or the thing real when I think on a Prince in such an Age as we live in to be converted to such a degree of Zeal and Piety as not to regard any thing in the World in comparison of Christ These are the Discoveries of your Old Servant Mr. Coleman but to rivet the Matter I pray consider what Discoveries you were pleased to make of the Union of your Interest with that of the French King which Sir will put the Matter out of dispute Give me leave to put you in mind of your Letter you wrote to the French King's Confessour wherein you were pleased to own that the Interests of the French King and yours were so clearly linck'd together that those that opposed the one should be looked on as Enemies to the other and that the French King had told you that he was of the Opinion that neither the Lord Arlington nor the Parliament were in his Interest nor yours 2. As it is as clear as the Day that your Interest is not an English but a French Interest so now I must tell you in the second place that your Interest being a French Interest it will render your return impossible and the attempt in order to it very foolish and irrational You know that the English Nation is never safe unless a check be put upon the growing Greatness of France Therefore do but observe the Address of the House of Commons March 10. 1676 they put the King your Brother in mind of the great Danger that the Nation was exposed to by reason of the growth of the French King's Power and Greatness Now any Man that is in the Interest of the French King his Interest is no ways reconcileable to the Interest of England 1. As to its Peace 2. As to its Trade And the Consequence of both these are the Riches of the Nation which must be consumed by a Prince that is of an Interest different from that of the People 't is true the present War with France hath proved very chargable to the Nation but here is our Happiness that we have a King that advanceth the Interest of our Trade his People and He go Hand in Hand Their Interests are the same with His and His the same with Theirs which to me is an Argument that when it shall have pleased God by His Arms to reduce the French King to Reason that then no Nation under the Heavens can or will be more happy than the English Nation But if a Prince shall instead of pursuing the Interest of his People pursue their Destruction by setting up and advancing the Interest of a Foreign Power his Government cannot stand This Sir was that which lost you your Crown And can you then expect by that Interest to regain the Crown of England by which you strangely lost it Therefore to conclude this Head let not your Conspirators think that it is either probable or possible that ever the People of England will ever be brought into a French Interest or ever admit you to resume the Throne and Government since that you purely lost it for the sake of that Interest Your Scoundrel Abettors here at Home are such a sort of Animals that the Reformed Nations Abroad are at a stand and cannot tell what to make of them their Carriages of late Years have been so unaccountable and since it hath pleased God to put it into the Hearts of most of the Princes of Europe though of the Romish Communion heartily to embrace the late Revolution in England as the last Effort for the Common Liberty of Europe and have entered into the strictest Alliance with our King though of a different Religion to support it it looks like a Dream to meet with Men that call themselves English Protestants embarqued in your Interest in opposition to the Interest of their Native Countrey A little Priest of the Church of England in a Sermon of his on the Day your Father made his Exit was pleased to threaten us with an endless War that would be entailed on the Nation he is a mighty Votary for your Cause and Interest notwithstanding his Oath to King William to the contrary But Sir a thousand such Fellows can never reconcile your Interest with that of England nor would your Restoration put an end to his supposed War for it is not reasonable to imagine that so many Noblemen and Gentlemen who have associated and by their Association have engaged to support the Interest and Cause of our King will tamely submit to your Restoration Or that King William will ever abandon his Throne or that its possible that the Common Cause of Europe will ever be suffered to sink in such a manner as to comply with the Pride and Ambition of your Self or of him whose Cause you have espoused and whose Interest is the very same with yours When you were upon the Throne your Aim was to destroy the Interest of England but we have been too many for you and the Throne is filled up with one that will maintain and support our Interest notwithstanding the vain Efforts of your Crew both at Home and Abroad to the contrary And therefore that Loggerhead of a Cathedral Priest hath not made one single Convert to your Cause and Interest by the Noise he made of disputed Titles and endless Wars I will observe this to you that the Rascal hath more Preferment than Learning or