humble Answer to your Majesty's Gracious Speech we hope no evil Instruments whatsoever shall be able to lessen your Majesty's Esteem of that Fidelity and Affection we hear to your Majesty's Service But that your Majesty will always retain in your Royal Breast that favourable Opinion of us your Loyal Commons That those other good Bills which we have now under Consideration conducing to the great Ends we have before mentioned as also all Laws for the Benefit and Comfort of your People which shall from time to time be tender'd to your Majesty's Royal Assent shall find Acceptance from your Majesty If this be not Demonstration that the Discovery of the Popish Plot had an universal Credit over all England I will never undertake to make any out for the future And this I must say That it is beyond Contradiction no Man of Sense ever standing in Opposition to that which is as plain as the Sun shining at Noon Day Therefore I will proceed in the tenth Place 10. The Judges of England gave it Credit Let me put you in Mind of what Judge Scroggs said at Irelands Tryal in his Charge to the Jury he saith thus It is most plain the Plot is Discovered and that by these Men that it is a Plot and a most Villanous one nothing is more plainer and when the Jury had found Ireland Pickering and Grove Guilty observe what he said to them you have done Gentlemen like very good Subjects and very Good Christians that is to say like very good Protestants and now much good may their thirty Thousand Masses do them Again in the Tryal of the Five Jesuits he saith thus This Gentlemans Blood lies upon you speaking of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and some have being Executed for it it must be yet further told you that in what you did you have given us a Specimen of what you would do we have a Testimony that for promoting your Cause you would not stick at the Protestants Blood the Letter saith he that was found in Harcourts Papers doth farther confirm Oats in all the great and considerable Matters that he says that there was a Plot and that that Plot was called by the name of a Design which was to be keep Close and Secret This is an Evidence that cannot Lye 2. Observe what your never to be forgiven Villain Jefferies said upon the Justices finding the five Jesuits Guilty of Treason Gentlemen you of the Jury There hath been a long Evidence given against the Prisoners at the Bar they were all Indicted Arraigned and farely Tryed and fully heard for High-Treason depending upon several Circumstances they can none of them pretend to say and I take the Liberty to take notice of it for the satisfaction of them and all that here present and all the World that not a Person among the Prisoners at the Bar were either wanting to themselves to offer or the Court to them to hear any thing that they could say for themselves but upon a long Evidence and a full Discussing the Objection made against it and a Patient hearing the defence they made they are found Guilty and I think every honest Man will say they are unexceptably found so and that it is a just Verdict you have given Again upon his giving Judgment upon Langhorne and the five Jesuits he said thus But your several Crimes have been so fully proved against you that truely I think no Person that stands by can be in any doubt of the Guilt nor is there the least room for the most Scrupulous Men to doubt of the Credibility of the Witnesses that have been examined against you and sure I am you have been fully heard and stand fairly conviâ—ced of those Crimes you were Indicted for I could give farther instructions of this Nature but I now come to an Eleventh instance which is the Credit the Witnesses had with the Lord Chancellour Finch who at Staffords Trial when he gave Judgment upon that Traytor he told him that now it was out of dispute who fired London and who it was that Murthered Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Answer Give me leave to observe a third thing to you by way of answer look back a little and reflect upon the Behaviour of the King your Brother in that Affair mistake not your self Sir the King your Brother did believe the Popish Plot and issued forth several Proclamations made several Speeches in Parliament that did shew his belief but Sir if he did not believe it his discourse of it was sutable to his Company he kept but this I must say that had he joined in with his Parliament in the discovery of it he might have been much more easâ—y in his Government and might have been upon the Throne and your head upon London Bridge for ought I know but this I will say your Villanous Party could never recover the blow they received by the discovery of that Plot and it was the first and chief moving Cause of the late Revolution and the bringing our King to the Throne and delivered the Nation from Popery and Slavery and notwithstanding my ill Usage I have received from unreasonable Men I shall not Repent of any thing that I have said or done concerning the Testimony I have given relating to the Villanous Rogues and Traytors therein concerned and your Worship was the chief of those never to be forgotten and never to be forgiven I say I shall not Repent though I have received the worst of Villanous usage from this best of Government and have been left to Starve I having been now deprived of the greatest part of my Pension these five or six Years against all manner of Justice to please one malevolent Rogue who never did one good Act in all his Life unless it were to cheat the old Rogue his Father out of an Estate 2. I come to answer a second Question and that to shew you to what end I made the discovery and 1. The first Reason was that the Body of Mankind might be undeceived concerning your self and Party that the impudent Lies of your Baals Priests made in your Praise and Commendation both as to your Religion Royalty and Love to the Nation might sufficiently be laid open so that they might not any longer deceive the People in that Point as they had done in the Doctrins of Passive-Obedience and Non ressistance 2. That the Nation might be so awakned to provide in a legal way for its own security and the security of its Laws and Religion for in Truth the Lethargy that the generality of this Nation then lay under which amazed some thinking Men and encouraged you and your vigilant Villains for some thought that upon the discovery of the Gun-powder Treason and upon the late Restoration of your Brother that the Popish Party had laid all their Designs aside but alas they pursued their designs more industriously since we were Cursed with your Brothers Company and yours than ever before and your Red-Letter'd Scoundrels had so started
ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ ΤΕΤΑΡΤΗ OR THE PICTURE OF THE Late King James Further drawn to the LIFE In which is made manifest by several Articles That the whole Course of his Life hath been a continued Conspiracy against the Protestant Religion Laws and Liberties of the Three Kingdoms In a Letter to Himself The Fourth Part. By TITVS OATES D. D. LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Richard Baldwin 〈◊〉 the Oxford-Arms Inn in Warwick-Lane MDCXCVII TO His most Excellent Majesty WILLIAM III. By the Grace of God And the Choice of the Good People of England Of Great Britain France and Ireland Rightful and Lawful KING Defender of the Faith and Restorer of our LAWS and LIBERTIES As well as the Victorious PROTECTOR of Oppress'd Europe TITVS OATES D. D. His Faithful Dutiful and Loyal Subject and Servant most humbly dedicates this ensuing MEMORIAL ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ ΤΕΤΑΡΤΗ Or The Fourth Part of the Picture of the Late King JAMES SIR I Know you expect I should be as good as my word and truly so I will to the utmost of my poor power because of the great regard I have for your Person Cause and Interest and before I enter upon any more lines of your sweet face in order to perfect your Picture let us take a dish of drink together and give you a true state of your interest here in England and when we consider the excellent qualifications of your Hell-born Crew here you may easily conclude what a nasty pickle you and my old Landlady are in and that I shall do in these six particulars 1. Your Cattel here have acted their parts in tampering to make parties against the present Government which parties were to have been made either of your Friends or your Enemies the former are such a parcel of Cowardly Rascals that to tell you the truth as they quitted your Father in the time when he had most occasion for them so they did you witness your friends both here and in Scotland too notwithstanding the application they made by your especial direction to Sir Timothy Stiff-Jaws when old Preston's hopeful design was baffled by the vigilance of the present Government nay I doubt not but that they might by Scotch Robin have made some effort of that nature upon some of our Dissenters but alas it was to no purpose for they understood their Interest as well as an old friend of yours did of cheating your Brother of a tickling summ you know for what use and therefore all attempts if ever any were to all intents and purposes fruitless and vain well I pray what tools did you make use of very sorry ones upon my word a sort of people whose persons were neither known nor had they credit for a two-penny Loaf persons not able to make you a party worth the mentioning nor can I by the best enquiry I can make tell who set them on work or what Warrant or Authority they have for what they do for if one should ask Sir Timothy Stiff-Jaws to whom as I said before they were to make application he would swear by my Landlady's white hand that he knew never a Rogue of them all and would not lose his good Preferment as long as there was a shilling to be got though I must tell you that in spight of the Whore his neighbour he hath quitted his Post since a penny could not be got in it with any great matter of content he is now at Grass and waits dear Sir for a comfortable minute that he may have my Landlady by the hand again without disturbance I suppose he might make you under-hand half a dozen poor Curs and these the Rogues call a Party and a Party for you and upon the strength of these Fellows impudence your nonsensical Crew shamm'd a simple Declaration from you bearing date from St. Germains which did you more hurt than the Fishermen of Feversham could do for their hearts blood Well when your gracious Declaration came Lord What a stir they made with it and publish it they would hand over head without any regard had for the Publishers and disposers of the same or the least thought of making any provision for those willing Vermin that lay at the mercy of our Government to be drawn hang'd and quartered for such an eminent piece of service and some of them have taken a civil swing tho much ado before they could be perswaded to it You was not pleased to put us off with one Declaration but a second and a third was issued forth bearing date from St. Germains in which you lovingly declared what great and good things they should have the Lord knows when if they would but meet you the Lord knows where But I pray Sir why did you reflect upon the ingratitude of some of your old Friends Alas alas you did not well consider that they might be got into good employments in which they were to Battle their sweet Bodies for a convenient season or it may be if some of them had been so scandalous that they could not get into an employment of considerable trust they were got behind the Hangings with a comfortable Pension to the end that they may use King William in that Post as they did you when you employed them Nay sweet Sir now I think on 't there is your old Friend Sir Simkin you know who turned Whig to betray the Whigs to your Brother and then he turned Tory to betray your Brother to the Whigs then turned Papist to betray your good Worship what could you do with such a Spark if he should take the other turn but keep him behind the Hangings to do some job or another tho it cost you two or three thousand pounds per annum for Secret service for in my conscience Rhiming Jack Carryl and the rest of your doughty Crew at St. Germains would scarce sit at Council-board with him he would be so scandalous he saith he is a man of good parts and wouâ—d himself sign a Certificate even upon Oath since honour hath so long been a stranger to him yet none of your poor humble Curs now with you would be seen in his company for forty shillings a man lest he should betray you once more Come let me ask you one civil question if you should be King of Poland or Jerusalem or Ushant or Bell Isle Would you ever admit him so much as Clerk of your Kitchen truly you must have the Grace of a great deal of good Nature to believe him worthy of such an Employ for since he hath made so many turns let him have nothing with you but that of a Turnspit he being too lend for any else yet for all this this Case-hardened Coxcomb that brags of doing great feats for the support of our Government hath pretended to such an Interest with you and my very good Landlady that one would think that he was ready to make another turn and some of your Cattle here would fain make us believe he is doing
