Hutchinson Reporteth from the Committee appointed to consider of the Habits of the Officers and it is thereupon Ordered That Three Gowns be Provided for three Vshers and Three Cloaks for Three Messengers of this Court Mr. Millington reporteth from the Committee for Advice with the Councel concerning the Charge against the King that the Councel have perfected the Charge and are ready to present it He likewise reporteth the Draught of an Order whereby the Charge may by the Command of this Court be exhibited together with a Form of Words the Effect whereof the Committee think fit to be pronounced by him that this Court shall appoint so to exhibit the said Charge Which said Order and Form of Words the Court have with some Alterations agreed unto as followeth It is Ordered That Mr. Attorney and in his absence Mr. Sollicitor do in the behalf of the People of England exhibit and bring into this Court a Charge of High Treason and other High Crimes against CHARLES STVART King of England and charge him thereupon in the behalf aforesaid The Form of Words are as followeth My Lord ACcording to an Order of this High Court to me directed for that purpose I do in the Name and on the behalf of the People of England exhibit and bring into this Court a Charge of High Treason and other High Crimes whereof I do accuse CHARLES STVART King of England here present And I do in the Name and on the behalf aforesaid desire the said Charge may be received accordingly and due Proceedings had thereupon The Councel likewise according to Mr. Millington 's Report present a Draught of the Charge against the King which was read the first and second and third time and referred back to the said Councel to make some small Amendments as to the Form thereof Ordered That Commissary Gen. Ireton Col. Whalley Col. Harrison Sir Hardress Waller or any two of them do appoint the Thirty Persons that are by Order of the 17th Instant to attend the King and the Twenty that are to attend the Lord President Ordered That the Serjeant at Arms do secure Mr. Squibb's Gallery by such ways and means as he shall conceive meet The Court Adjourned it self till Nine of the Clock to morrow morning Sabbathi 20 Jan. 1648. Three Proclamations and Attendance commanded Ordered That Sir Henry Mildmay be desired to deliver unto John Humphreys Esq the Sword of State in his Custody which said Sword the said Mr. Humphreys is to bear before the Lord President of this Court The Court being sate as aforesaid before they engaged in further Business the Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons came thither and acquainted the Court that the House wanted their Members that were of that Court the Court thereupon Adjourned till twelve of the Clock the same day The Court accordingly met at twelve of the Clock Three Proclamations made Commissioners present Painted Chamber 20 Jan. 1648. John Bradshaw Serjeant at Law Lord President of this Court Tho. L. Grey of Groby Henry Martin Oliver Crowwell Henry Ireton Augustine Garland Thomas Challoner Nicholas Love William Cawley John Venn William Purefoy John Barkstead James Challoner Peter Temple Tho. Harrison Robert Tichbourne John Hutchinson Sir Gregory Norton Sir Tho. Maleverer Bar. Daniel Blagrave Owen Roe Thomas Wogan William Say Francis Lassels John Jones Sir John Bourchier John Carew John Dewnes John Fry Sir Michael Livesey Sir John Danvers Mr. Millington Sir Hardress Waller John Blakistone John Huson Humphrey Edwards Isaac Pennington Ald. of Lond. John Brown Edw. Whalley John Okey Thomas Pride Adrian Scroope Valentine Wauton Tho. Hamond James Temple Peregrine Pelham Thomas Lister Edmond Ludlow Simon Meyne Thomas Scot. Edmond Harvy William Lord Mounson Henry Smith Sir William Constable Isaac Ewers Sir Henry Mildmay Anthony Stapeley Here the Court sate private Ordered That the Form and Method of the Courts Proceeding unto and in the reading of the Commission by which they Sit sending for and bringing in the Prisoner to the Bar acquainting him in brief with the cause of his bringing thither receiving and reading the Charge and demanding what the Prisoner says thereto be referred to the discretion of the Lord President as also That in case the Prisoner shall in Language or Carriage towards the Court be insolent outragious or contemptuous that it be left to the Lord President to reprehend him therefore and admonish him of his Duty or to command the taking away of the Prisoner and if he see cause to withdraw or adjourn the Court But as to the Prisoners putting off his Hat the Court will not insist upon it for this day and that if the King desire time to Answer the Lord President is to give him time Ordered Vpon the Lord President 's Desire and Motion That Mr. Lisle and Mr. Say Commissioners of this Court be Assistants to the Lord President and for that purpose it is Ordered that they sit near the Lord President in Court Mr. Sollicitor presented the Charge against the King ingrossed in Parchment which was read and being by Mr. Sollicitor Signed was returned to him to be exhibited against the King in his presence in open Court And thereupon the Court Adjourned it self forthwith to the Great Hall in Westminster The Manner of the Tryal of Charles Stuart King of England ON Saturday being the 20 th Day of January 1648. the Lord President of the High Court of Justice his two Assistants and the rest of the Commissioners of the said Court according to the Adjournment of the said Court from the Painted Chamber came to the Bench or Place prepared for their Sitting at the West End of the Great Hall at Westminster divers Officers of the said Court one and twenty Gentlemen with Partizans and a Sword and Mace marching before them up into the Court where the Lord President in a crimson Velvet Chair fixed in the midst of the Court placed himself having a Desk with a crimson Velvet Cushion before him the rest of the Members placing themselves on each side of him upon several Seats or Benches prepared and hung with Scarlet for that purpose The Lord President 's two Assistants sitting next of each side of him and the two Clerks of the Court placed at a Table somewhat lower and covered with a Turky Carpet upon which Table was also laid the Sword and Mace the said Guard of Partizans dividing themselves on each side of the Court before them Three Proclamations are made for all persons that were Adjourned over thither to draw near The Court being thus sate and Silence enjoyned the Great Gate of the Hall was set open to the intent that all persons without exception desirous to see or hear might come unto it upon which the Hall was presently filled and Silence again ordered and proclaimed After Silence proclaimed as aforesaid the Act of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament for Erecting of a High Court of Justice for Trying and Judging of CHARLES STVART King of
Murdered him but also by not hindring and preventing the doing of it For it is a most certain Truth Qui non prohibet cum potest jubet For instance Two Thieves bind an honest Man and rob him one is for dispatching him out of the way that he may not ever be in a capacity to prosecute them the other pretends he does not so well approve of that last Extremity while they are in the contest the honest Mans Servant comes up and finding his Master in that condition puts himself in a posture to attempt his Rescue now he who was pretendedly against the Murder though he could well enough dispence with the Robbery if he had meant sincerely ought rather to have assisted the Loyal Servant in his Generous and Dutiful Design and it had then been easie to have delivered the despoiled Prisoner at least from the danger of Death but instead of this he joyns with his former Companion and assists him first to dispatch the Servant who indeavoured his Masters Deliverance and then sits him down while his Companion sends his Fetter'd Master to keep him Company Now do I appeal to God and Men whether both these men were not involved in equal guilt as well he who help'd to bind disarm and rob the Master and opposed the honest indeavour of his Servant to deliver him as he who actually imbrued his Hands in their innocent Blood The Case is exactly the same but under this more hainous aggravation that Royal Blood is much more valuable and Sacred than that which runs in Common veins The Zealous Presbyterian Saints began the late Rebellion and the Independents and other Schismaticks being associated with them in that Traiterous Combination or the Solemn League and Covenant they joyntly and unanimously prosecuted the War and by murdering of such of his Loyal Subjects as out of Duty and Conscience came to his assistance having subdued his Forces they got his Person into their Power The Independents having in the mean time gotten the Ascendant of Power over the Presbyterians were absolutely for assuring their Usurpation by the King's death on the other side the Presbyterians more out of detestation of the Independents who now began to deride their Discipline and have their Blew-Cap-Reformation as they termed it in the utmost contempt and hatred than out of true Loyalty and Duty to the King were for shackling of His Majesty with