Petition into the House of Lords wherein he set forth that he was then attending their Lordships according to Order and expected to have met the Council assign'd him by their Lordships but that he had receiv'd a Message from every one of them that they durst not appear to argue for him by reason of a Vote which the house pass'd yesterday Who thereupon order'd that the Petition should be communicated to the House at the next Conference to know of them whether any such Vote were by them made or no. But here arose a new debate concerning the Bishops which much entangled the interest of the Earl of Danby and the other five Lords in the Tower in reference to their Tryals for the Commons would not prosecute the latter before the first nor the first before such and such things were concluded So that it will be necessary to relate the proceedings of both Houses against the Lords which at length happen'd to be the occasion that neither the one nor the other came to their Tryals as was expected The House having pass'd five resolves for the Impeaching Henry Lord Arundell of Warder William Earl of Pomis John Lord Bellasis William Viscount Stafford and William Lord Peter of Treason and several other Misdemeanors the same day five several Impeachments were accordingly carried up to the Lords but they did not desire they should be sequester'd from Parliament and committed to custody because they were at the same time under restraint in the Tower The Impeachments were first in general That for many years last past there had been contriv'd carried on a trayterous execrable Conspiracy and Plot within this Kingdom of England other places to alter change and subvert the ancient Government Laws of this Kingdom Nation to suppress the true religion therein establish'd to extirpate destroy the professors thereof which said Plot and Conspiracie 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 five Lords together with Philip Howard commonly called Cardinal of Norfolk and divers others Jesuits Priests and Friers and other Persons as false Traitors to his Majesty and this Kingdom within the time aforesaid had traiterously consulted contriv'd 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 to deprive him of his Royal State Crown and Dignity and by malicious and unadvised Speaking Writing and otherwise declared such their purposes and intentions To subject this Kingdom and Nation to the Pope and his Tyrannical Government To seize and share among themselves the Estates of his Majesties Protestant Subjects To erect and restore Abbeys Monasteries and other Convents and Societies which have been long since by the Laws of this Kingdom supprest for their Superstition and Idolatry 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 That the said Conspirators their Accomplices and Confederates had and held several Meetings Assemblies and Consultations wherein it was contriv'd and design'd among them what means should be used and what Persons and Instruments imployed to murder his Majesty and did then and there resolve to effect it by Poysoning Shooting Stobbing or some such like ways and means offer'd rewards and promises of advantage to several Persons to execute the same and hir'd and employed several wicked Persons to Windsor and other places where his Majesty did reside to destroy and murther his Majesty which said Persons accepted such rewards and undertook the perpetrating thereof and did actually go to the said places for that end and purpose That the said Conspirators had procur'd accepted and deliver'd out several Instruments Commissions and Powers made and granted by or under the Pope or other unlawful and usurping Authority to raise Mony Men and Arms and other things necessary for their wicked and traiterous Designs namely to the said Henry Lord Arundel of Warder to be Lord High Chancellor of England to the said William Lord Powis to be Lord Treasurer of England to the Lord Bellasis to be General to the Lord Petre to be Lieutenant General to the Lord 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 and Confederates aforesaid did cause their Priests to administer an Oath of Secrecy together with the Sacrament and upon Confessions to give them Absolutions upon condition that they did conceal the Conspiracy That the better to compass their traiterous Designs they had consulted to raise and had procur'd and rais'd Men Money Horse Arms and Ammunitions and had made applications to and treated and corresponded with the Pope his Cardinals Nuncio's and Agents and with other forreign Ministers and Persons to raise tumults within the Kingdom and invade the same with forraign Forces to surprize seize and destroy his Majesties Navy Forts Magazines and Places of Strength to the ruine and destruction of the Nation That when Sir Edmund-Bury 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 the advice councel and instigation of the rest did incite and procure divers persons to lye in wait and pursue the said Sir Edmund-Bury several days with intent to Murder him which at last was prepetrated and effected by them That after the said Murther and before the body was found or the Murther known to any but the Accomplices the said Persons falsly gave out that he was a-live 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 a design to stifle and suppress the Evidence he had taken and had knowledge of and to discourage and deter Magistrates and others from acting in the farther discovery of the said Plot and Conspiracy That of their farther malice they had wickedly continued by many false suggestions to lay the guilt and imputation of the aforesaid Horrid and Detestable Crimes upon the Protestants that so they might escape the punishments they had justly merited and expose the Protestants to great scandal and subject them to Persecution and Oppression in all Kingdoms and Countries where the Roman Religion is receiv'd and professed All which Treasons Crimes and Offences were contriv'd committed perpetrated acted and done by the said Lords and every of them and others the Conspirators against our Soveraign
