cry down and they cannot but know that Coleman and the rest had a fair Trial that the proofs were home and evident against them and that they suffered justly and by due course of Law But it is their interest to seem of another mind and notwithstanding they have endeavoured to render the Lord Chief Justice odious and cunningly to insinuate his illegal proceedings with Mr. Coleman those of their own party could not but acknowledge the words that I shewed them in the seventeenth Page of his printed Trial to be full of honour and integrity For there speaking to Mr. Oates who was then to be sworn as evidence against Mr. Coleman he gives him warning to speak nothing but the truth not to adde the least tirtle that is false for any advantage whatsoever for that since the Prisoner's Bloud and Life was at stake he should stand or fall be justified or condemned by Truth He also then puts Mr. Oates in mind of the sacredness of an Oath and that to falsily it and thereby to take away a man's Life was Murther Therefore he desired he would speak nothing but the down-right Truth that he may not be condemned by any Circumstances but by plain evidence of Fact and so that not onely Mr. Coleman may be satisfied in the justness of his Trial but all people else I think this is sufficient to manifest the uprightness of the Judge and that Mr. Coleman had a free and legal Trial for his Life according to the Laws of England But that they should so boldly and with a consident Brow assert that nothing could be made out against him that should render him guilty of Treason or worthy of Death is very strange when not onely the witnesses that are brought against him do prove sufficient matter of fact but his own Letters produced and read before his face which he acknowledges for his own do in plain words say that he is about a great work no less then the Conversion of three Kingdoms and the total and utter Subversion and Subduing of that pestilent Heresy the Protestant Religion which hath reigned so long in this Northern part of the World and for the doing of which there never was such great hopes since our Queen Marie ' s days as at this time pag. 69. Now can there be any thing more clear then that this subversion of a Religion so generally received in those three Kingdoms and so long and thoroughly established could not be effected but by the subversion of those three Kingdoms and by the destruction of the established Laws the Liberties and the Lives of many thousands within those three Kingdoms and all this could not have been done without bringing in of forein Force or raising a Rebellion amongst your selves or both In his long Letter to Monsiour Le Chese he says pag. 53. He would willingly be in everlasting disgrace with all the world if by the assistance of 20000. li. to be obtained from the FRENCH KING he did not regain to the DVKE his MASTER his former Offices and especially that of being ADMIRAL of the FLEET and again pag. 54. he tells you for what end this design is that it might give the greatest blow to the Protestant Religion in England that ever it received since its birth and therefore in the conclusion of one of his Letters to Le Chese the French King's Confessour he desires the power and assistance of France which next under God he relies upon So that his own hand convicts him of endeavouring to bring in Forein Powers into England to establish the Roman Catholick Religion and to overthrow that now there established This was but one way to bring his designs about the other most horrid and bloudy was the taking away the Sacred Life of the King which Mr. Oates swears against him pag. 21. that he was privy to the Consult at the White-Horse Tavern in the Strand wherein it was resolved that Grove and Pickering should be employed to effect it and that Mr. Coleman did approve of the same so that by this the proof was plain against him for by the Laws of England his assent made him equally guilty with the Assassinates there being no Accessories in Treason And this Resolve he swears was communicated to Mr. Coleman in his hearing in Wild-house and pag. 22. he swears he heard him say the design was well contrived And pag. 24. Oates swears that Mr. Coleman knew of the four Irish Russians sent to Windsor to kill the King and in his hearing asked Harcourt at Wild-house what care was taken for those four Gentlemen that went last night to Windsor who replied there was So. li. ordered to be sent to them which he saw there on the Table most part of it in Guinies and that Mr. Coleman gave a Guiny to the Messenger who was to carry this reward to be nimble and to expedite his journey Then pag. 25. he swears again that Mr. Coleman was privy to the instructions sent by White Provincial of the Jesuits from these parts to impower the Consulters to propose 10000 li. to Sir George Wakeman to poyson the King and that he not onely saw and read these Instructions but copied them out and transmitted them to several Conspirators in this Plot within the Kingdom And pag. 26. he swears Mr. Coleman said he thought 10000. li. was too little and that it would be necessary to adde 5000 li. more that they might be sure to have it done And pag. 27. he swears that he saw Mr. Coleman's Commission for to be Secretary of State from the General of the Society of Jesus by virtue of a Brief from the Pope and that in Fenwick's Chamber in Drury-Lane he saw him open it and own the receipt of it saying it was a good exchange One witness is not enough in this case but I find also Mr. Bedlow a second to strengthen the other's Evidence he swears pag. 43. that he heard Mr. Coleman say at his own house That if he had an hundred Lives and a sea of Bloud to swim through he would spend it all to carry on the Cause of the Church of Rome and to establish that Church in England and if there were an hundred heretical Kings to be Deposed he would see them all destroyed so that both swear to the killing of the King and subverting the Government I cannot find that Mr. Coleman could make any good or satisfactory defence for himself but would have sought starting-holes and shifts to have amazed the minds of the Jury with putting the witnesses to have proved to a day what they averr which is in most things done and would take that advantage where Mr. Oates says pag. 72. he will not be positive that it was such a day but Mr. Coleman cannot bring any positive proof that it was not that day or that the witness contradicted himself as he attempted to doe And indeed though Mr. Coleman was never so wise a man sufficient to be Secretary of
