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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	believe_v	life_n	write_v	2,161	5	5.6947	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25871	The arraignment, tryal & condemnation of Algernon Sidney, Esq. for high-treason ... before the Right Honourable Sir George Jeffreys ... Lord Chief Justice of England at His Majesties Court of Kingsbench at Westminster on the 7th, 21th and 27th of November, 1683	Sidney, Algernon, 1622-1683, defendant.; Jeffreys, George Jeffreys, Baron, 1644 or 5-1689.; England and Wales. Court of King's Bench.	1684 (1684)	Wing A3754; ESTC R23343	69,533	67

this manner if he had not apprehensions of Guilt within himself This is the Testimony offered against my Lord Howard in disparagement of his Evidence Ay but further it s objected he is in expectation of a Pardon And he did say he thought he should not have the Kings Pardon till such time as the drudgery of Swearing was over Why Gentlemen I take notice before this Discourse happened he Swore the same thing at my Lord Russel's Tryal And I must tell you though it is the Duty of every Man to discover all Treasons yet I tell you for a Man to come and Swear himself over and over Guilty in the face of a Court of Justice may seem irksome and provoke a Man to give it such an Epithet 'T is therefore for his Credit that he is an unwilling Witness But Gentlemen consider if these things should have been allowed to take away the Credibility of a Witness what would have become of the Testimonies that have been given of late days What would become of the Evidence of all those that have been so profligate in their Lives Would you have the Kings Council to call none but men that were not concerned in this Plot to prove that they were Plotting Ay but Gentlemen it is further objected This Hand looks like an old Hand and it may not be the Prisoners Hand but be Counterfeited and for that there is a Gentleman who tells you what a dexterous Man he is He says he believes he could Counterfeit any Hand in half an hour 't is an ugly temptation but I hope he hath more Honour than to make use of that Art he so much glories in But what time could there be for the Counterfeiting of this Book Can you imagine that Sir Philip Lloyd through the Bag Sealed up did it Or who else can you imagine should or does the Prisoner pretend did write this Book So that as on one side God forbid but we should be careful of Mens Lives so on the other side God forbid that Flourishes and Varnish should come to indanger the Life of the King and the Destruction of the Government But Gentlemen We are not to anticipate you in point of Fact I have according to my Memory recapitulated the matters given in Evidence It remains purely in you now whether you do believe upon the whole matter that the Prisoner is Guilty of the High-Treason whereof he is Indicted Mr. Iust. Withins Gentlemen 'T is fit you should have our Opinions in all the points of Law we concur with my Lord Chief Justice Says Colonel Sidney here is a mighty Conspiracy but there is nothing comes of it who must we thank for that None but the Almighty Providence One of themselves was troubled in Conscience and comes and discovers it had not Keeling discovered it God knows whether we might have been alive at this day Then the Jury withdrew and in about half an hours time returned and brought the Prisoner in Guilty And the Lievtenant of the Tower took away his Prisoner Munday 26. Nov. 1683. Algernoon Sidney Esquire was brought up to the Bar of the Court of Kings bench to receive his Sentence L. Ch. Iust. Mr Attorney will you move any thing Mr. Att. Gen. My Lord the Prisoner at the Bar is convicted of High Treason I demand Judgment against him Cl. of Crown Algernoon Sidney Hold up thy hand which he did Thou hast been indicted of High Treason and thereupon arraigned and thereunto pleaded not Guilty and for thy Tryal put thy self upon God and the Country which Country has found thee Guilty What can'st thou say for thy self Why Judgment of death should not be given against thee and execution awarded according to Law Col. Sidney My Lord I humbly conceive I have had no Tryal I was to be tryed by my Country I do not find my Country in the Jury that did try me There were some of them that were not Freeholders I think my Lord There is neither Law nor President of any man that has been tryed by a Jury upon an Indictment lay'd in a County that were not Freeholders So I do humbly conceive That I have had no Tryal at all and if I have had no Tryal there can be no Judgment L. Ch. Just. Mr. Sidney you had the Opinion of the Court in that matter before We were unanimous in it for it was the Opinion of all the Judges of England in the Case next proceeding yours tho' that was a Case relating to Corporations but they were of Opinion that by the Statute of Queen Mary the Tryal of