William Penn.

BORN A. D. 1644.-DIED A. D. 1718

WILLIAM PENN was born in London, in the parish of St Catharine, on Tower-hill, on the 14th day of October, 1644. He sprang from an old and honourable family, which had resided for four or five centuries at Penn in Buckinghamshire. His father was the well-known Admiral Sir William Penn, who distinguished himself during the time of the commonwealth, and still more, subsequent to the restoration, as an able and skilful naval commander, and received the honour of knighthood after the famous sea-fight with the Dutch in 1665.

William Penn was sent by his father to the free grammar school at Chigwell in Essex, which was but a short distance from Wanstead, where the admiral resided. When about eleven years of age he is said to have been surprised one evening, when twilight had gathered over him, as he sat alone in his chamber to study, by a certain external glory, and, as it were, preternatural, internal lifting up of the soul, which suddenly fell on him. This was in all probability the result of a high-wrought imagination, but it seriously impressed his mind with the great concerns of religion, and induced a belief that he was especially called by God to a holy life. At twelve he was sent to a school in London, and at fifteen he was entered a gentleman-commoner at Christchurch, Oxford. Here he remained for some time, prosecuting his studies with zeal, and forming friendships with several men of parts and distinction, among whom were Robert Spencer, afterwards earl of Sunderland, and John Locke. At this time one Thomas Loe, a layman, who had belonged to the university of Oxford, but had afterwards become a quaker, was in the habit of preaching to the students, and with such effect, that several of them began to withdraw themselves from the established worship, and to hold meetings of their own. Penn was one of the seceders, and his bold, decisive temper, made him their leader. An unlucky event brought them into trouble. By an order from the king the wearing of the surplice was resumed, to the great delight of many, but to the chagrin of Penn and his associates, who beheld in it a flagrant violation of the simplicity and purity of the christian religion. Their zeal was at length roused to such a pitch, that, by concert, they fell on every one who ventured to assume this rag of popery, and tore it over their heads. For this outrage Penn and some others were expelled.

Returning home, he found scanty comfort.

His father, who had conceived high hopes of his son's rise in life, was mortified by his recent conduct, and by the strictness and asceticism of his opinions. vain trial of argument, he proceeded to those

"Apostolic blows and knocks

Which prove a doctrine orthodox;"

After a

and finding even these fail, he turned his son out of doors. Thus to part with an only son, was more than human nature, at least more than the admiral's nature could long endure, and, after a brief struggle,

young Penn was readmitted to his father's affection. It was now thought that it would be much easier to entice, than to drive away, his religious feelings, and, for that purpose, he was sent in 1662 to France. Here, after visiting the capital, he resorted to Saumur, that he might enjoy the instructions of the erudite Moses Amyrault, under whom he read the fathers, and studied the majority of the theological questions then most disputed. He returned to England, by way of Italy, and, in 1665, with more polish and greater learning, but unchanged sentiments on the all-important concerns of religion, he went down to his former residence in the country. His father, having failed in this his first design, next tried the expedient of sending him into Ireland to manage some estates belonging to the admiral in that country. But it seemed as if some strong destiny were urging him into a fixed and determined career, for, as in France he had fallen in with Amyrault, so here he met with his spiritual father, Thomas Loe, who was still labouring in his vocation as a preacher. From this man he heard a sermon on that striking declaration, "There is a faith which overcomes the world, and there is a faith which is overcome by the world." So strong was the impression produced on him by this discourse, that he resolved henceforward to cast in his lot openly with the Society of Friends, or, as they had already begun to be termed, from a silly joke of a country magistrate, quakers. That this step was the result of strong convictions, and the act of a mind free from fear, self-interest, baseness, and all the more degrading passions, few will doubt, who, remembering on the one hand that Penn was the only son of a father high in reputation, and possessing extraordinary powers of advancing his son's interests; and, on the other, that the quakers are of all sects the most despised and persecuted. Whether it was the act of a wise and well-balanced mind, we leave to be inferred from some remarks we shall have to offer, ere we conclude, on the tenets of the early quakers.