A LETTER FROM S t. OMARS IN Farther Confirmation of the Truth OF THE POPISH PLOT UPON A Consideration of divers Circumstances IN THE TRIALS TOGETHER With several new Matters relating to a farther Discovery thereof AND PARTICULARLY A LETTER from Mr. JENNISON Proving Mr. Ireland to have been in London the 19 th of August contrary to the Staffordshire Witnesses and what the five Jesuits lately Executed insisted upon at their Trials With REMARKS upon the said Letter LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXIX A LETTER FROM SAINT OMARS TO A Friend in LONDON SIR I Should be unworthy of that care and friendship which you have expressed towards me if I should not gratefully acknowledge the satisfaction I have taken not onely in your several Letters from time to time giving me an account of the Discovery of that most hellish and horrid Plot so lately made known in England for the alteration of Religion and subversion of Government by Massacre War and Fire but also the great pleasure I have received in the present which you sent me of all the printed and written papers publickly made known and privately dispersed concerning this Plot. I must therefore after I have acknowledged the favour therein let you know the satisfaction I have taken how much it has wrought upon my Conscience what impressions they have made on others the Objections some have made and the Answers I have been enabled to give them grounded on those publick Trials and Transactions which you have sent me And as you have truly convinc'd me of the great Errour I was run into so no doubt by your Argument and Assistance I have been able to do the like on this side the Water to many who erred not wilfully but were led aside by the cunning Discourses of the Adverse Party and to stop the mouths of some of the most malicious and violent Enemies of the Protestants in England who here have endeavoured to make us believe there has been no such Plot contrived by the Jesuits and Papists in England or else that the Plot is onely of the making and contriving of those you call Sectaries and Fanaticks in England and that all this is wrought through their Cunning and Contrivance to scandalize and extirpate the Catholicks and their Religion in England and other stories to the discrediting the King's Evidence as if they had falsely accused and took away the lives of many holy men and Catholicks innocent and unknowing of any such Plot or Massacre thereby begetting a general Odium and Evil-speaking against the Sectaries and Hereticks as they call them in England By these cunning Artifices and sedulous Insinuations they have been very carefull in these parts to take away the scandal and reproach so horrid a design might lay upon the Catholick Party and to invalidate as much as they are able all reports and proofs thereof and therefore have endeavoured to stop and suppress all the light thereof and all Books or Papers that may any way inform the Judgements of the people who are made to believe quite contrary to what you have made me to see And I question not but that also in some measure the same skill and artifice of the Jesuitical Party is used amongst you as well as here and that by their cunning Insinuations and Contrivances they have been able as you seem to intimate to pervert the minds of many in England and to fix on them a strange blindness and disbelief of the Plot not onely of those of their Religion and well-affected to their way but also of many of the more moderate and simply honest of the contrary Party who have been led aside by their specious pretences and sedulous insinuations and diligent aspersions of the Witnesses and startled and confirmed by the pertinacious denying and seeming Innocency of those that suffer'd for the same If then in England where these things are transacted they are able to alienate the minds of many and to keep them in the mist of ignorance and unbelief you may be sure that at this distance and where the power of your Adversaries has more force and strength and where they have far greater means to stifle the breaking forth of the least Ray of the light of Truth that the people are much more ignorant and by that means more prejudiced against you though there are none almost to whom I have made known and communicated those Papers and Letters you sent me but are either convinc'd or know not how to raise any just Argument against the Truth of what they assert It has always been the way of these sedulous Emissaries of the Society to palliate great miscarriages with specious pretences and to daub over the most notable deformities with an holy paint and religious fucus and to colour their detected Crimes by pious frauds lies and perjuries And it is not now they begin to practice those things you seem to hint at in your Letters as may by several instances and known eveniments be made appear and which indeed has been a scandal to many good Catholicks and knowing Christians who have not at all approved of the ways of these Jesuitical Brethren who have converted Religion