etary governments; for which purpose a bill was then before the House of Lords, which had been twice read, and though not likely to pass that session, there was no hope of staving it off longer than the next, unless the Proprietary would make his appearance in person, and answer the charges brought against his government by evil-minded persons." His friends in England urged the necessity of his coming with as little delay as possible; the welfare of the Province as well as his own interest seemed to require it, and he reluctantly consented to leave his adopted country to appear once more at his old post near the British Court.

The Indians being informed of his expected departure, waited upon him in large numbers to express their affection and confidence. They said "they never first broke covenant with any people, for they did not make them in their heads but in their hearts."

The constitution having been relinquished by the Assembly, from dissatisfaction with some of its provisions, a new one was prepared, and read to that body, " and every part thereof approved, agreed to, and thankfully received." It was the last one granted to the Province and Territories, and in some respects was even more liberal than those which preceded it. The principal change was in allowing the Assembly to originate bills and to sit on its own adjournments. It made no provision for the election of a Council, which was appointed by the Governor, and prohibited from taking cognizance of any complaint relating to property, unless appeals should be provided by law. In regard to civil and religious liberty, the new Constitution was as comprehensive as the old one. By a supplementary article, the Province and Territories were allowed to dissolve their union at any time within three years by giving due notice.

The Proprietary, by letters-patent, appointed a Council of State, consisting of ten members, mostly Friends, who were to advise and assist him or his deputy, and in case of the deputy's absence or death, to exercise the executive functions. The ship being ready to sail, Penn convened the inhabi

tants of Philadelphia on the 29th of October, in order to take leave of them and present them a charter for the city. On the 30th, he appointed Andrew Hamilton, formerly Governor of East and West Jersey, to be his Lieutenant-Governor, and James Logan he made Provincial Secretary and Clerk of the Council.

On Penn's arrival in England, he was successful in warding off the blows aimed at his proprietary interests; but the enor mous expenses he had incurred in the planting of his colony and defending its interests, involved him in pecuniary embarrassment, which was greatly enhanced by the treachery of his steward. On the large sums of money that passed through his hands, he charged exorbitant commissions, and on his advances he calculated compound interest every six months at eight per cent., which was one-third more than the law allowed. Although he had received £17,000, and expended £16,000 only, he brought the Proprietary in his debt to the amount of ten thousand five hundred pounds. Penn having confidence in him, accepted his accounts without sufficient examination, and finally, to secure the debt, gave him a lien upon his Province in the form of a deed of conveyance.

After the death of the steward, his heirs brought suit, and Penn being arrested, became a prisoner for debt. He offered, for "peace sake," to pay such a sum as disinterested men might award, but the prosecutors were inexorable, and he continued about nine months within the prison bounds. During his imprisonment his friends exerted themselves for his relief, and the sum of seven thousand six hundred pounds being raised, it was accepted in liquidation of the claim, and he was again set at liberty.

In addition to his pecuniary difficulties, Penn had to suffer from anxiety on account of his Province. His LieutenantGovernors were frequently injudicious in their measures, and the Colonial Assemblies unreasonable in their complaints; hence dissensions arose between the legislative and executive departments, which impaired the reputation and interests of the colony.

These dissensions were doubtless exaggerated in the reports sent over to England, and increased the embarrassments of the Proprietary. Another cause of anxiety to Penn arose from the proceedings of a British court of Admiralty established in the Province, which endeavored to exact the use of oaths, and otherwise interfered with his government. In his correspondence with his faithful friend and secretary, James Logan, he expresses, in touching terms, his affectionate interest in the colony, and his solicitude for its welfare. At length he came reluctantly to the conclusion, in which Logan and others of his friends concurred, that it would be best for him to sell to the British crown his right of government in the Province, retaining his landed estate in it. His negotiations with the ministry were delayed by his determination to secure religious liberty and political privileges to the people. In the summer of 1712 the terms of the surrender were agreed upon, but he was then taken ill of a fever, and the measure was never consummated.

