USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume I > Part 5
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On his release from the Tower, he returned to his father's home, and the next year was spent in superintending his father's estates in Ireland. At the request of his father, in 1670, he returned to London and found his Quaker brethren in grcat trouble. There was a determined resolve on the part of the government to enforce the Conventicle Act, which prohibited all religious meetings except those of the Church of England. In the middle of the summer, Penn was arrested while speaking to a congregation on the street. He, with one William Mead, was brought before the mayor and committed as rioters and sent to await trial to the sign of the Black Dog in Newgate Market. At the trial, Penn entered the courtroom wearing his hat, and the judges promptly fined him forty marks for not removing it. He tried in vain to learn why he was arrested, and claimed he was innocent of any illegal act. The jury after being kept out by the judges for two days without food or drink, returned a verdict of "not guilty." The judges thereupon fined every juryman forty marks for contempt of court. Penn and the jurors on refusing to pay their fines were all imprisoned in Newgate. The Court of Common Pleas reversed the judges' decision and released the jury. Penn was also released against his own protest, by the payment of his fine by his father. The Admiral was in his last sickness, being only forty-nine years and four months old at the time of his death. His son William suc- ceeded to all his estate by the law of promogeniture, without let or hind- rance. The income of the estate was about £1,500 a year. The King was a creditor to the amount of £16,000, with accumulated interest. This relation may be succinctly explained : Between the parsimony of the parliament and the extravagance of King Charles II, the latter was always poor in purse and a chronic borrower. He helped Admiral Penn to make prize money in order that he might borrow the guilders the Admiral wrung from the defeated Dutch. The King was, however, honest, and would pay his debts; when he could not pay, he would borrow more. In the case of Admiral Penn, he had borrowed more and paid nothing.
Penn had hardly been released from prison when he plunged into a public controversy with a Baptist minister named Jeremiah Ives. He wrote the vice-chancellor of Oxford a vehement and abusive defense of religious freedom. It was in the beginning of 1671 that he was again arrested for preaching, and was imprisoned for six months. During his imprisonment he wrote several works, the most important being "The Great Case of Lib- erty of Conscience." Upon his release from prison he traveled in Germany
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and Holland. At Emden, Prussia, he founded a Quaker society. In his travels he regained the strength of his body, which he had lost amidst the rigors of his prison confinements.
Returning home, in the spring of 1672, he married, at Amesham, Eng- land, in the month of May, Gulielma Maria Springett, daughter of Colonel Sir William Springett, who died at the siege of Aurundel Castle at the age of twenty-three years, and was the youngest officer of his grade in Cromwell's army. His daughter was born three months after his death. Her mother had contracted a second marriage with Isaac Pennington, a Quaker preacher. The marriage ceremony was consecrated under the tenets of the Quaker belief by simply making a statement before friends that they accepted eaclı other as husband and wife. The life of Mrs. Penn indicates rich endow- ment of domestic virtue and strength of character. The atmosphere of the Pennington home, where she was reared, was pure, wholesome and devout. She was at the time of her marriage, past twenty-five years, and was greatly helpful to her husband in the most trying period of his career. She inherited from her father a productive estate and a neat country house at Worming- hurst in the county of Sussex. The newly married couple took up their residence at Rickmansworth, in Hertfordshire, the following autumn. Penn again commenced his missionary journeys, preaching in twenty-one towns.
