the Bridge wish'd heartily 't would fall down and crush 'em all to the bottom But 't was the same thing the Bridg was as stubborn as the Captain was before and stood still in the same place where it has been this two or three hundred year while the Pinnaces were tugg'd lustily and soon brought their Fare to Whitehall where just as they were stepping out of the Boat my Lord Preston clapt some Mony into the Hands of two of the Smack's Men who were brought up with them bidding 'em when examin'd say That the Ship was bound for Flanders not for France No sooner were they landed here but Captain Billop waited on my Lord Nottingham with the Packet which he had seiz'd which he having open'd and look'd over deliver'd all of 'em to the Captain again who carried them to the Lord President the Marquess of Caermarthen who also opening and marking 'em carry'd 'em to the King after which my Lord Sidney had them in his Custody wherein appearing Treason enough to have hanged all the Plotters in England my Lord Preston was sent back to the place from whence he came so lately before the Tower of London and the other two likewise committed 'T was not long after this before they were acquainted their Tryal was coming on and time given 'em accordingly to prepare for the same The Bill was found against 'em with little hesitation on Thursday January 15th and the next day they were arraigned at the Old-Baily my Lord's Petition to have the Tryal put off till Monday not being granted him For indeed 't was already more than time to let the Enemies of the Government know that it could be angry and dared both bring 'em to Justice for their Treasons and punish 'em for the same Besides Delays in this case might on many accounts be dangerous and would serve only to encourage the Accomplices of these Traytors and dishearten the true Friends of the King and Kingdom On his Arraignment my Lord Preston insisted on his fruitless Peerage he being only a Knight in England though a Viscount in Scotland which had been prejudged in an higher place the House of Lords having before thrown it out and which there was no great likelyhood should ever be allowed him since his Patent was dated at St. Germains after King James his Abdication and had it been allowed for good here 't is certain those who had done it could not have cleared themselves from such consequences as would have been most pernicious and invideous to themselves and the Nation However this took up some time and about an hour or two's Argument was employed therein but after all it was over-ruled by the Bench as any one would easily guess it could be no otherwise He moved also for a Copy of his Indictment and brought Presidents but those were answered and his Request not granted but a Copy of the Pannel he had according to custom The next day being the 17th of January Ann. Dom. 1691. he came to his Tryal at which was a vast Concourse of all degrees present particularly besides the Lords Chief Justices and their Brethren several Noble Lords of the Garter several Lords of their Majesties most honourable Privy-Council and others my Lord President Lord Sidny c. And here I would not be mistaken in what short Reflections I intend to make on the Tryals of the petsons then accused and now convicted of this Conspiracy as if my Intent were to forestal the publick Accounts which will shortly be given of the same Were this an Age like such as we have seen which would not bear Truth and the Tryals such as wou'd force any one who saw or read 'em to wonder how so many Mad-men broke out of Bedlam and got possession of the Bench and accordingly had we no expectation of a true Account of matter of Fact then indeed something of that Nature tho' from a private hand might be both necessary and grateful But now all things have been managed as becomes a Court of Justice not as formerly with the Decency of a Bear-garden no doubt but the publick will be soon gratified with a true and exact History of the Tryal of the persons lately convicted which make so much noise in the World All I pretend to here is from my own personal observation and knowledg to compare a little these Tryals with those of the former Reigns and to shew the vast difference in the management of the whole in respect both of Court Bar and Evidence In the opening the Evidence here was no affected Exaggeration of Matters nor Ostentation of a putid Eloquence one after another as in former Tryals like so many Geese cackling in a row here was nothing besides fair matter of Fact or natural and just Reflections from thence arising What few Witnesses the Prisoners had were not affronted or cross-bitten in their legal Evidence The Prisoners themselves were treated with that Humanity ever due to those who are unfortunate though the most criminal persons in the World There was so much Reason upon the Bench that they had no need of Rayling and those at the Bar