will please to pardon my Frailties to accept of my faithful Endeavours and always to look favourably on the Work of Your own hands And now Sir my first Entrance upon this Service obliges me to make a few necessary but humble Petitions on the behalf of Your most Loyal and Dutiful House of Commons 1. That for our better Attendance on the Publick Service we and our Servants may be free in our Persons and Estates from Arrests and other Disturbances 2. That in our Debates Liberty and Freedom of Speech be allowed us 3. That as occasions shall require Your Majesty upon our humble Suit and at such times as Your Majesty shall judge seasonable will vouchsafe us access to Your Royal Person 4. That all our Proceedings may receive a favourable Construction That God who hath brought You back to the Throne of Your Fathers and with You all our Comforts grant You a long and a prosperous Reign and send you Victory over all Your Enemies and every good mans heart will say Amen To which the Lord Chancellour reply'd Mr. Speaker THe Kings Majesty hath heard and well weighed your short and Eloquent Oration And in the first place much approves that you have with so much advantage introduced a shorter way of speaking upon this occasion His Majesty doth well accept of all those dutiful and affectionate Expressions in which you have delivered your Submission to his Royal Pleasure And looks upon it as a good Omen to his Affairs and as an Evidence that the House of Commons have still the same Heart that have chosen such a Mouth The conjuncture of time and the King and Kingdoms Affairs require such a House of Commons such a Speaker for with Reverence to the holy Scripture upon this occasion the King may say He that is not with me is against me for he that doth not now put his Hand and Heart to support the King in the common cause of this Kingdom can hardly ever hope for such another opportunity or find a time to make satisfaction for the Omission of this Next I am commanded by his Majesty to answer your four Petitions whereof the first being The freedom of you and your Servants in your Persons and Estates without Arrest or other disturbance the King is graciously pleased to grant it as full as to any of your Predecessors The Second for Liberty and Freedom of Speech the Third for Access to his Royal Person And the Fourth That your proceedings may receive a Favourable construction are all freely and fully granted by his Majesty During the time of his Chancellourship he lived at Exeter-House in the Strand and managed and maintained all things with a Port and Bravery suitable to the Greatness and Dignity of his place exceeding therein all who have enjoyed that Honour in his Majesties Raign as will appear by the manner of his proceeding from his House to Westminster-hall the first day of Hilary Term January 23. being the first Term after his receiving the Seal In the Morning the Twelve Judges and the several Officers of the High Court of Chancery together with the whole Body of the Law repaired to Exeter-house where they were entertain'd at a splendid and magnificent Treat by his Lordship which being ended he proceeded according to the ancient and laudable Custom to Westminster in the following Order First went The Beadles The Constables The High Constable The Tipstaffes The Cryer of the Court The Gentlemen Clerks The Sixty Clerks of the Chancery The Master of the Subpoena Office The Master of the Affidavit The Students of the Inns of Court The Cursitors The Clerk of the Patents The Registers The Barristers at Law The Clerks of the Hanaper The Prothonotary The Clerk of the Crown The Examiners The Clerks of the Petty Bag. The Six Clerks Then proceeded the following Officers being all of them bare The Sealer to the Great Seal The Chafe Wax to the Great Seal The Usher of the Court The Master of the Rolls's Gentlemen The Lord Chancellors Gentlemen The Secretaries The Steward of the House and Warden of the Fleet The Gentleman Usher The Seal-bearer carrying the Purse wherein was the Great Seal The Serjeant at Arms attending the Great Seal carrying the Mace After whom came the Lord High Chancellor himself on Horse-back being richly Array'd The Gentleman of his Horse attended by a Page a Groom and Six Footmen walking along by his Stirrup Next to the Lord High Chancellor followed The Lord Chief Justice The Master of the Rolls The Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and the rest of the Judges according to their Seigniority And last of all came The Kings Serjeant at Law The Kings Attorny-General The Kings Solicitor-General The Kings Council The Duke of Yorks Attorny and his Solicitor together with the several Masters of Chancery In which Order they passed all along the Strand by White-hall through Kings-street and so to Westminster-hall the Streets being Lined with abundance of crouding Spectators who were exceedingly pleased with the Decency and Gallantry thereof All the time he enjoyed the Chancellorship he managed it with as much Honour and Advantage to his Majesty as any that ever did or will enjoy it And that not only upon the