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WILLIAM PENN (1644-1718)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 104 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILLIAM See also:PENN (1644-1718)  , See also:English Quaker and founder of See also:Pennsylvania, son of See also:Admiral See also:Sir See also:William See also:Penn (1621–1670) and See also:Margaret See also:Jasper, a Dutch See also:lady, was See also:born at See also:Tower See also:Hill, See also:London, on the 14th of See also:October 1644 . During his See also:father's See also:absence at See also:sea he lived at See also:Wanstead in See also:Essex, and went to school at See also:Chigwell See also:close by, in which places he was brought under strong Puritan influences . Like many See also:children of sensitive temperament, he had times of spiritual excitement; when about twelve he was " suddenly surprised with an inward comfort, and, as he thought, an See also:external See also:glory in the See also:room, which gave rise to religious emotions, during which he had the strongest conviction of the being of a See also:God, and that the soul of See also:man was capable of enjoying communication with Him." Upon the See also:death of See also:Cromwell, Penn's father, who had served the See also:Protector because there was no other career open, remained with his See also:family on the Irish estates which Cromwell had given him, of the value of £30o a See also:year . On the resignation of See also:Richard Cromwell he at once declared for the See also:king and went to the See also:court in See also:Holland, where he was received into favour and knighted; and at the elections for the See also:convention See also:parliament he was returned for See also:Weymouth . Meanwhile See also:young Penn studied under a private See also:tutor on Tower Hill until, in October 1660, he was entered as a See also:gentleman commoner at See also:Christ See also:Church . He appears in the same year to have contributed to the Threnodia, a collection of elegies on the death of the young See also:duke of See also:Gloucester . The rigour with which the See also:Anglican statutes were revived, and the Puritan heads of colleges supplanted, roused the spirit of resistance at See also:Oxford to the uttermost . With this spirit Penn, who was on See also:familiar terms with See also:John See also:Owen (1616–1683), and who had already fallen under the See also:influence of See also:Thomas Loe the Quaker, then at Oxford, actively sympathized . He and others refused to attend See also:chapel and church service, and were fined in consequence . How far his leaving the university resulted from this cannot be clearly ascertained . See also:Anthony See also:Wood has nothing regarding the cause of his leaving, but says that he stayed at Oxford for two years, and that he was noted for proficiency in manly See also:sports . There is no doubt that in See also:January 1662 his father was anxious to remove him to See also:Cambridge, and consulted See also:Pepys on the subject; and in later years he speaks of being " banished " the See also:college, and of being whipped, beaten and turned out of doors on his return to his father, in the anger of the latter at his avowed Quakerism .

A reconciliation, however, was effected; and Penn was sent to See also:

France to forget this folly . The See also:plan was for a See also:time successful . Penn appears to have ' entered more or less into the gaieties of the court of See also:Louis XIV., and while there to have become acquainted with See also:Robert See also:Spencer, afterwards See also:earl of See also:Sunderland, and with Dorothy, See also:sister to Algernon See also:Sidney . What, however, is more certain is that he somewhat later placed himself under the tuition of See also:Moses See also:Amyraut, the celebrated See also:president of the See also:Protestant college of See also:Saumur, and at that time the exponent of liberal Calvinism, from whom he gained the patristic knowledge which is so prominent in his controversial writings . He afterwards travelled in See also:Italy, returning to See also:England in See also:August 1664, with " a See also:great See also:deal, if not too much, of the vanity of the See also:French garb and affected manner of speech and gait." 1 Until the outbreak of the See also:plague Penn was a student of See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn . For a few days also he served on the See also:staff of his father—now great See also:captain See also:commander—and was by him sent back in See also:April 1665 to See also:Charles with despatches . Returning after the See also:naval victory off See also:Lowestoft in See also:June, Admiral Penn. found that his son had again become settled in seriousness and Quakerism . To bring him once more to views of See also:life not inconsistent with court preferment, the admiral sent him in See also:February 1666 with introductions to See also:Ormonde's pure but brilliant court in See also:Ireland, and to See also:manage his See also:estate in See also:Cork See also:round Shannangarry See also:Castle, his See also:title to which was disputed . Penn appears also later in the year to have been " clerk of the See also:cheque " at See also:Kinsale, of the castle and fort of which his father had the command . When the See also:mutiny See also:broke out in See also:Carrickfergus Penn volunteered for service, and acted under See also:Arran so as to gain considerable reputation . The result was that in May 1666 Ormonde offered him his father's See also:company of See also:foot, but, for some unexplained See also:reason, the admiral demurred to this arrangement . It was at this time that the well-known portrait was painted of the great Quaker in a suit of See also:armour; and it was at this time, too, that the See also:conversion, begun when he was a boy by Thomas Loe in Ireland, was completed at the same See also:place 0y the same agency.2 On the 3rd of See also:September 1667 Penn attended a See also:meeting of See also:Quakers in Cork, at which he assisted to expel a soldier who had disturbed the meeting .

