WILLIAM, founder of the state of Pennsylvania, and the most accomplished Englishman that ever joined the Society of Friends or Quakers, was a native of London, born October 13, 1644. He was the eldest son of a brave naval officer, one of the sea-captains of the Commonwealth, who, after the Restoration, rose to the rank of admiral, was knighted by Charles II., and appointed a commissioner of the navy. In the flag-ship of the Duke of York, Admiral Penn held the post of "Great Captain Commander," and was with his royal highness in the decisive victory over the Dutch off Harwich in 1665. An intimacy was thus formed between the prince and the admiral which had an important influence on the fortunes and character of the admiral's son, the Quaker preacher and legislator. In his fifteenth year William Penn was entered a gentleman commoner of Christ Church, Oxford. Polemical controversy and religious fervour, under various forms, then agitated the country; the university partook of the excitement, and Penn joined the serious or puritanical class of students who waged war against the surplice and high church ceremonial patronized by the court. He attended the preaching of a Quaker named Thomas Loe, neglected the college rules and discipline, and was fined; he became still more contumacious, and was expelled. Admiral Penn, a worldly, ambitious man, who looked forward to a peerage, was inexpressibly chagrined and mortified by this strange conduct on the part of his son and heir. He adopted, however, a mild and judicious mode of treatment; he sent the young Nonconformist abroad in company with some friends, to make the tour of France and Italy. The experiment was completely successful. Withdrawn from the Oxford influences, William Penn became the fine gentleman and man of the world. He remained abroad two years, and on his return to England, was introduced to the court, where his polished manners and handsome appearance soon rendered him a favourite. In order to fit him for public life, his father entered him as a student of Lincoln's Inn, and employed him also on his own private affairs. In June 1665 the plague broke out in London. That awful visitation, which carried terror to every heart and struck down thousands in the capital, revived all William Penn's serious and self-abasing impressions. He abandoned the licentious court, left off visiting the gay circles that swarmed around "the merry monarch, scandalous and poor," and, shutting himself up, took to the study of controversial and practical divinity. His father saw that it was again time to interfere. He had property in Ireland, a valuable barony in the county of Cork, which had been granted by the king in exchange for an estate bestowed on the admiral by Cromwell. The new grant was disputed by local claimants, lawsuits were instituted, and negotiations were necessary to settle the matter. William Penn had already shown his aptitude for business, and his father despatched him to Ireland, recommending him in an especial manner, by introductory letters, to the care of the Duke of Ormond, then viceroy of Ireland. At the court at Dublin Penn was a welcome visitor; and an insurrection breaking out at this time among the military at Carrickfergus, he served for a short period as a volunteer. In his capacity of soldier Penn displayed so much coolness and bravery that he was offered the command of a company. For a moment visions of military glory seem to have dazzled the future apostle of peace; but his father, not dreaming of another relapse to the Quaker rule, and sensible of the value of the services rendered to his family by his son's management of the Irish estate, opposed himself to this intended military destination. A crisis was at hand. William Penn happened to visit Cork; Thomas Loe was there on a Quaker mission; and curiosity led Penn one day to attend the preaching of his former Oxford acquaintance. The circumstance was decisive. All his former enthusiasm came back upon him with augmented force; he joined the hated and despised sect; and shortly afterwards was, with the rest of the congregation, sent to prison on the usual charge of riot and tumultuous assembling. His friends at the viceregal court procured his release, and the admiral sent for him home. The meeting must have been a painful one on both sides. To the rage and expositations of his father the neophyte opposed calm answers and subtle arguments. He got a short time to deliberate—retired, prayed, and was immovable in his resolution to adhere to the new doctrines. His father turned him out of doors! The die was now cast; Penn was elevated to a sort of martyrdom, and he seems to have exulted in his emancipation from all worldly compromise and restraint. He set himself vigorously to prosecute what he conceived to be his Divine mission. His father, after a few months' absence, permitted him to return home, but would not see him; and we may conceive the astonishment and disgust with which the courtly admiral read the title-page of his son's first exposition or defence of Quakerism—a work thus set forth as a flag of defiance to all gainsayers:
"Truth Exalted, in a short but sure Testimony against all those Faiths and Worships that have been formed and followed in the darkness of Apostasy; and for that Glorious Light which is now risen and shines forth in the life and doctrine of the despised Quakers, as the alone good old way of Life and Salvation. Presented to Princes, Priests, and People, that they may repent, believe, and obey. By WILLIAM PENN, from his own private constrains in a holy attempt to triumph in Egypt's glory—not fearing the King's wrath, having behind the Majesty of Him who is Invisible."
This work appeared in 1668, in William Penn's twenty-fourth year. It is a crude, fanatical, acrimonious production, directed against all sects except that of the Quakers, and against all those "idolatrous, superstitious, carnal, proud, wanton, unclean, mocking, and persecuting princes, priests, and people" who should "go on to rebel against the reproofs and instructions of this holy light." Another work published by Penn the same year, entitled The Sandy Foundation Shaken, is less wildly vehement and more argumentative. It attracted a good deal of attention, and replies to it, he says, were thundered forth in books and from the pulpit. This notoriety led to a consummation very common in those persecuting times—a false charge of sedition was trumped up against Penn, and he was committed to the Tower. He was confined for eight months, the patient victim of intolerance; and he occupied himself by writing a more elaborate exposition of his doctrines and belief, which he entitled No Cross no Crown. This is the best of his theological treatises, and was the most popular. He enforces with great earnestness and ability (quoting largely from Scripture) the leading Quaker tenet, that to do well with constancy and bear ill with fortitude is the only way to attain lasting happiness; and he adds a series of "testimonies" drawn from the lives and writings of eminent men, ancient and modern. These selections evince considerable reading and research, and in subsequent editions he enlarged the number. It is worthy of remark, that though he praises the wit and morality of Cowley, he nowhere alludes to his great contemporary Milton, who was not only conspicuous for his advocacy of religious freedom, but was even suspected of a leaning towards Quakerism. Some doctrines or opinions of the Quakers Milton undoubtedly held; but his bold speculations and majestic genius were both above the range of the ordinary sectaries of his day. If known at all to men like Penn, he must have been regarded rather with fear and wonder than with confidence or admiration. The blind poet and patriot held aloof from all sects and "dwelt apart;" but in one instance at least tidings of Penn must have reached Milton in his small house in the Artillery Walk, and drawn from him, and from his friends Andrew Marvell and Cyriack Skinner expressions of warm sympathy and hearty approbation. The Conventicle Act prohibiting dissenters' meetings was renewed in the spring of 1670. William Penn was one day found addressing a crowd in the street, and, along with another Quaker named Mead, was taken up and committed to Newgate. They were tried at the next Old Bailey sessions before the mayor, recorder, aldermen, and sheriffs, and the trial was marked by all the coarse and brutal insolence which unrestrained power generates in vulgar minds. Penn, however, vindicated the principles of English freedom and the rights of conscience with admirable intrepidity and talent; the indictment was proved to be wrong both in its statements of law and of fact; and the whole proceedings were so glaringly and monstrously unjust, that the jury refused to return any severer verdict than that of "Guilty of speaking in Gracechurch Street." Again and again were they turned back and browbeat by the bench; they were kept two days and two nights without food, fire, or water, but the stout English spirit was strong within them, and it was found impossible to extort a verdict agreeable to the court. Their last decision was "Not guilty," and for this they were fined forty marks each, with imprisonment in Newgate until the fine should be paid. Penn and Mead were also fined for contempt of court. All of them went to Newgate. The jurors appealed to the Court of Common Pleas against the mayor and recorder; the appeal was sustained; and Penn had thus the triumph of overcoming his oppressors, and establishing the principle, that it is the right and the special function of juries to judge of the value of evidence, independent of any direction or attempted coercion of the court. Penn followed up his victory by the publication of a full report of the case, The People's Ancient and Just Liberties asserted, &c., accompanying the report with some forcible and pungent remarks. Altogether this trial and publication—the firmness of the twelve London citizens, and the impartial award of the Court of Common Pleas, for all which we stand indebted to Penn—form a great landmark in the progress of our popular and constitutional liberties.
