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PENN, WILLIAM (1644-1718)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 104 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PENN, See also:WILLIAM (1644-1718) , See also:English Quaker and founder of See also:Pennsylvania, son of See also:Admiral See also:Sir William Penn (1621–1670) and See also:Margaret See also:Jasper, a Dutch See also:lady, was See also:born at See also:Tower See also:Hill, See also:London, on the 14th of See also:October 1644. During his See also:father's See also:absence at See also:sea he lived at See also:Wanstead in See also:Essex, and went to school at See also:Chigwell See also:close by, in which places he was brought under strong Puritan influences. Like many See also:children of sensitive temperament, he had times of spiritual excitement; when about twelve he was " suddenly surprised with an inward comfort, and, as he thought, an See also:external See also:glory in the See also:room, which gave rise to religious emotions, during which he had the strongest conviction of the being of a See also:God, and that the soul of See also:man was capable of enjoying communication with Him." Upon the See also:death of See also:Cromwell, Penn's father, who had served the See also:Protector because there was no other career open, remained with his See also:family on the Irish estates which Cromwell had given him, of the value of £30o a See also:year. On the resignation of See also:Richard Cromwell he at once declared for the See also:king and went to the See also:court in See also:Holland, where he was received into favour and knighted; and at the elections for the See also:convention See also:parliament he was returned for See also:Weymouth. Meanwhile See also:young Penn studied under a private See also:tutor on Tower Hill until, in October 1660, he was entered as a See also:gentleman commoner at See also:Christ See also:Church. He appears in the same year to have contributed to the Threnodia, a collection of elegies on the death of the young See also:duke of See also:Gloucester. The rigour with which the See also:Anglican statutes were revived, and the Puritan heads of colleges supplanted, roused the spirit of resistance at See also:Oxford to the uttermost. With this spirit Penn, who was on See also:familiar terms with See also:John See also:Owen (1616–1683), and who had already fallen under the See also:influence of See also:Thomas Loe the Quaker, then at Oxford, actively sympathized. He and others refused to attend See also:chapel and church service, and were fined in consequence. How far his leaving the university resulted from this cannot be clearly ascertained. See also:Anthony See also:Wood has nothing regarding the cause of his leaving, but says that he stayed at Oxford for two years, and that he was noted for proficiency in manly See also:sports. There is no doubt that in See also:January 1662 his father was anxious to remove him to See also:Cambridge, and consulted See also:Pepys on the subject; and in later years he speaks of being " banished " the See also:college, and of being whipped, beaten and turned out of doors on his return to his father, in the anger of the latter at his avowed Quakerism.

A reconciliation, however, was effected; and Penn was sent to See also:

France to forget this folly. The See also:plan was for a See also:time successful. Penn appears to have ' entered more or less into the gaieties of the court of See also:Louis XIV., and while there to have become acquainted with See also:Robert See also:Spencer, afterwards See also:earl of See also:Sunderland, and with Dorothy, See also:sister to Algernon See also:Sidney. What, however, is more certain is that he somewhat later placed himself under the tuition of See also:Moses See also:Amyraut, the celebrated See also:president of the See also:Protestant college of See also:Saumur, and at that time the exponent of liberal Calvinism, from whom he gained the patristic knowledge which is so prominent in his controversial writings. He afterwards travelled in See also:Italy, returning to See also:England in See also:August 1664, with " a See also:great See also:deal, if not too much, of the vanity of the See also:French garb and affected manner of speech and gait." 1 Until the outbreak of the See also:plague Penn was a student of See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn. For a few days also he served on the See also:staff of his father—now great See also:captain See also:commander—and was by him sent back in See also:April 1665 to See also:Charles with despatches. Returning after the See also:naval victory off See also:Lowestoft in See also:June, Admiral Penn. found that his son had again become settled in seriousness and Quakerism. To bring him once more to views of See also:life not inconsistent with court preferment, the admiral sent him in See also:February 1666 with introductions to See also:Ormonde's pure but brilliant court in See also:Ireland, and to See also:manage his See also:estate in See also:Cork See also:round Shannangarry See also:Castle, his See also:title to which was disputed. Penn appears also later in the year to have been " clerk of the See also:cheque " at See also:Kinsale, of the castle and fort of which his father had the command. When the See also:mutiny See also:broke out in See also:Carrickfergus Penn volunteered for service, and acted under See also:Arran so as to gain considerable reputation. The result was that in May 1666 Ormonde offered him his father's See also:company of See also:foot, but, for some unexplained See also:reason, the admiral demurred to this arrangement. It was at this time that the well-known portrait was painted of the great Quaker in a suit of See also:armour; and it was at this time, too, that the See also:conversion, begun when he was a boy by Thomas Loe in Ireland, was completed at the same See also:place 0y the same agency.2 On the 3rd of See also:September 1667 Penn attended a See also:meeting of See also:Quakers in Cork, at which he assisted to expel a soldier who had disturbed the meeting.

