Chapter V: Part 5

Before Charles II. left Breda to return to England as King; he published a proclamation dated 4-14th April 1660, in which he promised among other things a general pardon for all crimes, to everybody who made submission to the new order of things within forty days, 'excepting only such persons as shall hereafter be excepted by Parliament.' Accordingly, on the 8th of July 1661, the matter was discussed in the Parliament which recalled the King, and a list of excepted persons was drawn up. The House of Lords, as was natural, showed a greater desire for severity than the House of Commons, which gave Charles an opportunity, of which he was not slow to avail himself, of appearing before the House of Lords as an advocate for leniency. The result was that the Act of Oblivion was passed by the newly elected Parliament on 11th July 1661. The Act, which deserves careful study for various reasons, begins by pardoning all crimes committed between 1st January 1637 and 24th January 1660. There then follow exceptions. These include murders not committed under the authority of the King or Parliament, double marriages, witchcraft, and 'any theft or stealing of any goods, or other felonies' committed since 4th March 1659. But the more important exceptions are contained in three sections, by one of which various persons are excluded from the benefit of the Act, while by the other two some of them are not to be executed without the authority of an Act of Parliament. It is obvious that, as is pointed out by Bridgman in Tichburne's trial, these sections did not affect the functions of the jury in the trials of any of the named persons. Marten, who was in the second category of exceptions, condescended to attempt to defend himself on the ground that his name was Harry Marten, and the name in the Act was Henry Martin; and Cook took a still more technical point of defence on the same subject. In the result the King's conduct in the matter seems generally to have been regarded as lenient, and indeed his character seems to be free from the reproach of cruelty or a desire for vengeance. It is interesting to observe that there was a question of including Milton in the list of excepted persons. He was not, however, so included, and as he would otherwise have been subjected to a long term of imprisonment, we must, if we agree with Lord Campbell in attributing to Hale any credit for the composition of _The Pilgrim's Progress_, consider that Charles missed a chance of contributing to the writing of _Paradise Lost_.

* * * * *

As a preliminary to the trial a meeting was held to settle certain points of law which it was foreseen would arise. This was attended by all the judges then in office, namely, Sir Orlando Bridgman, Chief-Baron of the Exchequer;[26] Justices Foster[27] and Hide of the Common Pleas;[28] Justice Mallet[29] of the King's Bench; together with Sir Geoffry Palmer,[30] the King's Attorney; Sir Heneage Finch,[31] the King's Solicitor; Sir Edward Turner, Attorney to the Duke of York; Mr. Wadham Windham, of Lincoln's Inn; and Mr. Kelyng,[32] the reporter. It was there resolved to try the prisoners at Newgate by commission of Gaol Delivery, rather than by a special commission of Oyer and Terminer, so as to proceed with the trial at once; that all the prisoners should be arraigned the first day; that the King's counsel might privately manage the evidence before the Grand Jury (the practice of allowing any advocates to appear before the Grand Jury has long fallen into disuse); that the murder of the King should be precisely laid in the indictment, and be made use of as one of the overt acts to prove the compassing of his death; that any act tending to the compassing of the King's death besides the one laid in the indictment might be given in evidence; that the two witnesses required in treason need not speak to the same overt act;[33] that the fact that a juror had already found another prisoner guilty on the same indictment was no good ground for a challenge; that the prisoners should not be tried in irons; that the murder of the King should be stated to have been committed by _quidam ignotus_, with a visor on his face;[34] that the compassing of the King's death should be laid to have been committed on the 29th Jan. 24 Car. I., and the murder itself on _tricesimo mensis ejusdem Januarii_, without naming any year of any king; and that the indictment should conclude '_contra pacem nuper domini regis coron' et dignitat' suas_,' etc.; and other technical matters were settled in the same way. The indictment was in Latin, being preferred after Michaelmas, until which time English was allowed by the Convention which was sitting when the King was restored.

The trials began on the 9th of October 1660, at Hick's Hall in the County of Middlesex, when the Grand Jury were charged by the Lord Chief-Baron Bridgman. True bills were found against thirty-one persons,[35] a true bill being found against Hulet on the 12th.

On the next day Thomas Harrison[36] was put up to plead.

CLERK--Thomas Harrison, How sayest thou? Art thou Guilty of the
treason whereof thou standest indicted, and art now arraigned?
Or not Guilty?

HARRISON--My Lords, have I liberty to speak?

COURT--No more (at this time) than Guilty or Not Guilty. Mr.
Harrison, you have heard the direction before. We can but give
you the same rule. If you plead Guilty you shall be heard at
large; if Not Guilty, you know what remains.

HARRISON--Will you give me leave to give you my answer in my own
words?

LORD CHIEF-BARON--There is no answer but what the law directs;
it is the same with you as with all others, or as I would desire
if I was in your condition. You must plead Not Guilty, or if you
confess Guilty, there must be judgment on your confession.

HARRISON--You express your rule very fair, as well to me as to
this gentleman (pointing to sir H. Waller, who had just pleaded
guilty); but I have something to say, which concerns your
Lordships as well as myself.

