of Preston's statement, the matter assumed a serious aspect.
As the origin of the plot was believed to have been among the Catholics,
the same misrepresentations of Penn being a Jesuit in disguise were
again brought forward, and the passions of the people being much
inflamed against the intriguing papists, it was thought a fair trial
could not be obtained for him. Under these circumstances, some accounts
represent that William Penn voluntarily secluded himself where he could
not be easily seen; waiting until a time should arrive when he might
have a fair opportunity to clear himself; while others state that,
having been examined before the Privy Council, he was ordered to remain
a prisoner in his own house, under surveillance. The latter is the more
probable, as he could hardly have supposed he could escape the search
the government would make for him; especially as he kept up intercourse
with his friends. Thus, in the Third month of 1691, he addressed an
epistle to the Yearly Meeting in London, in order to remove any
unfavorable impression that might have been made in the minds of his
brethren by his forced seclusion. In this he says: "My privacy is not
because men have sworn truly, but falsely, against me; for wicked men
have laid in wait for me, and false witnesses have laid to my charge
things that I knew not; who have never sought myself, but the good of
all, through great exercises; and have done some good, and would have
done more, and hurt to no man; but always desired that truth and
righteousness, mercy and peace, might take place among us."

During his retirement he employed his pen diligently, producing several
works of much value. The refusal of Friends in Pennsylvania to
contribute money for the erection of forts or other military purposes,
had given great offence to the home government, and the enemies of Penn
took advantage of this, and of the position he was now in, with charges
of treason hanging over him, to obtain an order from the King and
Council, in the early part of 1692, to annex the government of
Pennsylvania to that of New York, then presided over by Colonel
Fletcher. Penn remained shut out from the world, and deprived of
opportunity to serve the cause of truth and righteousness, and his
brethren of the same faith, except by his pen, for more than two years;
his character stained in the estimation of some, and his valuable
services forgotten by many others, who, perhaps, thought he had indeed