be directed to answer and if he refused That the matter of the Charge be taken pro confesso And the King not owning their Authority was remanded Fol. 58. Westminster-Hall Tuesday the 23d Afternoon The King not owning their Authority was remanded and the Court Adjourned to the Painted-Chamber And there Resolved They would examine Witnesses Fol. 61. Painted-Chamber Wednesday the 24th was spent in examining their Witnesses Fol. 66. Painted-Chamber Thursday the 25th Afternoon They examined more Witnesses They Resolved to proceed to Sentence of Condemnation against the King And that this Condemnation be for being Tyrant Traytor and Murtherer and Publick Enemy to the Commonwealth And that the Condemnation extend to Death Fol. 68. And Ordered That a Sentence grounded upon these Votes be prepared by Scot Marten Harrison and others Painted-Chamber Friday the 26 th The draught of the Sentence Reported and agreed And Resolved That the King be brought the next day to Westminster-Hall to receive it Fol 96. Painted-Chamber Saturday the 27 th Fore-noon The Sentence being engrossed Resolved The same should be the Sentence which should be read and published in Westminster-Hall the same day That the President should not permit the King to speak after Sentence That after the Sentence read he should declare it to be the Sence and Judgment of the Court. That the Commissioners should thereupon signifie their Consent by standing up And the same day the Commons Ordered the Clerk to bring in the Records of that Judgment to the House Journal of the House Westminster-Hall the same Day After-noon The King being brought in and not owning their Authority the Sentence was read And upon the Declaration of the President That it was the Judgment of the Court they stood up and Owned it and Adjourned to the Painted-Chamber And there appointed Waller and others to consider of the Time and Place for Execution Painted-Chamber Monday the 29 th Upon the report of the Committee Ordered A Warrant be drawn for executing the King in the open Street before White-Hall the next day directed to Hacker and others which was done accordingly Fol. 116. 31. January 1648. Ordered by the Commons That the Lord Grey out of Haberdashers-Hall to difpose of 100 l. for the Service of the Common-wealth 2. February 1648. They Ordered in the first place to take into Consideration and Debate the House of Lords for settlement of the Government 6. February 1648. The House being seventy three And the Question put Whether that House should take the Advice of the House of Lords in the exercise of the Legislative Power The House was divided and it carried in the Negative by fifteen Voices And then Resolved That the House of Peers was useless and dangerous and ought to be abolished And Ordered an Act to be brought in for that purpose 7. February 1648. The Declared That the Office of a King in this Nation and to have Power thereof in a Single Person was unnecessary burthensom and dangerous to the Liberty Safety and publick interest of the People and therefore ought to be abolished 9. February 1648. They Ordered The Narrative of the Proceeding and Records for Tryal of the King to be forthwith brought into this House 16. February 1648. They Ordered That the Clerk of that High Court of Justice be desired to bring in those Proceedings to their House the next Day March 1648. Sir Arthur Hasilrig Reports from the Committee that Charls and James Stewart Sons of the late King should dye without Mercy wheresoever they should be found 12. December 1650. Mr. Say Reported the Proceedings of their High-Court against the King contained in a Book entituled A Journal c. which was read at large by their Clerk He likewise presented from that Court the Act for Tryal of the King and the Precept for holding the Court. The Charge was exhibited the twentieth And The Sentence Read the twenty seventh of January 1648. And thereupon they Declared That the Persons entrusted in that great Service had discharged their Trust with great Courage and Fidelity That the Parliament was well satisfied in that Accompt of the Particulars and Proceedings And Ordered That the same Records do remain among the Records of Parliament That those Proceedings be Engrossed in a Roll and Recorded among the Parliament-Rolls for transmitting the Memory thereof to Posterity And Resolved That their Commissioners for their Great Seal issue a Certiorari to their Clerk to transmit those Proceedings into the Chancery there to be on Record And that the same be sent by Mittimus from thence to other Courts at Westminster and Custos Rotulorum of the Counties to be Recorded In the County Middlesex The Proceedings at Hicks Hall Tuesday the 9th of October 1660. in order to the Tryal of the pretended Judges of his late Sacred Majesty THe Court being sate the Commission of Oyer and Terminer under the Great Seal of England was first read It was directed to the Lords and others hereafter named viz. Thomas Aleyn Knight and Baronet Lord Mayor of the City of London The Lord Chancellor of England The Earl of South-hampton Lord Treasurer of England The Duke of Somerset The Duke of Albemarle The Marquess of Ormond Steward of his Majesties Houshold The Earl of Lindsey Great Chamberlain of England The Earl of Manchester Chamberlain of his Majesties Houshold The Earl of Dorset The Earl of Berkshire The Earl of Sandwich Viscount Say and Seal The Lord Roberts The Lord Finch Denzil Hollis Esquire Sir Frederick Cornwallis Knight and Baronet Treasurer of His Majesties Houshold Sir Charles Barkly Knight Comptrouler of His Majesties Houshold Mr. Secretary Nicholas Mr. Secretary Morris Sir Anthony Ashley-Cooper Arthur Annesley Esquire The Lord Chief Baron Mr. Justice Foster Mr. Justice Mallet Mr. Justice Hide Mr. Baron Atkins Mr. Justice Twisden Mr. Justice Tyrrel Mr. Baron Turner Sir Harbottle Grimston Knight and Baronet Sir William Wild Knight and Baronet Recorder of London Mr. Serjeant Brown Mr. Serjeant Hale John Howel Esquire Sir Geoffry Palmer His Majestie 's Attorny General Sir Heneage Finch His Majestie 's Solicitor General Sir Edward Turner Attorney to His Highness the Duke of York Wadham Windham Esquire Edward Shelton Esquire Clerk of the Crown The Grand Jury Sworn were Sir William Darcy Baronet Foreman Sir Robert Bolles Baronet Sir Edward Ford Knight Sir Thomas Prestwick Sir William Coney Knight Sir Charles Sidley Baronet Sir Lewis Kirk Knight Sir Henry Littleton Baronet Sir Ralph Bovey Baronet Edward Chard Esquire Robert Giggon Esquire John Fotherly Esquire Charles Gibbons Esquire Thomas Geree Esquire Richard Cox Esquire Robert Bladwell Esquire Henry Mustian Esquire John Markham Esquire Edward Buckley Gent. Francis Bourchier Gent. Edward Lole Hart Cryer After Proclamation for silence was made it pleased Sir Orlando-Bridgman Lord Chief Baron of His Majestie 's High Court of Exchequer to speak to the Jury as followeth The Lord Chief Baron's Speech Gentlemen YOu are the Grand Inquest for the Body of this County of Middlesex You may
says he did it not Traiterously I humbly conceive he means it was Justifiable Sir P. Temple At another time I was in Town on a Friday and wanting Horses I went to Smithfield where I saw the Horses of State of his late Majesty to be sold in the Common Market at which I called to the Rider said I What makes these Horses here says he I am to sell them Why said I there 's the King's Brand upon them C. R. and he shew'd them me said I Will you sell these Horses What price he asked me three or fourscore pound a piece said I Who warrants the sale of these Horses says he Mr. Marten and Sir Wil. Brereton Afterwards I heard the Horses were taken into the Mews by the Prisoner at the Bar and Sir Wil. Brereton Counsel Was this before the Trial Sir P. Temple It was in 1642 or 1643. Counsel That 's nothing to this Business Marten My Lord the Commission went in the name of the Commons assembled in Parliament and the Good People of England and what a matter is it for one of the Commissioners to say Let it be acted by the Good People of England Mr. Sol. Gen. You know all good People did abhor it I am sorry to see so little repentance Marten My Lord I hope that which is urged by the Learned Counsel will not have that impression upon the Court and Jury that it seems to have That I am so obstinate in a thing so apparently ill My Lord if it were possible for that Blood to be in the Body again and every drop that was shed in the late Wars I could wish it with all my heart But my Lord I hope it is lawful to offer in my own defence that which when I did it I thought I might do My Lord there was the House of Commons as I understood it perhaps your Lordships think it was not a House of Commons but then it was the Supream Authority of England it was so reputed both at home and abroad My Lord I suppose he that gives obedience to the Authority in being de facto whether de jure or no I think he is of a peaceable disposition and far from a Traitor My Lord I think there was a Statute made in Henry the Seventh's time whereby it was provided That whosoever was in Arms for the King de facto he should be indempnified though that King de facto was not so de jure And if the Supream Officers de facto can justifie a War the most pernicious Remedy that was ever adjudged by Mankind be the Cause what it will I presume the Supream Authority of England may justifie a Judicature though it be but an Authority de facto My Lord if it be said that it is but a third estate and a small parcel of that my Lord it was all that was extant I have heard Lawyers say That if there be Commons appurtenant to a Tenement and that Tenement be all burnt down except a small Stick the Commons belong to that one small piece as it did to the Tenement when all standing My Lord I shall humbly offer to consideration whether the King were the King indeed such a one whose Peace Crowns and Dignities were concerned in Publick Matters My Lord he was not in execution of his Offices he was a Prisoner My Lord I will not defer you long neither would I be offensive I had then and I have now a peaceable inclination a resolution to submit to the Government that God hath set over me I think his Majesty that now is is King upon the best Title under Heaven for he was called in by the Representative Body of England I shall during my life long or short pay obedience to him Besides my Lord I do owe my life to him if I am acquitted for this I do confess I did adhere to the Parliaments Army heartily my life is at his mercy if his Grace be pleased to grant it I have a double obligation to him Mr. Sol. Gen. My Lord this Gentleman the Prisoner at the Bar hath entred into a Discourse that I am afraid he must have an answer in Parliament for it He hath owned the King but thinks his best title is the acknowledgment of the People and he that hath that let him be who he will hath the best Title we have done with our Evidence Marten I have one word more my Lord I humbly desire that the Jury would take notice That though I am accused in the Name of the King that if I be acquitted the King is not Cast It doth not concern the King that the Prisoner be Condemned it concerns him that the Prisoner be Tried it is as much to his Interest Crown and Dignity that the Innocent be acquitted as that the Nocent be condemned Mr. Sol. Gen. My Lord this puts us now upon the reputation of our Evidence and you may see how necessary it is to distinguish between Confidence and Innocence for this very Person that desires you to have a care how you condemn the Innocent he doth seem to intimate to you that he is an innocent Person at the Bar and yet confesses he did sit upon the King did Sentence him to Death that he signed the Warrant for the Execution and yet here stands that Person that desires you to have a care of condemning Innocence What is this at the bottom of it but that my Fact is such as I dare not call it Innocence but would have you to believe it such Gentlemen of the Jury was it your intention the King should be so tried as this Prisoner moved It will concern you to declare That the People of England do abhor his Facts and Principles every Fact the Prisoner hath confessed himself the sitting in that Court which was Treason his Sentencing was Treason signing the Warrant for Execution was the highest of Treasons Gentlemen all that he hath to say for himself is there was an Authority of his own making whereby he becomes innocent But we hope out of his own Mouth you will find him guilty Gilbert Millington I desire you to hear me I come not hither to dispute but to acknowledg I will not trouble you with long Discourses My Lord it is not fit for wise Men to hear them I am not able to express them I will not justifie my self I will acknowledg my self Guilty My Lord The reason why I said the last day Not Guilty was in respect of being upon the Scaffold and murthering the King and those things but I will wave all things if your Lordship will give me leave and will go unto the lowest strain that possible can be I will confess my self Guilty every way I was awed by the present Power then in being This I leave with you and lay my self at your feet and have no more at all to say but a few words in a Petition which I desire you will please to accept and so I conclude Counsel We do accept this
