holy and blessed Trinity I doe render up my soul into thy hands and commit it with the mediation of my Redeemer praising thee for all thy dispensation that it has pleased thee to confer upon me and even for this praise and honor and thanks of this time forth for evermore Dr. Sibbald My Lord I trust you now behold with the Eye of Faith the Son of Righteousness shining upon your soul and will chearfully submit unto him who hath redeemed us through his bloud even the bloud of Jesus Christ that you may appear at the Tribunal of God clothed with the white robe of his unspoted Righteousness The Lord grant that with the eye of Faith you may now see the heavens opened and Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God ready to receive you into his arms of mercy Cambridg Then the Earl turning to the Executioner said shall I put on another Cap must this hair be turned up from my neck there are three of my servants to give satisfaction Dr. Sibbald My Lord I hope you are able to give all that are about you satisfaction you are assured that God is reconciled unto you through the bloud of Christ Jesus and the Spirit of the Lord witnesseth to you that Christ is become now a Jesus unto you My Lord fasten the eyes of your Faith upon Jesus the Author and finisher of your salvation who himself was brought to a violent death for the redemption of mankinde he chearfully submitted to his Fathers good pleasure in it and for us blessed and holy is he that has part my Lord in the first resurrection That is in the first riser Jesus Christ who is both the Resurrection and the Life over him the second death shall have no power 't is the unspeakable joy of a believer That at the hour of death his soul hath an immediate passage from this earthly Tabernacle to that Region of endless Glory yea to the presence of God himself in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore Then the Earl of Cambridg turning to the Executioner said which way is it that you would have me lie Sir Executioner The Executioner pointing to the front of the Scaffold The Earl replyed What my head this way Then the Under-sheriffs son said My Lord the Order is that you should lay your head towards the High-Court of Justice The Earl of Cambridg after a little discourse in private with some of his servants kneeled down on the side of the Scaffold and prayed a while to himself When he had finished his prayers D. Sibbald spake to him thus My Lord I humbly beseech God That you may now with a holy and Christian courage give up your soul to the hand of your Faithful Creator and gracious Redeemer and not be dismaied with any sad apprehension of the Terrors of this death And what a blessed and glorious exchange you shall make within a very few minutes Then with a Chearful and smiling Countenance The Earl embracing the Dr. in his Arms said Cambridg Truly Sir I do take you in mine arms and truly I bless God for it I do not fear I have an assurance that is grounded here laying his hand upon his heart Now that gives me more true joy then ever I had I pass out of a miserable world to go into an Eternal and glorious Kingdom and Sir though I have been a most sinful creature yet Gods mercy I know is infinite and I bless my God for it I go with so clear a Conscience That I know not the man that I have personally injured Dr. Sibbald My Lord it is a marvellous great satisfaction that at this last hour you can say so I beseech the Lord for his eternal mercy strengthen your faith that in the very moment of your dissolution you may see the arms of the Lord Jesus stretched out ready to receive your soul Then the Earl of Cambridg embracing those his servants which were there present said to each of them You have been very faithful to me and the Lord bless you Cambridg Then turning to the Executioner said I shall say a very short prayer to my God while I lie down there and when I stretch out my hand my right hand then Sir do your duty and I do freely forgive you and so I do all the world Dr. Sibbald The Lord in great mercy go along with you and bring you to the possession of everlasting life strengthening your Faith in Jesus Christ This is a passage my Lord a short passage unto eternal glory I hope through the free grace of your gracious God you are now able to say O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory and to make this comfortable answer Blessed be God blessed be God who hath given me an assurance of victory through Christ Jesus Then the Earl of Cambridg said to the Executioner Must I lie all along Execut. Yes and 't please your Lordship Camb. When I stretch out my hands but I will fit my Head first tell me if I be right and how you would have me lie Execut. Your shirt must be pin'd back for it lies too high upon your shoulders which was done accordingly Dr Sibbald My Lord now now lift up your eyes unto Jesus Christ and cast your self now into the everlasting arms of your most gracious Redeemer Then the Earl having layd his Head over the Block said Is this right Dr Sibbald Jesus the Son of David have mercy upon you Execut. Lie a little lower Sir Camb. Well stay then till I give you the signe And so having layn a short space devoutly praying to himself he stretched out his right hand whereupon the Executioner at one blow severed his Head from his Body which was received by two of his Servants then kneeling by him into a Crimsion Taffety Scarf and that with the Body immediately put into a Coffin brought upon the Scaffold for that purpose and from thence conveyed to the house that was Sir JOHN HAMILTONS at the Meâ—â—es where it now remains This execution being done the Sheriffs Guard went immediately to meet the Earl of Holland which they did in the mid way between the Scaffold and Westminster-Hall and the Under-Sheriffs son having received him into his charge conducted him to the Scaffold he taking Mr. Bolton all the way in his hand passed all along to the Scaffold discoursing together upon which being come observing his voyce would not reach to the people in regard the Guard compassed the Scaffold he said Holland It is to no purpose I think to speak any thing here Which way must I speak And then being directed to the front of the Scaffold he leaning over the rails said I think it is fit to say something since God hath called me to this place The first thing which I must profess is what concerns my Religion and my breading which hath been in a good Family that hath ever been
Cambridg He is my Brother and has been a very faithfull servant to this State and he was in great esteem and reputation with them He is in the Hall and sent to speak with a Servant of mine to send something to me Dr. Sibbald It will not lengthen the time much if you stay while you have a return from him My Lord you should do well to bestow your time now in meditating upon and imploring of the Free-mercy of God in Christ for your Eternall Salvation and look upon that ever-streaming Fountain of his precious Bloud that purgeth us from all our sins even the sins of the deepest dye The Bloud of Jesus Christ washes away all our sins and that Bloud of Christ is poured forth upon all such as by a lively Faith lay hold upon him God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to the end that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting Life That is now my Lord the Rock on which you must chiefly rest and labor to fix your self in the Free-mercy of God through Christ Jesus whose mercies are from everlasting to everlasting unto all such as with the Eye of Faith behold him Behold Jesus the Author and Finisher of your Salvation who hath satisfied the Justice of God by that Al-sufficiency of his Sacrifice which once for all he offered upon the Cross for the sins of the whole World so that the sting of Death is taken away from all believers and he hath sanctified it as a passage to everlasting blessedness It is true the Waters of Iordan run somewhat rough and surly betwixt the Wilderness and our passage into Canaan but let us rest upon the Ark my Lord the Ark Christ Iesus that will carry us through and above all those waves to that Rock of Ages which no flood nor waves can reach unto and to him who is yesterday to day and the same for ever against whom the Powers and Principalities the Gates of Hell shall never be able to prevail Lift up and fasten your eyes now upon Christ Crucified and labor to behold Iesus standing at the right hand of his Father as the Protomartyr Stephen ready to receive your Soul when it shall be separated from this Frail and Mortal body Alas no man would desire Life if he knew before-hand what it were to live it is nothing but sorrow vexation and trouble grief and discontent that waits upon every condition whether publique or private in every station and calling there are several miseries and troubles that are inseparable from them Therefore what a blessed thing it is to have a speedy and comfortable passage out of this raging sea into the Port of everlasting Happiness We must pass through a Sea but it is the Sea of Christ Blood in which never Soul suffered shipwrack in which we must be blown with winds and Tempests but they are the Gales of Gods Spirit upon us which blow away all contrary winds of diffidence in his Mercy Here one acquainting the Earl his servant was coming he answered So Sir And turning to the under-Sheriffs son said Cambridg Sir have you your Warrant here Sheriff Yes my Lord we have a Command Cambridg A Command I take this time Sir of staying in regard of the Earl of Denbighs sending to speak with me I know not for what he desires me to stay Dr. Sibbald I presume Mr. Sheriff will not grudg your Lordship a few minutes time when so great a work as this is in hand His Lordships servant being returned and having delivered his Message to the Earl of Cambridg privately he said So it is done now and then turning to the Front of the Scaffold before which as in all the rest of the Pallace there was a great concourse of people He said Earl of Cambridg I think it is truly not very necessary for me to speak much there are many Gentlemen and Souldiers there that sees me but my voyce is so weak so low that they cannot hear me neither truly was I ever at any time so much in love with speaking or with any thing I had to express that I took delight in it yet this being the last time that I am to do so by a Divine Providence of Almighty God who hath brought me to this end justly for my sins I shall to you Sir Mr. Sheriff declare thus much as to the matter that I am now to suffer for which