peace he gave order to his Officers to fight us and so to be engaged in bloud the better for his wicked Designs against both Kingdoms And although his Majesty with consent of his Peers were inclined to a Peace as before he onely in that honourable Assembly raged against us as Traitours and Enemies to Monarchical Government to be sent home nay he himself would undertake to whip us home in our own bloud That after the Cessation of Arms he during the Treaty drew up his Army near the Tees and gave his Warrants to the several Governours of Barwick and Carlile for their Acts of Hostility and he the Man that continueth several parts of England in terms of difference sundry Scots imprisoned still no free Trade nor other face of affairs there as before the Cessation And therefore desire their Lordships that this great Incendiary not onely against private persons but even against Kingdoms and Nations may come to his Trial and endure condign justice and punishment And for this their good service the Scots had favour from the House of Commons to have an hundred thousand pounds voted for the Expence of their Army who besides plundered the Counties round about their Quarters And not to separate him from his confident Sir George Ratcliff who was brought out of Ireland and this Impeachment charged against him The Impeachment of Sir George Ratcliff First that he had conspired and joined with the Earl of Strafford to bring into Ireland an Arbitrary Government and to subvert Fundamental Laws Secondly to bring in an Army from Ireland to subdue the Subjects of England Thirdly that he joyned with the Earl to use Regal power and to deprive Subjects of their liberties and properties Fourthly to take out fourty thousand pounds out of the Exchequer in Ireland and bought Tobacco therewith and converted the same profit to their own uses Fifthly that he hath traiterously confederated with the Earl to countenance Papists and built Monasteries to alienate the affections of the Irish Subjects from the subjection of England Sixthly to draw the Subjects of Scotland from the King Seventhly that to preserve himself and the said Earl he had laboured to subvert the Liberties and Privilege of Parliaments in Ireland The Parliament taking things in turn having turned out of the House of Lords and safely lodged two Delinquents the most active and powerfull the one from the State the other from the Church the next in course must concern the Law the most eminent Malignant as they conceived was the Lord Keeper Finch who took it for his wiser way to prevent the effects of what was in preparing against him the Commons charge of High Treason In reference to it he caressed them with an Oration such as it is in vindication of himself in such particulars as he knew most in force and because it contained more than bare words we may examine the merit thereof which was all that he had time to say for himself Mr Speaker I give you thanks for granting me admittance to your presence I come not to preserve my self and Fortunes but to preserve your good opinion of me for I profess I had rather beg my Bread from door to door with Date obolum Bellisario with your favour than be never so high and honoured with your displeasure I came not hither to justifie my words actions or opinions but to open my self freely and then to leave my self to the House What disadvantage it is for a man to speak in his own cause you well know I had rather another would doe it but since this house is not taken with words but with truth which I am best able to deliver I presume to do it my self I come not with a set speech but with my heart to open my self freely and then to leave it to the house but do desire if any word fall from me that shall be misconstrued I may have leave to explain my self For my Religion I hope no man doubts it I being religiously educated under Catterton in Emmanuel Colledge thirty years I have been in Grays Inn thirteen years a Bencher and a diligent hearer of Dr. Sibs who if he were living would testifie that I had my chiefest encouragement from him And though I met with many oppositions from many in that house ill affected in Religion yet I was alwaies supported by him Five years I have been of the Kings Council but no Actor Avisor or Inventor of any project Two places I have been preferred unto Chief Iustice and Lord Keeper not by any sute or merit of my own but by his Majesties free gift In the discharge of these places my hands have never touched my eyes have never been blinded with any reward I never biassed for friend-ship nor diverted for hatred for all â—â—at know me know that I was not of a vindicative nature I do not know for what particulars or by what means you are drawn into an ill oppinion of me since I had the honour to sit in that place you sit in Mr. Speaker In which I served you with fidelity and Candor Many witnesses are of the good Offices I did you and resumed expressions of thankfulness from this house for it for the last day I had share in it no man expressed more Symbols of sorrow then I. After three daies Adjournment the King desired me it might be adjourned for some few daies more whether was it then in his Majestie much less in me to dissolve the House But the King sent for me to White hall and gave me a Message to the House and commanded me when I had delivered the Message that I should forthwith come to him and if a question was offered to be put he charged me upon my Allegeance I should put none I do not speak this as a thing I do now merit but it is known to divers men and to some Gentlemen in this House All that I say is but to beseech you all consider what you would have done in this strait betwixt the King my Master and this honourable House The Shipping business lieth heavy upon me I am far from justifying that my opinion if it be contrary to the Iudgment of this House I submit I never knew of it at the first or ever advised any other I was made Chief Justice four daies before the Writ went out for the Port I was sworn sixteen daies after Chief Justice and those writs issued forth without my privity The King Commanded the then Chief Justice the now Chief Baron and my self to look on the Presidents and to certifie him our opinions what we thought of it That if the whole Kingdome were in danger it was reasonable and fit to lay upon the whole Kingdome and not upon the Port only and commanded the thâ—n Chief Justice and my self and the now Chief Baron to return him our opinions Our opinions were and we thought it agreeable to Law and reason that if the whole were in danger the
Court Besides all this the peace of the Kingdom is not the least in my thoughts and what hopes of settlement is there so long as power reigns without rule of Law changing the whole frame of that Government under which this Kingdom hath flourished for many hundred years nor will I say what will fall out in case this lawless unjust proceeding against me go on and believe it the Commons of England will not thank you for this change for they will remember how happy they have been of late years under the Reign of Queen Elizabeth the King my Father and my self untill the beginning of these unhappy troubles and will have cause to doubt that they shall never be so happy under any new And by this time it will be too sensibly evident that the Arms I took up were only to defend the fundamental Laws of this Kingdom against those who have supposed my power hath totally changed the ancient Government Thus having shewed you briefly the Reasons why I cannot submit to your pretended Authority without violating the trust which I have from God for the welfare and liberty of my people I expect from you either clear reasons to convince my judgement shewing me that I am in an errour and then truly I will readily answer or that you will withdraw your proceedings After Sentence the King being hurried away was mocked of the Souldiers suffering many things like to Christ they laying aside all reverence to Soveraignty acted Triumph on the Prisoner crying out justice justice That one defiled his venerable face with spittle I abhor to say it was wittingly done but we are assured he wiped it off with his Handkerchief they puft Tobacco fume no smell to him more offensive and cast their Tobacco pipes at his feet And such as salute him they Bastinado One that did but sigh out