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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

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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

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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

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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.
189-90

all penal statutes ought to be correctly worded." | commons in parliament assembled, and of all the As he was not permitted to stand on the misno- good people of England. After a little consultamer, he pleaded not guilty. He said he did not tion the jury returned a verdict of guilty; but decline a confession as to matter of fact, provided the near prospect of a horrible death could not the malice were set aside, as he had done nothing abate the courage of the witty Harry Martin, maliciously or murderously and traitorously. The who left the court with a light heart and steady counsel for the crown laughed in his face. The step. solicitor-general said sarcastically, "My lord, he

HARRY MARTIN.

After an original in possession of Charles Lewis, Esq.

does think a man may sit upon the death of a king, sentence him to death, sign a warrant for his execution, meekly, innocently, charitably, and honestly." "We shall prove," said the crown counsel, "we shall then prove against the prisoner-because he would wipe off malice-that he did all very merrily, and was in great sport at the time of signing the warrant for the king's execution." "Then, surely, that does not imply malice," said the ready-witted Martin. Here a serving man, of the name of Ewer, who had "sometime served him" (the prisoner), was put into the witness-box. After being brow-beaten by the counsel, this man said, "My lord, I did see a pen in Mr. Cromwell's hand, and he marked Mr. Martin in the face with it, and Mr. Martin did the like to him; but I did not see any one set his hand (to the king's sentence), though I did see parchment there with a great many seals on it." [And this is all the evidence we possess for a story which is constantly quoted to prove the barbarous and rustical buffoonery of Oliver Cromwell.] After 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 how he had been the first to propose that the late king should be prosecuted in the name of the

The court had resolved to fix the act of beheading the late king upon William Hewlet. The evidence produced in this case for the prosecution ought not to have been considered sufficient to hang a dog. The greatest weight of testimony went to prove that it was not Captain Hewlet, but the common hangman, that cut off the king's head for a reward of £30. Yet a verdict of guilty was returned against Hewlet. There was, however, some sense of shame left in this restored government; and, as people began to talk loudly of the insufficiency of the proofs against him, Hewlet was not executed.

Garland, another of the selected victims, said that he had come into court with the intention of submitting to the king's mercy; but that, having heard some fresh scandal cast upon him which he had never heard before, he must desire to be put upon his trial. The scandal was that he, on the day of sentence, did spit in the king's face. "I am willing to confess this," said the prisoner-"I sat in the high court, and I signed the warrant for 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 cannot be satisfied that I did such an inhuman act. I dare appeal to all the gentlemen here, or any others, whether they ever heard of such a thing; nor was I ever accused of it till now." He appealed to all that knew him to say whether he had ever shown any malignity, any disrespect. whether, instead of ever doing any wrong to any 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 conduc ted the prosecution against the king as solicitor

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for the Commonwealth and people of England, pleaded that he could not be said to have contrived or counselled the death of Charles, because the proclamation for the trial, even by the confession of his accusers, was published the day before he was appointed solicitor to the High Court of Justice; that he who had neither been accuser, witness, jury, judge, or executioner, could not be guilty of treason, &c. But this reasoning was not likely to be of any avail; and it was settled that Coke should be one of the first to suffer.

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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 appearance and gallant bearing had removed the suspicions and excited the involuntary admiration of the captive Charles.' On the 13th of October he was drawn upon a hurdle from Newgate to Charing Cross, within sight of Whitehall,

Hugh Peters, the celebrated preacher, who was not so directly implicated in the king's death as many who were allowed to escape, was charged with encouraging the soldiery to cry out for justice-with comparing the king to Barabbas - with preaching upon the texts, "They shall bind their kings in chains," "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," and the like. Peters, whose fanaticism has been exaggerated, and whose merits have been overlooked, pleaded that he had been living fourteen years out of England; that when he came home he found the Civil

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BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF CHARING CROSS.-From Aggas's Plan of London (1560).

wars begun; that he had begun no war, nor had been the trumpeter of any; that he had fled from the war into Ireland; that he was neither at Edgehill nor Naseby; that he had looked after three things-that there might be sound religion, that learning and laws might be maintained, and that the suffering poor might be cared for- and that he had spent most of his time in these things; that, upon being summoned into England, he considered it his duty to side with the parliament for the good of his country, and that in so doing he had acted without malice, avarice, or ambition, being respectful to his majesty, and kind and merciful to the royalist sufferers whenever he was able. The jury, after very little consultation, returned a verdict of guilty.

where the late king had suffered. His most sincere enthusiasm, political as well as religious, glowed more warmly than ever at the close approach of torture and death. As he was drag ged along, his countenance being placid and even cheerful, a low wretch in the crowd called after him in derision, and said, "Where is your good old cause now?" Harrison, with a smile, clapped his hand on his heart, and said, "Here it is; and I am going to seal it with my blood!" and several times on his way he said aloud, "I go to suffer upon the account of the most glorious cause that ever was in the world." He ascended the scaffold under the tall gibbet with an undaunted countenance; and thence he made a 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.