perceive by this Commission that hath been read that we are authorized by the King's Majesty to hear and determine all Treasons Felonies and other Offences within this County But because this Commission is upon a special occasion the Execrable Murther of the blessed King that is now a Saint in Heaven King Charls the first we shall not trouble you with the Heads of a long Charge The ground of this Commission was and is from the Act of Oblivion and Indempnity You shall find in that Act there is an Exception of several persons who for their Execrable Treasons in sentencing to Death and signing the Warrant for the taking away the Life of our said Sovereign are left to be proceeded against as Traytors according to the Laws of England and are out of that Act wholly excepted and fore-prized Gentlemen You see these Persons are to be proceeded with according to the Laws of the Land and I shall speak nothing to you but what are the words of the Laws By the Statute of the twenty fifth of Edward the third a Statute or Declaration of Treason it is made High-Treason to compass and imagine the Death of the King It was the ancient Laws of the Nation In no Case else Imagination or Compassing without an Actual Effect of it was punishable by our Law Nihil officit Conatus nisi sequatur Effectus that was the old Rule of Law But in the case of the King His Life was so pretious that the Intent was Treason by the Common Law and Declared Treason by this Statute The reason of it is this In the case of the Death of the King the Head of the Commonwealth that 's cut off and what a Trunk an inanimate Lump the Body is when the Head is gone you all know For the Life of a single man there 's the Life of the Offendor there 's some Recompence Life for Life But for the Death of the King what Recompence can be made This Compassing and Imagining the cutting off the Head of the King is known by some Overt-Act Treason it is in the wicked Imagination though not Treason Apparent but when this Poison swells out of the Heart and breaks forth into Action in that case it 's High-Treason Then what is an Imagination or Compassing of the King's Death Truly it is any thing which shews what the Imagination is Words in many cases are Evidences of this Imagination they are Evidences of the Heart Secondly As Words so if a man if two men do conspire to Levy War against the King and by the way what I say of the King is as well of the King dead as living for if a Treason be committed in the Life of one King it is a Treason and punishable in the Time of the Successor Then I say in case not only of Words but if they conspire to Levy War against the King there 's another Branch of this Statute the Levying of War is Treason But if men shall go and consult together and this is to kill the King to put Him to Death this Consultation is clearly an Overt-Act to prove this Imagination or Compassing of the King's Death But what will you say then if men do not only go about to conspire and consult but take upon them to Judge Condemn nay put to Death the King Certainly this is so much beyond the Imagination and Compassing as 't is not only laying the Cockatrice's Egg but brooding upon it till it hath brought forth a Serpent I must deliver to you for plain and true Law That no Authority no single person no community of persons not the people Collectively or Representatively have any coercive power over the King of England And I do not speak mine own Sence but the words of the Laws unto you It was the Treason of the Spencers in King Edward the Second's Time in Calvin's case second Report The Spencers had an opinion that all Homage and Allegiance was due to the King by reason of the Crown as they called it And thereupon say the Books and Records they drew out this execrable Inference among others That if the King did not demean himself according to Right because he could not be reformed by Law he might per aspertee that is by sharp Imprisonment but this was adjudged horrid Treason by two Acts of Parliament Gentlemen Let me tell you what our Law-books say for there 's the Ground out of which and the Statutes together we must draw all our Conclusions for matter of Government How do they Stile the King They call Him The Lieutenant of God and many other expressions in the Book of Primo Henrici Septimi Says that Book there The King is immediate from God and hath no Superior The Statutes say That the Crown of England is immediately subject to God and to no other Power The King says our Books He is not only Caput Populi the Head of the People but Caput Reipublicae the Head of the Commonwealth The three Estates And truly thus our Statutes speak very fully Common Experience tells you when we speak of the King and so the Statutes of Edward the Third we call the King Our Sovereign Lord the King Sovereign that is Supreme And when the Lords and Commons in Parliament apply themselves to the King they use this Expression Your Lords and Commons your faithful Subjects humbly beseech I do not speak any Words of my own but the Words of the Laws Look upon the Statute primo Jacobi there 's a Recognition that the Crown of England was lawfully descended on the King and His Progeny The Statute it self was read to which it is desired the Reader will be referred These are the Words of the Act. And this is not the first precedent for you shall find it primo Eli. cap. 3. They do acknowledge the Imperial Crown lawfully descended on the Queen the same Recognition with this Before that because we shall shew you we go upon Grounds of Law in what we say Stat. 24. Hen. 8. cap. 12. Whereas by sundry old authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire and so hath been accepted in the world governed by one Supreme Head and King having the Dignity and Royal Estate of the Imperial Crown of the same c. 25 Hen. 8. c. 21. there it is the people speaking of themselves That they do recognize no Superiour under God but only the King's Grace Gentlemen You see if the King be immediate under God he derives his Authority from no body else if the King have an Imperial Power if the King be Head of the Commonwealth Head of the body Politick if the body Politick own him obedience truly I think it is an undenied consequence He must needs be Superiour over them Gentlemen This is no new thing to talk of an Emperour or an Imperial Crown Do not mistake me all this while It is one thing to have an Imperial Crown and another
Terrours of that Presence of God that was with his Servants in those days However it seemeth good to him to suffer this Turn to come on us and are Witnesses that the things were not done in a Corner I have desired as in the sight of him that searcheth all hearts whilest this hath been done to wait and receive from him Convictions upon my own Conscience though I have sought it with Tears many a time and Prayers over and over to that God to whom you and all Nations are less than a Drop of water of the Bucket and to this moment I have received rather Assurance of it and that the things that have been done as astonishing on one hand I do believe e're it be long it will be made known from Heaven There was more from God than men are aware of I do profess that I would not offer of my self the least Injury to the poorest Man or Woman that goes upon the Earth That I have humbly to offer is this to your Lordships You know what a Contest hath been in these Nations for many years Divers of those that sit upon the Bench were formerly as Active Court Pray Mr. Harrison do not thus Reflect on the Court This is not to the Business Mr. Harrison I followed not my own Judgment I did what I did as out of Conscience to the Lord. For when I found those that were as the Apple of mine Eye to turn aside I did loath them and suffered Imprisonment many years Rather then to turn as many did that did put their Hands to this Plough I chose rather to be separated from Wife and Family than to have Compliance with them though it was said Sit at my Right Hand and such kind of Expressions Thus I have given a little poor Testimony that I have not been doing things in a Corner or from my self May be I might be a little mistaken but I did it all according to the best of my understanding desiring to make the Revealed Will of God in his Holy Scriptures as a guide to me I humbly conceive That what was done was done in the name of the Parliament of England that what was done was done by their Power and Authority and I do humbly conceive it is my Duty to offer unto you in the beginning that this Court or any Court below the High Court of Parliament hath no Jurisdiction of their Actions Here are many Learned in the Law and to shorten the Work I desire I may have the help of Councel Learned in the Laws that may in this matter give me a little assistance to offer those Grounds that the Law of the Land doth offer I say what was done was done by the Authority of the Parliament which was then the Supreme Authority and that those that have Acted under them are not to be questioned by any Power less than them And for that I conceive there is much out of the Laws to be shewed to you and many Presidents also in the Case Much is to be offered to you in that according to the Laws of the Nations that was a due Parliament Those Commissions were issued forth and what was done was done by their Power And whereas it hath been said we did Assume and Usurp an Authority I say this was done rather in the Fear of the Lord. Court Away with him Know where you are Sir You are in the Assembly of Christians Will you make God the Author of your Treasons and Murthers Take heed where you are Christians must not hear this We will allow you to say for your own Defence what you can And we have with a great deal of Patience suffered you to sally out wherein you have not gone about so much for Extenuation of your Crimes as to Justifie them to fall upon others and to Blaspheme God and commit a new Treason For your having of Councel This is the reason for allowing of Councel when a man would Plead any thing because he would Plead it in Formality Councel is allowed But you must first say in what the Matter shall be and then you shall have the Court's Answer Lord Finch Though my Lords here have been pleased to give you a great Latitude this must not be suffered that you should run into these damnable Excursions to make God the Author of this damnable Treason Committed Mr. Harrison I have two things to offer to you to say for my Defence in Matter of Law One is That this that hath been done was done by a Parliament of England by the Commons of England assembled in Parliament and that being so whatever was done by their Commands or their Authority is not questionable by your Lordships as being as I humbly conceive a Power Inferiour to that of an High Court of Parliament That 's one A second is this That what therefore any did in obedience to that Power and Authority they are not to be questioned for it otherwise we are in a most miserable Condition bound to obey them that are in Authority and yet to be punished if obeyed We are not to Judg what is lawful or what is unlawful My Lords Upon these two Points I do desire that those that are Learned in the Laws may speak too on my behalf It concerns all my Countreymen There are Cases alike to this you know in King Richard the Second's Time wherein some Question had been of what had been done by a Parliament and what followed upon it I need not urge in it I hope it will seem good to you that Councel may be assigned for it concerns all my Countreymen Councel You are mistaken if you appeal to your Countreymen They will cry you Out and shame you Mr. Harrison May be so my Lords some will but I am sure others will not Mr. Sollicitor Gen. These two Points my Lords are but one and they are a new Treason at the Bar for which he deserves to dy if there were no other Indictment It is the Malice of his heart to the Dignity and Crown of England I say this is not matter for which Councel can be assigned Councel cannot put into Form that which is not Matter Pleadable it self It is so far from being true that this was the Act of the Supreme Parliament of the People of England that there was nothing received with more Heart-bleeding than this Bloody Business But that the World may not be abused by the Insinuations of a man who acts as if he had a Spirit and in truth is possessed I will say That the Lords and Commons are not a Parliament That the King and Lords cannot do any thing without the Commons Nor the King and Commons without the Lords Nor the Lords and Commons without the King especially against the King If they do they must answer it with their Head for the King is not accountable to any Coercive Power And for the Prisoner to Justifie his Act as if it were the Act of the Commons of England
