'Charles Stuart, king of England, You have been accused on
behalf of the People of England of High Treasons, and other high
Crimes; the Court have determined that you ought to answer the
same.'
KING--I will answer the same so soon as I know by what Authority
you do this.
LORD PRESIDENT--If this be all that you will say, then
Gentlemen, you that brought the Prisoner hither, take charge of
him back again.
KING--I do require that I may give in my Reasons why I do not
answer, and give me time for that.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, it is not for Prisoners to require.
KING--Prisoners! Sir, I am not an ordinary prisoner.
LORD PRESIDENT--The Court hath considered of their jurisdiction,
and they have already affirmed their jurisdiction; if you will
not answer, we shall give order to record your default.
KING--You never heard my Reasons yet.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, your Reasons are not to be heard against
the highest jurisdiction.
KING--Shew me that Jurisdiction where reason is not to be heard.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, we shew it you here. The Commons of
England; and the next time you are brought, you will know more
of the pleasure of the Court; and, it may be, their final
determination.
KING--Shew me where ever the House of Commons was a Court of
Judicature of that kind.
LORD PRESIDENT--Serjeant, take away the Prisoner.
KING--Well, Sir, remember that the king is not suffered to give
in his Reasons for the Liberty and Freedom of all his Subjects.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you are not to have Liberty to use this
language; How great a friend you have been to the Laws and
Liberties of the people, let all England and the world judge.
KING--Sir, under favour, it was the Liberty, Freedom, and Laws
of the subject, that ever I took--defended myself with arms; I
never took up arms against the people, but for the laws.
LORD PRESIDENT--The command of the Court must be obeyed; no
Answer will be given to the Charge.
KING--Well, Sir!
And so he was guarded forth to sir Robert Cotton's house.
Then the Court adjourned to the Painted Chamber on Tuesday at 12
o'clock, and from thence they intend to adjourn to Westminster Hall; at
which time all persons concerned are to give their attendance.
At the High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall,
Tuesday, January 23, 1649.
O Yes made, Silence commanded, the Court called, 73 persons
present. The King comes in with his guard, looks with an austere
countenance upon the Court, and sits down. The second O Yes
made, and Silence commanded.
MR. COOK, SOLICITOR-GENERAL--May it please your lordship, my
lord President; this is now the third time, that by the great
grace and favour of this High Court, the Prisoner hath been
brought to the bar before any issue joined in the cause. My
lord, I did at the first court exhibit a Charge against him,
containing the highest Treasons that ever was wrought upon the
theatre of England; That a king of England trusted to keep the
law, that had taken an oath so to do, that had tribute paid him
for that end, should be guilty of a wicked Design to subvert and
destroy our Laws, and introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical
Government, in defiance of the Parliament and their Authority,
set up his standard for War against his Parliament and People:
And I did humbly pray, in the behalf of the people of England,
that he might speedily be required to make an Answer to the
Charge. But my lord, instead of making any Answer, he did then
dispute the Authority of this High Court. Your lordship was
pleased to give him a further day to consider, and to put in his
Answer; which day being Yesterday, I did humbly move, that he
might be required to give a direct and positive Answer, either
by denying or confession of it; But, my lord, he was then
pleased for to demur to the Jurisdiction of the Court; which the
court did then over-rule, and commanded him to give a direct and
positive Answer. My lord, besides this great delay of justice, I
shall now humbly move your lordship for speedy Judgment against
him. My lord, I might press your lordship upon the whole, that
according to the known rules of the law of the land, That if a
Prisoner shall stand as contumacious in contempt, and shall not
put in an issuable plea, Guilty or not Guilty of the Charge
given against him, whereby he may come to a fair trial; that, as
by an implicit confession, it may be taken _pro confesso_, as it
hath been done to those who have deserved more favour than the
Prisoner at the bar has done. But, besides, my lord, I shall
humbly press your lordship upon the whole fact. The house of
commons, the supreme Authority and Jurisdiction of the kingdom,
they have declared, That it is notorious, that the matter of the
Charge is true, as it is in truth, my lord, as clear as crystal,
and as the sun that shines at noon-day: which if your lordship
and the Court be not satisfied in, I have notwithstanding, on
the people of England's behalf, several Witnesses to produce.
And therefore I do humbly pray, and yet I must confess it is not
so much I, as the innocent blood that hath been shed, the cry
whereof is very great for justice and judgment; and therefore I
do humbly pray, that speedy Judgment be pronounced against the
Prisoner at the bar.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you have heard what is moved by the Counsel
on the behalf of the kingdom against you. Sir, you may well
remember, and if you do not, the Court cannot forget, what
dilatory dealings the Court hath found at your hands. You were
pleased to propound some Questions, you have had our Resolutions
upon them. You were told, over and over again, That the Court
did affirm their own jurisdiction; that it was not for you, nor
any other man, to dispute the jurisdiction of the supreme and
highest Authority of England, from which there is no appeal, and
touching which there must be no dispute; yet you did persist in
such carriage, as you gave no manner of obedience, nor did you
acknowledge any authority in them, nor the High Court that
constituted this Court of Justice. Sir, I must let you know from
the Court, that they are very sensible of these delays of
your's, and that they ought not, being thus authorised by the
supreme Court of England, to be thus trifled withal; and that
they might in justice, if they pleased, and according to the
rules of justice, take advantage of these delays and proceed to
pronounce judgment against you; yet nevertheless they are
pleased to give direction, and on their behalfs I do require
you, that you make a positive Answer unto this Charge that is
against you, Sir, in plain terms, for Justice knows no respect
of persons; you are to give your positive and final Answer in
plain English, whether you be Guilty or Not Guilty of these
Treasons laid to your charge.
