The three judges: story of the men who beheaded their king

Front matter

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Preface

In the preparation of this work, it has not been thought necessary to note minutely the sources from which its materials were derived. The great Revolution of 1640-1659 is among the most familiar topics of English history, and is recounted at length in all our standard authorities on that subject. Of the trial and execution of the King, and the barbarous punishments inflicted on such of his judges as fell into the hands of his son after the Restoration, detailed accounts are given by Nalson, Caulfield, Ludlow, Pepys, and many other writers of that day.

For our knowledge of the events attending the exile of the three judges who fled to America, their concealment and hardships, and the heroism of the infant colonies in giving them a shelter at their own imminent peril, we are chiefly indebted to the late President Stiles, of Yale College. He investigated the matter with all the industry which its intrinsic interest and his enthusiastic admiration for the venerable men who were its subjects, could inspire. Living within less than one hundred years of their time, when not a few survived whose fathers and grandfathers were personally cognizant of the facts, he had advantages for ascertaining the truth which no subsequent writer could share. Though

4 PREFACE.

some of his conclusions have been regarded as fanciful, especially the theory of the interment of all three of the judges at New Haven, yet his work, in all essential respects, is believed to be worthy of entire confidence.

GofTe's correspondence, and some other matters which have come to light since Stiles's History was published, are taken from the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. A few particulars as to the places where the judges were secreted, are given from a recent personal visit to those localities.

It has been my aim to make this literally a true story. Nothing has been inserted but well-authenticated fact, or what has been transmitted to us by tradition.

The romantic interest of the story of these three fugitives from royal vengeance will- not be questioned. Southey states that he contemplated writing " an Anglo-American Iliad," in which " the main interest will fix upon Goffe the regicide, for whom I invent a Quaker son — a new character, you will allow, for heroic poetry. The poem itself in the first draught is called Oliver Goffe." Poetical .Works, p. 832. The traditionary account of Goffe's appearance to aid the people of Hadley against the attack of the Indians is made a graphic episode in Scott's novel of " Peveril of the Peak." In addition to this interest, it is hoped that our young readers will find in the narrative a source of instruction in the principles of civil. and religious- liberty, and also in that highest truth which can alone inspire the deeds that make men immortal.

I. P. W.

Introduction

BY REV. LEONARD BACON, D. D.

Perhaps no episode in American history appeals more powerfully to the imagination than that of the fugitive judges who had subscribed the death-warrant of a king. The romance of the story is quite independent of any sympathy with the men, or with the cause for which they had fought, and for which, in its defeat, they suffered. The facts are the same, and the romance of the story is essentially the same, whether interpreted by sympathy with the men or by antipathy.

It should not be forgotten that, even at this late day, there are those not only in Great Britain, but

v

VI THE THREE JUDGES.

in the United States, whose feelings are on the side of " King Charles the Martyr," as he was called, till recently, in the calendar of the Church of England. They may not be willing to identify themselves in all respects with that king's party in the conflict which brought him to the scaffold. Being Americans, they may reject, very heartily, the dogma of the divine right of Charles Stuart to govern England at his own free will, and without responsibility save to God ; or, being English subjects, they may honestly profess to believe that kings are for the people, and not the people for kings, and that the majesty of the law which protects the people against arbitrary power is more sacred than the majesty of the person who happensto wear the crown ; but by the force of some ecclesiastical or religious tradition, or of literary and esthetic prejudice, their sympathy is with the king, — so grave, so gallant, so unfortunate, — rather than with the people in arms for ancient and chartered freedom. In their reading of English history, the heroes of their fancy are Falkland rather than Hampden, Hyde rather than Pym, Strafford rather than Cromwell, and Laud is to them a saintlier name than Baxter or Owen. Their antipathy

INTRODUCTION. Vll

against " roundheads " and " sectaries u colors the facts of undoubted history.