He was in consequence, with others See also:

present, sent to See also:prison by the magistrates . From prison he wrote to See also:Lord See also:Orrery, the president of See also:Munster, a See also:letter, in which he first publicly makes a claim for perfect freedom of See also:conscience . He was immediately released, and at once returned to his father in London, with the distinctive marks of Quakerism strong upon him . Penn now became a See also:minister of the See also:denomination, and at once entered upon controversy and authorship . His first See also:book, Truth Exalted, was violent and aggressive in the extreme . The same offensive See also:personality is shown in The See also:Guide Mistaken, a See also:tract written in See also:answer to John Clapham's Guide to the True See also:Religion . It was at this time, too, that he appealed, not unsuccessfully, to See also:Buckingham, who on See also:Clarendon's fall was posing as the protector of the Dissenters, to use his efforts to procure See also:parliamentary See also:toleration . Penn's first public discussion was with Thomas See also:Vincent, a London Presbyterian minister, who had reflected on the " damnable " doctrines of the Quakers . The discussion, which had turned chiefly upon the See also:doctrine of the Trinity, ended uselessly, and Penn at once published The Sandy See also:Foundation Shaken, a tract of ability sufficient to excite Pepys's astonishment, in which orthodox views were so offensively attacked that Penn was placed in the Tower, where he remained for nearly nine months . The imputations upon his opinions and See also:good citizenship, made as well by Dissenters as by the Church, he repelled in Innocency with her Open See also:Face, in which he asserts his full belief in the divinity of Christ, the See also:atonement, and See also:justification through faith, though insisting on the See also:necessity of good See also:works . It was now, too, that he published the most important of his books, No See also:Cross, No See also:Crown, which contained an able See also:defence of the Quaker doctrines and practices, and a scathing attack on the loose and unchristian lives of the See also:clergy . Pepys, August 30 .

1664 . 2 See also:

Webb, The Penns and Penningtons (1867), p . 194 . While completely refusing to recant Penn addressed a letter to See also:Arlington in See also:July 1669, in which, on grounds of religious freedom, he asked him to interfere . It is noteworthy, as showing the views then predominant, that he was almost at once set at See also:liberty . An informal reconciliation now took place with his father, who had been impeached through the See also:jealousy of See also:Rupert and See also:Monk (in April 1668), and whose conduct in the operations of 1665 he had publicly vindicated; and Penn was again sent on family business to Ireland . At the See also:desire of his father, whose See also:health was fast failing, Penn returned to London in 1670 . Having found the usual place of meeting in Gracechurch See also:Street closed by soldiers . Penn, as a protest, preached to the See also:people in the open street . With William See also:Mead he was at once arrested and indicted at the Old See also:Bailey on the 1st of September for See also:preaching to an unlawful, seditious and riotous See also:assembly, which had met together with force and arms . The Conventicle See also:Act not touching their See also:case, the trial which followed, and which may be read at length in Penn's People's See also:Ancient and Just Liberties Asserted, was a notable one in the See also:history of trial by See also:jury . With extreme courage and skill Penn exposed the illegality of the See also:prosecution, while the jury, for the first time, asserted the right of juries to decide in opposition to the ruling of the court .

