Plot against the Lives of the King and the Duke and for subversion of the Government The end of this business was to have had a commotion for the accomplishing their great Conspiracy but Parturiunt Montes For after this Tragical Out-cry their own Witnesses only proved that Mr Brome the Coroner went to my Lord Mayor and told him that he had a Writ against him at the suite of Mr Papillon and another at the Suite of Mr Dubois and prayed him that he would please to give an appearance and that upon his refusing to do it his Lordship went in his own Coach to the Coroner's House Mr Serjeant Maynard then offered to the Jury That my Lord Mayor if he mistake in his Office and doth not that which belongs to him to do he is as much subject to the process of the Law as any private Citizen That the question they were to try was Whether Mr Papillon had probable Cause of Action against the Mayor That the Case was thus Vpon the contest about the choice of Sheriffs the Judges of the Election certifie to the Mayor and Aldermen that Mr Papillon had most Suffrages thereupon he conceived himself rightly chosen and that surely gave him a probable cause to proceed upon it and if so no doubt he might well take the course he did here is no Arrest without legal Process nay their own Witnesses say there was an offer to take an appearance without an Arrest but that being refused the process of the Law was executed He had no other course to take but to bring his Action against the Mayor This course he took here is a great deal of stir made that a Coroner of London should Arrest my Lord Mayor he might do it lawfully doth this prove that this was malitiously done Have they proved any particular discontent and malice that was between them No the quite contrary appears did he Violently Arrest him That he might do and no offence in Law no but he did it not but only desired from time to time that he would give an appearence that would have put a Conclusion to this dispute Besides the Sheriffs having made a return of Mr Papillon's Election to the Aldermen they being of another opinion gave order that those who thought themselves agrieved should take their remedy at Law which has been pursued in the regular course the Law prescribes Here is a great noise of Damage and Disrepute and Disgrace and the Plaintiff has been pleased to reckon his own Damages at 10000 l. We say he has sustained no Damage The very Court of Aldermen and the Lord Mayor bidding them take their course at Law We sure shall not be punished for doing it Mr Williams then insisted that the Plaintiff's Action must fall if they shewed that it was not Malitious and that Mr Papillon had a probable cause to bring his Action Mr Ward then observed to the Jury that Mr Papillon had been greatly reflected upon That by way of Crimination against him there was a most unjust reflection as if he were privy to an intended Insurrection and Conspiracy against the King's Life and procured the Mayor to be Arrested to promote an Insurrection That this was only insinuated for Reflection sake and not one word of any such thing proved He then added that the Case before them depended upon this point Whether Mr Papillon had a reasonable cause or probable ground to bring an Action against Sr William Pritchard If so all that was desired was only an Appearance but that would not be given That the Jury had been told of the great dangers in the Case as to the Infringment of the Peace c. but had Sr William Pritchard complyed with the reasonable and oft repeated request of ordering an Appearence the Peace of the Kingdom had been in no peril from such a design as this Arrest Here the Chief Justice told Mr Ward a Person never esteemed to come short of Sr George Jefferies in any thing but Insolence and Impudence That he had made a long Speech and nothing at all to the purpose and that he did not understand what he was about and that made him ramble in his Discourse and did then in a raving and most impetuous manner repeat his expression six or seven times that Mr Ward did not understand the Business Mr Brome the Coroner being called to give an account of the manner of his Arresting my Lord Mayor testified That he had a former Writ in Hillary Term and went to my Lord Mayor and desired him that he would appear to it but he said he would give no Appearance That he gave his Lordship a week or ten days to consider of it and then waited upon him at the Court of Aldermen and had his answer that he had considered of it and would give no appearance That a little before Easter Term the Attorney brought him another VVrit and threatned to complain to the Court of him for neglecting the Execution of two of the King's VVrits That thereupon he went again to my Lord and told him that the VVrit was renewed and he was pressed to make a return and desired that his Lordship would please to give an Appearance and that he told him that he was ready to submit to the King 's Writ but would not give an Appearance and thereupon the Officers named in the Warrant Arrested him by his Command Then Mr Crisp the common Serjeant aiming at Alderman Cornish falls to interrogating Mr Brome who were present at the meeting when the Arresting the Mayor was agreed upon he having named two or three the Common Serjeant further pressed him to name others and then the Chief Justice explained the Common Serjeant's meaning by demanding whether Mr Cornish was there Alderman Cornish and Mr Serjeant testified That Mr Papillon and Mr Duboiâ— being at the Alderman's House their At orney came to them and told them that he had addressed himself from time to time to my Lord Mayor to get him to give an Appearance but he would not and that thereupon they told him it was fit the matter should be brought to an Issue and ordered him to get an Appearance if he could and to remember that the Lord Mayor was the Chief Magistrate of the City and that he should carry it with all imaginable respect and regard to him Here the Chief Justice and Attorney General made long and extravagant excursions running upon Alderman Cornish with abundance of Questions wholly foreign to the matter in Question and Jefferies told him that he had as much cause as any Man to remember the manner of his own being chosen Sheriff for several reasons that he knew A plâ—… Indication of what he designed against this honest Gentleman And then his Lordship added that he only asked things by the by to satisfie the World what sort of Men these are that pretend to Saintship and with his wonted blustering Impudence said Do you think the Government will ever suffer it self to be
