The Trial of William Penn (1670)

Penn was a leader of the Quakers in London. The sect was not recognized by the government and was forbidden to meet in any building for the purpose of worship. In 1670 William Penn held a worship service in a quiet street which was attended by a peaceful group of fellow Quakers. Penn and another Quaker, William Mead, were arrested on a charge of disturbing the King's peace and summoned to stand trial. As the two men entered the courtroom, a bailiff ordered them to place their hats, which they had removed, back on their heads. When they complied, they were called forward and held in contempt of court for being in the courtroom with their hats on.

That was only the beginning. Penn demanded to know under which law they were charged. The court refused to supply that information and instead referred vaguely to the common law. When Penn protested that he was entitled to a specific indictment, he was removed from the presence of the judge and jury and confined in an enclosed corner of the room known as the bale-dock. From there, he could neither confront the witnesses who accused him of preaching to the Quakers nor ask them questions about their charges against him.

Several witnesses testified that Penn had preached to a gathering which included Mead, but one showed some hesitancy as to whether Mead had been present. The judge turned to Mead and questioned him directly. In essence, he was asking Mead if he were guilty. Mead invoked the common-law privilege against self-incrimination which provoked hostile comment from the judge. The court then sent Mead to join Penn in the bale-dock out of the sight of the jury and witnesses. After the testimony the court instructed the jury to find the defendants guilty as charged. Penn tried to protest, but was silenced and again sent out of the courtroom.

The jury, for its part, proved sympathetic to the two defendants, and refused the judge's command to find the defendants guilty. The judge was furious and sent them away to reconsider.* When they returned with the same verdict, the court criticized the jury's leader, one Bushnell, and demanded "a verdict that the court will accept, and you shall be locked up without meat, drink, fire, and tobacco....We will have a verdict by the help of God or you will starve for it."

[* Note: Actually the jury found them guilty of "speaking on Gracechurch Street" and nothing else. Starling was infuriated because the act about which the jury found the accuseds guilty was not a crime.]

Three more times the jury went out and returned with the same verdict. Finally, they refused to go out any more. The judge fined each of them forty marks and ordered them imprisoned until the fine was paid. Penn and Mead went to prison anyway for obeying the bailiff's order that they put on their hats. Later a writ of habeas corpus won freedom for the jurors while Penn and Mead left jail to come to America.

Earl Warren, "A Republic, If You Can Keep It", pp. 113-115

Historical note: In 1681 King Charles II of England gave the Pennsylvania region to William Penn. Pennsylvania means Penn's Woods. Penn, a Quaker, established the Pennsylvania colony so that Quakers and other faiths could have religious freedom.

THE TRYAL of WILLIAM PENN and WILLIAM MEAD, at the Sessions held at the Old Baily in London, the 1st, 3d, 4th, and 5th of September, 1670. Done by themselves. Reprinted Boston: Marshall Jones Co., 1919.

PRESENT

SAM. STARLING, Mayor.
THO. HOWEL, Recorder.
THO. BLOODWORTH, Alderm.
WILLIAM PEAK, Alderm.
JOHN ROBINSON, Alderm.
RICHARD FORD, Alderman.
JOSEPH SHELDEN, Alderman.
JOHN SMITH and JAMES EDWARDS, Sheriffs.
RICHARD BROWNE.

CRYER. O yes, Thomas Veer, Edward Bushel, John Hammond, Charles
Milson, Gregory Walklet, John Brightman, William Plumstead, 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 Mead, late of London, Linnen-
Draper, with divers other Persons to the Jurors unknown, to the
Number of 300, the 14th Day of August, in the 22d 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 Gracechurch-Street,
unlawfully and tumultuously 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 Congregated together, by Reason whereof a great Concourse and
Tumult of People in the Street aforesaid, then and there, a long
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 William Mead, are you Guilty, as
you stand indicted, in Manner and Form, as aforesaid, or Not
Guilty?

PENN. It is impossible, that we should be able to remember the
Indictment verbatim, 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 Formality 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 received.
Secondly, that you will promise me a fair hearing, and liberty of
making my Defence.

COURT. No Advantage shall be taken against you; you shall have
Liberty; you shall be heard.

PEN. Then I plead Not guilty in Manner 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, etc.

