The day of execution was fixed for Wednesday, the 12th of May, and on Monday, the 10th, the commission to this effect passed the Great Seal. But still Charles could not give up the hope of saving the unhappy man. He sent to the two Houses to inform them that he would instantly disband the Irish army; and the next morning, having appeared to have made a favourable impression on the Commons, who had returned a very flattering message, he sent the Prince of Wales to the Lords with a letter once more imploring them to consult with the Commons, and grant him "the unspeakable contentment" of changing the sentence of the earl to perpetual imprisonment, with a pledge never to interfere in his behalf; and if the earl should ever seek his liberty, especially by any application to himself, his life should be forfeited. If, however, it could not be done with satisfaction to the people, he said "Fiat justitia." In a postscript, stated to have been added at the suggestion of the queen, he appended the fatal words, "If he must die, it were charity to reprieve him till Saturday;" words which seemed to imply that, though he asked, he really did not hope to save him. Nothing, however, could have saved him. The House, after reading the letter twice, and after "sad and serious consideration," sent a deputation to inform him that neither of the requests could be complied with.
THE OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE, EDINBURGH.
Strafford, on the previous Tuesday, hearing of the king's extreme agitation and trouble on his account, had sent him a letter which was full of magnanimity. He informed him that the hearing of the king's unwillingness to pass the Bill, on the ground that he did not believe him guilty, and of the excitement of the people against him on that account, had brought him into a great strait; that the ruin of his family on the one side, and fear of injury to the king on the other, had greatly troubled him; that to say that there had not been a great strife in him, would be to say that he was not made of flesh and blood; yet considering that the chief thing was the prosperity of the realm and the king, he had, with a natural sadness, come to the conclusion to desire the king to let matters take their course rather than incur the ill that refusing to sign the Bill might bring on his sacred majesty. Whitelock assures us that the king sent Carleton to him, to inform him that he had been compelled to pass the Bill, and adding that he had been the more reconciled to it by his willingness to die. On hearing this, Strafford started up from his chair, lifted up his eyes to heaven, laid his hand upon his heart, and said, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, for in them there is no salvation."
The night before the day fixed for his execution, Archbishop Ussher visited the prisoner, who begged him to go to his fellow-prisoner, Archbishop Laud, and beg his prayers for him that night, and his blessing when he should go forth in the morning. He had in vain endeavoured to persuade the Lieutenant Balfour to permit him to have an interview with the fallen prelate. In the morning, when led out to the scaffold, on approaching the window of the archbishop's prison, he begged the lieutenant to allow him to make his obeisance towards the prelate's room, though he could not see him himself.
STRAFFORD ON HIS WAY TO EXECUTION.
After the Painting by Paul Delaroche, in the possession of the Duke of Sutherland.