Chapter III: Part 3

'You shall now receive, my dear wife, my last words in these my
last lines. My love I send you, that you may keep it when I am
dead; and my counsel, that you may remember it when I am no
more. I would not by my Will present you with sorrows, dear
Besse, let them go into the grave with me, and be buried in the
dust. And seeing that it is not God's will that I should see you
any more in this life, bear it patiently, and with a heart like
thyself. First, I send you all the thanks which my heart can
conceive, or my words can rehearse, for your many travails, and
care taken for me; which though they have not taken effect as
you wished, yet my debt to you is not the less; but pay it I
never shall in this world. Secondly, I beseech you, for the love
you bare me living, do not hide yourself many days, but by your
travels seek to help your miserable fortunes, and the right of
your poor child. Thy mourning cannot avail me, I am but dust.
Thirdly, you shall understand that my land was conveyed _bona
fide_ to my child: the Writings were drawn at Midsummer was
twelve months, my honest cousin Brett can testify so much, and
Dolberry too can remember somewhat therein. And I trust my blood
will quench their malice that have cruelly murdered me, and that
they will not seek also to kill thee and thine with extreme
poverty. To what friend to direct thee I know not, for all mine
have left me in the true time of trial. And I perceive that my
death was determined from the first day. Most sorry I am, God
knows, that being thus surprised with death I can leave you in
no better estate. God is my witness, I meant you all my office
of wines, or all that I could have purchased by selling it,
half my stuff, and all my jewels, but some one for the boy; but
God hath prevented all my resolutions, that great God that
ruleth all in all: but if you can live free from want, care for
no more, the rest is but vanity. Love God, and begin betimes to
repose yourself upon him, and therein shall you find true and
lasting riches and endless comfort: for the rest, when you have
travelled and wearied your thoughts over all sorts of worldly
cogitations, you shall but sit down by sorrow in the end. Teach
your son also to love and fear God whilst he is yet young, that
the fear of God may grow with him; and then God will be a
husband to you, and a father to him; a husband and a father that
cannot be taken from you. Baily oweth me L500 and Adrian L600 in
Jersey. I also have much owing me besides. The arrearages of the
wines will pay your debts. And howsoever you do, for my soul's
sake, pay all poor men. When I am gone, no doubt you shall be
sought to, for the world thinks I was very rich. But take heed
of the pretences of men, and their affections, for they last not
but in honest and worthy men; and no greater misery can befall
you in this life than to become a prey, and afterwards to be
despised. I speak not this, God knows, to dissuade you from
marriage, for it will be best for you both in respect of the
world and of God. As for me, I am no more yours, nor you mine,
death hath cut us asunder; and God hath divided me from the
world and you from me. Remember your poor child for his father's
sake who chose you and loved you in his happiest times. Get
those Letters, if it be possible, which I writ to the lords,
wherein I sued for life: God is my witness it was for you and
yours that I desired life; but it is true that I disdained
myself for begging of it: for know it, my dear wife, that your
son is the son of a true man, and who, in his own respect,
despiseth death, and all his misshapen and ugly form. I cannot
write much, God he knows how hardly I steal this time while
others sleep, and it is also time that I should separate my
thoughts from the world. Beg my dead body, which living was
denied thee; and either lay it at Sherburne (and if the land
continue) or in Exeter church by my father and mother. I can say
no more, Time and Death call me away; the everlasting, powerful,
infinite and omnipotent God, that Almighty God, who is goodness
itself, the true life and true light, keep thee and thine, have
mercy on me, and teach me to forgive my persecutors and
accusers, and send us to meet in his glorious kingdom. My dear
wife, farewell. Bless my poor boy. Pray for me, and let my good
God hold you both in his arms. Written with the dying hand of
sometime thy husband, but now alas overthrown.'

'WALTER RALEIGH.'

