battle at Naseby in Northamptonshire. This battle really ended the war, for Charles now fled to Wales, and thence to the Scotch army at Newark, where he hoped to be kindly treated. Parliament would have allowed the king to come back had he been willing to surrender the command of the army for twenty years, and to accept Presbyterianism as the form of religion in England. But Charles would not consent, so the Scotch gave him up to Parliament in return for the payment of £400,000 due them as expenses.
15. Trial and Execution of Charles I.—When Charles came back he was well treated, and might have been restored to the throne had he acted with sincerity towards Parliament and the army. He thought that they could not get along without him, and hoped by taking advantage of the quarrels between the officers and Parliament to recover all his lost authority. In consequence of one of these quarrels, the army seized the king, and offered to put him back on the throne, on much more reasonable terms than had been offered by Parliament. Charles pretended to treat with the officers, but at the same time was stirring up another civil war, hoping through the aid of the Scotch and Irish, to be able to make his own terms. Suddenly he escaped from the army and made his way to the Isle of Wight, where he was captured and imprisoned. Several risings took place in his favor, but they were soon crushed. Then the army sternly resolved that it would bring ‘‘Charles Stuart, that man of blood” to account for all the misery he had brought on the land. Parliament was purged of the members who would not consent to bring the king to trial; and then a tribunal of sixty-three men was formed, with Bradshaw a famous lawyer at its head, to solemnly impeach the king. Before this stern court, Charles was brought, and called to answer to charges of treason and murder. In these last trying moments Charles maintained all the dignity of a king, and refused to defend himself before judges having no legal authority. Nevertheless the trial went on, and having heard the evidence, the court condemned the king to die. Nine days later, on a scaffold outside a window of Whitehall Palace. Charles Stuart, calmly and bravely laid his head on the fatal block, Jan. 30, 1649.