Admiral Penn was now dying. The courage and ability of his son gratified the parental pride and affection, and a complete reconciliation took place. "Son William," said the admiral, "if you and your friends keep to your plain way of preaching, and also keep to your plain way of living, you will make an end of priests!" To accomplish any approach to such a sweeping result, persecution, however, would have been necessary. When the Quakers were permitted to meet unmolested, and to speak, preach, and dress after their own peculiar fashion, their importance was gone, and their exclusive self-denying doctrines were not likely ever to become general.
During the next ten years, from 1670 to 1680, Penn continued to write, preach, and hold public disputations in defence of Quakerism. He was six months in Newgate (in 1671), convicted of frequenting an "unlawful assembly;" and in those six months he wrote and published four treatises, one of which, The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience, is a good comprehensive statement of a great principle then little understood. He travelled in Holland and Germany, interceded with foreign states in favour of the victims of persecution, and in 1676 became one of the proprietors of West Jersey in America, and was instrumental in colonizing that province by the English. At home he was associated with Algernon Sidney in endeavouring to obtain some mitigation of the severity against dissenters; and before the infamous Popish plot of Titus Oates had driven the nation into a paroxysm of insane fury and intolerance, he was permitted to address the House of Commons in behalf of those persons who were suffering penalties for conscience sake. There was, however, little prospect of emancipation in England, and Penn applied himself to found a religious democracy in the New World. The government stood indebted to the family of Sir William Penn in a sum of about £15,000; the claim was just and undisputed; but the exchequer of Charles II. was rarely in a condition to meet such a demand. In lieu of a money settlement, Penn solicited, and after some delay obtained, by letters patent from the Crown, a grant of land on the River Delaware, a vast province that had belonged to the Dutch, 360 miles in length by 160 in width. It had been called New Netherlands, but as the territory was mountainous, he proposed to name it New Wales. A Welsh secretary of state, Blathwayte, objected to this appropriation; and Penn substituted Sylvania, in reference to the great forests which covered the land. King Charles, in honour of his late friend the admiral, suggested the prefix of Penn; and thus the new province bore, in the royal charter, the liquid and euphonious name of Pennsylvania. "God hath given it me in the face of the world," said Penn in the fulness of his heart; "He will bless and make it the seed of a nation;" a prophecy which even one century, a fragment in the history of a people, saw fulfilled.
In framing a constitution for his new colony, Penn was assisted by Algernon Sidney. That fearless politician, whose tendencies were all towards republicanism, brought ample knowledge of ancient and modern governments to the task. Penn, less enlightened, but perhaps more practical, knew and felt deeply the value of religious liberty. That sheet-anchor he never would forego, and there were no traditional associations to bind the lawgivers. Two still greater men of that age, Milton and Locke, drew up forms of government. Locke's scheme was tried at Carolina, and proved a failure. Milton's ideal republic was an intellectual aristocracy that never could have been realized with Englishmen. But Penn and Sidney made their scheme of Christian democracy essentially popular in its character, with a council and assembly elected by universal suffrage, and with ample scope for the future development and improvement of the colony. (The progress of Pennsylvania, under this enlightened system of local government, will be found described under PENNSYLVANIA.) Trading companies were soon organized; and emigration proceeded from London, Bristol, and Liverpool. Penn himself sailed for his new domain in the autumn of 1682. His voyage in the ship Welcome, his enthusiastic reception, his laying out the city of Philadelphia—that city in which, as springing from the seed sown by Penn, the great declaration of American independence was discussed and adopted,—and his solemn conference with the Indian chiefs and warriors, are proud and interesting materials of history. Who can ever forget the memorable signing of the Great Treaty, the only treaty upon record, according to Voltaire, that was never sworn to and never broken? Who does not picture in imagination that scene on the banks of the Delaware, under the magnificent old elm-tree, at which the Indian king, attended by his sachems and younger warriors, and the English governor, accompanied by his pilgrim-followers, interchanged pledges of amity and brotherhood,—invoking the Great Spirit, the common Father of all, to bless and ratify that scroll which was to unite for ever the Christian and the red man, the wild children of the Six Nations with the intrepid adventurers from the Old World; who were to carry civilization and commerce, equity, mercy, and peace, into the far wildernesses of the West? The annals of conquest and diplomacy, in the moment of supreme triumph, or in halls of state, furnish no parallel in picturesque or moral beauty to this simple conference on the American plain under the open canopy of heaven.
Penn landed in England on the 12th of June 1684. On the 6th of February following, Charles II. died; and Penn lost no time in waiting on the new king, and representing to him the sufferings of his Quaker brethren, imprisoned for refusing to take the oaths and attend the established church. James found that he could at once relieve the Quakers and those of his own church, the Roman Catholics; and orders were issued by which about thirteen hundred Quakers, and a still greater number of Catholics, some of whom had been confined for years, were set at liberty. Penn removed to Kensington to be near the court; he was almost daily at Whitehall closeted with the king; and such was the extent of his supposed influence, that if he had been disposed, he says, to "make a market of the fears and jealousies of the people," when James came to the throne, he could have put £20,000 into his purse, and £100,000 into his province of Pennsylvania. He declined every offer of reward or gratuity from those he was able to serve; the sordid vice of avarice was never charged against him. He experienced, however, the usual fate of courtiers, in being alternately envied and hated, applauded and traduced. His contemporaries said he was a Papist, holding a correspondence with the Jesuits at Rome. That amiable and tolerant divine Tillotson for a moment gave credence to the popular clamour, but was disabused of the impression by the solemn and explicit denial of Penn, who declared that he did not know one Jesuit or priest of the Romish communion. To another friend, William Popple, secretary to the Plantation Board, Penn made a fuller communication on the subject. He visited Whitehall, he said, because he had continual business there in making solicitations for his friends. His own affairs also were unsettled; and he required royal authority to restrain encroachments on his distant property. "To this," he continues, "let me add the relation my father had to this king's service, his particular favour in getting me released out of the Tower of London in 1669, my father's humble request to him on his deathbed to protect me from the inconveniences and troubles my persuasion might expose me to, and his friendly promise to do it, and exact performance of it, from the moment I addressed myself to him: I say, when all this is considered, anybody that has the least pretence to good-nature, gratitude, or generosity, must needs know how to interpret my access to the king." That access, however, was so familiar and uninterrupted during the whole of the king's unpopular reign, that we need not wonder at its exposing Penn to obloquy and suspicion. As in the classic fable, all the footsteps pointed to the royal cave; but there were few traces of mercy or favour issuing from it. Penn had witnessed the horrors of the Bloody Assizes for which Jeffreys was rewarded by his sovereign; he was present at the burning of Elizabeth Gaunt and the execution of Henry Cornish; and he saw daily the oppressions and confiscations exercised towards the Puritans and Non-conformists, with the insane efforts of James to advance and re-establish Popery. He was in several instances employed as arbiter and negotiator. All these things, it might be imagined, would have disgusted Penn with the court, and driven him, as they did Locke and Burnet, to Holland and the Prince of Orange. But he continued a courtier and friend of King James to the last. His conduct, no doubt proceeded, like most actions in life, from mixed feelings or motives. His vanity was gratified by the royal attentions he received, and by the crowd of suitors that thronged his doors at Kensington. Such distinction was a pleasing novelty to one who had felt persecution, and been thrust into Newgate and the Tower; it was a public recognition of his services as a pacifier and patriot. There was also attachment to the king as his guardian and benefactor; and, above all, there was his conscientious desire and study to "allay heats and moderate animosities." If he struck off from the court, all hope of promoting religious toleration or benefiting his oppressed brethren was at an end; he was a breakwater between the royal vengeance and the non-complying Protestants.