Honesty but what can we expect of an Apostate 4. We are Freemen and therefore we can never be supposed ever to admit you who have always been a Person of Arbitrary Principles to govern this Nation You cannot but remember that the English Nation hath a very great Security for its Liberties and that is the Government it self with a good King at the head thereof and that is our present Happiness for our King Rules not upon the same Terms as your Brother of France doth for he by Force Usurps that share which his People ought to have in the Government and for several Ages past hath been in possession of an Arbitrary Power which yet no prescription can make Legal and he exerciseth it over the Persons and Estates of his People in a most Tyrannical manner And this your loving and kind Brother and you aimed at Witness your Dispensing Power that you took upon you when you ascended the Throne But our King hath so ordered it that his Subjects shall retain their Proportion in the Legislature the very meanest Commoner of England is represented in Parliament and is a Party to those Laws by which our King is Sworn to govern himself and his People 'T is true you Swore but you made no Conscience of your Oath nor did you in the least boggle at the Violation of our Laws you hated that way of Government which you had solemnly promised to maintain and defend Witness the Names you used to give the Parliament of England Now according to the Laws of the Realm no Money is raised but by
of Parliament for your necessary Ease and Help in this day of your Just War with the French Nimrod and Destroyer of Mankind It was a great Blemish in the two last Reigns to those two Kings for that rather than they would trust in a Parliament according to the fundamental Constitution of this Realm they chose rather to follow the Advice of their never to be forgotten corrupt Ministers of State who pretended great Loyalty to those Princes in their several Reigns or rather Compliance with the Humours and Humane Frailties of those two Monarchs but they were neither true to those Kings nor their Country or themselves herein for they erected and preferred an Imperial Paramount Self-end or Lust before all which those two Kings were brought unworthily to serve and promote to the disturbance of the Publick Peace and Welfare of the Nation It was a false Suggestion that those Conspirators did use to those Kings that a King that Rules by his Will is more great glorious or strong than a King that Rules by Law the quality of the Retinue best proves the State of the Lord the one being but a King of Slaves while the other like God is a King of Kings and Hearts notwithstanding that Hellish and Trayterous Doctrin made such an Impression upon the Hearts and Souls of those Princes that nothing prevented them from putting that sort of Doctrin into Practice but the want of a competent Stock with which they would have certainly set up the Trade especially since they saw the Example of such an Allie whose Interest and theirs was all one but God that hath preserved your Majesty in so many Dangers hath also preserved you from such wicked Councils and Councellors too which is a great Specimen of your long and happy Reign over us Sir my Pen hath transgressed the Line and Law of my Intentions these confined me to a much narrower Compass in this my Epistle Dedicatory to your Majesty and prohibited me the troubling your Majesty to such a degree as now I have done the truth is my Zeal Duty Loyalty and hearty Affection to your Majesty hath interposed and occasioned this Transgression Your Majesty knows that Love is bountiful and I trust will produce a Pardon from your Majesty as it hath brought forth this Transgression from me in which I have with all my Heart designed nothing but what may be consistent with your Service and Interest And I must say thus much that your Majesty being thus often marked out for Destruction by these Conspirators shews that your Majesty is neither a Friend to these Men nor their Principles either in Religion or in Politicks and that we ought to make use of it as a proof of your Majesty's Affections to the English Nation and as an acknowledgment thereof by me be pleased to accept of this poor Endeavour of mine and give me leave in all Humility to lay these Papers at your Royal Feet Many of your Loyal Subjects are capable of presenting your Majesty with what is more Suitable to the greatness of your Understanding but nothing can be laid before you that may satisfie your Majesty of the truth of those things which these Conspirators stood guilty of for these twenty Years last past and have now given your Majesty a plain demonstration how Restless they have been and still are notwithstanding all the Arguments of Grace and Mercy that have been used to reduce them to Reason and Obedience There is now no more danger if your Majesty pleases from these Men that have Conspired against your Life for the danger of Conspiracies lyes in being Concealed none ever Perished by a detected Plot but such as have