of Winchester Henry Lord Marquess of Worcester Henry Earl of Arlington Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold James Earl of Salisbury John Earl of Bridgewater Robert Earl of Sunderland one of his Majesties principal Secretaries of State lately made in the room of Sir Joseph Williamson Arthur Earl of Essex first Lord Commissioner of the Treasury John Earl of Bath Groom of the Stole Thomas Lord Viscount Faulconberg George Lord Viscount Hallifax Henry Lord Bishop of London John Lord Roberts Denzil Lord Holles William Lord Russel William Lord Cavendish Henry Coventry Esq one of his Majesties principle Secretaries of State Sir Francis North Kt. Lord Cheif Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir Henry Capel Kt. of the Bath first Commissioner of the Admiralty Sir John Earnley Kt. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Chicheley Kt. Master of the Ordnance Sir William Temple Baronet Edward Seymour Esq Henry Powle Esq The 30th of April His Majesty made a Speech to both Houses of Parliament wherein he recommended three things to them The prosecution of the Plot The disbanding of the Army and the providing a Fleet which was followed by a larger signification of his Majesties mind by the Lord Chancellor That His Majesty had considered with himself That 't is not enough that his Peoples Religion and Liberty be secure during his own Reign but thinks he ows it to his People to do all that in him lies that these Blessings may be transmitted to Posterity And to the end that it may never be in the power of any Papist if the Crown descend upon him to make any change in Church or State his Majesty would consent to limit such Successor in these points 1. That no such Popish Successor shall present to Ecclesiastical Benefices 2. That during the Reign of such Popish Successor no Privy Councellors or Judges Lord Leiutenant or Deputy Leiutenant or Officer of the Navy shall be put in or removed but by Authority of Parliament 3. That as it is already provided That no Papist can sit in either House of Parliament so there shall never want a Parliament when the King shall happen to die but that the Parliament then in Being may continue Indissoluble for a competent time or the last Parliament Re-assemble c. But it seems all these Provisions were not thought a sufficient Fence for such dear and precious things as Religion and Liberty and that in the progress of their Debates upon this most important Subject they could not resolve upon any certain Expedient of safety less than the Exclusion of his Royal Higness For on Sunday April the 27th 1679. It was Resolved by the House of Commons Nemine Contradicente That the Duke of York being a Papist and the hopes of his coming such to the Crown hath given the greatest Encouragement and Countenance to the present Conspiracies and Designs of the Papists against the King and Protestant Religion And on Sunday May the 11th the better Day the better Deed we use to say but whether it will hold here will be the Question they Ordered That a Bill should be brought in to disable the Duke of York to Inherit the Imperial Crown of this Realm which was brought in accordingly and twice read in the House the preamble thereof being to this effect That forasmuch as these Kingdoms of England and Ireland by the wonderful Providence of God many Years since have been delivered from the Slavery and Superstition of Popery which had despoiled the King of his Sovereign Power for that it did and doth advance the Pope of Rome to a Power over Sovereign Princes and makes him Monarch of the Universe and doth with-draw the Subjects from their Allegiance by pretended Absolutions from all former Daths and Obligations to their lawful Sovereign and by many Superstitions and Immoralities hath quite subverted the Ends of the Christian Religion But notwithstanding That Popery hath been long since Condemned by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm for the detestable Doctrine and Traiterous Attempts of its Adherents against the Lives of their lawful Sovereigns Kings and Queens of these Realms Yet the Emissaries Priests and Agents for the Pope of Rome resorting into this Kingdom of England in great numbers contrary to the known Laws thereof have for several Years last past as well by their own Devilish Acts and Policies as by Counsel and Assistance of Foreign Princes and Prelates known Enemies to these Nations contrived and carried on a most Horrid and Execrable Conspiracy To destroy and Murther the Person of his Sacred Majesty and to Subvert the ancient Government of these Realms and to Extirpate the Protestant Religion and Massacre the true Professors thereof And for the better effecting their wicked Designs and encouraging their Uilainous Accomplices they have Traterously Seduced James Duke of York Presumptive Heir of these Crowns to the Communion of the Church of Rome and have induced him to Enter into several Negotiations with the Pope his Cardinals and Nuntio's for promoting the Romish Church and Interest and by his means and procurement have