_The humble Address of the people commonly called Quakers._
‘O KING,
‘The King of kings, and Lord of the whole earth, incline thy
heart to that which is just and merciful in his sight, and to
make such clear and equal distinctions, as that the innocent may
not suffer in any case for the guilty; that it may ever redound
to thy honour and safety, and the peaceable subject’s comfort.
‘Our innocency, love, and good-will to thy person and government
that God has committed to thee, encourage us in this our humble
address and application.
‘Whereas the plot against the king, and his brother the duke
of York, &c. is made an occasion to persecute many of us for
our religious meetings, more severely than formerly; we do
solemnly declare that it is known to the Divine Majesty, and
the all-seeing wisdom whereby kings reign, and princes decree
justice, that our manifold, extreme, and continued sufferings,
being only on a religious account, have not been the least motive
or provocation to us to desire, much less to contrive the least
hurt, either to thy person or government, or to the person of thy
brother the duke of York, &c. We are clear in the sight of God,
angels, and men, from all hellish plots, traitorous conspiracies,
and from all murderous designs and undertakings against the king,
his brother, or any person on earth whatsoever, being works of
the devil and darkness; having contrariwise learned of Christ
Jesus our Lord, by his light and grace in our hearts, not so
much as by force to defend, much less avenge ourselves from the
injuries done us, but to commit the cause to him that judgeth
righteously, as peaceable followers of our Saviour and Redeemer,
in his patient example and sufferings, who is the Prince of
Peace.
‘O king, we do further declare, that God Almighty hath taught
and engaged us to acknowledge, and actually to obey magistracy,
as his ordinance, in all things not repugnant to his law and
light in our consciences, which is certainly agreeable to the
holy Scripture, and admits not of any immoral or injurious
actions, and that even where, through tenderness of conscience
we cannot conform, it is our duty patiently to suffer, and not
to rebel, nor seek revenge; and we hope, by his divine grace,
ever to demean ourselves as peaceable minded Christians, in our
conversations, under the civil government; and as we do sincerely
and with reverence, confess to Divine power and Providence in
thy restoration and preservation of thy person hitherto; so our
prayers and supplications are to the Almighty for thy future
safety and peace, and that in a thankful remembrance of God’s
great mercies towards thee, thou mayest be thereby obliged to
show mercy, and relieve the oppressed from these unmerited
afflictions and persecutions, which a great number of us thy
peaceable subjects do even at this day suffer under, in our
persons and estates; not only by laws made against, but also
by laws never intended against us; and which is more extreme,
divers severities of late have been, and still are inflicted, for
which no colour or pretence of law hath been, or can be alleged;
several jails being so filled, as that they want air, and many
innocent persons held under extreme distress, without regard to
age, sex, or condition, to the loss of some lives already, and
apparent hazard of many more; if not to the endangering infection
in divers cities and places in this nation; and so many houses,
shops, barns, and fields, ransacked and swept of goods, corn, and
cattle; tending also to the great discouragement of trade and
husbandry, and to the impoverishing of a great number of quiet
and industrious people; and that for no other cause, but for
their religious worship and exercise of their tender consciences
towards Almighty God that made them, who is the sovereign Lord of
all, and King in men’s consciences.
‘Therefore we humbly intreat thee, O king, in princely justice,
Christian charity, and compassion, to open our prison doors, and
take off our bonds, where the innocent and oppressed in thy land,
that fear God, and, in conversation, truly honour the king; and
suffer not the ruin of such as are quiet in the land, the widow
and the fatherless for their peaceable consciences, to lie at the
door of a prince professing the tender and compassionate religion
of Christ.’
This address was presented to the king at Windsor, on the 8th of the
month called August, in this year, by George Whitehead, Alexander
Parker, Gilbert Latey, and Francis Camfield, in behalf of themselves
and their friends; and it was read to him and his brother the duke of
York, then present with some others; but no considerable ease followed:
king Charles, it seems, was not to be the instrument thereof: and
though that prince by nature was not hard-hearted, yet there were some
that could persuade him to severity.
I find about this time, that one Gabriel Shad, who had made it his
business to serve as informer against the Quakers, and who had lately
informed also against G. Fox, as hath been said, being confined in
Newgate at London, for stealing goods from one William Leman, to the
value of three hundred pounds, had been found guilty of felony at
the Old Bailey; but he had such friends, that he was freed from the
gallows, and having obtained the benefit of the clergy, was discharged
with being burnt in the hand. Such infamous persons were the informers;
for honest people scorned to meddle with such a base and abominable
work.
