the University as some report or whether drawn in upon his Marriage as others alleage or to gratifie a Rich Vncle of that Persuasion as a third sort relate it on which or whether on some other occasion different from all these he revolted is not much material but revolt he did to the Roman Church and became a mighty Bigot to advance the same and gain Proselytes He was a Person of rare natural and acquired parts and so well conceited of himself that he once undertook to be one that should manage a Conference concerning Religion against the Learned Doctor Stillingfleet and another Divine of the Church of England which discourse is extant in Print But his Talent lay more in News and Policy than Divinity being for some time Secretary to her Royal Highness the Dutchess of York he was a Leading-man in this Horrid Conspiracy and a prime Promoter thereof by his great Correspondency abroad both at Rome and in the French Court. Concerning the manner of his Commitment an Account is given before Chapt. the 8th On Saturday the 23 of November he was Arraigned at the Kings-Bench Bar the Indictment being very Expressive and Significant we shall for Example sake See Colemans Tryal p. 2. recite part of it viz. That as a false Traitor against our most Illustrious Serene and most excellent Prince Charles by the Grace of God c. his natural Lord having not the fear of God in his heart nor duely weighing his Allegiance but being moved and seduced by the Instigation of the Devil his cordial Love and true Duty and natural Obedience which true and lawful Subjects of our said Lord the King ought to bear towards him and by Law ought to have altogether with-drawing and devising and with all his strength intending the Peace and common Tranquillity of this Kingdom of England to disturb and the true Worship of God within the Kingdom of England practised and by Law Established to overthrow and Sedition and Rebellion within this Realm of England to move stir up and procure and the cordial Love and true Duty and Allegiance which true and lawful Subjects of our Soveraign Lord the King towards their Soveraign bear and by Law ought to have altogether to withdraw forsake and extinguish and our said Soveraign Lord the King to Death and final Destruction to bring and put The 29th of Septemb. in the 27th year of the Reign of our said Soveraign Lord Charles the Second c. at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster Falsly Maliciously and Traiterously proposed compassed imagined and intended to stir up and raise Sedition and Rebellion within the Kingdom of England and to procure and cause a miserable Destruction amongst the Subjects of our said Lord the King and wholly to Deprive Depose Deject and Disinherit our said Soveraign of his Royal State Title Power and Rule of his Kingdom of England and to bring and put our said Soveraign Lord the King to final Death and Destruction and to overthrow and change the Government and alter the sincere and true Religion of God in this Kingdom by Law establish'd and wholly to subvert and destroy the State of the Kingdom and to Levy War against our said Soveraign Lord the King within his Realm of England And that to accomplish these his Traiterous designs and imaginations on the 29th of Septemb. in the 27th year of the King he Traiterously composed two Letters to one Monsieur Le Chese then Servant and Confessor of Lewis the French King to desire procure and obtain for the said Edw. Coleman and other false Traitors the Aid Assistance and Adherence of the said French King to alter the true Religion in this Kingdom Establish'd to the Superstition of the Church of Rome and Subvert the Government of this Kingdom of England c. Reciting his receiving an Answer from Le Chese his Correspondence with Monsieur Rovigni Envoy Extraordinary from the French King and Letters to Sir William Throckmorton in France Concluding in usual form That all this was done against his true Allegiance and against the Peace of the King his Crown and Dignity To this Indictment he pleaded Not Guilty and on Wednesday the 27th of Novemb. 1678. was brought to his Tryal To the Jury Empannel'd he made no Challenges Their Names were Sir Reginald Foster Baronet Sir Charles Lee. Edward Wilford Esq John Bathurst Esq Joshua Galliard Esq John Bifield Esq Simon Middleton Esq Henry Johnson Esq Charles Vmfrevile Esq Thomas Johnson Esq Thomas Eaglesfield Esq William Bohee Esq His Tryal as it held very long so it was managed with all Integrity and Moderation by the Court The Charge against him was made out two ways partly by Witnesses Vivâ voce and partly by Letters and Papers found at his House which he could not deny to be his own hand writing Dr. Oates was the first Witness produced to whom the Lord Chief Justice gave this grave Caution That he See Colemans Tryal p. 17. should speak nothing but the truth not to add the least tittle that was false for any advantage whatsoever mind him of the Sacredness of the Oath he had taken declaring that since the Prisoners Blood and Life was at stake he should stand or fall be justified or Condemned by truth The substance of Mr. Oates's Evidence was 1. That in Novemb. 1677. being brought acquainted with Mr. Coleman by one John Keins then Dr. Oates's Confessor who Lodged at Colemans House he carried some Letters for him to St. Omers in which were Treasonable Expressions of the King calling him Tyrant and a Letter in Latine enclosed to Monsieur Le Chese to whom Dr. Oates carried it from St. Omers to Paris in which there were thanks returned for the Ten thousand pounds by him remitted into England for the Propagation of the Catholick Religion and promising that it should be Imployed for no other purpose but that for which it was sent which was to cut off the King of England as appear'd by the Letter of Le Chese to which this was an Answer and which Dr. Oates saw and read 2. That Coleman was concern'd in the design of taking away the Sacred Life of the King for that when at the Jesuits Consult at the pag. 2. Whitehorse-Tavern in the Strand in April Old Stile and May New Stile and afterwards adjourned into several Companies It was resolv'd that Pickering and Grove should Assassinate his Majesty by Shooting or other means for which the latter should have 1500 l. and the former Thirty thousand Masses which at 12 d. a Mass amounted much what to the same sum This resolve was in his hearing Communicated to Mr. Coleman at Wild-House who did approve thereof and said it was well contriv'd 3. That in August 78. Mr. Coleman was present at a Consult with the Jesuits and Benedictine Monks in the Savoy for raising a pag. 23. Rebellion in Ireland and was very forward to have Dr. Fogarthy sent thither to dispatch the Duke of Ormond by
said Plea contained which may any way give this Honourable House any occasion of Offence which he hopes will be granted The said Lord as to that part of the Impeachment that contains the matter following Namely That for divers Years last past there hath been contrived and carried on by the Papists a most Traiterous and Execrable Conspiracy and Plot within this Kingdom of England and other places to alter change and subvert the Ancient Government and Laws of this Kingdom and Nation and to suppress the true Religion therein Established and to extirpate and destroy the Professors thereof and that the said Plot and Conspiracy was contrived and carried on in divers places and by several ways and means by a great number of Persons of several Qualities and Degrees who acted therein and intended thereby to execute and accomplish their aforesaid Wicked and Traiterous Designs and Purposes That the said William Lord Petre and other Lords therein named together with several other Persons threin likewise named and mentioned as false Traitors to his Majesty and this Kingdom within the time aforesaid have Traiterously acted and consulted to and for the accomplishing the said Wicked Pernicious and Traiterous Designs and for that end did most wickedly and Traiterously Agree Consult Conspire and Resolve to Imprison Depose and Murther his Sacred Majesty and to deprive him of his Royal Estate Crown and Dignity and by malicious and advised speaking and otherwise declaring such their purposes and intentions as also to Subject this Kingdom and Nation to the Pope and his Tyrannical Government and to seize and share among themselves the Estates and Inheritances of his Majestie 's Protestant Subjects and to erect and restore Abbies Monasteries and other Convents and Societies which have been long since by