a subject of much solicitude and care with William Penn, that the whole
conduct of the settlers, in their intercourse with the aborigines,
should be so marked with kindness, and with consideration for their
rights and national customs, as to secure their good-will, and influence
them to live in peace and harmony with the new-comers upon their soil.
Before coming over himself he had appointed three Commissioners to see
to the necessary arrangements for the reception and settlement of the
colonists, to lay out the site for a town, and to treat with the
Indians. By these he sent an address to the latter, in which he tells
them it is his desire to enjoy the country over which he had been made
Governor, "with their love and consent, that we may always live together
as neighbors and friends;" and as he had heard that in some places
impositions had been practised upon them which had produced animosity
and revenge, it was his sincere desire, and should be his practice, and
the practice of those he should send, to treat with them justly for
their lands, and to make and preserve a firm treaty of peace.
When, after his arrival on the shores of the Delaware, he had met the
Colonial Assembly elected by the inhabitants, and the necessary laws
were enacted, and had transacted some other business immediately
pressing upon him, he gave the necessary attention to select the
location of the future city, to which he gave the name of Philadelphia.
Afterwards he went on to New York, and visited Friends there and on Long
Island and in New Jersey. On his return from this journey, he took the
necessary measures to have the chiefs of the tribes of Indians occupying
that portion of the Province which was likely to be soon required by the
settlers, to meet him in council. The place of meeting was in
Shackamaxon, a little north of the city, and on the Delaware River.
There, under the wide-spread branches of a noble elm-tree, was held the
treaty of friendship and perpetual peace, between the natives, the
Governor, and the immigrant Friends, which has become world-renowned as
the _Great Indian Treaty_. Made in good faith and honesty by both
parties, this treaty was defaced by no oath, and remained unbroken so
long as Friends held the reins of power in the government. Under its
provisions, there sprung up a confiding intimacy between the red men and
the white; and so long as the Christian policy inaugurated by William
Penn and his brethren in religious profession was adhered to, there was
no case of wrong or misunderstanding occurred, which was not speedily
settled and removed by resort to the peaceable and just means provided
for in its stipulations.
Thus the benign and peaceable principles of the gospel, as laid down by
Christ and His Apostles, and adopted by Friends, were closely adhered to
and fully tested in the settlement of Pennsylvania; and the experience
of seventy years of uninterrupted peace and prosperity, while the
Province was under the control of Friends, conclusively proves how far
they exceed all other rules and motives of conduct, however devised by
the wisdom of man or enforced by military power. The enlightened and
liberal policy of the settlers, together with the simplicity of manners
and refinement evinced in their domestic and social economy and general
intercourse, contributed to the powerful attraction exerted by the
Colony on all who were disposed to escape from the tyrannous exactions
and almost continuous commotions agitating and embittering civil society
in Europe.
The just and loving manner in which William Penn treated the Indians
from the beginning of his intercourse with them, and the peaceable
principles not only professed, but continually acted on by the settlers,
besides gaining the confidence of the tribe immediately surrounding
them, spread their fame to others more distant; so that during the stay
of the Proprietor, when on his first visit to his Province, he made
treaties of friendship and amity with nearly twenty different tribes.
Nor were the expenditures for the land purchased a mere nominal sum,
palmed upon the ignorant natives, easily caught with showy goods, and
unaccustomed to estimate things at their real value. From the accounts
preserved of these bargains and sales, it appears that, during his
lifetime, the Proprietor expended over twenty thousand pounds in the
purchase of that portion of the soil which was ceded to him by the
aborigines; and yet they were not required to abstain from hunting or
fishing within its boundaries, and the laws were so framed as to give
them the protection of citizens.
The influx of settlers was unprecedented; the forest began to be
cleared, and dwellings were put up rapidly. The soil yielded
abundantly, and no calamity occurred for years to check the rapid
increase of inhabitants, or create doubts and dissatisfaction as to the
course they had taken in removing from their native country. New
meetings for worship were established, as the new-comers took up lands
in the counties contiguous to the city; so that, in 1684, William Penn
wrote, there were eighteen in all, and all were brought within the order
of church government, as laid down in the discipline then adopted.
