speak with his Parliament I rising up one told me I must not be heard for the President was to give Judgement and said there was an order that none should speak in Court Mr. Downes did move and they did adjourn the Court and I was glad I got out Cromwell laughed and smiled and jeared in the Court of Wards I hope your Lordship will be pleased to consider I was no Contriver no Soldier that put the force upon the House that erected the Court None of the Law-makers or did any thing maliciously against the King My Lord I was looked upon with an evil eye for regarding the King's friends in the Country Gray he told me the King would not die I hope he will not said I. The next day on Monday I went to the House they were labouring to get hands for his Execution at the Door I refused and went into the House saith Cromwell those that are gone in shall set their hands I will have their hands now That night I went to the Lord Grays and he said I am afraid they will put him to death I said so also My Lord I have been a great sufferer I was drawn in trapan'd into it since being a friend to the Kings friends I am almost ruined in my estate I beseech your Lordships make the best interpretation I hope you will believe I was no Contriver I humbly lay hold upon the Kings mercy and favour I came in upon the Proclamation I pray that this Honourable Court will prefer my Petition to the King and both Houses of Parliament which the Court then received William Heveningham My Lord in 1648. we were under a force under the tyranny of an Army they were our Masters for a malicious and a traiterous heart I had not I do absolutely deny the signing the Warrant for summoning the Court and also that Warrant for execution of the King at the time of sealing I had that Courage and Boldness that I protested against it Counsel We do not question him for that but for sitting in the high Court of Justice and that upon the day of the sentence do you deny that Heveningham My Lord I cannot say positively Counsel If you deny the matter of fact it must be proved Heveningham I cannot say positively but it may be I might Counsel Either say positively you did or else let the Witnesses be call'd Heveningham Truly my Lord I think I did but my after-actions Lord Chief Baron Mr. Heveningham that shall be considered Counsel My Lord to sit upon the day of Sentence was high Treason in it self and is an evidence of Compassing and Imagining the Kings death Hev I shall lay hold of the Declaration I came in upon the Proclamation I pray your Lordships to interceed for me to the King and both Houses of Parliament I pray the mercy of this Court L. C. B. You of the Jury they have all confessed and therefore you may go together Simon Meyne My Lords I have forgot my Petition it is at my lodging I desire I may send it at night John Downes and Peter Temple prayed the like favour L. Ch. B. Do send them they shall be received The Jury having consulted together a certain time they went to their places Clerk Gentlemen are you agreed of your verdict Jury Yes Clerk Who shall say for you Jury Our Fore-man Clerk John Downes hold up thy hand Look upon the prisoner how say you is he guilty of High Treason whereof he stands indicted and hath been arraigned or not guilty Forem Guilty Clerk Look to him Keeper What Goods and Chattels c. Forem None to our knowledge And the like verdicts at the same time passed in the same manner against Vincent Potter Augustine Garland Symon Meyne James Temple Peter Temple Thomas Waite and William Heveningham Potter I hope I may be freed from Irons I am in pain and a man of bulk L. Ch. B. We can give no order in it we must leave it to the Sheriff Potter I begg it of you my Lord. L. Ch. B. We must leave it to the Sheriff Mr. Heveningham You must withdraw from the Bar. Clerk Officer bring down VValler Fleetwood Hacker Axtel Hulet Penington Marten Millington Titchborne Roe Lilburne Smith and Harvey and set them to the Bar which was done accordingly Clerk Hardress VValler hold up thy hand thou hast been Indicted and found guilty of High Treason what canst thou say why judgment should not pass on thee to dy according to Law VValler My Lords I am now it seems Convicted by Law and so adjudged Your Lordships the other day on my desire told me I might have liberty to speak upon my trial I must now beg the like upon a condemned person L. Ch. B. You are Convicted not Condemned Waller My Lords I was the first that pleaded Guilty I bless God that he gave me a heart to do it I find most peace in the doing of it and since there is nothing left but hopes of Mercy I humbly submit it to your Lordships to hear me in this sad condition that that may make me seem more capable of mercy I have my Lords been so unhappy to have been transplanted out of my Country these thirty years I have been but once these eleven years in England this must needs make me a stranger L. Ch. B. I must not hinder you because it is for mercy that you plead but consider with your self whether it will not be better to give it in a Petition I leave it to you we can do nothing in point of Mercy but Judgment Waller Onely this My Lord whether I am not the more capable of your mercy L. Ch. B. That you may understand it the Act of Indempnity of Parliament hath excepted you yet upon some qualifications we are to proceed according to Law that is to go to Conviction and Judgment The Act sayes that after Judgment there shall be no execution but that it shall be suspended till a further Act of Parliament to be passed for that purpose so that in the mean time we are to proceed no further then Judgment That which concerns Mercy is referred to another place If you please to say any thing to satisfie us or to go by way of Petition it must be left to you but what you say for mercy is nothing to us Waller I humbly thank your Lordships for this clear and noble dealing and withall I would beg that these people that are witnesses of my shame and guilt may know that it was a force and temptation upon me I shall not insist much I have said that I did plead guilty which was most safe to my own Conscience yet I should make it appear that I did appear more to preserve the King from Tryal and Sentence then any other Lord Finch Sir Hardress Waller I have heard of late of your sorrow which I was glad to hear of because you are my kinsman both by your Father and Mothers side and also my