Parliament Fetters and so to let him live hoping under the protection of his Authority and Name to re-establish their own Power and subdue the Independents And for this purpose was all the noise of a Personal Treaty with the King during his Confinement at Cairsbrook Castle in the Isle of Wight in which if they had meant honourably and sincerely they might have had such Conditions as would have brought sufficient advantage and reputation both to their Cause and Interest But so stiff were they in their Demands and so cautious to put strong and lasting Fetters upon His Majesty that the whole Treaty came to nothing In the mean time the Royalists seeing the gasping condition of the King and Monarchy and that nothing but the most abject Vassallage was to be expected from those Men who were resolved to make their King a Royal Slave they summoned their scattered Force to make one Vigorous Attempt for his deliverance Now had the Presbyterians joyned in that generous Design in all humane probability the King had been rescued from his Captivity among the Independents by which means they might have obtained honourable Conditions of Oblivion Security and Accommodation for the Present and Reputation for the Future But so far were they from this that mortally hating the Loyal Party they contributed all that lay in their power to assist the Independent Army under Fairfax or indeed Cromwel for the other was but a Cypher utterly to ruine and subdue the slender Remains of Loyalty which had taken Arms in Kent and Essex which when it was accomplished by the surrender of Colchester and the Execution of the Noble Capel Lisle and Lucas the Independents fell presently upon their Bloody Project of cutting off the King and subverting the Monarchy which they also effected the Presbyterians all this while sitting still and looking on Whereas had they ever heartily opposed such a detestable Wickedness their Party was then so considerable that with the Addition of the Loyal Interest which was not so dead but that upon the least hope it would have revived and joyned them they might have given such a shock to the Independent Faction that they would difficultly if ever have been able to accomplish or execute their Execrable Design against the Life of the King but so far were they from this that there was not the least Attempt to oppose the Traytors or prevent the Treason Nay had the Rabble of the City and Suburbs which were much at the Devotion of the Presbyterian Interest had but half so much Zeal to hurry down to Westminster to oppose the Murder of the King as they had before times to oppose him and cry up Priviledge of Parliament in the beginning of the Tumults it is very disputable whether Cromwel with all his black Myrmidons would have had the Courage to strike the Fatal Stroke But the Presbyterians are only Couragious in Rebellion but perfect Cowards in the Cause of Loyalty But to these little palliating shifts to which the Presbyterians and Independents have been reduced to varnish and guild over their Infamous Actions they have now very lately found out another and that is to vindicate themselves by charging the whole Contrivance and Execution of this hellish Murder of the late King upon the Papists And though nothing in the World is more ridiculous or remote from the truth in most demonstrable Matter of Fact yet it is incredible how much the belief of this senseless Fiction and Romance has gained upon this new Generation of the Vulgar Proselytes of the Dissenters And I speak it of my own knowledge that in Discourse with divers of them when I have made use of this Argument of the Wickedness and Infamy of the most Eminent Patrons of their Religion who as Mr. Baxter confesses of himself when he tells us I have been in the heat of my Zeal so forward to Changes and Ways of Blood that I fear God will not let me have a hand in the Building of his Church Hypocrisie unveil'd R. Baxter 's Letters to Dr. Hill pag. 11. must needs be ill men and worse Guides to Heaven and have from their guilt of the Kings Blood indeavoured to reclaim them from following the Witchcraft of such dangerous Principles and to bring them home to the Communion of the Loyal and Primitively obedient Church of England I have been amazed to hear with what confidence they have vindicated their Leaders and Party from the least share or imputation of the guilt of that Horrid Murder and averred with as much confidence that the late King was murdered by the
in which I having concluded as much as in Me lay and hopefully expecting the Houses Agreement thereunto I was suddenly surprized and hurried from thence as a Prisoner upon which account I am against My Will brought hither vvhere since I am come I cannot but to My Power defend the Ancient Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom together with My own just Right Then for any thing I can see the Higher House is totally excluded And for the House of Commons it is too well known that the Major part of them are detained or deterred from Sitting so as if I had no other this were sufficient for Me to protest against the Lawfulness of your Pretended Court. Besides all this the Peace of the Kingdom is not the least in My Thoughts and what hopes of Settlement is there so long as Power reigns without Rule or Law changing the whole Frame of that Government under which this Kingdom hath flourished for many hundred Years nor will I say what will fall out in case this lawless unjust Proceeding against Me do go on And believe it the Commons of England will not thank you for this Change for they will remember how happy they have been of late Years under the Reign of Queen Elizabeth the King My Father and My Self until the beginning of these unhappy Troubles and will have cause to doubt that they shall never be so happy under any New And by this time it will be too sensibly evident that the Arms I took up were only to defend the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom against those who have supposed My Power hath totally changed the Ancient Government Thus having shewed you briefly the Reasons why I cannot submit to your Pretended Authority without violating the Trust which I have from God for the Welfare and Liberty of My People I expect from you either clear Reasons to convince My Judgment shewing Me that I am in an Error and then truly I will Answer or that you will withdraw your Proceedings This I intended to speak in Westminster-Hall on Monday January 22. but against Reason was hindred to shew my Reasons Painted Chamber Martis 23 Jan. 1648. Three Proclamations are made and all Parties concerned required to give their Attendance Commissioners Present John Bradshaw Serjeant at Law Lord President of this Court John Lisle William Say Sir James Harrington Kt. Francis Allen. Henry Marten Thomas Scot. Sir Hardress Waller Edm. Whalley John Venn Richard Deane John Huson Thomas Lord Grey of Groby William Purefoy Daniel Blagrave Isaac Pennington Ald. of Lond. Thomas Harrison Adrian Scroope Robert Lilbourne Sir Gregory Norton Cornelius Holland William Cawley Augustine Garland Nicholas Love Tho. Hamond John Moore Edmond Harvey Thomas Pride Henry Smith Thomas Challoner Miles Corbet John Okey Sir William Constable Bar. Gilbert Millington Humphrey Edwards Anthony Stapeley Robert Tichbourne Sir John Danvers Simon Meyne Vincent Potter Oliver Cromwell Edmond Ludlow John Blackistone Sir Henry Mildmay John Hutchinson Peter Temple Henry Ireton Sir Michael Livesey Bar. John Jones James Temple Isaac Ewers Sir John Bourchier John Fry Sir Tho. Maleverer Bar. Gregory Clement John Carew Tho. Andrews Ald. of Lond. John Dixwell Sir Gilbert Pickering Bar. William Heveningham Valentine Wauton John Downs Owen Roe Here the Court sate private And taking into consideration the Proceeding of the last Court the last day fully approved of what in their behalf had been then said and done and likewise taking into consideration the Demeanor of the King at the said Court have notwithstanding resolved to try him once more whether he will own the Court and to that purpose Ordered That the Lord President do acquaint the King in case he shall continue contumacious that he is to expect no further time and that the Lord President do therefore in the Name of the Court require his Positive and Final Answer and if he shall still persist in his obstinacy that the Lord President give Command to the Clerk to read as followeth viz. CHARLES STVART King of England you are accused on the behalf of the People of England of divers High Crimes and Treasons which Charge hath been read unto you The Court now requires you to give your final and positive Answer by way of Confession or Denial of the Charge Nevertheless if the King should submit to answer and desire a Copy of his Charge that it be granted him by the Lord President notwithstanding giving him to know That the Court might in Justice forthwith proceed to Judgment for his former Contumacy and Failer to Answer and that he be required to give his Answer to the said Charge the next day at One of the Clock in the Afternoon Whereupon The Court Adjourned to Westminster-Hall forthwith Westminster-Hall 28 Jan. 1648. Post Merid. Three