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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	dare_v	good_a	great_a	295	4	2.0926	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63228	The tryals of VVilliam Ireland, Thomas Pickering, & John Grove, for conspiring to murder the King who upon full evidence were found guilty of high treason at the session-house in Old-Bailye, Dec. 1, 1678, and received sentence accordingly.	Ireland, William, 1636-1679.; Pickering, Thomas, d. 1679.; Grove, John, d. 1679.; England and Wales. Court of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery (London and Middlesex).	1678 (1678)	Wing T2269; ESTC R33696	62,044	58

the prisoner How say you is he Guilty of the same High Treason or not Guilty Foreman Guilty Cl. of Cr. What Goods or Chattels Lands or Tenements Foreman None to our knowledge Cl. of Cr. Set John Grove to the Bar. John Grove hold up thy hand Look upon the prisoner How say you is he Guilty of the same High Treason or not Guilty Foreman Guilty Cl. of Cr. What Goods or Chattels Lands or Tenements Foreman None to our knowledge Cl. of Cr. Hearken to your verdict as the Court hath recorded it You say that William Ireland is Guilty of the High Treason whereof he stands indicted You say that Thomas Pickering is Guilty of the same High Treason You say that John Grove is Guilty of the same High Treason And for them you have found Guilty you say that they nor any of them had any Goods or Chattels Lands or Tenements at the time of the High Treason committed or at any time since to your knowledg And so you say all Omnes Yes Lord. Ch. Just 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 Then the Court adjourned by Proclamation till four in the Afternoon In the Afternoon the same day about 5 of the Clock Mr. Recorder and a sufficient number of the Justices returned into the Court the Judges being departed home and Proclamation was made for attendance as in the Morning Then the Clerk of the Crown called for the prisoners Convicted of High Treason and spoke to each of them thus Cl. of the Cr. Set William Ireland to the Bar William Ireland hold up thy hand thou standest Convicted of High Treason what canst thou say for thy self why the Court should not give thee Judgment to dye according to Law Ireland My Lord I represented all along from the beginning that we had not time to call in our Witnesses to justifie our Innocence Mr. Recorder If you have any thing to say in stay of Judgment you have all free liberty to say it Ireland We had no time allowed us to bring in our Witnesses so that we could have none but only those that came in by chance and those things they have declared though true were not believed Mr. Recorder These things Mr. Ireland you did not object before the Jury gave their verdict now they have given their verdict and found you guilty if you have any thing to say to the Court why they should not proceed to Judgment according to that verdict you may speak it but for these things it is too late Ireland My Lord I have onely this to say I Desire more time to be heard again and to call in my Witnesses Mr. Recorder Call the Executioner to do his Office Ireland There are Testimonies my Lord that I could produce of my Loyalty and my Relations fidelity to the King Mr. Recorder I believe Mr. Ireland it will be shame to all your Relations that have been Loyal to the King that you should be privy to the murther of that good King whom your Relations so well served and therefore if that be all that you have to say it will signifie nothing The Executioner not appearing the Sheriff of Middlesex was called to come into Court and give his attendance upon pain of 40 l. But the Executioner coming in was with a reproof from the Recorder for his negligence commanded to tye him up which he did Cl. of Cr. Set Thomas Pickering to the Bar. Thomas Pikering Hold up thy hand Thou art in the same case with the Prisoner last before thee what canst thou say for thy self why the Court should not give thee Judgment to dye according to Law Mr. Recorder What does he say for himself Capt. Richardson He has nothing to say Mr. Recorder Then tye him up Cl. of Cr. Set John Grove to the Bar. John Grove hold up thy hand thou art in the same case with the Prisoner last be●● re thee what canst thou say for thy self why the Court should not give thee Judgment to die according to Law Grove I am as innocent as the Child unborn Cl. of Cr. Tye him up which was done C. of Cr. Cryers on both sides make Proclamations Gryere O Yes All manner of persons are commanded to keep silence whilst Judgment is upon pain of Imprisonment Peace about the Court. Mr. Recorder Where is the Keeper shew me the Prisoners William Ireland Th●●mas Pickering and John Grove Cap. Richardson Those are the three Mr. Record You the prisoners at the Bar you have been arraigned for a very great offence for the greatest that can be commited against any Authority upon Earth for high Treason against