granted to Five Bishops to Execute his Office After which the Bishop Published a Narrative of the Cause and Manner of his Suspension Five of those Gentlemen who were Imprisoned about the Loan had their Habeas Corpus granted and were brought to their Tryal before Sir Nicholas Hyde Lord Chief Justice where after arguing the Case between Council on both sides the L. Chief Justice concluded That since they were Committed by the Kings Authority the Court could not Free them so that they were remanded to Prison till the Order came out for a General Release The Irish Papists in hope of some Remission of the Penal Laws offered to Furnish the King at their own Charge with a standing Army of 5000 Foot and 500 Horse and a large Contribution for securing the Narrow Seas which was opposed in England by Sir John Savil and in Ireland by the Lord Primate of Armagh and divers others as tending to preserve the Papists Interests and sinking the Protestants upon which the L. Deputy moved the Primate to endeavour to prevail with the Protestants to supply the Kings Necessities which he attempted to do in a very learned Speech though not with the expected Success In 1627 being the Third Year of his Majesties Reign the Duke of Buckingham to clear his Reputation as to the Charge of Negligence in his Admiralship with much ado compleated his Naval Forces consisting of Six Thousand Horse and Foot in Ten Ships Royal and Ninety Merchant Men with which he set Sail from Portsmouth June 27 and published a Manifesto of the Kings Affection to the Reformed Churches in France and his displeasure against the last misimploying of his Ships against the Rochellers But by several Accidents this great Design miscarried with the Death of near Two Thousand common Souldiers Thirty Prisoners of Note and Fourty four Colours taken But notwithstanding this Expedition of the Isle of Rhe miscarried yet at Sea there was somewhat better Success a great French Ship was taken upon the Coasts of Holland Laden with great Guns Arms and Ammunition of all sorts to a very considerable value Sir John Pennington likewise took Thirty Four Rich French Merchantmen homeward bound which were all safely brought to England the poor remains of the Army which came from the Isle of Rhe most of them Irish and Scots and consequently rude and boisterous were quartered in the Countrey Villages which was very troublesome to the People At this time the Exchequer was very low and several late Enterprizes having miscarried the Rochellers being also now more distressed than ever the causes of these evils were gravely represented by Sir Robert Cotton to several Lords of the Councill whereupon it was resolved on by the Council that a Parliament should be called and Writs were presently Issued out A Commission likewise passed under the Great Seal for raising Moneys through the Kingdome in Nature of an Excise and the Lord Treasurer was ordered to pay Thirty Thousand Pound to Philip Burmelack a Dutch Merchant to be returned to Sir William Balfour and John Dalbier in the Low Countreys for raising a Thousand Horse which caused strange jealousies and suspicions among the People as if these German Horse were designed to inforce the payment of the Excise There was some discourse about Levying Ship money but it was declined at that time because of the Parliament approaching In the mean time a company of Jesuites were apprehended in an House at Clerkenwell which was designed for a Colledge of that Order where among other Papers a Letter was found discovering their secret Designs they had laid for imbroiling Church and State Upon the 17th of March 1627 the Parliament Assembled the Commons chusing Sin John Finch Speaker the King in a Speech tells the two Houses That the greatness of the danger was such as required a speedy Supply and that therefore they might rest assured it was the principal cause of their Meeting wherein he hoped they would shew themselves such true Patriots of the true Religion the Laws and Liberties of this State and the just defence of their Friends and Allies now in such hazard by Popish Enemies as not to deceive his Expectations which were very great though indeed somewhat nipt by Remembrance of the Distractions of the last Meeting The Lord Keeper likewise Inforc'd the Kings Speech and earnestly pressed them to consider of some speedy way for Supplying his Majesties Necessities Before the Parliament began any debate a Letter came to them Directed To the Members of the House of Commons called A Speech without Doors discovering the Grievances and Inconveniences of the State from one who had been a Member of the former Parliament The first thing taken into Consideration by the Commons was the Grievances of the Kingdom and the first thing Insisted on was the Case of those Gentlemen for refusing the Loan and who notwithstanding their Habeas Corpus were Remanded to Prison and after a long Debate between several Members who asserted the Illegality of the Loan and also their Imprisonment for refusing it the Lord Chief Justice Hyde and several other Judges were desired to declare themselves who justified their own proceedings alledging That if they had granted them Bail upon Habeas Corpus it would have reflected upon the King as if he had unjustly Imprisoned them But in conclusion it was resolved upon the Question in the House of Commons Nemine Contradicente 1. That no man ought to be restrained by the Command of the King or Privy Council without some Cause of the Commitment 2. That the Writ of Habeas Corpus ought to be granted upon Request to every Man that is restrained though by the Command of the King the Privy Council or any other 3. That if a Freeman be imprisoned by the Command of the King the Privy Council or any other and no Cause of such Commitment expressed and the same be returned upon an Habeas Corpus granted for the said Party then he ought to be delivered or Bailed Then the Parliament proceeded to draw up a Petition against Popish Recusants consisting of these particulars 1. That all Laws and Statutes against Jesuites and Popish Priests be put in power and Execution 2. That a strict course be taken for the Apprehending and Discovering of them 3. That all Popish Recusants be prohibited from coming to Court or within Ten Miles of London 4. That no place of Trust or Authority shall be committed to Popish Recusants with several other particulars to the same purpose which Petition was presented from the Lords and Commons to the King by the Lord Keeper who gave a full and satisfactory Answer to every Article after which Five Subsidies were granted to the King which gave so great satisfaction to his Majesty that he sent them Word He would deny them nothing of their Liberties which any of his Predecessors had granted A Petition was then presented against Quartering Souldiers in the Countries to which the King promised an Answer in convenient time
