were
usually directed for the best and that it became him, therefore, to remain.
in England, and, shutting himself up from the affairs of the world, to
wait humbly for guidance as to his future path. Accordingly, he took a
private lodging in London, where he devoted himself to study and religious
exercises, and where he was occasionally visited by a few friends.
The absence of William Penn began now to be seriously felt in the
Province; for about this time the symptoms of disorder appeared, wh
afterwards greatly disturbed it, and which, it is supposed, had he resided
there, never would have taken root at all; because the open, candid, and
impartial way in which he conducted the government gave no oppor-
tunities for jealousies or suspicions; and because his temperate and con-
ciliating manners, and his readiness to hear and redress grievances, and his
power so to do, healed them when produced. Among these symptoms, it
appeared as if the people of the Territories wished to have separate
interests from those of the Province.-William Penn had, by charter,
connected both of them in legislation and government, and had considered
them as one people. He had, of course, given them equal privileges, and a
share in the government, in proportion to their respective populations. But
yet dissatisfaction began to creep in. The inhabitants of the Territories,
conceiving that public appointments ought to be more evenly distributed, as
it respected them, than they appeared to be, began to think that there
ought to be separate establishments for the said Territories and Province,
that is, one set of civil officers for the one, and a distinct set for the other,
to be chosen by the representatives of each, in Council. The first con-
sequence of this notion was the following. William Clark, Luke Watson,
Griffith Jones, John Brinkloe, John Cann, and Johannes d'Haes, six of the
Council belonging to the Territories, met in the Council-room privately, and
216
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
without any official summons, and, considering themselves as a legal
Council, issued forth commissions for constituting provincial judges and
other officers. Such an act, it must be obvious, would give rise to dis-
turbances; for the officers who were appointed by them would not like to
give up their places; and the election itself being void, it was not probable
that they would be continued. Hence, the real and pretended electors
would divide into two parties, each having its partisans. It was, therefore,
necessary to come to some determination on this point, and accordingly a
Council was legally summoned for the purpose. This Council decreed, after
exposing the absurdity of the proceedings in question, "That all entries,
orders, and commissions, made and given forth by the above six members,
were deemed null and void from that day; of which all magistrates, officers,
and others concerned, were to take due notice." Thus the matter was settled
for the present year.
CHAPTER XXVII.
A. 1691.-CONTINUES IN RETIREMENT-NEW PROCLAMATION FOR HIS
APPREHENSION-BECOMES MORE UNPOPULAR THAN EVER-FALLS
UNDER THE CENSURE OF SOME OF HIS OWN SOCIETY - WRITES IN
CONSEQUENCE A GENERAL LETTER TO THE MEMBERS OF IT-IS
VISITED IN HIS RETIREMENT-MESSAGE SENT TO HIM THERE BY
JOHN LOCKE WRITES A PREFACE TO BARCLAY'S APOLOGY—
AFFAIRS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
WILLIAM PENN had been little more than six weeks in his retirement,
when another proclamation came out for the apprehension of him, and of
Dr. Turner, Bishop of Ely, and of James Grahame. This proclamation was
in consequence of the accusation of Fuller. It was founded on the charge,
that he and the two just mentioned had been accomplices in a conspiracy
with the Earl of Clarendon, the Viscount Preston, and two others of the
names of Elliott and Ashton (the latter of whom had been executed in
consequence only a month before), to send intelligence to, and to invite
over to England, James the Second, who was then in France. The
clamour now was greater than ever against him. He was loaded with
reproaches from almost all quarters. All those who disliked him, and
there were too many of this description, took this new opportunity of
reviling him. In the first place,those of the Church of England, except Dr.
Tillotson and a very few other liberal individuals, hated him with an impla-
cable hatred, because he had taken up the cause of the Dissenters. Hence
Papist, Jesuit, rogue, and traitor, resounded where they went. In the
second place, the Dissenters hated him because they supposed that, under
the mask of religious liberty, he had been promoting the schemes of
James in behalf of Popery and arbitrary power. They propagated,
OF WILLIAM PENN.
217
therefore, the same epithets with the same industry and virulence.
Thirdly, there was at this time a numerous class of foreign Protestants
in the kingdom, namely, those who had fled from France after the revo-
cation of the Edict of Nantz. All these joined a'so in the cry of his
condemnation. They had themselves smarted under the lash of Popery,
and had, therefore, no mercy upon the man who would restore James, and
thus revive it in the land which was to be now the land of their habitation.
Add to this, that he began to fall under the censure of many of his own
religious society. This grieved him more than all. He had borne up
against the opprobrium of the world, and had made no attempt to counteract
it; but he could no longer be silent under this new wound; and, therefore,
he addressed to the members at large, through their representatives met in
their annual assembly, the following letter:-
"MY BELOVED, DEAR, AND HONOURED BRETHREN-My unchangeable
love salutes you; and though I am absent from you, yet I feel the sweet
and lowly life of your heavenly fellowship, by which I am with you, and a
partaker amongst you, whom I have loved above my chiefest joy. Receive
no evil surmisings, neither suffer hard thoughts, through the insinuations of
any, to enter your minds against me, your afflicted, but not forsaken, friend
and brother. My enemies are yours; and, in the ground, mine for your
sake ; and that God seeth in secret, and will one day reward openly. My
privacy is not because men have sworn truly, but falsely, against me; 'for
wicked men have laid in wait for me, and false witnesses have laid to my
charge things I knew not,' who have never sought myself, but the good of
all, through great enemies, and have done some good, and would have done
more, and hurt no man; but always desired that truth and righteousness,
mercy and peace, might take place amongst us. Feel me near you, my dear
and beloved brethren, and leave me not, neither forsake me, but wrestle with
him that is able to prevail against the cruel desires of some, that we may yet
meet in the congregation of his people, as in days past, to our mutual
comfort. The everlasting God of his chosen, in all generations, be in the
midst of you, and crown your most solemn assemblies with his blessed
presence! that his tender, meek, lowly, and heavenly love and life may
flow among you, and that he would please to make it a seasoning and
fruitful opportunity to you, desiring to be remembered of you before him, in
the nearest and freshest accesses, who cannot forget you in the nearest
relation, your faithful friend and brother,
"WILLIAM PENN."
While he was living in retirement he was visited by a few select friends,
who were mostly of the same religious profession with himself. These ad-
ministered to him consolation in their turn. There was one person, however,
not of the society, by whose grateful remembrance of him, at this afflicting
season, he was peculiarly gratified. His old friend and fellow-collegian,
John Locke, had come home in the fleet which had brought the Prince of
Orange to England. Finding that he had been persecuted in the manner
L
218
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
described, he desired to be the instrument of procuring a pardon for him
from King William. It may be remembered that William Penn had made
a similar offer to Locke, when the latter was in banishment at the Hague.
It is remarkable that the same answers followed on both occasions.
William Penn persisted in declaring that he had never been guilty of the
crime alleged against him, and that he could not, therefore, rest satisfied
with the mode of liberation, the very terms of which would be to the world
a standing monument of his guilt.
After this we hear nothing more of William Penn for the remainder of the
year, except that he wrote a Preface to the works of the celebrated Apolo-
gist, Robert Barclay, and another to those of John Burnyeat, an eminent
minister of his own religious society, and with whom he had been in habits
of friendship for many years.
As for his affairs in America, they bore an aspect worse than ever. Though
the decree of the Provincial Council, as mentioned in the last chapter, had
been carried into effect, it did not remove the dissatisfaction which had
sprung up among the inhabitants of the Territories. They still conceived
they had not their share of public appointments, and, therefore, they
requested the Council to propose a bill to the Assembly, to enable nine of
the members of the Territories, or any six of them, to appoint three judges,
and also all other officers; and that no other judges and officers should be
imposed upon them for the said Territories but such as were so chosen.
This proposition was transmitted to England by Thomas Lloyd. William
Penn was much hurt on receiving it. Willing, however, to show the people
of the Territories that he was not inattentive to their complaints, he pro-
posed to the Council, which consisted of both parties, as a first effort at
conciliation, the choice of any of the three governments of which they had
had a trial. The executive might be invested in a Council, or in five
Commissioners, or in a Deputy Governor. They could any of them teli which
of these they had found the most impartial in the distribution of public
places.
On the publication of this offer, it appeared to be the wish of the people
of the Province that a Deputy Governor should exercise the power in question;
and accordingly, without delay, they requested that Thomas Lloyd might
be appointed to the office. But no sooner was this request made than the
members for the Territories protested against it. They preferred, they said,
the five Commissioners, and most of all they disliked a Deputy Governor
They gave the reasons for their preference; but the true one was, that, if a
Deputy Governor were appointed, they would be burthened, in part, with
the expense of his support.
As soon as this preference was understood, with the unworthy motive
which had induced it, Thomas Lloyd wrote a letter to the members for the
Territories, and sent it to them by four respectable persons to Newcastle,
who might confer with them on the subject. In this letter he warned them
OF WILLIAM PENN.
219
against the effects of their conduct both upon the Province an Territories,
and patriotically promised, on his part, that, as long as he remained in the
station of Deputy Governor, he would not burthen the latter with the
charge of a single penny for himself, nor would he ever accept of any
maintenance for himself from them at any future time, unless they
themselves should voluntarily make a request to him for that purpose.
But neither letter nor embassy would do; and the consequence was, that
these members, regardless of the confusion to which their rashness might
expose the country, not only ceased to attend to their legislative capacities,
but prevented others from being elected in their places: and what is more
remarkable, they were supported in these proceedings by Colonel Markham,
the relation of William Penn.
Thomas Lloyd was now acknowledged as Deputy Governor by the Pro-
vince, and acted in that capacity, though he was not acknowledged as such
by the Territories. When this was reported to William Penn, he was much
displeased. He was displeased first with Thomas Lloyd. He considered his
acceptance of such a broken office, of such an half-government, as pregnant
with mischief, because likely to confirm the notion of a division of interests
between the Province and Territories, as before described. His displeasure,
however, was soon removed; for the Council, in a letter to him, declared
that Thomas Lloyd, instead of being a gainer by any public office he had
held, had considerably worsened his own estate thereby; so that self-interest
could have been no motive with him for accepting the new commission.
They said, too, that he was a great lover and promoter of concord, that he
disliked a public life, and that he never would have accepted the commission
but by the importunity of his friends and of the Province itself. William
Penn then began to be angry with the Territory-men. He could not help
blaming them for their ingratitude. They had considered it as a great
mercy to be united to the Province, and now they wished to be separated
from it, though tied to it by charter. He considered their movements to
have sprung from no other source than that of ambition.
"This striving,"
says he, in a letter to a friend, "can arise from nothing else; and what is
that spirit, which would sooner divide the child than let things run on in
their own channel, but that which sacrifices all bowels to wilfulness? Had
they learned what this means, I will have mercy and not sacrifice,' there
had been no breaches nor animosities between them, at least till I had
come."
However, it was not the being angry with one or with the other
that would cure dissentions and save his possessions. The case was to be
considered impartially and coolly, with a view to the best remedy; and
dispatch was necessary. Suffice it to say, that, after mature deliberation,
he concluded it to be best to confirm the Deputy Governorship to Thomas
Lloyd, which would please the Province, and, as an equivalent on the other
side, to appoint Colonel Markham his Deputy Governor of the Territories;
and accordingly he sent out commissions for that purpose.
220
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
Besides the schism between the Province and the Territories, another of a
different nature, a religious one, had sprung up. One George Keith was the
author of it. He is said to have been a man of quick natural parts and
considerable literary attainments, fond of disputation, acute in argument,
and confident and overbearing in the same.
He had been for some time an
acknowledged minister among the Quakers. He now found fault with the
discipline of the society. He ridiculed some of its customs, and certain also
of its religious tenets, though he had once written in their defence. He
passed contempt on the decisions of some of their meetings. Soon after
this he founded a new sect. Those who followed him he called Christian
Quakers, and all the others Apostates. By his plausible manner and
powerful talent of speaking he had drawn so many after him as to fill one
meeting-house. Thus, by dividing the Quakers, he added two parties to
those which political differences had made before.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A. 1692.-CONTINUES IN RETIREMENT-WRITES "JUST MEASURES"—
GENERAL CONTENTS OF THIS WORK-ALSO “A KEY” WHEREBY TO
KNOW AND DISTINGUISH THE RELIGION OF THE QUAKERS-GENERAL
CONTENTS OF IT-ALSO "NEW ATHENIANS NO NOBLE BEREANS "____
AFFAIRS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
WILLIAM PENN continued in retirement; and it is remarkable that he was
never disturbed by constable, magistrate, or any other officer of justice.
His friends frequently visited him. Among other objects which interested
his mind during this period, he was particularly anxious to promote harmony
in his own religious society, and to defend it from the attacks of its enemies.
Disputes concerning discipline still continued among the members of it; but
There were some, for example, who saw no
these had taken a new turn.
reason why there should be meetings of women to do any part of the
William Penn, therefore, to
business of the society separate from the men.
do away with this notion, argued the case in a little work, to which be gave
the following title: "Just Measures; being an Epistle of Peace and Love to
such Professors of Truth as are under Dissatisfaction about the Order prac-
tised in the Church of Christ."
He lamented in this work that they, who were one in faith and worship,
Had they
should be divided as to the mere management of the Church.
been divided as to the former points, this would have been a serious cause
of difference, because the conscience would have been concerned in it. But
the matters in dispute had no such relation. They related to mere modes of
government, or formality in order, but not to the essentials of religion. At
OF WILLIAM PENN.
221
the same time the discipline, though it was not a matter of conscience, em-
braced a care which had a wide range of operation for good. It was the
business, for example, of all churches to take care of the births, marriages,
and funerals of their members; to look to the poor and necessitous, the
young, the aged, and infirm among them; and particularly to those who
were morally weak and diseased; so that, by wholesome admonition, they
might assist in curing the latter, as well as in trying to prevent similar
disorders in others. Now, there must be forms of discipline or Church-
government, or the care of such important matters could not be carried on.
But were not women, in the sight of God, and according to the light of the
Gospel, parts of the Church of Christ, as well as men? And, if they were
parts of this Church, ought they not to become helpers in the Church's
business? But, besides, it must be obvious that, when women came under
the discipline of the society, women were more fit to interfere than men,
that is, they were fitter persons than men to have the care and oversight
of their own sex. This was the general substance of his essay on this
subject.
It happened, at this time, that the Quakers began to be attacked by some
of other religious denominations as to their doctrinal creed, after a long
interval, during which scarcely any one had disturbed them on this account.
Many began, but particularly among the Baptists who lived at Deptford, to
misrepresent their principles; that is, they gave out their own perversions
of the Quakers' doctrines, and called these their creed. These perversions
soon came to the knowledge of William Penn, who, after having diligently
collected them, brought out a publication called "A Key, opening the Way
to every Capacity how to Distinguish the Religion professed by the People
called Quakers from the Perversions and Misrepresentations of their Adver-
saries; with a Brief Exhortation to all sorts of People to Examine their
Ways and their Hearts, and turn speedily to the Lord."
The way in which he managed his " Key" was this:-First, he gave out
the general head of the doctrine which had been misrepresented. Under this
head he placed the proposition or propositions, as they contained the doctrine
in its perverted state. Under this again he gave the proposition or propositions
as they contained the doctrine as it was received by true Quakers. Upon the
latter he then reasoned, taking care to show the difference between the meaning
of the two. The general heads of the doctrines were these: "The Light within,
what it is, and the Virtue and Benefit of it to Man-Infallibility and Per-
fection The Scriptures, their Truth, Authority, and Service-The Holy
Spirit of God, and its Office with respect to Man and the Ministry-The
Holy Three, or Scripture Trinity-The Divinity of Christ-The Manhood of
Christ-Christ Jesus, his Death and Sufferings - Good Works-Water
Baptism and the Supper-The Resurrection and Eternal Recompence-Civil
Honour and Respect-Civil Government." The propositions under these
general heads were drawn up with great conciseness, and yet with remark.
222
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
able perspicuity. The pamphlet, indeed, which contained them, was a
masterly performance, and reached the twelfth edition even in the lifetime
of its author.
The Quakers were attacked also in a periodical paper, which was published
in London at this time, and which was called "The Athenian Mercury." In
no less than three numbers of the said paper, objections were raised both
to their practice and doctrines. They were called persecutors on account
of their discipline, and silly enthusiasts for refusing a civil oath. They were
charged with speaking contemptibly of the Scriptures, of denying them to
be the Word of God, of turning them into allegories, of rejecting the notion
of a Trinity, also the notions of the resurrection of the body and of the
plenary satisfaction of Christ. These and similar charges appeared in the
same paper. William Penn thought it right to answer them. This he did
in a work which he called "The New Athenians no Noble Bereans," though
in his "Just Measures" and in his " Key" together, he might be said to
'have answered them before.
While he was employed in these works, his mind was deeply affected by a
circumstance which seemed to point to an issue materially connected with his
domestic happiness. It was but too apparent that the health of his wife
began to be seriously impaired; and at this time the symptoms, which had
before shown themselves, had broken out into actual sickness. Neither the
disorder itself, nor the cause of it, has been handed down to us. It is
certain, however, that the great trials, difficulties, and afflictions, under
which her husband had laboured and was then labouring, must have affected
her mind; and it is, therefore, not improbable, that this affection was the
original cause of her complaint.
The intelligence which was sent him from America, during this period, was
both pleasing and distressing. In the first place, it was a matter of no
small consolation to him to learn, that the Commissions, which he had
sent out for two Deputy Governors, had been the instruments of restoring
tranquillity to his possessions even beyond his expectations. The people of
the Province were pleased with his confirmation of the appointment of
Thomas Lloyd, because the latter had been the object of their own choice;
and those of the Territories were pleased with the appointment of Markham:
first, because he had espoused their cause; and secondly, because, having
him for a Deputy Governor, they had their own separate Council also;
and, from one or both of these, all appointments to civil offices would be
made out of themselves for their own district. The Deputy Governors, too,
acted in harmony, so that they agreed to write a joint letter to their Governor,
of which the following is a copy :-
"WORTHY GOVERNOR-These few lines, we hope, may much ease thy
mind in reference to thy exercises concerning the affairs of thy government
here, by informing thee, that, with unanimous accord, we rest satisfied with
thy two Deputations sent for the Executive government of the Province and
OF WILLIAM PENN.
223
Territories annexed. And thy deputies, concurring amicably at this time to
act as one general government in legislation, we have proceeded in preparing
jointly some few bills, that, thereby, our present united actings may be as
well published as the respective services of the government answered.
What particular transactions of moment, which have occurred upon our
calm debates of the choice of three, we refer to the Minutes for thy satisfac-
tion. We heartily wish thee well; and with longing expectations desire
thy speedy return to us, where, we doubt not, thou wilt find a most grateful
reception, and better face of affairs than may seem to thee there at this
distance. So bidding thee adieu at this time, we remain thy faithful and
well-wishing Friends,
"THOMAS LLOYD,
"WILLIAM MARKHAM."
With respect to the other part of the intelligence, it appeared that Keith
had increased the religious schism before mentioned. He had drawn off with
him so large a portion of persons, as to have set up meetings in divers
places. He had, however, in consequence of these proceedings, been ex-
communicated or disowned by those who had remained faithful at their
post. Exasperated at this, he had made himself doubly troublesome. He
had proceeded to vilify the magistrates, and this in cases where, if they had
not acted as they did, they would not have done their duty. One instance
of this will suffice. A man of the name of Babit, with some others, had
stolen a small sloop from a wharf in Philadelphia, and these, in going down
the river with it, had committed other robberies. Intelligence of this
having been given to the magistrates, three of them gave out a warrant in the
nature of an hue and cry to take them, with a view of bringing them to punish-
ment.
It so happened, that the men were taken and brought to justice.
Now, as the magistrates who granted this warrant were all Quakers, Keith
had gone about and represented their conduct on this occasion as a violation
of their religious principles: for he considered the apprehension of the
offenders as a species of war against their persons; and against war they,
the magistrates, pretended to bear their testimony as a religious people.
From one thing he had proceeded to another. He had published virulent
books, reflecting upon the magistrates in other respects, endeavouring
thereby to degrade them in the eyes of their inferiors. For one of these
publications he had been presented by the Grand Jury of Philadelphia, and
had afterwards been tried, found guilty, and fined. Notwithstanding this,
he was still following the same disorderly career,
224
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
|
CHAPTER XXIX.
A. 1693.-CONTINUES IN RETIREMENT-IS DEPRIVED OF HIS GOVERN-
MENT BY KING WILLIAM-HIS FORLORN SITUATION AT THIS PERIOD
-RESOLVES UPON RETURNING TO PENNSYLVANIA-LETTER TO THAT
EFFECT-BUT IS PREVENTED BY EMBARRASSED CIRCUMSTANCES-
WRITES "FRUITS OF SOLITUDE"-PREFACE AND CONTENTS OF THE
SAME-ALSO "ESSAY TOWARDS THE PRESENT AND FUTURE STATE
OF EUROPE"-ANALYSIS OF THE LATTER-LETTER TO N. BLANDFORD
-IS HEARD BEFORE KING WILLIAM AND HIS COUNCIL, AND AC-
QUITTED-DEATH OF HIS WIFE-HER CHARACTER-AFFAIRS OF
PENNSYLVANIA.
THE intelligence which William Penn had received last from America, as it
related to Keith, gave him, on the very first perusal of it, the most serious
uneasiness, not only because the conduct of the latter tended to spread still
wider the seeds of confusion in the Province and Territories, but because he
foresaw, as several of his letters at the time testify, those unhappy conse-
quences which very soon afterwards resulted to himself. They who were
at the head of affairs in England were no strangers to the disorders which
had taken place in his government during the last two years; and, as he
himself had become obnoxious to them, they had taken care already to
make the most of them to the King. They had already held up to him the
quarrels between the Province and Territories, as arguments to prove that
he, William Penn, was incapable of governing the new country which had
been granted to him. As soon, therefore, as the schism of Keith, with all
its ramifications and consequences, became known, they considered their
arguments as confirmed. Hence they spread reports of it, but particularly
of his trial and punishment by fine, throughout the kingdom. By the pains
taken to communicate the latter, they occasioned a great sensation both in
Westminster Hall and in the two Houses of Parliament. They soon after-
wards affirmed, that Pennsylvania was in a state of ruin, and that nothing
could save it but taking away the government from William Penn. Not a
moment, they said, was to be lost in resorting to this expedient; and so
rapidly was this notion disseminated, and industriously impressed upon the
King and Queen, that by a Commission granted by William and Mary to
Colonel Fletcher, the Governor of New York, to take upon him the govern-
ment of Pennsylvania and the Territories thereunto annexed, William
Penn was, very soon after the news had arrived, deprived of all authority
over the same—and this before he had time to explain himself on the
subject, or to throw in any reasons in bar of the appointment which had
taken place.
One may more readily conceive than describe the feelings which must have
sprung up in his mind, when the news of this cruel measure was conveyed
to him, All his hopes and prospects of giving to the world a pattern, as he
OF WILLIAM PENN.
225
had imagined, of a more perfect government and of a more virtuous and
happy people, were now over. His fortune might now be considered, not
as having been prudently and benevolently expended in America, but as
having been absolutely thrown away.-Removed from the high situation
of a Governor of a Province, he was now a persecuted exile.Dashed
down from the pinnacle, as it were, of eminence and of favour in his
native country, he was now living between privacy and a gaol.--Keith,
from having been once his confidential friend, had become now a traitor.
-His wife, who was on the bed of sickness, and in a state of visible decline,
brought on no doubt by a deep feeling for his misfortunes, was now subjected
to the weight of a tenfold trial from the same cause.Add to this, that his
name had become a name of public reproach. Individuals, even of his own
religious society, as I mentioned in the former chapter, had deserted him;
but now, to aggravate the case, he had fallen in the esteem of a consider-
able number of those who belonged to it.* He had fallen in the esteem of
those whom he "had loved above his chiefest joy." He had become, there-
fore, a sort of outcast of society. It seemed, indeed, as if the measure of
his affliction was now full. But, happily for him, he found resources equal
to the pressure which bore upon him. Had he been a mere earthly-minded
man, all had been wretchedness and despair. We know not to what lengths
a situation so desperate might have driven him. But he still kept his reli-
ance on the great Rock which had supported him. He knew that human
life was full of vicissitudes; but he believed that they who submitted with
patience and resignation to the Divine will would not be ultimately
There can be no doubt of this fact: not that the Quakers ever considered him
as a Papist, or as guilty of the charge brought against him by Fuller, as contained
in the last Proclamation, but that he had meddled more with politics, or with the
concerns of the government, than became a member of their Christian body, though
they allowed that he took such a part often out of pure benevolence to others. I
have a memorandum to this effect, left by Thomas Lower, in his own hand-writing,
dated at the latter end of the present year, which is as follows:-
"Underwritten is what was upon my mind to offer, and which I have since
offered to William Penn as an expedient for a reconciliation beiwixt him and
Friends:-
"First, for William Penn to write a tender, reconciling epistle to all Friends as
in the love and wisdom of God it shall be opened unto him, and in the closure
thereof to insert as followeth, or to the following effect:-
"And if, in any things during these late revolutions I have concerned myself
either by words or writings (in love, pity, or good-will to any in distress), further
than consisted with Truth's honour or the Church's peace, I am sorry for it; and the
government having passed it by, I desire it may be by you also, that so we may be
all kept and preserved in the holy tie and bond of love and peace to serve God and
his Truth in our generation to the honour of his holy name, which will render us
acceptable to God, and more precious one to another; and finally bring us, through
Jesus Christ our Lord, to the participation of the immortal crown which is prepared
for all that continue faithful in well-doing unto the end.""
L 2
226
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
forsaken, and that to such even calamities worked together for their
good.
Having lost his government, one of the most important questions that
occurred to him in the present year was, not how he might regain it, but
what it became him to do that the Province and Territories might suffer as
little as possible by the change. A new Governor had already been ap-
pointed, and this a mere military man, who, knowing nothing of his plans,
might introduce a system which would counteract, if not sap the foundation
of, his own, and thus prevent all the good he had expected from the latter.
It appears that, after having considered the subject, he determined upon
going to Pennsylvania, though it is evident that he could only have gone
there as a private person. He knew, however, that even in this capacity
he could be useful there. He could take care, for instance, by being on the
spot, that the constitution, which he had made so many sacrifices to settle,
should not be infringed without a reasonable complaint or protest on the
part of himself and others. He says, in a letter written at this time to
certain Friends in Pennsylvania jointly, that, "considering how things
then stood and might stand with them, it was necessary that he should
speedily return." But, alas! he had become so embarrassed in his circum-
stances, that he knew not how to get over to them. "His expenses," he
said in the same letter, "had been great in King James's time, and his
losses great in this King's time, the one being at least seven thousand
pounds, and the other above four thousand pounds, together with four
hundred and fifty pounds a-year totally wasted in Ireland. He suggested,
therefore, to his friends, to find out a hundred persons in the Province whc
would, each of them, lend him one hundred pounds, free of interest, for
four years. He would give them his bond for the loan. The money, if
raised then, would be ten times more to him than the same sum at any other
time, and he would never forget the kindness of those who should lend it. In
this case, he would bring his wife and family over with him." It appears, by
this letter, as if he could have obtained permission for the voyage. King
William, indeed, had often expressed a regard for him; but the King could
not always resist the opinion of his ministers, or of those who frequented his
court.
As he was to continue in his retirement, at least till an answer came to
this letter, he had no other way of benefiting mankind in the interim than
by his writings. He undertook for this purpose a little work, which was
to consist of the result of his own experience on many important subjects.
He had seen much of life. He had travelled in his own country and in
Ireland. He had visited France, Holland, and Germany. He had lived in
America, then reputed a new quarter of the globe. He had surveyed,
therefore, men under different tongues, colours, climates, manners, religions,
and governments. He had himself experienced prosperity and adversity.
In the course, therefore, of his chequered experience, he had found out, he
OF WILLIAM PENN.
227
believed, what was wisdom and what was folly, what would turn to solid
enjoyment, and what to vexation of spirit. He determined, therefore, to
put down in his retirement such maxims on different subjects as he thought
he could warrant as substantial, and, when thus collected, to publish them.
This book he accordingly completed, after no small labour, and brought it
out under the title of "Some Fruits of Solitude, in Reflections and Maxims
relating to the Conduct of Human Life.” The preface to it, which is both
lively and instructive, will give the reader some notion of its value:-
"The Enchiridion, reader, I now present thee with, is the fruit of soli-
tude, a school few care to learn in, though none instructs us better. Some
parts of it are the results of serious reflection, others the flashing of lucid
intervals, written for private satisfaction, and now published for an help to
human conduct.
"The author blesseth God for his retirement, and kisses that gentle hand
which led him into it; for, though it should prove barren to the world, it
can never do so to him.
"He has now had some time he could call his own-a property he was
never so much master of before-in which he has taken a view of himself
and the world, and observed wherein he has hit or missed the mark; what
might have been done; what mended, and what avoided in human conduct;
together with the omissions and excesses of others, as well societies and
governments as private families and persons. And he verily thinks, were
he to live over his life again, he could not only, with God's grace, serve him,
but his neighbour and himself, better than he hath done, and have seven
years of his time to spare. And yet, perhaps, he hath not been the worst
or the idlest man in the world, nor is he the oldest. And this is the
rather said, that it might quicken thee, reader, to lose none of the time
that is yet thine.
"There is nothing of which we are apt to be so lavish as of time, and
about which we ought to be more solicitous, since, without it, we can do
nothing in the world. Time is what we want most, but what, alas! we use
worst, and for which God will certainly most strictly reckon with us when
time shall be no more! It is of that moment to us in reference to both
worlds, that I can hardly wish any man better than that he would seriously
consider what he does with his time; how and to what ends he employs it;
and what returns he makes to God, his neighbour, and himself, for it. Will
he never have a ledger for this ?-for this, the greatest wisdom and work of
life? To come but once into the world, and trifle away our true enjoyment
of it, and of ourselves in it, is lamentable indeed. This one reflection would
yield a thinking person great instruction; and, since nothing below man
can so think, man, in being thoughtless, must needs fall below himself; and
that. to be sure, such do as are unconcerned in the use of their most precious
time. This is but too evident, if we will allow ourselves to consider that
there is hardly anything we take by the right end, or improve to its just
228
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
advantage. We understand little of the works of God either in nature
or grace. We pursue false knowledge, and mistake education extremely.
We are violent in our affections, and confused and immethodical in our
whole life, making that a burthen which was given as a blessing, and
so of little comfort to ourselves or others, misapprehending the true notion
of happiness, and so missing of the right use of life and way of happy
living and till we are persuaded to stop, and step a little aside out of the
noisy crowd and incumbering hurry of the world, and calmly take a prospect
of things, it would be impossible we should be able to make a right judg-
ment of ourselves, or know our own misery. But, after we have made the
just reckonings, which retirement will help us to, we shall begin to think
the world in great measure mad, and that we have been in a sort of
Bedlam all this while. Reader! whether young or old, think it not too
soon or too late to turn over the leaves of thy past life, and be sure to fold
down where any passage of it may affect thee; and bestow the remainder
of thy time to correct those faults in thy future conduct! Be it in relation
to this or the next life, what thou wouldst do, if what thou hast done
were to do again, be sure to do as long as thou livest upon the like occasions.
Our resolutions seem to be rigorous, as often as we reflect upon our past
errors; but alas, they are apt to grow flat again upon fresh temptations to
the same things! The author does not pretend to deliver thee an exact
piece, his business not being ostentation, but charity. It is miscellaneous
in the matter of it, and by no means artificial in the composure. But it
contains hints that may serve thee for texts to preach to thyself upon, and
which comprehend much of the course of human life; since, whether thou
art parent or child, prince or subject, master or servant, single or married,
public or private, mean or honourable, rich or poor, prosperous or un-
prosperous, in peace or controversy, in business or solitude, whatever be thy
inclination or aversion, practice or duty, thou wilt find something not
unsuitably said for thy direction and advantage. Accept and improve what
deserves thy notice. The rest excuse, and place to account of good-will to
thee and the whole creation of God."
This was the preface. With respect to the book itself, I am sorry I have
no room for extracts from it. I must, therefore, satisfy myself with laying
before the reader the bare topics on which he gave his reflections and
maxims, as they related to human life. They stand in the work in the
following order :-Ignorance; Education; Pride; Luxury; Inconsideration;
Disappointments and Resignation; Murmuring; Censoriousness; Bounds
of Charity; Frugality and Bounty; Discipline; Industry; Temperance;
Apparel; Right Marriage; Avarice; Friendship; Qualities of a Friend;
Caution and Conduct; Reparation; Rules of Conversation; Eloquence;
Temper; Truth; Justice; Secrecy; Complacency; Shifting; Interest;
Inquiry; Right Timing; Knowledge; Wit; Obedience to Parents; Bearing;
Promising; Fidelity; Office of Master; of Servant; Jealousy; Posterity;
OF WILLIAM PENN.
229
a Country Life; Art and Project; Temporal Happiness; Respect; Hazard;
Detraction; Moderation; Trick; Passion; Personal Caution; Balance;
Popularity; Privacy; Government; a Private Life; a Public Life; Quali-
fications; Capacity; Clean Hands; Dispatch; Patience; Impartiality
Indifferency; Neutrality; a Party; Ostentation; Complete Virtue;
Religion.
Among the other subjects which occupied his attention, at this time, was
that of war. He was deeply affected by the miseries it occasioned; so that,
on a renewed contemplation of these, he found his mind turned as it were
to the consideration how an evil so monstrous might be prevented. A plan
for this purpose gradually unfolded itself, built upon a hint suggested by
another, which he communicated in a work (the next fruit of his solitude)
called "An Essay towards the Present and Future Peace of Europe," a
short analysis of which I feel it a duty to present to the reader.
In the four first sections he laid it down, that peace was a thing most
desirable; that peace was promoted more by justice than by war; and that
justice was as much the natural and expected result of government as
government itself was the natural and expected result of society. He then
proposed his plan for the great object contained in the title of his Essay. He
was of opinion, that, as governments held their parliaments, sessions, and
assizes, at home, to over-rule men's passions and resentments, so that they
who had been injured by these might obtain justice at home, so he saw no
reason why princes might not, by a mutual concurrence, establish assemblies
or diets abroad, to over-rule the same bad affections, with a view of obtain-
ing justice in their disputes with one another. He suggested, therefore, the
idea of a great Diet on the Continent for this purpose; that is, that the
Princes of Europe would, for the same reason which first occasioned men to
enter into society, namely, love of peace and order, establish one sovereign
assembly, before which all differences between them should be brought
which could not be terminated by embassies, and the judgment of which
should be so binding, that, if any one government, offering its case for
decision, did not abide by it, the rest should compel it. Such a Diet might
have one session in the year, or one in two or three years, or as often as
occasion might require.
He observed, in the fifth section, that peace was usually broken upon
three principles: namely, either to keep, or to recover, or to add. As to
the principle of addition or aggrandizement, this the Diet would imme-
diately quash. As to the two former, it would settle them by a cool and
judicious discussion.
In the sixth section he referred to the titles upon which differences might
arise among states. Title (he said), was either by
Title (he said), was either by long and undoubted
succession, as in England, France, and other parts; or by election, as in
Poland, and in the Empire; or by marriage, as when the family of the
Stuarts came to England; or by purchase, as was frequently the case in
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
Italy and Germany; or by conquest, as by the Turks in Christendom. Now,
the last title only was questionable; and the Diet would decide this by
determining, as a general rule, how far back titles should go to make an
adopted right.
He suggested, in the seventh section, that every independent country
should send delegates to this Diet according to its population, revenue, and
other public marks. If Germany were to send twelve, France ten, and
others in their due proportion, the whole Diet for Europe need not consist of
more than ninety persons.
To avoid quarrels about precedency, he proposed, in the eighth section,
that the delegates should preside by turns, or, in the good old Venetian
way, by secret ballot. All complaints should be delivered in writing, in the
nature of memorials. They should be written in the Latin or French
language. Nothing should pass but by the concurrence of three-fourths of
the delegates. Journals should be kept of the proceeding in trunks, which
should have as many different locks as there were sets of delegates.
In the ninth section he anticipated and answered objections to his plan.
In the tenth he showed the advantages of it. And in the eleventh he drew
his conclusion. Here he stated, that it was the intention of Henry the
Fourth of France to have obliged the princes of Europe to some such balance
as this, had he not been taken off by the hand of Ravilliac.
"His example,"
Sir William Temple's History
says he, "tells us that this is fit to be done.
of the United Province' shows us, by a surpassing instance, that it may be
done; and Europe, by her incomparable miseries, that it ought to be done.
My share is only in thinking of it, at this juncture, and putting it into the
common light, for the peace and prosperity of Europe."
C
Among the private letters which he wrote at this time, one has fallen
into my hands, which, as it shows the warmth of feeling with which he
pursued his friendships, and the pious state in which his mind was almost
constantly preserved, I have thought it proper to copy. It was dated
London, the eleventh of September, and addressed to Nathaniel Blandford,
at Stratford, and ran thus:-
"DEAR FRIEND-I was surprised last night, when I was told of thy great
illness, and weakness, and desire to see me. Surely had I ever heard it I
should have broken through * all my exercises to have seen thee; and I
cannot express my trouble that my landlord should not have told it me,
*It appears, from this sentence, that, though he was an exile in lodgings in
London, he had not formed the resolution of never stirring out of doors; for he
would have visited his friend Blandford, had he known of his indisposition before.
It is to be presumed, therefore, that he went from home whenever other fit occa-
sions presented themselves. I mention this merely as a mark of the consciousness
of his own innocence, because his person had been so noticed, and had become so
familiar to people in London, that the government might have easily apprehended
him, when on these excursions, had it been so inclined
OF WILLIAM PENN.
231
though ordered by Jos. B., seventh day week; and, truly, I wonder Joseph
never hinted it himself. I now dispatch my kinsman, this morning, to hear
of the state of thy health, desiring of the Lord his merciful loving-kindness
towards thee and thine in thy preservation. And I pray God sanctify this
visitation to thee on thy better part's account, that truth in the inward
parts may get ground, and the testimony and cross of Jesus may prevail to
thy prosperity every way. I have been thinking to see you sometimes; then
interrupted by sorrowful occasions; then of writing to thy dear wife, whom
I love and esteem above most I know, and, with my letter, of sending her a
few books: but I know not how I have been prevented. The All-wise God
give us faith to believe all shall work together for the best!-So, with our
true love and concern for thee and thine, I rest thy most assured Friend,
"WILLIAM PENN.
My poor friend (his wife), we hope, is in a mending way, though slowly.
She is very weak."
In about two months after the writing of this letter he was released from
his exile by the interposition of his friends. Certain persons of rank and
influence, who had intimately known and admired his character, thought it
was time to interest themselves in his behalf. They considered it as a dis-
honour to the government that a man who had lived such an exemplary life,
and who had been so distinguished for his talents, disinterestedness, generosity,
and public spirit, should be buried in an ignoble obscurity, and prevented
from rising to future eminence in usefulness, in consequence of the attack of
an unprincipled wretch, whom the Parliament had publicly stigmatised as a
cheat and impostor, or of the mere suspicion of having incurred the charge
that had followed it. There was nothing, they conceived, in his conduct, as
far as it had been investigated, which could lead impartial persons to
suppose that he was in any degree guilty of any of the charges which had
been exhibited against him. Three of these he had met by a personal
appearance, both before the King and Council, and in the courts of law, and
he had been honourably acquitted. Dr. Tillotson, Mr. Popple, Mr. Locke, and
many persons distinguished for their character and attainments, yet held him
in esteem. The government itself had thought his case hard; for it had
never followed up the accusation of Fuller even by encouraging the first
warrant, or the proclamation, by any active search for his person. In all
parts of the kingdom were those whom he had benefited by his private
liberality. In America he had sacrificed a princely fortune for a public
good. All his actions, however mistaken he might be in the opinion of some,
were so consistent with each other as to afford a demonstration that they
proceeded from fixed principles, and these of the purest kind.
These con-
siderations began to operate upon many, and particularly upon the Duke of
Buckingham, and the Lords Somers, Ranelagh, Rochester, and Sidney. The
three last went in a body to King William. "They represented his case to
his Majesty not only as hard, but as oppressive.
CC
There was nothing," they
232
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
said, "against him but what impostors, or such as had fled their country, had
advanced; or such as, when they had been pardoned for their crimes, they
had refused to verify. They themselves," they added, "had long known him
(William Penn), some of them thirty years, and they had never known him
do an ill thing, but many good offices, and that if it had not been for being
thought to go abroad in defiance of the government, he would have done it
two years ago; but that he chose to wait to go about his business, as before,
with leave, that he might be the better respected in the liberty he took to
follow it."
King William answered, that "William Penn was his old acquaintance as
well as theirs, and that he might follow his business as freely as ever, for
that he had nothing to say against him." Upon this they pressed his
Majesty to command one of them to declare this, his gracious intention, to
Sir John Trenchard, who was then principal Secretary of State.
To this
the King consented; and as the Lord Sidney was one of the most intimate
acquaintances William Penn had, he was selected for the purpose. The
Secretary of State, upon receiving the intelligence from the Lord Sidney,
was much pleased; for William Penn, he said, had done him signal service
after the Duke of Monmouth's and Lord Russell's business. Soon after this
orders came to him from the King himself. In consequence of this, he, Sir
John, appointed William Penn a time to meet him. An interview took
place on the the thirtieth of November, when Sir John, in the presence of
the Marquis of Winchester, told him "he was as free as ever;" adding, that
"as he doubted not his prudence about his quiet living, so he assured him
he should not be molested or injured in any of his affairs, at least while he
held that post." It appears, however, as if William Penn had not been
satisfied with the manner of his release; for a council was afterwards held,
where the King and many lords being present, he was heard in his own
defence, and where he so pleaded his innocency that he was acquitted.
At this time the case of his wife had become hopeless. It was, however,
a great gratification to him to think, that, before her spirit fled to other
mansions, she knew of his honourable restoration to society. To her his
acquittal must have given indescribable pleasure. The news of it must have
been as balm to the wounds of sickness. Suffice it to say that in about a
month after this event she died.
It cannot be expected, from the very nature of society, that the wives of
individuals should go down to posterity with an illustrious name, except
they have distinguished themselves in a public manner. Those females
who fulfil their domestic duties even in the most exemplary manner, are
seldom recorded but in the breasts of their own families. Men are looked
upon as the great movers in life; and these find a place in biographical
history, when their wives, who have perhaps exhibited far more brilliant
characters, have gone in silence to the grave: and yet a few words, taken
from records, may be said in behalf of Gulielma Maria Penn. Thomas
OF WILLIAM PENN.
233
Ellwood, a Quaker, relates, in the history of his own life, an anecdote, which
shows the estimation in which she was held, at least in one of the places
where she had lived. The reader has already been informed that William
Penn, soon after his marriage, resided at Rickmansworth, in Hertfordshire,
but that he removed afterwards to Worminghurst, in Sussex. I may now
mention, that Thomas Ellwood had been summoned (this was in the year
1683) by Sir Benjamin Titchborn and Thomas Fotherly, two justices of the
peace, the one then living in, and the other near Rickmansworth, to appear
before them on a certain day, on account of the publication of his book
called "A Caution to Constables.” This summons they sent him, in order
that they might commit him to prison till the next assize, and this at the
special instigation of the Earl of Bridgewater, one of the King's Cabinet
Council. Just at this time Thomas Ellwood was suddenly sent for, express,
by Madam Penn (as she was called), who then lay dangerously ill at
Worminghurst, and whose husband was then, it may be recollected, in
America. To have gone immediately to her would have been to prevent
his appearance before the justices at the time fixed upon; and to have
appeared before them at the time fixed upon would have made it impossible
for him to visit Madam Penn. In this dilemma he went to the justices, to
explain to them how he was situated, and to beg a respite of appearance.
They received him with all the marks of anger; but when he told them the
occasion of his coming, as now related, their countenances began to soften.
Not only Justice Fotherly, but Sir Benjamin Titchborn and his lady, who
happened to be present (though great enemies to the Quakers), expressed deep
feelings of regret at the illness of Madam Penn; and all united in expressing
their admiration of her virtues and her worth while she lived in their neigh-
bourhood. Willing to oblige such an estimable person, they not only granted
Thomas Ellwood his request, though at a time when they were rigorously
enforcing the Conventicle Act, but, for her sake, never troubled him more
on the same subject.
But the great testimony concerning her was from her husband. He
wrote "An Account of the Blessed End of his dear Wife, Gulielma Maria
Penn," to which he fixed as a motto, "The memory of the just is blessed."
The account consisted in part of certain "weighty expressions, which she
uttered upon divers occasions, both before and near her end, and which he
took down for his own and his dear children's consolation." I select the
following passages from it:-
"held in her
"At one of the many meetings," says William Penn,
chamber, we and our children and one of our servants being only presert,
in a tendering and living power she broke out as she sat in her chair, 'Let
us all prepare, not knowing what hour or watch the Lord cometh. O, I am
full of matter! Shall we receive good, and shall we not receive evil things
at the hands of the Lord? I have cast my care upon the Lord. He is the
physicia alue. My expectation is wholly from him. He can raise up,
and he can ist down."
234
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
"To a Friend, aged sixty-five, that came to see her, she said, 'How much
older (she was herself then fifty) has the Lord made me, by this weakness
than thou art! But I am contented. I do not murmur. I submit to his
holy will.".
"She did at several times pray very sweetly, and in all her weakness,
manifested the most equal, undaunted, and resigned spirit, as well as in
all other respects. She was an excellent person both as wife, child, mother,
mistress, friend, and neighbour."
She called the children one day, when weak, and said, 'Be not
frightened, children. I do not call you to take my leave of you, but to see
you; and I would have you walk in the fear of the Lord, and with his
people, in his holy truth,' or to that effect."
CC
About three hours before her end, a relation taking leave of her, she said,
I have cast my care upon the Lord; my dear love to all Friends;' and
lifting up her dying hands and eyes, prayed the Lord to preserve and bleɛs
them."
