078 E N G I 
regiments, blockaded the houfe, and feized forty-one 
members of the prefbyterian party. Above a hundred 
aiid dxty members more were excluded ; and none were 
allowed to enter but the mod furious and determined of 
the independents, in all not exceeding fixty. This atro¬ 
cious invafion of the parliamentry rights, commonly 
pafled by the name of Pride’s purge, and the remaining 
members were called the Rump. Thefe foon voted, 
that the tranfaftions of the houfe a few days before were 
entirely illegal, and that the conduct of the army was 
jud and necefiTary. 
Nothing now remained, after the conditution had been 
dedroyed, after the parliament had been ejected, after 
the religion of the country had been abolilhed, after the 
braved and the bed of its fubjedts had been dain, but to 
murder the king! This vile parliament, if it could delerve 
the name, was compofed of a medley of the mod obfeure 
citizens, mixed with the officers of the army. In this 
adembly, a committee was appointed to prepare a charge 
againd the king ; and, on their report, a vote palfed, de¬ 
claring it treafon in a king to levy war againd his parlia¬ 
ment. It w'as therefore refolved that an high court of 
judice diould be appointed to try his majedy for this new¬ 
fangled treafon. For form fake, they dedred the concur¬ 
rence of the few remaining lords in the other houfe ; but 
they had virtue enough to reject the propolal. This, how¬ 
ever, was no obdacle ; the commons voted that the concur¬ 
rence of the lords was unnecelfary, as the people were the 
origin of all jud power. 
Colonel Harrifon, the fon of a butcher, was commanded 
to conduiSt the king from Hurd-cadle to Windfor, and 
from theneg to London. From the fixth to the twentieth 
of January, A. D. 1649, was fpent in making preparations 
for this extraordinary trial. The court, which fat in 
Wedminder-hall, confided of_a hundred and thirty-three 
perfons named by the commons ; but of thefe never more 
than feventy attended. They were chiefly compofed of 
officers of the army, fome members of the lower houfe, 
and a few citizens of London. Braddiaw, a lawyer, was 
chofen prefident; Coke was appointed folicitor for the 
people of England ; Doridaus, Steele, and Afke, were 
named adidants. The king was now removed from Wind¬ 
for to St. James’s, and the next day was brought before 
this felf-created court. He was conduced by the mace- 
bearer to a chair placed within the bar. Though long 
haraffed as a prifoner, and now produced as a criminal, 
Charles dill maintained the dignity of a king ; he fur- 
veyed the members of the court with an intrepid air; 
and, without moving his hat, fat down, while the mem¬ 
bers alfo were covered. His charge was then read by the 
folicitor, accufing him gf having been the caufeofall the 
blood (lied which followed dnee the commencement of 
the war; at that part of the.charge he could not fup- 
prefs a fmile of contempt and indignation. After the 
charge was finidied, Braddiaw directed his difeourfe to 
the king, and told him that the court expected to hear 
his defence. 
The king, with great propriety, pointed out the ille¬ 
gality of the court, as unfounded, and unknown to the 
jurifprudence of England, or to any fydem of laws, hu¬ 
man or divine. He reprefented, that having been engaged 
in a treaty with his two houfes of parliament, and having 
finidied almod every article, he expedited a very different 
treatment from that which he now experienced. He per¬ 
ceived, he laid, no appearance of an upper houfe, which 
was neceffary to conditute a jud tribunal, even for infe¬ 
rior objects. That he was himfelf the king, and the 
fountain of the law, and consequently could not be tried 
by any formula to which he had never given his uffent; 
that having been intruded with lire liberties of the people, 
he would not now betray them, by recognidng a power 
founded in ufurpation ; that he was willing before a pro¬ 
per tribunal to enter into the particulars of his defence; 
. but that before them lie mud decline any apology for his 
ifmocence, led lie lliould be coalidered as a betrayer of, 
A. 'i not a martyr for, th<? conditution. 
■ AND. 