thing without being made privy to the same but also all Arlington's friends at Court lay under your great displeasure but some of them who had as much Courage as you had Wrath dealt plainly with you in the point and told you that your Daughter was not to be look'd upon as yours but as the King's Daughter and Child of the Kingdom and so that your consent was not much to be considered in the disposal of her but only the Interest of State but this was not at all satisfactory to you and your French Pensioners and Popish Crew because you all foresaw by that that the Protestant Interest would be strengthened and the French and Popish Interest hurt and Arlington would render himself the darling of the Parliament and the Protestant Interest and the States General of the United Provinces Well Sir you may remember that this trusty friend of yours the Lord Arlington set forth upon this Errand upon November the 11th 1674 and returned not till the sixth of January during his absence Old Veracity and Duke Lauderdale and some other of your French Pensioners who were the Persons of considerable credit with the King your Brother and did pretend to be united to you These Villains set up their Throats and roared declaiming loudly and with the greatest violence against poor Arlington and his actions and truly they gave you such hopes in his absence to blow him up and his whole party at Court so that as Beddingfield told me you passed the time pretty comfortably you expecting by these trayterous impliments to have routed him and all his Creatures and in so doing they drew you on to believe that upon the ruine of the Lord Arlington they could do you Service and the French King and that they could with the greatest ease imaginable manage and deal with your Band of Pensioners but protested to you till they could get rid of him they had not courage to speak to the Parliament for fear they should not succeed nay your old White-hair'd Friend whose gratitude to the Duke of Buckingham was so notorious told you that if you could not get rid of Arlington that the Parliament would sit again in spight of them all and further acquainted you that if the Parliament should come to hear of this that they had used their endeavours against their sitting would prove an unpardonable Crime that neither the French King nor you no nor your Brother could save them from punishment these Villains knew the greatness of their Crimes and therefore they were forced to play an odd trick with you now and then to save themselves harmless but you whose nature and property was never to forgive was forced at this time to dissemble with them by your pretended acquiescing in their judgments tho' full sore against your proud Stomach and if you remember Arlington was too many for all your Party for if I am not out he would not have you to treat with the Parliament in his absence for on the Tenth of November the very day before his departure he so managed his Affairs the Parliament was put off till the thirteenth of April 1675. What overtures these two Lords made in relation to the match I cannot well tell nor will it be much to the point if I could but when they had done that for which they were sent they returned home but alas the creatures found themselves not able to prevail against Arlington by those means and arts they had then tryed they resolved now upon counsels which were to out-run him in his own course which accordingly they undertook and became as zealous men for the Protestant Religion and Liberty and Property as ever the Lord Arlington could pretend to have been before and in pursuance thereof perswaded the King your Brother to issue out those severe Orders and Proclamations against your Brethren in the Faith which you knew came out in Feb. 1674 5 by which you see they even they your own French Pensioners did what in them lay to extirpate your own dear Religion and to Banish your Brethren out of the Kingdom what ungrateful wretches were these to pursue such counsels as were in opposition to your Worship Had you advanced these Vermin O yes and they had professed much duty and service to you what Scoundrels were these so basely to leave you Come don't cry your friend Coleman knew who it was that would support you in order to this presently an Express was dispatched over to France and trusty Jack Smith was dispatched away to the Most Christian Turk and oh what Complaints you made to his Father Confessor of these Rogueries and truly it was high time to enter upon new thoughts how to preserve you in this juncture of affairs from the deceits of these men upon whom you used to depend very much for the support of your Cause alas Sir what would you have them do they had for a long time been acting in your designs till they were as obnoxious to the people as the Devil could make them it was therefore highly necessary that they should do some small matter to render themselves a little grateful to the Parliament provided there was a necessity of its sitting at the time appointed and you know that nothing was so pleasing to the Parliament as brushing of Popery s Jacket a little notwithstanding all this the sence of their Guilt was such that they had rather have seen the Devil than a Session of Parliament and therefore they would have been glad to have found out any expedient to have put it off though they durst not for their ears engage in it openly themselves But Sir what was all this but shamming the Nation for all this while like State-Moles they were hard at work under-ground to secure you for what they had done openly against your interest and the interest of the French King their point Sir was to whet your zeal for the dissolution of the Parliament and that they had been somewhat severe against the Saints of your cursed Church only to make way for a dissolution and that an objection of the people might be fairly obviated viz. that the dissolution of the Parliament was in favour of Popery which clamour theyt old you was prevented before-hand by the severity they had used against it Upon this you sent to the French King as before and made your propositions in good earnest for it was but in vain to trifle since you saw your self shammed you could but judge what sort of Cattel you had to do withal and what you had to trust to if you lay at their mercy and that you now must trust in the mighty mind of his most Christian Majesty then you made your application to him and like a good Boy you promise heartily to perform what was required from you he complies with you and so you were safe you had his Purse and so you were easie and Coleman his 20000 l. and so all was well and what could
Hearts content was that which the Catholick Cause with the assistance of France when it was at leisure by a general Peace was built upon Now this Vote coming instead of Money upon these hard Conditions no way suited with the mighty design you and your Conspirators had in hand for tho' you had as I said before got a pretty Spell from the Parliament yet that being imploy'd by your old Friend the Parliament-manager and the rest of your Rogues as I have mentioned before Mony was wanting to pay your Soldiers and Fleet and truly Nel Waal and her Mistris and the rest of the Bawds Pimps and Whores had swept a great deal of what was given by these methods from the Parliament for holy secret service This Vote therefore made you and your Conspirators very uneasie your appointed time of setting up being come and prudently as Men in your condition you obtain'd of the King your Brother to give the angry Vote of the House a mild Answer The Vote before mention'd passed the House and was sent to the King your Brother on the 27th of May upon a Monday the next day the 28th His Majesty sent them this Message His Majesty having perused the Vote of this House hath thought fit to return this Answer That the most Christian King hath made such Offers for a Cessation till the 27th of July as His Majesty does not only believe will be accepted but doth also verily believe will end in a general Peace yet since that is not certain His Majesty doth by no means think it prudent to dismiss either Fleet or Army before that time nor doth he think it can add much to the Charge because the raising the mony and the paying them off would take as long time as that although the speediest disbanding that is possible were intended That in the mean time His Majesty desires some Supplies may be provided for their subsistence That as hitherto they have been the most orderly Army that ever was together they may be encourag'd to continue so That there is another thing which presses His Majesty with very great inconvenience in his domestick Affairs which is the want of the 200000 l. you promised to repay him at your next meeting after which doth affect the whole Branch of his Revenue by having a fifth part taken out of every Payment which should be applied to the necessary Vses of his Houshold He doth therefore desire you would immediately apply your selves to the Repayment of that mony to him The House having received this Message they took it for granted as well they might that their Work was done and began to look about and consider what was first to be done they saw well enough to what intent the Army was raised and began to suspect they should never be able to lay the Devil you intended to raise by that Army of yours for they had several Items of your Conspirators corresponding with France from whence they apprehended your Brother and you was to have Mony and by the management of things at home they found it would be very difficult to unhinge your designs they resolved to raise Mony to disband the Forces with all speed and to continue none in pay any longer than Mony could be raised so they vote a Land-Tax of 200000 l. to disband the Army which was to be done by the latter end of August at the farthest and began to think upon another Bill to secure the Nation from Popery and to take care of us when we were dead by passing a Bill to award the Act