reproachful manner retorted No they are all of them no doubt of it very good People Good-Wife Mayo and her Companions excellent Protestants without all question Object 3. The Statute 27 Eliz. cap. 2. entituled An Act against Jesuits Priests and other such like disobedient Persons Which Act makes it Treason for any Jesuit or Ecclesiastick Person of the Romish Church to come into England And the Statute 3. Car. 1. Cap. 2. whereby it is enacted That in case any Person shall go into parts beyond the Seas and be resident or trained up in any Priory Abby or Popish University or School he shall be disabled to sue or to be an Executor or Administrator or capable of any Legacy or Deed of Gift or to bear any Office and shall forfeit his Goods and also his Lands for his Life Object 4. The Judgments of Papists in case of Conscience whereby they maintain the vilest Wickedness to be lawful for the Churches Service and they own They have Dispensations to swear Lyes for promoting the Catholick Cause Object 5. What was said and done in the Earl of Shaftsbury's Case at the Sessions in the Old-Bayly and Hickes-Hall It was there moved for Liberty to bring Indictments of Perjury against the Witnesses who accused him of Treason but those Motions were over-ruled because they would not have the King's Witnesses indicted of Perjury nor the Popish Plot called in question These Objections receiving no other answer from the Bench then that all was trifling and idle and being so huff'd off the Defendant proceeded to speak to this effect My Lord this I say The Evidence upon which I am indicted is the same which was delivered six Years ago at Whitebread 's and Langhorn 's Tryals where were sixteen Witnesses against me but what credit did they then receive Now if my Evidence was then to be believed though opposed by so many Witnesses what new objestion doth rise against it which was not then hinted and answered I do avow the Truth of the Popish Plot and will stand by it whilst I live I have called some Noble Lords to testifie for me but I find either the distance of time has wrought upon their Memories or the difference of the Season has changed their Opinion Was ever Man dealt with as I am or had such Evidence offered against him Who are the Witnesses to prove this Perjury but Youths out of a Seminary My Lord of Castlemaine and Sr George Wakeman known Papists As for Castlemaine all the World knows he was acquitted because there was but one Witness against him and that without any reflection by the Lord Chief Justice Scrogs upon my Testimony Then Wakeman swears all I said against him was false whereas had it not been for two dishonest Persons one of them meaning Graham I have now in my sight we could have proved 5000 l. of the Money paid to him and that he gave a Receipt for it But my Lord this I am sure of if I had been a VVitness against those who suffered in the late Fanatick Plot as 't was called I had never been called in question if my Evidence had been false but 't is apparent the Papists have now a turn to serve and these St Omers Youths are brought to falsify my Evidence and to bring off the Lords who stand impeached of high Treason for the Popish Conspiracy My Lord 't is not me they indict but the whole protestant Interest is aimed at in this Prosecution For my own part I care not what becomes of me the Truth will one time or another appear Then Mr Solicitor in a long Harangue gave great Reputation to the St Omers Witnesses and then told the Jury that the Defendants Witnesses were these four Cicely Mayo Butler Page and Walter the Parson and that he would first mention Page and Walter and set them out of the way Page says he remembers to have seen Otes in a disguise at Sr Richard Barker's but he is not certain as to the time and he cannot take upon him to say what time of the Year or what Year it was only he believes it was in May and therefore that can be no sufficient evidence to contradict Witnesses that with great particularity speak to certain times As for Walter he cannot remember the time when neither Nay the remembrance he has of it goes rather to another time then the time in question for being ask'd what circumstance he knew the time by he said it was about a year and a quarter before the Plot was discovered which must be in April or May 1677 and that will do the Doctor no service at all upon this question thus Mr Solicitor For tryal of this learned Gentleman's Sincerity I shall review the Evidence given by these two Persons that the Reader may make his Judgment how fairly they were set out of the way Page did indeed declare that he could not be positive to the Year or Month but that to the best of his remembrance 't was in the Year 1678 and in the beginning of May this was like an honest conscientious Witness but what he further testified did evidently shew the time to be in the beginning of May 1678. For besides his mentioning the Doctors coming in disguise according to the evidence of Mrs Mayo and Butler he declared that it was at the time when Sr Richard Barker was ill at Putney and that Sr