Obfer. The Mayor spoke to the Sheriff, and he came off of his Seat, and faid,

Sheriff. Come, Gentlemen, you must go up; you fee I am commanded to make you go.

Objer. Upon which the Jury went up; and feveral fworn, to keep them without any Accommodation as aforesaid, till they brought in their Verdict.

Cry. O yes, c. The Court adjourns till to morrow meraing, at seven of the clock.

Obfer. The Prifoners were remanded to Newgate; where they remain'd till next morning, and then were brought unto the Court; which being fate, they proceeded as followeth.

Cry. O yes, &c. Silence in the Court upon pain of Imprisonment.

· Clerk. Set William Pen and William Mead at the Bar. Gentlemen of the Jury, answer to your Names; Tho. Veer, Edward Bufhel, John Hammond, Henry Henly, Henry Michell, John Brightman, Charles Milfon, Gregory Walklet, John Baily, William Lever, James Damask, William Plumstead: Are you all agreed of your Verdict?

Jury. Yes.

Clerk. Who fhall speak for you?

Jury. Our Foreman.

Clerk. Look upon the Prisoners. What fay you, is William Penn guilty of the matter whereof he ftands indicted, in manner and form, &c. or not guilty?

Foreman. Here is our Verdict in writing, and our Hands fubfcrib'd.

Obfer. The Clerk took the Paper, but was ftopt by the Recorder from reading of it; and he commanded to ask for a pofitive Verdict.

Foreman. That is our Verdict; we have fubfcrib'd it.

Clerk, How fay you, is William Penn guilty, &c. or not guilty?

Foreman. Not guilty.

Clerk. How fay you, is William Mead guilty, &c. or not guilty?

Foreman. Not guilty.

Clerk. Then hearken to your Verdict, you fay that William Penn is not guilty in manner and form as he ftands indicted; you fay that William Mead is not guilty in manner and form as he ftands indicted, and fo you fay all.

Jury. Yes, we do fo.

Obfer. The Bench being unfatisfy'd with the Verdict, commanded that every Perfon fhould diftin&tly answer to their

Names,

Names, and give in their Verdict, which they unanimously did, in faying, Not Guilty; to the great fatisfaction of the Affembly.

Rec. I am forry, Gentlemen, you have follow'd your own Judgments and Opinions, father than the good and wholfom 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 ftept up towards the Bench, and said,

Pen. I demand my Liberty, being freed by the Jury.

May. No, you are in for your Finess

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 fhould be fined or amerced, but by the Judgment of his Peers or Jury; fince it exprefly contradicts the fourteenth and twenty ninth Chapter of the great Charter of England, which fay, No Freeman 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 won der, fince the Spanish Inquifition hath fo great a place in the Recorder's Heart. God Almighty, who is juff, will judg you all for these things.

Obfer. They haled the Prifoners into the Bale-dock, and from thence fent them to Newgate, for Non-payment of theit Fines; and fo were their Jury.

1

An APPENDIX, by way of Defence for the Prifoners, as what might have been offer'd against the Indictment, and illegal Proceedings of the Court thereon, had they not violently over-rul'd and stop'd them.

U

PON a fober Difquifition into the feveral parts of the Indictment, we find it fo wretchedly defective, as if it were nothing else but a mere Compofition of Error, rather calculated to the malicious Defigus of the Judges, than to the leaft Verity of Fact committed by the Prisoners.

To prove this, what we fay will be a main help to disce ver the Arbitrary Proceedings of the Bench in their frequent Menaces to the Jury; as if it were not fo much their Buf nefs to try, as to condemn the Prisoners; and that not fo much for any Fact they had committed, as what the Court would have fuggefted to the Jury to have been their Fact.

Sett. 1. It is the conftant Common Law of England, that no man fhould be taken, imprifon'd, amerced, diffeiz'd of his Freehold, of his Liberties or free Cuftoms, but by the Judg. ment of his Peers, which are vulgarly call'd a Jury from Jurare, becaufe they are fworn to do right.

Sect. 2. The only Affiftance that is given the Jury, in order to a Verdict, is;

Firft, the Evidence given of the Fact committed by the Perfon indicted.

Secondly, the Knowledg of that Law, A&t, or Statute the Indictment is grounded upon, and which the Prisoners are faid to have tranfgrefs'd.

Sect. 3. We fhall neglect to mention here, how much they were depriv'd of that juft advantage the antient equal Laws of England do allow; defigning it for a Conclufion of the whole, and fhall only fpeak here to matter of Fact and Law.

