to five members of the council, of
which Thomas Lloyd, the president, held the great seal. William Penn's
mission in America had been one of success. In 1685, Philadelphia
contained six hundred houses; schools were established, and William
Bradford had set up a printing press. He printed his "Almanac for the
year of the Christian's Account, 1687," a broadside, or single sheet,
with twelve compartments, the year beginning with March.

William Penn could look with no little degree of pride upon his work. If
ever man was justified in being proud, he was. Looking upon the result
of his work, he, with righteous exultation, wrote to Lord Halifax, "I
must, without vanity, say I have led the greatest colony into America
that ever man did upon private credit, and the most prosperous
beginnings that ever were in it are to be found among us."

Penn bade the colonists farewell, with the brightest hopes for the
future, saying, "My love and my life are to and with you, and no water
can quench it, nor distance bring it to an end. I have been with you,
cared for you, and served you with unfeigned love, and you are beloved
of me and dear to me beyond utterance. I bless you in the name and power
of the Lord, and may God bless you with his righteousness, peace and
plenty all the land over." Then of Philadelphia, the apple of the noble
Quaker's eye, he said, "And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of
this province, my soul prays to God for thee, that thou mayest stand in
the day of trial, and that thy children may be blessed."

He stood on the deck of the ship which was anchored at the foot of
Chestnut Street, when he delivered his farewell address, and on that
bright August day, when the good ship spread her sails and sped away
across the seas, he bore away with him to England the blessings of the
whole people.

Four months after Penn's return to England, Charles the Second died, and
his brother James ascended the throne. A period of theological and
political excitement in England followed, in which William Penn became
involved. William Penn and the new king had long been personal friends,
and through the influence of the honest Quaker, twelve hundred
persecuted Friends were released from prison, in 1686. As James was
under the influence of the Jesuits, his Quaker friend was suspected of
being one of them, and when the revolution that drove James from the
throne came, Penn was three times arrested on false charges of treason
an