the liberties and the properties of England Truly Sir It makes me to call to minde I cannot forbear to expresse it for sir we must deale plainly with you according to the merits of your Cause for so is our Commission It makes me I say to call to mind what I have read of a great Roman Emperor a great Roman Tyrant I may call him Caligula by name who wished that the people of Rome had but one neck that at one blow he might cut it off Your proceedings have been something like to this the people of England have been and are no where else to be represented but in 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 been pleased to break your forces and to overthrow your designes and to bring your person into custody that you might be answerable unto justice Sir we know very well that it is a question which hath been much pressed by your side By what presidents we shall proceed Truly sir for presidents I shall not at this present make any long discourse on that subject howsoever I shall acquaint them that it is no new thing to cite presidents all most out of all Nations where the people when power hath been in their hands have not sticked to call their Kings to an account and where a change of Government hath ensued upon the occasion of the Tyranny and misgovernment of those that have been placed over the people I will not waste time to mention France or Spain or the Empire of Germany or any other country Volumnes may be written of it But truly sir that president of the kingdom of Arragon hath by some of us been thought upon The justice of Arragon is as a man tanquam in medio positus it is placed between the people of that country and the king of Spain so that if wrong be done by the King of Arragon the justice of Arragon hath power to reform that wrong and he is acknowledged the Kings superiour and bring the grand prisoner of the priviledges and liberties of the people he hath prosecuted against the Kings for their misgovernment Sir What the Tribunes were heretofore to Rome and what the Ephori were to the State of Lacedemon we sufficiently know they were as the parliament of England to the English State and though Rome seemed to have lost her liberty when once the Emperours were constituted yet you shall finde some exemplar Acts of justice even done by the Senate of Rome on the great Tyrant of his time Nero who was by them condemned and adjudged unto death But why Sir should I make mention of these Forreign Histories and Examples unto you If we shall look but over the Tweede we shall finde examples enough in your native Kingdome of Scotland If we look on your first king Forgusius he was an elective King he died and left two sons both in their minority The elder brother afterwards giving small hopes to the people that he would govern them well so because he endeavoured to have supplant his Uncle who was chosen by the people to govern them in his minority he was rejected by the people for it and the younger brother was chosen c. Sir I will not take upon me to expresse what your Histories do at large declare you know very well that you are the hundred and nineth King of Scotland to mention all the Kings which the people of that kingdome according to their power and priviledge have made bold to deale withall either to banish imprison or put to death would be too long a story for this time and place Reges say your own Authors we created Kings at first Leges c. we imposed Laws upon them and as they were chosen by the Suffrages of the people at the first so upon the same occasion by the same Suffrages they may be taken down again and of this I may be bold to say that no Kingdome in the world hath yielded a more plentifull experience than your native Kingdome of Scotland on the deposition and the punishment of their transgressing Kings I need not go far for an Example your Grandmother was set aside and your father an Infant crown'd This State hath done the like in England The Parliament and people of England have made bold to call their King to an account therein frequent Examples of it in the Saxons time the time before the Conquest and since the Conquest there have not wanted some presidents King Edward the second King Richard the second were so dealt with by the Parliament and were both deposed and deprived and truly Sir whosoever shall look into their stories shall not find the Articles that are charged upon them to come near to the height and the Capitalnesse of the crimes that are laid to your charge nothing near Sir you were pleased the other day to alledge your Descent and I did not contradict it but take all together if you go higher than the Conquest you shall find that for almost a thousand years these things have been and if you come down since the Conquest you are the four and twentieth King from William called the Conquerour and you shall find one half of them to come meerely from the State and not meerely upon the point of Descent This were easie to be instanced The time must not be lost that way I shall onely represent what a grave and learned Judge said in his time who was well known unto you the words are since printed for posterity That although there were such a thing as a Descent many times yet the Kings of England ever held the greatest assurance of their Titles when it was declared by Parliament And Sir your Oath and the manner of your Coronation doth planly shew that the Kings of England although its true by the Law the next person in bloud is designed yet if there were a just cause to refuse him the people of England might do it For there is a Contract and a bargain made betwixt the King and his people and your Oath is taken and certainly Sir the Bond is reciprocall for as you are Liege Lord so are they Liege Subjects and we know very well that Legantis est duplex the one is a Bond of perfection that is due from the Soveraign the other is a Bond of Subjection which is due from the Subject for if this Bond be once broken farewell Soveraignty Subjectio trahit c. These things may not be denyed for I speak it the rather and I pray God it may work upon your heart that you may be sensible of your miscarriages for whether you have been as you ought to be a Protector of England or a destroyer of England let all England judge or all the world that hath beheld it and though Sir you have it by inheritance in the way that is spoken of yet it cannot be denyed but