Proclamations being made and Attendance and Silence commanded as formerly The Court is thereupon called Commissioners present John Bradshaw Serjeant at Law Lord President of this Court Oliver Cromwell Henry Ireton Sir Hardress Waller Valentine Wauton Tho. Harrison Edward Whalley Thomas Pride Isaac Ewer Henry Martin William Purefoy John Berkstead John Blakistone Gilbert Millington Sir William Constable Bar. Edmond Ludlow John Hutchinson Sir Michael Livesey Bar. Robert Tichbourne Owen Roe Robert Lilbourne Adrian Scroope Richard Deane John Okey John Huson William Goffe Cornelius Holland John Carew John Jones Miles Corbet Francis Allen. Peregrine Pelham Tho. Challoner John Moore William Say John Dixwell Sir Henry Mildmay Kt Tho. Lord Grey of Groby William L. Mounson Sir John Danvers Sir Thomas Maleverer Bar. Sir John Bourchier Kt. Sir James Harrington Kt. Robert Wallop William Heveningham Isaac Pennington Ald. of Lond. John Aldred Henry Smith James Temple Peter Temple Daniel Blagrave Humphrey Edwards Gregory Clement John Fry Thomas Wogan Sir Gregory Norton Edmond Harvey John Venn Thomas Scot. Tho. Andrews Ald. of Lond. William Cawley Anthony Stapeley John Downes Thomas Horton Thomas Hammond John Lisle Nicholas Love Vincent Potter Sir Gilbert Pickering Bar. Augustine Garland Simon Meyne The Court being called the Serjeant is required to send for the Prisoner who was accordingly brought to the Bar where he took his Seat as formerly Proclamation is thereupon made for Silence while the Pleas of the Commonwealth are in hand and the Captain of the Guard commanded by Proclamation to take into custody all that shall disturb the Proceedings of the Court Mr. Sollicitor Cooke addressing himself to the Court repeated the former Delays and Contempts of the Prisoner so as that no more needed on his part but to demand Judgment yet offered notwithstanding the Notoriety of the Facts charged mentioned in the Commons Act appointing the Tryal to prove the Truth of the same by Witnesses if thereto required and therefore prayed and yet he said not so much he as the innocent Blood that had been shed the cry whereof was very great that a speedy Sentence and Judgment might be pronounced against the Prisoner at the Bar according to Justice Hereupon the Court putting the
Prisoner in mind of former Proceedings and that although by the Rules of Justice if Advantage were taken of his past Contempts nothing would remain but to pronounce Judgment against him they had nevertheless determined to give him leave to Answer his Charge which as was told him in plain terms for Justice knew no respect of Persons to plead Guilty or Not Guilty thereto To which he made Answer as formerly That he would not acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Court and that it was against the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom that there was no Law to make a King a Prisoner that he had done nothing against his Trust and issued out into such like Discourses Upon which the Courts Resolution was again remembred to him and he told That he had now the third time publickly disowned and affronted the Court That how good a Preserver he had been of the Fundamental Laws and Freedoms of the People his Actions had spoken that mens Intentions were used to be shewed by their Actions and that he had written his Meaning in bloody Characters throughout the Kingdom and that he should find at last though at present he would not understand it that he was before a Court of Justice Hereupon in the manner appointed the Clerk in the Name of the Court demanding the Prisoners Answer to his Charge and the same refused the Default was Recorded the Prisoner remanded and the Court Adjourned to the Painted Chamber Painted Chamber The Court according to their former Adjournment from Westminster-Hall came together from thence into the Painted Chamber where they sate privately and Ordered as followeth Ordered That no Commissioner ought or shall depart from the Court without the special leave of the said Court This Court took into consideration the managing of the Business of the Court this day in the Hall and the King's Refusal to Answer notwithstanding he had been three several times demanded and required thereunto and have thereupon fully approved of what on the Courts part had then passed and Resolved That Notwithstanding the said Contumacy of the King and refusal to plead which in Law amounts to a standing mute and tacit Confession of the Charge and notwithstanding the Notoriety of the Fact charged the Court would nevertheless however examine Witnesses for the further and clearer satisfaction of their own Judgments and Consciences the manner of whose Examination was referred to further Consideration the next Sitting and Warrants were accordingly issued forth for summoning of Witnesses Mr. Peters moveth the Court as a Messenger from the King viz. That the King desires he might speak with his Chaplains that came unto him privately but the House of Commons having taken that into their Consideration the Court conceived it not proper for them to intermeddle therein The Court Adjourned it self till Nine of the Clock to morrow morning to this Place What passed in the Hall more at large than is related by Phelpes in this Days Transactions see in the following Discourse The King being brought in by the Guard looks with a Majestick Countenance upon his Pretended Judges and sits down After the second O Yes and Silence commanded Cooke began more insolently Cooke 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 exhibit a Charge against him containing the Highest Treason that 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 to subvert and destroy our Laws and introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government in the defiance of the Parliament and their Authority set up his Standard for War against the 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 favour than 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 Supreme 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 Crystal and as the Sun that shines at Noon-day which if your Lordship and the Court be not satisfied in I have notwithstanding on the People of England's 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. Bradshaw went on in the same strain 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 do not the Court cannot forget what dilatory Dealings the Court hath found at your hands You were pleased to propound some Questions You have had Your Resolution upon them You were told over and over again That The Court did affirm their own Jurisdiction that it was not for You nor any other man to dispute the Jurisdiction of the Supreme and Highest Authority of England from which there is no Appeal and touching which there must be no Dispute yet You did persist in such Carriage as You gave no manner of Obedience nor did You acknowledge any Authority in them nor the High Court that constituted this Court of Justice Sir I must let you know from the Court that they are very sensible of these Delays of yours and that they ought not being thus
Cause of withdrawing that then the Lord President do command the Sentence to be read but that the Lord President should hear the King say what he would before the Sentence and not after And thereupon it being further moved Whether the Lord President should use any Discourse or Speeches to the King as in the case of other Prisoners to be condemned was usual before the Publishing of the Sentence received general Directions to do therein as he should see cause and to press what he should conceive most seasonable and sutable to the Occasion And it was further directed That after the Reading of the Sentence the Lord President should declare that the same was the Sentence Judgment and Resolution of the whole Court and that the Commissioners should thereupon signifie their Consent by standing up The Court forthwith Adjourned it self to Westminster-Hall 27 Jan. 1648. post Merid. Westminster-Hall The Lord President and the rest of the Commissioners come together from the Painted Chamber to Westminster-Hall according to their Adjournment and take their Seats there as formerly and three Proclamations being made for Attendance and Silence The Court is called The Commissioners Present John Bradshaw Serjeant at Law Lord President of this Court John Lisle William Say Oliver Crowwell Henry Ireton Sir Hardress Waller Knight Sir John Bourchier Kt. William Heveningham Isaac Pennington Ald. of Lond. Henry Marten William Purefoy John Barkstead Matthew Tomlinson John Blackistone Gilbert Millington Sir William Constable Bar. Edmond Ludlow John Hutchinson Sir Michael Livesey Bar. Robert Tichbourne Owen Roe Robert Lilbourne Adrian Scroope Richard Deane John Okey John Huson William Goffe Cornelius Holland John Carew John Jones Miles Corbet Francis Allen. Peregr Pelham Daniel Blagrave Valentine Wauton Thomas Harrison Edward Whalley Thomas Pride Isaac Ewers Tho. L. Grey of Groby Sir John Danvers Sir Thomas Maleveâ—eâ— Bar. John Moore John Alured Henry Smith Humphrey Edwards Gregory Clement Thomas Wogan Sir Gregory Norton Bar. Edmond Harvey John Venn Thomas Scot. Tho. Andrews Ald. of