USA > Pennsylvania > The history of Pennsylvania from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 2
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The mother of William Penn was the daughter of John Jasper, of Rotterdam. Her character was another proof of the rule, that the mothers of great men are women of a superior mould. Besides the advantages which he received from her personal instructions, it is not to be ques-
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1644.
tioned that her foreign extraction gave Penn some of the spirit which he afterward exhibited, of wide-world liberality. He derived thus large and generous views of men and things. He was for all men and all time. He was not a Briton, with his horizon bounded to his native isle, but carried his testimony into far lands; and desired also, in the new world, to embrace the savage children of the forest in the compact of Christian love.
William Penn grew to manhood during a period when the popular mind was distracted with religious controversy. Politics and pole- mics were blended; a fusion which never causes immediate good results in either, causing bitter- ness and fury in politics, and scandalizing reli- gion. Fighting religionists wiped their bloody hands to open the Bible; and scoffing cavaliers, with not less inconsistency, profanely swore · fealty to a religion of whose true principles they knew nothing. Christianity was passing through a. fiery trial, and suffered reproach by its con- nection with human dynasties and popular pas- sions. It was prostituted on the one hand to the purposes of tyranny, and polluted on the other as the rallying cry of martial zealots and infu- riated destroyers of temples. Kings claimed under it the right to govern wrong, and regicide drew its sanction from the same abused source. The men of most mark were formalists and
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LIFE OF PENN.
1644.]
zealots; and moderate loyalists and national republicans were borne down, in their efforts to preserve the balance between such opposite and extreme influences. The political result was reached after three revolutions. The republic triumphed, and the king was beheaded. The loyalists were restored, and the living regicides were sacrificed, while the dead were unearthed, to suffer a tardy and childish indignity. The "right divine" of kings was ignored, in the dethronement of its weak representative and the welcome of William and Mary. Consistent prelates refused to take the oath of fealty, and the extreme notions of old legitimists were buried with them. From this day, rather than from Magna Charta, do the political franchises of England date. Every effort to restore the old has resulted in a further avouchment of the true relative position of the governing and the governed. Amid these scenes of blood and of contention, « pure religion and undefiled" blush- ed for the zeal of her advocates "not according to knowledge."
"Quakerism," born in the tumult, and in its infantile manifestations as quarrelsome as any in its own way, grew rapidly sedate, and won strength by its "sufferings." The "people called Quakers," putting forward as their distinguishing tenets those practical religious principles which the vain and bloody world had most neglected, increased apace.
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1659.
They are only less now a "peculiar people," as all Christians are united with them in the essen- tial doctrines of charity and peace, of which they were once the marked and despised de- fenders.
Such were the influences under which William Penn's early character was formed; and even to the end of his days, his life was shadowed by the crimes, or affected by the caprices of kings and courts. It is highly honourable to his me- mory, that the most searching investigations have failed to fix any greater reproach upon him than some natural weaknesses. He comes out spotless in an age when men were not over- scrupulous ; and the fact that his colony impove- rished him, is the best line in his epitaph.
William Penn's education commenced at a grammar school at Chigwell, in Essex; and here, in his boyhood, he gave an carnest of his future eminence, by his application and proficiency. . He appears to have been, notwithstanding his parentage, a "born Friend," for he was remark- able in early youth for a well-balanced charac-
ter. He was not only studious in school hours, but active and hilarious out of doors. The only son of his father-for his brother died in infancy -young Penn was entered at the age of fifteen as a gentleman-commoner at Christ Church, Oxford. He had previously enjoyed advantages commensurate with his carly development of
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LIFE OF PENN.