for burying in Woollen but your Brother seeing the House of Commons very busie about the disbanding the Army sent them a Message on the 7th of June as follows His Majesty in his Speech to both Houses on the 23d of May last told them That if he were made able he would keep up his Army at Land and his Fleet at Sea for some time till a Peace was concluded if that might be but because that would depend upon your supplies he left it to you to consider whether to provide for their subsistence or to disband them sooner His Majesty hath often since had his Thoughts imploy'd upon the same subject and is every day more and more confirmed in his first Opinion to wit that the saving a few days Expence can no ways countervail the Prejudice that would proceed from the parting with his Fleet and Army if after that a Peace should not follow and tho' it should yet the hazarding so much upon the meer presumption of the issue of the thing it self altogether uncertain and quite out of his own power is hardly to be countenanc'd by any Precedent His Majesty therefore again recommendeth to the consideration of this House his Advice on the 23d of May last that they would see the Effects of the Cessation in Flanders before His Majesty be necessitated to disarm himself but more especially of that part of the Army which is in Flanders which if he should recall before the Peace would be liable to a very bad construction viz. that having taken several of the King of Spain's Towns into his protection he had without any reasonable Warning in order to their regarrisoning withdrawn his Forces and abandoned those Towns to the discretion of the Enemy Now Sir I pray remember that notwithstanding this Message the House of Commons did not think sit to keep up your Popish Army for that they now plainly discover'd the use and purposes of this Army and they knew who advised the Speech and those two Messages and had a pretty guess at the meaning and therefore tho' some of the House were for giving longer time yet the generality were of opinion they had been kept too long already and saw it absolutely necessary notwithstanding the fair stories That the design was never to part with them now they were raised but that you and your Conspirators had another Work to do for them And as secret as the thing was carried they had an account both of the Letters of France and of Flanders and of all your Negotiations with the French King and his Ministers as well as your Villanous Jesuites had from time to time an account of the Motions in the House of Commons In short after many Debates the House concluded of a Bill to raise Mony for the disbanding of the Army and gave them for doing it till July for that part at home and those in Flanders till August following and after passing the additional Bill for burying in Woollen they provided the Reimbursement of the 200000 l. formerly borrowed and which had been so often pressed to be paid They arose being adjourned till October following but fain would your Conspirators have had longer time by the Parliaments consent for disbanding their Army but since you could not have their Consent you and your Villains were resolved to do it without Consent The next project you had was to attempt the settling a new Excise
of his to the French King bearing date in June 1676. in which he saith to this Effect That if he could be assured of a Pension that might continue he should not continue that way of governing viz. by frequent Parliaments which at the best was but a clamorous Rabble that took upon them to direct Kings but as he was resolved to be like his Neighbours in Riches and Grandeur so he was resolved to be like them in Religion too This was the Effect and Substance of that Letter that was shewed to me by John Keins and Basil Langworth but said Keins the French King was too old to be cullied out of his Mony by a man that was so uncertain All these things I communicated to the King your Brother in private in the Princes Lodging in White-hall who gave me Thanks for not communicating these Things to the Parliament and told me that he was now fully convinced of the Reasons and Grounds the Papists had of taking away his Life and the Prince said I pray God continue your Majesty on that Opinion for now you may see they are a â—ort of people that are not to be endured in a civil Government Good God said the King your Brother is this the kindness that is to be shewed me for all the favours that I have shewed that people At which his Majesty wept the Prince then bid me withdraw and sent for me the next day and conjured me not to communicate one word of the Discourse I had with the King for saith he it will be neither safe for the King nor you nor any of us if this should be reported And also his Highness the Prince had often enjoyned and engaged me that when I met with any thing that might reflect upon the King to be sparing there because the Publication of those things might tend to alienate the King's Heart from the frequent use of Parliaments without which the Kingdom could never rid it self from the apparent Danger of Popery But when the Prince saw how the Parliaments and the whole Nation were treated by him and your self and villanous Party he heartily repented of his Injunction laid on me and so did I of my Promise made to him there were three great Reasons why it was necessary that this Plot should at that time be discovered 1. That the Life of the King your Brother might be preserved if he had so pleas'd 2. To shew to the World what a sort of men you herded withal and what we were to expect from you when ever you should come to the Crown 3. To prevent iâ— possible your coming to the Crown since you were in your own Nature such an Enemy of our Religion and Government 4. For the Discharge of my Conscience to God and my Country and that such Malefactors might be brought to publick Justice 1. That the Life of your Brother might have been preserved if his Majesty had been so pleased in order to this it was highly necessary that the Kingdom should be awakened to provide in all legal and due ways for the Protection of the person of the King your Brother you may if you will remember that you had brought the Nation into such a Lethargick State and Condition as did not only amaze those that loved it but encouraged also those that hated it they were much out who thought that your villainous Crew had laid their Designs aside when your Brother sent out a sham Proclamation against Priests and Jesuits or when the Pensioners had given Popery a broad side in the House of Commons in order to make their Measures come in the more freely or when the last Bill passed in the year 1673 though that Bill did them no manner of Service in the World but hurt Alas good Sir you and your Villains by these sleepy proceedings of the then Parliament were prick'd on to be the more industrious in the pursuit of your wicked Designs you and your Accomplices had so stated your Case that there could be no retreat and rather than you would be deseated of your Hopes you and your Villains were resolved to pawn your Lives and Fortunes and your all upon your great Adventure for you had laboured too long in the Design which you had brought to bear so well to lose in a moment the Fruits of Seven Eight or Ten years Toils and Endeavours for suppose Sir the Protestant Party should have been so good natured as to have forgiven you and your Accomplices yet you could not have relyed upon their mercy because you had proceeded so far in this Conspiracy and therefore you being well fraught with such a Cargo of Guilt what could be expected from you but your being desperate to the last degree And therefore since you knew that not Lawrel but Hemp was the reward of Treason your Party were resolved not to be dismayed at the Horrour of your Treasons but were rather inflamed to revenge your selves upon the Parliament that sometimes barked against Popery and Arbitrary Power you knew very well what you and your Villains had deserved and rather than â—amely to suffer the publick Justice of the Nation you were resolved not to be without the Aid and Assistance of a Forreign Power and every man that was not a Stranger to Conversation could not but hear what large Contributions were provided for you in all Popish Countries upon which you and your party were notoriously impudent which was no sign of your Innocence but of your Villany and the Assurance you had of compleating the Nations Râ—ine and though they had brought the King your Brother to that State that he would not believe if any Malecontent should discover your Designs either against him or the Government both in Church and State yet there was none but in that Day before any discovery was made saw the Design in general and that your Brother as well as you was engaged in it and because he had forseited his Credit with you and your Accomplices your Popish Party thought him not â—it to live and therefore since the Case waâ— so it was then necessary that the Government should not only disengage him from that wicked Enterprise and that he might not perish it was necessary that your Designs against him in particular should also be detected 2. Another Reason of this discovery was to shew to the world what sort of Men they were with whom you herded and what we were to expect from you when ever you came to the Crown for you that was a Traytor to the Kingdom by those cursed Designs of yours when you was a Subject would of Consequence be a Tyrant whenever you mounted the Throne many that judged you a bigotted Papist did not conclude you a Traytor till your designs were discovered and then they could expect nothing less of you than an Arbitrary and Dispotick Reign when you should come to wear the Crown hence it was that upon the discovery of the Popish Plot that the Parliament voted
if it were so necessary to have it known that your Crew were not men of that Loyalty they pretended why then were not the Witnesses better receiv'd by the King your Brother who the last moment of his Life was satisfied of the Innocency of the Roman Catholicks Truly Sir there were several reasons why the King your Brother it may be might not receive the witnesses so well and believe them as he ought to have done 1. Because he was engag'd in the whole Conspiracy of introducing Popery and Slavery but was not privy to that part which related to his own Life 2. Your Brother lov'd to appear a Prince of Mercy and Clemency tho' he had not one dram of those Princely Virtues but what his meer Cowardice compel'd him to 3. The Nature of the Evidence given 4. The Interest of the Conspirators These you shall have in due time and not before tho' you cry your Eyes out 3 Reason why it was necessary that your Conspiracy should be discover'd was to prevent your coming to the Crown for certainly it could be neither safe nor proper to set a Popish Head over a Protestart Interest especially since you had made so many Attempts upon the Protestant Religion to destroy it and in order to its destruction made such an Alliance with France as I have at large already made out in which I think you are as fully expos'd as your Heart and Soul can wish and therefore Sir I think you noâ— your Party can never blame those Parliaments that intended and attempted your Exclusion when you was Duke of York 4 That I might discharge a good Conscience and that such Malefactors might be brought to publick Justice It is well known Sir that the King your Brother was a Favourer of the Popish Interest as being the greatest Favourers of Monarchy and he was pleas'd himself to offer to reconcile me to that Party and told me