long-lived the free born English would not long endure such slavery When the King saw there was no other remedy he throws himself into the bosome of his people for relief and advise in * Parliament * where they undutifully taking advantage of his Majesties extremities in stead of relief outbrave him publickly with a * Catalogue of all the mistakes and all the misfortunes of his former government which coming to the peoples ears soon stole away their hearts and alienated their affections from their Soveraign and left him wholly to the mercy and will of his Parliament They sensible hereof and that the reins of Government were now cast upon their necks like Apollo's Horses when Phaeton had the driving of them ran violent by courses till they set the whole Kingdome on fire So far they went as to make an Ordinance That whereas there was a present want of a through Reformation in the State the Government whereof should be put into the hands of four and twenty Qui Regia potestate suffulti who being armed with Soveraign power should take upon them the whole care and Government of the Kingdome should nominate and appoint the Chancellour Treasurer Chief Justices Governours of Forts Castles and Navie and all other great Officers and Ministers of State for all times to come To this traiterous Ordinance the King Metu incarcerationis perpetuae compulsus est consentire for fear of perpetuall imprisonment was inforced to give his Royall assent and for further security to be content to give it under the great Seal and upon Oath that whensoever he attempted to assume unto him his Regall Power Liceat omnibus de Regno nostro contra nos insurgere ad gravamen nostram opem operam dare ac si nobis in nullo tenerentur It should be lawfull for all his Subjects to rise against and oppose him as if they owed no allegiance to him Strange it is that he should be content to be a meer Cipher that so lately was the onely Figure of the whole Kingdome that he should be content to part with at once with every tittle of Soveraignty but the bare title but prodigious that so many choice Senators so many Fathers and Judges of Law and conscience should so forget God and themselves as to give their assent for the totall subverting of the Regall authority when as they had all taken their corporall oathes De terreno honore dicto Regi haeredibus ejus servando Which Oath was well kept saith mine Authour Ordinando ne unquam regerent sed semper ab aliis regerentur by making an Ordinance that they should never rule again but alwayes be ruled by others These four and twentie thus setled continue the Parliament during their pleasure put the Kingdome in a posture of Defence place Governours of their own choosing Such as they could confide in in the chief Forts nominate and appoint Judges of Assize Sheriffes of Counties Coroners Bailiffe discharging those that were made by the King Took an Oath of them all respectively And here they would make the people believe they should never be troubled with licentious Soveraigntie again but never more as it proved for now every one of them began to value his own worth and to hammer his head on every design that might enlarge his own power and command In brief of so many subjects they became totidem tyranni as the book of Saint Albanes speaks so many Tyrants and for one bad King before they have four and twentie worse But England like old Rome cannot long endure more Kings than one great faction and deadly feud arose between the chiefest of them which the rest taking into consideration and perceiving that by so many heads not onely Monarchy was dissolved but faction and debate every day increased upon them so wrought that all but five agreed that the foresaid Ordinance should be repealed and the King restored to his pristine power But those five Members stifly oppose this agreement and for the maintenance of their cause trahunt multos pseudo prophetas lupos in ovium vestimentis qui contra Christi Vicaraos Christū Domini Regē ipsum murmurant non ut spiritus sanctus eloqui sed ut superioris potestatis contemptores obloqui dabant they drew to their side many lying Ministers Wolves in the sheeps clothing who murmure and speak evil against the Lords anointed not as the Holy spirit gave them utterance but as the despiser of dignities gave them their Lessons These Incendiaries by their sheeps clothing a fair conversatiō drew the people every where to side with them against the K. and those that wisht the King his former power Which the King perceiving and how the multitude grew every day more and more tumultuous for all things were now carried by tumults was advised by his Privy Councel to withdraw himself lest His person might be endangered from the Parliament then held at Westminster to His Castle of Windsore After some contestation at this distance it was agreed upon by the King and his