Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

was sent to Holmby House, where Charles was
confined, to demand the surrender of the king, and
he showed such good authority -- an armed force,
namely -- that Charles was immediately given up.
Colonel Pride was next sent to the House of
Commons, and taking his stand at the door, with a
regiment of soldiers, he admitted only such as
could be relied on with reference to the measures in
prospect. The numbers to which Parliament was
reduced by "Colonel Pride's purge," as it was
called, did not exceed fifty or sixty, and these were
mostly Independents. This body, termed the Rump
Parliament, voted that no further application should
be made to the king; and soon thereafter drew up
an ordinance for attainting Charles Stuart of high
treason. They appointed commissioners to form a
High Court of Justice, and Charles, upon being
brought before this tribunal, and declining its
jurisdiction, was condemned as a traitor, and
sentenced to be beheaded. The scaffold was erected
in front of Whitehall, on the 30th of January, 1649.
An immense crowd filled the spacious street before
the palace, and all the avenues leading to it, on
which shotted cannon were turned, that no tumult
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