That if I would engage upon the word of a Minister not to bear any Testimony against those I had accused before the Council but would be rul'd by him I should have Ten thousand pounds to buy me an Annuity and if I would I should retire to any College in either University and live there quietly urging to me that a Parliament would never gratifie me and that it was in his power only to shew me Favour and therefore advised me to follow his Directions and if I did it would be impossible for me to miscarry To this I thus reply'd I humbly thank your Majesty for your Grace and Favour and I should willingly accept of your Royal Offer were it not the highest Breach of Trust reposed in me by your Commons in this Parliament besides Sir said I your Nobles in the House of Peers must and so will all Mankind judge me the worst of Men if I should so basely desert my Cause It is plain that the Popish Party have a Design against your Majesties Life and all our Lives Liberties and Religion and therefore by the Grace of God I will stand by the Cause to the uttermost of my power to the last minute of my Life I bless God for the Grace of Perseverance I have discharg'd a good Conscience and tho' I was left by your Brother and persecuted by you yet your Villains were some of them brought to publick Justice and made Examples for their many notorious Treasons against the Religion Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom 7. I now come to shew you what Evidence there was to prove this Conspiracy that you were engag'd in for the destruction of the Person of the King and for the bringing in of Popery and Aâ—bitrary Power Your Popish Traytors were so impudent in their ways that there was no manner of difficulty of finding Proof against them had but your Brother and you stood Neuters but you were both equally engag'd with Lewis the French King to bring in Popery and Slavery But that it may appear to all the World that the Popish Plot was not short of being duly proved but on the contrary it was made so plain and evident that the Lords and Commons of England did receive the Proofs and the Evidence upon no terms could be contradicted therefore now I shall produce the Evidence of the Guilt of those who were accused to be concern'd in the same 1. The constant bloody Principles of the Church of Rome was a Testimony sufficient to have convicted them of being guilty of such a horrid Conspiracy for do but remember how that Apostatical Synagogue of Satan will not bear with any Kingdom Common-wealth or Community of Men that differs from them in Matters of Religion and declares against them as Antichristian and Idolaters but those who so declare are immediately pronounced Hereticks and de jure they are excommunicated as such according to the Council of Lateran in the time of Pope Innocent the third and by an Edict of Pope Paul the fourth in the Year of our Lord 1558 and if that be not sufficient you may remember that we are in the Bulla Coena Domini which your Holy Father at Rome causeth to be read every Maunday Thursday and there we are solemnly cursed and thereupon Sir your bloody Party and your self and all other Papists living under the Dominions of Protestant Princes were not only discharg'd from all Allegiance to Protestant Princes but all of you were and still are bound by the strictest Bond of Conscience upon pain of being damn'd to depose such Heretical Princes And Vrban the third hath taught you and them that they are so far from being guilty of Murder that they are obliged to kill any who stand excommunicate and are bound to extirpate Hereticks as they would be esteem'd Christians themselves Nay further do but observe the Bull of Clement the tenth wherein you may if you please see plainly that it is a Crime of the deepest dye for a Roman Catholick to be loyal to a Protestant Prince nay such are publickly cursed in the view of the World so that it is apparent that no Protestant Government can be safe where such a number of Men have a Being and are in any manner countenanc'd Again Bellarmin your great Cardinal tells you in words at length and is so impudently plain that a man of an Irish Understanding may know his meaning his words are these Hereticks are to be destroy'd Root and Branch if it can possibly be done but if it appears that the Catholicks are so few that they cannot conveniently with their own safety attempt such a thing then in such a case it is best to be quiet de Laicis Lib. 3 Ep. 22. Lest upon opposition made by Hereticks the Catholicks should be worsted And from hence Bannes another of the Supporters of your murdering principles hath no other Apology to make for the English Papists why they do not forcibly rise up against a King and his Subjects proâ—essing the Protestant Religion but that they are not powerful enough for such an
the business then Coleman falls to arguing again with your new Correspondent Father Lachaise who succeeded Ferryer in the Office of a Confessor to the French King your Ally with whom he so prevail'd that the French King was wholly of Coleman's Opinion and your own and testified it in a Letter to your self which â—ore date June the second and I suppose you was so much a Gentleman as to answer his Letter you being a most humble Admirer of the said French King that you would not only write to him but also to his Father Confessor in these words as follows Your Letter to Monsieur Lachaise the French King's Confessor THE Second of June last past his most Christian Majesty offer'd me most generously his Friendship and the use of his Purse to the Assistance against the Designs of my Enemies and his and protested unto me that his Interest and mine were so clearly link'd together that those that opposed the one should be look'd upon as Enemies to the other and told me moreover his Opinion of my Lord Arlington and the Parliament which is That he is of Opinion that neither the one nor the other is in his Interest or mine and thereupon he desir'd me to make such Propositions as I should think fit In this conjuncture all was transacted by the means of Father Ferryer who made use of Sir William Throgmorton who is an honest man and of Truth who was then at Paris and hath held Correspondence with Coleman one of my Family in whom I have great Confidence I was much satisfied to see his most Christian Majesty altogether of my Opinion so I made him answer by the 29th of June by the same means he made use of to write to me that is by Coleman who address'd himself to Father Ferryer by the foremention'd Knight and entirely agreed to his most Christian Majesty and that it was necessary to make use of our joint and utmost Credits to prevent the Success of those evil Designs resolv'd on by the Lord Arlington and the Parliament against his most Christian Majesty and my self which of my side I promise really to perform of which since that time I have given reasonable good Proof Moreover I made some Proposals which I thought necessary to bring to pass what we are obliged to undertake assuring him that nothing could so firmly establish our Interest with the King my Brother as that very same Offer of the help of his Purse by which means I had much reason to hope I should be enabled to the dissolving of the Parliament and to make void the Designs of my Lord Arlington who works incessantly to advance the Interest of the Prince of Orange and the Hollanders and to lessen that of the King your Master notwithstanding the Protestations he hath made to this hour to render him Service but as to that which was proposed 't was at a stand by reason of the Sickness of Father Ferryer so our Affairs succeeded not according to our Designsâ— only Father Ferryer wrote to me the 15th of the last Month That he had communicated those Propositions to his most Christian Majesty and that they had been very well liked of but as they contain'd things that had regard to the Catholick Religion and to the Offer and Vse of his Purse he gave me to understand he did not desire I should treat with Monsieur Revigny upon the first but as to the last and had the same time acquainted me that Monsieur Revigny had Order to grant me whatsoever the conjuncture of our Affairs did require and have expected the effects of it to this very hour but nothing being done in it and seeing on the other hand that my Lord Arlington and several others endeavour'd by a thousand Deceits to break the good Intelligence which is between the King my Brother his most Christian Majesty and my self to the end they might deceive us all three I have thought fit to advertise you of all that is past and desire of you your Assistance and Friendship to prevent the Rogueries of those who have no other design than to betray the Concerâ—s of France and England also and who by their pretended Service are the occasion they succeed not As to any more I refer you to Sir William Throgmorton and Coleman whom I have commanded to give you an account of the whole state of our Affair and the true condition of England with many others and principally my Lord Arlington's Endeavours to represent to you quite otherwise than it is The two first I mention'd to you are firm to my Interest so that you may treat with them without any apprehension This Letter your Cattle would have to be counterfeited by Coleman but your Brother saw the Copy of the French King's Letter and might have seen the Original if he had been as honest as I was earnest to have your Papers seiz'd as well as Coleman's But that Letter was full of very gracious Expressions to you and in it he blamed your Friends for not having done the Great Work which that King said would embarrass all your Affairs and what that was a Man might easily guess for the Reason he gave was an explication of it that there was not the least Trust to be put in him No sooner had King CHARLES read this Letter but he was very much startled Now the destruction of the Prince of Orange was pointed at in plain words at length and it 's well known that the French King then would not agree to the Summ of Three hundred Thousand pounds for your Brother's Use but for your own and the Pension of Three hundred Thousand pounds per Annum was setled upon you Now this Summ and this Pension was not the Pension that your Brother aimed at for this was fixed three Years before that was sought And Coleman had his Twenty thousaâ—d pounds which he truly made use of for the Ends for which it was given him and that you well knew and blamed Coleman for his parting with such a sum of Money in so little a compass of time as eighteen Months but when he had given you to give him his due a true account you â—old him That he had been a faithful Servant and that he should never want such a summ of Money to serve the Cause And it 's well known that none lived at a more noble rate than Coleman considering his Quality and well he might he having so good a Pension from France and not an inconsiderable one from Rome The next thing I present you withall to bite upon was his Declaration Prepared for the dissolving the long Parliament of which I suppose you know no more then you did of the long Letter or of that you Wrote to Lachaise and how that devilish band of Pensioners are Treated the world may see if they will be but as diligent in Observing as you was Vigilant in Carrying on your Cursed Designs against our Laws Liberties and Religion they will find that