The King, after a little pause, said,
KING--When I was here yesterday, I did desire to speak for the
Liberties of the people of England; I was interrupted; I desire
to know yet whether I may speak freely or not.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you have had the Resolution of the Court
upon the like question the last day, and you were told that
having such a Charge of so high a nature against you, and your
work was, that you ought to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the
Court, and to answer to your Charge. Sir, if you answer to your
Charge, which the Court gives you leave now to do, though they
might have taken the advantage of your contempt; yet if you be
able to answer to your Charge, when you have once answered, you
shall be heard at large, make the best defence you can. But,
Sir, I must let you know from the Court, as their commands, that
you are not to be permitted to issue out into any other
discourses, till such time as you have given a positive Answer
concerning the matter that is charged upon you.
KING--For the Charge, I value it not a rush; it is the Liberty
of the People of England that I stand for. For me to acknowledge
a new Court that I never heard of before, I that am your King,
that should be an example to all the people of England for to
uphold justice, to maintain the old laws: indeed I do not know
how to do it. You spoke very well the first day that I came here
(on Saturday) of the obligations that I had laid upon me by God,
to the maintenance of the Liberties of my people; the same
obligation you spake of, I do acknowledge to God that I owe to
him, and to my people, to defend as much as in me lies the
ancient laws of the kingdom: therefore, until that I may know
that this is not against the fundamental Laws of the kingdom, by
your favour I can put in no particular Charge.[23] If you will
give me time, I will shew you my Reasons why I cannot do it, and
this----
Here, being interrupted, he said,
By your favor, you ought not to interrupt me: How I came here, I
know not; there's no law for it to make your king your prisoner.
I was in a Treaty upon the public faith of the kingdom, that was
the known[24] ... two Houses of Parliament that was the
representative of the kingdom; and when that I had almost made
an end of the Treaty, then I was hurried away, and brought
hither: and therefore----
Here the Lord President said, Sir, you must know the pleasure of
the Court.
KING--By your favour, sir.
LORD PRESIDENT--Nay, sir, by your favour, you may not be
permitted to fall into those discourses; you appear as a
Delinquent, you have not acknowledged the authority of the
Court, the Court craves it not of you; but once more they
command you to give your positive Answer.--Clerk, do your duty.
KING--Duty, Sir!
The Clerk reads.
'Charles Stuart, king of England, you are accused in behalf of
the commons of England of divers Crimes and Treasons, which
Charge hath been read unto you: the Court now requires you to
give your positive and final Answer, by way of confession or
denial of the Charge.'
KING--Sir, I say again to you, so that I might give satisfaction
to the people of England of the clearness of my proceeding, not
by way of Answer, not in this way, but to satisfy them that I
have done nothing against that trust that has been committed to
me, I would do it; but to acknowledge a new Court, against their
Privileges, to alter the fundamental laws of the kingdom--sir,
you must excuse me.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, this is the third time that you have
publicly disowned this Court, and put an affront upon it. How
far you have preserved the privileges of the people, your
actions have spoke it; but truly, Sir, men's intentions ought to
be known by their actions; you have written your meaning in
bloody characters throughout the whole kingdom. But, Sir, you
understand the pleasure of the Court.--Clerk, Record the
Default.--And, Gentlemen, you that took charge of the Prisoner,
take him back again.
KING--I will only say this one word more to you: If it were only
my own particular, I would not say any more, nor interrupt you.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you have heard the pleasure of the Court,
and you are (notwithstanding you will not understand it) to find
that you are before a court of justice.
Then the King went forth with his guard, and proclamation was made, That
all persons which had then appeared, and had further to do at the Court,
might depart into the Painted Chamber; to which place the Court did
forthwith adjourn, and intended to meet in Westminster Hall by ten of
the clock next morning.
CRYER--God bless the kingdom of England!
Wednesday, January 24th, 1649.
This day it was expected the High Court of Justice would have met in
Westminster Hall, about ten of the clock; but at the time appointed, one
of the Ushers, by direction of the Court (then sitting in the Painted
Chamber) gave notice to the people there assembled, That in regard the
Court was then upon the Examination of Witnesses, in relation to present
affairs, in the Painted Chamber, they could not sit there; but all
persons appointed to be there, were to appear upon further summons.
The Proceedings of the High Court of Justice sitting in
Westminster Hall, on Saturday the 27th of January 1649.
O Yes made: Silence commanded; the court called; Serjeant
Bradshaw Lord President (in a scarlet robe), with sixty-eight
other members of the court.
As the King comes in, a Cry made in the Hall for Execution!
Justice! Execution![25]
KING--I shall desire a word to be heard a little, and I hope I
shall give no occasion of interruption.
LORD PRESIDENT--You may answer in your time, hear the Court
first.
KING--If it please you, Sir, I desire to be heard, and I shall
not give any occasion of interruption, and it is only in a word:
a sudden Judgment.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you shall be heard in due time, but you are
to hear the Court first.
