your self very ill designing very great evil to all these and now it hath pleased God to bring you to Judgment I must tell you peradventure what you urge for your self might introduce pity if it were to be believed that is that you are innocent and had Witnesses to prove it but we cannot suppose any man innocent that hath had a legal and a fair Trial and a Trial with as much candor to you as your Case could bear or as perhaps any man in such a Case ever had You had time upon your Request to send for your Witnesses to help you in your Defence and to have proved your Innocence if you could have done it Time long enough to your own Content you your self thought it so at the time it was given To give a Prisoner under your circumstances five or six weeks time to send for Witnesses is not usual we could have put you upon a present Defence and hurried you out of the World by a suddain Trial if we had had any Design against you but we go on in a fair way and with legal Proceedings and with as much Respect to you as in such a Case could be used for we gave you all the fair Hearing and Liberty that you desired to have Look you as to what you urge that your Trial was in this Kingdom whereas your Offence was in another that is a thing that does not become you by any means to object for you have had a Trial here by honest persons and that according to the Laws which obtain in this Kingdom and that too of Ireland which is by a Statute not made on purpose to bring you into a Snare but an ancient Statute and not without Presidents of its having been put in execution before your time For your own Country will afford you several Presidents in this Case as O Rurke and several others that have been arraigned and condemned for Treason done there So that you have no reason to except against the Legality of your Trial. You say now you have Witnesses that could prove all this Matter why that lies in the mouth of any man that is condemned to say but pray consider with your self what Regard ought to be given to this We cannot help it if your Witnesses don't come you may remember they wanted not Time nor Opportunity to come over but you told us they would not come unless they had a Passport Plunket My Lord they got a Pass to come over afterwards and so in eight days they came hither Lord Chief Justice You might have provided your self if they wanted such a thing In the first place no body is bound to give it them much less could you expect it for them without asking Plunkett I could not get the Copies of the Records neither by any means unless I had an Order from the Council and they would not give that Order unless your Lordship appointed it L. C. J. We cannot tell that you should have petitioned in time Plunkett How could any one foresee unless he was God Almighty that they would deny it or that he could not get out a Copy of a Record paying for it without a Petition All the Friends I had told me upon Motion there it might be had but here I have it under the Lieutenants and Councils Hands that they would give no Copy of Records without Order from hence which before I could know it it was impossible for me to have them ready against my Trial. L. C. J. Look you Sir I do speak this to you to shew you that those Objections which you seem to make against your Trial have no weight at all but in this Case it is not the Jury that are so material as the Witnesses themselves I appeal to all that heard your Trial if they could so much as doubt but that you were Guilty of what you were charged with For consider here were persons that were of your own Religion the most of them Priests I think almost all of them in Orders Plunkett There were two Friars and a Priest whom I endeavoured to correct this seven Years and they were Renegadoes from our Religion and declared Apostates L. C. J. Look you Sir they gave an Evidence very home to your matter you had liberty to examine them and they gave you a rational Accompt of any thing you ask'd Let me but put you in mind of one thing You made Exceptions to one's Evidence and indeed that was very much of your Exception to all why he did not reveal this in all that time Truly he told you he was of your mind till he went into France and saw what a Slavery and Mischief you endeavoured to introduce upon his and your own Countrymen and this his Spirit rose against to see what a condition Ireland was like to be brought into And pray did not he give you a full Answer to that Question Plunkett I had sufficient Witnesses to prove he was an Apostate and was chastised by me and therefore had prepensed Malice against me Lord Chief Justice Therefore I have spoken this to the Satisfaction I hope of your self and all that hear it I do now wish you to consider you are near your end It seems you have lived in a false Religion hitherto it is not too late at any time to repent I wish you may have the Grace to do so In the mean time there is no room for us here to grant you any kind of Mercy though I 'le tell you we are inclined to pity all Malefactors Who ever have done evil we are inclined to pity them and wish heartily that they may repent as we do that you may of what you have done But all we can do now is to say what the Law says and that is to pass Judgment upon you Plunkett May it please your Lordship to give me leave to speak one word If I were a man that had no care of my Conscience in this matter and did not think of God Almighty or Conscience or Heaven or Hell I might have saved my Life For I was offered it by divers people here