1649. the com mons re wanted not skill to purfue the confequences. Their princ. ple was, that the fovereign authority refided originally in the. people, by whom a part of it was committed to the kings, Principles of chofen to govern them according to law. That the king's abufe of this truft, had broken the original contract betweenlating to goking and people, and by this violation, the contract fubfift-vernment. Heath, ing no longer, the fovereign power returned to the people as p. 225. the fountain thereof. So, confidering themselves as the representatives of the people, they believed, they had a right to change the form of the government, without any regard to the original contract annulled by the king in his viola tion of the laws. February 7. P. 377. Phillips. In confequence of this principle the commons, affuming They abothe name of parliament, voted, and afterwards enacted, that lifh the mo the kingly office frould be abolished as unneceffary, burden-narchy. fome, and dangerous, and that the ftate fhould be governed March 17. by the representatives of the people in a house of commons Clarendon. without king or lords, and under the form of a common- Whitelock, wealth. This grand alteration in the government produced Divers alte many others in things confiftent with monarchy, but not rations." with a commonwealth. The oaths of allegiance and fupre- Ibid. macy were to be abolished ", justice was no longer to be adminiftred in the king's name, a new great feal was to be made, new money to be coined; in a word, every thing to be removed which bore any marks of royalty. A great feal A new great was therefore made, on one fide of which was feen the par- feal made. liament fitting, with this infeription, "The great feal of t. I. p. 281. Ludlow, "the parliament of the commonwealth of England;" on Clarendon, the other fide, the arms of England and Ireland, with thefe III. p. 202, words, "The first year of freedom by God's bleffing re- Whitelock, "ftored. "This feal was committed to a certain num-p. 337,371, ber of perfons, who were ftiled keepers of the liberties 373, 374, of England. And it was ordained that for the future, all 378. publick orders fhould be difpatched in the name of thefe keepers, b Inflead thereof a new oath was prepared, called the engagement, whereby every man fwore, That be would be true and faithful to the government established, without king or houfe of peers. Clarendon, tom. III. P. 204. c. The name, ftile, and teft, of the writs were to be, cuftodes libertatis Angliæ, authoritate parliamenti.--And in indictments, inftead oi, contrary to the peace of the king, it was to beagainst the peace, justice, and council of England. White- 204. d The lord Clarendon fays, on one fide was engraven the arms of England and Ireland, viz, a red crofs and harp, with this infcription, The great feal of England; and on the other the portraiture of the houfe of commons circumfcribed, In the first year of freedom, by God's blefling restored, 1648. tom. III. p. 202. This feal, and the infcriptions, were the fancy of Henry Martin. Whitelock, p. 367. 1649. keepers; under the direction of the parliament. Lastly, The parliament made choice of thirty nine perfons o form Council of a council of state for the administration of publick affairs under the parliament. The projects of these changes were formed in February, but the execution of them all required Dugdale's fome months. ftate. Whitelock, F. 381. View. A new high III. p. 204. P. 377. In the beginning of March, the parliament erected a new court of jur- high court of juftice, confifting of fixty members, to try tice. Bates. fome perfons of diftinction, who were in their power. It Clarendon, feems, as there was no house of lords, the peers of the kingWhitelock, dom had loft their privileges under this new democracy, and that confequently the imprifoned lords might have been tried by a jury, in one of the courts of justice. The parliament, without doubt, was apprehenfive, that a jury, impannelled as ufual, would never find perfons of quality guilty of death, for fupporting the cause of their fovereign. The independents were not fufficiently numerous among the people, to be fecure of a jury of their party. Befides, they were not affured of the judges, fix of whom had refufed to accept commiffions from the commonwealth. But in erecting a court of justice, the parliament could name fuch judges as would be obedient to their orders. Some noble prifoners brought before it. Before this new court, of which Bradshaw was president, as he had been of that which condemned the king, were brought duke Hamilton, the earl of Holland, the lord GoFebruary 10. ring, lately created earl of Norwich, the lord Capel, and State trials. Sir John Owen, all for the fame crime, namely, for having Mem. appeared in arms against the parliament. When the king had