When he had partially recovered, he went to Bristol, where he had a second attack of a disease which his wife, in her letter to Logan, called "a lethargic illness." It came upon him suddenly while he was writing to Logan, - so suddenly, that his hand was arrested by paralysis in the beginning of a sentence which he never completed.

During six years he lingered an invalid, gradually sinking to the grave. His memory was impaired, his noble intellect was clouded; but the sweetness of his temper remained, and he was favored to retain the highest and best of his endow ments, a sense of spiritual enjoyment, and a heart overflowing with love to God and man. He died the 30th of the Fifth month, 1718, in the 74th year of his age, and was buried at Jordan's, in Buckinghamshire, where his first wife and several of his family had been interred.

In all the transactions of his eventful life, the character of William Penn shines out in clearness and purity. The lapse of one hundred and fifty years has not dimmed its lustre, and even his modern traducer admits that "his name

has thus become, throughout all civilized countries, a synonym for probity and philanthropy." One of the most remarkable traits in the character of Penn was his magnanimity. With a singular disregard for selfish or personal considerations, he devoted his life to the good of mankind. To plead the cause of suffering humanity; to advocate the doctrines of civil and religious liberty; to found a free colony for all mankind; to establish there the most liberal constitution and laws; to obtain by justice and kindness an unexampled influence over the Indian tribes; to recommend measures for improving the moral and social condition of the African race; to point out the means of avoiding the calamities of war, and to exemplify the benign principles of peace: these and similar objects engaged all the powers of his active and vigorous mind. To have aimed at such noble objects, entitles his character to our esteem; to have succeeded so remarkably, demands our gratitude.

"There is," says Bancroft, "nothing in the history of the human race like the confidence which the simple virtues and institutions of William Penn inspired." "Penn never

"Eng

gave counsel at variance with popular rights." land, to-day, confesses his sagacity, and is doing honor to his genius. He came too soon for success, and he was aware of it. After more than a century, the laws which he reproved began gradually to be repealed; and the principle which he developed, sure of immortality, is slowly but firmly asserting its power over the legislation of Great Britain.” . . . “Every charge of hypocrisy, of selfishness, of vanity, of dissimulation, of credulous confidence; every form of reproach, from virulent abuse to cold apology; every ill name from Tory and Jesuit to blasphemer and infidel, has been used against Penn; but the candor of his character always triumphed over calumny.

"His name was safely cherished as a household word in the cottages of Wales and Ireland, and among the peasantry of Germany; and not a tenant of a wigwam, from the sea to the Susquehanna, doubted his integrity.

"His fame is now wide as the world; he is one of the few who have gained abiding glory."

CHAPTER II.

PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT, 1684-1693.

THOMAS LLOYD, President of Council, August, 1684, to De

cember, 1686. - Unable to come to an agreement with Lord Baltimore, respecting the possession of the territory south of the Delaware, and desirous of holding the Bay, and thus securing favorable communication with the ocean, Penn determined to try his cause before the home government, where Lord Baltimore had already submitted it, and was laboring to have the case prejudged. Though attached to his colony, and conscious that his presence in it was constantly needed, he nevertheless decided to return to England. There were other considerations besides this which attracted him thither. It was a period in which dissenters, and especially the sect to which Penn belonged, felt the heavy hand of persecution. He had influence at court, and he longed to plead the cause of his suffering brethren in the royal presence.

He accordingly placed the executive government in the hands of a Council of Five, over whom he appointed Thomas Lloyd, President, to whom he entrusted the keeping of the Great Seal, and on the 12th of August, 1684, sailed for England.

Lloyd had been educated at Oxford, and had held places of trust at home. Attaching himself to the Quakers, he had become skilled in argumentation, and in the defence of their doctrines. Having formed the purpose of settling in the New World, he had embarked with Penn, to whose favor he had commended himself during the voyage, by the steadfastness of his faith, and by his fortitude under the severest trials. Markham, the first proprietary Lieutenant-Governor, was made secretary of the Province and the Territories; Thomas