honest and humble Confession and shall give no evidence against him to aggravate the Matter L. Ch. B. Your Petition is accepted and shall be read Robert Titchburne My Lord when I first pleaded to the Indictment it was Not Guilty in manner and form as I stood Indicted My Lord it was not then in my Heart either to deny or justify any tittle of the matter of Fact My Lord The Matter that I was led into by ignorance my Conscience leads me to acknowledg But my Lord if I should have said Guilty in manner and form as I stood Indicted I was fearful I should have charged my own Conscience as then knowingly and maliciously to act it My Lord it was my unhappiness to be call'd to so sad a Work when I had so few years over my head A Person neither bred up in the Laws nor in Parliaments where Laws are made I can say with a clear Conscience I had no more enmity in my heart to his Majesty than I had to my Wife that lay in my bosom My Lord I shall deny nothing After I was summoned I think truly I was at most of the Meetings and I do not say this that I did not intend to say it before but preserving that Salvo to my own Conscience That I did not maliciously and knowingly do it I think I am bound in Conscience to own it As I do not deny but I was there so truly I do believe I did sign the Instrument And had I known that then which I do now I do not mean my Lord my Afflictions and Sufferings it is not my Sufferings make me acknowledg I would have chosen a red hot Oven to gone into as soon as that Meeting I bless God I do this neither out of fear nor hopes of favour though the penalty that may attend this acknowledgment may be grievous My Lord I do acknowledg the Matter of Fact and do solemnly profess I was led into it for want of years I do not justify either the Act or the Person I was so unhappy then as to be ignorant and I hope shall not now since I have more light justify that which I was ignorant of I am sure my Heart was without malice if I had been only asked in matter of Fact at first I should have said the same I have seen a little The Great God before whom we all stand hath shewn his tender mercy to Persons upon repentance Paul tells us Though a Blasphemer and a Persecuter of Christ it being done ignorantly upon repentance he found mercy My Lord Mercy I have found and I do not doubt but mercy I shall find My Lord I came in upon the Proclamation and now I am here I have in truth given your Lordship a clear and full account what ever that Law shall pronounce because I was ignorant yet I hope there will be room found for that Mercy and Grace that I think was intended by the Proclamation and I hope by the Parliament of England I shall say no more but in pleading of that humbly beg that your Lordships will be instrumental to the King and Parliament on that behalf Counsel We shall give no evidence against the Prisoner he says he did it ignorantly and I hope and do believe he is penitent and as far as the Parliament thinks fit to shew mercy I shall be very glad Owen Rowe I have not much to say I never had any ability therefore my Lord it was never my intent upon my Plea as was said before to deny any thing I have done for I was clearly convinced that I ought to confess it before and I do confess against my self that I did sit there several times and to the best of my remembrance I did sign and seal the Warrant for his Execution and truly my Lord it was never in my heart to contrive a Plot of this nature How I came there I do not know I was very unfit for such a Business and I confess I did it ignorantly not understanding the Law so was carried away hidden in the Business not understanding what I did therefore my Lord I humbly intreat this honourable Court that you will consider of it and look upon me as one that out of ignorance did it and if I had known of my Act I would rather have been torn in pieces with a thousand Horses When I heard of the Declaration and gracious Pardon of his Majesty I confess I went to my Lord Mayors laid hold of it and I thought my life as secure as it is now in my own hands But I do wholly cast my self upon the King's Mercy and as I have heard he is a gracious King full of lenity and mercy so I hope I shall find it I was never against Government it is a blessed thing that we have it I hope all the Nations will be happy under it I shall submit to his Majesty and Government I can say no more I was not brought up a Scholar but was a Tradesman and was meerly ignorant when I went on in that Business I do humbly intreat your Lordships that you would as tenderly as may be present my case to the King whom I rest upon and leave all to your Lordships wisdom and discretion to do what you will concerning me Counsel We accept his Confession and do hope he is penitent before God as well as before the World Robert Lilburn Be pleased to give me leave to speak a few words I shall be ingenuous before your Lordships I shall not wilfully nor obstinately deny the Matter of