Heaven to witness, that I speak it with charity hall, London, on Friday the 10th day of Jato your souls, and with great sorrow and grief nuary next, at seven of the clock in the mornin my own heart, to see men that might haveing. And all manner of persons at this sesmade themselves happy, draw upon themselves sions of Oyer and Terminer, and gaol-deliverey so great a ruin. But since you have been so of Newgate, holden for the city of London and fairly heard, so fairly tried and convicted, there county of Middlesex, may depart hence for is but little more to be said; for I must tell you, this time, and give their attendance here again because it may not be thought that you had on Wednesday, the 15th day of January, at not free liberty to make your full defence, seven of the clock in the morning. God save through that gentleman (speaking to Ireland) the king. seemed to be surprized, he had a kind sister, that took care to bring his witnesses; I am so far from blaming her for it, that I do commend her, it was the effect of her good nature, and deserves cominendation; but speak to this purpose, to shew that there was no surprize upon him, nor his life taken away by any such thing; for he had a greater favour shewed to him than is usually shewn to such of fenders.

And having thus said to you myself, we do also require him whose duty it is to attend in such cases, nay, I do command him in the name of the court, that he attend upon you to give you all the confortable assistance that he can for the advantage of your future state: And not only so, but we will certainly take care, that if you will have any others come to you they shall. I would not be mistaken, I do not mean any of your priests and Jesuits; but if you will have the assistance of any Protestant divines, they shall not be denied you. And I hope God Almighty will please to give you pardon in another world, though you have offended beyond hopes of any in this. I once more assure you, all I have said is in perfect charity. pray God forgive you for what you have done. And so there remains now only for me to pronounce that sentence which by the law of the land the court is required to do against persons convicted of that offence which you are convicted of.

1

This court doth therefore award, "That you, the prisoners at the bar, be conveyed from bence to the place from whence you came, and from thence that you be drawn to the place of execution upon hurdles, that there you be se verally hanged by the neck, that you be cut down alive, that your privy members be cut off, and your bowels taken out, and burnt in your view, that your heads be severed from your bodies, that your bodies be divided into quarters, and those quarters be disposed of at the king's pleasure: And the God of infinite mercy be merciful to your souls."

Then the prisoners were conveyed back to the Gaol by the keeper of the Gaol, accordIng to custom; and the commission was called over, and the prisoners taken order for according to law. And the court adjourned by pro

clamation thus:

CL of Cr. Crier, make proclamation. Crier. O Yes, O Yes, O Yes! All manner of persons that have any thing more to do at this general sessions of the peace holden for the city of London, may depart hence for this une, and give their attendance at the Guild

And then the court broke up.

William Ireland and John Grove were drawn On Friday the 24th of January following, from Newgate on a hurdle to Tyburn, where they were executed according to their sentence.

Mr. Ireland made this following Speech : "We come hither, as on the last theatre of the world, and do therefore conceive we are obliged to speak. First then, we do confess, that we pardon all and every one whatsoever, that have any interest, concern, or band in our death. Secondly, we do publicly profess and acknowledge, that we are here obliged, if we were guilty ourselves of any treason, to declare it; and that, if we knew any person faulty therein (although he were our father) we would detect and discover him; and as for ourselves, we would beg a thousand and a thousand pardons, both of God and man: But seeing we cannot be believed, we must beg leave to commit ourselves to the mercy of Almighty God, and hope to find pardon of him through Christ. As for my own part, having been twenty years in the Low Countries, and then coming over in June was twelvemonth, I had returned again, had not I been hindered by a fit of sickness. On the 3d of August last I took a journey into Staffordshire, and did not come back to town before the 14th of September, as many can witness for a hundred and more saw me in. Staffordshire; therefore, how I should in this time be acting here treasonable stratagems, I do not well know or understand."

:

Here Mr. Sheriff advertised the prisoner, he would do well to make better use of his time, than to spend it in such-like expressions, for nobody would believe him; not that they thought much of their time, for they would stay; but such kind of words did arraign the proceedings of the court, by which they weretried.

Wherefore Mr. Ireland concluded, and said; "I do here beg of God Almighty to shower down a thousand and a thousand blessings upon his majesty, on her sacred majesty, on the duke of York, and all the royal family, and also on the whole kingdom. As for those catholics that are here, we desire their prayers for a happy passage into a better world, and that he would be merciful to all christian souls. And as for all our enemies, we earnesty desire that God would pardon them again and again, for we pardon them heartily, from the bottom of our hearts; and so I beseech all good people ta pray for us and with us.”