adherents and the five members and their adherents that the difference should be referred to the French Kings arbitrement * The King of France upon the day of hearing gave sentence that the said Ordinance whereby the King was deprived of his Regall power should be made null The five members and their complices seeing this notwithstanding they had bound themselves by oath to stand to his award flew off and resolving to have their own wills drew into arms made choice of the Earl of Leicester for their General for their own private interest pretending the publick good drew the greatest part of the Kingdom after them * so easie it is to draw the fickle multitude to the wrong side crying every where at first Liberty and Religion though towards the end of the warre not a word of either By their fair pretences they gained so farre upon the Londoners that they generally enter into a Covenant to assist the Earl For which purpose besides a new Major or Bailiffe they choose two Commanders Thomas Pywelsden and Stephen Buckerell at whose command by the towling of Saint Pauls great Bell they were to be in armes upon any occasion Their first exploit was a march to Isleworth in a tumultuous manner where they plundered and fired the Kings brothers Mannour house The Earls Army by this time on their march plundered all that were disaffected to their cause and proceedings and imprisoned them * especially those that stood any way affected to the Queen for they all but most of all the Londoners were most maliciously bent against her insomuch that as she was passing the Thames near the bridge a rude rabble of the City got together on the bridge and with confused yellings cryed Drown the witch c. and by throwing dirt and stones at her drave her back which impious
affront was punctually remembred in the first fight as you shall hear anon Besides this main armie under the Earl of Leicester they had another armie under the command of the Lord Ferrers of whom descended the late Lord of Essex who behaved himself insolently towards the King in destroying his Parks as he marcht c. which in the conclusion cost him dear yet to delude the people the main army bore before them the Kings arms and to shew they were for the King when they had displaced the old Governors of the Kings Castles and Forts and placed in such as they could confide in they gave them an Oath to be true to the King and to keep those Holds to the use and benefit of the King and State yet when the King demanded entrance at one of his Forts wherein they had placed a Governour he was kept out At Sea the Barons of the Cinque-ports seised the Kings ships took great Prizes but they that sate at the Stern upon Land shared in those Prizes as the fame then went By this time the King began to rouze himself and finding nothing now left him but a good Cause and the hearts of his wiser subjects yet by that and these and the assistance of his Brother Richard King of the Romanes in a short space he had raised a considerable Army A King can never be so down but he will rise again with these he marcht and like a snow-ball encreased by motion plundering the Rebels lands as he went to Northampton which was fortified against him by some of the chiefest of the Rebels yet by a furious assault he soon gained it Thence continuing his march into Sussex near Lewes he received a Message from the Earl the tenor wherof was That as for his Majesty they intended no harm against him but onely desired that he would remove his evil Counsellours that did advise his Majesty against them against the honour of the King and welfare of the Kingdome The King in his Answer charges them with Rebellion and disloyalty and commands them to lay down their arms and to return to their obedience that they might be received to mercy but the Earl rejecting the offer * when Subjects have once broken their fealtie and trust to their Soveraign they never dare trust their Soveraign again resolves to give the King battel Near Lewes both Armies meet One wing of the Earls Army was made up of London troops which the Prince being then Generall of the Kings horse observing and remembring not without indignation the abuse offered by the Londoners to the Queen his Mother he claps spurs to his horse and all his Cavalry after him crying Here here my brave Cavaliers are the main contrivers of all Rebellions and mischief Now now if ever charge home and so fell on with that fury that they presently flie the Prince in an eager and hot pursuit does great execution upon them for four miles But this prosperous beginning of the fight on the Kings side was the utter overthrow of the Kings forces for when the Earl perceived that the Prince a young fiery spirit with all the Kings horse was gone so far in pursuit of the Londoners he fell violently on the Kings foot soon routed them took the King his horse being slain under him prisoner The Prince at length retreating when he saw all lost surrendered himself There were taken in this fight besides those royall prisoners the King the Prince the Kings brother and his eldest Sonne above twenty Noblemen that were for the King and slain about * 3400. The Earl having thus gotten a compleat victory forth with endeavours to seise all the Militia and power of the Kingdome for which end he carries the King about with him to countenance his actions but the rest of the royall prisoners he disposes in severall Garisons And now the Earl believes all his own and the people dream of nothing but Peace but alas the warre was not begun till now For when the torn remainder of the loyall army that escaped at Lewes now keeping Garison