to deliver the Duke out of Prison 14 Eliz. ca. 1. Rast Stat. p. 2. fol. 188. Divers other Conspiracies and Practices there were for delivering the Duke which occasioned a Parliament and the Parliaments making two Acts. One that those who should surprize demolish or burn any of the Queen's Forts should be guilty of Felony And that those who should hold the same by Force against the Queen burn her Ships or stop up her Havens should be guilty of High Treason Another against such as should conspire or practice the inlargement of any Prisoner committed for High Treason which as it is Printed by Rastal is as followeth 14 Eliz. ca. 2. Rast Stat. pt 2. f. 188 Against Conspâ—ring to deliver any imprisoned for Treason Forasmuch as great danger may ensue to the Queens Majesties person and great trouble to the State of the Realm by unlawful Conspiracies Devises and Imaginations to inlarge and set at Liberty such persons as be or shall be committed to any Prison Gard or Custody for any Treason touching the Royal Person of our said Soveraign Lady against which Devices Conspiracies and Imaginations sufficient remedy by the Laws of this Realm hath not been heretofore had nor provided unless the same Conspiracies Imaginations and Devises were Executed and brought to effect Be it therefore Enacted by our said Soveraign Lady the Queen the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same that if any person or persons at any time after the end of this present Session of Parliament shall imagine conspire devise invent or go about unlawfully or malitiously to inlarge or set at liberty any person or persons committed or to be committed to any prison gard or custody by her Highness special Commandment for any Treason or suspition of Treason concerning the person of our said Soveraign Lady the Queen before any indictment of such person so sought or intended to be set at large or liberty as is aforesaid and the same conspiracies imaginations devices or inventions shall by express words writing or other matter or act expresly or manifestly set forth utter or declare that then every person so offending shall incur the penalty and forfeiture of Misprision of Treason and that all and every Offence and Offences to be comitted and done as is aforesaid shall be deemed and taken for Misprision of Treason And be it also Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that if any person or persons at any time after the end of this present Session of Parliament shall imagine conspire devise invent or go about unlawfully and malitiously to inlarge or set at liberty any person or persons committed or to be committed to any prison gard or custody being or which hereafter shall be induced of any Treason in any wise concerning the Person of our said Soveraign Lady the Queen and the same conspiracies imaginations devises or inventions shall by express words writing or other matter or act expresly or manifestly set forth utter or declare that then every such person so offending shall be deemed and adjudged a Felon and suffer lose and forfeit as in cases of Felony by the due course of the Laws of this Realm And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that if any person or persons at any time after the end of this present Session of Parliament shall imagine conspire devise invent or go about unlawfully and malitiously to inlarge or set at liberty any person or persons being committed to any prison gard or Custody after the same person or persons is or shall be attainted or convicted of any Treason in any wise concerning the Royal Person of our said Soveraign Lady the Queen and the same conspiracies imaginations devices or inventions shall by express words written matter or act as is aforesaid set forth utter or declare that then every person so offending shall be deemed and adjudged an High Traitor and shall suffer lose and forfeit as in cases of High Treason by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm This Act was to indure during the Queen's Majesties Life only In the year 1572 Camb. Annals fol. 188. Baker's Chron. f. 347. the Earl of Northumberland was also Executed for his Treason in the Northern Rebellion before mentioned But I find that altho' several Persons were apprehended for offending against 13 Eliz 2. which was made against bringing in Bulls Agnus Dei c. as private Tokens of Papal Obedience and against reconciling any to the See of Rome yet not one was Executed till 1577 which was almost twenty years after the Queen's Accession to the Crown The first that was convicted upon this Law was one Cuthbert Mayne a Priest Cambd. Annals f. 224 225 who being an obstinate Maintainer of the Pope's Power against his Princess was put to Death at St. Stephens Fane commonly called Launston in Cornwel and one Trugion a Gentleman that had harboured him was turned out of his Estate and condemned in perpetual Imprisonment and after him Hanse and Nelson and one Sherwood all for maintaining that the Queen was a Schismatick and Heretick and ought to be Deposed so that from the time of making 13 Eliz. ca. 2. in 1571 to this year of 1577 fair and calm weather shone upon the Papists in England who by a merciful connivance served God according to their own way of Worship in their private Houses in a manner without any Punishment altho ' it were prohibited by the Law by which a pecuniary Mulct was to be inflicted on them neither did the Queen in all this time offer violence to their Consciences nor was she easily to be induced to believe any thing amiss of the people much less to inflict punishments upon them for differing in Opinion being wont to say That she could believe nothing of her people which Parents would not believe of their Children And was not this Clemency and Kindness sufficient to prevail with the Papists to leave off their Plots and Contrivances