Richard came to Town soon after and Mrs Mayo and Butler swore expresly that the time of the Doctors coming in disguise was when Sr Richard was sick at Putney and that that was in the end of April or beginning of May 1678. As to Mr Walter his evidence was that he met the Doctor in disguise and did upon that very day observe the Elm Trees budded forth so that by that token he thought it might be between Lady-day and the latter end of April and as to the Year that it was near a Year and Quarter before he was examined about this matter at the Tryal of the five Jesuits which was the 13th of June 1679 but Mr Solicitor to the end this Man's Testimony might not serve the Doctor as he himself worded it represents it quite otherwise and tells the Jury that Mr Walter said the time was about a year and a quarter before the Plot was discovered and so makes the time to be April or May 1677 though Mr Walter in speaking for himself being ask'd about the time of the discovery of the Plot said that he could not tell when the Plot was discovered or whether it be found out yet or no. Where is the Candor or Ingenuity of this proceeding Now comes the Scandal of the Law Jeffryes that mortal Enemy to the Liberties of England and all true English-men He foaming vomits a flood of Malice and Rage First he caresses Sr William Dodson and his Brethren of the Jury with the complement that to his knowledge they are Persons of great understanding and abilities and adds that
charged against them touching the Proceedings against Sr Thomas Armstrong Then Mrs Mathews Sr Thomas Armstrong's Daughter was called in and examined what she knew of the Prosecution against her Father And Sr Robert Sawyer then Attorney General being named by her as one of the Prosesecutors After she was with-drawn he was heard in his place to what was objected against him and then he withdrew and upon debate of the matter it was Resolved That Sr Robert Sawyer 's name be put into the Bill as one of the Prosecutors of Sr Thomas Armstrong Resolved That Sr Robert Sawyer be expelled the House for the same Saturday the 25th of January 1689. The House being acquainted that according to their Order Sr Francis Wâ—thens Sr Richard Holloway Mr Graham and Mr Burton attended at the Door thâ—y were severally called in and examined touching the Prosecution and Proceedings against Sr Thomas Armstrong And also the Executors of the late Lord Jeffryes that were attending at the Door were likewise called in and asked what hey had to say why Reparation should not be made out of the Lord Jeffryes Estate to the said Sr Thomas Armstrong's Family No Persons appearing as Executors to the late Justice Walcot the House was acquainted that he dyed Intestate and had not left an Estate sufficient to pay his Debts After the Persons before-mentioned were heard and with-drawn Mr Blaney was called in who gave the House an Account of the Proceedings in the Court of King's-Bench upon the Awarding Execution against Sr Thomas Armstrong And then the House proceeded upon the Amendments made by the Committee to the Bill for annulling the Attainder of Sr Thomas Armstrong And after having inserted the Name of Sr Robert Sawyer as a Prosecutor and resolved That the sum of five thousand Pounds should be paid by the Judges and Prosecutors to Sr Tho. Armstrong's Lady and Children as a Recompence of the Losses they had sustained by reason of his Attainder the Bill was recommitted upon the debate of the House to the same Committee Notes upon the Tryal between Sr William Pritchard Alderman of London and Thomas Papillon Esq. at Guildhall upon the 6th day of November 1684. before Sr George Jeffryes Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench THat Mr Papillon was second to none in his zealous and undaunted opposition to the wicked attempts of introducing Popery and Arbitrary Government is very well known and deserves to be for ever remembred with honour None out did him in a diligent and faithful discharge of his Trust in several Parliaments In the Year 1681 there appeared a Race of Men fond of Vassalage and Slavery to that degree that they made Addresses of Thanks to the King for breaking two Parliaments in the compass of three Months meerly upon the score of their steady Resolution to extirpate the Popish Plot and Popery One of these fawning Addresses with promise of venturing their Lives and Fortunes to maintain this Violation of the Constitution of the Government having been presented to the King by Sr William Pritchard Sr George Jefferies and others Mr Papillon in abhorrence of it promoted and personally prosecuted a Petition to the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council praying that the Thanks of the City might be returned to Sr Robert Clayton Sr Thomas Player Alderman Pilkington and Alderman Love their worthy and well deserving Representatives in the Oxford Parliament and shewing That as matters then stood the Papists being animated in their Bloody designs by the hopes of a Popish Successor a Declaration to have frequent Parliaments could not attribute to the safety of the Kingdom and the composing the minds of Protestants but that it must be the sitting of a Parliament so as to search the Plot to the bottom to Prosecute the Conspirators and provide suitable Laws against the impending Evils and that nothing else could be effectual Further This Gentleman having in the same year 1681. greatly added to his guilt by baffling the Popish designs upon the Lives Liberties and Estates of all Protestants in the attempt upon the Earl of Shaftesbury He exerts himself in the year 1682. in the defence of the great and undoubted Right of the Citizens to chuse their own Sheriffs but now arbitrary Power being by the aid of ill Men become rampant and uncontroulable he must be sacrificed to their Revenge Mr Papillon having