Bench but in the Senate too wherein he endeavoured to the uttermost of his Power to vindicate his Majesties Actions and by his admirable Eloquence labour'd to prevent or remove any Misunderstandings and Jealousies between the King and his Parliament as appears by the many excellent Speeches he made to the Two Houses when he was the mouth of the King to his People and had the Honour to be more successful therein then any who have succeeded him in that Honourable Station His sentiments of and veneration for his Soveraign and the smooth and charming Eloquence wherewith he fluently expressed himself upon all occasions sufficiently appear in that Speech which he made to the Lord Treasurer December the 5th 1672. upon his taking his Oath before him in the Exchequer My Lord Treasurer THe Kings most Excellent Majesty knowing your Integrity Abilities and Experience in his Affairs and particularly those of his Treasury hath thought fit to make choice of you to be his Lord High Treasurer of England and what necessarily accompanies that place hath by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal made you Treasurer of his Exchequer The Lord High Treasurer of Englands Office is held by the Kings delivery of the White-Staff The Treasurers of the Exchequer hath ever been held by Letters Patents And is that by which your Lordship is more immediately intituled to be a Chief Judge of this Court It were too nice and tedious and peradventure too formal to give an account of the several distinct Powers of these two Offices Reason and the length of time hath now so woven them together But as they are both in your Lordship I may justly say you are in a place of the first Rank as to Dignity Power Trust and Influence of Affairs
by no other Rule or Law than his pleasure as if he were their Absolute Lord and had bought all the People of England for his Slaves Doubtless he would pretend only to have Conquered England at his own Expence and were there as much Truth as there is Falshood in that pretence yet he could not but know that the Right of the Peoples Deputies to their Antient Powers and Priviledges would remain good against him as against their publick capital Enemy Whom every man ought to destroy until by some agreement with the Body of the People in Parliament some sort of governing Power in him were submitted unto that hereby he might cease to be a publick Enemy and Destroyer and become a King or Governour according to the conditions accepted by the People and if he would so pretend he could not be so discharged from his publick Enmity by any Condition or Agreement made with a part of the Peoples chosen Deputies whilst he shut out the other part for no part of the Representatives Body are trusted to consent to any thing in the Nations behalf if the whole have not their free Liberty of Debating and Voting in the Matters propounded If he would pretend no higher than to be our Conquerour who for Peace and his own safeties sake was content to cease from being a publick Enemy and to be admitted a Governour he would not compass those ends by forcibly excluding as now he does whom he pleases of the Representative Body of People who were to submit to him on the Peoples behalf therefore he either takes upon him to be such a Conqueror as scorris the Peoples acceptance of him by their Representative as their Governour and fears not to remain a publick Enemy or else he takes himself to be such an unheard of Soveraign that against him the People have no claim of Property or Right in themselves or any thing else for he hath now declared that the Peoples choice cannot give any man a Right to sit in Parliament but the Right must be derived from his gracious Will and Pleasure with that of his Councellors and his Clerks Ticket only must be their evidence for it Thus hath he exalted himself to a Throne like unto God's as if he were of himself and his power from himself and we were all made for him to be commanded and disposed of by him to work for him and serve his Pleasure and Ambition A little after there is an Instance of chief-Chief-Justice Tresilian who was executed at Tyburn in the time of Richard the Second for advising the King that he might at any time dissolve the Parliament and command the Members to depart under the penalty of Treason Divers other Protestations were contained in that Instrument against the Arbitrariness and Tyranny of that proceeding and in conclusion they declare they will pour out their complaints before the Lord against their powerful Oppressors hoping he will redeem his People out of the hands of wicked and deceitful Men. This Protestation was Signed by One hundred and seventeen persons whereof Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper was chief and many others of great Loyalty and Integrity some whereof are since dead but many yet survive and as a reward of their Loyalty enjoy Places of Honour and Profit under his present Majesty By this we may easily discern the Opinion he had of the Illegal and Arbitrary proceedings of Cromwell and how much of the sufferings of the Loyal Party