THE TRYAL OF EDWARD COLEMAN Gent. FOR Conspiring the Death OF THE KING AND THE Subversion of the Government OF ENGLAND AND THE Protestant Religion Who upon Full Evidence was found Guilty of HIGH TREASON And received SENTENCE accordingly on Thursday November the 28th 1678. LONDON Printed for Robert Pawlet at the Bible in Chancery-Lane near Fleet-street 1678. November 28. 1678. I Do appoint Robert Pawlet to Print the TRYAL of Edward Coleman And that no other Person presume to Print the same WILLIAM SCROGGS THE TRYAL OF Edward Coleman Gent. ON Wednesday the Twenty Seventh day of November 1678. Mr. Coleman having been Arraigned the Saturday before for High Treason was brought to the Kings Bench Bar to receive his Tryal and the Court proceeded thereupon as followeth Court Cryer make Proclamation Proclamation for Silence Cryer O Yes Our Sovereign Lord the King do's strictly Charge and Command all manner of Persons to keep Silence upon pain of Imprisonmenâ— If any one can inform our Sovereign Lord the King the King's Serjeant or the King's Attorney General or this Inquest now to be taken of any Treason Murder Felony or any other Misdemeanour committed or done by the Prisoner at the Bar let them come forth and they shall be heard for the Prisoner stands at the Bar upon his Deliverance Court Cryer make an O yes Cryer O yes You Good Men that are impannelled to enquire between our Sovereign Lord the King and Edward Coleman Prisoner at the Bar answer to your names Court Edward Coleman Hold up thy hand These Good men that are now called and here appear are those which are to pass between you and our Sovereign Lord the King upon your Life or Death if you challenge any of them you must speak as they come to the Book to be sworn and before they are sworn The Prisoner Challenging none the Court proceeded and the Jury were sworn viz. JURY Sir Reginald Foster Baronet Sir Charles Lee. Edward Wilford Esquire John Bathurst Esquire Joshua Galliard Esquire John Bifield Esquire Simon Middleton Esquire Henry Johnson Esquire Charles Vmfrevile Esquire Thomas Johnson Esquire Thomas Eaglesfield Esquire William Bohee Esquire Court Cryer make an O yes Cryer O yes Our Sovereign Lord the King does strictly charge and command all manner of Persons to keep Silence upon pain of Imprisonment Court Edward Coleman Hold up thy hand You Gentlemen of the Jury that are now sworn look upon the Prisoner and hearken to his Charge You shall understand that the Prisoner stands Indicted by the name of Edward Coleman late of the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex Gent. for that he as a false Traytor against our most Illustrious Serene and most Excellent Prince Charles by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith c. and 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 withdrawing 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 Sovereign Lord the King toward their Sovereign bear and by Law ought to have altogether to Withdraw Forsake and Extinguish and our said Sovereign Lord the King to Death and final Destruction to bring and put the Twenty Ninth day of September in the Seven and Twentieth year of the Reign of our said Sovereign Lord Charles the Second of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith c. at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster aforesaid in the County aforesaid 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 among the Subjects of our said Lord the King and wholly to Deprive Depose Deject and Disinherit our said Sovereign Lord the King of his Royal State Title Power and Rule of his Kingdom of England and to bring and put our said Sovereign Lord the King to final Death and Destruction and to overthrow and change the Government of the Kingdom of England and to alter the sincere and true Religion of God in this Kingdom by Law established and wholly to subvert and destroy the state of the whole Kingdom being in the universal parts thereof well Established and Ordained and to levy War against our said Sovereign Lord the King within his Realm of England And to accomplish and fulfill these his most wicked Treasons and Trayterous Designs and Imaginations aforesaid the said Edward Coleman afterward that is to say the Nine and twentieth day of September in the Twenty seventh year of the Reign of our said Lord the King at the Parish of St Margarets Westminster aforesaid in the County of Middlesex aforesaid Falsly Deceitfully and Trayterously Composed Contrived and Writ two Letters to be sent to one Monsieur le Chese then Servant and Confessor of Lewis the French King to Desire Procure and Obtain for the said Edward Coleman and other False Traytors against our said Sovereign Lord the King the Aid Assistance and Adherence of the said French King to alter the true Religion in this Kingdom Established to the Superstition of the Church of Rome and to subvert the Government of this Kingdom of England And afterwards that is to say the said Nine and twentieth day of September in the year aforesaid at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid the said Edward Coleman Falsely Trayterously and Maliciously Composed and Writ two other Letters to be sent to the said Monsieur le Chese then Servant and Confessor to the said French King to the Intent that he the said Monsieur le Chese should Intreat Procure and Obtain for the said Edward Coleman and other False Traytors against our Sovereign Lord the King Aid Assistance and Adherence of the said French King to alter the true Religion in this Kingdom of England Established to the Superstition of the Church of Rome and to subvert the Government of this Kingdom of England And that the said Edward Coleman in further Prosecution of his Treason and Trayterous Imaginations and Intentions as aforesaid afterward viz. the Twenty ninth day of September in the Seven and twentieth year of the Reign of our said Sovereign Lord King Charles of England c. the said several Letters from the said Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid Falsly
