XPost: alt.history.british, alt.politics.british, soc.history.medieval   
   From: aabbcc@wanadoo.fr   
      
   "William Black"  a écrit dans le message de   
   news: fbma65$uac$1@registered.motzarella.org...   
   >   
   > "Jack Linthicum"  wrote in message   
   > news:1188997927.590191.21230@d55g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...   
   >> On Sep 5, 8:56 am, "William Black"    
   >> wrote:   
   >>> "John Briggs"  wrote in message   
   >>>   
   >>> news:WwxDi.35851$ph7.24179@newsfe5-win.ntli.net...   
   >>>   
   >>> > William Black wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>> >> I am a freeborn Englishman and call no man my master save God and my   
   >>> >> king.   
   >>> >> (I wish I could remember who said that first)   
   >>>   
   >>> > A Google search only comes up with: "I am a freeborn Englishman, I   
   >>> > kneel   
   >>> > only before my God and my King."   
   >>>   
   >>> > Unfortunately, it was you who said it :-)   
   >>>   
   >>> > (You may be taking the role-playing too far...)   
   >>>   
   >>> No.   
   >>>   
   >>> It's a quotation I've heard somewhere and used a couple of times.   
   >>>   
   >>> Someone said William Penn.   
   >>>   
   >>> --   
   >>> William Black   
   >>>   
   >>> I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.   
   >>> Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland   
   >>> I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate   
   >>> All these moments will be lost in time,  like icecream on the beach   
   >>> Time for tea.   
   >>   
   >> Since Penn was  a Quaker and they were famous in his era for their not   
   >> showing any form of conformity with the then practiced  requirement   
   >> that a lesser doff his hat to a better, that may be the original of   
   >> this quote. Pepys has some drivel about Charles taking off his hat   
   >> when Penn wouldn't, saying only one man should have his hat on.   
   >>   
   >   
   > I know that a bit earlier Lord (Thomas) Fairfax and his father Lord   
   > (Ferdinando) Fairfax both had men imprisoned for 'refusing to uncover'.   
   >   
   > Charles II probably had more sense than the Fairfaxes, who were 'new   
   > money'.   
   >   
   >   
   > --   
   > William Black   
   >   
   >   
   > I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.   
   > Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland   
   > I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate   
   > All these moments will be lost in time,  like icecream on the beach   
   > Time for tea.   
      
   William Penn made British legal history.  The judge asked if he was guilty   
   as charged. Penn replied: 'The question is not whether I am guilty but   
   whether the indictment is legal!'  He then asserted that a law denying the   
   God-given right of a man to obey his conscience was not valid.   
      
   Sir Samuel Starling, who was also Lord Mayor of London, ordered the jury to   
   return a guilty verdict.   Penn shouted 'You are Englishmen. Mind your   
   privilege. Don't give away your right!'   
      
   The jury pronounced Penn and co-defendant Mead not guilty.  Sir Samuel   
   Starling first threatening the jurors and then incarcerated them for   
   contempt of court.   
      
   The jurors then produced a writ of habeas corpus.   Chief Justice Vaughan   
   upheld the right of juries to give a verdict according to their convictions.   
      
   The large marble plaque which commemorates the trial of Penn and Mead is   
   preserved in the original entrance lobby of the Central Criminal Court.  The   
   building stands on the site of Newgate prison, which was adjacent to the   
   Sessions House where the trial was held.   
      
   It was during this trial, I think, William Penn said, "I am a freeborn   
   Englishman and call no man my master save God and my king."   
      
   Normandy   
      
      
      
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