The latest and most brilliant of English historians, Lord Macaulay, has looked with disfavour amounting to aversion on these courtly compliances of the Quaker negotiator. He has even charged him with direct complicity in some of the most questionable transactions of the period, and with having thereby compromised his character as a man of honour and humanity, and as a consistent supporter of religious liberty. It is evident that Penn did not know James as well as Lord Macaulay, or Lord Macaulay's readers. But the worst of the historian's accusations seem to rest on imperfect evidence. They are derived from meagre reports of personal conferences, doubtful letters, and obscure despatches, which, if full information could be obtained, might be susceptible of a totally different interpretation.
The most prominent of Lord Macaulay's charges is, that Penn was a pardon-broker or extortion-agent, a character by no means uncommon in that age, when the sale of par- dons was a regular trade. After the suppression of the Monmouth rebellion, some young girls of Taunton who had worked colours, and presented them to the unfortunate duke, were excepted from the general amnesty, and thrown into prison, in order that their relatives might purchase for them separate pardons. The money to be thus extorted was granted to the queen's maids of honour; and William Penn, according to the historian, was appointed an agent to the maids of honour, and submitted to receive instructions to make the most advantageous composition he could in their behalf. Had his name appeared on the other side as intercessor for the poor girls (who had only acted under the orders of their schoolmistress), the incident would have been in keeping with his general character; but the discredit of undertaking such a commission to gratify the rapacity of the court is foreign to all we know previously of the life of William Penn. The member for Bridgewater, Sir Francis Warre, was at first requested to exact the ransom. He excused himself; and then the Earl of Sunderland, secretary of state, wrote a letter which begins—"Mr Penne, Her Majesty's maids of honour having acquainted me that they design you and Mr Wadden in making a composition with the relations of the maids of Taunton," &c. The question arises, was the party so addressed William Penn? The slight difference in the spelling of the name Penne or Penn is a point of no consequence, for at that time, as Lord Macaulay has remarked, a proper name was thought to be well spelt if the sound were preserved. But it is of importance to ascertain whether there was not some other individual of the name to whose character, position, and circumstances, the language of Sunderland would apply. Now, it is proved that there existed at this time a certain George Penne, engaged, as the registers of the Privy Council show, as a pardon-broker at Taunton. He had been paid a sum of £65 for the ransom of Azariah Pinney, one of the persons compromised with Monmouth. The character of this man, the spelling of his name, and the circumstance of his trafficking in pardons at Taunton, all point him out as a fit agent for the maids of honour, and warrant the conclusion that he was the person addressed by Sunderland. The minister apparently had no doubt of the willingness of his intended agent to accept the scandalous commission. The maids of honour, he says, "design you and Mr Wadden." Is it probable that the offer, rejected by Sir Francis Warre, would have been made in such terms to William Penn, a man high at court, and the personal friend of Sunderland and the king? But if even the insulting offer were made to William Penn, there is literally no proof that he accepted it. According to Oldmixon (a bad authority, it is true, but his word may be taken on an indifferent matter when there is nothing to controvert his statement), the composition with the Taunton maids was ultimately arranged by another pardon-broker, a lawyer named Brent, who was assisted by a local agent at Bridgewater. The name of William Penn, therefore, may, we think, be considered as standing free from this degrading association. The charge rests on what we believe to be a wrong inference from a single letter in the State-Paper Office, and it is one which only the clearest and most indubitable evidence could render credible.
In another case cited by Lord Macaulay, Penn, we admit, appears in a humiliating position. When the churchmen at last abandoned the doctrine of passive obedience, and refused to acquiesce in the arbitrary edicts of James, the weak and bigoted monarch endeavoured to gain over some of the more conspicuous of the dissenters. Amongst these was William Kiffin, a wealthy London merchant, and a leader among the Baptists. Kiffin had lost two grandsons, popular young men, who had joined Monmouth's rebellion, and suffered death under circumstances that excited the public compassion, and evinced the hard and unrelenting character of the king. In consequence of this severity, it was doubtful whether Kiffin would accept the offer of a city magistracy held out to him by the court. "I used all the means I could," says the old man, "to be excused, both by some lords near the king, and also by Sir Nicholas Butler and Mr Penn, but it was all in vain. I was told that they knew I had an interest that might serve the king, and although they knew my sufferings were great in cutting off my two grandchildren and losing their estates, yet it should be made up to me, both in their estates and also in what honour or advantage I could reasonably desire for myself. But I thank the Lord these proffers were no snares to me."
(Kiffin's Memoirs.) It is painful to find William Penn engaged in such a mission, and connected, as Lord Macaulay remarks, with "the heartless and venal sycophants of Whitehall." But we know not how far he was implicated in the work of seduction. The language of Kiffin is general and obscure, and the proffers to which he refers are likely to have proceeded from the "lords near the king." Penn individually may have been passive in the transaction, though led by his attachment to the king, or urged by the royal entreaties, to confer with Kiffin. The matter is to be regretted; but it is one that implies a want of feeling, not a want of principle.
There is still another case of Penn's mediation which has exposed him to censure. This is the case of Dr Hough, president of Magdalen College, Oxford, afterwards Bishop Hough, "loved and esteemed by all the nation," as Pope has written. Hough, supported by the fellows of his college, would not retire from his presidency at the dictation of the king, to make way for the infamous Parker, Bishop of Oxford. Such compliance would be a violation of their statutes and their oaths. But anxious to conciliate James, the fellows engaged the services of Penn as intercessor on their behalf. "He exhorted the fellows," says Lord Macaulay, "not to rely on the goodness of their cause, but to submit, or at least to temporize." The authority for this statement is a note addressed during the heat of the controversy to Bailey, one of the fellows of Magdalen. The note was without signature, and was not in Penn's handwriting; but Bailey believed it to proceed from him, and he replied to it in a letter addressed to Penn. Both letter and answer were printed, and afterwards, during Penn's life, were frequently reprinted, without calling forth any public contradiction from him. Hence Lord Macaulay concludes that the anonymous epistle containing such discreditable counsel was really the production of Penn. To this it is replied that Penn did deny the letter. A contemporary account of the transaction is extant among the papers of Magdalen College, and on the margin of the anonymous letter is written by Hunt, one of the fellows engaged in the conference, the distinct declaration,—"This letter Mr Penn disowned." How he disowned it, whether verbally or by letter, does not appear; but the indorsement made by Hunt seems an authentic contradiction. Having satisfied the parties most nearly interested, Penn might be unwilling for various reasons to resort to a public disavowal. He had completely failed as a mediator, and the king, in his contest with the college, had rendered himself at once odious and contemptible. Silence, therefore, was the euthanasia to be desired.
