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CHAP. Penn was accused by his enemies of favoring the interests of the exiled monarch, with whom he corresponded. This 1692. correspondence afforded no evidence of the truth of these calumnies, but William lent them too ready an ear. He was at a loss to conceive how Penn could be the friend of James in exile, without wishing him to return to England as a sovereign. These false charges, together with rumors of dissensions in the colony, furnished the royal government a pretext for depriving Penn of his proprietary rights.

The Quakers became divided in their sentiments; a few went to the extreme of non-resistance, saying, that it was inconsistent for a Quaker to engage in public affairs, either as a magistrate or as a legislator. The prime leader in this was George Keith. After disturbing the province beyond even Quaker endurance, he was indicted by the grand jury, as a disturber of the peace and violator of the laws. He was tried, and fined for using improper language ; but lest it might be thought a punishment for the free expression of opinion, the fine was remitted. The cry of persecution was raised; but time proved the falsehood of the charge.

The first German emigrants to Pennsylvania were Quakers in their religious views--converts of Penn and Barclay, who some years before had travelled on the continent as missionaries. These settled Germantown and the vicinity. Twenty years later, the ravages of war drove 1690. many Germans from their homes on the banks of the Rhine. These emigrated in great numbers first to England, and then to Pennsylvania. In religious views they were German Reformed and Lutherans. They chose fertile districts, settled together, and soon became celebrated as the best farmers in America. Their numbers gradually increased by accessions of emigrants from home. They did not assimilate with the English colonists: preserved inviolate their customs, their religion, and their language, which alone they permitted to be taught their children. The

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isolation of a population so large, had an important influ- CHAP ence upon the people of Pennsylvania, on their system of education by common schools, on the struggle for independ- 1692. ence, and since politically.

An attempt was now made to convert Pennsylvania and Delaware into one royal province, over which Benjamin Fletcher was appointed governor. Some of the magistrates refused to recognize his authority, and some resigned their offices. When the Assembly met, the opposition became more determined. The members of this body deemed the laws made under the charter received from Penn as valid; neither would they legislate under any other authority. The charter given by King Charles, said they, is as valid as one given by King William; and they refused to throw a suspicion over their existing laws by re-enacting them. They never noticed the governor; with Quaker coolness passed and repassed his door, and in every respect ignored his presence.

Meanwhile, Penn had been persecuted and annoyed; he was arraigned three times on frivolous charges, which were as often not sustained. He prepared once more to 1690. visit his colony. Crowds of emigrants were ready to go with him, when he was arrested again. Forced to go into retirement, he determined to wait till time should bring him justice. This delay ruined the remainder of his fortune; death entered his family, and robbed him of his wife and eldest son. Treated harshly by the world, and in some instances by those whom he thought his friends, he mildly persevered; never changed his views of right and justice; conscious of the purity of his motives, he serenely waited for the time when his character should be vindicated from the aspersions cast upon it. Ere long that time came, the charges laid against him were proved to be false, and he was restored to his proprietary rights.

The want of means delayed his visit to his colony, but he sent Markham as his deputy. He called an Assembly;

1694.

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CHAP. the people, alarmed at the recent encroachments upor their chartered rights, framed for themselves a libera. 1694. constitution. The Assembly would levy no tax until this was granted. When Penn arrived, he recognized as valid what the people had done. When the proposition 1700. was made to form a "constitution which would be firm and lasting," he said to them, "Keep what is good in the charter and frame of government, and add what may best suit the common good." It was agreed to surrender the old charter, and in its place frame a new constitution. 1702. The territories wished to be separate, and Delaware was permitted to have her own legislature; though the governor was to be the same as that of Pennsylvania The two governments were never again united. All the political privileges the people desired he cheerfully granted; they enjoyed religious liberty, and annually elected their own magistrates.

A large emigration began about this period, and continued for half a century, to pour into Pennsylvania from the north of Ireland and from Scotland. These were

principally Presbyterians. They settled in the eastern and middle parts of the colony, and thence gradually extended their settlements west, making inroads upon the forest.

When Penn returned to the colony it was his intention to remain, and make it the home of his children. Rumors, however, reached the province that the charters of all the colonies were to be taken away, and they thrown upon the tender mercies of court favorites. He had not only purchased his territory from Charles, but he had bought the land from the Indians themselves; he was therefore the sole owner of the unoccupied soil of Pennsylvania. These rumors rendered it necessary for him to return to England. Having arranged the government so as best to promote the interests of the people, he bade farewell to the colony, for which he had spent the

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better part of his life, and for which he breathed his part- CHAP ing blessing.

The virtues of William Penn saved the colony, so 1700. dear to his heart, from becoming a province ruled by royal governors and impoverished by tax-gatherers. His enemies never could persuade the court to deprive him of his property. Though in his old age so poor, on account of the sacrifices he had made, as to be compelled to go for a season to a debtor's prison, he refused to sell his estates in America unless he could secure for the people the full enjoyment of their liberties. His death was as peaceful as his life had been benevolent. He left three 1718. sons, who were minors. For them the government was administered by deputies until the Revolution, when the 1776 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased their claims for more than half a million of dollars.

Six years after the death of Penn, there, came to Philadelphia a youth of seventeen, who was yet to exert a great influence, not merely upon that colony but upon the others, while his fame was to be as great in the world of science. This youth was Benjamin Franklin, a native of Boston, the son of a tallow-chandler; at which business, till ten years of age, he labored. But his ardent mind craved something far beyond. During his leisure time, and till late at night, he read and appreciated all the books he could borrow, and his limited means could purchase.

At twelve he was bound to his eldest brother, a printer, to learn the art. There he experienced, not the kindness of a brother but the harshness of a tyrant. Worn out with this oppression, the determined youth sold his little library to furnish means to travel, and, without giving notice to his friends, left to seek his fortune in the wide world. He travelled first to New York, where he tarried but a day, and then passed on to Philadelphia. There he arrived a stranger-his money

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CHAP. reduced to a single dollar; a penny roll served him for his first dinner. In one of the two printing-offices of the 1724. city he sought and obtained employment. Afterward he went to London, where he spent a year and a half in the same business; then returned, but every thing that could be of avail to him he had carefully marked and treasured up. In truth he never lost a moment; nothing escaped his notice, whether in the natural or political world. His wonderful combination of diligence, keen observation, and practical wisdom, fitted him to trace the current of human affairs, as well as deduce laws from the phenomena of nature.

His experiments in electricity, the discovery of its identity with lightning, and the invention of the lightning-rod, made his name famous in the universities and courts of the Old World; while his "Poor Richard's Almanac," with its aphorisms of worldly wisdom, penetrated every nook and corner of his native land, and by its silent influence did much to inculcate the virtues of industry and economy.

"The first native of America, who wrote the English language with classic taste and elegance," his influence was impressed upon the literature of the land. He established the first American periodical magazine, conducted a newspaper, and wrote popular pamphlets on topics of public interest.

Pennsylvania seems to have been the chosen home of 1750. the Germans. In the autumn of one year came twenty ships to Philadelphia, with twelve thousand German emigrants on board. The two following years brought each nearly as many. The Rev. Henry M. Muhlenburg, whose influence was exerted for fifty years in laying the foundation of the Lutheran church in America, had already com1742. menced his labors. The Swedish churches on the Delaware

sympathized in doctrine with the Lutheran, but in time the former, more inclined to adopt the English language, united with the Episcopal church.