A True RELATION OF The Proceedings Examination Tryal and HORRID MURDER OF Col. Eusebius Andrewe By John Bradshaw President of the pretended High-Court of Justice and others of the same Court Published by FRANCIS BUCKLEY Gent. Who was assistant to Mr. Andrewe in the time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imprisonment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Eye witness to all the said most Bloodâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 execrable proceedings LONDON Printed for Daniel Pakenâ—â—… at the Sign of the Rain-bow in Fleetstreet 1660. A True RELATION OF The Proceedings Examination Tryal and Horrid Murder of Collonel Eusebius Andrewe ON Munday the 24th of March 1649. Col. Andrewe was taken prisoner at Gravesend by Major Parker and by a Troop of horse that night conveyed to the George in Kings street Westminster The next day he was convented before the Lord President Bradshaw Sir Henry Mildmay Knight Thomas Scot Esquire three of the Members of State delegated by the Council for the taking of the examination of him and of Sir Henry Chichley Knight Doctor Henry Edwards and Mr. Clark casually found in the same Inn with Mr. Andrewe Those Gent. examined him so punctually to every action and circumstance that had passed on his part since he took up Armes and especially since the render of Worcester and his return from thence to London and also concerning his several Lodgings Names Acquaintances Removes Abodes in the Countrey correspondencies by Letters and interest in places and persons as if they had kept a Diary for him Which considered and that Sir John Gell Baronet Major Barnard Captain Smith Captain Benson and Captain Ashley with whom he had the last and most questionable correspondence were all in custody he found himself to be betrayed but could not at present guess by whom but well saw that he had better be fair in his confession then to deny what he saw by the perfectness of his examirers would be proved against him by the discoverie of some of those formerly secured and examined before his comming up and was resolved to beare the worse and not so much to shame himself or his matter as to deny things evident or easily evidenceable but rather to cast himself upon God and come off as well as he could with a truth in his mouth as the best way to meet death without shame In his Answers he would have bin circumstantial but was kept close to the Question at his departure he desired that he might set down his own Narrative according to his own sence which was granted him to prepare and to send or bring to them as there was opportunity And having totally as much as in him lay excused as was just for him to do his fellow prisoners as to any thing related to his Delinquency he was with them committed to the Gatehouse Wednesday following he was reconvented and reexamined On Friday he was again convented and delivered in his Narrative to the Lord President and the House by business happenning detaining the other two examiners he was by the President returned On Saturday he was recalled and theâ—… as at all times before used and treated with civility and no little pressure to dcisover some great persons his supposed confederates the aime as he conjectur'd and that upon strong inference and some expressions was at Sir Guy Palmes Sir John Curson and Sir Thomas Whitmore c. But he accounted it a great blessing in his inhappiness that his misfortune was not cumulative nor fatal to any his friends or familiars who yet knew nothing of the reason of his Imprisonment more then for what they were beholding to common fame and had no share in his fault such as it was and he was glad that he could as well engross the suffering to himself On Sunday next he was called out of his bed and by two Messengers his Keeper and his Man brought into a boat at Kings-bridg at Westminster and thence carried to the Tower The warrant which at the Lievtenants house was read imported That he was committed close prisoner for high treason in endeavouring to subvert the present Goverment c. To be kept till delivered by Law He was designed by the Lievtenant Collonel Francis West to a prison-lodging but having notified to him his quality he was put into the custody of Mr. Richard Standon one of the Yeomen Warders in his house equally convenient with the best in the Tower At his coming to the Tower he had but two shillings in his purse and supposing he should have been provided for diet as the States prisoner he sent to the Lievtenant to know what he would order for him who returned That if he had money he might have what he would but at his provision nothing His Keeper was upon his delivery to his charge commanded to keep him safe and if he escaped threatened to be hang'd and a centinel set immediatly at the dore and that day two Gentlewomen comming to see him were all night imprisoned in the Round-house