Peace with Holland that I urg'd all the Arguments I could which to me were Demonstrations to convince your Court of that Mischief and press'd all I could to perswade his most Christian Majesty to use his uâ—most endeavour to prevent that Session of our Parliament and proposed Expedients how to do it But I was answered so often and so positively that his most Christian Majesty was so well assured by his Embassador here our Embassador there the Lord Arlington and even the King himself that he had no such apprehensions at all but was fully satisfied of the contrary and lookt upon what I offered as a very zealous mistake that I was forced to give over arguing though not believing as I did but conâ—idently appealed to time and Success to prove who took their measures rightest When it happened what I foresaw came to pass the good Father was a little suprized to see all the great men mistaken and a little one in the right and was pleased by Sir William Throckmorton to desire the continuance of my correspondence which I was mighty willing to comply with knowing the Interest of our King and in a more particular manner of my more immediate Master the Duke and his most Christian Majesty to be so inseparably united that in was impossible to divide them without destroying them all Vpon this I shewed that our Parliament in the circumstances it was managed by the timerous Councels of our Ministers who then governed would never be useful either to England France or Catholick Religion but that we should as certainly be forced from our Neutrality at their next meeting as we had been from our Active Alliance with France the last Year That a Peace in the Circumstances we were in was much more to be desired than the continuance of the War and that the Dissolution of our Parliament would certainly procure a Peace for that the Confederates did more depend upon the power they had in our Parliament then upon any thing else in the World and were more encouraged from them to the continâ—ing of the War so that if they were Dissolved their measures would be all broken and they consequently in a manner necessitated to a Peace The good Father minding this Discourse somewhat more then the Court of France thought fit to do my former urg'd it so home to the King that his Majesty was pleased to give him Orders to signify to his R H my Master that his Majesty was fully jaâ—isfyed of his R. H's good intention towards him and that he esteemed both their interests but as one and the same that my Lord Arliâ—gton and the Parliament were both to be lookt upon as very unuseful to their interest That if his R H. would endeavour to dissolve this Parliament his most Christian Majesty would assist him with his Power and Purse to have a new one as should be for their purpose This and a great many more expressions of kindness and confidence Father Ferryer was pleased to communicate to Sir William Throckmorton and Commanded them to send them to his R H. and withal to beg his R. H. to propose to his most Christian Majesty what he thought necessary for his own concern and the advantage of Religion and his Majesty would certainly do all he could to advance both or either of them This Sir William Thorckmorton sent to me by an Express who left Paris the 2d of June 1674. Stilo novo I no sooner had it but I communicated it to his R. H. To which his R H. commanded me to answer as I did on the 29th of the same month That his R. H. was very sensible of his most Christian Majesties friendship and that he would labour to cultivate it with all the good Offices he was capable of doing foâ— his Majesty that he was fully convinced that their Interests were both one that my Lord Arlington and the Parliament were not only unuseful but very dangerous both to England and France That therefore it was necessary that they should do all they could to Dissolve is And that his R. H's opinion was that if his most Christian Majesty would Write his thoughts freely to the King of England upon this Subject and make the same proffer to his Majesty of his Purse to Dissolve this Parliament which he had made to his R. H. to call another he did believe it very possible for him to succeed with the assistance we should be able to give him here and that if this Parliament were Dissolved there would be no great difficulty of getting a new one which would be more useful The Constitution of our Parliaments being sucâ— that a new one can never hart the Crown nor an old one do it good His R. H. being pleased to own these propositions which were but only general I thought it reasonable to be more particular and come closer to the point we might go the faster about the work and come to some issue before the time was too far spent I laid this for my Maxim the Dissolution of our Parliament will certainly preâ—ure a Peace which proposition was granted by every Body I Conversed withal even with Monsieur Rouvigny himself with whom I took liberty of discoâ—rsing so far but durst not say any thing of the Inteligence I had with Father Ferryer Next that a Sum of Money certain would certainly procure a Dissolution this some doubted but I am sure I never did for I knew perfectly well that the King had frequent Disputes with himself at that time whether he should dissolve or continue them and he several times declared that the Arguments were so strong on both sides that he could not tell to which to incline but was carried at last to the continuance of them by this one Argument If I try them once more they may possibly give me Money If they do I have gain'd my point If they do not I can dissolve them then and be where I am now so that I have a possibility at least of getting Money for their Continuance against nothing on the other side But if we could have turned this Argument and said Sir their Dissolution will certainly procure you Money when you have only a bare possibility of getting any by their Continuance and have shewn how far that bare possibility was from being a foundation to build any reasonable hope upon which I am sure his Majesty was sensible of and how much 300000 l. sterl certain which was the Sum we propos'd was better than a bare possibility without any reason to hope that that could ever be compassed of having half so much more which was the most he design'd to ask upon such vile dishonourable terms and a thousand other hazards which he had great reason to be afraid of If I say we had had power to have argued this I am most confidently assured we could have compassed it for Logick in our Court built upon Money has more powerful Charms then any other sort of
reasoning But to secure his most Christian Majesty from any hazard as to that point I propos'd his Majesty should offer that sum upon that condition and if the condition were not perfomed the Money should never be due if it were and that a Peace would certainly follow thereupon which no Body doubted his Majesty would gain his Ends and save all the vast expences of the next Campaign by which he could not hope to better his Condition or put himself into more advantagious Circumstances of Treaty then he was then in but might very probably be in a much worse considering the mighty opposition he was like to meet with and the uncertain Chances of War But admitting that his Majesty could by his great strength and Conduct maintain himself in as good a Condition to Treat the next year as he was then in which was as much as could then reasonably be hoped for be should have saved by this Proposal as much as all the Men he must needs lose and all the charges he should be at in a year would be valued to amount to more than 300000 l. sterl and so much more in case his Condition should decay as it should be worse then it was when this vvas made and the Condition of his R. H. and of the Catholic Religion here vvhich depends very much upon the success of His most Christian Majesty delivered from a great many frights and real hazards F. Ferryer seem'd to be very sensible of the Benefit all parties vvould gain by this Proposal But yet it vvas unfortunately delay'd by an unhappy and â—edious â—it of sickness vvhich kept him so long from the King in the France Comte and made him so unable to vvait on his Majesty after he did return to Paris But so soon as he could compass it he vvas pleased to acquaint his Majesty vvith it and vvrote to the Duke himself and did me the Honour to vvrite unto me also on the 15th of September 1674. and sent his Letter by Sir William Throckmorton vvho came express upon that Errand In these Letters he gave his R. H. fresh assurance of his most Christian Majesties friendship and of his Zeal and Readiness to comply with every thing His R. H. had or should think â—it to propose in favour of Religion or the business of Money And that he had commanded Monsieur Rouvigny as to the latter to Treat and deal with his R. H. and to receive and observe his Orders and Directions but desired that he might not at all be concerned as to the former but that his R. H. would cause what Proposition he should think â—it to be made about Religion to be offered either to Father Ferryer or Mounsieur Pompone These Letters came to us about the middle of September and his R. H. expected daily when Monsieur Rouvigny should speak to him about the subject of that Letter but he took no notice at all of any thing till the 29th of September the evening before the King and Duke went to Newmarket for afortnight and then only said that he had Commands from his Master to give his R. H. the most firm assurance of his Friendship imaginable or something to that purpose making his R. H. a general Complement but made no mention of any particular Orders relating to Father Ferryer's Letter The Duke wondering at this proceeding and being obliged to stay a good part of October at Newmarket and soon after his coming back hearing of the Death of Father Ferryer he gave over all further prosecuting of the former Projects But I believe I saw Monsieur Rouvigny's policy all along who was willing to save his Masters Money upon assurance that we would do all we could to stave off the Parliament for our own sakes that that we would struggle as hard without money as with it and we having by that time upon our own Interest prevailed to get the Parliament Prorogued to the 13th of April he thought that Prorogation being to a day so high in the Spring would put the Confederates so far beyond their Measures as that it might procure a Peace and be as useful to France as a Dissolution Vpon these Reasons I suppose he went I had several discourses with him and did open my self so far to him as to say I could wish his Master would give us leave to offer to our Master 300000 l. for the Dissolution of the Parliament and shewed him that a Peace would mâ—st certainly follow a Dissolution which he agreed with me in and that we desir'd not the Money from his Master to excite our wills or to make us more industrious to use our utmost powers to procure a Dissolution but to strengthen our Power and Credit with the King and to render us more capable to succeed with his Majesty as mâ—st certainly we should have done had we been fortified with such an Argument To this Purpose I press'd Mounsieur Pompone frequently by Sir William Throckmorton who returned hence again into France on the 10th of November the day our Parliament should have met but was Prorogued Mounsieur Pompone as I was informed by Sir William did seem to approve the thing but yet had Two Objections against it First That the Sum we proposed was Great and couâ—d be very ill spared in the circumstances his Most Christian Majesty was in To which we Answered That if by his Expending that Sum he could procure a Dissolution of our Parliament and thereby a Peace which every body agreed would necessarily follow His Most Christian Majesty would gain his Ends and save Five or Ten times a greater Sum and so be a good Husband by his Expence and if we did not procure a Dissolution he should not be at that Expence at all for that we Desired â—â—m only to promise upon that Condition which we were content to be Obliged to perform first The Second Objection was The Duke did not move nor appear in it Himself To that we Answered That he did not indeed to Mounsieur Pompone because he had found so ill an effect of the Negotiation with Father Ferryer when it came into Mounsieur Rouvigny 's hands but that he had concerned himself in it to Father Ferryer Yet I continued to prosecute and press the Dissolution of the Parliament detesting all Prorogations as only so much loss of time and a means of strengthning all those who depend upon it in Opposition to the Crown the Interest of France and Catholic Religion in the Opinion they had taken That our King durst not part with his Parliament apprehending that another would be much Worse Second That he could not live long without a Parliament therefore they must suddenly Meet and the longer he kept them Off the greater his Necessity would grow and consequently their power to make him do what they listed would increase accordingly And therefore if they could but maintain themselves a while the day would certainly come in a short time in which they should be