is as being a Traytor to the Kingdom of England Truly Sir it was a Country that I equally loved with my own I made no difference I never intended either the generality of it's prejudice or any particular mans in it What I did was by the Command of the Parliament of the Country where I was born whose Commands I could not disobey without running into the same hazard there of that condition that I am now in The ends Sir of that Engagement is publique they are in Print and so I shall not need to specifie them Dr. Sibbald The Sun perhaps will be too much in your Lordships face as you speak Cambridg No Sir it will not burn it I hope I shall see a brighter Sun then this Sir very speedily Dr. Sibbald The Sun of Righteousness my Lord. Cambridg But to that which I was saying Sir It pleased God so to dispose that Army under my Command as it was ruined and I as their General clothed with a Commission stand here now ready to dye I shall not trouble you with repeating of my Plea what I said in my own Defence at the Court of JUSTICE my self being satisfied with the Commands that are laid upon me and they satisfied with the justness of their procedure according to the Laws of this Land God is just and howsoever I shall not say any thing as to the matter of the Sentence but that I do willingly submit to his Divine Providence and acknowledg that very many ways I deserve even a wordly punishment as well as hereafter for we are all sinful Sir and I a great one yet for my comfort I know there is a God heaven that is exceeding merciful I know my Redeemer sits at his right hand and am confident clapping his hand to his brest is mediating for me at this instant I am hopeful through his Free-Grace and al-sufficient merits to be pardoned of my sins and to be received into his mercy upon that I rely trusting to nothing but the Free-Grace of God through Jesus Christ I have not been tainted with my Religion I thank God for it since my Infancy it hath been such as hath been profest in the Land and established and now 't is not this Religion or that Religion nor this or that fancy of men that is to be built upon t is but one that 's right one that 's sure and that comes from God Sir and in the Free-Grace of our Saviour Sir there is truly something that had I thought my Speech would have been thus
King Charls HIS TRYAL AT THE High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall Begun on Saturday Jan 20. Ended Jan. 27. 1648. Also His Majesties SPEECH On the SCAFFOLD Immediately before his Execution On Tuesday Ian. 30. Together with the Several SPEECHES OF Duke HAMILTON the Earl of HOLLAND and the Lord CAPEL Immediately before their EXECUTION On Friday March 9. 1649. The Second Edition much enlarged and faithfully Corrected LONDON Printed by J. M. for Petâ—â— Cole Francis Tyton and John Playford 1650. King Charls HIS TRYAL AT THE High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall Begun on Saturday January 20. and ended Saturday Jan. 27. 1648. A List of the Names of the Judges and Officers of the High Court of Justice appointed by an Act of the Commons of England in Parliament assembled for the Tryal of the King THomas Lord Fairfax General Oliver Cromwel Lievt General Henry Ireton Commissary General Philip Skippon Major General Sir Hardress Waller Colonel Colonel Valentine Walton Colonel Thomas Harrison Col. Edward Whalley Col. Thomas Pride Col. Isaac Ewers Col. Richard Ingolsby Col. Richard Dean Col. John Okey Col. Robert Overton Col. John Harrison Col. John Desborough Col. William Goff Col. Robert Duckenfield Col. Rowland Wilson Col. Henry Marten Col. William Purefoy Col. Godfrey Bosvil Col. Harbottle Morley Col. John Berkstead Col. Matthew Tomlinson Col. John Lambert Col. Edward Ludlow Col. John Hutchingson Col. Robert Titchburn Col. Owen Roe Col. Robert Manwaring Col. Robert Lilburn Col. Adrian Scroop Col. Alg Sidney Col. John Moore Col. Francis Lassels Col. Alexander Rigby Col. Edm Harvey Col. John Venn Col. Anthony Stapley Col. Thomas Horton Col. Thomas Hammond Col. George Fenwick Col. George Fleetwood Col. James Temple Col. Thomas Wayt. Sir Henry Mildway Sir Thomas Honywood Thomas Lord Grey Philip Lord Lisle William Lord Munson Sir John Danvers Sir Thomas Maleverer Sir John Bowcher Sir James Harrington Sir William Brâ—reton Robert Wallop Esquire William Henningham Esquire Isaac Pennington Alderman Thomas Atkins Alderman Sir Peter Wentworth Thomas Trencherâ— Esquire John Blackstone Esquire Gilbert Millington Esq Sir William Constable Sir Arthur Haslerig Sir Michael Livessey Richard Saloway Esq Humphrey Saloway Esq Cornelius Holland Esq John Carne Esq Sir William Armine John Jones Esq Miles Corbet Esq Francis Allen Esq Thomas Lister Esq Ben Weston Esq Peregrin Pelham Esq John Gourdon Esq Francis Thorp Esq Serjeant at Law John Nutt Esq Thomas Challoner Esq John Anlaby Esq Richard Darley Esq William Say Esq Iohn Aldred Esq Iohn Fagge Esq Iames Nelthorp Esq Sir William Roberts Henry Smith Esq Edmond Wilde Esq Iames Challener Esquire Iosias Barns Esq Dennis Bond Esq Humph Edwards Esq Gregory Clement Esq Iohn Fray Esq Thomas Wogan Esq Sir Gregory Norton Iohn Bradshaw Esq Serjeant at Law Iohn Dove Esq Iohn Foulks Alderman Thomas Scot Alderman Thomas Andrews Alderman William Cawley Esq Abraham Burrel Esq Roger Gratwick Esq Iohn Downes Esq Robert Nichols Esq Serjeant at Law Vincent Potter Esq Sir Gilbert Pickering Iohn Weaver Esquire Iohn Lenthal Esquire Robert Reynolds Esquire Iohn Lisle Esquire Nicholas Love Esquire Sir Edward Baynton John Corbet Esquire Thomas Blunt Eq Thomas Boone Esq Augustine Garland Esquire Augustine Skinner Esq John Dickswel Esq Simon Mayne Esq John Brown Esq John Lowrey Esq John Bradshaw Esq Serjeant at Law Lord President of the Court. Counsellors assistant to the Court and to draw up the Charge against the King are Doctor Dorislow Mr Ask. Mr Steel Attorney General Mr Cook Solicitor General Clerks to the Court. Mr Broughton Mr Phelps Officers of the Court. Serjeant Danby Serjeant at Arms and Mace-Bearer Col. John Humphrey Sword-Bearer Mr King Cryer of the Court. The Messengers and Door-Keepers with Tip-Staves Mr Walford Mr Radley Mr Payn Mr Powel Mr Hull The manner of the Tryal of CHARLES STUART King of England in the great Hall in Westminster ON Saturday being the 20. day of January 1648. The Lord President of the High Court of Justice with neer fourscore of the Members of the said Court having sixteen Gentlemen with Partizans and a Sword and a Mace with their and other Officers of the said Court marching before them came to the place ordered to be prepared for their sitting at the West end of the great Hall at Westminster where the Lord President in a Crimsion Velvet Chair fixed in the midst of the Court placed himself having a Desk with a Crimsion Velvet Cushion before him The rest of the Members placing themselves on each side of him upon the several Seats or Benches prepared and hung with Scarlet for that purpose and the Partizans dividing themselves on each side of the Court before them The Court being thus sate and silence made the great Gate of the said Hall was set open to the end That all persons without exception desirous to see or hear might come into it upon which the Hall was presently filled and silence again ordered This done Colonel Thomlinson who had the charge of the Prisoner was commanded to bring him to the Court who within a quarter of an hours space brought him attended with about twenty Officers with Partizans marching before him there being other Gentlemen to whose care and custody he was likewise committed marching in his Rear Being thus brought up within the face of the Court The Sergeant at Arms with his Mace receives and conducts him streight to the Bar having a Crimsion Velvet Chair set before him After a stern looking upon the Court and the people in the Galleries on each side of him he places himself not at all moving his Hat or otherwise shewing the least respect to the Court but presently rises up again and turns about looking downwards upon the Guards placed on the left side and on the multitude of Spectators on the right side of the said great Hall After Silence made among the people the Act of Parliament for the Trying of CHARLS STVART KING of England was read over by the Clerk of the Court who sate on one side of a Table covered with a rich Turky Carpet and placed at the feet of the said Lord President upon which table was also laid the Sword and Mace After reading the said Act the several names of the Commissioners were called over every one who was present being 80. as aforesaid rising up and answering to his Call Having again placed himself in his Chair with his face towards the Court Silence being again ordered the Lord President stood up and said Lord President CHARLES STVART King of England The Commons of England Assembled in Parliament being deeply sensible of the Calamities that have been brought upon this Nation which is fixed upon you as the principal Author of it have resolved to make inquisition for Blood and according to that Debt and Duty they owe to Justice to God the Kingdom and themselves and according to the Fundamental Power that rests in themselves They have resolved to bring you to Tryal and Judgement and for that purpose have constituted