been duly elected one of the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex he brought a Writ of Mandamus out of the Court of King's-Bench to command the Mayor Aldermen to swear him into the Office that being disobeyed he is advised by his Counsel that he is entitled to an Action at Law for the wrong done him he sends in a respectful way to the Mayor and Aldermen requesting them to give voluntary appearances to his Action that being refused he proceeds by a legal process to bring them to answer him at Law whereupon Sr William Pritchard being arrested by the Coroner of London to whom the King's Writ was directed and detained some hours upon his refusal to give an appearance to Mr Papillon's Action Sr William brings an Action against him for thus arresting him and demands 10000 l. damages wherein he committed a great over-sight for had he ask'd 100000 l. the usual damages given in that day he had not failed of it with the following Jury which tryed the Cause Bartholomew Ferryman an old Informer one of the Jury of the Guildhall Riot Thomas Blackmore One of Dr Otes's Jury and also of the Riot Jury Thomas Symonds William Whatton One of the Riot Jury John Greene Thomas Amy One of Sr S. Barnardiston's Jury Joseph Baggs Daniel Chandler John Reynolds John Allen. Joseph Caine and Will. Wythers junior Fathers own Son. Mr Mundy opened the Declaration to this effect That the Plantiff being Lord Mayor and to attend that Office in the diligent Government of the City The Defendant envying the happy Estate of the Plantiff and contriving unjustly to disturb him in the Execution of his Office did to vex him not having any probable Cause of Action against him maliciously prosecute the King 's Writ out of the Court of King's-Bench against him directed to the Coroner of London commanding him to take Sr William Pritchard at Mr Papillon 's suite in an Action of Trespass and did procure Mr John Brome The Coroner to arrest him and that he was detained in custody six hours To the disgrace and scandal of the Plantiff and of his Office Whereas in fact he had not any just Cause of Action against him to his damage 10000 l. Then the Attorney General told the Jury that the action was brought to vindicate the honour of the Chair from such Affronts as these which in no Age till our times of faction and confusion it ever met with and he said We shall shew you that there lay a further Malice in this case and that there was a design in it against the Government This design was laid to carry on the great
Evidence He further observed very pertinently that Whitebread and Fenwick were present and heard the whole of the Evidence given by him upon the Tryal of Ireland that they were Tryed six Months after and in that time might have provided Witnesses to falsifie his Evidence they knowing what it was He urged that his Case was hard his Testimony having been received with credit And the Jury upon convicting the Jesuites being told by the Court That they had found an unexceptionable Verdict That all the Objections against the Evidence were then fully answered that there was nothing that the Prisoners had been wanting in to object which could be objected and that the thing was as clear as the Sun And that yet after six years he must be called to an account for Perjury in that Testimony of part of the Popish Plot with which the King and Kingdom four successive Parliaments all the Judges of the Land and three Juries were so well satisfied He further observed the several attempts to baffle his Testimony viz the Murther of Sr Edmundberry Godfrey who took his first Depositions and the contrivance of Payne Farewell and Thompson to make Sr Edmund Felo de se Then he produced these Witnesses viz. Cicilia Mayo who swore that she saw Dr Otes at Sr Richard Barker's House in Barbican the latter end of April or the beginning of May 1678 and that he came again thither within a few days and was frequently there That she remembred the time by a particular circumstance viz. her Master Sr Richard Barker's being sick all the Month of April All imaginable art was employed by the Chief Justice and the King's Counsel to perplex and confound this and all other the Witnesses for the Defendant by impertinent and puzling cross questions but she honestly and very boldly stood to it telling Jefferies that her Evidence was the Truth and nothing but the Truth to which he in a scoffing taunting way replyed Ay no doubt of it thou swearest nothing but the Truth She further added that the Defendant came in a disguise in a white Hat and coloured Clothes and went to Sr Richard's Ladies Sister Madam Thorold now in Wales who said to him Mr Otes I hear you are turned Jesuite and We can have no Society with you now That a Servant of Sr Richard's one Benjamine Turbet since dead law him at those times and told her that he was turn'd Jesuite That he Dyned with Dr Cocket and Madam Thorold both now in Wales and with her two Sons since dead and two Daughters now in Lincolnshire at Sr Richard Barker's House three or four days after his first coming to the House in the latter end of April John Butler Servant to Sr Richard witnessed that Dr Otes came to his Masters in disguise in the beginning of May before the Plot broke out hereupon Jefferies demanded how he could be able to swear to the precise time and vexed him with repeated questions the demand of reasons for his remembring the month tho by the way no such question was put to any one of the twenty St Omers Witnesses to which Butler answered that he was called to witness it about six or seven Months afterwards at Ireland's Tryal that he remembred the time by the token that in May Sr Richard was sick at Putney whether he went the latter end of April and stayed a fortnight The Solicitor General endeavoured to confound this Witness with abundance of Questions