Page:Life and surprising adventures of that renowned hero, Sir Wm. Wallace.pdf/23

 and rank; in presence of all whom he was seated on the south bench of the great hall, and either because they wished the people to believe that he aspired to the crown of Scotland, or because it was reported that he had formerly boasted that he deserved to wear a diadem, in that place they crowned him with laurel, while Sir Peter Mallory impeached him with high treason. To this charge he boldly replied, “That a traitor he never was, nor could be, to the King of England.” The other crimes for which he was indicted, such as burning of towns, storming of castles, killing the English, &c, he frankly acknowledged, but denied that they were crimes, unless mistaken loyalty to one’s sovereign, with deference to whom, and in whose name he had ever acted—zeal for the just rights and liberties of one’s native country, by the community of which he was created a magistrate—and resisting the encroachments of a foreign government and tyrannical usurpation—shall deserve to be branded with that odious name. However, these heroic virtues were voted crimes; and the prisoner, notwithstanding he had never acknowledged or submitted to the laws of England, was tried by them, and condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered, and whilst alive, to have his bowels cut out; all