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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	king_n	people_n	tyranny_n	2,786	5	9.5807	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47456	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.	Charles I, King of England, 1600-1649.; Holland, Henry Rich, Earl of, 1590-1649.; Hamilton, James Hamilton, Duke of, 1606-1649.	1650 (1650)	Wing K556; ESTC R11695	57,138	138

be responsible to Justice Sir we know very well That it is a question on your side very much prest by what President we shall proceed Truly Sir for Presidents I shall not upon these occasions institute any long discourse but it is no new thing to cite Presidents 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 Governement hath been 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 it But truly Sir that of the Kingdom of Aragon I shall think some of us have thought upon it when they have the Justice of Aragon 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 Aragon the Justice hath power to reform the wrong and he is acknowledged to be the Kings Superiour 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 Ephori were to the Lacedemonian State we know that is the Parliament of England to the English State and though Rome seemed to lose it's Liberty when once the Emperors were yet you shall find 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 not mention these Forreign examples and stories If you look but over Tweed we find enough in your native Kingdom of Scotland If we look to your first King Fergusius that your stories make mention of he was an elective King he dyed and left two Sons both in their minority the Kingdom made choyce 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 Kingdom according to their power and priviledg have made bold to deal withal some to banish and some to imprison and some to put to death it would be too long and as one of your own Authors says 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 Laws 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 Kingdom hath yeelded more plentiful experience then that your Native Kingdom 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 our Grandmother set aside and your Father ●n Infant crowned and the State did it here ●n England here hath not been a want of ●ome examples they have made bold the Par●iament and the People of England to call ●heir Kings to account there are frequent ●xamples of it in the Saxons time the time before the Conquest since the Conquest here want 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 ●hall not finde the Articles that are charged upon them to come neer to that height and capitalness of Crimes that are layd 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 and no o●herwise admitted King of ENGLAND but for that you were pleased then to alledg now 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 Twenty fourth 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 and well known to you and is since printed for posterity That although there was such a thing as a discent many times yet the Kings of Enland 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 although 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 is 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 liege Lord so they liege subjects and we know very well that hath been so much spoken of Ligantia est duplex This we know now the one tye the one Bond is the bond of perfection that 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 indeed 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 Deligates to see it done throughout your Realms If your great Office were to do Justice and preserve your People from wrong and instead of doing that you will be the great wrong doer your self If instead of being a Conservator of the Peace you will be the Grand disturbe 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 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 opp●●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 vo●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

this High Court of Justice before which you are brought This said M. Cook Attorney for the Common-wealth standing within a Bar on the right hand of the Prisoner 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 M. Cook My Lord I am commanded to charge CHARLES STVART King of England in the name of the 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 STVART 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 and 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 misgovernement which by the fundamental Constitutions of this Kingdom were reserved on the Peoples behalf in the Right and Power of frequent and successive Parliaments or National meetings in Councel He the said CHARLES STVART 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 Trayterously and maliciously levyed 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 fourty and two At Beverly 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 Nottingham when and where He set up His Standard of War And also on or about the twenty third day of October in the same year at Edg-Hill Keinton-field in the County of Warwick And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the same year at Brainchford in the County of Middlesex And upon or about the thirtieth day of August in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and three at Cavesham-bridge neer Roding in the County of Berks And upon or about the thirtieth day of October in the year last mentioned at or neer the City of Glocester And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned at Newbery 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 fourty and four at Cropredy-Bridge in the County of Oxon And upon or about the thirtieth day of September in the year last mentioned at Bodmin and other places neer adjacent in the County of Cornwal And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned at Newbery aforesaid And upon or about the eighth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and five at the Town of Leicester And also upon the fourteenth day of the same month on 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 aforementioned And in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred fourty and six He the said CHARLES STVART 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 endevored and procured by Him and by many other evil ways and means He the said CHARLS STVART hath not only 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 fourty and eight in the Counties of Kent Essex Surry Sussex Middlesex and many other Counties and places in England and Wales and also by Sea And particularly He the said CHARLES STVART 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 STVART 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 Publike Treasury wasted and exhausted Trade obstructed 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 CHARLES STVART 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 threatened upon the procurement and on the behalf of the said Charls Stuart All which wicked Designs Wars and evil Practises of Him the said CHARLES STVARRT have been and are carryed on for the advancing and upholding of the Personal Interest of Will and Power and pretended Prerogative to Himself and his Family against the publique 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 CHARLS STUART hath been and is the Occasioner Author and Contriver of the said Vnnatural 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

