the foundation for liberty of the press and free speech on this continent
and was a worthy preface to the Declaration of Independence drawn some
forty years later--Hamilton said, concerning this "Tryal":

"Mr. _Penn_ and _Mead_ being Quakers, and having met in a peaceable Manner,
after being shut out of their Meeting House, preached in Grace Church
Street, in London, to the People of their own Perswasion, and for this
they were indicted; and it was said, _That they with other Persons, to the
Number of 300. unlawfully and tumultuously assembled, to the Disturbance
of the Peace, &c_. To which they pleaded _Not Guilty_. And the Petit Jury
being sworn to try the Issue between the King and the Prisoners, that
is, whether they were Guilty, according to the Form of the Indictment?
Here there was no Dispute but they were assembled together, to the Number
mentioned in the Indictment; But _Whether that Meeting together was
riotously, tumultuously, and to the Disturbance of the Peace_? was the
Question. And the Court told the Jury it was, and ordered the Jury to find
it so; _For_ (said the Court) _the Meeting was the Matter of Fact, and
that is confessed, and we tell you it is unlawful, for it is against the
Statute; and the Meeting being unlawful, it follows of Course that it was
tumultuous, and to the Disturbance of the Peace_. But the Jury did not
think fit to take the Court's Word for it, for they could neither find
_Riot, Tumult_, or any Thing tending to the _Breach of the Peace_ committed
at that Meeting; and they acquitted Mr. _Penn_ and _Mead_. In doing of
which they took upon them to judge both the _Law_ and the _Fact_, at which
the Court (being themselves true Cortiers) were so much offended, that
they fined the Jury 40 Marks a piece, and committed them till paid. But Mr.
_Bushel_, who valued the Right of a Juryman and the Liberty of his Country
more than his own, refused to pay the Fine, and was resolved (tho' at
a great Expence and trouble too) to bring, and did bring, his _Habeas
Corpus_, to be relieved from his Fine and Imprisonment, and he was released