Whitelock, a mind in the beginning of the civil wars, to put to death p. 380. Burnet's Duke of prifoners taken at Edgehill and Colebrook, the paliament thinking it unjuft, declared, they would inflict the fame punishment on their prifoners, if the condemned persons were executed. But when victory had decided in their favour, it was found very agreeable to juftice, to punish with death. those who had fought for the king. This will feem the lefs ftrange, when it is remembered, that the king himself had been put to death, for making war upon the parliament. The duke of Hamilton reprefented, that being a fubject of Hamilton's Scotland, he had entered England with an army, as an defence. e Widdrington and Whitelock were first appointed keepers of the new great feal; but Widdrington defiring to be excufed, and his excufe being admitted, an act paffed, appointing, Bulftrode Whitelock, Richard Keeble, and open John Lifle, lords commiffioners of the great feal, quamdiu fe bene gefferint. Whitelock, p. 378, 379.. f See a lift of this council in Whitelock, p. 381. As this ob- Burnet's State trials. open enemy, by virtue of a commiffion from the parliament 1649. of Scotland, which he was bound to obey, and confequently, could be treated but as a prifoner of war. jection had been forefeen, he was told, he was not proceed- Mem, P. 386, &c. ed againft as duke Hamilton in Scotland, but as earl of Clarendon, Cambridge in England; and fince he had accepted that title, III. p. 204. and as fuch, taken a feat in parliament, he was thereby be- t. II. come a fubject of England: that if the title of duke of Ha- Whitelock, milton obliged him to obey the parliament of Scotland, that p. 380. of earl of Cambridge ought to have engaged him to refuse the commiffion. Befides, they were informed, that his accepting the command of the Scotch army, was not owing to mere obedience, but to his own follicitation, and that he had been the principal author of the war. Ludlow. Holland. The earl of Holland spoke but little in his defence. Be- Earl of fides, the steps he had taken, and his frequent changing fides, Clarendon, did not much favour his cause. III. p. 205. The lord Goring (earl of Norwich) represented, that he Earl of had been educated in the court from his cradle, having been Norwich, a page to king James I. that he had never ferved any other mafter than the king, whom he had followed without examining the juftice or injuftice of his cause, not having had opportunity to be informed in fuch points, which were above his capacity. The lord Capel, ftedfaft to his principles, and zealously Lord Cape!. attached to the cause of his fovereign, defended himself with Ibid. more courage and refolution. He refufed, at firft, to own the authority of the court, alledging, that if he had committed any crime he ought to be tried in the ufual form, and not before a court unfupported by any law. But the condemnation of the king himself, by a court of the like nature, might have convinced him, of the unferviceableness of fuch a defence. He faid afterwards, that having furrendered himfelf prisoner at difcretion, he was, by the law of nations, exempted from death, if not inflicted within fo many days, which were long fince expired. He urged, that when after the taking of Colchester, the council of war had condemned Lucas and Lifle to be fhot, general Fairfax promifed life to the other prifoners, and therefore he demanded the benefit of that promife. The court being a little embaraffed, sent to the general, to know what promife he had made the lord Capel. His answer was, that as general, he had promifed whitelock, the prifoners an exemption from military execution, to which p. 381. three had been condemned, and that his intention reached no farther. Upon this anfwer it was decided, that the gene ral's 1 1649. ral's promise did not exempt the prifoner from the juftice of the parliament. Sir John They are condemned. Petitions in 207. p. 386. Sir John Owen faid only, he was obliged in confcience to ferve the king according to his oath of allegiance. Notwithstanding their defence, they all received fentence of death. But as they had many friends, petitions were their favour, offered to the parliament in their name for a pardon. These Clarendon, petitions were examined in the house, and thofe of duke HaIII. p. 206, milton, the earl of Holland, and lord Capel rejected. The Whitelock, votes were equally divided upon that of the earl of Norwich, and as, according to cuftom, the fpeaker's vote was to decide, he declared for pardon, faying, He had formerly received from the earl fome civilities, and therefore voted in his favour. The execution of fir John Owen was fufpended, because, as a commoner, he ought to have been tried before an inferior court. This faved his life. The three first were executed on a fcaffold, erected before Weftminfter Hall. March 9. executed. The duke of Duke Hamilton complained, when on the scaffold, that Hamilton he was condemned to die for obeying the parliament of Burnet's Scotland, which if he had not done, he must have been put Mem. to death there. But it was with little reason that he insinuP. 