and next day carried to the Council of State and strictly examined His Waterman that week brought him some money for which and some affectionate words spoken of him he was convented before the President examined rebuked and dismissed and a centinel set at the window of M. Andrews Lodging that he might not speak to any without The Narrative follows To the Right Honourable the Council of State The humble Narrative of Collonel Eusebius Andrewe as to the Questions and matters of charge whereupon he was examined before the President Sir Henry Mildmay and Thomas Scot Esquire in that behalf delegated by the Council the 27th day of March 1650. May it please your Lordships BEing unfortunatley and by a treacherous practice seduced into an action which renders me obnoctious to your Lordships displeasure and Justice and thereupon convented and brought to examination I assured your Lordships delegates that I came with a resolution to deal candidly and not to preserve my life by framing a Lye or by denying a Truth The same purpose I still retein casting my self wholly at your Lordships feet humbly praying leave that while I answer to matter of fact I may be permitted to cloth it with the pertinent circumstances That while the one layes me liable to your Justice the other may bring me within the capacity of your mercy which in case it be afforded I shall embrace with all humility and thankfullness And if denied I shall find cause within my bosome to justifie God Almighty in his permission of my ruine and I hope Charity enough to forgive whosoever have or shall be instrumental to it and bear the gurdon of my folly with a sober confidence of Gods reserved favour My Engagement for his late Majesty began soon after Hillary Terme 1642. and continued until the surrender of Worcester in July 1645. I have omitted to make my composition not having a considerable and not willing to own an inconsiderable estate I have not taken the Protestation Solemn League and Covenant Negative Oath nor subscribed the
contrary to these laws without a Jury of his Peeres were avoydable and reservable by writ of error as appeares also by the Presidents vouched by the Respondent in his second Answer Secondly That it is in the Courts power to try the freeman and consequently the Respondent by a Jury of his equals the Court is humbly desired to consider the words of Qualification The Court is First Required to hear and determine and so if at all Commissioners then Commissioners of Oyre and Terminer and such Commissioners in their natural constitution and practical execution do proceed against the freeman according to law by a Jury of his equals and not otherwise Secondly Authorised to proceed to tryal condemnation and execution c. But not restrained to the manner of Tryal Limitativè as to tryal by the Courts opinion as tryers Non exclusivè as to tryal per Pares But is left in the manner as in the Judgment it self to the opinion of the major number of 12 and if they shall think fit to try by a Jury it will be no offence against the Act there being no clause or prohibition to the contrary And therefore the Respondent humbly claimeth his said Right as consisting with the said Power And the more to enduce the Court to grant him such his right and the benefit thereof the Respondent humbly representeth the manifest wrong and multiplyed disherison done to him and in him to the Freemanry of England in the following particulars of their like just right depending upon such tryal to be allowed if denyed him by this Honorable Court First The benefit of Challenge to the tryers 35 peremptorily and for treason Sans number Stampf pl. Cor. fol. 150. Tit. Challenge Poynings case 32. Henry 6. Fitz. fo. 26. Allowed Hill 1. Jacobi to Sir Wal. Rawleigh and Brooks Secondly The liberty of Seeing hearing and counter-questioning the witnesses for clearing the evidence in matter of circumstance as well as in matter of fact which appears to be the Respondents right by Stamf. pl. Cor. fol. 163 164 The Stat of 1. and 2. Phil. and Mary Cap. 10. and 11. 1. Edw. 6. Chap. 12. The Authority of the laws Oracle Cook 2. part Inst. fol. 12. commenting upon the words in 25. Edw. 3. Ca. 2. Provablement Attanit because the punishment was heavy the proof to be Punctual and not upon presumptions or inferences or straines of Wit but upon good and sufficient proofs also by the Stat. of 1. Eliz. Ca. 6. 