Nation he tells the Parliament That he had been obliged to kâ—ep up his Troops to keep his Neighbâ—urs from absolute Despair and that he had been solicited from abroad not to disband them Now was ever such a Story told by a Prince and vouched in the face of the Nation by a Bred Lawyer viz. his Chancellor to justifie the Breach of a Law of the Three Estates of the Kingdom as soon as made and then to flâ—m the Parliament off with Christendom and the Worlds commending us for breaking our own Laws to patch up a Peace which tended to nothing but the Ruine of those for whom it was made The sum of which was in short That the King to serve his own Arbitrary Ends had run hâ—mself 〈…〉 〈…〉 that many Papers of great Importance had with a more than ordinary Industry been convey'd away yet by those that were found so much appeared that the House Voted it to be a damable Plot to root up and destroy the Religion and Government of the Kingdom and privately got the Lord Chief-Justice Sâ—broggs to sign Warrants for the Apprehending the Popish Lords which was done accordingly And for their further Security they prepared a Bill for putting the Nation into a posture of Defence and for raising the Militia throughout the Kingdom to be in Arms for so many days Which passed Both Houses without any difficulty but the King out of his Zeal to the Protestant Religion refused to pass it And then it was that the Parliament found too late the Compliment which they had pass'd upon him in returning him the Power of the Militia which he made use of to keep up Standing Armies for their Destruction but refused for the Security of the Nation This therefore not prevailing they began to provide against Papists sitting in either House and fram'd a Bill with a Test to be taken by every Member of both Houses or else to lose their Seats This though his Protestant Majesty durst not openly oppose himself yet after a close Consultation held at St. Iames's he ordered all his Instruments in the Lords House to withstand the passing of it there which though they could not effect yet they prevail'd so far that they got a Proviso in it for the D. of York whereby they did him the kindness as to declare him a Papist to all the World After this the Parliament proceeded to the impeaching of such Persons as they had found to be deepest in the Contrivance of all our Mischiefs but That His Majesty lookt upon as a Business that so nearly concerned his own Honour that like his Father when the D. of Buckingham was accus'd of poysoning his Father he would not endure the Parliament in such a Iehu-like Chace after the Popish Conspirators but foot-ball'd them again with a Prorogation for several Months So careful was his Protestant Majesty to stifle as much as in him lay and to prevent the Prosecution of an Infernal Plot which he knew was so deeply laid like the Axe of Popery to the root of all his Protestant Dominions Nor was this all for so soon as he had dismiss'd the Parliament and had secur'd his Accomplices he took all the care imaginable to discredit Oates and Bedlow's Evidence Forty One was again inculcated into all the Ignorant Pates about the Town and Merry-Andrew Roger had his Pension out of the Gazetts continued to ridicule the Plot which he did in a most leud and shameless manner and Money given to set up a new Divinity Academy in a Publick Coffee House to act the Protestant Whore of Babylon and give about his Revelation-Cup to the Raw Inferior Clergy and instruct them in better Doctrine than ever they learnt in the University Nor did he stop at the endeavouring to discredit the Testimonies of those Witnesses but sent his Head-Emissaries to corrupt them to a denial and retracting what they had discovered and when that would not do Knox and Lane were suborn'd to accused Otes of Buggery thereby to bave taken him Acts of the foulest ignominy which whether a Protestant King would have encouraged to the ruine of the Religion which he professed in partial postcrity will determine with a clearer and more unclouded sight For we God knows are so dazled with those Illustrious Beams of feigned Protestant Majesty that we are not able to stare upon those Rays without blinding our Eyes out of a false Devotion to the Sun of our vain Imagination Add to this his endeavouring to corrupt the yet untainted Members of the House and buy their Votes to the utter exhausting of his Treasure for that which was then call'd Secret Service And which was more than all the rest his Dissolution of this Enquiring Parliament at the Sollicitation of the Duke and the rest of his guilty Minions by the Advice of a certain Lady who to save her Husband from the Impeachment he lay under persuaded them to get the King totally to Dissolve the Parliament using this Argument That in regard the Nation were so dissatisfied in this it would be a means to gain him the favour of the people and baffle the Impeachment by getting it Dissolv'd especially when it should be known that it was done by his procurement So that the Lady's Advice being followed the Parliament was as easily Dissolv'd as