had such usage as if they came thither to be tryed for their Lives not baited to death As for the Evidence t was the clearest and highest the Nature of the thing cou'd possibly bear Plain Proof undeniable matter of Fact a desperate Plot at home Correspondence with Enemies abroad inviting them hither shewing 'em where to fall upon us betraying the Strength of the Nation to 'em our Ships and Forts corrupting and seducing those at home and taking whatever measures could possibly be thought on for our common Ruin And this seized in the very Bosoms of the grand Conspirators in their own undeniable Hand-writing nay their Seals even their double Seals together with it These Men had fairer play than Noble Sidny c. who were hanged by help of a Marginal Note for controversial Papers of twenty years standing to which they made both Keys and Characters abused the Court as much as Dryden's Poem and by a rare new Law-figure for 't wou'd puzzle one to find it in all Vossius his Rhetorick called Innuendo extreamly obliged the late King Charles by turning him into a Tarquin No Art nor Trick was there used to make them plead guilty as with n nor one Murder committed to facilitate another as with the great and unfortunate Earl of Essex whose Blood even yet in vain crys for Vengeance Every thing here was in its due place and order the Patriots on the Bench and the Malefactors at the Bar not quite contrary as we have seen formerly when the Persons Arraigned have as far and as visibly out-weighed the Judges in Sense as in Probity and Honour The Juries here were neither frighted nor surprized nor such as would be so the Defence made by the Prisoners for the most part so weak and enervate and so much below themselves that it plainly appeared the fruitless Effort of a Guilty Mind and 't was easie enough to read their Sentence in their Foreheads pronounc'd by a Judge within greater than those who fill'd the visible Tribunal On the whole my Lord Preston was after a fair Hearing on a long and full Evidence found Guilty about Seven in the Evening of the same day he was Tryed Major Ashton after a Defence which took up more time on the Monday after being Jan. 19. And on the same day Elliot's Tryal was put off until another time but whether any of them will obtain or deservk their Lives by an ingenuous Discovery of all the Particulars of a Plot so wide and deep as this will appear to whoever hears or reads the Letters which give an Account of it a little longer time will very probably decide Till when here has been sufficient already brought to light as to the reality of the Plot it self the horrid and desperate Designs thereby to be perpetrated the manner of its management and strange Discovery enough I should think to satisfie all persons who in this point really want satisfaction and are not themselves either Well-willers to the Design or actually concerned therein FINIS
him there was so little Love ever lost Further if it should come to a Battle the very place was agreed on where they should fight the English not so high as last Summer near the Beachy but rather in the Chaps of the Channel And all this with the landing of the French and the publick defection of his Traytors at home who were immediately to come in to their assistance to be put in Execution as soon as possible after the departure of the King for Holland a Proclamation being prepared perhaps with as much as Coleman's Declaration for dissolving the Parliament to the same effect with what was discours'd in the Consult before mentioned setting all the Varnish possible on the Cause the Protestant Religion to be as surely established and defended as it was before they only to have the Government and all the poor harmless Catholicks to be left to nothing but their Devotions The Dispensing Power and Prerogative to be left where it was before that Controversie begun all Persons being also required to come under the French Standard and turn Traytors by such a day on pain of being used as if they were so In order to effect which Designs and carry on a Correspondence with the Enemies of the Nation several particular Cants being invented under which to cover their Treasonable Practices Some of the Letters were writ on pretence of Trade advising their Correspondents by all means to chuse such Factors as were bold and Industrious to fix probable ends and chuse fit means to bring them to an issue which they added was the life of Trade as well as Government Above all to be quick and expeditious as possible in their Resolutions and Actions the Sea being now open whereas a few Months hence 't would be very dangerous sailing Others were disguised in a Story of Tenants or Landlords acquainting the Person to whom 't is writ that many of the Freeholders were dissatifyed with their usage c. Others related to a Law-Suit as has been already mentioned some were Letters of Civility and Compliment