With the King at Oxford: A Tale of the Great RebellionChurch, Alfred John
History
With the King at Oxford: A Tale of the Great Rebellion
Church, Alfred John
Great Britain -- History -- Civil War, 1642-1649 -- Fiction
Many times did the President command him to answer, and he refused,
saying that he should betray his trust in so doing. Thereupon he was
remanded to St. James' Palace. As he went he pointed to the sword,
which, with the mace, lay upon the table, and said, "I fear not that."
There was a great shout as he walked down the Hall: "God save the
King," and another, but not so loud, of "Justice, justice!" It is
tedious to tell all that passed between the President and the King on
the days following. Indeed, it was ever the same, the President
desiring that the King should plead, and affirming that no prisoner
could be suffered to deny the authority of the Court by which he was
tried, and the King, on the other hand, being resolute to deny that he
could be lawfully judged by them that pretended to do so. And this
contention endured throughout three days. All that were present noted
that the King, who commonly had a certain hesitancy in his speech, now
spake with as much freedom as could be desired. At the last the
President said:
"Sir, this is the third time that you have publicly disowned this
Court, and put an affront upon it; how far you have preserved the
privileges of the people, your actions have spoken it; and truly, Sir,
men's intentions ought to be known by their actions; you have written
your meaning in bloody characters throughout the whole kingdom. But,
Sir, you understand the pleasure of the Court. Clerk, record the
default; and, gentlemen, you that took charge of the prisoner, take
him back again."
THE KING: "I will say this one word more to you; if it were my own
particular, I would not say any more, nor interrupt you."
PRESIDENT: "Sir, you have heard the pleasure of the Court, and you are
(notwithstanding you will not understand it) to find that you are
before a court of justice."
On the fifth day of the trial, so called, and on the day following,
the Court sat not in Westminster Hall, as before, but in the Painted
Chamber, where they heard witnesses. John Ellgood and I were not
present, access to the chamber not being so ready as to the Hall, but
we heard that witnesses, two score and more in number, of all ranks
and conditions, were examined, and testified to certain acts of war on
the part of the King, beginning with the setting up of his standard at
Nottingham, and proceeding through all parts of the late war. All
this, methinks, was matter of common notoriety, and might conveniently
have been spared.
On the seventh day of the trial, being the twenty-seventh of January,
we were betimes in the Hall, which was crowded beyond all that had
been before, all being now convinced that this great tragedy was
drawing to an end. The President was in scarlet, having before been
habited in black. His Majesty came in, covered as before, whereat some
of the soldiers that were set on guard cried, "Justice! Execution!" He
said:
"I desire a word to be heard, and I hope I shall give no occasion of
interruption."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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