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

faithful to the true Protestant Religion in the which I have been bred in the which I have lived and in the which by Gods grace and mercy I shall dye I have not lived according to that education I had in that Family where I was born and bred I hope God will forgive me my sins since I conceive that it is very much his pleasure to bring me to this place for the sins that I have committed The cause that hath brought me hither I beleeve by many hath been much mistaken They have conceived that I have had ill designs to the State and to the Kingdom Truly I look upon it as a Judgment and a just Judgment of God not but I have offended so much the State and the Kingdom and the Parliament as that I have had an extream vanity in serving them very extra-ordinarily For those actions that I have done I think it is known they have been ever very faithful to the Publique and very particularly to Parliaments My affections have been ever exprest truly and clearly to them The dispositions of affairs now have put things in another pasture then they were when I was engaged with the Parliament I have never gone off from those principles that ever I have professed I have lived in them and by Gods grace will dye in them There may be alterations and changes that may carry them further then I thought reasonable and truly there I left them but there hath been nothing that I have said or done or professed either by Covenant or Declaration which hath not been very constant and very clear upon the principles that I ever have gone upon which was to serve the King the Parliament Religion I should have said in the first place the Common-wealth and to seek the Peace of the Kingdom That made me think it no improper time being prest-out by accidents and circumstances to seek the Peace of the Kingdom 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 scarcely 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 judg of them and truly they are in such a condition as I conceive no body can make a judgment of them and therefore I must make use of my Prayers rather then of my opinion which are that God would bless this Kingdom this Nation this State that he would settle it in a way agreeable to what this Kingdom 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 ow that they may be called in again they may be not through blood nor through disorder admited 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 be even the last which may fall among us and truly I should lay down my life with as much cheerfulness as ever person did if I conceived that there would 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 Kingdom 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 onely 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 Chancellor of Cambridg and truly I must here since it is the last of my prayers pray to God that that Vniversity 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 endeavored to do those actions that have become an honest man and which became a good Englishman 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 finde a great reward of it for I have found their prayers and their kindness now in this distress and in this condition I am in and I think it a great reward and 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-rail he prayed for a good space of time after which Mr 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 onely 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

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

hear you they have patiently wa●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

and the High Court of Justice the PARLIAMENT of England that are not only the highest Expounders but the sole makers of the Law Sir for you to set your self with your single judgment and those that adhere unto you to set your self 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 choose to themselves this Form of Gouernment 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 prejudiciall to the Publique 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 tels 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 says the same Author and truly Sir he makes bold to go a little further Debent ei ponere frenum 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 free● but called them to account for it we know that truth That they did Frenum 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 of old were certainly the Commons of England will not be unmindfull of what is for their preservation and for their safety Justitiae fruendi causâ 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 that End or any other Governor will go contrary to the end of his Government Sir he must understand that he is but an Officer in 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 the 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 the Queen or their Children such wrongs 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 redress 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 forgetful 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 knowledg in the Law as most Gentlemen in England it is very well Sir And truly Sir it is very fit 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 follows The Law is your Master the Acts of Parliament The Parliaments were to be kept anciently we find in our old Author twice in the year That the subject upon any occasion might have a ready remedy and redress for his Grievance Afterwards by several Acts of Parliament in the days of your Predecessor Edward the third they must have been once a year Sir what the intermission of PARLIAMENTS hath been in your time it is very well known and the sad Consequences of it and what in the interim instead 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 far brought it about that you could no longer decline the calling of a Parliament Sir yet it will appear what your ends were against the Ancient and your Native Kingdom 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 Designs and Plots and endeavours all along have been for the crushing and confounding of this Parliament hath been very notorious to the whole Kingdom And truly Sir in that you did strike at all That had been a sure way to have brought about that that this Charge laies upon you Your Intention to Subvert the FVNDAMENTAL LAWES of the Land For the great Bulwark of the Liberties of the People is 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 property of England Truly Sir it makes me call to minde I cannot forbear to express 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 mind 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 had 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 designs and to break your Forces and to bring your Person into Custody that you might