to principles of State and changed Christianity to meer Policy and by endeavouring to maintain their own greatness and by unjust and politick ways striving to attain their ends of Power and Dominion have lost much the opinion not onely of those of the contrary Religion or Reformed but also of many of those who are Roman Catholicks who have been distasted at their principles and practices For as there were Roman Catholicks before there were Jesuits so were that Order not in being I am apt to believe that their number would not be less for though by their Artifices and Policies they have made themselves great and kept up the power of the Bishop of Rome and by their insinuations into all the Courts of the Princes of Christendom made themselves formidable and knowing of all affairs yet on the other hand by the many miscarriages and detections of many of their Plots and Contrivances and their wicked and evil Machinations they have opened the mouths of the Protestants against the Roman Catholicks too justly and also opened the Eyes to see and alienated the Hearts of many of the Roman Catholicks themselves from their detested ways and abominable courses which they have manifestly taken to establish themselves or as they say to propagate Religion and to extirpate Heresie But certainly Truth does not need the hand of Policy and especially evil and immoral Maxims and unvertuous Contrivances to defend it and as it is far from the Doctrine and Method of Christ and his Apostles and their immediate Successours to propagate his Religion or Christianity by Plots Massacres Force or Cruelty or by any unjust way or means so always the attempt thereof has ever prov'd pernicious and has raised up evil thoughts of Religion in many making some Atheists and others Hereticks and Schismaticks and
Narrative upon Oath who there affirms what he knew of the same and after what manner he came by it being informed of it in Paris so that coming over to England for the intent of discovering what he knew concerning the same he was clapt into the Tower under the pretext of having some design of making an attempt against the Duke of Monmouth's Life where he was kept four years a close Prisoner without ever being brought to any Hearing or Trial and though he had several times made some discovery of this Plot to Sir John Robinson the then Lieutenant of the Tower he either did not or would not believe any thing of it and would give no information to His Majesty concerning the same as may more fully appear by the Depositions of the said Mr. Everard which certainly is a very great Testimony and very much corroborates the Assertions of the other Witnesses concerned in the Plot this man being none of the Confederacy and so not entrusted with the horrid Intrigues thereof yet so far knew of the same as to have given some Light to the farther discovery of this dark design had he not been thus subtly prevented by some of the Plotters means who are since in custody themselves in Ireland the Province where they were to Act for both that Kingdom and Scotland also was at the same time to have been subverted as well as England But things were not then ripe and God had designed to let them run on yet farther in their wickedness that his Glory might appear more great and perspicuous and that his mercy and protecting care of the King and people of England might be seen in diverting and making known a Plot and Conspiracy so impending and near taking effect being carried on with such secrecy skill and power so many years but to God be given the Glory and let the barking mouths of these Currs be stopped at last and their endeavours to hide and to make this Plot of no account be blasted and come to nought Amen Not withstanding the Artifices of these men to support their credit here abroad and in some measure with you also in England their Complices are like to suffer for their treasonable practices Some of the underlings have already paid for their Treason with the forfeiture of their Lives and the more great and formidable Plotters are like also to be called to account and the very bottom of this horried and hellish design like to be discovered It is therefore now time for them to bestir themselves and inded to say the truth they will leave no stone unturn'd and having first endeavoured to scandalize the Evidence against them they now try to corrupt it and to take them off and this they have procured a subtle Agent to effect one Nathaniel Reading who by great and fair promises of great rewards and some Gold in hand would have taken off Mr. Bedlow one of the chief Evidence for the King against these Plotters but I find that Mr. Bedlow out-witted him and notwithstanding he was a subtle Lawyer brought him to shame and punishment for his Crime which certainly was of a very high Nature and which was punctually proved against him so that none can deny the Truth thereof Now from this I argue If there were no Plot as the Jesuits here have endeavoured to have made us believe why should those accused thereof seek by such unjust means of bribery to take off the Evidence against them and to draw beforehand such matter onely for the Evidence to swear to as might be sure not to make them guilty of Treason and out of the danger of the Law Innocency needs not these shifts and this also to me and all rational men must needs be another proof of their Guilt and that notwithstanding all this stir that they have made to hide their Crime and most horrid Design they are guilty of the same and that there is and hath been a horrid Plot and Conspiracy Since you have desired me to communicate my mind fully to you I hope you will not think me tedious in that I cannot yet leave this matter and that I resolve as briefly as I can to mention to you my thoughts on the several Trials