it had been a little before lasciviously Prorogued after a continuance of Seventeen Years to the great Admiration of all men tho indeed it proved in some measure a happy day for England For the Dissolution so enraged the Band of Pensioners finding their Service so slighted and their livelihood lost that they began to talk loud and discovered those things which were no way for the disadvantage of the Nation But here we are t observe the extraordinary Diligence of his Protestant Majesty to get the next Parliament fit for his Turn which was suddenly to be called to stop the mouths of the People To which purpose all the Money that could possibly be spared out of the Chequer was issued out to C. B. to manage the Elections all over the Kingdom under the old Notion of secret Service in one Article 1500 l. in another 2000. and the Guinea's stew about the Countrey far and near to the Corporations to hire places and get fit men the Heads of the Counties and Corporations were sent for and told what men would be serviceable and acceptable to the King and particularly the Gentlemen of Essex were sent to by the Ch. Just. Schroggs and cautiones that they should not chuse Mildmay whatever they did And new Charters were obtained foâ— some Corporations with new Privileges and 〈◊〉 them down to be hung out at the Windows to animate the People to chuse such men as they were directed What could more have been done by a Protestant Prince to destroy his Protestant Subjects and advance the Roman-Catholick Cause But when the Conspiraters saw that nothing would but that they perceived that they were deceived in their Expectations by
hereunto he falls a buying and purchasing at certain and annual Rates the Votes of the Members at what time the greatness of the number of those who stood ready for Sale as well as their Indigencies and Lusts made the Price at which they were to be bought so much the easier Now being thus hir'd by his Majesty with their own free Offerings of the Nations Money How many Bills did they pass into Acts for enslaving and ruining a third part of the Kingdom under the Notion of Phanaticks and Dissenters and all this in gratitude for their Sallaries and to accomplish the Will and Pleasure of their Lord and Master the King whose bought and purchas'd Vassals and Slaves they were All this while what can we say or think other but that the Purchaser as well as the Sellers were equally guilty of betraying the People who had entrusted them And then to make a President by Law for Tyranny those Hirelings empower'd the Iustices of the Peace to disseize Men of their Estates without being convicted and found guilty by Legal Juries of the Transgressions whereof they stood accus'd By which they not only overthrew all the Common and Statute Law of the Land but they subverted and altered the Fundamental Constitution in making English Men liable to be ruin'd at the Arbitrary Pleasure of the King And as an addition to this those Mercinary Members by the Orders and Directions of their most Pious and Protestant Paymaster the King past another Law which was stiled the Act for Corporations by which Men of Principles and Integrity were debarred all Offices of Magistracy in Cities and Corporate Towns The woful Effects of which the Kingdom not long after both saw and felt in the Surrenders of Charters and betraying of Franchises by Persons upon whom the Government of the Corporations came to be devolv'd by Vertue of that Act. For that had it not been for that Act which excluded so many honest able and vertuous Men the Persons whom the King for his by-ends nominated for fit and loyal Men would never have risen above the Office of Scavengers or Headboroughs or Constables at the highest To this as a thing that mainly contributed to the King's design of enslaving us we may subjoyn their passing an Act whereby they did both limit and confine the number of those that were to present Petitions to the King not to exceed Ten Persons Let the Matter to be represented be ne're so important or the Grievance to be redress'd never so illegal and oppressive yet it was made no less then a Riot if above Ten Persons address'd themselves to the King to crave the Benefit of the Law A Trouble which the King carefully provided against knowing how many Laws he had to break and how burthensom and oppressive he must be to the People before he could compleat the Fabrick of Slavery and Popery which he was erecting Nor was this all for the King strenuously pursuing his Design of being sincere and cordial to the destruction of his People had so bephilter'd them with his Potions of Aurum Potabile that they pass'd another Act to his Hearts desire whereby they plac'd the whole and sole Power of the Militia in the King not only encouraging him to use Force in compassing his Arbitrary Designs but binding up the Hands of the People from defending themselves against armed Violence upon their Religigion Liberties and Lives Add to this the vast sums which they gave him beyond what the Support of the Government or the Defence of the Nation requir'd Which might