OF LANCASTER COUNTV. 81 



smaller number of members of both houses. After a long remonstraucc to 

 the Governor had been found without effect, the proposal of a joint com- 

 mittee of the *^wo branches of the Legislature was acceded to, bj which it 

 was agreed to accept the new constitution, provided Pcnn should approve 

 of it, and immediately a new subsidy of £300, was granted for the sup- 

 port of the royal government and of the suffering Indians. This was 

 done by a tax of one penny on the pound on all assessed property.^ 



"The new Constitution^ was more democratic than the former one. 

 The Council, chosen biennially, consisted of two, and the Assembly, 

 elected annually, of four members from each county. The rio-ht of the 

 latter to originate bills, to sit on its own adjournments, and to be indis- 

 soluble during the term for which it was elected, was explicitly estab- 

 lished; and the powers and duties of the several officers were accurately 

 defined. This instrument was never formally sanctioned by the proprie- 

 tary, and it continued in force only until his arrival in the province, in 

 1699 (or rather until 1701, when a new and more lasting one was sub- 

 stituted in its place.) Under it the people were content, and calmly and 

 industriously applied themselves to the improvement of the country. 

 And their best eulogium is the paucity of material for history, which 

 their annals for several years afford. The Governor made another 

 attempt, unsuccessfully, to obtain money for military purposes; the 

 Assembly pleaded the poverty of their constituents, but professed their 

 readiness, in future, to obey the commands of the king, not incompatible 

 with their ability and religious persuasion." 



The document will be found in full in Division X., No. 5. 



On the fifth of the First month, 1695-6, he consummated his second 

 marriage, at Bristol, with Hannah, the daughter of Thomas Callowhill, 

 and grand daughter of Dennis Hollister, an eminent merchant of that 

 city.^ She was said to be a religious young woman, of excellent quali- 

 ties ; with whom he lived during the rest of his life ; and had issue by 

 her, four sons and one daughter. 



In the Second month, 1696, his eldest son, by his former wife, named 

 Springett, died at Worminghurst, in Sussex, of a consumption, in the 

 twenty-first year of his age. 



William Penn, accompanied by his second wife and children, sailed 

 from England in the ship Canterbury in September, and after a tedious 

 voyage of more than three months, arrived in the Delaware on the 1st 

 day of the 10th month (December, O. S. 1699). The length of the voyage 

 was providentially ordered, for had it been shorter, Penn and his family 

 would have been exposed to the perils of the yellow fever, which had 

 lately raged with great fury in Philadelphia. Thomas Story, in his jour- 

 nal, speaks of its effects as follows: "In this distemper had died, six 

 1 Ebeling. Proud. Votes. " Gordon. 3 Proud. 



f-r 

 i 



