A Concise Biographical Sketch of William Penn

by Charles Evans

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.

The just and loving manner in which William Penn treated the Indians from the beginning of his intercourse with them, and the peaceable principles not only professed, but continually acted on by the settlers, besides gaining the confidence of the tribe immediately surrounding them, spread their fame to others more distant; so that during the stay of the Proprietor, when on his first visit to his Province, he made treaties of friendship and amity with nearly twenty different tribes. Nor were the expenditures for the land purchased a mere nominal sum, palmed upon the ignorant natives, easily caught with showy goods, and unaccustomed to estimate things at their real value. From the accounts preserved of these bargains and sales, it appears that, during his lifetime, the Proprietor expended over twenty thousand pounds in the purchase of that portion of the soil which was ceded to him by the aborigines; and yet they were not required to abstain from hunting or fishing within its boundaries, and the laws were so framed as to give them the protection of citizens.

The influx of settlers was unprecedented; the forest began to be cleared, and dwellings were put up rapidly. The soil yielded abundantly, and no calamity occurred for years to check the rapid increase of inhabitants, or create doubts and dissatisfaction as to the course they had taken in removing from their native country. New meetings for worship were established, as the new-comers took up lands in the counties contiguous to the city; so that, in 1684, William Penn wrote, there were eighteen in all, and all were brought within the order of church government, as laid down in the discipline then adopted.

Shortly after witnessing the prosperous beginning of his new colony, William Penn returned to England, and for a number of years continued to reside in or near London. He had provided for the affairs of the Province during his absence; but such was his unceasing solicitude for the spiritual welfare of the Friends he was about leaving, that, after he had embarked, he addressed them a letter from the ship, in which he says: "Now you are come to a quiet land, provoke not the Lord to trouble it, and as liberty and authority are with you, and in your hands, let the government be upon His shoulders in all your spirits; that you may rule for Him, under whom the princes of this world will one day esteem it their honor to govern and serve in their places. I cannot but say, when these things come mightily upon my mind, as the apostle did of old, 'What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness?'

"And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this Province, named before thou wert born, what love, what care, what service, and what travail has there been, to bring thee forth and preserve thee from such as would abuse and defile thee.

"Oh that thou mayst be kept from the evil that would overwhelm thee; that, faithful to the God of thy mercies, in the life of righteousness, thou mayst be preserved to the end. My soul prays to God for thee, that thou mayst stand in the day of trial, that thy children may be blessed of the Lord, and thy people saved by His power."

He had been commended by his father, on his death-bed, to the good offices of the then Duke of York. The respect and kind feeling of the Duke for William Penn appeared to have continued after he became King; and a sense of gratitude and Christian interest, in measure, bound the man he had befriended to his royal benefactor. He was almost daily at Court, and as often his interest there was employed on behalf of those with whom he was united in religious fellowship, or of others who solicited his aid; which his kindness of heart prompted him not to refuse. His house in Kensington was daily thronged with persons who sought his mediation to promote their interests, or desired to engage him to present their petitions or addresses to the King. He received all with courtesy, and aided those he could with cheerfulness; and no one ever charged him with making gain of his position or influence. Nevertheless, in this way, it is probable he appeared in cases where greater prudence would have restrained him from interfering. Certainly he made many bitter enemies, who hesitated not to proclaim him to be a Jesuit, a hypocrite, and an enemy to the Protestant interest. Accustomed to calumny as a Friend, and conscious of his innocence, William Penn allowed these slanders to possess the public ear, until they came to be credited by many, who, without any particular prejudice against him, supposed that, like other emissaries of Rome, he was in league with the King in trying to subvert the religion and constitutional liberties of the nation. At length the Secretary for the Plantations, who knew Penn well, and was greatly grieved with the manner in which he was traduced, and fearful of the ultimate result of his persistently declining publicly to defend himself, addressed him by letter; reciting the charges industriously circulated against him, and earnestly requesting he would notice and refute them. To this letter William Penn replied, taking up each accusation separately, and showing their untruth and their absurdity. He did not hesitate to acknowledge the gratitude and kind feeling he entertained toward King James, and that on some occasions, when his opinion had been sought on matters affecting the nation, he had given it; but he declared that, on all such occasions, he had advocated liberty of conscience, and the best interest of Protestant England; and he challenged any one to come forward and show to the contrary. Notwithstanding this explanation of his intimacy at Court, and his positive denial and refutation of the many false stories raised about him, the feeling produced by them was not entirely removed; and in the last month of 1688, as he was walking in Whitehall, he was suddenly summoned to appear before the Lords of the Council. Some of the Council, who were inimical to him, required him to give sureties for his appearance on the first day of the next term of Court. On his appearance there, his case was postponed until the next session; when there appeared to be no accuser or accusation against him, and he was declared clear in open Court.[A]

[A] The aspersion of the character of William Penn, and the charges brought against his conduct while frequenting the Court of James II., by Macaulay in his History of England, have been fully investigated and refuted by several authors, who have shown the serious mistakes of the historian, and the innocence of Penn of the offences imputed to him.

In 1688 James II., finding himself deserted by the nobility, the gentry, and the army, fled to France, and William, Prince of Orange, who had come over with an army on the invitation of some of the leading statesmen of England, was proclaimed king. Notwithstanding the alienation of the kindly feelings of the people, by the impolitic course pursued by James, and their apparent determination to maintain William and Mary on the throne, the self-exiled monarch resolved to continue whatever effort he could make, with the assistance of his friend Louis XIV., to regain the crown of Great Britain. There were many, who had stood high in State and Church, who refused to take the oath of allegiance to the reigning royal pair. These were termed Non-jurors and Jacobites, and intrigues and covert conspiracies were, for a long time, rife among them. Naturally this gave rise to suspicion and distrust on the part of the party in power. From this cause William Penn was subjected to no little trouble; his intimacy with the former king affording ground to prejudice the minds of many against him. He had already been arrested and discharged, there being no specific charge brought against him. But some letters from James having been intercepted, among them was found one addressed to him. He was again brought before the Privy Council, and some of those present saying the circumstances required sureties from him, he urgently requested to be allowed to appear before King William himself. This was granted, and, after a conference of two hours, the king was prepared to acquit him of being implicated in any treasonable correspondence with James. Some of the Council, however, were not satisfied without bail being given to appear at Court. On coming before the Court, he was again discharged. While King William was conducting the campaign in Ireland, where James was at the head of an army, fighting for possession of that island, a conspiracy in favor of the latter was discovered, originating in Scotland. Queen Mary ordered the seizure of many supposed to be hostile to the government, and among them William Penn was again included. How long he was detained does not appear, but, at the Michaelmas term of the Court (1690), he was once more cleared of any complicity with the opponents of the government. For many months he had been making preparations to revisit Pennsylvania, and on his discharge he hastened to have everything ready to embark; but, before he could complete his arrangements, he was again brought into difficulty, more serious than at any time before, on account of his connection with the Court of King James. King William had crossed over to Holland, to be present at a Congress held at the Hague, and his absence emboldened the disaffected to enter into another plot for restoring James, who was then at the Court of Louis XIV. Two of their number started to cross the Channel, and have an interview with their absent sovereign; but the plot was discovered, and these emissaries, with their papers, seized. One of them was hung; the other, in order to save his life, gave testimony against several of the nobility, and implicated William Penn in the conspiracy. A warrant for his arrest was issued, and, on his return from the funeral of George Fox, he narrowly escaped once more being made a prisoner.