any interruption or reflection; and if any person shall abuse or deride any other for his or her different persuasion and practice in matters of religion, such shall be looked upon as à disturber of the peace, and be punished accordingly.

"But to the end that looseness, irreligion, and atheism may not creep in, under pretence of conscience, in this province:

"Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that according to the good example of the primitive Christians, and for the ease of the creation, every first-day of the week, called the Lord's Day, people shall abstain from their common toil, and labor, that whether masters, parents, children, or servants, they may the better dispose themselves to read the Scriptures of truth at home, or to frequent such meetings of religious worship abroad as may best suit their respective persuasions."

After a session of four days, the Assembly adjourned, affording an example of unanimity and dispatch seldom equalled.

In the spring of 1683 Penn met the Provincial Council at Philadelphia, and the Assembly two days afterwards. The number of councillors and representatives required by the charter being found larger than necessary, a joint committee of the two Houses was appointed to draft a new charter; which being done, it was read in Council, the members of the Assembly being present; and after some debate, it was agreed to, and signed by the Governor, to whom the old charter was returned, with "the hearty thanks of the whole House." The second charter embraced the same principles as the first, and much of it was in the same language. The number of delegates from each county was reduced to three for the Council and six for the Assembly, with the privi lege of each House being enlarged with the increase of inhabitants.

By one of the acts passed at this time, provision was made for the appointment, at every County court, of three peacemakers, in the nature of common arbitrators, to hear and determine all differences between individuals.

In grateful acknowledgment of the Governor's services,

and in consideration of his expense in establishing the colony, the Assembly granted him an impost upon certain imports and exports; but he, with a generosity which he had afterwards cause to repent, declined to accept it.

There are on record two deeds for lands purchased of the Indians in the year 1683. The first, signed by kings Taminend and Metamequan, conveys their land near Neshaminy Creek and thence to Pennypack. The other is for lands lying between the Schuylkill and Chester rivers.

In one of the purchases made from the Indians it was stipulated that it should extend "as far back as a man could walk in three days." Tradition relates that William Penn himself, with some of his friends and a number of Indian chiefs, "began to walk out this land at the mouth of the Neshaminy, and walked up the Delaware; that in one day and a half they got to a spruce-tree near the mouth of Baker's Creek, when Penn concluding this would include as much land as he would want at present, a line was run and marked from the spruce-tree to Neshaminy, and the remainder left to be walked out when it should be wanted for settlement." It is said they walked leisurely, after the Indian manner, sitting down sometimes to smoke their pipes, to eat biscuit and cheese, and drink a bottle of wine. It is certain they arrived at the spruce-tree in a day and a half, the whole distance rather less than thirty miles. The remainder of the line was not run till the 20th of September, 1733, when the Governor of Pennsylvania employed three of the fastest walkers that could be found, one of whom, Edward Marshall, walked in a day and a half eighty-six miles. The name of William Penn has by some persons been unjustly coupled with this disgraceful transaction, which did not take place till many years after his death. The Indians felt themselves much aggrieved by this unfair admeasurement of their lands: it was the cause of the first dissatisfaction between them and the people of Pennsylvania; and it is remarkable that the first murder committed by them in the province, seventy-two years after the landing of Penn, was on this very ground which had been taken from them by fraud.

While the colonists of Pennsylvania were enjoying the blessings of civil and religious liberty, they were deeply grieved to hear of the severe persecution inflicted on their brethren in Great Britain. The laws against non-conformity were executed with rigor; the meetings of Friends were broken up by armed troops; and many hundreds of men and women, separated from their families, were confined for years in noisome prisons, or only released by death. As the Duke of York was then supposed to have great influence with his brother, the King, and had always manifested much friendship for William Penn, it was supposed that his return to England and appearance at court might be instrumental in mitigating the sufferings of Friends.

Another reason for his return was a controversy respecting the boundary-line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, which was soon to be brought before "the Lords of the Committee of Trade and Plantations," and it was deemed necessary that Penn should be in attendance to sustain his rights.

