BRITAIN. 



591 





cept of 100,000 for the court of wards to ac- 

 knowledge the parliamentary great . tl, and t 



' suit the two houses in the creat How- 



ever willing that the royalists should compound for 

 their tequcstrnt 



: seven taithl" i 



(lie parliament exempted from annuity. ' 

 ' discrowned head,"* it 



this refusal, dict.Ucd \-\- the remembrance of Straf- 



ford. His rcfu^ vde the abolition of Epis- 



it on which he split wi;h 



parliament in thn li -t chance far safety and the peace 



nf his country. recollect the conduct of 



IV. in A similar : ituation, and th;s' he lost no 



esteem i'.jr | try! 88 a 



11 of a reli 



to his heart, we cann<;t but wish that C'larles, to use 



.n, had preferred the 



public welrare anil his o\vr. intei'er-t, to ill'.' vain and 

 perish;;! ' forms f religion. Inn allowing all pro- 

 priety to his scruples, the merit of Charles is done 

 away, even ui this point, by the discovery, from his 

 own correspondence, ot his being utterly insincere in 

 the treaty. His secret, but fixed intention, was to 

 escape to Ireland and renew the war. In one letur, 

 he thus d. -scribes his motives to the Scottish treaty : 

 " To deal freely with you, the great concession I 



to-day, was merely in order to my esc; 

 which, if I had not hopes, I would not have done ; 

 for then I could have returned to my straight prison 

 without reluctance ; but now, I confess, it would 

 break my heart, having done that which nothing but 

 an escape could jusjify.'' 



Before this protracted treaty could be finished, the 

 army returned exasperated by a second civil war, and 

 breathing vengeance against the king, whom they 

 considered its author. They demanded justice, not 

 on meaner delinquents, but on Charles himself. His 

 person was again seized by the army, and removed 

 from Newport to Hurst Castle, on the opposite coast. 

 The commons, although they had voted his conces- 

 sions unsatisfactory, now made a last effort in their 

 own defence, and in that of Charles. They voted 

 that his concessions were satisfactory. But next 

 day Colonel Pride, at the head of two regiments, 

 blockaded the house, and excluding by violence about 

 200 members, and leaving only 60 determined Inde- 

 pendents, enforced a vote that the late concession to 

 Charles had been illegal, and that their general's 

 conduct was just and necessary. This violence upon 

 parliament, was called Pride's purge, and the rem- 

 nant of voters were called the rump parliament. 

 To this assumption of government by a lawless 

 and military power, the awful and unexampled spec- 

 tacle of a king publicly tried and condemned, by a 

 court of his own subjects, closely succeeded. The in- 

 terval from the Gth to the 20th of January 1G49, was 

 spent in preparations for his trial. A high court of 

 justice was appointed by ordinance, consisting of 133 

 persons, named indifferently, from the commons, the 

 army, and the citizens, noted as well affected to the 

 commonwealth. Bradshaw was appointed president, 

 Coke solicitor for the people of England. The 



court assembled in West minster hall. Charles was 

 ml from Hurst C.i tie to St James's. After 

 he had been Conducted by the mace bearer, to a 

 chair placed within the bar, lie arose, wi:h<mt deign- 

 ing to uncover or shew any mark of respect ' 

 court; and when arraigned by the solicitor, he touch- 

 ed his shoulder thrice with hu cane, and admonished 

 him to desist. He was accused of waging and re- 

 newing war against the parliament and the [> 

 toestabliah tyranny instead of the limited re f r;d power, 

 with which he had been intrusted. Wlr-n his de- 

 fence was required, he demanded by iiority 

 they sat upon him in judgment ; said thai he was re- 

 sponsible to God aloue; that he was their lawful and 

 hereditary sovereign ; that he h.'d ' d by a 

 military force in violation of public faith, wiiil> 

 ged in a treaty with the two houses ; that the Lords 

 had not concurred in this violence, and that the Com- 

 mons, in whose name he was accused, themsel 

 been subdued by force of arms. That allowing the 

 people had a right to try him, their consent ought to 

 be obtained from the highest to the lowest ; and, fi- 

 nally, that refusing to plead before an unlawful 

 court, for actions wlu'ch he could easily vindicate, he 

 spoke not for himself alone, but in the name of the 

 people of England. Thrice he was produced at the 

 bar, and thrice denied. the authority of the court. 

 The evidence of his appearing in arms against the 

 people was then gathered ; and after his last request 

 to have a conference with the two houses was refu- 

 sed, (it was supposed for the purpose of resigning 

 his crown to his son,) sentence of treason was pro- 

 nounced upon him, that his head should be separated 

 from his body on the third day. 



France, Holland, and the Scotch, interested them- 

 selves to avert his impending fate ; the Presbyterians 

 raised a feeble cry in his behalf. 



Charles behaved, during the whole trial, with all 

 the dignity that became him as a man, a Christian, 

 and a monarch. )- Dr Juxon, late bishop of London, 

 attended his devotions. He was lodged at St James's, 

 and the front of Whitehall was selected as the place 

 of his execution. On the morning of the fatal day, 

 he rose at an early hour after an undisturbed repose, 

 and having concluded his devotions with the eucha- 

 rist, was conducted on foot through the park, which 

 was lined with guards, to Whitehall, whtie an apart- 

 ment was prepared for his reception. After a slight 

 refreshment he ascended the scaffold, and surveyed, 

 without emotion, the awful preparations for death. 

 Despairing of being heard by the multitude, (as the 

 scaffold was surrounded to a great depth with troops,) 

 he addressed his discourse to the officers and attend- 

 ants. He protested, that the war on his part was 

 strictly defensive, and without accusing parliament, 

 he blamed the intervention of wicked instruments. 

 His death, he confessed, was a merited retribution for 

 consenting to Strafford's. He forgave his enemies, 

 admonished the people to return to loyalty, and at- 

 testing his dying attachment to the English church, 

 laid his head on the block. An executioner, who 

 wore a vizor, severed his head from his body :;t 

 one stroke. Another in the same disguise held is 



Brit.ii:>. 

 Ciin>.r !. 

 The kirr; 



ball, 



Anfl con- 

 demned te 

 death. 



mous con- 

 of th 



H<s cxccu- 

 tion. 



A truly pathetic expression used in his verses at Carisbrook CasUe. 



!'e article 