CLER. Bring William Penn and William 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.

After five Hours Attendance, the Court broke up and adjourned to
the third Instant.

The third of September 1670, the Court sate.

CRYER. 0 Yes, etc.

CLER. Bring William Penn and William Mead to the Bar.

MAYOR. Sirrah, who bid you put off their Hats. Put on their Hats
again.

OBSER. 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 you not 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 Respect due to the Court?

PEN. Yes.v RECORD. Why do you not pay it then?

PEN. I do so.v RECORD. Why do you not pull off your Hat then?

PEN. Because I do not believe that to be any Respect.v 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 Recorder. Am I fined also?

RECORD. Yes.

MEAD. I desire the Jury, and all People to take notice of this
Injustice of the Recorder; 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. J. 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; 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
Arbitrary Ends.

The Clerk read the Indictment, as aforesaid.

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 Exchange, 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 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 me in Gracechurch-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 14th 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 speaking; 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
English, That no Man is bound to accuse himserf: 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 worshipping God, but for breaking the
Law; you do yourselves a great deal of Wrong in going on in that
Discourse.

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 Understanding 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 Indictment?

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 produced, by which they should measure the 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 to Life it self,
is now concerned: You are many Mouths and Ears against me, and if
I 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 Indictment upon, I shall take it for granted your Proceedings
are meerly Arbitrary.

OBSER. At this time several upon the Bench urged hard upon the
Prisoner to bear him down.

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 Common 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, 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, Edw. I. i. 2, Edw. 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 Questions 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,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 acknowledged 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 Exclamations; is this Justice or
true Judgment? Must I therefore be taken away because 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 Fundamental Laws, which relate to Liberty and
Property, and (are not limited to particular Persuasions in
Matters of Religion) must not be indispensibly maintained and
observed, Who can say he hath Right to the Coat upon his Back?
Certainly our Liberties are openly to be invaded, our Wives 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.

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 Freedom 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 Penn demanded in this Case, An Oyer of the Law, in which
our Indictment is grounded.

REC. I have made Answer to that already.

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.

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 proceeded to give the Jury their Charge, as followeth.

REC. You have heard what the Indictment 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 Witnesses 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 Judges, and this great
Assembly, 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 opposite to, and
destructive of, the undoubted Right of every English Prisoner, as
Cook in the 2 Instit. 29. on the Chap. of Magna Charta, speaks.

OBSER. The Recorder being thus unexpectedly lash’d for his
extrajudicial Procedure, said, with an inraged Smile.

REC. Why, ye are present, you do hear, do you not?

PEN: No thanks to the Court, that commanded me into the Bale-dock;
and you of the Jury take notice, that I have not been 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.

REC. 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 an Hour and half’s
time eight came down agreed, but four remained above; the Court
sent an Officer for them, and they accordingly came down. The
Bench used many unworthy Threats to the four that dissented; 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 Language, and behaved themselves
very imperiously to the Jury, as Persons not more void of Justice
than sober Education: After this barbarous Usage, they sent them
to consider of bringing in their Verdict, and after some
considerable time they returned to the Court. Silence was call’d
for, and the Jury call’d by their Names.

CLER. Are you agreed upon your Verdict?

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 Gracechurch-Street.

COURT. Is that all?

FORE-M. That is all I have in Commission.

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
Assembly in their Verdict; at which the Recorder, Mayor, Robinson
and Bloodworth took great occasion to villifie them with most
opprobrious Language; and this Verdict not serving their Turns,
the Recorder 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 agreect of your Verdict?

JUR. Yes.

CLER. Who shall speak for you?

JUR. Our Fore-man.

CLER. What say you, look upon the Prisoners: Is William Penn
Guilty in Manner 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, 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 14th of August last, 1670.
And that William Mead is Not guilty of the said Indictment.

Fore-m, Thomas Veer,
Edward Bushel,
John Hammond,
Henry Henley,
Henry Michel,
John Brightman,
Charles Milson,
Gregory Walklet,
John Baily,
William Lever,
James Damask,
Wm. 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 canting 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.