in Bristow and other noble spirits saw how insolently the Earl dealt with his and their Soveraign in barring him of his liberty c. They soon raised a considerable power under the command of Roger Mortimer Earl of March unto whom many flockt out of Shropshire Cheshire Herefordshire and Worcester that were well affected to the King Moreover the Queen who was a French woman got over beyond Sea to try her friends for their asistance to restore her husband to his former liberty and authority Quod ad laudem magnificentiam Aelionorae Anglorum Reginae libet intexere saith one of that age quod Domino suo Edvardo filio tam strenuè tam viriliter tanquam virago potentissima succurrendis fortiter insudaverit But before these Forces were well united the Rebels Forces were as well divided for debate arising as is usuall in all confederations where all parties must be pleased or else the knot will dissolve between his Excellency the Earl of Leicester and the Earl of Glocester because his Excellency minding his own private more than the publick good of his fellow Rebels without any respect had to his adjutants ingrosses all to himself disposes of the royall prisoners at his own pleasure seised on the revenues of the Crown and composition of dilinquents for his own use whereas they had privately agreed before Ea omnia aequâ sorte inter eos dividenda fore In brief he shared all places of power and profit between himself his sonnes and his allies Whereat Glocester as good a man as he stomackt and fell off with his followers to the Prince who by this time disponente Domino clavigero carcerum every thing working for the King had made his escape out of prison at Hereford for being allowed by his keepers to aire himself sometimes on horse back in the town Meadow after he had tyred two or three at length he mounts a speciall flight Nag and putting spurs Custodibus valedixit and came safe to Wigmore Castle where the Lord Mortimer lay with his Forces raised for the King so marcht on with a great prwer taking in as they went some strong Garisons of the Rebels plundered their houses drave their Cattell c. Here the war grew hot each side fortifying towns plundering and driving all round about to store the Garisons Mens houses which were wont to be their own Castles were now made Castles but the owners were least masters all left to the mercy of the rude souldier the poor Countreymans dwelling house pillaged every where and searcht * usque ad lectorum stramentum to the very bedstraw nor onely mens houses but even Gods houses the very Churches were not free from the prophane hands of plunderers the high-wayes lay unoccupied no passing from Town to Town without danger of robbing When the Prince the Earl of Glocester the Earl
the world in this one particular Give me leave to acquaint you that it is a thing of no small importance which you go about I am sworn to keep the peace according to the duty which I do ow to God and to my Land and I will here perform it to the last breath of my Body you shall therefore do wel first to satisfie God and afterwards the Land by what Authority you do this If you do it by an usurped Authority you cannot defend it God who sitteth in the Heavens will call you and all those who have conferred this power on you to give him an account of it Satisfie me in this and I shall answer you for otherwise I should betray the Faith committed to me and the liberties of my people Wherefore consider of it and I shall be willing to answer you For I do professe it is as great a sin to resist a lawfull Authority as to submit unto a Tyrannicall or any other unlawfull Authority wherefore resolve me in this particular and you shall receive my Answer L. President The Court expecteth that you should give them a finall Answer and will adjourn untill Munday next If you cannot satisfie your self although we tell you our authority our authority will satisfie our selves And it is according to the authority of God and the Kingdome and the peace of which you speak shall be preserved in the administration of Justice and that is our present work King I give you this for my answer you have not shown me any lawfull authority which may satisfie any reasonable man L. President It is onely your apprehension we are fully satisfied who are your Judges King It is not my apprehension nor yours which ought to determin this L. President The Court hath heard you and disposed of you accordingly as their discretions have thought expedient The Court adjourneth to the Painted chamber untill Munday at ten of the clock in the morn-ning and from thence hither Some thing that was ominous ought not to be passed by in silence when the Charge was read against the King the silver head of his staff did fall off which he much did wonder at and observing no man so officious to assist him he stooping towards the ground did take it up himself As the King returned looking on the Court he said I fear not thee meaning the sword As he came down the stayres the people who were in the Hall cryed out some of them God save the King but the greater part Justice Justice The second dayes proceeding against the King January 22. c. THe Cryer having thrice pronounced his Oyes and silence cōmanded after that the Judges were called and every one did particularly answer to his Name Silence was again commanded under pain of imprisonment and the Captain of the Guards was ordered to apprehend any that should endeavour to make a tumult At the comming of the King into the Court there was a great shout and the Court commanded the Captain of the Guards to apprehend and imprison those who should make