the Laws of this Kingdom suppressed for their Superstition and Idolatry and to deliver up and restore to them the Lands and Possessions now Vested in his Majesty and his Subjects by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm and also to Found and Erect new Monasteries and Convents and remove and deprive all Protestant Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Persons from their Livings Benefices and Preferments and by this means to destroy his Majesties Person extirpate the Protestant Religion overthrow the Rights Liberties and Properties of all his Majesties good Subjects Subvert the lawful Government of this Kingdom and Subject the same to the Tyranny of the See of Rome And the said Conspirators and their Complices and Confederates Traiterously had and held several Meetings Assemblies and Consultations wherein 't was contrived and designed amongst them what means should be used and the Persons and Instruments which should be imployed to Murther his Majesty and did then and there resolve to effect it by Poisoning Shooting Stabbing or some such like ways or means And to that part of the Impeachment named The better to compass their Traiterous Designs have consulted to raise Money Men Horses Arms and Ammunition The said Lord saving to himself and which he humbly prays may be reserved to him the liberty of Answering over and denying all and singular the said Crimes and Offences charged on him Saith And humbly offereth to this Honourable House that the charge of those Crimes and Offences so imposed on him by the said Impeachment are so general and uncertain that he cannot possibly give any direct Answer thereto or make any just or lawful defence upon his Tryal for that the said Charge had no manner of certainty in point of time it being laid only for many Years now last past which may be for 5 10 20 30 or more Years whereby though the said Lord knoweth himself to be altogether innocent of any such horrid and detestable Crimes as by the said Impeachment are objected against him Yet 't is impossible for him on any Tryal thereof to be prepared with his just and lawful defence by Witnesses to prove himself absent or in any other place at the time of such Meetings or Consultations to or for any of the wicked Designs and Purposes in the said Impeachment mentioned as on his Tryal may be suddenly objected against him when he cannot by any care or foresight whatever have such Witnesses ready as would speak thereunto if they were certainly charged for any Traiterous Design Act or Crime at any time certainly alleadged in the said Impeachment Nor is the said Charge in the said Impeachment more certain as to the place of any such Traiterous Meeting or Consultation laid down in the said Impeachment it being only alledged to be at divers places in this Realm of England and elsewhere which for the Cause aforesaid is so utterly uncertain that it deprives the said Lord of his defence on his Tryal Likewise the uncertainties of the number of Meetings or Consultations to the wicked purposes in the Impeachment and the not shewing how many times the Lords met and consulted and with whom in particular doth likewise deprive him of all possibility of making his defence in producing Witnesses for the said Lord being wholy innocent cannot suppose or imagin what Meeting or Consultation either to raise Money or Men for carrying on of a Traiterous Design or to any other wicked intent or purpose in the said Impeachment mentioned shall or may be objected against him on his Tryal and 't is as impossible for him to bring Witnesses to prove all the Meetings he hath had with others in his life time as 't is for him to foresee on this general Charge what Meetings or Consultations may on his Tryal be objected against him as Traiterous Consultations And whereas 't is in the said Impeachment charged on the said Lord That he hath uttered Treason by malicious and advised speaking and otherwise declaring the same The said Lord saith That never any Traiterous Thoughts entered into his Heart and therefore cannot possibly know what words or writings he ever spoke uttered reveal'd or declared which are now charged on him as Treason their being no words or writings at all specified in the Impeachment whereby the said Lord might know how to prepare his defence against them So as this Honourable Court may or might judg whether the same words or writings are in truth Treasonable or not ALL WHICH incertainties and eminent and apparent Dangers of the said Lord being there-upon surprized in a Cause of this Consequence wherein his Life and Honour more dear to him than his Life and all else that is dear to him in this World are immediately concerned being seriously weighed and considered by your Lordships he humbly prayeth as by his Councel he is advised that your Lordships will not put him to Answer the said Impeachment herein above recited till the same be reduced to such compleat certainty that the said Lord may know how to Answer thereunto and may thereby be enabled to make his just defence accordingly ALL WHICH notwithstanding he humbly submitteth to whatsoever your Lordships in Justice shall order and think fit and as
the revolution of humane Affairs grew more formidable these subtle Steers-men who know how to catch every wind presently shifted their Sails varied their Course though still bound for the same Port viz. The advancing of the Roman Churches power and abandoning those old useless Patrons embark their hopes in the Designs of France thinking though we trust in vain that King may ere long give Laws to all these parts of the World Thus are we threatned with a double Intertwisted Tyranny by the one in Temporals by the other in Spirituals and at the same time a Cursed Design by their Confederate Councils is carried on to enslave both the Bodies and Souls of all the Christians in Europe SECT 3. England and Holland having with fierce and tedious Wars on what grounds and by what Counsels occasioned is not unknown profusely wasted each others Blood and Treasures and the latter being reduced to so low an Ebb that had not providence strangely put an hook into the nostrils of Leviathan at Vtrecht that Republick had been quite subjugated and over-run The same French and Jesuitical Incendiaries in the next place engage the three grand Protestant Princes of the North Sweden Denmark and Brandenburgh likewise in bloody Wars with each other that the Protestant Religion may every where be pluckt down with their own hands and owe its ruine as much to the indiscretion of its Professors as the malice of its Enemies whilst in the mean time the disturbances in Hungary are secretly fomented on one hand and the Emperour exasperated against them on the other so that the poor Souls of the Reformed Religion in those parts lamentably suffer under a two-fold Injustice the ignominy of Rebellion and Cruelty of Persecution Thus was there not a Protestant Kingdom State or Interest in the World besides Geneva and a few Cantons of Switzer-land who likewise have felt not a few drops of the storm but had since the year 70. been most considerably weakned whilst France the present Hector of the Papacy hath so mightily encreased in strength and reputation So that in this respect if ever Rome would re-gain its lost grandeur and entirely Extirpate Heresie as they call it now was the time SECT 4. But then besides these Forreign advantages if we consider the several points they had gain'd at home in England we shall find them much facilitating the work The countenance of two Roman Catholick Queens for divers years and an opinion of the Papists Loyalty Services and Sufferings for King Charles the First which they were never wanting to commemorate and represent through false Opticks to render them more great and obliging though in themselves little or nothing or worse than nothing as before we have proved gave them free Access and welcome at Court as their plausible behaviour and fair pretences large Estates and insinuating Arts gave them reputation in the Countrey and drew over great numbers of their Dependants Tenants and Relations sway'd by Interest to their Communion and many more to a kind of Neutrality and indifference by a too general debauching of the younger Gentry with Principles of Atheism no small part of their Policy for those that were really of no Religion were very fit to comply with theirs To carry on the Intrigue multitudes of Jesuits Secular Priests and Monks of several Orders daily came over without any let or punishment and appeared almost