To such minds the story of the ' Regicides in New England may have an interest like that of an old romance. As the barbarians of Melita, when a viper from the heat fastened on the hand of the prisoner Paul, said among themselves, " No doubt this man is a murderer, whom vengeance suffereth not to live," so a reader whose sympathies are with the "cavaliers" against the "roundheads," may think he sees, in the unspeakable atrocities which accompanied the execution of those regicide judges who died at Charing Cross, nothing else than God's justice against the foulest murder, save one, in the history of mankind; and to - him the story of those three who escaped beyond the ocean may be as romantic as the fable of the Wandering Jew. He may think he sees a divine Nemesis — slow, but terrible — pursuing them wherever they go, on the sea. or the land, among friends or in lonely hiding-places, journeying through the solemn woods or resting unsuspected under some hospitable roof, living in obscurity and fear under feigned names, or hunted into dens and caves of the earth. He may think how they must have been haunted

Vlll THE THREE JUDGES.

by the remembrance of their crime — how the shadowy image of the king whom they condemned to die must have visited their dreams — how the ghastly array of that scaffold before the palace of Whitehall, with the block, and the headsman, and the eyes glaring upon them from the severed head, must have risen up before them in the hour of death.

On the other hand, there are readers of history who have learned that the great parliamentary leaders, in the conflict with Charles I., were men to whom England owes a debt of gratitude and honor not yet paid in full. To them the story, of that " unfortunate king " is the story of a man who — whatever may have been his exemption from the sway of certain brutish vices, characteristic of so many kings, and whatever the royal dignity of his bearing among his courtiers — was utterly ungenerous and selfish. To them, all his story, even to its tragic ending, is the story of a man who, instead of regarding his kingly office as a trust defined by laws and charters, and to be used for the welfare of his countrymen, regarded it as a possession to be used according to his sovereign pleasure ; and who deliberately attempted to de-

DfTRODUCTl IX

stroy that hereditary liberty of his people which he had sworn to maintain. In their reading of history, that Charles Stuart was a man entirely faithless and treacherous, with whom no compact could be made which he would not violate at the earliest opportunity. Their sympathy, therefore, is not with him, nor with the men who fought under his standard when he made war upon his people. In their view, the true heroes of that crisis were the men who most persistently and r strenuously opposed the scheme for converting the government of England into a despotism like that of France or of Spain at the same period. As they read and understand the facts, the king had been false to his trust, had conspired against his people to rob them of their undoubted rights, had committed treason against the nation, had stained his soul with more than the guilt of a thousand murders, when he was arraigned for trial. Whatever may be their opinion concerning the wisdom or political expediency of dealing with him as a criminal, of pronouncing against him the sentence of death, and surprising and astounding the world by the execution of the sentence, they can understand that the judges of that revo-

X THE THREE JUDGES.

lutionary tribunal . may have acted in the fear of God, may have felt the pressure of a public necessity for exemplary justice on a royal traitor, and may have been impelled by the consciousness of duty to their country and to the coming ages.

If such be our interpretation of the facts, the story of the fugitive " colonels," as they were called here in New England, while it takes on a different color, gains as much of interest as it loses. Under that view, the failure of the English republic, the succession of a basely dissolute wretch to the throne which his father had forfeited, and the return of the cavaliers to power, introducing the darkest period of national degeneracy and disgrace in the history of England, are no proof that what the " roundheads " were wont to speak of in their darkest days as " the good old cause," was abhorred of God ; nor is the story of those regicides who were " hanged, drawn, and quartered" at Charing Cross, and of those who escaped into the American wilderness, evidence that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in England. Those hunted fugitives may have been sustained by the belief that they had done their duty to their country. If we re-

INTRODUCTION. XI

gard them in that light, it is not more reasonable to suppose that in their flight, in the years of their obscurity, or in their loneliest hiding-places, they were haunted by remorseful memory, than to suppose that Washington, in the tranquil evening of his life at Mount Vernon, was haunted by the shade of Andrd, and that a terrific vision of that gallows at West Point was at his bedside when he died.

Let us, then, remember how easy it is for prejudice and imagination to misinterpret the facts of history ; and let us learn not to censure too harshly those whose sympathies lead them to misunderstand and depreciate historic personages whom we may deem worthy of honor, or to honor personages whom history teaches us to abhor. If a Roman Catholic insists that Mary, Queen of Scots, was a saint and a martyr — if an English tory demands like honor for her grandson Charles — if there are some who reverently cherish the memory of Laud "Archbishop and Martyr," — let us not quarrel with them ; no, not even if they denounce us for not holding their opinion. So, while we read the story of the judges who condemned a king

Xll THE THREE JUDGES.

to the block, let us remember that the question whether they were traitors who deserved to die, or Christian patriots who had failed in a great endeavor to save their country and to make it an abode of righteousness, — is a question on which we may err without losing our souls.