1650.]
mind and character. His peculiar religious views were early impressed upon him. His biographer, Clarkson, relates that, being alone in his chamber, at Chigwell, "he was suddenly surprised with an inward comfort, and, as he thought, an external glory in the room, which gave rise to religious emotions; during which he had the strongest convictions of the being of a God, and that the soul of man was capable 'of enjoying communion with him." He believed that at that moment, "the seal of divinity had been put upon him, and that he had been awak- ened or called to a holy life." George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, had at this date been a public preacher about eight years. In all the notices of Penn's childhood which we have seen, there is no record preserved of the character of his early reading. But we cannot doubt that the species of literature and inter- course which ripened, in 1662, into that remark- able and beautiful allegory, the Pilgrim's Pro- gress, being the popular literature and language with a large part of the English nation, reached young Penn at Chigwell. Formalism in religion and dissoluteness in manners provoked a reac- tion, and William Penn was educated when dis- sent presented its strongest appeals to thinking minds. .
At Oxford, William Penn received a positive direction in the path in which he became after-
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1661.
ward distinguished. Moved by the preaching of Thomas Loe, a member of the Society of Friends, his Chigwell impressions were revived. The controversial writings of the day, to which he was soon to become a great contributor, were now his delight; while in his college course he was remarkable as a hard student, giving early evidence of ripe scholarship. In manly exercises and out-door recreations he was the peer of his young associates. With an eye to practical purposes, he read deeply in history and theo- logy, and became a proficient in several modern languages. His favourite idea of an empire in the New World was conceived even as early as during his residence at Oxford; and the political fea- tures of his new commonwealth were probably developed by Harrington's famous "Oceana," and the numerous pamphlets which preceded and followed it. Indeed, the germs of many of our modern political institutions and practices may be traced to the theories of those old thinkers and dreamers. What they saw in visions, we have verified in action.
William Penn found young men of kindred minds, who met with him for worship, withdraw- ing from the regular church service. An at- tempt to restore the costume and other discipline of Oxford, which had fallen into disuse, provoked the active opposition of the young enthusiasts ; and Penn, with others, was expelled for noncon-
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LIFE OF PENN.
1662.]
formity. His father was highly indignant at this sudden close to his academic career, and by persuasions and threats endeavoured to change the purposes of his son. At length, exasperated at his firmness, he inflicted blows upon him, and forbade him the house. ' We are not, however, to think that the administration of personal chastisement upon a lad of seventeen indicated any enmity between the parties. The mother had no great difficulty in procuring his restora- tion to the house; and the admiral tried another mode of effecting what force had failed to do. He sent him to France, under the escort of some persons of rank, in whose society he trusted that his son's bias might be altered. Young Penn was presented at court, and appears to have given his father great satisfaction. Arrange- ments were already made for his entrance into the army. His dress at this period was that of a cavalier, and his associations such as his father desired for him. Of his aptitude as a swords- man an incident is recorded, which shows that among his accomplishments this had not been forgotten. For some offence, real or imagined -it would appear, from Penn's own allusion, a breach of courtesy-he was attacked by a gen- tleman in Paris. So skilfully did he defend himself, that he not only escaped unhurt, but dis- armed without wounding his antagonist. Penn thus refers to the encounter, in his work en-
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
- [1664.
titled, "No Cross, No Crown:" "What envy, quarrels, and mischief have happened among private persons, upon their conceit that they have not been respected, according to their de- gree of quality among men, with hat, knee, or title. Suppose he had killed me, (for he made several passes at me,) or that I, in my defence, had killed him, I ask any man of understanding or conscience, if the whole round of ceremony were worth the life of a man, considering the dignity of his nature and the importance of his . life, with respect to God his creator, himself, and the benefit of civil society?" A sensible question, very well put.
Cavalier though he outwardly seemed, young Penn was no idler or trifler. He improved his acquaintance with modern languages, and found time also for severer studies, themes through his whole life congenial. He spent some months at Saumur, in the society of Moses Amyrault, a Protestant divine of high reputation, and under his direction read the Christian Fathers, and pursued other theological inquiries. Thence he went to Italy, but, on reaching Turin, was re- called to England by his father. It is not to be forgotten that he made, during this tour, the acquaintance of Algernon Sidney. This ac- quaintance afterward ripened into intimacy, and produced no small influence upon Penn's politi- cal views.
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LIFE OF PENN.
1665.]
