little at present in possession Your Lordship knows what Magna Charta says That there should be a Salvo Contenemento in all Fines and how far that may be an ingredient into your Lordships Judgment I leave to your Consideration L. C. J. For that matter I cannot tell what his Estate is I have no knowledg of him nor of his Estate whether it be great or small but Mr. Williams knows very well That the Crime in Conscience as well as Law in case it had been proved by two Witnesses would not only have wrought a forfeiture of all his Estate but a forfeiture of his Life too and all his reputation would have bastardized his Children would have attainted and corrupted his bloud So that there is no sort of imagination but that the Crime was High enough of Conscience and certainly deserves if we can impose it adequate to its desert a very great punishment Mr. Hambden nor his Counsel can deny but that they had a fair and a full hearing They had the liberty to say and prove all that they could and you cannot but say Mr. Attorney was very fair in making several Concessions that he might very lawfully and rightly insisted upon So that there can be no Exception of that kind I am sorry That Mr. Hambden a Gentleman of good Quality as he is by Birth though he be a Person I never saw before he came here the last day of the last Term upon his Habeas Corpus that I know of I say I am sorry one of his Quality and Education a studious Person as it seems by his own natural inclination and a learned Man should be so unhappily engaged in a design of this horridly evil nature But on the one side as well as we must take care of the Subject so on the other we must take care of the Government Here was a design of destroying the King and subverting the Government and bringing all into confusion Of this Design the Defendant is convicted and we must take care to proportion the punishment and according to our Consciences and Oaths and as we ought to have regard to the Offender so also we are to have regard to the Government that he has offended Mr. J. Wythens Mr. Williams It was Amercements that were spoken of there in Magna Charta L. C. J. Ay It was never meant of Fines for great Offences Then the Judges consulted together Mr. J. Wythens Mr. Hambden You know you are convicted of a very great Offence as great an Offence as can be I think committed unless it were High Treason For the matter of it would have made you Guilty if there had been two Witnesses It was for conspiring to levy War against His Majesty and for conspiring to raise an Insurrection and Rebellion within the Kingdom a Conspiracy of which some other Persons being lawfully convicted they have suffered death for it You are a Person of an extraordinary good Family and I am sorry one of your Family that has flourished so long and through so many Generations in great honour and reputation and great prosperity under the Monarchy of England should come to conspire to deprive that King of his Government whose Ancestors have protected and defended your Family and to spoil that Monarchy that has been the fountain of so much prosperity and honour to it I am sorry it comes to my turn to pronounce the Sentence of the Court upon you Mr. Hambden I have not any personal knowledg of you but I have heard of you and heard heretofore very well of you You have had a good Education and the Report of a learned and ingenuous Person which makes me yet wonder the more that you should engage in such a horrid Design as this was Indeed Mr. Hambden I am satisfied no Fine can be too great if any can be great enough for such an Offence We cannot take cognizance what your Estate is 't is reported there is a great Estate in your Family it has been always represented to be so Mr. Hambden I have nothing but for life and that is but little neither Mr. J. Wythens I know not what it is truly Sir But it was always reported to me to be a very great Estate but whatsoever it is we are to look after the proportioning the Punishment as near as we can to the Offence My Lord and the Court have considered of the matter and they think fit to give this Judgment upon you They set the Fine of Forty Thousand Pounds upon you to be paid to the King and you must be committed till you pay it L. C. J. And that you find Sureties for your good behaviour during your Life Mr. Att. Gen. I pray he may be committed for his Fine L. C. J. Let it be so Mr. Hambden If you will apply your self to the King you may and there perhaps you may find mercy we must according to the duty of our Places and Oaths give such Judgment as the Law requires Mr. Just Withins Ay In God's Name You are in the King's hands and he may do what he pleases in it L. C. J. If a Crime of this nature should have a little punishment it might