"About an hour after, causing all to withdraw, we were half an hour
together, in which we took our last leave, saying all that was fit upon that
solemn occasion. She continued sensible, and did eat something about an
hour before her departure, at which time our children and most of our
family were present. She quietly expired in my arms, her head upon
my bosom, with a sensible and devout resignation of her soul to Almighty
God. I hope I may say she was a public as well as private loss; for she
was not only an excellent wife and mother, but an entire and constant
friend, of a more than common capacity, and greater modesty and humility;
yet most equal, and undaunted in danger; religious, as well as ingenuous,
without affectation; an easy mistress and good neighbour, especially to the
poor; neither lavish nor penurious; but an example of industry, as well
as of other virtues: therefore, our great loss, though her own eternal
gain."
It will be proper now to see how the Province and Territories went on
during this period. Colonel Fletcher, who had received his commission, left
New York for Philadelphia, to take upon him the government of these. He
took with him a few soldiers in his retinue, a sight never before witnessed in
the latter city. On his arrival he summoned the Assembly; but a dispute
arose directly between him and the Council, because he had not sum-
moned it in the old legal way, which, on account of the firmness of the latter
it took some time to adjust.
To
The Assembly having been at length legally brought together, oaths and
tests were presented to the members, in the manner of other governments
under the immediate administration of the Crown. But here a new difficulty
arose; for, most of them being Quakers, they refused to be sworn.
obviate this, the Governor proposed to them to subscribe to the declarations
and professions mentioned in the act for liberty of conscier
year of William and Mary; but he declared to them, at t
the first
same time,
!
OF WILLIAM PENN.
235
that his proposal was entirely an act of favour on his part, and that it was
not to be drawn into precedent as a matter of right in future.
This declaration of the Governor disconcerted them again. They had no
conception, either that William Penn or that they themselves had forfeited
those privileges which were in the compact of the settlement. They deter-
mined, however, in order that the public business might go on, to sacrifice
their feelings for once, and to acknowledge his acceptance of their subscrip-
tion to the declaration and professions before mentioned, as an act of indul-
gence for the time.
As soon as the members had become thus qualified for the exercise of
their functions, the Governor communicated to them a letter, by way of
message from the Queen, stating, that as the expense for the protection of
Albany against the French had become intolerably burthensome to its in-
habitants, and as Albany was a frontier, by means of which several other
colonies were defended, it was but reasonable that such colonies should
assist the government of New York, from time to time, in the preservation
of it during the war.
The Assembly, after having deliberated upon the message, resolved upon
an humble address to the Governor, in which they seemed desirous of putting
off the consideration of the subject contained in it, respectfully beseeching
him that their procedure in legislation might be according to the usual
method and laws of the government of Pennsylvania, founded upon the
late King's letters patent, which they humbly conceived were yet in force.
To this address be replied, but in a manner so displeasing (for he threatened
tɔ annex them to the government of New York), that they sent him a public
remonstrance, through the medium of their Speaker. They said, among
other things, that one of the reasons alleged for the superseding of William
Penn was his adhering too much to James the Second, but that he had
never been found guilty of the charge. Another was, that the administra-
tion of justice had been impeded by the quarrels between the Territories and
the Province. This charge was equally unfounded: for the courts of
justice were open in all the counties belonging to the government, and
justice duly executed, from the highest crimes of treason and murder, to the
lowest differences about property, before the date of his (the Governor's)
commission. Neither did they apprehend that the Province was in danger
of being lost to the Crown, although the government was in the hands of
some whose principles were not for war. They conceived that his (the
Governor's) administration, though it suspended that of William Penn, was
not to be at variance with the fundamental principles of the latter. They
acknowledged him (Fletcher) undoubtedly as their then lawful Governor;
but they reserved to themselves, and to those whom they represented, the
continuance of their just privileges and rights.
After this the Assembly enacted several laws. These were sent up to the
Governor and Council. They were detained, however, by the former unconsti-
236
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
tutionally in point of time, to see whether the Assembly would vote a pecuniary
supply, according to the tenor of the Queen's letter. This unseasonable delay
together with other circumstances, offended the Assembly again; so that
they unanimously resolved, "that all bills sent to the Governor and Council,
in order to be amended, ought to be returned to this house to have their
further approbation upon such amendments, before they could have their
final assent to pass into laws." In consequence of this the Governor re-
turned some of them, with his objections, for amendment. These the
Assembly passed; after which they voted a supply, consisting of one penny
in the pound on all real and personal estates for one year, and six shillings
per poll for one year upon individuals who had come out of servitude, or
were not worth one hundred pounds; which, when collected in the six
counties, would amount to seven hundred and sixty pounds sixteen shillings
and twopence.
The Governor, having obtained his supply, confirmed all the bills which
had been passed. He then dissolved the Assembly at their own request;
and having appointed William Markham his Deputy Governor, he returned
to his station at New York.
It must be obvious, from this statement, that there was no great cordiality
between Governor Fletcher and the Council and Assembly during his
residence among them. The former, following the practice he had been
accustomed to in the administration of the government of New York, which
differed from that of Pennsylvania, was led into a false step at the very
first by convening the Assembly in an illegal manner. This produced sus
picion and jealousy among the latter. This suspicion and this jealousy
he awakened again, perhaps from his own ignorance of Quaker principles,
by his attempt to introduce the oath among them as a qualification for
legislation. But, while they were in this unsettled state, he proposed to
them the Queen's Letter, by which they were to vote a pecuniary supply
towards the defence of Albany. Here, being equally principled against war
as against oaths, their feelings received another shock. They began now
to be seriously alarmed. They had left their homes and crossed the Atlantic
to get rid of what they considered to be the barbarous and corrupt customs
of the Old World, and to start, as a people, upon a new system. But they
found themselves grievously disappointed. Oaths, war, and taxation, were
now at hand. They thought they saw armies marching and counter-
marching among what they had expected to be peaceable habitations. They
thought they saw the Indians engaged in a contest, those very people whom
it was the object of William Penn to bring from ferocious habits to the
blessings of civilised life. With respect to the tax, as it was a fundamental
of their religion always to obey the existing government, except where
their consciences suffered, they consented to it; but they stipulated in the
bill, that one-half of the money raised should go to the maintenance of the
Governor, and the other half as their own free present to the Crown. Such
OF WILLIAM PENN.
237
was the state of their minds when Governor Fletcher left them, upon a
view of which they could not help contrasting his government with that of
William Penn. This served only to confirm their prejudices against the
former, and to elevate the character of the latter. Nor could this view of
the matter operate otherwise than as a painful reproach upon themselves;
for, in a few months after Fletcher, a mere stranger, had arrived, they
granted him a provision, and they made the Crown a present; while, for
years, even to this very time, they had not furnished a table for William
Penn.
CHAPTER XXX.
A. 1694.-WRITES "AN ACCOUNT OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE
QUAKERS "GENERAL CONTENTS OF THIS WORK-ALSO "A VISITA-
TION TO THE JEWS"-EXTRACTS FROM THENCE-PUBLISHES HIS
"JOURNEY INTO HOLLAND AND GERMANY AS PERFORMED IN 1677 "
-IS RESTORED TO HIS GOVERNMENT BY KING WILLIAM-HAND-
SOME MANNER OF WORDING THE ROYAL ORDER FOR THIS PURPOSE
-TRAVELS IN THE MINISTRY LETTER TO JOHN GRATTON
AFFAIRS OF PENNSYLVANIA-DEATH AND CHARACTER OF THOMAS
LLOYD.
Apple
WILLIAM PENN, having been honourably acquitted, was now at liberty to
follow his inclinations where he pleased. His thoughts were naturally
directed towards Pennsylvania. But, alas! his new situation, among other
things, prevented him, at least for the present, from going there! He had
just lost his wife. His children were without a mother. He felt it, there-
fore, his duty to stay at home for a while, that he might comfort and in-
struct his family; that he might act the part of a double parent; and that
he might make those arrangements, which the late melancholy event had
rendered necessary in his domestic concerns.
Being tied down, as it were, to the house, on this account, his mind fell
into employment, the result of which was the production of a book, which,
however, he intended only as a Preface to the writings of George Fox. It
contained "An Account of the Rise and Progress of the People called
Quakers, in which their Fundamental Principles, Doctrines, Worship,
Ministry, and Discipline, were Plainly Declared.”
He gave, in the first chapter of this work, a history of the different
dispensations of God to the time of George Fox, or to the first appearance
of the Quakers.
He explained, in the second, their great principle; the opposition it had
met with; its progress notwithstanding; and the great comfort it admi-
nistered wherever it had been received; how, out of it, three great and
238
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
fundamental doctrines sprung, which their preachers taught—namely, re-
pentance from dead works to serve the living God, perfection from sin as
included in the notion of regeneration or a new birth, and an acknowledg-
ment of eternal rewards and punishments; how, from these, as the greater,
other doctrines sprung, which influenced their practice, such as the love of
one another; the love of their enemies; their refusal to confirm their testi-
mony by an oath, and to fight or engage in wars, and to pay ministers for
preaching the Gospel of Christ, and to show respect to persons by flattering
titles or compliments of respect; their adoption of plainness and simplicity
in their language, their abstinence from all unnecessary words, and their
rejection of the heathen custom of drinking healths to people. He concluded
with a description of their simple way of marriage, and of the manner of
registering their births and conducting their funerals, all of which were
opposite to the pomps and vanities of the world.
He explained, in the third chapter, what were the qualifications of
their ministers, and the marks by which they might be known to be
Christian.
In the fourth chapter he explained the object and the manner of con-
ducting their discipline. Its object was to supply the necessities of the poor;
to take care that they who were members answered their high profession,
not only by living peaceably, but by showing, in all things, a good example;
to inquire previously as to marriages, whether the parties to be concerned in
them were clear of all marriage-promises or engagements to others; to
register births and funerals; and to record the services and sufferings of
those deceased members who had acted as faithful servants. The way of
conducting it he described to be by elders, and by monthly, quarterly, and
yearly meetings, at which persons were deputed to attend for their re-
spective districts. All members, however, whether deputed or not, might
be present at these, and deliver their minds upon the points before them. At
these meetings there was no visible head, no chairman, or chief manager; but
they considered Christ as their President, who would always be in the midst
of those who met together in his name. He then described the principle and
authority upon which they proceeded against those who had transgressed, the
manner of such proceeding, and how the way was left open to them (on
repentance) of restoration to membership.
The fifth chapter contained a history of the life of the founder. He drew
therein a beautiful and interesting picture of his birth, parentage, early
disposition, habits, qualifications, character, troubles, sufferings, and of his
death and final triumph.
The sixth contained general exhortations, not only to the members of the
society, but to those who were yet strangers to the Quakers as a people.
These exhortations were varied so as to suit the ages, conditions, and states
of those to whom they were severally addressed.
William Penn spent a part of his retirement with his family in reading.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
239
Among the books which interested him at this time was one written by John
Tomkins. It had the following title: "The Harmony of the Old and New
Testament, and the Fulfilling of the Prophets concerning our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ and his Kingdom in the Latter Days; with a Brief
Concordance of the Names and Attributes given to Christ, and some Texts
of Scripture collected concerning Christ's Humiliation and Sufferings, also
his Excellent Dignity and Glorification." In consequence of the perusal of
this book he felt his mind drawn towards those unhappy people, who, ever
since the destruction of Jerusalem, have been wandering about, carrying
the marks of prophecy with them wherever they have gone. He wrote,
therefore, by way of Appendix to it, a small pamphlet, which he called "A
Visitation to the Jews." It consisted of a tender and compassionate address
to the seed of Abraham and house of Israel after the flesh, wherever
scattered over the face of the earth, with an earnest desire that the time of
their captivity might come to an end, and that they, who were the natural
branches, broken off through unbelief, might come again to be ingrafted by
faith and through the circumcision made without hands, so that the hope
of the promise made to their fathers might be manifested among them. In
this address he attempted to show them how ill-founded those objections
were which stood in the way of their conversion to the Christian religion. I
select the following passage as a specimen of the manner of his argument
on this occasion:-
"But if," says he to the Jews, "you have no reason to deny the New
Testament writings any more than we have to deny the authority of the
Old, in which you so firmly believe, it is as reasonable in us to expect you
should receive the authority of the New as that we should embrace the
authority of the Old. For what have you to justify the truth of those
writings, but the impossibility of so many people consenting to delude
themselves, and being able to impose upon their posterity a fiction about
the great and important matters of immortality? For the miracles recorded
in the Old Testament Scriptures are as much above reason, and, consequently,
as incredible to worldly men, as the miracles recorded in the New Testa-
ment Scriptures; so that the authority you have for the Old Testament
writings is the truth and credibility of their tradition. This, we say, we
also have for ours. How could so many men, whom you have not taxed
with ill lives or atheistical principles, agree together to put so great an im-
posture upon the world, as the penmen of the New Testament writings must
needs have done, if what they wrote were fictions? You cannot deny that
there was such a man as Jesus, and that he was put to death by your fathers,
though pretended to be a malefactor, and that he had followers, and that
those followers asserted and maintained the doctrine of their Master.
Where is there any confutation of what is affirmed of the deeds and doc-
trines of Jesus by his writers in the whole body of your antiquity, that he
wrought none of the miracles said to be wrought by him?"
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
A third work, which he brought out at this time, was "An Account of
his Travels through Holland and Germany in the Year 1677." Of this I
shall say nothing, having made large extracts from it when I gave an
account of his proceedings for that year.
While he had been employed in this manner, two events had taken place,
which it will be now proper, and, indeed, very pleasing to relate. The first
of these was a complete reconciliation with his own religious society. How
this was effected is not known. Certain, however, it is, that it was brought
to pass, and this early in the present year, and that, after this, he enjoyed
a greater portion than ever of the friendship and esteem of its members.
The second was his restoration to the government of Pennsylvania. It has
been said by some, that the Quakers were now so warmly attached to him, that
they had been the means, by uncommon exertions, of procuring for him
this mark of the royal favour. But the assertion is not true. William
Penn, soon after his last honourable discharge by the King and Council,
had sent a petition to the former for this very purpose, which stood upon
its own merits. King William, having received it, took it into consideration;
and the result was, that it was thought but just and reasonable to comply
with his request. Accordingly, an instrument was made out by the royal
order, and dated and signed on the twentieth of August, by which he was
restored to his government; and the way in which this instrument was
worded was particularly creditable to William Penn, for it was declared
therein, that the disorder and confusion into which the Province and Terri-
tories had fallen (which had been the pretence for dispossessing him) had
been occasioned entirely by his absence from them. I may add to this, that he
began to recover in the estimation of his countrymen at large: for it was
generally known that Fuller was then living in disgrace-that is, in the
disgrace which the resolution of Parliament and the punishment of the
pillory had brought upon him; whereas he, William Penn, after having
passed through four fiery ordeals, had come out of them only to re-ascend
to honour.
Having arranged his domestic concerns, and obtained his former rank and
character in society, he determined to visit the west of England in his
capacity as a minister of the Gospel. He travelled, as we find in the folio
volume of his life, "in the counties of Gloucester, Somerset, Devon, and
Dorset, having meetings almost daily in the most considerable towns and
other places in those counties, to which the people flocked abundantly; and
his testimony to the truth, answering to that of God in their consciences,
was assented to by many." This is all we can collect of his journey from
this quarter. We have, however, a more particular account of his pro-
ceedings for a few days, though a very short one, from John Whiting. The
latter, in his "Memoirs," writes thus: "This year, in the ninth month,
William Penn came down to Bristol, and to Chew, and had a great meet-
ing at Clareham, and came to my house at Wrington that night with several
OF WILLIAM PENN.
241
other Friends. And, next day, we went with him on board the Bengal ship,
in Kingroad, to dinner; and, afterward, by Westbury to Bristol, on seventh
day night, where, on first day, were very large meetings. And, about two
weeks after, he went westward, and had large meetings in most of the great
towns in our county, as also in Devonshire and Dorsetshire. I met him at
Wells, and went with him to Somerton, where it was some time before we
could get a place large enough for the meeting-the Market-house, where the
meeting began, though large, not being big enough to hold it; and, at last,
we were glad to go out into the fields; and a great gathering there was. I
met him again at Bridgewater, where he had a great meeting in the Town
Hall, as he had in most places, which the Mayors generally consented to for
the respect they had to him, few places else being sufficient to hold the
meetings. On the twenty-seventh of tenth month he came again to
Wrington, and had a large meeting in the Court Hall (where we then kept
our meetings), where was a Justice of the Peace and his wife.”
On his return from his journey he came to London, after which we have
no further trace of him for the present year, except in a letter which he
wrote from thence to John Gratton, who was an eminent minister of the
30ciety, and who lived near Chesterfield, in Derbyshire. This worthy man bad
suffered much by the spoliation of his goods on account of his religion. He
was then a respectable tradesman, but stood high in the esteem of his
neighbour, then Earl, but afterwards first Duke of Devonshire. I present
the following extracts from it to the reader :-
"DEAR JOHN GRATTON-Thy dear and tender love I feel by thy kind
lines, and they were to my comfort and refreshment. Thy name has been
down in my pocket-book ever since I came to this city, to write to thee as
one of my dear and choice friends, that lies and lives near me, with whom
is my dear, near, and inward fellowship; and, that thou art low and poor,
and as self-independent as ever, is a brave condition, and thou canst not
say better for thyself or the greatest worthy in the flock. O, dear John, I
desire to dwell there, while I live in this tabernacle. It is my prayer, and
much of my ministry to God's people. Some are convinced, but not
converted; and many, that are converted, do not persevere: wherefore,
their oil dries up; and Self, in Truth's form, gets up under specious
pretences."-
"Through the Lord's great mercy, and, beyond my hopes, I am yet
tolerably well through hard service, which it has been my lot to be engaged
in of late; in which the Lord has abundantly answered me, and tender-
hearted Friends and sober people of all sorts:"-
"As yet I have not seen my own home above these four months. I am a
poor pilgrim on the earth, yet my hope is established for an abiding-place in
an unchangeable world."
"Dear John, never trouble thyself with priests. Let them have our books.
Take two or three gross things from theirs, confute them, and leave the rest.
DX
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
Methinks J. R. (Sir John Rhodes, who was Gratton's neighbour, and had
become a Quaker) should exercise himself that way, which would whet him
up to services suitable to his condition. My love to him and the Doctor
(Gilbert Heathcote, who had married Sir John Rhodes's sister): I remember
them in my prayers to the Lord, that they may travel on to the end,
and receive the crown of faithfulness. So, in the Lord's love, dearly
farewell! Thy cordial Friend, and loving Brother,
"WILLIAM PENN."
We may now look at what passed in America during this period.
Colonel Fletcher, who had gone to New York for the winter, returned to
Philadelphia in the spring. Having called the Assembly legally, he sent
them a message, stating, that he had received information "that the five
nations of Indians, who had been so long faithful to the English, were now
debauched to the French interest in Canada; that he was come to lay the
whole affair before them, assuring them that their own Indians would be
compelled to join the confederacy; that, in consequence thereof, he had seen
fourscore fine farms all depopulated about Albany; that the Jerseys had
done more for the common defence than all the other adjacent provinces;
that, though he respected those scruples which led them to refuse to carry
arms or to levy money for war, yet he hoped they would not refuse to feed
the hungry and clothe the naked, which they might do by supplying the
Indian nations with such necessaries as might influence a continuation of their
friendship to these provinces; and, lastly, that he was ready, as far as in
him lay, consistently with the rules of loyalty and a just regard to liberty
and property, to redress their grievances, if they had any."
This message displeased the Assembly. It served only to recall their
former fears. They considered it as a demand for more of the public money,
but in a new shape. They determined, therefore, to resist it, and, accord-
ingly, they refused the Governor the supply. Several laws, however, were
passed between this and the subsequent session, which was the last under
Colonel Fletcher; for, having received the official letters which superseded
him, in consequence of the restoration of the government to William Penn,
he took his final leave of them, and returned to his own province.
About this time died Thomas Lloyd, whom I have had occasion so often
to mention in these Memoirs. He died at the early age of fifty-four, greatly
lamented by all who knew him. He was the youngest son of a very ancient
family, which possessed the estate of Dolobran in Montgomeryshire. He
had received a learned education at Oxford, but afterwards, on conviction,
joined the society of the Quakers. Dr. William Lloyd, the learned and
liberal-minded Bishop of St. Asaph, in whose diocese he lived, and who
was afterwards translated in succession to the sees of Litchfield and Coventry,
and Worcester, inquired, according to his custom, both of him and his
brother Charles, when they separated from the Church, their reasons for
so doing. They consented to give them in public, but in no other way.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
243
Accordingly, a religious conference took place at Welchpool, which lasted
from two in the afternoon till two in the morning. It was then adjourned to
Llanvilling, to the Town Hall, where it lasted two days. It was not a con-
ference of disputation, for the Bishop confined himself principally to the
proposing of questions and to the hearing of answers. On the last day he
forced Thomas Lloyd into no less than than twenty-eight syllogisms extempore,
which were put down in writing as they were delivered, on the subjects of
Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Thomas Lloyd acquitted himself so well
on this occasion, that the Bishop greatly commended his learning. After
this he went over to America, and filled, as we have seen, the office both of
President of the Council and of Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, and
these with great ability and integrity. These posts, however, he disliked,
greatly preferring a private life; but he filled them from a belief, which
others at length persuaded him to entertain, that he would be doing good
by accepting them. On his death-bed, after an illness of only six days, he
took leave of those who were near him in the following calm manner :-
"I die in unity and love with all faithful Friends. I have fought a good
fight. I have kept the faith, which stands not in the wisdom of words, but
in the power of God. I have sought, not for strife and contention, but for
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the simplicity of the Gospel. I lay
down my head in peace, and desire you may all do so. Farewell!"
Colonel Fletcher having returned to New York, and Thomas Lloyd
being dead, the deputy government of the Province and Territories was
conferred upon William Markham; for William Penn, on hearing of these
events, sent him a commission for that purpose.
CHAPTER XXXI.
A. 1695.-WRITES "A REPLY TO A PRETENDED ANSWER TO WILLIAM
PENN'S KEY ""-DELIVERS A PAPER TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
ON THE SUBJECT OF MAKING THE QUAKERS' AFFIRMATION EQUAL
TO THEIR OATH-TRAVELS IN THE MINISTRY-IS PRESENT AT A
RELIGIOUS DISPUTE AT MELKSHAM-PREACHES AT WELLS—SOME
CURIOUS PARTICULARS DURING HIS STAY THERE-AFFAIRS OF
PENNSYLVANIA.
WILLIAM PENN employed himself in the beginning of the present year in
answering a pamplet which had been written against one of his own works
that had appeared in 1692. This production he called "A Reply to a
Pretended Answer, by a Nameless Author, to William Penn's 'Key."" I
shall attempt no analysis of it, because its general contents may be imagined
by referring to those of the "Key," which I have already laid before the
reader. There is one passage, however, in it, which I shall transcribe. His
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
opponent had charged him with prevarication in the late reign, and with
baving shown an intemperate zeal for a boundless liberty of conscience. To
the charge he replied thus :-"And if it be possible or worth while to reconcile
him (my opponent) better to my conduct, let him peruse my Great Case of
Liberty of Conscience,' printed in 1671, and my 'Letter to the States of
Embden,' 1672, and my Present State of England,' 1675, and he will
find I was the same man then, and acted by the same principles; not more
intemperate in the reign that favoured it than in the reign I contended
with (the preceding), that did not favour it. And no man but a persecutor,
which I count a beast of prey, and a declared enemy to mankind, can, without
great injustice or ingratitude, reproach that part I had in King James's
Court; for I think I may say without vanity, upon this provocation, I en-
deavoured, at least, to do some good at my own cost, and would have done
more. I am very sure I intended, and I think I did, harm to none, neither
parties nor private persons, my own family excepted; for which I doubt
not this author's pardon, since he shows himself so little concerned for the
master of it."
About this time the Quakers petitioned Parliament for an act to make
their affirmation equal to their oath. William Penn was appointed to act
for them on this occasion. This he did by appearing at the House of
Commons, and by delivering there the following paper :-
"That the request of the people called Quakers may be indulged by the
members of this honourable house, it is humbly proposed to them to consider
the nature and fulness of the security they offer; and, if it be found to
amount to the weight and value of an oath, it is to be hoped there will be
no difficulty in accepting it in lieu of an oath.
"The pledge, that every man upon oath gives of his truth, is his soul. He
means, that God shall deal with him according to the truth of his affirmative
or negative given by him in the name of God. Now, to show that the said
people do as much-that is, that they pledge their souls too in their way;
that they mean the same caution with them that swear; and are under the
same reverence in their simple and solemn Aye or No; and, therefore, give
the same security; I shall beg this honourable house to consider three
things:-
First, this people make it an article of their faith and practice, and a
great part of their characteristic, not to swear at all. They think, whether
mistaken or not, that the righteousness of Christianity does not need or use
an oath; so that you have their religion in the highest exercises of it in
human affairs for your security.
66
Secondly, they have often, at very dear rates, proved to the world they
mean what they say, since they have frequently chosen to lose their estates,
and lie and die in gaol, rather than save the one or deliver themselves from
the other by deviating from their principle: and since, in such cases,
integrity is the security all aim at, it is hard to conceive which way any
OF WILLIAM PENN.
245
!
man can give a greater; nor are they so insensible as not to know that
untruth in them, after this great indulgence, is a more aggravated crime
than perjury in others, since they excuse themselves from not swearing by
a profession of an exacter simplicity and greater strictness.
Lastly, they humbly hope that, being to suffer for untruth as for perjury,
their request will not be uneasy, since they subject their integrity to trial
upon the hazard of a conviction that is so much greater than the offence in
the eye of the law would bear. Let them then, we pray, speak in their own
way, and, if false, be punished in yours. And since this honourable house
has testified an excelling zeal to secure the rights and privileges of that
great body they represent, these inferior members, with all due respect,
claiming a relation to it, request that they may not be left exposed in theirs,
but that by your wisdom and goodness they may be provided for in true
proportion to the exigencies they are under; which will engage them in the
best wishes for your prosperities."
Soon after this he travelled, as in the former year, in the work of the
ministry. We first trace him at a meeting at Henley-upon-Thames. From
thence he passed into Wiltshire. While he was at Melksham, a dispute was
held between John Plympton, a Baptist, and John Clark, of Bradford, on
the part of the Quakers, in the Court-yard belonging to Thomas Beaven's
house. The Baptist had challenged the Quakers to a public conference on
five subjects:-The Universality of Grace, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Per-
fection, and the Resurrection. Clark is said to have answered the objec-
tions of Plympton notably; but Plympton would not allow it; and though
the auditors were against him, he continued to cavil on, and would
not be silenced. At length evening coming on, William Penn rose up, and,
to use the words of a spectator, "breaking like a thunderstorm over his
head in testimony to the people," who were numerous, concluded the
dispute.
From Melksham he proceeded to Warminster, and from thence to
Wrington, at both which places he preached to crowded meetings.
The people of Wells being desirous of hearing him, he took an opportu-
nity of going to that place. But here some arrangement was necessary;
for the Bishop was then there, and some of the magistrates were unfriendly.
Accordingly John Whiting, accompanied by Robert Holder, went to the
Bishop to solicit his permission to assemble the people for the occasion. The
Bishop at this time was Richard Kidder, the author of that excellent work,
which appeared afterwards, "A Demonstration of the Messias." The Bishop
asked Whiting, after the latter had opened his business to him, why he
desired to have a meeting there, seeing there were no Quakers in the Town.
Whiting told him, to declare the Truth. He then asked what the Quakers
had to preach more than they. Whiting replied, the Grace of God. The
Bishop said, they preached the Grace of God also. Whiting replied they
might do so now and then, but not, he apprehended, as the Quakers did;
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
•
that is, they did not direct their people to it as to that which bringeth sal-
vation and hath appeared unto all men, and would teach them to deny
ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly
in this present world. Soon after this the Bishop, who conducted himself
with much good temper, left them to do as they pleased.
Finding no opposition from the Bishop, they applied for the Market-
house, as the fittest place to hold the auditors. They were promised the use
of it the next day; but when the time came they were forbidden to enter it;
for some of the opposite party in the town, who had been drinking Colonel
Berkley's election ale the day before, had turned the clerk of the market
against them. They resolved, therefore, with the consent of the landlord,
to make use of the Crown Inn where they had put up, which had a large
room and a balcony facing the Market-place. But finding, on looking over
the late Act of Toleration, that it was necessary to have a certificate that
they intended to hold a religious meeting there, they drew up the same, and
the same persons went with it to the Bishop as before. He received them,
as before, in a friendly manner. John Whiting informed him of what the
act required. The Bishop said he would look at the act; and if it really
required, he would certainly send them a certificate.
By this time the Market-house was full of people, who had broken into it;
but John Whiting and others desired them to come out of it, and to place
themselves before the balcony of the inn in the street. This they did to the
number of between two and three thousand. The Quakers, in the mean
time, occupied the great room in the inn. After this arrangement William
Penn came forward to the balcony and began to preach; but, in the midst
of his discourse, a constable and other officers came with a warrant signed by
Matthew Baron (Mayor), and William Salmon (Justice); and, breaking
through the people, forced their way into the great room of the inn and
then into the balcony, and seized William Penn, whom they hurried away
before the magistrates. These, however, did not detain him long; for
finding, upon examination, that the house had been certified by the Bishop,
and that, by disturbing a lawful assembly, they had overshot their mark,
they excused themselves as well as they could, and dismissed him; "having
done just enough," says one of the old writers of his life, "to manifest the
keenness of their stomachs for the old work of devouring, in that they could
not refrain from whetting their teeth again, after the Act of Toleration had
blunted them." After this the Quakers hired a house at Wells, in which,
having obtained a license for it according to law, William Penn preached
without further molestation, and in which several meetings were afterwards
held by the same people.
William Penn, having staid his time at Wells, travelled to other places in
the county, holding meetings for worship almost daily as he went along;
when at length he proceeded to Bristol, a place where he had so frequently
exercised his gift in the same way. Here he remained some time.
After
OF WILLIAM PENN.
247
this he went to London, and from thence made the best of his way to his
family at Worminghurst, in Sussex.
With respect to his American affairs but little occurs for mention in
the present year.
On the twenty-sixth of March, Markham, as Deputy
Governor, issued a writ for the election of a new Provincial Council,
consisting, as before, of three, and of a new Assembly, consisting of
six persons, for each county. The Council so elected met on the
twentieth of April, and the Assembly on the tenth of September. At this
Assembly he renewed the application of Fletcher for more money on the
ground of the Queen's letter. The Assembly took the subject into con-
sideration, and voted an assessment, but specified the appropriation as
before. To the bill, however, which they passed for this purpose, they joined
another, entitled A New Act of Settlement, by which the Council was to
consist of only two members instead of three, and the Assembly of only four
instead of six, for each county, and by which certain fundamental liberties
were to be confirmed to them. These bills they presented to Markham for
his sanction; but, instead of giving it, he dissolved both the Council and
the Assembly in an abrupt manner, and to the surprise, not only of the
members of both, but of the whole Province.
CHAPTER XXXII.
A. 1696. MARRIES A SECOND TIME-LOSES HIS ELDEST SON-WRITES
AN ACCOUNT OF HIS SAYINGS AND BEHAVIOUR DURING HIS
SICKNESS, AND OF HIS CHARACTER-WRITES ALSO "PRIMITIVE
CHRISTIANITY REVIVED "-ANALYSIS OF THE WORK-ALSO "MORE
WORK FOR G. KEITH"-VISITS THE CZAR OF MUSCOVY, THEN IN
ENGLAND-IMPRESSION MADE UPON THE LATTER - AFFAIRS OF
PENNSYLVANIA—
WILLIAM PENN having obtained, according to the custom of the Quakers, a
certificate from his own monthly meeting, which was then held at Horsham, in
Sussex, that he was clear from all other engagements, went down to Bristol
in the beginning of the month of March to solemnise a second marriage.
He had long felt an extraordinary esteem for Hannah, the daughter of
Thomas Callowhill, and granddaughter of Dennis Hollister, both eminent
merchants of that city, and both of whom had joined the religious society
of Quakers. It was with her that he entered into the union now mentioned.
But, alas, how short-lived frequently, and how uncertain always, are our
prospects! How nearly dwell together our pleasures and our pains! But a
few weeks after he had brought his new-married wife home he lost his
eldest son. The latter, indeed, had been for some time in a decline, and
therefore this, his untimely end, had in all probability been expected. But he
was a youth of high attainments and most amiable and engaging manners.
He had been looked up to with great reason as a child of promise. He had
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
passed his twentieth year. The expectation, therefore, of his decease,
though it might have prepared his relatives for it, did not lessen the affilic-
tion of losing him. An event which cut off so much genius and virtue in
their bloom, though consolatory in looking towards a future life, must have
involved his family in sorrow.
46
William Penn had attended his son regularly in his illness, saving the
time he was absent on his marriage, for the last three months. He was hig
nurse and comforter. He received his head, when dying, in his own bosom,
as he had done that of his mother, and witnessed his departing breath.
And as of her he gave a memorial to the world, which embraced the
interesting scenes of her last moments; so, with the like hallowed view, he
did the same with respect to her son. This memorial, though it be of some
length, I cannot withold from the reader; for it shows first the pious way
in which he trained up his children, and, secondly, the tender manner in
which he effected it; because, while he always enforced his authority as a
parent, it appears that he held an eminent place in their affectious. It
shows, too, the power of religion on the mind; how even youth itself may
be made capable of attaining the highest wisdom; how it may be brought,
gay and inconsiderate as it is, to a state of patience and resignation under
suffering; and even to look upon affliction as a state which may be so
sanctified as to be reckoned among our blessings. To the memorial he
prefixed these words: "Sorrow and joy in the loss and end of Springett Penn."
'My very dear child," says he, "and eldest son, Springett Penn, did from
his childhood manifest a disposition to goodness, and gave me hope of a
more than ordinary capacity; and time satisfied me in both respects. For,
besides a good share of learning and mathematical knowledge, he showed a
judgment in the use and application of it much above his years. He had
the seeds of many good qualities rising in him, that made him beloved and
consequently lamented; but especially his humility, plainness, and truth,
with a tenderness and softness of nature, which, if I may say it, were an
improvement upon his other good qualities. But, though these were no
security against sickness and death, yet they went a good way to facilitate
a due preparation for them. And indeed the good ground that was in him
showed itself very plainly some time before his illness. For more than half
a year before it pleased the Lord to visit him with weakness, he grew more
retired, and much disengaged from youthful delights, showing a remarkable
tenderness in meetings, even when they were silent; but when he saw
himself doubtful as to his recovery, he turned his mind and meditations
more apparently towards the Lord, secretly, as also when his attendants
were in the room, praying often with great fervency to him, and uttering
very many thankful expressions and praises to him, in a very deep and
sensible manner. One day he said to us, I am resigned to what God
pleaseth. He knows what is best. I would live if it pleased him, that I
might serve him; but, O Lord, not my will, but thine be done!'
OF WILLIAM PENN.
249
A person speaking to him of the things of this world, and what might
please him when recovered, he answered, 'My eye looks another way, where
the truest pleasure is.' When he told me he had rested well, and I said it
was a mercy to him, he quickly replied upon me with a serious yet sweet
look, ‘All is mercy, dear father; everything is mercy.' Another time when
I went to meeting, at parting he said, 'Remember me, my dear father,
before the Lord. Though I cannot go to meetings, yet I have many good
meetings. The Lord comes in upon my spirit. I have heavenly meetings
with him by myself.'
"Not many days before he died, the Lord appearing by his holy power
upon his spirit, when alone, at my return, asking him how he did, he told
me, 'OI have had a sweet time, a blessed time! great enjoyments!
power of the Lord overcame my soul: a sweet time indeed!'
The
"And telling him how some of the gentry, who had been to visit him,
were gone to their games and sports and pleasures, and how little con-
sideration the children of men had of God and their latter end, and how
much happier he was in this weakness to have been otherwise educated and
preserved from those temptations to vanity, he answered, 'It is all stuff, my
dear father it is sad stuff. O that I might live to tell them so !'-—'Well,
my dear child,' I replied, 'let this be the time of thy entering into secret
covenant with God, that, if he raise thee, thou wilt dedicate thy youth,
strength, and life to him and his people and service.' He returned,
'Father, that is not now to do, it is not now to do,' with great tenderness
upon his spirit.
"Being ever almost near him, and doing anything for him he wanted or
desired, he broke out with much sense and love, 'My dear father, if I live I
will make thee amends;' and speaking to him of divine enjoyments, that the-
eye of man saw not, but the soul made alive by the Spirit of Christ plainly
felt, he, in a lively remembrance, cried out, 'O, I had a sweet time yesterday
by myself! The Lord hath preserved me to this day. Blessed be his name!
My soul praises him for his mercy. O Father, it is of the goodness of the
Lord that I am so well as I am.' Fixing his eyes upon his sister, he took.
her by the hand, saying, 'Poor Tishe, look to good things! Poor child,
there is no comfort without it! One drop of the love of God is worth more
than all the world. I know it. I have tasted it. I have felt as much or
more of the love of God in this weakness than in all my life before.' At
another time, as I stood by him, he looked up upon me, and said, 'Dear
father, sit by me! I love thy company, and I know thou lovest mine; and,
if it be the Lord's will that we must part, be not troubled, for that will
trouble me.'
"Taking something one night in bed just before his going to rest, he sat
up and fervently prayed thus: 'O Lord God! Thou whose Son said to his
disciples, Whatever ye ask in my name ye shall receive, I pray thee in his
name bless this to me this night, and give me rest, if it be thy blessed will!
M 2
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
And accordingly he had a very comfortable night, of which he took a
thankful notice before us the next day.
"And when he at one time more than ordinarily expressed a desire to
live, and entreated me to pray for him, he added, 'And, dear father, if the
Lord should raise me, and enable me to serve him and his people, then I
might travel with thee sometimes, and we might ease one another'
(meaning in the ministry). He spoke this with great modesty; upon which
I said to him, 'My dear child, if it please the Lord to raise thee, I am
satisfied it will be so; and if not, then, inasmuch as it is thy fervent desire
in the Lord, he will look upon thee just as if thou didst live to serve him,
and thy comfort will be the same. So either way it will be well: for, if
thou shouldst not live, I do verily believe thou wilt have the recompense of
thy good desires, without the temptations and troubles that would attend if
long life were granted to thee.'
(
"Saying one day thus, I am resolved I will have such a thing done,' he
immediately corrected himself, and fell into this reflection with much con-
trition, 'Did I say I will? O Lord, forgive me that irreverent and hasty
expression! I am a poor weak creature, and live by Thee, and therefore I
should have said, if it pleaseth Thee that I live, I intend to do so. Lord
forgive my rash expression!'
"Seing my present wife ready to be helpful and to do anything for him,
he turned to her and said, 'Do not thou do so. Let them do it. Don't
trouble thyself so much for such a poor creature as I am.' And taking leave
of him a few nights before his end, he said to her, 'Pray for me, dear
mother! Thou art good and innocent. It may be the Lord may hear thy
prayers for me; for I desire my strength again, that I may live and employ
it more in his service.'
"Two or three days before his departure he called his brother to him, and,
looking awfully upon him, said, 'Be a good boy, and know that there is a
God, a great and mighty God, who is a rewarder of the righteous, and so he
is of the wicked, but their rewards are not the same. Have a care of idle
people and idle company, and love good company and good friends,
and the Lord will bless thee. I have seen good things for thee since
my sickness, if thou dost but fear the Lord, and if I should not live
(though the Lord is all-sufficient), remember what I say to thee, when I am
dead and gone.
Poor child, the Lord bless thee! Come and kiss me!'
which melted us all into great tenderness, but his brother more particularly.
Many good exhortations he gave to some of the servants and others that
came to see him, who were not of our communion, as well as to those who
were, which drew tears from their eyes.
"The day but one before he died he went to take the air in a coach, but
said on his return, Really, father, I am exceeding weak. Thou canst not
*
C.
think how weak I am. My dear child,' I replied' thou art weak, but
God is strong, who is the strength of thy life,'-' Aye, that is it,' said he,
OF WILLIAM PENN.
251
'which upholdeth me.' And the day before he departed, being alone with
him, he desired me to fasten the door, and looking earnestly upon me, said,
'Dear father! thou art a dear father; and I know thy Father. Come,
let us two have a little meeting, a private ejaculation together, now nobody
else is here. O, my soul is sensible of the love of God!' And, indeed,
a sweet time we had. It was like to precious ointment for his burial.
"He desired, if he were not to live, that he might go home to die there,
and we made preparation for it, being twenty miles from my house; for so
much stronger was his spirit than his body, that he spoke of going next
day, which was the morning he departed, and a symptom it was of his
greater journey to his longer home. The morning he left us, growing more
and more sensible of his extreme weakness, he asked me, as doubtful of
himself, 'How shall I go home?' I told him, in a coach.
I told him, in a coach. He answered,
*I am best in a coach;' but, observing his decay, I said, 'Why, child, thou
art at home everywhere.' -Aye,' said he, so I am in the Lord.' I took
that opportunity to ask him, if I should remember his love to his friends at
Bristol and London. 'Yes, yes,' said he, 'my love in the Lord, my love to
all friends in the Lord and relations too.' He said, 'Aye, to be sure.'
Being asked if he would have his ass's milk or eat anything, he answered,
"No more outward food, but heavenly food is provided for me.'
"His time drawing on apace, he said to me, 'My dear father, kiss
me! Thou art a dear father. I desire to prize it. How can I make thee
amends?'
C
"He also called his sister, and said to her, 'Poor child, come and kiss
me!' between whom seemed a tender and long parting. I sent for his
brother, that he might kiss him too, which he did. All were in tears about
him. Turning his head to me, he said softly, Dear father! hast thou no
hope for me?' I answered, 'My dear child! I am afraid to hope, and I
dare not despair, but am and have been resigned, though one of the hardest
lessons I ever learned.' He paused awhile, and, with a composed frame of
mind, he said, 'Come life, come death, I am resigned. O, the love of
God overcomes my soul!' Feeling himself decline apace, and seeing him
not able to bring up the matter that was in his throat, somebody fetched
the doctor; but, as soon as he came in, he said, 'Let my father speak to the
doctor, and I'll go to sleep;' which he did, and waked no more; breathing
his last on my breast, the tenth day of the second month, between the
hours of nine and ten in the morning, 1696, in his one-and-twentieth
year.
"So ended the life of my dear child and eldest son, much of my comfort
and hope, and one of the most tender and dutiful as well as ingenious and
virtuous youths I knew, if I may say so of my own dear child, in whom I
lose all that any father could lose in a child, since he was capable of any
thing that became a sober young man, my friend and companion as well as
most affectionate and dutiful child.
252
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
46
May this loss and end have its due weight and impression upon all his
dear relations and friends, and upon those to whose hands this account may
come, for their remembrance, and preparation for their great and last
change, and I have my end in making my dear child's thus far public.
"WILLIAM PENN."
William Penn was but little from home during the present year. Indeed,
his domestic situation did not allow him. He was, however, not unemployed.
One effort, the produce of his contemplative hours, appeared in the publica-
tion of “Primitive Christianity revived in the Faith and Practice of the
People called Quakers, written in Testimony to the Present Dispensation of
God through them to the World, that Prejudices may be removed, the
Simple informed, the Well-inclined encouraged, and Truth and its innocent
Friends rightly represented." This book contained a summary of the faith
and practice of the Quakers, in which he threw new light upon some points
which he had before handled. I submit to the reader the following concise
analysis of its contents.
He began by stating their grand fundamental principle: namely, the
Light of Christ in man.- Its nature was divine; that is, though in man,
yet not of man, but of God. He quoted the evidence of Scripture for
this principle and its various names; for its divinity; for the creation of all
things by it. It produced salvation, being life as well as light to men.
He proposed and answered three objections to the doctrine advanced;
first, that it was a mere natural light; secondly, that it lighted not all :
thirdly, that it was that only which was taught by Christ in the flesh after
which he endeavoured to confirm its divinity and universality still further.
He expatiated upon the virtue of this principle within, as it gave dis-
cernment, as it manifested God, and as it gave light to the soul.-
It was
the very ground of the Apostolical message.He answered an objection as
to two lights-the same objection had been anticipated and answered by
the Apostle John. This principle or light was the same with the Spirit.
This he attempted to prove from the properties of the two when compared.
He illustrated the difference between its manifestation and operation in
Gospel times, but not in principle. He took into consideration several
other objections to it, among which were-that, if men had always had it,
how came it that the Gospel-truths were not known before Christ's coming?
that, allowing the Jews to have had it, it did not follow that the Gentiles.
had it also; and that, if it were one principle, why were there so many
shapes and modes of religion, both heathen, patriarchal, and Christian,
since the world began? He went into the origin of idolatry.
-He con-
tended that this principle was the best antidote against it, and that it was
the only one by which man could know or become the image of God.-
He laid down what he conceived to be the doctrine of satisfaction and justi-
fication according to the Scriptures.- The Quakers believed in this
doctrine as he had then explained it, but not as perverted by many others.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
253
They owned Christ as a sacrifice and a mediator.-
Justification was
twofold; first from guilt, and secondly from the pollution of sin.————They
believed, not mystically, but substantially and really, the coming of Christ
This creed was no objection to a belief of his spiritual appear-
in the flesh.
•
ance in the soul. Men could not be saved by their belief of the one without
the sense and experience of the other; that is, they could not be saved by
Christ without them, while they rejected his work and power within them,
giving themselves up to evil ways.-The true worship of God consisted of
the operation of the Spirit and Truth in the inward parts. The true
ministry proceeded from the same source. The true ministers of Christ
were his witnesses, who spoke what they knew, having passed from a
degenerate to a redeemed state. They were known again, because, having
received freely, they preached freely-that is, without cost to their hearers.
-After this he specified what customs the Quakers could not con-
scientiously adopt, with their reasons for rejecting them; but, as most of
these have been mentioned before, it seems unnecessary to repeat them.
