TROUBLOUS DAYS IN ENGLAND
Penn found himself in a curious position when he arrived in England. He
was a great man, the governor of a large colony which was reputed to be
extraordinarily rich, and at the same time he was one of the leaders of
a sect which was once more frowned upon and disliked by both the king
and the court. As he himself said, "One day I was received well at court
as proprietor and governor of a province of the crown, the next taken up
at a meeting by Hilton and Collingwood, and the third smoakt" [smoked
out or hunted out] "and informed of for meeting with the men of the whig
stamp."
He went to see King Charles and the Duke of York, but, though they were
glad to see their former friend, they both now felt that the troubles
besetting their government were largely due to dissenting religious
parties, and that the Quakers were among the chief of these dissenters.
Penn saw that he must not lose the good opinion of the king if he were
to have any success in his dispute with Lord Baltimore, a nobleman who
had great influence at court; at the same time he found that many
Quakers were being ill-treated for their religion and felt called upon
to help them. The case of one man in particular appealed to him, Richard
Vickris, a quiet man who had been sentenced to execution because he
refused to take an oath and who had broken certain statutes for the
suppression of dissenters. This case Penn appealed to the Duke of York,
and the latter finally secured Vickris's pardon from the king.
In the midst of this confused state of affairs in England, the
easy-going, pleasure-loving Charles II. died, and his brother, the Duke
of York, became king as James II. The new king could make fair promises
to his friends, and when William Penn spoke to him about the Quakers,
the king promised to show all sorts of favors to them. He had a great
deal to say about liberty and about religious toleration.
When the Quakers sent him a petition for clemency, setting forth that
there were then thirteen hundred of their creed in prison in England,
and that hundreds had died of prison hardships in the past few years,
the king was much concerned, and showed his concern by setting free all
dissenters who were in prison, including both the Quakers and the Roman
Catholics. Probably the king thought to strengthen himself on the throne
by this act of clemency; certainly it was providential for the Quakers
who had been separated from their families and friends for years, and
undoubtedly it made Penn feel very grateful to his sovereign.
Strange as it may seem, there must have been a real intimacy between the
straightforward and outspoken Penn and the crafty and double-dealing
king. Gerard Croese, who wrote the history of the early Quakers, dwelt
upon this strange friendship. "William Penn," he quaintly says, "was
greatly in favor with the King--the Quaker's sole patron at court--on
whom the hateful eyes of his enemies were intent. The king loved him as
a singular and entire friend, and imparted to him many of his secrets
and counsels. He often honored him with his company in private,
discoursing with him of various affairs, and that, not for one, but many
hours together, and delaying to hear the best of his peers who at the
same time were waiting for an audience. One of these being envious, and
impatient of delay, and taking it as an affront to see the other more
regarded than himself, adventured to take the freedom to tell his
majesty, that when he met with Penn he thought little of his nobility.
The King made no other reply than that Penn always talked ingenuously,
and he heard him willingly."
Then the young Duke of Monmouth raised a rebellion and tried to seize
the throne. Many Protestants joined his cause, but he was defeated, and
there followed the slaughter of all who had sided with Monmouth, or who
were even suspected of siding with him. The cruel Judge Jeffreys went
through the country leaving a trail of gibbeted heads and ruined homes
behind him, thereby bringing the Catholic king and his court in more
disfavor than ever with the great Protestant majority of the people. But
Penn did not desert the king, although he must have hated the bloodshed
that James tolerated in his officers. "The King," said he, "was much to
be pitied, for he was hurried into all this effusion of blood by
Jeffreys' impetuous and cruel temper." He advised the Quakers to keep
quiet and refrain from mixing in public affairs. And meantime he himself
used all his influence to protect those who fell under suspicion of
disloyalty to the Crown.
The Quakers were glad enough to have a friend at court, and there was no
doubt but that Penn was a very influential man. In those days there were
many men with some standing at court who were known as
"pardon-brokers"; men whose business it was to obtain pardons for
persons accused of crimes, usually exacting payment of all the accused
person's wealth in return. Penn used his influence to obtain pardons
only because of his belief in the innocence of the man or woman under
accusation, and this honesty of his, in an age when treachery and deceit
were the usual standards, made him more than ever a marked and notable
man.
He soon had so many "clients," as those who sought favors of an
influential man were called, that he felt obliged to rent Holland House,
the London residence of the Earl of Warwick, and he had his own coach
and four horses, as well as other luxuries that befitted his position as
an intimate friend of the king. These expenses, and the money he was
continually giving to his needy Quaker friends, soon began to be a heavy
drain on his fortune, and again and again he spoke of wishing he could
move his family to the new home in Pennsylvania, taking up there the
simple and free life that he had enjoyed so much on his first visit. But
his dispute with Lord Baltimore was not yet settled, and he felt too
great a responsibility for the Quakers in England to leave London then;
he doubtless also enjoyed his new prominence as a courtier; for Penn,
in spite of his Quaker simplicity, was in many ways a man who thoroughly
appreciated power and influence and the good report of the world.