Maliciously and Trayterously did send to the said Monsieur le Chese into Parts beyond the Seas there to be delivered to him And that the said Edward Coleman afterward viz. the first day of December in the seven and twentieth year of our said Sovereign Lord the King at the said Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did receive from the said Monsieur le Chese one Letter in Answer to one of the said Letters first mentioned and written by him the said Edward Coleman to the said Monsieur le Chese which said Letter in Answer as aforesaid Falsly Maliciously and Trayterously received the day and year aforesaid at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster aforesaid the said Edward Coleman did falsly trayterously and maliciously read over and Peruse And that the said Edward Coleman the Letter so as aforesaid by him in Answer to the said Letter received into his Custody and Possession the Day and Year last mentioned at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster aforesaid in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did Falsly Maliciously and Trayterously Detain Conceal and Keep By which Letter the said Monsieur le Chese the Day and Year last mentioned at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did signifie and promise to the said Edward Coleman to obtain for the said Edward Coleman and other false Traytors against our Sovereign Lord the King Aid Assistance and Adherence from the said French King and that the said Edward Coleman afterward Viz. the tenth day of December in the seven and twentieth year of the Reign of our said Sovereign Lord the King at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid his wicked Treasons and Traiterous Designs and Proposals as aforesaid did tell and declare to one Mounsieur Revigni Envoy extraordinary from the French King to our most Serene and Sovereign Lord King Charles c. in the County aforesaid residing and did falsly maliciously and trayterously move and excite the said Envoy extraordinary to partake in his Treason and the sooner to fulfil and compleat his Traiterous Designs and wicked imaginations and intentions the said Edward Coleman afterward Viz. the tenth day of December in the seven and twentieth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King Charles the Second of England c. aforesaid at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did advisedly maliciously deceitfully and traiterously compose and write three other Letters to be sent to one Sir William Throckmorton Kt. then a Subject of our said Soveraign Lord the King of this Kingdome of England and residing in France in parts beyond the Seas Viz. at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid to sollicite the said Monsieur Le Chese to procure and obtain of the said French King Aid Assistance and Adherance as aforesaid and the said Letters last mentioned afterward Viz. the day and year last named as aforesaid from the said Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did falsly and tâ—aiterously send and cause to be delivered to the said Sir VVilliam Throckmorton in France aforesaid against his true Allegiance and against the Peace of our Sovereign Lord the King that now is his Crown and Dignity and against the Form of the Statute in that Case made and Provided Court Upon this Indictment he hath been arraigned and hath pleaded thereunto not guilty and for his Tryal he puts himself upon God and his Country Which Country you are Your Charge is to enquire whether he be guilty of the High Treason whereof he stands indicted or not guilty If you find him guilty you are to enquire what Goods and Chattels Lands and Tenements he had at the time when the High Treason was committed or at any time since If you find him not guilty you are to say so and no more and hear your Evidence Cryer If any one will give Evidence on the behalf of our Soveraign Lord the King against Edward Coleman the Prisoner at the Bar let him come forth and he shall be heard for the Prisoner now stands at the Bar upon his Deliverance Mr. Recorder May it please you my Lord and you Gentlemen of the Jury Mr. Edward Coleman now the prisoner at the Bar stands indicted for High Treason and the Indictment sets forth that the said Edward Coleman indeavouring to subvert the Protestant Religion and to change and alter the same And likewise to stir up Rebellion and Sedition amongst the Kings Liege people and also to kill the King did on the 29th of September in the twenty seventh year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord the King at the Parish of St. Margarets VVestminster in this County compose and write two several Letters to one Mounsieur Le Chese that was then servant and Confessor to the French King and this was to procure the French Kings aid and assistance to him and other Traitors to alter the Religion practised and by Law established here in England to the Romish Superstition The Indictment sets forth likewise that on the same day he did write and compose two other Letters to the same Gentleman that was servant and Confessor to the said King to prevail with him to procure the French Kings assistance to alter the Religion in this Kingdome established to the Romish Religion The Indictment sets further forth that he caused these two Letters to be sent beyond the Seas And it also sets forth that on the tenth of December the same moneth he did receive a Letter from the Gentleman that was the Confessor in answer to one of the former Letters and in that Letter aid and assistance from the French King was promised and that he did traiterously conceal that Letter My Lord the Indictment sets out further that on the tenth day of the same moneth he did reveal his Treasons and traiterous Conspiracies to one Mounsieur Revigni who was Envoy from the French king to his Majesty of Great Britain And his Indictment declares he afterwards did write three Letters more to Sir VVilliam Throckmorton then residing in France to procure the French Kings assistance to the alteration of the Religion practised here in England Of these several Offences he stands hereindicted To this he hath pleaded not guilty If we prove these or either of them in the Indictment you ought to find him guilty Serj. Maynard May it please your Lordship and you Gentlemen of the Jury This is a Cause of great Concernment Gentlemen the Prisoner at the Bar stands indicted for no less than for an intention and endeavour to murther the King For an endeavour and attempt to change the Government of the Nation so well settled and instituted and to bring us all to ruin and slaughter of one another and for an endeavour to alter the Protestant Religion and to introduce instead of it the Romish Superstition and Popery This
