that there was room there (in America) though not here (in England) for such an holy experiment.'

Here then are two of these objects: for to serve God's truth and people meant with him the same thing as to afford the Quakers the retreat from persecution mentioned; and by the words which followed these, it is clear he had a notion, that by transporting the latter, he might be enabled to raise a virtuous empire in the New Land, which should diffuse the happy influence of its example far and wide, and cause it to be felt to the remotest ages; an idea worthy of a great mind, and such only as a mind undaunted by difficulties could have hoped to realize. The third object may be seen in his petition for this grant; for in this he stated, that he had in view the glory of God by the civilization of the poor Indians, and the conversion of the Gentiles by just and lenient measures to Christ's kingdom. In short, his motives may be summed up in the general description of them given by Robert Proud, one of his more modern historians, and who had access to hundreds of his letters, and who spared no pains to develop his mind in the most material transactions of his life. "The views of William Penn," says he, "in the colonization of Pennsylvania were most manifestly the best and most exalted that could occupy the human mind; namely, to render men as free and happy as the nature of their existence could possibly bear in their civil capacity, and, in their religious state, to restore them to those lost rights and privileges with which God and nature had originally blessed the human race. This in part he effected, and so far brought to pass, as to excite the admiration of strangers, and to fix in posterity that love and honour for his memory, which the length of future time will scarcely ever be able to efface."

CHAPTER XVI.

A. 1681.

WILLIAM PENN was still indefatigable in promoting the interests of Billynge. By the influence he had in Ireland he sent off this year two vessels from that quarter freighted with settlers, most of whom were Quakers. Billynge himself was made governor, and Samuel Jennings, a Quaker, and an able minister of the gospel, deputygovernor of the colony. The latter ruled with so much virtue, as to infuse strength into the infant sinews of the settlement, to the great advancement of its civil and moral growth.

While he was thus attentive to the welfare of West New Jersey, he became unexpectedly concerned for another colony. East New Jersey, of which Elizabeth Town was the capital, was sold this year, according to the will of Sir George Carteret. This province was in good order, populous, and flourishing. He became the purchaser of it, but took in some others as partners. Penn published an account of the country, a fresh project for a town (Perth Amboy,) and a method of disposing of such lands as remained unoccupied. His plan became popular, and many, but particularly the Scotch, accepted the terms which accompanied it.

At this time the difference of opinion, which has been before stated to have arisen among the Quakers relative to the establishment of a church-discipline among them, continued, and much to the interruption of the peace of the society. They who were against the introduction of such a discipline, contended that the mind of man being acted upon and influenced by impressions from the holy Spirit, he had a sufficient guide in these, and that he ought therefore to be left to himself: but this discipline did not leave him to himself: it did not leave him free to conform himself to such impressions, but unduly biassed

him, and subjected him to ecclesiastical authority. They who took the opposite side of the question contended, that an unlimited liberty to man to follow all internal suggestions, would lead him to anarchy and confusion, and would most assuredly be productive of evil. W. Penn and G. Fox were both in favour of organization and discipline, thus limiting in others the liberty which they had claimed and used themselves. From the establishment of this discipline, which of course was a system of human rule over the judgment and conscience of the members, we may date the corruption of the Quaker community, and the decline of the glorious reformation in which they had so nobly and so zealously laboured.

At this time a most severe persecution of the Quakers took place in Bristol, at the instigation of Sir J. Knight, sheriff, Ralph Oliffe, alderman, and John Helliar, attorney at law. These men, accompanied by several others, went to their meeting-house at the Friars, and under a pretence of a fine of five pounds imposed upon it for not sending out a man in arms to the trained bands, though it had never been imposed before, entered it, and broke the forms, windows, benches, and galleries. They then seized the house for the king. Having done this they departed, and made similar havoc in their meeting-house in Templestreet, even though no fine was pretended there. Not satisfied with this, they followed the Quakers to other places where they met for religious worship, made conventicles of all these, and fined them accordingly. The fines levied upon T. Goldney, T. Jordan, and others, amounted to several hundred pounds. Some they sent to prison for pretended breaches of the peace, driving them there like cattle, the men to Newgate, and the women to Bridewell. To the latter no less than eighteen women were sent at one time. There were at times not less than one hundred women in Bridewell, so that for want of room, some were obliged to lie on the floor, on whatever mats and beds they could get, and others in hammocks over them. In the very streets too, they pursued them with the same bitter spirit, pulling off and throwing away

the hats of the men in derision, and tearing the women's hoods and scarfs. They prosecuted also this year no less than fifty Quakers in this one city, for twenty pounds a month for absence from the national worship. When these transactions came to the knowledge of William Penn, he was overwhelmed with grief. He knew not what to do. He had already, by means of repeated publications, promulgated the grievances of the people thus persecuted, over and over again. He had made them known to the King; he had laid them before the legislature; and yet no legal redress had followed. He had therefore only the expedient left him, of which he availed himself, of addressing the unhappy sufferers in one common letter, which he called "A Letter to the friends of God in the city of Bristol." This, he informed them, he wrote for their Christian consolation and encouragement. He advised them, as the cruel laws of their country still existed, to submit to them with patience and resignation. He exhorted them not to be cast down, for there was food and nourishment in affliction; to remember the sufferings of the first Christians; their scourgings, mockings, and imprisonments; to endeavour, by the assistance of God's holy spirit, to raise themselves above the fear or trouble of earthly things, and to look stedfastly to an inheritance incorruptible, which no human power could take away.

But to return to Penn's petition for land, mentioned in the former chapter. It was presented, as I have before stated, to the King. The King having read it, sent it to the Privy Council; and the Privy Council, having considered its contents, sent it to the Lords' committee of trade and plantations. Great opposition was made to it in both places, and for no other reason than because William Penn was a Quaker. The matter, however, ended at length in favour of William Penn; and on the 4th of March, 1681, a royal charter was granted, constituting Penn full and absolute proprietor, under the British crown, of all the land which he had petitioned for. The rights with which this charter invested him were most ample. The use of all ports, bays, rivers, and

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waters in the specified territory, of their produce, and of all islands, mountains, soils, and mines there, was wholly granted to him. He was to hold the territory in free and common soccage by fealty only, paying two beaver skins annually, and a fifth of all the gold and silver discovered, to the king. He had the power of making laws, with the advice, assent, and approbation of the free men of the territory assembled for the raising of money for public uses; of appointing judges and other officers; and of pardoning and reprieving, except in cases of wilful murder and high treason. He had the power of dividing the province into towns, hundreds, and counties; of erecting and incorporating towns into burghs, and burghs into cities; of selling or alienating any part or parts of the said province, in which case the purchasers were to hold by his grant ; of constituting fairs and markets; and of making ports, harbours, and quays. He had the power of assessing, reasonably, and with the advice of the free men assembled, customs on goods laden and unladen, and of enjoying the same, saving only to the King such impositions as were and should be appointed by act of parliament. In cases of incursion by neighbouring barbarous nations, or by pirates or robbers, he had power to levy, muster, and train to arms all men in the said province, and to act as their captain-general, and to make war upon and pursue the same. To these general provisions were added many regulations in detail, the whole charter amounting to one of the most full and absolute ever granted to a subject.

On the day the above charter was signed, Penn wrote to several of his friends to inform them of it. In this letter he says, that after many waitings, watchings, solicitings, and disputes in council, his country was on that day confirmed to him under the great seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the name of PENNSYLVANIA, a name which the King gave it in honour of his father. It was his own intention to have had it called New Wales; but the under-secretary, who was a Welshman, opposed it. He then suggested Sylvania on account of its woods, but they would still add Penn to it. He offered the under