in our ill-willers â—â—u would avoid that spirit Censure us not for having parted with too much of Our own right the price was great the commodity was security to Us Peace to Our People And We are confident another Parliament would remember how useful a Kings power is to a Peoples liberty Of how much we have divested Our self that We they might meet again in a due Parliamentary way to agree the bounds for Prince and People And in this give belief to Our experience never to affect more Greatness or Prerogative than what is really and intrinsecally for the good of your Subjects not satisfaction of Favorites And if you thus use it you will never want means to be a Father to all and a bountiful Prince to any you would ba extraordinarily gracious unto You may perceive all men trust their treasure where it returns them interest And if Princes like the Sea receive and repay all the fresh streams and rivets trust them with they will nor grudge but pride themselves to make them up an Ocean These considerations may make you a great Prince as your Father is now a low one and your state maybe so much the more established as mine hath been shaken For Subjects have learnt We dare say that Victories over their Princes are but Triumphs over themselves and so will be more unwilling to hearken to changes hereafter The English Nation are a sober People however at present under some infatuation We know not but this may be the last time We may speak to you or the world publickly We are sensible into what hand We are faln and yet We bless God We have those inward tefreshments that the malice of Our Enemies cannot perturb We have learnt to own Our self by tetiting into Our self and therefore can the better digest what befals Us not doubting but God can restrain Our Enemies malice and turn their fierceness into his praise To conclude if God give you success use it humbly and far from revenge It he restore you to your Right upon hard conditions what ever you promise keep Those men which have forced Lawes which they were bound to observe will find their triumphs full of troubles Do not think any thing in this World worth obtaining by foul and unjust means You are the Son of Our love and as We direct you to what we have recommended to you so we assure you We do not more affectionatlely pray for you to whom We are a natural Parent then We doe that the ancient glory and renown of this Nation be not buried in irreligion and fanatick humour And that all our Subjects to whom we are a Politick Parent may have such sober thoughts as to seek their Peace in the Orthodox Profession of the Christian Religion as it was established since the Reformation in this Kingdome and not in new Revelations And that the ancient Lawes with the Interpretation according to the known practises may once again be an hedge about them that you may in due time govern and they be governed as in the fear of the Lord. C.R. THe Commissioners are gone the Corn is now in the Ground We expect the Harvest if the Fruit be Peace We hope the God of Peace will in time reduce all to Truth and Order again Which that he may do is the prayer of C. R. AN ELEGIE On the Sufferings and Death OF K. Charles I. COme come let 's Mourn all Eyes that see this Day Melt into Showrs and Weep your selves away O that each Private head could yield a Flood Of Tears whil'st Britain's Head stream's out His Blood Could we pay what His Sacred Drops might claim The World must needs be drowned once again Hands cannot write for trembling let our Eye Supply the Quill and shed an Elegy Tongues cannot speak this Grief know's no such vent Nothing but Silence can be Eloquent Words are not here significant in This Our Sighs our Groans bear all the Emphasis Dread Sir What shall we say Hyperbole Is not a Figure when it speaks of Thee Thy Book is our best Language what to this Shall e're be added is thy Meiosis Thy Name 's a Text too hard for us no men Can write of it without Thy Parts and Pen. Thy Prisons Scorns Reproach and Poverty Though these were thought too courteous Injury How could'st Thow bear Thou Meeker Moses how Was ever Lion bit with Whelps till now And did not roar Thou England's David how Did Shimei's Tongue not move Thee Where 's the Man Where is the King Charles is all Christian Thou never wanted'st Subjects no when they Rebell'd thou mad'st thy Passions to obey Had'st Thou regain'd thy Throne of State by Power Thou had'st not then been more a Conqueror But Thou thine own Soul's Monarch art above Revenge and Anger Can'st Thou tame thy Love How could'st Thou bear Thy Queen's Divorce must She At once Thy Wife and yet Thy Widow be Where are Thy tender Babes once Princely bred Thy choycest Jewels are they Sequestred Where are thy Nobles Lo in stead of these Base savage Villains and Thine Enemies Egyptian Plague 't was onely Pharaoh's doom To see such Vermin in His Lodging-room What Guards are set what Watches do they keep They do not think Thee safe though lock't in Sleep Would they confine Thy Dreams within to dwell Nor let Thy Fancy pass their Centinel Are Thy Devotions dangerous Or do Thy Prayers want a Guard These faulty too Varlets 't was onely when they spake for You. But lo a Charge is drawn a Day is set The silent Lamb is brought the Wolves are met Law is arraign'd of Treason Peace of War And Justice stand's a Prisoner at the Bar. This Scene was like the Passion-Tragedie His Saviour's Person none could Act but He. Behold what Scribes were here what Pharisees What bands of Souldiers What false witnesses Here was a Priest and that a Chief one who Durst strike at God and His Vicegerent too Here Bradshaw Pilate there This make's them twain Pilate for Fear Bradshaw condemn'd for Gain Wretch could'st not thou be rich till Charles was dead Thou might'st have took the Crown yet spar'd the Head Th' hast justifi'd that Roman Judge He stood And washt in Water thou hast dipt in Blood And where 's the slaughter-House White-hall must be Lately His Palace now His Calvarie Great Charles is this Thy Dying-place And where Thou wer 't our King art thou our Martyr there Thence thence Thy Soul took flight and there will we Not cease to Mourn where Thou did'st cease to Be. And thus blest Soul He 's gon a Star whose fall As no Eclipse prove's Oecumenical That Wretch had skill to sin whose Hand did know How to behead three Kingdoms at one blow England hath lost the Influence of her King No wonder that so backward was Her Spring O dismal Day but yet how quickly gon It must be short Our Sun went down at Noon And now ye Senators is this the Thing So oft declar'd Is
in the County of Berks and upon or about the one and thirtieth day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and four at Cropredy-bridge in the County of Oxon And upon or about the thirtieth day of September in the last year mentioned at Bodmin and other places near adjacent in the County of Cornwall And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the last year mentioned at Newbery aforesaid and upon or about the eight of June in the year of Lord One thousand six hundred forty and five at the Town of Leicester and also upon the fourteenth day of the same moneth in the same year at Naseby-field in the County of Northampton at which several times and places or most of them and at many other places in this Land at several other times within the years afore mentioned And in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and six He the said C. Stuart hath caused and procured many thousands of the Free-people of the Nation to be slain and by Divisions parties and Insurrections within this Land by Invasions from Forraign parts endevoured and procured by Him and by many other evil wayes and means He the said Charles Stuart hath not onely maintained and carried on the said War both by Land and Sea during the years before mentioned but also hath renewed or caused to be renewed the said War against the Parliament and good people of this Nation in this present year One thousand six hundred forty and eight in the Counties of Kent Essex Surrey Sussex Middlesex and many other Counties and places in England and Wales and also by Sea and particularly He the said Charles Stuart hath for that purpose given Commission to his Son the Prince and others whereby besides multitudes of other persons many such as were by the Parliament intrusted and imployed for the safety of the Nation being by Him or His Agents Corrupted to the betraying of Their Trust and revolting from the Parliament have had entertainment and Commission for the continuing and renewing of War and Hostility against the said Parliament and people as