of those persons Condemned both for the Conspiracy and for the Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfry and to let you know what here hath been said thereupon for they have not onely endeavoured by all means and ways to bespatter and calumniate the persons of those who discovered the Plot the Judges who gave Sentence on the Traytors and the Witnesses against them but also violently to speak against the Justice and legality of the Trials themselves and so far to justify the Criminals and those Condemned and Executed for Traytors as if they died illegally without apparent proofs and Innocent and Martyrs And here I cannot but admire the strange audacity of these men that they should think to be able with bold and lying assertions to lessen and pervert matters of fact and things so notoriously known and acted in the face of a Nation things not privately or clandestinely acted but publickly and before the whole World But what is it that these men will not attempt Tantum Relligio potuit suadere Malorum T is for the sake of Religion and they may doe any thing The first that comes upon the stage is Mr. Coleman a leading man in this horried Plot and Conspiracy and a prime actor and promoter of it by his great correspondency abroad both at Rome and in the French Court I have read the Trial of that person with caution and consideration and however plain the proofs may appear to me and to others of unbyassed judgments yet they have had the confidence here to assert and endeavour to impress it on the minds of the people that nothing could be made out against this man to render him worthy of Death or to make him guilty of Treason and that he died innocent a Saint and a Martyr and that at the Execution he utterly denied there was any such thing a Plot as was pretended though he own'd himself to be indeed a zealour promoter of the Catholick Cause And as I have heard many were so sottishly deluded with this opinion of his innocency that they purchased at dear rates pieces of the Halter that strangled him to keep as reliques of his Saintship That a great argument of his innocency was that he never endeavoured to make any escape or to fly away having his Liberty several days after the discovery of the Plot and his being question'd about the same The men who seem thus to believe nothing and goe about to perswade others to be of their opinion and who raise the objections and reports to cast a mist before the eyes of the people are those no doubt whose Consciences know the contrary to what they pretend to be absolutely true and are and have been agents and promoters of that Plot and Conspiracy they would
case and admire at the obstinacy of these men who shall deny so clear evidence against them to the last gasp and die in their Impenitency and at those wicked ones also that shall secretly and slanderously go about to make the world believe that these men had not Justice done them and that they died Innocent and Martyrs I find my Letter swells to a bigger bulk then I intended therefore I shall be as brief as I can in mentioning the Tryals of those who had a hand in the murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfry which was as punctually prov'd against them as could be for in the case of Felony by the Laws of England one sufficient Witness for the King is enough though here you shall find a very plain concurrent Evidence and the whole stress lies not upon Master Prance who was one of the Assistants at the Murther The persons accused and convicted for this Murther were Robert Green Henry Berry and Laurence Hill Lay-men who suffer'd for the same others concerned were Mr. Prance who confessed the Fact had the King's Pardon and was the Accuser besides Kelly and Girald Priests who assisted in the Murther and who are fled and some others knowing of and abetting the same are also fled The first thing that is proved by two Witnesses pag. 12. and 13. is that one of the Motives that these persons might have to murther this Knight was because of his forwardness in discovering the Plot and to this Mr. Oates swears that this Knight Sir Edmundbury Godfry told him he had been threatned by several persons for being so active in that Discovery and that he told him that he went in fear of his Life by the Popish party for doing his Duty being a Justice of the Peace and that he had been dogg'd several days Mr. Robinson a man of Credit and of the Knight's long acquaintance swears also to the same effect and pag. 14. That Sir Edmundbury said to him That he did believe in his Conscience that he should be the first Martyr and that the depth of the Plot was not yet found out By this we may see the reason that these men had to murther this Gentleman hoping by his death to hinder the Discovery of the Plot it being then very young and hardly credited he having the chief Depositions in his hand or to deter others from being active or meddling in the business seeing the Revenge they had taken upon him for the same or out of Malice and Revenge to the Man for being active in discovering their Villany and bringing to light their wicked deeds The next Witness is Mr. Prance who swears pag. 14. that Girald and Kelly two Priests first drew him into this Murther he being a Roman Catholick as all the rest were except Berry who said he died a Protestant and feigned himself otherwise for a livelihood which I can hardly believe telling him it was no Sin but a charitable Act and that he was a busie man and had done a great deal of mischief and so they told the rest and this was at an Alehouse at the sign of the Plough about a fortnight before this Gentleman was murthered He swears also that they had dogg'd him into several places to get an opportunity of murthering him and that on the Saturday the twelfth of October about seven of the