very little to the purpose and Jeffryes with little reason called his Evidence a wild Story without Reason Upon which the Defendant said Truly my Lord I do not find you were so strict in the examination of the St Omers Witnesses or bore half so hard upon them as you do upon my Witnesses Mrs Mayo being again and again interrogated and thwarted with apparent design to confound her did declare that she did see Dr Otes in May 1678. and that she spoke nothing there but as in the presence of the Lord Upon which Jeffryes said We are all of us in the presence of the Lord always and she retorted And shall answer before him for all that we have done and said all of us the proudest and the greatest here Philip Page swore that he could not remember the precise time but that Dr. Otes came to Sr Richard Barker's in a disguise when Sr Richard was sick at Putney whereupon the Defendant did well observe that the St Omers men did swear through-stitch but that his honest Witnesses were cautious it being so long ago Mr W. Walter a Minister swore that he met Mr Otes between St Martins Lane and Leicester-Fields in a strange disguise and that he did then observe the Elm-Trees in Leicester Fields budded forth as big as Hazel-Nuts so that by that token he reckoned it was between Lady-day and the latter end of April and that it was near a Year and a Quarter before the time when he was examined about this matter at the Tryal of the five Jesuits which was the 13th of June 1679. The Attorney-General called these Canting Witnesses that beat about the Bush and spoke of Uncertainties Then the Defendant proceeded in his defence and offered these Objections to the Validity of the Evidence brought against him 1. That a Papist in a Cause of Religion is not to be received and believed as a good Witness and this case did surely require Witnesses above all possible Objections against their Testimony But. Here Judge Wythens interposed saying Is not a Papist as good a Witness as a Dissenter Which was answer'd by citing Bulstrode's Reports part 2. 155. viz. A Popish Recusant is not to be admitted a Witness between party and party which was also my Lord Cok's opinion Wythens replyed May a Presbyterian be a good Witness Mr Otes and Holloway who had help'd the Blood-hounds to murder Stephen Colledge said Or would Mr Colledge have been a good Witness Mr Otes Most certainly by the rules of Law the Testimonies of these Persons ought not to have been offered in this Case to delude the People And it may be well observed here as it was lately in relation to the Popish Witnesses about the Birth of the pretended Prince of Wales That the Civil Law so fully concurs with our Common Law in rejecting Enemies to be Witnesses in the Cause of their Enemy that it denyes credit to what they may testifie in the cause of their Enemy with their dying Breath after they have received the Encharist That is the general Conclusion of the Doctors of the Civil Law Inimicus etiamsi in Articulo mortis constitutus accipisset Encharistiam repellitur a Testimonio Causae sui Inimici Objection 2. To the Testimony of the St Omers Witnesses was their education bred up in a Seminary against Law. To which Jeffryes answered Every Man that is bred a Dissenter is bredup against Law. Whereupon the Defendant saying My Lord I have not offered any Dissenter as an Evidence for me Jeffryes in a
Mr Solicitor had shortened his Labour by the pains he had taken to sum up the Evidence to them which he concluded he had without doubt done with all faithfulness to his Master He then proceeds to blacken the Defendant with all the foul Language that Malice could suggest and tells his old Friends of the Jury whose acquaintance with him disposed them to credit him that the Popish Plot was a sham and that under the pretence thereof another black and bloody Conspiracy was carried on Then he magnifies the evidence against the Defendant both from the number of the St Omers Sparks no less then twenty but also their harmony and he affirms that against the credit of their Testimony there was no objection really made but only Impudence that the Defendant had produced but two positive Witnesses that they were likewise positive in their contradiction of one another that they swore according as their humour led them and not according to any remembrance they had of the thing and that he rather believed it because the third Witness Page gave an evidence contrary to both of them how notoriously false these malitious Suggestions are will evidently appear upon the perusal of what these three honest and plain-dealing Witnesses swore Then he comes to the Defendants fourth Witness Mr Walter and positively affirms that he says nothing to the matter for that it did plainly appear the time which he speaks of was about a year and a half before the five Jesuits Tryal which must be in 1677 before the Defendant went to St Omers Mr Solicitor told the Jury that Mr Walter spoke of a year and a quarter before the discovery of the Plot had that been true it had run it back to the year 1677 and to a time before the Doctor went to St Omers His Lordship makes Mr VValter to speak of about a year and a half before the Jesuits Tryal which runs it back to December 1677 and then the King 's celebrated Witnesses and Mr VValter are agreed but Mr Vvalter speaking for himself says the time was near a year and a quarter before the Tryal of the Jesuits which brings us to April 1678. Though the Chief Justice and Solicitor were not agreed in this matter yet they would not quarrel about it provided the understanding Jury would credit either of them against Mr Walter and so serve the turn they aimed at the baffling the credit of the Popish Plot and not allow this Witness to be serviceable to the Vindication of Dr Otes Upon the following day after this Tryal Dr Otes was tryed upon