Read Ebook: State Trials Political and Social. Volume 1 (of 2) by Stephen Harry Lushington Editor

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COURT--Sir, you must understand this by the way, this you must take along with you, that these are read not as anything of authority in themselves, or as used to any other purpose, but as evidence of the fact against you; take that along with you.

This concluded the evidence; and Windham summed up the case very shortly, concluding, 'I think a clearer evidence of a fact can never be given than is for these things,'

LORD CHIEF-BARON--Gentlemen, this humming is not at all becoming the gravity of this Court. Let there be free speaking by the prisoner and the Court Counsel. It is more fitting for a stage-play than for a Court of Justice.

HARRISON--It is now time, my Lords, to offer what I have to say. Have these learned gentlemen offered what they have to say?

COUNSEL--We have no more till he hath given us occasion, not for evidence of the fact.

COURT--Pray, Mr. Harrison, do not thus reflect on the Court. This is not the business.

HARRISON--I followed not my own judgment; I did what I did, as out of conscience to the Lord; for when I found those that were as the apple of mine eye to turn aside, I did loath them, and suffered imprisonment many years. Rather than to turn as many did, that did put their hands to this plough, I chose rather to be separated from wife and family than to have compliance with them, though it was said, 'Sit thou at my right hand,' and such kind expressions. Thus I have given a little poor testimony that I have not been doing things in a corner, or from myself. May be I might be a little mistaken; but I did it all according to the best of my understanding, desiring to make the revealed will of God in his Holy Scriptures as a guide to me. 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 I do humbly conceive it is my duty to offer unto you in the beginning that this Court, or any Court below the High Court of Parliament, hath no jurisdiction of their actions. Here are many learned in the law, and to shorten the work, I desire I may have the help of counsel learned in the laws, that may in this matter give me a little assistance to offer those grounds that the law of the land doth offer. I say, what was done, was done by the authority of the Parliament, which was then the Supreme Authority, and that those that have acted under them are not to be questioned by any power less than them. And for that I conceive there is much out of the laws to be shewed to you and many Precedents also in the case. Much is to be offered to you in that; according to the laws of the nations, that was a due Parliament. Those Commissions were issued forth, and what was done was done by their power; and whereas it hath been said we did assume and usurp an authority, I say this was done rather in the fear of the Lord.

COURT--Away with him. Know where you are, Sir; you are in the assembly of Christians; will you make God the author of your treasons and murders? Take heed where you are. Christians must not hear this. We will allow you to say for your own defence what you can; and we have with a great deal of patience suffered you to sally out, wherein you have not gone about so much for extenuation of your crimes, as to justify them, to fall upon others, and to blaspheme God, and commit a new Treason: For your having of counsel, this is the reason for allowing of counsel: When a man would plead any thing, because he would plead it in formality, counsel is allowed. But you must first say in what the matter shall be, and then you shall have the Court's answer.

LORD FINCH--Though my lords here have been pleased to give you a great latitute, this must not be suffered, that you should run into these damnable excursions, to make God the author of this damnable Treason committed.

COURT--Truly, Mr. Harrison, this must not be suffered; this doth not at all belong to you.

COUNSEL--Methinks he should be sent to Bedlam, till he comes to the gallows to render an account of this. This must not be suffered.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL--My Lords, I pray that the jury may go together upon the evidence.

SIR EDWARD TURNER--My Lords, this man hath the plague all over him, it is a pity any should stand near him, for he will infect them. Let us say to him as they used to write over an house infected, 'The Lord have mercy upon him,' and so let the officer take him away.

The argument then continues a little longer, chiefly between Harrison and the Lord Chief-Baron; till--

LORD CHIEF-BARON--Mr. Harrison, you have appealed to our consciences. We shall do that, which, by the blessing of God, shall be just; for which we shall answer before the Tribunal of God. Pray take heed of an obdurate, hard heart and seared conscience.

HARRISON--My lords, I have been kept six months a close prisoner, and could not prepare myself for this trial by counsel. I have got here some acts of parliament, of that House of Commons, which your Lordship will not own; and the proceedings of that house, whose authority I did own.

