The Oglio of Traitors: Including the Illegal Trial of his late MAJESTY. With a Catalogue of their names that sat as Judges and consented to the Judgement: With his MAJESTY'S Reasons against their usurped power and his late speech. To which is now added, the several depositions of the pretended Witnesses, as it is Printed in the French Copy: With the whole proceedings against Colonel J. Penruddock of Compton in Wilts, and his speech before he died. As also, the speech of that resolved Gentleman, Mr. Hugh Grove of Chissenbury Esquire, who was beheaded the same day: not before Printed. London, Printed by T. M. for William Shears at the Bible in Bedford street. The First Days Proceeding of the High Court of Justice, etc. THe Trial and the Execution of the last King of England, being still as much the wonder as the discourse of Christendom I shall endeavour to represent it to you, with the exactest faithfulness that can possibly be desired; and although others have gone before me on the same subject, by the benefit of time; I doubt not but that I shall exceed them, by the advantage of truth. In the Supreme Tribunal of Justice sitting at Whitehall in Westminster, Sergeant Bradshaw being Precedent, and about seventy other persons, elected to be his Judges, being present; the Crier of the Court, having proclaimed his O yes, to invite the people to attention, silence was commanded, and the Ordinance of the Commen in Parliament, in reference to the Examination of the King was read, and the Court was summoned, all the Members thereof ●●●sing as they were called. The King came into the Court, his head covered, Sergeant Dendy being remarkable by the Authority of his Mace, did usher him in; Colonel Hatcher, and about thirty Officers and Gentlemen did attend him as his Guard. The Court being sat the Lord Precedent Bradshaw speak thus unto him. Charles Stuart King of England, the Commons of England assembled in Parliament, being touched with the sense of the Calamities which have happened to this Nation, and of the innocent blood spilt, of which you are accused to be the Author, have both according to their office, which they owe to God, this Nation and themselves, according to the power & fundamental faith entrusted with them, by the people; Constituted this Supreme Court of Justice▪ before which you are now brought to hear your Charge, on which this Court will proceed. Mr. Crook the Solicitor General. Sir▪ In the Name of the Commons of England, and of all the people thereof: I do charge Charles Stuart here present, as guilty of Treason, and other great defaults, and in the name of the Commons of England, I require that his charge may be read unto him. The King. Stay alittle. L. Precedent. Sir the Court hath given order, that the Charge shall be read: If you have any thing afterwards to plead for yourself, you may be heard: Hereupon the Charge was read. THat the said Charles Stuart being admitted King of England, and therein trusted with a limited Power, to govern by; and according to the Laws of the Land, and not otherwise; And by his trust, Oath, and Office, being obliged to use the Power committed to him. For the good and benefit of the People, and for the preservation of Kights, and Libir●ies: yet nevertheless out of a wicked Design, to erect, and uphold in himself and unlimited and Tyrannical power, to rule according to his Will, and to overthrow the Rights and liberties of the people; Yea, to take away, and make void the foundations thereof, and all the redress and remedy of misgovernment, which by the fundamental constitutions of this Kingdom, were reserved on the people's behalf, in the right and power of frequent and successive Parliaments, or national meetings in Council, he the said Charles Stuart, for accomplishment of such his designs, and for the protecting of himself and his adherents, in his and their wicked practices, to the same ends, hath traterously and maliciously levied war against the present Parliament, and the people therein represented. Particularly, upon, or about the thirtieth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred forty and two, at Beverly, in the County of York, and upon, or about the 30. day of July, in the year aforesaid, in the County of the City of York; and upon, or about the 24. day of August, in the same year, at the County of the town of Nottingham (when and were he set up his Standard of war) And also on, or about the twenty third ●ay of October in the same year at Edghill, and Kenton field, in the County of Warwick; and upon or above the thirtieth day of November, in thet same year at Brainchford, in the County of Midalesex: And upon, or about the thirtieth day of August in the year of our Lord, One thousand six hundred forty and three, at Cavesham bridge near Reading, in the County of Berks; and upon, or about the thirtieth day of October, in the year last mentioned, at, or near the City of Gloster; and upon, or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned, at Newbury, in the County of Berks; And upon, or about the one & thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred forty and four, at Cropredybridge in the County of Oxon, And upon, or about the thirtieth day of September, in the year last mentioned, at Boamin, and other places near adjacent in the County of Cornwall And upon, or about the thirtieth day of November; in the year last mentioned, at Newberry aforesaid; and upon, or about the eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred forty and five, at the Town of Leicester; And also upon the fourteenth day of the same month, in the same year, at Naseby field, in the County of Norhampton. At which several times and places, or most of them, and at many other places in the Land, at several other times, within the year afore mentioned And in the year of our Lord, One thousand six hundred forty and six; he the said Charles Stuart, hath caused and procured many thousands of the Free-people of the nation to be slain; and by Divisions, parties and insurrections. within this land, by invasions from Forragine parts, endeavoured and procured by him, and by many other evil ways and means. He the said Charles Stuart, hath not only maintained & carried on the said War, both by land and sea, during the year before mentioned; but also hath renewed, or caused to be renewed, the said war against the Parliament, and good people of this Nation, in this present year. One thousand six hundred forty and eight, in the Counties of Kent Essex, Surry, Sussex, Middlesex, and many other Counties and places in England and Wales and also by sea, and particularly, he the said Charles Stuart, hath for that purpose, given Commission to his Son the Prince and others, whereby besides multitudes of other persons, many such as were by the Parliament entrusted and employed, for the safety of the Nation, being by him and his agents, corrupted, to the betraying of their Trust, and revolting from the Parliament, have had entertainment and commission, for the continuing and renewing of war and hostility, against the said Parliament and people as aforesaid. By which cruel and unnatural wars by him, the said Charles Stuart, levied, continued, and renewed as aforesaid, much innocent blood of the Free-people of this nation hath been spilt, many families have been undone, the public treasury wasted and exhausted, trade obstructed, & miserablely decayed; vast expense and damage to the Nation incurred, and many parts of the land spoiled, some of them even to desolation. And for further prosecution of his said evil designs he the said Charles Stuart doth still continue his Commissions to the said Prince, and other Rebels and Revolters, both English and Forraginers, and to the Earl of Ormand, and to the Irish Rebleses and Revolters, associated with him, from whom further invasions upon this Land are threatened, upon the procurment, and on the behalf of the said Charles Stuart. All which wicked designs, wars, and evil practices of him. The said Charles Stuart, have been and are carried on, for the advancing and upholding of the personal Interest of Will and Power, and pretended Prerogative to himself and family, against the public interest, Common Right, Liberty, Justice, and peace of the people of this Nation, by and for whom he was entrusted, as aforesaid. By all which it appeareth, that he the said Charles Stuart, hath been, and is the occasioner, author, and contriver of the said unnatural, cruel, and bloody wars, and therein guilty of all the treasons, murders, rapines, burning, spoils, desolations, damage and mischief to this Nation, acted or committed in the said wars, or occasioned thereby. And the said John Cook, by protestation (saveing on the behalf of the people of England, the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter, any other Charge against him the said Charles Stuart and also of the replying to the Answers which the said Charles Stuart shall make to the premises, or any of them, or any other Charge that shall be so exhibited) doth for the said treasons & crim's, on the behalf of the said people of England, impeach the said Charles Stuart, as a Tyrant, Tration, Murderer, and a public, & an implacable enemy to the Commonwealth of England: And pray, That the said Charles Stuart King of England, may be put to answer all and every the premises, that such proceedings, examminations, trials, sentence, and Judgement may be there aupon had, or shall be agreeable to Justice. The King was often times observed to smile in indignation, during the reading of the Charge espacially at the words Tyrant, TRAITOR, MURDERER, and public enemy to the Commonwealth. The full Proceedings of the High Court of Justice against King Charles I. In Westminster Hall, on Saturday the 20. of january, 1648. L. Precedent Bradshaw. SIR, You have now heard the Charge read, containing such matters, as do appear therein; you have observed, that in the Conclusion thereof, It is required of the Court, in the Name of the Commons of England, that you answer to your charge, which the Court doth expect. The King. I would be satisfied by what power I am called hither? It is not long since that I was in the Isle of Wight▪ How I came thither, the story is longer than I conceive fitting in this place to declare; But I there entered upon a Treaty with both Houses of Parliament, with as much public faith, as its possible to be obtained from any people in the World. I there treated with a number of honourable Lords and Gentlemen, and I treated honestly and faithfully with them; I cannot say, but they dealt very ingenuously with me; and we proceeded so far, that the Treaty was even concluded. Now I would understand by what Authority, (I mean lawful) I am brought hither? There are many unlawful Authorities in the world, as Thiefs and Plunderers in the highways. I would know by what authority I was taken from thence, and carried from place to place, I know not where? When I have understood the lawfulness of the Authority, I will make my Answer: In the mean time remember, that I am your King, your lawful King, and weigh well with yourselves, what sins you heap on your own heads, and the anger and judgements of God which you will bring upon this land, I say seriously weigh it before you further do proceed from one sin to a greater. Therefore declare unto me, by what lawful Authority I sit here, and I will not refuse to Answer you. In the mean time I will not betray my trust. I have a trust committed to me by God, by an ancient and lawful succession, I will not betray that by answering to a new and an unlawful Authority; wherefore satisfy me in this, and you shall hear further from me. L▪ Precedent Bradshaw. If you had but pleased to observe what the Court did suggest unto you, when you first came hither, you had understood by what Authority you were brought hither; which Authority doth require of you, in the Name of the People of England, by whom you are elected King, than you make answer to them. King▪ No Sir, I deny that. L. Precedent Bradshaw. If you do not acknowledge the Authority of the Court, they ought to proceed against you. King. I tell them that England was never an elective Kingdom, but hereditary, for almost these two thousand years. Therefore declare unto me, by what Authority I am brought hither. I labour more for the liberty of my people than any of you, who pretend to be my Judges; and therefore I say, declare unto me, by what lawful Authority I am placed here, and I will answer you; otherwise I shall make no answer at all. L. Precedent Bradshaw. Sir, how well you have administered the power committed to you, is sufficiently known: The method of your Answering is to put Interrogatories to the Court, which doth not become you in this Condition. Twice or thrice it hath been represented to you. King. There is present here a Gentleman, Lieutenant Colonel Cobbet, demand of him, if he did not bring me from the Isle of Wight by force: I come not hither to submit myself in this Court. I will do as much for the Privileges of the House of Commons, rightly understood, as any other: I see not here the House of Lords, which is able to constitute a Parliament, and the King ought to be the Superintendent there. Is this to bring the King to his Parliament? Is this to bring the public Treaty to an end, by the public Faith of the world? Either show me your Authority established by the Scriptures, which are the Word of God, or confirmed by the constitutions of the Kingdom, and I will answer you. L. Precedent Bradshaw. Sir, you have propounded a question, and an answer hath been rendered, but if you will not answer to what they do propound, the Court will take it into their consideration, how to proceed against you. In the mean time, they who brought you hither, shall return you back again. The Court desireth to be satisfied whether this be all the Answer that you will give them or not. King. I desire that you would resolve me and all the world, in this one particular. Give me leave to acquaint you, that it is a thing of no small importance which you go about. I am sworn to keep the peace according to the duty, which I owe to God and to my Land; and I will here perform it to the last breath of my Body: you shall therefore do well first to satisfy God, and afterwards the Land, by what Authority you do this. If you do it by an usurped Authority, you cannot defend it. God who sitteth in the Heavens, will call you, and all those, who have conferred this power on you, to give him an account of it. Satisfy me in this, and I shall answer you, for otherwise I should betray the Faith committed to me, and the liberties of my people: Wherefore consider of it, and I shall be willing to answer you. For I do profess, it is as great a sin to resist a lawful Authority, as to submit unto a Tyrannical, or any other unlawful authority: wherefore resolve me in this particular, and you shall receive my Answer. L. Precedent Bradshaw. The Court expecteth that you should give them a final Answer, and will adjourn until Monday next: If you cannot satisfy yourself; although we tell you our Authority, our Authority will satisfy ourselves; And it is according to the Authority of God and and the Kingdom, and the Peace (of which you speak) shall be preserved in the Administration of Justice, and that is our present work. King. I give you this for my Answer, you have not shown me any lawful Authority, which may satisfy any reasonable man. L. Precedent Bradshaw. It is only your apprehension, we are fully satisfied, who are your Judges. King It is not my apprehension, nor yours which ought to determine this. L. Precedent Bradshaw. The Court hath heard you, and disposed of you accordingly as their discretions have thought expedient. The Court adjourneth to the Painted Chamber, until Monday at ten of the clock in the morning, and from thence hither. Something that was ominous, ought not to be passed by in silence, when the Charge was read against the King, the silver head of his staff did full off, which he much did wonder at, and observing no man so officious to assist him, he stooping towards the ground did take it up himself. As the King returned, looking on the Court, he said, I fear not thee, meaning the Sword. As he came down the stairs, the people, who were in the Hall, cried out, some of them, God save the King; but the greater part, Justice, Justice. The second days proceeding against the King, January 22, etc. THe Crier having thrice pronounced his Oyes, and silence commanded, after that the Judges were called, and every one did particulary answer to his Name. Silence was again commanded under pain of imprisonment, and the Captain of the Guards was ordered to apprehended any that should endeavour to make a tumult. At the commanding of the King into the Court, there was a great shout and the Court commanded the Captain of the Guards to apprehend and imprison those, who should make either a noise or tumult. The Court being sat, the Solicitor turning to the Precedent, said, May it Please your Lordship, my Lord Precedent, In the former Court on Saturday, in the Name of the Commons of England, I exhibited and offered to this Tribunal the charge of high Treasons, and other grievous crimes against the Prisoner, with which I did charge him In the Name of the People of England, and his charge was read, and his Answer demanded. My Lord, It pleased him at that time t● return no answer at all, but instead of answering, he questioned the Authority of the High Court: My most humble motion to this High Court in the Name of the people of the Kingdom of England, is that the prisoner may be compelled to give a positive answer, either by way of Confession or Negation, which if he shall refuse, that the subject of his Charge may be taken for granted, & the Court proceed according to justice. L. Precedent. Sir, you may remember that on the last convention of this Court, the cause was expounded to you, for which you were brought hither, and you heard the charge against you read, it being a charge of High Treason and other grievous crimes against the Kingdom of England: you heard likewise, that it was required in the Name of the people, that you should answer to your charge, that there should be a proceeding thereon, as should be agreeable unto Justice: you were then pleased to move some scruples concerning the authority of this Court, and you desired to be satisfied in your knowledge, by what authority you were brought hither: you several times did propound your questions, and it was often answered to you, that it was by authority of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament, who did judge it requisite to call you to an account, for the great and grievous crimes of which you are accused. After that the Court did take into their serious consideration, those things which you objected, and they are fully satisfied in their authority; and do conceive it requisite, that you should admit it; they therefore require that you give a positive and a particular Answer to the charge exhibited against you: they do expect that you should either confess or deny it. If you shall deny it, it will be proved in the behalf of the Kingdom, the whole world doth approve of their Authority. So that the Kingdom is satisfied, and you ought thereby to be satisfied yourself; you ought not therefore to waste time but to give your positive answer. King. It is true, that when I was last here I moved that question: and indeed, if if it where only my business in particular, I should have satisfied myself with that protestation, I then interposed against the lawfulness of this Court; and that a King cannot be judged by any superior jurisdiction on earth; but my on interests are not only involved in it: but the liberties also of the people of England; and pretend what you will, I do endeavour