TITUS OATES D. D. Cap t. WILLIAM BEDLOE M r Stephen Dugdale M r Miles Prance A COMPENDIOUS HISTORY OF THE MOST Remarkable Passages OF THE LAST FOURTEEN YEARS With an Account of the PLOT As it was carried on both before and after the FIRE OF LONDON to this present Time Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum LONDON Printed by A. Godbid and J. Playford and are sold by S. Neale at the Three Pidgeons in Bedford-Street over against the New-Exchange 1680. TO THE READER THese ensuing Sheets are chiefly the Relation of the wonderful passages of the 14 last Years Then the 2 last of which there are few that deserve to be more Celebrated in Historie next to those that were so renowned for the Active part of the KINGS Restoration though it may be questioned to which Historie will give the precedence whether to those of His Restoration or those of His preservation In reference to which several of the occurrences have almost equall'd Miracles and therefore merit to be recorded and to be read with consideration as the evincing Proofs of an over-ruling Providence The Relation begins at the great Conflagration of the CITY as being the first remarkable Effect of the Treason then hatching For to repeat the stories of Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the first would have bin only to have tir'd the Reader with what is already sufficiently made known both in English and Latin to all the Protestants in the World and only serves to swell a Volume to the unprofitable and needless expence of the Buyer If any thing has bin left out it has bin for fear of invading the properties of other Men whose Narratives though at that time seasonable yet can never hope to be inserted in a story where their Epitomes are only necessary Omissions may be but t is thought by those that have viewed these sheets there are very few or none of Moment Whatever they be the Reader t is hop'd will pardon them considering the multiplicitie of affairs and the present juncture of time ADVERTISEMENT THE Cabal of Several Notorious Priests and Jesuits Discovered as William Ireland Thomas White alias Whitebread Provincial of the Jesuits in England William Harcourt pretended Rector of London John Fenwick Procurator for the Jesuits in England John Gaven alias Gawen and Anthony Turner c. shewing their Endeavours to Subvert the Government and Protestant Religion viz. Their Treasonable Practices in England and France Articles of their Creed Their stirring people to Rebellion frequenting Quakers Meetings in all sorts of Apparel Their Usurpations Murthering of Infants and Incontinency in their own Classis Their unclean acts in their Visits Churches Houses Travels and Nunneries Coyning false money Bloody Revenges and strange Ingratitudes The number of their Orders with the divisions and strifes now in that Society By a Lover of his King and Countrey who formerly was an Eye-witness of these things THE high zeal of those that are of the Roman Catholic profession proceeds either from Policy or Devotion The Politic zeal is counterfeited by the Priests and Rulers of the Church but the zeal of Devotion is imposed by them upon the People The one is Active the other Passive and though the Passive are sometimes seduced by the Active to Action yet doth that Action seem to be a passion in regard they suffer themselves to be overpersuaded to do it Of these two sorts of zeal doth the Roman Catholic Religion consist Which because they are both made use of for the propagation of their pretended Faith or rather for the enlargement of their Tyrannical Dominion and the satisfaction of their insatiate Avarice they are therefore founded upon all the Maxims of Cruelty and Barbarism imaginable Nay their very mercies are inhumanities while their Absolutions and Dispensations do but encourage the perpetration of all manner of Impiety and by that means maintain a perpetual War against all mankind and destroy the necessary Converse of humane Society Thus while they seek to subjugate the World to themselves where they find themselves too weak they fall to contrivance Hence those Effusions of Blood and dismal Massacres licensed by the Pope and encouraged and applauded in their public harangues by the Jesuites and Priests his Godly Emissaries and holy Instruments Hence those Treasons against Queen Elizabeth those Horrid Machinations against King James hence this Villanous Plot that has been so long hatching against the Person of the best of Kings of which we are now to make a short but a Methodical History to remain as a public Record fil'd to Perpetuity of their inhuman Butcheries and foul Contrivances so bloodily and so prophanely intended The Design was laid home and smartly the Conspirators aimed at no small things no less than the Murther of a Great Monarch the subversion of his Laws and Government and the total Perdition of three Kingdoms under his Soveraign care The Chief Actors upon this bloody Stage were the whole Body of the Roman Catholic Clergy even from the Triple Crown to the poor self-denying Dominican and Innocence pretending Benedictine For his Holiness in a General Council for the propagation of the Faith held in December 1677. had adjudg'd the King of Great Britain to be certainly a Heretic and for that very reason had vainly deposed him and as impudently confiscated his Dominions as being St. Peter's Patrimony forfeited to him for the Heresie of the King and People To which purpose he also appointed Cardinal Howard to take possession of England as his Legate in his Name He had moreover in his fond imagination displaced all the Archbishops Bishops c. from their Ecclesiastical Employments and all others from their Secular Dignities and constituted his own Minions in their places What Jesuite or Priest upon so free and authentic Donation as the Pope thus made them of his new Forfeitures but would have ventur'd a Caper at Tyburn for an Archbishopric of York or a Bishopric of Winchester or the fat Glebes belonging to many a reassumed Abbey and Monastery Nor can we doubt but that they had been many Years brooding over such a Magnificent design which they had so nearly hatch'd and matur'd to perfection Especially considering how long ago it was that we felt the dreadful Effects of their Treason before the happy discovery of their impious Conjurations It was in the Year 1666. upon the 2d of September that the greatest fire brake forth hardly to be parallell'd in Story which sacrific'd to the fury and Ambition of the Jesuites and Popish Priests the fairest and largest part of one of the Richest and most populous Cities in the World As to this fatal and destructive Fire which destroy'd 373 Acres within and 63 Acres and three Roods without the Walls of the City it appears to have been under Consultation long before the fact was put in Execution For when they had once after several Debates and Communications of Letters unanimously resolv'd That it was absolutely necessary to ruin the
