At this time Penn was much interested in the progress of a house which was being built for him under Markham’s supervision at a place afterward known as Pennsburg, which was to be his family mansion when he brought his wife and children out from England. Anxious as he was, however, that all about it should be according to his wishes, the troublesome boundary dispute called him away to Newcastle, where it was hoped the matter might be finally settled. But no agreement was reached and Lord Baltimore soon afterward sailed for England to lay his claims before the King. Reluctant as he was to leave America, and necessary as his presence was there at that time, Penn realized, therefore, that in order to protect his own rights he would be forced to follow the same course and carry his case to England likewise. This decision was hastened by the arrival of letters from home informing him not only of the dangerous illness of his wife, but also of the outbreak of fresh persecutions against all dissenters, and especially the Quakers. The Friends wrote urging his return and beseeching him to use his influence at court once more in their favor, as he had so often done in the past. Moreover, his enemies had circulated various calumnies against him which could only be refuted by himself in person.
There seemed no choice left him. He must put the Atlantic Ocean between him and his province, for which he had labored so zealously and so successfully for more than a year and a half. But before he sailed he once more summoned the Indian chiefs to bid them farewell and urge them even more strongly than before to keep faith with him and observe their treaty with his “children.” During his absence the business of government was entrusted to a few chosen citizens on whom he could depend to carry out his ideas and principles. How hard it was for him to leave in spite of his anxiety to be at the bedside of his sick wife, and how much at heart he had the welfare of his province, is shown by the fact that even after he had boarded the ship he took time before it sailed to write a parting letter of instructions to his deputies, urging them to maintain the peace he had striven so hard to establish and invoking the blessing of God on the new settlement.
The return voyage was a more prosperous one than the last, and in June, 1684, Penn landed safely on his native shores again. The anxiety he had suffered during the voyage as to his wife’s illness fortunately proved groundless, for he found her quite restored to health, thus leaving nothing to mar the joy of reunion with his family. He did not long enjoy this happiness, however, for his first care was to secure some settlement of his dispute with Lord Baltimore. He hastened to London, therefore, after a few days, to present himself at court, where he was most graciously received both by the King and the Duke of York, who assured him that the matter should be promptly adjusted in all fairness. The King falling ill soon after this, however, the subject was again deferred and Lord Baltimore determined to take advantage of the situation by possessing himself of the disputed territory. He sent word, therefore, to his agents in America to seize it by force, ejecting all settlers who refused to acknowledge his sovereignty or to pay the tax imposed by him. Nothing but the threat made by the government of Pennsylvania of an immediate complaint to the King prevented the execution of this order, the result of which interference was that in addition to the malicious charges already heaped upon Penn by his enemies it was said that this apostle of peace had done his best to kindle a civil war in America.
On the sixth of February, 1685, King Charles the Second died and his brother the Duke of York succeeded to the throne as James the Second. The time now seemed ripe for Penn to pave the way for the establishment in England of that liberty of conscience for which he had already made so many sacrifices and secured so successful a home across the sea. The new King had always been opposed to the religious persecutions that had existed during his brother’s reign and Penn looked with confidence for some manifestation of these sentiments now that James was on the throne. Nor was he disappointed. In response to a petition addressed to the new sovereign by Penn, an order was immediately issued suspending all penalties against religious offenders and releasing those who were imprisoned for such reasons, among whom were more than twelve hundred Quakers alone. But the mere exercise of the royal right of pardon by no means satisfied Penn. His aim was to secure universal liberty of conscience in England by the passage of a law which should guarantee this, and through the favor he enjoyed with the King he still hoped to bring it about. In order to be near at hand, therefore, he removed his residence from Worminghurst to London, that he might lose no opportunity of exerting his influence with James, nor did the fact of his being accused of having secretly joined the Catholic religion to please the King deter him in the least, accustomed as he was to all sorts of calumny.
The political intrigues in which James the Second was continually involved, and which finally led to another revolution, Penn was careful to avoid, and he would gladly have exchanged the turmoil of court life for his peaceful transatlantic colony had not a feeling of duty to the cause he had undertaken urged him to remain where he might be of some use. He spent much time at court and was held in high regard by the King, who permitted him to say many things that no other could have ventured with impunity. This was well known and Penn’s house was constantly besieged with petitioners seeking to profit by his influence with the King. Yet firm as was Penn’s confidence in James’ good faith, he could not blind himself to the ever-increasing distrust and dissatisfaction with which his subjects regarded him. Not only did he openly practise the rites of his religion, having a magnificent chapel built near the palace for the observance of Catholic worship, but he also instituted several monastic orders, while the Jesuits were permitted such influence at court that it was generally feared an attempt would be made to introduce that religion as the state form of worship. This suspicion was still further increased when in March, 1687, the King summarily abolished all penal laws against dissenters, including the so-called Test Act, which permitted none but members of the established church to hold public office of any kind. As this act had been originally framed for the express purpose of excluding Catholics from the government, its abolition naturally was regarded with alarm.
Rejoiced as Penn was at the repeal of the hated laws against dissenters, he felt it his duty to warn the King against showing such open favor toward Catholicism, urging him at the same time to secure the authority of Parliament for these reforms. But James heeded neither the warning nor the appeal and insisted on the exercise of absolute power without reference to Parliament. Fearing lest the abolition of some of the fundamental national laws might follow in the same arbitrary manner, a storm of protest followed and a general revolt seemed imminent. Many eyes had already been turned toward the King’s son-in-law, Prince William of Orange, as a possible successor to the English throne, and at this crisis the Prince, being even then in communication with the malcontents in England, was approached with offers as to the dethronement of James, offers which he had no scruples in accepting.
On the fifth of November, 1688, he accordingly landed on the English coast with a well-armed force and was hailed with general acclamations, the troops hastily collected by the King for his own defence also deserting to his standard. On hearing this news James fled from London, thinking to escape to France, but being discovered on his way to the coast he was advised by his friends to return to London. At the approach of the Prince of Orange, however, he again fled, and this time succeeded in reaching the shores of France in safety, where he was willingly given shelter by his friend Louis the Fourteenth.
On the twenty-second of January, 1689, the throne of England was declared vacant by Parliament and the Prince of Orange proclaimed King, as William the Third, on subscribing to a law regulating the prerogatives of the crown as well as the State and depriving the sovereign of those rights which James had so arbitrarily exercised of abolishing laws on his own absolute authority or of interfering with their execution.
Chapter VIII
Penn Tried for Treason and Acquitted—Withdrawal of Penn’s Charter—Death of his Wife and Son—Second Marriage—Journey to America—Penn’s Home—Attempts to Correct Abuses—Returns to England and Encounters Fresh Dangers—Penn in the Debtors’ Prison—Ingratitude of the Colonists
The flight of King James was the signal for the departure of his friends and favorites also, but Penn refused to leave the country in spite of urgent entreaties from all sides to do so. Calm in the consciousness that he had done nothing which was not for the honor and welfare of England, he persisted in this determination even when the houses of many who were supposed to favor the fugitive King were burned by the populace. When called upon by the council, which had assumed the reins of government, to explain his relations with James, he declared simply that his life had been devoted to the service of his country and the Protestant religion, that the King had been his father’s friend and his own guardian, and that while he had always shown him the respect and obedience due from a subject, he had done nothing and should do nothing inconsistent with his duty to God and his country.