more for their liberties, than any whatsoever. For if Power without laws, can make laws change the Fundamental laws of the Kingdom, I know not what subject in England can be secure of his life, or of any thing which he doth call his own: Wherefore when I came hither, I expected particular reasons, that I might understand by what law, and what Authority you would proceed against me. I should then perceive what most especially I have to say unto you; for the affirmative is to be proved, which seldom the Negative is capable of; but because I cannot persuade you thus, I will give you my Reason as briefly as I can. The Reasons for which in conscience and duty which I owe, first unto God, and afterwards to my people, for the preservation of their lives, their liberties, and their fortunes: I believe I cannot answer until I am satisfied of your legality of it. All proceeding against any man whatsoever,— Precedent. Sir, I must interrupt you, which I would not do, but that which you do, agreeth not with the proceeding of any Tribunal of Justice, you enter into a controversy, and dispute against the Authority of this Court, before which you appear a prisoner, and are accused as a great Delinquent, If you will take upon you to controvert the Authority of this Court, we cannot give way unto it; neither will any tribunal of Justice admit it; you ought to submit unto the Court, and to give an exact and direct Answer, whether you will answer to your charge or not, and what is the answer that you make. King. Sir I know not the formalities of the law, I know the law and reason; and although I am no professed Lawyer, I know the law as well as any Gentleman in England, and I am more eager for the Liberties of the people of England than you are? and if I should believe any man, without he gives me Reasons what he saith, It would be abused; but I say unto you, that the Reasons which you give is no ways satisfactory. L. Precedent. Sir I must interrupt you, for it cannot be permitted to you in this manner to proceed: you spoke of law and reason, it is fit that there should be both law and reason, and they are both against you. Sir the Vote of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament, is the reason of the Kingdom, and they ordained this law according to which you ought to Reign, Sir, It is not lawful for you dispute against our Authority. This again hath been told you by the Court. Sir, Notice will be taken that you contemn the Court, and this contempt of yours will be recorded. King. I know not how a King can be interpreted to be a Delinquent, but by any law that I ever heard, all men, whether Delinquent, or what you will, may lawfully make objections against their Profess; this is that which I require, and I again desire that my Reasons may be heard. If you deny this, you deny Reason. L. Precedent. Sir, you have objected something to the Court; I will declare unto you their opinion. Sir, it is not lawful for you or any man else to dispute against this subject; It is Decreed, you ought not to dispute against the jurisdiction of this Tribunal; If you shall yet do it, I must intimate unto you, that they are above objections. They set here by Authority of the Commons of England; and all your Predecessors and you yourself are bound to be accountable to them. King. I sdeny that, show me one example. L. President Sir, you ought not to interrupt, but attend whilst the Court speaks unto you. This subject is not to be disputed by you, neither will the Court permit that you should object against the jurisdiction of it, they have considered of their jurisdiction and do approve it. King. Sir, I say that the Commons of England were never a Court of judicature, and I would fain know, how they came to be made so now? Precedent Sir, it is not permitted to you to proceed in those discourses. Then the Secretary of the Court did read as followeth. Charles Stuard King of England you have been accused in the Name of the people of England of High Treason, and other grievous Crimes. The Court hath determined that you shall answer to your charge. King. I will answer as soon as ever I shall understand, by what authority you do these things. Precedent. If this be all that you will speak: Gentlemen, you who brought the prisonner hither, take him back again. King. I demand, that I may be permitted to exhibit my Reasons why I answer not unto the Charge, and give me time to perform this. Precedent. Sir, it is not for prisoners to demand. King. Prisoner's Sir! I am no ordinary prisoner. Precedent. The Court hath considered of their own jurisdiction, and they have also confirmed their jurisdiction: If you will not answer, we will give order that your Default be recorded. King. You have not yet heard my Reasons▪ Precedent. Your Reasons are not to be heard against the Supreme Jurisdiction. King. Show me that jurisdiction in the world, where Reason is not to be heard. Precedent. Sir, we show it you here, the Commons of England; and the next time you are brought hither, you shall understand further of the pleasure of the Court, and peradventure their final sentence, King. Show me, where the House of Commons was ever a Court of Judicature in that kind. Precedent. Serjeant take away the Prisoner. King. Sir, Remember that the King is not suffered to declare his Reasons, for the Liberty and Immunities of his subjects. Precedent., Sir That Freedom of speech is not permitted to you, how great a friend you have been to the laws and the Liberties of the people, let England and all the world judge! King. Sir, by your leave, I have always loved the Liberty, the Immunities, & Laws of the subjects; If I have defended myself by Arms, I have not taken them up against the people, but for them. Precedent. You must obey the Decree of the Court, you give no answer to the Charge against you. King. Well Sir! And so was he brought to the House of Sir Robert Cotton; and the Court was adjourned to the Painted Chamber, until Wednesday following at twelve of the clock at what hour they intended to adjourn again to Westminster-hal, where all, whom it doth concern, are commanded to be present. The third days proceedings against the late King at the High Court of Justice, Tuesday Jan. 23. 1648. THe Crier according to the Custom, having with his Oyes commanded silence and attention; the King being sat, Mr. Attorney General turning to the L. President spoke in these words. May it please your Lordship: 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, and yet by reason of his refusal to put in his Answer, there is yet no issue joined in the cause. My Lord, I did at the first exhibit a Charge against him, containing the highest practices of Treason, that were ever wrought on the Theatre of England. That a King of England trusted to keep the Laws of England, and who had taken an Oath so to do, & had tribute paid him for that end, should be guilty of so wicked a design as to subvert our Laws, and introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical Government, and set up his standard of war against his Parliament and his 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 his charge. But my Lord, instead of making an answer, he did then dispute the Authority of this Tribunal, and your Lordship being pleased to give him a further day to put in his answer, which was yesterday, I did move again that he might be required to put in a direct and positive answer to his charge, either by denying or confessing it; but he was then pleased to debate the Jurisdiction of the Court, although he was commanded to give a positive answer. My Lord, by reason of this great delay of Justice, I shall humbly move for speedy judgement against him I may press your Lordship upon the known Rules of the Laws of the Land, that if a prisoner shall stand in contempt and not plead guilty or not guilty to the charge given against him, it, by an implicit confession, aught to be taken pro confesso, as I may instance in divers who have deserved more favour than the prisoner at the Bar hath done But I shall press upon the whole fact. The House of Commons, the Supreme Authority of the Kingdom, have declared, (my Lord) that it is notorious. The matter of the charge is true, and clear as crystal, or as the Sun that shineth at Noon day, in which my Lord Precedent, if your Lordship and the Court be not satisfied, I have several witnesses on the behalf of the people of England to produce, and therefore I do humbly pray, and not so much I, as the innocent blood that hath been shed, the cry whereof is great for Justice and Judgement, that speedy Judgement may be pronounced against the prisoner at the Bar. Precedent. Sir, you have heard what hath been moved by Mr. Solicitor on the behalf of the Kingdom against you. Sir you may well remember, and if you do not, the Court cannot forget the delays which you have made. You have been pleased to propound some Questions, and amply you have had your resolution on them, you have been often told that the Court did affirm their own jurisdiction; & that it was not for you nor any other man to dispute the Jurisdiction of the highest Authority of England, from which there is no appeal, and touching which there must be no dispute; yet you did deport yourself in that manner, that you gave no obedience, nor did acknowledge any Authority either in them or the Supreme Court of Parliament that constituted this high Court of Justice. Sir, the Court gives you to understand that they are very sensible of these demurs, and that being thus authorised by the High Court of England, they ought not to be trifled withal, especially, seeing if they please, they may take advantage of these delays, and according to the rules of Justice, proceed and pronounce Judgement against you: Nevertheless they are so favourable as to give direction to me, and therefore on their behalf I do require you to make a positive answer to this charge, that hath been read against you. Justice knows no respect of persons. You are to give your positive and final Answer in plain English, whether guilty or not guilty, of the Treason laid to your charge. The King having meditated a little did answer in these words. When I was here yesterday, I desired to speak for the Liberties of the people of England, I desire yet to know, whether without interruption, I may speak freely or not. Precedent. Sir, on the like Question you had yesterday the resolution of this Court; you were told that having a charge of so high a nature against you, your work was to acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Court, and to answer the charge; after you have done that, you shall be heard at large to make what defence you can for yourself; but Sir, the Court commands me to make known unto you that you are not permitted to run into any other discourses, until such time that you have returned a positive Answer to the matter that is charged upon you. King. I value not the charge a rush: It is the Liberty of the people of England that I stand for. For me who am your King, and should be an example to all the Courts in England to uphold Justice, and maintain the old Laws; for me I say to acknowledge a new Court, that I never heard of before, is a thing that I know not how to do. You did speak very well on the first day. I came hither, concerning the obligations that I have laid upon me by God, for the maintenance of the Liberties of my people. I do acknowledge that I do owe the same obligations to God and my people, to defend as much as in me lies the ancient Laws of the Kingdom: therefore until I be satisfied that it is not against the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom, I can put in no particulars to the Charge. If you will give me time, I will show you my Reasons wherefore I cannot do it; and Here being interrupted, he said. By your favour you ought not to interrupt me. How I came here I do not know. There is no law to make your King your prisoners, I was in a Treaty upon the public faith of the Kingdom, that was the known— two Houses of Parliament, that was the Representative of the Kingdom; and when I had almost made an end of the Treaties; I was hurried away, and brought thither; and therefore I would— Precedent. Sir, you must know the pleasure of the Court. King, By your favour Sir,— Precedent. Nay Sir, by your favour you may not be permitted to run into these discourses, you appear here as a Delinquent, you have not acknowledged the Authority of the Court, the Court once more doth command you to give your positive Answer? M▪ Broughton Do your Duty. King Duty Sir. M. Broughton reads, Charles Stuart, King of England, you are accused in the behalf of the Commons of England of divers high Crimes and Treasons, which Charge hath been read unto you; The Court now requires you to give your positive and final answer either by way of confession or by denial of the Charge. King. Sir, I say again unto you, If thereby I may give satisfaction to the people of England of the uprightness of my proceedings, not by way of answer, but to satisfy them that I have done nothing against that trust, that hath been committed to me: I would do it; but to acknowledge a new Court, against their privileges, to alter the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom, you must excuse me, if I shall refuse to do it. Precedent Sir, This is the third time, that you have publicly disowned this Court, and put an affront upon it. How far you have preserved the privileges of the People, your actions have spoke: And truly Sir, If men's intentions can be known by their actions, you have written your intentions in bloody Characters throughout the whole Kingdom: But Sir, you are to understand the pleasure of the Court— Clerk Record the default—. And Gentlemen, you that are a guard to the prisoner, take him back again. King. I will only add this one word, If it were only my own particular, I would not say any more, nor interrupt you at all. Precedent. Sir, you have heard the pleasure of the Court, and notwithstanding you will not understand it, you are to find that you are before a Court of Justice The King going forth, Proclamation was made, that all persons, who then appeared; and had further to do with the Court, might depart into the Painted Chamber, to which place the Court adjourned, being resolved to meet again in Westminster-hall by ten of the Clock the next morning. Wednesday January 24. The Court being this day employed upon Examinations of witnesses, and other things, in order to their next proceedings, did appoint one of their Ushers to give notice to the people there assembled to appear on further summons. The last proceedings against the King, wherein they pronounced Sentence upon him, on Saturday January 27. 1648. SIlence being commanded by the Crier, the Court was called, and Sergeant Bradshaw the Lord Precedent, was that day in a scarlet Gown. There were present that day, sixty and eight Members of the Court. The King turning to the Lord Precedent said; I shall desire to be heard some few words, and I shall give no occasion of interruption. Precedent. You may answer in due time, hear the Court first. King. If it please you Sir, I desire to be heard; and I shall not give any occasion of interruption, and it is only in a word. A sudden Judgement— Precedent Sir you shall be heard (as I have told you) in due time, but you must hear the Court first. King. Sir, What I am to speak will be in order, as I conceive, to what I believe the Court will say, and therefore Sir, I desire to be heard, A hasty judgement is not so soon recalled. Precedent. Sir, you shall be heard before judgement be given, and in the mean time, you ought to forbear. King. Well Sir I shall be heard before the judgement be given. Precedent. Gentlemen, it is well known to all or the greatest part of you here present, that the prisoner at the Bar hath been several times convented, and brought before this Court, to make answer to a charge of Treason, and other high Crimes, exhibited against him in the Name of the people of England, to which charge being oftentimes commanded to answer; he hath been so far from submiting to the Court, as he hath under taken to object against, & dispute the Authority of this Court, & of the High Court of Parliament, who constituted this Court to try and judge him; but being overruled in that, and commanded to make answer; he was still pleased to persevere in his contumacy and refused to submit to answer; whereupon the Court, that they may not be wanting to themselves, and to the trust reposed in them; nor that any man's wilfulness shall prevent the course of Justice; have considered of the contempt, and of that consequence which in Law doth arise on that contempt. They have likewise considered of the notoriousness of the Fact charged upon the prisoner, and upon the whole matter are resolved, and have agreed upon a Sentence to be now pronounced against him, but in regard he hath desired to be heard before Sentence he read and pronounced, the Court is resolved to hear him: yet Sir, thus much I must tell you before hand, of which also you have been minded at the other Courts, that if what you are to propose shall tend to dispute the Jurisdiction of the Court, you are not to be heard therein: you have offered it formerly, and you have indeed struck at the root, which is the power and Supreme Authority of the Commons of England, of which this Court will admit no debate; and indeed it would be an unreasonable thing in them so to do, being a Court which doth act upon that Authority which they have received from them; they will not presume to judge upon their Superiors, from whom there is no appeal. But Sir, If you have any thing to say in defence of yourself, concerning the matter with which you are charged; the Court hath given me command to let you know, they will hear you. King. Since I perceive, you will not hear any thing of Debate concerning that which I confess I thought most material for the peace of the Kingdom, and the Liberty of the Subject; I shall wave it, and speak nothing of it, only I must tell you, that these many days all things have been taken from me, but that I call more dear unto me than my life, which is my conscience and my Honour; and if I had respect to my life more than to the peace of the Kingdom, and the Liberty of the Subject; I should certainly have made a particular defence for myself, for by that at least I might have deferred an ugly sentence which I expect to pass upon me. Therefore undoubtedly; Sir, as a man that hath some understanding, some knowledge of the world if that my true zeal to my Country, had not overborn the care of my own preservation, I should have gone another way to work than now I have done. Now Sir, I conceive that a hasty sentence once passed may sooner be repent then revoked; and truly the same fervent desire I have for the peace of the Kingdom, & the Liberty of the Subject, more than my own particulars, doth make me now at last move that, having something to say concerning both, I may be heard before my Sentence be pronounced, before the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber. This delay cannot be prejudicial to you whatsoever I shall utter. If I speak not reason▪ those that hear me must be my Judges, but if it be Reason, and really for the welfare of the Kingdom; and the Liberty of the subject; I am sure of it; it will be well worth the bearing. Therefore I conjure you as you love that which you pretend (I hope it is real) the Liberty of the Subject, and the peace of the Kingdom, that you will grant me the hearing before sentence be past. I only desire this, that you will take this into your consideration. It may be you have not heard of it before hand, If you think well of it; I will retire, and you may think of it; but if I cannot get this Liberty; I do here protest, that so