publickly as if in Contempt of Law they car'd not who knew them to be such they said Mass up and down and had their Sermous in English frequently at their pleasure and the Popish Court-Merry-Andrew that Buffoon-Priest Father Patrick who seemed to affect Father Junipers Title of Joculator Christi Christ's Jester as their Book of Conformities p. 106. most prosanely calls him did not a little contribute to the mischief by the great interest he had obtained amongst persons of very high quality by whose influence they afterwards screw'd many of their Party into considerable Offices and places of Trust Civil and Military at Land and Sea being allowed Dispensations to go to Church receive the Sacrament or take any Test the better to colour the matter and on the contrary who ever they thought was of a spirit to oppose their Designs they procured to be turned out and disgraced with the Title of a Fanatick a Rumper or disaffected to the Government This formidable increase of Popery and Insolence of that Party was not unregarded by judicious men but lookt upon as a thing very ominous and of dangerous consequence insomuch that the then Parliament though oft-times thought remiss enough on such occasions could not but take notice of it for on Munday the 29th of April 1678. these following Reasons were agreed to be used at a Conference with the Lords concerning the dangers the Nation is in by the growth of Popery THe House of Commons taking into serious consideration the dangers arising to this Kingdom from the restless endeavours of Priests and Jesuits and other Popish Recusants to subvert the true Religion planted amongst us and to reduce us again under the Bondage of Roman Superstition and Idolatry and finding how great boldness they have assumed to themselves from the great remisness and connivance of His Majesties Officers and Ministers of Justice both Civil and Ecclesiastical whereby so many good and necessary Laws heretofore made against them have not of late times been put in any effectual execution They do therefore think it requisite to apply same remedy to this growing Evil especially at this time wherein the unity of Affections and the mutual confidence between His Majesty and his People dath so much conduce to the preservation of the whole Kingdom And because they have found by experience that all those applications they have sormerly made upon this Subject have not produced any effects answerable to their expectations they have endeavoured to discover the Causes and Grounds thereof which they conceive are principally these 1. The difficulty of convicting a Romish Priest by proving their Ordinations by Authority derived from the See of Rome which makes them more confidently to appear in publick and perform their Offices and Functions without fear of punishment II. That Justices of the Peace are discouraged because those that have been forward in executing the Laws against Papists in such Countries where they do most abound have been turned out of Commission without any apparent cause whilst others who have been Popishly inclined have been continued in Commission or put in de novo III. That in several Countries many Protestant Dissenters have been Indicted under the notion of Popish Recusants and the penalties of the Act levyed upon such Protestant Dissenters when the Papists there have been either totally or for the most part discharged IV. That the Papists do evade the penalties of the Laws by making over their Estates by secret Trusts and fraudulent Conveyances yet receiving the profits of them to their own use and benefit whereas in former times considerable Sums of
greatest hopes of Success against our Religion in the Enemies thereof the Papists are founded in the execrable Designs which they have laid against the Sacred Person and Life of your Majesty which it is not onely our Duty but our Interest with the greatest hazards to preserve and defend We have applyed our selves to the making such provision by Law as may defeat these Popish Adversaries their Abettors and Adherents of their hopes of gaining an advantage by any violent attempts against your Majesty and may utterly frustrate their expectation of Subverting the Protestant Religion thereby in time to come And further to obviate by the best means we can all wicked practices against your Majesty whilest any such Lawes are in preparation and bringing to perfection It is our resolution and we do Declare That in defence of your Majesties Person and the Protestant Religion we will stand by your Majesty with our Lives and Fortunes and shall be ready to Revenge upon the Papists any violence offered by them to your Sacred Majesty in which we have your Majesty will gratiously please to be the more assured as We our Selves are the more encouraged in that the Hearts of all your Majesties Protestant Subjects with the most sincere affection and zeal joyn with us herein But this Zeal of the House of Commons running to so high a pitch touching the Succession together with some unhappy misunderstandings arising between them and the House of Lords concerning the Tryal of the Popish Lords and Earl of Danby as shall be related in the next Chapter His Majesty to allay the same was pleased first to Prorogue and then to put a period to them by a Dissolution of that Parliament by a Proclamation dated at Windsor the 12th of July 1679. But therein graciously declaring that a New one should be called to begin and be holden on Tuesday the 7th which was afwards altered to Friday the 17th of October CHAP. XVII The Proceedings against the Popish Lords in the Tower WE have before related the Commitment of these Lords to the Tower for High Treason after which followed this Vote in the House of Commons in the old Parliament Decemb. 5th 1678. Resolved That the House do proceed by way of Impeachment of High Treason and other High Crimes and Misdemeanours against the Lord Arundel of Warder Lord Powis Lord Petre Lord Bellasis and Viscount Stafford and a Committee appointed to draw up Articles of Impeachment against them Which Vote was Communicated to the House of Lords and the several Lords Charged by several Members in these words The Commons in Parliament having received Information of divers Traiterous Practices and Designs of a great Peer of this House Henry Lord Arundel of Warder have Commanded me to Impeach the said Henry Lord Arundel of Warder of High Treason and other high Crimes and Misdemeanours They have further Commanded me to acquaint your Lordships that they will within a convenient time exhibit to your Lordships particular Articles of the Charge against him Thus standing Impeached they continued in the Tower all the Interval of Parliament and as soon as the next Parliament was settled to Business they forgot not their Lordships For March 20th 1678. it was Ordered That a Committee of Secrecy be appointed to take further Evidence and prepare Articles against the Lords in the Tower who stand Impeached of High Treason and take such further Informations as they shall receive touching the Plot in general and the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and that this Committee have power to send for Persons Papers and Records and that they sit de die in diem and the Quorum to be Three The Articles at last Exhibited were as follows Articles of Impeachment of High Treason and other high Crimes and Offences against William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis now Prisoners in the Tower THat for many Years now last past there hath been contrived and carried on a Traiterous and Execrable Conspiracy and Plot within this Kingdom of England and other places to alter change or subvert the Antient Government and Laws of this Kingdom and Nation and to suppress the true Religion therein established and to Extirpate and destroy the Professors thereof which said Plot and Conspiracy was contrived and carried on in divers places and by several ways and means and by a great number of Persons of several Qualities and Degrees who acted therein and intended to execute and accomplish the aforesaid Wicked and Traiterous Designs and Purposes That the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis together with Philip Howard commonly called Cardinal of Norfolk Thomas White aliàs Whitebread commonly called Provincial of the Jesuits in England Richard Strange late Provincial of the Jesuits in England Vincent commonly called Provincial of the Dominicans in England James Corker commonly called President of the Benedictines Sir John Warner aliàs Clare