APPENDIX.
I.—Vol. I. 137.
Passages from Letters in the State Paper Office Respecting the Trial of the Earl of Strafford.
N. Tomkyns. April 12th, 1641.
"On Saturday morning the Earl of Strafford being come to Westminster Hall, and both Houses sitting in the presence of the King, the Commons desired they might enlarge their charge upon the 23rd Article, whereupon the Earl also desired he might enlarge his answer upon the 2nd, and 21st, and 23rd Articles;[585] the Lords retiring to their own House returned with this resolution, that they held it equal if the Commons added anything de novo, that the Earl should also have the like liberty. The Commons, not satisfied therewith, much pressed that they had formerly had a saving granted them, but the Earl had none. The Earl said he had humbly besought the Lords, (his judges,) that he might have the like saving, and he hoped it would be held reasonable, that if new objections were made, he should have permission to make new answers to them, being for his life. Hereupon the Lords met again to consult in their own House with the judges, and after half an hour's stay returned, and the Earl Marshal delivered their opinion to be the same that before it was; that if the Commons should enforce their charge in any point or bring any new matter (though for the King) the Earl should have the like freedom to plead for himself; which so soon as the Commons heard a great number of the precise part cried, 'Withdraw, withdraw,' and the Lords immediately thereupon cried, 'Adjourn, adjourn,' and so both Houses went in little better than [a] tumultuous manner from the Hall to their several houses, where they did little, but agreed only to meet in the afternoon. The King laughed, (as my author says) and the Earl of Strafford was so well pleased therewith, that he could not hide his joy, being now sine die for any further proceeding.
In the Commons' House after dinner, after much debate what course they should take for the punishment of so great an incendiary, Sir Arthur Haselrigge drew out of his pocket a Bill, (supposed to have been prepared before that day), for the Earl's attainder, and punishment by death, (hanging, drawing, and quartering,) which Bill was, with much ado, kept from being read again the same afternoon—now the secret of their taking this way is conceived to be to prevent the hearing of the Earl's lawyers, who give out that there is no law yet in force whereby he can be condemned to die for ought that hath been yet objected against him, and therefore their intent is by this Bill to supply the defect of the laws therein. And to make him more odious, a paper was that afternoon produced and read in the Commons' House, which young Sir H. Vane is said to have found casually in his father's study (as notes of passages at the council table) wherein strange speeches of the said Earl were quoted, touching the curbing of the people, and introducing an arbitrary government, and also of the Lord Cottington's, and some others tending to the same end—about which paper both their majesties are said to be much offended with Mr. Secretary Vane."
N. Tomkyns, April 26th, 1641.
"There is a difference at present between the two Houses of Parliament, the Commons desire (now that the Bill against the Earl of Strafford is presented) to sit at the hearing of his counsel, as co-judges with the Lords, with their hats on, to which the Lords not assenting, the Commons are now content to sit as they did in Westminster Hall, uncovered, so be that the Lords will please to come as a Committee without their robes, to which the Lords having not yet yielded the controversy is not yet ended. Besides, Sir H. Vane's deposition touching the Earl of Strafford is lost by the Clerk of the Higher House, who cannot give any account how it went out of his hands; and in a copy thereof, since found, great difference is found in the same by the altering, or rather by the adding of one letter, (t) for whereas it was in the original that the Earl should say his Majesty might by the army reduce the kingdom here it is there in this copy, and so refers to Ireland only.