been ruined for dissent since the restoration; five thousand persons had died victims to imprisonment. The monarch was persuaded to exercise his prerogative of mercy; and, in 1686, at Penn's intercession, not less than twelve hundred Friends were liberated from the horrible dungeons and prisons where many of them had languished hopelessly for years. For Locke, then a voluntary exile, he obtained a promise of immunity, which the blameless philosopher, in the just pride of innocence, refused. Claiming for the executive of the country the prerogative of employing every person, "according to his ability, and not according to his opinion," he labored to effect a repeal by parliament of every disfranchisement for opinion. Ever ready to deepen the vestiges of British freedom, and vindicate the right of "the free Saxon people to be governed by laws of which they themselves were the makers," his soul was bent on effecting this end by means of parliament during the reign of James II., well knowing that the prince of Orange was pledged to a less liberal policy. The political tracts of "the arch Quaker" in behalf of liberty of conscience connect the immutable principles of human nature and hu man rights with the character and origin of English freedom, and exhaust the question as a subject for English legislation. No man in England was more opposed to Roman Catholic dominion; but he desired, in the controversy with the Roman church, nothing but equality; and, in the true spirit of liberty, he sought to infuse his principles into the public mind, that so they might find their place in the statute-book through the convictions of his countrymen. William Penn was involved in the obloquy which followed the Stuarts; but the candor of his character triumphs over detraction; his fame has its ineffaceable record in the history of the world.

Meanwhile, the Quaker legislators in the woods of Pennsylvania were serving their novitiate in popular legislation. To complain, to impeach, to institute committees of inquiry, to send for persons and papers, to quarrel with the executive -all was attempted, and all without permanent harm. The assembly, in 1685 and 1686, originated bills without scruple; they attempted a new organization of the judiciary; they alarmed the merchants by their lenity toward debtors; they

would vote no taxes; they claimed the right of inspecting the records, and displacing the officers of the courts. Jealousy of a feudal chief was displayed. The maker of the first Pennsylvania almanac was censured for publishing Penn as a lord; they expelled a member who reminded them that they were contravening the provisions of their charter. The executive power was imperfectly administered, for the council was too numerous a body for its regular exercise. In 1687, a commission of five was substituted; and finally, when it was resolved to appoint a deputy governor, the choice of the proprietary was not wisely made. In legislation, justice and wisdom were left to struggle with folly and passion; but, in the universal prosperity, discontent could find no resting-place.

Peace was uninterrupted. Once, indeed, it was rumored that on the Brandywine five hundred Indians were assembled to concert a massacre. Immediately Caleb Pusey, with five Friends, hastened unarmed to the scene of anticipated danger. The sachem repelled the report with indignation; and the griefs of the tribe were canvassed and assuaged. "The great God, who made all mankind, extends his love to Indians and English. The rain and the dews fall alike on the ground of both; the sun shines on us equally; and we ought to love one another." Such was the diplomacy of the Quaker envoy. The king of the Delawares answered: "What you say is true. Go home, and harvest the corn God has given you. We intend you no harm."

The white man agreed with the red man to love one another. William Penn employed blacks without scruple. The free society of traders, which he chartered and encouraged, in its first public agreement relating to negroes, did but substitute, after fourteen years' service, the severe condition of adscripts to the soil for that of slaves. At a later day he endeavored to secure to the African mental and moral culture, the rights and happiness of domestic life. His efforts were not successful. In his last will he directed his own slaves to be emancipated; but his direction was not regarded by the heir. On the subject of negro slavery, the German mind was least inthralled by prejudice, because Germany had never yet participated in the slave-trade. The Swedish and

German colony of Gustavus Adolphus had avowed the design to permit only free labor. The general meeting of the Quakers for a season forebore a positive judgment; but already, in 1688, "the poor hearts" from Kirchheim, "the little handful" of German Friends from the highlands above the Rhine, came to the resolution that it was not lawful for Christians to buy or to keep negro slaves.