Lord the King his Crown and Dignity and against the Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom Of all which Treasons Crimes and Offences the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled did 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 saving to themselves the Liberty of Exhibiting at any time hereafter against other Accusations or Impeachments against the said Lords and every of them and also of Replying to the Answers which they and every of them should make to the premises or any of them or to any other Accusation or Impeachment which should be by them exhibited as the cause according to course and proceedings of Parliament should require did pray that the said Lords and every of them should be put to Answer all and every the Premises and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments might be upon them and every of them had and used as should be agreeable to Law and Justice and course of Parliament The Articles of Impeachment being drawn up and finish'd and carri'd up to the Lords House the Lieutenant of the Tower was ordered to bring up the Prisoners to the Bar where after they had kneeled awhile they were order'd to stand up and hear their Charge which when they had heard the Lord Chancellor ask'd them what they had to say for themselves letting them know withal that his Majesty would appoint a Lord High Steward for their Tryals Thereupon the Lords impeach'd made several requests in order to their several Defences upon their Tryals and then withdrew for a time After the House had taken their requests into consideration they were called in again and the Lord Chancellor gave them to understand that the several Endictments found against them by the Grand Jury should be brought into that Court by Writ of Certiorari and that they might have Copies of the Articles of Impeachment and should have convenient time given them to send in their respective Answers thereunto All this while the Lord Bellasis had not appeared at the Bar it being sworn that he was so ill that he could not stir out of his bed which reasonable excuse was allow'd for the time Not long after a Message was sent from the Lords to acquaint the Commons that the Lords impeach'd had all except the Lord Bellasis brought up their Answers to the Charge exhibited against them and that their Lordships had sent them the Originals desiring to have them return'd Soon after it was found that the Lord Bellasis had sent in his Answer without Appearance which occasion'd a great Debate Whether by his not appearance he had been Arraign'd or no and whether his Answer were legal The consideration of which business was referr'd to the Committee of Secrecy as also to look into the Answers of the five Lords to consider of the Methods of Proceedings upon Impeachments and to Report their Opinions Which were That the Lord Bellasis being Impeach'd of High Treason by the Commons could not make any Answer but in person And that the several Writings put in by the other Lords which they call'd their Pleas and Answers were not Pleas or Answers but Argumentative and Evasive to which the Commons neither could nor ought to reply That though the Answers of the other four Lords were sufficient yet that there ought not to be any Proceedings against them until the Lord Bellasis had put in a sufficient Answer in person That the Commons should demand of the Lords that their Lordships would forthwith order and require the said Lords to put in their perfect Answers or in default thereof that the Commons might have Justice against them Thereupon it was order'd by the Commons That a Conference should be desir'd with the Lords touching the Answers of the five Lords in the Tower and that the Managers thereof should acquaint their Lordships that they intended to make use of no other Evidence against the five Lords then for matter done within seven years last past desiring their Lordships withal to appoint a short day for the said five Lords to put in their effectual Pleas and Answers to the Articles of Impeachment But e're this Conference could be had a Message came from the Lords to acquaint the House That John Lord Bellasis had that day appear'd in person at the Bar of the House and had put in his Answer to the Articles of Impeachment which they had accordingly sent them The next day came another Message from the Lords to acquaint them That the Lords Powis Stafford and Arundel had appear'd likewise at the Bar and had retracted their former Pleas and had put in their Answers which they had also sent for them to view and consider All which Answers were by the Commons referr'd to the Secret Committee What these Answers were may be