advanced the Power and Greatness of the French King to the manifest hazard of these Kingdoms That by the descent of these Crowns upon a Papist and by Foreign Alliances and Assistance they may be able to succeed in their Wicked and Uillainons Designs And forasmuch as the Parliaments of England according to the Laws and Statutes thereof have heretofore for great and weighty Reasons of State and for the publick Good and common Interest at this Kingdom directed and limited the Succession of the Crown in other manner than of Course it would otherwise have gone but never had such important and urgent Reasons as at this Time press and require their using of their said Extraordinary Power in that behalf Be it therefore Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same And it is hereby Enacted accordingly That James Duke of York Albany and Ulster having departed openly from the Church of England and having publickly professed and owned the Popish Religion which hath notoriously given Birth and Life to the most Damnable and Hellish Plot by the most gracious Providence of God lately brought to light shall be Excluded and is hereby Excluded and Disabled c. On the 19th of May the House of Commons attended his Majesty with this following Address Most Dread Sovereign WEE your Majesties most Dutiful and Loyal Subjects the Commons in Parliament Assembled do with all humble gratitude acknowledge the most gratious assurances your Majesty hath been pleased to give us of your constant Care to do every thing that may preserve the Protestant Religion of your firm resolution to defend the same to the utmost and your Royal endeavours that the security of that blessing may be transmitted to posterity And we do humbly represent to your Majesty That being deeply sensible that the
Assemblies and Consultations wherein it was Contrived and Designed amongst them what means should be used and what Persons and Instruments should be employed to Murther his Majesty and did then and there resolve to effect it by Poisoning Shooting Stabing or some such like ways or means and offered Rewards and promises of Advantage to several Persons to Execute the same and hired and employed several Wicked Persons to go to Windsor and other places where his Majesty did reside to Murther and destroy his Majesty which said Persons or some of them accepted some Rewards and undertook the Perpetrating thereof and did actually go to the said places for that end and purpose That the said Conspirators the better to compass their Traiterous Designs have consulted to Raise and have procured and raised Men Money Horses Arms and Ammunition and also have made Application to and Treated and Corresponded with the Pope his Cardinals Nuncio's and Agents and with other Foraign Ministers and Persons to raise Tumults within this Kingdom and to Invade the same with Foraign Forces and to surprize seize and destroy his Majesties Navy Forts Magazines and places of Strength within this Kingdom Whereupon the Calamities of War Murthers of innocent Subjects Men Women and Children Burnings Rapines Devastations and other Dreadful Miseries and Mischiefs must inevitably have ensued to the Ruin and Destruction of this Nation That the said Conspirators have procured accepted and delivered out several Instruments Commissions and Powers made and granted by or under the Pope or other unlawful and usurping Authority to raise and dispose of Men Money Arms and other things necessary for their wicked and Traiterous Designs and namely a Commission to the said Henry Lord Arundel of Warder to be Lord High Chancellor of England and to the said William Earl of Powis to be Lord Treasurer of England another Commission to the said John Lord Bellasis to be General of the Army to be raised and the said William Lord Petre to be Lieutenant General of the said Army and a Power to the said William Viscount Stafford to be Paymaster of the Army That in order to encourage themselves in prosecuting their said wicked Plots Conspiracies and Treasons and to hide and hinder the discovery of the same and to secure themselves from Justice and Punishment the Conspirators aforesaid and Confederates have used many wicked and Diabolical Practices viz. They did cause their Priests to Administer to the said Conspirators an Oath of Secrecy together with their Sacrament and also did cause their said Priests upon Confession to give their Absolutions upon condition that they should conceal the said Conspiracy And when about the Month of September last Sir Edmundbury Godfrey a Justice of Peace had according to the Duty of his Oath and Office taken several Examinations and Informations concerning the said Conspiracy and Plot the said Conspirators or some of them by Advice Assistance Councel and Instigation of the rest did incite and procure divers Persons to lie in wait and persue the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey several days with intent to Murther him which at last was perpetrated and effected by them for which said horrid Crimes and Offences Robert Green Henry Berry and