About this time George Keith, who had made such a disturbance among
the Quakers in Pennsylvania and the Territories, and who had since arrived
in England, began to have recourse to his old practice of fomenting dispu-
tation and strife. Angry at having been disgraced by their disownment of
him, he turned all his ill-will against them. He had gained, on his return,
a few adherents, and with these he held separate meetings at Turners' Hall,
in London, where he challenged the Quakers to dispute with him on the
subject of religion. William Penn was much grieved by his conduct, and,
being no longer able to bear it, he wrote a little book, which he called
More Work for George Keith." In the preface to it he described the man,
as it was then said, aptly, and his restless and factious spirit; and, in the
body of it, he took pains to refute the lies which he then propagated, by
transcribing passages from his former works, in which the man himself
had vindicated the Quakers in the very points on which he was then
condemning them.
In this year William Penn paid a visit to the Czar of Muscovy, afterwards
called Peter the Great, the founder of the Russian Empire, who was then
in England. The Czar worked, at this time, as a common shipwright in
the King's dock-yard at Deptford, in order that he might know the art of
ship-building practically, and thus lay the foundation of a Russian navy.
When he chose to relax for awhile, he went to London, where he had a
large house at the bottom of York-buildings. Here Prince Menzikoff was
stationed, as well to receive him as to accompany him when he visited
the nobility or when he went to Court. As it was rumoured that the Czar
resided here, Gilbert Molleson and Thomas Story, two respectable Quakers,
went and gained access to him, and conversed with him, by means of an
interpreter, on the subject of their religion. They presented him also with
“Barclay's Apology," in Latin, and other books. The Czar inquired, by
254
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
means of the same interpreter, whether the books were not written by a
Jesuit. He was also curious to know two things: first, why the Quakers
did not pay respect to great persons, when in their presence, by taking off
their hats; and, secondly, of what use they could be in any kingdom, seeing
they would not bear arms and fight. This conversation, with other parti-
culars, having transpired, and it being afterwards understood that the Czar
knew nothing of Latin, but only his own tongue and high Dutch, William
Penn felt a particular desire to see him. Accordingly, he waited upon him,
accompanied by George Whitehead and others. He took several books
with him, explanatory of the principles of his own society, which had been
translated some years before into the high Dutch language. These he
presented to the Czar, who received them graciously. A conversation
ensued between them in the same language, which William Penn spoke
fluently. The Czar appeared to be much interested by it, so that the visit
was satisfactory to both parties. Indeed, he was so much impressed by it, that
afterwards, while he was at Deptford, he occasionally attended the meeting
of the Quakers there, when he conducted himself with decorum and con-
descension, changing seats, and sitting down, and standing up, as he could
best accommodate others. Nor was this impression of short duration; for,
in the year 1712, that is, sixteen years afterwards, when he was at Frede-
rickstadt, in Holstein, with five thousand men, to assist the Danes against
the Swedes, one of his first inquiries was, whether there were any Quakers
in the place; and, being told there were, he signified his intention of
attending one of their meetings. A meeting was acccordingly appointed,
to which he went, accompanied by Prince Menzikoff, General Dolgorucky,
and several Dukes and great men. Soon after they were seated the
worship began. Philip Defair, a Quaker, rose up and preached. The Mus-
covite lords showed their respect by their silence, but they understood
nothing of what was said. To remedy this, the Czar himself occasionally
interpreted as the words were spoken; and when the discourse was over,
he commended it by saying that, whoever could live according to such
doctrines, would be happy.
We may now see what passed in America during the present year.
Markham, it appears, called the Assembly on the twenty-sixth of October
for the dispatch of business. They met accordingly; but one of their first
acts was to send him a remonstrance. They had met, they said, to show
their duty to the King; but he, Markham, following the practice of Fletcher,
had acted illegally in his public proceedings, both with respect to them and
the other branch of the legislative body. He had refused to issue his writs for
choosing members of the Council and Assembly on the last charteral day,
and had, moreover, discouraged the people from clecting at that time. He
had convened them also contrary to former usage. He had, in the last
session, also dismissed them abruptly, and he had refused to sanction the
new Act of Settlement, though it had been modelled and afterwards altered
}
OF WILLIAM PENN.
255
according to his wishes. They had, therefore, to request of him that he
would restore to them their ancient rights.
It does not appear what reply Markham made to this remonstrance; but,
in a short time afterward, he sent them a letter, by means of their Speaker,
which he had received from Governor Fletcher, of New York, and in which
he (Fletcher) requested more money of them for the relief of the Indians.
They returned no answer to this; but, instead of it, they requested him to
pass the new Act of Settlement, and to issue out his writs for choosing a
full number of representatives to serve in the Provincial Council and
Assembly on the tenth day of the first month next, according to charter;
adding, that if the Proprietary (William Penn) should disapprove the same,
then this his act should be void, and in no way prejudicial either to him or the
people. Upon this a new Act of Settlement was prepared. It provided,
among other things, that two persons only should be chosen out of each
county as the representatives of the people in Council, and four out of each
as their representatives in Assembly. Thus the Council was to consist in
future of twelve instead of eighteen, and the Assembly of twenty-four
instead of thirty-six. It provided also (seeing what had happened under
Fletcher) that all persons elected to Council and Assembly, and all appointed
to offices of state and trust, who should conscientiously scruple to take an
oath, but who, when lawfully required, would make the declaration of their
Christian belief according to an act passed in the first year of William and
Mary, should be allowed to make their solemn affirmation in lieu thereof. It
enacted again, that the Assembly should have power to prepare and propose
to the Governor and Council all such bills as they or the major part of them
should at any time see needful to be passed into laws, not, however, de-
barring the Governor or Council the same privilege; and that the said
Assembly should sit upon their own adjournments, and continue for public
purposes, until the Governor and Council, for the time being, should dismiss
them.
The bill, containing these and other provisions, which conferred such new
and important privileges upon the Assembly, having been prepared, was at
length brought in. It was soon afterwards passed by Markham. The im-
mediate consequence was, that the Assembly, on their part, passed a bill for
the money, which Fletcher had proposed to them to raise through the
medium of the latter: the sum was three hundred pounds, but it was to be
appropriated entirely to the relief of the distressed Indians who inhabited
the country above Albany.
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
...
CHAPTER XXXIII.
A. 1697.-PUBLISHES "A CAUTION HUMBLY OFFERED ABOUT PASSING
THE BILL AGAINST BLASPHEMY"-BILL IS DROPPED-AFFAIRS OF
PENNSYLVANIA.
WILLIAM PENN, after the death of his eldest son, took a house at Bristol,
where he and his family now resided. We hear but little of him during the
present year.
We know of only one publication, which was that of a
*
small paper, and which he wrote on the following occasion:
A bill was depending in the House of Lords against blasphemy. William
Penn was, of course, in favour of any law which had in view such a moral
end; for, among those laws which he had established in Pennsylvania and
the Territories thereunto annexed, was one against speaking profanely of
God, Christ, the Spirit, or the Scriptures. But the object of this bill was
very different.
It was to make the denial of certain ideas relative to the
Trinity, as contained in a certain formula of words, blasphemy. The
paper, therefore, which he wrote at this time, and which he afterwards dis-
tributed among the Lords for their perusal, consisted of considerations on
the subject. He showed, first, from the incorrect wording of the bill, that
it would have but a partial effect, for that many thousands residing in the
kingdom might blaspheme, and yet escape its penalties. But he showed,
what was far more important, that, where the bill would actually reach the
offenders, it would open all the doors of persecution, and occasion mischief
to all classes of people, and to Churchmen and Dissenters equally. If the
bill were to contain a creed, he hoped that this creed would be given in the
terms of Scripture, and not in the words of men's own wisdom, which were
liable to ambiguous interpretation. Thus, for example, the bill enacted,
that, if any educated in, or professing the Christian religion within the
realm, denied any of the persons in the Holy Trinity to be God, they should
be liable to a certain punishment; but he had rather the bill would enact
(if there must be a bill at all), that if any denied any of "the Three that
bore record in Heaven" to be God, the same punishment should follow: for
many might believe and own the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be God
according to the Holy Scriptures, and yet scruple the term PERSONS. Now,
all such, even Churchmen themselves, might be brought by unprincipled
informers under severe sufferings merely for words and terms, when they
sincerely owned the substance of the doctrine which the bill approved. This
* We only know that he rode with William Edmundson on his way to Melksham,
and with Jaines Dickinson on his way into Cumberland. It was his custom, when
ministers of his own religious society came to Bristol to preach, to accompany them
on horseback for some miles out of the city, on their return home, or on their way
to other places.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
257
paper is said to have made its impression upon several of those to whom it
was addressed. At any rate, the bill was dropped in the same session.
With respect to his American concerns, I may observe, that Markham,
having called the Assembly in the present year both at the proper time and
according to the proper form, laid before them, as in the preceding, a letter
which he had received from Fletcher, the Governor of New York. Fletcher
informed him, that the three hundred pounds sent to him last year had
been spent in contingencies, as he called them, to feed and clothe the
Indians, according to the vote of the session, and requested of the Assembly
further assistance in the same way. The letter was accordingly referred to
a committee, consisting both of the Council and Assembly, for their answer.
The result was, that they thanked the Governor for his attention towards
them in having applied the money to the use intended, but, as to a further
supply at present, they could not consent to it. They urged the infancy,
poverty, and encumbered state of the Province, as reasons for not acceding
to his wishes. At the same time they declared their readiness to observe the
King's further commands, as far as their abilities and their religious per-
suasions would permit. This was the substance of their public answer. It
was obvious, however, that they began to view the demands of Fletcher
with a suspicious eye. He had no sooner been armed with public power than
he asked them for money; and, when he had obtained what he wanted, he
asked them for more. Thus taxation had begun, and an acquiescence in
the present demand might have been to render it permanent. They foresaw,
if they did not immediately attempt to stem the torrent, that they might be
involved, by means of their local connections, in all the evils of the old
corrupt and military governments, and that expense and misery might be
entailed upon them for generations to come. They had had a fear, too, that
their money had been used, not to supply the Indians with what they merely
wanted, but to make them presents, that is, to bribe or entice them into a
confederacy against other Indians engaged by the French; thus drawing
innocent people into the horrors of the quarrel, and buying up blood on one
side to be expended for blood on the other. Under these impressions, as
well as under the consideration that the colony, then only in an infant state,
had been settled by persons, many of whom were but in moderate circum-
stances, and others of whom had borrowed capital for their adventure, they
thought they might be excused, if they refused the application which had
been made to them. They had an expectation, also, that William Penn
would soon occupy his former station among them in his own person, and
they thought it not improper to suspend their decision concerning it till his
return.
258
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
CHAPTER XXXIV.
A. 1698.-GOES TO IRELAND AS A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL-WRITES
"THE QUAKER A CHRISTIAN," AND "GOSPEL TRUTHS, AS HELD BY
THE QUAKERS"-PREACHES AT DUBLIN, LAMBSTOWN, WEXFORD,
WATERFORD, CLONMEL, CORK, AND MANY OTHER PLACES-HAS HIS
HORSES SEIZED AT ROSS-INCIDENT AND INTERVIEW WITH THE
BISHOP AT CASHEL-RETURNS TO BRISTOL-WRITES "GOSPEL TRUTHS
DEFENDED AGAINST THE BISHOP OF CORK'S EXCEPTIONS"-GOES
TO LONDON TO TAKE LEAVE OF ADVENTURERS TO PENNSYLVANIA
IN THE SHIP PROVIDENCE-RETURNS TO BRISTOL-WRITES "TRUTH
OF GOD AS PROFESSED BY THE PEOPLE CALLED QUAKERS."
WILLIAM PENN began now to think seriously of returning to America;
but it was necessary that he should first settle his private affairs. He had a
large estate in Ireland, which he had formerly superintended, and which he
was desirous of visiting again. He felt himself also particularly called
upon to work once more as a religious labourer in the vineyard there. Ac-
cordingly, taking leave of his family, he proceeded to Holyhead. Here he
met, by appointment, Thomas Story and John Everott, two other ministers
of the Gospel belonging to his own society. These now joining him, they
embarked in the same vessel, and pursued their intended course.
When they arrived at Dublin it was the time of the half-yearly meeting
of the Quakers. Meetings for worship were usually held at this season, and
they were generally well attended, not only by members of the society, but by
others. But, when it was known that William Penn had arrived, and that he
was likely to come forth among the preachers, they were more than ordinarily
crowded. Many of the nobility and also of the clergy were present, and
among the latter the Dean of Derry, who was much pleased as well with
the matter as the manner of his discourses. In the intervals of these meet-
ings he took an opportunity of visiting the Lords Justices of Ireland, and
several of the chief ministers of the government; thus discharging the offices
of friendship, and, at the same time, raising in their minds a good dis-
position towards those of his own religious persuasion, which might be
serviceable to them on a future day.
It is remarkable, while he was in Dublin, that John Plympton, the
person whom he had silenced between two and three years before at a
dispute at Melksham, in Wiltshire, as then related, was there circulating a
pamphlet called "A Quaker no Christian." This coming to the ears of
William Penn, he answered it by another, which he called "The Quaker a
Christian," and which he also circulated in like manner. But that he might
do away the impression, if any had been made by Plympton, he thought it
proper to draw up a little paper, to inform the people of Ireland what the
principles of the Quakers were. It was entitled "Gospel Truths held by the
OF WILLIAM PENN.
259
People called Quakers." It contained eleven principles as embraced by
them. It was signed by himself and three others. But, to render the
information still more complete, he reprinted, while there, the eighth and
ninth chapters of his "Primitive Christianity Revived."
The half-yearly meeting being over, he left Dublin in company with
Thomas Story and others, and began his journey into the country. The first
meeting he held was at Lambstown, where he preached. From thence he went
to Wexford: here another meeting was gathered. From Wexford he set
out for Waterford. He had previously given notice that he would hold a meet-
ing there on the same day; but at Ross, on his way thither, he was detained
for some time by a curious incident. Some of the horses belonging to him
and the company had been ferried over the river, while they were at dinner;
but the rest had been stopped and seized. The Irish Parliament had passed
an act, in order to discourage what they called the evil purposes of Papists,
that no Papist should keep a horse of the value of five guineas and upwards:
any Protestant discovering and informing against such a horse, might bring
it to the magistrate, and, by tendering him five guineas, to be paid to the
owner, might keep it afterwards as his own property. Upon this plea it
was that they were detained; for Lieutenant Wallis and Cornet Mont-
gomery, of Colonel Ecclin's Dragoons, choosing to suspect William Penn
and his Friends of being Papists, in the hope of getting a large booty, had
made the seizure; for which they had previously obtained, upon their own
information, a warrant from the Mayor. The warrant stated that, whereas
several persons, whose names were unknown, then in the town of Ross,
were Papists, within the construction of the late act, and had in their
custody several horses of the value of five guineas each horse; and, informa-
tion having been given of the same, the constables were required to make
diligent search both for the persons and horses, and to bring them before
him (the Mayor), that they might be dealt with according to law, and the
true meaning of the said act. William Penn and his Friends, not knowing
what had taken place, went, after dinner, to take boat; "but, as they
were about to enter it, about half a dozen Dragoons stepped in before them,
and forced it off from the shore; which, William Penn observing, he went
to some of their officers and gentlemen standing on the quay, reasonably
expecting they should so resent the abuse, as at least to reprove the soldiers;
which, when they neglected, it became obvious that it was done by their
direction to prevent the passage. Then William Penn said to them, with a
suitable freedom and resentment, What! are you gentlemen and officers,
and will you stand here and suffer such insolence in your open view ?'”
Soon after this, William Penn and several other Friends passed the river,
and taking the horses, which had been ferried over before the seizure, they
proceeded to Waterford. The others staid behind to settle the matter about
those which were in custody, which they recovered by taking out a replevin.
It may not be improper to observe, that William Penn wrote afterwards to
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
the Lords Justices of Ireland to complain of the abuse. The result was,
that the officers were confined to their chambers. The latter, fearing they
would be broke, made application to Colonel Pursel, the Governor of
Waterford, to use his interest with William Penn in their behalf. This the
Colonel did. and "William Penn," says Thomas Story, "who was not a
man of revenge, but of justice and mercy, so soon as he found their request
was made in a due sense of their error, delayed not to solicit for them
accordingly; upon which they were released and forgiven."
But to return. William Penn, having crossed the river, and availed
himself of the use of one of the horses which had been ferried over, proceeded
to Waterford. The delay, however, had been such, that he did not arrive
there till nearly the time of the meeting. Here after a suitable opportunity
of silence, he preached. As he had been expected, great multitudes were
present. It was said that the Bishop and several of his clergy were equally
curious to hear him; but they did not go within the walls of the meeting,
satisfying themselves with what they could pick up of his discourse in
an adjoining garden.
After leaving Waterford he attended two meetings at Clonmel, one at
Youghall, one at Cork, and one at Bandon. While on this latter excursion,
he took an opportunity of visiting his estates. He spent, however, but three
days upon one, and two upon the other; during which he made all the
arrangements that seemed necessary. After this he paid a visit to Lord
Shannon, and from thence returned to Cork.
During his stay at Cork he held several meetings, which were crowded
beyond former example. At one of these in particular he is said to have
delivered himself in an extraordinary manner. Thomas Story, speaking of
it in his Journal, characterises it thus :-"The Lord was mightily with him
on that day, clothing him with majesty, holy zeal, and divine wisdom, to
the great satisfaction of Friends there, and admiration and applause of the
people." He visited the Bishop also, who received him in a friendly manner.
Finding him conversant with the writings of the society, and believing him
to be a moderate man, he presented him with one of those little papers,
which he had published at Dublin, called "Gospel Truths held by the
People called Quakers."
Having left Cork he held two meetings at Charleville, one at Limerick,
and another at Birr. Here the Church clergyman, who had attended his
discourse, waited upon him in the evening to compliment him upon it, and
to converse with him on the subject of religion. From Birr he proceeded
to Mountmellick, Edenderry, and Lurgan; at all of which places he
preached to large assemblies, and with great advantage to the character of
his own society; but particularly in the latter place, because many pro-
fessors among the sectarians, who attended him, acknowledged that the
Quakers had been wronged by false reports concerning their principles and
doctrines.
From Lurgan he returned to Dublin. Here he spent several
OF WILLIAM PENN.
261
days, during which he frequently renewed the exercise of his gift as a
minister of the Gospel in that city.
After this he travelled into the country again, and among other places
arrived at Cashel. Being there on one of the days on which the Quakers
usually held their public worship, he went to their place of meeting; but no
sooner were the doors opened than it was filled. Being prevented from
getting in so soon as some other of his Friends, he took his station in an
adjoining room, where he finished some important letters. In process of
time the meeting began. The first who rose up to preach was John
Vaughton; but he had not proceeded far in his discourse when the Mayor
of the town, accompanied by constables, appeared by the direction of the
Bishop, and, in the King's name, ordered the congregation to disperse.
Vaughton, upon hearing the summons (for the Mayor had made but little
way into the Meeting-house), stated aloud, that he, with other Friends, had
been admitted into the presence of King William before he came from
England; that the King had asked him if the Quakers had full liberty, in
all his dominions, to exercise their religion without molestation; that, not
knowing anything to the contrary, they had answered, that through the
good providence of God, who had placed him on the throne, and his own
kind indulgence, they had now more liberty than before, for which they
were thankful both to God and the King; that the King said, in reply, that
if any disturbed the Quakers in the exercise of their religious liberties, and
they would make him acquainted with it, he would provide for them therein,
and protect them. And here, addressing himself to the Mayor, he said,
"Thou disturbest our meeting, and commandest us in the King's name to
disperse, as if we were aggressors. But whether we should obey thee
without law, or believe the King's word and accept of his royal protection,
according to law, let all that hear judge." After this Thomas Story rose,
and made some pertinent remarks, which seemed to have irritated the
Mayor, so that the latter attempted to press forward towards him; but his
attention was taken off by a message from William Penn, in the adjoining
room. It was clear that the Mayor did not like the errand upon which the
Bishop had sent him; for he immediately took the opportunity which this
message afforded him of withdrawing himself from the meeting. William
Penn treated him, on his entrance into the adjoining room, with all the
respect due to his office. The result of their conversation was, that the
Mayor was to wait upon the Bishop to solicit his patience till the meeting
was over, at which time William Penn and others would wait upon him
(the Bishop) at his own house. This promise they performed. An inter-
view afterwards took place. William Penn could not help expressing
to the Bishop his surprise, that, as a general liberty had been granted by
law to the King's subjects to worship God in their own way, provided they
conformed themselves to the law, and as the very meeting they attended had
been held on the day and in the place when and where the Quakers usually
262
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
met, he (the Bishop) should have ordered the Mayor to disturb them. The
Bishop made no hesitation in his reply. He had been, he said, that morning
to church; and, when there, he had found nobody to preach to but the
Mayor, churchwardens, a few constables, and the bare walls, his congregation
having deserted him for the Quakers. Chagrined at this circumstance, he
had sent the Mayor and constables with a message to them, but he owed
them no ill will. Soon after this they parted, upon seeming good terms the
one with the other. The Bishop, however, finding afterwards that he had
violated the Toleration Act, wrote to the Earl of Galway and the other Lord
Justice of Ireland, stating, in excuse for his conduct, that "Mr. Penn and
the Quakers had gathered together in that place, that day, such a vast mul-
titude of people, and so many armed Papists, that it struck a terror into him
and the town; and, not knowing what might be the consequence of such
an appearance, he had sent the Mayor and other magistrates to disperse
them."
William Penn, after this, proceeded to Cork, preaching at several towns
as he went along. At Cork also he had several meetings, as well as in the
country round about. Here he found his friend the Earl of Galway, who
showed him the Bishop's letter above mentioned. Having been now
between two and three months in Ireland, and having preached in the
Queen's county, and the counties of Kildare, Wicklow, Carlow, Wexford,
Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Kilkenny, and Tipperary, he and Thomas Story
took their passage in the Jane of London, to be landed in the Bristol
Channel. But while he was embarking he received a letter from the Bishop
of Cork, in answer to the little paper he had left him, entitled "Gospel
Truths as held by the People called Quakers." The Bishop, it appears, had
examined the eleven articles contained in it, and sent his opinion, in writing,
upon each.
The fault he found with " Gospel Truths," though particular,
may be conveyed generally in the words of the preface to his own letter:
"The only articles," says he, "in which you have expressed a sufficient
Christian belief, are your sixth, touching Justification, and your last, touching
Government and your submission thereto. I wish you may always stick to
this belief and practice; and I heartily rejoice to find you acknowledge the
necessity of Christ as a propitiation, in order to remission of sins and justi-
fying you as sinners from guilt. 'Tis the first time I have heard of it among
you. As to all the rest of your articles, I mean those which I understand, I
must tell you, the declaration of your faith comes so short of what is
required from people to denominate them Christians, that, except under each
article you believe more than you have declared, you cannot be accounted
Christians. For, first, in those articles of faith which you have thought fit
to mention, you have set down only some little ends, I had almost called
them snaps, of the article; and, secondly, many more whole articles of the
true Christian faith, and which are of no less import, you have entirely
omitted, waived, or suppressed."
OF WILLIAM PENN.
263
William Penn was not a little disturbed at this letter; but he had now
no time to answer it, being then on board; and therefore he put it into
his pocket, with a view of replying to it at a future time. In a day
or two after this he and Thomas Story were landed at Minehead, from
whence they proceeded to Bristol. His first employment, after his arrival at
home, was to write "A Defence of a Paper called Gospel Truths, against the
Exceptions of the Bishop of Cork's Testimony." He was more than five
weeks in composing it. Thomas Story transcribed it for him. It elucidated
more and more the principles embraced by those of his own religious pro-
fession.
He
In about six weeks after the publication of this, William Penn went to
London, and from thence to Deptford, to take leave of several Friends who
were going out as adventurers on board the Providence, of London, Captain
Cant, for Pennsylvania. Among these was Thomas Story himself. The
latter had for some time felt a growing desire of being useful there.
was a man of an uncommonly clear understanding, and of considerable
knowledge, as it related to the English law. On this latter account William
Penn, who had besides a great regard for him as a man, and for his talents
as a minister, had in some measure encouraged the inclination he had
manifested for the voyage. It appears that, before sailing, they held a
religious meeting in the great cabin, where William Penn broke out into
prayer "for the good and preservation of all, and especially of those who
were going to leave their native country; with thanksgiving also for the
favours of God, and for that holy and precious opportunity of their then
spiritual enjoyment, as an addition to his many former blessings."
It
On his return to Bristol he wrote "The Truth of God, as held by the
People called Quakers, being a Short Vindication of them from the Abuses
and Misrepresentations put upon them by Envious Apostates and Mercenary
Adversaries." This work he was induced to undertake in consequence of the
mistakes which even yet prevailed respecting the tenets of the society.
was, in fact, a yet further elucidation to the elucidation just before given
to the public in his answer to the Bishop of Cork. It treated further con-
cerning God; Jesus Christ; the Holy Scriptures; Baptism; the breaking
of Bread; the Light of Christ; the Father, Word, and Spirit; Works;
Christ as our Example; Freedom from Sin; Worship to God; God and
Christ as in Man; Christ coming both in Flesh and Spirit; the Resurrection;
Separation; Magistracy.
With respect to Pennsylvania, things are said to have gone on well for this
year. We find, however, a proclamation by the Deputy Governor, Markham,
against illegal trade, the harbouring of pirates, and the growth of vice. It
appears, however, to have been issued, not because these or other wicked
practices in particular prevailed, but because they had been spoken of in
England as prevailing there; and, therefore, it was thought proper to let
the inhabitants both of the Province and Territories know what had been
264
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
}
reported against them, that they might be particularly on their guard în
these respects in future. As to illegal trade, or the harbouring of pirates, no
legal regulation was thought necessary, in consequence of the proclamation,
because neither of the evils was said to exist; but as to vice, which prevails
more or less in all societies, it was proper to do something; and, therefore,
in conformity with the said proclamation, the magistrates were instructed
by the Deputy Governor, by way of preventive, to curtail the number of
ordinary, or inn-keepers, and to license those only upon whose good conduct
they thought they could depend.
CHAPTER XXXV.
A. 1699.-RELIGIOUS DISPUTE AT WEST DEREHAM BETWEEN THE
QUAKERS AND THE NORFOLK CLERGY-WRITES A PAPER AGAINST
"A BRIEF DISCOVERY," THE PRODUCTION OF THE LATTER-ALSO
"A JUST CENSURE OF FRANCIS BUGG'S ADDRESS"-PREPARES FOR A
VOYAGE TO AMERICA-DRAWS UP "ADVICE TO HIS CHILDREN FOR
THEIR CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS CONDUCT"-ALSO, ON EMBARKING, "A
LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD, CALLED QUAKERS, WHEREVER
SCATTERED OR GATHERED "-ARRIVES IN DELAWARE-INCIDENTS
THERE-YELLOW FEVER-PROCEEDS TO PHILADELPHIA-VISITS IN
THE COUNTRY-ANECDOTE RELATED OF HIM WHILE AT MERION-
MEETS THE ASSEMBLY-PASSES BILLS AGAINST PIRACY AND ILLICIT
TRADE-EXTREME SEVERITY OF THE WEATHER.
In the beginning of the present year a public dispute was held at West
Dereham, in Norfolk, between some clergymen of the Established Church
and a like number of Quakers, relative to certain doctrines in religion. The
former, it appears, did not carry their point, at least with the auditors; the
consequence of which was, that many of the clergy of the county made a
common cause of it, and that some of the most able of them produced a
pamphlet, called "A Brief Discovery," in which they laid open what they
supposed to be the mischievous errors of the Quakers, both as they related
to their principles and practice. In no book had the Quakers been more
misrepresented or calumniated than in this, and in no one was a worse in-
tention manifested towards them; for its tendency was to set aside the
indulgence which the Toleration Act had given to them among others; and
in order that it might make an impression to this end, it was presented
formally to the King and Parliament.
William Penn did not think it necessary to make an especial reply to this
pamphlet, having, in the course of his works, answered the contents of it
over and over again; but, to counteract its effects, he circulated a small
paper among the Lords and Commons, in the name of the society, of which
the following is a copy:-
OF WILLIAM PENN.
265
"It does not surprise us to be eviìly intreated, and especially by those who
have an interest in doing it; but, if conscience prevailed more than con-
tention, and charity over-ruled prejudice, we might hope for fairer quarter
from our adversaries.
"But such is our unhappiness, that nothing less will satisfy them than
breaking in upon the indulgence which we enjoy, if they could persuade the
government to second their attempts to a new persecution; in order to
which we perceive they have been hard at work to pervert our books, violate
our sense, abuse our practice, and ridicule our persons; knowing very well
with whom they have to do, and that the patience of our profession is their
security in abusing it.
"However, if it has weight enough with our superiors to make them
expect a fresh defence of our principles and practices, we shall, with God's
assistance, be ready, for their satisfaction, once more to justify both against
the insults of our restless adversaries, who otherwise, we take leave to say,
would not deserve our notice, since we have already repeatedly answered
their objections in print, and think it our duty, as well as wisdom, to use
the liberty the government has favoured us with in as peaceable and
inoffensive a manner as may be.
"WILLIAM PENN."
He wrote, besides the above, "A Just Censure of Francis Bugg's Address
to the Parliament against the Quakers."
At this time William Penn was preparing to depart for his government
in Pennsylvania. It may be remembered, when he went his first voyage,.
that he left his family behind him, and that he left behind him also a beau-
tiful letter to his wife and children. On the present occasion he determined
to take his wife and family with him; notwithstanding which he thought it
right to compose an address, which he called “Advice to his Children for their
Civil and Religious Conduct." He was aware that death might arrest him in
his course; and, therefore, in case of such an event, he determined that
they, his children, should know, when he was dead, what his mind world
have been as to their conduct on a great variety of occasions, had he been
living. This address is a small volume of itself. Even an analysis of it
would be too long for insertion here. Some idea, however, may be formed
of it by stating that it breathes the spirit, and contains many of the sen-
timents of the first beautiful letter just mentioned, and that now and then
we discover in it thoughts similar to some of those in his "Fruits of Solitude,"
which was a collection, as the reader will remember. of reiections and
maxims, the result of his own experience, for the conduct of human life.
Having written this, his advice, and prepared all other matters, he and
his family proceeded to Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, where they embarked.
Here, before the ship sailed, he wrote a farewell letter to the members of his
own religious society, as he had done in his former voyage when lying in
the Downs. It was called "A Letter to the People of God called Quakers.
wherever scattered or gathered, in England, Ireland, Scotland, Holland,
N
266
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
}
Germany, or in any other part of Europe." The tenour of it was like that
of the former, exhorting them to watch for their daily preservation, to turn
their minds inward and there wait to feel their Redeemer, and to keep up
the true fear and love of God; without which they would decay and
wither.
After a tedious passage of nearly three months, he arrived in the River
Delaware, on the last day of November. Just about this time, a most horrible
distemper, called then the yellow fever, had ceased. This distemper had been
very fatal in several of the West India islands some years before. Thomas
Story, whom I mentioned in the last chapter to have gone to Pennsylvania
the preceding year, witnessed its rise and progress there. He says, in his
journal, "that while he was in Philadelphia, six, seven, and eight a day
were carried off for several weeks together." In describing the effect it had
upon the minds of those who beheld its progress, he speaks thus:-" Great
was the majesty and the hand of the Lord. Great was the fear that fell
upon all flesh. I saw no lofty nor airy countenance, nor heard any vain
jesting to move men to laughter; nor witty repartee to raise mirth; nor
extravagant feasting to excite the lusts and desires of the flesh above
measure; but every face gathered paleness, and many hearts were humbled,
and countenances fallen and sunk, as of those who waited every moment to
be summoned to the bar, and numbered to the grave.'
+
"
I have been induced to make this digression on this particular subject,
because the yellow fever has generally been considered as having originally
sprung, and this of late years, from Africa, and as having been imported
from thence to our West Indies, and afterwards from thence to America.
But the foregoing account falsifies such an idea, and fixes it to its proper
latitudes. It may not be unimportant, in the future consideration of this
distemper, to view it as one of long standing, and as belonging to those
climates where its awful visitations have been so severely felt.
Having landed, he pro-
Here he found Thomas
But to return. William Penn arrived in the River Delaware.
By the
time he had sailed past Chichester it began to be evening, and, meaning to
sleep that night on shore, he ordered out his barge.
ceeded to the house of Lydia Wade, near Chester.
Story and some other of his friends, with whom he spent the evening. It
is said their conversation during this time was chiefly on the affairs of the
government.
The next morning he went over the creek in a boat to Chester, "and, as
he landed, some young men officiously, and contrary to the express orders of
some of the magistrates, fired two small sea-pieces of cannon, and being am-
bitious of making three out of two, by firing one twice, one of them, darting in a
cartridge of powder before the piece was sponged, had his left hand and arm
shot to pieces; upon which, a surgeon being sent for, an amputation took
place."
Having just seen and spoken to his old friends at Chester, he returned to
OF WILLIAM PENN.
267
the ship, when, weighing anchor, he and his family were conveyed straight
to Philadelphia. On his arrival there the inhabitants were ready to gather
round him. They received him with the marks of universal joy; nor was
this joy alloyed by any cruel accident as in the former case, every precaution
having been taken, since the news of what had happened at Chester reached
Philadelphia, to prevent a similar calamity there. On the other hand, it
was increased by the belief that it was the intention of the Governor, as he
had frequently expressed in his letters, to fix his residence among them
during the remainder of his life.
His first object, after his arrival at Philadelphia, was to call the Assembly.
For this purpose he issued his writs; but, as certain previous notice was
required by law, he could not bring them together so speedily as he wished.
In the mean time he went about, notwithstanding the extraordinary
severity of the weather, wherever he thought his presence would be looked
for or useful. We find him accordingly at one time at the quarter-sessions
of the peace at Chester; at another at the marriage of Samuel Jennings's
two daughters at Burlington; at another at a youth's meeting there; and
at another at a general meeting of the Welsh Quakers at Haverfordwest.
While he was at the latter place, he left it to sleep one night at Merion,
Here happened what is related of him by Sutcliff, in his late publication,
entitled “Travels in some Parts of North America, in the Years 1804, 1805,
and 1806;" an anecdote which ought not not to be passed over.
"A boy,
about twelve years old, son of the person at whose house he lodged, being a
lad of curiosity, and not often seeing such a guest as William Penn, privately
crept to the chamber-door up a flight of steps on the outside of the
building. On peeping through the latchet-hole he was struck with awe in
beholding this great man upon his knees by the bed-side, and in hearing
what he said, for he could distinctly hear him in prayer, and in thanksgiving
that he was then provided for in the wilderness. This circumstance made
an impression upon the lad's mind, which was not effaced in old age." I
may remark, that during these and other excursions at this time the cold
was intense.
It rained frequently and froze at the same time, so that the
fields are described to have been "as cakes of ice, and the trees of the
woods as if candied." In going over to Burlington, to Samuel Jennings's,
as before mentioned, the passage was very dangerous, the ice drifting down
in large columns. This occasioned his detention there three days, it being
impossible, till after that time, to repass the river.
At length the Assembly met. The Governor, in his address to them,
stated, that he was sorry that he had felt himself obliged to call them
together at this inclement season, seeing that the general business of the
Province and Territories did not particularly require their attendance; but
it was necessary for his own reputation, and that of the Assembly, that two
bills should be immediately passed, one for the discouragement of piracy,
and the other for the prevention of illicit trade. He represented to them
268
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
the odium which the Pennsylvanians had incurred in England on accoum
of a notion that such malpractices existed among them; and added the
obligation he was under to his superiors to see the same corrected as soon
as he had the power of government in his own hands.
Two bills
Upon this address the subject was taken into consideration.
were accordingly drawn up, and which, after many alterations and additions,
were passed into laws. It is a curious circumstance, that a clause was added
to that for discouraging piracy, forbidding all trade from the Province and
Territories to Madagascar; but a belief obtained with the government of
England, at this time, that individual pirates concealed themselves in dif-
ferent parts of the new settlements in America, and that it was the
intention of these to remove their trade and magazines, and to form a
junction and to establish a colony of freebooters in that island. It is also
remarkable, when Markham stated publicly, in the preceding year, that no
pirates had found their way to the Province and Territories, yet that very
soon after William Penn's arrival two persons were put to gaol on suspicion
of having been concerned as such, and another was admitted to bail on the
same account, who proved to be the son-in-law of Markham himself. During
this session, which held nearly sixteen days, little else was done than the con-
sideration and framing of these bills. One or two vacant offices were filled,
and certain salaries regulated. The cold, indeed, was so intense, that the
health of the members would have suffered, had it continued longer. They
could not pass about as usual, nor keep themselves warm during their
sittings. At one time, after they had met to forward the public business,
they were obliged to adjourn entirely for the latter cause. Very few, not-
withstanding, absented themselves, and frequently all were present. As soon,
however, as the two bills were finished, they broke up, and returned to their
respective homes.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
A. 1700.-PROPOSES AND CARRIES IN HIS OWN MONTHLY MEETING
RESOLUTIONS RELATIVE TO INDIANS AND NEGRO SLAVES-REMOVES
OBSTRUCTIONS AND NUISANCES IN THE CITY-CALLS THE ASSEMBLY
-PROCEEDINGS OF THE SAME-VISITS AND RECEIVES INDIANS-
TRAVELS IN THE MINISTRY THROUGH THE PROVINCE AND TERRI-
TORIES, AND IN THE JERSEYS AND MARYLAND-ANECDOTES OF
HIM WHILE ON THIS EXCURSION-CALLS A NEW ASSEMBLY AT
NEWCASTLE-SUBSTANCE OF HIS SPEECH TO THEM-PROCEEDINGS
OF THE SAME-THEIR DISSENTIONS-THESE ALLAYED BY HIS
WISDOM AND JUSTICE-PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO THEIR RULES
AND CUSTOMS.
WILLIAM PENN, having passed his bills against piracy and illicit trade,
retired to his mansion at Pennsbury, which was then, as well as afterwards,
OF WILLIAM PENN.
269
the place of his general residence. There were two objects which at this
time particularly occupied his attention there. He had already interested
himself in one of them during his first residence in America, namely, the
instruction and civilisation of the Indians. He was now desirous of resuming
it, and also of taking into consideration the other, which related to the
condition of African or negro slaves.
I must observe, on the latter subject, that soon after the colony had been
planted, that is, in the year 1682, when William Penn was first resident in
it, some few Africans had been imported, but that more had followed. At
this time the traffic in slaves was not branded with infamy as at the present
day. It was considered, on the other hand, as favourable to both parties—
to the American planters, because they had but few labourers in comparison
with the extent of their lands; and to the poor Africans themselves, because
they were looked upon as persons redeemed out of superstition, idolatry.
and heathenism. But though the purchase and sale of them had been
admitted with less caution upon this principle, there were not wanting
among the Quakers of Pennsylvania those who, soon after the introduction
of them there, began to question the moral licitness of the traffic. Accord-
ingly, at the yearly meeting for Pennsylvania, held in 1688, it had been
resolved, on the suggestion of emigrants from Crisheim, who had adopted
the principles of William Penn, that the buying, selling, and holding men
in slavery was inconsistent with the tenets of the Christian religion. In 1696
a similar resolution had been passed at the yearly meeting of the same
religious society for the same province. In consequence, then, of these noble
resolutions, the Quakers had begun to treat their slaves in a manner
different from that of other people. They had begun to consider them as
the children of the same great Parent, to whom fraternal offices were due;
and hence, in 1698, there were instances where they had admitted them into
their meeting-houses to worship* in common with themselves.
* I cannot help copying into a note an anecdote from Thomas Story's Journal
for this year. "On the thirteenth," says he, "we had a pretty large meeting, where
several were tendered, among which were some negroes. And here I shall observe
that Thomas Simons having several negroes, one of them, as also several belonging
to Henry White, had of late come to meetings, and, having a sense of Truth, several
others thereaway were likewise convinced, and like to do well. And the morning
that we came from Thomas Simons's, my companion speaking some words of Truth
to his negro woman, she was tendered, and as I passed on horseback by the place.
where she stood weeping, I gave her my hand, and then she was much more
broken; and finding the day of the Lord's tender visitation and mercy upon her, I
spake encouragingly to her, and was glad to find the poor Blacks so near the Truth
and reachable. She stood there looking after us, and weeping, as long as we could
see her. I had inquired of one of the black men how long they had come to
meetings, and he said, 'they had always been kept in ignorance, and disregarded
as persons who were not to expect anything from the Lord, till Jonathan Taylor, who
bad been there the year before, discoursing with them, had informed them that the
270
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
!
William Penn was highly gratified by the consideration of what had
been done on this important subject. From the very first introduction of
enslaved Africans into his province he had been solicitous about their
temporal and eternal welfare. He had always considered them as persons
of the like nature with himself, as having the same desire of pleasure and
the same aversion from pain, as children of the same Father, and heirs of the
same promises. Knowing how naturally the human heart became corrupted
and hardened by the use of power, he was fearful lest in time these friend-
less strangers should become an oppressed people. Accordingly, as his
predecessor, George Fox, when he first visited the British West India
islands, exhorted all those who attended his meetings for worship there, to
consider their slaves as branches of their own families, for whose spiritual
instruction they would one day or other be required to give an account, so
William Penn had, on his first arrival in America, inculcated the same
notion. It lay, therefore, now upon his mind, to endeavour to bring into
practice what had appeared to him to be right in principle. To accomplish
this, there were two ways. One of them was, to try to incorporate the
treatment of slaves, as a matter of Christian duty, into the discipline of his own
religious society; and the other, to secure it among others in the colony of a
different religious description, by a legislative act. Both of these were
necessary. The former, however, he resolved to attempt first. The society
itself had already afforded him a precedent by its resolutions in 1688 and
in 1696, as before mentioned, and had thereby done something material in
the progress of the work. It was only to get a minute passed upon their
books to the intended effect. Accordingly, at the very first monthly
meeting of the society, which took place in Philadelphia, in the present
year, he proposed the subject. He laid before them the concern, which had
been so long upon his mind, relative to these unfortunate people. He pressed
upon them the duty of allowing them, as frequently as possible, to attend
their meetings for worship, and the benefit that would accrue to both by the
instruction of them in the principles of the Christian religion. The result
was, that a meeting was appointed, more particularly for the negroes, once
every month; so that, besides the common opportunities they had of
collecting religious knowledge by frequenting the places of worship, there
was one day in the month, in which, as far as the influence of the monthly
meeting extended, they could neither be temporally nor spiritually over-
looked. At this meeting, also, he proposed means, which were acceded to,
for a more frequent intercourse between Friends and the Indians; he (Wil-
grace of God through Christ was given also to them, and that they ought to
believe in and be led and taught by it, and so might come to be good Friends, and
saved as well as others. And on the next occasion, which was when William Ellis
and Aaron Atkinson were there, they went to meetings, and several of them were
convinced,' Thus one planteth, and another watereth, but God giveth the
increase."
OF WILLIAM PENN.
271
liam Penn) taking upon himself the charge of procuring interpreters, as
well as of forwarding the means proposed.
Among the objects which occupied his attention at this time was the im-
provement of Philadelphia. When he left that city, after his first voyage,
it contained about a hundred houses. At this time they amounted to seven
hundred. He issued an order of council for removing all the slaughter-
houses to the bank of the river, so that the filth proceeding from thence
might be constantly washed away by the current. He removed also every
thing in the way of obstruction. By the first measure he consulted
the health and cleanliness, and, by the latter, the convenience of the
inhabitants.
Having called the Assembly together, according to due form, on the tenth
of May, he sent them a message. Understanding that several of them
were dissatisfied with the charter which had been granted to them by
Markham in 1696, he was desirous (he said) that they should have a new
one, more congenial to their own minds and circumstances. He accordingly
sent to inform them, that "he was ready to propose to them a new form of
government." This he chose to make the first act of the session, not only
because he wished to show the Assembly how far he regarded their interests
and those of the other inhabitants of the Province and Territories, but because,
by starting the subject thus early, both he and they would have longer time
to consider it, and to make such alterations as would contribute towards its
greater perfection.
On the first of June he attempted to realise the other part of his plan as
it related to negro slaves, which was to secure a proper treatment of them
among all descriptions of people by a legislative act. By this time he had
fully considered the subject. He was aware that the sudden manumission
of them would not be attended with happy consequences even to them-
selves. Certain previous education would be necessary; and that species of
education would be best which would most improve their moral condition.
To improve their moral condition, recourse must be had to moral means.
Thus, for example, marriage might be made a moral mean; but, then, all
polygamy must be abolished, and all power of adultery prevented, as far as
possible, both on the part of blacks and whites. Rewards might again be used
advantageously to the same end; but then the evil-doer was not to escape
punishment. Hence punishment would be necessary. This, however. ought
to be proportioned to men's knowledge of good and evil, and the nature of the
offence. Fair trials should be afforded to the offender also. Upon these principles
he drew up a bill "for regulating negroes in their morals and marriages,"
which he proposed to the Assembly on the day now mentioned. He sent in
afterwards another, for the "regulation of their trials and punishments
and, on the fourth of June, a third, "for preventing abuses upon the Eisns."
But he had no sooner proposed these than his feelings received, as it were,
a convulsive shock. Can it be believed, that the Assembly could be so
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little studious of gratifying the wishes of their Governor, who had half
ruined himself for them and the Province, could be so ignorant that these
his proposals were built on the laws of nature, which were immutable, or so
ungrateful to God, who had furnished them, when in affliction themselves,
with an asylum under so honourable a protector, as to have negatived two
of these bills, acceding only to that which related to the trial and punish-
ment of their slaves? Yet, so it was. This conduct on the part of the
Assembly must appear unaccountable to the reader; and to help him to
unravel it we have nothing but conjecture. We have no reason assigned for
it; nor is there any record but of the fact itself.
