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Letters on England
LETTER IV - ON THE QUAKERS
Voltaire
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       _ About this time arose the illustrious William Penn, who established
       the power of the Quakers in America, and would have made them appear
       venerable in the eyes of the Europeans, were it possible for mankind
       to respect virtue when revealed in a ridiculous light. He was the
       only son of Vice-Admiral Penn, favourite of the Duke of York,
       afterwards King James II.
       William Penn, at twenty years of age, happening to meet with a
       Quaker in Cork, whom he had known at Oxford, this man made a
       proselyte of him; and William being a sprightly youth, and naturally
       eloquent, having a winning aspect, and a very engaging carriage, he
       soon gained over some of his intimates. He carried matters so far,
       that he formed by insensible degrees a society of young Quakers, who
       met at his house; so that he was at the head of a sect when a little
       above twenty.
       Being returned, after his leaving Cork, to the Vice-Admiral his
       father, instead of falling upon his knees to ask his blessing, he
       went up to him with his hat on, and said, "Friend, I am very glad to
       see thee in good health." The Vice-Admiral imagined his son to be
       crazy, but soon finding he was turned Quaker, he employed all the
       methods that prudence could suggest to engage him to behave and act
       like other people. The youth made no other answer to his father,
       than by exhorting him to turn Quaker also. At last his father
       confined himself to this single request, viz., "that he should wait
       upon the King and the Duke of York with his hat under his arm, and
       should not 'thee' and 'thou' them." William answered, "that he
       could not do these things, for conscience' sake," which exasperated
       his father to such a degree, that he turned him out of doors. Young
       Pen gave God thanks for permitting him to suffer so early in His
       cause, after which he went into the city, where he held forth, and
       made a great number of converts.
       The Church of England clergy found their congregations dwindle away
       daily; and Penn being young, handsome, and of a graceful stature,
       the court as well as the city ladies flocked very devoutly to his
       meeting. The patriarch, George Fox, hearing of his great
       reputation, came to London (though the journey was very long) purely
       to see and converse with him. Both resolved to go upon missions
       into foreign countries, and accordingly they embarked for Holland,
       after having left labourers sufficient to take care of the London
       vineyard.
       Their labours were crowned with success in Amsterdam, but a
       circumstance which reflected the greatest honour on them, and at the
       same time put their humility to the greatest trial, was the
       reception they met with from Elizabeth, the Princess Palatine, aunt
       to George I. of Great Britain, a lady conspicuous for her genius and
       knowledge, and to whom Descartes had dedicated his Philosophical
       Romance.
       She was then retired to the Hague, where she received these Friends,
       for so the Quakers were at that time called in Holland. This
       princess had several conferences with them in her palace, and she at
       last entertained so favourable an opinion of Quakerism, that they
       confessed she was not far from the kingdom of heaven. The Friends
       sowed likewise the good seed in Germany, but reaped very little
       fruit; for the mode of "theeing" and "thouing" was not approved of
       in a country where a man is perpetually obliged to employ the titles
       of "highness" and "excellency." William Penn returned soon to
       England upon hearing of his father's sickness, in order to see him
       before he died. The Vice-Admiral was reconciled to his son, and
       though of a different persuasion, embraced him tenderly. William
       made a fruitless exhortation to his father not to receive the
       sacrament, but to die a Quaker, and the good old man entreated his
       son William to wear buttons on his sleeves, and a crape hatband in
       his beaver, but all to no purpose.
       William Penn inherited very large possessions, part of which
       consisted in Crown debts due to the Vice-Admiral for sums he had
       advanced for the sea service. No moneys were at that time more
       insecure than those owing from the king. Penn was obliged to go
       more than once, and "thee" and "thou" King Charles and his
       Ministers, in order to recover the debt; and at last, instead of
       specie, the Government invested him with the right and sovereignty
       of a province of America, to the south of Maryland. Thus was a
       Quaker raised to sovereign power. Penn set sail for his new
       dominions with two ships freighted with Quakers, who followed his
       fortune. The country was then called Pennsylvania from William
       Penn, who there founded Philadelphia, now the most flourishing city
       in that country. The first step he took was to enter into an
       alliance with his American neighbours, and this is the only treaty
       between those people and the Christians that was not ratified by an
       oath, and was never infringed. The new sovereign was at the same
       time the legislator of Pennsylvania, and enacted very wise and
       prudent laws, none of which have ever been changed since his time.
       The first is, to injure no person upon a religious account, and to
       consider as brethren all those who believe in one God.
       He had no sooner settled his government, but several American
       merchants came and peopled this colony. The natives of the country,
       instead of flying into the woods, cultivated by insensible degrees a
       friendship with the peaceable Quakers. They loved these foreigners
       as much as they detested the other Christians who had conquered and
       laid waste America. In a little time a great number of these
       savages (falsely so called), charmed with the mild and gentle
       disposition of their neighbours, came in crowds to William Penn, and
       besought him to admit them into the number of his vassals. It was
       very rare and uncommon for a sovereign to be "thee'd" and "thou'd"
       by the meanest of his subjects, who never took their hats off when
       they came into his presence; and as singular for a Government to be
       without one priest in it, and for a people to be without arms,
       either offensive or defensive; for a body of citizens to be
       absolutely undistinguished but by the public employments, and for
       neighbours not to entertain the least jealousy one against the
       other.
       William Penn might glory in having brought down upon earth the so
       much boasted golden age, which in all probability never existed but
       in Pennsylvania. He returned to England to settle some affairs
       relating to his new dominions. After the death of King Charles II.,
       King James, who had loved the father, indulged the same affection to
       the son, and no longer considered him as an obscure sectary, but as
       a very great man. The king's politics on this occasion agreed with
       his inclinations. He was desirous of pleasing the Quakers by
       annulling the laws made against Nonconformists, in order to have an
       opportunity, by this universal toleration, of establishing the
       Romish religion. All the sectarists in England saw the snare that
       was laid for them, but did not give into it; they never failing to
       unite when the Romish religion, their common enemy, is to be
       opposed. But Penn did not think himself bound in any manner to
       renounce his principles, merely to favour 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. _