KING--Sir, I desire--it will be in order to what I believe the
Court will say; and therefore, Sir, an hasty Judgment is not so
soon recalled.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you shall be heard before the Judgment be
given, and in the mean time you may forbear.
KING--Well, Sir, shall I be heard before the Judgment be given?
LORD PRESIDENT--Gentlemen, it is well known to all, or most of
you here present, that the Prisoner at the Bar hath been several
times convened and brought before the Court to make answer to a
Charge of Treason, and other high Crimes exhibited against him
in the name of the people of England [Here a malignant lady
(Lady Fairfax) interrupted the Court, saying 'Not half the
People'; but she was soon silenced. See the Trial of Daniel
Axtell, Oct. 15, 1660]; to which Charge being required to answer
he hath been so far from obeying the commands of the Court by
submitting to their justice, as he began to take upon him to
offer reasoning and debate unto the Authority of the Court, and
of the highest court that constituted them to try and judge him:
but being over-ruled in that, and required to make his Answer,
he was still pleased to continue contumacious, and to refuse to
submit or answer. Hereupon the Court, that they may not be
wanting to themselves, to the trust reposed in them, nor that
any man's wilfulness prevent justice, they have thought fit to
take the matter into their consideration, they have considered
of the Charge, they have considered of the Contumacy, and of
that Confession, which in law doth arise upon that contumacy;
they have likewise considered of the notoriety of the fact
charged upon this Prisoner, and upon the whole matter they are
resolved, and have agreed upon a Sentence to be now pronounced
against this Prisoner; but in respect he doth desire to be
heard, before the Sentence be read and pronounced, the Court
hath resolved that they will hear him. Yet, Sir, thus much I
must tell you beforehand, which you have been minded of at other
courts, that if that you have to say be to offer any debate
concerning jurisdiction, you are not to be heard in it; you have
offered it formerly, and you have indeed struck at the root,
that is, the power and supreme authority of the Commons of
England, which this Court will not admit a debate of; and which
indeed is an irrational thing in them to do, being a court that
acts upon authority derived from them, that they should presume
to judge upon their superior, from whom there is no appeal. But,
sir, if you have anything to say in defence of yourself
concerning the matter charged, the Court hath given me in
command to let you know they will hear you.
KING--Since that I see that you will not hear anything of
debate concerning that which I confess I thought most material
for the Peace of the Kingdom, and for the Liberty of the
Subject, I shall wave it; I shall speak nothing to it, but only
I must tell you, that this many a day all things have been taken
away from me, but that, that I call more dear to me than my
life, which is my conscience and my honour: and if I had respect
to my life more than the Peace of the Kingdom, the Liberty of
the Subject, certainly I should have made a particular Defence
for myself; for by that at leastwise I might have delayed an
ugly Sentence, which I believe will pass upon me. Therefore
certainly, Sir, as a man that hath some understanding, some
knowledge of the world, if that my true zeal to my country had
not overborne the care that I have of my own preservation, I
should have gone another way to work than that I have done. Now,
Sir, I conceive, that an hasty Sentence once passed, may sooner
be repented than recalled; and truly, the self-same desire that
I have for the Peace of the Kingdom, and the Liberty of the
subject more than my own particular, does make me now at last
desire, that having something for to say that concerns both, I
desire before Sentence be given, that I may be heard in the
Painted Chamber before the Lords and Commons. This delay cannot
be prejudicial to you, whatsoever I say; if that I say no
reason, those that hear me must be judges: I cannot be judge of
that, which I have: if it be reason, and really for the welfare
of the kingdom, and the liberty of the subject, I am sure on't,
very well it is worth the hearing; therefore I do conjure you,
as you love that which you pretend, I hope it is real, the
Liberty of the Subject, the Peace of the kingdom, that you will
grant me the hearing, before any Sentence be past. I only desire
this, that you will take this into your consideration, it may be
you have not heard of it before-hand; if you will, I'll retire,
and you may think of it; but if I cannot get this liberty I do
here protest, that so fair shews of Liberty and Peace are pure
shews, and not otherwise, since you will not hear your king.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you have now spoken.
KING--Yes, Sir.
LORD PRESIDENT--And this that you have said is a further
declining of the Jurisdiction of this Court, which was the thing
wherein you were limited before.
KING--Pray excuse me, Sir, for my interruption, because you
mistake me; it is not a declining of it, you do judge me before
you hear me speak; I say it will not, I do not decline it,
though I cannot acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Court; yet,
Sir, in this give me leave to say, I would do it, though I do
not by this acknowledge it, I do protest it is not the declining
of it, since I say, if that I do say any thing, but that which
is for the Peace of the Kingdom, and the Liberty of the Subject,
then the shame is mine. Now I desire that you will take this
into your consideration; if you will, I'll withdraw.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, this is not altogether new that you have
moved unto us, not altogether new to us, though it is the first
time in person you have offered it to the Court. Sir, you say
you do not decline the Jurisdiction of the Court.
KING--Not in this that I have said.
