The Tryal of William Penn and William Mead
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THE TRYAL
OF
_William Penn & William Mead_
FOR
CAUSING A TUMULT
_At the_ SESSIONS _held at the_ OLD BAILEY
_in_ LONDON
_the_ 1ST, 3D, 4TH, _and_ 5TH _of_ SEPTEMBER
1670
* * * * *
_Done by Themselves_
TRANSCRIBED _from the_ COMPLEAT COLLECTION
_of_ STATE TRYALS
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1719 _and_ EDITED by
DON C. SEITZ
_To the Memory_
of
THOMAS JEFFERSON
WHICH NEEDS FREQUENT REFRESHING
FOREWORD
Liberty, 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 15th of October, 1644, in the angry days of the Roundhead
Revolt, his early years were spent in an intensely religious 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 wife Margaret
Jasper, daughter of Hans Jasper, a sea trader of Rotterdam: From these
forbears the youth received independence 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. Puritanism, 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 College 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 principles
joined him in this obduracy, going so far as to strip the gowns from the
persons of willing wearers. This led to his expulsion.
Samuel Pepys mentions him in his diary on October 31st, 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 England 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
William'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 30th 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 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 repress 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 company,
nor comes into any; which is a pleasant 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 activity in pressing Quakerism upon
the public, to the vexation of his father who was one of the notables of
England, as Admiral both under Cromwell and the King. He had commanded
the fleet of the Lord Protector which wrested the rich Island of Jamaica
from Spain and as one of the three commissioners of the Navy, laid the
foundation 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 prejudice 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 socially 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,
Against this background of paternal distinction, the young reformer shone
invidiously and brought his father great chagrin by his association with
carpenters and weavers 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. Writing 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 impossibility 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, undertook to prove that the majestic edifice of the State Church
was not founded upon a rock. It created much excitement and 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 persecution, and the Duke of York, who was a
firm friend, contrived to have the prisoner released 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 16th
of September, 1670.
Penn's prominence and influence increased 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 desire was readily carried out. By fortunate 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 handing 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 particularly his conduct, courage and
discretion 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
21st, 1682.
It was Penn'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,"--determining that there should be no
repetition 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.
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 disturbance 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 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. Reported 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.
THE TRYAL of WILLIAM PENN _and_ WILLIAM MEAD,
_at the Sessions held at the_ Old Baily _in_ London,
_the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th of_ September, _1670.
Done by themselves_.
PRESENT
SAM. STARLING, _Mayor_
THO. HOWEL, _Recorder_.
THO. BLOODWORTH, _Alderman_.
WILLIAM PEAK, _Alderman_.
JOHN ROBINSON, _Alderman_.
RICHARD FORD, _Alderman_.
JOSEPH SHELDEN, _Alderman_.
JOHN SMITH, JAMES EDWARDS, RICHARD BROWNE, _Sheriffs_.
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 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, _&c_.
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. O Yes, _&c._
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 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 Respect 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?
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 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
before the Mayor when we were committed: For now he swears that he saw
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 himself_: 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.
[Sidenote: Obser. _At this time several upon the Bench urged hard upon the
Prisoner to bear him down._]
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.
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.