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A34178 The Compleat statesman demonstrated in the life, actions, and politicks of that great minister of state, Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury : containing an account of his descent, his administration of affairs in the time of Oliver Cromwell, his unwearied endeavours to restore His Most Sacred Majesty, his zeal in prosecuting the horrid Popish Plot, several of his learned speeches during his being Ld. Chancellor, his two commitments to the Tower, the most material passages at his tryal, with many more considerable instances unto His Lordships going for Holland. Dunton, John, 1659-1733. 1683 (1683) Wing C5658; ESTC R35656 48,139 160

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Gentry a learned Clergy and an understanding worthy People but yet we cannot think of England as we ought without reflecting on the condition thereof They are under the same Prince and the influence of the same Fav●…urites and Councils When they are hardly dealt with can we that are Richer expect better usage For 't is certain that in all absolute Governments the poorest Countries are always most favourably dealt with When the ancient Nobility there cannot enjoy their Royalties their Shrievaldoms and their Stewardies which they and their Ancestors have possessed for several hundreds of years but that now they are enjoin'd by the Lords of the Council to make deputations of their Authorities to such as are their known Enemies can we expect to enjoy our Magna Charta long under the same persons and Administration of Affairs If the Council-Table there can imprison any Nobleman or Gentleman for several years without bringing him to Trial or giving the beast Reason for what they do can we expect the same Men will preserve the Liberty of the Subject here My Lords I will confess that I am not very well vers'd in the particular Laws of Scotland but this I do know that all the Northern Countries have by their Laws an undoubted and inviolable Right to their Liberties and Properties yet Scotland hath out-done all the Eastern and Southern Countries in having their Lives Liberties and Estates subjected to the Arbitrary Will and Pleasure of those that govern They have lately plundered and harased the richest and wealthiest Countries of that Kingdom and brought down the barbarous Highlanders to devour them and all this almost without a colourable pretence to do it Nor can there be found a Reason of State for what they have done but that those wicked Ministers designed to procure a Rebellion at any rate which as they managed was only prevented by the miraculous hand of God or otherwise all the Papists in England would have been armed and the fairest opportunity given in the just time for the execution of that wicked and bloody design the Papists had and it is not possible for any man that duly considers it to think other but that those Ministers that acted that were as guilty of the Plot as any of the Lords that are now in question for it My Lords I am forced to speak this the plainer because till the pressure be fully and clearly taken off from Scotland 't is not possible for me or any thinking man to believe that good is meant us here We must still be upon our guard apprehending that the Principle is not changed at Court that those men that are still in place and Authority have that influence upon the mind of our excellent Prince that he is not nor cannot be that to us that his own Nature and Goodness would incline him to I know your Lordships can order nothing in this but there are those that hear me can put a perfect cure to it until that be done the Scottish Weed is like death in the pot Mors in Olla But there is somthing too now I consider that most immediately concerns us their Act of Twenty two thousand men to be ready to invade us upon all occasions This I hear that the Lords of the Council there have treated as they do all other Laws and expounded it into a standing Army of Six Thousand Men. I am sure we have Reason and Right to beseech the King that that Act may be better considered in the next Parliament there I shall say no more for Scotland at this time I am afraid your Lordships will think I have said too much having no concern there but if a French NobleMan should come to dwell in my House and Family I should think it concerned me to ask what he did in France for if he were there a Felon a Rogue a Plunderer I should desire him to live elsewhere and I hope your Lordships will do the same thing for the Nation if you find Cause My Lords Give me leave to speak two or three words concerning our other Sister Ireland Thither I hear is sent Douglas's Regiment to secure us against the French Besides I am credibly informed that the Papists have their Arms restor'd and the Protestants are not many of them yet recovered from being the suspected Party The Sea-Towns as well as the In-land are full of Papists That Kingdom cannot long continue in the English hands if some better care be not taken of it This is in your Power and there is nothing there but is under your Laws Therefore I beg that this Kingdom at least may be taken into consideration together with the State of England for I am sure there can be no safety here if these Doors are not shut up and made sure Some few daies after this Speech the King was pleased to make a great Alteration in his Council and to appoint the Right Honourable Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury President thereof About the 18th of April 1679. His Majesty was