fair shows of Liberty and peace are but pure shows and no otherwise, if in this you will not hear your King? Precedent. Sir, you have now spoken. King. Yes, Sir. Precedent. And this which you have spoken, is but a further declining of the Jurisdiction of this Court, which is the thing wherein you were limited before. King. Pray excuse me, Sir, for my interruption, because you do mistake me. It is not a declining of it, you do judge me before you hear me speak; I say I will not, I do not decline it; although I cannot acknowledge the Jurisdiction of it in this, give me leave to say, that though I would not, though I did not acknowledge it in this; yet I protest, this is not to decline it, since I say, If that which I shall propound be not for the peace of the Kingdom, and the Liberty of the subject, than the shame is mine: Now I desire that you will take this into your consideration; if you will, I will withdraw. Precedent. Sir; This is not altogether new, that you have offered unto us, I say, it is not altogether new unto us, although it be the first time that in person you have offered it to the Court Sir, you say you do not decline the Jurisdiction of the Court. King. Not in this that I have said. Precedent. I understand you well enough Sir, Nevertheless that which you have propounded seems to be contrary to that which you have said, for the Court are ready to proceed to sentence: It is not (as you say) that they will not hear their King: For they have been ready to hear you, they have patiently waited your pleasure for three Court days together, to hear what you would answer to the people's charge against you, to which you have not vouchsafed to give any answer at all. Sir, this doth tend to a further delay, and truly Sir, Such delays as these, neither may the Kingdom nor Justice admit: You have had the advantage of three several days to have offered in this kind, what you were pleased to have propounded to the Lords and Commons. This Court is founded upon the Authority of the Commons of England, in whom resteth the Supreme Jurisdiction: That which you now tender to the Court, is to be tried by another Jurisdiction, a coordinate Jurisdiction, I know very well, how you have expressed yourself, and that notwithstanding, what you would propound to the Lords and Commons, yet neverthesess, you would proceed on here; I did hear you say so, but Sir, That which you would offer there, whatsoever it be, must needs be in delay of Justice here, so as if this Court be resolved and prepared for the sentence, they are bound in Justice not to grant that which you so much desire; but, Sir, according to your desire, and because you shall know the full pleasure of the Court upon that, which you have moved, the Court shall withdraw for a time. King Shall I withdraw? Precedent. Sir, you shall know the the pleasure of the Court presently. The Court withdraws for half an hour into the Court of Wards, Sergeant at Arms, the Court gives you command that the prisoner withdraw, and that about half an hour hence the prisoner be returned again. The time being expired, the Court returned, and the Lord Precedent commanded the Sergeant at Arms to send for his prisoner. The King being come attended with his Guard, The Lord Precedent said unto him, Sir, you were pleased to make a motion here to the Court, concerning the desire you had to propound something to the Lord● and Commons in the Painted Chamber for the peace of the Kingdom Sir, you did in effect receive an Answer before the Court adjourned Truly Sir, their adjournment and withdrawing was pro formâ tantum, for it did not seem to them, that there was any difficulty in the thing; they have considered of what you moved, and have considered of their own Authority, which is grounded, as it hath been often, said, upon the Supreme Authority of the Commons of England, Assembled in Parliament. The Court doth act according to their Commission. Sir, I have received an express Order from the Court, to acquaint you, that they have been too much delayed by you already, and that this which you have now offered, hath occasioned some little further delay; they are Judges appointed by the highest Judges, and Judges are no more to delay than they are to deny Justice; they are good words in the old Charter of England, Nulli negabimus, nulli vendemus, nulli deferremus justitiam; There must be no delay, but Sir, the Truth is, and so every man here observes it, that you have much delayed them by your contempt and default; for which long since they might have proceeded to judgement against you; therefore notwithstanding, what you have offered, they are resolved to proceed to punishment and to judgement; and this is their unanimous resolution. King. Sir, I see it is in vain for me to dispute, I am no Sceptic to doubt, or to deny the power that you have: I do know that you have power enough. Sir, I confess, I do believe it would have been advantageous to the peace of the Kingdom, if you would have been pleased to take the pains to show the lawfulness of your power. As for this delay, which I have desired, I do confess it is a delay, but it is a delay that is important for the peace of the Kingdom: It is not my person that I look on alone; It is the welfare of the Kingdom, the peace of the Kingdom. It is an old saying, that we should think on long, but perform great matters suddenly. Therefore, Sir, I do say again, I do put at your doors, all the inconveniences of a hasty sentence. I have been here now a full week, this day eight days, was the day in which I made in this place, my first appearance; The short respite but of a day, or two longer, may give peace unto the Nation; whereas an hasty judgement may bring such a perpetual trouble and inconvenience upon it, that is, the Child unborn may repent it. And therefore once more out of the duty I owe to God, and to my Country, I do desire that I may be heard by the Lords and Commons in the painted Chamber, or any other place that you will appoint me. Precedent. Sir, you have been already answered to what you have moved, it being the same motion which you made before, for which you have had the resolution and the judgement of the Court in it; and the Court would now be satisfied from you, whether you have any more to say for yourself than you have yet said, before they proceed to sentence. King. I say this, Sir, that if you will but hear me, and give me this delay, I doubt not, but I shall give some satisfaction to all that are present, and to my people that are absent; and therefore I require you, as you will answer it at the dreadful day of Judgement, that you will once again take it into your consideration. Precedent. Sir, I have received instructions from the Court. King. Well Sir, President. If this must be reinforced, or any thing of this nature, your answer must be the same, as it was before, and they will proceed to sentence, if you have no more to say? King. Sir, I have nothing more to say, only I desire that this may be entered what I have said. Precedent. The Court Sir, then hath something else to say to you, which although I know will be very unwelcome; yet notwithstanding, they are resolved to discharge their duty. Sir, you have spoken very well of a precious thing, that you call a peace; and it were much to be wished, that God had put it into your heart, that you had as effectually endeavoured, and studied the peace of the Kingdom, as in words you seem to pretend; but as the other day, it was represented to you, that actions must expound intentions: Your actions have been clean contrary, and truly, Sir, it doth appear very plainly to the Court, that you have gone upon very erroneous principles. This Kingdom hath felt it to their smart, and it will be no comfort to you, to think of it; for Sir, you have been heard to let fall such language, as if you had not been subject to the Law, or that the Law had not been your Superior. The Court is very sensible of it, I hope, so are all the understanding people of England, That the Law is your Superior: you ought to have ruled according to the law, you ought to have done so, and your pretence hath been, that you have done so: But Sir, the question is who shall be the expositors of the Law, whether you and your party out of the Courts of Justice shall take upon you to expound the Law? Or whether the Courts of Justice, shall be the expounders themselves? Nay, this Sovereign and high Court of Justice, the Parliament of England, who may well be obliged to be the highest expounders of the Law, since they are the Sole makers of it: Sir, for you to set yourself with your single judgement, or for those who adhere unto you, to set themselves against the highest Court of Justice, there is no Law for it. Sir, as the Law is your superior, so truly, there is something that is Superior to the Law, which is the Parent, or Author of the Law, and that is the people of England: For as they are those who at first (as other Countries have done) did choose unto themselves this form of Government, that Justice might be administered and the peace preserved: so they gave Laws unto their Governors, according to which they were to govern; and if those Laws should have proved inconvenient, or prejudicial to the public, they had power in them reserved to themselves to alter, as they should find cause. It is very true, what some of your side have alleged; Rex non habet parem in regno This Court will affirm the same in some sense, that whilst King, you have not your Peer; for you are major singulis, but they will aver again, that you are minor universis; and the same Author tells you, that in exhibitione juris, you have no power, but they are quasi minimus This we know to be Law, Rex haebt superiorem Deum & legem, etiam & Curiam, and so says the same Author; and he makes bold to proceed further Debent ei fraenum ponere, they ought to bridle him. We know very well the stories of old: we cannot be ignorant of those Wars that were called the Baron's Wars, when the Noblity of the Land did stand out for the Liberty and the property of the Subject, and would not suffer the Kings that did invade their Liberties to play the Tryants, but did call them to an account for it, and did fraenum ponere But Sir, If the Nobility of the Land do forbear to do their duty now, and are not so mindful of their own Honour and the Kingdom's good, as the Barons of England of old have been; certainly, the Commons of England will not be unmindful of what is requisite for their preservation and their safety. Justitiae fruendi causa Reges constituti sunt. By this we learn, that the end of having Kings, or Governors, is for their enjoying of Justice, that is the end. Now Sir, If the King will go contrary to that end, or if any Governor will go contrary to the end of his government, he must understand, that he is but an Officer in trust, and that he ought to discharge that trust, and order is to be taken for the animadversion and punishment of such an offending Governor. Sir, This is not a Law of yesterday (since the time of the division betwixt you and the Parliament) but it is a Law of old; And we know very well both the Authors and the Authorities that acquaint us what the Law was in that point, on the election of Kings, when they took their Oath to be true unto the people; and if they did not observe it, there were those remedies instituted which are called Parliaments. The Parliaments were they that were to adjudge (the very words of the Authors) the plainness and wrongs done by the King and Queen, or by their Children; such wrongs eespecially, when the people could have no where else a remedy. Sir, this is the Case of the people of Eugland, they could not have their remedy else where but in Parliament. Sir, Parliaments were instituted for that intent, it was their main end, that the grievances of the people might be redressed, and truly, if the Kings of England had been rightly mindful of themselves, they were never more in Majesty or State, than in the time of the Parliament: but how forgetful some have been, Histories have informed us; and we ourselves have a miserable, a lamentable, and a sad experence of it. Sir, by the old Laws of England (I speak these things the rather to you, because you were pleased to affirm the other day, that you had as much knowledge in the Law as most Gentlemen of England. It is very well Sir, and truly Sir, it is very sit for the Gentlemen of England to understand the Laws under which they must live, and by which they must be governed; And then Sir, the Scripture says, they that know their Ma-Masters will and do it not; you know what follows, the Law is your Master, the acts of Parliament) the Parliaments were anciently to be kept twice in the year, as we find in our old Author, that the Subject upon any occasion might have a remedy and a redress for his grievance. Afterwards by several Acts of Parliament in the days of your predecessor Edward the third; they were to be but once a year. What the Intermission of Parliaments in your times hath produced, is very well known, and the sad consequences of it; as also what in the interim instead of Parliaments, there hath been by you, by a high and arbitrary hand introduced upon the people. But when God by his Providence had so far brought it about, that you could no longer decline the calling of a Parliament▪ a Parliament was called; where it may appear, what your ends were against your ancient and Native Kingdom of Scotland but this Parliament of Engl. not serving your turn against them, you were pleased to dissolve it. Not long after, another great necessity occasioned the calling of this Parliament, and what your designs and endeavours all along have been for the crushing and confounding of it, hath been most notorious to the whole Kingdom. And truly Sir, in that you did strike at all, it had been a sure way to have brought about that which this Charge doth lay upon you; your intention to subvert the fundemental Laws of the Land, for the great Bulwarks of the people's Liberty, is the Parliament of England, and to subvert and root up that, which your aim hath been to do, would certainly at one blow, have confounded the Liberties and the properties of England. Truly Sir, It makes me call to mind (I cannot forbear to express it) for Sir, we must deal plainly with you according to the merits of your Cause, for so is our commission, It makes me, I say, to call to mind, what I have read of a great Roman Emperor, a great Roman tyrant, may I call him, Caligula by name, who wished that the people of Rome had but one Neck, that at one blow he might cut it off: Your proceedings have been something like to this, the people of England have been & are no where else to be represented but in Parliament; and could you have but confounded that, you had at one blow cut off the neck of England But God hath reserved better things for us and hath been pleased to break your Forces and to overthrow your designs, and to bring your person in to custody, that you might be answerable unto Justice. Sir, we know very well that it is a question which hath been much pressed by your side, By what Precedents we shall proceed, Truly Sir, for Precedents, I shall not at this present make any long discourse on that subject; howsoever, I shall acquaint them, that it is no new thing to cite Precedents almost out of all Nations, where the people (when power hath been in their hands) have not sticked to call their Kings to an account, and where a change of Government hath ensued upon the occasion of the Tyranny and misgovernment of those that have been placed over the people. I will not waste time to mention France, or Spain, or the Empire of Germany, or any other Country; Volumes may be written of it: But truey Sir, that Precedent of the Kingdom of Arragon hath by some of us been thought upon. The Justice of Arragon, is as a man tanquam in medio positus, it is placed between the people of that Country and the King of Spain; so that if wrong be done by the King of Arragon, the Justice of Arragon hath power to reform that wrong, and he is acknowledged the King's Superior; and bring the grand prisoner of the Privileges, and Liberties of the people; he hath prosecuted against the Kings for their misgovernment. Sir, What the Tribunes were heretofore to Rome, and what the Ephori were to the State of Lacedaemon, we sufficiently know, they were as the Parliament of England to the English State: and though Rome seemed to have lost her Liberty when once the Emperors were constituted; yet you shall find some exemplary Acts of Justice even done by the Senate of Rome, on the great Tyrant of his time, Nero, who was by them condemned and adjudged unto death. But why Sir, should I make mention of these Foreign Histories and Examples unto you. If we shall look but over the Tweed, we shall find Examples enough in your Native Kingdom of Scotland. If we look on your first King Forgusius, he was an elective King, he died and left two Sons, both in their minority: The elder brother afterwards giving small hopes to the people, that he would govern them well; so because he endeavoured to have supplanted his Uncle, who was chosen by the people to govern them in his minority; he was rejected by the people for it, and the younger Brother was chosen, etc. Sir, I will not take upon me to express what your Histories do at large declare; you know very well that you are the hundred and nineth King of Scotland; to mention all the Kings, which the people of that Kingdom, according to their power and Privilege, have made bold to deal withal, either to banish, imprison, or put to death, would be too long a story for this time and place. Reges (say your own Authors) we created Kings, at first, Leges, etc. we imposed Laws upon them, and as they were chosen by the suffrages of the people at the first, so upon the same occasion, by the same suffrages they may be taken down again; and of this, I may be bold to say, that no Kingdom in the World, hath yielded a more plentiful experience, than your Native Kingdom of Scotland, on the deposition and the punishment of their transgressing Kings. I need not go far for an Example, your Grandmother was set aside, and your Father an Infant Crowned. This State hath done the like in England. The Parliament and people of England, have made bold to call their King to an account therein, frequent Examples of it in the Saxons time, the time before the Conquest, and since the Conquest, there have not wanted some Precedents: King Edward the second, King Richard the second, were so dealt with by the Parliament, and were both deposed, and deprived, and truly Sir, whosoever shall look into their stories, shall not find the Articles that are charged upon them to come near to the height, and the Capitalnesse of the crimes, that are laid to your charge, nothing near. Sir, you were pleased the other day to allege your descent, and I did not contradict it, but take all together, if you go higher than the Conquest, you shall find that for almost a thousand years these thing have been, and if you come down since the Conquest, you are the four and twentieth King from William called the Conqueror, and you shall find one half of them to come merely from the State, and not merely upon the point of Descent. This were easy to be instanced. The time must not be lost that way. I shall only represent what a grave and learned Judge said in his time, who was well known unto you, the words are since printed for posterity: That although there were such a thing as a Descent many times, yet the Kings of England ever held the greatest assurance of their Titles, when it was declared by Parliament. And Sir, your Oath, and the manner of your Coronation, doth plainly show, that the Kings of England, although it's true by the Law, the next person in blood is designed, yet if