34 Swartbmore Xecture.

have reserved for himself both the prerogativesof a king and the revenues of a monopolist. Buthe sacrificed his right to his ideal, so wholeheartedlythat he, the rich admiral's son, fell towards theclose of his life into embarrassed circumstances,and was even imprisoned for debt. It was onlyhis descendants who reaped the harvest of hislife's work in terms of economic prosperity.Penn's ideal was that of a popular self-government,and when he found the settlers at first moreconscious of their rights than of their respon-sibilities, he thought he could cure the defects ofdemocracy by an extension of democracy. Oncehe had set foot in the new world, he summoned anassembly the day after landing (October 27th,1682), in which he expounded the great dream ofhis youth, the idea of founding a free and virtuousState where the people should be self-governing.Later, when the settlers contested the constitutionhe had proposed he conceded them the right ofaltering the constitution by a resolution of theassembly. Penn was a dreamer, but withal aman of sober and practical mind, whose workwould remain effective for centuries. His faith inthe people—a free and educated people—waslastingly justified by the events. Pennsylvania stood for a hundred years after Penn's foundationat the apex of the colonies, as the best ordered ofthem all.

(4) The Quakers were early champions in themovement for popular schools, whereas thePuritans distinguished themselves rather as foun-ders of Universities. Penn, in the speech from