/o r
 
 THE TRYAL 
 
 OF 
 
 William Tenn fc? William
 
 C itt *- -X -X* flC- 'X -X- -X> Sfr 'X- JK- flfr ae-'X" flfr 
 
 THE TRYAL 
 
 OF 
 
 William ^Penn & William <JXCea 
 
 FOR 
 
 CAUSING A TUMULT 
 
 *At the SESSIONS held at the OLD BAILEY 
 
 in LONDPN 
 the IST, 30, 4TH, and STH ^SEPTEMBER 
 
 1670 
 9k- 
 
 T)one by Themselves 
 
 TRANSCRIBED from the COMPLEAT COLLECTION 
 
 O/* STATE TRYALS 
 FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1719 and EDITED by 
 
 DON C. SEITZ 
 
 'Boston 
 MARSHALL JONES COMPANY 
 
 M D CCCC XIX 
 
 flfr
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1919 
 BY MARSHALL JONES COMPANY 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
 
 'To the 
 
 OF 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 
 WHICH NEEDS FREQUENT 
 REFRESHING
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 ERTY, Equality and Fraternity have 
 been preached through all time but 
 it was left for William Penn, the 
 Quaker, to come nearer establishing the 
 ideal of this Trinity than any other being 
 called Human before or since his day. 
 
 It may be argued that more was due to 
 the Faith he held than to the Man. Yet 
 this must be answered that it took some more 
 than ordinary Man to absorb and fulfill the 
 requirements of such a Faith. There have 
 been many Quakers and but one Penn ! 
 
 Born on the i^th of October, 1644, in the 
 angry days of the Roundhead Revolt, his 
 early years were spent in an intensely re- 
 ligious atmosphere that saturated his soul, 
 but at the same time bred detestation of 
 bigotry and persecution. If he seemed to 
 be performing out of his class because of 
 his family's eminence, it should be recalled 
 that this was acquired, not inherited. His 
 father, Admiral Sir William Penn, was the 
 son of Giles Penn, a merchant navigator 
 trading into the Mediterranean, and his 
 
 [vii]
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 wife Margaret Jasper, daughter of Hans 
 Jasper, a sea trader of Rotterdam: From 
 these forbears the youth received inde- 
 pendence of thought and firmness of mind. 
 He was therefore less of an anomaly than 
 he appeared to be. 
 
 The rigid religious rule of Cromwell, 
 under which he had spent his youthful 
 years, had passed and in its stead befell a 
 period of loose living and easy ways. Puri- 
 tanism, though speaking and acting in the 
 name of Liberty, possessed but little of that 
 quality either for mind or body. In setting 
 up for the great cause he fared as well, or 
 better, with all his persecutions, than did 
 his Quaker brethren in that New England 
 which had been founded for opinion's sake. 
 
 Entering Oxford at fifteen the boy soon 
 fell under the influence of Thomas Loe, a 
 preacher of Quaker doctrine and became 
 imbued with his teachings. This clashed 
 at once with his surroundings and the Col- 
 lege requirements. He refused to attend 
 chapel or to wear the customary gown, 
 deeming it a sort of surplice. A little group 
 of students who had accepted Loe's prin- 
 ciples joined him in this obduracy, going so 
 far as to strip the gowns from the persons 
 [viii]
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 of willing wearers. This led to his ex- 
 pulsion. 
 
 Samuel Pepys mentions him in his diary 
 on October 3151, 1661, as having "but come 
 from Oxford" and meeting his father at 
 Pepys' house. On the 25th of January, 
 1662, the Admiral discussed with Pepys a 
 plan for sending his son to Cambridge or 
 some private college. Pepys undertook to 
 write Dr. Fairbrother and inquire into the 
 merits of Hezekiah Burton at Magdalen, 
 as an instructor for the difficult youth. It 
 was impossible to fit him into any school 
 under the dominion of the Church of Eng- 
 land and in wrath his father forbade him 
 the house. His mother interceded, with 
 the result that he was sent to Europe for 
 the grand tour, presumably with outward 
 success, for on August 6, 1664, Mrs. Pepys 
 informs Samuel that "Mr. Pen, Sir Wil- 
 liam's son, is come back from France and 
 come to visit her. A most modish person, 
 grown, she says, a fine gentleman." 
 
 After dinner on the 3Oth of the same 
 month "comes Mr. Pen to visit me, and 
 staid an hour talking with me. I perceive 
 something of learning he has got, but a 
 great deal, if not too much of the vanity of 
 [ix]
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 the French garb and affected manner of 
 speech and gait. I fear all real profit he 
 hath made of his travel will signify little." 
 
 The home coming soon stripped Penn of 
 the "vanity of the French garb," and he 
 became once more a problem. He tried the 
 study of law, but could not interest himself 
 in it. To keep him out of the way and re- 
 press his dangerous thoughts he was given 
 the management in 1665, of an estate owned 
 by the Admiral in Ireland, where he went 
 and did as he pleased, falling in again with 
 Thomas Loe and resuming his Quaker 
 views. December 29th, 1667, Pepys records 
 a call from Mrs. Turner "... and there, 
 among other talk, she tells me that Mr. 
 William Pen, who is lately come over from 
 Ireland, is a Quaker again, or some very 
 melancholy thing; that he cares for no com- 
 pany, nor comes into any; which is a pleas- 
 ant thing, after his being abroad so long, and 
 his father such a hypocritical rogue and at 
 this time an Atheist." 
 
 This return he signalized by intense ac- 
 tivity in pressing Quakerism upon the pub- 
 lic, to the vexation of his father who was 
 one of the notables of England, as Admiral 
 both under Cromwell and the King. He 
 [x]
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 had commanded the fleet of the Lord Pro- 
 tector which wrested the rich Island of 
 Jamaica from Spain and as one of the three 
 commissioners of the Navy, laid the foun-. 
 dation for that British fleet which has ever 
 since played so large a part in the history 
 of the world. He was the practical man of 
 the commission, from whom James, Duke 
 of York, afterwards, and very briefly King, 
 took most of his advice. He reformed the 
 higgledy-piggledy naval tactics of the time 
 and taught the commanders to attack the 
 enemy in line, the most important change in 
 the sea annals of his country. Knighted in 
 1665 for service against the Dutch he failed 
 of the peerage because of the public preju- 
 dice against his son, which deterred the 
 King from giving him an honor as high 
 as he deserved. As Clerk of the Acts, 
 Pepys was much in contact with him so- 
 cially and officially. The famous diary teems 
 with references, many of them convivial, 
 others most unkind. He was faithful to 
 the' commonwealth as long as it was faithful 
 to itself. Perceiving that it could not hold 
 together after the death of Cromwell he 
 joined with George Monk in bringing about 
 the restoration of the Stuarts. 
 
 [xi]
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 Against this background of paternal dis- 
 tinction, the young reformer shone invidi- 
 ously and brought his father great chagrin 
 by his association with carpenters and weav- 
 ers in their non-conformist agitations. He 
 preached in poor halls and in the streets. 
 The newspaper, not having arrived, he took 
 to pamphleteering to spread his doctrines. 
 This activity reached a crisis in 1669. Writ- 
 ing in his diary under date of February 12, 
 1669, Pepys says: ". . . Felling hath got 
 me W. Pen's book against the Trinity. I 
 got my wife to read it to me; and I find it 
 so well writ as, I think, it is too good for 
 him ever to have writ it, and it is a serious 
 sort of book not fit for everybody to read." 
 
