O John! let Truth and the honour of it in

this day prevail! Woe to him that causeth offences! I am an impartial man.

"WILLIAM PENN."

This letter in about ten days was followed by a second, in which he could not help rebuking Fenwick on account of his conduct. He stated, however, that the original of the dispute reflected upon both parties, and, what was worse, upon Truth, that is, upon their religious profession as Quakers. It was to hide this their high profession from shame, that he undertook the office of an arbitrator; and he was willing to continue his mediation for the same reason.

In thirteen days he wrote another letter to Fenwick, which, as it shows the openness of his mind, and is withal full of good sense or rather true wisdom, I submit to the perusal of the reader.

"JOHN FENWICK!

"I have upon serious consideration of the present difference (to end it with benefit to you both, and as much quiet as may be,) thought my counsel's opinion very reasonable: indeed, thy own desire to have the eight parts added, was not so pleasant to the other

other party that it should now be shrunk from by thee as injurious; and when thou hast once thought a proposal reasonable, and given power to another to fix it, 'tis not in thy power, nor indeed a discreet or civil thing, to alter or warp from it, and call it a being forced. O John! I am sorry that a toy, a trifle, should thus rob men of their time, quiet, and a more profitable empty. I have had a good conscience in what I have done in this affair; and if thou reposest confidence in me, and believest me to be a good and just man, as thou hast said, thou shouldst not be upon such nicety and uncertainty. Away with vain fancies, I beseech thee, and fall closely to thy business. Thy days spend on, and make the best of what thou hast. Thy grandchildren be in the other world, before the land thou bast allotted will be employed. My counsel, I will answer for it, shall do thee all right and service in the affair that becomes him, who, I told thee at first, should draw it up as for myself. If this cannot scatter thy fears, thou art unhappy, and I am sorry.

may

Thy Friend, WILLIAM PENN."

СНАР

CHAPTER XII.

A. 1676—writes "The Skirmisher defeated"—also to

two Protestant Ladies of Quality in Germany-becomes a manager of proprietary concerns in New Jersey -divides it into East and West-draws up a Constitution, and invites Settlers in the latter.

In the year 1676 John Cheney, who lived near Warrington, and who had written frequently against the religious principles of the Quakers, brought out a work which he called "A Skirmish upon Quakerism." He took occasion in this to lay hold of a passage in one of the books which William Penn had written in the course of his controversy with Faldo. This coming to the knowledge of the latter, he produced by way of reply "The Skirmisher defeated and Truth defended," in which he was so successful that Cheney never ventured to provoke him again.

There is extant a letter, which he wrote in the present year to two Protestant women of quality in Germany. The one was the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of the deceased Frederic the Fifth, Prince Palatine of the Rhine and King of Bohemia, and granddaughter of King James the First.

The

other

other was Anna Maria de Hornes, Countess of Hornes, the friend and companion of the former. These ladies had long discovered a serious disposition of mind, and one of them, the Princess, had shown her liberality and humanity by affording an asylum in her dominions to persons who had been persecuted on account of their religion. Since that time they had looked favourably upon those doctrines which the Quakers taught; for R. Barclay, the celebrated Apologist, and B. Furley, who were then travelling on the Continent as ministers, had paid them a religious visit, and had been well received by them. The object therefore of this letter (a very long one) was chiefly to afford them consolation, and to exhort them to constancy and perseverance in the way to which they had been thus providentially directed.

About this time William Penn came accidentally into the situation of a manager of colonial concerns in New Jersey in North America, a situation not only important in itself, but which produced the most important results; for, by being concerned there, he was by degrees led to, and fitted for, the formation of a colony of his own. The way in which

he

he became so concerned was the following: Lord Berkeley, who was joint proprietor of New Jersey with Sir George Carteret, had in the preceding year sold his half share of it to John Fenwick in trust for Edward Byllinge. It was on this subject that the dispute arose between the latter, which William Penn. has been just mentioned to have arbitrated, and which since that time he had by means of the most exemplary perseverance brought to an amicable issue. As soon as the adjustment took place, Fenwick in company with his wife and family and several Quakers embarked for America in the ship Griffith, and took possession of the land. Byllinge however, who had been drained of his money by the purchase, and who since the sailing of Fenwick had experienced misfortune, found himself unable to meet the pecuniary demands which were brought against him. He agreed therefore to deliver over his new property in trust for his creditors; but in consenting to do this, he had his eye fixed upon the friendly assistance of William Penn. He therefore supplicated the latter with the most earnest entreaty to become a joint trustee with Gawen Laurie of London