God have mercy had his Pasport They intrude almost into his Closet hardly permitting him private devotion with his own Chaplain the Bishop of London In their devotions interrupted and himself disturbed whilst he prayed and prepared for this bitter cup. But he with Majesty of minde when they cryed out for justice Poor souls saies he for a piece of money they would do so for their Commanders and at these Rebels he said Christ suffered more for my sake such as dissembled irreverence he with easie contempt eâ—â—ded by neglecting it Yet that little time was lent him he betakes himself to confessions of his sins pardon of his Enemies receiving the Eucharist reading the Scriptures godly conferences doing all the duties of piety And thus holily he seeks to overcome the terrors of death ere they assail him Whilst he prayes they prepare for his execution Sir Hardress Waller Colonel Harrison Colonel Doan Com. Gen. Ireton and Col. Okes are to consider of the time and place for execution And in the Painted Chamber Munday the 29. of Ianu. the President and Judges meet and with the â—â—mmittee resolve That the open street before White-Hall is the fittest place that the King be there executed tomorrow Tuesday between ten and two a clock upon a Scaffold covered with black near the Banquetting House where he was wont to ascend his Throne and shew the pomp of Majesty due to Princes there must he pass to his Funeral Pulpit and lay aside the spoiles of Majesty where he had put on the Insigns thereof It was supposed that the King would not submit his neck to his enemies Axe and therefore it was so provided with Staples and Cords that he could not resist And the Commons house considered that in case of execution they ordered a Proclamation to be made throughout the Kingdom To declare it high Treason to Proclaim any King of England without consent of the present Parliament for so the House is stiled And that none upon paines of imprisonment preach or speak any thing contrary to the present proceeding of the Supream Authority of the Nation the Commons of England assembled in Parliament A Member of the Army gave in the desires of the King That in respect Sentence of death was past upon him and the time of execution might be nigh That he might see his Children and to receive the Sacrament and to prepare himself for death and that the Bishop of London might pray with him in private in his Chamber This night Saturday 27. Ian. the King lodged at White-hall and the next day Sunday the Bishop preached there before the King in his Chamber and this Sunday the President and all the Members of the High Court of Justice fasted in the Chappel of Whitehall and Mr. prayed for them On Sunday means was made to deliver a Letter to him from his son the Prince of Wales which the King read and burnt it and then he was conveyed to St. Iames's the next morning being Munday While the Dutch Ambassadour had audience of the House read their â—â—structions and Letters of Credence in French their desires was to intercede for the Kings life and to keep and preserve a fair correspondence betwixt this Nation and the Estates of the Netherlands This day his Children had leave to visit him but stayed not long His Children being come to meet him he first gave his blessing to the Lady Elizabeth and bad her remember to tell her brother Iames when ever she should see him that it was his Fathers last command that he should no more look upon Charls as his eldest brother only but be obedient unto him as his Soveraign and that they should love one another and forgive their Fathers Enemies Then said the King to her Sweet-heart you 'l forget this no said she I shall never forget it while I live and pouring forth abundance of tears promised him to write down the Particulars Then the King taking the Duke of Gloucester upon his knee said sweet-heart now they will cut off thy Fathers head upon which words the child looked very stedfastly on him mark child what I say they will cut off my head and perhaps mak thee a King but mark what I say you must not be a King so long as your brothers Charles and Iames do live For they will cut off your Brothers heads when they can catch them and cut off thy head too at last and therefore I charge you do not be made a King by them At which the child sighing said I will be torn in pieces first which falling so unexpectedly from one so young it made the King rejoyce exceedingly Another Relation from the Lady Elizabeths own hand What the King said to me the 29. of Ian. 1648. being the last time I had the happiness to see him he told me he was glad I was come and although he had not time to say much yet somewhat he had to say to me which he had not to another or leave in writing because he feared their cruelty was such as that they would not have permitted him to write to me He
an enterprize For those your donatives are all disburst to a penny and I am enforced to summon you hither to tell you that neither can the Army advance nor the Fleet set forth without further aid Consider I pray you the eyes of all Europe are defixt upon me to whom I shall appear ridiculous as though I were unable to outgo muster and ostentation if you now desert me Consider it is my first attempt wherein if I sustain a foyl it will blemish all my future honour If mine cannot let your own reputation move you deliver and expedite me fairly out of this war wherewith you have encombred let it never be said whereinto you have betrayed me I desire therefore your speedy supply speedy I call it for else it will prove no supply The Sun you know is entring into his declining point so it will be soon too late to set forth when it will be rather not too soon to return Again I must minde you of the mortality now regnant in this City which should it as so it may and no breach of priviledge neither arrest any one Member of either house it would soon put a period both to consultation and Session so that your own periâ—litation necessitates an early resolution In sum Three of the best Rhetoritians Honour Opportunity and Safety are all of a plot and plead you see for expedition Perhaps it may be expected I should say something in way of account of my Religion as also of the temper and tenour of my future Government But as I hope I have not been guilty of any thing which may justly start the least question in either so I desire you would repose in this assurance that I will in neither vary from those principles wherein I have been instituted at the feet of that eminent Gamaliel my late Father And ending his Speech he with his hand moved his Crown Not usual saies one with any his predecessors to vail it Nor did he but the massy Gold and precious stones gave him cause to ease his browes of that weight and of which he complained when he came home without any other observation then which yet hath begot so much comment now as to be called Calamitous Presages no less then a dozen in the Kings future Reign which we shall remember as we meet them in order hereafter and for the present examine the Note of Mr. Prins telling That the King on his day of Coronation was clothed in White contrary to the Custome of his Predecessors on that day clothed in purple the Regal colour of Kings the Robe of Majesty the other of Saints the Robe of innocency And to this as to the other a great plague had driven the greatest trades men out of the City and the Kings Mercer infected and fled No Purple Velvet to be had on the sodain and so the colour of his Robes was changed by Necessity yet to the better by his own observation But to the matter of the Kings Speech Money for a War with Spain upon the former score of Quarrel the Palatinate which ingaged King Iames in Justice and honour and so this King To a War is required a Iust Quarrel Wars are suits of Appeal to the Tribunal of Gods Justice where there are no Superiours on Earth to determine the Cause Yet do the Princes of this World endeavour to declare the reasons of their defiance to ballance with the opinions of a righteous cause England had at this time two just Grounds of War with Spain 1. The recovery of the Palatinate 2. A just fear of subversion of our Civil Estate I have no mind to mention the Third so usually pretended viz. Fear of subversion of our Religion for though the House of Commons the first Parliament of King Iames voted that for a