hands to prevent the Consequences of French and Popish Dictates they were mistaken in the Man and gave their wholsom Advice to him that was bound not to take it and was himself the Primum Mobile of all the Disorders which they besought of him to remedy During this Sessions of Parliament many foul things came to light For while the King had raised an Army and pressed the Parliament for Money to maintain them under pretence of making a War with France which was the earnest desire of all the Protestant part of the Kingdom the Parliament were fully informed that while the King boasted of the Alliances which he had made for the preservation of Flanders and the Protestant Religion both at home and abroad he was secretly entred into Treaties and Alliances at the same time with the French King and Mr. Garraway of the House of Commons had gotten a Copy of the Private Treaty between the King of England and the French King at the same instant that the Secretary and all the Court Pentioners cried out a War insomuch that such of the Conspirators as were in the House began to blush when they saw the Cheat so palpably discerned It was farther discovered that a great Favourite of the Duke 's had been sent over into France under a pretence of Expostulating and requiring satisfaction for the Injuries which the English had received from the French but in reality to carry the Project of Articles for the Peace and to settle and confirm all things fast about the Money that was to come from France and to agree the Methods for shamming the Confederates about their Expected Alliances They found themselves cheated of all the Pole Bill Money which they had given so little a while before upon the assurance of a War intended against France the greatest part of which they perceived was imediately though appropriated to the French Wur only converted to other uses as the paying of old Debts so that very little was left to pay for any Necessaries bought or to be bought toward the pretended War with France Nor were they ignorant of the real Design for which the King had raised his Army and what care the King and his Brother took that there should be no other Officers in that Army than what were fit for the Work in hand which was to introduce Popery and French Government by main force Four parts of Five being downright Papists or else such as resolved so to be upon the least intimation The Duke recommending all such as he knew fit for the Turn and no less than a Hundred Commissions being sign'd by Secretary W. to â—ish Papists to raise Forces notwithstanding the late Act by which means both the Land and Naval Forces were in safe hands And to compleat the Work hardly a Judge Justice of the Peace or any Officer in England but what was of the Duke's Promotion Nor were they ignorant of the private Negotiations carried on by the Duke with the Kings Connivance with the Pope and Cardinal Norfolk who had undertaken to raise Money from the Church sufficient to supply the King's Wants till the Work were done in case the Parliament should smoak their Design and refuse to give any more Nor was the Parliament ignorant what great Rejoycing there was in Rome it self to hear in what a posture his Majesty was and how well provided of an Army and Money to begin the Business The Parliament also understood while they were labouring the War with France and to resist the growth of Popery and Arbitrary Power that the King underhand assisted the French with Men and Ammunition of all sorts and soon after that a Cessation was concluded both at Nimeghen and Paris and that the King had got some money from France for that Jobb by which means the French King was now sure to hold all his Conquests abroad which had England been real to the Confederates might have been easily wrested again out of his Hands But it seems it was not so much Money as the King expected which made him angry so that he began to threaten that if the French King did not perform his Promise of 300000 l. Annuity for three Years he would undo all he had done against the next Parliament But the French King derided those vain Threats menacing in his turn that if the King of England would not be content with his Terms and do and say to the Parliament according to his directions he would discover both him and his Correspondents in betraying the Nation and discover all his secret Contrivances against the Kingdom as afterwards he Published the Dover Treaty at Paris which was the reason that after that His Majesty of England never durst disoblige the French Monsieur but became a perfect Slave to his Interest a Bondage he never needed to have undergone had he been but half as sincere to his English Parliament But to them he was never true with them he always broke his Faith and Royal Word insomuch that after they had given him Money to Disband his Army he employed the Money to another use and kept up his standing Forces to the great Terror of the People in all parts of the Kingdom So that now all things running on the Papistical side to their Hearts desire what with Popish Souldiers Popish Officers Popish Counsels Popish Priests and Jesuits swarming about the Town and Country and France at leisure to help them who had help'd him to be more a Conqueror by the Peace than he could have expected by a War the Duke of York was for the Kings pulling off his Vizard and for setting up Alamode of France according to what had been so often debated at White hall and St. Iames's But while the King and his Brother were thus riding Post to ruin the Laws and Religion of the Kingdom the Discovery of the Popish Plot by Dr. Oats broke all their Measures for a time by laying open the Secret Contrivances of our English Castor and Pollux for the introducing of Popery and Arbitrary Government This Plot was no sooner made known to the King but he imparts it to the Duke not the knowledge of the Plot for that they both knew before but the News of the Plots being discovered Upon which they set themselves with all the care they could to stop the farther Progress of the Discovery To which purpose the Duke gives notice of it to his Man Coleman and the Priests and Jesuits in the Savoy by which means what Papers and Persons were to be conceal'd and conveyed away was carefully looked after All this while by this â—easonable detection of the King and his Brother to the Priests Jesuits Oats himself narrowly escaped Massacred Oats finding himself thus betray'd and abandoned by the King applies himself to Sir Edmund Bury Godfry with a Scheme of the Plot fairly drawn up by that means to be introduced before the Council to have the Business there unfolded which with much ado was done and Oats
the Scandal of being a Whore that after he had made her a Dutchess he made her also his Wife that is to say he marry'd her by vertue of his Royal Prerogative at the Lord A's House by the Common Prayer-Book according to the Ceremonies of the Church of England A thing in some measure justifiable in a Prince since the Law allows all Men one Wife and therefore a King who is above Law may surely have two And upon this ground perhaps it was that upon a Lord Mayor's Day being at Mr. Eaton's in Cheapside where the King usually stood upon some Discourse that brought it out she cry'd Me no Whore if me thought me were a Whore me would cut mine own Throat And by the same Dispensing Power he provided also for her Children And therefore having no less adulterously begotten a Daughter upon the Lady Wood he join'd her in holy Wedlock to one of his Sons whom he had begot after the same Legitimate manner upon the Body of the Dutchess of Cleveland according to the Answer of Tamar to Ammon of which he wanted not Sycophant Priests enow to put him in mind But these were Peccadillo's readily forgiven by the Religion which he inwardly embrac'd which could readily dispense with such Trifles as these provided he went thorough-stitch with the Work which his Ghostly Fathers had cut out for him Which was the reason perhaps that he made choice of a Devotion so conformable to his lustful Inclinations For certainly what was said of Harry the Eighth might much more properly he said of him That he spar'd no Woman whether Virgin Marry'd or Widow in his Venereal Heats Which fill'd his Court so full of Pimps and Panders that there was hardly any Preferment about his Person for any other This was that which render'd the D. of L. one of the most ill-favour'd of Men so amiable in our Caesar's Eyes And this was that which advanced several others to their gilded Coaches and Places of the greatest Honour and Profit about the Court. Tho nothing was more mournful then to see those vast Sums of Money which the Parliament so profusely gave him for the Honour and Security of the Nation so extravagantly and prodigally wasted upon his Strumpets of which two were Common Harlots of Actresses taken from the Bawdy Stage to his Royal Bed A thousand Pounds every Munday-morning for the Smiles of a Gilt when his necessary Servants pin'd and starv'd for want of their weekly Board-wages and the strength of the Kingdom his Seamen were forc'd to serve his Enemies for Bread Thus from the first hour of his Arrival into these Kingdoms for I dare not call them His he set himself by his own perswasion and influence to withdraw both Men and Women from the Laws of Nature and Morality and to pollute and infect the People with all manner of Debauchery and Wickedness He that ought to have shone like the North Star in the Firmament of Royalty to direct his Subjects in the Paths of Vertue and Honesty was the Sovereign Ignis fatuus to misguide them into all the snares of Ruin and Perdition Execrable Oaths were the Chief Court-Acknowledgements of a Deity Fornications and Adulteries the Principal Tests of the Peoples Loyalty and Obedience And whether it were to affront God who had preserved and restored him to his Throne or to be reveng'd upon the Nation for inviting him so unanimously to weild the Scepter of his Ancestors certain it is that he made it his business to live in defiance of the Fear and Authority of God and to poyson and corrupt the Minds and deprave the Manners of the English People as might easily be observed through the whole Course of his Reign But the King had been well instructed in his Exile and had sufficiently learnt in his banishment that undoubted Maxim of Tyranny that the only way to alter the settl'd Government of a Nation and to introduce Slavery and Popery the support of Thraldom was to weaken and make soft the Military Temper of the People by Debauchery and Effeminacy which generally go hand in hand together Knowing therefore that Regis ad Exemplum totus componitur Orbis he gave these lewd Examples himself on purpose that after he had thus Enervated the Minds and Resolutions of his Subjects he might the more easily trample upon their Necks and reduce them under the perpetual Yoke of Antichrist in expectation of his Mothers Blessing and to fulfil the Agreement between himself the