easily seen by that of the Lord Petre's here inserted For as their Crimes were the same so their Defences could not vary much either in sence or matter The Lord Petre's Answer to the Articles of Impeachment THE said Lord in the first place and before all other protesting his Innocency c. The said Lord doth with all humility submit himself desiring above all things the Tryal of his Cause by this most Honourable House so that he may be provided to make his just Defence for the 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 said Plea contained which may any ways 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 concerns the matter following Namely That for divers years last past there had been contrived and carryed on by the Papists a most traiterous and execrable Conspiracy and Plot within this Kingdom of England and other places to alter and subvert the Antient Government and Laws of this Kingdom and Nation and to suppress the true Religion therein Establisht and to extirpate and destroy the Professors thereof and that the said Plot and Conspiracy was contrived and carryed on in divers places and by several ways and means and by a great number of several Persons of 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 therein likewise named and mentioned as false Traitors to his Majesty and Kingdom within the time aforesaid have traiterously acted and consulted to and for the accomplishing of the said wicked pernicious and traiterous Designs and to that end did most wickedly and traiterously Agree Consult Conspire and Resolve to Imprison Depose and Murther His Sacred Majesty and deprive
acceptimus jam vacat These the Commons desir'd might be left out as implying that the continuing a Lord High Steward was necessary and thereupon propos'd these words to be inserted Ac pro eo quod Proceres Magnates in Parliamento Nostro Assemblato nobis humiliter supplicaverunt ut Seneschallum Angliae hac vice constituere dignaremur These Amendments were soon consented to by the Lords and it was farther agreed that the Commission under Seal for Constituting a Lord High Steward for the Tryal of the Earl of Danby should be recall'd and another new Commission according to the Amendments issu'd forth bearing date after the said Resolve and that the like Commission should be issu'd forth for Tryal of the other Lords As to the Lords Answer to the second Proposition the Commons gave their Committee order to insist That the Lords Spiritual ought not to have any Vote in any proceedings against the Lords in the Tower and that when that matter should be settled and the methods of Proceedings adjusted that then the House would be ready to proceed upon the Tryal of the Earl of Danby against whom the House had already demanded Judgment and afterwards to the Tryal of the other five Lords Upon the 16th of May after several Debates and Reports of both Committees the Lords came to this Resolution that the Thursday following should be appointed to begin the Tryal of the five Lords Upon which the Lords Spiritual desired leave of the House that they might withdraw themselves from the Tryal of the said Lords with Liberty of Entring their usual protestations This Resolution and the desire of the Bishops being communicated to the Commons It was by them resolv'd That the Vote of their House extended aswell to the Earl of Danby as the rest and that if the Bishops might have leave to withdraw it imply'd a right which if they had it was a new Court a thing the Commons could not admit of The Lords made Answer that there was no day appointed for the Tryal of the Earl of Danby and that the Lords Spiritual would be absent at all the parts of the Tryals of the five Lords and that the Protestation they desired to enter would be the same as in the Earl of Stafford's case To which the Commons reply'd that they could not proceed to treat of any other proposal till such time as the business about the Court should be settl'd But the Lords insisting still upon their first Resolutions the Commons thought fit to draw up their Reasons in writing which they did and deliver'd them to the Committee of Lords upon the 26th of May. Which was the day before their Prorogation Which because they are matter of History as well as debate may not be unfitly inserted They alleadged that the Commons had always desir'd that a good Correspondence might be preserv'd between the two Houses That there was then depending between their Lordships and the Commons a matter of the greatest weight In the transactions of which their Lordships did seem to apprehend some difficulty in the Matters propos'd by the Commons To clear the same the Commons had desir'd that Conference by which they hop'd to manifest to their Lordships that the Propositions of the House of Commons made by their Committe in relation to the Tryal of the Lords in the Tower were only such as were well warranted by the Laws of the Parliament and Constitution of Government and in no sort intrenched upon the Judicature of the Peers but were most necessary to be insisted upon that the Ancient Rights of Judicature in Parliament might be maintain'd The Commons readily acknowledg'd that the Crimes charged upon the Earl of Powis Viscount Stafford Lord Arundel of Wardour and Lord Bellasis were of deep Guilt and call'd for speedy Justice But withal they held that any change in Judicature in Parliament made