affaires of that necessity the enclosed is the epitome the treachery of my betrayers and mine and my innocent friends sufferings by the inflexbility of those under whose immediate power I am hereby fallen are extendible into no small volume I am therefore compelled Fontem petere and wanting the opportunity of a familiar to make use of this extraodinary way of address which I hope will meet such goodness in you as will not need a larger apology Pardon I pray that I press your Honour in sence of honour and piety to present the inclosed as the humble representer of my sad condition and in my intendment humble desires And when it shall come to be by that grave Assembly taken into consideration that your self and those honorable persons would reflect upon me however clouded under my present though nothing justifiable crimination as upon a Christian and a Gentleman and of that in it self honorable long Robe though sullied by my wearing I will not multiply your distubance by an impertinently long Epistle knowing I am easiely understood and hoping to find a propensity in your honor to afford what favour may be lawfully extended to Honor'd Sir Your Honors most humble servant EUS ANDREWE Tower 20 July 1650. The Petition to the Parliament followes To the High and Honorable the Parliament of England The humble Petition of Eusebius Andrewe Esquire close prisoner in the Tower of London Sheweth THat your petitioner hath been by a confederate pack of setters wrought into actions which abstracted from their circumstances render him liable to your justice and this done not without their further hope that your petitioner as they supposed had interest to have drawn divers persons of quallity and fortune into the same entanglement That failing of that part of their aime the said confederates did betray your petitioner to the honorable Council of State by whose warrant he hath bin 16 weeks a strictly close prisoner without a fortune of his own the access of friends or means of substance allowed and is like to perish by his wants before it be distinguisht by a publick Tryal whether he be a fitter object for the applying of your justice or your mercy That he is hereby disabled to be accountable to the service of God the duty to his family and friends and to those who give him credit for bread And in case he should be call'd from such his close restraint to his tryal must be destitute and deprived of all fair means of making his reasonable defence which however it may sute with pollicy will not be consistent with Religion and Honour Your petitioner having for releif in the premises by all opportune addresses and by four petitions importunely solicited and sought the said Council of State without answer In the deep sence of his pressing sufferings humbly appealeth to this high Court casting himself wholly thereupon and as humbly prayeth 1. That you would prevent your Justice by your mercy and admit him to sue out his pardon upon security given for his future good demeanor to the State in this Commonwealth 2. That if that be too great a favour you would grant him licence to depart the Common wealth he engaging not to act or contrive ought to the disservice of the State 3. That if he be not thought capable of either but that he must receive a publick tryal he may have a convenient time of preparation after a quallifying of his imprisonment 4. That in the mean time he may have the liberty of the Tower and resort of his friends and that by your order his debt for livelyhood incurred in his close restraint may be discharged In all which your petitioner is ready to submit to the will of God whose providence hath put Justice and mercy into your present dispensing And shall ever pray Answer 1 The humble Answer of Eusebius Andrewe Esquire in his defence to the proceeding against him before the Honorable the High Court of Justice presented 16th day of Aug. 1650. THe said respondent with the favour of this honorable Court reserving and praying to be allowed the benefit and liberty of making further Answer offereth to this honorable Court First That by the Statute or Charter stiled Magna Charta which is the fundamental Law and ought to be the standard of the Laws of England confirmed above thirty times and yet unrepealed it is in the 29th Chapter thereof Granted and Enacted 1. That no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or be disseised of his free hold or liberties or free custome or be out-lawed or exiled or be any otherwise destroyed nor we shall not pass upon him nor condemn him but by a lawful Judgment of his Peeres and by the Laws of the Land 2. We shall sell to no man nor deferr to any man Justice or right Secondly That by the Statute of 42 of Edward 3d. Cha. 1. 