LORD PRESIDENT--I understand you well, Sir; but nevertheless,
that which you have offered seems to be contrary to that saying
of yours; for the Court are ready to give a Sentence; It is not
as you say, That they will not hear your king; for they have
been ready to hear you, they have patiently waited your pleasure
for three Courts together, to hear what you would say to the
People's Charge against you, to which you have not vouchsafed to
give any Answer at all. Sir, this tends to a further delay;
truly, Sir, such delays as these, neither may the kingdom nor
justice well bear; you have had three several days to have
offered in this kind what you would have pleased. This Court is
founded upon that Authority of the Commons of England in whom
rests the supreme jurisdiction; that which you now tender is to
have another jurisdiction, and a co-ordinate jurisdiction. I
know very well you express yourself, Sir, that notwithstanding
that you would offer to the Lords and Commons in the Painted
Chamber, yet nevertheless you would proceed on here, I did hear
you say so. But, Sir, that you would offer there, whatever it
is, it must needs be in delay of the Justice here; so as if this
Court be resolved, and prepared for the Sentence, this that you
offer they are not bound in justice to grant; But, Sir,
according to what you seem to desire, and because you shall know
the further pleasure of the Court upon that which you have
moved, the Court will withdraw for a time.
KING--Shall I withdraw?
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you shall know the pleasure of the Court
presently.
The Court withdraws for half an hour into the Court of Wards.
SERJEANT-AT-ARMS--The Court gives command, that the Prisoner be
withdrawn; and they give order for his return again.
The Court withdraws for half an hour and returns.
LORD PRESIDENT--Serjeant-at-Arms, send for your Prisoner.
Sir, you were pleased to make a motion here to the Court to
offer a desire of yours, touching the propounding of somewhat to
the Lords in the Painted Chamber, for the peace of the kingdom;
Sir, you did, in effect, receive an Answer before the Court
adjourned; truly, Sir, their withdrawing, and adjournment was
_pro forma tantum_: for it did not seem to them that there was
any difficulty in the thing; they have considered of what you
have moved, and have considered of their own Authority, which is
founded, as hath been often said, upon the supreme Authority of
the Commons of England assembled in parliament: the Court acts
according to their Commission. Sir, the return I have to you
from the Court, is this: That they have been too much delayed by
you already, and this that you now offer hath occasioned some
little further delay; and they are Judges appointed by the
highest Judges; and Judges are no more to delay, than they are
to deny Justice: they are good words in the great old Charter of
England; _Nulli negabimus, nulli vendemus, nulli differemus
Justitiam._ There must be no delay; but the truth is, Sir, and
so every man here observes it, that you have much delayed them
in your Contempt and Default, for which they might long since
have proceeded to Judgment against you; and notwithstanding what
you have offered, they are resolved to proceed to Punishment,
and to Judgment, and that is their unanimous Resolution.
KING--Sir, I know it is in vain for me to dispute, I am no
sceptic for to deny the Power that you have; I know that you
have Power enough: Sir, I confess, I think it would have been
for the kingdom's peace, if you would have taken the pains for
to have shewn the lawfulness of your Power; for this Delay that
I have desired, I confess it is a delay, but it is a delay very
important for the Peace of the Kingdom; for it is not my person
that I look on alone, it is the kingdom's welfare, and the
kingdom's peace; it is an old Sentence, That we should think
long, before we resolve of great matters. Therefore, Sir, I do
say again, that I do put at your doors all the inconveniency of
an hasty Sentence. I confess I have been here now, I think, this
week; this day eight days was the day I came here first, but a
little Delay of a day or two further may give Peace; whereas an
hasty Judgment may bring on that trouble and perpetual
inconveniency to the kingdom, that the child that is unborn may
repent it; and therefore again, out of the duty I owe to God,
and to my country, I do desire that I may be heard by the Lords
and Commons in the Painted Chamber, or any other chamber that
you will appoint me.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you have been already answered to what you
even now moved, being the same you moved before, since the
Resolution and the Judgment of the Court in it; and the Court
now requires to know whether you have any more to say for
yourself than you have said, before they proceed to Sentence?
KING--I say this, Sir, That if you will hear me, if you will
give but this Delay, I doubt not but I shall give some
satisfaction to you all here, and to my People after that; and
therefore I do require you, as you will answer it at the
dreadful Day of Judgment, that you will consider it once again.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, I have received direction from the Court.
KING--Well, Sir.
LORD PRESIDENT--If this must be re-enforced, or any thing of
this nature, your Answer must be the same; and they will
proceed to Sentence, if you have nothing more to say.
KING--Sir, I have nothing more to say, but I shall desire, that
this may be entered what I have said.