This year the princess Anne, daughter of the duke of York, was married
to prince George of Denmark. The duke of Monmouth having been under
disgrace, came into favour again; for the king his father indeed loved
him, though he was loth, in prejudice of his brother the duke of York,
to declare him his legitimate son, as some great men wished he had. But
the king persisted in his declaration, that he never had been married
to Monmouth’s mother.
1684.
In the next year, viz. that of 1684, G. Fox and Alexander Parker, came
into Holland to visit their friends there; and after some stay, they
returned to their native country.
In this year died Thomas Stordy of Moorhouse in Cumberland, a gentleman
who twenty-two years before had been condemned to a premunire, because
for conscience-sake he could not swear; for which sheriff John Lowther
seized his estate, real and personal, for the king’s use, and kept
him prisoner eleven or twelve years, till discharged by the king’s
declaration in 1672, or 73, and his real estate restored. After which,
he suffered under great fines and spoil for meeting, and after that was
prosecuted on the act for twenty pounds a month for not coming to their
worship; on which he continued prisoner several years, till he died
in December, having been made willing rather to lose all for Christ’s
sake, than to be disobedient to him. This Thomas Stordy released to the
land-owners, and their heirs for ever, an impropriation of ten pounds
per annum, which descended to him from his father and grandfather,
making conscience as well of receiving as paying tithes. Not long
before his decease, he exhorted those that were come to visit him, to
faithfulness; ‘For,’ said he, ‘if ye continue faithful to the Lord
whilst ye live in this world, he will reward you, as now he rewardeth
me, with his sweet peace.’ Thus piously Thomas Stordy departed this
life, showing forth that he was really a gentleman, whose chiefest
nobility consisted in virtue. I could mention some other instances, or
cases of persecution; but to make the more speed towards a conclusion,
I will not detain my reader with the relation thereof.
1685.
Thomas Briggs, who also had suffered very much, having been one of
the first preachers among the Quakers, and being become old and weak,
about this time wrote a letter to G. Fox, in which he signified his
perseverance in godliness; and not long after, viz. about the beginning
of the year 1685, he died.
It was about this time also, that the king was seized with such
violent fits of convulsion, that he died in the month called February.
The throne by his death being become vacant, was filled again by
his brother James the Second, who succeeding him, was the same day
proclaimed king. Now I cannot but take notice, that persecution went on
to the death of king Charles, and continued hot to that very instant;
and he being gone off the stage, many seemed to fear that worse times
were at hand, and that burning of heretics would come in vogue again,
as in the former age: yet some there were who imagined that ease was
like to follow; and that they guessed not amiss, time showed.
King James had not been long at the helm of the government, but the
dissenters applied to him for liberty of worship, and among these were
also the Quakers, who made the following petition:
_To the King and both houses of parliament, the suffering
condition of the peaceable people called Quakers, only for
tender conscience towards Almighty God, humbly presented._
‘Showing, that of late above one thousand five hundred of the
said people, both men and women, having been detained prisoners
in England, and part of them in Wales, (some of which being since
discharged by the judges, and others freed by death, through
their long and tedious imprisonment,) there are now remaining,
according to late accounts, about one thousand three hundred,
eighty and three; about two hundred of them women. Many under
sentence of premunire, both men and women, and more than three
hundred near it; not for denying the duty, or refusing the
substance of allegiance itself, but only because they dare not
swear: many on writs of excommunication and fines for the king,
and upon the act for banishment: besides above three hundred and
twenty have died in prison, and prisoners, since the year 1660,
near one hundred whereof, by means of this long imprisonment, as
it is judged, since the account delivered to the late king and
parliament, in 1680; thereby making widows and fatherless, and
leaving them in distress and sorrow: the two last hard winters
restraint, and the close confinement of great numbers in divers
jails, unavoidably tending towards their destruction, their
healths being evidently impaired thereby.
‘And here in London, the jail of Newgate hath been from time to
time crowded, within these two years, (sometimes near twenty in
one room) to the prejudice of their health; and several poor
innocent tradesmen, of late, have been so suffocated by the
coldness of the prison, that they have been taken out sick of a
malignant fever, and died in a few days after.
