Jesuit Preach a Sermon on the 13th of August to 12 persons in disguise supposed to be of eminent quality wherein he asserted That Protestants and other Heretical Princes were ipso facto deposed because such and that it was as lawful to destroy them as an Oliver Cromwel or any other Vsurper with several other Traiterous words and discourses from divers of the Conspintors at several times and places therein specified till the time of his making the Discovery as aforesaid CHAP. VIII Some proceedings immediately following the Discovery and the true manner and circumstances of the Murther of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey SECT 1. THE Discovery was made to the Council on Saturday the 28th of Septemb. being Michaelmas Eve as aforesaid in the Morning where Dr. Oates was a long time under Examination In the Afternoon the Council sat again and Dr. Oates was imploy'd with a Guard that Night to search after some Jesuits whom he took On Sunday in the Afternoon the Council sat again very long and then he was Re-examin'd and when they rose he was sent abroad all that Night to Search the Lodgings of several Priests and find out their Papers which he did seize upon On the said Sunday Sir George Wakeman the Queens Physician before mentioned was summoned to attend the Council but was dismiss'd being told by Sir Ph. Lloyd that his Majesty would have the hearing of his business next day himself On Monday Morning the Council sat again and Dr. Oates was further Examined and by reason of so long watching and running up and down for two days and nights together continually without any respit and in bad rainy weather he was reduced to such extream weakness and disorder of body that he could hardly stand or speak Then it was that Sir George Wakeman again appeared and behaved himself so strangely that the whole Council were amazed at the manner of it for he did not seem to deny what he was charged with so positively as one that was Innocent would have done but used many boasting expressions of his great fidelity and Loyalty to the King and required Satisfaction and Reparation for the Injury done to his Honour Dr. Oats did then set forth that he had seen a Letter from Whitebread to Fenwick mentioning that Sir George had undertaken the Poisoning of the King for 15000 l. of which 5000 l. had been paid him by Coleman But a question arose afterwards at his Trial Whether he then mentioned another Letter which afterwards he insisted upon written from Sir George himself to Father Ashby Sir George denying that he then said any thing of it but on the contrary declared he had not any thing further to charge him with and then endeavour'd to Invalidate his after-Evidence whereas Dr. Oates alledged the Council did not press him to his knowledge and that the Omission of mentioning that Letter if he did omit it as to the best of his memory he did not was to be attributed to his Weakness at that time which the King and Council were so sensible of that his Majesty himself had like to have sent him away once or twice before because he found him so Ill. See Wakemans Trial p. 55 56 59. It not being improbable that a man under such Circumstances might forget to mention that which at another time he might well know and remember However it was things were so manag'd that Sir George was not Committed at that time nor till above three weeks afterwards When Dr. Oates acquainting the House of Commons with that Letter under Sir Georges hand they thereupon sent a Message to the House of Lords wondring why he was not Confined Whereupon their Lordships upon Examination of the matter Committed him As for Priests Jesuits and Conspirators about this time secured there were On the 30th of September Committed to Newgate by Order of the Privy Council for High Treason Dr. William Fogarthy Since dead in Goal William Ireland John Fenwick Thomas Pickering All since Executed John Grove John Smith Tho. Johnson Still in Newgate Untry'd On Sunday the 30th of Septemb. Mr. Colemans House was Search'd and some of his Papers seiz'd On Munday the first of Octob. he voluntarily rendred himself to Sir Joseph Williamson then Secretary of State hearing there was a Warrant out against him But there were so many other Prisoners under Examination that he was not call d till After-noon where he seem'd to hear these lewd things charg'd upon him with Scorn and Indignation insomuch that though a blank Warrant was fill'd up to send him to Newgate he was only for the present Committed to a Messenger and a special Warrant granted to the Messenger to secure him against the said first Order On Tuesday the 2d of Octob. his Majesty went out of Town to New-Market and a Committee being appointed to Examine several Papers and Mr. Colemans amongst others there were found in a Deal-box some of such dangerous Consequence as moved the Lords forthwith to Sign a Warrant for his Commitment to Newgate dated the 4th of October On the 7th Mr. Richard Langhorn the Elder a Councellor of the Temple and on the 10th Mr. Edward Peters lately living at Sir Charles Shellies in Sussex who Married the Lady Abergaveny were both Committed to Newgate by the Council Hitherto the weight of this mighty work lay wholly upon Dr. Oats's shoulders and Reputation and the design he mentioned was in it self and its tendency so Horrid and Bloody that good men who are always Charitable could scarce perswade themselves of its reality The fashionable men of the Town that pretend to wit and humour did but make a Jest of it having long since learn'd to turn all things though never so serious and sacred into Drol and Ridicule and on the other side the Conspirators with Impudence lies noise number and the powerful Interest they had did not doubt but to over-bear and crush his testimony and upon this Confidence no doubt it was and consideration that at worst he being but a single Evidence they could not by our Law be Convicted of Treason for any thing he could say that so many of them stood so long by it without flying that at last they fell into the hands of Justice which Indiscretion these men who are excellent at turning Objections into Arguments would afterwards have made an advantage of as a sign of their Innocence when in truth it was only a symtom of their Presumption SECT 2. But now the adorable Providence of God was pleased to take the Crafty in their own Net and so far Infatuate these Romish Achitophels that themselves mortally wounded their own Cause and became Accessary to promote a further Discovery and Confirmation by venturing upon a Bloody Enterprize which immediately Alarm'd the whole Nation and left no room any longer for doubt whether or no there were a Plot. This was the Murther of that worthy Magistrate Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey whose memory shall be dear to Posterity as a Martyr for our