On the 29th of October 1618, at nine o'clock in the morning, Raleigh was brought to the scaffold in Old Palace Yard. As he began to make his dying speech he saw Lords Arundel, Northampton, and Doncaster with other lords and knights at a window, but too far off to hear him easily. 'I will strain my voice,' said he, 'for I would willingly have your honours hear me'; whereupon Arundel and the others came down to the scaffold, and he having saluted them, began his speech again. He made no reference to his original conviction, but occupied himself in justifying his conduct since his return from Guiana. He denied having had any commission from the French king, or knowing anything of a French agent till he met him in his lodgings. He never spoke dishonourably of the King. He did try to escape, but it was to save his life; and he feigned illness at Salisbury, but it was in the hope of being able to work upon the King's pity. He forgave the Frenchman, Le Clerc or La Chesnee, and Sir Lewis Stukeley, 'for I have received the Sacrament this morning of Mr. Dean of Westminster, and I have forgiven all men; but that they are perfidious, I am bound in charity to speak, that all men may take heed of them,' Stukeley, 'my keeper and kinsman,' had said that he had told him that Carew and Doncaster had advised him to escape; but this was not true; and it was needless that they should so tell him, for he was left as much as ten days together at liberty to go where he would. He had not offered Stukeley any money to procure his escape. So far was it from being the case that he was brought by force into England, his soldiers mutinied, and forced him to take an oath that he would not go there till they would; and it was only by great exertions that he persuaded them to go to Ireland, and then to England. He had only L100 with him when he started for Guiana, and of that he gave his wife L25. 'It is said that I should be a persecutor of the death of the Earl of Essex, and that I stood in a window over against him when he suffered, and puffed out tobacco in disdain of him. God I take to witness, I shed tears for him when he died; and as I hope to look God in the face hereafter, my lord of Essex did not see my face when he suffered, for I was afar off in the Armoury when I saw him, but he saw not me. I confess indeed I was of the contrary faction, but I know my lord of Essex was a noble gentleman, and that it would be worse with me when he was gone; for I got the hate of those who wished me well before, and those that set me against him afterwards set themselves against me, and were my greatest enemies, and my soul hath many times been grieved that I was not nearer him when he died; because, as I understood afterwards, that he asked for me at his death to have been reconciled unto me.' And then proclamation having been made, he took leave of the lords, knights, and gentlemen on the scaffold, particularly of Lord Arundel, and asked to see the axe, and when it was brought to him, he felt along the edge of it, and smiling, said to the sheriff, 'This is a sharp medicine, but it is a physician that will cure all diseases.' He then prayed a little, and having made the sign, the executioner cut off his head with two blows.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The following are the leading dates in Raleigh's life. He was born about 1562 at Hayes, near Budleigh Salterton; he was at Oriel in 1572; he was present at the battles of Jarnac and Montcontour in 1569; he may have been in Paris during the massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572; he was in Islington in 1577; and fighting in the Low Countries in 1578. He left England on a freebooting expedition the same year, and returned in 1579. He was about the Court on his return, and in 1580 went to Ireland, where he massacred the Spanish prisoners taken at Smerwick. In 1581 he returned to the Court, and attracted the Queen's notice, possibly by laying down his cloak for her to walk over, according to the well-known legend, for which Professor Laughton and Mr. Sidney Lee consider that there may be a foundation in fact. He was knighted in 1584, and made Warden of the Stannaries in 1585, and subsequently received many other profitable grants. In 1584 he sent out the expedition which discovered Virginia, and other expeditions to occupy it, but without success, in 1585 and 1587. In 1588 began his quarrel with Essex; he was in Ireland in 1589, and returned to introduce Spenser to the Queen. In 1592 he helped to fit out a powerful expedition, and against the Queen's orders took it to sea himself; returning in a few months, after capturing the _Madre de Dios_, containing a cargo estimated at the value of half a million. He was committed to the Tower in July for having carried on an intrigue with Elizabeth Throgmorton, and he retired to Sherborne in the same year. In 1593 Raleigh and his friends Harriot and Marlowe incurred the suspicion of the government as atheists, and an inquiry was held, of which the results are not known. In February 1594-95 he started on his first Guiana expedition, and returned in 1595 after sailing some way up the Orinoco. He took part in the expedition to Cadiz in 1596. In July 1600 he was sent with Lord Cobham to congratulate Lord Grey on the battle of Nieuport, and later in the year went as governor to Jersey. He was present, as related in the text, at Essex's trial (see p. 70). The immediate causes which led to his trial are stated above.

