English with the French like the Disasters that happen to Men by being in ill Company In the mean time the hopes of the Spanish and Smirna Fleet being vanished the slender Allowance from the French not sufficing to defray farther Charges and the ordinary Revenue of His Majesty with all the former Aids being in less than one years time exhausted the Parliament with the King 's most gracious leave was permitted to sit again at the time appointed At what time at the King 's and the Lord Keeper's usual daubing way the War was first communicated to them and the Causes the Necessity the Danger so well painted out that upon the King 's earnest Suit the Commons though in a War begun without their Advice readily Voted the Royal Mumper no less than One million two hundred and fifty thousand Pounds though they would not say it was for the War but for the King 's extraordinary Occasions Nevertheless it was but yet a Vote to Embryo and therefore now beginning in grow more sensible of the true Causes of the Quarrel they prepared an Act before they let the Money-Bill slip out of their Hands by which the Papists were obliged to pass through a new State Purgatory if they intended to be capable of any Publick Employment The Declaration also of Indulgence was questioned which tho His Majesty had out of his Princely and Gracious Inclinations to Popery and the Memory of some former Obligations granted for the sake of the Papists yet greedy after the Coin he was pleased to cancel at the humble request as he pretended of the Parliament and declared it should be no President for the future After which compelled by his want of a fresh Supply he passed the Bill concerning the Papists in exchange for the Money and then the Parliament growing uneasie they were again sent a Grazing for a good while The King hoping when he had the management of the Cash to frustrate the Effect of the Act which he had passed against his good Friends the Roman Catholicks And now the King having got the Money in his Hands a new Project was set on foot to set up an Army in England for the introducing of Slavery and Popery under pretence of Landing in Holland Which was raised with all the Expedition imaginable over which as Colonel Fitzgerald an Irish Papist was made Major General so were the greatest number of the Captains and other Officers of the same Stamp And because that pretence was soon blown over it was afterward still continued on foot under the more plausible Colour of a War with France But after all these cunning Contrivances to alter the Religion and Government of the Nation the King being disappointed in all his Projects and finding that the Parliament grown more sensible of his abstruse designs and alarum'd at his extraordinary new Militia both Burthensom and unnecessary for any other Employment but the support of Arbitrary Power would give him no more Money but began to call his Ministers in question was forc'd to make a Peace with the Dutch and disband the Army to his great regret However what he could not do at hope he resolved to do abroad and therefore the English Scotch and Irish Regiments that were already in the French Service were not only kept up in their full Complement but new numbers of Soldiers were daily transported thither to make up in all a constant Body of Ten thousand Men. Which was done on purpose that he might have an Army train'd up under the French Discipline and Principles ready seasoned to be call'd back into England for the Execution of any opportune Enterprize upon his Protestant Subjects Thus far we have seen the King's inveterate Malice to his Neighbours and Allies the Dutch meerly upon the account of their being Protestants and Protectors of the Protestant Religion and his pernicious Conjunction with the French King to their utter Destruction and Desolation A continued Series of Treachery and Faith-breaking which only that Romish Principle That there is no Faith to be kept with Hereticks could have infused into his Breast Now let us take a short view of his Carriage from the beginning of his Restoration to the French King the Mortal Enemy of his Subjects and the Religion which they profess It is well known in general how much the Extraordinary Kindness of Charles the Second to Lewis the Fourteenth has contributed to that vast increase of Shipping and Experience in the Art of Navigation to which they are now arrived which no Prince in the World that might have been so strong at Sea as his Majesty might have been with half the Expence which he squander'd away to ruin the nation had he been sensible in the least of his own Grandure the welfare of his ow Subjects and the danger of having so potent a Rival for the Dominion of the Sea which God and Nature seemed to have appropriated to himself We have been told of brisk Messenger sent to the French Kings so soon as they did but lay the Carkass of a pitiful Flyboat upon the Stocks But such was the Complaisance of our Supine Monarch that he not only connived at the industrious Preparations of the French King but lent him his helping Hand to make him Master of his own Rights When they had none of their own he sent Vice-Admirals and other considerable Sea-Officers to encourage and promote the setting out of their Fleets He pitied their want of Experience in Sea Affairs and out of Compassion and Brotherly Love lead their rare Sea-men by the Hand train'd them up in his Fleets and among the best of his Sea-men taught them the Skill which they had been forcod to toyl for by the Experience of many Ages and to crown all even to fight for them and to interpose between them and Danger with so good Success that the French Squadron as if the Engagement had been only designed for a Diversion and Entertainment to them came off as fresh and as whole as when they first sailed out of their own Ports was such an unparallell'd Kindness that nothing but the extraordinary hopes the King had placed in him of being his great Assistant for the compassing of his pernicious designs upon his own Subjects could have made him condescend to But to come to Particulars It was a strange Demonstration of the King of England's kindness to the French Interest though to the unspeakable Detriment of his own People that after all those Expressions in the Lord Keeper Bridgman's Speech of the Treaty between France and the King of England concerning Commerce wherein the King would have as he said such a singular regard to the Honour and Trade of this Nation notwithstanding the intolerable Oppression upon the English Traffick in France ever since the King's Restoration he had not in all that time made one step toward a Treaty of Commerce or Navigation with him no not even at that time when the English were so necessary to him that he
