do Him any Bodily Harm Or to disturb the Government of this Kingdom as it is now Established by Law Or to Alter or go about to Alter the said Government or the Religion now Established in England by any way of Force III. That I neither am nor ever was at any time Guilty so much as in my most secret Thoughts of any Treason or Misprision of Treason whatsoever IV. That I do Believe That if I did know or should know of any Treason or Treasonable Design that was or is intended or should be intended against His said Majesty or the Government of this His Majesties Kingdom or for the Alteration by Force Advice or otherwise of the said Government or of the Religion now Established in this Kingdom and should conceal and not discover the same unto His said Majesty or His Majesties Council or Ministers or some of them That such Concealment would be to me a Sin unto Death and Eternal Damnation And I do Solemnly in the Presence of God Profess Testifie and Declare That as I hope for Salvation or expect any benefit by the Blood and Passion of Jesus Christ I do make this Declaration and every Part thereof in the Plain and Ordinary Sense of the Words wherein the same stands written as they are commonly understood by English Protestants and the Courts of Justice of England without any Evasion or Equivocation or Delusion or Mental Reservation whatsoever And without any Dispensation or Pardon or Absolution already granted to me for this or any other purpose by the Pope or any other Authority or Person whatsoever or without any hope of any such Dispensation And without thinking or believing that I am or can be acquitted before God or Man or absolved of this Declaration or any part thereof although the Pope or any other Person or Persons or Power whatsoewer should Dispense with or Annul the same or Declare that it was or is Null or Void from the beginning This with my Petition was Presented to His Majesty in Council on Thursday the 10th of July instant and after the reading of my Petition my said Protestation and Declaration was as I am informed begun to be read but when the person that read the same came to read that part of it in which I aver my Innocency he was not as I am informed permitted to read farther and it was declared That I was to expect no farther mercy unless I would make a Discovery of the Plot which God is my Witness I cannot do because I know nothing of it directly or indirectly And now having related all the particular Circumstances of my Case so far as my memory can recollect them and made such Protestations and Declarations as is before mentioned I shall only recommend to be considered by all impartial Judgments those solemn and serious Protestations which were made by those others who have lost their Lives already upon the Evidence given against them by the same Mr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe and pray that it may be duely weighed Whether the Solemn Oaths and Protestations of sober Men made by them immediately before their respective Deaths and this Protestation of mine before mentioned made at a time when my Confession and Discovery of a Plot or Treason against my King in case I had been privy unto or known such Plot or Treason would not only have saved my Life and secured me of a Pardon but would also have entituled me unto and in all probability put me into the full possession of Preferments and Advantages greater than I ever I thank my God coveted Be not more considerable to move a Belief of my Innocency than the Evidence given against me by my Accusers before-mentioned to move a Belief of my Guilt It is said it is not upon the bare Oaths of those two Witnesses but upon the Verdict of the Twelve Jurors that I am found Guilty I am sure that every judicious Person who understands our Proceedings in our Law of England in all Cases of this Nature doth know and can answer That the Verdict of the Twelve Jurors is grounded wholly upon the Evidence given by the Witnesses The Jurors Belief of the Witnesses produced and sworn to give Evidence against me was the foundation of their Verdict and justifies them in Law and the Verdict given by the Jurors doth in Law justifie the Judgment given by the Judges for the taking away of my Belief And I beseech God that the same Rule of Law may at the great and terrible day of Judgment acquit as well the Jurors who gave that Verdict as the Judges who gave that Judgment from all Guilt of my Blood But I must again refer it to the Consciences of all unbyassed judicious and good Men whether in Christian Charity the motives of Credibility founded upon such Judgment the Verdict which was solely grounded upon the Evidence of Mr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe be of greater force to a good and charitable Conscience to pronounce me Guilty than the several other motives which I have here represented will be found to pronounce me Innocent It will no way concern me as to my own particular whether the world shall