having turned their Faces the Parliament would â—o so too and still be against them and be as little for Pâ—rsecution then as they had been for Popery before This I underâ—ook to manage for the Duke and the King of France 's Interest and assured Mounsier Rouvigny which I am sure he will testify if occasion serves that â—â—at Sessions should do neither of them any hurt for that I was sure I had power enough to prevenâ— mischief though I â—urst not engage for any good they would do because I had but very few assistances to carry on the â—orâ— and wanted those helps which others had of making friends The Dutch and Spainaâ—d spared no pains nor expence of Money to animate as many as they could against France Our Lord Treasurer Lord Keeper all the Bishops and such as call'd themselves Old Cavaliers who were all then as one man were not less industrious against Popery and had the Purse at their Girdle too which is an Excellent Instrument to gain Friends with and all Vnited against the Duke â—â— Patron both of France and Catholick Religion To deal with all this Force we had no Money but what came from a few private hands and those so mean ones too that I dare venture to say that I spent mâ—re my particular self out of my own Fortune and upon my single Credit than all the whole Body of Catholickâ— in England besides which was so inconsiderable in comparison of what our Adversaries commanded and we verily believe did bestow in making their Party that it is not worth mentioning Yet notwithstanding all this we saw that by the help of the Nonconfâ—rmists as Presbyterians Independents and other Sects who were as much afraid of Persecution as our selves and of the Enemies of the Ministers and particularly of the Treasurer who by that time had supplâ—nted the Earl of Arlington and was grown sole manager of all Affairs himself we should be very able to prevent what they designed against us and so render the Sessions ineffectual to their Ends though we might not be able to compass our own which were to make some brisk step in Favour of his R. H. to shew the King that his Majesties Affairs in Parliament were not Obstructed by reason of any Aversion they had to his R. H 's Person or apprehensions they had of him or his Religion But from Faction and Ambition in some and from a real dissatisfaction in others that we have not had such Fruits and good Effects of those great sums of Money which have been formerly given as was expected If we could have made but one such stâ—p the King would have certainly have restored his R. H. to all his Commissions upon which he would have been much greater than ever yet he was in his whole Life or could probably ever have been by any other Course in the World than what he had taken of becoming 〈◊〉 c. And we were so very near gaining this Point that I did humbly beg his 〈…〉 â—o put the Parliament upon making an Address to the King that his Majesty 〈◊〉 be pleased to put the Fleet into the hands of his R. H. as the only Person likely to give a good 〈◊〉 of so impâ—â—tant a Charge as that was to the Kingdom And shewed his R. H. such Reasons â—â—â—â—rswade him that we could carry it that he agreed with me in it that be believ'd â—e could 〈◊〉 others telling him â—ew great a Damage it would be to him if he should miss in such aâ— undertaking which for my part I could not then see nor do I yet he was prevailed upon not to venture though he was preswaded he could carry it I did Communicate this Design of â—ine to Mâ—â—nsieur Râ—â—â—lgny who agreed with me that it would be the greatest advantage imaginable to 〈◊〉 Master to have the Dukes Power and Credit so far Advanced as this would certainly do if we could composs it I shewed him all the Difficulty we were like to meet with and what helps we should have but that we should want one very matterial one Money to carry on the Wâ—â—k as we ought and therefore I do Confess I did shamefully beg his Masters Help and would willingly have been in â—verlâ—sting Disgrace with all the World if I had not with that assistance of Twenty Thousand Pounâ—s Sterling which perhaps is not the tenth part of what was spent on the other side 〈◊〉 is evident to the Duke that he could not have missed it Mounsieur Râ—uvignâ— used to tell me that if he could be sure of succeeding in that Design his Master would give a veâ—â— much larger Sum but that he was not in a Condition to throw away money upon Vncertainties I 〈◊〉 that nothing of that nature could be so infallibly sure as not to be subject to some possiâ—â—lities of â—ailâ—ng â—ut that I duâ—st venture to undertake to make it evidenâ— that there was as great an assurance of succeeding in it as any Husbandman can have of a Crop in Haâ—vest whâ— seâ—s his Grâ—â—nd in its due Season and yet it would be counted a very imprudent peice of waâ—iness an any Body to scruple the venturing so much Seed in its proper time because it is possible it may be totally lost and no benefit of it found in Harvest he that minds the Winds and the Rains at that rate shall neither Sow nor Reap I take our Case to be much the same as it was the last Sessions If we can advance the Duke 's Interest one step forward we shall put him out of the reach of Chance for ever for he makes such a Figure already that Cautious Men do not care to Act against him nor always without him because they do not see that he is much out-powered by his Enemies Yet is he not at such a Pitch as to be quite out of danger or free from opposition But if he could gain any considerable new addition of Power all would come over to him as to the only steddy Center of our Government and no body would contend with him further Then would Catholics be at Rest and his Most Christian Majestie 's Interest secured with us in England beyond all apprehensions whatsoever In order to this we have two great Designs to Attempt this next Sessions First that which we were about before viz. To put the Parliament upon making it their humble Request to the King that the Fleet may be put into his R. H's Care Secondly to get an Act for general liberty of Conscience If we carry these two or either of them we shall in effect do what we list afterwards and truly we think we do not undertake these great points very unreasonably but that we have good Cards for our Game Not but that we expect great Opposition and have great Reason to beg all the Assistance we can possibly get and therefore if his Most Christian Majesty would stand by us a little in this Conjuncture and help us with such
was impossible that Godfrey had murdered himself because his Neck was broke before his Sword was run through his Body nay your good Brother the King saw you so earnest that he was ashamed at your Zeal which made the Prince swear to the D. of Buckingham that you carryed your self with that heat that a small Evidence would make him if you were brought to a Tryal to find you guilty of the said Murder Sir your behaviour in that particular was so nauseous your actions so plain and yet so pernicious that I stand amazed that your hand stopt there in short Sir the Sence I have of your guilt in that base Murder hath hardened my Heart against you and your villainous party for the many Insolencies that they at that time did offer and the secret Murders they Committed and were by you countenanced that all Men cryed shame and stood more amazed that you were not called to an Account for that Murder than they did at the impudence of the Murder it Self though God he knows that that Murther was of it self astonishing enough but to conclude this Head I pray take two things along with you which I shall leave you as my Legacy 1. What greater Satisfaction can the World have of your Guilt in this Affair if the Sons of Men will but give themselves a little time to consider these Circumstances that I have laid before you had I been so unfortunate as to have been privy to the Murder I would have been no more affraid to have charged you with it than your murdering Crew was to strangle that innocent Magistrate you will do well now to acquit your self of it if you can 't is true you are now out of the reach of the Law and since it is so I pray God keep you so during your Life but this I will tell you that these Circumstances entitle you to the Guilt of that Fact and whilst this Gentleman's Blood lies upon you I cannot forbear observing to you that in what you did to him you gave the world a Specimen of what you would have done to others and made many Men believe That the Earl of Essex came to his end by that way of Charity so that we have had great Testimony that for promoting your Cause you would not stick at the Protestants Blood you began with that honest Gentleman and you did not end in the Earl of Essex you killed Godfrey in his Person but the whole Nation in him was murdered in â—ffigie your hands were imbrued in his Blood but your black Hell-born Soul was dipt in the Blood of us all and since we are convinced that you murdered him and Essex I cannot but be convinced that you poysoned your Brother and had you had but time you would have made all away that stood in the way of your damn'd Religion you would have converted us with Blood and baptized us with Fire your nature and actions testifyed the one and London in a dreadful manner felt the other 2. Let me observe to you the Folly of your murdering this Magistrate certainly Sir it was one of the greatest pieces of Folly that you and your Party could be guilty of for what could be your end in it did you think that if Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey could not escape your murdering Crew that we could not find one in his room yes Sir to your great comfort there was a Gentleman that succeeded him that Harazed your Rogues to as good purpose as a Mans heart and soul could wish and if a Man could but have seen into your cursed Soul we might have found that you had the same Grace and Favours for and intended the same act of Charity to him as you did to Justice Godfrey but he escaped your Blessing and is yet alive to give you an Account of his Stewardship in Print if he pleases and of some of your Royal Misdemeanors into the bargain I pray Sir how do you And how do you like your self by this time how will you come of Therefore to conclude all Is there not here a monstrous Evidence of your whole Popish Plot For in truth