ur Protestants to whom he was
odious, in opposition to a king who loved him. He had established a
universal toleration with regard to conscience in America, and would not
have it thought that he intended to destroy it in Europe, for which
reason he adhered so inviolably to King James, that a report prevailed
universally of his being a Jesuit. This calumny affected him very
strongly, and he was obliged to justify himself in print. However, the
unfortunate King James II., in whom, as in most princes of the Stuart
family, grandeur and weakness were equally blended, and who, like them,
as much overdid some things as he was short in others, lost his kingdom
in a manner that is hardly to be accounted for.

All the English sectarists accepted from William III, and his Parliament
the toleration and indulgence which they had refused when offered by King
James. It was then the Quakers began to enjoy, by virtue of the laws,
the several privileges they possess at this time. Penn having at last
seen Quakerism firmly established in his native country, went back to
Pennsylvania. His own people and the Americans received him with tears
of joy, as though he had been a father who was returned to visit his
children. All the laws had been religiously observed in his absence, a
circumstance in which no legislator had ever been happy but himself.
After having resided some years in Pennsylvania he left it, but with
great reluctance, in order to return to England, there to solicit some
matters in favour of the commerce of Pennsylvania. But he never saw it
again, he dying in Ruscombe, in Berkshire, in 1718.

I am not able to guess what fate Quakerism may have in America, but I
perceive it dwindles away daily in England. In all countries where
liberty of conscience is allowed, the established religion will at last
swallow up all the rest. Quakers are disqualified from being members of
Parliament; nor can they enjoy any post or preferment, because an oath
must always be taken on these occasions, and they never swear. They are
therefore reduced to the necessity of subsisting upon traffic. Their
children, whom the industry of their parents has enriched, are desirous
of enjoying honours, of wearing buttons and ruffles; and quite ashamed of
being called Quakers they become converts to the Church of England,
merely to be in the fashion.

LETTER V.--ON THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

England is properly the country of sectarists. _Multae s