was not admitted in whereupon the King with his Guard of Pensioners were resolved to force their Entrance which the Commons having notice of they suddenly went all out of the House and this was the end of this Parliament After their Dissolution the King publisheth a Declaration of the Causes thereof and then question'd Eleven of the Refractory Members at the Council Table who were all committed to divers Prisons About the same time the Marquis of Huntley Sheriff of the greatest part of Scotland neglecting the Order of the Council for seizing some Priests and Jesuites who publickly said Mass and committed other Insolences at Aberdeen with several other Lords who joyned with him and refused to appear upon Summons and had likewise given notice to the Priests and Jesuites to escape were proclaimed Rebels and Traitors to the King and Kingdom upon which they fled into England The French King having had much loss by the War with England did now therefore propose and conclude a Peace with the King consisting of several Articles A Paper was about this time dispersed abroad containing some Projects how the King might Augment his Revenues without the help of Parliaments upon which the Earls of Bedford Somerset and Clare with others where committed upon Information that they had dispersed some Copies of them but Sir David Fowls soon cleared them who deposed upon Oath that it was contrived near Sixteen years before by Sir Robert-Dudley Son to the Earl of Leicester when he was in Italy The dissolving the last Parliament procured great Animosities in the People against the Prime Ministers of State which occasioned divers Invective Libels to be dispersed abroad whereof one against Bishop Laud was found in the Dean of St. Pauls Yard to this Effect Laud look to thy self be assured thy life is sought as thou art the Fountain of Wickedness repent of thy monstrous sin before thou be taken out of the World and assure thy self Neither God nor the World can endure such a vile Councellor or Whisperer Another very bitter Libel was scattered against the Lord Treasurer Weston On the other side some considering the unsuccesfulness of this and the two former Parliaments advised never for the future to call any more Parliaments and to that end the forementioned Book of Projects was published and addrest to the King proposing some methods to prevent the Impertinency of Parliaments as he called them for time to come by the Example of Lewes 11th of France who pretended that the Commons or Third Estate did incroach too much upon the Nobility and Clergy dissolved it and never after suffered the People freely to Elect their Representatives but nominated certain Eminent Persons himself instead thereof which is called L' Assembly des Notabiles or the Assembly of Chief or Principal Men and the Methods proposed to avoid Parliaments were 1. To have a Fortress in every considerable Town 2. To cause high-ways to be made through all such Towns 3. To make none of the Inhabitants Governors of those Fortresses 4. To let none pass through those Towns without a Ticket 5. To have the Names of all Lodgers taken by Innkeepers 6. To impose a general Oath upon the Subjects not to oppose any of these Contrivances And to increase the Kings Revenue the Advice was 1. To demand the Tenth part of every Mans Estate 2. To buy all Leases upon the Crown Lands 3. To take the benefit of Salt into his own hands 4. To demand a Rate for Sealing the Weights every year 5. To lay a Taxe upon Wools. 6. Upon every Lawyers Fee 7. Upon Inns and Victualling Houses for a Licence 8. Upon all Cattle Flesh and Horses sold in the Market 9. Upon all Lands Alienated 10. To set a Rate upon all Offices in his Majesties Grant 11. To Reduce his Majesties Houshold to board wages 12. To lay a Taxe upon White Meats on fasting days 13. To lay an Imposition upon the Papists Lands 14. To Advance some Hundreds of Persons to Honours 15. To prohibit excess in Apparel which would save the Gentry more Money then what they were Taxed would amount to The Insurection of the Apprentices at Lambeth The E of Strafford beheaded on Towerhill Cheapside Cross pulled down in 1643. Upon May 29. 1630 the Queen was delivered of a Son at St. James's who was Christened Charles and Preserved by Providence to Succeed his Father in these Three Kingdoms as his Rightful Inheritance after the Miseries of a long and tedious Exile from his Native Countrey unto which he was at length happily Restored with the general Consent and Acclamations of the whole Kingdom The King of France and the Prince Elector Yalatine represented by the Duke of Lenox and the Marquis Hamilton were his Godfathers and the Queen Mother of France represented by the Dutchess of Richmond his Godmother It was observed that at his Nativity a Star was seen at Noon-day which might portend some extraordinary Passages of this Princes Life About this time Dr. Leighton was sentenced in the Star Chamber to have his Body Whipt his Fore-head Stigmatized his Ears Cropt his Nose Slit for publishing a Book called Sions Plea wherein he exhorted the late Parliament to smite the Bishops under the Fifth Rib and called the Queen the Daughter of Heth a Canaanite and Idolatress which Sentence was accordingly inflicted on him In Ireland the Papists presumed on St. Stephens day to say Mass in Dublin while the Lords Chief Justices were at Church who having notice thereof ordered the Preists Crucifixes and Vestments to be seized and Eight Popish Aldermen were likewise Imprisoned for not Assisting the Mayor but some Papists making a Tumult rescued the Priests whom the Guards again forced to deliver back Upon Information of this Riot and Insolency Fifteen Houses were by special Order from the Council seized upon for his Majesties use and the Priests and Fryers so disturbed that two of them hanged themselves Neither did the Papists agree together for there were great Contests in England between the Jesuites and Secular Priests The Earl of Essex had many years before married the Lady Howard who complaining of his Insufficiency for Marriage Duties the Cause was brought to a Tryal and it being made appear by a Jury of Midwives and the Earls own Confession That he never could and believed he never should carnally know her Thereupon Sentence of Divorce between him and his Lady was pronounced by the Bishops However the Earl was resolved to try his Fortune once more and therefore upon his return out of the Low Countreys where he had been for some time a Souldier he now Married a Daughter of Sir William Paulet of Wiltshire but a while after she objecting the same cause of complaint desired likewise to be Divorced from him which the Earl easily cousented to and it was done accordingly In the year 1631 and the 7th of his Majesties Reign Mervin Lord Audly and Earl of Castlehaven was Tryed by his Peers upon the Petition of his own
and for the first offence in refusing to forfeit all their Goods for the second their Estates and for the third their Lives And besides this they presented them with the hopes of Liberty That the English Yoke should be stricken off That they should have a King of their own Nation and that then all the Goods and Estates of the English should be divided amongst them With these Motives of Spoil and Liberty which were strengthned by the former of Religion the Rebellion increased The Rebels in Ulster commanded by Sir Phelim O Neal assisted by his Brother the Brother of the Lord Mac Guire Philip O Reley and several others had possessed most of the strong places in that Province and many other which they could not take by force nor treachery were delivered to them by the English upon Articles which they afterwards like true or rather false Papists most perfidiously broke Butchering and Massacring the poor English without pity or compassion to Age or Sex though they still spared the Scotch Plantations in Ulster because of their Numbers and likewise for fear of the Scotch Army so easily to be transported to the North parts of Ireland But now their General Sir Phelim O Neal one of the Race of the late Bloody Earl of Tyrone a pretended Protestant till some time before having got together a vast number of the Natives fell upon them and destroyed their Houses and Goods and though they did not exercise that Cruelty on their Bodies yet they stript them and drove them Naked to the Scotish Shore from thence he marched into other parts and