 The extended title of this work was " The 
 Sandy Foundation Shaken or those . . . 
 Doctrines of one God subsisting in three 
 distinct and separate persons; the impos- 
 sibility of God's pardoning persons by an 
 imputative refuted from the authority of 
 scripture testimonies and right reason," etc. 
 
 It was a drastic review of the doctrine 
 of the Trinity and as the title implies, un- 
 dertook to prove that the majestic edifice 
 of the State Church was not founded upon 
 a rock. It created much excitement and 
 [xii]
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 speedily landed its author in the Tower. 
 Here he remained nine months, unrepentant 
 and writing more pious sedition, to wit: 
 " No Cross No Crown," and " Innocency 
 With Her Open Face." These were further 
 polemics against Episcopacy. 
 
 The King having no heart for persecu- 
 tion, and the Duke of York, who was a firm 
 friend, contrived to have the prisoner re- 
 leased on the 4th of August and turned over 
 to his father to be transported to some spot 
 where he would be less troublesome. This 
 plan was not seriously carried out. Indeed 
 the Admiral's days were numbered. He 
 died after a year's illness, on the i6th of 
 September, 1670. 
 
 Penn's prominence and influence in- 
 creased with the death of his father. It 
 was plain that no ordinary mind directed 
 his actions. Respect followed. He took 
 much part in public matters and as umpire 
 in a dispute between Fenwick and Byllinge, 
 two Quakers, over some land rights in New 
 Jersey, he developed an interest in the New 
 World and planned to found in it a place 
 of refuge for those persecuted in Old and 
 New England for opinion's sake. This de- 
 sire was readily carried out. By fortunate
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 chance the Crown owed Admiral Penn's 
 estate some $80,000. To pay this debt and 
 be rid of an agitator, the shrewd King 
 made an easy adjustment in 1681 by hand- 
 ing over to the heir a vast province between 
 the Delaware and the Ohio, in return for 
 an annual tribute of two beaver skins, to 
 be paid for ninety-nine years. 
 
 Here the idealist created his elysium and 
 came as close to making one as the curious 
 animal he sought to benefit would permit. 
 The King set forth in writing the Grant that 
 it was due " the memory and merits of Sir 
 William Penn in divers services, and par- 
 ticularly his conduct, courage and discre- 
 tion under our dearest brother, James, Duke 
 of York, in that signal battle and victory 
 fought and obtained against the Dutch fleet 
 commanded by the Heer Van Opdam, in 
 1665." 
 
 Not to be outdone by his Royal brother, 
 James threw in the Province of Delaware 
 to which he held the fee, " out of a special 
 regard to the memory and many faithful 
 and eminent services heretofore performed 
 by the said Sir William Penn to his Majesty 
 and Royal Highness." This under date of 
 August aist, 1682. 
 
 [xiv]
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 It was Perm's purpose to call his Paradise 
 Sylvania, because of its wooded vales, but 
 the King, with his obligation to the Admiral 
 well in mind neatly prefixed " Penn " to the 
 fanciful selection and it became justly and 
 rightly "Pennsylvania" not in memory of 
 William, but of his valiant father. 
 
 Charles II was an able politician and 
 understood human nature. Often accused 
 of ingratitude and seldom deserving the 
 charge, with a willingness to perform a 
 good action as readily as a bad one, he 
 acted perhaps in languid memory of the 
 mistake made by his heedless father when 
 he stayed the departure of Cromwell for 
 the New World, where he had resolved to 
 go "and never see England more," de- 
 termining that there should be no repeti- 
 tion of history so far as he was concerned 
 by repressing a zealot in narrow quarters 
 near home. 
 
 Thus Charles for once at least, belied the 
 couplet scrawled upon his chamber door 
 by the ribald Earl of Rochester : 
 
 Here lies our sovereign lord the King 
 Whose word no man relies on; 
 
 He never says a foolish thing 
 Nor ever does a wise one. 
 
 [xv]
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 His sayings, Charles aptly replied, were 
 his own ; his acts those of his ministers. He 
 ordered well indeed when he placed Penn 
 where he did in the New World and he 
 meant wisely when he decreed that the red 
 races should possess, free and forever, the 
 lands beyond the Alleghanies. With Penn's 
 venture we need have no more to do than 
 to recall that so long as his control lasted 
 or his wishes extended, the Pennsylvania 
 Indians and their cousins of New York and 
 Ohio, were at peace with the whites; that 
 his words and those of his agents were 
 trusted; that Pennsylvania sheltered the 
 persecuted Palatines and that the Liberty 
 Bell first rang in the city he had named 
 Philadelphia the City of Brotherly Love! 
 
 The Trial here recited began in London, 
 on the first of September, 1670, a fortnight 
 before his father's death, while the dis- 
 turbance of which it was the outgrowth, 
 occurred on the fourth of August preceding. 
 
 The text is repeated from the report 
 embedded in the second volume of the 
 four great folios, comprising " A Compleat 
 Collection of State Tryals," covering the 
 period of English justice and injustice from 
 the reign of King Henry the Fourth to 
 [xvi]
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 the end of that of Anne, printed for six 
 venturesome London booksellers, Timothy 
 Goodwin, John Walthoe, Benjamin Tooke, 
 John Darby, Jacob Tonson, and John 
 Walthoe, Junior, in 1719, where is found 
 this first record of a legal effort to punish 
 free speech among the English race and 
 by the same token to vindicate it. Re- 
 ported by the accused, it no less reads 
 fair. The "Observer" whose comments 
 interlard and conclude the "Tryal" was 
 Penn. It was a rare proceeding in which 
 both prisoners and jury ended up in jail for 
 their obduracy in maintaining that right to 
 speak as we may, which is still one of the 
 most difficult to maintain, and yet remains 
 the foundation of human liberty. 
 
 D. C. S. 
 
 Cos COB, CONN., 
 March 15, 1919. 
 
 [ xvii ]
 
 THE TRYAL of WILLIAM PENN and 
 
 WILLIAM MEAD, at the Sessions held at 
 the Old Baily in London, the 1st, 3d, 
 4th, and $th of September, l6jO. Done 
 by themselves. 
 
 PRESENT 
 
 SAM. STARLING, Mayor RICHARD FORD, Alder- 
 
 THO. HOWEL, Recorder. man. 
 
 THO. BLOODWORTH, JOSEPH SHELDEN, Alder- 
 Aid erm. man. 
 
 WILLIAM PEAK, Alderm. JOHN SMITH, ) o, . 
 
 JOHN ROBINSON, JAMES EDWARDS,) *"*' 
 
 Alderm. RICHARD BROWNE. 
 
 CRYER. O Yes, Thomas Veer, Edward Bushel, 
 John Hammond, Charles Milson, Gregory Walklet, 
 John Brightman, William Plumsted, Henry Henley, 
 Thomas Damask, Henry Michel, William Lever, 
 John "Baily. 
 
