USA > Pennsylvania > The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. IX > Part 100
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In lieu of the provisions thus obliterated, several new ones were introduced, the general nature of which it may be proper to state, as they have become a regular part of the organization of the institution.
The musical term has been lessened from eight to six months, and has been thrown more into the winter sea- son, a change which experience had proved to be par- ticularly expedient. The performances of the society have been arranged so as to take place once a month during the term, and consist of three public and three private concerts, in the alternate months from October to March; the necessary rehearsals being regulated by the conductors. At these concerts the right of admis- sion of members and their privileges remain unchanged; but after due consideration, it was deemed altogether expedient to limit the admission of persons not being members of the society, exclusively to such as do not reside in Philadelphia, and such as the privilege may be extended to by express regulations made from time to time, by the joint board of officers. The advantages of this arrangement were alluded to in the last report, and the board have seen no reason to doubt them.
The abolition of the Academy of Music made some changes necessary in the regulations for the perform- ances of the society. Till that time, the orchestra was composed of professors, amateurs and pupils, who at- tended or not, as their convenience or their zeal dietat- ed. The Academy had in this respect contributed not a little to the performances of the society,-and when it ceased, it became necessary to make heavier claims than formerly, on the time and services of the professional members. It was thought too, that the benefit thus de- rived by the society, might be obtained at the expense of gentlemen who were much and profitably occupied, and that, therefore, there was some injustice in re- quiring their aid with greater inconvenience to them- selves, than was absolutely necessary. With this view, it was determined that every professional member should receive a pecuniary compensation for bis ser- vices. In order that this change may be made to coin- cide more fully with the main intentions of the institu- tion, each professional member engaged in the perform- ance, is entitled to be credited on the books of the trea- surer for his services, at the rate of three dollars for eve- ry public concert, and two dollars for every private one. The compensation of conductors, both of the vocal and instrumental departments, is placed at double those amounts. At the end of the season, the performer is at liberty to receive the sum which is thus due to him, or, should he so prefer, interest at the rate of five per cent. is added yearly to the amount, and the fund remains at his disposal, in addition to that which he may be entitled to receive, according to the previous regulations of the society. To enforce these provisions, which, it will be seen, are peculiarly calculated for the benefit of the professional members, some increase has been made in the fines heretofore imposed; but a stronger security
The first change adopted was the abolition of the Academy of Music, it having been found extremely dif- ficult, if not altogether impossible, in the existing state of our community, to introduce with success the system of mutual instruction, which was contemplated when the Academy was organized; and it being a subject of con- siderable doubt, whether a mere reduction in the price of musical tuition, which was ascertained to be all that was practicable, would be just towards the professional members, or entirely consonant with the objects of the society. Independent of these considerations, the Aca- demy had become a source of considerable expense, and this expense, had not been met in the manner or to the extent that was probably contemplated when it was organized. Our resources were therefore diminished, and we were rendered less able to fulfil the purposes originally contemplated, especially the benevolent ob-/ exists in the evident advantage that is derived from
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them, not only to the individuals, but to" the society at | and the good he wrought for his fellow creatures. Ad- large.
These, it is believed, embrace all the important va- riations that have been made during the last year. That they may produce the desired effect, in renewing the utility of our excellent institution, it is scarcely necessa- ry to say, is the hope of all of us, -but beyond this, the board do not think they err in asserting that they already promise effectually to do so.
The financial situation of the society will be seen in the reports of the treasurer, which are herewith pre- sented. They exhibit both the receipts and expendi- tures of the last year-and a general view of the funds and property of the institution.
It will be seen that there is an increase in the receipts from the concerts, as compared with the preceding year, of nearly eight hundred dollars, although the ad- ditional expense incurred by the society has not been considerable. Though the appropriations made to the reduction of the debt have of late been small, yet they are gradually continued, and we may indulge a fair ex- pectation of its extinction at no very remote period.
The different boards were organized, according to the provisions of the charter, on the fourth of October last, by the appointment of the following officers, viz:
DIRECTORS OF MUSIC.
