HUGH PETERS was called upon to plead on the 9th of October 1660.
CLERK--Hugh Peters, hold up thy hand. How sayest thou? Art thou
guilty of the treason whereof thou standest indicted; and for
which thou standest arraigned? Or Not Guilty?
HUGH PETERS--I would not for ten thousand worlds say I am
Guilty. I am not Guilty.
CLERK--How will you be tried?
HUGH PETERS--By the word of God [here the people laughed].
COURT--You must say By God and the Country. Tell him, you that
stand by him, what he should say, if he doth not know.
CLERK--How will you be tried?
HUGH PETERS--By God and the country.
The trial took place on the 13th of October, and after the jury were
sworn, without Peters making any challenges, the case was shortly opened
by Sir Edward Young. He stated that he would prove that Peters was a
chief conspirator with Cromwell at several times and several places
compassing the King's death; that he preached many sermons to the
soldiers urging the 'taking away the King,' comparing him to Barabbas;
that he was instrumental in directing the making of the proclamation for
the High Court of Justice; that when the King was executed, he was the
person that urged the soldiers below the scaffold to cry for justice;
and that on the day after the trial he commended it.
_Dr. William Young_ was the first witness. He first made Peters'
acquaintance about the time of the siege of Pembroke Castle, in 1648.
Afterwards, in 1649, Peters went over to Ireland with Cromwell, and
falling sick of the flux, returned to Milford and sent for the witness.
There I found him, grovelling upon the deck, and sick he was
indeed; with much difficulty we got him on shore; within a very
few days, to the best of my remembrance five days, I perfected
his cure; we became very familiar; I observed in him that he had
some secret thoughts that I could not well discover, neither
well understand; whereupon I thought it might tend to my
security that I should so much sympathize with him, to get
within him to know his intentions. After some weeks we grew so
familiar, that at last I found he began to enlarge his heart to
me. Many times I should hear him rail most insufferably against
the blood royal, not only against our martyred king, but against
his off-spring; still as we continued our acquaintance, he
became more and more open to me; so we would sit up discoursing
till about twelve or one of the clock at night very often, about
these unhappy wars late in England.
He said that he had been employed out of New England to stir up the
civil war; that he had been sent by the Parliament to Ireland 'to
receive further instructions to drive on the design to extirpate
monarchy'; that he had spent a great deal of his money, but had never
been repaid the L2000 or L3000 he had been promised for his journey; he
used to vilify monarchy, 'jocundarily scoffing at it, and would
ordinarily quibble in this manner, saying "this Commonwealth will never
be at peace till 150 be put down." I asked him what this 150 was, he
told me the three L's, and afterwards interpreted the meaning to be the
Lords, the Levites, and the Lawyers; with that, said I, we shall be like
the Switzers, Tinkers, and Traitors,' He had a commission from Cromwell
to raise troops for Ireland, he issued two commissions to bring over two
troops from Devon, and offered to make the witness a major or captain.
Talking of the removal of the King from Holmby House, he said that the
Parliament having then a design to secure himself and Cromwell, they
escaped out of London, and rode hard for it, and as we rode to
Ware we made a halt, and advised how we should settle this
kingdom in peace, and dispose of the King; the result was this,
They should bring him to justice, try him for his life, and cut
off his head; whether this was the expression of Cromwell I
cannot tell; but to the utmost of my remembrance, and I am
mistaken if it was not the advice of Mr. Peters to Cromwell; and
I believe it, because his former relations of his instructions
out of Ireland did tend to that effect.
PETERS--My lord, I desire to speak a word [his voice being low,
he was brought to the second bar]. I am the bolder to speak to
your lordships at this time a word, and it is high time to
satisfy my conscience; if these things were true, there is
enough said to destroy me; I desire leave to tell you what
offence I take at the witness, thus, my lord. This gentlemen I
do know----
COUNSEL--What say you to him?
PETERS--That which I have to say is this, that in his story he
hath told that which is not true; but I will not find fault with
him, because he was my host, I will not reflect and recriminate:
I shall give your lordships in simplicity as much satisfaction
myself as any witness; this I say to the man that speaks, and
this is certain, I did spend some time at this gentleman's
house, he is called there Dr. Young; and my trouble at this
discourse is this, I do not know, my lord, that I found a more
violent man for the parliament than himself; so far he undertook
to be a spy on one side; this I find to be so, he will not deny
it; he was very fierce in that way; I think words of such a man
ought to be little attended to. The second is this, this
gentleman is not a competent witness, and that upon a two-fold
ground. First, because I know he is under a very great
temptation and trouble in this very thing, and it is upon this
account he was put out of his living in the country, and here he
came to me to help him in again, and was very highly offended
because I did not do it. Secondly, it is not that I would
invalidate his witness, but give me leave to tell you, it is his
way to snap and catch at every man, which is the complaint of
the people in his own country. I know that same which is spoken
is false; I speak it in the presence of God, I profess, I never
had any near converse with Oliver Cromwell about such things; I
speak this to the Jury, that they would have a care of the
witness; I was in sickness then; those that have known me do
know likewise that I have much weakness in my head when I am
sick, and to take words that are spoken in a sick condition, he
ought not to do it; for the words themselves I do here profess
against them, for the generality of them; and that he hath been
freer in my judgment in any communication in this way than I
have been; it is marvellous, here I profess the things untruths;
I call God and angels to witness they are not true. I will give
you an account of my whole condition by-and-by, if I may be
heard.