Treason was put as it was at Common Law and that there was no such Challenge of Common Law Col. Sidney Under favour my Lord I presume in such a Case as this of Life and for what I know concernes every man in England you will give me a day and Counsel to argue it L. Ch. Iust. T is not in the Power of the Court to do it Col. Sidney My Lord I desire the Indictment against me may be read L. Ch. Iust. To what purpose Col. Sidney I have somewhat to say to it L. Ch. Iust. Well read the Indictment Then the Clerk of the Crown read the Indictment Col. Sidney Pray Sir will you give me leave to see it if it please you L. Ch. Iust. No that we cannot do Col. Sidney My Lord there is one thing then that makes this absolutely voyd It deprives the King of his Title which is Treason by Law Defensor fidei There is no such thing there if I heard it Right L. Ch. Iust. In that you would deprive the King of his Life that is in very full I think Col. Sidney If no body would deprive the King no more then I he would be in no danger Under favour these are things not to be over-ruled in point of Life so easily L. Ch. Iust. Mr. Sidney We very well understand our duty we don't need to be told by you what our Duty is we tell you nothing but what is Law and if you make Objections that are immaterial we must overrule them Don't think that we overrule in your Case that we would not overrule in all mens Cases in your Condition The Treason is sufficiently lay'd Col. Sidney My Lord I conceive this too that those words that are said to be written in the Paper that there is nothing of Treason in them Besides that there was nothing at all proved of them only by similitude of hands which upon the Case I alledged to your Lordship was not to be admitted in a Criminal Case Now 't is easy to call a thing proditorie but yet let the nature of the thing be examined I put my self upon it that there is no Treason in it L. Ch. Iust. There is not a Line in the Book scarce but what is Treason Mr Just. Withins I believe you don 't believe it Treason L. Ch. Iust. That is the worst part of your Case When men are riveted in Opinion that Kings

believe that that was Coll. Sidney's Book writ by him no man can doubt but it is a sufficient Evidence that he is Guilty of Compassing and Imagining the Death of the King and let us consider what proof can be greater than what has been given of it Mr. Sheppard an intimate acquaintance of his that has seen him write he looks upon the hand and says He is extreamly acquainted with the hand and says He I believe in my Conscience this Book is Coll. Sidney's hand Gent. Do you expect Mr. Sidney would call a Witness to be by to see him write that Book In the next place you have two Trades-men Coke and Cary and they tell you one had seen him write once the other had seen his hand writing and they both believe it his Hand writing and they have good reason for they have paid several summs of Money upon Notes which they took as well as This to be his Hand writing Gentlemen Besides that give me leave to tell you here is another thing that makes it more plain This very Book is found in Colonel Sidney's House on the Table in his Study where he used to write by a Gentleman against whom Colonel Sidney can't make the least Objection and that there was that fairness offered by the Gentleman Pray Colonel put your Seal upon it that you may see that no injury be done you but Mr. Sidney would not do it Therefore he Seals them with his own Seal and carries them to White-hall where they were broken open and Sweares that those Papers were found in his Closet whereof this was one Another thing which I must take notice of to you in this Case is to mind you how this Book contains all the Malice and Revenge and Treason that Mankind can be guilty of It fixes the sole Power in the Parliament and the People so that he carries on the Design still for their Debates at their Meetings were to that purpose And such Doctrines as these suit with their Debates for there a general Insurrection was designed and that was discoursed of in this Book and incouraged They must not give it an ill Name It must not be called a Rebellion it being the general Act of the People The King it says is responsible to them the King is but their Trustee That he had betrayed his Trust he had misgoverned and now he is to give it up that they may be all Kings themselves Gentlemen I must tell you I think I ought more than ordinarily to press this upon you because I know the Misfortune of the late unhappy Rebellion and the bringing the late Blessed King to the Scaffold was first begun by such kind of Principles They cried He had betrayed the Trust that was delegated to him from the People Gentlemen in the next place because he is afraid their Power alone won't do it he endeavours to poison Mens Judgments and the way he makes use of he colours it with Religion and quotes Scripture