He was in consequence, with others See also:

present, sent to See also:prison by the magistrates. From prison he wrote to See also:Lord See also:Orrery, the president of See also:Munster, a See also:letter, in which he first publicly makes a claim for perfect freedom of See also:conscience. He was immediately released, and at once returned to his father in London, with the distinctive marks of Quakerism strong upon him. Penn now became a See also:minister of the See also:denomination, and at once entered upon controversy and authorship. His first See also:book, Truth Exalted, was violent and aggressive in the extreme. The same offensive See also:personality is shown in The See also:Guide Mistaken, a See also:tract written in See also:answer to John Clapham's Guide to the True See also:Religion. It was at this time, too, that he appealed, not unsuccessfully, to See also:Buckingham, who on See also:Clarendon's fall was posing as the protector of the Dissenters, to use his efforts to procure See also:parliamentary See also:toleration. Penn's first public discussion was with Thomas See also:Vincent, a London Presbyterian minister, who had reflected on the " damnable " doctrines of the Quakers. The discussion, which had turned chiefly upon the See also:doctrine of the Trinity, ended uselessly, and Penn at once published The Sandy See also:Foundation Shaken, a tract of ability sufficient to excite Pepys's astonishment, in which orthodox views were so offensively attacked that Penn was placed in the Tower, where he remained for nearly nine months. The imputations upon his opinions and See also:good citizenship, made as well by Dissenters as by the Church, he repelled in Innocency with her Open See also:Face, in which he asserts his full belief in the divinity of Christ, the See also:atonement, and See also:justification through faith, though insisting on the See also:necessity of good See also:works. It was now, too, that he published the most important of his books, No See also:Cross, No See also:Crown, which contained an able See also:defence of the Quaker doctrines and practices, and a scathing attack on the loose and unchristian lives of the See also:clergy. Pepys, August 30.

1664. 2 See also:

Webb, The Penns and Penningtons (1867), p. 194. While completely refusing to recant Penn addressed a letter to See also:Arlington in See also:July 1669, in which, on grounds of religious freedom, he asked him to interfere. It is noteworthy, as showing the views then predominant, that he was almost at once set at See also:liberty. An informal reconciliation now took place with his father, who had been impeached through the See also:jealousy of See also:Rupert and See also:Monk (in April 1668), and whose conduct in the operations of 1665 he had publicly vindicated; and Penn was again sent on family business to Ireland. At the See also:desire of his father, whose See also:health was fast failing, Penn returned to London in 1670. Having found the usual place of meeting in Gracechurch See also:Street closed by soldiers. Penn, as a protest, preached to the See also:people in the open street. With William See also:Mead he was at once arrested and indicted at the Old See also:Bailey on the 1st of September for See also:preaching to an unlawful, seditious and riotous See also:assembly, which had met together with force and arms. The Conventicle See also:Act not touching their See also:case, the trial which followed, and which may be read at length in Penn's People's See also:Ancient and Just Liberties Asserted, was a notable one in the See also:history of trial by See also:jury. With extreme courage and skill Penn exposed the illegality of the See also:prosecution, while the jury, for the first time, asserted the right of juries to decide in opposition to the ruling of the court.

They brought in a See also:

