d as often acquitted, his last acquittal being in 1690. There had
meanwhile been great political and theological commotions in
Pennsylvania, and in April, 1691, the three lower counties on the
Delaware, offended at the action of the council at Philadelphia,
withdrew from the union, and Penn yielded to the secessionists so far as
to appoint a separate deputy governor over them.

In consequence of representations which came from Pennsylvania, the
monarchs William and Mary deprived Penn of his rights as governor of his
province, in 1692, and the control of the domain was placed in the hands
of Governor Fletcher of New York, who, in the spring of 1693, reunited
the Delaware counties to the parent province. Fletcher appeared at the
head of the council at Philadelphia on Monday, the 15th of May, with
William Markham, Penn's deputy, as lieutenant governor.

The noble Quaker, however, had powerful friends who interceded with King
William for the restoration of Penn's rights. He was called before the
Privy Council to answer certain accusations, when his innocence was
proven, and a few months later, all his ancient rights were restored.

Penn's fortune had been wasted, and he lingered in England, under the
heavy hand of poverty, until 1699, when, with his daughter and second
wife, Hannah Callowhill, he sailed to Philadelphia. Meanwhile, his
colony, under his old deputy, William Markham, had asserted their right
to self-government and made laws for themselves.

They were prosperous, but clamorous for political privileges guaranteed
to them by law. Regarding their demands as reasonable, Penn, in
November, 1701, gave them a new form of government, with more liberal
concessions than had been formerly given. The people of the territories
or three lower counties were still restive under the forced union with
Pennsylvania, and Penn made provisions for their permanent separation in
legislation, in 1702, and the first independent legislature in Delaware
was assembled at New Castle in 1703. Although Philadelphia and Delaware
ever afterward continued to have separate legislatures, they were under
the same government until the Revolution in 1776.

Shortly after Penn's arrival in America, he received tidings that
measures were pending before the privy council, for bringing all of the
proprietary governments under the crown. Penn located in Philadelphia,
declaring it his intention to live and die there. He erected an
excellent brick house