USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Annals of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania in the olden time; being a collection of the memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of the earliest settlements of the inland part of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
* The case of " the merchants" is explained in Penn's letter to James Logan, 1705 He had indulged them, as a favour, with an exemption from duties on exports and im
23
Colonial and Philadelphia History.
nothing my soul breathes more for, in this world, next to my dear family's life, than that I may see poor Pennsylvania again,-and my wife is giving up, [meaning to go, for the first time, willingly] but I cannot force my way hence and see nothing done on that side invit- ing. It is not, that I will not come, whatever they do there,-but not the sooner to be sure!" Another letter of 8th of 11 mo., 1686, tinal on this subject, is very energetic, saying, " As to a supply, I will sell the shirt off my back before I will trouble them any more. I will never come into the province with my family to spend my private estate to discharge a public station, and so add more wrongs to my children. This is no anger, although I am grieved,-but a cool and resolved thought."
Republics have been reproached as " proverbially ungrateful,"-but is there not better evidence that colonies are unthankful ! Is it not the general history of colonies, to whine and fret like wayward children ; -to give immeasurable trouble and expense to rear them up to ma- turity ;- and then to reward the parental care with alienation! Is it not the present history of all we know as such, who feel themselves able to begin independence for themselves! We speak these things as lookers-on.
During so long a period of Penn's absence, it was impossible to govern by his deputies with such weight and influence as if personally present. His absence naturally weakened his authority, while it could better enforce the projects of cabals, and prevent the due re. ception of his pecuniary dues. William Markham, his first deputy, was but 21 years of age when he arrived. He had an excellent deputy in Thomas Lloyd, Esqr., a scholar and a Christian. He always served reluctantly, and, in 1688, resigned his place as Governor, but contin- ued in the council till his death, in 1694, at the age of 54 years.
William Penn, in 1699, again set himself to embark for his pro- vince, after an absence of fifteen years. He came with a full purpose to make his stay permanent, and brought his family with him. But the voyage of the vessel (like the former names,) was ominous. They were three months at sea! and when they arrived they found an un- expected and an unwelcome guest. The yellow fever, which had been raging in the West Indies, had been communicated, it is sup- posed, in Philadelphia. Thomas Story, the recorder and a public Friend, described it as a time when " Great was the fear that fell on all flesh. I saw no lofty or airy countenance,-nor heard any vain jesting :- but every face gathered paleness, and many hearts were humbled." Penn arrived in the 10th month, and he and his family were received with universal joy, on account of his known intention to stay for life. James Logan, writing of that event says, " Friends' love to the Governor was great and sincere-they had long mourned
ports, for a year or two while he was present; but when he was gone, they refused com- pliance, as their right .- He had required the rates as paid at New York and Maryland. His letter of the 8th of April, 1681, to the inhabitants, expressly says, " pay my deputy those dues you formerly paid to the Governor of New York."
24
Colonial and Philadelphia History.
for his absence, and passionately desired his return." His arrival being on a first day, he went forthwith to the Meeting, thronged all the way with a crowd, where he spoke to the people. But desirable as was his stay, he was in time again compelled to leave his " wilder- ness retreat," after a stay of but two years,-never to return ! While he remained, there were about 100 laws enacted, chiefly at New Cas- tle, where they as often legislated, to please the low counties, as they did at Philadelphia. He also attended at Philadelphia, in 1701, a great Indian treaty, with forty Indian Chiefs, who came from many nations to settle the friendship. The same year, he had also a great Indian council at Pennsbury Mansion, to take leave of him, and to renew covenants, &c.