Baronet William Harcourt John Keines Nicholas Blundel Pole Edward Mico Thomas Beddingfield Bazil Langworth Charles Peters Richard Peters John Conyers Sir George Wakeman John Fenwick Dominick Kelly Fitz Gerald Evers Sir Thomas Preston William Lovel Jesuits Lord Beltamore John Carrel John Townely Richard Langhorn William Foggarty Thomas Penny Matthew Medbourn Edward Coleman William Ireland John Grove Thomas Pickering John Smith and divers others Jesuits Priests and Fryars and other persons as false Traitors to his Majesty and this Kingdom within the time aforesaid have Traiterously consulted contrived and acted to and for the accomplishing of the said wicked pernicious and Traiterous Designs and for that end did most wickedly and Traiterously agree conspire and resolve to Imprison Depose and Murther his Sacred Majesty and to deprive him of his Royal State Crown and Dignity and by malicious and advised speaking writing and otherwise declared such their Purposes and Intentions and also to subject this Kingdom and Nation to the Pope and his Tyrannical Government And to seize and share amongst themselves the Estates and Inheritances of his Majesties Protestant Subjects and to Erect and Restore Abbies Monasteries and other Convents and Societies which have been long since by the Laws of this Kingdom supprest for their Superstition and Idolatry and to deliver up and restore to them the Lands and Possessions now Invested in his Majesty and his Subjects by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm And also to Found and Erect new Monasteries and Convents and to remove and deprive all Protestant Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Persons from their Offices Benefices Preferments and by this means to destroy his Majesties Person extirpate the Protestant Religion overthrow the Rights Liberties and Properties of his Majesties good Subjects Subvert the Lawful Government of this Kingdom and subject the same to the Tyranny of the See of Rome That the said Conspirators and their Complices and Confederates Traiterously had and held several Meetings
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
by reason thereof hath so often been perpetrated or at least attempted heretofore by the Votaries of that Communion SECT 1. As for Principles of the Church of Rome relating to Government and the Obedience to be paid to Secular Princes where shall we look for them but in the Canons of her Councils the Decretals of her Popes and the publick Writings of her approved and most eminent Doctors In their great and by them acknowledged general Lateran Council held under Pope Innocent the Third in the year of our Lord 1215 it is expressly and Synodically concluded Can. 3. de Haereticis That the Pope may Depose Kings Absolve their Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance Et Terram exponere Catholicis occupandam and give away their Kingdoms to Catholicks And this is received into the Body of the Canon-Law by Pope Gregory the Ninth cap. Excommunicamus 13 Extrav de Haeret. The most famous of their School-men Thomas Aquinas l. 22. q. 12. Art 2. affirms That any man sinning by Infidelity may be adjudged to lose all right of Dominion and therefore so soon as anyone shall for disowning the Faith be judicially denounced Excommunicate ipso facto his Subjects are Absolved from his Government and from any Oath of Allegiance whereby they were bound to him Nay another of their Doctors Dominicus Bannes is yet more hasty for he will have the Subjects discharged from all Obedience even before their Prince is so solemnly pronounced an heretick His words are these Num. 22. pag. 590. Where there is evident knowledge of the Crime Heresie he means that is whatever the Pope and his Priests please to call so the Subjects may lawfully if they have strength sufficient pray mark exempt themselves from the power of their Prince even before the Sentence Declaratory And this Conclusion saith he is followed by Cajetan and is the more common opinion of the Thomists who generally approve thereof If Kings become Hereticks forthwith their Subjects are freed from their Government saith Simancha in his Catholick Institutions a Book printed with great Approbation of Superiors Titul 23. N. 11. Nay less than down-right Heresie will serve turn to out them for Tit. 45. Num. 25. he tells us If a Prince be unprofitable a Crime capable of a large extension or make unjust Laws against Religion or good manners or do any thing to the detriment of Spirituals the Pope may apply a fit Remedy even by depriving such a King of his Government and Jurisdiction Their great Oracle Cardinal Bellarmine de Rom. Pontif. lib. 5. cap. 6. avers That the Pope as chief Spiritual Prince may change Kingdoms and take them away from one to give to another if it be necessary for the salvation of Souls And in the seventh Chapter he advanceth a little further for speaking of Heretical Princes as we know all Protestants are in their sence he says Omnium Consensu possunt ac debent privari suo Dominio It is agreed by all all Roman Catholicks he means That such Princes may nay ought to be deprived of their Dominions So that it seems 't is the Popes duty as well as in his power to do it and of all Roman Catholicks not onely to approve thereof but to be assisting therein Upon this ground Suarez a First-rate Jesuit and one that was thought fit by his Party to Duâ—l the learnedest Monarch in the world in his Book against King James intituled De Fide Catholicâ— adv Angl. lib. 6. cap. 16. num 14. speaks out more fully their Doctrine We must know says he that after the Sentence Condemnatory is given against a King by lawful he means Papal Authority to deprive him of his Kingdom or which is all one when by Sentence he is declared to be guilty of such a Crime as by the Law hath such a Penalty imposed as whatever they list to count Heresie hath by their Canon-Law then he that pronounced that Sentence or he to whom it is committed may deprive such King of his Kingdoms even by Killing him if he cannot otherwise do it But then mark how scrupulous and provident they are that the Trayterous Murther be done methodically and that none but Roman Catholicks be concern'd in the sacred Butchery For thus he goes on If the Pope depose a King yet he may not be killed or expelled save onely by those to whom He shall commit the doing thereof But if he commit the doing thereof to no-body then it belongs to him that is next lawful that is Catholick Successor to the Kingdom or if there be no such Successor or he neglect to do it then the Community of the Kindom provided always it be Roman Catholick succeed in that Right viz. to Expel or Kill such Excommunicated Prince Creswel alias Philopater sect 2. num 160. declares Omnium Catholicorum Sententia c. That 't is the opinion of all Catholicks That Subjects are obliged to Depose an Heretical King Nay to drive the Nail home he there adds Num. 162. Praecepto Divino arctissimo Conscientiae vinculo ac extremo Animarum suarum Periculo Haereticos Principes debent Deturbare That by the Law of God by the most strict Bond of Conscience and at the utmost peril of their Souls they are bound to dethrone and drive out such Heretical Princes Pursuant to this Doctrine of their Teachers it appears Papists may lawfully nay are bound under pain of Damnation to Renounce Resist and Murther their Kings whenever Excommunicated or Deposed by the Pope and are not to account it any Treason to kill such a King after such Deposition For neither is He then a King nor are his people being absolv'd from their Oaths of Fidelity any longer his Subjects Nor is it Murther for their Supream and Infallible Judge Pope Vrban the Second hath clearly resolved and determined it and made it Law Non esse Homicidas qui adversus Excommunicatos Zelo Matris Ecclesiae Armantur cosâ—â— trucidant Gratian Lemma ad 47 cap. Excommunicatorum Caus 47. Quest 5. That they are not Murtherers or Manslayers who being stirred up with Zeal toward holy Mother-Church against persons Excommunicated do any way destroy them Now Simanea tells us Heretici omnes ipso Jure sunt Excommunicati de Excom tit 27. sect 1. fol. 116. Every Heretick stands and is to be reputed as Excommunicated if not de Facto yet de Jure in Law and Right and therefore may be deposed proscribed and murthered And that we may know who they mean by an Heretick Father Creswell in his said Book called Philopater thus resolves the Case Regnandi Jus amittit qui Religionem Romanam deserit Whoever forsakes or does not hold the Religion of the Church of Rome is that Heretick we speak of who is accursed and loses all Right of Dominion Furthermore by a Bull of Pope Paul the Fifth dated Anno 1558 and now inserted in the body of their Law lib. 7. Decret tit 3. de Haereticis Schism cap. 9. All Protestant Kings