he is very much to be reproved Shall he pretend that one House nay the eighth part of a House for so it was can Condemn a King when both Houses cannot condemn one man in spight of the King I desire my Lords it may pass with a due Reproach and a Sentence upon it Lord Chief Baron It is true your Questions are but one Point You pretend the Parliament's Authority and when you come to speak of it you say the Commons of England They were but one House of Parliament The Parliament what is that It is the King the Lords the Commons I would fain know of you where ever you read by the light you say you have in your Conscience that the Commons of England were a Parliament of England that the Commons in Parliament used a Legislative power alone Do you call that a Parliament that sate when the House was Purged as they call it and was so much under the Awe of the Army who were then but forty or forty five at most Then you say It was done by Authority of them You must know where there is such an Authority which indeed is no Authority he that confirms such an Authority he Commits a double offence therefore consider what your Plea is If your Plea were doubtfull we should and ought and would our selves be of Councel for you That which you speak concerning Conviction of your own Conscience remember that it is said in Scripture that they shall think they did God good service when they slay you as it is in St. John He hath a great deal of Charity that thinks that what you did was out of a Conscientious Principle It was against the Light of noon-day and common practice You make your self a Sollicitor in the Business Let us blacken him as much as we can I have not touched at all upon the Evidence I will not urge it now I say you justifie it upon Convictions of Conscience and pretend it upon Authority A thing never known or seen under the Sun that the Commons nay a few Commons alone should take upon them and call themselves the Parliament of England We have been cheated enough by Names and Words there is no colour for what you say I do think and hope my Brethren will speak to this Case that none of us do own that Convention whatsoever it be to be the Parliament of England There was another aggravation at this Time that this Pretended Authority usurped that Power the Lords were then sitting You had not taken this usurped Power to dissolve these Lords No you did this Act in dispight of the Lords you had sent up an Ordinance to the Lords and they rejected it and thereupon these Members took it upon themselves Amongst those there were some Negatives and those Members were under the Awe and Power of your Forces at that time What you Plead the Court are of Opinion tends to the subversion of the Laws for you to usurp Power over the People without their Consents to call this the People We never knew the like before But the Parliament of England was the King Lords and Commons For you to speak of this Power and Justifie this Power is an Aggravation adding one Sin and Treason to another We shall tell you that neither both Houses of Parliament if they had been there not any single Person Community not the People either Collectively or Representatively had any colour to have any Coercive Power over their King And this Plea which you have spoken of it ought to be over-ruled and not to stand good Mr. Annesley I do the more willingly speak to this Business because I was one of those that should have made up that Parliament that this Prisoner pretends to I was one of that Corrupt Majority as they called it that were put out of the House He cannot forget that at that time there were Guards upon both Houses of Parliament to attend them that were of their own appointment and that those Guards were forcibly removed by the Prisoner at the Bar and his Fellows and other Guards put there who instead of being a Defence unto them when those Commons stood at the Door were by them threatned Yet the Lords and Commons of England in Parliament Assembled a full House of Commons did resolve notwithstanding what was aforesaid that the Treaty in the Isle of Wight was a Ground for Peace Afterwards the Major part of the House of Commons having resolved on this sent it up to the Lords that very day when they were Adjourned there were Forces drawn down to the House of Commons Door and none suffered to come into the House but those that they pleased All those that had a mind for Peace that minded their Duty and Trust and Allegiance to their King were seized on by this Gentleman and his Fellows When this was done what did he and those Fellows do They sate and put a check upon all that should come in None must come in but those that would renounce their Allegiance and Duty to their King and the People for whom they served and then declared against that Vote which had been passed upon Debate of twelve or fourteen hours and then to call this an House of Commons nay the Supreme Authority of the Nation he knows is against the Laws of the Land For the House of Commons alone cannot so much as give an Oath It hath not power of Judicature of Life and Death this he knows well to be according to the Laws of England He knows that no Authority less then an Act of Parliament can make a Law and he knows an Act of Parliament must be passed by the King Lords and Commons I wonder much to hear a Justification in this kind by one that knows the Laws of England so well There will none of the Court allow that that was a Parliament The Majority of that House did all disavow it These things have been already discoursed of I shall onely say that he knowing the Laws so well I hope he shall suffer for trangression thereof Mr. Hollis You do very well know that this that you did this horrid detestable Act which you Committed could never be perfected by you till you had broken the Parliament That House of Commons which you say gave you Authority you know what your self made of it when you pulled out the Speaker Therefore do not make the Parliament to be the Author of your black Crimes It was innocent of it You know your self what Esteem you had of it when you broke and tore it in sunder when you scattered and made them hide themselves to preserve them from your Fury and Violence Do not make the Parliament to be the Authour of your Crimes The Parliament are the three Estates It must not be admitted that one House part of the Parliament should be called the Supreme Authority You know what that Rump that you left did what Laws they made Did you go home to advise
there I met this Gentleman whom indeed I knew not he told me who he was and when I understood who he was I said to him or words to this purpose I cannot tell the words because I would not distaste him and say you have done this therefore I put it thus We have done this What a sad case have we said I brought this Kingdom unto Why saith he you see said I how it is ruined now the King is murthered c Saith he some are of one opinion and some of another Sir said I do you think it was well done to murther the King saith he I will not make you my Confessor Sir it was much to this purpose Coun. When was this spoken Lord Elect. Truly I do not know the day but it was that day that Sir H. M. rendered himself to the Speaker it was since the coming in of the King M. Sol. Neither time nor the hand of God appearing in this business nor the condition he was in was ever able to bring this Gentleman to be sorry for his offence but we do not give it as any evidence of his crimes You have heard the Prisoner confess the two Warrants You have heard by several witnesses produced that he did sit in that which they called the High-Court of Justice by three that he sat particularly on that day they called the day of their Judgment you have heard how little penitence he hath had by his Declaration to the Lord Mayor Elect. Scr. I hope now that you have heard the Evidence against me that you will give me leave to make some defence for my self L. C. Bar. God forbid otherwise but that you should have free liberty Scr. Truly my Lords though my breeding hath not been in the way of the Laws and therefore I have a great disadvantage when there be such learned Gentlemen as these are to plead against me I must confess to you I have something for matter of Law to plead for the justification of the fact though I would not undertake to justifie the person this I humbly entreat if it may be granted that I may have some time given me and some Councel that I may answer matter of Law L. C. Bar. M. Scroop if you have any thing of matter of Law for which you would have Councel you must alledge that matter first the use of Councel is only to put in certainty what you have of matter of Law and then the Court and Judges must judge of it If you have matter of Law you must tell what it is if it be matter that there is cause to over-rule it there is no cause of making further use of Councel If one be Indicted for murther when he comes to Tryal he will say I have matter of Law to plead What is that That Murther is no felony Do you think Councel will be admitted in this If you do alledge what this matter is wherein you desire Councel you shall have your answer Scr. My Lords as well as I am able to do it I shall do it my Lord I was not of the Parliament take notice of that and that which was done in the High Court of Justice it was done by a Commission from the Parliament My Lord it was that Authority which was then I will not say it was so because I would not give offence it was that Authority then which was accounted the supreme Authority of the Nation and that Authority My Lord that a great many of the generality of the Nation submitted to My Lord I having received a command from that Authority what I did was in obedience to that Authority My Lord I have not had time to consider of these things because I have been for these six weeks time shut up a close Prisoner and that I could neither come at Councel nor any thing else nor to get any thing to prepare for it therefore I desire your Lordships to do me the savour if you see any weight in it to let me have time and Councel assigned me L. C. Bar. Have you done Sir Scr. Yes L. C. Bar. Then I take it this is the effect of what you have said if I have not taken it aright tell me so You say you justifie the fact though not your Person That you were not of the Parliament That what was done was by Commission from the Parliament Be pleased not to mistake me for I say you said this That that which I have to plead in justification of it I do not say that I justifie my self but that which I have to say is for justification of the Fact I was first no contriver of the business And then secondly I did it by virtue of the Command and in obedience to the Authority of the Parliament That that Authority was then accounted the Supream Authority of the Nations and that the Generality of the Nations did submit to their Authority I think I have repeated all you have said Then Mr. Scroop you must know this That there is no cause at all why Councel should be given for what you speak I profess it rather tends to the aggravation than extenuation of what you did First you say you did it by Authority of Parliament I am afraid you have been mistaken as well as others by the word Parliament what doth that mean I am sure you and e-every one knows that there was not one Precedent ever heard of till this That the House of Commons should take upon them the Legislative Power and make such an Act as this was there was no colour for it Then for men upon their own heads never heard of before and against the Liberty and Fredome of the People that they should call it the Parliament when there was but 46 sate whereas there was above 240 excluded and how you can call this a House of Commons is a great wonder to me but I tell you this take it for granted that if they were the most perfect House of Commons that could be Did ever the House of Commons before this single Act take upon them the Legislative Powers without the Lords The Acts are begun in the Commons House when you have done if the Lords not pass it it is a bortive if it be done by both Houses there ought to be a Royal assent But the Lords had rejected this Act then they must take upon them these 46 men whereof I do believe there was not above 25 or 26 men that did vote this and this must be called the Parliament the Commons of England I would fain know whether any man hath heard that the House of Commons took upon them the Legislative power before this Act but this hath been over-ruled in the like Case and I shall say no more to it What is the Oath of Allegiance is it not that you would defend the King his Crown Rights and Liberties against all persons whatsoever It was not only against the Pope as some would have it but the