verdict declaring Penn and Mead " guilty of speaking in Gracechurch Street," but refused to add " to an unlawful assembly "; then, as the pressure upon them increased, they first acquitted Mead, while returning their See also:original verdict upon Penn, and then, when that verdict was not admitted, returned their final answer " not guilty " for both. The court fined the jurymen 40 marks each for their See also:contumacy, and, in See also:default of See also:payment, imprisoned them, whereupon they vindicated and established for ever the right they had claimed in an See also:action (known as Bushell's case from the name of one of the jurymen) before the court of See also:common pleas, when all twelve See also:judges unanimously declared their imprisonment illegal. Penn himself had been fined for not removing his See also:hat in court, had been imprisoned on his refusal to pay, and had earnestly requested his family not to pay for him. The See also:fine, however, was settled anonymously, and he was released in time to be present at his father's death on the 16th of September 1670, at the See also:early See also:age of See also:forty-nine. Penn now found himself in See also:possession of a See also:fortune of £1500 a year, and a claim on the Crown for £16,000, See also:lent to Charles II. by his father. Upon his See also:release Penn at once plunged into controversy, 'challenging a Baptist minister named See also:Jeremiah Ives, at High See also:Wycombe, to a public dispute and, according to the Quaker See also:account, easily defeating him. No account is forthcoming from the other See also:side. See also:Hearing at Oxford that students who attended See also:Friends' meeting were rigorously used, he wrote a vehement and abusive remonstrance to the See also:vice-See also:chancellor in defence of religious freedom. This found still more remarkable expression in the Seasonable See also:Caveat against Popery (See also:Jan. 1671). In the beginning of 1671 Penn was again arrested for preaching in See also:Wheeler Street meeting-See also:house by Sir J. See also:Robinson, the See also:lieutenant of the Tower, formerly lord See also:mayor, and known as a brutal and bigoted churchman.

Legal See also:

proof being wanting of any See also:breach of the Conventicle Act, and the Oxford or Five Mile Act also proving inapplicable, Robinson, who had some See also:special cause of enmity against Penn, urged upon him the See also:oath of See also:allegiance. This, of course, the Quaker would not take, and consequently was imprisoned for six months. During this imprisonment Penn wrote several works, the most important being The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience (Feb. 1671), a See also:noble defence of See also:complete toleration. Upon his release he started upon a missionary See also:journey through Holland and See also:Germany; at See also:Emden he founded a Quaker society, and established an intimate friendship with the princess See also:palatine See also:Elizabeth. Upon his return See also:home in the See also:spring of 1672 Penn married Gulielma Springett, daughter of See also:Mary Pennington by her first See also:husband, Sir William Springett; she appears to have been equally remarkable for beauty, devotion to her husband, and firmness to the religious principles which she had adopted when little more than a See also:child.' He now settled at See also:Rickmansworth in See also:Hertfordshire, and gave himself up to controversial See also:writing. To this year, 1672, belong the See also:Treatise on Oaths and England's Present See also:Interest Considered. In the year 1673 Penn was still more active. He secured the release of See also:George See also:Fox, addressed the Quakers in Holland and Germany, carried " on public controversies with Thomas See also:Hicks, a Baptist, and John Faldo, an See also:Independent, and published his treatise on the See also:Christian Quaker and his Divine Testimony Vindicated, the Discourse of the See also:General See also:Rule of Faith and Practice,2 Reasons against Railing (in answer to Hicks), Counterfeit See also:Christianity Detected, and a Just Rebuke to One-and-twenty Learned Divines (an answer to Faldo and to Quakerism no Christianity). His last public controversy was in 1675 with Richard See also:Baxter, in which, of course, each party claimed the victory. At this point Penn's connexion with See also:America begins. The See also:province of New See also:Jersey, comprising the See also:country "between the See also:Hudson and See also:Delaware See also:rivers on the See also:east and See also:west, had been granted in See also:March 1663-1664 by Charles II. to his See also:brother; See also:James in turn had in June of the same year leased it to Lord See also:Berkeley and Sir G.

See also:

