1670.]

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tion of the pamphlet he was discharged from the Tower, his father's influence with the Duke of York having interested that nobleman in his

cause.

The imprisonment in the Tower appears to have reconciled his father, and to have procured the admiral's high respect for a son who could so manfully contend for his principles. William Penn again returned to Ireland, to take charge of the family estates, and actively interested himself in the cause which he had espoused. Returning to England, he was once more arrested, in September, 1670, under the "Conventicle Act." He defended himself skilfully before the Old Bailey Sessions, and the jury refusing to convict, after being absent three days, returned with a verdict of "Not Guilty." The court, in an undignified passion, fined jurors and defendants "forty marks a man" for contempt of court, and committed them to Newgate until paid. William Penn's father caused his fine to be discharged, and summoned him to his bedside to receive his dying blessing.

The trial, to which our limits permit us only briefly to refer, was an important one, as leading to a more just appreciation of the rights of jurors and of defendants. Again, in the same year, he was arrested; and as he had shown himself, on a former occasion, too well acquainted with the law to be corrected under it, the aim of his persecutors was at this time reached by ten

dering him the oath of allegiance. This he refused to take, not that he refused to acknowledge his allegiance, but because to take an oath was against his principles. He was sent to Newgate for six months, and occupied himself as usual with controversial writings and appeals to the authorities. The next ten years of his life were spent in active employment. He visited the continent with George Fox and Robert Barclay; he preached in various parts of England and Ireland; he memorialized Parliament in behalf of the Quakers; and appeared before a committee of the House of Commons to support his petition, that the word of a Friend might be taken instead of his oath, under the penalties of perjury. In many other modes, as he gained years and experience, he was perfecting himself for what he called the "Holy Experiment," namely, the foundation of a government in which perfect toleration should prevent religious persecution, and well-defined civil rights secure to all men equality.

Not the least useful part of his experience was the arrangement of the affairs of John Fenwicke and Edward Byllinge-both members of the Society of Friends. They were proprietors with Sir George Carteret of the colony of New Jersey; Sir George owning the undivided half of the province. The two Friends had a business difference, which William Penn was called upon

1676.]

LIFE OF PENN.

39

as arbitrator to adjust. Byllinge becoming embarrassed, Penn, with others, was named his trustee. The trustees having arranged a partition of the colony with Sir George Carteret, West New Jersey was largely peopled with the members of the society; and William Penn obtaining practical experience in the settlement of new colonies, had his thoughts turned anew to the pleasant dream of his youth—the establishment of a people with full liberty of conscience and equality of rights.

Such was the early education of "The Founder." Taught practically the value of religious liberty by persecution, and of civil liberty by the anarchy to which his early years were witness, and experiencing in his own life the incongruity of the union of Church and State, he had large desires for the realization of the possibility of escaping these evils under a new order of society. His tendency to theorize was balanced by a various and practical education. A courtier by position; a theologian by taste, improved by good instruction under the direction of Amyralt; the friend of Locke and Algernon Sidney; a good student of the laws of his country; a traveller over the principal countries of Europe; an able manager of estates and of colonies; an acute observer of human nature; a man of sincerity, philanthropy, and piety, and yet, so far as conscience would permit, a man of

skilful expedients, WILLIAM PENN possessed high requisites for the labour he undertook. Like other philanthropists, however, he accomplished more for the world than for himself. It is the penalty of those who win for others to lose for themselves.

CHAPTER II.

Penn's position at the court of Charles II.—His personal relations with all shades of faith and politics-Algernon Sidney The royal grant of a province to William Penn-Abstract of the charter-Its resemblance to that of Maryland-Nature of Penn's tenure-Character of his powers-Mistake in his terms of sale-His estimate of the grant-Philanthropic motives-Markham sent to America-King's proclamation, and Penn's letter to the inhabitants of his province-Lands offered for sale-Terms-Penn's conditions with purchasers -Commissioners sent over-Their instructions-Site of a town-Letter of Penn to the Indians-Penn refuses to sell a monopoly—Notice of the Society of Free Traders—Their city property-Society Hill.

ON his death-bed Admiral Penn secured the interest of the Duke of York for his son William. Both of the royal brothers appear to have entertained a high respect for Admiral Penn, and were ready to promise any thing which he desired. And they could the easier keep their pledge to William Penn, since what the young man desired neither impoverished the exchequer

1681.]

LIFE OF PENN.

41

nor interfered with government patronage. He was the suitor neither for place nor pension for himself or his friends. The favours he asked were in behalf of the great principle of tolerance, and freedom of thought and of worship; and his plea availed the more that the inclination of Charles and James to the Latin church put them also in the position of pleaders for tolerance. What they granted to William Penn in behalf of Quakers and other Protestant dissenters, hæd a beneficial tendency toward the disfranchised. members of the Roman communion; and Penn thus became liable to the charge of being a Jesuit. We need not say now how unfounded was this allegation, though it was made a contemporary means of no small annoyance to him. The Duke of Ormond, whose friendship to young Penn we have had occasion to notice, the Earl of Orrery, who released him from prison at Cork, Lord Arran, and others of Penn's friends, were also adherents of Rome. But, on the other hand, Tillotson and Stillingfleet, and other eminent men in the Church of England, and several of the leading Protestant dissenters, knew and loved the man. In his personal intercourse he stood in friendly relations with whigs, tories, and republicans; though his political sympathies, when it was necessary to avow them, identified him with the latter party. He earnestly acted in behalf of Algernon Sidney, in that gentleman's