took Dundalk incamping at Arde near Tredagh The King finding his stay to be longer than he thought left the whole business of Ireland to the Parliament who declared a speedy and vigorous Assistance and Voted Fifty thousand Pound for a present Supply By which time the Lords of the Council of Ireland had Armed as many as were able and given Commissions for raising several Regiments of whom the Earl of Ormond was made Lieutenant General and a Regiment was sent from England under Sir Simon Harcourt about which time the King returned out of Scotland and was Entertained and Feasted at London and from thence Conducted to White-Hall after which the King Treated several Chief Citizens at Hampton Court where divers of the Aldermen had the honour of Knighthood December 2. The King Summons both Houses together and tells them That he had staid in Scotland longer than he expected yet not fruitlesly for he had given full satisfaction to that Nation but cannot chuse but take notice of and wonder at the unexpected Distractions he finds at home and then commends to them the State of Ireland next he publishes a Proclamation for Obedience to the Laws in force concerning Religion and the performance of Divine Service without Innovation or Abolishing of Rites and Ceremonies January 20 His Majesty makes another Speech to them and Conjures them by all that is dear to him or them to hasten the business of Ireland After which the Commons ordered a Select Committee to draw up a Petition and Remonstrance to the King the Petition was thus Most Gracious Soveraign your Majesties most humble and faithful Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled do with joy acknowledge the Favour of God in your safe return into England where the dangers and distempers of the State have caused them to desire your Presence and Authority to your Parliament for preventing of imminent Ruin and Destruction to your Kingdoms of England and Scotland fomented by a malignant party for alteration of Religion and Government the increase of Popery by the Practice of Jesuites and other Engineers and Factors of Rome corrupting the Bishops and Privy Council they being the cause of the late Scottish War and the Irish Rebellion Now for prevention they pray That your Majesty would concur with your Parliament to deprive the Bishops of their Votes To take away Oppression in Religion Church Government and Discipline To purge your Councils of such as are promoters of these Corruptions and not alienate any Escheated Lands in Ireland by reason of the Rebellion and these being granted we will make you happy This was followed by a large Remonstrance containing all the Miscarriages and Misfortunes which they termed Pressures since the beginning of his Majesties Reign As 1. The root and ground of these dangers 2. Their Maturity and Ripeness 3. The effectual means used for their Extirpation and the progress therein made 4. Thâ— Obstructions and Oppositions interrupting 5. Thâ— best means for removing these Obstacles and foâ— accomplishing the Parliaments good Intentions for restoring this Nation to its Ancient Renown The Actors and Promoters of these Evils werâ— described to be 1. The Jesuited Papists 2. Thâ— Bishops and corrupted Clergy 3. Interesteâ— Counsellors and Courtiers The root of the miâ—chief was the Malignant Party whose Practiceâ— were branched into four particulars 1. To foment differences and discontents between thâ— King and People about Prerogative and Priviledge for their own Advantages 2. To suppress thâ— purity and power of Religion 3. To Unite and Conjoyn Papists Arminians and Libertines and out of them all to compose a Body sufficient to carry on their Designs And 4. To disaffect the King to the Parliament by Slanders and by putting him upon other ways of Supply than by Parliament and that the Intentions of these Malignants were to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Principles of Government They then charge this Malignant Party more particularly as chiefly occasioning the Dissolution of three several Parliaments without Relief of Grievances The Imprisoning and Fining several of the Members raising great Sums of Money by Loan Privy Seals and Excise and blasting The Petition of Right The succesless Attempts upon France and Spain and Peace made with the Spaniard without consent of Parliament The loss of Rochel occasioned by lending part of our Fleet to the French King deserting the cause of the Palatinate charging the Kingdom with Billeting Souldiers and the Design of bringing in German Horse to inslave this Nation to Arbitrary Contributions Lastly they reflect upon Scandalous Declarations published against the Parliament upon Injustice Oppression Violence Illegal Inlargements of Forrests Coat and Conduct Money Corrupt Councils and Designs Projects Monopolies Illegal Proceedings in Courts of Judicature and Council Table charging the Bishops likewise with many Enormities particularly for contributing to raise an Army for constraining the Scots to conform to their Superstitious Ceremonies concluding with what they have done for the Reformation of these Abuses To their Petition the King returned this Answer That he knows not any Wicked or Malignant Persons whom he doth either countenance or imploy That he would concur with his People in a Parliamentary way against all Popish Designs but would not consent to deprive the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament That he judged the power of the Clergy sufficiently moderated by taking away the High Commission Court and
are just upon me Many times he does pay Justice by an unjust Sentence that is ordinary I will only say this That unjust Sentence * * Strafford that I suffered for to take effect is punished now by an unjust Sentence upon me So far I have said to shew you that I am an Innocent man Now for to shew you that I am a good Christian I hope there is * * Strafford Pointing to Dr. Juxon a good man that will bear me witness That I have forgiven all the world and even those in particular that have been the chief causers of my death who they are God knows I do not desire to know I pray God forgive them But this is not all my Charity must go further I wish that they may repent for indeed they have committed a great sin in that particular I pray God with St. Stephen that this be not laid to their charge nay not only so but that they may take the right way to the peace of the Kingdom for my Charity commands me not only to forgive particular men but my Charity commands me to endeavour to the last gasp the Peace of the Kingdom So Sir I do wish with all my Soul and I do hope there is some here * * Turning to some Gentlemen that wrote will carry it further that they may endeavour the Peace of the Kingdom Now Sirs I must shew you both how you are out of the way and will put you in the way First you are out of the way for certainly all the way you ever have had yet as I could find by any thing is in the way of Conquest certainly this is an ill way for Conquest Sir in my opinion is never just except there be a good just Cause either for matter of wrong or just Title and then if you goe beyond it the first quarrel that you have to it is it that makes it unjust at the end that was just at first But if it be only matter of Conquest then it is a great Robbery as a Pirate said to Alexander that he was the great Robber he was but a petty Robber and so Sir I doe think the way that you are in is much out of the way Now Sir for to put you in one way believe it you will never do right nor God will never prosper you until you give God his due the King his due that is my Successors and the People their