Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-03-06

ance, no soldiers in battle array TO
s1biugate and rob the natives, or TO
rcpel foreign enemies. yet the building
of a mightier Empire than British
India, went steadily on. It was
founded. not on war oppression and
robbery, but on justice, peace and equal J
liberty for all. But not alone as the |
founder OF a great free Commonwealth, /
does the greatness of William Penn /
appear, but as an author he has proved |
himself a thinker of great thoughts,
far IN advance of that or even of the |
present age. AS wise moral leader in |
the great pathway Of human life, his |
equal can not be found, either in an
cieIit or modern times. Let those who |
doubt the justice of this judgment read |
his maXims and farewell address to his |
wife and family. According to Macau-
ley, Milton, Shakespeare and John
Bunyan are the greatest OF modern
authors, yet the reader will find but
little in them calculated to lift human
nature into higher and nobler plane
of life Indeed. when the great thoughts
of William Penn shall become generally
crystallized into acts, there Will be a
grander revolution in the world a
worse than usual hierarchy and aris-
tocracy Will have passed away and
ceased to rob the industrious workers
of the fruits of their toll. q he irling
priesthood would find its occupation
gone. There would be no use for
lawyers, and all disputes, whether
between nations or individuals, would
be settled by friendly arbitration, with
little or no cost. The great millennium
of human nature. so long AMI vainly
hoped for, would be realized.
The specific charges brought by
Macauley against William Penn have
already been ably answered by Janney,
Dixon aud others. Most of them are
unsustained by any evidence that would
be received in any respecting court.
But even if proved to be true by the
most unexceptional evidence, what do
they amount to? To this only, that
William Penn preferred the rule OF
James, by whom he and his friends had
been relieved from persecution, to that
of William and Mary, from whom, as
fast bound to the Church of England,
he lad nothing to hope for or expect.
Neither James nor William was a ruler
after his own heart. But subsequent
events most amply proved that it would
have been far better, both for him and
his colony, if James had continued to
occupy the throne of England. AS
Friend, William Penn could not con-
sclentiously bear arms; but, surely, the
most tender peace-conscience will not
deny that he hal the right to advise
his friend, who believed in the right
fulness of war, TO wage 1t in favor OF
justice and religious freedom. Just as
| William Lloyd Garrison, who could
not conscient!ously vote under pro-
slavery constitution, yet did not hesi-
tate to advise his Anti-Slavery friends,
| WI al THAR dnrxr To vnta N do
| in such a manner as to exert the great
est possible influence against slavery.
| Macauley was a brilliant eSsayi5t; but
can not be considered great in any high
sense of the word. During his whole
| life he was simply liberal English
Wing. He dared not go much beyond
the bounds of the aristocracy which
! surrounded him. He had no faith in
republican or democratic form of
| government. He favored suffrage on
the basis of large property quallfica-
tion, not as an inherent right of man.
He was wont TO predict that the repub-
lie of the United States would not
stand the test of time, but must fall to
pieces when the population became
dense. Had he been living during the
war of the rebellion, hs would, no
doubt, have been on the side OF the
cessful jefferson Davis would have
been placed with Cromwell, Give and
| Hastings, along with his other heroes
of like character. In his essay on Sir
William Temple, he tells us that 1t was
the purpose of Cromwell to extermlnate
the native Irish population of Ireland,
and plainly intimates his belief that it
| would have been better for both Ireland
and England, had that purpose been
consummated. In his contest with
| Mill and Betham, ne uses all the sophis-
try he can command, not to retute,
but ''to perplex and dash" the argu-
ments and better judgment of his
opponents in favor of a democratic
form of government. He was a man
of almost boundless knowledge, yet
there were many with far less learning
who were better able than he to dis
cern and appreciate truth. He some
times seemed to lack that wisdom and
Justice, without which the greatest
learning "does but cucumber whom l.
seems to enrich" In view of all these
circumstances OF Macauley's life, it
Will not seem strange that he so little
appreciated and so unjustly judged the
character of William Penn, whose
whole life was an example of ''obtaiu-
ing the noblest ends, only by the noblest
MEANS" and who practically demon
strated that Plato's ideal republic
could be Eiade real.
J. WILLIAMS THoRNE.