Pope and the French King Certain it is that the Kingdom was never in a better Posture for the King to work upon it then at the time of his return into England For such were the Contests for Superiority among those who had taken upon them the Government after the death of Oliver such the Confusions and Disorders that from thence arose that no body could probably see where would be the End of the general Distraction unless it were by reducing all things to their Primitive Condition under a Prince whose Title was so fair to the Crown Though a great Blunder in Politicks which the necessity of Affairs at that time made to pass for an Act of Prudence But such an Act it was to which all Parties were the more inflam'd by the Kings reiterated Oaths Promises and Declarations to those of the Church of England to maintain the Protestant Religion to the Dissenters that he would indulge their tender Consciences with all the Liberty they could rationally desire and to All in general that he was a most really zealous and unalterable Protestant And so infatuated they were with these ingratiating Wheedles that should all that knew him beyond Sea both at Colen and in Flanders have spoken their discoveries with the Voices of Angels nay should the Letter which he wrote with his own hand in the year Sixty two to the Pope have been shewn them in Capital Letters they would have been all lookt upon but as Fictions and Inventions to obstruct the Happiness of the Nation The People therefore ador'd him as the end of all their Miseries the Dissenters upon the Relations of their Ministers return'd thought themselves happy in the reports of his Mercy and Piety and the Parliament doated upon his Oaths and Promises so that no Prince in the World could ascend a Throne with more Love and Affection or with a greater Reputation in the Opinion of the whole Nation What could be more inhuman more immoral more barbarous then by all the Violations of Royal Faith and the Word of a King to disappoint the Hopes and Expectations of a People that had such a Confidence of his Religion and Vertue Though perhaps such a failure might have been attributed to his Weakness and want of Conduct But to set himself after so high a Veneration of his Vertues such a prostrating of their Lives and Fortunes at his Feet in Combination with a Forreign Prince the only professed and mortal Enemy of their Welfare to destroy their Religion
who but he who in his last wheedling Speech to pick the Nations Pocket had promised to Consenâ— to any Laws against Popery at the bottoâ— of it Who but he the Suborner and Instructer of Fitzharris and the Gratifier of him too with his own Hand And why was W p readmitted to his and his Brother's Favour but to be the principal Broker for Witnesses and grand Minister of Subordination for the carrying on this bloody Design that since he could not advance his Fortune by the prostitution of his own Daughter he might do it by betraying the Innocent to slaughter What a crew of Devils in the shape of Men a Regiment of Miscreants in whom all the Transgressions of the Law and Morality were muster'd together I say what a band of such Caitiffs were rendevouz'd and with that Money which Parliaments gave to promote the Security of the Kingdom carress'd and pamper'd even to excess for the destruction of the Innocent And all this at the expence of him that bore the Stile and Character of our Gracious Soveraign For full proofs of which there needs no more than to look into the Tryal of Fitzharris himself and observe the Shuffâ—ng and Hectoring of Portsmouth and her Close-stool Wench Mrs. Wall when they were ask'd the Question about the Money that was given him at White-Hall and yet one would have thought that the modest and humble Address and Petitions of so maâ—y Parliaments to secure the Lives and Religion of his people that the care and tenderness which they had still out of mistake for his person that the prostrated Complaints of a distressed Nation and that the foresight of these dismal Calamities he was bringing upon three spacious and opulent Kingdoms might have interceded for some Compassion had there been a grain of common Humanity in his Adamantine Heart or that the heat of his Lust had not petrified all his pity And yet as horrid as this Plot was which nothing could equal but that horrid Plot of his own which this was contrived to coveâ— and stifle by excelling it was carried on with all the vigour imaginable insomuch that the more fatal Libel than the Gorgon's Head that was to kill unseen was ready prepared for the Work and the Train ready to take fire had not Everard's Jealousie of some design upon himself outwitted Fitzharris and first betrayed him to save his own Bacon To recite the particulars of a Design already so well known and publickly exposed to all the World would be a repetition altogether needless This however was observable that we were come to the height of Tiberius's Reign when Informers and 〈◊〉 Accusers a sort of Men found out for thâ— Ruine of the Publick and for the punishment of which no Laws can be too severe were encouraged and courted with Rewards Nullus à poena hominum cessavit dies decreta accusatoribus precipua premia nemini delatorum fides abrogata omne Crimen pro Capitali receptum etiam paucorum simpliciumque Verborum No day passed without some punishment inflicted great Rewards given to Informers no Informer but what was believed all Crimes were adjudged Capital though merely a few idle Words Such a Harmony there was between these times and the pernicious Reign of that Master in Cruelty and Dissimulation Tiberius But the Roguery being discovered while Fitzharris thought to have put Everard upon this Dilemma either to hang or prove the Libel upon others he came to run himself into the Noose Lord into what an Agony it put the King the Duke his dear Brother and their then juggling Instruments that the King who a little before was so overjoyed with the accompt of the Contrivance which was given him at White-hall that he could hardly contain himself from displaying the Raptures of his Soul was now so highly incensed against Fitzharris that he was heard to say He should die if there were no more Men in England But his Confession to the Recorder Sir George Treby and others what the design of the Conspiracy was that is to say to thrust papers into the pockets and Lodgings of such and such Gentlemen and then to seize them with the papers about them so enraged his Employers that he was presently lockt up in the Tower out of the reach of all Men but the Lieutenant to damn him for spoiling so hopeful a Design and Secretary Ienkins who was only admitted to him either to threaten or cajole him with fair promises into a Recantation But above all things there was such a dread among the Conspirators lest the Parliament should come to the knowledge of the depth of the Design that their resolute insisting to have the Cognizance of the Crime within their own jurisdiction was the occasion of their sudden Dissolution After which a Chief Justice was exalted on purpose to hang Fitzharris out of the way to prevent his farther discovery though the rejecting of Fitzharris's Impeachment by the Lords was a thing so new and unusual as to the Proceedings of Parliament that the Commons who knew the Law as well as the Judges voted it a Denial of Justice and that no Inferior Court should dare to try an Offender by them impeach'd But the Judges over-ruling the Law and the Court over-ruling the Judges no sooner was the Parliament Dissolved but Fitzharris was Hanged and by that means many a Mystery of Iniquity concealed The dissolution of this and the foregoing Parliament was justified by a Declaration in the King's Name which being published with all the severity and reproach that could be cast upon those worthy Patriots verified the Report of what the King had been heard to say That he would make the name of Parliaments to be forgotten in England However the Parliament being blown up and the King running away in a pretended pannick fear from Oxford to colour the ensuing projects of Plotting and Subornation no sooner was he settled again at London and Fitzharris Hang'd to the great joy of those that adored him before but the Gazett was cram'd with Addresses from all parts of the Nation to thank the King for his expressions and promises to Govern by Law which was no more than his Duty But those Addresses were only signed by the unthinking loose and rascally part of the people who were not sensible of the mischief which was thereby intended which was to make the Nation out of Love with Parliaments thereby to unhinge the Government and to introduce Tyranny and Arbitrary Power And that th Addressorse were only the Canaille of the Kingdom with only a Tool of Quality at the Head of them the Conspirators well knew which was the reason they never durst adventure to call any more Parliaments upon the Credit of their Addresses notwithstanding the mighty brags of their Number and Reputation in the Countries As for the Tryal of Fitzharris I shall say nothing of it as being already in Print Only this is to be observed by the way That no Attorney or Sollicitor-General durst
matchless Piece as could not have enter'd into the Breast of any but a Bejesuited Herostratus in hopes to purchase the infamous immortality of a Popish Saintship by reducing to Ashes the greatest Bulwark and Magazin of the Protestant Religion in Europe Rome was set on Fire by Nero to have rebuilt it again more Glorious and that he might have space enough for one of the most sumptuous Palaces so design'd under the Sun thereby to have made the Mistress of the Earth the wonder of the World But London was fired not only to destroy the Wealth and Habitations of the City never to have risen more but with an intention to extirpate the Inhabitants themselves to boot and to have turn'd the Venerable and Spacious Pile into a depopulated Wilderness by a general Massacre of the People under the Consternation of the spreading Flames The standing Streets provided and furnished with Incendiaries with fresh Materials to revive and restore the weary Conflagration and when taken in the Act rescued out of the Hands of those that seized them and sent to St. Iames's to be there secured from the Rage of the Multitude and then dismist without Prosecution An excellent way to have made all sure by mixing the Blood of the Inhabitants with the Ashes of their Dwellings the only Cement which the Papists believed would fastest bind the Fabrick of the Romish Church And what greater piece of Perfidie could there be than while the D. was riding about the Streets under pretence of assisting to quench the Fire that his Guards were at the same time employed to prevent the People from removing their Goods and his Palace made the Refuge of such as were taken in the very fact of cherishing and fomenting the Flames This the Committee of Parliament trac'd so far that it cost the Life of the poor Gentleman that