[2] Archduke Albert was a younger brother of the Emperor Rudolf II., and had married Isabella, the eldest daughter of Philip II. of Spain, who made over the sovereignty of the Netherlands to his daughter and son-in-law a few years before his death in 1598.

[3] Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk (1561-1626), was the second son of the Duke of Norfolk beheaded by Elizabeth in 1572. He gained considerable distinction as a sailor, taking part in the defeat of the Armada and the attack on the Spanish treasure-ship in which Sir Richard Grenville was killed. He rose to a position of influence under Elizabeth, was made an Earl on James's accession, and after filling many high offices became Lord High Treasurer in 1614, which office he held till 1619. In that year he was dismissed, fined L30,000, and imprisoned in the Tower, for serious embezzlements and other frauds. He was afterwards received back into favour: it was generally supposed that his wife was chiefly to blame for his defalcations. He was grandfather to the second Lord Howard of Escrick, the witness against Lord Russell, whose trial see in vol. ii.

[4] Charles Blunt, Earl of Devon (1563-1606), was the second son of the eighth Lord Mountjoy. He soon attracted the Queen's notice, fought in the Low Countries, and took part in the defeat of the Armada. He was offered and accepted the post of Lord Deputy of Ireland after it was vacated by Essex, and was to some extent implicated in Essex's subsequent treason. In 1602 he obtained Tyrone's surrender in Ireland after three years' fighting. He returned to England in 1603, and held occasional important appointments. In 1605 he was married by Laud to Lady Rich, the former mistress of Sir Philip Sidney and himself, and the divorced wife of Lord Rich. The event is chiefly remarkable for the part taken in it by Laud.

[5] Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton (1540-1614), was the second son of the Earl of Surrey, beheaded in Henry VIII.'s reign. After a long period of political intrigue he rose to power on James's accession, having long been in correspondence with him. He was an avowed enemy of Raleigh. He maintained a position of great influence till the end of his life, generally using his influence in support of the king's prerogative and the Catholics. After his death he was accused of complicity in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury in the Tower: not altogether without reason. He built Northumberland House.

[6] Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury (1563?-1612), was at the time of this trial at the middle point of his long official career. He first appears in a public capacity in 1588, when he was sent to Spain in the train of Lord Derby, having been appointed ambassador to negotiate conditions of peace. He represented Hertfordshire in the House of Commons in 1589; in 1591 he was sworn of the Privy Council; and in 1596, during the absence of his rival Essex on the Cadiz expedition, he was appointed Secretary of State. In 1598 he took part in an embassy to Paris with Lord Brooke, Raleigh, and others to hinder an alliance between France and Spain. In 1600 Cecil was a member of a Commission appointed to report on Essex's return from Ireland without permission, and managed to mitigate the gravity of his offence; but in 1601, on Essex's trial for treason, had to defend himself from an accusation by Essex of having declared himself in favour of the Infanta's claim to the throne. By careful preparations he secured the peaceable accession of James II. to the throne, and was raised to the peerage, and eventually made Earl of Salisbury in consequence. For the rest of his life he remained James's most trusted minister.

[7] John Popham (1531-1607) was born of a good family in Somersetshire. He was reported to have been stolen by gypsies in his youth, but was educated at Balliol. He began life in London as a law-student and a highwayman; but soon became, according to Campbell, a consummate lawyer, practising chiefly as a special pleader. He became a Serjeant and Solicitor-General in 1578, Speaker in 1580, Attorney-General in 1581, and Lord Chief-Justice in 1592. He presided at the trial of Guy Fawkes and his fellow-conspirators. He enjoyed the reputation of being a sound lawyer and a severe judge. He left the greatest estate that had ever been amassed by a lawyer; but it is probably untrue that he acquired Littlecot Hall by fraudulently acquitting 'Wild Darrell' of the murder of its newly born heir. He was, however, reported to have saved money while he was a highwayman.