against the said Charls Stuart and also of replying to the Answers which the said Charls Stuart shall make to the Premises or any of them or any other Charge that shall be so Exhibited doth for the said Treasons and Crimes on the behalf of the said People of England Impeach the said CHARLS STUART as a Tyrant Traytor Murtherer and a publike and Implacable Enemy to the Common-wealth of England And pray That the said CHARLS STUART King of England may be put to answer All and Every the Premises That such Proceedings Examinations Tryals Sentence and Judgment may be thereupon had or shall be agreeable to Justice IT is observed that the time the Charge was reading the King sate down in his Chair looking sometimes on the Court sometimes up to the Galleries and having risen again and turned about to behold the Guards and Spectators sate down looking very sternly with a countenance not at all moved till these words viz. Charls Stuart to be a Tyrant and Traytor c. were read at which he laughed as he sate in the face of the Court. The Charge being read the Lord President replyed Lord President Sir you have now heard your Charge read containing such matter as appears in it you finde That in the close of it it is prayed to the Court in the behalf of the Commons of England that you answer to your Charge The Court expects your Answer The King I would know by what power I am called hither I was not long ago in the Isle of Wight how I came there is a longer story then I think is fit at this time for me to speak of but there I entred into a Treaty with both Houses of Parliament with as much publique faith as it 's possible to be had of any people in the world I treated there with a number of Honorable Lords and Gentlemen and treated honestly and uprightly I cannot say but they did very nobly with me we were upon a conclusion of the Treaty Now I would know by what Authority I mean lawful there are many unlawful Authorities in the world Theeves and Robbers by the high-ways but I would know by what Authority I was brought from thence and carryed from place to place and I know not what and when I know what lawful Authority I shall answer Remember I am your King your lawful King and what sins you bring upon your heads and the Judgment of God upon this Land think well upon it I say think well upon it before you go further from one sin to a greater therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I shall not be unwilling to answer in the mean time I shall not betray my Trust I have a Trust committed to me by God by old and lawful descent I will not betray it to answer to a new unlawful Authority therefore resolve me that and you shall hear more of me Lord President If you had been pleased to have observed what was hinted to you by the Court at your first coming hither you would have known by what Authority which Authority requires you in the name of the People of England of which you are Elected King to answer them The King No Sir I deny that Lord President If you acknowledg not the Authority of the Court they must proceed The King I do tell them so England was never an Elective Kingdom but an Hereditary Kingdom for neer these thousand years therefore let me know by what Authority I am called hither I do stand more for the Liberty of my People then any here that come to be my pretended Judges and therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I will answer it otherwise I will not answer it Lord President Sir how really you have managed your Trust is known your way of answer is to interrogate the Court which beseems not you in this condition You have been told of it twice or thrice The King Here is a Gentleman Lievt Col. Cobbet ask him if he did not bring me from the Isle of Wight by force I do not come here as submitting to the Court I wil stand as much for the priviledg of the house of Cōmons rightly understood as any man here whatsoever I see no House of Lords here that may constitute a Parliament and the King too should have been Is this the bringing of the King to his Parliament Is this the bringing an end to the Treaty in the publike Faith of the world Let me see a legal Authority warranted by the Word of God the Scriptures or warranted by the Constitutions of the Kingdom and I will answer Lord President Sir You have propounded a Question and have been answered seeing you will not answer the Court will consider how to proceed in the mean time those that brought you hither are to take charge of you back again The Court desires to know whether this be all the Answer you will give or no. The King Sir I desire that you would give me and all the world satisfaction in this let me tell you it is not a slight thing you are about I am sworn to keep the Peace by that duty I ow to God and my Country and I will do it to the last breath of my body and therefore you shall do well to satisfie first God and then the Country by what Authority you do it if you do it by a usurped Authority that will not last long There is a God in Heaven that will call you and all that give you Power to account Satisfie me in that and I will answer otherwise I betray my Trust and the Liberties of the People and therefore think of that and then I shall be willing For I do avow That it is as great a sin to withstand lawful Authority as it is to submit to a Tyrannical or any other ways unlawful Authority and therefore satisfie God and me and all the world in that and you shall receive my Answer I am not afraid of the Bill Lord President The Court expects you should give them a final Answer their purpose is to adjourn till Monday next if you do not satisfie your self though we do tell you our Authority we are satisfied with our Authority and it is upon Gods Authority and the Kingdoms and that Peace you speak of will be kept in the doing of Justice and that 's our present Work The King Let me tell you if you will shew me what lawful Authority you have I shall be satisfied But that you have said satisfies no reasonable man Lord Presid That 's in your apprehension we think it reasonable that are your Judges The King 'T is not my apprehension nor yours neither that ought to decide it Lord Presid The Court hath heard you and you are to be disposed of as they have commanded Two things were remarkable in this days Proceedings 1. It is to be observed That as the Charge was reading against the
King the silver head of his staff fell off the which he wondred at and seeing none to take it up he stoops for it himself 2. That as the King was going away he looked with a very austere countenance upon the Court with stirring of his Hat replyed Well Sir when the Lord President commanded the Guard to take him away and at his going down he said I do not fear that pointing with his Staff at the Sword The people in the Hall as he went down the stairs cryed out some God save the King and some for Justice O Yes being called the Court adjourned till Monday next January 22. at 9. in the morning to the painted Chamber and from thence to the same place again in Westminster Hall At the high Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall Munday January 22. 1648. O Yes made Silence commanded The Court called and answered to their names Silence commanded upon pain of imprisonment and the Captain of the Guard to apprehend all such as make disturbance Upon the Kings coming in a shout was made Command given by the Court to the Captain of the Guard to fetch and take into his custody those who make any disturbance Mr Solicitor May it please your Lordship my Lord President I did at the last Court in the behalf of the Commons of England exhibit and give into this Court a Charge of high Treason and other high Crimes against the Prisoner at the Bar whereof I do accuse him in the name of the People of England and the Charge was read unto him and his Answer required My Lord He was not then pleased to give an Answer but instead of answering did there dispute the Authority of this high Court My humble Motion to this high Court in behalf of the Kingdom of England is That the Prisoner may be directed to make a positive Answer either by way of Confession or Negation which if he shall refuse to do That the matter of Charge may be taken pro confesso and the Court may proceed according to justice Lord President Sir You may remember at the last Court you were told the occasion of your being brought hither and you heard a Charge against you containing a Charge of high Treason and other high Crimes against this Realm of England you heard likewise that it was prayed in the behalf of the People that you should give an Answer to that Charge that thereupon such proceedings might be had as should be agreeable to justice you were then pleased to make some scruples concerning the Authority of this Court and knew not by what Authority you were brought hither you did divers times propound your Questions and were as often answered That it was by authority of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament that did think fit to call you to account for those high and capital Misdemeanours wherewith you were then charged Since that the Court hath taken into Consideration what you then said they are fully satisfied with their own authority and they hold it fit you should stand satisfied with it too and they do require it that you do give a positive and particular Answer to this Charge that is exhibited against you they do expect you should either confess or deny it if you deny it is offered in the behalf of the Kingdom to be made good against you their authority they do avow to the whole world that the whole Kingdom are to rest satisfied in and you are to rest satisfied with it and therefore you are to lose no more time but to give a positive Answer thereunto The KING When I was here last 't is very true I made that Question and truly if it were only my own particular case I would have satisfied my self with the Protestation I made the last time I was here against the legality of this Court and that a King cannot be tryed by any Superiour Jurisdiction on Earth but it is not my case alone it is the Freedom and the Liberty of the People of England and do you pretend what you will I stand more for their Liberties For if Power without Law may make Laws may alter the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom I do not know what Subject he is in England that can be sure of his life or any thing that he calls his own therefore when that I came here I did expect particular Reasons to know by what Law what Authority you did proceed against me here and therefore I am a little to seek what to say to you in this particular because the Affirmative is to be proved the Negative often is very hard to do but since I cannot perswade you to do it I shall tell you my Reasons as short as I can My Reasons why in Conscience and the duty I owe to God first and my People next for the preservation of their Lives Liberties and Estates I conceive I cannot answer this till I be satisfied of the legality of it All proceedings against any man whatsoever Lord President Sir I must interrupt you which I would not do but that what you do is not agreeable to the proceedings of any Court of Justice you are about to enter into Argument and dispute concerning the Authority of this Court before whom you appear as a Prisoner and are charged as an high Delinquent if you take upon you to dispute the Authority of the Court we may not do it nor will any Court give way unto it you are to submit unto it you are to give in a punctual and direct Answer whether you will answer your Charge or no and what your Answer is The KING Sir by your favour I do not know the forms of Law I do know Law and Reason though I am no Lawyer profess'd but I know as much Law as any Gentleman in England and therefore under favour I do plead for the Liberties of the People of England more then you do and therefore if I should impose a belief upon any man without Reasons given for it it were unreasonable but I must tell you That that Reason that I have as thus informed I cannot yield unto it Lord President Sir I must interrupt you you may not be permitted you speak of Law and Reason it is fit there should be Law and Reason and there is both against you Sir the Vote of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament it is the Reason of the Kingdom and they are these that have given to that Law according to which you should have ruled and raigned Sir you are not to dispute our Authority you are told it again by the Court. Sir it will be taken notice of that you stand in contempt of the Court and your contempt will be recorded accordingly The KING I do not know how a King can be a Delinquent but by any Law that ever I heard of all men Delinquents or what you will let me tell you they may put in Demurrers against any proceeding as legal and