abandoned themselves to be Destroyed and this was the Case of Charles the Second he chose rather to desert himself and Safety rather than the Discoverer should not be exposed to the implacable Malice of those who Conspired against his Person and Government But Sir with your Majesty it is clear another thing you will let the World know that you are not joyned in this Conspiracy by any Personal Accession as that unhappy Prince was in that that was against him Therefore Sir it is past the Malice and Strength of your Adversaries either to destroy your Royal Person or subvert your Government Besides Sir your Majesty using those Endeavours that becomes so great a Prince to have these Conspirators farther detected and brought to Justice puts your Majesty within the promise of the immense Wisdom and Almighty power to interpose to save and preserve you I have great grounds of assurance that your Majesty is fully satisfied of the Duty and Affection of your ever dutiful and Loyal Protestant Dissenting Subjects who have been for many Years Persecuted for the Testimony of a good Conscience in the two last Reigns for no other reason but because they would not part with their Civil Rights as English Men nor their Spiritual Rights as Christians to these Murderers of the Soul and Body of the Nation Nevertheless in the two late Reigns they continued more quiet under their many and great Persecutions and Oppressions than the Conspirators did under their daily Favours and Caresses The Principles of your Dissenting Subjects teach them to obey a Lawful Authority whilst the Principles of these High-Church Non-Juring and Popish Cut-throats carry them on to Murder Kings and Invade their Countries with a Foreign Force and Power They could not find one of these Loyal Men that would so far undervalue themselves as to have the least acquaintance with these Villainous Cut-throats much less to engage with them in such a barbarous Design and no Man questions but that your Majesty will now put a distinction between those Men who would if they might serve your Majesty and those who would have Traiterously destroyed your Person and subverted your Government by introducing Popery and Slavery among us That your Majesty may long Live to assert and preserve Laws the Laws of the most High God in your own Soul to your Eternal and the Laws of the Land to the Temporal high Peace and Felicity of your Majesty and People and abound in all the Blessings of this and the other Life Health Grace Wisdom Wealth Power and Victory over all your Enemies both at home and abroad shall ever be the Prayers of Great SIR Your Majesty's most Humble most Loyal and Dutiful Subject and Servant TITUS OATES 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or The Picture of the Late King JAMES SIR THE Kingdom in general and my self in particular having received so many indearing Obligations from you and your Partisans that I judge my self concerned to take notice to you and your Friends at St. Germains That since you left us or rather by the Just Judgment of Heaven that the Kingdom was departed from you you were pleased not to forget us but from Year to Year till 1693. you were pleased to bless your old Friends with a Declaration or Letter in which you were pleased to express
of your Brother's time and in the beginning of your time they were given up to such a secure state and judicial blindness that the Protestant Religion was in greater danger of being supprest than ever it was since the Reformation notwithstanding your Promise of maintaining and preserving it 7. Another Indication of your Care for the maintenance of the Ch. of England was the breaking thro' those Laws which forbid the erecting Churches and Chappels for the exercise of the Popish Religion and also against Monasteries and Convents and more particularly against the Order of the Jesuites for you did contrary to your Oath and Promise made to support the Ch. of England give out arbitrary and illegal Orders to erect Monasteries and in contempt of the Law you set up several Colledges of Jesuites to corrupt the Youth of the Nation Nay Sir that you might not leave your self without Witness of your stedfast Resolution of maintaining supporting and defending the Ch. of England you rais'd up a Jesuite that was in the Popish Plot in which the death of the King your kind and loving Brother was plotted and contriv'd and the subversion of the Government both in Church and State to be a Privy Councillor and a Minister of State By all which you did evidently shew that you were restrain'd by no Laws and therefore the Ch. of England must perish you being so well seconded in your Popish Progress by your most excellent Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs But to conclude this Paragraph how those Villains that acted in that Commission of yours can look Mankind in the Face after they have done so many things against all Law Honour and Conscience I do not understand The truth is those that are yet alive have with the Whore in the Proverbs