[8] Sir Edmund Anderson (1530-1605) was born at Flinborough or Broughton in Lincolnshire. He was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford, called to the bar, and made a Serjeant in 1577. He tried Robert Brown, founder of the Brownists, as assistant judge on the Norfolk Circuit in 1581; in the same year he tried Campian, the Jesuit, on the Western Circuit. In both cases he expressed strong views as to the claims of the Established Church. He was promoted to the chiefship of the Common Pleas in 1582, and tried Babington for treason in 1586, and Davison for beheading Mary, Queen of Scots. He also took part in the trials of the Duke of Arundel; Sir John Perrot, Lord Deputy of Ireland; and the Earl of Essex. He also tried Udall, the puritan, and no doubt tried to entrap him into a confession of guilt. Apart from political trials, he had the reputation of being a good judge and a sound lawyer.

[9] Henry Brooke, eighth Lord Cobham, was the son of a leading favourite of Queen Elizabeth's. On his father's death he succeeded to much of his father's influence; Robert Cecil married his sister; and they were both enemies of Essex. Cobham's influence did not last into James's reign, and he entered on the transactions which are discussed in Raleigh's trial. He himself was tried and convicted after Raleigh (see p. 6), but after being pardoned on the scaffold he remained a prisoner in the Tower till 1617, when he was allowed to pay a visit to Bath for his health: he died on the way home.

[10] Arabella Stuart was the daughter of the Earl of Lenox, younger brother of Lord Darnley, the grandson of Margaret, eldest sister of Henry VII., and thus stood next in succession to James. Her claim to the throne as against James was that she was born in England, whereas he was an alien. She had been arrested by Elizabeth in consequence of a rumour that she was to marry William Seymour, grandson of Catherine Grey. She was imprisoned in 1609 on another rumour of her marriage to some person unknown. In 1610 she became actually engaged to William Seymour: he promised not to marry her without the King's consent, but married her secretly a few months afterwards. The marriage was discovered, and she was committed to private custody whilst her husband was committed to the Tower. She escaped, disguised in a man's clothes, but was arrested in the Straits of Dover. She died in the Tower in 1615.

[11] Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634) came of an old Norfolk family, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the bar in 1578, having already acquired a reputation as a lawyer. He entered public life as member for Aldborough in 1589, and as member for Norfolk in 1592. He became Speaker in 1593, and in opposition to Bacon became Attorney-General in 1593. In 1598, on the death of his first wife, he married Elizabeth Hatton, Burghley's granddaughter, again depriving Bacon of a prize. He was retained to prosecute Essex, Southampton, and the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, against all of whom he showed the same animus that he did against Raleigh. In 1606 he became Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas, in which capacity he maintained the independence of the Law Courts against ecclesiastical interference. He likewise offered a resolute opposition to the King's claim to place impositions on imported merchandise, and to regulate by proclamation such matters as the erection of new buildings in London and the manufacture of starch from wheat. In 1613 Coke, much against his will, was promoted, on Bacon's advice, to the post of Chief-Justice of the King's Bench, where, though his dignity was greater, his profits were less, and he was less likely to have opportunity for opposing the King's measures. At the same time he was made a Privy Councillor. His opposition to the power of the Chancellor to exercise his equitable jurisdiction by injunction, and to the King's power to grant commendams proved less successful than his former measures; and what was considered his excess of zeal in inquiring into the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, his opposition to the growth of the powers of the Ecclesiastical Commission and the Star Chamber, and no doubt other less public matters, led to his being deprived of his office on the 5th of November 1616. After his dismissal he became engaged in a most undignified quarrel with his wife as to whether their daughter should marry Buckingham's elder brother, which she eventually did. In 1617 he was recalled to the Council, and occasionally judicially employed. In 1621 he re-entered the House of Commons, and took up the popular side in resisting monopolies and other abuses. He was engaged in drawing up the charges against Bacon in the same year. He drew up the 'Protestation' affirming the privileges of Parliament in December 1621, and was committed to the Tower in consequence. He was released in August 1622, but remained in a kind of qualified confinement. He resisted an attempt by James to exclude him from the 1624 Parliament by sending him on a commission to Ireland, and though he continued in opposition contrived to reconcile himself to the King to some extent. He opposed Charles's demands for money in his first two parliaments and drafted the Petition of Right, and made his final appearance in the debate on the Grand Remonstrance (1628), when he openly accused Buckingham as being the cause of the misfortunes of the country.