With respect to conjecture, there are circumstances, however, which, when
thrown together, may produce us a little light. In the first place, the ad-
ministration of Fletcher had very much soured the temper both of the
Assembly and the inhabitants, and had disposed them to look cautiously at
every proposal which came from the government, and rather to resist than
promote it. The jealousies, again, which were mentioned to have arisen
between the inhabitants of the Province and those of the Territories, were
in full force at this moment, so that what the representatives of the former
seemed very anxious to carry, those of the latter sometimes (and this merely
out of a spirit of opposition) negatived to a man. Now, it must be observed
that, the Territory-men being principally Swedes and Dutchmen, very few,
if any, of their members were Quakers. It must be observed, also, that,
though originally the members for the Province were mostly Quakers, yet
the proportion of these, in consequence of the great influx of people of a
different description into Pennsylvania in the last five or six years, had
been reduced. It must be observed, again, that the last comers were not
men of such high moral character as the first; for whereas, before the
Toleration Act, they who came to these parts were principally religious
persons who came to seek a place of refuge from persecution, numbers, after
the said act, flocked to it from a different motive, namely, solely that of
getting money. Hence, not only the population of Pennsylvania, but they
who represented it, were somewhat degenerate in comparison of their pre-
decessors. Had the majority consisted of Quakers, both these bills must
have passed; for it is impossible they could have refused to sanction in their
legislative what they had determined upon as essentially necessary in their
religious capacity. Besides, the Council of William Penn consisted wholly
of Quakers. Now, all these had joined the Governor in proposing to the
Assembly the bills in question.
It is not necessary to specify the other bills which were proposed in the
present session. It may be sufficient to observe, that they were principally
of a local nature, such as related to property, land, revenue, or commerce,
and that they were all passed. In considering and passing them, the
Assembly were occupied about a month. They met, as I before mentioned,
on the tenth of May, and the Governor dissolved them on the eighth at June
L
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OF WILLIAM PENN.
278
William Penn, being now loosed from his attendance upon the legislature
(for he was almost daily confined to the Council Chamber, while it was
sitting, to receive bills and messages, and to hold conferences), became once
more a free man. Upon this he left Philadelphia, and repaired to Pennsbury.
While here, one of his first objects was to put in force the resolution,
entered upon the book of the Monthly Meeting of Philadelphia, of keeping
up a more friendly intercourse between Friends and the Indians. Accord-
ingly, he made excursions into the country for this purpose. We hear of
him, very soon after the Assembly had been dissolved, at an Indian feast.
It took place near a beautiful spring of water, which was overhung by the
branches of lofty trees. Several bucks were killed. Hot cakes were served
up also of wheat and beans. After feasting, some of the Indians danced.
With the same view, he was desirous of seeing the Indians, in turn, at his
own house. Hence kings and queens, with their followers, paid their visits
to him.
When they came on public business or in state, he received them
in his hall of audience, which was a large room built for the purpose, and
in which was placed an oaken arm-chair, in which he usually sat when he
conferred with them on such occasions. It may be observed, that he made
a treaty about this time with the Susquehannah and other Indians.
While at Pennsbury he undertook a journey through the Province and
Territories as a minister of the Gospel. Among the places he visited in this
capacity was Haverford. An anecdote is recorded of him while going there,
which is worth relating. A little girl, of the name of Rebecca Wood, was
walking from Derby, where she resided, to the same place, and also to
attend the meeting there. It happened that William Penn, who was on
horseback, overtook her. "On coming up with her," says Sutcliff, "he
inquired where she was going? and, on informing him, he, with his usual
good nature, desired her to get up behind him; and, bringing his horse to a
convenient place, she mounted, and so rode away upon the bare back. Being
without shoes or stockings, her bare legs and feet hung dangling by the side
of the Governor's horse. Although William Penn was, at this time, both
Governor and Proprietary, he did not think it beneath him thus to help
along a poor bare-footed girl on her way to meeting."
It appears, also, while he was at Pennsbury, that he travelled to other
meetings of the society, which were out of the limits of his own province.
Thus we find him preaching in the Jerseys. Thus we find him also at a
meeting in Maryland. Of this, John Richardson, in his "Travels," gives
us the following account:-"We were," says he, "at a yearly meeting at
Treddhaven, in Maryland, upon the eastern shore, to which meeting for
worship came William Penn, Lord Baltimore, and his lady, with their
retinue; but it was late when they came, and the strength and glory of the
heavenly power of the Lord was going off from the meeting; so the lady
was much disappointed, as I understood by William Penn, for she told
him, she did not want to hear him, and such as he, for he was a scholar
4
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
and a wise man; and she did not question but he could preach, but she
wanted to hear some of our mechanics preach, as husbandmen, shoemakers,
and such-like rustics, for she thought they could not preach to any purpose."
William Penn told her, some of these were rather the best preachers we
had among us,' or near these words. I was a little in their company, and I
thought the lady to be a notable, wise, and, withal, a courteously carriaged
woman." I may observe here, that these excursions in the ministry,
together with others which he undertook into the Indian country, as
before mentioned, and to which I may now add those which he made to
support the magistracy by his personal appearance among them, both at
the quarter sessions and elsewhere, took up a considerable portion of his
time, so that it is doubtful whether he was not less at Pennsbury with his
family than in other places.
Writs having been issued, and a new Assembly chosen (for the old had
served their year as limited by the charter), he summoned the new members
to attend him at Newcastle on the fourteenth of October. The former had
met him at Philadelphia, the capital of the Province. He thought it
therefore, but fair, and as showing but a proper impartiality, that these
should meet him at the principal town in the Territories. On the day ap-
pointed they came together. The Governor qualified them in due form.
This being done, they chose their Speaker. The Governor then informed
them, by a message, that he had called them together on weighty occasions.
He wished them to proceed in the consideration of the new Charter, or Frame
of Government, which the former Assembly had discussed but not settled.
This charter was of great consequence both to them and their posterity. It
was of no less importance to both that they should have good laws. He
advised them, therefore, to revise those which had been agreed upon during
his former residence among them, so that they might expunge, alter, or
add, as they saw occasion He laid before them also the necessity of a
settlement of property, and of a supply for the support of the government;
and he promised them, during their endeavours to attain these objects, all
the assistance in his power.
The message having been delivered, the house proceeded to business.
Four committees were appointed for the purpose of dispatching it according
to the subjects it contained: namely, for drawing up a new Frame of
Government; for perusing the laws with a view to alterations, repeals, or
additions; for drawing up a bill for settling property; and for considering
of a proper supply for the support of the government. Upon these subjects
they went to work, and they continued their attention to them almost
exclusively to the end of the session.
They had not, however, made any great progress in their procedings,
before the same jealous spirit manifested itself between the members of the
Territories and those of the Province, which has been before noticed.
former had talked but lately, as before, of breaking off their political con...
The
OF WILLIAM PENN.
275
nection with the latter; but William Penn, by his wise and conciliatory
deportment, had disarmed them, so as then to have staved off their inten-
tion. At this time, however, their jealousies were again awakened, and
this upon bare surmises. They thought a time might come when the Pro-
vince might be divided into more counties, and that an additional number
of representatives for these might be required. In this case they conceived
that those for the Province might out-number them in their votes; and they
actually went so far as to declare in the Assembly, that they would not
consent to the confirmation of the union, but on the condition,
"that at no
time hereafter the number of the representatives of the people in legislation
in the Province should exceed those of the Territories; but if, hereafter,
more counties were made in the Province, and thereby more representatives
were added, that then the union should cease." To this condition the
members for the Province would not consent. Both parties, however, agreed
to have a conference with the Governor on the subject. This conference
accordingly took place. The Governor proposed, "that, in all matters and
things whatsoever, wherein the Territories were or should be particularly
concerned, in interest or privilege, distinct from the Province, then, and in
that case, no act, law, or ordinance, in any wise, should pass in any
Assembly in this Province, unless two parts in three of the members of the
said Territories, and the majority of the members of the Province, should
concur therein." This impartial proposal produced peace for the present,
the members for the Territories agreeing to postpone all discussions on the
subject of the union to the next session.
But, scarcely was this matter settled, when another was necessarily
brought forward, which divided them again. In consequence of the report
of one of the committees, it was agreed, "that a sum of money should be
raised out of the Province and Territories for the Proprietary and Governor,
in order to a supply for the support of the government;" but, when they
came to confer upon the raising of it, they could not agree upon what
should be the proportion between the Province and Territories. It was
proposed, first, that three pence per pound should be laid upon all estates,
both real and personal, in the Province and Territories, for this purpose,
This proposition was negatived. It was then moved, that two pence in the
pound and eight shillings per head for every freeman in the Province and
Territories should be raised. This was negatived also. It was then moved,
that three halfpence in the pound and six shillings per head to every freeman
should be substituted for the former mode. This was negatived also. It
was then moved, that three pence per pound and twelve shillings per head
should be collected, but that one penny per pound of what it raised in the
Territories should be returned to the latter in consideration of their extra-
ordinary charge in legislation. This was negatived also. And here it must
be observed, that the members of the Territories voted to a man exactly the
reverse of what those of the Province did on every one of these occasions.
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
In this awkward situation the supply never would have been carried, if it
had not been for the wisdom of William Penn, who had entered into all the
objections on both sides with great minuteness and impartiality, and who
desired a conference with the Assembly on the subject. It was proposed by
him, that nineteen hundred pounds should be raised in the Province and
Territories, four hundred of which should be paid out of the Territories, clear
of all charges of collection, and fifteen hundred out of the Province, clear of
the same charges, for the support of the government. It was immediately
afterwards proposed, that one hundred pounds should be added to the
aforesaid nineteen hundred, seventy-three pounds of which should be paid
out of the Province, and the residue, twenty-seven pounds, out of the
Territories, for the same purpose. It was proposed, lastly, that the counties
should pay their proportion as follows:-Philadelphia county, one thousand
and twenty-five pounds; Chester, three hundred and twenty-five; Bucks, two
hundred and twenty-five; Newcastle, one hundred and eighty; Kent, one
hundred and thirty-nine; and Sussex, one hundred and six.
These pro-
positions were severally agreed to. They were then incorporated into a bill,
and, in this shape, brought again before the house and passed. Thus, at
length, was completed a law, the principle and equity of which were
admitted by the discordant parties, and which provided permanently, for the
first time, for the good government of the two fœderated countries.
William Penn having obtained this supply, which was more immediately
wanted either than the alteration of the charter or the revision of the laws,
was not so urgent for their determination upon the latter. These, indeed,
were so important both to them and their posterity, that they could not well
be too often or too seriously discussed. He, therefore, prorogued the
Assembly on the twenty-seventh of November, after having kept it sitting
for about six weeks.
In looking over the journals of the proceedings of this session, we are
furnished with certain facts, trifling in themselves, but which yet, as matters
of curiosity, may be worth noticing. It appears, first, that but very few
members absented themselves during the whole session. They used to meet
twice a day for the dispatch of business, namely, at eight in the morning
and three in the afternoon. They were called together by the ringing of a
bell. Any member who was half-an-hour behind the time was fined ten
pence. Every member had an allowance of three pence per mile for
travelling charges, and six shillings a day for his attendance in Assembly.
The Speaker's daily allowance was ten shillings. Aurelius Hoskins had
twenty pounds for his attendance as clerk. The Assembly was to sit, în
future, once in three times in the Territories, and the county in which they
sat to pay the expense of room, fire, and paper.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
277
CHAPTER XXXVII.
A. 1701.-SETS OUT FOR EAST JERSEY TO QUELL A RIOT THERE-
EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER WRITTEN ON THAT OCCASION-MAKES
A TREATY WITH THE SUSQUEHANNAH AND OTHER INDIANS—
SUGGESTS A PLAN OF TRADE WITH THEM, TO SECURE THEM FROM
IMPOSITION AND TO IMPROVE THEIR MORALS-CALLS THE ASSEMBLY
-THEIR PROCEEDINGS- ISSUES AN ORDER TO WATCH AGAINST
INVASION-RENEWS A TREATY WITH ANOTHER TRIBE OF INDIANS
-ACCOUNT OF IT-BEING CALLED TO ENGLAND, SUMMONS THE
ASSEMBLY AGAIN-ITS PROCEEDINGS-SEVERAL TRIBES OF INDIANS
COME TO TAKE THEIR LEAVE OF HIM-HIS REPLY TO THE SAME
-SIGNS A NEW CHARTER-CONSTITUTES AND INCORPORATES
PHILADELPHIA A CITY--APPOINTS A COUNCIL OF STATE-AND A
DEPUTY GOVERNOR-EMBARKS FOR ENGLAND-ARRIVES THERE.
WILLIAM PENN was with his wife and family at Pennsbury, when he
received the news that a riot had taken place in East Jersey, during which
some of the persons concerned in it had taken arms. It appears that a
criminal had dared to put insolent questions to a magistrate in court, and
because the magistrate had refused to answer them the commotion had
arisen. William Penn, on the receipt of the intelligence, hastened to
Philadelphia, and there selected twelve of the most respectable of his own
society, with whom he was proceeding to assist the government in East
Jersey to get the better of the insurgents; but being informed, on his way,
that the matter had been settled, he returned home. He dispatched,
however, a letter to his Friends in that government, by which we see his
sentiments in such cases; and that, though he was meek and tender in
his nature, he could yet be firm where the cause of justice required it. He
tells his Friends, that he "had received the surprising news of the practices
of some East Jersians, which were as unexpected to him as dishonourable
and licentious in them. It would be hard to find temper enough to balance
extremes; for he knew not what punishment those rioters did not deserve,
and he had rather live alone than not have such people corrigible. Their
leaders should be eyed, and some should be forced to declare them by the
rigour of the law; and those who were found to be such should bear the
burthen of such sedition, which would be the best way to behead the
body without danger. If lenitives would not do, coercives should be tried;
but, though men would naturally begin with the former, yet wisdom had
often sanctioned the latter as remedies, which, however, were never to be
adopted but with regret." Further on in the letter, he says, "that by being
an old, and not the least pretender to East Jersey, and a neighbour in his
station, if he could yet be serviceable to compose or countenance a just
prosecution of such rebellious practices, let an express reach him, and, God
permitting, he would immediately take horse and go to them."
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
Soon after this he left Pennsbury for Philadelphia again. He met there
Connoodaghtoh, King of the Susquehanna Indians; Wopaththa, King of
the Shawanese; Weewhinjough, Chief of the Ganawese; and Ahookassong,
brother of the Emperor of the Five Nations, with about forty Indians in their
retinue, who came to renew the good understanding which had subsisted
between him and them, by one general treaty for the whole. It is said
that he received them in Council, and that many kind speeches passed
between them. This was on the twenty-third of April; when it was agreed
that there should be for ever after a firm and lasting peace between William
Penn and his heirs, and the said Kings and Chiefs and their successors, in behalf
of their respective tribes; and that they should be as one head and one
heart; and that they should at no time hurt, injure, or defraud each other,
or suffer each other to be hurt, injured, or defrauded; but that they should
be ready at all times to do justice, and perform all acts and offices of
friendship and good-will to each other.That the Indians should behave
themselves regularly and soberly, according to the laws of Pennsylvania,
while they lived in it, and that they should have, in return, the same
benefit from the said laws as the other inhabitants of it.That they
should not aid or assist any other nation, whether Indians or others, that
were not in amity with England and the government of Pennsylvania.
That, if any of them heard any unkind or disadvantageous reports of
the Pennsylvanians, as if they had evil designs against them (the Indians),
then such Indians should send notice thereof to William Penn, his heirs, or
lieutenants, and not give credence to such reports till, by these means, they
could be fully satisfied concerning the truth of the same; and that William
Penn, his heirs, or lieutenants, should, in such case, do the like by them.
-That they should not bring nor suffer any strange nations of Indians
to settle on the further side of Susquehanna, nor about Potomack River,
nor in any other part of the province, but such as were already seated,
without the permission of William Penn, his heirs, or lieutenants.- -That
for the prevention of abuses, that were too frequently put upon them in
trade, William Penn, his heirs, or lieutenants, should not permit any
person to traffic with them but such as should have been first approved and
authorised by an instrument under their own hands and seals, and that
the Indians on their part should suffer no person whatsoever to trade with
them but such as should have been so licensed and approved.—That they
should not sell their skins, furs, or other produce, to persons out of the said
province, but only to those publicly authorised to trade with them as before
mentioned, and that, for their encouragement, care should be taken that
they should be duly furnished with all sorts of necessary goods, and at
reasonable rates. That the Potomack Indians should have free leave to
settle upon any part of Potomack River within the bounds of the province, so
long as they conformed themselves to the articles of this treaty.
The treaty having been read (by which the Conestogo Indians acknow-
OF WILLIAM PENN.
279
ledged and bound themselves to all the bargains for lands made between
them and William Penn, as well those formerly as in the preceding year),
the parties confirmed it by mutual presents, the Indians in five parcels of
skins, and William Penn in various parcels of English merchandise, and
also by putting their hands and seals to the same.
Soon after this William Penn, in conformity with the said treaty, con-
ferred with his Council as to the best means of preventing impositions on
the Indians in the way of trade. After deliberation upon the subject, it
was resolved, that persons should be selected for their integrity, who should
form a sort of company, with a joint stock, and who should be authorised
by the government to hold a commercial intercourse with them. These, how-
ever, were to be instructed to take care to keep from them spirituous liquors
as much as possible. They were also to use all reasonable means to bring
them to a true sense of the value of Christianity, but particularly by setting
before them examples of probity and candour, and to have them in-
structed in the fundamentals of it. This was probably the first time that
rade was expressly made subservient to morals, and to the promotion of
the Christian religion.
In the month of June (the sea coast having been infested by pirates, and
danger being then apprehended of French invasion), he summoned his
Council again, after which the following order appeared:-" The magistrates
for the county of Sussex shall take care that a constant watch and ward be
kept on the hithermost cape near Lewis; and in case any vessel appear from
the sea, that may, with good grounds, be suspected of evil designs against
any part of the government, ordered, that the said watch shall forthwith
give notice thereof, with as exact a description and account of the vessel as
they possibly can, to the sheriff of the said county, who is required imme-
diately to dispatch a messenger express with the same to the county of
Kent, from thence to be forwarded, from sheriff to sheriff, through every
county, till it be brought to the government of Philadelphia; which watch
and expresses shall be a provincial charge."
In the month of July, having received a letter from the King, urging him
to bring the Province and Territories into union with the other proprietary
governments for their mutual defence, he called the Assembly. They met
accordingly on the first of August. He informed them, in substance, that
the occasion of his calling them together at this time (though it was with
reluctance, considering the season) was to lay before them the King's letter,
requiring three hundred and fifty pounds sterling from the government
towards the fortifications intended on the frontiers of New York, and, though
he might have some other matters to lay before them, yet he deferred all till
they had considered this point.
This message, which it must have been difficult for William Penn, as a
Quaker, to communicate, as well as for those who professed the same re-
ligious faith, to accede to, could not but disturb the Assembly. Indeed, it
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
seems to have paralysed them. They scarcely knew what to do. They
seemed to be willing to do any thing rather than to come to a conclusion
upon it. They asked first to see the letter itself. When it had been shown
them, they observed, that it was dated some time back. They sent, therefore,
to the Governor, to know if he had received from the King any information
since. He replied in the negative. They then requested, that he would
send them a copy of his own speech. He replied, that it had not been his
way so to do. They renewed their request. He then sent them his speech
in substance. They applied to him to give it them more fully, "for it was
somewhat short of what they apprehended needful to ground their intended
address upon, no particular mention being made in the copy sent them
either of the King's letter or of the sum to be raised." He returned for
answer, that his speech had been delivered extempore, and that he had sent
them the substance of what he recollected of it; but, if they thought the
particular insertion of the King's letter needful, he would order it to be
inserted. After this, both parties having been in a state of unpleasant
parley for four days, the Assembly sent an address to him, in which they
stated their loyalty, but represented, among other things, that, "after
having taken into consideration the poverty of their constituents, and the
great weight and pressure of the taxes, and having reason to believe that
the adjacent provinces had hitherto done nothing in this matter, they
thought it right to adjourn the further consideration of the King's letter till
more emergent occasions should require their proceedings therein. In the
mean time they earnestly desired he would candidly represent their situation
to the King, and assure him of their readiness, according to their abilities,
to acquiesce with and answer his commands, so far as their religious per
suasions would permit, as it became loyal and faithful subjects to do.” The
next afternoon the Assembly was dissolved, but at their own request, after
a sitting of only six days.
William Penn, upon this, returned to Pennsbury, to consider of the past
and to provide for the future. Here, another tribe of Indians, which had
not gone down to Philadelphia with those which have been before men-
tioned in this chapter, came to him to renew the treaty which he had made
with it after his first voyage to these parts. John Richardson, a Yorkshire
Quaker, who was then travelling in America as a minister of the Gospel
happened to be at Pennsbury at the time, and to witness what was done on
the occasion. He has given an account of it in his Journal, but confesses
that he has omitted many particulars. Imperfect, however, as the account
is, I purpose transcribing it for the reader :-
"I was," says he, "at William Penn's country-house, called Pennsbury,
in Pennsylvania, where I staid two or three days, on one of which I was at
a meeting and a marriage, and much of the other part of the time I spent
in seeing, to my satisfaction, William Penn and many of the Indians (not
the least of them) in council and consultation concerning their former
OF WILLIAM PENN.
281
covenants now again revived; all of which was done in much calmness of
temper and in an amicable way. To pass by several particulars, I may mention
the following:-One was, they never first broke their covenants with other
people; for, as one of them said, and smote his hand upon his head three times, f
they did not make them there in their heads; but, smiting his hand three times
on his breast, said, they made them there in their hearts. And, again, when
William Penn and they had ended the most weighty parts, for which they
held their Council, William Penn gave them match-coats and some other
things, with some brandy and rum, or both, which was advised by the
Speaker for the Indians, to be put into the hands of one of their Caciques,
or Kings, for he knew best how to order them; which being done, the said
King used no compliments, neither did the people, nor the rest of their
Kings; but, as the aforesaid King poured out his drams, he only made a
motion with his finger, or sometimes with his eye, to the person which
he intended to give the dram to: so they came quietly and in a solid
manner, and took their drams, and passed away without either nod or bow,
any further than necessity required those to stoop, who were on their feet,
to him who sat on the ground or floor, as their choice and manner is; and,
withal, I observed, and also heard the like by others, that they did not, nor,
I suppose, never do speak two at a time, nor interfere in the least one with
another that way in all their Councils, as has been observed, Their eating
and drinking was in much stillness and quietness.———
"When much of the matters were gone through, I put William Penn in
mind to inquire of the interpreter, if he could find some terms of words that
might be intelligible to them, in a religious sense, by which he might reach
the understandings of the natives, and inculcate into their minds a sense of
the principles of Truth, such as Christ's manifesting himself to the inward
senses of the soul by his Light, Grace, or Holy Spirit, with the manner
of the operations and working thereof in the hearts of the children of men;
and how it did reprove for evil and minister peace and comfort to the soul
in its obedience and well-doing; or as near as he could come to the substance
of this in their own language. William Penn much pressed the matter
upon the interpreter to do his best in any terms that might reach their
capacities, and answer the end intended; but the interpreter would not,
either by reason, as he alleged, of want of terms, or his unwillingness to
meddle in religious matters, which I know not; but I rather think the
latter was the main reason which obstructed him. Therefore, we found
nothing was like to be done according to our desires in this matter, as the
interpreter was but a dark man, and, as William Penn said, a wrong man
for our present purpose.
"William Penn said, he understood they owned a Superior Power, and
asked the interpreter, what their notion was of God in their own way? The
interpreter showed by making several circles on the ground with his staff,
till he reduced the last into a small circumference, and placed, as he said,
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by way of representation, the Great Man (as they termed him) in the middle
circle, so that he could see over all the other circles, which included all the
earth. And we, querying what they owned as to eternity or a future state
the interpreter said, they believed, when such died as were guilty of theft,
swearing, lying, whoring, murder, and the like, they went into a very cold
country, where they had neither good fat venison, nor match-coats (which
is what they use instead of clothes to cover them withal, being of one piece,
in the form of a blanket or bed-covering); but those who died, clear of the
aforesaid sins, go into a fine warm country, where they had good fat venison
and good match-coats (things much valued by the natives). I thought,
inasmuch as these poor people had not the knowledge of God by the
Scriptures, as we have who are called Christians, that what knowledge they
had of the Supreme Being must be by an inward sensation, or by con-
templating upon the works of God in the creation, or probably from some
tradition handed down from the father to the son, by which it appears they
acknowledge a future state of rewards and punishments; the former of which
they express by warmth, good clothing, and food; and the latter by naked-
ness, pining, hunger, and piercing cold.
"I have often thought and said, when I was amongst them, that
generally my spirit was very easy, and I did not feel that power of darkness
to oppress me as I had done in many other places among the people called
Christians.
"After William Penn and they had expressed their satisfaction, both for
themselves and their people, in keeping all their former articles unviolated, and
agreed that, if any particular difference did happen amongst any of their
people, they should not be an occasion of fomenting or creating any war
between William Penn's people and the Indians, but justice should be done
in all such cases, that all animosities might be prevented on all sides for
ever, they went out of the house into an open space not far from it, to
perform their Cantico or worship, which was done thus:-First, they made
a small fire, and the men, without the women, sat down about it in a ring; and,
whatsoever object they severally fixed their eyes on, I did not see them move
them in all that part of their worship, while they sang a very melodious hymn,
which affected and tendered the hearts of many who were spectators. When
they had thus done, they began (as, I suppose, is their usual manner) to
beat upon the ground with little sticks, or make some motion with some-
thing in their hands, and pause a little, till one of the elder sort sets forth
his hymn, followed by the company for a few minutes, and then a pause;
and then the like was done by another, and so by a third, and followed by
the company, as at the first; which seemed exceedingly to affect them and
others. Having done, they rose up and danced a little about the fire, and
parted with some shouting like triumph or rejoicing."
About this time William Penn received news from England which was
very distressing. The Proprietary Governors in North America had begun to
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283
be unpopular with the Governors at home. The truth was, that the Governors
at home were jealous of their increasing power, and, therefore, soon after
the revolution in 1688, they had formed a notion of buying them off, and of
changing their governments into regal, under their own immediate control.
Conformably, therefore, with this idea, but under the pretence of great
abuse on the one side and of national advantage on the other, a bill for this
purpose was brought into the House of Lords. Such of the owners of land
in Pennsylvania as were then in England represented the hardship of their
case to Parliament in the event of such a change, and solicited a respite of
their proceedings till William Penn could arrive in England to appear before
them, and to answer for himself, as one of those whose character the bill in!
question affected. Accordingly, they dispatched to him an account of the
whole affair, and solicited his immediate return to England. This was the
substance of the news which reached him at this moment.
William Penn could not be otherwise than grieved at this intelligence.
He was only then beginning, as it were, his intended improvements. To be
called away, therefore, at this juncture, was peculiarly distressing. To stay,
on the other hand, would be to subject his government to dissolution. He
determined, therefore, after a comparative view of the good and evil in both
cases, to return to England, and to plead his cause before the Parliament of tle
Parent Country. It was necessary, however, before he returned, that he
should attend to the finishing of those laws which were then before the
Assembly, as well as to others which he might have had it in contemplation
to introduce. He, therefore, immediately dispatched writs to the sheriffs to
call a new Assembly. This was quickly done. The members were as
quickly chosen. On the fifteenth day of September they met at Philadelphia;
after which, having been legally qualified, the Governor addressed them as
follows:-
"FRIENDS-You cannot be more concerned than I am at the frequency
of your service in Assembly, since I am very sensible of the trouble and
charge it contracts upon the country; but, the motives being considered
and that you must have met, of course, in the next month, I hope you will
not think it an hardship now.
"The reason that hastens your session is, the necessity I am under,
through the endeavours of the enemies of the prosperity of this country, to
go for England, where, taking advantage of my absence, some have
attempted, by false or unreasonable charges, to undermine our government,
and, thereby, the true value of our labours and prosperity. Government
having been our first encouragement, I confess I cannot think of such a
voyage without great reluctancy of mind, having promised myself the quiet-
ness of a wilderness, and that I might stay so long, at least, with you, as to
render everybody entirely easy and safe; for my heart is among you as well
as my body, whatever some people may please to think; and no unkindness
or disappointment shall, with submission to God's providence, ever be able
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
o alter my love to the country, and resolution to return and settle my
family and posterity in it; but, having reason to believe I can, at this time,
best serve you and myself on that side of the water, neither the rudeness of
the season nor the tender circumstances of my family can over-rule my
inclinations to undertake it.
"Think, therefore (since all men are mortal), of some suitable expedient
and provision for your safety, as well in your privileges as property, and
you will find me ready to comply with whatsoever may render us happy by a
nearer union of our interests.
"Review again your laws; propose new ones that may better suit your
circumstances; and what you do, do it quickly; remembering that the
Parliament sits the end of next month; and that the sooner I am there, the
safer, I hope, we shall be here.
"I must recommend to your serious thoughts and care the King's letter
to me, for the assistance of New York with three hundred and fifty pounds
sterling, as a frontier government, and, therefore, exposed to a much
greater expense, in proportion to other colonies; which I called the
Assembly to take into consideration, and they were pleased, for the reasons
then given, to refer to this.
"I am also to tell you the good news of the Governor of New York's
happy issues of his conference with the Five Nations of Indians; that he
hath not only made peace with them for the King's subjects of that colony,
ut, as I had, by some letters, before desired him, for those of all other
governments under the Crown of England on the Continent of America, as
also the nations of Indians within these repective colonies; which certainly
merits our acknowledgments.
"I have done when I have told you that unanimity and dispatch are the
life of business; and this I desire and expect from you for your own sakes,
since it may so much contribute to the disappointment of those that too
ong have sought the ruin of your young country."
To this speech the Assembly returned the following reply
'May it please the Proprietary and Governor→→→
"We have this day, in our Assembly, read thy speech, delivered to us,
yesterday, in Council, and, having duly considered the same, cannot but be
under a deep sense of sorrow for thy purpose of so speedily leaving us; and,
at the same time, taking notice of thy paternal regard to us and our
posterity, the Freeholders of this Province and Territories annexed, in thy
loving and kind expressions of being ready to comply with whatsoever ex-
pedient and provision we shall offer for our safety, as well in privileges as in
property, and what else may render us happy in a nearer union of our
interests; not doubting the performance of what thou hast been pleased so
lovingly to promise, we do, in much humility, and as a token of our
gratitude, render unto thee the unfeigned thanks of this house.
JOSEPH GROWDON, Speaker."
OF WILLIAM PENN.
285
On the sixteenth and seventeenth the Assembly occupied themselves in
forming committees and making arrangements for the dispatch of business,
when the question for raising money for the fortifications of New York was
proposed to them. This, however, they negatived unanimously, alleging,
in justification of themselves, the reasons before given.
On the twentieth they presented the Governor with an address, containing
twenty-one articles, relative to privileges and property, which they hoped
might be acceded to, and ascertained to them and their posterity in their
charter.
The first of these related to his successor. To this he replied, that he
would take care to appoint a proper person, one of unexceptionable character,
and in whom he could confide, and whom he would invest with full powers
for the security of all concerned; but, to show how much he wished to
gratify them in this respect, he offered to accept a Deputy Governor whom
they might nominate themselves. This offer they declined, but with many
thanks for it; alleging, as a reason, that they did not presume to a suffi-
ciency of knowledge to nominate such as might be duly qualified for so high
an employ.
There were also nine of the articles which he acceded to in the fullest
extent, and for which concession they returned him also their humble
thanks.
With respect to some of the others, he negatived them at once. Among
these I may notice the thirteenth and sixteenth. By the thirteenth, they
requested "that all lands in the said counties, not yet taken up, might be
disposed of at the old rent of a bushel of wheat in a hundred. His answer in
writing was, 'I think this an unreasonable article, either to limit me in that
which is my own, or to deprive me of the benefit of raising in proportion to
the advantage which time gives to other men's properties; and the rather
because I am yet in disburse for that long and expensive controversy with
the
the Lord Baltimore, promised to be defrayed by the public, as appears by
the Minutes in Council.' By the sixteenth they requested, that all the
'Bay-marshes be laid out in common, except such as were already granted.
This,' says he in his answer, I take for a high imposition: however, I am
willing that they all lie in common and free until otherwise disposed of, and
shall grant the same from time to time in reasonable portions, and upon
reasonable terms, especially to such as shall engage to drain and improve
the same, having always a regard to back inhabitants for their accommo-
dation.'"
There were other articles in the address, particularly the eighth and ninth,
relative to land contiguous to Philadelphia, which very much hurt his
feelings on perusing them. It struck him, as if it might be implied from
these, that he had not performed some of the promises he had made them;
and he thought, at the same time, that he saw in themselves an unbecoming
rapacity to exact from him all they could, before he left them. To these
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
therefore, he gave much such answers as before; but, besides this, at a
conference he held with them in the Council Chamber, he signified to them
"that in his speech, on the opening of the session, he had recommended to
them to consider their privileges as well as property, in which he had justly
given privileges the precedency of property, as the bulwark to secure the other:
but they, in their present address, insisted, not only on property alone, but
upon such particulars as could, by no means, be cognisable by an Assembly, and
lay only between him and the particulars concerned; in which he had done,
and always would do, to the utmost, what became an honest man, to all
those he agreed with- -but he would never suffer an Assembly to intermeddle
with his property, lest it should be drawn into a precedent, if it should please
God a Governor should preside here, distinct from the Proprietary."
Such, then, was the feeling of William Penn upon this address. It may
be observed, however, as a partial justification of the Assembly, that there
were some things yet undone, which should have been, and would have
been, done years ago, had he not been absent from them. It is obvious, too,
that they were alarmed lest the government should be put into new hands.
It was time, therefore, that they should look to their own interests; and that
they should obtain the full performance of all that had been promised to
them. They were aware, too, that it would be more easy for them to obtain
from William Penn any additional privileges or grants, than from the
government at home, provided he was obliged to sell his authority and
power. And here it was that the Assembly wounded his feelings; for, by
going too far, they furnished the appearance of rapacity in themselves, as
well as of claim without a right; and, this error produced a shyness, in some
degree, between them, which was discernible in the proceedings of the
session. It is much, however, to the honour of William Penn, that he did
not allow his feelings to operate eventually to their prejudice. Satisfied
with having expressed his disapprobation of their conduct, he resumed his
wonted benevolence, and therefore relaxed and modified, even in the offensive
articles, so as to settle matters ultimately to the general satisfaction.
On the seventh of October, while the Assembly were sitting, several
tribes of Indians came down to Philadelphia. The report that William
Penn was going to England had reached their country, and they came to
take leave of him, as of their great benefactor. He received them in
council. The interview is said to have been very interesting. Unfor-
tunately, however, but few particulars have come down to us. We have
only the following short account:-
"William Penn told them that the Assembly was then enacting a law,
according to their (the Indians') desire, to prevent their being abused by the
selling of rum among them; and that he requested them (the Indians) to
unite all their endeavours and their utmost exertion, in conjunction with
those of the government, to put the said law in execution."
At the same time he informed them, "that now this was like to be his
OF WILLIAM PENN.
287
last interview with them, at least before his return-that he had always
loved and been kind to them, and ever should continue so to be, not through
any political design, or on account of self-interest, but from a most real affec-
tion and he desired them, in his absence, to cultivate friendship with
those whom he should leave behind in authority; as they would always, in
some degree, continue to be so to them, as himself had ever been.Lastly,
that he had charged the members of Council, and he then also renewed the
same charge, that they should, in all respects, be kind to them, and entertain
them with all courtesy and demonstrations of good will as himself had ever
done." Here the members promised faithfully to observe the charge.
Presents were then made to the Indians, who soon afterwards withdrew.
66
While the Assembly were proceeding in the business of the day, disagree-
ments broke out again between the members of the Territories and those of
the Province. The question being put, whether the bill for the con-
mation of laws should pass into a law, with such amendments as might be
aought needful?" most of the Territory members rose up and left the
house, declaring their intention of returning home. It appears that they
had been desirous of obtaining some exclusive rights for their constituents;
and that, unable to carry their point, they had taken this sudden step. Iu
this unpleasant situation, William Penn judged it right to request a con-
ference with them. This took place in the Council Chamber, where he received
them apart from the rest of the Assembly. During its continuance he
heard all their complaints and weighed their objections; but he found these,
after a patient investigation, so groundless, that he could not help telling them,
that "he took this, their conduct, very unkind even to himself in particular.”
They replied, that they had a great regard and even affection for him. They
had not the most distant intention of offending him; but it became them to
be true to those whom they represented.
The conference having thus proved ineffectual, he called the Council
together, and sent for the whole Assembly, resolving to make another effort
for peace.
It appears that all the members attended him, as well the
seceders as those for the Province. He then told them, "that his time being
short, he must come briefly to the point; that it was no small wound to him
to think, that at the earnest desire of the Territories, as well as the good
will of the Province, he had engaged in an undertaking, which cost him
etween two and three thousand pounds to unite them; and yet that they
hould now endanger that union, and divide, after they had been recognised
as one, not only by the King's commission to Governor Fletcher, but also by
the King's letters patent for his own restoration, and the King's several
letters to the government.He therefore would not have anything resolved
on but what was considerate and weighty, lest it should look as unkind, and
now, at his departure, make him carry a very ill report of them to England."
The Territory members said in reply to this, "that they were great sufferers
by the Act of Union, however it was at first intended, and that they could
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
not support the burthen of the charge." The Governor replied, "they wo
free to break off, and might act distinctly by themselves." At this they
seemed pleased, and indeed expressed their satisfaction; "but, then," con-
tinued he, "it must be upon amicable terms and a good understanding."
-He then impressed it upon them, that they must first resolve to settle
the laws; and that, as the interest of the Province and that of the Terri-
tories would be the same, they should both use a conduct consistent with
that relation."
On the fifteenth of October the seceding members returned to the
Assembly, but still remained dissatisfied. They declared to the house, "they
were willing to join with the rest of the members, provided they might have
liberty to enter their dissent to the bill for the confirmation of laws, and that
nothing might be carried over their heads by over-voting them;" and
declared further, "they were willing to do anything for the good and tran-
quillity of the government." After this they withdrew. Being called into the
house again, they were told "they should have liberty to enter their dissent,
provided they kept to the matter; but as for the house to promise not to
over-vote them, it was a thing so impracticable, and such an infringement
of the privileges of Assemblies, that they could not yield to that." In this
situation both parties continued, when the Governor directed the following
letter to the Speaker, with a request that it might be communicated to the
whole house :-
"FRIENDS-Your union is what I desire, but your peace and accommo-
dating one another is what I must expect from you. The reputation of it is
something; the reality is much more. And I desire you to remember and
observe what I say :-Yield in circumstantials to preserve essentials; and, being
safe in one another, you will always be so in esteem with me. Make me
not sad when I am going to leave you, since it is for you, as well as for your
Friend and Governor,
"WILLIAM PENN."
This letter had the effect of producing a reconciliation between the
parties concerned; and the Governor promising further, that he would
make a provision in the charter for a conditional separation from each other,
if they chose it, within the space of three years, they continued to act in
harmony for the remainder of the session.
By this time the Assembly had finished the greater part of the business
which had been submitted to their consideration, particularly in the depart-
ment of the laws. The following is a list of those which they had finally
passed, and in the order in which they were severally confirmed:-An Act
for Liberty of Conscience; against Riots and Rioters; Adultery and Forni-
cation; Rape; Incest and Bestiality; Bigamy; Robbing and Stealing; taking
away Canoes and Boats; Breaking into Houses; Firing of Houses; Forcible
Entry; Menacing, Assault, and Battery; Murder; Sedition, the Spreading of
False News, and Defamation; removing Land-marks; defacing Charters;
for County Seals, and against counterfeiting Hands and Seals; for regulating
OF WILLIAM PENN.
289
the Interest of Money; for Privileges of a Freeman; against Buying Land
of the Natives; for Punishing Petty Offences; for the Names of the Days
and Months of the Year; for the Better Provision for the Poor within the
Province and Territories; for Recording of Deeds; for Preventing Clandestine
Marriages; for Binding to the Peace; for Limiting Presentments of the
Grand Jury; for Ascertaining the Number of Members of Assembly, and
Regulating Elections; about Attachments; for Naturalisation; for Ascer-
taining the Descent of Lands and the better Disposition of the Estates of
Persons Intestate; for Raising County Levies; for directing the Attests of
Sundry officers and Ministers, with Amendments about Attorneys' Fees;
for the Better Attendance of the Justices within the Province and Territories;
against Jurors Absenting, when Lawfully Summoned; on determining Debts
under Forty Shillings; to Prevent Immoderate Fines; about Defalcation;
against Speaking in Derogation of Courts; for the Appraisement of Goods;
against Barrators; to Oblige Witnesses to give Evidence, and to Prevent
False-swearing; for the Confirmation of Devises of Lands and Validity of
Nuncupative Wills; to prevent the Grievous Sins of Cursing and Swearing;
to Prevent Duelling; to Empower Widows and Administrators to sell so
much of the Lands of Intestates as may be sufficient to clear their Debts;
for the Preservation of the Person of the Proprietary and Governor; for
taking Lands in Execution where the Sheriffs cannot come at other Effects
to satisfy the same: for the Better Regulating of Servants; for Erecting and
Establishing a Post-office; for the Assize of Bread; for Priority of Payments
to the Inhabitants of this Government; for Regulating of Streets and Water-
courses in the Cities and Towns; to Prevent Accidents which may happen
by Fire in the Towns of Bristol, Philadelphia, Germantown, Derby, Chester,
Newcastle and Lewis, with the words "Hooks provided"; to empower
Justices to lay out and confirm all Roads, except the King's Highways; for
regulating and maintaining Fences; for erecting Bridges and maintaining
Highways; against Weirs across Creeks and Rivers; against unseasonable
Firing of Woods; for Erecting and Regulating the Prices of Ferries; for the
Trial of Negroes; to prevent sickly vessels coming into this government;
for the sittings of Orphans' Courts; for requiring all Masters of Vessels to
make Report at the Town of Newcastle; for Levying of Fines; about
Departures out of the Province; against Mixing and Adulterating Strong
Liquors; against Scolding; about Killing of Wolves; concerning Bills of
Exchange; for regulating Money Weights, and for Stamping the same; for
appointing the Rate of Money or Coin, and for Preventing the Clipping of the
same; for regulating Weights and Measures; to prevent the sale of ill-tanned
Leather, and working the same into Shoes and Boots; for keeping a Register
in Religious Societies; for Viewing of Pipe Staves; against keeping Inns or
Public-houses without License; for the Dimensions of Casks, and true
Packing of Meat; about cutting Timber Trees; against Drunkenness and
drinking Healths; for Bailing Prisoners and about Imprisonment; against
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
Pirates and Sea Robbers; for granting an Impost on Wine, Rum, and Beer;
for raising One Penny Per Pound and Six Shillings per Head for the Support
of Government; for raising and granting to the Proprietary and Governor
the sum of Two Thousand Pounds upon the clear Value of all Real and Per-
sonal Estates, and upon the Polls of all Freemen within the Province and
Territories; for effectually establishing and confirming the Freeholders of
the same, their Heirs and Assigns, in their Lands and Tenements; for
erecting a Bridge at Chester; for Country Produce to be Current Payment;
against Selling Rum to the Indians.After these some other laws were
passed by the Assembly, making up, with those whose titles have been
recited, the number of one hundred.
With respect to the new Charter or Frame of Government, upon which so
much attention had been bestowed by a committee of the Assembly, it was
produced, read, and approved. It agreed with that of 1696 in the following
particulars-Each county was to send four members to the Assembly, but
this number might be enlarged afterwards as circumstances might require;
the Assembly also were allowed to propose bills, to appoint committees,
and to sit upon their own adjournments. Among the new articles it contained
I may notice, first, that if persons through temptation or melancholy should
destroy themselves, their estates were not to be forfeited, but to descend
to their wives and children and relations, as if they had died a natural
death; and, secondly, that in case the representatives of the Province and
those of the Territories should not hereafter agree to join together in legis-
lation, they were allowed, by proper signification of the same, to separate
within three years from the date of the charter; but they were to enjoy the
same privileges when separated as when connected.
The Assembly having finished the business before them, William Penn, on
the twenty-eighth of October, signed the above charter in the Council
Chamber, in the midst of the Council and Assembly, both of whom united in
returning him thanks, as appears by the following document:—
"This Charter of Privileges having been distinctly read in Assembly, and
the whole and every part thereof having been approved and agreed to by us,
we do thankfully receive the same from our Proprietary and Governor, this
twenty-eighth day of October, 1701."
Signed by EDWARD SHIPPEN, THOMAS STORY, and others of the
Governor's Council; and by JOSEPH GROWDON, on behalf
and by order of the Assembly.
On the same day he appointed, by letters patent under the great seal, a
council of state, consisting of Edward Shippen, Thomas Story, and eight
other persons, for the government of the Province and Territories, to assist
him or his Lieutenant with their advice in public affairs; and to exercise,
in his own absence or in case of the death or incapacity of his Lieutenant,
the powers of government for the same.
On the twenty-ninth, the ship which was to carry him to England being
OF WILLIAM PENN.
291
ready to sail, he convened the inhabitants of Philadelphia, in order to leave
with them a particular memorial of his good-will towards them.
He pre-
sented them with a charter of privileges, by which Philadelphia was con-
stituted a city, and incorporated. The corporation was to consist of a mayor,
aldermen, and common council-men, a recorder, sheriff, town-clerk, and
other officers, and to have the title of The Mayor and Commonalty of Phila-
delphia. This charter he had prepared and signed on the twenty-fifth, and
he had taken care to appoint all those whom he most approved of to the
different stations belonging to it. Thus he appointed Edward Shippen the
first mayor, and Thomas Story the first recorder; all of whom he saw in
their respective offices before he departed.
On the thirtieth he appointed Andrew Hamilton, who had been some time
Governor both of East and West Jersey, as his Deputy Governor; and
having put him into his place, and introduced him to the Council, he em-
barked the next day with his wife and family, after having staid in Penn-
sylvania about two years; during which, according to the account of his
life, written by Besse, prefixed to the collection of his works, "he had applied
himself to the offices of government, always preferring the good of the
country and its inhabitants to his own private interest, rather remitting
than rigorously exacting his lawful revenues, so that, under the influence of
his paternal administration, he left the Province in an easy and flourishing
condition." It appears that he was only about six weeks on his passage,
and that he arrived at Portsmouth about the middle of December.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
A. 1702-3.-CARRIES UP THE ADDRESS OF THE QUAKERS TO QUEEN
ANNE-WRITES "CONSIDERATIONS UPON THE BILL AGAINST OCCA-
SIONAL CONFORMITY"-ALSO "MORE FRUITS OF SOLITUDE”—ALSO
A PREFACE TO "VINDICIÆ VERITATIS”—AND ANOTHER TO "ZION'S
TRAVELLERS COMFORTED"-AFFAIRS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
TIE facts related of William Penn become now so very scanty, that I shall
be obliged, from this time, to throw two or three years of his life into one
chapter.