either a noise or tumult The Court being sat the Sollicitor turning to the President said May it please your Lordship my Lord President In the former Court on Saturday in the Name of the Commons of England I exhibited and offered to this Tribunal the charge of high Treasons and other grievous crimes against the Prisoner with which I did charge him In the Name of the People of England and his charge was read and his Answer demanded My Lord It pleased him at that time to return no answer at all but instead of answering he questioned the Authority of the High Court My most humble motion to this High Court in the Name of the People of the Kingdome of England is that the Prisoner may be compelled to give a positive answer either by way of Confession or Negation which if he shall refuse that the subject of his Charge may be taken for granted and the Court proceed according to Justice L. President Sir you may remember that on the last convention of this Court the cause was expounded to you for which you were brought hither and you heard the charge against you read it being a charge of High Treason and other grievous crimes against the Kingdom of England you heard likewise that it was required in the name of the people that you should answer to your charge that there should be a proceeding thereon as should be agreeable unto Justice you were then pleased to move some scruples concerning the authority of this Court and you desired to be satisfied in your knowledge by what authority you were brought hither you severall times did propound your questions and it was often answered to you that it was by authority of the commons of England Assembled in Parliament who did judge it requisite to call you to an account for the great and grievous crimes of which you are accused After that the Court did take into their serious consideration those things which you objected and they are fully satisfied in their authoritie and do conceive it requisite that you should admit it they therefore require that you give a positive and a particular Answer to the charge exhibited against you they do expect that you should either confesse it or deny it If you shall deny it it will be proved in the behalf of the Kingdome the whole World doth approve of their Authority So that the kingdome is satisfied and you ought thereby to be satisfied your self you ought not therefore to waste time but to give your positive answer King It is true that when I was last here I moved that question and indeed if it were onely my businesse in particular I should have satisfied my self with that protestation which I then interposed against the lawfulnesse of this Court and that a King cannot be judged by any superiour jurisdiction on earth but my own interests are not onely involved in it but the liberties also of the people of England and pretend what you will I doe indeavour more for their liberties then any whatsoever For if Power without laws can make laws and change the Fundamentall laws of the Kingdome I know not what subject in England can be secure of his life or of any thing which he doth call his own Wherefore when I came hither I expected particular reasons that I might understand by what law and what Authority you would proceed against me I should then perceive what most especially I have to say unto you for the affirmative is to be proved which seldome the Negative is capable of but because I cannot perswade you thus I will give you my Reasons as briefly as I can The Reasons for which in conscience and duty which I ow first unto God and afterwards to my people for the preservation of their lives their liberties and their fortunes I believe I cannot answer until I am satisfied of your legality of it All proceedings against any
man whatsoever President Sir I must interrupt you which I would not do but that which you do agreeth not with the proceedings of any Tribunal of Justice you enter into a controversie and dispute against the Authority of this Court before which you appear a prisoner and are accused as a great Delinquent If you will take upon you to controvert the Authority of this Court we cannot give way unto it neither will any tribunal of Justice admit it you ought to submit unto the Court and to give an exact and direct Answer whether you will answer to your charge or not and what is the answer that you make King Sir I know not the formalities of the law I know the law reason although I am no professed Lawyer I know the law as well as any Gentleman in England and I am more eager for the Liberties of the people of England then you are and if I should believe any man without he gives me Reasons for what he saith It would be absurd but I say unto you that the Reason which you give is no wayes satisfactory L. President Sir I must interrupt you for it cannot be permitted to you in this manner to proceed you speak of law and reason it is fit that there should be both law and reason and they are both against you Sir the Vote of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament is the reason of the Kingdome and they ordained this law according to which you ought to Reign Sir It is not lawfull for you to dispute against our Authority This again hath been told you by the Court Sir Notice will be taken that you contemn the Court and this contempt of yours will be recorded King I know not how a King can be interpreted to be a Delinquent but by any law that I ever heard all men whether Delinquent or what you will may lawfully make objections against their Processe this is that which I require and I again desire that my Reasons may be heard If you deny this