Matters of state were growing more and more tangled in England. The king
was appointing Roman Catholics to office, and was not as well disposed
toward the men of the Church of England as the Protestants thought
proper. On all sides men and women were plotting for their own
advancement, too often changing their religion to suit their ambitions
of the moment. Penn, who would preach to a Quaker meeting, and then go
to the king's chambers, where he would meet Catholics and priests,
seemed to be acting after the general fashion of the time, but
nevertheless his intimacy with the king caused gossip and some
suspicions of his motives.
He trod a very difficult path in those days, often seeming to be
"carrying water on both shoulders." In the summer of 1686 he made
another journey to Holland and Germany, and in the former country Penn
went to see William, the Prince of Orange, bearing messages, some
historians say, from King James to William. This Prince of Orange had
married Mary, the daughter of James II. of England, and Mary was next in
line of succession to the English throne. Penn's mission seems to have
been to persuade William and Mary that there should be religious freedom
in England, as King James had proclaimed it, and to this William, who
was an ardent Protestant, was only too glad to agree. But when he found
that his father-in-law's religious freedom was likely to end in turning
England over to the Pope, he was much less enthusiastic, and did not
altogether relish the arguments made to him by the Quaker envoy Penn.
William himself believed that Penn was an honest man, perhaps hoodwinked
by the clever courtiers around King James, but some other people in
Holland were not so sure of this, and suspected Penn of being at heart a
Catholic, and even spread that report concerning him. Many of the
followers of the Prince of Orange--men who were to go with him to
England later when he became king of that country--despised and
distrusted the Quaker, and Penn seemed unable to set himself right
before them. He was getting deeper and deeper into the toils of his
peculiar position, for he wished to show himself a sincere Quaker, yet
he appeared to be acting in the interest of the Church of Rome.
[Illustration: _Reproduced from Fisher's "The True William Penn,"
through the courtesy of the J. B. Lippincott Company._
WILLIAM PENN'S BIBLE AND BOOK-PLATE.]
In Holland he met some Presbyterian refugees from Scotland, among them
Sir Robert Stuart, of Coltness. When he returned to England, Penn
recommended that King James should allow these men to return, since they
were in exile solely on account of their religion, and were not guilty
of any treason. The king consented, but when Sir Robert Stuart did
return, he found that he was penniless, because all his property had
been given over to the Earl of Arran. Sir Robert went to Penn and told
him the state of affairs. Penn took the matter up at once, and went to
the Earl of Arran. The Earl of Buchan has described how Penn managed the
matter.
"'Thou hast taken possession of Coltness's estate,' said Penn. 'Thou
knowest that it is not thine.'
"'That estate,' said Arran, 'I paid a great price for. I received no
other reward for my expensive and troublesome embassy in France.'
"'All very well, friend James, but of this assure thyself, that if thou
dost not give me this moment an order on thy chamberlain for two hundred
pounds to Coltness to carry him down to his native country, and a
hundred a year to subsist on till matters are adjusted, I will make it
as many thousands out of thy way with the King.'"
So spoke Penn, and as a result the Earl of Arran complied with Penn's
request, and a little later the entire estate was restored to Sir Robert
Stuart. Evidently men understood that William Penn had great influence
with the king of England.
When he returned from Holland, Penn found that the Quakers were
increasing in numbers, and he often preached to as many as a thousand
listeners at a single meeting. At the same time his steward and others
in Pennsylvania were writing to him for more money, and he was sending
them all he could spare, and more too, although, as he sometimes
complained in his letters, he could not see why such a naturally wealthy
province should require any help from him. He wrote that he would gladly
go out to his province again, if it were not that the boundary dispute
with Lord Baltimore kept him in England. But naturally he wanted his
people there to make a profit for him out of his great possessions. "If
my table, cellar and stable may be provided for," he wrote, "with a
barge and yacht or sloop for the service of governor or government, I
may try to get hence, for in the sight of God, I can say I am five
thousand pounds behindhand more than I ever received or saw for land in
that province, and to be so baffled by the merchants is discouraging and
not to be put up."
In 1687, King James issued a Declaration of Indulgence which looked like
a wonderful step forward for religious liberty. He abolished the laws
which prevented dissenters and Roman Catholics from sitting in
Parliament or holding public office. This sounded well, but
unfortunately James, like all the Stuart kings, insisted on acting of
his own accord, without getting either the consent of Parliament or the
approval of his people. Yet, in spite of this defect, the Declaration of
Indulgence was gladly accepted by most members of those sects that had
so long been out of favor with the government, and the Quakers presented
the king with an address, telling him how well his act was received
throughout England. The king appeared to be pleased with what the
Quakers said, and made them a grateful reply. "Gentlemen," said he, "I
thank you heartily for your address. Some of you know (I am sure you do,
Mr. Penn,) that it was always my principle, that consciences ought not
to be forced, and that all men ought to have the liberty of their
consciences. And what I have promised in my declaration I will continue
to perform so long as I live. And I hope before I die, to settle it, so
that after ages shall have no reason to alter it."