Clock in the Evening Green and Hill having dogg'd him into a House at S. Clements not far from Somerset-House where he was murthered Hill stay'd to watch his motion and Green came to Prance his House to call him to assist them and that he immediately went to Somerset-House where were Girald Kelly Green and Berry and that about nine of the Clock Hill came before to give them notice of the approach of Sir Edmundbury Godfry it being in his way to his own House that Hill went up to the Gate to watch for the coming by of Sir Edmundbury Godfry and by a wile to draw him within the Gate pretending two men to be a quarrelling and desiring his presence to part them he being a Justice of the Peace That this Gentleman being at last perswaded to do that good office followed Hill within the Gate till he came to the bottom of the Rails when Green coming behind him flung a twisted Handkerchief about his Neck and threw him down behind the Rails where assisted by Girald Kelly and Hill they strangled him Pag. 16. and 17. Mr. Prance swears he was not by at the Action for Hill ordered him to watch at the Water-gate and Berry at the Stairs that none might come in the mean time to interrupt them and that after a little while that he thought they might have dispatched him he went to them and found the four before mentioned standing about the Body and Green boasted to him how well he had done it and that the rest told him the manner of their effecting it and that Green thinking him not quite dead gave him several punches on his Breast with his Knee and twisted his Neck about and that presently after Berry also came to them And pag. 18. he swears they all six help'd to carry him up a pair of Stairs into a certain Room in the House where Hill lay where the Body lay till Monday night and was then removed into Somerset House and on Monday night he was shewn the Body by Hill with a dark Lanthorn Girald Hill and Kelly being by and on Tuesday night the Body was carried back to Hill's Lodging where it first lay but not into the same Room but one over against it and about nine of the Clock on the Wednesday night they removed it to the Room where it first lay he being there when they removed it pag. 19. and that about twelve a Clock that night a Sedan being brought by Hill they all put the Body into it and that Berry at the sign of a hem that was given opened for them the upper Gate of the upper Court that he Mr. Prance and Girald the Priest now the Porter first carried the Sedan Green and Kelly going before and pag. 20. he swears they carried it to Covent-Garden where they rested and that the Green and Kelly took their turns and carried it to Long-Acre then Prance and Girald carried it to So-Hoe Church where Hill met them with an Horse and that they then took the Body up and set it before Hill on the Horse who held him up and that Kelly Girald and Green went along with him and that he the Deponent then left them to return home for fear of raising a suspicion But he swears that the next day they Hill Kelly and Girald told him how they had disposed of the Body first that they had run him through with his own Sword then thrown him into a Ditch and laid his Gloves and other things upon the Bank Pag. 22. he swears that they had all agreed to the Murther of this Gentleman having had more then one Meeting about it and that
lives for nothing nay if it were granted they might I cannot believe they could have contrived so many several circumstances without the least variation and without being intrapped by so many wise and judicious men who sifted them and the more because of the strange obstinacy and denial of the Criminals Having therefore seriously considered all things I cannot but admire that any in England should doubt of the Guilt of these Murtherers All I can find of any weight in their Defences for themselves is of little consideration to invalidate such strong proofs That they all denyed it very stoutly to the last is true but that is of no value against such plain Evidence and but aggravates their Crime Hill would have invalidated Mr. Prance his Testimony because he had deny'd it but that has already been cleared and could no ways legally take off his Evidence for he was no ways perjur'd But then to evade the matter he brings several Witnesses all of his own Religion to aver he was never from his Lodgings after nine of the Clock at night but these do it so mincingly and generally that no stress can be laid upon them it being proved that they had several Keys to the Door and that Hill might go in and out without their knowledge and one of his Witnesses makes but a mistake of a whole month pag. 55. and two of Green's Witnesses a whole week pag. 66. so ill had they calculated the Time which they intended to speak to There is nothing that can be thought to be of any moment in all that the Witnesses said in behalf of the Prisoners but what the Souldiers say in behalf of Berry pag. 68. and 69. who were placed at the Gate Sentinels and they say that they saw a Sedan come in so far they agree with the King's Evidence but then they confidently aver none went out all that night But what is this to the matter of Fact and to the Murther committed sworn in all circumstances so punctually to for the Sentinel might be from his post and Mr. Prance says who knew of the Contrivance pag. 16. of his printed Narrative of this Murther that Berry had beforehand got the Sentinel into his House to drink that he might not see the Sedan go out and the Sentinel knowing he had committed a great fault by so doing was so wise though not very honest to conceal it And this is the most of colour they could produce that might any ways cause the least hesitation and how far this single Testimony will go to invalidate a Testimony so full and not any ways to be