is the Charge in general of the Indictment We will proceed unto particulars whereby it may appear and whereupon he indeavoureth to accomplish his ends One or two Letters written to Mounsieur Le Chese he is a Foreigner and we have nothing to say to him being Confessor to the French King it was to excite and stir him up to procure aid and assistance and you know what aid and assistance means from a Foreign Prince Arms and other Levies We charge him with it that he did receive this Letter I and received an answer with a promise that he should have assistance He writ other Letters to Sir William Throckmorton who trayterously conspired with him and had intelligence from time to time from him This is the Charge in the Indictment To which he hath pleaded not guilty We will go on in our Evidence I shall but more generally open our method that we intend to take For it may seem strange and is not reasonably to be imagined that a private Gentleman as the Prisoner at the Bar is should have such vast and great designs as this to alter Religion destroy the Government I and destroy the Subjects too in a great measure But 't is not himself alone but he imploys himself for Forreign assistance great Confederacies and Combinations with the Subjects of that King many of whom he did pervert In the course of the Evidence I shall not open the particulars Mr. Attorney I think will do that by and by those that we have occasion to speak of and shall in proof mention to you will be these Le Chese the French Kings present Confessor we have mentioned before him there was one Father Ferryer with whom he held Correspondence That Ferryer being removed by death the Prisoner had an imployment here amongst us by which he gave to Le Chese instructions how to proceed This Gentleman is the great Contriver and Plotter which gives him instructions how to proceed He doth give him an account by way of Narrative how all things had stood upon former treaties and negotiations how businesses were contrived and how far they were gone this he diligently and accurately gives an account of This my Lord doth discover and delineate what had been done before until 1674. My Lord there was likewise Sir William Throckmorton and some others that are Englishmen too there are none of them but what were first Protestants but when they once renounced their Religion no wonder they should renounce their Nation and their Prince too He was gone beyond the Seas several Letters past between them and all to promote and encourage and accomplish this design My Lord there is likewise a consult of Jesuits used too where in express words they designed to murther the King or contrived and advised upon it My Lord there were four Irish men I open but the heads of things sent to Windsor to murther the King this Gentleman received and disbursed money about this business and one Ashby a Jesuit here had instructions from him to prosecute the design and to treat with a Physitian to poyson the King This the Prisoner approved of and contributed to it There were Commissions as I take it delivered from Ferryer or by his hand that came from Forreign powers Sir Henry Titchburn was another that received and delivered Commissions Pompone the French Gentleman he maintains intelligence with him about this business the Titular Arch-bishop of Dublin There 's Cardinal Norfolk by him he had accession to the Pope There was likewise the Popes Nuncio I do not open the transactions of these Iustructions these particulars will be made out not only by Witness Viva Voce and not single only but by Letters of this Mr. Colemans own writing But I offer that to the consideration of the Jury Mr. Oats was the first Man that we hear of that discovered this Treason he was the single man that discovered so many active Agents in so great a Treason as this was and it needed to be well seconded but he being found to be but single the boldness and courage of these Complotters in it grew great thereupon We know what followed the damnable murther of that Gentleman in Execution of his Office so Hellishly contrived and the endeavours that were used to hide it every body knows How many Stories were told to hide that abominable Murther how many lies there were about it but it could not be supprest The Nation is awaken'd out of sleep and it concerns us now to look about us But all this while Mr. Coleman thought himself safe walked in the Fields goes abroad Jealousie increasing and he himself still secure The Letters that are produced go but to some part of the year 75 from 75 unto 78 all lies in the dark we have no certain Proof of it but we apprehend he had Intelligence until 78 That there were the same persons continuing here and his Company increasing here But this I speak but as probable but very exceeding probable that there was other passages of Intelligence between this Person and other Confederates It seems my Lord that this Coleman was aware that he was concerned but God blinded and infatuated him and took away his reason It 's no question but he carried away some of those Papers those that were left behind and are produced he forgot and neglected and by that my Lord those which are produced are evidence against him at this time Surely he thought we were in such a condition that had eyes and could not see and ears that could not hear and understandings without understanding for he was bold and walked abroad and that until this prosecution was made upon him he endeavoured to murther the King change the Government make an alteration of Religion and destruction of Protestants as well as the Protestant Religion And it will be proved by some Letters when they were rejected by the Duke that he sent them in the Dukes name And by this no man will doubt but he is a great Traitor Attorn Gen. May it please your Lordship and you Gentlemen of the Jury The Kings Serjeant hath opened the general parts of our Evidence and we have reason to foresee that our Evidence will be very long and will take up much of your time and therefore I shall spend no more time in opening of it than is just necessary And indeed my Lord Mr. Coleman himself hath saved me much of the labour which otherwise I should have bestowed for he hath left such Elegant and copious Narratives of the whole Design under his own hand that the reading of them will be better than any new one I can make But my Lord some short account I shall give you such as may shew you the course of our Evidence and will make our Evidence when it comes to be given to be more intelligible My Lord It will appear that there hath been for many years last past a more than ordinary design and industry to bring in the
