according to an Act made in the Year 1673 But he enjoying that great and mighty Office of Lord High Admiral of England for several Years He obtain'd the King's Favour the Court was at his Will and Commandment either for love to him or for fear of his Greatness and Authority He so demeaned himself to the King his Brother that that King would never believe that the great Interest that he had acquired by the Greatness of his Office should ever be abused to the prejudice of the Government but for the King's Service and Benefit he increased the number of his Friends and Followers by gratifying some with Naval Preferments and others with Mony always imploying his Purse his Credit and his Countenance for the strengthning his Party and that in such a manner as that the King could not but perceive it yet he so dissembled the Matter and pretended to such a degree of Obedience and Affection to the King and gratify'd him in his sinful Pleasures that the King did not distrust his Proceedings and that he might continue in the King's Favour he made it his business as much as in him lay to comply with his Humours and Humane Frailties And when he was forced to lay down that great Office by reason of his refusal of the Sacramental Test above-mentioned he obtain'd of the King that his Friends and high Church Conspirators might be put in Commissioners of the Admiralty in his place he made all the Ministers of state sure to him so that when he was banished into Flanders a first and a second time and after his return he procured that the Duke of Monmouth should be banished the Court he judging him to be his Enemy and then his Conspirators endeavour'd not in vain to keep the said Duke of Monmouth in discredit with the King But the then Parliament being sensible of the dangerous Conspiracy against the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and the King's Person carried on by the Popish Party and finding that the Duke's being a Papist had incouraged them in that Hellish Plot they having great hopes of his coming such to the Crown they fell upon the Duke and to prevent the Storm from falling upon the Duke the King sends him into Scotland after that he had bridled and sadled that Kingdom in some measure to his Hearts content He applies himself to his Friends to procure his return he is accordingly permitted to return to the great Joy of his Party He fawns upon the King's Whore that he kept in the Matted Gallery at White hall and who he created Dutchess of Portsmouth who had a great Interest in the King and obtain'd at first or last whatsoever pleased her of the King that whosoever he was were he never so high in the King's Favour that displeased her in time lost the King's good Will and good Opinion this Duke carried himself so towards her that he seemed to affect nothing more than her good liking and yet not so desirous thereof as that he would wholly depend thereupon knowing that the King although he always attributed much to this infamous Whore and was pleased that she was Reverenced and Respected yet he could not well bear that her good Will should be sought above his own Royal Favour But the Duke did continue his Friendship with her hoping in time to command them both and when ever he found any of the King's Ministers not throughly complying with him and not ready to follow his Designs he laboured by all means to have them removed and others put in their Places who would not fail him in his wicked Designs and Purposes nor to depend wholly upon his Favour and also to make him privy if need were to whatsoever Business and Affair of State they were commanded by the King to dispatch whereby he came tho he were out of the Councel upon the same account as he had left the Office of Lord High Admiral to the perfect knowledge of all that was purposed and determined by the King 's Privy Council and he was in such Favour and Credit that even the principal Officers about the King either for Faer or Love or by other Mens Examples submitted themselves wholly unto his Devotion and he had such Interest in the King's Court and Courtiers that all or most part of them seemed to be at his sole Disposition and to affect him more than the King himself He having Installed himself in this manner in the Court and in a great measure withdrew the Hearts of the principal Officers thereof from their Duty and Love to their King He thought it also not enough to be invested in their Favours but all the endeavours were used that he might have the Affections of the Common People to procure this he obtains the help of a filthy Strumpet called High-Church whose Blasphemous Preachers of Passive-Obedience and Non-Resistance did him mighty Service in order thereunto And what Feasting there was provided for the Apprentices of the City of London who were a sort of young Men who were to be by his Conspirators debauched in order to his Service and by the great promises of his Grace and Favour he easily and quickly perswaded the Conspirators to favour his Cause and Conspiracy Nay all the legal Force throughout the Kingdom from the Lord Lieutenant of a County to a Deputy Lieutenant and Captains Lieutenants and Ensigns and Serjeants were all and every of them his Creatures the Justices of Peace and Sheriffs were his Admirers and the Custom-house and Excise were all at his Devoire from one end of the the Kingdom to the other and generally Vintners and Ale-drapers were of his Interest and so was old L'Estrange the Guide and his little Scoundrel Clergy of the Church by which means many of the Common People were so ready willing and desirous to perform and accomplish his Pleasure as that in respect of their Obedience to him he seemed to lack nothing but the name of a King to be one Notwithstanding the great Honour and Reverence the Court shewed him in the Reign of his Brother and the Love and Affection the Commonalty did bear him the nearness of his relation to the King and the mighty Interest he had and the unaccustomed Authority he had in so slie a manner Usurped the high Attempts and Imaginations he had lodged in his Heart and the great Opinion he had of himself yet he was so far from appearing puffed up with Pride and Disdain to those that were much below him that he thought not scorn to give Audience to the meanest Man that had business with him Now how could a Man of my Circumstances having provoked him by the Discovery of the Hellish Conspiracy carried on by him and his wicked Popish Party and Popishly affected stand against such a Man of such an Interest for he and his Party when they could not hurt me by their Subborned Witnesses against me not only to destroy my Reputation but my
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