Fact But my Lord I must and I can with a very good Conscience say That what I did I did it very innocently without any intention of Murder nor was I ever Plotter or Contriver in that Murder I never read in the Law nor understood the Case throughly What-ever I have done I have done ignorantly L. Ch. B. Because you shall not be mistaken in your words God forbid that we should carp at your words the word Innocent hath a double acceptation Innocent in respect of Malice and Innocent in respect of the Fact Lilburn The truth is my Lord I was for the withdrawing of the Court when the King made the motion to have it withdrawn and upon the day my Lord that the King was put to death I was so sensible of it that I went to my Chamber and mourn'd and would if it had been in my power have preserved his life My Lord I was not at all any disturber of the Government I never interrupted the Parliament at all I had no hand in those things neither in 1648 nor at any other time I shall humbly beg the favour of the King that he would be pleased to grant me his Pardon according to his Declaration which I laid hold on and rendred my self according to the Proclamation Counsel We shall say nothing against him Henry Smith My Lord I shall not desire to spend your Lordships time what I have done
in that Case one was called the Banishment of Hugh Spencer and the other is in 1. Edward 3. upon the Roll. My Masters In the first of Henry the Seventh you shall find it in the printed seven Books he saith That as to the Regality of his Crown he is immediately subject unto God Mark the Doctrine of the Church of England Gentlemen I do not know with what Spirit of Equivocation any Man can take that Oath of Supremacy You shall find in the Articles of the Church of England the last but one or two it is that Article which sets forth the Doctrine of the Church of England they say That the Queen and so the King hath the Supreme Power in this Realm and hath the chief Government over all the Estates of the Realm the very words are so this was shortly after making the Act the Articles were in 1552 and she came in 1558 or 1559 it is to shew you the King hath the chief Government over all the Estates within the Nation and if you look upon it you shall find it was not only the Judgment of the Church but of the Parliament at the same time They did confirm this Article so far that they appointed that no Man should take or be capable of a Living but those that had taken that Oath God forgive those Ministers that went against it The Queen and the Church were willing that these should be put into Latin that all the World might see the Confession of the Church of England and of the People of England you may reade it in Cambden I have told you how and wherein the chief Power consisted not in respect the King could do what he would no the Emperors themselves did not challenge that but this they challenge by it That they were not accountable to Man for what they did No Man ought to touch the Person of the King I press it to you in point of Conscience you see in the Scripture in Psalm 51. the Psalm of Mercy whereby we ask pardon of God for our great Offences I think none of you in this condition but will join in this you know the Adultery and Murder that David committed this penitential Psalm was made for that What doth he say Against thee thee only have I sinned c. tibi soli peccavi Domine not because he had not sinned against Man for 't is plain he had sinned both against Bathsheba and Vriah too But because he was not liable to the Tribunal of Man he was not bound nor accountable to any Man upon Earth And now my Masters I beseech you consider that some of you for ought I know suddenly and some of you for ought I know not long after all of us we do not know how soon must come to make a right account to God of what we have done After this Life you enter into an Eternity an Eternity of Happiness or of Woe God Almighty is merciful to those that are truly penitent the Thief upon the Cross and to all that are of a penitent heart You are Persons of education do not you go on in an obstinate perverse course for shame of Men even this shame which you now have and which you may have when you come to die a sanctified use may be made of it you pay to God some part of that punishment which you owe to him for your sins I have no more to say but the next thing I have to do is to give the Sentence the Judgment which truly I do with as unwilling a heart as you do receive it You Prisoners at the Bar the Judgment of the Court is this and the Court doth award that c. And the Lord have mercy on your Souls Court adjourned till Friday morning seven a Clock Friday Octob. 19. 1660. Set William Heveningham to the Bar. Serjeant Keeling May it please your Lordships the Prisoner at the Bar William Heveningham hath been indicted of High-Treason for compassing and imagining the Death of the late King of blessed memory he has been tried the Jury has found him guilty I do humbly move your Lordships in the behalf of the King that you will proceed to Judgment Clerk William Heveningham hold up thy hand what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Heveningham My Lords I have nothing more to say than I said formerly only I plead the benefit of the Proclamation and cast my self upon the Mercy of our most gracious Sovereign and desire your Lordships to be Mediators on my behalf Lord Ch. Baron By the Act of Indempnity of which you claim the Benefit and we ought to take notice of it we are to proceed to Judgment but no Execution of this Judgment is to be until by another Act of Parliament by consent of the King it shall be ordered And therefore I need not speak any more of that or any Exhortation to prepare your self for Death our work is only to give Judgment The Judgment of the Court is this and the Court doth award that you the Prisoner at the Bar be led back to c. And the Lord have mercy upon your Soul THus having given the Reader a most impartial view of every Passage occurring in this so solemn and legal Indictment Arraignment Trial and Condemnation of these twenty nine black Regicides with their several Pleas and Defences in their own words It may be also some additinal satisfaction to let the Reader know the time and manner of the Death of such of them who were according to the Sentence Executed For their last Discourses and Prayers as they were made in a Croud and therefore not possible to be taken exactly so it was thought fit rather to say nothing than give an untrue account thereof chusing rather to appear lame than to be supported with imperfect assistances ON Saturday the 13th of October 1660 betwixt nine and ten of the clock in the Morning Mr. Tho. Harrison or Major General Harrison according to this Sentence was upon a Hurdle drawn from Newgate to the place called Charing-Cross where within certain Rails lately there made a Gibbet was erected and he hanged with his face looking towards the Banqueting-house at Whitehall the place where our late Sovereign of eternal memory was sacrificed being half dead he was cut down by the common Executioner his Privy Members cut off before his Eyes his Bowels burned his Head severed from his Body and his Body divided into Quarters which were returned back to Newgate upon the same Hurdle that carried it His Head is since set on a Pole on the top of the South-East end of Westminster-Hall looking towards London The Quarters of his Body are in like manner exposed upon some of the City Gates Monday following being the sixteenth of October abouâ— the same hour Mr. John Carew was carried in like manner to the same place of Execution where having suffered like pains his Quarters were also returned to Newgate on the same Hurdle which carried him His Majesty was pleased to give upon intercession made by his Friends his Body to be buried Tuesday following being the sixteenth of October Master John Cook and Mr. Hugh Peters were about the same hour 〈◊〉 on two Hurdles to the same place and executed in the same manner and their Quarters returned in like manner to the place whence they came The Head of John Cook is since set on a Pole on the North-East end of Westminster-Hall on the left of Mr. Harrison's looking towards London and the Head of Mr. Peters on London-Bridg Their Quarters are exposed in like manner upon the tops of some of the City Gates Wednesday October 17 about the hour of nine in the 〈◊〉 Mr. Thomas Scot and Mr. Gregory Clemenâ— were â—ought â—n several Hurdles and about one hour after Master Adriâ—n Scroop and Mr. John Jones together in one Hurdle were carried to the same place and suffered the same death and were returned and disposed of in like manner Mr. Francis Hacker and Mr. Daniel Axtel were on Friday the 19th of October about the same time of the morning drawn on one Hurdle from Newgate to Tiburn and there both Hanged Mr. Axtel was Quartered and returned back and disposed as the former but the Body of Mr. Hacker was by his Majesties great favour given entire to his Friends and buried FINIS 3. Jan. 1647.
you only that you would lay it to your hearts that you would consider what it is to Kill a King and to kill such a King If any of you shall say That we had no hand in the actual Murther of the King remember that they that brought him to the Bar were all one as if they had brought him to the Block as St. Paul confessed though he held but the Clothes he killed the Martyr Stephen You are shortly to appear before Gods Tribunal and I beseech God Almighty that he will give you and us all those hearts that we may look into our selves No fig-leaves will serve the turn whatsoever you have said now as Prisoners or allowed to say for your own preservation in point of Fact Notwithstanding it will not serve before God Almighty All things are naked before him Lay it to your hearts God Almighty though you have committed these foul and horrid sins yet he can pardon you as he pardoned that murther of David I speak it to you that you may lay it to your hearts I am heartily sorry in respect you are Persons of great Civility and those that I know of very good parts and this I must say That you will consider with your selves if any of you have been led away though it were with his own conscience if any of you did it as you conceived in conscience remember that our Saviour saith The time shall come when they will persecute you and kill you and think they do God good service I have the Judgment of Charity possibly some of you did it in this kind and this is less than doing it wilfully others might do it by a mis guided Conscience there is a spiritual pride men may over-run themselves by their own holiness and they may go by pretended Revelations Men may say I have prayed about such a thing I do not speak it with reproach to any If a man that should commit a Robbery or Murther meerly because he will and should come and say I have prayed against it and cannot understand it to be a sin as one in Shropshire did and yet notwithstanding killed his own Father and Mother try your own spirits you must not think that every Fancy and Imagaination is conscience Men may have a strange fancy and presumption and that they may call conscience Take heed there is a spiritual pride the Devil doth many times appear like an Angel of light do not rest upon that self-confidence Examine your hearts consider the Fact by the word of God That is the rule the Law is to be applyed to it Eccles 8. Where the word of a King is there is power and who can say unto him What dost thou that is to shew the power of Kings in Scripture Remember withal that of David in Psalm 51. that penitential Psalm when he had committed that horrid sin against Vriah Remember what he said being a K. Tibi soli peccavi Against thee only have I sinned Truly it being in such a Case I speak it as before God almighty according to my duty and conscience I wish most heartily as to your Persons I pray God to give you that grace that you may seriously consider it and lay it to heart and to have mercy upon you and to forgive you And this is all that I have to say and now not I but the Sentence of the Law the Judgment which I have to give against you is this You Prisoners at the Bar the Judgement of the Court is and the Court doth award that you be led back c. And the Lord have mercy on your Souls Clerk Cryer make Proclamation Cryer O Yes c. All manner of Person c. Jurors and Witnesses to appear to morrow morning at seven of the Clock at this place So God save his Majesty Session-House Old-Bayly Octo. 1â— 1660. The Courts being Assembled Proclamation was made Clerk of the Court. Set Cook Peters Hacker and Axtel to the Bar They being brought the Keeper was afterwards ordered to take back all except M. Cook Cl. John Cook hold up thy hand c. Jury Sir J. Whitchcot James Hawley Jo. Nichol of Henden Tho. Nichol F. Thorn Edw. Wilford Wil. Gumbleton Jo. Shelbury Tho. Jenney Tho. Willet Sir H. Wroth Rich. Cheney of the Jury called and Sworn Mr. Cook May it please your Lordship I do not know any of these Persons I beseech your Lordship that in regard the safety of my life depends upon the indifferency of these Persons that your Lordship may demand of the Sheriff to know whether he hath not heard them say or any of them that they are preingaged I hope they are not and thereupon I have not challenged any Lo. Ch. Bar. Sir the Officer reads their names out of his Papers I suppose he doth not pick and chuse them I would not have him and I am sure he will not do you any wrong in that particular Cook My Lord I am satisfied Cl. If any man can inform c. Cl. J. Cook hold up thy hand Cook My Lords I desire Pen Ink and Paper Lo. Ch. Bar. Give it him Cl. J. C. Hold up thy hand You that are sworn look upon the Prisoner You shall understand c. Here the Indictment was read as before Mr. Soll Gen. May it please your Lordships and you Gentlemen that are sworn of this Jury the Prisoner at the Bar stands Indicted for High Treason for Compassing and Imagining the death of the late K. of Blessed Memory The indictment sets forth That he together with others did assemble at Westminster Hall and sets forth many other particulars of sitting sentencing and of the consequent Death and Murther of the King The matter and charge of the Indictment is for Compassing and Imagining the Death of the King the rest of the Circumstances of the Indictment are but alledged as overt acts to prove the Imagination which only is the Treason This Prisoner at the Bar stands here Indicted for this Treason of Compassing and imagining the late Kings Death My Lord his part and portion in this matter will be different from those that have been tryed before you they sat as Judges to sentence the King and he my Lord stood as a wicked Instrument of that matter at the Bar and there he doth with his own hand subscribe and exhibite a charge of High Treason a scandalous Libel against our Soveraign to that pretended Court to be read against him as an accusasion in the name of all the people of England when he had done that he makes large discourses and aggravations to prove if it had been possible innocency it self to be Treason When he had done he would not suffer his Majesty to speak in his defence but still took him up and said that he did spin out delays and desired that the charge might be taken as if he had confessed it He pressed the Court that Judgment might be given against the King he was the man that did
I did it ignorantly not knowing what I did I shall not deny the matter of Fact but as to that I pleaded Not Guilty before it was in relation to that which I was ignorant of the Law of the Nation I have not been bred to it I humbly desire your Lordships to consider that what I did was done ignorantly not knowing the Law Counsel What was that Smith I do confess that I sat in the Court I do not remember that I signed or sealed both the Warrants being shewed him adds My Lord I confess the hands are like mine but whether they be so or no I know not Counsel Then we will prove it Is the Seal yours Smith I do not know Counsel Do you confess you were in the Painted Chamber the 29th of January Do you remember any thing of that Smith I do not certainly know that Counsel My Lord he hath said enough Shall the Jury doubt of that which he believes Smith I do not remember that I did write it Counsel My Lord we press it no farther he hath confessed enough Smith My Lord what I have don I beseech you consider I did it in ignorance not knowing the Law there were those about me that were able to call me who were then in Authority whom I dared not disobey if so I had been in danger also Counsel My Lords we have done be pleased to direct the Jury upon these several Evidences and Confessions Smith I beg one word I must declare this I can speak it seriously That from the first to the last of these unhappy Wars I have been a Man of trouble and sorrow I have been as many wiser Men have been run upon Error My Lord I know not what I have done I pray that this Court will be pleased to be a Mediator for me that I may have his Majesties favour and that this Petition may be received on my behalf He then delivered his Petition to the Court. I can rejoice for that happy settlement that is again in the Nations and declare chearfully my humble submission to that Government and desire the Lord will bless and prosper his Majesty and the Parliament in these Nations My Lord I rendred my self according to the Proclamation I shall say no more Lord Chief Baron Gentlemen you of the Jury These Prisoners that stand before you at the Bar that is Mr. Harvy Pennington Marten Millington Titchburn Roe Lilburn and Mr. Smith there are eight these are Persons who by the Act of Indempnity are to be tried for their Lives for the Treasons they have committed but no Execution is to be until the Parliament have further considered the Matter that is before us and you are to find the Matter of Fact What Mercy they shall find hereafter that is to be left as I told you to the consideration of the Parliament we are to proceed according to Law and Justice They are all Indicted for Compassing and Imagining the Death of our late Soveraign Lord Charles the First of most glorious memory And for that that hath been opened to you there are so many Overt Acts which are as so many Evidences to prove that Indictment which is the compassing and imagination of their Hearts to put the King to Death If any one of these be proved that is alone enough to prove the Indictment which is the compassing and imagining of the Heart that is the Treason the other are but Evidences If any thing burst forth from the Mouth or from the Hand as here it is these are Evidences of the imagination of the Heart for this you have heard by the confession of all of them that they did enough to find the Indictment they have all of them confessed their sitting upon the King in that traiterous Assembly which they called the High Court of Justice There is one of the Overt Acts expresly laid down in the Indictment they took upon them an Authority to consider how to put the King to death and that they did put the King to death but they were mistaken as some of them said that the actual murdering of the King was not their meaning But if they did that which tended towards it they are all guilty of Treason it is all one to you if they be guilty of any of these either Sitting Sentencing or Signing they are guilty and all of these except two are guilty of all these The Matter is clear and pregnant there is something hath been said by many of them with a great deal of expression of sorrow they did confess all but one the Fact and that which tended to their defence was ignorance but that doth not at all concern you It will be taken in its due time into consideration the several deportments of them all that is for another Judicature Your business is to find the Matter of Fact only this let me repeat unto you There is Mr. Harvy who hath pleaded several Matters which are not proper for you expressing his sorrow and penitence We shall not trouble you with that because they are for the consideration of another Court We ought all to have a tender compassion ought to be sorry with and for them that are sorrowful The like of Alderman Pennington Marten hath done that which looks forward more than backward I could wish with all my heart he had looked more backward that is to repentance of that which is past than obedience to that which is to come it is a trouble to repeat those things which he said himself and truly I hope in charity he meant better than his words were Millington he hath done the like with the rest confessed the Fact put himself upon Mercy wholly and said He was over-awed by the present Power This I repeat not as any thing to you who are to consider only Matter of Fact For Alderman Titchburn he hath spoken very fully and truly very conscienciously upon the whole Matter acknowledges his ignorance his sorrow his conviction in point of Conscience and I beseech God Almighty to incline his heart more and more to repentance They that crucified Christ to use his own words through ignorance found mercy Colonel Roe He confesses the same wholly and casts himself upon the King's Mercy and he thought it a blessed thing that the King was restored again and submitted wholly to mercy and so did Mr. Lilburn he said he went to his Chamber and mourned the day the King was beheaded I am very glad he had so early a sense of it William Smith He did it ignorantly he was not guilty thus far that was he was led on even like one silly Sheep that follows another by what relation I have heard of the Person at that time he was not thought fit to be of the Privy Council There is nothing more to say to you the Fact is confessed by them all It is so clear you need not go from the Bar. After a little consultation between the Jurors they returned to their places
Countrey-man I was glad to hear of your great penitence for that horrid crime and I would have been glad to have seen it now advise with your self whether you do your self any good in speaking to extenuate when you know there is no man against whom there are such circumstances of aggravation as against you consider whether a publick penitence would not be more proper Waller I beseech you report me both to his Majesty and Parliament and receive me into your grace as being penitent truly penitent To say so now were a small thing for the fear of the punishment may procure it but I have been more penitent when no eye hath seen me but God when I never imagined to be questioned for this sin then my heart hath yerned in the business but I shal not trouble your Lordships God holds forth Mercy his Majesty holds forth Mercy the Parliament holds forth Mercy My Lords let me say something to you though it be but a word of the violence and force of temptation you may have been under it or may come to it Christ himself was under it we find that faithful Abraham by the power of a Temptation delivered up his wife to commit Adultery which scarce a Heathen would we finde that valiant Peter denied his Master righteous Lot committed incest None abhors this fact more then I do I have done it so long beforehand I need not be afraid to speak it in the face of the Judge of all men that is all I shall say I rendred my self three times I had as much opportunity to make my escape as any person whatsoever Lord Chief Baron It is understood Sir Hardress Clerk Isaac Pennington hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition as the former what canst thou say for thy self why judgment c. Pennington My Lord I have said what I have to say and shall not trouble your Lordships any further Clerk Henry Marten hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Marten I claim the benefit of the Proclamation Clerk Gilbert Millington hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Millington I shall not trouble you with long discourses I will say no more but this I have made a publick resentment of my sorrow for this offence formerly and many times I shall now desire no more but humbly beg that I may have the benefit of the Proclamation and pray his Majesties most gracious Pardon Clerk Robert Tichborne hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c Tichborne My Lord I will not trouble you with any repititions I have made my humble request before I leave it with you Clerk Owen Roe hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Roe My Lord I have no more to say then I said before Clerk Robert Lilburn hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Lilburn I shall refer my self without further trouble to the Court my Lord I beg the benefit of the Proclamation Clerk Thomas Waite hold up thy hand Thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Waite I can declare no more than what already my heart is sorry for what I have done I beg the benefit of the Proclamation Clerk Edmond Harvey hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Harvey My Lords I have no more then what I have said before Clerk John Downes Hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Downes I shall not trouble you any further I shall desire the benefit of his Majesties Proclamation Clerk Vincent Potter hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Potter My Lord I do not know Law I understand it not I am not in a condition to speak what I would have willingly spoke I desire that God would have mercy and I look for mercy from God and wept Clerk Augustine Garland Hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Garland I humbly desire your Lordships charitable opinion of me notwithstanding what has been objected against me I humbly refer my self to the Parliament Clerk George Fleetwood hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Fleetwood My Lord I have already confessed the fact I wish I could express my sorrow and wept Clerk James Temple hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. I. Temple My Lord I can say no more I beg the benefit of the Proclamation Clerk Simon Mayn hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Mayne I have told you before my Lord I have no more Clerk Peter Temple hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Peter Temple My Lord I came in upon the Proclamation and I humbly beg the benefit of it Cl. Tho. Waite hold up thy hand thou art in 〈◊〉 same condition what canst thou say for thy self Waite My Lord I refer it to your Lordships Clerk Francis Hacker hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Hacker My Lord. I have nothing to say but what has been before your Lordships Clerk Daniel Axtel hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Axtell May it please your Lordships my case differs from the rest of the Gentlemen L. Ch. B. I would be loth to hinder you but I must tell you that what hath been over-ruled must not be spoke to if you have any thing against the Indictment matter of Law go on Axtell I have one thing more that I did not then mention L. Ch. B. If it tend not as an exception to the Indictment it is not to be heard Axtell My Lord then I shall apply my self to that point I humbly conceive my Lord that my overt acts were not sufficiently set down in the Indictment as might be sufficient in Law to attaint me of high Treason I do not remember that the Overt act that was applyed to me in evidence was charged in the Indictment I have onely that exception because of the insufficiency of that point In the next place my Lord there is not the right additions to my name there are many persons of the same name I am arraigned by
the name of Daniel Axtel of Westminster in the County of Middlesex Gentleman I think none knew me to live there and inhabit there Lord Chief Baron I would not interrupt you this is past you should have made your exception to that as Master Matten did before concerning his name that should have been first done you have appeared and pleaded to that name and it was late of Westminster Axtell My Lord I have this to speak in arrest of Judgment that the Indictment being grounded upon that statute of the twenty fifth of Edward the third it is either mistaken or not pursued my Lords I did yesterday give you the Judgment of the Lords and Commons concerning the statute in relation to my case I say the Statute was mistaken or not pursued Lord chief Baron That was offered before Sir as to the matter of it Axtell My Lord I think not I am mistaken if it were Lord Chief Baron Then open it Axtell My Lord I do not find in that statute that words are an overt act words only L. Ch. B. This was over-ruled The things that you objected were these That there is not any overt act that is laid that could be applicable to your case if it were not particularly applicable you are found guilty by the Jury it would be nothing But there is an overt act you were present at the Court beating the Souldiers sending for an Executioner but for words if one man should say here is the King go and kill him this is Treason but you were guilty in all according to Law You being there and doing this you were not guilty onely of the words but of all that was done there is none but Principals in Treason What we say and do to you we well know we must answer before God Almighty for it Axtell I have but one word more truly I do appeal to God before whom I shall have another tryall I do not find my self guilty either of consulting contriving or having a hand in the death of the King I am innocent and I pray God that my innocent blood Lord Chief Baron Pray Sir Axtell May not cry Lord Chief Baron You are now to speak in arrest of Judgment Axtell I have no more I pray your Lordships favour and mercy to me William Hulet alias Howlet hold up thy hand thou art in the same condition what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment c. Hulet Truly my Lord I have little further to say If you had been pleased to give me further time I should have cleared my self I call God above to witness upon this account that I am as clear as any man I submit to the mercy of the Court. L. Ch. B. For that I do but cannot positively say it that at your request notwithstanding the Judgment will pass against you there may be some time till his Majesties pleasure be known before any execution will be upon that Judgment against you in the mean time we must proceed according to Law and Justice Proclamation for silence whilst Judgment is giving The Lord Chief Barons speech before the Sentence pronounced against the aforenamed Prisoners found guilty YOu that are Prisoners at the Bar you stand here in several Capacities yet all of you persons convicted of the detestable and execrable murder of our Soveraign Lord King Charles the first of blessed memory Mistake me not I do not say that you are all of you guilty of executing the fact but in Law and in conscience pro tanto though not pro toto you are guilty of it in that you prepared the way and means to it in that you brought his head to the block though you did not cut it off You are here in three sorts and I must apply my words accordingly and truely I do it with as much sorrow of heart as you have many of you being persons of liberal education great parts I say you are of three sorts There are some of you that though the Judgment of death is to pass against you by his Majesties grace and favour and the mercy under him of the two houses of Parliament Execution is to be suspended untill another Act of Parliament shall pass to that purpose that is all of you but three for those three the one of them that was last called William Heveningham he is in another capacity too for I presume some time will be given to him to consider of something relating to him before any order will be given for his execution there are two others of you and that is Dan. Axtel and Francis Hacker and for you as it yet stands before us there is no mercy there is no room for it but though you be in these several Classes yet what I shall say will concern you all because I do not know how it may fall with you none of us know how soon we may come to our deaths some probably sooner then others all must come to it you are now before the Tribunal of man but that is for Judgment for your offence here but there is another Judgment hereafter and a Tribunal before which both you and we must stand every man here and we must receive according to our work those that have done ignorantly by a serious and unfeigned repentance God Almighty may shew mercy unto them He hath reserved mercy even for the greatest offenders Saint Paul himself when he presecuted Christ ignorantly upon his repentance he found mercy those of you that are not yet convicted in your consciences of the foulness of this horrid fact look into your Consciences a little more and see if it be not a great Judgment for your former offence that you should be given over to a reprobate sense let me tell you a seared Conscience a bold confidence not upon good grounds is so far from securing the Conscience it may stifle perhaps the mouth of Conscience but it will rise up more in Judgment against you Here you have made your defence and I do not blame you for it life is precious but remember the thoughts of your hearts are open whether you did it ignorantly covetously or to get the Government into your own hands that I am not able to search into God and you only know that give me leave to say something perhaps I have repeated it by parts before God is my witness what I speak I speak from mine own Conscience and that is this Gentlemen because I saw it stuck with some of you that is that whatsoever the case was that by the Laws of these Nations the fundamental Laws there could not be any coercive power over your King I speak it again because I would as near as I could speak the whole truth and would not mislead any man in such a case remember that no power no person no Community or body of men not the people either collectively or representatively have any coercive power over the person of the King by the fundamental Laws for that