due I am as much for them as any of you You must give God his due by regulating rightly his Church according to his Scriptures which is now out of order For to set you in a way particularly now I cannot but only this A National Synod freely called freely debating among themselves must settle this when that every Opinion is freely and clearly heard For the King indeed I will not Then turning to a Gentleman that touched the Ax said Hurt not the Ax that may hurt * * Meaning if he did blunt the edge me For the King the Laws of the Land will clearly instruct you for that therefore because it concerns my own particular I only give you a touch of it For the people and truly I desire their Liberty and freedom as much as any body whosoever but I must tell you that their Liberty and freedom consists in having of Government those Laws by which their Life and their Goods may be most their own It is not for having share in Government Sir that is nothing pertaining to them A Subject and a Soveraign are clean different things and therefore until they do that I mean That you do put the people in that Liberty as I say certainly they will never enjoy themselves Sir It was for this that now I am come here If I would have given way to an Arbitrarie way for to have all Laws changed according to the power of the Sword I needed not to have come here and therefore I tell you and I pray God it be not laid to your charge that I am the Martyr of the people Introth Sirs I shall not hold you much longer for I will onely say this to you that in truth I could have desired some little time longer because I would have put this that I have said in a little more order and a little better digested than I have done and therefore I hope you will excuse me I have delivered my Conscience I pray God that you doe take those courses that are best for the good of the Kingdom and your own salvations Dr. Juxon Will your Majesty though it may be very well known your Majesties affections to Religion yet it may be expected that you should say somewhat for the worlds satisfaction King I thank you very heartily my Lord for that I had almost forgotten it Introth Sirs My Conscience in Religion I think is very well known to all the world and therefore I declare before you all That I die a Christian according to the profession of the Church of England as I found it left me by my Father and this honest man * Pointing to Dr. Juxon I think will witness it Then turning to the Officers said Sirs excuse me for this same I have a good cause and I have a gracious God I will say no more Then turning to Colonel Hacker he said Take care they doe not put me to pain and Sir this and it please you But then a Gentleman coming near the Ax the King said Take heed of the Ax pray take heed of the Ax. Then the King speaking to the Executioner said I shall say but very short Prayers and when I thrust out my hands Then the King called to Doctor Juxon for his Night-cap and having put it on he said to the Executioner Does my hair trouble you who desired him to put it all under his Cap which the King did accordingly by the help of the Executioner and the Bishop then the King turning to Doctor Juxon said I have a good Cause and a gracious God on my side Doctor Juxon There is but one Stage more this Stage is turbulent and troublesome it is a short one But you may consider it will soon carry you a very great way it will carry you from Earth to Heaven and there you shall find a great deal of cordial joy and comfort King I goe from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown where no disturbance can be no disturbance in the world Doctor Juxon You are exchanged from a Temporal to an Eternal Crown a good exchange The King then said to the Executioner Is my hair well Then the King took off his Cloak and his George giving his George to Doctor Juxon saying Remember * It is thought for to give it to the Prince Then the King put off his Doublet and being in his Wastcoat put his Cloak on again then looking upon the Block said to the Executioner You must set it fast Executioner It is fast Sir King When I
Hart which intimated That his only Motive to this Fact was the late Remonstrance of the Commons against the Duke and that he could not sacrifice his Life in a nobler Cause than by delivering his Countrey from so great an Enemy Felton was afterwards Condemned and Hanged at Tybourn and his Body hanged upon a Gibbet at Portsmouth There was observation made of divers Passages presaging the Dukes Death as that his Picture fell down in the high Commission Chamber at Lambeth That the Lady Davis reputed a Prophetess had foretold in June that the Dukes fatal time would not come till August and lastly that Mr. Towerson of the Customhouse was charged by a Phantasm or Ghost resembling the Dukes Father to tell him That if he changed not his courses he should shortly become a great Fairing to the City of London which was afterwards judg'd to be accomplished by his death which happened the day before the Fair that is August 23. 1628. However the Fleet set Sail under the Command of the Earl of Lindsey and came to the Bar of Rochel Haven where there was a wonderful Barracado contrived by Cardinal Richlieu of Fourteen Hundred Yards cross the Channel however the Earl adventured in passing the Forts and Outworks but the Wind changing drove the Ships upon each other which unhappy Accident made the Rochellers despair of Relief and occasioned the present surrender of the Town after which the Earl of Lindsey brought the Fleet safe home again The Parliament was to have met in October but by reason of some ill news during this Expedition they were again Adjourned to January 20th in which time the Merchants refusing to pay Custom had their goods seized Complaint whereof being made to the Parliament the King summons the two Houses to the Banquetting House at White-hall and requires them to pass the promised Bill of Tunnage and Poundage for ending all differences since it was too precious a Jewel of the Crown to be so lightly forgone But the Commons being forward enough to take all occasions to put of the Kings Requests Answered That Gods Cause was to be preferr'd before the Kings and they would therefore in the first place consult concerning Religion and thereupon appointed one Committee for Religion and another for Civil Matters in the last wherof there was a complaint that the Petition of Right had been Printed with the Kings first Answer only and not with the last which was judged Satisfactory Another complaint was likewise made about the Customs and Mr. Rolls a Member of the House affirmed That it was reported some of the Officers of the Custom-house should say Though all the Parliament were in you we would take your Goods Mr. Richard Chambers was likewise imprisoned for saying at the Council Table That such great Customs and Impositions were required of the Merchants in England as were in no other Place and that they were more screwed up than under the Turk After which a Form of Submission being sent him from the Star Chamber to subscribe his name there to he instead of owning it as a fault underwrit these words All the abovesaid Contents I Richard Chambers do utterly abhor and detest as most unjust and false and never to death will acknowledge any parâ— thereof and quoted divers Scriptures against Oppression and Injustice As to the Printing the Petition of Right the Printer was questioned and for the other the Farmerâ— of the Customs were challenged to Answer it buâ— the King excused them as Acting by his Command yet this not being clear to the Parliament they would have proceeded against them as Delinquents whereupon