of Winchester Henry Lord Marquess of Worcester Henry Earl of Arlington Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold James Earl of Salisbury John Earl of Bridgewater Robert Earl of Sunderland one of his Majesties principal Secretaries of State lately made in the room of Sir Joseph Williamson Arthur Earl of Essex first Lord Commissioner of the Treasury John Earl of Bath Groom of the Stole Thomas Lord Viscount Faulconberg George Lord Viscount Hallifax Henry Lord Bishop of London John Lord Roberts Denzil Lord Holles William Lord Russel William Lord Cavendish Henry Coventry Esq one of his Majesties principle Secretaries of State Sir Francis North Kt. Lord Cheif Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir Henry Capel Kt. of the Bath first Commissioner of the Admiralty Sir John Earnley Kt. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Chicheley Kt. Master of the Ordnance Sir William Temple Baronet Edward Seymour Esq Henry Powle Esq The 30th of April His Majesty made a Speech to both Houses of Parliament wherein he recommended three things to them The prosecution of the Plot The disbanding of the Army and the providing a Fleet which was followed by a larger signification of his Majesties mind by the Lord Chancellor That His Majesty had considered with himself That 't is not enough that his Peoples Religion and Liberty be secure during his own Reign but thinks he ows it to his People to do all that in him lies that these Blessings may be transmitted to Posterity And to the end that it may never be in the power of any Papist if the Crown descend upon him to make any change in Church or State his Majesty would consent to limit such Successor in these points 1. That no such Popish Successor shall present to Ecclesiastical Benefices 2. That during the Reign of such Popish Successor no Privy Councellors or Judges Lord Leiutenant or Deputy Leiutenant or Officer of the Navy shall be put in or removed but by Authority of Parliament 3. That as it is already provided That no Papist can sit in either House of Parliament so there shall never want a Parliament when the King shall happen to die but that the Parliament then in Being may continue Indissoluble for a competent time or the last Parliament Re-assemble c. But it seems all these Provisions were not thought a sufficient Fence for such dear and precious things as Religion and Liberty and that in the progress of their Debates upon this most important Subject they could not resolve upon any certain Expedient of safety less than the Exclusion of his Royal Higness For on Sunday April the 27th 1679. It was Resolved by the House of Commons Nemine Contradicente That the Duke of York being a Papist and the hopes of his coming such to the Crown hath given the greatest Encouragement and Countenance to the present Conspiracies and Designs of the Papists against the King and Protestant Religion And on Sunday May the 11th the better Day the better Deed we use to say but whether it will hold here will be the Question they Ordered That a Bill should be brought in to disable the Duke of York to Inherit the Imperial Crown of this Realm which was brought in accordingly and twice read in the House the preamble thereof being to this effect That forasmuch as these Kingdoms of England and Ireland by the wonderful Providence of God many Years since have been delivered from the Slavery and Superstition of Popery which had despoiled the King of his Sovereign Power for that it did and doth advance the Pope of Rome to a Power over Sovereign Princes and makes him Monarch of the Universe and doth with-draw the Subjects from their Allegiance by pretended Absolutions from all former Daths and Obligations to their lawful Sovereign and by many Superstitions and Immoralities hath quite subverted the Ends of the Christian Religion But notwithstanding That Popery hath been long since Condemned by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm for the detestable Doctrine and Traiterous Attempts of its Adherents against the Lives of their lawful Sovereigns Kings and Queens of these Realms Yet the Emissaries Priests and Agents for the Pope of Rome resorting into this Kingdom of England in great numbers contrary to the known Laws thereof have for several Years last past as well by their own Devilish Acts and Policies as by Counsel and Assistance of Foreign Princes and Prelates known Enemies to these Nations contrived and carried on a most Horrid and Execrable Conspiracy To destroy and Murther the Person of his Sacred Majesty and to Subvert the ancient Government of these Realms and to Extirpate the Protestant Religion and Massacre the true Professors thereof And for the better effecting their wicked Designs and encouraging their Uilainous Accomplices they have Traterously Seduced James Duke of York Presumptive Heir of these Crowns to the Communion of the Church of Rome and have induced him to Enter into several Negotiations with the Pope his Cardinals and Nuntio's for promoting the Romish Church and Interest and by his means and procurement have advanced the Power and Greatness of the French King to the manifest hazard of these Kingdoms That by the descent of these Crowns upon a Papist and by Foreign Alliances and Assistance they may be able to succeed in their Wicked and Uillainons Designs And forasmuch as the Parliaments of England according to the Laws and Statutes thereof have heretofore for great and weighty Reasons of State and for the publick Good and common Interest at this Kingdom directed and limited the Succession of the Crown in other manner than of Course it would otherwise have gone but never had such important and urgent Reasons as at this Time press and require their using of their said Extraordinary Power in that behalf Be it therefore Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same And it is hereby Enacted accordingly That James Duke of York Albany and Ulster having departed openly from the Church of England and having publickly professed and owned the Popish Religion which hath notoriously given Birth and Life to the most Damnable and Hellish Plot by the most gracious Providence of God lately brought to light shall be Excluded and is hereby Excluded and Disabled c. On the 19th of May the House of Commons attended his Majesty with this following Address Most Dread Sovereign WEE your Majesties most Dutiful and Loyal Subjects the Commons in Parliament Assembled do with all humble gratitude acknowledge the most gratious assurances your Majesty hath been pleased to give us of your constant Care to do every thing that may preserve the Protestant Religion of your firm resolution to defend the same to the utmost and your Royal endeavours that the security of that blessing may be transmitted to posterity And we do humbly represent to your Majesty That being deeply sensible that the
