Bradshaw continued with the old bitter grievance: "You disavow us as a Court"—and on that theme spoke a little longer, the King the while facing him, leaning forward eagerly, with clenched hands and white face, frowning.
"We cannot be unmindful of what the Scripture tells us, for to acquit the guilty is of equal abomination as to condemn the innocent. We may not acquit the guilty. What sentence the law affirms to a traitor, tyrant, a murderer, and a public enemy to the country, that sentence you are now to hear read unto you, and that is the sentence of the Court."
There was a great movement in the Hall as of a wave advancing, then flung back. Oliver Cromwell put his hands before his face; the King did not move.
"Read the sentence," said Bradshaw. "Make an oyer and command silence while the sentence is read."
Which was done by the Clerk of the Court, and silence indeed fell—a silence which seemed to shudder.
The Clerk read over the charge from the parchment he held, and then proceeded—
"This charge being read unto him, he, the said Charles Stewart, was required to give his answer, but he refused to do so, and so expressed the several passages of his trial in refusing to answer. For all which Treasons and Crimes this Court doth adjudge that the said Charles Stewart, as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy, shall be put to death by the severing of his head from his body."
Terrible sighs broke from the spectators; they swayed to and fro. The King, now the moment had come, looked incredulous.
"The sentence now read and published," said Bradshaw, "is the Act, Sentence, Judgment, and Resolution of the whole Court."