the King sent them Word That in honour he could not nor would give way there to Which so increased the Parliament that they Adjourned themselves for some days and theâ— meeting again the King Adjourned them further till March 1. upon which Sir John Eliot stood up and accused the Lord Trea surer Weston as an Enemy to the English Trade and designing to transfer it to Forreigners which Speech caused a further Adjournment to March 10. The Commons inraged hereat blamed their Speaker for admitting the Message and ordered Sir John Eliot to read their Remonstrance the Speaker and Clerk refusing to do it which was to this purpose That the House had considered of the Bill for Tunnage and Poundage but being overprest with other business and that of it self so perplext as would require much leisure to discharge could not at that time finish it this present Session moving hastily to an end and least his Majesty should hereafter as he had done heretofore encline to Evil Spirits or to be abused to believe that might justly receive the Subsidies of Tonnage and Poundage which they humbly declare to be against the Fundamental Law of the Nation and contrary to the Kings late Answer to the Petition of Right therefore they crave that his Majesty would for the future forbear such Taxes and not take it ill if his Subjects refuse what is demanded by Arbitrary and unwarrantable Power A Report was likewise made from the Committee of Pardons by Oliver Cromwell a fatal name afterward that Dr. Neal Bishop of Winchester was cheifly Instrumental in procuring the Kings hand to the Pardons of Dr. Sybthorp Dr. Maynwaring Mr. Cousens and Mr. Montague and that he had likewise preferr'd Dr. Maynwaring to a rich Living though censured by the former Parliament and disabled from holding any Ecclesiastical Dignity and also that he was a Countenancer not only of Arminianism but flat Popery The Commons having prepared their Remonstrance about the Bill of Tonnage and Poundage they required their Speaker to put it to the Vote whether it should be presented to the King or not but the Speaker refused it and accordingly to the Kings order would have gone away but Mr. Hollis would not suffer him to stir till himself had read the Protestation of the House consisting of 3 Heads 1. Whoever shall bring in any Innovation of Religion or by favour seek to introduce Popery or Arminianism or other Opinions disagreeing from the True and Orthodox Church shall be reputed a Capital Enemy to this Kingdom and Common-wealth 2. Whosoever shall Counsel or Advise the taking or levying the Subsidies of Tonnage and Poundage not being granted by Parliament or shall be an Actor or Instrument therein shall be likewise reputed a Capital Enemy to the Commonwealth 3. If any man shall yield voluntarily or pay the same not being granted by Parliament he shall be reputed a Betrayer of the Liberties of England and an Enemy to the Commonwealth These Articles were entertained with the general Approbation of the Members but were much disliked by the King who immediately sent for the Serjeant of the Mace out of the House of Commons but Sir Miles Hobart took the Key from him and locking the door would not suffer him to go forth at which the King being very much offended he sends the Usher of the Black Rod to dissolve them who
Archbishop Laud upon an Accusation of High Treason by the Commons was committed to the Tower And now Episcopacy it self was called in question and though the Lord Digby made a witty and weighty Speech in Defence of it and Archbishop Usher gave his Judgment for the Moderation and Emendation of it and the Liturgy not the Extirpation thereof yet the Wings of Episcopacy were shrewdly clipt for March 10 the Commons Voted That no Bishop should have any Vote in Parliament nor any Judicial power in the Star Chamber nor be concerned in any Temporal matters and that no Clergy-man should be a Justice of Peace Upon Monday March 26 1640. the Earl of Straffords Tryal began in Westminster-hall the King Queen and Prince being present and the Commons likewise being there as a Committee at the managing their Accusation the Earl of Arundel was Lord High Steward and the Earl of Lindsey Lord High Constable the Earl of Strafford though he had but short warning yet had gotten his Defence ready against the time The Accusation was managed by Mr. Pym consisting of Twenty eight Articles to most of which the Earl made Particular Replies But the Commons were resolved to prosecute him to the utmost and had therefore procured the Parliament of Ireland to prosecute him there also as guilty of High Treason which being unexpectedly produced extorted from the Earl this passionate Expression That there was a Conspiracy against him to take away his Life At which the Commons cryed out against him That standing Impeached of High Treason he durst accuse the Parliament of two Kingdoms of Conspiracy against him But besides all these certain notes were produced against him which were taken by Sir H. Vane in a close Committee of select Counsellors whom the King had chosen to consult about his second Expedition against the Scots out of which it was alledged against the Earl That he had given the King advice to borrow an Hundred thousand pound of the City of London To levy Ship-money rigorously and that his Majesty having tryed the Affections of his People was absolved and loosed from all Rules of Government and might do what power would admit and having an Army in Ireland might imploy it for the reducing of this Kingdom which he was sure could not hold out five months And London being full of the Nobility the Commission of Array was to be set on foot and all Opposers thereof to be severely dealt with To this the Earl replyed That he conceived it lawful for a Privy Counsellor to have freedom of Voting with others and as to the matter of the English Army he thought that the single Testimony of one man Secretary Vane was not of Validity in Law much less in Life and Death and that the Depositions of Secretary Vane was doubtful as appeared by several Examinations and that there were present at the Debate but eight Privy Counsellors whereof two were not to be produced and four others declared upon their Honours that they never heard him speak those words or any like them and lastly that if he had spoken them which he yet granted not that the word This Kingdom could not imply England the debate being concerning Scotland there being not the least intention of Landing the Irish Army in England and concluded his Defence with telling the Lords that he was accused as guilty of Treason for endeavouring to subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Land but it seemed strange to him that it should be Treason together which was not Treason in any part and lastly desired the Lords to consider how their own Priviledges and other Ministers of State would suffer by his Condemnation The Commons must now justifie their Charge by Law to which end they produced the Salvo annexed to the Stat. of 25 Ed. 3. The words were these Because all particular Treasons could not be then defined therefore what the Parliament should declare to be Treason in time to come should be punished as Treason And so this Salvo was to be the Ground work of the Bill of Attainder This being a point of Law the Earl had Council allowed him who answered on his behalf That the Statute which they cited was but a Declarative and a Penal Law awd would no way admit of such Consequential and Inferential Constructions and that this Salvo was repealed by an Act of Parliament in the Sixth of Henry the fourth And so the Court Adjourned without prefixing any time of Meeting for the Commons proceeded to dispatch their Bill of Attainder and April 19 1641 they Voted the Earl Guilty of High Treason upon the Evidence of Secretary Vane and his Notes And upon the 25th they passed the Bill and sent to the Lords for their Concurrence to whom it seemed at first so perplext a business that the Commons were forced to send Mr. Saint John the Kings Sollicitor to confer with them about it who gave them such satisfaction that thence forward they shewed greater propensity to the Earls Condemnation In the mean time the Commons petitioned the King 1. To remove all Papists from Court. 