you deny Reason L. President Sir you have objected something to the Court I will declare unto you their opinion Sir It is not lawfull for you or any man else to dispute against this Subject It is Decreed you ought not to dispute against the jurisdiction of this Tribunal If you shall yet do it I must intimate unto you that they are above objections They sit here by Authority of the Commons of England and all your Predecessors and you your self are bound to be accountable to them King I deny that shew me one example L. President Sir you ought not to interrupt but attend whilest the Court speaks unto you This Subject is not to be disputed by you neither will the Court permit that you should object against the jurisdiction of it they have considered of their jurisdiction and do approve it King Sir I say that the Commons of England were never a Court of Judicature and I would fain know how they came to be made so now President Sir It is not permitted to you to proceed in those discourses Then the Secretary of the Court did read as followeth Charls Stuart King of England you have been accused in the Name of the People of England of High Treason and other grievous Crimes The Court hath determined that you shall answer to your Charge King I will answer as soon as ever I shall understand by what authority you do these things President If this be all that you will speak Gentlemen you who brought the prisonner hither take him back again King I demand that I may be permitted to exhibite my Reasons why I answer not unto the Charge and give me time to perform this President Sir It is not for prisonners to demand King Prisonners Sir I am no ordinary prisonner President The Court hath considered of their own jurisdiction and they have also confirmed their jurisdiction If you will not answer we will give order that your Default be recorded King You have not yet heard my Reasons President Your Reasons are not to be heard against the Supream Jurisdiction King Shew me that jurisdiction in the world where Reason is not to be heard President Sir We shew it you here the Commons of England the next time you are brought hither you shall understand further of the pleasure of the Court and peradventure their finall sentence King Shew me where the House of Commons was ever a Court of Judicature in that kind President Serjeant take away the Prisonner King Sir Remember that the King is not suffered to declare his Reasons for the Libertie and Immunities of his Subjects President Sir That Freedome of speech is not permitted to you how great a friend you have been to the Laws and the Liberties of the people let England and all the world judge King Sir By your leave I have alwayes loved the Liberty the Immunities and Laws of the subjects If I have defended my self by Arms I have not taken them up against the people but for them President You must obey the Decree of the Court you give no answer to the Charge against you King Well Sir And so was he brought to the House of Sir Robert Cotton and the Court was adjourned to the Painted Chamber untill Wednesday following at twelve of the clock at what houre they intended to adjourn again to Westminster-hall where all whom it doth concern are commanded to be present The third dayes proceedings against the late King at the High Court of Justice Tuesday Jan. 23. 1648. THe Cryer according to the Custome having with his Oyes commanded silence and attention the King being sate Mr. Atturney Generall turning to the Lord President spake in these words May it please your Lordship This is now the third time that by the great grace and favour of this High Court the prisoner hath been brought to the Bar and yet by reason of his refusall to put in his Answer there is yet no issue joyned in the cause My Lord I did at the first exhibit a Charge against him containing the highest practices of Treason that were ever wrought on the Theater of England That a King of England trusted to keep the Lawes of England and who had taken an Oath so to do and had tribute paid him for that end should be guilty of so wicked a design as to subvert our Laws and introduce an arbitrary and tyrannicall Government and set up his Standard of Warre against his Parliament and his people and I did humbly pray in the behalf of the people of England that he might speedily be required to make an answer to his charge But my Lord instead of making an answer he did then dispute the Authority of this Tribunal and your Lordship being pleased to give him a further day to put in his answer which was yesterday I did move again that he might be required to put in a direct and positive answer to his charge either by
William Gray Ol. Cromwell L. G. Comissary Gen. Ireton Sir Hardres Waller Colonel Harrison Colonel Haley Colonel Pride Col. Ewer Lord Gray of Groby Sir John Danvers S. Thomas Malleneret Sir John Bourchier William Heavningham Alderman Pennington Henry Martin Col. Purefoy Col. Berkstead Col. Thomlinson Mr. Blakston Mr. Millington Sir Gregory Norton Col. Harvey Col. Ven. Mr. Scot Alderman Andrews Mr. Cawley Mr. Burrel Col. Stapeley Col. Domnes Mr. Norton L.S. Hammon Mr. Love Mr. Potter Mr. Garland Sir William Constable Col. Ludlow Col. Hutchinson Sir Miles Livesey Mr. Dixwell Colonel Fleetwood of Bucks. Mr. Main Jacob Temple Mr. Blagrave Col. White Col. Titchburn Col. Rout. Col. Scroop Col. Lilburn Col. Dean Col. Okey Col. Hewsen L. Col. Goff Cornelius Holland Mr. Carew John Joanes Miles Corbet Mr. Allen Peregrine Pelham Col. Moors Mr. Eldicer Mr. Smith Mr. Edwards Mr. Clement Col. Wogan c. His Majesties Reasons Against the pretended Jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice which he had intended to have given there on Monday Jan. 22. 