But if the Quakers were pleased at this act of the king, the Roman
Catholics were even more delighted. Soon it became apparent that the
latter were going to reap the greatest benefit from this new act of
clemency on the part of King James.
As it became evident that the king meant to have his own way, in spite
of Parliament or public opinion, and that his way was probably to turn
the government over to the followers of the Church of Rome, the
dissenters flocked to the aid of the Church of England. Much as
Presbyterians, Baptists, Quakers, and other dissenting people disagreed
with the English Established Church, they all felt that it was far
preferable to the Church of Rome. They knew that King James was hand in
glove with the Pope and with the French king, Louis XIV., and they could
foresee that if their sovereign should have his way, the country might
quickly return to the conditions of the reign of "Bloody Mary." So
practically all Protestants now opposed King James's illegal Declaration
of Indulgence. But William Penn did not; he said he still trusted the
king, and published a pamphlet entitled "Good Advice to Roman Catholic
and Protestant Dissenters," in which he supported the king, although he
published the pamphlet anonymously. Then he traveled over the country,
trying to induce people to agree with his view of James.
The king next tried to seize the universities of Oxford and Cambridge
for the Catholics. He made over to them Christ Church College and
University College at Oxford, and when there was a vacancy in the office
of president of Magdalen College, he ordered the fellows to elect a
Catholic.
The fellows refused, and the king's officers broke down the college
doors, turned out the president whom the fellows had elected, the
fellows themselves, and the students, and turned the place into a Papal
seminary. At first Penn remonstrated with the king about this, but soon
afterward he changed and advised the college to yield. Here Penn made a
grievous mistake; no wonder people began to think that the former
champion of religious liberty was no longer a Quaker at heart.
King James went on with his schemes. He was growing so bold that he
tried to run all the counties and boroughs, and force people to choose
his own favorites for their officers. Wherever he could he turned out
the old officers and put in his Catholic friends. Then, in April, 1688,
he made another blunder. He issued another Declaration of Indulgence
very similar to his first one, and said that he would appoint no one to
public office except those who would support him in maintaining this
indulgence, and then ordered that this new law should be read on two
successive Sundays by the clergymen in all the churches of England. He
meant in this way to humiliate the Church of England. But James had now
gone too far. Only a few clergymen read the new Declaration, and in most
cases where they did, the people left the churches as soon as they heard
the first words of it. Seven bishops petitioned the king not to enforce
his order to have the act read, and King James had these seven tried for
libel, and imprisoned them in the Tower of London while they were
awaiting trial because they refused to give bail. This was what became
famous as the Case of the Seven Bishops, and roused men all over England
to the wildest pitch of indignation. Penn opposed this arrest of the
seven bishops, but he still acted as a friend of the king and tried to
plead his cause.
About the same time a son was born to the king and queen, and the
English people thought this meant that the Catholics would secure
control of the government for the next reign. They were determined that
this should not be, and so they invited William, the Protestant Prince
of Orange, and his wife Mary, the daughter of James II., to come and
take the throne of England. William landed and took the crown with very
little opposition. James, deserted by his court, his army, and his navy,
threw the Great Seal of England into the river Thames, and fled to
France, where he lived the remainder of his days in a palace given to
him by Louis XIV.
England was now in a much better way. The country had an honest king and
queen who shortly proclaimed a religious liberty that was sincere. But
Penn was under a cloud of suspicion. Men said that King James had sent
him to William of Orange earlier to induce William to side with him in
his Declaration of Indulgence, and men knew now that he was the author
of that pamphlet "Good Advice to Roman Catholic and Protestant
Dissenters" that had attempted to justify King James. Some of Penn's
friends urged him to clear himself of the charges that were being spread
concerning him. They told him that his own consciousness of innocence
was giving him too great a contempt for the slanders and gossip that
were rife about him. But in reply Penn only protested his friendship for
James and his belief in the king's fairness, although it had become
plain to the rest of the world that James was an unscrupulous deceiver.
His final reason for his unwavering support of James lay in these words
of his: "To this let me add the relation my father had to this king's
service, his particular favor in getting me released out of the Tower of
London in 1669, my father's humble request to him upon his death-bed to
protect me from the inconveniences and troubles my persuasion" [creed]
"might expose me to, and his friendly promise to do it and exact
performance of it from the moment I addressed myself to him; I say when
all this is considered, anybody that has the least pretence to good
nature, gratitude, or generosity, must needs know how to interpret my
access to the king."
And that was probably the true explanation of William Penn's devotion to
an unjust king,--his gratitude to a man who had been the friend of both
his father and himself. That same strong trait of friendship was shown
time and again in Penn's dealings with agents in Pennsylvania who,
relying on his friendship, deceived him. It was, perhaps, a noble trait;
but it placed this Quaker leader, a man who had fought so long and so
earnestly to secure religious freedom in England, in the curious
position of friend and supporter of a sovereign who had been doing his
best to suppress liberty of religion. It is small wonder that many
people in England failed to understand Penn's attitude; and small wonder
that, when William and Mary came to the throne, Penn stood in a
discredited and very difficult position.