aforesaid By which cruel and unnatural Wars by Him the said Charles Stuâ—rt levyed continued and renewed as aforesaid much Innocent Blood of the Free-people of this Nation hath been spilt many Families have been undone the publick Treasury wasted and exhausted Trade obstrusted and miserably decayed vast expence and damage to the Nation incurred and many parts of the Land spoyled some of them even to desolation And for further prosecution of his said evil Designs He the said Charls Stuart doth still continue his Commissions to the said Prince and other Rebels and Revolters both English and Forraigners and to the Earl of Ormond and to the Irish Rebels and Revolters associated with him from whom further Invasions upon this Land are threatned upon the procurement and on the behalf of the said Charles Stuart All which wicked Designs Wars and evil practises of him the said Charles Stuart have been and are carried on for the advancing and upholding of the personal Interest of Will and Power and pretended prerogative to Himself and his family against the publick Interest Common Right Liberty Justice and Peace of the people of this Nation by and for whom he was entrusted as aforesaid By all which it appeareth that he the said Charles Stuart hath been and is the Occasioner Author and Contriver of the said Unnatural Cruel and Bloody Wars and therein guilty of all the Treasons Murthers Rapines Burnings Spoils Desolations Damage and Mischief to this Nation acted or committed in the said Wars or occasioned thereby And the said John Cook by protestation saving on the behalf of the people of England the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Charge against the said Charles Stuart and also of replying to the answers which the said Ch. 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 Charles Stuart as a Tyrant Traytor Murtherer and a publick and Implacable Enemy to the Common-wealth of England And pray that the said Charles Stuart King of England may be put to answer All and Every the Premises That such proceeedings Examinations Trials Sentence and Judgment may be thereupon had as 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. Charles Stuart to be a Tyrant and Traytor c. were read at which he laughed as he sate in the face of the Court Charge being read the Lord President replyed President Sir you have now heard your Charge read containing such matters 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 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 than 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 publick faith as 't is possible to be had of any people in the world I treated there with a number of Honourable 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 wayes but I would know by what Authority I was brought from thence and carried from place to place and I know not what and when I know by what lawful Authority I shall answer Remember I am your 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 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
with God least of all in matter of Religion and therefore I desire it may be remembred I have always lived in the Protestant Religion established in England and in that I come now to die What Clamors and Slanders I have endured for labouring to keep an Uniformity in the external service of God according to the Doctrine and Disciplice of this Church all men know and I have abundantly felt Now at last I am accused of high Treason in Parliament a crime which my soul ever abhorred this Treason was charged upon me to consist of two parts An endeavour to subvert the Law of the Realm and a like endeavour to overthrow the true Protestant Religion established by those Laws Besides my Answers which I gave to the severall Charges I protested my innocency in both Houses it was said Prisoners protestations at the Barre must not be taken de ipso I can bring no witnesse of my heart and the intentions thereof therefore I must come to my Protestation not at the bar but to my Protestation at this hour and instant of my death in which as I said before I hope all men will be such charitable Christians as not to think I would die and dissemble my Religion I doe therefore here with that caution that I delivered before without all prejudice in the world to my Judges that are to proceed secundum allegata probata and so to be understood I die in the presence of Almighty God and all his holy and blessed Angels and I take it now on my death that I never endeavoured the subversion of the Laws of the Realm nor never any change of the Protestant Religion into Popish superstition and I desire you all to remember this Protest of mine for my innocency in these and from all manner of Treasons whatsoever I have been accused likewise as an enemy to Parliaments no God forbid I understood them and the benefits that come by them a great deal too well to be so but I did indeed dislike some misgovernments as I conceived of some few one or two Parliaments and I did conceive humbly that I might have reason for it for corruptio optimi est pessima There is no corruption in the world so bad as that which is of the best thing in it self for the better the thing is in nature the worse it is corrupted and this being the highest and greatest Court over which no other can have any jurisdiction in the Kingdome if by any way a mis-government which God forbid should any ways fall upon it the Subjects of this Kingdome are left without all manner of remedy and therefore God preserve them and bless them and direct them that there may be no mis-conceit much lesse mis-government amongst them I will not inlarge my self any further I have done I forgive all the world all and every of those bitter enemies or others whosoever they have been which have any wayes prosecuted me in this kind and I humbly desire to be forgiven first of God and then of every man whether I have offended him or no if he doe but conceive that I have Lord doe thou forgive me and I beg forgivenesse of him and so I heartily desire you to joyn with me in prayer The Bishop of Canterburies first prayer on the Scaffold O Eternall God and mercifull Father look down upon me in mercy in the riches and fulnesse of all thy mercies look upon me but not till thou hast nailed my sins to the Cross of Christ look upon me but not till thou hast bathed me in the blood of Christ not till I have hid my self in the wounds of Christ that so the punishment that is due to my sinnes may passe away and goe over me and since thou art pleased to try me to the uttermost I humbly beseech thee give me now in this great instant full patience proportionable comfort a heart ready to die for thine honour the Kings happinesse and the Churches preservation and my zeal to these farre from arrogancy be it spoken is all the sin humane frailty excepted and all incidents thereunto which is yet known of me in this particular for which I now come to suffer I say in this particular of Treason but otherwise my sinnes are many and great Lord pradon them all and those especially whatsoever they be which have drawn down this present Judgment upon me and when thou hast given me strength to bear it then doe with me as seems best in thy own eyes and carry me through death that I may look upon it in what visage soever it shall appear to me and that there may be a stop of this issue of blood in this more then miserable Kingdome I shall desire that I may pray for the people too as well as for my self O Lord I beseech thee give grace of repentance to all people that have a thirst for blood but if they will not repent then scatter their devices so and such as are or shall be contrary to the glory of thy great name the truth and sincerity of Religion the establishment of the King and his Posterity after him in their just Rights and Priviledges the honour and conservation of Parliaments in their ancient and just power the preservation of this poor Church in her truth peace and patrimony and the setlement of this distracted and distressed people under their ancient Laws and in their native Liberties and when thou hast done all this in meer mercy for them O Lord fill their hearts with thankfulnesse and with religious dutifull obedience to thee and thy Commandments all their daies So Amen Lord Jesus and I beseech thee receive my soul to mercy Our Father which art in Heaven Hollowed be thy Name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Amen When he had finished his Prayer he gave his Paper to Doctor Sterne saying Doctor I give you this that you may shew it to your Fellow-Chaplains that they may see how I am gone out of the world and Gods blessing and his mercy be upon them Then turning to Master Hinde he said Friend I beseech you hear me I cannot say I have spoken every word as it is in my Paper but I have gone very neer it to help my memory as well as I could but I beseech you let me have no wrong done me Hinde Sir you shall not if I doe any wrong let it fall on my own head I pray God have mercy on your soul Cant. I thank you I did not speak with any jealousie as if you would doe so but I spake it onely as a poor man going out of the world it is not possible for me to keep to the words in my paper and a phrase may doe me wrong I did think here would have been an