Father Le Chese There were two small matters they treated of no less than the Dissolving the Parliament and the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion Nay you will find and you will hear enough when the Letters come to be read that Mr. Coleman made many strokes at the Parliament he had no good opinion of them And we cannot blame him for without all peradventure they had made and I hope ever will make strong resistance against such Designs as these But a great mind he had to be rid of them and he had hopes of great Sums of Money from abroad if it had been to be done that way And it is very remarkable and shews the vanity of the Man he had such an opinion of the success of these Negotiations that he had penn'd a Declaration prepared by him and writ with his own hand to be published in Print up on the Dissolution of the Parliament to justifie that Action with many specious and plausible Reasons As he did this without any direction so he takes upon him to write a Declaration as in the Name of the King without the least shadow of any command to do it so he prepares a Letter also in the name of the Duke and I would not affirm unless I could prove it and that from his own Confession being examined before the Lords upon Oath that he had no manner of Authority from the Duke to prepare such a Letter and when it was written and brought to the Duke it was rejected and the Writer justly blamed for his presumption By this you will perceive the forwardness of this Man And you must of necessity take notice that in his Letters he took upon himself to manage Affairs as authorized by the greatest Persons in the Kingdom yet without the least shadow of proof that he was by them impowered to do it My Lord you shall find Mr. Coleman thought himself above all and such was his own over-weening opinion of his Wit and Policy that he thought himself the sole and supreme Director of all the Affairs of the Catholicks You will likewise perceive that he held Intelligence with Cardinal Norfolk with Father Sheldon and the Popes Internuntio at Brussels And I cannot but observe out of the Proofs that as we shall find Mr. Coleman very ambitious and forward in all great Affairs so he had a little too much Eye to the Reward he looked too much asquint upon the matter of Money his great endeavours were not so much out of Conscience or out of Zeal to his Religion as out of temporal Interest to him Gain was instead of Godliness And by his Letters to the French Confessor Monsieur Le Chese it will be proved that he got much Money from the Catholicks here and some from abroad but still he wanted Money What to do I do not mean the greater sum of two hundred thousand pounds to procure the Dissolution of the Parliament but some twenty thousand pounds onely To be expended by him in secret Service I do not know what account he would have given of it if he had been intrusted with it But that he earnestly thirsted after Money appeareth by most of his Letters My Lord you will observe besides his Intelligences that he had with Father Le Chese and several others one that deserves to be named and that is his Negotiation with Sir William Frogmorton who was sent over into France and there resided a long time to promote these Designs He is dead therefore I will not say so much of him as I would say against him if he was here to be tri'd But my Lord I find in his Letters such Treasonable such Impious expressions against the King such undutiful Characters of him that no good Subject would write and no good Subject would receive and conceal as Mr. Coleman hath done My Lord it may pass for a wonder how we come to be Masters of all these Papers it has in part been told you already There was an information given of the general Design nay of some of the particulars against the Kings Life And without all peradventure Mr. Coleman knew of this Discovery and he knew that he had Papers that could speak too much and he had time and opportunity enough to have made them away and I make no question but he did make many away We are not able to prove the continuance of his correspondence so as to make it clearly out but we suppose that continued until the day he was seized And there is this to be proved that Letters came for him though we cannot say any were delivered to him after he was in Prison But without all peradventure the Man had too much to do too many Papers to conceal Then you 'll say he might have burnt them all for many would burn as well as a few But then he had lost much of the Honour of a great States-man many a fine Sentence and many a deep Intrigue had been lost to all Posterity I believe that we owe this Discovery to something of Mr. Coleman's Vanity he would not lose the Glory of managing these important Negotiations about so great a Design He thought 't was no small Reputation to be intrusted with the Secrets of Forreign Ministers If this was not his reason God I believe took away from him that clearness of Judgment and strength of Memory which he had upon other occasions My Lord I shall no longer detain you from reading the Papers themselves But I cannot but account this Kingdom happy that these Papers are preserved For my Lord We are to deal with a sort of men that have that prodigious confidence that their words and deeds though proved by never so unsuspected Testimony they will still deny But my Lord no denial of this Plot will prevail for Mr. Coleman himself hath with his own hand recorded this Conspiracy and we can prove his hand not onely by his own Servants and Relations but by his own Confession So that my Lord I doubt not that if there be any of their own Party that hear this Trial they themselves will be satisfi'd with the truth of these things And I believe we have an advantage in this case which they will not allow us in another matter namely that we shall be for this once permitted to believe our own Senses Our Evidence consisteth of two parts one is Witnesses Viva voce which we desire with the favour of the Court to begin with and when that is done we shall read several Letters or Negotiations in writing and so submit the whole to your Lordships direction Pris I beg leave that a poor ignorant Man that is so heavily charged that it seems a little unequal to consider the reason why a Prisoner in such a case as this is is not allowed Counsel but your Lordship is supposed to be Counsel for him But I think it very hard I cannot be admitted Counsel and I humbly hope your Lordship will not suffer me