your King with all the aggravation that possible can attend so great a crime as that is for you did not only strike at the life of the best of Kings but you intended the subversion of the best of Religions wharever you may apprehend yet all men that will ●●ay their hopes of salvation upon any thing that is fit for a man to l●●y his hopes upon which is upon the Merits of a crucified Saviour and not upon your Masses Tricks or Trumperies ●●o abhor the thoughts of promoting their Religion by Massacring Kings and murdering their Subjects And though we whom you call Hereticks abhor to own any such Religion yet we are not afraid to tell you and all others who are ensnared into your principles we will maintain the Religion and the Government as it is Established with our lives and fortunes And it is fit that it should be known that we who live under the Government of so mild and pious a Prince and in a Country where so good so moderate a Religion is establisht by Law will not be affrighted by all your Murders Conspiracies and Designs from declaring that they who dare Kill Kings and Massacre their Subjects ●●e the highest violaters not only of the Laws of the Land but of that great Law which ●● good Christians and Protestants think themselves obliged to pay great Reverence and obedience to I mean the Law of God Almighty himself This I speak to you Gentlemen not vantingly 't is against my nature to insult upon persons in your sad condition God forgive you for what you have done and I do heartily beg it though you don 't desire I should for poor men you may belive that your interest in the world to come is secured to you by your Masses but do not well consider that vast eternity you must e're long enter into and that great Tribunal you must appear before where his Masses speaking to Pickering will not signifie so many Groats to him no not one Farthing And I must say it for the sake of these si●●ly people whom you have imposed upon with such fallacies That the Masses can no more save thee from a future damnation then they do from a present condemnation I do not speak

he hath done you very great service you would have had him te●●●fied against Mr. Oates he saith he hath known him ever since he was a Child and that then he had not so much Credit as now he hath And had it been upon his single Testimony that the discovery of the Plot had depended he should have doubted of it but Mr. Oates his Evidence with the Testimony of the Fact it self and all the concurring Evidences which he produces to back his Testimony hath convinced him that he is true in his Narrative Sir D. Ashburnham Your Lordship is right in what I have spoken L. C. J. Have you any mo●●e Witnesses or any thing more to say for your selves Ireland If I may produce on my own behalf Pledges of my own Loyalty and that of my Family L. C. J. Produce whom you will Ireland Here is my sister and my mother can tell how our Relations were plundred for siding with the King L. C. J No I will tell you why it was it was for being Papists and you went to the King for shelter Ireland I had an Uncle that was killed in the Kings Service besides the Pendrels and the Giffords that were instrumental for saving the King after the fight at Worcester are my near Relations L. C. J. Why all those are Papists Pi●●kering My Father my Lord was killed in the Kings party L. C. J. Why then do you fall off from your Fathers virtue Pickering I have not time to produce Witnesses on my own behalf Ireland I do desire time to bring more Witnesses Grove As I have a Soul to save I know nothing of this matter charged upon me L. C. ●● Well have you any thing more to say Ireland No my Lord. L. C. J. You of the Kings Council will you sum up the Evidence Mr. Serj. Baldwin No my Lord we leave it to your Lordship C. of C. Cryer make Proclamation of silence Cryer O yes All manner of persons are commanded to keep silence upon pain of imprisonment Then the Lord Chief Justice directed the Jury thus L. C. J. Gentlemen you of the Jury As to these three persons Ireland Pickering Grove the other two you are discharged of One of them Ireland it seems is a Priest I know not whither Pickering be or no Grove is none but these are the two men that should kill the King and Ireland is a Conspirator in that Plot. They are all indicted for Conspiring the Kings Death and endeavouring to subvert the Government and destroy the Protestant Religion and bring in Popery The main of the Evidence hath gone upon that soul and black Offence Endeavouring to kill the King The utmost end was without all question to bring in Popery and subvert the Protestant Religion and they thought this a good means to do it by killing the King that is the thing you have had the greatest evidence of I will sum up the particulars and leave them with you 'T is sworn by Mr Oates expresly that on the 24th of April last there was a Consultation held of Priests and Jesuits They are the men fit only for such a mischief for I know