Carteret in equal shares. By a See also:deed, dated 18th of March 1673–1674, John See also:Fenwick, a Quaker, bought one of the shares, that of Lord Berkeley (See also:Stoughton erroneously says Carteret's) in See also:trust for See also:Edward Byllinge, also a Friend, for £See also:i000. This See also:sale was confirmed by James, after the second Dutch See also:War, on the 6th of August 1680. Disputes having arisen between Fenwick and Byllinge, Penn acted as arbitrator; and then, Byllinge being in See also:money difficulties, and being compelled to sell his interest in See also:order to satisfy his creditors, Penn was added, at their See also:request, to two of themselves, as trustee. The disputes were settled by Fenwick receiving ten out of the See also:hundred parts into which the province was divided,3 with a considerable sum of money, the remaining ninety parts being afterwards put up for sale. Fenwick sold his ten parts to two other Friends, Eldridge and See also:Warner, who thus, with Penn and the other two, became masters of West Jersey, West New Jersey, or New West Jersey, as it was indifferently called.' The five proprietors appointed three commissioners, with instructions dated from London the 6th of August 1676, to See also:settle disputes with Fenwick (who had bought fresh See also:land from the See also:Indians, upon which See also:Salem was built, Penn being himself one of the settlers there) and to See also:purchase new territories, and to build a See also:town—New See also:Beverley, or See also:Burlington, being the result. For the new See also:colony Penn See also:drew up a constitution, under the title of " Concessions." The greatest care is taken to make this constitution " as near as may be conveniently to the See also:primitive, ancient and fundamental See also:laws of the nation of England." But a democratic See also:element is introduced, and the new principle, of perfect religious freedom stands in the first place (ch. xvi.). With regard to the liberty of the subject, no one might be condemned in life, liberty or estate, except by a jury of twelve, and the right of challenging was granted to the uttermost (ch. xvii.). Imprisonment for See also:debt was not abolished (as See also:Dixon states), but was reduced to a minimum (ch. xviii.), while See also:theft was punished by twofold restitution either in value or in labour to that amount (ch. See also:xxviii.). The provisions of ch. xix. deserve special See also:notice. All causes were to go before three justices, with a jury. " They, the said justices, shall pronounce such See also:judgment as they shall receive from, and be directed by the said twelve men, in whom only the judgment resides, and not otherwise.

And in case of their neglect and refusal, that then one of the twelve, by consent of the See also:

rest, pronounce their own judgment as the justices should have done." The justices and constables, moreover, were For a very charming account of her, and the whole Pennington connexion, see Maria Webb's The Penns and Penningtons. 2 See on this Stoughton's Penn, p. 113. 3 The deed by which Fenwick and Byllinge conveyed West New Jersey to Penn, Lawry and See also:Nicholas See also:Lucas is dated the loth of February 1674–1675. The See also:line of See also:partition was " from the east side of Little See also:Egg See also:Harbour, straight See also:north, through the country, to the utmost See also:branch of Delaware See also:River."elected by the people, the former for two years only (ch. xli.). Suitors might plead in See also:person, and the courts were public (ch. xxii.). Questions between Indians and settlers were to be arranged by a mixed jury (ch. See also:xxv.). An assembly was to meet yearly, consisting of a hundred persons, chosen by the inhabitants, freeholders and proprietors, one for each See also:division of the province. The See also:election was to be by See also:ballot, and each member was to receive a See also:shilling a See also:day from his division, " that thereby he may be known to be the servant of the people." The executive See also:power was to be in the hands of ten commissioners5 chosen by the assembly. Such a constitution soon attracted large See also:numbers of Quakers to West Jersey. It was shortly before these occurrences that Penn inherited through his wife the estate of Worminghurst in See also:Sussex, whither he removed from Rickmansworth. He now (July 25, 1677) undertook a second missionary journey to the See also:continent along with George Fox, Robert See also:Barclay and George See also:Keith.

He visited particularly See also:

Rotterdam and all the Holland towns, renewed his intimacy with the princess Elizabeth at Herwerden, and, under considerable privations, travelled through See also:Hanover, Germany, the See also:lower See also:Rhine and the electorate of See also:Brandenburg, returning by See also:Bremen and the See also:Hague. It is worthy of recollection that the See also:Germantown (See also:Philadelphia) settlers from Kirchheim, one of the places which responded in an especial degree to Penn's teaching, are noted as the first who declared it wrong for Christians to hold slaves. Penn reached England again on the 24th of October. He tried to gain the insertion in the See also:bill for the See also:relief of Protestant Dissenters of a clause enabling Friends to affirm instead of taking the oath, and twice addressed the House of See also:Commons' See also:committee with considerable eloquence and effect. The bill, however, See also:fell to the ground at the sudden See also:prorogation. In 1678 the popish terror came to a See also:head, and to See also:calm and guide Friends in the prevailing excitement Penn wrote his See also:Epistle to the Children of See also:Light in this See also:Generation. A far more important publication was An Address to Protestants of all Persuasions, by William Penn, Protestant, in 1679; a powerful exposition of the doctrine of pure tolerance and a protest against the enforcement of opinions as articles of faith. This was succeeded, at the general election which followed the See also:dissolution of the See also:pensionary parliament, by an important See also:political manifesto, England's Great Interest in the Choice of this New Parliament, in which he insisted on the following points: the See also:discovery and See also:punishment of the See also:plot, the See also:impeachment of corrupt ministers and councillors, the punishment of " pensioners," the enactment of frequent parliaments, See also:security from popery and See also:slavery, and ease for Protestant Dissenters. Next came One Project for the Good of England, perhaps the most pungent of all his political writings. But he was not merely active with his See also:pen. He was at this time in close intimacy with Algernon Sidney, who stood successively for See also:Guildford and Bramber. In each case, owing in a great degree to Penn's eager advocacy, Sidney was elected, only to have his elections annulled by court influence.