Edw. Baineton Io. Corbet Tho. Blunt Tho. Boone Aug. Garland Aug. Skinner Io. Dickeswel Simon Meyne Io. Brown Io. Lewry Esquires c. John Bradshaw Esq Serg. at Law Lord President of the Court Councellors Assistant to the Court and to draw up the Charge against the King Dr. Dorislaus Mr. Aske Mr. Steel Attorney General Mr. Cook Sollicitor General Mr. Broughton Mr. Phelps Clerks to the Court Officers of the Court Sergeant Dandy Sergeant at Arms and Mace bearer Col. Humpreys Sword-bearer Mr. King Crier of the Court Mr. Walford Mr. Radley Mr. Pain Mr. Powel Mr. Hull Messengers and Dore-keepers with tip-staves ON Saturday being the twentieth day of January 1648. The Lord Bradshaw President of the High Cout of Justice with about seventy of the Members of the said Court having Col. Fox and sixteen Gentlemen with Partizans and a Sword born by Col. Humphry and a Mace by Serj. Dandy 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 in Westminster where the Lord President in a Crimson Velvet Chair fixed in the midst of the Court placed himself having a Desk with a Crimson 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 set 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 King as a 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 Col. Hacker and 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 Serjeant at Arms with his Mace receives and conducts him streight to the Bar where a Crimson Velvet Chair was set for the King 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 CHARLES STUART King of England was read over by the Clerk of the Court who sate on one side of the Table covered with a rich Turkey 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 rising up and answering to his Call The King having again placed himself in his Chair with his face towards the Court Silence being again ordered the Lord President stood up and said President CHARLES STUART 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 Kingdome and themselves and according to the Fundamental Power that rests in themselves They have resolved to bring you to Trial and Judgment and for that purpose have constituted this High Court of Justice before which you are brought This said M. Cook Solicitor General for the Common-wealth standing within a Bar on the right hand of the King offered to speak but the King having a staff in his hand held it up and laid it upon the said M. Cooks shoulder two or three times bidding him hold Nevertheless the Lord President ordering him to go on he said Cook My Lord I am commanded to charge Charles Stuart King of England in the name of Commons of England with Treason and high Misdemeanors I desire the said Charge may be read The said Charge being delivered to the Clerk of the Court the Lord President ordered it should be read but the King bid him hold Nevertheless being commanded by the Lord President to read it the Clerk begun The Charge of the Commons of England against CHARLES STUART King of England of High Treason and other High Crimes exhibited to the High Court of Justice THat the said Charles Stuart being admitted King of England and therein trusted with a Limited Power to govern by and according to the Laws of the Land and not otherwise And by his Trust Oath and Office being obliged to use the Power committed to him For the good and benefit of the People and for the preservation of their Rights and Liberties Yet nevertheless out of a wicked design to erect and uphold in himself an unlimited and Tyrannical Power to rule according to his Will and to overthrow the Rights and Liberties of the People Yea to take away and make void the Foundations thereof and of all redress and remedy of misgovernment which by the fundamental Constitutions of this Kingdom were reserve on the peoples behalf in the Right and Power of frequent and successive Parliaments or National meetings in Councel He the said Charles Stuart for accomplishment of such his Designs and for the protecting of himself and his adherents in His and Their wicked practises to the same Ends hath Traiterously and maliciously levied War against the present Parliament and the people therein Represented Particularly upon or about the thirtieth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and two at Beverley in the County of York And upon or about the thirtieth day of July in the year aforesaid in the County of the City of York and upon or about the twenty fourth day of August in the same year at the County of the Town of Notingham when and where he set up His Standard of War And upon or about the twenty third day of October in the same year at Edg-Hill and Keinton-field in the County of Warwick And upon or about the thirtieth day of Nov. in the same year at Brainford in the County of Middlesex And upon or about the thirtieth day of Aug. in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and three at Cavesham-bridge near Reding in the County of Berks And upon or about the thirtieth day of October in the year last mentioned at or near the City of Glocester And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned at Newbery
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 Nation to be made good against you their Authority they do avow to the whole world that the whole Kingdome 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 King When I was here last 't is 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 Freedome 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 Kingdome 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 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 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 punctuall and direct Answer whether you will answer to your Charge or no and what your Answer is King Sir by your favour I do not know the forms of Law I do know Law and Reason though I am no Lawyer professed yet 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 yeild unto it 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 Kingdome and they are these too that have given that Law according to which you should have ruled and reigned 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 King I do not know how a King can be a Delinquent not 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 proceedings as legal and I do demand that and demand to be heard with my Reasons if you deny that you deny Reason President Sir you have offered something to the Court I shall speak something unto you the sense 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 Commons of England and all your Predecessors and you are responsible to them King I deny that shew me one precedent 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 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 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 Charles 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 King I will answer the same as soon as I know by what Authority you do this President If this be all that you will say then Gentlemen you that brought the Prisoner hither take charge of him back again King I do require that I may give in my Reasons why I do not Answer and give me time for that President Sir 'T is not for Prisoners to require King Prisoners Sir I am not an ordinaay Prisoner President The Court hath considered of their Jurisdiction and they have already affirmed then Jurisdiction if you will not answer we shall give order to record your default King You never heard my Reasons yet President Sir your Reasons are not to be heard against the highest Jurisdiction King Shew me that Jurisdiction where Reason is not to be heard 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 finall determination King Shew me wherever the House of Commons was a Court of Judicature of that kinde President Serjeant take away the Prisoner King Well Sir remember that the King is not suffered to give his Reasons for the Liberty and Freedome of all his Subjects 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 judge King Sir under favour it was the Liberty Freedome and Laws of the Subject that