reason to make a War upon Spain the King was so wise as not to involve into a quarrel against him upon that score lest he should be necessarily drawn into a defiance likewise with all the Roman Catholiques of Christendome and so that vote was dasht out of the Record by the Register But we shall take the two for granted That Just fears are indeed true Defensives as well as actual Invasions but offensive Wars for Religion King Iames was of opinion are never just Not to force the Conscience which Guides the Soul with the power of the Sword which is but humane and though he was by his Title Defensor â—idei if oppugned yet he was not thereby authorized to quarrel with another mans belief For the first Ground the concernment of the Palatinate as there was no color in that Prince Elector to accept of the Kingdom of Bohemia so no Justice in the house of Austria to retain the Palatinate from him For though an Elective Monarchy cannot be so free as anâ— Hereditary yet if yoâ—â—â—ke to boot the Customes transactions and privileges of that Kingdome of Bohemia It will appear as positive as Soveraigns Descendent But leaving that Title as disputable I shall not offer at it though I were able to master the Question And then the Quere will follow whether an Offensive War being made unjustly the Defendant may not by diversion invade and master the undubitable possession of the Aggressour who is now turned Defendant of his own Surely he may and enjoy the conquest lawfully and is not bound to restore it but by force which force is as lawfull to be done as the other The Spaniard in eighty eight invaded our Seas and designed it upon our Land also was not our expeditions thereupon against Lisbone and Cadiz a just war surely it was And truly King Iames held these Opinions which put him into Treaties for the Palatinate upon terms and conditions of a mariage with Prince Charles his Son and the Infanta of Spain wherein being some years deluded it was just in him to begin the way by force which he did as it is now for King Charles to endeavour the like regaining it for his Brother-in-law by a War which he now intends For Wars are Vindictae Revenges Reparations like to cross suits in civil pleas sometime both of them just And thus much for the Palatinate The Second Ground A just fear of subversion of our Civil Estate The overgrowing Greatness of any neighbour Nation is a necessity imposed upon anothers fear of violation which becomes defensive Christian Princes have a just invasive War against the Turk as a grand Enemy indeed not for cause of Religion no good ground for that but upon a just fear because the fundamental Law in that Empire is to propagate their Mahometan faith by any War So saies the Persian for his belief two opposite enemies upon that ground and the Christians are as well upon the Preventive as the Defensive War All men know the great endeavours of the Spanish Monarchy to aspire new Acquests and to be absolute The History of the Triumvirate Kings Henry the eighth of England Francis the first of
France and Charles the Emperour and King of Spain shews them so provident as between themselves to keep the ballance of Europe upright Not one to edge upon the other and herein not to stay for the first blow or to be the last to be eaten up The Crown of Spain hath enlarged her bounds these last sixty years more then the Ottamans Did not England assist the French to keep him from Britany Picardy and Piedmont and enable the Netherlands not to be swallowed up these are our outworks Nay hath he not twice invaded England Once under the Popes Banner next in his own Name and hath more than a months minde to it again These grounds are causes sufficient for a War with Spain But what ere the King had said as to the matter and form of Argument the Parliament forgot not their old Mode with his Father Not too hastily to resolve and his death left much business in the deck which now they take up to engage his son And in truth all Parliaments commence with Petition from the People Reasons of Religion and Complaints of their suffering came to his Father in the close of his last Session and so unanswered which they are resolved now to dispatch and did so To that of Religion the King assured them his pious resolution to effect their desires with all convenient speed and as that business of weight required And for their Greivances they were distinctly separate and satisfactory answers he gave to each apart And so accounting to them the disbursement of his Land and Naval Forces with a clear and even audit of the Charge and Expence to come they were so candid that the Laity gave him without conditions Two Subsidies from Protestants four from Papists and the Clergy three Richard Mountague Doctor of Divinity and Chaplain to the King was summoned this Session for certain Tenents supposed prejudicial to the Protestants faith but were only against the Calvinist and was from the Commons Bar without Tryal committed to the Serjeant of their House untill two thousand pound Bail be procured for him to appear the next Session which the King had reason to resent being his antient Chaplain and ought to have his Masters protection sooner than the Servants of an Ordinary Burgess which at last was granted but not his bail-bond excused Of which he complains to the Duke of Buckingham and that the Parliament had not in right to do with him for that which King Iames commanded and King Charles authorized and challenges any Accusers if he may answer for himself It seems he was summoned and committed without any Tryal Iuly 29. And hereupon three Bishops Rochester Oxford and St. Davids being tender not of his Person but of his cause meerly the Church of Englands upon this Ground That the Church being reformed from the Roman refused the apparent and dangerous errours but was tender of every School point as not expedient in the unity of Christians to subscribe to each particular And so though some of his opinions are the resolved Doctrine of the Church of England which he is bound to maintain So some others are School points and there to be discussed but not to distract the Church nor for any man to be bound to subscribe unto which if inforced would hazard their former subscription in Orthodox Tenents and was indeed one great Fault of the Council of Trent But the Clergy submitted in Henry the eighths time with this caution That for differences Doctrinal the King and the Bishops were to be Judges in a National Synod and that with the Kings leave under his hand and seal else not Nor did ever the Church or can submit but so which is the constant practice of the Church For if the Church be brought down beneath her self Schism will follow And King Iames allowed of each point of Doctrine in Mountagues Book who was able of most men to judge thereof There can be little use of Civil Government or of Preaching and external Ministery in the Church if such fatal opinions as are contrary to Mountagues shall be publickly taught and maintained All or most of the contrary opinions were treated of at Lambeth and then ready to be published but Queen Elizabeth upon knowledge how little they agreed with the practice in Piety and obedience to Government suppressed them and so continued ever since till of late some of them received countenance at the Synod of Dort but that being a Synod of that Nation cannot give authority to any other National Church till publique authority and it is to be hoped that this Church will advise before they submit to a foreigne Synod especially of such a Church that condemneth our Discipline and manner of Government And therefore the King referred the consideration to the course of the Church Then for the person of Mountague they affirmed him to be an able Scholar right honest and fit to do God and the Church and his Majesty great service 2 August 1625. And after the next session he was consecrate Bishop of Chichester The Books in question were these His answer to the Romish Gagger And his Defence thereof afterwards styled Apello Caesarem formerly opposed by Information prepared against him of which he was discharged by King Iames with leave to appeal to his Majesty from his defamators and Doctor White then Dean of Carlisle was ordered to authorize the Imprimatur But two years after Ianuary 1628. it was called in by Proclamation to please the then