LORD PRESIDENT--The Court then, Sir, hath something else to say
to you; which, although I know it will be very unacceptable, yet
notwithstanding they are willing, and are resolved to discharge
their duty. Sir, You speak very well of a precious thing, which
you call Peace; and it had been much to be wished that God had
put it into your heart, that you had as effectually and really
endeavoured and studied the Peace of the kingdom, as now in
words you seem to pretend; but, as you were told the other day,
actions must expound intentions; yet actions have been clean
contrary. And truly, Sir, it doth appear plainly enough to them,
that you have gone upon very erroneous principles: The kingdom
hath felt it to their smart; and it will be no case to you to
think of it; for, Sir, you have held yourself, and let fall such
language, as if you had been no way subject to the Law, or that
the law had not been your superior. Sir, the Court is very
sensible of it, and I hope so are all the understanding people
of England, that the law is your superior; that you ought to
have ruled according to the law; you ought to have so. Sir, I
know very well your pretence hath been that you have done so;
but, Sir, the difference hath been who shall be the expositors
of this law: Sir, whether you and your party, out of courts of
justice, shall take upon them to expound law, or the courts of
justice, who are the expounders? Nay, the Sovereign and the High
Court of Justice, the Parliament of England, that are not only
the highest expounders, but the sole makers of the law? Sir, for
you to set yourself with your single judgment, and those that
adhere unto you, to set yourself against the highest Court of
Justice, that is not law. Sir, as the Law is your Superior, so
truly, Sir, there is something that is superior to the Law, and
that is indeed the Parent or Author of the Law, and that is the
people of England: for, Sir, as they are those that at the first
(as other countries have done) did chuse to themselves this form
of government even for Justice sake, that justice might be
administered, that peace might be preserved; so, Sir, they gave
laws to their governors, according to which they should govern;
and if those laws should have proved inconvenient or prejudicial
to the public, they had a power in them, and reserved to
themselves, to alter as they shall see cause. Sir, it is very
true what some of your side have said, '_Rex non habet parem in
regno_,' say they: This Court will say the same, while King,
that you have not your peer in some sense, for you are _major
singulis_; but they will aver again that you are _minor
universis_. And the same Author tells you that, '_non debet esse
major eo in regno suo in exhibitione juris, minimus autem esse
debet in judicio suscipiendo_' [Bract., De Leg., lib. I. c.
viii.]
This we know to be law, _Rex habet superiorem, Deum et legem,
etiam et curiam_; so says the same author. And truly, Sir, he
makes bold to go a little further, _Debent ei ponere fraenum_:
they ought to bridle him. And, Sir, we know very well the
stories of old: those wars that were called the Barons' War,
when the nobility of the land did stand out for the Liberty and
Property of the Subject, and would not suffer the kings, that
did invade, to play the tyrants freer, but called them to
account for it; we know that truth, that they did _fraenum
ponere_. But, sir, if they do forbear to do their duty now, and
are not so mindful of their own honour and the kingdom's good as
the Barons of England of old were, certainly the Commons of
England will not be unmindful of what is for their preservation,
and for their safety; _Justitiae fruendi causa reges constituti
sunt_. This we learn: The end of having kings, or any other
governors, it is for the enjoying of justice; that is the end.
Now, Sir, if so be the king will go contrary to that end, or any
other governor will go contrary to the end of his government;
Sir, he must understand that he is but an officer in trust, and
he ought to discharge that trust; and they are to take order for
the animadversion and punishment of such an offending governor.
This is not law of yesterday, Sir (since the time of the
division betwixt you and your people), but it is law of old. And
we know very well the Authors and the Authorities that do tell
us what the law was in that point upon the Election of Kings
upon the Oath that they took unto their people: And if they did
not observe it, there were those things called Parliaments; the
Parliaments were they that were to adjudge (the very Words of
the Author) the plaints and wrongs done of the king and the
queen, or their children; such wrongs especially, when the
people could have no where else any Remedy. Sir, that hath been
the people of England's case: they could not have their Remedy
elsewhere but in parliament.
Sir, Parliaments were ordained for that purpose, to redress the
Grievances of the people; that was their main end. And truly,
Sir, if so be that the kings of England had been rightly mindful
of themselves, they were never more in majesty and state than in
the Parliament: But how forgetful some have been, Stories have
told us, we have a miserable, a lamentable, a sad experience of
it. Sir, by the old laws of England, I speak these things the
rather to you, because you were pleased to let fall the other
day, You thought you had as much knowledge in the Law as most
gentlemen in England: it is very well, Sir. And truly, Sir, it
is very fit for the gentlemen of England to understand that Law
under which they must live, and by which they must be governed.
And then, Sir, the Scripture says, 'They that know their
master's will and do it not' what follows? The Law is your
master, the acts of parliament.
The Parliaments were to be kept antiently, we find in our old
Author, twice in the year, that the Subject upon any occasion
might have a ready Remedy and Redress for his Grievance.
Afterwards, by several acts of parliament in the days of your
predecessor Edward the third, they should have been once a year.
Sir, what the Intermission of parliaments hath been in your
time, it is very well known, and the sad consequences of it; and
what in the interim instead of these Parliaments hath been by
you by an high and arbitrary hand introduced upon the People,
that likewise hath been too well known and felt. But when God by
his Providence had so far brought it about, that you could no
longer decline the calling of a Parliament, Sir, yet it will
appear what your ends were against the antient and your native
kingdom of Scotland: the Parliament of England not serving your
ends against them, you were pleased to dissolve it. Another
great necessity occasioned the calling of this parliament; and
what your Designs, and Plots, and Endeavours all along have
been, for the crushing and confounding of this Parliament, hath
been very notorious to the whole kingdom. And truly, Sir, in
that you did strike at all; that had been a sure way to have
brought about That that this Charge lays upon you, your
intention to subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Land; for the
great bulwark of the Liberties of the People is the Parliament
of England; and to subvert and root up that, which your aim hath
been to do, certainly at one blow you had confounded the
Liberties and the Property of England.
