Maintenance when he was beyond Sea had forfeited their Estates and lost their Lives for him and his Father in England Could any Good man then do less in Honour than protect such Loyal Persons such faithful Friends and such kind Benefactors King Iames the Second besides the former Motives took himself to be yet more particularly oblig'd in Honour and Conscience to do the same having publickly profest himself to be of that Perswasion Nor would any Prince living in his case do other nor indeed could he do less without declaring himself at the same time to be an Hypocrite as not valuing the Religion he profest or thinking it ought to be protected whereas yet the Sincerity of his Conscience was manifest to the whole World by his going so plainly against his Interest as to hazard the loss of Three Kingdoms rather than quit the Perswasion he had embraced And for the same reason it was but decent for a Prince of that Communion to send an Ambassador to Rome tho' Blatant after his usual manner belies his Errand to receive a Nuntio thence and to make some Ecclesiastical Superiours here to preserve Disciplin and Good Life amongst Roman Catholicks But that either of these two Princes though they might intend that Party a kind of Freedom and some Favours could aim at the introducing Popery or forcing it upon their English Subjects or by means of that Party Slavery is as wild a Conceit as ever enter'd into a raving Head The Papists 't is well known are but an handful to all England but a Breakfast should all the rest rise up to devour them Add That an Army of which seven parts of eight were Protestants and the Militia of England were all of them the same was the most unlikely Means in the World to compass such an End or rather it was such a Remora as made it impossible to be ever compassed Nor wants it weight that a Declaration for Liberty of Conscience to all so displeasing of late p. 202. to our angry Blatant who is resolv'd that nothing shall pacifie his Indignation was most solemnly promis'd and even too zealously endeavour'd to be put in execution and to be made a firm and unalterable Law of the Land Which as it was the best Expedient imaginable to secure the Consciences of all the English Subjects by making it the Common Interest of the whole Nation and engaging all Parties to stand up as one man against the Papists had they ever attempted to violate such a Sanction so it is no less an irrefragable Evidence of that King 's sincere Intention never to use any Force or Coercion upon any man's Conscience and a perfect Confutation of that ridiculous Sham which is made to pass upon the Vulgar that we must in that case have all turned Papists This is the true state of that Affair testified by Common Reason and abetted by as many Pregnant Evidences and known Matters of Fact as a thing of such a nature can possibly bear which yet our Libeller paints in the most hideous monstrous form that his disorder'd Passion could invent or his squinting Fancy could delineate Yet I will not make my self so great a Politician as to contend but there might have been some Miscarriages and in what Government in the World are there not some the Sense of which being improv'd by disgusted men and nois'd abroad till they reach'd the Generality the Nature as it were of England conceiv'd it self aggriev'd and Nature as all Histories testifie will at length work out its way by one means or other to compass its Real or Imaginary Satisfaction tho' perhaps the Remedy resolv'd upon in an hurry sometimes haps to be worse than the Disease Particularly to shew how far I am from justifying any Action which is indeed Blameable I must confess That the shutting up of the Exchequer by K. Ch. the Second was a very ill business Blatant charges it in the foulest Language p. 62. yet he might have been so just to that Prince as to let his Reader know That this was done by the advice of the Earl of Shaftsbury to render that King odious and that K. Ch. was so sensible of that Injury done to his Subjects that he settled by Patent under the Great Seal of England the Interest of that Money at 6 per Cent. to be paid out of the Hereditary Excise till the Principal could be discharg'd which Settlement all the great Lawyers in England did agree to be a Legal and Good Security So that it was far from being such a notorious Robbery as our Blatant represents it Indeed the not paying the Interest afterwards though so legally due was a very high Injustice But as he charges it not so 't is not my Office or pertinent to my Business in hand to determine where the Fault lay only I must say That the Complaints of Thousands who are undone by the detaining it cry aloud to Heaven till that Oppression be redrest and Satisfaction be made for their Sufferings He might have told us too for it is true That K. Iames the Second then D. of York did with his own Hands bring a Bill