They brought in a See also:

verdict declaring Penn and Mead " guilty of speaking in Gracechurch Street," but refused to add " to an unlawful assembly "; then, as the pressure upon them increased, they first acquitted Mead, while returning their See also:original verdict upon Penn, and then, when that verdict was not admitted, returned their final answer " not guilty " for both . The court fined the jurymen 40 marks each for their See also:contumacy, and, in See also:default of See also:payment, imprisoned them, whereupon they vindicated and established for ever the right they had claimed in an See also:action (known as Bushell's case from the name of one of the jurymen) before the court of See also:common pleas, when all twelve See also:judges unanimously declared their imprisonment illegal . Penn himself had been fined for not removing his See also:hat in court, had been imprisoned on his refusal to pay, and had earnestly requested his family not to pay for him . The See also:fine, however, was settled anonymously, and he was released in time to be present at his father's death on the 16th of September 1670, at the See also:early See also:age of See also:forty-nine . Penn now found himself in See also:possession of a See also:fortune of £1500 a year, and a claim on the Crown for £16,000, See also:lent to Charles II. by his father . Upon his See also:release Penn at once plunged into controversy, 'challenging a Baptist minister named See also:Jeremiah Ives, at High See also:Wycombe, to a public dispute and, according to the Quaker See also:account, easily defeating him . No account is forthcoming from the other See also:side . See also:Hearing at Oxford that students who attended See also:Friends' meeting were rigorously used, he wrote a vehement and abusive remonstrance to the See also:vice-See also:chancellor in defence of religious freedom . This found still more remarkable expression in the Seasonable See also:Caveat against Popery (See also:Jan . 1671) . In the beginning of 1671 Penn was again arrested for preaching in See also:Wheeler Street meeting-See also:house by Sir J . See also:Robinson, the See also:lieutenant of the Tower, formerly lord See also:mayor, and known as a brutal and bigoted churchman .

Legal See also:

proof being wanting of any See also:breach of the Conventicle Act, and the Oxford or Five Mile Act also proving inapplicable, Robinson, who had some See also:special cause of enmity against Penn, urged upon him the See also:oath of See also:allegiance . This, of course, the Quaker would not take, and consequently was imprisoned for six months . During this imprisonment Penn wrote several works, the most important being The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience (Feb . 1671), a See also:noble defence of See also:complete toleration . Upon his release he started upon a missionary See also:journey through Holland and See also:Germany; at See also:Emden he founded a Quaker society, and established an intimate friendship with the princess See also:palatine See also:Elizabeth . Upon his return See also:home in the See also:spring of 1672 Penn married Gulielma Springett, daughter of See also:Mary Pennington by her first See also:husband, Sir William Springett; she appears to have been equally remarkable for beauty, devotion to her husband, and firmness to the religious principles which she had adopted when little more than a See also:child.' He now settled at See also:Rickmansworth in See also:Hertfordshire, and gave himself up to controversial See also:writing . To this year, 1672, belong the See also:Treatise on Oaths and England's Present See also:Interest Considered . In the year 1673 Penn was still more active . He secured the release of See also:George See also:Fox, addressed the Quakers in Holland and Germany, carried " on public controversies with Thomas See also:Hicks, a Baptist, and John Faldo, an See also:Independent, and published his treatise on the See also:Christian Quaker and his Divine Testimony Vindicated, the Discourse of the See also:General See also:Rule of Faith and Practice,2 Reasons against Railing (in answer to Hicks), Counterfeit See also:Christianity Detected, and a Just Rebuke to One-and-twenty Learned Divines (an answer to Faldo and to Quakerism no Christianity) . His last public controversy was in 1675 with Richard See also:Baxter, in which, of course, each party claimed the victory . At this point Penn's connexion with See also:America begins . The See also:province of New See also:Jersey, comprising the See also:country "between the See also:Hudson and See also:Delaware See also:rivers on the See also:east and See also:west, had been granted in See also:March 1663-1664 by Charles II. to his See also:brother; See also:James in turn had in June of the same year leased it to Lord See also:Berkeley and Sir G .