Truly, Sir, it makes me to call to mind; I cannot forbear to
express it; for, Sir, we must deal plainly with you, according
to the merits of your cause; so is our Commission; it makes me
to call to mind (these proceedings of yours) That that we read
of a great Roman Emperor, by the way let us call him a great
Roman tyrant, Caligula, that wished that the people of Rome had
had but one neck, that at one blow he might cut it off. And your
proceedings have been somewhat like to this; for the body of the
people of England hath been (and where else) represented but in
the Parliament; and could you but have confounded that, you had
at one blow cut off the neck of England. But God hath reserved
better things for us, and hath pleased for to confound your
designs, and to break your forces, and to bring your person into
custody, that you might be responsible to justice.
Sir, we know very well that it is a question much on your side
press'd, By what Precedent we shall proceed? Truly, Sir, for
Precedents, I shall not upon these occasions institute any long
discourse; but it is no new thing to cite precedents almost of
all nations, where the people (where the power hath been in
their hands) have made bold to call their Kings to account; and
where the change of government hath been upon occasion of the
Tyranny and Misgovernment of those that have been placed over
them, I will not spend time to mention either France, or Spain,
or the Empire, or other countries; volumes may be written of it.
But truly, Sir, that of the kingdom of Arragon, I shall think
some of us have thought upon it, where they have the justice of
Arragon, that is, a man, _tanquam in medio positus_, betwixt the
King of Spain and the people of the country; that if wrong be
done by the King, he that is king of Arragon, the justice, hath
power to reform the wrong; and he is acknowledged to be the
king's superior, and is the grand preserver of their privileges,
and hath prosecuted kings upon their miscarriages.
Sir, what the Tribunes of Rome were heretofore, and what the
Ephori were to the Lacedemonian State, we know that is the
Parliament of England to the English state; and though Rome
seemed to lose its liberty when once the Emperors were; yet you
shall find some famous acts of justice even done by the Senate
of Rome; that great Tyrant of his time, Nero, condemned and
judged by the Senate. But truly, Sir, to you I should not need
to mention these foreign examples and stories: If you look but
over Tweed, we find enough in your native kingdom of Scotland.
If we look to your first King Fergus, that your Stories make
mention of, he was an elective king; he died, and left two sons,
both in their minority; the kingdom made choice of their uncle,
his brother, to govern in the minority. Afterwards the elder
brother, giving small hope to the people that he would rule or
govern well, seeking to supplant that good uncle of his that
governed them justly, they set the elder aside, and took to the
younger. Sir, if I should come to what your Stories make mention
of, you know very well you are the hundred and ninth king of
Scotland; for not to mention so many kings as that kingdom,
according to their power and privileges, have made bold to deal
withal, some to banish, and some to imprison, and some to put to
death, it would be too long: and as one of your own authors
says, it would be too long to recite the manifold examples that
your own stories make mention of. _Reges_, etc. (say they) we do
create: we created kings at first: _Leges_, etc., we imposed
laws upon them. And as they are chosen by the suffrages of the
People at the first, so upon just occasion, by the same
suffrages they may be taken down again. And we will be bold to
say, that no kingdom hath yielded more plentiful experience than
that your native kingdom of Scotland hath done concerning the
Deposition and the Punishment of their offending and
transgressing kings.
It is not far to go for an example: near you--Your grandmother
set aside, and your Father, an infant, crowned. And the State
did it here in England; here hath not been a want of some
examples. They have made bold (the Parliament and the People of
England) to call their Kings to account; there are frequent
examples of it in the Saxons' time, the time before the
Conquest. Since the Conquest there want not some Precedents
neither; King Edward the Second, King Richard the Second, were
dealt with so by the Parliament, as they were deposed and
deprived. And truly, Sir, whoever shall look into their Stories,
they shall not find the Articles that are charged upon them to
come near to that height and capitalness of Crimes that are laid
to your Charge; nothing near.
Sir, you were pleased to say, the other day, wherein they
dissent; and I did not contradict it. But take all together,
Sir; If you were as the Charge speaks, and no otherwise,
admitted king of England; but for that you were pleased then to
alledge, how that for almost a thousand years these things have
been, Stories will tell you, if you go no higher than the time
of the Conquest; if you do come down since the Conquest, you are
the twenty-fourth king from William called the Conqueror, you
shall find one half of them to come merely from the state, and
not merely upon the point of descent. It were easy to be
instanced to you; but time must not be lost that way. And truly,
Sir, what a grave and learned Judge said in his time, and well
known to you, and is since printed for posterity, That although
there was such a thing as a descent many times, yet the kings of
England ever held the greatest assurance of their Titles when it
was declared by Parliament. And, Sir, your Oath, the manner of
your Coronation, doth shew plainly, that the kings of England,
although it is true, by the law the next person in blood is
designed: yet if there were just cause to refuse him, the people
of England might do it. For there is a Contract and a bargain
made between the King and his people, and your Oath is taken;
and certainly, Sir, the bond is reciprocal; for as you are the
Liege Lord, so they Liege Subjects. And we know very well, that
hath been so much spoken of, _Ligeantia est duplex_. This we
know, now, the one tie, the one bond, is the Bond of Protection
that is due from the sovereign; the other is the Bond of
Subjection that is due from the Subject. Sir, if this bond be
once broken, farewell sovereignty! _Subjectio trahit_, etc.
