persons who then appeared and had further to do with the Court might depart into the Painted Chamber to which place the Court adjourned being resolved to meet again in Westminster-Hall by ten of the Clock the next morning Wednesday January 24. The Court being this day imployed upon Examinations of Witnesses and other things in order to their next proceedings did appoint one of their Vshers to give notice to the people there assembled to appear on further summons The last proceedings against the King wherein they pronounced Sentence upon him on Saturday Jan. 27. 1648. SIlence being commanded by the Cryer the Court was called and Serjeant Bradshaw the Lord President was that day in a scarlet Gown There were present that day sixty and eight Members of the Court The King turning to the Lord President said I shall desire to be heard some few words and I hope I shall give no occasion of Interruption President You may answer in due 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 onely in a word A sudden Judgment President Sir you shall be heard as I have told you in due time but you must hear the Court first King What I am to speak will be in order as I conceive to what I believe the Court will say and therefore Sir I desire to be heard A hasty judgement is not so soon recalled President Sir you shall be heard before Judgment be given and in the mean time you ought to forbear King Well Sir I shall be heard before the Judgment be given President Gentlemen It is well known to all or the greatest part of you here present that the prisonner at the Bar hath been severall times convented and brought before this Court to make answer to a charge of Treason and other high crimes exhibited against him in the Name of the People of England to which charge being oftentimes commanded to Answer he hath been so far from submitting to the Court as he hath undertook to object again and dispute the Authority of this Court and of the High Court of parliament who constituted this Court to Try and Judge him but being over-ruled in that commanded to make answer he was still pleased to persevere in his contumacy and refused to submit to answer whereupon the Court that they may not be wanting to themselves and to the trust reposed in them nor that any mans wilfulnesse shall prevent the course of Justice have considered of the contempt and of that consequence which in law doth arise on that contempt They have likewise considered of the notoriousnesse of the Fact charged upon the prisoner and upon the whole matter are resolved and have agreed upon a Sentence to be now pronounced against him but in regard he hath desired to be heard before Sentence be read and pronounced the Court is resolved to hear him yet Sir thus much I must tell you before hand of which also you have been minded at the other Courts that if what you are to propose shall tend to dispute the jurisdiction of the Court you are not to be heard therein you have offered it formerly and you have indeed struck at the root which is the power and supream Authority of the Commons of England of which this Court will admit no debate and indeed it would be an unreasonable thing in them so to do being a Court which doth act upon that Authority which they have received from them they will not presume to judge upon their Superiours from whom there is no appeal But Sir If you have any thing to say in defence of your self concerning the matter with which you are charged the Court hath given me command to let you know they will hear you King Since I perceive you will not heare any thing of Debate concerning that which I confesse I thought most materiall for the peace of the Kingdome and the Liberty of the Subject I shall wave it and speak nothing of it onely I must tell you that these many dayes all things have been taken from me but that which I call more deer unto me than my life which is my Conscience and my Honour and if I had respect to my life more than to the peace of the kingdome the liberty of the Subject I should certainly have made a particular defence for my self for by that at least I might have deferred an ugly Sentence which I expect to passe upon me Therefore undoubtedly Sir as a man that hath some understanding some knowledge of the world if that my true zeal to my Country had not over born the care of my own preservation I should have gone another way to work then now I have done Now Sir I conceive that a hasty Sentence once passed may sooner be repented then revoked and truly the same fervent desire I have for the peace of the Kingdome and the liberty of the Subject more then my own particulars doth make me now at last move that having somthing to say concerning both I may be heard before my Sentence be pronounced before the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber This delay cannot be prejudiciall to you whatsoever I shall utter If I speak not reason those that hear me must be my Judges but if it be Reason and really for the welfare of the Kingdome and the Liberty of the Subject I am sure of it it will be well worth the hearing Therefore I conjure you as you love that which you pretend I hope it is reall the Liberty of the Subject the peace of the kingdom that you will grant me the hearing before 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 think well of it I will 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 but pure shews and no otherwise if in this you will not hear your King President Sir you have now spoken King Yes Sir President And this which you have spoken is but a further declining of the Jurisdiction of this Court which is the thing wherein you were limited before King Pray excuse me Sir for my interruption because you do mistake me It is not a declining of it you do judge me before you hear me speak I say I will not I do not decline it although I cannot acknowledge the jurisdiction of it In this give me leave to say that though I would not though I did not acknowledge it in this yet I protest this is not to decline it since I say If that which I shall propound be not for the peace of the Kingdome 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 will withdraw