gave the Information of these Things to the Chair-man of the Committee to prevent any further Discovery and secure the D. from the Danger of his Life Coleman's crying out There was no Faith in Man was a most undeniable Testimony of the Treachery of his Master notwithstanding all the faithful Service he had done him and was it not a Magnanimous and Generous Act of a Prince to betray as he did to the Gallows not only his most trusty Servant but his Fellow-Partner in the Conspiracy More inhumane still was the Barbarous Murder actually contriv'd and brought to perfection by the encourag'd Instruments of the Duke For he it was that sent word to Coleman to bid him take no care for that Sir Edmondbury Godfrey should be remov'd out of the way and at the same time took the like care that his Servant Coleman should follow him For it was Detection that he feared and the Duke well knew that the Dead could never tell Tales The Particulars of the Murder and how far the Circumstances of it reached the Duke are too fresh in Memory to be here inserted and Dispensation for Deeds of the blackest hew were so easily obtained that it was no wonder the Duke so little boggled at a single Murder to conceal the designs of general Massacres wherein he was engag'd In pursuance of which he was no less industrious to bring the Presbyterians and all the Dissenting Protestants within the Snare of his Sham-plot in order to the Destruction of thousands of Innocent Persons This Dangerfield discovered to the World and his Informations taken upon Oath before Sir William Roberts and Sir William Poultney are extant wherein he gives an Account of his being introduced several times into the Duke of York's Presence Particularly that being once among the rest admitted to the Duke of York's Closet at White-Hall he kissed his Hand upon his Knees And then being taken up by the Duke he gave him a little Book containing the whole Scheme of the Presbyterian Plot for which the Duke thank'd him as also for his diligence in the Catholick Cause and wishing good Success to his Undertakings Added these words That the Presbyterian Plot was a thing of most mighty Consequence and I do not question but the Effects of it will answer our Expectation especially in the Northern Parts where I am well assur'd the major Part of the Gentry are my Friends and have given sufficient Demonstrations to me as also of their Intentions to prosecute this Presbyterian Plot for they are no strangers to the Design At the same time he ordered Dangerfield to be very careful of what he communicated to the Persons who were to be the Witnesses in that new Plot lest he should be caught in the Subornation and so bring a terrible Odium upon the Catholicks and make himself uncapable of any further Service Then for Encouragement in the prosecution of the Sham-Plot the Duke promis'd that he would take care that Mony should not be wanting and ordered him with all the Expedition the Thing would allow to make a Discovery of it to the King At the same time the Duke also made divers Vows and bitter Execrations to stand by him in the Thing and engaged upon his Honour to be his Rewarder and in Earnest gave him Twenty Guinies with his own Hand and telling him withal what a great Reputation he had gained among the Catholicks and that in a short time he should see the Catholick Religion flourish in these Kingdoms with a great deal more to the same purpose Of the truth of which among many others there could not be a more convincing Proof than the bitter Enmity which the Duke bore to Dangerfield after his Discovery and the severe Usage which he receiv'd from Iefferies the Duke's Creature and the Rhadamantine Dispenser of his Revenges In Scotland he Rul'd or rather Reign'd tho in his Brother's Life-time with a more Arbitrary and Lawless Controul And there it was that he breath'd forth his Venome against the Protestants utter'd his Tyrannous Maximes with more freedom and exercis'd his Tyranny with a more boundless and exorbitant Extravagance For there it was that he first undertook to exercise the power of Sovereign Rule refusing to take the Oath of High Commissioner which the Law of the Country requir'd as here he had denied to take the Test and to shew how he intended to govern England when it came to his turn there it was that in the hearing of Persons of great Credit he had this worthy Apothegm That tho in England the Lawyers rul'd the Court yet in Scotland he would rule the Lawyers There it was that he positively denied to give the Parliament any security for the Preservation of their Religion in case he succeeded to the Crown And being told of the Terms that the King had offer'd to the Parliament of England tho much harder and more dishonourable than any which they required he replied That the King never intended any such Limitations should pass nor did he offer them but when he knew they would not be accepted And farther to demonstrate his imbitter'd hatred of the Protestants
shadow of a Law to countenance them of which more in due place Having made this fair Progress toward the enslaving both the Souls and Bodies of his own Subjects at home let us take a View of his Zeal to the Protestant Religion abroad And first for the Protestants of France his Care and Tenderness for them may be easily conjectur'd from hence that the first Edicts issu'd forth by Lewis the Fourteenth for their Persecution bear date with the Time and Year of his Most Protestant Majesties Restauration And from that day to this in stead of interceding or concerning himself in their behalf he has by his own Example and his strict Correspondence with the French King both countenanc'd and encourag'd their Oppression which the French King at that time when he was formidable in the Love of his Subjects durst no more have prosecuted than Mazarine durst proceed in his Fury against the Hugonots when more Pious Oliver bestir'd himself in their Favour But our Protestant Monarch was so far from sending Succour to the French Protestants that he betray'd those to the Rage of the French Tyrant that came to invoke his Aid in their behalf For when Monsieur Rohan came into England to acquaint his Pious Majesty with the Resolutions taken at Paris to persecute and if possible to root out the Reformed in France and propos'd such Overtures to the King as would have been greatly for his Glory and Interest yet no way contrary to the Allegiance of that poor People he remitted the Monsieur to his Brother the D. of York who not only inform'd the French Embassador of the Gentleman's Errand but plac'd him behind the Hangings to hear whatever Monsieur Rohan had to represent and propose to him Which altho the Embassador could not but abhor in the two Brothers and was asham'd of in himself yet he could do no less then inform his Master of what he had seen and heard Upon which the poor Gentleman upon his Return out of England was so narrowly watch'd and so closely pursu'd that being apprehended upon the Borders of Switzerland he was carried back to Paris and there broken upon the Wheel Nor did it satisfie the King and his dear Brother the Duke to have thus betray'd as well as abandon'd the Protestants in France but with the utmost Malice that Popery could inspire into them they sought the Destruction of the Seven United Provinces upon no other Account but of their being Protestant States and for giving shelter to those who being persecuted by himself and his Confederate the French Tyrant for their Religion fled thither for Protection and Safety For knowing what in due time they intended to bring upon the Protestants at home they thought it most requisite to destroy those Protestant States in the first place that there might remain no Sanctuary for their persecuted Subjects And indeed abating this and one more Ground of their Quarrel with those States never was a War undertaken upon more unjust and frivolous Pretences then those Two which the King engag'd in against the Seven Provinces in the Years 1667. and 1672. Nor can any thing justifie the Discretion and Wisdom of those Wars had they not been undertaken meerly in subserviency to the promoting Popery and Slavery seeing that upon all other Grounds that Reason and Prudence can suggest it was the Interest of England as still it is to preserve the Government of Holland entire Nor can we have a truer Accompt of the Grounds upon which the two Monarchs of England and France agreed the War against Holland in the Year 1672. then by the Representation which the French Embassador made of it both at Rome and Vienna For tho' his Publick Declaration pretended no more but that it was to seek Reparation for the Diminution of his Glory yet the Accompt he gave to the Pope of his Master's and consequently of our Protestant Monarch his strict Confederate's undertaking that War was that he did it in order to the Extirpation of Heresie And in the same manner they sought to justifie the Piety of that Enterprise to his Imperial Majesty by alledging That the Hollanders were a People that had forsaken God and were Hereticks and that all good Christians were bound to associate and unite for their Extirpation Upon which accompt it seems our King and the Duke thought fit to exchange the Appellation of Good Protestants for that of Good Christians However from hence it was plain what sort of Good Christians they were since it was as evident that their uniting with France in that War was to destroy the Protestant Dutch Hereticks And that we may yet more fully understand the Motive upon which the King embark't in that bloody and expensive War it is worthy observation how that when the French King made it one of his Propositions upon which he would be contented to receive the States into his ancient Friendship That they should not only allow the Publick Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion over all the United Provinces but that they should appoint a Sallary to the Priest allotted to the Churches which the Papists by that Demand were to enjoy the King of England being no less concerned for Popery then his Brother of France gave the States to understand by his Plenipotentiaries That without their Concession of the foregoing Demand of the King of France he could not return to Peace with them So that not only from the Motive upon which the War was commenc'd but from the Proposals which he urg'd them to consent to in order to a Peace we have a most convincing Proof of his Majesty's being no zealous Protestant but rather quite the contrary and of his pious Inclinations to the Extirpation as well as weakning the Protestant Religion in the United Provinces Certainly a most thankful Acknowledgment and Royal Requital of those Provinces for the many Kindnesses which they had vouchsaf'd him during his Exile and for their Favours their liberal Entertainments the high Honours which they had paid him when he made their Country the last Stage of his Retreat in order to his Return to his Crown and Kingdom But this must be ascrib'd to his Zeal for promoting the Catholick Religion which attones for all Defects of Justice and Gratitude and ought to be imputed to those Principles of Popery which he had suck't in with the French Air and which have a peculiar Vertue and Faculty to expel all Morality and good Nature These being the real Grounds and Motives that induc'd the King of England to begin that Impolitick War against the Dutch in the year 1665. whatever was openly and publickly pretended how strangely was the Parliament deluded and blinded by the King's Oaths and Protestations of his Zeal for the Protestant Religion What vast Sums of the Subjects Money they gave the perfidious Monarch to defray the Expences of that unnecessary and baneful War is too well known and yet after all saving one brisk Engagement ill-manag'd tho' with