Lond. William Cawleâ— Anthony Stapeley John Downs Thomas Horton Thomas Hamond Nicholas Love Vincent Potter Augustine Garland John Dixwell George Fleetwood Simon Meyne James Temple Peter Temple Thomas Waite The Prisoner is brought to the Bar and Proclamation is again as formerly made for Silence and the Captain of the Guard ordered to take into his Custody all such as should disturb the Court. The President stood up with an intention of address to the People and not to the Prisoner who had so often declined the Jurisdiction of the Court which the Prisoner observing moved he might be heard before Judgment given whereof he received assurance from the Court and that he should be heard after he had heard them first Whereupon the Court proceeded and remembred the great Assembly then present of what had formerly passed betwixt the Court and the Prisoner the Charge against him in the Name of the People of England exhibited to them being a Court constituted by the Supream Authority of England his refusal three several days and times to own them as a Court or to answer to the Matter of his Charge his thrice recorded Contumacy and other his Contempts and Defaults in the precedent Courts upon which the Court then declared that they might not be wanting to themselves or to the Trust reposed in them and that no mans Wilfulness ought to serve him to prevent Justice and that they had therefore thought fit to take the substance of what had passed into their serious consideration to wit the Charge and the Prisoners Contumacy and the Confession which in Law doth arise upon that Contumacy the Notoriety of the Fact charged and other the Circumstances material in the Cause and upon the whole Matter had resolved and agreed upon a Sentence then ready to be pronounced against the Prisoner But that in regard of his desire to be further heard they were ready to hear him as to any thing material which he would offer to their consideration before the Sentence given relating to the Defence of himself concerning the Matter charged and did then signifie so much to the Prisoner who made use of that leave given only to protest his respects to the Peace of the Kingdom and Liberty of the Subject and to say That the same made him at last to desire That having somewhat to say that concerned both he might before the Sentence given be heard in the Painted Chamber before the Lords and Commons saying it was fit to be heard if it were Reason which he should offer whereof they were Judges And pressing that Point much he was forthwith answered by the Court and told That that which he had moved was a declining of the Jurisdiction of the Court whereof he had Caution frequently before given him That it sounded to further delay of which he had been too much guilty That the Court being founded as often had been said upon the Authority of the Commons of England in whom rested the Supream Jurisdiction the motion tended to set up another or a co-ordinate Jurisdiction in derogation of the Power whereby the Court sate and to the manifest delay of theif Justice in which regard he was told they might forthwith proceed to Sentence yet for his further satisfaction of the entire Pleasure and Judgment of the Court upon what he had then said he was told and accordingly it was declared that the Court would withdraw half an hour The Prisoner by command being withdrawn the Court make their recess into the Room called The Court of Wards considered of the Prisoners Motion and gave the President Direction to declare their Dissent thereto and to proceed to the Sentence The Court being again set and the Prisoner returned was according to their Direction informed That he had in effect received his Answer before the Court withdrew and that their Judgment was as to his Motion the same to him before declared That the Court acted and were Judges appointed by the Highest Authority and that Judges were not to delay no more than to deny Justice That they were good words in the great old Charter of England Nulli negabimus nulli vendemus nulli differemus Justitiam vel Rectum That their Duty called upon them to avoid further Delays and to proceed to Judgment which was their unanimous Resolution Unto which the Prisoner replied and insisted upon his former Desires confessing a delay but that it was important for the Peace of the Kingdom and therefore pressed again with much earnestness to be heard before the Lords and Commons In Answer whereto he was told by the Court That they had fully before considered of his Proposal and must give him the same Answer to his renewed desires and that they were ready to proceed to Sentence if he had nothing more to say Whereunto he subjoyned He had no more to say but desired that might be Entred which he had said Hereupon after some Discourse used by the President for vindicating
gasping Liberty and expiring Religion our Estates consumed with Arbitrary Taxes and heavy Impositions unknown to our generous Ancestors so many Oppressions Exactions Plunder and Free Quarter such vast Treasures borrowed upon the Publick Faith Sequestrations and Compositions exhausted so many thousand Lives as perished in the late Calamitous Rebellion the entire subversion of the Government and the barbarous Murder of a Lawful King thousands of living Witnesses and Sufferers under the Cruelty and Bondage of their Vsurpation nay their own Authentique Records Declarations Protestations Covenants and Associations and which is more than all these their own Consciences are Witnesses before God and the whole World of Men and Angels that the ways of Peace are not known to them or make any part in the Composition of their Religion but that notwithstanding their high Pretensions to Purity Seditions Tumults Insurrections Treason and Rebellion are the Fruits and Effects the Consequences and Conclusion of the Separation which begins with Whining in a Conventicle against Ceremonies and Persecution for Conscience sake but in the end advances into the open Field with the loud Arguments of Drums and Trumpets the thundering Language of the Cannon and in downright defiance and opposition of Lawful Government and Authority by Arms and Violence or the baser ways of secret Treasons and Assassinations Had there been indeed but one single Instance of the mischievous and dangerous inclinations of these combined Factions it were sufficient for ever to ruine their Reputation amongst wise and sober minded Men But they have given so many repeated Testimonies of their hatred of the present Government both Civil and Ecclesiastical and of a restless turbulent and unreclaimable Temper obstinately resolved upon the first opportunity to Attempt the Subversion and Ruine of them both that there cannot be the least excuse found out to plead in mitigation of their Crimes But to all their former Guilt and the very late disturbances and seditious behaviour of which they have under the new Denomination of The True Protestants been most notoriously guilty the detection of this last Execrable Conspiracy to take off the most Gracious and Indulgent Prince in the World and his Illustrious and only Brother the Duke by the most infamous method of Assassination is such a demonstrative Evidence of their implacable Malice that they cannot add any thing more Black and Wicked to render them till they abandon these Trayterous Principles most detestable and odious to all Loyal Subjects and good Christians The Faction indeed stand much upon their Tiptoes again now their first Consternation for the Discovery is over and because they are not to a single man found upon a Muster-Roll among the infamous Conspirators would from thence argue a kind of Innocency in the Party But let any Person consider that so great an undertaking as the Subversion of this well-built Government and the justifying of such horrid Methods by which it was to be begun was never possibly to be effected by a few Heads or Hands and that there being an absolute necessity to second the first Blow by a most considerable Force of Arms and it will be impossible to doubt but that the Conspirators though they did not Communicate the Particularities of their Treasonous Design to every Individual person from whom they expected assistance yet made themselves most assured of assistance from a Powerful Party which should joyn with them to perfect their Execrable purposes For it is impossible that so many Men as are known to be of the Conspiracy both by their own Confession and the Testimony of so many unexceptionable Witnesses and Circumstances should all of them by consent become Ideots and Madmen to think of accomplishing such amazing Treasons by Miracles or the Strength of Imagination it is true a small number of such desperate hellish Villains as were imbarqued in the most wicked Enterprize might I am all horror to name it with their Blunderbusses have Assassinated the King and his Royal Brother but it must be a numerous Party who must have seconded that Cursed Blow so as to inable them to overcome all the succeeding Difficulties and Oppositions which they could not but foresee they must encounter with from the Loyal Party who by the Shaftsbury Association and the well known Malice of the