greatest hopes of Success against our Religion in the Enemies thereof the Papists are founded in the execrable Designs which they have laid against the Sacred Person and Life of your Majesty which it is not onely our Duty but our Interest with the greatest hazards to preserve and defend We have applyed our selves to the making such provision by Law as may defeat these Popish Adversaries their Abettors and Adherents of their hopes of gaining an advantage by any violent attempts against your Majesty and may utterly frustrate their expectation of Subverting the Protestant Religion thereby in time to come And further to obviate by the best means we can all wicked practices against your Majesty whilest any such Lawes are in preparation and bringing to perfection It is our resolution and we do Declare That in defence of your Majesties Person and the Protestant Religion we will stand by your Majesty with our Lives and Fortunes and shall be ready to Revenge upon the Papists any violence offered by them to your Sacred Majesty in which we have your Majesty will gratiously please to be the more assured as We our Selves are the more encouraged in that the Hearts of all your Majesties Protestant Subjects with the most sincere affection and zeal joyn with us herein But this Zeal of the House of Commons running to so high a pitch touching the Succession together with some unhappy misunderstandings arising between them and the House of Lords concerning the Tryal of the Popish Lords and Earl of Danby as shall be related in the next Chapter His Majesty to allay the same was pleased first to Prorogue and then to put a period to them by a Dissolution of that Parliament by a Proclamation dated at Windsor the 12th of July 1679. But therein graciously declaring that a New one should be called to begin and be holden on Tuesday the 7th which was afwards altered to Friday the 17th of October CHAP. XVII The Proceedings against the Popish Lords in the Tower WE have before related the Commitment of these Lords to the Tower for High Treason after which followed this Vote in the House of Commons in the old Parliament Decemb. 5th 1678. Resolved That the House do proceed by way of Impeachment of High Treason and other High Crimes and Misdemeanours against the Lord Arundel of Warder Lord Powis Lord Petre Lord Bellasis and Viscount Stafford and a Committee appointed to draw up Articles of Impeachment against them Which Vote was Communicated to the House of Lords and the several Lords Charged by several Members in these words The Commons in Parliament having received Information of divers Traiterous Practices and Designs of a great Peer of this House Henry Lord Arundel of Warder have Commanded me to Impeach the said Henry Lord Arundel of Warder of High Treason and other high Crimes and Misdemeanours They have further Commanded me to acquaint your Lordships that they will within a convenient time exhibit to your Lordships particular Articles of the Charge against him Thus standing Impeached they continued in the Tower all the Interval of Parliament and as soon as the next Parliament was settled to Business they forgot not their Lordships For March 20th 1678. it was Ordered That a Committee of Secrecy be appointed to take further Evidence and prepare Articles against the Lords in the Tower who stand Impeached of High Treason and take such further Informations as they shall receive touching the Plot in general and the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and that this Committee have power to send for Persons Papers and Records and that they sit de die in diem and the Quorum to be Three The Articles at last Exhibited were as follows Articles of Impeachment of High Treason and other high Crimes and Offences against William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis now Prisoners in the Tower THat for many Years now last past there hath been contrived and carried on a Traiterous and Execrable Conspiracy and Plot within this Kingdom of England and other places to alter change or subvert the Antient Government and Laws of this Kingdom and Nation and to suppress the true Religion therein established and to Extirpate and destroy the Professors thereof which said Plot and Conspiracy was contrived and carried on in divers places and by several ways and means and by a great number of Persons of several Qualities and Degrees who acted therein and intended to execute and accomplish the aforesaid Wicked and Traiterous Designs and Purposes That the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis together with Philip Howard commonly called Cardinal of Norfolk Thomas White aliàs Whitebread commonly called Provincial of the Jesuits in England Richard Strange late Provincial of the Jesuits in England Vincent commonly called Provincial of the Dominicans in England James Corker commonly called President of the Benedictines Sir John Warner aliàs Clare Baronet William Harcourt John Keines Nicholas Blundel Pole Edward Mico Thomas Beddingfield Bazil Langworth Charles Peters Richard Peters John Conyers Sir George Wakeman John Fenwick Dominick Kelly Fitz Gerald Evers Sir Thomas Preston William Lovel Jesuits Lord Beltamore John Carrel John Townely Richard Langhorn William Foggarty Thomas Penny Matthew Medbourn Edward Coleman William Ireland John Grove Thomas Pickering John Smith and divers others Jesuits Priests and Fryars and other persons as false Traitors to his Majesty and this Kingdom within the time aforesaid have Traiterously consulted contrived and acted to and for the accomplishing of the said wicked pernicious and Traiterous Designs and for that end did most wickedly and Traiterously agree conspire and resolve to Imprison Depose and Murther his Sacred Majesty and to deprive him of his Royal State Crown and Dignity and by malicious and advised speaking writing and otherwise declared such their Purposes and Intentions and also to subject this Kingdom and Nation to the Pope and his Tyrannical Government And to seize and share amongst themselves the Estates and Inheritances of his Majesties Protestant Subjects and to Erect and Restore Abbies Monasteries and other Convents and Societies which have been long since by the Laws of this Kingdom supprest for their Superstition and Idolatry and to deliver up and restore to them the Lands and Possessions now Invested in his Majesty and his Subjects by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm And also to Found and Erect new Monasteries and Convents and to remove and deprive all Protestant Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Persons from their Offices Benefices Preferments and by this means to destroy his Majesties Person extirpate the Protestant Religion overthrow the Rights Liberties and Properties of his Majesties good Subjects Subvert the Lawful Government of this Kingdom and subject the same to the Tyranny of the See of Rome That the said Conspirators and their Complices and Confederates Traiterously had and held several Meetings