Returned from abroad, his father was so much delighted with his appearance and manners, that he caused him to be presented to the king, and promoted his intercourse with the circle which, least of all, could revive or foster his slumbering attachment to the "people called Quakers." Accomplished and elegant, travelled and learned, competent to converse, and able also (a rare gift) to trifle gracefully, Penn made in the polite world what would now be termed a "sensation." He wrote songs for the ladies, and is noticed by a contemporary as a "most modish fine gentleman." But we are not for a moment to suppose that the purity of his morals yielded before temptation. Perhaps he was the more a phenomenon that, amid the dissoluteness which fashion defended, William Penn remained pure.
His father, who seems at last to have learned his character, now discerned that nothing but providing other mental occupation could secure his son from his serious affinities and tenden- cies. William Penn was entered a student at Lincoln's Inn, that he might acquire such a knowledge of the laws and constitution of the kingdom, as should be the qualification of every man whose position gives him influence, and whose leisure permits study. Admiral Penn was for a season absent on a naval expedition. He returned, elated with his victory over Opdam,
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1666.
to find the son again inclined to the course and opinions from which, though for a time diverted, he could not be turned. The breaking out of the plague interrupted his residence in London, and the scenes of horror which he witnessed, awakened the serious thoughts which his con- science had rebuked him for suppressing. His father saw the danger, and sent him to Ireland, to the vice-regal court of the Duke of Ormond, then Lord-Lieutenant. The duke had a high regard and personal friendship for Admiral Penn. This alone would have procured him distinction, the favour of the lord-lieutenant, in his court, being as absolute a recommendation as the honour of a king in a larger sphere. Here again William Penn was a phenomenon. At this period was painted the only portrait of the founder of Pennsylvania ever taken from the life. Among all the cavaliers there are few so beautiful. There is a look of placid firmness in the face, strength and gentleness blended, which readily incline us to believe that such a young man was a favourite with high-born dames and gallant cavaliers. He is clothed in the armour of the times, and the picture presents a singular contrast to the popular portraits. A copy of the painting is in the possession of the Histori- cal Society of Pennsylvania, a present from his descendant, Granville Penn. ?
Now came the real turning-point in the life of
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1666.]
William Penn. In 1666 a mutiny took place among the soldiers in the garrison at Carrick- fergus. The Lord of Arran, second son of the Duke of Ormond, was sent to suppress it. Young Penn accompanied him as a volunteer. Such was the coolness and courage which the future apostle of peace displayed in the siege of the castle, that his commander, and other officers, and the Duke of Ormond, were anxious that young Penn should have a commission, and his own desires accorded with their wishes. His father, Admiral Penn, held the captaincy of a company of foot, at Carrickfergus-probably a sinecure, and certainly not a post to which a naval officer could devote any great attention. Ormond wrote a letter to the admiral, in which he says: "Remembering that you formerly made a motion for the giving up of your com- , pany of foot here to your son, and observing his forwardness on the occasion of his repressing the late mutiny among the soldiers in this gar- rison, I have thought fit to let you know that I am willing to place the command of that com- pany in him, and desire you to send a resigna- tion to that purpose."
The admiral, for what reason does not ap- pear, did not immediately answer this letter, and never acceded to the request. The above letter was written on the 29th of May. On the 4th of July, following, we find William Penn
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1666.
writing to his father. In this, the young man recounts all the facts relative to the desired ap- pointment. We give the letter entire, as a plea- sant specimen of the respectful pertinacity with which a son prefers a request which he fears may not be granted :-
" HONOURABLE SIR: When I was at Carrick- fergus, with my Lord Arran, Sir George Lane, in my Lord Dunagle's house, called me aside, and told me the character my Lord Arran had pleased to give his [Lord Arran's] father, obliged him [the Duke of Ormond] to write you a letter on my behalf, which was to surrender your government and fort. My lord-lie tenant himself, before a very great company, was pleased to call me to him, and asked whether you had not done it, and why? I answered, that you had once intended it, and that his lordship had promised to favour his request. To assure you of my lord's design, I saw the letter under his own hand, but am to seek whether Sir George Lane sent it or ho, which I am to ask of yourself; my lord-lieutenant tell- ing me sometimes he wondered you never an- swered his letter. I excused it by the remote- ness of your present residence from London. If there be any under dealing, it is the secre- tary's fault, not my lord's. However, sir, I humbly conceive it may be necessary you take notice of my lord's kindness in a letter by the
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LIFE OF PENN.