He had not been long in England before he found that the bill which was
to turn the North American into regal governments had been entirely
dropped, so that he had crossed the Atlantic for nothing. It was, however,
a consolation to him to know, that the evil on account of which he had come
to England, and the removal of which was likely to have cost him much
anxiety, pain, and trouble, had been removed.
Not long after this, King William died, and Queen Anne succeeded him.
William Penn was in great favour with this princess, and occasionally
292
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
attended her court. She received him always in a friendly manner, and was
pleased with his conversation on American concerns. He was employed also
in carrying up to her an address from the Quakers, to thank her for her
declaration that she would maintain the Act of Toleration in favour of Dis-
senters. The Queen spoke to him very kindly on this occasion, and having
read the address, added, "Mr. Penn, I am so well pleased that what I have
said is to your satisfaction, that you and your Friends may be assured of
my protection."
At this time he and his family were in lodgings at Kensington. Here he
wrote a little tract, contained in a sheet of paper, called "Considerations
upon the Bill against Occasional Conformity," which bill had then been
introduced into the House of Commons.
This was a second part to
He wrote also "More Fruits of Solitude."
"Some Fruits of Solitude, in Reflections and Maxims relating to the
Conduct of Human Life," published in 1683.
in both parts amounted to eight hundred and fifty.
The reflections and maxims
He removed from Kensington to Knightsbridge the next year. While
at the latter place, he wrote two interesting prefaces to two books. The
first of these was "Vindicia Veritatis; or, an Occasional Defence of the
Principles and Practices of the People called Quakers; in answer to a
Treatise by John Stillingfleet, a Clergyman in Lincolnshire, miscalled Sea-
sonable Advice against Quakerism." The other was a collection of Charles
Marshall's writings, called “Zion's Travellers Comforted."
With respect to America, he received no intelligence from thence but
what was distressing. It appears that Governor Hamilton had summoned
the Assembly, and that the members for the Territories had come down to
Philadelphia in consequence, and had met him in the Council Chamber; but
they had refused to meet him in Assembly, or to act in legislation with those
for the Province. They objected to the last charter. William Penn, they
said, had signed this at a Board of Council, and not in Assembly, for the
Assembly had been dissolved the day defore. The charter therefore was
not binding upon them, for they were then no house. Besides, the members
for the Province had been elected by writs, which were conformable in
point of time with the said charter; but they themselves had been elected
not till some time after. They could not therefore sit in Assembly with the
former; for, by so doing, they would acknowledge the said charter, the
writs upon which the said members were elected being grounded upon it.
The Governor made a reply to them; but his arguments, forcible as they
were, did not avail. In the course, however, of five or six weeks, he succeeded
in bringing them and the members for the Province together, but it was in
the Council Chamber only; and here the communication which he had to make
to them was not likely to conciliate either of them; for he revived the old
subject of fear of invasion, and proposed, at the instigation of Lord Cornbury,
then Governor of New York, a junction with his province to fortify the
OF WILLIAM PENN.
293
frontier of Albany, and recommended also the raising of a militia among
them. The result was, that both parties, with one accord, declined acting
together in their legislative capacity. "They humbly craved leave to inform
the Governor, that they could find no method to form themselves into an
Assembly, the same stops and objections lying in the way as before."
Twice after this the Governor brought them together, but with no better
success, when he dismissed them, hoping that, by sending an account of
their proceedings to England, some expedient might be devised by William
Penn, which might lead to their union. This, however, was but a vain hope;
for when they parted on their dismissal, they parted for ever in legislation,
the Territory members determining to hold a separate Assembly within
their own borders.
The members for the Province, being now left to themselves, addressed
the Governor, requesting that, according to the charter, by which a provision
had been made, in case of the separation which had taken place, they
might hold an Assembly by the addition of four members for each county
and two for Philadelphia, which was now incorporated. This the Governor
signified his intention to comply with; but in the interim he died.
On the death of Governor Hamilton, the government of the Province and
Territories devolved upon Edward Shippen, who was President of the
Council. He summoned the Assembly for the Province in October. They
met accordingly, and performed the business of the session; immediately
after which a dispute arose between them and the Governor and Council;
for, when the latter proposed to confer with the Assembly about a proper
time to meet again, the Assembly assumed the power of adjourning wholly to
themselves; and when an objection was made to this extent of their claim
of sitting wholly upon their own adjournments, they immediately adjourned
themselves to the first of May next, without giving Governor or Council.
any further time to confer with them on the subject.
3
CHAPTER XXXIX.
A. 1704-5-6-7-8.-- WRITES A PREFACE TO "THE WRITTEN GOSPEL
LABOURS OF JOHN WHITEHEAD"-TRAVELS AS A MINISTER INTO THE
WEST OF ENGLAND -WRITES A GENERAL LETTER TO THE SOCIETY
-IS INVOLVED IN A LAW-SUIT WITH THE EXECUTORS OF HIS
STEWARD-OBTAINS NO REDRESS IN CHANCERY-OBLIGED, IN CON-
SEQUENCE, TO LIVE WITHIN THE RULES OF THE FLEET-AFFAIRS
OF PENNSYLVANIA.
IN the year 1704 we know very little of William Penn, only that he con-
tinued to reside at Knightsbridge, and that, while there, he wrote a preface
to "The Written Gospel Labours of John Whitehead."
294
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
In 1705 he travelled as a minister to the western parts of the kingdom.
It is said that during his journey "he had good service, and that his
testimony was effectual to the reformation of many." Soon after this he
wrote the following short letter, which he addressed to the Quakers generally:
"Hold all your meetings in that which set them up, the heavenly power of
God, both ministers and hearers, and live under it and not above it, and the
Lord will give you dominion over that which seeks to draw you again into
captivity to the spirit of this world under divers appearances, that the
truth may shine through you in righteousness and holiness, in self-denial,
long suffering, patience, and brotherly kindness; so shall you approve your-
selves the redeemed of the Lord, and his living witnesses in and to an evil
generation. So prays your Friend and brother through the many tribulations
that lead to the kingdom of God."
In 1706 he removed with his family to a house near Brentford, where he
continued for some time.
In 1707 he was unhappily involved in a law-suit with the executors of one
Ford, who had been formerly his steward. He considered the demands of
these to be so unreasonable, as to feel himself bound by justice to resist
them.
In the course of 1708 his cause was determined; but, "though many
thought him aggrieved, it was attended, it is said, by such circumstances,
that the Court of Chancery did not think it proper to relieve him.” This
issue must have been very distressing to him, not only because it was
entirely unexpected, but because a man of his delicate feelings must have
supposed that his character would suffer in consequence of it. But, besides,
he was under the painful necessity of dwelling within the Rules of the
Fleet till such time as the pecuniary part of the matter could be settled.
As to his American affairs, it appears that he had appointed John Evans
Deputy Governor, with the Queen's approbation, on the death of Andrew
Hamilton. It was the first effort of Evans to try to make up the differences
between the members for the Territories and those for the Province. He
succeeded in bringing them once more together, and the speech he made to
them was such as to dispose the members for the Territories towards a
re-union; but those for the Province, who had so long witnessed the refrac-
tory behaviour of the latter, refused all further connection with them. The
consequence was, that they parted finally.
Having thus failed in his attempt at a negociation, he convened the
Assembly of the Province, with which he transacted the public business as a
distinct body, and after this the Assembly of the Territories, which he met
at Newcastle, distinct in like manner, for the management of the Territory
concerns.
* It is probable that, from this circumstance, Edmund Burke, in his "Account of
the European Settlements in America," derived the mistaken notion that William
Penn died in the Fleet Prison.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
295
By this time he had become unpopular with the members for the Province.
He had refused to pass three bills, relating to the charter and to property,
without certain amendments; and he had published a proclamation to
raise a militia among those whose religious scruples did not hinder them
from bearing arms. This unpopularity became at length so great, that they
drew up a private remonstrance against him, and sent it to England, to
William Penn, in which it is said they reflected upon William Penn himself,
and also upon James Logan, who was the public secretary to the government.
Early in 1705 Governor Evans convened the same Assembly. In his
address to them he stated how much the Proprietary had been grieved
with the remonstrance he had received. "Gentlemen," says he, "the Pro-
prietary is so far from agreeing with your opinion in these matters, that he
is greatly surprised to see, instead of suitable supplies for the maintenance
of government, and defraying public charges for the public safety, time only
lost (while his constant expenses run on) in disputes upon heads which he
had as fully settled before his departure as the best precautions could enable
him.
"The Proprietary also further assures us, that had the three bills been
passed into acts here without the amendments, they would certainly have
been vacated by her Majesty, being looked on by men of skill, to whom
they were shown, as great absurdities.
"If the remonstrance was the act of the people truly represented, then it
was the Proprietary's opinion, that such a proceeding was sufficient to cancel
all obligations of care over them; but if done by particular persons only,
and it was an imposture in the name of the whole, he expected the
country would purge themselves, and take care that due satisfaction was
given him."
Ile added, "that the Proprietary (who, it was well known, had hitherto
supported this government) had been frequently solicited, upon the treatment
he had met with, to resign and throw up all without any further care; but
his tenderness to those in the place, whom he knew to be still true and
honest, prevailed with him to give the people yet an opportunity of showing
what they would do before all was brought to a closing period; but that he
would be justified by all reasonable men for withdrawing the exercise of his
care over those who, being so often invited to it, took so little of them-
selves."
Soon after this, Governor Evans, not being able to make an impression
upon the Assembly, dissolved it, and at the time fixed by charter he called
a new one. During the sittings of the latter there was a better under-
standing on both sides, and several laws were passed; but before the end of
the year he became obnoxious to several of the most respectable of its
members; for he had joined with the Assembly for the Territories in some
acts which seemed to have been rather levelled against the interest of the
Province than to answer any good end. He had treated, too, the religious
296
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
scruples of the Quakers against war as groundless and absurd; and he had
exhibited, as a man, a looseness and levity of character which was dis-
gusting to a serious-minded people.
In the year 1706 Governor Evans completed his unpopularity by two
extraordinary acts. In order to succeed in his project of a militia he
created a false alarm. It was contrived that a messenger should be sent to
him from Newcastle to Philadelphia, at the time of the fair, to inform him
that a number of vessels were then actually in the river for the purpose of
invasion. Upon this news Evans acted his part. He sent his emissaries to
spread consternation through the city, while he himself, with a drawn sword,
rode through the streets in apparently great agitation of mind, and entreated
and commanded by turns persons of all rank to assist him in this emergency.
The plot, having been thus executed, operated differently upon different
people. Some fled; others buried their property; and others took up arms.
Among the latter were only four Quakers. Soon after this the imposition
was discovered; and the consequence was, that he lost the good opinion of
the Quakers and of many others from that day.
The other transaction was as follows:-The Assembly for the Territories
had passed a law, on the suggestion of Evans, for the building of a fort at
Newcastle; and they had enacted also, that all vessels coming from sea
up the Delaware should pay a certain tax; and that all masters of vessels,
whether going up or down the river, should drop anchor at the fort and
report their vessels, and get leave to pass, under a penalty of five pounds,
and so much for every shot fired at them in case of neglect. This law
made him unpopular throughout the Province. The people there con-
sidered it an infraction of the Royal Charter, which gave them a right to
the free use of the river and bay without obstruction from any quarter
whatever; and they were determined to resist it. Accordingly, after the
fort had been built, and the exactions paid by many, three Quakers,
Richard Hill, who was one of the Council, and Isaac Norris and Samuel
Preston, men of the first station and character, went on board a sloop
belonging to Hill, and sailed down the river, and dropt anchor a little before
they came to the fort. Norris and Preston then landed, to inform the
officers in it that the vessel had been regularly cleared; after which they
returned to her. When they got on board, Hill took the command of the
sloop, stood to the helm, and passed the fort, and this withont receiving any
damage, though a constant firing was kept up, and though the guns were
pointed in such a direction that a shot went through the mainsail. As soon
as the sloop was clear of the fort, John French, the commander of it, put
off in a boat, manned and armed, to bring her to. When he came along-
side, Hill ordered a rope to be thrown to him; upon which he fastened the
boat and then went on board. Upon this, Hill cut the rope, and the boat
falling astern, he conducted French a prisoner to the cabin, and sailed away
with him to Lord Cornbury, who happened then to be at Salem, a little lower
OF WILLIAM PENN.
297
down on the Jersey side of the river. Lord Cornbury, having reprimanded
French, dismissed him. Soon after this, Hill, accompanied by a large
number of the inhabitants of Philadelphia, attended the General Assembly,
and laid a petition before them. The consequence was that the Assembly
presented an address to the Governor, in which they reprobated the law in
question without one dissenting voice, and this in so strong a manner that
no proceedings of the like nature were continued.
These transactions together made such a rupture between Evans and the
Assembly, that there was nothing but jarring between them afterwards; so
that, when Evans sent to the Assembly the draft of a bill, which he
supposed necessary, the Assembly immediately rejected it; and when the
Assembly proposed another in its stead, Evans rejected it in his turn, re-
marking that it broke in upon the Proprietary's powers of government, and
his just interests and rights.
This opposition of the Governor to the bill of the Assembly, and his
remarks upon it, very much displeased them; and, as if they had something
to let out by way of revenge, but no one to vent it upon, they brought
against James Logan, one of the Council and the public secretary of the
government, a number of accusations, which they styled articles of im-
peachment; but here they were foiled; for through Evans's management,
and his protection of Logan, they were not able to effect any thing against
the latter either by way of censure or removal from office.
Having been now twice worsted, they drew up, in 1707, a remonstrance,
a second time, against Governor Evans, and sent it to William Penn. It
was a sort of catalogue of the particulars of his mal-administration, which
included the false alarm, the story of the sloop and the fort, as before men-
tioned, and twelve other charges.
On the first of October, the day of election according to the charter, the
choice falling upon most of the old members, there was the same want of
cordiality, or, rather, the same discord, between the parties, as before; so
that very little was done in that session.
In the beginning of 1708, William Penn, having received the second
remonstrance of the Assembly against Governor Evans, also letters from
the latter in his own vindication, as well as several from others, who took
their respective sides as they felt themselves influenced by facts and circum-
stances, took the case into his most serious consideration, with a determi-.
nation to do justice to all parties, and, at the same time, to consult the
true interest and welfare of the Province. The result was, that he found
himself under the necessity of recalling Governor Evans. Accordingly, a
letter was dispatched to him to this effect. It reached him in due time
at Philadelphia, and he left his deputy government in cousequence in the
same year.
0 2
298
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
CHAPTER XL.
A. 1709-10-11-12.-IS OBLIGED TO MORTGAGE HIS PROVINCE-CAUSES
OF THIS OBLIGATION-TRAVELS AGAIN IN THE MINISTRY-WRITES
A PREFACE TO THE "DISCOURSES OF BULSTRODE WHITLOCKE"-
CONSTITUTION BEGINS TO BREAK REMOVES TO RUSHCOMB IN
BERKSHIRE-DETERMINES UPON PARTING WITH HIS PROVINCE-
BUT IS PREVENTED BY ILLNESS WRITES A PREFACE TO THE
"WORKS OF JOHN BANKS"-HAS THREE APOPLECTIC FITS —AFFAIRS
OF PENNSYLVANIA.
IN 1709 William Penn submitted to a painful act for the sake of justice.
His pecuniary embarrassments were such as to oblige him to mortgage his
province of Pennsylvania for 6,6001. The money was advanced him by his
friends, but principally by those who were of his own religious society.
One of the most remote causes of his embarrassment, indeed the great
and continually operating one, was the expenditure of money for the good
of the Province, without those pecuniary returns to which he was entitled.
Oldmixon, who was cotemporary with him, and who published his "Account
of the British Empire in America" only the preceding year, speaks on the
subject thus:-"We shall not enter into any inquiries into the causes of the
trouble that has been given Mr. Penn lately about the province of Peun-
sylvania. It appears to us, by what we have heard of it from others (for
from himself we never had any information concerning it), that he has been
involved in it by his bounty to the Indians, his generosity in minding the
public affairs of the colony more than his own private ones, his humanity to
those who have not made suitable returns, his confidence in those who have
betrayed him, and the rigour of the severest equity, a word that borders the
nearest to injustice of any. 'Tis certainly the duty of this colony to main-
tain the Proprietary, who has laid out his all for the maintenance of them,
in the possession of his Territory; and public gratitude ought to make good
what they reap the benefit of. This is all said ɔut of justice to the merit of
this gentleman, otherwise it would have been without his consent." But,
though this was the first and great cause, yet that which added to it, and
brought on the present distress, was the unexpected demand of the executors
of his steward Ford, and the issue of the suit in Chancery, as before men-
tioned. It appears, from the best information I have been able to collect on
this subject, that William Penn had behaved to Ford, during his life-time,
with great kindness and liberality, and that, not suspecting one whom he
had both so eminently trusted and served, he had incautiously and without
due inspection put his hand to papers, as mere matters of course, which his
steward had laid before him to sign. Ilence the law could give him no
relief. But, whatever was the history of the transaction, the steward lost
his reputation by it. James Logan, who was secretary to the government of
OF WILLIAM PENN.
299
Pennsylvania, and who knew the whole of the case, and who had occasion to
allude to it in a manuscript found after his death, stigmatises the act by
"the fraud and treachery of his steward," and in the same language it was
generally spoken of at the time.
Having raised the money, and thereby removed some of his difficulties,
he travelled as a minister of the Gospel to the west of England, and visited
also in the same capacity the counties of Berks, Buckingham, and Surrey,
and other places. He wrote, this year, "Some Account of the Life and
Writings of Bulstrode Whitlocke, Esq., prefixed to his Memorials of
English Affairs to the End of the Reign of King James the First, now
published from his Original Manuscript." William Penn had for many
years been acquainted with this great and venerable person.
In this year we first hear of the failure of his constitution. It is noticed by
Eesse, the author of the first History of his Life, who says that the infirmities
of old age began to visit him, and to lessen his wonted powers. It is noticed
also by Oldmixon, in his second edition of his "Account of the British Empire
in America," who speaks thus:-" The troubles that befel Mr. Penn in the
latter part of his life are of a nature too private to have a place in a public
history. He trusted an ungrateful, unjust agent too much with the manage-
ment of it; and, when he expected to have been thousands of pounds the better
for it, found himself thousands of pounds in debt; insomuch that he was
restrained of his liberty within the privilege of the Fleet, by a tedious and
unsuccessful law-suit; which, together with age, broke his spirits, not easy
to be broken, and rendered him incapable of business and society, as he was
wont to have been in the days of his health and vigour, both of body and
mind."
This intelligence respecting his health, though it bursts thus suddenly
upon us, ought not to surprise us. It is not wonderful that symptoms of
decline should have begun to show themselves in his constitution at the age
of sixty-seven, and more particularly when we consider the distressing
scenes he experienced in this and the preceding year.
In the former year
he had to contrast his own unsuspicious and generous conduct with the
treachery of his steward. He had to lament the failure of his suit in
Chancery, both as it embarrassed his pecuniary affairs, and as it might
injure his reputation. He had the mortification to see himself a prisoner
within the limits of the Fleet. He had been afflicted by the renewal and
continuation of bitter dissensions between the Assembly of Pennsylvania
and his Deputy Governor. He had been under the painful task of removing
the latter; and, in the present year, he had been compelled to mortgage his
Province. These were causes which could not but have affected him.
Religion and philosophy have undoubtedly the power of blunting the edge
of our afflictions, and of making them more bearable; but they cannot
alter the law of our mortality, or secure us from that decay to which we
are liable from our nature.
300
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
For 1710 we have but a slender account of his proceedings. We trace
him once at the Prime Minister's, Robert Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford,
with whom he was very intimate, and at whose house he then dined: but
the air near London not suiting his declining constitution, he took a hand-
some seat at Rushcomb, near Twyford, in Berkshire, where he resided
during the remainder of his life. After his removal to this place we find him
at Reading Monthly Meeting, for he signed, among others, the testimony
concerning Oliver Sansom there.
In 1711 he went to London for a few days. He was seen at Whitehall,
attended by several of the society. He had gone, in company with these,
to wait upon the Duke of Ormond on his return from his Lord-Lieutenancy
in Ireland, to thank him for his kindness towards his fellow-members during,
his administration there. In this year, the works of one of his ancient
friends, John Banks, being ready for the press, he dictated to a person, as
he walked up and down the room with a cane in his hand, an excellent.
Preface to the same, which was the last piece he ever published, and which
carried with it its own evidence that it could have been written by no
other than a highly experienced Christian. It ran thus:-
"FRIENDLY READER-The labours of the servants of God ought always
to be precious in the eyes of his people, and for that reason the very frag-
ments of their services are not to be lost, but to be gathered up for edifica-
tion, and that is the cause why we expose the following discourses to public
view; and I hope it will please God to make them effectual to such as
seriously peruse them, since we have always found the Lord ready to second
the services of his worthies upon the spirits of the readers, not suffering that
which is his own to go without a voucher in every conscience, I mean those
Divine truths it hath pleased him to reveal among his children by his own
blessed Spirit, without which no man can rightly perceive the things of God,
or be truly spiritually minded, which is life and peace. And this, indeed.
is the only beneficial evidence of heavenly truths, which made that excellent
Apostle say in his day, We know that we are of God, and that the whole world
lieth in wickedness: for, in that day, true religion and undefiled before God
and the Father consisted in visiting the fatherless and widows in their
afflictions, and keeping unspotted from the world, not only a godly tradition
of what others have enjoyed, but the experimental enjoyment and know-
ledge thereof, by the operation of the Divine power in their own hearts,
which makes up the inward Jew and accomplished Christian, whose praise
is not of men, but of God: such are Christians of Christ's making, that
can say with the Apostle, It is not we that live, but Christ that liveth in
us, dying daily to self, and rising up, through faith in the Son of God, to
newness of life. Here formality bows to reality, memory to feeling, letter
to spirit, and form to power; which brings to the regeneration, without which
no man can inherit the kingdom of God; and by which he is enabled in
every estate to cry Abba Father! Thou'lt see a great deal of this in the
OF WILLIAM PENN.
301
following author's writings; and that he rightly began with a just distinction
between true wisdom and the fame of wisdom, what was of God and taught
of God, and of man and taught by man, which at best is a sandy foundation
for religion to be built upon, or rather the faith and hope of man in
reference to religion, and salvation by it. And oh, that none who make
profession of the dispensation of the Spirit may build beside the work of
Jesus Christ in their own souls, in reference to his prophetical, priestly,
and kingly office, in which regard God, his Father, gave him as a tried
stone, elect and precious, to build by and upon; concerning which
great and glorious truth we do most humbly beseech the Almighty, who
is God of the spirits of all flesh, the Father of Lights and Spirits, to
ground and establish all his visited and convinced ones, that they may
grow up an holy house and building to the Lord; so shall purity, peace,
and charity abound in the house and sanctuary that he hath pitched and
not man.
Now, as to this worthy man, the author of the following treatises, I
hope I may without offence say, his memorial is blessed, having known him
above forty years an heavenly minister of experimental religion, of a sound
judgment and pious practice, valiant for the Truth upon the earth, and
ready to serve all in the love and peace of the Gospel. He was amongst the
first in Cumberland that received the glad tidings of it, and then readily
gave up, with other brethren, to declare to others what the Lord had done
for their souls.
"Thus I first met him; and, as I received his testimony through the
Saviour of life, so I was kindly accepted and encouraged by him in the
belief of the blessed testimony of the Light, Spirit, Grace, and Truth of Christ
in the inward parts, reproving, instructing, reforming, and redeeming those
souls from the evil of the world that were obedient thereunto. Here he
was a strength to my soul, in the early days of my convincement, together
with his dear and faithful friend, brother, and fellow-traveller, John
Wilkinson, of Cumberland, formerly a very zealous and able independent
minister.
"And as I hope this piece of labour of our ancient friend and brother will
find acceptance everywhere among God's people, so I hope it will be more
especially acceptable in the north, where he began and had his early
services; and in the west, where they were witnesses of his care to preserve
good order in the Church.
"Now, reader, before I take my leave of thee, let me advise thee to hold
thy religion in the Spirit, whether thou prayest, praisest, or ministrest to
others; go forth in the ability God giveth thee; presume not to awaken thy
beloved before his time; be not thy own in thy performances, but the
Lord's; and thou shalt not hold the truth in unrighteousness, as too many
do, but according to the oracle of God, that will never leave nor forsake
them who will take counsel at it; which that all God's people may do, is,
302
MEMOIRS of the LIFE
and hath long been, the earnest desire and fervent supplication of theirs
and thy faithful Friend in the Lord Jesus Christ, "WILLIAM PENN."
London, 23d of the 12th month, 1711."
It appears that he also wrote, about this time, an Introduction (entitled
"An Epistle to the Reader ") to some discourses of his before-mentioned
much-valued Friend, Bulstrode Whitlocke, which were published this year.
In 1712 he made up his mind to part with his Province to government;
for which he asked the sum of 20,000. Queen Anne referred his demand
to the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, who were to report
to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. An agreement was made in
consequence for 12,000l.; but the bad and dangerous state of his health
during this year prevented the execution of it. He was seized, at distant
times, with three several fits, said to be apoplectic, the latter of which was
so severe that it was with difficulty that he survived it. It so shattered his
understanding and memory, that he was left scarcely fit to manage, at times,
the most trifling of his private concerns.
As to his American affairs: after the recall of Evans he appointed Charles
Gookin his Deputy Governor, to whom he gave letters of introduction to his
Friends in Philadelphia, expressive of his excellent character. Gookin, it
appears, arrived there in 1709, and while the Assembly were sitting. They
presented him almost immediately with an address, in which "they con-
gratulated his seasonable accession to the government." This address was,
however, extremely injudicious in the latter part of it; for, instead of
passing over all subjects connected with former disputes, so that, at least,
their first act might breathe the spirit of peace and good will, they brought
to his notice what they called their old grievances, with an expectation of
redress from him, and this in matters of which it would have been but fair
to presume he could have known nothing, and which it was totally out of
his power to remedy.
This address produced the effect which it was natural to expect from it;
for, first, it offended the Governor at the very outset of his public career.
It would have proved (he said), a much greater satisfaction to him, if, at this
first time of his speaking to them, he had had nothing to take notice of but
what he himself might have had to lay before them. The Council, too, took
umbrage at the address, on account of expressions in it, which they supposed
the Assembly had levelled against them, particularly the words "evil
counsel;" and they complained to the Governor accordingly. They, of all
others (they said), least merited this reproach, who had served the state
with their best advice for years, without ever having received salary or
allowance, or office of profit of any kind. Thus, unhappily, all their animo-
sities were, at their first intercourse with each other, revived.
In June, Governor Gookin, in consequence of letters from the Queen,
who had fitted out an expedition for the retaking of Newfoundland and the
capture of Canada, convened the Assembly. He requested of them a
OF WILLIAM PENN.
303**
hundred and fifty soldiers, as the quota for the Province; but, as nany of
the inhabitants were hindered by their principles from bearing arms, he
engaged, if they would vote the sum of four thousand pounds for this
purpose, to raise and equip the men. The Assembly replied, that “were
it not that the raising of money to hire men to fight, or kill one another,
was matter of conscience to them and against their religious tenets, they
should not be wanting, according to their abilities, to contribute to those
designs. They expressed, however, their loyalty to the Queen, and added,
that, though they could not conscientiously comply with her request, yet,
out of gratitude to her, they had resolved to present her with five hundred
pounds." With this proposal the Governor was dissatisfied. Messages
passed in consequence between him and the Assembly; when the latter, to
get rid of them, adjourned to the middle of August.
The adjournment had not elapsed when the Governor convened them
again. The old as well as new topics were now started. Among the latter
he informed them, that there was no provision for his (the Deputy Governor's)
support, a burthen which the Proprietor, in consequence of his hard treat-
ment from some whom he had too far trusted (Ford), was not able of himself
to bear. Upon this the Assembly added three hundred to the five hundred
pounds before voted to the Queen, and two hundred towards the maintenance
of the Governor: but this they did not do without stating that they ex-
pected him to call James Logan to account, as well as to concur in the
passing of certain bills, which had been prepared by former Assemblies and
agreed to by the present. The Governor replied,
The Governor replied, that his instructions
would not allow him to agree to bills which broke in either upon the Pro-
prietary's power of government or his just interest; but he advised them to
reconsider the bills in question, and he would pass all those which he could.
conscientiously sanction.
The Assembly, at their next session, instead of reconsidering the bills, as
had been recommended to them in the preceding, pressed them upon the
Governor in their former objectionable shape; the consequence of which was,
that he refused to pass them. It appeared, too, by his speech on the occasion,
that he was not allowed to pass any bill without the approbation of the
Council. This declaration inflamed the Assembly again. They immediately
sent him a remonstrance, in which they pronounced the restriction which
had been put upon him to be contrary to the royal charter; and they in-
veighed against James Logan, as the author of all their grievances; so
that this session ended also to the irritation of both parties, and to the
profit of neither.
In October a new election took place, when the same members were
mostly returned. The Governor pressed upon them a provision for the
Lieutenancy of the government. He entreated them, though he wished to
take no retrospect of what was past, to abstain from all irritating expressions
in their addresses, such as those of evil counsel, grievances, and oppressions,
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
words which he was sure were understood by none of them practically.
With respect to James Logan, he had read his written defence, in which he
charged their own Speaker with proceedings, which, if true, would require
the consideration of the house. To this they replied, that they had it under
consideration to make a proper provision for the Deputy Governor's support;
but, according to the fundamental laws of the English constitution, they
were not obliged to contribute to the support of that administration which
afforded them no redress when their rights were violated. They then
repeated all the irritating expressions before mentioned, which they justified;
and contended, that if he (the Deputy Governor) believed Logan's charges
against their Speaker, he ought not to have approved of the latter when
they had chosen him. After this the Governor went to Newcastle, to preside
over the Assembly for the Territories there.
In November the Assembly for the Province met again. James Logan,
who was going to England for a time, petitioned them that he might be tried
upon the impeachment of a former Assembly in 1706. Upon this they
resolved to take into consideration his defence as well as charge against
their own Speaker; but, instead of going properly into either, they issued a
warrant, signed by their own Speaker, for apprehending and putting Logan
in gaol. This they issued for his offence in reflecting upon sundry members
of the house in particular, and the whole house in general; but, by a
supersedeas from the Governor, the execution of it was prevented. The
Assembly, in return, pronounced the supersedeas an illegal and arbitrary
measure; and hence the animosities, on both sides, were continued with
renewed vigour.
James Logan, after this, proceeded to England, where he arrived early
in 1710. He was the bearer of all these unpleasant proceedings to William
Penn, before whom he cleared himself to entire satisfaction. The news
which he carried him would have been distressing at any time, but more
particularly at the present, when his constitution had begun so materially
to fail. William Penn, however, summoning all his strength and faculties,
made an effort to write a letter to the Assembly, of which the following
is a copy. I could wish the reader to observe, that he was then in his
seventieth year.
لا
"London, 29th 4th month, 1710.
"MY OLD FRIENDS-It is a mournful consideration, and the cause of
deep affliction to me that I am forced, by the oppressions and disappoint.
ments which have fallen to my share in this life, to speak to the people of
that Province in a language I once hoped I should never have had occasion
to use. But the many troubles and oppositions that I have met with from
thence oblige me, in plainness and freedom, to expostulate with you con-
cerning the causes of them.
"When it pleased God to open a way for me to settle that colony, I had
reason to expect a solid comfort from the services done to many hundreds
OF WILLIAM PENN.
305
of people; and it was no small satisfaction to me that I have not been
disappointed in seeing them prosper, and growing up to a flourishing
country, blessed with liberty, ease, and plenty, beyond what many of them-
selves could expect, and wanting nothing to make themselves happy but
what, with a right temper of mind and prudent conduct, they might give
themselves. But, alas! as to my part, instead of reaping the like advan-·
tages, some of the greatest of my troubles have arisen from thence. The
many combats I have engaged in, the great pains and incredible expense
for your welfare and ease, to the decay of my former estate, of which (how-
ever some there would represent it) I too sensibly feel the effects, with the
undeserved opposition I have met with from thence, sink me into sorrow,
that, if not supported by a superior hand, might have overwhelmed me
long ago.
And I cannot but think it hard measure, that, while that has
proved a land of freedom and flourishing, it shonld become to me, by
whose means it was principally made a country, the cause of grief, trouble
and poverty.
"For this reason I must desire you all, even of all professions and degrees
(for, although all have not been engaged in the measures that have been
taken, yet every man who has an interest there is, or must be, concerned in
them by their effects), I must therefore, I say, desire you all, in a serious
and true weightiness of mind, to consider what you are, or have been,
doing; why matters must be carried on with these divisions and contentions;
and what real causes have been given, on my side, for that opposition to
me and my interest, which I have met with, as if I were an enemy, and
not a friend, after all I have done and spent both here and there: I am
sure I know not of any cause whatsoever. Were I sensible you really
wanted any thing of me, in the relation between us, that would make you
happier, I should readily grant it, if any reasonable man would say it were
fit for you to demand, provided you would also take such measures as were
fit for me to join with.
"Before any one family had transported themselves thither, I earnestly
endeavoured to form such a model of government as might make all con-
cerned in it easy; which, nevertheless, was subject to be altered as there
should be occasion. Soon after we got over that model appeared, in some
parts of it, to be very inconvenient, if not impracticable. The numbers of
members, both in the Council and Assembly, were much too large. Some
other matters also proved inconsistent with the King's charter to me; so
that, according to the power reserved for an alteration, there was a necessity
to make one, in which, if the lower counties (the Territories) were brought
in, it was well known, at that time, to be on a view of advantage to the
Province itself, as well as to the people of those counties, and to the general
satisfaction of those concerned, without the least apprehension of any
irregularity in the method.
"Upon this they had another charter passed, nemine contradicente, which
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
I
I always desired might be continued while you yourselves would keep up to:
it and put it in practice; and many there know much it was against my
will, that, upon my last going over, it was vacated. But, after this was
laid aside (which, indeed, was begun by yourselves in Colonel Fletcher's
time), I, according to my engagement, left another, with all the privileges.
that were found convenient for your good government; and, if any part of
it has been, in any case, infringed, it was never by my approbation. I
desired it might be enjoyed fully. But, though privileges ought to be
tenderly preserved, they should not, on the other hand, be asserted under
that name, to a licentiousness: the design of government is to preserve
good order, which may be equally broke in upon by the turbulent endeavours
of the people, as well as the overstraining of power in a governor.
designed the people should be secured of an annual fixed election and
Assembly; and that they should have the same privileges in it that any
other Assembly has in the Queen's dominions; among all which this is one
constant rule, as in the Parliament here, that they should sit on their own
adjournments; but to strain this expression to a power to meet at all times
during the year, without the Governor's concurrence, would be to distort
government, to break the due proportion of the parts of it, to establish con-
fusion in the place of necessary order, and make the legislative the executive
part of government. Yet, for obtaining this power, I perceive, much time
and money has been spent, and great struggles have been made, not only
for this, but some other things that cannot at all be for the advantage of
the people to be possessed of; particularly the appointing of judges; because
the administration might, by such means, be so clogged, that it would be
difficult, if possible, under our circumstances, at some times to support it.
As for my own part, as I desire nothing more than the tranquillity and
prosperity of the Province and government in all its branches, could I see
that any of these things that have been contended for would certainly
promote these ends, it would be a matter of indifference to me how they
were settled. But, seeing the frame of every government ought to be regular
in itself, well proportioned and subordinate in its parts, and every branch
of it invested with sufficient power to discharge its respective duty for the
support of the whole, I have cause to believe that nothing could be more
destructive to it than to take so much of the provision and executive part
of the government out of the Governor's hands and lodge it in an uncertain
collective body; and more especially since our government is dependent,
and I am answerable to the Crown, if the administration should fail, and a
stop be put to the course of justice. On these considerations, I cannot
think it prudent in the people to crave these powers; because, not only I,
but they themselves, would be in danger of suffering by it. Could I believe
otherwise, I should not be against granting any thing of this kind, that were
asked of me, with any degree of common prudence and civility. But,
instead of finding cause to believe the contentions that have been raised
OF WILLIAM PENN.
307
about these matters have proceeded only from mistakes of judgment, with
an earnest desire notwithstanding, at the bottom, to serve the public (which,
I hope, has still been the inducement of several concerned in them), I have
had but too sorrowful a view and sight to complain of the manner in which
I have been treated. The attacks on my reputation; the many indignities
put upon me in papers sent over hither into the hands of those who could
not be expected to make the most discreet and charitable use of them; the
secret insinuations against my justice; besides the attempt made upon my
estate; resolves past in the Assemblies for turning my quit-rents, never sold
by me, to the support of government; my lands entered upon without any
regular method; my manors invaded (under pretence I had not duly sur
veyed them), and both these by persons principally concerned in these
attempts against me here; a right to my overplus land unjustly claimed by
the possessors of the tracts in which they are found; my private estate con-
tinually exhausting for the support of that government, both here and there,
and no provision made for it by that country; to all which I cannot but add
the violence that has been particularly shown to my secretary; of which
(though I shall by no means protect him in any thing he can be justly
charged with, but suffer him to stand or fall by his own actions) I cannot
but thus far take notice, that, from all the charges I have seen or heard of
against him, I have cause to believe, that had he been as much in opposition
to me as he has been understood to stand for me, he might have met with
a milder treatment from his prosecutors; and to think that any man should
be the more exposed there on my account, and, instead of finding favour,
meet with enmity, for his being engaged in my service, is a melancholy
consideration! In short, when I reflect on all these heads, of which I have
so much cause to complain, and, at the same time, think of the hardships.
I and my suffering family have been reduced to, in no small measure owing
to my endeavours for, and disappointments from, that province; I cannot
but mourn the unhappiness of my portion, dealt to me from those, of whom
I had reason to expect much better and different things; nor can I but
lament the unhappiness that too many of them are bringing upon them-
selves, who, instead of pursuing the amicable ways of peace, love, and
unity, which I at first hoped to find in that retirement, are cherishing
a spirit of contention and opposition, and, blind to their own interest, are
over-setting that foundation on which your happiness might be built.
"Friends! the eyes of many are upon you; the people of many nations
of Europe look on that country as a land of ease and quiet, wishing to
themselves in vain the same blessings they conceive you may enjoy; but, to
see the use you make of them is no less the cause of surprise to others,
while such bitter complaints and reflections are seen to come from you, of
which it is difficult to conceive even the sense or meaning. What are the
distresses, grievances, and oppressions, that the papers, sent from thence,
80 often say you languish under, while others have cause to believe you
308
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
have hitherto lived, or might live, the happiest of any in the Queen's
dominions?
"Is it such a grievous oppression, that the Courts are established by my
power, founded on the King's charter, without a law of your making, when
upon the same plan you propose? If this disturb any, take the advice of
other able lawyers on the main, without tying me up to the opinion of
principally one man, whom I cannot think so very proper to direct in my
affairs (for I believe the late Assembly have had but that one lawyer amongst
them), and I am freely content you should have any law that, by proper
judges, should be found suitable. Is it your oppression that the officers'
fees are not settled by an act of Assembly? No man can be a greater
enemy to extortion than myself. Do, therefore, allow such fees as may
shall
reasonably encourage fit persons to undertake these offices, and you
soon have (and should have always cheerfully had) mine, and, I hope, my
Lieutenant's concurrence and approbation. Is it such an oppression that
licenses for public-houses have not been settled, as has been proposed? It
is a certain sign you are strangers to oppression, and know nothing but the
name, when you so highly bestow it on matters so inconsiderable; but that
business I find is adjusted. Could I know any real oppression you lie under,
that it is in my power to remedy (and what I wish you would take proper
measures to remedy, if you truly feel any such), I would be as ready, on my
part, to remove them, as you to desire it; but, according to the best judg-
ment I can make of the complaints I have seen (and you once thought I had
a pretty good one), I must, in a deep sense of sorrow, say, that I fear the
kind hand of Providence, that has so long favoured and protected you, will,
by the ingratitude of many there to the great mercies of God hitherto
shown them, be at length provoked to convince them of their unworthi-
ness; and, by changing the blessings, that so little care has been taken
by the public to deserve, into calamities, reduce those that have been
so clamorous and causelessly discontented to a true but smarting sense of
their duty. I write not this with a design to include all: I doubt not many
of you have been burdened at, and can by no means join in, the measures
that have been taken; but, while such things appear under the name of an
Assembly, that ought to represent the whole, I cannot but speak more
generally than I would desire, though I am not insensible what methods
may be used to obtain the weight of such a name.
"I have already been tedious, and shall now, therefore, briefly say, that
the opposition I have met with from thence must at length force me
to consider more closely of my own private and sinking circumstances in
relation to that Province. In the mean time, I desire you all seriously to
weigh what I have wrote, together with your duty to yourselves, to me, and
to the world, who have their eyes upon you, and are witnesses of my early
and earnest care for you. I must think there is a regard due to me that has
not of late been paid; pray consider of it fully, and think soberly what you
OF WILLIAM PENN.
309
have to desire of me on the one hand, and ought to perform to me on the
other; for from the next Assembly I shall expect to know what you resolve,
and what I may depend on. If I must continue my regards to you, let me
be engaged to it by a like disposition in you towards me. But if a plurality,
after this, shall think they owe me none, or no more than for some years I
have met with, let it, on a fair election, be so declared; and I shall then,
without further suspense, know what I have to rely upon.
God give you
his wisdom and fear to direct you, that yet our poor country may be blessed
with peace, love, and industry, and we may once more meet good friends,
and live so to the end, our relation in the Truth having but the same true
interest.
"I am, with great truth and most sincere regard, your real Friend, as
well as just Proprietor and Governor,
"WILLIAM PENN."
This letter arrived safe. What answer was returned to it does not appear:
but the result of it is well known; for, however there might be some who
thought the Proprietor had not conducted himself properly in all respects
towards them, yet the serious nature of it affected the considerate part of
the Assembly, so that they began now to feel for the father of his country,
to pity him in his declining years, and to put a just value upon his labours,
which had been expended indeed in their service. This sentiment spread as
the contents of the letter became known, so as at length to affect the whole
Province; the consequence of which was, that at the next annual election,
in October, not one of those members was returned who had served in the
preceding year, This was the greatest compliment that the Province could,
at this time, have paid him. It was, in fact, a national answer to, and a
national compliance with, his letter: "for if," said he in that letter, as we
have just read, "a plurality, after this, shall think they owe me no regard,
or no more than, for some years, I have met with, let it, on a fair election,
be so declared; and I shall then, without further suspense, know what I
have to rely upon."
The new members having been elected, and duly qualified to act, Governor
Gookin met them in Assembly. Great harmony is said to have subsisted
between them and the Governor, such as had not been witnessed for years,
so that many laws were agreed upon and passed to the satisfaction of all the
branches of the legislature.
In the early part of 1711, the Governor, having received an express from
England respecting the expedition against Canada, convened the same.
Assembly, He proposed to them, as he had done to their predecessors, the
raising and equipment of a certain number of men, or that they would vote
a sum equivalent to the purpose. They expressed their regret, that, on
account of their religious principles, they could not comply with his request;
but they voted two thousand pounds as a present to the Queen, and passed
a bill for the raising of it.
In the October following the election came on again. Several of those
310
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
who were in the Assembly in 1709 were chosen, but the house retained its
last Speaker. Governor Gookin informed them, that the Proprietary had
desired him to signify to them the pleasure which their harmonious conduct
of late had given him, and that he should be glad to serve the people of the
Province; and that he left it to themselves to think of the means that
might best conduce to their own quiet and interest. He offered, at the same
time, his own ready concurrence to any thing of that nature which they
should propose, consistent with the honour and interest of the Crown, of
the Proprietary, and of the public welfare. He concluded his address
to them by recommending them to think of a proper provision for his
own support.
In return to this, the Assembly acknowledged the kind regard of the
Froprietor towards them; they thanked the Governor for his own readiness
to concur in the propositions of the latter, and they promised to take care
of his support; which they did afterwards to his satisfaction.
But here it will be necessary to conclude our history of the Province:
for William Penn having lost, in a great degree, his memory and under-
standing, by an apoplectic fit, in the ensuing year, we can have no motive
for continuing it. While he was in his health and senses we saw him move
and act. We saw him advise and direct. We took, therefore, an interest
in what he did. But, when he was rendered incapable of acting, we lose
our interest with his powers. And the same may be said relative to himself;
for, when he was rendered incapable of his usual perceptions, the Province
became as dead to him, in point of interest, as without his movements and
motives it becomes to us.
CHAPTER XLI.
DECLINES - ACCOUNT
A. 1713-14-15-16-17-18.-GRADUALLY
OF
HIM
DURING THIS PERIOD-DIES AT RUSHCOMB-CONCOURSE OF PEOPLE
AT HIS FUNERAL-MALEVOLENT REPORT CONCERNING HIM AFTER
HIS DEATH — CERTIFICATES OF SIMON CLEMENT AND HANNAH
MITCHELL-SHORT ACCOUNT OF HIS WILL.
THE account which we have of William Penn from this time, though
authentic as far as it goes, is very short. It is stated, in Besse's History
of his Life, that one of his intimate friends visited him once every year
from the present period; and it is chiefly from him-that is, from the
memorandums he left behind him of these visits-that I have been enabled
to continue it.
In 1713 the Friend alluded to, being at his house some days, "found
OF WILLIAM PENN.