an Indictment for another supposed Perjury but that prosecution being of the Complexion with what is here presented I shall not trouble the Reader with any thing further upon this subject then to present him with the Names of the Jury viz. Sr Thomas Vernon Nicholas Charlton Esq Tho. Langham Esq Thomas Hartop Francis Griffith John Kent George Tory Ano. Hen. Loades Tory Also John Midgley John Pelling Thomas Short and George Peck The Juries having according to the direction of that Man of Blood Jeffryes brought in the Defendant guilty of both the Perjuries Comes the Abhorrer of Parliaments the tender-hearted good natured Protestant Judge VVythens to pronounce the Sentence This very Person Wythens being Counsel for Knox did declare openly in the Court of King's Bench that Dr Otes had served the Nation too well to be vilified in that Court. previous to it he tells the Defendant That no Christian 's Heart can think of the innocent Blood which was shed by his Oath without bleeding That every knowing Man believed and every honest Man grieved for it He proceeds God be thanked our Eyes are now opened You had not one Word to justifie your self from that great and heinous Perjury you were accused of transcendant Impudence The Judgment of the Court inter alia is You shall upon Wednesday next be VVhipt from Algate to Newgate Vpon Friday you shall be VVhipt from Newgate to Tyburn by the Hands of the common Hangman This I pronounce to be the Judgment of the Court upon you and I must tell you plainly If it had been in my power to have carried it further I should not have been unwilling to have given Judgment of Death upon you I shall sum up all with the sense of the present House of Commons upon this whole proceeding which take in this Vote Martis 11th die Junij 1689. Resolved That the Prosecution of Titus Otes upon two Indictments for Perjury in the Court of King's Bench was a design to stifle the Popish Plot and that the Verdicts given thereupon were corrupt and that the Judgments given thereupon were cruel and illegal Notes upon the Tryal of Nathaniel Reading Esq for attempting to stifle the King's Evidence as to the horrid Popish Plot upon Wednesday the 24th of April 1679. before the Lord Chief Justice North c. THe Conspirators against our Religion Laws and Liberties being struck with astonishment and the Imprisoned and Impeached Traytors with no small Terror at the most providential and happy accession of Captain William Bedloe's Testimony to the discovery made by Dr Otes of the hellish Popish Plot in which he had stood single much discouraged we do quickly find their thoughts at work how to remove this newly acquired Witness Their way of taking off Sr Edmundbury Godfrey having so highly dis-served their Cause that is not to be again practised therefore the resolution taken in the present case is to tamper with and buy off Captain Bedloe they pitched upon Mr Reading to carry on this Intrigue whose parts and principles did very well qualifie him for such an undertaking but Mr Bedloe being above the reach of very powerful Temptations he very honestly detected the villainous Attempts upon him and the Suborner was brought to Justice as follows The Indictment sets forth the Plot against the King the Government and the Protestant Religion and that Colman Ireland and Grove were tryed condemned and executed for the same That several Lords viz. the Earl of Powis Lord Viscount Stafford Lord Bellasis Lord Arundel of Wardour Lord Petre and also Sr Henry Titchbourn stand impeached of the said Treason That Reading well knowing these things and to obstruct and stifle them and to retard the prosecution of Justice against the Lord Powis Stafford Bellasis Petre and Sr Henry Titchbourn did on their part the 29th of March last solicit suborn and endeavour to perswade Mr VVilliam Bedlooe whom he knew to have given Information of those Treasons against the said Persons to lessen stifle and not to give in evidence the full truth against them and to give such evidence as he should direct and to that purpose did give him fifty six Guineas and promised him other great Rewards to the hindrance and suppression of Justice The Jury were these Sr John Cutler Thomas Cass Joshua Galliard Rains. Waterhouse Edw. Willford Mathew Bateman Tho. Henslow Walter Moil Thomas Earsby
Justice he hath endeavoured to take off the credit of our Witnesses and he would have you believe that he is a very good Protestant though he does the Papists work I think it a great piece of arrogance for him to take upon him the Title of a Protestant when he hath abused that title by such unsuitable Practices I cannot but reflect upon the condition of this Man whose onely hope is that you should now forget your selves and become as ill as he is But as that cannot be presumed so I shall not need to say any more to you After the making of very long Speeches to the Jury by Sr George Jeffryes and also by the Lord Chief Justice North to the same effect with the Solicitor's The Prisoner minded the Lord Chief Justice that he had omitted to mind the Jury of several material things evidenced for him but his Lordship answered That he had repeated to them as much as he could remember And so the Jury having been for a short time sent out and returning it being about three in the Morning they brought in the Prisoner Guilty The Lord Chief Justice North coming to pronounce Sentence said I think the Court were all very well satisfied with the Verdict and the Jury did according to Justice and Right I thought it was a Case that as you made your own defence small proof would serve the turn to make any one believe you Guilty and so he was sentenced to dye as a Traytor At the place of Execution upon the 31st of August 1681. he behaved himself with great Courage and Constancy and expressed himself to this effect He professed