The Declaration of Indulgence was withdrawn; the religious liberty it gave was good, but the way that liberty was given was bad ; what was needed was not indulgence, but common justice. The prisons were again filled with peaceable citizens, whose offense was their religion. One of the first sufferers was George Fox, and in his behalf Penn went to court. He appealed to the Duke of York. This incident is significant, as it was the beginning of another phase of Penn's life. He was practically a minister of the gospel, a Quaker preacher; in opening the door of the Duke's palace he became a courtier ; he went into politics ; he now began to enter that valuable but peril- ous heritage left him by his father, the friendship of royalty. In an inter- view with the duke, he delivered his request for the release of Fox. The duke received him with polished courtesy, stated he was opposed to persecu- tion for religion's sake, and promised to use his influence with the King. Fox was not, however, set at liberty by Penn's interview, but the latter learned that the royal duke remembered the Admiral's son. This was a turning point in his affairs; returning to Ricksmansworth, for a time his life went on as before. The persecution of the Quakers was renewed, and Penn wrote a "Treatise on Oaths"; also published for the general public, "Eng- land's Present Interest" and the "Peace of Europe." The first was an argu- ment for uniformity of belief ; the second was a treatise against war and in favor of arbitration. In "The Continued Cry of the Oppressed," he peti- tioned the King and Parliament. About this time he engaged in a controversy with Richard Baxter, in which, of course, each party claimed victory. He removed in 1677 to his wife's estate at Worminghurst, in the county of Sus- sex, and, in company with Fox and other Quakers, made a religious voyage into Holland and Germany, preaching the gospel. This journey was of great importance afterwards in the settlement of Pennsylvania, as in the com- munities visited they found in Penn a kindred spirit, and upon his establish-
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ing his colony many of them came to America and became the "Pennsyl- vania Germans." During his travels he wrote "To the Churches of Jesus Throughout the World."
Penn combined in an unusual way the qualities of a saint and statesman- his mind was at the same time religious and political. As he became better acquainted with himself, he entered deliberately upon a course of life in which these two elements of his character could have free play. He applied himself to the task of making politics contribute to the advancement of religion. Men before had been eminently successful in making politics contribute to the advancement of the church, but Penn's purpose was deeper and better.
In 1678 the popish terror came to a head, and to calm and guide Friends, Penn wrote his "Epistle to the Children of Light in This Generation." This was followed in the next year by "An Address to Protestants of All Per- suasions," a powerful exposition of the doctrine of pure tolerance, and a protest against the enforcement of opinions as articles of faith. The same year appeared his "England's Great Interest in the Choice of a New Parlia- ment," and "One Project for the Good of England."
He entered on the fulfillment of his great plan in 1680, which had been in his mind since his student days at Oxford, to undertake the planting of a colony across the sea. At this point Penn's connection with America begins. Disputes having arisen between John Fenwick and Edward Byllinge, both Quakers, in regard to the proprietorship of West Jersey. Penn was asked to act as arbitrator, and Byllinge having fallen into bankruptcy, his interests were transferred to Penn for the benefit of his creditors. East Jersey in 1679 came also into the market, and Penn, in connection with eleven others, purchased the proprietary rights. Penn's interest in the Jerseys terminated when the government was surrendered to the Crown in 1702. Being encour- aged by his success in the Jerseys, he again turned his thoughts to America. In 1680, finding the King his creditor to the amount of £16,000, not con- sidering this amount collectable, he offered to exchange the debt for a district in America. Charles II immediately agreed to this bargain; it was very doubtful if the King would have ever paid a penny. The territory bestowed in exchange for the debt was almost as large as England ; no such extensive domain had ever been given to a subject by an English sovereign; but none had ever been paid for by a sum of money so substantial. The charter received the signature of the King, March 4, 1681 ; the deed was signed by the Duke of York, releasing the tract of land called Pennsylvania to William Penn and his heirs forever. The Penns being of Welsh descent, the new proprietor desired to have the territory called New Wales, but this was objected to by a Welsh official. Sylvania was proposed by Penn, and although he strenuously objected to the addition to the name, even attempt- ing to bribe the secretaries, he could not get the name altered. Penn was at this time in straitened circumstances for funds; his books he did not sell, as he considered them a part of his ministry; his Irish estates were far from profitable, his main reliance being the Springett estates and the debt of f16,000 due from Charles II.
By the charter for Pennsylvania, Penn was Proprietary of the province.