witness his being reconciled to that Church by Father Richard Huddleston who was related to John Huddleston of whom the said King Charles had such a tender care and not only so but Receiv'd the Sacrament from Father Ireland the Jesuit in the Duchess of Portsmouth's Lodgings and the same day afterwards he receiv'd it according to the Usage of the Church of England it being the Sunday called Easter-day In the last place witness those Papers that were found under his own hand in his Strong Box all which testify his inclinations were bent that way and therefore how can any man wonder at his being careless of supporting the Protestant Religion Nay Sir I must not forget one Instance more of his being of the Romish Persuasion that is that most Excellent Memorial that he put in by his Protestant Envoy to the Court at Poland wherein there was a passage to this effect That he had a great Esteem of the Roman-Catholick and Apostolick Religion as being most consistent with Monarchy give me leave to Cite a passage of a Letter of his to the Governor of St. Omers when it was by Conquest reduced to the Obedience of the French King which was That he should take care of the Jesuits according to the Contract he had made with his Master they being men upon whom the hopes of England did depend Give me leave Sir to put you in mind of his promises he made to the Jesuits in Spain after he was reconciled to the Church of Rome upon their Contributing Three thousand Pistols for his support of restoring the Catholick Religion when ever he should come to the Enjoyment of his Right in England and not only to them but to the Nuns in Ghent when he borrowed Money of them for which they waited several Years Then I say he declared he would restore their Religion when ever he should come to his Right When the Princess Henrietta came to Dover you know what her Errand was to press the King to restore the Romish Religion here in England and that the breach of the Peace with the Dutch was then and there contrived by you and your Conspirators and consented to by the King and all in order to the reducing those State to the Catholick Faith And it was determined to begin the Publick Exercise of the Romish Religion in Ireland and to facilitate that work you may well remember who was sent over Lord Lieutenant Upon all these Considerations a Man may not now wonder at King Charles's carelesness in the Support and Maintenance of the Protestant Religion You well remember that you your self and your other Conspirators had begot in the King your Brother a full persuasion of the Truth of this Proposition That the Roman-Catholicks were the greatest favourers of Monarchy therefore in his Letter to the French King bearing Date June 1676. that he resolved to be like his Neighbours in Religion but you know that he was prevented by the Lord Arlington and the Parliament for which you were pleased to tell Father Lacheise in your Letter of July 1676. that the Lord Arlington and others by a Thousand deceits endeavoured to break the good Intelligence that was betwixt the King your Brother and his most Christian Majesty and your self to the end they might deceive you all Three and therefore the Parliament and the said Lord Arlington and his party were by you declared in that Letter as useless and dangerous for that the said Arlington and his Friends did work incessantly to advance the Interest of the Prince of Orange and the Dutch and to lessen the Interest of the French King Now the King your Brother being a man unsteady in his resolutions he sometimes failed your Brother of France as well as your self and other Conspirators 9. We in his Life-time saw there was no likelihood of his having any legitimate Issue to Succeed him in the Government Truly Sir I think I may say that was contrived by your Father Clarendon and your self and in it you intended the hurt of the People of England but God who governs the World hath made his want of legitimate Issue to be the greatest Blessing that ever England saw for by that means we have a King that well knows that it is most certain and evident to all men that the publick Peace and Happiness of any State or Kingdom cannot be preserved where the Laws Liberties and Customs Established by the Lawful Authority in it are openly Transgressed and Annulled more especially when the alteration of Religion is endeavoured and that a Religion which is contrary to Law is endeavoured to be introduced Upon which those who are immediately concerned in it are indispensably bound to endeavour to Preserve and Maintain the Established Laws Liberties and Customs and above all the Religion and Worship of God that is Established among them and to take such an effectual care that the Inhabitants in that State or Kingdom may not be deprived of their Religion nor of their Civil Rights which is so much the more necessary because the Greatness and Security both of Kings and Royal Families and of all such as are in Authority as well as the Happiness of their Subjects and People depend in a most especial manner upon the exact Observation and Maintenance of these their Laws Liberties and Customs This Sir is the Sentiment and Blessed Resolution of King William and this he and his Ministers put in Execution which is a blessed Change which we could not have lived to enjoy had Charles your Brother left any Issue behind him that had been capable of the Crown but that which you contrived for our Mischief is turned to our greatest Good for we have the best of Kings upon the Throne and the worst of Men taking of the Air at St. Germains 10. The late King Charles your Brother did obstinately refuse to enter into a League with those who intended to uphold and maintain the Protestant Religion This I must say of the Dutch that ever since they delivered themselves from the intollerable Yoke of the Crown of Spain their great aim and design hath been to promote the Interest of the Reformed Religion and have endeavoured to make Alliances with those Princes that were and are of the Reformed Religion and have endeavoured to make good these Alliances but how King Charles your Brother your self and the rest of your Partisans treated the Dutch ever since his Restoration to the Crown it is well known and how he in the compass of Ten years made Two ungodly Wars but as I said before I must say again The Dutch did most commonly send us home with broken bones Our Cause was Wicked and God gave us Success suitable thereunto and for what ends and purposes these Wars were made you and your most Christian Brother can very well tell but least Sir you should have forgotten those Wars give me leave to give you a brief note of them In the year 1665. it is well known that
occasion the lessening the Affections of the People to your Person and for that you were so nearly related to the Crown they desired that your Honour and Esteem should be preserved But had they known of your Trayterous Confederacy with the French King and with him designing to subvert our Religion Laws and Liberties they would sooner have addressed for your being Banished from the King's Presence and his Councils for ever if not to have sent you out of the World as you justly deserved But Sir you may remember that you once were the Darling of the Nation and had the Esteem and Affections of the People upon the Account of your being the Son and Brother of a King and stood in a very near Relation to the Crown of England in the time of your Brothers Reign but when your Traiterous Designs were laid open the Parliament Apr. 27. 