The conference with the fellows was afterwards resumed at Windsor. On this occasion Penn is charged by
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1 Sir James Mackintosh first inferred that Sunderland's letter was addressed to William Penn. He was ignorant of the existence of George Penn. (For the full discussion of this and other charges against the Quaker legislator, see the Life of William Penn, by Mr Hepworth Dixon, new edit., 1856; and Lord Macaulay's History of England, edition of 1858.) Lord Macaulay with having "used a bishopric as a bait to tempt a divine to perjury." The divine was Dr Hough, who, in a letter to a friend, gave the only account we possess of the interview. "I thank God," says Hough, "that he (Penn) did not offer any proposal by way of accommodation; only once, upon the mention of the Bishop of Oxford's indisposition, he said, smiling, 'If the Bishop of Oxford die, Dr Hough may be made bishop.' What think you of that, gentlemen?" And Hough adds, "When I heard him talk at this rate, I concluded he was either off his guard, or had a mind to droll upon us." The drollery was certainly ill-timed and open to misconstruction; but we cannot think that it affords any good basis for a serious accusation. Penn we believe to have been sick of the conference. He knew how utterly fruitless the whole would be; his own views were directed towards a larger measure of toleration; and, tired of the contest, he was glad to escape for a moment from unavailing argument to the shelter of even a poor jest. He had better been absent from both conferences; but the sum of his errors does not amount to criminality. He was credulous and deluded as to the king's intentions; he lived in bad times; and, considering political questions as vastly subordinate to his religious views, he was willing, in order, as he conceived, to promote the latter, and preserve peace, to concede points which his friends Sidney and Locke would have strenuously resisted or unhesitatingly condemned.
In the midst of these difficulties and contentions, Penn issued another theological treatise—Good advice to the Church of England, the Roman Catholic, and Protestant Dissenters. The work was an earnest pleading for toleration to all sects, and for the repeal of the Test Act; but it was little regarded. The nation had then entered on that great contest which resulted in the abdication and flight of the king. Penn saw the inevitable tendency of James's measures, and counselled him against the headlong defiant course which lost him his throne, but his efforts had only the effect of increasing the popular suspicion against himself. The infatuated monarch had scarcely crossed the Channel ere Penn was summoned before the lords of council, and obliged to give security, in a sum of L6000, for his appearance on the first day of next term. When that day arrived there was no charge and no accuser. But in May 1690 Penn was arrested on the grave accusation of holding a treasonable correspondence with the deposed king. James had written to Penn soliciting his assistance and renewing his professions of regard, and the letter, along with others, had been intercepted. Penn's defence was simple and direct. He could not prevent the royal exile from writing to him: he felt towards James a sincere friendship, but he had never thought of restoring him to the throne; and he had not been able to agree with him on state affairs. The new sovereign, William III., would at once have set him at liberty without imposing any conditions, but in deference to some members of council, Penn was required to give bail. Next year a similar charge was preferred against him by an infamous informer named Fuller (afterwards branded by the House of Commons as a cheat, a rogue, and false accuser), and Penn withdrew from public notice. His enemies were numerous and strong; they darkened the very air against him, he said. He retired to his seat in the country (whither he does not seem to have been pursued), and continued there for more than two years. He sojourned his forced retirement by literary labour, and produced a series of Reflections and Maxims, embodying the experiences of his busy life, and an Essay towards the Present and Future Peace of Europe, in which he argued for a great European congress to settle international differences without an appeal to arms. At length, towards the close of 1692, Penn, on an urgent application to the Crown, obtained a public hearing in council, and was fully acquitted of all the charges and suspicions that had so long hung over him. A brighter day seemed at length to be at hand.
A new series of troubles, however, sprung up regarding his American colony—that "Holy Experiment" which lay so near his heart. The success of the French in the war then raging rendered it necessary to strengthen the frontiers, and form one imperial government out of the northern colonies. The separate charter of Pennsylvania would require to be abolished in order to secure military co-operation, and in such a step, however liberally the government might be disposed to act in acquiring the province, the governor saw the destruction of all his long-cherished hopes and plans. The calamity was averted by Penn relinquishing in part his pacific Quaker principles, and agreeing to furnish a contingent of eighty men, with the necessary equipments, during the continuance of the war. The peace of Ryswick afterwards removed this difficulty, and no military organization was attempted. Discontent, however, began to spread in Pennsylvania, and Penn was resolved to proceed once more to his colony. In September 1699 he embarked for America, and arriving in safety at Pennsylvania, continued to reside there for a period of three years. His presence had the effect of appeasing the animosities of rival factions. He renewed and extended his friendly treaties with the natives, and, in conjunction with his council and assembly, arranged another governmental code or charter for the province. In all these transactions—difficult and delicate as many of them, with a mixed body of settlers, must have proved—the justice, benevolence, and generosity of Penn are strikingly apparent. His exertions in the New World were, however, threatened with total destruction at home. A strong effort was made to convert the private into Crown colonies. A Bill of Annexation had been drawn up and brought into the House of Lords; and Penn hastened back to England to vindicate his rights. He was again successful; but other calamities awaited the governor of Pennsylvania. His son, whom he had sent out as his representative to the colony, disgraced his birth, and alienated the affections of the people by flagrant misconduct; and the executors of a crafty steward, whom he had long trusted, preferred against him a claim amounting to L14,000, at the same time threatening to seize and sell the province if the sum were not immediately paid. The accounts were complicated; a Chancery suit followed; and Penn, acting under legal advice, sought shelter from successful knavery in the Fleet Prison. In this extremity of his fortunes he contemplated the sale of Pennsylvania to the Crown. For the soil and government of the province he asked a sum of L20,000, with a guarantee that it should remain a separate and distinct colony, and enjoy the free institutions established by its founder. A considerable portion of the settlers had grown lukewarm or hostile to their old benefactor, animated by that grasping and selfish spirit too often the concomitant of young colonies struggling for wealth and power. But Penn remembered the principles on which he had founded his Christian democracy, and still desired to legislate for future generations. The imperial government declined his offer, restricted by the conditions to which he adhered; and Penn was able by the help of friends, to effect a settlement with his rapacious creditors. He was again at liberty, and he retired to a country seat which he had taken in Berkshire. His long confinement in the close atmosphere of the Old Bailey, his griefs, disappointments, and losses, and the pressure of more than threescore years, had seriously impaired his health and vigour. He still corresponded on the affairs of his colony, his latest efforts being directed towards the relief of the poor Negroes. But in 1712 he sustained several shocks of paralysis, and ere the year closed the once active and fertile mind of William Penn was laid in ruins. He lingered Pennant, Thomas, an eminent naturalist, was born of an old Welsh family at Downing in Flintshire on the 14th June 1726. He acquired the rudiments of his education at Wrexham, and subsequently studied at the university of Oxford. His taste for natural history was first excited by the perusal of Willughby's Ornithology; and he had no sooner left Oxford than he set out on an excursion into Cornwall in pursuit of his favourite science. He became a contributor to the Philosophical Transactions as early as 1750; and in 1756 was chosen a member of the Royal Society of Upsal on the recommendation of Linnæus. His reputation as a naturalist was established by his British Zoology, in one volume folio, in 1761, and subsequently extended to 2, 3, and 4 octavos. He visited the Continent while this work was in the press, and made the acquaintance of Buffon, Pallas, and Haller. He set out for Scotland on a scientific excursion in 1771, and published an amusing account of his tour in three volumes 4to, which passed through several editions. During the same year he published his Synopsis of Quadrupeds, afterwards enlarged into a History of Quadrupeds. His Welsh tour was published in 1778, and his journey from Chester to London in 1782, in one volume 4to. About the year 1784 appeared his Arctic Zoology, a work which, although chiefly a compilation, was very much esteemed. He also published a natural history of the parishes of Holywell and Downing, within the latter of which he had resided during more than fifty years. Not long before his death appeared his View of Hindustan, in two volumes 4to, two more volumes being brought out by his son after his death, entitled Outlines of the Globe. Pennant died at his seat at Downing in 1798, in the seventy-second year of his age.