2. For disarming of them generally throughout the Kingdom 3. For disbanding the Irish Army To which the King answered 1. They all knew what Legal Trust the Crown hath in that particular therefore he shall not need to say any thing to assure them that he shall use it so as there shall be no just cause of scandal 2. As for the second he is content it shall be done by Law And for the last he had entred into Consultation about it finding many difficulties therein and doth so wish the disbanding of all Armies as he did conjure them speedily and heartily to joyn with him in disbanding those two here Scots and English The House of Commons having finished their Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford and the King fearing the Conclusion and being willing to do some good Office to him His Majesty May 1 1641 calls both Houses together and in a Speech tells them That he had been present at the hearing of that great Cause and that in his Conscience positively he could not condemn him of High Treason and yet could not clear him of misdemeanours but hoped a way might be found out to satisfie Justice and their fears without oppressing his Conscience And so he dismissed them to their great discontent which was propagated so far that May 3. near a Thousand Citizens most of them armed with Swords Cudgels and Staves came thronging down to Westminster crying out for Justice against the Earl of Strafford especially applying themselves to the Earl of Montgomery Lord Chamberlain by whose perswasions and promises their fury was partly abated However they posted upon the Gate at Westminster a List of the Names of those who would have acquitted the Earl whom they stiled Staffordians The Parliament being Informed that some endeavours were used to raise a Disgust in the English Northern Army against their Proceedings they now enter into a National
taken in That an Act pass to Vindicate the L. Kimbolton and the 5 Members And an Alliance be entred into with our Protestant Neighbours for Recovery of the Palatinate That a General Pardon pass with exception to the E. of Newcastle L. Digby and some others That such Members of Parliament as have been displaced be restored to Offices and Places and satisfaction made them for their Losses On the other side the King Proposed That his own Revenue Magazines Towns Ships and Forts be restored That what hath been done contrary to Law and the King Rights may be renounced and recalled That all Illegal Power claimed or acted by any Orders of Parliament be disclaimed And as the King will readily consent to the Execution of all Laws made or to be made concerning Popery and Reformation so he desires a Bill for the preserving the Book of Common-Prayer against Sectaries And that all Persons excepted against in the Treaty may be Tryed per Pares by the Equals That there be a Cessation of Arms and a Free Trade This made way for a Treaty of Peace but little was done in it till March 4. 1642. when Sir Ben. Rudyard one of the Commons told the Parliament plainly That the War would ruine all whereupon they appointed Commissioners that is the E. of Northumberland Mr. Perpoints Sir William Ermine Sir John Holland and Mr. Whitlock who were to attend the King at Oxford Feb. 23. 1642. The Queen landed at Burlington Key with Officers Ammunition and Mony from Holland from whence the E. of Montross and the Lord Ogilby conveyed her to York where she was honourably received by the Earls of Cumberland and Newcastle and there she began to form her Army In the mean time Coll. Massey advances against Capt. Bridges who kept Sudly Castle in Glocestershire with 60 Souldiers and all other things sufficient for the L. Shandois on the Kings behalf Coll. Massy offers to storm the Castle but is repulsed yet next day he possessed the Garden under the Castle and firing some hay and straw made so great a smother in the House that taking the opportunity thereof he planted his great Guns so conveniently as forced the Besieged to surrender upon Quarter leaving their Arms and ingaging to pay 500 pounds in six days for the goods in the Castle or else to lose them Yet had the Parliament no great cause of boasting of this Victory For soon after P. Rupert with 4000 Horse and Foot making shew to regain it marches to Cirencester where the strength and great part of the Magazine of the County lay and Feb. 1. he masters the Gaurd and forces his Passage into the Town which in two hours he gained taking 1100 Prisoners and 2000 Arms And next day he summons Glocester which Coll. Massey was resolved to defend and to strengthen it deserts Sudly Castle and other our Garrisons The Earl of Worcester and his son the L. Herbert had now raised an Army of near 1500 Welchmen for the King with whom he marched to the Forrest of Dean and beat Coll. Bourroughs Regiment out of a small Town call'd Coford near Monmoth from thence they march to Hingham within 2 miles of Glocester and Coll. Bret demands the Town for the King but was answered with scorn for Massey with assistance from Capt. Fines at Bristol weakned them with continual Shirmishes till Sir William Waller having taking Malmsbury came to Glocester and joyned his Forces with the other so that this Welch Army spent near five weeks without doing any Memorable Action But now Coll. Massey draws out all his Horse with 500 Foot and some Ordnance and held them play the first day the next morning the great Guns give the Alarum and both Parties engage very fiercely and the Welch were like to have routed him and taken his Ordnance at which instant Sir William Waller comes in to Masseys assistance who taking courage thereby they run furiously upon the Welchmen and drive them back to Hingham house which they began presently to batter with their Cannon whereupon the Welch found a Parley and surrender the Place and themselves Prisoners but the Officers were to receive Quarter according to their Qualities and next day Waller and Massey led their booty in Triumph to Glocester The assistance of the Scots had been formerly desired by the Parliament which notwithstanding their late Protestations not to take Arms against their Prince they now hearken to and having compleated their Army March 13. 