Exclusioners which comprehended the whole Faction of the Dissenters would quickly have discovered who were the Traytors and Murderers of the King and his Brother and would certainly most vigorously have opposed them and the progress of their Designs of Vsurpation Now from what Quarter of Heaven or from what Subterranean Caverns must this assistance come Did they expect any of Elisha's Flaming Battalions or an Army of Aery Combatants or had they a promise of Forty Thousand Black Bills that would fight without hands or a Levy of St. Jago Pilgrims to make use of these Black-Bills to defend and support their blacker Cause They must certainly be all Lunaticks indeed and Madmen if they relyed upon an invisible Power Nor is it to be doubted but that how much soever they would have intituled God to the Cause as their Ancestors and Predecessors in Rebellion had done yet like them they would not so absolutely have reposed their trust in Him but that they would wisely have thought the best of their way was to make use of the Arm of Flesh and a Sword of Steel which they knew by experience would prove a better defence than the Shield of Faith or their pretended Sword of the Spirit and enable them to settle Christ in his Throne as the Presbyterians use to cant it by dispossessing the King of His But besides the Old Army Officers who were to command them there must be an Army to be commanded and who could these Levies consist of but the Factious Schismaticks and Dissenters who having listed themselves under Separation the very Standard of the Old Cause no man in his Senses can doubt but had her bloody Colours wrought with Liberty of Conscience and Colledges Motto No Popery No Slavery been once displaid in the Field whole Troops of Zealous Volunteers would in the Language of their Addresses have offered their Lives and Fortunes and hazarded their Souls and Bodies in her service against the Tyranny of King-ship the uselessness and danger of Peerage and the Antichristianism of Prelacy and Popery Pentland Hills and Bothwel Bridge give us good assurance of the Inclinations and Forwardness of these pretended Saints to take up Arms and propagate the Gospel by the wrong Sword though if they were not infatuated even to Perdition the discovery of their Treasons and the baffling of their repeated attempts against Gods Vicegerent were sufficient to convince them how disagreeable their Practices and the Principles which lead them are to the Divine Majestie and Supreme Monarch of the World But that which puts this matter out of all dispute is the Testimony of their own Consciences The Plot saith Walcot one of the Conspirators is laid broad and deep
Chap. 3. Ver. 7. and Chap. 33. Ver. 7 8. And you are to give timely and serious warning to the Superior Magistrates Esa Chap. 58. Ver. 1. Cry aloud spare not lift up your voices like Trumpets to Advise Preach Petition to purpose our most Noble and Honorable Parliamentary Worthies to put in serious zealous and speedy Execution this God-pleasing Wrath-appeasing Work of Severity and exactly punishing all Grand Offenders and Arch-Adversaries of God and the Kingdom whosoever they be Then he reminds them that Justice was done on the Earl of Strafford by the City of London's means who about two years since with an Unanimous and Zealous consent Assembled gravely and advisedly together and in a sober and substantial manner by their most humble Petition craving and crying out for Justice against that pernicious Traytor and Cruel Crafty Enemy of the State the Earl of Strafford accordingly obtained the thing desired And now he comes to intitle God to this Bloody Divinity and as if he had adored some of the inhumane Idols of the Pagans to bespeak Hecatombs of Humane Sacrifices to honor and serve him with Say saith he What Honor and Dignity hath been done to God for all the late Victories Much by the Parliament but whatever hath been all is too little and therefore some Extraordinary and Eminent Work tending to the High Honour of the Lord our most glorious wonder-working God nothing like destroying those Achans and Agags whether Great by Place or Noble by Birth But then again his almost smothered Conscience gets a little breath to cross his sanguinary Divinity with an Objection whilest he stops her Cries with an impertinent and shuffling Answer Obj. But what saith he Nothing but Blood and Cruelty Make the Parliament a Parliament of Blood May not Mercy be as Honourable as thus fiercely shedding Blood Answ I or rather Gods Word saith Who art thou that darest call that Act Bloody which God himself calls Justice and Judgment and wherein God is so delighted Secondly I say not all but as the Prophet Jeremy Chap. 15. Ver. 2. Thus saith the Lord such as are for Death to Death and such as are for the Sword to the Sword and such as are for the Famine to the Famine and such as are for the Captivity to the Captivity So that you see the tender Mercies of a Presbyterian are Cruelty and the Merciful Schismatick is not altogether for Hanging Drawing and Quartering no good Man he is only for Sword Famine and Captivity for some of them and I dare say had the abused Text had Plague Fire and Water in it the Compassionate Creature would graciously have condescended to spare the Malignants from Death to have Committed them to those other lingring Punishments But here 's no Quarter to be given not one grain of Mercy to be found in his Heart no Pardon to be had or hoped and in the Battel of Presbyterian Vengeance none are like to escape But now he comes to wind up his Bloody Bottoms and concludes That this Advice is given in singleness and sincerity of heart for that he may say with David What have I done is there not a Cause Here is the very Heart the Soul the Conscience of a True Protestant Schismatick and indeed the very Spirit of Separation laid naked and open to the view of all Mankind Here 's a Window into the very Bosome of the Faction where one may see Revenge and Cruelty Malice and Murder Hatred of Monarchy and Contempt of Kings and ten thousand other Impieties lodged in every corner of his breast How would these Cruel People now like the Lex Talionis Adonibezek's Law not only to have their Toes and Thumbs cut off but according to their own Divinity since they are most manifestly Guilty of what they falsly accuse the Loyal Party to be Condemned to all the Severites which they have so uncompassionately allotted to others But they are out of that danger our Religion teaches us a far different Temper and would they give the Government any tolerable assurance that it were possible for them to be peaceable and forbear pulling the Penalties of the Laws made for its security upon their own Heads they might grow old and go in quiet to their own if they would let others hope to do so to their Graves I will add but one Instance more and that shall be of Mr. Love whose unpeaceful Zeal was one great occasion of the breaking off the Vxbridge Treaty by which means so many thousands of poor Souls were sent in the succeeding Wars to Untimely and Bloody Deaths Men saith he who lye under the Guilt of much Innocent Blood are not meet persons to be at Peace with till all the Guilt of the Blood be expiated and avenged either by the Sword of the Law or the Law of the Sword 'T is the Sword not Disputes and Treaties that must end this Controversie just point blanck contrary to the Text which is exactly according to the Presbyterian Divinity Wherefore turn your Plow-shares into Swords and your Pruning-hooks into Spears to fight the Lords Battels to avenge the Blood of Saints which hath been spilt it must be avenged either by us or upon us Loves Sermon at Uxbridge Treaty 1644. And so it happened Providence it seems taking him at his Word and some part of that Innocent Blood which was shed by his incitement being by those of his own Party according to his Oraculous tho' otherwise intended Prediction avenged upon himself which because it fell out by a very uncommon accident and known to very few Providence seeming to interpose between him and a Pardon which was intended for him and to shew us that vir sanguinum non dimidiabit dies suos Blood-thirsty Men shall not live out half their Days I think it will not here be impertinent to my Design or unprofitable either to the present or future Times to make publick the Relation of it which I had from the Mouth of a very Loyal Worthy and Credible Person which was thus That the Independents after the Murder of the King having made themselves absolute Conquerors and Masters of the Sword and thereby snatched the Lawrels of Victory from the Presbyterian Brows who had together with them born the heat and burthen of the Day and sweat so hard in the Common Cause and that they had now every where crushed their fair hopes of Erecting their rigorous Discipline in the Establishment of a National Church-Government according to the Geneva and Scottish Model so that the Sneaking Presbyterians were even forced to content themselves with a bare Toleration being every hour affronted by the Huffing Independents and every moment menaced with Ruine by taking away the burthen of Tithes the maintenance of their Cause and Ministers they began to consult which way to retrieve themselves from those desperate Events which seemed like black Clouds to hang over their Heads ready to discharge themselves and all their Storms and Thunder upon them And seeing