wiped their Mouths and say They have done no wickedness and without all doubt if they might be trusted would with as great earnestness appear against your Cause and Interest as they did wickedly in your time espouse it but they would be such a Reproach to an honest Government as would render the best and most honest Cause suspicious if engag'd in it IV. I come now to consider a 4th Passage in your Speech to the Council wherein you were pleas'd to say That you had been reported to have been a man for Arbitrary Power but you did assure them that you would preserve the Government in Church and State as by Law establish'd And That you knew that the Laws of England were sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as he could wish How you preserv'd the Government of the Church is plain enough nothing indeed is more plain than this that you intended its Destruction and utter Subversion and that nothing less would serve your turn notwithstanding its Principles were for Monarchy and its Members had shew'd themselves Loyal Subjects How fared it then with the State Surely the Civil Government was preserv'd since the Laws of England were sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as he could wish In truth Sir there was but a lamentable account to be given to your more than Glorious Successor of your management of Affairs in the Civil Government all things were out of order at his accession to the Crown which you may have forgotten therefore Sir be pleas'd to remember in the first place your Villains of your Council and of your Ecclesiastical Commission As they were in a Conspiracy against the Ch. of England to turn our Religion into downright Popery so they were in a Conspiracy against the State to turn the well establish'd Government of this Land into downright Slavery and this not secretly as if those Rascals were not asham'd of what they did for they had that matchless Impudence to act in an open and undisguis'd manner and to carry on your villanous purposes you and your Accomplices set up the Dispensing Power by vertue of which you might suspend and dispense with the execution of the Laws at your pleasure and in order to give this devilish Maxim of yours and your Conspirators countenance and credit you so manag'd that matter that you obtain'd an Opinion from the Judges most of which were mercenary Rogues who declar'd their opinion That this Dispensing Power was in the Kings of England as if it were in the power of these Villains to offer up the Laws and Liberties of the whole Nation to your self to be dispos'd of by you arbitrarily at your pleasure and expresly contrary to those Laws that were enacted for the liberty of the Subject In order to obtain this Judgment your Conspirators did before hand examine secretly the Sentiments of the Judges and procur'd such of them as could not in Conscience concur in so villanous an opinion or sentence to be turn'd out and others that had neither Law nor Conscience were substituted in their rooms so that by changing of hands they found out 12 matchless Rogues from whom you obtain'd that wicked Judgment which if my Memory fail me not was laid down in these 5 particulars 1. That the Kings of England are Soveraign Princes 2. That the Laws of England are the King's Laws 3. That it is an inseparable Prerogative of the K. of Engl. to dispense with Penal Laws upon necessity and urgent occasions 4. That the K. is the sole Judge of that necessity 5. That this is not in Trust given to the K. but 't is the ancient Remains of the Crown which ne'r was nor can be taken from him Give me leave Sir to examin these Particulars and let the world see how you were abus'd and how you abus'd the Government by the Opinions of these 12 mercenary Rogues 1. That the Kings of England were Soveraign Princes What then Must you by a Dispensing Power do what you list were you not subject to those Laws which you were sworn to keep And if you had not fled might you not have been call'd to an account Might not the People from whom you deriv'd your Authority have had any Power over you And was it not dangerous both to Church and State to have a Popish Prince so mighty that no Protestant House of Peers or Commons dare controul him Truly Sir I own that the Kings of England are soveraign Princes yet the Nation by their Representatives did ne'r allow the Kings of England to do what 12 mercenary Judges should deliver as their Opinions for Sir it was ne'r intended when you assumed the Government that your Will and Pleasure should stand for a Law for the Laws that support the Grandeur of the Crown limited your Will to Reason and ty'd your Commands to the Word of God the Laws of the Realm and the Weal of the People And since Sir you regarded not these things but follow'd the Sentiments of your corrupt Judges your Will was unlawful and Commands unjust The Kings of England always have been and still are Soveraign Princes but what makes them so Is it not the Law of the Land And