yet there was another quickly hatch'd of the same stamp and nature though carried on by other Instruments Nell Wall an Irish Papist and a Wench formerly employed only to empty Close-stools at White-Hall but afterwards for her Religion advanced to be one of the French Dutchesses Women and so to the King's Favour by which she became a great States-Woman as well as a common Whore To this Woman a great part of the Popish Secrets were discovered and by her means Fitz-Harris was first introduced to the Dutchess and then to the King where he was told That the Plot would undo them unless a way could be found to make a Counter-plot therefore he was bid to try all ways to effect it for that no Cost should be spared but such Rewards should be given as were fit for so great a Service Draw Painter here England's pious Protestant Monarch Counter-plotting with his Popish Concubine and her Close-stool Wench against his Parliament and Kingdom in favour of those that sought the destruction of both The business of this Irish Tool was to find out Seditious Lampoons and Pamphlets and carry them to White-Hall where he had Audience and private Conferences with Nell Wall the Dutchess and the King himself and where he had sometimes given for secret service a Hundred and Two Hundred Pound at a time and was no less slabber'd by his Gracious Soveraign than Dangerfield had been before So zealous were We for the Popish Cause that rather than miss of the Designs of enslaving the Nation by Arbitrary Government and Popery that We would have declar'd our selves even to have kiss'd the Tail as well as the Cheeks of the most Contemptible Creatures in the World Nor must it be omitted as an Argument of His Majesty's great Zeal for the Protestant Religion That when one Sergeant a Priest made a discovery of the Popish Plot from Holland which he caus'd to be transmitted to the Court with an intention to have discovered several others he was first brib'd off by Pillory-Carr then sent for into England slightly and slily examined had his Pardon given him and sent back with Five Pound a week to say no more And in this game that we may understand by whose Countenancing the thing was done Sir L. Ienkins shewed the utmost of his Parts and Fidelity being just enter'd Secretary in the room of another who did not care to venture so far as that both Fool as well as Knave did Among whose good Services to his Master we may reckon his endeavours as much as lay in his Power to conceal the Murther of the Priest at Abbeville in France upon intimation that he was coming into England to make a farther discovery of the Plot Which together with his fasting and other infallible tokens shewed him to be plainly what was well enough known before Father Goff's Creature as well as the King 's and Duke's Nor was it a thing less astonishing to the Nation to see the Parliament prorogued from time to time no less than seven times before permitted to sit on purpose to get time for the Popish Duke to settle the Protestant Religion in Scotland and to the end the Conspirators might get heart and footing again and retrieve their Losses in England and in this Interval it was that Messengers were sent to their Friends at Rome and others their Associates for Money to strike while the Iron was hot in regard that Scotland by this time was secur'd and all things in such a forwardness that now or never was the time but the Pope had such an ill opinion of our Soveraign's Fidelity that he slipt his neck out of the Collar and in imitation of him the rest excused themselves upon the score of their poverty Thus missing money from Rome and the rest of their Popish Associates and the King of France refusing to part with any more Cash there was no way but one at a forc'd-put which was to let the Parliament sit and to make them the more willing to give money to undo the Nation the King in a framed Speech told them of the wonderful Advantageous Alliances for the Kingdoms good he had made with Foreign Princes and particularly with Hâ—lland and how necessary it was to preservâ— Tangier which had already run him in Debt Upon which Considerations the Burden of his Song was More Money But the Parliament Incensed at the frequent Prorogations fell upon Considerations more profitable for the Kingdom such as were the bringing to Condign punishment the Obstructers of their Sitting the Impeaching of North for Drawing the Proclamation against Petitioning and three of the Judges for dismissing the Grand Jury before whom the Duke was Indicted of Recusâ—ncy before they could make their presentments the prosecution of the Popish-Plot and the Examination of the Meal-Tub-Sham all which they lookt upon to be of greater moment than the King's Arguments for his wants For it was well known that by His perâ—idious Dealings abroad he had so impaired his Credit with all the Foreign Princes to whom he sent that they slighted his Applications as one upon whose Word they could never Rely And as for the preservation of Tangier there was nothing