Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	king_n	parliament_n	treason_n	2,197	5	9.2136	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25871	The arraignment, tryal & condemnation of Algernon Sidney, Esq. for high-treason ... before the Right Honourable Sir George Jeffreys ... Lord Chief Justice of England at His Majesties Court of Kingsbench at Westminster on the 7th, 21th and 27th of November, 1683	Sidney, Algernon, 1622-1683, defendant.; Jeffreys, George Jeffreys, Baron, 1644 or 5-1689.; England and Wales. Court of King's Bench.	1684 (1684)	Wing A3754; ESTC R23343	69,533	67

I say this If I am not under the first Branch if not directly I can't be by Implication though I did make War I can't be said to Conspire the Death of the King because 't is a distinct Species of Treason and my Lord Coke says t is the overthrow of all Justice to confound Membra dividentia now if the making of War can't be understood to be a Conspiring the Death of the King then I am not guilty of this Indictment but heremy Lord is neither Conspiring the Death of the King nor making War nor Conspiring to make War Besides I say 't is not the best Mans Evidence here would be good in this Case because the Law requires two The next thing is the business of Aaron Smith which my Lord tells so imperfectly and so meerly conjectural that there is nothing in it but his Rhetorick in setting it out He tells you of a Letter sent with him but he does not tell you by whom writ what was in it or whether it was delivered or no So that I think we may lay that aside as the other as things nothing in them at all Then says Mr. Attorney These Scotch Gentlemen are come to Town I profess I never heard the Names of one of them till he named them to me in the Tower I have not sent my self nor writ a Letter into Scotland never since the Year 59 nor do I know one Man in Scotland to whom I can write or from whom I ever received one I returned into England in the Year 77 and since that time have not writ nor received a Letter from Scotland Then some Gentlemen came hither What is that to me I never saw one of the Cambells in my life nor Monro if any one can prove I have had Communication with them I will be glad to suffer Then here are Papers if any thing is to be made of them you must produce the whole for 't is impossible to make any thing of a part of them You ask me What other Passage I would have read I don't know a Passage in them I can't tell whether it be good or bad But if there are any Papers found 't is a great doubt whether they were found in my Study or no or whether they be not counterfeit but though that be admitted that they were found in my house the hand is such that it shews they have been writ very many years Then that which seems to be an account of the Sections and Chapters that is but a scrap and what if any body had my Lord either in my own hand or anothers found Papers that are not well justifiable Is this Treason Does this imagine the Death of the King Does this reach the Life of the King If any Man can say I ever printed a sheet in my life I will submit to any Punishment Many others my Lord they write and they write what comes into their heads I believe there is a Brother of mine here has forty Quire of Paper writtenby my Father and never one sheet of them was published but he writ his own mind to see what he could think of it another time and blot it out again may be And I my self I believe have burned more Papers of my own writing than a Horse can carry So that for these Papers I can't answer for them There is nothing in it and what Concatenation can this have with the other design that is in it self nothing with my Lords Select Counsel selected by no body to pursue the design of my Lord Shaftsbury And this Counsel that he pretends to be set up for so great a business was to be adjusted with so much fineness so as to bring things together What was this fineness to do taking it for granted which I don't This was nothing if he was a credible Witness but a few Men talking at large of what might be or not be what was like to fall out without any manner of intention or doing any thing They did not so much as inquire Whether there was Men in the Country Arms or Ammunition A War to be made by five or six Men not knowing one another not trusting one another What said Dr. Coxe in his evidence at my Lord Russel's Tryal of my Lord Russel's trusting my Lord Howard He might say the same of some others So that my Lord I say these Papers have no manner of coherence no dependance upon any such design You must go upon conjecture upon conjecture and after all you find nothing but only Papers never perfect only scraps written many years ago and that could not be calculated for the raising of the People Now pray what Imagination can be more vain than that and what Man can be safe if the King's Counsel may make such whimsical I won't say but groundless Constructions Mr. Attorney says the Plot was broken to the Scots God knows we were neither broken nor joined and that the Cambells came to Town about that time I was taken and in the mean time my Lord