contradicted let the world judge I must confess it has given me full satisfaction and I hope will give the like to all others who are impartial men that shall reade the same I must indeed declare that it seems somewhat strange that nothing should work upon these men to acknowledge their Crime at their death but that they should take it upon their Salvation that they died Innocent of this Murther they suffer'd for as the Child that was newly born But I fear they were under some horrid delusion and were so charm'd and bound up by so many Oaths and Sacraments by their Ghostly Fathers the Jesuites who had brought them to this that they durst not acknowledge the Truth or that they thought by this means they should do great service to the Romish Church and be Sainted for it in Heaven And the Printed Account of Hill's Confession seems to make it plain for there was found in his pocket after he was executed a very formal Confession written not with his own hand neither had he Pen Ink or Paper all the time he was in Prison and his Wife witnessed it was not her Husband's hand How he came by it none could tell but it was very formally drawn and in which I observe he stoutly denies the Fact and calls God and Angels to witness his Innocency and that he is wrongfully put to death and for that cause cites all such as had a hand in his death and particularly the Lord Chief Justice with the Jury and Witnesses c. shewing a very wicked and uncharitable Spirit in the Indicter for I suppose this was given to Hill to con against the time of his Execution and of which Lesson he repeated as much as he could remember So that I cannot but believe the obstinacy of these men proceeds from the Jesuits for it is plain this Writing was prepared for him by some other and not by himself I shall also inform you of another trick invented by these men Upon the general report of the Plot in some parts more remote from us and where the Informations were uncertain lest it should spread farther they had framed a formal Writing as under the Hand and Seal of a Person of Quality with several other pretended Authentick Witnesses which was shewn about in several Borough-Towns and noted places as a Certificate to inform the people that there was no such Plot in England as had been invented by divers factious and seditious people to the scandal of divers peaceable people of the Romish Faith in England and that there had been no such person murther'd as had been reported to be and that there was not any such person at all as Sir Edmundbury Godfry and that these reports were wholly false and all lies raised by malicious and factious people to cause uproars in England and to disquiet the peace of the King and Kingdom and such like stuff which I hear has done them notable service to take off the credit of the report of this horrid Plot among the ignorant and vulgar people but as I hear some have sent Letters purposely to the Recorder of London to be certified of the Truth of this Besides all these Tryals and positive proofs of a most horrid and desperate Plot deeply laid and vigorously prosecuted whereby the Plot very manifestly appears to all men of sense and reason and they must be wilfully blind or desperately deluded that will not give credit to what hath been so solemnly sworn and so openly made known the Narrative published by Mr. Oates being 81. Articles all sworn to and deposed by him before Sir Edmundbury Godfry when alive and since before the Lords of his Majestie 's Privy Council doth yet more manifestly set out the grounds and manner of this Plot the progress and discovery thereof so fully amply and with so many concurrent Circumstances that it is the strangest thing in the world any should question the verity and reality of the same whenas none appears that can intrap him in contradictions or disprove what he hath sworn to and when he is backt by the testimony of others that yet I say any should be stagger'd with the confidence and obstinacy of a few dying Traytors and the whispering perswasions of the Jesuits against the testimony of their own eyes and ears against both sense and reason it self 't is strange and wonderfully
strange and makes me think that they are infatuated or strangely deluded For it is plain that the design extended as well into Scotland and Ireland as through England and Mr. Oates swears positively in the first Article that one Wright Ireland and Morgan were sent into Scotland under the notion and in the disguise of Non-Conformist Ministers to preach up the Covenant and to promote Rebellion by that means and Artic. 11. he swears that Letters were sent to S. Omars and to Leshee the King of France his Confessour which Letters he had seen and read which gave an account that their Emissaries in Scotland had stirred up the Presbyterians there into a Rebellion and that 20000 would be in Arms if his Majesty of France would break with the King of England And Artic. 35. deposes that he was by at a Conference with the Jesuits in London wherein they read the Order from the Provincial for the sending new Messengers into Scotland to promote the Combustions there and this was in July last And Artic. 43. he farther swears that on the 5. of August two were sent away for Scotland the one named Father Moor the other F. Saunders alias Brown for they have usually divers names with full instructions how to behave themselves as Non-Conformist Ministers and to preach to the disaffected Scots the necessity of taking up the Sword for the defence of Liberty of Conscience and these the Deponent saw dispatch'd And Artic. 