have produc'd fatal Consequences but that the King knew as little a Measure in spending as that unhappy Parliament did in giving The King therefore conscious of his own Failing and finding that through his own Wastfulness and the Importunities of his consuming Misses he could not depend upon any limited and definite Sum for accomplishing his Promises to his Holy Father the Pope and his trusty Confederate the French King got Two Bills prepar'd and carry'd into the House the Passing of which had compleated the Nations Misery and made him Absolute The one was to empower his Majesty upon Extraordinary Occasions of which he would not have fail'd to have been the Judge as often as he pleas'd to raise Money without a Parliament And the other was for setling a Universal Excise upon the Crown The Passing either of which the King well knew would have soon â—nabl'd him to have govern'd by Basha's and Ianizaries and redeem'd him from having any further need of Parliaments or any apprehension of having the Instruments of his Tyranny impeach'd by Them But what the King had so finely projected to enslave the Nation and obtain whatever he had a mind to prov'd the Ground of their Disappointment and the Occasion of the Nations Escape from the Snare that was laid for it For the Mercenary Members foreseeing that the passing these Bills would have put an end to their Pensions by rendring them useless for the time to come consulted their Gain and preferring it above what the Court styl'd their Loyalty fell in with the Honest Party and so became assistant in throwing out the Bills However the very bringing the Bills into the House was as clear an Evidence of the King's Intention to alter the Government and enslave the Nation as if they had pass'd into Laws And some of his Minions that knew the King's Drift and the inside of his Heart were so zealous for him to have gain'd this Arbitrary Power that they would have it argu'd and spoken to in the House of Lords And who but the Popish Lord Clifford should be the Man that ventur'd to undertake the Business And accordingly he made a long Harrangue in praise of Absolute Monarchy and how much it would be for the Interest of the Kingdom to have his Majesty entrusted with a more unlimited Authority Which some of the Lords resenting with a Warmth and Indignation becoming Persons who by the Constitutions of the Governmeut were design'd for a Bulwark against the Encroachments of Regal Power and as a Fence about the Liberties of the People the Motion not only dy'd without being seconded but Clifford even by him who had encourag'd him in his Attempt was call'd a rash Fool for his pains However Pious AEneas finding the Nation grew sensible of his covert Intentions and Encroachments upon their Laws and Liberties and despairing to get any more Acts pass'd in Parliament toward the promoting his Designs resolv'd to husband the Laws he had already obtain'd as much as he could to the Ruine of the Nation and where they fail'd of being serviceable to his Ends to betake himself to other Methods and Means And therefore besides the daily impoverishing confining and destroying of infinite numbers of honest and peaceable People under pretence of executing the Laws he made it his Business to invent new Projects to tear up the Rights and Liberties of the People by ways and means which had not the least
under the notion of Presbyterians and Fanaticks Which how well it pleased the King will afterwards appear The first Project had this effect That many of the Leading Men for the Country of both Houses for the same alterations were made among the Commissioners of the Treasury and Lords of the Admiralty being inveagled and drawn aside by the Temptations of Places both of Profit and Honour their vigour began to cool and the unbiassed Party in both Houses were left to stand by themselves Four or five of the most Popular in the Council were wrought off and whatever Matters were of importance for carrying on the Popish Cause were first agreed on in the Private Cabal and then brought into the Council where if such Matters met with strong opposition the King's Pleasure that it should be so over-rul'd the Debates and all things pass'd as ordered by the King in Council not with the Advice of his Council And then such as did not heartily join had good words given them and were told that all was meant well which made several give credit and believe the rest were real By which means all that was done by the King and His Coadjutors was acted behind the Curtain and the Popular Gentlemen were only made use of as Vmbrello's to shade the Conspirators from the scorching Heat of the Peoples Discontent So fine and subtil were the Wiles of Popery above the reach of plain and downright Protestant Politicks But in the midst of these Court-Intriegues to run down the Plot the House of Commons went on vigorously both against the Plot and the Popâ—sh Delinquents which grated so hard upon the Popish Party and was such an obstruction to their Designs That the King compassionating their Grievances more than those of his Protestant