Howard the great Contriver of all this Plot who was most active and advised the business that consisted of so much fineness he goes there and agrees of nothing and then goes into Essex upon great important business greater then the War of England and Scotland to what purpose To look after a little pimping Mannour and what then Why then it must be laid aside and he must be idle five Weeks at the Bath and there is no inquiring after it Now I desire your Lordship to consider whether there be a possibility for any Men that have the sense of Porters and Grooms to do such things as he would put upon us I would only say this If Mr. Attorney be in the right there was a Combination with the Scotts and then this Paper was writ for those that say I did it say I was doing of it then and by the Notes there is work enough for four or five years to make out what is mentioned in those scraps of Paper and this must be to kill the King And I say this my Lord that under favour for all constructive Treasons you are to make none but to go according to plain proof and that these Constructive Treasons belong only to Parliament and by the immediate Proviso in that Act. Now my Lord I leave it to your Lordship to see whether there is in this any thing that you can say is an Overt Act of Treason mentioned in 25 E. 3. If it be not plainly under one of the two Branches That I have endeavoured to kill the King or Levyed War then 't is matter of Construction and that belongs to no Court but the Parliament Then my Lord this hath been adjudged already in Throgmorton's Case There is twenty Judgments of Parliament the Act of 13 Eliz. that says I should have some body to speak for me my Lord. L. C. Iust. We are of another Opinion Mr. Just. Wythins If you acknowledg the matter of

Fact you say well Col. Sidney I say there are several Judgments of Parliament that doe shew what ever is constructive-Constructive-Treason does not belong to any private Court that of 1 Mary 1 E. 6. 1 Eliz. 5 Eliz. 18. another 13 Car shew this Now my Lord I say that the business concerning the Papers 't is only a similitude of hands which is just nothing In my Lady Carrs Case it was resolved to extend to no criminal Cause if not to any then not to the greatest the most Capital So that I have only this to say That I think 't is impossible for the Jury to find this matter for the first point you proved by my Lord Howard that I think is no Body and the last concerning the Papers is only imagination from the similitude of hands If I had published it I must have answered for it or if the thing had been whole and mine I must have answered for it but for these scraps never shewed any Body That I think does not at all concern me And I say if the Jury should find it which is impossible they can I desire to have the Law reserved unto me Mr. Sol. Gen. My Lord and you Gentlemen of the Jury The Evidence hath been long but I will endeavour to repeat it as faithfully as I can The Crime the Prisoner stands accused for is compassing and imagining the Death of the King That which we go about to prove that compassing and imagining by is by his meeting and consulting how to raise Arms against the King and by plain matter in writing under his own hand where he does affirm It is lawful to take away and destroy the King Gentlemen I will begin with the first part of it the Meeting and Consultation to raise Arms against the King The Prisoner Gentlemen hath endeavoured to avoid the whole force of this Evidence by saying that this in point of Law can't affect him if it were all proved for this does not amount to a proof of his compassing and imagining the death of the King and he is very long in interpreting the Act of Parliament to you of 25 E. 3. and dividing of it into several Members or Branches of Treason And does insist upon it that tho' this should be an offence within one Branch of that Statute yet that is not a proof of the other which is the Branch he is proceeded upon that is the first Clause against the compassing and imagining the Death of the King And sais he conspiring to Levy War is not so much as one Branch of that Statute but it must be War actually levyed This is a matter he is wholly mistaken in in point of Law It hath been adjudged over and over again That an Act which in one Branch of that Statute may be an overt Act to prove a man Guilty of another Branch of it As levying War is an overt Act to prove a man Guilty of Conspiring the Death of the King And this was adjudged in the Case of Sir Henry Vane so is meeting and consulting to raise to Arms. And reason does plainly speak it to be so for they that conspire to raise War against the King can't be presumed to stop any where till they have Dethron'd or Murdered the King Gentlemen I won't belong in citing Authoritys It hath been setled lately by all the Judges of England in the Case of my Lord Russel who hath suffered for this Conspiracy Therefore that point of Law will be very plain against the Prisoner He hath mentioned some other things as that there must be two Witnesses to every particular Fact and one Witness to one Fact