without consent in full Parliament was of pernicious Consequence both to his Majesty and his Subjects and conceived themselves obliged to transmit to their Posterity all the Rights which of that kind they had receiv'd from their Ancestors by putting their Lordships in mind of the progress that had already been between the two Houses in relation to the Propositions made by the Commons and the reasonableness of the Propositions themselves So that they doubted not but to make it appear that their Aimes had been no other then to avoid such Consequences and to preserve that Right and that there was no delay of Justice on their part And to that purpose they offer'd to their 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 stood impeached and for which some of their wicked Accomplices had already undergone the sentence of the Law as Traytors and Murtherers had labour'd under many great difficulties was not unknown to their Lordships Nor was it less known to their Lordships That upon the Impeachment of the House of Commons against the Earl of Danby for High Treason and other high Crimes Misdemeanors and Offences even the common Justice of sequestring him from Parliament and forthwith committing him to safe Custody was then requir'd by the Commons and deny'd by the Peers though he then sate in their House Of which their Lordships had been so sensible that at a free Conference the 10th of April last their Lordships declar'd That it was the Right of the Commons and well warranted in former Ages That upon an Impeachment of the Commons a Peer so impeach'd ought of right to be order'd to withdraw and then to be Committed And had not that Justice been deny'd to the Commons a great part of the Sessions of Parliament which had 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 sav'd and employ'd for the preservation of his Majesties Person 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 bore date the first of March and which he pleaded in Bar of his Impeachment nor of wasting so great a proportion of the Treasure of the Kingdom as he had done after the Commons had exhibited their Articles of Impeachment against him After which time so 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 their Lordships Order of the 16th of April last was committed to the Tower After which he pleaded the said Pardon and being prest did at length declare that he would rely upon and abide by that Plea Which Pardon so Pleaded being illegal and void ought not to Barr or preclude the Commons from having Justice upon the Impeachment They did thereupon
take exceptions at our not subscribing this our Testimony being so solemnly gone about for we are ready always to do it if judg'd necessary with all the faithful suffering Brethren of the Land June 1679. This Declaration they intended to have put up at Glasgow but the Neighbouring Parts being hotly alarum'd by these ' proceedings Captain Graham of Clover-House upon intelligence of a great number of Men being gather'd together upon Loundoun Hill march'd thither with his Troop and a Company of Dragoons and there found a Body of Fourteen or Fifteen hundred Men well arm'd and in good Order The Foot were Commanded by one Weir the Horse by Robert Hamilton and three more whose names were Patton Balfour and Haxton of which the two last were deep in the Murder of the Archbishop of St. Andrews The Rebels upon the approach of Captain Graham sent out two Parties to skirmish with him which he beat into their main Body Upon which they advanc'd upon him with their whole Force Yet notwithstanding all their Number and though his own Horse were kill'd under him being soon mounted upon another he made good his ground till at last being overpower'd by Number after a great slaughter of the Rebels with the loss of his Cornet two Brigadeers eight Horse and twenty Dragoons he was forced to retreat toward Glasgow being after all this constrain'd to Fight his way thorow the Townsmen of Strevin who were got together to oppose him of whom he left ten or twelve dead upon the place The Rebels thus finding themselves superior in Force had the confidence the next day to attack the City of Glasgow at two several times But all the Streets were so well barricado'd by the Lord Ross and the Souldiers there put into so good and advantagious posture of Defence that the Rebels were beat off with a considerable loss besides many Prisoners that were taken Whereupon the Horse and Foot in the Town sally'd out upon them and forc'd them to retire But now to leave Scotland for a while let us return to London to which place Transactions no less signal call us back For upon the seventh of this Month the Marquis d'Auronches Embassador extraordinary from the Crown of Portugal made his public Entry having been receiv'd at Greenwich by the Earl of Kent and Sir Charles Cotterell Master of the Ceremonies and from thence brought by Water in the King's Barge with several others of his retinue to Tower-Hill Where when he Landed he was saluted with a discharge of several pieces of Cannon put into his Majesties Coach of State and conducted to Westminster His Equipage was very splendid consisting of six Pages who with the Gentleman of his Horse rod on Horsback and twenty Foot-men And his three Coaches one of which was more remarkable for its richness were follow'd by a numerous train of others with six Horses a piece Being