have pitched upon him to advise therein." It appears by the same letter as if he had been dissatisfied with the conduct of the Assembly. "I will add this," says he, "that the Assembly, as they call themselves, are not so without Governor and Privy Council, and that no speaker, clerk, or book, belongs to them; and that the people have their representatives in the Privy Council to prepare bills, and the Assembly, as it is called, has only the power of aye or no, yea or nay. If they turn debaters, judges, or complainers, they overthrow the charter quite in the very root of the constitution of it, for it is to usurp the Privy Council's part in the charter, and to forfeit the charter itself."

At this time Captain Blackwell was in New England, and, of course, not far from his new government; but his commission had been sent him, and with it a letter, in which we find, among others, the following instructions: "That things should be transacted in his name by the style of his patent only, namely, absolute Proprietor of Pennsylvania; that Commissions, signed and sealed by him in England, should be sufficient warrants to pass them under the great seal; that the laws which were in being should be collected and sent over to him in a stitched book by the very first opportunity; that the sheriffs of the respective counties should be charged with the receipt of his rents and fines, as in England, and give security to the Receiver-general for the time; that care should be taken of the roads and highways in the country, that they might be straight and commodious for travellers, having been improperly turned about by planters for their own convenience; that speedy and impartial justice should be done, and virtue cherished and vice punished; that fines should be in proportion to the fault and ability of the offender; that feuds between persuasions and nations should be extinguished, as well as by good conduct prevented; and that the widow, the orphan, and the absent, might be particularly regarded in their rights."

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CHAPTER XXV.

A. 1689.-APPEARS ACCORDING TO HIS BAIL-NO WITNESS BEING FOUND AGAINST HIM, IS DISCHARGED-TOLERATION ACT PASSES-THE GREAT PRIVILEGES IT CONFERRED-HIS JOY ON THE OCCASION-THE GREAT SHARE HE HAD IN BRINGING IT ABOUT-AFFAIRS OF PENNSYLVANIA.

THE time drew near when William Penn was to answer the charges, which might be made against him, in a public court. Accordingly, on the last day

*It is to be observed here, that when he changed the Executive to five Commissioners, the Council still existed separately, and so it did when he changed it to a Deputy-Governor and two assistants.

of Easter Term, he made his appearance there. After waiting a considerable time, not one person could be produced against him. Not one person could be found who would either say that he was a Papist or Jesuit, or who would even try to prove that he had aided in any manner the late King in an attempt either to establish Popery or arbitrary power. Accordingly, nothing having been laid to his charge, he was discharged in open court.

Soon after this he had the satisfaction of seeing the great Act of Toleration passed by King, Lords, and Commons. It is true, indeed, that this noble act did not come up to the extent of his own wishes. And yet, how vast the change! All Dissenters were now excused from certain penalties, if they would only take the oaths to government. They were allowed to apply for warrants for those houses which they intended to worship in, and the magistrates were obliged to grant them; and, provided they worshipped in these with the doors not shut, they were not to be molested. There was a more particular exemption in the act to the Quakers for the same purpose. Here, then, was an end of those vexatious arrests, painful imprisonments, and deaths in bonds, which had afflicted and desolated the country for years. From this time men could go to their respective churches, and worship God in security in their own way. This must have been a most gratifying consideration to one to whose labours the act itself was in part owing; for, while at the Hague, he had greatly impressed the mind of the Prince of Orange, now King William, in its favour. He had been the means of bringing over also many of his own countrymen, and these in the legislature, to its support. For, in the course of his numerous publications, he had examined the question thoroughly, and diffused light concerning it through the kingdom. He had held up pictures of individual suffering, as it had occurred in all its varied shapes, to public view. He had appealed to reason and humanity on the subject. He had anticipated and combated objections. By urging James the Second to issue out, as speedily as he did, and then to renew, his indulgence to tender consciences, he had given an opportunity to persons of public character, and to his fellow-citizens at large, to see what would be the effects of toleration. It had clearly appeared that, while this indulgence continued, the nation was in a state of unexampled quiet, and that its interest had been greatly promoted by an extraordinary diffusion of industry, prosperity, and happiness. And here it may be observed, that Dr. Burnet, who was then Bishop of Salisbury, and who had taken an active part in favour of the act in question, gives, in the History of His Own Times," those as reasons why it had passed, which William Penn had long before given as reasons why it ought to pass. One would think, indeed, that the one had made use of the very words of the other. "Wise and good men," says Burnet, "did very much applaud the quieting of the nation by the toleration. It seemed to be suitable both to the spirit of the Christian religion and to the interest of the nation. It was thought very

unreasonable, that, while we were complaining of the cruelly of the Church Rome, we should fall into such practices among ourselves, and this while we were engaging in a war, in the progress of which we would need the united strength of the whole nation."

This great act having passed, William Penn thought of returning to America. But as the authors of infant projects, when ushered into the world, feel interested both in watching their progress and their fate, so he felt his inclination checked in this respect, for a time, from the same cause. He telt a desire to see how this new-born babe would be received in the kingdom; how far the popular fury would be likely to retard, or its favour to promote its growth. Impressed by such feelings, he resolved to protract his stay to the ensuing year.