no way more probable than to follow the Example of their Dear Brethren of Scotland they cast their thoughts upon a Treaty with the King then in Exile but that this was out of pure kindness to themselves and not in the least to the King or his Interest it is most evident both because they utterly refused therein to joyn with the Loyal Party and that even Mr. Love himself with his latest Breath upon the Scaffold assures us That it was true he did oppose in his Place and Calling the Forces and Tyranny of the late King and were he alive again saith he and should I live longer the Cause being as then it was I should oppose him longer The Crafty Independents whose jealousie of the Presbyterian Interest and Power made fearful of them and those fears vigilant having their Spies Emissaries Informers and Intelligencers in every Corner even in the Kings Court during his Exile quickly got the scent of this Presbyterian Intrigue and Love as a Principal Man of the Presbyterian Faction being most zealous and forward and by reason of his precipitate boiling temper of Spirit less circumspect and cautious was immediately Discovered Apprehended Tryed Convicted and Condemned for this High Treason against the State But he being the Minion of the Presbyterians and they considering what a wound of Infamy it would give to their even expiring Reputation thorow the whole Nation if he should die for this Crime of supposed Loyalty therefore extraordinary Intercessions and Applications were made to the Commons then Styled The Supreme Authority of the Nation for his Deliverance all his faithful Zeal and memorable Services in former Times were recounted and the danger of disobliging and losing the Presbyterian Interest and Kindness and how hazardous it might be to the Common-wealth not yet well setled if by such severities the Presbyterians should be provoked to joyn with the Malignant Party were among other Sollicitations represented and insinuated to the Grandees of the Independent Party But this Supreme Authority of the Nation having now struck their Top-sail to Cromwel who wore the Flag of Soveraignty even over this goodly Supreme Authority till such time as they had sent a dispatch to their Great Dictator Oliver to consult his Soveraign Will and to know from his Lips upon which all Mens Destinies now depended their Supremeships at Westminster durst not condescend to give Love a Pardon for his Life only Execution was respited for some little time Cromwel being then absent in Scotland upon the Receipt of this Account from the Slaves whom he was pleased to call his Masters having taken the matter into his grave Deliberation returns his Answer in a private Letter to one of his Confidents but I cannot positively charge my Memory whether Scot or Martin and therein according to his Politicks considering that at present his hands were full and fearing lest the English Presbyterians should rise at his back and joyn with the Scottish Kirk-Party with whom he was now ingaged he graciously Condescends that Love should be for a considerable time Reprieved and upon good Security from Him and his Party of their future behaviour Pardoned Now by what Impulse or Direction God only knows two or three Gentlemen who had formerly been of the Kings Army happening to travel the Northern Road and meeting the Post who among others was charged with this Letter and inquiring of him Whether he had any Scotch Letters to which he innocently replyed He had a Curiosity seized their Imagination to peep into the Secrets of the Vsurping Powers and therefore taking the Post aside out of the High Road into a convenient place and opening his Male they took out and opened the Scottish Pacquet and among others this of Cromwels which carried a Warrant for a Reprieve for Love upon the reading of which one of them immediately cried out Oh! that is the Rogue that ruin'd us by breaking off the Treaty at Vxbridge and thereupon putting that Letter in his pocket they restored the rest to the Post telling him there were his Letters again and immediately mounting and putting Spurs to their Horses they pursued their intended Journey The Pacquet arriving at London and several Letters from Cromwel to diverse Persons without one single Syllable concerning Love the Party took it for granted that this Silence was intended as an absolute Denial And therefore not daring to draw upon themselves the high displeasure of Cromwel either by a second Importunity to save him or by a Delay of Execution in a few days after the Warrant for his dispatch into the other World was signed and he who had been instrumental in bringing so many Noble Heads and even the Kings to that Infamous and Untimely Death had himself the Honour of the Axe and to have the blood of so many Innocents as was shed by his Party avenged upon himself according to his Sanguinary and Prophetick Divinity But while my Pen runs in this full Carreer against these Cruel and Sanguinary Principles it is more than probable that the usual Courtesie of the Faction will bestow the Title of a bloudy-minded Persecutor upon me and that the intent of this Exposure of their Positions is designed purposely to Expose their Persons to the Hatred and severest Punishments of the Laws and Government Now though while I keep my self to the strictest Rules of Truth I should little value the worst of their Imputations yet considering that they are wont to extend their Calumnies from single Persons to the whole Order of our Church I have too much Duty and Tenderness for the Reputation of that Glorious and truly Apostolical Church whereof I esteem it my greatest Honour to be one of her meanest Servants to suffer the least Spot through my willing default to sully her Beauteous Face I must therefore make my most Solemn Protestation that as I have not the least Animosity to any Mans Person so I have not the least Inclination that prompts me to any kind of Cruelty nay it is my perfect abhorrence of Blood and Cruelty that compels me for the Satisfaction of the Importunities of my own Conscience to use my utmost Industry to prevent the effusion of Humane Blood It is to prevent the growth of these Fatal Principles which if not in time suppressed and subdued threaten again to break out among us and open the Veins of these Miserable Nations It is because I would with my utmost Power hinder these deluded people who become distracted with the Raving Poison of such Divinity either from Executing their Bloody Treasons and Malice upon others or running themselves to Execution upon the Sword of Justice It is against the Immortal mischief of the Principles and not the Mortal Lives of the deluded Professors of them that I level all my blows and that our Grand-Children may learn Wisdom from our harms and dangers and know how to distinguish by their Fruits the Cedar Government of Monarchy from the Bramble Government of Faction and Vsurpation that
That the Scriptures of the Old Testament do not bind Christians under the New That Adultery and Drunkenness are not Sins That Prayer in Families is unlawful That Christ's Sufferings were only for our Example not to purchase Heaven for us That no Man was cast into Hell for Sin but only because God would have it so That Christ will destroy all Government Lawful and Unlawful That God was never displeased with Men for Sin if he were it were changeableness in God That the Church and Ministry of England are Antichristian That Toleration of Jews Turks Pagans in all Nations is the Will of God That there is no Resurrection That if a Womans Husband was sleeping or absent she may lawfully lye with another Man because sleep is Death That John Baptist's Doctrine of Repentance was a Leathern Doctrine That Adam's Sin deserved not Hell That all the Heaven there is is here on Earth That Universities are of the Devil and Humane Learning of the Flesh That many shall be Saved that were never Elected That They are the great Anti-Christ who deny the general Redemption of the whole Creation That no Man had any thing to do to hinder it if any Person should Worship the Sun or the Moon That the Doctrine of Repentance is a Soul-depraving Doctrine That the Lords Day ought not to be kept all dayes being alike under the Gospel That Sanctification is but a Dunghill-dirty Qualification That there is no Church no Ordinances nor Ministers in the World That it is unlawful to teach Children to Pray That Infants shall not rise again because they were not capable of knowing God and so not of enjoying God A Discovery of dangerous Heresies taught by Mechanicks Printed April 26 1647. And in short Independency is a Seminary of Schismes and dangerous Divisions in the Church and State a Flood-gate to let in all Heresies Errors Sects Libertinisme and even the Mahometan Doctrine Twelve Queries about Church-Government against the Independents by W. Pryn. Indep Well Well! You may talk what you please of Heresies Errors Sects and Schismes but this I am assured of That all the Plagues of