of the Marquess of Hamilton who oft was employed without effect by the King to appease the Scotish Tumults held Correspondence with Con who being once askt in joque by the Informant Whether the Jews also agreed with the Samaritans the said Con answered with a wish That all Ministers were but such as he 7. That one Tho. Chamberlain was sent over from Cardinal Richlieu and for four Months held Consultations with the Society how to exasperate these Northern heats to the best advantage 8. He discovers several of the Conspirators by name as Sir Toby Matthews a Jesuit whom he represents as a most indefatigable and dangerous Traitor one Captain Read a Scotchman dwelling near the Angel-Tavern in Long-Acre in whose House the Conspirators met usually once a day and there received and read their Letters from Rome and elsewhere and returned Answers where he saith the Gang might be surprized commonly every Friday He likewise names Porter Windebank Montague the younger and several others with divers circumstances corroborating his Information and particularly advises to intercept when the Post goes out weekly a Packet directed to Monsieur Strario Arch-Deacon of Cambray and another coming weekly from Rome which is brought under this Superscription To the most Illustrions Count Rosetti Legate for the time written in Characters but interpretable by the said Read whence farther light would be obtained All this was discovered to the Ambassador under an Oath of Secresie and the most importunate Requests to the King and Arch-bishop to keep it close till the business might be ripe and to conceal whence they had these Advertisements for otherwise the Discoverer would certainly be in danger of his life from the Confederates and their Associates And it appears by the Papers that both Sir William Boswel and the Arch-bishop were fully satisfied That it was real and of great importance care being ordered to be taken privately for the sounding the depth and further circumstances of the Design but the Disturbances in Scotland and afterwards in Ireland and England coming on apace branches of the same Treason being all assisted and fomented if not as most of them originally contrived by those Popish Incendiaries though disguised in other Factions 't is probable they might divert or forbear that part of the Poisoning the King and Bishop to attend the event of the other more general Plot of ruining these Nations which they saw then so hopefully advanced that they might conclude without haâ—arding themselves in the odium there were enough other Ill-spirits which they had conjured up â—eady to do that execrable work for them another way However the Original Papers of the Discovery and Letters relating thereto being kept by the Archbishop were when his Study was ransackt â—ound amongst his Writings and then Published and now lately Re-printed by Authority under the Title of The grand Designs of the Papists in the time of King Charles the First worthy the perusal of such as would be farther satisfied SECT 3. Next followed the horrid Butcheries in Ireland beginning 23 Oct. 1641. concerning which however some of the spawn of the barbarous Actors in that cursed Tragedy or others their Relations or Accomplices of the Roman brood would now palliate and excuse it yet nothing is more known to all the world than that it was an open direct and most Traiterous Rebellion on the score of their cursed bloody Religion against their lawful and most gracious Prince designing to usurp the whole Government into their own hands root out the English Nation and the Protestant Name and which was the main end of all establish Popery in that Kingdom as is testified upon Oath by several persons examined and their Depositions published by the Kings Warrant all this begun and continued by Papists Onely not one Protestant amongst them But the Pope himself the Head of their Church in the person of his Nuncio Rinuceini Generalissimo of all their Forces by Land and Sea and all the Tribes of his Ecclesiasticks contributing all Assistance and Encouragement imaginable thereunto proceeding with that Inhumanity that above one hundred thousand innocent Protestants were by them basely in cool blood and with exquisite Torments and un-heard 〈◊〉 Cruelties Murthered and otherwise destroyed And which was even yet worse than that to shew their malice as well as disobodience to his said Majesty with equal impudence and falshood they pretended that it was done by his Commission and vouched the Broad Seal for their Authority purposely to enrage his Protestant Subjects in England and elsewhere against him The Popes Nuncio assuming nevertheless and exercising there the Temporal as well as Spiritual power granting out Commissions in his own name breaking the Treaties of Peace between the King and as they then stiled themselves the Confederate Catholicks heading two Armies against the then Marquess now Duke of Ormond then Lord Lieutenant and forcing him at last to quit the Kingdom all which ended in the Ruine of His Majesties Government and Person which but upon occasion of that Rebellion could never have happened And was not all this a prodigious demonstration of their Obedience and Loyalty to King Charles the First and the Crown of England It was constantly observed that the lower and more unfortunate the King was in his Successes in England the higher were the demands of the Irish so that they used all their Treaties as Stratagems to trepan not to serve His Majesty In the year 1643. when a Cessation was concluded with them by the Kings Authority and both English and Irish engaged by Articles to transport their Armies to England for His Majesties Service the Irish onely pretended they would do it when the English were gone and then treacherously â—yet according to one of their old rules Nulla fiâ—â—es servanda cum Haereticis they plotted and attempted the ruine of the small remnant of English â—eft behind in Munster where the Lord Inchiquin Commanding by the Kings Commission and the English with him were necessitated to stand on their own defence against the Popish Army In 45. the said Confederate Catholicks having engaged their publick Faith to send 10000 men to serve His Majesty delayed neglected and failed â—herein to the great dis-service of His Majesty Did they not in 46. after a Peace concluded with them treacherously attempt to cut off the Lord Lieutenant and his Army who marched out of Dublin on security and confidence of that Peace did they not in 47 employ Commissioners to Rome France and Spain to invite a Forreign power into Ireland in the 9th Article of whose Instructions to be seen in my Lord Orrerey's Answer to P. W. they were ordered to make Application to his Holiness for his being Lord Protector of Ireland so that they were beforehand with the Phanaticks in England with the Title and if he should refuse then to offer the same to either of the Kings of France or Spain nay to any Popish Prince from whom to use their own words they might have