would have been prevented had that point of a free Parliament been then gained and consequently His Majesties Restauration must have happened sooner than it did This Remonstrance had not power enough however to work their present admission into the House so that that part of a Parliament which was suffered to sit did every thing to the desire of Cromwell answering both those ends for which they were Convened viz. the raising Money and confirming his Title which was no sooner done but he Prorogued them until he had occasion to Fleece them again which interval was laid hold on by this true English Gentleman as a fit opportunity to engage them when they met again to do themselves and the Nation Justice by admitting him and the rest of the Members that were kept out by the Protector to take their place in Parliament and so managed some of the Members who were moderate men that they resolved not to be so basely trampled on by the Tyrant any longer The Prorogation being expired the Parliament make their appearance at Westminster where the Protector makes a fair Speech to them promising them strange things if they would go on and prosecute his Designs But notwithstanding this Speech the Commons were no sooner retired to their House than Cromwell discovered to his no small perplexity that the Face of his beloved Parliament from whose tractableness and compliance he had promised himself the greatest happiness imaginable was strangely altered For they presently fell to Voting That no Member legally Chosen and Returned could be excluded from performing their Duty but by consent of Parliament and thereupon immediately proceeded to the calling over their House and admitted Sir Anthony and the rest who had subscribed the Remonstrance to the no good liking of the Protector who were no sooner in and the House full but they so influenced the rest that they soon became the majority and began to undo what the others had done in their absence and presumed so far as to question the Tyrants Power Wherefore finding them so bold he concluded it would not be convenient to let a business of so high a nature run too far lest it should if neglected put a period to all his ambitious Designs Wherefore going to his Pageant House of Lords he sent for them and after having made a large Speech to them in the conclusion told them That it did concern his Interest as well as the publick Peace and Tranquility of the Nation to terminate that Parliament and therefore he did then dissolve them and put an end to their Sitting The constant correspondence he alwaies maintained with the Royal Party and that almost to the hazard of his Life and Family are sufficient Testimonies of his sincerity to his Masters Interest and Service his House was a Sanctuary for distressed Royalists and his correspondence with the Kings Friends though closely managed as the necessities of those times required are not unknown to those that were the principal managers of his Majesties Affairs at that time This made Cromwell so apprehensive of this great Assertor of his Countries Rights and Opposer of Arbitrary Government and Enthusiasm that though his vast Abilities were known at least to equal the ablest Pilot of the State which was the only motive that induced the Usurper in the infancy of his Usurpation to nominate him for one of his Council in hope thereby to allure him to his Interest and wheadle and Wire-draw him into a compliance with his ambitious and mischievous designs yet we cannot
A place that requires such a Man as our great Masters Wisdom hath found for it from whose Natural temper we may expect Courage Quickness and Resolution from whose Education Wisdom and Experience and from whose Extraction that Noble and Illustrious House of the Cliffords an Heroick Mind a large Soul and an unshaken Fidelity to the Crown My Lord it 's a great Honour much beyond even the place it self that you are chosen to it by this King who without Flattery I may say is as great a Master in the knowledge of Men and Things as this or any other Age hath produced And let me say farther It is not only your Honour that you are chosen by Him but it is your Safety too that you have him to serve with whom no subtile Insinuations of any near him nor the aspiring Interest of a Favourite shall ever prevail against those that serve him well Nor can his Servants fear to be sacrificed to the Malice Fury or Mistake of a more swelling Popular greatness a Prince under whom the unfortunate fall gently a Prince in a word that best of all Mankind deserves that Title Deliciae humani generis My Lord I will not hold you long for you have a Journey to go after you have taken your Oath and your place in this Court you are according to ancient Custom to visit all the Offices in the upper and lower Exchequer and therefore let me end with this Wish or rather Prophesie That you may exceed all your Predecessors the Abilities and Fidelity of the Renowned Lord Burleigh the Sagacity Quickness and great dispatch of his Son the Lord Salisbury and the Uprightness Integrity and Wisdom of that great Man that went last before you the Earl of Southampton And as the E. endeavors were incessant to serve his Soveraign so he was no less solicituos to serve the Publick good endeavoring to make the Courts of Judicature as much as possible answer the Ends for which they were designed viz. The ease of the Subject labouring to have the Kings Prerogative and the Subjects Property so interwoven that they might always be inseparable as appears by that excellent Speech made by him in the Exchequer January 24. 