 The Form of the OATH. 
 
 " You shall well and truly Try, and true 
 " Deliverance make betwixt our Sovereign 
 " Lord the King, and the Prisoners at the 
 " Bar, according to your Evidence. So 
 " help you God." 
 
 That William Penn, Gent, and William 
 [i]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 Mead, late of London, Linnen-Draper, with 
 divers other Persons to the Jurors unknown, 
 to the Number of 300, the i/j-th Day of 
 August, in the 226. Year of the King, about 
 Eleven of the Clock in the Forenoon, the 
 same Day, with Force and Arms, &c. in 
 the Parish of St. Bennet Gracechurch in 
 Bridge-Ward, London, in the Street called 
 Grace church-Street, unlawfully and tu- 
 multuously did Assemble and Congregate 
 themselves together, to the Disturbance of 
 the Peace of the said Lord the King: And 
 the aforesaid William Penn and William 
 Mead, together with other Persons to the 
 Jurors aforesaid unknown, then and there 
 so Assembled and Congregated together; 
 the aforesaid William Penn, by Agreement 
 between him and William Mead before 
 made, and by Abetment of the aforesaid 
 William Mead, then and there, in the open 
 Street, did take upon himself to Preach 
 and Speak, and then and there did Preach 
 and Speak unto the aforesaid William 
 Mead, and other Persons there, in the 
 Street aforesaid, being Assembled and Con- 
 gregated together, by Reason whereof a 
 great Concourse and Tumult of People in 
 the Street aforesaid, then and there, a long 
 [2]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 time did remain and continue, in contempt 
 of the said Lord the King, and of his Law, 
 to the great Disturbance of his Peace; to 
 the great Terror and Disturbance of many 
 of his Leige People and Subjects, to the ill 
 Example of all others in the like Case 
 Offenders, and against the Peace of the said 
 Lord the King, his Crown and Dignity. 
 
 What say you, William Penn and Wil- 
 liam Mead, are you Guilty, as you stand 
 indicted, in Manner and Form, as afore- 
 said, or Not Guilty? 
 
 PENN. It is impossible, that we should 
 be able to remember the Indictment ver- 
 batim, and therefore we desire a Copy of it, 
 as is customary in the like Occasions. 
 
 RECORDER. You must first plead to the 
 Indictment, before you can have a Copy 
 of it. 
 
 PEN. I am unacquainted with the For- 
 mality of the Law, and therefore, before 
 I shall answer directly, I request two Things 
 of the Court. First, that no Advantage may 
 be taken against me, nor I deprived of any 
 Benefit, which I might otherwise have re- 
 ceived. Secondly, that you will promise 
 me a fair hearing, and liberty of making 
 my Defence. 
 
 [3]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 COURT. No Advantage shall be taken 
 against you; you shall have Liberty; you 
 shall be heard. 
 
 PEN. Then I plead Not guilty in Man- 
 ner and Form. 
 
 CLERK. What sayest thou, William 
 Mead, art thou Guilty in Manner and 
 Form, as thou standest indicted, or Not 
 guilty? 
 
 MEAD. I shall desire the same Liberty 
 as is promised William Penn. 
 
 COURT. You shall have it. 
 
 MEAD. Then I plead Not guilty in 
 Manner and Form. 
 
 The Court adjourn'd until the Afternoon. 
 
 CRYER. O Yes, &c. 
 
 CLER. Bring William Penn and Wil- 
 liam Mead to the Bar. 
 
 OBSERV. The said Prisoners were 
 brought, but were set aside, and other 
 Business prosecuted. Where we cannot 
 choose but observe, that it was the constant 
 and unkind Practices of the Court to the 
 Prisoners, to make them wait upon the 
 Trials of Felons and Murderers, thereby 
 designing, in all probability, both to affront 
 and tire them. 
 
 [4]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 After five Hours Attendance, the Court 
 broke up and adjourned to the third Instant. 
 
 The third of September 1670, the Court 
 sate. 
 
 CRYER. O Yes, 
 
 CLER. Bring William Penn and Wil- 
 liam Mead to the Bar. 
 
 MAYOR. Sirrah, who bid you put off 
 their Hats? Put on their Hats again. 
 
 OfiSER. Whereupon one of the Officers 
 putting the Prisoners Hats upon their 
 Heads (pursuant to the Order of the 
 Court) brought them to the Bar. 
 
 RECORD. Do you know where you are? 
 
 PEN. Yes. 
 
 RECORD. Do not you know it is the 
 King's Court? 
 
 PEN. I know it to be a Court, and I 
 suppose it to be the King's Court. 
 
 RECORD. Do you not know there is Re- 
 spect due to the Court? 
 
 PEN. Yes. 
 
 RECORD. Why do you not pay it then? 
 
 PEN. I do so. 
 
 RECORD. Why do you not pull off your 
 Hat then? 
 
 [5]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 PEN. Because I do not believe that to 
 be any Respect. 
 
 RECORD. Well, the Court sets forty 
 Marks a piece upon your Heads, as a Fine 
 for your Contempt of the Court. 
 
 PEN. I desire it might be observed, that 
 we came into the Court with our Hats off 
 (that is, taken off) and if they have been 
 put on since, it was by Order from the 
 Bench ; and therefore not we, but the Bench 
 should be fined. 
 
 MEAD. I have a Question to ask the Re- 
 corder. Am I fined also? 
 
 RECORD. Yes. 
 
 MEAD. I desire the Jury, and all People 
 to take notice of this Injustice of the Re- 
 corder; who spake to me to pull off my 
 Hat? and yet hath he put a Fine upon my 
 Head. O fear the Lord, and dread his 
 Power, and yield to the Guidance of his 
 Holy Spirit, for he is not far from every 
 one of you. 
 
 The Jury sworn again. 
 
 OBSER. /. Robinson, Lieutenant of the 
 
 Tower, disingenuously objected against 
 
 Bushel, as if he had not kiss'd the Book, and 
 
 therefore would have him sworn again; 
 
 [6]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 tho' indeed it was on purpose to have made 
 use of his Tenderness of Conscience in 
 avoiding reiterated Oaths, to have put him 
 by his being a Jury-man, apprehending him 
 to be a Person not fit to answer their Ar- 
 bitrary Ends. 
 
 The Clerk read the Indictment, as afore- 
 said. 
 
 CLERK. Cryer, Call James Cook into 
 the Court, give him his Oath. 
 
 CLERK. James Cook, lay your Hand 
 upon the Book. 
 
 The Evidence you shall give to the Court, 
 betwixt our Sovereign the King, and the 
 Prisoners at the Bar, shall be the Truth, 
 and the whole Truth, and nothing but the 
 Truth. So help you God. 
 
 COOK. I was sent for, from the Ex- 
 change, to go and disperse a Meeting in 
 Gracechurch-Street, where I saw Mr. Penn 
 speaking to the People, but I could not 
 hear what he said, because of the Noise; 
 I endeavoured to make way to take him, 
 but I could not get to him for the Crowd of 
 People; upon which Capt. Mead came to 
 [7]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 me, about the Kennel of the Street, and 
 desired me to let him go on; for when 
 he had done, he would bring Mr. Penn 
 to me. 
 