1. The Great Charter is commanded to be kept in all the points And 2. It is enacted that if any Statute be made to the Contrary that shall be holden for none which Statute is unrepealed The Respondent observeth that by an Act of the 26 of March 1650. Entitled an Act for establishing an High Court of Justice Power is given to this Court to Try Condemn and cause Execution of Death to be done upon the Freemen of England according as the Major number of any 12 of the Members thereof shall judg to appertain to justice And thereupon the Respondent doth humbly inferr and offereth for law That the said Act is diametrically contrary unto and utterly inconsistent with the said Great Charter and is therefore by the said recited Statute to be holden for none That it can with no more reason equity or justice hold the value and reputation of a Law the said Statute before recited being in force then if contrary to the second clause in that 29th Chap. of Magna Charta it had been also enacted that Justice and Right shall be deferred to all freemen and sold to all that will buy it Thirdly That upon premising by the Petition of Right 3d Car. that contrary to the great Charter Tryals and Executions had been had and done against the Subjects by commissions Martial c. It was therefore prayed and by the Commission enacted That 1. No Commissions of the like nature might be thenceforth issued c. and that done 2. To prevent least any of the Subjects should be put to death contrary to the Laws and Franchise of the Land The Respondent humbly observeth and affirmeth That This Court is though under a different stile in Nature and in the proceedings thereby directly the same with a Commission Martial the Freeman thereby being to be tryed for life and adjudged by the major number of the Commissioners sitting as in Courts of Commissioners Martial was practised and was agreeable to their constitution and consequently against the Petition of Right in which he and all the freemen of England if it be granted there
be any such hath and have right and interest and he humbly claims his right accordingly Fourthly That by he Remonstrance 15 of December and the Declaration 17 January 1641. The benefit of the Laws and ordinary Courts of Justice are the subjects Birth-rights By the Declarations of the 12th July and 16th October 1642. the preservation of the laws and the due administration of justice are owned to be the justifying cause of the warr and the ends of the Parliaments affaires managed by their swords and Councils And Gods curse is by them imprecated in case they should ever decline those ends By the Declaration of 17 Apr. 1646. promise was made not to interrupt the course of Justice in the ordinary Courts thereof By the Ordinance or Votes of non-addresses Jan. 1648. it is assured on the Parliaments behalf That Though they lay the King aside yet they will govern by the laws and not interrupt the course of Justice in the ordinary Courts thereof And thereupon the Respondent humbly inferreth and affirmeâ—h That The constitution of this Court is a Breath of that publick faith of the Parliments exhibited and pledged in the Declarations and votes to the Freemen of England And upon the whole matter the Respondent saving as aforesaid doth humbly affirme for law and claime as his right That this Court in defect of the validity of the Act by which it is constituted hath not power against him or to press him to a farther Answer That by vertue of Magna Charta the Petition of Right and the before recited Remonstance and Declarations he ought not to be proceeded against by this Court but by an ordinary Court of Justice and to be tryed by his Peeres And prayes That this his present Answer and Salvo may be accepted and registred and that he may be tryed by his Peeres accordingly EUS ANDREWE Answer 2 The farther and second Answer of Eus Andrewe Esq to the Honorable the High Court of Justice presented the 16th day of Aug. 1650. THe said Respondent with the favour of this Honorable Court reserving and praying to be allowed the benefit and liberty of making further Answer if it shall be adjudged necessary in all humbleness for present answer offereth to this honorable Court That by the letter and genuine sense of the Act entituled An Act for establishing an High Court of Justice the said Court is not quallified to try a free man of England and such the Respondent averreth to be for life in case of Treason First For that 1. The said Court is not constituted a Court of Record and but upon Record cannot at all have that accompt of their freeman which Kings were wont to have of their Ministers of Justice 2. The Free man and such who are and may be concerned in him can have no Record to resort unto by which to preserve the rights due to him and them respectively viz of 1. A Writ of Error in case of erroneous judgment due by the Presidents Pasch 39 Ed. 3. fol of Gaunts case 4. Ed. 3. Rot. Parl. Num. 13. Count de Arundels case 42. Ed. 3. Rot. Par. Nu. 23. Sr. Jo. of Lees case 2. A plea of anterfoyes acquit in Case of new question for the same fact the right to which and the necessity of such Record appears by Wetherel and Darlyes Case 4. Rep. 35. Eliz. Vaux his case ibidem 33 Eliz. 3. A being enlarged upon acquital as is the free-mans due by the Stat. 14. Hen. 6. and the Case thereupon grounded Dyer fol. 120 and abridg fo 33. 