COURT--You must hold, and plead Guilty or Not Guilty.

HARRISON--My Lord, I have been kept close prisoner near these
three months, that nobody might have access to me. Do you call
me to give you a legal answer, not knowing of my trial till nine
of the clock last night, and brought away from the Tower to this
place at six of the clock this morning?

COURT--You must give your direct answer, Guilty, or Not Guilty.
You cannot say it is sudden or unprovided. You spend your time
in vain. You trouble the Court. You must plead Guilty, or Not
Guilty. We must not suffer you to make discourses here. You must
plead either Guilty or Not Guilty.

CLERK--Are you Guilty, or Not Guilty?

After objecting to plead in this way for a little more time, Harrison was at last persuaded to plead Not Guilty. He then objected to complete the usual formula by saying that he would be tried by God and his Country, saying that they were vain words; but eventually--

HARRISON--I do offer myself to be tried in your own way by God and
my Country.

CLERK--God send you a good deliverance.

On the next day, the 11th, at seven o'clock in the morning, Harrison's trial began by the calling of the jury, of whom Harrison challenged thirty-five, his maximum number.

The case was then opened by Finch, the Solicitor-General, who, after explaining the law of treason by quotations from the Bible and Coke, charged the prisoner more particularly with having brought the King up to London; with having signed the warrant constituting the Court which tried him; with having sat as a member of the Court; and with having signed the death-warrant.

All the witnesses were then sworn, six in all.

_Masterson_ proved that he saw Harrison sitting 'in that which they called the High Court of Justice' on the 27th of January 1649, the day when the King was sentenced; and that when the sentence was read he, with others, stood up as assenting to it. _Clark_, _Kirk_, and _Nutley_ also gave evidence to the same effect; the latter adding that some few days before the 20th there was a Committee in the Exchequer Chamber of which the prisoner was a member.

I do remember well it was in the evening; they were lighting of
candles, they were somewhat private. This gentleman was there, I
saw him; for through the kindness of Mr. Phelps, who was then
Clerk to that Committee, I was admitted, pretending first to
speak with the said Mr. Phelps, and that I had some business
with him; and so (as I said before) I was admitted into the
Committee Chamber. Being there I did observe some passages fall
from the prisoner at the bar; the words were to this purpose; he
was making a narrative of some discourse that passed between his
late majesty and himself in coming between Windsor and London,
or Hurst Castle, I know not well which. My Lord, that passage
that I observed to fall from him in that discourse was this; he
said that the King as he sat in the coach with him was
importunate to know what they intended to do with him. The King
asked, What do they intend to do with me; Whether to murder me
or no? 'and I said to him, There was no such intent on as to
kill him, we have no such thoughts.' But (said he) the Lord has
reserved you for a public example of justice. There is one word
more, my Lords, and that is this, which I heard from the
prisoner at the bar. The reason and end of their meeting
together at that Committee was concerning the charge. So much I
observed. It was concerning the contracting of the impeachment.
I observed that some found fault with the length of that as it
was drawn. They were offering some reasons to contract it, and I
heard this prisoner at the bar vent this expression; 'Gentlemen,
it will be good for us to blacken him what we can; pray let us
blacken him,' or words to that purpose. I am sure 'blacken' was
his word.

_Lord Newburgh_,[37] when he was living at Bagshot, saw Harrison conducting the King in custody from Hurst Castle to London. The two warrants, one for the trial, the other for the execution of the King, were produced, and Harrison's signatures to them were proved to be in his handwriting. The Court pointed out that they were not produced as records, but as evidence of overt acts of constituting a compassing of the King's death on his part.

HARRISON--I do not come to be denying anything that in my own
judgment and conscience I have done or committed, but rather to
be bringing it forth to the light.

COURT--Sir, you must understand this by the way, this you must
take along with you, that these are read not as anything of
authority in themselves, or as used to any other purpose, but as
evidence of the fact against you; take that along with you.

This concluded the evidence; and Windham summed up the case very shortly, concluding, 'I think a clearer evidence of a fact can never be given than is for these things,' [Here the spectators hummed.]

LORD CHIEF-BARON--Gentlemen, this humming is not at all becoming
the gravity of this Court. Let there be free speaking by the
prisoner and the Court Counsel. It is more fitting for a
stage-play than for a Court of Justice.

HARRISON--It is now time, my Lords, to offer what I have to say.
Have these learned gentlemen offered what they have to say?

COUNSEL--We have no more till he hath given us occasion, not for
evidence of the fact.

HARRISON--My lords, the matter that hath been offered to you, as
it was touched, was not a thing done in a corner. I believe the
sound of it hath been in most nations. I believe the hearts of
some have felt the terrors of that presence of God that was with
his servants in those days (however it seemeth good to him to
suffer this turn to come on us) and are witnesses that the
things were not done in a corner. I have desired, as in the
sight of him that searcheth all hearts, whilst this hath been
done, to wait, and receive from him convictions upon my own
conscience, though I have sought it with tears many a time, and
prayers over and over, to that God to whom you and all nations
are less than a drop of water in the bucket; and to this moment
I have received rather assurance of it, and that the things that
have been done as astonishing on the one hand, I do believe ere
it be long it will be made known from Heaven, there was more
from God than men are aware of. I do profess that I would not
offer of myself the least injury to the poorest man or woman
that goes upon the earth. That I have humbly to offer is this,
to your Lordships; you know what a contest hath been in these
nations for many years. Divers of those that sit upon the bench
were formerly as active----[38]

COURT--Pray, Mr. Harrison, do not thus reflect on the Court.
This is not the business.