there are abund●…●● 〈…〉 Gentlemen of that Perswasion who could never be drawn t●● do a●●y of these things unless they were seduced by their Priests that sticke at nothing 〈…〉 own ends he swears expresly that the ●●onsult was begun at the White-horse-Tavern in the Strand that they theee agreed to murther the King That Pickering and Grove were the men that were to do it who went afterwards and subscribed this holy League of theirs and signed it every one at his own lodging Whitebread at his Ireland at his and Fenwick at his two of which are out of the Case but they are repeated to you only to shew you the Order of the Conspiracy That afterwards Pickering and Grove did agree to the same and they received the Sacrament upon it as an Oath to make all sacred and a Seal to make all secret Mr. Bedlow hath sworn as to that particular time of killing the King by Pickering and Grove though they were not to give over the Design but there were four that were sent to kill the King at Windsor Mr. Oates swears there was an attempt by Pickering in March last but the Flint of the Pistol happening to be loose he durst not proceed for which he was rewarded with Pennance He swears there were Four hired to do it That Fourscore pounds was provided for them He saw the money and swears he saw it delivered to the Messenger to carry it down Ireland At what time was that Lord Chief Just In August there was an attempt first by Pickering and Grove they then not doing of it four other persons Irishmen were hired to do it and ten thousand pounds profered to Sir George Wakeman to poison the King Thus still they go on in their attempts and that being too little five thousand pounds more was added This is to shew you the Gross of the Plot in general and also the particular Transactions of these two murtherers Grove and Pickering with the Conspiracy of Ireland Bedl●●w swears directly that in August last these Three and Harcourt Pritchard and Le Faire being altogether in a Room did discourse of the Disappointment the Four had met with in not killing the King at Windsor And there the Resolution was the old stagers should go on still but they had one Conyers joyned to them and they were to kill the King then at Newmarket He swears they did agree to do it that Ireland was at it and that all three did consent to that Resolve So that here are Two Witnesses that speak positively with all the Circumstances of this Attempt of the Two to kill the King and the Confederacy of Ireland all along with them N●●w I must tell you there are no Accessaries but all Principals in Treason It may seem hard perhaps to convict men upon the Testimony of their fellow Offenders and if it had been possible to have brought other Witnesses it had been well but in things of this nature you cannot expect that the Witnesses should be absolutely spotless You must take such Evidence as the nature of the Thing will afford or you may have the King destroyed and our Religion too For Jesuits are too subtle to subject themselves to too plain a proof such as they cannot evade by Equivocation or a flat d●●nial There is also a Letter produced which speaking of the Consult that was to be the 24th of April proves that there was a Conspiracy among them And although it is not Evidence to convict any one man of them yet it is Evidence upon Mr. Oate's Testiny to prove the general Design It is from one Petre to one of the Confederates and taken amongst Harcourt papers after Mr Oates had given in his Te●●imony and therein it is mentioned th●●t the Superior had taken care that there should be a meeting the 24th of April the

this to you as intending thereby to inveigh against all persons that profess the Romish Religion for there are many that are of that perswasion that do abhor those base Principles of murdering Kings and subverting Governments There are many honest Gentlemen in England I dare say of that Communion whom none ●●f the most impudent Jesuits durst undertake to tempt into such Designs these are on●●y to be imposed upon silly men not upon men of Conscience and Understanding And ●● pr●● God as was said lately by a learned Gentleman whom we all know that all Pro●●estants may be as safe from the Force of your Daggers as they are from those of your ●●rguments for I dare say that you could sooner murder any man that understands ●…e Protestant Religion than perswade him to such Villanies And among those many ●●ings which prevailed with the honest Gentlemen of the Jury to convict you of this ●…id Crime they could not but take notice that you speaking to Ireland that do ●…end to Learning did send into Forraign parts that your fellow Jesuits sho●●ld take 〈…〉 publickly to preach That the Oath of ●…giance and Supremacy by which the ●…on Justice of the Nation is preserved signified nothing which is a strong Evidence of your Design not only to murther the King but subvert the Government for surely the most probable way to do that is to asperse those Oaths by which all