Nation that had so little respect for Kings and that the occasion was never more favourable seeing many of the Princes of Germany were already entered into the League and that the King of France was powerful enough to be able to promise to his Allies in the Issue of that War satisfaction both as to their Honour and Interests whereby he prevailed with that Prince to enter into secret Alliance with France And for his greater Assurance and the more to confirm him Henrietta Dutchess of Orleans went for England and proposed to her Brother in the Name of the Most Christian King that he would assure him an Absolute Authority over his Parliament and full Power to establish the Catholick Religion in his Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland But withal she told him that to compass this before all things else it would be necessary to abate the Pride and Power of the Dutch and to reduce them to the sole Province of Holland and that by this means the King of England should have Zealand for a Retreat in case of necessity and that the rest of the Low-Countries should remain to the King of France if he could render himself Master of it This is the Sum of that famous League concluded at Dover fram'd and enter'd into on purpose for the Subjugation of these three Nations to Popery and Slavery However as at first this Treaty was kept so close that it was no way to be discover'd so before the Effects appear'd it was necessary that the Parliament after the old wont should be gull'd to the giving of Money for the carrying on this grand and deep Conspiracy The Parliament met Octob. 24. 1670. where the Lord Keeper Bridgeman guided more by his Instructions than by any knowledge he had of the devilish Design omitted nothing to make Both Houses sensible of the great Service done to England and in a manner to all Mankind by chaining up the devouring Lyon that was never satiated with Prey and the more to incite their Liberality he told them of several other Leagues which the King for the good of his People and the Advancement of the Trade of the Nation had made with other Princes as the D. of Savoy the King of Denmark and the King of Spain by which as his Lordship was pleased to say it was evident that all the Princes of Europe sought his Majesties Friendship as acknowledging they could not secure much less improve their present Condition without it concluding that for the Support of these Alliances the annual Charge of His Majesties Navy came to no less than Five hundred thousand Pounds nor could be maintain'd with less Upon the telling of which Story notwithstanding the immense Sums lavish'd to no purpose or rather to our Loss in the former War with Holland notwithstanding they had given the Additional Duty upon Wines for Eight years amounting to Five hundred and sixty thousand Pounds and confirmed the Sale of the Fee farm Rents no less their Gift being a part of the Publick Revenue to the value of one Million and Eight hundred thousand Pounds they could not hold but gave with both hands again a Subsidy of Twelve Pence in the Pound to the real value of all Lands and other Estates proportionably with several more beneficial Clauses in the Bargain to which they joyned the Additional Excise upon Beer Ale c. And lastly the Law Bill which being summ'd up together could not be estimated at less than two Millions and half So that for the Tripple League here was a Tripple Supply and the Subject had now all the reason to believe that this Alliance which had been fix'd at first by the Publick Interest Safety and Honour was by these three Grants as with three Golden Nails sufficiently clinched and rivetted But now therefore was the most proper Time and Occasion for the King and his chosen Ministers to give Demonstrations of their Fidelity to the French Monarch and for his Sacred Majesty by the Forfeiture of all these Obligations to his Subjects and the Princes abroad and at the Expence of all this Treasure given for quite contrary Uses to recommend himself the more meritoriously to his Patronage The Parliament therefore after they had given all this Money were presently Prorogued and sat no more till the latter end of February 1672. that there might be a competent time allowed for so great a work as was designed and that the Architects of our Ruine might be so long free from the busie and odious Inspection of the Parliament till the work were finish'd And now all Applications made by his Majesty of Great Britain to induce Foreign Princes into the Garranty of the Peace of Aix la Chapelle ceased while on the other side those who desired to be admitted into it were here rejected The Duke of Lorrain who had always been a true Friend to the King and for his Affection to the Tripple League had incurred the French King's Displeasure with the loss of his Country Seizd upon in the year 1669. against all the Laws not only of Peace but Hostility yet by vertue of the Dover Treaty was refused the favour to which others had been so earnestly invited and though his Envoy was sent back with Complements and many Expressions of Kindness yet he was told withal that the French Invasion was a torrent not to be stopp'd at that time which was as much as to say the Case was alter'd and the Tripple League must signifie nothing At the same time also the Emperour by a Letter invited himself into the same Garranty in conformity to one of the Articles of the said Treaty of Aix Upon receipt of which Letter the King assured the Spanish Embassador that he was glad his Imperial Majesty was so ready to come into the League and told him he would cause an Instrument to be prepared in order to his Admission But when the Resolution was taken and orders given for preparing the said Instrument it was moved that Mr. Secretary Trevor who was not initiated in their holy Mysteries might not have the drawing of it though it was his proper Province By which means the Popish Cabal having made themselves sole Masters of the thing at first a reasonable honest Draught was brought in but before it was perfected Monsieur Colbert being consulted the King was possessed with an opinion that the admitting the Emperor would be attended with dangerous Consequences and that in case he came into the League his Majesty would be engaged in all his Quarrels and bound to make his Forces March into the farthest parts of Germany as often as it should happen to be Invaded by the Great Turk which Secretary Trevor oppos'd as much as he was able and endeavoured to satisfie the King that the Garranty of the Tripple League as well as of the Treaty of Aix related only to Hostilities either from France or Spain yet the wary Men of the Cabal being on the King's side carry'd it and so the
Emperor was put off with a Flamm Nay so soon as the Two Confederate Monarchs had thus made a shift to cut the Gordian Knot the now pitiful but formerly vaunted Tripple League was trampled under foot turn'd into Ridicule and less valued than a Ballad Insomuch that to talk of admitting others into the Tripple League was reprehended in print as a kind of Figure of Speech commonly called a Bull. And farther to shew how much he hated the thoughts of the Triple League which he had made for the good of Christendom his most Sacred Majesty suffered an Agent of his one Marsilly whom he had sent to invite the Switzers into the Garranty who was Surprized and taken Prisoner by the French in the execution of the Commands he had not many Months before received from Whitehall to be broken upon the Wheel at Paris tho one single Word from the King would have sav'd his Life Neither did he take it ill that upon the Scaffold Twenty Questions were put to him relating to his own Person or that in such a publick and infamous Place a strict inquiry should be made as to what had pass'd between him and the King of England for that was the best Title they could afford him for all his late Favours And thus it is plain that the Tripple League was broken for no other ends than to be subservient to the ends of the French King to ruin the Dutch and to bring the Three Kindoms of England Ireland and Scotland under the Yoaks of Arbitrary Power and Roman Catholick Idolatry after a total Abolition of the name of Parliaments and subversion of the Fundamental Laws Gratias tibi piissime atque invictissime Rex Carole Secunde And thaâ— he might not as much as in him lay meet with after-rubs Mr. H. C. dispatch'd into Sweden to dissolve the Tripple League in that Kingdom which he did so effectually by co-operating with the French Ministers in that Court that the Swede after it came to Rupture never assisted to any purpose or prosecuted the Ends of the said Alliance only by arming himself at the expence of the League first under a disguised Mediation acted the French Interest and at last threw off his Vizard and drew his Sword on the French side in the Quarrel And at home when the Project ripen'd and grew hopeful the Lord Keeper was discharged from his Office and both he the D. of Ormond Prince Rupert and Secretary Trevor were discarded out of the Committee for Forreign Affairs as being too honest to comply with the Intreagues then on foot Mr. Trevor being the first Secretary of State that was ever left out of a Commission of that Importance All things being so well thus far disposed toward a War with Holland there wanted only a Quarrel and to pick one required much invention The East-India Company was summon'd to know whether they had any thing to object against them but the Dutch had so punctually complyed with all the Conditions of the Peace at Breda that nothing could there be found out And as to the Tripple League they were out at the same time in pursuance of it and to be ready upon occasion to relieve the the Spanish Netherlands which were then threatned by the French But at length a way was found out that never hapned because it was never so much as imagin'd before by sending the Fanfan a sorry inconsiderable Yatcht but bearing the English Flag with Orders to sail into the middle of the Dutch Fleet single out the Admiral and to fire two Guns at him a thing as ridiculous as for a Lark to dare a Hobby However the Commander