we cannot prove it better than by such Practices as these that this Man was killed why either he knew or had discovered to him something that you and your Villains would not have him tell or you did it in defiance of Justice and in Terror to all them that then durst execute it upon them which I say is a great Evidence in its self I leave it with you after you have mumbled over your Mattins you may consider it whilst you have opportunity and leisure 9. I shall in proof of your Popish Plot offer to your consideration the Oral Testimony that was given so that you may see that we were not overhasty in our Proceedings upon those Malefactors that were charged to be in that villainous Conspiracy therefore I will give you their Names in order as follows 1. You have Richard Gastrel of the Grange in Gloucestershire I pray look upon him and see how you like him well sit down and hear what he saith to you in an Examination taken before the Lord Bishop of London a zealous Protestant I assure you and a Justice of the Peace so that you may see we had more good Justices besides Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey and this Richard Gastrel's Information was as follows THIS Deponent saith That in the year 1675 he travelled to Râ—me and being there he was by many arts and perswasions inveighled into the Romish Religion after which he was entertained by Cardinal Barbarini as one of his Gentlemen where after he had continued about five Months he was pervailed withal by several English there and by the said Cardinal to put himself into the English Seminary where after he had continued about two years and a half he returned home but whilst he continued in the said Colledge viz. in Lent last he discâ—ursed with Gerrard Ireland and William Dormour Priests now in England the said Iâ—eland told him that the Catholicks of England had expected long enough from his Majesty withâ—ut Effect and that it was in vain to expect any longer That the King had been much obliged to the Catholics and that he had now forgot their Kindness That he did no Good in England nor did deserve to be King but was a shame to all Princes and that it was no Sin to Kill him to which one Sergeant a Schollar replied Why The said Ireland answered bâ—cause it would be for the Good of the whole Church if the King were Dead the Catholic Religion would soon be brought into England And discoursing further of their going into England the said Ireland and Dormour said they hoped each of them to get a good fat Parsonage there this Dâ—ponent further saith That having an Audience of the Pope in the company of â—our Priests and another secular Gentleman all Students of the same Colledge the Pope understanding they were going for England and
thereby to make way the more easily to do the same in other Protestant Countries Towards the doing this great Work as Mr. Coleman was pleased to call it Jesuits the most dangerous of all Popish Orders to the Lives and Estates of Princes were distribâ—ted to their several Precincts within this Kingdom and held joynt Councels with those of the same Order in all Neighbour Popish Countries Out of these Councels and Correspondences wus hatched that damnable and hellish Plot by the good Providence of Almighty God brought to light above Two Years since but still threatning us wherein the Traytors impatient of longer delay reckoning the prolonging of your Sacred Majesty's Life which God long preserve us the great Obstacle in the way to the Consummation of their Hopes and having in their Prospect a proselyted Prince immediately to succeed in the Throne of these Kingdoms resolved to begin their Work with the Assassination of your Majesty to carry it on with armed Force to destroy the Protestant Subjects in England to execute a second Massacre in Ireland and so with ease to arrive at the Suppression of our Religion and the Subversion of the Government When this accursed Conspiracy began to be discovered they began to smother it with the barbarous Murther of a Justice of the Peace within one of your Majesty 's own Palaces who had taken some Examinations concerning it Amidst these Distractions and Fears Popish Officers for the Command of Forces were allowed upon Mâ—sters by special Orders surreptitiously obtained from your Majesty but counter-signed by a Secretary of State without ever passing under the Tests prescribed by the aforementioned Act of Parliament In like manner above Fifty new Commissions were granted about the same time to known Papists besides a great Number of desperate Popish Officers though out of Command yet entertained at half pay When in the next Parliament the House of Commons were prepared to bring to a legal Tryal the principal Conspirators in this Plot that Parliament was first prorogued and then dissolved The Interval betwixt the Calling and Sitting of this Parliament was so long that now they conceive Hopes of covering all their past Crimes and gaining a seasonable Time and Advantage of practising them more effectually Witnesses are attempted to be corrupted and not only Promises of Reward but of the Favour of your Majesty's Brother made the Motives to their Compliance Divers of the most considerable of your Majesty's Protestant Subjects have Crimes of the highest Nature forged against them the Charge to be supported by Subornation and Perjury that they may be destroyed by Forms of Law and Justice A Presentment being prepared for a grand Jury of Middlesex against your Majesty's said Brother the Duke of York under whose Countenance all the rest shelter themselves the Grand Jury were in an unheard of and unpresidented and illegal Manner discharged and that with so much haste and fear lest they should finish that Presentment that they were prevented from delivering many other Indictments by them at that time found against other Popish Recusants Because a Pamphlet came forth weekly called The weekly Pacquet of Advice from Rome which exposes Popery as it deseâ—ves as ridiculous to the People a new and arbitrary Rule of Court was made in your Majesty's Court of King's Bench rather like a Star-chamber than a Court of Law that the same should not for the future be printed by any Person whatsoever We acknowledg your Majesty's Grace and Care in issuing forth divers Proclamations since the Discovery of the Plot for the banishing Papists from about this great City and Residence of your Majesty's Court and the Parliament but with trouble of Mind we do humbly inform your Majesty that notwithstanding all these Prohibitions great Numbers of them and of the most dangerous Sort to the Terrour of your Majesty's Protestant Subjects do daily resort hither and abide here Vnder these and other sad Effects and Evidences of the prevalency of Popery and its Adherents we your Majesty's faithful Commons found this your Majesty's distressed Kingdom and other Parts of your Dominions labouring when we assembled And therefore from our Allegiance to your Majesty our Zeal to our Religion our Faithfulness to our Country and our Care of Posterity we have lately upon mature Deliberation proposed one Remedy of these great Evils without which in our Judgments all others will prove vain and fruitless and like all deceitful Securities against certain Dangers will rather expose your Majesty's Person to the greatest Hazard and the People together with all that 's valuable to them as Men or Christians to utter Ruin and Destruction We have taken this Occasion of an Access to your Majesty's Royal Presence humbly to lay before your Majesty's great Judgment and gracious Consideration this most dreadful Design of introducing Popery and as a necessary Consequent of it all other Calamities into your Majesty's Kingdoms And if after all this the private Suggestions of the subtle Accomplices of that Party and Design should yet prevail either to elude or totally to obstruct the faithful Endeavours of us your Commons for the happy Settlement of these Kingdoms we shall have this remaining Comfort That we have free'd our selves from the Guilt of that Blood and Desolation which is like to ensue But our only hope next under God is in your Sacred Majesty that by your great Wisdom and Goodness we may be effectually secured from Popery and all the Evils that attend it and that none but Persons of known Fidelity to your Majesty and sincere Affections to the Protestant Religion may be put into any Employment Civil or Military That whilst we shall give a Supply to Tangier we may be assured we do not augment the Strength of our Popish Adversaries nor encrease our own Dangers Which Desires of your faithful Commons if your Majesty shall graciously vouchsafe to grant we shall not only be ready to assist your Majesty in defence of Tangier but do whatsoever else shall be in our Power to enable your Majesty to protect the Protestant Religion and Interest at home and abroad and to resist and repel the Attempts of your Majesty's and the Kingdoms Enemies 9. Observe the Vote against your self which was made April the 27. 1679. That the Duke of York's being a Papist and the Hopes of his coming to the Crown such hath given the greatest Incouragement to the present Conspiracy and Designs of the Papists against the King and the Protestant Religion Upon which Sir a Bill was brought in and is as follows A Copy of the Duke of York 's BILL WHereas James Duke of York is notoriously known to have been perverted from the Protestant to the Popish Religion whereby not only great Incouragement hath been given to the Popish Party to enter into and carry on most Devilish and Horrid Plots and Conspiracies for the Destruction of his Majesty's Sacred Person and Government and for the Extirpation of the true Protestant Religion But also if
the said Duke should succeed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm nothing is more manifest than that a total Change of Religion within these Kingdoms would ensue For the Preservation thereof be it Enacted by the King 's most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That the said James Duke of York shall be and is by the Authority of this present Parliament excluded and made for ever incapable to inherit possess or injoy the Imperial Crown of this Realm and of the Kingdoms of Ireland and the Dominions and Territories to them or to either of them belonging or to have exercise or injoy any Dominion Power Jurisdiction or Authority in ihe same Kingdoms Dominions or any of them And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if the said James Duke of York shall at any Time hereafter challenge claim or attempt to possess or enjoy or shall take upon him to use or exercise any Dominion Power or Authority or Jurisdiction within the said Kingdoms or Dominions or any of them as King or chief Magistrate of the same that then he the said James Duke of York for every such Offence shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures as in Case of High Treason And further That if any Person or Persons whatever shall assist or maintain abet or willingly adhere unto the said James Duke of York in such Challenge Claim or Attempt or shall of themselves attempt or endeavour to put or bring the said James Duke of York into the Possession or Exercise of any Regal Power Jurisdiction or Authority within the Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid or shall by writing or preaching advisedly publish maintain or declare That he hath any Right Title or Authority to the Office of King or chief Magistrate of the Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid that then every such Person shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and