REC. Gentlemen, you shall not be dismist 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
(1st.) we were by Force of Arms kept out of our lawful House, and
met as near it in the Street, as their soldiers would give us
leave; and (2dly.) because it was no new thing (nor with the
Circumstances expres’d in the Indictment) but what was usual and
customary with us; ’t is very well known that we are a peaceable
People, and cannot offer Violence 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 another Verdict contradictory to this, I affirm they are
perjur’d Men in Law. And looking upon the Jury, said, You are
Englishmen, mind your Privilege, give not away your Right.

BUSH, etc. Nor will we ever do it.

OBSER. One of the Jury-men pleaded Indisposition of Body, and
therefore desired to be dismist.

MAY. You are as strong as any of them; starve with them; and hold
your Principles.

REC. Gentlemen, You must be contented with your hard Fate, let
your Patience overcome 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 Persons, to keep the Jury all Night
without Meat, Drink, Fire, or any other Accomodation; they had not
so much as a Chamberpot, tho’ desired.

CRY. O Yes, etc.

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, etc. — Silence in the Court, upon pain of Imprisonment.

The Jury’s Names called over.

CLER. Are you agreed upon your Verdict?

JUR. Yes.

CLER. Who shall speak for you?

JUR. Our Fore-man.

CLER. What say you? Look upon the Prisoners at the Bar. Is William
Penn Guilty of the Matter whereof he stands indicted, in Manner
and Form as aforesaid, or Not guilty?

FORE-M. William Penn is guilty of Speaking in Gracechurch-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 ’11 take a Course with you.

BLOOD. I knew Mr. Bushel would not yield.

BUSH. Sir Thomas I have done according 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?

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 conspire alone.

OBSER. 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. 0 Yes, etc. 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 indicted, in Manner and Form aforesaid, or Not Guilty?

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
having Justice done, when Juries are threatened, and their
Verdicts rejected? I am concerned to speak and grieved to see such
Arbitrary Proceedings. Did not the Lieutenant 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?

Unhappy are those Juries, who are threatened to be fined, and
starved, and ruined, if they give not in Verdicts contrary to
their Consciences.

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 steadfastly 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,
I 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 followeth:

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. 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, having all agreed, and set our
Hands to the Verdict.

REC. Your Verdict is nothing, you play upon the Court; I say you
shall go together, 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 another, 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, etc. The Court adjourns 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, etc. 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, Edw. Bushel, John
Hammond, Henry Henly, Henry Michell, John Brightman, Charles
Milson, Gregory Walklet, John Baily, William Leavet, 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 Manner and
Form, etc., or Not Guilty?

FORE-MAN. Here is our Verdict in Writing, and our Hands subscribed.

OBSER. The Clerk took the paper, but 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 Opinions, rather than the good and wholsome Advice, which was
given you; God keep 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 Charter 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 Almighty, who is just, will judge you all for these things.

ORSER. They haled the Prisoners into the Bale-dock, and from
thence sent them to Newgate, for Non-payment of their Fines; and
so were their Jury.

[End of transcript.]



-------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------

Appendix:
(Several letters of William Penn from Newgate Prison to his
father, William Penn the Admiral, taken from another source.) The
first was written after his arrest and before the trial; the rest
after the trial, while in prison (along with the jury) for
supposed contempt of court.

Second-day morning; l$th of 6th mo. 1670.

My dear Father,

This comes by the hand of one who can best allay the trouble it
brings. As true as ever Paul said it, such as live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution. So, for no other reason, am I at
present a sufferer. Yesterday I was taken by a band of soldiers,
with one Captain Meade, and in the evening carried before the
Mayor; he proceeded against me according to the ancient law; he
told me I should have my hat pulled off, for all I was Admiral
Penn’s son. I told him I desired to be in common with others, and
sought no refuge from the common usage. I discoursed with him
about the hat; but he avoided it. Because I did not readily answer
him as to my name, William, when he asked me in order to a
mittimus, he bid his clerk write one for Bridewell, and there
would he see me whipped himself, for all I was Penn’s son that
starved the seamen. Indeed these words grieved me, and they
manifested his great malice to the whole company, about one
hundred people. I told him I could very well bear his severe
expressions concerning myself, but was sorry to hear him speak
those abuses of my father that was not present; at which the
assembly seemed to murmur. In short, he committed, that person and
me as rioters; and at present we are at the sign of the Black Dog
in Newgate market.