13. Eliz. Ca. 1. Thirdly The being Convinced or acquitted by a full free and fully consented virdict For First A verdict by a Jury passeth from all or not at all In the proceeding by voyces a sentence passeth by way of Concurrence with which the Star-chamber High Commission and Courts Martial were branded and condemned of In-equality Secondly A verdict passeth upon a Jury before discharged upon their affaires of Estate or supplies of Nature to prevent corruption of money and power but as this Court proceeds if it will proceed by voyces a tryal may be had this day and a sentence may be given at leasure when the Will of those by whom the Freeman is prosecuted be first known And upon the whole matter The Respondent humbly claimes the be nefit and right of being tryed if before this honorable Court per Pares men of his own condition and of his neighborhood and that he may hear and see all the witnesses produced against him viva voce et aperto vultu And may have power liberty and time to produce witnesses in his defence And saving as formerly humbly prayes that this his Answer and Salvo may be received and Registred Eus. ANDREWE HIs engagement originally for the King was lawfull by the Stat. of 11. Hen. 7. Cap. 1. By his Commissions producable The King not virtually in the Parliament but both virtually with us his Souldiers and unlawfull for the Parliament to compell him c. Hugh Spencer and his Son That homage and allegiance were due to the King only in respect of his Crown which is a virtual allegiance and by which or upon the same reason the Parliament inferrs their necessity or interest of Acting That the Leiger may remove the King That he might be reformed per asperte by force That they might and were bound to govern in aide of him all damn'd by the Act of Exilius Hugonis le Ospence in Edw. 4. and in 25. Edw. 3. 2. The natural politick bodies are indivisible incorporate 4 Eliz. resolv'd as law Plowd Com. fol. 113 by Sir Roo Ca'thline a Just Sir Jam. Dyer a Just Co. pl. Sandes a Bar. Russel Brown Corbet Weston Frenâ—t Just Carewe Pewterel Serjeants Gerrard Att. Gen. Caret Att. Dutchy Plowden himself If the virtual power be in the King his assent needless from 9. Hen. 3. to 1. Hen. 7. the stiles were The Kings ordinances at his Parliament c. or by advise of his Prolator and Barons and at the petition of the Commons Since 7. Hen. 7. Caâ— 14. by the King Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons assembled c. The Queen summoned a Parliament 23 Jan. 1. of her reign and in regard of indisposition of health prorogued till 25 ejusd. Resolv'd that the Parliament then and not till then began Where was the virtual presence when the King was in Newcastle Holmby Hampton Court Carisbrook Windsor St. James's prisoner Declaration in Apr. to the Scots papers 22. Nov. pag. 8. that the King was not in condition to govern The Oath of a Parliament man till which taken he is not effectually such That the King is Supreme Governor c. His being with the Prince My being with the Prince in Holland I was there before him and in good manners having been his Souldier Secretary to the Lord Capel visited the Court and took a friend from and pulling him off and this in his fathers life time he being by him commissioned Refus'd command for Ireland having expectation upon the treaty then on foot when it seems warr was so precious that the Petitioners for peace were Voted Malignants and disabled c. My message to Lord Hopton and Letter was to certifie to the King my Interest in the Office of the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland and to pray him that if he surrendred there he would not give away my right in my absence which was a duty I ow'd to my Family and Person and which every man in my condition would do The answer was only pertinent to such request and as then not prohibited to be done either to send or receive from any Mutual Interest the Commons are not to take notice of being private and obscure and only currant amongst their relators the Souldiery Testimony of Barnard not allowable for unless he can fix upon me he loseth his reward and all done only in confidence of him who held intelligence with the Lord President Bradshawe so that no danger at any time
sed per communi civium ultilitate conscripta And as laws should be so should Courts and the dispenseâ—… of laws be But my Lord if this Court must be granted to be a Court your selves can make no more of it then a Court ex parte and set up to serve a particular end with the privation of the common utility and liberty however usher'd with a preamble of an other stile of preservation of peace and prevention of wart but Thucidides will tell you my Lord in his fourth book That Turpius est his qui impia tenent insidiare honesto pertextu quam insidiosâ mallevolentiâ uti nam violentia videtur aliquid furis habere propter potentiam â fortunâ datam sed fraus tantum ab injustitia oritur The Third Argument BUt my Lord if your Lordship be in your judgment and conscience satisfied that the Act it self in and as to its constitution is good and valuable and impowereth you sufficiently to proceed against me some way then Argumenti ergo dato sed non juris ergo concesso that it is a law or an Act and that all those Ordinances are out of doores yet I pray your Lordships leave that I may make evident to your Lordship that you are not hereby constituted a Court