President Sir This is not altogether new that you have offered unto us I say it is not altogether new unto us although it be the first time that 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 President I understand you well enough Sir Neverthelesse that which you have propounded seems to be contrary to what you have said for the Court are ready to proceed to Sentence It is not as you say that they will not hear their King For they have been ready to hear you they have patiently waited your pleasure for three Court dayes together to hear what you would answer to the peoples charge against you to which you have not vouchsafed to give any answer at all Sir this doth tend to a further delay and truly Sir Such delays as these neither may the kingdom nor Justice admit You have had the advantage of three several dayes to have offered in this kinde what you were pleased to have propounded to the Lords and Commons This Court is founded upon the Authority of the Commons of England in whom resteth the Suprem Jurisdiction That which you now tender to the Court is to be tryed by another jurisdiction a co-ordinate jurisdiction I know very well how you have expressed your self and that not withstanding what you would propound to the Lords and Commons yet nevertheless you would proceed on here I did hear you say so but Sir That which you would offer there whatsoever it be must needs be in delay of Justice here so as if this Court be resolved and prepared for the Sentence they are bound in justice not to grant that which you so much desire but Sir according to your desire and because you shall know the full pleasure of the Court upon that whilest you have moved the Court shall withdraw for a time King Shall I withdraw 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 withdraw and that about half an hour hence the prisonner be returned again The time being expired the Court returned and the Lord President commanded the Serjeant at Arms to send for his prisonner The King being come attended with his Guard The Lord President said unto him Sir you were pleased to make a motion here to the Court concerning the desire you had to propound something to the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber for the peace of the Kingdome Sir you did in effect receive an Answer before the Court adjourned Truly Sir their adjournment and withdrawing was pro formâ tantum for it did not seem to them that there was any difficulty in the thing they have considered of what you moved and have considered of their own Authority which is grounded as it hath been often said upon the supream Authority of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament The Court doth act according to their Commission Sir I have received an expresse Order from the Court to acquaint you that they have been too much delaied by you already and that this which you have now offered hath occasioned some little further delay 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 old Charter of England Nulli negabimus nulli vendemus nulli deferremus justitium There must be no delay but Sir the Truth is and so every man here observes it That you have much delayed them by your contempt and default for which they might long since have proceeded to judgment against you therefore notwithstanding what you have offered they are resolved to proceed to punishment to judgment and this is their unanimous resolution King Sir I see it is in vain for me to dispute I am no Sceptick to doubt or to deny the power that you have I do know that you have power enough Sir I confesse I do believe it would have been advantagious to the peace of the Kingdome if you would have been pleased to take the pains to show the lawfulnesse of your power As for this delay which I have desired I do confesse it is a delay but it is a delay that is important for the peace of the Kingdom It is not my person that I look on alone It is the welfare of the Kingdome the peace of the kingdome It is an old saying that we should think on long but perform great matters suddainly Therefore Sir I do say again I do put at your doores all the inconveniencies of a hasty Sentence I have been here now a full week this day eight daies was the day in which I made in this place my first appearance The short respite but of a day or two longer may give peace unto the Nation whereas an hasty judgement may bring such a perpetual trouble inconvenience upon it that is the childe unborn may repent it And therefore once more out of the duty I ow 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 place that you will appoint me President Sir you have been already answered to what you have moved it being the same motion which you made before for which you have had the resolution and the judgment of the Court in it and the Court would now be satisfied from