encourage Offenders and if we were to judg according to some Verdicts that have been given here for less Offences where Gentlemen have given very much greater damages than thiâ— Fine amounts to this would be thought a moderate Fine I am sorry any Man should bring himself into these Circumstances The King as he is the Fountain of Justice so he is also of Mercy and you and all the rest of his Subjects have cause to bless God that you live under a Monarch that is very merciful No doubt If you give a good account of your Contrition and sorrow for your great Offence and decently apply your self to the King he will think of shewing mercy to you but Justice is our Work that are Judges and according to the methods of Justice we think we cannot inflict less than we have done Mr. Williams My Lord I pray his Bail may be discharged L. C. J. Ay his Bail is discharged he being committed Mr. Williams And for the High Treason he is discharged by the Habeas Corpus Act. L. C. J. Yes he is so for there is no Prosecution Then Mr. Hambden was carried by the Marshal away Prisoner FINIS Then the Dr. was sworn and the Oath repeated to him by Sir H. H. in French Then Doctor Needham was sworn
THE TRYAL OF John Hambden Esq The 28 th day of November 1683. Ann. 35. Car. 2. Reg. John Hambden Esq being brought up by Writ of Habeas Corpus from the Tower of London and there being an Indictment preferred against him for Misdemeanor His Majesties Attorney General prayed that he might be Aâ—â—igned upon it which was done in this manner Cl. of Cr. JOhn Hambden You stand here Indicted by the Name of John Hambden late of the Parish of St. Giles in the Fields in the County of Middlesex Gent. For that you being a Pernitious and Seditious Man and a Person of a Wicked mind and of an impious unquiet and turbulent Disposition and contriving practising and falsly unlawfully unjustly maliciously turbulently and seditiously intending the Peace of our Soveraign Lord King Charles that now is and the common Tranquility of this Kingdom of England to disquiet molest and disturb and as much as in you lay Sedition within this Kingdom of England to incite stir up and procure and the Government of our said Lord the King in this Kingdom of England into danger to bring And that you the said John Hambden your most Impious Wicked and Seditious Intentions aforesaid to fulfil and perfect and bring to effect the last day of June in the Five and Thirtieth year of the Reign of our said Soveraign Lord the King that now is and divers other days and times as well before as after with Force and Arms c. At the Parish of St. Giles in the Fields in the County of Middlesex unlawfully unjustly maliciously and seditiously did assemble your self meet consult conspire and confederate with divers evil disposed Subjects of our said Lord the King to the Jurors unknown and with the said Persons did treat concerning your said most Wicked and Seditious Compassings Imaginations and Purposes aforesaid to be executed fulfill'd and brought to effect and further that you the said John Hambden your most Wicked Impious and Seditious Contrivances Practices and Intentions aforesaid to fulfil perfect and reduce to effect then and there viz. the last day of June in the 35th year aforesaid and divers other days and times as well before as after at the Parish aforesaid in the County aforesaid with Force and Arms c. falsly unlawfully unjustly maliciously and seditiously did consult consent censpire and confederate of an Insurrection within this Kingdom of England to be made and of procuring and providing Arms and Armed Men to be prepared in divers places within this Kingdom of England your same most Wicked Impious and Seditious Intentions and Compassings aforesaid to fulfil and perfect And that you the said John Hambden your most Wicked Impious and Seditious Intentions aforesaid to fulfil and perfect and bring to effect afterwards viz. the last day of June in the 35th year aforesaid at the Parish aforesaid in the County aforesaid with Force and Arms c. falsly unlawfully unjustly wickedly maliciously and seditiously did consult agree and consent that a certain Person to the Jurors aforesaid unknown should be sent into Scotland to invite and incite divers evil disposed Subjects of our said Lord the King of his Kingdom of Scotland to come into this Kingdom of England to advise and consult with you the said John Hambden and others the aforesaid evil disposed Subjects of our said Lord the King in this Kingdom of England concerning Aid and Assistance to be expected and supplyed out of the said Kingdom of Scotland your said most Wicked Impious and Seditious Intentions and Compassings aforesaid to fulfil effect and promote in manifest contempt of the Laws of this Kingdom of England