pleased to declare the Dissolution of the Late Privy Council and for Constituting a New one The Lords of the Council not to exceed Thirty besides the Princes of the Blood which His Majesty may at any time call to the Board being at Court and the President and Secretary of Scotland which are uncertain The Names of that most Honourable Council were His Highness Prince Rupert William Lord A. B. of Canterbury Heneage Lord Finch L. Chancellor Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury Lord President of the Council Arthur Earl of Anglesey Lord Privy Seal Christopher Duke of Albermarle James Duke of Monmouth Master of the Horse Henry Duke of Newcastle John Duke of Lauderdale Principal Secretary of Scotland James Duke of Ormond L. Steward of the Houshold Charles Lord Marquess of Winchester Henry Earl of Arlington L. Chamberlain of the Houshold James Earl of Salisbury John Earl of Bridgwater Robert Earl of Sunderland one of His Majesties Principal Secretaries of State Arthur Earl of Essex first L. Commissioner of the Treasury James Earl of Bath Groom of the Stable Thomas Lord Viscount Falconberg George Lord Viscount Hallifax John Lord Bishop of London Daniel Lord Roberts Henry Lord Hollis William Lord Russel William Lord Cavendish Henry Coventry Esq one of His Majesties Principal Secretaries of State Sir Francis North Knight L. Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Sir Henry Capell Knight of the Bath first Commissioner of the Admiralty Sir John Ernby Knight Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Chicheley Knight Master of the Ordnance Sir William Temple Baronet Edward Seymour Esquire Henry Powle Esquire This great Change put men upon various Discourses and Apprehensions suitable to their respective Dispositions and Inclinations but the most sober both of the Parliament and others hoped now to see the Popish Plot wholly Eradicated especially considering the daily fresh Discoveries that were brought before the Council and Parliament the last of which was of no long continuance for about June 1679.
this Parliament were dissolved And about July there were Writs issued out for the summoning another Parliament Octob. the 17th 1679. A Parliament met at Westminster and were by a commission directed to the Lord Chancellor prorogued until January following It is almost incredible how in this interval the Papists lifted up their Heads braving the very face of Justice for now they had got such a cast of Evidence that would have accused Innocence itself Now does Dugdale inform that he had been tampered with to deny his former Evidence Sir George Wakeman finds the benefit of an Ignoramus Jury without the Astonishment of Thompson or the Observator The Diabolical design of ruining the greatest Protestants in England by leaving a Pacquet of counterfeit Letters in Collonel Mansel's Chamber in Ax-Yard discovered by Mr. Dangerfield besides an account of a great summ of Money offered him by the Lady Powis if he would murther the Earl of Shaftesbury against whom the rage of that bloody party was now so great that they left no base and unwarrantable Action unatempted to rob him of his Life Some were hired to stab or pistol him others to swear Treason against him or any other course the Devil could suggest so as he were but made away on whose life they thought the ill success of their Diabolical Machine depended Libels containing the blackest Treasons against His Majesty were forged in the names of the most eminent Protestant Peers and Grandees of the Nation scarce any person of Integrity against the Roman superstitions but would have been made a party to it But whoever was omitted my Lord Shaftesbury was sure to be drawn in neck and shoulders and to be duckt over head and ears in the Plot These were by their mercenary Agents secretly to be conveighed into the Houses of the Protestants aforesaid and then they wanted not a set of base and mean spirited Villains to swear it home upon them persons of that prof●…igate and contemptible disposition that for a Mess of Pottage would not only forsake all claim to Honesty and Virtue but prostitute their Souls to the lust and ambition of the worst of Men But these were no new things to the brave and excellent to be exposed by Trials of this Nature to the Rage of brutish and inhumane Wretches A Heathen could long ago observe it Integer Vitae scelerisque purus Non eget Mauri jaculis nec Arcu To what a pitch of Heroic Magnanimity must that Person needs be arriv'd that can buoy up his Soul against such foul Tempests when the consideration of simple Innocence shall maintain a perpetual serenity within amidst all the cloudy Fogs of Adversity that can be as stedfastly loyal under the Frowns as the Favor of his Prince and answers that witty character of such a one in Hudibras For Loyalty is still the same Whether it win or lose the Game True as a Dial to the Sun Although it be not shin'd upon Mr. Dangerfield gives a large account in his Narrative of two several times that he had attempted to kill the Earl of Shaftesbury and that he had been instigated thereto by the popish Priests and that the Lady Powis particularly had offer'd him Five Hundred pounds to perform it whereof he received Twenty pounds in part but that still he had been providentially disappointed of that barbarous enterprise One day Dame Cellier demanded of him whether he had dispatched the aforesaid Earl and he replying that he could have no opportunity to come at him Give me the Ponyard says she you shall see what a Woman can do for the Catholick