F
P4
UC-NRLF
$B 727 033
TH
WILLIAM PENN MEMORIAL
1911
GIFT OF
VM
'r^'/"-
;/
2^0 'M^i/:^^/i:.A>^^ .^.v^
• • • "• » »
• • • •
••••. »». *- •
EPORT ON WILLIAM PENN MEMORIAL IN LONDON: ERECTED BY THE PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, JULY, M C M X I BY BARR FERREE, SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY
PUBLISHED BY THE PENNSYLVANIA
SOCIETY • AT 249 WEST 13th STREET
NEW YORK MCMXI
P7rz ft
ANNUAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY
The Annual Year Book of the Society is a record of its yearly work and a summary of contemporary patriotic and historical activity in Pennsylvania.
Volumes of the Series
First Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year
Annual Festival, 1890. Paper. Tj^^L. T^T Cloth. Pages. 68
Book, 1901 Book, 1902. Book, 1903. Book, 1904. Book, 1905. Book, 1906. Book, 1907. Book, 1908. Book, 1909. Book, 1910. Book, 1911.
Cloth. Pages, 143.
Cloth. Pages, 208.
Cloth. Pages, 352.
Cloth. Pages, 208.
Goth. Pages, 223.
Goth. Pages, 264.
Cloth. Pages, 248.
Goth. Pages, 216.
Goth. Pages, 240.
Cloth. Pages, 232.
Pages, 54.
Illustrations, 18.
Illustrations, 72.
Illustrations, 150.
Illustrations, 175.
Illustrations, 88.
Illustrations, 113.
Illustrations, loi.
Illustrations, 112.
Illustrations, 103.
Illustrations, 88.
Illustrations, 126.
CONTENTS
PAGE
The Council of the Society 7
The Honorary Committee 8
The Executive Committee 8
Introductory 9
The Commemoration ii
The Dedication of the Memorial 12
Address of Dedication 13
Prayer of Dedication 15
The Penn Family at the Dedication 16
The Inscription 16
The Exhibition 17
The Tea 19
The Commemorative Dinner 20
The Guests 22
The Toasts and Speakers 25
Cable Messages 25
Letter from the Rt. Hon. Arthur James Balfour, M.P 26
Letter from the Rt. Hon. Augustine Birrell 27
Address of Col. Robert M. Thompson 28
Address of Admiral Hon. Sir Hedworth Lambton 29
Address of Rear-Admiral French E. Oiadwick 33
Address of Field-Marshal The Viscount Kitchener 35
Address of the Earl of Ranfurly 36
Address of the Hon. James M. Beck 38
Address of Admiral The Lord Charles Beresford 46
Address of the Hon. Wallace Nesbitt 47
Address of His Excellency, the Hon. Whitelaw Reid 50
Address of the Hon. George F. Baer 52
Response of Her Grace, the Duchess of Sutherland 55
Response of the Marquess of Stafford 56
The Philadelphia Luncheon 57
The Commemorative Medal 59
The Grave at Jordans 61
A Personal Word 64
Comments from Friends and the Press 68
Citizen William Penn. By the Rt. Hon. Sik T. Vezey Strong, Lord
Mayor of London 81
Allhallows Barking , 91
Stafford House 99
William Penn in Cork 108
549407
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Portrait of Wiluam Penn Frontispiece
From the original portrait in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Autograph of William Penn Frontispiece
From the original in Devonshire House, London.
Portrait and Autograph of Colonel Robert Means Thompson, Presi- dent OF The Pennsylvania Society 8
Facsimile of the Record of William Penn's Baptism in the Register of Allhallows Barking lo
Arms of William Penn ii
Arms of the City of London 12
Room at King John's Farm, Chorleywood, in Which William PtNN
Married Gulielma Springett, April 4, 1672 16
From a photograph loaned the Society by the Hon. Arthur Capell, the present owner of King John's Farm.
Penn's Ship "Welcome" 18
The William Penn Memorial Tablet 24
Designed for the Society by McKim, Mead & White in Memory of Charles Follen McKim.
Arrival of the Lord Mayor of London at Allhallows Barking on the Occasion of the Dedication of the William Penn Memorial. 32
The Lord Mayor of London and the Lady Mayoress Leaving Allhal- lows Barking 48
The Commemorative Medal 58
Designed for the Society by John Flanagan, A.N.A.
Facsimile of Signatures to Penn's "Frame of Government" 60
The Grave of William Penn at Jordans Meeting- House, with the Wreath of The Pennsylvania Society, July 14, 191 i 60
Plan of Jordans Burial-Ground 62
From Howard M. Jenkins: "The Family of William Penn," by courtesy of Charles F. Jenkins.
The Burial-Ground at Jordans Meeting- House 64
Proprietary Seal of William Penn 67
Facsimile of Title- Page of Penn's "Frame of Government, 1682" 80
The Penn Memorial and the Banner of The Pennsylvania Society
in Allhallows Barking 80
Penn Treaty Monument, Shackamaxon, Philadelphia 90
Nave of Allhallows Barking 90
Illustrations
Portrait and Autograph of the Honourable William Andrews
Clark, Vice-President of The Pennsylvania Society 96
Copyright, 1908, by Pach Bros.
Seal of Philadelphia, 1683 97
Facsimile of Title-Page of Penn's Pamphlet on His Trial at the Old Bailey 98
Vane on Pusey's Mill, Pennsylvania, 1699 — William Penn, Samuel
Carpenter, Caleb Pusey 106
Drawn by David McNeely Stauffer.
Facsimile of Title-Page of Penn's "Some Account of the Province,"' London, 1681 107
Facsimile of Title-Page of Penn's Manuscript Journal of His Jour- ney INTO Holland and Germany, 1677 no
THE COUNCIL OF THE SOCIETY
ROBERT MEANS THOMPSON President
WILLIAM A CLARK First Vice-President
ROBERT MAZET Second Vice-President
FREDERICK H EATON Third Vice-President
WILLIAM UHLER HENSEL Fourth Vice-President
THE RT REV ETHELBERT TALBOT DD Chaplain
BARR FERREE Secretary
WILLIAM GUGGENHEIM Treasurer
THE TRUSTEES
1909-1912
THOMAS E KIRBY JAMES GAYLEY
GEORGE A POST
1910-1913
WILLIAM HARRISON BROWN HORACE PORTER
HENRY F SHOEMAKER
1911-1914
RICHARD THEODORE DAVIES C L SNOWDON
EDWIN S STUART
THE WILLIAM PENN MEMORIAL
THE HONOEAEY COMMITTEE
American Section.
Hon, Philander Chase Knox, Secretary of State of the United States, Honorary Chairman.
His Excellency the Hon. John G. A.
Leishman. Dr. Andrew Carnegie. Hon. William A. Dark. Hon. George W. Wickersham. Rt. Rev. James Henry Darlington, D.D. Hon, Samuel W. Pennypacker. Hon. John K. Tener. Hon. John E. Reyburn. John W. Alexander, P.N.A.
Hon. George B. McClellan. General Horace Porter. Hon. Lloyd C. Griscom. Hon. John Wanamaker. Hon. S. Leslie Mestrezat. Dr. Horace Howard Furness. Rear-Admiral Robert E. Peary,
U.S.N. Henry Phipps, Esq. John Drew, Esq.
English Section.
Admiral The Lord Charles Beresford, G.C.B., G.C.V.O. Honorary Vice-Chairman.
M.P.,
His Serene Highness Vice-Admiral Prince Louis of Battenberg, G.CB., G.C.V.O.
The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Duke of Devonshire.
The Duke of Sutherland, KG.
The Earl of Derby, P.C, G.C.V.O.
The Earl of Ranfurly, P.C, G.C.M.G.
Field-Marshal The Viscount Kitch- ener of Khartoum, K.P., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.CLE.
The Lord Bishop of London.
The Lord Alverstone, P.C, G.C.M.G.
The Lord Desborough, K.C.V.O.
The Rt. Hon. James Bryce, O.M.
The Rt. Hon. Augustine Birrell, M.P.
The Rt. Hon. Arthur James Balfour,
M.P. Admiral of the Fleet The Rt. Hon.
Sir Edward Seymour, P.C, G.C.B.,
O.M., G.C.V.O. The Rt. Hon. Sir. George Trevelyan,
Bart., P.C, O.M. The Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Fry, P.C,
G.CB. Hon. Wallace Nesbitt, K.C Col. R. C B. Lawrence, CB. Lt.-Colonel Dugald Stuart. Thomas Penn Gaskell, Esq. Rev. Arthur W. Robinson, D.D. John Murray, Esq. Dr. Thomas Hodgkin.
THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Col. Robert Means Thompson, Chairman. Thomas E. Kirby. Barr Ferree.
/Wc/^. f]w^
>f
INTRODUCTORY
The Memorial to William Penn, erected by The Pennsylvania Society in the Church of Allhallows Barking-by-the-Tower in Lon- don, originated in a proposal to place a tablet on the site of Penn's birthplace. From the very beginning the plan received the enthu- siastic support of the Council of the Society, which was by no means lessened when it was found that the site of the birthplace had long since practically disappeared.
Penn was born on Tower Hill, to the northwest of the Tower. His father's house was in a court, sometimes called George Court, on the east side of Trinity Square, Tower Hill. What survives of the court is now a goods yard, and lies between George Street on the south and the Tower Station of the District Railway on the north. Most of the court was destroyed in 1883 for the building of the station, and this, in turn, disappeared in 1904 as not needed. A fragment of the London wall forms, or formed, a part of the east wall of the court in which the Penn house stood.
Under these circumstances it became necessary for the Society to erect its Memorial on some other site. The Church of Allhallows Barking-by-the-Tower offered itself as the one structure in London intimately associated with Penn's infant years; for nine days after his birth, on October 14, that is to say on October 23, 1644, he was brought into this church and given the name by which he was destined to be known in history for all time. That Penn himself afterwards became a Quaker and cast off the faith of his fathers is quite beside the fact that this ancient church alone, of all the build- ings and sites in London, was actually associated with his birth.
Application was made to the Rev. Dr. Arthur W. Robinson, Vicar of Allhallows, for permission to place a Memorial to Penn in his church, and in due time this was accorded. The plans for carrying out the Memorial were unexpectedly delayed by the death of Mr. Charles Pollen McKim, the distinguished architect, a mem- ber of the Society, who had kindly acceded to the Committee's request that he prepare the design. This work was afterwards done by his firm, Messrs. McKim, Mead & White, as a testimonial to their senior member.
lo William Penn Memorial
Mr. McKim's death was not the only loss the Society sustained during the preliminary work in connection with the Memorial. Mr. J. Hampden Robb, our former President, and identified with the Memorial from the beginning, died on January 21, 191 1, and did not live to see completed a project in which he was deeply interested, and to the realization of which he had frequently contributed of his time and thought. Mr. Robb more than once represented the Society in London in connection with the Memorial, and he displayed the greatest interest in every stage of the undertaking.
Nor was interest in the Memorial limited to the Committee which acted in an executive capacity towards it. The cost of modelling the design and casting it in bronze was generously met by the Honourable William Andrews Clark, Vice-President of the Society. The Venerable George Francis Nelson, D.D., Archdeacon of New York, prepared the inscription. Mr. Thomas E. Kirby, a member of the Committee from the beginning, defrayed the cost of the dies of the Penn Commemorative medal.
Finally, the Secretary must be permitted to refer, in this con- nection, to the munificent generosity of our President, Colonel Robert Means Thompson, who made a journey to England ex- pressly to preside at the dedication of the Memorial and who, as the host of the Penn Commemorative Dinner at Stafford House, did so much to give distinction and brilliancy to the dedicatory exer- cises. Colonel Thompson has placed the Society heavily in his debt for the exceedingly generous, as well as extraordinarily able manner in which he acted on its behalf.
FACSIMILE OF THE RECORD OF WILLIAM PENN's BAPTISM IN THE REGISTER OF ALLHALLOWS BARKING.
ARMS OF PENN.
THE COMMEMORATION
The exercises arranged for the dedication of the William Penn Memorial in London comprised four events :
1. The dedication and unveiling of the Memorial Tablet in the Church of Allhallows Barking-by-the-Tower.
2. Historical Exhibition arranged by the Friends' Historical Society in Devonshire House, Bishopsgate.
3. Tea by The Pennsylvania Society in Devonshire House.
4. Commemorative Dinner at Stafford House, St. James's, S. W., which was lent to President Thompson for this purpose by His Grace the Duke of Sutherland.
These events followed each other in rapid succession on July 13, beginning with the dedication and unveiling at three-thirty, suc- ceeded by the exhibition and tea at four-thirty, and being completed with the dinner at seven-thirty. Owing to the exceeding courtesy and great care shown by the gentlemen and institutions of which The Pennsylvania Society was the guest, each particular part of the programme was carried through with perfect order and without haste.
ARMS OF THE CITY OF LONDON.
THE DEDICATION OF THE MEMORIAL
Allhallows Barking-by-the-Tower, July 13, 3.30 P. M.
A festal air permeated the ancient Church of Allhallows Bark- ing-by-the-Tower on the afternoon of July 13. Crowds gather rapidly in this densely crowded part of the City of London, where in the midst of so much activity there are always many persons to note the least out of the ordinary. City policemen to guard the church door were the first intimation that something was presently to be in progress within those old walls. Curiosity was whetted by the unwonted arrival of taxi-cabs and carriages, and rose to a high pitch when the Boy Scouts, "The Lord Mayor's Own," attached to the church, formed a guard line from the doorway to the curb. The bells rang out glad hymns of welcome and as the hour ap- proached the stream of invited guests increased in numbers, the
William Penn Memorial 13
church quickly filled, and the waiting crowd outside approached the dimensions of a mob.
Presently from the head of Great Tower Street a single mounted policeman appeared ; the guard of honour widened the ap- proach, and two gorgeous carriages drove up rapidly. All London without the church knew exactly what these coaches were and who were contained within them ; for the civic corporation of London was to pay tribute to William Penn in the persons of one of its sheriffs — Sir Henry C. Buckingham, and the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress — the Rt. Hon. Sir. T. Vezey Strong and Lady Strong.
These, the chief guests of the Society on this occasion, were received at the door of the church by President Thompson and the Secretary, and preceded by the Sword Bearer and the Mace Bearer and accompanied by the City Marshal, the procession of state moved into the church, the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress occupying their historic pew at the head of the nave, and just below the ancient sword rests that stand upon the choir screen before it.
President Thompson occupied a seat of honour in the choir stalls, and the Secretary found a place just before the Memorial. Then the fresh boy voices took up the lines of the opening hymn, and the short and beautiful special service, arranged with the appro- bation of the Lord Bishop of London, was proceeded with.
After the Lord's Prayer and the Gloria Patria, the Twenty- third Psalm was sung. Then, escorted by the mace bearer of the church. President Thompson advanced to the reading-desk imme- diately below the pulpit, and delivered the address of dedication.
ADDRESS OF DEDICATION.
Two hundred three score and seven years ago a child was bom in a house on Tower Hill, who became a great Englishman and a great American. Upon the 23d of October in the year of our Lord 1644, that child was baptized in this church and christened William Penn. Measured by the span of our lives, two hundred and sixty- seven years outrange the scope of human memory; but within the walls of this ancient and holy edifice, the generations are but as days in the life of a nation.
14 William Penn Memorial
At a moment when the fore-ordained revolution of the cen- turies has brought us near to a covenant of peace and amity, binding together England and the kindred nation of which William Penn was one of the founders and heroes ; it is fitting that the sons of the State he founded should be here present to celebrate the erection of a memorial to him in the church in which he was christened. Although in later life he quitted the church of his fathers to join an outlawed fellowship, in spirit he remained loyal to the great truths which this church teaches ; and those things which his spon- sors promised for him that he should do, he did faithfully perform even unto his life's end.
Nurtured amid the splendours and vanities of Kings' houses ; a frequenter of the Courts of King Charles the Second and of Louis the Fourteenth, William Penn chose to embrace the godly austeri- ties of the Quaker faith. Sprung from an ancestry of men of war, he became an apostle of peace. Refusing the manifold tempta- tions of a life of ease, he went out into an unknown and savage wilderness, bearing with him a message of goodwill. To recite his own words, which are engraved upon this memorial, he did not "usurp the right of any, nor oppress his person" for, as he said, "God has furnisht me with a better resolution and has given me grace to keep it."
At a time when the nations of the Old World carried the sword into the New Continent, wasting, slaying and despoiling, William Penn employed only the arts of peace and justice. Of the savage Indians he made friends by fair dealing. No internecine strife dese- crated the pleasant land of Pennsylvania ; and the city he established between the fair rivers of the Schuylkill and the Delaware became in very truth the City of Brotherly Love.
Having finished his work, he returned to the country of his birth, leaving behind him a flourishing and prosperous State in which peace prevailed, justice was done, and fair dealing between man and man was the rule ; and when he died, we doubt not that he was received into that heavenly city, whose counterpart he strove to create upon earth.
His name may not unworthily be held in remembrance on these ancient and sacred walls. To your keeping we now confide this
William Penn Memorial 15
memorial, brought hither with love and reverence from across the sea, to show honour to the memory of William Penn.
At the conclusion of the address the Vicar of the church, Presi- dent Thompson, the Lord Mayor, the Lady Mayoress, Sheriff Sir Henry C. Buckingham, Dr. James M. Beck, representing the Gover- nor of Pennsylvania, and the Secretary of the Society advanced to the space immediately before the Memorial. The tablet was covered with the State Flag of Pennsylvania, flanked on either side by the National American Flag and the Union Jack — splendid flags of silk they were, brought for this purpose by the Society.
There was a solemn pause; then, at the request of Dr. Robin- son, the Secretary of the Society pulled the cord, and the memorial was unveiled. Dr. Robinson then read the prayer of dedication :
PRAYER OF DEDICATION.
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who art the Father of Lights, and from Whom cometh down every good and perfect gift; We thank Thee that Thou hast put it into the hearts of these our brethren to desire to place in this ancient Church a Memorial of the Grace which Thou didst give to Thy servant William Penn, and we pray that Thou wouldst favourably accept this deed of theirs. We acknowl- edge together the wonderful workings of Thy Providence in the years that are past, and we humbly beseech Thee to unite our nations ever more closely in the bond of peace and holy charity, for the promoting of Thy glory and the well-being of mankind. We ask it according to the good purpose which Thou hast revealed to us in our most blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The choir sang, unaccompanied, the anthem "God Is a Spirit," and the service concluded with two collects and the benediction. The National anthems were then sung, a verse of "My Country, 'tis of Thee" being interposed between two verses of "God Save the King."
The Society made every effort to invite all the living descend- ants of William Penn to the dedication ceremony. The following
i6
William Penn Memorial
ladies and gentlemen, all lineal descendants of Penn, signified their intent of being present on this occasion :
THE PENN FAMILY AT THE MEMORIAL .DEDICATION.
The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Ranfurly, Lady Constance Milnes Gaskell, Mrs. Colquhoun Grant,
Lady Eileen Knox, Miss Alice Alexander, Major Claud Alexander, Miss Constance Alexander, Major Dudley Alexander, Capt. Frederick Alexander, Mr. Granville Alexander, Mr. Henry Alexander, Mr. George Penn Gaskell, Mr. L. DaCosta Penn Gaskell, Mr. Thomas Penn Gaskell, Miss Penn Gaskell,
Mr. Stuart C. Grant, Capt. Granville Knox, Miss Winnifred Penn-Gaskell. Mr. E. W. Rashleigh, Brig.-Gen. R. Reade, C.B., Miss Mary L. Ridley, Mrs. George Shaw, Sister Constance Stuart, Lt.-Col. Dugald Stuart, Miss E. F. S. Stuart, Sister Florence Stuart, Major R. E. Stuart,
The inscription on the tablet is as follows:
In Memory of
WILLIAM PENN
Baptized in this Church October 23d, A. D., 1644
Proprietary Founder and Governor of
PENNSYLVANIA
Exemplar of Brotherhood and Peace Lawgiver . . . Lover of Mankind.
"I shall not usurp the right of any, or oppress his Person. God has furnisht me with a better Resolution and has given me His Grace to keep it."
This Tablet is erected by THE PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY OF NEW YORK— A. D. 1911.
THE EXHIBITION
Devonshire House, 4-7 P. M.
The exhibition at Devonshire House, which was arranged by Mr. Norman Penney, Librarian of the Friends' Reference Library, was a collection of great interest. It comprised manuscripts, books, papers and portraits directly concerned with William Penn himself or with the members of his family. It was a fine demonstration of the literary treasures of Devonshire House, the great wealth of which in these matters is scarcely known outside its own walls. As most of its most precious documents are kept in secure vaults, this exhibition provided a quite unique opportunity for inspecting them.
Among the many Penn manuscripts shown were autograph letters from William Penn to the Duke of York, Lord Sunderland and John Gratton, facsimile letters of Penn, and autograph letters from his sister and brother-in-law, Margaret and Anthony Lowther.