for it too and you know how far that went in the late times How we were for binding our King in Chains and our Nobles in Fetters of Iron Gentlemen This is likewise made use of by him to stir up the People to Rebellion Gentlemen if in case the Prisoner did design the Deposing the King the removing the King and if in order thereunto he be guilty of Conspiring to Levy War or as to the Letter writ by my Lord Russel if he was privy to it these will be Evidences against him So that 't is not upon two but 't is upon greater Evidence then 22 if you believe this Book was writ by him Next I must tell you Gentlemen upon I think a less Testimony an Indictment was preferred against the late Lord Russel and he was thereupon Convicted and Executed of which they have brought the Record These are the Evidences for the King For the Prisoner he hath made several Objections As that there was no War Levied For that Gentlemen at the beginning of the Cause I told you what I took the Law to be and I take it to be so very plainly But Gentlemen as to the Credibility of my Lord Howard he offers you several Circumstances First He offers you a Noble Lord my Lord Anglescy who says That he attending my Lord of Bedford upon the misfortune of the Imprisonment of his Son after he had done my Lord Howard came to second that part of a Christians Office which he had performed and told him he had a very good Son and he knew no harm of him and as to the Plot he knew nothing of it Another Noble Lord my Lord Clare tells you that he had some Discourse with my Lord Howard and he said that if he were accused he thought they would but tell Noses and his business was done Then Mr. Philip Howard he tells you how he was not so intimate with him as others but he often came to his Brothers and that he should say he knew nothing of a Plot nor did he believe any but at the same time he said he believed there was a Sham Plot and then he pressed him about the business of the Address but that now my Lord of Essex was out of Town and so it went off Another thing Mr. Sidney took notice of says he 't is an Act of Revenge in my Lord Howard for he owes him a Debt that he does besides by his Allegation does not appear Col. Sid. My Lord he hath confessed it L. Ch. Iust. Admit it yet in case Collonel Sidney should be Convicted of this Treason the Debt accrues to the King and he can't be a Farthing the better for it But how does it look like Revenge I find my Lord Howard when he speaks of Collonel Sidney says he was more beholding to him than any body and was more sorry for him so says my Lord Clare Gentlemen You have it likewise offered that he came to Collonel Sidney's House and there he was desirous to have the Plate and Goods removed to his House and that he would assist them with his Coach and Coachman to carry them thither and did affirm that he knew nothing of the Plot and did not believe Collonel Sidney knew any thing and this is likewise proved by a couple of Maid Servants as well as the French Man You have likewise some thing to the same purpose said by my Lord Paget and this is offered to take off the Credibility of my Lord Howard Do you believe because my Lord Howard did not tell them I am in a Conspiracy to kill the King therefore he knew nothing of it he knew these Persons were Men of Honour and would not be concerned in any such thing But do you think because a Man goes about and denies his being in a Plot therefore he was not in it Nay it seems so far from being an Evidence of his Innocence that 't is an Evidence of his Guilt What should provoke a Man to discourse after

carried on thus it had neither Officers nor Souldiers no place no time no Money for it That which he said last time which he forgotnow he talked of twenty five or thirty thousand pound but no man knew where it was to be had but last time he said it was spoken in jest Now this is a pretty Cabal that six men should meet about a business and they neglect every one of the points relating to the thing they met about make no step about the business and if any one did speak of it it was but in jest This is a very deep maintaining of the Plot. Then my Lord as to these Papers I do not think I am to give any account of them I would say nothing to the disparagement of Sir Philip Lloyd I never saw him till he cause to my House but yet I say he is the Kings Officer and when I am prosecuted at the Kings Smit I think he ought to be no Witness The Government of France is violent and absolute but yet a few years ago a Minister of State had his Papers taken from him and abundance of them had dangerous Plots against the King in them but because they were inventoried in his Officers presence or those reputed by him there was no use could be made of them it was an irreparable fault in the process and that saved him The similitude of hands is nothing we know that Hands will be counterfeited so