And when it was demanded of him, before sentence, whether it were his hand that was subscribed to his confession, and whether he would stand to it; he made the following answer, which implies that the lords were the ones to determine his sentence.
"My lords, it is my act, my hand, my heart. _I beseech your lordships to be merciful to a broken reed._"--_1 Hargrave's State Trials_, 386-7.
The sentence against Charles the First, (1648,) after reciting the grounds of his condemnation, concludes in this form:
"For all which treasons and crimes, _this court doth adjudge_, that he, the said Charles Stuart, as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy to the good people of this nation, shall be put to death by the severing his head from his body."
"This sentence being read, the president (of the court) spake as followeth: 'This sentence now read and published, is the act, sentence, judgment and resolution of the whole court.'"--_1 Hargrave's State Trials_, 1037.
Unless it had been the received "_law of the land_" that those who tried a man should fix his sentence, it would have required an act of Parliament to fix the sentence of Charles, and his sentence would have been declared to be "_the sentence of the law_," instead of "_the act, sentence, judgment, and resolution of the court_."
But the report of the proceedings in "the trial of Thomas, Earl of Macclesfield, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, before the House of Lords, for high crimes and misdemeanors in the execution of his office," in 1725, is so full on this point, and shows so clearly that it rested wholly with the lords to fix the sentence, and that the assent of the king was wholly unnecessary, that I give the report somewhat at length.
_After being found guilty_, the earl addressed the _lords_, for a _mitigation of sentence_, as follows:
"'I am now to expect your lordships' judgment; and I hope that you will be pleased to consider that I have suffered no small matter already in the trial, in the expense I have been at, the fatigue, and what I have suffered otherways. * * I have paid back 10,800 pounds of the money already; I have lost my office; I have undergone the censure of both houses of Parliament, which is in itself a severe punishment,'" &c., &c.