Then Mr. Groves said;

"We are innocent; we lose our lives wrongfully; we pray to God to forgive them that are the causers of it."

is a matter of great weight, I shall therefore consider of it, and return you an answer."

him.

May 25, the king sent a message to the House, by Lord Russel, to let them know, that The execution of Thomas Pickering was respi-Pickering, and that the law should pass upon he would comply with their request concerning ted for so long a time, that it occasioned an Address of the House of Commons, April 27, 1679, "That his majesty would be pleased to order the execution of one Pickering a prisoner in Newgate, and of divers priests and Jesuits, who had been condemned by the judges at the Old Bailey and in the several circuits, but did remain as yet unexecuted, to the great emboldening of such offenders, in case they should escape without due punishment." To which the king returned this answer: "Gentlemen, I have always been tender in matters of blood, which my subjects have no reason to take exceptions at; But this

He was accordingly executed in pursuance of his sentence. Arriving at the place of execution, he appeared to the spectators (after a manner very unusual to persons in his condition with a countenance not only calm, sweet, and serene, but even chearful, smiling, and pleased; solemnly protesting upon his salvation, he was innocent in thought, word, and deed, of a!! that was laid to his charge. Then heartily praying for his accusers and enemies, he said to the hangman Friend, do thy office;' and soon after left the world.

246. The Trial of the Lord CORNWALLIS, before the Lords* at Westminster, for the Murder of Robert Clerk: 30 CHARLES II. A. D. 1678.

AFTER my Lord High Steward (lord Finch of the crown in the Chancery, on his knees, to afterwards earl of Nottingham) was ascended my lord, who delivered it to sir Thomas Fanto the High Chair of State, and sat down there-shaw, clerk of the crown in the King's-Bench in, the commission was delivered by the clerk office, and he received it kneeling. Then pro

* This was a Trial in the Court of the Lord High Steward, as to which, and the distinction between it and the High Court of Parliament, or as Mr. Justice Foster stiles it, "The Court of our Lord the King in Parliament," see the Case of Lord Delamere, A. D. 1686, infra; and of Earl Ferrers, A. D. 1760, infra; and Foster's Crown Law, 138. Sce also 4 Hatsell's Precedents, 197. 277, and the Appendix, No. 3.

passed by him, and advanced into the court, which was a large tribunal erected for this purpose (the whole structure extended almost from the stairs leading to the courts of King's-bench and Chancery to the court of Common Pleas, but the court itself was not so large by much.) The cloth of state was placed aloft in the middle of both sides of it, but a little behind were built two small boxes; on the right were the king, the queen, the duke and duchess; the This Case is thus reported in Jones's Rep. others were filled with persons of honour. The 54: "The lord C. having been indicted for peers triers were seated on both sides the chair the murder of Robert Clerk mentioned in the of state, but at the distance of about five paces next preceding: The king for his trial con- from it, and a step lower on benches covered stituted Heneage lord Finch, then High Chan-with green cloth, with which the whole court cellor of England, to be Lord High Steward, hac vice tantum. The trial was upon the 30th day of June after Trinity Term, in the 28th year of the king. The proceedings were such as are described by lord Coke in his Book of Pleas of the Crown, chap. Treason, of the Trial of Peers; as to the summons of the peers triers, the Certiorari to the Lord Chief Justice for the indictment, and precept to the constable of the Tower of London, and other formalities there mentioned. The steward was attended from his house on the day of the trial quite to Westminster, by the judges in their coaches. Sir Edward Walker, then garter king at arms, going before him in his coat with the serjeants at arms: when he was at the great door of the hall he tarried till the judges were alighted out of their coaches, and then the chief justices first, and the rest according to their seniority

was likewise covered. At the peers feet sat the judges, some on one side and some on the other, their seats being of the same height with the floor of the court. In the middle was a place cut for the clerk of the crown of the King'sbench, and for his deputy, in the lower part. The king's council, viz. his senior scrjeant, attorney and solicitor were placed. The pri soner was at the bar behind them, but raised about six feet, and directly over against the chair of state.