Chairman-Mr. Benjamin Cross.
Secretary-W. H. W. Darley.
Curators-Messrs. Standbridge, Catlin, and Freder- ick.
Vocal Conductor-Mr. B. Cross.
Vice Conductors-Messrs. Loud and Taws.
Instrumental Conductor-Mr. C. F. Hupfeldt.
Vice Conductors-Messrs. Schetky and Homman.
MANAGERS OF THE FUND.
Chairman-Mr. W. Y. Birch.
Secretary-Mr. W. M'llhenny.
Com. of Finance-Messrs. Barnes, Montelius, and Keating.
Com. of Distribution-R. Smith, Underwood, Strick- land, Richards, Cathrall, M'Ilhenny and G. W. Smith.
The board cannot close this report, without paying a tribute of respect to the memory of two officers of the society, who have died since the last annual meeting, Benjamin Carr, and George Schetky. Associated with us from the commencement of the institution, devoting to it their time, talents, and professional skill, they were foremost among those who enabled it to give evidence of the musical taste and acquirements of Philadelphia. The compositions of Mr. Carr, will long be admired for the feeling and harmony with which they appeal at once to the heart; and his own memory will be sincere- ly cherished by all who esteem a character singularly generons, benevolent and accomplished .* All the as- sociates of Mr. Schetky will unite in the tribute which is paid to his excellence as a performer, and his amia- ble qualities as a man.
WILLIAM P. DEWEES, President.
WILLIAM PENN.
Perhaps the young reader can find no stronger exam- ple of fortitude and practical wisdom in the annals of history, than the life of the excellent person whose name stands at the head of this article. There may have been characters more brilliant; Alexander and Cæsar and Napoleon, are memorable for the splendid mischiefs they occasioned, but the fame of William Penn, stands on a more solid basis than theirs. He is famous among the sons of men for his blameless life, his sterling piety,
miral Sir William Penn, the celebrated father of a more celebrated son, was actively employed in the British Navy, under the Parliament and Charles the II. He was carly inclined to maritime affairs, in which he so distinguished himself that he was a captain at twenty- one-years of age, rear-admiral of Ireland at twenty- three, vice-admiral at twenty-five, and vice-admiral of England at thirty-one. Other great trusts he held, and was employed by both contending parties, the Parlia- ment first, and the King after his restoration; yet he took no part in the domestic troubles, having always in view the good of the nation, rather than the interest of a party. He married the daughter of a merchant at Rotterdam, and William Penn was the issue of the mar- riage. He died in 1691, of complaints brought on by incessant application to his public duties.
The memorable William, son of Sir William, was born in London, in 1644. His carly promise was such, that his father resolved to give him a liberal education, and he became a member of Christ's Church College, in Oxford, at fourteen.
About this time he became imbued with the vital spirit of religion, in which he received instruction from a Quaker preacher, and consequently joined that sect with heart and soul. He withdrew from the commu- nion of worship established by law in Oxford, and held private religious meetings with those of his own belief. This gave offence to the heads of the college, and he was persecuted for non-conformity. As he refused to submit, he was expelled from Oxford, and returned home, where he constantly showed a preference for the company of sober and religions persons. His father, who was more of a man of the world, tried every effort to induce him to abandon his fellowship with the Qua- kers, thinking it would be a great obstacle to his pre- ferment. But persuasion, and even stripes, had no ef- fect to make the young man forsake his principles, and he remained a shining example of moral and religious purity in a corrupt and licentious age. At last, his fa- ther became so incensed at his firmness, that he turned him out of his house. This is, perhaps, the only emi- nent instance of a son punished by a father for perse- verance in well doing,
The young William bore his misfortunes with meek- ness and patience, so that in a short time his father's af- fections were restored, and he was shortly after sent to make the tour of France. He returned so good a scho- lar, and with manners so polished, that his father con- sidered the object of his travel answered and received him with great satisfaction. Indeed he had become a complete and accomplished gentleman.
