The Tryal of William Penn & William Mead for Causing a Tumult Part 2

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 a.s.sembling of our selves to Preach, Pray, or Wors.h.i.+p the Eternal, Holy, Just G.o.d, 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 G.o.d who made it.

BROWN. You are not here for wors.h.i.+pping G.o.d, 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 _Inst.i.tutes_, 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 Inst.i.t_. 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 st.u.r.dy 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 Freedom to use a carnal Weapon, and then I thought I feared no Man; but now I fear the Living G.o.d, 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 a.s.sembly, _Cook_, he that once they called the Lord _Cook_, tells us what makes a Riot, a Rout, and an unlawful a.s.sembly--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 Gra.s.s, 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.