Penn's stay, for a time, seemed to promise permanency, and he governed with more than usual satisfaction to himself; but there seemed no more of peace and repose for him than for Moses of old !- for perplexities were gathering. About this time the crown officers began to fear the colonies might grow too powerful under the proprie- tary governments, and they therefore showed desires of buying them out, so as to bring them more immediately under the direct control of government. The records of the " Board of Trade," it is believed, would show much on this subject if investigated. They began to take measures to curtail their liberties ;- and, in 1701, they brought in a bill to enable the crown to take the colonies into possession, for the alleged " better regulation and surer defence." ** At this crisis the owners of land in Pennsylvania, dwelling in England, became very importunate for Penn's return to prevent those measures. He there- fore said " he must go back with great reluctancy, although he desired the quietness of our wilderness." In his letter of 1701, to James Logan, he says, " no man living can defend us or bargain for us bet- ter than myself." Still it may be questioned if this necessity was really so absolute. In truth, the cause of his going was removed even before he arrived there, for king William had died, and queen Anne was his friend. I think I can discern domestic reasons, from expres- sions made by himself and family, (which probably import even more than was uttered,) which go to show that there were grounds enough of personal dissatisfaction to make a residence in England preferable to one here, under the circumstances under which his family was placed. In a letter which Penn wrote to James Logan, in July, 1701, (preserved in the Logan collection,) he says, " I cannot prevail on my wife to stay, and still less with Tishe. I know not what to do,"-and, as if fearing some would demur to his going, he adds, " to all that speak of it, say, I shall have no need to stay (in England) and
* Parson Duche's account of Pennsylvania is very express,-he says, the persons in England who were jealous of colonial privileges, under pretence of securing the royal prerogative, got up a bill for that purpose in the House of Commons. Penn's friends there did what they could to impede its passage, and obtained an indulgence to stay pro- ceedings until Penn could return and defend himself. Penn therefore summoned his Assembly on the 15th of September, 1701, and declared his reasons for quick departure, &c.
25
Colomal and Philadelphia History.
a great interest to return." In a letter of 1704, he says, " had you settled a reasonable revenue (on him) he would have returned and laid his bones there,-also his wife too, after her mother's death," then expected. From the whole the inference is unavoidable, that how- ever urgent was the business-call of his leaving the country, and the dissatisfaction of the female part of his family here, he would never- theless have gladly come back to us if adequate provision had been made for his support in the style of a public officer.
We cannot forbear the belief, that if he, like Lord Baltimore, had confided his interests in England to such good agents as he could have employed at court, he might have raised with least trouble a more solid and lasting superstructure to his fame and profit in this province, than he could possibly have attained by a residence in England. It had always too much the character of such ill-managed business as results when principals go abroad, in search of novelties or pleasures, and commit their trusts to clerks and irresponsible agents. When the principal omits personal presence, all take the liberty to manage as may suit their self-indulgence. In Penn's case it surely was not more difficult to find men for occasional services in England, than it was to keep up the government of a whole province by agents, which served at three to four thousand miles from the principal.
One of the last public acts of Penn in the province was to present the city, on the 28th of October, 1701, with a last charter of privi- leges. By this he constituted the town of Philadelphia a city. Edward Shippen was the first mayor, and 'Thomas Story the first recorder. Shippen was also a judge, and, as president of the council, he was for a time ex-officio Governor. Although the city so received its charter, it appears to have had in effect the name and character of a city be- fore,-for as early as 1691 it had a mayor, named Humphrey Mur- rey, signing its official acts.
A new deputy governor arrived in 1704, in the person of John Evans, Esqr., a young man of ability-but of free life, and of such occasional dissipation as to give umbrage to many serious persons. With him came William Penn, jun'r. the only son by the first wife. Although he also was volatile, beyond his education, he was made a member of the council as an intended respect. Evans remained only five years, being removed by a petition for his recall. He had so lit- tle respect for Friends' principles, that it is rather strange that he should have been appointed at all. In 1704, he, for the first time known in our annals, made a call for a militia, by public proclamation, " to assist Queen Anne." It did not succeed. Indeed, the very name of militia, for a long period of time afterwards, was a measure which quickly roused the religious scruples of the Friends. It would appear, however, from an incidental fact prior to this time, that there was some kind of voluntary association which occasionally used fire- arms, because we read in the Logan MS. papers, that the Governor, (Markham,) when he died in Philadelphia, " was buried, by the militia, with the honours of war."
VOL. I-D 3
26
Colonial and Philadelphia History.