 COURT. What Number do you think 
 might be there? 
 
 COOK. About three or four Hundred 
 People. 
 
 COURT. Call Richard Read, give him 
 his Oath. 
 
 READ being sworn was ask'd, what do you 
 know concerning the Prisoners at the Bar? 
 
 READ. My Lord, I went to Gracechurch- 
 Street, where I found a great Crowd of 
 People, and I heard Mr. Penn preach to 
 them; and I saw Capt. Mead speaking to 
 Lieutenant Cook, but what he said, I could 
 not tell. 
 
 MEAD. What did William Penn say? 
 
 READ. There was such a great Noise, 
 that I could not tell what he said. 
 
 MEAD. Jury, observe this Evidence, He 
 saith he heard him Preach, and yet faith, 
 he doth not know what he said. 
 
 Jury, take notice, he swears now a clean 
 
 contrary thing to what he swore before the 
 
 Mayor when we were committed : For now 
 
 he swears that he saw me in Gracechurch- 
 
 [8]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 Street, and yet swore before the Mayor, 
 when I was committed, that he did not see 
 me there. I appeal to the Mayor himself, 
 if this be not true. But no Answer was 
 given. 
 
 COURT. What Number do you think 
 might be there? 
 
 READ. About four or five hundred. 
 
 PENN. I desire to know of him what 
 Day it was? 
 
 READ. The i4th Day of August. 
 
 PEN. Did he speak to me, or let me 
 know he was there; for I am very sure I 
 never saw him. 
 
 CLER. Cryer, call into the 
 
 Court. 
 
 CLER. Give him his Oath. 
 
 My Lord, I saw a great Number of 
 
 People, and Mr. Penn I suppose was speak- 
 ing; I see him make a Motion with his 
 Hands, and heard some Noise, but could 
 not understand what he said. But for Capt. 
 Mead, I did not see him there, 
 
 REC. What say you, Mr. Mead, were 
 you there? 
 
 MEAD. It is a Maxim in your own Law, 
 
 Nemo tenetur accusare seipsum^ which if it 
 
 be not true Latin, I am sure it is true Eng- 
 
 [9]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 lish, That no Man is bound to accuse him- 
 self: And why dost thou offer to ensnare 
 me with such a Question? Doth not this 
 shew thy Malice? Is this like unto a Judge, 
 that ought to be Counsel for the Prisoner 
 at the Bar? 
 
 REC. Sir, hold your Tongue, I did not 
 go about to ensnare you. 
 
 PEN. I desire we may come more close 
 to the Point, and that Silence be commanded 
 in the Court. 
 
 CRY. O yes, all manner of Persons keep 
 
 Silence upon Pain of Imprisonment 
 
 Silence Court. 
 
 PEN. We confess our selves to be so far 
 from recanting, or declining to vindicate 
 the Assembling of our selves to Preach, 
 Pray, or Worship the Eternal, Holy, Just 
 God, that we declare to all the World, that 
 we do believe it to be our indispensable 
 Duty, to meet incessantly upon so good an 
 Account; nor shall all the Powers upon 
 Earth be able to divert us from reverencing 
 and adoring our God who made it. 
 
 BROWN. You are not here for worship- 
 ping God, but for breaking the Law; you 
 do yourselves a great deal of Wrong in 
 going on in that Discourse. 
 
 [10]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 PEN. I affirm I have broken no Law, 
 nor am I guilty of the Indictment that is 
 laid to my Charge; and to the End the 
 Bench, the Jury, and my self, with these that 
 hear us, may have a more direct Under- 
 standing of this Procedure, I desire you 
 would let me know by what Law it is you 
 prosecute me, and upon what Law you 
 ground my Indictment. 
 
 REC. Upon the Common Law. 
 
 PEN. Where is that Common Law? 
 
 REC. You must not think that I am able 
 to run up so many Years, and over so many 
 adjudged Cases, which we call Common 
 Law, to answer your Curiosity. 
 
 PEN. This Answer I am sure is very 
 short of my Question, for if it be Common, 
 it should not be so hard to produce. 
 
 REC. Sir, will you plead to your In- 
 dictment? 
 
 PEN. Shall I plead to an Indictment 
 that hath no Foundation in Law? If it 
 contain that Law you say I have broken, 
 why should you decline to produce that 
 Law, since it will be impossible for the 
 Jury to determine, or agree to bring in 
 their Verdict, who have not the Law pro- 
 duced, by which they should measure the
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 Truth of this Indictment, and the Guilt, or 
 contrary of my Fact? 
 
 REC. You are a sawcy Fellow, speak to 
 the Indictment. 
 
 PEN. I say, it is my place to speak to 
 Matter of Law; I am arraign'd a Prisoner; 
 
 - ., . . my Liberty, which is next 
 Obser. At this time J T . . J ' . 
 
 several upon the to Life it Self, IS now COn- 
 
 Bench urged hard ccrned : You are many 
 upon the Prisoner Mouths and Ears against 
 
 to bear him down. , . , T , 
 
 me, and if 1 must not be 
 allowed to make the best of my Case, it is 
 hard. I say again, unless you shew me, and 
 the People, the Law you ground your In- 
 dictment upon, I shall take it for granted 
 your Proceedings are meerly Arbitrary. 
 
 REC. The Question is, whether you are 
 guilty of this Indictment? 
 
 PEN. The Question is not whether I am 
 guilty of this Indictment, but whether this 
 Indictment be legal. It is too general and 
 imperfect an Answer, to say it is the Com- 
 mon Law, unless we knew both where, and 
 what it is : For where there is no Law, there 
 is no Transgression; and that Law which is 
 not in being, is so far from being Common, 
 that it is no Law at all. 
 
 REC. You are an impertinent Fellow, 
 
 [12]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 will you teach the Court what Law is? 
 It's Lex non scripta, that which many have 
 studied thirty or forty Years to know, and 
 would you have me to tell you in a Moment? 
 
 PEN. Certainly, if the Common Law 
 be so hard to be understood, it's far from 
 being very Common; but if the Lord Cook, 
 in his Institutes, be of any Consideration, 
 he tells us, That Common Law is Common 
 Right, and that Common Right is the Great 
 Charter-Privileges: Confirmed 9 Hen. 3. 
 29. 25 Ed<w. I. i. 2 Ed<w. 3. 8. Cook 
 Instit. 2 p. 56. 
 
 REC. Sir, you are a troublesome Fellow, 
 and it is not for the Honour of the Court 
 to suffer you to go on. 
 
 PEN. I have asked but one Question, 
 and you have not answer'd me; tho' the 
 Rights and Privileges of every Englishman 
 be concerned in it. 
 
 REC. If I should suffer you to ask Ques- 
 tions till to Morrow Morning, you would 
 be never the wiser. 
 
 PEN. That is according as the Answers 
 are. 
 
 REC. Sir, we must not stand to hear you 
 talk all Night. 
 
 PEN. I design no Affront to the Court, 
 [13]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 but to be heard in my just Plea : And I must 
 plainly tell you, that if you will deny me 
 Oyer of that Law, which you suggest I have 
 broken, you do at once deny me an acknowl- 
 edged Right, and evidence to the whole 
 World your Resolution to sacrifice the 
 Privileges of Englishmen to your sinister 
 and Arbitrary Designs. 
 
