order to suspend sentence. Some say the order came
too late; some say the Governor had it early enough and ignored it.
At all events Christian was shot. He protested that he had never been
anything but a faithful servant to the Derbys, and made a brave end.
The place of his execution was Hango Hill, a bleak, bare stretch of
land with the broad sea Under it. The soldiers wished to bind Christian.
"Trouble not yourselves for me," he said, "for I that dare face death
in whatever shape he comes, will not start at your fire and bullets."
He pinned a piece of white paper on his breast, and said: "Hit this, and
you do your own work and mine." Then he stretched forth his arms as a
signal, was shot through the heart, and fell. Such was the end of Brown
William. He may have been a traitor, but he was no coward.

When the chief actor in the tragedy had fallen, King Charles appeared,
as Fortinbras appears in "Hamlet," to make a review and a reckoning, and
to take the spoils. He ordered the Governor, the remaining Deemsters,
and three of the Keys to be brought before him, pronounced the execution
of Christian to be a violation of his general pardon, and imposed severe
penalties of fine and imprisonment. "The rest" in this drama has not
been "silence." One long clamour has followed. Christian's guilt has
been questioned, the legality of his trial has been disputed, the
validity of Charles's censure of the judges has been denied. The case
is a mass of tangle, as every case must be that stands between the two
stools of the Royal cause and the Commonwealth. But I shall make bold to
summarise the truth in a very few words:

First, that Christian was untrue to the house of Derby is as clear as
noonday. If he had been their loyal servant he could never have taken
office under the Parliament.

Second, though untrue to the Countess-Dowager, Christian could not be
guilty of treason to her, because she had ceased to be the sovereign
when her husband was executed. Fairfax was then the Lord of Man, and
Christian was guilty of no treason to him.

Third, whether true or untrue to the Countess-Dowager, the act of pardon
had nothing on earth to do with Christian, who was not charged with
treason to King Charles, but to the Manx reigning family. The Isle of
Man was not a dominion of England, and if Charles's order had arrived
before Christian's execution, the Governor, Keys, and Deemster would
have been fully justified in shooting the man in defi