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A47456 King Charls his tryal at the high court of justice sitting in Westminster Hall, begun on Saturday, Jan. 20, ended Jan. 27, 1648 also His Majesties speech on the scaffold immediately before his execution on Tuesday, Ian. 30 : together with the several speeches of Duke Hamilton, the Earl of Holland, and the Lord Capel, immediately before their execution on Friday, March 9, 1649. Charles I, King of England, 1600-1649.; Holland, Henry Rich, Earl of, 1590-1649.; Hamilton, James Hamilton, Duke of, 1606-1649. 1650 (1650) Wing K556; ESTC R11695 57,138 138

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be responsible to Justice Sir we know very well That it is a question on your side very much prest by what President we shall proceed Truly Sir for Presidents I shall not upon these occasions institute any long discourse but it is no new thing to cite Presidents almost of all Nations where the People when power hath been in their hands have been made bold to call their Kings to account and where the change of Governement hath been upon occasion of the Tyranny and Mis-Government of those that have been placed over them I will not spend time to mention France or Spain or the Empire or other Countries volumes may be written of it But truly Sir that of the Kingdom of Aragon I shall think some of us have thought upon it when they have the Justice of Aragon that is a man tanquam in medio positus betwixt the King of Spain and the people of the Country that if wrong be done by the King he that is the King of Aragon the Justice hath power to reform the wrong and he is acknowledged to be the Kings Superiour and is the grand preserver of their priviledges and hath prosecuted Kings upon their miscarriages Sir What the Tribunes of Rome were heretofore and what the Ephori were to the Lacedemonian State we know that is the Parliament of England to the English State and though Rome seemed to lose it's Liberty when once the Emperors were yet you shall find some famous Acts of Justice even done by the Senate of Rome that great Tyrant of his time Nero condemned and judged by the Senate But truly Sir to you I should not mention these Forreign examples and stories If you look but over Tweed we find enough in your native Kingdom of Scotland If we look to your first King Fergusius that your stories make mention of he was an elective King he dyed and left two Sons both in their minority the Kingdom made choyce of their Unkle his Brother to govern in the minority afterwards the elder brother giving small hopes to the people that he would rule or govern well seeking to supplant that good Unkle of his that governed then justly they set the elder aside and took to the younger Sir if I should come to what your stories make mention of you know very well you are the 109. King of Scotland for to mention so many Kings as that Kingdom according to their power and priviledg have made bold to deal withal some to banish and some to imprison and some to put to death it would be too long and as one of your own Authors says it would be too long to recite the manifold examples that your own stories make mention of Reges say they we do create we created Kings at first Leges c. We imposed Laws upon them and as they are chosen by the suffrages of the people at the first so upon just occasion by the same suffrages they may be taken down again and we will be bold to say that no Kingdom hath yeelded more plentiful experience then that your Native Kingdom of Scotland hath done concerning the deposition and the punishment of their offending and transgressing Kings c. It is not far to go for an example neer you our Grandmother set aside and your Father ●n Infant crowned and the State did it here ●n England here hath not been a want of ●ome examples they have made bold the Par●iament and the People of England to call ●heir Kings to account there are frequent ●xamples of it in the Saxons time the time before the Conquest since the Conquest here want not some presidents neither King Edward the second King Richard the second were dealt with so by the Parliament as they were deposed and deprived and truly Sir who ever shall look into their stories they ●hall not finde the Articles that are charged upon them to come neer to that height and capitalness of Crimes that are layd to your charge nothing neer Sir You were pleased to say the other day wherein they discent and I did not contradict it but take altogether Sir if you were as the Charge speaks and no o●herwise admitted King of ENGLAND but for that you were pleased then to alledg now that almost for a thousand years these things have been stories will tell you if you go no higher then the time of the Conquest if you do come down since the Conquest you are the Twenty fourth King from William called the Conqueror you shall find one half of them to come meerly from the State and not meerly upon the point of Discent it were easie to be instanced to you the time must not be lost that way And truly Sir what a grave and learned Judge in his time and well known to you and is since printed for posterity That although there was such a thing as a discent many times yet the Kings of Enland ever held the greatest assurance of their Titles when it was declared by Parliament And Sir your Oath the manner of your Coronation doth shew plainly That the Kings of England although it 's true by the Law the next Person in bloud is designed yet if there were just cause to refuse him the people of England might do it For there is a Contract and Bargain made between the King and his People and your Oath is taken and certainly Sir the Bond is reciprocal for as you are the liege Lord so they liege subjects and we know very well that hath been so much spoken of Ligantia est duplex This we know now the one tye the one Bond is the bond of perfection that is due from the Soveraign the other is the Bond of Subjection that is due from the Subject Sir if this Bond be once broken farewell Soveraignty Subjectio trahit c. These things may not be denyed Sir 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 by your Office you ought to be a Protector of England or the destroyer of England let all England judge or all the world that hath look'd upon it Sir though you have it by Inheritance in the way that is spoken of yet it must not be denyed that your Office was an Office of Trust and indeed an Office of the highest Trust lodged in any single person For as you were the grand Administrator of Justice and others were as your Deligates to see it done throughout your Realms If your great Office were to do Justice and preserve your People from wrong and instead of doing that you will be the great wrong doer your self If instead of being a Conservator of the Peace you will be the Grand disturbe of the Peace surely this is contrary to your Office contrary to your Trust Now Sir if it be an Office of Inheritance as you speak of your Title by Discent let all men know that great Offices are