He had not long joined his new friends, before he was thrown into prison on account of his belief. On his release, he was summoned home by his father, who had received tidings of the still more decided shape his puritanism had now taken, and who endeavoured to prevail on him to abandon his principles. All was useless; so rigid indeed were his notions, that although, after a long struggle, the only concession demanded from him was, that he would sit without his hat when in the presence of his father, of the king, or of the duke of York, he refused obedience, and was consequently once more set adrift on the world. This second disinheritance abated not his heart or hope. In 1668 he came out as a preacher in the Society of Friends, and in the same year stood forth in print as the champion of the peculiar doctrines he had espoused. It is not our intention to follow him through the varied scenes of the life on which he had now entered. Our object, in the limited space which is all we can fairly claim, must be to give as faithful and lively a picture of the man as is possible, without narrating all the turns and changes of his lot. We find him steadily pressing onwards in the high career on which he had entered, though scorn, oppression, bonds, and even death itself beset his path. When free, he proclaimed the new light which, as he thought, had dawned on the world, and when imprisoned, his pen was equally busy in its propagation. It is pleasing to know that his father gradually became reconciled to him, and though

he never embraced his son's views, at length tolerated them. In 1670 he was imprisoned for preaching in Gracechurch-street, and was brought to trial before the lord-mayor and recorder. The narrative of this trial

is one of intense interest. We pity any one who can read it without feeling his blood boil with indignation at the brutality of the court to this innocent and high-minded man. Penn displayed a knowledge of the rights of an Englishman-a steadiness in asserting them, and a noble calmness, which united, amount to something very like sublimity. The jury, though shamefully threatened by the court, refused for some time to bring in any other verdict than the unmeaning one, "Guilty of speaking in Gracechurch-street." Being repeatedly sent back to reconsider their verdict, at last, after two days and two nights spent without refreshment, undaunted by the frowns of a powerful court, they unanimously brought in a verdict of" Not guilty." It will scarcely be believed, that, even after this acquittal, Penn was detained in prison for certain pretended fines, and was only released through his father's influence, privately exerted. In the same year his father died, completely reconciled to his son, whom he had always loved, and now respected for his sincerity and decision. By this event Penn became master of an ample fortune, but it did not in the least diminish his zeal. In 1672, having returned from a tour through Holland and Germany, undertaken to proclaim the doctrines of his sect, he married, and settled at Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire. In this and the several succeeding years his time was spent chiefly in preaching and in writing. His writings are many of them controversial, and would hardly repay perusal, but some of them, written to assert the right of man to worship his Creator as conscience dictates, breathe noble sentiments, and will remain instances of the degree by which some minds outrun their age. In 1676, Penn, in consequence of the misfortunes of a friend, became the manager of a large tract of land in the new world, and to which he gave the name of West New Jersey. In the difficult employment thus devolved on him, he showed his accustomed ability. In 1677 he removed from Rickmansworth to Worminghurst in Sussex, and in the same year he undertook a missionary tour through Holland and Germany, where, as the fruits of his former labours, watered by subsequent travellers, a body of quakers had grown up. In this journey he met with much that was encouraging. To use his own phrase, "the gospel was preached, the dead were raised, and the living comforted." He was received with great respect by several royal and noble persons, and wherever he proclaimed his errand was heard with attention.

Passing over some events of minor importance, we come, in 1680, to the commencement of the undertaking which has immortalized Penn's character. His attention had already been drawn, by his management of West New Jersey, to the hope of escape which the new world presented from the misery and oppression of the old. For a great number of years a debt had been due to his father from the court, no part of which had ever been repaid. Penn offered, in lieu of this debt, to accept a vast tract of land, bounded on the east by the Delaware river, on the south by Maryland, and extending northwards as far as was plantable. After some difficulty, which arose almost entirely from dislike to Penu's religious opinions, the grant of these lands was made, and by a charter, dated March 4th, 1681, he was constituted full and

absolute proprietor of the whole tract for which he had solicited. By the king's especial command, the territory was called Pennsylvania, in honour of the owner. There are few more pleasing or interesting pages in the history of mankind than those which detail Penn's management of the important tract committed to him. Having made all his arrangements, he promulgated a frame of government for the new province, and it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to point out a wiser, more enlightened, or more statesmanlike system of social policy. The preface to it is full of sound wisdom. "I know," he says, "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." His summary

of the objects he had in view while laying down the frame of a government, is admirable. "We have, with reverence to God and good conscience to men, to the best of our skill, contrived and composed the frame and laws of this government, to the great end of government; to support power in reverence with the people, and to secure the people 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."