there were a just cause to refuse him, the people of England might do it. For there is a Contract and a bargain made betwixt the King and his people, and your Oath is taken, and certainly Sir, the Bond is reciprocal, for as you are Liege Lord, so are they Liege Subjects, and we know very well that Legantis est duplex, the one is a Bond of perfection, that is due from the Sovereign, the other is a Bond of Subjection which is due from the Subject, for if this Bond be once broken, farewell Sovereignty, ●ubjectio trahit, etc. These things may not be denied, for I speak it the rather (and I pray God it may work upon your heart) that you may be sensible of your miscarriages, for whether you have been as you ought to be, a Protector of England, or a destroyer of England, let all England judge, or all the world that hath beheld it; and though Sir, you have it by inheritance, in the way that is spoken of, yet it cannot be denied, but your Office is an Office of Trust, and indeed an Office of the highest Trust that can be lodged in any single person. For as you were the grand Administrator of Justice, and others were but as your Delegates, to see it executed through your Dominions. If your great Office were to do Justice, and preserve your people from wrong, if instead of executing Justice, you will be the grand and public disturber of the peace, surely this is contrary to your Office and your Trust. Now Sir, if it be an Office of Inheritance (as you speak of your Title by descent) let all men understand, that great Offices are seizable, and forfeitable, as if you had it but for a year, or for your life. It will therefore much concern you to take into your serious consideration, your great miscarriages in this nature. Truly Sir, I shall not in this place undertake to give you the particulars of the many miscarriages of your Reign, whatsoever they have been, they are notoriously known. It had been happy for the Kingdom, and for yourself also, if they had not been so much known, and so much felt, as they are every where complained on, and reported. Sir, that we are now upon by the command of the highest Court, hath been and is to bring you to your Trial, and to judge you for these great offences of yours: Sir, the Charge hath called you Tyrant, a Traitor, a Murderer, and a public Enemy to the Commonwealth. Sir, it had been well, if these terms might rightly and justly have been omitted; nay, if any one of them all. King, Ha! Precedent, Truly, we have been told, Rex est, qui bene regit, Tyrannus qui populum opprimit, and if that be the definition of a Tyrant, then see if you come short of it in your Actions, and whether not the highest Tyrant by that way of arbitrary Government, which you sought to introduce, and were putting upon the people. Examine with yourself, if that were not as high an act of Tyranny, as any of your predecessors were guilty of, yea, many degrees beyond it. Sir, the Term Traitor cannot be spared, we shall easily conclude that it doth enforce and denote a breach of Trust, and it must be supposed to be done by a superior, and therefore as the people of England might have incurred that term, if they had been truly guilty of it, as to the definition of the Law; so on the other side, when you did break you Trust to the Kingdom, you did break your Trust to your superior; For the Kingdom is that for which you were trusted; And therefore when you are called to an account for this breach of trust, you are called to account by your superior. Minimus Majorem in judicium vocat: And Sir, the people of England cannot be so wanting to themselves, (whom God hath dealt miraculously and gloriously for) they having both power and their great enemy in their hand, but they must proceed to Justice to themselves and to you; For Sir, the Court could heartily desire that you would lay your hand upon your heart, and consider, what you have done amiss, and that you would endeavour to make your peace with God. Truly Sir, These are two high Crimes, Tyranny and Treason. There is a third, if those had not been, and that is Murder, which is laid to your charge also. All the bloody murders that have been committed since the Division 'twixt you and your people, must be laid to your charge. Sir, It is a heinous and a crying sin, and truly Sir, If any man will ask us what punishment is due unto a murderer, let God's Law, let man's Law speak. I will presume you are so well read in the holy Scripture, as that you know God himself hath said concerning the shedding of man's blood, Gen. 9 and Numb. 35. will tell you what the punishment is, and this Court in the behalf of the Kingdom are sensible of that innocent blood, that hath been shed, and the Land indeed stands still defiled with that blood, and as the Text hath it It can no way be cleansed, but by the shedding of the blood of him who shed that blood. Sir, We know no dispensation from this blood in the Commandment, Thou shalt do no Murder, we do not know but that it extends to Kings as well as to the meanest peasants, the meanest of the people, the Command is universal. Sir, God's Law forbids it, man's Law forbids it; nor do we know that there is any manner of exception, not even in man's Laws, for the punishment of Murder in you. 'tis true, that in the Case of Kings, every private hand is not to put forth its self to this work, for their reformation or punishment; but the people represented having power in their hands (were there but one wilful Act of murder by you committed) have power to convent you, and to punish you for it. The weight, Sir, then lying upon you in all these respects, that have been spoken, for your Tyranny, Treason, Breach of trust, and the murders that have been committed, surely it would drive you into a sad consideration concerning your eternal estate: I know it cannot be acceptable to you, to hear any such things as these mentioned from this Court, for so, do we call ourselves and justify ourselves to be a Court, and a High Court of Justice, authorized by the highest and solemnest Court of the Kingdom, as hath been often already said. And although you have endeavoured, what lay in you to discourt us; yet we do take knowledge of ourselves to be such a Court, as can administer justice to you, as we are bound in duty to it. Sir, all I shall say, before the reading of the Sentence, is but this. The Court doth heartily desire, that you will seriously consider of those Evils, that you stand guilty of. You said well the other day, you wished us to have God before our eyes. Truly Sir, I hope all of us have so, that God whom we acknowledge to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that God with whom there is no respect of persons; that God who is the avenger of Innocent blood; that God have we before our eyes, that God who bestows a Curse upon them, who is in the case of guilty malefactors that deserve death, do withhold their hands from shedding of blood: Sir, that God we have before our eyes, and were it not that the Conscience of our duty hath! called us into this place, and this employment, you should have had no appearance of a Court here. But Sir, we must prefer our respect unto God and to the Kingdom, above any respects whatsoever; and although at this present, many of us, if not all of us, are severely threatened by some of your party, what they intent to do; yet we do here declare, that we shall not decline or forbear the doing of our duty in the administration of Justice, even to yourself; and that according to the merit of your offence; although God should permit those men to effect all their bloody designs in in hand against us. Sir, we will say, and will declare it as those Children in the fiery furnace, who refused to worship the Golden Image, that Nabuchadonazer had set up, That their God was able to deliver them from the danger they were near unto; but if he did not deliver them, yet they would not fall down and worship the golden Image. We shall make this application of it. That though we should not be delivered from▪ those bloody hands & hearts, who conspire the overthrow of the Kingdom in general, and of ourselves in particular, for being actors in this great work of Justice; though I say, we should perish in the work; yet by the grace & in the strength of God, we are resolved to go on with it. And those are the entire resolutions of us all. Sir, I say, for yourself that we do heartily wish and desire that God would be pleased to give you a sense of your sins, that you may see wherein you have done amiss, and that you may cry unto him, that God would deliver you from bloody-guiltinesse. A good King, David by Name, was once guilty of that particular guilt; he was otherwise upright, saving in the matter of Vriath. Truly Sir, the History doth represent unto us, that he was a repentant King, and he had died for his sin, but that God was pleased to be indulgent to him, and to grant him his pardon, Thou shalt not die (saith the prophet) but the child shall die, Thou hast given cause to the Enemies of God to blaspheme. King. I would only desire to be heard but one word, before you give sentence, and it is that (to satisfy the world when I am dead) you would but hear me concerning those great Imputations which you have laid unto my charge. Precedent. Sir, you must now give me leave to proceed, for I am not far from your Sentence, and your time is now past. King. I shall desire you, that you will take these few words into your consideration; For what soever sentence you shall pronounce against me in respect of those heavy imputations, which I find you have laid to my charge; yet Sir, It is most true that— Precedent. Sir, I must put you in mind, I must Sir, although at this time, especially, I would not willingly interrupt you in any thing you have to say, which is proper for us to admit; but Sir, you have not owned us as a Court, and you look upon us, as a sort of people huddled together, and we know not what uncivil language we receive from your party. King. I know nothing of that. Precedent. You disavow us as a Court, and therefore for you to address yourself to us, whom you do not acknowledge to be a Court, for us (I say) to judge what you shall speak is not to be permitted; and the truth is all along from the to disavow and disown us; The Court needed not to have heard you one word; for unless they be acknowledged a Court and engaged, it is not proper for you to speak. Sir, We have given you too large an indulgence of time already, and admitted so much delay, that we may not admit of any more. If it were proper for us, we should hear you very freely, not decline to hear the most that you▪ could speak to the greatest advantage for yourself, whether it were total, or but in part, excusing those great and heinous charges which are laid upon you. But I shall trouble you no longer, your sins are of so large a dimension, that if you do but seriously think of them, they will drive you into a sad consideration; and we wish that they may improve in you a sad and serious repentance. And it is the desire of the Court, that you may be so penitent for what you have done amiss, that God may at least, have mercy on your better part. As for the other, it is our part and duties to do that which the law prescribeth, we are not now here jus dare, but jus dicere; we cannot be unmindful of what the word of God tells us, To acquit the guilty, is of an equal abomination, as to condemn the Innocent; we may not acquit the guilty: What sentence the law pronounceth to a traitor, a tyrant, a murderer, and a public enemy to the Country, that sentence you are now to hear read unto you, and that is the Sentence of the Court. Hereupon the Lord Precedent commanded the Sentence to be read; whereupon M. King, who was Cryer of the Court, having commanded silence by his Oyes, the Clerk read the sentence, which was drawn up in Parchment, and did run in these words. Whereas the Commons of England in Parliament had appointed them an High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles Stuart King of England, before whom he had been three times convented, and at the first time, a Charge of High Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanours was read in the be half of the Kingdom of England; which Charge followeth in these words. This Charge being read (said the Clerk) Charles Stuard was required to give his answer, which he refused to do, but expressed these passages and many more such as these are, in refusing to answer. The Clerk (having repeated many passages, during the time of his trial, in which the King showed an averseness to acknowledge the Court) did proceed to read the Sentence, which was in these words For all which Treasons and Crimes, this Court doth adjudge that the said Charles Stuart as a Tyrant, Traitor, Murderer, and a public Enemy, shall be put to death by severing his Head from his Body. The Sentence being read, the Lord Precedent said; This Sentence now read and published is the Act, Sentence, Judgement, and resolution of the whole Court. Hereupon, the Court stood up, as assenting to what the Precedent said. King. Will you hear me one word Sir! Precedent. Sir, you are not to be heard after the Sentence. King. No Sir! Precedent. No Sir, by your favour Sir,— Guard withdraw your Prisoner. King. I may speak after the sentence— By your favour Sir, I may speak after Sentence ever. The Guard drawing to him, he said unto them; by your favour hold: and turning to the Precedent, he said; the Sentence Sir,— I say Sir I do— but being not permitted to proceed, he said I am not suffered to speak, expect what Justice other people will have. Cryer. All manner of persons, that have any thing else to do, are to depart at this time, and to give their attendance in the Painted Chamber, to which place this Court doth forthwith adjourn itself. Then the Court arose, and the King's guard did bring him to Sir Rohert Cottons house, and he was afterwards conducted to Saint James'. The several Depositions of the pretended Witnesses, as it is in their Book printed in French. William Cuthbert of Patrington in holderness Gentleman, HAth deposed upon Oath, that being at Hull-bridge nigh Beverly, he discovered in July 1642. that there were levied about three hundred footmen under the command of Robert Strickland, for the King's guard; and that about the second of the said Month, which was Sunday, he saw about four or five of the clock in the evening, a Troop of Horse called the Prince's Troop, enter Beverly, at which time James Nelthorp was Mayor of the Town; and that he saw the same day this Troop march from Beverly to holderness, where he saw ammunition distributed to them, which were brought for them from about Humber. Moreover the same, upon deposition, said, that the same Sunday night there arrived at the gate of his house, called the Bridge of Hull nigh Berverly, about three hundred footmen, that said they were the Regiment of Sir Robert Strickland, under the command of Lieutenant Col. Duncomb, and were called the King's guard, who forced open his door, and took possession of his house, and that the same night my Lord Newport and my Lord Carnarvan came to these soldiers, with divers others, at which time the Deponent was informed that Sir Thomas Gower Sheriff of that County, was present at this rendezvous and had left order and express command to stop all Provisions from those quarters, and that none should be carried to Sir J. Hotham Governor of Hull for the Parliament, which Order was put into the hands of the Deponent, being then Constable of that Parish, for the said Lieutenant Colonel Duncombe. The said William Cuthbert has deposed in process, that he was driven out of his house by the soldiers, and was forced to retire to Beverly with his Family: and that afterward, to wit, Thursday next, as much as he can remember, he saw the King come to Beverly, and go into my Lady Geese houses in which he saw him several times with Prince Charles, and the Duke of York: and that the Militia was raised in holderness, in the name and by the command of the King, and he published himself every where. He hath farther deposed, that the night following, these soldiers that had seized upon his house, as was said, which was the first act of hostility that was committed in those parts, they plundered also the House of Colonel Ledgeers; and that after this regiment of Colonel Strickland was gone from the Bridge of Hull, where it had quartered ten days, Colonel Wynewell seized upon it also with seven huudred foot, that lodged there. Item he deposed, that the Order which he showed the Court, is the original of which we have spoken. As also that my Lord Lindsey was made General of those Forces, and of those that were then levied, and that he was brought before him upon report that he held intelligence with Sir J. Hotham Governor of Hull, and that notice being given to the said General, that the Deponent had provisions of corn to send into Ireland, he was prohibited to have them transported, or carried to any other place without the King's command or the said Generals. John Bennet in the County of York, Glover. HAving born arms on the King's side, from the first day that he erected his Standard at Nottingham, six years since, being examined upon Oath, hath deposed, that working at his own Trade at Nottingham, he had seen the King two or three times after his great Standard of War was erected, and at the same time that it was displayed from the highest Tower of the Castle; and also that he heard that the King was present the first day and the first time it was erected: He said farther that he then received his livery, and that Sir William Pennyman gave cloth at that time to the Regiment of which he was, and the said Knight was Colonel of it, and that cloth was also given to the Regiment of my Lord Lindsey, who was also then proclaimed then General of the Army at the head of every Regiment; where the King also caused to be published, that those forces should fight against all those that should follow his party, particularly against the Earl of Essex, General of the Parliaments Army, against my Lord Brooks, and divers other Officers of that party; all who were declared Traitors by printed proclamations, which were dispersed at the same time through all Regiments by their Officers. To which he also added, that he had often seen the King in Nottingham at the time that his forces quartered there, which was about a Month, that the Drum was beaten over all the Country to raise men for the King, and that many were listed, partly willing and partly forced▪ for fear of being plundered, as among the rest was the Deponent, the said Sir William ●enniman cringe out aloud, that it would be well done to set the Town on fire, the Citizens showing themselves so backward to take up arms for their King's service. He did farther depose, that about the Month of October, ●642. he saw the King on horseback at Edge-hill in Warwickshire, looking on his Army in battle, and heard him command all the Colonels and Officers, that passed before him to encourage their soldiers, exhort and animate them to fight against my Lord of Essex, my Lord Brooks, Sir William Waller, and Sir William Belford, and that after this first fight, he saw in the field a great number of dead bodies, of which, he saw a list brought afterward to the King at Oxford, which they said came to the number of 6559. The Deponent hath also testified that about the Month of November following, he saw the King at the head of his Army upon Hownslo-heath in the County of Middlesex, with Prince Robert by him, and heard him encourage divers Regiments of th●se that were levied in Wales, which had been at the battle of Edge-Hill, saying to them, he hoped they would regain at Brainford the honour they lost at Edge-Hill. William Brain Gentleman of Wixehall in the County of