Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-06-19
the recorder. Again the jury is sent

When the mockery of the trial is
over and the jury seem firm for ac-
quittal, abuse and threats are rained
upon them and their leader. IL will
set Il mark upon you" is the threat of
the mayor to Bushel, one of the jurors.
lie even threatens him with personal
mutllation. Penn interposes with quiet
dignity: "What hope" cries out Penn,
"in having justice done when jurors
are threatened and their verdicts re-
Jccted 7" lie denounces, in the name
of Magma Charta, the arbitrary con
duct of the judges. stop his mouth" "
cries the mayor; "jailer, bring iet-
tiers" 81 matter not your fetters,
replies the selfcomplacent Quaker.
Again the jury are sent out. and again
they return verdict of mot guilty"
Then dramatic scene ensues, which
is faithfully transcribed
Observation-Disclosures of the jury I am
sorry you have followed your own judg-
mcnts rather than the good advice which
was given you. God keep my life out of
your hands But for this the court fines
you forty marks n man and imprisonment
till paid.
W. PENN demand my liberty, being
freed by the jury.
Mayor--No you are in for your fines.
W. Penn-Fincs for WHAT
Mayor-For contempt of court
W PENN ask If it bc according to the
fundamental laws of England that any
Englishman should be- fined or amcrced but
By the judgment of his peers or jury, since
ii expressly contrudcts the fourteenth and
twcnty-ninth chapters OF the great charter
of England, which says, "No freeman
shall be amcrced but by the oath Of good
and lawful men Of the yicInagc.'
Rccordcr-Take him away.
W. Penn can never urge the funda-
mental laws Of England but you cry Take
him away, but il j. no wondcr. God, who
is just, will judge you for all these things.
The jurors aud the acquitted pris-
oner are again sent to Jail from which
the great writ rescucs them.
God has judged these things. he
has raised up a great commonwealth
which bears the name of the Quaker
tribune, by whom English law was
saved from rcproach. Macaulcy has
stigmatizcd William Penn, with more
hippancy than truth, n rather myth
ical than q historical person. While
he admits that rival nations and hos
tile sccts have agreed III canoniziug
Penn, and that England is proud Of
his name; while the historian likcns
the reverence to his name, by the
great commonwealth beyond the At
Iautic, to that which the Athenians
felt for Thescus and the Romans for
Quirinus, and confcsscs that his name
is u synonym for purity and philan-
thropy while this most critical and
hostile of historians thus indulges ia
cncomiums, there is nothing in Penn's
character. whether dealing with the
red man or preaching in his convent
Gle amidst hostility aud persecution,
equal to his manly stand for the sacred
right of trial by jury. We can see
him standing in his broad-brimmcd hat
aud coat of formal cut, and not unlike
Sydney, with undisturbed pulse and
calm demeanor. insulted and bcrated
but answering not again, save to chal-
lenge in tie name of English liberty,
the infamous mayor, recorder, shcriiIs
and aldermen of London, who sought
by outraging the traditions of the
realm to suppress him and his teach
ing. His words ring down the years
like the old bell of Roland of Ghent,
which Motley says rang the people to
arms when liberty was in danger.
When that other bell from Indcpcnd-
encc Hall tolled out the death of Eng
lish tyranny, it rang to all the land
and the inhabitants; thereof, from it,
brazcn throat, the wedding of liberty
and independence but it also had
another voice-the voice of great
state, whose foundations we're laid in
justice to all, and whose