Part 14

KING--I deny that; shew me one precedent.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you ought not to interrupt while the Court is speaking to you. This point is not to be debated by you, neither will the Court permit you to do it; if you offer it by way of Demurrer to the Jurisdiction of the Court, they have considered of their Jurisdiction, they do affirm their own Jurisdiction.

KING--I say, Sir, by your favour, that the Commons of England was never a Court of Judicature: I would know how they came to be so.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you are not to be permitted to go on in that Speech and these discourses.

Then the clerk of the Court read as followeth:--

'Charles Stuart, king of England, You have been accused on behalf of the People of England of High Treasons, and other high Crimes; the Court have determined that you ought to answer the same.'

KING--I will answer the same so soon as I know by what Authority you do this.

LORD PRESIDENT--If this be all that you will say, then Gentlemen, you that brought the Prisoner hither, take charge of him back again.

KING--I do require that I may give in my Reasons why I do not answer, and give me time for that.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, it is not for Prisoners to require.

KING--Prisoners! Sir, I am not an ordinary prisoner.

LORD PRESIDENT--The Court hath considered of their jurisdiction, and they have already affirmed their jurisdiction; if you will not answer, we shall give order to record your default.

KING--You never heard my Reasons yet.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, your Reasons are not to be heard against the highest jurisdiction.

KING--Shew me that Jurisdiction where reason is not to be heard.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, we shew it you here. The Commons of England; and the next time you are brought, you will know more of the pleasure of the Court; and, it may be, their final determination.

KING--Shew me where ever the House of Commons was a Court of Judicature of that kind.

LORD PRESIDENT--Serjeant, take away the Prisoner.

KING--Well, Sir, remember that the king is not suffered to give in his Reasons for the Liberty and Freedom of all his Subjects.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you are not to have Liberty to use this language; How great a friend you have been to the Laws and Liberties of the people, let all England and the world judge.

KING--Sir, under favour, it was the Liberty, Freedom, and Laws of the subject, that ever I took--defended myself with arms; I never took up arms against the people, but for the laws.

LORD PRESIDENT--The command of the Court must be obeyed; no Answer will be given to the Charge.

KING--Well, Sir!

And so he was guarded forth to sir Robert Cotton's house.

Then the Court adjourned to the Painted Chamber on Tuesday at 12 o'clock, and from thence they intend to adjourn to Westminster Hall; at which time all persons concerned are to give their attendance.

At the High Court of Justice sitting in Westminster Hall, Tuesday, January 23, 1649.

O Yes made, Silence commanded, the Court called, 73 persons present. The King comes in with his guard, looks with an austere countenance upon the Court, and sits down. The second O Yes made, and Silence commanded.

MR. COOK, SOLICITOR-GENERAL--May it please your lordship, my lord President; this is now the third time, that by the great grace and favour of this High Court, the Prisoner hath been brought to the bar before any issue joined in the cause. My lord, I did at the first court exhibit a Charge against him, containing the highest Treasons that ever was wrought upon the theatre of England; That a king of England trusted to keep the law, that had taken an oath so to do, that had tribute paid him for that end, should be guilty of a wicked Design to subvert and destroy our Laws, and introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government, in defiance of the Parliament and their Authority, set up his standard for War against his Parliament and People: And I did humbly pray, in the behalf of the people of England, that he might speedily be required to make an Answer to the Charge. But my lord, instead of making any Answer, he did then dispute the Authority of this High Court. Your lordship was pleased to give him a further day to consider, and to put in his Answer; which day being Yesterday, I did humbly move, that he might be required to give a direct and positive Answer, either by denying or confession of it; But, my lord, he was then pleased for to demur to the Jurisdiction of the Court; which the court did then over-rule, and commanded him to give a direct and positive Answer. My lord, besides this great delay of justice, I shall now humbly move your lordship for speedy Judgment against him. My lord, I might press your lordship upon the whole, that according to the known rules of the law of the land, That if a Prisoner shall stand as contumacious in contempt, and shall not put in an issuable plea, Guilty or not Guilty of the Charge given against him, whereby he may come to a fair trial; that, as by an implicit confession, it may be taken pro confesso, as it hath been done to those who have deserved more favour than the Prisoner at the bar has done. But, besides, my lord, I shall humbly press your lordship upon the whole fact. The house of commons, the supreme Authority and Jurisdiction of the kingdom, they have declared, That it is notorious, that the matter of the Charge is true, as it is in truth, my lord, as clear as crystal, and as the sun that shines at noon-day: which if your lordship and the Court be not satisfied in, I have notwithstanding, on the people of England's behalf, several Witnesses to produce. And therefore I do humbly pray, and yet I must confess it is not so much I, as the innocent blood that hath been shed, the cry whereof is very great for justice and judgment; and therefore I do humbly pray, that speedy Judgment be pronounced against the Prisoner at the bar.