1673. at Serjeant Thurlands taking the Oath in order to be made a Baron as followeth Mr. Serjeant Thurland THe King of his Grace and Favour hath made choice of you to be one of the Barons of the Exchequer he designed to place you in a Court of more profit though not of more Dignity but your own modesty hath chosen this Court where you thought you could serve the King best and I could not choose but mention it here to your Honour it being the greatest Instance of a good Man That he had rather be found serviceable than rich His Majesty hath had large proof of your former Service besides he takes you upon the Credit of that Recommendation that hath justly the best place with him I mean his Royal Brothers Some few things it is fit I should here mention to you and leave with you as Admonitions or rather Remembrances In the first place you are to maintain the Kings Prerogative and let not the Kings Prerogative and the Law be two things with you for the Kings Prerogative is Law and the principal of it Therefore in maintaining that you maintain the Law The Government of England is so excellently interwoven that every part of the Prerogative hath a broad mixture of the Interest of the Subject the ease and safety of the People being inseparable from the greatness and security of the Crown In the next place let me advise you that you acquaint your self with the Revenue as also the ancient Records Precedents and Practices of this Court for want of which knowledge I have seen this Court a most excellent Common Pleas when at the same time I could not say so much for it as an Exchequer In the Third place Let me recommend to you so to manage the Kings Justice and the Revenue as the King may have most profit and the Subjects least Vexation Raking for old Debts the number of Informations Projects upon Concealments I could not find in the Eleven years Exprerience I have had in this Court ever to advantage the Crown but such proceedings have for the most part delivered up the Kings good Subjects into the hands of the worst of Men. There is another thing I have observed in this Court which I shall mind you of which is when the Court hearkens too much to the Clerks and Officers of it and are too apt to send out Process when the Money may be raised by other ways more easie to the People I do not say that the Kings Duty should be lost or that the strictest course should not be taken rather then that be for when you consider how much the Officers of this Court and the Under-sheriffs get by Process upon small Sums more then the Kings Duty comes to and upon what sort of People this falls viz. The Farmer Husbandman and Clothier in the Country that is generally the Collector Constable and Tyshingman and so disturbs the Industrious part of the Nation you will think it fit to make that the last way when no other will serve Give me leave also to mind you of one thing more it is in your Oath That the Kings Needs ye shill speed before all others that is the business of the Revenue of the Crown you are to dispatch before all other and not turn your Court into a Court of Common-Pleas and let that justle out what you were constituted for In the last place Let me conclude with what concerns all my Lords the Judges as well as you let me recommend to you the Port and Way of Living suitable to the Dignity of your Place and what the King allows you There is not any thing that gains more Reputation and Respect to the Government then that doth and let me tell you Magistrates as well as Merchants are supported by their Reputation To his successful Counsel do both King and Kingdom owe the happy Conduct of Affairs for many years together the events of his Advices always agreeing with and answering the Ends for which they were at first proposed so that the King seldom fail'd of any thing that was carried on by his direction for which reason his wise Administration and management of Things had as it were incorporated him into the very Heart of his Prince So that all Men began now to conclude That this great Man whose constant Loyalty had render'd him so dear to His Majesty was too firmly fix'd and rooted in the Royal Favour than ever to be removed or alienated therefrom since he did as most Men imagin'd sit so high and withal so safely that he was above the reach of Envy or the possibility of being undermined by any subtle and false Insinuations or sacrific'd to the malice of any aspiring Favourite Yet Fortune who is always fickle and constant in