you whether you have any more to say for your self than you have yet said before they proceed to Sentence King I say this Sir that if you will but hear me and give me this delay I doubt not but I shall give some satisfaction to all that are present and to my people that are absent and therefore I require you as you will answer it at the dreadfull day of judgement that you will once again take it into your consideration President Sir I have received Instructions from the Court King Well Sir President If this must be reinforced or any thing of this nature your answer must be the same as it was before and they will proceed to Sentence if you have no more to say King Sir I have nothing more to say onely I desire that this may be entered what I have said President The Court Sir then hath something else to say to you which although I know will be very unwelcome yet notwithstanding they are resolved to discharge their duty Sir you have spoken very well of a pretious thing that you call a peace and it were much to be wished that God had put it into your hart that you had as effectually endeavoured and studied the peace of the kingdom as in words you seem to pretend but as the other day it was represented to you that actions must expound intentions Your actions have been clean contrary and truly sir it doth
The Full Proceedings OF THE High Court of Iustice against King CHARLES In Westminster Hall on Saturday the 20. of January 1648. Together With the Kings Reasons and Speeches and his Deportment on the Scaffold before his Execution Translated out of the Latine by J. C. Hereunto is added A Parallel of the late Wars being a Relation of the five years Civill Wars of King Henry the 3d. with the Event of that unnatural War and by what means the Kingdome was settled again London Printed for William Shears at the Bible in St. Pauls Church-yard 1654. The First Dayes Proceeding of the High Court of Justice c. THe Triall and the Execution of the last King of England being still as much the wonder as the discourse of Christendome I shall indeavour to represent it to you with the exactest faithfulness that can possibly be desired and although others have gone before me on the same subject by the benefit of time I doubt not but that I shall exceed them by the advantage of truth In the Supream Tribunal of Justice sitting at Whitehall in Westminster Serjeant Bradshaw being President and about seventy other persons elected to be his Judges being present the Cryer of the Court having Proclaimed his Oyes to invite the people to attention silence was commanded and the Ordinance of the Commons in Parliament in reference to the Examination of the King was read and the Court was summoned all the Members thereof arising as they were called The King came into the Court his head covered Serjeant Dendy being remarkable by the Authority of his Mace did Usher him in Colonel Hatcher and about thirty Officers and Gentlemen did attend him as his Guard The Court being sat the Lord President Bradshaw spake thus unto him Charls Stuart King of England the Commons of England assembled in Parliament being touched with the sense of the Calamities which have happened to this Nation and of the innocent bloud spilt of which you are accused to be the Author have both according to their office which they ow unto God this Nation and themselves according to the power and fundamentall faith intrusted with them by the people Constituted this supream Court of Justice before which you are now brought to hear your Charge on which this Court will proceed Mr. Cook the Sollicitor Generall Sir In the Name of the Commons of England and of all the people thereof I do charge Charls Stuart here present as guilty of Treason and other great defaults and in the name of the Commons of England I require that his charge may be read unto him The King Stay a little L. President Sir The Court hath given order that the Charge shall be read If you have any thing afterwards to plead for your self you may be heard Hereupon the Charge was read THat the said Charls Stuart being admitted King of England and therein trusted with a limitted Power to govern by and according to the laws of the Land not otherwise And by his Trust Oath and Office being obliged to use the Power committed to him For the good and benefit of the People and for the preservation of their Rights and Liberties Yet neverthelesse out of a wicked Designe to erect and uphold in himself an unlimitted and Tyrannical power to rule according to his Will and to overthrow the Rights and liberties of the people Yea to take away and make void the foundations therof and of all redress and remedy of misgovernment which by the fundamental constitutions of this kingdome were reserved on the peoples behalf in the right and power of frequent and successive Parliaments or nationall meetings in Councel he the said Charls Stuart for accomplishment of such his designes and for the protecting of himself and his adherents in his and their wicked practises to the same ends hath traiterously and maliciously leavied war against the present parliament and the people therein represented Particularly upon or about the thirtieth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and two at Beverly in the County of York and upon or about the 30th day of July in the year aforesaid in the County of the City of York and upon or about the twenty fourth day of August in the same year at the County of the town of Nottingham when and where he set