HARRISON--I followed not my own judgment; I did what I did, as
out of conscience to the Lord; for when I found those that were
as the apple of mine eye to turn aside, I did loath them, and
suffered imprisonment many years. Rather than to turn as many
did, that did put their hands to this plough, I chose rather to
be separated from wife and family than to have compliance with
them, though it was said, 'Sit thou at my right hand,' and such
kind expressions. Thus I have given a little poor testimony that
I have not been doing things in a corner, or from myself. May be
I might be a little mistaken; but I did it all according to the
best of my understanding, desiring to make the revealed will of
God in his Holy Scriptures as a guide to me. I humbly conceive
that what was done, was done in the name of the Parliament of
England, that what was done, was done by their power and
authority; and I do humbly conceive it is my duty to offer unto
you in the beginning that this Court, or any Court below the
High Court of Parliament, hath no jurisdiction of their actions.
Here are many learned in the law, and to shorten the work, I
desire I may have the help of counsel learned in the laws, that
may in this matter give me a little assistance to offer those
grounds that the law of the land doth offer. I say, what was
done, was done by the authority of the Parliament, which was
then the Supreme Authority, and that those that have acted under
them are not to be questioned by any power less than them. And
for that I conceive there is much out of the laws to be shewed
to you and many Precedents also in the case. Much is to be
offered to you in that; according to the laws of the nations,
that was a due Parliament. Those Commissions were issued forth,
and what was done was done by their power; and whereas it hath
been said we did assume and usurp an authority, I say this was
done rather in the fear of the Lord.

COURT--Away with him. Know where you are, Sir; you are in the
assembly of Christians; will you make God the author of your
treasons and murders? Take heed where you are. Christians must
not hear this. We will allow you to say for your own defence
what you can; and we have with a great deal of patience suffered
you to sally out, wherein you have not gone about so much for
extenuation of your crimes, as to justify them, to fall upon
others, and to blaspheme God, and commit a new Treason: For your
having of counsel, this is the reason for allowing of counsel:
When a man would plead any thing, because he would plead it in
formality, counsel is allowed. But you must first say in what
the matter shall be, and then you shall have the Court's answer.

LORD FINCH--Though my lords here have been pleased to give you a
great latitute, this must not be suffered, that you should run
into these damnable excursions, to make God the author of this
damnable Treason committed.

_Harrison_ repeats his two points; that what was done was done by a 'Parliament of England, by the Commons of England assembled in Parliament'; and was therefore not to be questioned by the present Court; and that what any did in obedience to a power which they could not disobey, they ought not to be punished for. Upon these two points he asked to be allowed the assistance of counsel. To this the Lord Chief-Baron replies that the body Harrison refers to was not a Parliament, that Harrison had made himself 'a solicitor in the business,' when he said, 'Come let us blacken him as much as we can'; and that 'neither both Houses of Parliament, if they had been there, not any single person, community, not the people collectively, or representatively, had any colour to have any coercive power over their King.' Annesley--who had, as he says, been one of the 'corrupt majority,' put out of the house at the time of Pride's Purge--and Hollis repeat the same thing. An argument then ensues between Harrison and the other members of the Court on the authority of Parliaments generally; at last--

HARRISON--I would not willingly speak to offend any man, but I
know God is no respecter of persons. His setting up his standard
against the people----

COURT--Truly, Mr. Harrison, this must not be suffered; this doth
not at all belong to you.

HARRISON--Under favour, this doth belong to me. I would have
abhorred to have brought him to account, had not the blood of
Englishmen that had been shed----

COUNSEL--Methinks he should be sent to Bedlam, till he comes to
the gallows to render an account of this. This must not be
suffered.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL--My Lords, I pray that the jury may go
together upon the evidence.

SIR EDWARD TURNER--My Lords, this man hath the plague all over
him, it is a pity any should stand near him, for he will infect
them. Let us say to him as they used to write over an house
infected, 'The Lord have mercy upon him,' and so let the officer
take him away.

The argument then continues a little longer, chiefly between Harrison and the Lord Chief-Baron; till--

LORD CHIEF-BARON--Mr. Harrison, you have appealed to our
consciences. We shall do that, which, by the blessing of God,
shall be just; for which we shall answer before the Tribunal of
God. Pray take heed of an obdurate, hard heart and seared
conscience.

HARRISON--My lords, I have been kept six months a close
prisoner, and could not prepare myself for this trial by
counsel. I have got here some acts of parliament, of that House
of Commons, which your Lordship will not own; and the
proceedings of that house, whose authority I did own.