COURT--You shall be heard at large; that which you have been
heard now is concerning the competency or incompetency of the
witness: the incompetency against him is this, that when you
came thither none more violent for the parliament than himself,
and that he was a great spy, and you say it was usual with him
to take such courses; these are but words; if you have any
witnesses we will hear them; the man may be traduced and
slandered, and so all witnesses may be taken away. Mr. Peters,
if you take this course, God knows when this business will end;
if you have a mind take pen, ink, and paper, and take notes of
the witnesses, and make exceptions to them one after another;
but interrupting one, and so another, we shall never have done.
YOUNG--I do recollect myself of some other conferences between
us; as to my being malicious, I know he never did me any wrong,
and therefore I cannot be malicious; and as for my reputation,
having resided two years in London I can have certificates both
from my country, and some of this city, to vindicate me in that
particular; But, my lord, that which I would inform your
lordship is this, he told me he took duke Hamilton a prisoner
himself in his own chamber, seized on his goods, and took his
George and blue ribbon off his shoulder, and the George he
shewed me.
_William Gunter_ was a drawer at the Star in Coleman Street. Oliver
Cromwell and several of his party used to meet there in consultation;
there were several meetings; he remembered one in particular when Peters
was there; he came about four in the afternoon and stayed till ten or
eleven at night; they were talking about the King after he was a
prisoner, for they called him by the name of Charles Stuart; they were
writing something, but the witness could not say what. He could not say
whether Peters was there oftener than once, 'but once I am certain of
it; this is the gentleman; for then he wore a great sword.'
PETERS--I never wore a great sword in my life.
_Starkey_ deposed that in the December before the King's death, and up
to the 12th of the following January, the headquarters of the army were
at Windsor, and General Ireton was quartered at his father's house. The
Council of War was held there, and Cromwell, Ireton, Peters, Col. Rich,
and another gentleman, whose name he forgot, would meet and consult
there, and sit up till two or three in the morning very privately
together. The witness was often in Ireton's company, and Peters would
often come in to meals in the evening.
Mr. Ireton being civil in carriage, would usually entertain
discourses with Mr. Peters, likewise would favor me sometimes
with discourse; and in that discourse I did many times take
occasion to assert the laws in point of the king; and
discoursing about the king as being a capital instrument in the
late inconveniences, as they called it, in the times of the war,
Mr. Ireton would discourse this ordinarily; I was bold to tell
them that the person of the king was _solutus legibus_; this
gentleman the prisoner at the bar, told me it was an unequal
law. I did observe Mr. Peters did bend his discourse, not by way
of argument only, but in point of resolution of judgment, fully
against the person and government of the king. I remember some
of his expressions were these, That he was a tyrant, that he was
a fool, that he was not fit to be a king, or bear that office; I
have heard him say, that for the office itself (in those very
words which shortly after came into print) that it was a
dangerous, chargeable, and useless office. My lords, the
constant discourse of this gentleman at that time was such as he
did believe would never be called into question, so it was not a
thing that a man was necessitated to observe by an accident, but
it was their whole discourse. I will put you in mind of a
particular passage. When the news came to Windsor that the king
was in prison at the Isle of Wight, my father (whose house that
was) was very much troubled at it; and being an ancient man, was
not able to control his passions with reason, told my mother
that they (meaning Mr. Ireton, etc.) should have no
entertainment there, and took the key of the cellar and put it
in his pocket; his passions being lessened, Mr. Ireton, his
wife, and another officer being at supper, and afterwards my
father said grace, and, as he usually did, though they were
there, he said that usual and honest expression, praying for the
king in these usual words, 'God save the king, prince, and
realm'; sometimes they did laugh at it, but never did reflect
upon him; but this night he made this expression, 'God save the
king's most excellent majesty, and preserve him out of the hands
of all his enemies.' Peters, who was then at the table, turns
about to him, and said, 'Old gentleman, your idol will not stand
long'; I do conceive he meant it of the king. For a matter of
two months of the constant residence and being of the army
there, I did observe that in the General Council there, and in
this private cabal (after the business was broke out, and when
the king was taken prisoner, and carried to Windsor), Mr. Peters
was the constant man; and when the business broke out, I looked
upon it in reason that Cromwell, Ireton, and this gentleman at
the bar, and Rich, and that other gentleman, whose name I have
forgot, that they were the persons that did the business. My
lords, Mr. Peters he continued at Windsor: I remember very well
that after the body of the army, the general, and the officers
of the army, were gone to London, he continued at Windsor: I
remember a passage of one Bacon, who was a sectary; Mr. Peters
being in discourse of the king, Mr. Bacon took great distaste at
Mr. Peters for some affront put upon the King; Mr. Peters falls
upon him, and rails at him, and was ready to beat him; we
understood it so, because he did tell him of his affronting the
King.
