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. The Second Edition much enlarged and faithfully Corrected LONDON Printed by J. M. for Petâ—â— Cole Francis Tyton and John Playford 1650. King Charls HIS TRYAL AT THE High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall Begun on Saturday January 20. and ended Saturday Jan. 27. 1648. A List of the Names of the Judges and Officers of the High Court of Justice appointed by an Act of the Commons of England in Parliament assembled for the Tryal of the King THomas Lord Fairfax General Oliver Cromwel Lievt General Henry Ireton Commissary General Philip Skippon Major General Sir Hardress Waller Colonel Colonel Valentine Walton Colonel Thomas Harrison Col. Edward Whalley Col. Thomas Pride Col. Isaac Ewers Col. Richard Ingolsby Col. Richard Dean Col. John Okey Col. Robert Overton Col. John Harrison Col. John Desborough Col. William Goff Col. Robert Duckenfield Col. Rowland Wilson Col. Henry Marten Col. William Purefoy Col. Godfrey Bosvil Col. Harbottle Morley Col. John Berkstead Col. Matthew Tomlinson Col. John Lambert Col. Edward Ludlow Col. John Hutchingson Col. Robert Titchburn Col. Owen Roe Col. Robert Manwaring Col. Robert Lilburn Col. Adrian Scroop Col. Alg Sidney Col. John Moore Col. Francis Lassels Col. Alexander Rigby Col. Edm Harvey Col. John Venn Col. Anthony Stapley Col. Thomas Horton Col. Thomas Hammond Col. George Fenwick Col. George Fleetwood Col. James Temple Col. Thomas Wayt. Sir Henry Mildway Sir Thomas Honywood Thomas Lord Grey Philip Lord Lisle William Lord Munson Sir John Danvers Sir Thomas Maleverer Sir John Bowcher Sir James Harrington Sir William Brâ—reton Robert Wallop Esquire William Henningham Esquire Isaac Pennington Alderman Thomas Atkins Alderman Sir Peter Wentworth Thomas Trencherâ— Esquire John Blackstone Esquire Gilbert Millington Esq Sir William Constable Sir Arthur Haslerig Sir Michael Livessey Richard Saloway Esq Humphrey Saloway Esq Cornelius Holland Esq John Carne Esq Sir William Armine John Jones Esq Miles Corbet Esq Francis Allen Esq Thomas Lister Esq Ben Weston Esq Peregrin Pelham Esq John Gourdon Esq Francis Thorp Esq Serjeant at Law John Nutt Esq Thomas Challoner Esq John Anlaby Esq Richard Darley Esq William Say Esq Iohn Aldred Esq Iohn Fagge Esq Iames Nelthorp Esq Sir William Roberts Henry Smith Esq Edmond Wilde Esq Iames Challener Esquire Iosias Barns Esq Dennis Bond Esq Humph Edwards Esq Gregory Clement Esq Iohn Fray Esq Thomas Wogan Esq Sir Gregory Norton Iohn Bradshaw Esq Serjeant at Law Iohn Dove Esq Iohn Foulks Alderman Thomas Scot Alderman Thomas Andrews Alderman William Cawley Esq Abraham Burrel Esq Roger Gratwick Esq Iohn Downes Esq Robert Nichols Esq Serjeant at Law Vincent Potter Esq Sir Gilbert Pickering Iohn Weaver Esquire Iohn Lenthal Esquire Robert Reynolds Esquire Iohn Lisle Esquire Nicholas Love Esquire Sir Edward Baynton John Corbet Esquire Thomas Blunt Eq Thomas Boone Esq Augustine Garland Esquire Augustine Skinner Esq John Dickswel Esq Simon Mayne Esq John Brown Esq John Lowrey Esq John Bradshaw Esq Serjeant at Law Lord President of the Court. Counsellors assistant to the Court and to draw up the Charge against the King are Doctor Dorislow Mr Ask. Mr Steel Attorney General Mr Cook Solicitor General Clerks to the Court. Mr Broughton Mr Phelps Officers of the Court. Serjeant Danby Serjeant at Arms and Mace-Bearer Col. John Humphrey Sword-Bearer Mr King Cryer of the Court. The Messengers and Door-Keepers with Tip-Staves Mr Walford Mr Radley Mr Payn Mr Powel Mr Hull The manner of the Tryal of CHARLES STUART King of England in the great Hall in Westminster ON Saturday being the 20. day of January 1648. The Lord President of the High Court of Justice with neer fourscore of the Members of the said Court having sixteen Gentlemen with Partizans and a Sword and a Mace with their and other Officers of the said Court marching before them came to the place ordered to be prepared for their sitting at the West end of the great Hall at Westminster where the Lord President in a Crimsion Velvet Chair fixed in the midst of the Court placed himself having a Desk with a Crimsion Velvet Cushion before him The rest of the Members placing themselves on each side of him upon the several Seats or Benches prepared and hung with Scarlet for that purpose and the Partizans dividing themselves on each side of the Court before them The Court being thus sate and silence made the great Gate of the said Hall was set open to the end That all persons without exception desirous to see or hear might come into it upon which the Hall was presently filled and silence again ordered This done Colonel Thomlinson who had the charge of the Prisoner was commanded to bring him to the Court who within a quarter of an hours space brought him attended with about twenty Officers with Partizans marching before him there being