4. A Writ of Conspiracy against those who have practised the betraying the life of the Respondent not to be brought before acquital no acquital but upon Record as appeareth by The Poultiers Case 9 Rep. fol. 55. This Court is to determine at a day without accompt of their proceedings have power to try judg and cause execution but not to acquit or to give enlargment so that the nocent are thereby punishable the innocent not preservable the injured and betrayed not vindicable which are defects incompatible with a Court of Justice and inconsistent with Justice it self and with the Honours of a Christian nation and Common-wealth Secondly for that the members of this Court are by the Act directed to be sworne 1. Not in conspectu populi for the freemans satisfaction 2. Not in words of indifferency and obliging to equallity 3. In woâ—ds of manifest Partiallity viz. You shall swear that you shall well and truely according to the best of your skill and knowledg execute the several powers given unto you by this Act. The Respondent humbly offers That 1. The Court in their capacity of Tryers ought in reason to have been appointed by their constitution to have been sworn as Tryers in full Court according to the practise in all equall wayes of Tryall 2. The Court as Commissioners of Oyre and Terminer being authorized by the Act to hear and determine should in like reason be appointed an oath such as is usual for persons so qualified as provided 18. Edw. 3. viz. You shall swear that well and lawfully you shall serve our Lord the King and his people mutatis mutandis in the office of Justice c. and that you deny to no man common right c. Or some Oath equivalent at least to that of a Justice of Peace Dalton fol. 13. I A. B. do swear that I will do equall right and according to my best wit cunning and power after the laws and customes of the land and the Statutes thereof made c. 3. The Court in the capacity of tryers should in reason be obliged by an oath of as equitable sence as that usually administred to Jurors viz. You shall well and truly try and true deliverance make between our Soveraigne Lord the King mutatis mutandis and the prisoner at the Barr so help you God Whereas when this Court shall as it is now constituted have condemned the freeman the Respondent or other by applying their skill and knowledg to their power whether justly or not the oath by them taken is not in the letter broken as to be exactible by man though God will provably have a better accompt And therefore upon the whole matter premised the Respondent saving as before offers for law and reason that the honorable Court the high Court of Justice is not by the letter and proper sence of the words of the Act by which it is constituted qualified in respect of the preobjected defects to pass upon him for his life upon a charge or crimination of high Treason And humbly prayes that this his second Answer and Salvo may be received and registred and that he may be tryed as in his former answer he prayed EUS ANDREW Answer 3 The farther and third Answer of Eusebius Andrewe Esquire to the Honorable the High Court of Justice presented the 16 day of Aug. 1650. THe said Respondent with the favour of this honorable Court reserving and praying to
to come as the trace of a Swallow in the Air which is inconsistent with the honour and justice of any Kingdome or of any Christian Commonwealth For that you have only by this Act a bare and single power to adjudg Râ—ades Case Dâ—ar fol. 120. 10 Edw. 4. fol. 19. 14 Hen. 6. 1. Oath of a Juror and cause execution to be done in case you shall judg it to appertain to justice but you have no power if you think it appertain to justice to acquit and upon acquittal to discharge the person tryed as is the law expresly in my Lord Diar and in the year-book of Edw. 4. grounded upon the Statute of Henry the 6th 14 of his reign Ca. 1. That Justices of Nisi prius who are Commissionary Justices shall have power of all the cases of felony and of Treason to give their Judgment as wel where a man is acquit of felony of treason as where he is thereof attainted at the day and place where the Inquisition Inquest and Jury shall be taken and then from thenceforth to award execution to be made by force of the same judgments which in an acquitted mans case can only be enlargement But my Lord you have only power if you can to reach my life if in your opinion deserving it but not to reach me out of Prison so that if you kill me not here with the sword of Justice