ng up this honorable declaration, Penn had no difficulty in
obtaining for the negroes free admission into the regular meetings for
religious worship, and in procuring that other meetings should be holden
for their particular benefit. The Quakers, therefore, merit our respect
as the earliest, as well as some of the most zealous, emancipators.

The governor returned to England in 1701, to oppose a scheme agitated in
Parliament for abolishing the proprietary governments and placing the
colonies immediately under royal control; the bill, however, was dropped
before he arrived. He enjoyed Anne's favor, as he had that of her father
and uncle, and resided much in the neighborhood of the court, at
Kensington and Knightsbridge. In his religious labors he continued
constant, as heretofore. He was much harassed by a lawsuit, the result
of too much confidence in a dishonest steward; which being decided
against him, he was obliged for a time to reside within the Rules of the
Fleet Prison. This, and the expenses in which he had been involved by
Pennsylvania, reduced him to distress, and in 1709 he mortgaged the
province for L6,600. In 1712 he agreed to sell his rights to the
government for L12,000, but was rendered unable to complete the
transaction by three apoplectic fits, which followed each other in quick
succession. He survived, however, in a tranquil and happy state, though
with his bodily and mental vigor much broken, until July 30, 1718, on
which day he died at his seat at Rushcomb, in Berkshire, where he had
resided for some years.

His first wife died in 1693. He married a second time in 1696; and left
a family of children by both wives, to whom he bequeathed his landed
property in Europe and America. His rights of government he left in
trust to the Earls of Oxford and Powlett, to be disposed of; but no sale
being ever made, the government, with the title of Proprietaries,
devolved on the surviving sons of the second family.

End of Project Gutenberg's Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 3 of 8, by Various

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