that he suffer and undergo the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures aforesaid And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if he the said James Duke of York shall at any time from and after the Fifth of Nov. 1680. return or come into or within any of the Kingdoms or Dominions aforesaid then he the said James Duke of York shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures as in case of High Treason And further That if any Person or Persons whatsoever shall be aiding or assisting unto such Return of the said James Duke of York that then every such Person shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer as in cases of High Treason And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That he the said James Duke of York or any other Person being guilty of the Treasons aforesaid shall not be capable of or receive Benefit by any Pardon otherwise than by Act of Parliament wherein they shall be particularly named And that no Noli prosequi or order for stay of Proceedings shall be received in or upon any Indictment for any of the Offences mentioned in this Act. And be it further Enacted and Declared and it is hereby Enacted and Declared That it shall and may be Lawful to and for any Magistrates Officers and other Subjects whatsoever of these Kingdoms and Dominions oforesaid and they are hereby enjoyned and required to apprehend and secure the said James Duke of York and every other Person offending in any of the Premises and with him or them in case of Resistance to fight and him or them by force to subdue for all which Actings and for so doing they are and shall be by Virtue of this Act saved harmless and indemnified Provided and it is hereby Declared That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed deemed or adjudged to disenable any other Person from inheriting and injoying the Imperial Crown of the Realms and Dominions aforesaid other then the said James Duke of York but that in case the said James Duke of York should survive his now Majesty and the Heirs of his Majesty's Body the said Imperial Crown shall descend to and be injoyed by such Person or Persons successively during the Life of the said James Duke of York as should have inherited and injoyed the same in case the said James Duke of York were naturally dead any thing contained in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That during the Life of the said James Duke of York this Act shall be given in charge at every Assizes and General Sessions of the Peace within the Kingdoms Dominions and Territories aforesaid and also shall be openly read in every Cathedral Church and Parish Church and Chappels within the aforesaid Kingdoms Dominions and Territories by the several respective Parsons Vicars Curates and Readers thereof who are hereby required immediately after Divine Service in the Forenoon to read the same twice in every Year that is to say on the 25th of December and upon Easter Day during the Life of the said James Duke of York Which Bill was Read thrice and Passed the House of Commons and upon its being Rejected in the House of Peers behold this Address to the King your Brother The humble Address of the House of Commons presented unto his Majesty upon Tuesday the 21 th of December 1680. in answer to his Majesty's Gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament upon the 15 th Day of the same December May it please your most Excellent Majesty WE your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament assembled having taken into our serious Consideration your Majesty's gracious Speech to both your Houses of Parliament on the Fifteenth of this instant December and do with all the grateful Sence of faithful Subjects and sincere Protestants acknowledg your Majesty's great Goodness to us in renewing the Assurances you have been pleased to give us of your Readiness to concur with us in any means for the Security of the Protestant Religion and your gracious Invitation of us to make our Desires known to your Majesty But with grief of Heart we cannot but observe That to these Princely Offers your Majâ—sty has been advised by what secret Enemies to your Majesty and your People we know not to annex a Reservation which if insisted on in the Instance to which alone it is applicahle will render all your Majesty 's other gracious Inclinations of no Effect or Advantage to us Your Majesty is pleased thus to limit your Promise of concurrence in the Remedies which shall be proposed That they may consist with preserving the Succession of the Crown in its due and legal Course of Descent ond we do humbly inform your Majesty That no Interruption of that Descent has been endeavoured
by us except only the Descent upon the Person of the Duke of York who by the wicked Instruments of the Church of Rome has been manifestly perverted to their Religion And we do humbly represent to your Majesty as the Issue of our most deliberate Thoughts and Consultations That for the Papists to have their Hopes continued That a Prince of that Religion shall succeed in the Throne of these Kingdoms is utterly inconsistent with the Safety of your Majesty's Person the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the Prosperity Peace and Welfare of your Protestant Subjects That your Majesty's Sacred Life is in continual Danger under the Prospect of a Popish Successor is evident not only from the Principles of those devoted to the Church of Rome which allow That an Heretical Prince and such they term all Protestant Princes excommunicated and deposed by the Pope may be destroyed and murthered but also from the Testimonies given in the Prosecution of the horrid Popish Plot against divers Traytors attainted for designing to put those accursed Principles into practice against your Majesty From the Expectation of this Succession has the Number of Papists in your Majesty's Dominions so much increased within these few Years and so many been prevailed with to desert the true Protestant Religion That they might be prepared for the Favours of a Popish Prince as soon as he should come to the Possession of the Crown And while the same Expectation lasts many more will be in the same Danger of being perverted This it is that has hardned the Papists of this Kingdom animated and confederated by their Priests and Jesuits to make a common Purse provide Arms make Application to foreign Princes and solicit their Aid for imposing Popery upon us and all this during your Majesty's Reign and while your Majesty's Government and the Laws were our Protection It is your Majesty's Glory and true Interest to be the Head and Protector of all Protestants as well abroad as at home but if these Hopes remain What Alliances can be made for the Advantage of the Protestant Religion and Interest which shall give confidence to your Majesty's Allies to join so vigorously with your Majesty as the state of that Interest in the World now requires while they see this Protestant Kingdom in so much Danger of a Popish Successor by whom at the present all their Counsels and Actions may be eluded as hitherto they have been and by whom if he should succeed they are sure to â—e destroyed We have thus humbly laid before your Majesty some of those great Dangers and Mischiefs which evidently accompany the Expectation of a Popish Successor the certain and unspeakable Evils which will come upon your Majesty's Protestant Subjects and their Posterity if such a Prince should inherit are more also than we can well enumerate Our Religion which is now so dangerously shaken will then be totally overthrown nothing will be left or can be found to protect or defend it The Execution of old Laws must cease and it will be vain to expect new ones The most sacred Obligations of Contracts and Promises if any should be given that shall be judged to be against the Interest of the Romish Religion will be violated as is undeniable not only from Argument and Experience elsewhere but from the sad Experience this Nation once had upon the like Occasion In the Reign of such a Prince the Pope will be acknowledged Supreme though the Subjects of this Kingdom have sworn the contrary and all Causes either as Spiritual or in order to Spiritual Things will be brought under his Jurisdiction The Lives Liberties and Estates of all such Protestants as value their Souls and their Religion more than their secular Concernments will be adjudged Forfeited To all this we might add That it appears in the Discovery of the Plot that foreign Princes were invited to assist in securing the Crown to the Duke of York with Arguments from his great Zeal to establish Popery and to extirpate Protestants whom they call Hereticks out of his Dominions and such will expect performance accordingly We further humbly beseech your Majesty in your great Wisdom to consider Whether in case the Imperial Crown of this Protestant Kingdom should descend to the Duke of York the Opposition which may possibly be made to his possessing it may not only endanger the further Descent in the Royal Line but even Monarchy it self For these Reasons we are most humble Petitioners to your most Sacred Majesty that in tender Commiseration of your poor Protestant People â—â—ur Majesty will be graciously pleased to depart from the Reservation in your said Speech and when a Bill shall be tender'd to your Majesty in a Parliamentary Way to disable the Duke of York from inheriting the Crown your Majesty will give your Royal Assent thereto and as necessary to fortify and defend the same That your Majesty likewise will be graciously pleased to assent to an Act whereby your Majesty's Protestant Subjects may be enabled to associate themselves for the Defence of your Majesty's Person the Protestant Religion and the Security of your Kingdoms These Requests we are constrained humbly to make to your Majesty as of absolute Necessity for the safe and peaceable Enjoyment of our Religion Without these Things the Alliances of England will not be valuable nor the People encouraged to contribute to your Majesty's Service As some farther means both of our Religion and Property we are humble Suiters to your Majesty That from hence-forth such Persons only may be Judges within the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales as are Men of Ability Integrity and of known Affection to the Protestant Religion And that they may hold both their Offices and Salaries Quam diu bene se gesserint That several Deputy Lieutenants Justices of the Peace fitly qualified for those Employments having been of late displaced and others put in their Room who are Men of Arbitrary Principles and Countenancers of Papists and Popery such only may bear the Office of a Lord Lieutenant as are Persons of Integrity and known Affection to the Protestant Religion That Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace may be also so qualified and may be moreover Men of Ability of Estates and Interest in their Country That none may be imployed as military Officers or Officers in your Majesty's Fleet but Men of known Experience Courage and Affection to the Protestant Religion These our humble Requests being obtained we shall on our part be ready to assist your Majesty for the Preservation of Tangier and for putting your Majesty's Fleet into such a Condition as it may preserve your Majesty's Sovereignty of the Seas and be for the Defence of the Nation If your Majesty hath or shall make any necessary Alliances for defence of the Protestant Religion and Interest and Security of this Kingdom this House will be ready to assist and stand by your Majesty in the Support of the same After this our