and another to another is not sufficient it hath been very often objected and as often over-ruled It was over-ruled Solemnly in the Case of my Lord Stafford Therefore if we have one Witness to one overt Act and another to another they will be two Witnesses in Law to convict this Prisoner In the first part of our Evidence we give you an account of the general Design of an Insurrection that was to have been that this was contrived first when my Lord Shaftsbury was in England that after my Lord Shaftsbury was gone the business did not fall but they thought fit to revive it again and that they might carry it on the more steadily they did contrive a Counsel among themselves of six whereof the Prisoner at the Bar was one They were the Duke of Monmouth my Lord of Essex my Lord Howard my Lord Russel the Prisoner at the Bar and Mr. Hambden This Counsel they contrived to manage this affair and to carry on that designe that seemed to fall by the Death of my Lord of Shaftsbury and they met this we give you an account of first by Witnesses that gave you an account in general of it And tho' they were not privy to it yet they heard of this Counsel and that Col. Sidney was to be one of this Counsel This Gentlemen If it had stood alone by it self had been nothing to affect the Prisoner at all But this will shew you that this was discours'd among them that were in this Conspiracy Then my Lord Howard gives you an account that first the Duke of Monmouth and he and Col. Sidney met and it was agreed to be necessary to have a Counsel that should consist of six or seven and they were to carry it on That the Duke of Monmouth undertook to dispose my Lord Russel to it and Col. Sidney to dispose the Earl of Essex and Mr. Hambden that these Gentlemen did meet accordingly and the substance of their discourse was taking notice how the design had fallen upon the Death of my Lord Shaftsbury that it was fit to carry it on before mens Inclinations were cool for they found they were ready to it and had great reason to believe it because this being a business communicated to so many yet for all that it was kept very secret and no body had made any mention of it which they looked upon as a certaine argument that men were ready to ingage in it This incouraged them to go on in this Conspiracy Then when the Six met at Mr. Hambden's house they debated concerning the place of rising and the time the time they conceiv'd must be suddenly before Mens minds were cool for now they thought they were ready and very much disposed to it and for place they had in debate whether they should rise first in the Town or in the Country or both together And for the Persons they thought it absolutely necessary for them to have the United Counsels of Scotland to join with them and therefore they did refer this matter to be better considered of another time and they met afterwards at my Lord Russel's House in February and there they had Discourse to the same purpose But there they began to consider with themselves being they were to destroy this Government what they should set up in the room of it to what

this manner if he had not apprehensions of Guilt within himself This is the Testimony offered against my Lord Howard in disparagement of his Evidence Ay but further it s objected he is in expectation of a Pardon And he did say he thought he should not have the Kings Pardon till such time as the drudgery of Swearing was over Why Gentlemen I take notice before this Discourse happened he Swore the same thing at my Lord Russel's Tryal And I must tell you though it is the Duty of every Man to discover all Treasons yet I tell you for a Man to come and Swear himself over and over Guilty in the face of a Court of Justice may seem irksome and provoke a Man to give it such an Epithet 'T is therefore for his Credit that he is an unwilling Witness But Gentlemen consider if these things should have been allowed to take away the Credibility of a Witness what would have become of the Testimonies that have been given of late days What would become of the Evidence of all those that have been so profligate in their Lives Would you have the Kings Council to call none but men that were not concerned in this Plot to prove that they were Plotting Ay but Gentlemen it is further objected This Hand looks like an old Hand and it may not be the Prisoners Hand but be Counterfeited and for that there is a Gentleman who tells you what a dexterous Man he is He says he believes he could Counterfeit any Hand in half an hour 't is an ugly temptation but I hope he hath more Honour than to make use of that Art he so much glories in But what time could there be for the Counterfeiting of this Book Can you imagine that Sir Philip Lloyd through the Bag Sealed up did it Or who else can you imagine should or does the Prisoner pretend did write this Book So that as on one side God forbid but we should be careful of Mens Lives so on the other side God forbid that Flourishes and Varnish should come to indanger the Life of the King and the Destruction of the Government But Gentlemen We are not to anticipate you in point