most Christian Majesties Interest secured with us in England beyond all apprehensions whatsoever We have two great designs this Sessioâ—â— to put the Fleet in his R. H's Care and to get an Act for general Liberty of Conscience If we carry on these two or either of them we shall in effect do what we list afterwards And if his most Christian Majesty would but help us with 20000 l. I would be content to be Sacrific'd to the utmost Malice of my Enemies if I did not succeed And then he speaks out presently afterwards for what end this design is and why he presses it so earnestly Because saith he in the same place our prevailing in these things would give the greatest Blow to the Protestant Religion here that ever it received sâ—nce its Birtâ— He draws to a Conclusion with these words p. 55. I have shewn you the present State of the Case which may by Gods Providence and good Conduct by made of such advantage to Goods Church that I can searce believe my self awake or the thing real when I think on a Prince in such an Age as we live in Converted to such a Degree of Zeal as not to regard any thing in the World in comparison of God Almighty's glory the Salvation of his own Soul and the Conversion of our poor Kingdom which has been a long time opprest and miserably harrast with Heresic and Schism These passages need no Comment to shew what he would be at in all these urgent Solicitations for Foreign Assistance viz. To Dissolve or Influence our Parliaments at his pleasure so as may most make for the French Interest and that of Popery to Convert our Nation from its present Heresie that is to give the fatal Blow to Protestantism An Answer to this Letter from Le Chese was read next dated the 23. of Octob. 1675. wherein he promises Mr. Coleman to assist in seconding his good intentions c. Then was read a Declaration which Mr. Coleman looking it seems upon himself already as establish'd in his Office of Secretariship had drawn up in the Name of the King for as he would have the Parliament Dissolv'd so this was to satisfie the People and give Reasons for its Dissolution promising to call another charging all persons to forbear talking Irreverently of the proceedings of his Majesty there and offering 20 l. to the discoverer of any Seditious Talker against it unto a principal Secretary whereof he counted himself one as aforesaid There was likewise produced and read a Letter written in the Name and Stile of the Duke of Y. to Monsieur Le Chese declaring that the Interest of the French King and those of his Royal H. were so clearly linkt together that those that opposed the one should be lookt upon as Enemies to the other That Propositions had been made to the French King that had regard to the Catholick Religion and to the use of his Purse and refers a further Account to be had from Throckmorton and Coleman who he says are firm to his Interest and may be treated with without any apprehension 'T is true upon a Committee of Lords going to Newgate and Examining Mr. Coleman touching this Letter he confessed That it was prepared without the Order or Privity of the Duke and that when he was so bold as to shew it to him the Duke was very angry and rejected it But it seems his displeasure did not long continue for Coleman remained still a Favourite and certainly had he not made some extraordinary Apology for such an Insolence as Counterfeiting a Letter in his Masters Name he must have lost his Royal Highnesses favour for ever But that which gave the most clear Light to his designs was a Letter to Le Chese without date but appearing to be written soon after his long Letter of the 29th of Septemb. wherein after his apprehensions of the approaching Session of Parliament and care taken for a Cipher and secret writing besides with juice of Lemon because their Correspondence would be of things not fit to be trusted even to a Cipher alone He hath these words We have here a mighty work upon our hands no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms p. 69. and by that perhaps the utter subduing a Pestilent Heresie which has domineer'd a long time over great part of this Northern World There were never such hopes of success since the death of our Queen Mary as now in our days when God has given us a Prince who is become may I say a Miracle Zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so Glorious a work But the opposition we are sure to meet with is also like to be great so that it imports us to get all the aid and assistance we can For the Herbest is great and the Labourers but few That which we relie upon most next to God Almighty's Providence and the favour of my Master the Duke is the mighty mind of his most Christian Majesty whose generous soul inclines him to great undertakings so as I hope you will pardon me if I be very troublesome to you upon this occasion from whom I expect the greatest help we can hope for I must confess I think his Christian Majesties Temporal Interest is so much attracted to that of his R. H. which can never be considerable but upon the growth and advancement of the Catholick Religion That his Ministers cannot give him better Advice even in a politick sense abstracting from the considerations of the next world than that of our Blessed Lord To seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof that all other things may be added unto him Yet I know his most Christian Majesty has more powerful motives suggested to him by his own Devotion and your Reverences Zeal for Gods Glory to engage him to afford us the best help he can in our present Circumstances c. Scarce could any words more significantly express the whole Intrigue of the Plot For 1. Here is the immediate End they aim at The Conversion of these three Kingdoms that is destroying the Religion Establish'd and introducing Popery 2. Here is their main and ultimate scope that by thus reducing these Nations they may root out Protestant Religion throughout the world and by that perhaps the utter Subduing c. 3. Their Malice is shown by calling the Protestant Religion A Pestilent Heresie 4. The favourable Conjuncture for them Never such hopes of success since Queen Maries days whom for her good Bloody Services for the Roman Church he cannot mention without an endearing and appropriating title Our Queen Mary 5. The reason for such their confident hopes because they have Seduced his R. H. and made him Zealous for doing their drudgery 6. That they expect great Opposition but resolve to meet it so that of necessity here must War Blood-shed and Desolation ensue before they could accomplish this their mighty work 7. The means whereby they hope to over-bear this opposition and
to all other Treasons Crimes and Offences contained mentioned or specified in the said Impeachment the said Lord protesting his Innocency In the great Wisdom and Sentence of this Honourable Court shall always Acquiesce So the Rest Mutatis Mutandis But these Pleas being Judg'd unsatisfactory and illegal they were afterwards forc'd to plead the general Issue And now there were daily expectations of their being brought to Tryal and Scaffolds erected in Westminster-Hall for that purpose but in the mean time the Earl of Danby late Lord Treasurer whom the Commons had likewise Impeach'd for Treason and who had for some time absconded himself did on the 15th of April unexspectedly surrender himself and insisted on his Pardon which the Commons Voted Illegal and thereupon prayed Judgment against him on the Impeachment About this matter and also upon the Question whether the Bishops had a right to sit upon the Lords when they should be brought to Tryal some misunderstandings happened between the two Houses for removing of which and settling a good Correspondence the House of Commons used several Endeavours as by the following Paper may appear THE Reasons and Narrative OF Proceedings BETWIXT THE Two Houses WHICH Were delivered by the House of COMMONS TO THE LORDS At the Conference touching the Lords in the Tower On Munday 26th of May 1679. THE Commons have always desired that a good Correspondence may be preserved between the two Houses There is now depending between your Lordships and the Commons a matter of the greatest weight In the Transactions of which your Lordships seem to apprehend some difficulty in the matters proposed by the Commons To clear this the Commons have desired this Conference and by it they hope to manifest to your Lordships that the Propositions of the House made by their Committee in relation to the Tryal of the Lords in the Tower have been only such as are well warranted by the Laws of the Parliament and Constitutions of the Government and in no sort intrench upon the Judicature of the Peers but are most necessary to be insisted upon that the Antient Rights of Judicature in Parliament may be maintained The Commons readily acknowledg that the Crimes charged upon the Earl of Powis Viscount Stafford Lord Petre Lord Arundel of Warder and Lord Bellasis are of deep Guilt and call for speedy Justice But withall they hold That any change in Judicature in Parliament made without consent in full Parliament to be of pernicious Consequence both to his Majesty and his Subjects and conceive themselves obliged to transmit to their Posterity all the Rights which of this kind they have received from their Ancestors by putting your Lordships in mind of the progress that hath already been between the two Houses in relation to the Propositions made by the Commons and the Reasonableness of the Propositions themselves They doubt not but to make it appear that their aim has been no other than to avoid such Consequences and preserve that Right and that there is no delay of Justice on their part And to that end do offer to your Lordships the ensuing Reasons and Narrative That the Commons in bringing the Earl of Danby to Justice