Shortly after witnessing the prosperous beginning of his new colony,
William Penn returned to England, and for a number of years continued to
reside in or near London. He had provided for the affairs of the
Province during his absence; but such was his unceasing solicitude for
the spiritual welfare of the Friends he was about leaving, that, after
he had embarked, he addressed them a letter from the ship, in which he
says: "Now you are come to a quiet land, provoke not the Lord to trouble
it, and as liberty and authority are with you, and in your hands, let
the government be upon His shoulders in all your spirits; that you may
rule for Him, under whom the princes of this world will one day esteem
it their honor to govern and serve in their places. I cannot but say,
when these things come mightily upon my mind, as the apostle did of old,
'What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and
godliness?'
"And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this Province, named
before thou wert born, what love, what care, what service, and what
travail has there been, to bring thee forth and preserve thee from such
as would abuse and defile thee.
"Oh that thou mayst be kept from the evil that would overwhelm thee;
that, faithful to the God of thy mercies, in the life of righteousness,
thou mayst be preserved to the end. My soul prays to God for thee, that
thou mayst stand in the day of trial, that thy children may be blessed
of the Lord, and thy people saved by His power."
He had been commended by his father, on his death-bed, to the good
offices of the then Duke of York. The respect and kind feeling of the
Duke for William Penn appeared to have continued after he became King;
and a sense of gratitude and Christian interest, in measure, bound the
man he had befriended to his royal benefactor. He was almost daily at
Court, and as often his interest there was employed on behalf of those
with whom he was united in religious fellowship, or of others who
solicited his aid; which his kindness of heart prompted him not to
refuse. His house in Kensington was daily thronged with persons who
sought his mediation to promote their interests, or desired to engage
him to present their petitions or addresses to the King. He received all
with courtesy, and aided those he could with cheerfulness; and no one
ever charged him with making gain of his position or influence.
Nevertheless, in this way, it is probable he appeared in cases where
greater prudence would have restrained him from interfering. Certainly
he made many bitter enemies, who hesitated not to proclaim him to be a
Jesuit, a hypocrite, and an enemy to the Protestant interest. Accustomed
to calumny as a Friend, and conscious of his innocence, William Penn
allowed these slanders to possess the public ear, until they came to be
credited by many, who, without any particular prejudice against him,
supposed that, like other emissaries of Rome, he was in league with the
King in trying to subvert the religion and constitutional liberties of
the nation. At length the Secretary for the Plantations, who knew Penn
well, and was greatly grieved with the manner in which he was traduced,
and fearful of the ultimate result of his persistently declining
publicly to defend himself, addressed him by letter; reciting the
charges industriously circulated against him, and earnestly requesting
he would notice and refute them. To this letter William Penn replied,
taking up each accusation separately, and showing their untruth and
their absurdity. He did not hesitate to acknowledge the gratitude and
kind feeling he entertained toward King James, and that on some
occasions, when his opinion had been sought on matters affecting the
nation, he had given it; but he declared that, on all such occasions, he
had advocated liberty of conscience, and the best interest of Protestant
England; and he challenged any one to come forward and show to the
contrary. Notwithstanding this explanation of his intimacy at Court, and
his positive denial and refutation of the many false stories raised
about him, the feeling produced by them was not entirely removed; and in
the last month of 1688, as he was walking in Whitehall, he was suddenly
summoned to appear before the Lords of the Council. Some of the Council,
who were inimical to him, required him to give sureties for his
appearance on the first day of the next term of Court. On his appearance
there, his case was postponed until the next session; when there
appeared to be no accuser or accusation against him, and he was
declared clear in open Court.[A]
[Footnote A: The aspersion of the character of William Penn, and the
charges brought against his conduct while frequenting the Court of James
II., by Macaulay in his History of England, have been fully investigated
and refuted by several authors, who have shown the serious mistakes of
the historian, and the innocence of Penn of the offences imputed to
him.]