up his Standard of war And also on or about the twenty third day of October in the same year at Edg-hill and Keinton-field in the Coun-of Warwick and upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the same year at Brainchford in the County of Middlesex And upon or about the thirtieth day of August in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and three at Cavesham-bridge neer Reding in the County of Berks and upon or about the thirtieth day of October in the year last mentioned at or neer the City of Glocester and upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned at Newbury in the County of Berks And upon or about the one and thirtieth day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty four at Cropredybridge in the County of Oxon And upon or about the thirtieth day of September in the year last mentioned at Bodmin and other places neer adjacent in the County of Cornwall And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned at Newbery aforesaid And upon or about the eighth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and five at the Town of Leicester And also upon the fourteenth day of the same month in the same year at Naseby-field in the County of Northampton At which severall times and places or most of them and at many other places in the land at severall other times within the years aforementioned And in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and six he the said Charls Stuart hath caused and procured many thousands of the Free-people of the Nation to be slain and by Divisions parties and insurrections within this land by invasions from Forraign parts endevoured and procured by him and by many other evill wayes and means He the said Charls Stuart hath not onely maintained and carried on the said War both by land and sea during the year before mentioned but also hath renewed or caused to be renewed the said war against the Parliament and good people of this Nation in this present year One thousand six hundred fourty and eight in the Counties of Kent Essex Surry Sussex Middlesex and many other Counties places in England Wales and also by sea and particularly he the said Charls Stuart hath for that purpose given Commission to his Son the prince and others whereby besides multitudes of other persons many such as were by the parliament intrusted and imployed for the safety of the nation being by him and his agents corrupted to the betraying of
the world in this one particular Give me leave to acquaint you that it is a thing of no small importance which you go about I am sworn to keep the peace according to the duty which I do ow to God and to my Land and I will here perform it to the last breath of my Body you shall therefore do wel first to satisfie God and afterwards the Land by what Authority you do this If you do it by an usurped Authority you cannot defend it God who sitteth in the Heavens will call you and all those who have conferred this power on you to give him an account of it Satisfie me in this and I shall answer you for otherwise I should betray the Faith committed to me and the liberties of my people Wherefore consider of it and I shall be willing to answer you For I do professe it is as great a sin to resist a lawfull Authority as to submit unto a Tyrannicall or any other unlawfull Authority wherefore resolve me in this particular and you shall receive my Answer L. President The Court expecteth that you should give them a finall Answer and will adjourn untill Munday next If you cannot satisfie your self although we tell you our authority our authority will satisfie our selves And it is according to the authority of God and the Kingdome and the peace of which you speak shall be preserved in the administration of Justice and that is our present work King I give you this for my answer you have not shown me any lawfull authority which may satisfie any reasonable man L. President It is onely your apprehension we are fully satisfied who are your Judges King It is not my apprehension nor yours which ought to determin this L. President The Court hath heard you and disposed of you accordingly as their discretions have thought expedient The Court adjourneth to the Painted chamber untill Munday at ten of the clock in the morn-ning and from thence hither Some thing that was ominous ought not to be passed by in silence when the Charge was read against the King the silver head of his staff did fall off which he much did wonder at and observing no man so officious to assist him he stooping towards the ground did take it up himself As the King returned looking on the Court he said I fear not thee meaning the sword As he came down the stayres the people who were in the Hall cryed out some of them God save the King but the greater part Justice Justice The second dayes proceeding against the King January 22. c. THe Cryer having thrice pronounced his Oyes and silence cōmanded after that the Judges were called and every one did particularly answer to his Name Silence was again commanded under pain of imprisonment and the Captain of the Guards was ordered to apprehend any that should endeavour to make a tumult At the comming of the King into the Court there was a great shout and the Court commanded the Captain of the Guards to apprehend and imprison those who should make either a noise or tumult The Court being sat the Sollicitor turning to the President said May it please your Lordship my Lord President In the former Court on Saturday in the Name of