Of singular personal interest was a copy of the book, ''A Serious Apology for the Principles and Practises of the People Call'd Quak- ers," etc., by George Whitehead and William Penn, 1671, bearing Penn's autograph : 'Tor my Deare ffriend Gulielma Maria Springett, W.P.," truly a solemn and auspicious offering to the lady of one's heart. Of somewhat related interest was the Minute Book of Hors- ham Monthly Meeting, 1695, liberating William Penn for marriage with Hannah Callowhill, of Bristol. A photograph of the record of marriage with Guli Springett from registers at Somerset House, and copies in the original Minute Books of the certificates of mar- riage with Guli and Hannah were also shown.
Two rare proclamations for the apprehension of William Penn, issued by William and Mary in 1690; a plan of Penn's Shangarry estate, the book of Ministering Friends, showing Penn's visit to various meetings in London, and a number of original documents for the conveyance of land in Pennsylvania were also included.
The books and tracts comprised, among other interesting ex- hibits, a plan of the city of Philadelphia and advertisements for colonists, 1683 ; three volumes of first editions of Penn tracts ; four volumes of tracts belonging to Guli Penn, indexed by Thomas Ell- wood and several original treaties of the Penn family with the Indians.
1 8 William Penn Memorial
Special mention should be made of the only known copy of "A new Primmer of methodical directions to attain the true spelling, reading and writing of English" by Francis Daniel Pastorius, loaned by the Bevan Naish Library of Birmingham. It contains an auto- graph address to William Penn by Pastorius, with elaborate ''ono- mastical considerations, enlarged from the number of sixty-six to that of one hundred, and presented, or rather re-presented to William Penn, Proprietary and Governour of Pennsylvania and ter- ritories thereunto belonging, Patri Patriae, the father of this province and lately also the father of John Penn, the innocent and hopeful babe by whose nativity and names sake they were first contrived." At the end Pastorius writes : ''As the foregoing leaves are presented to William Penn to make use therefore according to the free law of hospitality in disliking where he doth not like, So the following are dedicated to John Penn, the first lovely product of his second con- nubial love, who being as yet an infant and unskilled in read-knowl- edge, must look to others to make his beginning."
Other books included Gabriel Thomas's famous "History of Pennsylvania," 1698, together with modern books on Jordans, Penn- sylvania, Philadelphia, etc. Of miscellaneous relics mention may be made of pieces of wood from the famous Treaty Tree at Shacka- maxon, Philadelphia, and some articles made from this wood; a plaster bust of Penn, portraits of Penn, illustrations of Jordans, where Penn is buried, and of King John's Farm at Chorleywood where he married Guli Springett.
THE WELCOME.
THE TEA
Devonshire House, 4.30 P. M.
Devonshire House in Bishopsgate Street has been the head- quarters of the Society of Friends in England for more than a century. With the exception of the years 1905 and 1908, the London Yearly Meeting has been held consecutively from 1794 in these premises until the present time. The original lease is dated April 3, 1667. The old Meeting-house was built under the supervision of William Meade and Gilbert Latey in 1678. The freehold was pur- chased by Thomas Talwin in 1766 and given by him to the Friends for about half the cost. Two large Meeting-houses, each capable of seating about a thousand persons, were built in 1793-1794; one for the Men's Yearly Meeting, the other for the Women's. Purchases of blocks of houses and other properties were made in 1792, 1835, 1868 and 1875, so that the Devonshire House property now occupies about 1,800 square yards. It consists of an immense group of buildings, most of which is put to various uses by the Society of Friends for meetings and offices. The larger part of the street exterior is leased as an hotel, and affords a substantial revenue.
A long passage leads to the court or yard on which the Meeting- houses open. Above are the Friends' Reference Library, the rooms of the Friends' Institute and many committee rooms. William Penn unquestionably attended Meeting on this site, but the structures now standing are of later date than his time. The rooms of the Friends' Institute includes a Friends' portrait gallery, which contains a fine collection of prints and portraits, and which was kindly opened to The Pennsylvania Society and its guests on the occasion of the Tea.
The Tea was served at small tables in the Yard, which, being without a roof, was a most agreeable place for this function on the clear warm summer afternoon on which the Penn Commemoration fell. The available space here was quite ample and the Committee of The Pennsylvania Society was deeply grateful for the courtesy of the Society of Friends which placed this space at its disposal and which permitted this delightful and informal gathering to take place on this historic site.
THE DINNER
Stafford House^ St. James's,, 7.30 P. M.
The Penn Commemorative Dinner, given by President Robert Means Thompson at Stafford House, St. James, S. W., must always rank among the most notable functions of The Pennsylvania Society. From the beginning of the arrangements for the Penn Memorial, it had been President Thompson's wish to crown the exercises with an invitation dinner, at which the entire company would be his per- sonal guests. The dinner had been planned for Claridge's Hotel. The preliminary arrangements had been made for that place and the formal invitations designated it as the location of the Dinner. Almost immediately after President Thompson's arrival in London — actu- ally but nine days before the date of the Commemoration — His Grace the Duke of Sutherland paid him the extraordinary and quite unheard-of compliment of tendering him the use of his magnificent London mansion for the Penn Commemorative Dinner. The ar- rangements made for Claridge's were quickly cancelled, new cards were prepared, and the dinner transferred to Stafford House.
The centre of Stafford House is occupied by an immense hall containing the stairway of honour. The rooms utilized for the dinner were reached by these stairs, and surrounded two sides of the hall. The long suite of rooms forming the Great Gallery served as re- ception rooms ; at the far end was the entrance to the State Dining- room in which the dinner was served.
President Thompson received his guests at the entrance to the Gallery. The company, in accordance with English usage, gathered early, but it was nearly eight o'clock before seats were taken at table. In order to accommodate the guests, it was necessary to place them at small tables. The dinner being an invitation function, no requests for "good" or "conspicuous" positions were received — perhaps the making of such requests is not the custom at English dinners. Nor, so far as the records show, were any "deaf" persons present, nor any others so afflicted as to require special seats in most con- spicuous places. But if these chronic difficulties of The Penn- sylvania Dinner at home were wanting, others arose, particularly
William Penn Memorial 21
relating to English conditions. As the size of the company required the use of the small tables, and as every person present was the guest of the President, no one table could be regarded as more important than another. Some special care had, however, to be taken of certain guests of rank. President Thompson designated the two central tables as the chief ones, with himself at the head of one, and the Secretary of the Society, as the ranking officer, at the head of the other. There were ten tables in all ; two in the centre of the room, and four on each side. A member of the Society occupied the chair of honour at most of the side tables.
The menu cards, in white and gold, were enriched with the seal of the Society, and tied with red, white and blue ribbons, the colours of the American and British nations. These three colours were also used in the floral decorations of the tables. The banner of the Society swung proudly beneath one of the main arches, and the silken flags of England, America and the State of Pennsylvania, used in the decoration of the Memorial, were displayed on the upper part of the lofty walls. But the splendid room needed no other decoration than its historic contents to give it dignity and grace ; the symbols of The Pennsylvania Society were but as reminders of the extraordinary circumstances of the Dinner, mere marks, as it were, of the unusual function that was being wrought into completion beneath them.
Yet the most remarkable incident of this remarkable dinner was all but invisible. This was the cable connection that President Thompson had had introduced into Stafford House that his dinner there might be connected with another gathering at the same time in Philadelphia. Cables and telegraphs are not the synonymous things in England that they are in America, and while the difficulties in the way of introducing the cable into Stafford House were easily swept away, the making of arrangements to that end and the carrying of them out were not the least of the problems to be solved in connection with the Penn Commemoration. The practical utility of the cable connection is shown in the transcript of the Dinner pro- ceedings ; at present it is sufficient to note it as one of the unusual features of this notable event.
President Thompson's guests were as follows :
2 2 William Penn Memorial
Major Dudley Alexander, C.M.G.
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, O.M., R.A., R.W.S.
Hon. George F. Baer, LL.D., Member of The Pennsylvania Society, Representative of the Mayor of Philadelphia.
Mr. W. St. Qair Baddeley.
Mr. J. Allen Baker, M.P.
Hon. James M. Beck, LL.D., Past President of The Pennsylvania Sociccy, Representative of the Governor of Pennsylvania.
Capt. B. L. Beddy.
Admiral The Lord Charles Beresford, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., M.P.
Mr. S. R. Bertron.
Mr. Percy Bigland.
Sir Henry Arthur Blake, G.C.M.G., former Governor of Ceylon.
Sir Henry C. Buckingham, Sheriiff of London.
Mr. J. Malcolm Bulloch.
Mr. William Allen Butler.
Hon. Arthur Capell.
Rear-Admiral W. L. Capps, U. S. N.
Rear-Admiral French E. Chadwick, U. S. N.
Mr. R. Newton Crane.
Mr. Sheldon L. Crosby, Third Secretary of the American Embassy.
The Rt. Hon. Sir Savile Brinton Crossley, Bart, P.C, KC.V.O.
Venerable Archdeacon William Cunningham, D.D., LL.D., President of the Royal Historical Society.
Mr. Richard T. Davies, Past Vice-President of The Pennsylvania Society.
The Lord Desborough, K.C.V.O., President, London Chamber of Commerce.
The Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Cockfield Dimsdale, Bart, P.C, K.CV.O., Chamberlain of London.
Sir George Donaldson.
Mr. Thomas Estall.
Mr. Barr Ferree, Secretary of The Pennsylvania Society.
Mr. Thomas L. Field.
Sir Luke Fildes, R.A.
Mr. Banister Fletcher, F.R.I.B.A.
Mr. Alfred F. Fox.
Sir George Frampton, R.A., F.S.A.
Mr. L. Da Costa Penn Gaskell.
Mr. Thomas Penn Gaskell.
Sir Hugh Gilzean-Reid, LL.D.
Rear-Admiral Caspar F. Goodrich, U. S. N.
Mr. Edwin Gould.
Mr. William Guggenheim, Treasurer of The Pennsylvania Society.
His Excellency the Hon. Curtis Guild, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Russia.
William Penn Memorial
Mr. Hubert Hall, F.S.A., Vice-President of the Historical Association.
Mr. Leland Harrison, Second Secretary of the American Embassy.
Lt.-Col. Arthur Reginald Hoskins, D.S.O., Staff College, Chamberley.
Mr. Marcus B. Huish.
Sir Charles Johnson, Alderman and Sheriff of London.
Mr. Frank Browne Keech.
Field-Marshal The Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum, K.P., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E.
Capt. Granville Knox.
Admiral Hon. Sir Hedworth Lambton, K.C.B., K.C.V.O.
Prof. Sir John Knox Laughton, Secretary of the Navy Records Society.
Col. Richard C. B. Lawrence, CB.
Sir Walter Roper Lawrence, Bart, G.CLE.
Sir Sidney Lee, LL.D.
Mr. C. R. Loop, Deputy Consul-General of the United States.
Mr. Sidney Low.
Mr. Maurice Crawford Macmillan.
Mr. James McDonald.
Mr. John Howard McFadden, Member of The Pennsylvania Society.
Mr. John Murray, F.S.A.
Mr. Albert Cook Myers.
Hon. Wallace Nesbitt, K.C.
Dr. Philip Norman, F.S.A,, Vice-President of the London Topographical Society.
The Lord Northcliffe.
Col. Sir. Gilbert Parker, D.C.L., M.P.
Mr. Joseph Pennell.
Mr. Norman Penney, F.S.A., Librarian Friends' Reference Library.
Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie, D.C.L., F.R.S.
Mr. Henry Phipps, Member of The Pennsylvania Society.
The Rt. Hon. Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., P.C, LL.D., D.C.L.
The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Ranfurly, P.C, G.C.M.G., Honorary Member of The Pennsylvania Society.
His Excellency, the Hon. Whitelaw Reid, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Great Britain.
The Rev. Arthur W. Robinson, D.D., Vicar of Allhallows Barking.
Sir Percy Sanderson, K.C.M.G.
Mr. H. Sefton-Jones.
Captain Edward Simpson, U.S.N., Naval Attache to the American Embassy.
Venerable Archdeacon William Macdonald Sinclair, D.D.
Mr. Isaac Sharp, Secretary of the Society of Friends.
Mr. James G. Shepherd, Member of The Pennsylvania Society.
The Marquess of Stafford.
24 William Penn Memorial
Mr. Leonard Stokes, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
The Rt. Hon. Sir T. Vezey Strong, P.C, Lord Mayor of London.
Lt.-Col. Dugald Stuart.
Mr. Benjamin Thaw, Member of The Pennsylvania Society.
Dr. Silvanius Phillips Thompson, F.R.S.
Sir William Purdie Treloar, Bart., Alderman and Past Lord Mayor of London.
Mr. Frederick C. Van Duzer, Hon. Secretary of the American Society in London.
Col. Sir Charles M. Watson, K.M.G.
Col. Sir Edward Ward, K.C.B., K.C.V.O., Permanent Under-Secretary of State, War Office.
Mr. Humphrey Ward.
Major James K. Watson, C.M.G., ist A.D.C. to H. H. The Khedive.
Sir Aston Webb, C.B., R.A., C.V.O., Past President of the Royal Insti- tute of British Architects.
Major Creighton Webb.
Mr. Richard Westacott, Vice-Consul-General of the United States.
Mr. James Gilbert White, Member of The Pennsylvania Society.
Mr. A. H. Wiggin.
Sir Henry Arthur Wiggin, Bart.
In addition to the gentlemen named above, Her Grace the Duchess of Sutherland and a company of ladies came into the dinner hall at the beginning of the speaking.
His Excellency, the Hon. Whitelaw Reid, the American Ambas- sador, v^ith Mrs. Reid, arrived quite late in the evening.
The follov^ing was the menu :
MENU
Melon glace
A la tortue clair Krupnic a la reine
Truite a la Christiana Filet de sole a la Jongleur .
Ris de veau a la Victoria
Baron d'agneau, provengale
Beignets de pomme Pois de Nice
Mousse de jambonneau, sauce Berclere
Epinards a la creme
Caille sur croustade
Salade beige
Souffle a la royale
Peches glacees a la favorite
Cassolette a la Sefton
Pol Roger, Extra Quality, Extra Dry, 1900.
William Penn Memorial 25
The toasts and speakers to respond to them were as follows:
"The King and President."
'The Navy," Admiral Hon. Sir Hedworth Lambton, K.C.B. ; Rear-Admiral French E. Chadwick, U.S.N.
'The Army," Field-Marshal The Viscount Kitchener of Khar- toum, K.P.
"The Memory of William Penn," The Earl of Ranfurly, P.C, G.C.M.G.; The Honourable James M. Beck; Admiral The Lord Charles Beresford, G.C.B. ; Hon. Wallace Nesbitt, K.C.
"London and Philadelphia," The Honourable George F. Baer.
During the Dinner, and before the formal speaking, President Thompson read a number of cables, telegrams and letters:
Cable from the Secretary of State of the United States :
I cordially sympathize with this international tribute to the memory of William Penn. P. C. Knox.
Cable from the Governor of Pennsylvania:
As Executive of the Commonwealth that William Penn founded, I send greetings and best wishes. William Penn's desire for uni- versal peace, his sound views on education, his aim to promote the highest well-being of all who came to his colony, are bearing fruit in our day among a happy and industrious people. May the memory of his good deeds and noble purposes continue to be cherished to the end of time.
John K. Tener, Governor of Pennsylvania.
Cable from the Mayor of Philadelphia :
Philadelphia sends greeting, thanks and appreciation across the
waters to those assembled around the banquet board extolling the
virtues and commemorating the deeds of Penn. Philadelphia
wishes to add her praise, love, and admiration for her great Founder.
John E. Reyburn, Mayor of Philadelphia.
26 William Penn Memorial
Cable from ex-Governor Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, President of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania :
Loyal Pennsylvanians gathered to do honour to Penn here as you do honour to him in London in the atmosphere of his actual deeds. We send greetings to the place of his birth.
Pennypacker.
Cable from the Hon. William Andrews Clark, Vice-President of The Pennsylvania Society:
Congratulate you upon installation Penn Tablet. Regret ex- ceedingly inability to be present. Clark.
Telegram from the Rev. Canon Sv^allow, Headmaster, Chig- well (Essex) School:
The headmaster, assistant masters and boys of Chigwell School, where William Penn was educated, cordially appreciate and desire to share in the honour being done by you to his illustrious name. Canon Swallow^ School House, Chigwell.
Letter from the Right Hon. Arthur James Balfour, M.P. :
July II, 1911. Dear Col. Thompson :
I wish it were in my power to be present at a ceremony so interesting to English-speaking communities on both sides of the Atlantic.
The growth of the great Republic, one of whose constituent states was founded by William Penn, has far exceeded all that he or his contemporaries can have dreamed, even in their most san- guine moments; but the roots of the mighty tree strike deep into British soil, and The Pennsylvania Society, in placing a monument to Penn in the church where he was baptized, have not only done honour to the first Governor of Pennsylvania, but have com- memorated the historic unity of two great peoples.
William Penn Memorial 27
It is surely a happy coincidence that this Memorial to the advo- cate of Peace should be erected in a year which has seen the two nations with which he was connected set an example to the world as to the means by which war may most surely be averted.
Believe me, Yours very truly,
A. J. Balfour.
Letter from the Right Hon. Augustine Birrell, K.C., Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland :
July 12, 191 1. Dear Lord Charles Beresford :
My duties in Dublin have left me but a few minutes to keep my promise to write you a line to express my regret at not attending the Penn Dinner.
I have long regarded William Penn as one of the most interest- ing figures in the common history of England and America. Like all really interesting people he is also not a little puzzling. I have visited all his haunts in Buckinghamshire and have read, amongst the Quaker records, a great many of his letters ; but it yet remains to me to visit the great State of the Union which will carry his name down the centuries.
There is no difficulty in loving Americans; for we are bidden in the Book Penn knew so well, to love even our enemies ; but what we English and Americans have still got to learn is to like one another. When we both love and like each other the peace of the world will be better assured than it is to-day. Such gatherings as the Penn Dinner must contribute to this pious end. Believe me, Your very sincerely,
Augustine Birrell.
28 William Penn Memorial
ADDRESS OF COL. ROBERT M. THOMPSON, PRESIDENT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY.
My Lord Mayor, my Lords and Gentlemen:
To-day sons of Pennsylvania have placed in the ancient Church of Allhallows Barking-by-the-Tower, a memorial to the Founder of their State, William Penn. Born of a fighting race and himself trained to war, he became an apostle of peace. The youth reared in the atmosphere of royal courts became the man of pious Quaker faith and went out into an unknown wilderness to labour for the common good. He alone of the great colonists of the New World employed the arts of peace and successfully made friends of the Indians.
In this year, when our leaders are seeking by treaty to ensure peace and amity between the two great English-speaking nations, it is fitting that we remind them of William Penn, and that his memory stands for peace and friendship founded upon fair dealing and a full recognition of mutual rights. If upon this sure foundation our statesmen build their new temple to peace and friendship, it will stand.
May I remind you that we are not alone to-night in showing honour to the memory of our founder. In another banquet hall three thousand miles across the sea, other loyal sons of Pennsylvania are assembled, and that modern miracle, the Atlantic cable, joins us together, so that almost simultaneously both audiences will know the words that are spoken.
And now, my Lord Mayor, my Lords and Gentlemen, I call upon you to stand up, and awaiting the signal from the cable to show that our friends in Philadelphia are ready to join us, I will propose a toast in which I am assured all loyal English-speaking people will gladly join.
Now, together with our friends in Philadelphia, we drink to the toast "The King and President."
The toast having been drunk with enthusiasm, the President said :
Mr
William Penn Memorial 29
I claim that toast has been drunk at the same instant of time in both countries.
There is one toast which is never proposed in an EngHsh-speak- ing audience without being received with enthusiasm. I give you "The Navy," that means the navy on both sides the water, and I call on a gallant admiral whom we love and respect on both sides of the world to reply, Admiral Hon. Sir Hedworth Lambton.
THE NAVY
ADDRESS OF ADMIRAL HONOURABLE SIR HED- WORTH LAMBTON, K.C.B.
Mr. President^ my Lord Mayor, my Lords and Gentlemen:
This morning about 9 o'clock I received a letter saying, "Will you reply for the Navy? and as short as you like." I telegraphed, "Alright." I am not at all sure I should not have said "all wrong." At any rate, I hope our friend the Reporter will say "Admiral Lambton briefly responded for the Navy." I happened to be at Newmarket, I was there on business, and I thought to myself that on my way back to town — it is a nice long motor ride — I would try to make up a very nice little speech ; but man proposes and a good lunch and a hot sun and sleep disposes, and so here I am returned from Newmarket. There is a well-known axiom among racing people that a jockey begins to ride too young. I believe White Melville, who is as well known in America as in England, said that a boy who was to ride well must be put on a horse as soon as he got into breeches.
The same thing holds good with a naval man. Naval men can- not be put to sea too young. You know we have to be very careful in what we say, very careful ; but if I may be allowed to say so, no man, no civilian, ever knows anything about the Navy. Well, I have studied this matter, I think, for the last thirty years and I am afraid it is impossible to say anything to the contrary. I rather think one of your poets in America, Longfellow, has put the same idea into verse. So far as the Navy goes, just the same thing has
30 William Penn Memorial
happened in both countries ; the efficiency of the Navy has been the ruin of Naval officers. This is no paradox, for an efficient Navy means peace and no honour or glory.