into the House of Lords to have that Settlement confirm'd by Act of Parliament and never desisted till it had past that House in the year 78. But that Parliament being prorogued that business though well intended fail'd of success His other Arts are to give an ill turn to every Transaction and lay hold of it by the wrong Handle A method by which 't is easie for any babbling fellow endow'd with a pretty Tantum of Wit to travesty all the most Sacred Actions and traduce the Intentions of the most Innocent Persons in the World He builds much upon little tattling Court-Stories gossip'd amongst the Ladies which never wanted in any Reign nor do they at present Yet till our Blatant for want of better Stuff thought fit to make use of them no wise man ever held them worth the bringing upon the Tapis or indeed worth heeding much less judg'd them to be a competent Ground to bear such heavy Charges against Kings and Princes He picks up all the abominable Fictions invented and spread in the Plot-time by the factious Sticklers though every one of them that was of moment was a confuted Lye either prov'd by plain Experience or by Legal Evidences sworn openly in Court or at least branded for Untruths by the Recorded Perjury of the Testimony on which solely they were built And then lest those Prejudices against his Stories should be of any weight he arraigns all the Judges and Juries as Popishly affected though they were all of them to a man Protestants If any of his own Party do but hold up his Hand at the Bar 't is made a flat Condemnation of the whole Court and a Geometrical Demonstration with him that they were all of them most abominable Papists His Topicks of this sort make up near one Third of his Libel He traduces even the
all my heart Lord says Mr. Rookwood What need you make these Scruples Here is nothing required of you but to come over Yes Sir reply'd I here is an Expectation annext which I am utterly incapable of satisfying The short is says the Secretary will you obey the King or no I reply'd the King is my Soveraign and I ought to obey him and though I see plainly there is a Trick put upon me and I fear a Plot against my Life yet I trust that Gods Providence will instruct my Prudence how to avoid the Snare Then I began to make a deep Protestation before them both that I never knew any thing of the Plot which I repeated with much Vehemency before that very Courteous and Civil Gentleman Mr. Henry Sidny at that time His Majesties extraordinary Envoy at the Hague who order'd me to return to Amsterdam to compose my little Affairs and dine with him on Tuesday after and so go over in the Pacquet-Boat on Wednesday I came as was order'd and found Mr. Rookâ—wood at the Envoys who began to discourse me apart bidding me fear nothing for I had greater Friends in England than I was aware of who were able to protect me against the King himself He told me how my Lord Shaftsbury had written Two Letters hither much in my Commendation and that If I would come over and as we are to suppose be ruled by him I should neither want Security nor Money nor Honour He added That I could not but know something of the Duke of York that if I did but witness it there was Ten Thousand Pound laid up ready for me At this I could not but blush with Anger to hear such a villainous Proposal and reply'd Certainly Sir the World is grown very Generous that a poor Man can get 10000 l. so easily and yet be an honest Man He smiled and said I was a Droll and that he hop't I had wit enough to know my own Interest These Discourses made me plainly see the Devilish Trap that was laid for me wherefore I then resolved to decline going if it might stand with my Duty and Honour and if I did go to Acquaint His Majesty with the Intrigue I should also by this have begun to suspect Rookwood and that he was a Pensioner of that Earl but that he faithfully protested to me he neither knew any thing of that Order to call me over nor had any Correspondents at all in England but that my Lord Sh his Letters came to another Person at the Hague who upon occasion shew'd them to him every tittle of which was false As soon as dinner was done Mr. Sidney took me aside and told me he wonder'd I would thus Resolutely deny any knowledge of the Plot Assuring me that he had of late certain intelligence out of England that it was expected there I should make very great Discoveries of it Hereupon I began to Reiterate my former Protestations to the contrary with that earnestness that he came back and told the company he saw not to what purpose it was to send me since he was confident I would say the same before the Council in England that I said here And J on the other side earnestly begg'd of him that before I went I might know Liquidly what I went for it being in vain to send me to attest a thing I knew nothing of He resolv'd hereupon to write to His Majesty how things were