A.D. 1680.] MALEVOLENCE OF HIS ENEMIES. 259 chancellor, and of lord Shaftesbury. But the moment Shaftesbury was mentioned, the house interrupted his discourse. He was brought there, not to defame the great champion of protestantism, but to disclose the particulars of the plot; and, on his solemn protestation that he had never any knowledge of the plot, he was remanded to the Tower *. The same day the sheriffs received the warrant for his decapitation, but disputed its validity +. They could not conceive why the king should interfere at all with the execution. The cause had not been tried before him: the house of lords had pronounced the judgment, and it was for the same court to enforce it. In this Dec. pretended perplexity they applied by petition to the 21. lords, and received for answer that "the king's writ 66 66 ought to be obeyed." They were not, however, satisfied they began to question the authority of the lords also; and solicited the direction of the house of commons. At their request the four following queries were laid before that house: "Can the king, being neither party nor judge, order the execution? Can the lords "award the execution? Can the king dispense with any part of the execution? If he can dispense with a "part, why not with all?" But the majority of the commons betrayed no wish to entertain a subject, which would have drawn after it an altercation both with the king and the lords; and, on the motion of sir William Jones, the petitioners were informed, that "the house * Lords' Journals, 721. Reresby, 109. Echard, 997. Burnet, ii. 264. Lord Stafford left behind him an autograph copy of this communication. The latter part of it has been lost: from the first portion of it I have been enabled to correct some errors of the preceding authorities. "I think it a terrible thing," says James," to sign a warrant for put"ting a man to death upon the testimony of such perjured villains as "those who deposed against lord Stafford; and I hope his majesty will "have considered the trouble it was ever after to the king his father "the having signed the warrant for the execution of lord Strafford; "and, if it be not too late, why should not you put him in mind of it, "it being a terrible thing the shedding the blood of an innocent man, "as I am most confident lord Stafford is." Letter to Hyde, Clar. Cor. i. 50. 23. "was content the sheriffs should execute William, late "viscount Stafford, by severing his head from his body “only." The suggestion obtained for Jones the reputation of ingenuity: a vote more insulting to the sovereign could not easily have been devised *. Much conjecture was expended respecting the motives which actuated the sheriffs. They were Cornish and Bethel, who after a long contest had been returned in opposition to the court; and their professed devotion to Shaftesbury and his more intimate associates provoked a strong suspicion that they were advised and guided by that nobleman. But what was the object? It could not be that any doubt was seriously entertained of the king's right. That right had been uniformly exercised without dispute by preceding monarchs. Scarcely a reign had passed without the conviction or attainder of some peer for treason; and in every instance, when the judgment was carried into effect, the execution took place in virtue of a similar warrant, and by the same manner of death. It is equally difficult to believe that the same spirit of remorseless bigotry, which displayed itself by the burst of congratulation at the trial, could pursue its victim after condemnation, and seek to increase the bitterness of his death by adding to the poignancy of his sufferings and the ignominy of his punishment. Perhaps it was one of those dark and dangerous contrivances, which teemed in the prolific brain of Shaftesbury, and of which the object was to point the clamour of the people against the court by • L. Journ. xiii. 724. C. Journ. Dec. 23. Parl. Hist. iv. 1261. State Trials, vii. 1562. North, 219. It is observed by Mr. Hargrave, that in this warrant (see it, Trial, 215) the judgment against lord Stafford is stated to be, not by the king, or the king and lords, or with the assent of the king, but by the lords only, not the lords temporal or spiritual, or the lords generally, but expressly by the lords temporal. Opinion and Argument of Mr. Hargrave, p. 86. They were chosen at the usual time, midsummer-day, but, as they refused to receive the sacrament and abjure the covenant, a new election was fixed for the 14th of July. Before that time they qualified, and were opposed by Nicholson and Box in the interests of the court. At the close of the poll the numbers stood for Cornish 2483, Bethel 2276, Box 1428, and Nicholson 1230. Echard 989. A.D. 1680.] HIS DEATH. 