‘Besides these long-continued and destructive hardships upon
the persons of men and women, as aforesaid, great violences,
outrageous distresses, and woful havoc and spoil have been, and
still are frequently made upon our goods and estates, both in
and about this city of London, and other parts of this nation,
by a company of idle, extravagant, and merciless informers, and
their prosecutions upon the conventicle act; many being convicted
and fined, unsummoned and unheard in their own defence. As also
on _qui tam_ writs, at the suit of informers, who prosecute for
one-third part for themselves, and on other processes, for twenty
pounds a month, and two-thirds of estates, seized for the king;
all tending to the ruin of trade, husbandry, and farmers, and the
impoverishing of many industrious families, without compassion
shown to widows, fatherless, or desolate: to some not a bed
left to rest upon; to others, no cattle to till their ground,
nor corn for bread or seed, nor tools to work withal: the said
informers and sheriffs bailiffs in some places being outrageous
and excessive in their distresses, and seizures, breaking into
houses, and making great waste and spoil. And all these and other
severities done against us by them, under pretence of serving the
king and the church, thereby to force us to a conformity, without
inward conviction or satisfaction of our tender consciences,
wherein our peace with God is concerned, which we are very tender
of.
‘The statutes on which we, the said people, suffer imprisonment,
distress, and spoil, are as followeth:
‘The 5th of Eliz. ch. 23. _De excommunicato Capiendo._
‘The 23d of Eliz. ch. 1, for twenty pounds per month.
‘The 29th of Eliz. ch. 6, for continuation.
‘The 35th of Eliz. ch. 1, for abjuring the realm, on pain of
death.
‘The 1st of Eliz. ch. 2, for twelve pence a Sunday.
‘The 3d of K. James I. ch. 4, for premunire, imprisonment during
life, and estates confiscated.
‘The 13th and 14th of K. Charles II. against Quakers, &c.
transportation.
‘The 22d of K. Charles II. ch. 1, against seditious conventicles.
‘The 17th of K. Charles II. ch. 2, against non-conformists.
‘The 27th of Hen. VIII. ch. 20, some few suffer thereupon.
‘Upon indictments at common law, pretended and framed against our
peaceable religious assemblies, for riots, routs, breach of the
peace, &c. many, both men and women, thereupon fined, imprisoned,
and detained for non-payment, some till death. Instance, the city
of Bristol, what a great number have been these divers years
straitly confined and crowded in jail, mostly above one hundred
on such pretence, about seventy of them women, many aged. And in
the city of Norwich, in the years 1682 and 83, about seventy kept
in hold, forty-five whereof in holes and dungeons for many weeks
together, and great hardships have been, and are in other places.
So that such our peaceable meetings are sometimes fined on the
conventicle act, as for a religious exercise, and other times
at common law, as riotous, routous, &c. when nothing of that
nature could ever be proved against them, there being nothing of
violence or injury either done, threatened, or intended, against
the person or property of any other whatsoever.
‘The during and tedious imprisonments, are chiefly on the writs
_de excommunicato capiendo_, upon the judgment of premunire, and
upon fines, said to be for the king.
‘The great spoil and excessive distresses and seizures, are
chiefly upon the conventicle act, and for twenty pounds a month,
two-thirds of estates, and on _qui tam_ writs. In some counties
divers have suffered by seizures and distresses above eight years
last past, and writs issued out for further seizures in several
counties, for twenty pounds a month, amounting to the value of
many thousands of pounds, sometimes seizing for eleven months at
once, and making sale of all goods and chattels, within doors and
without, both of household goods, beds, shop-goods, moveables,
cattle, &c. and prosecution hereupon still continued, and in
divers counties much increased; so that several, who have long
employed some hundreds of poor families in manufacture, and paid
considerable taxes to the king, are greatly disabled from both,
by these writs and seizures, as well as by long imprisonments. So
many serge-makers of Plymouth, as kept above five hundred poor
people at work, disabled by imprisonment. Many in the county of
Suffolk, under a long imprisonment, sentenced to a premunire, one
whereof employed at least two hundred poor people in the woollen
manufacture, when at liberty. Omitting other instances, that we
may not seem too tedious, these may evince how destructive such
severities are to trade and industry, and ruinous to many poor
families.
‘On the conventicle act, within these two years last past, many
in and about this city of London have been extremely oppressed,
impaired, and spoiled in their estates and trades, upon numerous
convictions and warrants, made against them in their absence,
upon the credit of informations sworn by concealed informers,
divers of them impudent women, who swear for their profit in part
of the fines and seizures, their husbands being prisoners for
debt through their own extravagancies. The warrants commonly made
to break open and enter houses, which is done with rigour and
great spoil, not sparing widows, fatherless, or poor families,
who are sustained by their daily care and industry, not leaving
them a bed to rest upon. The fines upon one justice’s warrants
amounting to many hundreds of pounds; frequently ten pounds a
warrant, and two warrants at once for twenty pounds, executed
upon one person; and three warrants at once from another justice,
for sixty pounds upon another person, and all his goods carried
away in about ten cart loads; and five warrants at once for fifty
pounds upon another, &c. besides what we have suffered by others
in the like kind. And in this destructive course the informers
have encouragement, and are suffered still to go on, to the
ruining many families in their trades and livelihoods; divers so
discouraged and disabled, that they are forced to give over their
shops and trades.
‘These informers being accepted for credible witnesses, yet
parties, swearing for their own profit and gain, in the absence
of the persons prosecuted; this we think is very hard, and undue
proceeding, and not consistent with common law or justice.
‘As also convicting and fining us upon their depositions,
unsummoned and unheard in our own defence, and so keeping us
ignorant of our accusers, unless upon traverse of our appeals.
This procedure appears contrary to the law of God, common
justice, and equity, and to the law and justice of the ancient
Romans, and of nations.
‘And although it has been openly manifested, upon trial of
appeals, at several quarter-sessions, both for Middlesex and
London, and other places, that the depositions of divers
informers have been false in fact: yet the great trouble and
charge in the traverse of appeals, and the great encouragement
informers have from him who grants the most warrants, hath been
a discouragement to many from seeking such difficult remedy,
considering also the treble costs against the appellant, in case
he succeeds not, or is not acquitted upon trial: whereas there is
no costs nor restitution awarded nor given against the informers,
for unjust prosecution. Some also have refused to grant appeals,
others denied copies of warrants to prevent appeals: which,
whether this be equal or just, pray consider, ye that are wise
and judicious men: and whether it be for the king’s honour, and
the people’s interest, that idle, drunken, extravagant informers,
should either be encouraged or suffered to go on thus to ruin
trade, husbandry and families, or to command and threaten
justices of peace, with the forfeiture of an hundred pounds, if
they do not make convictions, and issue out warrants upon their
late informations, and uncertain depositions, frequently in the
absence of the accused.
‘And lastly, one-third part of the fines being assigned to the
king, he can only remit that; but the informers and poor being
assigned two-third parts, seems not to allow him to remit them,
how much cause soever may appear to him, to extend his favour
in that case. Is not this against the king’s prerogative, to
restrain his sovereign clemency? And how far it reflects upon
the government, and is scandalous thereto, for beggarly rude
informers, some of them confident women, not only to command,
threaten, and disquiet justices, peace-officers, &c. but to
destroy the king’s honest, industrious and peaceable subjects,
in their properties and estates, is worthy of your serious
considerations: and whether the said conventicle act ought not
therefore justly to be repealed. A noted instance of the like
case, we have, concerning the statute of the 11 Hen. VII. ch.
3, for determining certain offences and contempts only upon
informers’ prosecutions, being repealed in the first year of
K. Hen. VIII. ch. 6, though that, in some respects, was more
tolerable than this.
‘Be pleased to make our case your own, and do to us as you
would be done unto; as you would not be oppressed or destroyed
in your persons, or estates, nor have your properties invaded,
and posterities ruined for serving and worshipping Almighty
God, that made all mankind, according to your persuasions and
consciences, but would, no doubt, enjoy the liberty thereof, so
we intreat you to allow the same liberty to tender consciences,
that live peaceably under the government, as you would enjoy
yourselves; and to disannul the said conventicle act, and to stop
these devouring informers, and also take away all sanguinary
laws, corporal and pecuniary punishments, merely on the score
of religion and conscience; and let not the ruin and cry of the
widow, fatherless, and innocent families, lie upon this nation,
nor at your door, who have not only a great trust reposed in you
for the prosperity and good of the whole nation, but also do
profess Christianity, and the tender religion of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
‘And notwithstanding all these long-sustained extremities, we,
the said suffering people, do solemnly profess and declare
in the sight of the all-seeing God, who is the searcher of
hearts, that as we have never been found in any seditious or
treasonable designs, they being wholly contrary to our Christian
principle and profession, so we have nothing but good will, and
true Christian affection to the king and government, sincerely
desiring his and your safety, prosperity, and concurrence in
mercy and truth, for the good of the whole kingdom.
‘Having thus given you, in short, the general state of
our suffering case, in matter of fact, without personal
reflection, we, in Christian humility, and for Christ’s
sake, intreat that you will tenderly and charitably
consider of the premises, and find out some effectual
expedient or way for our relief from prisons, spoil,
and ruin.’
The following application was likewise presented.