311
bim, to appearance, pretty well in health, and cheerful of disposition, but
defective in memory; so that, though he could relate many past trans-
actions, yet he could not readily recollect the names of absent persons, nor
could he deliver his words so readily as heretofore: yet, many savoury and
sensible expressions came from him, rendering his company even yet
acceptable, and manifesting the religious stability of his mind."
The same friend, in his second visit, which he made to him in the spring
of 1714, found him very little altered from what he had been last year. He
accompanied him in his carriage to Reading meeting. He describes him
as rising up there to exhort those present; as speaking several sensible
sentences, though not able to say much; and, on leaving the meeting to
return home, as taking leave of his friends with much tenderness. This,
as I observed before, was in the spring; but we learn something more con-
cerning him from another quarter in the autumn of the same year. His old
friend, Thomas Story, arrived at this time in England, and went to Rush-
comb to see him. The account he gives of him is as follows:-" He was
then," says Thomas Story, "under the lamentable effects of an apoplectic
fit, which he had had some time before; for his memory was almost quite lost,
and the use of his understanding suspended, so that he was not so con-
versible as formerly, and yet as near the Truth, in the love of it, as before,
wherein appeared the great mercy and favour of God, who looks not as man
looks; for, though to some this accident might look like judgment, and, no
doubt, his enemies so accounted it, yet it will bear quite another interpre-
tation, if it be considered how little time of rest he ever had from the
importunities of the affairs of others, to the great hurt of his own and sus-
pension of all his enjoyments, till this happened to him, by which he was
rendered incapable of all business, and yet sensible of the enjoyment of
Truth as at any time in all his life. When I went to the house I thought
myself strong enough to see him in that condition; but, when I entered the
room, and perceived the great defect of his expressions for want of memory,
it greatly bowed my spirit under a consideration of the uncertainty of all
human qualifications, and what the finest of men are soon reduced to by a
disorder of the organs of that body, with which the soul is connected and
acts during this present mode of being. When these are but a little obstructed
in their various functions, a man of the clearest parts and finest expression
becomes scarcely intelligible. Nevertheless, no insanity or lunacy at all
appeared in his actions; and his mind was in an innocent state, as appeared
by his very loving deportment to all that came near him; and that he
had still a good sense of Truth is plain by some very clear sentences he
spoke in the life and power of Truth in an evening meeting we had together
there, wherein we were greatly comforted; so that I was ready to think this
was a sort of sequestration of him from all the concerns of this life, which
so much oppressed him, not in judgment, but in mercy, that he might have
rest, and not be oppressed thereby to the end."
312
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
In 1715 his intimate friend before alluded to again visited him. His
memory, it appears, had become yet more deficient, but his love and sense
of religious enjoyments apparently continued; for he still often went in his
chariot to the meeting at Reading, and there sometimes uttered short but
very sound and savoury expressions. One morning, while this friend was at
his house, being about to go to the meeting, he expressed his desire to the
Lord that they might receive some good from him. This year he went
to Bath, but the waters there proved of no benefit to his long-continued
complaint.
In 1716 the same friend and another visited him again, at whose coming
he seemed glad; and though he could not then remember their names, yet
by his answers it appeared he knew their persons. He was now much
weaker than last year, but still expressed himself sensible at times, and
particularly took his leave of them at their going away in these words:-
"My love is with you; the Lord preserve you, and remember me in the
everlasting Covenant."
In 1717 his friend made his last visit to him. He then found his under-
standing so much weakened, that he scarce knew his old acquaintances; and
his bodily strength so much decayed, that he could not well walk without
leading, nor scarce express himself intelligibly.
We learn from this account of his friend, combined with that of Thomas
Story, that his decay was gradual; and that, though his frame had been so
grievously shattered and impaired, his existence under it had been left com-
fortable. He had sufficient sense and understanding left to exhibit the
outward appearance of innocence and love, and the inward one of the enjoy-
ment of the Deity himself by an almost constant communion with his Holy
Spirit.
In the year 1718 the forementioned history of his life continues the
account thus:-"After a continued and gradual declension for about six
years his body now drew near to its dissolution, and on the thirtieth day
of the fifth month (July), 1718, between two and three in the morning, in
the seventy-fourth year of his age, his soul, prepared for a more glorious habi-
tation, forsook the decayed tabernacle, which was committed to the earth on
the fifth of the sixth month following, at Jordans, in Buckinghamshire,
where his former wife and several of his family had been interred. And as he
had led in this life a course of patient continuance in well-doing, and through
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ had been enabled to overcome the world, the
flesh, and the devil, the grand enemies of man's salvation, he is, we doubt
not, admitted to that everlasting inheritance which God hath prepared for
his people, and made partaker of the promise of Christ, Rev. iii. 21, To
him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also
overcame, and am sit down with my Father in his throne.'"
C
His funeral was attended by a large concourse of people from all parts, by
many of the most valued of the society, and by many of different religious
OF WILLIAM PENN.
313
denominations, to pay this last tribute of respect to him. Among the former
was Thomas Story. "I arrived," says Thomas Story, "at Rushcomb late
in the evening, where I found the widow and most of the family together.
My coming occasioned a fresh remembrance of the deceased, and also a
renewed flood of many tears from all eyes. A solid time (of worship) we had
together, but few words among us for some time; for it was a deep bap-
tising season, and the Lord was near at that time. On the fifth I accompanied
the corpse to the grave, where we had a large meeting; and as the Lord
had made choice of him in the days of his youth for great and good services
-had been with him in many dangers and difficulties of various sorts,
and did not leave him in his last moments- -so he was pleased to honour
this occasion with his blessed presence, and gave us a happy season of his
goodness to the general satisfaction of all."
After his funeral, as if malevolence had not sufficiently harassed him
in life, a report got abroad that he had died mad at Bath.
The report
spreading, Henry Pickworth, who had been formerly a minister among the
Quakers but disowned by them, availed himself of it, if he did not invent it,
to wound the feelings of the latter. Accordingly, so late even as twelve.
years after his death, that is, in 1730, he published a letter, in which he
stated the two circumstances before mentioned; and, in adverting to the
lunacy, he described it to be "of the nature of Nebuchadnezzar's of old,
which terminated in rage and madness before the end of his days." Joseph
Besse, in his "Answer to Patrick Smith, M.A., a clergyman of Huntingdon-
shire," notices the two charges, and repels them thus:-"But if," says he
"he was never lunatic nor mad, and did not end his days at Bath, then
here are two falsehoods in fact.” After this, he produced two certificates, to
establish the falsehoods; one from Simon Clement, a gentleman who had been
an intimate acquaintance of William Penn, and the other from Hannah
Mitchell, of St Martin's-le-grand, London. The former ran thus :-
"He was, indeed," says Mr. Clement, "attacked with a kind of apopletic
fit in London, in the month of May, 1712, from which he recovered, and did
go to the Bath and from thence to Bristol, where he had a second fit about
September following; and in about three months after he had the third fit at
his own house at Rushcomb, which impaired his memory, so that, though he
knew his friends well who came to visit him, and rejoiced to see them, yet he
could not hold any discourse with them, or even call them by their names.
But this was so far from any show of lunacy, that his actions were regular
and orderly, and nothing appeared in his behaviour but a loving, meek, quiet,
easy temper, and a childish innocence, which to me seemed a great indication
of his having been in a very happy frame of spirit at the time when he was
surprised with this indisposition; under which he continued (but otherwise
in a pretty good state of health) till the month of July, 1718, when he was
taken with a fever, of which he died (not at the Bath) but at his own house
at Rushcomb, in Berkshire, but without ever having had any symptoms
P
314
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
raying or madness, though the same is wickedly affirmed by this false witness
Henry Pickworth."
The second was as follows:-"I think fit to acquaint the world, that the
late account given by Henry Pickworth concerning my worthy master,
William Penn, is notoriously false. I had the honour to wait on him from
the beginning of his last indisposition, which was a palsie, occasioned by a
third apopletic fit."
By his last will, made in 1712, a few months before his first attack of
apoplexy, he left his estates in England and Ireland to William, his eldest
surviving son by Gulielma Maria, his first wife, and to the issue of that
marriage, which then consisted of his said son William, his daughter Letitia
(married to William Aubrey), and three children of his son William, namely,
Gulielma Maria, Springett, and William. The government of his Province
of Pennsylvania and Territories, and powers thereunto belonging, he devised
to his particular friends, Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, and Earl Mortimer,
and William, Earl Powlett, and their heirs, upon trust, to dispose thereof
to the Queen or any other person to the best advantage they could, to be
applied in such manner as he should hereafter direct. He then devised
to his wife Hannah Penn, together with eleven others, and to their heirs, all
his lands, rents, and other profits in America, upon trust, to dispose of so
much thereof as should be sufficient to discharge all his debts, and, after
payment thereof, to convey to his daughter Letitia, and to each of three
children before mentioned of his son William, ten thousand acres of land
(the forty thousand to be set out in such places as his trustees should think
fit), and then to convey all the rest of his landed property there, subject to the
payment of three hundred pounds a-year to his wife for her natural life, to
and amongst his children by her (John, Thomas, Margaret, Richard, and
Dennis, all minors), and in such proportions and for such estates as his said
wife should think fit. All his personal estate in Pennsylvania and elsewhere,
and arrears of rent due there, he devised to his said wife, whom he made
his sole executrix, for the equal benefit of her and her children.
William Penn having made this, his last will, in 1712, and afterwards
agreed, as before related, to part with the Province to government for
12,000l., a question arose, after his decease, whether what was devised to
the said Earls to be sold should, as then circumstanced, be accounted part
of the real or of the personal estate of the testator (the latter by the will
being the property of the widow)? The two Earls, in consequence, declined
to act in their trust without a decree of the Court of Chancery for their
indemnity. This process, together with other difficulties that had arisen,
kept the property of the family in a perplexing state of uncertainty for
about eight or nine years. At length, however, all the disputed points
were amicably adjusted by the respective parties interested, amongst them-
selves, before any decree had issued; and, in pursuance thereof, not only
the Province itself, but also the government of it, descended to John,
OF WILLIAM PENN.
315
Thomas, and Richard Penn, the surviving sons of the younger branch of
the family, thenceforward the Proprietaries.
It is proper to remark, that when William Penn made his last will, his
estates in England and Ireland, which produced upwards of fifteen hundred
pounds annually, were esteemed of more value than all his property in
America, especially as only part of the mortgage thereon of 1708 had been
discharged; but during the interval of rather more than six years between
that and the time of his death, a progressive increase of trade and population,
almost unexampled, during a happy state of uninterrupted tranquillity, had
improved the value of the Pennsylvanian property far beyond what could
have been imagined; in addition to which the Crown lawyers had given a
joint opinion, which was adopted by government, that the agreement for
sale in 1712 was made void by William Penn's inability to execute the sur-
render in a proper manner.
CHAPTER XLII.
SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS PERSON-OF HIS MANNER AND HABITS-AND
OF HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER.
HAVING followed William Penn from the cradle to the grave, I shall
conclude by an account of his person, manners and character, as far as I
have had an opportunity of tracing them.
It appears that he was tall in stature, and of an athletic make. He
delighted when young, as has been before observed, in manly sports. In
maturer years he was inclined to corpulency, but, using a great deal of
exercise, he was very active with it. His appearance at this time was that
of a fine portly mau.
We have no portrait taken of him while alive. Sylvanus Bevan,t a
chemist of eminence in London, who, when young, had known him well,
took great pains to form a bust of him some time after his decease, in which
he was assisted by the recollection of others familiarly acquainted with him;
and having made three copies of it, he sent one of them to James Logan, of
Philadelphia. The engraving prefixed to Proud's History of Pennsylvania
(an American publication) is taken from this bust, and enables us to have a
tolerably accurate idea of his person. There appear in the eye deep
I take this opportunity of supplying an omission made at the end of the first
chapter, where I ought to have stated that William Penn had a younger brother,
Richard, who died at Rickmansworth, and was buried at Wanstead 1673; and a
sister, Margaret, who married Anthony Lowther, Esq., of Maske.
† He was in high repute as a man of science and literature, and possessed a talent
of taking striking likenesses from recollection and carving them in ivory, though
he indulged it but sparingly.
316
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
+
I
reflection and strength of intellect, and in the mouth a sort of calm be-
nignity. The face is not an usual one: and there is in the countenance
throughout a great sweetness and a general look of benevolent feeling.
may observe here, that a statue of him was erected at the seat of the late
Lord Le Despencer, near High Wycomb. On the alienation of the estate.
the pedestal was suffered to decay. The statue, valued then only as old
lead, was purchased by a neighbouring plumber, from whom one of the pro-
prietor's grandsons procuring it, presented it to the Pensylvania Hospital, in
Philadelphia. No dependence, however, is to be placed on this, as any
likeness of the person it professed to represent.
William Penn was very neat, though plain, in his dress. He walked
generally with a cane. This cane he was accustomed to take with him, in
the latter part of his life, into his study, where, when he dictated to an
amanuensis, as was frequently his practice, he would take it in his hand,
and, walking up and down the room, would mark, by striking it against the
floor, the emphasis on points which he wished particularly to be noticed.
He was very neat also as to his person, and had a great aversion to the
use of tobacco. However, when he was in America, he was often annoyed
by it, but he bore it with good humour. We have an anecdote of him
there, as it relates to this custom. Several of his particular friends were one
day assembled at Burlington. While they were smoking their pipes, it was
announced to them that the Governor's barge was in sight and coming up
the river. The company supposed that he was on his way to Pennsbury,
about seven miles higher up. They continued smoking; but being afterwards
informed that he had landed at a wharf near them, and was just entering
the house, they suddenly concealed their pipes. Perceiving from the smoke,
when he went into the room, what they had been doing, and discovering
that the pipes had been hid, he said very pleasantly, "Well, Friends, I am
glad that you are at last ashamed of your old practice."- "Not entirely
so," replied Samuel Jenings, one of the company, but we preferred laying
down our pipes to the danger of offending a weak brother." They then
expressed their surprise at this abrupt visit, as in his passage from Phila-
delphia not only the tide but the wind had been furiously against him. He
replied, with a smile on his countenance, "that he had been sailing against
wind and tide all his life."
Having a great variety of business to go through, he was obliged to be an
economist of his time. He was, therefore, regular and methodical in his
movements. This regularity and method he carried into his family, and
this not only in their temporal but their spiritual concerns. It appears, by
paper which he wrote, and which was probably stuck up in some con-
spicuous place in his house, and which contained "Christian Discipline; or,
Good and Wholesome Orders for the Well Governing of his Family," that
in that quarter of the year which included part of the winter and part of
the spring, the members of it were to rise at seven in the morning, in the
OF WILLIAM PENN.
317
E
next at six, in the next at five, and in the last at six again. Nine o'clock
was the hour for breakfast, twelve for dinner, seven for supper, and ten to
retire to bed. The whole family were to assemble every morning for
worship. They were to be called together at eleven again, that each might
read in turn some portion of the Holy Scripture, or of Martyrology, or of
Friends' books; and, finally, they were to meet again for worship at six in
the evening. On the days of public meeting, no one was to be absent
except on the plea of health or of unavoidable engagement. The servants
were to be called up after supper to render to their master and mistress an
account of what they had done in the day, and to receive instructions for
the next. The same paper laid down rules for their guidance. They were
to avoid loud discourse and troublesome noises; they were not to absent
themselves without leave; they were not to go to any public-house but upon
business; and they were not to loiter, or enter into unprofitable talk, while
on an errand. It contained also exhortations to them, to be upright and
faithful to their employers, and, though each had a particular service, to be
willing, all of them, to assist each other as it became brethren and fellow-
servants. And lastly, it contained one general exhortation to all: every
member of the family was instructed to keep a watch over his mind, to
beware of lying, defrauding, tale-bearing, and other vicious practices there
specified; to abstain from words which would provoke lightness, and from
giving each other bad names; and, in case of difference, not to let the sun
go down upon their wrath.
William Penn is said to have possessed fine talents. Sir John Rhodes,
who was very intimate with him, and who wrote the preface to his pos-
thumous work, called "Fruits of a Father's Love, being the Advice of
William Penn to his Children, relating to their Civil and Religious Conduct,"
says that he was qualified for a high station in life by very bright and
excellent parts, and these cultivated and improved by the advantage of a
liberal education, and also polished by travelling abroad, and by conversation
with some of the greatest men the age produced. Of these his father was
very sensible, which gave him so shocking a concern, when his son espoused
the principles of the despised Quakers, that it threw him into violent agonies,
so that, as William Penn himself told Sir John Rhodes, his father was in
bitterness for him as a man is in bitterness for his first-born.
William Penn was indefatigable as a minister of the Gospel. It is also
said of him that, though he was a learned man, he used, while preaching,
language the most simple and easy to be understood, and that he had a happy
way of explaining himself by images the most familiar. He was of such
humility that he used generally to sit at the lowest end of the space
allotted to ministers, always taking care to place above himself poor
ministers and those who appeared to him to be peculiarly gifted.
He was
also no less remarkable for encouraging those who were young in the ministry.
Thomas Story, among many others, witnessed this "I had no courage,"
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
318
I
says he, "of my own to appear in public among them (the ministers).
thought, however (on seeing Aaron Atkinson's ministry acceptable), that I
might also probably go through the meetings without offence, which was the
full amount of my expectation or desire there; and that which added much
to my encouragement was the fatherly care and behaviour of the ministers in
general, but especially of that great minister of the Gospel, and faithful
servant of Christ, William Penn, who abounded in wisdom, discretion,
prudence, love, and tenderness of affection, with all sincerity, above most in
this generation; and. indeed, I never knew his equal."
He is handed down, by those who knew him, to have been very pleasant
and strikingly animated in conversation. He had rather a disposition to
facetiousness, clothed, however, in the purest habit of decorum. We have
no testimony against this but that of Bishop Burnet, who says, "that he was
a talking vain man. He had such an opinion of his own faculty of per-
suading, that he thought none could stand before it, though he was singular
in that opinion; for he had a tedious luscious way of talking, not apt to
overcome a man's reason, though it might tire his patience." It is perhaps
hardly worth while to refute a statement which affects so little the moral
character; and yet truth is always to be preferred and defended. Leaving,
then, out of the question the oral testimony of those who knew him well, I
may observe, that it is recorded in the "Gentleman's Magazine" (A. 1737)
that a person once travelled with William Penn in a stage-coach,
“and a
pleasant companion he was." This person was so struck by it, as to ask him,
seeing the society despised human learning, where he and Barclay and Keith
received their education. I may mention also, that Dr. Tillotson concluded
one of his letters to Wiliam Penn in these words:-"I will seek the first
oprortunity to visit you at Charing-cross, and renew our acquaintance, in
which I took much pleasure." Surely Dr. Tillotson, one of the most accom-
plished and polite scholars of his age, and a serious Christian, could never
have taken great pleasure in the conversation of a talking vain man, or of
one who had a tedious way of talking. Again, if we look into "Noble's
Continuation of Granger," we shall find that Dean Swift asserted that "Penn
talked very agreeably and with much spirit." Now we know that Dean Swift
frequently met him in company with great people, and that he knew him so
well, as in one of his letters to Mrs. Johnson to call him his friend Penn.
But Burnet himself was not a shrewder man than Swift, nor better capable
of judging upon a question like that before us.
1
He was a man of great sensibility. Those who knew him have seen the
tear start in his eye at the relation of tales of wretchedness, and, what is
more remarkable, at the relation of acts of peculiar kindness to those who
needed it. An instance of the latter nature is recorded by John Richardson,
in his Journal, but it is too long to detail throughout. It appears there that
John Richardson and James Bates, two Quaker ministers, who were on a
religious mission, landed from a sloop at Bermuda, in 1702. They were
OF WILLIAM PENN.
319
The sea-sickness was
In this state they were
immediately ordered up to the government-house.
still upon them, and they were shivering and faint.
ushered into the Governor's presence. Here they expected nothing but
rough usage, if not a prison; but instead of this they experienced every-
thing that was hospitable and humane. The Governor (Bennett) not
only gave them refreshment, and entered into friendly conversation with them
relative to their religious tenets, but, finding them in a weakly state, lent
them his own horses to ride upon as far as an inlet of water, which they were
to cross. Here, Judge Stafford, perceiving two strangers, sent his boat for
them. He received them into his owu house, where he refreshed them and
lodged them also. The next day he accommodated them with horses in like
manner, to enable them to pursue their mission on the island. I may now
observe that John Richardson was afterwards with William Penn, and that
he told him these and other particulars connected with the tale as they
occurred, and that William Penn was greatly affected by the narration; for
"when," says John Richardson, "I told William Penn how it had fared
with us on that island, and especially the kindness of the two chief men in power
there, he wept."
William Penn was equalled by few in his attention to the poor, or in his
attention to others, of whatever class in life or religious description, who
lived in his own neighbourhood; so that, perhaps, no man was ever more
popular within these limits. His memory, on this account, was held dear,
both at Rickmansworth and Worminghurst, long after he had left these
places; and so dear was it on the same account at Rushcomb, the last
place of his residence, that his name at entire length, and compound names,
alluding to his American possessions, appear in the parish register as having
been given by parents in the neighbourhood to their children, in honour of
the memory of his worth.
There is another anecdote I may mention, which, though trifling in itself, will
afford us another view of his character. In the year 1690 "An History of
the Old and New Testament " came out, "translated from the Works of the
learned Le Sieur de Royaumont, by Joseph Raynor, B. D., and supervised
by Dr. Anthony Horneck, Henry Wharton, B.D., and others." It contained
two hundred and sixty plates or engravings, which represented certain
transactions, parables, or histories, as recorded in the Scriptures. Each
plate, that is, the design and the expense of engraving it, was furnished by
some person of quality or eminence, to whom it was addressed. King
William and Queen Mary each presented one to the work. Among other
contributors to it was William Penn. The subject of the plate which he gave
was the Parable of the Talents. The rich man appeared sitting with his
steward and others at a large table, where there was pen, ink, and scrolls of
paper.
Two of those who had received the talents stood near the table.
He who had received the largest share had laid his five bags upon it. These
the steward had examined, and he was then entering the amount of them
320
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFF
in a book. He who had received the two talents was seen standing with his
two bags in his hand, ready to lay them on the table when called upon and
to deliver his account. He who had received but one was seen kneeling
with one knee, and with his bag also near him, on the ground, and lifting
up his hands and imploring mercy. At a little distance appeared the hole
in the ground, from which the bag had been taken; close to which were
Jying the pick-axe and spade which had been used in digging it up. Such
was the nature of the plate furnished by William Penn. We may collect
from it, that though, perhaps, like others of his own religious society, he was
no great encourager of the arts, yet he availed himself of the opportunity of
promoting them where they could be made subservient to religion, or rather
that he omitted no innocent opportunity of promoting the cause of the latter
We collect, again, where his mind was most conversant, or where it delighted
most to be employed, namely, in enlarging the empire of moral good. He
might have handed to the artist a fine subject for his pencil, or a subject for
the indulgence of his own curiosity, or the display of his own taste; but he
chose that which, by means of the engraving in question, should inculcate
the most important lesson that Christianity teaches mankind, namely, the
duty of employing their talents to the utmost for the benefit of each other,
and the sin of the omission. I may observe, that no man inculcated this
lesson more frequently by his own practice than himself.
These few anecdotes relating to William Penn, received chiefly from
persons who had them from others personally acquainted with him, or to be
found in scarce books, I have thought it proper to bring forward, because
being contained in no other history of his life, they must be new to most
readers. As to the other component parts of his character, they may be
gathered from the preceding sheets of this work. It may be deduced from
these, that he was a kind husband, a tender father, a noble patriot, and a
good man. But, as they who read may collect these and other estimable
traits for themselves, it seems unnecessary that I should do it for them. 1
will, therefore, avail myself but of one statement which these Memoirs afford
me, as the admission of it will fix his character at once. He seems, ther
(if I may use the expression), to have been daily conversant with the Divine
Being, daily worshiping and praising him, either in his own private, or in
his family, or in his public devotions, and daily walking with him in his
multifarious concerns. All his publications-nay, almost every letter,
whether public or private-breathes a spirit of piety and reliance upon God
Hence he must have been lowly-minded, merciful, and just. Hence, under
disappointment, he must have been patient; under persecution, forgiving
And here let me observe, that, though his life was a scene of trial and
suffering, he must have had intervals of comfort and happiness the most
solid and brilliant, one ray from the Divine presence dissipating whole clouds
of affliction around him. What other amiable traits must there not have
been in the character of one who walked in such a heavenly path!
OF WILLIAM PENN.
321
CHAPTER XLIII.
EXAMINATION OF THE OUTCRY AGAINST HIM OF "PAPIST AND JESUIT"
-OF THE CHARGES AGAINST HIM BY BURNET-AND OF THOSE
CONTAINED IN THE STATE PAPERS OF NAIRNE-AND IN THE
INSINUATIONS OF LORD LYTTELTON AND DR. FRANKLIN.
[ BELIEVE it may be said, with no small degree of truth, that few men of
character ever experienced such a continued outcry against them, while
iving, as William Penn; that few men of character ever had their posthumous
ame so tarnished, and this by persons of high reputation in the world; and
hat few men, after all the imputations against them had been allowed to
wander free and uncontrolled, ever triumphed more in the estimation of
posterity-I mean the posterity of the present day.
But, though by means of his great and public actions, founded in virtue
(for no other foundation had availed), some reputed objectionable trans-
actions of his private life have been so far eclipsed, that the former are now
only generally conspicuous, it does not follow that we ought to overlook the
latter. It is but justice to the memory of William Penn to inquire, whether
they existed at all? The presumption is, from what we have seen of his
character, that they could have no foundation in fact. But, if they did not
exist, then his history ought not to be sullied by the continuation of such
mischievous errors.
The first of the imputations against him consists in that hue and cry, as
it were, which accompanied him through a great part of his life, both in
clamour and in print, that he was a Papist and a Jesuit. I do not mean by
this, that, had he been either the one or the other, he had, therefore, been
an unworthy person; but I must say, that, if he had been a Papist, when
he professed himself a Quaker, he would have been justly chargeable with
hypocrisy; and it is on this account that I am at all induced to notice the
charge against him. Let us, then, see what evidence he has furnished
himself (for we need go to no other), and this through an uninterrupted
chain for years, on the subject.
66
In the year 1668, in his work called " Truth Exalted," he considers the
Roman Catholic religion as one of those which have been formed and
followed in the darkness of apostacy." Again: Whence," says he, in the
same work, "came your creeds but from factious and corrupted councils
dyed in the blood of those who refused conformity? What Scriptures of the
holy Prophets and Apostles, or what tradition for the first three hundred
years, mention a Mass Book, speak of Peter's chair and a successive Infalli-
bility, or say a wafer is corporally the flesh, blood, and bones, which
suffered without Jerusalem? And where did they teach to adore images,
appoint holy days, canonize Saints, chaffer and merchandise about indul-
gences, pray for the dead, and preach or write for a purgatory ?"
P 2
322
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
In 1670 he attempted to refute, in his "Seasonable Caveat against Popery,"
certain doctrines of the Church of Rome as they related to the Scriptures-
Prayers to Saints and Angels-Justification of Merits-Prayer in Latin-
and other doctrines and customs belonging to it.
In 1675 he wrote "A Letter to a Roman Catholic," in which we may
notice this passage: They are Christ's who take up his cross against the
glory and spirit of this world, in which the Church of Rome lives. Behold
the pride, luxury, and cruelty, which hath for ages been in that Church,
even the heads and chieftains thereof. It is a mistake to think that to be
Christ's Church, which has lost its heavenly qualifications, because it once
was. What has become of Antioch, and Jerusalem, both Churches of
Christ, and before Rome?"
In 1678 he made two speeches before a Committee of the House of
Commons. In the latter of these he spoke thus:-" I solemnly declare, in
the presence of Almighty God and before you all, that the profession I now
make, and the society I now adhere to, have been so far from altering that
Protestant judgment I had, that I am not conscious to myself of having
receded from an iota of any one principle maintained by those first Pro-
testants and Reformers of Germany, and our Martyrs at home, against the
Pope and See of Rome." And further on in the same speech he says, "We
think it hard, that though we (Quakers) do deny in common with her (the
Church of England) those doctrines of Rome so zealously protested against
(from whence the name Protestants), yet, that we should be so unhappy as
to suffer, and that with extreme severity, by those very laws on purpose
made against the maintainers of those doctrines which we do so deny."
In 1679 he wrote "England's Great Interest in the Choice of a New Par-
liament." To promote this interest he recommends, among other things,
"that care be taken that we be secured from Popery and slavery, and that,
at the ensuing election, only sincere Protestants should be chosen." In the
same year he published, "One Project for the Good of England," in which
he recommended a certain public declaration, as a mark of discrimination,
by which all Protestant Dissenters might be enabled to prove that they were
not Catholics. This declaration, which he drew up himself, denied the
Pope's right to depose any sovereign, or absolve the subjects of such sovereign
from their allegiance. It denied him to be Christ's Vicar. It denied a
purgatory after death, transubstantiation in the Lord's Supper, and the
lawfulness and efficacy of prayers to Saints and images.
Now, if to these considerations we add the contents of that part of his
letter to Dr. Tillotson, in 1685, in which he refers the latter to other of
his publications-such as his "Address to Protestants," and to the four first
chapters of his "No Cross, No Crown "—and also to his letter to Mr. Popple
in 1688, in which he solemnly denies every individual circumstance brought
forward to establish the charge against him, and solemnly declares himself
a Protestant, there will not remain the shadow of a doubt, that there ever
OF WILLIAM PENN.
323
could have been any real foundation for the clamour of his predilection for
Popery, which occasioned him to be so unpopular in the kingdom. Indeed,
the bare comparison (to use his own words to Dr. Tillotson) of "the most
inceremonious and unworldly way of worship" of the Quakers with the
'pompous cult of the Catholics" would, of itself, afford an argument decisive
of the point, unless we can suppose that William Penn dared, for some
purpose not yet discovered, to act the part of a hypocrite, and this daily at
the altar, as it were, of God, during a life accompanied by those outward
circumstances, which are usually considered by the world as marks of
superior purity and worth.
With respect to the charge of his having been educated at St. Omer's as a
Jesuit, I might say, as he has said himself, that he was never at St. Omer's in
his life; but as the matter is so easily unravelled, it becomes me to do it.
And here I may observe, that in all charges, whether against public or
private men, there is always a something which has given birth to them
there is usually a foundation for them, though not always a good one. So
in the present case. William Penn, when he was sent to Paris by his
father, left it, as has been before mentioned, to reside for a while at an academy
at Saumur, kept by Moses Amyrault, one of the greatest Protestant divines
of the age. Now, this circumstance was reported in England, and, unfor-
tunately, some one of those who heard it mentioned confounded Saumur
with St. Omer. Of this mistake his enemies immediately availed themselves,
and there being then, at the latter place, a college for Jesuits, they directly
inferred that he was one of that order.
Among the writers who have thought disrespectfully of William Penn, or
who have related matters which implicate his moral character, the first, in
order of time, is the celebrated Bishop Burnet. And here I cannot help
lamenting, how, on account of the infirmity of our nature, the best men are
often warped by prejudices, so as to throw a shade upon actions capable of
bearing the full light. Bishop Burnet, as we have seen in these Memoirs,
was at the Hague and in company with William Penn, when the latter was
endeavouring to prevail upon the Prince of Orange to join with King James
in the abolition of tests for religion in the Eritish realms. In consequence
of this attempt Burnet took a prejudice against him; and, coupling with
this circumstance the outcry of Papist and Jesuit, which induced him to
suppose Penn a Roman Catholic, the prejudice was only the more confirmed,
and it was carried by him through his whole work of "The History of His
Own Times," so that he has given us there almost all that was current
against William Penn; but in no one part of it that I have read has he ever spoken
well of him, even once. Of this prejudice the first extract I am to make will
be, in the minds of many, not a despicable proof.
64
Penn," says he, "had engaged him (Steward) to come over (from
Holland), for he had long been considered by the King (James) as the chief
manager of all the rebellions and plots that had been on foot for these
324
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
twenty years past." This was in 1688.
This was in 1688. Now, supposing Steward had been
thus engaged by Penn for what was he so employed? Not to dethron
kings, as one would naturally suppose from these expressions, not to stir up
the flames of civil war, but to promote, by Burnet's own confesssion, religiou
liberty in Scotland by the abolition of tests. This was the mighty crime. I d
think, therefore, that the observation "that Steward had been considered by
the King as the chief manager of all the rebellions and plots that had been on foo
for these twenty years past,” might have been spared on this occasion, even i
it had been true. I have now to observe, that when this same Steward-
or, rather, Steuart-was a fugitive in Holland with his brother Sir Robert
mentioned in the former part of this work, he was there in that situation
not because he had done anything in the way of plot or conspiracy at home
but because, having refused to denounce the Covenant when required, anı
being persecuted on account of his religion, he determined to seek an asylum it
foreign parts.
I pass by the account given by Burnet for the same year, without any
comment, in which he says, "that Father Petre and Penn engaged the
King to it," that is, to renew the declaration for liberty of conscience and
to hold a Parliament in the November following, and come to a matter of a
very serious nature. Speaking of the year 1690, he says, "The men tha
laid this design were the Earl of Clarendon, the Bishop of Ely, the Lord
Preston, and his brother, Mr. Graham, and Penn, the famous Quaker." The
design, he informs us, was to restore James. For this purpose Lord Prestor
was to go over to France to negotiate for military aid. One Ashton hired
the vessel, and he and Lord Preston went on board in order to sail over:
but, information having been given of the plot, they were seized with thei
papers, which consisted of letters to James from those who had joined with
Lord Preston in the design. The Bishop of Ely's letters were written in a
very particular style. Others were in Lord Preston's, and others in Ashton's
own hand-writing. The trial of the two latter commenced, and both oi
them were condemned, and Ashton suffered. As to the other conspirators,
he observes, "the Earl of Clarendon was seized and put into the Tower
but the Bishop of Ely, Graham, and Penn, absconded."
Now, here are two charges against William Penn: first, that he assisted
in laying the design; and, secondly, when some who had been con-
cerned in it were convicted, that he absconded. With respect to the first
had Burnet said that the names of the Bishop of Ely, Penn, and Graham,
were inserted in a proclamation, dated February the fifth, soon after the
execution of Ashton, on suspicion of having been concerned in the design,
the assertion would have been free from error. But it did not follow,
because William Penn was suspected, that he was therefore guilty. It may
be remembered, that in the early part of the former year he had been called
before the King and Council, being then suspected of a traitorous corre-
spondence on account of an intercepted letter, which James had written
OF WILLIAM PENN.
325
him. His reply was, "that he could not help the King writing to him, if
he (the King), chose so to do; and, among other things, that though he
could not avoid the suspicion of such a correspondence, he could avoid the
guilt of it that he was willing to repay King James's kindness to him by
iny private service in his power; but that he must observe inviolably and
entirely that duty to the state, which belonged to all the subjects of it; and,
herefore, that he had never had the wickedness to think of endeavouring to
estore him to the Crown." This assertion was found afterwards to be true;
or he was tried, and honourably acquitted of the charge. It may be
emembered also, that in two months after this, he was apprehended again;
but he could not help the suspicion, which led to this new apprehension,
hough a second trial showed that he had no concern in the guilt. So, in
ike manner, he could not hinder Fuller from backing the accusation of
Lord Preston, which was to save his own life, though he was entirely ignorant
f the plot. Not only was no letter found written by him, nor any letter
which even mentioned his name, among the many papers discovered; but he
ade it appear to the King and Council, in 1693, that he never had been
oncerned in this or in any other attempt of the kind; the immediate result
f which was, his acquittal of the charge which had been brought against
im.
With respect to the other charge, that of absconding, it was not true,
ither in the sense of the word, or the manner in which it was used; for
bsconding implies flight or concealment on account of guilt; and when the
erm is thus used by Burnet, and the name of William Penn is no more to
e found in his work, the reader is led to imagine that he was no more
eard of, and, therefore, that the guilt followed him. But, how happens
, if he had been guilty and had absconded, that he was acquitted in 1693;
at his government was restored to him in 1694; that, from 1694 to 1699,
? was travelling publicly, both in England and Ireland, as a minister of the
ospel; that, from 1699 to nearly 1702, he was acting on the spot in the
igh and conspicuous character of Governor of Pennsylvania; that, in the
itter year, he was at the Court of Queen Anne; and that, after this period,
2 enjoyed her personal friendship? It was surely the duty of Burnet, when
is history reached to the year 1713, to have cleared up the reputation of
Villiam Penn. If he thought fit to say, that he had absconded in 1690, in
onsequence of having been concerned in the plot with the Lord Viscount
reston, he ought to have said that he made his innocence appear in 1693.
e ought to have said also, that in the same year in which the proclama-
on came out against William Peun, Fuller was voted by the House of
ommons a notorious impostor, a cheat, and a false accuser; and that he
as afterwards prosecuted by the Attorney General on an address from that
ouse to the King, and that he was sentenced to the pillory. He ought to
ave stated again, that the same Fuller was prosecuted in the King's Bench
■ 1702, and convicted again as an impostor; and that, for publishing
326
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
certain libels, he was sentenced to stand three times in the pillory, to b
sent to the House of Correction, and to pay a fine of a thousand marks
A similar deficiency is observable in the same History about two years befor
this period; for Burnet, when speaking of the affair of the Fellows o
Magdalen College, and this more particularly than any other writer, neve
mentions the noble interference of William Penn, by which he dared t
expostulate with the King concerning it. It would be in vain to say that h
was ignorant of it, when the subject had excited such national attention-
when the parties concerned were so numerous, and all of them above th
common rank-when the cause, too, being that of a struggle for libert
against James, was one of the Bishop's own; and when he knew, bette
than any other man, even to the minuteness of a spy, what was going of
in all parts of the kingdom. Hence, by reason of such deficiencies,* th
character of one of the best of men has gone down to posterity with som
of the foulest blots.
The next charges against him, in the order of time, are contained in th
State Papers of Nairne, included in the two volumes of Original Papers put
lished by Macpherson. Nairne had served as under-secretary to three succe
sive ministers of James after his retreat to France, and became acquainted, i
consequence, with all the intelligence which was sent from England in behal
of the exile King. It appears, in the first volume, that Captain Williamso
had been sent over to England as a spy to pick up all the information h
could, and to collect the sentiments and advice of James's friends, in favor
of his restoration. Having completed his errand, he either drew up
memorial and sent it, or carried it back with him to France. It was date
December, 1693. The memorial stated, first, the opinion of the Earl
Clarendon, which was, that James's restoration might be effected, if th
French King would send over to England thirty thousand men for the purpos
It then went on to detail the opinions of others on the same subject, such a
of the Lords Montgomery, Aylesbury, Yarmouth, Arran, and others, till
came to that of William Penn. The latter was reported to have given h
advice as follows:-" Mr. Penn says, that your Majesty has had sever:
occasions, but never any so favourable as the present; and he hopes tha
your Majesty will be earnest with the most Christian King not to neglect it
that a descent with thirty thousand men will not only re-establish you
Majesty, but, according to all appearance, break the league; that you
Majesty's kingdoms will be wretched while the confederates are united; fo
while there is a fool in England, the Prince of Orange will have a per
sioned Parliament who will give him money." It appears also, by th
second volume, that William Penn still continued plotting, and this fo
twenty years afterwards; for a letter, dated December, 1713, and whic
It is remarkable, that subsequent historians, copying chiefly from Burne
have all omitted to mention William Penn's acquittal in 1693, though his restore
tion to his government and the being at large afterwards were so notorious.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
327
was written in cyphers by Plunket, an Irish spy in England, to his employers
in France, was found among Nairne's papers as notifying the fact.
It was
the object of this letter to give an account of the various and secret intrigues
then going on in England; and, accordingly, Plunket mentioned the names
of those with whom he had conversed on the subject of his mission. Suffice
it to say, that one of these, when deciphered, was put down as the name
of William Penn.
I shall now reply to these charges. And, first of all (setting aside the
consideration, that they come through the medium of spies and informers,
or of others who might gratify their employers by intelligence, the falsehood
of which could not be detected at a distance), are they in themselves
credible? Is it possible that William Penn, as a Quaker, could ever have
been, either directly or indirectly, concerned in advice or transactions of this
nature ? Is it possible, after four accusations and four acquittals, that he
would not have been singularly cautious of his conduct in this respect? Was
he never to learn wisdom? And is it probable, however well he might
have wished, even to the restoration of James the Second, that he would
have hazarded his life and reputation by extending his services (which must
have been the case in 1713) to his son, the Pretender, whom he could never
have seen after two months old? Happily, however, we have, in the dates
of the charges themselves, the most ample means of refuting them: for, in
he very month of December, 1693, when the memorial of the spy Williamson
nakes William Penn criminally advising in behalf of the restoration of
James, he had established his innocence before the King and Council of all
naiters relating to that subject up to that date; and, in the year 1713, when
he spy, Plunket, gave a similar account of him, he had lost, in a great
neasure, both his memory and understanding; and, what is more, he had been
n that pitiable state for eighteen months before. Let it be remembered, also,
hat eighteen months prior to this latter charge, he was pronounced by the
Crown lawyers to have been incapable ever of executing the bargain, which
e had made with the government, for the purchase of his Pennsylvanian
oncerns.
The imputations against him, which follow next in the order of time,
nd which are trivial in comparison with the former,* come nearly together,
* I had occasion to observe, but a little while ago, in examining the outcry of
'apist and Jesuit against William Penn, that in all charges, whether against public
r private men, there was always a something which had given birth to them, and
stated his education at Saumur to have afforded the origin of that outery. So, in
le present case, having proved that he had no concern in the plots and conspiracies
f which he had been accused, I have to state, that his open unsuspecting disposi-
on (judging of others by the state of his own heart) led him, at times, to be too
nguarded in his expressions, especially after the revolution, when he had often
lose about him who were disposed to put the most unfavourable construction upon
very word that dropped from him. In consequence of this his unguarded state,
328
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
and from two persons of distinguished talents and character. George,
the first Lord Lyttelton, whom I shall mention first, has introduced into
one of his "Dialogues of the Dead," namely, in that between Fernando
Cortez and William Penn, insinuations too broad to be misunderstood,
that the latter was swayed by worldly motives in his settlement of
Pennsylvania. It would be almost an insult to the understanding of
the reader, if I were to attempt in any regular manner to disprove
the charge, because it must have appeared already, in the course of
this work, that if there was a feature in the character of William Penn
more prominent than another, it was that of unbounded generosity in the
administration of his Province. Need I repeat that, when the first Assembly
offered him an impost on a variety of goods both imported and exported
(which impost, in a course of years, would have become a large revenue of
itself), he nobly refused it-thus showing that his object in coming among
them was not that of his own aggrandizement, but for the promotion of a
public good? Need I repeat what Oldmixon has said of him-he, who was
a furious revolutionist, and who was strongly prejudiced against him on
account of his former attachment to James the Second-" We shall not,'
says he, "enter into any inquiry into the causes of the trouble that has beer
given Mr. Penn lately about his province of Pennsylvania; it appears to
us, by what we have heard of it from others, for from himself we had neve
any information concerning it, that he has been involved in it by his bounty
to the Indians, his generosity in minding the public affairs of the colony mor
than his own private ones, his humanity to those who have not made suitabl
returns, his confidence in those that have betrayed him, and the rigour o̟
the severest equity, a word that borders the nearest to injustice of any. 'Ti
certainly the duty of this colony to maintain the Proprietary, who has lai
out his all for the maintenance of them in the possession of his Territory
and the public, in gratitude, ought to make good what they reap the benefi
of." This is the only defence I shall offer. I may observe, however, if an
thing can be said in justification of Lord Lyttelton, whose Dialogue betray
gross illiberality as well as ignorance of the society of the Quakers, tha
there was no history, in his time, of William Penn, which gave an accoun
of his American life; so that he could have known but little of the sacrifice
which the latter had made, or of the real motives of his undertaking.
may observe, also, that circumstances had unfortunately conspired to giv
him an unfavourable impression of the Quakers, and of those of Pennsy]
vania in particular; for he had, a few years before, been the Chancellor c
the Exchequer, and it was then a time of war. The government at hom
seeing that the French had drawn over some of the Indian tribes on thei
side, wished the Pennsylvanians to raise a militia or to arm; but th
which betrayed a weakness, though a virtuous one, it was no matter of surprise t
many of his most attached friends, that he was, during several years, a constar
obiect of suspicion with the government.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
329
Assembly, of which a great part were principled against war, would not
ome into the measure. Their conduct on this occasion gave the adminis-
ation a great deal of trouble. It made them, therefore, very unpopular,
oth with him and his friends in power. They were considered as the most
efractory of all the governments within the British rule. From this re-
'actoriness it was judged, either that the Quakers of Pennsylvania were not
tted to hold the reins of power there, or that the constitution of it gave a
berty that was incompatible with the supposed interests of the Mother
ountry. Hence Lord Lyttelton was prejudiced in some measure against
ɔth, and, by association of ideas, against the man who was the founder of
le one, and the associate in manners, habits, and principles with the other
The other writer alluded to, and the last whom I shall notice as having
ist improper reflections upon William Penn, was the celebrated Dr.
ranklin, in his "Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of
ennsylvania from its Origin," published in 1759. In this Review* we find,
mong others, the following passages :-
"At the head of this Frame or System," says he, "is a short Preliminary
iscourse, a part of which serves to give us a more lively idea of William
enn preaching in Gracechurch-street than we derive from Raphael's cartoon
f Paul preaching at Athens. As a man of conscience he sets out; as a man
reason he proceeds; and as a man of the world he offers the most
ausible conditions to all, to the end that he might gain some.
~
"This Frame consisted of twenty-four articles, and savoured much of
arrington and his Oceana.
"But in the following year, the scene of action being shifted from the
[other Country to the colony, the deportment of the legislator was shifted
0. Less of the man of God now appeared, and more of the man of the
orld.