you must leave me in worse hands to be buried alive in restraint and want Which all is against the laws of Nature and Nations and particularly of this land that are all so ballanced and poysed as that they have equall regard to the delivery and freeing the Innocent as to the condemnation of the nocent And Isadore in his Etimologies sayes of a law thus Erit autem lex honesta justa possibilis secundum naturam et consuitudinem patriae Loco temporique conveniens necessaria et utilis manifesta quoque nê aliquid incantum per obscuritatem captione contineat nullo privato commodo sed per communi civium ultilitate conscripta And as laws should be so should Courts and the dispenseâ—s of laws be But my Lord if this Court must be granted to be a Courâ— your selves can make no more of it then a Court ex parte and set up to serve a particular end with the privation of the common utility and liberty however usher'd with a preamble of an other stile of preservation of peace and prevention of warr but Thucidides will tell you my Lord in his fourth book That Turpius est his qui impia tenent insidiare honesto pertextu quam insidiosâ mallevolentiâ uti nam violentia videtur aliquid Juris habere propter potentiam â fortunâ datam sed frans tantum ab injustitia oritur The Third Argument BUt my Lord if your Lordship be in your judgment and conscience satisfied that the Act it self in and as to its constitution is good and valuable and impowereth you sufficiently to proceed against me some way then Argumenti ergo dato sed non juris ergo concesso that it is a law or an Act and that all those Ordinances are out of doores yet I pray your Lordships leave that I may make evident to your Lordship that you are not hereby constituted a Court capable in defect of the very letter of the Act to pass upon any man and consequently not upon me in matter of life or where life may may be the concernment 1. For reason you are not constituted a Court of Record Wetherel and Darly's Case 35. Eliz. Apeal de murâ—er convict de Homocide bon bâ—r â—l endictment per murder Affirme quo hoâ—re ne doit mâ—tâ—e presua vic Deux fois per unchosen which is absolutely necessary having life and forfeiture of lands in your charge First For the State that they may have an account not in their Council-chamber but upon Record what is become of the matter in issue and of the person put upon his Tryal 2. For the Freeman of England that in case he be acquitted of the crime wherewith he shall stand charged before this Court he might at all times resort to the Record upon any new question for the same Fact in any other Court holding Pleas of that nature by which Record to plead his Auterfoyes acquitte and to make his defence as also to preserve his estate Si non legalment aquitte en le Poulters Case 9. R. Benegist demant acquittal nul req si non de Record as also my benefit a writ of Conspiracy 17 Car. Act for abolishing Star-chamber To come nearer our own times the like cause to complain and the same redress is given in the Act for abolishing of the Star-chamber upon the grounds and reasons drawn from these Laws the Innovations and Invadings upon which as being Fundamentals was a great part of the substance of the grand Remonstrance communicated to the whole World against the late King by the Press Articles contra Strafford Art 1 2. partis 1. 14 parti secundo The charges against the Earl of Strafford and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The interest of the Subject in these laws was cryed up to be so precious as that it had influence even to the absolving of all old Oathes and the imposing of new and to bring to adventure Estate and Life and soul rather then to be usurped or in the least intrenched upon Declar. Dâ—c 15. 1641. Jan. 17. 1641. Four several Declarations of the present Parliament have entitulated the subject to them and to the benefit of the ordinary Courts of Justice as their Birthright I have owned the preservation of them to be the Cause of the War July 12. 1642 Oct. 23. 1642. and the ends of their affairs managed by their Swords or Councels and Gods curse is by them imprecated in case they should ever decline the Ends. Declar. April 17. 1646. My Lord We have the Parliaments word and promise not to interrupt the course of Justice in the ordinary Courts Jan. 1648. And in the Ordinance of Non addresses to the late King they say Though they lay the King aside yet they will Govern by the Laws and not interrupt the Course of Justice in the Ordinary Courts thereof My Lord I am entitulated to all these Laws and these Promises and Declarations and if this Court proceed against me those notwithstanding the Ordinary Courts of Justice being open and unobstructed I am robbed and divested of them all and in me the Freemanry of England are all despoyled at the Parliaments will according to this president disployleable and may with Mr. Stampford in his Pleas of the Crown take up this saying It will serve for a Lamentation Misera servitus est ubi jus est vagum incognitum The Fourth Argument THomas Acquinus who though a Papist is not the less worthy to be vouched where not Religion but Pollicy Beat. Thomas 1. 2. Qâ— 90.