as from one acquaintance to another assuing them that their Elder Brother and most of their Family were their true Friends and would continue so enquiring for their little Daughter whom tho' they had not yet seen they had heard described very pretty and Witty All this under seigned Names To Mr. Reading and Mrs. Reading Mr. Charleton and others Besides these they had several Characteâ—s and Keys affixed to them the more covertly to carry on the main business one wherein all the Letters of the Alphabet were made use of to signifie Persons and things one Letter standing for the K of France another for K. James a 3d. for the K. of England the Duke of Luxemburgh the Marquess with them Duke Powis and his Dutchess England Scotland Ireland Holland Dunkirk c. the Marquis of Carmarthen the Lord Devonshire the Lord Clarendon Lord Preston and several other great Persons both their Friends and Enemies But this was observable in most of their Letters that although they began with some of those sorts of Cants already mentioned and carried on the Humour pretty well yet before the Conclusion they used generally such high and profound expressions of respect and veneration as could agree to none with any common propriety of Speech but those of the first Quality and such as they thought their Soveraigns One good Man being so zealous in the Cause as to protest he could venture his hopes of Heaven upon it or an expression little below it if not the very same But after all that could be written said or done London still sticks in their Stomachs whose Citizens or Clergy they could by no means be pleased with the Clergy being as the significant memorandums express it almost all stark naught and the very worst of the whole Nation I wonder wherein have the Clergy of London obliged the Lord Preston so highly that he 's pleas'd to do them the honour of so ill a Character Not that 't is a new thing for Malefactors to give thofe who detect and prosecute 'em ill Names while they stile none Honest Fellows but such as are as great Villains as themselves In the mean time it seems all the Luidores yet receiv'd are not sufficient Money is the Life of the Cause all the World over which the Jacobites want as well as we and those Horse-leeches still cry Give Give without being ever satisfied Poor King James must he pay Pensions still when he himself is but a Pensioner The mischief is his Brass Money won't go in England nay would be out of fashon in Ireland had the Teagues any other among them So thick are the Complaints and so bold the Beggars that one may easily conclude their King can't live without them nor they without him My Lord will acquaint you with my occasions I have told my Lord my occasions The Bâ—arer knows how I have been prest How well I have deserv'd and much more to the same purpose which the World will shortly see in the printed Tryals After all this people may chuse whether theyl'l believe any such thing as a Plot they may say and swear and yet not be perjur'd that this is as great a Sham as the Popish Plot in 78 and all those who dye for it as â—â—rand Martyrs as Coleman and as innocent as the Jesuits nay had not all this been so strangely discover'd things had run on in the same current and the great Agitators but got safely off with their Papers or but got them dispos'd of safely into the bottom of the Sea had all this happen'd and the French Fleet according to appointmnet appear'd on our Coast as they did the last Summer who dared have dreamt of a Plot in 't any more than the last time or that they came for any thing else but to fish for a few Herrings on our Coast or make fine Lines across the Channel in a Sunshiny day And here I should have closed the account of this cursed Design had not a new and strange accident given us new confirmations thereof No longer since than the last Week were taken two Gentlemen coming ashore from France in a small Sloop near Lewis in Sussex Sir R. P. who by the greatness of his Genius and meer strength of his own natnral Reason both of 'em as weighty Motives as the Jesuits Arguments left the Protestant Religion for the Roman in the Reign of the late King James and would fain have had his Children Educated the same way had not their virtuous and prudent Mother placed them out of his reach The other Collonel M. and old experienced Officer Both going to a great Papists House in those parts One of these a Man of Interest and Money might have done excellently well lying there Perdue till the Plot had ripen'd then to have rais'd Forces for advancing the design and the other of more Brains and Experience when rais'd to have commanded them With these
