now upon this Charge laid by him upon me and others of more Value in the World by much than my poor self to profess himself again to be a Protestant I also found That upon comparing the several Evidences which he had given against others he had apparently contradicted himself and affirmed several things which could not subsist to be all true because they were contradictory one to the other And as to Mr. Bedloe I found by the Narrative of Mr. Reading's Tryal That he swore himself at that Tryal to be slatly Perjured when he gave Evidence against Mr. Whitebread and Mr. Fenwyck at Mr. Ireland's Tryal for being then sworn to speak the Truth the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth against the said Mr. Whitebread and Fenwyck And having then affirmed upon his said Oath That he was a Stranger to them and knew nothing to give in Evidence against them he did at the said Tryal of Mr. Reading swear that it was impossible that he should be such a Stranger to Mr. Whitebread and Mr. Fenwyck as he affirmed himself to be at their Tryals when he was sworn to give Evidence against them I was also informed and there was a Witness to prove the same That when at one of the former Tryals Witnesses were tendred to prove that Mr. Bedloe was a very Ill Man and that for that Reason no Credit was to be given to him He answered in the Court publickly That they might save their labour to prove how Ill he had been for he readily owned the worst things that could be said of him but that having the King's Pardon he was safe And as to both Mr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe I was informed from good hands 1. That they had owned themselves with what Truth I will not undertake to say Guilty of the same Treason that they now charged upon me and others and this was evident from what they swore at every Tryal 2. That they had received their Pardons more than once each of them 3. That they had received great Rewards for the Evidences by them given against others in the same case 4. That they expected greater and farther Rewards for the Evidence to be given against me and others All which I conceived would render their Evidence unfit to be credited by any Jury if not wholly invalid in Law Having gained these Lights after my long Imprisonment I did with very great longing expect my Tryal and with great joy went to it when the day came which was Saturday in Whitsun-Week being the 14th of June now past though in my passage from the Gaol to the Court I found my self condemned by the Multitude before my Tryal which I thank my God put me in remembrance of what my blessed Jesus suffered from the like Vote of the People I shall forbear to repeat the Particulars of my Tryal because I will give no occasion to think That I have any intention to Arraign the Justice of my King or of the Government or of my Judges or Jury onely I shall crave leave to observe these following Particulars viz. I. That the Two first Witnesses which were Sworn for the King Deposed nothing against me Those were Mr. Dugdale and Mr. Prance II. That Mr. Oates who was the Third Witness Sworn for the King and the first whose Evidence charged me Deposed That he had two several Communications with me since the Month of April 1678. namely in July and August 1678. whereas at the Tryâ—â— of Mr. Coleman he had expresly Sworn That after the Month of April 1678 he had never seen me to his knowledge or remembrance III. That Mr. Bedloe Deposed That as he and Mr. Coleman were together walking in my Chamber in the Temple he saw me Entring several Treasonable Letters into a Looâ— in my Study and that the said Book was a great Book lying upon the Desk in my Study Whereas every person who knows my said Chamber and the scituation of my Study cannot but know that it is impossible to look out of my Chamber into my Study so as to see any one Writing there and that I never had at any time any Desk in my Study What passed farther at my Tryal I forbear to mention for the Reason before given but refer to such Narrative of my Tryal as I hear is published in Print which if it be truly made I thank the Reporter for his Justice if untruly I then beg of God to pardon the Reporter's Injustice In the mean time I do here in the Presence of the Great God who is the God of Truth and the Searcher of all Hearts Declare and Protest 1. That as to Mr. Bedloe I do not know remember or believe that I ever saw him or heard him speak before that time that he appeared in the said Court to give Evidence against me at my said Tryal 2. That I did never see or speak with Mr. Oates at any time since the Month of November 1677. so that I can with great Truth affirm and do affirm in the Presence of the All-knowing God That whatever was given in Evidence against me by the said Bedloe was utterly false and untrue As likewise whatever was given against me in Evidence by the said Oates as spoken by himself or by me in the Months of April July and August 1678. oâ— at any other times after the Month of November 1677. As also what was sworn in Evidence against me by the said Oates at his first coming to me in the Month of November 1677. which related to my prejudice and which I could have proved to be false by a very good Witness in case I could have foreseen that Mr. Oates would have had the confidence to have given any thing in Evidence against me as pretended to have been spoken by me at that time But Mr. Oates at the Tryal of Mr. Coleman gave a clear evidence of his skill in this kind of Fencing and of his great care and cunning to prevent that no Person whose Life he designs to take away by his Evidence shall ever be able to know what he intends to swear or consequently to produce any Witness to discover or disprove his Perjuries For being then upon his Oath and being interrogated what he had informed against Mr Coleman before His Majesty and the Council at Mr. Coleman's Examination there before he was Committed to Newgate Mr. Oates did not blush to swear That he did only at that time inform what he judged sufficient whereupon to ground Mr. Coleman's Commitment and concealed what he had farther to say lest he should by saying it enable Mr. Coleman to produce Witnesses as to the circumstances of time and place to disprove what Mr. Oates should say against him or to the like effect Add to all this that which Mr. Oates answered at my Tryal when interrogated by me and to my best remembrance Bedloe gave the like answer to the same question what Gratification or Reward he had received for his pretended Discovery of