1679. Resolved That your being a Papist and the Hopes of your coming such to the Crown had given the greatest Encouragement to the then discovered Conspiracy and Designs of the Papists against his Majesty your Brother and the Protestant Religion Notwithstanding this Vote of the House of Commons you had an impudent Crew that did endeavour to perswade the Nation and not without some Effect through the Power of their bold Asseverations that you were no Papist but of the established Religion only that you were a Prince of more Generosity and Greatness of Mind than to comply with the Capricio's of a Parliament in Renouncing this or Swearing to that as they should in humour enact which Roguery in Conversation passed with a great many Rascally Profligate Protestants who would not believe your being a Papist till the day you opened your Chappel or Oratory the next or next Sunday but one after you took the Crown 5. The Parliament was of an Opinion that for an Age after the Consummation of the said Marriage at the least the People of England would be under continued Apprehensions of the Growth of Popery and the Danger of the Protestant Religion and so they were an Age before For when they saw so many Piracies made on the Dutch Factories in the Years 1663 1664. and a wicked War commenced in the Year 1665. and the City fired by Papists in the Year 1666. and the Papists incouraged not only in the Years aforesaid but in the Year 1667. and 1668. and Persons that had a hand in firing the City of London not only protected but preferred and the Trpiple League broken and another ungodly War proclaimed Priests and Jesuits increasing in their Numbers and their Insolencies and Impudence This increased the Fears and Jealousies of the Nation and your first Lâ—dy turning Papist and dying such but when you married an Italian Papist you had more Eyes upon you and the People by degrees began to see into your Designs against the Protestant Religion and Government That the Protestant Religion was by this means in danger is beyond Disputation for it had three great Enemies conspiring against it that had made a League together to destroy it and all those Princes and States that did intend to maintain and uphold it viz. your Brother Charles the French King and your self and this Confederacy was set up to destroy the Prince of Orange the Government of the States-General and the Parliament of England and this the Parliament feared and therefore they interposed in this marriage Object But here an Objection will arise Why should the Parliament object against this Match and be so zealous in their Interposition to prevent this Match with the Daughter of Modena since it is plain you in view of the World had been for several Months ingaged in a Treaty of Marriage with another Catholick Princess yet a Parliament nay that very Parliament held during the time of the Treaty and not the least Exception taken at it To this I Answer 1. That the Archduchess of Inspruck though she was of the Romish Religion yet she was an avowed Enemy of the French Cause and Interest For observe this there were many Papists which Sir you hated and by your Conspirators were looked upon with an evil Eye for the Lord Castlehaven that was one that served the King of Spain was one that was used very hardly by you Sir Kenelm Digby was also very obnoxious to you and so was my Master the Duke of Norfolk being one of the Spanish Faction and Anderson the Priest and several others that I can when called to it name who were Enemies of the French Faction And this Lady being not of the French Faction and Interest the Match through the Influence of the French King was broken and this Piece of Flesh you have was sent from Modena in her Room 2. The Match between you and that Duchess was never so near a Consummation as this between the Daughter of Modena and you was de non Appaparentibus non existentibus eadem est Ratio the Match did not appear to them therefore they touched not upon it But to make sure they addressed the King that you might not match with Modena or any other Popish Princess for several weighty Considerations 6. The House of Commons considered that your Princess of Modena being so near a Relation and Kindred to the many Eminent Persons of the Court of Rome might give great Opportunities to promote their Designs and carry on their Practices amongst us and by the same means penetrate into the most secret Councils of the King your Brother and more easily discover the State of the whole Kingdom It is observed that it is a standing Rule amongst the Venetians that if one of their Senators have a Relation that is made a Pope or Cardinal or is preferred to any great Dignity in the Court of Rome that the said Senator withdraws from or is dismissed his serving in the said Senate And the Reason is plain First Because they will not be imposed upon by any of that Vermine and Secondly Because they will not have their Councils looked into by any that belong to the Court of Rome nor Thirdly Will they have the Secrets of their Government discovered to them and lastly they will not have the State of their Commonwealth exposed to the Censure of the Ecclesiastical State Sir You were no sooner married but how Letters pass betwixt the Court of Rome and you self and your servant Coleman Jan. 4. 1676. Cardinal Howard writing to Coleman intimates That Sir Henry Tichburn was appointed by you to be your Minister at Rome and rejoyced at the Prorogation of the Parliament and further said That if the King would do well then all would do well Now you know what was meant by the King 's doing well that is if he were removed In that Letter he saith he hoped to do you good Service It is plain that now not only France but Rome was also to be interested in your Councils to destroy the King your Brother and expose the Councils and Secrets of the
neither pay'd by him nor yet receiv'd by them and not only so but that the Protestants in the North of Ireland were much alarm'd at those Quantities of Arms and Ammunition that were put into the Hands of the Irish Catholicks 10. Your Conspirators Coleman and the Jesuites in London receiv'd Letters from St. Omers written from Father Ireland not he that was hanged for his own Name was Ironmonger but this Man 's own Name was Saltmarsh That Care was taken for the Destruction of the Duke of Ormond in Ireland he being then Lord-Lieutenant there And for what Reason Because he had refused Sir to join with you in Breaking the English Interest in that Kingdom though Sir you may remember that the said Duke was a Person very Obsequious to your Brother and your Self and the Reason why you could not get him to engage with you in Omnibus was his own Safety and Ease Yet when you acted by the King's Command the said Duke never failed you nor did his Son the Earl of Ossory which cost that good Gentleman many a Sigh when he came to dye for the Business of the Smyrna Fleet and the Wicked War against the Dutch stuck upon his Soul to the last Minute of his Life But I say Because the Duke of Ormond would not push on every thing you put upon him he was not for your turn though give him his due he had gone farther than his Inclinations lead him to please your Mind 11. In the last place when you took the Crown you in a short time put the whole Government into the Hands of the Irish Papists by which means the English Protestant Interest was in great danger to be lost and the Protestant Inhabitants were under the daily Fears through your Grace and Favour of having their Throats cut nay many daily by your Cut-Throat Teagues were by your especial Direction basely inhumanely and barbarously murthered So that some tasted of that Cruelty which others justly apprehended from the Arbitrary Power you set up there Some of them left the Kingdom and abandoned their Estates calling to mind that Cruel and Bloody Massacre which fell upon their Fathers in that Kingdom in the year 1641. And to crown your Work you traiterously invaded that Kingdom and called a Number of your Villains together and christened them by the Title and Name of a Parliament and what you did by their countenance many yet alive can tell But Doctor King an old Passive Obedience Friend of yours hath painted you out at large in those particular Carriages of yours when you with your French Mirmidons invaded that Kingdom But Sir let me tell you That Great William our King hath endeavoured and doth still study to bring Ireland into such a State that the Settlement of the Protestant Religion may there be religiously observed and the Protestant English Interest may be secured against any Effort of yours or your Irish Teagues to the contrary notwithstanding III. SCOTLAND You having play'd your Game so well in Ireland it will not be amiss to cast our Eye upon that Quondam Ancient Kingdom and see how you managed there for as you