so I would but confess my own Guilt and accuse others But my Lord I had rather die ten thousand deaths than wrongfully accuse any body And the time will come when your Lordship will see what these Witnesses are that have come in against me I do assure your Lordship if I were a man that had not good Principles I might easily have saved my own Life but I had rather die ten thousand deaths than wrongfully to take away one farthing of any mans Goods one day of his Liberty or one minute of his Life L. C. J. I am sorry to see you persist in the Principles of that Religion Plunket They are those Principles that even God Almighty cannot dispence withal L. C. J. Well however the Judgment which we give you is that which the Law says and speaks And therefore you must go from hence to the place from whence you came that is to Newgate and from thence you shall be drawn through the City of London to Tyburne there you shall be hanged by the Neck but cut down before you are dead your Bowels shall be taken out and burnt before your Face your Head shall be cut off and your Body be divided into Four Quarters to be disposed of as his Majesty pleases And I pray God to have Mercy upon your Soul Plunket My Lord I hope I may have this favour of leave for a Servant and some few Friends that I have to come at me L C. J. I think you may have liberty for any Servant to come to you I know nothing to the contrary Plunket And some Friends that I have in Town L. C. J. But I would advise you to have some Minister to come to you some Protestant Minister Plunket My Lord if you please there are some in Prison that never were Indicted or Accused of any Crime and they will do my business very well for they will do it according to the Rites of our own Church which is the antient Usage they cannot do better and I would not alter it now L. C. J. Mr. Richardson you may let his Servant come to him and any Friend in your presence to see there be no Evil done nor any Contrivances that may hereafter have an Influence upon Affairs Mr. Just Jones Be you present or some body Plunket My Servant I hope may come without his being present L. C. J. Yes yes his Servant may be with him alone Well Sir we wish better to you than you do to your self Plunket God Almighty bless your Lordship And now my Lord as I am a dead Man to this World and as I hope for Mercy in the other World I was never guilty of any of the Treasons laid to my Charge as you will hear in time and my Character you may receive from my Lord Chancellor of Ireland my Lord Berkley my Lord Essex and the Duke of Ormond Then the Keeper took away his Prisoner and upon Friday the First of July he was Executed according to the Sentence FINIS ADVERTISEMENT Some Passages of the Life and Death of John Earl of Rochester who died the 26. of July 1680. By Gilbert Burnet D. D. Are to be sold by Eliphal Dobson Bookseller on Cork-Hill 1681.
of hard measure and injustice yet if I have not full time to bring my Records and Witnesses altogether I cannot make my Defence Some were there then some afar off so that it was a miracle that in six or seven Counties they could do so much as they did But they got in seven or eight of them yet there were five or six wanting Therefore I beseech your Lordship that I may have time to bring my Records and Witnesses and then I will defie all that is upon the Earth and under the Earth to say any thing against me L. C. J. Look you Mr. Plunket 't is in vain for you to talk and make this discourse here now you must know that by the Laws of this Kingdom when a man is indicted and arraigned of Treason or Felony 't is not usual to give such time 't is rare that any man hath had such time as you have had five weeks time to provide your Witnesses If your Witnesses are so cautions and are such persons that they dare not or will not venture for fear of being apprehended or will not come into England without such and such cautions we cannot tell how to help it we can't furnish you with Witnesses you must look to get your Witnesses your self if we should stay till your Witnesses will come perhaps they will never come here and so you will escape out of the hands of Justice Do not be discouraged in this the Jury are strangers to you peradventure but they are honest Gentlemen and you shall have no other upon your Jury and you may be confident that if there be not some Fact proved against you that may amount to Treason you shall be discharged they are persons that understand so much and we will direct them so much You shall have as fair a Tryal as if you were in Ireland but for us to stay for your Witnesses or send you back to Ireland we cannot do it Therefore you must submit to your Tryal We heard your Affidavit yesterday and we did then tell the Gentlemen that moved it as much as we tell you You are here to be tried look to the Jury as they are called and except against them if you will Plunk My Lord I desire only to have the favour of time some time this Term. L. C. J. We can't do it Cl. of Cr. Swear Sir John Roberts Plunk I humbly present this to your Lordship I am then in eminent danger of my Life if I cannot get ten days to have my Witnesses over I desire I may have but to the 21th of this month and then if they do not come you may go on L. C. J. We cannot do it you have had five weeks time already Plunk I desire but a few days Cryer Sir John Roberts take the Book look upon the Prisoner You shall well and truly try c. Plunket My Lord I desire to know whether they have been of the Juries of Langhorn or the Five