the Commons of England I exhibited and offered to this Tribunal the charge of high Treasons and other grievous crimes against the Prisoner with which I did charge him In the Name of the People of England and his charge was read and his Answer demanded My Lord It pleased him at that time to return no answer at all but instead of answering he questioned the Authority of the High Court My most humble motion to this High Court in the Name of the People of the Kingdome of England is that the Prisoner may be compelled to give a positive answer either by way of Confession or Negation which if he shall refuse that the subject of his Charge may be taken for granted and the Court proceed according to Justice L. President Sir you may remember that on the last convention of this Court the cause was expounded to you for which you were brought hither and you heard the charge against you read it being a charge of High Treason and other grievous crimes against the Kingdom of England you heard likewise that it was required in the name of the people that you should answer to your charge that there should be a proceeding thereon as should be agreeable unto Justice you were then pleased to move some scruples concerning the authority of this Court and you desired to be satisfied in your knowledge by what authority you were brought hither you severall times did propound your questions and it was often answered to you that it was by authority of the commons of England Assembled in Parliament who did judge it requisite to call you to an account for the great and grievous crimes of which you are accused After that the Court did take into their serious consideration those things which you objected and they are fully satisfied in their authoritie and do conceive it requisite that you should admit it they therefore require that you give a positive and a particular Answer to the charge exhibited against you they do expect that you should either confesse it or deny it If you shall deny it it will be proved in the behalf of the Kingdome the whole World doth approve of their Authority So that the kingdome is satisfied and you ought thereby to be satisfied your self you ought not therefore to waste time but to give your positive answer King It is true that when I was last here I moved that question and indeed if it were onely my businesse in particular I should have satisfied my self with that protestation which I then interposed against the lawfulnesse of this Court and that a King cannot be judged by any superiour jurisdiction on earth but my own interests are not onely involved in it but the liberties also of the people of England and pretend what you will I doe indeavour more for their liberties then any whatsoever For if Power without laws can make laws and change the Fundamentall laws of the Kingdome I know not what subject in England can be secure of his life or of any thing which he doth call his own Wherefore when I came hither I expected particular reasons that I might understand by what law and what Authority you would proceed against me I should then perceive what most especially I have to say unto you for the affirmative is to be proved which seldome the Negative is capable of but because I cannot perswade you thus I will give you my Reasons as briefly as I can The Reasons for which in conscience and duty which I ow first unto God and afterwards to my people for the preservation of their lives their liberties and their fortunes I believe I cannot answer until I am satisfied of your legality of it All proceedings against any
denying or confessing it but he was then pleased to debate the Jurisdiction of the Court although he was commanded to give a positive answer My Lord by reason of this great delay of Justice I shall humbly move for speedy judgement against him I may presse your Lordship upon the known Rules of the Laws of the Land that if a prisoner shall stand in contempt not plead guilty or not guilty to the charge given against him it by an implicite confession ought to be taken pro confesso as I may instance in divers who have deserved more favor than the prisoner at the Bar hath done But I shall presse upon the whole fact The House of Commons the Supream Authority of the Kingdome have declared my Lord that it is notorious The matter of the charge is true and clear as chrystall or as the Sun that shineth at Noon day in which my Lord President if your Lordship and the Court be not satisfied I have severall witnesses on the behalf of the people of England to produce and therefore I do humbly pray and not so much I as the innocent blood that hath been shed the cry whereof is great for Justice and Judgement that speedy judgement may be pronounced against the prisoner at the Bar. President Sir you have heard what hath been moved by Mr. Sollicitor on the behalf of the Kingdome against you Sir you may well remember and if you do not the Court cannot forget the delayes which you have made You have been pleased to propound some Questions and amply you have had your resolution on them you have been often told that the Court did affirm their own Jurisdiction and that it was not for you nor any other man to dispute the Jurisdiction of the highest Authority of England from which there is no appeal and touching which there must be no dispute yet you did deport your self in that manner that you gave no obedience nor did acknowledge any Authority either in them or the Supream Court of Parliament that constituted this high Court