and in discovery of that Execrable and Traiterous Conspiracy of which the Five Popish Lords now stand Impeached and for which some of their wicked Accomplices have already undergone the Sentence of the Law as Traytors and Murtherers have laboured under many great Difficulties is not unknown to your Lordships Nor is it less known to your Lordships That upon the Impeachment of the House of Commons against the Earl of Danby for High Treason and other High Crimes Misdemenours and Offences even the Common Justice of Sequestring him from Parliament and forthwith Committing him to safe Custody was then required by the Commons and denied by the House of Peers though he then Sate in their House Of which your Lordships have been so sensible that at a free Conference the Tenth of April last your Lordships declared That it was the Right of the Commons and well Warranted by Precedents of former Ages That upon an Impeachment of the Commons a Peer so Impeached ought of Right to be Ordered to with-draw and then to be committed And had not that Justice been denied to the Commons great part of this Session of Parliament which hath been spent in framing and adjusting a Bill for causing the Earl of Danby to appear and Answer that Justice from which he was fled had been saved and had been imployed for the Preservation of his Majesties Person and the security of the Nation and in Prosecution of the other Five Lords Neither had he had the Opportunity for procuring for himself that illegal Pardon which bears date the First of March last past and which he hath now pleaded in Bar of his Impeachment Nor of wasting so great a proportion of the Treasure of the Kingdom as he hath done since the Commons exhibited their Articles of Impeachment against him After which time thus lost by reason of the denyal of that Justice which of Right belonged to the Commons upon their Impeachment the said Bill being ready for the Royal Assent the said Earl then rendred himself and by your Lordships Order of the Sixteenth of April last was Committed to the Tower After which he pleads the said Pardon and being prest did at length declare He would relie upon and abide by that Plea which Pardon pleaded being illegal and void and so ought not to Bar or Preclude the Commons from having Justice upon the Impeachment They did thereupon with their Speaker on the Fifth of May instant in the name of themselves and all the Commons of England Demand Judgment against the said Earl upon their Impeachment Not doubting but that your Lordships did intend in all your Proceedings upon the Impeachment to follow the usual Course and Method of Parliament But the Commons were not a little surprized by the Message from your Lordships delivered them on the Seventh of May thereby acquainting them That as well the Lords Spiritual as Temporal had Ordered that the Tenth of May instant should be the day for hearing the Earl of Danby to make good his Plea of Pardon And that on the Thirteenth of May the other Five Lords Impeached should be brought to their Tryal And that your Lordships had Addressed to his Majesty for naming a Lord High Steward as well in the Case of the Earl of Danby as the other Five Lords Upon consideration of this Message the Commons found that the admitting the Lords Spiritual to exercise Jurisdiction in these Cases was an alteration of the Judicature in Parliament and which extended as well to the Proceeding against the other Five Lords as the Earl of Danby And if a Lord High-Steward should be necessary upon Tryal on Impeachments of the Commons the Power of Judicature in Parliament upon Impeachments might be Defeated by suspending or denying a Commission to constitute a Lord High-Steward And that the
says The King the House of Lords and the House of Commons have each particular Privileges And among those which belong to the King he reckons Power of Pardoning After the enumerateing of which and other his Prerogatives His said Majesty adds thus Again That the Prince may not make use of this high and perpetual Power to the hurt of those for whose good he hath it and make use of the name of publick necessity for the gain of his private Favourites and Followers to the detriment of his People The House of Commons an excellent Conserver of Liberty c. is solely intrusted with the first Propositions concerning the Levies of Money and the Impeaching of those who for their own ends though countenanced by any surreptitiously-gotten Command of the King have violated that Law which he is bound when he knows it to protect and to the protection of which they were bound to advise him at least not to serve him in the contrary And the Lords being Trusted with a Judicatory Power are an excellent Screen and Bank between the Prince and People to assist each against any encroachments of the other and by just Judgments to preserve that Law which ought to be the Rule of every one of the three c. Therefore the Power legally placed in both Houses is more then sufficient to prevent and restrain the power of Tyranny c. IV. Until the Commons of England have Right done them against this Plea of Pardon they may justly apprehend that the whole Justice of the Kingdom in the Case of the Five Lords may be obstructed and defeated by Pardons of like nature V. An Impeachment is virtually the Voice of every particular Subject of this Kingdom crying out against an Oppression by which every Member of that Body is equally wounded And it will prove a Matter of ill Consequence that the universality of the People should have occasion ministred and continued to them to be apprehensive of utmost danger from the Crown from whence they of right expect Protection VI. The Commons Exhibited Articles of Impeachment against the said Earl before any against the Five other Lords and demanded Judgment upon those Articles Whereupon your Lordships having appointed the Tryal of the said Earl before that of the other Five Lords now your Lordships having since inverted that Order gives a great cause of doubt to the House of Commons and raises a Jealousie in the Hearts of all the Commons of England that if they should proceed to the Tryal of the said Five Lords in the first place not only Justice will be obstructed in the Case of those Lords but that they shall never have right done them in the matter of this Plea of Pardon which is of so fatal Consequence to the whole Kingdom and a new device to frustrate publick Justice in Parliament Which Reasons and Matters being duly weighed by your Lordships the Commons doubt not but your Lordships will receive satisfaction concerning their Propositions and Proceedings And will agree That the Commons ought not nor can without deserting their Trust depart from their former Vote communicated to your Lordships That the Lords Spiritual ought not to have any Vote in any Proceedings against the Lords in the Tower and when that Matter shall be settled and the Methods of Proceedings adjusted the Commons shall then be ready to proceed upon the Tryal of the Earl of Danby against whom they have already demanded Judgment and afterwards to the Tryal of the other Five Lords in the Tower May 27th 1679. The Narrative and Reasons delivered at the Conference Yesterday with the House of Commons were again read and after a long Debate the Vote of this House dated the 13th of May instant and the explanation thereupon dated the 14th instant were read and the Question was put Whether to insist upon these Votes concerning the Lords Spiritual and it was resolved in the Affirmative But there were present These Dissenters Buckingham Huntington Kent Shaftsbury PR Bedford Winchester Rochester North and Grey Suffolke J. Lovelace Townsend Herbert Gray Stamford Newport Say and Seal L. Wharton Leicester Scarsdale Stafford Derby Delamer Howard Paget Clare Salisbury Falconberg Windsor CHAP. XVIII The Proceedings against Whitebread and the other Four Jesuits ON Friday the 13th of June 1679 was the grand Tryal of Five notorious Jesuits viz. Thomas White aliàs Whitebread Provincial or cheif of the Jesuits in England a comely antient man of a very grave deportment both at his Tryal and Execution William Harcourt pretended Rector of London who 't is thought after the first discovery of the Plot had been beyond the Seas and had the confidence to return hither again where being apprehended in his Lodging near long Acre he was by the Lords and Commons Committed to Newgate on the 8th of May last John Fenwick Procurator of the Jesuits in England John Gavan aliàs Gawen and Anthony Turner Committed first to the