The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-09-13
Trial of William Penn.

Trial Of William Penn.
Miss Milford has been reading through
Z" IIargrave's State Trials" and thus re-
lates something very amusing ard inter-
esting she found therein:
Que OF these trials relates to man
about whom much has been written
lately and who, certainly, although no
doubt be had faults in plenty, was pulled
up with vanity, as your professors of hut
manity seldom fail to be, and took no
small delight in courts and princes, as
was to be expected from the leader of a
sect whose chief tenet was an ostonta-
tious remuneration of the pomps and
vanities of the world must be admit
ted to have had his merits also-nmong
which shall always include the manner
in which he turned the Mayor and Mr..
Recorder round his fingers ain talk
ing of William Penn, and the process
in question is the iial of William Pom
and William Mead for a tumultuous as
semDly, 22d Charles H. (l670) before
the Mayor, Recorder, and divers Alder.
men Of the Old Bailey.
| do not know any cause plcasanter
to read than this, because from first to
to last the parties with whom our sym
pathics 60, have the best not only Of the
rcasoning but of the result; such nrrant
blunderers were the whole of the court.
To begin at the beginning:
Clerk. =" Bring William Penn and
William Mead to the bar"
Mayor -"Sirrah Who bid you put
off their hats} Put on their bats
again"
Whcreupon one of the officers putting
the prisoners hats upon their heads,
pursuant to the orders of the Court,
brought them to the bar.
Rccorder.-"Do you know where You
arc ?"
Penn" Yes.n
Recorder" Do you not know it is
the Kings Court ~
Penn Il know it to bo Court, aud
| suppose it to be the Kings Court"
Recorder -" Do you not know there
is a respect due to tho Court ?"
Penn -" Yes"
Recorder -" Why do you not pay it,
then 2"
PENN | do son
Recorder why do you not pull off
your hat, then p
Penn" Because do rot believe
that to be any respect"
Rccordcr.-" We'll. the Court sets
forty marks apiece upon your heads, as
fine for your contempt of Court" "
Penn.-"I desire it might be obscrv-
ed, tina: 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"
Then Penn, finding the advantage he
had got, began to ask questions of the
Recorder, much to the discontinue of
that learned official. Here is a sample /:
Recorder Sir, you are a very trou-
blesome fellow, aud it is not for the
honor of the Court to suffer you to go
on"
Penn" have asked but one ques-
tion, and you have not answered me,
though the right aud privilege of every
EngliSlman be concerned in it"
Recorder r." If | should suffer you
to ask questions till tomorrow morning
you would never be the wiser"
Penn" That is according as the an-
swers be-"
Ninally, although the real offence
Chat of preaching in Grace church
strect) was, | suppose, pretty clearly cs'
tablishcd, it was found absolutely i'm.
possible to get the jury to convict -
They brought in a tcmporizing and mod
fled verdict, which deprived the Court
Of the few wits with which they seemed
to have been originally gifted. The
Mayor scoldcd, tho Recorder stormcd
The jury were locked up,Esent,a. back !;
sen; back again, locked again for some.
thing like two days and must have
been made of very stubborn stuff to
have resisted tho starvation. They did
resist however The more they were
pressed, the more! Favorable the verdict
became, and the bench were at last Icom.
PEELED to accept complete and triumph
ant acquittal.