Pennsylvania's Founder

üowcrrt frío, n Harper'j Hagazlnfe fur Novcm ber. Williaui l'euu appears at least advantago during his young college days, in wliich period vo see hira vacillating, uncertain, unbalauced in his character. At one time moved to his utmost heart by religious conviction, at another he appeara as a flippant, rakiah youtli of t!8 French school. And so all througbont his greener yeara he appeared swayed, nowthis wayaad uow tln.it, as any stionger oharacter with whom lm came in contact dn him. In the pages of Pepy'a Diary e seo him in out! oí' theso his yoitthfu! phases. He saya iu ouo Dlacé: "Mr. Ponn Sir William's son. is come back f rom France, and come to visil Soy wife; a most modisli persöni grówri, she saya, a íiue gentleman." Agaln he saya "Comes Mr. Perra to visit me; I perceive something of leaming he hath got, bul a great deal, if not too rauch, oí tbo vunily of French garb, and afl'ected mauner of speech and gait." A year or so previoüs to the LUIK! UL IIIIB Clli-vj io iij- rnj au' ' flueneed by a well-known Quaker preaeher of Oxford as seriously to contémplate joining that sect. Whejn Uiis leached his father's ears he was packed uDceremonioualy across to tho Continent, where we se8 how quickly he was cured of his proclivities. As a mau, this laek oL bullast appeans to have passed away; his uons grew suuugei, uiauutuwji-oi iuwd determined, and his üfc. consistent. Whsn oíd enough to become Uioroughly established in his religious principies, he never abatecl a hair's-breadtli from the standard he took. He is even fcnown to have gone so íar as to rernaia covered in the "presence," for ono oí the articles ol his faitta was to remove his hat to no man, and he obeyed the mandate implicitly. Au amusing and well-authentiealed account is told of him in connection with his patrón, James II. Shortly after the icce3sion of that monarch Penn was admitted to an audience. He íound the king standing, surrouuded by reveral of hi3 courtiers. The Fiiend entered, aa he had been used to do when James was Duke of York, without uucovering. Immediately, with a great show oE deference, the king removed his hat. "Why dost thou take off thy hatr asked Penn, rather taken aback, "Because," answered James, dryly, "I am accustomed now to seeing only ono man In the company covered." Such was tbe man who was destined to found the province of Pennsylvania; in hi3 youth flippant and unstable; in bis manhood staki, upright, honorable and just. TIIE OKIGIN OF THE AMEIUCAN SCIIEME. Wben the Dutch provinces in America carne by conquest into possossion of tho English crown, the KiDg had graciously mado a present of tho whole of Ihat vast tract of uew-settled country to his brother, Hifl Boyal Ilighness the Duke of York. Hia Koyal Highness had In turn granted that portion of his tenitory now comprising the state of New Jersey to his humble Curterst. At tliat time (about 1665) Ihe noitheasfcam part of tliis province had begun to be sparely settled here and there. Elizabetbtown had grówn to four houses, oud was the capital of the province. Middletown, too had been planted, and Shrewsbury. Bilt uil the western part, lying upou the Delaware liver and bay, was still untoucbed, saving by i few scatteresl Swedish and Finnish settlers. Toward tibia trad oi' country, oompaiatively near the ocean eatttrt Upon one side, and washed by a broud river and bay upon the otber, the atteution of certain Quakers began to bo directed. John Fenwick and Edward Byllinges, the former of Buckinghamsbire, the latter a London merehant, both prominent members of the society, purchased of Lord Berkely all bil rights and interests in the Jerseys for tho aum of one thousand pounds sterling. The nmviní'fl wna t.hp.n divided bv aareement with Sir George Carteret into East and West Jersey, called coHectively in old times "The Jerseys." This was accomplished by a line drawn f roiaa Little Egg Harbor to a point on the Del ware river in the 41st degree of nortli latitude. But iu the mean time the settlement of this territory with a regular provincial government carne practically to naiíght. Fenwick seems to have benn of a litigious, disputations disposition; bickerings and back-talk ensuetl between the two proprietaries. Unable beoanso of the rules of their sects, to have the matter settled by law, the difflculty reached such a stage that it becamo necessary to cali forarbitration to arrange the matter between them. Alter caating about Lor somo one to whom to appeal, William Penn was selected to tinally adjudge the matter. And so his attention flrst became att. „tl f fVio Tawr Wnrlfl iiTld his ,erest awakened in it, The matter was atisf aetorily adjusted, bul West Jersey was destined never to become a proprijtary- or rather a bi-proprietary- govirnment. Bolh Byllinges and Fenwick bccaine in volved in financial difflculties, and their e3lates passed into the hands of trustees, one of whom was William Penü. In tliis position he became still moro interested in the country; he devoted lus attention wholly to tlie settlement and improvement of this part of the Jerseys, and, as his letters afterward showed, he thereby made himself well acquainted with the resources of that which was to Inm heretofore an almost unknown world. Ilesaw at a giance the vast possibilities it held forth to sucli as would undertake the development of tbetn, and flnally determined to found a provinco there himself, not in tbe loose, unsystemallc wj In which West Jersey was boing peonled, but endowed with agood internal government for ita foundation and sup port. It is thus that great events move up on little things, ;is a heavy door does upon small hinges. lf John Fenwick had not been of a disputatious nature in all likelihood William Penn woult never have founded a province. TENN ÁS A LAff MAKEE. I'enn was vested with powers tba gave him alinost the rights of an inde pendent prince. He was permitted to make laws, and levy taxes and imposta subject only to conflrmation by an assembly of the reprcsentatives of the people. He was authorixed to appoint magistrales and judges, and possessed all the authority of acaptain-general to "levy, muster, and train all gorts of raen," and "to malse war upon sea or land against pirates, robbers, ov barbarous nations," besides other riglits and privileges ol' an extreme executive character. His ürsl caie wm Lo direct a letter to the inhabibuits of Pennsylvania apprising them of bis grant from the king. At the same time he asaured them of his intention of dealing honestly and j'sstly with them. In one passage of the eommtinieati'ín he says: "You shall he governed entirely by laws of your own making, and live a f ree, and, if yon wü!, a sober and industrioua people." After dispatching this notifleatipn togethèr with certain letters of ity ïorn Ihe king, he set. himself vigorously to work ítair.iug a ecnstituüon. lts meaaures wereáuch as to embrace - rudely formulftted; to be sure - a draít of a repreaentalive governmeut sucii as is now embodied !.n our own FeJera'l ConsLitulioa, It has been but liLtle chauged in Pehnsjlvania, which remains essentially govérned now as it was when this draft was Qrsfc adoptd and completed by the Assembly.