I do demand that and demand to be heard with my Reasons if you deny that you deny Reason Lord President Sir you have offered something to the Court I shall speak something unto you the sence of the Court. Sir neither you nor any man are permitted to dispute that point you are concluded you may not demur the Jurisdiction of the Court if you do I must let you know that they over-rule your Demurrer they sit here by the Authority of the Commons of England and all your Predecessors and you are responsible to them King I deny that shew me one president Lord President Sir you ought not to interrupt while the Court is speaking to you this point is not to be debated by you neither will the Court permit you to do it if you offer it by way of Demurrer to the Jurisdiction of the Court they have considered of their Jurisdiction they do affirm their own Jurisdiction The King I say Sir by your favour that the Commons of England was never a Court of Judicature I would know how they came to be so Lord President Sir You are not to be permitted to go on in that speech and these discourses Then the Clerk of the Court read as followeth CHARLS STUART King of England You have been accused on the behalf of the People of England of high Treason and other high Crimes the Court have determined that you ought to answer the same The King I will answer the same so soon as I know by what Authority you do this Lord President If this be all that you will say then Gentlemen you that brought the Prisoner hither take charge of him back again The King I do require that I may give in my Reasons why I do not answer and give me time for that Lord President Sir 'T is not for Prisoners to require The King Prisoners Sir I am not an ordinary Prisoner Lord President The Court hath considered of their Jurisdiction and they have already affirmed their Jurisdiction if you will not answer we shall give order to record your default The King You never heard my Reasons yet Lord President Sir Your Reasons are not to be heard against the highest Jurisdiction The King Shew me that Jurisdiction where Reason is not to be heard Lord President Sir We shew it you here the Commons of England and the next time you are brought you will know more of the pleasure of the Court and it may be their final determination The King Shew me where ever the House of Commons was a Court of Judicature of that kind Lord President Serjeant Take away the Prisoner The King Well Sir Remember that the King is not suffered to give in his Reasons for the Liberty and Feeedom of all his Subjects Lord President Sir You are not to have liberty to use this language how great a friend you have been to the Laws and Liberties of the People let all England and the world judg The King Sir under favour it was the Liberty Freedom and Laws of the Subject that ever I took defended my self with Arms I never took up Arms against the People but for the Laws Lord President The Command of the Court must be obeyed no answer will be given to the Charge The King Well Sir Then the Lord President ordered the default to be recorded and the contempt of the Court and that no answer would be given to the Charge And so was guarded forth to Sir Robert Cottons house Then the Court adjourned to the Painted Chamber on Tuesday at twelve a clock and from thence they intend to adjourn to Westminster Hall at which time all persons concerned are to give their attendance At the high Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall Tuesday Ianuary 23. 1648. O Yes made Silence commanded The Court called Seventy three persons present The King comes in with his Guard looks with an austere countenance upon the Court and sits down The second O Yes made and silence commanded Mr Cook Solicitor General May it please your Lordship my Lord President This is now the third time that by the great grace and favour of this high Court the prisoner hath been brought to the Bar before any issue joyned in the cause My Lord I did at the first Court exhibite a Charge against him containing the highest Treason this ever was wrought upon the Theatre of England That a King of England trusted to keep the Law That had taken an Oath so to do That had Tribute paid him for that end should be guilty of a wicked design subvert and destroy our Laws and introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government in the defence of the Parliament and their Authority set up his Standard for War against his Parliament and People and I did humbly pray in the behalf of the People of England that he might speedily be required to make an Answer to the Charge But my Lord instead of making any answer he did then dispute the Authority of this High Court Your Lordship was pleased to give him a further day to consider and to put in his Answer which day being yesterday I did humbly move that he might be required to give a direct and positive Answer either by denying or confession of it but my Lord he was then pleased for to demur to the Jurisdiction of the Court which the Court did then over-rule and command him to give a direct and positive Answer My Lord Besides this great delay of Justice I shall now humbly move your Lordship for speedy Judgment against him My Lord I might press your Lordship upon the whole That according to the known Rules of the Law of the Land That if a Prisoner shall stand as contumacious in contempt and shall not put in an issuable Plea guilty or not guilty of the Charge given against him whereby he may come to a fair Tryal That as by an implicite Confession it may be taken pro confesso as it hath been done to those who have deserved more favor then the Prisoner at the Bar has done But besides my Lord I shall humbly press your Lordship upon the whole Fact The House of Commons the supream Authority and Jurisdiction of the Kingdom they have Declared That it is notorious That the matter of the Charge is true as it is in truth my Lord as clear as chrystal and as the Sun that shines at noon day which if your Lordship and the Court be not satisfied in it have notwithstanding on the People of Englands behalf several witnesses to produce And therefore I do humbly pray and yet I must confess it is not so much I as the innocent blood that hath been shed the Cry whereof is very great for Justice and Judgment and therefore I do humbly pray That speedy JUDGMENT be pronounced against the Prisoner at the Bar. Lord President Sir You have heard what is moved by the Councel on the behalf of the Kingdom against you Sir you may well remember and if you
do not the Court cannot forget what delatory dealings the Court hath found at your hands you were pleased to propound some Questions you have had your Resolution upon them You were told over and over again That the Court did affirm their own Jurisdiction That it was not for you nor any other man to dispute the Jurisdiction of the Supream and highest Authority of England from which there is no Appeal and touching which there must be no dispute yet you did persist in such carriage as you gave no manner of obedience nor did you acknowledge any Authority in them nor the high Court that constituted this Court of Justice Sir I must let you know from the Court That they are very sensible of these delays of yours and that they ought not being thus Authorized by the supream Court of England to be thus trifled withal and that they might in Justice if they pleased and according to the Rules of Justice take advantage of these delays and proceed to pronounce judgment against you yet nevertheless they are pleased to give direction and on their behalfs I do require you That you make a positive Answer unto this Charge that is against you Sir in plain terms for Justice knows no respect of persons you are to give your positive and finall Answer in plain English whether you be guilty or not guilty of these Treasons laid to your Charge The KING after a little pause said When I was here yesterday I did desire to speak for the Liberties of the People of England I was interrupted I desire to know yet whether I may speak freely or not Lord President Sir You have had the Resolution of the Court upon the like Question the last day and you were told That having such a Charge of so high a Nature against you and your Work was that you ought to acknowledge the JURISDICTION of the COURT and to Answer to your CHARGE Sir if you Answer to your Charge which the Court gives you leave now to do though they might have taken the advantage of your contempt yet if you be able to Answer to your Charge when you have once Answered you shall be heard at large make the best Defence you can But Sir I must let you know from the Court as their commands that you are not to be permitted to issue out into any other discourses till such time as you have given a positive Answer concerning the Matter that is CHARG'D upon you The King For the Charge I value it not a Rush it is the Liberty of the People of England that I stand for for me to acknowledge a new Court that I never heard of before I that am your King that should be an example to all the people of England for to uphold Justice to maintain the old Laws indeed I do not know how to do it you spoke very well the first day that I came here on Saturday of the Obligations that I had laid upon me by God to the maintenance of the Liberties of my People The same Obligation you spake of I do acknowledge to God that I owe to him and to my People to defend as much as in me lies the ancient Laws of the Kingdom therefore