managed Ireland by a Tool that succeeded the Lord Roberts so in Scotland You and your Brother acted by Lauderdale for he brought all the Laws and Liberties of Scotland to the Council-Chamber bringing all Persons and Causes of any moment to your Arbitrary Council who acted as Lords Paramount without controul and so zealous were you by him to promote and support the French Interest there that continually new Levies were making in Scotland for the Service of the French King tho' at that very time we were pretending a French War in England You remember Sir that by your Influence upon the King your Brother and on the Council of Scotland you make them use all the diligence that was possible to get an Army there to be a standing Army in the room of the Militia of that Kingdom the Militia being not thought fit for your Popish Designs And the means to effect the same you pitch'd upon those you judged to be the most effectual which was first to Oppress and Enrage the Dissenters and this could not be better accomplished than by disturbing and prosecuting their Meetings and Religious Assemblies for the Worship of God which You and your Conspirators did with all imaginable diligence And you having found out a new way by caution your Conspirators devised a Bond should be imposed upon every Man they marked out for Ruine as being Enemies to their Arbitrary Proceedings which Bond was That the Landlord should be bound for his Tenant the Master for his Servant and the Husband for the Wife and Father for the Children not to go to Conventicles Which you knew many would not do for that the People of Scotland generally hated Praelatical Government But this way they thought would so enrage the People whom they fore-knew would not part with their Meetings that they doubted not but to force a Rebellion and thereupon have a fair Pretence to raise Forces for the Security of the Kingdom against restless Meeters and Meetings Which Design Sir You and your Party in that Kingdom did at last effect Another Device you and your Conspirators had of seizing the Field-Meetings by the armed Forces and destroying them both in Bodies and Estates and dragging them to Gaols and then by whole Ship-loads selling them to the Plantations as Condemn'd Men and Ship-loads coming here for London they by one way or another got their Liberty Was this of the Bond all And was the Selling of them all No For You and your Conspirators found out another way by the Tyranny of Duke Lauderdale and that was this There was a Warrant procured from the Council of Scotland to disarm divers Shires and Low-lands of that Kingdom and when that would not exasperate them then another Order was procured to order the High-landers a sort of barbarous Papists to be armed and by whole Regiments to come down upon the Inhabitants spoiling and destroying the whole Country living amongst them at discretion and these very High-landers thus armed under the pretence of keeping the Peace had in their Commission from your Brother's and your Council in Scotland Authority to live at Free Quarter upon those Inhabitants which they did divers Months together to the destruction of the poor People And all this was to procure a Rebellion at any rate But least this should be too general I will descend to some Particulars that the thing may be plain to your Ragged Regiment at St. Germans and your Hell-born Cut-throat Crew here in England I. I will shew you in several Particulars how your Brother and You invaded the Rights of the Good People of Scotland in general II. I will give you to remember some Instances of your Brother's and your Barbarity to particular Persons III. Your Brother's and your way of using your Prisoners I. Give me leave to put you and your Conspirators in mind of
Life Then they procured King Charles to take away my Maintenance and Protection and this angry Duke he Sued me for charging him to be reconciled to the Church of Rome and then Suborned Witnesses against me and procured me in his Brother's Reign to be Indicted of two pretended Perjuries but he being impatient in his Expectation he snatched the Crown from his Brother's Head and mounted the Throne and then he and his Popish Witnesses his Packt Juries and Impudent Lawless Senseless and Mercinary Judges compleated my Ruin and I must have been destroyed had not God by your Majesty's coming to England rescued me beyond all Expectation Give me leave Sir with the humblest Submission to your Majesty to observe that where there is a Subject of such Credit with the King of such Authority with the Court and such Power in every County of the Kingdom as the Duke of York had when he was a Subject and to have such an Interest in the Church and Civil Government and Military Employments and Naval Preferments Could it be possibly hard or difficult for him to insult over and suppress those Truths I then Revealed for the service and preservation of the Religion Laws and Liberties of my Native Country against him and his numerous Party And how much more was it easie for him to destroy me when he had the Crown it self upon his own Head But above all Great Sir how can it be that such a Subject perverted to such a Villainous Religion should not be most dangerous to his Prince and Country And to what a lamentable State and Condition he brought it when he had Possession your Majesty well knows It was therefore high time for the Protestants of this Kingdom to implore your Majesties Aid and Help in that Hour of Distress that the Nation was brought to by that unhappy Person and his wicked Accomplices and blessed be God for putting it into your Royal Heart to come over to us and to bring along with you a Force sufficient to defend your Person from him and his Conspirators and tho he and they would have insinuated that your Majesty came to Conquer us and Enslave us and notwithstanding the villainous Scribling of some that would to this day assert your Majesty's Title to be by Conquest We that are Protestants do from the bottom of our Hearts believe That your Majesty had no other design in your Royal Undertaking but to procure a settlement of Religion Liberty and Property of the People of this Nation on so sure a Foundation that there might be no danger of this Nation 's Relapsing into the like Miseries at any time hereafter And for the Justice of your Cause your Majesty may appeal to God and to all Protestant Kings Princes States and People in bringing a Force sufficient to suppress the Conspirators and their damnable hellish Conspiracy And with the like Justice your Majesty then might require and adjure all English Protestants to assist you against those Enemies of God his Christ his Gospel and the Rights of this Nation and Liberties of Mankind And your Majesty might with the like Justice have Punished those as Banditi and Free-booters and common Rogues and Traytors to their Country that should have appeared to Oppose your Majesty in so Glorious a Work you had undertaken for the Rescuing three Kingdoms out of the Jaws of Hell Rome and France Since God engaged me in asserting the Laws and Liberties of England and the Protestant Religion and in discovering the Malicious and Hellish Designs of the Popish Party against us the Opposition of that Party and the Passive-Obedience and Non-Resistance Clergy-men grew strong and thick upon me and how those Varlets run in with the Popish Party together with their Guide Sir Roger L'Estrange to decry the discovery of the Popish Plot and would to this day decry by the very same Method they then used the present Discovery of this Hellish Design against your Majesty's Royal Person and the Religion and Government of this Nation if they had but hopes to go off with Impunity