at the Council-Table L. Ch. Just Sir Thomas you are not upon your Oath but are to speak on the behalf of the Prisoner what did he say Sir Tho. Dolman That he did not well know him L. Ch. Just Did he add that he did not well know him by the Candle light But Mr. Oats when you heard his voice you said you knew him why did you not come then and say you did well know him Mr. Oats Because I was not asked L. Ch. Just But Sir Thomas did he say he did not well know him after M. Coleman spake Was Mr. Coleman examined before Mr. Oats spake Sir Tho. Doleman Yes L. Ch. Just Mr. Oats you say you were with him at the Savoy and Wild-house pray Sir Thomas did he say he did not know him or had seen Mr. Coleman there Sir Tho. Dolman He did not know him as he stood there L. Ch. Just Knowing or not knowing is not the present question but did he make an answer to the knowing or not knowing him Just Dolben Did he say he did not well know Mr. Coleman or that he did not well know that man Sir Tho. Dolman He said he had no acquaintance with that man to the best of my remembrance L. Ch. Just Sir Robert Southwell you were present at Mr. Oats his Examination before the Council in what manner did he accuse Mr. Coleman then Sir Robert Southwell The question is so particular I cannot give the Court satisfaction but other material things then said are now omitted by Mr. Oats for he did declare against Sir George Wakeman that five thousand pounds was added in all fifteen thousand pounds and that Mr. Coleman paid five of the fifteen to Sir George in hand L. Ch. Just This answers much of the Objection upon him The Court has asked Mr. Oats how he should come now to charge you with all these matters of poysoning and killing the King and yet he mentioned you so slightly at the Council-Table but it is said by Sir Robert Southwell he did charge you with five thousand pounds for poisoning the King to be added to the ten thousand pounds and he charged you expresly with it at the Council Table Pris The Charge was so slight against me by Mr. Oats that the Council were not of his Opinion For the first order was to go to Newgate and Sir Robert Southwell came with directions to the Messenger not to execute the Order I humbly ask whether it was a reasonable thing to conceive that the Council should extenuate the punishment if Mr. Oats came with such an amazing account to the Council Sir Rob. South Mr. Oats gave so large and general an Information to the Council that it could not easily be fixed Mr. Coleman came voluntarily in upon Monday morning The Warrant was sent out on Sunday night for Mr. Coleman and his Papers His Papers were found and seized but Mr. Coleman was not found at that time nor all Night but came on Monday morning voluntarily and offered himself at Sir Joseph Williamson's House hearing there was a Warrant against him By reason of so many Prisoners that were then under Examination he was not heard till the Afternoon and then he did with great Indignation and Contempt hear these vile things as thinking himself innocent Pris If I thought my self guilty I should have charged my self I hope his Majesty upon what hath been said will be so far satisfied as to discharge me Sir Rob. South Mr. Coleman then made so good a discourse for himself that though the Lords had filled up a blank Warrant to send him to Newgate that was respited and he was only committed to a Messenger I did say to the Messenger be very civil to Mr. Coleman for things are under Examination but you must keep him safely Saith the Messenger pray let me have a special Warrant that doth dispence with the Warrant I had to carry him to Newgate and such a Warrant he had The King went away on Tuesday morning to Newmarket and appointed a particular Committee to examine the Papers brought of Mr. Coleman and others His Papers were found in a Deal box and several of these Papers and Declarations sounded so strangely to the Lords that they were amazed and presently they signed a Warrant for Mr. Coleman's going to Newgate L. Ch. Just Did Mr. Oats give a round Charge against Mr. Coleman Sir Rob. South He had a great deal to do he was to repeat in the Afternoon on Sunday when the King was present all he had said to the Lords on Saturday He did say of Mr. Coleman that he had corresponded very wickedly and basely with the French King's Confessor and did believe if Mr. Coleman's Papers were searched there would be found in them that which would cost him his Neck And did declare that the fifteen thousand pounds was accepted for the murther of the King and that five thousand pounds was actually paid by Mr. Coleman to Sir George Wakeman But Mr. Oats at the same time did also declare that he did not see the mony paid he did not see this particular action of Sir George Wakeman because at that time he had the Stone and could not be present Mr. Oats I was not present at that Consult where the fifteen thousand pounds was accepted but I had an account of it from those that were present L. Ch. Just It appears plainly by this Testimony that he did charge you Mr. Coleman home that fifteen thousand pounds was to be paid for poysoning the King and that it was generally said among them though he did not see it paid that it came by your hands viz. five thousand pounds of it which answers your objection as if he had not charged you when you see he did charge you home then for being one of the Conspirators in having a hand in paying of 〈◊〉 for poysoning the King he charges you now no otherwise than in that manner He doth not charge you no◠as if there were new things started but with the very conspiracy of having a hand in paying the money for murthering the King What consultation was that you had at the Savoy in the Month of August Mr. Oats It was about the business of the four Irish Ruffians proposed to the Consult The end of Mr. Oats's Examination Mr. Bedlow Sollicit Gen. We call him to give an account what he knows of the Prisoners being privy to the conspiracy of murthering the King particularly to that Mr. Bedlow pray acquaint my Lord and the Jury what you know I desire to know particularly as it concerns Mr. Coleman and nothing but Mr. Coleman L. Ch. Just Mr. Attorney pray keep to that Question close Attorn Gen. I have two short questions to ask him The first is what he hath seen or heard touching any Commission to Mr. Coleman what say you Mr. Bedlow In particular I know not of any Commission directed to Mr. Coleman I do not know any thing of it but what Sir Henry