other Gentlemen to whose care and custody he was likewise committed marching in his Rear Being thus brought up within the face of the Court The Sergeant at Arms with his Mace receives and conducts him streight to the Bar having a Crimsion Velvet Chair set before him After a stern looking upon the Court and the people in the Galleries on each side of him he places himself not at all moving his Hat or otherwise shewing the least respect to the Court but presently rises up again and turns about looking downwards upon the Guards placed on the left side and on the multitude of Spectators on the right side of the said great Hall After Silence made among the people the Act of Parliament for the Trying of CHARLS STVART KING of England was read over by the Clerk of the Court who sate on one side of a Table covered with a rich Turky Carpet and placed at the feet of the said Lord President upon which table was also laid the Sword and Mace After reading the said Act the several names of the Commissioners were called over every one who was present being 80. as aforesaid rising up and answering to his Call Having again placed himself in his Chair with his face towards the Court Silence being again ordered the Lord President stood up and said Lord President CHARLES STVART King of England The Commons of England Assembled in Parliament being deeply sensible of the Calamities that have been brought upon this Nation which is fixed upon you as the principal Author of it have resolved to make inquisition for Blood and according to that Debt and Duty they owe to Justice to God the Kingdom and themselves and according to the Fundamental Power that rests in themselves They have resolved to bring you to Tryal and Judgement and for that purpose have constituted
this High Court of Justice before which you are brought This said M. Cook Attorney for the Common-wealth standing within a Bar on the right hand of the Prisoner offered to speak but the King having a staff in his Hand held it up and laid it upon the said M. Cooks shoulder two or three times bidding him hold Nevertheless the Lord President ordering him to go on he said M. Cook My Lord I am commanded to charge CHARLES STVART King of England in the name of the Commons of England with Treason and high Misdemeanors I desire the said Charge may be read The said Charge being delivered to the Clerk of the Court the Lord President ordered it should be read but the King bid him hold Nevertheless being commanded by the Lord President to read it the Clerk begun THE Charge of the Commons of ENGLAND against Charles Stuart KING of England Of High Treason and other High Crimes exhibited to the High Court of Justice THat the said CHARLES STVART being admitted King of England and therein trusted with a limited Power to govern by and according to the Laws of the Land and not otherwise And by his Trust Oath and Office being obliged to use the Power committed to him For the good and benefit of the People and for the preservation of their Rights and Liberties Yet nevertheless out of a wicked Design to erect and uphold in himself and unlimited and Tyrannical Power to rule according to his Will and to overthrow the Rights and Liberties of the People Yea to take away and make void the Foundations thereof and of all redress and remedy of misgovernement which by the fundamental Constitutions of this Kingdom were reserved on the Peoples behalf in the Right and Power of frequent and successive Parliaments or National meetings in Councel He the said CHARLES STVART for accomplishment of such his Designs and for the protecting of himself and his adherents in His and Their wicked Practises to the same Ends hath Trayterously and maliciously levyed War against the present Parliament and the People therein Represented Particularly upon or about the thirtieth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and two At Beverly in the County of York And upon or about the thirtieth day of July in the year aforesaid in the County of the City of York And upon or about the twenty fourth day of August in the same year at the County of the Town of Nottingham when and where He set up His Standard of War And also on or about the twenty third day of October in the same year at Edg-Hill Keinton-field in the County of Warwick And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the same year at Brainchford in the County of Middlesex And upon or about the thirtieth day of August in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and three at Cavesham-bridge neer Roding in the County of Berks And upon or about the thirtieth day of October in the year last mentioned at or neer the City of Glocester And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned at Newbery in the County of Berks And upon or about the one and thirtieth day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and four at