Pennisston, a market-town of England, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, stands on the right bank of the Don, 17 miles S.S.W. of Wakefield, and 175 N.N.W. of London. It is well and regularly built; and contains a parish church, places of worship belonging to Independents, Methodists, and Quakers, a grammar school, and a free school for girls. There are here quarries of paving-stones, coal-pits, and woollen and cotton manufactories. A weekly market and five annual fairs are held at Penniston. Pop. of parish, 6302.
Pennsylvania is central in its position with respect to the original Thirteen States and their territories; New England at the N.E., and the southern states at the S., being equally distant. Later accessions of territory have thrown it eastward and northward of the geographical centre, though it still remains nearly central to the business and population generally. The limits of the state form a nearly perfect rectangular figure, lying between a line at 39. 43. N. Lat. at the S., and one at 42. 15. at the N. The eastern boundary is irregular, following the course of the Delaware River, and at the extreme points reaching to 74. 42. W. Long. The western boundary is a right line at 80. 46. W. Long. The adjacent states are,—New York on the N., New Jersey on the E., Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia on the S., with a part of Virginia and Ohio on the W. At the north-western corner some territory is added, giving a shore-line of 45 miles on Lake Erie; and at the S.E. the state of Delaware extends northward, along a crescent line of 25 miles, into the rectangle. The extreme length of the state is 310 miles, and its width 160 miles, to which last 15 miles are added at the point of contact with Lake Erie. The whole area is 44,400 square miles, or 28,416,000 acres.
The south-eastern part of the state is very little elevated above the sea; but proceeding northward and westward, it soon becomes rough, and finally mountainous, the central part of the state being particularly so. The elevated mass which this mountainous interior presents is cut through by several branches of the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers; yet the most accessible pass for the railroad to Erie is at 1900 feet above the sea, and that of the central railroad to Pittsburg is at 2260 feet. A tunnel here reduces the actual track of the railroad to 2161 feet. Westward of this mountainous centre the surface declines toward the Ohio River, and Lake Erie, remaining generally at about 1150 feet elevation, though deeply cut by the Ohio and its tributaries. The bed of the Ohio is at 650 feet above the sea at the point where it leaves the state, and the plain bordering Lake Erie is at nearly the same altitude. Notwithstanding the number of mountain ridges, and the general altitude of the interior and western portions, the surface aspect is usually smooth and well wooded, without the proportion of rocky and precipitous declivities usually found in such uplifted tracts.
The mountains of the state are a section of the great Appalachian chain, and consist of a large number of parallel ridges, which come into the state at the S., on a line from S.W. to N.E., but curve more eastward toward the N., forming crescent lines, and passing into New Jersey and southern New York. This mountainous belt is nearly 200 miles in width, and the ridges on the eastern side are generally more narrow and precipitous than those on the W. These last are the Alleghanies proper, and they are more massive, often with broad summits, and with large areas of arable surface. The ridges at the E. have a share of igneous and altered rocks, but those of the interior and the W. are all made up of rocks of the coal measures, or of rocks just below them. None of the mountains are granitic or volcanic, except some small portion of the South Mountain, the first ridge met from the east. This ridge is about 1000 feet above the sea; and the next inland, called the Blue Mountain or Blue Ridge, is about 1500 feet high,—the first named being interrupted in the interior, and the last named passing entirely through the state from New Jersey into Maryland at the south. West of this, in the coal region, is Broad Mountain; and a constant succession of less distinguished or less continuous ridges occupies the space westward, until, at the most elevated portion, the Bald Eagle, Alleghany, Chestnut, and Laurel ridges of mountains are met. These last named are often near 3000 feet above the sea, and their average is about 2500 feet. There are no single peaks of any note in the state, and the remarkable continuity of the ridges is everywhere characteristic.
The valleys are the complement of the peculiar ridge formation belonging to this chain of mountains, though not so decisively marked as those of Virginia in this respect. The whole arable portion of the interior of the state lies in the succession of valleys corresponding with the ridges, and in the river valleys cutting through these ridges. The Susquehanna and Delaware cut through the entire belt of ridges; but their tributaries usually drain the valleys in a line at right angles to the two greater rivers. The Cumberland or Appalachian Valley is the principal one in the state, extending entirely through it eastward and southward of the Blue Ridge. The Wyoming Valley is the most important on the north branch of the Susquehanna; and on the west branch the Juniata and Sinnemahoning valleys are examples. West of the mountains the beds of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers constitute deep and continuous valleys, into which tributaries from the lateral valleys of the Alleghany ridges fall; the most important of which are in Fayette, Somerset, and Indiana counties.
Delaware River forms the eastern boundary of the state, and it is much like the Hudson in its breadth and depth of water for a considerable distance inland. Tide water extends 132 miles from the sea to Trenton, New Jersey; and the river is remarkable for its depth at and below Philadelphia, admitting ships of the largest class. For much of the wharf-line of that city it measures 45 feet in depth. The Delaware rises in New York among the Shawangunk Mountains, and it is navigable for boats for the whole distance after touching Pennsylvania, though partial interruption exists at the Delaware Water Gap, where it breaks through the Blue Ridge, and again where it passes over a ledge of primary rocks at Trenton, New Jersey. Its length is 300 miles. The Susquehanna drains the central portion of the state southward into Chesapeake Bay. This is a rapid river with a rocky bed, and navigable only for floats and lumber within the state, which are sent down it in great quantities at the spring floods. The main stream is 150 miles long below Northumberland. The north branch rises in New York, and has a tortuous course of 250 miles to the point of junction. The west branch rises beyond the Alleghany Mountains, and cuts through them in a very irregular course of 200 miles to Northumberland, the point of junction. The Ohio River drains all the western part of the state, except a small slope to Lake Erie; yet 50 miles only of the river so named lie within it. The Alleghany is its chief branch, rising in the northern county of Potter, and making a curve within the limits of New York, to return southward 150 miles to Pittsburg. It is navigable for steamboats throughout this distance for a part of the year. The Monongahela is the other great branch, rising in Virginia, and running northward, and navigable for steamboats 60 miles. Below their junction the Ohio is usually navigable for large boats, though sometimes failing in summer. The Lehigh and Schuylkill are branches of the Delaware from the west, and of note in the business and history of the state. Both have canals and lockage navigation, and send vast quantities of coal and iron to market. The Lehigh is 90 miles in length, and the Schuylkill 120 miles, passing through Philadelphia just below its entrance into the Delaware. The Juniata is a large branch of the Susquehanna from the west, running through a rich coal and iron region for 150 miles.
Lake Erie is the only lake bordering on or within the state. At this point, which is one-third its length from Buffalo, the lake is clear from ice early, and here is the very superior harbour of Presque Isle, or Erie.
The geological features of the state may be described as being made up of an area of primary rocks of the stratified class, with small veins of granite and intrusions of trap at intervals, covering the south-eastern counties below a line from Easton to Harrisburg and Gettysburg. All these lie at an angle of 30° to 60°, dipping S.E. Next is a belt of gneiss, mica-slate, and the older sandstones, in the like positions. Other altered rocks, with their unaltered associates, in various positions of folding and even of overturned plication and contortion, succeed, in proceeding inland; and following in the ascending series, are the white sandstone, the iron-bearing shales, the valley limestone, and then the slates, limestones, sandstones, and shales of the New York formations. Above these are the conglomerates, and upon these last the coal measures, which, like all below them, present the most extraordinary phenomena of folding, overlapping, and every form of wave-like disturbance. To this disturbance and its attendant alterations the production of the anthracite coal is due. Many faults and dislocations of shale exist here, and the entire body of the coal is deprived of its bitumen. Toward the interior a portion of the coal becomes semi-bituminous, and beyond the Alleghanies it is wholly bituminous. The coal measures cover the whole western portion of the state, sinking all the older geological formations far beneath the surface, the deepest point of the basin being near Pittsburg. The vast bituminous coal basin is little disturbed by geological uplifts, dipping inward and southward; the strata cropping out, however, at the northern line of the state. Toward Lake Erie the descent is rapid over the outcropping strata of the New York shales, the only rocks in this part of the state below the coal, 2000 feet of these being cut through in a descent of 1000 feet to the bed of the lake. The distortion and alteration of the eastern part of the great coal formation of Pennsylvania is the most remarkable geological feature of the state.