And now, dear father, be not displeased nor grieved. What if this
be designed of the Lord for an exercise of our patience? Several
Independents were taken from Sir J. Dethick’s, and Baptists
elsewhere. It is the effect of commotion in the spirits of some,
which the Lord will rebuke- and I doubt not that I may be at
liberty in a day or two to see thee. I am very well, and have no
trouble upon my spirits besides my absence from thee at this
juncture; otherwise I can say I was never better, and what they
have to charge me with is harmless.

Well, eternity, which is at the door (for He that shall come will
come, and will not tarry)--that shall make amends for all- The
Lord God everlasting consolate and support thee by His holy power,
and preserve thee to eternal rest and glory. Amen.

Thy faithful and obedient son,

WILLIAM PENN.



-------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------

5th of 7th month, 1670.

Dear Father,

Because I cannot come, I write. These are to let thee know that
this morning about sever we were remanded to the sessions. The
jury, after two nights and two days being locked up, came down and
offered their former verdict; but that being refused as not
positive, they explained themselves by pronouncing the prisions
Not Guilty. Upon this the bench were amazed, and the whole court
so satisfied they they made a kind of hymn. But that the Mayor,
Recorder, and Robinson might add to their malice, the y fined us
for not pulling off our hats,and have kept us prisoners for the
money - an injurious trifle, which will blow over, as we shall
brin git to the Common Pleas, because it was against law, as not
sessed by a jury.

How great a dissatisfactions their actions have begot may
reasonablty be conjectured by the bare mention of them. 1st. -
That the jury was about six times rejected in their verdict; and
besides illegal menaces, were kept two days and two nights without
b ed, tobacco, provisions, etc. 2nd. - That a session should be
heldon the first day of the week. 3rd. - That the jury, the only
judges by law, should be fined forty marks each for the veridct
they brought in, and to be prisoners till they have paid it.
However, their verdict for us is accepted, because they dare not
deny it.

This is the substance. The particular circumstances I shall
personally relate, if the Lord will. I am more concerned at thy
distemper and the pains that attend it, than at my own mere
imprisonment, which works for the best.

I am, dear father,
Thy obedient son,
William Penn.



-------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------

Newgate, 6th, 7th mo., 1670.

Dear Father,

I desire thee not to be troubled at my present confinement; I
could scarce suffer on a better account, nor by a worse hand, and
the will of God be done. It is more grievous and uneasy to me that
that hsould be so heavily exercised, God Almighty knows, than any
world confinement. I am cleared by the jury,and they are here in
my place, and resolved to lie till they get out by law. Every six
hours they demand their freedom, by advice of counsel.

They (the court) have so overshot themselvels, that the generality
of people much detest them. I entreat thee not to purchase my
liberty. They will repent them of their proceedings. I am now a
prisoners notoriousluy against law. I desire in fervent praye r
the Lord God to strengthen and support thee, and to anchor thy
mind in thoughts of the immutable blessed state which is over all
perishing concerns.

I am, dear father,
Thy obedient son,
William Penn.



-------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------

Newgate, 7th September, 1670.

Dear Father,

I am truly grieved to hear of thy present illness.

If God in His holy will did see meet that I should be freed, I
could heartily embrace it; yet, considering I cannot be free but
upon such terms as strengthen their arbitrary and base
proceedings, I rather choose to suffer nay hardship, and I am
persuaded some clearer way will suddenly be found to obtain my
liberty; which is no way so desirable to me as on the account of
being with thee.

I am not without hope that the Lord will sanctify the endeavours
of thy physician unto a cure, and them much of my solicitude will
be at an end. My present restraint is so far from being humour,
that I would rather perish then release myself by an indirect
course, or to satiate their revengeful, avaricious appetites. The
advantage of such freedom would fall very short of the trouble of
accepting it. Solace thy mind in the thoughts of better things,
dear father. Let not this wicked world disturb thy mind, and
whatever shall come to pass, I hope in all conditions to approve
myself thy obedient son,

William Penn.



-------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------

source: Maria Webb, ed. The Penns and Penningtons of the
Seventeenth Century etc. (London: F. Bowyer Kitto, 1867).