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 The Most Notable Trial in Modern History.

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THE MOST NOTABLE TRIAL IN MODERN HISTORY. By John De Morgan. THE most notable trial in modern his tory is undoubtedly that of Charles the First of England. Not only was it im portant in its bearing on English history but it emphasized, for all time and all nations, the important axiom that " the people are the origin of all just power." Kings had been assassinated by indig nant subjects; monarchs had been com pelled to abdicate and go into exile; revolutions had changed dynasties, and de throned kings who had reigned by virtue of descent, but up to the time of Charles no people had dared to declare that a king could be made amenable to law and be charged, before a lawfull)' constituted court, with crimes against the people over whom he ruled. In the early stages of the revolution there was no thought of deposing the king. Even the extreme Republicans only asked that the monarch should rule through the Houses of Parliament and be subject to the laws enacted by the representatives of the people. Had Charles given up his pretence of divine right and consented to be a Constitutional monarch, Cromwell, Ireton, Fairfax, Bradshaw and many other Republicans would have emigrated to the plantations of Massachusetts, and Charles would have died king of England. But when Charles rejected the propo sitions made him and imprudently said to the commissioners, " You cannot do with out me; you cannot settle the nation without my assistance," parliament agreed with the army that a crisis had arrived which would have to be settled in an ex traordinary manner. Charles was the barrier across the highway to liberty, he was the foe of progress, the enemy of political and

religious freedom, and must be removed. Civil war was ruining the country, the forces of the king on the one hand, and of the parliament on the other, met and fought with a courage almost unprecedented. The Puritans rallied round the standard of the Huntingdon brewer, Oliver Cromwell, and, with the cry of, " For God and the People," rushed into battle with the ungodly soldiers of the king, whose watchwords were, " For God and the King." Charles was a prisoner in the power of the army, but even then was defiant and urged his soldiers to fight for his rights and to show no quarter to the Cromwellians. Charles, as a prisoner of war, committed acts which would have justified the most extreme measures, but Cromwell resisted the temptation and refused to allow his prisoner to be tried by court martial. The House of Commons passed a res olution, " That by the fundamental law of the land it is treason for the King of England for the time being to levy war against the parliament and kingdom," but although the resolution was in accordance with the unwritten constitution of the king dom, the Lords rejected the resolution without a dissentient voice, and adjourned for ten days to prevent the Commons from taking further action. The Lower House, however, was not to be restrained and a second resolution was' passed which was revolutionary in its char acter. It declared that " the people are the origin of all just power," and that the "House of Commons, being chosen by and representing the people, are the supreme power in the nation; that what soever is enacted or declared law by the Commons in Parliament hath the force of