of Fact I have according to my Memory recapitulated the matters given in Evidence It remains purely in you now whether you do believe upon the whole matter that the Prisoner is Guilty of the High-Treason whereof he is Indicted Mr. Iust. Withins Gentlemen 'T is fit you should have our Opinions in all the points of Law we concur with my Lord Chief Justice Says Colonel Sidney here is a mighty Conspiracy but there is nothing comes of it who must we thank for that None but the Almighty Providence One of themselves was troubled in Conscience and comes and discovers it had not Keeling discovered it God knows whether we might have been alive at this day Then the Jury withdrew and in about half an hours time returned and brought the Prisoner in Guilty And the Lievtenant of the Tower took away his Prisoner Munday 26. Nov. 1683. Algernoon Sidney Esquire was brought up to the Bar of the Court of Kings bench to receive his Sentence L. Ch. Iust. Mr Attorney will you move any thing Mr. Att. Gen. My Lord the Prisoner at the Bar is convicted of High Treason I demand Judgment against him Cl. of Crown Algernoon Sidney Hold up thy hand which he did Thou hast been indicted of High Treason and thereupon arraigned and thereunto pleaded not Guilty and for thy Tryal put thy self upon God and the Country which Country has found thee Guilty What can'st thou say for thy self Why Judgment of death should not be given against thee and execution awarded according to Law Col. Sidney My Lord I humbly conceive I have had no Tryal I was to be tryed by my Country I do not find my Country in the Jury that did try me There were some of them that were not Freeholders I think my Lord There is neither Law nor President of any man that has been tryed by a Jury upon an Indictment lay'd in a County that were not Freeholders So I do humbly conceive That I have had no Tryal at all and if I have had no Tryal there can be no Judgment L. Ch. Just. Mr. Sidney you had the Opinion of the Court in that matter before We were unanimous in it for it was the Opinion of all the Judges of England in the Case next proceeding yours tho' that was a Case relating to Corporations but they were of Opinion that by the Statute of Queen Mary the Tryal of Treason was put as it was at Common Law and that there was no such Challenge of Common Law Col. Sidney Under favour my Lord I presume in such a Case as this of Life and for what I know concernes every man in England you will give me a day and Counsel to argue it L. Ch. Iust. T is not in the Power of the Court to do it Col. Sidney My Lord I desire the Indictment against me may be read L. Ch. Iust. To what purpose Col. Sidney I have somewhat to say to it L. Ch. Iust. Well read the Indictment Then the Clerk of the Crown read the Indictment Col. Sidney Pray Sir will you give me leave to see it if it please you L. Ch. Iust. No that we cannot do Col. Sidney My Lord there is one thing then that makes this absolutely voyd It deprives the King of his Title which is Treason by Law Defensor fidei There is no such thing there if I heard it Right L. Ch. Iust. In that you would deprive the King of his Life that is in very full I think Col. Sidney If no body would deprive the King no more then I he would be in no danger Under favour these are things not to be over-ruled in point of Life so easily L. Ch. Iust. Mr. Sidney We very well understand our duty we don't need to be told by you what our Duty is we tell you nothing but what is Law and if you make Objections that are immaterial we must overrule them Don't think that we overrule in your Case that we would not overrule in all mens Cases in your Condition The Treason is sufficiently lay'd Col. Sidney My Lord I conceive this too that those words that are said to be written in the Paper that there is nothing of Treason in them Besides that there was nothing at all proved of them only by similitude of hands which upon the Case I alledged to your Lordship was not to be admitted in a Criminal Case Now 't is easy to call a thing proditorie but yet let the nature of the thing be examined I put my self upon it that there is no Treason in it L. Ch. Iust. There is not a Line in the Book scarce but what is Treason Mr Just. Withins I believe you don 't believe it Treason L. Ch. Iust. That is the worst part of your Case When men are riveted in Opinion that Kings