come to his Lodging he was complimented from the King by the Lord Berkley of Stratton and from the Queen by Sir William Killegrew her Majesties Vice-Chamberlain The next day but one he was conducted to his Audience of their Majesties in the Banquetting-House by the Earl of Shrewsbury and Sir Charles Cotterell being splendidly attended from Westminster in the King's Coach of State As for the Papists they were still as great misbelievers as ever cry'd up the innocency of their own pretended Martyrs exclaim'd against the Injustice of their Condemnation and labour'd by all means imaginable to persuade the World into a concurrence with their pretended suggestions As that Religion seldom wants weak and improbable Arguments among the Wise to stumble mean and Vulgar Capacities Therefore it was now thought convenient to bring the rest of the crue that were in hold before the face of Justice that by their Tryals and Condemnations they might silence the folly of vain Insinuation and confirm the Impiety of those that had preceded them in Punishment To which purpose toward the middle of this month Thomas White aliàs Whitebread Provincial of the Jesuits in England William Harcourt the pretended Rector of London John Fenwick Procurator for the Jesuits in England John Gaven aliàs Gawen Anthony Turner and James Corker were brought to the Bar of the Session's-House in the Old-Baily As for Corker he presented a Petition to the Court setting forth that he was absolutely surpriz'd and unprepar'd for his Tryal and therefore besought the Court that he might not be try'd till the next Sessions To this the Court seem'd inclinable enough nor did the Attorney General gain-say it upon condition that he could really make it out that he wanted Witnesses without which he could not make his Defence However it was thought fitting that he should hear the Charge that was against him read to the end he might be able to give the Court an accompt what witnesses he had that might avail him in reference to his defence against it Which being done the former question was put to him again and then he nam'd a witness to prove that he was not in Town upon the 24th of April So that being respited till the next day the Court said nothing farther to him that sitting The other five stood charg'd of High Treason the particulars whereof were That upon the twenty fourth of April in the thirtieth Year of the King's reign they with others did Conspire to raise up Sedition and Rebellion to cause a most bloody Massacre of the King's Subjects to depose the King of his Government and bring him to an untimely Death to alter the Government and Religion establish'd by Law and to levy War against the King It was further lay'd to their Charge in the Indictment That in pursuance of their evil Intentions and the better to accomplish their Designs They met together held Consultations and agreed to murther the King and upon that bloody foundation to build the progress of their Villany which was to introduce the Superstition of the Church of Rome instead of the Religion establish'd by Law It was concluded that Grove and Pickering should commit the Murther for which Whitebread and the other persons Indicted Contracted with the one for such a number of Masses and with the other for a certain sum of Money That they did also make diligent enquiry for four other Persons unknown and when they came to them did both animate and embold'n encourage and abet them to kill the King at Windsor And all this advisedly and out of a Traiterous Malice and Hatred against the King and the National Government and Religion The Indictment being read Whitebread represented to the Court that in regard he had been try'd upon the 17th of December before upon the same Indictment at what time the Jury being impannell'd and the Evidence found insufficient which came in against him the Jury was discharged without a Verdict he was inform'd that no man could be try'd and consequently be put in jeopardy of his life twice for the same cause For which reason he made
confest there that he did not know Sir George Wakemans hand and only knew the Letter in question to be his Letter by being subscrib'd G. Wakeman Concluding from thence that the Witness would have told more at that examination had he known more To which the Dr. reply'd that he had been so over-toyl'd with watching and searching after persons detected that he was not able to make good his charge Which was also confirm'd by the testimony of Sr. Thomas Doleman But Sir Philip Floyd one of the Clerks of the Council was more express in behalf of the Prisoner who acknowledg'd indeed that Dr. Oates did make mention of Sir Georges undertaking to poyson the King as he had understood by a Letter from Whitebread to Harcourt and that he was inform'd by the same Letter that Coleman had pay'd him five thousand pound of the fifteen thousand pound agreed upon But that being demanded of his own personal knowledge what he could tax Sir George withal he solemnly deny'd that he had any thing more against him To which the Doctor gave the same answer of his extreme weakness and indisposition as before After that Sir George recommended one obser vation more to the Court That in the Doctors Narrative there was not one Letter which came from beyond Sea to which he did not swear positively both as to the date and as to the receipt yet that in the case of