The Lord Chief-Baron then summed up shortly, and the jury brought in a verdict of Guilty, apparently without much hesitation. Sentence of dragging, hanging, and quartering was accordingly passed in the ordinary terms.

HUGH PETERS[39]

HUGH PETERS was called upon to plead on the 9th of October 1660.

CLERK--Hugh Peters, hold up thy hand. How sayest thou? Art thou
guilty of the treason whereof thou standest indicted; and for
which thou standest arraigned? Or Not Guilty?

HUGH PETERS--I would not for ten thousand worlds say I am
Guilty. I am not Guilty.

CLERK--How will you be tried?

HUGH PETERS--By the word of God [here the people laughed].

COURT--You must say By God and the Country. Tell him, you that
stand by him, what he should say, if he doth not know.

CLERK--How will you be tried?

HUGH PETERS--By God and the country.

The trial took place on the 13th of October, and after the jury were sworn, without Peters making any challenges, the case was shortly opened by Sir Edward Young. He stated that he would prove that Peters was a chief conspirator with Cromwell at several times and several places compassing the King's death; that he preached many sermons to the soldiers urging the 'taking away the King,' comparing him to Barabbas; that he was instrumental in directing the making of the proclamation for the High Court of Justice; that when the King was executed, he was the person that urged the soldiers below the scaffold to cry for justice; and that on the day after the trial he commended it.

_Dr. William Young_ was the first witness. He first made Peters' acquaintance about the time of the siege of Pembroke Castle, in 1648. Afterwards, in 1649, Peters went over to Ireland with Cromwell, and falling sick of the flux, returned to Milford and sent for the witness.

There I found him, grovelling upon the deck, and sick he was
indeed; with much difficulty we got him on shore; within a very
few days, to the best of my remembrance five days, I perfected
his cure; we became very familiar; I observed in him that he had
some secret thoughts that I could not well discover, neither
well understand; whereupon I thought it might tend to my
security that I should so much sympathize with him, to get
within him to know his intentions. After some weeks we grew so
familiar, that at last I found he began to enlarge his heart to
me. Many times I should hear him rail most insufferably against
the blood royal, not only against our martyred king, but against
his off-spring; still as we continued our acquaintance, he
became more and more open to me; so we would sit up discoursing
till about twelve or one of the clock at night very often, about
these unhappy wars late in England.

He said that he had been employed out of New England to stir up the civil war; that he had been sent by the Parliament to Ireland 'to receive further instructions to drive on the design to extirpate monarchy'; that he had spent a great deal of his money, but had never been repaid the L2000 or L3000 he had been promised for his journey; he used to vilify monarchy, 'jocundarily scoffing at it, and would ordinarily quibble in this manner, saying "this Commonwealth will never be at peace till 150 be put down." I asked him what this 150 was, he told me the three L's, and afterwards interpreted the meaning to be the Lords, the Levites, and the Lawyers; with that, said I, we shall be like the Switzers, Tinkers, and Traitors,' He had a commission from Cromwell to raise troops for Ireland, he issued two commissions to bring over two troops from Devon, and offered to make the witness a major or captain. Talking of the removal of the King from Holmby House, he said that the Parliament having then a design to secure himself and Cromwell, they

escaped out of London, and rode hard for it, and as we rode to
Ware we made a halt, and advised how we should settle this
kingdom in peace, and dispose of the King; the result was this,
They should bring him to justice, try him for his life, and cut
off his head; whether this was the expression of Cromwell I
cannot tell; but to the utmost of my remembrance, and I am
mistaken if it was not the advice of Mr. Peters to Cromwell; and
I believe it, because his former relations of his instructions
out of Ireland did tend to that effect.

PETERS--My lord, I desire to speak a word [his voice being low,
he was brought to the second bar]. I am the bolder to speak to
your lordships at this time a word, and it is high time to
satisfy my conscience; if these things were true, there is
enough said to destroy me; I desire leave to tell you what
offence I take at the witness, thus, my lord. This gentlemen I
do know----

COUNSEL--What say you to him?

PETERS--That which I have to say is this, that in his story he
hath told that which is not true; but I will not find fault with
him, because he was my host, I will not reflect and recriminate:
I shall give your lordships in simplicity as much satisfaction
myself as any witness; this I say to the man that speaks, and
this is certain, I did spend some time at this gentleman's
house, he is called there Dr. Young; and my trouble at this
discourse is this, I do not know, my lord, that I found a more
violent man for the parliament than himself; so far he undertook
to be a spy on one side; this I find to be so, he will not deny
it; he was very fierce in that way; I think words of such a man
ought to be little attended to. The second is this, this
gentleman is not a competent witness, and that upon a two-fold
ground. First, because I know he is under a very great
temptation and trouble in this very thing, and it is upon this
account he was put out of his living in the country, and here he
came to me to help him in again, and was very highly offended
because I did not do it. Secondly, it is not that I would
invalidate his witness, but give me leave to tell you, it is his
way to snap and catch at every man, which is the complaint of
the people in his own country. I know that same which is spoken
is false; I speak it in the presence of God, I profess, I never
had any near converse with Oliver Cromwell about such things; I
speak this to the Jury, that they would have a care of the
witness; I was in sickness then; those that have known me do
know likewise that I have much weakness in my head when I am
sick, and to take words that are spoken in a sick condition, he
ought not to do it; for the words themselves I do here profess
against them, for the generality of them; and that he hath been
freer in my judgment in any communication in this way than I
have been; it is marvellous, here I profess the things untruths;
I call God and angels to witness they are not true. I will give
you an account of my whole condition by-and-by, if I may be
heard.

