202 STATESMEN AND SAGES and acquired reputation and esteem by his self-devotion. To the favor of the king and the Duke of York he had a hereditary claim, which appears always to have been cheerfully acknowledged ; and an instance of the rising consideration in which he was held appears in his being admitted to plead, before a commit- tee of the House of Commons, the request of the Quakers that their solemn affirmation should be admitted in the place of an oath. Penn married in 1672, and took up his abode at Rickmansworth, in Hertford- shire. In 1677 we find him removed to Worminghurst, in Sussex, which long continued to be his place of residence. His first engagement in the plantation of America was in 1676, in consequence of being chosen arbitrator in a dispute be- tween two quakers who had become jointly concerned in the colony of New Jersey. In these transactions he had the opportunity of contemplating the glorious re- sults which might be hoped for from a colony founded with no interested views, but on the principles of universal peace, toleration, and liberty ; and he felt an earnest desire to be the instrument in so great a work, more especially as it held out a prospect of deliverance to his persecuted Quaker brethren in England, by giving them a free and happy asylum in a foreign land. Circumstances favored his wish. The crown was indebted to him ,16,000 for money advanced by the late admiral for the naval service. Accordingly, Penn received, in 1681, a grant by charter of that extensive province, named Pennsylvania by Charles himself, in honor of the admiral. He immediately drew up and published " Some Account of Pennsylvania, etc. ;" and then "Certain Conditions or Concessions, etc.," to be agreed on be- tween himself and those who wished to purchase land in the province. These having been accepted by many persons, he proceeded to frame the rough sketch of a constitution, on which he proposed to base the charter of the province. The price fixed on land was forty shillings, with the annual quit-rent of one shilling, for one hundred acres ; and it was provided that no one should, in word or deed, affront or wrong any Indian without incurring the same penalty as if the offence had been committed against a fellow-planter ; that strict precautions should be taken against fraud in the quality of goods sold to them ; and that all differences between the two nations should be adjudged by twelve men, six of each. And he declares his intention " to leave myself and my successors no power of doing mischief ; that the will of one man may not hinder the good of a whole coun- try." It was this constitution, substantially, which Burke, in his " Account of the European Settlements in America," describes as " that noble charter of privi- leges, by which he made them as free as any people in the world, and which has since drawn such vast numbers of so many different persuasions and such vari- ous countries to put themselves under the protection of his laws. He made the most perfect freedom, both religious and civil, the basis of his establishment ; and this has done more toward the settling of the province, and toward the set- tling of it in a strong and permanent manner, than the wisest regulations could have done on any other plan." In 1682 a number of settlers, principally Quakers, having been already sent
