lled hither. I would know by what authority, I mean lawful. There are many unlawful authorities in the world, thieves and robbers by the highway .... Remember I am your King, your lawful King, and what sins you bring upon your heads, and the judgment of God upon this land; think well upon it, I say, ... I have a trust committed to me by God, by old and lawful descent; and I will not betray it to answer to a new unlawful authority; therefore resolve me that and you shall hear more of me". Cook exhorted the King to answer "in the name of the people, of which you are elected King". Charles immediately responded 19 : "England was never an elected Kingdom, but a hereditary Kingdom, for near these thousand years. ... I do stand more for the liberty of my people, than any here that come to be my pretended judges ... I do not come here as submitting to the Court: I will stand as much for the privilege of the House of Commons, rightly understood, as any man here whatsoever I see no House of Lords here that may constitute a parliament. Let me see a legal warrant authorised ... by the constitution of the Kingdom and I will answer." The King's insistence on authority, legitimacy and what we would now describe as the rule of law, obviously unsettled the "court" and the spectators. As if on cue, the soldiers around the hall began to shout "Justice! Justice!". The court adjourned for the day. On the following morning sixty-two Commissioners met in the Painted Chamber of the Old Palace of Westminster near to Westminster Hall. They agreed that the King should not be permitted to challenge the authority of the Court. If he would not plead to the charge of treason he would be treated as though he had pleaded guilty 20 . On the reassembly of the Court, it declared, through Bradshaw, that its members were "fully satisfied with their own authority". But the King then appealed not to his rights as monarch but to his entitlements as an Englishman 21 : "Sir, by...