The minerals of the state are indicated by its geological character. Coal is first, and iron next, as its natural associate. There are no mines of the precious metals; but copper, zinc, and lead are found in small quantities in the east. Plumbago is also mined. Iron is more extensively made than in any other part of the Union, because of the proximity of rich fossil and hematite ores to the anthracite coal. The entire belt of hilly lands lying next the first high ridges is remarkably rich in all forms of the sedimentary oxides of iron, both the open surface and the lower strata of the primal shales yielding great quantities of these ores; and they are also abundant in the interior and western part of the state. Very valuable iron sandstones are also worked at Danville and in other parts of the interior. The production of iron for three years is here given, the anthracite iron being made in the anthracite coal region, and the charcoal and coke-iron mainly near Pittsburg:
| Anthracite | Charcoal and Coke | Total | |------------|------------------|-------| | Iron made in 1854 | 208,703 | 152,703 | 361,406 | | 1855 | 255,325 | 138,201 | 393,527 | | 1856 | 306,956 | 140,752 | 447,718 |
The production of coal is very great. The mines of the anthracite region are remarkable for the great size of the beds, their peculiar and often vertical position, and for the very great facilities they offer for cheap mining on the hillsides, the constant succession of folded strata often bringing thick beds of coal to the very tops of the hills. A picturesque feature of the anthracite region is the machinery for running coal down the hills to the level of rivers and railroads. In the bituminous coal region equal facility of access to the coal beds exists, and much of it is mined from horizontal strata, easily exposed, and opening directly into the river valleys. The quantity of coal mined for recent years is as follows:
| Anthracite Coal | Bituminous Coal | |-----------------|----------------| | Tons | Tons | | 1855 | 6,689,288 | 1,503,000 | | 1856 | 7,255,891 | 1,842,600 | | 1857 | 6,764,587 (estimated at) 2,000,000 |
In 1857, 34,000,000 bushels of bituminous coal were shipped to markets on the Ohio River below Pittsburg, or 1,360,000 tons. Valuable beds of cannel coal are worked near Pittsburg for the manufacture of oil, as well as for fuel. Large quantities of marble are produced in various parts of the state; and the recent limestone of the coal measures, with the blue limestone of the Appalachian valleys, are generally abundant, and largely used as fertilizers after burning. The marble used so much at Philadelphia is from the limestone basin of Montgomery county.
Salt springs are worked on the Monongahela and Beaver rivers. In 1850, 919,100 bushels of salt were made there. Nitrate of potash (saltpetre) has been found in large deposits. Mineral and medicinal springs exist in many parts, generally chalybeate, or but slightly sulphurous, of which the Bedford springs are the most celebrated as a resort. Valuable white sulphur springs exist in a few localities.
The climate of Pennsylvania is marked by the extremes of heat and humidity peculiar to all parts of the United States in that latitude. The yearly mean temperature is 45° on the northern border, and 52° on the southern; the isothermal line of 50° traversing the state somewhat south of its centre. The summer mean is 70° for the central portion, varying from 66° at the highest part of the northern border to 73° at the south. In winter the western part is relatively coldest, the mean for the three months being 30° at Pittsburgh, and 33° at Philadelphia. At Philadelphia the most extreme cold observed is 10° below zero, and the greatest heat in the shade 100°. The average of minimum observations for January is 8°, and of maximum temperature in July 93½°. At Pittsburgh the coldest point observed is 18° below zero, and the greatest heat 100°. The elevated portions of the interior are colder than the cities named by about 1° for 400 feet of altitude. The quantity of rain falling has an average for the year of 42 to 45 inches for the eastern part of the state, and of 36 inches for the part west of the mountains. In the three months of summer 12 inches fall east of the mountains, and 10 inches west of them. In winter the eastern part has 10 inches, and the western 7, more than half of which falls as snow. In the central and northern parts the snow remains on the ground throughout the winter; but at Philadelphia it rarely lies long. In extreme winters the Delaware is covered with ice. Navigation was closed for weeks in 1856 and 1857; but such instances occur only at remote intervals. The Ohio River is more frequently frozen, and navigation is usually suspended on it for the three winter months. Periods of severe drought are incident to the climate; and periods of excessive humidity also occur, the quantity of rain falling in one summer month sometimes reaching to 12 inches. The winds are generally from the west; but south-east and north-east winds produce great storms, particularly in the eastern part of the state. The climate is, on the whole, a favourable one to energy and health, being less severe than that of the northern states, and free from the unhealthy heats of the states at the south and along the Gulf of Mexico.
The soil is very uniformly fertile, except on the declivities of the mountain ridges. No considerable portion is sandy to excess, as is the case with soils nearer the Atlantic; and most of the arable surface overlies limestone, or is within easy reach of it. Lime is largely used as a fertilizer; and with it clover and wheat have been established and maintained as staple crops. The red clay of the Atlantic border occurs in small quantities in the south-eastern counties; but the soil is generally better, and made up of more diversified elements, than that of the states southward. In the north there are elevated tracts of a somewhat tenacious soil of clay and loam, best fitted for grazing purposes; a belt made up of the northern line of counties being generally of this character. The richest lands are on the many river alluvions, and on the bituminous coal measures in the western part of the state; the last being remarkably productive both in grain and forage crops, and consisting of a deep loam, into the composition of which lime largely enters, by abrasion of rocks at or near the surface. Guano is largely used as a fertilizer near Philadelphia, but not in the western part of the state. Narrow belts of barren magnesian soil exist on the serpentine rocks of the south-eastern counties.
The agriculture of the state is mainly devoted to grain-growing and grazing. Corn and tobacco are largely cultivated,—the second, however, is not cultivated as a leading field crop; while cotton is unknown, and hemp very little cultivated. By the census of 1850 there were 127,577 farms, embracing 8,628,619 acres of land, which quantities would be in 1858 probably 140,000 farms and 9,000,000 acres under cultivation, in consequence of the opening up of new lands. In 1850 the crop of wheat was 15,367,691 bushels; of rye, 4,805,160; of Indian corn, 19,835,214; of oats, 21,538,156; of peas and beans, 55,231; of Irish potatoes, 5,980,732; of buckwheat, 2,192,693; of barley, 165,584; of clover and grass seeds, 178,983; of flax-seed, 41,728 bushels, &c. The grazing products were 39,878,418 lb. of butter; 2,505,034 lb. of cheese; 4,481,570 lb. of wool; 1,872,970 tons of hay. Value of live stock, Ls.645,844; and of slaughtered animals, Ls.712,468. The production of tobacco was 912,651 lb.; of maple-sugar, 2,326,425 lb. The value of orchard fruits was given as Ls.150,706, and of market products Ls.143,842. For the year 1858 the increase upon these last sums is very great, raising the last named at least to twice the sum here given.