Braddiaw, to give fome colour to the authority ot their 
jurrldiftion, infifted that their power was derived from 
the people, the fource of all right. He therefore con¬ 
jured the king not to call in queftion the legality of the 
court, led it diould conditute an additional charge againd 
him. In this manner was the king three times produced 
before the court, and as often perfifted in denying its au¬ 
thority. The fourth and lad time of his being conducted, 
to this felf-created tribunal, lie was infulted by the fol- 
diers and the mob, who were indrudfed to exclaim, “ Jiif- 
tice ! judice! execution! execution!” but the king con¬ 
tinued undaunted. His judges having now examined fome 
witneffes, by whom it was proved that the king had ap¬ 
peared in arms againd the forces cotnmiffioned by parlia¬ 
ment, they pronounced fentence of death againd him. 
He feemed very anxious at this time to be admitted to a 
conference with the two houfes; and it wasfuppofed that 
he intended to redgn the crown to his fon ; but the court 
refufed compliance, and called his requed an artifice to 
fubvert the operation of judice. 
The condu£t of the king under all thefe bitter perfe- 
cutions, was truly magnanimous and collected. O11 his 
return to Whitehall, he dedred the permidion of the 
houfe to fee his children, and to be attended in his private 
devotions by Dr. Juxon, late bifliop of London. Thefe re- 
queds were granted, and alfo three days to prepare for his 
decapitation. All that remained of his family now in 
England, were the princefs Elizabeth, and the duke of 
Gloueeder, a child about three years old ; between whom 
and the. condemned king a mod tender and aftedting feene 
took place. Every night, during the diort interval be¬ 
tween his fentence and execution, the noife of the work¬ 
men employed in framing the Scaffold, continually re¬ 
founded in his ears. The fatal morning being arrived, 
he rofe early, and calling his attendants, he bade them 
employ more than ufual care in deeding him for So great: 
a folemnity. The fpot facing Whitehall was the place 
dedined for his execution, with a view to increafe the 
poignancy of his fufterings. He was led through the 
banqueting-houfe to the fcaffold adjoining to that edifice, 
attended by bi ill op Juxon, a man endowed with the fame 
mild and deady virtues with his royal mafter. The fcaf¬ 
fold, which was covered with black, was guarded by fol- 
diers, under the command of colonel Tomlinfon, and on 
it dood two executioners in mades. The concourfe of 
people was immenfe. The king• Surveyed the folemn 
preparations with calm compofure; and, as he could not 
expeft to be heard by fo numerous an audience, who were 
alfo kept at a didance, he addreffed himfelf to the few 
perfons who dood round him. He there judified his in¬ 
nocence with refpedl to the late fanguinary wars; and 
obfervbd, that he had not taken arms till after the par¬ 
liament had fet the example ; that he had no other ob- 
jedt in his warlike preparations, than to preferve that 
authority entire, which h .d been transmitted to him by 
his ancedors, and fir ft violated by his persecutors ; bur, 
though innocent of any crime towards his people, he ac¬ 
knowledged the equity of his execution in the eyes of 
his Maker. He owned that he was judly punidied for 
having contented to the execution of the innocent earl cf 
Strafford. He forgave all his enemies, exhorted the par¬ 
liament to return to their obedience, and acknowledge 
his fon as his fucceffor; and dgnified his attachment to 
the protedant religion, as profeffed in the church of Eng¬ 
land. So drong was the impredion his dying words made 
upon the few- who heard- him, that colonel Tomlinfon 
himfelf, to whofe care he had been committed, acknow¬ 
ledged himfelf Satisfied of his innocence. 
Charles, having taken off his cloak, delivered his 
George to bilhop J uxon, pronouncing the ward, Remember. 
Then he laid his neck on the block, and dretching out 
his hand as a Signal, one of the executioners fevered his 
head from his body at a blow, while the other, holding 
it up, exclaimed, “ This is the head of a traitor !” The 
fpedfatprs tedified their horror and indignation in Sighs, 
tears, and execrations ; the tide of duty and affedlion be¬ 
gan 