1649. Faithfully transcribed from the originall Copy of the King SInce I have already made my Protestation not onely against the illegality of this pretended Court but that no power on earth can justly call me who am your King into question as a Delinquent I would no longer have opened my mouth on this Argument but have referred my self to those things which I then spoke if this onely concerned my own particular But the duty which I ow to God to preserve the true liberty of my people doth not permit me at this time I should be silent for how can any free born Subject of England call his life or any thing he doth possess his own if power without law can daily make new and abrogate the old and Fundamental Laws of this Land which I judge to be the present case Wherefore when I was brought hither I expected that you would have studied to satisfy me in these Fundamentalls which do hinder me from putting in my Answer to the pretended charge but since I do observe that nothing which I can alledge can perswade you to it although negatives are not so naturally proved as affirmatives yet I have thought good to declare unto you the Reasons for which I am confident you are not in a capacity to judge me nor the vilest man in England for without showing my Reasons I will not as you be so unreasonably importunate as to exact either belief or obedience from my Subjects Here was I restrained and not suffered to speak any more of Reasons there is no just processe against any man which deriveth not its authority either from the Law of God or from the municipall Laws of the Land Now I am most sure that the Processe at this day made against me cannot be confirmed by the law of God for on the contrary the necessity of obedience is clearly confirmed and streightly commanded in the old and new Testament which if it be denyed I am prepared presently to prove it and as for the question now in agitation it is said there Where the word of a King is there is power and who can say unto him what doest thou Eccles. 8. v. 4. Then as to the laws of the land I am as confident that no learned lawyer will affirm that any charge can be brought against the King since they all go forth under his name and it is one of their axioms that the King can not do an injury Moreover the law on which you do ground your processe is either old or new if it be old shew that law unto me if it be new tell me what Authority established by the Fundamentall laws of this land did give it birth and when but how the House of Commons can erect a Tribunall of Justice which was never one it self as all lawyers will confesse with me I leave it to God and to the world to judge and it will seem most strange to any who ever have heard of the laws of England how they can pretend to make laws without either the King or the House of Peeres Neverthelesse it be admitted but not granted that a commission from the people of England is able to confirm your pretended power yet I see nothing that you can show for it for I am confident that you never asked that questiō of the 10th man in the kingdom in this method you do a most apparent injury even to the poorest ploughman if you ask not his consent neither can you pretend any colour to this your pretended Commission if you have not the concurring voyces of at least the greatest part of this Nation of every degree and quality which you are so far from obtaining that I am confident you never so much as sought it You see then that I do not onely speak for my own Right as I am your King but also for the true liberty of all my subjects which consisteth not in dividing the power of Government but in living under such laws and such a Government as may grant them the best security of their lives and the propriety of their goods In this I ought not to be forgetfull neither do I forget the priviledges of both Houses of parliament which these proceedings do not onely violate but give an occasion of the greatest breaking of the publick faith and such I believe as the like was never heard of before with which I will not at all charge both Houses for the pretended crimes which they impose upon me are far before the Treaty at Newport in which when I assented to and did conclude as much as possibly lay in my power and did justly expect the assent of both Houses I was suddenly taken from thence and carried away as a prisoner and against my will I was hurried hither and since I came to this court I cannot with all my Indeavours defend the ancient laws and liberties of this Kingdome together with my just priviledges and as much as I can possibly discern the upper House which is the House of Lords is totally excluded And as for the House of Commons it is too much known that the greater part of them are either imprisoned or affrighted from sitting so that if I had no other Cause this was sufficient enough to make me to protest against the authority of your pretended tribunall Besides all these things the peace of the Kingdome is not the least part of my cares and what hope can there be of establishing it as long as power reigneth without the Rule of the Law changing the whole frame of the Government under which this Kingdome hath flourished these many ages neither will I speak what is likely to follow if these unlawfull proceedings shall yet continue against me for I believe the Commons of England will give you no thanks for this change especially when they shall call into their minds how happily they heretofore have lived in the Reigns of Queen Elisabeth and of the