These things may not be denied, Sir; I speak it rather, and I
pray God it may work upon your heart, that you may be sensible
of your Miscarriages. For whether you have been, as by your
office you ought to be, a Protector of England, or the Destroyer
of England, let all England judge, or all the world, that hath
look'd upon it. Sir, though you have it by inheritance in the
way that is spoken of, yet it must not be denied that your
office was an office of trust, and indeed an office of the
highest trust lodged in any single person; For as you were the
Grand Administrator of Justice, and others were, as your
delegates, to see it done throughout your realms; if your
greatest office were to do Justice, and preserve your People
from wrong, and instead of doing that, you will be the great
Wrong-doer yourself; if instead of being a Conservator of the
Peace, you will be the grand Disturber of the Peace; surely this
is contrary to your office, contrary to your trust. Now, Sir,
if it be an office of inheritance, as you speak of, your Title
by Descent, let all men know that great offices are seizable and
forfeitable, as if you had it but for a year, and for your life.
Therefore, Sir, it will concern you to take into your serious
consideration your great Miscarriages in this kind. Truly, Sir,
I shall not particularize the many Miscarriages of your reign
whatsoever, they are famously known: It had been happy for the
kingdom, and happy for you too, if it had not been so much
known, and so much felt, as the Story of your Miscarriages must
needs be, and hath been already.
Sir, That which we are now upon, by the command of the highest
Court, hath been and is to try and judge you for these great
offences of your's. Sir, the Charge hath called you Tyrant, a
Traitor, a Murderer, and a Public Enemy to the Commonwealth of
England. Sir, it had been well if that any of all these terms
might rightly and justly have been spared, if any one of them at
all.
KING--Ha!
LORD PRESIDENT--Truly, Sir, We have been told '_Rex est dum bene
regit, Tyrannus qui populum opprimit_': And if so be that be the
definition of a Tyrant, then see how you come short of it in
your actions, whether the highest Tyrant, by that way of
arbitrary government, and that you have sought for to introduce,
and that you have sought to put, you were putting upon the
people? Whether that was not as high an Act of Tyranny as any of
your predecessors were guilty of, nay, many degrees beyond it?
Sir, the term Traitor cannot be spared. We shall easily agree it
must denote and suppose a Breach of Trust; and it must suppose
it to be done to a superior. And therefore, Sir, as the people
of England might have incurred that respecting you, if they had
been truly guilty of it, as to the definition of law; so on the
other side, when you did break your trust to the kingdom, you
did break your trust to your superior; For the kingdom is that
for which you were trusted. And therefore, sir, for this breach
of Trust when you are called to account, you are called to
account by your superiors. '_Minimus ad majorem in judicium
vocat._' And, Sir, the People of England cannot be so far
wanting to themselves, God having dealt so miraculously and
gloriously for them: but that having power in their hands, and
their great enemy, they must proceed to do justice to themselves
and to you: For, Sir, the Court could heartily desire, that you
would lay your hand upon your heart, and consider what you have
done amiss, that you would endeavour to make your peace with
God. Truly, Sir, these are your High-Crimes, Tyranny and
Treason.
There is a third thing too, if those had not been, and that is
Murder, which is laid to your charge. All the bloody Murders,
which have been committed since this time that the division was
betwixt you and your people, must be laid to your charge, which
have been acted or committed in these late wars. Sir, it is an
heinous and crying sin: And truly, Sir, if any man will ask us
what Punishment is due to a Murderer, let God's Law, let man's
law speak. Sir, I will presume that you are so well read in
Scripture, as to know what God himself hath said concerning the
shedding of man's blood: Gen. IX., Numb. XXXV. will tell you
what the punishment is: And which this Court, in behalf of the
whole kingdom, are sensible of, of that innocent blood that has
been shed, whereby indeed the land stands still defiled with
that blood; and, as the text hath it, it can no way be cleansed
but with the shedding of the Blood of him that shed this blood.
Sir, we know no dispensation from this blood in that Commandment
'Thou shalt do no Murder': We do not know but that it extends to
kings as well as to the meanest peasants, the meanest of the
people: the command is universal. Sir, God's law forbids it;
Man's law forbids it: Nor do we know that there is any manner of
exception, not even in man's laws, for the punishment of murder
in you. It is true, that in the case of kings every private hand
was not to put forth itself to this work for their reformation
and punishment; But, Sir, the people represented having power in
their hands, had there been but one wilful act of murder by you
committed, had power to have convened you, and to have punished
you for it.
