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
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
detecting this horrid design exposed him to their malice and fury and they who had gone so far as to endeavour to murther their King and subvert the Government of their Country would not stick at the little murther of one that was so active a minister in bringing the business to light and unravelling the bottom of their wicked designs But the murther of this person strangely awakened the minds of people who were before in a great Security and looked but lightly on the Plot as I am inform'd by Relations from England and the cry of his bloud call'd down God's Vengeance on the Plotters and no doubt they gave themselves a mortal blow when they strangled this Innocent person And since it was requisite that there should be more Evidence then one God made use of this Murther so far as to awaken thereby the Conscience of Mr. Bedlow who was to have been engaged in the Murther of this Gentleman and who knew of it and was one in the great Conspiracy and Plot and who also though fled for the same was at last compelled by the force of his troubled Conscience to come in voluntarily to second Mr. Oates and to detect both the Murther and the Plot. I cannot hear that they have any thing to object against Mr. Bedlow in particular to take off his Evidence but that they asperse him in general terms as if he were hired to the same but if any one of an unbiass'd Judgment shall seriously reade and weigh all the several proofs made out against the Criminals by Mr. Oates and Mr. Bedlow agreeing in all Circumstances though no intimacy was ever known to be between them he must needs acknowledge that nothing is more clear and evident then that there could not be any such Conspiracy between them to invent and frame so many strange stories and relations as they have given in under their Oaths with all Circumstances as to Places Time and Persons without betraying themselves or being intrapped by those quick ey'd persons by whom they have been examined and of which we should quickly have heard So that I cannot but admire at the strange impudence of those persons who still buz into the ears of the people that 't is no Plot but of Oates and Bedlow's making giving the lie in the face of a whole Nation to the Justices that have taken the Examinations to the Judges that have sate on the Tryals to the Council that have sifted and looked into the Papers and Writings belonging to these Plotters Traitours and Murtherers and to the Lords and Nobility of England and to the Parliament the Representative of all the People of England who in their Vote die Lunae 24. Martii 1678. declared nemine Contradicente That they were fully satisfied by the proofs they had heard That there now is and for divers years last past hath been a horrid and Treasonable Plot and Conspiracy contrived and carried on by those of the Popish Religion for the Murthering of his Majestie 's sacred Person and for Subverting the Protestant Religion and the Ancient and well-established Government of this Kingdom I say that after all this clear Evidence against them and that nothing can be made out more plain and perspicuous that they should still endeavour to press upon the belief of people that 't is a fictitious Plot is the most strange piece of Impudence I ever heard or read of Can any that entertain such a thought believe that the whole Nation are deceived and that all these the wisest of the Kingdom are deluded or can be made Fools and Asses of by Mr. Oates and Mr. Bedlow or in reason think or suppose that all these persons are so wicked to frame a Plot against the Papists and to take away the several Lives of these wretches onely to extirpate a few Papists out of the Kingdom One of these must consequently follow if there be not in reality any such Plot as these sort of men would have people believe But God seeming to resolve to discover fully the bottom of this design and to make it apparent to all the world he has given a cloud of Witnesses and wholly to take away that scruple hath raised up Prance and Dugdale two more to second and confirm the truth of Oates and Bedlow's assertions As to Mr. Dugdale I have heard that they have been so far from aspersing him that they have some of them been forc'd publickly to acknowledge him a sober honest man yet he was drawn into the Plot for Religion's sake till he came to know of the intended Murther of the King and then the alarm-Bell of his Conscience rung so loud that it awaken'd him out of his Lethargy and brought him to a confession of his Crimes and to be an Evidence against them As to Mr. Prance God suffer'd him to goe on and to be zealous as I observe by his own Book in this Plot and to be one of the Instruments assisting in the murther of that worthy Knight Sir Edmundbury Godfry and to continue without remorse till he was taken onely upon a bare surmise of his being from home some nights which caused him to be brought before the Council where he was discovered by Mr. Bedlow to be one of those persons that he had seen in the Room where Sir Edmundbury Godfry lay murthered which Mr. Prance himself acknowledges to be the immediate hand of God which so far pressed upon his Conscience as afterwards to make a full and ingenuous Confession both of the Murther and Plot for which he received the King's Pardon And this is a strenuous evidence against them and strong confirmation of the Assertions of Mr. Oates and Bedlow and that what they had delivered was not by Combination or any Conspiracy between them But against Mr. Prance I find they had raised three several objections thinking thereby to make his testimony inconsiderable The first was that he was Mad. But as to this I think all that have read his Depositions and the Evidence he hath given as to the Plot with the circumstances of his being engaged in the same and the punctual account of the Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfry will not judge him to be bereft of his senses The things too well cohere together to proceed from a distracted person The second is that he was tortur'd and ill used in Prison to make him Confess against his Conscience and that all he had said as to the Plot and Murther was through fear and terrour But I shall onely mention his own words sufficient to clear this Aspersion pag. 25. of his Narrative That the Report was wholly false and scandalous but that on the contrary he had received all the kind usage and civilities imaginable from Captain Richardson the Keeper of Newgate where he was confined all the time of his stay and that nothing of compulsion or force was put upon him to declare any thing but that what he did was freely and voluntarily not byassed by any