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He was supreme governor, having the power of making laws with the advice, assent and approbation of the freemen of appointing officers and granting pardons. The laws were to conform to those of England, with an appeal to the King and Privy Council. In questions of trade and commerce, Parliament was supreme; the right to levy taxes and customs was reserved for the mother country. The importunities of the Bishop of London extorted the right that if twenty persons desired it, Anglican ministers could be appointed, thus securing the very thing that Penn was anxious to avoid. On the neglect on the part of Penn of any provisions of the charter, the government was to revert to the Crown, which eventually took place in 1692.
Penn drew up a constitution for the new colony; it provided for a gov- ernor to be appointed by the proprietor, a council of seventy-two members for a term of three years, a third of the membership to be elected annually by universal suffrage, an assembly consisting of two hundred members chosen annually, and a body of provincial laws was added. The council was to prepare laws and see that they were executed; in general, was to provide
for the good conduct of affairs. The general assembly had no right to originate legislation, but was to pass on all bills which had been enacted by the council. Children were to be taught a useful trade at the age of twelve years, and offenses punishable with death were reduced to crimes of murder and treason. England at this time had two hundred capital crimes punish- able by a death sentence. Whatever help Penn may have had in forming his legislation, he wrote it not as a politician but as a Quaker. In it is applied the Quaker principle of democracy and religious belief from begin- ning to the end. It was the work of a man whose supreme interest was religion. In the midst of these extreme activities, Penn was made a Fellow of the Royal Society.
At the time of granting the charter there were already settled in the province some two thousand people, mostly Swedes and English, besides Indians. The English were Quakers; the settlers lived along the banks of the Delaware. In the autumn of 1681 the first of Penn's emigrants arrived, and in December another shipload of passengers was added to the colony. Leaving his family behind him, Penn sailed for America, September 1, 1682. "His Last Farewell to England" and his letters to his wife and children contain a beautiful expression of his pious and manly nature. He landed at New Castle, on the Delaware. After receiving formal possession he visited New York, then ascended the Delaware to Upland, to which he gave the name of Chester. Penn was greatly pleased with his new possessions. Philadelphia was now founded. He wrote an account of Pennsylvania from his own observations for the Free Society of Traders, in which he showed considerable power of artistic description. He recognized the Indians as the actual owners of the land, and he bought of them as he needed it. He made his famous treaty with the Indians in November, 1683, and the transfer of property thus made was a natural occasion of mutual promises. The kindly and courtly generosity which Penn showed in his bargains with the Indians is illustrated in one of his purchases of land. The land sold was to extend as far back as a man could walk in three days. Penn walked a day and a half, taking several chiefs with him; leisurely at times they would sit
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down, smoke and partake of refreshments, thus covering less than thirty miles.
After a residence of two years in the province, Penn returned to Eng- land in August, 1684. When he left the colony he expected to return speedily, but he was absent for fifteen years. The intervening years were filled with contention, anxiety, misfortune and various distresses. James II became King, and was the patron and good friend of William Penn ; he was, however, a Roman Catholic, and was resolved to make that church supreme in England. This was stoutly opposed by Penn in his "Sensible Caveat Against Popery," as well as in other writings, expressing his dislike with characteristic frankness. Nevertheless, he stood by the King. This perplex- ing inconsistency is the only serious blot on Penn's fair fame. He believed in the honesty of James II, was a favorite at court, and in spite of the disparity of their age, rank and creed, they were fast friends, united by a bond of genuine affection. His position at the court of James II was un- doubtedly a compromising one. It was one of Penn's characteristics to be blind to the faults of his friends. Penn had taken up his residence at Ken- sington in the Holland House, so as to be near the court ; his expenses were large, and his finances became impaired. His Quaker friends found him hard to understand; he was their great theologian and preacher ; nevertheless, he was a skilful cavalier and a worldly person. The King's favorite had many enemies, but Penn could not be prejudiced against the King. In 1687 King James published the Declaration of Indulgence. Penn put forth his pamphlet, "Good Advice to the Church of England, Roman Catholic and Protestant Dissenters," which showed the wisdom and duty of repealing the "Test Acts" and "Penal Laws." In April, 1688, the King issued a decree that the Declaration of Indulgence should be read in every church in the realm. Then came the Revolution; James fled to France, and William of Orange was invited to England. This was a hard change for William Penn; there were courtiers who passed with incredible swiftness from one allegiance to another, but he remained constant to James. Others fled to France, but he stayed ; he was brought before the Privy Council and was released. He was again summoned in 1690, but was again discharged. For a space of three years he was in retirement, was publicly proclaimed a traitor, and dispossessed of the government of the colony. Finally the government was persuaded that he was innocent, and the King honorably acquitted him of all charges of treason. It was at this time that he wrote an "Essay Towards the Present and Future Peace of Europe," in which he put forth the idea of a great court of arbitra- tion, a principle which he had already carried out in Pennsylvania. The thoughts with which Penn's mind was occupied during the years of his hiding appear in his book, "Some Fruits of Solitude."