can justly call Me who am your King in question as a Delinquent I would not any more open My mouth upon this occasion more than to refer My selfe to what I have spoken were I in this case alone concerned But the duty I owe to God in the preservation of the true liberty of My people will not suffer me at this time to be silent For how can any free-born Subject of England call Life or any thing he possesseth his own if Power without Right daily make new and abrogate the old fundamentall Law of the Land which I now take to be the present case Wherefore when I came hither I expected that you would have endevoured to have satisfied Me concerning these grounds which hinder me to answer to your pretended Impeachment but since I see that nothing I can say will move you to it though Negatives are not so naturally proved as Affirmatives yet I will shew you the Reason why I am confident you cannot judge Me not indeed the meanest man in England for I will not like you without shewing a Reason seek to impose a belief upon My Subjects There is no proceeding just against any Man but what is warranted either by Gods Laws or the municipal Laws of the Countrey where he lives Now I am most confident this dayes proceeding cannot be warranted by Gods Law for on the contary the authority of obedience unto Kings is clearly warranted and strictly commanded both in the Old and New Testament which if denied I am ready instantly to prove and for the question now in hand there it is said That where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what doest thou Eccl. 8.4 Then for the Law of this Land I am no lesse confident that no learned Lawyer will affirm that an impeachment can lie against the King they all going in His Name and one of their Maximes is That the King can do no wrong Besides the Law upon which you ground your proceedings must either be old or new if old shew it if new tell what Authority warranted by the fundamental Laws of the Land hath made it and when But how the House of Commons can erect a Court of Iudicature which was never one it self as is well known to all Lawyers I leave to God and the World to judge And it were full as strange that they should pretend to make Lawes without King or Lords House to any that have heard speak of the Lawes of England And admitting but not granting that the people of Englands Commission could grant your pretended power I see nothing you can shew for that for certainly you never asked the question of the tenth man in the Kingdome and in this way you manifestly wrong even the poorest Plough-man if you demand not his free consent nor can you pretend any colour for this your pretended Commission without the consent at least of the major part of every man in England of whatsoever quality or condition which I am sure you never went about to seek so far are you from having it Thus you see that I sâ—eak not for My own right alone as I am your King but also for the true liberty of all My Subjects which consists not in the power of Government but in living under such Lawes such a Government as may give themselves the best assurance of their Lives and propriety of their Goods Nor in this must or do I forget the Priviledges of both Houses of Parliament which this dayes proceedings do not onely violate but likewise occasion the greatest breach of their publick Faith that I believe ever was heard of with which I am far from charging the two Houses for all the pretended crimes laid against Me bear date long before this late Treaty at Newport in which I having concluded as much as in Me lay and hopefully expecting the Houses agreement thereunto I was suddenly surprized hurried from thence as a Prisoner upon which account I am against My will brought hither where since I am come I cannot but to my power defend the ancient Lawes and Liberties of this Kingdome together with my own just right Then for any thing I can see the higher House is totally excluded And for the House of Commons it is too well known that the major part of them are detained or deterred from sitting so as if I had no other this were sufficient for Me to protest against the lawfulnesse of your pretended Court Besides all this the peace of the Kingdome is not the least in My thoughts and what hopes of settlement is there so long as Power reigns without rule or Law changing the whole frame of that Government under which this Kingdome hath flourished for many hundred years nor will I say what will fall out in case this lawlesse unjust proceeding against Me do 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 yeares 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 Armes I took up were only to defend the fundamentall Laws of this Kingdome against those who have supposed My power hath totally changed the antient 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 Error and then truly I will answer or that you will withdraw your proceedings ¶ This I intended to speak in Westminster-Hall on Monday January 22. but against Reason was hindered 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 Sarjeant Bradshaw Lord Prosident in his Scarlet Robe suitable to the work of this day with 68 other Members of the Court called As the King came into the Court in his usuall posture with his Hat on a cry made in the Hall by some of the Soldiers for Justice Justice and Execution King I shall desire a word to be heard a little and I hope I shall give no occasion of interruption 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 Judgement President You shall be heard in due time but you are to hear the Court first King Sir I desire it it will be in order to what I believe the Court will say and therefore Sir a hasty Judgement is not so soon recalled Pres Sir you shall be heard
would offer there what ever it is 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 President Sir you shall know the pleasure of the Court presently the Court withdraws for half an houre into the Court of Wards Serjeant at Armes the Court gives command that the Prisoner be withdrawn and they give order for his return again The Court withdraws for half an houre and returns President Serjeant 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 Kingdome 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 Supreme Authority of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament The Court acts accordingly to their Commission Sit 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 deferemus 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 have long since proceeded to judgement against you and notwithstanding what you have offered they are resolved to proceed to punishment and to judgement 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 confesse I think it would have been for the Kingdomes peace if you would have taken the pains for to have shown the lawfulnesse of your power for this delay that I have desired I confesse it is a delay but it is a delay very important for the peace of the Kingdome for it is not my person that I look on alone it is the Kingdomes wel-fare and the Kingdomes 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 confesse I have been here now I think this week this day eight dayes 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 Kingdome that the child that is unborn may repent it and therefore again out of the Duty I owe 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 President Sir you have been already answered 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 judgement that you will consider it once again President Sir I have received direction from the Court King Well Sir 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 I have nothing more to say but I shall desire that this may be entred what I have said President The Court then Sir hath something to say unto you which although I know it will be very unacceptable yet notwithstanding they are willing and are resolved to discharge their Duty Sir you speak 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 endevoured and studied the Peace of the Kingdome 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 Kingdome hath felt it to their smart and it will be no ease to you to think of it for Sir you have held your selfe and let fall such Language as if you had been no wayes 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 and the High Court of Justice the Parliament of England who are not only the highest Expounders but the sole makers of the Law Sir for you to set your self with your single judgement and those that adhere unto you against the highest Court of Justice that is not Law Sir as the Law is your superior so truly Sir there is something that is superior to the Law and that is indeed the Parent or Author of the Law and that is the People of England For Sir as they are those that at the first as other Countries have done did chuse to themselves the Form of Government even for justice sake that justice might be administred that peace might be preserved so Sir they gave Laws to their Governors according to which they should govern and if those Laws should have proved inconvenient or prejudicial to the publick they had a power in
