A Concise Biographical Sketch of William Penn

Admiral Penn at different times had loaned money to the British government, and to the Duke of York; which the costly profligacy of the Court had prevented being repaid, and, with the interest accruing, it amounted at that time to between sixteen and seventeen thousand pounds sterling. In 1680, William Penn petitioned the King, that in order to cancel the debt, he should grant him the tract of country bounded on the east by the Delaware River, and on the south by Lord Baltimore's Province of Maryland; while the western and northern limits were undefined; though the latter was not to interfere with the Province of New York. But William Penn was by no means popular at the Court. The courtiers despised him for his strict conscientiousness; the clerical party hated him for his Quakerism, and open opposition to their assumed place and power; while the active interest he had taken in promoting the return of Sidney – a known Republican – to Parliament, had given offence to the King and Duke. Private interests and jealousies were enlisted against him, and the agents of Lord Baltimore and Sir John Werden, deputy for the Duke of York, were assiduous in their efforts to thwart him, and defeat his application.

But he was not a man easily turned aside from pursuing that which he thought right to attain. The Earl of Sutherland was his firm friend in the Privy Council, and there were several other persons of note who took warm interest in the success of his colonial project. Penn sought and obtained an interview with the Duke of York, and succeeded in changing his feelings towards himself, and his views relative to the policy of the grant. But perhaps the most cogent argument with the King and Council was, the persistent presentation by one of the latter that, if the grant was withheld, the money due must be forthcoming. There were many vexatious delays and disappointments; but finally the boundaries of the Province being adjusted as was then thought clearly and definitely, and such clauses introduced into the terms of the patent or charter as were deemed necessary to secure the paramount authority of the King, Charles affixed his signature to it on the fourth of the Third month, 1681. William Penn proposed to call his Province New Wales, but the Secretary, who was a Welshman, would not consent to it. He then suggested Sylvania, to which the King prefixed Penn, out of respect to the late Admiral; and though William objected to it, as savoring of vanity in him, it was determined to adhere to that name.

By the Charter, William Penn was made sole and absolute proprietary of the Province; with power, with the assent of the freemen residing therein, to make all necessary laws, provided they were not inconsistent with the laws of England; to grant pardons or reprieves, except in cases of wilful murder or treason, and to enjoy all such duties on imports or exports as the representatives of the people might assess. There was a clause in the Charter, inserted at the solicitation of the Bishop of London, that whenever twenty of the inhabitants should petition the said Bishop for a preacher, he should be permitted to reside in the Province.

His design from the first was to establish a government upon Christian principles. In referring to this subject, he says: "And because I have been somewhat exercised at times, about the nature and end of government among men, it is reasonable to expect that I should endeavor to establish a just and righteous one in this Province, that others may take example by it; truly this my heart desires. For nations want a precedent, and till vice and corrupt manners be impartially rebuked and punished, and till virtue and sobriety be cherished, the wrath of God will hang over nations. I do therefore desire the Lord's wisdom to guide me, and those that may be concerned with me, that we may do the thing that is truly wise and just."

His constant desire, that all his movements might tend to the glory of God, is shown in the spirit which breathes through the following letter, written to Stephen Crisp, on the eve of his departure from England:

"Dear S. C.: – My dear and lasting love in the Lord's everlasting truth reaches to thee, with whom is my fellowship in the gospel of peace, that is more dear and precious to my soul than all the treasures and pleasures of this world; for when a few years are past, we shall all go the way whence we shall never return: and that we may unweariedly serve the Lord in our day and place, and in the end enjoy a portion with the blessed that are at rest, is the breathing of my soul!

"Stephen! we know one another, and I need not say much to thee; but this I will say, thy parting dwells with me, or rather thy love at my parting. How innocent, how tender, how like the little child that has no guile! The Lord will bless that ground. I have also a letter from thee which comforted me; for many are my trials, yet not more than my supplies from my Heavenly Father, whose glory I seek, and the renown of his blessed name. And truly, Stephen, there is work enough, and here is room to work in. Surely God will come in for a share in this planting work, and that leaven shall leaven the whole lump in time. I do not believe the Lord's providence had run this way towards me, but that he has an heavenly end and service in it. So with Him I leave all, and myself and thee, and his dear people, and blessed name on earth.

"God Almighty, immortal and eternal, be with us, that in the body and out of the body we may be his forever!"

Amid his preparations for the voyage, he addressed to his wife and children, who were to be left behind, a letter fraught with the most earnest solicitude for their well-being every way, and full of the most tender and judicious counsel. It thus concludes: "So, my God, that hath blessed me with His abundant mercies, both of this and the other and blessed life, be with you all, guide you by His counsel, bless you, and bring you to his eternal glory, that you may shine, my dear children, in the firmament of God's power, with the blessed spirits of the just, that celestial family, praising and admiring Him, the God and Father of it, forever. For there is no God like unto Him; the God of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of the prophets, the apostles, and martyrs of Jesus, in whom I live forever.

"So farewell to my thrice dearly beloved wife and children!

"Yours, as God pleaseth, in that which no waters can quench, no time forget, nor distance wear away, but remains forever."

Being now feudal sovereign of so extensive a territory, so far as the act of the King and Council could make him, William Penn published a description of the natural features and resources of the country, and invited those who were disposed to change their place of abode and prepared to emigrate, to resort to Pennsylvania, and under its Christian government and special privileges, secure the blessings of freedom and political equality. He did not disappoint his friends in their expectation of the benign form of government he instituted. It was democratic in its spirit, and its provisions were liberal, and fitted to meet the demands of the broad principles of popular rights, as they were from time to time developed. The article in relation to liberty of conscience deserves to be noticed, as the public declaration of the principles of Friends on that point, where they had the power of government in their own hands.