Discovery required must be a Discovery of Estates otherwise the perusal of Papers and Writings had been to no purpose In Obedience to the said last mentioned Command I applied with all Diligence to compleat my Discovery my Papers and Writings were examined by my Friends and my Discovery was perfected and delivered in unto the Council at the precise day for that purpose limited and it amounted to the value as I computed the same of between Twenty and thirty thousand Pounds Sterling and was annexed to a Petition wherein I declared my Innocency and Ignorance of any Treason or Plot and my sincere dealing as to my said Discovery and oftered to submit my self to be examined upon Interrogatories upon Oath or to undergo any Tryal of any Test for the giving satisfaction that the Discovery then by me made was complete and that I knew of no other Lands belonging in any wayes to the Jesuits other than what I had then and there Discovered and likewise for the purging of my self touching any other matter upon which it should be thought fit to Examine me And in my said Discovery I expressed every thing with such certainty as to the Names of the Estates and the Places where they lay and the Values so far as I was able to give the same and the Persons so far as I knew concerned therein that it was easie to seize the same immediately for the use of His Majesty So that I thereby did all that was in my power in order to my giving a perfect Obedience to the said Commands of His Majesty and to what was thereby required from me And my Friends as well as my self had no Doubt but that as Almighty God requires no more from us for the obtaining his pardon of our Sins and the salvation of our Souls than what His Divine Majesty knows to be possible for us to do on our parts so the King's Majesty and His Council would require no more from me for the saving of my poor Life and the obtaining of my Pardon than what was possible for me on my part to do I also looked upon the Publick Honour and Faith to be now firmly engaged for the security of my Life and the granting of a Pardon to me I having fully performed my part of that which was the Condition And it being clear that when once my Discovery was delivered in and read in Council it ceased to be a Secret and that nothing therein contained could afterwards remain as a thing undiscovered It was likewise evident that by this Act I had done as I believed more than any other single person now living who is meerly a Lay-man could do for the Service of His Majesty And that if there were any such Plot as is affirmed by Oates and Bedloe and that any person now charged therewith had knowledge thereof and should be required as I had been to discover what he knows for the saving of his Life he would hardly be induced to make such Discovery in case my Life should be taken away after my so free Discovery of all that was within my knowledge to be discovered was in obedience to so great a Command delilivered out of my hands However I rested satisfied That in case my Life should be taken away for the Crime for which I stand Condemned and after my Obedience given to His Majesties Commands in making the said Discovery I should dye with this great comfort That I should have a double Martyrdom First as dying perfectly Innocent of the Crime for which I should lose my Life And secondly as choosing rather to dye than to sin against my God and my Neighbor by charging others falsly and becoming guilty of their Blood and of the Ruine of their Families by accusing them of a Crime of which my own Conscience must bear me witness that I did never know them or any of them Guilty but on the contrary believe them to be perfectly Innocent Whereas if I had on the other side denied my self to have known any thing of those Estates which I was required to discover I must have sinned against the God of Truth by affirming a Lye And if Confessing That I had knowledge of such Estates I should rather have chosen to dye than to have made a Discovery of such my knowledge for the saving of my Life I should have appeared in some sort at least guilty of my own Blood through my obstinacy Upon the delivering of this Discovery and the reading of it in the Council the Lord Viscount Hallifax produced a Letter written to him as his Lordship affirmed from the Earl of Roscommon from Bruxels in which Letter the said Earl taking notice that he had heard of my being Reprieved affirmed himself to be much satisfied That my Life should be saved and gave this Reason That my Life might be useful to the Publick or to the like effect These words were taken to my great Disadvantage and to import as if the Earl of Roscommon did know That I was able to make a Discovery of the Plot. And though the words might well bear a more kind sense and did not without forcing so much as incline to that unkind Interpretation yet upon the reading of that Letter my Discovery was rejected after having been Publickly read and ordered to be sent unto me by a Clark of the Council and notice to be given to me That by an Order of Council I was Reprieved onely until the 14th day of July and that if before that day I did not make a Discovery of the Plot I was to expect no farther mercy My Friends were more astonished at this Order than my self was and being now in this condition I presumed yet once more to address a Petition in which I prayed That my Life might be saved though to be spent in Banishment and to the end that I might do all that in me lay to express and declare my Innocency I did to that Petition annex this following Declaration and Protestation viz. I Do Solemnly and Sincerely in the Presence of Almighty God Profess Testifie and Declare as followeth That is to say I. That I do believe and own my my Most Gracious Sovereign Lord the King's Majesty King CHARLES II. to be my True and Lawful Sovereign 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 II. 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 and 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 Majesties Subjects whatsoever to bear Arms against His Majesty or to take away His Life or to
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
