by word out of those Papers For in stead of being a general Discourse for the Peoples Rights against Kings without any particular Applications to Time or Place as in this his last Paper he insinuates them to have been it is apparent to any Man that can but read that those Sheets of his VVriting which were given in Evidence strook at the very Root of the English Monarchy and that therein he studied to do his part to bring the Ax very near the Kings Neck once again He farther in that printed Speech most injuriously reviles his Judges affirming with notorious falshood and petulancy That lest the Means of destroying the best Protestants in England should fail the Bench was fill'd with such as had been Blemishes to the Bar. He goes on to make divers the like frivolous and groundless Reflections on the legal and regular Proceedings against him concluding with a Prayer that could be dictated by none but a fierce Republican and a furious Enthusiastical Spirit met together It was in truth a Prayer more proper for their Treasonable Meetings at Mr. Hambden's or the Lord Russel's than to be used as the last words of a Gentleman dying in the profession of his Innocency For after having fondly declar'd That he fell a Sacrifice to Idols he thus addresses his Speech to the great God of Heaven Bless thy People and save them Defend thy own Cause Defend those that defend it Stir up such as are faint Direct those that are willing Confirm those that waver Give Wisdom and Integrity unto all Grant that I may die glorifying thee for all thy Mercies and that at the last thou hast permitted me to be singled out as a Witness of thy Truth and even by the Confession of my Opposers for that Old Cause in which I was from my Youth engaged and for which thou hast often wonderfully declar'd thy self He makes it his last Glory That he was engag'd in that Old Cause from his Youth and he was so Being yet very Young he took up Rebellious Arms against his Majesties Blessed Father and merited so well of that Old Cause that he was thought rightly qualifi'd to be Named though he did not actually sit amongst the black Number of the Regicides Upon his Majesties most happy Return his fixt aversion to the restor'd Government was such that he would not personally accept of the Oblivion and Indempnity then generally granted to the whole Nation But he voluntarily banish'd himself for many Years till about the Year 1677 he came into England again and by his Majesties special Grace obtain'd a particular Pardon upon repeated promises of constant quiet and Obedience for the time to come Which how he made good the World may Judge In fine he fell a memorable warning and fatal Example to the English Nobility and Gentry of this and all future Ages that they should take heed of being so far infatuated with the fancie and Chimerical Felicities of Antient or Modern Commonwealths as to despise and attempt the ruine of the far more solid Liberty and happiness to be injoy'd under the English Monarchy On the 28th Day of November 1683 Mr. John Hambden Junior having also sued out his Habeas Corpus was arraign'd for High Misdeameanor and brought to his Tryal the 6th of February following In this Tryal the Lord Howard positively deposed to the same sense as before touching the general Transactions of the Conspiracy till the Earl of Shaftsbury's Death and particularly afterwards of the Meeting of the Council of Six at Mr. Hambden's own House where Mr. Hambden made an Introductory Speech to open the Assembly and the subject of their Debates was concerning the Time Place Men Arms and Money to be provided towards a Rising and also that then the sending a Messenger into Scotland was proposed and referred to be debated the next Meeting Farther That Mr. Hambden was present at that next Meeting at the Lord Russel's House and amongst the rest deliberated of sending the Messenger into Scotland when Aaron Smith was named and approved to be the Man But the substance of the Lord Howard's Evidence having been before sufficiently set down it will be needless now to follow exactly every Circumstance of it It is enough only to note That most of the same Objections being again repeated by the Defendents Council had the same or like Answers return'd them by the Kings There was indeed one new and very material thing then first particularly and unquestionably made out in this Tryal which was the certainty of Aaron Smith's carrying the Treasonable Message into Scotland This was now demonstrably proved by Sheriff and Bell both Inhabitants of Newcastle Sheriff being the Man at whose House Smith lay in his passage to and fro and Bell the very Guide that went thence to conduct him into Scotland Touching this Matter First Attherbury one of the Kings Messengers testified That Sheriff and Bell had a full view of Aaron Smith who was brought for that purpose from the Kings-Bench before the King That Sheriff and Bell did then own Aaron Smith to be the Man who had pass'd under the Name of Clerk That Sheriff declar'd the said Clerk lay at his House and Bell said that he travell'd towards Scotland with him being hired to shew him the way That to all this Aaron