in Chief in respect to his Majesties Colours and in consideration of the Amity between both Nations paid the Admiral of the Yatcht a Visit to know the reason of his Anger and understanding it was because the whole Fleet had fail'd to strike to his Oyster-boat the Dutch Commander excus'd it as a thing that never hapned before and therefore could have no Instructions in it and so they parted But the Captain of the Yatcht having thus acquitted himself return'd full freighted with the Quarrel he was sent for Which yet for several Months was pass'd over here in silence but to be afterwards improv'd as the design ripen'd For there was yet one jolly prank more to be plaid at home to make the King more capable of what was shortly after to be executed upon his Neighbours The Exchequer for some years before by the Bait of more than ordinary Gain had decoy'd in the greatest part of the most wealthy Goldsmiths and they the rest of the Money'd People of the Nation by the due payment of Interest till the King was run in Debt upon what account no body knew above Two Millions Which served for one of the Pretences in the Lord Keeper's Speech at the Opening of the Parliament to demand and obtain a Grant of the forementioned Supplies and might plentifully have suffic'd to disengage the King with Peace and any tolerable Good Husbandry But as if it had been perfidious to have apply'd them to any of the Purposes declar'd instead of Payment it was privately resolv'd to shut up the Exchequer lest any part of the Money should have been legally expended but that all might be appropriated to the Holy War in prospect and those far more pious Uses to which the King had dedicated it This Affair was carried on with all the secresie imaginable lest the unseasonable venting of it should have spoil'd the Wit and Malice of the Design So that all on a sudden upon the First of Ianuary 1671. to the great astonishment ruine and despair of so many interested Persons and to the Terror of the whole Nation by so Arbitrary a Fact the Proclamation issu'd forth in the midst of the Confluence of such vast Aids and so great a Revenue whereby the Crown publish'd it self Bankrupt made Prize of the Subject and broke all Faith and Contract at home in order to the breaking of both abroad with more advantage What was this but a Robbery committed upon the People under the Bond and Security of the Royal Faith by which many hundreds were as really impoverish'd and undone as if he had violently broken into their Houses and taken their Money out of their Coffers Nay that would have look'd Generous and Great whereas the other was base and sneaking Only it seem'd more agreeable to his Majesties Temper to rob his Subjects by a Trick than to plunder them by direct and open Force Of alliance to this only with some more Gâ—ains if more could be of Vileness and Unworthiness in it was that Action also of seizing part of the Money collected for the Redemption of Slaves out of Argiers and fetching it from the Chamber of London where it lay deposited to that end into the Treasury from whence it was to be dispos'd and made use of for the Enslaving the Nation Could there be an Action of greater barbarity
English with the French like the Disasters that happen to Men by being in ill Company In the mean time the hopes of the Spanish and Smirna Fleet being vanished the slender Allowance from the French not sufficing to defray farther Charges and the ordinary Revenue of His Majesty with all the former Aids being in less than one years time exhausted the Parliament with the King 's most gracious leave was permitted to sit again at the time appointed At what time at the King 's and the Lord Keeper's usual daubing way the War was first communicated to them and the Causes the Necessity the Danger so well painted out that upon the King 's earnest Suit the Commons though in a War begun without their Advice readily Voted the Royal Mumper no less than One million two hundred and fifty thousand Pounds though they would not say it was for the War but for the King 's extraordinary Occasions Nevertheless it was but yet a Vote to Embryo and therefore now beginning in grow more sensible of the true Causes of the Quarrel they prepared an Act before they let the Money-Bill slip out of their Hands by which the Papists were obliged to pass through a new State Purgatory if they intended to be capable of any Publick Employment The Declaration also of Indulgence was questioned which tho His Majesty had out of his Princely and Gracious Inclinations to Popery and the Memory of some former Obligations granted for the sake of the Papists yet greedy after the Coin he was pleased to cancel at the humble request as he pretended of the Parliament and declared it should be no President for the future After which compelled by his want of a fresh Supply he passed the Bill concerning the Papists in exchange for the Money and then the Parliament growing uneasie they were again sent a Grazing for a good while The King hoping when he had the management of the Cash to frustrate the Effect of the Act which he had passed against his good Friends the Roman Catholicks And now the King having got the Money in his Hands a new Project was set on foot to set up an Army in England for the introducing of Slavery and Popery under pretence of Landing in Holland Which was raised with all the Expedition imaginable over which as Colonel Fitzgerald an Irish Papist was made Major General so were the greatest number of the Captains and other Officers of the same Stamp And because that pretence was soon blown over it was afterward still continued on foot under the more plausible Colour of a War with France But after all these cunning Contrivances to alter the Religion and Government of the Nation the King being disappointed in all his Projects and finding that the Parliament grown more sensible of his abstruse designs and alarum'd at his extraordinary new Militia both Burthensom and unnecessary for any other Employment but the support of Arbitrary Power would give him no more Money but began to call his Ministers in question was forc'd to make a Peace with the Dutch and disband the Army to his great regret However what he could not do at hope he resolved to do abroad and therefore the English Scotch and Irish Regiments that were already in the French Service were not only kept up in their full Complement but new numbers of Soldiers were daily transported thither to make up in all a constant Body of Ten thousand Men. Which was done on purpose that he might have an Army train'd up under the French Discipline and Principles ready seasoned to be call'd back into England for the Execution of any opportune Enterprize upon his Protestant Subjects Thus far we have seen the King's inveterate Malice to his Neighbours and Allies the Dutch meerly upon the account of their being Protestants and Protectors of the Protestant Religion and his pernicious Conjunction with the French King to their utter Destruction and Desolation A continued Series of Treachery and Faith-breaking which only that Romish Principle That there is no Faith to be kept with Hereticks could have infused into his Breast Now let us take a short view of his Carriage from the beginning of his Restoration to the French King the Mortal Enemy of his Subjects and the Religion which they profess It is well known in general how much the Extraordinary Kindness of Charles the Second to Lewis the Fourteenth has contributed to that vast increase of Shipping and Experience in the Art of Navigation to which they are now arrived which no Prince in the World that might have been so strong at Sea as his Majesty might have been with half the Expence which he squander'd away to ruin the nation had he been sensible in the least of his own Grandure the welfare of his ow Subjects and the danger of having so potent a Rival for the Dominion of the Sea which God and Nature seemed to have appropriated to himself We have been told of brisk Messenger sent to the French Kings so soon as they did but lay the Carkass of a pitiful Flyboat upon the Stocks But such was the Complaisance of our Supine Monarch that he not only connived at the industrious Preparations of the French King but lent him his helping Hand to make him Master of his own Rights When they had none of their own he sent Vice-Admirals and other considerable Sea-Officers to encourage and promote the setting out of their Fleets He pitied their want of Experience in Sea Affairs and out of Compassion and Brotherly Love lead their rare Sea-men by the Hand train'd them up in his Fleets and among the best of his Sea-men taught them the Skill which they had been forcod to toyl for by the Experience of many Ages and to crown all even to fight for them and to interpose between them and Danger with so good Success that the French Squadron as if the Engagement had been only designed for a Diversion and Entertainment to them came off as fresh and as whole as when they first sailed out of their own Ports was such an unparallell'd Kindness that nothing but the extraordinary hopes the King had placed in him of being his great Assistant for the compassing of his pernicious designs upon his own Subjects could have made him condescend to But to come to Particulars It was a strange Demonstration of the King of England's kindness to the French Interest though to the unspeakable Detriment of his own People that after all those Expressions in the Lord Keeper Bridgman's Speech of the Treaty between France and the King of England concerning Commerce wherein the King would have as he said such a singular regard to the Honour and Trade of this Nation notwithstanding the intolerable Oppression upon the English Traffick in France ever since the King's Restoration he had not in all that time made one step toward a Treaty of Commerce or Navigation with him no not even at that time when the English were so necessary to him that he