COURT--You shall be heard at large; that which you have been
heard now is concerning the competency or incompetency of the
witness: the incompetency against him is this, that when you
came thither none more violent for the parliament than himself,
and that he was a great spy, and you say it was usual with him
to take such courses; these are but words; if you have any
witnesses we will hear them; the man may be traduced and
slandered, and so all witnesses may be taken away. Mr. Peters,
if you take this course, God knows when this business will end;
if you have a mind take pen, ink, and paper, and take notes of
the witnesses, and make exceptions to them one after another;
but interrupting one, and so another, we shall never have done.

YOUNG--I do recollect myself of some other conferences between
us; as to my being malicious, I know he never did me any wrong,
and therefore I cannot be malicious; and as for my reputation,
having resided two years in London I can have certificates both
from my country, and some of this city, to vindicate me in that
particular; But, my lord, that which I would inform your
lordship is this, he told me he took duke Hamilton a prisoner
himself in his own chamber, seized on his goods, and took his
George and blue ribbon off his shoulder, and the George he
shewed me.

_William Gunter_ was a drawer at the Star in Coleman Street. Oliver Cromwell and several of his party used to meet there in consultation; there were several meetings; he remembered one in particular when Peters was there; he came about four in the afternoon and stayed till ten or eleven at night; they were talking about the King after he was a prisoner, for they called him by the name of Charles Stuart; they were writing something, but the witness could not say what. He could not say whether Peters was there oftener than once, 'but once I am certain of it; this is the gentleman; for then he wore a great sword.'

PETERS--I never wore a great sword in my life.

_Starkey_ deposed that in the December before the King's death, and up to the 12th of the following January, the headquarters of the army were at Windsor, and General Ireton was quartered at his father's house. The Council of War was held there, and Cromwell, Ireton, Peters, Col. Rich, and another gentleman, whose name he forgot, would meet and consult there, and sit up till two or three in the morning very privately together. The witness was often in Ireton's company, and Peters would often come in to meals in the evening.

Mr. Ireton being civil in carriage, would usually entertain
discourses with Mr. Peters, likewise would favor me sometimes
with discourse; and in that discourse I did many times take
occasion to assert the laws in point of the king; and
discoursing about the king as being a capital instrument in the
late inconveniences, as they called it, in the times of the war,
Mr. Ireton would discourse this ordinarily; I was bold to tell
them that the person of the king was _solutus legibus_; this
gentleman the prisoner at the bar, told me it was an unequal
law. I did observe Mr. Peters did bend his discourse, not by way
of argument only, but in point of resolution of judgment, fully
against the person and government of the king. I remember some
of his expressions were these, That he was a tyrant, that he was
a fool, that he was not fit to be a king, or bear that office; I
have heard him say, that for the office itself (in those very
words which shortly after came into print) that it was a
dangerous, chargeable, and useless office. My lords, the
constant discourse of this gentleman at that time was such as he
did believe would never be called into question, so it was not a
thing that a man was necessitated to observe by an accident, but
it was their whole discourse. I will put you in mind of a
particular passage. When the news came to Windsor that the king
was in prison at the Isle of Wight, my father (whose house that
was) was very much troubled at it; and being an ancient man, was
not able to control his passions with reason, told my mother
that they (meaning Mr. Ireton, etc.) should have no
entertainment there, and took the key of the cellar and put it
in his pocket; his passions being lessened, Mr. Ireton, his
wife, and another officer being at supper, and afterwards my
father said grace, and, as he usually did, though they were
there, he said that usual and honest expression, praying for the
king in these usual words, 'God save the king, prince, and
realm'; sometimes they did laugh at it, but never did reflect
upon him; but this night he made this expression, 'God save the
king's most excellent majesty, and preserve him out of the hands
of all his enemies.' Peters, who was then at the table, turns
about to him, and said, 'Old gentleman, your idol will not stand
long'; I do conceive he meant it of the king. For a matter of
two months of the constant residence and being of the army
there, I did observe that in the General Council there, and in
this private cabal (after the business was broke out, and when
the king was taken prisoner, and carried to Windsor), Mr. Peters
was the constant man; and when the business broke out, I looked
upon it in reason that Cromwell, Ireton, and this gentleman at
the bar, and Rich, and that other gentleman, whose name I have
forgot, that they were the persons that did the business. My
lords, Mr. Peters he continued at Windsor: I remember very well
that after the body of the army, the general, and the officers
of the army, were gone to London, he continued at Windsor: I
remember a passage of one Bacon, who was a sectary; Mr. Peters
being in discourse of the king, Mr. Bacon took great distaste at
Mr. Peters for some affront put upon the King; Mr. Peters falls
upon him, and rails at him, and was ready to beat him; we
understood it so, because he did tell him of his affronting the
King.