and to know His farther pleasure whether I should still come or no Taking a note of my Lodging at Amsterdam which I had not yet put off and my Faithful Promise that I would come if His Majesty should yet send for me so I set my self to return Mr. Rookwood follow'd me exclaiming highly against Mr. Sydney for stopping one that the King and Council had sent for and threatening that perhaps when he came into England he might be made shorter by the head for it The reason of which mighty huff I could not comprehend till Colledge the Protestant Joyner told me here in England that my Lord Shaftsbury had out of his wonderful care of me sent a Guard to Harwich at the time that very Wednesday Pacquet in which I was to have gone should arrive to conduct me safe to London lest according to the Shams that past in those times the Jesuites should kill me by the way That is this pretended Guard was to carry me to that Lord where as was the Method then in vogue if I would have been a perjur'd Villain I should have been a Rich one or if I would not then I should by some Stratagem or other either be hang'd for being too Honest or else have past through poor Prance's Fiery Trial. Blessed be God's good Providence which thus wonderfully delivered me from the Hunter's Net by making Mr. Sydney's well-meaning Prudence defeat the Designs of that Great Politician After I had thus parted with Mr. Rookwood whom I left in a very angry Mood that the Information he had doubtless sent to England the Pacquet before of my coming over in the next was so scurvily disappointed e're I went from the Hague I writ and sent a Letter to His Majesty protesting upon my Faith as a Christian and upon my Allegiance to him which was one part of it that I never knew directly or indirectly the least thing of the Plot nor ever did say or signifie to any that I did humbly begging His Majesty would take some way as he in his Princely Wisdom should think fit to clear me of this dangerous Mistake lest if I should come into England my invincible Ignorance might be interpreted a voluntary Concealment which would expose me to the highest Dangers What was the Issue of that Letter will be seen hereafter When I came back to Amsterdam I writ to two or three dear Friends how the Case stood at present and what passed hitherto They in their Answers conjured me by no means to go into England and assured me my Life was in imminent Danger if I went I replied That I judg'd the same they did but that nunquam feci animam meam pretiosiorem me I alledg'd four Reasons why I ought to venture my self in going First My Duty to my Soveraign Next My Promise given to Mr. Sydney Thirdly That did I now hang back I should leave a Blot upon my good Name which had never been blemisht with the least Stain of Disloyalty for I should never be able to wipe off the Aspersion of having known of Treasons against my King and Country so long and never discovered them which would render me Guilty of Misprision of Treason in the Eye of the World A Disgrace which I had rather hazard any Danger than undergo And lastly That this Plot which had taken away the Lives of so many innocent Persons would receive a greater Countenance and Confirmation by my absconding especially after my Promise to come than ever it had been able to gain by any thing hitherto For
being esteem'd by all as God be prais'd I was ever held an Honest man it would be judged I refus'd to come because I would not be perjur'd by denying what I knew and therefore if I were shy to appear to answer my Accuser whom I as yet knew not but supposed he was in England it would especially as the Times went be loudly proclaimed That all which had been inform'd to have been said by me was true These were the Reasons I gave of the necessity of my going into England Whether the last of them and my hazarding my Life upon that score have received the just Return from some Persons who ought to have had more Christianity and Honour in them than to slander their Neighbour without caring to know how Matters past I leave even to their own Guilty Consciences to judge His Majesty having received my Letter in which I petition'd to be clear'd from this Calumny was pleased to send to his Envoy a Copy of Mr. Rookwood's two Papers and an Order to confront us before him e're we came as to the Contents of them This being judg'd the surest Expedient of knowing whether he or I had bely'd the Truth A Messenger brought the Papers who came also to call Mr. Sydney into England with an Order to bring me over with him wherefore the very next day he sent the Gentleman of his Horse to Amsterdam to require me to attend him In the Morning after I had arrived at the Hague he commanded me to dine with him I was perfectly ignorant of the Order to confront us or what he had to say to me Mr. Rookwood had got light of it and never left solliciting me to dine with him at his