Cropredy-Bridge in the County of Oxon And upon or about the thirtieth day of September in the year last mentioned at Bodmin and other places neer adjacent in the County of Cornwal And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned at Newbery aforesaid And upon or about the eighth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and five at the Town of Leicester And also upon the fourteenth day of the same month on the same year at Naseby-field in the County of Northampton At which several times and places or most of them and at many other places in this Land at several other times within the years aforementioned And in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and six He the said CHARLES STVART hath caused and procured many thousands of the Free-People of the Nation to be slain and by Divisions Parties and Insurrections within this Land by Invasions from Forraign parts endevored and procured by Him and by many other evil ways and means He the said CHARLS STVART hath not only maintained and carried on the said War both by Land and Sea during the years before mentioned but also hath renewed or caused to be renewed the said War against the Parliament and good People of this Nation in this present year One thousand six hundred fourty and eight in the Counties of Kent Essex Surry Sussex Middlesex and many other Counties and places in England and Wales and also by Sea And particularly He the said CHARLES STVART hath for that purpose given Commission to his Son the Prince and others whereby besides multitudes of other Persons many such as were by the Parliament intrusted and imployed for the safety of the Nation being by Him or His Agents Corrupted to the betraying of Their Trust and revolting from the Parliament have had entertainment and Commission for the continuing and renewing of War and Hostility against the said Parliament and People as aforesaid By which cruel and unnatural Wars by Him the said CHARLES STVART levyed continued and renewed as aforesaid much Innocent Blood of the Free-people of this Nation hath been spilt many Families have been undone the Publike Treasury wasted and exhausted Trade obstructed and miserably decayed vast expence and damage to the Nation incurred and many parts of the Land spoyled some of them even to Desolation And for further prosecution of His said evil Designs He the said CHARLES STVART doth still continue his Commissions to the said Prince and other Rebels and Revolters both English and Forraigners and to the Earl of Ormond and to the Irish Rebels and Revolters associated with him from whom further Invasions upon this Land are threatened upon the procurement and on the behalf of the said Charls Stuart All which wicked Designs Wars and evil Practises of Him the said CHARLES STVARRT have been and are carryed on for the advancing and upholding of the Personal Interest of Will and Power and pretended Prerogative to Himself and his Family against the publique Interest Common Right Liberty Justice and Peace Of the People of this Nation by and for whom he was entrusted as aforesaid By all which it appeareth that He the said CHARLS STUART hath been and is the Occasioner Author and Contriver of the said Vnnatural Cruel and bloody Wars and therein guilty of all the Treasons Murthers Rapines Burnings Spoils Desolations Damage and Mischief to this Nation acted or committed in the said Wars or occasioned thereby And the said John Cook by Protestation saving on the behalf of the People of England the liberty of Exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Charge
against the said Charls Stuart and also of replying to the Answers which the said Charls Stuart shall make to the Premises or any of them or any other Charge that shall be so Exhibited doth for the said Treasons and Crimes on the behalf of the said People of England Impeach the said CHARLS STUART as a Tyrant Traytor Murtherer and a publike and Implacable Enemy to the Common-wealth of England And pray That the said CHARLS STUART King of England may be put to answer All and Every the Premises That such Proceedings Examinations Tryals Sentence and Judgment may be thereupon had or shall be agreeable to Justice IT is observed that the time the Charge was reading the King sate down in his Chair looking sometimes on the Court sometimes up to the Galleries and having risen again and turned about to behold the Guards and Spectators sate down looking very sternly with a countenance not at all moved till these words viz. Charls Stuart to be a Tyrant and Traytor c. were read at which he laughed as he sate in the face of the Court. The Charge being read the Lord President replyed Lord President Sir you have now heard your Charge read containing such matter as appears in it you finde That in the close of it it is prayed to the Court in the behalf of the Commons of England that you answer to your Charge