At the age of twenty, he was strongly tempted to give himself up to the pleasures of fashionable life; but the care of Almighty Providence strengthened his early im- pressions, and prevented his virtues and talents from being lost to the world. Two years after, he sent him to Ireland to take care of an estate he had in that coun- try, and here he entered into full communion with the Friends. This was partly caused by his being imprison- ed, together with several others, for attending a reli- gious meeting. He was soon discharged at the inter- cession of the Earl of Orrery, and immediately assum- ed the dress and manners of a quaker, which subjected him to infinite ridicule and contempt.
Hearing what he had done, his father sent for him home, and did his utmost to persuade him to abandon the profession he had assumed, and it cost his affection- ate heart a hard struggle to withstand the entreaties which his father addressed to him, hoping to persuade him to study for worldly advancement. However, he did resist, and that to a degree we cannot altogether approve.
One thing on which Sir William insisted was that, his son should take off his hat before the king, the duke of York, and himself. Undoubtedly, it would have done him no harm to comply, but he thought such a piece of
* The sense entertained by the society of his valuable services and of his individual worth, has been testified by a monument, which they have caused to be erected to his memory, in the grave-yard of St. Peter's church, where he is interred.
1832.]
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civility wrong, and desired time to consider. Thinking he meant to consult with his quaker friends, his father forbade him to see them, and shut him up in his cham- ber, where he told him he should be ready to give his answer. After some time given to reflection, he told Sir William that his conscience would not suffer him to comply with his desire. This so enraged the father, that he again turned him out of doors. This conduet might be wrong, but it cannot be doubted that the young man acted conscientiously, and did what he thought his duty.
After this, his father became convinced that his con- duct arose from a regard to principle, and not from per- verseness or obstinacy, and therefore suffered him to return home. And whenever he was imprisoned for attending quaker meeting, as he frequently was, Sir William contrived to get him released.
In the twenty-fourth year of his age, William Penn felt himself called by heaven to preach to others, those principles in which he himself trusted, and that self-de- nial, and moral purity which he practised. He therefore began to hold forth in public meetings. He also wrote and published several works, one of which so much of- fended the dignitaries of the established church, that they procured an order to imprison him in the tower of London, where none of his friends were permitted to visit him; and he was told that he should either make a public acknowledgment of his errors, or die in prison. But his enemies could not prevail with him, and in something less than a year he was released.
In the same year he went again to Ireland, where he visited certain quakers, who were in prison on account of their religion, and endeavored to procure their liber- ation.1 Ile also wrote and published several treatises, preached in public, and yet found time to manage his father's estate. In a short time he returned to Eng- land, where he soon found opportunity to distinguish himself by his firmness and talents.
In 1690, a law was passed forbidding the assemblage of persons not belonging to the church of England, for purposes of religious worship. It was rigidly enforced against the quakers. They were kept out of their meet- ing house in London, by main force, and therefore held a conventicle in the open street. William Penn preach- ed to them on that occasion, for which he was taken in- to custody, and soon after tried, at the court of Old Bai- Notwithstanding the partiality and tyranny of his judges, he showed soimuch manly and Christian magna- nimity, and made so excellent a defence, that a jury ac- quitted him. The trial was printed, and remains to this day a monument of honor to William Penn, and of infamy to luis violent and unjust judges.
Not long after this his father died, perfectly reconciled to him, and left him his blessing and a large estate. lle then engaged in controversy with certain Baptists, and wrote a book against popery. This he did because he had been accused of favoring the Roman Catholic re- ligion.
Towards the end of the year 1670, William Penn was again taken into custody by a band of soldiers, for preaching, and carried to the tower. His behaviour at the examination before the lieutenant of the tower, was remarkably bold and spirited. That officer having told him that he had been as bad as other people, made this reply; "I challenge all persons on earth, to say that they have seen me drunk, heard me swear, lie, or utter an obscene word. There is nothing more common than for men of loose lives to comfort themselves with the conceit that religious persons were once as bad as them- selves." However, he was committed to Newgate for six months, after which he went to Holland and Germa- ny. In 1672, he married a Miss Springett, and fixed his residence in Hertfordshire. Here he remained se- veral years, writing, and preaching to the quakers, and upholding them on all occasions. Hle also made several visits to different parts of Europe.