this by him pretended Plot and for giving Evidence against such as had been Tryed thereupon and particularly whether he had not received the Sum of 500 l. and did not expect to receive a farther Gratification for his farther Services therein He boldly answered That he was so far from having received any such Sum or any Reward for his said Services that he was out of Purse 750 l. of his own Monies in the prosecution of the same Which how great an Untruth that is I refer to His Majesty and those who manage His Majesties Monies and Treasury and to all who knew the most extream Poverty of these two Persons Oates and Bedloe before they relieved their Wants and found the way to supply their Necessities by charging those Persons with Treason who have been Executed or remain still Prisoners upon their Accusations After Judgment was given against me upon the Verdict found upon the Evidence of these two Men there were two Persons came to me to the Gaol as sent by the Earl of Shaftesbury or his Order to propose something to me in Charity for the saving of my Life The first thing by them proposed to be done by me for that end was a Discovery to be made by me of the Plot and Treason for which I stood Condemned But when I had satisfied them so far as to my Solemn Protestations made in the Presence of God were of force to satisfie them touching my Innocency and my total Ignorance of any Plot or Treason ever at any time designâ—d against His Majesty other than the late Unparallel'd Treason and Rebellion which was before His Majesties Happy Restauration They were pleased to propose farther That it was well known that I had been made use of as a Councel for the Jesuits and in that Capacity could not but know what Estates they had in England or at least a very great part of those Estates and that if I would freely make a Discovery of such Estates of that nature as should be of a considerable value I should thereby obtain my Pardon the granting of which upon such Discovery might be well justified to the Parliament at their next Meeting Having well weighed this latter Proposal and considered That it would be a Sin against Truth to deny that I had knowledge of such Estates and that all the Scandal which could be taken by my Discovery of them could not be so great as my Denial would be offensive to God And having no Doubt but that my frank and sincere discovering and owning what was within my knowledge though to the Displeasure of those who were to be concerned therein would make it evident to all Honest and Judicious persons That in case I knew any of the Plot or of any Treason intended against His Majesty the concealment of which by me would be a Sin unto Damnation I would without Difficulty discover the same for the saving of my Soul as well as of my Life since I was ready to make a Discovery of such Estates the concealment of which could be no Sin against God or the King I freely engaged my self to Discover all that I knew touching such Estates for the Service of His Majesty and the Persons by whom the same was so proposed went from me with a resolution to report my ready compliance therein unto his said Lordship After this I did by some Friends prevail to have a Report made to His Majesty of what had passed between those two Persons and me with which His Majesty seemed as I was informed to be well satisfied and directed That I should send unto and intrust His Majesty with so much as I could remember without having resort to Writings of those Estates which I with all readiness did And I took that Command from His Majesty to be an evident implied promise of a Pardon for the securing of my Life This Engagement of mine to make this Discovery occasioned a Reprieve to be granted me for some dayes but after the said Reprieve granted my Lord of Shaftesbury was pleased to intimate unto me by one of the aforesaid Persons by whom it was first proposed unto me to make such Discovery That no Pardon should be granted to me without a full Discovery made by me of the Plot. And his Lordship was also pleased to come to Captain Richardson's house and sending for me thither to tell me to this effect viz. That as my Parts and Reputation in the World had made me fit for Employment so I might rest secure That in case I would make a full Discovery of the Plot I should be put into as good a Post both as to Honour as Estate as my own Heart could wish but if I failed to do that no Discovery of Estates could or should procure my Pardon I laboured what I could by Solemn Protestations to satisfie his Lordship of my Innocency and my total Ignorance of any Plot or Treason whatsoever and this I did so fully as I conceived That in case Almighty God should have so far withdrawn his Grace from me as to leave me to a Reprobate Sense and to permit against truth to have pretended a knowledge of a Plot to the prejudice of any person meerly for the saving of my own poor Life and the obtaining those advantages with which I was tempted I ought not in any measure to have been believed But blessed be my God who hath by his Grace so far strengthned as to enable me rather to choose and lose my Life in Innocency and save my Soul than by Falsities to lose my Soul and become Guilty of the Blood of others against whom I could not with Truth testifie any thing of any Crime After his said Lordship had given me the Temptation before mentioned I had several Persons applied to me with Discourses tending wholly to make me despair of Pardon unless I would discover a Plot and to persuade me that it was not Honourable nor Honest for me to discover any Estates which His Majesty might seize on in case I did not know That the Owners of the said Estates were Traytors But I took all these Discourses to signifie no more than a Repentance for having proposed to me to make a Discovery of Estates And therefore having sent such Discovery unto His Majesty as I was able to make upon my Memory I laboured by my Friends and did obtain a farther Reprieve together with an Order requiring to send into the Council by a day limited such Discovery as I could make and a Licence to have all my Writings and Papers in my Chamber perused by such as I nominated and according to such Direction as I should give for the better enabling me to perfect such Discovery This was conceived by me and my Friends to be intended by His Majesty as an Assurance of a Pardon it being to engage the whole Council as His Majesty was pleased to engage Himself before when He Commanded me to trust Him and it seemed evident that this