capable in defect of the very letter of the Act to pass upon any man and consequently not upon me in matter of life or where life may may be the concernment 1. For reason you are not constituted a Court of Record which is absolutely necessary having life and forfeiture of lands in your charge First For the State that they may have an account not in their Council-chamber but upon Record what is become of the matter in issue and of the person put upon his Tryal 2. For the Freeman of England that in case he be acquitted of the crime wherewith he shall stand charged before this Court he might at all times resort to the Record upon any new question for the same Fact in any other Court holding Pleas of that nature by which Record to plead his Auterfoyes acquitte and to make his defence as also to preserve his estate Si non legalment aquitte eu le Poulters Case 9. R. Benegist demant acquittal nul req si non de Record as also my benefit a writ of Conspiracy To come nearer our own times the like cause to complain and the same redress is given in the Act for abolishing of the Star-chamber upon the grounds and reasons drawn from these Laws the Innovations and Invadings upon which as being Fundamentals was a great part of the substance of the grand Remonstrance communicated to the whole World against the late King by the Press The charges against he Earl of Strasford and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The interest of the Subject in these laws was cryed up to be so precious as that it had influence even to the absolving of all old Oathes and the imposing of new and to bring to adventure Estate and Life and soul rather then to be usurped or in the least intrenched upon Four several Declarations of the present Parliament have entitulated the subject to them and to the benefit of the ordinary Courts of Justice as their Birthright I have owned the preservation of them to be the Cause of the War and the ends of their affairs managed by their Swords or Councels and Gods curse is by them imprecated in case they should ever decline the Ends My Lord We have the Parliaments word and promise not to interrupt the course of Justice in the ordinary Courts And in the Ordinance of Non addresses to the late King they say Though they lay the King aside yet they will Govern by the Laws and not interrupt the Course of Justice in the Ordinary Courts thereof My Lord I am entitulated to all these Laws and these Promises and Declarations and if this Court proceed against me those notwithstanding the Ordinary Courts of Justice being open and unobstructed I am robbed and divested of them all and in me the Freemanry of England are all despoyled at the Parliaments will according to this president disployleable and may with Mr. Stampsord in his Pleas of the Crown take up this saying It will serve for a Lamentation Misera servitus est ubi jus est vagum incognitum The Fourth Argument THomas Acquinus who though a Papist is not the less worthy to be vouched where not Religion but Pollicy is the thing in question Sayth That Lex est regula mensura actuum agendorum vel omittendorum not Actorum and Omissorum And St. Paul says Concupiscentian nesciebam nisi lex diceret non concupisces My Lord your Authority is in two several places to proceed against as Traytors such who have broken the Articles before they were made viz. Whosoever hath or shall I lot Contrive or Endeavour c. Whatsoever Officer c. hath or shall desert their trust c. shall dye without mercy And thus my Lord the end of Laws and Law-makings is perverted which are not meerly to punish offenders but to prevent offences which amongst Christian men was never otherwise done but by way of premonition by laws first Interdictory and then Subpenatory The Earl of Strafford did and very reasonably take it unkindly and so exprest himself upon his Trial That a neglected Law should lie moulding amongstold parchments 200. years unused and unexercised and at last brought out to measure his passed Actions by or to use his own words To lye like a Coal raked up in the ashes to be at pleasure blown into a flame and to make him and his family the first fewel to feed it Truly if he had seen these Articles as he felt after somwhat like them he would have cried out and but modestly enough That it is not the mending of the fault but the destruction of the person which is manifestly defigned in these Articles of Retrospection Disusage of a law is some excuse for him who falls into a transgression but the non existence of a Law is a Justification to the greatest offence And my Lord as you are to look backward to Actions done before the Law made so you are to take Cognizance of offenders against two former Acts which make the Crimes therein certain in the matters of fact fault and punishment and if they be lawes they must be deemed part of the lawes of the Land and desireable and dispensable by the ordinary Courts of the Land in cases Criminal for extraordinary Courts of that king have long since even by the Parliament of which this is the sarviving part been denied And although it is true that when some particular fact is committed by some one or more particular persons against the laws Crimiâ—al it often falls and properly enough that especial Commissions of Oyre and Terminer are for some urgent and expedient reason issued