The Lord Chief-Baron then summed up shortly, and the jury brought in a verdict of Guilty, apparently without much hesitation. Sentence of dragging, hanging, and quartering was accordingly passed in the ordinary terms.

HUGH PETERS

HUGH PETERS was called upon to plead on the 9th of October 1660.

CLERK--Hugh Peters, hold up thy hand. How sayest thou? Art thou guilty of the treason whereof thou standest indicted; and for which thou standest arraigned? Or Not Guilty?

HUGH PETERS--I would not for ten thousand worlds say I am Guilty. I am not Guilty.

CLERK--How will you be tried?

CLERK--How will you be tried?

The trial took place on the 13th of October, and after the jury were sworn, without Peters making any challenges, the case was shortly opened by Sir Edward Young. He stated that he would prove that Peters was a chief conspirator with Cromwell at several times and several places compassing the King's death; that he preached many sermons to the soldiers urging the 'taking away the King,' comparing him to Barabbas; that he was instrumental in directing the making of the proclamation for the High Court of Justice; that when the King was executed, he was the person that urged the soldiers below the scaffold to cry for justice; and that on the day after the trial he commended it.

There I found him, grovelling upon the deck, and sick he was indeed; with much difficulty we got him on shore; within a very few days, to the best of my remembrance five days, I perfected his cure; we became very familiar; I observed in him that he had some secret thoughts that I could not well discover, neither well understand; whereupon I thought it might tend to my security that I should so much sympathize with him, to get within him to know his intentions. After some weeks we grew so familiar, that at last I found he began to enlarge his heart to me. Many times I should hear him rail most insufferably against the blood royal, not only against our martyred king, but against his off-spring; still as we continued our acquaintance, he became more and more open to me; so we would sit up discoursing till about twelve or one of the clock at night very often, about these unhappy wars late in England.

He said that he had been employed out of New England to stir up the civil war; that he had been sent by the Parliament to Ireland 'to receive further instructions to drive on the design to extirpate monarchy'; that he had spent a great deal of his money, but had never been repaid the ?2000 or ?3000 he had been promised for his journey; he used to vilify monarchy, 'jocundarily scoffing at it, and would ordinarily quibble in this manner, saying "this Commonwealth will never be at peace till 150 be put down." I asked him what this 150 was, he told me the three L's, and afterwards interpreted the meaning to be the Lords, the Levites, and the Lawyers; with that, said I, we shall be like the Switzers, Tinkers, and Traitors,' He had a commission from Cromwell to raise troops for Ireland, he issued two commissions to bring over two troops from Devon, and offered to make the witness a major or captain. Talking of the removal of the King from Holmby House, he said that the Parliament having then a design to secure himself and Cromwell, they

escaped out of London, and rode hard for it, and as we rode to Ware we made a halt, and advised how we should settle this kingdom in peace, and dispose of the King; the result was this, They should bring him to justice, try him for his life, and cut off his head; whether this was the expression of Cromwell I cannot tell; but to the utmost of my remembrance, and I am mistaken if it was not the advice of Mr. Peters to Cromwell; and I believe it, because his former relations of his instructions out of Ireland did tend to that effect.

COUNSEL--What say you to him?

PETERS--That which I have to say is this, that in his story he hath told that which is not true; but I will not find fault with him, because he was my host, I will not reflect and recriminate: I shall give your lordships in simplicity as much satisfaction myself as any witness; this I say to the man that speaks, and this is certain, I did spend some time at this gentleman's house, he is called there Dr. Young; and my trouble at this discourse is this, I do not know, my lord, that I found a more violent man for the parliament than himself; so far he undertook to be a spy on one side; this I find to be so, he will not deny it; he was very fierce in that way; I think words of such a man ought to be little attended to. The second is this, this gentleman is not a competent witness, and that upon a two-fold ground. First, because I know he is under a very great temptation and trouble in this very thing, and it is upon this account he was put out of his living in the country, and here he came to me to help him in again, and was very highly offended because I did not do it. Secondly, it is not that I would invalidate his witness, but give me leave to tell you, it is his way to snap and catch at every man, which is the complaint of the people in his own country. I know that same which is spoken is false; I speak it in the presence of God, I profess, I never had any near converse with Oliver Cromwell about such things; I speak this to the Jury, that they would have a care of the witness; I was in sickness then; those that have known me do know likewise that I have much weakness in my head when I am sick, and to take words that are spoken in a sick condition, he ought not to do it; for the words themselves I do here profess against them, for the generality of them; and that he hath been freer in my judgment in any communication in this way than I have been; it is marvellous, here I profess the things untruths; I call God and angels to witness they are not true. I will give you an account of my whole condition by-and-by, if I may be heard.

