the Commons made an ordinance of their own, that they were the
supreme government of the country, and would bring the King to
trial.
The King had been taken for security to a place called Hurst
Castle: a lonely house on a rock in the sea, connected with the
coast of Hampshire by a rough road two miles long at low water.
Thence, he was ordered to be removed to Windsor; thence, after
being but rudely used there, and having none but soldiers to wait
upon him at table, he was brought up to St. James’s Palace in
London, and told that his trial was appointed for next day.
On Saturday, the twentieth of January, one thousand six hundred and
forty-nine, this memorable trial began. The House of Commons had
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settled that one hundred and thirty-five persons should form the
Court, and these were taken from the House itself, from among the
officers of the army, and from among the lawyers and citizens.
JOHN BRADSHAW, serjeant-at-law, was appointed president. The place
was Westminster Hall. At the upper end, in a red velvet chair, sat
the president, with his hat (lined with plates of iron for his
protection) on his head. The rest of the Court sat on side
benches, also wearing their hats. The King’s seat was covered with
velvet, like that of the president, and was opposite to it. He was
brought from St. James’s to Whitehall, and from Whitehall he came
by water to his trial.
When he came in, he looked round very steadily on the Court, and on
the great number of spectators, and then sat down: presently he
got up and looked round again. On the indictment ‘against Charles
Stuart, for high treason,’ being read, he smiled several times, and
he denied the authority of the Court, saying that there could be no
parliament without a House of Lords, and that he saw no House of
Lords there. Also, that the King ought to be there, and that he
saw no King in the King’s right place. Bradshaw replied, that the
Court was satisfied with its authority, and that its authority was
God’s authority and the kingdom’s. He then adjourned the Court to
the following Monday. On that day, the trial was resumed, and went
on all the week. When the Saturday came, as the King passed
forward to his place in the Hall, some soldiers and others cried
for ‘justice!’ and execution on him. That day, too, Bradshaw, like
an angry Sultan, wore a red robe, instead of the black robe he had
worn before. The King was sentenced to death that day. As he went
out, one solitary soldier said, ‘God bless you, Sir!’ For this,
his officer struck him. The King said he thought the punishment
exceeded the offence. The silver head of his walking-stick had
fallen off while he leaned upon it, at one time of the trial. The
accident seemed to disturb him, as if he thought it ominous of the
falling of his own head; and he admitted as much, now it was all
over.
Being taken back to Whitehall, he sent to the House of Commons,
saying that as the time of his execution might be nigh, he wished
he might be allowed to see his darling children. It was granted.
On the Monday he was taken back to St. James’s; and his two
children then in England, the PRINCESS ELIZABETH thirteen years
old, and the DUKE OF GLOUCESTER nine years old, were brought to
take leave of him, from Sion House, near Brentford. It was a sad
and touching scene, when he kissed and fondled those poor children,
and made a little present of two diamond seals to the Princess, and
gave them tender messages to their mother (who little deserved
them, for she had a lover of her own whom she married soon
afterwards), and told them that he died ‘for the laws and liberties
of the land.’ I am bound to say that I don’t think he did, but I
dare say he believed so.
There were ambassadors from Holland that day, to intercede for the