Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-02-23


moners. Smeaton confessed and pleaded
guilty. The others denied the charge, but
were speedily convicted. Another COM
mission, though composed largely of the
same members, was convened to try the
queen aud her brother. Their own uncle,
the Duke of Norfolk, presided as Lord
High Steward, and there were associated
with him nearly all of the higher nobility
| of England to the number of twenty-six.
Here, too, notwithstanding their protesta-
tions Of innocence, tue accused were quick
ly found guilty of adultery aud incest, aud
condemned 10 death; the sentence OF the
queen being that she should be beheaded
or burned alive, at the kings option.
| Notwithstanding all these formalites Of
indictment, trial aud sentence, not parti-
Gle of the evidence (save indeed, the con-
fesson Of Snieaton) has come down TO mod
ern times. 1t is generally assumed that
there was none of any importance; that
Smeaton's confession was induced by the
hope of saving bis life, aud that Anne was
| a martyr TO the passions of the hckle king
But this view was combatled by many In
earlier times, and is even now not univer-
thony Froude, rejecting the conclusions of
Howe and others, argues strongly that
Anne Boleyn was guilty chiefly from the
character of tho tribunal that condemned
her. He thinks it far more probable that
the Queen, a woman of undoubted levity of
nature, whose marriage and previous rela-
tons with the King were surrounded by
such suspicious circumstances, should
have been guilty even OF the manifold trans
gressions and unnatural trusts laid 10 her
charge, rather than that the King, who, up
to that time, had not been thought especial
| ly cruel, should have deliberately sought TO
murder her, and should have found accom-
plces in all the chief robles aud judges OF
England, headed by her own uncle. He
considers that the six we're guilty, rather
than the thirty or forty.
But lie woefuly misunderstands human
nature If be supposes that the thirty or for
| ty deliberately made up their minds 10
| commit murder. 1t Is SO easy 10 believe
when one wants to believe. Doubtless there
was some evidence of lightness OF conduct.
Anne confessed as much-and the furious
King, mad with jealousy and eager TO mar
ry a new love, might easily convince HIM
self OF that guilt he was so anxious 10 have
established But the twenty-six noble
men OF the best blood Of England-coud
they be thus imposed upon7 Could they,
or would they, thus delude themselves?
Yes.
Undoubtedly, a verdict now by twenty
six English peers would be almost com.
plote proof ofany guilt, however noustrous,
even If we knew not word OF the evidence,
but it was very, very different in the days
| of Henry the Eighth. In earlier times The
powerof the King had been partially check
ed by the mobiles in late ones it has been
thoroughly sustained by the people. But
at that transition period, tue nobility had
been almost destroyed by The war of the
Roses, the people had moi risen from their
! ancient servile condition, and the King
was absolute master. From the time in
| question to the end Of IIenry's reign, the
| lives OF men and women were again and
again sacrificed to his caprices by Parlia-
mcnt and Judges, without evidence enough
TO convict man of petty larceny in mod
ern court. Not only that. the Parliament
again and again changed the religion OF the
country TO suit the whims OF the King, and
finally reached the depth Of servility by en-
acting that royal ordinances should have
all the force Of laws; thus laying all the
liberties of themselves and their country at
the foot of the sovereign. The verdict OF
such men in compliance with the Kings
wish is no guarantee of anything. The very
fact that the Duke of Norfolk was chosen
TO preside over the tIia of his nephew and
niece, and consented to condemn them 10
death for unnatural crime, shows the COM
plete absence OF humanity on the part of
the King and OF manly feeling in that Of The
Duke.
AS for Smeaton's confession, there were
maay ways of extorting such confessions
| by promise of life or threat of torture, and
plentiful proof that were often resorted to.
The horrib'e crime of incest, too, charged
against the Queen and Lord Roch fort, is SO
improbable as TO throw doubt over all the
other accusations. That crime has always
been extremely rare in England, especially
among the higher classes. There is hardly
a single proven case among them. Consid-
ering what offences were and were not COM
mon ia those classes at that time, it is far
more improbable that one English noble
man should have dishonored his sister than
that twenty-six English noblemen should
have committed murder to please the King.
The fact that the evidence was not made
public goes far TO show that there was none
of any consequence, for in the case of
Henry's fifth queen, Catharne Howard,
who was really guilty, the evidence was at
once published TO the country 10 justify her
death.
The chances are that Anne Bolsyn was
not guilty of the crimes laid TO her charge,
but her fame is far from clear She mar
ried the King while Catherine OF Aragon was
still his lawful spouse, and she was in turn
crowded from her throne by Jane SeyInour
who at least waited till her predecessor was
no longer Henry's wife.
Not content with Staying his victim, the
King was determined to annul their mar
rage and bastardize her child. Afler briei
hearing of counsel, Archbishop Cranmer,
who had pronounced the marriage valid
only three years before, now pronounced il
null with the prompt servility almost uni
versal in England at that day. The pretext
is unknown, but it is supposed TO have
been previous contract of marriage be.
tween Anne and Lord Percy. She is said
to have admitted il, but would probably
have admitted anything 10 save being
burned alive as the King had the power o.
ordering. 1t was on the 18th of May that
, Cranmer annulled the marriage. And on
the same day all the men accused of being
the Queens paramours were executed.
Forty-eight hours later, on the 10th day
of May, 1886, the first land with one excep-
ton the ouly) English Queen ever doomed