Contents

PAGE

Preface iii

Introduction v

CHAPTER I. Story of the Great Charter

The old Stones in New Haven. — Graves of the Judges. — What we owe to the Fathers. — Beheading of King Charles. — An astonishing Event.— Opinion of Carlyle. — What had he done? — English Liberties. —Tyranny of the old Kings. — Story of the rich Jew.— Rebellion of the Barons. — Magna Charta. — Often Renewed. — Its Imperfections 13

CHAPTER II. Illegal Acts of the King

The Stuart Dynasty. — James I. — His Notions of Royalty . — His Commands to Parliament. — Illegal Taxes.— Protest of Parliament.— Laws respecting Religion. — The King's Intolerance. — Conference with the Puritan Divines. — Establishes Episcopacy in Scotland. — The Book of Sports. — Intemperance of James. — His Favorites.— Somerset. — Buckingham. — His Death. — Accession of Charles L — His Character. — Asks for Money. — Twice dissolves Parliament. — Illegal Methods of raising Money. — Tunnage and Poundage.— Fines. — Forced Loans. — Sale of Offices. — Monopolies. — Ship Money. — Star Chamber Court. — High Commission. — Council at York.— "Thorough." — The Petition of Right. — New Abuses.— Parliament dispensed with. — Cruelties of the Courts. — John Hampden. — Flight of Puritans to New England. — Episcopacy in Scotland. — Jenny Gcddes'w Stool. —The Scots take up Arms.— New Parliament called and dismissed. — The Long Parliament. . . 24

O CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III. Resistance of the Parliament

The Long Parliament. — Who composed it. — Begin to discuss Grievances. — Release of Victims of the Star Chamber. — Impeachment of Laud. — And of Strafford. — Triennial Parliaments. — Ship-money Judges fined. — The King's Power of dissolving Parliament Surrendered. — The Irish Massacre. — "Grand Petition and Remonstrance."— Attempt to seize the Tower. — Insult to Parliament.— Charles retires to York. — Raises his Standard for War. — Battle of Edgehill. — The Oxford Parliament. — Treaty with the Scots.— Marston Moor. — Cromwell's Ironsides. — Remodeling of the Army.

— Execution of Laud. — Battle of Naseby. — Charles surrenders to the Scots. — Is delivered to Parliament. — Expenses at Holmby House. — Intrigues. — Escape of Charles. — Battle of Preston. — Pride's Purge. — Ordinance for trying the King 66

CHAPTER IV. The King's Trial and Execution

The High Court o f Justice. — Who composed it. — Sketch of Whalley.

— of Goffe — of Dixwell. —Westminster Hall. — Meeting of the

Commissioners. — Preliminaries. — Opening of the Court The

King brought in. — His Arraignment. — And Answer. — A bad Omen. — Witnesses examined. — Declared guilty. — Sentence pronounced. — Alleged Insults.— The Warrant for his Execution.— Interview with his Children. — The Scaffold. — The King's Speech.

— Cautions to the Executioner. — The Beheading. — Estimate of the Transaction. — Guilt of the King. — His Perfidy. — Pleas in his Favor. — The Trial and Execution illegal. — Justified by the Right

of Revolution. — Motives and Character of the Judges 93

CHAPTER V. England without a King

Who shall be Head of the State? — Not the Prince of Wales.— The Great Council. — Liberal Sentiments of the Puritans. — Conspiracies. — In the Army. — Among the Royalists in Ireland. —

CONTENTS. 7

Among the Scots. — Battle of Dunbar. — Flight of Charles II.— Expulsion of the Ramp. — Barebone's Parliament. — Cromwell made Protector. — His first Parliament. — Major Generals appointed. — The second Parliament. — Cromwell's Sickness and Death. — Richard Cromwell becomes Protector. — The Rump recalled. — Quarrels with the Army. — Appeals to General Monk. — ' He decides for a Monarchy. — Restoration of Charles II. — Results of the great Struggle 122