74. swears he saw Letters from White the Provincial dated at S. Ontars 4. of Sept. New Style which gave an account to Rich. Blundell that 12 more Jesuits of that Nation were sent into Scotland by order of the General of the Society with full instructions how to behave themselves like Non-Conformist Ministers among the Presbyterian Scots and that they had 1000 li. given them by Leshee the French King's Confessour so that we may easily perceive by what means the Rebellion of Scotland is promoted As to Ireland where they have a far greater interest they had sufficient means and preparations there to stir up the Irish of their own Religion and under their thraldome and command to Rebell And Article 18. Mr. Oates deposes Letters came from the Archbishop of Dublin Talbot which Letters he saw and read at S. Omars bearing date Jan. 1. 1678. New Style which gave an account how vigilant they had been in that Kingdom to prepare the people to rise for the defence of their Religion and Liberty and to recover their Estates and that they would open a place there to receive the King of France his Army when he should think fit to land them and advised them to confer with Leshee the French King's Confessour about the same And he farther deposes that Letters were thereupon sent to Leshee about the same who returned Answers by the same Messengers Nevill and Busby one being Prefect of the Studies and the other Procurator to the Seminary one of which to the Rectour of S. Omars Richard Ashby the Deponent saw which gave an account that the Father General of the Society would contribute 800000 Crowns to be paid in the month of June next ensuing and that his Holiness the Pope would not be wanting to supply them when they had made some progress in that glorious attempt And Article 21. he there deposes that he likewise saw Letters of Feb. 1. 1678. New Style from Whitebread Keines Ireland Micho and the rest to Richard Ashby Rectour of S. Omars to let him understand that they had sent William Morgan and F. Lovell into Ireland to see how affairs stood in that Kingdom and that they had instructions given them to incourage the Irish Natives to defend their Religion and Liberty and that they carried with them 2000 li. to supply their present wants and order to promise 4000 li. more in case there should be any Action And Article 27. he farther deposes that in the month of April following he saw the Letters which Whitebread and the rest of the Jesuits in London sent to Richard Ashby Rectour and those of the Seminary at S. Omars in which they gave them an account that Morgan and Lovell were returned out of Ireland who gave them to understand that the Irish were ready to rise at 10 days warning with 20000 Foot and 5000 Horse and would let in the Army of the French King if he would land there and also that in the North of Ireland 15000 Horse and Foot were in a readiness to rise and that they were also very resolute and also that there were arrived Commissions from the General of the Society by virtue of a Brief from the Pope dated Oct. 1. 1673. to several persons and that they once more resolved to cut the throats of the Protestants when they should rise Thus we may perceive what provision they had made and how well prepared they were in those Kingdoms to effect their horrid Plot and Conspiracy but that they might leave no stone unturn'd and that they might every-where work the destruction of the Protestants I find Artic. 38. Mr. Oates swears that he saw and read at Mr. Fenwick's Chamber in London on the 11. of August Letters from S. Omars from the Provincial Whitebread that he had ordered 12 Jesuits to goe to Holland to inform the Dutch privately that the Prince of Orange did intend to assume the Crown and to be their King and to bring them under his Government which was to beget an evil opinion of the Prince of Orange in the Dutch and so to cause a commotion against the Prince and his Party Also Artic. 56. he farther deposes that the Letters came from the said Whitebread and the rest to John Fenwick and the rest which Letters he also saw and read dated 20. Aug. New Style which gave account that the 12 Jesuits were safely arrived in Holland and were using all their skill and interest to make a Commotion there and that Appletree Will by which they meant the Prince should not be great there urging the Fathers in London to mind their business By all this you may perceive the general ruine of the Protestants was laid and the large extent of this Plot. Three Kingdoms at once were to be in a Flame and the Neighbouring Provinces to be put into a Combustion But this Plot had been several years a hatching and if Mr. Oates swears truth as there is no scruple to be raised but he does for ought I can see by any objection raised against him we now know the manner and Authours of the great and famous Fire of London 1666. for Artic. 34. he deposes that he had it from the mouth of Richard Strange who had been Provincial of the Jesuits who told him that this Fire had been several times attempted by him and others in the years 1664 and 1665. being assisted by one Green and 8 others under the notion of Fifth Monarchy men but that failing and some of them being laid in Newgate they desisted