I do demand that and demand to be heard with my Reasons if you deny that you deny Reason Lord President Sir you have offered something to the Court I shall speak something unto you the sence of the Court. Sir neither you nor any man are permitted to dispute that point you are concluded you may not demur the Jurisdiction of the Court if you do I must let you know that they over-rule your Demurrer they sit here by the Authority of the Commons of England and all your Predecessors and you are responsible to them King I deny that shew me one president Lord President Sir you ought not to interrupt while the Court is speaking to you this point is not to be debated by you neither will the Court permit you to do it if you offer it by way of Demurrer to the Jurisdiction of the Court they have considered of their Jurisdiction they do affirm their own Jurisdiction The King I say Sir by your favour that the Commons of England was never a Court of Judicature I would know how they came to be so Lord President Sir You are not to be permitted to go on in that speech and these discourses Then the Clerk of the Court read as followeth CHARLS STUART King of England You have been accused on the behalf of the People of England of high Treason and other high Crimes the Court have determined that you ought to answer the same The King I will answer the same so soon as I know by what Authority you do this Lord President If this be all that you will say then Gentlemen you that brought the Prisoner hither take charge of him back again The King I do require that I may give in my Reasons why I do not answer and give me time for that Lord President Sir 'T is not for Prisoners to require The King Prisoners Sir I am not an ordinary Prisoner Lord President The Court hath considered of their Jurisdiction and they have already affirmed their Jurisdiction if you will not answer we shall give order to record your default The King You never heard my Reasons yet Lord President Sir Your Reasons are not to be heard against the highest Jurisdiction The King Shew me that Jurisdiction where Reason is not to be heard Lord President Sir We shew it you here the Commons of England and the next time you are brought you will know more of the pleasure of the Court and it may be their final determination The King Shew me where ever the House of Commons was a Court of Judicature of that kind Lord President Serjeant Take away the Prisoner The King Well Sir Remember that the King is not suffered to give in his Reasons for the Liberty and Feeedom of all his Subjects Lord President Sir You are not to have liberty to use this language how great a friend you have been to the Laws and Liberties of the People let all England and the world judg The King Sir under favour it was the Liberty Freedom and Laws of the Subject that ever I took defended my self with Arms I never took up Arms against the People but for the Laws Lord President The Command of the Court must be obeyed no answer will be given to the Charge The King Well Sir Then the Lord President ordered the default to be recorded and the contempt of the Court and that no answer would be given to the Charge And so was guarded forth to Sir Robert Cottons house Then the Court adjourned to the Painted Chamber on Tuesday at twelve a clock and from thence they intend to adjourn to Westminster Hall at which time all persons concerned are to give their attendance At the high Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall Tuesday Ianuary 23. 1648. O Yes made Silence commanded The Court called Seventy three persons present The King comes in with his Guard looks with an austere countenance upon the Court and sits down The second O Yes made and silence commanded Mr Cook Solicitor General May it please your Lordship my Lord President 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 before any issue joyned in the cause My Lord I did at the first Court exhibite a Charge against him containing the highest Treason this ever was wrought upon the Theatre of England That a King of England trusted to keep the Law That had taken an Oath so to do That had Tribute paid him for that end should be guilty of a wicked design subvert and destroy our Laws and introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government in the defence of the Parliament and their Authority set up his Standard for War against his Parliament and 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 the Charge But my Lord instead of making any answer he did then dispute the Authority of this High Court Your Lordship was pleased to give him a further day to consider and to put in his Answer which day being yesterday I did humbly move that he might be required to give a direct and positive Answer either by denying or confession of it but my Lord he was then pleased for to demur to the Jurisdiction of the Court which the Court did then over-rule and command him to give a direct and positive Answer My Lord Besides this great delay of Justice I shall now humbly move your Lordship for speedy Judgment against him My Lord I might press your Lordship upon the whole That according to the known Rules of the Law of the Land That if a Prisoner shall stand as contumacious in contempt and shall not put in an issuable Plea guilty or not guilty of the Charge given against him whereby he may come to a fair Tryal That as by an implicite Confession it may be taken pro confesso as it hath been done to those who have deserved more favor then the Prisoner at the Bar has done But besides my Lord I shall humbly press your Lordship upon the whole Fact The House of Commons the supream Authority and Jurisdiction of the Kingdom they have Declared That it is notorious That the matter of the Charge is true as it is in truth my Lord as clear as chrystal and as the Sun that shines at noon day which if your Lordship and the Court be not satisfied in it have notwithstanding on the People of Englands behalf several witnesses to produce And therefore I do humbly pray and yet I must confess it is not so much I as the innocent blood that hath been shed the Cry whereof is very great for Justice and Judgment and therefore I do humbly pray That speedy JUDGMENT be pronounced against the Prisoner at the Bar. Lord President Sir You have heard what is moved by the Councel on the behalf of the Kingdom against you Sir you may well remember and if you