The Court expects your Answer The King I would know by what power I am called hither I was not long ago in the Isle of Wight how I came there is a longer story then I think is fit at this time for me to speak of but there I entred into a Treaty with both Houses of Parliament with as much publique faith as it 's possible to be had of any people in the world I treated there with a number of Honorable Lords and Gentlemen and treated honestly and uprightly I cannot say but they did very nobly with me we were upon a conclusion of the Treaty Now I would know by what Authority I mean lawful there are many unlawful Authorities in the world Theeves and Robbers by the high-ways but I would know by what Authority I was brought from thence and carryed from place to place and I know not what and when I know what lawful Authority I shall answer Remember I am your King your lawful King and what sins you bring upon your heads and the Judgment of God upon this Land think well upon it I say think well upon it before you go further from one sin to a greater therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I shall not be unwilling to answer in the mean time I shall not betray my Trust I have a Trust committed to me by God by old and lawful descent I will not betray it to answer to a new unlawful Authority therefore resolve me that and you shall hear more of me Lord President If you had been pleased to have observed what was hinted to you by the Court at your first coming hither you would have known by what Authority which Authority requires you in the name of the People of England of which you are Elected King to answer them The King No Sir I deny that Lord President If you acknowledg not the Authority of the Court they must proceed The King I do tell them so England was never an Elective Kingdom but an Hereditary Kingdom for neer these thousand years therefore let me know by what Authority I am called hither I do stand more for the Liberty of my People then any here that come to be my pretended Judges and therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I will answer it otherwise I will not answer it Lord President Sir how really you have managed your Trust is known your way of answer is to interrogate the Court which beseems not you in this condition You have been told of it twice or thrice The King Here is a Gentleman Lievt Col. Cobbet ask him if he did not bring me from the Isle of Wight by force I do not come here as submitting to the Court I wil stand as much for the priviledg of the house of Cōmons rightly understood as any man here whatsoever I see no House of Lords here that may constitute a Parliament and the King too should have been Is this the bringing of the King to his Parliament Is this the bringing an end to the Treaty in the publike Faith of the world Let me see a legal Authority warranted by the Word of God the Scriptures or warranted by the Constitutions of the Kingdom and I will answer Lord President Sir You have propounded a Question and have been answered seeing you will not answer the Court will consider how to proceed in the mean time those that brought you hither are to take charge of you back again The Court desires to know whether this be all the Answer you will give or no. The King Sir I desire that you would give me and all the world satisfaction in this let me tell you it is not a slight thing you are about I am sworn to keep the Peace by that duty I ow to God and my Country and I will do it to the last breath of my body and therefore you shall do well to satisfie first God and then the Country by what Authority you do it if you do it by a usurped Authority that will not last long There is a God in Heaven that will call you and all that give you Power to account Satisfie me in that and I will answer otherwise I betray my Trust and the Liberties of the People and therefore think of that and then I shall be willing For I do avow That it is as great a sin to withstand lawful Authority as it is to submit to a Tyrannical or any other ways unlawful Authority and therefore satisfie God and me and all the world in that and you shall receive my Answer I am not afraid of the Bill Lord President The Court expects you should give them a final Answer their purpose is to adjourn till Monday next if you do not satisfie your self though we do tell you our Authority we are satisfied with our Authority and it is upon Gods Authority and the Kingdoms and that Peace you speak of will be kept in the doing of Justice and that 's our present Work The King Let me tell you if you will shew me what lawful Authority you have I shall be satisfied But that you have said satisfies no reasonable man Lord Presid That 's in your apprehension we think it reasonable that are your Judges The King 'T is not my apprehension nor yours neither that ought to decide it Lord Presid The Court hath heard you and you are to be disposed of as they have commanded Two things were remarkable in this days Proceedings 1. It is to be observed That as the Charge was reading against the