Parliament not charged with any false doctrine but for being the first cause of those disputes and differences which hath since much troubled the quiet of the Church it seems with such unnecessary questions And to humour that time also Doctor Potter a zealous Calvinian was preferred to be Bishop of Carlisle to please the Parliament and and yet for all these passages the Parliament lookt asquint at the Kings actions as hereafter followes anno 1628. The Lord Mordant afterwards Earl of Peterborough being a Papist and willing to winne his wife from Protestancy offered the combate of his Confessor with a fair dispute against any This Confident was a cunning Iesuite Beaumona but his right name Rookwood his brother executed in the Gun-powder-Treason 1605. and the Lady elected Doctor Usher Primate of Ireland at this time in England the place Drayton in Northampton shire but after three dayes controversie concerning Transubstantiation Invocation to Saints Images visibility of the Church the Iesuite directly confessed he was so deficient in his memory that Gods just judgement had infatuated him to this desertion and put his excuse upon his presumption to dispute with so eminent a Protestant without leave of his Superiour But the good effect was the conversion of the Lord Mordant and confirmation of his Lady Whereupon a Secular-Priest Chaloner in a jeer to Beaumond bids him beware of coming to Drayton for fear that Usher foil him again These Lawes are enacted this Session
all retired to Bugden where he lived very Hospitably and in manner and order of the good Bishops not without an eye and ear over him of such as were Intelligencers of Court And at Westminster Hall the Ceremony begun towards the Abbey Church in order thus 1. The Aldermen of London by couples ushered by an Herauld 2. Eighty Knights of the Bath in their Robes each one having an Esquire to support and a Page to attend him 3. The Kings Serjeants at Law Solicitor Atturney Masters of Request and Iudges 4. Privy Councellors that were Knights and the chief Officers of the Kings Houshold 5. Barons of the Kingdome bare-headed in their Parliament Robes with Swords by their sides 6. The Bishops with Scarlet Gowns and Lawn sleeves bare-headed 7. The Vice-Counts and Earls not in their Parliament but in their Coronation Robes with coronetted Caps on their Heads 8. The Officers of State for the day whereof these are the Principal Sir Richard Winn Sir George Goring The Lord Privy Seal The Archbishop of Canterbury The Earl of Dorset carrying the first Sword The Earl of Essex carrying the second Sword The Earl of Kent carrying the third Sword The Earl of Mountgomery carrying the Spurs The Earl of Sussex carrying the Globe and Cross upon it The Bishop of London carrying the Golden Cup for the Communion The Bishop of Winchester carrying the Golden Plate for the Communion The Earl of Rutland carrying the Scepter The Marquess Hamilton carrying the Sword of State naked The Earl of Pembroke carrying the Crown The Lord Maior in a Crimson Velvet Gown carried a Short Scepter before the King amongst the Serjeants The Earl of Arundel as Earl Marshall of England and the Duke of Buckingham as Lord High Constable of England for that day went next before his Majesty The King entred at the West Gate of the Church under a rich Canopy carried by the Barons of the Cinque Ports His own Person supported by Doctor Neil Bishop of Durham on the one hand and Doctorâ— Lake Bishop of Bath and Wells on the other His train six yards long of Purpleâ—Velvet held up by the Lord Compton Master of the Robes and the Lord Viscount Doncaster Master of the Wardrobe Here he was met by the Prebends of Westminster Bishop Lawd supplying the Deans Place in their rich Copes who delivered into the Kings hands the Staff of King Edward the Confessor with which he walked up to the Throne Which was framed from the Quire to the Altar the King mounted upon it none under the degree of a Baron standing therein save only the Prebends of Westminster who attended on the Altar Three Chairs for the King in several places first of Repose the second the antient Chair of Coronation and the third placed on an high square of five steps ascent being the Chair of State All settled and reposed the Arch-bishop of Canterbury presented his Majesty to the Lords and Commons East West North and South asking them if they did consent to the Coronation of K. Charles their lawful Soveraign The King in the mean time presented himself bareheaded the consent being given four times with great acclamation the King took his Chair of Repose The Sermon being done the Arch-Bishop invested in a rich Cope goeth to the King kneeling upon Cushions at the Communion Table and askes his willingness to take the Oath usually taken by his Predecessors The King is willing ariseth and goeth to the Altar and is interrogated and thus answereth Coronation Oath Sir Sayes the Arch-bishop will you grant and keep and by your Oath confirm to the People of England the Laws and Customes to them granted by the Kings of England your lawful and Religious Predecessours and namely the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergy by the glorious King St. Edward your Predecessor according to the Lawes of God the true profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdome agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the antient Customes of the Realm The Kings answer I grant and promise to keep them Sir Will you keep Peace and Godly agreement according to your power both to God the holy Church the Clergy and the people I will keep it Sir Will you to your power cause Law Iustice and discretion to mercy and truth to be executed to your Iudgement I will Sir will you grant to hold and keep the Laws and Rightfull Customes which the Comminalty of this your Kingdome have and will you defend and uphold them to the honour of God so much as in you lieth I grant and promise so to do Then one of the Bishops read this Admonition to the King before the people with a lowd voice Our Lord and King wee beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto Vs and to the Churches committed to your charge all Canonical privileges and do Law and Iustice and that you would protect and defend Vs as every good King to his Kingdomes ought to be Protector and Defendor of the Bishops and the Churches under their Government The King answereth With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my Pardon and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches committed to your charge all Canonical privileges and due Law and Iustice and that I will be your Protector and Defender to my Power by the Assistance of God as every good King in his Kingdom in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government Then the King ariseth and is led to the Communion Table where he makes a solemn Oath in sight of all the people to observe the premisses and laying his hand upon the Bible saith The Oath The things which I have here promised I shall perform and keep So help me God and the Contents of this Book Then were his Robes taken off and were offered at the Altar He stood a while stripped to his Doublet and Hose of White Sattin Then led by the Arch Bishop and Doctor Lawd the Bishopâ—of St. Davids he was placed in the Chair of Coronation a Close Canopy spread over him the Arch-bishop anointing his Head Shoulders Arms and Hands with a costly ointment the Quire singing an Anthem of these words Zadook the Priest anointed King Solomon Hence he was led up in his Doublet and Hose with a White Coife on his head to the Communion Table where the Bishop of St. Davids Deputy for the Dean brought forth the antient Abiliments of King Edward the Confessor and put them upon him Then brought back to the Chair of Coronation he received the Crown of King Edward presented by the Bishop of Saint Davids and put on his Head by the Archâ— Bishop of Canterbury the Quire singing an Anthem Thou shalt put a Crown of pure Gold upon his head whereupon the Earls and Viscounts put on their Crimson Velvet Caps with Coronets about them the