 REC. Take him away. My Lord, if 
 you take not some Course with this pestilent 
 Fellow, to stop his Mouth, we shall not be 
 able to do any thing to Night. 
 
 MAYOR. Take him away, take him away, 
 turn him into the Bale-dock. 
 
 PEN. These are but so many vain Ex- 
 clamations; is this Justice or true Judg- 
 ment? Must I therefore be taken away be- 
 cause I plead for the Fundamental Laws of 
 England? However, this I leave upon your 
 Consciences, who are of the Jury (and my 
 sole Judges) that if these Ancient Funda- 
 mental Laws, which relate to Liberty and 
 Property, and (are not limited to particular 
 Persuasions in Matters of Religion) must 
 not be indispensibly maintained and ob- 
 served. Who can say he hath Right to the 
 Coat upon his Back? Certainly our Liber- 
 ties are openly to be invaded, our Wives
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 to be ravished, our Children slaved, our 
 Families ruined, and our Estates led away 
 in Triumph, by every sturdy Beggar and 
 malicious Informer, as their Trophies, but 
 our (pretended) Forfeits for Conscience 
 sake. The Lord of Heaven and Earth will 
 be Judge between us in this Matter. 
 
 REC. Be silent there. 
 
 PEN. I am not to be silent in a Case 
 wherein I am so much concerned, and 
 not only my self, but many ten thousand 
 Families besides. 
 
 OBSER. They having rudely haled him 
 into the Bale-dock, William Mead they left 
 in Court, who spake as followeth. 
 
 MEAD. You Men of the Jury, here I do 
 now stand, to answer to an Indictment 
 against me, which is a Bundle of Stuff, full 
 of Lyes and Falshoods; for therein I am 
 accused, that I met Vi & armis, illicite & 
 tumultuose: Time was, when I had Free- 
 dom to use a carnal Weapon, and then I 
 thought I feared no Man; but now I fear 
 the Living God, and dare not make use 
 thereof, nor hurt any Man; nor do I know 
 I demeaned my self as a tumultuous Person : 
 I say, I am a peaceable Man, therefore it 
 is a very proper Question what William
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 Penn demanded in this Case, An Oyer 
 of the Law, in which our Indictment is 
 grounded. 
 
 REC. I have made Answer to that al- 
 ready. 
 
 MEAD. Turning his Face to the Jury, 
 saith, you Men of the Jury, who are my 
 Judges, if the Recorder will not tell you 
 what makes a Riot, a Rout, or an unlawful 
 Assembly, Cook, he that once they called 
 the Lord Cook, tells us what makes a Riot, 
 
 a Rout, and an unlawful Assembly 
 
 A Riot is when three, or more, are met 
 together to beat a Man, or to enter forcibly 
 into another Man's Land, to cut down his 
 Grass, his Wood, or break down his Pales. 
 
 OBSER. Here the Recorder interrupted 
 him, and said, I thank you Sir, that you 
 will tell me what the Law is, scornfully 
 pulling off his Hat. 
 
 MEAD. Thou mayst put on thy Hat, I 
 have never a Free for thee now. 
 
 BROWN. He talks at random, one while 
 an Independent, another while some other 
 Religion, and now a Quaker, and next a 
 Papist. 
 
 MEAD. Turpe est doctori cum culpa 
 redarguit ad ipsum. 
 
 [16]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 MAY. You deserve to have your Tongue 
 cut out. 
 
 REC. If you discourse on this Manner, 
 I shall take Occasion against you. 
 
 MEAD. Thou didst promise me, I should 
 have fair Liberty to be heard ; why may I 
 not have the Privilege of an Englishman? 
 I am an Englishman, and you might be 
 ashamed of this dealing. 
 
 REC. I look upon you to be an Enemy 
 to the Laws of England, which ought to be 
 observed and kept, nor are you worthy of 
 such Privileges, as others have. 
 
 MEAD. The Lord is Judge between me 
 and thee in this Matter. 
 
 OBSER. Upon which they took him away 
 into the Bale-dock, and the Recorder pro- 
 ceeded to give the Jury their Charge, as 
 followeth. 
 
 REC. You have heard what the Indict- 
 ment is. It is for preaching to the People, 
 and drawing a tumultuous Company after 
 them, and Mr. Penn was speaking; if they 
 should not be disturbed, you see they will 
 go on; there are three or four Witnesses 
 that have proved this, that he did preach 
 there; that Mr. Mead did allow of it; after 
 this, you have heard by substantial Wit- 
 [17]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 nesses what is said against them: Now we 
 are upon the Matter of Fact, which you are 
 to keep to, and observe, as what hath been 
 fully sworn, at your Peril. 
 
 OBSER. The Prisoners were put out of 
 the Court into the Bale-dock, and the 
 Charge given to the Jury in their Absence, 
 at which W '. P. with a very raised Voice, it 
 being a considerable distance from the 
 Bench, spake. 
 
 PEN. I appeal to the Jury, who are my 
 Judges, and this great Assembly, whether 
 the Proceedings of the Court are not most 
 Arbitrary, and void of all Law, in offering 
 to give the Jury their Charge in the Absence 
 of the Prisoners; I say, it is directly op- 
 posite to, and destructive of, the undoubted 
 Right of every English Prisoner, as Cook 
 in the 2 Instil. 29. on the Chap, of Magna 
 Charta, speaks. 
 
 OBSER. The Recorder being thus unex- 
 pectedly lash'd for his extrajudicial Pro- 
 cedure, said, with an inraged Smile. 
 
 REC. Why, ye are present, you do hear, 
 do you not? 
 
 PEN. No thanks to the Court, that com- 
 manded me into the Bale-dock; and you of 
 the Jury take notice, that I have not been 
 [18]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 heard, neither can you legally depart the 
 Court, before I have been fully heard, 
 having at least ten or twelve material 
 Points to offer, in order to invalid their 
 Indictment. 
 
 REG. Pull that Fellow down, pull him 
 down. 
 
 MEAD. Are these according to the Rights 
 and Privileges of Englishmen, that we 
 should not be heard, but turned into the 
 Bale-dock, for making our Defence, and 
 the Jury to have their Charge given them 
 in our Absence; I say these are barbarous 
 and unjust Proceedings. 
 
 REC. Take them away into the Hole: 
 To hear them talk all Night, as they would, 
 that I think doth not become the Honour 
 of the Court, and I think you (i. e. the Jury) 
 your selves would be tired out, and not have 
 Patience to hear them. 
 
 OBSER. The Jury were commanded up 
 to agree upon their Verdict, the Prisoners 
 remaining in the stinking Hole. After a-n 
 Hour and half's time eight came down 
 agreed, but four remained above ; the Court 
 sent an Officer for them, and they accord- 
 ingly came down. The Bench used many 
 unworthy Threats to the four that dissented ; 
 [19]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 and the Recorder, addressing himself to 
 Bushel, said, Sir, You are the Cause of this 
 Disturbance, and manifestly shew your self 
 an Abettor of Faction; I shall set a Mark 
 upon you, Sir. 
 