1666.]
very first, since he has asked whether you had writ me any thing in reference to it.
"I beseech your answer to this, as also, if you please, an acknowledgment of my Lord Arran's great and daily kindness. I wish, sir, you may have respite from your troubles, and some refreshments from your continual toils, (we supposing the fleet to be near out.")
This letter brought a reply which would almost seem to indicate that the father and son had changed characters: "SON WILLIAM: I have re- ceived two or three letters from you since I wrote any to you. Besides my former advice I can say nothing, but advise to sobriety, and all those things which will speak you a Christian and a gentleman, which prudence may make to have the best consistency. As to the tender made by his grace the lord-lieutenant, con- cerning the fort at Kinsale, I wish your youth- ful desires mayn't outrun your discretion. His grace may for a time dispense with my absence -- yours he will not, for so he told me. God bless, direct, and protect you."
Sir William wished his son to attend to his estates near Cork; and it appears that this was one reason, if not the chief, why he declined re- signing to open for him the military appoint- ment. To these estates, by his father's request, young Penn repaired, and proved himself the exact and faithful man of business. He had
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1666.
the entire management of a large landed pro- perty, an occupation which fell in with his bene- volent feelings; for in his gentle rule over the tenantry, he could promote their welfare, and serve his father's interests. But here, when least expected, particularly since he had so lately inclined to a military command, the young man's Oxford experience was revived. While on a visit to Cork, he heard that his old friend, Thomas Loe, was to preach in the "Friends' Meeting." Curiosity made William one of his hearers. He was desirous to perceive what impression would now be made upon his mind, by the preacher who had so deeply affect- ed him at Oxford, as to lead him to acts of non- conformity, and array his conscience against his interest. He had, moreover, a respect for Thomas Loe, and a friendship which in his sub- sequent writings he more than once declared.
The experiment resulted in consequences which we are led to infer were farthest from the thoughts of the young courtier. Thomas Loe discoursed of faith-the true, which overcomes the world, and the spurious which is overcome. Penn's conscience smote him. "It was at this time," he says, " that the Lord visited me with a certain sound and testimony of his Eternal Word, through one of those the world called Quakers, namely, Thomas Loe." Penn's character was fixed. His name was written henceforth among
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1666.]
the people with whose history it is now identified. He was an honour to the vocation he had chosen, and addressed himself without more hesitation, to bear " that great cross of resisting and watch- ing against his own inward vain affections and thoughts."
1657230
Security against any more retreating from his now well-considered purpose was soon presented. Persecution for conscience' sake is the confirma- tion of men and bodies of men in their opinions, and William Penn was soon enabled to "give testimony through sufferings." He was arrested with others, in Cork, being present at a meeting of the " Friends," and being tendered a release upon giving bonds for his good behaviour, de- clined any such admission that his conduct had been otherwise. He was sent to prison, but re- leased unconditionally, upon his application by letter to the Lord President of Munster. It is noticeable that in this letter, which ably argues against the legality of his arrest, and conse- quently pleads for universal toleration, William Penn preserves the customary forms of address and etiquette.
The rumour now soon gained currency in Eng- land that "young Penn had become a Quaker again, or some such melancholy thing," and his father summoned him home. The admiral en- deavoured to overcome his son's determination, and offered as a compromise that the now avow-
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1669.