Toleration for Dissenters seemed as far off as ever. Encouraged by his success in the West Jersey province, Penn again turned his thoughts to America. In repayment of the debt mentioned above he now asked from the Crown, at a See also:

council held on the 24th of June 1680, for " a tract of land in America north of See also:Maryland, bounded on the east by the Delaware, on the west limited as Maryland [i.e. by New Jersey], northward as far as plantable "; this latter limit Penn explained to be " three degrees northwards." This formed a tract of 300 M. by 16o, of extreme fertility, See also:mineral See also:wealth and richness of all kinds. Disputes with James, duke of See also:York, and with Lord See also:Baltimore, who had rights over Maryland, delayed the See also:matter until the 14th of March 1681, when the See also:grant received the royal See also:signature, and Penn was made See also:master of the province of Pennsylvania. His own account of the name is that he suggested " Sylvania," that the king added the " Penn " in See also:honour of his father, and that, although he ' Penn's letter of the 26th of August 1676 says twelve, and See also:Clark-son has followed this; but the Concessions, which were not assented to by the inhabitants until the 3rd of March 1676-1677, say ten. strenuously objected and even tried to bribe the secretaries, he could not get the name altered. It should be added that early in 1682 Carteret, See also:grandson of the original proprietor, transferred his rights in East Jersey to Penn and eleven associates, who soon afterwards conveyed one-See also:half of their interest to the earl of See also:Perth and eleven others. It is uncertain to what extent Penn retained his interest in West and East Jersey, and when it ceased. The two provinces were See also:united under one See also:governor in 1699, and Penn was a proprietor in 1700. In 1702 the See also:government of New Jersey was surrendered to the Crown. By the See also:charter for Pennsylvania Penn was made proprietary of the province. He was supreme governor; he had the power of making laws with the See also:advice, assent and approbation of the freemen, of appointing See also:officers, and of granting pardons.

The laws were to contain nothing contrary to English See also:

law, with a saving to the Crown and the privy council in the case of appeals. Parliament was to be supreme in all questions of See also:trade and See also:commerce; the right to See also:levy taxes and customs was reserved to England; an See also:agent to represent Penn was to reside in London; neglect on the See also:part of Penn was to See also:lead to the passing of the government to the Crown (which event actually took place in 1692); no See also:correspondence might be carried on with countries at war with Great See also:Britain. The importunity of the See also:bishop of London extorted the right to appoint Anglican ministers, should twenty members of the colony desire it, thus securing the very thing which Penn was anxious to avoid—the recognition of the principle of an See also:establishment. Having appointed See also:Colonel (Sir William) See also:Markham, his See also:cousin, as See also:deputy, and having in October sent out three commissioners to manage his affairs until his arrival, Penn proceeded to draw up proposals to adventurers, with an account of the resources of the colony. He negotiated, too, with James and Lord Baltimore with the view, ultimately successful, of freeing the mouth of the Delaware, wrote to the Indians in conciliatory terms, and encouraged the formation of companies to See also:work the See also:infant colony both in England and Germany, especially the " See also:Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania," to whom he sold 20,000 acres, absolutely refusing, however, to grant any monopolies. In July he drew up a See also:body of " conditions and concessions." This constitution, savouring strongly of See also:Harrington's Oceana, was framed, it is said, in consultation with Sidney, but the statement is doubtful. Until the council of seventy-two (chosen by universal See also:suffrage every three years, twenty-four retiring each year), and the assembly (chosen annually) were duly elected, a body of provisional laws was added. It was in the midst of this extreme activity that Penn was made a See also:Fellow of the Royal Society. Leaving his family behind him, Penn sailed with a hundred comrades from Deal in the " Welcome " on the 1st of September 1682. His Last Farewell to England and his letter to his wife and children contain a beautiful expression of his pious and manly nature. He landed at New Castle on the Delaware on the 27th of October, his company having lost one-third of their number by small-pox during the voyage. After receiving formal possession, and having visited New York, Penn ascended the Delaware to the See also:Swedish See also:settlement of Upland, to which he gave the name of See also:Chester.