 J. ROBINSON. Mr. Bushel, I have known 
 you near this fourteen Years; you have 
 thrust your self upon this Jury, because you 
 think there is some Service for you. I tell 
 you, you deserve to be indicted more than 
 any Man that hath been brought to the Bar 
 this Day. 
 
 BUSHEL. No, Sir John, there were 
 threescore before me, and I would willingly 
 have got off, but could not. 
 
 BLOODW. I said, when I saw Mr. Bushel, 
 what I see is come to pass, for I knew he 
 would never yield. Mr. Bushel, we know 
 what you are. 
 
 MAY. Sirrah, you are an impudent 
 Fellow, I will put a Mark upon you. 
 
 OBSER. They used much menacing Lan- 
 guage, and behaved themselves very im- 
 periously to the Jury, as Persons not more 
 void of Justice than sober Education: After 
 this barbarous Usage, they sent them to con- 
 sider of bringing in their Verdict, and after 
 some considerable time they returned to the 
 
 [20]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 Court. Silence was call'd for, and the Jury 
 call'd by their Names. 
 
 CLER. Are you agreed upon your Ver- 
 dict? 
 
 JURY. Yes. 
 
 CLER. Who shall speak for you? 
 
 JURY. Our Fore-man. 
 
 CLER. Look upon the Prisoners at the 
 Bar. How say you? Is William Penn 
 Guilty of the Matter whereof he stands 
 indicted in Manner and Form, or Not 
 Guilty? 
 
 FORE-M. Guilty of Speaking in Grace- 
 church-Street. 
 
 COURT. Is that all? 
 
 FORE-M. That is all I have in Com- 
 mission. 
 
 REC. You had as good say nothing. 
 
 MAY. Was it not an unlawful Assembly? 
 You mean he was speaking to a Tumult of 
 People there? 
 
 FORE-M. My Lord, This is all I had in 
 Commission. 
 
 OBSER. Here some of the Jury seemed 
 to buckle to the Questions of the Court; 
 upon which, Bushel, Hammond, and some 
 others, opposed themselves, and said, they 
 allowed of no such Word, as an unlawful 
 
 [21]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 Assembly in their Verdict; at which the 
 Recorder, Mayor, Robinson and Blood- 
 worth took great occasion to villifie them 
 with most opprobrious Language; and this 
 Verdict not serving their Turns, the Re- 
 corder express'd himself thus. 
 
 REC. The Law of England will not 
 allow you to part till you have given in 
 your Verdict. 
 
 JURY. We have given in our Verdict, 
 and we can give in no other. 
 
 REC. Gentlemen, you have not given in 
 your Verdict, and you had as good say 
 nothing; therefore go and consider it once 
 more, that we may make an end of this 
 troublesome Business. 
 
 JURY. We desire we may have Pen, Ink 
 and Paper. 
 
 OBSER. The Court adjourn'd for half 
 an Hour; which being expired, the Court 
 returns, and the Jury not long after. 
 
 The Prisoners were brought to the Bar, 
 and the Jury's Names called over. 
 
 CLER. Are you agreed of your Verdict? 
 
 JUR. Yes. 
 
 CLER. Who shall speak for you? 
 
 JUR. Our Fore-man. 
 
 CLER. What say you, look upon the 
 [22]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 Prisoners: Is William Penn Guilty in Man- 
 ner and Form, as he stands indicted, or Not 
 Guilty? 
 
 FoRE-M. Here is our Verdict, holding 
 forth a piece of Paper to the Clerk of the 
 Peace, which follows; 
 
 We the Jurors, hereafter named, do find 
 William Penn to be Guilty of Speaking or 
 Preaching to an Assembly, met together 
 in Gracechurch-Street, the 1 4th of August 
 last, 1670. And that William Mead is Not 
 guilty of the said Indictment. 
 
 Fore-m. Thomas Veer, Charles Milson, 
 
 Edward Bushel, Gregory Walklet, 
 
 John Hammond, John Baily, 
 
 Henry Henley, William Lever, 
 
 Henry Michel, James Damask, 
 
 John Brightman, Wil. Plumsted. 
 
 OBSER. This both Mayor and Recorder 
 resented as so high a rate, that they exceeded 
 the Bounds of all Reason and Civility. 
 
 MAY. What will you be led by such a 
 silly Fellow as Bushel? an impudent cant- 
 ing Fellow? I warrant you, you shall come 
 no more upon Juries in haste: You are a 
 Fore-man indeed, addressing himself to the 
 Fore-man, I thought you had understood 
 your Place better. 
 
 [23]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 REC. Gentlemen, you shall not be dis- 
 mist till we have a Verdict, that the Court 
 will accept; and you shall be lock'd up, 
 without Meat, Drink, Fire, and Tobacco; 
 you shall not think thus to abuse the Court; 
 we will have a Verdict, by the help of God, 
 or you shall starve for it. 
 
 PEN. My Jury, who are my Judges, 
 ought not to be thus menaced ; their Verdict 
 should be free, and not compelled; the 
 Bench ought to wait upon them, but not 
 forestall them. I do desire that Justice 
 may be done me, and that the Arbitrary 
 Resolves of the Bench may not be made the 
 Measure of my Jury's Verdict. 
 
 REC. Stop that prating Fellow's Mouth, 
 or put him out of the Court. 
 
 MAY. You have heard that he preach'd, 
 that he gathered a Company of tumultuous 
 People, and that they do not only disobey 
 the Martial Power, but Civil also. 
 
 PEN. It is a great Mistake ; we did not 
 make the Tumult, but they that interrupted 
 us: The Jury cannot be so ignorant, as to 
 think, that we met there, with a Design to 
 disturb the Civil Peace, since (ist.) we 
 were by Force of Arms kept out of our law- 
 ful House, and met as near it in the Street, 
 [24]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 as their soldiers would give us leave; and 
 (zdly.) because it was no new thing (nor 
 with the Circumstances expres'd in the In- 
 dictment) but what was usual and customary 
 with us; 'tis very well known that we are 
 a peaceable People, and cannot offer Vio- 
 lence to any Man. 
 
 OBSER. The Court being ready to break 
 up, and willing to huddle the Prisoners to 
 their Goal, and the Jury to their Chamber, 
 Penn spoke as follows : 
 
 PEN. The Agreement of Twelve Men 
 is a Verdict in Law, and such a one being 
 given by the Jury, I require the Clerk of 
 the Peace to record it, as he will answer it 
 at his Peril. And if the Jury bring in an- 
 other Verdict contradictory to this, I affirm 
 they are perjur'd Men in Law. And look- 
 ing upon the Jury, said, You are English- 
 men, mind your Privilege, give not away 
 your Right. 
 
 BUSH. &c. Nor will we ever do it. 
 
 OBSER. One of the Jury-men pleaded 
 Indisposition of Body, and therefore de- 
 sired to be dismist. 
 
 MAY. You are as strong as any of 
 them; starve with them; and hold your 
 Principles. 
 
 [25]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 REC. Gentlemen, You must be contented 
 with your hard Fate, let your Patience over- 
 come it; for the Court is resolved to have 
 a Verdict, and that before you can be 
 dismist. 
 