I will just give you a little example. Some thirty years ago I was at a place called Alexandria just about this time of the year. Well, there were two young officers — comparatively young, but not in the first blush of youth — there was my friend Lord Charles Beres- ford who is still a lord — I do not know whether he will be allowed to be a lord much longer — and there was Lieutenant (now Lord) Kitchener. Well, we were at Alexandria and Lord Charles Beres- ford very much distinguished himself in a pretty attack on the port. There was not very much harm done, but there he was, and, as flag lieutenant, I had the honour to make the signal "Well done." Now where was our friend Lord Kitchener? Lieutenant Kitchener had got on board the flagship — how he got there no one will ever know — but there he was and he was determined to lose no opportunity. Well, what happened to him there? There was a little expedition going ashore to spike some guns, and my gallant friend slipped into a boat intent upon getting ashore and into whatever danger there was, but, unfortunately for him, the Lieutenant in charge of the boat spied this long thin energetic officer and said, "What doest thou there?" and he was turned out of the boat and not allowed to go ashore.
I believe William Penn is chiefly celebrated as a man of peace and, as far as I can recollect — it is now a great many years since I was at school — he served for a short time at sea under his father, then went to America, founded Philadelphia, and after that he came back to die in the country where he was born — England. Well, gentlemen, I should like to remark, just in a sort of parenthesis, that England is a very good place to be born and die in and it is our own fault if it is not a thundering good place to live in.
My friend Admiral Chadwick, who will reply after me, will probably say some nice things about our Navy, so I will say some- thing about him. You know naval officers all over the world — I do not think it is only in England and America — are at least a genera- tion ahead of the rest of the community. For instance, when poli- ticians were talking of the possibility of war between England and
William Penn Memorial 31
America over the seal question some twenty years ago — you have all probably forgotten it — myself and the distinguished Admiral, Ad- miral Bob Evans, commonly called "Fighting Bob,'' use to discuss this matter on the Pacific coast. However, there was a question of our going to war, it was not a very serious question, but Bob Evans was pleased to discuss this matter with me over an excellent cigar. I believe he once said to a President : "Mr. President, if you want a good cigar send me to Cuba."
A friendly feeling has always existed between the English and the American Navy. I have thousands of friends in the American Navy and we have never had any difference of any sort or kind. Still, all this sort of talk of peace is an extraordinary nice thing, for the Anglo-Saxon race love peace. Does any other nation love it? Not one ; and this is where one ought to be serious. Just think of the absurdity of our position. We do not want to cut each others throats and we do not think any one wants to cut ours. In the early history of America there were occasions when there were differences between English and French settlers. They talked too much of peace and as a result they were scalped by the red-skins. The same thing will happen to the Anglo-Saxon race if we go on talking about peace to people who do not want it. Too much talk of peace is womanish. If we think by talking about peace we are going to make Continental nations share our ideas we are very much mistaken.
On the whole, things in America are pretty much the same as they are here. We are a bit smaller you know and a good deal older. A good American and a good Englishman are exactly the same. I remember giving a dinner in Hong Kong to an American squad- ron, and I got up to speak and I said: "Gentlemen, I look around the table and I do not know who are English and who are American; there is no difference." Now, who could get up in this room and say who is English and who American? When your President read that beautiful letter I said : "Good heavens, who has written that? Is it Theodore Roosevelt or is it William H. Taft?" and what was the answer? "A. J. Balfour."
Well, to return. Napoleon at St. Helena was asked to classify the fighting races, and he put the English first — I include the Anglo- Saxon race — they are all the same, we put English and Americans
32 William Penn Memorial
first. Then he put France, then he put Russia. I forgot who came after ; but I hope he is still correct. My Lords and gentlemen, it only- remains now for me to thank you very cordially for the way in which you received the toast of the Navy.
The President:
Before calling on the American representative, Admiral Chad- wick, to respond for the American Navy, I should like to say that if an expert went on any man-of-war in the world he would have no difficulty in deciding whether it belonged to Russia, Germany, France, Italy or Austria ; but let him go aboard an American or an English ship and if he does not see the flag he won't know which is which. I have the highest authority for saying that. I took the gallant admiral. Lord Charles Beresford — I have great doubts in my own mind as to which country has the highest claim to him — but I took him to inspect Admiral ''Fighting Bob" Evans's flagship, and he expressed great curiosity to see how the work was done. When he came back he said, "Why, it is just the same as on my own flagship." And that was true. When we left Admiral Evans's flagship on a torpedo boat that was lent us, the young lieutenant who commanded it came to me and said, ''I am sorry, but a signal has just been sent to Lord Charles Beresford and the quarter-master failed to read it; I am asking to have it repeated." I said, "You need not trouble. Admiral Beresford has read it to us as it was made,"
Now, gentlemen, I want to read to you before I call upon Ad- miral Chadwick to respond this cable which has just arrived from Philadelphia :
"Toast, King and President drunk with that feeling which it merits. International honour paid to Penn marks great forward strides in unity of nations and peace throughout the world. Edgar M. Church.''
William Penn Memorial 33
ADDRESS OF REAR-ADMIRAL FRENCH E. CHADWICK,
U. S. N.
Mr. President, my Lord Mayor, my Lords and Gentlemen:
First allow me to say that I reciprocate in every way the kind words which my predecessor has used with regard to the American Navy. I beg that I may use his words as my own and apply them to the British Navy with which through so many years we have been on terms of such good and cordial fellowship. Our attitude has been one of mutual esteem, that basis of true friendship.
As we are celebrating to-night the memory of a man who, though he was the son of an Admiral and though his portraits repre- sent him in armour, was essentially a man of peace, it would seem that it would have been appropriate to have had here, to answer to this part of the toast, that other man of peace whose name stands prominently in the list of the American Committee, and who if he has not worn armour himself, has had extensive naval affiliations and has been largely instrumental in putting armour where it would do good. However, though I have sailed in some of the ships which the Laird of Skibo has helped to build, I also am a man of peace. For the naval man is as much a preserver of the peace as is the policeman of London, and when the worst comes, he is no harder on his enemy than is the righteous judge who helps to put out of existence some of the disturbers of our social order. And, indeed, the naval officer himself is more frequently a judge than people think.
Few who are not directly concerned know to how great a degree the diplomacy of the world is carried on by naval men, who are both the makers of most of the international law situations and the practical expounders of the law. For the Navy is the only real body of international lawyers. That there are international lawyers in civil life we may kindly grant, but they are sporadic; they are not a great body such as are the officers of the Navy who are an order of international lawyers as much as are barristers and judges an order representing the civil law.
34 William Penn Memorial
And I venture to say that the naval man makes fewer mistakes in his field of law than do the judges in civil law, whatever the country. So distinguished an expert as Mr. John Hay once said to me, "The naval men in the Central American ports have had some most difficult subjects to deal with in the last three years, and they have not made a mistake." What is true of American naval officers is true of the British ; and it may be recalled by some of you that Lord Salisbury, as foreign minister, speaking of the difficulties in Crete, paid the latter a like high compliment. They are controllers of difficult situations ; peacemakers in the truest sense. The toast of the Navy thus seems to me not out of place in a celebration con- nected with William Penn. We are his followers.
The President:
I will read you a cable from Philadelphia :
"Representatives of government of the State founded by Penn and of the city builded by him and of descendants of his family send felicitations and acknowledgments to the President of The Pennsylvania Society for its courteous and generous hospitality on this eventful occasion."
The next toast that comes in regular order is to the sister service which we of the navy always admire, love and respect. In giving you that toast to-night I am going to give it in these words : "To the armies of the United States, Great Britain, and her Dominions over the sea." Fortunately, we have here present one whose fame is so all-embracing that he may well respond for all armies, for in all armies he is loved and respected. Lord Kitchener, may I ask you to respond to that toast ?
William Penn Memorial 35
THE ARMY
ADDRESS OF FIELD-MARSHAL THE VISCOUNT KITCH- ENER OF KHARTOUM, K.P.
Mr. President, my Lord Mayor, my Lords and Gentlemen:
The Army I represent highly appreciates the great honour that has been done them by the manner in which you have received this toast, and also because on this occasion they are associated with their brothers-in-arms of the United States Army as well as with the forces of the over-seas Dominions.
Imitation is, I believe, the highest and sincerest recognition of merits in any institution, and I can tell you that in Australia they have recently formed a college which is now full of cadets and equipped with instructors and in working order which is based on and carrying out the principles of the West Point Military Academy in America. This, I think, proves the admiration we have for that institution which has produced the officers of the United States Army, and it also shows the energy which is being displayed by the Commonwealth of Australia. The Dominion of New Zealand after studying these military problems has provided herself with an effec- tive administration for citizen troops which will be ready if needed to assist in maintaining the British Empire and the peace of the world.
I feel that I have been greatly honoured on this occasion in being asked to reply for the United States Army, so many of whose officers received me so kindly and entertained me on my recent visit to America. In their name as well as in the name of the Army I represent, I thank you all most sincerely for the very kind manner in which you have received this toast.
The President:
Some of us at this end of the room heard, during the eloquent speech of the distinguished Field-Marshal, a ticking behind us. I may tell you now that those words of his have been repeated in Philadelphia and Philadelphia is hearing every word that he spoke. I think I may well say that that is a modern miracle.
36 William Penn Memorial
Now, gentlemen, we come to the time for a toast which is, in my opinion, of very great and serious importance. We have spoken of peace ; we all want peace and we can only have peace by being strong enough to enforce it. When the time comes that the English- speaking people of the world say there shall be peace, there will be peace, and such gatherings as this is bringing that day measur- ably nearer.
I am now about to propose to you a toast which I hope you will drink not only with your lips, but with your hearts. I gave you "The memory of William Penn and the continuing friendship of the English-speaking nations." And I call upon the Earl of Ran- furly, a direct descendant of William Penn, to make the first response to the toast of his memory.
THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM PENN
THE ADDRESS OF THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF RANFURLY, G.C.M.G.
Mr. President, my Lord Mayor, my Lords and Gentlemen:
In the first place, let me say, as a representative of the descend- ants of William Penn, that we most thoroughly appreciate the honour that has been done to our grandsire, William Penn, by the unveil- ing to-day of the memorial to him, and we feel that The Pennsyl- vania Society of New York has done us personally a great honour in this ceremony and the way in which they have carried it out. Your President has most kindly invited several of us descendants here to dinner to-night and there were a large number of others, many of them ladies, present in the church, and I know I speak on their behalf and with their wish as well as my own when I return my sincere thanks to you for the memorial which you have set up to my great-great-great-great-grandfather.
William Penn was not by any means the first of his name. His family was a very ancient Saxon family and there are records of more than a hundred years before him. The grave of his great- great-grandfather can be seen at the present moment. Admiral Sir William Penn was a man of great distinction and I am quite
William Penn Memorial 37
sure that officers in the Navy, both of the United States and of our own Navy, will feel that promotion in their service is not now up to what it used to be in his days. Sir William Penn, when he was twenty-three years old, was Rear- Admiral of the Straits; when he was thirty-one, he was Vice- Admiral of England; when he was thirty-two, he was a General in the Dutch Army, fighting with the Dutch.
I noticed to-day in the church in the most admirable address you read us there were two things that seemed to me to be unique in the history of William Penn, and which alone would make his name famous — those two things were the right to "liberty of con- science" and "free trial by jury" independent of the judge. You all know how he fought against the judge and how the jury were put in prison without food, without water, without fire, and without tobacco. Personally, as a heavy smoker, I am afraid that I should have found tobacco was the hardest to be without, but the jury stood firm, and from that day free trial by jury has always been assured in this country. Whether such is always an advantage I do not know, because sometimes when there is a very pretty lady before them I think she may gain certain advantages that might not have been intended.
I understand that I am being followed by a most eloquent speaker and I shall leave anything further to him, concluding by thanking Colonel Thompson on behalf of myself and the other descendants of William Penn for his kindness in asking us here to-night. I can assure him that I personally appreciate it immensely, and am a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, as well as a member of this Society, an honorary member, and I also appre- ciate the honour that has been done me by both these Societies in making me one.
The President:
As this was a double-barrelled toast you will not object to hav- ing it replied to by not only two speakers, but by four speakers. And I am going to draw them in couples to carry out the idea to-night of union between the two countries. Having heard from England, I now call upon the official representative of the Gover- nor of Pennsylvania, Mr. James M. Beck.
38 William Penn Memorial
ADDRESS OF THE HONOURABLE JAMES M. BECK.
Mr. President, my Lords and Gentlemen:
I am greatly honoured in being designated on this occasion to represent the Governor of Pennsylvania, and therefore the titular successor of William Penn. His Excellency regrets his enforced absence, and he will deeply appreciate this present illustration of that unfailing friendship and generous courtesy with which Americans are always welcomed to this mother city of the English-speaking races. As the representative of nearly eight millions of people, the Governor of Pennsylvania charges me to convey his cordial greet- ings, and he, as all Pennsylvanians, will especially appreciate the generous courtesy which induced His Grace the Duke of Sutherland to place this noble mansion at our disposal for the exercises of this evening.
Penn and Peace are not merely verbally but suggestively allitera- tive. I could not therefore respond to the toast, "The Memory of Penn," without some allusion to the great cause of peace, which he had so much at heart and which at present rests so heavily upon the conscience of the world. I am somewhat embarrassed in doing so by the fact that I am following the distinguished representatives of the Army and the Navy, whose vigourous speeches forcibly suggest the saying of Von Moltke, that "peace is only a dream." Indeed, following as a civilian these Generals and Admirals, I feel very much as the pacific burgess of Gettysburg on the morning of that famous battle, who, on hearing the thundering appreach of Lee's and Meade's mighty battalions, consulted the repositories of the law and forthwith sent formal notice to both commanding officers that it was against the ordinances of Gettysburg to discharge firearms within the borough limits.
This is not the time or place to deliver a formal eulogy upon William Penn. I am rather prompted to suggest what would be his and our feelings if his august shade could again revisit the glimpses of the moon, and stand in our presence to-night. We should probably be surprised in finding in our midst, not the tra-
William Penn Memorial 39
ditional, rotund, naive, and somewhat bucolic itinerant preacher, which the misguided genius of Benjamin West impressed upon the imagination of the world, but a strong, vigorous, alert, resourceful man of action, who, although from considerations of the highest piety he identified himself with a lowly and despised sect, was nevertheless an accomplished and successful courtier in the reign of four monarchs. In a sense, a ward of Charles IL, he became the most trusted counselor of James IL, who not infrequently kept his closest advisers cooling their heels in the ante-room while he would spend hours with Penn, for whose brave and disinterested counsel he felt the same respect that Lear at one time did for the intrepid Kent. He had visited William of Orange on a diplomatic mission of great importance ; was a valued courtier under Queen Anne, and had even enjoyed the casual acquaintance of Peter the Great. If he entered this hall to-night, he would doubtless make the most courteous obeisance to the ladies, who honour us with their presence, for he, too, had an eye for feminine beauty. He would soon accredit himself to us not only as a man of the world, but as a statesman of no inconspicuous rank.
It is not with reference to our surprise however that I propose to speak. What would be the nature of his surprise if he could thus revisit us in this year of grace 191 1? He would doubtless be so deeply impressed with the instantaneous communication between London and Philadelphia by cable, and by the aeroplanes which sweep the very eagles from their course in mid air, that he would wish to return to the abode of the blessed, where presumably there are no aeroplanes, cables, or telephones. As a royalist, he would rejoice heartily in the accession and attendant festivities of your present ruler, and no one would feel greater pride in the increasing growth of your mighty empire.
It seems to be a mistaken impression that this tribute is to an American statesman. So the London press has recently said, and in further illustration of this impression I may refer to the fact that when it was first suggested that his tablet should be erected in that Valhalla of the English-speaking race, Westminster Abbey, we were courteously advised by the authorities that its limited space was necessarily restricted to the greatest of England's sons, and could
40 William Penn Memorial
not for this reason be extended to the great men of other countries. No one need quarrel with this reasonable conclusion, but its applica- tion to William Penn seems to me remarkable. He only spent about four years of his busy life in America, and while his achievements there have deeply impressed the imagination of the world and played no inconsiderable part in the development of the American Com- monwealth, yet his chief work was that of an English statesman. No one of his time contributed more by word of mouth and by personal hardship than he to the Toleration Act of 1689, which forever secured liberty of conscience to the English people. For this great cause he suffered six months in the Tower and nine months in Newgate Prison, and his part in securing this vital liberty of conscience was quite as conspicuous as that of John Hampden in vindicating the Parliamentary authority over taxation. In this and many other ways he was a conspicuous factor in a turbulent period of English history ; and while we do well to commemorate the place of his baptism, I trust a time will yet come when his effigy will join that great gathering in the Abbey which represents the master builders of the English Empire.
As a path-finding pioneer of English civilization, Penn is in- finitely superior, whether regard be had to exalted morality or last- ing service, to any of the great adventurous English Colonists, whose effigies have found a place in the Abbey. May we not therefore with some propriety quote Dr. Johnson's couplet :
"See nations slowly wise, and meanly just, To buried merit raise the tardy bust."
His gratification would be great that the American Colonies had formed into an organic union, for he was the first to advocate such a union. He would doubtless regret, at least for the moment, that the United Colonies, or as we call them the United States, were no longer a part of the great mother Empire, but with his fine spirituality he would be quick to see that there may be a union of mind and heart of equal, if not greater, advantage to that of a merely corporate connection. No one would rejoice more than he in the sincere friendship which now happily exists between the mother
William Penn Memorial 41
Empire and her sturdiest son across the great Atlantic, and in the unbroken peace which has now lasted nearly a full century.
He would be profoundly gratified at the signal vindication by subsequent events of the principles for which he stood. The cause of religious liberty to which he gave his whole life has now become ^ almost a commonplace. His ideas of government as suggested in the frame of government which he, with the assistance of [^ Sidney and Locke, drafted for his infant commonwealth, profoundly affected the subsequent development of the greater American Commonwealth and through that of all the governments of the civilized world. He would be astonished to learn that the city which he founded, and before its very birth named Philadelphia, has now a population nearly four times as great as that of London of his day, and that his vast domain, which Charles IL called Pennsyl- vania, has become the home of nearly eight millions of people. Thus the "holy experiment," as Penn called it, has found a glorious reality in a noble commonwealth, whose star is still ascendant in the constellation of the States. Even with his Quaker thrift, he might possibly feel ashamed of the unconscious usury of his celebrated business transaction with Charles IL The King owed him ii6,cxx). Undoubtedly it was what is commercially known as a bad debt, for the "merry monarch," like Micawber, never paid any debt except of his own volition. For this Penn asked and accepted a domain of 40,000 square miles of territory which has now been shown to be as rich a section in all the varied elements of wealth as possibly exists in the entire globe. Without worrying you with statistics, the landed estates of Pennsylvania, which Penn secured for £16,000, are now worth £1,300,000,000, and the annual product of its minerals alone exceeds £100,000,000 sterling. This was a pretty good bar- gain,— even for a Quaker. I think the lineal descendants of Penn here assembled should find the heirs of Charles IL and make some restitution.
Another reform which he consistently advocated, and which has received all the vindication that is good for society, was the ; reform of the prisons. Penn had good reason to dislike the prisons ^ of his day, and wrote many pamphlets to secure their improvement. To-day our ultra-humane civilization has turned some of the prisons
42 William Penn Memorial
into high class hotels for the indigent, whose chief disadvantage is the involuntary restriction of locomotion. As the convict said, when asked by the inspectors of an American penitentiary whether he had any complaint to make, he replied that he did not object to the Sunday services, but he wished that they would not always sing the hymn, "Abide with me."
I do not think that if Penn returned to us to-night that he would be much distressed by Lord Macaulay's attempt to blacken his mem- ory. He knew too well what misrepresentation was. He suffered the fate which every man of incorruptible honour and unswerving pur- pose must suffer who attempts to pursue an undeviating course in a corrupt and turbulent period of history. Indeed, his life ended some- what under a cloud. His tenants in Pennsylvania had towards him the feeling that tenants generally have for a landlord. His own sect, to which he had given the best labours of his life, did not altogether relish the fact that Penn lived for a time in Holland House, drove to Whitehall in a stately coach and four, and was the trusted con- fidant of a Catholic king. The rascality of his land agent involved Penn in business complications, so that in his later days, although possessed of the richest domain that any individual landowner ever had in the history of the world, he found himself in his last days a prisoner for debt in Fleet Prison. Indeed, at the time of his death, beyond his immediate family, only one class of people seemed to have remembered him gratefully. They were the Indians of the American forests, whom he had treated with scrupulous fairness, and with whom he and his successors had kept peace for half a cen- tury. They called him the great "white truth-teller," and regarded him as the "man of unbroken friendship and inviolate treaties." When he died, they honoured his memory in their wigwams and about their campfires, and sent his widow as a mark of their grief a present of valuable skins.
