CHAP.
LXX.

1649

The Court in Westminster Hall.

Preparations for the trial.

proceedings. It is said that Cromwell, catching sight of the King passing from the river through the garden of Cotton House, reminded his fellow-commissioners that they must be ready with an answer if Charles should demand by what authority they sat; and that Marten, after an interval of silence, gave the reply: "In the name of the Commons in Parliament assembled, and all the good people of England." 1

Whether these words were actually used or not, the Court almost immediately after Charles's arrival adjourned to Westminster Hall, where seats were set for its members on the raised daïs at the upper or southern end. A bar had been fixed across the Hall also on the daïs, and in front of this, after some hesitation, Bradshaw directed that a chair, covered with crimson velvet, should be set for the King immediately facing the judges. Behind this chair was a space reserved for the guards under Hacker, who were appointed to secure his person, and behind them, again, were drawn up a large number of soldiers under Colonel Axtell, whose duty it was to keep back the crowd, which was freely admitted through the great entrance at the northern end of the Hall. On either side of the Court, at the corners of the Hall, were two galleries, filled with ladies and other privileged persons. It was doubtless in fear of danger from this quarter that Bradshaw provided himself with the shot-proof hat which is still preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.

1

The story was told by Sir Purbeck Temple at Marten's trial after the Restoration (State Trials, v. 1,201). Temple said that he witnessed the scene through a hole in the wall, and that Cromwell ran back from the window as white as the wall.' Neither of these statements is very probable, but the story, if it be not true, was at least well invented. As printed Marten's answer runs, 'The Commons and Parliament.'

THE CHARGE AGAINST THE KING.

When the roll was called, sixty-eight of the judges answered to their names. To that of Fairfax the only response was a cry from a masked lady in the gallery-afterwards ascertained to be Lady Fair fax: "He has more wit than to be here." As soon as the call was over, the King, having been brought in by the guards, took his seat. He gazed round at the soldiers, but, as might have been expected, showed no sign of respect to the Court.2

571

CHAP.
LXX.

1649

Lady Fair

fax's cry.

Charles

brought in.

read.

The charge was read by John Cook, who had The charge been appointed solicitor of the Commonwealth for the purposes of this trial. In the main it followed the lines of the Act on which it was based, alleging that Charles Stuart, King of England, having been 'trusted with a limited power to govern by and according to the laws of the land, and not otherwise, had attempted to erect an unlimited and tyrannical power to rule according to his will, and, in pursuance of this design, had levied war against the present Parliament, and the people therein represented.' Then, after reciting instances in which Charles had appeared in arms during the first war, the charge proceeded to accuse him of being the author of the second war, and of the revolt of the fleet. Since that time, it was alleged, he had issued commissions. to the Prince and other rebels and foreigners, and also to Ormond, and to the Irish rebels and revolters associated with him.' On these grounds, Cook impeached Charles Stuart as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and a public and implacable enemy of the Commonwealth of England.' 3

6

6

Those who promoted this charge threw their case away by forsaking the political ground on which

1 Clarendon, xi. 235.

3 Ib. iv. 1,070.

CHAP.
LXX.

1649

Weakness

of the legal

case

against Charles.

Charles called on to answer.

Another interruption from Lady Fairfax.

Charles questions the

they were strong for the legal ground on which they
were weak. In Charles they had to do with the man
who of all others was most capable of taking advantage
of their error.
Even whilst Cook was still speaking,
Charles had attempted to interrupt him by touching
the sleeve of his gown with a silver-headed cane.
The head of the cane fell off, and Charles, accus-
tomed, even at Carisbrooke and Hurst Castle, to be
waited on by those who were ready to anticipate his
slightest wish, looked round in vain for someone to
pick it up. For a moment his loneliness was brought
home to him, as it had never been before. Yet he
quickly recovered himself, stooping to pick up what
he had lost, and being able, on hearing himself styled
a traitor, to burst into a laugh.1

When Cook had completed his task, Bradshaw called on the King to answer to the charge, 'in the behalf of the Commons assembled in Parliament and the good people of England.' Once more Lady Fairfax's voice was raised. "It is a lie," she said; "not half, nor a quarter of the people of England. Oliver Cromwell is a traitor." Axtell, losing his temper, ordered his men to fire into the gallery; but the men, better advised, disobeyed the order, and Lady Fairfax was induced to leave the Court.2

When the disturbance was at an end, Charles, as Cromwell had foreseen, asked by what authority he authority had been brought to the bar. There were, he said,

of the

Court.

1 "Also the head of his staff happened to fall off, at which he wondered; and seeing none to take it up, he stooped for it himself." State Trials, iv. 1,074. This seems more probable than that, as was said at the time, he regarded the fall of the head of the cane as ominous of his own impending fate.

I take the full form as given by the Chief Justice at Axtell's trial (Ib. v. 1,146). Axtell did not deny the statement that he ordered the [men to fire, and the story may therefore be regarded as true, at least in its main points.