of Justice Sir the Court gives you to understand that they are very sensible of these demurres and that being thus authorised by the High Court of England they ought not to be trifled withall especially seeing if they please they may take advantage of these delayes and according to the rules of Justice proceed and pronounce Judgement against you Neverthelesse they are so favourable as to give directions to me and therefore on their behalf I do require you to make a positive answer to this charge that hath been read against you Justice knows no respect of persons You are to give your positive and final Answer in plain English whether guilty or not guilty of the Treason laid to your charge The King having meditated a little did answer in these words When I was here yesterday I desired to speak for the Liberties of the people of England I desire yet to know whether without interruption I may speak freely or not President Sir on the like Question you had yesterday the resolution of this Court you were told that having a charge of so high a nature against you your work was to acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Court to answer the charge after you have done that you shall be heard at large to make the defence you can for your self but Sir the Court commands me to make known unto you that you are not permitted to run into any other discourses untill such time that you have returned a positive Answer to the matter that is charged upon you King I value not the charge a rush It is the Liberty of the people of England that I stand for For me who am your King and should be an example to all the Courts in England to uphold Justice and maintain the old Laws for me I say to acknowledge a new Court that I never heard of before is a thing that I know not how to do You did speak very well on the first day I came hither concerning the obligations that I have laid upon me by God for the maintenance of the Liberties of my people I do acknowledge that I do ow the same obligations to God and my people to defend as much as in me lies the ancient Laws of the Kingdom therefore untill I be satisfied that this is not against the fundamentall Laws of the Kingdome I can put in no particulars to the Charge If you will give me time I will shew you my Reasons wherefore I cannot do it and Here being interrupted he said By your favour you ought not to interrupt me How I came here I do not know There is no Law to make your King your prisoner I was in a Treaty upon the publick faith of the Kingdome that was the known two Houses of Parliament that was the Representative of the Kingdome and when I had almost made an end of the Treaty I was hurried away and brought hither and therefore I would President Sir you must know the pleasure of the Court King By you favour Sir President Nay Sir by your favour you may not be permitted to run into these discourses you appear here as a Delinquent you have not acknowledged the Authority of the Court the Court once more doâ—h command you to give your positive Answer M. Broughton Do your Duty King Duty Sir M. Broughton reads Charls Stuart King of England you are accused in the behalf of the Commons of England of divers high Crimes and Treasons which Charge hath been read unto you The Court now requires you to give your positive and finall answer either by way of confession or by deniall of the Charge King Sir I say again unto you If therby I may give satisfaction to the people of England of the uprightness of my proceedings not by way of answer but to satisfie them that I have done nothing against that trust that hath been committed to me I would do it but to acknowledge a new Court against their priviledges to alter the Fundamentall Laws of the Kingdome you must excuse me if I shall refuse to do it President Sir This is the third time that you have publiquely disowned this Court and put an affront upon it How far you have preserved the priviledges of the People your actions have spoke And truly Sir If mens intentions can be known by their actions you have written your intentions in bloody Characters throughout the whole Kingdome But Sir you are to understand the pleasure of the Court Clerk Record the Default And Gentlemen you that are a guard to the Prisoner take him back again King I will onely adde this one word If it were onely my own particular I would not say any more nor interrupt you at all President Sir you have heard the pleasure of the Court and notwithstanding you will not understand it you are to finde that you are before a Court of Justice The King going forth Proclamation was made that all
appear very plainly to the Court that you have gone upon very erronious principles The kingdome hath felt it to their smart and it will be no comfort to you to think of it for sir you have been heard to let fall such language as if you had not been subject to the law or that the law had not been your superiour The Court is very sensible of it I hope so are all the understanding people of England That the law is your superiour you ought to have ruled according to the law you ought to have done so and your pretence hath been that you have done so But sir the question is who shall be the expositors of the law whether you and your party out of the Courts of Justice shall take upon you to expound the law Or whither the Courts of Justice shall be the expounders themselves nay this soveraign and high Court of Justice the Parliament of England who may be well be obliged to be the highest