These reasons, together with a desire to join his family, from which he had been separated nearly two years, determined him to leave for a while his thriving colony, and he accordingly embarked for England in the Sixth month, 1684. Before his departure he commissioned the provincial Council to act in his stead; and to Thomas Lloyd, its president, he entrusted the keeping of the Great Seal. After a passage of about seven weeks, he landed within seven miles. of his own residence, and found his family in the enjoyment of health.

In the winter of 1684-5, King Charles II. died of apoplexy, and his brother, James, Duke of York, succeeded to the throne under the title of James II. He was at first received with favor by the nation, although his profession of the Catholic religion was incompatible with his station as head of the Established Church.

Long before his accession to the throne he had declared to William Penn that he was opposed to persecution on account

.

of religion; and after attaining to power he professed to hold the same views. On the first day of his reign he made a speech, disclaiming all arbitrary principles in government, and promising protection to the Church of England, which gave general satisfaction, and he soon received congratulatory addresses from all parts of the kingdom.

It does not appear that the Society of Friends offered at that time any congratulations; but, soon after, they waited on him with an address, asking the exercise of his clemency, and showing that upwards of 1,400 members of the Society, of both sexes, were continued prisoners in England and Wales, only for worshipping God according to their sense of duty, and for conscientiously refusing to swear. The liberation of these prisoners did not take place for a year after their case was brought before the King, and it was then done chiefly through the personal influence and intercession of William Penn. As his object in returning to England was to solicit the liberation of his friends and to obtain a favorable settlement of the boundary question, it became necessary for him to appear frequently at court; he therefore took lodgings for himself and family at Kensington.

The zeal manifested by the King in favor of the Roman Catholic Church, the high tone he assumed with regard to the royal prerogative, and the judicial murders perpetrated in his name by Jeffreys and others, were rapidly alienating the affections of the people.

The odium of his proceedings attached to all who were known to enjoy his confidence, and, among others, Penn was accused of favoring the Catholic religion and the arbitrary measures of the court. The old charge of his being bred at St. Omer's, and a Jesuit in disguise, was revived, and, owing to the highly excited state of the public mind, was believed by many. There is, however, abundant evidence to show that Penn, though on intimate terms with the King, opposed his arbitrary measures, and boldly remonstrated against them.*

* See Lawton's Memoir, in Janney's Life of Penn, pp. 301-7. The Memoir

His object in frequenting the court was, to obtain justice. for his province in the boundary question; to plead the cause of innocent sufferers of all religious persuasions; to extend the hand of mercy to those who fell under the displeasure of the government; and to advise the King to those measures of clemency and moderation which would have established his throne.

The charges brought against Penn in Macaulay's History of England have no foundation in fact, and have been thoroughly disproved. The limits of this paper not being sufficient for an examination of them, the reader is referred to other works relating to the life and character of Penn.*

The work of J. Paget is the most recent of the vindications of Penn, and being written by a churchman, cannot be suspected of any bias in his favor arising from religious affinity. By reference to its pages, the reader will see that the first charge of Macaulay, relating to the "Maids of Taunton," is utterly without foundation; that the second, Penn's presence at the execution of Cornish and Gaunt, relates to conduct that was prompted by a pure motive, and served a good purpose; he regarded them as innocent sufferers, and bore witness to their constancy; that the third, relating to Kiffin, is founded on a misconstruction of the authority quoted, and an interpolation; that the fourth, relating to Magdalen College, rests on a perversion of the testimony and the suppression of an important fact; that the fifth, the alleged communication of Penn with James while in Ireland, has no support save a misquotation of the authority cited; that the sixth, Penn's alleged falsehood in a supposed interview with William III., is unsupported by testimony, and evidently a fiction; that the seventh and eighth, relating to Penn's alleged share in Preswas communicated by Granville Penn to the Hist. Society of Penna., and published in their Memoirs, Vol. iii., Part ii.

*See W. E. Forster's Preface to Clarkson's Life of Penn; W. Hepworth Dixon's Historical Biography of Penn; Janney's Life of Penn, chapter xxii., and Appendix to 4th edition, published by Lippincott & Co., Philada., 1856. An Inquiry into the Evidence relating to the charges brought by Lord Macaulay against William Penn by John Paget, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, London, 1858.