that your being a Papist and the Hopes you gave the Popish Party of coming such to the Crown had encouraged them in this wicked Conspiracy and though in Civility to your Brother they did not impeach you for your Treasons yet they thought it necessary to prevent your coming by a Bill of Exclusion but on the contrary had not your Designs been discovered the Nation must have sunk by your Trayterous Designs and have been ruined without any impossibility of recovery but tho' the discovery had not its desired Effect yet it did so much affect you that when you invaded the Throne by the murther of your Brother that you could not make that considerable Progress in your Work for then you saw plainly you had received a deadly wound of which you could by no means be cured for the Nation saw who they were you had espoused and therefore they were aware both of you and them and made your own Conspiracy to be a Plague to you Obj. But you may say how can this be a good Ground or Reason for the discovery of such a design When there was but few that believed it and that the King your Brother laught at the Plot as a matter wholly Fabuloâ—s and that the Parliaments were but a parcel of Factious Men and therefore what could the Nation judge of those Men that I espoused since the matter of Fact was false with which they stood charged To this I answer 1. It is well known that your Brother laughed at the Plot and would have made some to have believed that it was Fabulous but he well knew that he was engaged in every part of it but that of his own Life and that he was too conscious to himself he had disobliged you and your party by being so loose and negligent in the performance of those promises he had made to you and your Party and to get a sum of Money from the Paliament he would let the Parliament worry your Friends nay rather than go without it he would himself give your Cause a gentle Stab witâ—ess his passing the Test Bill in the year 1673 and refusing to sign Coleman's Declaration in the â—â—rs 1674 1675 1676. But suppose that he did laugh at the Plot he hath laugh'd at the Sacrament of the Altar and would be witty upon the Superstition of the Church of Rome yet at that very time he was a Papist and had receiv'd the Sacrament of the Church of Rome nay he was many times prophanely witty upon the Gospel it self and would speak very slightly of Religion you know he was a witty man and could make a Jest of any thing in the World But who shall we believe Charles Stuart or Charles King of England Shall we take notice of what he said in his private Capacity before what he said in his publick Capacity I tell you Sir I must and so must any man in the World that hath but a grain of Sence take that to be his that he spake in his publick Capacity and this well consider'd will satisfie any thinking man Ans 2. I pray observe your Brother's Proclamation Octob. 30 1678 where he called your Conspiracy a Bloody and Trayterous Design of Popish Recusants of which Sir you were the Head against his Person and Government and the Protestant Religion Again in his Proclamation of November the 20th 1678 did he not declare That the Popish Priests and Jesuites lurking within the Realm had contrived and set on foot divers trayterous Plots and Designs against his Person and Government and the Protestant Religion by Law establish'd Again observe Sir his Proclamation for a Fast March the 28th 1679 where he declar'd That through the impious and malicious Conspiracy of the Popish Party there was a Plot not only intended to the Destruction of his Royal Person but the total Subversion of the Government and of the true Protestant Religion within the Realm by Law establish'd Obj. There might be a Conspiracy against the Religion and Government of England but not against the King's Person Ans That is a Contradiction in plain terms for how could the Religion of a Nation and the Government be subverted but by the destruction of its Head See what my Lord Chancellor saith in his Speech to both Houses of Parliament Mar. 6. 1678 9 wherein he assures both Houses That His Majesty's Royal Person hath been in danger by a Conspiracy against his sacred Life maliciously contriv'd and industriously carried on by the Seminary Priests and Jesuites and their Adherents who thought themselves under some Obligation of Conscience to effect it and having vow'd the Subversion of the true Religion amongst us found no way so likely to compass it as to wound us in the Head and kill the Defender of the Faith Can any one that believ'd the King your Brother to be a Protestant think that a number of Men should conspire against his Religion and not destroy his person that was a Defender of it And on the other hand those who knew him or judged him a Papist had incurr'd the Displeasure of that Party by his notorious Miscarriage to them in his many breaches of Word and Royal Promise as I have mention'd before Ans 3. to the main Objection That few believed the Popish Plot Which is as false as any thing can be true for the Plot was believ'd as I shall shew in its proper place And as for the Parliaments being a number of factious Men it was your usual Dialect and we know what Love you had for Parliaments therefore what you say in that case you may wipe your Sâ—out and hold your Tongue for what you or your Party says against them passes for nothing