Salop. HAth deposed upon Oath, that in August 1642. he saw the King in Nottingham at the time when his Royal Standard was there erected and displayed, and that about that time he marched with the Army in which the King was, from thence to Derby, and that being suspected in September for a spy he was examined before Sir Robert Heath, and divers other Commissioners at Shrewsbury, where the King was in person. Henry Hartford of Stafford upon Avon in Warwickshire. HAs also given in upon Oath, that in the year 1642. he saw the King at the Castle of Nottingham, when his great Standard was planted and displayed upon a Tower of the Castle, and moreover that about November, he saw the King at Brainford being a horseback with great number of War-Officers on a Sunday morning, immediately after that Saturday night, in which great number of the Parliaments people had been killed thereabout. Robert Large, Painter of the Town and County of Nottingham. HAs deposed upon Oath, that in the summer of 1642. he painted, by command of my Lord ●e●mant, the great Standard of War, that was planted upon the high Tower of the Castle of Nottingham, and that he often saw the King thereabout, at the same time that his Standard was erected and displayed. Edward Robert of Bishop's Castle, in the County of Salop. BEing also examined upon his Oath, has deposed that he saw the King in Nottingham whilst his great standard was planted and displayed upon a Tower of the Castle, and that he saw the King march at the head of his Army from Shrewsbury to Edge-hill, being in the Reer-gard upon the Field, where the battle was fought, and that also he saw him on Sunday at Brainford after the combat of Saturday-night precedent. John Penninger of Hayner in Derbyshire. BEing examined upon Oath, hath testified, that about August 1642. he saw the great standard of War displayed upon one of the Towers of Nottingham Castle, that the same day he also saw the King in Thurland-house, belonging to the Earl of Clare at Nottingham, with Prince Robert, Sir Kelam Digby, and divers other Lords, and people of other condition, and that the King had then Canons in the Town, that was full of Soldiers. Samuel Lawson Brewer of Nottingham. HAs deposed upon Oath, that about August 1642. he saw the great standard of War, brought down from the Castle of Nottingham by divers persons of quality to the next Hill, a Herald at Arms marching before them, that the said standard was planted upon that hill with great cries and acclamations, with the sound of the Trumpet and Drums, that also, presently after, there was published a Command from the King, who was there in person to see his standard Erected, adding moreover that the town was full of soldiers; And that when the King left the town with the soldiers, the Inhabitants were forced to pay a great sum of money to his Army, that threatened them plunder, if they refused it. Thomas Whittington, Shoemaker of Nottingham, hath deposed upon Oath. THat he saw the King in the said Town the same day, that his great standard of War was raised on the Castle about the beginning of August 1642. and that the King took his journey from Thurland-house towards the said Castle, and that he saw him several times in Nottingham, which was full of soldiers, who said they were of the King's army, the great standard being then displayed upon the old tower of the Castle. Robert Loads of Cottam in Nottinghamshire, affirmed upon Oath. THat about October 1642. he saw the King in the reereguard of his Army at Kinton field on a Sunday, about which place, he saw divers dead bodies on both sides. That moreover he saw the King in his Army in Cornwall nigh my Lord Moon's house, in the year, 1644. Samuel Morgan Haberdasher of Wellington, in the County of Salop, deposed upon Oath. THat he saw the King on Sunday morning in the field at Kinton upon the highest point of Edgehill, at the head of his Army about two hours before the battle began, which was after Michaelmas 1642. And that afterward he saw at the same place a very great number of dead bodies on both sides; and farther that in 1644. he saw the King in his army, near Cropredy bridge, put his own men in battle array. James William's Shoemaker of Rosse in Herefordshire, deposed upon Oath. THat about October, 1642 he saw the King in Kinton-field upon the Hill, having his sword drawn in his hand, when and where a great battle was fought, and many killed on both sides. Moreover that he saw the King at Brainfor●▪ on a Sunday before mid day in November the same year, whilst his army was all in and about the town. Arthur Young Chirurgeon and Burgess of London, being examined upon Oath testified. THat being in the Battle of Edge-hill that was fought between the Army of the King, and that of the Parliament, in October, 1642. he saw the great Standard brought and displayed in the King's Army, which being taken in the fight, it was regained by one Middleton, whom the King presently made Colonel. John Thomas Labourer in Langellen in the County of Denbigh, deposed upon Oath. THat he saw the King at Brainford in the County of Middlesex, on a Saturday a little after the battle of Edge-hill, being followed by a good number of horse and foot, and being himself armed a horseback, and heard him say to his people, passing through the town, Gentlemen, you lost your honour at Edge-hill, I hope you will recover it here, and before the King had ended his speech the two Parties began to skirmish and engaged so far that many were killed on both sides. Richard Blomefield Merchant, Draper and Citizen of London, deposed upon Oath. THat he was present at the rout of the Earl of Essex his Army in Cornwall about the end of August or at the beginning of September, 1644. where he saw the King on horseback at the head of his army, and that he saw divers soldiers of the Parliaments, many plundered and dismantled hard by the King's person against the conditions and Articles agreed upon. William Jones Laborour of uske in Monmouth-shire affirmed upon Oath. THat he saw the King coming from Wards Harbour, and marching at the end of his Army towards Naseby where the battle was fought a little after, and that the King being advanced towards the Regiment of Colonel t. George, he asked of the Officers and soldiers, if they were not resolved to fight for him, and that upon it, they cried out with great acclamations, that they were ready to fight. Moreover, the Deponent said, that he saw the King with his forces in Leicester, the same day that it was taken by the Parliament. As likewise that he saw him in his Army at the siege of Gloucester. Humphrey Brown of Witsunday in Rutlandshire. HAs deposed that wh●n Leicester was taken by the Kings, Army, about June ●645. the Fort of Newark being rendered upon Composition and condition, that those that went forth should carry their baggage with freedom, without any violence to be offered, as soon as the place was rendered, notwithstanding this capitulation and against the Articles, the King's soldiers fell upon them, plundered them, and beat and wounded many of them: And that one of their Officers taxing them with their ill usage of these poor people against the law of Arms, the deponent heard the King reply (who was there in person with his sword drawn at the head of his Army) that he would see they should use them worse, being his enemies. David Evans Marshal of Aburgeny in Monmouthshire, testified: THat about half an hour before Naseby fight, which was at Midsummer June 1645. he saw the King marching himself in battle at the head of his Army, half a mile from the place of the fight. Diogenes Edward's Butcher of Carston in the County of Salop. AFfirmed that at the same time, he saw the King a mile and a half from the Camp, marching in battle array, at the head of his Army, about an hour and half before the said battle was fought, and that the same day, he saw afterwards many bodies dead upon the place. Giles Grice of Wellington in Shropshire, Gentleman. DId depose, that he saw the King at the head of his Army at Cropredie Bridge with his sword drawn in his hand, the same day that there was a battle fought against Sr. William Waller's Army, which was on a Friday, 1644. about July, as much as he could call to mind. That he saw him also at the head of his Army the same summer nigh Lietchfield at the same time that the Earl of Essex was there with his Army. Also that he saw the King at the head of his men in the second fight at Newberry. And that he saw him Armed back and breast, at the head of his Army at Naseby. The same did testify, that he saw him at the head of his Army, at the taking of Leicester, at the same time that an assault was given, and after entered the place on horseback after it was taken, and that he saw many men killed on both sides, and many houses were pillaged in the said Town. John Vinson of Damorham in Wiltshire Gentleman, affirmed. THat he saw the King at the head of his Army, at the first Newberry battle about September 1643. and many people dead on both sides, The same hath also deposed, that he saw the King at the head of his Army, armed Capape with his sword drawn in his hand in the second fight at Newberry, about Octob. 1644. at what time he saw him draw up the Regiment of Horse, of Colonel Tho. Howard to a Charge, and that he heard him make a speech to that Regiment, saying, that they were to make good to him that day, that his Crown was at the point of his Sword, and if he lost that Battle, he lost his honour and his Crown for ever, and that after he saw great number of dead men killed in that fight on both sides. The same also testified, that he saw the King in the battle at Naseby in Northamptonshire, about June, 1645. being armed, with his Head-piece on, his word drawn in his hand, where perceiving his people in flight, he himself made the horse to rally and stayed them, at what time he also saw many dead bodies on both sides. George Seeley of London, Shoemaker, deposed, THat he saw the King at the siege of Gloucester, at the head of a Brigade of horse, and that he saw him at the first fight of Newberry, about September, 1643, being at the head of a Regiment of horse, and that many were killed on both sides in this fight. To which he added, that he also saw the King in the midst of his Army in the second Newberry fight about November, 1644. John Moor of Cork in Ireland, Gentleman, did depose, THat in the Battle at Newberry second fight, in the same month, he saw the King in the middle of his horse, with his sword drawn, that afterwards he saw many killed on both sides in this fight, and that he saw him enter on horseback in the head of a Brigade of horse into Leicester, the same day that it was taken by his men, about June, 1645. he also added, that he saw the King in the midst of a Regiment of horse at Copredibridge before Leicester fight, and saw the fields covered with dead men, killed in that fight, where the King was in person, that he saw him also at the head of a Regiment of horse in Naseby fight, about June 1645. and that there was also many killed and wounded. Thomas Grease of Boyset in Northamptonshire, Labourer, did testify, THat he saw the King at the first Newbury fight in Bark-shire, September, 1643, and that he there saw many dead bodies, having himself received orders amongst others, to stop the Parliaments forces till their dead men were taken away; that he also saw the King marching with his Army towards Naseby field, immediately before the fight about June, 1645. and that his Army being routed, he saw him make a retreat with a Brigado of horse, and that a great number were killed on both sides in this fight. Thomas Rollins of Hanslop, in Euekingham-shire Gentleman, did depose, THat he saw the King nigh Foy in Cornwall, about July 1644. at the head of a brigade of horse, and that he saw some Parliament-souldiers pilledged nigh the King's person, contrary to the Articles agreed upon on both sides. Thomas Read of Maidstone in Kent, Gentleman, AFfirmed upon Oath, that presently after the Parliaments Army had rendered itself in Cornwall upon composition, he saw the King at the head of a guard of horse, between Lestithiel and Foy, about the end of August, or the beginning of September 1644. James Grosby of Dublin in Ireland, did depose, THat at the first Newbury fight about harvest time, 16●3 he saw the King coming on horseback from Newbury, accompanied with abundance of great Lords and Noble men, and going towards the place where his forces were engaged to the Parliaments Army; Samuel Burden of Lyneham in Wiltshire, Gentleman, testified, THat he was at Nottingham, about August 1642. at what time he saw the great Standard displayed upon one of the Towers of the Castle, and that the next day he saw the King, whilst his Standard, as they call it, was displayed, moreover that he saw the King at the head of his Army near Copredy-bridge in a stubble field, being in pursuit of Sir William waller's forces, who was routed about July 1644. and that be saw at that time great numbers of dead men in the field; he testified farther, that towards November following, he saw the King in the last Newberry fight, galloping up and down from Regiment to Regiment, whilst his Army was engaged with that of the Parliament, and that he saw afterwards great numbers of men killed, fight on both sides. Michael Potts of Sharpeton in Northamberland, Vintner, deposed, THat he saw the King at the head of of his Army, in a field about a mile and an half distant from Newberry, upon a plain, the day before the fight, which was about harvest time, 1643. and that he saw the King in the field, nigh a piece of great Canon during the fight, that he also saw him at the head of his Army in the second Newberry fight about Michaelmass, 1644. after which he saw great number of men killed on both sides. Adding moreover, that he did also see him at the head of his Forces, nigh Copredy bridge; and afterwards the same year towards harvest nigh Lestithiel in Cornwall, at what time the Earl of Essex was there with his Army. The NAMES of the said Pretended JUDGES who gave Sentence against the Late KING Jan. 27. 1648. JOhn Bradshaw Lord Precedent Oliver Cromwell Henry Ireton. Sir Hardress Waller. Valentine Walton. Thomas Harison. Edward Whaley. Thomas Pride. Isaac Ewer. Lord Grey of Grooby. William Lord Mounson. Sir John Danvers. Sir Thomas Maleverer. Sir John Bourcher. Isaac Pennington. Henry Martin. William Purifoye. John Barkstead, Gilbert Millington. Thomas Chaloner. Matthew Tomlinson. John Blakeston. Sir William Constable. Edmund Ludlow, John Hutchison. Sir. Michael Levesey. Robert Titchburne. Owen Roe. Robert Lilburne. Adrian Scroop. Richard Dean. John Okey. John Harrison. John Hewson. William Goffe.. Cornelius Holland. John Carew. John Jones. Thomas Lister. Peregrine Pelham. Thomas Wogan. Frances Allen. Daniel Blagrave. John Moor. William Say. Francis Lascels. John Chaloner. Gregory Clement. Sir Gregory Norton. John Venn. Thomas Andrews. Anthony Stapley. Thomas Horton. John Lisle. John Brown. John Dixwell. Miles Corbet Simon Menyne. John Alured. Henry Smith. Humphrey Edward's John Frye. Edmund Harvey. Thomas Scot William Cawley. John Downes Thomas Hammond. Vincent Potter. Augustine Garland. Charles Fleetwood. John Temple. Thomas wait. Counselors assistant to this Court, and to draw up the Charge against the KING, were Doctor Dorislaus. Mr. Ask. Mr. John Cook. Solicitor. Sergeant Denby, Sergeant at Arms. M Broughton. M. Phelpes. Clerks to the Court. Colonel Humphrey, Sword bearer. Messengers, Doorkeepers, and Criers were these; Mr. Walford. Mr. Radley. Mr. Pain: Mr. powel. Mr. Hull. Mr. King. The SENTENCE against the said KING January the 27th 1648. which was read by Mr. Broughton aforesaid Clerk. WHereas the Commons of England in Parliament, have appointed them an High Court of Justice for the Trial of Charles Stuart King of England, before whom he had been Three times Convented, and at the first time a Charge of High Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanours was read in the behalf of the Kingdom of England, etc. as in the Charge which was read throughout. To which Charge, he the said Charles Stuart was required to give his Answer, but he refused so to do; and so expressed several passages at his Trial, in refusing to answer. For all which Treasons and Crims, this Court doth adjudge, that the said Charles Stuart, as a Tyrant, Traitor, Murderer, and Public enemy, shall be put to death, by fevering his head from his body. This Sentence (says the Precedent) now read and published is the act, Sentence, Judgement and Resolution of the whole Court. To which the Members of the Court stood up and assented to what he said by holding up their hands. The King offered to speak, but he was instantly commanded to be taken away and the Court broke up. The true manner of proceeding to take off the King's Head according to the Sentence given as a foresaid. Sir Hardress Waller Colonel Harrison, Commissary General Ireton, Colonel Dean and Colonel Okey, were appointed to consider of the Time and Place for the Exceution of the King, according to his Sentence, given by the (pretended) High Court of Justice. Painted Chamber, Monday January the 29th 1648. Upon Report made from the Committee for considering of the Time and place of the Executing of the Judgement against the King, that the said Committee have Resolved, That the open street before Whitehal is a fit place: And the said Committee conceive it fit, That the King be there executed the morrow, the King having already notice thereof. The Court approved thereof, and ordered a Warrant to be drawn to that purpose, which Warrant was accordingly drawn and agreed to, and Ordered to be engrossed, which was done and signed and sealed according, as followeth. At the High Court of Justice for the Trying and Judging of King CHARLES the I. of England January 29. 1648. Whereas Charles Stuart King of England, is, and standeth Convicted, Attainted and Condemned of High Treason, and other Crimes, and Sentence, on Saturday last, was pronounced against him by this Court, to be put to Death, by severing his head from his body, of which Sentence Execution yet remaineth to be done. These are therefore to will an require you, to see the said Sentence Executed in the open street before Whitehall upon the morrow, being the 30. day of this instant Month of January, between the hours of Ten in the morning, and Five in the afternoon of the same day, with full effect; and for so doing, This shall be your sufficient Warrant: and these are to require all Officers and Soldiers and other the good people of this Nation of England, to be assistant unto you in this service. To Colonel Francis Hacker, Colonel Hunks and Lieutenant Colonel Phray, and to every of them. Given under our hands and Seals. Sealed and Subscribed by, John Bradshaw Precedent. Thomas Grace. Oliver Cromwell. Edward Whaley. John Okey. John Danvers. Mich. Lievesey. John Bourcher. Hen Ireton. Tho Maleverer. Jo Blackeston. Jo Hutchison. William Goffe.. Tho. Pride. Henry Smith. Vincent Potter. William Constable. Rich Ingoldsby. Will. Cawley. John Barkstead. Isaac Ewer. Val. Walton. Peter Temple. Tho. Harrison. John Hewson. Per. Pelham. Richard Dean. Rob. Tichburn. Hump Edwards. Dan. Blagrave. Owen Roe. Will. Purifoye. Adrin Scroop. James Templer. Aug. Garland. Edmu. Ludlow. Hen. Martia. Jo. Allewred. Rob. Lilburu. Will. Say. Anthony Stapley. Gregory Norton. Tho. chaloner. Tho. Wogan Simon. Meyne. Tho Horton. John Jones. Jo. Moor. Hardress Waller. Gilbert Millington. Charles Fleetwood. Jo. Venn. Greg. Clement. Jo. Downes. Tho. Wait Tho. Scot John Carew. Miles Corbet. Ordered, That the Scaffold on which the King is to be executed, be covered with Black. The Warrant for executing the King being accordingly delivered to those parties to whom the same was directed Execution was done upon him according to the Tenor thereof about Two a clock in the afternoon, of the said 30. of January. 