BEFORE I take a final leave of the 'SUFFERINGS,' from which I have already given so many Extracts, I incline to put into this Number, for the sake of Readers unused to the proceedings of Courts of Law, a complete specimen of the verbose Latin-English indictments, to which we have seen our Friends obliged to plead Guilty' or • Not Guilty; and to the form of which they made just objections. Likewise a singular instance (for I have not met with another) of the testimony of twelve men without the Coroner, to satisfy a gaoler about the death of his prisoner: and a very remarkable trial, without a Jury, of the faith of an honest Friend,' and the consistency of his Legal superiors. It was a mere mockery of Justice, to say from the Bench to reputable clothiers and other tradesmen (or labourers whose places of abode and general characters, if not their persons also, were known to their neighbours in Court) that they were assembled at such a time and place, riotously, routously, tumultuously and seditiously, in contempt of the King, his laws and government and in disturbance of the peace; and on their denying the whole, save the simple fact of their being met to worship God, to qualify this part with the name of a mere form of words! Surely even words and forms have their influence on men's minds and it was more easy for a Jury to persuade themselves to convict persons, thus formally made guilty beforehand, than if it had been laid to their charge simply, that they were met, under pretence of Divine worship, contrary to an Act of Parliament! Had the offence been stated in its true form, the iniquity of the statute in question, and the many circumstances favorable to the prisoner, which we have seen arbitrarily thrown out of the question by those on the Bench, might have had their weight with his proper judges, the Jury; and they 9 might have inclined (thus released from the mysterious frown of the LAW) to a fair acquittal. The proceedings remind one of that description of the high-priest, in Zechariah Ch. 3, standing before the angel of the Lord clothed with filthy garments and with the Satan standing at his right hand to resist him-no doubt, the same adversary, with whom he had been struggling in the dirt till he had got all that filth upon him! Let us hope that the time is not, even now, gone by, in which Joshua may obtain his justification! ART. I.-Specimen of Legal proceedings against Friends in Yorkshire, in 1683. (a) "On the 21st of October, William Rooke, Mayor of Leeds, with the Town-Clerk, came to the Meeting there, and committed thence to prison Henry Ubank, Jonathan Kendal, Richard Stirke, Isaac Lindley, Henry Tate, Richard Kendall, Edmund Thornton, William Cowel, John Wailes, Timothy Siddall and Richard Roe, all of the Parish of Leeds, and detained them there some time, but afterward discharged thein on their promise of appearing at the next Quarter Sessions. "On the 18th of November the said Mayor, with two Aldermen and the Town-Clerk, came again to the Meeting at Leeds, and committed fifty Persons to Prison in the Moothall there, where they were kept Men and Women together in one Room, without Fire, in extreme cold Weather, four Days and Nights, and then were sent Prisoners to York Castle, without being suffered to shift their Clothes: Their Names were John Wailes, and Isabel his Wife, Henry Tate, Edmund Thornton, Richard Kendal, William Cowel, John Turner, Thomas Smith, Robert Corner, Thomas Pawson, Richard Stirke, Enoch Tennant, John Cowel, Isaac Lindley, William Atkinson, Edward Barker, John Liversedge, Mercy Liversedge, Mary Sikes, Thomas Swailes, Edmund Jepson, Daniel Langstaff, John Brayfitt, Abraham Ledger, Alexander Hartley, Joshua Siddall, William Jackson, Robert Hartley, Marmaduke Walker, Moses Hulley, Robert Tomlinson, Samuel Midgley, John Sikes, Mary Wareing, John Salthouse, John Morris, John Pennington, William Booth, John Gott, George Metcalf, Margaret Cooper, Martha Ball, Alice Horner, Anne Siddall, Sarah Langstaff, Mary Liversedge, Frances Matthew, Hannah Hulley, Hannah Thackery, and Anne Benson, who were all kept Prisoners above nine Weeks, and then conveyed to the Quarter Sessions at Leeds, where they were fined, and Warrants were granted for Distress; by which were taken From John Wailes and John Langstaff, Goods worth £. S. d, 6 9 0 1 17 0 1 17 6 3 0 0 Richard Stirke of Woodhouse, and Edward Daniel (a) Besse, ii, 154. 