Maliciously and Trayterously did send to the said Monsieur le Chese into Parts beyond the Seas there to be delivered to him And that the said Edward Coleman afterward viz. the first day of December in the seven and twentieth year of our said Sovereign Lord the King at the said Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did receive from the said Monsieur le Chese one Letter in Answer to one of the said Letters first mentioned and written by him the said Edward Coleman to the said Monsieur le Chese which said Letter in Answer as aforesaid Falsly Maliciously and Trayterously received the day and year aforesaid at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster aforesaid the said Edward Coleman did falsly trayterously and maliciously read over and Peruse And that the said Edward Coleman the Letter so as aforesaid by him in Answer to the said Letter received into his Custody and Possession the Day and Year last mentioned at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster aforesaid in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did Falsly Maliciously and Trayterously Detain Conceal and Keep By which Letter the said Monsieur le Chese the Day and Year last mentioned at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did signifie and promise to the said Edward Coleman to obtain for the said Edward Coleman and other false Traytors against our Sovereign Lord the King Aid Assistance and Adherence from the said French King and that the said Edward Coleman afterward Viz. the tenth day of December in the seven and twentieth year of the Reign of our said Sovereign Lord the King at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid his wicked Treasons and Traiterous Designs and Proposals as aforesaid did tell and declare to one Mounsieur Revigni Envoy extraordinary from the French King to our most Serene and Sovereign Lord King Charles c. in the County aforesaid residing and did falsly maliciously and trayterously move and excite the said Envoy extraordinary to partake in his Treason and the sooner to fulfil and compleat his Traiterous Designs and wicked imaginations and intentions the said Edward Coleman afterward Viz. the tenth day of December in the seven and twentieth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King Charles the Second of England c. aforesaid at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did advisedly maliciously deceitfully and traiterously compose and write three other Letters to be sent to one Sir William Throckmorton Kt. then a Subject of our said Soveraign Lord the King of this Kingdome of England and residing in France in parts beyond the Seas Viz. at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid to sollicite the said Monsieur Le Chese to procure and obtain of the said French King Aid Assistance and Adherance as aforesaid and the said Letters last mentioned afterward Viz. the day and year last named as aforesaid from the said Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did falsly and tâ—aiterously send and cause to be delivered to the said Sir VVilliam Throckmorton in France aforesaid against his true Allegiance and against the Peace of our Sovereign Lord the King that now is his Crown and Dignity and against the Form of the Statute in that Case made and Provided Court Upon this Indictment he hath been arraigned and hath pleaded thereunto not guilty and for his Tryal he puts himself upon God and his Country Which Country you are Your Charge is to enquire whether he be guilty of the High Treason whereof he stands indicted or not guilty If you find him guilty you are to enquire what Goods and Chattels Lands and Tenements he had at the time when the High Treason was committed or at any time since If you find him not guilty you are to say so and no more and hear your Evidence Cryer If any one will give Evidence on the behalf of our Soveraign Lord the King against Edward Coleman the Prisoner at the Bar let him come forth and he shall be heard for the Prisoner now stands at the Bar upon his Deliverance Mr. Recorder May it please you my Lord and you Gentlemen of the Jury Mr. Edward Coleman now the prisoner at the Bar stands indicted for High Treason and the Indictment sets forth that the said Edward Coleman indeavouring to subvert the Protestant Religion and to change and alter the same And likewise to stir up Rebellion and Sedition amongst the Kings Liege people and also to kill the King did on the 29th of September in the twenty seventh year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord the King at the Parish of St. Margarets VVestminster in this County compose and write two several Letters to one Mounsieur Le Chese that was then servant and Confessor to the French King and this was to procure the French Kings aid and assistance to him and other Traitors to alter the Religion practised and by Law established here in England to the Romish Superstition The Indictment sets forth likewise that on the same day he did write and compose two other Letters to the same Gentleman that was servant and Confessor to the said King to prevail with him to procure the French Kings assistance to alter the Religion in this Kingdome established to the Romish Religion The Indictment sets further forth that he caused these two Letters to be sent beyond the Seas And it also sets forth that on the tenth of December the same moneth he did receive a Letter from the Gentleman that was the Confessor in answer to one of the