believe that that was Coll. Sidney's Book writ by him no man can doubt but it is a sufficient Evidence that he is Guilty of Compassing and Imagining the Death of the King and let us consider what proof can be greater than what has been given of it Mr. Sheppard an intimate acquaintance of his that has seen him write he looks upon the hand and says He is extreamly acquainted with the hand and says He I believe in my Conscience this Book is Coll. Sidney's hand Gent. Do you expect Mr. Sidney would call a Witness to be by to see him write that Book In the next place you have two Trades-men Coke and Cary and they tell you one had seen him write once the other had seen his hand writing and they both believe it his Hand writing and they have good reason for they have paid several summs of Money upon Notes which they took as well as This to be his Hand writing Gentlemen Besides that give me leave to tell you here is another thing that makes it more plain This very Book is found in Colonel Sidney's House on the Table in his Study where he used to write by a Gentleman against whom Colonel Sidney can't make the least Objection and that there was that fairness offered by the Gentleman Pray Colonel put your Seal upon it that you may see that no injury be done you but Mr. Sidney would not do it Therefore he Seals them with his own Seal and carries them to White-hall where they were broken open and Sweares that those Papers were found in his Closet whereof this was one Another thing which I must take notice of to you in this Case is to mind you how this Book contains all the Malice and Revenge and Treason that Mankind can be guilty of It fixes the sole Power in the Parliament and the People so that he carries on the Design still for their Debates at their Meetings were to that purpose And such Doctrines as these suit with their Debates for there a general Insurrection was designed and that was discoursed of in this Book and incouraged They must not give it an ill Name It must not be called a Rebellion it being the general Act of the People The King it says is responsible to them the King is but their Trustee That he had betrayed his Trust he had misgoverned and now he is to give it up that they may be all Kings themselves Gentlemen I must tell you I think I ought more than ordinarily to press this upon you because I know the Misfortune of the late unhappy Rebellion and the bringing the late Blessed King to the Scaffold was first begun by such kind of Principles They cried He had betrayed the Trust that was delegated to him from the People Gentlemen in the next place because he is afraid their Power alone won't do it he endeavours to poison Mens Judgments and the way he makes use of he colours it with Religion and quotes Scripture for it too and you know how far that went in the late times How we were for binding our King in Chains and our Nobles in Fetters of Iron Gentlemen This is likewise made use of by him to stir up the People to Rebellion Gentlemen if in case the Prisoner did design the Deposing the King the removing the King and if in order thereunto he be guilty of Conspiring to Levy War or as to the Letter writ by my Lord Russel if he was privy to it these will be Evidences against him So that 't is not upon two but 't is upon greater Evidence then 22 if you believe this Book was writ by him Next I must tell you Gentlemen upon I think a less Testimony an Indictment was preferred against the late Lord Russel and he was thereupon Convicted and Executed of which they have brought the Record These are the Evidences for the King For the Prisoner he hath made several Objections As that there was no War Levied For that Gentlemen at the beginning of the Cause I told you what I took the Law to be and I take it to be so very plainly But Gentlemen as to the Credibility of my Lord Howard he offers you several Circumstances First He offers you a Noble Lord my Lord Anglescy who says That he attending my Lord of Bedford upon the misfortune of the Imprisonment of his Son after he had done my Lord Howard came to second that part of a Christians Office which he had performed and told him he had a very good Son and he knew no harm of him and as to the Plot he knew nothing of it Another Noble Lord my Lord Clare tells you that he had some Discourse with my Lord Howard and he said that if he were accused he thought they would but tell Noses and his business was done Then Mr. Philip Howard he tells you how he was not so intimate with him as others but he often came to his Brothers and that he should say he knew nothing of a Plot nor did he believe any but at the same time he said he believed there was a Sham Plot and then he pressed him about the business of the Address but that now my Lord of Essex was out of Town and so it went off Another thing Mr. Sidney took notice of says he 't is an Act of Revenge in my Lord Howard for he owes him a Debt that he does besides by his Allegation does not appear Col. Sid. My Lord he hath confessed it L. Ch. Iust. Admit it yet in case Collonel Sidney should be Convicted of this Treason the Debt accrues to the King and he can't be a Farthing the better for it But how does it look like Revenge I find my Lord Howard when he speaks of Collonel Sidney says he was more beholding to him than any body and was more sorry for him so says my Lord Clare Gentlemen You have it likewise offered that he came to Collonel Sidney's House and there he was desirous to have the Plate and Goods removed to his House and that he would assist them with his Coach and Coachman to carry them thither and did affirm that he knew nothing of the Plot and did not believe Collonel Sidney knew any thing and this is likewise proved by a couple of Maid Servants as well as the French Man You have likewise some thing to the same purpose said by my Lord Paget and this is offered to take off the Credibility of my Lord Howard Do you believe because my Lord Howard did not tell them I am in a Conspiracy to kill the King therefore he knew nothing of it he knew these Persons were Men of Honour and would not be concerned in any such thing But do you think because a Man goes about and denies his being in a Plot therefore he was not in it Nay it seems so far from being an Evidence of his Innocence that 't is an Evidence of his Guilt What should provoke a Man to discourse after