1648. The Fatal day of the said Execution, being Tuesday, January the 30. 1648. HIS Majesty continued in Prayer all the morning, and receives the Sacrament Just at Ten a Clock before noon, he was conveyed on foot, from St. James' Palace to Witehall, guarded by a Regiment of Foot Soldiers, part before, part behind, with Colours flying, and Drums beating, his private guard of Patirzans about him, and Dr. Juxon Bishop of London, next to him on one side, and Colonel Tomlinson on the other; being come to Whitehall, he 〈◊〉 his Cabinet Chamber at his divotions, refusing to dine, only about 12 a clock he eat a bit of bread, and drank a glass of Claret wine; from thence he was conveyed into the Banqueting house, and the great window enlarged, out of which he ascends the Scaffold, the rails being hung round, and the floor covered with black, His Executioners disguised with Vizards, yet was his Majesty not affrighted: He showed more care of the people living, then of himself dying: for looking round upon the people, whom the thick Guards of Soldiers kept a great distance of, and seeing he could not be heard by them, omitting (probably) what he purposed to have spoken to them, therefore turning to the Officers and Actors, by him, he delivered himself in a short (but excellent) Speech, which being ended, he meekly went to Prayers, and after some heavenly discourse between him and the Bishop, having prepared himself, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, mildly praying to himself; he stooped down to the block as to a prayer-deske, and most humbly bowed his generious Neck to Go, to be cut off by the Vizarded Executioner, which was suddenly done at one blow. Thus fell King Charles, the I. and thus all Britain with him. His Majesty's Reasons, against the pretended Jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice, which he hath in tended to have given there on Monday Jan. 26. 1649. Faithfully transcribed from the original copy of the King. SInce I have already made my Protestation, not only against the illegality of this pretended Court, but that no power on earth can justly call me (who am your King) into question as a Delinquent, I would no longer have opened my mouth on this Argument, but have referred myself to those things which I then spoke, if this only concerned my own particular; But the duty which I owe to God, to preserve the true liberty of my people; doth not permit me at this time, I should be silent; for how can any free born Subject of England call his life or any thing he doth possess his own, if power without law can daily make new, and abrogate the old and Fundamental Laws of this Land, which I judge to be the present case? Wherefore when I was brought hither, I expected that you would have studied to satisfy me in those Fundamentals, which do hinder me from putting in my Answer, to the pretended charge; but since I do observe, that nothing which I can allege can persuade you to it (although negatives are not so naturally proved as affirmatives) yet I have thought good to declear unto you the Reasons for which I am confident, you are not in a capacity to judge me, nor the vilest man in England, for without showing my Reasons, I will not (as you) be so unreasonable importunate, as to exact either belief or obedience from my Subjects. Here was I restrained, and not suffered to speak any more of Reasons, there is no just Process against any man, which deriveth not its authority, either from the Law of God, or from the municipal Laws of the Land. Now I am most sure, that the Process at this day made against me, cannot be confirmed by the law of God; for on the contrary, the necessity of obedience is clearly confirmed, and straight commanded in the old and new Testament; which if it be denied, I am prepared presently to prove it; and as for the question now in agitation, it is said there, Where the word of a King is, there is power, and who can say unto him, what dost thou? Eccles: 8. v. 4. Then as to the Laws of the land, I am as confident that no learned Lawyer will affirm, that any charge can be brought against the King, since they all go forth under his name, and it is one of their axioms, that the King cannot do any injury, Moreover the law on which you do ground your process, is either old or new, if it be old, show that law unto me, if it be new, tell me what Authority established by the Fundamental laws of this land did give it birth and when? but how the House of Commons can erect a Tribunal of Justice, which was never one itself (as all Lawyers will confess with me) I leave it to God and to the world to judge; and it will seem most strange to any, who ever have heard of the laws of England, how they can pretend to make laws without either the King, or the House of Peers. Nevertheless it be admitted, but not granted, that a Commission from the people of England, is able to confirm your pretended power, yet I see nothing that you can show for it, for I am confident that you never asked that question of the 10th. man in the Kingdom; in this method you do a most apparent injury, even to the poorest ploughman; if you ask not his consent, neither can you pretend any coluor to this your pretended Commission, if you have not the concurring voices of at least the greatest part of this Nation, of every degree and quality, which you are so far from obtaining, that I am confident you never so much as sought it, You see then, that I do not only speak for my own Right, as I am your King, but also for the true liberty of all my subjects, which consisteth not in dividing the power of Government, but in living under such laws, and such a Government, as may grant them the best security of their lives, and the propriety of their goods In this, I ought not to be forgetful, neither do I forget the privileges of both Houses of Parliament, which these proceedings do not only violate, but give an occasion of the greatest breaking of the public faith; and such (I believe) as the like was never heard of before, with which I will not at all, charge both Houses, for the pretended crime which they impose upon me, are far before the Treaty at Newport; in which when I assented to, and did conclude as much as possibly lay in my power, and did justly expect the assent of both Houses, I was suddenly taken from thence, and carried a way as a prisoner, and against my will, I was hurried hither, and since I came to this Court, I cannot with all my Endeavours, defend the ancient laws and liberties of this Kingdom, together with my just privileges, and as much as I can possibly discern the upper House, which is the House of Lords, is totally excluded. And as for the House of Commons, it is to much known, that the greater part of them are either imprisoned, or affrighted from fitting, so that if I had no other Cause, this was sufficient enough to make me Protest against the authority of your pretended Tribunal. Besides all these things, the peace of the Kingdom, is not the least part of my cares, and what hope can there be of establishing it, as long as power reigneth without the Rule of the law, changing the whole frame of the Government under which this Kingdom hath flourished these many ages; neither will I speak what is likely to follow, if these unlawful proceedings shall yet continue against me; for I believe, the Commons of England will give you no thanks for this change, especially, when they shall call into their minds, how happily they heretofore have lived in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth, and of the King my Father, and in my own Reign before the beginnings of these unhappy tumults, and they will have a just cause to doubt, if they shall be so happy in any new Government. In that time it will most evidently appear that I only took up Arms to defend the Fundamental Laws of this kingdom against those who opposed my power, and totally would have subverted the ancient Government. Having so briefly declared my Reasons to you, for which I could nor submit to your pretended Authority, without violation of the Trust which God hath committed to me for the safety, and liberty of my people, I expect from you either clear Reasons to convince my Judgement by demonstrating to me that I am in an Error, (and then surely, I shall be ready to give you an answer) or else, that you suspend your present proceedings. This I had determined to have spoken in Westminster Hall on monday the two and twentieth of January, but against Reason, I was prohibited to pronounce my Reasons. In the year 1648. English style. 1649. Vulgar stile. The Speech of King Charles upon the Scaffold at the gate of White Hall, immediately before the execution. january the thirtieth. ABout ten in the morning, the King was brought from Saint James' Court, he did walk on foot through the Park, with a Regiment of Foot, one half before him, and the other behind him, their Colours flying, and their Drums beating, his private guard of Partisan with some of his Gentlemen did go immediately bore headed before him, and some part of them behind him; but those who were next of all unto him behind, were Dr. Juxon and Colonel Thomlinson, to the last of whom the care and charge of his Person was committed, these two being barehead did talk with him all along the Park, and as you go up the stairs into the Gallery, and so into the Cabinet chamber, where he used to lie, in which place, he continued at his Devotion, and refused to dine, because he that morning had taken the Sacrament, only about one hour before he came forth he drank one glass of Claret wine, and did eat a crust of bread about twelve of the clock at Noon. From thence he was accompanied by Doctor Juxon, Col. Thomlinson, and other Officers formerly appointed to be his guard, and with the private Guard of Partisans, with musketeers on either side, through the banqueting house, at the farther end, on the out side whereof, the Scaffold was erected, near unto the Gate of White hall. The Scaffold was hung round with black, and the floor was covered with black, and the Axe, and the Block laid on the middle of the Scaffold. There were several Companies of Foot, and Troops of Horse placed on the one side of the Scaffold, and the other, and multitudes of people that thronged to see so rare a spectacle were very great. The King was no sooner come upon the Scaffold, but he looked very earnestly on the Block, and asked Col. Hacker, if there were no higher, and then spoke thus, directing his speech chiefly to Colonel Thomlinson. The King's Majesties most Excellent Speech. I Shall be very little heard by any of the people, I shall therefore speak a word or two to you who are here. Indeed I could hold my peace very well, if I did not think that my silence would make some men think, that I did submit to the guilt, as well as to the punishment; but I conceive it is my duty, First unto God, and afterwards to my Country, to vindicate myself, as an honest man, a good King, and a good Christian. I shall begin first with my Innocency; Introth, I think it not very needful for me to insist long upon this, for all the world knows, that I never did begin War with the two Houses of Parliament, and I call God to witness, to whom I must shortly make my account, that I never did intend to encroach upon their privileges: they began with me, It was the Militia they began upon, they confessed that the Militia was mine, but they thought it fit to have it from me, and to be short, if any man will look to the Dates of Commissions, of their Commissions or mine; and likewise to the Declarations, will find clearly, that they began those unhappy troubles, not I, so that as for the guilt of these enormous crimes which are laid upon me, I hope in God, that God will clear me of them. I am in charity, I will not, and God forbid I should lay it upon the two Houses of Parliament, there is no necessity of either. I hope they are free from the Gild, for I do believe, that evil instruments between them and me, have been the chief cause of all this bloodshed, so that by way of speaking, as I find myself clear of this I hope, and I pray God, that they may too; yet for all this, God forbid, that I should be so ill a Christian, as not to say that God's judgements are just upon me. Many times he does inflict justice by an unjust Sentence; this is ordinary; I will only say, that an unjust Sentence, * Meaning the Earl of Strafford. That I suffered to take effect, is punished now by an unjust Sentence upon myself. This is to show you, (as I have said) how far I am an innocent man. Now for to show you, that I am a good Christian, I hope there is a good man, * Pointing at Doctor Juxon. who will bear witness with me, that I have forgiven all the world, and even those in particular, who have been the chief causers of my Death; who they are God knows. I do not desire to know, I pray God forgive them: But this is not all, my charity must go further, I wish that they may repent; for indeed, they have committed a great sin in that particular; I pray God with Saint Stephen that this be not laid to their charge; nay, not only so, but that they may take the right way to the peace of the Kingdom; for my charity commands me not only to forgive particular men, but my charity commands me to endeavour to the last gasp, the peace of the Kingdom. This Sirs, I do wish with all my Soul, and I do hope, (there are some * Turning to some Gentlemen who took his Speech in short writing. who will carry it further) that they may endeavour the peace of the Kingdom. Now Sirs, I must show you, both how you are out of the way, and I will put you into a way: First, you are out of the way; for certainly, all the way in which as yet you have gone, as I could ever find out by any thing, is in the way of conquest; certainly this is an ill way, for conquest, Sirs, in my opinion, is never just, except there be a good, just cause, either for matter of wrong, or to defend a just Title, and if in the prosecution of the quarrel, you shall go beyond this, it will make that unjust at the end, which was just at the beginning. But if it be only matter of conquest, therein it is a great robbery, as a pirate said to Alexander, that he was a great robber, and that he himself was but a petty robber: and thus Sirs, I do think that the way you are in, is much out of the way; Now Sirs, for to put you in the way, believe it, you will never do right, nor will God ever prosper you, until you give God his due, and the King his due, that is, in their course of time, my Successors, and until you give the people their due; I am as much for them as any of you are. You must give God his due, by regulating a right his Church according to his Scripture; your Church is now out of order, for to set you particularly in a way now, I cannot, but only by a Synod of the whole Nation, who being freely called, and freely debating amongst themselves, may by God's blessing settle the Church, when every opinion is freely and clearly discussed. For the King indeed, I will not much insist— Then turning to a gentleman whose cloak he observed to touch the edge of the Axe, he said unto him, Hurt not the Axe, meaning by blunting the edge thereof, for that he said might hurt him. Having made this short digression, he proceeded; For the King, the laws of the land will clearly instruct you, what you have to do; but because it concerns my own particular, I only do give you but a touch of it. As for the People, truly I desire their liberty and freedom, as much as any whosoever; but I must tell you, that their liberty and freedom consists in having of government by those laws, by which their lives, and their goods may be most their own. It is not for them to have a share in Government, that is nothing Sirs, appertaining unto them▪ A subject and a Sovereign are clean different things; and therefore until that be done, I mean, until the people be put into that liberty, which I speak of: certainly they will never enjoy themselves. Sirs, It was for this, that now I am come here; If I would have given way to an arbitrary power to have all laws changed according to the power of the sword; I needed not to have come hither, and therefore I tell you, and I Pray God it be not laid to your charge, that I am the martyr of the people. In troth Sirs, I shall not hold you much longer, I shall only say this unto you, that in truth, I could have desired some little longer time, because I had a desire to put this, that I have said into a little better order, and to have a little better digested it than I have now done; and therefore, I hope you will excuse me I have delivered my conscience, I pray God that you do take those courses, that are most for the good of the Kingdom, and your own salvations. Doct. Juxon. Will your Majesty although the affection of your Majesty to religion is very well known; yet to satisfy expectation, be pleased to speak something for the satisfaction of the world. King. I thank you very heartily (my Lord) because I had almost forgotten it. In troth Sirs, my conscience in Religion, I think is already very well known to all the world; and therefore I declare before you all, that I die a Christian, according to the profession of the Church of England as I found it left by my father; and this honest man * Pointing at Dr. Juxon. I think will witness it. Then turning to the Officers he said, Sirs excuse me for this same, I have a good cause, and I have a gracious God, I will say no more. Then turning to Colonel Hacker, he said. Take care they do not put me to pain, and Sir this if it please you; but then a gentleman, one Mr. Clerk, coming near the Axe, the King said, take heed of the Axe: Then the King turning to the Executioner, said, I shall say but very short prayers, and when I stretch forth my hands— Then the King called to Doctor Juxon for the Nightcap, and having put it on, he said to the Executioner: will my hair trouble you? who desired him to put it all under his Cap, which the King did accordingly by the assistance of the Executioner and the Bishop; the King then turning to Doctor Juxon said, I have a good Cause and a Gracious God on my side. Doctor Juxon, There is but one stage more, This stage is turbulent indeed and troublesome, but very short, and which in an instant will lead you a most long way from earth to Heaven, where you shall find great Joy and Solace. King, I go from a corruptible to an incorruptable Crown, where can be no trouble, none at all. Doctor Juxon, You shall exchange a temporal Crown for an eternal one, it is a good change. The King then said unto the executioner, Is my hair as it should be? He then did put off his cloak, and his George, which he gave to Doctor Juxon, saying, Remember * Pointing at Dr. Ju●●on. . He immediately afterwards, did put off his Doublet, and did put on his cloak again, and looking on the block, he said unto the Executioner, you should make it to be steady. Execut. It is so. King. It might have been something higher. Execut. It cannot be made higher now. King. When I shall stretch forth my hands in this manner, then— After that, when standing, he had spoke two or three words unto himself, with his hands, and eyes lifted up towards Heaven, immediately stooped down, he laid his neck upon the Block, and when the Executioner had again put all his hair under his cap. The King said Stay till I give the sign. Execut. So I do, if it please your Majesty; and after a very little respite, the King did stretch forth his hands, and immediately the Executioner at one blow did sever his head from his Body. Sic transit gloria Mundi. THE Illegal proceedings against the honourable Colonel John Penruddock of Comppton in Wiltshire, and his Speech; Which he delivered the day