PENN, WILLIAM, a celebrated English Quaker and philanthropist, the founder of the colony of Pennsylvania, was the son of sir William Penn, an eminent English .admiral, and was born at London, Oct. 14, 1644. His early years were spent partly in Essex and partly in Ireland, where his father had several estates. Penn studied at Christ church. Oxford, and while here was converted to Quakerism by the preaching of a disciple of George Fox, named Thomas Loe. His enthusiasm for his new faith assumed a pugna cious form. Not only did he object personally to attend the services of the church of England, and to wear the surplice of a student—both of which he considered eminently papistical—but. along with some companions who had also become Quakers, he attacked several of his fellow-students, and tore the obnoxious robes from their backs. For this unseemly procedure Penn was expelled from the university. His father was so exces sively annoyed at his conduct, that he gave Penn a beating, and turned him out of doors; but he soon afterwards mollified, and sent his son to travel on the continent, in the hope that change of scene and the gayety of French life would change the bent of his mind. They failed, however, to effect this, but the youth certainly acquired a grace and suavity of address that he did not before possess. In 1666 the admiral sent him to Ireland to look after his estates in the county of Cork, which Penn did to his father's complete satisfaction; for in matters of business he was as practical an Englishman as in religion lie was an out-and-out mystic. In the city of Cork, however, lie again fell in with Thomas Loe, and for attending a Quaker meeting was, along with some others, imprisoned by the mayor, but was immediately afterwards released on appealing to the lord president of the council of Munster, who was personally acquainted with him. On his return to England, Penn and his father again quarreled, because the "conscience" of the former would not alloW'him to take off his hat to anybody—not even to the king, the duke of York, or the admiral himself. Penn was again turned out of doors by his perhaps testy, but assuredly provoked parent. The mother, however, stepped in, and smoothed matters so far that Penn was allowed to return home, and the admiral even exerted his influence with the government to wink at his son's attendance at the illegal conventicles of the Quakers, which nothing would induce him to give up. In 1668, how ever, lib was thrown into the tower, on account of a publication entitled The Sandy Foundation Shaken, in which he attacked the ordinary doctrines of the Trinity, God's "satisfaction" in the death of Christ, and justification by the imputation of Christ's righteousness. While in prison he wrote the most famous and popular of his books, No Cross, no Crown. and Innocency with her Open Face, a vindication of himself, which con tributed to his liberation, which was obtained through the interference of the duke of York. In Sept., 1670, adniiral Penn died, leaving his son an estate of £1500 a year, together with claims upon government for £16,000. In 1671 the upright but inecrrigi ble sectary was again committed to the tower for preaching, and as he would not take an oath at his trial, he was sent to Newgatc for six months. Here he wrote four trea tises; one of them, entitled The Great Cause Liberty of Conscience, is an admirable defense of the doctrine of toleration. After regaining his liberty he visited Holland and Germany, along with Fox and Barclay, for the advancement of Quakerism. The coun tess palatine Elizabeth, the granddaughter of James I.. showed him particular favor. On his return, he married, in the beginning of 1672, Gulielma Maria Springett. daughter of sir William Springett, and for some years thereafter continued to propagate, by preachingand writing, the doctrines of his sect. Circumstances having turned Tits attention to the new world, lie, in 1681, obtained from the crown, in lieu of his monetary claim upon it, a grant of the territory now forming the state of Pennsylvania. Penn wanted to call it
Sylvania, on account of its forests; but the king (Charles II.) good-humoredly insisted on the prefix Penn. His great desire was to establish a home for his co-religionists in the distant west, where they might preach and practice their convictions in unmolested peace. Penn, with several friends, sailed for the -Delaware in Avg., 1682, was well received by the settlers, and on Nov. 30 held his famous interview with the Indian tribes, tinder a large elm tree at Shackamaxon, now Kensington. He next planned and named the city of Philadelphia, and for two years governed the colony in the wisest, most benevolent, and liberal manner. Not only Quakers, but persecuted members of other religious sects, sought refuge in his new colony. where, from the first. the princi ple of toleration was established by law. Having called the colonists together, he gave the infant state a constitution in twenty-four articles. Towards the end of the reign of Charles IL, Penn returned to England to exert himself in favor of his persecuted breth ren at home. His influence with James II.—an old friend of his father's—was so great, that many people then, and some even yet. do not feel quite satisfied about the nature of their relations; hut the suspicion that he allowed himself to be used as a tool by the court is really not justified by tiny known facts. It is possible, for his position was equivocal, but it is not proven, and lord Macaulay—who has urged the view of his complicity in some of the disgraceful incidents that followed Monmouth's rebellion, with an ungracious animosity—has been convicted of haste and inaccuracy in several important particulars. At any rate, his exertions in favor of the Quakers were so far successful. that in 1686 a proclamation was issued to release all persons imprisoned on account of their religious opinions, and more than 1200 Quakers were set free. In the April following, James issued an edict for the repeal of all religious tests and penalties, but the mass of non-con formists mistrusted his sincerity, and refused to avail themselves of it.. After the acces sion of the prince of Orange as William III., Penn was twice accused of treason, and of corresponding with the exiled Monarch, but was acquitted. In 1690 he was arrested on a charge of conspiracy, but was again acquitted. Nevertheless, in the following year, the charge was renewed. Nothing appears to have been done for some time, but Penn at last, through the kindly offices of his friends, Locke, Tillotson, and others, had the matter thoroughly investigated, and he was finally and honorably acquitted, Nov., 1693. Shortly after, his wife died, but in less than two years he married again. 1113 second wife, Hannah Callowhill, was a Bristol lady. In 1699 he paid a second visit to the new world, and found Pennsylvania in a prosperous condition. His stay, which lasted two years, wmi marked by many useful measures, and by efforts to ameliorate the condition both of the Indians and negroes. Penn departed for England towards the end of 1701, leaving the management of affairs to a Quaker agent named Ford, whose villainy virtually ruined Penn. When the rogue died, he left to his widow and son false claims against his master, and these were so ruthlessly pressed, that Penn allowed him self to be thrown into the Fleet in 1703, to avoid extortion. His friends afterwards pro cured his release. but not till his constitution was fatally impaired. Penn died at Hus combe, in Berkshire, July 30, 1718. He left issue by both marriages. Upon the Penn controversy it is unnecessary further to enter. We refer our readers to Macaulay's _His tory of England (1849-55); Hepworth Dixon's Life of Penn (new edit. 18561; J. Paget's Inquiry into the Evidence of the Charges brought by Lord Macaulay against William Penn (Ellin. 1858). •