to the evil and most pernicious Example of all others in the like case offending and against the Peace of our said Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity How sayst thou art thou Guilty of this High Misdemeanour whereof thou standest Indicted and hast been now Arraigned or not Guilty Mr. Hambden Not Guilty Upon which Plea issue was joyned between His Majesties Attorney General on behalf of the King and Defendant and Bail was then taken for the Defendants appearance the next Term. Hillary Term 35 and 36. Car. Secundi Reg. In the beginning of the Term Sir Thomas Jenner Knight His Majesties Serjeant at Law and Recorder of the City of London Moved for a Tryal at the Bar in the Case between the King and Mr. Hambden which was by the Court appointed to be on Wednesday the 6th of February in the same Term. Die Mercurii 6. Februarii 1683. Anno Regni Reg. Car. Secundi 36. Cl. of Cr. Call the Defendant John Hambden Mr. Williams He appears Cl. of Cr. Gardez votrez Challenges Call Sir Charles Gerard. Cryer You shall well and truly try the Issue between our Soveraign Lord the King and John Hambden Gent. and a true Verdict give according to your Evidence So help you â—â—d Jurat Sir Charles Gerard. Cl. of Cr. Roger Jennings Esq Jur. Henry Hodges Esq Jur. Joshua Galliard Esq Mr. Williams We challenge him for the Defendant L. Ch. Just What is your Cause of Challenge Mr. Williams If your Lordship please to let him go through the Pannel we will shew cause if there be not enough left without him L. Ch. Just No shew your Cause now it being against the King Mr. Williams He has an Employment under the King He has an Office in the Forest and that we say is our Cause of Challenge L. Ch. Just What then if he have Mr. Williams My Lord We suppose then he is not an indifferent Person to try this Cause L. Ch. Just Ay let me hear that now proved and defended by any Gentleman of the long Robe that that is a good cause of Challenge Shew me what Law there is for it Mr. Williams To be of the Kings Robe or Pay or Sallery is an exception in any Case wherein the King is concerned L. Ch. Just Shew me any Law for that if you can Mr. Williams I know you are a Lawyer Mr. Wallop It is the Opinion of my Lord Coke in his Institutes that it is a good Cause of Challenge L. Ch. Just But there is the Opinion of all the Judges in Henry the Fourths time against it Mr. Wallop It is my Lord fol. 156. L. Ch. Just But I can cite you three or four Books and you have them all together in Rolls Abridgment Title Challenge where he sets down four Books one after another That it is no cause of Challenge even to be the Kings Tenant and there is a great deal of reason for it For if that were a good Cause of Challenge mark the Consequence then all Persons that hold Lands in England hold them mediately or immediately of the King and so the King could have no Free-holders to be Jury-Men in his Cause Mr. Williams This is a more special Cause of Challenge than that L. Ch. Just What can be greater than that of being the Kings Tenant Mr. Att. Gen. Especially when all the Land
notorious day about the Swearing of Sheriffs in London But if you ask me Where I was the middle of January or the middle of February I cannot so well remember that But there is Credit to be given to a man that speaks to a notorious Circumstance and thereby proves the probability of what he says tho he should not be so particular in a thing that admits not of such a notorious Circumstance Gentlemen I make the Objections as they are stated on the one side and on the other side and the Answers that naturally flow to prove the matters before you one way or other and you are to judge you are to weigh them and which has the greater Credit with you you are to take notice of He does say in the next place Here was a discourse of Arms and Armed men and a great sum of Money spoken of but there breaks out nothing of this matter till July following but this debate was in January and February before For that matter the Answer that is given and it seems to be a plain one is That they were to conciliate a Correspondence with people that were abroad and that they could not go on till they had effected that and till these people came to joyn with them which could not be without some time And you hear the Cockrams and the Cambels came not to the Town till June or July so that it was not probable it should break out till then because it was to be agitated upon their coming here And so that Objection is answered They did not apprehend any such necessity for present engaging in it For my Lord Howard because he thought it would be a work of time to settle the Correspondence and get these people to Town went down to his Country house in Essex and from thence to the Bath for he