The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1849-12-03
From the Boston Transcript.
William PENN Nh. n.

Chafies l. was king when William Penn was
porn and when he died, George L. was on the
throne Penn therefore lived in the reigns of nine
rulers of the realm: Charles l.; the Cromwells
Oliver and Richard; Charles H.; James H. Will
nam and Mary as Joint soyereigns William alone;
Anne, and GeorgeI
He was the son of Admiral Sir William Penn,
and was born on Tower Hill, London October A.
1914. The spirit of the flesh strove hard for the
mastery before young William came forth a Qua
kerr fully developed. He was remarkable at Ok
ford for his fine scholarship and athletic perform
ances
Penn believed that the Lord appeared to him
when he was very young The devil seems to have
made him short visit afterwards, if we may rely
upon the testimony of PENIS biographers Wood
III his Athena, w., G45, gives this brief account of
the LORDS VISIT; Penn was educated in puerle
learning at Chigwell, in Essex, where at eleven
years OF age, being retired in a chamber alone, he
was SO suddenly surprised with an inward com
Tort, and, as he thought, external glory in the
room, that he has, many times said that from that
time he had the seal Of divinity and immortality;
that there was also God and that the soul of man
tons"
His biographer Clarkson, says that Penn, at the
age OF sixteen, was led to sense of the corruptons
of the established faith by the preaching of Thomas
loe, Quaker, and broke of at the chapel, and be-
gan TO hold prayer meetings For this he
fined and admonished 1t is remarkable that Wood
though he states that Penn, after he became Qua
ker in good earnest, was imprisoned, once in Ire
land, once in the Tower, and three times in New
expulsion from Oxford, which is related by Chal-
mers Clarkson, and others.
1t seems that after he had become impressed by
Loes preaching, an order came down from court
that the students should wear surplces. This irri
tated Penn, that instead of letting his yea be yea and
his nay nay, in company with others, says Clark
son, % he fell upon those students who appeared in
surplces, and tore them every where over their
heads On the subject Of his conversion, Wood
says elf you'll believe a satircal pamphlet, sIAe
history Of piH Penn's conversion from gentleman
to a Quaker printed at London in 1852, you'll
find that the reason of his turning Quaker was the
loss Of his mistress delicate young lady, that then
lived in Dublin, or as others say, because he re-
fused to fight duel"
For two good and sufficient reasons, this state
ment contained in the ''satyical pamphlet and
ferred to by Wood, is unworthy of the slightest
credit. In the first place, though Penn met Loe in
Dublin after the expulsion from Oxford, and be-
came more fully impressed, yet his first meeting
with Loe was at Oxford, before the expulsion and
the serious impression produced to his preaching,
led, albeit rather oddly, to the affair of the
plices
In the second place, the notion that Penn would
put on Quakerism to avoid duel, is still more in
credible. Nothing could be more unfortunate than
any imputation upon Penn's courage, moral or
physical We have that he famous for
his athletic exercises. Strange though it may seem
to such as have contemplated Penn the quiet
non -combatant, he was an accomplished swords
man, and, upon one occasion, was actually en-
gagged in an affair which had all the aspect and all
the peril of the dlellium, however it may have
lacked the preliminary forms and ceremonies.
"During his residence in Paris" says Chalmers,
she was assaulted in the street evening by
person with drawn sword, on account of a sup
posed aftront; but, among other accomplishments
OF gay man, he had become 80 good swords
man as to disarm his antagonist"
After his expulsion from Oxford in 1862 he re-
turned home. His father, the admiral, was greatly
provoked to see his son resortng to the company Of
religious people, WHO were, of all, the least likely,
in the centious reign of Charles H., to advance his
rtnfar old Cd
ty, and, finally, Penn himself relates gave the
Quaker neophyte thrashing and turned him out
of DOORS
Ere long, the father got the better of the admiral
He relented; and, probably supposing that there
was as little vitality in Paris for Quaker some
of the old philosophers fancied there might be in
vacuum for an angel, he sent young William
thither, as one Of fashionable travelling party.
After his return, he admitted of Lncoln's
Inn, and continued there till the year of the plague,
1865. The following year his father sent him TO
Ireland to take charge of an estate. At Cork he
met Loe once more-attended his meeting
an unalterable Quaker-preachedi in conventiclcs--
was committed to prison-released upon applica-
ton to the Earl OF Orrery-and summoned home by
his indignant father. The old Admiral loved his
accomplished son, then twenty three years old but
abhorrcd his Quakerish airs and manners. In all
points, save one-the point of conscience w llam
was unexceptionably dutiful At length the Adj
miral agreed to compound conditions, which
seem not to have been very oppressive in short, he
consented to waive all objections, and let William
do as he pleased in regard to his religion, provided
he would yield in particular-dof his broad
brim-take off his hat in presence of the King, the
Duke of York, and his own father, the Admiral
Young William demanded time for consideration.
II was granted; and he earnestly sought the Lord
on an empty stomach, as he says himself, with
prayer. He finally informed his father that he
could not do a.; and once again the Admiral, in a
paroxysm of wrath, turned the rebellious young
Quaker out of doors, broad brm and all
William Penn now began TO figure as a preacher
at the Quaker meetings The friends, and the fond
mother, on hand, in such emergencies, sup
piled his temporal necessities. Even the old Adj
miral, becoming satisfied of Williams perfect sin
cerity, although too proud TO tack about, hoistcd
private signals for his release, when imprisoned for
attending Quaker meetings; and evidently lay by,
ready,to bear down, in the event OF serious diff
Guilty.
In 1865, PENIS brm grew broader and broader,
and his coat became buttonless behind. He a
writer and preacher, and powerful defender Of
the "cused and dsspised" Quakers The titles of his
various works may be found in Carkson, and in
Woods Athena. They conformcd to the fashion
of the age, and were, necessarily, quaint and ex-
tended. have room for one only as a specimen
the title of his first tract-"TTldh eIdlfed, an a
short Jtif sure testimony, against all those religious
faiths and to0rships that hare been formed and fol
ioced ia the darkness Of aposta,y; and for that go-
rious light tottch as risen, and shines forth IA
The life and doctrine Of The despised Quakes, as the
alone good old tody Of life and sauatioi; presented 10
princes, priests and people, that they may repent, be-
IieDe, and obey. BY William Penn; iDhom Dirint
lore corsndttls, IN an hoiy contempt 10 udmph on
Egypfs glory, not fearing The Kings iCrath, hdUng
behed The majesty Of HIM ioho is inuisible" In this
same year, ZOOS, he was imprisoned in the Tower,
for publishing his SANDY FOUNDATIONS SHAKEN.
There he was confined months, doing inf
nitely more mischief for the cause of lawn sleeves
and white frocks, forms, ceremonies and hat-wor-
ship, he calls il, than If he had been loose For,
then and there, he wrote his most able pamphlets,
especially No Cross NO Cows, which gained him
great praise, far beyond the pale Of Quakerdom.
His treatise has been often reprinted, and translated
into foreign tongues.
In 1910 his influence great that he OBJ
tanned order Ia council for the release of the
Quakcrs then in prison. AT later day, he again
assumed the office of st. Peters angel and set
three thousand captves free. In 1886, says Mr..
Macaulay, he strongly represented the sufierings
Of the Quakers 10 the new king" &c. "In this
way about fifteen hundred Quakcrs, and still
greater number of Roman Catholics, regained their
liberty" No wonder he mistaken for Pa
pist by those who adopt that basel born, bastard
principle, that charity begins at home and ends
there whose religious circle forms the exclusive
line of demsrcation for the exercise of that &C.