Penn came out of his exile in 1693 burdened with misfortune. He had been deprived of his government, was sadly in debt, and had lost many of his friends. His colony of Pennsylvania declined to lend him funds. His wife died February 23, 1694, leaving two sons, Springett and William, and a daughter, Letitia, who afterwards married William Aubrey. Penn 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 members of his own denomination ceased, and he was once more NORTH .- 1-3.
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regarded by the Quaker set as their leader. About the same time, August 20, 1694, he was restored to the governorship of Pennsylvania, and promised to defend the frontiers. In 1695 he went on another missionary tour in the western part of England. He contracted in March, 1696, a second marriage with Hannah Callowhill, a strong, sensible and estimable Quaker lady of some means, living in Bristol, England. His son Springett died a few weeks after his marriage. He devoted himself for some time to the work of the ministry. His work "On Primitive Christianity" was published, in which he argued that the faith and practice of the Friends were those of the early church. He removed to Bristol in 1697, and during the greater part of the following year was preaching with great success against oppression in Ireland, whither he had gone to look after his property in Shannangary.
Penn's heart, however, was in his province. The affairs of Pennsylvania had been going badly ; Penn's appointees had quarreled amongst themselves ; the council and assembly were in hot contention, and there was still another between the province and territory. At last, on September 9, 1699, it became possible for the founder to make another visit to his province. He landed near Chester, December Ist of that year, accompanied by his wife and daughter Letitia, and a young Quaker named James Logan, who was des- tined in after years to become the ablest and most useful Quaker ever connected with the proprietary government. Penn resided in his own house in Philadelphia until the early spring of 1700, when his family occupied the mansion at Pennsbury Manor. In the great hall of this mansion Penn, in a great oak chair, received his neighbors and Indians, the latter coming in paint and feathers. In the midst of these rural joys news came that a move- ment was on foot to put an end to proprietary governments, placing them under the control of the Crown. During the two years of his second and final residence in Pennsylvania he had accomplished but little in the improve- ment of public affairs. The differences between the province and the terri- tories again broke out. Penn succeeded, however, in calming them, appointed a council of ten to manage the province in his absence, and gave a borough charter to Philadelphia. Alterations were made in the charter; an assembly was created with the right to propose laws, to amend and reject them, con- sisting of four members from each county to be chosen annually, with all the self-governing principles of the English House of Commons; two-thirds of the membership to constitute a quorum was created. Nominations for county officials were to be chosen by the governor from the names of citizens furnished by the freemen. The council was no longer elected by the people, but nominated by the governor, who thus was left practically in complete executive power. In other respects the original charter remained, and the inviolability of conscience was emphatically asserted.
Penn sailed from Philadelphia, November 4, 1701, the voyage being a marvelously quick one for those days, as he arrived at Portsmouth, England, December 14, 1701. He again took up his abode at Kensington, and published while there his "More Fruits of Solitude." In 1703 he removed to Knights- bridge, where he resided until 1706, when he removed to Brentford, his final residence being taken up in 1710 at Field Ruscombe, near Tugford. He wrote his "Life of Balstrode Whitelocke" in 1704.