Cause And accordingly by the Instigation of the Devil and a hellish rage which the Papists miscall a holy Zeal she addressed her self to the Execution of that execrable Design She makes a visit to the Earl under pretence of paying her Thanks for Favours obtain'd through his means but the consecrated Dagger still lurk'd under the skirt of her Gown ready to have exprest her Gratitude by opening the Veins of this Protestant Peers Heart He had no reason to be over fond of the conversation of such cattle and therefore in short time she was dismist without having an opportunity of putting her philonious and trecherous design in execution Is then a loyal Innocence and protestant Integrity Armour of proof against Poisons Pistols and Ponyards The Catholick Gallantry stops not here but pursues this Noble Peer with Forgery of his Hand and other their little black Artifices and Sham-plots What base and villanous Arts the Papists used to destroy the Lord Shaftesbury is not only evident by their many endeavours to have stabbed him as hath been deposed by divers persons to whom the Parliament as well as the Nation have given belief but may be further confirmed by their intercepting Letters directed to his Lordship and after they had in a hand as near the Original as they could counterfeit inserted Treason in them they were transmitted to such as would certainly acquaint our Ministers with it In short one story of their mischievous practice in this kind is this There is a Gentleman who was a Commander of a Regiment of Horse in the late Kings service and lost all for his sake and his present Majesties writ to this Noble Peer about relieving him against the Gout with which he useth be afflicted This Letter was intercepted and the person then living in the French King's Dominions after adding to it an account That the Writer was able to furnish the Earl with Forty thousand men from France to oppose the D. of York's Interest It was then conveyed to some of the French King's Ministers who they supposed would send a Copy of it hither but by a strange providence the Original was returned into the Gentleman's own hands Decemb. 7. The following Humble Address and Advice of several of the Peers of this Realm for the Sitting of the Parliament was Presented to His Majesty at Whitehall A Copy whereof follows Sir WE are here to cast our selves at Your Majesties Feet being Ten of the Peers of Your Realm of England and in our own Names in the Names of several others of our Fellow-Peers do humbly beg That Your Majesty would consider the great Danger Your Royal Person is in as also the Protestant Religion and the Government of these Your Nations We humbly pray That in a time when all these are so highly concerned Your Majesty will effectually use Your Great Council the Parliament Sir Out of the deepest sense of Duty and Loyalty to Your Majesty We offer it as our humble Advice and earnest Petition That the Parliament may Sit at the time appointed and that Your Majesty would be graciously pleased to give publick Notice and Assurance thereof that the Minds of Your Majesties Subjects may be settled and their Fears 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Address was offered in the Names and by the Order of the Peers under named viz. Kent Huntingdon Bedford Clare Stamford Shaftesbury Say and Seal Eure North
timely prevented that there is no hurt done yet the very Design if it be but uttered and spoken and any waies signified by any Discourse that this was made Treason by this Act. Formerly it was said and said truly That words alone were not Treason but that since this Act words that import any Malicious Design against the King's Life or Government any Traiterous Intention in the Party such words are Treason now within this Act. Then as to the Indictments that were to be brought before them he advised them to consider 1. Whether the matter contained in them and which were to be given in Evidence were matter of Treason within the former or the latter Act of Parliament and if they doubted they were to enquire of the Court and they should be directed as to matter of Law And they were to examine whether the matters Evidenced to them were Testified by two Witnesses for without two Witnesses no man could be Impeached within those Laws If one man should swear to words that import●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 D●…sign or Intention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 time and in one place and another Testifie to Traiterous words spoken at another time and another place that these were two good Witnesses which had been solemnly resolved by all the Judges of England upon a solemn occasion 2. That they were to enquire whether upon what Evidence should be given them there should be any reason or ground for the King to call the persons to account if there were probable ground it was as much as they were to enquire into He urged pretty much to this purpose and then told them Compassion or Pity was neither their Province nor his that there was no room for that in Enquiries of such a nature that it was reserved to a Higher and Superiour Power from whence theirs was derived Therefore he required them to consider such Evidence 〈◊〉 should be given them and prayed God to direct them in their Enquiry that Justice might take place Then a Bill of High ●…son reason was offer'd against the E. of ●…esbury and Sir Francis Withc●… moved that the Evidence might be heard in Court Then the Lord Chief Justice told the Jury that the King's Council desired and they could not