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A.D. 1648-1649.] TRIAL OF CHARLES I.

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royal dignity throughout. Now that the great hour had come, the finer qualities of his nature came forth. Adversity at last had schooled him to be true; and no lurking hope of the future induced him to palter in a double sense. Thousands of the people filled the great apartment, silent and awestruck. The judges sat on raised forms, and kept on their hats. There were sixty of them present, and not a glance among them all was turned in pity on the prisoner. His fate was already decided. On his return to St. James's, after the first day's trial, some voices were raised in his favour, but "God save the King!" was drowned by the harsher cries of "Justice! justice!" and even the popular sympathy that waits on unsuccessful greatness was denied.

The next day's proceedings advanced the cause a step. The king refused to plead, and denied the jurisdiction of the court. He took higher ground, and maintained that in resisting this illegal authority he was maintaining the liberties of England. But the time had come, in the opinion of the court, when the magnitude of the question had burst the ordinary boundaries of the law. It was a revolution of unexampled greatness, and must stand or fall on its own merits. Forms are only of secondary importance when first principles are at stake; and the accusation was read by the clerk. It arraigned Charles Stuart of various high crimes and misdemeanours against the laws and safety of the commonwealth. He made no confession of these crimes, and the judges considered them so notorious as scarcely to require proof. Witnesses, however, were examined in the absence of the king, and on the 26th of January the sentence was prepared, and was to be pronounced on the following day. London had little sleep that night. There were shouts of triumph, and brutal exultation hidden in profane allusions to the Jebusites and Hivites; but in many private houses there were tears and prayers, as if some great calamity overhung the land. Charles was a king, and looked so kingly in his fall, spoke so gently when he was

insulted, and looked round for sympathy among the crowd with so kind an expression in his soft hazel eye, that hearts were melted in the most rugged bosoms. A man, on this supreme day of his suspense, was near him as he passed to hear the condemnation, and said, "God bless you, sir.” "Thank you," said Charles; and when an officer struck the sympathizing citizen with his cane, he added, sternly, "Methinks the punishment exceeds the offence."

He saw at a glance the inevitable doom about to be uttered, and pleaded for his life. "Let me be heard before sentence is pronounced. Let me explain before the Lords and Commons. What I have to say deserves their hearing." But Bradshaw spoke harshly, and ordered the clerk to proceed. The sentence was read. It pronounced him guilty, and condemned him to death. One of the judges rose. "Have we hearts of stone ?" he cried. "Are we men? I am not satisfied to give my consent to this sentence. I have reasons against it." Alas! the worthy citizen, John Downes by name, was coughed down, and ordered to be quiet. Lady Fairfax, the wife of the Presbyterian general, interrupted the president when he said the charge was brought in the name of the people of England, with a scream of "No, not half of them!" Other spirits were subdued or softened in that vast assemblage when the frightful words were uttered that his head should be severed from his body; and Charles, with natural clinging to existence, still pleaded anxiously to be heard. "You cannot be heard. after sentence," said Bradshaw, coldly. Cries of obloquy were heard, but quickly quelled; compassion was hushed into silence, and in the midst of unrelenting looks from his judges, and the breathless attention of the crowd, the king was removed.

He sent for Bishop Juxon on his arrival at St. James's. More liberal than the Presbyterians would have been, the Independents allowed the meeting of the friends, and far into the night their conference held. "I am not afraid of death,"

A.D. 1619.]

EXECUTION OF CHARLES I.

585 said Charles; "and bless my God I am prepared." With Colonel Hacker to guard him and Juxon by his side, he walked next morning through the park to the palace of Whitehall, in front of which the scaffold had been built. On his way there was no indecent rejoicing. He was a man about to die, and the shouts of exultation were not fitted for his ears. Rather there were sighs and blessings poured on his now humbled head as he passed. Women's voices uttered words of grief, men were silent, and he entered the banquetingroom of Wolsey's mansion, where he had presided so often, and long ago celebrated the happy espousals of his sister with the Elector of the Rhine.