COUNSEL--Mr. Peters, if you have any thing to ask this witness,
you may.

PETERS--I have many things to ask him. Did I ever lie there?

STARKEY--No.

PETERS--Did you see me there at three o'clock in the morning?

STARKEY--I have seen you go up at ten o'clock at night to Mr.
Ireton's chamber, and sometimes I understood you did not go away
till four o'clock in the morning: I went to bed it is true, but
I understood it so.

_Thomas Walkely_ saw Cromwell, Goodwin, Peters, and others in the Painted Chamber at Westminster on the day after the proclamation for the trial of the King was made. Goodwin sat in the middle of the table and made a long speech or prayer, and then it was ordered that strangers should leave the room, and Walkely went out, and afterwards saw Peters leave the room with the others. When the King was brought to London as a prisoner, Walkely 'saw his majesty in his coach with six horses and Peters, like a bishop almoner, riding before the king triumphing.'

_Proctor_ also saw the King driving into London with the prisoner riding before him, the King sitting alone in his coach. 'My Lord, I did put off my hat, and he was graciously pleased to put off his hat; the troopers seeing this, they threw me into the ditch, horse and all, where I stayed till they pass by, and was glad I escaped so.'

_Hardwick_ heard the proclamation for the High Court of Justice made in Westminster Hall, and afterwards Peters came into Palace Yard and told the officers there that the proclamation must also be made in Cheapside and at the Old Exchange.

_Holland Simpson_ saw the sitting of the High Court; he saw Peters there, but not as a judge.

There was one day in the hall colonel Stubbards, who was
adjutant-general (he was a very busy man) and colonel Axtel; Mr.
Peters going down the stairs, comes to him, and bids Stubbards
to command the soldiers to cry out 'justice, justice, against
the traitor at the bar.'

COUNSEL--Who did he mean?

SIMPSON--The King was at the bar at the same time; whereupon, my
lord, the soldiers did cry out upon the same; and as the King
was taken away to sir Robert Cotton's some of them spit in the
King's face, but he took his handkerchief, wiped it off, and
smiled.

_Thomas Richardson_ and _Sir Jeremy Whichcot_ spoke to casual expressions of Peters which showed approval of the King's trial and deposition.

_Richard Nunnelly, sworn._

COUNSEL--Was Peters upon the Scaffold at the time of execution
or before?

NUNNELLY--On that unhappy day, 30th of Jan. 1649, this Hugh
Peters came an hour before the king came to Whitehall; I came
with a warrant of a L40 or L50,000 to Oliver Cromwell, being
door-keeper to the Committee of the Army; Nunnelly, says Oliver
Cromwell, will you go to Whitehall? Surely you will see the
beheading of the king; and he let me into Whitehall; coming into
the boarded gallery I met Hugh Peters, and he was in the
gallery; and then I got with Hugh Peters into the
Banqueting-House; being there, Hugh Peters met one Tench of
Hounsditch, that was a joiner meeting him; he speaks to him, and
whispers in his ear, and told him somewhat, I do not know what
it was; but Tench presently went and knocked four staples upon
the scaffold; I meeting Tench again, What art thou doing? said
I. What, will you turn hangman? Says he, This day will be a
happy day. Said I, Pray God send it be not a bloody day; upon
that Hugh Peters went upon the scaffold just an hour before the
king came, and then he went off again. I watched at the window
when the king's head was cut off, and afterwards I saw the
vizards going into a chamber there; about an hour afterwards (I
staying there at the door) there comes Hugh Peters in his black
cloak and broad hat out of that chamber (as I take it) with the
hangman; I am sure I did see him go along with the hangman to
take water; this is all I can remember, it being many years
since.

PETERS--I humbly beg I may be heard in this case; I have here a
witness, and I desire he may be examined; it is noised I was
upon the scaffold, I here call God to witness I was not out of
my chamber that day; I was sick that day; I speak in the
presence of the Lord.

COURT--If your witness will stay he shall be heard; there are
more witnesses to the same thing, and so he may speak to all
together.

_Dr. Mortimer, sworn._

MORTIMER--Me lar, me ha serd de king, etc.

COURT--We cannot understand a word.

COUNSEL--He is a Frenchman, my lord.

COURT--Pray let there be an interpreter.

[One Mr. Young was sworn to interpret truly his evidence. But it
being afterwards found difficult and troublesome, the Counsel
waved his evidence, and prayed another witness might be called.]

MORTIMER--Me Lar, me can peak Englis----

COUNSEL--No, no, pray sit down, we will examine other witnesses.
Call Stephen Clough.

_Stephen Clough_ heard there was to be a meeting of the Council of officers at Westminster, about three weeks or a month before the King's execution,

and I being willing (my Lord) to hear what their consultations
were, I went thither, and was there as one of them (but I was
not one); amongst the rest Hugh Peters was one; when the room
was pretty full the door was shut. Mr. Peters was desired to
call for a blessing upon their business; in his prayer he
uttered these words, 'O Lord (said he) what a mercy it is to see
this great city fall down before us! And what a stir there is to
bring this great man to trial, without whose blood he will turn
us all into blood if he reign again!'