adjudge me Innocent or not it is sufficient for me That my Conscience doth with great Joy and Peace acquit me And that the God of all Truth my dearest Jesus who is Truth it self doth know me to be Innocent And that the Consciences of those most Unhappy Men Mr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe will at the last day when the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest be compelled to the Glory of God and their own shame To proclaim me Innocent I beseech Almighty God to give those miserable Men a true and sincere Repentance for the Sin which they have committed and by which they have drawn upon themselves the Guilt of my Innocent Blood I do here profess my self to dye a Member of the Holy Catholique and Apostolique Church of which the Bishop of Rome is the Supreme Visible Head of Government on Earth as the Successor of the Holy Apostle St. Peter And of which Church our blessed Lord Jesus is the Supreme Invisible Head of influence to Guide Govern and direct the same by his Holy Spirit And I do take my Religion to be the sole Cause of my being the Object of the Malice of my Enemies who are the Causers of my Death If what I here say be any wayes disbelieved because of my Religion I humbly recommend it to the consideratioin of sober Men whether such disbelief upon this ground be not 1. To cast a Reproach and Blemish upon the Honour and Reputation of all our most Pious Ancestors and our whole Nation who lived and dyed before the 20th Year of King Henry VIII and who did all live and dye in the same Faith and Members of the same Church of which by God's Grace I am now a Member though unworthy 2. To cast a like Reproach upon all the Princes States and People of the World
Mr. LANGHORN's MEMOIRES WITH SOME MEDITATIONS AND DEVOTIONS Of his During his Imprisonment AS ALSO HIS Petition to His Majesty AND HIS SPEECH AT HIS EXECUTION All which were Left by him and Written with his own Hand Printed in the Year M.DC.LXXIX BEing adjudged to dye by a Publick Judgment for the Crime of High-Treason Charged and Sworn against me at my Tryal by two Witnesses namely Mr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe And having both before my Tryal and after the Judgment given declared my Innocency to All with whom I have had the Liberty to converse since my first Imprisonment I take it to be my Duty to leave a Testimony under my Hand for the farther Justification of my Innocency and of the Truth against all those Calumnies which have been and may be laboured by ill Men to be cast upon me And the rather because I do not know whether it will be allowed me to speak with freedom at my death or if that should be permitted yet I well know that what I may then say may be misrepresented to the prejudice of Truth I am not in the mean time ignorant what prejudice I lie under and how difficult it is for me to express my self in such words as may gain Belief with the World But my design being only to satisfie good Men who accustom themselves to judge according to the Rules of right Reason And as they would have others judge of them I shall not much care for the Censure of the Multitude The Crime which I am Charged is the most heinous of all Crimes But whether I am in Truth Guilty can only lie within the knowledge of the Great God who is the Searcher of all Hearts my own Conscience and the Consciences of my before-named Accusers My God I am sure knows my Innocency and will acquit me at the great day of Judgment My Conscience with great Joy and Peace bears me witness that I am so perfectly innocent of the Treason for which I stand Condemned That it invokes Almighty God to witness that I was never in the whole course of my life guilty of so much as one Disloyal Thought against my Sovereign Lord King CHARLES the Second whom I here own in the presence of God to be my True and Lawful King and Sovereign taking the words in the same sense in which they are taken and intended in the Oath commonly called The Oath of Allegiance As to all other Persons who have judged or shall take upon them to judge of me whether I am Guilty or not Guilty of that Crime of which I here profess my self to be Innocent I am sure that according to Reason they must disclaim to make any Judgment upon science or strict knowledge And must own if that they can make no other Judgment than what must be grounded upon their Belief which can never have or pretend to have any greater or higher certainty than the Motives of the Credibility upon which it is built and grounded I do not nor would I be taken to arraign the Justice of the King of the Government of the Judges before whom I was Tryed or of the Jury who gave the Verdict upon which Judgment was given against me whilest I pretend to examine the motives of Credibility upon which a Judgment of Belief in this Case is to be grounded In the mean time I hope that neither His Majesty nor my Lords the Judges nor my Jury will take it ill if I presume to say That neither the