Kings Bench in Westminster-hall where a Theatre was erected in height equal with the Bench covered over with green Cloth In the upper end was placed the Tribunal Chair of State for the High Steward on either side the Peers of the Realm and under them the Iudges in the lower end against the State were the Kings learned Council and at their backs two Pews lifted up to face the Court for the Prisoner and his Keeper and in the midst of the Court a place of descension for the Clerk of the Crown and his Assistant where they all met between eight and nine of the Clock that Morning First the Clerk of the Crown and the Iudges the Lieutenant of the Tower and the Prisoner retiring into a Room near hand then the Peers seven and twenty in number those of the Garter order wearing their Coller of Esses about their neck the chiefest of them were Weston Lord Treasurer Earl of Manchester Lord Privy Seal Arundel Earl Marshall of England and so the rest Then enters the Lord High Steward his Grace in a black Velvet Gown trimm'd with Gold Buttons and Lace before him 7. Maces of State born by the Serjeants at Arms attended by Sir Io Burroughs Garter principal King of Arms and Maxwel Usher of the Black Rod. The Judges Assistants for Counsel in case of Law were Sir Nicholas Hide Chief Justice of the Kings Bench Sir Thomas Richardson Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Humphrey Davenport Chief Baron of the Exchequer and Baron Denham four Judges Iones Hutton Whitlock and Crook The learned Council were Sir Robert Heath Attorney General Sir Richard Chelton Solicitor General Sir Io Finch the Queens Attorney General and Sir Thomas Crew Serjeant at Law Sir Thomas Fanshaw Clerk of the Crown and Keeling his Assistant The Clerk of the Crown presented his Grace with the Patent of his Place of Lord High Steward of England After O yes he delivered the Patent to the Clerk of the Crown who read it and returned it back The Black Rod kneeling down presented him with the White Staff or Verge of State After a second O yes his Grace gave leave to the Peers to be covered and Proclamation made That the Judges should bring in as by Writ commanded all the Records touching the Earls Arraignment and the Peers answered particularly to their several names After the third O yes the Lieutenant of the Tower brought in his Prisoner into their powers and his Warrant being read his Grace addressed himself to the Peers My Lord Audley said he for so he stiled him as a Baron of England and not by his Creation of Earl Castlehaven being a forreign Title of Ireland by which Title onely he could not be tried by the Peers the Kings Majesty is given to understand both by report and also by Verdict of divers Gentlemen of quality in your County that you stand impeached of sundry Crimes of a most high and hainous nature and therefore he brings you this day to trial doing therein like the Almighty King of Kings in the eighteenth of Genesis who went down to see whether the sins of the Sons of Sodome and Gomorrah were so grievous as the cry of them that came before him And Kings on Earth can have no better Patern to follow than that of the King of Heaven and so hath summoned by special command these your Peers either to acquit or condemn you they being so noble and so just so indifferent Iudges for his Majesty desires that your Trial should be as equal and upright as Iustice it self wherefore you may speak boldly and confidently without fear to clear your self and so to be set free but if otherwise your own conscience accuse you give the honour to God and the King by confessing the truth without shifts or subtilties against it which are but Consilia adversus Dominum May it please your Grace said Audley I have stood committed close Prisoner six moneths without Friends or Counsel deprived of the knowledg of the particular circumstances of the Crimes laid to my charge unskilfull of the advantages or disadvantages of Law and but weak to plead at the best and therefore desire liberty of Counsel to plead for me Your long Imprisonment said his Grace hath been rather a favour for conveniency to bethink your self and you shall have all possible favour in this your first demand in which the Iudges shall satisfie you as in all other your deâ—ires in the prosecution of your Trial. The Judges gave opinion that in principal Causes Counsel is not to be allowed for matter of Fact but for matter of Law it may His Grace commanded the Clerk of the Crown to reade his Indictments being three in number The first for a Rape by assisting Brodway his own Servant to ravish his Wife the Countess of Castlehaven The other two for Sodomy committed on the Body of Brodway and on Fitz Patrick his Footman To which he pleaded Not guilty c. And therefore his Grace said thus to the Peers My Lords the Prisoner is indicted of Rape and Sodomy and pleads Not guilty My duty is to charge you with the Trial Yours to judg The Cause may move pity in some detestation in all but neither of them may be put in the Scale of Iustice for a Grain on either side sways the Ballance Let Reason rule your affections your heads your hearts to heed attentively and weigh equally In the right course the Iudges will direct you if doubts arise Ye are not sworn how to proceed the Law supposeth your integrity to Iustice which others are compelled unto by Oath And so God direct you Crew opened the Indictments and so was seconded and by turns all the other but the Attorney General proceeded in brief that the Crimes were far more base and beastly than any Poet invented or History ever mentioned Suetonius indeed sets out the Lives of Heathen Emperours whose Sovereignty had no Law to question their Power nor Religion to bound their wills from acting any Crimes And here ravelling into his former debauched life and profession of Papistry digressing from the matter of the Indictments the Prisoner desired that his Religion nor other circumstances not conducing to his crimes charged might be spared But he was told to forbear to interrupt the Council till the time fitting to make answer And so the Attorney went on with his Religion bred up a Protestant and after fell to Papistry for more liberty in evil or rather of both Professions or of either or of none at all Cor quod ingreditur duas vias non habet successum In the morning at a Mass afternoon at a Sermon believing in God thus basely God left him at the last to his lusts and so to Atheism to work wickedness without hope of Heaven or horrour of Hell His moral actions beyong imagination wicked for though he married this Lady as noble in birth as great in fortune so soon as
is very memorative how hardly King James the sixth procured the Post-Nati of Scotland by which they are admitted to all dignities priviledges and offices in England must they have freeâ—dom here and must the English be debarred there o Tempora o Mores 4. How many of themselves at that instant had preferment to hereditable rites of Iudiciary and why must the King be now limited 5. The Chancellour of Scotland holds his precedency without any positive Law why not the Treasurer and Privy Seal the first branch of the Kings Crown is to distribute honours and precedencies as he please But the King having knowledge of these their Extravagancies sent to his Commissioner the Earl of Traquair to Prorogate the Parliament until the second of Iune and if they should presume to sit still then to discharge them upon pain of Treason But if they did yeeld obedience thereto his Majesty was graciously pleased to admit such persons to his presence as they should send to represent their desires and his Commissioner to repair to the King and to bring all the transactions of that Session Against this command they protest and stile it a Declaration of the Parliaments 18. December 1639. WHereas John Earl of Traquair his Majesties Commissioner having closed the Assembly and sitting in Parliament with them did now take upon him without their consent or offence to prorogate the Parliament upon a private warrant this being a new and unusual way without president in this Kingdom heretofore once being convened have continuation by the expresse consent of the Estates We therefore declare that any prorogation made by the Commissioners Grace without consent of Parliament shall be of no force and the actors to be censured in Parliament And knowing that Declarations have been published against us and our proceedings made odious to such 〈◊〉 do not consider that we are not private subjects but a sitting Parliament We therefore declare that whatsoever we might do lawfully in sitting still yet we