Protestant Subiects those whom you call Hereticks lie under an Obligation of Obedience to their Prince And ●● think it not unfit to tell yon that you had a great favour shewed to you to be tried only for the Matters contained in this Indictment for you that are Priests must know that there is a Law in the Land that would have hanged you for your very residence here for if any Subject born in England shall take Orders from the See of Rome and afterwards come into England and remain there Forty days such for that Offence alone are made Traytors by Act of Parliament But you are so far from being under any Awe of that Law or Submission to it that you dare not only come to live here in despite thereof but endeavour what you can to overthrow both it and the Government it self You dare conspire to murther the King nay not only so but you da●●e make your Consults thereof publick You dare write your Names to those Consults You dare sollicite all your Party to do the like and make all the tie of Religion and Conscience that to considering Christians are Obligations to Piety and Charity as Engagements either to act your Villanies or to conceal them We think no Power can dispence with us whom you call Hereticks to falsifie our Oaths much less to break our Covenant with God in the holy Sacrament But you instead of making that a Tie and Obligation to engage you to the Remembrance of our Saviour make it a snare and a gin to oblige your Proselites to the assassinating of Kings and murdering their Subjects I am sorry with all my Soul that men who have had their Education here and the benefit of the good Examples of others should not only be le●… into such mischievous Principles themselves but to be of that confidence in their Perswasion as to dare to debauch others also I am sorry also to hear a Lay-man shoul●● with so much malice declare That a Bullet if round and smooth was not safe enou●● for him to execute his Villanies by But he must be sure not only to set his poysono●● invention on work about it but he must add thereto his poysonous Teeth for se●● if the Bullet were smooth it might light in some part where the Wound might be ●…red But such is the height of some mens Malice that they will put all the Veno●… and Malice they can into their actions I am sure this was so horrid a Design th●● nothing but a Conclave of Devils in Hell or a Colledge of such Jesuits as yours 〈…〉 Earth could have thought upon This I remember to you for the sake of them that are to live and for the Chari●… I have for you who are to die for the sake of them that are to live for I hope when they hear that men of your Perswasion dare commit those outragious Crime and justifie them by a Principle of Religion they will not easily be seduced into yo●● Opinion And out of Charity to you that are to die to perswade you to hearty 〈…〉 pentance for otherwise I must tell you thy Fifteen hundred pound speaking Grove nor thy Thirty thousand Masses speaking to Pickering will avail but li●… And I thought fit to say this also that it may be known that you have had the full ●●nefit of the Laws established in England and those the best of Laws for such is no●● Law of other Nations for if any Protestant in any place where the Romish Religio●● profest had been but thought guilty of such Crimes he had never come to the Fo●●lity and Justice of Arraignment and to be tryed by his Peers permitted to make Defence and hear what could be said against him but he had been hang'd immediat●● or perhaps suffered a worse Death But you are not only beholding to the happy ●…stitu●… of our Laws but to the more happy Constitution of our Religion For ●●he●● are the admirable Documents of that Religion we in England profess That we dare not requite Massacre for Massacre Blood for Blood We disown and abhor all Stabbing and we are so far from reckoning that he shall be a Saint in Heaven for assassinating a Prince and be prayed to in another world that the Protestant is required to believe that such that begin with Murther must end with Damnation if our blessed Lord and Saviour do not interpose nothing that man can do Papist or Protestant can save any man in such a case We dare not say that our Religion will permit us to murder Dissenters much less to assassinate Our King And having thus said let me once more as a Christian in the name of the great God of Heaven beg of you for your own Souls sake be not satisfied or overperswaded with any Doctrine that you have preached to others or imbibed from others but believe that no one can contrive the Death of the King or the overthrow of the Government but the great God of Heaven and Earth will have an account of it and all Pardons Absolutions and the Dispensations that you who are Priests can give to your Lay-brother or that any of your Superiors may give to you will not serve the turn I know not but as I said you may think I speak this to insult I take the Great God of Heaven to witness that I speak it with Charity to your Souls and with great sorrow and grief in my own heart to see men that might have made themselves happy draw upon themselves so great a ruin But since you have been so fairly heard