less in his Thoughts A fine Credit for a Prince and an excellent Character to recommend him to Posterity that he had no other than his own Sinister ends upon the Grand Council of his Kingdom nor no other way to work them to â—hose ends unless by forging untruths to make them accessary to the betraying of the â—eople that had entrusted them The Parliament therefore bent all their Cares to secure the Kingdom from Popery â—oncluding that the Dukes Apostâ—tizing from â—is Religion was the sole Evil under which â—he Nâ—â—â—ons in a more particular manner â—roaned and consequently that he was to 〈◊〉 Dismoâ—â—ted But the King being reâ—â—lved not to forsake his Brother whatever â—â—came of the Kingdom out of a proâ—ense â—alice to the Nation and â—oresight of the Miseries which his Brother's Government would bring upon the people rather than out of any natural Affection that he bore him took such a high Resentment against these honest and just proceedings of the Houses that after he had Sacrificed the Lord Stafford to his hopes of obtaining money upon the Dukes undertaking to furnish him he Dissolved this Parliament too with promise of another at Oxford to sweeten the bitter Pill which he had made the Nation to swallow In the mean time all the Care imaginable was taken to bring the Protestant-Plot to perfection preparative to which Judges were selected with Dispositions Thoughts and Minds as Scarlet as their Gowns And the Choice of Sheriffs was wrested by force from the people that they might pick out Juries without Conscience and Honesty A Plot contrived by Perfidiousness and Treachery beyond the parallel of History A Plot with Parisian Massacre in the Belly oâ— it designing no less an Innundation of Innocent Protestant Blood under the colour and forms of Justice and yet
sent for to be Examined at Whitehall where he managed himself with that Courage that though he were Brow-beaten and opposed most strenuously though there were many that studied by all the ways imaginable to dash and confound him yet it was impossible he stood as firm as a Rock and gave such pregnant Reasons for what he said that the Council how unwilling soever to meddle or stir in his behalf yet at last were constrained by the clearness of his Evidence to grant Warrants for the seizure of several Priests that Night who were taken and sent to Prison Upon this followed the Assassination and Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfry perpetrated by the Countenance and Connivance of the King as well a by the Contrivances and express Command of the Duke For proof of which a little opening of the Cause and Occasion and a short relation of the Effects Consequences and Events which enstied upon it will both enlighten us to the truth of the Matter and confirm our Belief who were the Authors of and Accessors to it For as has been already said that Gentleman had received an Information upon Oath from Dr. Oats about a Plot against our Laws Lives and Religion But finding somthing in the Deposition that reflected upon Mr. Coleman with whom he had an intimate Acquaintance he thereupon took an opportunity to let him understand what Information he had receeived and to tell him that the only way to justifie his own Innocency was to contribute all his Endeavours and Assistance to prevent so Bloody 〈◊〉 Design But Coleman instead of denying â—he Truth of those things which Sir Edmund related or offering his Endeavours â—o obstruct the Progress of it or to deâ—eat the Success of the Plot not only acâ—nowledged that there was a Conspiracy â—gainst our Laws Liberties and Religion but that it was advanced so far and seconded by Persons of that Quality in the Nation and Figure in the Government there was no possibility to give a Lett or Disappointment to it And more particularly he told him that the King was the Principal Author and Chief Promoter of the whole Design of overthrowing the Protestant Religion and altering the Government which Coleman calling to mind after his being committed to Newgate and considering that by that means Sir Edmond was enabled to come in a second Witness against him he therefore order'd it so as not only to get the Duke acquainted with his own danger but that His Highness and others whom he had mentioned in conversation with Sir Edmund were in the seme Predicament and would certainly be brought upon the Stage To which he received this Answer from the Duke That he should not be apprehensive of any danger from Sir Edmund in regard there would be a way found to prevent his hurting Coleman or any body else Now that he was thereupon most barbarously Murdered is a thing too well known and then by whose Authority it was done the Circumstances make it plain First the Circumstance of the Place as being committed in one of the Courts of the King's Palace in some of the Apartments of which the Murther'd Body was also concealed for several days The next circumstanâ—e was the guarding of the Gate and Avenues of the Palace so strictly all the time and denying the People their wonted Liberty of access to the House and passage through which could not have been done but by the King's Authority Nor would the Dutchess of Portsmouth and somebody of the same Sex greater than She have adventured to have gone and viewed the Body while it lay there concealed by which they involved themselves in the Guilt of the Crime but that they knew they could not be called to an Account for it considering by whose Connivance and Command the Fact was committed Nor was it a less Argument that the King was privy to the Fact That he protected from Justice both the Duke and others which were charged with that Murther Than which nothing more than the doing of it with his own hands could lay him under the Reproach and Inâ—amy of it before Men and under the dreadful Guilt of it before God Add to this That when we consider the Motives that urged the necessity of this Murther which was Coleman's having acknowledg'd to Sir Edmund that the King as well as the Duke was in the Conspiracy to alter the Government and overturn our Religion it would be nonsense to believe the King less willing to have him destroy'd than his Brother Since no Body at that time was so sorry for the detection of that part of the Plot as the King neither did any body labour afterwards to baffle the belief of it as he did Nor had he any thing in the World to excuse himself for so doing but that he was the principal Author of all that part of the Popish Plot which related to the overthrow of the Laws and Religion of the Nation and the destruction of the chief and most zealous Protestants in the Kingdom as was sufficiently acknowledged by Coleman not only to Sir Edm. Godfrey but to the Committee of Parliament that examined him in Newgate Which was so plain that nothing influenced those Gentlemen to conceal that part of his Confession in their Report to the House but their pity and compassion to the King which would not permit them to expose him so black as in truth he was to the Nation though it was as certain that they frequently imparted their Knowledge to their Frinds Nor did it a little add to confirm the Truth of what is here related That Emissaries should be sent from the Court to deal under-hand with the Coroner and the Jury to have gotten a Verdict of Felo de se. But the proofs of his being murther'd were so apparent such as his Neck being broke and the cleanness of his Shoes that nothing could corrupt the Jury from bringing it in otherwise than it was Under these Distresses did the King and the Duke labour Terribly afraid of the approaching Parliament for the sake of their Popish Minions and Instruments whose utmost care and industry could not prevent it but that several of Coleman's Letters and other Papers were found which detected the Negotiations of the King and Duke for all the World can never separate them by maintaining that the Duke durst ever have transacted such Treasons abroad being then no more than another Subject without his Brother's Consent so that they were in an extraordinary quandary whether the Parliament should Sit or no. But the King 's extreme necessity for Money prevail'd upon him to let them Sit Besides that the King who all along acted under his Protestant Mask was sensible that the Kingdom would have cry'd out shame had he put off the Parliament of such a Conjuncture of Combustion and Distraction as that was 〈…〉 spent the Money upon his other Occasions and kept up the Army 〈◊〉 Nevertheless to excute the Fraud and Châ—at which he had put upon the disguâ—â—ed
with the World whose whole Course had been to deal thus deceitfully and treacherously with God He who made it his business to impose upon the All-seeing Eye of the Heavenly Majesty might easily bear with that Infirmity of his of not scrupling the deluding Nations and abusing the Credit of Mankind 'T was his Practice to be a Papist in his Closet and a Protestant in his Chappel to be this hour at the Mass bearing a Part in the Romish Ceremonies upon Christmas-Eve at Sommerset-House and the next day communicating after the maning of the Church of England at White-Hall This the Dutchess of Cleveland well knew and therefore had been often heard to say That She did not embrace the Catholick Religion out of any esteem that she had for it but because that otherwise she could not continue the King's Mistress And consequently Miss of State Add to this his sending the D. of Monmouth into France with an express Command to reconcile himself there to the Church of Rome So that his whole Life may be said to be made up of Contradictions and that to save others the trouble of charging him with falshood he employed his own Tongue in all his publick Speeches and Declarations to give his own Heart the Lye and justly merited the Character which a certain Person gave him to carry with him to his Grave That he was an irreconcileable Enemy of the Protestant-Religion a Parliament and a Virtuous Woman But what car'd he who being put in mind to consider what Infamy the History of his Life and Reign would entail upon his Memory replied That he car'd not tho the World made a Whistle of his Tail when he was dead Neither indeed was there any true Zeal for any Religion to be believed in a Man who coming into the Chamber of a certain Peron and finding a Bible there reproached the owner for having less wit than he took him to have since he troubled himself with such a Book But tho he had long trifled with the Papists his beloved Friends and indeed had so carried himself that neither Papist nor Protestant could tell what to make of him yet the Papists resolv'd they would be no longer dallied with by him And therefore so soon as he had made all things ready for his Brother's Exaltation after he had prevented his Exclusion from the Throne and put all the power of his Dominions into his Hands to give way for him that truly Reign'd while he but only wore the name of King he was struck with an Apoplexy as it was given out for let the true Cause be what it will a Prince always dies of some Disease or other in the Physicians Catalogue but such were the Circumstances of his Death that Men began to discover their Suspicions freely to the World before he was cold However it were certain it is that he was Absolved from all his sins by his great Friend Iohn Huddleston and that the Priests gave him extream Unction At what time one of his Relations forcing his way into the Room and seeing them at it could not forbear saying That now they had Oyl'd and Greas'd his Boots they had made him fit for his Iourney And this is yet more remarkable That all the while he lay upon his Death-bed he never spoke to his Brother to put him in mind of preserving the Laws and Religion of his People but only recommended to him the Charitable care of his two Concubines Portsmouth and poor Nelly Nor was it a small aggravation of the general Suspition to find him hurried to his Grave with such an ungrateful secrecy in the dead of the Night as if they had feared the Arresting of his Corps for Debt not so much as the mean Pomp of the Blewcoat Boys to sing him to Heaven Insomuch that he was Buried by his Brother whom he had so highly obliged with far less decency than was permitted for the Funeral of his Father by his capital Enemies that had beheaded him But that perhaps might be so ordered by Providence to signify that he was not worth the publick Lamentation of the People whose Religion and Liberties he had been always designing to subvert To him succeeded Iames the II. not more perniciously designing but more eargerly bent in the Chase of National Ruin and Destruction He came in to England full freighted with his Mother's Religion and her Malice to the People of the Nation but wore at â—â—st the same Vizard Mask of Protestantism which his Brother did But tho he were fitter for the business they both design'd yet he understood not how to manage it so well so that had he been the elder Brother we may undoubtedly presume to say he would have been much sooner thrown out of the Saddle greatly to the saving both the Honour and Treasure of the Nation and the Life of many a worthy Gentlemen and true Lover of his Country 'T is well known and a thing confirm'd by two Letters yet to be seen wherein one of the King 's own Chaplains then upon the spot when it was done imparts and laments it to a Bishop That the Duke of York while he was yet but very young made a solemn Renunciation of the Protestant Religion and was reconciled to the Church of Rome while he sojourned with his Mother in France in hopes by the assistance of the Papists to have defeated his elder Brother of his Right of Inheritance tho he had all the Indulgence imaginable to conceal his Conversion where it might be for his private Advantage and the general good of the Cause And so early was this Ambition of his to supplant his Elder Brother That when the Scots were treating with the Exil'd King to restore him to the Throne of Scotland That he was at that very time practising with such as remain'd faithful to the King's Title here that they would renounce his elder Brother and chuse him for their Soveraign And for that Reason it was that the Duke forsook him at Bruxels and withdrew into Holland so that the King was necessitated not only to command him upon his Allegiance to return but was constrain'd to send the Duke of Ormond and some other Persons of Quality as well to threaten as persuade him before he would go back And as he was an early Traytor to his Brother so did he no less treacherously attempt the disowning of his first Wife For finding her extraordinary Chastity to be such that he could not be admitted to her Bed but upon the lawful score of Matrimony he was at last Married to her but so very privately that only the King was privy to it After which perceiving that his Brother's Restoration was fully determin'd in England under pretence that it would be more for his own and the Honour and Interest of his Brother to Marry with some great Princess that would both enrich and strengthen them by the largeness of her Dowry and the greatness of her Relations he would have taken an
occasion from the privacy of the Nuptials to deny her being his Wife and to disavow all Contracts and Ceremonies of Marriage between them But the King detesting so much baseness as being himself a witness of the Marriage would not suffer the Lady to be so heinously abused but constrain'd him after great reluctancy to declare it publickly to all the World A happy Providence for England which by that Conjunction blest us with two Protestant Princesses matchless in Virtue and Piety and all those other Graces that adorn their Sex to the eldest of which we are beholden for our Deliverance from an Inundation of Slavery and Popery under the Auspicious Conduct of a Soveraign truly meriting the Noble and Ancient Titles of King of Men and Shepherd of the People and the yet more dignified Addition of Defender of the Faith And from the youngest of which we have already the earnest of a hopeful Issue to guard us from the like Invasions Such is the provision of Providence that many times it happens the most venomous Creatures carry about them the particular Antidote against their own Poysons Certain it is that the D. of York would never have pull'd off his Protestant Vizour nor have declar'd himself of the Roman Communion so soon had he not been thereto necessitated by a Stratagem of the King his Brother for the Papists having a long time waited for the Accomplishment of the King's Oaths and Promises for restoring their Religion and having annually contributed large Sums of Money towards the effecting of it at length grew impatiently sullen and would advance no more unless the King or the Duke would openly declare themselves for Popery Which the King thinking no way seasonable for him to do and not being able by all his Arguments and Importunities to prevail with his Brother to do it he at length bethought himself of this Project which was To get the Queen to write a Letter intimating her Intention to withdraw into a Monastry which Letter was to be left upon her Closet Table that her Priests as it was concerted before-hand might there seize it and seeing the Contents of it carry it forthwith to the Duke Upon which the Duke being jealous lest the King upon the Queen's relinquishing her Husband might be induced to marry again and thereby deprive him of the hopes of succeeding than which there was nothing which he thirsted after more upon obtaining a previous Assurance that in case he declared himself a Papist she should not withdraw immediately pull'd off his Mask and renounced Communion with the Church of England Being thus quit of his fears from the King his next work was to rid himself of all his Jealousies of the D. of Monmouth To which purpose he lay day and night at the King to require him to turn Roman Catholick Which the King out of his Tenderness to the Romish Cause as well as to gratifie his Brother undertook to do and accordingly sent him into France with an express Command to reconcile himself to the Church of Rome however the Duke of Monmouth out of an aversion to the Fopperies of that Religion fail'd in his performance Which so incens'd the D. of Y. that from that time forward he studied all the ways imaginable to bring him to Destruction In the mean time having by his publickly declaring himself a Papist engag'd all those of the same Religion to his Person and Interest he resolved to drive on Iehu-like and to promote the Catholick Cause with all the vigour and swiftness he was able and to make the utmost use of his Brothers good Intentions And such was his Bigottry to the Romish Church That according to the Principles of that Religion he stuck at nothing per fas nefas to bring about his Popish Designs I shall not here dilate upon his secret Negotiations at Rome his Correspondencies with Foreign Priests and Jesuites or his Private Intrigues with the French King which have been all sufficiently exposed already in Print as for that whatever has been already said of the King is also to be said of him in general while he was Duke in regard they both drew in the same Yoak for the Ruine of the Nation For this is as certain as the rest that he had a most eager desire to Rule and Rule Despotically which was the Reason he was frequently heard to say He had rather Reign one Month as the King of France than Twenty Years as his Brother the King of England did And besides it was as plain That he had a mortal Antipathy against the Protestant Religion and more particularly against the Professors of it in England but more especially the Dissenters upon the score of Revenging his Father's Death An Imbitter'd Hatred which he deriv'd from his Mother who mortally malic'd England upon the same Account and which he acknowledg'd in his Bedchamber at St. Iames's where he openly declar'd That he was resolv'd to be reveng'd upon the English Nation for his Father's Death Which if those unthinking People who are so eager to have him again would but consider they would not be so forward for his return For it is in vain for the Church of England-Men of what degree soever to think that their refusing to Swear Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary would excuse them from that universal Revenge which he would take upon the Nation were it ever again in his Power Only here was the Difference between the two Brothers That the King thought to Ruin his Enemy by main Force and the fair hand of Victory but the Duke hoping to kill two Birds with one Stone made it his Business at the same time to Ruin the Enemy by Force and his own Country by Treachery Thus when he had engag'd his Brother in the First Holy Dutch War of the Extirpation of Hereticks he permits the English at first to exercise all the Bravery of their Skill and Courage to a great Probability of Success but then falls asleep in the height of his Conduct to the end the Dutch for want of Orders might have an Opportunity to wrest the Victory out of the Hands of the English on purpose to keep the Ballance of Destruction on both sides even Thus he permitted himself to be surpris'd at Soul-Bay knowing there were enough to Maul the Enemy but not enough to preserve those that Fought on our side So that the Dutch may be said to be well Thrash'd and the English to be well Sacrific'd And as a farther Demonstration of his Perfidious Soul when he found the Contest would be too tedious between two Nations so well match'd it was the Duke's Contrivance to Suborn and Bribe two Indigent and Desperate Villains to go over and Fire the Dutch Ships as they lay in their Harbours and when he had done that it was the same Treachery that with a sham Story lull'd his Brother asleep and procur'd the Firing of our Ships at Chatham The Burning of London was such a
Liberties of Scotland as himself Such Exorbitancies of Injustice and Arbitrary Power that his Brother could never have endur'd in a Subject had they not been acted all along with his knowledg and consent Otherwise had not the King been strangely infatuated to believe that whatever his Brother did was for the advancement of that Cause to which he was so well affected himself he could never have been so unapprehensive of the Danger he was in from a Brother so actually in a Conspiracy against his Life For which Reason he was by the E. of Shaftsbury said to be a Prince not to be parallel'd in History For certainly besides the early tryal which the King had of his Ambition beyond-sea he had a fair warning of the hasty Advances which he made to his Throne in a short time after his Marriage to the Queen For no sooner was it discover'd the Queen was unlikely to have any Issue by the King but he and his Party make Proclamation of it to the World and that he was the certain Heir He takes his Seat in Parliament as Prince of Wales with his Guards about him He assumes the Princes Lodgings at White-hall his Guards upon the same place without any interposition between him and the King so that the King was in his Hands and Power every night All Offices and Preferments are bestowed upon him and at his disposition Not a Bishop made without him After this he changes his Religion to make a Party and such a Party that his Brother must be sure to Dye and be made away to make room for him And for the undeniable proof of all this at length the Plot breaks out headed by the Duke his Interest and Design Plain it was that where ever he came he endeavour'd to remove all Obstacles to his intended Designs out of the Way And therefore some there are who attribute the extremity of the Duke's rigour toward the E. of Argyle to the great Authority which the Earl had in the High-lands and the Awe which he had over the Papists as being Lord Justiciary in those Parts and his being able upon any Occasion to check and bridle the Marq. of Huntly from attempting the Disturbance of the Publick Peace or the Prejudice of the Protestants However this is observable That notwithstanding the height of Severity which was extended to him there was as much Favour shewn the Lord Macdonald whose invading the Shire of Argyle with an Armed Force merely because he was required by the said Earl as being a Papist to deliver up his Arms was never so much as questioned nor so much as a Reprimand given him for what he did tho when the Council sent an Herauld to him to require him to disband his Forces he caus'd his Coat to be torn from his Back and sent him back to Edinburgh with all the Marks both of Contempt of themselves and Disgrace to the Publick Officer But his Religion was sufficient to atone at that time for his Treason And now the Duke having a standing-Army of Five Thousand Foot and Five Hundred Horse in Scotland at his Devotion as well as in England and the Parliament the main Object of his Hatred and his Fear being dissov'd back he returns into England where under the Shelter of his Brother's Authority he began in a short time to exert his tyrannous Disposition and play the same Unjust and Arbitrary Pranks as he had done in Scotland and because it was not seasonable yet to make use of armed Forces he set his Westminster-Hall Redcoats like Pioneers before a marching Army to level the way for Popery and Arbitrary Controul to march in over the ruin'd Estates and murder'd Bodies of their Opposers The Judges were his Slaves the Juries at his Beck nothing could withstand him the Law it self grows Lawless and Iefferies-ridden plays the Debaushee like himself Justice or something in her likeness Swaggers Hectors Whips Imprisons Fines Hangs Draws and Quarters and Beheads all that come near her under the Duke's displeasure Alderman Pilkington for standing up for the Rights and Liberties of the City and for refusing to pack a Jury to take away the Earl of Shaftsbury's Life is prosecuted upon a Scandalum Magnatum at the Suit of the Duke Convicted and Condemn'd in a Verdict of an Hundred Thousand Pounds And Sir Patience Ward for offering to confront the suborn'd Witnesses is Indicted of Perjury for which he was forced to fly to avoid the Infamy of the Pillory though in all his Dealings so well known to be a Person of that Justice and Integrity that for all the hopes of the Duke he would not have told an untruth Sir Samuel Barnardiston for two or three treacherously intercepted Letters to his Friends in the Country fin'd Ten thousand Pounds which he was not suffer'd to discharge by Quarterly Paiments but the Estate seiz'd by the Duke's Sollicitors to the End they might have an Opportunity to be more prodigal in the waste of it But his hunting after the Lives as well as the Estates of other was more intolerable and that by the prostituted Testimony of Suborn'd Irish Rogues and Vagabonds and when that would not take the desir'd Effect by the forc'd Evidence of persons ensnar'd and shackl'd under the Terrors of Death till their drudgery of Swearing was over Men so fond of Life that they bought the uncertain Prolongation of a wicked Mortality at the unhallow'd price of certain and Immortal Infamy And therefore not knowing how to Die when they knew not how to Live accounted it a more gainful Happiness to quit the Pardon of Heaven's Tribunal for the Broad Seal of England By this means fell the Virtuous Lord Russel a Sacrifice to the Bill of Exclusion and the Duke's Revenge and yet of that integrity to his Country and untainted course of Life of whom never any spoke evil but those that knew no Evil in him only because he was one of those that sought to exclude the Duke from the hopes of Tyranny and Oppression the Duke was resolv'd to exclude him from the Earth But then comes the Murther of the Earl of Essex for that it was a most Barbarous and inhuman Murther committed by Bravo's and Bloody Ruffians set on hir'd and encourag'd by Potent Malice and Cruelty the pregnant Circumstances no less corroborated by Testimonies wanting only the confirmation of Legal Judicature has been already so clearly made out that there is no place left for a hesitating belief A Truth so conspicuous as stands in defiance of the Ridiculing Pen of R. L'Estrange to sham it over with the Buffoonry of his Bantring Acquirements It cannot be imagin'd but that so black a Deed of Darkness was carried on by the Contrivers with all the secrecy that could be studied by humane Wit But never yet was humane Wit so circumspective but that the most conceal'd of Villanies have been detected by strange and little Accidents which all the Foresight of humane Sagacity could never prevent More
him to say with his Grandfather of the same Name Let me make what Iudges I please and I will easily have what I please to be Law No wonder then these Judges having Instruments drawn up by Brent which pass'd the Great Seal to Indemnifie them for whatever they did or said Illegally affirm'd it to the King for Law That the King was an Independent Prince That the Laws of the Kingdom were the Kings Laws That the Kings of England might Dispence with all Laws that regarded Penalties and Punishments as oft as necessity required That they were Iudges and Arbitrators who have Power to Iudge of the Necessity which may induce them to make use of these Dispensations And Lastly That the King of England could not Renounce a Prerogative annexed to the Crown By Vertue of which Concessions and Opinions of the Judges all the Laws in England made in the Reigns of four several Princes for the