life he would not be confin'd to a Month. Concluding with a solemn Imprecation and disclaiming all the Crime in this Matter that had been charg'd against him Corker Rumley and Marshall were charg'd of being privy to the Consult for killing the King and to the carrying on the rest of the grand design toward which they had undertaken the raising and payment of 6000 l. by the Benedictine Monks As to Corker Dr. Oates swore him to be a Benedictine Monk and privy to the promise of the 6000 l. which was to be rais'd for carrying on the design That he gave Le Chaise and the English Monks at Paris an accompt of the Jesuites proceedings in England and that he had a Patent to be Bishop of London which the Witness had seen in his hand and that he dispos'd of several parcels of money for advancing the design That he was privy to the Grand Consult in April and excepted against Pickerings being made choice of for killing the King in regard that he being engag'd to say High Mass an opportunity might be lost in the mean time Mr. Bedlow depos'd against Corker that he had been with him in the Company of others at Somerset-house where he heard him discourse in general concerning the Plot of Letters of intelligence and raising an Army what Agitators the Conspirators had in the Country and what Interests they had made As for Marshall he was charg'd by Dr. Oates with being present when the six thousand pound was agreed upon and that he made the same exceptions against Pickering that Corker had done Mr. Bedlow depos'd against him that he had carry'd several Letters to the Catholick party that were in the design and particularly one to Sir Francis Ratcliff And that he had sent Letters of his own twice to others concerning the subverting of the Government and introducing Popery Rumley was accus'd by Dr. Oates of being privy to the Consult for the raising the six thousand pound and that he pray'd for the success of the Design Corker offer'd in his defence that not knowing his accusations he could not come with Evidences to support his Plea That there was nothing more easie than to accuse an innocent person and that the Circumstances ought to be as credible as the Witnesses of which there was neither to be found in his case using many flourishes to move the Court and the Jury raising his Arguments from Improbability of Witnesses to maintain his Allegations and the more to invalidate the Dr.'s testimony he brought witnesses to testifie that one Stapleton was President of the Benedictines and not himself and that the said Stapleton had so been for many years Marshall threw himself upon the Court whom he besought to manage his cause for him as having had so much Tryal of their Candour and Ingenuity After which he made some flight reflections upon the Kings Evidence and desir'd the Court to consider how little concern'd he was at his being apprehended which was no small sign of his Innocency But the main of his defence lay upon this Stress that Dr. Oates was a stranger to him and had mistaken him for some other person which was evidently made out to the contrary and beside that the Prisoner brought no proof of what he affirm'd in that particular At length the Conclusion of his defence was a smooth harangue ad captandum populum and in justification of the Crimes of them that had already suffer'd which because it was look'd upon as an affront done to the Justice of the Court he was desir'd to forbear his Flowers of Rhetorick which were all to no purpose As for Rumley there being but one Witness against him he did not think it needful to trouble the Court with a defence and indeed it was the opinion of the Court deliver'd to the Jury that they ought to discharge him Upon the whole it was the opinion of the Court that the Defences of the Prisoners were very weak of which the Jury could not choose but take notice The main thing wherein the Court were dissatisfy'd was Dr. Oates's excuse of his own weakness and infirmity for not giving his full charge against Sir George Wakeman at the Council Board Since he might have charg'd him in the same breath that he denied that he had any thing more against him Whether this or any other more prevailing argument over-rul'd them certain it is that the Jury found them all Not Guilty and so contrary to expectation they were all acquitted All this while his Majesty kept his Court at Windsor where in consideration of the many and faithful services perform'd unto him by the Right Honourable George Lord Viscount Hallifax John Lord Roberts and Charles Lord Gerrard of Brandon he was pleas'd to confer upon them the Titles of Earls of this Kingdom creating the Lord Viscount Hallifax Earl of Hallifax the Lord Gerrard Earl of Newberry Viscount Brandon which title was afterward chang'd into that of Macclesfeld and the Lord Roberts Earl of Falmouth Viscount Bodmin And to shew that he took the same care of his Dominions abroad as at home His Majesty order'd recruits to be forthwith rais'd under the commands of Captain George Wingfeild Captain Charles Wingfeild Captain William Langley and Captain William Matthews to reinforce the Garrison of Tangier At home the Fort of Sheerness and the Garrison of Portsmouth had both the Honour to be survey'd by the King himself who to that intent departed upon the 30th of July from Windsor to Hampton-Court attended by the Duke of Albemarle and several of the Nobility