From Amsterdam Penn went to join Fox again at Friesland, improving this opportunity to make another satisfactory visit to Herford, and parting from the noble Princess as a warm friend with whom he afterward enjoyed a frequent correspondence. Not till early in the winter did the four friends return to England, and the stormy passage, together with his nocturnal adventure at Duisburg, so affected Penn’s health that for some time he was obliged to submit himself to the care of his devoted wife, especially as the importunities of prospective emigrants gave him little chance to recuperate. Chapter IV The Popish Plot—Settlement of Virginia—The Royal Cession to Penn—Christening of Pennsylvania—Outlines of Penn’s Constitution The year 1678 seemingly opened with brighter prospects for those who had suffered so severely in the past for their religious beliefs. The clearest sighted members of Parliament must have realized the detriment to England when such numbers of peaceable citizens, blameless in every respect save for their form of worship, were forced to abandon their native land, taking with them their possessions and their industries, and must have realized that such persecutions must end. Penn, in spite of being a Quaker, had won the esteem of all classes by his high character and his ability and enjoyed the confidence of some of the most influential personages in the kingdom. Hearing of this change of attitude adopted by Parliament, he laid aside for the time being all thoughts of his transatlantic commonwealth and gave himself up to the work of securing recognition of his great principle of liberty of conscience. Profiting by the favor in which he stood with the Duke of York, he endeavored to obtain through him the submission to Parliament of an Act of Toleration. The Duke looked favorably on the plan, but being himself a member of the Church of Rome, maintained that such a law should not be restricted to Protestant dissenters only, but apply also to Catholics. All seemed to be going well and Penn’s efforts bade fair to be crowned with success, when suddenly an event occurred which deferred for years the passage of this act and added fresh fuel to the fires of persecution. This was the invention of the famous Popish Plot by an infamous wretch named Titus Oates. Formerly a clergyman in the Anglican Church, he had been deprived of his living because of his shameful excesses and fled to Spain, where he joined the Jesuits. Expelled from this order also for improper conduct, he revenged himself by turning informer and swore to the existence of a conspiracy among the Jesuits to massacre all the prominent Protestants and establish the Catholic religion in England. Even the King, for permitting the persecution of Catholics in his kingdom, was not to be spared, nor the Duke of York, who was not credited with much real devotion to that faith.