security of the Nation against Popery and Arbitrary Government were rendred of no Effect By Vertue of these Concessions Arundel of Warder was made Lord Privy Seal Alibone a Judge and Castlemain was sent with great Pomp an Embassador to Rome to be there contemn'd and despis'd by his Holiness for the bad name which his Master had among all the Princes of Europe and the ill Opinion the Pope himself had of him By Vertue of these Concessions it was that the greatest part of the Kingdom 's Military Safety and Defence was put into the hands of persons incapable to be intrusted with them by the Express Laws of the Kingdom and that the Execution of the Ancient Laws and Statutes of the Realm against divers sorts of Treasons and other hainous Crimes was stopt By Vertue of these Concessions Sir E. Hales was made Lieutenant of the Tower to Terrifie the City with his Mortar-pieces and level his Great Guns to the Destruction of the Metropolis of the Kingdom when the Word should be given him By Vertue of these Concessions it was that Peters was made a Privy Councellor to outbrave the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London that he had his four Provincial Bishops and that the Priests and Jesuites swarm'd in all parts of the Kingdom Built themselves Convents hired Mass Houses made open Profession of their Foppish Religion in the Chief City of the Nation and in several of the Great Cities and Towns of the Kingdom and publickly Ridicul'd the Scripture in their Pulpits All which Transgressions of all the Laws of the Land both Civil and Ecclesiaâ—tick are so fully Represented in the Memorial of the Protestants to their Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Orange That they cannot be more fully noâ— more sensibly repeated But the Inundation stopt not here it was to be a general Deluge or nothing at all To which purpose all Obstructions that oppos'd the â—orrent were to be levell'd or remov'd out of the way for effecting of which there could be no Engine thought sufficient but that of the Ecclesiastical Commission so arbitrary in its Origâ—nal that it had nothing but the Pillars of the Prerogative to support it and manag'd with that Arbitrary Fury by Iefferies That he look'd like a Monstrous Titan Warring against the Heaven of Law and Justice For he had no way to carry Illegality with a high hand but by arrogant Domineering and surly Incivility while he had nothing to offer to any Person that offer'd Law to him but Sic Volo Sic Iubeo To tell a Peer of England and the Bishop of London so much his Superiour only that he Sate upon the Throne of his Commission he that was not to be mentioned with the Bishop in the same day was such a foul piece of Exeuberance of his Guildhall Eloquence which only could have dropt from the lips of Insulting Barbarism All that can be said for him is this That as many men commit Absurdities when loden with Wine this was one of his Extravagancies in his Drink of Honour And indeed after he had tasted of that potent Charm the whole Course of his Behaviour seem'd to be a meer Intoxication which made him afterwards make use of the same Receipt to drown both his Life and his Dishonour together However the Suspending this Noble Peer and Bishop contrary to all pretence of Law for refusing to obey the Kings unjust and illegal Command was no such Advantage to the King's Cause that he had so much reason to thank the Chancellor or Peters either for putting him upon committing a greater Act of Injustice to justify a less The Bishop was too well and too generally belov'd among all the professors of Protestantism for the Papists to put such an Affront upon so Eminent a Father of the Protestant Church for them not to resent it even the more prudent Papists thought it a Proceeding too harsh and unreasonable and the more moderate look'd upon it as too base and unworthy so that the Hot-spurs of the King's Council were losers on every side And besides it was such a stabbing contradiction to the King's Speech in Council upon his Brother's Death That since it had pleased God he should succeed so good and gracious a Prince as his dear Brother he was resolv'd to follow his Example more especially in that of Clemency and Tenderness to his People That the barbarous suspending this Bishop was one of the main things which destroyed the solemn verity of Royal Word Which though he had falsified already in his severity to Otes and Dangerfield yet the Person of a Peer and Bishop and a Star of the first Magnitude in the Church of England render'd much more conspicuous But the King was under a necessity he had declar'd one thing to the Protestants but he had bound himself to do another for the Papists If he falsified with the Protestants the Papists could absolve him If he prov'd unfaithful to the Papists they would never forgive him And in this Dilemma he resolv'd to follow the Maxim of his Profession Not to keep Faith with Hereticks Neither were the steps he made the steps of State-convenience now and then upon an exigency but all in a huddle out of his Zeal to make large steps for fear he should dye and leave the Papists worse than he found them These severe Proceedings against the Bishop of London were the Violation of that part of his Declaration wherein he promis'd the Preservation of the Ecclesiastical Government as Established by Law But the Barbarous usage of the Gentlemen of both Maudlin Colledges was an unsanctified breach of another part of his Declaration wherein he no less solemnly engaged to maintain the Protestants in all their Properties and Possessions as well of Church as Abby-Lands as of all other their Properties whatsoever Notwithstand all which how he turn'd those Gentlemen out of their Legal Freeholds by the Arbitrary Power of his High Commission how he violated the Constitutions of the deceased Founders and with what an embitter'd rage and fury he rated