The manufactures of the state are extensive, particularly in iron and the textile fabrics of wool and cotton. The most recent official statistics are those of the census of 1850, and these are probably nearly correct for the interior of the state, though known to have been imperfectly taken in the great cities, and to be very much below the actual extent of all the manufactures of the state at that time. This census gives the following division of items:
| No. of Establishments | Capital | Capital employed | Production | |-----------------------|---------|------------------|------------| | Cotton manufacturers... | 292 | Ls.43,525 | 7,663 | Ls.1,108,805 | | Woolen manufacturers... | 380 | 628,045 | 5726 | Ls.1,108,722 | | Manufacture of pig-iron | 180 | 5,783,005 | 9294 | Ls.264,898 | | Manufacture of iron castings | 320 | 713,084 | 4783 | Ls.1,115,600 | | Manufacture of wrought-iron | 162 | 1,631,024 | 6598 | Ls.2,821,720 |
The total for the state of all classes embraced under the head of manufactures, mining, and the mechanic arts, is 21,605 establishments, Ls.19,682,000 of capital, 127,768 persons employed, and an annual product of Ls.32,301,000. By researches carefully made at Philadelphia at the close of 1857, it was ascertained that the manufacture of iron in all its forms for that city and its vicinity reached an aggregate value of Ls.3,000,000 for the year ending July 1, 1857; employing 12,000 workmen. The same investigation showed a production of Ls.5,000,000 in cotton, woollen, and silk textile fabrics for the same district, employing 20,000 male and female work-people. At Pittsburg alone there was produced in 1857 glass to the value of Ls.548,330. The leading manufactures other than these are paper, drugs and chemicals, gold-leaf and watches, silver ware and plate, boots and shoes, clothing and hats, plain and morocco leather, glass-ware, brass and brazier's and bolt copper, cabinet and house furnishing wares, soap and candles, carriages, and a large number of classes of useful and fancy goods. These manufactured goods are mainly sold at the south and west, including the West Indies, though many are sent to the northern states and Canada.
The commerce of the state is large and increasing, though several causes have recently concurred to cause foreign importations to come through the port of New York. It is estimated that about Ls.2,500,000 worth of package dry goods are so imported at New York and Boston for merchants in Philadelphia, and for distribution to the interior from this point. The tonnage for the port of Philadelphia for the year ending June 30, 1857, was—tons registered, 59,404; tons enrolled and licensed, 151,976; total, 211,380 tons. The tonnage of the river-port of Pittsburg was 51,061 tons; and of the lake-port of Erie, 10,378 tons. The coasting and coal trades employ much of the tonnage now entered at Philadelphia. A line of Liverpool packets of the first class exists; and an ocean steam line to Liverpool was in operation from 1852 to 1856.
The total value of imports at Philadelphia, where all the foreign commerce of the state is carried on, for the year ending July 1, 1857, was,—of free goods, L428,000; of goods paying duty, L3,290,850; total, L3,718,850. The principal articles were—
| Article | Quantity | Value | |--------------------------|----------------|---------| | Sugar | 58,137,504 lbs. | L651,350 | | Coffee | 18,823,714 | 371,410 | | Molasses | 3,137,911 gallons | 164,630 | | Salt | 1,101,557 bushels | 32,637 | | Sulphur, soda, and chloride of lime | 99,830 | | Copper, lead, brass, and tin | 34,685 | | China and porcelain | 101,947 | | | Manufactures of wool, and wool and cotton | 481,255 | | Manufactures of cotton | 585,378 | | | Manufactures of silk | 79,938 | | | Manufactures of linen | 234,002 | | | Iron, steel, and manufactures of do. | 302,314 | | Raw hides and skins | 116,532 | |
The total value of exports to foreign countries for the year ending July 1, 1857, was, for goods the produce of the United States, L1,451,050; and for goods of foreign origin, L35,400. The chief articles of export were—
| Article | Quantity | Value | |--------------------------|----------------|---------| | Flour and wheat | L629,250 | | | Indian corn and meal | 184,503 | | | Pork, lard, and bacon | 151,558 | | | Butter and cheese | 17,168 | | | Beef and tallow | 35,800 | | | Manufactures of iron | L52,473 | | | Manufactures of wood | 43,741 | | | Candles and soaps | 30,463 | | | Clover-seed | 26,754 | |
The principal trade of the state is not represented in its imports or exports, being with other states of the Union west and south. Dry goods (foreign and domestic), manufactures of iron and other metals, glass, manufactures of leather, chemicals and drugs, and the full supply of all goods, indeed, is taken to the south-western states, mainly from Philadelphia and Pittsburg. Large quantities are also sent northward and coastwise to all parts of the United States. Great quantities of lumber, coal, glass, and iron are carried down the Ohio River from Pittsburg. The lumber trade of the Alleghany River alone for 1857 reached the amount of L300,166 for lumber sold at Pittsburg, and L373,080 for that sent by way of the Ohio River to other states. The amount of lumber sent down the Susquehanna River for 1856 and 1857 was about 70,000,000 superficial feet, and its value L163,000 for each year.
Railroads were constructed as early as 1828 in the coal-mining districts; and they have maintained their prominence among transportation agencies, this state now having a greater aggregate number of miles than any other. At the close of 1857 there were 59 railroads in the state not less than 10 miles in length, and making up an aggregate length of 2500 miles. Their total cost was L27,000,000. The principal were,—Pennsylvania Central, Philadelphia to Pittsburg, 329 miles; Philadelphia and Reading, 98; Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western, 113; North Pennsylvania, Philadelphia to Bethlehem, 67½; Williamsport and Elmira, 78; Sunbury and Erie, 270 miles—now finished, 40; Lehigh Valley, 46; Catawissa, Williamsport, and Erie, 63½; Alleghany Valley, 176 miles—finished, 44; Northern Central, 138 miles—within the state, 96; Lebanon Valley, 53½. Of the great southern road to Baltimore 19 miles are within the state. The Philadelphia and Newton road, 28 miles, is a part of the great northern line. From Pittsburg there are several great roads leading westward, each about 40 miles in length within the state, as the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and Chicago; Pittsburg and Steubenville; and Pittsburg and Connellsville. Within the year ending with June 1858 the sale and transfer of all the state property in lines of internal transportation by canal and railroad has been effected. The Pennsylvania Central Railroad Company purchased the main line of public works, consisting, 1st, of two canals, one 181 miles in length, from Columbia to Hollidaysburg, and the other, 101 miles in length, from Johnstown to Pittsburg; 2d, of a double-track railroad, 81 miles in length, from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, and 37 miles of railway between Johnstown and Hollidaysburg. For these roads and canals the Central Railroad Company pays L1,500,000, which sum is added to the cost of that road as given above. The second sale by the state was to the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company, conveying to them the canals of the north and west branches of the Susquehanna River, four in number, and forming a connected line from the Juniata River to the New York State line along the north branch, and to Farrandsville on the west branch,—a total distance of 167 miles; and also the Delaware division of the state canals, from Bristol to Easton, 60 miles. These canals were sold for L700,000, both sales by act of the legislature. The remaining canals within the state are the property of private companies. The total length of canals in the state is 1293 miles, of which 921 miles are east of the mountains, and 372 miles west of the mountains. The canals belonging to private companies are as follows:—Schuylkill Navigation, Philadelphia to Port Carbon, 108 miles; Lehigh Navigation, Easton to Stoddartsville, 84; Union Canal, Reading to Middletown and Pinegrove, 99; Susquehanna and Tidewater, Columbia to Havre de Grace, 46; Delaware and Hudson Canal, Howsdale to Hudson River, 25 in the state; Erie Canal, Beaver to Erie, 136; Pennsylvania and Ohio,—portion within the state, 10; Monongahela Navigation, along Monongahela River, 84; Bald Eagle Navigation, at Bellefonte, 25; and Conemaugh and Youghiogheny Navigation, 36. The business of these railroads and canals in the coal region is immense. For 1856 the Schuylkill Canal transported 1,275,988 tons of coal, and the Reading Railroad 1,709,692 tons. The Lehigh Canal transported, in 1856, 1,186,230 tons of coal.