industry noise and clamour served to no other purpose than the exposing there own folly and wickedness and the making His Loyalty and Justice shine with the more brightness and splendour and the giving him a fresh provocation as well as future opportunity to pry more narrowly into and with the greater vigour oppose their Machivilian Designs against His Soveraign the Protestant Religion the interest of Brittain and thereby sadly frustrate their BVDDING HOPS Nor was it long before their pregnant and groaning Designs gave him an occasion to demonstrate his Zeal therein for about April or May 1675. an odd kind of a Bill was unexpectedly offered one Morning in the House of Lords whereby all such as enjoyed any beneficial Offices or Imployments Ecclesiastical Civil or Military to which was added Privy-Councellor Justices of the Peace and Members of Parliament were under a penalty to take the Oath and make the Declaration and Abhorrence ensuing I A. B. Do Declare That it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King And that I do abhor that Trayterous position of taking Arms by His Authority against His Person or those that are Commission'd by Him in pursuance of such Commission And I do Swear That I will not at any time endeavour any alteration of Government either in Church or State So help me God The same Oath was brought in the House of Commons in the Plague Year at Oxford and great endeavours used to have it imposed upon the Nation but was strenuously opposed by the very same persons that now introduced it into the House of Lords and by their assistance thrown out as a pernicious thing tending to the general infecting the Vitals of the Kingdom And although it then passed in a particular Bill commonly known by the Name of the Five Mile Act because it only concerned the Nonconformist Preachers yet even in that it was mightily opposed by that faithful Friend to the Crown the late Earl of Southampton whose sentiments and judgment in an Affair of that Nature might certainly have been accounted the Platform and Standard of Prudence and Loyalty This Oath they said was but a little thing being only a moderate security to the Church and Crown Yet their so stifly defending it when opposed by His Lordship and others together with their fierce and united endeavours to have it pass the House made all thinking men suspect that there was some extraordinary Design wrapt up in it and therefore contended for by them not as a triffle but a thing of that weight that the whole stress of Affairs depended thereon And indeed the Word Commission as it was there to be taken was of an extraordinary Extent and Latitude for if it should have been for taking away Estate or Life by force or if the perion Commissionated were under never so many disabilities by Acts of Parliament yet the taking that Oath would have removed all those Incapacities or his Commission would have ended the despute So that it came at last to be one of the greatest Contest perhaps that ever happened in Parliament wherein his Lordship and divers other Illustrous Peers being assured of their own Loyalty and Merit stood up against the Oath and pleaded for the Antient English Liberties with the same Pious Vertue and Heroick Courage and Resolution wherewith their Noble Ancestors had formerly defended the great 〈◊〉 of England only they deserved far greater Commendation and Honour in regard they grapled with far greater difficulties and had not so fair a Field to engage in but fought it out under all the disadvantages imaginable being overlaid by numbers and the noise of the House like the wind baring hard upon them nor being so few could they as their Adversaries withdraw to refresh themselves in a whole days engagement yet never was there a fuller demonstration How dull a thing humane loquence is and how small and inconsiderable The most towering and insulting greatness when bright Truth discovers all things in their proper colours and dementions and like the Sun shoots its enlightning Rayes through all their fallacies The Dispute lasted many days with much eagerness on both sides and was so warmly opposed that the Parliament was Prorogued before the Lords came to any Resolution about it but in the next Sessions they ordered it to be burnt It might be injurious to the rest of the Noble Lords who took part with him therein to attribute the whole success to him yet the Promoters accused him of having first opposed it and that he and the Duke of Buckingham stirred up and influenced the rest And therefore the Popish Party who it 's probable hop'd to have reaped the greatest advantage by that Oath banded against him with as much fierceness as ever and although they had failed of Murthering his Person yet resolved to accomplish the ruine of his Reputation influencing several Protestants as well Clergy as Laiety to lend their helping hand to this great Work The former were to bespatter him in their Pulpits as if they were Conjuring down the Devil instead of commending the Blessed Jesus in the Tenders of the Gospel The other were to bespatter him with their Pens thereby to procure him the hatred of the Vulgar who commonly take up things upon Trust and believe every thing they read to be