It seems that Governor Evans did not credit the sincerity of Friends, in their alleged aversion to war and war measures. He therefore endeavoured by stratagem to surprise them into a desertion of their avowed pacific principles. To this end, he plotted with some of his friends in New Castle to send up an express, to say, " twelve French vessels were arrived, and were committing depredations, and soon would be up at Philadelphia itself!" On the receipt of this intelli- gence he rode through the streets with his sword drawn, calling on the inhabitants for defence. The panic was great, especially among the women,-but none of the Friends resorted to arms. Plate and other valuables were cast into their wells. Several took to the boats and canoes, and went up the creeks, &c. This was an undignified and even cruel experiment, which only tended to make his rule extremely unwelcome. The whole scene, such as it was, might afford subject for the poet's and the painter's skill. Nothing like such an alarm had before disturbed the repose of the inhabitants since the false alarm of 1686, when an idle tale found afflictive currency-that the Indians were proposing their massacre.
It was about the year 1708 that Penn's perplexities and troubles fell upon him in more than common measure. He had received the petition for Evans' removal, and a successor was requisite. His debts, through the mal-conduct of a corrupt steward, (Ford) became so ponderous and unmanageable, (although he had a patrimony of £1500 a year,) that he was obliged to mortgage his province for £6600, and to give it in trust to James Logan, Isaac Norris, and others. There began about this time to appear a more than common selfishness in some of the people, even to cabals and factions, and to a virtual resistance, in some cases, of the proprietary's right. David Lloyd, Esqr., of Chester, an attorney and a Friend, Speaker sometime of the Assembly, was the visible head of the opposition. There was much bickering from such causes between the Assembly-headed as it then was-and the Secretary, James Logan. There was certainly a very rude and disrespectful manner of resistance in the Assembly, and their being re-elected was a painful indication to Penn's real friends that the temporary disaffection was too prevalent among the people .* Their ill-natured disputations with Governor Gookin, who had suc- ceeded Evans, in 1709, (written in the plain style of Friends, which had hitherto prevailed in the public acts of the colony,) however pro- voked by the admitted strange temper of the Governor, are rather bur- lesque compositions than otherwise, to our sober judgments in this day. Under the force of their excited feelings they proceeded to such extremities as to impeach and try to arrest the devoted and excellent public servant, James Logan, on pretexts which he readily and ably refuted. The scandal of these measures reached England, and much
. It is to the credit of the mass of the people, that when they came to know the merits of the case, they manifested far better feelings to the proprietary, by displacing, at the next election, all the former Representatives, and supplying their places with kindlier spirits
Colonial and Philadelphia History.
use was made of them there to disparage and reprobate colonial pro- prietary governments, and to set forth by those opposed to Penn's in- terests, that such were not capable of any stable self-government and good conduct.
All these things combining, tended eventually to sap and alienate the affections and confidence of Penn to his people; and when, with the increase of his debts for his colony, and their poor returns, he also fell into an occasional defect of mind by a stroke of apoplexy, it be- came more and more a measure of necessity that then he should yield to the wish of the crown (and I might add, of his friends also) by sel- ling out his province for £12,000,-reserving to himself the quit rents and estates. The deed was formally made, and he had received, it is said £1900 in 1712, as earnest money ;* but he never executed it, he having, in that year, so far lost his mental faculties as made him incapable, as was supposed by the law-officers, to confer a legal con- veyance. So nearly were we once to losing all that connection with the Penn family, which afterwards, for so many years of the rule of their sub-governors, united our destinies! The MS. collections by Mrs. Logan are very ample in facts on this sale and arrest of execu- tion.
It is but due to the honour of the founder to cite, from some of his letters, his own expressions of the feelings and embarrassments which urged him thus to dissever his interests from the people whom he had benefitted so essentially by the colony he had procured them. In 1710, he writes, and says, "the undeserved opposition I meet from thence sinks me in sorrow, and I cannot but think it hard measure, that while that proved a land of freedom and flourishing to them, it should become to me, by whose means it was made a country, the cause of trouble and poverty." Oh, what an inconsiderate requital ! Penn hints too, direct enough, at his meditated sale, as well as at the cause of it, saying, "the opposition I have met with must at length force me to consider more closely of my own private and sinking ci' cumstances."