that no man shall know his own hand A Gentleman that is now dead told me that my Lord Arlington about five years agoe desired him to write a Letter and seal it as well as he could he writ it with care and sealed it with a Wafer and Wax upon it and within a few days my Lord Arlington brought him five Letters and he did not know which was his own The Attorney shews these Papers to me I do not know whether they are my own or no but these very Papers such as they are do abhorr as much as any one can such a design Look upon them you see they are all old Ink. These Papers may be writ perhaps these twenty years the Ink is so old But my Lord it is a polemical Discourse it seems to be an Answer to Filmer which is not calculated for any particular Government in the World It goes only upon these general Principles That according to the universal Law of God and Nature there is but one Government in the World and that is Intire and Absolute and that the King can be bound by no Law by no Oath but he may make all Laws and abolish them as he pleases And this whether of Age or no a Man or a Child of Sense or out of his Sense Now my Lord what if any man in his Cabinet should have written this Book Then he has another Principle he says 'T is the same thing whether a King come in by Election by Donation by Inheritance or Usurpation or any other way than which I think never was a thing more desperately said Cromwell when one White a Priest wrote a Book wherein he undertook to prove That Possession was the only Right to Power tho' he was a Tyrant and a violent one you need not wonder I call him Tyrant I did so every day in his Life and acted against him too it would be so odious a Principle he would not endure it and he used him very slightly for it Now this Filmar that no man must write against is the man that does assert it That 't is no matter how they come by their Power and gives the same Power to the worst Usurpers as they that most rightly come to the Crown By the same Argument if the arrantest Rascal of Israel had killed Moses David c. and seized upon the Power he had been possessed of that Power and been Father of the People If this be Doctrine my Lord that is just and good then I confess it may be dangerous for any thing to be found in a man's House contrary to it but if a Commoner of England write his present thoughts and another man upon looking on his Book write his present thoughts of it what great hurt is there in it And I ask Mr. Attorney how many years ago that was written L. Ch. Iust. I don't know what the Book was in answer to We are not to speak of any Book that Sir Robert Filmar wrote but you are to make your Defence touching a Book that was found in your Study and spend not your time and the Courts time in that which serves to no other Purpose than to gratify a luxuriant way of Talking that you have We have nothing to do with his Book you had as good tell me again That there was a parcel of people rambling about pretending to my L. Russel's Ghost and so we may answer all the Comedies in England Answer to the matter you are indicted for Do you owne that Paper Col. Sidney No my Lord. L. Ch. Iust. Go on then it does not become us to be impatient to hear you but we ought to advertise you that you spend not your time to no purpose and do your self an Injury Col. Sidney I say first 'T is not proved upon me and secondly 'T is not a Crime if it be proved L. Ch. Iust. You began very materially in one thing it is material for you to apply your self to take off the Credibility of my Lord Howard that is a Witness call your Witnesses to that purpose or if you have any other point to take away the Credibility of any other Witness Col. Sidney My Lord I have seven or eight points of Law L. Ch. Iust. I hear not one yet Col. Sidney Why my Lord Conspiring to levy war is not Treason and I desire to have Counsel upon that L. J. Just. 'T is not a Question You had as good ask me whether the first Chapter in Littleton be Law Col. Sid. My Lord I have neither made war nor conspir'd to levy war L. C. Iust. You are still in a mistake you shall not think that we intend to dialogue with you to let you know how far the proof hath been given or not given but when we come to direct the Jury then we shall observe how far the Law requires there should be two witnesses But whether there be such a proof that must be left to the Jury Mr. Just. Wythens If you agree the Conspiracy I will tell you my mind of it I cannot give you my Opinion in Law till the Fact be stated L. Ch. Iust. The Law alwayes arises upon a point of Fact there can be no doubt in point of Law till there be a settlement in point of Fact Mr. Just. Holloway My Lord has put you in a right way The Conspiracy is proved but by one Witness if you have any thing to take off his Credibility t is to the purpose Col. Sidney Truly my Lord I do as little intend to mis-spend my