cut him off whilst Hill slept in a Pocky Skin Now Sir to lay open to you and the whole World the truth of this matter I pray observe that this Hill and this Riggs were in your Pay to be Spies upon the Conversations of several Honest men as Butler and Seely was afterwards in your Brothers for the same purpose Riggs and Hill gets into the Company of several Dissenters and in their hearing did talk at a strange rate against the Government and what a secret Cabal there was meeting in London for the change of the same and how that the King your Brother and your self were for introducing Popery and Slavery But to prevent your Attempts of that sort the said Riggs and Hill told them That Arms and Ammunition were provided and that a number of honest men were left to rise and defend the true Religion Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and that Deale Castle and Windsor Castle were to be surprized This sort of Talk they had with some few honest men who in the Integrity of their Hearts confessed that they heard Hill and Riggs talk at this rate Nay these Devils could not deny but that they did use this sort of talk and intimated that they had a License so to do Notwithstanding these poor Creatures denied that ever they had any hand in any such Conspiracy nor indeed was any thing proved but what Hill and Riggs swore they had talk'd to them yet they were condemn'd and basely murder'd and their Families ruin'd by your procurement and Hill and Riggs escaped with Impunity tho' not without Infamy Your Jesuites would have courted them both to the Church of Rome but they appearing to be such Rogues they were afraid they would be a Disgrace to them who from their rising up in the World had themselves been a Scandal and Disgrace to the Creation of God 5. You having some Success in this your Conspirators would not be idle but drew in some warm Men into another Conspiracy in the North. The then Sheriff of the County of York and a great man whose Name I will omit because he did in part afterwards make England some amends for that piece of Villany you know at that time to please the Court he was reconciled to the Church of Rome and no doubt whilst so he was a fit Tool to carry on so wicked a Design which was to discourse of the Oppression the Nation lay under thro' the Duties of Excise c. and the disturbance that the Lawyers had made in the Kingdom That your Brother and you were bringing in of Popery and Slavery at which these poor Creatures were enflam'd and being promis'd the supply of Mony and by the High Sheriff the Assistance of Posse Comitatus they were drawn in to engage But alas it was but a Trappan they were taken and executed upon the Evidence of some of them that were engaged with them but how you rewarded that Person of Quality afterwards it is well-enough known This was another of your Projects as the Person of Quality you employed hath told to several Friends with great Grief some of whom are alive to this day But not to forget one passage let me tell you that you and your Conspirators made at the Tryal of Mr. Alured two Witnesses of one Man first he appear'd in a strange disguise with one Eye and gave his Testimony under one Name and then withdrew and appear'd in his common Dress and gave his testimony by his own Name and so Alured was murder'd by the Conspirators This can be prov'd by good testimony 6. I will give you a short Truth of the Fire of London how that Eight Men were executed for having a design to fire the City of London on the third of September 1666. And great care was taken to lay it upon the Fifth-Monarchy-Men and the old Officers of the Army that served under the Parliament but in truth it was contrived by your self and your wicked Popish Party and by you and them carried on to destroy that great Protestant City that with more ease you and your Accomplices might introduce Popery and Slavery among us for London was the Bulwark of the Protestant Religion and English Liberties and therefore she must be made a Burnt-Offering to your self and Hellish Popish Crew 7. Another Instance of your Conspirators shamming their Plots upon poor innocent Protestants and that is the Case of the Lord Claypool and by this cast an Odium upon the whole body of Protestant Dissenters For in the Month of August just about the time that your Conspirators were to execute their wicked Design to destroy the King then you deal with Secretary Coventry to clap up that poor innocent Gentleman for designing to seize the King as he went to Newmarket and you had two Witnesses ready at hand to have sworn that Design against him the said Claypool who was by the Secretary's Warrant arrested for High Treason But he the said Claypool knowing nothing of the matter demanded to know his Accusers that was according to that Villain 's usual way deny'd him and he frown'd upon as if he had been the greatest Knave in England next to Coventry himself Claypool was as stout as that Knave of a Secretary was proud and insolent and as for Claypool he would scarce answer any Question so away he was sent to the Tower a close Prisoner This