"For Thos. Lloyd, J. Claypole, &c. -to be communi⚫cated in meetings in Pennsylvania, and among Friends: "Dear Friends, "My love and my life are to you, and with you, and no water can quench, nor distance wear it out, or bring it to an end. I have been with you, cared over you, and served you with unfeigned love; and you are beloved by me and near to me, beyond all utterance: I bless you in the name and power of the Lord; and may God bless you, with his righteousness, peace, and plenty, all the land over. Oh that you would eye Him in all, through all, and above all the works of your hands; and let it be your first care how you may glorify God in your understandings; for to a blessed end are you brought hither; and if you see, and keep but in the sense of that Providence, your coming, staying, and improving, will be blessed and sanctified; but if any forget, and call not upon his name in truth, he will ⚫ pour out his plagues upon them, and they shall know who it is that judgeth the children of men. Oh how you are come to a great land; provoke not the Lord to trouble you; and now 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 an honor to rule, 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 Godly conversation." Truly, the name and honor of the Lord are deeply concerned in you, as to the discharge of youselves in your present stations; many eyes being upon you. And remember that as we have been belied about • disowning the true religion; so, of all government; to behold us exemplary and christian in the use of that, will not only stop our enemies, but minister conviction to many, on that account prejudiced. Oh that you might see and know that service for the Lord in this your day, and do it. 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 defile and abuse thee. Oh that thou mayest be kept from the evil that would overwhelm thee; that faithful to the God of mercies, in a life of righteousness, thou mayest be preserved to the end. My soul prays to God for thee, that thou mayest stand in the day of trial, that thy children may be blessed of the Lord, and thy people saved by his power: My love to thee has been great, and the remembrance of thee affects mine heart and mine eye; the God of eternal strength keep and preserve thee to his glory and thy peace. "So my dear friends, my love again salutes you all, wishing that grace, mercy, and peace, with all temporal blessings, may abound richly among you. So says and so prays your friend and lover in the truth, "From on board the ketch En-) deavour, the sixth month, 1684." "WM. PENN. William Penn arrived in England in season to witness the death of king Charles II. and the accession of James II. Duke of York, whose characters we have so frequently noticed in America. William Penn conducted with the same wisdom and prudence in England he had done in America, and instead of availing himself of the distracted, persecuted state of the kingdom, to multiply settlers in. his province, he contented himself in soothing the heart of the king, by means of that friendship he had been permitted to enjoy with him when Duke of York. Fearful of destroying this friendship by encouraging too far the spirit of emigration, he availed himself of the influence which he possessed, in relieving the distresses, as well as obtaining the liberty of as many persecuted christians as possible, and thus he promoted the best good of his friends, his province, and the christian cause. To effect these benevolent purposes he took up his residence at Kensington, that he might have a more free and easy access to the king, 1685. The agent of Lord Baltimore appeared in England, and managed the cause of his lordship so well, before the king in council, that he obtained an order for the three lower counties, which were formerly claimed by the Dutch, as we have seen, to be annexed to the province of Maryland. Although this division was ordered to be made immediately, it was delayed until the reign of Queen Ann, about the year 1702. In the course of this narrative, I have endeavoured to exhibit a full portrait view of the character and administration of William Penn; let us now turn our attention to some of its shades, that we may distinguish the more minutely the expression of its true features. Notwithstanding the care and attention in selecting his officers of government to rule in his absence, and notwithstanding the pious and friendly advice he gave them, they soon gendered strifes and animosities amongst them, which threw the government into disorder. Nicholas Moore, whom the proprietary had appointed chief justice of the province at his departure, was accused to the House of Assembly, at their session on the third month, in the year 1685, and by them impeached in form before the council, in a charge consisting of nine articles, with liberty reserved for adding further if needful; which impeachment also requested that he might be removed from office. The council received the impeachment, and ordered Nicholas Moore to appear and answer to the charges exhibited against him; but upon his repeatedly being summoned, and as repeatedly declining to appear, the council proceeded to remove him from all the offices of power and trust he then held in the province. This decision of the council was carried into full effect; yet the proprietary expressed his disapprobation of the doings of the council, by instituting the same Nicholas Moore one of the commissioners of government, in the years 1686 and 87, in which office of high honor and trust he continued until his death. At this time the Quakers in Pennsylvania and West-Jersey, at their yearly meeting at Burlington, made renewed efforts to prevent the sale of ardent spirits to the Indians, by their own people, and by their religious advice, counsel, and admonitions, to prevent the Indians from buying it; but all to no effectthey were ready to acknowledge the evils and mischiefs they sustained; but the love of rum overcame all other considerations, and they went right en in their habits of getting drunk. During this time the labours of William Penn did not cease; he exerted himself to do good in England, Holland and Germany, and when his labours began to exhaust his estate, he then began to feel the want of some returns for the vast sums he had expended in advancing the interest of his province in America. In 1687, just before King William and Queen Mary succeeded to the throne of England, that persecution which had raged with so much violence through the reigns of James I. Charles I. Oliver Cromwell, Charles II. and thus far of James II. began to soften down into a more tolerant state; this excited the gratitude of this persecuted people, and called forth an address to the king, from the usual yearly meeting of the Quakers in London, and fixed their attention on William Penn to present it to his Majesty. I regret that the limits of this work will not permit me to insert this address, together with his majesty's answer. This address excited a spirit of malice and persecution against William Penn, as having used an undue influence in promoting a spirit of free toleration in England, in which they accused him of possessing a Jesuitical spirit, if he actually did not com.. pose one of the body of that order; they also accused him of being willing to subvert all the different orders of reliligion of the kingdom, by promoting a free toleration, even to Popery, if the Quakers could partake in the general indulgence. The character of William Penn was handled with great freedom in the heat of this party strife, and the whole weight of what had hitherto fallen on his sect, now: seemed to fall on him; yet, firm to his purpose, he kept his eye steady to its object, and persevered in his endeav-. ours to accomplish in England, what he had so fully effected in his province of Pennsylvania. In the year 1688, the proprietary began to be anxious to return to his province, and pass the rest of his days with his people; but his labours and sufferings in England were not yet closed, and the alarms of the Indians about the city of Philadelphia, began to remind them that the proprietary had been long absent, and that bad men had taken advantage of it, and, by their unjust aggressions provoked the Indians to seek revenge; but the alarm, together with the causes of it, were soon removed, the Indians became tranquil, and all was peace. This year Thos. Lloyd obtained permission of the proprietary to retire from the labours of the office of president of the council, which he had so long held with honor to himself, and with advantage to the province, and James Blackwell arrived from New-England, where he then re-., sided, with a commission from the proprietary, of Lieut. Governor. Blackwell was no Quaker, and of course unacceptable to the council; the wheels of government became clogged by his appointment; all harmony in the council ceased; and Blackwell, sensible of the mistake the proprietary had committed, prudently withdrew from his office, VOL. II. 21 |