Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1855-09-05

y, better, evidence than that of an agent of
Louis Quatorze: the evidence of the Ssbreth-
rem themselves. The Records at Devonshire
House prove that his influence was high as ev-
er in the society of Friends; he was elected to
speak their sentiments; he served their most
| important Offices; was in accord with Fox,
| Crisp, and the other leaders; and at the very
moment when Mr.. Macaulay introduces him
with this disparaging comment, he was on
| religious tour, one Of the most popular and
| brilliant of his public ministry. To this may
| be added the testimony of Penn himself; in
| one of his letters he expressly says, that is
at the joint request of the Society of Friends,
and of persons in authority, that he is engaged
in the business of the nation. 2. Was he ever
ga tool of the King and of the Jesuits?" Ne
man, venture to believe, win entertain a
doubt on this point, after reading the ninth
chapter of these memoirs, and the authorities
there cited Family experiences had given
him an adherence of the prosecuting spirit of
! the Roman Church. In his youth he had writ
| ten against the errors of Popery, and in ripper
age had pointed many sentence with honest
| indignation at Jesuit morals.
| Now that the Jesuits had acquired power at
court, he continually hazarded his influence
| by urging the King to Danish them from the
royal presence. Citters, Johnstone, and Clar-
ednon, all testify clearly to this effect. The
| Dutch Diplomatist says, s.Penn has had long
interview with the King, and has, he thinks
shown to the King that Parliament viii not
consent to revocation Of the Test and Penal
Laws-and that he never viii get Parliament
to his mnd-so long as he will not adopt mod
crate councils, and drive away from his pres
ence the immoderate Jesuits, and other Papists
who surround him daily, and whose ultra coun-
ellis he now follows.'' Johnstone says express
ly, that Penn was against the order command
ing the Declaration to be read in the churches.
Clarendon says in his Diary that Penn s.labor-
ed to thwart the Jesuitical influence that pre-
dominated On what authority, then, does
Mr.. Macaulay make his assertion? Simply on
his owni Was he tool Of the Kingl The idea
is absurd. He never sacrificed point to the
humor of James; but he often crossed that hu-
NOR, and bis political action was always against
the court Not to go so far back as the days
of Sidney, when, according to Barillon, he di-
vided the leadership of the most advanced bo- |
dy of Reformers with that great Republican,
if his private friendship was given to Sunder-
land, Halifax, and Rochester, his political
sympathy was always with the more liberal +
men of the opposition. The supporters of
Mon1n nouth looked to him and half a dozen 9TH
ers to bring over the American colonies to the
cause of liberty and Professionalism. Though I
he was trusted by james, he was always an /
object of suspicion to his government. He /
plainly told the King OF his errors; he advised .
him to expel the Jesuts from Whitehall ; not
to trust to his prerogatfve but to meet his Par
lament with wise and just proposals; not to IN I
sist on having the Declaration read by the
clergy not to commit the seven Prelates to .
the Tower. And when that impolitic act had I
been committed, he advised him to take the .
gracious opportunity afforded by the birth OF a
Prince of Wales to set them at liberty, and .
stll further to signalize the occasion by gem
eral amnesty to the exiIes in Holland. He
counselled him to submit to the viii of the ma
ton, and to be content with simple toIera-
tion of his religion. Can this man be called I
the s.tool'' of the King? let Mr.. Macaulay
show another man in that age with equal bold
ness and integrity. He braved the royal frowns
again and again in the cause of mercy. He OBJ .
tanned pardon for Locke, another for Trench |!
ard, another for Aaron Smith-all of them men
who had deeply offended james. He compelI-
ed him to listen to the councils of the leading
Wings; and in the Oxford affair told him he
was in the wrong in palmer language than the
usages Of speech would permit to ordinary
men,. This man a tool IS. Was the agency
of Penn employed to terrify, caress, or bribe
the cOllegians into submission? There is not
even q shadow Of authority for this most un
charitable assertion. Penn was alarmed at the
quarrel, fearing it might be lead, through the
combined obstnancy of the King and Fellows,
to loss of the College Charter, and a trans
fer of its immense revenues to the Papists-
and he interposed his good offices to heal the
wound. Instead of looking on him as person
..employed' to terrify, caress, or bribe them
into submission, we have the evidence of DR..
Bailey, one of the inculpated Fellows, and
that of Thomas Creech, student, that the
coHegians regarded him as friend and medi-
ator .ein their behalf.''-4. Did he .'do his best
TO seduce the college from the path of right?''
Mr.. Macaulay's knowledge of the proceeding
annesrs 10 he derived from eeWilmot' S Life OF
Hough',-though he does not quote it-and
from the estate Trials" To these sources of
information must be added the Ms. letters of
DR.. Sykes and Mr.. Creech, preserved IN the
Bodleian Library at Oxford, and the MS. pa
pers of George Hunt, now in the possession of
the President of Magdalen College. Hunt was
one of the Fellows, and was present at the in
: o