Penn made a second, and as it proved, a final voyage to America, in 1699. He intended to settle there with his wife and family, and made his arrangements accordingly. But events were too strong for him, and he returned in about two years, and never again crossed the Atlantic. It is certain, however, that even after this, he intended to return and spend the rest of his days in the colony. In a letter written three years afterwards, he said, "Had you settled a reasonable revenue, I would have returned and laid my bones among you, and my wife's, too, after her mother's death."
Yet, in this short time, he had done much for Pennsylvania. Bills against piracy and smuggling, and for the just treatment of negroes, had been passed; better arrangements for the health and improvement of Philadelphia had been made, and a new Charter or frame of Government, and a just system of taxation had been introduced, the expense of governing the Province having, hitherto, fallen on the Governor. Even now, no provision was made for his claims as proprietor. Treaties were made with the Susquehannah and other tribes of Indians; and finally, just on the eve of the Governor's departure, Philadelphia was incorporated. Many minor acts were passed, some of them curiously illustrating the colonists' ideas of a paternal and religious government. Not only were sins against purity and honesty to be punished, but, amongst others, bills were passed on the following matters: the spreading of false news, the names of the days and months of the year, to prevent cursing and swearing, against scolding, for the dimensions of casks, and true packing of meat, against drunkenness and drinking healths, and against selling rum to the Indians. This much was accomplished by the Assembly; probably, more would have been done, but for abounding jealousies. The Province and the other Territories (the districts purchased from the Duke of York) were jealous of each other, and both were jealous of the Governor.
In July, 1701, Penn received a communication from the king, which sorely puzzled him. It demanded that the American proprietaries should unite for the defence of the Colonies, and that Pennsylvania should contribute £350 for the defence of the New York frontier. Apostle of peace though he was, he could do no otherwise than lay the letter before the Assembly. That body delayed and finessed, and finally, saying nothing of peace principles, pleaded their poverty as a reason for postponing the further consideration of the matter, until it was more urgent. Thus, this question of peace, which so long divided Pennsylvania, was for the present shelved. But it is the boast of Friends that for 70 years Pennsylvania had no army, and though so near both Indians and Frenchmen, suffered nothing through the lack of one. That State "subsisted in the midst of six Indian nations," says Oldmixon, "without so much as a militia for her defence. Whatever the quarrels of the Pennsylvanian Indians were with others, they uniformly respected and held as it were sacred, the territories of William Penn. The Pennsylvanians never lost man, woman, or child by them, which neither the colony of Maryland, nor that of Virginia could say, no more than the great colony of New England." To complete the argument for non-resistance, see what occurred when Pennsylvania got an army. "From that hour the Pennsylvanians transferred their confidence in Christian principles to a confidence in their arms; and from that hour to the present they have been subject to war." (Dymond's Essays, 4th edition, p. 192.)
But it must not be supposed that the refusal to fight meant either unwillingness or inability to use moral means for self-protection. In 1701, Penn heard of a riot in East Jersey, and set off at once with some friends to quell it. It was put down before he reached the spot, but gave him occasion fully to state his views. "If lenitives would not do, coercives should be tried. The leaders should be eyed, and some should be forced to declare them by the rigour of the law; and those who were found to be such should bear the burden of such sedition, which would be the best way to behead the body without danger."
Amidst all this care and work, Penn found time to make preaching tours in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. He and his family won a warm place in the hearts of the Friends here, as well as elsewhere. He might have a large and handsome house at Pennsbury, and his style of living might be superior to that of his neighbours; but he could pick up a bare-legged Quaker girl and give her a ride behind him to "meeting," and he had a kindly word and pleasantry for the poor as much as for the rich. "The Governor is our pater patriæ," writes one of the Colonists, "and his worth is no new thing to us. His excellent wife is beloved of all."
As Pennsylvania was the birthplace of Abolition, the German Friends at Germantown first raising the question, it is interesting to see what Penn did in the matter. He passed a Bill for regulating the trial and punishment of negro wrong-doers. But he wished to go further, and proposed that negro marriages should be legal, and that the rights of negro-women should be secured by law; but the Assembly threw out these Bills. In 1696 the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting had resolved that buying, selling, and holding slaves was contrary to the teachings of Christianity. Penn followed up this resolution by urging on the Society of Friends in Pennsylvania the recognition of the spiritual claims of negroes. Henceforth, until the Society insisted on its members liberating their slaves, they were taught the Scriptures, and encouraged to attend divine worship.
Penn arrived at Portsmouth, in the middle of December, 1701, after a voyage of about six weeks. The chief business that called him home, was the scheme of William III. for amalgamating all the American provinces as regal Governments. To his intense relief, that scheme was dropped. Soon after this, the king died, and Queen Anne, the daughter of Penn's friend and guardian, James II., ascended the throne. He once more enjoyed royal favour in a marked degree. He was chosen to present to the Queen the Quaker address, thanking her for promising to maintain the Act of Toleration. After the address was read, "Mr. Penn," said the Queen, "I am so well pleased that what I have said is to your satisfaction, that you and your Friends may be assured of my protection."
Of the remaining years of Penn's life, we have very imperfect accounts. He edited the works of two Quaker ministers, those of John Whitehead in 1704; those of John Banks, in 1711. In 1709, he wrote "Some account of the Life and Writings of Bulstrode Whitlocke, Esq.," the famous lawyer and stout Puritan, whom he had known and greatly esteemed. He also travelled repeatedly as a minister, and took an active interest in the affairs of the Quakers. Thus, in 1710, Sir D. Dalrymple writes to R. Barclay, junr., who had written to him about the sufferings of Edinbro' Friends:—"I have written fully to Mr. Penn by this post, who had written to me upon the same subject, to whom I refer you." Again, in 1711, he with others waited on the Duke of Ormond (whom he had known before he became a Friend) to thank him for the kindness which he had shewn to Friends in Ireland during his Lord Lieutenancy.
Meantime had occurred the sad troubles with his late agent Philip Ford, which crippled his resources, broke down his health, and even at one time made him a prisoner in the Fleet for debt. Oldmixon states the fact thus:—"The troubles that befel Mr. Penn in the latter part of his life are of a nature too private to have a place in a public history. He trusted an ungrateful, unjust agent too much with the management of it; and when he expected to have been thousands of pounds the better, found himself thousands of pounds in debt: insomuch that he was restrained in his liberty within the privilege of the Fleet by a tedious and unsuccessful law suit, which together with age, broke his spirits, not easy to be broken, and rendered himself incapable of business and society, as he was wont to have been in the days of his health and vigour both of body and mind." The story is a very sad one. Ford was a Quaker lawyer, and undoubtedly Penn had been far too trustful and careless with him. He had even borrowed money from him on the security of his colony. Ford repaid his kindness and trust by cheating him out of thousands, and his widow and son went farther, and tried to snatch the colony from Penn's grasp. But it was ruled that "it would not be decent to make Government ambulatory," and their claim was not allowed.
The trouble thus caused resulted in Penn having several apoplectic fits, which left him thoroughly shattered. For six years he lingered in second childhood, lovingly nursed by his wife. The best account of his last days occurs in the Journal of Thomas Story, a distinguished Quaker minister, a scholar and a naturalist, whom he had made the first recorder of Philadelphia.