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
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
there were twelve men of one mind that thought them guilty and I am confident that there are twelve thousand of the same opinion and that all those who say to the contrary must speak it out of Ignorance or Prejudice As to the proofs against Mr. Langhorn you will find them very home and positive and first pag. 6. and 7. Mr. Dugdale is brought to prove the Plot in general which he again swears to as to their several Consultations and design of murthering the King and massacring the Protestants and bringing in of Popery to which also Mr. Prance concurs Then as to the particular Charge against Mr. Langhorn Dr. Oates swears pag. 10. that he carried several Letters from Mr. Langhorn to persons beyond the Seas in one of which he saw under his own hand That now they had a fair opportunity to begin and give the blow with many other expressions plain enough concerning the Plot and these he saw signed Richard Langhorn and then he farther swears that he had Orders from the Provincial to give Mr. Langhorn an account of the Resolutions and passages that were form'd and done at this Consult of the twenty fourth of April and that he gave him an account of the same and of their Resolution of killing the King and that the said Langhorn lift up his hands and eyes and pray'd to God to give to it a good success Then pag. 11. he swears he saw in his Chamber in the Inner-Temple lying on the side of his Desk certain Commissions which he had heard to have been sent over to him for several persons in England which they called Patents and that upon Dr. Oates his desire to see them he permitted him to peruse several of them which he did and there saw one Commission to the Lord Arundel of Wardour and another to the Lord Powis the one to be Lord High Chancellour the other to be Lord High Treasurer of England and to the Lord Bellasis to be General to the Lord Peters to be Lieutenant-General and one for Mr. Coleman to be Secretary of State and for Mr. Langhorn himself to be Advocate of the Army and that these were signed Johannes Paulus de Oliva by virtue of a Brief granted by the Pope These Commissions were signed with the Jesuits mark And that Mr. Langhorn told him he had sent one of these Commissions by his Son to be delivered to the Lord Arundel of Wardour's Son and that it was delivered And pag. 13. he swears that Mr. Langhorn being employed as Solicitour for several of the Fathers of the Society that upon his solicitation of the Benedictine Monks they had promised him 6000 li. for the carrying on of the Cause and that Mr. Langhorn promised in his hearing to do his utmost for the procuring the said money And also that he was much disgusted with Sir George Wakeman because he was not contented with 10000 li. to poison the King and pag. 14. he swears that Mr. Langhorn call'd the said Sir George Wakeman a covetous man and that since it was a publick concern it was no matter if he had done it for nothing but that he was a narrow-spirited and narrow-soul'd Physician Then an Instrument being produced in Court signed by Paulus de Oliva Mr. Oates swore that the Commissions he saw were signed by the same hand and had all the same mark but they were all convey'd away and this being onely concerning an Ecclesiastical business was left however this shews he used to receive Patents from and had Commerce with the Superiour of the Jesuits in Rome And this was found in Mr. Langhorn's Chamber a long time after Mr. Oates had given in his Testimony Then pag. 19. Mr. Bedlow swears he went with Mr. Coleman to Mr. Langhorn's Chamber and there Mr. Coleman gave him his Letters to Le Chese and to the Pope's Nuntio and to others open to reade and to register in a Book by him kept for that purpose and that he saw Mr. Langhorn reade these Letters which were concerning the design they had in hand and that he registred them in a Book in his Closet whilst he and Mr. Coleman walked in the outer Room and that afterwards Coleman sealed up these Letters and gave them to Mr. Bedlow who was to carry them to Le Chese the King of France his Confessour and that some of the expressions in those Letters were That all things were now in a readiness and that they onely wanted money That the Catholicks were now in safety and that all places and offices had been disposed to them and that all the Garrisons were already in their hands or would be put into their hands suddenly And that now they had a fair opportunity having a King so easy to believe what was dictated to him by their party and that if they mist the opportunity they might despair of ever introducing Popery into England This was the effect of most of the Letters and with them Mr. Langhorn was made acquainted and register'd them in a Book Pag. 20. he swears he brought Letters from Harcourt to Mr. Langhorn to be register'd which Mr. Langhorn receiv'd and register'd accordingly for he wrote by him to Harcourt that he had receiv'd the Letters by Mr. Williams which was the name that Bedlow then went by and that he would transcribe them and return them to him again Now these Letters were one of them declared to be from the Rectour of the Irish Colledge at Salamanca which specified that the Lord Bellasts and the rest of the Lords concerned and the whole party should be in a readiness and to have it communicated with all expedition for that they had sent some Irish Cashier'd Souldiers with many other Lay-Brothers under the notion of Pilgrims for S. Jago who were to take shipping at the Groin and to land at Milford-Haven in Wales and there to meet and join with the Lord Powis The other Letter was from Sir William Godolphin which Mr. Bedlow had brought out of Spain directed to the Lord Bellasis which was about the same design and was also register'd by Mr. Langhorn in a Book which he saw near 3 inches thick and that he guesses two thirds of the Book might be wrote out Now by this judge you whether the Indictment of High Treason be not proved against Mr. Langhorn and whether he be not guilty of this Treason and Conspiracy of bringing in Popery of levying War and killing the King by two several witnesses who have so positively sworn it against him The defence Mr. Langhorn makes for himself is no other then what his Brethren in Iniquity had done before him to deny the fact and to endeavour to invalidate the credit of the Witnesses by intrapping them in point of time and place And to this end pag. 14 15 16 c. he asks Mr. Oates many questions little to the purpose and onely to amuse the Auditours Then pag. 27. he would make Mr. Oates an Approver as having been pardoned for the same