Jesuits or any that were condemned L. C. J. What if they have that is no exception Then the Jury was sworn whose Names follow Sir John Roberts Thomas Harriot Henry Ashurst Ralph Bucknall Richard Gowre Richard Pagett Thomas Earsby John Hayne Thomas Hodgkins James Partherich Samuel Baker William Hardy Cl. of Cr. Oliver Plunket hold up thy Hand You of the Jury look upon the Prisoner and hearken to his Charge HE stands indicted by the Name of Oliver Plunket late of Westminster in the County of Middlesex Dr. of Divinity for that he as a false Traytor against the most Illustrious and most Excellent Prince our Sovereign Lord Charles the second by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King and his natural Lord the fear of God in his heart not having nor weighing the duty of his Allegiance but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil the cordial Love and true and due natural Obedience which true and faithful Subjects of our Said Sovereign Lord the King towards him our said Sovereign Lord the King do and of right ought to bear utterly withdrawing and contriving and with all his might intending the Peace and common Tranquillity within the Kingdom of Ireland as also of this Kingdom of England to disturb and War and Rebellion against our said Sovereign Lord the King in the Kingdom of Ireland then being the Dominion of our said Sovereign Lord the King in parts beyond this Seas to stir up and move and the Government of our said Sovereign Lord the King there to subvert and our said Sovereign Lord the King from his Regal Power Government there to Depose and Deprive and our said Sovereign Lord the King that now is to Death and final Destruction to bring and put and the true Worship of God within the said Kingdom of Ireland by Law established and used to alter to the Superstition of the Romish Church the first day of December in the year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles the Second now King of England c. the 32th and divers other days and times as well before as after at Dublin in the Kingdom of Ireland in parts beyond the Seas with divers other false Traytors unknown traiterously did compass imagine and intend the killing Death and final Destruction of our said Sovereign Lord the King and the antient Government of his said Kingdom of Ireland to change alter and wholly to subvert and him our said Sovereign Lord the King that now is from the Crown Government of his Kingdom of Ireland aforesaid to depose deprive and the true Protestant Religion to extirpate and War and Rebellion against our said Sovereign Lord the King there to move and levy And to fulfil and accomplish his said most wicked Treasons and Traiterous compassings imaginations and purposes aforesaid he the said Oliver Plunket the said first day of December in the abovesaid 32th Year of the Reign of our said Sovereign Lord the King that now is with Force and Arms c. at Dublin in the Kingdom of Ireland then being the Dominion of our said Sovereign Lord the King in parts beyond the Seas maliciously devilishly and traiterously did assemble and gather together himself with divers other Traitors unknown and then and there devilishly advisedly maliciously subtilly and traterously did consult and agree our said Sovereign Lord the King that now is to Death and final Destruction to bring and from his Crown and Government aforesaid to depose and deprive and the Religion of the Romish Church into the Kingdom of Ireland aforesaid to introduce and establish and the sooner to fulfil and perfect his said most wicked Treasons and traitorous imaginations and purposes he the said Oliver Plunket with divers other false Traitors unknown then and there advisedly maliciously and traiterously did further consult and agree to contribute pay and expend divers great Sums of Mony to divers Subjects of our said Sovereign Lord the King and other persons unknown to procure
you understood it by himself Murf. I received Letters from the Vicar General to get so much mony collected and assoon as I got the Letters to my hands I sent them to a Privy Councellor L. C. J. Do you not know that he was ingaged to assist the French Army Murf. I do not know that by him but by others Mr. Just Dolben Did you ever discourse with him about it Murf. I did discourse with him about several matters Mr. Just Dolb. About the French Army Murfey Yes L. C. J. Do you know that he did endeavour to bring them into Ireland Murf. I had a Correspondence in France at the same time L. C. J. With whom Murf. With one Mac Carty L. C. J. And do you know that he had correspondence in France Murf. Yes I know that Mr. Just Dolb. With whom had Plunket correspondence in France Murf. He had correspondence with Dr. Cray and others in France as I understood by others Mr. Just Dolb. Was the end of that correspondence to bring men from France into Ireland Murf. Yes so far as I understand Mr. Just Dolb. You understood the Letters when you read them did you not Murf. I know not how these people come to swear this business whether they had not malice against him Mr. Att. Gen. Well Sir pray give you your Evidence we will take care of the rest Mr. Just Dolb. I reckon this man hath given the best Evidence that can be L. C. J. Yes it is Evidence that the Catholicks have been tampering with him Mr. Serj. Jeff. I desire he may be committed my Lord because he hath fenced from the beginning which was done accordingly Mr. Att. Gen. Swear John Mac Legh which was done Sir Fran. Wyth Tell my Lord and the Jury what you know