14 6 6 "At the same Quarter Sessions thirty-one Persons were indicted for Meetings, on the Statute of 13 and 14 Car. 2. for the third Offence, a Copy of which Indictment is as follows: viz. 66 Burgus de Leeds ss. “JURATORES pro Domino Rege super Sacramentum suum presentant, quod Johannes Wailes. nuper de Leeds in Burgo prædicto Clothworker, Henricus Tate nuper de eadem Clothworker, Benjaminus Elletson nuper_de_ eadem Clothworker, Bryanus Sheffield nuper de eadem Clothier, Enoch Tennant nuper de eadem Clothworker, Richardus Stirke nuper de eadem Clothier, Georgius Lappage nuper de eadem Taylor, Edvardus Daniel nuper de eadem Clothworker, Robertus Hartley nuper de Farnley in Burgo prædicto Labourer, Willielmus Hetherington nuper de eadem Labourer, Alexander Hartley, nuper de Beeston in Burgo prædicto Labourer, Richardus Jowett nuper de eadem Yeoman, Willielmus Jackson nuper de Arnley in Burgo prædicto Clothier, Joshua Lyddall nuper de eadem Labourer, Samuel Crowther nuper de eadem Yeoman, Vincent Wilson nuper de Holbeck in Burgo prædicto Clothier, Willielinus Atkinson nuper de eadem Labourer, Edvardus Barker nuper de eadem Labourer, Jacobus Pearson nuper de eadem Cordwainer, Johannes Braithwait nuper de Hunslett in Burgo prædicto Clothier, Daniel Langstaff nuper de eadem Clothier, Johannes Smith nuper de Wortley in Burgo prædicto Labourer, Moses Hulley nuper de eadem Labourer, Richardus Roe nuper de eadem Labourer, Henricus Ewbank nuper de eadem Yeoman, Robertus Tomlinson nuper de Morley in Comitatu Eboraci Clothier, Simeon Sykes nuper de eadem Yeoman, Willielmus Midgley nuper de eadem Yeoman, Johannes Pennington nuper de Carleton in Comitatu prædicto Labourer, Johannes Morris nuper de eadem Labourer, and Thomas Becket junior nuper de eadem Clothier, existentes Personæ et quilibet corum existens persona communiter vocati Trementes, Anglicé Quakers, qui manutenent et quilibet eorum manutenet, quod Captio Juramenti in aliquo casu quocunque, licet coram legali Magistratu, penitus illegalis est, et contra Verbum Dei, et quod iidem Johannes Wailes, Henricus Tate, Benjaminus_Elletson, Bryanus Sheffield, Enoch Tennant, Richardus Stirke, Georgius Lappage, Edvardus Daniel, Robertus Hartley, Willielmus Hetherington, Alexander Hartley, Richardus Jowett, Willielmus Jackson, Joshua Lyddall, Samuel Crowther, Vincent Wilson, Willielmus Atkinson, Edvardus Barker, Jacobus Pearson, Johannes Braithwaite, Daniel Langstaff, Johannes Smith, Moses Hulley, Richardus Roe, Henricus Ewbank, Robertus Tomlinson, Simeon Sykes, Willielmus Midgley, Johannes Pennington, Johannes Morris, et Thomas Becket, vicesimo sexto die Januarii, Anno regni Domini nostri Caroli Secundi, Dei gratia Angliæ, Scotia, Franciæ, and Hiberniæ Regis, Fidei Defensoris, &c. tricesimo quinto, existentes et quilibet eorum existentes ultra Translation. Borough of Leeds, Ss. The Jurors for our Lord the king do present upon their oaths, that John Wailes, late of Leeds in the said borough, Clothworker, Henry Tate late of the same [and so forth] being persons, and each of them being a person, commonly called Quakers, who maintain and each of them maintaineth, that the taking of an oath in any case whatsoever, though before a lawful Magistrate, is altogether unlawful, and contrary to the word of God, and that the same John Wailes [and so forth] on the 26th day of January, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles the second, by the grace of God of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the faith and so forth, the thirty-fifth, being and each of them being above the age of sixteen years, [and] afterwards to-wit on the twenty-seventh day of January, in the thirty-fifth year aforesaid, did depart, and each of them departed, from their several places of abode, and on the aforesaid twenty-seventh day of January in the year aforesaid, by force and arms, and so forth, at Leeds in the said borough, with divers other persons to the Jurors unknown, being beyond the number of ætatem sedecim annorum, postea scilicet vicesimo septimo die Januarii, Anno tricesimo quinto supra dicto recesserunt, et quilibet eorum recessit a locis separatarum habitationum eorum et cujuslibet eorum, ac prædicto vicesimo septimo die Januarii, Anno supra dicto vi and armis, &c. apud Leeds in Burgo prædicto, cum diversis aliis personis Juratoribus ignotis ultra numerum quinque personarum existentibus, sese riotosé routousé et illicité assemblaverunt, et congregaverunt in quadam domo mansionali tunc in possessione cujusdam Gracia Sykes Viduæ, tunc et ibidem situatæ in Leeds prædicta, sub prætextu jungendi in religiosa Adoratione, Anglice religious Worship, minime authorizata per Leges hujus Regni Angliæ, in Contemptu dicti Domini Regis nunc, legumque suarum, ad magnam perturbationem Pacis dicti Domini Regis, in malum Exemplum omnium aliorum in consimili casu delinquentium, contra Pacem dicti Domini Regis nunc, Coronam et Dignitatem suas, ac contra formam Statuti in hujusmodi Casu editi et provisi. THOMAS LEIGH, Clericus Pacis." This Indictment seems to have followed a transaction which is given in the next page of the Sufferings, as follows: "On the 27th of the Eleventh Month, the Meeting at Leeds was again molested by Joshua Balmer and Martin Headley, Aldermen, who committed, first to the Town-Prison, and afterwards to the Castle at York, twenty Persons, viz. John Wailes, Enoch