1 See vol. ii. p. 571.

189-90

either fear or repentance. Notwithstanding the great pains taken at different periods to brutalize them, the English people have never been able to tolerate any very prolonged exhibition of this kind. "Though the regicides," says Burnet, "were at that time odious beyond all expression, and the trials and executions of the first that suffered were run to by vast crowds, and all people seemed pleased with the sight, yet the odious

tened by the frequent executions, and by most of those who suffered dying with much firmness and show of piety, justifying all they had done, not without a seeming joy for their suffering on that account, that the king was advised not to proceed farther; or, at least, not to have the scene so near the court as Charing Cross." The processes of hanging, drawing, and quartering were therefore suspended for the present, but with the evident intention of renewing them at some future time; and though in the end none of the other nineteen victims now condemned suffered death, other victims did, and the fate of nearly all of the nineteen that were sentenced and spared was as hard as perpetual imprisonment, dungeons, and beggary could make it. Harry Martin lay in prison expecting death, but some of the royalists visited him, and advised him to petition parliament. In his petition the witty republican said that he had surrendered in reliance upon the king's declaration of Breda, and that he hoped that he who had never obeyed any royal proclamation before should not be hanged for taking the king's word now. The commons took no step on the side of mercy; and those members who prided themselves on their gravity and godliness opined that the wit ought to die. But the lords were more merciful; the Lord Falkland and other peers spoke warmly in his behalf, and, after four months of doubt, Martin got the sentence of death remitted.3

that the Restoration was the bright dawn of civilization to this gross and benighted island; but in truth the best parts of civilization were darkened and not brightened, and humanity and decency, which had been advancing, were made to retrograde with giant strides. The revolting indecencies, the atrocious cruelties which had been awarded in the dark ages in cases of treason, but from which the Commonwealth men and Cromwell had turned with horror and dis-ness of the crime grew at last to be so much flatgust, were all revived; the sentence was executed upon Harrison to the very letter; and the second Charles, whose vices have been varnished by certain writers till they look almost like virtues, and till he appears in the light of an easy, goodnatured, and debonnair prince, a little dissipated and nothing worse, witnessed at a short distance the detestable scene. Harrison was cut down alive, and saw his own bowels thrown into the fire, and then he was quartered, and his heart, yet palpitating, was torn out and shown to the people. The following day was a Sunday, but on the day after, the 15th of October, John Carew suffered the same pains in the like manner, declaring with his last breath, that if it were to be done again he would do it, and that the blessed cause would not be lost. The day following, Coke and Hugh Peters were drawn to the same shambles. In the hurdle which carried Coke was placed the ghastly head of Harrison, with the face uncovered and turned towards Coke, who was, however, animated by the sight with fresh courage instead of being overpowered with fear and horror. The people expressed their detestation of such usage. On the scaffold Coke declared, among other things, that he had been earnest for the reform of the laws and for the expeditious and cheap administration of justice;' and that, as for the part he had borne in the action with which he was charged, he was far from repenting what he had done, and most ready to seal it with his blood. Hugh Peters was made to witness all the horrible details of Coke's execution, sitting within the rails which surrounded the scaffold. While there, a man upbraided him with the king's death, using opprobrious language. “Friend," said Peters, "you do not well to trample upon a dying man; you are greatly mistaken; I had nothing to do in the death of the king." And the old preacher, who had lived in storms and whirlwinds, died with a quiet smile on his countenance. On the next day Scott, Clement, Scrope, and Jones suffered; and, on the day after that, Hacker and Axtell. Some of these ten men were oppressed with age and sickness, but there was not one of them that betrayed

1 "For which," adds Ludlow, "he had suffered a more than ordinary persecution from those of his own profession."Memoirs.

About a month before the execution of Harrison the Duke of Gloucester died of the small-pox. And about a fortnight after the executions, the queen-mother, Henrietta Maria, with the princess royal and a numerous train of French nobles, arrived, and was received with great state and triumph. To prepare the way for the widow of the "glorious martyr," a lying life of her had been published; but the Londoners could not altogether forget facts or overcome their old an

2 Own Times.

3 State Trials: An Exact and most Impartial Account, ke;

Noble, Lives of the Regicides; Diaries of Pepys and Evelyn; Me
moirs of Ludlow and Mrs. Hutchinson; Burnet, History of t
Own Times: Trials of Charles I. and of some of the Regicides:
Forster, Lives of Eminent British Statesmen: Memoir of Marta

Pepys says, sarcastically, that this "sillily writ" book was "dedicated to that paragon of virtue and beauty, the Duchess

of Albemarle "-2.c. Monk's wife.

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