CHARLES I.—Continued.
How, after many battles had been fought, King Charles went to
Scotland; how the Scots sold him to the English parliament; how the
army got the King into their power, and appointed judges to try him,
who condemned him to death; how, after a sad parting from two of his
children, he was beheaded.
A book twice as big as our little History would not hold all the
story of the Civil Wars. England, Scotland, and Ireland were all
engaged in them; and many dreadful battles were fought, where
Englishmen killed one another, and a great deal of blood was shed.
The first great battle was fought at Edgehill, where many of the
king’s officers were killed: then, at a less fight at Chalgrove, the
parliament lost that great and good man Mr. Hampden. The battles of
Newbury, of Marston Moor, and of Naseby, are all sadly famous for the
number of brave and good Englishmen that were killed.
During this civil war, the parliament sent often to the king, in
hopes of persuading him to make peace: and I believe that the
parliament, and the king, and the real English lords and gentlemen on
both sides, truly desired to have peace, and several times the king
had promised the parliament to do what they lawfully might ask of him.
But, unhappily, the queen had come back to England, and the king
trusted her and took her advice, when he had much better have
followed his own good thoughts. Now, the queen and Prince Rupert, the
king’s nephew, and some of the lords, were of James the First’s way
of thinking, and would not allow that subjects had any right even
to their own lives, or lands, or money, if the king chose to take
them: and so they persuaded the king to break his word so often with
the people and parliament, that at last they could not trust him any
longer.
When the king found that the parliament would not trust him again,
he determined to go to the Scottish army that had come to England
to help the parliament, and he hoped that the Scots would take his
part and defend him. But he had offended the Scots by meddling
more than they liked with their religion, and some other things,
and the leaders of their army agreed to give him up to the English
parliament. You will hardly believe, however, that those mean Scots
actually sold the king to the English parliament: but they did so.
The unhappy king was sent back to England, and was now obliged to
agree to what the parliament wished, and there seemed to be an end of
the Civil War.
It was not long, however, before it began again; and this second time
it ended in Cromwell and the other generals of the army becoming the
most powerful men in England. These men now drove away almost all
the lords and gentlemen from parliament, so there was nobody but the
generals who had any power.
The wisest of the generals, Lord Essex, was dead. The next, General
Fairfax, was a good man, but neither so clever nor so cunning as some
of the others, particularly one whose name was Oliver Cromwell.
This Cromwell was a Puritan, or Roundhead. He was brave, and very
sagacious, and very strictly religious, according to his own
notions, though some men thought him a hypocrite; at all events he
was always thinking how he could make himself the greatest man in
England.
He may have thought that, though the army had got King Charles in its
power, the people would never allow him to be put in prison for his
lifetime, and that, if he were sent away to another country, he might
come back sometime and make war again. So he said that the king had
behaved so ill that he ought to be tried before judges. And he and
the other generals named a great many judges to examine into all the
king’s actions and words.
In the meantime King Charles had been moved from one prison to
another, till at last he was brought to London to be tried.
I cannot explain to you, my dear, all the hard and cruel things that
were done to this poor king, whose greatest faults were owing to the
bad education given him by his father, and the bad advice he got from
his wife, and those men whom he thought his best friends.
When his misfortunes came, his wife escaped to France with a few of
her own favourites; and her eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales,
also escaped. Soon after his second son, James, Duke of York, also
escaped to his mother; but the king’s daughter, Princess Elizabeth,
and the little Henry, Duke of Gloucester, remained in England.
When King Charles was brought to London, only two of his own friends
could see him every day: one of these was Dr. Juxon, Bishop of
London, and the other was Mr. Herbert, his valet, who had been with
him ever since the army had made him prisoner.
Shortly after the king was brought to London the judges appointed by
the army condemned him to death, and three days afterwards his head
was cut off.
But those three days were the best and greatest of Charles’s life.
In those he showed that, if he had been mistaken as a king, he was
a good man and a right high-minded gentleman. One of these days you
will read and know more about him. I will only tell you now about his
taking leave of his children; and I will copy the very words of his
valet, Mr. Herbert, who wrote down all that happened to his dear king
and master, during the last part of his life.
The day after the king was condemned to die, “Princess Elizabeth
and the Duke of Gloucester, her brother, came to take their sad
farewell of the king their father, and to ask his blessing. This
was the twenty-ninth of January. The Princess, being the elder, was
the most sensible of her royal father’s condition, as appeared by
her sorrowful look and excessive weeping; and her little brother
seeing his sister weep, he took the like impression, though, by
reason of his tender age, he could not have the like apprehensions.
The king raised them both from off their knees; he kissed them,
gave them his blessing, and setting them on his knees, admonished
them concerning their duty and loyal observance to the queen their
mother, the prince that was his successor, love to the Duke of York
and his other relations. The king then gave them all his jewels,
save the George he wore, which was cut out in an onyx with great
curiosity, and set about with twenty-one fair diamonds, and the
reverse set with the like number; and again kissing his children, had
such pretty and pertinent answers from them both, as drew tears of
joy and love from his eyes; and then, praying God Almighty to bless
them, he turned about, expressing a tender and fatherly affection.
Most sorrowful was this parting, the young princess shedding tears
and crying lamentably, so as moved others to pity that formerly were
hard-hearted; and at opening the chamber-door, the king returned
hastily from the window and kissed them and blessed them.” So this
poor little prince and princess never saw their father again.
[Illustration: Parting of King Charles and his children.]
The next morning very early, the king called Mr. Herbert to help him
to dress, and said it was like a second marriage-day, and he wished
to be well dressed, for before night he hoped to be in heaven.
While he was dressing, he said, “Death is not terrible to me! I bless
God that I am prepared.” Good Bishop Juxon then came and prayed with
Charles, till Colonel Hacker, who had the care of the king, came to
call them.
[Illustration: King Charles I. on the Scaffold.]
Then the king walked to Whitehall, and as he went one soldier prayed
“God bless” him. And so he passed to the banqueting house, in front
of which a scaffold was built. King Charles was brought out upon it;
and, after speaking a short time to his friends, and to good Bishop
Juxon, he knelt down and laid his head upon the block, and a man in a
mask cut off his head with one stroke.
The bishop and Mr. Herbert then took their master’s body and head,
and laid them in a coffin, and buried them in St. George’s Chapel at
Windsor, where several kings had been buried before.