expounders of the law since they are the sole makers of it Sir for you to set your self with your single judgment or for those who adhear unto you to set themselves against the highest Court of Justice there is no law for it Sir as the law is your superior so truly there is something that is superiour to the law which is the Parent or Author of the law and that is the people of England For as they are those who at first as other countries have done did chose unto themselves this form of Government that justice might be administred and the peace preserved so they gave laws unto their Governours according to which they were to govern and if those laws should have proved inconvenient or prejudiciall to the publick they had a power in them reserved to themselves to alter as they should finde cause It is very true what some of your side have alledged Rex non habet parem in regno This Court will affirm the same in some sense that whilest King you have not your peer for you are major singulis but they will aver again that you are minor universis and the same Author tells you that in exhibitione juris you have no power but they are quasi minimus This we know to be law Rex habet superiorem Deum legem etiam Curiam and so sayes the same Author and he makes bold to proceed further Debent ei fraenum ponere they ought to bridle him We know very well the stories of old we cannot be ignorant of those wars that were called the Barons wars when the Nobility of the land did stand out for the liberty and the propriety of the subject and would not suffer the Kings that did invade their liberties to play the tyrants but did call them to an account for it and did fraenum ponere But sir If the Nobility of the land do forbear to do their duty now and are not so mindfull of their own honour and the kingdoms good as the Barons of England of old have been certainly the Commons of England will not be unmindfull of what is requisite for their preservation and their safety Justitiae fruendi causa Reges constituti sunt By this we learn that the end of having Kings or Governours is for their enjoying of justice that is the end Now sir If the King will go contrary to that end or if any governour will go contrary to the end of his government he must understand that he is but an Officer in trust and that he ought to discharge that trust and order is to be taken for the animadversion and punishment of such an offending Governour Sir This is not a law of yesterday since the time of the division betwixt you and the Parliament but it is a law of old And we know very well both the Authors and the Authorities that acquaint us what the law was in that point on the election of Kings when they took their Oath to be true unto the people and if they did not observe it there were those remedies instituted which are called Parliaments The Parliaments were they that were to adjudge the very words of the Authors the plainenesse and wrongs done by the King and Queen or by their children such wrongs especially when the people could have no where else a remedy Sir this is the Case of the people of England they could not have their remedy else where but in Parliament Sir Parliaments were instituted for that intent it was their main end that the grievances of the people might be redressed and truly if the Kings of England had been rightly mindfull of themselves they were never more in Majesty or State than in the time of the Parliament but how forgetfull some have been Histories have informed us and we our selves have a miserable a lamentable and 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 affirm the other day that you thought you had as much knowledge in the law as most Gentlemen of England It is very well Sir and truly sir it is very fit for the Gentlemen of England to understand the laws under which they must live and by which they must be governed And then Sir the scripture saies they that know their Masters will and do it not you know what follows the law is your Master the acts of Parliament the Parliaments were antiently to be kept twice in the year as we finde in our old Author that the Subject upon any occasion might have a remedy and a redresse for his grievance Afterwards by several acts of parliament in the dayes of your Predecessor Edward the third they were to be but once a year What the Intermission of parliaments in your times hath produced is very well known and the sad consequences of it as also what in the interim instead of parliaments there hath been by you by a high and arbitrary hand introduced upon the people But when God by his providence had so farre brought it about that you could no longer decline the calling of a parliament a parliament was called where it may appear what your ends were against your antient and native Kingdom of Scotland but this parliament of England not serving your turn against them you were pleased to dissolve it Not long after another great necessity occasioned the calling of this parliament and what your Designs and Indeavours all along have been for the crushing and confounding of it hath been most notorious to the whol kingdom And truly Sir in that you did strike at all It had been a sure way to have brought about that which this Charge doth lay upon you your intention to subvert the fundamental laws of the land for the great Bulwarks of the peoples liberty is the parliament of England and to subvert and root up that which your aim hath been to do would certainly at one blow have confounded