Another cause to which he gave a lifetime of advocacy has also been realized far beyond his most sanguine anticipations. I refer to the cause of international peace. In 1692, he published his essay "To- wards the present and future peace of Europe," in which, as "the fruit of many solicitous thoughts for the peace of Europe," and to prevent what he finely called the "tragedy" of war, he advocated
William Penn Memorial 43
the formation of a European Parliament, before which all differences between the nations should be peacefully arbitrated. Like Mirabeau, he believed that "every European war is a civil war." He argued that as peace between individuals could not be preserved if each individual were to judge of the righteousness of his own quarrel, and as the foundation of peace in a single nation was the administra- tion of justice, so there could be no lasting fraternity among nations until there was a common government for the administration of international justice.
He was something more than a theorist on this subject of inter- national arbitration. He practiced what he preached. Although granted Pennsylvania by Charles H., and having a title regarded as perfect by civilization, yet on his arrival in the Delaware he bought again from the Indians the land which he had bought from the English king. Under the branching elms of the forest he made his famous treaty with the Indians, saying to them :
"We are met on the pathway of mutual respect and fair dealing. No advantage will be taken on either side, but all shall be openness and love. I will not call you children, for even parents sometimes chide their children too severely. Nor brothers, for even brothers sometimes differ. Our friendship I will not liken to a chain, for that the rain might rust or a falling tree might break. We are as if one man's body was divided into two parts. We are all one flesh and blood."
To this the so-called savages replied: "While the sun shines and the river runs, we will keep peace with William Penn and his children."
Nothing in that time more deeply impressed the imagination of the world than this treatment of the Indians, and the scrupulous fidelity with which both contracting parties recognized their cove- nants for nearly three-quarters of a century. During that time Penn- sylvania alone of all the colonies was exempt from Indian wars. Well might the cynical Voltaire say that this was "the only treaty between nations which was not reduced to parchment or ratified by an oath and yet was never broken."
In this there seems to be a lesson for the hour, when His Majesty's Government and the United States of America are pre-
44 William Penn Memorial
paring to make a treaty of arbitration far in advance of any similar agreement, in which differences will be submitted to arbitration even though they are supposed to involve national honour. For myself, I cannot give any exaggerated value to arbitration treaties. They serve a purpose in providing a means for adjusting the disputes which may arise even between friends, but they are valueless without respect to the size of the parchment, the number of the seals, or the quantity of red tape, unless each nation is inspired with a reasonably pacific and fair-minded disposition. Unless England and the United States can meet each other as Penn met the Indians, "upon the pathway of mutual respect and fair dealing," with no intention to take advantage on either side, our treaties of arbitration will be little better than the parchment upon which they are written. The real hope, which we can now so confidently cherish, of an abiding peace between England and the United States, arises in that spirit of honest friendship and mutual respect which I am persuaded animates both.
Such was the spirit of William Penn. In an age of unceasing war and perverted international morality, he was a morning star that heralded the dawn of a better day. If in the seventeenth century the infant Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the so-called savages of the forests could preserve an unbroken peace for three- quarters of a century without other guarantee than the policy of ''mutual respect and fair dealing," then we may cherish a reasonable hope that in the twentieth century our two puissant and sovereign nations, united by such an infinite number of common ties, can similarly maintain an inviolate friendship, whether there be a treaty of arbitration or not. May not each say to the other, as did William Penn on the banks of the Delaware — and perhaps the refrain first heard in Bethlehem, of "peace on earth good will to men," never had a nobler echo, —
"Our friendship I will not liken to a chain, for that the rain might rust or a falling tree might break. We are as if one man's body was divided into two parts. We are one flesh and blood"?
William Penn Memorial 45
The President:
Listening to the eloquent words of our friend we may well believe that the "pen" is mightier than the sword, and we may also remember that in the roll of centuries years do not count ; we count by events and by the great influences which spring from action. Though Penn was in Pennsylvania for only four years, yet 250 years have passed and have not lessened the influence of his acts in the Empire that he founded. You have heard words from two representatives and now I am going to call upon another, one whose voice all here will listen to with delight and pleasure.
I well remember in our centenary year when celebrating the, to us, great day of Independence, when we called upon the navies of the world to come and visit our great city of New York and help us to celebrate that day, and on the great day of that celebration when the sailors of all the navies of the world marched down our great thoroughfare the sailors of England led the line and a gallant sailor now an Admiral of England led the line of Englishmen, and when at the end of the line they broke up, a countryman meeting this officer said, "Be you a foreigner?" "No," replied the officer, "I am not a foreigner, I am an Englishman."
We have the man here to-night who never was a foreigner; he is one of ourselves, we love him and we trust him perhaps even more than you do. We have been ready to learn the lessons that he has taught. Wherever the name of Beresford is mentioned in all our broad land we greet him as one of the great expressions of the great English-speaking race. I well remember - when he was my guest at Pensacola, where our fleet was assembled, how nearly I sacrificed the friendship of years because the captain of every ship in all that fleet felt there was a special reason why he should receive Lord Charles Beresford upon his ship and because I would not decide in each one's favour he was inclined to think I was unfair and unfriendly. When I ask Lord Charles Beresford to respond, I am asking a man who is in himself a tie that binds our two countries together. Lord Charles Beresford, I call upon you to reply.
46 William Penn Memorial
ADDRESS OF ADMIRAL THE LORD CHARLES BERESFORD, G.C.B.
Mr. President, my Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen:
This is indeed a notable occasion. Here is a proof that the great English-speaking nations desire to consolidate that friendship which is only natural amongst nations who speak the same language, have the same traditions, possess the same sentiments of fair play and chivalrous dealing ; men who in the present day sing the same songs wherever the English language is spoken. We meet to honour the name of one who spent his life in the cause of peace and good-will. Men of the British Empire and of the United States are here united to pay respect to the memory of an American citizen who combined in his own person the noblest traits of both great nations.
The pending arbitration treaty between the British and United States Governments is an effort in the direction of peace. It is commanding the attention of the civilized world. Its object would have commended itself to the man in whose honour we are meeting to-day. We of the United Kingdom are proud that William Penn was born and ended his days in England. The noble work he carried out in America earned for him the love and respect of all who knew him. The savage Indian tribes acknowledged and regarded him as the Great Chief who devoted his time amongst them to the cause of peace and humanity. His acts and deeds left a name that can never be effaced.
The bonds of friendship between the United States and the British Empire are becoming stronger as years roll by. Many of us look forward to the time when, avoiding anything approaching false sentiment, the English-speaking nations may become the organized peace-keepers of the world. Peace and good-will amongst the nations of the earth can never be brought about by sentiment alone. As united nations, we should be strong enough to command respect when we range ourselves on the side of peace. The con- tinued friendship of the English-speaking nations will do as much
William Penn Memorial 47
for liberty and civilization as the efforts of William Penn long years ago in the North American continent.
On the part of the United Kingdom, I applaud the sentiments expressed in the toast given by Col. Thompson, "The memory of William Penn and the continuing friendship of the English-speaking people."
The President:
Once before reference has been made to the union between the two great English-speaking nations, but the time has come when we must take note of the fact that it is no longer a question of the two English-speaking nations. Your Dominions across the sea to-day have taken their place amongst the ranks of the nations and must be taken into account. No gathering like this is complete unless you hear the voice of Canada, of Australia, of New Zealand, of all your Dominions speaking here, and to-night I have felt it would not be fit that we should reply to this toast without calling upon those Dominions to respond, and I have asked a gentleman who is here to-night to speak for the Dominions beyond the sea, Mr. Wallace Nesbitt, of Toronto.
ADDRESS OF THE HON. WALLACE NESBITT, K.C.
Mr. President y my Lords and Gentlemen:
The relations between Canada and the United States I was reminded of by finding myself alongside His Excellency the new Ambassador of the United States to Russia, Mr. Curtis Guild. I can best illustrate the amity of these relations and how it is taken for granted that it would be impossible to have anything in the nature of a quarrel between us by two illustrations of which he is the central figure. In 1905 the King's Own Regiment of Canada was asked to take part in some celebration in Providence, Rhode Island. At the last moment it was discovered that, under an old statute of Massachussets some hundred odd years old, it was absolutely forbidden the troops of any foreign nation to parade in arms any-
4B William Penn Memorial
where upon the highways of Massachussets. It was impossible to recall the invitation, and it was apparently impossible to get rid of the difficulty.
The Governor of Massachusetts fled to Maine, the Attorney- General fled somewhere else; my friend here stepped into the office as Deputy Governor for the time being, and called upon a dis- tinguished lawyer to act as Assistant Attorney-General and the two of them analyzed the statute and my friend pointed out the fact that there must be no statute that could interfere with the welcome of Canadian troops as representing the British Empire in the United States. They studied the statute and my friend then evolved this little artifice. I do not know that he is a descendant of the astute William Penn, but he evolved this little artifice. The troops were brought to the railway station, their arms were stored for the moment in the waiting-room; they were taken in waggons to the next station, so they did not parade. Then they were taken to Providence and my friend promptly obtained the repeal of that law, and to-day anywhere in the State of Massachusetts by the act of the Governor Canadian troops representing your Empire, with their drums beating and their bayonets fixed, in full uniform can parade the streets of any city.
And as a further evidence of the amity that exists, you may remember that about a hundred and thirty-five years ago there was some small unpleasantness at a place called Bunker's Hill. A regiment of Canadian Fusiliers were asked to take part in the Bunker's Hill celebration and to show the relations that exists, I need only say to you that the flags of England and the United States were draped together upon that hill, both of equal importance ; the one worthy for their resistance, the other worthy for the attack that took place, and the Fusiliers in their bearskins and red coats took part in the Bunker's Hill celebration. Need I say anything more as to the relations that exist between Canada and the United States than to give you those two recent illustrations?
Now something has been said about the history of William Penn in the very eloquent speech made by my friend Mr. Beck. I was reminded while he was speaking of the fact that if the ghost of Penn could revisit this hall he would find a familiar atmosphere.
William Penn Memorial 49
You may remember that though he spent only four years in Penn- sylvania, the greater part of that time was taken up with the most distressing quarrel between the Upper and the Lower House which he had created, by the Lower House assuming to take the full respon- sibility and depriving the Upper House of any voice in the affairs of the Commonwealth whatever. I do not want to enter into English politics, but I think the ghost would recognize perhaps that he was still in the same atmosphere that he had quitted in Philadelphia. The result, fortunately, was that both houses were put an end to.
Now as to the general sentiment that prevails, so far as I know, throughout the world between the great English-speaking communi- ties as represented by the British Empire and the United States, I think I can best illustrate by another little incident that Admiral Lambton will perhaps correct me in if I am wrong. In the year i860, or thereabouts, an English frigate found itself under the fire of the Canton Forts, her masts were shot away, her sails were down, most of her gunners were lying bleeding and mangled on the deck when about twenty gunners from an American frigate, which was near by under the command of Capt. Tatnell, slipped over the side of the frigate, climbed up the side of the English frigate, fired the English guns until the enemy's guns were silent and victory was on the side of England, and then only Capt. Tatnell thought of the great difficulties he might get his nation into by such a gross breach of international law. He, however, turned to one of his officers and said, ''Blood is thicker than water." My belief is that if the time should ever, unhappily, come when the gunners of England are again mangled and bleeding upon the decks of their vessels that you will find blood is thicker than water, and the American navy will again come to their rescue. In reference to the Arbitra- tion Treaty I believe, as one of the speakers has said, that if we unite and if the Empire, including the Dominions over the seas and the United States, unite in saying there shall be no war, there will be no war. The most triumphant instrument of peace to-day in world is the recognition of the fact that, although there is no actual bond of alliance offensive or defensive, no one will dare take the chance of fighting the English tongue. Much has been said about
50 William Penn Memorial
peace, but there is one little thing, that if we all put a shoulder to the wheel and only get my eloquent friend to interview the United States Senate, I am quite certain you could bring about a permanent treaty which would forbid any armed vessel upon the Great Lakes between Canada and the United States, and the last possible element of friction would be removed and we would dwell with them in the most absolute amity and our troops and their troops would have no possibility of any hostile feeling.
The President:
I did well in asking that you should listen to the Dominions over the seas. I told you I had four speakers to answer to the Toast, but we have been fortunate enough to have come into our hall one whom we hoped for but feared we might not be honoured by his presence. The American Ambassador to Great Britain is now present and I am sure you will be glad to have from him a benediction upon the words of peace that have been uttered.
Mr. Whitelaw Reid, may I ask, as a favour, that you will add to the words that have already been spoken?
ADDRESS OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE HONOURABLE WHITELAW REID.
Mr. President, Ladies, my Lords and Gentlemen:
It seems to me that coming very late into this hall I have already struck upon an extremely dangerous point. It is never, indeed, dangerous to give a benediction to any words of peace. But we have had some recent experience in this country and in my own which teaches me that it is best to say as little as possible about alliances. I am here, at any rate, not to make a speech — I was assured I need not — I am here rather in the guise of a penitent to make the best excuses I can for having been unable to undertake a duty which I was asked to discharge in connection with the unveil- ing of the tablet to William Penn, and to make my further excuses for having been unable to accept the gracious hospitality which you have all been enjoying here this evening.
William Penn Memorial 51
Having done that, I really have nothing more to add except to congratulate you on what seems to be your brilliant success in hav- ing made English people somewhat acquainted with the State of Pennsylvania and having done something towards making the American people better acquainted with William Penn. They are both very deserving subjects. The State of Pennsylvania has cer- tainly contributed as much to the Union as any other State that can be named, and especially in the early days of the Republic it made almost greater contributions to the service of the Republic than any other one State, Virginia always excepted.
You might say of Pennsylvania what the great orator said of Massachussets : "There she stands: she speaks for herself." Due contribution made in the early days was that of one of the greatest men that ever adorned English or American history, Benjamin Franklin. Others who rendered almost equal service were Morris who financed the Revolution and Gallatin who financed the new nation. Well, gentlemen, the only thing that you need explain further in connection with that is, that only one of the three really belonged to Pennsylvania; all that you can really claim about the other two is that you developed them ! You have developed a great deal since ! Far be it from me to say that the present men in control of affairs in Pennsylvania are not as great as they. In fact, it becomes me to think that some of them are, for one is my immediate chief, and amongst the others are men like Penrose and the Chair- man of this Meeting.
Well, gentlemen, with reference to William Penn I do not think that you need any more eulogies, after what you have already heard. It may be said of him, as it has been said of men who were less peaceful, that a great deal of the trouble by which people were environed was owing to meddling with cold iron. He did not mean to meddle with cold iron himself in the least, and yet he seemed to come out rather the worst for it. He is the patron saint of Penn- sylvania now, but it happens that the Assembly of his own Province turned him out of the Governorship for some lack of respect. Then he came back to his own country where he promptly got arrested and tried for high treason. Well, it is pleasant to remember that he was honourably acquitted from the charge of high treason and
52 William Penn Memorial
was trusted again by his King, and it is more pleasant still to remem- ber that a second and wiser Assembly of Pennsylvania took him back as Governor.
Gentlemen, I have not the remotest intention of going any further into the subject of this meeting and least of all entering upon those high questions which have been introduced, connected with the preservation of the peace of the world. I can only re-echo most cordially one sentence which I caught on my late entrance to the effect that the English language is hard to fight. Wherever you have that bond of union, you are likely to have the sort of thing which exists between these English representatives and ourselves, a boundary line of 3,000 miles without a gun upon it and without a soldier. If there is a great peace-making institution in the world, it is the English language, especially when coupled with the English common law, English parliamentary institutions and the common aspirations of both our countries.
The President:
Time draws on, yet there is so much to say that will be so well said that I hope your patience will not weary of it. There comes a toast to which I am sure you will all drink bumpers: "The Two Great Cities, London and Philadelphia." The Mayor of Phila- delphia has sent one of the leading citizens of that great city to represent him here and I am going to call upon Mr. George F. Baer to respond to the toast, "London and Philadelphia."
LONDON AND PHILADELPHIA
ADDRESS OF THE HONOURABLE GEORGE F. BAER.
Mr. President, my Lords and Gentlemen:
I am an emergency man. By cable I have been drafted to repre- sent the Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, and ordered into imme- diate service without that chance of drill and preparation for action that my distinguished countrymen have been more fortunate in having. There is perhaps some incongruity in the fact that the
William Penn Memorial 53
Mayor of a Quaker city should call upon a Pennsylvania German to represent that city. But on reflection the eternal fitness of things is not so seriously outraged as one would suspect. With great gratitude the Pennsylvania Germans recall that there was a time when Penn was their great benefactor. In the great tumult in Europe, when the cities and the homes of the Rhine were devastated and numberless Germans were cast upon the world as wanderers without shelter or without hope, it was Penn who called them into counsel and told them of the Commonwealth he had founded in Penn- sylvania, where liberty of conscience and liberty regulated by law was supreme. In countless numbers they flocked there, numbers so great that after a few short years the Proprietary Governor of Pennsylvania called the British Government's attention to the fact that the number was so great that the dominion of the British in Pennsylvania was threatened.
At one time Penn's great nation, having mercy upon several thousand Palatines, offered them a home and shelter in your own land. When it was not found practicable to take care of them here, your good Queen Anne chartered many ships and sent them to New York. I dare not tell you to-night in the presence of the Penn- sylvania Society of New York what their treatment was in New York, because New York, as is demonstrated by the presence of these great Pennsylvanians dwelling in New York, has become more hospitable ; but in the course of a few years those worthy Germans came over to Pennsylvania to seek good homes and peace and rest. There is more significance in this gathering to-night than in the mere commemoration of the life of Penn. These two great nations are bound together by marvelous ties. Though we separated from you many years ago, in everything that controls the liberties and the conscience of our American people we are still English. The com- mon law is our law ; in the courts of justice your decisions are given equal force to our own, and whether you fully recognize it or not we are as missionaries accomplishing a great work which will tend for all time to make perpetual the dominion of the men who speak the English tongue.
Year by year millions of men of strange tongues come to our land and in the course of a few generations their foreign tongues
54 William Penn Memorial
are forgotten and they speak the English language and imbibe those English principles which have been for the last centuries the leading ideals of the world. So that it is inconceivable — not inconceivable, perhaps — ^but improbable that at any time these English-speaking people shall ever come to any serious warfare. Jealousies there will be between us, rivalry there will be, because after all rivalry is the token of progress ; but we can never conceive of two nations speak- ing the same language and having the same traditions, ever coming into any serious conflict.
It has been said that language and not race is the bond that unites the peoples of the earth, and so it is. When I remember how brothers in our own land, speaking the same language and of the same race, and under the same government, rose up in deadly con- flict, I may well hesitate to prophesy as to the future peace of the world. Whatever the future may have in store for us, sure I am that in the onward movement of the world these great English-speaking nations will be the foremost in controlling the destiny of the world.
I am not so sure that temples of peace, and prayers for peace, and the theories of peace of even William Penn will dominate and be final ; but I am impressed with the idea that in some mysterious way and by means perhaps of intercommunication such as we have had to-night with Philadelphia, the world is becoming more akin. The commercial interests of the world are becoming so great that the great nations engaged in commerce and business will stop the angry cry of politicians and their reserve of common sense will prevent any serious war in the future.
These are aspirations, but I am not here to make a formal speech, but simply to represent the City of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia is a "no mean city." The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is so great in all its material prosperity that there is scarcely any one section of the world superior to it. She has the natural wealth that nature in her prodigality has given to the best of the nations. She could produce the food to take care of twice her present population and she has the mineral resources and the capacity within her territory to develop all that is essential for the comfort of man, even in this progressive and extravagant age, without going outside her boundaries.
William Penn Memorial 55
William Penn's memorial for all time will be the great Com- monwealth he founded. Philadelphia sends greetings in the spirit of brotherly love to the great City of London, the acknowledged Metropolis of the world. What Rome was to ancient civilization, London is to modern civilization. With all her historic greatness, with all the honours that have through the centuries been given her, not amongst the least is the fact that here was the birthplace of William Penn.
The President:
The Pennsylvania Society desires to recognize the gracious and kindly hospitality which has assembled us here in this wonderful banqueting hall in this old historic mansion in what is to-day the centre of all civilization; and has entrusted me with the duty of presenting to the gracious lady in whose mansion we are now assembled the medal of the Society. And grateful as I am to them for giving me this pleasant task I feel that I need protection; and for protection I confidently appeal to the Navy and the Army of England. I ask Lord Charles Beresford and Lord Kitchener to assist me in presenting this medal to the Duchess of Sutherland who has favoured us with her presence.
The President, attended by Admiral Lord Charles Beresford and Lord Kitchener, then presented the medal to Her Grace, the Duchess of Sutherland.
The President:
And as the last great touch, the gilding of refined gold, the casting of the perfume upon the violet. Her Grace will herself reply.
RESPONSE OF HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF SUTHER- LAND.
Col. Thompson, Lord Kitchener, Lord Charles Beresford, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I consider it a very great honour to have been allowed to have been here to-night at this most thrilling evening. I cannot tell you with what deep interest I have listened to the speeches on this auspicious
56 William Penn Memorial
occasion and how much I shall cherish this medal which has been given me to-night and which will be precious to me above rubies. My own disappointment in this thrilling evening is the fact that you gentlemen are dining without your hats. I had hoped to find you in your hats. And as regards Mr. Beck's remarks in his wonderful speech that he is looking for the descendants of Charles II., although it is, perhaps, hardly the time to talk about the descendants of Charles II., I may say that he has not very far to go if he really wishes to repay that debt, as I am on my mother's side a Fitzroy and a Beauclerc.