them and reserved to themselves to alter as they shall see cause Sir it is very true what some of your side have said Rex non habet parem in Regno This Court will say the same while King That you have not your Peer in some sense for you are Major singulis but they will aver again that you are Minor universis and the same Author tells you that in exhibitione juris there you have no power but in _____ quasi minimus This we know to be Law Rex habet superiorem Deum Legem etiam Curiam and so saies the same Author and truly Sir he makes bold to go a little further Debentei ponere fraenum They ought to bridle him and sir we know very well the stories of old Those Wars that were called the Barons Wars when the Nobility of the Land did stand out for the liberty and property of the Subject and would not suffer the Kings that did invade to play the Tyrants freer but called them to accompt for it we know that truth That they did fraenum ponere But sir if they do forbear to do their duty now and are not so mindfull of their own Honor and the Kingdoms good as the Barons of England will not be unmindfull of what is for their preservation and for their safety Justitiae fruendi causa Reges constituti sunt This we learn the end of having Kings or any other Governors it 's for the enjoying of Justice that 's the end Now Sir if so be the King will go contrary to the end of his Government Sir he must understand that he is but an Officer of trust and he ought to discharge that Trust and they are to take order for the animadversion and punishment of such an offending Governor This is not Law of yesterday Sir since the time of the division betwixt you and your People but it is Law of old And we know very well the Authors and Authorities that do tell us what the Law was in that point upon the Election of Kings upon the Oath that they took unto their People and if they did not observe it there were those things called Parliaments The Parliaments were they that were to adjudge the very words of the Author the plaints and wrongs done of the King and Queen or their Children such wrong especially when the People could have no where else any remedy Sir that hath been the People of Englands case they could not have their remedy elsewhere but in Parliament Sir Parliaments were ordained for that purpose to redresse the grievances of the People that was their main end and truly Sir if so be that the Kings of England had been rightly mindfull of themselves they were never more in Majesty and State then in the Parliament but how forgetfull some have been Stories have told us We have a miserable a lamentable a sad experience of it Sir by the old Laws of England I speak these things the rather to you because you were pleased to let fall the other day you thought you had as much knowledge in the Law as most Gentlemen in England it is very well Sir And truly Sir it is very good for the Gentlemen of England to understand that Law under which they must live and by which they must be governed And then Sir the Scripture says They that know their Masters will and do it not what followes The Law is your Master the Acts of Parliament The Paliaments were to be kept antiently we finde in our author twice in the year That the Subject upon any occasion might have a ready remedy and redresse for his Grievance Afterwards by several Acts of Parliament in the dayes of your Predecessor Edward the third they must have been once a year Sir what intermission of PARLIAMENTS hath been in your time it is very well known and the sad consequences of it and what in the interim in stead of these Parliaments hath been by you by an high and Arbitrary hand introduced upon the People that likewise hath been too well known and felt But when God by his Providence had so brought it about that you could no longer decline the calling of a Parliament Sir yet it will appeare what your ends were against the Antient and your Native Kingdome of Scotland The Parliament of England not serving your ends against them you were pleased to dissolve it Another great necessity occasioned the calling of this Parliament and what your designes and plots and indeavours all along have been for the ruining and confounding of this Parliament hath been very notorious to the whole Kingdome And truly Sir in that you did strike at all that had been a sure way to have brought about that that this laies upon you Your Intention to Subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Land For the great bulwark of Liberty of the People in the PARLIAMENT of England and to Subvert and Root up that which your aim hath been to do certainly at one blow you had confounded the Liberties and the propriety of England Truly Sir it makes me call to minde I cannot forbear to expresse it for Sir we must deal plainly with you according to the merits of your cause so is our Commission it makes me call to minde these proceedings of yours that we read of a great Roman Emperor by the way let us call him a great Roman Tyrant Caligula that wisht that the People of Rome had bad but one neck that at one blow he might cut it off and your proceedings hath been somewhat like to this for the body of the people of England hath been and where else represented but in the Parliament and could you have but confounded that you had at one blow cut off the neck of England but God hath reserved better things for us and hath pleased for to Confound your designes and to break your Forces and to bring your Person into Custody that you might be responsible to Justice Sir we know very well That it is a question on your side very much prest by what Precedent we shall proceed Truly Sir for Precedents I shall not upon these occasions institute any long discourse but it is no new thing to cite Precedents almost of all Nations where the people when power hath been in their hands have been made bold to call their Kings to account and where the change of Government hath upon occasion of the Tyranny and Mis-government of those that have been placed over them I will not spend time to mention France or Spain or the Empire or other Countries Volumes may be written of them But truly Sir that of the Kingdome of Arragon I shall think some of us have thought upon it when they have the justice of Arragon that is a man tanquam in medio positus betwixt the King of Spain and the people of the Country that if wrong be done by the King he that is the King of Arragon the Justice hath power to reform the
wrong and he is acknowledged to be the Kings Superior and is the grand preserver of their priviledges and hath prosecuted Kings upon their miscarriages Sir What the Tribunes of Rome were heretofore and what the Ephory were to the Lacedaemonian State we know that is the Parliament of England to the English State and though Rome seem to have lost its liberty when once the Emperours were yet you shall finde some famous Acts of Justice even done by the Senate of Rome that great Tyrant of his time Nero condemned and judged by the Senate But truly Sir to you I should nor mention these Forreign examples and stories If you look but over Tweed we finde enough in your native Kingdome of Scotland If we look to your first King Fergustuâ— that your stories make mention of he was an elective King he dyed and left two Sons both in their minority the Kingdom made choice of their Unkle his Brother to govern in the minority afterwards the Elder Brother giving small hopes to the People that he would rule or govern well seeking to supplant that good Unkle of his that governed then justly they set the Elder aside and took to the Younger Sir if I should come to what your stories make mention of you know very well you are the 109 King of Scotland for to mention so many Kings as that Kingdome according to their power and priviledge have made bold to deal withall some to banish and some to imprison and some to put to death it would be too long and as one of your Authors sayes it would be too long to recite the manifold examples that your