Art 1. is the thing in question Sayth That Lex est regula mensura actuum agendorum vel omittendorum not Actorum and Omissorum And St. Paul says Concupiscentiam nesciebam nisi lex diceret non concupisces Rom. 7.7 My Lord your Authority is in two several places to proceed against as Traytors such who have broken the Articles before they were made viz. Whosoever hath or shall Plot Contrive or Endeavour Art 2. Art 7. c. Whatsoever Officer c. hath or shall desert their trust c. shall dye without mercy And thus my Lord the end of Laws and Law-makings is perverted which are not meerly to punish offenders but to prevent offences which amongst Christian men was never otherwise done but by way of premonition by laws first Interdictory and then Subpenatory The Earl of Strafford did and very reasonably take it unkindly and so exprest himself upon his Trial That a neglected Law should lie moulding amongst old parchments 200 years unused and unexercised and at last brought out to measure his passed Actions by or to use his own words To lye like a Coal raked up in the ashes to be at pleasure blown into a flame and to make him and his family the first fewel to feed it Truly if he had seen these Articles as he felt after somwhat like them he would have cried out and but modestly enough That it is not the mending of the fault but the destruction of the person which is manifestly designed in these Articles of Retrospection Disusage of a law is some excuse for him who falls into a transgression but the non existence of a Law is a Justification to the greatest offence And my Lord as you are to look backward to Actions done before the Law made so you are to take Cognizance of offenders against two former Acts which make the Crimes therein certain in the matters of fact fault and punishment and if they be lawes they must be deemed part of the lawes of the Land and desireable and dispensable by the ordinary Courts of the Land in cases Criminal for extraordinary Courts of that kind have long since even by the Parliament of which this is the surviving part been denied And although it is true that when some particular fact is committed by some one or more particular persons against the laws Criminal it often falls and properly enough that especial Commissions of Oyre and Terminer are for some urgent and expedient reason issued to try the matter and men yet those Commissions do not restrain the Commissioners to proceed only against those persons and upon those particular crimes which the common fame hath rendred Hac vice to be Tryable but run in general terms and with general enablement to try all manner of Treasons Felonies c. And the Reason is 1. For that it might possibly fall out that a grand Jury will not find the Bill against Jo. at style and if not the Commissioners are sent down without their arrant if only directed to try J. S. 2. It may fall out that where there are Treasons or Felonies commited by Jo. St. they may be accompanied with misprisions or misdemeanors in Jo. O. And if the particular crime of Treason and the particular person of J. S. be only authorised to be enquired of then the Commissioners can do but half their work And therefore this Commissionary power of yours My Lord the ordinary Courts being not obstructed and you limited to particulars is so far against the Common Law and usage that it is against common and vulgar reason and pardon that I must say it savours more of a Snare then of a Law and more of a warrant of Arbitrary Execution then of an enablement to and for a judicial and legal Proceeding or Tryal The Fifth Argument MY Lord In all Courts of Justice as there is supposed to be an equality intended to such as shall fall under their Cognizance and Enquiry which is a principle of morality innate as well as a practical Policy so there have always in this Nation at least beyond memory or indeed record to the contrary Not sworn been certain Oaths Obligatory and of indifference administred to Persons either enquiring of or passing judgment against or upon the Subjects in all cases whatsoever and the same thing is but necessary in your Lordships and this Court to be done if at all you will proceed in so weighty a matter as life against which I make this exception 1. If you are at all sworn you are not sworn in Conspectu and if you will be my Jury and my Judges also I ought to have a satisfaction that you are so sworn Had you been only my Judges and constituted after the ordinary manner and to ordinary ends I would have taken your being sworn for granted 2. If you are sworn and