1680]
RYE-HOUSE PLOT

125 and able speech, Penn implored his hearers to insert a clause for toleration for Quakers in a Bill then before Parliament.

Had it passed, the whole course of Penn's career might have been changed, but the Ryehouse Plot, in which Algernon Sidney was implicated, and charged with others in having conspired against the Government and life of the King, entirely engrossed the public attention to the exclusion of all else. Penn's petition remained ungranted—a deep disappointment to him at the time, and yet which brought about a new and wonderful change in this life : a change that was permitted to take place, so as to assist that divine scheme for the world's happiness, universal freedom of thought, and personal liberty.

Thus, the dream of his life was in time to be accomplished, rendering him an object worthy of his nation's gratitude.

CHAPTER XV

THE DEBT FROM THE KING

BESIDES the income William Penn derived from his father's property in Ireland and other sources, he had claims on the Crown for money lent to the King by the deceased Admiral. This debt amounted to £16,000.

Penn had no immediate need for the money, though he naturally wished to acquire what was by right his own, as he was not destitute of a “moderate and reasonable regard to worldly interests,” but what he did desire, was to obtain a tract of land in America in lieu of it, and he therefore petitioned King Charles to grant him some land north of Maryland, on the coast of the Delaware River.

Some writers assert that the Admiral before his death had counselled his son to adopt this course, but this is improbable, for it was through the settlers in New Jersey that William Penn had come to the knowledge of this part of the world, and having been four years trustee to Byllinge, he had seen what a valuable colony might be 1680] PENN'S PETITION TO THE KING 127 planted, by a selection of suitable families, of religious tendencies, who should migrate and dwell together there.

His petition to the king in 1680 was, that in lieu of money settlement, he, and his heirs forever, should possess this tract of unoccupied land in America.?

The petition was read by Charles, who sent it to the Privy Council, who in their turn sent it on to the Lord's Committee of Trade and Plantations. Great opposition was made to it in both places, for no other reason than because William Penn was a Quaker, but after much advice being given and taken on both sides, it was at last decided in his favour.

On June 24, 1680, there met in some old hall in Westminster the members of the Committee. The Duke of Albemarle was President, Henry Compton, Bishop of London, Christopher Monck, the Earl of Sunderland, and others were members, and the important question was discussed by them. William Penn was invited to attend and explain exactly what tract of land he desired, and how far north.

128 PENN BEFORE THE COMMITTEE [CHAP. XV

He stood before them, his hat on his head, his bearing calm and grave, as usual, but with the clear knowledge and determination, and the ready answer-attributes which never seemed to desert him.

"Three degrees northward from Maryland,” he replied quietly, “and for that I will remit the debt due from His Majesty.”

The Committee replied that they were doubtful about the boundaries, but they claimed that Lord Baltimore's domain should not be invaded, and that no ammunition should be sold to the Indians. A smile must surely have risen on the face of the man of peace at such a request, but he only said gravely that Susquehanna Fort should be the boundary of the Baltimore province, and that he pledged himself to furnish no ammunition.

Nothing, however, was fixed upon, and meetings on the subject continued at intervals during the rest of the year. On January 22, 1681, a further meeting was called in the Council Chamber, Whitehall. The Lord Privy Seal, the Lord Chief Justice North, Earl of Clarendon, Mr Hyde, Mr Seymour, and Mr Secretary Jenkins, were those present, and discussed the draft of a patent which had now been drawn up."

1681]

CHARLES NAMES NEW COLONY

129

On February 1, 1681, the Bishop of London desired that Mr Penn be obliged to admit a chaplain of his appointment, should any number of settlers desire the same. By this time most of the objections had been raised and settled, and on February 24 the patent was ready, with a blank left for the name of the colony, and the charter was submitted for the royal signature.

On March 14 it was sent to William Penn, and he found that the name inserted was

Pennsylvania.” This annoyed him very much, his own idea had been to call the new province, New Wales, as he was told it was a hilly country, and “Pen” was Welsh for a head," as Penmnenmawr in Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn in Buckinghamshire. The king insisted on calling the new country Pennsylvania.

William Penn now offered the Under-Secretary twenty guineas if he could get the name altered, but the Secretary declared this was impossible. It was most distasteful to him, for, as but few

sideration, and to provide by fit clauses therein that All acts of sovereignty, as to Peace and War, be reserved unto the King, and that all acts of parliament concerning Trade and Navigation, and His Majesty's Customs, be duly observed, and in general that the Patent be so drawn, that it may consist with the King's interest and service, and give sufficient encouragement to Planters to settle under it.”-Minutes of the Privy Council.

1“ I chose New Wales, being a pretty hilly country, and when the secretary, a Welshman, refused to call it by that name, I proposed Sylvania, and they added Penn to it.”_"Penn's Letter to R. Turner," Hazard's Annals, p. 500.

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