against her and the Protestant Religion Were not these Laws severe enough to keep them within the bounds of their Duty Will neither Love allure them to Obedience nor threatnings upon so severe penalties as the loss of Life and Estate deter them from offending one might reasonably have expected it Steukly 's Plot. Cambd. Annals f. 230. Baker 's Chron. f. 354. But instead thereof in 1578 for Invading Ireland and England both at once and deposing of Q. Elizabeth who was the strongest Bulwark of the Reformed Religion both the Spaniard and Gregory the thirteenth Bishop of Rome entred into a Confederacy at and by the instigation of one Thomas Steukly a Fugitive herein before mentioned but that design by the Providence of God being defeated In the year 1579 one James Fitz-Morris a Fugitive raised a Rebellion in Ireland Fitz-Morris his Plot. Camb. Annals f. 336. the same James who had not long before been in a Rebellion and was upon
presently brake his Oath and accused me of these things Cardinal Como's Letter to Parry Foulis Hist lib. 7. cap. 3. f. 393. The Letter also in that Confession mentioned to be writ from Cardinal Como to him as the same is related by Fowlis followeth SIR HIS Holiness hath seen your Letter of the first with the Certificate inclosed and cannot but commend the good disposition and resolution which you write to hold towards the Service and common good wherein his Holiness doth exhort you to persevere and to bring to effect that which you have promised And that you may be the more assisted by that good Spirit which hath moved you thereunto his Holiness grants unto you his Blessing plenary Indulgence and Remission of all your sins according as you have desired assuring you that besides the merit which you shall receive for so doing in Heaven his Holiness will farther make himself Debtor to acknowledg your deservings in the best manner that he can and the more because you use the greater modesty in not pretending any thing or reward Put therefore to effect your holy and honourable purposes and regard your health And to conclude I offer my self to you heartily and desire you all good and happy success At your Service N. Card. Di. Como Rome January 30th 1584. All this he confessed before the Lord Hunsdon Sir Christopher Hatton and Sir Francis Walsingham all three of the Privy Council he acknowledged his Fault and begged Pardon for the same by his Letters to the Queen to Burleigh and Leicester His LETTER to the Queen as Foulis relates it was as followeth Parry's Letter to Queen Elizabeth Foulis Hist lib. 7. cap. 4. f. 341. YOVR Majesty may see by my voluntary Confession the dangerous Fruits of a discontented Mind and how constantly I pursued my first conceived Purpose in Venice for the Relief of the afflicted Catholicks continued it in Lyons and resolved in Paris to put it in adventure for the Restitution of England to the antient Obedience of the See Apostolick You may see withal how it is commended allowed and warranted in Conscience Divinity and Policy by the Pope and some great Divines though it be true or likely that most of our English Divines loss practiced in Matters of this weight do utterly mislike and condemn it The enterprize is prevented and Conspiracy discovered by an honourable Gentleman my Kinsman and late familiar Friend Mr. Edmond Nevil Privy and by solemn Oath taken upon the Bible Party to the Matter whereof I am heartily glad but more sorry in my very Soul that ever I conceived or intended it how commendable and meritorious soever I thought it God shame him and forgive me who would not now before God attempt it if I had Liberty and Opportunity to do it to gain your Kingdom I beseech Christ that my Death and Example may as well satisfie your Majesty and the World as it shall glad and content me The Queen of Scotland is your Prisoner let her be honourably intreated but yet surely guarded The French King is French you know it well enough you will find him occupied when he should do you Good he will not loose a Pilgrimage to save you a Crown I have no more to say at this time but that with my Heart and Soul I do now honour and love you am inwardly sorry for my Offence and ready to make you amends by my Death and Patience Discharge me a Culpa but not a Paena good Lady And so farewel most Gracious and the best Natured and Qualified Queen that ever lived in England From the Tower the14th of Feb. 1584. William Parry Some short time after he was arraigned at the Kings-Bench-Bar in Westminster-Hall Parry's Arraignment and Confession and confessed himself Guilty and when his Confession was recorded and Judgment demanded against him Hatton thought it necessary for the Satisfaction of the Multitude that were present that his Crime should be clearly and fully represented out of his own Confession which Parry acknowledged to be voluntary and prayed the Judges that he might read it Himself But the Clerk of the Crown read both it and also Cardinal Como's Letter and Parry's own to the Queen to Burleigh and to Leicester which he confest to be the very Letters themselves yet did he deny that ever he was resolved to Kill the Queen Being now commanded to speak if he had any thing to say why Judgment should not be given against him he answered perplexedly as if he were troubled in Conscience for the foul Fact he had undertaken I see I must die because I have not been constant to my self Being will'd to declare more plainly what he meant My Blood said he be amongst you Sentence of Death being pronounced he in a Fury cited the Queen to the Judgment-Seat of God. He was executed in the Palace-Yard he said he was never fully resolved in his Mind to take away the Queens Life and then died without in the least commending himself to God. So let all the Enemies of Jesus Christ and his Gospel perish These Plots and Conspiracies produced the