true and because they could procure no better they employed Needham a mercenary Wretch who had with an audacious impudence and unparalell'd virulency Writ against two Kings Viz. Our present Soveraign and His Royal Father and therefore the more fit for such an undertaking His first Essay was in a Libellous Pamphlet called Advice to the Men of Shaftsbury wherein he falsely charged him with many fictitious Crimes and imaginary Designs against the Government And thus having prepared the way to his ruine as they imagined they hoped to accomplish by it an accident which happened quickly after in the ensuing Parliament which met February 15th 1676. after 15 months Prorogation upon this occasion As soon as the King had finished his Speech the Commons withdrew and the Lords had taken their Respective Seats The Duke of Buckingham who usually says what he thinks stood up and argued with great strength of reason that according to the Laws and Constitution of Parliaments that unpresidented Prorogation was null and the Parliament consequently Dissolved offering moreover to maintain it to all the Judges and desiring as hath been usual in such Cases That they might give their Opinions but a certain Lord fancying himself a better Judg of that weighty Point in Law moved that the Duke of Buckingham might be called to the Bar whereupon his Lordship stood up and opposed it as an extravagant motion and ascertain'd the validity of Buckingham's Proposals with all the Cicilian height of Courage and Reason Whereupon another Lord of no less consideration than the former who had called the Duke to the Bar stood up in as great pet as if the Salt had been
acquainted the Conspirators with what he had done who ordered him to go again to the King and desire a Warrant to search Accordingly he went to Mr. Cheffinch and was by him brought to His Majesty whom he earnestly sollicited for a Warrant but His Majesty according to His accustomed wisdom sent him again to Secretary Coventry who being no less suspicious of him now than he was before no Warrant was to be obtained from him wherefore the Conspirators being informed they resolved That having proceeded so far they would not be baffled by one difficulty wherefore they commanded him to repair to some of the Custom-House Officers and pretending to inform them where a considerable quantity of prohibited goods that had been Imported were concealed to procure a Warrant to search which was easily granted and two Officers sent to search the House he first carryed them to his own Room for the better colouring the business and having searched there and found nothing he conducted them into the Colonel's Chamber who was at that time abroad where they did upon his assurance that the goods were in that Room make a thorough search breaking open his Trunks and Boxes and with the exactest scrutiny imaginable examined the very Bed-Clothes but no prohibited goods being to be found they were about to depart when Dangerfield intimating that probably they might be hid behind the Bed they presently removed it about three foot from the Wall but could find nothing whereupon Dangerfield stepping forward looked in and seeing the bundle of Papers lying where he had placed them presently cryed What 's that lies there whereupon one of the Officers taking it down and opening it he presently snatched one of the Papers which was the List of Names some Written at length and others only the two first Letters and cryed Here 's Treason The Searcher opening another and beginning to read therein Dangerfield cryed out again There 's Treason likewise in that Paper against His Majesty wherefore the Papers ought to be all seized and the person who owns them if he were present to be secured perswading them to carry the Papers to some Secretary of State However they knowing better what belonged to their own Office than that of a Justice of the Peace refused so to do but carryed them to their own Masters at the Custom-House whereof he informed the Conspirators who fearing least by that means their Design might be spoiled and their hopes frustrated ordered him to go forthwith and tell the King the manner how he had caused the Papers to be seized which he did and His Majesty sent him to call Mr. Secretary Coventry to give some order about it which done he returned and acquainted Mrs. Cellier and the Countess what he had done and that he had the Honour to be in a Room alone with His Majesty Oh! what an opportunity have you lost saies one and how bravely might he have killed the King saies the other if he had been provided And yet these vile Miscreants who could lament Dangerfields not perpetrating so horrid a Crime have the impudence to call themselves Loyalists and are notwithstanding their disloyal Principles and Practices believed to be so by some persons in the World whose pretences to Loyalty and the Protestant Religion made people except other things from them Mrs. Harris being surprised at the finding Treasonable Papers in her House presently went in search of the Colonel and having found him acquainted him with what had