So that I may again say that there was a necessity of discovering of that Plot in order to shew to the whole Nation what those men were with whom you herded and were engag'd in order to our destruction and I insist the more upon it because of the great Loyalty to which they pretended and for which they were countenanc'd by your Brother and you in opposition to all Law and Reason whilst other faithful men with their Families were left to perish for want of Bread who had serv'd your Father your Brother and you without the least recompence for their Service and that the Nation might be undeceiv'd in that respect as well as in others that they might see they were no Changelings but were full of the same Devil their Forefathers had and if they did conceal him it was for want of an Opportunity and they were about to shew what they would be at but I was beforehand with them and then the Nation was fully satisfied concerning their Loyalty What! do you grin and shew your Teeth I am sure you cannot bite no more than your dead Dog Mumper I pray let us have your Thought for once I warrant you you have some impertinent Question to ask it may be you still insist upon being satisfied why
and your Popish Councellors gave to your party to undertake the same 1. I will put you mind of what happened to encourage the Popish Party in undertaking of their villainous designs against the Protestant Religion and the Government and this is necessary to be done that you may remember how you and your party have treated this Nation by way of recompence for the restoring your Brother to his Throne and you to your Native Country which well considered we may see what a Blessing you both were to this Nation Therefore Sir observe 7. Another Argument against the Bill of Exclusion was that it would have led the Parliament to attempt other great and considerable Changes and thereby endangered the whole Government and the peace of the Nation Now what your Villains would have had the Nation to understand by this change is worthy consideration Therefore first if by a change they meant a change of the constitution of the Government let me tell you that he could never have forged a more villainous Lye than those wicked Wretches did that they might in conjunction with you instil such thoughts into the mind of the King as might effectually alienate his Soul from the use of Parliaments It is evident even to these Holbourn Wretches that there was no Vote or Proposition in either of these Parliaments that could give any ground for such a malicious reflection and thefore in this matter we that were lookers on might reasonably charge your Brother and you and your whole party with a malicious design against all Parliaments in thus arraigning the whole body of the Nation upon these ill grounded and malicious suggestions I am sure this did not become the grandeur and justice of Princes nor was agreeable to the measures of Prudence and Wisdom by which you should have governed your selves And Now Sir I will give the true reason why you thus delighted in these men viz. your hating Parliaments being afraid they should have called you and them to account for your high Crimes and Misdemeanors by this means together with the inclinations of your dear Brother you so sway d him that you could never want grounds to dissolve not only three such Parliaments but threescore if there had been occasion In the second place Sir if you and your admirers had understood by attempting great and important changes that the Parliament would have besought the King that you might no longer have the Government in your hands that your villainous Conspirators should no longer preside in his Councils nor possess all the great Offices of Trust in the Kingdom that our Ports Garrisons and Fleet should no longer be governed by those that were at your Devotion that marks of Favour and characters of Honour should no more be placed upon such as the wisdom of the Nation had adjusted favourers of Popery or Pensioners to the French King These I must confess were great and important changes such as became English Protestants to believe were designed by those Parliaments and would have been by any other Parliament your Brother should have called in his time and such as the people of England would have prayed for and left the success to Almighty God who governs the hearts of Kings and Princes Truly without these changes the Bill of Exclusion would have signified little it might have provoked but not have disabled your wicked party Nay the money the Nation must have paid for it would have been used to hasten your return upon us 8. Another Argument used against the Bill of Exclusion was your great Grace and Favour for your Country and the excellency of your Temper and Vertue Surely Sir if you heard these men magnify you for your excellent personal qualifications you would have spit in their Faces and told them they ly'd for the violence of your natural Temper was sufficiently Known and your vehemency in exalting the prerogative in your Brother's Reign beyond its due bounds and the principles of your cursed Religion which carried you to all imaginable excesses of Cruelty convinced all Mankind that there was a necessity of excluding you rather than to leave you the name and place the power in a Protector For in good truth they must have looked upon it