Evening star., 1949-01-29
'"S'#@ How Charles I Died ~
Execution Three Centuries Ago Reversed Direction
= of Political Thinking ~|

my DEATH who they are God knows, do not
desire to know. pray God forgive them. -
II have delivered my conscience. pray you
take the courses that are the best for the good
Of the kingdom and your salvation"
The bishop asked him to say something about
ais religion.
The king said: II thank you heartily my
lord, for I had almost forgotten 1t. In troth,
think my conscience in religion Is very we'll
known to the world, and therefore declare
before you all that die a Christian, according
to the profession of the Church Of England,
as I found it left me by my father"
He said to the executioner, II shall say but
very short prayers and when hold out my
hands" -
The account continues: "Then he called to
the bishop for his nightcap, and having put it
on, he said to the executioner, Does my hair
trouble you?' who desired him to put it all
under his cap which the king did accordingly.
Immediately STOPPING down he laid his head
upon the block. After little pause, the king
stretched both his hands, the executioner at
one blow severed his head from his body, and
held 1t up and showed it to the people saying,
Behold the head Of traitor!'
"At the instant when the blow was given,
there was a dismal universal groan among
the people; and as soon as the execution was
over one troop of horses marched Immediately
from Charing Cross to King street, and
another from King street to Charing Cross
on purpose to scatter and dispurse the
people"
In his declaration of conservativeness: that
he had kept unchanged the faith of his father,
the king was a predecessor of many whose
political heads were to roll up to the present
day.
Charles like his father had tried to keep
all the emoluments of the old dispensation
unaware of the danger of the evangelical
Professionalism in his church which rejected
the authority of tradition and went back to
that Of the Scriptures.
Milton wrote: First he (the king) pleads
that no law of God or man gives to subjects
any power of judfcation without or against
him" Milton then went to Noah, "the first
king" who decreed, "Whosoever sheddeth
mans blood, by man shall his blood be she'd"
Milton added, 1--WE find no exception"
He went on: ".And was that true which is
most false, that all kings are the Lords
anointed, it were yet absurd to think that
the anointment of God should be as it
were charm against laws and give them
privileges who punish others to sin them
selves unpunlshably."
And finally he came to his principle point
that: "A parliament is by all equity, and
right above king"
The restoration put the Stuarts back on
the throne but four decades after Charles
execution the dethroning Of James II was
easy. The covenant of fealty sealed by oaths
witnessed by God was broken. Men no
longer thought of authority as coming
down from God through king and baron,
1t went up from those who had power
whether they were in the aristocracy or trade.
This time, philosopher, John Locke, wrote
the justification for the convention that en-
throned William and Mary-monarchs created
from below. His idea of the ultimate SOW
ereignity of the people was restated almost
century later in Thomas Jefferson,s
Declaration of Independence. And even In
our time the scion of Birmingham ironmasters
who was the leader Of Parliament was able
In few conferences to dethrone the popular
King who wanted to marry the Baltimore
woman he loved. 7