to avoid the Soldiers taking any notice had invited them into his House with Drink and Tobacco Thus sometimes Girald and Prance and sometimes Kelly and Green carried him up towards So-ho Fields hard by the Grecians Church and there Hill attended with an Horse and they set the body up before him and clapt the Sedan into an House that was Building there but unfinish'd till they came back and then Girald the Priest said I wish we had an hundred such Rogues as secure as we have this Then Prance because he was a House-keeper returned home and the other four went away with him one leading the Horse Hill riding and holding the Body and the other two walking by They carried him into an obscure place about two miles out of Town towards Hampstead near a place call'd Prim-rose Hill and there in a Ditch they left his Body Girald having run Sir Edmonds own Sword through him and left it in but the Scabbard and his Gloves they laid on the Bank at a small distance In the mean time Sir Edmund-burys Servants first and then his Friends and at last the whole Town were not a little concern'd for his abscence and there was once a Proclamation ordered to discover him but Countermanded by reason of false Information given by some Papists that he was living and well and there were several persons that went up and down to Coffee Houses to spread false Reports that he was gone into the Country to be Married to such a Lady whom they took upon them to name that they saw him at such or such a place c. That Saturday the 12th of October the very Evening that Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey was so Murthered did Father Harcourt the Jesuit lately Executed send away a Letter to Father Ewers a Priest at the Lord Astons in Stafford-shire wherein were these words This night is Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey dispatcht This Letter was received there on the Munday and shown to Mr. Dugdale as he hath since made See the Tryal of Whitebread c. p. 26. Oath at several Tryals which is further confirmed by Mr. Chetwin a worthy Gentleman who being then in that Countrey heard a report of it there by means of that Letter on the Tuesday which was before ever there was any discovery of it at London For here was no tidings to be heard what was become of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey till on the Thursday following being the 17th of Octob. and then two men passing over the Fiâ—â—ls by chance spied the Gloves and Scabbard and as they came back going to the place discovered the Body in the Ditch The 20th of Octob. the King Issued his Proclamation Commanding all his Officers and Subjects to use their utmost diligence to find out and discover the Murtherers of the said Sir Edmund-bury Graciously promising 500 l. Reward to any that should make such discovery and if any one of the Murtherers should discover the rest he should not only be pardon'd but likewise have the said Reward But this Royal offer could not prevail with any of them to come in for the present but they seem'd more hardned in their wickedness by its success for about a Fortnight afterwards there was by them a Narrative of See Pran Narrative p. 18. this Heroick fact drawn up in Writing which Vernatti read in a Triumphing manner at a meeting they had at the Queens-Head at Bow and said that the same was drawn up to be shew'd to the Lord Bellasis and some other great persons that were the original Designers and Promoters of the business for their satisfaction and possibly it may since be sent to Rome and there finds as great approbation and causes as great Joy as the News of the Murther of King Henry the Third of France did upon which Pope Sixtus the Fifth made a Panegyrical Oration calling it the Work of God and preferring the Vertue Courage and Zeal of the Fryar that did it before that of Eleazer in the Macchabees or of Judith killing of Holofernes The 21th of Octob. the Parliament met to whom his Majesty in his Speech took notice of the Plot in these words I now intend to acquaint you as I shall always do with any thing that concerns me that I have been informed of a design against my Person by the Jesuits of which I shall forbear any Opinion lest I may seem to say too much or too little but I will leave the matter to the Law and in the mean time will take as much care as I can to prevent all manner of practices by that sort of men and others too who have been tampering in a high degree with Foreigners and contriving how to Introduce Popery amongst us October the 24th 1678. Mr. Oates was Examined in the House of Commons six or seven hours and about Nine a Clock at Night the House sent for the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs and he took Mr. Oates's Examination upon Oath and in the House ‑ Sealed 26 Warrants against several Lords and others that Mr. Oates had Sworn against whereupon the five Lords viz. The Lord Powis the Lord Stafford the Lord Arundel of Wardour the Lord Petre and the Lord Bellasis and Sir Henry Tichburn Baronet were taken into Custody and shortly after Committed to the Tower and about the 30th of Novemb. the Lords were Impeached of High Treason The same day James Corker was Committed to Newgate by Sir Charles Harbord and Sir Thomas Stringer for a suspected Priest who afterwards appeared to be one charged with the Plot And the 26th Matthew Medburn formerly a Player was likewise sent thither by the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs for High Treason who died in Custody the 19th of March following The 30th of October the Parliament having by an Address desired that Papists might be Banish'd the Town his Majesty set forth a Proclamation declaring that there was a Bloody Traiterous design of Popish Recusants against his Majesties Sacred Person and Government and the Protestant Religion commanding them all except settled House-keepers that would take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy which the Justices should be Impowered by Special Commission to Administer to depart the Cities of London and Westminster and all places within 10 Miles distance of the same In pursuance of this Proclamation many Papists pretending they could not in Conscience take the said Oaths did go out of Town with great Lamentation leaving their Trades and Dwellings But within a Week or two their Ghostly Fathers had fitted them with Dispensations as appears by the sequel and then they generally return'd again and freely without any Keckings of Conscience offered to swallow the said Oaths or indeed any other Test that could be tendred them Octob. the 31th Upon the further perusal of Mr. Colemans Papers and the Examination of Mr. Oates taken upon Oath it was Resolved by the House of Commons Nemine Contradicente That there has been and is a Damnable and Hellish Plot contrived and carried on by the Popish