happened perswading him to take Lodgings in the City and promised to send his things to him if he would do so but he rejected her advice as pernicious and proceeding only from a Feminine simplicity and timerousness since his so doing would have been censured as a slight and that would have argued Guilt and his personal Guilt would have involved hundreds of other innocent persons in the same Condemnation Wherefore being assured of his own Loyalty and Innocence he went to the Custom-House to know by what Authority his Box was seized and what was become of those Papers which were pertended to be found in his Chamber and was answered That they were all returned to his Lodging again whereupon getting together the Officers of the Custom-House the Master and Mistriss of the House and what other persons were present at the seizure Justice Warcup took their Depositions and found upon the whole matter that it was a malicious Design to involve a great number of Innocent persons in the Guilt of Treason and Rebellion against His Majesty whereupon he made out a Warrant for apprehending him which being delivered to a Constable they went along with him to Mrs. Celliers where he then and the St. Omers Novices formerly had Lodged there the Constable and Warrant found him When he understood their business he exclaimed against Mansel crying out It was his doing thinking thereby to shuffle off his own Guilt but it should not do for he had been that day with the King himself and with Mr. Secretary Coventry and had acquainted them with the business And before he gets home saies he there will be inquiry made for him at his Lodging Well saies the Justice your Hectoring will not serve your turn if you will give security to appear at the Council-Board by Nine of the Clock to Morrow Morning we will give you no more trouble at this time but if not you must go to Prison Whereupon Cellier and her Son-in-Law entered into Recognizance for his appearance at the Council the next day which he did accordingly but as ill luck would have it he unfortunately met with a most unhappy and mischevious accident for as he was going down the Council Stairs he met with Mr. Do'iley an Officer belonging to the Mint who knew him and had formerly prosecuted him for uttering false Guinneys whereupon being conscious of his Guilt and fearing that the Gentleman would undoubtedly have discovered it to the King and Council and thereby have ruined his Credit and spoil the hopeful Design he was carrying on He began without any kind of provocation to Curse and Damn him demanding what he had to say to him and swearing That if he had him out of the Court he would cut his Crown and threatned that when he met him in a convenient place he would revenge the injury Whereat Do'iley being very much surprized and seeing Sir Francis North Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas just going to the Council he being one of the Members thereof and as providence ordered came so opportunely as to hear the words that passed between them he steps to him and acquaints him with Dangerfield's Character and complained of the abuse he had then received from him as soon as his Lordship came into the Council Chamber he acquainted His Majesty and the Council therewith who thereupon sent Justice Walcup and ordered him to take Do'ley's depositions concerning Dangerfield ordering moreover a Messenger to take him into Custody which was presently done and he was carryed
to the King's Head Tavern whither the Justice came to examin him as soon as the the Council was risen But in the mean while he Writ a Note to Mrs. Cellier and ordered her to acquaint the Lord and Lady Powis that he was apprehended for they knew that the Messenger would not suffer the Note to be sent until he had first read the Contents of it which having done the Boy carryed it according to directions The next day Colonel Mansel and he being both called into the Council Chamber the Lord Chancellor demanded of the Colonel what Correspondencies these were which he held Here are Papers saies he of dangerous Consequence importing no less than the levying Men and raising Rebellion against the King here is also a Catalogue of Names whom you have listed The Colonel affirmed he knew nothing either of the Letter or List of Names nor never did or ever would hold any Treasonable Correspondence with any Man living And humbly prayed the favour of the Court that he might be permitted how he came by a sight of those Papers assuring them that he did not question but to make it appear that those Papers were brought into his Chamber by Dangerfield and upon leave given by the Board he gave them a full and clear account of the whole Matter whereupon he was ordered to call in his Witnesses which he did And Mr. Harris made Oath That the Papers then before the Council were the same which were left at his House by Mr. Sretch and Mr. Bostock who made Oath That being inform'd by Dangerfield of certain prohibited goods concealed in Ax-yard they appointed to meet him at Mrs. Celliers in order to go with him to seize them but when they came