in the presence of the Living God That he was so far from being Guilty of those Treasons falsly sworn against him by the wretched and mercenary Men Dugdale Turbervile Smyth and Haynes that he never spoke so much as one single word of those Treasons to them or either of them or ever heard them spoke till sworn in the Court. He declared that Haynes had discovered to him that the Parliament was to be destroyed at Oxford and that Fitz. Gerald and his party had a design to murder the Earl of Shaftesbury and that they did endeavour to bring Macnamar over and said that then it would be well with them And they would not be long before they had Shaftesbury's Life That as for what Arms he and others had they were for their own defence in case the Papists should make any attempt by way of Massacre He took it upon his Death that he was never engaged in any manner of Plot or Conspiracy against the King the Laws or Government or knew of any except that of the Papists That if it had been true that he was to have seized the King he knew not of so much as one single Person that was or would have stood by him in that attempt That Masters was unjust in what he swore in omitting the material part of the discourse about the Parliament of 1640 for when Masters cursed them and the last Westminster-Parliament and charged the Parliament of 1640 with beginning the War and cutting off the King's Head he denyed both and told Masters that the Papists begun that War and that the death of the King was the fatal consequence of it That Sr William Jennings also did him wrong for his words were that he had lost the first Blood for the Parliament and wish'd it might be the last That he was reported to be a Papist but he declared he detested Popery and that he had lived and dyed a Protestant That Secretary Jenkins my Lord Killingworth and Mr Seymour when they committed him did interrogate him to many things that he should be privy to against the King Mr Sevmour saying that Colledge did know the Lord of Shaftesbury the Lord Howard and Mr Ferguson were also engaged but that he answered were it to save his Life he could not accuse a Man of them nor any other Person whatsoever That upon the 23d of August the Messenger who brought him the message of his Death told him he might save his Life if he would confess who was the Cause of his coming to Oxford and upon what account And that he answered him that he came voluntarily of himself rode his own Horse spent his own Money and neither was invited nor had dependency on any Person whatsoever and had only one Case of Pistols and a Sword and that had the Papists offered to have destroyed the Parliament as was sworn they would that he was there to have lived and dyed with them That when he had said this to the Messenger though the very truth he found it was not that he wanted and so left him with a Curse He concluded I dye by the Hands of the Enemies of the great God his Christ his Servants his Gospel my Country to which I willingly submit and earnestly pray mine may be the last Protestants Blood that murdering Church of Rome may shed in Christendom And that my Death may be a far greater Blow to their Bloody Cause than I either have or could have been by my Life The Lord God Almighty save England from Popery and Slavery bless the City of London and unite all good Protestants in the Nation Amen Amen Notes upon the Tryal of Nathaniel Thompson the Popish Printer William Paine Brother of the famous Nevil Paine and John Farwell upon the 20 th of June 1682. before the Lord Chief Justice Pemberton upon an Information for Writing and Publishing Libels importing that Sr Edmundbury Godfry Murdered himself THe Conspirators from the very first discovery resolved that the Popish Plot should be turned to a Presbyterian Plot pursuant thereto the credit of the Evidence especially from the time of the Dissolution of the Oxford-Parliament in the beginning of the year 1681. had been with matchless Impudence and Virulence traduced and run down by the scriblings of L'Estrange and of Heraclitus ridens and the Intelligences of this Thompson now before us so that by this time a multitude were infected with the poison of their Works and seduced into a belief that the Popish Plot was a Sham nothing but a thing raised by the Protestants against the Papists however it still remained upon them to wipe off the Blood of that Martyr the worthy Sr Edmundbury Godfry which was more then One Thousand Witnesses against them and now they judging matters to be ripened for it with effronted fore-Heads set to the Work as will appear by what follows The Information against these notorious Criminals Thompson Paine and Farwell was to this effect That they well knowing that Green Berry and Hill were Convicted Attainted and Exâ—…uted for the Murther of Sr Edmundbury Godfry and that Prance Bedloe Brown Curtis Skillarne and Cambridge were Witnesses for the King against them and that by the Coroners Inquest taken upon view of the Body it was found that he was Strangled and Choaked they to subvert and elude the due course of
