Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A47895
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Notes upon Stephen College grounded principally upon his own declarations and confessions, and freely submitted to publique censure / by Roger L'Estrange.
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L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing L1281; ESTC R7200
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31,704
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54
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of Faith and Affection to the King and his Government That is to say as he intends the Kings Authority to be Virtually Resolv'd into the Two Houses And this Seditious Maxim is a little more expresly set forth in his Raree Show In which Libel there is a Figure of a Man with a Chests at 's Back which he Explains to bemeant of the King with the Lords and Commons in a Box and Pluck'd down in the Mire by Three Fellows with these words to illustrate that Passage So so the Gyant 's down Let 's MASTERS out of Pound c. In which two Verses is laid open both the Design of Dethroning the King and in the word MASTERS the Doctrine of the Supremacy of the Two Houses Now for a further Confirmation of his Opinion He declar'd to Mr. Crosthwait in the Castle at Oxford That he believ'd it lawful to Resist the King in case he should invade his Property and he endeavour'd to defend it by several Arguments till at length he was at least seemingly Convinc'd of his Mistake This makes it abundantly Evident what he thought of the Lawfulness of such Resistance if the Case of Property should come to be the Question And it rests only now to make it out that he did take Property to be the Question and then all his Pretensions of Respect to the King and to the Government fall to the Ground As what 's the meaning of that Passage in his Raree Show where he charges the King with Fleecing Englands Flocks Long Fed with Bits and Knocks c. but to denote the King to be a Tyrant and an Oppressor Now to sum up briefly what is already delivered Here are all the Fore-runners of and Dispositions to a Rebellion as clear as the Noon-day and College deeply engag'd in every Point First the General Pretence of a Design upon the Protestant Religion as the Foundation of a Popular Discontent 2dly That General Religion in such a manner as it is represented is not any where to be found 3dly Under the Notion of the Papists to Invade this Religion the Church Establish'd the King and his Party are most apparently struck at 4thly All manner of Defamatory Libels are Contriv'd Publish'd and Promoted by College himself toward the Enflaming of a Sedition 5thly It is Remarkable Colleges Shuffling and Equivocating to Evade the Charge which is nevertheless made out against him at last 6thly There is an Undeniable Discovery of his Disaffection even to the Degree of a Mortal Hatred both to Church and State And 7thly Considering the Method of Colleges Proceedings with the Tendency of his Practices Principles and Persuasions what could any man believe less even without any further Evidence than that College Meditated and Designed the Improvement of all Occasions to the Subverting of the Government and in such manner too as it is imputed to him §. 8. There was a Design upon the King at Oxford and College manifestly Engag'd in the Conspiracy THat there was a Plot to be Executed at Oxon will be granted I presume by any man that has but eyes in 's head and looks that way And this a Republican Plot too carried on under the pretended Apprehension of a Popish one But the Multitude were to be mov'd and prepar'd for 't And see the course now that they took to work upon the Passions of the Common People The first thing to be done was throughly to possess them that the Papists had a Design upon the Parliament at Oxford and consequently upon the Protestant Religion the Liberties and Properties of the English Nation To this purpose How many Impudent and Ridiculous Shams by Counterfeit Tickets and Letters were Expos'd in the daily Papers of Intelligence which at that time were swallowed whole as the very Oracles of the Vulgar Several Papers says the Protestant Mercury Numb 24. have been dropt about the City that there would be a Massacre at Oxford on the 25th instant and that the 5th of November will be turned into the 25th of March 1681. and one of these was thrown into a Shop in Grace-Church-street But you shall now have the Letter it self at large with all its appertinences London March 16. This very morning Letters were found in several places in this City unseal'd purporting a warning of a Dangerous Design to Destroy the Parliament particularly one Letter was found in Mr. Brett's Shop a Linnen-Draper in Grace-Church-street which was supposed to be put in at a Cleft in the Window His man finding it when he open'd the Shop Communicated the same to his Master who caused him to subscribe the Paper that he might be able to testifie it was the same that he found and then Presented it to one of our City Magistrates who we suppose by this time has made his Majesty acquainted with the Contents which were as followeth To all the Noble Members of this most Honorable ensuing Parliament in General Noble Lords and Gentlemen Though I dare not nor am I in a condition to discover the whole substance of some Hellish Designs now on foot against his Majesties Royal Person and against you all at Oxford yet though I was sure to be Racked for it I must and will give you a Hint of them as followeth Remember the Fifth of November which is now to be the 25th of March which if not prevented will be the utter destruction of both King and Parliament and all True Protestants in his Majesties Dominions And if that fail beware of many thousands that lie in wait for your Lives whose Design is so closely carried that it will I doubt be a hard matter to discover it until it be too late Mark well what I say and make not slight of it as ye tender your Lives and Fortunes and the Kingdoms safety I say make not slight of it as you tender your Lives and Fortunes and the Kingdoms safety I am in a mean condition and under many Afflictions but cannot discover my self as yet Thus wishing you all happy success I take leave This Letter was Superscribed as followeth To all True Protestants who love the King and Parliament whosoever finds this Note let him with all speed repair to some Elected Members of the Parliament and present it to them Ben. Harris ' s Protestant Domestique Numb 107. You shall see now how the humor is followed Numb 110. A Letter importing some Cursed and Treasonable Designs still Carrying on by the Ever Plotting Papists against his Majesties Royal Person and the Protestant Religion being lately found in the Wood of Bally-Holly in the County of Cork in the Kingdom of Ireland by a Gentleman of the County of Lymrick as he Travelled through that Wood He thought it of that Concern to the Publique that he immediately gave it to the Earl of Barrimore to be by him transmitted to his Grace the Duke of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom which was done as we are inform'd by the said Earl accordingly A True Copy of which Letter