1641. they cross the River Tyne and march Southward to imploy the E. of Newcastle The Irish Rebels about this time notwithstanding the defeats they met with at Tredagh and Dundalk were much increased in number And the the Pope a more unhappy Fisher than his pretended Predecessor St. Peter who was for saving but he for destroying men sends two Letters to them one subscribed to Owen Oneal and the other to all Archbishops Bishops Nobles and People of the Kingdom of Ireland in both which he commends those who had already appeared in the Quarrel and exhorts others to engage in the same declaring his great Joy for their late Butcheries and Massacres upon the Protestants and bestowing upon them his Fatherly Benediction and Plenary Pardon and Absolution for whatever Villanies they had committed By the Popes thus publickly declaring himself for them the Rebels grew very powerful and many who were at first afraid of being concerned now openly appeared for them insomuch that all parts of Ireland were overwhelmed by them as with an Innundation This year was remarkable for the death of Cardinal Richlieu that great Firebrand and disturber of Europe but more pertcularly these three Kingdoms of whose distractions he was both a Principal causer and Fomenter He led the way to his Master Lewis 13. who deceased soon after in the midst of his Conquests in Catalonia leaving for his successer his eldest son Lewis 14. the present French King under the Government of the Queen Dowager and Cardinal Mazarine succeeded in Richlieus stead The year 1643. and the nineteenth of his Majesties Reign began with a Treaty of Peace which was formerly agreed on but proceeded slowly till it was again revived by Sir Ben. Rudyard The Commissioners on both parties now met at Oxford and began to Treat of the Kings Propositions concerning his Revenue Magazines Forts and Ships And the Parliaments Propositions concerning the disbanding of Armies which particulars taking up more time than the King expected his Majesty April 12. 1643. sends this Message to the Parliament That as soon as he was satisfied concerning his own Revenue Magazines Ships and Forces in which he desired nothing but his Just and Legal known Rights to be restored to him and to Persons Trusted by him And as soon as the Members of both Houses should be restored to the same capacity of sitting and Voting in Parliament as they had upon January 1. 1641. excluding such whose Votes had been taken away by Bill or by New Elections or New Writts
That if he had the least Thoughts of disagreeing with the happiness of this Kingdom he would not advise with such Councellors as they were And so the upper Schools were assigned to the Lords and the Convocation House to the Commons In this Parliament besides the Prince D. of York L. Keeper Littleton Treasurer Cottington D. of Richmond and Marquess of Hartford there were 19 Earls and as many Lords and 117 Knights and Gentlemen and afterwards 5 Lords and 23 Gentlemen more came to them The first thing they fell upon was to consider of means for effecting a Peace to which end a Letter was written to the E. of Essex and subsigned by all their hands who returned no answer but sent it to the Parliament at Westminster Jan. 16. 1643. The Scots Army entred England by the way of Newcastle being 18000 Foot and 2000 Horse under Gen. Levens For assisting the Parliament in pursuance of the Solemn League and Covenant and declaring the Justness of their Cause which they profess to be Reformation of Religion Honour of the King and Peace of the Kingdoms and that the main end of their coming is to rescue the King from his pernicious Counsellors The Parliament caresse the Scots Army and impower them to assess for themselves the Twentieth part of all Malignants Estates as they called them in the North besides what other Counties were assessed for them But the E. of Newcastle is marching to give them rougher entertainment and the L. Fairfax sent his Son Sir Thomas against him Sir John Mâ—ldrum with 700 men besieged Newarks and is blockt up by Prince Rupert whereupon they parleyed and upon Articles were suffered to march away leaving their Match Bullet Powder Cannon and all other Fire-Arms behind them In the mean time Matters are preparing for Scotland by James Marquss of Montro's who had formerly sided with the Covenanters but now the King understanding he had really forsaken them gives him a Commission to be General Governor of Scotland and orders him Forces to go into the heart of that Kingdom for a diversion to the Scots In the year 1644. the Twentieth of his Majesties Reign Sir Will. Waller defeats the L. Hoptons Forces and takes Winchester and Oliver Cromwell was made Governor of Ely Beudly is surprized by Coll. Fox for the Parliament and the Garrisons of Selby and Heintough are taken by the L. Fairfax and his Son Prince Rupert raiseth the siege at Latham House The King at this time in the presence of the Peers at Oxford received the Sacrament at Christs Church at the hands of Bishop Vsher where he used these solemn Protestations My Lords I espy here many resolved Protestants who declare to the world the Resolution I do now make I have to the utmost of my power prepared my Soul to become a worthy Receiver and may I so receive comfort by the Blessed Sacrament as I do intend the establishment of the True Reformed Protestant Religion as it stood in its beauty in the happy days of Q. Elizabeth without any connivance at Popery I bless God that in the midst of these Publick Distractions I have still Liberty to communicate and may this Sacrament be my damnation if my heart do not joyn with my lips in this Protestation The Parliament at Westminster Voted it Treason for any Member or Member of either House to desert them and to go to the King and they never to be received again The King marcheth out of Oxford and iâ— followed by Essex and Waller he defeats Waller at Cropredy-Bridge and Essex is blockt up by the Kings Forces in Cornwall and July 4th the King sends several Letters to the Parliament about a Treaty of Peace Sept. 12. the Parliament at Oxford Assemble again but falling into Factions and Divisions the King in March following Dissolves them The Earl of Newcastle was besieged in York about two months to whose relief Prince Rupert advanceth Northward with a great Power of Horse and Foot upon whose approach to the City the Beseigers drew off and those within sally out upon their Rear the E. of Newcastle being thus relieved joyns with P. Rupert resolving to follow the Parliamentarians and give them battle which accordingly they did upon a Plain called Marston-Moor where about 9000 men were slain for the Royalists having near routed the Parliaments Army pursued the Chace so far that the Victory was snatcht out of their hands and the Parliament obtained an entire Victory after 3 hours Fight resolutely maintained on both sides After which York was delivered up to the Parliament and they soon became Masters of all the North and Levens the Scotch General takes Newcastle After this Battel which was the greatest both for the fierceness of it and for the number of Souldiers on both sides P. Rupert goes into Lancashire but the E. of Neweastle lately made Marquess with his two Sons and his brother Sir Charles Cavendish General King the Lord Falconbridge the Lord Widdrington the Earl of Cranworth the Bishop of London-derry Sir Edward Widdrington Coll. Carnaby Col. Basset Col. Mouson Sir William Vavasor Sir Francis Mackworth with about eighty other persons upon some discontent refused to engage any further in the Kings Cause and went over to Hamburgh New Levies are now made by the Parliament and 〈◊〉 Attempts were made by the Parliamentarians upon Dennington Castle but in vain The Queen goâ—ng from Oxford to Exeter was there delivered of a daughter June 16 1644. who was called Henrietta Maria and afterward went from thence to Pendenâ—is Castle in Cornwall where she embarqued for France and did not return again to England till His present Majesties Happy Restoration in 1660. Banbury Castle is relieved by Sir William Compton having been besieged about 11 weeks by the Parâ—iamens Forces Coll. Myn is defeated by Massy near Glocester and himself slain and about 170 Officers and Souldiers taken Prisoners Prince Rupert sending 500 Horse and Foot to fortifie Beachly in order to his going to Ashferry they are routed by Massey who soon after takes Monmouth Town Newberry seemed to be a Place destined for Martial exploits for October 27. another great Battel was fought there between the Kings party and the Parliaments under Essex Waller and Manchester wherein the Royalists were worsted and between 4 and 5000 men slain on both sides Novemb. 19. Monmouth is retaken by the Kings Forces December 23. Sir Alexander Carew was beheaded for endeavouring to deliver up the Island of Plymouth to the Kings Forces Two Principal Irish Rebels the L. Macguire and Mac-mahon had been sent from Ireland and imprisoned in the Tower from whence they made their escape but being retaken and Tryed were found guilty of High Treason and were both Drawn Hang'd and Quartered at Tyburn though Macguire pleaded his Priviledge to the Lords as a Peer of Ireland Archbishop Laud having been accused by thâ— Parliament in 1640. as the framer of the Canons 〈◊〉 Convocation and other Delinquencies and thâ— Scots joyning him and the