own House saying That he too was invited but he would send his Excuse for us both I admired at his Importunity but after Dinner he discover'd his Reason by telling me That we were to be confronted that Afternoon about some Papers that he had been forced to send into England concerning some words that if he did not misremember had past between us about the Plot earnestly begging of me for his Credit 's sake to admit his Words and make my own Interpretation and he would witness that was my Meaning Then and not till then did I apprehend that Rookwood was the Person who had rais'd that Lye of me and put me to suffer all that Obloquy and Vexation Which when I resented in such Language as it deserv'd telling him plainly I would not admit one word but what I truly spoke nor make any Interpretation for his sake who had so grosly abused me that if he had writ Falshoods they should lye at his door to his shame I would stand to precise Truth and I was sure Truth would stand by me At which he fell into high Language and threatned me That if I were Uncivil to him he had Friends in England should hang me high enough Finding this wrought nothing with me but that I return'd a scornful Smile to his Threats and answer'd them with a flat Defiance he grew moderate blam'd his Passion and fell to Entreaties again At length we came to his Composition That I should not impeach his Credit nor reproach him for forging but put the blame upon his bad Memory and he would not justifie his Memory I knew he was able to work me Mischief in England so I condescended to grant him that Civility as long as it abated nothing of the Truth of what had past between us To Mr. Sydney's we went and his two Papers were read in every Particular of which that were of moment or related to the Plot I baffled him One Passage was very remarkable Mr. Rookwood said I certainly you have a Memory of another nature from the rest of Mankind that could write into England that I told you of two Plots whenas I told you plainly I did not believe any Plot. How says Mr. Sydney Do not you believe the Plot Mr. Rookwood fearing I should have related all our Discourse at large which would have shewn too clearly that there was more than a Bad Memory in the Business immediately prevented my Reply with these words No Sir his Charity for Dying men was so great that he could not believe they died with a Lye in their Mouths At which Concession of his I caught readily and said to Mr. Sydney Observe this Sir I beseech you If I told him as he confesses that I judg'd that all who dy'd for the Plot said true at their Deaths then since 't is known they all dy'd denying they knew of any Plot I must hold withal nay tell him I held there were no Plotters and if no Plotters then no Plot and if I told him I believ'd there was no Plot then how could I tell him at the same time I knew of Two Plots or indeed of any When we had ended Mr. Rookwood went away very ill satisfy'd And tho' I had gain'd this main Point yet I was not perfectly satisfy'd neither for these were but fleeting words and I fear'd Mr. Sydney's Memory he being then in extreme haste might not enable him to speak firmly and particularly to our whole Discourse by which I might come to lose half of the Advantage I had gotten There were besides Mr. Sydney two other Gentlemen present at this Rencountre one of them was call'd Mr. Plott the name of the other I remember not Wherefore I prest upon Mr. Sidney's Patience who was now very busie in putting up his things being to part within five hours and civilly demanded the Justice of him that himself and the other two who were not to come over with us would while the Matters were yet fresh in their Memories Signe to a Paper containing the several particulars in which I had confuted Mr. Rookwood and requested that he would bring it with him to be read before the King and Council which was done accordingly To Sea we went and when we came near Greenwich I requested the favour of Mr. Sydney that I might go to London in his Boat and in his company to his House and there to stay and lodge till I was conducted by him to His Majesty lest it should be pretended that some body had treated with me to warp me a great Policy then of the Plot-framers which he civilly granted The next Morning at Eight the King Order'd him to bring me to his Closet where His Majesty was present with my Lord Sunderland The King after I had kist his Hand ask't me What meant this Information of Rookwood's I assur'd His Majesty it was a perfect Forgery not only without any Ground but directly contrary to all the Discourse that had past betwixt us I know well reply'd the King that he is a Rogue for he took Money of Oliver and betray'd me and my Friends but what Motive should he have to send such a lying Information to a King and a Council Hereupon I acquainted His Majesty with their manifest Design which was to