own stories make mention of Reges say they we do create we created Kings at first Leges c. We imposed Lawes upon them and as they are chosen by the suffrages of the People at the first so upon just occasion by the same suffrages they may be taken down again and we will be bold to say that no Kingdome hath yeilded more plentiful experience then that your Native Kingdome of Scotland hath done concerning the deposition and the punishment of their offending and transgressing Kings c. It is not far to go for an example neer you your Grandmother set aside and your Father an Infant crowned and the State did it here in England here hath not been a want of some examples they have made bold the Parliament and the People of England to call their Kings to account there are frequent examples of it in the Saxons time the time before the Conquest since the Conquest there wants not some Presidents neither King Edward the second King Richard the second were dealt with so by the Parliament as they were deposed and deprived and truly Sir who ever shall look into their stories they shall not finde the Articles that are charged upon them to come neer to that height and capitalnesse of Crimes that are layed to your charge nothing neer Sir you were pleased to say the other day wherein they discent and I did not contradict it but take altogether Sir if you were as the Charge speaks no otherwise admitted K. of England but for that you were pleased then to alledge how that almost for a thousand years these things have been stories will tell you if you go no higher then the time of the Conquest if you do come down since the Conquest you are the 24 King from William called the Conqueror you shall find one half of them to come meerly from the State and not meerly upon the point of Discent it were easie to be instanced to you the time must not be lost that way And truly Sir what a grave and learned Judge in his time well known to you is since printed for posterity That although there was such a thing as a Descent many times yet the Kings of England ever held the greatest assurance of their titles when it was declared by Parliament And Sir your Oath the manner of your Coronation doth shew plainly That the Kings of England and though it 's true by the Law the next person in bloud is designed yet if there were just cause to refuse him the People of England might do it For there iâ— a Contract and Bargain made between the King and his People and your Oath is taken and certainly Sir the Bond is reciprocal for as you are the leige Lord so they leige Subjects and we know very well that hath been so much spoken of Ligantis est duplex This we know now the one tye the one Bond is the bond of perfection which is due from the Soveraign the other is the bond of Subjection that is due from the Subject Sir if this bond be once broken farewell Soveraignty Subjectio trahit c. These things may not be denyed Sir I speak it the rather and I pray God it may work upon your heart that you may be sensible of your miscarriages For whether you have been as by your Office you ought to be a Protector of England or the Destroyer of England let all England judge or all the world that hath look'd upon it Sir though you have it by Inheritance in the way that is spoken of yet it must not be denyed that your Office was an Office of Trust and an Office of the highest trust lodged in any single person For as you were the grand Administrator of Justice and others were as your Delegates to see it done throughout your Realms if your great Office were to do Justice and preserve your People from wrong and in stead of doing that you will be the great wrong-doer your selfe If instead of being a Conservator of the Peace you will be the Grand Disturber of the Peace surely this is contrary to your Office contrary to your Trust Now Sir if it be an Office of Inheritance as you speak of your Title by Discent let all men know that great Offices are seizable ond 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 kinde 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 is to try and judge you for great offences of yours Sir the Charge hath called you Tyrant a Traytor a Murtherer and a publick Enemy to the Common-wealth of England Sir it had been well if that any of all these termes might rightly and justly have been spared if any one of them at all King Ha President Truly Sir we have been told Rex est dum bene regit Tyrannus qui populum opprimei 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 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 Kingdome 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 vocat And Sir the People of England cannot be so far wanting to themselves which God having dealt so miraculously 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 endevour 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 devision was betwixt you and your People must be laid to your charge that have bean 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. Num. 35. will tell you what the punishment is and which this Court in behalf of the Kingdome are sensible of of that innocent blood that has been shed whereby indeed the Land stands still defiled with that blood and 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 Commandement 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 universall Sir Gods Law forbids it Mans Law forbids it nor do we know that there is any manner of exception nor 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 wilfull act of Murther by you committed had power to have convenâ—ed 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 eternall 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 Kingdome as we have often said and although you do yet endevour what you may to dis-court us yet we do take knowledge 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 withhold their hands from shedding of blood which is 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 Kingdome before any other respect whatsoever and although at this time many of us if not all of us are severely threatned 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 designe 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 Kingdome in generall 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 amisse that you may cry unto him that God would deliver you from blood-guiltinesse A good King was once guilty of that particular thing and was clear otherwise saving in the matter of Vriah Truly Sir the story tells 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 and to give him his pardon thou shalt not dye but the childe shall dye thou hast given cause to the enemies of God to blaspheme King I would desire
Peace of the Kingdome That made me think it no improper time being prest out by Accidents and Circumstances to seek the Peace of the Kingdome which I thought was proper since there was something then in Agitation but nothing agreed on for sending Propositions to the King that was the furthest aym that I had and truly beyond that I had no intention none at all And God be praised although my blood comes to be shed here there was I think scarce a drop of blood shed in that Action that I was engaged in For the present Affairs as they are I cannot tell how to judge of them and truly they are in such a condition as I conceive nobody can make a judgment of them and therefore I must make use of Prayers rather then of my Opinion which are That God would bless this Kingdome this Nation this State that he would settle it in a way agreeable to what this Kingdome hath been happily governed under by a King by the Lords by the Commons a Government that I conceive it hath flourished much under and I pray God the change of it bring not rather a prejudice a disorder and a confusion then the contrary I look upon the Posterity of the King and truly my Conscience directs me to it to desire that if God be pleased that these People may look upon them with that Affection that they owe that they may be called in again and they may be not through blood nor through disorder admitted again into that power and to that glory that God in their Birth intended to them I shall pray with all my soul for the happiness of this State of this Nation that the blood which is here spilt may even be the last that may fall among us and truly I should lay down my life with as much cheerfulnesse as ever person did if I conceived that there would be no more blood follow us for a State or Affairs that are built upon blood is a foundation for the most part that doth not prosper After the blessing that I give to the Nation to the Kingdome and truly to