This decision of the German emigrants on negro slavery was taken during the lifetime of George Fox, who recognised no distinction of race. "Let your light shine among the Indians, the blacks, and the whites," was his message to Quakers on the Delaware. A few weeks before his death, he exhorted Friends in America to be the light of the world, the salt to preserve earth from corruption. Covetousness, he adds, is idolatry; and he bids them beware of that "idol for which so many lose morality and humanity." In 1691, on his deathbed, nearly his last words were: "Mind poor Friends in America." His works praise him. Neither time nor place can dissolve fellowship with his spirit. To his name William Penn left this short epitaph: "Many sons have done virtuously in this day; but, dear GEORGE, thou excellest them all."

An opposite system was developed in the dominions of the duke of York.

CHAPTER XVII.

JAMES II. CONSOLIDATES THE NORTHERN COLONIES.

THE Country which, in June, 1674, after the reconquest of New Netherland, was again conveyed to the duke of York, extended from the Kennebec to the St. Croix, and from the Connecticut river to Maryland. We have now to trace an attempt to consolidate the whole coast north of the Delaware.

The charter from the king sanctioned whatever ordinances the duke of York or his assigns might establish; and in regard to justice, revenue, and legislation, Edmund Andros, the governor, was responsible only to his employer. He was instructed to display all the humanity and gentleness that could consist with arbitrary power; and, avoiding wilful cruelty, to use punishments as an instrument of terror. On the last day of October, he received the surrender of New Netherland from the representatives of the Dutch, and renewed the absolute authority of the proprietary. The inhabitants of the eastern part of Long Island resolved, in town-meetings, to adhere to Connecticut. The charter of that government did not countenance their decision; and, unwilling to be declared rebels, they submitted to New York.

In July, 1675, Andros, with armed sloops, proceeded to Connecticut to vindicate his jurisdiction as far as the river. On the first alarm, William Leet, the aged deputy governor, one of the original seven pillars of the church of Guilford, educated in England as a lawyer, a rigid republican, hospitable even to regicides, convened the assembly. A proclamation was unanimously voted, and forwarded by express to Bull, the captain of the company on whose firmness the independence of the little colony rested. It arrived just as Andros, hoist

ing the king's flag, demanded the surrender of Saybrook fort. Immediately the English colors were raised within the fortress. Despairing of victory, Andros attempted persuasion. Having been allowed to land with his personal retinue, he assumed authority, and, in the king's name, ordered the duke's patent, with his own commission, to be read. In the king's name he was commanded to desist; and Andros was overawed by the fishermen and yeomen who formed the colonial troops. Their proclamation he spoke of as a slander, and an ill requital for his intended kindness. The Saybrook militia, escorting him to his boat, saw him sail for Long Island; and Connecticut, resenting the aggression, made a declaration of its wrongs, sealed it with its seal, and transmitted it to the neighboring plantations.

In New York itself Andros was hardly more welcome than at Saybrook; for the obedient servant of the duke of York discouraged every mention of assemblies, and levied customs without the consent of the people. But, since the Puritans of Long Island claimed a representative government as an inalienable English birthright, and the whole population opposed the ruling system as a tyranny, the governor, in 1676, advised his master to concede legislative franchises.

The dull James II., then duke of York, of a fair complexion and an athletic frame, was patient in details, yet singularly blind to universal principles, plodding with sluggish diligence, but unable to conform conduct to a general rule. Within narrow limits he reasoned correctly; but his vision did not extend far. Without sympathy for the people, he had no discernment of character, and was the easy victim of duplicity and intrigue. His loyalty was but devotion to the prerogative which he hoped to inherit. Brave in the face of expected dangers, an unforeseen emergency found him pusillanimously helpless. He kept his word sacredly, unless it involved complicated relations, which he could scarcely comprehend. As to religion, a service of forms alone suited his narrow understanding; to attend mass, to build chapels, to risk the kingdom for a rosary-all this was within his grasp. Freedom of conscience was, in that age, an idea yet standing on the threshold of the world, waiting to be ushered in; and none