to try the matter and men yet those Commissions do not restrain the Commissioners to proceed only against those persons and upon those particular crimes which the common fame hath rendred Hac vice to be Tryable but run in general terms and with general enablement to try all manner of Treasons Felonies c. And the Reason is 1. For that it might possibly fall out that a grand Jury will not find the Bill against Jo. at style and if not the Commissioners are sent down without their arrant if only directed to try J. S. 2. It may fall out that where there are Treasons or Felonies commited by Jo. St. they may be accompanied with misprisions or misdemeanors in Jo. O. And if the particular crime of Treason and the particular person of J. S. be only authorised to be enquired of then the Commissioners can do but half their work And therefore this Commissionary power of yours My Lord the ordinary Courts being not obstructed and you limited to particulars is so far against the Common Law and usage that it is against common and vulgar reason and pardon that I must say it savours more of a Snare then of a Law and more of a warrant of Arbitrary Execution then of an enablement to and for a judicial and legal Proceeding or Tryal The Fifth Argument My Lord In all Courts of Justice as there is supposed to be an equality intended to such as shall fall under their Cognizance and Enquiry which is a principle of merality innate as well as a practical Policy so there have always in this Nation at least beyond memory or indeed record to the contrary been certain Oaths Obligatory and of indifference administred to Persons either enquiring of or passing judgment against or upon the Subjects in all cases whatsoever and the same thing is but necessary in your Lordships and this Court to be done if at all you will proceed in so weighty a matter as life against which I make this exception 1. If you are at all sworn you are not sworn in Conspectu and if you will be my Jury and my Judges also I ought to have a satisfaction that you are so sworn Had you been only my Judges and constituted after the ordinary manner and to ordinary ends I would have taken your being sworn for granted 2. If you are sworn and to no other words of an oath then what are comprised in the Act which my self and all men else will easily believe you are not then you are not sworn to any manner of Equality The words are You shall swear that you shall well and truly according to the best of your skill and knowledge execute the several powers given unto you by this Act I beseech your Lordship that I may compare these words with the Oath of Judges in England when it was a Kingdome The words Pertinent only are these You shall swear that well and lawfully you shall serve our Lord the King and his people in the office of Justice c And that you deny to no man common Right by the Kings letters or none other mans nor for none other cause c. I A. B. do swear that I will do equal right c. according to my best Wit Cunning and Power after the Laws and Customs of the Land and the Statutes thereof made c. My Lord these will concern you as my Judges to consider how little the stiles agree how far your Oath is in respect of these unobligatory and consequently unsatisfactory to the persons which are or shall be concerned 1. As to the first yours contains no such words of Equality 2. As to the second oath yours hath such words as skill and knowledg holding some resemblance with those of wit cunning and power But my Lord if your words were as well usher'd and as well paged as those it were some satisfaction viz. To do equal right according c. After the laws and customes of the Land and the Statutes thereof made My Lord as you are my Tryers also as well as my Judges I beseech you to observe the oath of a Juror and the difference in sence in letter I know for the dignity sake it ought to differ You shall well and truly try and true deliverance make between our Soveraigne Lord the King and the prisoner at the Barr c. I presume it is still the same mutatis mutandis Truly my Lord when I look upon your enablement to try the matters and persons which and whom you are to try you have power to destroy and not to save though â—o spare yet not to acquit or discharge and your obligation by oath to execute that power according to your best skill and knowledg I must needs say and it is apparant that when you have destroyed me you have discharged all the duty that man can