COURT--You shall be heard at large; that which you have been heard now is concerning the competency or incompetency of the witness: the incompetency against him is this, that when you came thither none more violent for the parliament than himself, and that he was a great spy, and you say it was usual with him to take such courses; these are but words; if you have any witnesses we will hear them; the man may be traduced and slandered, and so all witnesses may be taken away. Mr. Peters, if you take this course, God knows when this business will end; if you have a mind take pen, ink, and paper, and take notes of the witnesses, and make exceptions to them one after another; but interrupting one, and so another, we shall never have done.

YOUNG--I do recollect myself of some other conferences between us; as to my being malicious, I know he never did me any wrong, and therefore I cannot be malicious; and as for my reputation, having resided two years in London I can have certificates both from my country, and some of this city, to vindicate me in that particular; But, my lord, that which I would inform your lordship is this, he told me he took duke Hamilton a prisoner himself in his own chamber, seized on his goods, and took his George and blue ribbon off his shoulder, and the George he shewed me.

PETERS--I never wore a great sword in my life.

COUNSEL--Mr. Peters, if you have any thing to ask this witness, you may.

PETERS--I have many things to ask him. Did I ever lie there?

STARKEY--No.

PETERS--Did you see me there at three o'clock in the morning?

STARKEY--I have seen you go up at ten o'clock at night to Mr. Ireton's chamber, and sometimes I understood you did not go away till four o'clock in the morning: I went to bed it is true, but I understood it so.

There was one day in the hall colonel Stubbards, who was adjutant-general and colonel Axtel; Mr. Peters going down the stairs, comes to him, and bids Stubbards to command the soldiers to cry out 'justice, justice, against the traitor at the bar.'

COUNSEL--Who did he mean?

SIMPSON--The King was at the bar at the same time; whereupon, my lord, the soldiers did cry out upon the same; and as the King was taken away to sir Robert Cotton's some of them spit in the King's face, but he took his handkerchief, wiped it off, and smiled.

COUNSEL--Was Peters upon the Scaffold at the time of execution or before?

PETERS--I humbly beg I may be heard in this case; I have here a witness, and I desire he may be examined; it is noised I was upon the scaffold, I here call God to witness I was not out of my chamber that day; I was sick that day; I speak in the presence of the Lord.

COURT--If your witness will stay he shall be heard; there are more witnesses to the same thing, and so he may speak to all together.

MORTIMER--Me lar, me ha serd de king, etc.

COURT--We cannot understand a word.

COUNSEL--He is a Frenchman, my lord.

COURT--Pray let there be an interpreter.

COUNSEL--No, no, pray sit down, we will examine other witnesses. Call Stephen Clough.

and I being willing to hear what their consultations were, I went thither, and was there as one of them ; amongst the rest Hugh Peters was one; when the room was pretty full the door was shut. Mr. Peters was desired to call for a blessing upon their business; in his prayer he uttered these words, 'O Lord what a mercy it is to see this great city fall down before us! And what a stir there is to bring this great man to trial, without whose blood he will turn us all into blood if he reign again!'

went to Westminster to find out some company to dine with me, and having walked about an hour in Westminster Hall, and finding none of my friends to dine with me, I went to that place called Heaven, and dined there.

After he had dined he went through St. Margaret's churchyard, and finding it all full of muskets and pikes, asked some soldiers what was their business there. They told him that Peters was preaching in the church, and 'I must needs have the curiosity to hear that man, having heard many stories of the manner of his preaching ; I crowded near the pulpit, and came near to the speaker's pew.' He heard Peters preaching on the text about the Jews releasing Barabbas and crucifying Christ; interpreting Barabbas to mean the King, and Christ the Army.

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