former Letters and in that Letter aid and assistance from the French King was promised and that he did traiterously conceal that Letter My Lord the Indictment sets out further that on the tenth day of the same moneth he did reveal his Treasons and traiterous Conspiracies to one Mounsieur Revigni who was Envoy from the French king to his Majesty of Great Britain And his Indictment declares he afterwards did write three Letters more to Sir VVilliam Throckmorton then residing in France to procure the French Kings assistance to the alteration of the Religion practised here in England Of these several Offences he stands hereindicted To this he hath pleaded not guilty If we prove these or either of them in the Indictment you ought to find him guilty Serj. Maynard May it please your Lordship and you Gentlemen of the Jury This is a Cause of great Concernment Gentlemen the Prisoner at the Bar stands indicted for no less than for an intention and endeavour to murther the King For an endeavour and attempt to change the Government of the Nation so well settled and instituted and to bring us all to ruin and slaughter of one another and for an endeavour to alter the Protestant Religion and to introduce instead of it the Romish Superstition and Popery This
at Mr. Francis Fisher's I was there at least twenty days L. Ch. Just Have you any more Witnesses Pris Ans None L. Ch. Just If you have a mind to say any thing more say what you can Pris I can say nothing more than what I have said Positively I say and upon my Salvation I never saw these Witnesses Oates but once and Bedlow never before Sir Francis Winnington his Majesty's Sollicitor General sums up the Evidence as followeth May it please Your Lordship and you Gentlemen of the Jury THE Cause before you I dare adventure to say is a Cause of as great a Nature and includes as great Crimes as ever came to this Bar. It is not a Cause of a particular Treason but ' t is a Treason that runs to the whole the King the Government and the Protestant Religion all are comprehended in it The defence the Prisoner has made is so very short and of so slight a Nature that I shall contract my self very much in what I had to say and only state to the Court and Jury the principal things I rely upon The first Crime laid in the Indictment is the design of killing and destroying the Royal Person of his Majesty The second the subverting of the Government and in doing that the destruction of the Protestant Religion And these Treasons have been punctually proved as well by two Witnesses as by Letters under Mr. Colemans own Hand whereby he corresponded with Monsieur Le Chese the French Kings Confessor as also by the Answers which were sent by Monsieur Le Chese to Mr. Coleman As to the Proofs made by the Witnesses the substance of them is this Mr. Oates swears that in April last Old Style and May New Style there was a General Consult or Meeting of the Jesuites at the White-Horse-Tavern in the Strand and afterwards they divided themselves into several Companies or Clubs and in those Consults they conspired the Death of the King and contrived how to effect it The manner of it was thus as Mr. Oates positively swears That Grove and Pickering were imployed to murther the King and their design was to Pistol him in St. James ' s Park Grove was to have Fifteen hundred Pounds in Money and Pickering being a Priest was to have Thirty thousand Masses which was computed to be of equal value to Fifteen hundred Pounds according to the usual price in the Church of Rome And this Conspiracy and Contrivance Mr. Coleman was privy to and did well approve of the same as Mr. Oates affirmeth upon his Oath So that here is a plain Treason proved upon the Prisoner by his assenting to the Fact to be done the Law not allowing any Accessaries in Treason And this in Law makes the Prisoner as guilty as any of the Assassinates who designed to kill the King with their own Hands If this design should fail Mr. Oates swears that the Conspirators intended a farther attempt upon the Royal Person of the King when be should be at Windsor and four Irish Assassinates were provided by Doctor Fogarty whose Names he would not tell and fourscore Guinneys were provided by Father Harcourt a Jesuit to maintain the Assassinates at Windsor till they should have effected their wicked design While the Conspiracy was thus in agitation Mr. Coleman the Prisoner went to visit Harcourt the Jesuit at his House in Town but finding him not at home and being informed that he was at Wild-house Mr. Coleman went thither and found him there and Mr. Coleman asking what Provision Harcourt had made for the Gentlemen at Windsor Harcourt replyed that there were fourscore Guinneys which then lay upon the Table which were to be sent to them and said that the Person who was in the Room was to carry them To which Mr. Coleman replyed he liked it very well and gave a Guinney out of his own Pocket to the Messenger who was to carry the Money to Windsor to encourage him to expedite the Business But in case the design of killing his Majesty at Windsor should be any ways prevented then there was a further Conspiracy to destroy the King by Poison Mr. Oates swears that in July last Ashby a Jesuit brought instructions to London from Flanders that in case Pickering and Grove could not kill the King at London nor the four Irish Assassinates at Windsor then Ten thousand Pounds was to be proposed to Sir George Wakeman to poyson the King But it did appear by the Letters that