did apprehend some considerable time must be spent ere these pople could come and therefore he thought it convenient to take his retirement in the mean time Ay but 't is strange says Mr. Williams and he makes that another Objection He would have my Lord Howard to draw in this Accusation of Mr. Hambden to procure his pardon by going further than the other Discoverers had gone It seems say they Mr. Hambden was not thought of at first But because West and Keeling had discovered a Plot my Lord Howard to secure himself must go a step further than they and as the Defendants Councel would have it than the Truth and that is the stress of the Objection But the weight of the proof is quite different for all men know In the Plot there were several parts There was the business of Keeling and VVest and that was the Assassination of the King and the Duke but the Duke of Monmouth my Lord Howard and those other Gentlemen were for the business of the Rising tho that might be in order to that other purpose but they kept not Company with those that were ingaged in that part of the design They were the Underlings the Scoundrel Plotters that were concerned in the Assassination But these Gentlemen looked upon themselves to be the Privy Councellors not to be the Executioners they were to be only Advisers what was to be done after that other business was over and their Consultations were for raising of men for an Insurrection not the business of the Assassination of the King that was not their Province Can it then be an Objection against my Lord Howard because he gives a Testimony VVest and Keeling could not give Could they go further then the Killing of the King which was their business If any man should have asked my Lord Howard about that matter he would have made Answer It was not for that purpose that we met together at Mr. Hamden's and my Lord Russel's no that was upon a particular business and to a particular end and purpose Then he says too That tho my Lord Howard comes here upon his Oath and declares these several matters that he hath deposed yet he has given a different accompt of things elsewhere and he has called several Witnesses to that purpose To whom my Lord Howard several times upon his Honour upon his Word with Eyes lifted up and Hands elevated to Heaven and many extraordinary Protestations declared That he knew nothing of the Plot and say they If a man will at one time Pawn his Honour and his Reputation for the truth of a thing and after that will come again to Swear against all that matter That is an Argument that does sink the Credit and Reputation of that Witness and thereupon they call you several Witnesses some whereof are Persons of great Honour and Quality I think they begin first with Ducas Servant to Col. Sidney and he tells you After his Master was taken my Lord Howard came thither and desired he might lye there and desired the use of some Plate and Goods of Col. Sidney's and then asked what was become of his Master And when Ducas told him what he heard of the Plot that something was talked of about the Assassination of the King and the Duke my Lord Howard lift up his Eyes and his Hands to Heaven and declared he knew nothing of it but he believed Col. Sidney was a very honest man and knew nothing at all of any such matter and as for himself rather than he would be taken or confined again he would do any thing This was the Evidence they gave as to him Then they come with Mr. Howard their 2 d. Witness for I would take them in order as they were produced and he gives you an account that he met with my Lord Howard and my Lord Howard told him he knew nothing at all of any Plot and did believe that Col. Sidney was innocent and he did believe likewise that my Lord Russel was innocent and for his part he knew nothing of any such thing as a Plot but he says when he began to talk to him why did he make such a Bustle and go so often into the City and concern himself about the making of Sheriffs he answered I do nothing but what is in a legal way and he justified all that was done to be only in a legal way When once people come to believe that the raising of Tumults and making Seditions Stirs and Noises is a legal way to obtain their ends as we know 't is the Tenet and Principle of a great many people what will they not do under that pretence That all they do is according to Law They think it is lawful by the Religion they profess to resist and oppose the Government and the old Cause is a good Cause to this day in some mens Opinion and they can die in it and thank God for being concerned in it And there are some people that say the raising of Arms by the King's Authority against his Person is lawful by the Religion they profess and they call themselves Protestants how justly you may