OF JAMES LOGAN; A DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR AND CHRISTIAN LEGISLATOR; FOUNDER OF THE LOGANIAN LIBRARY AT PHILADELPHIA; SECRETARY OF THE TWO YEARS GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE.' INCLUDING SEVERAL OF Bis Letters and those of his Correspondents, MANY OF WHICH ARE NOW FIRST PRINTED FROM THE ORIGINAL MSS. COLLATED AND ARRANGED BY WILSON ARMISTEAD. FIAT JUSTITIA RUAT CELUM. LONDON: CHARLES GILPIN, BISHOPSGATE STREET WITHOUT. MDCCCLI. PREFACE. No end has yet been found to the making of books, not only upon new, but upon old subjects; and perhaps at no time more than the present, has the disposition to write, and to rewrite history and biography, been more active. Publications having reference to the Society of Friends, their principles, and their distinguished men, have multiplied of late; and although in many respects much more candid and satisfactory than former works, some errors are continued in them and propagated, even by writers of reputation, to the present day. Probably few public characters have suffered more from attempts to tarnish their posthumous fame in the minds of posterity than William Penn, the proprietor and founder of the province of Pennsylvania. The emanation, from highly respectable quarters, of misrepresentations and insinuations highly prejudicial to the character of a man so great and good, is much to be regretted. Yet, in the ordering of Divine Providence, all things work together for good,' and these aspersions may have had, in some instances the opposite effect to that intended. I doubt not they have induced others, as they have the compiler, to institute closer search into the history and real character of the defamed, and to ascertain how far assertions or insinuations are borne out by fact. If the whole case be examined into with an eye of impartial investigation, some of the charges made will be found to consist of gross misrepresentations, whilst other points of attack are quite untenable. |