could not have begun the War without them and therefore at such a Conjuncture might probably have condescended to some Equality of Terms But the King of England well understood how careful the French King was to preserve and increase the Trade of his Subjects and that it was by the diminution of that Beam of his Glory that the Hollanders had raised his Indignation The King therefore the more to gratifie him made it his constant Maxim to burthen his English Merchants here with one Hand while the French in his own Territories loaded them no less with the other So that when the English Merchants in London had prepared a Petition to the King and Council to complain of the Oppression which their Factors and Agents lay under in France with a true State of their Case and a short account of their Grievances information thereof was given to the Court by which means the Perusal of the Papers being transmitted by the King â—o his Instruments all further Prosecution of the matter was stopp'd by his Conniâ—ance and Authority and the Merchants were put off with a Promise that the French Embassador should be acquainted with their Complaints and that they should be redress'd through his means Which proving ineffectual upon their farther Applications for redress they were Hector'd Brow-beaten Ridicul'd and might have met with fairer Audience from Monsieur Colbert Nor was it only in the matter of Commerce that the King of England had obliged the French Tyrant but even in the War it self For that except the irresistible Bounties oâ— so great a Prince to some particular English Instruments and a little Subsistance Money for the Fleet frugally parted with the King of England had put him to no Charges but the English Navy Royal had served him all along No Purchase No Pay He had ty'd the French King to no Terms had demanded no Partisson of Conquests had made no humane Condition but had sold him all for those two Pearls of high Value the True Roman Catholick Worship and the true French Government So soon as the Peace was concluded betwixt England and Holland by the Awe of the Parliament the French King as a mark of his Displeasure and to humble the English Nation let loose his Privateers among the English Merchants insomuch that there was no security of Commerce or Navigation notwithstanding the Publick Amity betwixt the two Crowns but at Sea they Murther'd Plunder'd made Prize and Confiscated all they met with Their Piccaroons lay before the Mouths of our Rivers hover'd all along the Coast took our Ships in the very Ports so that we were in a manner block'd up by Water and in this manner it continued from 1674. till the latter end of 1676. without Remedy And yet all this while that the French made these intolerable Depredations and Piracies upon the Kings Subjects they were more diligently than ever supply'd from England with Recruits and those that would go voluntarily into the French Service were encouraged others that would not press'd imprison'd and carried over by main force and constraint And by the King's connivance his own Magazines were daily emptied to furnish the French with all sorts of Ammunition of which the following Accompt affords but a small Parcel in comparison of what was daily conveyed away under colour of Cockets for Iersey Granado's without number shipped off under the pretence of unwrought Iron Lead Shot One and twenty Tuns Gunpouder Seven thousand one hundred thirty four Barrels Iron Shot Eighteen Tun Six hundred Weight Match Eighty eight Tun nineteen hundred Weight Iron Ordinance Four hundred forty one Quantity Two hundred ninety two Tuns nine hundred Weight Carriages Bandaliers Pikes c. the quantity uncertain All this and what more beside not then discovered was exported from London to France from Iune 1675. to Iune 1677. And thus was the French King gratified for undoing us by Sea by Contributing all the King could rap and rend of Men and Ammunition to make him more Potent and Formidable to us by Land Another great Instance of the King of England's extraordinary Kindness to the French King was this that while he storm'd at the Dutch for not promoting as he pretended the coming away of some Families that were unwilling to leave Surinam he found no fault with the French for keeping him above four years out of St. Christophers nor for destroying in the mean while that part of the Island which belonged to his own Subjects So great a piece of rudeness it was thought to press too hard upon the French King for performance of Articles on his side Nay the French Commanders in those Parts did not scruple to assert that there was a very good understanding in relalation to that Island between the English and French Court so great a kindness the King had for the French so little for his own Subjects Nor must we omit that when the Orders of the French Privy Council Commanding all their Sea Officers and Commanders in the Islands of America to secure to their Master the Soveraignity of those Seas were brought by a Person of Quality into the Cabinet Council at Whitehall they were at first declaimed against but soon buried in oblivion and put up amongst the useless Papers though the French in pursuance of those Commands proved afterwards so vexatious to the English that thethen Governor of Iamaica sent word that notwithstanding their old Quarrel with the Spaniards it was much easier to keep a good Correspondence with them than with our dear Allies the French Nor must it be forgot as an Eminent Mark of our Sovereign's Deference to the French Interest and manner of Government that in the year 1677 upon notice that a Great French Embassador was coming over into England he Adjourn'd his English Parliament that he might have the more Elbow room to entertain his better beloved Friends For all things at that time moved between France and England with that punctual Regularity that it was like the Harmony of the Sphears so that immediately after the Recess of the English Parliament over came the D. of Crequi the Archbishop of Rheimes M. Barillon with a Train of three or four hundred Persons of all Qualities you would have sworn they had been the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of France with a proportionable number of their Commons met the King at New-Market so that it look'd like another Parliament and that the English had been Adjourn'd for their better Reception Much of their business no doubt was conceal'd but so much came to light that they prest the King to continue his Subjects in the Service of France because the Parliament at that time most earnestly prest and was preparing a Bill for their being call'd home They also demanded an Abolition of all Claims and Demands from the Subjects of France upon account of all Prizes made of the English since the year 1674 till that day and for the future And the King on the other side required a
yet there was another quickly hatch'd of the same stamp and nature though carried on by other Instruments Nell Wall an Irish Papist and a Wench formerly employed only to empty Close-stools at White-Hall but afterwards for her Religion advanced to be one of the French Dutchesses Women and so to the King's Favour by which she became a great States-Woman as well as a common Whore To this Woman a great part of the Popish Secrets were discovered and by her means Fitz-Harris was first introduced to the Dutchess and then to the King where he was told That the Plot would undo them unless a way could be found to make a Counter-plot therefore he was bid to try all ways to effect it for that no Cost should be spared but such Rewards should be given as were fit for so great a Service Draw Painter here England's pious Protestant Monarch Counter-plotting with his Popish Concubine and her Close-stool Wench against his Parliament and Kingdom in favour of those that sought the destruction of both The business of this Irish Tool was to find out Seditious Lampoons and Pamphlets and carry them to White-Hall where he had Audience and private Conferences with Nell Wall the Dutchess and the King himself and where he had sometimes given for secret service a Hundred and Two Hundred Pound at a time and was no less slabber'd by his Gracious Soveraign than Dangerfield had been before So zealous were We for the Popish Cause that rather than miss of the Designs of enslaving the Nation by Arbitrary Government and Popery that We would have declar'd our selves even to have kiss'd the Tail as well as the Cheeks of the most Contemptible Creatures in the World Nor must it be omitted as an Argument of His Majesty's great Zeal for the Protestant Religion That when one Sergeant a Priest made a discovery of the Popish Plot from Holland which he caus'd to be transmitted to the Court with an intention to have discovered several others he was first brib'd off by Pillory-Carr then sent for into England slightly and slily examined had his Pardon given him and sent back with Five Pound a week to say no more And in this game that we may understand by whose Countenancing the thing was done Sir L. Ienkins shewed the utmost of his Parts and Fidelity being just enter'd Secretary in the room of another who did not care to venture so far as that both Fool as well as Knave did Among whose good Services to his Master we may reckon his endeavours as much as lay in his Power to conceal the Murther of the Priest at Abbeville in France upon intimation that he was coming into England to make a farther discovery of the Plot Which together with his fasting and other infallible tokens shewed him to be plainly what was well enough known before Father Goff's Creature as well as the King 's and Duke's Nor was it a thing less astonishing to the Nation to see the Parliament prorogued from time to time no less than seven times before permitted to sit on purpose to get time for the Popish Duke to settle the Protestant Religion in Scotland and to the end the Conspirators might get heart and footing again and retrieve their Losses in England and in this Interval it was that Messengers were sent to their Friends at Rome and others their Associates for Money to strike while the Iron was hot in regard that Scotland by this time was secur'd and all things in such a forwardness that now or never was the time but the Pope had such an ill opinion of our Soveraign's Fidelity that he slipt his neck out of the Collar and in imitation of him the rest excused themselves upon the score of their poverty Thus missing money from Rome and the rest of their Popish Associates and the King of France refusing to part with any more Cash there was no way but one at a forc'd-put which was to let the Parliament sit and to make them the more willing to give money to undo the Nation the King in a framed Speech told them of the wonderful Advantageous Alliances for the Kingdoms good he had made with Foreign Princes and particularly with Hâ—lland and how necessary it was to preservâ— Tangier which had already run him in Debt Upon which Considerations the Burden of his Song was More Money But the Parliament Incensed at the frequent Prorogations fell upon Considerations more profitable for the Kingdom such as were the bringing to Condign punishment the Obstructers of their Sitting the Impeaching of North for Drawing the Proclamation against Petitioning and three of the Judges for dismissing the Grand Jury before whom the Duke was Indicted of Recusâ—ncy before they could make their presentments the prosecution of the Popish-Plot and the Examination of the Meal-Tub-Sham all which they lookt upon to be of greater moment than the King's Arguments for his wants For it was well known that by His perâ—idious Dealings abroad he had so impaired his Credit with all the Foreign Princes to whom he sent that they slighted his Applications as one upon whose Word they could never Rely And as for the preservation of Tangier there was nothing less in his Thoughts A fine Credit for a Prince and an excellent Character to recommend him to Posterity that he had no other than his own Sinister