Tennant, Henry Tate, Vincent Wilson, Richard Stirke, William Jackson, John Smith, John Pennington, Benjamin Elletson, Edward Daniel, Robert Tomlinson, Thomas Becket, Richard Jowett, Brian Sheffield, Simeon Sykes, Edward Barker, William Atkinson, James Pearson, Alexander Hartley, and John Morris. " ART. II-A Jury on Robert Tomlinson, deceased, and a verdict without the Coroner. (b) "Anno 1684. In the Beginning of this Year died Robert Tomlinson, who being a Prisoner in York Castle, had obtained leave of the gaoler to go to his master William Midgley's House at Morley, in the Parish of Batley, where he died. And the said William Midgley, to satisfy the gaoler and others, procured twelve Men of the Neigh five, riotously, routously and unlawfully assemble themselves and meet together, in a certain dwelling-house then in possession of a certain widow [named] Grace Sykes, then and there situate in Leeds aforesaid, under pretence of joining in religious worship [in a manner] wholly unauthorized by the Laws of this realm of England, in contempt of our said Sovereign Lord now king, and of his laws, to the great disturbance of the peace of our said Sovereign Lord the king, to the evil example of all others in likewise offending, against the peace of our said Sovereign Lord now king, his crown and dignity, and contrary to the Statute in this case made and provided. Thomas Leigh, Clerk of the Peace." Note. The title of Defender of the faith' was conferred by the Pope on King HENRY THE EIGHTH, for writing against Luther and the Reformation. Here, it seems to be in place: for I conclude it would be very difficult to prove, notwithstanding old Harry's change of profession after he got the title, that it is not the same faith which is here defended by his successor; only by harder weapons, which that monarch himself also knew well how to employ. Ed. (b) Besse, ii, 157. bourhood to view the Body of the Deceased, who, having so done signed the following Certificate, viz. "We whose Names are here under-written, have, at the Request of William Midgley, viewed the Body of his Servant Robert Tomlinson deceased, who, as we understand, was at the Time of his Sickness and Death, a prisoner to the Keeper of the Castle at York, who had suffered the said Robert to come Home for a Time, and to return to him again. We find the Matter and Death of the said Robert Tomlinson to be as follows: That the said Robert Tomlinson, as we find by Examination, was troubled with a Cough, got by a Surfeit of Cold, which he got in the last Winter by some Confinement he had in Leeds, in a Place called the Moothall, in the great Storm, which Surfeit growing upon him, did, about three Weeks before his Death, break out into Sickness, which did increase upon him from the 18th of March 1683 to the 4th of April 1684: And then by the Violence of the said Sickness, it pleased the Lord to take him away, and not by any other Cause or Means that we can find. The Cause of his Imprisonment as abovesaid, we found to be about his Religion, being under the Name of a Quaker. Tho. Dawson, Richd. Fawcett, William Brooke, Tho. Fawcett, "Tho. Craystor, John Crowther, Jos. Briggs, Stephen Roddall, Robert Whealey, Godfrey Tomlinson, This was one of the Friends taken from Meeting at Leeds, the 27th of the Eleventh Month, Januarii,' preceding. It appears that thirteen of the prisoners were discharged at the Sessions at Leeds, the 30th of the Fifth Mo. 1684, after about eleven weeks confinement ;— and we have, on the 6th of October, a Petition or Address, from two hundred and twenty-seven Friends, confined in York Castle, to the King, touching the long imprisonment of most of them.' (c) But, this not procuring their release, the next year, the Friends prisoners made their humble application' to the Knights and Burgesses of the City and County of York, assembled in Parliament at Westminster :' which may be seen at length in Besse. (d) They appear to have remained till the period of the General release. ART. III.-The Case of Thos. Hymans, imprisoned for refusing to swear to the persons of those who had robbed him on the highway. (e) "Remarkable in this Year [1681] was the Case of Thomas Hymans, of Bridgwater in this County, who having been robbed on the Highway of £17 15s. appeared at the Assizes at Gloucester to give evidence against the persons that robbed him: But the Judge might not, in .that case, accept his evidence without an Oath, and he, for conscience sake, refused to swear. "Of his several times of appearing before Judge Levinz, on this occasion, take the following account: "At his first appearance: The said Thomas Hymans coming into Court with his hat on, after some time the Judge ordered his hat to be taken off, and ask him, Whether he would swear to the Indictment? 66 Hymans. No because 'tis contrary to the Command of Christ to Swear. (c) Besse, ii, 160. (d) Idem. 166. (e) Idem, i. 616-619. |