exact from you though God will have a better reckoning and in stead of being tryed by sworne Jurors and adjudged by sworne Justices my self and all who are or may fall into my condition are to be tryed by our sworn Adversants I might have said sworne enemies and we cannot in reason expect more Justice then when the Son layes the wager the Mother keeps stakes and the Father is Judg in a point of controversie More and better you may do more or better we cannot by any light of reason expect The Sixth Argument BUt my Lord if all this be but wind against a Rock and move you to no declining of the exercise of your Power though against my right yet certainly my Lord where your power and my right may be consistent you will not stretch your power to the taking away of my right but rather by giving me my right magnifie your power This I may reasonably expect It is my right granting you to be my Judges to be tryed by my Peers the good men of my neighbourhood and it is in your power if your power be not inward to try me so That this is my right I must revisit Magna Charta Nisi per legale Judicium Parium suorum The Law of Edward 1. having confirmed the great Charter saith And we will that if any judgment hereafter be given contrary to the Poynts of the Charter aforesaid by the Justices or by any other our Ministers that hold Plea before them against the Poynts of the Charter it shall be undone and holden for naught And upon this very Law or Clause a writ of error was brought by the Earl of Lancaster for the misattainder of his brother whose Heyre he was and in that the Poynts were two and upon them both judgement given for a reversal 1. Quod non fuit araniatus ad responsionem positus tempore pacis eo quod cancellaria alia Caria Regis fuerant aperta in quo lex fiebat unicuique prout fieri consuevit Attinctus 2. Quod condemnatus sivi adjudicatus
damn my soul to preserve my estate or repaire my wrong by a contra-legal and contra-evangelical engagement This was sufficient reason owned and justified by the Parliament for their substraction of obedience {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} by their Declarations and Ordinances 2. Fealty or personal engagement I have given none viz. 1. I have not taken the Protestation of May 1642. 2. I have not taken the solemn Oath and Covenant yet if I had I might have justified my Actions by them 3. I have not taken the negative Oath because my oath of Allegiance from which no man can absolve me is a negative to that c. 4. I have not taken the present engagement much more against my oath of Allegiance then the negative oath If I had had so little conscience as to have taken them I would have had so much as to have kept them and the State cannot in reason expect from me or any other that we should take a second when we see no conscience made of keeping the first and to take a third the first and second being broken without other dispensation then Power which like Alexanders sword cuts the * knot which it can not untye Neither hath any man assurance if he should take the last engagement that he should have liberty to keep it longer then the fancie of the State held to the now new fashion of Government And therefore I stand clear as a down-right subject of England to stand or fall by the Common Laws of England and if they will deny me that they deny my Birth-right which is equally righteous and no more just then to deny me my estate my calling my abode my means of right Secondly As to my action at Linton I justifie my self by the late 1. Kings Commission which my accuser knowes I had and under which he was by the same King constituted my Major 2. a What was done was so done when he who gave me the Commission was in being and oppressed by injurious imprisonment and what I did was in order to his enlargement from his Thraldome and restorement to his lawfull power which was that to which my duty as a Subject by my oath of Allegiance did bind me in general termes and the duty of my qualification in particular obligation It was done before the now reputed Parliament were or pretended to be the Supreme Authority of the Nation or had assumed the power of Government or were fram'd into a State consequently I am not answerable to them for any opposition to them further then the Common Law binds to Parliaments without their head hand or defective in their members as to such offence if it be one this Court is not qualified to take any cognizance Thirdly As to the design concerning the surprise of the Isle of Ely it was but a bare discourse or communication and no formal design said agreed unto nor person engaged in it so much as by promise And in Cases of conspiracy against the lives of Kings there were some statutes made that very words and communication should be reputed I reason but all repealed or expired And not thought fit by wisdome of Law-makers having indisputable power