404. ated a danger of being put to death in Scotland, for a refufal Clarendon. III. p. 209. to accept the command of an army raifed by his intrigues Whitelock and authority. He intimated, that if he would have conPhillips feffed who invited the Scots army into England, it would probably have faved his life. Before his procefs was formed, he had been ftrongly follicited to make this discovery, which he utterly refused to do. The character of this duke is not Dugdale's P. 388. g When sentence paffed, that they fhould all lofe their heads, fir John Owen made a low reverence, and humbly thanked them and being afked by a ftander by, what he meant? he faid aloud, "It was a very great honour to "a poor gentleman of Wales, to lofe "his head with fuch noble lords; and "fwore a great oath, that he was afraid "they would have hanged him." Clarendon, tom. III. p. 206. h Upon this occafion Whitelock obferves, this may be a caution against the affectation of popularity, when the earl of Holland, who was as full of generofity and courtship to all forts of perfons, and readiness to help the oppreffed, and to ftand for the rights of the people, as any perfon of his quality in the nation, was given up by the re eafy prefentatives of the people; and the lord Goring, who never made profeffion of being a friend to liberty, either civil or fpiritual, and exceeded the earl as much in his crimes, as he came short of him in his popularity, was fpared by the people, p. 386. i Rapin, mifled by Baker's Continuator, fays, "he offered to difcover "what had been defired, if his life "might be spared," which contradicting all the hiftorians, is altered by the tranflator from Whitelock, &c.Instead of quoting Edward Phillips, Baker's Continuator, Rapin has all along in the margin quoted Baker himfelf; but that is rectified every where. Sir Richard Baker died in 1644, in the Fieet. ealy to be conceived. All that can be inferred from what 1649. has been faid for or against him, is, that he had the art to adapt himself to the times. And the earl of Clarendon plainly infinuates, that when he was employed by the king, he was fecretly making friends in the contrary party, in cafe affairs fhould turn to the king's disadvantage. III. p. 209, 210. The lord Capel maintained, That he had acted nothing Lord Capel contrary to the laws, and confequently was unjustly fentenced executed. to die. He spoke of king Charles I. as of a faint, and en- Clarendon, larged upon the great understanding, excellent nature, and exemplary piety of the prince, to whom he gave the title of king, affirming, he would never be fhaken in his religion. In all appearance, the lord Capel fpoke his real fentiments. But the fequel difcovered, either that he did not fufficiently know Charles the IId, or that prince had other principles when reftored to the throne, than thofe he had imbibed in his youth. Whitelock. At or about the fame time, many others were executed Other exefor the fame crime in feveral parts of the kingdom; and cutions. amongst the reft were Morrice and Blackbourn, who had Phillips. furprized the castle of Pontfract for the king. Poyer, Powell, and Langhorn, who had drawn into a revolt from the parliament the principality of Wales, caft lots for their lives, and the first was executed. excluded the Whitelock. When the army drove from the house above a hundred The abfent members, who were unacceptable to them, thofe only were Members expressly excluded, which were then prefent: but many were abfent, against whom nothing had yet been determined. Ludlow, Indeed, thefe had never fince taken their seats in the houfe, t. I. p. 288. being apprehenfive of the fame fate. But poffibly they might return in great numbers, whenever a favourable opportunity offered. This the houfe refolved to prevent, by an act, which excluded for ever, all who had not fat fince the trial of the king, unless they gave the houfe an entire fatisfaction. At the fame time, a committee was appointed to examine thofe who fhould offer themselves. This committee received, without fcruple, those who were of independent principles, and found reasons to exclude their enemies. This indeed was a good expedient to prevent divifions in the parliament, becaute the members were all of one party. But this precaution bred an inconvenience, which called for other measures. The parliament confifted of fo few members, that they per ceived the ridiculousness of filing themselves the reprefentative of the commonwealth. It is true, the vacant feats might have been filled by new elections, but the parliament did 2 |