 JURY. We are agreed, we are agreed, 
 we are agreed. 
 
 OBSER. The Court swore several Per- 
 sons, to keep the Jury all Night without 
 Meat, Drink, Fire, or any other Accommo- 
 dation; they had not so much as a Chamber- 
 pot, tho' desired. 
 
 CRY. O Yes, &c. 
 
 OBSER. The Court adjourns till Seven 
 of the Clock next Morning (being the 4th 
 Instant, vulgarly call'd Sunday) at which 
 time the Prisoners were brought to the Bar : 
 The Court sat, and the Jury called to bring 
 in their Verdict. 
 
 CRY. O Yes, &c. Silence in the 
 
 Court, upon pain of Imprisonment. 
 
 The Jury's Names called over. 
 
 CLER. Are you agreed upon your Ver- 
 dict? 
 
 JUR. Yes. 
 
 CLER. Who shall speak for you? 
 
 JUR. Our Fore-man. 
 
 CLER. What say you? Look upon the 
 [26]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 Prisoners at the Bar. Is William Penn 
 Guilty of the Matter whereof he stands in- 
 dicted, in Manner and Form as aforesaid, 
 or Not guilty? 
 
 FORE-M. William Penn is guilty of 
 Speaking in Grace church-Street. 
 
 MAY. To an unlawful Assembly? 
 
 BUSH. No, my Lord, we give no other 
 Verdict than what we gave last Night; we 
 have no other Verdict to give. 
 
 MAY. You are a factious Fellow, I'll 
 take a Course with you. 
 
 BLOOD. I knew Mr. Bushel would not 
 yield. 
 
 BUSH. Sir Thomas I have done accord- 
 ing to my Conscience. 
 
 MAY. That Conscience of yours would 
 cut my Throat. 
 
 BUSH. No, my Lord, it never shall. 
 
 MAY. But I will cut yours so soon as 
 I can. 
 
 REC. He has inspired the Jury; he has 
 the Spirit of Divination, methinks I feel 
 him. I will have a positive Verdict, or 
 you shall starve for it. 
 
 PEN. I desire to ask the Recorder one 
 Question, Do you allow of the Verdict 
 given of William Mead? 
 [27]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 REC. It cannot be a Verdict, because 
 you were indicted for a Conspiracy, and 
 one being found Not guilty, and not the 
 other, it could not be a Verdict. 
 
 PEN. If Not guilty be not a Verdict, 
 then you make of the Jury and Magna 
 Charta but a meer Nose of Wax. 
 
 MEAD. How! is Not guilty no Verdict? 
 
 REC. No, 'tis no Verdict. 
 
 PEN. I affirm, that the Consent of a Jury 
 is a Verdict in Law; and if William Mead 
 be Not guilty, it consequently follows, that 
 I am clear, since you have indicted us of a 
 Conspiracy, and I could not possibly con- 
 spire alone. 
 
 OfiSER. There were many Passages, that 
 could not be taken, which past between the 
 Jury and the Court. The Jury went up 
 again, having received a fresh Charge from 
 the Bench, if possible to extort an unjust 
 Verdict 
 
 CRY. O Yes, &c. Silence in the Court. 
 
 COUR. Call over the Jury. Which was 
 done. 
 
 CLER. What say you? Is William Penn 
 Guilty of the Matter whereof he stands in- 
 dicted, in Manner and Form aforesaid, or 
 Not Guilty? 
 
 [28]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 FORE-MAN. Guilty of speaking in Grace- 
 church-Street. 
 
 REC. What is this to the Purpose? I 
 say, I will have a Verdict. And speaking 
 to Edw. Bushel, said, You are a factious 
 Fellow; I will set a Mark upon you; and 
 whilst I have anything to do in the City, 
 I will have an eye upon you. 
 
 MAY. Have you no more Wit than to 
 be led by such a pitiful Fellow? I will cut 
 his Nose. 
 
 PEN. It is intolerable that my Jury 
 should be thus menaced : Is this according 
 to the Fundamental Laws? Are not they 
 my proper Judges by the great Charter of 
 England? What hope is there of ever hav- 
 ing Justice done, when Juries are threat- 
 ened, and their Verdicts rejected? I am 
 concerned to speak and grieved to see such 
 Arbitrary Proceedings. Did not the Lieu- 
 tenant of the Tower render one of them 
 worse than a Felon? And do you not 
 plainly seem to condemn such for factious 
 Fellows, who answer not your Ends? Un- 
 happy are those Juries, who are threatened 
 to be fined, and starved, and ruined, if they 
 give not in Verdicts contrary to their Con- 
 sciences. 
 
 [29]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 REC. My Lord, you must take a Course 
 with that same Fellow. 
 
 MAY. Stop his Mouth; Jaylor, bring 
 Fetters, and stake him to the Ground. 
 
 PEN. Do your Pleasure, I matter not 
 your Fetters. 
 
 REC. Till now I never understood the 
 Reason of the Policy and Prudence of the 
 Spaniards, in suffering the Inquisition 
 among them: And certainly it will never 
 be well with us, till something like unto the 
 Spanish Inquisition be in England. 
 
 OBSER. The Jury being required to go 
 together to find another Verdict, and stead- 
 fastly refusing it (saying they could give no 
 other Verdict than what was already given) 
 the Recorder in great Passion was running 
 off the Bench, with these Words in his 
 Mouth, / protest I will sit here no longer 
 to hear these Things; at which the Mayor 
 calling, Stay, stay, he returned, and directed 
 himself unto the Jury, and spoke as fol- 
 io we th : 
 
 REC. Gentlemen, we shall not be at this 
 trade always with you; you will find the 
 next Sessions of Parliament there will be a 
 Law made, that those that will not conform 
 shall not have the Protection of the Law. 
 [so]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 Mr. Lee, draw up another Verdict, that 
 they may bring it in special. 
 
 LEE. I cannot tell how to do it. 
 
 JUR. We ought not to be return'd, hav- 
 ing all agreed, and set our Hands to the 
 Verdict. 
 
 REC. Your Verdict is nothing, you 
 play upon the Court; I say you shall go to- 
 gether, and bring in another Verdict, or 
 you shall starve; and I will have you 
 charted about the City, as in Edward the 
 Third's time. 
 
 FORE-M. We have given in our Verdict, 
 and all agreed to it; and if we give in an- 
 other, it will be a Force upon us to save our 
 Lives. 
 
 MAY. Take them up. 
 
 OFFIC. My Lord, they will not go up. 
 
 OBSER. The Mayor spoke to the Sheriff, 
 and he came off of his seat, and said. 
 
 SHER. Come, Gentlemen, you must go 
 up; you see I am commanded to make 
 you go. 
 
 OBSER. Upon which the Jury went up ; 
 and several sworn to keep them without 
 any Accommodation, as aforesaid, till they 
 brought in their Verdict. 
 
 CRY. O yes, &c. The Court adjourns
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 till to Morrow Morning, at seven of the 
 Clock. 
 
 OBSER. The Prisoners were remanded 
 to Newgate, where they remained till next 
 Morning, and then were brought unto the 
 Court, which being sat, they proceeded as 
 followeth. 
 