out of a few persons that makes a Parliament We see as before so still it is your course to blow the Trumpet of Sedition Did you ever hear or can you produce instances of an Act of Parliament made by the House of Commons alone though this was not the House of Commons as you heard before Ca. Neither was there ever such a War or such a precedent Court Nor we hope never will be Pray remember you were returned to serve in the House what was that Writ that summon'd your appearance You had no manner of ground in the world to go that way that you did Coun. We pray that the Prisoner at the Bar give us pationce a little to repeat that to him which your Lordships have been so often troubled with declaring this is not the first or second time that in this publique Assembly it hath been said That neither the Lords nor the Commons jointly nor severally have any power at all to proceed upon the Person of the King That it is not in their power to condemn any man in England without the good pleasure of the King much less the King himself and that this is the great Liberty of the people of England that it should be so and it was the first breach and invasion of our Liberty that that first Parliament made and which you justifie in the name of the Lord. In this case to throw us upon Debates of the War and to talk here of the causes and reasons of that quarrel which ended in such a Tragedie For this person to come here with this confidence and to justifie it but that he knows he cannot be in a worse condition one would wonder it should fall from any man that hath any regard of himself it is all one to them that perish whether they fall by one sin or multitudes He makes no scruple to multiply Treasons I do beseech your Lordship he may not offer as he hath begun but that the Jury may proceed Court All the Court are of the same opinion not to hear any thing like the former Discourses Ca. I desire I may be heard I have not compassed the Death of the late King contrived the death of the King what I did I did by Authority Court This is not to be heard You have heard what hath bin said to you There could be no such Authority neither was nor could be but you would by a wyre-lace bring it in by this You have confessed the Fact which must be left to the Jury L. Ansley I think you were present in the House of Commons when that Vote passed for agreement with the King in the Treaty at the Isle of Wight You know the King having condescended to most of the desires of This Parliament there was a debate in the House and a conclusion that they were grounds for peace You know the Lords and Commons did resolve to agree with their King when that was done that would not satisfie you and other Members of the House Then you go and contrive new ways you contrive a new fashioned Parliament the driving away many Members by power which you could not do by the Law of the Land Nay the Parliament had Declared against that which you pretend is by Authority is no Authority for a few of you set up an Arbitrary Parliament of a few of your selves when you had driven away the rest This kind of Parliament gives you the Authority you pretend to You were saying that the Parliament was called at first the Lords and Commons by the King according to the ancient Constitutions of the Laws Did such a Parliament give you such Authority as you pretend to and Act of Parliament as you call it which was but an Order of some of the Commons and but a few of them you can have no manner of Justification and therefore your Plea must be over-ruled as yesterday it was in the like Case You are indicted upon a cleer Act of Parliament of 25. Edw. 3. and you defend your self upon pretence of an Act of Parliament which hath been over-ruled as no Act. Ca. I am a stranger to many of these things which you have offered and this is strange You give evidence sitting as a Judge L. Ch. Bar. You are mistaken it is not Evidence he shews you what Authority that was an Authority of 26 Members How is this Evidence Mr. Carew if you have any thing more of Fact go on If you have nothing but according to this kind of discourse I am commanded to direct the Jury Ca. I am very willing to leave it with the Lord if you will stop me that I cannot open the true nature of those things that did give me ground of satisfaction in my Conscience that I did it from the Lord. Mr. Sol. I do pray for the honour of God and our King That he may not be suffered to go on in this manner You have been suffered to speak you have said but little only Sedition You pretend a Conscience and the fear of the Lord when all the world knows you did it against the Law of the Lord your own Conscience the light of Nature and the Laws of the Land against the Oaths you have taken of Allegiance and Supremacy Ca. Gentlemen of the Jury I say I shall leave it with you This Authority I speak of is right which was the supreme Power it is well known what they were Coun. It is so indeed many have known what they were L. Ch. Bar. Mr. Carew You have been heard what and beyond what was fit to say in your own defence that which you have said the heads of it you see the whole Court hath over-ruled To suffer you to expatiate against God and the King by Blasphemy is not to be endured it is suffering poison to go about to infect people but they know now too well the old saying In Nomine Domini In the Name of the Lord all mischiefs have been done that hath been an old Rule I must now give directions to the Jury L. Ch. Bar. Gentlemen of the Jury Ca. I have desired to speak the words of truth and soberness but have been hindered L. Ch. Bar. Gentlemen of the Jury You see the Prisoner here at the Bar hath been Indicted of Treason and this was for Compassing and Imagining the Death of our Soveraign Lord K. Charles the First of blessed Memory The Indictment sets forth several overt-Acts to prove this Imagination for otherwise it is secret in the heart the Fact it self the Treason it self is the Imagination of the heart The overt-Acts that are laid down in the Indictment to prove this That they did consult and meet together how to put the King to death That they did sit upon him And thirdly That they did sentence him to death and afterwards he died You heard what is proved against the Gentleman the Prisoner at the Bar by several Witnesses His own Confession That he signed the Warrant for Summoning and
nothing but indeed to make a new Government which is the highest Treason next to the Murthering of the King in the world To subvert the Laws and to make a few of the Commons nay if they had been the whole to make them to have the Legislative power Mr. Scot if you have any thing in extenuation of the Fact we shall hear you further we cannot L. Finch If you speak to this purpose again for my part I will profess my self I dare not hear further of it It is so poysonous blasphemous a doctrine contrary to the Laws if you go upon this point I shall and I hope my Lords will be of that opinion too desire the Jury may be directed Scot. I thought my Lord you would rather be my Councel it is not my single opinion I am not alone in this Case therefore I think I may justifie my self in it it was the Judgement of many of the Secluded Members to own us to be a Parliament Lord Annesley What you said last doth occasion my rising you seem to deliver my opinion who you know could never agree to what you have alledged truly I have been heartily sorry to hear the defence you have made to day because you know I have had Letters from you of another nature I was very confident to have heard you an humble Penitent this day instead of justifying your self As to that which you say of the Secluded Members owning you to be a Parliament they were so far from it that you know for how many years they lay under sufferings and obscurity because they could not acknowledge that an Authority which was not so You cannot forget the Declaration of both Houses that was published upon a Jealousie that the people had they would change the Government of King Lords and Commons It was far from their thoughts it was called in that Declaration A black scandal cast upon them This Declaration you know was by Order of both Houses affixed in all Churches of England that people might take notice what they held to be the Fundamental Government of this Kingdom King Lords and Commons After this for you to set up another Government and under them to act such things that one would think should hardly enter into the heart of any man You know very well all along they declared themselves faithful Subjects to the King and so would have lived and dyed and you might have had your share of the happiness of that peace if you could have had an Inclination to submit to that which both Houses had resolved when you and others could not bring your hearts to stoop to your Fellow Subjects when you could not submit to that equal rule to take your share with them When Pride carried some so high then was the beginning of your fall and others and none could expect other than what is now come to pass That they should come to that shame and sorrow that this day hath brought upon you I could have wished to have heard nothing but an humble confession of the fault that hath been clearly proved and no Justification of it You have sworn among others to preserve the Laws and People of the Kingdom but you drove away not only the House of Lords but most of the Commons and then to give the name of a Parliament to the Remainder this is a great aggravation of your Treason I think we of the Secluded Members could not have discharged our duty to God and the Kingdom if we had not then appeared in Parliament to have dissolved that Parliament and so by our joynt assent put an end to all your pretences which if we had not done we had not so soon come to our happiness nor you to your miseries Lo. Ch. Bar. The Court hath told you before their opinions in the thing and no further debate is to be allowed in this the Justification of it doth comprehend treason We our selves are not by Law to allow the hearing of it If you have nothing to say for your self I must give direction to the Jury Scot. I humbly crave leave to move the Jury that they bethink themselves and consider of it rather as a special Verdict than of a definitive one I think there is cause of a special Verdict Court If there was need of a special Verdict We are upon our Oaths I should give direction to the Jury What We do We do upon our Oaths and must answer it before God Almighty The Court hath delivered their opinions before that in this Case the Pretended Authority under which you did derive that Power which you did execute that it is no Authority it is void in Law it is a foundation if it were true of subverting all Laws and indeed of all Religion a Power that you assumed to your selves of Judging and Condemning your King that you would countenance such an Authority is a great aggravation of the fault They are Jugdes whether you did Imagine or Compass the Kings Death that is all the Jurors have to do Gentlemen of the Jury Scot. I would know what particular Law I have transgressed in this thing Court The Law of God and Man 25 Edw. 3. Scot. I humbly conceive that reaches not to this Case Court To satisfie you in that the very words of the Statute are If any man do Compass or Imagine the Kings Death it is Treason The Indictment is That you did Imagine and Compass the death of the King if the Fact be proved against you you are within the Statute Scot. You will not say the King shall be a Traytor if he shall Compass the death of the Queen Court The Queen is a Subject Scot. I am not yet convinced Lo. Ch. Bar. Gentlemen of the Jury Scot. I do plead and claim that I am within the Compass of several Pardons and desire Councel in that particular I do come within the Compass of his Majesties Pardon Lo. Ch. Bar. If you had not gone on to matter of Justification you might have been more heard to this of Pardon but after a Justification then to come for a Pardon which implies a confession of Guilt they are contradictory I must tell you we are now upon point of Law That Proclamation I doubt not but his Majesty will inviolably make good but we are not to judge of that it is nothing to a legal proceeding You are now in a Court of Law it is not to be pleaded in a Court of Law the Kings Pardon in Law must be under his Broad Seal How far you are under that Proclamation care will be taken and what is fitting to be done will be done but it is nothing in the matter of the Charge to this Jury Scot. I desire Councel touching the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. Court You should have done it before you had confessed the Fact Scot. I may do it in Arrest of Judgement Lo. Ch. Bar. Mr. Scot for that of the Kings Proclamation if you be within the benefit and