startled every one except the Conspirators and my self who was privy to the whole business by the repeated Orders Coleman receiv'd from Sir your self for his Prosecution that when the Blow was given upon the King it might be charg'd upon the Fanaticks And to that end Sing and Throgmorton two virulent Papists and Butler and Seely two Popish Spies of your Brother's and yours both pretended Fanaticks the last I think is a Cornish man and was a Major in the late Protector 's Army so that you and all your Popish Conspirators intended as one Man to revenge the Death of the King on the Dissenting Party concluding that the Vermin of the Church of England would strike in with the Popish Party since they hated a Dissenter worse than a Papist tho' differing from them only in a few scoundrel Ceremonies not worthy to wipe a Porter's Tail withal Therefore as a Prologue to that cursed Design you could not think of a man fitter than this Lord Claypool he being Son-in-Law to that Lord Protector Cromwell but you and your Villains were disappointed for a time from destroying the King for when the true Plot was discover'd your devilish Witnesses against the Protestant Party disappear'd And so much for Claypool 8. Another Instance of your implacable Hatred to the Protestants and of your designing to sham a Plot upon them was your old and very good Friend Mr. Thomas Blood whom you and your Brother set upon my self to bring me into a Conspiracy with Richard late Lord Protector and him the said Blood to dethrone your Brother and your self which Sir
the said Persecution were reduced almost to Beggery or to live upon the Charity of Friends Some were forced to fly the Nation and yet were more loyal under their Pressures and Provocations than your Cut-throat Papists were under their then Caresses and Favours received from your Brother and your self Nay a reverend Minister of the Gospel of Christ who had been very instrumental in your Restauration yea and ventur'd his Life for your Brother's Restauration in the year 1650 you suffer'd to perish in Newgate as a Reward for so great a piece of Service to your Brother and your self and Family and for no other reason but because he could not comply with some Rascally Ceremonies that our Ecclesiastical Vermin had borrow'd from the Church of Rome to Adorn our Protestant Worship and because he would not take the Oxford Oath lay'd upon the Nation to enslave it 8. Another Project you had for the ruining the Interest of the Protestant Religion and the Interest of England was the Advancing of Men that were Enemies to the Protestant Interest into the greatest Places of Trust As What a Sett of Villains had you made Judges of the Land by which means you brought all the Matters of Civil Justice into great Uncertainties by reason of the Tenour of their Commissions and the Ignorance of the Rogues you employ'd Therefore how miserable was the Nation who were obliged to Answer to such Judges that were forced to comply in all things with the Directions that were given by you and your Wicked Cut-throats or else to be turned out at yours and their Pleasure If we look further you had in your Brother's time the disposing of all Military Employments And how you did shew your Hatred to the Protestant Religion and the English Interest You did in his time raise a great many Persons to the greatest Military Trusts both by Sea and Land Strangers as well as Natives so that by these measures your Conspirators became Masters of the Affairs of the Government of the Nation and of the course of Justice and you had all the Church Vermin engag'd with you to subject the whole Kingdom to a despotick Arbitrary power and all these joyn'd together to execute your wicked Designs to enslave and debauch the People of the Land 9. To compleat the Work that nothing might stand in your way of Establishing your Popish Religion you murder'd your Brother who was uncertain in his Engagements in the Conspiracy for when he found it was not safe for him to appear in promoting Popery he soon left you Or if a Sum of Money could be gotten from a Parliament he commonly bless'd the Nation with a Proclamation or two against Popish Priests Jesuites and Popish Recusants or pass a Bill or so to the prejudice of the Popish Party as he did in 1673 when the Test-Bill passed as also another in 1678. This obliged you and your Conspirators to hasten his destruction which you had long contrived You found a fit Tool and as fit a Dose to do the Work in it you had your desired Ends and so you mounted the Throne Which brings me to the Second Point What you did in order to the Ruine of the Protestant Religion and the Government after your accession to the Crown II. Your Tyranny was very cruel but short yet full of strange and surprising Circumstances It was highly astonishing to see a Popish Prince ascending the Throne to rule a Protestant Nation and defend a Protestant Church but Sir you had no such Designs in your Head for you shew'd what you would do with our Laws when you could engage your