AN INQUIRY, &c. "RIVAL nations and hostile sects have agreed in 66 66 canonising him-England is proud of his name. A great commonwealth beyond the Atlantic "regards him with a reverence similar to that "which the Athenians felt for Theseus, and the Romans for Quirinus. The respectable society "of which he was a member honours him as an 66 66 apostle. By pious men of other persuasions "he is generally regarded as a bright pattern of Christian virtue. Meanwhile admirers of a very different sort have sounded his praises. "The French philosophers of the eighteenth century pardoned what they regarded as his superstitious fancies, in consideration of his contempt for priests, and of his cosmopolitan benevolence, impartially extended to all races "and all creeds. His name has thus become, 66 66 66 66 A 2 66 CHARACTER OF PENN. throughout all civilised countries, a synonyme for probity and philanthropy." Such is the verdict of posterity upon the character of William Penn, recorded in the glowing words of Lord Macaulay. Such is the judgment which Lord Macaulay seeks to reverse ;—to show instead that this same William Penn prostituted himself to the meanest wishes of a cruel and profligate court 2-gloated with delight on the horrors of the scaffold and the stake was the willing tool of a bloodthirsty and treacherous tyrant -a trafficker in simony and suborner of perjury 5-a conspirator, seeking to deluge hist country in blood-a sycophant, a traitor," and a liar.8 4 Such are the charges scattered through Lord Macaulay's pages; and in support of them he relies on the part taken by Penn on the following occasions: I. His conduct with regard to the Maids of 1 Vol. i. p. 506. 5 Vol. ii. p. 298, 299. Vol. iii. p. 599. LORD MACAULAY'S CHARGES. 3 II. His presence at the executions of Cornish and of Gaunt.-Vol. i. p. 665. III. His conduct in the affair of Kiffin.-Vol. ii. p. 230. IV. The transactions relating to Magdalen College. —Vol. ii. p. 298. V. His supposed communication with James II. whilst in Ireland.-Vol. iii. p. 587. VI. His alleged falsehood in a supposed interview with William III.-Vol. iii. p. 599. VII. His alleged share in Preston's plot.-Vol. iv. p. 20. VIII. His interview with Sidney.-Vol. iv. p. 30. IX. His alleged communications with James whilst the latter was at St Germains. — Vol. iv. p. 31. I purpose to examine the evidence relating to each of these charges. I shall confine myself as much as possible to original and unquestionable documents, and I shall in every case indicate the evidence on which I rely, and the most easy mode in which the reader, if so disposed, may verify my statements if true, or detect their inaccuracy if I have fallen into error. On most EVIDENCE ABUNDANT. points the evidence is abundant and easily to be obtained. Lord Macaulay calls Penn "rather a mythical than an historical person."1 Never was a less appropriate epithet. Penn lived much in public. During his whole life he was in contest with some one or other. His birth, education, and position, were such as to expose him to constant observation. He was a prolific writer—a copious correspondent. The personal friend of Algernon Sidney, John Locke, and Archbishop Tillotson-of King James the Second, and of George Fox-probably no man ever lived who was the connecting link between men so diverse and so hostile. A courtier, a scholar, and a soldier, he resigned every worldly advantage, and left the gayest court in Europe to take up his cross amongst the humblest and most peaceful of the followers of his Redeemer. Such a man was certain to be the object of calumny in his own day; and, accordingly, we find that there was hardly an act of Penn's life which was not the subject of hostile comment. To speak of him as a "mythical rather than an historical person," is therefore simply absurd. 1 Vol. i. p. 506. |