have resolved for the present to make Remonstrance to his Majesty and some of each Estate to remain still at Edinburgh to attend his gracious Answer And if it shall happen that our malicious enemies do notwithstanding prevail against us we professe our selves free of the outrages and Insolencies that may be committed in the mean time we do our best to prevent confusion and misery And the Committee appointed to expect the Kings Answer were the Earls Lothian and Dalhouse the Lords Yester Balmerino Cranston and Naper for the Barons the Commissioners of the Lothians Fife and Twidale the Burroughs named the Commissioners of Edinburgh Lithgow Sterlin Hadington Dunbar to attend at Edinburgh the return of his Majesties Answer Their Deputies came to the King at White Hall the Earl of Dumfirmlin and the Lord Loudon but coming without warrant from the Kings Commissioner Traquair being a high contempt they were in disdain commanded home again without audience Then comes Traquair and privately consults a whole night with Hamilton and between them was framed a writing a represenration to the Councel of the most considerable matters proposed in that Parliament satisfactory enough to make the wound wider for however Traquair managed his Commission the end of the designe was to foment a war and to engage the King and for the Scots they were prepared And it is most true that a muttering there was in Court against Traquairs treachery for the Arch Bishop of St. Andrews the Bishops of Rosse and Brichen accused Traquair of High-Treason in the grosse miscarriage of his Commission in the General Assembly and Parliament and subscribed the charge the Scots law in such cases bearing poenam Talionis if they could not prove it A strange law against the secutity of Kings certainly treasonable in the making and no where else is practized but in Scotland But upon the whole matter related by Traquair the debate was whether considering the Insolency and height of their demands even in civil obedience it were not fit to reduce them to their duty Then the Question whether by the presence of the Kings Person and acting power of justice there But that was expresly opposed by arguments of policy and other reasons offered in writing with this title Shall the King go to Scotland I wish he may if with honour and safety he can but as the case stands and spirits are affected I see neither 1. THe treaty of peace is by them most falsly interpreted without any regard at all to His Majesties honour 2. The many and palpable violations of the Articles of peace are known to the King 3. It is evident what his Majesty expects at their hands for to let go all the disgraces offered to his Royal authority since the beginning of these troubles what one thing the King hath obtained of them in acknowledgement of so many favours upon their several petitions bestowed upon them 4. Their obstinate resolution to adhere in all points to their Assembly at Glasgow is undeniable witnesse their false and disgraceful glosse upon that Article of the treatie witnesse their oath of adherence to that Assembly since the peace witnesse their protestation against calling of Bishops and Arch Bishops to the Assembly witnesse the violence offered to the Clergy for not adhering to the Assembly even since the peace 5. So the Assembly now to be holden at Edinburgh shall have but one act for all and that shall be the ratification of the Assembly held at Glasgow 6. Now shall the King countenance such an Assembly the very constitution and first meeting whereof is most derogatory to the honour of his Crown while by a mutinous crew of Incendiarie Preachers and a conspiracy of Lay Elders the Prelates of the Church are by meer violence against all authority Law example or reason excluded abjured excommunicated 7. Shall the most Christian Defender of Faith countenance such a conspiracy against God his Church and himself where the most matchlesse Villany that ever was hatched shall be made piety Rebelions conscience and Treason reason all the Loyal and Orthodox Clergy banished most Ignorant and trayterous fire-brands put in their places the Supream power in Spiritual and Ecclesiastical causes violently pulled from the Crown and devolved in the hands of a mixt meeting of Ministers and Lay-men 8. It is high Treason in my minde to conceal from His Majesty that his Supremacy in Elections is in greater security for the Crown in the hands of any whosoever then in the power of such men whose pernitious maximes subjects the Crown to the pleasure of the people whom they have ever since their Reformation set on fire when they have been so pleased and stirred up to Rebellion by their seditious Sermons have countenanced all the commotions against authority in King Iames his reign and robbed the King of the hearts of his Subjects by most trayterous calumnies And now there is not one Presbytery free of Seditious Sermons even since the peace 9. Shall
made our enemies to number this Letter amongst the number of our pretended faults committed after the Parliament whereas it was written in May 1639. before our marching to the borders and therefore ought to have been buried in the Pacification and was occasionally made known to some English of quality in the Kings Camp and the want of subscription hath made our adversaries to Indorse it Au Roy But we affirm that it was neither sealed folded nor indorsed by us nor to our knowledge Examples have been of Letters old and of late to other Princes even to the Pope himself which are not hid from the world It sufficeth that we have justified the Lord Lowdon for putting his hand to such a Letter the guiltinesse or Innocency herein not being personal or proper to him but National and common to us all But had it been his fault being before his Commission and imployment to England he ought to have returned and to have been unclothed of his Commission and a private Man ere he had been questioned The dignity and safety of Nations Kingdoms Estates and Republiques are much interessed in their Commissioners and Legates dignity whether from Prince or Republique is the ground and law of Nations the effects bring Religion to God Piety towards our Countrey propulsation of injury keeping of Faith and Legates to be inviolable If any Person hath committed any offence at home against King Countrey or Subject the fundamental Liberties and Independency of Scotland and practise of all times before 1603. require that it be tried and judged at home in a loyal way by the ordinary Judicatories of the Land and therefore to intreat for his Liberty and safety who is to us as our selves and now imprisoned against all equity law or conscience Thus much the Scots plead not in excuse you see but in justification of these three particulars so far objected against them And now let us examine the condition of the seven Articles themselves As for the three first on the Kings part It was no great matter whether he would perform or no the Scots had been their own Carvers and had threatned to assemble of themselves and if need were could make it as useful as a Parliament But to disband such an Army upon any conditions was the first president from any Prince It hath been the policy of all Potentates to strike into a power without jealousie of their own subjects even when they are at the best and safest terms with their Soveraigns lest he should divert his forces upon them But it is truly observed He had ground and cause enough from abroad and at home also without seeking for reasons His two Invasions upon his potent Neighbours provoking the Spaniard at the Isle of Gades and the French at the Isle of Rhe. And therefore though it is a Maxim for an Army once raised to keep it self by free quarter rapine and Robbery if not otherwise maintained yet no such fear nor occasion now the Gentry were up and wilde for performing some gallantry of honour and went not far to fetch it nor to fear the purchasing from a despised petty enemy Nor was the King bound to disband but to recall his forces by Land or Sea from the coasts of that Kingdom until they had first performed their Articles which they were intended nor were the English willing to quit any of the charge and expence their Equipage being already paid for and fit for performance to the purpose intended But contrary to their expectations were dismissed