said two Acts before mentioned the one for Provision to be made for the Security of the Queens Majesties Person and the Continuance of the Realm in Peace by which the said Association was confirmed The other Act against Jesuits Seminary Priests who would ground any Villanous Plots and Designs upon the Bull of Pius Quintus The former of which Acts of Parliament followeth in these Words as it is in Rastal 27 Eliz. cap. 1. Rast Stat. 2. part f. 283. An Act for Provision to be made for the Surety of the Queens Majesties most Royal Person and the Continuance of the Realm in Peace Treason in any Successor or other for them to take away the Queens Life And in case it happens to be tried notwithstanding the Succession and their Issues utterly excluded from the Crown FOrasmuch as the good Felicity and Comfort of the whole State of this Realm consisteth only next under God in the Surety and Preservation of the Queens most excellent Majesty And for that it hath manifestly appeared that sundry wicked Plots and Means have of late been devised and laid as well in forreign Parts beyond the Seas as also within this Realm to the great endangering of Her Highness most Royal Person and to the utter Ruine of the whole Common-Wealth if by Gods merciful Providence the same had not been revealed therefore for the preventing of such great Perils as might hereafter otherwise grow by the like detestable and devilish Practices at the humble Suit and earnest Petition and Desire of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same Parliament Be it enacted and ordained if at any time after the end of this present Session of Parliament an open Invasion or Rebellion shall be had or made into or within any of Her Majesties Realms
Obstacle by killing her altered his opinion but was for joyning five more to Savage to make sure of the Matter Which being agreed on they set forward the design of the Invasion The design was by Babington imparted to the Queen of Scots and she was to reward the Heroical Actors in this barbarous Attempt or else their Posterities in Case they perisht in it And he was Commanded to pass his word to the six Gentlemen and the rest concerning their reward for their Service In this Conspiracy were ingaged divers Gentlemen who were very Zealous for Popery Edward Windsor Brother to the Lord Windsor Thomas Salisbury of a Knights Family in Denbeighshire Charles Tilney of an ancient Family who was then but lately reconciled to the Romish Church Chideock Tichburn of Southampton Edward Abbington whose Father had been the Queens under Treasurer Robert Gage of Surry John Travers and John Charnock of Lancashire John Jones whose Father was Yeoman of the Wardrobe to Queen Mary Savage before named Barnwel of a noble Family in Ireland and Henry Dun Clark in the Office of first Fruits and Tenths and one Polley To every of these Gentlemen was a Part in this Conspiracy assigned and all things went according to their hearts desire as they thought Nothing perplexed Babington But his Fears of being failed in the Foreign Aid that was promised him therefore to make sure of it he resolved himself to go over into France and to that purpose to send Ballard privately before for whom by his Money under a Counterfeit name he procured a License to Travel And that there might not be the least Suspicion of himself he insinuated into Secretary Walsingham by means of Polley and earnestly besought him to procure him a License from the Queen to travel into France promising her to do her extraordinary good Service in pumping out and discovering the secret designs of the Fugitives in behalf of the Queen of Scots The Plot discovered but as we say forewarned forearmed he being a faithful and cunning Secretary by his Spies had discovered all and informed the Queen and therefore only commended Babingtons pretended design and made him fair Promises and so from time to time delayed him The chief instrument in discovering this Plot was one Gilbert Gifford who lurked in England under the Name of Lauson in mind Salvage of his Oath but had informed the Secretary what he was and to what purpose sent into England This having gone on for some time Ballard apprehended the Queen apprehending there might be great danger in letting it proceed further ordered Ballard to be apprehended who was seized on before he was aware in Babingtons House just as he was setting out for France Babington and some others of the Confederates being jealous the design was discovered hid themselves in St. Johns Wood near London Notice being given of their withdrawing they are proclaimed Traitors at last are found and seized on and the rest of their fellow Rebels fourteen of whom were executed in September 1586. in St. Giles in the Fields where they used to meer and consult about their intended murthering of the Queen and invading the Kingdom Mary Queen of Scots having been at the bottom in all these designs The Queen of Scots at the bottom Cam. Annals from f. 33 to f. 35. D' Ewes Journal f. 392 393 395 400 401 405 408. A Commission Issued for trying Mary Queen of Scots grounded on 27 Eliz. Cap. 1. Camb. An. l. 3. f. 347. and there being no probability of the Kingdoms continuing in the safe and secure exercise of the Protestant Religion under their Protestant Queen so long as she was in being The Papists being assured by her that in case she had the Crown she would introduce Popery Queen Elizabeth was advised to try her for Treason which she was with great difficulty prevailed to do and Issued out a Commission grounded upon 27 Eliz. Cap. 1. herein before set forth The Commissioners appointed to Try her were these viz John Archbishop of * Whitgift Bakers Chron. f. 369. Canturbury Sir Tho. Bromley Kt. Chancellor of England William Lord Burleigh Treasurer of England William Lord Marquess of Winchester Edward Earl of Oxford great Chamberlain of England George Earl of Shrewsbury Earl Marshal Henry Earl of Kent Henry Earl of Darby William Earl of Worcester Edmund Earl of Rutland Ambrose Earl of Warwick Master of the Ordinance Henry Earl of Pembrook Robert Earl of Leicester Master of the Horse Henry Earl of Lincoln Anthony Vicount Mountague Charles Lord Howard Lord High Admiral of England Henry Lord of Hunsdon Lord Chamberlain Henry Lord Abergavenny Edward Lord Zouch Edward Lord Morley William Lord Cobham Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports Edward Lord Stafford Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton John Lord Lumley John Lord Stourton William Lord Saunders Lewis Lord Mordant John Lord St. John of Bletnesho Thomas Lord Buckhurst Henry Lord Compton Henry Lord Cheney Sir Francis Knolles Kt. Controller of the Houshould Sir Christopher Hatton Vice-Chamberlain Sir Francis Walsingham Secretary William Davison Esq Sir Ralph Sadleir Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster Sir Walter Mildmay Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Amias Pawlet Captain of the Isle of Jersey John Woolly Esq Secretary for the Latin Tongue Sir Christopher Wray Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir Edward Anderson Chief Justice of the Bench Sir Roger Manwood Chief Baron Sir Thomas Gawdy and William Periam Judges The substance of their Commission was this The substance of the Commission Cambd. Annals f. 348. after the recital of 27. Eliz. Cap. 1. thus it followeth Whereas since the end of the Session of Parliament viz. since the first day of June in â—â—e 27 th Year of our Reign divers things have been compassed and imagined â—â—nding to the hurt of our Royal Person as well by Mary Daughter and Heir of James the Fifth King of Scots and commonly called Queen of Scots and Dowager of France pretending a Title to the Crown of this Realm of England 〈◊〉 by divers other Persons cum scientia in English with the Privity of the said Mary as we are given to understand And whereas we do intend and resolve that the aforesaid Act shall be in all and every part thereof duly and effectually put into Execution according to the Tenour of the same and that all offences abovesaid in the Act abovesaid mentioned as afore is said and the circumstances of the same shall be examined and Sentence or Judgment thereupon given according to the Tenour and Effect of the said Act to you and the greater part of you we do giâ—e full and absolute Power License and Authority according to the Tenour of the said Act to examin all and singular Matters composed and imagined tending to she hurt of our Royal Person as well by the aforesaid Mary as by any other Person or Persons whatsoever cum scientia in English with the Privity of the said Mary and all circumstance of the same and all
Pretence of Charity or otherwise c. is disabled to sue to be Commitee of any Ward or Executor or Administrator is not capable of any Legacy or Deed of Gift or to bear any Office within the Realm forfeits all his Goods and Chattels forfeits his Lands and other real Estate for his Life In case of Conformity these Penalties are not to be incurred and in case the Lands have been seised they shall be restored And now I think I may appeal to the Reader himself whether there was not ground enough for the making this Law if there had been nothing more done in this Kings Reign then the Writing the Letter before mentioned which makes so full a Discovery of a Design they were driving on of subverting our Religion and introducing their own And if it be considered that there is no Penalty annexed to this Law that relates to the Loss of Life Member or Liberty it cannot be thought severe after such continued and restless Endeavors of that Party for our Destruction and bringing us back to our former Bondage under a foreign Yoke And let the Share they had in blowing up the Differences between King Charles I. and his Parliaments which at last ended in the late unnatural Civil War and in a Temporary Destruction of our Monarchy be considered that after Charles the First was beheaded Charles The Second they attempted the Perverting of his Sons when in Exile to the Idolatry and Superstition of the Romish Church And that they at last prevailed effectually with one at least to go over to their Communion and that it was known to the Parliament in the twenty fifth Year of the Reign of Charles the Second that he was so reconciled Let I say these things be considered and it cannot be thought hard that that Law passed the Parliament the Substance of which I have here inserted It is intitled An Act for preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants WHereby for preventing Dangers which might happen from Popish Recusants 25. Ca. 2. ca. 2. Papists made uncapable of any Place or Office of Profit or Trust in the Kingdom and quieting the Minds of His Majesties good Subjects it was enacted That all and every Person and Persons as well Peers as Commoners that should bear any Offices or Places of Trust or that received any Sallery from His Majesty or any his Predecessors or were in the Service or Employment of his Highness the Duke of Yoâ—k being within the City of London or thirty Miles distant from the same should take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy in the Court of Chancery or Kings-Bench before the end of Trinity Term then next following or at the Quarter Sessions for the Place where they should reside and should likewise receive the Sacrament according to the Vsage of the Church of England at or before the first Day of August 1673. that all Persons who should be admitted into any Office or Place as aforesaid after the first Day of Easter Term to take the said Oaths either in the said Courts or in the Quarter Session for the County where he or they should reside and receive the Sacrament within three months after their Admittance to such Office c. And should deliver a Certificate into the Court where he takes the said Oaths of the receiving the Sacrament That whosoever should refuse to take the said Oaths should be adjudged incapable of any other Office and if after his Refusal he shall exercise any Office he shall not prosecute any Suit in Law Equity or be Guardian to any Child or Executor or Administrator of any Person or be capable of any Deed or Gift or to bear any Office and shall forfeit five hundred Pounds to whomsoever will sue for the same in any of His Majesties Courts where no Protection or Wager of Law should lye That the Names of all such Persons as should take the said Oaths be in the Courts of Chancery and Kings-Bench and Quarter Sessions inrolled with the Time of taking the same in Rolls for that purpose and that none should pay above the Sum of twelve Pence to any Officer for their Entry of the taking the said Oaths That no Person not bred up in the Popish Religion by his Parents should breed up or suffer his Children to be bred up in the Popish Religion under Penalty of being disabled from bearing any Office or Places of Trust and all such Children so brought up and educated shall be disabled from bearing any such Offâ—ces until they be reconciled to the Church of England take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and receive the Sacrament And that all Persons taking the said Oaths shall at the taking the same subscribe the Declaration following I A. B. do declare that I do believe that there is no Transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper or in the Elements of Bread and Wine at or after the Consecration thereof by any Person whatsoever And of this Subscription a Register to be kept as of taking the Oaths this Act not to extend to prejudice the Peerage of the Realm or take away Creation or Bills of Impost or any Salary for Life or Years granted for sufficient Consideration nor to make void any Estates of Inheritance not being Offices or to make void any Pension granted to any Person instrumental in preserving the King at Worcester that all Persons refusing to take the Oaths having Offices of Inheritance must appoint Deputies to take the said Oaths and subscribe the said Declaration that all Peers may take the Oath in Parliament if the Parliament be sitting within the time for doing thereof No married Woman or Person under the Age of eighteen Years or being beyond the Seas or found to be Non Compos Mentis shall by Vertue of this Act lose or forfeit his or her Office other then such married Women during the Life of her Husband only for any Neglect of taking the Oaths so as the respective Persons within four Months after the Death of the Husband coming to the Age of eighteen Years returning into this Kingdom and becoming of sound Mind shall take the said Oaths in manner as is thereby appointed provided that any Person who by his or her Neglect or Refusal according to this Act should lose or forfeit any Office might be capable by a new Grant of the said Office or of any other and to have and hold the same again such Person taking the said Oaths and doing all other things required by this Act so as such Office be not granted to and actually enjoyed by some other Person at the time of the re-granting thereof This Act not to extend to Commission Officers in the Navy if they subscribe the Declaration This Act not to extend to prejudice the Earl of Bristol and his Lady in the Pensions granted to them Likewise not to extend to Constables Tything-men Church-Wardens or other like private inferior Officers Before this Act of Parliament was
or Dominions or any Act attempted tending to the Hurt of Her Majesties most Royal Person by of or for any Person that shall or may pretend any Title to the Crown of this Realm after Her Majestis Decease or if any thing shall be composed or imagined tending to the Hurt of Her Majesties Royal Person by any Person or with the Privity of any Person that shall or may pretend Title to the Crown of this Realm That then by Her Majesties Commission under Her Great Seal the Lords and others of Her Highnesses Privy Council and such other Lords of Parliament to be named by Her Majesty as with the same Privy Council shall make up the Number of twenty four at the least having with them for their Assistance in that behalf such of the Iudges of the Court of Records at Westminster as Her Highness shall for that purpose assign and appoint or that more part of the same Council Lords and Iudges shall by virtue of this Act have Authority to examine all and every the Offenders aforesaid and all Circumstances thereof and thereupon to give Sentence or Iudgment as upon good Proof the Matter shall appear unto them and that after such Sentence or Iudgment given and Declaration thereof made and published by Her Majesties Proclamation under the Great Seal of England all Persons against whom such Sentence or Iudgment shall be so given and published shall be excluded and disabled for ever to have or claim or to pretend to have or claim the Crown of this Realm or any of Her Majesties Dominions any former Law or Statute whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And that thereupon all Her Highnesses Subjects shall and may lawfully by virtue of this Act and Her Majesties Directions in that Behalf by all forcible and possible Means pursue to Death every such wicked Person by whom or by whose Means Assend or Privity any such Invasion or Rebellion shall be in form aforesaid denounced to have been made or such wicked Acts attempted or other thing compassed or imagined against Her Majesties Person and all their Aidors Comfortors and Abettors And if any such detestable Act shall be executed against Her Highnesses most Royal Person whereby Her Majesties Life shall be taken away which God of his Mercy forbid that then every such Person by of or for whom any such Act shall be executed and their Issues being any wise assenting or privy to the same shall by virtue of this Act be excluded and disabled for ever to have or claim or to pretend to have or claim the said Crown of this Realm or of any other Her Highnesses Dominions any former Law or Statute whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And all the Subjects of this Realm and all other Her Majesties Dominions shall and may lawfully by virtue of this Act by all forcible and possible Means pursue to Death every such wicked Person by whom or by whose Means any such detestable Fact shall be in form hereafter expressed denounced to have been committed and also their Issues being any way assenting and privy to the same and all their Aidors Comfortors and Abettors in that Behalf And to the end that the Intention of this Law may be effectually executed if her Majesties Life shall be taken away by any violent or unnatural means which God defend Be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the Lords and others Commissioners to try such Traitors in case the Queen should be killed which shall be of Her Majesties Privy Council at the time of such her Decease or the more part of the same Council joyning unto them for their better Assistance five other Earls and seven other Lords of Parliament at the least foreseeing that none of the said Earls Lords or Council be known to be Persons that may make any Title to the Crown those Persons which were Chief Iustices of either Bench Master of the Rolls and Chief Baron of the Exchequer at the time of Her Majesties Death or in Default of the said Iustices Master of the Rolls and Chief Baron some other of those which were Iustices of some of the Courts of Record at Westminster at the time of Her Highnesses Decease to supply their Places or any twenty four or more of them whereof eight to be Lords of Parliament not being of the Privy Council shall to the utmost of their Power and Skill examine the Cause and Manner of such Her Majesties Death and what Persons shall be any way Guilty thereof and all Circumstances concerning the same according to the true meaning of this Act and thereupon shall by open Proclamation publish the same and without any delay with all forcible and possible means prosecute to Death all such as shall be found to be Offenders therein and all their Aidors and Abettors And for the doing thereof and for the withstanding and suppressing of all such Power and Forces as shall any way be levied or stirred in disturbance of the due Execution of this Law shall by virtue of this Act have Power and Authority not only to raise and use such Forces as shall in that Behalf be needful and convenient but also to use all other Means and things possible and necessary for the maintainance of the same Forces and prosecution of the said Offenders and if any such Power and Force shall be levied or stirred in disturbance of the due Execution of this Law by any Person that shall or may pretend any Title to the Crown of this Realm whereby this Law may not in all things be fully executed according to the Effect and true Meaning of the same That then every Person shall by virtue of this Act be therefore excluded and disabled for ever to have or claim or to pretend to have or claim the Crown of this Realm or of any other Her Highnesses Dominions any former Law or Statute whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding And be it farther enacted by the Authority aforesaid that all and every she Subjects of all Her Majesties Realms and Dominions shall to the utmost of their Power aid and assist the said Council and all other the Lords and other Persons to be adjoyned unto them for assistance as is aforesaid in all things to be done and executed according to the Effect and Intention of this Law and that no Subject of this Realm shall in any wise be impeached in Body Land or Goods at any time hereafter for any thing to be done or executed according to the Tenor of this Law any Law or Statute heretofore made to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And whereas of late many of Her Majesties good and faithful Subjects have in the Name of God and with the Testimony of a good Conscience by one uniform manner of Writing under their Hand and Seals and by several others voluntarily taken joyned themselves together in one Bond and Association to withstand and revenge to the uttermost all such malicious Actions
the effects of it to this very hour But nothing being done in it and seeing on the other hand that my Lord Arlington and several others endeavoured by a thousand deceits to break the good Intelligence which is between the King my Brother his most Christian Majesty and my self to the end they might deceive us all three I have thought fit to advertise you of all that is past and desire of you your assistance and friendship to prevent the Rogueries of those who have no other design then to betray the concerns of France and England and who by their pretended Service are the occasion they succeed not As to any thing more I refer you to Sir William Throgmorton and Coleman whom I have commanded to give an Account of the whole State of our affair and of the true condition of England with many others and principally my Lord Arlington's endeavours to represent to you quite otherwise then it is The two first I mentioned to you are firm to my interest so that you may Treat with them without any apprehension Coleman's Third Letter SIR I Sent your Reverence a tedious long Letter on our 29 th of September Coleman's Tryal p. 68. to inform you of the Progress of affairs for these two or three last years I having now again the opportunity of a very sure hand to conveigh this by I have sent you a Cipher because our Parliament now drawing on I may possibly have occasion to send you something which you may be willing enough to know and may be necessary for us that you should when we may want the conveniency of a Messenger When any thing occurs of more concern other than which may not be fit to be trusted even to a Cipher alone I will to make such a thing more secure write in Limon between the lines of a Letter which shall have nothing in it visible but what I care not who sees but dryed by a warm Fire shall discover what is written so that if the Letter comes to your hands and upon drying it any thing appears more then did before you may be sure no Body has seen it by the way I will not trouble you with that way of writing but upon special occasions and then I will give you a hint to direct you to look for it by concluding my visible Letter with something of Fire or Burning by which mark you may please to know that there is something underneath and how my Letter is to be used to find it out We have hear a mighty Work upon our Hands no less then the Conversion of three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the utter subduing of a Pestileat Heresie which has domineered over great part of this Nothern World a long time there were never such hopes of success since the Death of our Queen Mary as now in our days when God has given us a Prince who is become may I say a Miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a Work but the opposition we are sure to meet with is also alike to be great So that it imports us to get all the Aid and Assistance we can for the Harvest is great and the Labourers but few that which we rely upon most next to God Almighty's providence and the favour of my Master the Duke is the mighty mind of his most Christian Majesty whose generous Soul inclines him to great undertakings which being managed by your Reverence's exemplary Piety and Prudence will certainly make him look upon this as most suitable to himself and best becoming his Power and thoughts so that I hope you will pardon me if I be very troublesome to you upon this occasion from whom I expect the greatest help we can hope for I must confess I think his Christian Majesties Temporal Interest is so much attracted to that of his R. H. which can never be considerable but upon the growth and advancement of the Catholic Religion that his Ministers cannot give him better advice even in a Politic Sence abstracting from the considerations of the next World that of our Blessed Lord to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof that all other things may be added unto him That I know his most Christian Majesty has more powerful motives suggested to him by his own devotion and your Reverences zeal for Gods Glory to engage him to afford us the best help he can in our present circumstances but we are a little unhappy in this that we cannot press his Majesty by his present Minister here upon these latter Arguments which are most strong but only upon the first Mr. Rouvigny's sence and ours differing very much upon them though we agree perfectly upon the rest And indeed though he be a very able Man as to his Masters Service in things where Religion is not concerned yet I believe it were much more happy considering the posture he is now in and his temper were of such a sort that we might deal clearly with him throughout and not be forced to stop short in a discourse of Consequence and leave the most material part out because we know it will shock his particular Opinion and so perhaps meet with dislike and Opposition though never so necessary to the main concern I am afraid we shall find too much reason for this Complaint in this next Session of Parliament for had we had one here from his most Christian Majesty who had taken the whole business to Heart and who would have represented the State of our Case truly as it is to his Master I do not doubt but his most Christian Majesty would have engaged himself further in the affair then at present I fear he has done and by his approbation have given such Councels as have been offered to his R. H. by those few Catholics who have access to him and who are bent to serve him and advance the Catholic Religion with all their might and might have more Credit with his R. H. then I fear they have found and have assisted them also with his Purse as far as 10000. Crowns or some such Sum which to him is very inconsiderable but would have been to them of greater use than can be imagined towards gaining others to help them or at least not to oppose them If we had been so happy as to have had his most Christian Majesty with us to this Degree I would have answered with my Life for such success this Sessions as would have put the Interest of the Catholic Religion his R. H. and his most Christian Majesty out of all Danger for the time to come But wanting those helps of recommending those necessary Councels which have been given his Royal Highness in such manner as to make him think them worth his accepting and fit to Govern himself by and of those advantages which a little Mony well managed would have gained us I am afraid we shall not be much better at the end of this
Sessions then we are now I pray God we do not loose ground By my next which will be er'e long I shall be able to tell your Reverence more particularly what we are like to expect In the mean time I most humbly beg your Holy Prayers for all our undertakings and that you will be pleased to Honour me so far as to esteem me what I am entirely and without any reserve The Examination of Capt. William Bedlow taken upon Oath before the Lord Chief Justice North at Bristol on Monday the 16th of August 1680. Bedlows Examination before the then Lord Chief Justice North taken immediately before his death THe Examinant saith that the Duke of York hath been so far engaged in the Plot as he hath seen by Letters in Cardinal Barbarines's Secretarys Study that no part hath been proved against any Man already that hath suffered but that to the full those Letters have made him guilty of it all but what tended to the Kings death And at Rome I asked Father Anderton and Father Lodge two Jesuites what would the Duke do with his Brother when he was King and they answered me they would find a means for that they would give him no trouble about it Then I told them I believed the Duke loved his Brother so well he would suffer no violence to be done to him they said no if the Duke could be brought to that as he had been Religiously to every thing else they might do their work their other business was ready and they might do it presently But they knew they could not bring him to that point but they would take care for that themselves they had not begun with him to leave him in such scruples as that But they would set him in his Throne and there he should reign blindfold three or four days * * According to the old Game the Protestants must hear the odium of the Papists villanies for they had settled some they should pitch the action upon should clear their Party And then he should fly upon them with the Sword of Revenge And this Examinant doth further adds that the Queen is not to this Examinants knowledge nor by any thing that he could ever find out any way concerned in the Murther of the King But barely by her Letters consenting and promising to contribute what Money she could to the introducing the Catholic Religion nay 't was a great while and it made her weep before she could be brought to that The Narrative of Sir Francis North Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas at the Council-board AT my first coming to Mr. Rumsey's House where I was to Lodge at Bristol upon Monday the 16th day of August in the Afternoon being the first day of the Assizes Sir John Knight came to me and said That Mr. Bedlow lay dangerously ill of a Fever and had little hopes of Life and desired that I would give him a Visit that he might impart something of great consequence to me before his death I told him I would give him a Visit that Night after Supper about Nine a Clock if I might be satisfied of two things first that there was no infection in his distemper Secondly that the time would not be inconvenient but he might discourse to me without prejudice to his Condition After a little while two Physitians came to me and assured me that there was no danger of Infection and that the time I had appointed would be most proper for commonly he took his repose in the Afternoon and at nine a Clock he would in all probability be refreshed and fit to Discourse with me thereupon I declared my resolution of going and desired the company of the two Sheriffs and my Brother Roger North and appointed my Marshal William Janes to go with me to him As we were upon the way Mr. Crossman a Minister in that City told me Mr. Bedlow had desired him to come with me to him I said it was very well and I should be glad of his Company whereupon we went altogether and being come into the Room where Mr. Bedlow lay I saluted him and said I was extream sorry to find him so ill I came to visit him upon his own desires I did imagine he had something to impart to me as a Privy Counsellor and therefore if he thought fit the Company might withdraw He told me that needed not yet for he had much to say which was proper for the Company to hear and having saluted the Sheriffs and Mr. Crossman he discoursed to this purpose That he looked upon himself as a dying man and found within himself that he could not last long but must shortly appear before the Lord of Hosts to give an account of all his actions and because many Persons had made it their business to baffle and deride the Plot he did for the satisfaction of the World there declare upon the Faith of a dying Man and as he hoped for Salvation that whatever he had testifyed concerning the Plot was true And that he had wronged no Man by his Testimony but had testifyed rather under that over what was truth That he had nothing lay upon his Conscience upon that account That he should appear chearfully before the Lord of Hosts which he did verily believe he must do in a short time He said he had many Witnesses to produce who would make the Plot as clear as the Sun and he had other things to discover which were of great importance to the King and the Country Hereupon he making some pause I told him the Plot was so evidently made out that no reasonable Man no Protestant I was sure could doubt of the Truth of it but he ought not to have concealed any thing that concerned the King so highly he ought to discover his whole knowledge in Matters of Treason that Traytors may be apprehended and secured who otherwise may have opportunity to execute their Treasonable Designs To this he reply'd that much of that which he had not discovered was to coroborate his former Testimony that he had concealed nothing that was necessary to the Kings preservation That he thought it not fit to accuse more Persons till he had ended with those whom he had already accused He expressed great grief and trouble at the the Condition of this poor King and Country so he termed them whom he knew at that time to be in eminent Danger from the Jesuites who had resolved the Kings death and he was sure they would spare him no longer then he continued to be kind to them he said he was privy to their Consultations at Salamanca and Valadolid where they used to observe the favourable Conjuncture they had to introduce their Religion into England which consisted in their having a Head he must be set up what ever came of it and if they let slip that opportunity they should never have such another for without a Head they could do nothing he said further he knew the