AN ACCOUNT OF THE Late horrid Conspiracy TO DEPOSE Their Present MAJESTIES K. WILLIAM and Q. MARY To bring in the FRENCH and the Late King JAMES and ruine the City of London WITH A Relation of the miraculous Discovery thereof ALSO Some brief Reflections on the Trials of the Lord Preston Major Ashton and Mr. Elliot who were chiefly concern'd therein and found Guilty By a Gentleman who was present at their Trials LONDON Printed for J. Humphâ—ys 1691. THE PREFACE TO All that love the Protestant Religion King William and Queen Mary and Old England I Need not tell you Gentlemen how many and how restless Endeavours have been used by the Enemies of our dear Country and dearer Religion to destroy both ever since the Reformation You cannot but remember with due regret and concern what deep Designs have been frequently laid for this Purpose within the reach of your own Observations not to look back to King James the First or Queen Elizabeth of blessed and eternal memory Nor are you I am confident of so easie and implicit a Faith as to be perswaded by all the popular Harangues in the World to contradict your own senses And indeed they only may inform us how much we have hitherto been the Care of Heaven and what need there was of our being so since we have taken so little of our selves but with a sort of Stupidity which looks like Incantation for the most part sate tame and quiet Expectants when the hanging Sword would drop on our Heads which so slender a Thread as to outward view only supported though we ought to believe there was an Arm within the Clouds which would not suffer it to wound any further than its Commission For indeed what else has hitherto preserved us under the two last and the present Reign For whether the Throne has been filled by an open Papist or a pretended Protestant or one who is really such One thing is certain that Popery with its infeparable Companion has been all along struggling to get uppermost and like a true Politician was indeed nearest the obtaining its desire when it appeared farthest from it The Popish Plot in King Charles 's Reign although it obtain not its immediate Design yet in the Effects thereof went a great length towards our ruine like Gunpowder in a Vault doing incomparably the more mischief by being stifled All know what an odd Branch was grafted upon it and how unnatural a Fruit it bore the Jugglers who managed that Show pretending to change Papist into Presbyterian Just as effectual a Miracle as their turning Bread into Flesh while 't is Bread still However this is more certain That they went on so fairly as to Juggle one King 't is more than probable out of his Life and the other out of his Throne for indeed he was little better than spirited away by the Kidnapping Priests and Jesuites the Merchandise of Rome being sometimes the Bodies as well as the Souls of Men. And one would have thought a fair riddance there had been now made for good and all the vacant Throne being filled by the Consent and Applauses of all goodmen with two Protestant Princes whose actions as well as words have declared them as true Defenders of the Faith as of the undoubted Rights and Liberties of their Kingdoms But neither must these expect to sit in quiet like the ancient Heroes they seem born for Troubles and made on purpose to wade through Danger and Honour And were their Enemies and the Protestant Religion's whose Life and very Being seems very much bound up in Theirs but all before 'em Were there no danger but from the Sword of France or the late King's Valour there would not be so much reason for our apprehension and concern But when those inestimable Lives as well as all our own all that we have hazarded whatever iâ— dear to us have paid for continue to Pray and are ready to fight for when all this and the Interest of all Europe shall be still in as much danger as ever from a sort of People that Mercy is thrown away and Pardon lost upon 'em I cannot doubt but we shall all be inspired with a just Iudignation against them That the Law will be now in earnest let loose upon them and that we shall no longer by a foolish pity towards them endanger our own utter Ruine Now as to what their Designs are and have been for some time past these Papers may give some satisfaction till a larger account shall be thought fit to be made publick An ACCOUNT c. NO one can imagine that a Plot of so dangerous a nature and large an extent as this appears to be which is now brought on the Stage by so wonderful a turn of Providence could be of yesterdays growth but as Trees which shoot their Roots deep into the Earth and spread wide in the Air may be easily guest to be of no very late planting so for a Reason not unlike we may believe the original of this Design is to be fetcht much higher than its Discovery and the event would be apt to make one think there was really more in the Memorial we have been told was last Summer presented to the French King than some persons would have us imagin And indeed it may be worth another Enquiry what became of that Plot for which after so many Proclamations plainly declaring that there were ill Designs then on foot against the