without any caresse for all their love and loyalty which fell short to him ever after when his following troubles had most cause and occasion to command them For at the Publication of the Kings Declaration in Scotland the Covenanters were provided and did affront it with a Protestation To maintain their late General Assembly at Glasgow to be a free and perfect Assembly of their Kirk and all their proceedings there to stand in effect Especially their sentences of Deprivation and Excommucation of the sometimes pretended Bishops Their solemn Covenant and Declaration whereby the Office of Bishop is totally abjured That no Members of the Colledge of Justice shall attend the Session or Term upon avoyding and null of all their Acts and Sentences Nay what more did they not do to their not performing any one Article of Pacification Keeping up their Fortifications at Lieth their Officers in pay their continual unwarrantable consultations and in stead of restauration to the Kings wel-affected subjects what had been ravaged from them they secured some of their persons with a strickt eye upon them all I know not what their Insolencies were not incouraged to do even from our own party for that Libel which by the Title some conditions of his Majesties Treaty with his subjects of Scotland are here set down for Remembrance Indeed Pembrook Salisbury Holland and Brakshire renounced them or any such consent of his Majesty while theâ— were Commissioners and indeed they were burnt in Smithfield by the Hangman and Secretary Coke one of the Commissioners was turn'd out of office therefore and not unlikely to be guilty of that and too much contriving with those Covenanters then and alwayes after And however not true yet their Ministers made their pulpits speak it to be the virtual part of the Pacification and therefore the King to be no longer trusted And all those passages even whilst the Kings was present who therefore not to be longer affronted to his face and uncertain whom to trust there and such a sudden contracted kindenesâ—e being between two late enemies that wise men mistrusted â—oul effects and so did the King who hasted home to consult with his Junto at White hall in Iuly and the Scots Covenanters busie to frame a Protestation against the time of the intended Proclamation for their General Assembly and it was thus VVE Noblemen Barons Burgesses c. Acknolwledging his Maiesties high favour in calling again a free and Generall Assembly and Parliament c. And fearing to admit any thing which might import the violation of the Oath of God which ties us to maintain the late Assembly at Glasgow c. where the Enemies to Religion his Majesties honour and our peace the office of Arch Bishops and Bishops who are now cited by his Majesties Iurisdiction to assist in the next Assembly is abjured and they themselves for their Usurpations and Innovations were more solemnly Excommunicated Therefore lest this Indiction should import the least prejudice to the said full lawfull and National Assembly c. Wee therefore Declare 1. To maintain the late Assembly at Glasgow as most lawfull free and General c. ratifying all the Acts sentences and constitutions censures and proceedings especially the sentence of deprivation and excommunication of the pretended Arch Bishop and Bishops of this Kingdom 2. To adhere to our solemn Covenant with God whereby the Office of Bishops who yet usurp the Title is declared
have been usefull for the Parliament in case other Successes had failed and therefore he stuck close to them and in the time of all the Wars whilest his two Brothers Rupert and Maurice were fighting for the King their Uncle this Palatine was feasting with the Citizens at London every Thanksgiving Day in effect Drinking their own Healths which was the others Destruction But not to be out of the Gang he was much reformed also and upon his humble Desires was voted by the Commons to sit with the Synod of Divines at Westminster for his assistance in the composure of the Directory which will come out one day And now the six and twentieth of March we finde his Letter to the Lords House and conferred with the Commons Wherein his Highness desires to communicate some Intelligence of great concernment in relation to the Protestant Religion through all Christendom to such Committees as both Houses shall appoint And here were two Committees conjoyned to wait upon his Highness herein and that was all for it came to no more being a Design set on work by a Scotish man who had laboured amongst the Northern Lutherans first then he descends Southwards to the Genevians Oecolampadians Zwinglians Hugonians and now returned hither to the Prebyterians devising how by Articles of the general Fundamentals of Faith professed amongst them all to reconcile them into one certain Creed and so to one professed Reformation against the common Enemy Antichrist presuming that as the Roman Papists agree in the Catholick Cause so the Reformed Churches should setle into a Protestation alike But this Business was too deep for his Highness and too shallow for the Parliament to wade in and so it went off in a puff And during his being here with the Parliament his distressed Uncle the King is disconsolate at Holmby under captivity and guard of the Parliaments Commissioners which makes him contemplate this Soliloquy Yet says he may I justifie those Scots to all the World in this that they have not deceived me for I never trusted to them further than to men if I am sold by them I am onely sorry they should do it and that my Price should be so much above my Saviours These are but further Essaies which God will have me make of mans uncertainty the more to fix me on himself who never faileth them that trust in him though the Reeds of Egypt break under the hand of him that leans on them yet the Rock of Israel will be an everlasting stay and defence God's Providence commands me to retire from all to himself that in him I may enjoy my self whom I lose while I let out my hopes to others The solitude and captivitie to which I am now reduced gives me leisure enough to studie the worlds â—anitie and inconstancie God sees 't is fit to deprive me of Wife Children Armie Friends and Freedom that I may be wholly his who alone is All. I care not much to be reckoâ—ed among the Unfortunate if I be not in the black List of irreligious and sacrilegious Princes No Restraint shall ensnare my Soul in sin nor gain that of me which may make mine Enemies more insolent my Friends ashamed or my Name accursed They have no great cause to triumph that they have got my Person into their power since my Soul is still mine own nor shall they ever gain my Consent against my Conscience What they call Obstinacie I know God accounts honest Constancie from which Reason and Religion as well as Honour forbid me to recede 'T is evident now that it was not Evil Counsellours with me but a good Conscience in me which hath been fought against nor did they ever intend to bring me to my Parliament till they had brought my minde to their obedience Should I grant what some men desire I should be such as they wish meâ— not more a King and far less both Man and Christian. What Tumults and Armies could not obtain neither shall Restraint which though it have as little of Safetie to a Prince yet it hath not more of Danger The fear of men shall never be my Snare nor shall the love of any Libertie entangle my Soul better others betray me than my self and that the price of my Libertie should be my Conscience the greatest Injuries mine Enemies seek to inflict upon me cannot be without mine own consent While I can deny with Reason I shall defeat the greatest impressions of their malice who neither know how to use worthily what I have already granted nor what to require more of me but this that I would seem willing to help them to destroy my self and mine Although they should Destroy me yet they shall have no cause to Despise me Neither libertie nor life are so dear to me as the peace of my Conscience the Honour of my Crowns and the welfare of my People which my word may injure more than any War can do while I gratifie a few to oppress all The Laws will by God's blessing revive with the Love and Loyaltie of my Subjects if I bury them not with my consent and cover them in that Grave of Dishonour and Injustice which some mens violence hath