[12] _Post_, p. 45.

[13] Andrews (1555-1626) was appointed to the living of St. Giles, Cripplegate, in 1589, through Walsingham's influence. He was made Master of Pembroke Hall soon after. He refused two bishoprics offered him by Elizabeth because he would not consent to the alienation of any part of their revenues; but became Dean of Windsor in 1601. He subsequently became Bishop of Chichester in 1605; of Ely in 1609; of Winchester in 1619. He took part in the Hampton Court Conference, and his name stands first in the list of the authors of the Authorised Version.

[14] Patrick Galloway had followed the King from Scotland: he had assisted James in some of his religious writings, and was Moderator of the General Assembly in 1590 and 1602. He afterwards upheld the liberties of the Kirk against the attempts of James to restrict them, and warmly supported the Five Articles of Perth in 1618.

[15] See _ante_, p. 5.

[16] See _ante_, p. 7.

[17] Sir Amyas Preston came of a good family settled at Crichet in Somerset. He was lieutenant of the _Ark_ in the attack on the Armada: and afterwards ravaged the West Indies, in company of Somers, in 1596. He was knighted by Howard during his Cadiz expedition. He seems to have been a friend of Essex; the challenge to Raleigh took place in 1601, but did not lead to a meeting.

[18] Edmund Campian (1540-1581), the famous Jesuit, was educated at Christ's Hospital, and afterward at St. John's, Oxford. He took an oath against the Pope's supremacy on proceeding to a Master's degree, in 1564; but was probably always a Catholic at heart. He welcomed Elizabeth to Oxford in a Latin oration in 1566, and was subsequently patronised by Leicester and Cecil. He took deacon's orders, and went to Dublin in the hope of having the direction of the Dublin University, which it was proposed to resuscitate. He fell under suspicion as a Papist, but managed to escape arrest and return to England, whence, after hearing Dr. Storey's trial in 1571, he repaired to Douay, and formally renounced the Protestant faith. He went to Rome, became a Jesuit, and was among the first to be despatched to England on a Jesuit mission. He landed at Dover in 1580, and was arrested, but released and went to London. After various adventures in different parts of the country he was again arrested, and brought to London in 1581. He was rigorously examined as to his mission, but concealed the fact that he was charged to persuade Catholics to separate themselves from the English communion. Afterwards he was tortured, and a report, probably false, was spread abroad that he had betrayed his companions. He was then called upon to meet his adversaries in a public disputation, which he did with great courage and skill. After being again tortured, he was tried and convicted of treason in stirring up sedition. His trial was most unfairly conducted, and it seems probable that the charge was altogether false. He was executed on 1st December 1581.

[19] 'Take heed of a preacher as Essex did.' Essex admitted his guilt at the end of his trial. Howell (_State Trials_, vol. i. p. 1358) says: 'On the 25th of February 1601, which was the day appointed for his execution, Thomas Mountford and William Barlow, doctors of divinity, with Ashton, the minister of the Church in the Tower, were sent unto him early to administer Christian consolation to his soul. In the presence of these men he gave thanks to Almighty God from the bottom of his heart, that his designs, which were so dangerous to the state, succeeded not. He told them he had now looked thoroughly and seriously into his sin, and was heartily sorry he had so obstinately defended an unjust cause at the bar.... He acknowledged how worthy he was to be spued out (these were his words) by the Commonwealth for the wickedness of his enterprize, which he likened to a leprosy spread far and near, and that he had infected many.'