College a Pris'ner in the Tower shall have liberty of Visiting and freely Conversing with him and the Lieutenant of the Tower having first caused their Names to be taken in Writing is to suffer such Friends and Relations to have Access to the said Stephen College without any Interruption from time to time accordingly Here 's a Clamour ye see upon a False and Groundless Suggestion deliver'd upon the Credit of a Dying Man as the true state of his Condition when yet it was no other in effect then the saying over of his Lesson from the dictate of his Sollicitor Before ye Plead says Aaron Smith in his Paper of Instructions speak to this purpose My Lords I have been used not only unlike an Innocent or an English-man but I believe more barbarously than any Convicted Villain under the Tyranny of Turky or France When I was first Apprehended I was contrary to the Privileges of a Citizen of London hurried out from thence before a Secretary of State Here 's the King and his Government Charg'd with Tyranny and his Majesties Authority subjected even in a case of Treason to the jurisdiction of my Lord Mayor I might with as much Iustice have been hang'd at Tyburn by the way as to be brought hither to be Murder'd with a little more Formality And then a little lower I will not be Murder'd in Hugger mugger Answer thus says Aaron Smiths Paper if the Attorney General or any other of the Kings Councel Interrupt ye or when you have done tell ye you Arraign the Iustice of the Nation When you come to open your own Evidence says Smith's Paper again speak to this purpose I hope you will not bring so much Scandal upon your selves My Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury as to be the Popes Drudges and give the first blow to the Protestant Cause by Convicting me upon such Infamous Evidence And lastly Give an Account of your going down to Oxford and that you went because Haines had Sworn the Papists design'd to destroy the Parliament there So that College ye see was Instructed not only in a Scandalous method of Reviling the Court but he was also told what Cause he should Assign for his going to Oxford and directed to cast it upon Haines ' s Oath as a colour rather of his Sollicitors Invention than the true and real Motive that carry'd him thither Before I go any further it will become me to distinguish betwixt Colleges Two Speeches The one was deliver'd by word of mouth upon the Cart at the time of his Execution The other was convey'd from him out of the Castle to some of his Relations in Writing and this was the Paper which at the first he deny'd the sending of and afterwards confess'd Having now laid open what it is or rather what it is not which in Colleges case is call'd the Protestant Religion the meaning of Colleges Protestants and Papists Having prov'd the Libellous Pictures upon him and given the Reader a tast of his Vnfaithful dealing even to the last We shall here proceed to a fair and impartial Deliberation upon the subject matter of his Charge and leave the Reader to his own thoughts whether Guilty or not Guilty upon the whole matter §. 6. Notes upon Colleges ordinary way of Discourse and Conversation IN my way to the Capital Branch of his Charge i. e. the Design of Seizing the King and Subverting the Government it will not be amiss to take some notice of the humor of the man in the ordinary way of his Behaviour and Conversation The Biass of his Inclinations and Opinions and other circumstantial Discoveries of his Imaginations and Purposes with a respect to those Seditious ends And yet it may be looked upon perhaps as an Idle and a Superfluous undertaking to put my self to the trouble of proving that by Particular Instances which might be as well done by a General Appeal to all the Clubs and Coffee-houses about this Town wheresoever he haunted for they can every one of them bear witness to his Intemperances against the Government and that when he was not making himself and the Company sport in his way of Ridiculing the King the Duke of York the Church and the Court the man was as good as out of his Element They told me says he speaking of some of the Lords of the Council there was Treason Sworn against me truly they surprized me when they said so for of all things in the world I thought my self as free from that as any man I asked them if any man living had the confidence to Swear Treason against me They said Several Three or Four as I remember Last Speech As to what Dugdale Smith Turberville and Hains Swore against me they did Swear such Treason that nothing but a Mad-man would have Trusted any body with Ibid. And again It is a very unlikely thing that I should speak Treason to Dugdale There are two things now worthy of Consideration in this Point even setting aside the positive Proofs of the Treason spoken First Did he speak the Treason whereof he stands Accused ot not Secondly It may be a Question What it is that he calls Treason It is notoriously known to most that ever knew the man that it was his common Guise to talk of his Majesty at such a Desperate Rate that People were afraid to give him the Hearing and that he has been caution'd hundreds of times to keep his Tongue in 's Head or if he did not he would talk himself at last to the Gallows Why should it be such a Surprize now to this Rash and Violent Man to hear that there was Treason Sworn against him when every man almost that kept him Company warn'd him of it and foretold him what it would come to at last And then how frivolous again is the Manner of his Discharging himself from the Treasons Sworn against him by the Witnesses None but a Mad-man he says would have Trusted any body in such a case And yet it appears from the Tenor of his whole Conversation and the frequent Advices of his Friends that he Trusted any man that came next with as much as that amounts to And now once more to the unlikelihood of his speaking such things to Dugdale Let the Reader ask and answer himself as to the Probability of his being as free with Dugdale as he was with other people Let not any man take this for a Rambling Story upon a bare Hear-say for I am ready to prove and justifie the truth of every particular Not as the Author of the No Protestant Plot takes upon him with an I do assure all the world c Page 19. My self and divers others have seen the Original c. Page 18. And this same I and My Self a Quidam all this time that a man does not know where to find But for the Satisfaction of any man that doubts I have here expos'd the Authors name with this Pamphlet They told me says College again it was