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A63199
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The tryal of the Lord Russel
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1683
(1683)
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Wing T2227A; ESTC R219712
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60,366
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40
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with Mr. Sheppard L. Ch. Just Read the Statute of 25 E. 3. c. 2. My Brothers desire to have it read Cl. Cro. Whereas divers Opinions have been before this time in what Case Treason shall be said and in what not The King at the Request of the Lords and of the Commons hath made a Declaration in the manner as hereafter followeth That is to say when a Man doth compass or imagine the Death of our Lord the King or of our Lady his Queen or of their eldest Son and Heir or if a Man do Violate the Kings Compagnion or the Kings eldest Daughter unmarried or the Wife of the Kings eldest Son and Heir or if a Man do levy War against our Lord the King in his Realm or be adherent to the Kings Enemies in his Realm giving to them Aid and Comfort in the Realm or else where and thereof be proveably attainted of open Deed by People of their Condition And if a Man counterfite the Kings Great or Privy Seal or his Mony and if a Man bring false Mony into this Realm counterfite to the Mony of England as the Mony called Lushburgh or other like to the said Mony of England Knowing the Mony to be false to Merchandise or make Payment in deceit of our said Lord the King and of his People and if a Man Slea the Chancellor Treasurer or the Kings Iustices of the one Bench or the other Iustices in Eyre or Iustices of Assise and all other Iustices designed to hear and determin being in their Places during their Offices And it is to be understood that in the Cases above rehearsed that ought to be Iudged Treason which extends to our Lord the King and his Royal Majesty L. C. Just My Lord That which is urged against you by the Kings Council is this You are excused by the Indictment of compassing and designing the Kings Death and of endeavouring to Raise an Insurrection in Order to it That that they do say is that these Counsels that your Lordship hath taken are Evidences of your Compassing the Kings Death and are Overt Acts Declaring the same and upon that it is they insist your Lordship to be Guilty within that Statute L Russel It is in a Point of Law and I desire Counsel Mr. Att. Gen. Admit your Consultations and we will hear them L. Ch. J. I would set your Lordship right for probably you may not apprehend the Law in this Case If your Counsel be heard they must be heard to this That taking it that my Lord Russel has consulted in this manner for the Raising of Forces within this Kingdom and making an Insurrection within this Kingdom as Col. Romsey and my Lord Howard have deposed whether then this be Treason we can hear your Counsel to nothing else L. Russel I do not know how to answer it The point methinks must be quite otherwise that there should be Two Witnesses to one and the same time Mr. Att. Gen. Your Lordship remembers in my Lord Staffords Case there was but one Witness to one Act in England and another to another in France L. Russel It was to the same point Mr. Att. Gen. To the general point the lopping point Sir Geo. Jeff. There was not so much Evidence against him as there is against your Lordship L. C. J. My Lord if your Lordship will say any thing or call any Witnesses to disprove what either of these Gentlemen have said we will hear your Lordship what they say But if you contradict them by Testimony it will be taken to be a Proof And the way you have to disprove them is to call Witnesses or by asking Questions whereby it may appear to be untrue Mr. Sol. Gen. If you have any Witnesses call them my Lord. L. Russel I do not think they have proved it But then it appears by the Statute that Levying War is Treason but a Conspiracy to levy War is no Treason if nothing be done 't is not Levying War within the Statute There must be manifest Proof of the matter of Fact not by inference Mr. Att. Gen. I see that is taken out of my Lord Coke Levying War is a distinct branch of the Statute and my Lord Coke explains himself afterwards and says 't is an Assuming of Royal Power to Raise for particular puposes Just Wythins Unless matter of Fact be agreed we can never come to argue the Law L. Russel I came in late Mr. Sol. Gen. Pray my Lord has your Lordship any Witnesses to call as to this matter of Fact L. Russel I can prove I was out of Town when one of the Meetings was but Mr. Sheppard can't recollect the Day for I was out of Town all that time I never was but once at Mr. Sheppards and there was nothing undertaken of viewing the Guards while I was there Colonel Romsey Can you swear positively that I heard the Message and gave any Answer to it L. C. Just To Colonel Romsey Sir did my Lord Russel hear you when you delivered the Message to the Company were they at the Table or where were they Col. Romsey When I came in they were standing at the Fire side but they all came from the Fire-side to hear what I said L. Russel Colonel Romsey was there when I came in Col. Romsey No my Lord. The Duke of Monmouth and my Lord Russel went away together and my Lord Gray and Sir Thomas Armstrong L. Russel The Duke of Monmouth and I came together and you were standing at the Chimney when I came in you were there before me My Lord Howard hath made a long Narrative here of what he knew I do not know when he made it or when he did recollect any thing 't is but very lately that he did declare and protest to several people That he knew nothing against me nor of any Plot I could in the least be questioned for L. C. J. If you will have any Witnesses called to that you shall my Lord. L. Russel My Lord Anglesey and Mr. Edward Howard My Lord Anglesey stood up L.C. J. My Lord Russel what do you ask my Lord Anglesey L. Russel To declare what my Lord Howard told him about me since I was confined L. Anglesey My Lord I chanced to be in Town the last Week and hearing my Lord of Bedford was in some Distress and Trouble concerning the Affliction of his Son I went to give him a Visit being my old acquaintance of some 53 years standing I believe for my Lord and I were bred together at Magdalen Colledge in Oxon. I had not been there but a very little while and vvas ready to go avvay again after I had done the good Office I came about but my Lord Howard came in I don't know whether he be here L. Howard Yes here I am to serve your Lordship L. Anglesey And sat down on the other side of my Lord of Bedford and he began to comfort my Lord and the Arguments he used for his Comfort vvere My Lord