Judges nor the Juries of England do or ever did claim to be guided in their Proceedings in Cases of this nature by any Spirit of Infallibility The Lord Coke in his Pleas of the Crown reports a sad but very true Case of a Person Condemned and Executed for the Murther of a Girl who after the Execution of the Party so Condemned was found to be living and in perfect health And I think it is well known to most Men of our Times that even since His now Majesties Happy Restauration to His Crown and Dignities there hapned a more sad Accident where three Persons viz. the Mother and two Sons were Condemned Executed and Hanged in Chains for the Murther of a Person who was afterwards found to be living and never to have been any wayes assaulted or hurt by those who were Executed for his Murther Here then there were innocent Persons Condemned and Executed by Publick Verdicts and Judgments And what hath happened may again happen and yet the Juries the Judges the Justice the King and Government no way blemished they proceed and must always be taken to proceed according to the Rules of Law and Justice But there was certainly great Faults somewhere in those two Notorious Cases before-mentioned as there is likewise in my Case supposing it to be true what I here affirm in the presence of God to be true in relation to my Innocency notwithstanding the Judgment given against me Having therefore disclaimed as I here again do all Intentions of Arraigning the Justice of my King my Judges or my Jury I will recommend to be considered the Motives of which a right Judgment grounded upon Belief is to be made by Men not byassed by Passion or Prejudice touching my being Guilty or Innocent of that horrid Crime of which by Judgment of Law I stand Condemned which Motives of Credibility can only be truly and clearly known and represented by a just true and sincere stating of my Case with all its Circumstances with as much brevity as it is capable of which I here give as followeth The first news which I had and the first mention which I ever heard of this Plot and Treason against His Majesty for which so many have been lately Executed and for which I stand Condemned was on the 29th of September last when I heard several Priests were taken and in Custody being Charged by one Mr. Oates for High Treason On Monday come seven-night after being the 7th of October I was my self seized on in my Chamber in the Temple by a Messenger of the Council by vertue of a Warrant under the hands of Four Privy Councillors issued out against John Langhorne Esq my name being Richard I told the Messenger that he could not seize me by vertue of that Warrant To which he answered That he believed me the Person intended and would run the hazard whereupon I submitted and went with him to Newgate And though upon my coming thither I told the chief Gaoler Captain Richardson that he could not justifie the detaining of my Person by vertue of that Warrant He not only told me that he would run the hazard of it but immediately made me a close Prisoner and continued me so with the utmost strictness for about eight Months From hence it must in all reason be agreed that there being a full Week passed from the time wherein I heard of Persons being Committed for the Plot to the time of my being seized I must be a perfect Mad-man to
end I might Not be abandoned by thy Father at my Death Blessed be thy Name that thou art pleased to be now With me by thy Holy Spirit and not to forsake Me in this great time of Tryal O my dearest Jesus who upon thy Cross didst suffer Thirst for the perfecting the work of my Redemption Behold I now thirst to be with thee blessed be Thy Name that thou art pleased to give me this Thirst O my Jesus who upon thy Cross didst consummate Thy life for the love of me blessed be thy Name that thou permittest me to consummate My life for thee in thy service O my dearest Jesus into thy hands I commend my Spirit The several Circumstances of the Passion of our Lord Accompanying my Death by which he vouchsafes to grace me a poor Sinner and to refresh my memory in relation to his blessed Merits 1. To be Judged by a PVBLICK SENTENCE 2. To Dye the most Ignominious of all Deaths 3. By the Hands of the Publick Executioner 4. As an Enemy to Caesar and the Government 5. To Dye Hanging on a Tree 6. To be stript of all my Cloaths 7. To have all my Blood entirely shed by Embowelling and Quartering 8. With a publick declaring my Death to be Necessary for the People 9. The multitude shouting Crucify Crucify 10. The People rejoycing at this Sentence and Death 11. Occasioned by False Witnesses 12. The Witnesses induced by Malice and Rewards To the Kings Most Excellent Majesty The Humble PETITION of Richard Langborne A Prisoner Condemned in the Gaol of Newgate Humbly sheweth THat Your Majesties Petitioner with all gratitude of Heart and Soul imaginable humbly thanks Your Majesty for Your Mercy in giving him Life until Monday next That Your Petitioner is