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court, insisted that they had received their power from the people, the source of all right. He pressed the prisoner not to decline the authority of the court, which was delegated by the commons of England; and he interrupted and overruled the king in his attempts to reply.

4 In this manner the king was three times produced before the court, and as often he persisted in declining its jurisdiction. The fourth and last time he was brought be fore the self-created tribunal; as he was proceeding thither, he was insulted by the soldiers and the mob, who exclaimed, "Justice! justice! execution! execution!" but he con tinued undaunted. His judges, having now examined some witnesses, by whom it was proved that the king had appeared in arms against the forces commissioned by parliament, pronounced sentence against him.

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5. The conduct of the king, under all these instances of low-bred malice, was great, firm, and equal; in going through the hall, the soldiers and the rabble were again instigated to cry out, "Justice and execution!" They reviled him with the most bitter reproaches. Among other insults, one miscreant presumed to spit in the face of his sovereign. He patiently bore their insolence. "Poor souls," cried he, they would treat their generals in the same manner for sixpence." 6. Those of the populace who still retained the feelings of humanity, expressed their sorrow in sighs and tears. A soldier, more compassionate than the rest, could not help imploring a blessing upon his royal head. An officer, overhearing him, struck the honest sentinel to the ground before the king, who could not help saying that the punishment exceeded the offence.

7. After returning from this solemn mockery of justice, the unhappy monarch petitioned the house for permission to see his children, and desired the attendance of Dr. Juxon, Dishop of London, to assist in his private devotions. Both requests were immediately granted, and three days were allowed to prepare for the execution of the sentence. This interval was spent by Charles in the exercises of devotion, and in administering consolation to his unhappy family. 8. During the progress of the trial, the French and Dutch ambassadors vainly interceded in his behalf; and the Scots, who had set the first example of resistance to his authority now remonstrated against the violence offered to his person and dignity. 9. After his condemnation, the queen and the prince of Wales wrote the most pathetic letters to the par

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liament, but nothing could divert the stern regicides from their atrocious design.

10. The king was confined in the palace of St. James's. but the place selected for erecting the scaffold was the street before the palace of Whitehall. 11. On the morning of the execution he rose early, and having spent some time in private devotion, received the sacrament from the hands of bishop Juxon; he was then conducted on foot through the park to Whitehall, and partook of some slight refreshment; after a brief delay, he advanced to the place of execution, attended still by his friend and servant Dr. Juxon, who used every exertion to soothe the last moments of his unfortunate master. 12. The scaffold, which was covered with black, was guarded by a regiment of soldiers, under the command of colonel Tomlinson, and under it were to be seen a block, the axe, and two executioners in masks. The people, in immense crowds, stood at a great distance, in dreadful expectation of the event. The king surveyed all these solemn preparations with calm composure; and as he could not expect to be heard by the people at a distance, he addressed himself to the few persons who stood around him 13. He there justified his own innocence in the late fatal war; and observed, that he had not taken arms till after the parliament had shown him the example. That he had no other object in his warlike preparations than to preserve that authority entire, which had been transmitted to him by his ancestors; but, though innocent towards his people, he

acknowledged the equity of his execution in the eyes of his Maker. 14. He owned that he was justly punished for having consented to the execution of an unjust sentence upon the earl of Strafford. He forgave all his enemies, exhorted the people to return to their obedience, and acknowledge his son as his successor; and signed his attachment to the protestant religion, as professed in the church of England. So strong was the impression his dying words made upon the few who could hear him, that colonel Tomlinson himself, to whose care he had been committed, acknowledged himself a convert.

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15. While he was preparing himself for the block, bishop Juxon called out to him, "There is, sir, but one stage more which, though turbulent and troublesome, is yet a very short one. It will soon carry you a great way. It will carry you from earth to heaven, and there you shall find, to your great joy, the prize to which you hasten, a crown of glory." 16. "I go," replied the king, "from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown, where no disturbance can have place.' —“ You exchange," replied the bishop, "a temporal for an eternal crown; a good exchange!" Charles, having taken off his cloak, delivered his George to the prelate, pronouncing the word " Remember!" Then he laid his neck on the block, and, stretching out his hands as a signal, one of the executioners severed his head from his body at a blow; while the other, holding it up, exclaimed, "This is the head of a traitor!" 17. The spectators testified their horror of the sad spectacle in sighs, tears, and lamentations; the tide of their duty and affection began to return; and each blamed himself either with active disloyalty to his king, or a passive compliance with his destroyers.