"One point he had already carried against the inclination of his followers,
amely, the reservation of Quit-Rents, which they had remonstrated against
› a burden in itself, and, added to the purchase money, was without pre-
dent in any other colony; but he, artfully distinguishing the two capacities
Proprietary and Governor, and insinuating that government must be sup-
orted with splendour and dignity, and that by this expedient they would be
xempt from other taxes, the bait took, and the point was carried."
j
I shall neither dwell upon the bitter spirit, nor the sarcastic manner in
hich the above sentences were dictated, nor upon the folly of supposing
at the idea of supporting government with splendour could ever have been
eld out by such a man as William Penn, or to such people as embarked
• He wrote it, though it was attributed to one Ralph, to prejudice the people
ainst the Proprietary family, in order to effect a change of government from Pro-
ietary to Royal; which was afterwards attempted, but which, to his great
agrin, failed. This failure laid the foundation of his animosity to Great Britain,
hich was so conspicuous afterwards.
330
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
with him in the scheme of his new settlement; but I shall proceed at onc
to the history of the quit-rents, that I may meet the most serious of th
charges they contain.
It has already appeared that when William Penn disposed of his land, h
sold it at the rate of forty shillings for every hundred acres, but reserved
quit-reut upon it of one shilling annually. He had no power of parting with
legally in any other way; for, us he held it of the Crown by a quit rent himsel
so they who bought it were obliged to hold it in the same manner, or they coul
have no legal title to their estates. The question, then, is, for whose use the
quit-rents were intended? It appears, by all the grants I have seen, and or
is now lying on my table, that no mention whatever is made in any
them either of government or of the support of it. William Penn also signifie
under his own hand, at the time of issuing these grants, that any purchase
of land "might buy them off, either then or at a future time, to an inconsiderał
matter." Thus, for example, if a man's quit-rent amounted to ten shillin;
annually, he might buy it off within a penny or less annually; but a penr
or less annually was of necessity to be left to secure his title to his estat
Now this offer of selling the quit-rents within a trifle never would ha
been made or allowed, if they had been pledged to the support of the gover
ment. And here I may observe that William Penn, in having do
what I have stated him to do, only followed the example of other coloni
in the same part of the world. "Every planter," says Oldmixon, in 1
History of Carolina, "pays one penny an acre quit-rent, unless he buys it of
In fact, whether we refer to Carolina or to Pennsylvania, the quit-rents we
understood both by the seller and the purchasers to be solely for the private i
and benefit of the former. It was understood in Pennsylvania, by both parti
that forty shillings paid down, and one shilling annually, was the co
sideration paid on the one hand for a hundred acres of land received on t
other. This was the construction originally put upon the purchase; and t
same continued to be put till the year 1708, when the Assembly, in cc
sequence of almost constant bickerings with the different Lieutena
Governors, had fallen into two parties, the Proprietary and the Popular, i
one for and the other against William Penn. Now it happened, at this tin
that the taxes had so increased as to be considered burthensome, and th
the quit-rents (more land having been sold and located) had increased al
Then it was, and not till then, that the Popular part of the Asseml
thought it would be an act of policy if they could turn these quit-rents
the support of the government, or, in other words, to the ease of themsel
and their constituents; but they never even then asserted that they had a
just claim upon them for this purpose, but only that it was but reasona
that they should be so applied.
Having brought the matter to this period, I may now observe, that
idea of this appropriation of the quit-rents, when once started, was ne
dropped. It was so agreeable to many, and particularly of the Popu
OF WILLIAM PENN.
331
party, that it was revived in all succeeding Assemblies, and this so often,
till, it is supposed, that some began at length to believe that the quit-rents
were (as they were then denominated) grievances, which they might shake off
at pleasure. But if the quit-rents were reputed grievances in the life-time of
William Penn, how much more so must they have been considered after his
death, when his heirs and successors, finding the value of land increased,
would not allow the Land-office to issue new patents without increasing
them, and this to four times their former value! It was then that Dr
Franklin wrote his book; and here it must be observed that he was the
clerk and printer to the Assembly, as well as a member of it also, and that
he was not of the Proprietary but of the Popular party, and, therefore,
that he partook of the popular prejudices on the occasion.
It was entirely through the same prejudiced medium that he gave an îm-
proper colouring to other of the proceedings of William Penn. Thus, for
example, I stated that the latter, in the year 1700, ordered the Assembly to
attend him at Newcastle, and not at Philadelphia as before, for that he
thought it would be but fair, and that it would be showing but a proper impar-
tiality in him, to summon them to the principal town of the Territories in its
turn. "But this," says Dr. Franklin, “was perhaps only to gratify the in-
habitants of the Territories at a time when extraordinary demands were to be
made upon them for the gratification of the Proprietary Governor." I stated
also, that the Assembly, in 1701, presented an address to William Penn,
containing twenty-one articles, in the first of which they requested him to
appoint a proper successor before he left them for England, and that his
reply was, that he would take care to do it; but, to show them how much he
wished to gratify them in this particular, that he would accept a Deputy
Governor whom they might nominate themselves." Dr. Franklin allows that he
made this offer, but he adds, "whether out of artifice or complaisance was hard
to say."
It is scarcely necessary to observe, that the best of men may
be run down, and the best of things may be perverted, if treated in this
manner.
It was through the same prejudiced medium, again, that Dr. Franklin,
when he had selected the first of the twenty-one articles, as just mentioned,
to enable him to indulge his spleen still further against William Penn,
omitted the mention of others, which it was a great dishonour to the
Assembly to have proposed. But I shall decline going into these. I have
no desire to lessen his just reputation. I have no desire to detract from the
just merit of the Assembly, who are to be applauded for many of their
public acts, and for none more, in my opinion, than for their noble resistance
to war by refusing to contribute to its support. Nor am I desirous of
elevating William Penn at the expense of either. I am bound, however, to
defend his character, where I think it has been injured; and, in doing this,
I must dwell still longer on the subject. It will be proper to show, that,
whatever changes took place in the government of Pennsylvania, or dis-
332
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
satisfactions in the Assembly, with respect to him, they were generally to be
attributed to his absence from them; and that, though there were persons who
disapproved of his public measures, they had yet a great respect for him, and
that this respect has been continued to his memory by the descendants of
the same even to the present day.
rents.
It may, perhaps, be remembered, that when King William ordered the
patent to be made out for restoring the government of Pennsylvania to
William Penn, he ordered it to be put into the preamble, that the disorders
which had appeared there had originated principally in his absence from it.
Few facts are more capable of proof than this. When he was in America
the first time, public affairs went on, and this with a harmony so singular,
that historians have thought proper to notice it; but scarcely had his back
been turned a year upon the Province, when dissatisfactions began. In the
beginning of 1686, being then in England, he complained over and over
again of the tardiness of the Council, that they could seldom be got together,
and that they had neglected his letters as well as the collection of his quit-
For these, and other reasons, he found himself obliged to alter the
Executive, that is, to take it out of the hands of eighteen, and to put it into the
hands of five. Now this change could not but be displeasing to the thirteen
who were displaced; for, besides the loss of their power, they would feel that
they could not be considered as wholly faultless on the occasion. It appears
also, if the reader will turn to his American life for this year, that he nomi-
nated Nicholas Moore, whom the Assembly had impeached, to the new Executive,
as an act of justice. This latter circumstance could not but give umbrage to
the Assembly, and thus were laid the seeds of dissatisfaction in both the legis-
lative bodies. Now, if William Penn had been in the Province, there had
been no neglect to complain of as it related to letters, for there had been none
to write. There had been no neglect to complain of as it related to the col-
lection of his quit-rents, for he would have seen to this himself; and, above
all, there had been no occasion to alter the Executive. With respect to
Nicholas Moore, it is highly probable that he had never been impeached if
William Penn had been upon the spot, because, as I had occasion to observe
in a former chapter, the open, candid, and impartial way in which he con-
ducted the government, when present, gave no opportunities for jealousies
and suspicions; and because his temperate and conciliatory manners, and
his readiness to hear and redress grievances, and his power so to do, healed
them when produced.
Having thus examined the subject for 1686, I will follow it up through
1687 and 1688. In 1687 the same negligence continuing in the Council,
though reduced in number, William Penn was obliged to change the Execu
tive again, and to bring it into still fewer hands, that is, in the year 1688,
into the hands of a Deputy Governor and two assistants. Now this change
of itself would be displeasing to some; but the new Deputy Governor
(Blackwell) had been in his post but a short time when he himself gave
OF WILLIAM PENN.
333
ence to others, indeed to the Assembly in general. But if William Penn
d been on the spot, no Deputy Governor had been wanted, and therefore all
ises of displeasure had been cut off. And here I must desire the parti-
lar attention of the reader to this latter change; I mean to the creation
a Deputy Governor, an appointment arising, apparently, out of the
cessity of the case, because it will unfold to him the causes of future dis-
tisfaction between William Penn and the Assembly; for from this moment
ay be dated the rise of the two parties, Proprietary and Popular, as before
oken of. The Deputy Governor had three distinct interests to attend to.
e had first, if I may use the expression, to fleece for the King, then for
mself, and, lastly, for the Proprietary, his employer. In taking care of
e interest of the latter, the tendency would be rather to increase his power
d abridge that of the Assembly. But had William Penn resided in his
rovince, as Governor, the situation of things had been widely different.
here had, at any rate, been but two interests to look after instead of three.
> the King he would have done his duty, as far as his religious scruples
ermitted him; and, as to the Proprietary, he would have been far more
just to himself than to the Assembly, as all his conduct towards them has
bundantly proved.
In this manner I might go on from year to year, showing that his absence
as the great cause of all the misunderstandings between him and the
ssembly, but that it appears to me to be unnecessary. I shall therefore
roceed to show that, notwithstanding these differences, his memory was held
I veneration by the latter, and not by these only, but by persons of all
escriptions in the Province.
It is worthy, then, of remark, that when Thomas, one of the sons of
Villiam Penn, visited Pennsylvania, in 1732, about fourteen years after his
ther's death, the Assembly presented him with an address, which contained,
mong others, the following sentence:-"Our long and ardent desires to see
ne of our honourable Proprietaries among us are now fulfilled; and it is
ith pleasure we can say, thou art arrived at a time when the government
in perfect tranquillity; and that there seems to be no emulation among
s, but who shall, by a peaceable and dutiful behaviour, give the best proof
f the sense they have of the blessings derived to us under our late honourable
'roprietary, your father, whose goodness to his people deserves ever to be remem-
ered with gratitude and affection."
In the year 1734, John Penn, the elder brother of the former, and who
ad been born in Pennsylvania, arrived in the Province from England also.
The Assembly presented him with an address in like manner, which began
hus:-"Excited by affection and gratitude, we cheerfully embrace this
pportunity of congratulating thee on thy safe arrival at the place of thy
ativity. When we commemorate the many benefits bestowed on the
nhabitants of this colony, the civil and religious liberties we possess, and to
›hom these valuable privileges, under God and the King, are owing, we should
334
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
be wanting to ourselves, and them we represent, did we not do justice to t
memory of thy worthy ancestor, a man of principles truly humane, an advoca
for religion and liberty.”
I shall pass over the addresses which were presented to each of these
their departure for England, in which similar expressions of love ar
gratitude were bestowed upon their father; and I shall state at once, as ₹
acknowledged fact in Pennsylvania, that not only was this the gener
feeling of the Assembly, both then and afterwards, but that there were nor
who more affectionately venerated the memory of William Penn than tl
descendants of those very persons, who, at particular periods, were tl
loudest in their clamour against him. Nay, if I mistake not, Dr. Frankli
himself was among those who highly respected him. The latter had
satirical way of expressing himself when he was not pleased, and, therefor
when he found fault with William Penn, he could not get rid of his ol
habit; but the hostility he manifested was far more in manner than i
heart. He was far more severe, and this in earnest, upon his grandson
against whom he published a small pamphlet, where, as if no other way ha
been left him to expose them, it is singular that he contrasted their condu
with the virtuous example of their noble ancestor. The little ludicrou
motto, which he prefixed to this work, and which was taken from Joh
Rogers's Primer, may enable the reader to judge, in part, of its contents:-
"I send you here a little book
That you may look upon,
That you may see your father's face,
Now he is dead and gone."
I shall conclude by stating that, when the statue of William Penn, alread
mentioned to have been erected to his memory at the seat of the late Lor
Le Despencer, was removed to Philadelphia, the citizens received it with joy
They restored the pedestal, and, at the expense of many hundred pounds
put it up, and inclosed it by a proper railing, on the lawn on the south sid
of the Pennsylvania Hospital, where it now stands as a monument of thei
gratitude, and, through their zeal on the occasion, as emblematical of tha
of the whole Province.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
335
CHAPTER XLIV.
EW OF HIM AS A LEGISLATOR UPON CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES IN
OPPOSITION TO THOSE OF THE POLICY OF THE WORLD-AND FIRST
AS IT RELATES TO THE GOVERNED HIS GENERAL MAXIMS OF
GOVERNMENT-SUPERIORITY OF THESE OVER OTHERS AS TO THE
EXTENSION OF MORALS - MECHANISM OF THE GOVERNMENT OF
PENNSYLVANIA-REPUTED EXCELLENCE OF IT--ONE DEFECT SAID
TO BELONG TO IT-BUT THIS NO DEFECT AT THE TIME-REMOVED
BY HIM WHEN IT BECAME SO-HENCE THE FIRST TRAIT IN HIS
CHARACTER AS A CHRISTIAN LEGISLATOR, NAMELY, HIS READINESS
TO ALTER THE CONSTITUTION WITH TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES—
SECOND TRAIT TO BE SEEN IN HIS LAW FOR UNIVERSAL TOLE-
RATION-REASONS UPON WHICH IT WAS FOUNDED-CONTRAST
BETWEEN IT AND THE OPPOSITE ONE UNDER POLITICAL LEGIS-
LATORS-BOTH AS TO PRINCIPLE AND EFFECT-THIS LAW THE
GREAT CAUSE OF THE RAPID POPULATION OF PENNSYLVANIA-
THIRD TRAIT TO BE SEEN IN THE ABOLITION OF THE PUNISHMENT
OF DEATH, AND IN MAKING THE REFORMATION OF THE OFFENDER
AN OBJECT OF LEGISLATIVE CONCERN-COMPARISON BETWEEN THIS
YSTEM AND THAT OF THE SANGUINARY LEGISLATOR OF THE
WORLD-NOBLE EFFECTS OF THE FORMER, AS WITNESSED IN ITS
IMPROVED STATE AT THE PRESENT DAY.
E have now seen what William Penn was in his passage through life,
th as a private and as a public person, and I have not been sparing in
nging forward what were the reputed imperfections in his character.
ere is yet another view which we may take of him, and where posterity
ve raised their voices in his favour. This will be found in the important
tion which he filled as a legislator, or rather as the founder and supporter
a government upon Christian principles, in opposition to those of the policy
the world. A view taken of a person acting in such a situation, and
der the influence of such principles, must, I apprehend, not only be
eresting of itself, but also on account of its novelty; for there is no
vernment, no code of law or jurisprudence in Europe, though almost all
rope is called Christendom, which has been raised upon such a founda-
D. The different governments of Europe had their beginning before
ristianity appeared. Hence, they were built upon Heathen notions,
false honour and superstition. All we can say of the best of them is,
it, as the light of Christianity arose, certain barbarous customs and
tain vicious principles of legislation were done away, and that others
re substituted by degrees, which were more pure, more benevolent,
d more congenial with the religion which was outwardly professed;
there is no one of these at the present day, which was founded originally
on Christianity, or which, notwithstanding its improvements, has attained
336
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
to a Christian model. There is a strange mixture of Jewish, Papal, ar
Heathen notions in their respective codes. William Penn, therefore, had
opportunity in this respect, which but few have had, and those only
modern times. He had the power of forming a government afresh,
carrying over a number of Christians, who were sensible of the vicious par
of the old governments, to a new land. "This land he so desired to obta
and to keep, as that he might not be unworthy of God's love, but do th
which might answer his kind providence, and serve his Truth and peop
that an example might be set up to the nations; that there was room the
(in America), though not here (in England) for such an holy experiment."
is, then, under the sublime character of a Christian legislator, that I am no
to view him. By a Christian legislator I mean one who models his pub
actions and founds his laws, as far as his abilities permit, on the letter ai
spirit of the Gospel, having but one end in view throughout, the happine
of the governed, which happiness is to be produced only through mea
strictly moral and by the improvement of their moral condition, al
adopting, as it relates to aliens or foreigners, principles of action pure
themselves, founded in justice, of the same tendency with those establish
for the governed, and promotive of the same end.
The general notions of William Penn, as they related to the governed, ha
already appeared in the course of these Memoirs, and, when collected, may
stated thus:-He believed that government was of divine origin, and a pa
as it were, of religion itself. It had two objects-to terrify evil-doers, and
cherish those that did well. So long as it kept faithfully to these, it had
life beyond corruption. The excellence or imperfection of it depended up
the excellence or viciousness of men. Governments, says he, depend up
men rather than men upon governments. Like clocks, they go from t
motion which men give them. Let men be good, and the government cann
be bad. If it be ill, they will cure it. But if men be bad, let the gover
ment be ever so good they will endeavour to warp and spoil it to their tui
Some were of opinion that if they had good laws, it was no matter wh
sort of men they were who executed them; but such ought to consider, th
though good laws did well, good men did much better; for good laws mig
want good men, and be abolished or invaded by ill men; but good m
would never want good laws, nor suffer ill ones. As to the constitution
mode of a government, any kind of government was free to the people unċ
it, whatever was the frame, where the laws ruled and the people were
party to those laws; and more than this was tyranny, oligarchy, or cc
fusion. The constitution, however, and the manner of conducting it, oug
to be such as to support power in reverence with the people, and to secu
the people from the abuse of power, that they might be free by th
just obedience, and the magistrates honourable for their just administratio
for liberty without obedience was confusion, and obedience without liber
was slavery. They who conducted it were to see with their own eyes ai
OF WILLIAM PENN.
337
hear with their own ears. They were to cherish no informers, to use no
ricks, to fly to no device to cover injustice, but to be upright before the Lord,
rusting in him above the contrivances of men. With respect to the duration
of a government, he laid it down that nothing weakened it or brought it to
in end like vice. No government could maintain its constitution, however
excellent it was, without the preservation of virtue. Kingdoms were rarely
as short-lived as men; yet they also had a time to die; and as temperance
ave health to men, so virtue to a kingdom; and as vice brought men
etimes to the grave, so nations to their ruin. Nothing was plainer to him
han that as parents left the government at their death, their children would
nd it. It was far better that the world ended with the parents than that
hese should transmit their vices, or should sow those seeds which would
pen to the ruin of their children, and fill their country with misery when
ey themselves were gone. Hence, he was of opinion, that one of the most
nportant matters in which a state could be engaged was the education of
1ose who were born in it. "That," says he, which makes a good con-
itution must keep it, namely, men of virtue, and this can only be done by
virtuous education of the youth."-These were the general sentiments of
Villiam Penn with respect to government. I need hardly observe that they
ffer from those which are generally entertained at the present day. It is
ually thought that the abuses of a government are best rectified, or its
odel best perfected, by changing the governors, or by altering the corrupt
rts of its constitution. William Penn, it appears, thought otherwise. He
ought they were best rectified by changing, or removing the corruptions of
e people. He not only makes the durability of a government, but its
trinsic excellence, both as to form and administration, to depend upon the
provement of the morals of the latter. These, his sentiments, were cer-
inly the most congenial with Christianity; for, though a good govern-
ent may make a good people, the empire of virtue would be much more
nsiderably enlarged, and much more firmly established, by acting upon
e one than upon the other system.
C
The first subject, as it relates to the governed, which affords us the means
contemplating the character of William Penn as a Christian legislator,
I be found in the mechanism or structure of his own particular govern-
nt of Pennsylvania. We have already seen the constituent parts of it. It
sisted of a Governor, a Council, and an Assembly, the two last of which
re to be chosen by, and therefore to be the representatives of the people. The
vernor was to be perpetual President, but he was to have but a treble vote.
was the office of the Council to prepare and propose bills, to see that the
's were executed, to take care of the peace and safety of the Province, to
le the situation of ports, cities, market-towns, roads, and other public
ces, to inspect the public treasury, to erect courts of justice, to institute
pols for the virtuous education of youth, and to reward the authors of
ful discovery. Not less than two thirds of these were necessary to make a
3383
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
juorum, and the consent of not less than two thirds of such quorum in all
natters of moment. The Assembly were to have no deliberative power, but,
when bills were brought to them from the Governor and Council, to pass or
eject them by a plain yes or no. They were to present sheriffs and justices
of the peace to the Governor, a double number for his choice of half. They
were to be chosen annually, and to be chosen by secret ballot.
Such, in few words, was the constitution, as organised by William Penn.
When it came out, it excited much conversation, and was considered by
good and wise men not only as admirable in itself, but as excelling ali the
models which had been adopted in the other American colonies.* It appears,
by what has been said, that the people had an extraordinary share in the
government. Though bills were to be proposed only by the Council, the
latter could scarcely introduce to the Assembly such as would become
obnoxious, because a small minority could stifle them in their very birth.
The members of the Assembly could not set their constituents at defiance or
do injury to the state for any length of time, for they were only in office for
a year; nor could constituents, on the other hand, the elections being secretly
conducted, be overawed in their votes, or give offence to their own detriment
by the same, or lose the opportunity of choosing those who they thought
would serve their country best. One defect, however, has been said to
belong to the constitution as now described. The Assembly, it has appeared
had no power to propose bills, nor had they any deliberative power ove
those which were sent to them. This exclusion of them from the privilege
of the Council has been complained of as a great oversight in William Penn
It has been considered as an unnecessary infringement upon freedom, an
as depriving the state of the talents of many who might have served it. T
this, however, it may be replied, that William Penn adapted his constitutio
to existing circumstances, and that he considered certain parts of it merely a
parts for trial. Men, who had houses to build for immediate shelter, land
to clear and cultivate for immediate support, roads to construct, and provisio
to make against all the accidents to which new settlements in a wildernes
were liable, had but little opportunity for legislation, or time to waste i
debate. It was far better for the Province that William Penn, who ha
studied the subject and who was a man of great resources, should take upo
himself, in conjunction with a few, in this infancy of things, the proposal
what was necessary: and this was the opinion of that great and liber:
* We have a remarkable instance of the candour of Locke upon this subj c
Locke, it is well known, drew up, at the request of Lord Shaftsbury, a form
government for Carolina, which then comprehended both the northern and southe
districts of that name. It happened that he and William Penn, and Mr (afte
wards Sir Isaac) Newton, and others, were in company, and that the conversati
turned upon the comparative excellence of the new American governments, p
particularly of those of Carolina and Pennsylvania. The matter, was at leng
arg ed in the presence of the two legislators, when Locke ingenuously yielded t
palin to Penn on the occasion.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
3399
lawyer Sir William Jones, then Attorney General, a man who would rather
have given new rights to almost any extent, than have withheld the least, if .
any such could have been conducive to a good end. It throws no small
weight into the scale to say, that this excellent person both revised and :
approved of the constitution of William Penn, as it was originally offered.
The alleged defect, then, was no defect at the time; but when it became so it
was removed; for it must be brought to the recollection of the reader, that,
in about fourteen years after this time, namely, in 1696, when houses had
been erected in numbers, lands had been cleared to a considerable extent,
many difficulties and impediments removed, and men began to have leisure,
so that the Assembly found that they could exercise the privilege which had
been denied them, and were desirous of so doing, William Penn sanctioned
an alteration of the constitution to this end, by giving them the power of:
preparing and proposing whatever bills they were of opinion would tend in
their operation to the public good. Let it be brought also to his recollection,
that, in the year 1701, when the constitution was again altered, he confirmed
the privilege. For this he obtained something like an encomium from an
opponent. "On the other hand," says Dr. Franklin, in his "Historical.
View of the Government of Pennsylvania," "the Assembly, who could not
propound laws, though they might amend or reject them, were put in
possession of that privilege, and, upon the whole, there was much more
room for acknowledgments than complaints." How much soever the
Governor had grown upon Mr. Penn, and how much soever his concern for
others had worn off when raised to a sphere above them, it is plain he had
not forgotten his own trial, nor the noble Commentary upon Magna Charta,"
which, in his tract called "The People's Ancient and Just Liberties Asserted,"
he had upon that occasion made public, wherein he says, "that there were
but two sorts of government, namely, will and power, or condition and
contract; that the first was a government of men, the second of laws; that
universal reason was and ought to be among rational beings universal law;
that of laws, some were fundamental and immutable; some temporary, made:
for present convenience, and for convenience to be changed; that the funda
mental laws of England were, of all laws, most abhorrent of will: and·
pleasure; and that, till houses should stand without their own foundations,
and Englishmen ceased to be Englishmen, they could not be cancelled, nor
he subjects deprived of the benefits of them."
1
!
i
It will appear, then, from the view I have taken of what has been consi
sidered as a defective part of his government, that he deserves, first, the
character of a wise legislator, by the adaptation of his system to existing »
ircumstances; and, secondly, that of a virtuous one, by his willingness tos
'elinquish a part of it when a new situation of things rendered it desirable. If
he end of government be the general happiness-and if its excellence, the
lappy manner of its administration, and its durability, depend upon virtues
-then it is the duty of a Christian governor to be willing to promote every
340
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
""
change which may conduce to the improvement of the rational liberty, or of
che moral condition of the governed. I know of no instance where a
legislator can display his Christian character to more advantage than in
this; and it was in this that William Penn so eminently shone.
He was
always willing to change for the better, always willing to alter rationally
with the times. In 1683 he told the Assembly, "that they might amend,
alter, or add, for the public good; and that he was ready to settle such
foundations with them as might be for their happiness, according to the
powers vested in him.' In 1701, when he was about to leave them to go to
England, he exhorted them, "seeing all men were mortal, to think of some
suitable expedient for their safety as well in their privileges as in their
property, and to review again their laws, and propose new ones that might
better suit their circumstances." Here, then, lies the difference between the
Christian statesman and the politician of the world. The former, loving
virtue, will be pliant and always ready to obey its call.
power, will be unwilling to part with it. Can any thing be more obvious than
that, as the moral and political states of kingdoms change, the laws of the
same should, in some measure, be changed also; or that laws passed in the
days of ferocity, ignorance, and superstition, are unfit for a civilised people?
And yet, how obstinate have political governors been in retaining them,
though they themselves have acknowledged them to be useless? Hence,
letters of blood, though dead letters in themselves, continue to stain the
Statute Books even of enlightened legislatures to the present day.
The latter, loving
The next opportunity we shall have of seeing William Penn in the cha-
racter of a Christian legislator, in opposition to that of the legislator of the
world, will be in the examination of some of his laws. Among these I
cannot but notice, and prior to all others, that noble one which related to
liberty of conscience, or universal toleration of faith and worship. The
arguments by which he was influenced on this subject have already appeared;
but, as they lie scattered in different parts of the work, I shall collect them,
and bring them under one point of view, that we may see more distinctly
the foundation on which it stood. It was, he conceived, the prerogative of
God alone to preside in matters of religious faith. God alone was the
Judge of the conscience. All mistakes about religion were known to him
only. Hence earthly governors, though it was both their interest and their
duty to support religion, had no right to erect a tribunal whereby to make
themselves judges of religious faith. They were the kings of men, but not
of consciences. They had nothing to do with men but as civil subjects-
such as adulterers, thieves, murderers, and those whose principles were
subversive of industry, fidelity, justice, and obedience. Those, on the other
hand, who lived soberly and honestly, who gave no offence to others, aud
obeyed all laws of a civil and moral nature, were entitled, notwithstanding
a difference of creed, to their protection. But, if the said governors, who
were fallible men, established propositions as articles of faith and as bonds
1
OF WILLIAM PENN.
341
of Christian communion (propositions formed by their own fallible interpre-
tation of the Scriptures), and excluded those from civil privileges who could
not conscientiously conform to them, and, moreover, subjected them to severe
penalties and punishments for this their nonconformity thereto, then the
said Governors were guilty of the crime of usurping the prerogative of
Heaven. Such conduct on the part of the governors was, besides, un-
reasonable. It was unreasonable to punish any man in this world about
the things which belonged to the next. It was unreasonable, again, because
the mind of man could not be convinced by other arguments than those
which were adequate to its own nature. Fines and imprisonments could
It was,
never be fit punishments for faults that were purely intellectual.
besides, presumptuous; because no governor could say that his own was
the true faith. It was, also, unjust; for nothing could be more unjust than
to sacrifice the liberty and property of any man, where he was not found
breaking any law which related to natural or civil things. It was a war
against pious living, which ought to be the only test of the value of men
as moral beings. It was pure oppression, first, because it attempted to
prevent what was never likely to happen; for a diversity of religious
opinions never yet endangered a state: and, secondly, because it always
missed of its end; for force might make hypocrites, but could never make
converts. Violence never made a true convert, nor bodily punishment a
sincere Christian. Lastly, such conduct was against both the letter and the
spirit of the Christian religion. In no part of Divine Writ could it be found,
that Christ or his Apostles had laid down articles of faith as necessary for
Christian communion, and they were not wanting to declare the whole-
counsel of God to the Church. Christ, on the other hand, prohibited all
force in producing an uniformity of religious opinion. He reproved the zeal
of those who would have called down fire from heaven on the Samaritans,
because the latter would not receive him. He opposed them again, when,
on seeing a man casting out devils in his name, they forbad him, because
he would not follow them. He directly took off the prohibition; thus
reversing the judgment they had given. He said expressly, at another time,
He desired that
that there were not many masters in his Church, but one.
the tares and the wheat might be allowed to grow up together till the
harvest. The Apostles conducted themselves in the same manner. They
used no carnal weapons in the propagation of their religion. Their swords
were all of them spiritual, and it was by these that they overcame. They
inculcated also the same doctrine. "Who art thou," says the Apostle Paul,
"who judgest another man's servant?" They recommended love or charity
as the most noble of all the Christian duties, and the most worthy of the
character of their divine Master. Christ came to us in love. He died, and
died for us also, in love. His religion was founded in love. It commanded
us also to do as we would be done by. Thus we were not to hate, persecute,
and oppress each other, and much less for a mere difference in religious faith.
342
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
re
These, then, were the arguments by which the mind of William Penu
was influenced on the subject of religious liberty; and, knowing how essential
such liberty was to the happiness of mankind, and what man was capable
of under the dominion of bigotry and superstition, he dared not, as a
Christian, when he had a new state to form, do otherwise than establish an
universal toleration there. This he did in the most ample manner. Jews,
Turks, Catholics, Presbyterians, and people of all persuasions in religion,
were to be entirely free, both as to their faith and worship, while they con-
ducted themselves properly as citizens. Because," says he, "no people
can be truly happy, though under the greatest enjoyment of civil liberties,
if abridged of the freedom of their consciences as to religious profession and
worship; and Almighty God being the only Lord of Conscience, Father of
Lights and Spirits, and the Author as well as Object of all Divine know-
ledge, faith, and worship, who only doth enlighten the mind, and persuade
and convince the understanding of people, I do hereby grant and declare,
that no person or persons inhabiting this Province or Territories, who shall
confess and acknowledge one Almighty God, the Creator, Upholder, and
Ruler of the world, and profess him or themselves obliged to live quietly
under the civil government, shall be in any case molested or prejudiced in
his or their person or estate because of his or their conscientious persuasion
or practice, nor be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious worship,
place, or ministry, contrary to his or their mind, or to do or suffer any
other act or thing contrary to their religious persuasion." And so impressed
was he upon this subject, as a matter of Christian duty, that he determined
in his charter that the above law should be one of those which were never to
be changed. "And because," says he, "the happiness of mankind depends
so much upon the enjoying of the liberty of their consciences, as aforesaid,
I do hereby solemnly declare, promise, and grant, for me and my heirs and
assigns, that the first article of this charter, relating to liberty of con-
science, and every part and clause therein, according to the true meaning
and intent thereof, shall be kept and remain, without any alteration, inviolably
for ever."
Here, then, we see him again under the sublime light of a Christian
legislator, making liberty of conscience the grand corner-stone of his civil
edifice. What a contrast does this afford to the conduct of those who have
legislated in this department on the policy of the world; the one appears to
have been actuated by the spirit of love, mercy, and peace; the others by
that of pride, presumptuousness, and revenge. And as the contrast is great
between them, as it relates to the principle of legislation on this subject, so
it is equally great as it relates to its effects. Behold, in the one case,
happiness diffused throughout the land; and, on the other, misery and ruin:
behold imprisonments, burnings, deaths in various shapes, so that volumes
are filled with the cries and groans of martyrs; in the survey of which one
painful reflection cannot but present itself to our minds, namely, that these
OF WILLIAM PENN.
343
sufferings were not confined to the instrumentality of men who worshipped
in heathen temples, or in the Roman Catholic Church.
Nor will the contrast be less, if we look at the effects of the two systems in
another point of view. Is it or is it not true, that thousands and tens of
thousands have left their respective countries in consequence of the fear of
persecution for religion? and is it or is it not true, that thousands and tens
of thousands flocked, on the account of the prospect of religious liberty, to
the land of William Penn? Indeed, it is to this great principle in his
government, and to this principally, that historians have attributed the
rapid population of his colony, rapid almost beyond credibility, and certainly
beyond example.* Anderson, in his
Anderson, in his "Historical and Chronological Deduc-
tion of the Origin of Commerce," when speaking of Pennsylvania, writes
thus:-"The same year gave rise to the noble English colony of Pennsyl-
vania in North America.Mr. William Penn, an eminent Quaker, and a
gentleman of great knowledge and true philosophy, had it granted to him at
this time.IIe carried thither with him a large embarkation of Quakers,
afterwards, from time to time, joined by many more from Britain and
Ireland. On his first arrival there he found many English families in it,
and considerable numbers of Dutch and Swedes, who all readily submitted
to his wise and excellent regulations, which highly merit to be known to all
persons who would apply to colonising. The true wisdom as well as equity of
his unlimited toleration of all religious persuasions, as well as his kind, just,
and prudent treatment of the native Indians, also his laws, policy. and
government, so endeared him to the planters, and so widely spread the fame
of his whole economy, that, although so lately planted, it is thought at this
day (about the year 1760) to have more white people in it than any other colony on
all the continent of English America, New England alone excepted." Edmund
Burke, in his "Account of the European Settlements in America," speaks
much in the same manner. Neither was William Penn himself wanting
in any thing which could encourage them; for he expended large sums in
transporting and finding them in all necessaries; and not aiming at a
sudden profit, he disposed of his land at a very light purchase. But what
crowned all was, that noble charter of privileges, by which he made them as
free as any people in the world, and which has since drawn such vast numbers
of so many different persuasions and such various countries to put themselves
under the protection of his laws. He made the most perfect freedom, both
religious and civil, the basis of his establishment; and this has done more
towards the settling of the Province, and towards the settling of it in a strong
- and permanent manner, than the wisest regulations could have done on any
44
William Penn laid out the plan for Philadelphia in 1682. He died in 1718. Ia
this latter year Philadelphia contained about 1,400 houses, and 10,000 inhabitants,
and his dominions, altogether, about 60,000 people. In 1760, when Anderson's
book came out, there were about 3,000 houses in Philadelphia, 20,000 inhabitants,
and, altogether, in towns, cities, and country, 200,000 people.
344
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
other plan. All persons, who profess to believe in one God, are freely
tolerated. Those who believe in Jesus Christ, of whatever denomination,
are not excluded from employments and posts." Jedidiah Morse, in his
"American Geography," throws out a a sentiment to the same purport.
"By the favourable terms which Mr. Penn offered to settlers, and an un-
limited toleration of all religious denominations, the population of the Provincs
uras extremely rapid." I may quote, also, John Gough, on the occasion, in
his "History of the People called Quakers, from their First Rise to the
Present Time."-"That the welfare," says he, "and happiness of the
people is the end of government, is a proposition maintained in theory by
other states, but in Pennsylvania it was reduced to practice. A govern-
ment established on so equitable, liberal, and useful a plan induced great
numbers of people of different persuasions to emigrate from various countries
to participate in the privileges and felicity of this equal government, the
basis of which was religious and civil liberty; and for a length of time, under
the pleasing sensation of the ease, security, and change for the better,
which they felt from their removal hither, people of different nations, com-
plexions, and ways of thinking, lived together in a state of society beautiful
in prospect, and happy in enjoyment, mutually giving and receiving the
benefit of an equality of privileges in peace, amity. and benevolence,
although not belonging to the same visible church, yet as belonging to the
same fraternity of mankind."
Another survey of William Penn, as a Christian legislator, may be taken
from the consideration of some of his criminal laws. There are two which
particularly claim our notice upon this subject. The first of these abolished
the punishment of death, except in the case where " whosoever shed man's
blood, by man should his blood be shed." The second ordained, that all
prisons should be workshops. By these two laws it is obvious that he afforded
a Christian pattern for legislation, for one of the principles upon which he
proceeded therein was the reformation of the offender. By taking away his life,
all hope of this was destroyed. By sparing it, opportunity was given him
for amendment, and this opportunity was to be improved by the introduc-
tion of habits of industry. The author of "The Picture of Philadelphia,"
in speaking of the first of these laws, writes thus:-" The humanity of
William Penn revolted at the sanguinary punishments of Britain, and
he, therefore, attempted an amelioration of the penal code. He abolished
the ancient oppression of forfeitures for self-murder, and deodands in all
cases of homicide. He saw the wickedness of exterminating, where it was
possible to reform. He endeavoured, therefore, to prevent the operation of
the system, which the charter imposed, and amongst the first cares of his
administration was that of forming a small, concise, but complete code of
criminal law. Murder, wilful and premeditated, is the only crime for which
the infliction of death is prescribed, and this is declared to be enacted in
obedience to the laws of God, as though there had not been any political
OF WILLIAM PENN.
345
necessity even for the punishment; but no man could be convicted but upon
the testimony of two witnesses. Execution also was to be stayed till the
record of conviction had been laid before the Executive, and full oppor
tunity given to obtain a pardon for the offence." These were, undoubtedly,
the sentiments of William Penn. He saw, as this author observes, the
wickedness of exterminating, where it was possible to reform. He considered
the punishment of death, in all other cases but murder, as barbarous both
in its origin, its manner, and its effects. He conceived there was no warrant
in Christianity to legislators to take away life at all. The great end of punish-
ment was undoubtedly to deter, or to prevent others from the commission of
crimes; but, on the other hand, it was the great object of the Christian
religion to reclaim. Christ came principally for this purpose upon earth. He
came to call sinners to repentance. He came, not to destroy, but to save.
There was more joy in Heaven over one sinner that repented, than over
ninety-nine just persons, who needed no repentance. He conceived, there-
fore, that it was the duty of a Christian legislator so to blend both these
objects, that they might go hand in hand together; and he was convinced,
that they were compatible with each other, because there were other modes
of punishments, which would deter equally with that of death.
Here, then, we are enabled to compare him again with the legislator on
the policy of the world. How mean and little, how wanting in generosity
and intellect, does the latter appear beside him! He consigns hundreds of
his fellow creatures to an untimely death, and this for an hundred offences.
His system embraces no one principle that is amiable. It has no vitals
no bowels: it discovers no feeling for his fellow-man; no brotherly love
towards him; no regard for him as a rational and moral being; no concern
for his eternal interests. It views him only as a beast, whom, if he be
noxious, he must destroy; because, having no reason, he has not that by
which he can either be deterred or reclaimed.
laws, which gave birth to it, were
I may
It is not necessary that I should enter into a comparison between the
merits of the two systems. It will be sufficient to show the effects of that
which was suggested by William Penn. These, however,
These, however, we shall not be
able to see, until we know how the two
afterwards improved upon, and to what length they were carried.
observe, then, that they were both of them in use in Pennsylvania till the
reign of Queen Anne. In the year 1705 she abolished the merciful one,
which spared the life of the criminal on so many occasions, as not consonant
with the spirit of the English law. She restored it, however, shortly after
wards, and probably at the intercession of William Penn, and it continued
in force for many years, or till the time of his death. After this event the
statute and common law of the Mother Country was again put into its place,
and this statute and common law was then acted upon, contrary to the judg-
ment and wishes of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, till after the revolution
in British America, and its consequent independence. At this epoch, an
Q 2
846
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
opportunity being given to each state to make its own laws, the Pennsyl-
vanians restored it to its native station, and placed it on a glorious per-
manency. They were now enabled to do justice to all the legislative
propositions of their founder, by allowing them their full scope. Accordingly,
they revised the other law before mentioned, namely, that which placed all
prisons upon the footing of workshops; and, bearing this idea in their minds,
they produced at length a system of criminal jurisprudence, by means of the
two, which stands unparalleled, as to excellence, in the history of the
world. By this system, as it obtains at the present day, it appears, that
wilful and premeditated murder is the only capital offence in Pennsylvania.
All other crimes are punished by fine, imprisonment, and labour. All
convicted criminals are expected to maintain themselves out of their own
labour, as well as to defray the expenses of their commitment, prosecution,
and trial. Accordingly, an account is regularly kept against them; and if,
when the term of their imprisonment is expired, any surplus money is due
to them on account of their work, it is given to them on their discharge. The
price of prison labour, in its various departments, is settled by the inspector
of the gaol and those who employ the criminals. No corporal punishment
is allowed in the prison, nor can any criminal be put in irons, it being the
object not to degrade him, but to induce him to be constantly looking up to
the restoration of his dignity as a man, and to the recovery of his moral
character. No intercourse is allowed between the males and the females, nor
between the untried and convicted prisoners. All unnecessary conversation
is forbidden. Profane swearing is never overlooked. A watch is kept, that
no spirituous liquors be introduced. Care is taken, that all the prisoners
have the benefit of religious instruction. The prison is accordingly open, at
stated times, to the pastors of the different religious denominations of the
place. A hope is held out to the prisoners, that the time of their confine-
ment may be shortened by their good behaviour. To realize this, the
inspectors have a power of interceding for their enlargement, and the
Executive government of granting it, if they think it proper. If they are
refractory, they are put into solitary confinement, and deprived of the
opportunity of working. During all this time the expenses of their main.
tenance are going on, so that they have an interest in returning to their
obedience, and the sooner the better; for the sooner they get into employ-
ment again the sooner they are enabled to liquidate the debt, which, since
the suspension of their labour, has been accruing on account of their board
and washing to the gaol. These are the present regulations; the conse-
quence of which is, that they who visit the criminals in the gaol of Phila-
delphia, seeing no chains or fetters, but industry going on unshackled in
various departments, have no other idea of it than of a free workshop, or of
a large and general manufactory, where people have consented to work
together, or to follow, in the same place, their respective trades. In conse-
quence of these regulations, great advantages have arisen both to the
i
OF WILLIAM PENN.
347
criminals and to the state.
The state, it is said, has experienced a diminu-
tion of crimes to the amount of one half since this change in the penal
system, and the criminals have been restored in a great proportion from the
gaol to the community as reformed persons. Hence, little or no stigma has
been attached to them, after their discharge, for having been confined there.
They, indeed, who have had permission to leave it before the time expressed
in the sentence have been considered as persons not unfit to be taken into
families, or confidentially employed. It may be observed also, that some of the
most orderly and industrious, and such as have worked at the most profitable
trades, have had sums of money to take on leaving the prison, by which
they have been enabled to maintain themselves till they have got into
desirable and permanent employ. IIere, then, is a code of penal law built
upon the Christian principle of the reformation of the offender. To dwell
longer upon its merits would be useless. Let it only be remembered, that
this system obtains no where but in Pennsylvania, and that it is the direct
germ, only trained up by other hands, of the root that was planted in the
constitution of that country by William Penn.
CHAPTER XLV.
VIEW OF HIM AS A STATESMAN UPON CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES, AS IT
RELATES TO ALIENS OR FOREIGNERS: FIRST, AS TO DUTCH AND
SWEDES; SECONDLY, AS TO THE ABORIGINES OR INDIANS-HIS
CHRISTIAN OBJECT IN CONNECTING HIMSELF WITH THESE-HIS
CHRISTIAN CONDUCT TOWARDS THEM-HONOURABLE AND GRATEFUL
RESULT TO HIM AND HIS FOLLOWERS FROM THE SAME-OBJECT
AND CONDUCT OF THOSE TOWARDS THE SAME WHO HAVE PRO-
CEEDED UPON THE POLICY OF THE WORLD-MISERABLE RESULT
TO THE LATTER-PECULIAR REASON OF THIS RESULT-HIS OBJECT
IN THE WAY OF BEING ACCOMPLISHED BY HIS DESCENDANTS-
THIRDLY, AS TO THE NEGROS OR SLAVES-HIS CHRISTIAN CONDUCT
TOWARDS THESE-HAPPY EFFECTS OF THE SAME-MISERY PRO-
DUCED BY THOSE WHO HAVE HAD ANY CONCERN WITH THEM ON
THE PRINCIPLE OF THE POLICY OF THE WORLD.
WE have seen William Penn in the character of a Statesman, as it relates
to the governed. We are now to see him as he conducted himself in a
similar capacity towards aliens or strangers. Of these the first were the
Dutch and Swedes, who inhabited the Territorics which had been ceded to
him by the Duke of York, and of whom I shall say no more than that, on
his first arrival in Pennsylvania, he comprehended all of them in one great
bill of naturalisation, admitting them to all the civil and religious privileges

348
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
which those of his own countrymen enjoyed who had been the companions
of his voyage.
Among the aliens or foreigners more particularly to be noticed we may
first reckon the Indians; for, though they were the natives, indeed the
aborigines, of the country, they were yet aliens with respect to him. And
here we shall find him treading in the same Christian path as before, and
have an opportunity of again contrasting the Statesman of the Gospel with
that of the mere politician of the world.
The great object which William Penn had in view, in connecting himself
with the Indians, was that which was expressed in the charter, namely, "to
reduce the savage nations by just and gentle manners to the love of civil
society and the Christian religion." A nobler object, nor one of more divine
origin, nor one more full of philanthropy or love, never occupied the human
heart. It was founded on peace and good-will to man. It was to bring
heathen nations from darkness to light, to teach them to become honest and
useful members of society, and to spread the knowledge of Christ's kingdom.
The very thought was as bold as it was lovely. It soared above all obstacle
or danger. It comprehended at once a trust in Providence, which seemed
to assure him, at the moment, of the accomplishment of the design.