passed between White the Provincial here in London and Ashby that Mr. Coleman said he thought ten thousand Pounds was too little and therefore thought it necessary to offer five thousand Pounds more which afterwards was assented to by the Jesuites abroad And Mr. Oates swears he saw Letters from the Provincial at London to the Jesuites at St. Omer signifying that Sir George Wakeman had accepted of the Proposition and received five thousand Pounds of the Money By which Testimony of Mr. Oates it plainly appears that Mr. Coleman the Prisoner at the Bar was privy to the Conspiracy and aiding and abetting to the wicked and damnable design of murdering the King The second Witness is Mr. Bedlow who swears that he was imployed by Harcourt the Jesuit to carry Pacquets of Letters to Monsieur Le Chese the French Kings Confessor and further says he was at a Consult in France where the Plot was discoursed on for killing the King and did bring back an answer from Le Chese to Harcourt in London and swears particularly that on the 24th or 25th of May 1677. he was at Colemans House with Father Harcourt and some other Persons where Mr. Coleman discoursing of the great design in hand said these Words following That if he had a Sea of Blood and an hundred Lives he would lose them all to carry on the design and if to effect this it were necessary to destroy an hundred Heretick Kings he would do it So that here is another positive Oath to an Act of Treason committed by Mr. Coleman in relation to the murthering the King The other part of the Evidence consists of Papers and Letters which generally relate to prove the latter part of the Indictment to wit The Extirpation of the Protestant Religion and introducing of Popery and the subverting of the Government And this appears by a Letter written by Mr. Coleman dated 29. Septem 75. and sent to Monsieur Le Chese the French Kings Confessor wherein he gives him an account of the Transactions of several years before and of the Correspondence between Mr. Coleman and Monsieur Ferrier Predecessor to Le Chese wherein he does also assert that the true way to carry on the Interest of France and the promoting of the Popish Religion here in England was to get this Parliament dissolved which says he had been long since effected if three hundred thousand Pounds could have been obtained from the French King and that things yet were in such a posture that if he had
Popish and extirpate the Protestant Religion I doubt not but this Design in some measure hath been contriving ever since the Reformation by the Jesuits or some of their Emissaries but hath often received interruption so that they have proceeded sometimes more coldly sometimes more hotly And I do think at no time since the Reformation that ever this Design was carried on with greater industry nor with fairer hopes of success than for these last years My Lord You will hear from our Witnesses that the first Onset which was to be made upon us was by whole Troops of Jesuits and Priests who were sent hither from the Seminaries abroad where they had been trained up in all the subtilty and skill that was fit to work upon the People My Lord you will hear how active they have been and what insinuations they used for the perverting of particular persons After some time spent in such attempts they quickly grew weary of that course though they got some Proselytes they were but few Some Bodies in whom there was a predisposition of humors were infected but their Numbers were not great They at last resolve to take a more expeditious way for in truth my Lord they could not far prevail by the former And I wish with all my heart that the Bodies of Protestants may be as much out of danger of the violence of their hands as their Understandings will be of the force of their Arguments But my Lord when this way would not take they began then to consider they must throw at all at once No doubt but they would have been glad that the People of England had had but one Neck but they knew the People of England had but one Head and therefore they were resolved to strike at that My Lord you will find that there was a Summons of the principal Jesuits of the most able Head-pieces who were to meet in April or May last to consult of very great things of a most Diabolical Nature no less than how to take away the life of the King our Sovereign My Lord you will find as is usually practised in such horrid Conspiracies to make all secure that there was an Oath of Secresie taken and that upon the Sacrament You will find Agreements made that this most wicked and horrible Design should be attempted You will find two Villains were found among them who undertook to do this execrable work and you will hear of the rewards they were to have Money in case they did succeed and Masses good store in case they perished so that their Bodies were provided for in case they survived and their Souls if they died My Lord What was the reason they did not effect their Design but either that these Villains wanted opportunity or their hearts failed them when they came to put in execution this wicked Design or perhaps which is most probable it was the Providence of God which over-rul'd them that this bloody Design did not take its effect But these Gentlemen were not content with one Essay they quickly thought of another and there were four Irish-men prepared men of very mean Fortunes and desperate conditions and they were to make the attempt no longer since than when the King was