deny it that the Evidence might be publickly given and prayed them to take their places and hear the Evidence that should be given The Jury desired a Copy of their Oath which the Court granted and then withdrew after some time they returned and then the Clerk called them by their Names Then the Foreman gave the L. C. J. an account that it was the Opinion of the Jury that they ought to Examine the Witnesses in private and it hath been the constant practice of our Predecessors to do it and they insisted upon it as their Right to Examine in private because they were bound to keep the K's Secrets which could not be done if the Examination were in Court Whereupon the L. C. J. told 'em that perhaps some late usage had brought them into that Errour that it was their Right that the Witnesses were alwaies sworn in Court and surely he said Evidence was alwaies given in Court formerly That it was for their advantage as well as the King 's that nothing might be done clandestinly that by their keeping Counsel was meant keeping secret their own private Debates To which the Foreman replied That he begg'd his Lordships pardon if he were in a mistake The Jury apprehend they were bound by the very words of their Oath to Examine in private for it says They shall keep the King 's Secrets and their own Counsels That there could be no Secret in publick Then Mr. Papillion spoke to this purpose That they had heard that what had been the Custom of England had been the Law of England and if it had been the Antient Usage and Custom of England that had never been altered from time to time Divers other Arguments were used on both sides but at last the Court denied a private Examination then the Foreman told the Court that the Jury desired it might be Recorded that they had insisted upon it as their Right but if the Court over-ruled it they must submit This was likewise refused by the Court. Then Sheriff Pilkington desired that the Witnesses might be put out of Court and called in one by one but he was refused it and told it was not his Duty And Mr. Attorney General said he appeared against the King However it was afterward granted to the Jury Then was Read the Indictment against Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury for High Treason against His Majesty which being too long here to insert we are forced to omit The Jury desired a ●…ist of the Witnesses Names but they were told they would have them Endorsed on the back of the Indictment when that was delivered to them Then the Foreman acquainted the Court that the Jury desired a Copy of the Warrant by which the Earl of Shaftesbury was Committed because there might several Questions depend upon it But my Lord Chief Justice answered That was not in the power of the Court to grant for that it was in the hands of the Lieutenant of the Tower which he kept for his Indemnity and they could not demand it of him upon any terms Then Mr. Papillion moved that they might hear what the Witnesses had to give in Evidence one by one and that after the Jury might withdraw to consider what proper Questions to ask them and after might come down again which the Court granted Then all the Witnesses were ordered to go out of the Court and to be called in one by one This done Will. Blith●… Esq was produced and a Paper delivered in Mr. Blithwayt gave account that that Paper was put into his hands by Mr. Gwin Clerk of the Council who had seized it amongst others in my Lord Shaftesbury's house and that he had took that and others out of a Velvet Bagg which Mr. Gwin had lockt up in the great Trunk Then Mr. Gwin testified that he had the great Hair Trunk in my Lord Shaftesbury's house when he was sent there to search for Papers by Order of the Council the second of July my Lord as soon as he came there delivered him the Keys and said He would seal them up with his own Seal but afterwards sent Mr. Gwin word if he pleased he might put his own Seal that he had taken a note how he had parted several parcels of Papers that there were several sorts of them in the great Hair Trunk and there was a Velvet Bag into which he had put some Papers that were loose in my Lord's Closet above Stairs that he had put his Seal upon the Trunk and being sent another way had put it into the Custody of Mr. Blithwait The Lord Chief Justice asked Mr. Gwin whether all the Papers in the Velvet Bag were in my L. Shaftesbury's Closet and whether there was nothing in that Bag but what he had taken in
my Lord Shaftesbury's Closet to which Mr. Gwin replied that there was nothing Mr. Secretary Jenkins witnessed that that was the Paper he had of Mr. Blithwayt Some things I am forced for brevity to omit My Lord Chief Justice said Now it appears this was the Paper taken in my Lord Shaftesbury's Closet And the Paper was Read which contained the words of that commonly called The Form of an Association When it had been Read Sir F●…n Withins said This Paper was very plausibly penn'd in the 〈◊〉 and runs a great way so but in the last clause but one there they come to perfect Levying of War for they do positively say They will obey such Officers as either the Parliament or the major part of them or after the Parliament is Dissolved the major part of them that shall subscribe this Paper shall appoint The Foreman of the Jury enquired what Date that Paper was of and whether there were any hand to it to which Sir Francis answered that it was after the Bill for Exclusion of the Duke of York for it says that way failing they would do it by force as to the having a name to it Sir Francis said there