Sect. 4. The Evidence you have read in the Trial, the ut moft Import of which is no more than this; That William Penn was fpeaking in Grace-Church-jireet to an Affembly of People, but knew not what he faid; which is fo great a Contra dition, as he that runs may read it. For no man can fay another man preaches, and y.t understand not what he faith:

He

He may conjecture it, but that is a lame Evidence in Law: It might as well have been fworn, That he was fpeaking of Law, Phyfick, Trade, or any other matter of Civil Concernment. Befides, There is no Law againft Preaching what is Truth, whether it be in the Street, or in any other place: Nor is it poffible, that any man can truly fwear, That he preach'd Sedition, Herefy, &c. unlefs he fo heard him, that he could tell what he faid.

Sect. 5. The Evidence further faith, That W. Mead was there; but till being in Gracechurch-ftreet be a Fault, and hearing a Man fpeak the Witnefs knows not what, be contrary to Law, the whole Evidence is ufelefs and impertinent: but what they want of that, they endeavour to supply with Indictment; whofe parts we proceed to confider.

Exceptions against the Indictment.

Sect. 6. It faith, That the Prifoners [were met upon the 15th Day of Auguft, 1670.] whereas their own Evidence affirms it to be upon the 14th Day of Augujt, 70.

Sect. 7. [That they met with Force and Arms] which is fo great a Lye, that the Court had no better cover for it, than to tell the Jury, it was only a piece of Form, urging that the man tried for clipping of Mony this prefent Selfions had the fame words used in his Indictment.

But that this Answer is too fcanty, as well as it was too weak to prevail with the Jury; we defire it may be confider'd, that the fame words may be ufed more of course, and out of form at one time, than at another. And tho we grant they can have little force with any Jury in a Clipper's cafe, for mere Clipping; yet they are words that give to juft a ground of Jealoufy, nay that carry fo clear an Evidence of Illegality, where they are truly prov'd and affirm'd of any Meeting, as that they are the proper Roots from whence do fpring thofe Branches which render an Indictment terrible, and an Affembly truly the Terror of the People.

Sect. 8. [Unlawfully and tumultuously to disturb the Peace] which is as true as what is faid before, that is as falfe. This will evidently appear to all that confider how lawful it is to af femble with no other defign than to worship God: and their calling a lawful Affembly an unlawful one, no more makes it fo, than to fay Light is Darkness, Black is White, concludes fo impudent a Fality true.

In thort, becaufe to worship God can never be a Crime, no Meeting or Affembly detigning to worship God, can be unlawful. Such as go about to prove an unlawful Affembly,

Y 2

muft

must prove the Affemblers intent not to worship God; bu that no man can do, because no man can know another man's Intentions; and therefore it's impoffible that any should prove fuch an Affembly unlawful. That is properly an unlawful Affembly, according to the Definition of the Law, when feveral Perfons are met together, with design to use violence, and to do mifchief; but that Diffenters meet with no fuch Intention, is manifeft to the whole World, therefore their Affemblies are not unlawful. He that hath only Right to be worship'd, which is God, hath only Right to inftitute how he will be worship'd; and fuch as worship him in that way they apprehend him to have inftituted, are so far from being unlawful Affemblers, that therein they do but exprefs the Duty they owe to God.

[Tumultuously] imports as much as Disorderly, or an Affembly full of Noife, Buftle, and Confufion, ufing Force and Violence, to the injury of Perfons, Houfes, or Grounds. But whether Religious Diffenters, in their peaceable Meetings, therein defiring, and feeking nothing more than to exprefs that Duty they owe to God Almighty, be a tumultuous Action, or Meeting in the Senfe expreft (and which is the very Definition of the Law) will be the queftion. Certainly fuch as call thefe Meetings tumultuous, as to break the Peace, offer the greateft violence to common words, that can be well imagin'd; for they may as rightly fay, fuch Perfons meet adulteroufly, thievifhly, &c. as to affirm they meet tumultuously, because they are as truly applicable. In short, such Particulars as are required to prove them fuch Meetings in Law, are wholly wanting.

Sect. 9. [To the Disturbance of the Peace.]

If the Disturbance of the Peace be but matter of form with the reft, as is ufually pleaded; leave out this matter of form, and then fee what great matter will be left.

Certainly fuch Affemblies, as are not to the breach and difturbance of the Peace, are far from being unlawful or tu multuary: But if the Peace be broken by them, how comes it the Evidence was fo fhort? We cannot believe it was in favour of the Prisoners. This may fhew to all the reasonable World how forward fome are, to brand Innocency with hateful Names, to bring a Sufpicion, where there was none de ferved.

Sect. 10. [That the faid Penn and Mead met by agreement beforehand made.

But if Perfons that never faw each other, nor converse together, neither had Correfpondence by any other hand, can not be faid to be agreed to any Action, before it be done;

then