Government after so many persons actually seiz'd and committed for the same there was never any suffered besides one Blockhead that was not worth a saving Whether the reason of this and of their acquitting all those committed upon that account without any Trial at which time my Lord C and Prestoâ— among the rest were dismist of their Confinements Whether the reason of it were That the Government was resolv'd to try whether an Excess of Mercâ— and Mildness would work any thing on those concern'd or intended to let them run to the end of their Line and more clearly discover themselves to all the World is not our present business to enquire What 's perhaps more sure is that as deep as these â—oles lay they did not work in the dark but their Design were known some time since to some Ministers of State at least one and that few steps they took or Feet they advanced were Secrets to them against whom they were level'd which shews us that the present Government wants not those who can manage things of this nature perhaps not much less dexterously than a Cecil or a Walsingham and has further had a large and a happy Influence in opening some persons Eyes which Prejudice had so long either blinded or changed their colour in relation to the Honour and Integrity of a certain Noble Person who after all the hot and hasty Censures past upon him has been the chief or sole manager of this Detection and Discovery Whoever were behind the Scenes in this Plot we
are certain enough who were publickly engaged in it and the main Go-betweens and Agitatâ—rs for the Cause which were so lately tried for their Lives and so justly found guilty were my L. Preston one commonly called Major Ashton and Mr. Elliot Ashton had been employ'd formerly by Major-General W before the late King's abdication and had married one Mr. Rigby's Daughter but whether or no embark'd in the same design time may discover For my Lord Preston he has been sufficiently known e're this and perhaps it would not be either beyond Truth or Modesty to affirm He had been better have suffer'd the former Errors of his Management to have been forgotten than by thus meddling in things of such a dangerous nature given liberty and occasion to look backward and thereby draw on his own Head nothing but Infamy and ruine It will be readily granted that the Family of the Grahams have been not a little obliged to the late King James and that Gratitude where it leads us no farther than Justice is a very Noble and Bâ—â—utiful Virtue but then a Mistaken Gratitude and Honour ought not sure to carry us into such Actions as are pernicious to the Society under which we enjoy protection and to our Country towards which we have far deeper and stronger Obligations than we can possibly have to any particular Person For I 'd fain know whether it wou'd be any excuse for a Man who shou'd set Fire to his own Father's house or the publick Magazine of his City that he had formerly been obliged by the Robbers of the one or declar'd Enemys of the other Now how fit a person my Lord Preston was for an Employment of this kind and as it shou'd seem the general Agitator of the whole Affair will easily appear if we consider his Character He is undoubtedly to do an Enemy Justice a person of the highest Form for most Accomplishments becoming a Gentleman His Wit is much above the ordinary Standard he is extreamly well verst in business and as indefatigable in the prosecution of what he undertakes He has been generally thought a Man of Courage and if he appear'd to some more dejected than was usual at the time of his Tryal 't was no great wonder when he found all his fine work unravel'd the Cause ruin'd beyond a possibility of recovery and his own Life at the mercy of offended Law and injur'd Justice After all it must be own'd he is a great Master of address and his words are so charming his motions so graceful that a fitter person cou'd hardly be found out or even made on purpose to bewitch Men from their duty and Alegience and for my part I rather wonder such a man as he has not made more Proselites to his Masters Interest than that he has made so many And if at his Tryal he show'd not so great a Strength of mind as may have appear'd in other parts of his Life I believe we may blame his Ingenuity for it it being probable that one who knew himself so deeply and palpably guilty could hardly have Face enough to insist much upon his Innocence Add to this that he 's a reputed Protestant and had been formerly Embassador in France from the King of England The other two being but Vnder Wheels to this great Mover will not deserve so much time or notice in this short Paper nor are so loaden with Commendations as we find he is in almost all the Letters made publick at the Tryal from the Heads of the Party nor are they of so fair a Character as his Lordship has had given him For these yet behind the Curtain time may draw