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
do not the Court cannot forget what delatory 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 Supream 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 Authorized by the supream Court of England to be thus trifled withal and that they might in Justice if they pleased and according to the Rules of Justice take advantage of these delays and proceed to pronounce judgment against you yet nevertheless they are pleased to give direction and on their behalfs I do require you That you make a positive Answer unto this Charge that is against you Sir in plain terms for Justice knows no respect of persons you are to give your positive and finall Answer in plain English whether you be guilty or not guilty of these Treasons laid to your Charge The KING after a little pause said When I was here yesterday I did desire to speak for the Liberties of the People of England I was interrupted I desire to know yet whether I may speak freely or not Lord President Sir You have had the Resolution of the Court upon the like Question the last day and you were told That having such a Charge of so high a Nature against you and your Work was that you ought to acknowledge the JURISDICTION of the COURT and to Answer to your CHARGE Sir if you Answer to your Charge which the Court gives you leave now to do though they might have taken the advantage of your contempt yet if you be able to Answer to your Charge when you have once Answered you shall be heard at large make the best Defence you can But Sir I must let you know from the Court as their commands that you are not to be permitted to issue out into any other discourses till such time as you have given a positive Answer concerning the Matter that is CHARG'D upon you The King For the Charge I value it not a Rush it is the Liberty of the People of England that I stand for for me to acknowledge a new Court that I never heard of before I that am your King that should be an example to all the people of England for to uphold Justice to maintain the old Laws indeed I do not know how to do it you spoke very well the first day that I came here on Saturday of the Obligations that I had laid upon me by God to the maintenance of the Liberties of my People The same Obligation you spake of I do acknowledge to God that I owe to him and to my People to defend as much as in me lies the ancient Laws of the Kingdom therefore untill that I may know that this is not against the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by your favour I can put in no particular Charge If you will give me time I will shew you my reasons why I cannot do it and this Here being interrupted he said By your favour you ought not to interrupt me how I came here I know not there 's no Law for it to make your King your Prisoner I was in a Treaty upon the publique Faith of the Kingdom that was the known two Houses of Parliament that was the Representative of the Kingdom and when that I had almost made an end of the Treaty then I was hurried away and brought hither and therefore Here the Lord President said Sir you must know the pleasure of the Court. The King By your favour Sir Lord President Nay Sir by your favour you may not be permitted to fall into those discourses you appear as a Delinquent you have not acknowledged the authority of the Court the Court craves it not of you but once more they command you to give your positive Answer Clark Do your Duty The King Duty Sir The Clark reads CHARLES STVART KING of England You are accused in the behalf of the Commons of England of divers high crimes and Treasons which Charge hath been read unto You the Court now requires you to give Your positive and final Answer by way of confession or denial of the Charge The King Sir I say again to you so that I might give satisfaction to the People of England of the clearness of my proceeding not by way of Answer not in this way but to satisfie them that I have done nothing against that Trust that hath been committed to me I would do it but to acknowledge a new Court against their Priviledges to alter the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Sir you must excuse me Lord President Sir this is the the third time that you have publiquely disown'd this Court and put an affront upon it how far you have preserv'd Priviledges of the People your actions have spoke it but truly Sir mens intentions ought to be known by their actions you have written your meaning in bloudy Characters throughout the whole Kingdom but Sir you understand the pleasure of the Court Clerk Record the default and Gentlemen you that took charge of the Prisoner take him back again The King I will only say this one word more to you if it were only my own particular I would not say any more nor interrupt you Lord President Sir you have heard the pleasure of the Court and you are notwithstanding you will not understand it to find that you are before a COURT of JUSTICE Then the King went forth with his Guard and Proclamation was made That all persons which had then appear'd and had further to do at the Court might depart into the Painted-Chamber to which place the Court did forthwith adjourn and intended to meet in Westminster Hall by ten of the clock the next morning Cryer God bless the Kingdom of England Wednesday January 4. 