"Almighty God being the only Lord of Conscience, Father of lights and spirits, and the author as well as object of all Divine knowledge, faith and worship; who only can enlighten the mind, and persuade and convince the understanding of people, in due reverence to his authority over the souls of mankind: It is enacted by the authority aforesaid, (General Assembly met at Chester, Twelve month, fourth, 1682,) that no person now, or at any time hereafter, living in this Province, who shall confess and acknowledge one Almighty God, to be the Creator, upholder and ruler of the world, and professeth him or herself obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly under the civil government, shall in any wise be molested or prejudiced for his or her conscientious persuasion or practice; nor shall he or she at any time be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious worship, place or ministry whatever, contrary to his or her mind; but shall freely and fully enjoy his or her Christian liberty in that respect, without any interruption or reflection. And if any person shall abuse or deride any other, for his or her different persuasion and practice in matter of religion, such shall be looked upon as a disturber of the peace, and be punished accordingly."

There were no oaths exacted, and no provision made for military defence. He exempted from the penalty of death two hundred crimes for which that punishment was inflicted in England, though life was to be forfeited for wilful murder. With a view of connecting reformation with punishment by imprisonment, prisoners were to be kept at work, and subjected to moral discipline. And it was enacted: "That, as a careless and corrupt administration of justice draws the wrath of God upon Magistrates, so the wildness and looseness of the people provoke the indignation of God against a country; therefore, that all such offences against God as swearing, cursing, lying, profane talking, drunkenness, drinking of healths, obscene words, (and several other scandalous acts particularly named,) treasons, misprisions, duels, murders, felony, sedition, maims, forcible entries, and other violences to the persons and estates of the inhabitants of the Province; all prizes, stage-plays, cards, dice, May-games, gamesters, masques, revels, bull-baitings, cock-fightings, bear-baitings, and the like, which excite the people to rudeness, cruelty, and irreligion, shall be respectively discouraged and severely punished, according to the appointment of the Governor and freemen in provincial council and general assembly."

George Fox had repeatedly expressed his Christian solicitude for the colored people held as slaves, at that time, by Friends. He had strongly urged upon all who held them to see to their instruction, especially in the truths of the gospel as recorded in the Scriptures; that after serving for a certain time they should be freed, and that provision should be made for their comfortable enjoyment of old age. William Penn, in the charter he granted to "The Free Society of Traders," inserted the following article, showing how fully he sympathized in this feeling of George Fox, and his desire to promote manumission after a term of service: "Black servants to be free at fourteen years, and, on giving to the Society two-thirds of what they can produce on land allotted to them by the Society, with stock and tools. If they agree not to this, to be servants until they do."

There were about two thousand inhabitants, – exclusive of Indians, – mostly English, Swedes, and Dutch, when William Penn took possession of his Province. The well-known character of the Proprietor, the strong inducements offered by the system of government proposed, and the natural advantages from soil and climate of the newly-opened domain, all acted as powerful incentives to emigrate; not only to men who were struggling hardly and uncertainly at their native home for the means of subsistence, but to others, who, though with sufficient to live comfortably where they were, were anxious to escape from the intolerant oppression of a Court and hierarchy bent on enforcing the alternatives of conformity to certain prescribed dogmas of their own construction, or suffering, if not ruin, by imprisonment or deprivation of estate.

William Penn arrived in Pennsylvania in 1682, and in that year and the two following fifty vessels came into the Delaware River, bringing several thousand emigrants; the most of them from Great Britain, and some from Germany. Nearly all of them were professors with Friends, and many substantial, consistent members, who came under a sense of religious duty, and made the practice of the religion they had embraced the primary object of life. Some had the benefit of a liberal education, while the great body, farmers, mechanics, or tradesmen, had acquired but the rudiments of English school-learning. Many possessed considerable property, paying cash for the land they took up; and generally the others soon found means to make themselves independent.

Those who came first, as was to be expected, had to encounter the difficulties and privations usually attending pioneers in an uncultivated forest. Some, who brought the frames of small houses with them, were not long in obtaining a comfortable shelter; but very many were obliged to content themselves with hastily constructed shanties, under the overarching branches of trees; while some dug caves in the bank of the river, and made out to obtain in them some of the comforts of a home. This was before William Penn came out; but Richard Townsend, who came in the same ship with him, thus speaks of his experience: "At our arrival we found it a wilderness; the chief inhabitants were Indians; there were some Swedes, who received us in a friendly manner; and although there was a great number of us, the good hand of Providence was seen in a particular manner, in that provisions were found for us by the Swedes and Indians, at very reasonable rates; as well as brought from divers other parts, that were inhabited before. Our first concern was to keep up and maintain our religious worship, and in order thereto, we had several meetings in the houses of the inhabitants; and one boarded meeting-house was set up, where the city was to be (near the Delaware); and as we had nothing but love and good-will in our hearts one to another, we had very comfortable meetings from time to time, and, after our meeting was over, we assisted each other in building little houses for our shelter."

The high motives that prompted them to exile themselves from their native land, and the fervent religious concern to be engaged in promoting the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom, which warmed their hearts, enabled them to bear all they had to endure with cheerfulness. One of them thus expresses himself: "Our business in this new land is not so much to build houses, and establish factories, and promote trade and manufactures, that may enrich ourselves (though all these things, in their due place, are not to be neglected), as to erect temples of holiness and righteousness, which God may delight in; to lay such lasting frames and foundations of temperance and virtue as may support the future superstructures of our happiness, both in this and the other world."

In taking possession, and in the settlement of Pennsylvania, it had been 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.