_Beaver_, upon the day appointed for a fast for those that sat then as a parliament,

went to Westminster to find out some company to dine with me,
and having walked about an hour in Westminster Hall, and finding
none of my friends to dine with me, I went to that place called
Heaven, and dined there.

After he had dined he went through St. Margaret's churchyard, and finding it all full of muskets and pikes, asked some soldiers what was their business there. They told him that Peters was preaching in the church, and 'I must needs have the curiosity to hear that man, having heard many stories of the manner of his preaching (God knows I did not do it out of any manner of devotion); I crowded near the pulpit, and came near to the speaker's pew.' He heard Peters preaching on the text about the Jews releasing Barabbas and crucifying Christ; interpreting Barabbas to mean the King, and Christ the Army.

Says he, and because that you should think, my lords and
gentlemen, that it is a question, I tell you it is a question; I
have been in the city which may very well be compared to
Hierusalem in this conjuncture of time, and I profess these
foolish citizens for a little trading and profit, they will have
Christ (pointing to the redcoats on the pulpit stairs)
crucified, and the great Barabbas at Westminster released.

He told the members that they were the Sanhedrim, and that it was they to whom the people looked for justice--

Do not prefer the great Barabbas, Murderer, Tyrant, and Traitor,
before these poor hearts (pointing to the redcoats) and the army
who are our saviours.

It was proved by the journal of the House of Commons that a fast had been ordered for the 20th of December 1648.

_Chace_ had heard Peters preaching on the 21st of January; his text was, 'Bind your kings with chains, and your nobles with fetters of iron.' He maintained that the King was not above the law. It was said they had no power to behead the King; 'Turn to your bibles,' he answered, 'and you shall find it there, Whosoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; and I see neither King Charles, Prince Charles, nor prince Rupert, nor prince Maurice, nor any of that rabble excepted out of it.'

PETERS--Ask him if he took notes.

CHACE--No sir, but it being so memorable a sermon I took special
notice of it; I came to my brother's house in Shoe lane, and
told him; said I, Brother, I have been at Whitehall and have
heard the most execrable business that ever was in the world by
a minister of the Gospel, and told him the words, and I observed
that Oliver Cromwell did laugh at that time when you were
preaching.

_Tongue_, _Bowdler_, _Rider_, and _Walker_ all gave similar evidence as to Peters' preaching.

_Cornelius Glover_ was called by Peters, but was not sworn. He was Peters' servant at the time of the King's execution; on the morning of that day Peters was ill in his chamber.

I had a desire to go to see the meeting where they were at
Whitehall; saith he, 'Thou seemest to have a great desire to go
and look about thee, it is very sad, but if you will go you
may.' I did go over the park.

He went about noon, the soldiers and people filled the place, and he went back in a quarter of an hour's time. When he got back, Peters was still in his chamber. He was melancholy sick, as he used to be.

LORD CHIEF-BARON--Did you desire to go, or did he send you?

GLOVER--I did desire to go, being newly come to London.

_Peters_ was then called on to make his defence. He began by pointing out that he had nothing to do with the beginning of the war.

I lived fourteen years out of England, when I came over I found
the wars begun; I began no war, my lord, nor have been the
trumpeter; when I came out of the West Indies I fled from the
war into Ireland, to the western parts there. I was neither at
Edge-Hill nor Naseby; but my lord, after I came over there was
war that the people were engaged in; I was not here in the
beginning of it, but was a stranger to the carriage of it. When
I came into the nation I looked after three things; One was that
there might be sound Religion; the second was that Learning and
Laws might be maintained; the third that the poor might be cared
for; and I must confess I have spent most of my time in these
things to this end and purpose.

He explains how he acted for these ends in Ireland, and how, being sent over to England, 'that we might have a little help in point of Excise and Customs,' he saw the state of the country, and

in some measure I did stir, but by strong importunities, the
ministers of London deeper than I; I am very sorry to hear of my
carriage towards the King; it is my great trouble; I beg pardon
for my own folly and weakness; I thought God had a great
controversy with the nation, and the Lord was displeased on all
hands; that which some people took to, I did take unto; I went
into the army; I saw at the beginning of it that corruptions
grew among them.... I had neither malice nor mischief in my
heart against the King; upon this I did engage so far, being
invited; I went into the wars, and there I found very strange
and several kinds of providences, as this day hath been seen; I
do not deny but that I was active, but not to stir in a way that
was not honourable. I had so much respect for his majesty,
particularly at Windsor, that I propounded to his majesty my
thoughts, three ways to preserve himself from danger, which were
good as he was pleased to think though they did not succeed, and
the work died; as for malice I had none in me; I have not
persecuted with malice, I will only take off malice.