as the greatest folly to have made such a change in the Government which would have been a means to destroy and not to preserve the Government Sir they saw your Temper that was bred up in such principles of Politicks as made you in love with A bitrary power and bigotted to that Religion which always propagates it self by Blood could never bear with such shackles as would even disgust a Prince of the meekest disposition This was your Temper and how it is amended since you placed your self at St. Germains I suppose your followers can tell better than I. But what a regard and favour you have born to this Nation was well seen from your first return to England 1660. to your leaving it in 1688. You engaged it in two wicked Wars with the Dutch and a third with France I would not have your Cattle love too much of your Grace and Favour But truly if you had any for this Nation you was pleased to conceal it except in two things in which you did England the most signal service that ever man did the one was destroying your Brother and the other your running away and if you will keep on the other side of the small River that parts France from us we will forgive you all the faults of your life But notwithstahding all the noise your party have made about you exclusion I think they are now fully satisfied or at least may be that those three Parliaments that did proceed to exclude you had just grounds for it so that all your pretences stand convict as foolish and impertinent And these things being thus can any man judge you otherwise than an Enemy to Parliaments and that way of English Government which made you and your Traytors so much to inviegh against your most just proceedings 1. You may remember that the Nation could not be redeemed from that Bondage and Slavery that threatened it by the Arbitrary Government of Charles your Father but by the Long Parliament that sat down in the year 1640 and by the mismanagement of affairs by those to whom the guardianship of this Nation had been committed they thought nothing would bring on a new Heaven and a new Earth and repair the breaches in the Nation occasioned by the confusion rage and distraction they laboured under which were the consequences of the aforesaid mismanagement of affairs but by the restoring King Charles the second to gratifie this expectation the Convention which met on the 25th of April 1660 hand over head without any Preliminaries of asserting the right and priviledges of the people of England so manifestly violated by your Grandfather and Father and so restored your Brother to his Throne without the least opposition The hopes of the
and let him read over the Canoâ—s and Decrees of your Church and Councils see the Decree of Pope Vrban We do not esteem them Murtherers saith that godly Prelate who shall happen to kill a person that is excommunicate out of Ardour and Zeal to thâ—â—r Mother the Catholick Church 2dly Gâ—ve me leave to observe to you what impudent Lyars your trusâ—y and well-beloved Councellors and Conspirators the â—ive Jesuites were that blest the Gallows in the Year 1679 and danced a singular Courant when they came to Tyburn They said that there was but one Jesuite that ever maintain'd that Doctrine and that was Mariana Truly Sir you knew that was an impudent Lye with which they jump'd out of the World and the People that saw them take their last Leaves of old England believ'd them much alike in other parts of their last words for they that would dye with so great a Lye as that would not make bones of twenty more rather than fail for Aâ—dâ—rton the Rector of the College of Rome and Campton the Minister of the College and Green the Procurator and Souâ—hwell that was Assistant to Father Oliva the then General Father Buckley good man that was like to have been hang'd for Buggery in Spain not because of the Sin but because it was made publick these you will say were Preachers only but none ever wrote for it but Mariana Was not Tolet a Jesuite And I pray see what he saith he was an honest man I assure you these are his sweet words That Subjects are not bound to maintain invâ—â—aâ—e their Oath of Allegiance to an excommuâ—icate Prince Was not Bellarmin a Jesuite and doth not he affirm that the Pope hath the same Right and Power over Kings as Jâ—â—â—jâ—dâ— had over Athaliah Was not Greâ—â—lentâ—a a Jesuite and doth not he in his Writings affirm That the Pope may deprive Heretical Kings of all dominion and superiority over their Subjects Was not Creswell a Jesuite and doth not he affirm that if a Prince be not of the Romish Religion he loseth all right and title to govern and that his Subjects are discharg'd from all Obligation of Obedience and that he may be proceeded against as an â—nemy of Mankind Was not Francisâ—â—s Varona Constantinâ—s a Jesuite doth not he in his Apology for John Chastele who wounded Henry the fourth of France your Grandfather tell us That it is lawful for a private man to destroy Kings and Princes condemn'd of Heresie Is not this point so evident that de Haâ—lâ—y the first President of the Parliament of Paris who both knew the Doctrine of the Jesuites and had seen the woful Effects of it in the murder of two Kings of France publickly avow'd it to be their common Doctrine in all their Writings That the Pope hath a Right to excommunicate Kings and thereupon their Subjects may