But then, Sir, the weight that lies upon you in all those
respects that have been spoken, by reason of your Tyranny,
Treason, Breach of Trust, and the Murders that have been
committed; surely, Sir, it must drive you into a sad
consideration concerning your eternal condition. As I said at
first, I know it cannot be pleasing to you to hear any such
things as these are mentioned unto you from this Court, for so
we do call ourselves, and justify ourselves to be a Court, and a
high Court of Justice, authorized by the highest and solemnest
court of the kingdom, as we have often said; And although you do
not yet endeavour what you may to discourt us, yet we do take
knowledge of ourselves to be such a Court as can administer
Justice to you: and we are bound, Sir, in duty to do it. Sir,
all I shall say before the reading of your Sentence, it is but
this: The Court does heartily desire that you will seriously
think of those evils that you stand guilty of. Sir, you said
well to us the other day, you wished us to have God before our
eyes. Truly Sir, I hope all of us have so: That God, who we know
is a King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; that God with whom there
is no respect of Persons; that God, who is the Avenger of
innocent Blood; We have that God before us; that God, who does
bestow a curse upon them that with-hold their hands from
shedding of blood, which is in the case of guilty malefactors,
and that do deserve death: That God we have before our eyes. And
were it not that the conscience of our duty hath called us unto
this place, and this imployment, Sir, you should have had no
appearance of a Court here. But, Sir, we must prefer the
discharge of our duty unto God, and unto the kingdom, before any
other respect whatsoever. And although at this time many of us,
if not all of us, are severely threatened by some of your party,
what they intend to do, Sir, we do here declare, That we shall
not decline or forbear the doing of our duty in the
administration of Justice, even to you, according to the merit
of your Offence although God should permit those men to effect
all that bloody design in hand against us. Sir, we will say, and
we will declare it, as those Children in the Fiery Furnace, that
would not worship the golden image, that Nebuchadnezzar had set
up, 'That their God was able to deliver them from that danger
that they were near unto'; But yet if he would not do it, yet
notwithstanding that they would not fall down and worship the
Image. We shall thus apply it; That though we should not be
delivered from those bloody hands and hearts that conspire the
overthrow of the kingdom in general, of us in particular, for
acting in this great Work of Justice, though we should perish in
the Work, yet by God's grace, and by God's strength, we will go
on with it. And this is all our resolutions, Sir, I say for
yourself, we do heartily wish and desire that God would be
pleased to give you a sense of your sins, that you would see
wherein you have done amiss, that you may cry unto him, that God
would deliver you from Blood-guiltiness. A good king was once
guilty of that particular thing, and was clear otherwise, saving
in the matter of Uriah. Truly, Sir, the Story tells us that he
was a repentant king: and it signifies enough, that he had died
for it, but that God was pleased to accept of him, and to give
him his pardon, 'Thou shalt not die, but the child shall die:
Thou hast given cause to the enemies of God to blaspheme.'
KING--I would desire only one word before you give Sentence; and
that is, that you would hear me concerning those great
Imputations that you have laid to my charge.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, You must give me now leave to go on; for I
am not far from your Sentence, and your time is now past.
KING--But I shall desire you will hear me a few words to you:
For truly, whatever Sentence you will put upon me in respect of
those heavy imputations, that I see by your Speech you have put
upon me; Sir, It is very true, that----
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, I must put you in mind: Truly, Sir, I would
not willingly, at this time especially, interrupt you in
anything you have to say, that is proper for us to admit of;
but, Sir, you have not owned us as a Court, and you look upon us
as a sort of people met together; and we know what language we
receive from your party.
KING--I know nothing of that.
LORD PRESIDENT--You disavow us as a Court; and therefore for you
to address yourself to us, not acknowledging us as a Court to
judge of what you say, it is not to be permitted. And the truth
is, all along, from the first time you were pleased to disavow
and disown us, the Court needed not to have heard you one word;
For unless they be acknowledged a Court, and engaged, it is not
proper for you to speak. Sir, we have given you too much liberty
already, and admitted of too much delay, and we may not admit of
any farther. Were it proper for us to do it, we should hear you
freely; and we should not have declined to hear you at large,
what you could have said or proved on your behalf, whether for
totally excusing, or for in part excusing those great and
heinous Charges, that in whole or in part are laid upon you.
But, Sir, I shall trouble you no longer; your sins are of so
large a dimension, that if you do but seriously think of them,
they will drive you to a sad consideration of it, and they may
improve in you a sad and serious repentance; And that the Court
doth heartily wish that you may be so penitent for what you have
done amiss, that God may have mercy, at leastwise, upon your
better part: Truly, Sir, for the other, it is our parts and
duties to do that, which the law prescribes. We are not here
_jus dare_ but _jus dicere_. We cannot be unmindful of what the
Scripture tells us; 'For to acquit the Guilty is of equal
Abomination, as to condemn the Innocent.' We may not acquit the
Guilty. What sentence the law affirms to a Traitor, Tyrant, a
Murderer, and a public Enemy to the Country, that Sentence you
are now to hear read unto you; and that is the Sentence of the
Court.
The Lord President commands the sentence to be read: make an O yes, and
command Silence while the Sentence is read.
O yes made: Silence commanded.
The Clerk read the Sentence, which was drawn up in Parchment:
'Whereas the Commons of England in Parliament had appointed them
an High Court of Justice, for the Trying of Charles Stuart, King
of England, before whom he had been three times convened; and at
the first time a Charge of High-Treason, and other Crimes and
Misdemeanors, was read in the behalf of the Kingdom of England,'
etc. [Here the Clerk read the Charge.] 'Which Charge being read
unto him, as aforesaid, he the said Charles Stuart was required
to give his Answer: But he refused so to do; and so expressed
the several Passages of his Trial in refusing to answer. For all
which Treasons and Crimes this Court doth adjudge, That the said
Charles Stuart, as a Tyrant, Traitor, Murderer, and a Public
Enemy, shall be put to Death, by the severing his Head from His
Body.'
After the Sentence read, the Lord President said, This Sentence
now read and published, is the Act, Sentence, Judgment, and
Resolution of the whole Court.
Here the Court stood up, as assenting to what the President
said.
KING--Will you hear me a word, Sir?
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you are not to be heard after the Sentence.
KING--No, Sir?
LORD PRESIDENT--No, Sir; by your favour, Sir. Guard, withdraw
your Prisoner.
KING--I may speak after the Sentence--By your Favour, Sir, I may
Speak after the Sentence ever.