 CRY. O yes, fc. Silence in the Court, 
 upon pain of Imprisonment. 
 
 CLER. Set William Penn and William 
 Mead to the Bar. Gentlemen of the Jury, 
 answer to your Names: Tho, Veer, Ed<w. 
 Bushel, John Hammond, Henry Henly, 
 Henry Michell, John Brightman, Charles 
 Milson, Gregory Walklet, John Baily, Wil- 
 liam Leaver, James Damask, William 
 Plumstead. Are you all agreed of your 
 Verdict? 
 
 JUR. Yes. 
 
 CLER. Who shall speak for you? 
 
 JUR. Our Fore-man. 
 
 CLER. Look upon the Prisoners. What 
 say you? Is William Penn Guilty of the 
 Matter whereof he stands indicted, in Man- 
 ner and Form, &c., or Not Guilty? 
 
 FORE-MAN. Here is our Verdict in 
 Writing, and our Hands subscribed. 
 
 OBSER. The Clerk took the paper, but 
 [32]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 was stopt by the Recorder from reading of 
 it; and he commanded to ask for a positive 
 Verdict. 
 
 FORE-MAN. That is our Verdict; we 
 have subscribed to it. 
 
 CLER. How say you? Is William Penn 
 Guilty, &c., or Not Guilty? 
 
 FORE-MAN. Not guilty. 
 
 CLER. How say you? Is William Mead 
 Guilty, &c., or Not Guilty? 
 
 FORE-MAN. Not guilty. 
 
 CLER. Then hearken to your Verdict; 
 you say that William Penn is Not Guilty 
 in Manner and Form as he stands indicted; 
 you say that William Mead is Not guilty in 
 Manner and Form as he stands indicted, 
 and so you say all? 
 
 JUR. Yes, we do so. 
 
 OBSER. The Bench being unsatisfied 
 with the Verdict, commanded that every 
 Person should distinctly answer to their 
 Names, and give in their Verdict, which 
 they unanimously did, in saying, Not Guilty, 
 to the great Satisfaction of the Assembly. 
 
 REC. I am sorry, Gentlemen, you have 
 followed your own Judgments and Opin- 
 ions, rather than the good and wholsome 
 Advice, which was given you; God keep 
 [33]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 my Life out of your Hands ; but for this the 
 Court Fines you forty Mark a Man; and 
 Imprisonment till paid. At which Penn 
 stept up towards the Bench, and said: 
 
 PEN. I demand my Liberty, being freed 
 by the Jury. 
 
 MAY. No, you are in for your Fines. 
 
 PEN. Fines, for what? 
 
 MAY. For contempt of the Court. 
 
 PEN. I ask, if it be according to the 
 Fundamental Laws of England, that any 
 English-Man should be Fined or Amerced, 
 but by the Judgment of his Peers or Jury; 
 since it expressly contradicts the fourteenth 
 and twenty-ninth Chap, of the great Char- 
 ter of England, which say, No Free-Man 
 ought to be amerced, but by the Oath of 
 good and Lawful Men of the Vicinage. 
 
 REC. Take him away, Take him away, 
 take him out of the Court. 
 
 PEN. I can never urge the Fundamental 
 Laws of England, but you cry, Take him 
 away, take him away. But it is no wonder, 
 Since the Spanish Inquisition hath so great 
 a place in the Recorder's Heart. God Al- 
 mighty, who is just, will judge you all for 
 these things. 
 
 OBSER. They haled the Prisoners into 
 [34]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 the Bale-dock, and from thence sent them to 
 Newgate, for Non-payment of their Fines; 
 and so were their Jury. 
 
 L'ENVOIE 
 
 So ended the "Tryal." The contuma- 
 cious jurors did not long remain in duress. 
 The pertinacious Bushel, being a man of 
 substance, took steps to legally rescue him- 
 self and fellows, and soon succeeded. The 
 affair had an important after echo at the 
 trial in New York, of John Peter Zenger, 
 the Palatine Printer, in 1735, for libelling 
 Governor William Cosby, by telling the 
 truth about his infringement of popular 
 liberty, when the attempted forcing of the 
 Penn jury was powerfully employed by 
 Andrew Hamilton, attorney for the de- 
 fense, to curb the efforts of Mr. Justice De 
 Lancey to coerce the twelve. In his re- 
 markable address an address that solidi- 
 fied the foundation for liberty of the press 
 and free speech on this continent and was 
 a worthy preface to the Declaration of In- 
 dependence drawn some forty years later 
 Hamilton said, concerning this "Tryal": 
 
 " Mr. Penn and Mead being Quakers, 
 and having met in a peaceable Manner, 
 [35]
 
 THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM PENN 
 
 after being shut out of their Meeting House, 
 preached in Grace Church Street, in Lon- 
 don, to the People of their own Perswasion, 
 and for this they were indicted ; and it was 
 said, That they with other Persons, to the 
 Number of 300. unlawfully and tumultu- 
 ously assembled, to the Disturbance of the 
 Peace, &c. To which they pleaded Not 
 Guilty. And the Petit Jury being sworn to 
 try the Issue between the King and the 
 Prisoners, that is, whether they were Guilty, 
 according to the Form of the Indictment? 
 Here there was no Dispute but they were 
 assembled together, to the Number men- 
 tioned in the Indictment; But Whether that 
 Meeting together was riotously, tumultu- 
 ously, and to the Disturbance of the Peace? 
 was the Question. And the Court told the 
 Jury it was, and ordered the Jury to find it 
 so; For (said the Court) the Meeting was 
 the Matter of Fact, and that is confessed, 
 and we tell you it is unlawful, for it is 
 against the Statute; and the Meeting being 
 unlawful, it follows of Course that it was 
 tumultuous, and to the Disturbance of the 
 Peace. But the Jury did not think fit to 
 take the Court's Word for it, for they could 
 neither find Riot, Tumult, or any Thing 
 [36]
 
 AND WILLIAM MEAD 
 
 tending to the Breach of the Peace com- 
 mitted at that Meeting; and they acquitted 
 Mr. Penn and Mead. In doing of which 
 they took upon them to judge both the Law 
 and the Fact, at which the Court (being 
 themselves true Cortiers) were so much 
 offended, that they fined the Jury 40 Marks 
 a piece, and committed them till paid. But 
 Mr. Bushel, who valued the Right of a 
 Juryman and the Liberty of his Country 
 more than his own, refused to pay the Fine, 
 and was resolved (tho' at a great Expence 
 and trouble too) to bring, and did bring, 
 his Habeas Corpus, to be relieved from his 
 Fine and Imprisonment, and he was re- 
 leased accordingly; and this being the Judg- 
 ment in his Case, it is established for Law, 
 That the Judges, how great soever they be, 
 have no Right to Fine, imprison, or punish 
 a Jury, for not finding a Verdict according 
 to the Direction of the Court. And this I 
 hope is sufficient to prove, That Jurymen 
 are to see with their own Eyes, to hear with 
 their own Ears, and to make use of their 
 own Consciences and the Understandings, 
 in judging of the Lives, Liberties or Estates 
 of their Fellow Subjects." 
 
 [37]
 
 2