heard the Charge read Hern. I did not hear the Charge read I was not there the first day I heard you confess you had exhibited a Charge of high Treason against the Prisoner at the Bar which was then the King's Majestie Cook Whether I did not in the Charge conclude that all proceedings might be according to Justice Court Read the Title and last Article of that Charge which was accordingly read and follows in haec verba The Title of the Charge The Charge of the Commons of England against Charles Sewart KING of England of High Treason and other Crimes exhibited to the High Court of Justice The last Clause in the Charge And the said Iohn Cook by protestation saving on the behalf of the people of Eng. the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Charge against the said Char. Stew. and also of replying to the answers which the said Char. Stew. shall make to the premisses 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 Charles Stewart as a Tyrant Traytor Murderer publick and implacable enemy to the Commonwealth of England and prayeth that the said Charles Stewart King of England may be put to answer all and every the premisses that such proceedings examinations tryals sentences and judgement may be hereupon had as shall be agreeable to Justice Court Mr. Cook will you have any Witnesses examined touching the question you last asked Cook No be pleased to go on Mr. Baker Sworn Mr. Bak. My Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury I was at the High Court of Justice as they called it the first second and third daies not to trouble you with the proceedings of of Bradshaw I will tell you what I observed of this Gentleman I have the notes that I took there and pray that I may read them to help my memory which was granted and then proceeded in this manner That day my Lord Mr. Cook told the Court that he charged the Prisoner at the Bar meaning the KING with Treason and high misdemeanors and desired that the Charge might be read the Charge was this That he had upheld a Tyrannical Government c. and for that cause was adjudged to be a Tyrant c. and did then press that the prisoner might give an answer to that and that very earnestly The second day my Lord he told the Court that he did the last day exhibit a Charged High Treason against the Prisoner at the Bar meaning the King and that he did desire he might make answer to it and he told them also that instead of making an answer to the Court the King had delayed the Court but desired the K. might make a positive answer or otherwise that it might be taken pro confesso The third day my Lord he came and told the Court as before that the King had delayed then and then he charged him with the Highest Treasons and Crimes that ever were acted upon the Theatre of England and then pressed that Judgement might be given against him and another expression was that it was not so much He but the Innocent and precious bloud that was shed that did crie for Judgment against the Prisoner at the Bar this my Lord in substance there were other passages Cook Whether before this time he had not heard some thing of an Act or Order proclaimed at Westminster whether there was any other word in effect used in that charge more than in the Proclamation Mr. Baker I did hear of the Proclamation and Charge and the substance of it I have given an accompt of it and I did hear you press upon it very much the Proclamation I heard of it that it was made forthe summoning of the Court but I did not hear the Proclamation made Cook That that was called the Act of the Commons for Trying of the King Mr. Baker I did hear of the Act but did not take notice of it Mr. George Masterson Sworn Counc Mr. Masterson pray inform my Lords and the Jury what you know touching the carriage of the Prisoner at the Bar at the Tryal of his late Majesty Mr. Masterson My Lords and you Gentlemen of the Jury I was present in that they called the High Court of Justice upon the 22 23. and 27. days of January in the year 1648. I shall wave those circumstances which you have heard and many of which I well remember and what I heard likewise between the King who was then a Prisoner and the then President Bradshaw but concerning the Prisoner at the Bar this I very well remember that upon Munday I heard him say he had exhibited a Charge of High Treason against the Prisoner then the King and demanded how that he might plead to his charge I do very well remember that after some passages between the King and the Court the Prisoner at the Bar desired the King might plead to his Charge or else it might be taken pro Confesso I remember upon the last day the day of that fatal Sentence I heard the Prisoner at the Bar demand in the name of the Commons assembled in Parliament and all the good people of England Judgement upon the Prisoner at the Bar pointing to the King this is all Mr. Burden sworn Councel Do you know who did examine the witnesses against the King and were you examined and by whom Burden By Judge Cook for so he was called in Ireland Councel Did he examine you as a witness against the King did he give you an Oath Burden Yes my Lord and many others Cook This is a new thing I never heard of this before where was it that I examined him I had no power Council No we know that but you were active Court Where was it Cook Whether there were not any others with me in the Room and where it was Burden It was at Westminster-hall within the High Court of Justice Cook Who was there besides me Burden I cannot tell Axtel he was there and I am sure Cook was there Councel Mr. Burden Pray tell my L. the Jury what questions you were examined upon and what they tended to Burden He examined me and gave me my Oath there was eight or nine of us we had been in the Kings Army in former times this Gentleman Col. Axtel brought us in commanded us out of our Company I was in his Company and this Gentleman himself gave us our Oaths he asked us where we saw the King in action I did reply to him and told him I saw him in the Field with his Army he asked me many other questions that I could not tell him he asked me whether I did see the King at Nottingham set up his Standard and I was never at Nottingham in my life these were the questions Mr. Starkey Sworn Court Pray inform my Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury what passed between you and the Prisoner at
Treason and my Lord had this been in times of peace and had His Majesty been no Prisoner now he was under the power of an Army this had been great Treason but he being a Prisoner not by my means for I was no sword-man what can a man that knows himself innocent being a Prisoner desire more than a speedy Tryal so that making the Tryal more speedy cannot be said to be done trayterously A Tryal doth follow imprisonment as naturally and necessarily as the shadow doth the body If any man shall desire and be instrumental in bringing him to a Tryal which might acquit rather than condemn him and so humbly pray proceedings according to Justice this will have I hope a better name than Treason I am much beholding to His Majesty and this honourable Parli for the penning of the Act of Indempnity which I hope my L. you will give me leave to take notice of Court Open as much as you will of it Cook My Lords the words that I would make use of are in the beginning Treason Murder and other Felonies that are spoken of they are said to be counselled commanded acted or done in the preamble which is as the Key to open the mind and meaning of the Law-makers it is said that all persons shall be pardoned for all excepting such as shall be named and in such manner as they shall be excepted and then it comes provided that this Act shall not extend to pardon such and such persons and by name I am one and it is said all which persons for their execrable Treason in Sentencing to death or signing the Instrument for the horrid murther or being instrumental in taking away the precious life of our late Soveraign Lord Charles the First of glorious memory are left to be proceeded against as Traytors to his late Majesty according to the Laws of England and are out of the said Act wholly excepted and foreprized There is not any thing offered against me upon the two 1st great words which are Sentencing and signing that which I have to do to endeavour to clear my self is this being instrumental in taking away the life of his said Majesty first I humbly offer this to the Juries consideration That where the Parliament doth begin to fix the treasonable part there I hope and no otherwise this honourabe Court will fix it if it had been the Intention that Counsellors advisers and such as spoke their minds sometimes in the business you know that was Epidemical many words were spoken which cannot be justified whether naturally it would not have followed that all such persons for their counselling advising or being instrumental are left to be proceeded against as Traytors I hope you will take that into consideration concerning the words or being instrumental observe it is not said or being any otherwaies instrumental but Sentencing signing or being instrumental if therefore the word Instrumental be not of a general comprehensive nature then all this evidence which hath been given in against me being before the Sentencing and signing will fall to the ground that this is the legal genuine and Grammatical sense cannot be any otherwise than as particular as if it were the Sentencer signer Executioner which if it had been so nothing of the Evidence would have reached me My argument is this such a use is to be made of an Act of Parliament that no word may be frustrate and insignificant but if this Interpretation shall be put upon it sentencing signing or being any way instrumental then the words Sentencing and Signing need not have been if Instrumental will carry the words Sentencing and signing then these words will carry no force atall especially my Lord when there is no need of any retrospect at all if it be so I know not how far it may look back there is no necessity of putting any comprehensive generality upon this word instrumental but that the plain natural sense will be this That those that did sentence and Sign and those that were instrumental in taking away his life that is those that did abet and comfort that person unknown or justifie or countenance him which is after the Sentencing and not before in the legal sense Next I conceive that a Councellor cannot be said to do any thing vi armis It is said that by force and Arms I did abet c. it is Rhetorical to say that words may be as Swords but legal it is not unless there be something vi armis in the Grammatical sense instrumental in taking away the Kings life it is not said instrumental in order to take away the K. life or instrumental in advising to take away the K. life but instrumental in taking away the K. life My Lord The next thing is that there cannot be any thing to be said to be done by me first not falso because in that sense it must have the operation of mendacity that there must be a lie told in it I did nothing but what I was required to do to set down such and such words I did not invent nor contrive them I heard nothing of it till the tenth day of Jan. My Lord for malitiose that I did not any thing maliciously I hope it will appear in this what I then spoke it was for my Fee it may be called avaritia but not malitia for the Law will imply a malice but when there is no other express ground or reason why the thing was done but here was an express ground to speak for my Fee I hope the Jury will take that into consideration Then Secondly I was not Judicial in the Case I was not Magisterial as any Officer but ministerial As touching examining of witnesses it is a great mistake the Court had power to give an Oath I might be there but I had no power to give an Oath but whether I might ask any question I do not remember but that I should give an Oath that is a falsity then my Lord for proditorie I hope there is nothing at all that appears to the Jury so that there was no malice nor trayterous intention in the thing There are some matters of Law which I desire your Lordships will give me leave to speak to and that your Lordships will be of Counsel with me I would offer something concerning his Majesties gracious Declaration from Breda to the Parliament I was then in Ireland I did put in a Petition to the honourable Commissioners before any exception was that I might have the benefit of that Declaration I did lay hold of it My Lords there are two things in that Declaration that I would offer His Majesty saith that for the restoring of the Kings Peers and people of the Kingdom to their just rights and liberties He will grant a free and general Pardon to all excepting such as shall be by Parliament excepted and within three or four lines after it is said a free Parliament though I do not in the