and the High Court of Justice the PARLIAMENT of England that are not only the highest Expounders but the sole makers of the Law Sir for you to set your self with your single judgment and those that adhere unto you to set your self against the highest Court of Justice that is not Law Sir as the Law is your Superior so truly Sir there is something that is Superior to the Law and that is indeed the Parent or Author of the Law and that is the People of England For Sir as they are those that at the first as other Countries have done did choose to themselves this Form of Gouernment even for Justice sake that Justice might be administred that Peace might be preserved so Sir they gave Laws to their Governors according to which they should Govern and if those Laws should have proved inconvenient or prejudiciall to the Publique they had a power in them and reserved to themselves to alter as they shall see cause Sir it is very true what some of your side have said Rex non habet parem in Regno This Court will say the same while KING That you have not your Peer in some sense for you are major singulis but they will aver again that you are minor universis and the same Author tels you that in exhibitione Juris there you have no power but in _____ quasi minimus This we know to be Law Rex habet superiorem Deum Legem etiam curiam and so says the same Author and truly Sir he makes bold to go a little further Debent ei ponere frenum they ought to bridle him and Sir we know very well the stories of old Those Wars that were called the Barons Wars when the Nobility of the Land did stand out for the Liberty and Property of the Subject and would not suffer the Kings that did invade to play the Tyrants free● but called them to account for it we know that truth That they did Frenum ponere But Sir if they do forbear to do their Duty now and are not so mindfull of their own Honor and the Kingdoms good as the Barons of England of old were certainly the Commons of England will not be unmindfull of what is for their preservation and for their safety Justitiae fruendi causâ Reges constituti sunt This we learn the end of having Kings or any other Governors it 's for the enjoying of Justice that 's the end Now Sir if so be the King will go contrary to that End or any other Governor will go contrary to the end of his Government Sir he must understand that he is but an Officer in trust and he ought to discharge that Trust and they are to take order for the animadversion and punishment of such an offending Governor This is not Law of yesterday Sir since the time of the division betwixt you and your People but it is Law of old And we know very well the Authors and the Authorities that do tell us what the Law was in that point upon the Election of Kings upon the Oath that they took unto their People and if they did not observe it there were those things called Parliaments The Parliaments were they that were to adjudge the very words of the Author the plaints and wrongs done of the King and the Queen or their Children such wrongs especially when the People could have no where else any remedy Sir that hath been the People of Englands case they could not have their remedy elsewhere but in Parliament Sir Parliaments were ordained for that purpose to redress the grievances of the People that was their main end and truly Sir if so be that the Kings of England had been rightly mindfull of themselves they were never more in Majesty and State then in the Parliament but how forgetful some have been Stories have told us We have a miserable a lamentable a sad experience of it Sir by the old Laws of England I speak these things the rather to you because you were pleased to let fall the other day you thought you had as much knowledg in the Law as most Gentlemen in England it is very well Sir And truly Sir it is very fit for the Gentlemen of England to understand that Law under which they must live and by which they must be governed And then Sir the Scripture says They that know their Masters will and do it not what follows The Law is your Master the Acts of Parliament The Parliaments were to be kept anciently we find in our old Author twice in the year That the subject upon any occasion might have a ready remedy and redress for his Grievance Afterwards by several Acts of Parliament in the days of your Predecessor Edward the third they must have been once a year Sir what the intermission of PARLIAMENTS hath been in your time it is very well known and the sad Consequences of it and what in the interim instead of these PARLIAMENTS hath been by you by an high and Arbitrary hand introduced upon the People that likewise hath been too well known and felt But when God by his Providence had so far brought it about that you could no longer decline the calling of a Parliament Sir yet it will appear what your ends were against the Ancient and your Native Kingdom of SCOTLAND The Parliament of England not serving your ends against them you were pleased to dissolve it Another great necessity occasioned the calling of this Parliament and what your Designs and Plots and endeavours all along have been for the crushing and confounding of this Parliament hath been very notorious to the whole Kingdom And truly Sir in that you did strike at all That had been a sure way to have brought about that that this Charge laies upon you Your Intention to Subvert the FVNDAMENTAL LAWES of the Land For the great Bulwark of the Liberties of the People is the PARLIAMENT of England and to Subvert and Root up that which your aim hath been to do certainly at one blow you had confounded the liberties and the property of England Truly Sir it makes me call to minde I cannot forbear to express it for Sir we must deal plainly with you according to the merits of your cause so is our Commission it makes me call to mind these proceedings of yours That we read of a great Roman Emperor by the way let us call him a great Roman Tyrant Caligula That wisht that the People of Rome had had but one neck that at one blow he might cut it off and your proceedings hath been somewhat like to this for the body of the People of England hath been and where else represented but in the Parliament and could you have but confounded that you had at one blow cut off the neck of England But God hath reserved better things for us and hath pleased for to Confound your designs and to break your Forces and to bring your Person into Custody that you might