"After the court was thus disposed, Chernoke, serjeant at arms, made proclamation three times, and command was made that all persons, except the lords the triers, and other peers of the realm, and the privy counsellors and the judges, should be uncovered. Then the clerk of the crown read the indictment, and arraigned the prisoner, who pleaded Not

fact with all the circumstances, whereby it is to receive its true and its proper doom. Your lordships are too just to let pity make an abatement for the crime, and too wise to let rhetoric make any improvement of it: This only will be necessary to be observed by all your lordships, that the fouler the crime is, the clearer and the plainer ought the proof of it to be. There no other good reason can be given, why the law refuseth to allow the prisoner at the bar counsel in matter of fact, when his life is Concerned, but only this, because the evidence by which he is condemned ought to be so very evident and so plain, that all the counsel in the world should not be able to answer upon it: Upon this ground it is, that the law hath trusted your lordships with the trial of your fellow peers; no trust can be more nobly lodged, nor | no judicature had ever more true submission made to it: therefore it would be in me some want of respect to this august and noble assembly, should I go about to put your lordslips in mind of your duty: no doubt you will observe the evidence carefully, weigh it dili-ing, between the bours of one and two, came geatly, and when that is done, it is impossible down two gentlemen with three footmen bebut the judgment you will give must be right hind them, out of the gallery at Whitehall, by and honourable and worthy of so wise and the stairs that lead down to the park: I call so great a body. Therefore I will not de- them two gentlemen, because it was not then tain your lordships any longer from hearing discovered who they were, or of what quality; the evidence that is ready to be offered unto but your lordships will perceive, by the course of the evidence, they were my Lord Cornwallis and Mr. Gerrard, coming down at that unseasonable hour. The first question they asked the centinel (who watched at the foot of the stairs), was the hour of the night; and from him had account that it was so much.

creed, that whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed. Whether this noble lord be guilty of it, remains upon your lordships to try, and I shall very shortly state the matter of fact, which we shall prove, and then let the evidence be offered to you. We' do not pretend, my Lords, neither doth the Indictment lay it, that this great offence was committed by the hand of my lord Cornwallis.

For I know your lordships have observed the Indictment, by which it is alledged, that the hand of Mr. Gerrard did the fact: but, my Lords, if we shall make it out that my lord Cornwallis did concur to this act, and had in himself at that time an intent to be a murderer, then it will be declared by his grace, my Lord High Steward, and my Lords the judges, that though his hand did it not, yet he is equally guilty as if it had.

you."

Clof Cr. Make Proclamation.

Serj. O yes! If any will give evidence for our sovereign lord the king, against Charles lord Cornwallis, prisoner at the bar, let him come forth and he shall be heard; for the prisoner stands at the bar upon his deliverance. The Indictment was again read to the peers. Serjeant Maynard. May it please your grace, my Lord High Steward of England, and this great and noble assembly; the prisoner at the bar, Charles lord Cornwallis, standeth indicted of a great crime, that he, together with Charles Gerrard and Edward Bourne, not having in his heart the fear of God, but instigated by the suggestions of the Devil, the 18th of May last, did feloniously and of his malice forethought, assault one Robert Clerk in Whitehall, and that Mr. Gerrard took him up in his arms, flung him down, and broke his neck, of which he instantly died. To this he hath pleaded Not Guilty. It lies upon us who are counsel for the king, in this case to prosecute it, and prove it to you.

Mr. Attorney General, (sir William Jones), May it please your grace, my Lord High Steward of England, and my Lords summoned for the trial of the prisoner at the bar: This noble lord stands indicted for murder; an offence, my lord, which is the first and greatest that is forbidden by the second table, and an offence of that nature, that the law of God hath by a most peremptory sentence condemned and de

* See 3 Inst. 137, 4 Blackstone's Comm. 355, 356. See too Don Pantaleon Sa's Case, ante, vol. 5, p. 466, and the Note.

Now, to make out the charge against him, our evidence will be shortly thus:

On the 18th of May last, early in the morn

The prisoner and Mr. Gerrard were somewhat distempered with drink, and made him a reply that he lyed, with great oaths accompanying it. At that time they did no more but go by him into the park, where after they had continued by the space of an hour, back they returned to the stairs, and the cen tinel demanding, according to his duty, who came there? they answered him in very obscene and uncivil language, and threatened they would kill the centinel, who only did his duty in enquiring who came by him at that time of night. And we shall make it appear, they were in a kind of contention among themselves who should kill him; for as I am informed, (I know if it be not proved, your lordships will observe it) one desired, Pray let me kili him; and the other desired, Pray let me kill him; and threatened no less than to run him through.

My Lords, the centinel being of good resolution, was not affrighted from his place, but kept them off; and when they saw they could not win upon the centinel that way, one of them delivered away his sword, which he held in his