The means proposed to be used were, it appears, as pure and as amiable as
the object. How far he adopted them, we shall be enabled to see by looking
over these Memoirs; and these will furnish us with the following connected
account. In the conditions made and signed between the adventurers and
himself it was stipulated, before any man was allowed to sail to the new land,
that whatever was to be sold to the Indians, in consideration of their furs,
should be sold in the public market-place, and there suffer the test whether
good or bad; if good, to pass; if not good, not to be sold for good, that the
natives might not be abused or provoked; that no adventurer or planter
should in word or deed wrong any Indian, but he should incur the same
penalty of the law as if he had committed it against his fellow-adventurer
or planter; that if any Indians should abuse, in word or deed, any adven-
turer or planter of the Province, the said adventurer or planter should not
be his own judge upon the said Indian, but lay his complaint before the
magistracy; and that all differences between the two should be ended by
twelve men, that is, six adventurers or planters and six Indians. Having
signed these conditions, they were at liberty to sail. Among the passengers
in the ships were Commissioners. As his religious principles did not permit
him to look upon the King's patent, or legal possession according to the laws
of England, as sufficient to establish his right to the country, without pur-
chasing it by fair and open bargain of the natives, to whom alone it properly
belonged, he instructed these to pay for whatever portions the latter might be
willing to dispose of. He instructed them also to confirm with them a league
of eternal peace, and to treat them with all possible candour, justice, and
humanity. In a letter sent to them by the same Commissioners, he expresed
OF WILLIAM PENN.
349
his desire to enjoy the land only with their love and consent, and to gain
their love and frendship only by a kind, just, and peaceable life. When the
Commissoners and settlers landed, they erected no forts nor carried any hostile
weapon. When afterwards, in 1682, he arrived himself, he exhibited the
same inoffensive appearance, and the same confidence in their justice. At
the great treaty both he and all his followers appeared equally defenceless,
and this amidst a nation in arms. "It was not his custom," he said, "to
weapons of destruction against his fellow creatures; for which reason he
come unarmed. He and his friends had a hearty desire to live in peace
and friendship with them, and to serve them to the utmost of their power.
He should consider them as of the same flesh and blood with the Christians,
and the same as if one man's body was to be divided into two parts." In his
second voyage, in 1700, he renewed his former treatment towards them.
He showed the same regard to justice in all his dealings with them, and the
same tender care and concern for them, both as to their temporal and
spiritual welfare. Accordingly, he proposed to his own monthly meeting, in
the same year, means, which were acceded to, for a more frequent intercourse
between them and Friends, he taking upon himself the manner of it as
well as the charge of procuring interpreters for the purpose. Soon after
this he introduced a legislative act, which was to be binding upon all, both
in the Province and Territories, for preventing abuses upon them; and
though he did not carry it, both his justice and his good-will towards them
were equally manifested by it. His intercourse, however, with them became
purposely more frequent after this period, and it was always directed
towards their good. In the year following he conferred with his Council as
to the best means of keeping up a friendly, useful, and moral communication
with them, as far as the Executive could do it. Hence persons were selected
for their integrity to form a company, with a joint stock, and to be authorised
by the government to trade with them. These were to keep them from
spirituous liquors as much as possible, and to use all reasonable means to
bring them to a true sense of the value of Christianity, but particularly by
setting before them examples of probity and candour, and to have them in-
structed in the fundamentals of it; in short, they were to make their trading
concerns with them subservient to the promotion of the Christian religion.
When he took his leave of them, before he departed for England the last
time, he said, with much tenderness, "that he had always loved them and
been kind to them, and ever should continue so to be, not through any
politic design, but from a most real affection." He then charged the members
of the Council to behave to them with all courtesy and demonstrations of
good-will, as himself had ever done; and having received from these an
assurance that his request should be complied with, he took his final leave
of them.
It is a law of our nature, where benefits have been generously conferred,
that there is a disposition to return them; and gratitude, it will appear by
$350
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
the sequel, is not excluded from the hearts of those who live in an uncivilised
state of society, or who are reputed barbarous. It was an observation of
William Penn, with respect to the Indians, "Do not abuse them, but let
them have but justice, and you win them, where there is such a knowledge
of good and evil." It will be pleasing, therefore, to record what return they
* made him for all the care and kindness which he had bestowed upon them;
and this will appear so great, I may say so unexampled, that either his own
*munificence must have been of much larger dimensions than we have been
accustomed to see, or their hearts must have beaten with a pulse which has
seldom vibrated in the human breast.
2
:
I may observe, then, that the first result of his treatment of them showed
itself in a grateful return, on their part, by kind and friendly offices both to
himself and followers. They became, indeed, the benefactors of the colonists.
When the latter were scattered abroad in 1682, and without houses or food,
the Indians, as I have before shown, were remarkably kind and attentive to
them. They hunted for them frequently, doing their utmost to feed them.
They considered them all as the children of William Penn; and, looking
upon him, ever since the great treaty, as their father, they treated them as
brothers. Richard Townsend, who has been before mentioned, confirms the
above account. "And as our worthy proprietor," says he, "treated the Indians
with extraordinary humanity, they became very civil and loving to us, and
brought us in abundance of venison." As to William Penn himself, "having
now such an one as he," they said, "they would never do him any wrong."
Some of the Kings even presented him with parcels of land; and in the
year 1701, which was the last of his residence among them, several of the
tribes, on hearing that he was going to leave the country, left their woods,
and went purposely down to Philadelphia to take their leave of him, as a
mark of respect and gratitude to their greatest human benefactor.
A second result was manifested in their peaceful and affectionate conduct
towards the settlers, so that the latter had no fear, though in a defenceless
state, for their personal safety, but lived among them, though reputed
"savages, as among their best friends and protectors. "As in other countries,"
continues the same Richard Townsend, "the Indians were exasperated by
hard treatment, which hath been the foundation of much bloodshed, so the
contrary treatment here by our worthy Proprietor hath produced their love
and affection." We find by a manuscript, written by a passenger in one of
the vessels which carried over some of the first settlers, the following
account:-"A providential hand was very conspicuous and remarkable in
many instances which might be mentioned--the Indians were even rendered
our benefactors and protectors-without any carnal weapon we entered the
land, and inhabited therein as safe as if there had been thousands of
garrisons." Again-"This little state," says Oldmixon, "subsisted in the
midst of six Indian nations without so much as a militia for its defence."
And this peaceable state, says Proud, "was never interrupted for more
·
:
OF WILLIAM PENN.
351
than seventy years, or so long as the Quakers retained power in the
government sufficient to influence a friendly and just conduct towards them,
and to prevent or redress such misunderstandings and grievances as occa-
sionally happened between them and any of the inhabitants of the Province."
To this it may be added, that as far as the Indians and Quakers (who may
be considered as the descendants of William Penu) were concerned, the
great treaty was never violated, a good understanding subsisting at this moment
between them and the descendants of the original tribes.
A third result was seen in the extraordinary regard which the Indians
preserved for the memory of William Penn, after he had left them, and
which appears to have been handed down from father to son, in a manner so
lively and impressive, that it will be difficult ever to eradicate it from their
minds. In the year 1721, that is, twenty years after he had left the
Province, a conference was held at Conestogo, between the five nations, con-
sisting of the Marquase, the Oneidas, the Onondagoes, the Cayougas, and the
Senecas, and Sir William Keith, who was then Governor of Pennsyvania.
The chief speaker, on the part of the Indians, said, among other things, with
a countenance which showed great respect, "that they should never forget the
counsel which William Penn gave them; and that though they could not write
as the English did, yet they could keep in their memory what was said in
their Councils.”
They met then at Albany.
The chief of the Indians made a
In the following year, that is, in the year 1722, the same five nations held
another conference with Sir William Keith.
Sir William laid his business before them.
reply in behalf of those assembled. The following is an extract from his
speech:
:-"Brother Onas! You have told us, that at the time you brightened
the covenant chain between us, you wished it might be clear and lasting as
the sun and stars in heaven, for which we thank you. And we being now all
present, do, in the most solemn and public manner, renew the covenant,
and brighten the chain made between us, that the lustre thereof may never
be obscured by any clouds or darkness, but may shine as clear, and last as
long, as the sun in the firmanent. Brother Onas! You have likewise told
us how William Penn, who was a good man, did, at his first settlement of the
province of Pennsylvania, make leagues of frendship with the Indians, and
treated them like brethren, and that, like the same good man, he left it in
charge to all his Governors who should succeed him, and to all the people
of Pennsylvania, that they should always keep the covenants and treaties
which he made with the five nations, and treat them with love and kindness.
We acknowledge that his Governors and people have always kept the same
honestly and truly to this day; so we, on our part, always have kept and
for ever shall keep firm peace and friendship with a good heart to all the
people of Pennsylvania. We thankfully receive and approve of all the
articles in your proposition to us, and acknowledge them to be good and
full of love. We receive and approve of the same with our whole hearts,
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MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
because we are not only made one people by the covenant chain, but we also
are people united in one head, one body, and one heart, by the strongest ties
of love and friendship. Brother Onas! We say further, we are glad to hear
the former treaties made with William Penn repeated to us again, and renewed
by you, and we esteem and love you as if you were William Penn himself."
In the year 1742 a treaty was made at Philadelphia, by George Thomas
Esq., then Governor of Pennsylvania, with the six nations, when Canas-
satego, chief of the Onondagoes, said, "We are all very sensible of the kind
regard which that good man, Willam Penn, had for all the Indians.”
At a Council held with the Seneca and other Indians in 1749, in the
administration of James Hamilton, Esq., Ogaushtash, in a part of his
speech, thus expressed himself:-" We recommend it to the Governor to
tread in the steps of those wise people who have held the reins of government
before him, in being good and kind to the Indians. Do, brother, make it your
study to consult the interest of our nations. As you have so large an
authority, you can do us much good or harm. We would, therefore, engage
your influence and affections for us, that the same harmony and mutual
affection may subsist during your government, which so happily subsisted in
former times-nay, from the first settlement of this Province by our good friend,
the great William Penn."
At a treaty held at Easton, in Pennsylvania, with the Indians, in 1756
during the administration of Governor Morris, Teedyuscung, the Delaware
chief, spoke as follows:-" Brother Onas, and the people of Pennsylvania!
We rejoice to hear from you, that you are willing to renew the ancient good
understanding, and that you call to mind the first treaties of friendship made
by Onas, our great friend, deceased, with our forefathers, when himself and
his people first came over here. We take hold of these treaties with both
our hands, and desire you will do the same, that a good understanding and
true friendship may be re-established. Let us both take hold of these treaties,
we beseech you: we, on our side, will certainly do it."
Again, on concluding a peace in July, the same year, Teedyuscung said,
I wish the same good spirit that possessed the good old man, William Penn,
who was a friend to the Indians, may inspire the people of this province at
this time."
In this manner I might go on extracting from the speeches made at the
Indian treaties for a long period. Suffice it to say, that the Indians per-
petuated the memory of William Penn by giving the name of Onas to every
succeeding Governor of Pennsylvania, and that they call the Quakers, his
descendants, either Brothers Onas, or the sons of the friends of Onas, at the
present day.
Having now seen William Penn in the character of a Christian statesman,
as he was concerned with one of the classes of aliens in his dominions-that
is, having seen his object in connecting himself with these, and the means
which he employed to promote it; and having witnessed the brilliant result
OF WILLIAM PENN.
353
of his endeavours, both as to himself and his followers, I must inquire into the
motives, conduct, and success of those statesmen who have visited foreigners
and made establishments among them, but who have proceeded on the old plan of
political expediency, or, as the phrase more usually is, on the policy of the world.
It is a grievous matter to be obliged to begin with stating, that, though
Christianity has been preached nearly two thousand years, I know of no
prince, statesman, or governor, who has opened an intercourse with bar-
barous nations for the sole and express purpose "of reducing (as William
Penn's charter expresses it) the savage nations to the love of civil society
and the Christian religion;" or (as his petition for the same has it) "of
promoting the glory of God by the conversion of the Gentiles to Christ's
kingdom." Good men-I mean individuals-have visited foreign lands with
this amiable view, and have exposed themselves to hardships and dangers,
and, indeed, have given up their lives to the cause. Witness the Moravians
and other estimable persons. But, among the governments of the world,
since the Christian æra, no one, that I have heard of, ever made an establish-
ment among unenlightened nations for this especial purpose. Their object
has been generally avarice or ambition, or, in other words, to promote
conquest or extend trade. Need I bring in proof of this the early history of
our own establishments in Africa and Asia; that of those by the Dutch on
the same continents; that of those by the Spaniards and Portuguese in
Africa and South America; or that of those by others professing the Christian
name. It would seem, therefore, as if William Penn stood alone, as a states-
man, in the promotion of the object as now explained. Not even in the
neighbouring colonies of North America, settled there either prior to or
about this period, had any one of the founders the same views in this respect
as William Penn. Some emigrated there under leaders or governors purely
upon motives of speculation. Others, it must be admitted, did the same
with the more laudable intention, both of affording and of finding an asylum
from religious persecution, and of establishing religious freedom. But these
advantages were wholly for themselves, or for those who forwarded the
adventure. The benefit of the natives, among whom they were to settle, was
never included in the account.
The conduct, too, which they manifested after their arrival there, did not
consist of "those just and gentle manners" which the Pennsylvanian charter
prescribed. The first thing they did was to raise forts, to make a show
with their arms, to exercise themselves in the same, and to present them-
selves, though few in number, under the aspect of a warlike and formidable
people. Having secured themselves in this manner, they too frequently
took advantage of the ignorance of the natives. They tried rather to outwit
them than to be just. For this purpose they introduced spirituous liquors
among them. Their measures, in short, too generally partook both of fraud
and violence, so that we have often occasion to blush for their proceedings
and for the honour of the Christian name.
354
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
L
!
C
4.
It will not be a matter of surprise, but, on the other hand, to be expected,
that a conduct in itself barbarous should be accompanied by a barbarous
result. Accordingly, we find a great difference between the treatment of
these, and of those who settled on the same continent under the auspices of
William Penn. Oldmixon says, "they (the Indians) have been very civil to
the English (Pennsylvanians), who never lost man, woman, or child by them
(A. 1708); which neither the colony of Maryland nor that of Virginia can
say, no more than the great colony of New England." Hence, we find, in
the same author, that the Indians of Maryland, Carolina, Virginia, and
of the Massachusets, murdered the English, and that the colonists of these
parts were obliged to keep a strong militia against them. The fact is, that,
generally speaking, the first settlers in these provinces, and those who
succeeded them, were great sufferers from the natives. There were times
when they could neither cultivate their fields nor travel on their business
without fear of destruction by the latter, and when they were obliged to
retire to and to live in garrison for their safety.
·
It will be unnecessary, I apprehend, to refer to history for specific instances
In confirmation of the above statement. It will be far more profitable to
Inquire, what was the reason, if one can be pointed out more distinctly than
another, why the settlers under William Penn should have been so singu
larly preserved, while so many of the others were destroyed? The answer
to this inquiry, it will be said, will be that which I have already given,
namely, that a general bad conduct may be expected to be accompanied by
a general bad result. But this answer is not precise enough to be admitted
in the present case; for, next to William Penn, the Lord Baltimore, a
Catholic, who has been already mentioned to have had the honour of being
the first American Governor to allow a full toleration in religion, conducted
himself in the most unexceptionable manner, in his province of Maryland,
towards those Indians who surrounded him; and yet these, when they had
been provoked by the Virginians, did not stop their ravages when within
the territories of the latter, but carried destruction with them; whereas,
whatever the quarrels of the Pennsylvanian Indians were with others, they
uniformly respected and held, as it were, as sacred the territories of
William Penn. The truth is, that the Marylanders, carrying with them
from Europe their old principles and prejudices, or, in other words, acting
upon the policy of the world, began to build forts and to show themselves in
arms, and this, not after they had received any provocation to justify the
measure, but merely on the anticipation, or from the fear, that, the natives in th
· vicinity being reputed burbarous, they might be subjected to insults, and ultimately
destroyed. This conduct on the part of the Maryland settlers, though it had
no offensive intention in it, was yet sufficient to infuse a suspicion into the
minds of the natives that they were not the friendly people they professed
It exhibited the power, and, therefore, it conveyed the notion, of annoyance
whereas the motives of William Penn, when he made similar professions
:
OF WILLIAM PENN.
355
:
*
*
could neither be questioned nor mistaken; for it must have been obvious to
the least discerning of the natives around him, that having no fort, no
cannon, no pistol, no sword, but only a few fowling-pieces for defence
against wild beasts, or to procuré food on urgent occasions, they could have
nothing to fear either from him or his followers; for the latter had put it totally
out of their own power to injure them. Thus going among them upon the
principle of the Gospel, or carrying with them the Quaker principle, that all
war was against both the letter and the spirit of Christianity, he and they
became armed, though without arms; they became strong, though without
strength; they became safe, though without the ordinary means of safety;
´and I am convinced, that the history of the different American colonies now
under our consideration will bear me out in asserting, that this was the true
reason why, in the one case, the settlers were so singularly preserved, and
why they were subjected to such fears and suffering in the other.
!
་
A
In appealing to their history for this purpose, I may lay it down as a
position not to be denied, that the Indians were in general well disposed
towards the different settlers on their arrival, and that they gave sufficient
proofs of this their friendly disposition towards them. Notwithstanding this,
Dr. Trumbull, in his "History of Connecticut," one of the New Englaud
states, makes the following observation:-"As these infant settlements,"
says he, "were filled and surrounded with numerous savages, the people
conceived themselves in danger when they lay down and when they rose up,
when they went out and when they came in. Their circumstances were
such, that it was judged necessary for every man to be a soldier.
sequence was, that, when they began to exhibit a military appearance,
several of them were way laid and killed by the Pequots, for so the Indians.
were named in this quarter. Hence followed greater war-like preparations
on the one side, and greater suspicion on the other, till at length open war
commenced between them, during which great excesses were committed by
both parties."
་
The con-
Thomas Chalkley, an eminent minister of the Gospel among the Quakers,
in his visit to another part of New England in the year 1704, speaks very
much to the purpose thus:-" About this time the Indians were very bar-
barous in the destruction of the English inhabitants, scalping some, and
knocking out the brains of others (men, women, and children), by which
the country was greatly alarmed both night and day; but the great Lord of
all was pleased wonderfully to preserve our Friends, especially those who kept
faithful to their peaceable principle, according to the doctrine of Christ in the
Holy Scriptures, as recorded in his excellent sermon which he preached on
the Mount, in the fifth sixth, and seventh chapters of Matthew, which
is quite opposite to killing, revenge, and destruction, even of our enemies."
"A little further on he gives a similar account. “A neighbour," says he,
"of the aforesaid people, told me that, as he was at work in his field, the
Indians saw and called to him, and he went to them. They told him, that
!
356
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
they had no quarrel with the Quakers, for they were a quiet, peaceable people,
and hurt nobody, and that, therefore, none should hurt them.-Those Indians
began, about this time, to shoot people down as they rode along the road,
and to knock them on the head in their beds, and very barbarously mur-
dered many; but we travelled the country, and had large meetings, and
the good presence of God was with us abundantly, and we had great inward
joy in the Holy Ghost in our outward jeopardy and travels. The people
generally rode and went to their worship armed; but Friends went to their
meetings without either sword or gun, having their trust and confidence in
God."
John Fothergill, another eminent member of the same society, who tra-
velled about two years afterwards into the same and also into other parts of
the New England states, gives a similar account. "It was then a very
exercising and trying time with Friends here, by reason of the bloody
incursions that the Indians then frequently made upon the English, being
hired by the French about Quebec, which lies behind New England to the
north-west, so that many of the English inhabitants were frequently
murdered in their houses, or shot or knocked down on the road or in the
fields. Some were carried away captives; and those whom they killed they
cut with their great knives round the head about the skirt of the hair, and
then pulled the skin off the head; and for every such skin, which they
called a scalp, they were to have a sum of money. These barbarities caused
many people to leave their habitations with their families, and retire into
garrisons, which the people built in many places for their greater security.
Yet that, which was sorrowful for me to observe, was, that few of them
seemed to be affected with due consideration, so as to be awakened to think
rightly of the cause of this heavy chastisement, and be induced to seek the
Almighty's favour as they ought. But it was a profitable, humbling time to
many of our Friends, who generally stood in the faith, and kept at their usual
places of abode, though at the daily hazard of their lives; and it was very
remarkable that scarce any who thus kept their habitations in the faith were
suffered to fall by the Indians, though few days passed but we heard of some of
their cruel murders and destroying vengeance. We were in these parts back-
wards and forwards a considerable time, having many meetings before we
could be clear to leave them, which, through the merciful regard and suc-
couring nearness of the Almighty power and presence, was satisfactory to us,
and very strengthening and comfortable to Friends: we and they being all
graciously preserved, though in the open country, and we lodged several times
at a Friend's house at some distance from the garrison; and we had reason
to believe a party of Indians was for some time about it, the marks of their
feet being plainly to be seen the next morning; but they went away without
doing any damage, though it was but a mean little timber-house and easy to breaks
into."
It appears, as far as we have yet disclosed the contents of the two journals,
OF WILLIAM PENN.
357
that the Quakers, who never used weapons of war like other people, but
lived in a defenceless state, were marked, as it were, for preservation by
those very Indians, who were carrying death and destruction among all the
other settlers promiscuously, wherever an opportunity was afforded them.
Three instances, however, occur in the Journal of Thomas Chalkley, where
persons belonging to the society were killed; but it is remarkable that, in
every one of these, they suffered, because, having out of fear abandoned their
own great principle in the case before us, they gave the Indians reason to
suppose that, though they appeared to be outwardly, yet they had ceased to be
real Quakers. "Among the many hundreds," says Thomas Chalkley, "that
were slain, I heard but of three of our Friends being killed, whose destruction
was very remarkable, as I was informed. The one was a woman, the other
two were men. The men used to go to their labour without any weapons,
and trusted to the Almighty and depended on his providence to protect them
(it being their principle not to use weapons of war to offend others or to defend
themselves); but a spirit of distrust taking place, they took weapons of war to
defend themselves; and the Indians, who had seen them several times without
them, let them alone, saying, they were peaccable men and hurt nobody, therefore
they would not hurt them; but now seeing them have guns, and supposing they
designed to kill the Indians, they therefore shot them dead.”
With respect to the woman, the story is rather long. I will state it,
however, concisely, by observing, that she had remained in her habitation
with others of her family, where both she and they had been safe; but that
the massacres in the neighbourhood had been such, that she began at length
to fear for her life. At this moment, certain men coming from the garrison
with their guns, and informing her that the Indians were near, she returned
with them and entered into it. While she was there she became uneasy.
She felt that she had abandoned one of the great principles of her religion,
by an association with armed people, and therefore she left the fort; but, on
returning home, the Indians, who had seen her come out of it, and who,
therefore, supposed her to belong to, or to hold the same principles with, those
who were then in it, watched, waylaid, and killed her.
The above instance is likewise mentioned by Thomas Story, in his Journal
who travelled in the same year to the same parts; but he adds another of a
similar kind, which, as it is to the same purport, and is the only other I am
acquainted with, I shall give to the reader in his own words. "And the same
morning," says he, "a young man, a Friend, and tanner by trade, going
from the town to his work with a gun in his hand, and another with him
without any, the Indians shot him who had the gun, but hurt not the other; and
when they knew the young man they had killed was a Friend, they seemed
to be sorry for it, but blamed him for carrying a gun; for they knew the Quakers
could not fight, nor do them any harm; and, therefore, by carrying a gun,
they took him for an enemy."
As a further confirmation of the theory I have advanced, I may observe that we
358
MEMOIRS OF THE LITE
4
Having now canvassed the great subject, under the head "Indians,”
in its different branches, as I had originally proposed, I must bring the
attention of the reader back to one of them, namely, to the object which
William Penn had in connecting himself with these, just to show how
no good effort is ever lost, or how this object, which he had so much
at heart, and which he was the first to propose, is in the way of being
accomplished by his descendants. When, in his own monthly meeting
at Philadelphia, he procured the minute to be passed, by which a more
regular intercourse was to be kept up with them, who could have thought
that lie then laid the foundation of the civilisation of the different North
American tribes? and yet such most probably will be the issue. From
that time a communication between them and his own society, for this
laudable purpose, was incorporated as a duty into the discipline of the latter;
and this has been kept up, subject to interruption more or less on account of
the wars of Europe. In process of time, that which had been the duty only
of the monthly meeting of Philadelphia became the duty of several larger
circles, or quarterly meetings, that is, of the great yearly meeting, which
comprehended the Quaker-population of a part of Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
Delaware, and the eastern parts of Maryland, and after that of another
yearly meeting, which comprehended the society in other parts of Penn-
sylvania, the western shore of Maryland, Virginia, and the Ohio. This
increased population afforded of course increased means, and such as were
more proportioned to the magnificence of the end. Hence, civilisation has
been offered by the descendants of William Penn, spread over this great
extent of country, to the Senecas, Oneidas, Onondagoes, Cayugas, Shawanese,
Delawares, Wyandots, Cherokees, Creeks, Chickesaws, Choctaws, Tuscaroras,
Miamis, and other Indians, most of whom have more or less embraced it, and
some of whom are on the road to an important change. Those who have
been the longest under their kind instructors have made the greatest progress,
and among these some have already arrived at that station, where, when
they view themselves as they are, and look back upon what they were, there
is but little danger of a relapse. The tribe of Senecas, settled at Allegany,
are, I believe, in the most prominent state of improvement. From wild
hunters, constantly roaming about and depending from day to day on a pre-
carious subsistence, they have become stationary farmers, and taught to look
for a more certain and permanent support from the produce of their lands.
It appears, by the last report, that the improvement among them in the three
last years has been astonishing. They had erected nearly a hundred :
houses since that time, most of them two stories high, and well put up with
hewn logs, very perpendicular at the corners, and nicely fitted together.
These buildings, with very little exception, were their own work. They had
seldom hear of Missionaries being killed, though thousands have gone and resided
among savages; but then they have gone thither, both professionally and practically,
as the children of William Penn, that is, in the spirit of peace, and without.arms.
-
L
OF WILLIAM PENN.
359
opened good roads which were remarkably well made, being superior to
those among the frontier white inhabitants. They had made also an equal
progress upon their farms. Their fences were generally good. Divers of
them raised wheat, oats, buckwheat, potatoes, turnips, beans, squashes,
pumpkins, cucumbers, and melons of various kinds. They had a number of
horses, and a good stock of cattle and hogs, which were of their own rearing.
They mowed their ground, and made hay, and preserved straw as fodder for
the winter. Many of them used the plough. They had grist and saw-mills
among them. Some could weave and tan. The idea of property began to
be prevalent among them. They began to be neater in their persons, and
almost all of them had abandoned the use of spirituous liquors. With
respect to the women, they had been exempted in a great degree from the
drudgery of field-labour. Their principal employrnent was that of spinning,
knitting, and making soap. Such is the state of the Senecas residing near
the Allegany river. "The above statement," says one of the deputation whỏ
visited them, "exhibits the progress of one tribe towards civilisation, and
furnishes those interested in their welfare with great encouragement in the
prosecution of a work so well calculated to increase the comforts of human
life. But we were as much encouraged (says the same person) with the
Senecas, who resided on the river Cattaraugus, as with those on the Allegany,
although the improvements were not so great, they being more remotely
situated and of later date." Hence the reformation of one tribe will, it is
to be hoped, be succeeded by the reformation of another, each in turn, as it
shall have served its apprenticeship, if I may use the expression, or as it
shall have fulfilled the period necessary for the knowledge required. And
hence a prospect is opened to us truly gratifying, in which we see nation
after nation included, till at length Heathenism itself shall be no more; and
if ever this happy day should arrive on the northern part of the continent
of America, it ought to be held in grateful remembrance by posterity, that
the blessing* commenced in the virtuous politics of William Penn.
-
*It is melancholy to think that the beautiful plan of civilisa'ion thus going on
among so many of the Indian tribes is likely to be most seriously interrupted by
the war between Great Britain and America. One of the first measures taken by
the, government of Canada, after the declaration of war by the United States, was
to attempt to bring over to the British standard as many of the tribes bordering on
the north-western frontier of the latter as they could. Several of these joined it.
The consequence was, that many of their villages were laid waste by the militia.
from the western states, and the whole of the corn and other subsistence which
they had provided for their winter supply destroyed; so that, being estitute ofen
houses to shelter themselves, or food, many must, in the course of the last winter,
have perished. Of the tribes on the north-western frontier, only the Delawares,
Shawanese, and a part of the Wyandots refused to embark in the contest. Among
the southern the Creeks, Cherokees, Chickesaws, and Choctaws remained falsos:
neuter. These are all advancing rapidly towards..civilisation, many of them
having acquired considerable property. They already manufacture a considerable
360
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
4
We are now to see William Penn as he conducted himself as a Statesman
upon Christian principles towards another class of aliens, namely, those
Negroes who were brought from Africa into Pennsylvania soon after that
colony began.
In the years 1681, 1682, and 1683, when he was first resident there, but
very few of these had been imported. At this time, as I then observed, the
traffic in slaves was not branded with infamy as at the present day. It was
considered as favourable to both parties; to the planters, because they had
but few labourers in comparison with the extent of their lands; and to the
poor Negroes themselves, because they were looked upon as persons redeemed
out of superstition, idolatry, and heathenism, and to be treated well in order
that they might embrace the Christian religion. Hence, their numbers being
very few, and their usage comparatively mild, their situation seemed to be
such as not to call for legislative interference. All, therefore, that he then
did was generally to inculcate tenderness towards them, as to persons of
the same species; and to recommend it to their masters, as they were
children of the same great Father and heirs of the same promises, to consider
them as branches of their own families, for whose spiritual welfare it became
them to be concerned. But in the year 1700, that is, about seventeen years
afterwards, when he visited America a second time, he found their numbers
so much increased, that they were likely to form no inconsiderable part of
the population in time. Now it was that their case began to demand his
attention as a Christian statesman. He began to question whether, under
the Christian system, men ought to be consigned to unconditional slavery;
whether they ought to be bought and sold; whether the situation of master
and slave, under such terms, was not pregnant both with physical and moral
evil; whether the human heart would not become corrupted and hardened
by the use of power; and whether, therefore, if no public care were exercised
over the poor Negroes, they would not become an oppressed people. This
question he determined virtuously, and in unison with the resolutions of two
yearly meetings which had been held before in his own Province. For the
honour, therefore, of his own society, as a professing people, and that the
Negroes might stand more minutely upon record on their public journals,
and this as beings whose situation entitled them to spiritual attention equally
with others of a different coin plexion and colour (considerations which he
knew well would for ever secure them protection from those who belonged
to it), he resolved, as far as his own powers went, upon incorporating their
treatment as a matter of Christian duty into the discipline of the latter. He
succeeded; and the result was, that a minute was passed by the monthly
meeting of Philadelphia, and properly registered there, by which a meeting
was appointed, more particularly for the Negroes, once every month; so that,
part of their own clothing. In consequence of their wise determination to take
no part in the war, they have not been molested; and therefore it is to be hoped
that they will continue in an improving state.
OF WILLIAM PENN.
361
besides the common opportunities they had of collecting religious knowledge,
by frequenting the places of public worship, there was one day in the month,
in which, as far as the influence of the monthly meeting extended, they
could neither be temporally nor spiritually overlooked.
Having secured their treatment in a certain degree among those of his
own persuasion, his next object was to secure it among others in the colony,
on whom the discipline of the Quakers had no hold, by a legislative act.
This was all he could do at present. To forbid the bringing of slaves into
the colony was entirely out of his power. He had no command whatever
over the external commerce of the Mother Country. He was bound, on the
other hand, by his charter, to admit her imports; and at this moment she
particularly encouraged the slave-trade. The power he had, as Governor,
extended only to laws or regulations within his own boundaries; and these
were not to be contrary to reason, or the spirit of the British constitution.
Of this, then, he availed himself; for he considered slavery as a frightful
excrescence, which had insensibly grown up since the discovery of the New
World, and which the latter, though it permitted, could not recognise. His
first step was to introduce a bill into the Assembly, which should protect the
Negroes from personal ill-treatment, by fair trials and limited punishments;
and which at the same time, by regulating their marriages, should improve
their moral condition. This he did with a view of fitting them by degrees for
a state of freedom; and as the bill comprehended not only those who were
then in the Province and Territories, but those who should afterwards be
brought there, he hoped that it would lay the foundation, as it were, of a
preparatory school for civilisation and liberty to all of the African race. Here,
then, we see him acting the part of a Christian statesman towards another
class of aliens, and these the vilest within his boundaries. That he did not
carry his bill in the Assembly is to be lamented. But his mind, his spirit,
his intention, were equally shown by the effort which he made, and he
is equally entitled to our praise and gratitude as if he had succeeded on the
occasion.
But though, unfortunately for his own feelings, he failed in carrying his
point where he conceived he should be most useful, the pains he had taken
upon the subject were not lost. The resolution, which he had occasioned his
own society to make, and which has been just mentioned, answered the same
end, though it took a much longer time to accomplish it: for, when he pro-
cured the insertion of it in the Monthly Meeting Book of Philadelphia, he
sealed as assuredly and effectually the abolition of the slave trade and the
emancipation of the Negroes within his own Province, as, when he procured
the insertion of the Minute relating to the Indians in the same book, he
sealed the civilisation of the latter; for, from the time the subject became
incorporated into the discipline of the Quakers, they never lost sight of it.
Several among them began to refuse to purchase Negroes at all, and others
to emancipate those which they had in their possession, and this of their own
B
362
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
accord, and purely from the motives of religion; till at length it became a
law of the society that no member could be concerned, either directly or
indirectly, either in buying and selling or in holding them in bondage; and
this law was carried so completely into effect, that, in the year 1780,
dispersed as the society was over a vast tract of country, there was not
a single Negro as a slave in the possession of an acknowledged Quaker.
This example, soon after it had been begun, was followed by others of
other religious denominations. After this, the American revolution, which
disseminated notions of liberty and which ended in independence, aided the
good cause. Since that time it has been gradually gaining ground, so that
out of tens of thousands of slaves once in Pennsylvania, very few com.
paratively remain, and these are annually* so diminishing, that probably,
in ten years, there will not be left a single one to pollute the territory of
William Penn.
I shall not enter here, according to the plan I have pursued, into a detail
of the conduct of those statesmen, and the miserable consequences of it,
who have had any concern with the Negroes on the principle of the policy of
the world. The subject is too well known, and I should only be torturing
the feelings of the reader by a comparison. Posterity, I believe, will, in
more distant ages, find it difficult to credit the enormities to which they have
given birth. They will wonder how such a system could ever have been
thought of, and much more how it could have so long continued. They
will probably mark with barbarism the age that introduced it; nor will they
probably speak of Britain herself as civilised till the day when she abolished
the slave-trade; or till that other day, yet to come, when the word slavery
shall be erased from the book which enumerates her foreign possessions.
* From a census taken of the population of Pennsylvania at three successive
periods we are enabled to give the following account:-
Population in 1790
*
""
1800
1810
•
434,373
602,365
810,091
"
Slaves 3,737
1,706
795
From the same census we are enabled to give a similar account of that of the city
of Philadelphia for the same years :~
Population in 1790
42,520
1800
64,035
1810
"
ง
93,640
:
Slaves 273
55
2
R
OF WILLIAM PENN.
363
CHAPTER XLVI.
RECAPITULATION OF THE TRAITS IN THE PRECEDING CHAPTERS OF
HIS LEGISLATIVE CHARACTER AS A CHRISTIAN-HAS EXHIBITED
HIMSELF BESIDES AS THE RULER OF A KINGDOM WITHOUT A
SOLDIER-AND ALSO WITHOUT AN OATH-GREAT TREATY WITH THE
INDIANS NEVER RATIFIED BY AN OATH AND YET NEVER BROKEN
-INDIANS MADE INCURSIONS INTO PENNSYLVANIA IN 1754, BUT
NEVER WHILE THE QUAKERS RULED-CAUSES OF THESE INCUR-
SIONS-PEACE RESTORED BY THE QUAKERS-FATHER O'LEARY'S
EULOGIUM ON THE GOVERNMENT OF WILLIAM PENN-HAPPY CON-
DITION OF PENNSYLVANIA UNDER IT-CONCLUSION.
IT has appeared, from the two preceding chapters, that William Penn
! exhibited a new model of government to posterity. While he gave to the
representatives concerned in it all the power which they themselves could
desire, he made the people, according to Edmund Burke, "as free as any in
the world." He took away from both the means of corruption, and from
himself and successors the means of tyranny and oppression. It may be
remembered, perhaps, how nobly, when he was drawing up the articles of
his constitution, he expressed himself, in a letter to R. Turner, on this
subject. "And as my understanding and inclinations," says he,
"have
been much directed to observe and to reprove mischiefs in governments, so it
is now put into my power to settle one. For the matters of liberty and
privilege I propose that which is extraordinary, and leave myself and suc-
cessors no power of doing mischief, that the will of one man may not hinder
the good of a whole country."
It has appeared, secondly, that he made universal toleration the great
corner-stone of his civil edifice, not fearing to put into the most important
offices of state all those who believed in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the
world; or, in other words, not fearing any inconvenience from the collision
of the minor though different tenets which they professed.
It has appeared, thirdly, that he abolished the punishment of death,
except in the case of wilful murder; and that he made those prisons, in
which the public safety rec uired offenders to be confined, the schools of their
reformation through the medium of industry; by which he laid the founda-
tion of the finest code of criminal law now on the whole earth.
It has appeared, again, that he conducted himself towards those aliens,
with whom he happened to be politically connected, as men and brethren,
and, therefore, as persons whose temporal and spiritual interests were to be
severally promoted. Hence, he protected the helpless, he instructed the
ignorant, and he attempted to raise them gradually in the scale of human
beings.
And it has appeared, lastly, that, after his constitution had been accepted,
sealed, signed, and put in force, he did not cleave to the constituent. parts of
364
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
it with that obstinacy with which statesmen defend, not only the laws and
edicts of their own making, but those, the dead and obsolete letters of former
times; but that he was always ready to give up, upon conviction, such of
them as were found less promotive than others of the public good.
But William Penn has shown, in other political departments, which I
have not yet noticed, an example not less amiable in itself, and not less
important to posterity. He has exhibited to the world the singular spectacle,
or has shown the possibility, of a nation maintaining its own internal police
amidst a mixture of persons of different nations and different civil and
religious opinions, and of maintaining its foreign relations also, without the
aid of a soldier or man in arms. The constable's staff was the only instru-
ment of authority in Pennsylvania for the greater part of a century, and
always while the government was in the hands of his own descendants, the
Quakers; and never was a government, as it related to the governed, main-
tained with less internal disturbance, or more decorum and order; and, as
it related to foreigners, with more harmony; for, though he was situated
among barbarous nations, never, during his administration, or that of his
proper successors, was there—a quarrel—or—a war.
He has exhibited, again, the singular spectacle, or shown the possibility,
of a great nation managing all its concerns without the intervention of an
oath. He believed that all oaths were forbidden by Jesus Christ, and, there-
fore, he did not admit them into his civil code. He allowed only of simple
affirmation; but he punished it, if false, as perjury. All affairs of the
magistracy, all affairs of the government, were conducted without an oath;
and no injury was found to accrue thereby, nor was Truth violated more in
Pennsylvania than in any other quarter of the globe.
He managed his foreign concerns in like manner. The Great Treaty
between himself and the Indians was made without an oath on either part.
"It was the only treaty," says Voltaire, "that was so ratified, and that was
never broken." This observation of Voltaire was minutely true as it related
to the Quakers, who were considered by the Indians as his descendants; and
it may be said to be true, also, as it related to the other inhabitants of the
Province; for though hostilities commenced afterwards, and this on the
part of the Indians themselves, they did not commence till the former had
become the aggressors. In the year 1751 James Logan, who has been
before mentioned in these Memoirs, died. He had been the Proprietor's
Secretary and principal agent. All treaties and public transactions with the
indians, and more especially on the subject of their lands, were directed by
him. After his death, other persons of a different character were put into
his place. Hence the Quakers were excluded from their accustomary inter-
course with the latter. From this time persons were allowed more freely to
trade with them, whose principles were not sufficiently known. Some of
these made it a practice to make them drunk, and then to rob them of all
they had. Others, who settled in their neighbourhood, encroached upon
OF WILLIAM PENN.
365
their lands. The Indians complained. Their grievances were not noticed
as before. A spirit of dissatisfaction sprung up in consequence among them.
The French took advantage of this, and encouraged them to retaliate in
another way.
A war was accordingly resolved upon in the year 1754, and
many of the frontier inhabitants suffered by it. About nine years after-
wards a new circumstance happened, which greatly irritated the Indians,
and made them still more hostile than before. Some inhabitants of Lan-
caster county, principally from the townships of Paxtang and Donnegal,
who were bigoted Presbyterians,' armed themselves, and, under the impious
notion of doing God service by extirpating the heathen from the land, fell
upon the remains of a Conestogo tribe, who were peaceable persons, living
far within the settled parts of the Province, and who were entirely innocent
as to the war, and murdered all of them in cool blood, at two different times,
both old and young, men, women, and children. The good old chief
Shehaes, who had assisted at one of the treaties with William Penn himself,
and who had been a faithful friend to the English ever since, was hatcheted
in his bed. After this they advanced, hundreds of them armed, towards
Philadelphia, threatening destruction to all who should oppose them, in
order to cut to pieces a party of friendly Indians, consisting of those of
Wyalusing, who, to the number of an hundred and forty, had thrown
themselves upon the protection of that city. Happily they were prevented
by the Philadelphians from executing their bloody design. But they had
struck such terror into the country, that no one dared to impeach the mur-
derers, or even publicly to mention their names. "The weakness of the
government," says Robert Proud, was not able to punish these murderers,
nor to chastise the insurgents: a sorrowful presage of an approaching change
in that happy constitution, which had so long afforded a peaceful asylum to the
oppressed." This dreadful massacre irritated, as I said before, to a still
greater degree, those tribes which had been already offended; and what the
consequences would have been no man can say, if the Quakers had not
thrown themselves into the gap, as it were, between the contending parties.
They formed a society among themselves, called "The Friendly Association
for Gaining and Preserving Peace with the Indians by Pacific Measures."
They raised many thousand pounds within their own society. They pur-
chased goods for presents. They applied to the Indians for a hearing.
Suffice it to say, that the latter received them as the true friends of the
great and deceased Onas; that, through their mediation, they renewed the
treaty with the government of Pennsylvania near Lake Erie; and that they
withdrew themselves for ever from the French interest from that day.
1
Having now exhibited William Penn to the reader as a Christian states-
'man in all the points of view I originally intended, I shall only add the
encomium which Father O'Leary, a Catholic, in his "Essay on Toleration,"
passed upon his government, and a very short statement, descriptive of
the happiness which those who lived under it are said to have enjoyed.
366
MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE
•
"William Penn, the great legislator of the Quakers," says the author just
mentioned, "had the success of a conqueror in establishing and defending
his colony, among savage tribes, without ever drawing the sword; the
goodness of the most benevolent rulers in treating his subjects as his own
children; and the tenderness of an universal father, who opened his arms
to all mankind, without distinction of sect or party. In his republic it was
not the religious creed, but personal merit, that entitled every member of
society to the protection and emoluments of the state."With respect to
the statement alluded to, it has been supposed that, during the seventy
years while William Penn's principles prevailed, or the Quakers had the
principal share in the government, there was no spot on the globe where,
number for number, there was so much virtue or so much true happiness as
among the inhabitants of Pennsylvania; and that, during this period, the
latter country exhibited (setting aside the early difficulties of a new colony)
a kind of little Paradise upon earth. Hence the period, from 1682 to 1754,
with the same exception, has been denominated the Golden Age of Penn-
sylvania. Nor has this name been improperly bestowed upon it, if we
examine into facts; for, in a constitution where merit only was publicly
rewarded, there must have been a constant growth of virtue, and, of course,
of happiness with it. In a constitution, also, where every man had free scope
for his exertions, and the power of enjoying the fruits of his own labour,
there must have been the constant opportunity of improving his temporal
condition. At the latter end of the period before mentioned, the Pennsyl-
vanians exported produce to the value of half a million sterling, and they
imported conveniences and comforts to the same amount. Five hundred
vessels, including ships, sloops, and schooners, left the port of Philadelphia
within the year. The land, therefore, became to them a land of plenty,
flowing, as it were, with milk and honey. And from this delightful con-
dition there were not the usual drawbacks as in other states; for, during all
this period, as I observed before, there was no war. They lived in a state
of security. Their taxes were comparatively nothing. They had no internal
broils. They suffered no persecution for religion. No one sect viewed
another with shyness. They differed as to the articles of their faith, but
they were still friends. Proud, in speaking upon this subject, says, that
William Penn was far from being actuated by the extravagant notions
which some others had entertained upon government, "in giving such an
excellent example to mankind, and showing them how happy it is possible for
men to live in the world, if they please; for, while he distinguished between
the too general abuse of power and the exertion of a just authority, he laid
a foundation for happy consequences, as manifested in the late glorious example
and prosperity of the province, to such a degree of both public and private
felicity, as hath exceeded that of most other countries, considering its age,
situation, extent, and other circumstances, that we know of in the world."
Such was the happy result of the government of William Penn. How

+
OF WILLIAM PENN.
367
es the contemplation of it render the situation of statesmen !
Awful indeed, if, having within themselves the power of disseminating so
much happiness, they have failed or neglected to dispense it! But still
more awful, if, by wars, persecution, or other unjust proceedings, they have
been the authors of unnecessary sufferings at home, or of misery to those
aliens with whom circumstances have unhappily led them to be concerned !
Let bad governors look at the contrast with which a review of their own
conduct can furnish them, and tremble! Let the good, on the other hand,
be encouraged. Let them consider the extraordinary opportunity which
their elevated stations give them-far, indeed, beyond that of all others
not only of doing good to, but of being handed down to posterity among
the greatest benefactors of, the human race; and, above all, let them con-
sider that, by discharging their great and extensive stewardships faithfully,
they may exchange their earthly for incorruptible crowns of glory at the
resurrection of the just.
1

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