Gate-house and thence brought to Newgate There was at the same time Arraigned one James Corker a Benedictine Monk but he pretending he had not his Witnesses ready was put off and happy it was for him who since was acquitted with Wakeman whereas if he had then been tryed 't is most probable it would have prov'd as Fatal to him as the rest Whitebread and Fenwick pleaded that they were tryed before for the same Fact but the Court answer'd That though they were indeed once Arraign'd yet the Jury was discharg'd of them and they not then in any Jeopardy of their Lives and therefore must plead to this Indictment Then the Prisoner made a general Challenge That none should be of their Jury that were of any of the former Juries concerning the Plot Those now sworn were Thomas Harriot William Gulston Allen Garraway Richard Cheney John Roberts Thomas Cash Rainsford Waterhouse Matthew Bateman John Kaine Richard White Richard Bull. Thomas Cox The Proofs were long and consisting in divers particulars As 1. Dr. Oats Swears That the Consult of the 24th of April was by the Order of Whitebread the Prisoner at the See the Tryal of Whitebread c. P. 12. Bar as Provincial and that then the said Whitebread and Fenwick and Harcourt and Turner did all in his presence Sign the Resolve for the King's death 2. That Whitebread after his return back again to St. Omers did say That he hoped to see the King's Head laid fast enough only he had not the manners to give him the Title of King but shew'd his spight by calling his Majesty opprobriously These are those that speak evil of Dignities 3. That in July Ashby alias Timbleby brought over Instructions from Whitebread P. 13. to offer Sir George Wakeman 10000 l. to poyson the King and also a Commission to Sir John Gage to be an Officer in the Army which they design'd to raise which the Witness himself delivered to him the said Sir John 4. That Turner was at the Consult and at Fenwick's Chamber he saw him
signe the Resolve for the King's Death 5. That as for Gavan alias Gawen though he could not positively say he saw him at the Consult yet he saw his hand subscribed to it and makes it out how he knows it to be his hand And that he in July 78. gave P. 15. them in London an account how prosperous their affairs were in Staffordshire and Shropshire that the Lord Stafford was very diligent and that there was two or three Thousand Pound ready there to carry on the Designe And that some time in July homet the said Gawen at Ireland's Chamber where in his presence he gave Father Ireland the same account as before he had written The next Witness was Mr. Dugdale that never gave Evidence before at any of their Tryals who had no knowledge of either Mr. Oates or Mr. 〈◊〉 when he first came in and so could not conspire with them to charge the very same persons as they had done He swears 1. Against Whitebread That he saw a Letter under his hand and tells you how he knew it to be his to Father Ewers a Jesuit and the said Mr. Dugdale's Confessor in which he ordered him to be sure to chuse men that were hardy and trusty no matter whether they were Gentlemen p. 22. and p. 29. he swears it again and what they were to do that the words under his hand were in express terms For Killing the King 2. Against Gawen he swears directly that he entertain'd him the said Mr. Dugdale to be of the Conspiracy to Murther the King as one of those resolute Fellows prescribed by Whitebread and that they had several Consultations in the Countrey at several places which he names for Murdering of the King and bringing in Popery as at Boscobel and at Tixal in Sept. 1678. And that he heard them discourse at one of these Consults that it was the opinion of the Monks at Paris who were concern'd in the Conspiracy and were to assist That assoon as the Deed was done that is the Killing of the King they should lay it on the Presbyterians thereby to provoke the other Protestants to cut their P. 25. Throats and then they might the more easily cut theirs And p. 26. That he hath intercepted and read for all their Letters in those Parts came under his Cover above 100 Letters to the same purpose all tending to the Introducing of Popery and Killing the King which being without any Names only directed to Mr. Dugdale and to be delivered by marks known to Father Ewers if they had been intercepted by the way only Dugdale could have been called in question for it 3. That himself was so zealous in the Cause that he had given them 400 l. for carrying on this Design which Gavan had made him believe was not only lawful but meritorious and that he was to be sent up to London by Harcourt there to be instructed for Killing the P. 23. King 4. That the same Harcourt whose hand the Witness well knows did write word of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's being Murthered that very Night it was done to Father Ewers so that they knew of it in Staffordshire several days before any except those privy to the Murder at London knew what was become of him And to confirm his Testimony herein he produceth Mr. Chetwin a Person of Quality who swears That he did hear it then reported as from Dugdale and that he was not in Town when the Murderers of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey were Tryed or else he would then have witnessed the same 5. Against Turner he positively swears That he saw him with others at Ewers's Chamber where they consulted together to carry on this Design and that he agreed to the Plot that is bringing in of Popery by Killing the King Then Mr. Prance gave Evidence 1. Against Harcourt That such a day when he paid him for an Image of the P. 30. Virgin Mary to send into Maryland he told the Witness that there was a Design of Killing the King 2. Against Fenwick That he told him in Ireland's Chamber Ireland and Grove being by that there should be 50000 Men P. 31. in Arms in a readiness to settle their Religion and that they should be commanded by the Lords Beliasts Powis and Arundel Lastly Mr. Bedloe was sworn who first gives a satisfactory account why he did not before give in his Evidence against Whitebread and Fenwick because he was then finding out the Bribery and Subornation of Reading in behalf of the Lords in the Tower but now he positively swears 1. That he hath seen both Whitebread and Fenwick at several Consults about this Plot and that he heard Whitebread at Harcourt's Chamber tell Coleman the manner of the sending the four Russians to Windsor to kill the King 2. That he saw Harcourt take out of a Cabinet about 80 or 100 l. and give it to a Messenger to be carried to the said Russians P. 32. with a Guiney to drink Mr. Coleman's health 3. That Whitebread told him That Pickering was to have a great number of Masses and Grove 1500 l. for killing the King P. 33. 4. That Harcourt employed him several times to carry their Consults beyond the Seas and that he received in Harcourt's presence Mr. Coleman's thanks for his Fidelity and P. 35. that Harcourt recommended him to the Lord Arundel who promised him great favour when the times were turned Also that he saw Harcourt give Wakeman a Bill to receive 2000 l. in part of a greater sum and heard Sir George say 15000 l. was a small Reward for the settling Religion and preserving three Kingdomes from Ruine Thus we see there is the positive Testimony of three viz. Dr. Oates Mr. Dugdale and Mr. Bedloe against Whitebread Of three quite blank against Fenwick viz. Oates Bedloe and Prance And against Harcourt four very fully Oates Dugdale Bedloe and Prance Against Gavan there is positively Dugdale's and Oates's and the same directly against Turner Whereby the matter of Fact is plainly proved and the Evidence full and legal against them all There was also the before-mentioned Letter read found amongst Harcourt's Papers which did much fortifie the Evidence as to the certainty and nature of the Consult of the 24th of April It was written from one Petre a Jesuit to another of their Society to let him know there was to be a Consult on the said 24th of April in which were these words Every one is minded also not to hasten to London long before the time appointed nor to appear much about the Town till the meeting be over lest occasion should be given to suspect the Design Finally Secrecy as to the Time and Place is much recommended to all those that receive Summons as it will appear of its own nature necessary Now as to what the Prisoners had to say against all this it was well observed by the Lord Chief-Justice p. 89. That they defend their Lives as they do their Religion with