Amsterdam, the 24th of the month
called July, 1679.
This year there was a great commotion in England about a plot carried
on by the Papists against the life of the king, who made his brother,
the duke of York, go beyond sea for some time; for the parliament
suspecting him, a motion was made in the house of commons to exclude
him from the succession to the crown; but this project was quashed.
1680.
In the beginning of the year 1680, it happened that George Whitehead
and Thomas Burr coming to Norwich, and preaching there in the meeting
of their friends, were taken prisoners, as it was said, under a
frivolous pretence, as if G. Whitehead might have been a Jesuit: and
being brought before justice Francis Bacon, who then was recorder
of the city, he after some odd examination, demanded of them, as
preachers, the fine of twenty pounds a man; which they refusing, he
asked them, whether they would take the oath of allegiance; and they
answering, that they could take no oath for conscience-sake, he said,
if they would neither pay the fines, nor take the oath, he would
commit them to jail. They having showed that they were no vagrants,
but men of competent estates, that had settled habitations, as was
well known, Bacon said, _De non apparentibus, & non existentibus eadem
est ratio_: i. e. Of things not appearing, and things not in being,
there is the same reason: just as if he had said, your estates that are
at London, where G. Whitehead lived, and Ware, where T. Burr dwelt,
appear not at Norwich, and therefore they are not in being. Now though
they showed the absurdity of this strange kind of logic, yet Bacon
would not hearken to it, but called them seducers, and seditious, and
told them, there was a statute yet in force, that was made in queen
Elizabeth’s days, to hang such persons as they were. And they asking
him, if he could prosecute them upon that law, or execute it upon them,
he answered, ‘Yes, if the king should give order to have it put in
execution, I would do it, and have you hanged, if you would not quit
the realm.’ From this it may appear what a violent man this recorder
was, and that the prisoners could not expect any good treatment from
him. So night being come, he sent them to the jail.
About a month after, at the quarter-sessions, they were called into
the court of judicature to be tried; and being brought to the bar,
George Whitehead said, ‘We have been five weeks in prison; it is meet
the court should know for what; pray let our mittimus be produced.’ But
the recorder who sat as judge in the court, said, ‘There is no need of
your mittimus to be read here: I will give an account of the cause.’
And then he told the court, ‘how they had gathered together a company
of about two hundred, and that officers went from him to dissipate
them, but could not; that thereupon he sent the sheriff, who took them
away; and that they being brought before him, he proffered them, if
they would pay their fines, he would not commit them; and that they
refusing, he tendered the oath of allegiance to them; which they not
being willing to take, he sent them to jail.’
And though G. Whitehead with good reason said, that they being
Englishmen had a right to travel in any part of the nation: and T. Burr
added, that he being a person that was concerned in trading in corn,
by the law of England he might travel from place to place about his
concerns; yet this so displeased the recorder, that he said, ‘Had not
you better have been turning your malt at home, than to come here to
preach? The Scripture says, God added to the church such as should be
saved; but ye draw from the church: and,’ said he further, ‘the church
of England will never be at quiet till some of you be hanged.’ G.
Whitehead then showing how unreasonably the recorder behaved himself,
and that a judge ought not thus to inveigh against the prisoners, and
threaten them, alleged to that end a notable instance, how, in the
case of Humphrey Stafford, an arch traitor, the chief justice Hussey
had been unwilling, (in compliance with the king’s desire,) to declare
his opinion concerning him before he was judicially proceeded against.
The recorder then asked, what king’s reign was that in? ‘In king Henry
VII.’s’ replied George Whitehead. ‘I perceive you are read,’ returned
the recorder. And so he was indeed; and he defended his cause so well
in the court, that the magistrates seemed at a loss; for he showed so
evidently that he was unjustly committed to prison, that the mayor, (to
whom, and to the justices he had appealed,) said, ‘You have appealed
to me; truly we are tradesmen, and no lawyers: we leave matters of
law to the recorder; he knows the law, and we must acquiesce in his
judgment.’ If I should repeat here all that was spoken pro and contra,
so as I find it extant, I should be fain to be almost as large as I
have been in the relation of the trials of John Crook and William Penn:
and therefore I will only say briefly, that, after much reasoning,
the recorder tendered the oath of allegiance again to them, that so
by their refusal he might get occasion to premunire them. But this
recorder, before the whole process came to an end, being turned out by
the magistrates, it did not come to that pitch; though it was a good
while yet before the aforesaid George Whitehead and Thomas Burr were
released, after they had shown the illegality of their imprisonment;
first, by more than one warrant from the recorder, and afterward, to
colour the error the better, by an order from the quarter-sessions.
This year those called Quakers, at London, published a brief relation
of the sufferings of their friends, since the king’s restoration, and
presented it to the king and parliament, showing therein, how many had
been fined by the bishops’ courts, robbed of all they had, put into
prisons, and there died; the number of which was computed to be two
hundred and forty-three persons, many whereof had been so grievously
beaten and wounded because of their frequenting religious assemblies,
that they died of their hurts and wounds. There came forth also a
printed account of the unjust proceedings of the informers, and how at
their instance, without a juridicial process, the accused were bereaved
of their goods, the unlawfulness of which was plainly shown from the
books of eminent lawyers.
G. Fox now travelled through many places, and came to London about the
time of the annual meeting; and travelling afterwards again into the
country, he returned into the said city, and staid there the most part
of the winter.
The parliament was then very busy with enquiring into the plot carried
on by the Papists; and the house of commons especially were very active
in the case, so that a bill to exclude the duke of York from the
succession to the crown, passed after a third reading: but this was
opposed in the house of lords; for by a majority, among which were the
bishops, who would not consent to the exclusion, the bill was rejected.
Now since some ill-natured Episcopalians were very forward to place
the Quakers amongst the plotters, G. Fox gave forth the following
declaration.
‘It is our principle and testimony, to deny and renounce all
plots and plotters against the king, or any of his subjects;
for we have the Spirit of Christ, by which we have the mind of
Christ, who came to save men’s lives, and not to destroy them:
and we would have the king and all his subjects to be safe.
Wherefore we do declare, that we will endeavour, to our power,
to save and defend him and them, by discovering all plots and
plotters, which shall come to our knowledge, that would destroy
the king or his subjects: this we do sincerely offer unto
you. But as to swearing and fighting, which in tenderness of
conscience we cannot do, ye know, that we have suffered these
many years for our conscientious refusal thereof. And now that
the Lord hath brought you together, we desire you to relieve us,
and free us from those sufferings: and that ye will not put upon
us to do those things, which we have suffered so much and so long
already for not doing? for if you do, ye will make our sufferings
and bonds stronger, instead of relieving us.