more unless he was present and see it but you owned the Charge and there your name is that besides the two Witnesses there is your own actions to prove it When two Witnesses shall swear it is like your hand and you own that Charge I must leave it to the Jury you say you did this after command the words were dictated to you the words were conceptis verbis appointed and ordered by the Court but the pressing was yours he stands upon delays let it be taken pro confesso demanding Judgement these were your words another man may dictate a thing but you are not forced to speak it you urged it owned it you demanded not in the name of the Court but in the name of all the People of England you say further that your demanding Justice is not within the Statute as I said before what can be the effect of demanding Justice but that the King should die upon those premises you say further that it was in behoof of the King as you would urge it to do the King a Courtesie in asking the King might have Justice but you did not name what Justice it was but you did him a Courtesie truly the King was but a little beholden to you for that request all the world knows what that demanding of Justice was it was to have the Kings head cut off you went as far as you could it ended with you when you demanded Justice that is as far as you could you cut off the head S. Paul when the Witnesses laid down the clothes at his feet he said I killed Stephen the Martyr You say further that in all Tragedies the Accuser or Witness the Jury the Judge and executioner are the only persons and you are none of these you are only of Council if Justice was not done what was it to you you said you did not assume a power there was only Eloquence required in the Councel it hath been truly said that this is a great aggravation to be of Councel against the King you said his Majesty was then a Prisoner and accused Counsel cannot be heard against the King you undertake to be Counsel against the King in his own person and in the highest Crime if the Council at the Barr in behalf of his Client should speak Treason he went beyond his sphere but you did not only speak but acted Treason you said you used not a disrespective word to the King truly for that you hear what the witnesses have said you pressed upon him you called it a delay you termed him not the King but the Prisoner at the Bar at every word you say you did not assume an authority it is an assumption of authority if you countenance and allow of their authority you say you do not remember you demanded Judgement against the King that is fully proved against you you your self asked the question whether you did say against the King he did not remember but others positively that you demanded Judgement against the King and Prisoner at the Bar you said that before Sentence there was not an intention to put the King to death to that Mr. Starkey swears that you expresly said the King must die and Monarchy with him and this before the sentence whereas you say this is but one witness that there is to be in Treason two witnesses but that there should be two witnesses to every particular that is an Evidence of the fact that is not Law if to one particular that is an Evidence there be one witness another to another here are two witnesses within the meaning of the Statute two witnesses to the Indictment compassing and imagining the Death of the King being accompanied with other circumstances this one witness if you believe him is as good as twenty witnesses because other overt acts are expresly proved by several witnesses You say next for the drawing of the Charge in right reason it ought to be counted for the service of the King First you do acknowledge and truly very ingenuously that in the time of peace to bring him to the Bar not being a prisoner is Treason you say it according to the Law and that you delivered the charge for the accelerating of the Charge and that it was not done by you traiterously you say the King was a Prisoner before and you say what hands he was in in the hands of men of power and violence it had been your duty to have delayed it not accelerated it that there might have been some means of prevention of that bloody act that followed if you knew that to be Treason to make him a prisoner Subjects do not use to make Kings Prisoners but Death follows You urge in the next place the Act of Indemnity and that you are not excepted for that you have made as much of it as the matter will bear yet you must consider First as a rule in Law that where they are general words when they come to be explained by the particulars you shall not include them within the general Mark the very words they are these Provided that this Act nor any thing therein contained shall extend to pardon discharge or give any other benefits whatsoever unto such and such among whom you are named nor any of them nor to those two persons or either of them who being disguised by Frocks and Vizards did appear upon the Scaffold erected before White-Hall upon the thirtieth of January 1648. All which persons these are the words First It shall not extend to you then it comes All which persons for their execrable Treason in sentencing to death or signing the Instrument for the horrid murther or being Instrumental in taking away the Precious Life of our late Soveraign Lord CHARLES the First of glorious Memory are left to be proceeded against as Traytors to His late Majestie according to the Laws of England and are out of this present Act wholly excepted and foreprized First as I told you before and as it was very well said by Master Sollicitor admitting the reason had been mistaken and that you had not been comprehended in the reason you are excepted out of the body provided it shall not extend c. Many times Laws do make recitals which in themselves are sometimes false in point of fact that which is the Law is positive words the other words are for the reason Excepting all which that is Master Cook which persons are excepted not for doing of it but for his execrable crimes in being instrumental It is clear without that if it were not so we say when a Sentence is or such a one or such a one the third Or makes all disjunctive Here are three Or 's first in sentencing to death or signing the Instrument then comes this or being instrumental in taking away the precious life of our late Soveraign c. this Or doth clearly exclude the other two or instrumental not only in point of death but further being neither a Sentencer Signer or being
terms for taking away the King comparing the K. to Barabbas He was instrumental when the Proclamation for the High Court of Justice as they called it was proclaimed directing where it should be proclaimed and in what place When the King was brought upon the stage that mock-work he was the person that stirred up the Souldiery below to cry for Justice we shall shew you as he preached at several times upon several occasions still he was in the Pulpit to promote this business the next day after he was brought to tryal he commends it you shall hear all out of the mouth of the Prisoner therefore I say no more call the witnesses Dr. William Young sworn Council Tell my Lords and Jury what the Prisoner at the Bar has declared to you concerning the contrivance of bringing the King to Tryal Dr. Young My L. and Gentlemen of the Jury It was near about and that the Prisoner may remember the moneth of July 1648. since we came first acquainted when he went over to Ireland it was about the Siege of Pembroke Castle but afterwards in the year 1649. we renewed our acquaintance he went over into Ireland with that Usurper the late Protector as he was called after the Town of Wexford was taken coming over he fell sick of the flux and said he received it by infection praying over Captain Horton Coming into Milford that Captain sends a summons to me to come on board that was to fetch this prisoner at the Bar who was sick I found him there groveling upon the deck and sick he was indeed with much difficulty we got him on shore within a very few dayes to the best of my remembrance five days I perfected his cure We became very familiar I observed in him that he had some secret thoughts that I could not well discover neither well understand whereupon I thought it might tend to my security that I should so much sympathize with him to get within him to know his intentions After some weeks for he continued with me ten weeks or near thereabouts some few days rather over than under we grew so familiar that at last I found he began to inlarge his heart to me Many times I should hear him rail most insufferably against the Blood Royal not only against our Martyred King but against his Royal off-spring still as we continued our acquaintance he became more and more open to me so we would sit up discoursing till about twelve or one of the clock at night very often about these unhappy wars late in England At last my Lord I found him that he began to tell me how he came into England and upon what account he came out of New England I shall desire that in regard his discourses were various that I may deliver them orderly they were delivered to me within the compass of ten weeks but the days and weeks I cannot remember First he told me discoursing of New England and the Clergy there and much of the Clergy here in England and of the business here of reformation he told me that for the driving on of this interest of this Reformation he was imployed out of New England for the stirring up of this war and driving of it on this I shall my Lord speak to in the first place and that upon the oath I have taken and secondly he was pleased at another time to acquaint me and that by way of complement complaining then against the Parliament saying that sometime after he was come into Engl. he was sent over into Ireland by the Parliament to receive further instructions to drive on the design to extirpate Monarchy saith he I did dispend a great deal of my own money yet never had that satisfaction from them which they promised me that was they promised me 2 or 3000 l. for my journey and yet they have given me no more but only a small pittance of land out of my Lord of Worcesters estate in Worcester-shire I have seen his letters directed to his kinsman here in London as I take it his name was Parker advising him for the settling of this land and selling it Thirdly my Lord I have observed that by way of vilification of the Monarchical Government I have found him jocundarily scoffing at it and would ordinarily quibble in this manner saying this Common-wealth will never be at peace till 150. be put down I asked him what this 150. was he told me three L's and afterwards interpreted the meaning to be the Lords the Levites and the Lawyers with that said I we shall be like Switzers Tinkers and Traytors Now my Lord we are come to the last particular we discoursing thus frequently and withal he was then a Colonel and had a Commission under that Usurper Oliver and brought over his Commission for raising of Souldiers to foment that War in Ireland that it was so I appeal to the dictates of his own Conscience and whether he did not press me very importunately to accept of a Commission of Major or a Captain he did issue forth two Commissions under his own hand one of them to bring over from Devon-shire two foot Companies unto Cork My Lord because we were militarily affected amongst the discourses of our unhappy wars I know not how it came from him it being near eleven years since and I have had many sufferings incumbent on me so that I may fail in some particulars but in general thus it was we were discoursing concerning our Martyr'd King as then we call'd him and of his Imprisonment in Holmeby-House which I wondered at thus we discourst he told me the story how they had used him at Holmeby and at last came up to this when he was taken away from Holmeby House the Parliament had then a design to have secured O. Cromwel and my self being then in London saith he we having intelligence of it escaped out of London and rode hard for it and as we rode to Ware we made a halt and advised how we should settle this Kingdome in peace and dispose of the King the result was this They should bring him to justice Try him for his life and cut off his Head whether this was the expression of Cromwel I cannot tell but to the utmost of my remembrance and I am mistaken if it was not the advice of Mr. Peters to Cromwel and I believe it because his former relations of his instructions out of Ireland did tend to that effect Mr. Soll. Gen. I will ask you this question we will not press you particularly upon your memory whether Cromwel or Peters said the words do you remember he confessed to you they were agreed upon that matter Young They did consult and agree upon it Peters My Lord I desire to speak a Word his voice being so low he was brought to the second Bar. I am the bolder to speak to your Lordships at this time a word and it is high time to satisfie my conscience if these things were true