last at Windsor My Lord I perceive by the Proofs that these last Assassinates went down thither but it came to pass for some of the Reasons aforesaid that that Attempt failed likewise My Lord These Gentlemen those wise Heads who had met here in Consultation did then and long before consider with themselves that so great a Cause as this was not to be put upon the hazard of some few hands they therefore prepared Forces Aids and Assistances both at home and abroad to second this wicked Design if it had succeeded as to the Person of the King and if that fail'd then by their Foreign and Domestick Aids and Assistances to begin and accomplish the whole Work of subverting our Government and Religion And here we must needs confess as to the former part of this Plot which we have mentioned I mean the attempt upon the Kings Person Mr. Coleman was not the Contriver nor to be the Executioner But yet your Lordship knows in all Treasons there is no Accessory but every man is a Principal And thus much we have against him even as to this part of the Design which will involve him in the whole guilt of it that Mr. Coleman consented to it though his hand were not to do it Mr. Coleman encouraged a Messenger to carry Money down as a Reward of these Murtherers that were at Windsor of this we have proof against him which is sufficient My Lord Mr. Coleman as a man of greater abilities is reserved for greater Employments and such wherein I confess all his Abilities were little enough There were Negotiations to be made with Men abroad Money to be procured partly at home from Friends here and partly abroad from those that wish'd them well And in all these Negotiations Mr. Coleman had a mighty hand and you will perceive by and by what a great progress he made in them This Conspiracy went so far as you will hear it proved That there were General Officers named and appointed that should Command their new Catholick Army and many were Engaged if not Listed There were not onely in England but in Ireland likewise where Arms and all other Necessaries were provided and whither great Sums of Money were returned to serve upon occasion But one thing there is my Lord that comes nearest Mr. Coleman As there were Military Officers named so likewise the great Civil Places and Offices of the Kingdom were to be disposed of I will not nameto whom at this time more than what is pertinent to the present business This Gentleman such were his great Abilities the trust and reliance that his Party had upon him that no less an Office would serve his turn than that of Principal Secretary of State and he had a Commission that came to him from the Superiours of the Jesuits to enable him to execute that great Office My Lord it seems strange that so great an Office should be conferred by no greater a man than the Superior of the Jesuits But if the Pope can depose Kings and dispose of Kingdoms no wonder if the Superior of the Jesuits can by a Power delegated from him make Secretaries It is not certain what the Date of this Commission was nor the very time when he received it but I believe he was so earnest and forward in this Plot that he began to execute his Office long before he had his Commission for it for I find by his Letters which are of a more early Date that he had proceeded so far as to treat with Father Ferrier who was the French Kings Confessor before he had actually received this Commission You will understand by the Letters which we shall produce what he had to do with him and what with the other Confessor that succeeded
Tichbourn told me that he had a Commission and he brought a Commission for Mr. Coleman and the rest of the Lords from the principal Jesuites at Rome by Order of the Pope Attorn Gen. A Commission for what Mr. Bedlow To be principal Secretary of State the Title of it I do not know because I did not see it but to be Principal Secretary of State that was the Effect Attorn Gen. I desire to know what discourse you had with Mr. Coleman about that design Mr. Bedlow If your Lordship please I shall be short in the Narrative L. Ch. Just Make use of your Notes to help your memory but let not your testimony be merely to read them Mr. Bedlow I carried over to Monsieur Le Chese the French Kings Confessor a large packet of Letters April 75 from Mr. Coleman which Letters I saw Mr. Coleman deliver to Father Harcourt at his House in Dukes-Street Council And Harcourt gave them to you Mr. Bedlow Yes which Letters were directed to be delivered to Monsieur le Chese and I did carry them to le Chese and brought him an answer from le Chese and other English Monks at Paris I did not understand what was in it because it was a Language I do not well understand it was about carrying on the Plot at a Consultation there were present two French Abbots and several English Monks at Paris what I heard them say was about carrying on the Plot to subvert the Government of England to destroy the King and the Lords of the Council The King was principally to be destroyed and the Government subverted as well as the Protestant Religion Court When was this when you were to receive the Answer Mr. Bedlow It was upon the Consultation there was a Packet of Letters from Mr. Coleman they did not know I understood French or if they did they had tryed me so long I believe they would have trusted me L. Ch. Just The Letter that le Chese wrote to whom was it directed Mr. Bedlow It was directed to Mr. Coleman the Packet was directed to Harcourt and within that le Chese wrote an answer and directed it to Mr. Coleman particularly to Mr. Coleman L. Ch. Just How do you know Mr. Bedlow The Superscription was this in French A Monsieur Monsieur Coleman to Mr. Coleman with other Letters directed to Father Harcourt L. Ch. Just He saith plainly the Letter was yours You gave Harcourt a Packet of Letters to be delivered to le Chese Harcourt delivered them to him and he did carry them to le Chese and heard them talk about this Plot That le Chese wrote a Letter to you particularly by name inclosed in a Letter to Harcourt that answer he brought back Recorder Do you know any thing concerning any money Mr. Coleman said he had received the Sums and for what Mr. Bedlow It was to carry on the design to subvert the Government of England to free England from Damnation and Ignorance and free all Catholieks from hard Tyranny and Oppression of Hereticks Attorn Gener. What words did you hear Mr. Coleman express what he would do for the Catholick Cause Mr. Bedlow May 24 or 25 77 I was at Mr. Coleman's with Mr. Harcourt and received another Packet from Mr. Harcourt and he had it from Mr. Coleman L. Ch. Just You say Mr. Coleman did give this Packet to Harcourt Mr. Bedlow Yes and Harcourt delivered it to me to carry it to Paris to the English Monks I was to go by Doway to see if they were not gone to Paris before me L. Ch. Just And what did they say when you delivered the Letters to the English Monks Mr. Bedlow They told me how much reward I deserved from the Pope and the Church both here and in the world to come I overtook three and that night I went to Paris with them and upon the Consultation 1677 I believe they sent the Bishop of Tornes the substance of those Letters and not having a final answer what assistance the Catholick Party in England might expect from them they were resolved to neglect their design no longer than that Summer having all things ready to begin in England Recorder What did you hear Mr. Coleman say Mr. Bedlow That he would adventure any thing to bring in the Popish Religion After the Consultation I delivered the Letters to le Faire and he brought them to Harcourt he delivered the Packet of Letters to Harcourt who was not well but yet went and delivered them to Mr. Coleman and I went as far as Mr. Coleman's House but did not go in but stayed over the way but Harcourt went in and after he had spoke with Mr. Coleman he gave me a beck to come to him and I heard Mr. Coleman say if he had a hundred lives and a Sea of Blood to carry on the Cause he would spend it all to further the Cause of the Church of Rome and to establish the Church of Rome in England and if there was an hundred Heretical Kings to be deposed he would see them all destroyed L. Ch. Just Where was this Mr. Bedlow At his own House L. Ch. Just Where Mr. Bedlow Behind Westminster Abby L. Ch. Just In what Room Mr. Bedlow At the Foot of the Stair-case L. Ch. Just Where were you then Mr. Bedlow There I was called in by Harcourt and was as near to him as to my Lord Duras My Lord being hard by Mr. Bedlow in Court. Pris Did I ever see you in my life Mr. Bedlow You may ask that question but in the Stone-Gallery in Somerset-house when you came from a Consult where were great persons which I am not to name here that would make the bottom of your Plot tremble you saw me then Attorn Gener. We did before acquaint you with something of the substance of the Letters we shall now acquaint you with something of the manner of finding them Your Lordship hath heard Mr. Oats hath been examined before the Council and there it was said Mr. Coleman's Papers would make such a discovery if they were looked into as would be enough to hang him I remember he said the Lords of the Council were pleased to order the Papers to be seised the execution of their Warrant they committed to one Bradly who was a Messenger that attended the King and Council and I desire he may be called He did find and seise as many Papers as Mr. Coleman was pleased to leave and they are those Papers which we now bring before you The Papers seised he put up in a deal Box and four or five several Bags and brings them to the Council the Clerks of the Council are here attending the Court they will tell you these Papers now produced were Papers found in those bags Mr. Bradly will tell you the Papers seised in the bags and box were brought to them and they will swear they were the Papers and bags that were brought Record Mr. Bradly give my Lord and the Jury an account whether
Lodging in Vere-Street by Covent-Garden in a Trunck that came by the Carrier that will shew when they were sent L. Ch. Just If the Cause did turn upon that matter I would be well content to sit untill the Book was brought but I doubt the Cause will not stand upon that Foot but if that were the Case it would do you little good Observe what I say to the Jury My Lord Chief Justice his Speech to the Jury upon his summing up of the Evidence Gentlemen of the Jury My Care at this time shall be to contract this very long Evidence and to bring it within a short compass that you may have nothing before you to consider of as near as I can but what is really material to the Acquitting or Condemning of Mr. Coleman The things he is Accused of are of two sorts the one is to subvert the Protestant Religion and to introduce Popery the other was to destroy and kill the King The Evidence likewise was of two sorts The one by Letters of his own hand writing and the other by Witnesses Viva voce The former he seems