Conspirators to dispense with part of the Oaths that you should have taken It is manifest and notorious that when you were upon the coming to the Crown you was receiv'd by all the People of England Scotland and Ireland as King without the least opposition for our Ecclesiastical Vermin had made your way clear by their Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance and the Divine Right of Succession and the possibility of preserving the Glory and Grandeur of their Church of England by a Popish Prince and that there was more danger from Fanaticks than from Papists and such-like scoundrel Notions You cannot but remember that King Charles your Brother having received the deadly Dose your Conspirators had prepar'd for him on February the 6th 1684 5 he went to his Place that very day Sir you were proclaim'd King to the sorrow of all that wish'd well to England and its Religion Liberties and Laws you then appear'd at the Council-Table as King and by all your Conspirators you was owned and saluted as such to whom you were pleas'd to make a sort of a Speech in which you were pleas'd to declare your self to this effect THat Since it hath pleased Almighty God to place you in that station and that you were now to succeed so Good and Gracious a King as well as so Kind a Brother you thought it fit to declare That you would follow his Example and more especially in that of his great Clemency and Tenderness to all his People That you had been reported to have been a man for Arbitrary Power tho' that had not been the only Story that had been made of you That you would make it your Endeavour to preserve Government both in Church and State as it was by Law establish'd That you knew the Principles of the Church of England were for Monarchy and that the Members of it had shewn themselves good and loyal Subjects and therefore you would take care to defend and support it That you knew the Laws of England were sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as you could wish and therefore as you would never depart from the Just Rights and Prerogatives of the Crown so you would never invade any Man's Property And that you had ventur'd your Life very often in the defence of the Nation And that you would go as far as any Man in preserving it in all its Just Rights and Liberties This Sir is the sum and substance of what you were pleas'd to say at the Council board and one would have sworn that you would have taken up the Trade of being Speech wright-general to the whole Band of your Conspirators I am confident your old Friends the Jesuites that had been hang'd but a little before could not have outdone you though it had been to have saved their Lives Well it was a Speech and how true you were to this Speech you shall judge and your Conspirators too if you will but consider 1. You said You would not invade any man's Right and Property and that you would preserve the Nation in its Just Rights and Liberties And so you did for you the next day after your accession to the Crown publish'd a Proclamation for the continuing the payment of the Custom and Excise which were expir'd by the death of the King your Brother for several weeks after Did not this shew
of England's Affairs should publickly abjure the Protestant Religion by which means he was not only very unfit but also uncapable of holding any publick Employment And did not the Banditti give you such proof of their submission to your Popish Directions you gave them that they had continued in their Places to this day had not God of his Infinite Mercy deliver'd us from them and your self For they were men of an agreeable disposition to have furthered your designs of Popery notwithstanding all your Promises to maintain the Church of England for they took care that none should be prefer'd that had any zeal for the Protestant Religion for if you will be serious in considering who they were that you prefer'd to the Dignities in the Church and upon what terms you must own that they were men of such Morals and Principles as render'd them a very scandal to that villanous Design that you and your Conspirators were carrying on against the Church of England 3. I pray Sir was the suspension of the Bishop of London another demonstration of your Purpose and Resolution to maintain the Church of England Let any of your trayterous Crew stand forth and answer for you Was not that Prelate suspended for refusing to obey an Arbitrary Order sent to him by your Banditti Commissioners for the suspending of Dr. Sharp now Archbishop of York for preaching against Popery according to his Office and Calling without so much as citing the said Dr. Sharp before him to make his defence or observing any common forms of Process commonly us'd in such cases The Bishop comply'd with your Suspension and what damage it was to him he can tell better than I but it did work for our Good and hasten'd our Deliverance but it shew'd that you had but little regard to your Oath and Promise to maintain the Church of England 4. Another Specimen you gave us of