In 1688 James II., finding himself deserted by the nobility, the gentry,
and the army, fled to France, and William, Prince of Orange, who had
come over with an army on the invitation of some of the leading
statesmen of England, was proclaimed king. Notwithstanding the
alienation of the kindly feelings of the people, by the impolitic course
pursued by James, and their apparent determination to maintain William
and Mary on the throne, the self-exiled monarch resolved to continue
whatever effort he could make, with the assistance of his friend Louis
XIV., to regain the crown of Great Britain. There were many, who had
stood high in State and Church, who refused to take the oath of
allegiance to the reigning royal pair. These were termed Non-jurors and
Jacobites, and intrigues and covert conspiracies were, for a long time,
rife among them. Naturally this gave rise to suspicion and distrust on
the part of the party in power. From this cause William Penn was
subjected to no little trouble; his intimacy with the former king
affording ground to prejudice the minds of many against him. He had
already been arrested and discharged, there being no specific charge
brought against him. But some letters from James having been
intercepted, among them was found one addressed to him. He was again
brought before the Privy Council, and some of those present saying the
circumstances required sureties from him, he urgently requested to be
allowed to appear before King William himself. This was granted, and,
after a conference of two hours, the king was prepared to acquit him of
being implicated in any treasonable correspondence with James. Some of
the Council, however, were not satisfied without bail being given to
appear at Court. On coming before the Court, he was again discharged.
While King William was conducting the campaign in Ireland, where James
was at the head of an army, fighting for possession of that island, a
conspiracy in favor of the latter was discovered, originating in
Scotland. Queen Mary ordered the seizure of many supposed to be hostile
to the government, and among them William Penn was again included. How
long he was detained does not appear, but, at the Michaelmas term of the
Court (1690), he was once more cleared of any complicity with the
opponents of the government. For many months he had been making
preparations to revisit Pennsylvania, and on his discharge he hastened
to have everything ready to embark; but, before he could complete his
arrangements, he was again brought into difficulty, more serious than at
any time before, on account of his connection with the Court of King
James. King William had crossed over to Holland, to be present at a
Congress held at the Hague, and his absence emboldened the disaffected
to enter into another plot for restoring James, who was then at the
Court of Louis XIV. Two of their number started to cross the Channel,
and have an interview with their absent sovereign; but the plot was
discovered, and these emissaries, with their papers, seized. One of
them was hung; the other, in order to save his life, gave testimony
against several of the nobility, and implicated William Penn in the
conspiracy. A warrant for his arrest was issued, and, on his return from
the funeral of George Fox, he narrowly escaped once more being made a
prisoner.
In what manner he was said to be connected with the conspiracy, or what
was the specific charge brought against him, is nowhere clearly stated;
but as Lord Preston--one of the captured messengers--declared he was one
of the plotters, and a man of the name of William Fuller swore to the
correctness of Preston's statement, the matter assumed a serious aspect.
As the origin of the plot was believed to have been among the Catholics,
the same misrepresentations of Penn being a Jesuit in disguise were
again brought forward, and the passions of the people being much
inflamed against the intriguing papists, it was thought a fair trial
could not be obtained for him. Under these circumstances, some accounts
represent that William Penn voluntarily secluded himself where he could
not be easily seen; waiting until a time should arrive when he might
have a fair opportunity to clear himself; while others state that,
having been examined before the Privy Council, he was ordered to remain
a prisoner in his own house, under surveillance. The latter is the more
probable, as he could hardly have supposed he could escape the search
the government would make for him; especially as he kept up intercourse
with his friends. Thus, in the Third month of 1691, he addressed an
epistle to the Yearly Meeting in London, in order to remove any
unfavorable impression that might have been made in the minds of his
brethren by his forced seclusion. In this he says: "My privacy is not
because men have sworn truly, but falsely, against me; for wicked men
have laid in wait for me, and false witnesses have laid to my charge
things that I knew not; who have never sought myself, but the good of
all, through great exercises; and have done some good, and would have
done more, and hurt to no man; but always desired that truth and
righteousness, mercy and peace, might take place among us."
