Volume I Part 7 (1/2)
MR. COOK--My lord, I am commanded to charge Charles Stuart King of England, in the name of the Commons of England, with Treason and High Misdemeanors; I desire the said Charge may be read.
The said Charge being delivered to the Clerk of the Court, the Lord President ordered it should be read; but the king bid him hold. Nevertheless, being commanded by the Lord President to read it, the Clerk begun, and the Prisoner sat down again in his chair, looking sometimes on the High Court, sometimes up to the Galleries; and having risen again, and turned about to behold the guards and spectators, sat down, looking very sternly, and with a countenance not at all moved, till these words, viz.:--'Charles Stuart to be a Tyrant and Traitor,' etc. were read; at which he laughed, as he sat, in the face of the Court.
The Charge being read, the Lord President replied;
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, You have now heard your Charge, containing such matter as appears in it; you find, that in the close of it, it is prayed to the Court, in the behalf of the commons of England, that you answer to your Charge. The Court expects your Answer.
KING--I would know by what power I am called hither; I was not long ago in the Isle of Wight; how I came there, is a longer story than I think it fit at this present time for me to speak of; but there I entered into a Treaty with both houses of Parliament, with as much public faith as it is possible to be had of any people in the world. I treated there with a number of honorable lords and gentlemen, and treated honestly and uprightly; I cannot say but they did very n.o.bly with me, we were upon the conclusion of the Treaty. Now I would know by what authority, I mean lawful; there are many unlawful authorities in the world, thieves and robbers by the highways; but I would know by what authority I was brought from thence, and carried from place to place, and I know not what; and when I know what lawful authority, I shall answer. Remember I am your king, your lawful king, and what sins you bring upon your heads, and the judgment of G.o.d upon this land; think well upon it, I say, think well upon it, before you go further from one sin to a greater; therefore let me know by what lawful authority I am seated here, and I shall not be unwilling to answer. In the mean time, I shall not betray my trust; I have a trust committed to me by G.o.d, by old and lawful descent; I will not betray it, to answer to a new unlawful authority; therefore resolve me that and you shall hear more of me.
LORD PRESIDENT--If you had been pleased to have observed what was hinted to you by the Court, at your first coming hither, you would have known by what authority; which authority requires you, in the name of the people of England, of which you are elected king, to answer them.
KING--No. Sir, I deny that.
LORD PRESIDENT--If you acknowledge not the authority of the Court, they must proceed.
KING--I do tell them so; England was never an elective kingdom, but an hereditary kingdom, for near these thousand years; therefore let me know by what authority I am called hither. I do stand more for the Liberty of my people, than any here that come to be my pretended Judges; and therefore let me know by what lawful authority I am seated here, and I will answer it; otherwise I will not answer it.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, how really you have managed your trust, is known: your way of answer is to interrogate the Court, which beseems not you in this condition. You have been told of it twice or thrice.
KING--Here is a gentleman, lieutenant-colonel Cobbet; ask him, if he did not bring me from the Isle of Wight by force. I do not come here as submitting to the Court: I will stand as much for the privilege of the house of commons, rightly understood, as any man here whatsoever. I see no house of lords here that may const.i.tute a parliament; and the king too should have been. Is this the bringing of the king to his parliament? Is this the bringing an end to the Treaty in the public faith of the world?
Let me see a legal authority warranted by the Word of G.o.d, the Scriptures, or warranted by the Const.i.tutions of the kingdom, and I will answer.
LORD PRESIDENT--Sir; You have propounded a question, and have been answered. Seeing you will not answer, the Court will consider how to proceed; in the mean time, those that brought you hither, are to take charge of you back again. The Court desires to know, whether this be all the Answer you will give or no.
KING--Sir, I desire that you would give me, and all the world, satisfaction in this: let me tell you, it is not a slight thing you are about, I am sworn to keep the peace, by that duty I owe to G.o.d and my country, and I will do it to the last breath of my body; and therefore ye shall do well to satisfy first G.o.d, and then the country, by what authority you do it; if you do it by an usurped authority, you cannot answer. There is a G.o.d in Heaven, that will call you, and all that give you power, to account. Satisfy me in that, and I will answer; otherwise I betray my Trust, and the Liberties of the people: and therefore think of that, and then I shall be willing. For I do avow, that it is as great a sin to withstand lawful authority, as it is to submit to a tyrannical, or any other ways unlawful authority; and therefore satisfy me that, and you shall receive my answer.
LORD PRESIDENT--The Court expects you should give them a final Answer; their purpose is to adjourn to Monday next; if you do not satisfy yourself, though we do tell you our authority, we are satisfied with our authority, and it is upon G.o.d's authority and the kingdom's; and that peace you speak of will be kept in the doing of justice, and that is our present work.
KING--For answer, let me tell you, you have shewn no lawful authority to satisfy any reasonable man.
LORD PRESIDENT--That is, in your apprehension; we are satisfied that are your Judges.
KING--It is not my apprehension, nor yours neither, that ought to decide it.
LORD PRESIDENT--The Court hath heard you, and you are to be disposed of as they have commanded.
The Court adjourns to the Painted Chamber, on Monday at ten of the clock in the forenoon, and thence hither.
It is to be observed that as the Charge was reading against the king, the head of his Staff fell off, which he wondered at; and seeing none to take it up, he stoops for it himself.
As the King went away, facing the Court, he said, 'I do not fear that'
(meaning the Sword). The People in the Hall, as he went down the stairs, cried out, some, 'G.o.d save the King' and most for 'Justice.'[22]
At the High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall, Monday, January 22, 1649.
O Yes! made; Silence commanded; the Court called, and answered to their names. Silence commanded upon pain of imprisonment, and the Captain of the Guard to apprehend all such as make disturbance. Upon the king's coming in, a shout was made.
Command given by the Court to the Captain of the Guard, to fetch and take into his custody those who make any disturbance.
MR. SOLICITOR--May it please your lords.h.i.+p, my Lord President; I did at the last court in the behalf of the Commons of England, exhibit and give in to this court a Charge of High Treason, and other High Crimes, against the prisoner at the bar whereof I do accuse him in the name of the People of England; and the Charge was read unto him, and his Answer required. My lord, He was not then pleased to give an Answer, but instead of answering, did there dispute the Authority of this high Court. My humble motion to this high Court in behalf of the kingdom of England is, That the prisoner may be directed to make a positive Answer, either by way of confession, or negation; which if he shall refuse to do, that the matter of the Charge may be taken _pro confesso_, and the Court may proceed according to justice.