CHARLES I

The following report was first published 'by Authority, to prevent false and impertinent relations.' It was licensed by Gilbert Mabbot, and, so far as one can judge from internal evidence, is rather the slightly amplified transcript of a barrister's note, than the work of anybody who in those days might represent a modern newspaper reporter. The whole is carelessly put together, as far as form is concerned; the grammar is often halting, and the sentences are not always finished. But I should suppose that all the arguments used on either side are fairly indicated, except in those places where it is suggested in a note that 'authority' made excisions. If such excisions were made, however, the fact that the gaps were left in their present state is evidence of the substantial accuracy and fairness of the rest of the report. Taking a purely legal view of the matter, which no one will pretend covers the whole, or indeed the most important part of the case, one does not see why, if Bradshaw left in as much as he did, he should not have left in everything. From the point of view of defending counsel, Charles had an unanswerable case, and he was enough of a lawyer to make the most of it. Bradshaw, on the other hand, seems, to me at least, to have played his part not badly. Considering all things, I do not myself see that his behaviour to Charles was unnecessarily harsh. If you have made up your mind to cut off a man's head, and if you are aware that your position as a judge is a false one, you are bound to assert your authority without much regard to prisoners' feelings, or even good manners. I am not in a position to discuss what effect the essential illegality of the trial, from a formal point of view, produced on contemporary and subsequent opinion; but I think it may safely be said that the trial presents the most striking example to be found in English history of the view held in this country of the authority of the law. I have only to add that in this trial I have reproduced the original report exactly as I found it.

On Saturday, being the 20th day of January 1649, the Lord
President of the High Court of Justice,[20] with near fourscore
of the members of the said Court, having sixteen gentlemen with
partizans, and a sword, and a mace, with their and other
officers of the said Court, marching before them, came to the
place ordered to be prepared for their sitting at the west-end
of the great Hall at Westminster; where the Lord President, in a
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 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 sat, and Silence made, the great gate of
the said Hall was set open, to the end that all persons without
exception, desirous to see or hear, might come into it. Upon
which the Hall was presently filled, and silence again ordered.

This done, colonel Thomlinson, who had the charge of the
Prisoner, was commanded to bring him to the Court; who within a
quarter of an hour's space brought him, attended with about
twenty officers with partizans, marching before him, there being
other gentlemen, to whose care and custody he was likewise
committed, marching in his rear.

Being thus brought up within the face of the Court, the Serjeant
at Arms, with his mace, receives and conducts him strait to the
bar, having a crimson-velvet chair set before him. After a stern
looking upon the Court, and the people in the galleries on each
side of him, he places himself, not at all moving his hat, or
otherwise shewing the least respect to the court; but presently
rises up again, and turns about, looking downwards upon the
guards placed on the left side, and on the multitude of
spectators on the right side of the said great Hall. After
silence made among the people, the Act of Parliament for the
trying of Charles Stuart, king of England, was read over by the
Clerk of the Court, who sat on one side of a 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, being
eighty, as aforesaid, rising up, and answering to his call.

Having again placed himself in his Chair, with his face towards
the Court, silence being again ordered, the Lord President stood
up, and said,

LORD PRESIDENT--Charles 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 kingdom, 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 they are brought.

This said, Mr. Cook,[21] Solicitor for the Commonwealth 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 on the said Mr. Cook's shoulder two or three times,
bidding him hold. Nevertheless, the Lord President ordering him
to go on, he said,

MR. COOK--My lord, I am commanded to charge Charles Stuart 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, and the Prisoner sat down again in his
chair, looking sometimes on the High Court, sometimes up to the
Galleries; and having risen again, and turned about to behold
the guards and spectators, sat down, looking very sternly, and
with a countenance not at all moved, till these words,
viz.:--'Charles Stuart to be a Tyrant and Traitor,' etc. were
read; at which he laughed, as he sat, in the face of the Court.