and by your Majesty's leave I dear challenge any of these Men to tell me what particular there was by me discovered that did not in process of time come to pass It will be to tedious to recite all particulars of the discovery of the Popish Plot that did come to pass and from the dismal and sad Consequences of that Conspiracy your Majesty under God hath delivered us or else these Villainous Traytors would insult and ask why and to what end your Majesty exposed your Royal Person in your late Glorious Undertaking in the Year 1688 The evil usage I have had from our Popish high Church Non-juring Conspirators hath so hardened and inured me to suffering that I praise God who hath taught me some weak Rudiments of his heavenly Art of drawing Light out of Darkness for mine own use I have not been trampled upon for so many Years to so little purpose as to remain yet either ignorant or insensible of mine own Vileness and to what Element I am nearest allied or so tender or querulous as either to complain of the weight of those who still go over me as the Stones in the Street or to project the suffering of any Man in order to please or solace my self my long Deprivation and want of respects from some that should have treated me as a Christian a Gentleman and a Presbyter of the Church of God is now turn'd into an Athletique habit some what after the manner of those who through long Fasting lose their Appetites and withall either Contract or find an Ability or Contentedness of Nature to live with a little or no Meat afterwards I can through the Strength of Christ suffer my self to be oppressed and from my poor Dunghil whereon I sit behold both Friends and Enemies that with much Contentment and sufficient Enjoyment of my self partaking of the good Things of this Life the more because that God still preserves your Royal Person from the Attempts that the Trayterous Conspirators have so often made to destroy You and the Nation from the intended Invasion by our implacable Enemies that would destroy and enslave us Next to Christ and this Truth I shall with the utmost Breath and Power I have according to my Oath and Duty in what Place and Station soever I am endeavour to be found Loyal and True to your Majesty as my Rightful and Lawful Sovereign Lord and King as all good Subjects and Christians ought to be and I cannot forbear out of the great and sincere Zeal and Affection that I bear to your Majesty bless God for the great Concord there is between your Majesty and Protestant Subjects which your Majesty hath found to have turn'd to a good account to your Ease Comfort and Peace in the managing your Affairs of Government both in Church and State and it is a great Comfort to your good People to see your Majesty relying upon your two Houses
Commons still had an evil Eye upon the Conspirators and got eight New Regiments to be disbanded that as the Exchequer had been shut up London might not be plundred and the Citizens might not be Dragooned out of their Estates Liberties and Religion all at once Upon this Peace being concluded with the Dutch oh what complaining Letters did you send to your Friends at St. Omers charging the King your Brother with the greatest breach of Promises and Oaths made to Madam the Princess and also Letters were sent to Doway to the Monks there yet assuring them you would never leave the Cause so for you still hoped that his Most Christian Majesty would do the work and ruin the Dutch States that they might not be a Nest for Rebels and Hereticks I was saying just now How could King Charles answer the Cancelling the Declaration of Indulgence and the passing the Test-Bill to Lewis his great Ally But now Sir I much more wonder how he could answer to that King his Concluding a Peace with the States-General of the Vnited Provinces for this seemed to me and many others the greatest Riddle how this would stand with the Holy League that he had made with that King to root out Heresy and to set up Popery for could we have but ruined the Dutch the work had been done to all intents and purposes Your Party well knew that Charles your self and the then Lords of the Admiratly fell under the displeasure of the French King by consent and since you could not humble the Dutch how willingly you condescended that the High and Mighty Monarch of France should have the humbling of the English Nation for by your Advice and Procurement it was agreed That he should let loose his Privateers among our Merchant-men so that from that time there was no security of Commerce and Navigation notwithstanding the publick Amity that was between the two Crowns but at Sea they murthered plundered made Prize and confiscated those they met with their Pyrats laid before the Mouths of our Rivers hovered all along upon our Coasts took our Ships in the very Ports insomuch that we in a manner were blockt up by Water and if any made application at his Sovereign Port for Justice they were insolently baffled if not cruelly beaten This you know and the Nation well knew that Charles your self and the Admiralty were Accomplices in this matter and that it did turn to a good account to the Conspirators as can be made appear even Sir to your face at St. Germains And this way of using the Nation continued till the latter end of the Year 1676. even from our concluding the Peace with the States-General of the Vnited Provinces Was this all No this way of Pyrating was only a mark of his Most Christian Majesty's Displeasure It was no reparation for our good King Charles's not keeping his word with him therefore all diligence was used to supply him with Recruits and those who would go voluntarily over were incouraged others that would not were pressed imprisoned and carried over by main force even as the Parliament here was ready to set down notwithstanding all the former frequent Applications to the contrary Nay yet further How did you empty all the Magazines of the Kingdom to furnish the French with all sorts of Ammunition of which Sir a particular Account was taken and can be given if demanded It is Sir well known that King Charles having broken the Tripple League and made a War upon the Dutch without Cause and had made Peace with them he would never enter into a League Offensive and Defensive with them yet he could make one with the French tho he had taken the Kingdom 's Money to enter into an actual War Nay that Conspirator Conventry had the League Offensive and Defensive made with the French King in his Pocket when the House of Commons voted the Money for an actual War with France It may be Sir you may say that King Charles did make an Alliance with Holland and the Articles of the League were on April 30. 