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America now became the seat of his troubles: the territorialists openly rejected his authority ; pecuniary troubles came heavily upon him; his eldest son William married, had a son and a daughter who became the ringleaders of all the dissolute characters in Philadelphia. The manager of his Irish estates died; he had, by dexterous swindling, managed at the time of his death to hand down to his widow and son a claim of £14,000 against Penn. It appears that he had borrowed money of Ford, and as security had given him a mortgage on his Pennsylvania estate. The widow sued Penn; he was imprisoned for debt, and spent nine months at the Fleet. His friends at last compromised the matter by paying £7,500. Difficulties with the government of Pennsylvania continued to harass him. Fresh disputes took place with Lord Baltimore, owner of Maryland. Penn felt deeply the ungrateful treat- ment he met with at the hands of the provincial assembly of Pennsylvania.
Being in failing health, Penn, in February, 1712, proposed to surrender his interests and power to the Crown. The commission of plantations recom- mended that he should receive £12,000 in four years from the time of the surrender, and £1,000 were given him as the first payment. Before the matter, however, could go any further, he was seized with apoplectic fits, which shattered his understanding and memory. A second attack occurred in 1713. He died July 30, 1718, leaving a widow, three sons by his second wife-John, Thomas and Richard-besides his first wife's children. He was buried at Jourdon's Meeting House, near Chalford, St. Giles, in Buckinghamshire.
Penn had drawn his will in 1711; he gave to Gulielma Springett's chil- dren the English and Irish estates, and the Pennsylvania Proprietary to Hannah Callowhill's children. The law officers of the Crown decided that the bill to confirm the sale of the province to the Crown must be withdrawn as a professional diagnosis of Penn's condition. After his third paroxysm in 1713, he was pronounced incapacitated from transacting business, and his wife was made curatrix of his property and custodian of his person under the common law. The validity of his will was upheld, and Hannah Penn became the sole executrix under it, vested with all the powers of the Proprietary, pending the minority of the youngest of her boys-John, Thomas and Richard-to whom he had devised jointly. The youngest son was Richard, and he did not reach his majority until 1730, which gave Hannah Penn's term of executrix twelve years to run. She refunded the money to the government that it had advanced on the proposed sale of Pennsylvania to the Crown, which left the matter just as it stood before Penn began his negotiations for the sale and transfer. The new King, George I, was indif- ferent to the concerns of the proprietary, and no overtures were made to renew or revise the bargain. There was no danger so long as Penn lived, but on his death his will became operative. That instrument named three earls-Oxford, Powlett and Mortimer-trustees of the proprietary, with power to convey it to the queen or any other person or persons. The trustees were friendly to Mrs. Penn; they were in her confidence and approved her plan ; their powers under the will became operative, and they left the whole affair in her hands as executrix. She managed the proprietary of Pennsyl- vania from 1712 to 1727; she suffered in 1722 a stroke of paralysis, which permanently affected her left side; it did not, however, injure her mental
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faculties. She soon rallied, and continued to exercise the functions of pro- prietary until September, 1727, when a second stroke proved fatal. Hannah Penn's administration was far more practical and successful than that of William Penn. He left his wife a vast estate so hopelessly entangled in every kind of complication that ruin seemed inevitable. When Hannah Penn died she left the same estate to her three sons-the most magnificent domain on earth owned by private individuals.
William, the eldest son of the founder, was born about 1676. He came to the colony of Pennsylvania in 1704, and was a member of the provincial council. He returned to England, was an unsuccessful candidate for Parlia- ment, contested his father's will, and died of consumption at Liege, now in Belgium, in 1720, leaving three children. Springett, his eldest son, succeeded to his father's claims, and was considered by some persons as the rightful governor-in-chief of the province. The will of the founder was established by a decree of the court of exchequer in 1727, and a compromise was in process of adjustment between the two branches of the family in 1731 at the time of Springett's death. His brother and heir, William, executed for £5,500 a release to John, Thomas and Richard Penn, dated September 23, 1731. William had an only son, who died without issue. The interests in the proprietary of Pennsylvania were divided as follows: John Penn, one-half ; Thomas and Richard, each a quarter.
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