We now come to William Penn's instrumentality in
settling America. In 1675, Lord Berkley, the original proprietor of New Jersey, sold his interest in that pro- vince to a quaker, named Billinge, who soon after sur- rendered his right to his creditors. William Penn was one of them, and thus beeame one of the chief instru- ments in settling the west part of New Jersey. And it must be said here, that the quakers engaged in this settlement never defrauded the Indians or did them wrong.
It seems, that when admiral Sir William Penn died, the British government owed him a large sum of money. William Penn petitioned king Charles to grant him, in- stead, that part of America, now called Pennsylvania. The land was given to him in 1680, and it became his property as far as the British government could make it so. Having thus obtained this grant, he offered lands to those who might be willing to settle on them, at forty shillings an acre. A good number of purchasers soon appeared, and in the next year three shiploads of them crossed the Atlantic.
Two years after William Penn, or as he was then called, The Proprietary, crossed the ocean himself, and entered into treaties with the Indians, for he did not think, as some have done, and do, that the savages had no right to their lands. Then was laid the foundation of that friendship with the savages which lasted as long as the quakers had any power in the government of Pennsylvania. William Penn treated the Indians with justice and humanity, never taking from them any thing for which he did not fairly pay, and his name is held in great respect among them to this day.
The proprietary also laid out the plan of the city of Philadelphia, within a year after his arrival.
William Penn remained in Pennsylvania four years, settling and establishing the government, and doing good to all men, especially to the quakers. At the end of this time he appointed a commission, consisting of a president and five judges, to govern in his absence, and departed for England. For some years after he con- tinned to reside in England, where he uniformly made the cause of the quakers his own. Having obtained the favorable regard of the unfortunate James II., he was suspected of an inclination towards popery, and he was much and often villified by polemical writers; however, he wrote often and ably in his own defence. After the abdication of the Catholic sovereign, and the accession of King William III. to the throne, he was accused of a clandestine correspondence with the former, intended to bring James and popery into England together. Though nothing could be more false, this calamity gain- ed weight by repetition. Mr. Penn became displeas- ing to the reigning monarchs, William and Mary, and in 1692, he was deprived of the government of Pennsyl- vania.
In the course of the year, the proprietor was enabled to prove his innocence, and his government was restor- ed to him in 1694, just after the death of his wife. As he was considered a very useful member of society, on account of his writings, &c. he was further honoured with the appointment of a solicitor for the government, for the rehef of his friends the quakers, whose business he was thus enabled to conduct. Ile this year appoint- ed Markham his deputy governor over the province of Pennsylvania.
In 1796 he married a religious young lady of many good qualities, named Hannah Callowhill. He lived with her all the rest of his life, and they had four sons and a daughter. Four years after he sailed with all his fami- ly for Pennsylvania, having left a farewell address to his beloved Quakers in Europe, in which he assured them that his love for them "passed the love of wo- man."
On his arrival at Philadelphia, he took measures for the benefit of the negroes and Indians, whom he very much desired to protect and instruct in the truths of the gospel. Hence a meeting of the negroes for this purpose was appointed to be held once a month, and he
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agreed to dwell in perfect peace with the savages, pro- mising to suffer no wrong to be done them, and they agreeing to offer none to the whites. At far as he was able, he caused good examples to be set for their imita- tion. Nor was this the only good he did in Pennsylva- nia. He did justice to all men, settled disputes, and, in short, so governed the province, that his very name was blessed by all. After remaining in Philadelphia five years, he gave the inhabitants a charter, or grant, of all the privileges he could reasonably confer on them, and then sailed for England, where, on the death of King William, he became a favorite of his widow the reign- ing Queen Anne.