The Charge being read, the Lord President replied;

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, You have now heard your Charge, containing
such matter as appears in it; you find, 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 it fit at this present time for me to speak
of; but there I entered into a Treaty with both houses of
Parliament, with as much public faith as it is 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 the conclusion of the Treaty. Now I would know by what
authority, I mean lawful; there are many unlawful authorities in
the world, thieves and robbers by the highways; 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 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.

KING--No. Sir, I deny that.

LORD PRESIDENT--If you acknowledge not the authority of the
Court, they must proceed.

KING--I do tell them so; England was never an elective kingdom,
but an hereditary kingdom, for near these thousand years;
therefore let me know by what authority I am called hither. I do
stand more for the Liberty of my people, than 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.

KING--Here is a gentleman, lieutenant-colonel 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 will stand as much for
the privilege of the house of commons, 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 public 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.

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 owe
to God and my country, and I will do it to the last breath of my
body; and therefore ye shall do well to satisfy first God, and
then the country, by what authority you do it; if you do it by
an usurped authority, you cannot answer. There is a God in
Heaven, that will call you, and all that give you power, to
account. Satisfy 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 satisfy me that, and you shall receive my answer.

LORD PRESIDENT--The Court expects you should give them a final
Answer; their purpose is to adjourn to Monday next; if you do
not satisfy yourself, though we do tell you our authority, we
are satisfied with our authority, and it is upon God's authority
and the kingdom's; and that peace you speak of will be kept in
the doing of justice, and that is our present work.

KING--For answer, let me tell you, you have shewn no lawful
authority to satisfy any reasonable man.

LORD PRESIDENT--That is, in your apprehension; we are satisfied
that are your Judges.

KING--It is not my apprehension, nor yours neither, that ought
to decide it.

LORD PRESIDENT--The Court hath heard you, and you are to be
disposed of as they have commanded.

The Court adjourns to the Painted Chamber, on Monday at ten of
the clock in the forenoon, and thence hither.

It is to be observed that as the Charge was reading against the king, the head of his Staff fell off, which he wondered at; and seeing none to take it up, he stoops for it himself.

As the King went away, facing the Court, he said, 'I do not fear that' (meaning the Sword). The People in the Hall, as he went down the stairs, cried out, some, 'God save the King' and most for 'Justice.'[22]

At the High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall,
Monday, January 22, 1649.

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 king's 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 in to 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 the 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 read 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.

KING--When I was here last, it is very true, I made that
question; truly if it were only my own particular case, I would
have satisfied myself with the protestation I made the last time
I was here against the Legality of this Court, and that a king
cannot be tried by any superior 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 persuade 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 a punctual and direct Answer,
whether you will answer 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; 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 than 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 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; but by any
law that ever I heard of, all men (Delinquents, or what you
will), let me tell you, they may put in Demurrers against any
proceeding as legal: and I do demand that, and demand to be
heard with my Reasons: if you deny that, you deny reason.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you have offered something to the Court: I
shall speak something unto you, the Sense of the Court. Sir,
neither you nor any man are permitted to dispute that point, you
are concluded, you may not demur to the jurisdiction of the
Court: if you do, I must let you know, that they over-rule your
Demurrer; they sit here by the authority of the Commons of
England, and all your predecessors and you are responsible to
them.

KING--I deny that; shew me one precedent.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you ought not to interrupt while the Court
is speaking to you. This point is not to be debated by you,
neither will the Court permit you to do it; if you offer it by
way of Demurrer to the Jurisdiction of the Court, they have
considered of their Jurisdiction, they do affirm their own
Jurisdiction.

KING--I say, Sir, by your favour, that the Commons of England
was never a Court of Judicature: I would know how they came to
be so.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you are not to be permitted to go on in
that Speech and these discourses.

Then the clerk of the Court read as followeth:--

'Charles Stuart, king of England, You have been accused on
behalf of the People of England of High Treasons, and other high
Crimes; the Court have determined that you ought to answer the
same.'

KING--I will answer the same so soon as I know by what Authority
you do this.

LORD PRESIDENT--If this be all that you will say, then
Gentlemen, you that brought the Prisoner hither, take charge of
him back again.