Egypt were but a Flea-biting to what one Presbyterial Church would be the Pope himself is as truly Christian as our Presbyterie they can never be Good to others who are guilty of such Ingratitude to the Bishops from whom formerly they received the Holy Ghost with all their Spiritual Preferments and were first put into a capacity of Lording it as they do over the People whom like ungracious Children viperous Vermine inhumane Cannibals notwithstanding their Grace and Favour they have devoured up and shared the Inheritance among them A Sacred Decree c. Presbyterial Government is much more truly said to be Prelatical than the Episcopal nay both Papal and Episcopal Government is better than Presbyterian more Uniform and have continued many Hundred of Years longer than Presbytery and were long before Presbytery was thought of it was but a Shift at a Pinch that the Devil made when neither of the other would serve his Turn and so came up Presbyterie but what good the Devil will have of it I know not for who knows the Luck of a Lowsie Cur he may prove a good Dog Robinson's Answer to Pryns 12 Queries And the Arraignment of Persecution cited by Pryn in his Fresh Discovery c. Presbyt Oh Monstrous I now find it true what my worthy Friend Dr. Bastwick saith of you viz. A Man may truly say of Independents Diabolus cacavit illos they are the very Nephews of Heliogabalus Terrible Dissemblers and Notorious Liars if they get Authority down go the Churches which must be made Tophets of down go Gentry and Nobility the Sons of Belial Bastwick's Letter to Vicars Remember your Solemn League and Covenant pray Mr. Independent did not you joyn with us in it and do you now renounce both that and the Parliament I must tell you That to withdraw from this Community the Parliament our Representatives is next Door to withdrawing from and renouncing God himself nay it is a plain Renouncing of him and Warring against him The Cause is Holy Just and Good and God will come in for the Defence of it in his own Time In taking the Covenant you as well as we have Vowed and we will not Repent to oppose these Adversaries to Death be they Bishops Lawyers Devils He is their Prince we will oppose these to Death nay we Vow and Covenant now to take up Arms against King and Queen both setting themselves against God and the Power of Godliness For though we have taken the Oath of Allegiance we are only Sworn to Obey the King while he Obeys God for what are the Princes and Nobles of the Earth but God's Scullions to clear up and purge his Vessels appointed to Honour Pray Good Mr. Independent remember your self and the Covenant The Covenant Asserted Printed August 14. 1643. Indep The Covenant cannot bind us till one Clause viz. according to the Word of God be determined And having done the utmost to fulfil it by helping you to Extirpate Root and Branch we have done all the Covenant requires The Case of the Kingdom stated c. but besides it is a meer Snare to catch the People with the Face of Reformation never kept nor intended to be kept by your selves that made and imposed it on others for by the Covenant you were Sworn to root out all Popery but yet you have Established Tithes the Root of Popery Lilburn cited by Pryn Fresh Discovery c. and in truth it is impossible to be kept and the Makers of it have run into wilfull Perjury it is a Makebate Persecuting Soul-destroying England-dividing and Undoing Covenant England's Birthright by J. Lilburn And therefore as Mr. Goodwin tells you to Violate such an Abominable and Accursed Oath as this Covenant is is an Holy and a Blessed Perjury 12 Cautions by J. Goodwin in opposition to Pryn's 12 Queries Presbyt I have often heard some of your Party say indeed That Presbyterian Government came in with Knox and must go out with Knocks and Mr. Solicitor gave us your Vltima Ratio for it the other Day in the House with a Menace That you must have Recourse to the Power of the Sword the longest Sword take all so that as Dr. Bastwick says we must expect shortly that according to your frequent threatnings you will fall to Cutting of the Throats of the Presbyterians Hist of Independ and Bastwick's Post-script to Burton Indep Nay the Truth is We are resolved to have none of your Blew-Cap Reformation Your Reverend Assembly of Divines is such a Quagmire of Croking Frogs composed of Skip-Jack Presbyters a Synodian Whore a Trayterous Synod so many Presbyterian Horse-Leaches Blood-thirsty Cattle Jesuitical Traytors that it is a meer Consistory of Devils guided by the Holy Ghost sent in a Cloak-bag from Scotland that there is no induring of them any longer Arraignment of Persecution And Martin 's Eccho Printed
saw a Flagg flying upon the Tower of Nottingham Castle and that the next day afterwards he did see the King at Nottingham when the said Flagg was still flying which Flagg this Deponent then heard was the King's Standard He saith also That he did afterwards see the King at Cropredy-Bridge in the Head of his Army in a Fallow Field there and did see the King in pursuit of Sir William Waller's Army being then Routed which was about the Month of July 1644. And at that time this Deponent did see many People slain upon the Ground And further this Deponent saith That in or about the Month of Novemb. 1644. he did see the King at the last Fight at Newbury riding up and down the Field from Regiment to Regiment whilst his Army was there fighting with the Parliaments Forces and this Deponent did see many Men slain at that Battel on both sides Michael Potts of Sharpereton in the County of Northumberland Vintner Sworn and Examined deposeth That he this Deponent saw the King in the Head of the Army in the Fields about a Mile and a half from Newbury Town upon the Heath the day before the Fight was it being about Harvest-tide in the Year 1643. And he further saith That he saw the King on the day after when the Fight was standing near a great Piece of Ordnance in the Fields And he further saith That he saw the King in the second Newbury Fight in the Head of his Army being after or about Michaelmas 1644. And he further saith That he saw a great many Men slain at both the said Battels And he further saith That he saw the King in the Head of his Army near Cropredy-Bridge in the Year 1644. And he further saith That he saw the King in the Head of his Army in Cornwal near Lestithiel while the E. of Essex lay there with his Forces about the middle of Harvest 1644. George Cornwal of Aston in the County of Hereford Ferryman Aged fifty Years or thereabouts sworn and examined saith That he this Deponent did see the King near Cropredy-Bridge about the time of Mowing of Corn 1644. in the Van of the Army there and that he drew up his Army upon a Hill and faced the Parliaments Army and that there was thereupon a Skirmish between the King 's and the Parliaments Army where he this Deponent saw divers persons slain on both sides The Examination of Henry Gooche of Grayes-Inn in the County of Middlesex Gent. Sworn and Examined This Deponent saith That upon or about the Thirtieth day of September last he this Deponent was in the Isle of Wight and had Access unto and Discourse with the King by the means of the L. Marquess of Hartford and Commissary Morgan where this Deponent told the King that his Majesty had many Friends and that since his Majesty was pleased to justifie the Parliaments first taking up Arms the most of the Presbyterian Party both Soldiers and others would stick close to him To which the King answered thus That he would have all his old Friends know that though for the present he was contented to give the Parliament leave to call their own War what they pleased yet that he neither did at that time nor ever should decline the Justice of his own Cause And this Deponent told the King that his Business was much retarded and that neither Col. Thomas nor any other could proceed to Action through want of Commission The King answered That he being upon a Treaty would not dishonour himself but that if he this Deponent would take the pains to go over to the Prince his Son who had full Authority from him he the said Deponent or any for him should receive whatsoever Commissions should be desired and to that purpose he would appoint the Marquess of Hartford to write to his Son in his Name and was pleased to express much of Joy and Affection that his good Subjects would ingage themselves for his Restauration Robert Williams of the Parish of St. Martins in the County of Cornwal Husbandman Aged twenty three Years or thereabouts sworn and examined saith That he this Deponent did see the King marching in the Head of his Army about September 1644. a Mile from Lestithiel in Cornwal in Armor with a short Coat over it unbuttoned And this Deponent further saith That he saw him after that in St. Austell Downes drawing up his Army And this Deponent saith he did after that see the King in the Head of his Army near Foy and that the E. of Essex and his Army did then lie within one Mile and a half of the King's Army The Witnesses being Examined as aforesaid the Court Adjourned for an hour 25 Jan. 1648. post Merid. Commissioners Present John Bradshaw Serjeant at Law Lord President of this Court Daniel