at Windsor and mark the great Providence of God in preserving the Life of His Majesty that being on his way thither with this bloudy design in his heart his Horse fell lame that he was forced to return being almost five miles on his way The several other attempts upon the Life of His Sacred Majesty by Groves Pickering and the Russians and the intention of Wakeman and reward to poison him were spoke to before and sufficiently evidenced Thus having given you at large an account of my Thoughts concerning this horrid Plot and bloudy Conspiracy with the reasons and proofs that appeared sufficient to convince me and to make me believe that these Traytors that have suffered were guilty and justly deserved the punishment the Laws inflicted upon them for the same and which has in some measure convinced others who have seen and read them I shall conclude with my Prayers for the prosperity of the King and the whole Nation that the one may enjoy an happy Peace Liberty and Prosperity and that the other may continue with long life and all manner of felicity and that the care and providence of Heaven will protect them both from all evil Conspiratours and wicked Plotters and that God will work upon the hearts of some of those who are yet in Prison for this Conspiracy and e're it be too late cause them to make a generous and free Confession of the whole design that the world may be better satisfied and that there may be no scruple left of the verity of these things And I also hope it will be the care of the Parliament when they meet to goe on with their good intention of securing the Nation for the time to come and the Person of His Sacred Majesty from the Machinations and Conspiracies of the Jesuits and their Emissaries by not onely reviving all the poenal Laws in that Case but by making others that may give a certain security to the Peace of the Nation I will not stand to beg your pardon since your commands drew on you the trouble of this long Letter and therefore I shall onely tell you that I am Sir Your Humble Servant D. G. S. Omars June 24. New Style An APPENDIX to the foregoing Letter THE foregoing Letter being wrote and received before the Trials of the five Jesuits last executed upon the account of the horrid Plot and Conspiracy and of Mr. Langhorn for the same and being thought by some judicious persons and lovers of the peace and welfare of their Country fitting to be published for the satisfaction of the people the strange obstinacy and denial of these five Jesuits Whitebread Harcourt Fenwick Gawin and Turner at their Execution calling God and Angels to witness of their innocency and taking it upon their salvation that they were falsly accused and knew nothing of any such Plot as is pretended against them having made a strange impression upon the minds of some ignorant and some well-minded people who cannot believe they could go out of the world with such a lie in their mouths to the damnation of their Souls I thought it requisite to abbreviate also the Trials of these men that the truth may appear that they had a just equal and legal Trial and that they could not be guiltless and unknowing of this horrid Plot as they pretend but were legally and by full proof condemned for the same for that many people will not go to the price of their Trials that would however give six-pence to be satisfied And therefore I shall follow the same method my Friend at S. Omars did in the foregoing Trials and point out to the plain proof and evidence in the printed Trials more fully expressed But I also advertise that here you shall find some evidence that has since come to light and has made things yet more apparent First take notice that these Priests and Jesuits are not tried upon the Statute of 27 Eliz. which would have made them guilty for being in Orders and remaining here in England but they are tried as Traytors in conspiring the death of the King's Majesty and the utter subversion of the Protestant Religion and the bringing in of Popery which was the end of this great Plot and now judge how it is proved against them The Evidences are long and tedious but the main proof and what is positive appears first against Mr. Whitebread pag. 12. where Mr. Oates swears that in April 1678. Old Style or May New Style according to the order of the said Whitebread Provincial there was a Consult in which were Whitebread Fenwick Harcourt and Turner and that all these did in his presence sign the resolve for the death of the King Against these four he swears positively and that Whitebread should say after he was returned to S. Omars in the Deponent's hearing words to this effect That he hoped to see the King's Head laid fast enough And pag. 16. he swears that Fenwick on the 25. of August 78. at his Chamber in London did deliver Mr. Oates some money for necessary charges and did then admonish him to procure some Masses to be said for a prosperous success upon the Design Then pag. 22. he swears that Turner was at the Consult in Fenwick's Chamber in London and that there he saw him sign the resolve of the King's Death And pag. 15. he swears against Gawen that though he did not see him at the Consult in April yet he saw his hand and makes it out how he knew it to be his hand and that he gave them in London an account how affairs stood in Staffordshire and Shropshire July 1678. and how the Lord Stafford was very diligent and how prosperous their affairs were in those Countries and that there was two or three thousand pound ready there to carry on the design and farther swears that sometime in July he met Gawen at Mr. Ireland's Chamber in London where he gave to Father Ireland the same account as he had before written in his hearing The next thing I observe is a new Evidence one Mr. Dugdale whom the prisoners do not endeavour to bespatter as they had done Mr. Oates and Bedlow and this man had no knowledge or acquaintance with Mr. Oates and Bedlow and could not conspire with them to take away the Lives of men that were innocent You will see how far he agrees with them and what a positive proof he is against the prisoners Pag. 22. Mr. Dugdale swears against Whitebread that he saw a Letter from him to Mr. Ewers a Jesuit and Confessour to Mr. Dugdale in which he gave him a caution to be sure to chuse those that were trully and resolute no matter whether they were Gentlemen if stout and couragious and then shews how he knew it to be Whitebread's hand And this he swears too again that he saw the words in express terms under his hand pag. 29. to kill the King Against Gawen he swears positively that he entertained him to be of the