See also:

Carteret in equal shares . By a See also:deed, dated 18th of March 1673–1674, John See also:Fenwick, a Quaker, bought one of the shares, that of Lord Berkeley (See also:Stoughton erroneously says Carteret's) in See also:trust for See also:Edward Byllinge, also a Friend, for £See also:i000 . This See also:sale was confirmed by James, after the second Dutch See also:War, on the 6th of August 1680 . Disputes having arisen between Fenwick and Byllinge, Penn acted as arbitrator; and then, Byllinge being in See also:money difficulties, and being compelled to sell his interest in See also:order to satisfy his creditors, Penn was added, at their See also:request, to two of themselves, as trustee . The disputes were settled by Fenwick receiving ten out of the See also:hundred parts into which the province was divided,3 with a considerable sum of money, the remaining ninety parts being afterwards put up for sale . Fenwick sold his ten parts to two other Friends, Eldridge and See also:Warner, who thus, with Penn and the other two, became masters of West Jersey, West New Jersey, or New West Jersey, as it was indifferently called.' The five proprietors appointed three commissioners, with instructions dated from London the 6th of August 1676, to See also:settle disputes with Fenwick (who had bought fresh See also:land from the See also:Indians, upon which See also:Salem was built, Penn being himself one of the settlers there) and to See also:purchase new territories, and to build a See also:town—New See also:Beverley, or See also:Burlington, being the result . For the new See also:colony Penn See also:drew up a constitution, under the title of " Concessions." The greatest care is taken to make this constitution " as near as may be conveniently to the See also:primitive, ancient and fundamental See also:laws of the nation of England." But a democratic See also:element is introduced, and the new principle, of perfect religious freedom stands in the first place (ch. xvi.) . With regard to the liberty of the subject, no one might be condemned in life, liberty or estate, except by a jury of twelve, and the right of challenging was granted to the uttermost (ch. xvii.) . Imprisonment for See also:debt was not abolished (as See also:Dixon states), but was reduced to a minimum (ch. xviii.), while See also:theft was punished by twofold restitution either in value or in labour to that amount (ch. See also:xxviii.) . The provisions of ch. xix. deserve special See also:notice . All causes were to go before three justices, with a jury . " They, the said justices, shall pronounce such See also:judgment as they shall receive from, and be directed by the said twelve men, in whom only the judgment resides, and not otherwise .

And in case of their neglect and refusal, that then one of the twelve, by consent of the See also:

rest, pronounce their own judgment as the justices should have done." The justices and constables, moreover, were For a very charming account of her, and the whole Pennington connexion, see Maria Webb's The Penns and Penningtons . 2 See on this Stoughton's Penn, p . 113 . 3 The deed by which Fenwick and Byllinge conveyed West New Jersey to Penn, Lawry and See also:Nicholas See also:Lucas is dated the loth of February 1674–1675 . The See also:line of See also:partition was " from the east side of Little See also:Egg See also:Harbour, straight See also:north, through the country, to the utmost See also:branch of Delaware See also:River."elected by the people, the former for two years only (ch. xli.) . Suitors might plead in See also:person, and the courts were public (ch. xxii.) . Questions between Indians and settlers were to be arranged by a mixed jury (ch. See also:xxv.) . An assembly was to meet yearly, consisting of a hundred persons, chosen by the inhabitants, freeholders and proprietors, one for each See also:division of the province . The See also:election was to be by See also:ballot, and each member was to receive a See also:shilling a See also:day from his division, " that thereby he may be known to be the servant of the people." The executive See also: