of their being left to suffer the consequences of their forfeitures, sequestrations, and compositions for delinquency, under the Long Parliament and Cromwell; and they called the first great bill "a bill of indemnity for the king's enemies, and of oblivion for his friends." On the 13th of September Charles made a very short, and Clarendon a very long speech to the two houses. The chancellor thought it expedient to speak to the suspicions already entertained of the king's desire of keeping up a strong standing army, and of governing absolutely, and to defend the court against the popular and wellfounded charges of profligacy and irreligion. And, at the close of this long speech, parliament adjourned to the 6th of November. 1 During the recess "the healing question" of religion was discussed, and ten of the regicides were butchered. their chancellors, officials, proctors, paritors, and powers; declaring that they could not grant that the extent of any diocese should be altered or anything reformed; and affirming that the laying aside of the Book of Common Prayer was one of the greatest causes of the misfortunes of the nation, &c. But the Presbyterians were told that his majesty would adjust all these differences; and they, together with the Episcopalians, were invited to attend him, on the 22d of October, at the house of the chancellor. There the Presbyterians found assembled his majesty, Monk, Duke of Albemarle (who was a Presbyterian through his wife), the Earl of Manchester, Denzil Hollis (the most fiery of Presbyterians), the Duke of Ormond (a high churchman), and one or two other noblemen of the same persuasion, together with Dr. Sheldon (Bishop of London), Dr. Morley (Bishop of Worcester), Dr. Henchman The learned Archbishop Usher, Bishop of Salisbury), the famous who was a Calvinist in doctrinal Dr. Cosens (who had been one of creed, and whose Episcopalianthe most active coadjutors of ism was very moderate, had left, Laud, who had been prosecuted as a legacy to the Protestant by the Long Parliament, and world, a scheme of union and a who was promoted to the bishopplan of church government (by ric of Durham a few weeks after suffragan bishops and synods or this meeting), Dr. Gauden presbyteries conjointly) which, (Bishop of Exeter), Dr. Hacket he had fondly hoped, might re(Bishop of Lichfield and Covconcile the two great sects. The entry), the Episcopalian Dr. Presbyterians, in their hopelessGunning, the Presbyterian Drs. ness of obtaining an entire suSpurstow and Wallis, and some two or three others. The Prespremacy, professed their willingness to make this scheme the byterians intrusted their cause basis of an agreement and conto the eloquence and learning of cord; and they delivered the paper to the king | Calamy and Baxter. The debate could scarcely be with an humble address concerning godly preach- otherwise than hot: on both sides the odium theoing, the strict observance of the Sabbath, &c. logicum was intense: on both sides there was a conThey were promised a meeting with some Epis-viction that the business had been settled before copal divines before the king; but none of that persuasion deigned to attend; and, instead of a meeting, the Presbyterian ministers received a paper, written in the old and bitter spirit of controversy, rejecting their proposals; insisting that the Anglican hierarchy was the true, ancient, primitive Episcopacy, and that the ancient apostolical bishops had their courts, their prerogatives, EDWARD HYDE, Earl of Clarendon.2 A few days after this date Pepys notes in his diary that the two royal brothers, the king and the Duke of York, were both making love to the same court-woman, the infamous Mrs. Palmer; that the Duke of York got my lord-chancellor's daughter with child; that high gambling was becoming common at court; and that people were beginning to open their eyes with astonishment. by irrefragable arguments. The Presbyterians said that the Eikon Basiliké showed that his late majesty had approved of Archbishop Usher's scheme; but the king, who knew very well that his father had not written it, said that all in that book was not gospel. The Chancellor Clarendon told the controversialists that it was proposed to add the following clause to the declaration for religious liberty:-"That others shall also be permitted to meet for religious worship, so be they do it not to the disturbance of the peace, and that no justice of the peace or officer shall disturb 2 From the statue by William Calder Marshall, R. A., in St. Stephen's Hall, new Houses of Parliament. Before the court, the first on the list of regicides, Sir Hardress Waller, pleaded guilty, and so saved his life. But when Harrison, the second on the list, was brought to the bar, there was no sign of penitence or submission. The republican them." The Presbyterians saw at once that un- | rel, Mr. Baron Turner, Sir Harbottle Grimston, der this word others there was an intention to Sir William Wild (recorder of London), Mr. Serinclude the Papists. They, however, were silent jeant Brown, Mr. Serjeant Hale, and Mr. Johu until Baxter, fearing that silence might be inter- Howel. The counsel for the crown were Sir preted into consent, said that Papists and So- Geoffrey Palmer (attorney-general), Sir Heneage cinians had been expressly excepted or excluded Finch (solicitor-general), Sir Edward Turner (atfrom toleration; and he called for the rigid exe- torney to the Duke of York), Serjeant Keiling, cution of the penal laws. Here Charles inter- and Mr. Wadham Windham. All these men, fered, and the assembly was presently broken up. whether humiliated Presbyterians and Long ParThe royal declaration concerning ecclesiastical | liament men, or old royalists, were deadly and affairs, commonly called the "Healing Declara- personal enemies to the prisoners, though many tion," was published a few days after, being dated of them had been in the van of the late revoluWhitehall, October the 25th, 1660. It contained tion, and had drawn others into courses of which many large concessions to the most powerful of no man could calculate the end. Fifteen of the the sects, which the Presbyterian leaders accep- commissioners who now, notwithstanding all the ted with enthusiastic gratitude, not foreseeing care taken to draw a line between those that that neither the king nor his ministers would began the Civil war and those that ended it, were consider themselves bound by this declaration bound to assent to the proposition that all war when the army should be completely disbanded, waged against a king, whatever the provocation, and the present Convention Parliament dissolved. was high treason, had actually been engaged for The death of the regicides had been pre-deter- the parliament, against Charles I., as members of mined. It was now resolved that the prisoners that parliament, as judges, or as officers of the should be tried at Newgate by a commission of army; and most, if not all of them, had enjoyed jail delivery; that all the prisoners should be ar- places of trust and profit under the revolutionary raigned at once; that the indictment should be parliament. for compassing and imagining the death of the late king, &c. It appears that proceedings were | delayed until the appointment of new sheriffs, it being apprehended that the old sheriffs would not permit juries to be packed. But at length the bills were sent up and found against twenty-major-general, the enthusiastic Fifth Monarchy nine persons:-Sir Hardress Waller, Harrison, Carew, Cook, Hugh Peters, Scott, Gregory Clement, Scrope, Jones, Hacker, Axtell, Heveningham, Martin, Millington, Tichburn, Roe, Kilburn, Harvey, Pennington, Smith, Downs, Potter, Garland, Fleetwood, Meyn, J. Temple, P. Temple, Hewlet, and Waite; and on the 9th of October their trial was begun at the Old Bailey, before thirty-four commissioners appointed by the crown. These commissioners were-Sir Thomas Alleyn (lord-mayor elect), the Chancellor Clarendon, the Earl of Southampton (lord-treasurer), the Duke of Somerset, the Duke of Albemarle (Monk), the Marquis of Ormond (steward of his majesty's household), the Earl of Lindsay (great chamberlain of England), the Earl of Manchester (chamberlain of his majesty's household), the Earl of Dorset, the Earl of Berkshire, the Earl of Sandwich (late Admiral Montague), Viscount Say and Sele, the Lord Roberts, the Lord Finch, Mr. Denzil Hollis, Sir Frederick Cornwallis (treasurer of his majesty's household), Sir Charles Berkeley (comptroller of his majesty's household), Mr. Secretary Nicholas, Mr. Secretary Morrice, Sir Antony Ashley Cooper, Arthur Annesley, Esq. (the lord chief-baron), Mr. Justice Foster, Mr. Justice Mallet, Mr. Justice Hyde, Mr. Baron Atkins, Mr. Justice Twisden, Mr. Justice Tyr Man, looked calmly on the tribunal, where every man was his personal enemy, and said, "My lords, the matter that hath been offered to you was not a thing done in a corner. I believe the sound of it hath been in most nations. I believe the hearts of some have felt the terrors of that presence of God that was with his servants in those days, and are still witnesses that the thing was not done in a corner. I do profess that I would not offer, of myself, the least injury to the poorest man or woman that goeth upon the earth. But in the late king's death I was led by Heaven I followed not mine own simple judgment. I did what I did as out of conscience to the Lord! And when I found that Cromwell- that those who were as the apple of mine eye were turning aside, I did loathe them, and suffered imprisonment divers years rather than turn, as so many did that had put their hands to this plough. I chose rather to be separated from wife and family than to have compliance with them, or with him, though it was said to me, 'Sit thou on my right hand!' May be I have been in some things a little mistaken; but I did it all according to the best of my understanding, desiring to make the revealed wil' of God in his Holy Scriptures my sole guide. I humbly conceive that what was done was done in the name of the parliament of England; that what was done was done by their power and authority; and that it is my duty to suggest unto you in the beginning, that neither this court, nor any court below the high court of parliament, hath a jurisdiction of their actions." When he asserted that all he had done had been done for the service of the Lord, the court interrupted him, as they had done several times before, and told him that he must not run into these damnable excursions, or attempt to make God the author of the damnable treason committed. Yet Harrison sincerely believed (as many others did) MAJOR-GENERAL HARRISON.-From a rare print. that in putting Charles to death, he did that which was not only essential to the well-being of his country, but also acceptable to heaven, which, according to his heated imagination, had not spared its special inspiration and command. And yet, at the moment of crisis, the natural tenderness of his heart had struggled hard with his enthusiasm; and he had wept as well as prayed before he could bring himself to vote the king's death. He now heard his own sentence of death for treason without emotion, saying, as he was withdrawn from the bar, that he had no reason to be ashamed of the cause in which he had been engaged. Colonel Carew, who entertained the same notions both in politics and religion as Harrison, made the same sort of defence, and displayed the same enthusiasm, courage, and fortitude. He exclaimed, "I can say in the presence of the Lord, who is the searcher of all hearts, that what I did was in his fear; and that I did it in obedience to his holy and righteous laws!" He gave a striking epitome of the history of the late troubles from their beginning, showing the causes and provocations which had led to the Civil war, and the unanimity which had for so long a time existed between lords and commons. "I say," he exclaimed, "that the lords and commons, by their joint declaration" . . . . "Hold! hold!" shouted one of the judges who had repeatedly interrupted him before. "You go to raise up those differences which are asleep, to make new troubles, to revive those things which, by the grace of God, are extinct. . . The commons tried the king. Did you ever hear of an act of parliament made by the House of Commons alone? You have no precedent." To this Carew replied in two or three words, which embraced the whole difficulty of the case: "Neither was there ever such a war or such a precedent." Arthur Annesley, a Presbyterian member of the Long Parliament, who was created Earl of Anglesey soon after these state trials, and who is described by Bishop Burnet as "a man of a grave deportment, but that stuck at nothing, and was ashamed of nothing," reproached the prisoner with the forcible exclusion of all the Presbyterian members in 1648. "I was a stranger," said Carew, "to many of those things which you charge against me; but this is strange-you give evidence as a witness, though sitting here as a judge!" When he attempted to address the jury he was brutally interrupted. "I have desired," said he, "to speak the words of truth and soberness, but have been hindered." Then, with the air of a martyr glorying in his cause, he listened to the hurried verdict and the atrocious sentence. Colonel Scrope, an accomplished and amiable man, who had surrendered under the royal proclamation, and who had been regularly admitted to the king's pardon upon penalty of a year's value of his estate, as a fine to the crown, was condemned upon the evidence of the Presbyterian Major-general Brown, who deposed, that in a private conversation in the speaker's chamber, Scrope had said to him that there would still be a difference of opinion among men touching the execution of the late king. Harry Martin, the wit of the House of Commons, and one of the stanchest republicans that ever sat in it, demanded the benefit of the act of oblivion. He was told that he must plead guilty or not guilty. He attempted to speak as to his conception of that act; but he was again coarsely interrupted, and told that he must plead. "If I plead," said Martin, "I lose the benefit of the act." He was told that he was totally excepted out of the act. "No," said he, "my name is not in the act." "Show him the act of indemnity," said the solicitor-general. The act was shown. "Here," said the droll, "it is Henry Martin. My name is not so; it is Harry Martin." The court told him that the difference of the sound was very little. "I humbly conceive," rejoined he, "that no m of done by their part is my duty to suggest unto o matitaan ** at neither this ↑ them." The Presbyterians saw at once that un- | rel, Mr. Baron Turner, Sir Harb der this word others there was an intention to Sir William Wild (recorder include the Papists. They, however, were silent jeant Brown, Mr. Serjeant until Baxter, fearing that silence might be inter- Howel. The counsel fr preted into consent, said that Papists and So- Geoffrey Palmer (attor cinians had been expressly excepted or excluded Finch (solicitor-gene from toleration; and he called for the rigid exe- torney to the Duk cution of the penal laws. Here Charles inter- and Mr. Wadh fered, and the assembly was presently broken up. whether humi' The royal declaration concerning ecclesiastical liament mer affairs, commonly called the "Healing Declara- personal tion," was published a few days after, being dated of them Whitehall, October the 25th, 1660. It contained tion, ar many large concessions to the most powerful of the sects, which the Presbyterian leaders accep- con ted with enthusiastic gratitude, not foreseeing ca that neither the king nor his ministers would consider themselves bound by this declaration when the army should be completely disbanded and the present Convention Parliament dissolv The death of the regicides had been pre-d mined. It was now resolved that the pris should be tried at Newgate by a commis jail delivery; that all the prisoners shou' raigned at once; that the indictment for compassing and imagining the d late king, &c. It appears that proc delayed until the appointment of r being apprehended that the old not permit juries to be packed the bills were sent up and four nine persons:-Sir Hardress Carew, Cook, Hugh Peters. ment, Scrope, Jones, Hack ham, Martin, Millingtor burn, Harvey, Penningt Garland, Fleetwood, M e against the priHewlet, and Waite; wipe off malice-that their trial was begr and was in great sport thirty-four commiss the warrant for the king's These commissio surely, that does not imply (lord-mayor ele ready-witted Martin. Here a the Earl of Sf the name of Ewer, who had Duke of Some erved him" (the prisoner), was put the Marquis mess-box. After being brow-beaten household) lain of Ensel, this man said, "My lord, I did cannot be satisfied that I did such an inhuman berlain Dorset wich! Sele zil hi which After n of a arrant for Jaritably, and said the crown Quat, having pon him which he e must desire to be put scandal was that he, on the did spit in the king's face. "I o confess this," said the prisoner—“I ne high court, and I signed the warrant his execution." And we will prove," said the solicitor-general, “that he did spit in the king's face." "I pray you," said Garland earnestly, "I pray you let me hear that. But for that false scandal, I would not have put you to any trouble at all." Here one Clench, a low and needy person, was produced to swear that he saw Garland spit, and the king put his hand in his left pocket, though whether his majesty wiped it off or not he could not say. "The king wiped it off," said the solicitor-general, pretending to know more than this the sole witness did; "but he will never wipe it off so long as he lives." "I am afraid," said Garland, "this witness is an indigent person. If I was guilty of this inhumanity, I desire no favour from Almighty God.... You Mr. Cromwell's hand, and he marked act. I dare appeal to all the gentlemen here, or in the face with it, and Mr. Martin any others, whether they ever heard of such a like to him; but I did not see any one set thing; nor was I ever accused of it till now." (to the king's sentence), though I did see He appealed to all that knew him to say whether ment there with a great many seals on it." he had ever shown any malignity, any disrespect: this is all the evidence we possess for a story whether, instead of ever doing any wrong to any is constantly quoted to prove the barbarand rustical buffoonery of Oliver Cromwell.] this Ewer had spoken to prove "how merry Martin was at the sport," Sir Purbeck Temple spoke to prove "how serious he was at it," and he had been the first to propose that the late king should be prosecuted in the name of the how of the king's party when in distress, he had not helped them as much as he was able. He was condemned with the rest, but sentence was never executed-a pretty plain proof that the story about the spitting was even then discredited. John Coke, the able lawyer who had condu ted the prosecution against the king as solicitor chief authority of the nation; and that the judges of England, who ought to be the eye and guide of the people, had acted under that authority, divers of them publicly declaring that it was lawful to obey it. But the jury returned a hasty verdict of guilty against them. The first that suffered was Major-general Harrison-Harrison, whose honest, soldier-like apearance and gallant bearing had removed the icions and excited the involuntary admirathe captive Charles. On the 13th of was drawn upon a hurdle from NewCross, within sight of Whitehall, CHARLES II one by their power and y duty to suggest unto ither this court, nor t of parliament, When he and the unanimity which had for so long a shouted one of the judges who in repente rrupted those differences which are a and, troubles, to revive these h a- grace of God, are extint the king Diy imter ment male have Lore L' the H or threw is of the a ra You up BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF CHARING CROSS.-From Aggas's Plan of London (1560). had begun no war, nor where the late king had suffered. His most sinapeter of any; that he had cere enthusiasm, political as well as religious, war into Ireland; that he was glowed more warmly than ever at the close apdgehill nor Naseby; that he had proach of torture and death. As he was dragcer three things-that there might be ged along, his countenance being placid and even religion, that learning and laws might be cheerful, a low wretch in the crowd called after intained, and that the suffering poor might him in derision, and said, "Where is your good be cared for-and that he had spent most of his old cause now?" Harrison, with a smile, claptime in these things; that, upon being summoned ped his hand on his heart, and said, "Here it is; into England, he considered it his duty to side and I am going to seal it with my blood!" and with the parliament for the good of his country, several times on his way he said aloud, "I go and that in so doing he had acted without malice, to suffer upon the account of the most glorious avarice, or ambition, being respectful to his ma- cause that ever was in the world." He ascended jesty, and kind and merciful to the royalist suf- the scaffold under the tall gibbet with an unferers whenever he was able. The jury, after very daunted countenance; and thence he made a little consultation, returned a verdict of guilty. speech of some length to the multitude, telling Colonels Axtell and Hacker, who had assisted them that they themselves had been witnesses at the trial and execution, pleaded that, as mili- of the finger of God in the deliverance of the tary men, they were bound, under pain of death people from their oppressors, and in bringing to by martial law, to obey the orders of their supe- judgment those that were guilty of blood; that riors; that the Earl of Essex, the Earl of Man- many of the enemies of the Commonwealth were chester, Sir Thomas Fairfax, and even Monk forced to confess that God was with it. The (who sat upon the bench as one of their judges), courtly crew that gained most by the event, that had set them an example; that whatever they were inconceivably vain of a few insignificant had done had been by an authority that was not graces they had borrowed from the French duronly owned and obeyed at home, but also acknow-ing their compulsory travels, made it their boast ledged by princes and states abroad to be the VOL. II. I See vol. ii. p. 571. |