fwore before the Mayor, when I was committed, that he did not fee me there. I appeal to the Mayor himself, if this be not true; but no Anfwer was given.

Cour. What number do you think might be there?

Read. About four or five hundred.

Penn. I defire to know of him what day it was?

Read. Anfw. the 14th day of Auguft.

Penn. Did he fpeak to me, or let me know he was there? for I am very fure I never faw him.

Cler. Cryer, call.

Cour. Give him his Oath.

into the Court.

My Lord, I faw a great number of People, and Mr. Penn I fuppofe was Speaking; I fee him make a motion with his hands, and heard fome noife, but could not underftand what he faid: but for Captain Mead, I did not fee him there.

Rec. What fay you, Mr. Mead? were you there?

Mead. It is a Maxim in your own Law, Nemo tenetur accufare feipfum; which if it be not true Latin, I am fure it is true English, That no man is bound to accuse himself: And why doft thou offer to enfnare me with fuch a Queftion? Doth not this fhew thy Malice? Is this like unto a Judg, that ought to be Counfel for the Prifoner at the Bar?

Record. Sir, Hold your Tongue, I did not go about to en fnare you.

Penn. I defire we may come more close to the Point, and that Silence be commanded in the Court.

Cry. O yes; All manner of Perfons keep Silence, upon pain of Imprifonment Silence in the Court.

Penn. We confefs our felves to be fo far from recanting, or declining to vindicate the Affembling of our felves to Preach, Pray, or Worship the Eternal, Holy, Juft God; that we de clare to all the World, that we do believe it to be our indifpenfable duty, to meet inceffantly upon fo good an account; nor fhall all the Powers upon Earth be able to divert us from reverencing and adoring our God, who made us.

Brown. You are not here for worshipping God, but for breaking the Law; you do your felves a great deal of wrong in going on in that difcourfe.

Penn. 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 felf, with thefe that hear us, may have a more direct underftanding of-this procedure, I defire you would let me know by what Law it is you profecute me, and upon what Law you ground my Indictment.

Rec. Upon the Common Law.

Penn, Where is that Common Law?

Ref.

Rec. You must not think that I am able to run up fo many. years, and over fo many adjudged Cafes, which we call Common Law, to answer your curiofity.

Penn. This Anfwer, I am fure, is very fhort of my Queftion; for if it be Common, it should not be fo hard to produce. Rec. Sir, will you plead to your Indictment?

Penn. Shall I plead to an Indictment that hath no Founda tion in Law? If it contain that Law you fay I have broken,. why should you decline to produce that Law, fince it will be impoffible for the Jury to determine, or agree to bring in their Verdict, who have not the Law produc'd, by which they should measure the Truth of this Indictment, and the Guilt, or contrary of my Fact?

Rec. You are a fawcy Fellow, fpeak to the Indictment.

Penn. I fay, it is my place to speak to Matter of Law;, I am arraigned a Prifoner, my Liberty,, which is next to Life it felf, is now concerned; you are many Mouths and Ears against me, and if I muft not be allowed to make the best of my Cafe, it is hard: I fay again, unless you fhew me, and the People, the Law you ground your Indictment, upon; I fhall take it for granted, your Proceedings are merely Arbitrary.

Obfer. At this time feveral upon the Bench urged hard upon the Prifoner to bear him down.

Rec. The Queftion is, Whether you are guilty of this Indictment?

Perm. The Queftion is not, Whether I am guilty of this Indictment, but whether this Indictment be legal; it is too general and imperfect an Anfwer, to fay it is the Common Law, unless we knew both where, and what it is: For where there is no Law, there is no Tranfgreffion; and that Law which is not in being, is fo 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 fcripta, that which many have ftudied thirty or forty years to know; and would you have me to tell you in a moment?

Peun. Certainly; If the Common Law be fo hard to be underftood, it's far from being very Common: But if the Lord Cook, in his Inftitutes, be of any confideration, he tells us, That Common Law is Common Right, and that Common Right is the great Charter-Privileges, confirm'd 9 Hen. 3. 29. 25 Edw. 1. 1. 2 Edw. 3.8. Cook Inftit. 2. p. 56.

Rec. Sir, you are a troubléfome Fellow, and it is not for the Honour of the Court to fuffer you to go on.

Penn, I have ask'd but one Queftion, and you have not anfwer'd me; tho the Rights and Privileges of every Englishman be concern'd in it.

Rec. If I fhould fuffer you to ask Questions till to morrow morning, you would be never the wifer,

Penn. That is according as the Answers are,

Rec. Sir, We must not ftand to hear you talk all night. Penn. I defign no Affront to the Court, but to be heard in my juft Plea; and I muft plainly tell you, that if you will dený me Oyer of that Law, which you fuggeft I have broken, you do at once deny me an acknowledged Right, and evidence to the whole World your refolution to facrince the Privileges of English-men to your finifter and arbitrary Defigns.

Rec. Take him away: My Lord, if you take not fome courfe with this peftilent Fellow, to ftop his mouth, we fhall not be able to do any thing to Night.

May. Take him away, Take him away; turn him into the Bale-dock.