read them or shew'd them to any man None knew when they were written The Ink shewed they had been done many and perhaps 20 or 30 years Yea some passages were read out of them without examining what went before and after when I desired the whole might be read it was refused unless I specified the passage which I could not do knowing not one word in them When I alledged that in Criminal Cases similitude of hands could not be taken for Evidence proposed my Points of Law concerning Constructive Treason c. And I did conceive that no Court under the Parliament could be Judges of it and did desire the Statute which did so Enact it might be read it could not be obtained And I cited many Judgments in Parliament L. Ch. Iust. Mr. Sidney If you arraign the Justice of the Nation so as tho' we had denied you the Methods of Justice I must tell you you do what do's not become you for we denied you nothing that ought to have been granted If we had granted you less I think we had done more our duty What points of Law do you mean Col. Sidney That of Constructive Treason my Lord. L. Ch. Iust. We do not go upon Constructive Treason 't is plain Treason within 25. E. 3. Col. Sidney Is Writing an Act L. Ch. Iustice. Yes 't is agere Proclamation made for silence Mr. Bamfield Sir I pray you to hear me one word as Amicus Curiae I humbly suppose that your Lordship will not give Judgment if there be a material defect in the Indictment as the Clerk did read it he left out Defensor fidei which is part of the Style of his Majesty L. Ch. Iust. We have heard of it already we thank you for your Friendship and are satisfied Mr. Sidney there remains nothing for the Court but to discharge their Duty in pronouncing that Judgment the Law requires to be pronounced against all Persons convicted of High Treason and I must tell you that tho' you seem to arraign the Justice of the Court and the proceeding Col. Sidney I must appeal to God and the World I am not heard L. Ch. Iust. Appeal to whom you will I could wish with all my heart instead of Appealing to the World as though you had received something extream hard in your Case that you would Appeal to the great God of Heaven and consider the Guilt you have contracted by the great Offence you have committed I wish with all my heart you would consider your Condition but if your own Ingenuity will not provoke you nothing I can say will prevail with you to do it if the Kings General Pardon in which you had so great a share of the Kings mercy will not I could wish that as a Gentleman and as a Christian you would consider under what Particular Obligations you lye to that Gracious King that hath done much more for you I should have thought it would have wrought in you such a temper of mind as to have turned the rest of your life into a generous acknowledgement of his Bounty and Mercy and not into a State of constant Combining and Writing not only to destroy Him but to subvert the Government and I am sorry to see you so earnest in the Justification of the Book in which there is scarce a Line but what contains the rankest Treason such as deposing the King It not only incourages but justifies all Rebellion Mr. Sidney you are a Gentleman of Quality and need no Counsel from me If I could give you any my Charity to your Immortal Soul would provoke me to it I pray God season this affliction to you There remains nothing with the Court but to Pronounce that Judgement that is expected and the Law requires and therefore the Judgment of the Court is That you be carried hence to the place from whence you came and from thence you shall be drawn upon an Hurdle to the Place of Execution where you shall be hanged by the Neck and being alive cut down your Privy Members shall be cut off and burned before your Face your Head severed from your Body and your Body divided into four Quarters and they to be disposed at the Pleasure of the King And the God of infinite Mercy have mercy upon your Soul Col. Sidney Then O God O God I beseech thee to Sanctifie these sufferings unto me and impute not my Blood to the Country nor the City through which I am to be drawn Let no inquisition be made for it but if any and the shedding of Blood that is innocent must be revenged Let the weight of it fall only upon those that maliciously Persecute me for Righteousness sake L. Ch. Iust. I pray God work in you a temper fit to go unto the other World for I see you are not fit for This. Col. Sidney My Lord feel my Pulse holding out his hand and see if I am disordered I bless God I never was in better temper then I am now Then the Lieutenant of the Tower carried back his Prisoner FINIS