1678. laid before the House by the King 's especial direction It may be so But will your Party call that a League Offensive and Defensive fit for a Parliament of England to agree to No for see how the House resented that Sham-League and to this end observe their Vote May the 4th 1678. Resolved That the League Offensive and Defensive with the States-General of the United Provinces with the Articles relating thereunto are not pursuant to the Addresses of this House nor consistent with the Good and Safety of the Kingdom That was one Resolve But there was a second Resolution of the House upon the same day Resolved That it is the Opinion of this House That His Majesty be humbly advised and desired forthwith to enter into the present Alliances and Confederations with the Emperor the King of Spain and with the States-General of the United Provinces for the vigorous carrying on the War against the French King and for the good and safety of His Majesty's Kingdoms and particularly That effectual Endeavours be used for continuing the States-General in the present Confederation And that it be agreed by all Parties Confederate to prohibit all Trade between their Subjects and Countries and France and all other Dominions of the French King And that no Commodities of France or of the Dominions of the French King be imported into their Countries from any place whatsoever And also that all endeavours be used to invite all other Princes and States into the said Confederation and that no Truce or Peace be made or agreed to with the French King by His Majesty or any of the Confederates without the general Consent of all the Confederates had first therein Both which Resolves were sent to His Majesty by the Members of Parliament that were of the Privy Council and what a message they receive on the 6th of May following shews plainly his unwillingness to enter into League with the Confederates against France And Sir you know the Reason why Because the Interest and Religion of Lewis the French King was the Interest and Religion of the King your Brother and your self and Conspirators But Sir that which testifies your Brother's Obstinacy is refusing to enter into such a League Offensive and Defensive with the States-General of the Vnited Provinces c. For notwithstanding the Treaty of Peace with the States General had not you and your Conspirators furnished the French King with Men and Arms and Ammunition against the very Tenure and Intent of the said Treaty Therefore the Lords and Commons join in an Address on the 10th of November 1675. in which they earnestly pressed the King your Brother to call home his Subjects from the Service of the French King but instead of that more were sent and many of them by force or fraud call to mind the Address made by the House of Commons on May 20 1675. where great Complaints were made
the false and treacherous Jesuits have of late years applied themselves with mighty diligence to serve the Interest and to promote the Grandeur of the French Monarch In which your own Engagements do sufficiently appear for how have you with those first-born of Pride and Treachery kindled those Flames of War which have not only laid the most flourishing Provinces in Europe waste and rendered the Kingdoms of Europe Fields of Blood and with them do still nourish them to the Ruin and the Destruction of so many millions of men For Sir did not you and your Party by the Interests you had in almost all the Courts of the Princes of Christendom influence some Princes to a Neutrality and others to an open Confederacy with France so that now the French Monarchy is in truth become very troublesome to all his Neighbours But Sir give me leave to make this Observation to you that the French King being arrived at this formidable Greatness which he hath for several Years last past stood in you that plotted and contrived the ruin of these three Nations drew him into your Councels and obtained his promise of Assistance to the rooting out of Heresy and nourishing a misunderstanding between the King your Brother and his People and this you and your Conspirators conceived to be a main advance towards the attaining your wicked Ends and Purposes for otherwise you would not have so much laboured the compassing that point by your self and your Servant Coleman who was taken in the midst of his pious Labour and rewarded with the Triple-tree to your great satisfaction for if he had lived he might have told all and some body else might have tasted Death in his place But Sir I must come closer to the Point in hand that is your interesting the French King in your Councils and in your Letter to the said Father Confessor to the French King you say I was much satisfied to see his most Christian Majesty altogether of my Opinion so I made him answer by the same means he used to write to me that is by Coleman who addrest himself to Father Ferier and intirely agreed to his most Christian Majesty as well to what respect he had to the Vnion of our Interests as the unusefulness of my Lord Arlington and the Parliament in order to the Service of the King my Brother and his most Christian Majesty and that it was necessary to make use of our joynt and utmost use of our Credits to prevent the success of those evil Designs resolved on by the Lord Arlington and the Parliament against his most Christian Majesty and my self which on my side I promise really to perform of which since that time I have given reasonable good proof I pray Sir what was your Opinion It was the French King's Opinion which was that your Interests were so clearly linkt together that those that opposed the one should be looked upon as Enemies to the other Did you agree with the French King in any thing else Yes That the Lord Arlington and the Parliament were not in your Interest nor in the Interest of the French King And I agree with you Sir in omnibus but what of this Then the Designs of Arlington and of the Parliament must be prevented What I pray were those They were to engage the King if possible to enter into a League offensive and defensive with the States General of the Vnited Provinces and to joyn with the Confederate Princes and to enter into an actual War with France and to advance the Prince of Orange by marrying your eldest Daughter to him This last was done full sore against yours and your Brother's Will but the other were not done so zealoufly you had engaged your Brother in the French Interest That these were the Lord Arlington's designs and the designs of that Part of the Parliament that gave themselves Leisure to design is apparent from what you say in the same Letter thus Moreover I made some Proposals which I thought necessary to bring to pass what we were obliged to undertake assuring him that nothing could be so firmly established our Interest with the King my Brother as that very same Offer of the help of his Purse by which means I had much Reason to hope to perswade him to the Dissolving of the Parliament and to make void the Designs of my Lord Arlington who works incessantly to advance the Interest of the Prince of Orange and the Hollanders and to lessen that of the King your Master And did my Lord Arlington do so It seems he did and I think it was the only good thing that ever he did for which he was to be destroyed and the Parliament dissolved and every thing that stood in the way of France and your self nay a Parliament that is not in your Interest must not stand We have seen into my Lord Arlington's Designs I pray what were yours and the French King's for which you had made some Proposals and compare them together Yours and the French King's Designs were to ruin the Protestant Religion as Coleman in his Letter to the Pope's Internuncio at Bruxels Aug. 21. 74. But Arlington's was to lessen and if possible he was to destroy the Interest of the French King You had a mighty Work upon your hands no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms and the utter Subduing of a pestilent Heresie which had for some time domineered over this Northern part of the World and you had never so great hopes of it since your Queen Mary 's Days The Lord Arlington he had a mighty Work in hand too and that was to advance the Interest of the Prince of Orange and the Dutch who were much in danger of being subdued by the French King You for your Designs next to God Almighty you relyed upon the mighty Mind of his Most Christian Majesty for his Aid and Assistance But Arlington did rely upon the mighty Mind of an English Parliament for their Aid and Assistance Your Design was to get the Parliament dissolved and never to have another His design was to have this dissolved and speedily to call another Yours was for advancing the French Interest and his tho he was a Papist was for advancing the Interest of the Confederates and to lessen the Interest of the French King You were for Three hundred thousand Pounds advanced by the French King to give the Protestant Religion such a Blow as it could not subsist but he for nothing was to give the French King and his Interest such a Blow as that should not subsist The French King by La Chaise gives you and your Secretary thanks for your Zeal and Service in order to the promoting the Popish Religion and I do not question but the Prince of Orange and the Dutch were as thankful by their Ministers at our Court to the Lord Arlington and his Party for promoting their Cause and Interest with the Parliament Your design was to establish a good Understanding