Penn. Thefe are but fo many vain Exclamations. Is this Juftice or true Judgment? Muft I therefore be taken away, because I plead for the Fundamental Laws of England? However, this I leave upon your Confciences, who are of the Jury (and my fole Judges) that if thefe Antient Fundamental Laws, which relate to Liberty and Property, (and are not limited to particular Perfuafions in Matters of Religion) must not be indifpenfibly maintain'd and obferv'd; Who can fay he hath right to the Coat upon his Back? Certainly our Liber ties are openly to be invaded, qur Wives to be ravifhed, our Children flaved, our Families ruined, and our Eftates led away in Triumph, by every fturdy Beggar and malicious Informer, as their Trophies, but our (pretended) Forfeits for Confcience fake; the Lord of Heaven and Earth will be Judg between us in this matter.

Rec. Be filent there.

Penn. I am not to be filent in a Cafe wherein I am so much concerned, and not only my felf, but many Ten thousand Families befides.

Obfer. They having rudely hal'd him into the Bale-dock, William Mead they left in Court, who fpake as followeth.

Mead. You Men of the Jury, here I do now ftand, to an fwer to an Indictment against me, which is a bundle of Stuff, full of Lies and Falfhoods; for therein I am accufed, that I net Vid armis, illicite tumultuofe: Time was, when I had freedom to ufe a carnal Weapon, and then I thought I feared no Man: but now I fear the Living God, and dare not make fe thereof, nor hurt any Man; nor do I know I demeaned

my

my felf as a tumultuous perfon: I fay, I am a peaceable Man, therefore it is a very proper Queftion what William Penn demanded in this Cafe, An Oyer of the Law, on which our Indictment is grounded.

Recor. I have made Anfwer to that already.

Mead, turning his Face to the Jury, faith, 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 Affembly, Cook, he that. once they called the Lord Cook, tells us what makes a Riot, a Rout, and an unlawful Affembly- 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 Grafs, his Wood, or break down his Pales.

Obfer. Here the Recorder interrupted him, and faid, I thank you Sir, that you will tell me what the Law is, fcornfully pulling off his Hat,

Mead. Thou may'ft put on thy Hat, I have never a Fee for

thee now,

Brown. He talks at random, one while an Independent, another while fome other Religion, and now a Quaker, and next a Papift.

Mead. Turpe eft doctori cum culpa redarguit ad ipfum.
May, You deferve to have your Tongue cut out.

Rec. If you difcourfe on this manner, I fhall take occasion against you.

Mead. Thou didft promife me I fhould have fair liberty to be heard; Why may I not have the privilege of an Englishman? I am an English-man, and you might be afham'd of this dealing.

Rec. I look upon you to be an Enemy to the Laws of England, which ought to be obferv'd and kept; nor are you worthy of fuch Privileges as others have.

ter.

Mead. The Lord is Judg between me and thee in this mat

Obfer. 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 fpeaking; if they should not be difturbed, you fee they will go on; there are three or four Wit, neffes that have proved this, that he did preach there, that Mr. Mead did allow of it; after this, you have heard by fubftantial Witneffes what is faid against them. Now we are upon the Matter of Fact, which you are to keep to, and obferve, as what hath been fully fworn, at your peril.

Obfer.

Obfer. The Prifoners were put out of the Court, into the Bale-dock, and the Charge given to the Jury in their abfence; at which W. P. with a very raised Voice, it being a confiderable diftance from the Bench, fpake:

Pean. I appeal to the Jury, who are my Judges, and this great Affembly, whether the Proceedings of the Court are not moft arbitrary, and void of all Law, in offering to give the Jury their Charge in the abfence of the Prifoners; I fay, it is directly oppofite to, and deftructive of, the undoubted Right of every English Prifoner, as Cook in the 2 Inftir. 29. on the Chap. of Magna Charta fpeaks.

Obfer. The Recorder being thus unexpectedly lafht for his extra-judicial procedure, faid with an inraged Smile,

Rec. Why, ye are prefent, you do hear, do you not? Penn. 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 leaft 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 English-men, that we fhould not be heard, but turned into the Bale-dock for making our Defence, and the Jury to have their Charge given them in our abfence? I fay, thefe are Barbarous and Unjuft 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 felves would be tired out, and not have patience to hear them.

Ober. The Jury were commanded up to agree upon their Verdict, the Prifoners remaining in the ftinking Hole; after an hour and half's time eight came down agreed, but four remain'd above, the Court fent an Officer for them, and they accordingly came down: The Bench ufed many unworthy Threats to the four that diffented; and the Recorder, addref fing himself to Bufhell, faid, Sir, You are the cause of this difturbance, and manifeftly fhew your felf an Abettor of Faction; Í fhall fet a Mark upon you, Sir.

6

7. Robinfon, Mr. Bushell, I have known you near this fourteen years; you have thruft your felf upon this Jury, becaufe you think there is fome fervice for you; I tell you, you deferve to be indicted more than any Man that hath been brought to the Bar this day.

Bush. No, Sir John; there were threefcore before me, and I would willingly have got off, but could not.

Bloodw