KING--I do require that I may give in my Reasons why I do not
answer, and give me time for that.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, it is not for Prisoners to require.

KING--Prisoners! Sir, I am not an ordinary prisoner.

LORD PRESIDENT--The Court hath considered of their jurisdiction,
and they have already affirmed their jurisdiction; if you will
not answer, we shall give order to record your default.

KING--You never heard my Reasons yet.

LORD 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.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, we shew it you here. The Commons of
England; and the next time you are brought, you will know more
of the pleasure of the Court; and, it may be, their final
determination.

KING--Shew me where ever the House of Commons was a Court of
Judicature of that kind.

LORD PRESIDENT--Serjeant, take away the Prisoner.

KING--Well, Sir, remember that the king is not suffered to give
in his Reasons for the Liberty and Freedom of all his Subjects.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you are not to have Liberty to use this
language; How great a friend you have been to the Laws and
Liberties of the people, let all England and the world judge.

KING--Sir, under favour, it was the Liberty, Freedom, and Laws
of the subject, that ever I took--defended myself with arms; I
never took up arms against the people, but for the laws.

LORD PRESIDENT--The command of the Court must be obeyed; no
Answer will be given to the Charge.

KING--Well, Sir!

And so he was guarded forth to sir Robert Cotton's house.

Then the Court adjourned to the Painted Chamber on Tuesday at 12 o'clock, and from thence they intend to adjourn to Westminster Hall; at which time all persons concerned are to give their attendance.

At the High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall,
Tuesday, January 23, 1649.

O Yes made, Silence commanded, the Court called, 73 persons
present. The King comes in with his guard, looks with an austere
countenance upon the Court, and sits down. The second O Yes
made, and Silence commanded.

MR. COOK, SOLICITOR-GENERAL--May it please your lordship, my
lord President; this is now the third time, that by the great
grace and favour of this High Court, the Prisoner hath been
brought to the bar before any issue joined in the cause. My
lord, I did at the first court exhibit a Charge against him,
containing the highest Treasons that ever was wrought upon the
theatre of England; That a king of England trusted to keep the
law, that had taken an oath so to do, that had tribute paid him
for that end, should be guilty of a wicked Design to subvert and
destroy our Laws, and introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical
Government, in defiance of the Parliament and their Authority,
set up his standard for War against his Parliament and People:
And I did humbly pray, in the behalf of the people of England,
that he might speedily be required to make an Answer to the
Charge. But my lord, instead of making any Answer, he did then
dispute the Authority of this High Court. Your lordship was
pleased to give him a further day to consider, and to put in his
Answer; which day being Yesterday, I did humbly move, that he
might be required to give a direct and positive Answer, either
by denying or confession of it; But, my lord, he was then
pleased for to demur to the Jurisdiction of the Court; which the
court did then over-rule, and commanded him to give a direct and
positive Answer. My lord, besides this great delay of justice, I
shall now humbly move your lordship for speedy Judgment against
him. My lord, I might press your lordship upon the whole, that
according to the known rules of the law of the land, That if a
Prisoner shall stand as contumacious in contempt, and shall not
put in an issuable plea, Guilty or not Guilty of the Charge
given against him, whereby he may come to a fair trial; that, as
by an implicit confession, it may be taken _pro confesso_, as it
hath been done to those who have deserved more favour than the
Prisoner at the bar has done. But, besides, my lord, I shall
humbly press your lordship upon the whole fact. The house of
commons, the supreme Authority and Jurisdiction of the kingdom,
they have declared, That it is notorious, that the matter of the
Charge is true, as it is in truth, my lord, as clear as crystal,
and as the sun that shines at noon-day: which if your lordship
and the Court be not satisfied in, I have notwithstanding, on
the people of England's behalf, several Witnesses to produce.
And therefore I do humbly pray, and yet I must confess it is not
so much I, as the innocent blood that hath been shed, the cry
whereof is very great for justice and judgment; and therefore I
do humbly pray, that speedy Judgment be pronounced against the
Prisoner at the bar.