one all their days Of these Sir you made most excellent Papists in process of time or at least Favourers of the Popish Party Your Conspirators had an Eye upon the City of London and therefore that none might stand in your way of debauching that City all the sober old Officers of the Army was not to come within 20 miles of it This was done by the Advice of your old Friends the Priests who visited all your soured Cavaliers and your Conspiring Villains and never left urging to them the danger the Government was in till they were disarm'd and banish'd London 'T is true the great Argument was the Safety of the Government but the true one was your making your progress in perverting the People to the Popish Religion for all Virtue being discourag'd both in Church and State they had the fairer opportunity of proselyting the prophaner part of Mankind to the Religion of the Church of Rome I must confess that some few that were sober men had the fortune to be prefer'd both in Church and State but what Joy you and your Conspirators conceiv'd when they were remov'd either by Death or Age is not forgotten Those Statesmen that oppos'd Popery or Arbitrary Power were soon remov'd and if they had the hap to dye in their Offices they could do no more against Popery and Arbitrary Power than tell their Friends what Care you took to bring it in But this I say if any were but zealous he was commonly laid aside as useless and dangerous to the Government for as long as they lived or continued in Power you and your Party could not go on so smoothly in your Practices against our Religion Laws and Liberties 2. It is well remember'd how your Conspirators carried a Villanous Design of putting on Sham Plots upon Men in order to take away their Lives and Estates to the utter ruine of their Families and Posterity for ever These were so many that to enter into the Particulars of them would be enough to fill a Volume but I will therefore reckon these that follow as the Chief of them 1. If you please I pray you Sir to call to mind the rising of the Fifth-Monarchy-men on the 6th of Jan. 1660 1. Who drew in those men to that foolish and wicked Attempt but your old Acquaintance Dr. Goff and Strange the Jesuite and Gray and another Jesuite that went by the name of St. George and Ashby that was afterwards Rector at St. Omer's who counterfeited themselves Fifth Monarchy-men For an Uncle of mine one Mr. Thomas Buttivant was engag'd with them and had been in the Rising if the Three hundred Horse had come they promised should joyn Fifteen hundred Foot and this Buttivant was to have been Commander in chief of the Horse He was so intimately acquainted with this Gray that they called Brothers this Gray I having seen so often with that Uncle of mine that when I came to be acquainted with the Jesuits notwithstanding it was so many years after I found this Gray to be a Jesuite who had pretended to Fifth Monarchy Principles and renewing my acquaintance with him he told me That he and Strange and others of the Society with this Goff used to preach to them in Swan-Alley in Coleman-street and at Mr. Buttivant's House in Cobb's Yard in Petticoat-lane and that they had drawn in several of those poor Dogs as they termed them to be hang'd but they themselves were protected by you at St. James's and in Whitehall and 't is true that Gray had the Fifth-Monarchy Notions to a Hairs-breadth In this Affair the Society were at some Hundreds of pounds charge for they were liberal of their Mony and possessed these poor Creatures of your Brother's and your being Papists and that your design was to destroy the Interest of Christ in the three Nations and to set up Popery and Slavery and so drew them into that Folly of Rising and all with this intent that they might obtain some severe Laws against the Protestant Dissenters in order to weaken the Protestant Interest within these three Nations and boasted very much of your being privy to the whole Design And by your Carriage in other Affairs you will be by all sober Protestants judged guilty of This. Against such strange Practices the poor Dissenters did at that time in their Addresses and Declarations to the Government positively without any Equivocation or Mental Reservation declare and protest their abhorrence and disavowed all such Principles as might tend to such irregular and disorderly Practises as tending highly to the dishonour of GOD and the Protestant Religion yet you and your Jesuites and Priests made great use of this to beget a disesteem of them in the future Parliament 2. Another Conspiracy was formed and contrived by you and your Banditti against Protestants and this was in November 1661. A doubty Knight of your Friendship forged several Letters from several Ministers of the Gospel about Worcestershire and several other Counties and in conjunction with this Villain several Jesuites acted amongst whom was Father Fitz Patrick and Father Peter Talbot afterwards the pretended Archbishop of Dublin and old Courtney all of these were employ'd by your self as I have seen in several Letters wherein they complained of your delaying their being satisfied for that Service But the Intrigue did not hold Water tho' several honest men suffer'd Imprisonment for the same But the Forgers and Framers of this Hellish Conspiracy in this pretended Plot had an aim at the rewarding Mr. Baxter for the great Service he did in your Brother's Restauration and yours 3. Another of the same nature was invented by your Conspirators in Oxford wherein the Names of several men of note and value to the number of above a Hundred whose Lives were design'd to have been made Sacrifices to Hell and Rome but neither did that Cheat take any other effect than to continue the then Parliament exasperated against poor Protestant Dissenters as men of restless Spirits that were always disturbing the Government So that by these Artifices you did not only find a way to throw them out of their Livings but endanger'd their Lives also 4. Your Priests and Jesuites not making their Sham-Plots to hold upon the Dissenters your Conspirators try what they could do with two Pillars of the Church of England one Hill and Riggs both highly carress'd by three special Guardians of the Church of England's Interest that is old Cosens old Hinchman and Sheldon three of the Devil's Brokers These two Villains Hill and Riggs both Parsons they pretend to discover a Fanatick Plot as they call'd it against the King's Yours and old Monk's and Turncoat Brown's Lives and this Plot was sworn against several Honest Men for which some lost their Lives the one got a preferment to a Living and the other was preferred to eat Salt Beef and Pork and Pease at Sea and sometimes he acted as a Chaplain in a Ship with great Promises of being preferred but God
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