untill that I may know that this is not against the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by your favour I can put in no particular Charge If you will give me time I will shew you my reasons why I cannot do it and this Here being interrupted he said By your favour you ought not to interrupt me how I came here I know not there 's no Law for it to make your King your Prisoner I was in a Treaty upon the publique Faith of the Kingdom that was the known two Houses of Parliament that was the Representative of the Kingdom and when that I had almost made an end of the Treaty then I was hurried away and brought hither and therefore Here the Lord President said Sir you must know the pleasure of the Court. The King By your favour Sir Lord President Nay Sir by your favour you may not be permitted to fall into those discourses you appear as a Delinquent you have not acknowledged the authority of the Court the Court craves it not of you but once more they command you to give your positive Answer Clark Do your Duty The King Duty Sir The Clark reads CHARLES STVART KING of England You are accused in the behalf of the Commons of England of divers high crimes and Treasons which Charge hath been read unto You the Court now requires you to give Your positive and final Answer by way of confession or denial of the Charge The King Sir I say again to you so that I might give satisfaction to the People of England of the clearness of my proceeding not by way of Answer not in this way but to satisfie them that I have done nothing against that Trust that hath been committed to me I would do it but to acknowledge a new Court against their Priviledges to alter the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Sir you must excuse me Lord President Sir this is the the third time that you have publiquely disown'd this Court and put an affront upon it how far you have preserv'd Priviledges of the People your actions have spoke it but truly Sir mens intentions ought to be known by their actions you have written your meaning in bloudy Characters throughout the whole Kingdom but Sir you understand the pleasure of the Court Clerk Record the default and Gentlemen you that took charge of the Prisoner take him back again The King I will only say this one word more to you if it were only my own particular I would not say any more nor interrupt you Lord President Sir you have heard the pleasure of the Court and you are notwithstanding you will not understand it to find that you are before a COURT of JUSTICE Then the King went forth with his Guard and Proclamation was made That all persons which had then appear'd and had further to do at the Court might depart into the Painted-Chamber to which place the Court did forthwith adjourn and intended to meet in Westminster Hall by ten of the clock the next morning Cryer God bless the Kingdom of England Wednesday January 4. 1648. THis day it was expected the High Court of Justice would have met in Westminster Hall about ten of the clock but at the time appointed one of the Ushers by direction of the Court then sitting in the Painted Chamber gave notice to the people there assembled That in regard the Court was then upon the examination of Witnesses in relation to present affairs in the Painted-Chamber they could not sit there but all persons appointed to be there were to appear upon further Summons The Proceedings of the High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall on Saturday the 27. of January 1648. O Yes made Silence commanded The Court called Serjeant Bradshaw Lord
President in a Scarlet robe with sixty eight other Members of the Court. As the King comes in a cry made in the Hall for Execution Iustice Execution King I shall desire a word to be heard a little and I hope I shall give no occasion of interruption Lord President You may answer in your time hear the Court first King If it please you Sir I desire to be heard and I shall not give any occasion of interruption and it is only in a word a sudden Judgment Lord President Sir you shall be heard in due time but you are to hear the Court first King Sir I desire it will be in order to what I believe the Court will say and therefore Sir an hasty Judgment is not so soon recall'd Lord President Sir You shall be heard before the Judgment be given and in the mean time you may forbear King Well Sir shall I be heard before the Judgment be given Lord President Gentlemen it is well known to all or most of you here present That the Prisoner at the Bar hath been severall times convented and brought before the Court to make Answer to a Charge of Treason and other high crimes exhibited against him in the name of the People of England to which Charge being required to Answer he hath been so far from obeying the commands of the Court by submitting to their Justice as he began to take upon him to offer reasoning and debate unto the Authority of the Court and of the highest Court that constituted them to Try and judge him but being over-ruled in that and required to make his Answer he was still pleased to continue contumacious and to refuse to submit or Answer Hereupon the Court that they may not be wanting to themselves to the trust reposed in them nor that any mans wilfulness prevent Justice they have thought fit to take the matter into their consideration They have considered of the contumacy and of that confession which in Law doth arise upon that contumacy They have likewise considered of the notoriety of the Fact charg'd upon this Prisoner and upon the whole matter they are resolved and have agreed upon a Sentence to be now pronounced against this Prisoner but in respect he doth desire to be heard before the Sentence be read and pronounc'd the Court hath resolved that they will hear him yet Sir thus much I must tell you before-hand which you have been minded of at other Courts That if that you have to say be to offer any debate concerning Jurisdiction you are not to be heard in it you have offered it formerly and you have indeed struck at the root that is the power and Supreme Authority of the Commons of England which this Court will not admit a debate of and which indeed is an irrational thing in them to do being a Court that acts upon Authority derived from them that they should presume to judge upon their Superior from whom there 's no Appeal But Sir if you have any thing to say in defence of your self concerning the matter charged the Court hath given me in command to let you know they will hear you The King Since that I see that you will â—ot hear any thing of debate concerning that which I confess I thought most material for the peace of the Kingdom and for the Liberty of the Subject I shall wave it I shall speak nothing to it but only I must tell you That this many a day all things have been taken away from me but that that I call more dearer to me then my life which is My Conscience and my Honor and if I had respect to my Life more then the Peace of the Kingdom the Liberty of the Subject certainly I should have made a particular defence for my self for by that at leastwise I might have delayed an ugly Sentence which I believe will pass upon me Therefore certainly Sir as a man that hath some understanding some knowledge of the world if that my true zeal to my Country had not over-born the care that I have of my own preservation I should have gone another way to work then that I have done Now Sir I conceive That an hasty Sentence once past may sooner be repented then recalled and truly the self-same desire that I have for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject more then my own particular does make me now at last desire That having something for to say that concerns both I desire before Sentence be given that I may be heard in the Painted-Chamber before the Lords and Commons this delay cannot be prejudicial to you whatsoever I say if that I say no reason those that hear me must be Judges I cannot be Judge of that that I have if it be reason and really for the welfare of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject I am sure on 't very well t is worth the hearing Therefore I do conjure you as you love that that you pretend I hope it 's real the Liberty of the Subject the Peace of the Kingdom that you will grant me the hearing before any Sentence be past I only desire this that you will take this into your consideration it may be you have not heard of it before hand if you will I 'le retire and you may think of it but if I cannot get this Liberty I do here protest that so fair shews of Liberty and Peace are pure shews and not otherwise then that you will not hear your KING Lord President Sir you have now spoken King Yes Sir Lord President And this that you have said is a further declining of the Iurisdiction of this Court which was the thing wherein you were limited before King Pray excuse me Sir for my interruption because you mistake me It is not a declining of it you do judge me before you hear me speak I say it will not I do not decline it though I cannot acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Court Yet Sir in this give me leave to say I would do it though I did not acknowledge it in this I do protest it is not the declining of it since I say if that I do say any thing but that that is for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject then the shame is mine Now I desire that you will take this into your consideration if you will I 'le withdraw Lord President Sir This is not altogether new that you have moved unto us not altogether new to us though the first time in Person you have offered it to the Court Sir you say you do not Decline the Jurisdiction of the Court. King Not in this that I have said Lord President I understand you well Sir but nevertheless that which you have offered seems to be contrary to that saying of yours for the Court are ready to give a Sentence it is not as you say That they will not hear your King for they have been ready to