you went to Mr. Coleman whether you seized his Papers and what Papers you saw and how you disposed of them after they were seiz'd Mr. Bradly The 29th of September being Sunday Evening at Six of the Clock I received a Warrant from the Council-Board to apprehend Mr. Coleman and to seize his Papers and to bring them to the Council-board He being not at home I spoke with his Wife and told her I came to search her House I had a Warrant so to do She told me I was welcom I dedesir'd her to send for her Husband I found in several parts of the House a great many Papers I put them up in several Bags I found some in a private corner in a Deal Box. L. Ch. Just What kind of Corner Mr. Bradly In Mr. Coleman's Chamber not in his own Study but in another place behind the Chimney the Box was tack'd together with a Nail I lifted it up and saw they were Letters I put it down again as it was and gave it into the custody of one that was with me to look to it Then I came to his own Study where his ' Scritore was and put up all I could find in several Baggs and Sealed them and brought them to the Council-chamber Attorn Gen. Did you put up any other Papers among them then what you found at Mr. Coleman's House Mr. Bradly I did not upon my Oath I had them all at Mr. Coleman's House Attorn General Did you bring them all to the Clerks of the Council Mr. Bradly Yes Before I came out I tyed them all up and sealed them with my own Seal and was constantly with them At. Gen. Now we will give your Lordship an account how these things were received that were there found Sir Robert Southwell look upon the large Letter and tell my Lord and the Jury whether that were among the Papers brought by this Messenger Sir Robert Southwel My Lord I did not see this Letter in several days after the papers brought me from Bradly when he came in with Three great Baggs and a Box of Letters on Sunday night Said I which are Mr. Coleman's principal papers Said he those that are in the large speckled cloath Bagg for these we took first in the Scritore These I took and meddled not with the other I presume other Clerks of the Council can give a particular account where this paper was found At. Gen. Sir Thomas Doleman look upon the Letter whether you can remember any thing of it Sir Th. Doleman I remember I found it in a Deal Box among Mr. Coleman's papers those that Bradly brought Court That 's plain enough At. Gen. That we may not often prove what we shall often make use of I would prove it fully once for all that all these papers were of his Hand-writing This we can prove by two sorts of Evidences his own Confession and the Witness of Two persons one that was his Servant and th' other a Sub-Secretary that did write very many things for him Mr. Boatman look upon these papers Tell my Lord and the Jury whose Hand it is Are you acquainted with Mr. Coleman's Hand What relation had you to him Boatman I was his Gentleman that waited on him in his Chamber Five Years This is very like his Hand Lord Ch. Just Do you believe it is his hand Boatman I believe it is Lord Ch. Just Little proof will serve the turn because they were taken in his possession At. Gen. I desire to prove it fully look upon all the Papers turn all the Leaves see if they be not all one hand and whether you believe all to be Mr. Coleman's hand Writing or not Boatman I believe it to be all his hand Lord Ch. Just Do you know when the last Packet of Letters came up that were sent to Mr. Coleman from beyond the Seas Boatman Two or three dayes after he was taken Prisoner Lord Ch. Just Do you know where they are bestowed Did you receive Monsieur Le Chese's Letters for Mr. Coleman Boatman Yes Lord Ch. Just Did you ever Write any for him to Le Chese Boatman No. At. Gen. Inform the Court whether he kept any Book to make Entry of Letters he sent or received Boatman Yes there was a large Book my Master did enter his Letters in and his News At. Gen. What is become of that Book Boatman I know not At. Gen. When did you see that Book last upon your Oath Boatman On Saturday At. Gen. How long before he was sent to Prison Boat Two days because the next day was Sunday which he did not make use of it on Monday my Master was in Prison and I did not mind the Book L. Ch. Just Were there any Entries of Letters in that Book within Two Years last past Boatman I cannot be positive At. Gen. Did he not usually write and receive Letters from beyond Sea Till that time had he not Negotiation as usually Boatman He had usually News every Post from beyond the Seas Prisoner There 's Letters from the Hague Brussels France and Rome they are all with the Council which were all the Letters I received Att. Gen. We have another Witness Cattaway are you acquainted with Coleman's Hand-writing Do you believe it to be his Hand-writing Witness I believe it is they are his Hand-writing Att. Gen. It will appear if there were no other proof in this Cause his own papers are as good as an hundred Witnesses to condemn him Therefore I desire to prove them fully by his own Confession Sir Phil. Lloyd a Witness These are the Papers I received from Sir Thomas Doleman I found them as he saith in a Deal Box Among his Papers I found this Letter Mr. Coleman hath owned this was his Hand-writing it 's all one Letter Att. Gen. 'T is all the same Hand and he acknowledged it to be his Mr. Recorder I desire Mr. Astrey may read it so that the Jury may hear it Mr. Astrey Clerk of the Crown reads the Letter The 29th of September 1675. It is subscribed thus Your most humble and most obedient Servant but no name Mr. COLEMANS Long Letter SInce Father St. German has been so kind to me as to recommend me to your Reverence so advantagiously as to encourage you to accept of my Correspondency I will own to him that he has done me a Favour without Consulting me greater than I could have been capable of if he had advised with me because I could not then have had the Confidence to have permitted him to ask it on my behalf And I am so sensible of the Honour you are pleased to do me that though I cannot deserve it yet to shew at least the sense I have of it I will deal as freely and openly with you this first time as if I had had the honour of your Acquaintance all my life and shall make no Apology for so doing but only tell you that I know your Character perfectly well though I am not so happy