as that of the Gunpowder-Treason I can resemble it to no other Plot or Design or Treason in any other time and truely it does resemble that in many particulars I may say it doth at least equal it if not exceed it I shall mention two or three particulars in which this Plot doth resemble that First that horrid Design was to take away the Life of the then King to subvert the Government to introduce the Popish Religion and to destroy the established protestant Religion in England and so Gentlemen we think our prooff will make it out that in each of these particulars this design is the same that that was Secondly the great Actors in that design were Preists and Jesuits that came from Valedolid in Spain and other places beyond the Seas And the great Actors in this Plot are Priests and Jesuits that are come from St. Omers and other places beyond the Seas nearer home then Spain Thirdly That plott was chiefly Guided and mannaged by Henry Garnett Superiour and provincial of the Jesuits then in England and the great Actor in this design is Mr. Whitebread Superiour and provincial of the Jesuits now in England so that I say in the several particulars it does resemble the Gun Powder plot Gentlemen In this plot of which the Prisoners now stand Indicted several Persons have several parts some of these persons are imployed to keep Correspondence beyond the Seas of which more hath been said in another place and so I shall not speak of it here Others were to procure and prepare Aid and Assistance here in England who were to be ready when there should be Occasion to use it But the great part these persons the prisoners at the Bar were to Act in this conspiracy was to take away the life of our Soveraigne Lord the King on whose preservation the safety and welfare of three nations and Millions of men does depend Now the facts for which the five prisoners stand Indicted I shall open thus First they are here Indicted for Conspireing the Death of his sacred Majesty They did agree to take away the Kings life and entring into such an agreement They hired some persons amongst them to doe it and this Agreement was made the 24th of April last 1678. Secondly There is another fact they likewise stand Indicted for That they did Endeavour and contrive to change and alter the Religion Established in the Nation and introduce P●●pery in tho room of it The manner how to Effect this was thus if my information be right you shall hear that from the Evidence Mr. Whitebread being resident here in England and superiour of the Jesuits did in February last think fit being impowred by Authority from Rome to give summons to the Jesuits abroade at St. Omers and other places beyond the Seas That they should come over here into England to be ready at London on the 24th of April the day laid in the Indictment and which is the day after St. Georges day and their design was as will appear by the proof to contrive how they may take away the life of the King for if that were once done they thought in all other things their design would easily be accomplished after the summons were out they were so Officious for the Accomplishing of this great end that between 40. and 50. Jesuits did appear here at London at the time for thither they were summoned and there the meeting was appointed to be at the White-horse Taverne in the strand they were to meet first but being so great a number that they were likely to be taken notice of if they came all together it was so Ordered they should come but a few at a time and go off in small numbers and others should succeed them till the whole number had been there And there were directions given and a Course taken that there should be some person to tell them whither they should go from thence After they had met there at several times in the same day they were appointed and adjourned to be at several other places some of them were appointed to be at Mr. Whitebreads Lodging and that was in Wild-street at one Mr. Sanders house Others were appointed to go 〈…〉 Lodging which was in Russelstreet and this Mr. Ireland was Treasurer of the Society an●● others were to meet at Mr. Fenwicks Chamber in Drury-Lane and he was at that time Procurator and Agent for that Society Others were appointed to meet at Harcourts Lodging and others at other places When they came there they all agreed to the general design of the first meeting which was To kill the King Then there was a paper or some instrument to be subscribed This was done and the Sacrament was taken for the concealment of it After that Whitebread Ireland Fenwick and others did agree that Mr. Grove and Mr. Pickering should be imployed to Assassiaate the King One of them Mr. Grove being a lay Brother was to have 15 hundred pounds a great sum the other as a more suitable reward for his