Respecting this meditated surrender to the crown I am enabled to add some facts, derived from the use of the MS. collections of Mrs. Logan, kindly lent to me for general use. There I ascertained that James Logan and the friends of William Penn in Philadelphia often suggested this measure as a dernier resort. It appears to have been made as early as the year 1701, by some of the crown officers, as a necessary security to the crown in case of a war. Penn appears all along to have deprecated and resisted this. From 1702 to 1707 it is spoken of to Penn by his Philadelphia friends in their letters and in his replies. In 1704, Penn says it will depend on the kindness of the next Assembly to him .- " I shall see this winter's session, and take my measures accordingly." In 1705, he says, " whether I sur- render or not, shall make no difference as to my coming and laying
* The Lords of trade, in a letter of the 21st of July, 1719, to governor Keith, says " Mr t'enn did receive part of the money in pursuance of said agreement."
28
Colonial and Philadelphia History.
my bones among you." All these, so far, were secret confidential views on both sides. In 1707, James Logan is very strenuous in his advice, saying, " If the thing I have so often mentioned can carry any weight, it is (under the then troubles) that thou wilt get a considera- tion from the crown for the government. "Tis what I advise; for thou wilt really find it impossible to hold the government here, so re fractory as things are conducted. Depend upon it, there is a constant plot here against thy interest." &c. To this I might add, that Isaac Norris, in 1711, says, " I cannot be against it-he is now old, and the best terms may be had in his life-time. I only hope he will make good terms for Friends,-on oaths, ministers' pay, and militia." Penn himself, on one occasion, writes, " I believe it repents some that they began it, (by requesting or urging the crown to retake it per force,) for now, 'tis I that press it upon good terms, as well for the people as self,-in the judgment of the wisest and best of my friends."*
Finally, it may be seen, as the proper sequel to the whole, what moving causes of complaint and dissatisfaction Penn really possess- ed, by consulting his long and very able expostulatory letter "to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania," of the 27th of 4th mo., 1710 .- Vide Proud, vol. 2, page 45. It might well be called his patriarchal and farewell address. It is full of pathos and sensibility, and produced much effect in kindlier feelings from his people after its publication among them, but too late expressed by them in their elections and public measures to prevent his purposed bargain with the crown! Every true Pennsylvanian, imbued with due good feelings to our honoured founder, should make that paper his manual. So his real friends of that day regarded it ; and on page 507 of my MS. Annals, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, is preserved one of those primitive printed letters, kept in one family "with pious care" even down to the present day! "It is (says he,) a mournful considera- tion, and the cause of deep affliction to me, that I am forced, by the oppression and disappointments 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 occasion to use."-"I once had reason to expect a solid comfort from the services done so many people, and I have not been disappointed in their prosperity."-"Did the people really want any thing of me in the relation between us that would make them happier, I should readily grant it." After showing his grounds of grievance, he says, " When I reflect on all those heads, of which I have had so much cause to complain, I cannot but mourn the unhappiness of my portion, dealt to me from those of whom I had reason to expect much better; 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,
* His " good terms" for the people are afterwards declared by Mrs. Hannah Penn, in her letter of 1713, to have been in effect the cause of its frustration. Her letter says, ' he might long since have finished it, had he not insisted too much on gaining privi leges for the people."
29
Colonial and Philadelphia History.
and unity, which I at first hoped to find in that retirement, are cherishing a spirit of contention and opposition, and oversetting (by party violence) that foundation on which your happiness might be built." Finally, he adds,-" If I must continue my regard to you, manifest the same to me, by showing, in a fair election, more than I have for some years met with ; or else, without further suspense, I shall know what I have to rely on."
This valedictory, as it in effect proved, from the good old patriarch, was prompted, I am satisfied, in a good degree by the correspond- ence and subsequent presence of James Logan. * When it arrived, Isaac Norris writes, that it " extremely pleased ;- it is so tender and soft where it touches others ;- it is so suitable, that we wish it public as possible. Had it arrived before the election it would have given great support to Friends. As it is, the party is lessened, and the mask of the designers and troublers is half off."