hear you they have patiently waâ—ted your pleasure for three Courts together to hear what you would say to the Peoples Charge against you to which you have not vouchsafed to give any Answer at all Sir This tends to a further delay Truly Sir such delaies as these neither may the Kingdom nor Justice well bear You have had three several daies to have offered in this kind what you would have pleased This Court is founded upon that Authority of the Commons of England in whom rests the Supreme Jurisdiction That which you now tender is to have another Jurisdiction and a Co-ordinate Jurisdiction I know very well you express your self Sir That notwithstanding that you would offer to the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber yet nevertheless you would proceed on here I did hear you say so but Sir That you would offer there what ever it is it must needs be in delay of the Justice here so as if this Court be resolved and prepared for the Sentence this that you offer they are not bound in Justice to grant but Sir according to that you seem to desire and because you shall know the further pleasure of the Court upon that which you have moved the Court will withdraw for a time King Shall I withdraw Lord President Sir Yow shall know the pleasure of the Court presently the Court withdraws for half an hour into the Court of Wards Sergeant at Arms the Court gives command that the Prisoner be withdrawn and they give order for his return again The Court withdraws for half an hour and returns Lord President Sergeant at Arms send for your prisoner Sir you were pleased to make a motion here to the Court to offer a desire of yours touching the propounding of somewhat to the Lords in the Painted Chamber for the Peace of the Kingdom Sir you did in effect receive an Answer before the Court adjourned Truly Sir their withdrawing and adjournment was pro forma tantum for it did not seem to them that there was any difficulty in the thing they have considered of what you have moved and have considered of their own Authority which is founded as hath been often said upon the Supream Authority of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament The Court acts accordingly to their Commission Sir the return I have to you from the Court is this That they have been too much delayed by you already and this that you now offer hath occasioned some little further delay and they are JUDGES appointed by the highest JUDGES and Judges are no more to delay then they are to deny Justice they are good words in the old Charter of England Nulli negabimus nulli vendemus nulli deferremus Justitiam There must be no delay but the truth is Sir and so every man here observes it That you have much delayed them in your contempt and default for which they might long since have proceeded to judgment against you and notwithstanding what you have offered they are resolved to proceed to punishment and to Judgment and that is their unanimous resolution King Sir I know it is in vain for me to dispute I am no Sceptick for to deny the Power that you have I know that you have Power enough Sir I confess I think it would have been for the Kingdoms Peace if you would have taken the pains for to have shewn the Lawfulness of your Power for this delay that I have desired I confess it is a delay but it is a delay very important for the Peace of the Kingdom for it is not my Person that I look on alone it is the Kingdoms well-fare and the Kingdoms Peace it is an old Sentence That we should think on long before we have resolved of great matters suddenly Therefore Sir I do say again That I do put at your doors all the inconveniency of an hasty Sentence I confess I have been here now I think this week this day eight days was the day I came here first but a little delay of a day or two further may give Peace whereas an hasty Judgement may bring on that trouble and perpetual inconveniency to the Kingdom That the child that is unborn may repent it and therefore again out of the Duty I ow to God and to my Country I do desire that I may be heard by the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber or any other Chamber that you will appoint me Lord Pres Sir you have bin already answer'd to what you even now moved being the same you moved before since the Resolution and the Judgement of the Court in it and the Court now requires to know whether you have any more to say for your self then you have said before they proceed to Sentence King I say this Sir That if you will hear me if you will give me but this delay I doubt not but I shall give some satisfaction to you all here and to my People after that and therefore I do require you as you will answer it at the dreadfull day of Judgment that you will consider it once again Lord President Sir I have received direction from the Court. King Well Sir Lord President If this must be re-enforc'd or any thing of this nature your answer must be the same and they will proceed to Sentence if you have nothing more to say King Sir I have nothing more to say but I shall desire that this may be entered what I have said Lord President The Court then Sir hath something else to say unto you which although I know it will be very unacceptable yet notwithstanding they are willing and are resolv'd to discharge their Duty Sir you spake very well of a precious thing that you call Peace and it had been much to be wished that God had put it into your heart that you had as effectually and really endeavoured and studied the Peace of the Kingdom as now in words you seem to pretend but as you were told the other day Actions must expound Intentions yet Actions have been clean contrary and truly Sir it doth appear plainly enough to them That you have gone upon very erronious principles the Kingdom hath felt it to their smart and it will be no ease to you to think of it for Sir you have held your self and let fall such Language as if you had been no ways Subject to the Law or that the Law had not been your Superiour Sir The Court is very well sensible of it and I hope so are all the understanding People of England That the Law is your Superiour That you ought to have ruled according to the Law you ought to have done so Sir I know very well your pretence hath been that you have done so but Sir the difference hath been who shall be the Expositors of this Law Sir whether you and your Party out of Courts of Justice shall take upon them to expound Law or the Courts of Justice who are the Expounders nay the Soveraign
Seizable and Forfeitable as if you had it but for a year and for your Life Therefore Sir it will concern you to take into your serious consideration your great miscarriages in this kind Truly Sir I shall not particularize the many miscarriages of your Reign whatsoever they are famously known it had been happy for the Kingdom and happy for you too if it had not been so much known and so much felt as the story of your miscarriages must needs be and hath been already Sir That that we are now upon by the command of the highest Court hath been and is to try and judg you for these great offences of yours Sir the Charge hath called you Tyrant a Traytor a Murtherer and a publique Enemy to the Commonwealth of England Sir It had been well if that any of all these terms might rightly and justly have been spared if any one of them at all King Ha Lord Pres Truly Sir We have been told Rex est dum bene regit Tyrannus qui populum oppâ—â—vit and if so be that be the definition of a Tyrant then see how you come short of it in your actions whether the highest Tyrant by that way of Arbitrary Government and that you have sought for to introduce and that you have sought to put you were putting upon the people whether that was not as high an act of Tyranny as any of your predecessors were guilty of nay many degrees beyond it Sir the term Traytor cannot be spared we shall easily agree it must denote and suppose a breach of Trust and it must suppose it to be done by a Superior and therefore Sir as the People of England might have incurred that respecting you if they had been truly guilty of it as to the definition of Law so on the other side when you did break your Trust to the Kingdom you did break your Trust to your Superior For the Kingdom is that for which you were trusted And therefore Sir for this breach of Trust when you are called to account you are called to account by your Superiors Minimus ad majorem in judicium voâ—it And Sir the People of England cannot be so far wanting to themselves which God having dealt so miraculously and gloriously for they having power in their hands and their great Enemy they must proceed to do Justice to themselves and to you For Sir the Court could heartily desire That you would lay your hand upon your heart and consider what you have done amiss That you would endeavor to make your Peace with God Truly Sir These are your high Crimes Tyranny and Treason There is a third thing too if those had not been and that is Murther which is layd to your charge All the bloody Murthers that have been committed since this time that the division was betwixt you and your People must be layd to your charge that have been acted or committed in these late Wars Sir it is an heinous and crying sin and truly Sir if any man will ask us what punishment is due to a Murtherer Let Gods Law let mans Law speak Sir I will presume that you are so well read in Scripture as to know what God himself hath said concerning the shedding of mans blood Gen. 9. Numb 35. will tell you what the punishment is and which this Court in behalf of the Kingdom are sensible of of that innocent blood that has been shed wherby indeed the Land stands stil defiled with that blood as the text hath it It can no way be cleansed but with the shedding of the blood of him that shed this blood Sir we know no Dispensation from this blood in that Commandment Thou shalt do no Murther we do not know but that it extends to Kings as well as to the meanest Peasants the meanest of the People the Command is universal Sir Gods Law forbids it Mans Law forbids nor do we know that there is any manner of exception not even in mans Laws for the punishment of Murther in you 'T is true That in the case of Kings every private hand was not to put forth it self to this work for their Reformation and punishment But Sir the People represented having power in their hands had there been but one wilful act of Murther by you committed had power to have convented you and to have punished you for it But then Sir the weight that lies upon you in all those respects that have been spoken by reason of your Tyranny Treason breach of Trust and the Murthers that have been committed surely Sir it must drive you into a sad consideration concerning your eternal condition as I said at first I know it cannot be pleasing to you to hear any such things as these are mentioned unto you from this Court for so we do call our selves and justifie our selves to be a Court and a High Court of Justice authorized by the highest and solemnest Court of the Kingdom as we have often said and although you do yet endeavor