STRAFFORD
IN HIS OWN DEFENSE[1]
(1641)
Born In 1593, died in 1641; served in Parliament as an opponent of the Royal policy from 1614 until 1629; raised to the Peerage in 1628; a Privy Councilor In 1629; Lord Deputy of Ireland In 1632; Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1640; Commander of the army against the Scotch in 1640; impeached by Parliament in 1641, and condemned by bill of attainder.
My Lords:—This day I stand before you charged with high treason. The burden of the charge is heavy, yet far the more so because it hath borrowed the authority of the House of Commons. If they were not interested I might expect a no less easy than I do a safe issue. But let neither my weakness plead my innocence nor their power my guilt. If your lordships will conceive of my defenses as they are in themselves, without reference to either party—and I shall endeavor so to present them—I hope to go hence as clearly justified by you as I now am in the testimony of a good conscience by myself.
My lords, I have all along, during this charge, watched to see that poisoned arrow of treason which some men would fain have feathered in
- ↑ Delivered, at his trial before the House of Lords on April 13, 1641, his execution taking place on May 12 of the same year. Sightly abridged.
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