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500 might speak to that; and asked with indignation whether a paper found in his study against Nero and Caligula, would prove that he had conspired against Charles II. Whether any credit was due to such a man as lord Howard, who had betrayed every one that had anything to do with him, and had said that he could not get his pardon till the drudgery of swearing was over? He contended that Howard was his debtor, that he had a mortgage on his estate, and to get rid of repayment was now seeking his life. He commented on the oldness of the work in the manuscript, and asked the attorney-general how many years the book of Filmer's, which it replied to, had been written. Jeffreys told him they had nothing to do with Filmer's book; the question was, would he acknowledge the authorship of the pamphlet? Sidney replied "No;" that it was neither proved to be his, nor contained any treason if it had been.

As that was clearly the case, he brought forward several witnesses, some of them of high rank, to demolish the only remaining evidence of any consequence—that of lord Howard. These witnesses were two of lord Howard's own relations—Philip and Edward Howard; the earl of Anglesey, lord Clare, lord Paget, M. Du Cas, a Frenchman, a Mr. Blake, and two of his own servants. They one and all swore that lord Howard had solemnly and repeatedly protested that there was no plot, and Mr. Edward Howard spoke out in the strongest manner of his relative. He declared that he fully believed the first statement of lord Howard, that there was no plot, for he was not a man to get into anything where there was danger, and because he had no motive for telling himself this. He added, he would not now believe his second statement were he on the jury. The evidence of this most honourable scion of the family of Howard, was so bold and strong, that he was threatened with being bound over to keep the peace.

Finch, the solicitor-general, replied, assuming the fact to be proved that the pamphlet was Sidney's; that, taken with the rest of the evidence, it was quite sufficient, especially as the prisoner had taught the horrid doctrine, that when kings broke their trust to their people, they might be called to account by them; and that Sidney was the most dangerous of all the conspirators, because he was not, like some of them, stirred up by fancied personal injuries, but acted on a king-destroying principle. Jeffreys, after a parade of humanity, declaring that the king desired not to take away any man's life which was not clearly forfeited to the law, but had rather that many guilty men should escape than one innocent man suffer, concluded, nevertheless, by telling the jury that scribere est agere—that they had evidence enough before them, and they, accordingly, brought in a verdict of guilty.

When the prisoner was brought up on the 26th of November to receive sentence, he pleaded in arrest of judgment that he had had no trial, that some of his jurors were not freeholders, and that his challenges had not been complied with; yet he seems to have exercised that right to a great extent, for the panel contains the names of eighty-nine persons, of whom fifty-five were challenged, absent, or excused. As jurymen, however, then were summoned, there might still be much truth in his plea. He objected, too, that there was a material flaw in the indictment, the words in the king's title, defender of the faith, being left out. "But," exclaimed Jeffreys, "that you would deprive the king of his life, that is in very full, I think." But this plea had a certain effect, and a Mr. Bampfield, a barrister, contended that the judgment should not be proceeded with whilst there was go material a defect in the indictment. Sidney also insisted that there was no proof of the manuscript being his, or of its being treason, and demanded that the duke of Monmouth should be summoned, as he could not be earlier found, and now was at hand. But Jeffreys overruled all his pleadings, and declared that there was nothing further to do than to pass sentence. "I must appeal to God and the world that I am not heard," said Sidney. "Appeal to whom you will," retorted Jeffreys, brutally, and with many terms of crimination and abuse, passed on him sentence of death with all its butcheries.

As soon as he had finished, Sidney exclaimed in a loud and solemn tone, "Then, O God! O God! I beseech thee to sanctify my sufferings, and impute not my blood to the country or the city; let no inquisition be made for it; but, if any day the shedding of blood that is innocent must be avenged, let the weight of it fall only on those that maliciously persecute me for righteousness' sake."

Even this burst of feeling in the solemn prospect of death could not awe that brutal judge into a dignified silence. He burst forth with, "I pray God to work in you a temper fit to go unto the other world, for I see you are not fit for this." "My lord," exclaimed Sidney, stretching out his arm, "feel my pulse, and see if I am disordered. I bless God, I never was in better temper than I am now."

Sidney did not disdain to beg his life of the king. Halifax, the prime minister, was his nephew by marriage, and through him he sent a paper, in which he stated the irregularities of his trial, and begged to be admitted to the presence of his majesty, in which he said that if he did not convince him that it was to his interest and honour to save him from that oppression, he would not complain of his fate. But Charles only replied to the petition, which was rather a demand for justice than a plea for pardon, by signing his death warrant. On the 7th of December Sidney was led to execution. In consideration of the nobility of his family, his sentence was changed from hanging to beheading. The place was Tower Hill, and he mounted the scaffold with the calmest and most undaunted air. He would not allow any of his friends to accompany him; he declined the services of the clergy, and when asked whether he did not intend to address the spectators, he replied that "he had made his peace with God, and had nothing to say to man." He put, however, a paper containing his last observations into the hands of the sheriff, and, laying his head on the block, was despatched by a single stroke.

Algernon Sidney was a stern and immovable republican. He took a distinguished lead amongst the overthrowers of Charles I., but the usurpation of Cromwell drove him from the public service for some time. Yet afterwards he accepted office under the commonwealth, and was envoy to the court of Denmark at the time of the restoration. He would even have condescended to serve the restored Stuart, but it was known to the court that he had written in the album of the university of Copenhagen, "Manus hæc inimica tyraunis"