--Clarendon Papers, iii. 75, 79, 98.]
[Sidenote: A.D. 1653. June 15.]
of his publications, contributed to irritate members. They refused to
interfere; and he was arraigned[a] at the sessions, where, instead of
pleading, he kept his prosecutors at bay during five successive days,
appealing to Magna Charta and the rights of Englishmen, producing
exceptions against the indictment, and demanding his oyer, or the
specification of the act for his banishment, of the judgment on which the
act was founded, and of the charge which led to that judgment. The court
was perplexed. They knew not how to refuse; for he claimed it as his right,
and necessary for his defence. On the other hand, they could not grant it,
because no record of the charge or judgment was known to exist.
After an adjournment[b] to the next sessions, two days were spent in
arguing the exceptions of the prisoner, and his right to the oyer. At
length, on a threat that the court would proceed to judgment, he pleaded[c]
not guilty. The trial lasted three days. His friends, to the amount of
several thousands, constantly attended; some hundreds of them were said to
be armed for the purpose of rescuing him, if he were condemned; and papers
were circulated that, if Lilburne perished, twenty thousand individuals
would perish with him.
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