your pious Resolution of maintaining the Ch. of England as by Law establish'd was the dealing with Magdalen Colledge in Oxford In the first place you turn'd out the President who was legally chosen by the Fellows of the Colledge who if I mistake not are sworn to chuse one from among themselves to bear that Office then you turn'd out all the Fellows for refusing to chuse one of your recommendation without so much as citing them to appear before any Court that could take legal cognizance in that affair or obtaining any Sentence against them by a competent Judge and the only reason you gave for the turning them out was because they had refus'd a person that was a Papist who was not only uncapable by the Laws of the Land but also by the Statutes of that Colledge of bearing the Office of a President or Fellow of that Community And having expel'd both President and Fellows you put the said Colledge into the hands of Papists that you might the better maintain the Rights and Liberties of the Ch. of England as by Law establish'd But I hope it may be a warning to that Community and to all others of that University how they advance the Prerogative of the Crown so high and nourish those two pestilent Doctrins of Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance and the Divine Right of Succession lesâ— those Doctrins do expose them to a greater Danger than the last 5. Another demonstration that was given by you of your stedfast Purposes of standing by and maintaining of the Ch. of England was your proceeding against the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge 1687. You had a great Favour for one Francis a Benedictine Monk a Rogue that was fit for any Villany that you could put him upon to act him you sent to Cambridge to corrupt the Youth there and no doubt but for his time he did the business for which you sent him You planted him in Sidney Colledge where you had placed one Basset a Papist in that House as Master but your Monk had an Apartment wherein he perform'd the Office of a Priest according to the Ch. of Rome but being a Fellow that had taken no Degrees in any University either at home or abroad you were resolv'd that he should be a Master of Arts in the University of Cambridge and in order to this you sent a Letter to the said Vice-Chancellor to admit the said Father Francis to be a Master of Arts without taking the Oaths which the Vice-Chancellor refus'd as contrary to the Law of the Land and the Statutes of the University Upon this you caus'd the Vice-Chancellor and the Delegates of the University to be summoned before your Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs where that Villain Jefferies contrary to all Law or Reason pronounced Sentence that the Vice-Chancellor being guilty of great Disobedience to the King's Commands and other Crimes and Contempts should be depriv'd of the Office of Vice-Chancellor and suspended of his headship of Magdalen Colledge in the said University of Cambridge Thus Sir you were pleas'd to maintain the Ch. of England by suffering the Learning and Gravity of that University to be trampl'd upon and by letting in a parcel of silly impudent and illiterate Popish Priests and Fryers who were to joyn with you in supporting the Protestant Religion as it was then by Law establish'd Unless your Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs judg'd that to destroy the two Universities as to Learning and to break in upon their Laws made to preserve their Communities would be a means to preserve the Church of England I cannot but wonder at those extravagant Proceedings in the last years of your Tyranny against them since they had so highly espoused your Cause when you were Duke of York against the Sence of the whole Nation 6. Another Reason you give us to believe that you did design to stand by and support and maintain the Ch. of England was your proceeding and causing to be summoned before your Ecclesiastical Commissioners all the Chancellors and Archdeacons of England and requiring them to certifie the Names of those Clergymen who had read the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience as well as the Names of those who had refused the same without considering that the reading of it was not enjoyn'd the Clergy by the Bishops who are their Ordinaries So that this was another way you intended even by these extrajudicial Proceedings in your Court of Commissioners Ecclesiastical to maintain the Liberties of the Ch. of England This was one great cause why several Persons of Quality both in Church and State refused to be concern'd in this Commission for they at last clearly saw that this damnable Commission tended to nothing less than the total Subversion of the Protestant Religion for you us'd it to no other end and purpose than to oppress such persons as were eminent for Learning and Virtue that should at any time or season preach against Popery Superstition And it was God's great Mercy to the Protestant Interest that they did at last see for sure I am that in the latter part