CHAPTER VI. Fate of the Regicides

England's Humiliation. — Character of Charles II. — His Promise of Indemnity for the Past. — Overruled by Parliament. — Flight of a Portion of the Judges. — Arrest of the Remainder. — Their Trial and Execution. — Heroism. — Harrison. — Scrope and Carew. — Hugh Peters, Jones, and others. — Barbarities of the Execution. — The Bodies of the Dead exhumed. — And disgraced 140

CHAPTER VII. The Judges in Massachusetts

Whallcy and GofTe escape to New England. — Reasons for their coming here. — Their Arrival at Boston. — Reception by Governor Endicott. — Retire to Cambridge. — Respect shown to them. — Visit Boston and other Towns. — Primitive New England Society.— Story of the Fencing-master. — Arrival of the Act of Indemnity. — Alarm of the Authorities. — Meeting of the Council. — The Judges resolve to depart. — Affidavits of Breedon and Crowne. — The King's Proclamation. — Sentiments of the Massachusetts People. — Search in that Colony 153

CHAPTER VIII. Flight to New Haven

Journey to New Haven. — Interview with Governor Winthrop. — Mr. Davenport's Sermon. — Arrival at New Haven. — Cordial Reception by the People. — The King's Proclamation comes to Boston. — Its

8 CONTENTS.

equivocal Language. — Commission of Kellond and Kirk. — They visit Hartford. — Arrive at Guilford. — Interview with Deputy Governor Leete. — The Sabbath at Guilford.— Rev. Mr. Whitfield's House. — Warning- sent to New Haven. — Mr. William Jones. — The Judges retire to his Mill. — Pretended Search for them. — Attempted Arrest by the Marshal. — They hide under Neck Bridge. — The King's Officers arrive at New Haven. — Meeting of the Governor and Magistrates. — Danger of the Authorities. — Penalty for harboring Traitors. — Interview with the King's Officers. — Refusal to surrender the Judges. — Anger of the Officers. — They search Mr. Davenport's House. — Mr. Jones's. — And Mrs. Alierton's. — Depart to Menhadoes 107

CHAPTER IX. The Judges' Cave

The West Rock. — The Cave. — Sperry's Farm-house. — Providence Hill. — Feelings of the Judges. — Meeting of the General Court. — Their Declaration. — Its Statements defended. — Search through the Colony ordered.— General Election. — The Judges resolve to surrender. — They repair to Guilford. — Secreted in Governor Leete's Cellar. — Their Decision overruled. — Return to New Haven.

— Publicly show themselves. — Ancient Church in New Haven. — The Congregation.— Personal Appearance of Mr. Davenport. — His Firmness and Courage 192

CHAPTER X. The Lodge and the Stone Store

The Judges leave the Cave. — Wild Beasts. — Their second Hiding-place. — The Indians of New Haven Colony. — Hatchet Harbor.— The Bodge. — Loneliness of the Forest. — Bocalities in the Vicinity.

— They retire to Milford. — Early Settlers of Milford. — Anecdote of Governor Treat. — Tomkins's Store. — The satirical Ballad.— Comparative Safety.— Intercourse with Friends. — Want of Means of Travel. — Large Attendance on Public Worship. — News-letters.

— Letter from Rev. Mr. Ilooke. — Letter to Governor Gilbert.— Meetings in 1 he Store, — Goffe's Expositions of Prophecy 209

CONTENTS. 9

CHAPTER XI. Proceedings of the New Haven Magistrates

Alarm and Danger. — Letter from the Secretary of Massachusetts. —

The General Court convened. — Their Reply to the Secretary. — Mr. Davenport's Apology. — Proclamation of the United Colonies.

— Proposed Union of the Colonies of Connecticut and New Haven.

— Governor Winthrop appointed Agent. — His Character. — And Services. — Friends of the Colonies at Court. — The Charter granted.

— The Search for the Judges discontinued 230

CHAPTER XII. The Judges at Hadley

Fresh Alarrri\ — Appointment of the King's Commissioners..— Hadley.

— Its Settlement and its People. — Rev. Mr. Russell. — The Judges remove thither. — Mr. Russell's House. — The Judges' Apartments.

— Twelve Years' Residence there. — The Mather Papers. — Visit of Colonel Dixwell. — Goffe's Letters. — Letter from his Wife. — Judges supplied with Money. — Goffc's Reply. — His Daughter's Conversion. — And Marriage. — Advice to the young Couple. — Death of his second Daughter. — Birth and Death of a Grandson. — Message to his Daughter Judith. — Caution against excessive Sorrow. — A Bit of Pleasantry. — Mrs. Goffc's Assurances of Affection.