with Innocence assault and destroy them What a sort of a weak Memory you may have I know not but of this I am sure that our English Nation which thro' God's Blessing you may â—ever see more unless it be to a very glorious purpose have not with your five hang'd Jesuites learnt the knack of Forgetfulness so as not to remember that Cardinal Aâ—en wrote a Book to prove that Princes excommunicate for Heresie not only might but were to be deprived of their Kingdom and Life And was not William Parry thereby provoked to kill Queen Elizabeth which tho' before at Rome he had resolved to do yet he was hesitating in his Mind about it till encourag'd by that Book Do you think that England hath forgotten that Father Gifford instigated one John Savage to kill the same Queen upon the Bull of Pius quintusâ—â— And to conclude this second Observation it was remarkable at the same time that they might be the less suspected and that Queen the more secure they wrote a Book wherein they admonish'd the Papists in England not to attempt any thing against their Princess but to fight against their Adversaries only with Christian Weapons viz. Tears Spiritual Reasonings Prayers Watchings and Fastings 3dly Give me leave to recommend a third thing to your consideration and that is Tho' this be a common Doctrin in the Church of Rome yet in the years 1672 73 74 75 76 77 78. it was more earnestly pressed than at any time before and indeâ—d they had then great occasion to put that Doctrin in practise And since it was with speed to be transacted it was not sit their Votaries should go about the Work uninstructed Thus when the Murther of your Grandfather Henry the Fourth of France was determin'd Father Generâ—t a Jesuite instructed John Chastele in this damnable Doctrin of your Hell-born Church and Father Fayre did the same by Francis Veron to dispose his godly Soul for the same work yea when they were ready to perpetrate the same Villany upon that great Prince the very Sermons of the Jesuites were all framed to instigate Men to such an impious Attempt so that Ravilliac when examin'd about the causes why he stab'd the King answer'd That he might understand them by the Sermons of the Preachers I pray call to mind how that twelve Missioners in the year 1677 were sent into Spain and were by the Jesuites oblig'd to reâ—ounce their Allegiance to the King your Brother and were taught by Daniel Armstrâ—ng that the said Oath was heretical antichristian and devilish and they having resolv'd upon your Brother's death with you the said Armstrong did on the 29th of September 1677 in his Sermon to the said Missioners declare That Charles the second King of England was no lawful King but came of a spurious race that his Father was a black Scotchman who by Trade was a Taylor and not Charles the first and that he was a Bastard And you may remember that George Coniers the Jesuite was order'd to preach upon the day dedicated to Thomas Beckâ—t to preach against the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and that he should exhort the Fathers to stand by the new Provincial in the Great Work that you and the Society had in hand And your old Friend Blundâ—l had his places where he against the good time taught several young Men treasonable and mutinous Doctrines against the Interest and Person of the King your Brother John Keins on the 13th of August 1678 preach'd a Sermon to twelve Men in poor habits yet Men of Quality by the whiteness of their Hands in which Sermon he deliver'd this villanous Doctrine That Protestant and other Heretical Princes were ipso facto deposed because such and that it was as lawful to destroy them as an Oliver Cromwel or any other Usurper At which Sermon Sir I was present not designedly but by chance 4thly I must observe that a Man that is not thorow paced in all the points of these Villains is in danger of being expos'd to the Vengeance of their Cruelty for I find that tho' they knew you in all points to be a Roman Catholick
on the behalf of the Popish party which became wholly yours they owning you for their head your business therefore was to strengthen their interest at Court by having the King your Brother always ready to heap his favours upon them and to enlarge their Interest in the Country by obtaining such Immunities for them as no Protestant Dissenter could ever obtain in all your Brother's Reign notwithstanding they were more quiet under their pressures and provocations than the other were under your Brother's favours and caresses your party before your arrival at your last reconciliation to the Church of Rome had met with these encouragements to engage men in this design I pray Sir let us compare Notes a little and let us see what encouragement you gave those that were ingaged in the design of subverting our Religion and Government give me leave to put you in the mind of these in their order 1. The first encouragement that you gave them you procured them employments in the Government nay if it were a place but of 20 l. per Annum a poor Catholic was preferred before another if he stood in competition with him you did espouse that party with that zeal which put your friend Coleman into a sort of a Religious extasie when he considered what a Prince God had given them who was become to a miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a work of converting