| PENN | PENNINGTON | 717 |
few days later a troop of horsemen broke into the building and massacred its inmates. Penn issued a proclamation offering a reward for the capture of the murderers; but this had no effect. A battalion of regular soldiers was ordered to Lancaster, and, by the united efforts of all citizens, a bold front was presented when the “Paxton boys” appeared at Germantown on their way to murder the Bethlehem Indians, who had been housed in the barracks in the Northern Liberties. This outbreak had barely subsided before the young governor was embroiled with the assembly on an offshoot of the old quarrel as to the taxation of proprietary lauds. This brought about the petition to change the government from proprietary to royal. Upon the repeal of the stamp-act he congratulated the assembly, and gave a fête at “Lansdowne,” his country-seat, now within Fairmount park. He declined to be patron of the Philosophical society because it had chosen Benjamin Franklin for its president. The happiest event of Penn's administration was the treaty with the Indians at Fort Stanwix in 1768. On the death of his father he embarked for England on 4 May, 1771, leaving the government to the council; but in August, 1773, he returned to Pennsylvania as governor in his own right and by deputation from his uncle. In respect to the Revolutionary contest, he attempted to steer a middle course. He was opposed to taxation without representation, but his first overt act might have caused the ministry to replace the proprietary by a royal government. In February, 1775, he besought the assembly to send a petition from their own body seeking redress of grievances. On 30 June of that year the assembly, without troubling Penn for his consent, provided for arming the province, and appointed a committee of safety, which thenceforth was supreme in Pennsylvania; but Penn's council continued to meet until the following September. Within a month after the Declaration of Independence a constitutional convention met, and vested the government of Pennsylvania in a supreme executive council, choosing its own president and the officers of state. Penn offered no other resistance than refusal to recognize the new authority. Nevertheless, when Howe's army was expected in Philadelphia, it was thought inexpedient to leave such important instruments in British hands as a regularly commissioned governor and chief justice; so Chew and himself were arrested, 12 Aug., 1777, on the recommendation of congress, but they were released on 15 May, 1778. On 28 June, 1779, the legislature of Pennsylvania transferred to the state the property in the soil, restricted the possessions of the Penns to such manors, or tenths, as had been set apart for them prior to the Declaration of Independence, and also their purchases from private parties, and abolished quit-rents except within the manors. It voted in remuneration for this the sum of £130,000 to the heirs and devisees of Thomas and Richard Penn, to be paid three years after the establishment of peace. In addition, the British government created an annuity of £4,000, which has only recently been commuted. John Penn's branch of the family was entitled to a fourth of these sums, and the estates in Philadelphia and elsewhere were considerable; so that he was enabled to live comfortably the rest of his life at “Lansdowne,” or at his city residence. He was buried ander the floor of Christ church, Philadelphia, but his remains were afterward removed to England.—A grandson of the founder, son of Richard, was Richard, lieutenant-governor of Pennsylvania, b. in England in 1735; d. in Richmond, Surrey, England, 27 May, 1811, spent some time at St. John's college, Cambridge, and was intended for the legal profession, but relinquished that study. He accompanied his brother to Pennsylvania in 1763, and was qualified as a councillor on 12 Jan., 1764. After an absence of two years in England he was appointed by his uncle and brother lieutenant-governor of Pennsylvania, and arriving the second time in Philadelphia on 16 Oct., 1771, made himself the most popular of his family. All his dealings with the provincial assembly were very friendly. Armor, in his “Lives of the Governors,” says: “He was especially attentive to the commercial interests of the colony, and during his administration a degree of unexampled prosperity prevailed.” He had a dispute with his brother concerning his father's will, and for some time after the arrival of John, by whom he was superseded in the governorship in August, 1773, Richard did not meet him, but the two were finally reconciled. Richard Penn's feelings were enlisted against the oppressive acts of the British government. Both Penns longed for concessions, but Richard's situation being more independent, he could afford to be more demonstrative. He entertained the members of the Continental congress at his house, George Washington being among his guests. He left Philadelphia in the summer of 1775, carrying with him the second petition of congress to the king. On 7 Nov., 1775, its consideration being the order of the day in the house of lords, the Duke of Richmond, observing Mr. Penn below the bar, moved that he be examined, to authenticate it. Accordingly, after some discussion, he was sworn on the 10th, and testified to the ability and willingness of his colony to resist the home government. He was member of the British parliament from 1796 to 1806. His fortunes improved, and he visited Philadelphia in 1808. By his wife, Mary Masters, a Pennsylvania heiress, he had several children, who died without issue.—The eldest, William, b. 23 June, 1776; d. in Nelson Square, Southwark, England, 17 Sept., 1845, entered St. John's college, Cambridge, but left the university without taking a degree, and devoted himself to literature, but became very intemperate. He came to Pennsylvania in 1808, spending some time in Philadelphia and elsewhere in the state, marrying in Philadelphia. After his return to England he was for a long time imprisoned for debt.—His brother, Richard, d. in Richmond, England, 21 April, 1863, was for many years employed in the British colonial department, and was author of “Maxims and Hints on Angling, Chess, Shooting, and other Matters, also Miseries of Fishing.” He was a fellow of the Royal society.
PENNINGTON, William Sanford, jurist, b. in Newark, N. J., in 1757; d. there, 17 Sept., 1826. He served as a major in the 2d New Jersey artillery in the war of the Revolution. He was admitted to the bar in 1802, was a member of the legislature, and appointed associate justice of the supreme court of New Jersey, 28 Feb., 1804, and he was judge of the U. S. district court in 1815-'26. He was governor of New Jersey in 1813-'15, and was also chancellor of that state. He published "New Jersey Supreme Court Reports" (1803-16).—His son William, statesman, and governor of New Jersey, b. in Newark, N. J., 4 May, 1796; d. there. 16 Feb., 1862, was graduated at Princeton in 1813, admitted to the bar, and began practice in Newark. He was governor of New Jersey in 1837-'43, and at the same time was ex-officio chancellor of that state. During his administration the Broad Seal War occurred, a controversy which grew out of the congressional election of 1838,