— Goffe's Letter on Christian Charity and Toleration. — Exposition

of the Apocalypse 242

CHAPTER XIII. Death of Whalley and Goffe

Time of Whalley's Death. — Goffe's Letter respecting him. —Burial in Mr. Russell's Cellar. — The New Haven Tradition. — Inscription on the Gravestones. — Discovery of his Remains in 1705. — King Philip's War. — Attack of the Indians upon Hadley. — Goffe's Command of the Defenders.— Battle of Bloody Brook. — Supposed Visit of Major Treat. — Traditions respecting Goll'e. — Probability of his Removal

10 CONTENTS.

to Hartford. — Randolph's Suspicions. — Extracts from Letter's. — Affidavit of John London. — Search for Goffe at Hartford. — Supposed Date of his Death . 269

CHAPTER XIV. DlXWELL

First Appearance at New Haven. — Resides at Mr. Ling's. — His personal Habits. — His Piety. — His Acquaintances in the Town. — Removal of Mr. Davenport to Boston. — His Death and Character. — Rev. Mr. Street. — Extracts from his Will. — Death of Mr. Ling.— Marriage with Mrs. Ling. — Her Death. — Marries a second Time. — His Children and Descendants. — Disposal of his Property in England. — Neglect on the Part of his English Relatives. — Attempts to recover his Property. — Rev. James Pierpont. — DixwelPs Intimacy with him. — Unites with the Church.— Raleigh's History.— Freedom from Molestation. — Andross's Visit to New Haven. — Psalmsinging. — Last Sickness and Death. — Revolution in England. — Accession of William and Mary. — Changes in England and America

. in two hundred Years. — Established Principles of Government. — Promise of the Future. — Erection of a Monument to Dixwell. ... 282

THE THREE JUDGES.

The engraving gives a view of what are popularly called "the Judges' gravestones," on the Public Square in New Haven. Their relative position is changed so as to allow them to be shown in one group. It will be seen that the 5 o" both the E. W. stones has a peculiar appearance, as if substituted for or blended with a 7, so as possibly to suggest 1678. The I. D. stone, which undoubtedly belongs to the grave of Dixwell, has been placed in the monumental inclosure by the side of the marble obelisk recently erected. The M. G. stone is now nearly or quite covered by the earth, in the path near the northern angle of the inclosure. See page 272.

Chapter I, Story Of The Great Charter

N our youthful days the boys of New Haven used to look with wonder upon the four little brown stones which stood upon the public square of that city, just back of the Center Church. They were unhewn stones, weather-beaten and battered, bearing rudely-sculptured initials and dates. We knew that this portion of the square, or "Upper Green/' as it was generally called, had once been the buryingground of. the town — a fact commemorated by a marble tablet inserted in the rear wall of the church. But the practice of burying here was now discontinued, and the numerous old sandstone slabs, with a few more imposing monuments of slate and marble, had been removed to the new grounds in the northern part of the town, which have since become the populous cemetery, where repose so many of the learned, the wise, and the good of that beautiful city.

These four little rude stones, — whose were they ? and why had they not been removed with the others ? We were told that they marked the graves- of The Judges ; the brave men who, two hundred years ago, had tried and put to death King Charles of England ; and who, when his son came afterward to be king, fled to these little colonies, and were secreted here till they died. The story was one of mysterious interest. It carried us back to the days when New Haven, now a large and elegant city, was a little village in the wilderness ; when the Indians lived among the hills looking down from the north and west ; when this country belonged to England, the great, powerful, and grand nation across the sea, which had a king, and lords, and big armies of red-coated soldiers, and dreadful ships of war, and everything that was splendid and imposing. Many a time have we sat on one of these old stones and thought of the stout-hearted men who slept beneath them, the daring deeds they performed, their lonely wanderings in the woods and caves, and the faith that sustained them in the whole, and made them seem to us like the heroes and saints of the martyr times.