to no other words of an oath then what are comprised in the Act which my self and all men else will easily believe you are not then you are not sworn to any manner of Equality The words are You shall swear that you shall well and truly The Oath of the Commissioners according to the best of your skill and knowledge execute the several powers given unto you by this Act. I beseech your Lordship 18 Edw. 3. that I may compare these words with the Oath of Judges in England when it was a Kingdome The words Pertinent only are these You shall swear that well and lawfully you shall serve our Lord the King and his people in the office of Justice Oath of Justices c And that you deny to no man common Right by the Kings letters or none other mans nor for none other cause c. I A. B. do swear that I will do equal right Dalton J. P. fol. 13. c. according to my best Wit Cunning and Power after the Laws and Customs of the Land and the Statutes thereof made c. My Lord these will concern you as my Judges to consider how little the stiles agree how far your Oath is in respect of these unobligatory and consequently unsatisfactory to the persons which are or shall be concerned 1. As to the first yours contains no such words of Equality 2. As to the second oath yours hath such words as skill and knowledg holding some resemblance with those of wit cunning and power But my Lord if your words were as well usher'd and as well paged as those it were some satisfaction viz. To do equal right according c. After the laws and customes of the Land and the Statutes thereof made My Lord as you are my Tryers also as well as my Judges I beseech you to observe the oath of a Juror and the difference in sence in letter I know for the dignity sake it ought to differ You shall well and truly try and true deliverance make between our Soveraigne Lord the King Oath of a Juror and the prisoner at the
Tryal per Pares but left to do the manner of the Tryal as well as the Judgment or Execution as you or the major part of you or 12 of you shall judge to appertain to justice And if such major part shall think fit to proceed by Presentment and Jury doubtless such your proceeding is no Premunire against the power given you by the Act but is justifiable to fall within the letter of the Act and that without a strained construction 4. And if when you may lawfully I mean by your own law if Argumenti ergo it be granted a law try me by a Jury and will not then my Lord pardon me that I must aver that you take from me and in me from the communalty of England three great priviledges Franchise and Rights to which I and they are by the known ancient and unabrogated unrepealed and constantly practized laws entitulated which will be neither equitable nor honorable for you to do 1. You take away the benefit of challenge Benefit Challeng which I might make to a Jury or Jurors Stam. pl. Cor. T. Chaleng fol 150. And that is contrary to my righr which is given me by the Common Law In favorem vitae to challenge in case of high Treason for I go no less 35 peremptorily and for reason of challenge Sans Number Poynings Case This was adjudged in 32 Henry 6. abridged by Fitz Herbert fol. 26 per Challeng where 8 Jurors were sworne the rest challenged a new return made and those 8 returned and though formerly allowed and sworn yet challenged and adjudged good Sir Wal. Rawleigh Brookes The like allowed in Hill 1. Ja. in the Cases of Sir Walt Rawleigh and Brooks If this benefit were allowed me my Lord to except or Challenge the whole Court who are in number and in quality my tryers as a Jury are I should not need to be peremptory in my challenge being furnished with abundant reason A Jury of Middlesex will be no more nor less if what I am accused to have endeavored should take effect and therefore are not less concerned I cannot say the same of the Court or if I should I should not be believed and he that but whispers against Diana at Ephesus makes all the Crafts-men his enemies Acts. C. 19. 2. The second benefit and right which by denying me a Tryal per Pares you take from me is the benefit of seeing hearing and counterquestioning the witnesses produced against me which in such way of Tryals ought to be viva voce Stam. P. C. fo 163 164. St. Ph. and Ma. 1. and 2. C. 10. 1 Ed. 6. C. 11. Clav. fult Cook 3. p. Inst fol. 12. Stam. P. C. 164.89 1 Ed. 6. C. 12. 1. and 2. Ph. and Ma. 10 11. 