pains was to have 30. Thousand Masses said for his Soul Mr. Whitebread Mr. Ireland and Mr. Fenwick were all privy to this design this was the 24th of April In August after they being appointed to kill the King but it not taking effect either their Hearts misgave them or they wanted opportunity there was another meeting at the Savoy where the Witnesses will tell you ●●our Irish persons were hired for to Kill the King And this was ordered in case the other design took not Effect There was fourscore pounds sent down to them to Windsor where they were to have done the fact After this other persons were appointed to do the Execution and they were to take the King at his Mornning Walk a●● New-Market These persons are all disappointed in their design But you shall hear what was the Agreement how it was carried on and what rewards were given to carry it on We shal acquaint you likewise that for the bottom of this design when so many Jesuits should come over when they should have so many Consultations and when they should resolve to Kill the King there could be no less then the altering of Religion and introduction of Popery here in England And that time at the first meeting they had Ordered that Mr. Cary a Jesuit as their Procurator and Agent should go to Rome to Act their concern there All which things and more will be made out to you by Witnesses produced There are likewise some other Circumstances that will be material to confirm those witnesses We shall produce to you a letter written in February last about that time that Mr. Whitebread sent over his summons for the Jesuits to appear here This letter was written by one Mr. Peters a Jesuit now in Custody and t is Written to one Tunstall a Jesuit to give him notice that he should be in London about the 21th of April and be ready on th●● 24th of April That he

knew what the business was but he did advise him that he should conceal himself lest the plot by observation should be discover'd We shall likewise produce several other evidences to strengthen and confirm the Witnesses we shall first call our witnesses and enter upon the proof Mr Finch opened the Evidence thus Mr. Finch May it please your Lord ship and you Gentlemen of the Jury before we call our witnesses I would beg leave once more to remind you of what hath already been open'd unto you the Quality of the Offenders themselves and the nature of the offence they stand indicted of For the Offenders they are most of them Priests and Jesuits three of them at the least are so the other two are the accursed Instruments of this Design for the offence it self 't is high Treason And though it be High Treason by the Statute of 27 Elizabeth for men of that profession to come into England yet these men are not Indicted upon that Law nor for that Treason This I take notice of to you for the prisoners sake that they should not fancy to themselves they suffered Martyrdom for their Religion as some of them have vainly imagin'd in their case and for your sakes too that as at first it was Treason repeated Acts of Treason in these men and those proceeding from a principle of Religion too that justly occasioned the making that Law so here you might observe a pregnant instance of it in the prisoners at the Bar That when ever they had an opportunity as now they thought they had they have never failed to put those principles into practice So now Gentlemen as they are not indicted for being Priests I must desire you to lay that quite out of the Case and only consider that they stand here accused for Treason such Treason as were they Lay-men only they ought to die for it though I cannot but observe they were the sooner Traitors for being Priests The Treason therefore they stand indicted of is of the highest nature it is a Conspiracy to kill the King and that too with Circumstances so aggravating if any thing can aggravate that Offence which is the highest that nothing less than the total Subversion of the Government and utter Destruction of the Protestant Religion would serve their turns And really when you consider the Root from whence this Treason springs you will cease wondring that all this should be attempted and rather wonder that it was not done Mischiefs have often miscarried for want of wickedness enough the Horror of Conscience or else the Malice of the Aggressor not being equal to the Attempt has sometimes prevented the Execution of it Here is no room for any thing of this kind This Treason proceeds from principles of Religion from a sense that it is lawful nay that they ought to do these things and every neglect here is lookt on as a piece of Irreligion a want of zeal for which one of the Prisoners did pennance as in the course of our Evidence we shall prove unto you And when we consider too that this is carried on not by the Fury of two or three busie men over zealous in the Cause but by the deliberate and steady Councels of the whole Order and that too under the Obligations of Secresie as