Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/92

 1 Jan. the commons who were left behind after Pride's purge resolved that he had committed treason by levying war 'against the parliament and kingdom of England,' and on 4 Jan. they resolved that it was unnecessary for the being of a law to have the consent of the king or of the House of Lords. On the 6th they passed a law by their own sole authority for the establishment of a high court of justice for the king's trial. On 19 Jan. Charles was brought to St. James's Palace, and on the 20th he was led to Westminster Hall to be tried. He refused to plead or to acknowledge the legality of the court [see, 1602–1659], and on the 27th was condemned to death (on questions arising out of the death-warrant, see two communications of Sir. Thoms to Notes and Queries of 6 and 13 July 1872, and the letters of Mr. R. Palgrave in the Athenæum of 22 Jan., 5 and 26 Feb. 1881). Not only was the sentence technically illegal, but on the grounds alleged it was substantially unjust. The civil war was neither a levy of arms by the king against the parliament, nor by the parliament against the king. It had been a conflict between one section of the kingdom and the other, Yet those who put Charles to death believed that they were in reality executing justice on a traitor. On 30 Jan. he was executed in front of Whitehall, His own conception of government was expressed in the speech which he delivered on the scaffold: 'For the people,' he said; 'and truly I desire their liberty and freedom as much as anybody whosoever; but I must tell you that their liberty and freedom consists in buying of government those laws by which their life and their goods that be most their own. It is not having share in government, sirs; that is nothing pertaining to them,'

 CHARLES II (1630–1686), king of England, Scotland, and Ireland, second son of Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria, was born at St. James's Palace, London, 29 May 1630, and baptised by Laud, bishop of London, 7 July 1630, Louis XIII of France being one of his godfathers. In 1161 he was entrusted to the care of the Countess of Dorset (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1660–1, 341); the married name of his nurse, who according to Clarendon exercised a baleful influence upon him, was Wyndham (Rebellion, v. 153; cf. Cal. 1661–2, pp. 552-3). As a child he seems to have had vivacity and a will of his own (see his letters in, 1st series, iii. 286, 287). About 1635 an establishment was provided for him as Prince of Wales, with (1592–1676), earl of Newcastle [q. v.], as governor, and Dr. [q. v.] as tutor. In 1639 he broke his arm and passed through a serious illness. In the following year, when a design is said to have been temporarily entertained of committing the charge of him to