was none at all The rest of the Evidence were John Booth John Macknamara Edward Turbervill Dennis Macknamara John Smith Edward Joye Bryan Haynes Bernard Dennis Booth deposeth That in January last he was introduced into my Lord Shaftesbury's acquaintance by Captain Henry Wilkinson in order to get a Commission and Plantation in Carolina That the first time he went to my Lord there was my L. Craven and Sir Peter Colliton who are of the Proprietors of that Collony that after this acquaintance he had been there between Christmas and March four or five times and that he found great difficulty in his Accession to his Lordship who was cautious of what company were admitted to him that the said Earl used to inveigh sharply against the Times and look upon himself as not so valued nor respected nor in those Places and Dignities as he expected seemed discontented Particularly that the Earl of Shaftesbury should say that the Parliament would never grant the King Money nor satisfie him in those things that he desired unless he first gave the People satisfaction in those things that they insisted on before and particularly the Bill of Excluding the Duke of York from the Crown Another was the Abolishing the Statute of the 35th of Elizabeth The third was giving his Royal Assent for the passing a New Bill whereby all the Dissenting Protestants should be freed from those Penalties and Ecclesiastical Punishments that they are subject to by the present Establish'd Law That he had Established fifty Gentlemen persons of Quality that he believed would have men along with them that they were to come to Oxford at such a time that if there were any Violence offered to any of the Members by the King's Guards or the Retinue of the Court that then these men with others that other Lords had appointed should repel his force by greater force and should purge the Guards of all the Papists and Tories that Captain Wilkinson was Intrusted with the Command of these men and that these men should be ready to Assist himself and those of his Confederacy to purge from the King those Evil Councillors that were about him That particularly there were named the Earl of Worcester Lord Clarendon Lord Hallifax Lord Feversham Lord Hide which persons were lookt upon to be dangerous and gave the King Evil Advice That those Lords should by Violence be taken from the King and the King brought to London where those things should be Establisht which they designed for their Safety in those two Respects for the preserving the Protestant Religion and likewise for the defending and keeping us safe from Arbitrary Power and Government And likewise that the said Booth had provided Arms and a good Stone-Horse for himself and Arms for his Man before the Parliament Sate at Oxford That the Thursday before the Parliament was Dissolved Captain Wilkinson told him he expected that very week to be called up to Oxford with those men that were Listed with him but Saturday bringing News of the Dissolution of the Parliament it had no further Effects This was the most material of what Booth said for being straitned in Room I am forced to render it as short as I can Turbervil declared That about the beginning of February waiting on my Lord Shaftesbury to have his advice how he might come by some Monies and to gain his Lordships Letter in his behalf to the President of the Council the Earl should say there was little good to be expected from the King as long as his Guards were about him that his Lordship should say the Rabble about Wapping and Aldersgate were of that side that the rich men of the City would vote for Elections but it could hardly be expected they should stand by them in case of a disturbance for they valued their Riches more than their Cause and that at Oxford he had heard the Earl say he wondred the People of England should stickle so about Religion if he were to chuse a Religion he would have one should comply with what was apt to carry on their Cause Smith said that one time being sent for by my Lord Shaftesbury by one Captain Manly his Lordship should tell him that Mr. Hetherington had told him he was afraid the Irish Witnesses would go over to the Court Party and retract what they had said formerly that he advised him to persuade them not to go near that Rogue Fitz-Girald that great Villain that is pampered up and maintain'd by the King and the Court party to stifle the Plot in Ireland and that the Earl had further said That if the King were not as well satisfied with the coming in of Popery as ever the Duke of York was do you think the Duke of York would be so much concerned for the bringing in of Popery as he is That a little before my Lord went to Oxford he should tell the said Smith there were great preparations made and a great many gathered together upon the Rode be tween London and Oxford and Smith asking his Lordship what it might mean my Lord should answer that it was only to terrifie the Parliament to comply with the Kings desire which he was sure the Parliament would never do That they were now more resolute than ever That they clearly saw the Kings aim was to bring in Popery That they had the Nation for them and might lawfully oppose him and he would meet with very strong opposition for that all that came out of the Country should be well Hors'd and armed and so they should all be That the City had resolved to bear the charge of their Members and send so many men to wait on them and that he would be hang'd before he would ever bring in Popery or any thing of that nature Bryan Hains deposed that among