y a
word, in Philadelphia, of the history of WILLIAM PENN;--of him, who, as
a lawgiver and executive magistrate,--a practical, pious,
Quaker,--_first_ developed in state affairs, and reduced to practice,
the liberty and equality enjoined by his religion and founded on
liberal christianity;--of him who _first_ taught mankind the sublime
truth, that--

"Beneath the rule of men entirely great
"The PEN _is mightier than the sword? Behold_
"The arch-enchanter's wand,--itself a nothing!
"But taking sorcery from the master hand
"To paralyse the Cesars! _Take away the sword_,
"_States can be saved without it!_"

It would be idle to detail the facts of his life or government, for, not
only have Pennsylvanians recorded and dwelt upon them until they are
household lessons, but they have been favorite themes for French,
British, Italian, German and Spanish philosophers and historians.

* * * * *

It was Penn to whom the charter of 1681 was granted, half a century
after the patent issued to Cecilius Calvert. The instrument itself, has
many of the features of the Maryland grant; but it is well known that
the absolute powers it bestowed on the Proprietary, were only taken by
him in order that he might do as he pleased in the formation of a new
state, whose principles of freedom and peace, might, first in the
World's history, practically assume a national aspect.

I shall not recount the democratic liberalities of his system, as it was
matured by his personal efforts and advice. Original, as he
unquestionably was, in genius; bold as he was in resisting the pomp of
the world, at a time when its vanities sink easiest and most
corruptingly into the heart,--we may nevertheless, say, that the deeds
and history of his time, as well as of the previous fifty years, had a
large share in moulding his character.

In William Penn, the crude germs of religious originality, which, in
Fox, were struggling, and sometimes almost stifling for utterance, found
their first, ablest, and most accomplished expounder. He gave them
refinement and respectability. His intimacy with Algernon Sidney taught
him the value of introducing those principles into the doctrines of
government;--and thus, he soon learned that when political rights grow
into the sanctity of religious duties, they receive thereby a vitality
which makes them irresistible. Penn, in this wise, become an expanded
embodiment of Fox an