During his retirement he employed his pen diligently, producing several
works of much value. The refusal of Friends in Pennsylvania to
contribute money for the erection of forts or other military purposes,
had given great offence to the home government, and the enemies of Penn
took advantage of this, and of the position he was now in, with charges
of treason hanging over him, to obtain an order from the King and
Council, in the early part of 1692, to annex the government of
Pennsylvania to that of New York, then presided over by Colonel
Fletcher. Penn remained shut out from the world, and deprived of
opportunity to serve the cause of truth and righteousness, and his
brethren of the same faith, except by his pen, for more than two years;
his character stained in the estimation of some, and his valuable
services forgotten by many others, who, perhaps, thought he had indeed
fallen to rise no more. But there were men of eminence who had never
believed William Penn guilty of the crime laid to his charge, and were
awaiting the right opportunity to have justice done to his position and
character. Among these was the celebrated John Locke, who esteemed him,
not only as a man of exalted virtue and great literary attainment, but
as a personal friend. He applied to King William for a pardon; but
William Penn was too conscious of innocence, and too fully persuaded
that in due time his innocence would be made manifest to the world, to
be willing to accept of any release that would imply he had been guilty.
In the meantime, Lord Preston, who had made the charge against him, had
fled the country, and Fuller, his witness, having been detected in
perjury, was, by order of Parliament, tried as an imposter, in the Court
of the King's Bench, found guilty, and sentenced to stand in the
pillory. Lords Ranelagh, Rochester, and Sidney now waited on the King,
and, stating that the name of William Penn had never been found in any
of the letters or papers connected with the conspiracy, and that the
charge against him rested solely on the accusation of two men who were
known to be unworthy of belief, urged upon him the injustice and
hardship of his case. The King appears to have heard them patiently, and
replied that William Penn was an old acquaintance of his; that he had
nothing to allege against him, and that he might follow his business as
freely as ever. Afterwards the King gave an order to the principal
Secretary of State for his freedom; which was communicated to him in the
presence of the Marquis of Winchester. He, however, sought and obtained
a hearing before the Privy Council; and, after a full examination of the
charges, he was honorably acquitted. The cloud that had long obscured
his standing and services was now dispelled, and he returned to his
family and friends, to resume the position he had before attained in the
church, and in civil society. His wife survived his release but little
more than two months.
In 1696 William Penn was married to Hannah, the daughter of Thomas
Callowhill, of Bristol,--a sober, religious woman, who survived him
several years. Soon after this event he sustained an afflictive
bereavement in the death of his eldest son, Springett Penn, in the
twenty-first year of his age. He was a pious and amiable young man, of
whom, in a touching testimony to his worth, William Penn says, "I lost
all that any father can lose in a child."
He had been absent from his colony for many years, though longing to
return there, and oversee the working of the government he had
instituted, and the growth of the prosperous colony he had been a
principal means of planting on the shores of the Delaware. But the
various troubles in which he had been involved, and the great loss of
pecuniary means that had resulted from his outlay for the Province, and
the dishonesty of his agent in Ireland, had so crippled and embarrassed
him, that he had been unable to carry out his strong desire to cross the
Atlantic, and spend the remainder of life amid the Friends and scenes he
pictured eminently propitious to secure comfort and peace. But in 1699,
having settled his affairs in England and Ireland, so as not to require
his personal oversight, in the Seventh month he embarked with his wife
and family for Philadelphia, expecting to end his days in the Province.
The voyage, providentially, was a long one; occupying three months; by
which delay on the ocean they did not arrive in the city until after the
malignant fever, of which so many had died, had passed away.