The President:
It is not fitting that we should leave this room to-night without a recognition of the distinguished gentlemen to whose kindly invita- tion we owe the fact that we are here present to-night. His Grace, the Duke of Sutherland, controlled by engagements which could not be put aside, cannot be here with us, but to represent him his gallant son Lord Stafford is here and ready, as are all Englishmen of his class, to do their duty. I am sure he will stand here as the repre- sentative of his father and receive from us our hearty thanks for the hospitality shown to us.
RESPONSE OF THE MARQUESS OF STAFFORD.
Colonel Thompson^ my Lords and Gentlemen:
1 dare not think, after the many brilliant speeches we have heard to-night, that it is fitting for me to say more than a word. I merely wish to say that I know that my father's, as well as my own great wish, is that good feeling and good fellowship should always exist between the two great countries of the United States and Great Britain, and that is one of the reasons why he has been so pleased to do the smallest service of lending his house to-night.
The President:
And now the time for parting comes I will not say "good-bye," better I think the German words, "Auf Wiedersehen."
The proceedings then terminated.
THE PHILADELPHIA LUNCHEON
Simultaneous dinner parties three thousand miles and more apart are in themselves of sufficient rarity, when given by one host, to attract universal attention. When it happens that the two parties so widely separated are engaged in commemorating so notable an event as the dedication of the William Penn Memorial in London, the separated gatherings become part of a united whole of inter- national significance. Colonel Thompson's proposal that at the very hour he was presiding at the Penn Commemorative Dinner in Stafford House he would also in spirit, and through accredited representatives, be presiding at a similar function in Penn's fair city of Philadelphia, was greeted with the enthusiasm so happy a suggestion merited. And when to the act of simultaneous feasting was added the unusual facility of direct cable connection between the two dinner halls, the very summit of human attainment in long- distance communication was attained.
Such was the programme, and it was carried out in the fine spirit with which it was conceived. Now simultaneous dining in London and Philadelphia is a matter that presents some difficulties other than that of the mere bridging of space. When the day has advanced to the hour of eight in the evening in London, it has yet but reached the tender hour of three in the afternoon in Philadelphia. And this hour, it is scarce necessary to point out, has long since ceased to be an hour for a meal in Philadelphia. Obviously the astronomical conditions prevented a duplication of the function in London, and the Philadelphians had, perforce, to content themselves with a "Luncheon." And the like of it was never known before in Philadelphia, for never before had the memory of William Penn been honoured in the two cities of London and Philadelphia simulta- neously.
Quite naturally the Bellevue-Stratford was the scene of the Philadelphia festivity. And the day being warm — the newspapers averred it was hot — the roof of this great Philadelphia caravansary was, as naturally, the scene of the luncheon. The cable wires were brought directly to the table at which Colonel Thompson's guests were seated.
5 8 William Penn Memorial
The invited guests included :
Hon. John E. Reyburn, Mayor of Philadelphia.
Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker, former Governor of Pennsyl- vania and President of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Hon. John C. Bell, Attorney-General of Pennsylvania, repre- senting the Governor of the State.
Mr. Arthur L. Church, Trustee of the University of Penn- sylvania.
Judge Robert Ralston, representing the Philadelphia Bar.
Dr. Gregory B. Keen, Secretary of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Penn Gaskell Skillern.
Mr. Murdoch Kendrick.
Mr. S. H. P. Pell.
Mr. Edgar M. Church.
Mr. George N. Moran.
No speeches were made, as the circumstances of the Luncheon did not call for them. At the agreed upon signal the international toast was proposed, and numerous messages were interchanged between the company in Philadelphia and the larger gathering in London. All these are reproduced in full in the report of the Dinner at Stafford House.
The menu was as follows :
MENU
Cantaloupe Salted Almonds Relishes Pecan Nuts
Cup Cold Chicken Gumbo Guinea Chicks Grilled Virginia Ham
Potatoes O'Brien Fresh Peas
Cold Asparagus, Vinaigrette and French Dressing Cut Peaches in Vanilla Saucers Assorted Cakes Coffee Martini Cocktails Rhine Wine Cup Cordials Cigars Cigarettes
THE WILLIAM PENN COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL
THE COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL
The Commemorative Medal, struck by The Pennsylvania Society in connection with the dedication of the William Penn Memorial in London, was designed for the Society by John Flana- gan, A.N.A., sculptor, of New York. On the obverse is a portrait of Penn in profile, redrawn from the armour portrait, and on the reverse is an explanatory inscription. Of this medal one copy was issued in gold and five in silver, while the normal publication is in bronze. The gold and silver medals, and some copies of the bronze medals, were presented by the Society to a number of persons and institutions, the former including those who had rendered special aid and assistance to it in connection with the Penn Commemoration. The following list gives the honorary distribution of the medals :
Gold Medal.
Her Grace the Duchess of Sutherland.
Silver Medals.
Field-Marshal The Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum, K.P., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.C.LE.
Admiral The Lord Charles Beresford, G.C.B., G.C.V.L, M.P.
The Rt. Hon Sir T. Vezey Strong, P.C, Lord Mayor of London.
Colonel Richard C. B. Lawrence, C.B.
Hon. William Andrews Clark, Vice-President of The Pennsyl- vania Society.
Bronze Medals.
H. S. H. Prince Louis of Battenberg, G.C.B., G.C.V.O. The Rt. Hon. and Most Rev. the Lord Archbishop of Can- terbury.
The Rt. Hon. and Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of London. The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Ranfurly, G.C.M.G.
6o
William Penn Memorial
The Lord Desborough, K.C.V.O. Rt. Hon. Arthur J. Balfour, M.P. Rt. Hon. Augustine Birrell, M.P. Lt.-Col. Dugald Stuart. Mr. Thomas Penn Gaskell. Mr. John Murray, F.S.A. Rev. Arthur W. Robinson, D.D. Mr. Norman Penney, F.S.A. Mr. Banister Fletcher, F.R.I.B.A. Hon. Wallace Nesbitt, K.C. Miss Winnifred S. Penn-Gaskell. Mr. William Rutherford Mead. Mr. Burt L. Fenner. The Royal Historical Society. Christ Church College, Oxford. Chigwell Grammar School. Friends' Historical Society, London.
(^^^<^^^r
FACSIMILE OF SIGNATURES TO PENN S FRAME OF GOVERNMENT-
THE GRAVE AT JORDANS
The final incident in the Penn Commemoration of 191 1 was the placing of a wreath on the grave of William Penn in the burial- ground of Jordans Meeting-house. This solemn duty was per- formed by the Secretary as the representative of the Society. It was the culmination of the Penn pilgrimage, and a fitting climax to the tribute of The Pennsylvania Society to the great Founder of Pennsylvania.
Jordans is a quiet and sequestered spot in Buckinghamshire, about twenty miles from London. It is fortunate in having no railroad station of its own and thus its original quiet and beauty, its wonderful peacefulness and silence, have been preserved to our own day. The ancient Meeting-house stands quite alone, in the midst of soft green fields and silenced woods. Standing beneath the trees it nestles close to the ground, a guard-house to the burial- place, yet modestly without it. The little brick building has no external aspect of ecclesiastical character : nor has the burial-ground beside it any of the dismal monumentation that is so generally distinctive of such places. It is a small green field, bordered with lofty trees, standing as silent sentinels in solemn crowded rows, watching, day and night, the hallowed ground within.
And there, close by the plain wooden fence before the Meeting- house, are the graves; the graves of William Penn, of Guli Penn, his wife ; of Hannah Penn, also his wife ; of five children of William Penn ; of Isaac, Mary and John Penington ; of Thomas and Mary Ellwood; of Springett Penn. All told, upwards of four hundred persons are buried in this field, but save for a few others, the graves of the Penns alone are indicated with headstones, and these of the simplest and most unpretentious kind. Even they are modern, dating only from the early sixties ; but their plain formal character is wholly in keeping with the place.
No burial-place in the world is at once more simple or more fitting than this. Here is no forsaken field, no neglected, forgotten spot; but an open space of ground bordered on two sides by a stately growth of trees, on the third by a fence, while on the fourth the ancient Meeting-house keeps quiet watch besides the graves
fa8gttiiar»4g»i'i>TigysttP^
|
^ ^■ |
sUf* |
~y^ |
9\ |
|
^* |
^ |
fE |
|
|
\^ |
^ |
m |
|
|
^y^ |
\\ |
1 |
S'M |
|
\\\ |
illi |
^1 |
|
|
o z |
csasta |
^1 |
|
|
3 |
|||
|
o |
|||
|
oolo |
o: |
||
|
••»%** |
o |
||
|
iOOU |
|||
|
ffi§» . 4« |
< |
||
|
oc |
|||
|
3 |
|||
|
t |
«d |
||
|
* V 9 |
9 » |
P 9 |
|
|
» |
•^F |
||
|
C |
|||
|
(> e fi |
«■ «» |
o 9 |
MMt-H-M I II 1 B I I;
From Jenkins: Family of Wm. Penn
PLAN OF JORDANS BURIAL-GROUND
William Penn Memorial 63
One realizes how utterly in keeping with Penn's Quaker ideals this sacred spot must be : the very spot in truth, that those of us who love and admire him to-day like to know he had himself chosen for his burying; the very spot, had we to have chosen it for him, would unhesitatingly have selected.
Yet how un-English this burying-place is. How contrary to English ideas and methods as shown in many of their tributes to their great and mighty dead! How they flaunt their departed deadness on succeeding generations : vast tombs, gigantic memorials, resounding inscriptions, the pomps and vanities of the world marbled for all time! The shocking horrors of Westminster Abbey, the less numerous memorials of St. Paul's, the proud monuments of inconspicuous people everywhere throughout the length and breadth of Britain, bespeak a national vanity in death, a poor piteous notion as if mere stones could of themselves bring distinction to persons who had lived all their lives without it.
The greatness of William Penn has needed no marble and bronze for its recording; it has required no lofty monuments nor spacious shrines for the setting forth of his deeds and his accom- plishments. His great works in his own country and his beloved Province across the seas will live while history remains; he needs no monumented emblem to perpetuate either his name or his memory. So nothing of this sort is at Jordans; and yet out of nothing and with nothing one of the most impressive burial-places in the world has been created. It is a marvelous lesson in accomplishment, because no end was sought and nothing desired ; yet here is natural grandeur, for even nature seems to catch its breath and stand silent around this sacred field, shutting off pomp and vanity and worldli- ness and self-conceit and self-assertion and vaingloriousness. The peace of God rests upon this bit of land, and keeps it.
The memorial wreath of The Pennsylvania Society was placed upon the grave of William Penn on July 14. It is said to have been the first wreath ever placed on the grave. With this final tribute the Penn Commemoration came to an end.
A PERSONAL WORD
In concluding this Report the Secretary may be permitted a few personal words. It is, perhaps, not fitting that one identified with every stage of the proceedings should be expected to pass judgment upon matters he was himself concerned with; yet it is not possible to close these pages without a word or two on the general conduct of the Penn Commemoration. And this would seem the more proper since all the exercises were dominated by the command- ing personality of our President, Colonel Thompson, to whose splen- did generosity it was alone possible to give them the unquestioned dignity and remarkable success every incident possessed.
The Society could not, it is true, well have chosen a more incon- venient season. Throughout the first three weeks of June all England, and particularly all London, was engrossed with the Coro- nation of the King; and for the succeeding three weeks the entire British Empire was endeavouring to recover from the colossal effort put forth on that occasion. Moreover, British political affairs were, throughout this entire period, in a critical condition, so that the thought and time of public men were very much centred upon matters immediately in hand.
Obviously this was no time in which a foreign Society should have intruded itself upon the attention of the British public, even if the occasion of its intrusion was the doing of an honour to one of Britain's greatest men. Yet from the very beginning of the work in London it was apparent that we would receive not only courteous, but interested attention. And the sequel proved this to be true in a very heartfelt way. Although the day set for the Penn Commemoration was also that chosen for the Investiture of the Prince of Wales, a national event of absorbing interest, the Society commanded the attendance of a distinguished audience at the dedication of the Memorial in Allhallows Barking-by-the-Tower and at the Exhibition and Tea in Devonshire House, while Colonel Thompson's invitations to Dinner at Stafford House were accepted by a thoroughly representative company, that made this gathering a function of the first rank. These would have been achievements of no small moment under ordinary circumstances ; they amounted to a positive triumph under the actual conditions.
William Penn Memorial 65
Notwithstanding the pressure upon their space the London newspapers treated the Commemoration with ample fullness, and the Society's collection of clippings shows wide notice and a real impression of interest. The fact is, there appeared to be something in the idea of the Commemoration that appealed to the English mind. William Penn is an almost forgotten hero to the Englishman of the day ; yet here were a few men who had travelled from distant America for the express purpose of erecting a memorial to him, and for no other reason than profound affection for the man they sought to honour! Episodes of this sort do not occur every day, not even in busy London where so many things happen, and the Pennsylvania pilgrims of 191 1 readily attracted the attention their pious errand warranted.
As for the exercises as a whole, they undoubtedly constituted the most notable achievement of the Society. It is no small thing to have won attention in so crowded a community as London; yet this the Society accomplished in a way that should be as flattering to its membership at home as it was to those who represented it in the metropolis of the world. There is probably no busier man in London than the Lord Mayor; yet he generously gave fully half a day of his overcrowded time to the Penn Commemoration, coming, with the Lady Mayoress, to the Dedication, the Exhibition and the Tea, and again honouring the Society with his presence at the Dinner in the evening. It is one of the great regrets of the Commemoration that, his time being limited by a latter engagement of which we did not know, he was compelled to withdraw from the Dinner before speaking to the company as he had kindly promised to do. Summing up, as his high office does, the whole civic state of London, the participation of the Lord Mayor in our exercises was a matter of universal gratification.
And it was of profound historic significance. In Penn's famous trial at the Old Bailey, that trial which meant so much for the integ- rity of the jury, the Lord Mayor of the year was one of his judges. In 191 1 the Lord Mayor left nothing undone to testify to his own regard for Penn, and his hearty sympathy with those engaged in honouring him. Civic London, that resorted to dishonest practices to bring about Penn's imprisonment in his own day, gladly recog- nized his worth and his genius in our own.
66 William Penn Memorial
Nor should the interest of the Penn Family in the Commemora- tion be overlooked. Special pains had been taken to invite every descendant of Penn to the dedication exercises : if any were omitted they may be assured it was because they could not be reached. But the representatives of the Penns and their families made a goodly company at the church, probably the largest gathering of the kind that has ever been brought about; or at least in recent years. The few words spoken at the Dinner by Lord Ranfurly, which so obviously came from his heart, surely voiced the general feeling of the Penns concerning the Memorial and the Society.
Very friendly, also, was our reception by the officers of the Society of Friends at Devonshire House. This was a source of the utmost gratification. Our errand seemed, in some senses, one that might well have been received with coldness. We were bent upK)n accomplishing an act that seemed both contradictory and impossible, and that was to erect a memorial to one of the chief est of the Friends in a church belonging to the Church of England! Herein lay the real uniqueness of the whole proceeding ; for nothing like this had ever been done before, and the probabilities are that it will not be done again. But no courtesies were more generously offered us than by the Friends, and so far as they were able they co-operated with the Society in a very complete and brotherly way.
As a matter of fact, the Society appeared as Pennsylvanians and not as the representative of any religious body. That William Penn received his name in Allhallows Barking-by-the-Tower is an histori- cal fact of the easiest possible demonstration. Our Memorial could have and did have no religious signification. It was a tribute to a great Quaker by non-Quakers.
Even in a Report that has no set limits it is not possible to name every one who furthered the plans of the Society, either by expres- sions of interest or by personal effort. Some recognition of those who may be particularly signaled out in this respect appears else- where in these pages. A personal word of thanks for personal consideration is the most that can be oflFered here.
The Society was extremely fortunate in the make-up of its Honorary Committee. The American members were, of course, drawn from the membership of the Society itself, and the honour
William Penn Memorial
67
of these name® was the more striking because of this fact. In Eng- land the Committee represented interest in William Penn and the ideals for which he stood, and the list was more than a representative one. A programme carried out under such auspices was clearly calculated to command attention, and quite as clearly was destined for success.
Under the heading of "Comment" there has been gathered a selection of words printed and written that, as a whole, sums up the impression made upon Englishmen by the Penn Commemoration and The Pennsylvania Society. These kindly words have been drawn from an extensive correspondence showered upon our Society and its officers in this connection. They indicate, in a very fair manner, the reception accorded us in London.
PROPRIETARY SEAL OF WILLIAM PENN
COMMENTS FROM FRIENDS AND THE PRESS
The following letters and extracts from letters and from press notices of the Penn Commemoration, from papers in England and America, have been drawn from a most voluminous correspondence and from a multitude of newspaper comments on both sides of the Atlantic as affording, on the one hand, some intimate personal views on the subject of this Report, and, on the other, as depicting in a measure the general interest the William Penn Memorial has aroused :
From H. S. H. Vice-Admiral Prince Louis of Battenberg :
I shall be in the North Sea engaged in Naval manoeuvres. No other reason could keep me away from the Pennsylvania Dinner.
From the Rt. Hon. and Most Reverend the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury :
The Archbishop is interested to hear of the work which your Society has in hand and especially of the proposal to commemorate the baptism of William Penn in the Church of AUhallows Barking- by-the-Tower.
He will be glad that his name should be included among the members of the Honorary International Committee.
From the Rt. Hon. and Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of London :
The Bishop of London desires me to thank you for your letter of May the 19th, and to say in reply that it will give him very great pleasure to become a member of The Pennsylvania Society's Eng- lish Committee in connection with the William Penn Memorial.
The Bishop would suggest that you should ask Dr. Robinson kindly to prepare a special prayer to be used at the dedication of the Memorial.
From the Earl of Ranfurly :
I can safely say that the Penn descendants thoroughly appre- ciated everything.
William Penn Memorial 69
From the Lord Desborough :
I am most obliged to The Pennsylvania Society for the medal which they have so very kindly sent me, and which I shall always cherish in memory of a most interesting and agreeable occasion.
From Admiral The Lord Charles Beresford :
I sincerely congratulate you upon the splendid success of your Penn propaganda.
From the Rt. Hon. Sir T. Vezey Strong, Lord Mayor of London: I was very glad to take a humble part in some of these festivals. Delighted with the friendships it has enabled me to make.
From Sir Percy Sanderson :
I renew my thanks for the privilege of attending on such an interesting occasion, and my congratulations on the success of the whole undertaking.
From the Hon. Arthur Capell :
Pray, forgive me for having allowed a single day to pass with- out writing to you to express my thanks for your most kind and splendid hospitality last Thursday. That evening will long remain in my recollection as one of unique and abiding interest.
From the Venerable Archdeacon William Cunningham, D.D., LL.D., President of the Royal Historical Society : I desire, on behalf of the members of this Society, to convey to you our very hearty thanks for the beautiful medal which is an appropriate record of the Penn Commemoration. I should like, at the same time, to give my personal thanks for the opportunity afforded me of joining in the proceedings, which interested me greatly. May I add a word of congratulation on the admirable man- ner in which the celebration had been planned, and the success with which it was carried out?
70 William Penn Memorial
From Alexander Barclay Penn Gaskell, Esq. :
I have a very pleasant recollection of our last interview, as I then had the opportunity for which I had been waiting of expressing to you and through you to Col. Thompson, your President, my grati- tude for the kindness, consideration and hospitality which he had shown to me and all the members of my family.
I recollect also having on that occasion made one or two obser- vations about William Penn and his works; but the observation which I think you have in mind is one which, perhaps, ought not to have been made, having regard to the fact that your Society had just shown in a liberal and generous manner its great appreciation of one of my ancestors by erecting to his memory a magnificent tablet, which, in addition to its historical interest and artistic merits, has engraved upon it words which should appeal to every right-thinking man.
The observation was to the effect that I did not consider the founding of a colony which was afterwards and contrary to the wish of the Founder, named Pennsylvania, was William Penn's greatest achievement. I looked upon it rather as an incident in the career of a man who, with remarkable ability and relentless determination and regardless of the persecution and ill treatment which he suffered at the hands of the authorities, devoted the best years of his life in endeavouring to destroy the iniquitous laws then in force which had for their object the suppression of liberty of conscience and freedom of speech ; and it was on account of these last-mentioned efforts that I ventured to say England as a Nation owed William Penn an ever- lasting debt of gratitude.
I should like to add another observation, which is that I think if there were a few William Penns about at the present time they would find plenty of useful work to do in getting rid of the intoler- ance and bigotry which still play an important part in some of the ancient institutions of this country.
From Thomas Hardy, O.M., LL.D. :
I regret that I cannot accept the invitation of the President of The Pennsylvania Society of New York to the dinner on July 13th with which I am honoured. At the same time I commend the pur-
William Penn Memorial 71
pose of the dinner, having a great admiration for much of Penn's character and for his principles and ideals.
From Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L. :
Dr. Hodgkin greatly regrets that he cannot have the pleasure of accepting Mr. Robert Means Thompson's kind invitation to the Wiliiam Penn Memorial dinner on the 13th inst. He yields to none in admiration for the great legislator and philanthropist.
From Thomas Edmund Harvey, M.P. :
No better memorial of Penn can there be than in the effort now being made to bind together in the Union of Peace which President Taft has initiated, the two great kindred nations of America and Britain.
From Mr. John Howard McFadden:
I think last evening that the opportunity did not present itself sufficiently for me to express my delight and pleasure at the great success of the banquet given by you at Stafford House, and the unstinted praise of everyone that I met would please you very much if heard. The speaking was distinctly above the average, and I do not think your selection could have been better and happier, and with such environment as the palatial residence of the Duke of Sutherland, could not be equalled, let alone surpassed. One of the most beautiful episodes of the whole evening was your introduction of the Duchess, and her remarks were exceptionally happy.
From Mr. John Murray, F.S.A. :
[This letter is printed as conveying an expression of regret at an omission on the part of the guests of Colonel Thompson which seems to have been quite general. — Editor.]
Dear Colonel Thompson :
I failed to find you after the dinner yesterday evening, but I
cannot allow this morning to pass without offering you my hearty
thanks for the honour and pleasure of being present on a truly
memorable occasion — Creta notanda dies.
72 William Penn Memorial
There was however one lamentable and unaccountable omission. As the company began to disperse, and as no one else had done so, I was on the point of proposing the health of the Chairman, who by his tact and eloquence and geniality had made the occasion a great sucess.
But I was one of the few obscure guests, and I hesitated to interfere with the arrangements. I spoke to two or three dis- tinguished guests, but the psychical moment had passed.
I spoke to many friends before leaving, and I found that this one idea was in the mind and heart of every one of them. Alas that it did not find its way to their lips.
I hope I need not assure you that this cordial and grateful vote of thanks although not formally expressed has — I am quite sure — been recorded in the memory of all who had the privilege of being present last night. With renewed thanks and congratula- tions I remain, My dear Sir,
Yours very truly,
John Murray. To Colonel Robert M. Thompson.
From Norman Penney, F.S.A., Librarian Friends' Reference Library, Devonshire House: The whole business which brought you over to this country will long be held in pleasant remembrance.
From the Rev. Arthur W. Robinson, D.D., Vicar of Allhallows Barking-by-the-Tower : Permit me to thank you, and The Pennsylvania Society through you, most heartily for the very beautiful medal which you have given me. I shall prize it greatly as a memento of an occasion which has been full of interest and pleasure. You certainly have shown us how to do this kind of thing in the great style and in the best possible taste. I hope that you will return to the States with the feeling that your mission has been accomplished with the utmost success.
William Penn Memorial 72>
From the Very Rev. Thomas B. Strong, Dean of Christ Church College, Oxford: (William Penn was a student at this College.) I thank you for your note and for the medal which has been forwarded to me here. I shall have pleasure in handing them over to the custody of our Librarian, who is also keeper of our coins and medals. I am glad that so much interest is taken in the history of William Penn ; his name has, in the past, been too much neglected. I hope you will convey to your Society my thanks for their kind thought; in saying this I am sure I speak for all my colleagues in the Governing Body of Christ Church.
From Humphrey Ward, Esq. :
The dinner v»^as quite one of the ''events" of our busy season.
From Rear- Admiral R. M. Watt, U.S.N. :
Rear-Admiral Watt very much regrets that his departure on the 1 2th inst. renders it impossible to accept the kind invitation of Colonel R. M. Thompson for dinner on the 13th inst. Rear-Admiral Watt finds the disappointment particularly acute, as he is a loyal son of Pennsylvania, and would delight to do honour to the memory of William Penn.
Mr. Clement Shorter in The Sphere [London], July 22:
During the week that has gone we have been celebrating a great man — William Penn. Had I not forsworn such festivities I should like to have attended a dinner given by Mr. Robert Means Thompson, to which I had the privilege of being invited, on July 13. Penn has always interested me. I am familiar alike with the monu- ment to him in his own city of Philadelphia and with the modest gravestone at Jordans near Beaconsfield. It interested me greatly to belong to the party that gathered in Allhallows Barking-by-the Tower, and to witness the dedication of a memorial to Penn, who belongs, as few men do, alike to England and the United States of America — to the whole English-speaking race.
Certainly the scene in Allhallows Church near the Tower of London was a very impressive one. In this church, as all the world
74 William Penn Memorial
knows, William Penn was baptized in the year 1644. The services, including an anthem and a charming address by the president of The Pennsylvania Society, Mr. Robert Means Thompson, was all compressed into half an hour, when the tablet was unveiled with appropriate words. After this service I was beguiled by my friend. Professor Silvanius Thomipson, to Devonshire House, Bishops- gate, where there was an exhibition of Penn papers and documents. Professor Thompson belongs to the Quaker community. Thus it was my privilege to visit the great meeting-house of the Quakers in Bishopsgate for the first time under peculiarly interesting auspices. Altogether it was a memorable afternoon. Many and valuable are the books and documents in the custody of the Friends here.
From The Evening Standard and St. James's Gazette [London], July 14:
Take ourselves and the United States. We are realizing our common ties and associations more vividly every day. All credit to the public-spirited and sensible people on both sides who are taking practical steps to foster this sentiment. Yesterday many distin- guished persons in London were engaged, in company with many eminent citizens of the United States, in celebrating the memory of William Penn. Col. R. M. Thompson, the President of The Pennsyl- vania Society, to whom the festival was due, had got together Lord Kitchener, Lord Charles Beresford, and other men whose words count all over the Anglo-Saxon world; and in the magnificent saloons of the noble palace which the Duke and Duchess of Suther- land had hospitably placed at their disposal, there was much talk of England and America, and the Quaker statesman, diplomatist, pioneer, preacher, who ought to be one of the most honoured names in the records of both countries. An eloquent American, Mr. Beck, ex-Assistant Attorney- General of the United States, in a fine oration, reminded his hearers that Penn was one of the first promoters of
International Arbitration The Penn Commemoration
is one useful example of an international sentiment bridging the Atlantic, just as our constant association with France in the noble science of the air is annihilating the Channel.
William Penn Memorial 75
From the London Daily Telegraphy July 14 :
Close by the Tower of London, in the very heart of one of the busiest districts of the City, there is a quaint old church known as Allhallows Barking. It is surounded by all that is modern, yet it retains an Old- World charm. It is irregular in construction and grey with age, yet for these very reasons, is restful beyond measure by its contrast with all that bounds it. It has associations, too. It appears some 600 years back as "one of the advowsons in the City of London belonging to the Abbess and Convent of Barking," and enjoys the distinction of being one of the three churches in which the curfew was rung as a signal to all persons to get to their homes. Not far from here Admiral Sir William Penn had an imposing mansion on Tower Hill, and when his son, William Penn, was bom in 1644, the ceremony of baptism was performed in the quaint old church. It was to commemorate this fact that The Pennsylvania Society of New York yesterday unveiled a handsome bronze tablet in the church itself, with every token of reverence for the memory of the famous Quaker colonist.
From the London Morning Post, July 14:
Allhallows Barking, the most interesting of the old churches of the City of London which escaped destruction in the Great Fire of 1666, was yesterday the scene of a solemn and impressive ceremony. The Lord Mayor, attended by Sheriff Buckingham and the principal officers of the City Corporation, drove there in State to take part in the unveilng of the memorial tablet to William Penn, which was recently sent over to this country by The Pennsylvania Society of New York. There was a short service, at which the vicar. Dr. A. W. Robinson, officiated. The tablet was covered by the Union Jack and the flags of the United States and of Pennsylvania. The congregation included many who are proud to claim descent from the famous Quaker philanthropist.
Thomas Power O'Connor, M.P. ["T.P."] in T.PJs Weekly, [London], July 21 : Thursday, July 13, was a red-letter day in the annals of Quaker- ism. Under every circumstances of honour and Anglo-American
76 William Penn Memorial
cordiality, a tablet bearing the above inscription was unveiled in the Church of Allhallows Barking. The old red-brick tower of this church rises at the east end of Great Tower Street. . . . The solemn placing of a memorial of Penn in the old City Church which he knew so well as a boy, in the presence of a great and distinguished company of Englishmen and Americans, is an event of singular felicity.
From The British Congregationalist [London], July 20:
The fine old church of Allhallows Barking, near the Tower of London, was the scene of an interesting ceremony on Thursday afternoon, when a mural tablet to the memory of the famous Quaker, William Penn, was unveiled. The tablet, which is of bronze, has been erected by The Pennsylvania Society of New York. It was covered by the rich blue flag of the State of Pennsylvania and flanked by the Union Jack and the flag of the United States.
The unveiling ceremony was preceded by a brief religious ser- vice, conducted by the vicar of the parish (Dr. A. W. Robinson). As one listened to the singing of the surpliced choir, observed the stately ritual, and looked around at the gorgeous robes of the Lord Mayor and Sheriff, the ''storied windows richly light" and the monu- ments of the ancient dead which adorn the walls of the grand old church, one's thoughts went to the quaint and simple little Meeting- house at Jordans, among the Buckinghamshire hills, in the burial- ground of which rest the remains of the great man whose memory we were met to honour. It was fitting that a memorial should be placed in the parish of his birth, yet there seems to be something a little incongruous in the "pomp and circumstance" attending the ceremony, so utterly unlike anything associated with the Society of Friends.
From the City of London Observer j July 15 :
Another strong strand was added to the cord that unites the English and American peoples by the picturesque and impressive ceremony at Allhallows Barking on Thursday afternoon, when the beautiful memorial tablet to William Penn was unveiled in the presence of a large and distinguished gathering.
William Penn Memorial 77
Mr. H. Wilson Harris in The Daily News [London], July 12:
The motives underlying the tribute are what matters, and it serves to show how much greater is the honour paid to Penn's memory by the country of his temporary adoption than by that of his birth.
From the Manchester Courier, July 14 :
At a time signalized by the closer union between this country and the United States, it is appropriate to find representatives of both nations joining to celebrate the memory of one who was both a great Englishman and a great American, and who carried from the country of his birth to the land of his adoption many of the qualities which had raised the Mother Country to power, and were destined to bring her offspring to a high position of honour and worth among the nations of the world. William Penn's character united many of the good qualities of the two nations. His integrity and honesty were complete, even to a certain obstinacy of character into which such qualities may at times develop. His fearlessness in facing odds and a certain daring in enterprise that characterizes the Anglo-Saon race, made him a great instrument for good both for this country and for the Western Hemisphere. Englishmen and Americans alike can look back on a temperament so compounded and recognize with satisfaction the qualities that have made both nations great.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer, July 13:
To-night The Pennsylvania Society of New York will give a dinner at Stafford House, London, to celebrate the erection of a tablet to the honour of William Penn in the Church of Allhallows, with which the memory of the Founder of Pennsylvania is connected. This dinner is held in a magnificent private mansion through the courtesy of the Duke of Sutherland, who thus expresses his kindly feelings toward America. The tablet is a fine piece of art, simple in design, on which is an appropriate tribute to William Penn.
Philadelphia is the more interested in this event because of the extraordinary vigour of The Pennsylvania Society of New York, which is the largest organization of its kind in the country. It has
78 William Penn Memorial
1400 members, although only twelve years old, and its annual dinners are the finest functions of the sort held in Gotham. Last winter President Taft was chief guest and he remarked that it was the finest dinner he ever had attended, which may easily be believed, as the guests numbered almost two thousand.
This society issues each year a volume which, in addition to being an ordinary club-book, is also an addition to the history of the Keystone State. This year's issue is just at hand and is an unusually interesting work, not only because of its text, but for the reproductions of historical pictures which it contains. It is grati- fying that the Society can muster enough members in London to hold a large dinner at which many conspicuous Britons are to be present. One could only wish that Pennsylvanians still within our borders could have accomplished such a delightful affair instead of leaving it to those who have exiled themselves to Gotham for the sake of loaves and fishes.
It is, however, another example of the work which Pennsyl- vanians are doing everywhere throughout the country. Nothing in civics is finer than the loyalty of all Pennsylvanians to the Key- stone State no matter where they may be foregathered. William Penn builded much wiser than he knew when he founded his com- monwealth in the woods, and one can but wish that his shade may be present at the festivities to-night, where he could see little that reminds him of Quakerism, but much that would rejoice his heart. Few men have left such monuments, and the tablet unveiled in the London parish church is simply a symbol of a widespread fealty to a remarkable man.
From The Philadelphia Record, July 14:
The unveiling of a tablet in the church in which William Penn was baptized was a fitting occasion for a banquet in London and a luncheon in this city in honour of the Founder. The more Penn's life is studied and the more his admiration of his province is con- trasted with the careers of most of the North American colonies, the greater must be the appreciation of Penn's statesmanship and of his success in the effort to apply the principles of the Christian religion to the control of human society. William Penn was so far
w
William Penn Memorial 79
in advance of his age that in many respects the world has not yet caught up with him.
From the Troy [N. Y.] Evening Record, July 14:
Through the activity of The Pennsylvania Society a memorial tablet to William Penn was unveiled yesterday in the Church of Allhallows Barking-by-the-Tower, England. It was there that the Proprietary, Founder and Governor of Pennsylvania was baptized on October 2;^, 1644. England has been slow to recognize the noble qualities of the man who brought lands into a colony which has become a great Commonwealth. What he did for his native land has been largely overlooked. Now that a memorial has been placed in Allhallows by Americans, it is to be hoped that England will soon erect a monument which will call to the minds of the people on the other side of the Atlantic his great worth as a benefactor.
From The Telescope, Dayton, Ohio, July 19:
There was a special fitness in the unveiling of a memorial tablet to William Penn in the Church of Allhallows Barking, London, July 13. In it the Proprietary, Founder and Governor of Pensyl- vania was baptized on October 23, 1644. William Penn will survive in history as a man devoted to the arts of peace, preaching the gospel of non-resistance as well as non-combativeness, and practic- ing honesty in his dealings with the Indians. While the United States and England are bringing an arbitration agreement to its signatory stage, the honour to William Penn, who linked these two countries together in a peculiar way and with stronger bonds of peace than any other man, will smooth the pathway for the present peace negotiations.
The FRAME of the
GOVERNMENT
OF THE
^^oWwe of 3|pettttfttuatite AM E R I C A =
Together with certain
LAWS
Agreed upon in England
BY T H R
GOVERNOUR
AND
Divers FREE-MEN of die aforefaid ■PROVINCE.
Tobe further Explained and Confirmed there by the firft
Trovincial Council SLad (jeneral Ajfembly that (hall
be held, if they fee meet.
Printed in the Year M DG LXXXIL
FACSIMILE OF TITLE-PAGE OF PENN's "'fRAME OF GOVERNMENT/' 1682.
CITIZEN WILLIAM PENN
BY
The Rt. Hon. Sir T. Vezey Strong^ Lord Mayor of London.
The noblest ideal of citizenship is service. It was to a great servant of God that the Memorial to William Penn was dedicated in the church where he was baptized — the ancient church of Allhal- lows Barking, in the City of London. And because it is only by service to the human brotherhood that anyone can, in this world, render real service to God, it was placed upon record that William Penn was an "Exemplar of brotherhood and peace."
An international commemoration of the baptism of a great citizen is, I venture to think, unique. The time of birth, some strik- ing event in the life, or the death, are the periods generally chosen for commemoration. Departure from this rule in the case of William Penn seems to have been prompted by singular delicacy of judgment or an instinct for the fitness of things. It directs our thought at once to the two essential features of interest in his life, and its lessons for all time — that is to say, to his own early history, and the early history of that noble system of Christian government which he founded.
Thus naturally and vividly does the commemoration of Penn's baptism make its appeal to the thoughts which group themselves around the lives of the young generation now growing up, and to the minds of the political, the religious, and the social leaders now entering upon a new era in the national life.
Baptism — the formal act of dedication to the service of God — assuredly formed a fitting entrance to the life into which William Penn was born. A period torn by the ravages of civil war, the life of the people in the towns wasted by disease and steeped in destitu- tion. Never could there have been an age making greater demands on faith in Divine Providence, or imposing stronger tests of moral character.
Whatever creedal difficulties may have attached themselves to questions concerning the value and significance of infant baptism.
82 William Penn Memorial
there can be no room for doubt as to the sacred character of the obHgations it imposes upon the parents or sponsors for the rightful training of the young. At the period of Penn's birth, the influence of baptism was deep and real. The solemn duty enjoined at the religious ceremony to bring the child up "in the fear of God and Christian faith" was translated into every obligation imposed alike upon parents and every one employing or having the guardianship (in any capacity) of any child or young person. By every institu- tion of law, and every enactment of civic authority, provision was made for the observance and enforcement of all the reciprocal duties of parent and child. Penalties heavy and cumulative were enforce- able against parents and the guardians of the young if they failed to have them taught ''the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments in the vulgar tongue," and brought up "to lead a Godly and Christian life."
Reared in the atmosphere of practical piety, common to the youth of the period, in a home to which the father's habits of naval discipline lent a measure of strictness, William Penn's character received its early moulding — a moulding according so well with the natural qualities of his mind and disposition as to enable him to resist the allurement of a life of ease after his schooldays in France and the manifold temptations of the dissolute courts of Charles II. and Louis XIV., and apply himself in the spirit of self-sacrificing devotion to espouse the cause of that religious and social freedom which has since become the most precious possession of the Anglo- Saxon race.
In an age of scheming, blustering, compulsion and filibustering in national politics; Intolerance on the part of the dominant party for the time being: The Church and the Puritans equally without idea of Christian charity — young Penn grew up among it all — and yet above it all.
Thus the age in which he lived seems to have moulded his inner life and influenced it by the sheer force of contrasts with his own ideals.
To the prevailing intolerance of the age, we find him boldly asserting that "men's opinions must be reached by reason, not by force," and again declaring that the idea "that men should not be
William Penn Memorial 83
free to act, drink, sleep, walk, trade and think because they differ as to things which belong to a future life, is dangerous and absurd."
His saying that "neither great things nor good things ever were attained without love and hardship" illumines the whole his- tory of his life. The unswerving nature of his love for his great ideals, religious, social and political freedom, found fuller expres- sion and stronger emphasis as his labours and his suffering for conscience sake multiplied.
Penn was born on Tower Hill, and it requires no great stretch of the imagination to picture him as a boy — with a boy's sense of justice, honour and truth — looking upon the grey walls of the old fortress, reading and hearing the history of its prisoners — and resolving, as boys do, that he would in the years to come show to the world a wiser and a better way.
If we can know who are the heroes of the boy, we can predict something of the future of the man. Penn's great hero was Sir Walter Raleigh, and some of the commanding strength and deep religious conviction of that illustrious prisoner seems to have come into the boy's life — for, when he himself, some years afterwards, in defence of freedom of conscience, was a prisoner in the Tower, kept without trial for seven months, we find him writing his immor- tal book, "No Cross, No Crown.'^ In this work, he refers to the letter written by Raleigh to his wife after his condemnation to death, and commends it in these memorable words :
"Behold wisdom, resolution, nature and grace. How strong in argument, wise in counsel, firm, affec- tionate, and devout ! O that your heroes and politicians would make him their example in his death, as well as magnify the great actions of his life."
How aptly might these words be applied to Penn himself.
Being sent by his father, Admiral Penn, to take charge of his Irish estates, he heard a sermon preached by a Friend, Thomas Loe, whom he had met at his father's home when he was a boy. The text was, "There is a faith which overcometh the world, and there is a faith which is overcome by the world."
84 William Penn Memorial
This sermon made a deep impression upon the young man, and, a little later, to his father's displeasure, he joined the Society of Friends.
One day, meeting George Fox, William Penn asked him whether it was right to wear a sword. George Fox replied : "Wear it as long as thou canst."
Not long afterwards they met again, and George Fox asked: "Where is thy sword?" Penn replied: "Oh! I have taken thy advice; I wore it as long as I could." Thus, against all the cus- toms of his time, he uncompromisingly took his stand with the Society of Friends.
Is it sufficiently recognised in these days that the very term "Quakers" — given in derision in 1650 by Justice Bennett of Derby, because Fox urged his followers to "quake" at the word of God — was really a title of greatest dignity, for its expression of the injunc- tion to "Fear God," which is found not only in the Bible, but in the ancient documents and the mottoes of our civic institutions, and, moreover, found in the ceremonial services of the late Coronation.
Long before taking up his position in the new world, Penn was a great and meritorious citizen of this City of London. Great, because he was upright and God-fearing; meritorious, because, in the sacred cause of liberty and justice, he bravely, though peace- ably, fought and courageously suffered incarceration in London prisons — Newgate, the Tower, and the Fleet.
Born to the profession of arms, Penn early realised the simple fact which mankind is only now beginning to learn — that one cannot serve one's brother by slaying him. Quietly, therefore, laying aside his sword, he armed himself with love and trust in his fellow-man, and went forth to conquer.