Lawrence Hill have since been Attainted and Dominick Kelly and Gerald are fled for the same After which Murther and before the Body was found or the Murther known to any but Complices therein the said Persons falsely gave out That he was alive and privately Married and after the Body was found dispersed a false and malicious Report that he had Murthered himself Which said Murther was Committed with design to stifle and suppress the Evidence he had taken and had knowledg of and to discourage and deter Magistrates and others from acting in the further discovery of the said Plot and Conspiracy for which end also the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey while he was alive was by them their Complices and Favourites threatned and discouraged in his Proceedings about the same And of their further Malice they have wickedly contrived by many false Suggestions to lay the imputation and guilt of the aforesaid horrid and detestable Crimes upon the Protestants that so thereby they might escape the Punishments they have justly deserved and expose Protestants to great Scandal and subject them to Persecution and Oppression in all Kingdoms and Countries where the Roman Religion is received and professed All which Treasons Crimes and Offences above mentioned were Contrived Committed Perpetrated Acted and done by the said William Earl of Powis William Lord Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis every of them and others the Conspirators aforesaid against our Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity and against the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom Of all which Treasons Crimes and Offences the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled do in the name of themselves and of the Commons of England Impeach the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis and every of them And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves that liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusations or Impeachments against the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis and every of them and also of replying to the Answers which they and every of them make to the Premises or any of them or to any other Accusation or Impeachment which shall be by them exhibited as the Cause according to course and proceedings of Parliament shall require do pray that the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis and every of them may be put to Answer all and every of the Premises and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments may be upon them and every of them had and used as shall be agreeable to Law and Justice and Course of Parliament To these Articles of Impeachment the said Lords soon after put in their several Answers as follows The several Answers of William Lord Petre now Prisoner in the Tower to the Articles of Impeachment of High Treason and other Crimes and Offences exhibited to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled Whereas the Lord above named stands Impeached by the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled in the name of themselves and all the Commons in England THE said Lord in the first place and above all other protesting his Innocency The said Lord doth with all humility submit himself desiring above all things the Tryal of his Cause by this Honourable House so that he may be provided to make his just Defence for clearing of his Innocency from the great and hainous Crimes charged against him by the said Impeachment this being prayed as also liberty to correct amend and explain any thing in the
strangers nor any persons of Quality to come into Somerset-house on the 12th 13th and 14th days of October that is the day Sir Edmund was Murthered and the two days following and particularly that Prince Rupert did come in that time and he did refuse him and sent him back again Now as to the defences they offered for themselves 1. They all denied the Fact very stoutly but that is of no value against plain Evidence and doe but aggravate their Crime 2. Hill would have invalidated Mr. Prance's Testimony because he had once denied it and said They were innocent But that the Court vindicated for the Reasons before reciâ—ed that it could no ways legally take off his Evidence for he was no ways perjuâ—'d but rather excusable under the Circumstances aforesaid 3. The said Hill to evade the Charge brings several Witnesses all of his own Religion to aver he was never from his Lodgings after Nine a Clock at Night but these did it so mineingly and generally that no stress could be laid upon them it being proved that they had several Keys to the door and that Hill might go in and out without their knowledg and one of his Witnesses makes a palpable mistake of an whole Month P. 55. and two of Greens Witnesses a whole Week P. 66. So ill had they calculated the time which they were brought to speak to 4. On the behalf of Berry The Soldiers who were placed at the Gate Sentinâ—l say They saw a Sedan come in so far they agree with the King's Evidence but then they confidently aver