to make Laws to be revived since the dayes of Q. Mary notwithstanding those very many treasons hatched designed against Queen Elizabeth and King James c. If in the highest point of treason communication be not treason against lawful Princes certainly an affection where the offence such as it is is of a far inferiour nature of it self so it had a far inferior object or subject concerning whom such discourse was holden Fourthly As to my supposed corresponding with the King the Lord Hopton and Earle of Cleveland if true it was so long since as that it fals not within compase of this Courts Commission to try being confin'd to infant matters of a year old and my charge not exhibited to the Court of Justice before Munday the 15 of July My last letter received from Lord Hopton beats date at the Hague 18. or 28. of June and was received in two dayes into Sussex Fifthly As to the Drawing Signing Sealing of the engagement it consists of several branches That De facto I did it and must not deny it because I have confessed it which was more their needed to them who knew it without enquiry for I dare averr that they had their instrument by them imployed and cherisht in betraying me to it And have some years past had a man in my bosome to watch me and my motions which I did affirm to the Lord President and he not denyed but said it was no more then did become any State to do who had so much cause to hold an active man in suspect as they had me having never come in and laid down the Cudgels but held to my principles and was ready upon every occasion to take fire And this I will prove if I have legal or because that word is worne out of use fair dealing from the Court And Out of that I may justly inferr what will be visible enough that it is the States Act and but my consent and they in no danger of me but that I should preserve my self from their new laws into the lapse of which I was not otherwise or by any other action fallen As to the parts of it 1. It consists of an oath of secresie 2. An owning of Charles the Second to be such 3. A resolution to endeavour to make him such 4. A crimination of the State under the names of Rebels and opposers who would not have him to be such To these as they are rankt The oath of Secresie hath relation only as to the not discovering the co-engagers in that resolution the resolution it self being not Treason the oath of keeping secret that resolution is not greater then the thing resolved 1. The thing resolv'd was to endeavour but was nor an actual endeavoring 2. If it were an actual endeavouring yet it can only be supposed that it must be endeavoured by a warr to be levied and the endeavour to levy a warr never actually leavyed is not treason against the King against whom only and his relations by our old laws which are Laws a treason can be committed and petty-treason I am not accused for That a bare intention resolution or engagement to levy a warr is not treason I report my self to my Lord Cooke who tels us and he is a man of credit in his Book printed and allowed for law by the Houses when they were two that a conspiracy and this engagement amounts not to so much but rather to an intention only to conspire to raise a warr as hath been said and so resolv'd is no treason by the Act of Edward the third until the warr levyed as within or to be reached by those words in that law overt Act and if it were not treason
Nunc dimittis to Tower August 19. 1650. Your old and constant Friend EUSEBIUS ANDREWE The last speech of Colonel EUSEBIUS ANDREWE on the Scaffold on Tower-hill August 22. 1650. THe Lieutenant of the Tower delivering the Colonel to the Sheriff said he had brought him thus far on his journey The Col. replied I hope I shall neyther tyre in the way nor go out of it When he came on the Scaffold kissing the Block he said I hope there is no more but this block between me and heaven After he had been some while on the Scaffold he spake to the people as followeth Christian Gentlemen and good people your business hither this day is to see a sad Spectacle a man brought in a moment to be unmann'd cut off in the prime of his years taken from further opportunity of doing service to himself his friends the Common-wealth or especially to God It seldom happens but upon very great cause and though truly if my general known course of life were enquired into I may modestly say there is such a moral honesty as some may be so forward as to expostulate why this great judgment is fallen upon me But know I am able to give them and my self an answer and out of this brest to give a better account of my Judgment and Execution then my Judges themselves or you It 's Gods just displeasure towards me for my sins long unrepented of many judgments withstood and mercies slighted therefore doth my gracious father chastise me with this correction that he may not lose me and I pray you assist me with your prayers