under which they must live and by which they must be governed And then Sir the Scripture says They that know their Masters Will and do it not what follows The Law is your Master the Acts of Parliaments the Parliaments were to be kept anciently we find in our Author twice in the year That the Subject upon any occasion might have a ready remedy and redresse for his Grievance Afterwards by several Acts of Parliament in the dayes of your Predecessor Edward the third they must have been once a year Sir what 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 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 Ancient 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 ruining 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 layes upon you Your Intention to subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Land For the great bulwark of Liberty 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 Propriety of England Truly Sir it makes me 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 call to mind these proceedings of yours that we read of a great Roman Emperor by the way let us call him a great Roman Tyrant Caligula that wisht that the People of Rome had had but one Neck that at one blow he might cut it off and your proceedings hath 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 have but 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 Custodie that you might be responsible to Justice Sir we know very well That it is a question on your side very much Press'd By what president we shall proceed Truly Sir for Presidents I shall not at this present make any long discourse but it is no new thing to cite Presidents almost of all Nations where the People when power hath been in their hands have not sticked to call their Kings to account and where the change of Government hath ensued upon occasions of the Tyranny and Mis-government of those that have been placed over them I will not spend time to mention France or Spain or the Empire or other Countries Volumes may be written of them But truly Sir that of the Kingdom of Arragon I should 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 the King of Arragon the Justice hath power to reform the wrong and he is acknowledged to be the Kings Superiour and is the grand preserver of their priviledges and hath prosecuted Kings upon their miscarriages Sir What the Tribunes of Rome were heretofore and what the Ephori were to the Lacedaemonian State we know that is the Parliament of England to the English State and though Rome seem to have lost its liberty when once the Emperours 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 mention these Forreign 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 Forgusius 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 Unkle his Brother to govern in the minority afterwards the Elder Brother giving small hopes to the People that he would rule or govern well seeking to supplant that good Unkle 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 109th King of Scotland for to mention so many Kings as that Kingdom according to their power and priviledge 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 Authors sayes it would be too long to recite the manifold examples that your own stories make mention of Reges say they we do create we created Kings at first Leges c. We imposed Lawes 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 Kingdome of Scotland hath done concerning the deposition and the punishment of their offending and transgressing Kings c. 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 wants not some Presidents 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 layed to your charge nothing near Sir you were pleased to say the other day wherein they descend and I did not contradict it but take altogether Sir if you were as the Charge speaks and no otherwise admitted K. of England but for that you were pleased then to alledge how that almost for a thousand years these things have
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 Murthers 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 our selves and justifie our selves 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 yet endeavour what you may to dis-court us yet we do take knowledge of our selves 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 wisht us to have God before our eyes Truly Sir I hope all of us have so that God that we know is a King of Kings and Lord of Lords that God with whom there is no respect of persons that God that is the avenger of innocent blood we have that God before us that God that does bestow a Curse upon them that withhold their hands from shedding of blood which is 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 threatned 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 neer 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 Gods grace and by Gods strength we will go on with it And this is all our Resolutions Sir I say for your self we do heartily wish and desire that God would be pleased to give you a sence 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 Vriah Truly Sir the Story tells us that he was a repentant King and it signifies enough that he had dyed for it but that God was pleased to accept of him and to give him his pardon Thou shalt not dye but the Child shall dye 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 President Sir you must give me 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 I see by your speech you have put upon me that I Sir it is very true that President Sir I must put you in mind Truly Sir I would not willingly at this time especially interrupt you in any thing you have to say that is proper for us to admit of but Sir you have not owned us 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 Pres You disavow us as a Court and therefore for you to address your self to us not to acknowledge 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 further were it proper for us to do we should hear You freely and we should not have declined to have heard 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 so large a dimension that if you do but seriously think of them they will drive you to a sad consideration 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 that the Law prescribes we are not here Jus dare but Jus dicere We cannot be unmindful of what the Scriptures tell 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 Murtherer and a publick Enemy to the Countrey 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 have appointed them an high Court of Justice for the Trying of Charles Stuart King of England before whom he had been three times convented and at first time a charge of high Treason and other crimes and misdemeanors was read in the behalf of the