The _Lord Chief-Baron_ reminded him that the business was a matter of fact, and shortly recapitulated the evidence against him. Consulting about the King's death; proposing or determining that he should die; making seditious speeches, in the pulpit or out of it, would all be overt acts proving treasonable intention. His conversations with Dr. Young at Milford, his meetings with Cromwell and others at the Star, his participation in the councils held at Starkey's house at Windsor, all proved the consulting and proposing. His presence at the meeting in the Painted Chamber; his riding in front of the King when he was brought to London (which Peters interrupted to explain that he did by the King's command that he might procure the Bishop of London to come to him); the part he took in ordering the reading the proclamation about the High Court, which Peters denied; his telling the soldiers to cry out Justice, Justice; his presence at the scaffold before the execution [_Peters_--'I do not profess to your lordship, before angels and men, that I did not stir out of my chamber that day.' _Lord Chief-Baron_--'Counsel doth not put reliance upon that because of what your witness saith, though his evidence is not satisfactory']; his prayers and his sermons all go to complete the case. When Peters objects that some of the witnesses to the sermons are but single witnesses, the judge expressly lays it down that the two witnesses required need not both speak to the same overt act.

The Solicitor then notices the main facts of the case in a still more abbreviated form, concluding:

The honour of the pulpit is to be vindicated; and the death of
this man will preach much better than his life did; it may be a
means to convert many a miserable person, whom the preaching of
this person hath seduced; for many come here and say they did it
'in the fear of the Lord'; and now you see who taught them; and
I hope you will make an example of this carnal prophet.

The jury after a little consultation found the prisoner Guilty; and he was forthwith sentenced to death in the usual terms.

WILLIAM HULET

William Hulet was arraigned on the 15th of October, and tried on the same day. He challenged no jurors, and refused pen and ink because he could not write; but as he had not well understood the indictment he desired it to be read over again, which was done.

Sir Edward Turner opened the case, alleging that Hulet was on the scaffold, in disguise, on the occasion of the execution, and suggesting that it was he who actually beheaded the King; a fact which he proposed to prove chiefly by Hulet's own admissions.

_Gittens_ was the first witness. He stated that he and Hulet were both serjeants in the same regiment at the time of the execution. A day or two before the King came to the scaffold about thirty-eight of them were sworn to secrecy by Colonel Hewson, and they were all asked whether they would behead the King for a hundred pounds, and a promise of preferment in the army. They all refused. At the time of the execution it seems that part of the regiment was on guard in Scotland Yard, and part in the Banqueting Chamber and on the scaffold. The witness was with the former part, but managed to get near the scaffold before the execution actually happened. 'Hulet (as far as I can guess), when the King came on the scaffold for his execution, and said, Executioner, is the block fast? fell on his knees.'

COUNSEL--Who did?

GITTENS--Hulet, to ask him forgiveness; by his speech I thought
it was he. Captain Atkins said, who would not undertake to do
this fact? I told him I would not do it for all the city of
London; no, nor I neither for all the world, saith Atkins; you
shall see Hulet quickly come to preferment; and presently after
he was made captain-lieutenant.

COUNSEL--Was he with his regiment that day?

GITTENS--We could not see him with the regiment all that day; he
was never absent at any time before.

COUNSEL--Did you know his voice?

GITTENS--Yes, sir. He had a pair of freeze trunk breeches, and a
vizor, with a grey beard; and after that time col. Hewson called
him 'father grey beard' and most of the army besides, he cannot
deny it.

In cross-examination Gittens repeated that he knew Hulet by his voice, and that he was by Captain Webb at the door of the Banqueting House.

_Stammers_ was afterwards in Hewson's troop when Hulet was captain-lieutenant, and marched at his orders to Luttrels-town; there Hulet questioned him as to his previous service, and asked whether he had ever served in the King's army: 'with that he walks about the room two or three turns; saith he, I was the man that beheaded King Charles, and for doing it I had an hundred pounds, saying I was a serjeant at that time.'

Cross-examined, he said that he had been in the troop about a fortnight; and that when he first saw Hulet he pretended that he was brother to one Chambers. Hulet said that his evidence did not agree with that which he had given in his examination at Dublin, and desired that the latter might be read; which was done, and it agreed with the testimony he had just given.

_Toogood_ was in Dublin in 1650, about September; he had some business with Hewson, where he saw Hulet, and observed that he was very familiar.

I asked Hewson what he was, he told me he was his
captain-lieutenant of horse; I desired to know where he had him?
he told me he made him so from a serjeant, and a very mettled
fellow he was; it was he that did the King's business for him
upon the scaffold. In 1653 there was a disbanding of the army in
Ireland; this gentleman was then continued captain-lieutenant
in Pretty's regiment; I discoursed with Pretty concerning him,
and one part of it, I remember, was about the King's death; and
he did tell me that he was assured by col. Hewson that Hulet
either cut off the King's head, or held it up, and said, 'Behold
the head of a traitor.' Col. Pretty could not tell me which of
the two it was; but I saw the person that did it, and methought
he did resemble this person.

Twelve months afterwards he came to live near the prisoner in Ireland, and meeting him at the White Horse in Carlow, asked whether he was the man that cut off the King's head or not.