ed Quaker should uncover in the presence of the king, the Duke of York, and himself. William Penn took time to consider, and declined to make the compromise. His father forbade him the house, and the young man lived upon an al- lowance privately conveyed to him by his mo- ther. He now openly adhered to the persecuted sect, and became one of the most industrious of their preachers and pamphleteers. He was arrest- ed on a charge of heresy, published in a pamph- let controversy with a Presbyterian clergyman, and committed to the Tower. He was nine months in prison, almost his only visitors being his own father and Dr. Stillingfleet. Of the latter, Penn says : "I am glad to own publicly the great pains he took, and humanity he show- ed; and that to his moderation, learning, and " kindness I will ever hold myself obliged." The prosecution was moved by the Bishop of London. Dr. Stillingfleet, afterward Bishop of Worcester, was a man of more tolerant spirit, and merited all that Penn has so courteously said of him. This is not the place to define theological differ- ences. It is sufficient to say of the alleged "heresy," that in a pamphlet published by Penn, during his residence in the Tower, he showed that his language had been misunderstood. It was a dispute rather about the terms in which truth should be stated, than about the vital truths of Christianity. Soon after the publica-
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1670.]
tion of the pamphlet he was discharged from the Tower, his father's influence with the Duke of York having interested that nobleman in his cause. The imprisonment in the Tower appears to have reconciled his father, and to have pro- cured the admiral's high respect for a son who - could so manfully contend for his principles. William Penn again returned to Ireland, to take charge of the family estates, and actively in- terested himself in the cause which he had es- poused. Returning to England, he was once more arrested, in September, 1670, under the " Conventicle Act." He defended himself skil- fully before the Old Bailey Sessions, and the jury refusing to convict, after being absent three days, returned with a verdict of " Not Guilty." The court, in an undignified passion, fined jurors and defendants " forty marks a man" for contempt of court, and committed them to Newgate until paid. William Penn's father caused his fine to be discharged, and summoned him to his bed- side to receive his dying blessing.
The trial, to which our limits permit us only briefly to refer, was an important one, as leading to a more just appreciation of the rights of jurors and of defendants. Again, in the same year, he was arrested; and as he had shown him- self, on a former occasion, too well acquainted with the law to be corrected under it, the aim of his persecutors was at this time reached by ten.
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
- [1674.
dering him the oath of allegiance. This he re- fused to take, not that he refused to acknowledge his allegiance, but because to take an oath was against his principles. He was sent to Newgate for six months, and occupied himself as usual . with controversial writings and appeals to the authorities. The next ten years of his life were spent in active employment. He visited the continent with George Fox and Robert Barclay; he preached in various parts of England and Ireland ; he memorialized Parliament in behalf of the Quakers; and appeared before a committee of the House of Commons to support his petition, that the word of a Friend might be taken in- stead of his oath, under the penalties of perjury. . In many other modes, as he gained years and experience, he was perfecting himself for what he called the " Holy Experiment," namely, the foundation of a government in which perfect toleration should prevent religious persecution, and well-defined civil rights secure to all men equality.
Not the least useful part of his experience was the arrange ment of the affairs of John Fenwicke and Edward Byllinge-both members of the So- ciety of Friends. They were proprietors with Sir George Carteret of the colony of New Jer- sey ; Sir George owning the undivided half of the province. The two Friends had a business difference, which William Penn was called upon
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1676.]
as arbitrator to adjust. Byllinge becoming em- barrassed, Penn, with others, was named his trustee. The trustees having arranged a parti- tion of the colony with Sir George Carteret, West New Jersey was largely peopled with the members of the society; and William Penn ob- taining practical experience in the settlement of new colonies, had his thoughts turned anew to the pleasant dream of his youth-the establish- ment of a people with full liberty of conscience and equality of rights.
Such was the early education of " The Found- er." Taught practically the value of religious liberty by persecution, and of civil liberty by the anarchy to which his early years were wit- ness, and experiencing in his own life the in- congruity of the union of Church and State, he had large desires for the realization of the pos- sibility of escaping these evils under a new order of society. His tendency to theorize was ba- lanced by a various and practical education. A courtier by position ; a theologian by taste, im- proved by good instruction under the direction of Amyralt; the friend of Locke and Algernon Sidney ; a good student of the laws of his country ; a traveller over the principal countries of Europe; an able manager of estates and of colonies ; an acute observer of human nature; a man of sincerity, philanthropy, and piety, and yet, so far as conscience would permit, a man of
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