In the beginning of this year Captain Blackwell left Boston for Philadelphia. On his arrival there he delivered his appointment to the Commissioners, and, as soon as it was acknowledged by these, he took into his hands the reins of the government. After a suitable time he summoned the Council and Assembly. He made a speech to the latter, after which he held himself ready to proceed upon the business of the Province. He had not, however, been long in office, before a misunderstanding took place between him and some of the Council, so that the public affairs were not managed with the desired harmony. He found it often difficult to get so many of them together as would make a legal meeting for business, though more than this number were known to be in the city at the time. He not only saw, but lamented to the Assembly, that dissentions still existed among them. At one time, the Keeper of the Great Seal refused him the use of it on what he (Blackwell) thought (though he might have been mistaken) a proper occasion. These differences between the Deputy-Governor and the two legislatures were early reported to William Penn. All their sides made their complaints to him. Of course he was called upon to consider them. Having done this, he wrote to Blackwell, and advised his resignation. The latter, finding that he could not do what had been expected of him in the administration of the Province, honourably resigned his office, and returned to England, after a short stay in Philadelphia of only a few months.

In a letter written by William Penn to a Friend there, he unfolded more particularly than before the reason why he had appointed Blackwell to the high station of Deputy Governor. It appears that it had always been his wish to confer the government on a Quaker, as one in whom he himself would have had the most confidence; but there was no Quaker fit for it who would undertake it, persons of that persuasion being generally averse from high political employments. Obliged, then, to seek one elsewhere, he preferred one who was a stranger to the Province, under a notion that he might be more impartial and more reverenced; but of all strangers, Blackwell seemed to him to be the most eligible: "For," says he, "he is, in

England and Ireland, of great repute for ability, integrity, and virtue. I thought I did well. It was for good, God knows, and for no end of my own."

What was the cause of dispute between Blackwell and the other branchies of the legislature is not known. It is possible that Blackwell might have made himself obnoxious by attending to the business of the quit-rents more closely than was liked. It is possible, again, that he might have disgusted some by the levity of his deportment; for he was a polished man: he had mixed with great and fashionable people, and had seen the world. The members of the legislature, on the other hand, were mostly of the class of Puritans, and of severe manners. They had been rendered still more sour by persecution. It is possible, therefore, that they might, at their first interview, under these opposite aspects, have appeared cool and reserved to him; and that he, fancying this appearance real, might have looked shy upon them. It is possible, again, that they might have been prejudiced against him as a military man. But, whatever was the case, certain it is, from the letter just mentioned, that William Penn was induced to suspect, after an attentive consideration of all the evidence before him, that Blackwell's peevishness did not so much arise from any misconduct in him, in the first instance, as in them. "You see,” says he, "what I have done upon the complaints; but, I must say, that his peevishness to some Friends has not risen out of the dust without occasion."

On the departure of Blackwell the Executive government reverted, according to the constitution, to the Council, of which Thomas Lloyd, not willing to desert the state at this juncture, resumed the presidency; so that, having passed through the two changes-first of five Commissioners, and then of a Lieutenant-Governor with two assistants-it came back to its old form, as settled by the first General Assembly in 1683.

There are several letters extant, which William Penn wrote to his Friends in America this year. In the first of these, which was written in the early part of it, and before the coronation of William and Mary, he repeated the cause which had so long hindered him from seeing them. Europe," says he, "looks like a sea of trouble. Wars are like to be all over it this summer. I strongly desire to see you before it be spent, if the Lord will; and I can say, in his sight, that, to improve my interest with King James for tender consciences, and that a Christian liberty might be legally settled, though against my own interest, was that which has separated me from you chiefly." In the same letter he manifested his great love and tender regard for them as a people. If," says he, "it be with you as I can say it is with me in the presence of God, then are we one with him; for neither length of days, nor distance of place, nor all the many waters between us, can separate my heart and affection from you."

In a second, he invited them to that Divine love, which he has just been described to have experienced himself, as their greatest earthly blessing.

“And now, Friends," says he, "I have a word more for you, and that is this that Faith, Hope, and Charity, are the great helps and marks of true Christians; but, above all, Charity is the Love of God.-Blessed are

they who come to it, and who hold the truth in it, and work and act in it ; for they, though poor, indeed, in spirit of their own, are yet rich in God's; though they are meek, they inherit. -This will preserve peace in the church; peace in the state; peace in families; peace in particular bosoms. God Almighty draw, I beseech him, all your hearts into this heavenly love more and more, so that the work of it may shine out more and more to his glory and your comfort!"

In a third, which was a private one to Thomas Lloyd, he advised him of a present which he had sent him, and "which he was to value by the heart, and not by the thing itself.”

In a fourth, which was addressed to the same, after the Presidentship of the Council had reverted to him, he instructed him to set up a Public Grammar School in Philadelphia, which he (William Penn) would incorporate, by charter, at a future time.

In a fifth, which was addressed to the Council after their restoration to power, he expressed himself thus: "I heartily wish you all well, and do beseech God to guide you in the ways of righteousness and peace. I have thought fit, upon my further stop in these parts, to throw all into your hands, that you may all see the confidence I have in you, and the desire I have to give you all possible contentment. I do earnestly press your constant attendance upon the government, and the diligent pursuit of peace and virtue; and God Almighty strengthen your hands in so good a work! If you desire a Deputy Governor rather, name three or five persons, and I will name one of them. I do not do this to lay a binding precedent, but to give you and the people you represent the fullest pledges I am able, at this distance, of my regard to them. Whatever you do, I desire, beseech, and charge you all, to avoid factions, and parties, whisperings, and reportings, and all animosities; that, putting your common shoulders to the public work, you may have the reward of good men and patriots; and so I bid you heartily farewell."