18. Charles was executed in the forty-ninth year of his age, and the twenty-fourth of his reign. He was of a middle stature, robust, and well-proportioned. His visage was pleasing, but melancholy; and it is probable that the continued troubles in which he was involved might have made that impression on his countenance. As for his character,

the reader will deduce it, with more precision and satisfac tion to himself, from the detail of his conduct, than from any summary given of it by the historian.

Questions for Examination.

1,2. What did the king urge in his defence?

3. What was the answer of Bradshaw?

4. What treatment did he receive from the soldiers?

5. With what patience did he bear their reproaches? and what was his re mark'

7, 9. What followed the king's condemnation ?

9 10. What spot was choser. as the place of the king's execution?

12. What preparations were made for his trial?

13, 14. What did he say in his address to the people?

15. 16. What conversation passed between the king and bishop Juxon?
17. What effect had his execution on the minds of the people?
18. How long did Charles reign?

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Archbishop Laud. Earl of Strafford. John Hampden. Lucius Cary, lord Falkland. Harry Cary, lord Falkland H. Montague, earl of Manchester R. Greville, lord Brooke. Lord-keeper Littleton. Arthur, lord Capel. Lord Edward Herbert, of Cherbury. G. Stanley, earl of Derby. J. Digby, earl of Bristol. Ulicke de Burgh, marquis of Clanricarde, and earl of St. Alban's Henry Carey, earl of Monmouth. Mildmay Fane, earl of Westmoreland. E Somerset, marquis of Worcester

CHAPTER XXIX.

OLIVER CROMWELL.

Born 1599 Died September 3, 1653. Became lord protector December 16, 1653. Ruled 4 years.

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1. (A. D. 1649.) CROMWELL, who had secretly solicited and contrived the king's death, now began to feel wishes to which he had been hitherto a stranger. His prospects widening as he rose, his first principles of liberty were

The Portuguese shook off the Spanish yoke, and elested John, duke of Bra ganza, their king

all lost in the unbounded stretch of power that lay before him.

2. Having been appointed to command the army in Ireland, he prosecuted the war in that kingdom with his usual success. He had to combat against the royalists, commanded by the duke of Ormond, and the native Irish, led on by O'Neil. But such ill-connected and barbarous troops could give very little opposition to Cromwell's more numerous forces, conducted by such a general, and emboldened by long success. He soon overran the whole country; and, after some time, all the towns revolted in his favour, and opened their gates at his approach. 3. But, in these conquests, as in all the rest of his actions, there appeared a brutal ferocity, that would tarnish the most heroic valour. In order to intimidate the natives from defending their towns, he, with a barbarous policy, put every garrison that made any resistance to the sword.

4. After his return to England, upon taking his seat, he received the thanks of the house, by the mouth of the speaker, for the services he had done the commonwealth in Ireland. They then proceeded to deliberate upon choosing a general for conducting the war in Scotland, where they had espoused the royal cause, and placed young Charles, the son of their late monarch, on the throne. Fairfax refusing this command upon principle, as he had all along declined opposing the presbyterians, the command necessa rily devolved upon Cromwell, who boldly set forward for Scotland, at the head of an army of sixteen thousand men.

5. The Scots, in the mean time, who had invited over their wretched king to be a prisoner, not a ruler among them, prepared to meet the invasion. A.D. 1650. A battle soon ensued, in which they, though 'double the number of the English, were soon put to flight, and pursued with great slaughter, while Cromwell did not lose above forty men in all.

6. In this terrible exigence young Charles embraced a resolution worthy a prince who was willing to hazard all for empire. Observing that the way was open to England, he resolved immediately to march into that country, where he expected to be reinforced by all the royalists in that part of the kingdom.

7. But he soon found himself disappointed in the expectation of increasing his army. The Scots, terrified at the prospect of so hazardous an enterprise, fell from him in great

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