o those upon the
scaffold, he said, 'that it was the Parliament who had begun the war, and
not he; but he hoped they might be guiltless too, as ill instruments had
gone between them. In one respect,' he said, 'he suffered justly; and
that was because he had permitted an unjust sentence to be executed on
another.' In this he referred to the Earl of Strafford.

He was not at all afraid to die; but he was anxious to die easily. When
some one touched the axe while he was speaking, he broke off and called
out, 'Take heed of the axe! take heed of the axe!' He also said to
Colonel Hacker, 'Take care that they do not put me to pain.' He told the
executioner, 'I shall say but very short prayers, and then thrust out my
hands'--as the sign to strike.

He put his hair up, under a white satin cap which the bishop had carried,
and said, 'I have a good cause and a gracious God on my side.' The
bishop told him that he had but one stage more to travel in this weary
world, and that, though it was a turbulent and troublesome stage, it was
a short one, and would carry him a great way--all the way from earth to
Heaven. The King's last word, as he gave his cloak and the George--the
decoration from his breast--to the bishop, was, 'Remember!' He then
kneeled down, laid his head on the block, spread out his hands, and was
instantly killed. One universal groan broke from the crowd; and the
soldiers, who had sat on their horses and stood in their ranks immovable
as statues, were of a sudden all in motion, clearing the streets.

Thus, in the forty-ninth year of his age, falling at the same time of his
career as Strafford had fallen in his, perished Charles the First. With
all my sorrow for him, I cannot agree with him that he died 'the martyr
of the people;' for the people had been martyrs to him, and to his ideas
of a King's rights, long before. Indeed, I am afraid that he was but a
bad judge of martyrs; for he had called that infamous Duke of Buckingham
'the Martyr of his Sovereign.'

CHAPTER XXXIV--ENGLAND UNDER OLIVER CROMWELL

Before sunset on the memorable day on which King Charles the First was
executed, the House of Commons passed an act declaring it treason in any
one to proclaim the Prince of Wales--or anybody else--King of England.
Soon afterwards, it declared that the House of Lords was useless and
dangerous, and ought to be abolished; and directed that the late King's
statue should be taken down from the Royal E