1648. THis day it was expected the High Court of Justice would have met in Westminster Hall about ten of the clock but at the time appointed one of the Ushers by direction of the Court then sitting in the Painted Chamber gave notice to the people there assembled That in regard the Court was then upon the examination of Witnesses in relation to present affairs in the Painted-Chamber they could not sit there but all persons appointed to be there were to appear upon further Summons The Proceedings of the High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall on Saturday the 27. of January 1648. O Yes made Silence commanded The Court called Serjeant Bradshaw Lord
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
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 â—n Infant crowned and the State did it here â—n England here hath not been a want of â—ome examples they have made bold the Parâ—iament and the People of England to call â—heir Kings to account there are frequent â—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 â—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 oâ—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
Seizable and Forfeitable as if you had it but for a year and for your Life Therefore Sir it will concern you to take into your serious consideration your great miscarriages in this kind Truly Sir I shall not particularize the many miscarriages of your Reign whatsoever they are famously known it had been happy for the Kingdom and happy for you too if it had not been so much known and so much felt as the story of your miscarriages must needs be and hath been already Sir That that we are now upon by the command of the highest Court hath been and is to try and judg you for these great offences of yours Sir the Charge hath called you Tyrant a Traytor a Murtherer and a publique Enemy to the Commonwealth of England Sir It had been well if that any of all these terms might rightly and justly have been spared if any one of them at all King Ha Lord Pres Truly Sir We have been told Rex est dum bene regit Tyrannus qui populum oppâ—â—vit and if so be that be the definition of a Tyrant then see how you come short of it in your actions whether the highest Tyrant by that way of Arbitrary Government and that you have sought for to introduce and that you have sought to put you were putting upon the people whether that was not as high an act of Tyranny as any of your predecessors were guilty of nay many degrees beyond it Sir the term Traytor cannot be spared we shall easily agree it must denote and suppose a breach of Trust and it must suppose it to be done by a Superior and therefore Sir as the People of England might have incurred that respecting you if they had been truly guilty of it as to the definition of Law so on the other side when you did break your Trust to the Kingdom you did break your Trust to your Superior For the Kingdom is that for which you were trusted And therefore Sir for this breach of Trust when you are called to account you are called to account by your Superiors Minimus ad majorem in judicium voâ—it And Sir the People of England cannot be so far wanting to themselves which God having dealt so miraculously and gloriously for they having power in their hands and their great Enemy they must proceed to do Justice to themselves and to you For Sir the Court could heartily desire That you would lay your hand upon your heart and consider what you have done amiss That you would endeavor to make your Peace with God Truly Sir These are your high Crimes Tyranny and Treason There is a third thing too if those had not been and that is Murther which is layd to your charge All the bloody Murthers that have been committed since this time that the division was betwixt you and your People must be layd to your charge that have been acted or committed in these late Wars Sir it is an heinous and crying sin and truly Sir if any man will ask us what punishment is due to a Murtherer Let Gods Law let mans Law speak Sir I will presume that you are so well read in Scripture as to know what God himself hath said concerning the shedding of mans blood Gen. 9. Numb 35. will tell you what the punishment is and which this Court in behalf of the Kingdom are sensible of of