it is very sad but if you will go you may I did go over the Park Coun. What time Glover About noon Coun. What hour Glover I do not know I did not stay there the soldiers and the people fill'd the place and I went back again to the chamber I came back again within a matter of an hours time Coun. Was the King dead before you came back again Glover They said he was not when I went home he asked me what was doing I told him there was a great croud I could not come near I staid there an hour and then went out again and still there was a croud and I came back again and M. Peters was in his chamber then Coun. Was he in bed or up Glover I do not remember Coun. How old were you then Glover I am not above 32. or 33. Coun. Was Mr. Peters sick Gl. Yes He was melancholy sick as he used to be L. Ch. Bar. How long have you been at the Post-office Gl. About five years L. Ch. Bar. M. Peters have you any more to ask him Peters I brought him to testifie that I was not out of my Chamber that day and that I was sick L. Ch. Bar. Did you desire to go or did he send you Gl. I did desire to go being newly come to London Lord Ch. Baron This Gentleman though not upon oath is examined and it is only to one particular nothing at all to the main proofs Peters I bring him only to vindicate my self from that aspersion of my being upon the Scaffold L. Ch. Bar. They do not lay the weight of their evidence upon that The Kings Councel have done with their evidence if you have any thing to say you have your liberty Peters May it please your Lordships I will give you an account of the business I lived fourteen years out of England when I came over I found the wars begun I began no war my Lord nor have been the Trumpeter when I came out of the West Indies I fled from the War into Ireland to the Western part there and it was after the Rebellion when some of the Irish had been stirring there I went and spent my time there I was neither at Edge-hill nor Naseby but my Lord after I came over there was War that the people were engaged in I was not here in the beginning of it but was a stranger to the carriage of it When I came into the Nations I looked after three things one was that there might be sound Religion The second was that learning and Laws might be maintained The third that the poor might be cared for and I must confess I have spent most of my time in these things to this end and purpose there was a noise in all parts of some miscarriages in matters of Religion after it was setled I lived in Ireland I must profess for my own part solemnly that my carriage hath been upon these heads For Religion I have through Gods mercies spoke the truths of the Protestant Church upon this account I did stay to see what God might do I was sent over to his Majesty that we might have a little help in point of Excise and Customes and encouragement in learning My Lord this is true that I being here in the Nation and being sent over upon the occasions of the Countrey and not upon any design but this I say I cannot deny it that after I came over and had seen the state of England in some measure I did stir but by strong importunities the Ministers of London deeper than I I am very sorry to hear of my carriage towards the King it is my great trouble I beg pardon for my own folly and weakness I thought God had a great controversie with the Nation and the Lord was displeased on all hands that which some people took to I did take unto I went into the Army I saw at the beginning of it that corruptions grew among them I suppose none can say I have gone aside from any Orthodox truth of the Lord And now to take off the scandal upon me and to the business let me beg of your Lordships to consider whatever prejudices or revenge may take up mens hearts there is a God that knows all God hath a regard to the people of England I look upon this Nation as the Cabinet of the world That that doth concern the business is this my Lord that after this time hither I came and did bear witness to all the world that there was amongst us something that was for better and some thing worse for the Nation I took advice of some great persons concerning the weightiness of it I had neither malice nor mischief in my heart against the King upon this I did engage so far as being invited I went into the Wars and there I found very strange and several kinds of providences as this day hath been seen I do not deny but that was active but not to stir in a way that was not honourable I challenge a great part of the Nations to manifest my carriage among them I shall make it good divers ways I had so much respect to his Majesty particularly at Windsor that I propounded to his Majesty my thoughts three ways to preserve himself from danger which were good as he was pleased to think though they did not succeed and the work died as for malice I had none in me It is true there was a difference amongst us an Army and an Army I never had a groat or penny from O. Cromwel since I knew this place I profess I have had no ends for honour or gain since I set foot upon this shore I challenge any man that belonged to that party whether they had not the same respect from me as my own party I have not persecuted any with malice I will only take off malice L. C. B. Your business is matter of fact Peters I am unskilful in Law this that I offer is to shew that I had no malice in me I was so far from malice that I have a Certificate if worth the reading from one of the Eminentest persons in the Nation to shew I had no malice It is concerning the Marques of Worcester under his Ladies hand beginning with these words I do here testifie that in all the sufferings of my husband Mr. Peters was my great friend c. I have here a seal and then produced it that the Earl of Norwich gave me to keep for his sake for saving his life which I will keep as long as I live L. C. Bar. I am not willing at all to interrupt you or hinder you that which you speak of doing good services is not at all to the point we do not question you for what good you have done but for the evil you have done I hope there is no malice in your heart nor upon the Court nor Jury we and they are upon our Oaths you hear the matter alledged against you pray
Whitehall there were some Cavaliers then in the Regiment it was my fortune I came into your Company I wish I never had you commanded more besides my self to be a Witness against the King and Justice Cook took my Examination you brought me in you commanded the Guards that time at Whitehall when the King was upon his Tryal Axtell What more Burden And you commanded Elisha Axtell with a file of Souldiers to take a Boat and go down to the common Hangman that liv'd beyond the Tower to execute the King he is now Shepards Serjeant in Ireland Axtell My Lord I desire to ask him a question he was pleased to say I desired him to be a Witness Bur. Yes Axtell Where was it Burden In the Court at Whitehall Axtell My Lord I have seen the printed List of Witnesses against the King and in that list you shall find no such Name Burden I have been a Prisoner in Dublin by your means Axtell My Lord I hope you will take notice of that Councel Burden do you remember any of his commands to Web to draw up in the Banqueting-house Bur. He commanded Web to draw up in the Banqueting-house during the time of Execution his own company I was one of his own company then Coun. In order to what Bur. For Execution Axtell My Lord is Web here Bur. He is in Dublin Axt. I wish he were here Edward Cook sworn Cook And it please your Honour my Lord the last day of the Tryal of his Majesty I came into Westminster-hall coming where the Court was I did see Col. Axtell the Prisoner at the Bar there with some Musquetiers Coun. What day was this Cook The last day of his Majesties Tryal L. ch Bar. Go on Sir Cook Standing there a little while his Majesty came guarded with some Halberteers when he came by the Souldiers that stood with Col. Axtell his Majesty bowed and afterwards put off his Hat and went up to the Court I could not know what Bradshaw said to him I stood below I heard him say he was brought by the consent of the Commons and people of England there stood a Lady above in a Gallery crying out it is a lye where are the people or their consents Cromwel is a Traytor whereupon Col. Axtell standing by saith he what Drab is that that disturbs the Court come down or I will fetch you down Mr. Nelson sworn Coun. Tell my Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury touching the Discourse between you and the Prisoner at the Bar in Dublin Nelson My Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury upon a Discourse with the prisoner at the Bar in Dublin 5 or 6 years since upon the platform in that Castle we discoursed of the late Kings having had several reports I desired to know of him who it was that Executed the King thinking he might inform me he was pleased to tell me this saith he the persons that were imployed in that service you know them as well as I do truly Sir not I said I I saw them in Vizards but not their Visage as I know of yes saith he you do know them it is true saith he my self and others were imployed in that affair in order to the Execution but there were several persons came and offered themselves out of a kind of Zeal to do the thing but we did not think it proper to imploy persons whom we did not know but we made choice of a couple of Stout persons pray let me hear their Names said I saith he it was Heulet and Walker I desired to know their reward Truly saith he I do not know whether 30 l. a piece or between them I said it was a small reward for a work of that Nature truly saith he that was all Axt. You named one man I did not hear the other named Nelson I named Heulet and Walker we was one that managed the Execution he told me so and it pleased you Sir Axtell He is pleased to say that in Ireland there was such conference was any body by Nelson No Sir Axt. Did I name any body to you Nel. You named those two persons Axt. Certainly I must invent them then for I had no more knowledg of them then any one here Nel. You told me you were one of them that had the managing of that Affair Councel My Lord we have done with our Evidence those particulars that were first opened to you have rendred the prisoner much a blacker person then we thought we leave him to his defence Axt. May it please your Lordships in the first place because I am ignorant in the Laws I desire to know upon what Statute this indictment is grounded L. ch B. It is grounded upon the statute of the 25th of Edward the Third Axt. My Lords I must acknowledg my ignorance of the Laws being a thing I never studied nor have the knowledg of but I have heard it is the duty of your Lordships and the Judges to be of Counsel for the Prisoner in things wherein he is ignorant in matters of law to make his just defence and therefore my Lord the Indictment it self being matter of law if your Lordships please not to grant me Counsel to speak to matrers of law I humbly pray that your Lordships will be pleased that for want of knowledg formalities punctilloes and niceties of the Law I might not undo my self I have heard by a learned Judg that though the Judg be of Counsel to the King yet by his Oath he is also to be Counsellor to the Prisoner and stands as a Mediator between the King and Prisoner and therefore my Lord I shall beg that humble favour that wherein I shall fall short to make the best improvement of my Plea in matter of law that your Lordships will help me and not take advantages against me as to the niceties formalities and punctilloes of the Law and my Lord this is a resemblance of that Great day where Christ will be Judg and will judg the secrets of all hearts and of all words and of all persons and by him all Actions are weighed knows all our hearts whether there be malice or how it stands in the frame of each heart before him in this place and therefore I hope there will be nothing by prejudging or any thing by precluding to be so black a person as it seemed to be said against me My Lords I must shorten the time and come to speak as to the Authority L. Ch. Bar. As to what Sir Axt. I speak as to the Authority by which or under which I acted I humbly conceive my Lord under favour that I am not within the compass of that Statute of the 25th of Edward the Third for that questionless must intend private persons Counselling Compassing or Imagining the death of the King But you know my Lords the War was first stated by the Lords and Commons the Parliament of England and by vertue of their Authority was forced to be raised and they pretended