COUNSEL--Mr. Peters, if you have any thing to ask this witness,
you may.
PETERS--I have many things to ask him. Did I ever lie there?
STARKEY--No.
PETERS--Did you see me there at three o'clock in the morning?
STARKEY--I have seen you go up at ten o'clock at night to Mr.
Ireton's chamber, and sometimes I understood you did not go away
till four o'clock in the morning: I went to bed it is true, but
I understood it so.
_Thomas Walkely_ saw Cromwell, Goodwin, Peters, and others in the
Painted Chamber at Westminster on the day after the proclamation for the
trial of the King was made. Goodwin sat in the middle of the table and
made a long speech or prayer, and then it was ordered that strangers
should leave the room, and Walkely went out, and afterwards saw Peters
leave the room with the others. When the King was brought to London as a
prisoner, Walkely 'saw his majesty in his coach with six horses and
Peters, like a bishop almoner, riding before the king triumphing.'
_Proctor_ also saw the King driving into London with the prisoner riding
before him, the King sitting alone in his coach. 'My Lord, I did put off
my hat, and he was graciously pleased to put off his hat; the troopers
seeing this, they threw me into the ditch, horse and all, where I stayed
till they pass by, and was glad I escaped so.'
_Hardwick_ heard the proclamation for the High Court of Justice made in
Westminster Hall, and afterwards Peters came into Palace Yard and told
the officers there that the proclamation must also be made in Cheapside
and at the Old Exchange.
_Holland Simpson_ saw the sitting of the High Court; he saw Peters
there, but not as a judge.
There was one day in the hall colonel Stubbards, who was
adjutant-general (he was a very busy man) and colonel Axtel; Mr.
Peters going down the stairs, comes to him, and bids Stubbards
to command the soldiers to cry out 'justice, justice, against
the traitor at the bar.'
COUNSEL--Who did he mean?
SIMPSON--The King was at the bar at the same time; whereupon, my
lord, the soldiers did cry out upon the same; and as the King
was taken away to sir Robert Cotton's some of them spit in the
King's face, but he took his handkerchief, wiped it off, and
smiled.
_Thomas Richardson_ and _Sir Jeremy Whichcot_ spoke to casual
expressions of Peters which showed approval of the King's trial and
deposition.
_Richard Nunnelly, sworn._
COUNSEL--Was Peters upon the Scaffold at the time of execution
or before?
NUNNELLY--On that unhappy day, 30th of Jan. 1649, this Hugh
Peters came an hour before the king came to Whitehall; I came
with a warrant of a L40 or L50,000 to Oliver Cromwell, being
door-keeper to the Committee of the Army; Nunnelly, says Oliver
Cromwell, will you go to Whitehall? Surely you will see the
beheading of the king; and he let me into Whitehall; coming into
the boarded gallery I met Hugh Peters, and he was in the
gallery; and then I got with Hugh Peters into the
Banqueting-House; being there, Hugh Peters met one Tench of
Hounsditch, that was a joiner meeting him; he speaks to him, and
whispers in his ear, and told him somewhat, I do not know what
it was; but Tench presently went and knocked four staples upon
the scaffold; I meeting Tench again, What art thou doing? said
I. What, will you turn hangman? Says he, This day will be a
happy day. Said I, Pray God send it be not a bloody day; upon
that Hugh Peters went upon the scaffold just an hour before the
king came, and then he went off again. I watched at the window
when the king's head was cut off, and afterwards I saw the
vizards going into a chamber there; about an hour afterwards (I
staying there at the door) there comes Hugh Peters in his black
cloak and broad hat out of that chamber (as I take it) with the
hangman; I am sure I did see him go along with the hangman to
take water; this is all I can remember, it being many years
since.
PETERS--I humbly beg I may be heard in this case; I have here a
witness, and I desire he may be examined; it is noised I was
upon the scaffold, I here call God to witness I was not out of
my chamber that day; I was sick that day; I speak in the
presence of the Lord.
COURT--If your witness will stay he shall be heard; there are
more witnesses to the same thing, and so he may speak to all
together.
_Dr. Mortimer, sworn._
MORTIMER--Me lar, me ha serd de king, etc.
COURT--We cannot understand a word.
COUNSEL--He is a Frenchman, my lord.
COURT--Pray let there be an interpreter.
[One Mr. Young was sworn to interpret truly his evidence. But it
being afterwards found difficult and troublesome, the Counsel
waved his evidence, and prayed another witness might be called.]