change should be made at Albany or Montreal, and both parties were firm in their demands; both parties threatened hostilities in case of non-compliance; but Count Frontenac finally proposed to refer the dispute to the commissioners, to be appointed according to the treaty of Ryswic; this the earl rejected, and urged his demands that the French prisonors should be delivered up at Albany.

In the heat of this controversy, Count Frontenac died, and Monsieur De Callieres negociated an exchange with the confederates at Onondaga, without the knowledge or consent of the earl, and thus the affair ended. The Jesuit Bruyas, who negociated this exchange at Onandaga, offered to reside there as their priest; but they rejected both his offer and his belt, saying Corlear had sent them priests.

This affair being closed, the earl returned to New-York, where he made great changes in the council, by displacing Bayard, Meinville, Willet, Townly, and Lawrence; and Col. Depeyster, Robert Livingston, and Samuel Staats, were appointed to succeed them. Robert Walters was also appointed to succeed Frederick Phillipse, resigned.

On the 21st of March, 1699, his excellency met his new assembly, who had chosen James Graham speaker.

Abraham Governeur, who had married Milbourn's widow, was a member of this assembly, and had great influence in the house. The following acts were passed during this session, viz

"An act of indemnity for those that were excepted out of the general pardon of 1691.

"An act against pirates, &c.

"An act for the settlement of Milbourn's estate.

"An act to raise 1500l. as a present to the governor, and

5001. for the deputy-governor.

"An act to continue the revenue six years.

**An act to regulate elections, agreeable to the statutes of 8th of Henry VI. chap. vii. and the 7th and 8th of William III."

The assembly next proceeded to take into consideration certain large tracts of land, that Fletcher had fraudulently conveyed to some of his favourites, at the time he attempted to erect a spiritual tyranny in the colony. The firstwere two grants made to Dellius, the Dutch minister; he was commissioner for Indian affairs, and had attempted to secure his grants by purchasing the Indian title. One of these grants extended twelve miles in breadth, and twenty miles in length, upon the east side of the Hudson River, lying north of Albany, and near Saratoga. The second included all lands upon each side of the Mohawk River, two miles wide, and fifty miles long, &c. Bayard's grants were equally extravagant. These grants were not only revoked, but Dellius was suspended from his ministry. His lordship repaired to Boston early in June, to enter upon the government of that province, as was noticed under Massachusetts, where he apprehended the pirate Kid. When he had settled the affairs of that government, he returned to New-York, where he died, in March, 1701, greatly lamented by the colony.

CHAPTER XVII.

RISE AND PROGRESS OF PENNSYLVANIA, CONTINUED.

In our last chapter, some notice was taken of the suspicions that rested upon William Penn, in consequence of his attachment to the king, and the particular marks of favour he received at court. The high prerogative claims of James II. and his well known, if not openly avowed attachment to Popery, had thrown the nation into such a state of ferment as to produce a revolution in favour of William and Mary, who ascended the throne, upon the flight of James, 1688.

As soon as William and Mary were firmly seated upon the throne of England, by a special convention, and by proclamation in due form, February, 1689, they began to correct and reform the abuses that had given cause for such general uneasiness, as had produced this great revolution, and to take into custody all the active partisans of King James, and thus destroy their influence in future. Those suspicions that had fallen upon William Penn, and. given him the name of Papist, Jesuit, &c. were now remembered, and caused him to be arrested, arraigned before a tribunal of justice, and formally tried; but, as no positive proof lay against him, he was acquitted, at Easter Term. In the year 1690, he was again arrested, and arraigned before a court of justice, upon suspicion of holding correspondence with King James; but for want of proof he was again acquitted, Trinity Term. The same year he was again attacked in a proclamation, as an enemy to the kingdom, and an adherent to the enemies of the crown, and again arraigned before a court of justice, and again acquitted.-Michaelmas Term, King's Bench, Westminster,

1690.

Thus persecuted at home he proposed to visit once more his retreat in the wilderness, and enjoy the society of his

friends in Pennsylvania, as well as carry out to them a great number of planters, with their families and effects, to strengthen his rising colony; but the malice of his enemies blasted even this; when all his arrangements and preparations were made ready for his intended voyage, he was again arrested upon the oath of a vile profligate fellow, whilst returning from the funeral of the celebrated George Fox, who was the founder of the sect called Quakers, January, 1691.

William Penn, tired of such vexatious suits, and disdaining to place himself and his reputation, at the mercy of an oath from such an abandonad wretch, he relinquished all his pleasing preparations, with which he was about to make fresh improvements in his province; withdrew from public notice, and passed two or three years in a state of retirement. During this period, sharp contentions arose in the province, which his presence would have prevented, or healed; but in his retirement he could only advise, and the contention became warm. The indulgence of the proprietary had given rise to this contention, by admitting three executive modes into his government, viz. either, that of the Council, of Five Commissioners, or a DeputyGovernor.

The province and the lower counties became divided in sentiment, upon the different modes of executive administration; in the midst of this heat, the members of the council for the lower counties withdrew, and thus caused a division in the government. This division caused the province to decide on the mode of deputy-governor, for their executive, and proceeded to elect Thomas Lloyd, who (though with reluctance) accepted the appointment, and the proprietary, (though with great grief at this unhappy division,) commissioned him accordingly, and the secretary, William Markham, was chosen as executive by the lower counties, and thus the colony was array ed against

itself. The proprietary, alarmed for the fate of his colony, wrote them by way of advice, joined with kind and tender reproof, and warned them to heal their divisions as soon as possible.

In the midst of this political strife, a religious feud sprang up amongst the Quakers, occasioned by a hot-headed zealot, who was full of religion, without either wisdom, prudence, or discretion; and aiming to become (like many others at the present day) imperious, and noisy, by becoming righteous overmuch, and by crying up their own selves, at the expence of their neighbours; this added to the political discord, caused the king to remove the proprietary from his government, and send Gov. Fletcher, of New-York, to preside over the colony, Oct. 21, 1692. Upon the receipt of this commission, Governor Fletcher wrote immediately to Lieut. Gov. Lloyd, in which he gave him notice of his appointment, and requested him to convene the council to be in readiness to meet him on the 29th of inst. April, 1693. Gov. Lloyd complied, and Gov. Fletcher met the council accordingly. Soon after this, Governor Fletcher proceeded to call an assembly; but the mode became a question between him and the council, which occasioned a long and spirited address from the council to the governor; the assembly met on the 16th of May, and presented their speaker to the governor, who was accepted, and the oaths or affirmations, by subscriptions, were passed in the usual forms, and they proceeded to business. Thus the enemies of William Penn, like the enemies of Columbus, never rested quiet, until they had hunted him into retirement, to avoid their malice, and then deprived him of that government which he had created and nursed up to a state of manhood; and to effect this, they even rendered it necessary for him to flee for his life. How black is the heart of an envious, malicious man? and how despeVOL. II.

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