ons, when his opinion had been sought on matters affecting the
nation, he had given it; but he declared that, on all such occasions, he
had advocated liberty of conscience, and the best interest of Protestant
England; and he challenged any one to come forward and show to the
contrary. Notwithstanding this explanation of his intimacy at Court, and
his positive denial and refutation of the many false stories raised
about him, the feeling produced by them was not entirely removed; and in
the last month of 1688, as he was walking in Whitehall, he was suddenly
summoned to appear before the Lords of the Council. Some of the Council,
who were inimical to him, required him to give sureties for his
appearance on the first day of the next term of Court. On his appearance
there, his case was postponed until the next session; when there
appeared to be no accuser or accusation against him, and he was
declared clear in open Court.[A]

[Footnote A: The aspersion of the character of William Penn, and the
charges brought against his conduct while frequenting the Court of James
II., by Macaulay in his History of England, have been fully investigated
and refuted by several authors, who have shown the serious mistakes of
the historian, and the innocence of Penn of the offences imputed to
him.]

In 1688 James II., finding himself deserted by the nobility, the gentry,
and the army, fled to France, and William, Prince of Orange, who had
come over with an army on the invitation of some of the leading
statesmen of England, was proclaimed king. Notwithstanding the
alienation of the kindly feelings of the people, by the impolitic course
pursued by James, and their apparent determination to maintain William
and Mary on the throne, the self-exiled monarch resolved to continue
whatever effort he could make, with the assistance of his friend Louis
XIV., to regain the crown of Great Britain. There were many, who had
stood high in State and Church, who refused to take the oath of
allegiance to the reigning royal pair. These were termed Non-jurors and
Jacobites, and intrigues and covert conspiracies were, for a long time,
rife among them. Naturally this gave rise to suspicion and distrust on
the part of the party in power. From this cause William Penn was
subjected to no little trouble; his intimacy with the former king
affording ground to prejudice the minds of many against him. He had
already been arrested and discharged, there being no specific char