State Trials, Political and Social. Volume 2 (of 2)
History
State Trials, Political and Social. Volume 2 (of 2)
Trials -- Great Britain
[12] Algernon Sidney (1622-1683) was the son of the second Earl of
Leicester, and commanded a troop in the regiment raised by his father,
when he was Lord-Lieutenant in Ireland, to put down the Irish rebellion
of 1641. He afterwards came over to England, joined the Parliamentary
forces, and was wounded at Marston Moor. He continued serving in various
capacities, returning for a time to Ireland with his brother, Lord
Lisle, who was Lord-Lieutenant. He was appointed one of the
commissioners to try Charles I., but took no part in the trial. He was
ejected from Parliament in 1653, and adopted a position of hostility to
Cromwell. He remained abroad after the Restoration, though not excepted
from the Act of Indemnity, and lived a philosophic life at Rome and
elsewhere. He tried to promote a rising against Charles in Holland in
1665, and opened negotiations with Louis XIV. during the French war. He
returned to England in 1677 to settle his private affairs, and stayed on
making friends with the leaders of the Opposition, and vainly trying to
obtain a seat in the House of Commons. He quarrelled with Shaftesbury,
who denounced him as a French pensioner (which he probably was), and
seems to have had no connection with his plots. He was arrested on 27th
June, tried by Jeffreys on 7th November, condemned, and executed on 7th
December 1683.
[13] John Hampden (1656-1696) was the second son of Richard Hampden.
After travelling abroad in his youth he became the intimate friend of
the leaders of the Opposition on his return to England in 1682. He was
arrested with them and tried in 1684, when he was imprisoned on failing
to pay an exorbitant fine. After Monmouth's rising he was tried again
for high treason. As Lord Grey was produced as a second witness against
him, Lord Howard, who had testified before, being the first, he pleaded
guilty, implicating Russell and others by his confession. He was
pardoned, and lived to sit in Parliament after the Revolution; but
falling into obscurity failed to be elected for his native county in
1696, and committed suicide.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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