William Penn brought with him certificates from three meetings of
Friends in England: one from "The Second-day's Meeting of Ministering
Friends" in London; one from the "Men's Meeting of Friends" in Bristol,
where he had resided for some years, and another from "A Monthly Meeting
held at Horsham;" all expressing their full unity with and love for him
as a member and minister. The reception of these certificates is
recorded on the minutes of the Monthly Meeting of Friends, of
Philadelphia.
The arrival of the Proprietor, after an absence of fifteen years, was
hailed with joy by the people generally, and doubtless he supposed that
he could now pass his days in usefulness and tranquillity. But William
Penn soon found that troubles beset him on every hand, and that his wise
counsels and cherished plans of improvement were thwarted and opposed by
a faction bent upon promoting their own selfish schemes and interests.
A circumstance now occurred which separated him from his American
possessions forever. A bill had been introduced into Parliament for
changing the colonial into regal government. This measure, if adopted,
would take the control of the colony out of his hands, and substitute
military rule for the mild and pacific government he had established.
From a sense of duty, although very reluctantly, he yielded to the
request of his friends in England, that he would immediately return
thither.
The news of his intended departure was received by the inhabitants with
feelings of sincere regret. Perhaps none felt it more deeply than the
aborigines. On this occasion, a number of them waited upon him at his
residence at Pennsbury. The interview was conducted with great gravity.
One of the chiefs, in the course of his remarks, said "that they never
first broke their covenants with any people;" striking his hand upon his
head, he said "they did not make them there, but"--placing it upon his
breast--"they made them _there_."
William Penn sailed for England in the Eighth month, 1701, having been
in the Province about two years. On the eve of his departure he
presented Philadelphia with a charter, constituting it a city.
The bill to change the form of the colonial government was never passed
into a law, but other engagements prevented his return to Pennsylvania.
In 1705, in a brief but forcible epistle to Friends, he exhorts them to
hold all their meetings in that which set them up, the heavenly power of
God. In 1706 he removed with his family to Brentford, about eight miles
from London. In 1709 he went forth on a gospel mission through the
western parts of England, which was his last journey of this kind. In
1710 he removed to Rushcomb, in Buckinghamshire, where he continued to
reside until his death. In 1712 he had three attacks of apoplexy. By
these his mental powers were so weakened that he was rendered incapable
of transacting business. In this situation he remained for several
years, without much bodily suffering, and appeared to enjoy great
quietness and sweetness of mind. In the latter part of 1714 he was
visited by Thomas Story, who says of him, "that he had a clear sense of
truth, was plain, by some very clear sentences he spoke in the life and
power of Truth, in an evening meeting we had there; wherein we were
greatly comforted, so that I am ready to think this was a sort of
sequestration of him from all the concerns of this life, which so much
oppressed him, not in judgement but in mercy, that he might not be
oppressed thereby to the end."
When visited by two of his friends, in 1716, he still expressed himself
sensibly, and at parting thus addressed them: "My love is with you, the
Lord preserve you, and remember me in the everlasting covenant."
He continued gradually to grow weaker until the thirtieth of the Fifth
month, 1718, when his Divine Master was pleased to summon him from the
tribulations of time to the eternal rewards of the righteous.
Thus peacefully passed away one of the most useful men of the age in
which he lived: indeed, history makes us acquainted with few so
faithfully and fearlessly devoted to the cause of justice, and to the
increase of righteousness in the earth. In early life he felt the
tendering visitations of the Holy Spirit, and as he submitted thereto,
was led in paths of great circumspection and non-conformity to the
world, and soon became an object of scorn, reproach, and even bitter
persecution. But none of these things moved him; neither did he count
his life dear, being mainly desirous that he might bear a faithful
testimony to the truth whilst on earth, and finish his course with joy.
Early called to the "ministry of reconciliation," and wisely instructed
in the school of Christ, he was enabled, for the good of others, to
bring forth out of the heavenly treasury things new and old.