the Parliament I do wish with all my heart happiness and a blessing to all those that have been Authors in this business and truly that have been Authors in this very work that bringeth us hither I do not only forgive them but I pray heartily and really for them as God will forgive my sins so I desire God may forgive them I have a particular relation as I am Chancellour of Cambridge and truly I must here since it is the last of my prayers pray to God that that University may go on in that happy way which it is in that God may make it a Nursery to plant those persons that may be distributed to the Kingdom that the souls of the people may receive a great benefit and a great advantage by them and I hope God will reward them for their kindness and their affections that I have found from them I have said what Religion I have been bred in what Religion I have been born in what Religion I have practised I began with it and I must end with it I told you that my actions and my life have not been agreeable to my Breeding I have told you likewise that the Family where I was bred hath been an exemplary Family I may say so I hope without vanity of much affection to Religion and of much faithfulness to this Kingdom and to this State I have indeavoured to do those actions that became an honest man and a good English-man and which became a good Christian I have been willing to oblige those that have been in trouble those that have been in persecution and truly I find a great reward of it for I have found their prayers and their kindnesse now in this distresse and in this condition and I think it a great reward I pray God reward them for it I am a great sinner and I hope God will be pleased to hear my prayers to give me faith to trust in him that as he hath called me to death at this place he will make it but a passage to an eternal life through Jesus Christ which I trust to which I rely upon and which I expect by the mercy of God And so I pray God bless you all and send that you may see this to be the last execution and the last blood that is likely to be spilt among you And then turning to the side rayl he prayed for a good space of time after which M. Bolton said My Lord Now look upon him whom you have trusted My Lord I hope that here is your last prayer there will no more prayers remain but praises And I hope that after this day is over there will a day begin that shall never have end And I look upon this my Lord the morning of it the morning of that day My Lord You know where your fulness lies where your riches lie where is your only rock to anchor on You know there is fulness in Christ If the Lord comes not in with fulness of Comfort to You yet resolve to wait upon him while You live and to trust in him when You die and then say I will die here I will perish at thy feet I will be found dead at the feet of Jesus Christ Certainly he that came to seek and save lost sinners will not reject lost sinners when they come to seek him He that entreateth us to come will not slight us when we come to entreat him My Lord there is enough there and fix your heart there and fix Your Eies there that Eye of Faith and that Eye of Hope Exercise these Graces now there will be no exercise hereafter As Your Lordship said Here take an end of Faith and take an end of Hope and take a Farewel of Repentance and all these and welcome God and welcome Christ and welcome Glory and welcome Happiness to all Eternity and so it will be a happy passage then if it be a passage here from misery to happiness And though it be but a sad way yet if it will bring You into the presence of joy although it be a valley of tears although it be a shadow of death yet if God will please to bring You and make it a passage to that happiness welcome Lord. And I doubt not but God will give You a heart to tast some sweetness and love in this bitter Potion and to see something of Mercy and Goodness to You and shew You some signe and token of good so that Your soul may see that which we have had already experience of blessed be God for it many Experiences many Expressions not onely in words but tears God hath not left us without much comfort nor evidence and I hope my Lord You that have given so many Evidences to us I hope You want none Your self but that the Lord will be pleased to support You and bear
hath forgiven and too readily drunk in by others whom I pray God to forgive As for my crime as some are pleased to term it which was objected against me by the Council of war for Bootle's death was never mentioned against me there that being onely secretly used to raise a prejudice against me in the judgments of such as did not know me my crime I say though I hope it deserves a farre better name was that I came into my own Country with my own lawfull King I came in obedience to his Majesties call whom both by the laws of God and the laws of this land I conceived my self obliged to obey and according to the protestation I took in Parliament in the time of that blessed Prince his Father so if it be my crime I here confesse it again before God Angels and men that I love Monarchy as the best government and I die with Love and Honour and for the Love and Honour I bear to my Master that now is CHARLES the second of that name whom I my self in this Countrey proclaimed King the Lord blesse and preserve him and incline the hearts of those that have power in this Nation to accept him to his Fathers Throne with Honour and Peace for certainly as I believe this Nation will never be well contented never throughly happy without a King so I believe also that King CHARLES the second our now lawfull King were he a stranger to this Crown were the most fit and most accomplisht Prince that this day lives to take the government of this people his admirable piety vertue justice great valour and discretion far above so few years doth now make him in all places he comes highly beloved and will hereafter make him honourable among all Nations and I wish the people of this Nation so much happinesse when my eyes are closed that he may peaceably be received to the injoyment of his just right and then they shall never want their just rights which till then they will always want As for my being in armes in the beginning of this war I professe here in the presence of my God before whom within a few minutes I must make an account for this profession I onely fought for peace and setling the late King my Master in his just rights and the maintenance of the laws of this land and that I had no other designe intent or purpose for my then taking up armes and for this last ingagement I professe here again in the presence of the same God that I did it for the restoring of my lawfull Soveraign into that Throne out of which his Father was most unchristianly and barbarously taken by the most unjust sentence of a pretended Court of Justice and himself against law and all Justice kept out and dispossest of and this was all my reason For as for estate or quality I wanted not a sufficient competency neither was I ever ambitious to enlarge either for by the favour of my King's Predecessors my family was raised to a condition well known in this Country and now it is as well known that by his enemies I am adjudged to die and that by new and monstrous laws as making me an enemy to my Country for fighting for my Country as a Traitor to the laws for endeavouring to preserve the laws But Oh! God give me grace to consider him who suffered such contradictions of sinners and O my God assert the King to his Fathers Throne assert the laws to their former honour and restore thy own religion in its purity that all these shadows and false pretences of religion may vanish away and our childrens posterities may serve thee in spirit and in truth Good friends I die for the King the laws of the land the Protestant Religion maintained in the Church of England all as which I was ready to maintain with my life so I cheerfully suffer for them in this welcome death I am sentenced to death by a Council of Warre after quarter for life and assurance of honourable and safe usage by Captain Edge I had reason to have expected the Council would have justified my Plea which hath been Ancient Honourable Sacred and Unviolable untill this time that I am made the first suffering President for I dare affirm it that never Gentleman before in any Christian Nation was adjudged to death by a Council of war after quarter given I am the first and I pray God I may be the last president in this case I must die and I thank God I am ready for it Death would now be my choice had I the whole World in competition with it I leave