Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/516

 P E N N to Newgate.&quot; During this imprisonment Perm wrote several works, the most important being The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience (February 1671), a noble defence of complete toleration. Upon his release he started upon a missionary journey through Holland and Germany ; at Emden he founded a Quaker Society, and established an intimate friendship with the princess palatine Elizabeth. In his letters written during this journey will be found a full exposition of the doctrine of the &quot; inward light.&quot; Upon his return home in the spring of 1672 Perm married Gulielma Springett, daughter of Mary Pennington by her first 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 child. 1 He now settled at Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, and gave himself up to controversial writing. To this year, 1672, belong the Treatise on Oatlis and England s Present Interest Considered, in the latter of which, written immediately after the with drawal of the Declaration of Indulgence, is contained an able statement of the arguments against comprehension and for toleration. It should not be omitted by any one who desires to understand the state of feeling on the sub ject. In the year 1673 Penn was still more active. He secured the release of George Fox, addressed the Quakers in Holland and Germany, carried on public controversies with Hicks, a Baptist, and Faldo, an Independent, and published his treatise on the Christian Quaker and his Divine Testimony Vindicated, the Discourse of the General Rule of Faith and Practice, 2 Reasons against Railing (in answer to Hicks), Counterfeit 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 Baxter, in which, of course, each party claimed the victory. During this year his active sympathies were enlisted on behalf of imprisoned Quakers at Aberdeen. At this point Penn s connexion with America begins. The province of New Jersey, comprising the country between the Hudson and Delaware rivers on the east and west, had been granted in March 1663-64 by Charles II. to his brother ; James in turn had in June of the same year leased it to Lord Berkeley and Sir G. Carteret in equal shares. By a deed, dated 18th March 1673/74, John Fenwick, a Quaker, bought one of the shares, that of Lord Berkeley (Stoughton erroneously says Carteret s) in trust for Edward By Hinge, also a Friend, for 1000. This sale was confirmed by James, after the second Dutch war, on 6th August 1680. Disputes having arisen between Fenwick and Byllinge, Penn acted as arbitrator ; and then, Byllinge being in money difficulties, and being compelled to sell his interest in order to satisfy his creditors, Penn was added, at their request, to two of themselves, as trustee. The disputes were settled by Fenwick receiving ten out of the 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 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. 4 The five proprietors appointed three commissioners, with instructions dated from London 6th August 1676, to settle disputes with Fenwick (who J For a very charming account of her, and the whole Penniugton connexion, see Maria Webb s The Penns and Penninyions. 2 See on this Stoughton s Penn, p. 113. 3 The deed by which Fenwick and Byllinge conveyed New West Jersey to Penn, Gawry, and Nicholas is dated 10th February 1674/75. 4 The line of partition was &quot; from the east side of Little Egg Harbour, straight north, through the country, to the utmost branch of Delaware river.&quot; had bought fresh land from the Indians, upon which Salem was built, Penn being himself one of the settlers there) and to purchase new territories, to survey and divide them, and to build a town, New Beverley, or Burlington, being the result. For the new colony Penn drew up a constitution, under the title of &quot;Concessions,&quot; which he himself thus describes : &quot; There we lay a foundation for after ages to understand their liberty as men and Chris tians, that they may not be brought in bondage but by their own consent ; for we put the power in the people.&quot; The greatest care is taken to make this constitution &quot;as near as may be conveniently to the primitive, ancient, and fundamental laws of the nation of England.&quot; But a democratic element is introduced, and the new principle of perfect religious freedom &quot; that no men, nor numbers of men upon earth, hath power or authority to rule over men s consciences in religious matters &quot; stands in the first place (chap. 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 (chap. xvii.). Imprisonment for debt was not abolished (as Dixon states), but was reduced to a minimum (chap, xviii.), while theft was punished by twofold restitution either in value or in labour to that amount (chap, xxviil). The provisions of chap, xix., taking their rise doubtless in Penn s own trial at the Old Bailey in 1670, deserve special notice. All causes were to go before three justices, with a jury. &quot; They, the said justices, shall pronounce such 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 rest, pronounce their own judgment as the justices should have done.&quot; The justices and constables, moreover, were elected by the people, the former for two years only (chap. xli.). Suitors might plead in person, and the courts were public (chap. xxil). Questions between Indians and settlers were to be arranged by a mixed jury (chap. xxv.). An assembly was to meet yearly, consisting of a hundred persons, chosen by the inhabitants, freeholders, and pro prietors, one for each division of the province. The election was to be by ballot, and each member was to receive a shilling a day from his division, &quot; that thereby he may be known to be the servant of the people.&quot; The executive power was to be in the hands of ten commissioners 5 chosen by the assembly. Such a constitution, Avhich is in marked contrast with Locke s aristocratic one for Carolina, settled eight years previously, soon attracted large numbers of Quakers to West Jersey. It was shortly before these occurrences that Penn in herited through his wife the estate of Worminghurst in Sussex, whither he removed from llickmansworth. He now (25th July 1677) undertook a second missionary journey to the Continent along with George Fox, Robert Barclay, and George Keith. Of this journey a full account, published seventeen years later, will be found in his selected works. He visited particularly Rotterdam and all the Holland towns, renewed his intimacy with the princess Elizabeth at Herwerden, and, under considerable privations, travelled through Hanover, Germany, the lower Rhine, and the electorate of Brandenburg, returning by Bremen and the Hague. It is worthy of recollection that the American settlers from Kirchheim, one of the places which responded in an especial degree to Penn s teaching, are noted as the first who declared it unlawful for Christians to hold slaves. Penn reached England again on 24th October. 5 Penn s letter of 26th August 1676 says twelve, and Clarkson has followed this ; but the Concessions, which were not assented to by the inhabitants until 3d March 1676/77, say ten.