you know of a Rising designed before my Lord Shaftsbury went away and afterwards how it was continued on L. Howard My Lord I appear with some confusion Let no man wonder that it is troublesome to me My Lord as to the Question Mr. Attorney puts to me this is the Accompt I have to give 'T is very well known to every one how great a ferment was made in the City upon occasion of the long Dispute about the Election of Sheriffs And this soon produced a greater freedom and liberty of Speech one with another than perhaps had been used formerly though not without some previous preparations and dispositions made to the same thing Upon this occasion among others I was acquainted with Captain Walcot a person that had been some Months in England being returned out of Ireland and who indeed I had not seen for 11 Years before But he came to me as soon as he came out of Ireland and when these unhappy divisions came he made very frequent applications to me and tho' he was unknown himself yet being brought by me he soon gained a confidence with my Lord Shaftsbury and from him derived it to others when this unhappy rent and division of mind was he having before got himself acquainted with many Persons of the City had entred into such Counsels with them as afterwards had the Effect which in the ensuing Narrative I shall relate to your Lordship He came to me and told me that they were now sensible all they had was going that this Force put upon them L. Ch. Just Pray my Lord raise your voice else your Evidence will pass for nothing One of the Jury We cannot hear my Lord. L. Howard There is an unhappy accident happened that hath sunk my voice I was but just now acquainted with the Fate of my Lord of Essex My Lord I say he came to me and did acquaint me that the People were now so sensible that all their Interest was going by that violence offered to the City in their Elections that they were resolved to take some course to put a stop to it if it were possible He told me there were several Consults and Meetings of persons about it and several persons had begun to put themselves into a disposition and preparation to act That some had furnished themselves with very good Horses and kept them in the most secret and blind Stables they could That divers had intended it and for his own part he was resolved to imbark himself in it And having an Estate in Ireland he thought to dispatch his Son thither for he had a good real Estate and a great Stock how he disposed of his Real Estate I know not But he ordered his Son to turn his Stock into Mony to furnish him for the occasion This I take to be about August His Son was sent away Soon after this the Son not being yet returned and I having several Accompts from him wherein I found the Fermentation grew higher and higher and every day a nearer approach to Action I told him I had a necessity to go into Essex to attend the concerns of my own estate but told him how he might by another name convey Letters to me and gave him a little Cant by which he might blind and disguise the matter he wrote about when I was in the Country I receiv'd two or three Letters from him that gave me an Account in that disguised stile but such as I understood that the Negotiation which he had with my Correspondents was going on and in good Condition and it was earnestly desired I would come to Town this was the middle of September I notwithstanding was willing to see the result of that great Affair upon which all Mens Eyes were fixed which was the Determination of the Sherivalty about that time So I ordered it to fall into Town and went to my own House on Saturday night which was Michaelmas day On Sunday he came to me and Dined with me and told me after a general Account given me of the Affairs of the times that my Lord Shaftsbury was secretted and withdrawn from his own House in Aldersgate street and that though he had a Family setled and had absconded himself from them and divers others of his Friends and Confidents yet he did desire to speak with me and for that purpose sent him to shew me the way to his Lodging He brought me to a House at the lower end of Wood street one Watson's House and there my Lord was alone He told me he could not but be sensible how Innocent soever he was both he and all honest men were unsafe so long as the Administration of Justice was in such hands as would accomodate all things to the humor of the Court. That in the sense of this he thought it but reasonable to provide for his own safety by withdrawing himself from his own House into that Retirement That now he had ripened Affairs to that head and had things in that preparation that he did not doubt but he should be able by those men that vvould be in a readiness in London to turn the Tide and put a stop to the Torrent that vvas ready to overflovv But he did complain to me that his design and the design of the Publick vvas very much obstructed by the unhandsom deportment of the Duke of Monmouth and my Lord Russel vvho had vvithdravvn themselves not only from his Assistance but from their ovvn Ingagements and appointments For vvhen he had got such a formed Force as he had in London and expected to have it ansvvered by them in the Country they did recede from it and told him they were not in a condition or preparation in the Country to be concurrent with him at that time This he looked upon but as an artificial Excuse and as an instance of their Intentions wholly to desert him but notwithstanding there was such Preparation made in London that if they were willing to lose the Honour of being concurrent with him he was able to do it himself and did intend speedily to put it into Execution I asked him what Forces he had he said he had enough says I what are you assured of Says he there is above Ten Thousand brisk Boys are ready to follow me when ever I hold up my Finger Says I how have you methoded this that they shall not be crashed for there will be a great Force to oppose you Yes he answered but they would possess themselves of the Gates and these Ten Thousand Men in twenty four Hours would be multiplied into five times the Number and be able to make a Sally out and possess themselves of White-Hall by beating the Guards I told him this was a fair Story and I had reason to think a man of his figure would not undertake a thing that might prove so fatal unless it were laid on a Foundation that might give a prudent man ground to hope it would be successful He said