wholly ignorant of the substance of that Letter mentioned in Your Majesties Order of Council of the 3d instant to have been written by the Earl of Roscomon as also of the Grounds upon which it was written and therefore hopes that Your Majesty will not permit Your Petitioners Life to be taken away before that be clearly understood That Your Petitioner having in obedience to Your Majesties particular Command made a full clear and sincere Discovery of all those Estates which Your Majesty commanded him to discover humbly offers unto Your Majesties merciful Consideration the Protestation and Declaration by Your Petitioner hereunto annexed by which he no way intends to reflect upon Your Majesties Justice or the Justice of the Judges or Jury by whom he was Tryed and humbly begs That the same may not be interpreted to intend any such reflection And that Your Majesty will please to consider That it is not impossible for an innocent person to be Condemned since it is not many Years past That Three Persons were Executed and Hanged in Chains being Condemned for the Murder of one who appeared afterwards to be living And this without any just cause of Reflection upon the Justice of Your Majesty or of their Judges or Jury That Your Petitioner humbly begs leave to hope That when Your Majesty shall have considered his said Declaration you will out of the abundance of Your natural inclinations to Mercy either vouchsafe to give him his Pardon so as to enable him to spend the remainder of His Life in the Service of Your Majesty and his Countrey or at least give him leave to live though it be abroad and in perpetual Banishment he having fully obeyed Your Majesties Commands in discovering every thing within his knowledge which hath been required to be by him discovered and the Case of your Petitioner being singular as not having above any one Witness to any one particular matter of Fact given in Evidence against him as the Judges can inform Your Majesty Your Majesties Petitioner therefore Humbly casts himself at Your Majesties Feet Humbly imploring Your Royal Mercy and that You will be Graciously pleased to give him his Life that he may spend it wholly in praying for Your Majesties long and happy Life Reign and Government And Your Petitioner as in Duty bound shall daily pray for Your Moâ—â— Sacred Majesty c. R. Langhorne THE SPEECH OF Richard Langhorne Esq At his EXECUTION July 14. 1679. Being left in Writing by him under his own Hand IN regard I could not foresee whether I should be permitted to speak at my Death so as to make a Publick Declaration of my Innocency and Loyalty as a Christian ought to do considering likewise That if it should be permitted unto me it would be more advisable for me rather to prepare before-hand and set down in Writing the very words in which I should make my Declaration than to trust my Memory with them to the end that the same may be well considered of and digested by me and that all Mistakes might be prevented as far as may be I say in regard of this I have in the present Paper reduced what I have to declare as to my Innocence and Loyalty And 't is in these following words I Do solemnly and sincerely in the presence of Almighty God Profess Testifie and Declare as followeth That is to say 1. That I do with my Heart and Soul believe and own my Most Gracious Sovereign Lord the King's Majesty King CHARLES II. to be my True and Lawful Sovereign Prince and King in the same Sense and Latitude to all Intents and Purposes as in the Oath commonly called The Oath of Allegiance His said Majesty is expressed to be King of this Realm of England 2. That I do in my Soul believe That neither the Pope nor any Prince Potentate or Foreign Authority nor the People of England nor any Authority out of this Kingdom or within the same hath or have any Right to dispossess His said Majesty of the Crown or Government of England or to Depose Him therefrom for any Cause or pretended Cause whatsoever or to give Licence to me or to any other of His said Majesties Subjects whatsoever to bear Arms against His said Majesty or to take away His Life or to do Him any bodily Harm or to disturb the Government of this Kingdom as the same is now established by Law or to alter or go about to alter the said Government or the Religion now established in England by any way of Force 3. That I neither am nor ever was at any Time or Times Guilty so much as in my most secret Thoughts of any Treason or Misprision of Treason whatsoever 4. That I did not in the Month of November or at any other Time or Times whatsoever say unto Mr Oates or unto any other Person or Persons whatsoever in relation to my Sons in Spain or either of them or in relation to any other Person or Persons whatsoever That if they did continue in the World as Secular Priests or otherwise they should suddenly have great Promotions in England for that things would not last long in the posture wherein they then were nor did I ever say any words to that