of any Plot in Ireland to bring in the French Mac Legh I was a Parish Priest in Ireland in the County of Monaghan and Dr. Oliver Plunket received several Sums of mony in Ireland and especially in the Diocess where I am I raised some of it and paid him 40 s. at one time and 30 s. another time in the year 74 I paid him 40 s. in the year 75 I paid him 50 s. and it was about July and it was for the better advancement of the French coming in Mr. Jones Did he tell you that the mony was to be employ'd that way Mac Legh Yes that the mony was to be kept for Arms and Amunition for the Roman Catholicks in Ireland L. C. J. Before you paid it did you receive any Order from him Mac Legh Yes I received an Order sub poena suspensionis and there was a publick Order throughout Ireland or we would not pay it nay several would not pay it and they were to be suspended Plunk Can you shew any of the Orders under my Hand Mac Legh Yes I can shew them but only they are afar off I did not expect to have them asked for Plunk Have you no Superiors of your own Mac Legh Yes but you being Lord Primate you could suspend Bishops and inferiour Clergy together Plunk When was this Mac Legh In the years 74 and 75. Plunk What is the reason you kept it secret all this while Mac Legh In the year 77 I did discover it to one Mr. O Neal who I sent to Dublin to discover this Plot. I was in France my self my Lord. Plunk How many years is it since you returned from France Mac Legh In May in the year 78. Plunk Why did you not speak all this while till now Mac Legh I did send one Mr. Henry O Neal to Dublin for I durst not go lest I should have been suspended and excommunicated Mr. Att. Gen. This is the Priest that Henry O Neal speaks of L. C. J. Is not this a very good reason if he had come to Dublin to discover you would have suspended him Plunk But my Lord then he might have shewn my Suspension and brought me into a Premunire Mr. Serj. Jeff. If you please Doctor let us who are for the King have done with him first I would ask you another Question Sir were you at one Vicar Bradeys House Mac Legh Yes I was Mr. Att. Gen. Tell what was done there Mac Legh There was Bishop Tyrrel came there with 40 Horsemen well mounted and armed he came into the House about 10. in the morning and staid till about 11 at night I was very much among them and was as willing to be of the Plot as themselves Mr. Att. Gen. Tell what was done there Mac Legh There Bishop Tyrrel said that he had order from Dr. Oliver Plunket and others to pertake of the Plot to bring in the French and subvert the Government in Ireland and destroy the Protestant Religion and the Protestants Mr. Att. Gen. Was there an Oath given Mac Legh Yes they were all put to their Oaths which they did take willingly to keep it private during their lives time and the reason was they were to have their Estates during their lives time Mr. Serj. Jeff. Now tell us when this was Mr. Att. Gen. My Lord Henry O Neal and Phleem O Neal speak to the same purpose Mr. Serj Jeff. Do you remember whether Henry O Neal was there did he take the Oath of Secresie Mac Legh Yes Mr. Att. Gen. What do you know of any Letters from Plunket Mac Legh In France I landed at Brest and going through Britany I met with Bishop Tyrrel and Dr. Cray who was my Lord Oliver Plunkets Agent and Duke John of Great Britany came into them for he heard of these 2 Bishops being newly come out of Rome sent for them and I being a Priest of Tyrrels Diocess I went along with them and they were well accepted and shewed Dr. Oliver Plunkets Conditions with the King of France which was this to get Dublin and London-Derry and all the Sea-ports into their own Hands to levy War and destroy the Protestant Religion and that they should have him to protect them during his life-time L. C. J. Did you see those Conditions Mac Legh A Copy of them I did the Governour of Britany did shew them to the Bishop Mr. Serj. Jeff. What Language were those Conditions in Mac Legh They were in Latine Sir Mr. Serj. Jeff. Was Edmond Murfey put out of the Diocess Mac Legh Not as I know of L. C. J. What do you know of his being Primate upon what conditions was he made Primate Mac Legh He was made Primate by the Election of the King of France And upon his Election he made those Conditions with the King of France to raise men to join with the French to destroy the Protestant Religion Mr. Just Jones You know that man Dr. Plunket Plunk Yes my Lord. Mr. Att. Gen. Will you ask him any Questions Plunk None but what I asked the others Mr. Just Dolben Then if that is all he hath given a good answer to that already he was as forward then as the rest Mr. Att. Gen. Then
together for this is but a small part of the Evidence Mr. Att. Gen. About this Letter you were speaking of pray will you tell what fell out about it Moyer I will tell you how it fell out afterwards Then I came along into Marseilles in France and there were 2 Captains that had as much notice as I had in that Letter for they were discoursing that they would advance themselves in the French Kings Service and hoped that by the King of France's help to have the Roman Catholick Faith set up in their own Country why that discourse passed off for I was mightily afraid of any such thing because I was of another opinion for perhaps I might think the Roman Catholick Faith would flourish as well as ever it did and hoped so as well as any body else but not by the Sword As I came to Madrid there came one Hugh O Donnell Son to O Donnell with Letters of Recommendation and