Selected quad for the lemma: war_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
war_n	death_n	king_n	treason_n	2,761	5	9.5559	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70956	The speech of the late Lord Russel, to the sheriffs together with the paper deliver'd by him to them, at the place of execution, on July 21. 1683.	Russell, William, Lord, 1639-1683.	1683 (1683)	Wing R2356A; ESTC R235401	6,823	4

Religion Grace to live so that they may not cast a Reproach on that which they endeavour to advance which God knows has often given me many sad Thoughts And I hope such of my ●riends as may think they are touch'd by this will not take what I say in ill part but endeavour to amend their ways and live suitable to the Rules of the true Reformed Religion which is the only thing can administer true Comfort at the latter End and revive a Man when he comes to Dye As for my present Condition I bless God I have no Repining in my Heart at it I know for my Sins I have deserved much worse at the Hands of God So that I cheerfully submit to so small a Punishment as the being taken off a few Years sooner and the being made a Spectacle to the World I do freely forgive all the World particularly those concerned in taking away my Life and I desire and conjure my Friends to think of no Revenge but to submit to the holy Will of God into whose Hands I resign my self entirely But to look back a little I cannot but give some touch about the Bill of Exclusion and shew the Reasons of my appearing in that Business which in short is this That I thought the Nation was in such danger of Popery and that the Expectation of a Popish Successor as I have said in Parliament put the King's Life likewise in such danger that I saw no way so effectual to secure both as such a Bill As to the Limitations which were proposed if they were sincerely offered and had pass'd into a Law the Duke then would have been excluded from the Power of a King and the Government quite altered and little more than the Name of a King left So I could not see either Sin or Fault in the one when all People were willing to admit of 'tother but thought it better to have a King with his Prerogative and the Nation easy and safe under him than a King without it which must have bred perpetual Jealousies and a continual Struggle All this I say only to justify my self and not to inflame others Though I cannot but think my Earnestness in that matter has had no small Influence in my present Sufferings But I have now done with this World and am going to a Kingdom which cannot be moved And as to the conspiring to seize the Guards which is the Crime for which I am condemned and which was made a constructive Treason for taking away the King's Life to bring it within the Statute of Edw. the 3d. I shall give this true and clear Account I never was at Mr. Shepheard's with that Company but once and there was no undertaking then of securing or seizing the Guards nor none appointed to view or examine them Some Discourse there was of the Feasibleness of it and several times by accident in general Discourse elsewhere I have heard it mention'd as a thing might easily be done but never consented to as fit to be done And I remember particularly at my Lord Shaftsbury's there being some general Discourse of this kind I immediately flew out and exclaim'd against it and ask'd If the thing succeeded what must be done next but massacring the Guards and killing them in cold Blood Which I look'd upon as so detestable a thing and so like a Popish Practice that I could not but abhor it And at the same time the Duke of Monmouth took me by the Hand and told me very kindly My Lord I see you and I are of a Temper Did you ever hear so horrid a thing And I must needs do him that Justice to declare that I never observed in him but an Abhorrence to all base things As to my going to Mr. Shepheard's I went with an Intention to taste Sherry for he had promised me to reserve for me the next very good Piece he met with when I went out of Town and if he recollects he may remember I ask'd him about it and he went and fetch'd a Bottle but when I tasted it I said 't was hot in the Mouth and desired that whenever he met with a choice Piece he would keep it for me which he promised I enlarge the more upon this because Sir Geo. Jefferies insinuated to the Jury as if I had made a Story about going thither but I never said that was the only Reason And I will now truly and plainly add the rest I was the day before this Meeting come to Town for two or three days as I had done once or twice before having a very near and dear Relation lying in a very languishing and desperate Condition And the Duke of Monmouth came to me and told me He was extreamly glad I was come to Town for my Lord Shaftsbury and some hot Men would undo us all How so my Lord I said Why answered he they 'll certainly do some disorderly thing or other if great Care be not taken and therefore for God's sake use your Endeavours with your Friends to prevent any thing of this kind He told me there would be Company at Mr. Shepheard's that Night and desired me to be at home in the Evening and he would call me which he did And when I came into the Room I saw Mr. Rumsey by the Chimny though he swears he came in after and there were things said by some with much more Heat than Judgment which I did sufficiently disapprove and yet for these things I stand condemned But I thank God my part was sincere and well meant It is I know inferred from hence and was pressed to me that I was acquainted with these Heats and ill Designs and did not discover them But this is but Misprision of Treason at most So I dye innocent of the Crime I stand condemn'd for and I hope nobody will imagine that so mean a Thought could enter into me as to go about to save my self by accusing others The part that some have acted lately of that kind has not been such as to invite me to love Life at such a rate As for the Sentence of Death passed upon me I cannot but think it a very hard one For nothing was sworn against me whether true or false I will not now examine but some Discourses about making some Stirs And this is not levying War against the King which is Treason by the Statute of Edward the Third and not the consulting and discoursing about it which was all that was witnessed against me But by a strange Fetch the Design of seizing the Guards was construed a Design of killing the King and so I was in that cast And now I have truly and sincerely told what my part was in that which cannot be more than a bare Misprision and yet I am condemned as guilty of a Design of killing the King I pray God lay not this to the charge neither of the King's Counsel nor Judges nor Sheriffs nor Jury And for the Witnesses I pity them and