digged for them If my Captivitie or Death must be the Price of their Redemption I grudg not to pay it No condition can make a King miserable which carries not with it his Soul 's his People's and Posterities thraldom After-times may see what the blindness of this Age will not and God may at length shew my Subjects that I chuse rather to suffer for them than with them haply I might redeem my self to some shew of Libertie if I would consent to enslave them I had rather hazzard the Ruine of one King than confirm many Tyrants over them from whom I pray God deliver them whatever becomes of me whose solitude hath not left me alone Judg Ienkins taken at the Surrender of Castle in Wales was convened before a Committee of the House of Commons to answer to some Questions propounded to him To which he gave no Answer but presented them with this Paper I stand committed for high Treason for not acknowledging nor obeying the power of the Parliament by adhering to the King in this War I denie this to be Treason and this is my Reason The supreme power by the Laws of this Land is in the King if he should submit to any Examination derived from your power which by the Negative Oath stands in opposition to the Kings power I should confess the power to be in you and so condemn my self for a Traitour indeed I am sworn to obey the King and the Laws you have no power to examine me by these Laws but by the Kings Writ Patent or Commission and you do not produce either you your selves this Parliament have sworn that the King is our onely supreme Governour your Protestations Vows and Covenant solemn League and Covenant your Declarations all of them publish to the Kingdom
things fitted for to morrow Saturday 20. of Ian. the King is brought from St. Iames's through the Park in a Sedan to White-hall thence by water with Guards to Sir Iohn Cottons House at the back end of Westminster Hall The Judges met in the Painted Chamber attending the President Bradshaw in his Scarlet Robe the Sword born before him by Colonel Humphrey the Mace by Serjeant Denby the younger and twenty men for his Guard with Partizans Himself sits down in a Crimson Velvet Chair of State fixed in the midst of the Court with a Desk before him and thereon a Cushion of Crimson Velvet The seats of each side Benches covered with Scarlet cloth all of bloudy colours for the Tryers the Partizans divided themselves on each side O yes and silence made the great Gate of the Hall was set open for any to enter Col. Thomson was commanded to bring forth the prisoner who was with twenty Partizans and other Guards The Serjeant with his Mace receives him to the Bar where was placed a red Velvet Chair The King looks sternly upon the Court and up to the Galleries and then sits down not shewing the least regard to the Court but presently rises up and looks downâ—ards on the guards and on the multitude of people spectators The Act of Parliament for the Trying of Charls Stuart King of England was read over by the Clerk one Phelps who â—at on the right side of the Table covered with a Turkey Carpet placed at the feet of the President upon which lay the Sword and Mace The several names in the Roll of the Tryers were called over and 80. answered to their names In the charge the King is accused in the name of the people of England of Treason Tyranny of all the murders and rapines that had happened in the war many things being added for aggravation they repose all the vveight of the accusation on this That he raised war against the Parliament A vast number of people looking on vvith groans and sighs deploring the miserable condition of their good King The President stood up and said Sir You have heard your Charge containing such matters as appears in it and in the close it is prayed that you Answer to your Charge which this Court expects The King vvhilst he heard the Charge vvith countenance of Majesty and at some passages vvith a brovv of scornefull smile and novv in ansvver to the President asks these nevv Judges By what Authority they did bring to Tryal a King their most rightful Sovereign against the publick Faith so lately given him when he commenced Treaty with the Members of both Houses By what saies he emphatically Lawful Authority for said he I am not ignorant that there are on foot every where very many unlawful powers as of Theeves and Robbers in the High way he bids them only declare by what Authority they had arrogated this what-soever-power to themselves and he would willingly answer to the things objected Which if they could not he adviseth them to avert the grievous crimes from their own heads and the Kingdom Whatsoever they did he was resolved not to betray the Charge committed by God and confirmed by ancient descent The President rejoyns That he was called to account by Authority of the people of England by whose Election he was admitted King The King replyes The Kingdom descended to him in no wise Elective but Hereditary for above a thousand years That he stood more apparantly for the Liberties of the people of England by refusing an unlawful and urbitrary Authority then the Iudges or any other whosoever by asserting it That the Authority and power of the people was shewed in Parliamentary Assemblies but that here appeared none of the Lords who to the constituting of a Parl ought to be there and which is more some King ought to be there present but that neither the one nor the other nor both the Parliament Houses nor any other Iudicature on earth had any Authority to call the King of England to account much less some certain Iudges chosen only by his accusers masked with the Authority of the Lower House and the same proculcated Howbeit he wills them again they would at least-wise produce this their Authority and he would not be wanting to his defence forasmuch as it was the same offence with him to acknowledge a Tyrannical power as to resist a lawful one The President often interrupting the Kings speech told him That they were satisfied with their Authority as it is upon Gods Authority and the Kingdoms in doing of Iustice this their present work To which the King replyed That it was not his own apprehension nor theirs neither that ought to decide it And so the President commanded the prisoner to be taken into custody and so the Court adjourned till Munday next 22. Ianu. to the Painted Chamber and from thence to the same place again and the King returned in the manner as before to St. Iames's Munday the Court met in the Painted Chamber and considering the Kings Resolution to deny ther Jurisdiction and Judicature They resolve that he should not be suffered to argue either the Courts Jurisdiction or that which did constitute it of which debate they had no proper Cognizance nor could they being a derivative power which made them Judges from which there was no appeal And therefore with that distinction they Order That if the King offer to dispute the same again the President shall tell him that the Commons of England assembled in Parliament have constituted this Court whose power may not be permitted to be disputed by him That if he refuse to answer it shall be recounted a contumacie to the Court That if he answer with a salvo his pretended Prerogative above the Court He shall be required to answer positive yea or no. That he shall not have a Copy of his Charge till he own the Court and declare his intentions to answer This concluded they assemble in Westminster Hall and the King called for and brought to the Bar in the same manner and with much contumacy as the other day when the Sollicitor Cook moves that the Prisoner may make a positive answer or that the Charge may be taken pro confesso and the Court to proceed to Justice The President repeats in brief the passages of the last day and commands the King to Answer to the Articles of his Charge unless he had rather hear the Capital Sentence against him The King persists to interrogate concerning their Authority and saies That he less regards his Life then his Honour his Conscience the Laws the Liberties of the people all which that they should not perish together there were weighty Reasons why he could not prosecute his defence before the Iudges and acknowledge a new form of Iudicature for what power had ever any Iudges to erect a Iudicature against their King or by what Laws was it granted surely not by Gods Laws