still believe that Popery was breaking in upon the Nation and that those who advance it will stop at nothing and declared his sorrow that so many Protestants gave their helping hand to it But he declared his hope that God would preserve the Protestant Religion and the Nation though he feared it would fall under very great Tryals and sharp Sufferings That the bare-fac'd Prophaneness and Impiety in the Nation gave Reason to fear the worst things that could befal a People He prayed God to prevent it and give those who shewed concern for the publick good and appear'd hearty for the Protestant Religion Grace to live so that they might not cast a reproach on that which they endeavoured to advance which he declared had often given him many sad thoughts As to his condition he said he had no repining in his Heart at it and did freely forgive all the World particularly those concerned in taking away his Life and conjured his Friends to think of no Revenge but to submit to the holy will of God. He declared as to his appearing in the business of the Bill of Exclusion that he thought the Nation in such danger of Popery and that the expectation of a Popish Successor put the King's Life in such danger that he saw no way so effectual to secure both as that Bill and that he thought his earnestness in that matter had no small influence in his present Sufferings As to his conspiring to seize the Guards the Crime for which he was condemned and which was made a constructive Treason to take away the King's Life to bring it within the Statute of Edward 3. His Lordship gave this account That he never was at Shepherd's but once and that there was no undertaking then of securing or seizing the Guards nor none appointed to view or examine them Some discourse there was about the feasableness of it and he heard it several times by accident in general discourse elsewhere but never consented to it as fit to be done That the Duke of Monmouth exclaimed against it and his Lordship said that he ever observed in him an abhorrence of all base things He thanked God that his part was sincere and well meant he observed that it was inferred that he was acquainted with the Heats and ill Designs of some great Men and did not discover them but that that was but misprision of Treason at most and so he dyed innocent of the Crime he stood condemned for and hoped that no body would imagine that so mean a thought could enter into him as to go about to save his Life by accusing others The part that some had acted lately of that kind had not been such as to invite him to love Life at such a rate He declared that he could not but think the sentence upon him very hard for nothing was sworn against him whether true or false but discourses about making some stirs That by a strange fetch the story of seizing the Guards was construed a design of killing the King and so he was cast in that He prayed God not to lay it to the charge of the King's Counsel the Judges Sheriffs or Jury That for the Witnesses he pittied and wished them well and should not reckon up the particulars wherein they wronged him but had rather their own Consciences should do that to which and the mercies of God he left them His Lordship added that from the time of chusing Sheriffs he concluded that the heat in that matter would produce something of this kind and that he was not much surprized to find it fall upon himself and wished that his Blood might satiate some Peoples Revenge He wished those Gentlemen of the Law who have great readiness in speaking would make more Conscience in the use of it and not run Men down by strains and fetches and impose on easie and willing Juryes to the ruin of innocent Men for to kill by forms and subtilties of Law is the worst sort of Murder He further wished that the rage of hot Men and the partiality of Juries might be stop'd with his Blood and said he should offer it up with more joy if he thought he should be the last to suffer in such a way He then concluded thus The Will of the Lord be done into whose Hands I commend my Spirit and trust that thou O most merciful Father hast forgiven me all my Transgressions The Sins of my Youth and all the Errors of my past Life and that thou wilt not lay my secret Sins to my Charge but wilt graciously support me during that small part of my Life now before me and assist me in my last Moments and not leave me then to be disordered by Fear or any other Temptation but make the light of thy Countenance to shine upon me For thou art my Sun and my Shield And as thou supportest me by thy Grace so I hope thou wilt hereafter crown me with Glory and receive me into the Fellowship of Angels and Saints in that blessed Inheritance purchased for me by my most merciful Redeemer who is I trust at thy Right hand preparing a place for me Into whose Hands I commend my Spirit Notes upon the Tryal of the honourable Algernon Sidney Esq upon an Indictment for conspiring the Death of the King and intending to raise a Rebellion Before the Lord Chief Justice Jeffrys Justice Wythens Justice Holloway and Justice Walcot at the King's-Bench upon the one and twentieth of November 1683. THis honourable Person Colonel Sidney having been long Imprisoned in the Tower without any prosecution brought his Habeas Corpus for the obtaining his liberty upon which being brought to the King's-Bench upon the 7th of November the Atturney General upon the sudden clapt an Indictment of Treason upon him to which he was instantly compelled to plead Upon the 21st of November he was brought to Tryal and this Jury pack'd by Graham and Burton was sworn upon him viz. John Aunger Carpenter Richard White William Lyn Laur. Wood Adam Andrews Emery Arguise Josiah Clerk George Glisby Nicolas Baxter Horse Rider William Reeves William Grove Cheesmonger John Burt. The King's Counsel were Sr Ro. Sawyer Attorney General Mr Finch Solicitor General Mr North Mr Dolben and Mr Jones The Indictment opened by Mr Dolben was to this effect That the Prisoner with others conspired the death of the King and to levy War in the Kingdom and sent one Aaron Smyth into Scotland to excite some to come from thence and to consult upon assistance to carry on those designs And that the Prisoner to perswade the People that it was lawful to raise Rebellion did cause a seditious Libel to be written containing expressions That the power is originally in the People c. Note the Indictment did not charge the Prisoner with publishing the Papers which was ever till now done when Libels have been made Criminal but their proof in this case would not come up to publishing Then the Attorney