before he was beheaded in the Castle of Exon, being the 16 day of May 1655, to a Gentleman whom he desired to publish them after his death. Together with his prayer upon the Scaffold and the last Letter he received from his virtuous Lady, with his answer to the same. Also the speech of that Piously resolved Gentlemen, Hugh Grove of Chisenbury in the parish of Enford, and County of Wilts, Esquire, beheaded there the same day. Printed by order of the Gent. entrusted, 1660. Col. Penruddock being writ to by a friend for an account of his trial, writ as followeth. SIR, THough I received your desires something too late, it being but two days before notice given me from the Sheriff of the day of my expiration, for I cannot call this an execution, it being for such a cause; yet in order to your satisfaction, I have borrowed so much time from my more serious Meditations, as to give you this short account of my Trial, wherein you must excuse, both the brevity and imperfections, it being but the issues of a bad memory. UPon Thursday the 19 April 1655. the Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, being sat in the Castle of Exon, summoned before them myself, Mr. Huge Grove, Mr. Richard Reeves, Mr. Robert Duke, Mr. George Duke, Mr. Thomas Fitz-James, Mr. Francis Jones, Mr. Edward Davis, Mr. Thomas Poulton, and Mr. Francis Bennet Being all called to the Bar, we were commanded to hold up our hands, and an Indictment of high treason was read against us: and being asked whether we would plead guilty or not guilty to the Indictment; in the behalf of myself and of the Gentlemen therein charged, I spoke as followeth. Col. Penruddock, My Lords, though my education hath been such as not to give me those advantages which the knowledge of the Laws would assisted me with, for the defending myself: yet upon hearing this very indictment, my reason tells me, that it is illegal: and therefore I do demand Council that may dispute the illegality thereof. Sergeant Glyn. Sir, you desire that which cannot be granted, therefore give your answer whether you are guilty or not guilty of the Treason of which you stand charged. Col. Pen. Sir by your favour, it is that which hath been granted to my inferiors, (viz) to Mr. Lilburn and to one Rolf a Shoemaker, and I have as great a right to the Laws as any person that sits here as my Judge; I do therefore challenge it as my right. Judge Nicholas whom I there see, will tell you he himself was council for this Rolf: and it is a hard case, if a freeborn Gentleman of England cannot have the same privilege that his inferiors have had before him. Attorney General Sir, there is a great difference between Treason acting and acted; the later is your case: therefore flatter not yourself, and do not think your being mute shall save your estate in case of treason; for if you plead not to the indictment, sentence will be pronounced against you, as if you had been found guilty of the fact you are charged with. Col. Pen. Sir, I observe your distinction: but all the Logic you have, shall not make me nor any Rational man acknowledge, that this was either acting or acted, before it be proved Sir, it is but a bare suspicion, and I hope you will not condemn me before I am convicted: I say the Indictment is illegal, and I do demand Council. At. Gen. Sir, the Court must not be dallied withal: I do peremtorily demand of you, are you guilty or not guilty? If you plead, you may have favour, otherwise we shall proceed to sentence. Col. Pen Sir, put case I do plead, shall I then have Council allowed me? At. Gen. Sir, the Court makes no bargains, refer yourself to us. Hereupon my fellow-prisoners persuaded me to plead not guilty: which being done, I demanded Council, as being partly promised it. Mr. Attorney told me: I could have none. Then I replied? Col. Pen. Sir, Durus est hic sermo, it is no more than Jexpected fromy you; but rather than I will be taken off unheard, I will make my own defence as well as I can. The Jurors being then called, I challenged about 24 of the 35. I might have challenged. The rest of the Gentlemen were sent from the bar; I was left alone upon my trial; and the Jurors were so pact, that had I known them, the issue had been the same that it was. The Jurors being sworn, and the Indictment again read, Mr. Attorney demanded what exception I could make to it. Col. Pen. Sir, I except against every part thereof: For I take it to be illegal in toto Composito. Recorder Steel. Sir, It is not usual for any Court to admit of general exceptions, therefore we expect that you should make it to some particular. Col. Pen. Sir▪ I desire a Copy of my Indictment, and time until tomorrow to make my defence. At. Gen. Sir, You cannot have it; the Court expects you should do it now. Col. Penruddock, Then if I cannot have time, if my General exception might have been admitted, it would have told you, that there can be no high Treason in this nation, but it must be grounded upon the Common, or the Statute law: But this is neither ground upon the Common Law or the Statute ergo no Treason (against a Protector who hath no power according to Law:) neither is there any such thing in Law as a Protector, for all Treasons, and such pleas are Propria Causa Regis. Ser. Glyn. Sir, You are peremptory, you strike at the Government; you will far never a whit the better for this speech: speak as to any particular exception you have to the Indictment. Col. Penruddock, Sir, If I speak any thing which grates upon the present Government, I may confidently expect your pardon: my life is as dear to me, as this Government can be to any of you The holy Prophet David when he was in danger of his life, feigned himself mad, & the spittle hung upon his beard; you may easily therefore excuse my imperfections. And since I am now forced to give you my particular exception (more plainly) to the Indictment, I am bold to tell you, I observe in the latter part of the Indictment, you say I am guilty of High Treason by virtue of a statute in that case made and provided. If there be any such Statute, pray let it be read; I know none such. My Actions were for the King; and I well remember what Bract▪ saith, Rex non habet superiorem nisi Deum; satis habet ad poenam, quod Deum expectat ultorem. And in another place he saith, Rex habet potestatem & jurisdictionem super omnes qui in regno suo sunt: ea quae sunt jurisdictionis & pacis, ad nullum pertinent, nisi ad regiam dignitatem: habet etiam coertionem, ut delinquentes puniat & coerceat: Again he saith, Omnes sub Rege, & ipse nullo nisi tantum Deo; non est inferior sibi subjectis; non parem habet in regno suo. This shows us where the true power is. You shall find also. That whosoever shall refuse to aid the King when war is levied against him, or any that keep the King from his just Rights; offends the law, and is thereby guilty of Treason. Again, All men that adhere to the King in personal service are freed from Treason by Law: and yet you tell me of a Statute, which makes my adhering to the King according to Law, to be high Treason. Pray let it be read. At. Gen. You have not behaved yourself so as to have such a favour from the Court. Col. Pen. Sir, I require it not as a favour, but as my Right. At. Gen. Sir, you cannot have it. Col. Pen. If I cannot have it, these Gentlemen that are the Jurors have not offended you: their verdict reaches to their souls, as to my life: pray let not them go blindfold, but let that Statute be their guide. At. Gen. Sir, The Jury ought to be satisfied with what hath been already said, and so might you too. Col. Pen. Sir, I thank you: you now tell me what I must trust to. Mr Attorney than made a large speech in the face of the Court, wherein he aggravated the offence with divers circumstances; as saying I had been four years in France, and held a corespondency with the King my Master, of whom I had learned the Popish Religion; That I endeavoured to bring in a debauched lewd young man, and to engage this Nation in another bloody war; and that if I had not been timely prevented, I had destroyed them (meaning the Jurors) and their whole families. I interrupted him, and said. Col. Pen. Mr▪ Attorney, you have been heretofore of Council for me, you then made my case better than indeed it was; I see you have the faculty to make men believe falsehoods to be truth too. At. Gen. Sir, You interrupt me, you said but now, you were a gentleman. Col. Pen. Sir, I have been thought worthy heretofore to sit on the bench, though now I am at the bar Mr. Attorney then proceeded in his speech and called the witnesses. Then I said, Sir, You have put me in a bears skin, and now you will bait me with a witness. But I see the face of a gentleman here in the Court, (I mean Captain Crook) whose conscience can tell him, that I had articles from him, which ought to have kept me from hence. Captain Crook hereupon stood up, and his guilty conscience (I supposed) advised him to sit down again, after he had made this speech, (that is to say) he opened his lips and spoke nothing. The several witnesses now come in, Mr Dove the Sheriff of Wilts, and others; my charity forbids me to tell you what many of them swore: I shall therefore omit that, and only tell you, that one of our own party (and indeed I think an honest man) being forced to give his evidence, I said My Lords, it is a hard case, that when you find you cannot otherwise cleave me in pieces, that you must look after wedges made of my own timber. The virtuous Cryor of Blandford being asked what were the words I used in proclaiming King Charles at the market, he said, I declared for Charles the Second, and settling the true Protestant Religion, for the liberty of the Subject, and Privilege of Parliaments. Then I said unto the Attorney General and the whole Court, you said even now, that I had learned of the King my Master the Popish religion, and endeavoured to bring him in: your own witness tells you what, and whom I would bring in, and it was the true Protestant, and not the Popish Religion, his Majesty is of, and intends to settle. I urged divers cases to make the business but a Riot (as my Lord of Northumberlands) pretending it was for the taking of Taxes, and that the power was not declared to be where they say it is. I required the Judges to be of Council for me, & told them it was their duty. Commissioner Lisle told me I should have no wrong, (but he meant Right) but Judge Rolls and Nicholas confessed themselves parties, therefore would say nothing. Then I told the Court, if I had seen a Crown upon the head of any person, I had known what had been Treason, the Law of England would have taken hold of me out of the respects it has to Monarchy: There was no such landmarks before me; therefore I conceive, I cannot be guilty of what I am charged with. And my Lord and Mr. Attorney, you here indict me for a Treason committed at Southmoulton in Devonshire; and gentlemen ye swear witnesses against me for facts done in other Counties. Sarum, Blanford, and Southmoulton are not in a parish. You puzzle the Jurors with these circumstances, pray go to the kernel; and you Gent of the Jury, save your labour of taking those notes. Mr. Attorney then addressed himself to the Jury, and to be short, after the space of half an hour long, gave them directions to bring me in guilty: this being done, I craved the favour from the Court, that I might speak to the Jury; which being allowed, I said to them as followeth, or to the same effect. Gent. You are called a Jury of life and death; and happy will it be for your souls, if you prove to be a Jury of life. You have heard what hath been said to make my actions Treason, and with what vigour many untruths have been urged to you. I have made appear to you, that there can be no Treason but against the King; that the Law knows no such person as a Protector. Mr. Attorney pretends a Statute for it, but refuseth the reading thereof, either to me or you; vilifies me at pleasure, and tells you I am a Papist, and would bring in the Popish Religion: and that if I had not been timely prevented, I had destroyed you, I hope you are all so satisfied of the contrary, from the mouth of one of the best witnesses. You are now judges between me and these judges. Let not the majesty of their looks, or the glory of their habits betray you to a sin, which is of a deeper die then their scarlet; I mean that sin, blood, which calls to heaven for vengeance. Gent. you do not see a hair of my head but is numbered, neither can you make any one of them; much less can you put breath into my nostrils when it is taken out: a sparrow doth not fall to the ground without the providence of God, much less shall man, to whom he hath given dominion and rule over all the creatures of the earth. Gent. look upon me, I am the Image of my creator, and that stamp of his which is in my visage, is not to be defaced without an account given, wherefore it was, I have here challenged, as I am a Gentleman and freeborn man of England, the right which the law allows me; I demanded a copy of my Indictment, and Council, but it is denied me. The Law which I would have been tried by, is the known Law of the land, which was drawn by the wise consultation of our Princes, and by the ready pens of our progenitors. The Law which I am now tried by is no Law, but what is cut of by the point of a rebellious sword; and the sheets in which they are recorded, being varnished with the moisture of an eloquent tongue, if you look not well to it, may chance to serve for some of your Shrouds. If the fear of displeasing others shall betray you to find me guilty of any thing, you can at the most, but make a riot of this. Pray by the way take notice, that the last Parliament would not allow the Legislative power to be out of themselves; seventeen of twenty in this very County were of that opinion, and deserted the house: they were your Representative: if you find me guilty, you bring them in danger, and in them yourselves. Have a care of being drawn into a snare. Gent. your blood may run in the same channel with mine. If what I have said, do have been tried by, is the known not satisfy you, so as to aquint me, if you bring me in a special verdict, you do in some measure acquit yourselves, and throw the blood that will be spilt upon the Judges; Consider of it, and the Lord direct you for the best. The Jury after a quarter of an hour's retirement, brought me in guilty: the Lord forgive them, for they knew not what they did. Upon Monday the 23 of April we were again called to the bar, being then in number twenty six. Sergeant Glyn asked of me first, what I could say for myself, that I should not have sentence according to the Law? Then I said, My Lords & Gentlemen you aske● what I can say for myself, that I should not have sentence pass upon me. The Jury found me guilty; if I should go about to make a defence now, it would signify no more then as if my friends should petition for my pardon after I am excuted▪ could have offered you articles here but I thought them inconsistent with this Court. When I look upon my offence (as to the Protector) I conclude myself a dead man; but when I reflect upon the favour he hath showed to others of my condition, and the hopes I have of your intercession, me thinks I feel my spirits renewed again. My Lords, death is a debt due from Nature; has now the keeping the bond and has put it in suit by his Attorney: if he please to forbear the serving me with an execution, and let me keep it a little longer, I will pay him the interest of thanks for it, as as long as I live, and engage my posterity and a numerous alliance to be bound for me. So the Lord direct you all for the best. If I have found favour I shall thank you; if not, I shall forgive you. This being done, Sergeant Glyn after a most bitter and nonsensical speech, gave sentence against us; (viz) to be drawn hanged and quartered. A pretty exchange for unworthy Crooks Articles for life, liberty and estate; which I can prove, and will die upon. My trial held at least five hours. This is as much as at present I can remember of it; excuse the errors. One of the Jury being asked by a Gent. why he found me guilty, answered, He was resolved to hang me before he did see me. I observe treason in this age to be an individuum vagum, like the wind in the Gospel, which bloweth where it listeth; for that shall be treason in me to day, which shall be none in another to morrow, as it pleaseth Mr Attorney. The * Witness one Benner and Stroud who in open Court confessed to be guilty of all they proved against me yet Mr▪ Attorney gave the Jury directions to find them not guilty▪ Judges are sworn to do justice according to the Laws of the Land, and therefore have miserably perjured themselves in condemning me contrary to Law: And (not so contented) must cause the Jury (so wise they were) (through their false and unjust directions to destroy their own rights and properties, and set up a new Arbitrary and Tyrannical government. The Judges would not give me their advice in point of Law, (as was their duty) because they said they were parties; yet could sit still on the Bench in their Robes, to countenance (and approve of) my Sentence. No man can be a Judge where he is a Party in the same cause; Hobart folio 120. Dact. Bonames case 8 part of Cooks reports. therefore my trial was contrary to Law. The Judges being parties, ought not to sit upon the bench (but stand by:) therefore my trial was illegal: the rest being no Judges but the Protectors immediate servants, so could not be my Judges in case of High Treason; for none but the sworn Judges of the Land are capable of it by Law. One thing of Colonel Dove the reverend Sheriff of Wilts, who that the Jury might be sufficiently incensed, complaining of the many incivilities (he pretended) were offered him by our party, being upon his Oath, said that one of our men did run him through the side with a Carbine, Surely it was a very small one, for the wound was not discernible. A great deal of pains every man in his place took for the carrying on their Master's work. Be merciful unto me O Lord, be merciful unto me; under the shadow of they wings will I hide myself till this Tyranny be overpast. Glory be to God on High, in earth peace good will towards men; and so have mercy on me, O lord JOHNN PENRUDDOCK Mrs. Penruddock's last letter to her honourable and dear Husband. My dear heart, MY sad parting was so far from making me forget you, that I scarce thought on myself since, but wholly upon you. Those dear embraces which I yet feel, and shall never lose being the faithful testimonies of an indulgent husband, have charmed my soul to such a reverence of your remembrance, that were it possible, I would with my own blood cement your dead limbs to life again, and (with reverence) think it no sin to rob heaven a little while longer of a Martyr. Oh my dear! you must now pardon my passion, this being my last (oh fatal word!) that ever you will receive from me. And know that until the last minuit that I can imagine you shall live, I will sacrifice the prayers of a Christian, and the groans of an afflicted wife: And when you are not, (which sure by sympathy I shall know) I shall wish my own dissolution with you, that so we may go hand in hand to heaven: 'tis to late to tell you what I have (or rather have not) done for you; how turned out of doors, because I came to beg mercy: the Lord lay not your blood to their charge. I would fain discourse longer with you, but Passion begins to drawn my Reason, and will rob me of my devoir, which is all I have left to serve you. Adieu therefore, ten thousand times my dearest dear; and since I must never see you more, take this prayer; May your Faith be so strengthened, that your Constancy may continue; and then I know that heaven will receive you, whether grief and love will in a