The government of Pennsylvania has the simple republican form common to all the States. The legislature consists of a House of Representatives of 100 members, elected annually, and a Senate of 33 members, elected for a term of three years. Both classes are now elected by districts having sometimes two or three representatives each, but after 1864 the constitution requires their election by single districts. The powers of the legislature are liberally construed; it may enact any laws not prohibited by the constitution. In 1776 the colony made many changes in its charter, giving it much of the form of a state constitution; but the first complete state constitution was prepared and adopted by a general convention called for that purpose in 1790. In 1828 the constitution was amended by general convention, and the amendments were adopted by popular vote. In 1850 it was again amended to make the judiciary elective; and in 1857 it was still further amended by restricting the power of the legislature to contract debts beyond the sum of L150,000, to confer power to repeal corporate enactments, and to require elections to the legislature by single districts. The governor is elected for three years, and has the usual powers and restrictions. He has now no power to appoint judges or magistrates of any grade, except to fill vacancies until the time of the stated election. The judiciary consists of five judges of the Supreme Court, elected for fifteen years; of one president and two associate judges for each Court of Common Pleas, elected for terms of five years each; and of local and municipal magistrates. The Supreme Court and Court of Common Pleas possess many of the powers of courts of Chancery, and the judges of Common Pleas also hold quarter sessions of the peace, and an orphans' and probate court.
The revenues of the state are derived from various forms of taxation. The townships levy taxes for the support of schools, and for the construction of roads. The counties levy, collect, and disburse the taxes necessary to support the administration of justice in matters confined to themselves. The state levies a direct tax of three mills on a dollar upon all property at the value fixed by assessments; but a still larger sum of its revenues is obtained from special taxes. The following sums were raised in 1857:
| Description | Amount | |--------------------------------------|----------| | General tax | L323,890 | | Canal and railroad tolls | 272,605 | | Tax on bank dividends and corporations| 115,917 | | Tax on tonnage and passengers | 48,217 | | Tax on licenses | 20,883 | | Various special taxes | 141,365 | | **Total revenues** | **L977,197** |
The expenditures of the state in 1857 were L1,126,516. The public debt at the close of 1857 was L8,308,695; from which sum the sale of the public works in effect takes L2,200,000, leaving the actual debt L6,108,695. By the triennial assessments the valuation of all property in the state, real and personal, was as follows:
| Year | Valuation | |------|-----------| | 1851 | L102,657,506 | | 1854 | 110,777,315 | | 1857 | 118,493,800 |
The religion of the population is chiefly Protestant, though many Catholic churches exist. With the exception of a preponderance of Friends, or Quakers, in Philadelphia and the eastern part of the state, there is nothing to distinguish the religious character of the population as a whole. The principal sects are Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Baptists.
The educational system of the state was re-organized and greatly invigorated by the legislature in 1838, which gave the counties power to establish free schools; and again in 1854, when all were required to support free schools. An energetic and well-directed system of teaching and supervision for these free schools is now fully established, with an efficient county and state superintendence. A sum of L40,000 annually is distributed by the state for the support of these schools, and a larger sum is raised by local tax. The tax levied for school purposes in the year ending June 1, 1857, was L323,037; and for buildings, L68,680. Of this there was—
| Description | Amount | |--------------------------------------|----------| | Collected and expended within the year| L319,733 | | Received from the state | 34,317 | | Cost of instruction | L236,949 | | Cost of fuel, &c. | 35,952 | | Cost of school-houses, &c. | 92,559 | | **Total cost, 1856-7** | **L355,460** |
The number of children taught for the same year was 541,247, and the number of teachers 12,475. In all this statement the county of Philadelphia is not included. A system of academies was established previous to the adoption of the free school system, one in each county receiving an appropriation of money from the state; but the appropriations are not continued, and that class of institutions is not well sustained. There are ten flourishing colleges, seven theological schools, four medical colleges, and one law school in the state—all incorporated, and generally flourishing, though sustained by their own revenues and endowments alone. The university of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia has 12 professors, 129 students, and 1269 alumni. Jefferson college has 10 professors, 222 students, and 1492 alumni. The ten colleges have together 10 colleges, 73 professors, 886 students, 5191 alumni; 7 theological schools, 19 professors, 184 students; 4 medical colleges, 31 professors, 1182 students.
The district bordering on the Delaware River and Bay, which subsequently became the province of Pennsylvania, and its appendage of the three Lower Counties, received its first colony from Sweden. An extensive scheme of colonization for the New World was set on foot in Sweden and Finland nearly at the date of the earliest colonization of New England; and in 1627 a body of Swedes and Finns settled on the Delaware, going far northwards as the locality of Philadelphia. They made little progress, though a deserving people, and not particularly unfortunate, until visited in a hostile manner by the Dutch from New York in 1655; and submitting without a contest, they passed, with all other possessions of the Dutch, under British rule in 1664. In 1681 the whole district west of the Delaware was granted to William Penn; and in 1682 Penn founded Philadelphia, and planted his colony near it. Under this charter from Charles II. the three Lower Counties were retained under the same governor and proprietor until 1699, when the Lower Counties were granted a separate legislature, though retained under the same governor until the revolution in 1776. The colony planted by Penn was remarkably fortunate in its relations with the Indians. His justice and firmness, with the high character of the body of the colonists, who were all Friends, or Quakers, preserved a peace with them unbroken during the whole colonial period previous to the French war of 1755. Subsequently the original colonists, or Friends, were regarded with uniform kindness by the Indians; though Braddock's defeat and the Wyoming massacre attested the identity of the savage tribes of this colony with others of their race. In the contest of the colonies with the mother country, Pennsylvania bore an active but not an embittered part. The most prosperous of the colonies, and in a central position, it became the seat of the congresses held by the colonies both before and after the decision of the struggle. Franklin, Rush, and Robert Morris represent the moderate yet firm views of Pennsylvania at that time. Independence was proclaimed here; and the seat of the general government of the United States remained here until 1800. A large emigration from Germany settled in the counties near Philadelphia before and subsequent to the revolution, and these have retained their language and national characteristics much longer than like colonies of Germans elsewhere. The defeat of Braddock, and the revolutionary battles of Brandywine and Germantown, with the memorable hardships of Washington's winter encampment at Valley Forge, are prominent historical incidents.
The population is derived from several sources. Traces of the original Swedish colony remain, but the Friends constituted nine-tenths of the population for more than half a century. The large German and Irish emigrations peopled the middle and western parts next, and at the revolution began that indiscriminate interchange of populations which now characterizes all the States. The following statistics are from the enumerations at the several dates of the national census—Population of Pennsylvania in 1790, 434,373; 1800, 602,545; 1810, 810,091; 1820, 1,049,313; 1830, 1,347,672; 1840, 1,724,033; 1850, 2,311,786.
The classification of the population in 1850 was, 1,142,734 white males, 1,115,426 white females; 25,369 coloured males, and 28,257 coloured females. Thirteen per cent. were of foreign birth: 151,723 in Ireland; 44,260 in England, Scotland, and Wales; 78,592 in Germany; and 4083 in France. Of paupers there were 11,551; 1145 deaf and dumb, 1914 insane, and 1467 idiotic. There were 408,497 families, inhabiting 396,216 dwellings. In 1857 there were returned 603,407 taxables, which number would, at the ratio of former years, place the total population of the state in 1857 at about 3,400,000. (L.B.)