that innocent blood that has been shed wherby indeed the Land stands stil defiled with that blood as the text hath it It can no way be cleansed but with the shedding of the blood of him that shed this blood Sir we know no Dispensation from this blood in that Commandment Thou shalt do no Murther we do not know but that it extends to Kings as well as to the meanest Peasants the meanest of the People the Command is universal Sir Gods Law forbids it Mans Law forbids nor do we know that there is any manner of exception not even in mans Laws for the punishment of Murther in you 'T is true That in the case of Kings every private hand was not to put forth it self to this work for their Reformation and punishment But Sir the People represented having power in their hands had there been but one wilful act of Murther by you committed had power to have convented you and to have punished you for it But then Sir the weight that lies upon you in all those respects that have been spoken by reason of your Tyranny Treason breach of Trust and the Murthers that have been committed surely Sir it must drive you into a sad consideration concerning your eternal condition as I said at first I know it cannot be pleasing to you to hear any such things as these are mentioned unto you from this Court for so we do call our selves and justifie our selves to be a Court and a High Court of Justice authorized by the highest and solemnest Court of the Kingdom as we have often said and although you do yet endeavor what you may to dis-court us yet we do take knowledg of our selves to be such a Court as can administer Justice to you and we are bound Sir in duty to do it Sir all I shall say before the reading of your Sentence it is but this The Court does heartily desire that you will seriously think of those evils that you stand guilty of Sir you said well to us the other day you wisht us to have God before our eyes Truly Sir I hope all of us have so that God that we know is a King of Kings and Lord of Lords that God with whom there is no respect of persons that God that is the avenger of innocent blood we have that God before us that God that does bestow a curse upon them that with-hold their hands from sheding of blood which is in the case of guilty Malefactors and that do deserve death That God we have before our eyes and were it not that the conscience of our duty hath called us unto this place and this imployment Sir you should have had no appearance of a Court here but Sir we must prefer the discharge of our duty unto God and unto the Kingdom before any other respect whatsoever and although at this time many of us if not all of us are severely threatened by some of your party what they intend to do Sir we do here declare That we shall not decline or forbear the doing of our duty in the administration of Justice even to you according to the merit of your offence although God should permit those men to effect all that bloody design in hand against us Sir we will say and we will declare it as those Children in the fiery furnace that would not worship the golden Image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up That their God was able to deliver them from that danger that they were neer unto but yet if he would not do it yet notwithstanding that they would not fall down and worship the
Image we shall thus apply it That though we should not be delivered from those bloody hands and hearts that conspire the overthrow of the Kingdom in general of us in particular for acting in this great work of Justice though we should perish in the work yet by Gods grace and by Gods strength we will go on with it And this is all our Resolutions Sir I say for your self we do heartily wish and desire that God would be pleased to give you a sense of your sins that you would see wherein you have done amiss that you may cry unto him that God would deliver you from blood-guiltiness A good King was once guilty of that particular thing and was clear otherwise saving in the matter of Vriah Truly Sir the story tels us that he was a repentant King and it signifies enough that he had dyed for it but that God was pleased to accept of him to give him his pardon thou shalt not die but the child shal die thou hast given cause to the enemies of God to blaspheme King I would desire onely one word before you give sentence and that is That you would hear me concerning those great imputations that you have layd to my charge Lord Presid Sir You must give me now leave to go on for I am not far from your Sentence and your time is now past King But I shall desire you will hear me a few words to you for truly what ever Sentence you will put upon me in respect of those heavy imputations that I see by your speech you have put upon me Sir It is very true that Lord Pres Sir I must put you in minde Truly Sir I would not willingly at this time especially interrupt you