261 holding out the king as the friend and favourer of the papists *. Supported by the consciousness of innocence, and by the persuasion that he was about to perish a martyr to Dec. his religion, Stafford proceeded with a steady step and 29. cheerful countenance to the place of execution. The severity of the weather induced him to ask for a cloak, lest, as he said, if he should tremble through cold, it might be taken for a symptom of fear. At his appearance a few yells and groans were heard; and to his request that the sheriffs would interfere, we are told that Cornish returned this brutal answer: "I am ordered to 'stop no one's mouth but your own." As, however, he passed on, the people treated him with respect, and many uncovered their heads. From the scaffold he delivered a long speech with a firm voice and much animation. He indignantly repelled the foul calumnies which had been uttered against his religion at his trial, and asserted his own innocence in the most energetic terms. He declared on his salvation that he had never in his life spoken to either Oates or Turberville, nor more than twice or thrice to Dugdale, and then only on trifling matters, and always in the presence of others t. Falling on his knees he pronounced aloud a prayer composed for the occasion, and rising, once more protested his innocence. The spectators listened to him with bare heads, and answered with cries of "We believe you, my lord"God bless you, my lord!" Having embraced his friends, he knelt down and stretched himself on the block. The executioner poised the axe in the air, as if he were taking aim; but suddenly checking himself, If we may believe Echard (p. 1035), "lord Russell's zeal against lord "Stafford transported him so far, that he was one of those who, with Be"thel, Cornish, &c. questioned the king's power in allowing that lord to "be only beheaded." In another place he says that Charles, alluding to this, said, when he granted the same mitigation to him after his condemnation, "My lord Russell will now see that I have a power to change his sentence." Id. P. 1034. + See "The speech of Wm. late Lord Viscount Stafford, London, printed for Wm. Bailey, 1680." Four drafts of this speech, in the hand of the unfortunate viscount, are in the possession of lord Stafford. brought it down again to his feet. Lord Stafford, raising his head, inquired the cause of the delay; and was told that he waited for a sign: "Take your own time," he replied; "I shall make no sign.” "Do you forgive me, "sir?" said the executioner. "I do," was his reply. After this short dialogue he resumed his former posture, and at one stroke his head was severed from the body. The spirit with which he had defended himself at his trial surpassed the expectations of his friends and confounded the hopes of his enemies; and his christian piety and fearless deportment on the scaffold confirmed the growing opinion of his innocence. The patrons of the plot derived no benefit from his death *. * Trial, 218. State Trials, vii. 1563. 1568. Burnett, ii. 266. Echard, 997. Reresby, 112. The last writer, a few days before (Dec. 24), attended the king's couchée for two hours. Charles "seemed quite free "from care and trouble, though one would have thought at this time he "should have been overwhelmed therewith: for everybody now imagined " he must either dismiss the parliament in a few days, or deliver himself "up to their pressing desires; but the straits he was in seemed no ways "to embarrass him." P. 110 CHAPTER IV. CHARLES II. Project of limitations-Violence of the house of commons-Dissolution of parliament-New parliament at Oxford-Rejection of expedientsImpeachment of Fitzharris-Dissolution-Trial and execution of Fitzharris-of Plunkett-of College-Discharge of Howard, Rouse, Shaftesbury-Affairs of Scotland-Parliament-Argyle refuses the test-Is tried, condemned, and escapes-Flight and death of Shaftesbury Rye-house plot-Executions-Lord William Russell-Colonel Sydney-Pardon of Monmouth-Power of the duke of York-Intrigues of Halifax-Death and character of Charles. THOUGH Charles by his spirited opposition to the bill of exclusion had proved his determination to support the interests of his brother, there were many who, judging from his poverty, his love of ease, the facility with which he changed his resolutions, and the ingenuity with which he vindicated those changes to his own satisfaction, ventured to predict that after a short struggle he would, according to his custom, yield to the importunity and perseverance of his opponents. Under this persuasion the exclusionists continued to appeal to the public in behalf of their favourite measure, by the circulation of pamphlets, speeches, and addresses, and at the same time laboured to make an impression on the mind of the king by the representations of his ministers, of his mistress, of his nephew, and of his allies. 1. Sunderland and Godolphin ceased not to inculcate that his pecuniary wants imposed on him the necessity of propitiating his opponents in parliament. 2. The duchess of Portsmouth, as often as he sought relief from care in her company, harassed him with the repetition of her fears and misgivings. 3. The prince of Orange had not, |