Smith would not answer one word Then Sheriff himself deposed That he keeping the Black-Spread-Eagle in Newcastle Aaron Smith came to his House about the middle of February 1683 That he staid there one Night went away and return'd again in twelve days or thereabout That he travell'd from his House Northward towards Scotland but first desir'd one might be got to shew him the way That to that purpose the Deponent sent for Bell whom Smith presently hired to go with him That when Smith came back he lay another Night at his House and so return'd into the South towards London That Smith went all the while by the Name of Clerk That the Deponent directed him to a Gentleman at Jadburgh which is Forty Miles from Newcastle and within Six Miles of Scotland Then Bell swore That Aaron Smith was the very Man who went by the Name of Clerk That the Deponent living at Newcastle and getting his Livelyhood by letting out Horses and guiding of Travellers Sheriff sent for him told him the said Clerk wanted a Guide into Scotland That this happen'd on the Thursday before Shrove Tuesday That the next Morning being Friday he conducted Smith towards Jadburgh that on the Saturday the Deponents Horse was tyr'd so Smith left him taking another Guide appointing him to come after as fast as he could to Jadburgh That the Deponent overtook him there on Sunday and on Monday Morning saw him take Horse with another Guide for Scotland saying he was going towards Douglas That Bell presently went back to Newcastle where he saw Smith and discours'd with him upon his return out of Scotland Then it was also proved by Sir Andrew Foster and Attherbury
Law to escape unpunish'd Then they concluded it was high time to bring their Devilish Purposes to a quicker issue and once for all to strike boldly at the Heart of the KING and Kingdom Particularly the Earl of Shaftsbury being conscious to himself of the blackness of his Crimes and of the Iniquity of the Verdict by which he had for that time escaped and finding he was now within the compass of the Justice he had so lately frustrated and contemn'd thenceforth gave over all his quieter and more plausible Arts of Sedition whereby he proudly bragg'd he should in time as his Expression was Leisurely walk his Majesty out of his Dominions and on a sudden betook himself to more precipitate Enterprises Alarming his Companions with a prospect of their common danger thence inflaming some to Insurrections others to Assassinations supposing now there was no way left for him or them to justifie their former Misdemeanors and Treasons but by attempting and succeeding in greater Mischiefs This was found by evident Proof to have been the principal rise and occasion of ripening the Horrid Conspiracy in the Kingdom of England Nor could there possibly have happen'd a stronger Justification of his Majesties Counsels in attempting to rectifie the City-Juries and Elections since it is apparent his principal Enemies laid so much stress on the unjust Power they had therein usurp'd that being once fairly driven from that Strength they immediately resolv'd nothing less than a bare-fac'd and avow'd Rebellion could repair the Loss their Party sustain'd by so great a Blow As for his Majesties Kingdom of Scotland it is notorious there has been long shelter'd in it a desperate Faction of furious Zealots that under the old Professions of the Cause of Christ and a purer way of Gospel-Worship has grown up by degrees to a Violation at last not only of all the Rules and Institutions of true Religion but of common Humanity For does not the whole Christian World at this day behold with Horrour that the most Villanous Tenets of the fiercest Scottish Covenanters and even of their Remonstrators have been out-done by their Successors and Disciples in the Field-Meetings and Armed Conventicles Have they not thence proceeded to all the Execrable Rage of Rapine and Violence In so much that some of them have lived and died glorying in the most barbarous Murders and basest Cruelties refusing obstinately with their last Breath so much as to pray for his Majesty or to say God save the King though by an unexampled Mercy they had their Pardons assur'd to them at the very place and moment of their Execution upon that single Condition And besides the remains of those Bloody Enthusiasts whose Principles are not yet entirely extinguish'd though their force has been twice vanquish'd in open Field by Gods Providence prospering his Majesties Arms It is certain also the Peace of that Kingdom has of late been much indanger'd by other great Numbers of Factious and Seditious Spirits who though at first they would not venture to incourage publickly the others declared Treasons yet stuck not secretly to Favour and foment their Cause and as the event infallibly proves would soon have Own'd and Headed their Fury had it prosper'd Wherefore the wise care of former Sessions of Parliament there having sufficiently provided by a due severity of Good Laws against the dreadful Consequences of continuing the Field-Meetings for the farther securing the Reformed Religion and the Antient Rights of the Crown and the Royal Family in that Kingdom it was judg'd adviseable by the Wisdom of his Majesties great Council the last Session of Parliament to appoint and Authorise a Solemn Test to be taken by all Persons in place of publick Trust or Power In that Session the Test was soon pass'd into an Act of State without any considerable opposition Though there were not wanting some turbulent Men in the Assembly who took that occasion of shewing how ill they were affected to the establish'd Government of their Country Which they could have no other inducement to be but either a desire of Commotions by reason of the desperate State of their own ill-spent Fortunes or Envy at the better Condition of Honester Men or some inveterate Contagion of Treason derived down to them from the last unhappy Age of Confusions Of that unquiet and seditious Party the chief and declared Head was the late Earl of Argyle who during the very sitting of the Parliament had by many indirect ways attempted to hinder his Majesties Service the said Earl and the then President of the Session and their Complices taking their opportunity in wording the Test to add thereto all the very same Clauses that have since given any Colour of scruple to themselves But when all his crafts for obstructing the Bill were defeated by the far greater Number of well disposed Members the Loyal Voters for it being at least Ten to one of the disaffected then no sooner was the Parliament adjourn'd but the said Earl of Argyle first at Edenburgh next in traversing several Shires did make it his Chief Business to insinuate every where into the minds of the Clergy and Laity the most malicious prejudices imaginable against the whole tenour of the Test. And afterwards on his return to Edenburgh he often presumptuously declared he would either not take it at all or take it only with a reserve of his own explanation which he put in Writing and dispers'd the contrivance of it being such as dissolves all the Obligations of the Oath and makes his own present Fancy and private Opinion the only Standard whereby he meant to be guided in all the publick Duties of his Loyalty and Allegiance At length his Majesties High Commissioner the Duke and the Privy Council of that Kingdom having been well inform'd of the said Earls seditious Carriage in City and Country and being fully confirm'd in their Judgments and Consciences of his Trayterous Purposes in that fallacious and equivocating Paraphrase on the Test which he own'd in their presence perverting thereby the sound sense and eluding the force of his Majesties Laws in order to set the Subjects loose from their Obedience and to perpetuate Schism in the Church and Faction in the State Upon these Grounds he was most deservedly Prosecuted by his Majesties Advocate before the Soveraign Justice-Court according to the known Laws of his Country and after a full and equal Tryal he was found guilty of Treason by the Learned Judges and a Jury not only of his Peers but also many of them his own nearest Relations Soon after Judgment given albeit the King was far from any thought of taking away his Life and that no farther prejudice was design'd against him but the forfeiture of some Jurisdictions and Superiorities which he and his Predecessors had surreptitiously acquired and most tyrannically exercis'd besides the disposal of part of his Estate to pay his just Creditors and some few moderate Donatives to those whom he and his Father had formerly ruin'd for
little Ear and slow Credit to this Information as little suspecting as deserving such usage from the worst of his Subjects Which generous Caution that his Majesty took not to be impos'd on by New Rumours of Plots and his Gracious Tenderness not to believe so ill of his very Enemies but upon certain Demonstration was one of the chief Occasions that divers of the principal Agitators and Managers of the whole business took the Alarm and got time to scatter and withdraw beyond the Seas However by Gods Providence continually watching over his Majesties and these Nations safety so many of the Traytors soon after fell into the Hands of Justice who did either voluntarily acknowledge their being Partakers of the Treason or were Convicted of it by Evident Proof that henceforth who ever shall pretend not to believe the Truth of the whole they must either be such as were Parties in the Design or so monstrously unreasonable as to believe there never can be a Real Plot against any Prince or State but what does actually succeed and take effect Thus much is certain of this Conspiracy and it is so remarkable and extraordinary that perhaps the like cannot be affirm'd of any other mention'd in all History that there was scarce a Man Attainted or Executed for it who did not more or less add some new Light to the several parts of the dark Contrivance either by a plain Confession of it or by their very manner of denying it and by the weakness of the Subterfuges whereby they endeavour'd to palliate their Crimes Upon the whole Matter though his Majesty doubts not but the Treasonable Infection was in some degree or other spread into most Quarters of these Kingdoms amongst the Ringleaders of the Republican Clubs and lawless Conventicles in Town and Country there being no reason for any Man to think otherwise since it was the usual boast of their principal Factors That more than Twenty Thousand Persons were made privy to the very beginnings of it before the late Earl of Shaftsbury's Flight Yet his Majesty utterly abhorring that bare Suspicions though never so probably grounded should prevail to conclude any Man Guilty has resolved no Reflection shall be made on the Fame of any but only such whose part in it was made out by positive Testimony And in the Kingdom of England besides the Earl of Shaftsbury who during his time was the Prime Engineer in contriving and directing all the several Motions and Parts of the whole Conspiracy next under him the Persons who are already Judicially found to have been deeply concern'd as Actors some in the Insurrection part others in the Assassination divers of them in both together are these The Duke of Monmouth whom the Factious Party had long Corrupted and Alienated from his Duty and Gratitude to the King and his Royal Highness by suggesting and increasing in him groundless Fears and poys'ning his Mind with unjust and forbidden Hopes The Lord Gray of Wark who for some Years had been ingaged in the most furious Designs of the Faction of late especially after he found that the Wickedness of his private Life could neither be so well hidden or go unpunish'd in a quiet State as in publick Disturbances The late Earl of Essex whose dark and turbulent Spirit and insatiable Ambition had carry'd him on to be one of the Principal Authors of all the late Distractions in Publick Councils and Popular Heats against the Government Till after many such ill Practices unworthy the Son of such a Father God left him at last to fall into this Precipice and permitted him to punish himself for it more severely than the King could ever have found in his Heart to do had he but given his Majesty time to make use of the excellent Goodness of his Nature The Lord Howard of Escrick who had always been a busie Promoter of Fanatical and Republican Projects for Alterations in Church and State and was therefore for a time the second Favourite of the Disaffected whilst he was Imprison'd with the Earl of Shaftsbury Nor did they ever make any Objections against the Honesty of his private Life till he came to the honestest part of it The Lord Russel a Person carried away beyond his Duty and Allegiance into this Traiterous Enterprise by a vain Air of Popularity and a wild Suspicion of losing a great Estate by an imaginary return of Popery whereby he was the more easily seduced by the wicked Teachers of that most Unchristian Doctrine which has been the cause of so many Rebellions and was so conformable to his Presbyterian Education That it is lawful to Resist and Rise against Soveraign Princes for preserving Religion Colonel Algernoon Sidney who from his Youth had profest himself an Enemy to the Government of his Country and had acted accordingly As he lived so he died a Stubborn Assertor of the Good Old Cause Mr. John Hambden the Younger who has renew'd and continued the Hereditary Malignity of his House against the Royal Family his Grandfather having been the most Active Instrument to widen the Breach between the late Blessed KING and the seduced part of his People The Usurper Cromwel often own'd That Mr. Hambden was the very Man who advised him to oppose the Justice and Honour of his Majesties Cause with an affected Zeal of Conscience and pure Religion Sir Thomas Armstrong a Debauch'd Atheistical Bravo one of those who with an Hypocrisie peculiar to this Age would have pass'd for the most forward Reformers of Church and State whilst they themselves both in their Practise and Opinions were the greatest Corrupters of Virtue and all Good Manners Lieutenant Colonel Walcot an Old Officer in Cromwel's Army who after Pardon and Indemnity receiv'd and a plentiful Estate secured to him by his Majesties most Happy Return yet was actually ingaged in all the Plots against the Government ever since Particularly in that of Ireland some Years ago to surprize the Castle of Dublin He was Introduced by the Lord Howard under the Character of a Stout and Able Officer into a strict Familiarity with the Earl of Shaftsbnry from whom he never after parted till his Death accompanying him in his Flight into Holland and returning thence with his Corps he and Ferguson having this peculiar Mark of his Kindness to be named Legatees in his Last Will and Testament as his special Friends Colonel John Romzey who had gotten Credit abroad in Portugal by his Courage and Skill in Military Affairs He was recommended to the Earl of Shaftsbury as a Soldier of Fortune resolute and fit for his turn in any desperate Attempt By his Majesties Favour upon his Royal Highnesses Intercession he got possess'd of a very considerable Office in the Customs of Bristol which having sold he afterwards most ungratefully became the said Earls entire Creature and Dependant Nor was he ever a profess'd Papist as since his Confession the Party has given out that he was according to their wonted Impudence of Lying Thomas Shepard