New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-05-14

an UnSym pathetic Portrait Of the
Great Quaker.

WILLIAM PENN AS THE FOUNDER OF TWO
COMMENTARIES. BY Augustus q. Buell.
Illustrated. Svo, PIP. vi. 36S- d. Appleton Co.
From his youth to his old age William Penn
much in the public eye as religious en-
thusiast, statesman and proprietary head Of a
great colony. and almost his every act was made
the subject of minute observation both by
friends and foes. From his writings, too,
many fugitive facts have been cleaned enabling
scholars to piece together a presentation of his
character at once compact and rational. Much
sitting of flattery and Islander had to be DONE it
is true. before a portrait that could be accepted
as authentic obtained but this Sitting was
completed many years ago, and thoroughly
that the popular view of Penn to-day is the
view that prevailed long before Macaulay's
charge aroused what Mr.. Buell. with a sad lack
Of discrimination, coEtemptuously calls tea
pot tempest" Mr.. Buelrs own work contains
nothing so sensational as the blood money"
story, but his cannot be called n friendly biog
raphy for he too obviously hopes to take Penn
down peg or two"
His failure do this is all the more marked
because he confessedly gives us an incomplete
picture. The character of William Penn he
observes almost at the outset, presents three
sides-the political the commercial and the re-
hgious With the last mentioned aspect the
writer possesses neither the capacity the
inclination to deal" This is an unpromising
beginning. PENIS statecraft was rooted in his
faith. He was a Quaker of The Quakers: therein
lay much of his strength Therein, however,
according to this biographer, lay whatever
weakness he possessed. and, strange anomaly.
while refusing to discuss Penn the Quaker.
the plea of dissemination and inca pacity, he yet
discourses vigorously and at great length on
Quakerism a whole, Gismissing it with gem
civilizations so sweeping as to be their own ref
utatiOn, and finds time and space to elaborate
the subject of the religious bisotry OF the seven
teenth century in language that unfortunately
smacks of that selfsame bisOtry His hostility
10 the Society of Friends, as founded by George
Fox. is only surpassed by his anlmosty toward
the Established Church of England. One can
easily see where his sympathies lie: "One hour
Of Puritan victory on the battlefield was worth
more to the cause Of religious freedom than
could have been a cycle of stoical Quaker forti-
tude in JAIL
PENIS chief offence in Macaulay's eyes AYERS
Mr.. Buell.. that he had been a favorte of
James H. One is almost tempted 70 say that
PENIS chief offence in Mr.. Buelrs eyes was
that he a Quaker. He comedies that Penn
was great and good, but the picture he draws
can hardly be said to be that Of a great and
good man. 1t will not stand close inspection.
Landing Penn for frankness simplicity and
manly honesty, he nevertheless paints him as
lILdStti u Il ulploHldcy IldI NoUlu compare
favorably with the statecraft of NIachiaveli or
Talleyrand. He an adept in discrimination
and in the art OF curryng favor with those of
high degree. OF strong character, he yet
shrank from personal responsibility. Thus Mr.
Buell. There is a covert sneer in the pacific
Penn his placid features all aglow with a smile
that childlike and bland and his hands full
Of economical presents. setting out for Schacla-
maxon." there is in the remark that his very
first effort n lawgiver showed that he had
grasped one great truth, namely, that while a
man might be Quaker to-day and statesman to-
morrow, he could not be both the same day
But the painting Of PENIS portrait is not the
only portion of Mr.. Buelrs task. He treats his
torcally and critically, the rise and development
of the colony from its humble beginning to the
abolition Of the proprietaTyship in 1873 He
shows the impossibility of operating a colony
on strictly Quaker principles, and many the
glimpses he gives of the notable figures as
ISOLATED with Penn. Here he is in happier vein,
although his dislike of the Quakers is too often
exhibited, and his eagerness for striking phrase
ology and again leads him to say things
much better left unsaid.