as to know your Person and that I have an Opportunity of putting this Letter into the hands of Father St. German â—s Nephew for whose Integrity and Prudence he has undertaken without any sort of hazard In order then Sir to the plainness I profess I will tell you what has formerly passed between your Reverence's Predecessor Father Ferryer and my self About three years ago when the King my Master sent a Troop of Horse Guards into his most Christian Majesties Service under the Command of my Lord Durass he sent with it an Officer called Sir William Throckmorton with whom I had a particular Intimacy and who had then very newly embrac'd the Catholick Religion To him did I constantly Write and by him address my self to Father Ferryer The first thing of great Importance I presumed to offer him not to trouble you with lesser matters or what passed here before and immediatly after the Fatal Revocation of the Kings Declaration for Liberty of Conscience to which we owe all our Miseries and hazards was in July August and September 1673. when I constantly inculcated the great danger Catholick Religion and his most Christian Majesties Interest would be in at our next Sessions of Parliament which was then to be in October following at which I plainly foresaw that the King my Master would be forced to something in prejudice to his Allyance with France which I saw so evidently and particularly that we should make Peace with Holland that I urg'd all the Arguments I could which to me were Demonstrations to convince your Court of that mischief and press'd all I could to perswade his most Christian Majesty to use his utmost endeavour to prevent that session of our Parliament and proposed Expedients how to do it But I was answered so often and so positively that his most Christian Majesty was so vvell assured by his Embassador here our Embassador there the Lord Arlington and even the King himself that he had no such apprehensions at all but vvas fully satisfied of the contrary and lookt upon what I offered as a very zealous mistake that I was forced to give over arguing though not believing as I did but confidently appealed to time and success to prove who took their measures rightest When it happened what I foresaw came to pass the good Father was a little surprized to see all the great men mistaken and a little one in the right and was pleased by Sir William Throckmorton to desire the continuance of my correspondence which I was mighty willing to comply with knowing the Interest of our King and in a more particular manner of my more immediate Master the Duke and his most Christian Majesty to be so inseparably united that it was impossible to divide them without destroying them all Upon this I shewed that our Parliament in the circumstances it was managed by the timerous Councels of our Ministers who then governed would never be useful either to England France or Catholick Religion but that we should as certainly be forced from our Neutrality at their next meeting as we had been from our Active Alliance with France the last year That a Peace in the Circumstances we were in was much more to be desired then the continuance of the War and that the Dissolution of our Parliament would certainly procure a Peace for that the Confederates did more depend upon the power they had in our Parliament then upon any thing else in the World and were more encouraged from them to the continuing of the War so that if they were Dissolved their measures would be all broken and they consequently in a manner necessitated to a Peace The good Father minding this Discourse somewhat more then the Court of France thought fit to do my former urg'd it so home to the King that his Majesty was pleased to give him Orders to signify to his R. H. my Master that his Majesty vvas fully satisfyed of his R. H s. good intention tovvards him and that he esteemed both their interests but as one and the same that my Lord Arlington and the Parliament were both to be lookt upon as very unuseful to their interest That if his R. H. would endeavour to dissolve this Parliament his most Christian Majesty would assist him with his Povver and Purse to have a nevv one as should be for their purpose This and a great many more expressions of kindness and confidence Father Ferryer was pleased to communicate to Sir William Throckmorton and Commanded them to send them to his R. H. and withall to beg his R. H. to propose to his most Christian Majesty what he thought necessary for his own concern and the advantage of Religion and his Majesty would certainly do all he could to advance both or either of them This Sir William Throckmorton sent to me by an Express who left Paris the 2d of June 1674 Stilo novo I no sooner had it but I communicated it to his R. H. To which his R. H. commanded me to answer as I did on the 29th of the same month That his R. H. was very sensible of his most Christian Majesties friendship and that he would labour to cultivate it with all the good Offices he was capable of doing for his Majesty that he was fully convinced that their Interests were both one that my Lord Arlington and the Parliament vvere not only unuseful but very dangerous both to England and France That therefore it was necessary that they should do all they could to Dissolve it And that his R. H's opinion was that if his most Christian Majesty would Write his thoughts freely to the King of England upon this Subject and make the same proffer to his Majesty of his Purse to Dissolve this Parliament which he had made to his R H. to call another he did believe it very possible for him to succeed with the assistance we should be able to give him here and that if this Parliament were Dissolved there would be no great difficulty of getting a new one which would be more useful The Constitutions of our Parliaments being such that a new one can never hurt the Crown nor an old one do it good His R. H. being pleased to own these Propositions which were but only general I thought it reasonable to be more particular and come closer to the point we might go the faster about the work and come to some issue before the time was too far spent I laid this for my Maxim The Dissolution of our Parliament will certainly procure a Peace which proposition was granted by every body I Conversed withall even by Monsieur Rouvigny himself with whom I took liberty of discoursing so far but durst not say any thing of the Intelligence I had with Father Ferryer Next that a Sum of Money certain would certainly procure a Dissolution this some doubted but I am sure I never did for I knew perfectly well that the King had frequent Disputes with himself at that time whether