That they saw none go out all night But what was this to the matter of Fact and to the Murther committed sworn in all Circumstances so punctually The Sentinel might be from his Post and Mr. Prance who best knew the contrivance tells us that Berry had inveigled the Sentinel in to drink and so he might not see the Sedan go out and then the Sentinel knowing he had committed a dangerous fault by so doing might be so wise though not very honest to conceal it and say there was no Sedan went out This was all the defence they could make which in every part appeared so weak that as well the Jury as all other impartial Auditors were fully satisfied to bring them in guilty of the Murther On Tuesday the 11th of February they were brought again to the Bar in order to receive their Sentence which after a grave speech was pronounced by Mr. Justice Wild to whom it apperrained as being second Judg in the Court. In pursuance of which Sentence Robert Green and Lawrence Hill were Executed at Tybuâ—ne on the 21th of February and Henrry Berry on the 28th of the said Month. They all three did at their deaths deny the Crime and used that Expression That they were as Innocent as the Child new born But we may justly fear they were under an horrid delusion and so charm'd and bound up by so many Oaths and Sacraments by their Gostly Fathers the Jesuits and Preists that they durst not acknowledg the Truth but on the contrary thought by concealing and denying the same they should do great Service to the Romish Church by keeping it from scandal and be Sainted for it in Heaven That there was some such Artifice used to seal up their Lips is plain by this notable Circumstance When Hill and Green were hang'd and dead Captain Richardson Keeper of Newgate and many others present saw the Executioner amongst other things take a Paper out of Hill's Pocket purporting to be the form of speech that he should use to the People at the Gallows which being very remarkably Penn'd I shall here insert the same verbatim as follows I now come to the Fatal Place where I must end my Life and I hope with that Courage that may become my Innocence I must now appear before the great Judge who knows all things and judges rightly and I hope it will be happy for me a Sinner that I am thus wrongfully put to death I call God Angels and Men to Witness that I am wholy ignorant of the Manner Cause or Time of the Death of Justice Godfrey although on that account by the malice of wicked men brought to this shameful Death which I hope will give me a speedy passage to Eternal Life In this hope I die chearfully because of my Innocence and the benefit of the precious Wounds of my Blessed Saviour by whose Merits I hope for Salvation I die a Roman Catholick desiring all such to Pray for me And I beseech God in his Justice to discover this Horrid Murther with the Contrivers thereof that my Innocence may appear And though from my heart I forgive my Accusers yet I Cite all such as have had a hand in this Bloody Contrivance before the greâ— Tribunal of Gods Justice to answer for the wrong they have done the Innocent and particularly the Lord Cheif Justice and the Brothers of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey with Jury Witnesses and all their Partakers Oh Lord bless and preserve his Majesty and be merciful to this poor Nation and lay not Innocent Blood to its Charge So I bid you all Farewel in Jesus Christ into whose hands I commit my Spirit This Paper is no small Evidence of the ill Arts used by the Jesuiâ—s and Popish Preists to make their People persist in denial of their Crimes at their Death and keep up the Credit of their Church though with never so certain an hazard of their own Souls For 't is certain these were not Hill's own words but prepared by some other for See the Animadversions Printed thereon P. 2. him to say and what need was there of so much skill in a matter where only Truth and not Art was necessary For if Hill knew himself guiltless he could have told the people so which would have been more Credible out of his mouth from his heart then out of this Paper from his memory But they were afraid he would either confess the whole matter or that the power of Truth would over-bear his Tongue in some Circumstance or at least that he would not deny it so resolutely and in such a taking manner as might fix a suspicion and odium upon the Witnesses Judg and Jury in the minds of the people which was the great thing they aimed at and therefore some Preist drew up this form of what he should say that every word might be according to their mind how remote soever it was from his Thoughts or the Truth Nor is it any wonder that they should teach their Proselytes to make Speeches just as they do Prayers Opere Operate â— without any understanding or attention or consent of the mind to the words they use For that the words were fram'd by another for him to Con by heart is most evident for that he never had Pen Ink nor Paper all the while he was in Newgate and his Wise Testified that it was not of his hand writing nor did she ever see it