high as Christian Religion can lay on them you have great reason to wonder that it did not succeed And yet after all this they have not been able to prevail Not that we can brag of any human policy that did prevent it No all that the Wit of man could do these men had done but 't was the Providence of God 't was his Revelation That Providence that first enlightened his Church and has preserv'd it against all opposition heretofore has once more disappointed their Councells and preserved the King and this Nation in the profession of that true Religion these men have vainly attempted to destroy Gentlemen I will not open to you the particulars of our Evidence that I had rather should come from the Witnesses themselves I shall only in general tell you what will be the Course of it We shall prove unto you That there was a Summons for a Consultation to be held by these men the 24th of April last from the Provincial Mr. Whitebread That they had a Caution given them not to come too soon nor appear much about the Town till the Consultation were over lest oacasion should be given to suspect the Design That accordingly a Consultation was held as they say to send Cary their Procurator to Rome Though we shall prove to you it was for other purposes That they adjourned from their general Assembly into lesser Companies where several persons did attend them to carry Intelligences of their several Resolutions That at these several Consults they did resolve The King was to be killed that Pickering and Grove should do it for which the one was to have 30000 Masses said for his Soul the other 1500 l. That in prosecution of this Design they made several attempts to execute it That they lay in wait for the King several times in St. James's Park and other places And that once in particular it had been done by Pickering if it had not pleased God to have prevented it by an Accident unforeseen The Flint of his Pistol being loose he durst not then attempt it though he had an Opportunity for which neglect we shall prove unto you he underwent the pennance of 20 or 30 strokes That when these men had failed we shall prove to you they hired four Ruffians to murther the King at Windsor and after that at Newmarket Thus they way-laid him in all his privacies and retirements wherever they could think it most convenient to execute their Design And this we shall prove by two Witnesses who though they should not speak to the same Consultations nor the same times yet they are still two Witnesses in Law for several Witnesses of several Overt-Acts are so many Witnesses to the Treason because the Treason consists in the Intention of the man in the Compassing and Imagining the Death of the King The several Overt-Acts which declare that intention are but as so many Evidences of the Treason we will call our Witnesses and make out what had been open'd to you Cl. of Cr. Mr. Oates lay your hand upon the Book The Evidence you shall give for our Sovereign Lord the King against Thomas White alas Whitebread William Ireland John Fenwick Thomas Pickering and John Grove the prisoners at the Bar shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth So help you God Mr. Serj. Baldwin Pray Mr. Oates will you declare to the Court and the Jury what Design there was for the killing of His Majesty and by whom Mr. Oates My Lord in the month of December last Mr. Thomas Whitebread did receive a Patent from the General of the Jesuits at Rome to be Provincial of the Order after he had received this

indulged no offence so big but they can pardon it some of the blackest be accounted meritorious what is there left for man kind to lean upon if a Sacrament will not bind them unless it be to conceal their wickedness If they shall take Tests and Sacraments and all this under colour of Religion be avoided and signifie nothing what is become of all converse How can we think obligations and promises between man and man should hold if a Covenant between God and man will not We have no such Principles nor Doctrin●●s in our Church we thank God To use any prevarications in declaring of the truth is abomniable to naturall reason much mo●●e to true Religion and 't is a strange Church that will allow a man to be a knave T is possible some of that Communion may be saved but they can never hope to be so in such a course as this I know they will say that these are not their principles nor these their practices but they Preach otherwise they Print otherwise and their Councels do determine otherwise Some hold that the Pope in Council is Infalible ask any Popish Jesuit of them all and he will say the Pope is Infalible himself in Cathedra or he is not right Jesuit and if so whatever they command is to be justified by their Authority so that if they give a dispensation to kill a King that King is well killed This is a Religion that quite unhinges all P●●ety all Morality and all conversation and to be abominated by all mankind They have some parts of the Foundation 't is