to confess the other totally to deny For that he confesseth he does not seem to insist upon it that the Letters were not his he seems to admit they were And he rather makes his Defence by expounding what the meaning of these Letters were than by denying himself to be the Author I would have you take me right when I say he doth admit he doth not admit the Construction that the Kings Council here makes upon them but he admits that these Letters were his He admits it so far that he does not deny them So that you are to Examine what these Letters import in themselves and what Consequences are naturally to be deduced from them That which is plainly intended is to bring in the Roman Catholick and to subvert the Protestant Religion That which is by Consequence intended was the Killing the King as being the most likely means to introduce That which as 't is apparent by his Letters was designed to be brought in For the First part of the Evidence All his Great long Letter that he wrote was to give the present Confessor of the French King an Account of what had passed between him and his predecessor By which Agency you may see that Mr. Coleman was In with the former Confessor And when he comes to give an Account of the three years Transactions to this present Confessor and to begin a Correspondence with him About what is it Why the substance of the Heads of the long Letter comes to this It was to bring in the Catholick as he call'd it that is the Romish Catholick Religion and to establish that here and to advance an Interest for the French King be that Interest what it will It 's true his Letters do not express what sort of Interest neither will I determine but they say it was to promote the French Kings Interest which Mr. Coleman would expound in some such sort as may consist with the King of Englands and the Duke of York's Interest But this is certain it was to subvert our Religion as it is now by Law established This was the great end thereof it cannot be denyed To promote the Interest I say of the French King and to gain to himself a Pention as a reward of his service is the Contents of his First long Letter and one or two more concerning that Pention His last Letters expound more plainly what was meaâ—t by the French Kings Interest We are saith he about a great work no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms and the totall and utter subversion and subduing of that pestilent Heresie that is the Protestant Religion which hath reigned so long in this Northern part of the World and for the doing of which there never was such great hopes since our Queen Maries Days as at this time Now this plainly shews that our Religion was to be subverted Popery established and the three Kingdoms to be converted that is indeed to be brought to confusion For I say that when our Religion is to be subverted the Nation is to be subverted and destroyed that is most apparent For there could be no hope of subverting or destroying the Protestant Religion but by a Subversion not Conversion of the three Kingdoms How was it to be done otherwise Why I would have brought this Religion in says he by dissolving of the Parliament I would have brought it in by an Edict and Proclamation of Liberty of Conscience In these ways I would have brought it in Mr. Coleman knows it is not fit for him to own the introducing of his Religion by the Murder of the King or by a Forein Force The one was too black and the other too bloody to be owned And few people especially the English will be brought to save their Lives as he may do his by confession of so bloody and barbarous a thing as an intention to Kill the King or of Levying a War which though it be not a Particular is a General Murder I say it was not convenient for Mr. Coleman when he seemâ— to speak something for himself to give such an Account how he would have done it Therefore he tells us he would have done it by the dissolving of the Parliament and by Toleration of Religion Now I would very fain know of any man in the World whether this was not a very fine and artificial covering of his design for the Subversion of our Religion Pray how can any man think that the Dissolving of the Parliament could have such a mighty influence to that purpose It is true he might imagine it might in some sort contribute towards it Yet it is so doubtful that he himself mistrusts it For he is sometimes for the Dissolving of the Parliament and other times not as appears by his own papers For which we are not beholding to him so much as for any one more than what were found by accident and produced to the King and Council But in truth why should Mr. Coleman believe that another Parliament if this Parliament were Dissolved should comply with Popery That is to say That there should be great hopes of bringing in of Popery by a new Parliament Unless he can give me a good reason for this I shall hold it as insignificant and as unlikely to have that effect as his other way by a General Toleration And therefore next Upon what ground does he presume this I do assure you that man does not understand the inclinations of the English people or knows their Tempers that thinks if they were left to themselves and had their Liberty they would turn Papists It 's true there are some amongst us that have so little Wit as to turn Fanaticks but there is hardly any but have much more wit than to turn Papists These are therefore the Counterfeit pretentions of Mr. Coleman Now if not by these means In what way truly