ends upon the Grand Council of his Kingdom nor no other way to work them to â—hose ends unless by forging untruths to make them accessary to the betraying of the â—eople that had entrusted them The Parliament therefore bent all their Cares to secure the Kingdom from Popery â—oncluding that the Dukes Apostâ—tizing from â—is Religion was the sole Evil under which â—he Nâ—â—â—ons in a more particular manner â—roaned and consequently that he was to 〈◊〉 Dismoâ—â—ted But the King being reâ—â—lved not to forsake his Brother whatever â—â—came of the Kingdom out of a proâ—ense â—alice to the Nation and â—oresight of the Miseries which his Brother's Government would bring upon the people rather than out of any natural Affection that he bore him took such a high Resentment against these honest and just proceedings of the Houses that after he had Sacrificed the Lord Stafford to his hopes of obtaining money upon the Dukes undertaking to furnish him he Dissolved this Parliament too with promise of another at Oxford to sweeten the bitter Pill which he had made the Nation to swallow In the mean time all the Care imaginable was taken to bring the Protestant-Plot to perfection preparative to which Judges were selected with Dispositions Thoughts and Minds as Scarlet as their Gowns And the Choice of Sheriffs was wrested by force from the people that they might pick out Juries without Conscience and Honesty A Plot contrived by Perfidiousness and Treachery beyond the parallel of History A Plot with Parisian Massacre in the Belly oâ— it designing no less an Innundation of Innocent Protestant Blood under the colour and forms of Justice and yet
Liberties of Scotland as himself Such Exorbitancies of Injustice and Arbitrary Power that his Brother could never have endur'd in a Subject had they not been acted all along with his knowledg and consent Otherwise had not the King been strangely infatuated to believe that whatever his Brother did was for the advancement of that Cause to which he was so well affected himself he could never have been so unapprehensive of the Danger he was in from a Brother so actually in a Conspiracy against his Life For which Reason he was by the E. of Shaftsbury said to be a Prince not to be parallel'd in History For certainly besides the early tryal which the King had of his Ambition beyond-sea he had a fair warning of the hasty Advances which he made to his Throne in a short time after his Marriage to the Queen For no sooner was it discover'd the Queen was unlikely to have any Issue by the King but he and his Party make Proclamation of it to the World and that he was the certain Heir He takes his Seat in Parliament as Prince of Wales with his Guards about him He assumes the Princes Lodgings at White-hall his Guards upon the same place without any interposition between him and the King so that the King was in his Hands and Power every night All Offices and Preferments are bestowed upon him and at his disposition Not a Bishop made without him After this he changes his Religion to make a Party and such a Party that his Brother must be sure to Dye and be made away to make room for him And for the undeniable proof of all this at length the Plot breaks out headed by the Duke his Interest and Design Plain it was that where ever he came he endeavour'd to remove all Obstacles to his intended Designs out of the Way And therefore some there are who attribute the extremity of the Duke's rigour toward the E. of Argyle to the great Authority which the Earl had in the High-lands and the Awe which he had over the Papists as being Lord Justiciary in those Parts and his being able upon any Occasion to check and bridle the Marq. of Huntly from attempting the Disturbance of the Publick Peace or the Prejudice of the Protestants However this is observable That notwithstanding the height of Severity which was extended to him there was as much Favour shewn the Lord Macdonald whose invading the Shire of Argyle with an Armed Force merely because he was required by the said Earl as being a Papist to deliver up his Arms was never so much as questioned nor so much as a Reprimand given him for what he did tho when the Council sent an Herauld to him to require him to disband his Forces he caus'd his Coat to be torn from his Back and sent him back to Edinburgh with all the Marks both of Contempt of themselves and Disgrace to the Publick Officer But his Religion was sufficient to atone at that time for his Treason And now the Duke having a standing-Army of Five Thousand Foot and Five Hundred Horse in Scotland at his Devotion as well as in England and the Parliament the main Object of his Hatred and his Fear being dissov'd back he returns into England where under the Shelter of his Brother's Authority he began in a short time to exert his tyrannous Disposition and play the same Unjust and Arbitrary Pranks as he had done in Scotland and because it was not seasonable yet to make use of armed Forces he set his Westminster-Hall Redcoats like Pioneers before a marching Army to level the way for Popery and Arbitrary Controul to march in over the ruin'd Estates and murder'd Bodies of their Opposers The Judges were his Slaves the Juries at his Beck nothing could withstand him the Law it self grows Lawless and Iefferies-ridden plays the Debaushee like himself Justice or something in her likeness Swaggers Hectors Whips Imprisons Fines Hangs Draws and Quarters and Beheads all that come near her under the Duke's displeasure Alderman Pilkington for standing up for the Rights and Liberties of the City and for refusing to pack a Jury to take away the Earl of Shaftsbury's Life is prosecuted upon a Scandalum Magnatum at the Suit of the Duke Convicted and Condemn'd in a Verdict of an Hundred Thousand Pounds And Sir Patience Ward for offering to confront the suborn'd Witnesses is Indicted of Perjury for which he was forced to fly to avoid the Infamy of the Pillory though in all his Dealings so well known to be a Person of that Justice and Integrity that for all the hopes of the Duke he would not have told an untruth Sir Samuel Barnardiston for two or three treacherously intercepted Letters to his Friends in the Country fin'd Ten thousand Pounds which he was not suffer'd to discharge by Quarterly Paiments but the Estate seiz'd by the Duke's Sollicitors to the End they might have an Opportunity to be more prodigal in the waste of it But his hunting after the Lives as well as the Estates of other was more intolerable and that by the prostituted Testimony of Suborn'd Irish Rogues and Vagabonds and when that would not take the desir'd Effect by the forc'd Evidence of persons ensnar'd and shackl'd under the Terrors of Death till their drudgery of Swearing was over Men so fond of Life that they bought the uncertain Prolongation of a wicked Mortality at the unhallow'd price of certain and Immortal Infamy And therefore not knowing how to Die when they knew not how to Live accounted it a more gainful Happiness to quit the Pardon of Heaven's Tribunal for the Broad Seal of England By this means fell the Virtuous Lord Russel a Sacrifice to the Bill of Exclusion and the Duke's Revenge and yet of that integrity to his Country and untainted course of Life of whom never any spoke evil but those that knew no Evil in him only because he was one of those that sought to exclude the Duke from the hopes of Tyranny and Oppression the Duke was resolv'd to exclude him from the Earth But then comes the Murther of the Earl of Essex for that it was a most Barbarous and inhuman Murther committed by Bravo's and Bloody Ruffians set on hir'd and encourag'd by Potent Malice and Cruelty the pregnant Circumstances no less corroborated by Testimonies wanting only the confirmation of Legal Judicature has been already so clearly made out that there is no place left for a hesitating belief A Truth so conspicuous as stands in defiance of the Ridiculing Pen of R. L'Estrange to sham it over with the Buffoonry of his Bantring Acquirements It cannot be imagin'd but that so black a Deed of Darkness was carried on by the Contrivers with all the secrecy that could be studied by humane Wit But never yet was humane Wit so circumspective but that the most conceal'd of Villanies have been detected by strange and little Accidents which all the Foresight of humane Sagacity could never prevent More
to a higher Scrutiny The Justice of Heaven perhaps not minding a present Revenge of his Death who had not only prevented the Presecution of Noble and Innocent Essex's Blood but so severely punish'd the Industrious Enquiry after it Only this is further to be remark'd that the Irish Papists could for some time before fix upon the utmost Period of his Reign and the D. was sent for in haste out of Scotland without any apparent Reason for it besides that the King's Permission was obtain'd with some Difficulty However by the violent and tremendous Death of his Brother he at length arrived at the long-long wish'd for Haven of his Ambitious Desires and beholds himself mounted upon the Pinacle of Royalty only that his Fall might be the more conspicuous He was no sooner Proclaimed but he declared his Religion openly to his Privy Council however he began with a mild and caressing Declaration which he afterwards broke in every Line of it A meer Trap baited with Indulgence to Tender Consciences on purpose to catch the Dissenting Mice to deliver them when caught into the Paws of his ravenous Popish Cats but no sooner was he Crowned but as if his Coronation-Oath and all his Promises so lately made had been no more than so many Pills of Opium and believing himself environed with Power sufficient to maintain his Tyranny and Oppression he invades Property by Expulsion of the right Owners tramples upon the Laws by his pretended Prerogative of Suspending Power and goes about to pull down the Stately Structure of the Protestant Religion by the Suspension of one and imprisoning and Arraigning at his Criminal Bar no less than Seven of the most Eminent Fathers of the English Church And by a strange Alteration of the Face of Government Treason over-rules the Law and Traitors impeached are fetched out of Jail to sit Triumphantly dominering at the Helm of State and Iefferies the Daniel that in some measure might be said to be taken out of the Lions Den for the Cruelty of his Nature is advanced in open Hostility to Justice to wage War with the Fundamental Constitutions of the Kingdom A mean Spirit insulting over his Inferiors but a Spaniel to his Superiors who tho he knew himself no more than a Tool in the hand of the Popish Artificers the Shadow of Grandeur lofty under Contempt and domineering only in publick yet having pawn'd his Soul for the hopes of an Embroidered Purse rather than recoil to Goodness carreers on in Mischief and as if his Robes had not been Scarlet enough dies them more deep in Innocent Blood and becomes his Master's Vassal to enslave the Nation Such Counsellors as these hurried on the New Crown'd