that this rod may not be fruitless That when under his rod I have laid down my life by his staff I may be comforted and received into Glory I am very confident by what I have heard since my sentence there is more exceptions made against the proceedings against men then ever I made my Tryers had a Law and the validity of that Law is indisputable for me to say against it or to make a question of it I should but shame my self and my discretion In the strictness of the Law something is done by me that is applyable to some clause therein by which I stand condemned the means by which I was brought under that interpretation of that which was not in my self intended maliciously being testimony given by persons whom I pitty so false yet so positive that I cannot condemn my Judges for passing Sentence against me accorcing to legal justice for equity lies in higher brests For my accusors or rather betrayers I pitty and am sorry for them they have committed Judas his crime I wish and pray for them St Peters tears and I wish other people so happy they may be taken up betimes before they have drunk more blood of Christian men possibly less deserving then my self It is true there have been several addresses made for mercy and I will lay the obstructions to nothing more then my own sins and seeing God sees it fit I having not glorified him in my life I shall do it in my death I am content I profess in the face of God particular malice to any one of the State or Parliament to do them a personal injury I had never for the cause in which I had a great while waded I must say my engagements and pursuance in it hath laid no scruple upon my conscience it was upon principles of Law whereof I am a professor and upon principles of Religion my judgment rectified and my conscience satisfied that I have persued these wayes for which I bless God I find no blackness upon my conscience nor have I put into the bed-role of my sins I presume not to decide controversies I desire God to glorifie himself in prospering that side that hath right with it and that you may enjoy peace and plenty here when I shall enjoy my God In my conversation in the world I do not know where I have an enemy with cause or that there is a person to whom I have regret but if there be any whom I cannot recollect under the notion of Christian men I pardon them as freely as if I had named them yea I forgive all the world as I desire my heavenly Father for his Christ to forgive me For the business of Death it is a sad Sentence in it self if men consult with Flesh and Blood But truly without boasting I say it or if I do boast it is in the Lord I have not to this minute had one consultation with Flesh about the blow of the Axe or one thought of it more then my pasport to Glory I take it as an honor and I owe a thankfulness to those under whose power I am that they have sent me hither to a place however of punishment yet of some honor to dye a death somewhat worthy my Blood and this courtesie of theirs hath much helped towards the satisfaction of my mind I shall desire God that those Gentlemen in that sad Bed-rol to be tryed by the High Court of Justice that they may find that Really there that is Nominal in the Act An High Court of Justice or Court of High Justice High in its Righteousness not in its Severity no more clouded with the Testimony of folk that sell Blood for gain Father forgive them and I forgive them as I desire thee to forgive me I desire you now to pray for me and not give over praying until my last moment that as I have a very great load of sins so I may have the wings of your prayers assisting those Angels that shall conveigh my soul to Heaven And I doubt not but I shall there see my Blessed Saviour and my gallant Master the King of England and another Master which I much honor my Lord Capel hoping this day to see Christ in the presence of the Father the King in the presence of him my Lord Capel in the presence of them all and my self with them and all Saints to rejoyce for evermore Dr. Swadling You have this morning in the presence of a few given some account of your Religion and under general notions or words have given account of your Faith Charity and Repentance then speaking to the standers by if you please to hear the same questions asked here you shall that it may be a general Testimony to you all that he dyeth in the favour of God To the Colonel Now Sir I begin to deal with you you do acknowledg that this stroke you are by and by to suffer is a just punishment laid upon you by God for your former sins Col. Andrewe I dare not only not deny it but dare not but confess it I have no opportunity of glorifying God more then by taking shame to my self and I have a reason of Justice for justifying God in my own besome which I have intrusted to yours Dr. You acknowledg you deserve more then this stroak of the Axe and that a far greater misery is due