nothing behind me which I much care for but my King my Wife Children and Friends whom I trust the never-failing mercies of my God will provide for I beseech God shew mercy to those who neither had mercy nor justice for me my blessed Saviour taught me by his example and command both to pray for my enemies and to so give my enemies I forgive them freely even those that contrived my ruine and pursued me to death I thank God I never personally offended them to my knowledge in my life and let me not offend against them at my death I forgive them freely and pray God for Christs sake to forgive them also Of my Faith and Religion I shall not I hope need to say much herein I hope my enemies if now I have any will speak for me I professe my faith to be in God only from whom I look for my salvation through the precious merits and sufferings of my blessed Saviour Jesus Christ which merits and sufferrings are applyed to my soul by the blessed Spirit of comfort the Spirit of God by whom I am assured in my own Soul that my God is reconciled unto me in Jesus Christ my blessed Redeemer I die a Dutiful Son to the Church of England as it was established in that blessed Prince my late Masters Reign which all men of Learning and Temperance will acknowledge to be the most pure and agreeable to the word of God and Primitive government of any Church within 12. or 1300. years since Christ and which to my great comfort I left established in the Isle of man God preserve it there and restore it to this Nation And O blessed God I magnifie thy name that thou gavest me the happinesse and mercy to be born in a Christian Nation and in a Nation where thy truth was professed in purity with honour to thy name and comfort to thy people I ascribe the comforts of thy Holy Spirit which I feel in my bosome to the Ministery of thy Word and Sacraments conveyed unto me in thy Church and made effectual by the operation of the same blessed Spirit In this faith good people I have lived and in this I die pray for me I beseech you and the God of mercies hear your prayers and my prayers for mine and your salvation Presently after the tumult was
Gospel it bloweth where it listeth So now Treason is what they please and lighteth upon whom they will Indeed no man except he will be a Traitour can avoid this Censure of Treason I know not to what end it may come but I pray God my own and my Brothers bloud that is now to die with me may be the last upon this score Now Gentlemen you may see what a condition you are in without a King you have no Law to protect you no rule to walk by when you perform your duty to God your King and Country you displease the Arbitrary power now set up I cannot call it government I shall leave you peruse my Tryal and there you shall see what a condition this poor Nation is brought into and no question will be utterly destroyed if not restored by Loyal Subjects to its old and glorious Government I pray God he lay not his Judgements upon England for their sluggishnesse in doing their duty and readinesse to put their hands in their bosoms or rather taking part with the Enemy of Truth The Lord open their eyes that they may be no longer lead or drawn into such snares else the Child unborn will curse the day of their Parents birth God Almighty preserve my Lawful King Charles the second from the hands of his Enemies and break down that wall of Pride and Rebellion which so long hath kept him from his just Rights God preserve his Royal Mother and all his Majesties Royal Brethren and incline their hearts to seek after him God incline the hearts of all true English men to stand up as one Man to bring in the King and Redeem themselves and this poor Kingdom out of its more then Egyptian slavery As I have now put off these garments of cloth so I hope I have put off my garments of sin and have put on the Robes of Christs Righteousness here which will bring me to the enjoyment of his glorious Robes anon Then he kneeled down and kissed the block and said thus I commit my soul to God my Creator and Redeemer Look on me O Lord at my last gasping Hear my prayer and the prayers of all good people I thank thee O God for all thy dispensations to wards me Then kneeling down he prayed most devoutly as followeth O Eternall Almighty and most mercifull God the Righteous Judge of all the world look down in mercy on me a miserable sinner O blessed Jesus Redeemer of Mankind which takest away the sinnes of the world let thy perfect manner of obedience be presented to thy Heavenly Father for me Let thy precious death and bloud be the ransome and satisfaction of my many and haynous transgressions Thou that sittest at the right hand of God make intercession for me O holy and blessed Spirit which are the comforter fill my heart with thy consolations O holy blessed and glorious Trinity be mercifull to me confirm my faith in the promises of the Gospel revive and quicken my hope and expectation of joyes prepared for true and faithful servants Let the infinite Love of God my Saviour make my love to him stedfast sincere and constant O Lord consider my condition accept my tears asswage my grief give comfort and confidence in thee impute not unto me my former sinnes but most mercifull Father receive me into thy favour for the merits of Christ Jesus Many and grievous are my sins for I have sinned many times against the light of knowledg against remorse of conscience against the motions and opportunities of grace But accept I beseech thee the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart in and for the perfect sacrifice oblation and satisfaction of thy Son Jesus Christ O Lord receive my soul after it is delivered from the burthen of the flesh into perfect-joy in the sight and fruition of thee And at the generall resurrection grant that my body may be endowed with immortality and received with my soul into glory I praise thee O God I acknowledge thee to be the Lord. O Lamb of God that takest away the sinnes of the world have mercy on me Thou that sittest at the right hand of God hear my prayer O Lord Jesus Christ God and Man Mediatour betwixt God and Man I have sinned as a Man be thou mercifull to me as a God O holy and blessed Spirit help my infirmities with those sighs and groans which I cannot expresse Then he desired to see the Axe and kissed it saying I am like to have a sharp passage of it but my Saviour hath sweetned it unto me Then he said if I would have been so unworthy as others have been I suppose I might by a lie have saved my life which I scorn to purchase at such a rate I defie such temptations and them that gave them me Glory be to God on high On Earth peace Good will towards Men. And the Lord have mercy upon my poor soul Amen So laying his Neck upon the block after some private Ejaculations he gave the Heads-man a sign with his hand who at one blow severed his head from his body The Speech of that piously resolved Hugh Grove of Chisenbury in the parish of Enford and County of Wilts Esquire beheaded the 16. day of May 1655. in the Castle at Exon. Good people I Never was guilty of much Rhetorick nor ever loved long Speeches in all my life and therefore you cannot expect either of them from me now at my death All that I shall desire of you besides your hearty prayers for my soul is That you would bear me witnesse I die a true son of the Church of England as it was established by King Edward the sixth Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the first of ever blessed memory That I die a Loyall subject to King Charles the second my undoubted Soveraign and a lover of the good old Laws of the Land the just priviledges of Parliaments and Rights and Liberties of the People for the re-establishing of all which I doe undertake this ingagement and for which I am ready to lay down my life God forgive the bloudy-minded Jury and those that procured them God forgive Captain Crook for denying his Articles so unworthily God forgive Mr. Dove and all other persons swearing so malitiously and falsely against me God forgive all my enemies I heartily forgive them God blesse the King and all that love him turn the hearts of all that hate him God blesse you all and be mercifull to you and to my Soul Amen And so meekly laying his neck to the block and giving a signe his head at one blow and a draw of the axe was severed from his body The manner of the Execution of Sir Henry Slingsby on Tuesday the 8. of June 1658. With the substance of his speech before his Death ABout Eleven of the clock Sir Henry Slingsby was brought from the Tower to the Scaffold on Tower-Hill whither being come he fell upon his knees and for a short space prayed