satisfied in than by what he heard that day and thereupon speaking to the Prisoners he said P. 93. This will stick I assure you Sirs upon all your Party We have therein a Testimony that for promoting your Cause you would not stick at the Protestants blood you began with Sir Edmundbury but who knows where you would have made an end It was this one man you killed in his person but in Effigie the whole Nation It was in one mans Blood your hands were embrewed but your Souls were dipt in the Blood of us all this was an hansel onely of what was to follow And so long as we are convine'd you killed him we cannot but believe you would also kill the King we cannot but believe you would make all of us away that stand in the way of your Religion a Religion which according to what it is you would bring in upon us by a Conversion of us with Blood and by a Baptism with Fire God keep our Land from the one and our City from the other The Jury after about a quarter of an hours consideration returned into Court and brought in all the Five Prisoners Guilty of High-Treason who the next day with Mr. Langhorn received Sentence and on the twentieth of June following were drawn to Tyburn Whitebread and Harcourt in one Sled Gavan and Turner in another and Fenwick by himself in a third At the Gallows they made every one a particular Speech which seemed to be not onely premeditated but the substance and matter thereof to have been prescribed or at least agreed on before amongst them the big protestations of Innocence and expressions being so near alike These Speeches as there were Copies of them spread up and down that very morning by their own Party which shews them to have been prepared out of design so they were afterwards printed and answered very solidly shewing the nature of their Principles and the impious fraud of such their solemn Appeals c. See An Impartial Consideration on the Five Jesuites Speeches as also Animadversions on their Speeches whereunto we refer the Reader for full satisfaction in this point Indeed what credit is there to be given to the words of those men dying whose whole Lives have been but continued Lies it being not unknown that the said Whitebread had for several years heretofore made it his business to Masquerade it in the various Fanatical Mock-Religions of the late times In confirmation of which general Report soon after his Execution there was the following Letter published said to be written by a very Reverend Minister and communicated to the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of London And though we are far from giving credit to every Pamphlet in an Age that swarms with printed Lyes and Fictions and detest that redoubled baseness to abuse the Living by scandalizing the Dead yet to the end that if it be true villany may not be conceal'd but the next Age warn'd to avoid their wyles by reflecting on what they have practised in this and for that upon inquiry we find very probable grounds to believe the sincerity of this account though for some Reasons the Author declin'd exposing his name to it in Print we shall here insert it in his own words that such as shall think fit may farther satisfie themselves concerning the Contents A Letter from a Minister of the Church of England communicated to the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor relating to Thomas White alias Whitebread who was lately Executed for High Treason Sir IN Answer to your request in two Letters of yours to your Brother these are to assure you that the Gentleman you mentioned viz. White alias Whitebread more than twenty years ago came to Oxford under pretence of a Jew converted by some eminent Divine of the Presbyterian way in London But in Oxford he pretended a farther light by joyning with and hearing at the several Churches and Sermons of Doctor Thomas Goodwin Doctor Owen and some others of the Independent or Congregational way But not stedfast there long pretending the Apostles rule to try all things he fell to the Anabaptists and then to the Quakers amongst whom he challenges Doctor Owen and several others for their Principles in a Letter written in several Languages so learnedly that it was thought worthy of consideration of the Learned Convocation there by whom he was censured as a Jesuite or some other Popish Seminarist and thereupon Imprisoned in the Castle-Prison there where he pretended a Distraction and personated the Mad-man so exactly that in few days some friends of his procured his liberty I saw him several times running up and down the streets with his Hat under his arm full of stones throwing at every small Bird he saw But e're long I met him at a Papist-house where I heard him discourse very gravely learnedly and discreetly where I got not only acquaintance with him but familiarity insomuch that several times in change of Habit he came to visit me and several other young Scholars in Magdalen Colledge But at length being again suspected and like to be apprehended he got privately away for London I brought him five miles of his way and so left him to his designs In six Months after business called me to London where after a day or two I heard a Report of a famous Preacher amongst the Quakers near Charing-cross and the same day met the same Gentleman then so much famed going to speak in an old-fashioned pinked Fustian Jerkin and clouted shooes and Breeches faced with Leather and a Carters Whip in his hand altogether disguised from my knowledge of him but he knew me and spake with me and renewed our acquaintance At present he went about his intended work and the next day came to my Quarters in the neat Habit of a London Minister and carried me to his Lodgings within the Precincts of the Middle-Temple where I had a good entertainment and a view of several strange Habits in which he disguised himself to the several sorts of people he insinuated himself into I saw also his Orders from the Roman Court and an Instrument wherein he was assured of and ordered to receive of certain Merchants an Hundred pounds per Annum besides an yearly Pension of Eighty pound per Annum from his Father I am sure he pretended he was born at Wittenberg his Fathers Name John White and in his Writing he himself was stiled Johannes de Albo by the Court of Rome He was both Jesuit and Priest in Orders I went with him by water and visited some Ships and in one House in Southwark he Celebrated the Mass in the Popish Mode to more than forty The same day we visited several Presbyterians and others and I continued in his company by the space of a Month when he was apprehended and by a special Order from the then Protector Imprisoned in the Tower of London where I endeavoured but was not admitted to visit him Two years after I understood by a