His early associations were with the City of London ; he left it to found a great City and a great State across the sea, for that his memory has become the imperishable treasure of the human race. The wisdom of the great experiment which he dared to try is just beginning to be perceived. Is not the Treaty of Arbitration between the two countries he loved so well the fitting climax of that noble compact which William Penn made with the Indian chiefs when, standing beneath the elm tree at Shackamaxon, he said :
William Penn Memorial 85
"The Great Spirit rules in the Heavens and the Earth : He knows the innermost thoughts of men ; He knows that we have come here with a hearty desire to live with you in peace. We must use no hostile weapons against our enemies ; good faith and good will towards men are our defences. We believe you will deal kindly and justly by us, as we will deal kindly and justly by you. We meet on the broad pathway of good faith and good will ; no advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be openness and love."
Then he read them this treaty :
"We will be brethren, my people and your people, as the children of One Father. All the paths shall be open to the Christian and the Indian. The doors of the Christian shall be open to the Indian, and the wigwams of the Indian shall be open to the Christian."
The final pledge was:
"We will transmit this league between us to our children. It shall be made stronger and stronger, and be kept bright and clean, without rust or spot, between our children and our children's children, while the creeks and rivers run, and while the sun, moon, and stars endure."
Words like these can never die. They live and grow and increase in power for good as the centuries roll by. Their echo is heard to-day in the appeal of the great President of a great people to the brotherhood of nations; for, speaking in Indiana the other day upon the history of the United States' invitation to England, France and Germany to make a treaty for the arbitrament of all differences of an international character. President Taft said :
"I look upon a treaty of this sort as a self-denying ordinance or self-restricting obligation. A willingness of great countries like England, France, Germany and
86 William Penn Memorial
the United States to submit all their differences, even of honour, to an impartial tribunal, will be a step for- ward in the cause of the peace of the world, which can hardly be overestimated."
Penn's definition of the word "honour" is expressed in a single incident of his life :
When a young man, while in Paris, a man attacked him for an imagined affront. Penn, being armed, as was the fashion of the day, defended himself. He overcame his assailant. When he had the man at his mercy, he let him go — without injury.
In referring to this incident, years afterwards, he said : "What envy, quarrels and mischief have happened among private persons upon their conceit that they have not been respected in some small matter.
"Suppose he had killed me," said Penn ; "or I, in my defence, had killed him. I ask any man of understanding or conscience if the whole round of ceremony were worth the life of a man, consid- ering the dignity of his nature and the importance of his life with respect to God, his Creator, himself, and the benefit of civil society ?"
Very significant is this incident, not only for the evidence it affords of Penn's personal courage and the magnanimity of his nature, but because his reflections upon it reveal the reality and the depth of his conviction of the divine nature of man and his exalted place in the onward movement of the world.
If a test of spiritual agreement and the solidarity of the moral sentiments of the British and American people were required, it might be best supplied by the evidence which everywhere abounds of their reverence for high ideals, held in common.
The commemoration of Penn's baptism, initiated in America, re-echoes the tribute paid by the people of both nations this year at the Tercentenary of the publication of the Bible in the mother tongue.
The social institutions of both countries are founded on the same primary conceptions of the nature of man's being, his needs and his duties.
The world of to-day is, in many of its aspects, the world of
William Penn Memorial 87
Penn's ideal; the world which the Anglo-Saxon race have seen in vision, and for which they have laboured more or less consciously and travailed in spirit until now. A world in which the reason and the sympathies of the people have freer course, and, practically, if not absolutely, determine the peaceful policy of the civilised nations. Wars of aggression and of conquest have become repugnant to the popular conscience. The principle of peace is the paramount principle of the national policy and of international relations.
Penn's conception of a City of brotherly love, of which the first example was founded by him on the North American conti- nent, has become the common — if dimly apprehended and imperfect — conception of the leaders of social movements and the promoters of social legislation throughout the British Empire and the United States of America.
Since his day the world has been growing better prepared for the adoption of his teaching and for applying it on a universal scale. The victory for freedom of conscience has been won, the sacredness of human life and the liberty of the subject before the law have been vindicated; the law itself has been humanised and awakened to fuller recognition of the rights of man in a state of community.
The development of the individual, of the family, of the state and of the great human brotherhood are embraced in Penn's teach- ing and illustrated in his experience. History affords no more practical example of the association of faith and works in the great affairs of life than the history of William Penn furnishes.
Penn's all-absorbing passion for freedom of conscience and for political and social freedom never swerved towards license, the restraining reverence for law, human and divine, preserved every- where the balance alike of his thought and action. The crystal of the history of Penn's life and work is formed by this affinity of law and liberty — this realised conception of legalised freedom with the personal responsibility of God and man which that freedom involves.
Here lies the supreme claim which William Penn has upon our appreciation. Here we may read the chief lesson of his life, and here we may pause to offer the best tribute to its teaching by
38 William Penn Memorial
determining to adapt that lesson to our own needs and the needs of our time.
The memory of William Penn may well engage the thoughts of the Anglo-Saxon race at this period of its history, when, alas! there are but too many reasons to fear that the peace and prosperity so long enjoyed, the vast and varied increase in the comforts and conveniences of physical life have tended to deaden the sense of dependence on an over-ruling Providence, to relax the ties of spir- itual religion and to weaken the sense of individual responsibility in the affairs of private life, as well as in the sphere of public duty. The freedom of spiritual religion from creedal restraint is dearly purchased if it tend to irreligion; freedom of conscience becomes a curse if it licenses immorality; the acquisition of legal rights confers no blessing if they be used to work legal wrong to a fellow- man or the community. If the tolerance for which Penn strove and suffered has grown, and the less dogmatic tone now prevails, has strength or conviction maintained its place?
In the easy flow of modern life — at the supreme moment of need for a great decision, is the leadership found of men like Penn and Fox? Does the name of a man suggest itself who would, in the stress of a present-day political crisis, quit himself as Penn did when he not only defended himself, but defended also, with infinitely greater effort, the sanctity of British justice, in the celebrated trial at the Old Bailey? And who, when cast into prison in the Tower, and told that he must either recant or die in captivity, resolutely replied: "My prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot, for" I owe obedience of my conscience to no mortal man."
Words like these now strike strangely on the ear. Yet they fire the imagination and cause deep searchings of the heart. In his reflections, as well as in his striving for practical objects, and for the guidance of himself and others in the common affairs of life, Penn's appeal is ever to the conscience, and his sturdy faith is in the infallibility of its dictates.
His scheme of government and the foundation of his plans of administration were alike based on this faith in the existence and the exercise of conscience in his fellow-man. Lofty as were Penn's conceptions of communal life, he indulged in no speculations
William Penn Memorial 89
as to their realization, except by the working of the individual conscience.
His ideals could never be realized by separate political and priestly groups, the interests of the political group being mainly material, and those of the priestly group mainly spiritual. The idea of division between things secular and things sacred had no place in Penn's philosophy. In Penn's rule of life, conscience and con- duct were inseparable as cause and effect — what the conscience dic- tated, that the conduct expressed.
In an age of idealism that admits the notion of group-conflict and group-co-operation in things temporal as well as in things spiritual, the sense of individual responsibilty is emasculated where it is not indeed altogether eliminated, and the appeal which Penn makes to conscience sounds unfamiliar and out of harmony with the spirit of the times in which the fashion is to consider morality in the abstract rather than in the concrete. An age in which the creation of organisations of parties for religious, social and political purposes tends to merge the individual conscience into the corporate policy. An age in which it is the fashion to decry the moral reflec- tions of the pietist in order to exalt the maxims of the politician; that are at best but the faint and far-off echo of the moralist's appeal to man's sense of right.
Ideas of divided responsibility, of limited liability, of corporate representation and the like, fertilising as they may be to the growths of material progress, are not less productive of the evil weeds which choke the amaranthine plants of spiritual life. The creed of the collectivists is a poor thing to weigh against the call of the conscience.
The growth and permanence of the communities, the nations and the empires now in building — all the aspirations and all the strivings of the Anglo-Saxon race, all the upward movement of mankind must surely depend upon the answer to that call! In William Penn's conception of liberty is found the law of life, embodied in the love of God and man.
Thus in his life and in his teaching is found the divine solu- tion of the problem, ever presented to the builder of human com- munities, civic, national or imperial, how to preserve the liberty of each individual with the liberty of the corporate body; how to
90 William Penn Memorial
secure the unity of the units ; how to labour that all men's good shall be each man's care; and how to prove that on that basis only can the good of all be permanently adjusted.
Commemorating the baptism of William Penn in the old City of London, we may well commemorate also the birth of the City he founded in the New World, when he stood among the Indian chiefs and called upon the "Great Spirit who rules the Heavens and the Earth," to whose service he was dedicated by his father at his baptism.
These be the reasons for ever reverencing the memory of William Penn — and, as it was my great privilege to attend in state the very impressive Ceremonial Service on the erection of a Memorial Tablet in the ancient Church of Allhallows Barking, by the distin- guished representatives of The Pennsylvania Society in New York, and have since been invited to make some observations upon the subject so deeply interesting to the British and American people, I venture, as the Chief Magistrate of the City of Penn's birth, to offer in all humbleness of heart this Memoir and Tribute to his memory.
PENN TREATY MONUMENT, SHACKAMAXON, PHILADELPHIA
THE NAVE OF ALLHALLOWS BARKING
%-'
ALLHALLOWS BARKING*
The Church of AUhallows Barking is at the end of Great Tower Street, E. C, to the west of the Tower of London ; it is immediately opposite Mark Lane Station of the MetropoHtan Railway. It is the oldest parish church with a continuous history in the City of London, and is one of the eight churches that survived the great fire of 1666.
Visitors to AUhallows Barking should not make the mistake of seeking it in the town of Barking in Essex. The latter was a con- vent founded in the seventh century by Erkenwald, afterward bishop of London and Saint. The City parish of AUhallows is an irregular tract of about fifteen acres, and it is presumed that this land belonged to St. Erkenwald and, together with the manorial rights and the tithes, formed part of the endowment of the convent.
Of the form and history of the church for four hundred years nothing is known. With the Norman Conquest it begins to emerge into definite history, and it is probable that a new building was erected after the fire of 1087 which devastated the City in that year. But the name "Barking Church" seems to have been quite definitely fixed, for it is so designated in the reign of King Stephen. At all events, the convent of Barking founded the vicarage of AUhallows in 1387.
The close proximity of the church to the Tower, which was both a fortress and a royal residence, naturally directed the interest of the English sovereigns to it. The earliest known royal gift was made by Richard Coeur de Lion [1189-1199], who was the founder of a "fair chapel" on the north side of the church. The chapel speedily grew in fame and wealth. Edward L [1272-1307] placed a painting of the "Glorious Virgin" in it, painted by one Marlibrun, a Jew of Billingsgate. In accordance with a vow made at that time.
*Works consulted in the preparation of this chapter: C. R. D. Biggs: Berkynge Churche hy the Tower. London, 1899. W. K. Fleming: The Story of AUhallows Barking hy the Tower. London, n. d. A. J. Mason, D.D. : The Romance of an Ancient City Church. In The Nineteenth Century. May, 1898. London and New York. Philip Norman: London City Churches that Escaped the Great Fire. In London Topographical Record, Vol. 5. London, 1908. H. B. Wheatley: The Diary of Samuel Pepys. London and New York.
92 William Penn Memorial
Edward visited the chapel five times a year when in England, and he obtained special privileges from the Pope for those who worshiped there. It has been sometimes supposed that the heart of Richard Coeur de Lion was buried in the chapel, although its possession by the cathedral of Rouen in France, to which church Richard unques- tionably bequeathed it, is now regarded as more in accordance with probabilities.
However, the chapel of St. Mary de Berking became the care of the Kings of England and grew into one of the most famous places of pilgrimage in England, rivaling, in this respect, the London shrines of St. Erkenwald in the cathedral and of St. Edward the Confessor at Westminster.
"Nearly 200 years after Edward I.," writes Dr. A. J. Mason, one of the latest historians of Allhallows, "Edward IV.[i46i-i485] endowed two new chantries in this chapel with manors at Tooting Beck and Streatham, which had belonged to the Abbey of Bee in Normandy, and gave it the title of the Royal Free Chapel of the Glorious Virgin Mary of Barking; and his brother, Richard IIL [1483-1485], who is viewed more favourably at Barking than in most other places, not only founded a chantry in it while he was still Duke of Gloucester, but, after he became King, he rebuilt the chapel from the ground, and made it a Collegiate Church, with a Dean and six Canons, Edmund Chaderton, a great favorite of his, being the first Dean. But those were the last days of such institu- tions. The smiling picture must have perished by the hands of Henry VUL's [1500-1547] Commissioners, the chantries were dis- solved under Edward VL [i 547-1 553] ; and no trace now remains of the once celebrated chapel unless it be a handsome tomb against the wall of the north aisle."
This is the tomb of Sir John Croke, one of the first wardens of a confraternity or guild connected with the church and founded by John Tibetot or Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester and Constable of the Tower of London. Tiptoft was the first of English Humanists and the warmest friend of Caxton and his printing-press.
While royalty lavished gifts upon the chapel the church itself grew in civic importance. It was convenient for the burgesses to use it as a meeting-place before presenting themselves on official
William Penn Memorial 93
occasions at the Tower, and as a neutral ground on which repre- sentatives of Court and City might meet. Thus in 1265 Sir Roger de Leiburn, who was sent by the King to receive the submission of the citizens after the battle of Evesham, received the Mayor and the citizens at the church where terms were arranged. Here the citi- zens gathered "in their best apparel" and proceeded to the Tower to welcome the King's justiciars or to attend them during their sittings. In 1285, on one of these occasions, the Mayor, Gregory de Rokesly refused to attend. "He formally 'deposed himself in Berkynge- church by laying aside his insignia and seal at the high altar and then entered the Court as an ordinary Alderman." The City was declared to be without a mayor and none was permitted for thirteen years. Allhallows was one of the three churches in which the curfew was rung. The Knights Templar were tried here for heresy in 131 1.
Very conspicuous in the interior furnishings of the church are three magnificent sword rests of wrought iron, commemorating the Mayoralties of Eyles, 1727; Bethell, 1755, and Chitty, 1760. "In former times the Lord Mayor used to attend some church in the City in State every Sunday; and the parish to which the Lord Mayor belonged often testified its pride by erecting for him, in his official pew, a rest for his State sword. But no church in the City has such fine hammered Sussex ironwork as the sword rests in Allhallows Barking, of the Lord Mayors, John Chitty and Slingsby Bethell, and even these sword rests are not so fine as the handrail to the pulpit, or an elaborate hat-peg close by, where some great merchant must have had his pew."
No authoritative information concerning the date of the erection of Allhallows Barking appears to be available. Its Norman fabric is now scarcely visible, but the nave columns belong to that period, while the general character of the church is due to a rebuilding in the Perpendicular style at the end of the fifteenth century. Although the general eflfect of the interior is harmonious, it has been exten- sively restored at various dates. In 1634-5 there were many repairs and much rebuilding. An explosion of gunpowder near by severely damaged the southwest portion, so that nine years later the tower, which was at the end of the south aisle and was surmounted with a spire, was taken down. The present tower of brick, surmounted
94 William Penn Memorial
with a dome, was built at the end of the nave. Although very plain it is not without a certain grandeur, and is a very rare example of church architecture at the time of the Commonwealth.
On September 5, 1666, Pepys wrote in his diary : "About two in the morning my wife calls me up and tells me of new cryes of fire, it being come to Barkeing Church, which is at the bottom of our lane." After taking Mrs. Pepys and his gold to a place of safety he returned to the scene of desolation. He continues : "But going to the fire, I find by the blowing up of houses, and the great helpe given by the workmen out of the King's yards, sent up by Sir W. Pen, there is a good st.op given to it as well as at Marke-lane end as ours ; it having only burned the dyall of Barking Church, and part of the porch, and was there quenched. I up to the top of Barking steeple, and there saw the saddest sight of desolation that I ever saw ; every where great fires, oyle-cellars, and brimstone, and other things burn- ing. I became afeard to stay there long, and therefore down again as fast as I could, the fire being spread as far as I could see it; and to Sir W. Pen's, and there eat a piece of cold meat."
In 1 814 drastic restorations were made. The high-pitched roof of the nave made way for an inferior one of fir and stucco ; the ex- terior battlements were removed, and a seventeenth century vestry at the east end was rebuilt. Other repairs and alterations were made in 1836, i860 and 1870. The latest restoration was begun about 1893 from the designs of the late J. L. Pearson, the celebrated church architect. A high-pitched timber roof was erected above the nave and chancel. A north porch with a chamber above it was added in place of a smaller structure, which had at least the negative merit of being unpretentious. Outside, the plaster was removed from the walls, which were again battlemented and newly pointed. As a pro- tection against damp, a trench was dug along three sides of the church and lined with tombstones from the disused burial-ground.
The close proximity of Allhallows Barking to the Tower made its graveyard very convenient as a place of burial for the victims of the scaffold. In many instances these burials were but temporary. The body of the celebrated Bishop Fisher, beheaded June 22, 1535, was "without any reverence tumbled" into a grave on the north side of Allhallows ; it was subsequently removed and laid beside More in
William Penn Memorial 95
the chapel of the Tower. The Earl of Surrey, "the first of the Eng- lish nobility who did illustrate his birth with the beauty of learning," was buried here after his beheading on January 21, 1547; the body was subsequently removed to the family vault at Framlingham, Suf- folk. Similar executions and burials are recorded of Lord Thomas Grey, April 28, 1554, an uncle of Lady Jane ; of Henry Peckham and John Daniel in 1556. The location of these graves is not now known. Here, on January 11, 1644, was buried Archbishop Laud, who had been beheaded the day before ; in 1663 his remains were transferred to the College of St. John the Baptist at Oxford, of which he had been President and benefactor. His steward, George Snayth, who had superintended Laud's burial, was himself buried here in 1651, but at a respectful distance from his celebrated master. The Non- juror, John Kettlewell, was, at his own request in 1695, buried on the spot where Laud had lain ; his epitaph still remains near the bot- tom of the north aisle.
Allhallows Barking is peculiarly rich in memorial brasses, and possesses one of the richest collections in London. The earliest is that to William Tonge, dating from 1389; it is small in size and circular in form. A brass to John Rusche, 1498, is a late example of the practice of placing animals at the feet ; in this case a dog. A brass to Christopher Rawson [d. 15 18] and his two wives is not far off. Nor is that to William Thynne and his wife, 1546. Thynne was shown much favour by Henry VIH., but he is chiefly famous for having edited the first complete edition of Chaucer's works. A brass to William Armar [d. 1560] commemorates a servant for fifty- one years to Henry VHL, Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth. A superb brass commemorates Andrew Evyngar [d. 1533] and Ellyn, his wife, one of the most notable monuments of its kind in England. A small brass to John Bacon and his wife Joan [1437] is the earliest and most beautiful of its kind in the County of Middlesex. Other brasses, some of them now fragmentary, commemorate Thomas Virby, the seventh vicar, 1434-1453; Thomas Gilbert and his wife [d. 1483 and 1489], Roger James [1591], who came from Utrecht; and Mary, wife of John Bumell ; she died in 1612.
A number of interesting monuments are affixed to the walls. Against the east wall, on the south side, is the monument to Kettle-
9 6 William Penn Memorial
well. On the north wall, near Croke*s altar-tomb, is the monu- ment of Jerome Bonalia [d. 1583], who was probably connected with the Venetian embassy. Further west is the monument to Baldwin Hamey, who was for five years physician to the Muscovite Czar, and who died in London in 1640.
The splendid woodwork of Allhallows Barking is worthy of more than passing notice ; it constitutes, indeed, the most conspicu- ous feature of the interior. The lofty pulpit of carved oak was set up in 1613; the sounding-board was added in 1638; each face of the hexagonal canopy carries the text "Xpm praedicam crucifixum." "There is a fine carved parclose at the back of the church behind the old pews of the parish officers, and another carved screen between the nave and the chancel. The altar, which is enclosed by a hand- some square balustrade of brass [put up in 1750], and is itself an excellent piece of oak carving, with an inlaid top, is backed by a good reredos, into which are let, along with oil paintings of Moses and Aaron, scrolls and festoons of lime wood from the hand of Grinling Gibbons, who also made the cover of the font."
Of the clergy connected with Allhallows Barking no one was more celebrated than Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, who, says Dr. Mason, may well be claimed as the patron saint of Barking. It is to him, he adds, more than to any one other man that the English Church owes her escape from becoming a merely Protestant sect. Shortly after him came Edward Layfield, nephew to Archbishop Laud. He got into serious trouble with Parliament in matters of worship. He was arrested in the church while divine service was in progress, mounted on horseback in full canonicals, and, with the prayer-book tied around his neck in token of derision, was hounded through the streets to prison. He was placed on a galley ship, but was subsequently released. George Hickes, a very learned man, was another famous vicar ; he resigned before the revolution which brought William and Mary to the throne.
It was after Layfield had been removed from the parish that Sir William Penn brought his infant son William to be baptized in the church, a ceremony that took place on October 23, 1644. The baptismal font at which it took place was shortly after cast out of the church, and the present font has, therefore, no association with
"* * * * *"> * ■♦J'* J ^
«''.^ d * >^ •'"'l ****** O* ^ ^ ^
William Penn Memorial
97
Penn. This significant event is duly recorded in the registers of the church, which remained intact from 1558. They appear to have been kept with considerable care, and contain many entries of per- sonal and historic interest.