in any thing you have to say that is proper for us to admit of but Sir you have not owned us as a Court and you look upon us as a sort of people met together and we know what language we receive from your party King I know nothing of that Lord Pres You dis-avow us as a Court and therefore for you to address your self to us not to acknowledg us as a Court to judg of what you say it is not to be permitted and the truth is all along from the first time you were pleased to dis-avow and dis-own us the Court needed not to have heard you one word For unless they be acknowledged a Court and engaged it is not proper for you to speak Sir we have given you too much liberty already and admitted of too much delay and we may not admit of any farther were it proper for us to do we should hear you freely and we should not have declined to have heard you at large what you could have said or proved on your behalf whether for totally excusing or for in part excusing those great and hainous charges that in whole or in part are layd upon you But Sir I shall trouble you no longer your sins are of so large a dimension that if you do but seriously think of them they will drive you to a sad consideration of it and they may improve in you a sad and serious repentance And that the Court doth heartily wish that you may be so penitent for what you have done amiss that God may have mercy at least-wise upon your better part Truly Sir for the other it is our parts and duties to do that that the Law prescribes we are not here Jus dare but Jus dicere we cannot be unmindful of what the Scripture tells us For to acquit the guilty is of equal abomination as to condemn the innocent we may not acquit the guilty what sentence the Law affirms to a Traytor Tyrant a Murtherer and a publike Enemy to the Country that sentence you are now to hear read unto you and that is the sentence of the Court. The Lord President commands the sentence to be read Make an O yes and command silence while the sentence is read O yes made Silence commanded The Clerk read the sentence which was drawn up in parchment Where as the Commons of England in Parliament had appointed them an High Court of Justice for the trying of Charls Stuart King of England before whom he had been three times convented and at the first time a Charge of High Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanors was read in the behalf of the Kingdom of England c. Here the Clerk read the Charge Which Charge being read unto him as aforesaid he the said Charls Stuart was required to give his Answer but he refused so to do and so exprest the several passages at his Tryal in refusing to answer For all which Treasons and Crimes this Court doth adjudg That the said Charls Stuart as a Tyrant Traytor Murtherer and a publique Enemy shall be put to Death by the severing his Head from his Body After the sentence read the Lord President said This sentence now read and published it is the act sentence judgment and resolution of the whole Court Here the Court stood up as assenting to what the President said King Will you hear me a word Sir Lord Pres Sir you are not to be heard after the sentence King No Sir Lord Presid No Sir by your favor Sir Guard withdraw your Prisoner King I may speak after the sentence By your favor Sir I may speak after the sentence ever By your favor hold the sentence Sir I say Sir I do I am not suffered for to speak expect what Justice other people will have O Yes All maner of persons that have any thing else to do are to depart at this time and to give their attendance in the painted Chamber to which place this Court doth forthwith adjourn it self Then the Court rose and the King went with his Guard to Sir Robert Cottons and from thence to Whitehall King Charls HIS SPEECH Made upon the SCAFFOLD at Whitehall-Gate immediately before his Execution Tuesday January 30. ABout ten in the Morning the King was brought from St. James's walking on foot through the Park with a Regiment of Foot part before and part behinde him with Colours flying Drums beating his private guard of Partizans with some of his Gentlemen before and some behinde bare-headed Dr Juxon next behinde him and Colonel Thomlinson who had the charge of him talking with the King bare-headed from the Park up the stairs into the Gallery and so into the Cabinet-Chamber where he used to lie where he continued at his Devotion refusing to dine having before taken the Sacrament onely about an hour before he came forth he drank a glass of Claret wine and eat a piece of bread about twelve at noon From thence he was accompanyed by Dr. Juxon Colonel Thomlinson and other Officers formerly appointed to attend him and the private guard of Partizans with Musketiers on each side through the Banqueting-house adjoyning to which the Scaffold was erected between Whitehall-Gate and the G 〈…〉 ding into the Gallery from S. James's