IN giving an account of the interesting and memorable trial and execution of Sir Henry Vane, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to do justice to the subject. Great pains were taken by the government, and with too much success, to destroy the reports and records that were made of the proceedings in the court and on the scaffold. Foreseeing that such would be the case, Sir Henry wrote down, each day before leaving the prison, the substance of the arguments he intended to use, and before going to execution he committed to writing the speech to be spoken on Tower Hill. These papers have been preserved, together with some of the circumstances that attended the scenes of his trial and death. A faithful friend, at an imminent hazard, procured the secret printing of a volume containing them. The proceedings in court, and at the execution, are also to be found in the "State Trials." By these means we are enabled to gain some idea, of course a very inadequate one, of a transaction, which created a great sensation at the time, and is particularly celebrated in the history of the period.

The prisoner was denied the benefit of counsel, while the attorney-general, the solicitor-general, and four others of the most eminent lawyers in the kingdom, were employed to conduct the prosecution. Among these, to their own everlasting dishonor, and the disgrace of the bar and the country, were Sir John Glyn, and Sir John Maynard, who in the times of the republic had been leading agents in the affairs of the Commonwealth, and were actually subject to the very charges which they labored to prove against Vane. Their conduct was considered, at the time, in the light it deserved, by many, and Butler, in his "Hudibras," has given to their baseness the perpetual infamy, which justice and honor require.

“Did not the learned Glyn and Maynard,

“To make good subjects traitors, strain hard?"

The prisoner was not permitted to see his indictment before it was read in court, or to have a copy of it afterwards, and was denied the benefit of legal advice or consultation out of court as well as in. Under all these disadvantages he was arraigned on the day already mentioned.

In order to apprehend the substance and bearing of the indictment, as fully as possible, before commencing his defence, he asked that it might be read a second time, and his request was granted. He then prayed, that, as the indictment was

recorded in that language, it might be read to him in Latin. This was necessary in order to enable him to avail himself legally of any exception or defect in its form. But this request was refused. He then moved several exceptions to the substance and general character of the indictment, the most important of which was, that, as the offences charged in it were committed in his capacity as a member of Parliament, or as acting under its commission, he could only be held to answer for them before Parliament itself, and not at the bar of any inferior or other tribunal. The judges peremptorily ruled out his exceptions, and required him to answer to the indictment "Guilty" or "Not guilty." Sir Henry then urged, at length, those reasons which led him to decline to put himself on trial by pleading to the indictment. In this stage of the proceedings he argued with great power and ability. He showed that it was impossible for him to have that equal and just trial which was his right as an Englishman. That his previous and long-protracted imprisonment, without any examination or hearing, was a violation of law. On this point he quoted largely from "Magna Charta," and confirmed his quotations by the authority of Sir Edward Coke. He showed how his estates had been seized contrary to law, and, by citations from Coke, Bracton, and others, he proved that his banishment to

of

Scilly without a verdict by his peers was also a violation of law. He further argued, that, contrary to all the authorities and principles of English law, which he cited, he was arraigned before judges who, in another place, had prejudged his case and recorded their votes against him. He dwelt upon the months and years that had been occupied in contriving and collecting evidence to sustain the prosecution, while he had all the time been kept a close prisoner. He stated that he was not permitted to know what would be alleged against him, or to do any thing by way preparation for his defence; and that, by seizing his rents in the hands of his tenants, and placing his property beyond his reach, the government had involved his family in debts to the amount of more than ten thousand pounds, thereby disabling them from rendering him any assistance towards his defence. He entered upon a particular examination of the specifications brought against him, and showed that they were vague, and general, and such as did not bear against him individually, but as a member of a Parliament to which he was lawfully elected, and in which he had acted in concurrence with the nation from time to time. Toward the conclusion he used the following language.

"And now, having said all that, as a rational man, doth occur to me, and is fit to represent, in

all humility to the court, I crave leave further to add. I stand at this bar, not only as a man, and a man clothed with the privileges of the most sovereign court, but as a Christian, that hath faith and reliance in God, through whose gracious and wise appointment I am brought into these circumstances, and unto this place at this time, whose will I desire to be resigned up into, as well in what he now calls me to suffer, as in what he hath formerly called me to act, for the good of my country and the people of God in it. Upon this foundation (I bless the name of my God) I am fearless, and know the issue will be good, whatever it prove. God's strength may appear in my weakness; and the more all things carry the face of certain ruin and destruction unto all that is near and dear to me in this world, the more will divine deliverance and salvation appear, to the making good that Scripture, that he that is content to lose his life in God's cause and way, shall save it, and he that, instead thereof, goes about to save his life upon undue terms, shall lose it."

Before taking his seat Sir Henry, as we are informed by one who was present, "did much press for counsel to be allowed him, to advise with him about any further exceptions to the indictment, besides those by him exhibited, and to put all into form according to the customary pro