Of modern monuments the most striking is the east window, dedicated by the Bishop of London in 1898 — it serves as a memorial to the incumbency of Dr. A. J. Mason. He it was who, at the insti- gation of Archbishop Benson, organized the present clergy of the parish as a college capable of mission work.
SEAL OF PHILADELPHIA, 1683
THE
Peoples itrS^^Libcrtles
ASSERTED,
IN THE
TR Y A L
O F
William Tenn, and fyilliam Mead,
At the Seffions held at the OM-B^/7^ in London^ thz
firft, thirds fourth and fifth of Sept. jo. againft
the.mofl: Arbitrary procedure of tKatCour^;
Ifa, lO, ij 2, ?r(? unto them that Decree Vm^hem Becreef^ and- write grievoHfnefs, which they have prefcrlhd -^ to turn away the Nteiyfrom Judgmenty and to take away the right from the Poor^ &c ^
I'fal. 94. 20i Shall the Throne of Iniquity hai;e felloi»p)tf with thee, which framethmif chief by a Law,
Sicyolo^ fie jubeo, ftat pro redone voluntas. oU-Saslyy tft. id, 4tb, Jtb of Seft. i^7t>»
— nir -| .- - . - - ] -" • - - I i- ^
Printed intheYear^ 1670.
FACSIMILE OF TITLE-PAGE OF PENN's PAMPHLET ON HIS TRIAL AT THE OLD BAILEY
STAFFORD HOUSE*
Stafford House is at once the largest, with the possible exception of Dorchester House — within the most gorgeous, and outwardly the most architecturally unostentatious, of London's pri- vate palaces. "I have come from my house to your palace" Queen Victoria once remarked to the then Duchess of Sutherland — a re- mark that at once describes and classifies Stafford House. It was originally erected in 1825 by Frederick, Duke of York, second son of George HI. He never lived in it, and on his death it was pur- chased by the government for about £82,000. In 1827 it was sold to the Marquis of Stafford — created Duke of Sutherland in 1833 — for £72,000 and an annual ground rent of £758, on a ninety-nine years' lease. The Marquis of Stafford completed the house from the designs of Benjamin Wyatt and with the help of Sir Charles Barry by adding two storeys to it, the third storey being concealed by a high stone coping, and by the embellishment of the interior in a way, perhaps even beyond the dreams of the royal Duke who commenced its building. The mansion has been variously designated as York House, Sutherland House and Stafford House.
It stands at the extreme south-western limit of the parish of St. James's. It is built of hewn stone and is square in shape. The north-west side is the principal front, and has a large projecting portico of eight Corinthian columns supporting an entablature. The south and west fronts, facing the gardens, are similar designs, each having six columns in the centre; while the east front, which abuts on the private roadway leading to the Mall, and overlooking Clarence House and the gardens of St. James's Palace, is quite plain.
Solid and to some extent majestic as is the exterior it hardly gives promise of the magnificence of the interior, with its vast apartments, its superb hall and grand staircase, its wealth of decoration, and above all, its wondrous contents. To Wyatt is due the planning of the interior, which perhaps recalls some of those
* This description of Stafford House is drawn from E. Beresford Chancel- lor's "The Private Palaces of London"; London, 1908. The text has been somewhat condensed and partly rearranged. The Society is indebted to Mr. Chancellor for permission to make use of his valuable and interesting paper.
loo William Penn Memorial
Genoese palaces in which the arts of architecture and decorations were carried to their furthest Hmits. The Great Hall is entered through immense doors formed of mirrors, which are only opened on special occasions; but when open reveal the grand staircase lighted by a skylight fitted with engraved glass, with its majestic double flight of steps leading to the gallery that surrounds the vast space.
The walls of the Hall are of imitation giallo antico, relieved at intervals by Corinthian columns of white marble; and when we remember that it is no less than eighty feet square, and that it rises to a height, in the centre, of one hundred and twenty feet, we can gain some idea of its surprisingly grand effect. This is enhanced by the gilding of the staircase, and the red and white marble of the floor, but chiefly, perhaps, by Lorenzi's copies of paintings by Paul Veronese, which fill the compartments of the walls, representing "St. Sebastian Conducted to Martyrdom," "The Marriage of St. Catherine," "The Nativity," a female saint; and "The Martyrdom of St. George." Murillo's "The Prodigal's Return" and "Abraham and the Angels," now in the Gallery, formerly hung here.
On the ground floor the Great Hall is surrounded by a number of rooms, all splendid in decoration, of great height and fine pro- portions, and all filled with numberless treasures of art. In the Dining Room are a number of paintings that have recently been moved to it, among which a landscape by Jacob Ruysdael, with cattle by A. Van der Velde, and another by Claude, are noticeable, as are particularly a very delicate pair of Wynants, as well as a delightful "Market Place" by Lingelbach, and a view of The Hague by Jan Hackaert, in which the figures have been attributed to Nicholas de Helt Stockade. Here, too, hangs Pordenone's "Woman Taken in Adultery" ; and among the portraits is the large canvas of Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, wife of the second Duke, with her daughter, afterwards Duchess of Argyll, by Lawrence, painted in 1823; the second Duke of Sutherland by the same master; Lord Gower by Sir Joshua Reynolds; while Mr. Sargent's fine full-length portrait of the present Duchess, with its remarkable bit of painting of the "tender inward" of the left hand, and its splendid realism, hangs close by.
William Penn Memorial loi
Next to the Dining Room is the Ante-Dining Room. Here is Jan Miel's "Monks Distributing Alms at the Door of a Convent" ; G. di Giovanni's "Christ's Charge to Peter" ; and an "Adoration of the Magi," a triptych, by an unknown master; Madame Vigee le Brun's portrait of the Princess Radziwill is also here ; as are a pair of compositions made up of those so-called "Roman Ruins" by Pannini, which at one time formed a favourite subject for classical interpretation; but the most charming of the pictures in this room are two landscapes : one a river scene by Philip de Koningk, and a landscape with figures by Wynants. There is also "A Skirmish of Cavalry" by Van der Meulen.
The Red Drawing Room, so called because its walls are hung with red damask, is reached from the Ante-Dining Room. With the exception of two Murillos, representing the Saints Justa and Rufina, the paintings are by Italian masters. Here is a "Holy Family" by Valerio Castello; another "Holy Family" by Ludovico Caracci; a "Salvator Mundi" attributed to Guercino; and a copy of Raphael's "Madonna della Sedia." The carved and gilded cornices are particularly noticeable here.
The Ante-Library strikes a quieter tone; it contains ten paint- ings, chiefly of the Dutch and Flemish schools. One of the most beautiful is a river scene by Van Goyen, which is regarded as an ex- ceptionally fine example. There is a landscape with cattle by Jacques Artois; a "Marriage of St. Catherine" by Rubens; a landscape by Pynacker; an old woman saying grace by Brecklecamp, "An Al- chemist" by Granet, and a portrait of Mile, de Charolais by Nattier.
Adjoining is the Green Library, to which the dominant colour of the hangings gives the name. Here hangs the portrait group of Lady Evelyn Sutherland Leveson-Gower, afterwards Lady Blantyre, and her brother Lord Stafford, later third Duke of Sutherland, by Sir Edwin Landseer. A number of miniatures are also in this room, such as copies of Raphael's "Fornarina" and "Leo X."; and the "Cleopatra" of Guido. There is also a scene from the Decameron by Winterhalter, and a portrait of Lady Elizabeth Sutherland Leveson-Gower, afterwards Duchess of Argyll, by Bostock.
The Duke's Sitting Room is an essentially private apartment, but like the other rooms of this sumptuous palace contains many
I02 William Penn Memorial
works of art. Here is a view of the "Hotel de Carnavalet" in Paris, painted by Raguenet for Horace Walpole; here is a copy by Old Stone after Van Dyck of the portrait of Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans, who made St. James's Square, thus laying the foundation of the West End as a residential quarter. Among other portraits is that of a Venetian gentleman by Paris Bordone ; a portrait of herself by Lavinia Fontana; a copy of Gerard Don's self portrait; a supposed head of Mary Queen of Scots; a portrait of Elizabeth, Lady Grosvenor by Sir W. Newton; and a miniature half-length copy of Lawrence's picture of the Duchess of Sutherland and her daughter which hangs in the Dining Room.
The room next the Duke's Sitting Room is called the Writing Room. Here are a number of portraits, including one of Landseer by himself, of the first Duke of Sutherland by Phillips, of the sixth Duke of Sutherland, a copy by R. Sayers after Lawrence and Hogarth's "Mr. Porter of Lichfield." Among the genre pictures is one of "Travellers Drinking at the Door of a Country Inn" by Wouvermanns, and Van der Eckhout's "Cavaliers Playing at Backgammon."
On the ground floor, on the east and west sides of the Great Hall, run two corridors, both hung with many paintings and filled with marble busts of eminent men, the first three Dukes of Suther- land, and Charles James Fox among them ; and innumerable bronzes, cabinets and bric-a-brac. Among the paintings are portraits of Philip IL of Spain by Coello ; Lord Clanwilliam by Lawrence ; Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester; and a "Venetian Nobleman" by Paul Veronese. Here, too, is Titian's "Education of Cupid" and a portrait of Elizabeth de Bourbon, daughter of Henri IV. and first wife of Philip IV. of Spain by Rubens. The great picture by Paul de la Roche of Lord StraflFord on his way to execution, receiving Laud's blessing, used to hang in the Gallery, but is now in the west corridor ; and here also is the famous "Marriage of Henry VI. with Margaret of Anjou." Both corridors contain many other interesting works of art and many valuable objects, the bare enumeration of which would fill many pages.
Splendid as are the rooms on the ground floor of Stafford House, they pale before the regal magnificance of those above them.
William Penn Memorial 103
The Great Gallery has been properly termed ''the most magnificent room in London"; and rightly so, for there is nothing comparable to it. Many of the fine paintings that hang here once formed a portion of the famous Orleans collection. Among those which came from that gallery are Tintoretto's portraits of Titian and Aretino; Gennari's "Young Man Reading" and the "Noah's Ark" of Bassano ; Mola's "St. John Preaching in the Wilderness," and a landscape by Gasper Poussin ; the famous"Muleteers" by Correggio, and "The Circumcision" by Bassano. Others came from Marshal Soult's collection, including Zurbaran's "St. Andrew"; Velasquez's "Duke of Gandia at the Door of a Convent"; "Christ Blessing Little Children" by an unidentified Spanish painter, and the two superb Murillos already noted.
It is quite impossible to enumerate all the paintings in this great room, important as many of them are. Mention may, however, be made of "Christ and the Women of Samaria" by Alessandro Veronese; Spagnoletto's "Christ at Emmaus"; "The Transfigura- tion" by Zucchero; "The Ancient of Days" by Alonzo Cano; "The Holy Family" by Rubens; a "Bacchante and Satyr" by Nicholas Poussin ; "The Circumcision" by Guido, who is further represented by a portrait of his mother; a ''Fete Champetre/' attributed to Bassano; a portrait of Cardinal Chigi by Titian; a portrait of Colbert by Philippe de Champagne; a "Portrait of a Young Man" by Moroni; and a portrait of Lady Stafford by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
A word should be said concerning the Romneys, which have recently been removed here from Trentham Hall, one of the Duke of Sutherland's country seats. Of these there are five; one repre- sents the Countess of Carlisle, daughter of the first Lord Stafford ; another the first Lord Stafford himself; another the grim old Lord Thurlow ; another Elizabeth, Duchess of Sutherland. The most impoitant is the charming group of the children of the first Lord Stafford: the Lady Leveson-Gower, Lady Anne Gower and Lord Granville. Stafford House contains another Romney, a portrait of Lady Hamilton.
In the ceiling of the lantern of the Great Gallery is Guercino's "St. Grisogono Borne to Heaven by Angels." This splendid work
I04 William Penn Memorial
was once in the church of St. Grisogono in Trastevere and is highly- characteristic of the painter's style.
There has recently been much re-arrangement of the pictures not only in the Great Gallery but elsewhere in the house, which has caused the famous portrait of a Jesuit by Moroni to be removed. This work was sometimes called "Titian's Schoolmaster," because of a tradition that the great Venetian was wont to study it and con- sidered it worthy of imitation. It came from the Borghese Gallery where Richardson saw it in 1721. Hazlitt says that if he has been asked who painted it, he would have replied "Either Titian or the Devil"; and Waagen was so delighted with it that he records his preference for it to any other picture in the collection. It is regarded by many as Moroni's masterpiece. Van Dyck's superb portrait of the marble-collecting Earl of Arundel was also formerly in the Gallery; it was painted about 1635, ^^^ was once in the Orleans collection. Another fine work, which is among those now removed to other parts of Stafford House, is Gerard Honthorst's "Christ before Caiaphas." Rubens's sketch en grisaille for his great picture of the "Coronation of Marie de Medicis," now in the Louvre, is also one of the works of which mention should be made. Raphael's "Christ Bearing His Cross" is one of the gems of the collection. It was painted, it is said, for the altar of the private chapel of Cardinal Giovanni de Medici, afterwards Pope Pius X., and was subsequently in the Medici Palace in Florence.
The State Dining Room, in which the Penn Commemorative Dinner was served, is remarkable for the beauty of its elaborately carved and gilded ceiling, and for its white marble mantelpieces with massive ormolu mounts, as well as for its splendid decorations, which make it only less magnificent, because smaller, than the Great Gallery. Only four paintings hang here : a portrait of Lady Burling- ton by Buckner; one of Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, after Lawrence; and two curious tapestries representing Henri IV and the Regent Orleans.
In the State Ante-Room, which divides the Great Gallery from the Drawing Room, and the ceiling of which contains an allegorical painting by Paul Veronese, "Cupid Receiving a Globe from One of the Graces," hang half a dozen pictures, three of which are by Wat-
William Penn Memorial 105
teau. Here is "A Group of Travellers Inquiring Their Way of a Beggar" by Velasquez and a "Holy Family" by Rottenhamer, in which the flowers have been painted by Daniel Seghers.
The south-west Drawing Room is used by the Duchess as her Boudoir, and is one of those stately apartments which constant use has transformed into a homely living-room. It is hung with green damask and the decorations are in white and gold; the ceiling, representing the "Solar System," was painted by H. Howard, R.A. On either side of the chimney-piece hang Fra Bartolomeo's "Virgin and Child" and Correggio's "Infant Christ." Among the innumerable beautiful objects of art, other than pictorial in this room, are two gilt arm-chairs which once belonged to Marie Antoinette, and which were formerly in the Petit Trianon.
Many as have been the pictures noted in this description, they constitute but a smaller number of the rich treasures of this splendid palace. About three hundred paintings hang on its walls, and it has here been possible to name but a portion of them. Taken as a whole Stafford House is one of the finest existing examples of the decora- tive style of Louis XIV. in London. It is, indeed, the last word in this mode. The note struck here is one of gorgeous magnificence; but notwithstanding this, these great gilded apartments wear an air of comfort very seldom found in such a connection; while those actually in every-day use preserve, in spite of their loftiness and huge dimensions, a real appearance of homeliness.
In his interesting and charming "Reminiscences" Lord Ronald Gower thus writes of those who have from time to time assembled within its walls : "What a succession of illustrious guests have been welcomed in this splendid Hall! Poerio and his fellow-sufferers, still weak from their confinement in the prisons of Naples ; Garibaldi the Deliverer, clad in his famous red garb ; Livingstone and Charles Sumner, besides a host of princes and magnates, potentates and plenipotentiaries have ascended those storied stairs. On the principal landing of this staircase, fronting the great glass doors, which are supposed only to open for royalty or for the departing bride, how many charitable meetings have been held, how many triumphs of music accomplished! Here Malibran, Grisi, Lablache, Rubini and Tamburini have sung; here Ristori and Thellusson
io6
William Penn Memorial
recited. Nor has this Hall echoed only to the strains of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti, but also to the voices of philanthropists and patriots — ^to Lx)rd Shaftesbury advocating the cause of the white, and Garrison that of the black, slave."
Such was the house, and such its traditions, in which Col. Robert Means Thompson, President of The Pennsylvania Society, gave through the rare courtesy of the Duke of Sutherland, the Penn Commemorative Dinner on July 13, 191 1.
VANE ON PUSEY'S MILL, PENNSYLVANIA, 1699 — WILLIAM PENN, SAMUEL CARPENTER, CALEB PUSEY.
S OM £
ACCOUNT
OF THE
PROVINCE
O F
PENNSILVANIA
IN
AMERICA;
Lately Granted under the Great Seal
o F
ENGLAND
T O
William Penn, &a
Together with Priviledges and Powers neceC- fary to the well-governing thereof.
Made publick for the Information of fuch as are or may be
difpofcd CO Tranfport clicmfelvcs or Servaoct
into thofc Parts.
LONDON: Printed, and Sold by "Baipifmn CLuk Booklellet in Geori^4ard Lmka*^'Pttt^ v6%\.
penn's "some
LONDON, 1681
WILLIAM PENN IN CORK
There are many interesting ties and associations linking the Penn family with the County and City of Cork. William Penn's father was an admiral in the English navy during the Commonwealth, and Cromwell, who was then Lord Protector, in his distribution of forfeited properties in Ireland belonging to those who were ad- herents to the cause of the Stuarts, was not unmindful of his personal friends, amongst whom was numbered Admiral Penn. Accordingly, in 1654, Cromwell wrote to the Castle authorities in Ireland to direct that the Admiral should have lands to the value of £300 a year in the County of Cork, near some fortified place. The place selected was the Castle and Manor of Macroom, which Broghill (son of the Earl of Cork) had seized for the Commonwealth. However, after the restoration of Charles the Second the Royalist General, McCarthy, Lord Muskerry, got back possession of his forfeited property, and Penn the elder got the castle and lands of Shangarry, near Cloyne, as an equivalent for the land of Macroom, which he had to restore to the rightful owner.
So the connection of the Penn family with Cork went on until in 1667, the Admiral being then in London, sent his son William, then in his 24th year, to take charge of his Irish estates. Accordingly, young Penn lived in the City of Cork for two or three years, where he acted as agent for his father, and in that capacity it is said he showed great consideration in dealing with the tenants. But other things of more moment than rent-collecting were destined to occupy his thoughts in the southern capital. Whilst residing in Cork, Penn met a college friend, one Thomas Lee, or Loe, who had settled in the city as a minister of the recently established Society of Friends. His intimacy with Lee resulted in William Penn becoming a member of that Society.
Soon after young Penn's adherence to the new creed he was called on to suffer for his convictions. The very same year that he joined the Society of Friends here in Cork, Lord Orrery, who was then Lord President of Munster, called on the Mayor of the City to seize and punish all who attended the "Conventicles," as the meetings of the Society were called. In consequence, on the 3rd
William Penn Memorial 109
of September, 1667, whilst Penn and his friends were attending a meeting, they were apprehended and brought before the Mayor, Christopher Pye, on a charge of riot and tumultuous assembly, and thus it happened that the future Founder of Pennsylvania spent a month in the common gaol of Cork, from which he was released only by the clemency of Lord Orrery, of whom he was a personal friend. On Penn's release, he returned to London, but soon after, having refused to take off his hat to the King, he was turned out of doors by the choleric old Admiral, his father.
However, his estrangement from his father must not have been of long continuance, for in 1669 we find William Penn, junior, again in Ireland, and from this time to the middle of 1670 he re- mained in this country chiefly employed in attending to the Shana- garry estate. The unsettled state of the country, however, made Admiral Penn desirous of selling this property, but a purchaser not being easy to find, he instructed his son William to inquire among the tenants if any were disposed to purchase the lands they rented, a clear foreshadowing of later land-purchase legislation.
That these sales were made seems uncertain, but Wiliam Penn, when he had settled affairs somehow, quitted Ireland for a time, and his attention now became occupied with the colonization of the state that was afterwards to bear his name. In furtherance of this project, in 1681, by the influence he had in Ireland, where he stayed some time in that year, William Penn sent off two vessels from that quarter freighted with settlers for New Jersey, of whom the most were Quakers from Dublin, and the rest from other parts of the country where Penn was known. He is said to have on one occasion sailed direct from Cork to America, making Dundanion Castle, near Blackrock — once considered an almost impregnable fortress, which frowned over the waters of the Lee which washed the rocks at its base, but now a picturesque ivy-clad ruin — his point of embarkation.
Penn's latest visit to Cork would seem to have taken place in the spring of 1690, when he sailed from Bristol, intending to visit his estates there. He also attended meetings at Charleville, Limerick. Birr, Mountmellick, Cashel, and other parts of the country, and having been more than three months in Ireland, chiefly engaged in
no William Penn Memorial
religious services, Penn and his companions embarked for England, and he returned to his residence in Bristol. He died in 1718, leaving his estates in Ireland to his son by his first wife, another William Penn; and this property remained in the possession of his descend- ants down to a few years ago, at any rate. — Cork Examiner, July 17.
of 7724/
ifiHr
FACSIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF PENN^S MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL.
h 10/
.A P4
UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY