make an Assault upon him and would have killed him for being ready to appear against my Lord Aston at his intended Tryal So that he is a man that has more Zeal than Honesty Zeal in no good matter namely to hinder the Truth from coming out against my Lord Aston and therefore we have little reason to wonder Nay all the reason in the world to believe that he says that which is untrue about Mr. Dugdale My Lords There was another Witness Mr. Lydcott that said he was a Fellow of King's Colledge in Cambridge He has offered no proofs that he was so and truly it is very improbable he should be so For I hope Fellowships in the University especially in one of the chief Colledges as this is are bestowed upon more deserving and less suspitious Persons than he appears to be A Man that owns himself the continual Companion and Secretary of one so famous in the Popish Party as my Lord Castlemain is A Man that pretends he was never out of his Company and a man that owns that two years since he was taking of Notes at a Tryal for this Plot not only for his own curiosity but for the service of his Lord who was concerned in the Accusation That this Man should be a Fellow of King's Colledge seems strange and till it be better proved will hardly be believed nor will he deserve any Credit It is true he doth acknowledge himself a Protestant and to be of the Church of England and educated as he says a Presbyterian but when he was asked when he received the Sacrament last I do not remember that he gave your Lordships any Answer This Witness says that he was at the Tryal of the Five Jesuites and there Dugdale did swear that he gave notice to Mr. Philips and Mr. Sambidge of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's Death And this they would make to be a great Fault in Dugdale because neither Philips nor Sambidge remember it Now whether Dugdale swore true in that or no does not depend upon Dugdale's own Credit alone but you have heard other Witnesses have made it appear that he did swear true So that we need not say any thing more to this Witness nor to Gifford who testifies to the same purpose because that point as to the report of the death of the Justice of Peace is by other Witnesses clearly proved And as for Mr. Sambidge I do not wonder much that he should say he did not hear it because he could hardly hear what was said to him by the Court or any of the Officers set near him on purpose But My Lords I desire your Lordships to take notice that he was a very angry Witness he said he had formerly had a Controversie with Dugdale that Dugdale had cited him into Litchfield Court and had there a Suit against him for Defamation and he said that against Dugdale which unless better proved must needs make Sambidge much suspected He said that Dugdale was the wickedest Man on Earth but what proof he offer'd of that or whether he did instance in any one particular I leave it to your Lordships Memories My Lords There is another Proof relating to Mr. Dugdale not out of the mouth of a Witness but out of a Paper which I desire to give an Answer to It was an Objection the Prisoner at the Bar was pleased to make to Dugdale's Information taken the 24. of December 1678. before the Justices in the Countrey wherein he had said to this purpose Presently after one Howard Almoner to the Queen went over he was told by George Hobson that there was a Design c. This saith my Lord is most impossible to be true For you say that immediately after the Almoner was gone away Hobson told you this whereas Hobson went away with the Almoner and he came not to live with my Lord Aston till many years afterwards This my Lord is pleased to offer as a falsification of Dugdale's Testimony but my Lords I do desire to observe that this is an Information taken before two Justices of Peace in the Country and if you look upon it you will see it was written by a Country Clerk and not very skilfully done ' Tâ—s rather short Notes of an Examination than a compleat Examination And your Lordships will please likewise to observe that this is not really an Expression that is clear one way or th' other but capable of two Senses that is to say either it may import Hobson told him there was a Design ever since the Almoner Howard went away or it may import Hobson told him presently after the Almoner went away that there was a Design Read but the words with a different Comma and it makes the Sense one way or t'other Now it is plain Dugdale could not intend that Hobson told him so as soon as the Almoner went away because Hobson went away with the Almoner And it was better to his purpose that Hobson should tell him so after his return than before for that shews the Design had been long a carrying on Therefore it being a doubtful Expression that may refer either to the Time he told it to him or to the Matter he told him of and being taken in the latter Sense the Objection faileth I think this Matter can have no weight at all in it to falsifie a positive Testimony My Lords the next Witness we did call and which was objected against by my Lord was Dr. Oats and truly I must observe that his Lordship was not pleased to call any one Witness materially to falsifie Dr. Oats his Testimony and I must likewise observe that Dr. Oats is in the material part of his Evidence supported by other Evidence When Dr. Oats gave Evidence at former Tryals it was the common Discourse of the men of that Religion that Dr. Oats had never been in Spain nor had ever any Credit with the Priests or Jesuits but was a mean contemptible person and that all he said was improbable But now your Lordships have heard that Dr. Oats even by the Testimony of Dennis a Popish Priest that is so to this day was in Spain was according to what he saith brought up in the Colledge of the Jesuits that he was in such esteem there that the Archbishop of Tuam commended him very much in the presence of Dennis and spoke of what expectation there was of him So that Dennis the Priest doth support Dr. Oats in some parts of his Evidence I do not speak of that part of it which concerns this particular Lord but of his Testimony touching the general Plot. There is another thing wherein Dr. Oats is supported by another Witness and that is the Esteem and Intimacy he had with the Jesuits For Mr. Jenison swears that Dr. Oats was a man in esteem among them that he was at Ireland's Chamber and had discourse with Ireland and did appear to be frequently imployed by them And I take these two Witnesses to be a great support to Dr.
to give some Reasons to your Lordships why those Laws that were against them should be repealed as well Protestant Dissenters as those of the Church of Rome and why they should have some kind of Toleration among whom you did permit those of the Romish Religion to appear too I forget their Names And I remember particularly one of the forts of them an Anabaptist I think did urge for a Reason that which is a great truth that they held Rebellion to be the Sin of Whitchcrast I believe it is as bad as any Sin can be My Lords that came to nothing at that time but my Lords I believe that after that all of all Religions had Meetings among themselves to endeavour to get that Toleration which they proposed humbly to your Lordships there I will never deny my Lords that my Opinion was and is that this Kingdom can never be happy till an Act of Parliament pass to this Effect it was my Opinion then and I did endeavour it all I could that the Dissenting Protestants might have a Comprehension and the other a Toleration I acknowledge it to be my Intention and I think it was no ill one for if that be a true Copy of the Commons Votes which is in Print there is some such thing designing there as a Comprehension and I was of Opinion that it were sufficient that such as were of the Church of Rome might by Act of Parliament serve God in their own Houses and privately in their own Way not in publick and that for it they should pay something to the King out of their Estates but truly not much That they should be severely punished if they or any of them did endeavour to persuade any Subject to their Opinion or did come to Court or enjoy any Office whatsoever though it were but that of a Scavenger but that they should pay their proportion to all chargeable Offices That I profess my Lords was my Opinion and I confess to your Lordships 't is so still I was in some hopes that it would have been done in that Sessions because I was afraid it was unlikely to be done at any time else I confess to your Lordships I was heartily and cordially against the Test because it hindred those just and honest things that were for the Good of the Kingdom My Lords there was the first or or the second Day brought into your Lordships House the Record of Mr. Coleman's Tryal and for the Letters in it I do my Lords declare to your Lordships I never read of one of them before but I have read them since they have been in Print And when I read them first cursorily over my Opinion was and is That Coleman's endavouring by Money out of France and keeping off the Parliament to get a Toleration was that which he could not justifie by Law how fat it was Criminal that I do not know I am not so skilled in the Law I think it was not justifiable but he hath paid for it severely since My Lords I do declare that ever since I had the Honour to fit among your Lordships which is now 40 Years for in the Year 1640. I was by His Majesties favour called up a Peer I have valued my self upon the Honour of sitting with you and I do declare when I have sat in this House when your Lordships have desired the King when it was hot weather and unseasonable to put off the Sitting of the Parliament I was never glad of it but sorry when they were prorogued but for a short time This I profess is true and I hope I am no Criminal in it for I do value the Parliaments Sitting to be the only means to keep this Kingdom quiet My Lords 'T is very true by Coleman's Letters and what I have seen in print since I do believe there have been some Consultations for a Toleration and if I had known as much then as I have since I have been in the Tower I had perhaps prevented many things for my Lords I hold England to be a great and an happy Body but it is as other great Bodies are it may be now as you know before it was over-grown or sick it was then and I pray God it be not now but I hold nothing can cure it but that old English Physician the King your Lordships and the Commons in Parliament assembled But if I had known any such Design as Coleman's Letters do hint I would not have continued in England My Lords For that damnable Opinion of King-killing if I were of any Church whatsoever and found that to be its Principle I would leave it My Lords this is as true as I can speak any thing in the world I beg your Lordships pardon for troubling you with my impertinencies and hope you pardon it to my weakness My Lords I do profess before Almighty God and before your Lordships my Judges I know no one tittle nor point of the Plot and if I did I hold my self bound to declare it For the present I shall say little more unless the Managers give me occasion if they will reply and make any Objections I desire I may answer them I know the great disadvantages I am under when these Gentlemen who are great Scholars and Learned Men reply upon me who have those great helps of Memory Parts and Understanding in the Law all which I want And therefore I hope your Lordships will dot conclude me upon what they or I have said but will be pleased to debate the matter among your selves and be as well my Counsel as my Judges My Lords when I offer to your Lordships matter of Law I did in no wise admit the matter of Fact Lord High Steward My Lord I cannot hear you Lord Stafford My Lords if your Lordships please that Paper may be read Lord High Steward Deliver your Paper in my Lords cannot hear Lord Stafford I cannot â—eny to your Lordships that what happened to me on Saturday night disturbed me very much Every day since I came â—â—ther there hath been such shouting and houting by a Company of barbarous Rabble as never was heard the like I believe but it was at a distance most of the time and so it did not much concern me But Saturday night it was so near and so great that really it hath disturbed me ever since it was great to day but at a distance if it were not thus I should not offer a Paper to be read I scarce know what I do or say considering the Circumstances I am in Lord High Steward Take my Lords Paper and read it Sir Thomas Lee. My Lords I desire you will please to consider whether this may not introduce a new Custom by reading of this Paper As to what my Lord is pleased to say I am sorry for the occasion that any disturbance should arise to my Lord from the Rabble or any one else I hope his Lordship believes we cannot help nor do we contribute to that
of the Tower of London bring forth thy Prisoner William Viscount Stafford upon pain and peril shall fall thereon God save the King Whereupon the Lieutenant of the Tower brought the Prisoner to the Bar. Usher of the Black Rod. My Lord Stafford must kneel which he did Lord high Steward Rise my Lord. Then he Arose and stood at the Bar and the Lord High Steward spake to him as followeth My Lord Viscount Stafford THE Commons of England Assembled in Parliament have Impeach'd your Lordship of High Treason and you are brought this Day to the Bar to be Tryed upon that Impeachment You are not Try'd upon the Indictment of Treason found by the Grand Jury tho there be that too in the Case But you are Prosecuted and Pursued by the Loud and Dreadsul Complaints of the Commons and are to be Try'd upon the Presentment which hath been made by the Grand Inquest of the whole Nation In this so Great and Weighty Cause you are to be Judg'd by the whole Body of the House of Peers The Highest and the Noblest Court in This or perhaps in any other part of the Christian World Here you may be sure no False Weights or Measures ever will or can be found Here the Ballance will be exactly kept and all the Grains of Allowance which your Case will bear will certainly be put into the Scales But as it is impossible for my Lords to Condemn the Innocent so 't is equally Impossible that They should clear the Guilty If therefore you have been Agitated by a Restless Zeal to Promote that which you call the Catholick Cause If this Zeal have Engaged you in such Deep and Black Designs as you are Charged with and this Charge shall be fully Prov'd Then you must Expect to Reap what you have Sown for every Work must and ought to Receive the Wages that are due to it Hear therefore with Patience what shall be said against you for you shall have full Time and Scope to Answer it Aud when you come to make your Defence you shall have a very fair and equal Hearing In the mean time the best Entrance upon this Service will be to begin with Reading of the Charge Lord High Steward My Lord if your Lordship find your self infirm and unable to stand your Lordship may have a Chair to ease your self whilst the Charge is Reading and a Chair was brought accordingly and his Lordship sate thereon Clerk of the Parliament Read the Charge Articles of Impeachment of High Treason and other high Crimes and Offences against William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford and Henry Lord Arundel of Wardour William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis now Prisoners in the Tower of London 1. THat for many years now last past there hath been contrived and carried on by Papists a Trayterous and execrable Conspiracy and Plot within this Kingdom of England and other places to Alter Change and Subvert the Ancient Government and Laws of this Kingdom and Nation and to Suppress the True Religion therein Established and to Extirpate and Destroy the Professors thereof which said Plot and Conspiracy was contrived and carried on in divers Places and by several ways and means and by a great number of Persons of several Qualities and Degrees who Acted therein and intended thereby to Execute and Accomplish the aforesaid Wicked and Traiterous Designs and Purposes That the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Wardour William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis together with Philip Howard commonly called Cardinal of Norfolk Thomas White alias Whitebread commonly called Provincial of the Jesuits in England Richard Strange lately called Provincial of the Jesuits in England Vincent commonly called Provincial of the Dominicans in England James Corker commonly called President of the Benedictines Sir John Warner alias Clare Baronet William Harcourt John Kenis Nicholas Blundel Poole Edward Mico Thomas Bedingfield alias Benefield Basil Langworth Charles Peters Richard Peters John Conyers Sir George Wakeman Thomas Fenwick Dominick Kelly Fitzgerald Evers Sir Thomas Preston William Lovel Jesuits Lord Baltamore John Carrel John Townely Richard Langhorn William Fogarty Thomas Penny Matthew Medbourn Edward Coleman William Ireland John Grove Thomas Pickering John Smith and divers other Jesuits Priests Fryers and other Persons as false Traytors to his Majesty and this Kingdom within the time aforesaid have Traiterously Consulted Contrived and Acted to and for the accomplishing of the said wicked pernitious and Traiterous Designs and for that end did most wickedly and Traiterously agree Conspire and resolve to Imprison Depose and Murder his Sacred Majesty and to deprive him of his Royal State Crown and Dignity and by malicious and advised speaking writing and otherwise declared such their Purposes and Intentions And also to subject this Kingdom and Nation to the Pope and to his Tyrannical Government And to seize and share amongst themselves the Estates and Inheritances of his Majesties Protestant Subjects And to Erect and Restore Abbeys Monasteries and other Convents and Societies which have been long since by the Laws of this Kingdom suppressed for their Superstition and Idolatry and to deliver up and restore to them the Lands and Possessions now vested in his Majesty and his Subjects by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm And also to Found and Erect new Monasteries and Convents and to remove and deprive all Protestant Bishops and other Ecclesiastical persons from their Offices Benefices and Preferments And by this means to destroy his Majesties Person extirpate the Protestant Religion overthrow the Rights Liberties and Properties of all his Majesties good Subjects Subvert the lawful Government of this Kingdom and subject the same to the Tyranny of the See of Rome 3. That the said Conspirators and their Complices and Confederates Traiterously had and held several Meetings Assemblies and Consultations wherein it was Contrived and Designed among them what means should be used and what Persons and Instruments should be Employed to Murder his Majesty And did then and there resolve to effect it by Poisoning Shooting Stabbing or some such like ways and means and offered Rewards and Promises of advantage to several persons to execute the same and hired and imployed several wicked persons to go to Windsor and other places where his Majesty did reside to murder and destroy his Majesty which said persons or some of them accepted such Rewards and undertook the perpetrating thereof and did actually go to the said Places for that end and purpose 4. That the said Conspirators the better to compass their Trayterous Designs have Consulted to Raise and have procured and raised Men Money Horses Arms and Ammunition and also have made Application to and Treated and Corresponded with the Pope his Cardinals Nuncioes and Agents and with other Forreign Ministers and Persons to raise and obtain Supplies of Men Money Arms and Ammunition therewith to make levy and raise War Rebellion and Tumults within this Kingdom and to Invade the same with
order to this Design Letters came also in June from St. Omers which gave them an account That Father Beddingfield had assured them of the Dukes willingness to comply with them for the advancement of the Catholick Religion My Lords after I had stay'd some time there and had passed through the Country for the business of the Society I found that in the Court of Spain some Ministers of that Court had been very ready to advance Money which Money was returned for England and that the Father Provincial of the Jesuits of Castile by his care and industry had advanced Ten Thousand Pound which was promised to be paid in June following within a Twelvemonth after My Lords in July I received Letters out of England wherein an account was given there to the Fathers in Spain That they were sending them a Mission of Twelve Students Four whereof were to go to Madrid and Eight to Validolid the Conductors of these Twelve Students were one Father Crosse that was his true Name and one Father Mumâ—ord whose true Name was Armstrong These Missioners arrived in December where they had a Sermon preached at their coming by this same Armstrong wherein the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy were declared to be Antichristian Heretical and Devillish in which the Kings Legitimacy was vilified and abused and that his Religion did intitle him to nothing but sudden death and destruction in that he appeared an enemy both to God and Man These were the Contents of that Sermon as near as I remember My Lords after the meeting with several Letters there in July August and September in the Kingdom of Spain it was ordered I should return for England and in the month of November I came for England at which time I had Letters from the Provincial of Castile called by the Name of Padre Hieronymo de Corduba who did in his Letter assure the Provincial in England and the Fathers here That the ten thousand Pound should be paid as I said hefore in June following When I came for England at London I was lodged at one Grigson's that lived in Drury-lane near the Sign of the Red-Lyon and there I lay till I went to St. Omers and by the Provincial and the Consultors of the Province I was ordered a maintenance and it was paid to this man for entertaining of me I went and brought these Letters to this Strange and there was Father Keins lying ill upon Strange's Bed and Keins was saying he was mighty sorry for honest William so they called the Russian that was to kill the King that he had missed in his Enterprize But my Lords this I think good to tell your Lordships they were not so zealous for the destruction of the King till the King had refused Coleman the dissolving of the long Parliament Then they were more intent upon it though they had several times attempted it ever since the Fire of London but when Coleman was refused the Dissolution of the Long Parliament then were they more zealous for the Destruction of the King but the Design for the introducing the Popish Religion they have been carrying on some years before the Fire by those instruments some of whom are yet alive My Lords I left England in November old stile and December new stile for when I came to St. Omers it was as near as I can remember the 9. or 10. of December according to the stile of the place I carryed with me a Packet of Letters from Strange the Provincial and other Fathers that were of the Consult for the Province of England to the Fathers at St. Omers wherein Strange did tell them that they had great hopes of their Design taking effect the next year but as yet it would not be effected he said therefore they at London thought it fit to suspend it till they saw what the Parliament would do And he did in the same Letter declare That the Parliament would be about a long Bill that had been brought into the Commons House some Sessions before but he did not Question but that the Catholick Party would evade that Bill And My Lords in that year some time after we had a Letter from our New Provincial whose true Name was Whitebread and his counterfeit Name White This Father writes to the Fathers at St. Omers and therein he does order one Conyers to preach upon St. Thomas of Canterburies Day and he did therein also tell them that he would be as zealous for the carrying on of the Design as his Predecessor had been and a Sermon was accordingly preached at the Sodality Church wherein after he had commended the Saint whose Day they celebrated for his great Vertues declaring how unworthily he was sacrificed he did inveigh against the Tyranny as he called it of temporal Princes and particularly of the King of England and when he came to speak of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy he declared that he looked upon them as Antichristian and Devillish and that it was fit to destroy all such as would countenance them We have done with the year 77. and we come now to January 1678. Lord High Stew. You speak of one Keins who lying upon Stranges Bed said he was sorry honest Will had missed his Enterprize You have not explained who that honest Will was explain that Dr. Oats It was Grove Lord High Steward But about what did he say he was sorry for him Dr. Oats That he had missed his Design Mr. Foley What was that missing of his Design Dr. Oats That he had not killed the King My Lords in January 78. Lord High Steward You mean according to the Foreign stile Dr. Oats Yes according to the Foreign stile My Lords we received Letters out of Ireland and there my Lords we found by the Contents of those Letters that they were as busie in Ireland as we were in England We found there that the Talbots and other persons were very zealous in raising of Forces and were resolved to let in the French King provided that the Parliament should urge the King to break with France My Lords likewise in January as near as I can remember Morgan was sent into Ireland as a Visitor which is something a better place than a Provincial but only it is but temporary for the time he visits and he returns in February or March and gives an account how ready the Irish were to vindicate their freedom and their Religion from the oppression of the English as they called it My Lords in February some were employed to go into some parts of Germany to Liege and to some parts of Flanders to see how the affairs there stood and how their Correspondencies stood to see whether there was not an interruption in the Correspondencies My Lords upon their return they found that the Fathers at Ghent were inclined to take into this business the secular Clergy but the Fathers of St. Omers together with the Provincial did refuse the motion because the secular Clergy were more
John Trevor Then we desire they may be produced here and the Copies proved upon Oath and then we shall leave them upon your Lordships Table And my Lords we desire likewise at the same time to save another trouble there may be delivered in the Convictions of Reading Lane Knox and others Then Mr. Clare was Sworn and delivered in the Copies of the Records L. H. Stew. What Record is that Mr. Clare It is the Record of the Attainder of Coleman for high Treason L. H. Stew. Did you examine it Mr. Clare I did examine it L. H. Stew. Is it a true Copy Mr. Clare To the best of my understanding it is Here is likewise a Copy of the Record of the Conviction of Ireland Pickering and Grove for high Treason L. H. Stew. Is there Judgment of Attainder entred upon Record Mr. Clare Yes my Lords there is Judgement entred Here is a Copy of the Indictment Conviction and Attainder of Whitebread Fenwick Harcourt Gavan and Turner for high Treason Here is a Copy of the Record of Attainder of Richard Langhorn for high Treason Here is a Copy of the Attainder of Green Berry and Hill for the Murder of Sir Edmond-bury Godfrey Here is a Copy of the Conviction of Mr. Nathaniel Reading for endeavouring to Suborn Mr. Bedlow to retract his Evidence against some of the Lords in the Tower and Sir Henry Tichbourn L. H. Stew. What is the Judgment there Mr. Clare The Judgment is entred upon it and 't is to pay 1000 l. Fine and to be put in and upon the Pillory in the Palace Yard Westminster for an hour with a Paper upon his head written in great Letters For endeavouring Subornation of Perjury Here is a Copy of the Record of the Conviction of Tasbrough and Price for endeavouring to Suborn Mr. Dugdale and Judgment entred upon it And here is a Copy of the Record of Conviction of Knox and Lane for Conspiring to asperse Dr. Oats and Mr. Bedlow Here is the Record of the Conviction of John Giles for barbarously attempting to Assassinate John Arnold Esq one of His Majesties Justices of the Peace and the Judgment entred thereupon is To stand three times on the Pillory with a Paper on his Hat declaring his Offence to pay â—00 l. to the King to lie in Execution till the same be paid and find Sureties for his Good Behaviour during life L. H. Stew. Deliver them all in And if my Lords have occasion to doubt of any thing being left in the Court they will be there ready â—o be used All which were then delivered in Mr. Treby My Lords we humbly desire that the Record of Coleman may be read because there is more of special matter in it than any of the rest and your Lordships may dispose of the others as you please L. H. Stew. Read the Record of Coleman Then the Clerk read in Latin the Record of the Attainder of Edward Coleman formerly Executed for high Treason by him Committed in this horrid Popish Plot which in English is as followeth viz. Of the Term of Saint MICHAEL in the Thirtieth Year of the Reign of King CHARLES the Second c. Middlesex AT another time to wit on VVednesday next after eight days of St. Martin this same Term before our Lord the King at VVestminster by the Oath of Twelve Jurors honest and lawful Men of the County aforesaid Sworn and Charged to Enquire for our said Lord the King and the Body of the County aforesaid it stands presented That Edward Coleman late of the Parish of Saint Margaret VVestminster in the County of Middlesex Gentleman as a false Traitor against the most Illustrious most Serene and most Excellent Prince our Lord CHARLES the Second by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith c. and his Natural Lord not having the Fear of God in his Heart nor weighing the Duty of his Allegiance but by the instigation of the Devil moved and seduced the cordial Love and the true due and Natural Obedience which true and faithful Subjects of our said Lord the King towards Him our said Lord the King ought and of right are bound to bear utterly withdrawing and devising and with his whole Strength intending the Peace and common Tranquility of this Kingdom of England to disturb and the true Worship of God within this Kingdom of England practised and by Law established to overthrow and Sedition and Rebellion within this Realm of England to move stir up and procure and the cordial Love and true and due Obedience which true and faithful Subjects of our said Lord the King towards Him our said Lord the King should bear and of right are bound to bear utterly to withdraw blot out and extinguish and our said Lord the King to death and final destruction to bring and put the 29 th day of September in the 27 th year of the Reign of our Lord CHARLES the Second by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith c. at the Parish of St. Margaret VVestminster aforesaid in the County aforesaid falsly maliciously subtilly and traiterously proposed compassed imagined and intended Sedition and Rebellion within this Realm of England to move raise up and procure and a miserable Slaughter among the Subjects of our said Lord the King to procure and cause and our said Lord the King from his Kingly State Title Power and Government of His Realm of England utterly to deprive depose deject and disinherit and Him our said Lord the King to Death and final Destruction to bring and put and the Government of the same Realm and the sincere Religion of God in this Kingdom rightly and by the Laws of this Realm established for his Will and Pleasure to change and alter and the State of this whole Kingdom in its universal parts well instituted and ordained wholly to subvert and destroy and War against our said Lord the King within this Realm of England to levy and to accomplish and fulfil these his most wicked Treasons and traiterous Imaginations and Purposes aforesaid The same Edward Coleman afterwards to wit the said Twenty ninth day of September in the abovesaid Twenty Seventh year of the Reign of our said Lord the King at the Parish of Saint Margaret VVestminster aforesaid in the County of Middlesex aforesaid falsly subtilly and traiterously devised composed and writ two Letters to be sent to one Monsieur Le Chese then Servant and Confessor of Lewis the French King to desire procure and obtain to the said Edward Coleman and other false Traitors against our said Soveragin Lord the King from the said French King his Aid Assistance and Adherence to alter the true Religion in this Kingdom then and still Established to the Superstition of the Church of Rome and to Subvert the Government of this Kingdom of England And afterwards to wit the said Twenty Ninth Day of September in the abovesaid Twenty Seventh Year
Oates to produce it but yet in point of Evidence if he will not swear it to be a true Copy or give an account how he came by it we cannot allow it to be read L. H. Stew. My Lord Stafford 'T is you that want this Paper you desire to have the benefit of the Examination that was taken of Mr. Oates and therefore you must produce a Copy of it Lord Stafford My Lords I could never get it L. H. Stew. 'T is not entred in our Journal nor is it to be traced we know not where it is You have had time enough to look after it You are now offered by Oates himself a Copy that was given him for a true Copy though he can't swear by whom Are you content that shall be read if the Gentlemen will admit it Lord Stafford By what I guess of Dr. Oates I know him not he would not give in a Copy of an Examination unless it were true if it be true I know not what should hinder the reading of it but as far as concerns me I desire it may be read L. H. Stew. You do Consent and will you Gentlemen permit it Mr. Serjeant Maynard We do not know whence it comes we can't admit it unless Oates says 't is true Sir William Jones My Lords it hath been long in the Doctors possession he hath read it over he can't say 't is a true Copy but I desire to ask him whether all in that writing be true and whether he did swear what is in that writing L. H. Stew. If your Lordships please thus and you Gentlemen of the House of Commons The best way to have an answer to this Question is that it may be read de bene esse Sir Fran. Winn. Pray my Lords let him read it over to himself privately and then let us know whether he can swear the same things that are in that Paper which Dr. Oates began to do Dr. Oats Your Lordships ask only as to my Lord Stafford L. H. Stew. My Lord desires no more but pray read it over all and give your Answer to all for that Question may be will be asked in other Cases and 't is fit you should be provided for it which he did L. H. Stew. What say you Doctor Dr. Oats My Lords I do verily believe I did swear the Contents of that Paper L. Stafford My Lords I do not oppose the reading of that Paper but I have here a Copy of something in the Journal and do not stand upon my memory but I think upon the viewing of it now there is something in the Copies of the Journal Clerks We cannot find it L. Stafford Then read this Paper L. H. Steward Will you have this Copy of the Examination read or not L. Stafford Yes my Lords Clerk The Examination of Titus Oats Clerk taken before us L. H. Stew. When was that Clerk The 24. of October 1678. L. H. Steward That was read the 25. the next day in the House of Lords The Examination of Titus Oats Clerk taken by us the 24. of October 1678. THis Examinant saith That in the Month of May last this Examinant saw a Patent under the Seal of the Father general of the Society of Jesus at Rome called Johannes Paulus Oliva at the Chamber of Mr. Langhorn wherein it was expressed That by vertue of a Breve from the Pope he did Constitute the Lord Arundel of Wardour Lord High Chancellor of England which Patent was sent to the Lord Arundel of Wardour by a Messenger who was the Son of Mr. Langhorn And this Examinant saith That he saw a Letter subscribed by the Lord Arundell of Wardour as he believes wherein the Lord Arundel did acknowledge the receipt of the said Patent and accepted of the same and promised to answer the expectation of the Society This Examinant saith That in June last he saw the like Patent wherein the Lord Powis was Constituted Lord Treasurer of England which Patent was carried by one Parsons Secretary to the Lord Powis from one Saunders House in Wild-street to be delivered to the Lord Powis and at the delivery of the Patent 3001 was paid by Parsons to Fenwick and Ireland to carry on the design of the Jesuits which was to raise a Rebellion in the three Kingdoms and to destroy the King In the Month of July this Examinant saw a Letter subscribed Powis and directed to Fenwick wherein his Lordship did acknowledge the receipt of the said Patent and did accept of the same and said he had 300 Men and Horse ready for the Design and that his Lordship would venture his life and fortune in the Affair In the month of August last this Examinant saw a Letter directed to Mr. Langhorn by the outside but within to the Society of the Jesuits wherein Sir William Godolphin acknowledged he had received the like Patent to be Lord Privy Seal and had accepted thereof and in July 1677. this Examinant saw the same in the hands of the Archbishop of Tuam at Madrid in Spain This Examinant saith that in July last Mr. Coleman ackowledged and confessed to Fenwick in this Examinants presence that he had received the like Patent to be Secretary of State and that it was a good exchange This Examinant saith that in May June July and August last this Examinant saw several Letters signed Stafford whereby it appeared that the Lord Stafford was in this Conspiracy against His Majesty and that he had returned several Sums of Mony to the Jesuits to carry on the Design the Letters were directed to Fenwick and Ireland and in August last this Examinant saw another Letter directed to the same persons signed Stafford wherein my Lord writ that although he had sent his Son to Lisbon yet he would be ne'r the worse friend to the Jesuits and this Examinant conceiveth the Reason of that Letter was because there was then a difference between the English Colledge at Lisbon and the Jesuits in July last this Examinant saw in the hands of Fenwick a Commission directed to the Lord Bellasis from the person aforesaid to be Lord General of the Army to be raised in England against His Majesty and in July this Examinant saw a Letter from my Lord directed to Fenwick wherein his Lordship acknowledged the receipt of the Commission and thanked the Society for the same and that he accepted the same and would do what in him lay to answer their expectations In May last this Examminant saw a Patent in the hands of Mr. Langhorn to make my Lord Petres Lieutenant-General of the Army and in June last this Examinant did hear my Lord Petres in the presence of Mr. Longworth his Confessor acknowledge the receipt of the same and that he accepted thereof and his Confessor wished him much joy thereof Lord Stafford My Lords if this be owned for truth that he swore then I proceed upon the Evidence of that L. H. Stew. Without allowing it to be a true Copy Dr. Oats at