Blagrave John Okey Henry Marten John Carew Thomas Horton Sir Michael Livesey Bar. Owen Roe Sir John Bourchier Kt. Thomas Scot. John Moore Oliver Crowwell William Goffe Richard Deane Cornelius Holland Thomas Harrison Robert Lilbourne John Downs Edmond Ludlow Peregr Pelham Sir Henry Mildmay John Jones Valentine Wauton Sir Gregory Norton Bar. Sir Thomas Maleverer Bar. Adrian Scroope Henry Smith Anthony Stapeley John Huson Sir William Constable Bar. John Barkstead Sir John Danvers Edward Whalley Thomas Waite William Purefoy Thomas Pride John Fry John Blackistone Sir Hardress Waller Knight John Venn Robert Tichbourne Humphrey Edwards Peter Temple Vincent Potter William Cawley Isaac Ewers Richard Price of London Scrivener was produced a Witness to the Charge against the King who being Sworn and Examined saith That upon occasion of some tampering by the King's Agents with the Independants in and about London to draw them from the Parliaments Cause to the King's Party and this being discovered by some of those so tampered with unto sundry Members of the Committee of Safety who directed a carrying on of a seeming Compliance with the King he this Deponent did travel to Oxford in January 1643. having a safe Conduct under the Kings Hand and Seal which he this Deponent knoweth to be so for that the King did own it when he was told that this Deponent was the man that came to Oxon with that safe Conduct And this Deponent also saith That after sundry Meetings between him and the E. of Bristol about the drawing of the Independents unto the King's Cause against the Parliament the Substance of the Discourse at which Meetings the said Earl told this Deponent was communicated to the King he this Deponent was by the said Earl brought to the King to confer further about that Business where the King declared That he was very sensible that the Independents had been the most active men in the Kingdom for the Parliament against him and thereupon perswaded this Deponent to use all means to expedite their turning to Him and his Cause And for their better encouragement the King promised in the Word of a King That if they the Independents would turn to him and
be active for him against the Parliament as they had been active for them against him then he would grant them whatsoever freedom they would desire And the King did then refer this Deponent unto the E. of Bristol for the further prosecuting of the said Business And the said Earl thereupon this Deponent being withdrawn from the King did declare unto this Deponent and willed him to inpart the same unto the Independents for their better encouragement That the King's Affairs prospered well in Ireland That the Irish Subjects had given the Rebels meaning the Parliaments Forces a great Defeat That the King had sent the Lord Byron with a small Party towards Cheshire and that he was greatly multiplied and had a considerable Army and was then before Namptwich and would be strengthened with more Soldiers out of Ireland which were come and expected dayly And when this Deponent was to depart out of Oxford four safe Conducts with Blanks in them for the inserting of what Names this Deponent pleased were delivered to him under the King's Hand and Seal and one Ogle was sent out of Oxon with this Deponent to treat about the Delivering up of Alisbury to the King it being then a Garrison for the Parliament and at the same time Oxford was a Garrison for the King Several Papers and Letters of the King 's under his own Hand and of his own Writing and other Papers are produced and read in open Court Mr. Thomas Challoner also reporteth several Papers and Letters of the Kings writing aud under the Kings own Hand After which the Court sate private The Court taking into Consideration the whole Matter in Charge against the King passed these Votes following as preparatory to the Sentence against the King but Ordered that they should not be binding finally to conclude the Court viz. Resolved upon the whole matter That this Court will Proceed to entence of Condemnation against Charles Stuart King of England Resolved c. That the Condemnation of the King shall be for a Tyrant Traitor and Murtherer That the Condemnation of the King shall be likewise for being a publique Enemy to the Common-wealth of England That this Condemnation shall extend to Death Memorandum The last aforementioned Commissioners were present at these Votes The Court being then moved concerning the Deposition and Deprivation of the King before and in Order to that part of his Sentence which concerned his Execution thought fit to defer the Consideration thereof to some other time and Ordered the Draught of a Sentence grounded upon the said Votes to be accordingly prepared by Mr. Scot Mr. Marten Col. Harrison Mr. Lisle Mr. Say Commissary Gen. Ireton and Mr. Love or any three of them with a Blank for the manner of his Death Ordered That the Members of this Court who are in and about London and are not now present be Summoned to attend the Service of this Court to morrow at One of the Clock in the Afternoon for whom Summons were issued forth accordingly The Court Adjourned it self till the Morrow at One of the Clock in the Afternoon Veneris 26 Jan. 1648. post Merid. Painted Chamber Three Proclamations The Court called Commissioners present John Bradshaw Serjeant at Law Lord President of this Court Oliver Cromwell Henry Ireton Sir Hardress Waller Valentine Wauton Tho. Harrison Edward Whalley Thomas Pride Isaac Ewers Thomas Lord Grey of Groby Sir John Danvers Sir Henry Mildmay Kt. William Heveningham Henry Martin William Purefoy John Blakistone Gilbert Millington Sir William Constable Bar. Edmond Ludlow John Hutchinson Sir Michael Livesey Bar. Robert Tichbourne Owen Roe Adrian Scroope John Dixwell Simon Meyne Peter Temple Thomas Wait. Cornelius Holland Thomas Scot. Francis Allen. Richard Deane John Okey John Huson John Carew John Jones Miles Corbet William Goffe Peregrine Pelham John Moore William Lord Mounson Humphrey Edwards Thomas Wogan Sir Gregory Norton John Dove John Venn William Cawley Anthony Stapeley John Downes Thomas Horton Thomas Hammond John Lisle Nicholas Love Augustine Garland George Fleetwood James Temple Daniel Blagrave John Browne Henry Smith John Berkstead Sir Thomas Maleverer Bar. Vincent Potter Here the Court sate private The Draught of a Sentence against the King is according to the Votes of the 25 th Instant prepared and after several Readings Debates and Amendments by the Court thereupon Resolved c. That this Court do agree to the Sentence now read That the said Sentence shall be ingrossed That the King be brought to Westminster to morrow to receive his Sentence The Court Adjourned it self till the Morrow at Ten of the Clock in the Morning to this Place the Court giving notice that they then intended to Adjourn from thence to Westminster-Hall Sabbati 27 Jan. 1648. Painted Chamber Three Proclamations being made The Court is thereupon called Commissioners present John Bradshaw Serjeant at Law Lord President Oliver Cromwell Henry Ireton Sir Hardress Waller Valentine Wauton Thomas Harrison Edward Whalley Thomas Pride Isaac Ewers Tho. Lord Grey of Groby Sir John Danvers Sir Thomas Maleverer Baronet Sir John Bourchier Kt. William Heveningham Henry Marten William Purefoy John Berkstead Matthew Tomlinson John Blackistone Gilbert Millington Sir William Constable Bar. Edmund Ludlow John Hutchinson Sir Michael Livesey Bar. Robert Tichbourne Owen Roe Robert Lilbourne Adrian Scroope Richard Deane John Okey Augustine Garland George Fleetwood James Temple Daniel Blagrave John Browne John Huson William Goffe Cornelius Holland John Carew John Jones Miles Corbet Francis Allen. Peregrine Pelham Tho. Challoner John Moore William Say John Alured Henry Smith Humphrey Edwards Gregory Clement Thomas Wogan Sir Gregory Norton Bar. Edmund Harvey John Venn Thomas Scott Tho. Andrews Ald. of Lond. William Cawley Anthony Stapeley John Downes Thomas Horton Tho. Hamond John Lisle Nicholas Love Vincent Potter John Dixwell Simon Meyne Peter Temple Thomas Waite The Sentence agreed on and ordered by this Court 26 Instant to be ingrossed being accordingly ingrossed was read Resolved That the Sentence now read shall be the Sentence of this Court for the Condemnation of the King which shall be Read and Published in Westminster-Hall this day The Court hereupon considered of certain Instructions for the Lord President to manage the Business of this day in Westminster-Hall and Ordered That the Lord President do manage what Discourse shall happen between him and the King according to his discretion with the advice of his two Assistants and that in case the King shall still persist in excepting against the Courts Jurisdiction to let him know that the Court do still affirm their Jurisdiction That in case the King shall submit to the Jurisdiction of the Court and pray a Copy of the Charge that then the Court do withdraw and advise That in case the King shall move any thing else worth the Courts Consideration that the Lord President upon Advice of his said Assistants do give Order for the Courts withdrawing to advise That in case the King shall not submit to Answer and there happen no such