what you may to dis-court us yet we do take knowledg of our selves to be such a Court as can administer Justice to you and we are bound Sir in duty to do it Sir all I shall say before the reading of your Sentence it is but this The Court does heartily desire that you will seriously think of those evils that you stand guilty of Sir you said well to us the other day you wisht us to have God before our eyes Truly Sir I hope all of us have so that God that we know is a King of Kings and Lord of Lords that God with whom there is no respect of persons that God that is the avenger of innocent blood we have that God before us that God that does bestow a curse upon them that with-hold their hands from sheding of blood which is in the case of guilty Malefactors and that do deserve death That God we have before our eyes and were it not that the conscience of our duty hath called us unto this place and this imployment Sir you should have had no appearance of a Court here but Sir we must prefer the discharge of our duty unto God and unto the Kingdom before any other respect whatsoever and although at this time many of us if not all of us are severely threatened by some of your party what they intend to do Sir we do here declare That we shall not decline or forbear the doing of our duty in the administration of Justice even to you according to the merit of your offence although God should permit those men to effect all that bloody design in hand against us Sir we will say and we will declare it as those Children in the fiery furnace that would not worship the golden Image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up That their God was able to deliver them from that danger that they were neer unto but yet if he would not do it yet notwithstanding that they would not fall down and worship the
Image we shall thus apply it That though we should not be delivered from those bloody hands and hearts that conspire the overthrow of the Kingdom in general of us in particular for acting in this great work of Justice though we should perish in the work yet by Gods grace and by Gods strength we will go on with it And this is all our Resolutions Sir I say for your self we do heartily wish and desire that God would be pleased to give you a sense of your sins that you would see wherein you have done amiss that you may cry unto him that God would deliver you from blood-guiltiness A good King was once guilty of that particular thing and was clear otherwise saving in the matter of Vriah Truly Sir the story tels us that he was a repentant King and it signifies enough that he had dyed for it but that God was pleased to accept of him to give him his pardon thou shalt not die but the child shal die thou hast given cause to the enemies of God to blaspheme King I would desire onely one word before you give sentence and that is That you would hear me concerning those great imputations that you have layd to my charge Lord Presid Sir You must give me now leave to go on for I am not far from your Sentence and your time is now past King But I shall desire you will hear me a few words to you for truly what ever Sentence you will put upon me in respect of those heavy imputations that I see by your speech you have put upon me Sir It is very true that Lord Pres Sir I must put you in minde Truly Sir I would not willingly at this time especially interrupt you in any thing you have to say that is proper for us to admit of but Sir you have not owned us as a Court and you look upon us as a sort of people met together and we know what language we receive from your party King I know nothing of that Lord Pres You dis-avow us as a Court and therefore for you to address your self to us not to acknowledg us as a Court to judg of what you say it is not to be permitted and the truth is all along from the first time you were pleased to dis-avow and dis-own us the Court needed not to have heard you one word For unless they be acknowledged a Court and engaged it is not proper for you to speak Sir we have given you too much liberty already and admitted of too much delay and we may not admit of any farther were it proper for us to do we should hear you freely and we should not have declined to have heard you at large what you could have said or proved on your behalf whether for totally excusing or for in part excusing those great and hainous charges that in whole or in part are layd upon you But Sir I shall trouble you no longer your sins are of so large a dimension that if you do but seriously think of them they will drive you to a sad consideration of it and they may improve in you a sad and serious repentance And that the Court doth heartily wish that you may be so penitent for what you have done amiss that God may have mercy at least-wise upon your better part Truly Sir for the other it is our parts and duties to do that that the Law prescribes we are not here Jus dare but Jus dicere we cannot be unmindful of what the Scripture tells us For to acquit the guilty is of equal abomination as to condemn the innocent we may not acquit the guilty what sentence the Law affirms to a Traytor Tyrant a Murtherer and a publike Enemy to the Country that sentence you are now to hear read unto you and that is the sentence of the Court. The Lord President commands the sentence to be read Make an O yes and command silence while the sentence is read O yes made Silence commanded The Clerk read the sentence which was drawn up in parchment Where as the Commons of England in Parliament had appointed them an High Court of Justice for the trying of Charls Stuart King of England before whom he had been three times convented and at the first time a Charge of High Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanors was read in the behalf of the Kingdom of England c. Here the Clerk read the Charge Which Charge being read unto him as aforesaid he the said Charls Stuart was required to give his Answer but he refused so to do and so exprest the several passages at his Tryal in refusing to answer For all which Treasons and Crimes this Court doth adjudg That the said Charls Stuart as a Tyrant Traytor Murtherer and a publique Enemy shall be put to Death by the severing his Head from his Body After the sentence read the Lord President said This sentence now read and published it is the act sentence judgment and resolution of the whole Court Here the Court stood up as assenting to what the President said King Will you hear me a word Sir Lord Pres Sir you are not to be heard after the sentence King No Sir Lord Presid No Sir by your favor Sir Guard withdraw your Prisoner King I may speak after the sentence By your favor Sir I may speak after the sentence ever By your favor hold the sentence Sir I say Sir I do I am not suffered for to speak expect what Justice other people will have O Yes All maner of persons that have any thing else to do are to depart at this time and to give their attendance in the painted Chamber to which place this Court doth forthwith adjourn it self Then the Court rose and the King went with his Guard to Sir Robert Cottons and from thence to Whitehall King Charls HIS SPEECH Made upon the SCAFFOLD at Whitehall-Gate immediately before his Execution Tuesday January 30. ABout ten in the Morning the King was brought from St. James's walking on foot through the Park with a Regiment of Foot part before and part behinde him with Colours flying Drums beating his private guard of Partizans with some of his Gentlemen before and some behinde bare-headed Dr Juxon next behinde him and Colonel Thomlinson who had the charge of him talking with the King bare-headed from the Park up the stairs into the Gallery and so into the Cabinet-Chamber where he used to lie where he continued at his Devotion refusing to dine having before taken the Sacrament onely about an hour before he came forth he drank a glass of Claret wine and eat a piece of bread about twelve at noon From thence he was accompanyed by Dr. Juxon Colonel Thomlinson and other Officers formerly appointed to attend him and the private guard of Partizans with Musketiers on each side through the Banqueting-house adjoyning to which the Scaffold was erected between Whitehall-Gate and the G 〈…〉 ding into the Gallery from S. James's
thank you very heartily my Lord for that I had almost forgotten it Introth Sirs My Conscience in Religion I think is very well known to all the world and therefore I declare before you all That I dye a Christian according to the profession of the Church of England as I found it left me by my Father and this honest man I think will witness it Then turning to the Officers said Sirs excuse me for this same I have a good cause and I have a gracious God I will say no more Then turning to Colonel Hacker he said Take care they do not put me to pain and Sir this and it please you But then a Gentleman coming neer the Ax The King said Take heed of the Ax pray take heed of the Ax Then the King speaking to the Executioner said I shall say but very short Prayers and when I thrust out my hands Then the King called to Doctor Juxon for his Night-cap and having put it on he said to the Executioner Does my hair trouble you who desired him to put it alâ— under his Cap which the King did accordingly by the help of the Executioner and the Bishop Then the King turning to Doctor Juxon said I have a good Cause and a gracious God on my side Doctor Juxon There is but one Stage more This Stage is turbulent and troublesom it is a short one But you may consider it will soon carry you a very great way it will carry you from earth to heaven and there you shall find a great deal of cordial joy and comfort King I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown where no disturbance can be no disturbance in the world Doctor Juxon You are exchanged from a Temporal to an Eternal Crown a good exchange The King then said to the Executioner is my hair well Then the King took off His Cloak and his George giving his George to Doctor Iuxon saying Remember Then the King put off his Dublet and being in his Wastcoat put his Cloak on again then looking upon the Block said to the Executioner You must set it fast Executioner It is fast Sir King It might have been a little higher Executioner It can be no higher Sir King When I put out my hands this way then After that having said two or three words as he stood to himself with hands and Eyes lift up Immediately stooping down laid his neck upon the Block And then the Executioner again putting his hair under his Cap the King said Thinking he had been going to strike stay for the sign Executioner Yes I will and it please your Majesty And after a very little pawse the King stretching forth his hands The Executioner at one blow severed his head from his body That when the Kings head was cut off the Executioner held it up and shewed it to the Spectators And his Body was put in a Coffin covered with black Velvet for that purpose and conveyed into his Lodgings there And from thence it was carried to his house at S. Iames's where his body was put in a Coffin of lead laid there to be seen by the people and about a fortnight after it was carried to Windsor accompanied with the Duke of Lenox the Marquess of Hartford and the Earl of Southampton and Doctor Iuxon late Bishop of London and others and Interred in the Cappel-Royal in the Valt with King Henry the eight having only this Inscription upon his Coffin Charls King of England c. 1648. Sic transit Gloria Mundi FINIS THE SEVERAL SPEECHES OF Duke Hamilton Earl of CAMBRIDG HENRY Earl of HOLLAND AND ARTHUR Lord CAPEL UPON THE SCAFFOLD Immediately before their EXECUTION on Friday March 9. 