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_ About this time arose the illustrious William Penn, who established
the power of the Quakers in America, and would have made them appear
venerable in the eyes of the Europeans, were it possible for mankind
to respect virtue when revealed in a ridiculous light. He was the
only son of Vice-Admiral Penn, favourite of the Duke of York,
afterwards King James II.
William Penn, at twenty years of age, happening to meet with a
Quaker in Cork, whom he had known at Oxford, this man made a
proselyte of him; and William being a sprightly youth, and naturally
eloquent, having a winning aspect, and a very engaging carriage, he
soon gained over some of his intimates. He carried matters so far,
that he formed by insensible degrees a society of young Quakers, who
met at his house; so that he was at the head of a sect when a little
above twenty.
Being returned, after his leaving Cork, to the Vice-Admiral his
father, instead of falling upon his knees to ask his blessing, he
went up to him with his hat on, and said, "Friend, I am very glad to
see thee in good health." The Vice-Admiral imagined his son to be
crazy, but soon finding he was turned Quaker, he employed all the
methods that prudence could suggest to engage him to behave and act
like other people. The youth made no other answer to his father,
than by exhorting him to turn Quaker also. At last his father
confined himself to this single request, viz., "that he should wait
upon the King and the Duke of York with his hat under his arm, and
should not 'thee' and 'thou' them." William answered, "that he
could not do these things, for conscience' sake," which exasperated
his father to such a degree, that he turned him out of doors. Young
Pen gave God thanks for permitting him to suffer so early in His
cause, after which he went into the city, where he held forth, and
made a great number of converts.
The Church of England clergy found their congregations dwindle away
daily; and Penn being young, handsome, and of a graceful stature,
the court as well as the city ladies flocked very devoutly to his
meeting. The patriarch, George Fox, hearing of his great
reputation, came to London (though the journey was very long) purely
to see and converse with him. Both resolved to go upon missions
into foreign countries, and accordingly they embarked for Holland,
after having left labourers sufficient to take care of the London
vineyard.
Their labours were crowned with success in Amsterdam, but a
circumstance which reflected the greatest honour on them, and at the
same time put their humility to the greatest trial, was the
reception they met with from Elizabeth, the Princess Palatine, aunt
to George I. of Great Britain, a lady conspicuous for her genius and
knowledge, and to whom Descartes had dedicated his Philosophical
Romance.
She was then retired to the Hague, where she received these Friends,
for so the Quakers were at that time called in Holland. This
princess had several conferences with them in her palace, and she at
last entertained so favourable an opinion of Quakerism, that they
confessed she was not far from the kingdom of heaven. The Friends
sowed likewise the good seed in Germany, but reaped very little
fruit; for the mode of "theeing" and "thouing" was not approved of
in a country where a man is perpetually obliged to employ the titles
of "highness" and "excellency." William Penn returned soon to
England upon hearing of his father's sickness, in order to see him
before he died. The Vice-Admiral was reconciled to his son, and
though of a different persuasion, embraced him tenderly. William
made a fruitless exhortation to his father not to receive the
sacrament, but to die a Quaker, and the good old man entreated his
son William to wear buttons on his sleeves, and a crape hatband in
his beaver, but all to no purpose.
William Penn inherited very large possessions, part of which
consisted in Crown debts due to the Vice-Admiral for sums he had
advanced for the sea service. No moneys were at that time more
insecure than those owing from the king. Penn was obliged to go
more than once, and "thee" and "thou" King Charles and his
Ministers, in order to recover the debt; and at last, instead of
specie, the Government invested him with the right and sovereignty
of a province of America, to the south of Maryland. Thus was a
Quaker raised to sovereign power. Penn set sail for his new
dominions with two ships freighted with Quakers, who followed his
fortune. The country was then called Pennsylvania from William
Penn, who there founded Philadelphia, now the most flourishing city
in that country. The first step he took was to enter into an
alliance with his American neighbours, and this is the only treaty
between those people and the Christians that was not ratified by an
oath, and was never infringed. The new sovereign was at the same
time the legislator of Pennsylvania, and enacted very wise and
prudent laws, none of which have ever been changed since his time.
The first is, to injure no person upon a religious account, and to
consider as brethren all those who believe in one God.
He had no sooner settled his government, but several American
merchants came and peopled this colony. The natives of the country,
instead of flying into the woods, cultivated by insensible degrees a
friendship with the peaceable Quakers. They loved these foreigners
as much as they detested the other Christians who had conquered and
laid waste America. In a little time a great number of these
savages (falsely so called), charmed with the mild and gentle
disposition of their neighbours, came in crowds to William Penn, and
besought him to admit them into the number of his vassals. It was
very rare and uncommon for a sovereign to be "thee'd" and "thou'd"
by the meanest of his subjects, who never took their hats off when
they came into his presence; and as singular for a Government to be
without one priest in it, and for a people to be without arms,
either offensive or defensive; for a body of citizens to be
absolutely undistinguished but by the public employments, and for
neighbours not to entertain the least jealousy one against the
other.
William Penn might glory in having brought down upon earth the so
much boasted golden age, which in all probability never existed but
in Pennsylvania. He returned to England to settle some affairs
relating to his new dominions. After the death of King Charles II.,
King James, who had loved the father, indulged the same affection to
the son, and no longer considered him as an obscure sectary, but as
a very great man. The king's politics on this occasion agreed with
his inclinations. He was desirous of pleasing the Quakers by
annulling the laws made against Nonconformists, in order to have an
opportunity, by this universal toleration, of establishing the
Romish religion. All the sectarists in England saw the snare that
was laid for them, but did not give into it; they never failing to
unite when the Romish religion, their common enemy, is to be
opposed. But Penn did not think himself bound in any manner to
renounce his principles, merely to favour Protestants to whom he was
odious, in opposition to a king who loved him. He had established a
universal toleration with regard to conscience in America, and would
not have it thought that he intended to destroy it in Europe, for
which reason he adhered so inviolably to King James, that a report
prevailed universally of his being a Jesuit. This calumny affected
him very strongly, and he was obliged to justify himself in print.
However, the unfortunate King James II., in whom, as in most princes
of the Stuart family, grandeur and weakness were equally blended,
and who, like them, as much overdid some things as he was short in
others, lost his kingdom in a manner that is hardly to be accounted
for.
All the English sectarists accepted from William III, and his
Parliament the toleration and indulgence which they had refused when
offered by King James. It was then the Quakers began to enjoy, by
virtue of the laws, the several privileges they possess at this
time. Penn having at last seen Quakerism firmly established in his
native country, went back to Pennsylvania. His own people and the
Americans received him with tears of joy, as though he had been a
father who was returned to visit his children. All the laws had
been religiously observed in his absence, a circumstance in which no
legislator had ever been happy but himself. After having resided
some years in Pennsylvania he left it, but with great reluctance, in
order to return to England, there to solicit some matters in favour
of the commerce of Pennsylvania. But he never saw it again, he
dying in Ruscombe, in Berkshire, in 1718.
I am not able to guess what fate Quakerism may have in America, but
I perceive it dwindles away daily in England. In all countries
where liberty of conscience is allowed, the established religion
will at last swallow up all the rest. Quakers are disqualified from
being members of Parliament; nor can they enjoy any post or
preferment, because an oath must always be taken on these occasions,
and they never swear. They are therefore reduced to the necessity
of subsisting upon traffic. Their children, whom the industry of
their parents has enriched, are desirous of enjoying honours, of
wearing buttons and ruffles; and quite ashamed of being called
Quakers they become converts to the Church of England, merely to be
in the fashion. _
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