When he stepped from the window upon the scaffold, the soldiers themselves felt the solemness of the hour. Charles spoke at some length, explaining, justifying, extenuating his conduct, and professing his good intentions through it all. When he came to speak of Strafford his voice failed him, and the thought of his ingratitude to that unfailing friend broke forth in words :-" "That unjust sentence that I allowed to take effect has brought this unjust judgment upon me." Then he renewed his declaration of forgiveness of all his enemies, and inculcated once more his political faith. The people should have no power in this realm; "that being a thing nothing pertaining to them." "I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown," was the last sentence uttered by the king. "A good exchange," replied the bishop; and before laying his head upon the block he gave his George to Juxon, with the strange and mysterious word, "Remember," and died at one blow of the axe.

Once more that oval face, now indented with the lines of care, and the rich auburn hair, now grizzled with premature old age, and the peaked beard which gave such a manly expression to his countenance, were to revisit the light of day. In the month of April, 1813, the late Sir Henry Halford, the physician, was requested by the Prince Regent to open Charles's

tomb. They descended into the vault at Windsor, and breaking open the coffin known as King Charles's, they saw the body, with the separated head lying at the top. The features were easily recognisable. For a moment the light of the nineteenth century shone upon the brown eye and illuminated the auburn locks, but the action of the air mouldered them both away, and the tomb was restored to its old condition. The reason of introducing this anecdote here will be seen when we come to the strange rumours which were current about the disposal of the corpse. But malevolence and friendship might have saved themselves the inventions. The headless Charles slept in the royal cemetery of our kings, and the world went on its course with swifter steps than before.

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sale of crown lands, by loans, 1641. Abolition of the Star Chamber

and by ship-money, in dis-
regard of the Commons.

1627. Charles declares war against
France.

The Duke of Buckingham's
fruitless expedition to the Isle
of Rhé.

1628. Assembling of the third Parlia

ment, and its dissolution. "Petition of Right" obtained. Assassination of the Duke of Buckingham.

1629. The king enforces the levying of tonnage and ship-money without the consent of Parlia ment.

and High Commission.

The Irish rebellion, and massacre of the Protestants.

1642. Civil war commences in England, arising from the contests between the King and the Commons.

The battle of Edge-hill. 1643. Death of the patriot Hampden. 1644. Cromwell defeats the royal army

at Marston Moor. 1645. The King's forces totally defeated at Naseby.

1647. The Scots give up the king to the English.

1649. Trial and execution of Charles I.

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CROMWELL (THE LORD PROTECTOR OF THE COMMONWEALTH).

A.D. 1653 TO A.D. 1658.

CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS.

FRANCE.-Louis XIV.

SPAIN.-Philip IV.

EMPERORS OF GERMANY.-Ferdinand III.; Leopold I.
POPES.-Innocent X.; Alexander VII.

§ 1. State of parties. The Bible perverted to the justification of the most odious crimes. Saints and Cavaliers. § 2. The Commonwealth proclaimed. The House of Lords declared "useless and dangerous." Publication of "Icon Basilike." Its authorship.§ 3. Vigorous measures of the Commonwealth. Cromwell's successful campaign in Ireland.—§ 4. Rebellion in Scotland in favour of Charles II. Execution of Montrose. Cromwell's campaign in Scotland. Victory of Dunbar. Charles crowned at Scone. He advances into England.-§ 5. Cromwell captures Perth, and follows Charles to Worcester. Battle of Worcester. Flight of Charles.— § 6. Cromwell's great ascendancy. He becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth.-§ 7. At war with Holland. Van Tromp and De Ruyter. Blake and Monk. Severe naval contests, in which the Dutch are finally defeated, and sue for peace.-§ 8. Cromwell expels the Parliament. His vigorous administration. His first Parliament. -$9. The Protector's energetic measures and conciliating policy.— § 10. He inspires respect abroad as well as at home. He punishes the Duke of Tuscany and the Bey of Tunis, and captures Jamaica. -§ 11. "Humble Petition and Advice" of the Commons. A House of Lords summoned. Cromwell refuses the crown, but accepts the proposition that he should name his successor.-§ 12. Successes against Spain. The new Parliament. Apparent hopelessness of Charles's restoration. - § 13. Cromwell's overwrought mind. His sickness and death. His exalted character.

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