King with such a Rapidness to accomplish the great Work of introducing Tyranny and Popery to which his own Fears of leaving the Papists worse than he found them as furiously carried him that he threw his Brother into his Grave as if he had not had leisure to bury him or as if he had deem'd him not worth a Funeral whom he thought not worth a longer Life Unless perhaps he thought the Hypocrisie of Pompous Obsequies would have but the more provok'd his Brother 's Injur'd Manes with which as common Fame had spread it he was already too much pestred I will not here dispute the Truth of Apparitions nor insist upon the vulgar censures about the Town upon the Priests for not detaining him in the half-way-Prison but singing him out of Purgatory to make his Brother melancholy by facing him several times and giving him an astonishing stroke upon the back as he was going down a pair of Stairs in Whitehal yet this may be asserted That Guilt accompanied with Terror forms those Apparitions in in the Mind which work the same Effect and obtain the same belief when once divulg'd among the Credulous as if they were real However it were it shew'd he thought himself but little beholding to him for living so long and consequently no way oblig'd to retaliate a Succession so late in the Year with so much Loss of Time And now the first influences of his Tyranny and Fury against the Protestants flew into Scotland where whatever Indulgence he shewed in England he issued forth a Dreadful Proclamation against the Dissenters under the Notion of Enemies to the King and Government and Destroyers of the British Monarchy sufficient to have given a more early Alarm to the Dissenters in England had they not been lull'd asleep by the Softness of a present Repose and the Charms of their Decoy-Duke Penn the effect rather of their Simplicity than their Policy But the first Act of his Revenge in England brake forth upon Dr. Oates He could not forget the Doctor 's detection of his Conspiracies against the Kingdom And because he could not find out a way to hang him his Chief Iustice Iefferies found out a Punishment to gratify his Royal Fury worse than Death it self and till then unknown among Christians in Imitation of the Roman Fustuarium by which the Roman Souldiers were often drub'd to Death or if they scap'd sent into perpetual Banishment as the Doctor was first of all Scourg'd by the Common Executioner beyond all Precedent and then Condemn'd to perpetual Imprisonment A Sentence so void of all Christian Compassion that only Iefferies could have invented and such a Beast as Withens could have pronounced A goodly sight to see Protestant Judges condemning a Protestant and the Detector of a most Horrid Popish Plot upon the Evidence of known Papists and some of them nearly Related to the Executed Traytors and this for Perjury too upon the Testimony of Witnesses already falsifi'd As if Justice were a thing that never had been Naturaliz'd in Heaven but only depended upon the Will of the Prince a Kind of Tool to be us'd by his Bene-placito Slaves at his or their Discretion or the grand Poppet of the World to be shew'd in various Dreâ—ses and Disguises as the force of Judicature requir'd But as for Dangerfield he had been once his Darling frequently admitted to kiss his Hand while he was in Conspiracy with him to Suck the Blood of the Innocent But there was no Atonement for his revolting and revealing the Hidden Mystery of Iniquity Therefore he must dance the same Dance that Oates had done only the King did him this small Piece of Justice to throw away an Inconsiderable Roman Catholick to Satisfy the general Discontent upon his being Murder'd In the next place he calls a Parliament and renews his Assurances and Promises to preserve the Government both in Church and State as by Law Establish'd and Vows to hazard his own Person as he had formerly done in defence of the just Liberties and Properties of the Nation But still the Burden of his song was More mony Which the Parliament willing to Engage him if possible by all the Testimonies of their Duty and Loyalty or at least to shew that nothing should be wanting on their part readily granted
And in regard that Argyle was said to be Landed under the Notion of a Rebel in Scotland they declared their Resolutions to stand by and assist him with their Lives and Fortunes against all his Enemies whatever No less quick to gratify than he to make those Promises which he never intended to perform And indeed under the Consternation the King was then in upon the Landing of Argyle in Scotland and the D. of Monmouth in England both at the same time perhaps the Parliament might have bound him up to what Conditions they pleas'd had they not slipt their Opportunity But those two Storms being fortunately blown over the one by ill Conduct the other by the Treachery of Pretended Friendship and both Argyle and the D. of Monmouth safe in their Graves the King was so puft up with a Petty Victory overy a few Clubmen and so wrapt up with a Conceit That he had now Conquer'd the whole Nation that after he had got as much as he thought he could in modesty desire or they part withal unless they saw greater Occasions than they did which nevertheless were no small Sums in the heat of their obliging Generosity at the Commencement of a Reign he turn'd him off after he had sold them two or three inconsiderable Acts for all their Mony And now being freed from any farther thoughts of Parliaments believing himself Impregnable he resolves to be Reveng'd upon the Western People for siding with his Capital Enemy Monmouth and to that purpose sends down his Executioner in Ordinary Iefferies not to decimate according to the Heathen way of Mercy but with the Besome of his Cruelties to sweep the Country before him and to depopulate instead of Punishment At what time Acquaintance or Relation of any that fell in the Field with a slender Circumstance tack'd to either was a Crime sufficient for the Extirpation of the Family And Young and Old were hang'd in Clusters as if the C. Justice had design'd to raise the Price of Halters besides the great Number of those that upon bare Suspicion were transported beyond Sea and there sold for Slaves and the Purchase-Mony given away to satisfy the Hunger of needy Papists After-Ages will read with Astonishment the barbarous Usage of those poor People of which among many Instances this one may seem sufficient whereby to take the Dimensions of all the rest That when the Sister of the two Hewlands hung upon the Chief Iustices Coach Imploring Mercy on the behalf of her Brothers the Merciless Judg to make her let go caus'd his Coachman to cut her Hands and Fingers with the lash of his Whip Nor would he allow the Respit of the Execution but for two days tho the Sister with Tears in her Eyes offer'd a Hundred Pound for so small a Favour And whoever sheltr'd any of those forlorn Creatures were hurried to the Slaughter-House with the same inexorable outrage without any Consideration either of Age or Sex Witness the Execution of the Lady Lisle at Winchester As for Argyle and the Duke tho they might die pitied yet could they not be said to be unjustly put to Death in regard they had declared Open Hostility and therefore it was no more than they were to expect upon ill Success However since they were betray'd into the Victor's Hands before any great harm was done the Crime was not so great that nothing but a Massacre could atone for it more especially considering what great Advantages the King made of these Rebellions For it gave him a fair Opportunity to increase the Number of his Standing-Forces under pretence That the Militia was not to be depended upon and of the Reputation he had lost of being so Miserably unprovided against so wretched an Attempt as Monmouth's was For which Reason he was resolv'd to be better provided henceforward for the Security of the Nation and to croud in his Popish Officers into Commands under the Notion of Persons of approv'd Loyalty and therefore such whose Persons he was neither to expose to disgrace by a Removal nor himself to suffer the want of Cautious and wary of Removing his Popish Commanders but minding not at all to remove the Fears and Jealousies of the Nation However his Plausible Promises and this Important Necessity of augmenting his Standing Forces were urg'd upon the Parliament as undeniable Reasons for More Mony So great a Confidence the King had either in the Awe which he had upon the Parliament or that they were so Blind that they could not see through his Cobweb Pretences But he soon found that he was deceived in his Expectations and therefore perceiving his Gilded Hooks could not take they were decently Dismiss'd after ten Days Sitting with a Prorogation from October till the Fâ—bruary ensuing But it seems King Iames was so confidently assur'd That the Bands of Friendship and Alliance between him and the French King were so Indissoluble That whatever Assistance the Parliament deny'd him in England he should not fail of from his Dear Friend and Confederate in France That the Parliament being call'd for no other Intent or Purpose than to Betray the Nation by Furnishing the King to accomplish his Designs of Popery and Arbitrary Government when they refused to be subservient to those Wicked Designs and thought it more Honourable to be true to the Nation whom they Represented than Serviceable to the Encroachment of his Tyranny he lay'd them aside as things no longer useful for him And therefore like a man chaâ—ed with their just denial of his Demands he resolves the utter Subversion of English Parliaments the only Remora's of his ungodly Projects by compleating the Disfranchising of all the Cities and Corporations throughout the Nation so fairly begun in his Brother's Reign to make way for the Introduction of a French Parliament That should at once have surrender'd all the Ancient Liberty of the Kingdom and the whole Power of the Government into his Hands And to Terrifie men into this slavish Complyance with his Tyrannical Will and Pleasure the Names of all such Persons as out of Honour and Conscience refused to Co-operate with his Popish Ministers towards the Publick Ruin of Liberty and Religion and prostitute their own and the Freedoms of their Posterity to his Arbitrary subjection were Threatned to be return'd up to the Attorney-General to the end their Persons and Estates might be undone by Illegal Prosecutions In the next place to set himself Paramount above all the Controul of Law out of a vain Opinion that Kings are accountable to none but God A set of Judges are pickt out to overturn the very Fundamentals of Humane Society and Annihilate the very ends of Government This the King knew must be done by Judges that had abandoned all High Opinion of God and Nature and had quitted all sense of Conscience and True Honour and had wholly given up their Judgments to the foolish Enticements of Ambition and Flattery And when he had found out such it was easie for