Henceforward, Governor William Penn lived in his usual manner in England, that is, in the constant ob- servance of virtue and religion, and the practice of good works. During the last five years of his life, his infirmi- ties rendered him almost incapable of public business, but he continued firm in his early principles and reli- ance on Divine goodness to the last. , His life was full of benevolence and service to mankind, both in a reli- gions and civil capacity. The flourishing and happy state of Pennsylvania may speak of his goodness, and his printed life to future ages, showing that an honora- ble, nay, glorious fame, is not inconsistent with peace, christianity, and. the uniform exercise of every moral virtue .- N. Y. Traveller.
From the Harrisburg Reporter. CANAL FREIGHT AND PACKET BOATS.
In conversation with Mr. David Leech, of Armstrong county, a few days since, he informed me, that he was about commencing to run a line of freight and packet boats, between Huntingdon, and Philadelphia. Two of those boats are now finished, and lying at [unting- don. One of them, the "William Lehman," will ar- rive at Harrisburg on Saturday or Monday next. Ha- ving travelled in one of Mr. Leech's boats on the west- ern section of the Pennsylvania canal, and knowing that this kind of boats is new in this part of the state, I take pleasure in giving a small description of them.
These boats are constructed according to the most approved plan of those used on the New York and Erie canal. Those to run between Huntingdon and Harrisburg, are as large as the locks will admit. Those between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, are smaller, to suit the Union canal locks. The largest are 79 feet long; and will carry 25 passengers, and 30 tons of freight, to he drawn by two horses. The apartments are these: a ladies' cabin in the bow of the boat, calcu- lated for eight persons. This cabin is handsomely de- corated, and has tables, chairs, and beds for that num- ber of persons, and is as neat and comfortable as such rooms usually are in steam boats. The next room is what is called the "mid ships," containing the freight. Next is the gentleman's room, large enough for all the passengers; this room, besides a bar, with the choicest liquors, is calculated for a table, at which all the passen- gers breakfast, dine, and sup, and contains beds or bunks for all the male passengers. The last room is the kitchen, at the steerage where cooking is done in superior style.
Mr. Leech will run four of those boats between Har- risburg and Huntingdon; one to leave each place every day, except Sunday; so that every day, there will be an arrival or departure of one of those beautiful boats, at or from Harrisburg and Huntingdon. An excursion in one of them, from Harrisburg to Clark's ferry, would be delightful.
These boats will run day and night, and will perform a trip of about 65 miles in the 24 hours. From the known enterprize, industry, and accommodating char- acter of Mr. Leech, the public may be assured that no pains or expense will be spared to render those boats a great acquisition to the travelling and trading commu- nity. C.
USE OF COAL ON BOARD STEAMBOATS.
Captain Paul Chase, formerly of this town, now resi- dent in N. York, has devoted much attention to the subject, and believes that he has succeeded in making an improvement, by which forty per cent. of fuel may be saved, and the required quantity of steam be ob- tained. We have received from New York some testi- monials in relation to it, which render it highly proba- ble that the invention will result according to Captain Chase's promise. It is stated to us, that by permission, the experiment began the last summer in the steamboat Victory, then running between New York and Hart. ford, and that the owner of that boat was so well satis- fied with the result of the trial himself, that he paid the expense of the necessary apparatus. The engineer of the Victory certifies, that the boat began to use Lacka- wana coal in April last; that at first they found diffi- culty in keeping steam : most of the time they could not obtain more than five inches, and never over seven inches. Since using Chaptain Chase's improvement, in one of the boilers, they have obtained ten and twelve inches readily. The engineer thinks that when the same is applied to hoth boilers, all the steam can be obtained from the use of coal to work the engine, that can be got from the use of pine wood, with the same degree of attention from the fireman. The Cap- tain and owner of the Victory, both furnish certificates of a similar character.
In regard to the amount of saving, it is stated that the Victory in a trip from N. York to Hartford and back, consumed on an average 293 cords of wood at $4 50- $132 75. She also made seven trips with coal, averag- ing 12 tons at $6-$72.
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