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JULY

    
 30, 1718 --England. In 1681, William Penn obtained from King Charles II, a grant of lands now constituting the states of Pennsylvania and Delaware, and became the greatest landowner in the New World. Charles has insisted on prefixing “Penn” to the name of the principality, against William’s protest. He has granted perfect toleration and the fullest liberty consistent with order, and has treated the Indians with justice and generosity. He has spent a great part of his larger estates in England and Ireland to aid in the settlement, even to the amount of thirty thousand pounds more than he received from the province; yet he has steadfastly refused to accept an impost on exports and imports which the Assembly has voted on.
      He his made two visits to his American possessions, but has felt it his duty to remain at the court of James II to intercede for the release of all victims of religious and political persecution. The king has occasionally attended his meetings and listened to his preaching.
     On the accession of William of Orange, William Penn was charged with being a Papist, plotting for the return of the Stuarts. Under this suspicion, he was arrested on several occasions, and once imprisoned. At last establishing his innocence, he was welcomed at the court of William and Mary, and afterward, at the court of Queen Anne. He has enjoyed the personal friendship of five British sovereigns.
     Today he dies.
     The interview Mr. Penn had with King Chares II concerning his grant in the New World was very significant, and in part progressed as follows:

King Charles. “Well, friend William! I have sold you a noble province in North America; but still I suppose you I have no thoughts of going thither yourself?”

Mr. Penn: “Yes, I have, I assure thee, friend Charles; and I am just come to bid thee farewell.”

The King: “What! Venture yourself among the savages of North America! Why, man, what security have you that you will not be in their war kettle in two hours after setting foot on their spheres?”

Mr. Penn: “The best security in the world.”

The King: “I doubt that, friend William; I have no idea of any security against those cannibals but in a regiment of good soldiers, with their muskets and bayonets. And mind, I tell you beforehand, that, with all my good will for you and your family, to whom I am under obligations, I will not send a single soldier with you.”

Mr. Penn: “I want none of thy soldiers, Charles: I depend on something better than thy soldiers.”

The King: “Ah! What may that be?”

Mr. Penn: “Why, I depend upon themselves; on the working of their own hearts; on their notions of justice; on their moral sense.”

The King: “A fine thing, this same moral sense, no doubt; but I fear you will not find much of it among the Indians of North America.”

Mr. Penn: “And why not among them as well as others?”

The King: “Because if they had possessed any, they would not have treated my subjects so barbarously as they have done.”

Mr. Penn: “That is no proof of the contrary, friend Charles. Thy subjects were the aggressors. When thy subjects first went to North America, they found these poor people the fondest and kindest creatures in the world. Every day they would watch for them to come ashore, and hasten to meet them, and feast them on the best fish, and venison, and corn, which were all they had. In return for this hospitality of the ‘savages,’ as we call them, thy subjects, termed ‘Christians,’ seized on their country and rich hunting grounds for farms for themselves. Now, is it to be wondered at, that these much-injured people should have been driven to desperation by such injustice; and that, burning with revenge, they should have committed some excesses?”
 

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