those Letters were to intitle the young man Earl of Tyrone and likewise that his Majesty the King of Spain should help him for Ireland according to the form of the Letters he had And then as I came for Ireland speedily after there came Letters of Recommendation to me that I should present sent my self to my Lord Primate to hear Confessions and be heard preach I came to his Lordship at his own House the 9th of December 74 and there he kept me several hours and approved me and the Copy of the Approbation I have to shew And after a long dispute we went aside and went to look Father Patrick and there he shewed me such and such things And after a long discourse I told my Lord Primate I see your Lordships Letter which you sent by young O Neal in such a place and he shewed me the Contents of it and said I Ay my Lord 't is a good Intention Design if it can be done without Bloodshed then my Lord mused a little and said he well Father Francis which is my name in Religion my Christian name is John pray will you keep it secret well my Lord said I you need not fear for said he what ever I have done herein was not for my own good but for the publick good of the Catholicks Well said I 't is well Then does he commend me into the Parish of where this Mr. Murfey here was to put in a Bull that I had from my Lord Primate which Bull was brought here last year and there he proferod me high Promotions if I would further such things and solicite such Gentlemen as I knew would be private in such a business such as were old Commanders among my Friends and Relations Shortly after this I saw Plunket and Bishop Tyrrel and Captain Con O Neal practising to bring Souldiers ready for Ireland assoon as they could get opportunity This Captain Con O Neal coming to the place where we kept our Priory and he and his Brothers were Sons to General O Neal. And there Captain Con comes in the night time and lodges with us and discoursed with his Brother and I because I was his Companion beyond Sea about these matters That he expected my Lord Primate and Bishop Tyrrels coming thither that night to make some proposals about the Church and other Assairs After ten a clock or thereabouts my Lord Primate and Bishop Tyrrel came with others in their company and there they and Father O Neal did consult amongst themselves that they should send Captain Con to France and to Barcellona with such and such Instruments and sending those Instruments away Captain Con departs the Country and goes for France soon after and speedily my Lord Primate undertook that he and Bishop Tyrrel should view Munster and Vlster and other parts of Ireland to see how Affairs stood Soon after my Lord Primate calls a General Provincial Council and sends out his Orders to levy such and such Taxes and Subsides and Warrants to all the Parish Priests that they should give them new Lists to know whether the Numbers they had sent to Rome before would comply with that List And then O Neal went to view the Forts of Charlemont and Dun Gannon whilest those Lords did collect the mony the Orders I have seen with my own proper Eyes and his own man confessed before the Council in Ireland that my Lord gave them under his Hand Mr. Serj. Jeff. What year was this Moyer It was in 76 to the best of my remembrance L. C. J. Look you Sir was this at a Provincial meeting Moyer Yes my Lord a General National Council to send over Instruments to tell them that they were ready to assist any Foreign Army that should help on the design L. C. J. And to raise mony Moyer Yes my Lord. Mr. Just Dolben Have you paid him any mony Moyer I was exempted my self but I have seen others Mr. Just Dolben How many Moyer I believe 30. Mr. Just Dolben It was not then a secret thing but openly done by them Moyer Yes I saw them when they came with Orders there were four Priests and they had a great Cloak-bag going with Orders up and down Mr. Serj. Jeff. Why were you exempted Moyer Because I am a Regular Priest Sir Fr. Withens You say you saw the Orders for raising of mony how do youknow for what it was to be employed Moyer It was there specified down Plunket Can you shew any of the Orders Moyer I could not take them they did not concern me Sir Fr. Withins How was it specified Moyer To Levy so much Mony per Priest I cannot remember the particular Sum but that every Priest should give so much towards an Agent in Rome to Solicite their business and forward it L. C. J. What Year was it Moyer 76. L. C. J. Was any of the Mony specified for raising an Army or bringing in the French Moyer It was both for the Agent and to summon a National Council to get things ready prepared to entertain and accept the French Army when it should come I am not so good in expressing my self in English L. C. J. Your sence is good 't is no matter for your expression Mr. Jones What more do you know Moyer I know that he had the same Council and that they did agree upon the business and this I know by one Patrick Borne and I being willing that this wicked Action should be hindred sent to the next Justice to discharge my self of it which Justice was as favourable to the business as my Lord himself was L. C. J. Will you ak him any Questions Mr. Plunket Plunket I desire to know when he left Ireland Moyer I cannot tell how to number the years but I think it was in 62 or 63 to the best of my remembrance it was 16 or 17 years ago Plunket When did you return Moyer I came back in 74 you know it my Lord. Plunket Very well when did you see the Letter with the young man in Caprennica Moyer In