The frame of government consisted of twenty-four articles, by which the power was lodged in the governor and freemen of the province. These were to form two bodies,-a provincial council consisting of seventy-two members, elected by the freemen; a third of these went out every year. To this assembly was intrusted the entire management of the province, and with them all bills originated. The second body, named the general assembly, was to consist, for the first year, of all the freemen, and subsequently of two hundred annually elected. The only power possessed by this lower house was that of rejecting bills sent to them by the upper. The governor was perpetual president of the provincial council, but without any other distinction than that of possessing a treble vote. All elections were by ballot.

Penn now determined to embark on a visit to his possessions, but, before doing so, he obtained from the duke of York a complete renunciation of all claims on Pennsylvania, and from the crown, a farther grant of a tract which he named the Territories, lying contiguous to his own province. In October, 1682, he landed at Newcastle, and was received with every mark of respect by the old possessors of the soil. His first act was to summon the general assembly, by which an act of union, annexing the Territories to the Province, an act of settlement relative to the form of the constitution,-a bill of naturalization, and a number of laws, in addition to those already enacted by the governor, were passed. Among these laws were some admirable regulations. Perfect liberty of conscience was enacted for all who acknowledged a Governor of the universe, and an obligation to observe peace and justice in society, all who professed faith in Jesus Christ, who were of unstained character, and above one and twenty, were to be electors,―

the pleadings and processes in courts of law were to be as short and cheap as possible, there were only two capital crimes, treason and murder, and "all prisons were to be considered as workshops, where the offenders might be industriously, soberly, and morally employed." The assembly having broken up, he proceeded to a solemn treaty with the Indians, at which he confirmed the promises of peace and amity he had before made to them, and received their pledges of friendship in return. All the intercourse between them was to be conducted on principles of the strictest justice, and it is gratifying to find that they lived for many years afterwards in perfect concord. 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." His next employment was to found a city, to which he gave the name of Philadelphia, in token of the spirit of peace on earth and good will to all men, which animated him in his undertaking. All things went on prosperously. Many of his own sect, wearied out by persecution, sought a shelter in these distant wilds, which, if they did not exhibit the plenty and comforts of their native land, were still more ignorant of the vice and the bitter oppression which had covered that land with mourning. In the following year, the council and assembly again met, and passed a number of salutary regulations. Trial by jury was also established; and thus were the foundations laid of a free and enlightened empire.

Penn now turned his thoughts homewards. The accounts brought of the persecution for religious belief were daily more distressing, and he hoped by his influence with the court to procure some mitigation. Having provided for the government of the country in his absence, he set sail, and landed in England early in October, 1684. Soon after his arrival Charles died, and the duke of York, with whom Penn had always maintained considerable intimacy, ascended the throne. If there be any part of Penn's life on which we are inclined to look with feelings of regret, it is that on which we now enter. We do not mean to deny his right of profiting by the favourable disposition of James towards him, but a wise man will always be careful not to give to the world the slightest pretext for supposing that he sanctions the conduct of the flagitious. That Penn was thus careful, few will affirm. He was one of the most constant attendants at the court,-was repeatedly consulted by the king, and indeed was so noted for possessing the royal favour, that, to use the words of one of his early biographers, "his house and gates were daily thronged by a numerous train of clients and suppliants--desiring him to present their addresses to his majesty." In 1686 he had the indiscretion to undertake a commission from the king to the prince of Orange,―a step which gave some confirmation to the report already widely circulated, that he was a disguised Jesuit. We need hardly say that the charge was to the last degree absurd. Penn's sole object was the establishment of religious liberty. We admit he was wofully mistaken when he supposed the king to be a friend to freedom of conscience, for there never sat on the English throne a more narrowminded bigot. But if Penn erred, he was not alone in his error. The united body of quakers presented an address to his majesty, thanking him for 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