Subjects gave way to the Dissolution of the Parliament yet with promise of another to meet toward the latter end of the year under pretence of frequent Parliaments but in reality to try if He could get another fitter for his turn And now the King having laid aside the Parliament and freed his Instruments from the Terrour of it was so far from not permitting himself to be influenced by Popish-Councellors that he began to play his old pranks and first of all the popular Protestant Lords of the Council were by degrees decently laid aside and the Duke was sent for home the Lord Shaftsbury for opposing it being severely reprimanded in Council with a wonder how any person that sate at that Board durst so boldly affront his Royal Highness For the Face of Affairs was changed and the King was now swimming in his own Element again Only it was strange that he was no more concerned to see the strain of the whole Kingdom run against him For notwithstanding all his industry to have brought in his Band of Pensioners again it was found the new-chosen Parliament which was by this time ready to sit was likely to prove worse for his turn than any of the former Which made him have recourse to his old shift of Prorogueing which was done by Proclamation to gain a little time for the acquitting of Sir G. Wakeman which the C. J. Scroggs had engaged to his Prince for a Gracious Smile and to the Portugal Ambassador for a round sum of Guinea's to help him out with his purchase in Essex To which purpose how he acted his part is so well known that I need not here repeat it only thus much That as it redounded very much to the Butcherly Indigent Chief Justice and together with many other good Offices continued him for a while in his Place so it was no less for the advantage of the Papists who from thence took the boldness to affirm there was no Popish Plot. So kind was His Protestant Majesty to help out his desponding Friends at a dead lift in order to the Sham-plot which he was afterwards designing For now the Parliament being put off was at leisure to advise with his Popish Instruments who were no less sedulous to give their advice to the utmost that their active Brains could reach By this sedulity it was that the Meal-Tub Anti-Plot was contrived and hatch'd Only Tools were wanting to manage and carry on the Treacherous Design Therefore not knowing where else to find Miscreants fit for such Diabolical Enterprises all the Goals about the Town were raked for needy Profligates It will be needless to give a particular History of that which has been so sufficiently discover'd for an abominable Imposture It shall only therefore suffice to give the World an account when the King and his Accomplices had laid the Contrivance to trepan the chiefest part of the Nobility and Gentry of the Nation that would not comply with his Popish and Tyrannical Designs what Favourites those Rakehells were to His Sacred Majesty upon the account of the Villany which they had undertaken to go through with For it is well known that when Dangerfield was fetch'd out of Newgate and presented to Old Rowley at White-hall as a fit Instrument for the Devillish work of the Meal-tub-Plot then resolv'd upon the King was so overjoy'd he had found such a Rascal for his turn That he set him down on a Couch kiss'd him hugg'd him and embrac'd him with all the caresses of Love imaginable insomuch that the Newgate-Bird himself could not chuse but be surprized at his Soveraigns kindness His entertaining afterward the same unpardon'd Coyner and common Cheat privately in his Closet for an hour together at a time and ever and anon giving him his hand to kiss was no less an argument of his pious Indulgency to premeditated Villany while his Princely Favours and Familiarity were only reserv'd to encourage audacious Treachery and his Frowns only bestowed upon the Detectors of the publick Enemies to God and his Kingdom To which we may add the severity us'd in checking the Lord Mayor for taking Dangerfield's Discovery after he was committed to Newgate for medling as it was term'd with that which nothing concern'd him And indeed it may be said of the Meal-Tub-Plot That it was a piece of Treachery so foul and ignominious that it would have hardly passed for currâ—nt in open War against a publick Enemy and which aggravates the Crime yet more was His Majesty's Liberality of several times to Dangerfield besides his allowance of Twelve pound a week out of the Privy-purse The miscarriage of this blessed Design caused a second proroguation of the Parliament upon hopes of 200000 l. from France whiâ—h was dexterously prevented by the Duke of Buckingham which the King so ill resented that his Attorney-General had Orders in Council to Indict him of Buggery with a Design to have taken away his Life and repair the French disappointment by the Confiscation of his Estate had the project taken Never so much Villany in contrivance never so much Money ill spent and never worse luck But nothing could daunt the Popish Projectors and therefore though the Meal-Tub-Conspiracy was quite baffled