1649. Also the several Exhortations and Conferences with them upon the SCAFFOLD BY D. Sibbald M. Bolton M. Hodges London Printed for Peter Cole Francis Tyton and John Playford 1650. The several speeches of the Earl of Cambridg the Earl of Holland and the Lord Capel upon the Scaffold c. UPon Friday the ninth of this instant being the day appointed for the Execution of the Sentence of Death upon the Earl of Cambridg the Earl of Holland and the Lord Capel about ten of the Clock that morning L. Col. Beecher came with his Order to the several Prisoners at S. Iames's requiring them to come away According to which Order they were carried in Sedans with a Guard to Sir Thomas Cottons house at Westminster where they continued about the space of two hours passing away most of that time in Religious and seasonable Conferences with the Ministers there present with them After which being called away to the Scaffold it was desired that before they went they might have the opportunity of commending their souls to God by Prayer which being readily granted and the room voyded Mr. Bolton was desired by the Lord of Holland to take the pains with them which was accordingly done with great appearance of solemn Affection among them Prayer being concluded and hearty thanks returned by them all to the Minister who performed as also to the rest who were their assistants in this sad time of trouble the Earl of Cambridg prepared first to go towards the place of Execution and after mutual embraces and some short ejaculatory expressions to and for his Fellow-sufferers he took his leave of them all and went along with the Officers attended upon by Dr. Sibbald whom he had chosen for his Comforter in this his sad condition The Scaffold being erected in the new Pallace-yard at Westminster over against the great Hal-Gate in the sight of the place where the High Court of Iustice formerly sate the Hal-doors being open there was his Excellencies Regiment of Horse commanded by Cap. Disher and several Companies of Col. Hewsons and Colonel Prides Regiments of Foot drawn up in the place When the Earl came from Westminster-Hall nere the Scaffold he was met by the Under-sheriff of Middlesex and a Guard of his men who took the charge of him from Lievt Col. Beecher and the Partizans that were his Guard The Sheriff of London being also according to command from the High Court of Iustice present to see the Execution performed The Earl of Cambridg being come upon the Scaffold and two of his own servants waiting upon him he first spake to the Doctor as followeth Earl of Cambridg Whether shall I Pray first Dr. Sibbâ—ld As Your Lordship pleases Earl of Cambridg My Lord of Denbigh has sent to speak with me I know not the fashion I may ask you Sir Do these Gentlemen expect I should say any thing to them or no They cannot hear Dr. Sibbald There will be a greater silence by and by It will not be amiss if your Lordship defer your speaking till you hear from his Lordship Cambridg There is something in it He was with the House Dr. Sibbald I suppose he would give no interruption to your Lordship at this time were there not something of concernment in it
taken I would have digested it into some better method then now I can and shall desire these Gentlemen that does write it that they will not wrong me in it and that it may not in this manner be published to my disadvantage for truly I did not intend to have spoken thus when I came here There is Sirs terrible Aspersions has been laid upon my self truly such as I thank God I am very free from as if my actions and intentions had not been such as they were pretended for but that notwithstanding what I pretended it was for the King there was nothing less intended then to serve him in it I was bred with him for many years I was his Domestique servant and there was nothing declar'd by the Parliament that was not really intended by me and truly in it I ventured my Life one way and now I loose it another way and that was one of the ends as to the King I speak only of that because the rest has many particulars and to clear my self from so horrid an Aspersion as is laid upon me neither was there any other design known to me by the incoming of that Army then what is really in the Declaration published His Person I do profess I had reason to love as he was my King and as he had been my Master it has pleased God now to dispose of him so as it cannot be thought flattery to have said this or any end in me for the saying of it but to free my self from that Calumny which lay upon me I cannot gain by it yet truth is that which we shall gain by for ever There hath been much spoken Sir of an invitation into this Kingdom it 's mentioned in that Declaration and truly to that I did and do remit my self and I have been very much laboured for discoveries of these Inviters 'T is no time to dissemble How willing I was to have served this Nation in any thing that was in my power is known to very many honest Pious and Religious men and how ready I would have been to have done what I could to have served them if it had pleased them to have preserved my Life in whose hands there was a power They have not thought it fit and so I am become unuseful in that which willingly I would have done As I said at first Sir so I say now concerning that point I wish the Kingdoms happiness I wish its peace and truly Sir I wish that this bloud of mine may be the last that is drawn and howsoever I may perhaps have some reluctancie with my my self as to the matter of my suffering for my Fact yet I freely forgive all Sir I carry no rancor along with me to my grave His will be done that has created both heaven and earth and me a poor miserable sinful creature now speaking before him For me to speak Sir to you of State-business and the Government of the Kingdom or my opinion in that or for any thing in that nature Truly it is to no end it contributes nothing My own inclination hath been to Peace from the begining and it is known to many that I never was an ill instrument betwixt the King and his People I never acted to the prejudice of the Parliament I bore no Arms I medled not with it I was not wanting by my Prayers to God Almighty for the happiness of the King and truly I shall pray still that God may so direct him as that may be done which shall tend to his Glory and the peace and happiness of the Kingdome I have not much more to say that I remember of I think I have spoken of my Religion Dr. Sibbald Your Lordship has not so fully said it Cambridg Truly I do believe I did say something Dr. Sibbald I know you did 't is pleasing to hear it from your Lordship again Cambridg Truly Sir for the Profession of my Religion That which I said was the established Religion and that which I have practised in my own Kingdom where I was born and bred my Tenents they need not to be exprest they are known to all and I am not of a rigid opinion many Godly men there is that may have scruples which do not concern me at all at no time they may differ in opinion and more now then at any time differing in Opinion does not move me not any mans my own is clear Sir The Lord forgive me my sins and I forgive freely all those that even I might as a Wordly man have the greatest animosity against We are bidden to forgive Sir 'T is a Command laid upon us and there mentioned Forgive us our Trespasses as We forgive them that trespass against us Dr. Sibbald 'T is our Saviours Rule Love your Enemies blesse them that curse you Pray for them that Persecute you do good to them which despightfully use you Cambridg Sir it is high time for me to make an end of this and truly I remember no more that I have to say but to pray to God Almighty a few words and then I have done Then kneeling down with Doctor Sibbald He prayed thus MOST Blessed Lord I thy poor and most unworthy Servant come to thâ—â— presuming in thy infinite mercy and the merits of Jesus Christ who sits upon the Throne I come flying from that of Justice to that of mercy and tenderness for his sake which shed his bloud for sinners that he would take compassion upon me that he will look upon me as one that graciously hears me that he would look upon me as one that hath redeemed me that he would look upon me as one that hath shed his bloud for me that he would look upon me as one who now cals and hopes to be saved by his Al-sufficient merits for his sake Glorious God have compassion upon me in the freeness of thy infinite mercy that when this sinful Soul of mine shall depart out of this frail carcass of clay I may be carried into thy everlasting Glory O Lord by thy Free-Grace and out of thy infinite mercy hear me and look down and have compassion upon me and thou Lord Iesus thou my Lord and thou my God and thou my Redeemer hear me take pitty upon me take pitty upon me gracious God and so deal with my soul that by thy precious merits I may attain to thy Ioy and Bliss O Lord remember me so miserable and sinful a creature Now thou O Lord thou O Lord that dyed for me receive me and receive me into thy own bound of mercy O Lord I trust in thee suffer me not now to be confounded Satan has had too long possession of this soule O let him not now prevail against it but let me O Lord from henceforth dwell with thee for evermore Now Lord it is thy time to hear me hear me gracious Iesus even for thy own goodness mercy and truth O Glorious God O blessed Father O holy Redeemer O gracious Comforter O