it aside and discover 'em nor can any one think that a design of this Nature and Extent had only three or four Persons imbarkt therein Thus much therefore must for the present satisfie for the Characters of the chief Managers of this Conspiracy As for the Subject and Method thereof it can appear from nothing better or clearer than the Original Papers and Letters of the very Conspirators and Managers under their own Hand-Writing And indeed there need no Colours to heighten or advance it The Devil is ugly enough of himself cou'd the Painter describe him like what he really is nor needs the addition of Tail and Horns to make him more terrible The Truth is 't was a Home-stroak and there wanted no good will either in the design or management 'T was neither less nor more than the overthrowing the Government Deposing if not Murthering Their Majesties Whom God long preserve to the Confusion of their Enemies bringing in an Army of French and Strangers and joyning them on their Invasion after having betray'd the Strength and Condition of the Nation to them and given an exact Account of our Fleet and Forts laying Designs for the Destruction of both and taking a particular and remarkable care to plague London Which Favour the Honest Citizens can't be forgetful of and some here at home of another Character one would almost think had been aiming at a little before the Plot was ripened This in general More particularly the Scene was laid as deep and as subtily as Hell it self could contrive it though the Traytors concern'd will be apt to say here as well as in the Gunpowder Treason 'T was the Devil who discover'd it to destroy in a few Weeks or Months all that which has been so long and so firmly building by the wonderful Providence of God and the united Wisdom and Valour of the Nation at the expence of so much Blood and Treasure as it has already cost us Here at home it appears to have been carry'd on ever since and before the Bravado of the French on our Coasts the last Summer for some of the Letters taken mightily lament the disappointment they met with at that time and assure the Enemies of our Country that 't was for want of no good will but only a handsome opportunity that they lent not their utmost assistance to destroy it But you wou'd not have Men Rebel when they can't do 't and joyn the French at Portsmouth or Devonshire when fast in the Tower of London However they saved their Stakes and by this time it seems were got â—eâ—dy for another Game their only trouble being as they express it that their Confinements had retarded the Affair but promising with double vigour to prosecute it as soon as discharged of their Imprisonment and recover the ground which they had thereby lost But one grand Obstacle it seems the Plotters met with in the prosecution of their Designs They knew very well the Mortal and Unchangeable Aversion rooted in the very Souls of the generality of the English against Popery ever since the Reformation and which they liked at least never the better for what knowledge they had thereof during the short visit it lately made us Accordingly they could not but imagine this would be a terrible Obstacle to their design of reinstating the late King
James in his Throne whom the English can hardly think much better or truer for having been so long under the French King's Pupillage nor could believe it so much as possible that he should return without the destruction of the Protestant Religion not only in England but very probably throughout all Europe This Objection which lay so full against the very center of their design they found it necessary to obviate e're they could proceed one step further and though all the World else thinks it impossible that King James shou'd should ever now return without Popery at his Heels the Agitatars of this design undertake to prove it possible which was all it seems they would so much as pretend to tho with what Reason or to what end I can't imagine only the cause would bear no more scarcely that it self for tho we believe 't is possible and barely so for a Man to leap over the Bridg and not be drowned or Tumble from a precipiece and not be Crushed to Pieces of both which we have Instances yet none but a Mad-Man wou'd offer to repeat the Experiment in hopes of the same Event But that the Villany might proceed Methodically they had a formal Consult and Conference between divers Lords and Gentlemen Tories as well as Whiggs those are the words of the Paper which gives an Account thereof Seized among others in Ashtons Bosom wherein it was Actually prov'd possible that he might return without any Injury to the Protestant Religion And wherein were several fine Chimeras proposed which had King James Conquer'd the Country and Recover'd His Throne by the French Arms would have signified just as much as his Promise at his first coming to the Crown and his Oath at the Coronation to