three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the utter subduing of a pestilent Heresy which hath domineered over great part of the Northern part of the World a long time and that there were never such hopes as in this time notwithstanding the opposition you were like to meet withal and truly Sir I could not blame Coleman for this rapture of his for the providing for your friends was a good sign of your conversion to that degree of Zeal that Secretary of yours spake of Now Sir the getting of your friends into employments did strengthen their hands that they might be fit for business or else Sir Patrick Trant might have continued in the Black-guard for ought I know to the day of his Death but your conversion converted him not only to your Church but also converted him from being a Black-guard-boy to wear a great name and place I pray Sir to what end was Sir George Ratcliffe to have had a Patent for to be a Baron of England but that the Popish party might be more strengthened in the North that the little ones might be encouraged and their numbers encreased by the protection he might give them in your name you were so successful in this that you boasted to Beddingfield and to others before him that were your Confessors that you did not question but that in a short time you could raise an Army of your Cotholick friends to establish the Catholick Religion Obj. Why might not the Son of Charles the First shew himself greatful to Roman Catholicks and procure them an Interest at Court had not they an universal esteem for their Loyalty to Charles the First and Charles the Second Why in such a heat good Sir where was the Loyalty of your Servant Manning where was the Loyalty of those that petitioned Cromwel for Liberty of Conscience and promising in lieu of so great a favour to destroy your Family alas Sir here is Loyalty for you besides all this behold it was they that had a hand nay a great hand in your Fathers death where was the Loyalty of the Irish murderers that renounced your Fathers Authority after they had performed his Gracious Command of murdering of one hundred and fifty thousand Protestants 'T is true they went into your Fathers Interest but not to serve him but to be protected by him from the Justice the Parliament would have inflicted on them for the wicked War they had in conjunction with that Villain Laude fomented against the Scotch and had also contributed to the same and not only so but had commenced that wicked War of the King your Father against the Parliament of England they were the Authors of our Civil War But Sir suppose they had been great sufferers upon your Father's account was that an argument why they were so well provided for alas Sir if that were an argument why was it not an Argument for the old Cavaliers no they were too generous to engage in any design against the good English Government for they thought that when they engaged with Charles the First that they had fought for the Protestant Religion and Liberties of England and therefore many times wondered the Papists herded with them and were much displeased to see Popish Councils and Councellors perferred before their Faces and they scarce suffered to have the Kings Ear therefore Sir you know well enough these men were not sit for your work and service on the other hand you were sure of the faithfulness of your Popish crew their Religion being security enough to you that they would engage in the design with you and therefore they were to be encouraged These Rogues had not one drop of Cavalier Blood in them no not one drop of any Blood but that of the Whore of Rome the poor Cavaliers were therefore to be starved and these fellows suffered to Revel and Surfeit upon their calamities this was the first encouragement they received from you viz. their Interest at Court 2. Your second encouragement you gave them was the check that you gave to those who opposed them especially the old Cavaliers for Sir you may remember that upon the coming in of the King your Popish party made them themselves very fine nay they resolved that none should be so fine as they but the old Cavaliers were resolved not to be out-done but they would be as fine though they did not live to pay the Taylors but when they showed themselves at Court your Brother and you scarce knew them though the Papists at that time had all the demonstrations of affection shew'd them to the great astonishment of the poor Cavaliers but when they had recovered themselves they fell into a desperate rage with the Papists asking them what they did there and began to arraign them for their former Rogueries but you was pleased to tell one that had signalized himself in your Father's service that it was not for him nor any other to malign the Roman Catholicks who had been your Brother's best friends and therefore we might easily see since that few or none durst appear so against them to suggest any thing that might bring them under the least jealousie lest they should be said to asperse the only friends of the Government and I truly have stood amazed that the little Credit the Papists had got by shrouding themselves under the protection of the King your Father should be so highly improved nay it was scarce credible till the World saw the design in which with you they were engaged then we plainly discovered the reason why they that