how he should drink Milk in Town and onely general instructions by the by touching the Bath but when he was just a going then he might cause more particular instructions to be writ by his man Or which is most probable knowing what stuff he had intermint with his former directions unfit to be shewed to any Apothecary he therefore was obliged on that very score to repeat his directions of the number of strokes at the Pump what Pills he should take c. So that in all this there is nothing worth the Juries taking notice of but onely to observe that it was nothing to the purpose 2. Sir George's next Exception to Mr. Oates's Testimony is That before the House of Lords he should say that he thought that before-mentioned Letter to be of Wakemans writing onely because it was subscribed George Wakeman But this the Knight was not able to prove and Doctor Oates gives another account of his words there to the best of his remembrance and refers to the Record So that this caâ—il too signifies nothing 3. But then was started an Objection which though very little in it self yet was made very much of by good management and that was That Doctor Oates did not charge Sir George so fully before the King and Council but rather denyed that he knew any thing against him but what he had seen in other peoples Letters And to this purpose Sir Philip Lloyd did say p. 55. but not upon Oath being produced by the Prisoner That Mr. Oates did their say he had seen a Letter from Whitebread to Fenwick that Sir George was to poison the King and to have 15000 l. for it whereof 5000 l. had been paid by Coleman and Sir Philip farther added That Sir George did then carry himself as if he were not concerned at the Accusation and that Mr. Oates being called in again and askt whether he knew any more against him did lift up his hands and said No God forbid that I should say any thing against Sir George Wakeman for I know nothing more against him In Answer to this 1. Doctor Oates did now upon his Oath deny that he to his remembrance spake any such words but believed Sir Philip was mistaken 2. That he was then so weak and weary with watching and hurrying up and down that he was not in a condition to make Answer Sir Thomas Doleman upon Oath saith of Sir George's behaviour then before the P. 59. Council that in his opinion and in the opinion of others he did not deny the Crime so positively as one that was Innocent would have done which is somewhat contrary to Sir Philips opinion 4. The same Sir Thomas confirms Dr. Oates's Apology and swears he seem'd at that time to be in such great weakness and disorder that he believes he was scarce able to give a good Answer Now suppose Doctor Oates through weakness forgetfulness or some other good reason did not at that time charge Sir George so home it being enough then to give a general Charge does it follow that he was now tyed up in his Evidence and may not afterwards charge him farther Was not Whitebread and Fenwicks Jury with-drawn one time because one of the Witnesses did not swear home and yet afterwards that Witness admitted to enlarge and thereupon the Prisoners Convicted and Executed Besides in Mr. Oates's Depositions at that time exhibited to the King in writing Article the 37. it is more than probably intimated that Doctor Oates could Charge Sir George Wakeman further but prudentially for some reasons perhaps that he might not all at once stir too many and mighty Enemies forbore to do it For speaking there of the 15000 l. proposed to Sir George he adds But whether Sir George hath been treated with about that concern the Deponent cannot inform here in this Article And so much touching his Evidence against Wakeman Against Mr. Bedloes Testimony Sir George objected onely 1. That it was not likely he should let P. 40. him be privy to so so great a secret being but a stranger To which Mr. Bedloe answers That Harcourt had told Sir George who he was and that after he knew he was his Confident and engaged in their grand design he might well be free before him 2. He solemnly swears he never saw Mr. Bedloe before in his life Ibidem But this Mr. Bedloe does also confute making it out by Circumstances that he had taken Physick of him at the Bath three years ago and that acquaintance Wakeman could not deny onely calls him Rogue c. And thus as to any thing material stood Sir George Wakemans Case Then as for Corker and Marshal Doctor Oates swears positively that they P. 31. both knew of the design of killing the King for that they did both of them in his hearing express their dislike not of the Treason but of one of the persons chosen to do it saying that Pickering was no fit person for that service because being commonly attendant on the Altar he might thereby miss of an opportunity and therefore they declared their opinion that a meer Lay-man would be more proper He farther saith p. 35. That Marshal went half with Conyers who laid a wager That the King should eat no more Christmas-pies and that both of them were privy and consenting to the Consult of the Benedictines for raising 6000 l. for carrying on the design Marshal being actually present at the Consult at the Benedictine Convent in the Sauoy either the day before or after the Feast of the Assumption which is the fifteenth of August and Corker though he were not there but gone as he said to Lamspring in Germany yet he sent a Letter dated the latter end of August to signifie his consent which was necessary because he was their President and this Letter Doctor Oates by comparison of hands prov'd to be his Writing and farther that he had a Patent from the See of Rome to be Bishop of London which Doctor Oates saw in his hands and was told by him p. 34. That he hoped it would not be long ere he exercised his Episcopal Function And lastly That Marshal was present at another Consult 21 of Aug. where he agreed to the sending of Commissions into Ireland to raise Forces there and to the poysoning of the Duke of Ormond Then Mr. Bedloe as to these two swears P. 38. That though he never heard any thing from Corker that did positively relate to the Murder of the King yet he hath heard him talk much of the Design and carrying it on about raising an Army what Interest he had in the people what Letters they had received from beyond the seas and how forward they were in their proceedings here And as to Marshal that he used to carry Letters to and fro concerning the Plot amongst the Plotters and that he knew what was the effect of such Letters and the Answers being one of the Club and Consult that saw all