short time (I hope) translate. May the 3. at 11 at clock at night My dear, Your sad, but constant wife even to love your ashes when dead, Arundel Penruddock. Your children beg your blessing, and present their duties to you. The last letter from the honourable Colonel Penruddock, in answer to his virtuous Lady. MY DEAREST HEART, I Even now received thy farewell letter: each word whereof represents unto me a most lively Emblem of your affection, drawn with thy own hand in water colours, to the figure of a death's head. My dear, I embrace it, as coming first from God, and then from Man: for what is there done in this City that the Lord hath not permitted? I look upon every line of thine, as so many threads twisted together in to that of my life, which being now woven, my meditations tells me, will make a fit remnant for my winding sheet. Upon the reading thereof, I may say with the Prophet, I should have utterly fainted, but that I believe verily too see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. As this is mine, my dear, so let it be thy consolation. When I think what a wife and what children I go from, and look no further, I begin to cry, O wretched man that I am! But when my thoughts soar higher, and fix themselves upon those things which are above, where I shall find, God my Creator to my Father, and his Son my Redeemer to my Brother, (for so they have vouchsafed to term themselves;) then I lay aside those relations, and do of all love my dear desire thee, not to look towards my grave where my Body lies, but toward the heaven, where I hope my Soul shall gain a Mansion in my Father's house. I do steadfastly believe, that God hath heard the prayers of my friends, and thine, and mine: and how knowest thou O woman, whether thou hast not saved thy husband? Let those considerations raise thy spirit, I beseech thee; and that for God's sake and mine. Though I lie among the children of men, which are set on fire against me; yet under the shadow of the Almighty's wings, I will hide myself till this tyranny be overpast. The greatest conflict I have had in this extremity, was my parting with thee: the next encounter is to be with Death; and my Saviour hath so pulled out the sting thereof, that I hope to assault it without fear. Though the Arms of men have been too hard for me, yet I am now listing myself under the conducct of my Sovereign, and an Army of Martyrs, that the gates of hell cannot prevail against. My dear, I have now another subject to think on, therefore you must excuse the imperfections you find here. I have formerly given you directions concerning my children, to which I shall refer you. May the blessing of Almighty God be upon thee and them, and may there not want a man of my name to be ready to be a sacrifice in this cause of God, and his Church, so long as the Sun and Moon shall endure. I shall now close up all, with desiring you to give a testimony for me to the world, that I die with so much Charity, as to forgive all my enemies▪ I will join them in my last prayers, for my friends: Amongst which, you and my children are for my sake obliged to pay a perpetual acknowledgement to Mr Rolls and his Lady, and my cousin * Nota bene Mr Sebastine Isaac although he seemed very solicitous for Colonel Penruddock in his life, since his death hath been very unworthy to his memory (contrary to his promise, to the said Colonel, in his life) and hath done contrary to the will of the dead, the trust reposed in him, the principle of honour and much unbecoming a Gent. Mr Sebastine Isaac, for their great solicitations on my behalf If▪ I should forget this City of Exeter for their civilities to my own self in particular, and indeed to all of us, I should leave a reproach behind me. I will give them thank at my death; and I hope you and yours will do it when I am dead. My dear heart, I once more bid the adieu, and with as much love and sincerity as can be imagined, subscribe myself. Thy dying and loving Husband John Penruddock. Exon May 7 and the * Note, when this letter was writ, Colonel Penruddock did not know other then that he was to die the same day. last year and day of my date being the year of my Saviour 1655. The speech of the Honourable Colonel Penruddock, the greatest part whereof he delivered upon the Scaffold in Exon Castle the 16. day of May, 1655. the whole he left with a Gent. and friend of his, written with his own hand; which is as followeth. Together with the manner of his being beheaded. As he was ascending the Scaffold, bearing his knees, and humbly bowing him himself, he used these words; This I hope will prove to be like jacob's ladder; though the feet of it rest on earth, yet I doubt not, but the top of it reacheth to Heaven. When he came upon the Scaffold, he said. O wreteched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God who hath given me victory though our Lord Jesus Christ. Then with a abundance of Christian cheerfulness he spoke to the people as followeth. GENTLEMEN, IT hath ever been the custom of all persons whatsoever when they come to die, to give some satisfaction to the world, whether they be guilty of the fact of which they stand charged. The crime for which I am now to die, is Loyalty, (but) in this age called high Treason. I cannot deny, but that I was at Southmoulton in this County: but whether my being there, or my action there, amount to so high a crime as high Treason; I leave to the world and the Law to judge. Truly, if I were conscious to myself of any base ends that I had in this under taking, I would not be so jurious to my own soul, or disingenuous to you, as to make a public acknowledgement thereof. I suppose that divers persons, according as they are by their several interests & relation biased, give their opinions to the world concerning us, I conceive it impossible therefore so to express myself in this particular, as not to expose both my judgement and reputation to the censure of many which I shall leave behind me. Because I will not put others (therefore) upon a breach of charity concerning me or my actions, I have thought fit to decline all discourses which may give them a capacity either to injure themselves or me. My Trial was public and my several examinations (I believe) will be produced when I am in my grave. I will refer you therefore to the first, which I am sure some of you heard, and to the later, which many of you (in good time) may see Had Captain Crook done himself and us that right which a Gentleman and a Soldier ought to have done, I had not now been here. The man I forgive with all my heart: but truly Gent his protesting against those Articles he himself with so many protestations and importunities put upon us, hath drawn so much dishonour and blood upon his own head, that I fear some heavy judgement will pursue him. Though he hath been false to us, I pray God that I do not prove a true prophet to him. Nay, I must say more, that coming on the road to Exon, he the said Captain Crook told me, Sir Joseph Wagstaffe was a gallent Gentleman, and that he was sorry that he was not taken with us; that then he might have had the benefit of our Articles: but now (said he) I have beset all the Country for him, so that he cannot escape, but must be hanged He also questioned me, as I passed through Salisbury from London, whether he had given me conditions. Which I endeavouring to make appear to Major Butler: he interrupted me, and unwillingly confessed it, saying, I proffered him four hundred pounds to perform his Articles: which had been a strange proffer of mine, had I not really conditioned with him. And I told him then (having found him unworthy) I would have given him five hundred pounds, believing him to be mercenary. To make it further appear, I injure him not by styling him unworthy, after these Articles were given he proffered to pistol me, if I did not persuade another house to yield, which then were boldly resisting. To which my servant john Biby (now a prisoner) replied, I hope you will not be so unworthy, as to break the Law of Arms. Thus much I am obliged to say to the honour of the Souldery, that they have been so far from breaking any Articles given to others, that they have rather bettered them then otherwise. It is now our misfortune to be made precedents and examples together, but I will not do the Protector so much injury as to load him with this dishonour; since I have been informed, that he would have made our conditions good, if Crook that gave them had not abjured them. This is not a time for me to enlarge upon any subject, since I am now become the Subject of death: But since the Articles were drawn by my hand, I thought myself obliged to a particular Justification of them. I could tell you of some soldiers which are turned out of his troup for defending those conditions of ours: but let that pass; and hence forward instead of life, liberty and estate (which were the Articles agreed upon) let drawing, hanging and quartering bear the Denomination of Captain Crooks Articles. However I thank the Protector for granting me this honourable Death. I should now give you an account of my Faith. But truly gentlemen, this poor Nation is rend into so many several opinions, that it is impossible for me to give you mine without displeasing some of you. However, if any be so critical as to inquire of what Faith I die, I shall refer him to the Apostles, Athanasius, and the Nicene Creed, and to the testimony of this Reverend gentleman Dr. Short, to whom I have unbosomed myself: and if this do not satisfy, look in the thirty nine Articles of the Catholic Church of England; to them I have subscribed and do own them as authentic. Having now given you an account concerning myself; I hold myself obliged in duty to some of my friends, to take off a suspicion which lies upon them: I mean as to some persons of Honour, which upon my examination I was charged to have held correspondency with. The marquis of Hartford, the marquis of Winchester, and my Lord of Pembroke were the persons nominated to me. I did then acquit them, and do now second it with this protestation, That I never held any correspondence with either or any of them, in relation to this particular business, or indeed to any thing which concerned the Protector or his Government. As for the marquis of Winchester, I saw him some twelve years since, and not later; and if I should see him here present, I believe I should not know him. And for the Earl of Pembroke, he was not a man likely to whom I should discover my thoughts, because he is a man of a contrary judgement. I was examined likewise concerning my Brother Freke, my Cousin Hastings, Mr Dorrington and others. It is probable their estates may make them liable to this my condition: but I do here so far acquit them, as to give the world this farther protestation; that I am confident they are as innocent in this business as the youngest child here. I have no more to say to you now, but to let you know, that I am in charity with all men; I thank God: I both can and do forgive my greatest persecutors, and all that ever had any hand in my death. I have offered the Protector as good security for my future demeanour as I suppose he could have expected if he had thought fit to have given me my life; certainly I should not have been so ungrateful as to have employed it against him. I do humbely submit to God's pleasure, knowing that the issues of life and death are in his hand. My blood is but a small sacrifice, if it had been saved, I am so much a Gentleman as to have given thanks to him that had preserved it; and so much a Christian▪ as to forgive them which take it But seeing God by his providence hath called me to lay it down, I willingly submit to it, though terrible to nature; but blessed be my Saviour, who hath taking out the sting; so that I look upon it without terror. Death is a debt, and a due debt; and it hath pleased God to make me so good a Husband, that I am come to pay it before it is due. I am not a shamed of the cause for which I die, but rather rejoice that I am thought worthy to suffer in the defence & cause of God's true Church, my lawful King, the liberty of the subject, and Priviliege of Parliaments: Therefore I hope none of mine alliance & friends will be ashamed of it, it is so far from pulling down my Family, that I look upon it as the raising it one story higher. Neither was I so prodigal of nature as to throw away my life, but have used (though none but honourable and honest) means to preserve it. These unhappy times indeed have been very fatal to my family: two of my Brothers already slain, and myself going to the slaughter: it is Gods will, and I humbly submit to that providence. I must render an acknowledgement of the great civilities that I have received from this City of Exon, and some persons of quality, and for their plentiful provision made for the prisoners. I thank Mr. Sheriff for his favour towards us, in particular to myself; and I desire him to present my due respects to the Protector, and though he had no mercy for myself, yet that he would have respect to my family. I am now striping off my clothes to fight a duel with death, (I conceive no other duel lawful) but my Saviour hath pulled out the sting of this mine enemy, by making himself a sacrifice for me: And truly I do not think that man deserving one drop of his blood, that will not spend all for him in so good a cause. The truth is, Gentlemen, in this age, Treason is an Individuum vagum, like the wind in the Gospel, it bloweth where it listeth: So now treason is what they please, and lighteth upon whom they will. Indeed no man, except he will be a Traitor, can avoid this Censure of Treason: I know not to what end it may come, but I pray God my own, and my brother's blood that is now to die with me, may be the last upon this score. Now Gentlemen, you may see what a condition you are in without a King: you have no law to protect you, no rule to walk by; when you perform your duty to God, your King and Country, you displease the Arbitrary power now set up: (I cannot call it government.) I shall leave you to peruse my trial, and there you shall see, what a condition this poor Nation is brought into; and (no question) will be utterly destroyed, if not restored (by Loyal Subjects) to its old and glorious Government. I Pray God he lay not his Judgement upon England for their sluggishness in doing their duty, and readiness to put their hands in their bosoms, or rather taking part with the Enemy of Truth. The Lord open their eyes, that they may be no longer lead, or drawn into such snares: else the Child unborn will curse the day of their Parent's birth. God Almighty preserve my lawful King Charles the second, from the hands of his Enemies, and break down the wall of Pride and Rebellion, which so long hath kept him from his just Rights. God perserve his Royal Mother, and all his Majesty's Royal Brethren, and incline their hearts to seek after him. God incline the hearts of all true English men, to stand up as one Man to bring in the King; and Redeem themselves and this poor Kingdom, out of its more than Egyptian slavery. As I have now put off these garments of cloth, so I hope I have put off my garments of sin, and have put on the Robes of Christ's Righteousness here, which will bring me to the enjoyment of his glorious Robes anon. Then he kneeled down and kissed the block, and said thus: I commit my soul to God my Creator and Redeemer. Look on me, O Lord at my last gasping. Here my prayer, and the prayers of all good people. I thank thee, O God for all thy dispensation towards me. Then kneeling down, he prayed most devoutly, as followeth. O Eternal, Almighty, and most merciful God, the Righteous Judge of all the world, look down in mercy on me a miserable sinner. O blessed Jesus Redeemer of Mankind, which takest away the sins of the world, let thy perfect manner of obedience be presented to thy Heavenly Father for me. Let thy precious death and blood be the Ransom and satisfaction of my many and heinous transgressions. Thou that sittest at the right hand of God, make intercession for me. O holy and blessed Spirit, which art the comforter, fill my heart with thy consolation, O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, be merciful to me, confirm my faith, in the promises of the Gospel, revive and quicken my hope and expectation of joys, prepared for true and faithful servants. Let the infinite Love of God my Saviour make my love to him steadfast, sincere, and constant. O Lord consider my condition, accept my tears, assuage my grief, give me comfort and confidence in thee: impute not unto me my former sins, but most merciful Father receive me into thy favour for the merits of Christ Jesus. Many and grievous are my sins, for I have sinned many times against the light of knowledge against remorse of conscience, against the motions and opportunities of grace. But accept I beseech thee, the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart, in and for the perfect sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction of thy Son Jesus Christ. O Lord receive my soul after it is delivered from the burden of the flesh into perfect joy in the sight and fruition of thee. And at the general resurrection grant that my body may be endowed with immortality, and received with my soul into glory. I praise thee O God, I acknowledge thee to be the Lord. O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on me. Thou that sittest at the right hand of God, hear my prayer. O Lord Jesus Christ, God and Man, Mediator betwixt God and Man, I have sinned as a Man; be thou merciful to me as a God, O holy and blessed Spirit, help my infirmities, with those sighs and groans which I cannot express. Then he desired to see the Axe, and kissed it, saying, I am like to have a sharp passage of it, but my Saviour hath sweetened it unto me. Then he said, if I would have been so unworthy as others have been, I suppose, I might by a lie have saved my life which I scorn to purchase at such a rate. I defy such temptations, and them that gave them me. Glory be to God on high: On Earth peace: Good will towards Men. And the Lord have mercy upon my poor soul. Amen. So laying his Neck upon the block, after some private Ejaculations, he gave the Headsman a sign with his hand, who at one blow, severed his head from his body. The Speech of that piously resolved Hugh Grove of Chisenbury in the parish of Enford and County of Wilts Esquire, beheaded the 16 day of May. 1655. in the Castle at Exon Good people. I Never was guilty of much Rhetoric, nor ever loved long Speeches in all my life, and therefore you cannot expect either of them from me now at my death. All that I shall desire of you, besides your hearty prayers for my soul, is; That you will bear me witness, I die a true son of the Church of England, as it was established by King Edward the sixth, Queen Elizabeth, King James, and King Charles' the first of ever blessed memory: That I die a Loyal. Subject to King Charles the second, my undoubted Sovereign and a lover of the good old Laws of the Land, the just Privileges of Parliaments, and Rights and Liberties of the People; for the re-establishing of all which I do under take this engagement, and for which I am ready to lay down my life. God forgive the bloody minded Jury, and those that procured them: God forgive Captain Crook for denying his Articles so unworthily: God forgive Mr. Dove, and all other persons swearing so maliciously and falsely against me: God forgive all my enemies; I heartily forgive them. God bless the King and all that love him, turn the hearts of all that hate him; God bless you all, and be merciful to you and to my soul, Amen. And so meekly laying his neck to the block, and giving a sign, his head at one blow, and a draw of the axe, was severed from his body. FINIS.