Hell shall prevail he hath secured us our Liberties Laws and Religion he hath brought himself and Government to that Perfection notwithstanding the vexatious War which lies hard upon us that he is capable of doing good to all Mankind and he hath totally disabled himself from doing hurt to any he wants not the French King's Purse nor his Friendship he wants not his Interest for his Interest is his Peoples and his Peoples his by which they are so united that the attempts of your Scoundrel Crew for your Restoration will be in vain the Hearts of the Nation are set against you and for your perfidious dealing both in Church and State the People of England will trust you no more Sir We have Sworn Allegiance to this King we chose in your stead and we are bound to stand by him our choise of him was from a Principle of Love to God and the Protestant Religion which he hath asserted You kept not your Faith with us and therefore our Allegiance ceased to you your Actions have been very plain and open and so pernitious that it was a Wonder of Wonders thaâ— we and our Religion have been delivered from Blood and Oppression And Sir I would let you know that we are not afraid of you and your Adherents for I believe the Protestant Religion and Protestant King will stand notwithstanding alâ— your Attempts and if you had brought your French Dragooning Apostles oâ—er to us yet we would and should have maintained our Ground and destroyed â—â—em and you We value not your little Two-penny Stuff that you have left â—â—hind you to plead your Cause your impertinent ignorant Non-juring Clergy-men can never preach us out of love to that Loyalty that we owe to K. William â—e have scarce a Williamite Cobler but can baffle them all These things consiâ—ered How can you ever expect any thing less than that Judgment the Psalmist â—rays for to be inflicted upon his Enemies Hath not God already set a wicked Tyrant over you Have you not been Judged by the Lords and Commons of England and Condemned Was not your Reign short And hath not another taken your Office In time Sir the Judgment may be compleated upon you There is of your Issue that have had no Hand in our Miseries and for this Cause our Eyes are set upon them for good and we shall pray for their long Life But as for you that God would cloth you with Shame and Confusion of Face and that he would upon the Head of our Protestant King let the Crown long florish And I do not question but God will hear the Prayers of his Faithful Subjects and will by his means bring the Nation to such a Settlement that our Allegiance will be firm to him and his Successors notwithstanding all those villainous Attempts that you and that Monster of Mankind your Brother of France by his and your Traiterous Accomplices have made to deprive us of so great a Blessing Which brings me to a Sixth Consideration 6. The last Reason I shall give you why it will be impossible for you to return to the Administration of the English Government and that all Attempts of that nature will be in vain because of your late barbarous and villainous Attempt you by your Conspirators have made upon the Person of our King and your purpose of backing that intended Murder by an unnatural Invasion you had some that pittied you but now our Hearts are shut up against you and are hardned against all your Cursed Adherents For now your Plot is discovered and it is a Plot and a Villainous One nothing can be plainer no Man of Common Understanding but must see your Conspiracy to bring in Popery and Slavery and to destroy the Protestant Religion and the Liberties of England We know Sir the Doctrine of your Popish and Non-juring Priests too well and your wicked Practices and we are now assured that you will not stick at any thing that may bring your wicked Designs about You must excuse me if I am plain with you I would not asperse you with hard Words if they were not very true I should not have been so Hot if you had not been concerned in the late wicked Design of murthering our King but if you had succeeded it would have been no more than you did to your Loving and Kind Brother but all this as well as the other is owing to you and your Popish Traiterous Crew who have debauched Mens Understandings overturned all Morals and destroyed all Divinity What shall I say of you and your villainour Party What is your Charity such as to destroy Kings And where was the Humility of insulting over the Nation The Mystery of Iniquity is revealed and you are disappointed The Nation sees that you are no Changeling as to yâ—â—r Vices and you will find that English-men are no Changelings Therefore it wâ—ll be in vain to make any more attempts to be Restored again for the future To conclude this Memorial Sir give me leave to tell you that I have thus fâ—â— laid open the Conspiracy against our Religion and Government and indeed it waâ— more than time it should be discovered for I think here hath been nothing asserteâ— but what hath been and can be made out we see how the French have been courted by you and your Party with what Ease have they been assisted and witâ— what Difficulty the Dutch both in your Brothers and your Reign We see your Brother and you abandon the Prince of Orange now our King in compliance with his and the Nations Enemies How can any Man think upon the French Depredations and Cruelties exercised at Sea upon the Subjects of England without Regret Call to mind your notorious Treacheries in that Affair Remember the constant Irregularities and Injustice from term to term of those who should have administred Justice between King and People Remember the search you made throughout the whole Kingdom to find Men of Arbitrary Principles that would bow the Knee to Baal in order to their being promoted to all publick Commissions and Employments and disgracing and displacing all those that durst in so universal a Depravation be honest and faithful in their Trust and Offices We saw to our great Grief the Defection of considerable Persons both Male and Female to the Popish Religion as if they enter'd by Couples Clean and Unclean into the Ark of that Cursed Synagogue not more in order to their Salvation than for their Temporal Advantage and Safety Sir the State of Ireland managed by your Brother and you would require a Volume to represent it and in your Time we could not but observe that all your Affairs and Councils in the Nation tended to a Popish Revolution And by the Foresight and Civility of the Man of Sin there was an English Cardinal prepared like Cardinal Pool to give us Absolution Benediction and to receive us to the Obedience of the See of Rome It is true your Conspiracy had taken effect had you not met with many Disappointments but the last Disappointment was the overturn of all your Designs at once which was occasioned by the Arrival of the Prince of Orange Guilt made you to flee The Sense the Nation had of your wicked Intentions against our Laws and Liberties caused the People of England to make choice of our Deliverer to reign over us He is anointed our King and as God hath set a Crown of pure Gold upon his Head so we question not but the same God will satisfy him with long Life and Happiness and that he will give him the Spirit of Wisdom Knowledge Zeal and Faithfulness to do what in him lies to the bringing on the New Heavens and the New Earth wherein Righteousness and Peace shall dwell by repairing the Breaches and decayed Places that you have made and caused amongst us And from hence Sir remember that though Hand join in Hand yet the Wicked shall not go unpunished they are Gods own Words who hath also declared with the greatest Solemnity that there shall be no Peace to the Wicked Isa 57.21 You have leisure to consider of these things and so Farewell FINIS
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