they ought to acquit him 2. That as to Sir George Wakeman Corker and Marshal there had two sorts of Evidence been given General and Particular the General by Mr. Dugdale Mr. Prance and Mr. Jennison 'T is true neither of them so much as name any of the Prisoners but they prove the Plot That there was a Conspiracy to bring in Popery by killing the King This his Lordship observ'd was a circumstantial Evidence against the Prisoners and might answer their Objection when they said the Jury were not to credit positive Oaths without probable Circumstances or something else to guide them by And especially his Lordship noted to the Jury Mr. Jennison's Testimony concerning Ireland and how clear it was made appear that the said Ireland died with a Lye in his mouth 3. Then as to the particular Evidence first against Wakeman That Mr. Oates had sworn he saw a Letter to Ashby subscribed George Wakeman in which were the Treasonable words before-mentioned but saith he had never seen his hand before but afterwards saw him writing as he thinks writing and looking on that Paper when he was gone while it was wet the Character to the Witnesses thinking was the same with the Letter Now his Lordship observed that supposing this to be true 't is something hard for one having never been acquainted with a mans hand before by seeing it afterwards thus to recollect backwards and know that what he saw before was the same hand-writing 2. That in Harcourts Chamber he saw a Book kept by the Jesuits wherein was written This day specifying a certain day agreed with Sir George Wakeman for 15000 l. to which he consented and under it a Receipt for 5000 l. part of 15000 l. by order of Mr. Coleman subscribed George Wakeman which Receipt Mr. Oates by comparison of hands believes to be the same hand which he had so seen twice before and that he did not charge Sir George with any positive thing farther to the best of his Lordships memory Here Sir Robert Sawyer interposed saying Yes my Lord he says he saw his Commission Whereupon his Lordship proceeded That indeed he does say he saw a Commission in his hands to be Physician-General to the Popish Army and that he denyed ten thousand and would have fifteen thousand pounds the truth his Lordship would leave with the Jury and then expressing a just tenderness of shedding Innocent Blood and that probabilities of things were truely to be weighed proceeded to Mr. Bedloe's Testimony which having shortly repeated he declared that if the Jury believed what was sworn by him then there were two Witnesses against Wakeman but his Lordship would leave it with them hoping his Brothers if they remembred any thing farther would observe it to them 4. As to Corker his Lordship observed That Oates says he saw a Letter under his hand that is his Name as his Lordship supposes was to it wherein he consented to raise 6000 l. for carrying on the Plot but his Lordship does not find that he proves he knew Corkers hand And whereas Oates swears Corker was President of the Benedictines and therefore his consent necessary his Lordship takes notice That Corker contradicts him therein by two or three Witnesses that he was not President but one Stapleton And for Oates saying that Corker excepted against Pickerings killing the King and that they had better have chosen another He did not prove that he was at the Consultation but onely that he knew of it and proves no fact but these words and for what Bedloe says it is less than what Oates says c. 5. That against Marshal there was rather less than against Corker That Oates onely says that he consented to raise the 6000 l. and excepted as Corker did against Pickerings being employed to kill the King and Bedloe says That he knew he carried Letters concerning the Plot and was present at the Consults where they were read and answered 6. Then as to the Prisoners defence his Lordship summ'd it up particularly as why Oates did not take them before why he did not accuse Wakeman further at the Councel c. adding That if it were possible they had almost undone themselves in their Defences by insisting upon trivial things but his Lordship declared he would discharge his Conscience to the Jury telling them plainly That it lay upon the Oaths of those two men meaning Dr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe And so having descanted once more upon Mr. Oates's weakness before the Council and declared that what had been proved of that nature by Sir Tho. Doleman was to his Lordship no answer and also that it was well observed that Oates was a begging at the Savoy and how strange it was they should use him so when he knew of so great a design on foot his Lordship concluded Upon which Mr. Bedloe said My Lord my Evidence is not right summed up but it appears by the Printed Tryal that there was no farther notice taken thereof than by this Answer from his Lordship I know not by what Authority this man speaks And immediately the Jury withdrew who after about an hour 's in Consultation returned into Court desiring to know if they might not find the Prisoners guilty of Misprision of Treason and being told by Mr. Recorder the Judges being gone off That they must either Convict them of High-Treason or acquit them they immediately gave in their Verdict Not Guilty of all the Four Prisoners And the same evening Sir George Wakeman and Rumley were discharged out of Newgate but Corker and Marshal being Priests and so liable to another Indictment on that account were continued in custody And Sir George Wakeman whether conscious of guilt or apprehending prosecution for some new matter we cannot say did shortly after think fit to get out of the Land being furnished as 't is set forth by Mr. Dangerfield See Colonel Mansels Narrative p. 43. with 500 l. by a very great person for his Transportation and by a Chaloup ordered from Calice was taken in about six miles from Dover and so escaped and landed at Newport being 't is said splendidly entertained and caressed by the Papists especially the Jesuits and those under their influence in all places that he comes to CHAP. XXII Of the farther Discovery made by Mr. Robert Jennison and Mr. John Smith a quondam Priest AS this unexpected Acquittal of Sir George Wakeman and the rest tryed with him seemed some discouragement to the Kings Evidence so Protestants in general were much surprised thereat and not a few odd rumours and surmises spread abroad on that occasion some thought it strange that the veracity of Doctor Oates and Mr. Bedloe should be more questioned or their Testimony less regarded now than heretofore at the many precedent Tryals since no contradiction or other sufficient matter was thought to have been assigned that might so invalidate their Credit Others fancyed it an Excess of good-nature that when Sir George could not but give himself up as