We can not but think that the story of those men, and of the cause in which they acted, is worth telling anew for the benefit of the boys and girls of our own time. By the favor of God those little colonies have become a great nation. Large and populous cities have grown up where once were only woods and wild beasts, or the roving red men wilder than they. Churches, and schoolhouses, and great factories, and thousands upon thousands of beautiful and happy homes fill the land. Long trains of cars, laden with travelers and merchandise, speed over our iron roads, and telegraphs flash our messages from ocean to ocean in a moment of time. How the fathers who laid the foundations of our institutions would have wondered if they could have foreseen what two hundred years would bring to pass here ! Let us never forget that it is to them, under God, that in great measure we owe these things. We reap the harvest of the seed they sowed. They were men who feared God. They believed, and revered, and obeyed the Bible as his Word. They prayed to him, and were sure that he heard them. . They loved the Sabbath, and kept it holy. They were grave, and temperate, and honest men. And He whom they loved and served watched over the seed they thus planted, and has given it at length such a wonderful harvest.

It was a cold winter day in the year 1649, when the proud King Charges of England was led out from his palace in London upon a scaffold, in the sight of thousands of his people, and beheaded as a criminal. In those times this was an astonishing thing to do. Kings were thought to be something more than men. Their persons were deemed sacred, as the anointed representatives of God himself. We, in our day, and in this country where we have no king, can not imagine what a shock it gave to men's minds. Mr. Carlyle says, " No modern reader can conceive the then atrocity, ferocity, and unspeakability of this fact. To be equaled, nay, to be preferred, think some, in point of horror, to the crucifixion of Christ. Alas, in these irreverent times of ours, if all the kings in Europe were to be cut in pieces at one swoop, and flung in heaps into St. Martin's Churchyard on the same day, the emotion would, in strict arithmetical

STORY OF THE GREAT CHARTER. I J

truth, be small in comparison. I reckon it perhaps the most daring action any body of men to be met in history ever with clear consciousness deliberately set themselves to do."

What had the king done, and why did they put him to death ? The story is a long one, and to be fully understood we must go back a thousand years in English history.

From the times of the Anglo-Saxons, the oldest ancestors of the English nation, there has come down to us a body of laws and customs which have ever been regarded as lying at the foundation of government in our mother land, and which, for that reason, have been most carefully cherished by the people. Their design has been to make the government one of law, and not of the arbitrary will of king or noble. The Shah of Persia, who has just been making a visit to Queen Victoria, can at any moment seize upon the property of one of his subjects, or cut off his head, if he chooses ; but the Queen of England — though a country vastly more powerful than Persia — can not do either. In the one case, that has to be done which the king says ; in the other, that which the law says. The government of both is a monarchy, but in England 2

IS THE THREE JUDGES.

this is restrained and limited, so that every man's life, liberty, and property, unless he commits some crime, are safe.

It took a long time, however, and an immense amount of blood and treasure to establish these principles, and make them the unquestioned right of every Englishman. When the Norman Duke William conquered England, in A. D. 1066, he reduced the people to a state of slavery. He seized their lands and other property, and divided them among his followers, murdered their nobles, and ravaged whole districts with fire and sword. For a time the strength and spirit of the nation were so broken that they could make no effective resistance. But his sons and successors, William II. and Henry I., found that they could not do just as he had done, and in order to establish themselves on the throne they were obliged to make concessions to the people, and promise to observe the ancient laws ; promises, however, which were very poorly kept. Again, in A. D. 12 15, there was wrung from the king the most celebrated of all such concessions, ever since known as Magna Charta.

The sovereign at that time was John, the fifth in descent from the Conqueror ; — a weak and wicked man, having all the vices and but few of the virtues of the Norman line of kings. John was engaged in a war with France, and wanted money to pay his soldiers. He did not ask the parliament to give it to him, but seized it wherever he could. He arrested the nobles and rich men, and made them pay great sums to be released, and if they refused, shut them up in prison and confiscated their estates. At that time the Jews were very numerous in England, and many of them wealthy. These he thought a fair prey, for everybody hated the Jews, and would care very little if they were plundered. A story is told of a rich Jew in Bristol who was ordered to pay ten thousand marks, — about thirty-three thousand dollars, — equivalent, at least, to three times as much at the present day. This he refused to do, and was sentenced to have one of his teeth knocked out each day till he complied. The executioner began with the double teeth, and took seven in as many days, when the victim could hold out no longer, and agreed to pay his money to save his teeth.