The assembly at once met, and on the 7th of See also:

December passed the " Great Law of Pennsylvania." The See also:idea which informs this law is that Pennsylvania was to be a Christian See also:state on a Quaker See also:model. Philadelphia was now founded, and within two years contained 300 houses and a See also:population of 2500. At the same time an act was passed, uniting under the same government the territories which had been granted by See also:feoffment by James in 1682. Realistic and entirely imaginative accounts (cf. Dixon, p. 270), inspired chiefly by See also:Benjamin West's picture, have been given of the treaty which there seems no doubt Penn actually made in See also:November 1683 with the Indians. His connexion with them was one of the most successful parts of his management, and he gained at once and retained through life their intense See also:affection. Penn now wrote an account of Pennsylvania from his own observation for the " Free Society of Traders," in which heshows considerable power of See also:artistic description. Tales of violent persecution of the Quakers, and the necessity of settling disputes, which had arisen with Lord Baltimore, his See also:neighbour in Maryland, brought Penn back to England (Oct. 2, 1684) after an absence of two years. In the spring of 1683 he had modified the original charter at the desire of the assembly, but without at all altering its democratic See also:character.' He was, in reference to this alteration, charged with selfish and deceitful dealing by the assembly. Within five months after his arrival in England Charles II. died, and Penn found himself at once in a position of great influence.

Penn now took up his See also:

abode at See also:Kensington in Holland House, so as to be near the court. His influence there was great enough to secure the See also:pardon of John See also:Locke, who had been dismissed from Oxford by Charles, and of r2oo Quakers who were in prison. At this time, too, he was busy with his pen once more, writing a further account of Pennsylvania, a pamphlet in defence of Buckingham's See also:essay in favour of toleration, in which he is supposed to have had some See also:share, and his Persuasive to Moderation to Dissenting Christians, very similar in See also:tone to the One Project for the Good of England. When See also:Monmouth's See also:rebellion was suppressed he appears to have done his best to mitigate the horrors of the western See also:commission, opposing See also:Jeffreys to the uttermost.2 See also:Macaulay has accused Penn of being concerned in some of the worst actions of the court at this time. His complete refutation by See also:Forster, See also:Paget, Dixon and others renders it unnecessary to do more than allude to the cases of the Maids of See also:Taunton, See also:Alderman Kiffin, and Magdalen College (Oxford). In 1686, when making a third missionary journey to Holland and Germany, Penn was charged by James with an informal See also:mission to the See also:prince of See also:Orange to endeavour to gain his assent to the removal of religious tests. Here he met See also:Burnet, from whom, as from the prince, he gained no See also:satisfaction, and who greatly disliked him. On his return he went on a preaching mission through England. His position with James was undoubtedly a compromising one, and it is not See also:strange that, wishing to tolerate Papists, he should, in the prevailing See also:temper of England, be once more accused of being a Jesuit, while he was in See also:constant antagonism to their body. Even See also:Tillotson took up this view strongly, though he at once accepted Penn's vehement disavowal. In 1687 James published the See also:Declaration of See also:Indulgence, and Penn probably drew up the address of thanks on the part of the Quakers. It fully reflects his views, which are further ably put in the pamphlet Good Advice to the Church of England, See also:Roman Catholics, and Protestant Dissenters, in which he showed the See also:wisdom and See also:duty of repealing the Test Acts and Penal Laws.

At the Revolution he behaved with courage. He was one of the few friends of the king who remained in London, and, when twice summoned before the council, spoke boldly in his behalf. He a,dmitted that James ha d asked him to come to him in France; but at the same time he asserted his perfect See also:

loyalty. During the absence of William in 1690 he was proclaimed by Mary as a dangerous person, but no See also:evidence of See also:treason was forthcoming. It was now that he lost by death two of his dearest friends, Robert Barclay and George Fox. It was at the funeral of the latter that, upon the See also:information of the notorious informer William See also:Fuller' (1670-1717?), an See also:attempt was made to See also:arrest him, but[he had just See also:left the ground; the fact that no further steps were then taken shows how little the government believed in his See also:guilt. He now lived in retirement in London, though his address was perfectly well known to his friends in the council. In 1691, again on Fuller's evidence, a See also:proclamation was issued for the arrest of Penn and two others as being concerned in See also:Preston's plot. In 1692 he began to write again, both on questions of Quaker discipline and in defence of the See also:sect. Just See also:Measures in an Epistle of See also:Peace and Love, The New Athenians (in reply to the attacks of the Athenian See also:Mercury), and A See also:Key opening the Way to every Capacity are the See also:principal publications of this year. Meantime matters had been going badly in Pennsylvania, Dixon, p. 276.

