Buckley’s Mix

On the Feast of Charles the Martyr

Posted January 31, 2009, 09:01 ET Comments Off

We remember today Charles I, who was led to the scaffold 360 years ago today, outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall. “He nothing common did or mean, Upon that memorable scene,” observed Marvell. In fact, we don’t really remember his death, except perhaps as a step in the triumph of Whig principles. But as the King’s last word was “Remember!”, we should stop to recall that his death signified something quite different, for the Commonwealth was but an interregnum; and should one look for the leading constitutional text of the time, the one which best defined the Constitution, one will find it not in the frenzied tracts of the Levellers but in the Declaration of Breda, issued by Charles’ son.

Category: Politics as mental Illness
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