1 Ed. 6. and 16. Eliz. 1. That such is the law Mr. Stamford averreth in his Pleas of the Crown And In treason two sufficient witnesses by the Stat. of Edward the sixth sufficiently in relation to their quality and to the fulness of their testimony Sir Edward Cooke an Author as authentick as any puts this for law in his expositions of the words in the Statutes for Treason Provablement attaint Because the punishment was great the proof should be punctual not upon presumptions or inferences or straines of wit but upon good and sufficient proofes And this he makes good by the Authority of Stamford and the several Statutes of Philip and Mary and of Queen Elizabeth and of Edward the sixth Now my Lord an evidence either taken in writing as the person will voluntarily give it or cautiously taken as the examiner will ask it who is not sworne to take it indifferently no more then the framers of the questions are to propound then fairly may be a seeming faire opposite and a full testimony which upon enquiry into circumstances either concerning the person giving testimony or concerning the Modus the Vbi the Quando c. the whole laid together may prove either nothing or a malitious thing The Case of Sir Thomas Moor Lord Chancellor accused for Bribery is common and I hope if mine have faire play it will prove no worse 3. The third and last right and priviledg you take from me is the many of all the rest and to the making of which as it should be made up all the rest are but conducing and leading that is of a faire Verdict My Lord By a Jury a verdict passeth from all or not at all one knowing conscientious man may preserve that Innocent man whom eleven either ignorant or careless men would destroy This Courts sentence is to be stated by number of voyces and some of them possibly not judging their own Judgments but concurring where their opinion of anothers Judgment shall lead them which as it was the great evil of the late Court of Star-chamber so wheresoever it is used in tryals of life especially it is and can be no other then an evil My Lord By from a Jury a verdict passeth before their discharge upon their necessary affairs nay affairs of nature therefore will give it both the righter because their evidence is fresh in memory without the intervention of other matters as also for that they are without opportunity to be perverted by money or friendship If this Court receive the evidence to day they may at any time before the 29 day of September next give their sentence for vere dictum I never expect but from a Jury and in the mean time how much their own affaires may put the remembrance of me out of their heads and how much the States power may put my safety out of their hearts I have just cause to suspect for fear I will not being resolved never to be in love with that life which the common law of England cannot protect and had rather die the Laws Martyr then live the States slave The Close My Lord I have said and now it only remaines that I tell your Lordship that I desire you to take into consideration what I have said that you would not suddenly but deliberately give your Judgment Whether I ought to plead before you as Judges and to the charge in Articles and not in a presentment or Indictment whether to be tryed without a Jury condemn'd upon evidence unseen Which this is I desire it may be recorded As I do not now wilfully refuse to plead or answer but offer my reasons for the suspension of my Plea until your judgment in the points be known and pronounced so if I be in them overrul'd I shall then give such Answer to the charge as shall become a man in my condition Fiat voluntas Dei modo in ruinâ meâ EUS ANDREW 3. 7. 2. 1650. Here the Att. Gen. Prideaux put a stop to Mr. Andrewe telling him that the Court was not at leasure to take notice of those law cases but of his confession that he had an affection to act though nothing acted
given by persons whom I pitty so false yet so positive that I cannot condemn my Judges for passing Sentence against me accorcing to legal justice for equity lies in higher brests For my accusors or rather betrayers I pitty and am sorry for them they have committed Judas his crime I wish and pray for them St Peters tears and I wish other people so happy they may be taken up betimes before they have drunk more blood of Christian men possibly less deserving then my self It is true there have been several addresses made for mercy and I will lay the obstructions to nothing more then my own sins and seeing God sees it fit I having not glorified him in my life I shall do it in my death I am content I profess in the face of God particular malice to any one of the State or Parliament to do them a personal injury I had never for the cause in which I had a great while waded I must say my engagements and pursuance in it hath laid no scruple upon my conscience it was upon principles of Law whereof I am a professor and upon principles of Religion my judgment rectified and my conscience satisfied that I have persued these wayes for which I bless God I find no blackness upon my conscience nor have I put into the bed-role of my sins I presume not to decide controversies I desire God to glorifie himself in prospering that side that hath right with it and that you may enjoy peace and plenty here when I shall enjoy my God In my conversation in the world