2 Burnet, iii. 66; Dalrymple, i. 282. Penn had, in 1686, been obliged to make changes in the See also:

composition of the executive body, though in 1689 it reverted to the original constitution; the legislative bodies had quarrelled; and Penn could not gain his rents. The See also:chief difficulty in Pennsylvania was the dispute between the province—i.e. the country given to Penn by the charter—and the " territories," or the lands granted to him by the duke of York by feoffment in August 1682, which were under the same government but had differing interests. The difficulties which Quaker principles placed in the way of arming the colony—a matter of See also:grave importance in the existing See also:European complications—fought most hardly against Penn's power. On the 21st of October 1692 an order of council was issued depriving Penn of the governorship of Pennsylvania and giving it to Colonel Benjamin See also:Fletcher, the governor of New York. To this See also:blow were added the illness of his wife and a fresh See also:accusation of treasonable correspondence with James. In his enforced retirement he wrote the most devotional and most charming of his works—the collection of See also:maxims of conduct and religion entitled The Fruits of Solitude. In December, thanks to the efforts of his friends at court, among whom were Buckingham, See also:Somers, See also:Rochester, and See also:Henry Sidney, he received an intimation that no further steps would be taken against him. The accusation, however, had been public, and he insisted on the withdrawal being equally public. He was therefore heard in full council before the king, and honourably acquitted of all charges of treason.

It was now that he wrote an Essay towards the Present and Future Peace of See also:

Europe, in which he puts forth the idea of a great court of See also:arbitration, a principle which he had already carried out in Pennsylvania. In 1694 (Feb. 23) his wife Gulielma died, leaving two sons, Springett and William, and a daughter Letitia, afterwards married to William See also:Aubrey. Two other daughters, Mary and Hannah, died in See also:infancy. ' He consoled himself by writing his Account of the Rise and Progress of the People called Quakers. The coldness and suspicion with which he had been regarded by his own denomination had now ceased, and he was once more regarded by the Quaker body as their See also:leader. About the same time (Aug. 20) he was restored to the governorship of Pennsylvania; and he promised to See also:supply money and men for the defence of the frontiers. In 1695 he went on another preaching mission in the west, and in March 1696 he formed a second See also:marriage, with Hannah Callowhill, his son Springett dying five See also:weeks later. In this year he wrote his work On Primitive Christianity, in which he argues that the faith and practice of the Friends were those of the early Church. In 1697 Penn removed to See also:Bristol, and during the greater part of 1698 was preaching with great success against oppression in Ireland, whither he had gone to look after the See also:property at Shannangarry. In 1699 he was back in Pennsylvania, landing near Chester on the 3oth of November, where the success of Colonel Robert Quary, See also:judge of the See also:admiralty in Pennsylvania—who was in the interests of those who wished to make the province an imperial colony—and the high-handed action of the deputy Markham in opposition to the Crown, were causing great difficulties.

Penn carried with him particular instructions to put down piracy, which the objections of the Quakers to the use of force had rendered audacious and concerning which Quary had made strong representations to the home government, while Markham and the inhabitants apparently encouraged it. Penn and Quary, however, came at once to a satisfactory understanding on this matter, and the illegal See also:

traffic was vigorously and success-fully attacked. In 1696 the Philadelphian Yearly Meeting had passed a See also:resolution declaring slavery contrary to the first principles of the See also:gospel. Penn, however, did not venture upon emancipation; but he insisted on the instruction of negroes, permission for them to marry, repression of See also:polygamy and See also:adultery, and proposed regulations for their trial and punishment. The assembly, however, a very mixed body of all nations, now refused to accept any of these proposals except the last-named. His great success was with the Indians; by their treaty with him in 1700 they promised not to help any enemy of England,to traffic only with those approved by the governor, and to sell furs or skins to none but inhabitants of the province. At the same time he showed his capacity for legislation by the share he took with Lord Bellomont at New York in the consolidation of the laws in use in the various parts of America. Affairs now again demanded his presence in England. The king had in 1701 written to urge upon the Pennsylvania government a See also:union with other private colonies See also:fir defence, and had asked for money for fortifications. The dif culty See also:felt by the Crown in this matter was a natural one. A bill was brought into the lords to convert private into Crown colonies. Penn's son appeared before the committee of the house and managed to delay the matter until his father's return.