true but they are adulterated and mixed with horrid Principles and impious practices They eat their God they kill their King and Saint the murtherer They indulge all sorts of Sins and no humane Bonds can hold them They must Pardon me if I seem sharp for a Papist in England is not to be treated as a Protestant ought to be in Spain if ye ask me why He give you this reason we have no such Principles nor practices as they have If I were in Spain I should think my self a very ill Christian should I offer to disturbe the Government of the place where I lived that I may bring in my Religion there what have I to do to undermine the tranquility peac●● of a Kingdom because all that dwell in it are not of my particular perswasion They do not so here there is nothing can quench the thirst of a Priest and a Jesuit nor the Blood of men nor of any if he can but propagate his Religion which in truth is b●… his interest They have not the Principles that we have therefore they are not to have that common Credence which our Principles and Practices call for They are not to wonder if they keep no Faith that they have none from others and l●… them say what they will that they do not own any such things as we charge upon them and are like to go hard with them For we can shew them out of their own Writing and Counsels that they do justifie the power of the Pope in Excommunicating Kings i●● Deposeing them for Heresie Absolving their Subjects from their Allegiance their Clai●● of Authority both in Pope and Council is the surest Foundation they build upon I have said so much the more in this matter because their Actions are so very pla●● and open and yet so pernicious and 't is a very great Providence that we and our Religion are delivered from Blood and Oppression I believe our Religion would ha●● stood notwithstanding their attempts and I would have them to know we are not afrai●● of them nay I think we should have maintained it by destroying of them We should ha●● been all in blood 't is true but the greatest effusion would have been on their side a●● without it How did they hope it should have been don There are honest Gentlemen I believe hundreds of that Communion who could not be openly won upon to engag●● in such a design They will not tell them that the King shall be killed but they insinuat●● into them that he is but one man and if he should die it were fit they were in readin●… to promote the Catholick Religion and when it comes to that they know what to d●● When they have got them to give money to provide Arms and be in readiness on their specious pretence then the Jesuits will quickly find them work One Blow shall put ' er to exercise their Armes and when they have Killed the King the Catholick Cause must be maintained But they have done themselves the mischief and have brought misery upon their whole Party whom they have ensnared into the Disign upon other pretences than what was really at the bottom A Popish Priest is a certain seducer and nothing satisfies him not the B●●ood of Kings if it stands in the way of his Ambition And I hope they have no●● only undeceived some Protestants whose charity might encline them to think them not so bad as they are but I believe they have ●●shaken their Religion in their own party here wh●● will be ashamed in time that such Actions should be put upon the score of Religion I return now to the Facts which is proved by two Wittnesses and by the concurrent Evidence of that Letter and the maid and the matter is as plain and notorious as can be That there was an intention of bringing in Popery by a cruel and bloody way for I believe they could never have prayed us into their Religion I leave it therefore to you to consider whether you have not as much Evidence from these Two men as can be expected in a case of this nature and whether Mr. Oates be not rather justified by the Testimony offered against him than discredited Let prudence and conscience direct your Verdict and you will be too hard for their Art and Cunning. Gentlemen If you think you shall be long we will Adjourn the Court till the afternoon and take your verdict then Jury No my Lord we shall not be long Then an Officer was sworn to keep the Jury safe according to Law and they withdrew to consider of their verdict After a very short recess the Jury returned and the Clerk of the Crown spake to them thus Cl. of the Crown Gentlemen answer to your Names Sir William Roberts Sir William Roberts Here. And so the rest Cl. of the Cr. Gentlemen Are you all agreed in your verdict Omnes Yes Cl. of the Cr. Who shall say for you Omnes The Foreman Cl. of the Cr. Set William Ireland to the Bar. William Ireland Hold up thy Hand Look upon the prisoner How say you is he guilty of the High Treason whereof he stands Indicted or not Guilty Forman Guilty Cl. of the Cr. What Goods and Chattels Lands or Tenements Foreman None to our knowledg Cl. of Cr. Set Thomas Pickering to the Bar. Thomas Pickering hold up thy hand Look upon