precipitate to Ruine as aforesaid consult and use all Arts to exclude him from the Succession To this purpose Father Parsons Cardinall Allen and others contrive a mischievous Book under the counterfeit Name of Doleman wherein divers Titles are started and 't is laid down as a Fundamental Maxime That none but a Roman Catholick how near soever in Blood ought to be admitted King and therefore therein by forged devices the Title of the Infanta Isabella of Spain is preferred before the indubitable Right of the said King James and all the English in the Spanish Seminaries were compell'd to Swear to maintain the same And Tho. Winter and Tesmond a Jesuit were sent over Anno 1601. into Spain to manage this Design in that Court by the Assistance of Father Croswel Legier-Jesuit there 2. In Farther pursuance of this Pope Clement the Eighth sent privately over to Father Garnet the then Proâ—incial of the Jesuits two Bulls one to the â—aiety directed to the Nobles and Gentlemen of England that were Catholicks the other to his Beloved Sons the Arch-Priest and the rest of the English Catholick Clergyâ— the effect of both was That whoever after the death of Queen Elizabeth whether by course of nature or otherwise should claim the Crown of England though never so directly and nearly interessed therein by Descent and Blood-Royal yet unless he were such an one as would not onely Tolerate the Catholick meaning Romish Religion but would likewise take an Oath to promote it with all 〈◊〉 might and endeavours they should not admit or receive him for their King but oppose his Entry and Claim with all their power Which in plain English was meerly designed and directly tended to obstruct King James though not particularly named and Exclude him and his Family from the Crown And was not this a sufficient tast of the Popes good-will a notable earnest of the Papists Loyalty to him 'T is true when the Conspirators saw him so unanimously Proclaimed the State setled and a Peace with Spain so far advanced that that generous Monarch began to refuse them the expected Assistances then and not till then Garnet as himself alleadged burnt the said Bulls and quitted the Project but why onely because they despaired of effecting it 3. The more to prepossess the minds of the English against the said King James that they might keep him out or at least that themselves might have some colour for their future intended Conspiracies if he should come in Watson a Priest having some time heretofore got access once or twice to His Majesty at Edenburgh did with the Arch-Traitor Piercy and others of the Popish Crew most falsely devise and divulge a scandalous Report as if His Majesty had promised that whenever he should come to the Crown of England He would Establish or at least Tolerate the Popish Religion Than which nothing was ever more remote from or contrary to his Royal Thoughts And Watson himself but two days before his death confessed it to be a Lie of their own forging spread abroad meerly that they might kill two Birds with one stone viz. bring an odium upon him from the Protestants for making such a promise and the like from the Papists on pretence of breaking it In which latter respect it took effect though not in the former for Sir Everard Digby at his death and other Gun-powder Traitors made use thereof alleadging that they were exasperated to that horrid Attempt because the King had not kept his promise with Catholicks SECT 2. These were the good Officer of the Pope these the dutiful respects of the Priests and Papists paid to King James before he was actually Estated in the English Throne Whence we may judge how little welcome they were like to afford him at his Entry and of this the worthy Authour of a Treatise published in the beginning of King James's Reign before the Gun-powder-Treason Intituled A Consideration of the Papists Supplication gives us a notable instance from his own Experience and Observation in these words p. 3. My self can testifie that here in Oxford at what time His Majesty was proclaimed King of England c. a man might easily have traced and culled out every Papist within this City by his extraordinary howling and sobbing for grief that their hopes were frustrated and their expectation all in vain some of the simpler sort crying out in express terms Alas alas How shall the poor Catholicks do now we are all undone we are undone whereas all the rest of His Majesties Liege and Loyal Subjects by manifold Tokens declared their extraordinary rejoycing Their demeanor afterwards was suitable to these beginnings for soon after his arrival at London the said Watson and Clark two Secular Italianated Priests wheadled in several of the Nobility and Gentry as the Lords Cobbam and Gray Sir Walter Rawleigh Sir Griffin Markham George Brooke and others into a dangerous Conspiracy to have surprized the Kings Person and his Son Prince Henry and to keep them Prisoners in the Tower or Dover Castle till by Duress they had obtained their ends viz. A Toleration of Religion and some other Projects and then having obtained their Pardons they were to share amongst them the grand Offices of the Realm just as their Successors Whitebread Coleman c. had lately designed viz. Watson was to be Lord Chancelour the Lord Gray Earl Marshal of England George Brooke Lord Treasurer Sir Griffin Markham Secretary of State c. But though several were found guilty onely Watson Clark and Brooke were then Executed and Sir Walter Rawleigh on the same Conviction many years after 'T is observable that Watson though a Secular Priest had yet learned the art of Equivocation as well as the Jesuits For he insisted that this Conspiracy was no Treason against the King and being at last put to explain himself gave this doughty reason That a King was no King before he was Anointed and the Crown solemnly set on his head and King James being not yet crowned therefore they might lawfully conspire against him without commitring any Treason Amongst other things which Watson Confessed one was that he had endeavoured to draw in several of the Society of Jesuits into this Plot but they declined it saying They had another of their own then on foot and that they would not mingle Designs with him for fear of hindring one the other Vide Watsons Confession What such their Design was though he could not yet time in few years after did discover for in the next place appears that horrid never-to-be-forgotten Popish Powder-plot a Treason that as it exceeded all that had ever been before in the World so it was believed it would have surpassed in its mischievous Design Extent and Cruelty all that teeming Hell and Rome could have bred at any time afterwards had not this last Internal Conspiracy of the same Bloâ—â—y Tribe against our present Gratious King Charles the Second and the Establisht Religion and Government of England vut-gone it in