On the 15th of September Penn called the assembly together, in which the See also:

differences between the province and the territories again broke out. He succeeded, however, in calming them, appointed a council of ten to manage the province in his absence, and gave a See also:borough charter to Philadelphia. In May 1700, experience having shown that alterations in the charter were advisable, the assembly had, almost unanimously, requested Penn to revise it. On the 28th of October 1701 he handed it back to them in the See also:form in which it afterwards remained. An assembly was to be chosen yearly, of four persons from each See also:county, with all the self-governing privileges of the English House of Commons. Two-thirds were to form a See also:quorum. The nomination of sheriffs, coroners, and magistrates .for each county was given to the governor, who was to select from names handed in by the free-men. Moreover, the council was no longer elected by the people, but nominated by the governor, who was thus practically left single in the executive. The assembly, however, who, by the first charter, had not the right to propound laws, but might only amend or reject them, now acquired that See also:privilege. In other respects the original charter remained, and the inviolability of conscience was again emphatically asserted. Penn reached England in December 1701. He once more assumed the position of leader of the Dissenters and himself read the address of thanks for the promise from the See also:Throne to maintain the Act of Toleration.

He now took up his abode again at Kensington, and published while here his More Fruits of Solitude. In 1703 he went to Knightsbridge, where he remained until 1706, when he removed to See also:

Brentford, his final See also:residence being taken up in 1710 at See also:Field Ruscombe, near Twyford. In 1 X04 he wrote his Life of See also:Bulstrode See also:Whitelocke. He had now much trouble from America. The territorialists were openly rejecting his authority, and doing their best to obstruct all business in the assembly; and matters were further embarrassed by the injudicious conduct of Governor John See also:Evans in 1706. Moreover, pecuniary troubles came heavily upon him, while the conduct of his son William, who became the ringleader of all the dissolute characters in Philadelphia, was another and still more severe trial. This son was married, and had a son and daughter, but appears to have been left entirely out of account in the settlement of Penn's proprietary rights on his death. Whatever were Penn's great qualities, he was deficient in judgment of character. This was especially shown in the choice of his steward See also:Ford, from whom he had borrowed money, and who, by dexterous swindling, had managed, at the time of his death, to establish, and See also:hand down to his widow and son, a claim for £14,000 against Penn. Penn, however, refused to pay, and spent nine months in the See also:Fleet rather than give way. He was released at length by his friends, who paid £7500 in composition of all claims. Difficulties with his government of Pennsylvania continued to harass him.

Fresh disputes took place with Lord Baltimore, the owner of Maryland, and Penn also felt deeply what seemed to him the ungra`eful treatment which he met with at the hands of the See also:

asser bly. He therefore in 1710 wrote, in See also:earnest and affectionate See also:language, an address to his " old friends," setting forth his wrongs. So great was the effect which this produced that the assembly which met in October of that year was entirely in his interests; revenues were properly paid; the disaffected were silenced and complaints were hushed; while an advance in moral sense was shown by the fact that a bill was passed prohibiting the importation of negroes. This, however, when submitted to the See also:British parliament, was cancelled. Penn now, in February 1712, being in failing health, proposed to surrender his See also:powers to the Crown. The commission of plantations recommended that Penn should receive £12,000 in four years from the time of surrender, Penn stipulating only that the See also:queen should take the Quakers under her See also:protection; and £scoo was given him in part payment. Before, however, the matter could go further he was seized with apoplectic fits, which shattered his understanding and memory. A second attack occurred in 1713. He died on the 3oth of May 1718, leaving three sons by his second wife, John, Thomas and Richard, and was buried along with his first and second wives at Jourdans meeting-house, near Chalfont St See also:Giles in Buckingham-See also:shire. In 1790 the proprietary rights of Penn's descendants were bought up for a See also:pension of £4000 a year to the eldest male descendant by his second wife, and this pension was commuted in 1884 for the sum of !67,000. Penn's Life was written by See also:Joseph Besse, and prefixed to the collected edition of Penn's Works (1726) ; see also the See also:bibliographical See also:note to the See also:article in See also:Diet. Nat.

Biog. W. Hepworth Dixon's See also:

biography, refuting Macaulay's charges, appeared in 1851. In 1907 Mrs Colquhoun Grant, one of Penn's descendants, brought out a book, Quaker and Courtier: the Life and Work of William Penn. (O.

End of Article: PENN, WILLIAM (1644-1718)

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