there he was not then ready having not yet lain at his New Lodgings but told them that he intended to go to them that very night and therefore appointed them to come the Wednesday following in the Morning and that when they came there they found Dangerfield in his Chamber and one Bedford with him and that Dangerfield took them aside least Bedford should hear and whispered to them that the goods were in the Room above Stairs and desired them to charge him to assist 'em which they did and that after a narrow search finding no such goods as they were informed of he pointed towards the Bed whereupon they pulled it away from the Wall and searched very narrowly but could discover no goods nor did the Papers appear to them whereupon he pointed to the Beds-head and then Mr. Stretch went behind the Bed with a Candle but could see nothing And that then Dangerfield went himself behind the Bed and calling to them cryed What 's that hangs there pointing to a bundle of Papers that were pinned to the Beds-head which they had no sooner taken down but he snatched one of them out of the Officers hand and cryed out Here 's Treason There was in that Paper words to this Effect I wonder at your delay and that the four Lords have left us for now the Tyrant has declared himself a Papish which agreed very well with what they afterwards endeavoured to charge upon his Lordship and the rest of the Protestant Nobility upon the reading of which words he cryed out Did not I tell you these were Treasonable Papers they ought to be secured and the person whose Chamber this is if he were present They swore likewise that the Papers which the Council had then before them were the same which they took down from behind the Beds-head and that they did verily believe them to be placed there by Dangerfield The Council proceeding no further in the examination of the Plot that day the Justice took Bail for Dangerfield till the next day And then the Colonel Petitioning that the rest of his Witnesses might be heard His Majesty Adjourn'd the Examination thereof till the next Council day in regard of some other business which the Council had then before them whereupon Dangerfield moved that till then he might be Bailed but His Majesty refused to grant it and ordered in Council that he should be taken into Custody by the Messenger who acquainting Dangerfield therewith he stormed and said He was confident there was no such order for he knew there were those persons that would not suffer him to be so Treated but the Messenger insisting upon his order demanded his Sword which he very unwillingly delivered and so was conducted to the Messengers House He had the impudence to move the Board that the Colonel might be committed likewise but my Lord Chancellor opposed the motion and so it fell On the Monday following they being both called into Council and Dangerfield having by that time received instructions from the Conspirators how to proceed in it Addressed himself to His Majesty affirming there were in all sixteen Papers desiring to know what was become of the rest which was before the Council and what was become of the Box of Treasonable Papers and two or three hundred Letters Adding That Mansel had got together a company of Witnesses to disparage the Kings Evidence and to palliate his Treasonable Practices and desiring leave to ask him some questions which being granted he asked him if he did not frequent a Club in Westminster Market whether he did not know one Disney Lisle English Grange and Brown whether he did not bring into the Club a Pamphlet called A Word without Doors and read it publick to the Club whether he did not after the reading thereof utter Seditious Words again His Royal Highness Mansel replyed He knew many of the Gentlemen he had named that they were very honest Gentlemen and good Subjects and that all of them lived in Westminster except Captain Brown who had been Lieutenant to Major Russel's Troop of Horse in His Royal Highnesses Regiment But for all Treasonable discourse with them or any other persons he utterly disowned and was thereupon commanded to call the rest of his Witnesses who appearing proved that there were no more Papers taken in the Chamber than what was before the Council And Mr. Bedford who lay with Dangerfield the night before the pretended discovery and was to have been an Assistant in the management of the Plot acquainted the Council That after the searching the Colonels Chamber and seizing the Papers there he went to Mrs. Celliers and told Dangerfield what an ill thing he had done both in injuring Mr. Mansel and likewise by ingaging him in so base and vile a business desiring him therefore to discover and lay open the whole contrivance and who it was that put him upon it And that Dangerfield replyed He did not doubt but to come off well enough since so great persons had ingaged him in it c. Mr. D'oiley deposed that he had prosecuted him at two several Sessions held in the Old Bayly for uttering false Guinneys to which Dangerfield replyed He was indeed twice prosecuted upon that account but it was out of pure malice