We Our Self should assist that Our Commission in Our Person for not being excepted is implyed with the other made by this very Parliament in the 14th year of Our Reign which all Our Subjects or at least many of them were obliged to Swear viz. That the Doctrine of taking up Arms by the King's Authority against His Person was detestable and We soon found that the Design was levelled against the good Protestant Religion of Our good Church which its Enemies had a mind to Blemish by sliding in slily those damnable Doctrines by such an Authority as that of Our Parliament into the Profession of Our Faith or Practices and so expose Our whole Religion to the Scorn and Reproach of themselves and all the World We therefore thought it Our duty to be so watchful as to prevent the Enemies sowing such mischievous Tares as these in the wholsom Field of Our Church of England and to guard the unspotted Spouse of Our Blessed Lord from that foul Accusation with which she justly charges other Churches of teaching their Children Loyalty with so many Reserves and Conditions that they shall never want a distinction to justifie Rebellion nor a Text of Scripture as good as Curse ye Meroz to encourage them to be Traitors whereas Our truly Reformed Church knows no such Subtilties but teaches according to the simplicity of Christianity To submit to every Ordinance of Man for God's sake according to the natural signification of the words without equivocation or Artificial turns In order to which having thought to dissolve that Body which We have these many years so tenderly Cherished and which We are sure consists generally of most Dutiful and Loyal Members We were forc'd to Prorogue Our Parliament till November next hoping thereby to cure those Disorders which have been sown amongst the Best and Loyallest Subjects by a few malicious Incendiaries But understanding since that such who have sowed that Seditious seed are as industriously careful to water it by their Cabals and Emissaries instructed on purpose to poison Our People with discourses in publick places in hopes of a great Crop of Confusion their beloved fruit the next Sessions We have found it absolutely necessary to Dissolve Our Parliament though with great reluctancy and violence to Our inclination But remembring the dayes of Our Royal Father and the progress of Affairs then how from a Cry against Popery the people went on to complain of Grievances and against Evil Councellors and His Majesties Prerogative untill they advanc'd into a formal Rebellion which brought forth the most dire and fatal Effects that ever were yet heard of amongst any men Christians or others and withal finding so great a resemblance between the Procedings then and now that they seem both Broth of the same brains and being Confirm'd in that Conceit by observing the Actions of many now who had a great share in the management of the former Rebellion and their zeal for Religion who by their lives give us too much reason to suspect they have none at all VVe thought it not safe to dally too long as Our Royal Father did with submissions and condescentions endeavouring to cure men infected without removing them from the Air where they got the disease and in which it still rages and increases daily For fear of meeting with no better success than He found in suffering his Parliament to Challenge Power they had nothing to do with till they had bewitch'd the people into fond desires of such things as quickly destroyed both King and Country which in Us would be an intollerable Error having been warn'd so lately by the most Execrable Murther of Our Royal Father and the inhumane Usage which We Our Self in Our Royal Person and Family have suffered and Our Loyal Subjects have endured by such practices And least this Our great Care of this Our Kingdomes Quiet and Our own Honour and Safety should as Our best Actions have hitherto been be wrested to some sinister Sence and Arguments be made from it to scare Our Good People into any apprehensions of an Arbitrary Government either in Church or State We do hereby solemnly declare and faithfully engage Our Royal Word That VVe will in no case either Ecclesiastical or Civil violate or alter the known Lawes of Our Kingdom or invade any man's Property or Liberty without due course of Law But that We will with Our utmost Indeavours preserve the true Protestant Religion and Redress all such things as shall indifferently and without passion be judg'd Grievances by Our next Parliament which We do by God's blessing intend to Call before the end of February next In the mean time We do strictly Charge and Command all manner of persons whatsoever to forbear to talk seditiously slightly or irreverently of Our Dissolving of the Parliament of this Our Declaration or of Our Person or Government as they will answer it at their perils VVe being resolv'd to prosecute all Offenders in that kind with the utmost rigour and severity of the Law And to the end that such Licentious persons if any shall be so impudent and obstinate as to disobey this Our Royal Command may be detected and brought to due Punishment We have Ordered Our Lord Treasurer to make speedy payment of Twenty pounds to any person or persons who shall discover or bring any such seditious slight or irreverent Talker before any of Our Principal Secretaries of State Record I would have the Jury should know the Declaration ends To one of his Majesties Principal Secretaries of State whereof he hoped to be one Att. Gen. This is written in the name of the King for Mr. Coleman thought himself now Secretary of State and he penns the Declaration for the King to give an Account why the Parliament was Dissolved Serj. Maynard The long Letter it appears was to dissolve the Parliament and to make it Cock-sure he provides a Declaration to shew the Reason of it It was done in order to bring in Popery that may appear by the subsequent proof Att. Gen. I have other Evidence to offer to your Lordship which is That Mr. Coleman was not onely so bold as to prepare a Declaration for the King but also out of his own further ingenuity prepares a Letter contrary to the Duke's knowledg for the Duke which before several Lords he confessed and Sir Philip Floyd is here ready to justifie it Sir Phil. Floyd I did attend a Committee of the House of Lords to Newgate who examined Mr. Coleman and told him of the Letter Mr. Attorney mentioneth he then confessed That it was prepared without the Order and Privity of the Duke and when he was so bold as to shew it the Duke the Duke was very Angry and rejected it L. Chief Just He hath been a very forward undertaker on the behalf of the Duke Mr. Att. Gen. I desire the Letter may be read The Copy of the Letter written to Monsieur Le Chese the French King's Confessor which Mr. Coleman confessed he