I do not know where I have an enemy with cause or that there is a person to whom I have regret but if there be any whom I cannot recollect under the notion of Christian men I pardon them as freely as if I had named them yea I forgive all the world as I desire my heavenly Father for his Christ to forgive me For the business of Death â—t is a sad Sentence in it self if men consult with Flesh and Blood But truly without boasting I say it or if I do boast it is in the Lord I have not to this minute had one consultation with Flesh about the blow of the Axe or one thought of it more then my pasport to Glory I take it as an honor and I owe a thankfulness to those under whose power I am that they have sent me hither to a place however of punishment yet of some honor to dye a death somewhat worthy my Blood and this courtesie of theirs hath much helped towards the satisfaction of my mind I shall desire God that those Gentlemen in that sad Bed-rol to be tryed by the High Court of Justice that they may find that Really there that is Nominal in the Act An High Court of Justice or Court of High Justice High in its Righteousness not in its Severity no more clouded with the Testimony of folk that sell Blood for gain Father forgive them and I forgive them as I desire thee to forgive me I desire you now to pray for me and not give over praying until my last moment that as I have a very great load of sins so I may have the wings of your prayers assisting those Angels that shall conveigh my soul to Heaven And I doubt not but I shall there see my Blessed Saviour and my gallant Master the King of England and another Master which I much honor my Lord Capel hoping this day to see Christ in the presence of the Father the King in the presence of him my Lord Capel in the presence of them all and my self with them and all Saints to rejoyce for evermore Dr. Swadling You have this morning in the presence of a few given some account of your Religion and under general notions or words have given account of your Faith Charity and Repentance then speaking to the standers by if you please to hear the same questions asked here you shall that it may be a general Testimony to you all that he dyeth in the favour of God To the Colonel Now Sir I begin to deal with you you do acknowledg that this stroke you are by and by to suffer is a just punishment laid upon you by God for your former sins Col. Andrewe I dare not only not deny it but dare not but confess it I have no opportunity of glorifying God more then by taking shame to my self and I have a reason of Justice for justifying God in my own bosome which I have intrusted to yours Dr. You acknowledg you deserve more then this stroak of the Axe and that a far greater misery is due to you even the pains and torments of Hell that the damned there indure Col. I know it is due in righteous judgment but I know again I have a Satisfaction made by my elder Brother Christ Jesus and then I say it is not due it 's due to me but acquitted by his Mediation Dr. Do you believe to be saved by that Mediation and no other Col. By that and that only renouncing all Secondary Causes Dr. Are you truly and unfeignedly sorry before God as you appeare to us for all these sins that have brought you hither Col. I am sorry and can never be sorrowfull enough and am sorry that I cannot be more sorry Dr. If God should by a miracle not to put you to a vaine hope but if God should as he did to Hezekiah renue your days what life do you resolve to lead hereafter Col. It is a question of great length requires a great time to answer men in such streights would promise great things but I would first call some friends to limit how far I should make a Vow that I should not make a rash one and so offer the Sacrifice of fooles but a Vow I would make and by Gods help endeavour to keepe it Dr. Do you wish health and happiness upon all lawfull authority and government Col. I doe prize all obedience to lawfull Government and the adventuring against them is sinful and I do not justifie my self what ever my judgment be for my thus venturing against the present Government I leave it to God to judg whether it be righteous if it be it must stand Dr. Are you now in love and charity with all men do you freely forgive them Col. With all the world freely and the Lord forgive them and forgive me as I freely forgive them Dr. You have for some late years laid down the Gown and took up the Sword and you were a man of note in these parts where you had your residence I have nothing to accuse you for want of diligence in hindring in doing of injuries yet possibly there might be some wrong done by your Officers or those under you to some particular men if you had your Estate in your hands would you make restitution Col. The wrongs themselves you bring to my mind are not great nor many some things of no great moment but such