by law that the right of the Militia was in them and your Lordships will remember in several Declarations and Acts that was mutually exchanged between his Majesty and Parliament and my Lord that was the Authority the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament raised a Force and made the Earl of Essex Ceneral and after him the Earl of Manchester of the Eastern Association and after that Sir Tho. Fairfax Lord General of the Forces by this Authority I acted and this Authority I humbly conceive to be legal because this Parliament was called by the Kings Writ chosen by the People and passed a Bill they should not be dissolved without their own consents that the Parliament was in being when the Tryal was and a question whether yet legally Dissolved In the fourth place they were not only owned and obeyed at home but abroad to be the chief Authority of the Nation and also owned by Foreign States and Kingdoms sent Ambassadors to that purpose under them did all the Judges of the Land Act who ought to be the Eye of the Land and the very light of the People to Guide them in their right Actions and I remember the Judges upon Tryal I have read it of High Treason Judg Thorp Nicholas and Jermin have declared it publickly That it was a lawful justifiable thing by the Law of the Land to obey the Parliament of England My Lord it further appears as to their Authority over the People of this Nation petitioning them as the supreme and lawful Authority and My Lords as I have heard it hath been objected that the Houses of Lords and Commons could make no Act. Truly my Lord if you will not allow them to be Acts though they intitle them so call them so and obeyed as so by the Judges Ministers and Officers of State and by all other persons in the Nation yet I hope they cannot be denied to be Orders of Parliament and were they no more but Orders yet were they sufficient as I humbly couceive to bear out such as acted thereby And my Lord the Parliament thus constituted and having made their Generals he by their Authority did constitute and appoint me to be an Inferior Officer in the Army serving them in the quarters of the Parliament and under and within their power and what I have done my Lord it hath been done only as a Souldier deriving my power from the General he had his power from the Fountain to wit the Lords and Commons and my Lord this being done as hath been said by several that I was there and had command at Westminster-Hall truly my Lord if the Parliament command the General and the General the inferiour Officers I am bound by my Commission according to the Laws and Customs of War to be where the Regiment is I came not thither voluntarily but by command of the General who had a Commission as I said before from the Parliament I was no Counsellor no Contriver I was no Parliament-man none of the Judges none that Sentenced Signed none that had any hand in the Execution onely that which is charged is that I was an Officer in the Army if that be so great a crime I conceive I am no more guilty than the Earl of Essex Fairfax or the Lord of Manchester Judg Mallet You are not charged as you were an Officer of the Army Axtell My Lords That is the main thing they do insist upon my Lord I am no more guilty than his Excellency the Lord General Monck who Acted by the same Authority and all the People in the three Nations and my Lord I do humbly suppose if the Authority had been only an Authority in Fact and not Right yet those that Acted under them ought not to be questioned but if the Authority commanded whatsoever offence they committed especially that that guided me was no less than the declared Judgment of the Lords and Commons sitting in Parliament they declared that was their right as to the Militia and having explained several Statutes of Henry the 7th wherein the King having enterchanged Declarations with the Parliament the Parliament comes to make an Explanation on that Statute and my Lord it is in Folio 280. wherein they do positively expound it and declare it as their allowed Judgment To clear up all scruples to all that should take up Arms for them saith the Parliament there as to the Statute of 11. of Henry the 7th Chapter the first which is printed at large comes there to explain it in general and comes here Folio 281. and gives this Judgment It is not say they agreeable to Reason or Conscience that any ones duty should be known if the Judgment of the High Court of Parliament be not a Rule or Guide to them In the next place this is the next Guidance Rule and Judgment of Parliament upon the Exposition of this Statute and as they have said in several places was it not too much to take up your Lordships time they are the proper Judges and Expounders of the Laws The High Court of Parliament have taken upon them to expound the Law and said that we Lawyers will give the meaning of the Text contrary to what they have expounded the meaning under their hands in the same Declaration his Majesty is pleased to quit that Statute upon which I stand Indicted the 25th of Edward the Third where they do my Lord expound that very Statute in the Declaration made in 1643. Folio 722. I come to the declared Judgment wherein they did positively say that the persons that do Act under their Authority ought not to be questioned as persons Guilty Folio 727. that is the Exposition that the Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament doth make upon the statute Councel My Lord this is an Argumentation of Discourse in justification of his proceedings we desire to know what he will answer as to the Plea Axtell My Lords I have this further to say that if a House of Commons Assembled in Parliament may be Guilty of Treason for the truth is if I Acted Treason that Acted under the Authority of the Lords and Commons in Parliament and of the Commons in Parliament then doubtless they must begin the Treason if the House of Commons who are the collective body and Representation of the Nation all the people of England who chose them are guilty too and then where will there be a Jury to try this concerning the Commons alone I have been over ruled L. ch Bar. If you have any thing to say to the Lords and Commons answer to your charge your charge is nothing of the Lords and Commons but what you Acted when the house was broke and Forced Coun. You cannot but know that there is nothing charged against you for which you can so much as pretend an Authority of the Lords and Commons you know before you could do this Horrid Murther you were the persons that destroyed the Lords and Commons both indeed you Ravel in a
speak with his Parliament I rising up one told me I must not be heard for the President was to give Judgement and said there was an order that none should speak in Court Mr. Downes did move and they did adjourn the Court and I was glad I got out Cromwell laughed and smiled and jeared in the Court of Wards I hope your Lordship will be pleased to consider I was no Contriver no Soldier that put the force upon the House that erected the Court None of the Law-makers or did any thing maliciously against the King My Lord I was looked upon with an evil eye for regarding the King's friends in the Country Gray he told me the King would not die I hope he will not said I. The next day on Monday I went to the House they were labouring to get hands for his Execution at the Door I refused and went into the House saith Cromwell those that are gone in shall set their hands I will have their hands now That night I went to the Lord Grays and he said I am afraid they will put him to death I said so also My Lord I have been a great sufferer I was drawn in trapan'd into it since being a friend to the Kings friends I am almost ruined in my estate I beseech your Lordships make the best interpretation I hope you will believe I was no Contriver I humbly lay hold upon the Kings mercy and favour I came in upon the Proclamation I pray that this Honourable Court will prefer my Petition to the King and both Houses of Parliament which the Court then received William Heveningham My Lord in 1648. we were under a force under the tyranny of an Army they were our Masters for a malicious and a traiterous heart I had not I do absolutely deny the signing the Warrant for summoning the Court and also that Warrant for execution of the King at the time of sealing I had that Courage and Boldness that I protested against it Counsel We do not question him for that but for sitting in the high Court of Justice and that upon the day of the sentence do you deny that Heveningham My Lord I cannot say positively Counsel If you deny the matter of fact it must be proved Heveningham I cannot say positively but it may be I might Counsel Either say positively you did or else let the Witnesses be call'd Heveningham Truly my Lord I think I did but my after-actions Lord Chief Baron Mr. Heveningham that shall be considered Counsel My Lord to sit upon the day of Sentence was high Treason in it self and is an evidence of Compassing and Imagining the Kings death Hev I shall lay hold of the Declaration I came in upon the Proclamation I pray your Lordships to interceed for me to the King and both Houses of Parliament I pray the mercy of this Court L. C. B. You of the Jury they have all confessed and therefore you may go together Simon Meyne My Lords I have forgot my Petition it is at my lodging I desire I may send it at night John Downes and Peter Temple prayed the like favour L. Ch. B. Do send them they shall be received The Jury having consulted together a certain time they went to their places Clerk Gentlemen are you agreed of your verdict Jury Yes Clerk Who shall say for you Jury Our Fore-man Clerk John Downes hold up thy hand Look upon the prisoner how say you is he guilty of High Treason whereof he stands indicted and hath been arraigned or not guilty Forem Guilty Clerk Look to him Keeper What Goods and Chattels c. Forem None to our knowledge And the like verdicts at the same time passed in the same manner against Vincent Potter Augustine Garland Symon Meyne James Temple Peter Temple Thomas Waite and William Heveningham Potter I hope I may be freed from Irons I am in pain and a man of bulk L. Ch. B. We can give no order in it we must leave it to the Sheriff Potter I begg it of you my Lord. L. Ch. B. We must leave it to the Sheriff Mr. Heveningham You must withdraw from the Bar. Clerk Officer bring down VValler Fleetwood Hacker Axtel Hulet Penington Marten Millington Titchborne Roe Lilburne Smith and Harvey and set them to the Bar which was done accordingly Clerk Hardress VValler hold up thy hand thou hast been Indicted and found guilty of High Treason what canst thou say why judgment should not pass on thee to dy according to Law VValler My Lords I am now it seems Convicted by Law and so adjudged Your Lordships the other day on my desire told me I might have liberty to speak upon my trial I must now beg the like upon a condemned person L. Ch. B. You are Convicted not Condemned Waller My Lords I was the first that pleaded Guilty I bless God that he gave me a heart to do it I find most peace in the doing of it and since there is nothing left but hopes of Mercy I humbly submit it to your Lordships to hear me in this sad condition that that may make me seem more capable of mercy I have my Lords been so unhappy to have been transplanted out of my Country these thirty years I have been but once these eleven years in England this must needs make me a stranger L. Ch. B. I must not hinder you because it is for mercy that you plead but consider with your self whether it will not be better to give it in a Petition I leave it to you we can do nothing in point of Mercy but Judgment Waller Onely this My Lord whether I am not the more capable of your mercy L. Ch. B. That you may understand it the Act of Indempnity of Parliament hath excepted you yet upon some qualifications we are to proceed according to Law that is to go to Conviction and Judgment The Act sayes that after Judgment there shall be no execution but that it shall be suspended till a further Act of Parliament to be passed for that purpose so that in the mean time we are to proceed no further then Judgment That which concerns Mercy is referred to another place If you please to say any thing to satisfie us or to go by way of Petition it must be left to you but what you say for mercy is nothing to us Waller I humbly thank your Lordships for this clear and noble dealing and withall I would beg that these people that are witnesses of my shame and guilt may know that it was a force and temptation upon me I shall not insist much I have said that I did plead guilty which was most safe to my own Conscience yet I should make it appear that I did appear more to preserve the King from Tryal and Sentence then any other Lord Finch Sir Hardress Waller I have heard of late of your sorrow which I was glad to hear of because you are my kinsman both by your Father and Mothers side and also my