protect the Government as then Establish'd in Church and State But now they tell ye he had bit upon the Bridle and known the smart on 't and if he ever came back agen he had learnt more wit then to take such evil Courses as had formerly Broke and Ruin'd him Yes undoubtedly as much as any Highway-Man or Murderer Pardoned during his happy Reign wou'd leave the Road or Cutting-Throats for having been once in sight of the Gallows One wou'd think the former Jaunt of almost Twenty Years long had been enough to have taught some Persons Wit and Honesty if ever they wou'd have been capable of either Or at least that the sound Ruffle they met with from the People of England before they came to the Throne should have taught 'em when fix'd in it how to behave themselves there and what Measures to use with a Nation who tho 't is not an easie matter to anger 'em when once they are so never Bite but their Teeth meet and tho you cut their Heads off won't let go their hold There 's a Proverb of a certain King a little wiser then him we are discoursing of which may be with Truth and Manners enough apply'd at least to some of his Old Courtiers and those inseparable Friends who will to he sure alwaies have his Ears and Heart Bray a Fool in a Morter yet he won't depart from his Folly Which was one unlucky Objection which I doubt those Men of Projects and Reason forgot to answer at this Conference tho it seems several there present who pretended great Zeal for the Protestant Religion and without doubt much according to knowledge went away as intirely satisfied in the point in Controversie as one who has never made any experiment of Matter of Fact is with some fine Hypothesis of mounting to the World in the Moon in a Chariot of Ganza's In the mean while they must give other Men leave to doubt of what they were pleas'd to be satisfied with so long at least till they can produce one Instance of a Bigotted Popish Prince who kept his word with his Protestant Subjects longer then his Interest persuaded him to observe it or he wanted Power to break it However so much we may learn by the Title of the Conferrence before mentioned that it is not being of one Party or t'other makes a Man Honest That Loyalty is not Ty'd up to one side or Interest That there are Traytors of both sides and that all those who love the Government ought heartily to agree in their Defence of it tho they differ in their Sentiments as to other things unless they 'd have both that and their selves Ruin'd by the Common Enemy After this Consult we may believe they push'd on more vigorously than formerly and have brought things to bear so well that in their several Letters of Treasonable Correspondence they rest almost secured of Success provided they might be but powerfully assisted by the French in that manner and time they proposed and had drawn up in a Scheme of the whole And if they did their part and a certain Person easie enough to be guest at did but appear in Westminster-Hall as they express it in one of their Cants they doubted not but before next Easter Term the Causes would come to a Final Hearing That is before that time we had been all involved in Blood and Confusion and as miserable as these Plotters and their Masters cou'd make us To that end Exact Lists were sent of all our Naval preparations what Ships in Repair and what not from the First to Sixth Rates not omitting so much as the very Yatchts and Tenders So that an Account also added of such Commanders as were most likely to be drawn to the French Interest So that we need now no longer puzzle our selves to guess which way so many French-Pistols creep in among us Twenty Four of which have within this few days been Received in no larger a Sum then Forty Pound And yet more Villanous Directions were prepared for the French Fleet how and where to Fight and destroy Oars their Numbers proportion'd and the Time of their setting out and appearing upon our Coast at furthest in March or the beginning of April to hinder the Dutch Fleet and Ours from Joyning They were to look to Spithead in their way Burn the Shipping there and take the Town To which end a most Exact Accovnt was drawn up for them of all the Force in Portsmouth The State of the different Forts as South-Sea Trevanion c. As the Number of Men in Garrison and the Facility of putting a design of that Nature in Execution London to be sure among the rest is never to be forgotten Nothing is to be done till those proud Citizens be humbled Carthago est delenda Destroy that or that will Destroy Rome or at least till things are Ripe enough and the Rebellion strong enough let French Ships alwaies lie ready on purpose to Plague it as if their Fire had not been enough before But they knew what would be most acceptable to the Person who employ'd them who whilst he remain'd at Helm was so true a Pater Patriae who always so dearly lov'd the City and between which and