Under such a sense of wrongs, and the superadded pressure of accumulated debts, he probably so far pursued his negotiations for surrender with the ministry, that when the good news of a change of conduct occurred, he had gone too far to recede. Certain it is, that, in 1712, he concluded his sale for £12,000-a sum full £4000 less than had been before expected.
In this year his disease got so much the ascendency of his mental faculties, that he was deemed inadequate to any active or public business. As other facts concerning him, in this his last and in- teresting crisis, will be told in another place, it may suffice here to say :- He still showed himself a sensible and conversable man,-his chief defect was found in the obliteration of his memory. Religion was always predominant. His very failings, in this last extremity, " leaned to virtue's side." In this state he continued six years, going abroad, to Meetings, &c., till 1718, when he died,-having pro- bably passed, in these last secluded years, the most tranquil period of his eventful, busy, care-crazed life .- " The memory of the just is blessed !"
From the facts which have just passed in review, we arrive at the conclusion,-that however Penn once saw " an opening of joy as to these parts," it was but too manifest, it was such only " for another, and not for himself !" However we may palliate the jealousies of liberty inherent and cherished in our forefathers, by which small or fancied grievances were sometimes magnified even by men intending honest opposition, yet, as ambition or blind zeal will either of them mislead party leaders, and acerbity of feelings will excite wrong doings, we cannot but regret, that so distinguished a benefactor should not have been less equivocally requited ; so that the honest exertions of the best years of his life had not been rewarded with the carking
* J. Logan's letters, of 1708-9, say, " advise them, that unless Friends will take mea- sures to purge the Assemblies of bad men, thou wilt give them up, and struggle no longer; for certainly David Lloyd's purpose is to throw all into confusion, and thee into a surrender." Soon afterwards, J. Logan visited England and saw Penn personally.
3*
30
Colonial and Philadelphia History.
cares of straitened circumstances, by the res angusti domi, and the disheartening opposition of refractory children. Ah! "how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child !" Much we could have wished that his sun had set in brighter glory ;- in such as he once hoped ;- for which he always toiled,-" a youth of labour for an age of ease." This was the reward which generous natures would have wished conferred! In the language of Burke's eulo- gium, we may join in the sentiment, that " 'tis pleasing to do honour to those great men, whose virtues and generosity have contributed to the peopling of the earth, and to the freedom and happiness of man- kind; who have preferred the interest of a remote posterity and times unknown, to their own fortune and to the quiet security of their own lives !"
Whether other men can so appreciate the exalted virtues and be neficent intentions of our honoured founder, (in whose just praise I have been led out beyond my original intentions,) I have little cared to consider. I saw traits in his character to admire, and as they won my regard and excited my feelings, I have occasionally set them down. It is possible, I am aware, to impute selfish motives to the founder, by reviving (if they can be found,) the squibs and pasqui- nades of detraction once propagated by adverse interests. This is the tax which pre-eminence must often pay to envy. Contemporary renown may often meet such assailants; and posthumous fame is sometimes doomed to their revival for a season by the perverted or oblique sensibilities of some men's peculiar sympathies and natures : -Such may write with “ just enough of candour thrown in to take off the appearance of illiberality and hostility, whilst the general impression would remain detractive. Little praise could be used as a means of rendering censure more pointed, and what was wanting in fact, could be supplied by innuendo."
But although an inscrutable providence had so overruled the closing events of Penn's eventful life, the reasonable expectation of cheering prosperity, so long withheld from himself, fell largely upon his posterity. His possessions in this country, as we all know, be- came of immense value to his succeeding generations. When Penn made his will, in 1712, six years before his death, it was estimated that his estate in Europe was worth more than all his province in point of actual product. In that will he left his son William heir of all his estate in England and Ireland. This was his only son surviving by his first wife, Gulielma Springett. His estate in Pennsylvania he left to his sons by his second wife, Hannah Cal lowhill, to wit :- John, Thomas, Richard, and Dennis, all then minors. His wife, Hannah Penn, having been made his sole exe- cutrix, (a great woman in the management of business, as will be shown elsewhere,) she became in effect our governor, ruling us by her deputies, or lieutenant governors, during all the term of her children's minority.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.