great Seal of England bearing date at Westminster the said first day of March in the one and thirtieth year of his Majesties reign and here into this most High and Honourable Court produc'd under the said great Seal of his special Grace certain Knowledge and meer Motion hath pardon'd remised released to him the said Earl of Danby all and all manner of Treasons Misprisions of Treasons Confederacies Insurrections Rebellions Felonies Exactions Oppressions publications of words Misprisions Confederacies Concealments Negligences Omissions Offences Crimes Contempts Misdemeanors and Trespasses whatsoever by himself done or with any other person or persons or by any other by the command advice assent consent or procurement of him the said Thomas E. of Danby advis'd committed attempted made perpetrated conceal'd committed or omitted before the 27th day of Feb. then and now last past being also after the time of the said Articles exhibited although the said Premises or any of them did or should touch or concern the person of his said Majesty or any of his publick Negotiations whatsoever and also his Majesties affairs with foreign Embassadors sent to his said Majesty or by not rightly prosecuting his Majesties Instructions and Commands to his Embassadors residing on his Majesties behalf in foreign parts And as to all and singular accessories to the said premises or any of the indicted impeached appealed accused convicted adjudged out lawed condemned or attainted and all and singular Indictments Impeachments Inquisitions Informations Exigents Judgements Attainders Outlaries Convictions pains of Death Corporal punishments Imprisonments Forfeitures Punishments and all other pains and penalties whatsoever for the same or any of them and all and all manner of suits Complaints Impeachments and demands whatsoever Which his said Majesty by reason of the Premises or any of them then had or for the future should have or his heirs or successors any way could have afterwards against him the said Thomas Earl of Danby And also suit of his Majesties peace and whatever to his Majesty his heirs or successors against him the said Earl did or could belong by reason or occasion of the Premises or any of them And his Majesty hath thereby granted his firm Peace to the said Tho. E. of Danby And further his Majesty willed and granted that the said Letters-Patents and the said Pardon and Release therein contain'd as to all the things Pardon'd and Releas'd should be good and effectual in the law though the Treasons Misprisions of Treasons Insurrections Rebellions Felonies Exactions Oppressions Publications of words Misprisions of Confederacies Concealments Negligencies Omissions Offences Crimes Contempts Misdemeanors and Trespasses were not certainly specified And notwithstanding the Statute by the Parliament of King Ed. 3. in the 14th year of his reign made and provided or any other Statute Act or Ordinance to the contrary thereof made and provided And moreover his said now Majesty by his said Letters Patents of his farther Grace did firmly command all and singular Judges Justices Officers and others whatsoever That the said Free and General Pardon of his said Maj. and the general words clauses and sentences abovesaid should be construed and expounded and adjudged in all his Majesties Courts and elsewhere in the most beneficial ample and benign sense And for the better and more firm discharge of the said Earl of and from the crimes and offences aforesaid according to the true intents of his Majesty and in such beneficial manner and form to all intents and purposes whatsoever as if the said Treasons Crimes Offences Concealments Negligencies Omissions Contempts and Trespasses aforesaid and other the said Premises by apt express and special words had been remitted released and pardoned and that the said Letters Patents of Pardon and the Release and Pardon therein contain'd shall be pleaded and allowed in all and every his Majesties Courts and before all his Justices whatsoever without any Writ of allowance any matter cause or thing whatsoever in any wise notwithstanding as by the said Letters Patents themselves more at large appeareth which said Letters Patents follow in these words Carolus Dei Gratia Angliae Scotia Franciae Hibernae Rex Fidei defensor c. Omnibus ad quos prasentes Literae nostrae pervenerint Salutem Sciatis quod nos pro diversis bonis causis considerationibus Nos ad hoc specialiter moventibus de Gratia Nostra speciali mero motu Nostris Pardonavimus Relaxavimus c. And the said Earl doth averr that he the said Thomas Earl of Danby in the said Articles named is the said Thomas Earl of Danby in the said Letters of Pardon here produced likewise named Which Pardon the said Earl doth rely upon and pleaded the same in Bar of the said Impeachment and in discharge of all the Treasons Crimes Misdemeanors and Offences contained or mentioned in the said Articles of Impeachment and every of them And this the said Earl is ready to averr Whereupon he humbly prays the judgement of your Lordships and that his Majesties most Gracious Pardon aforesaid may be allowed And that he the said Earl by vertue hereof may be from all the said Articles of Impeachment and all and every of the Treasons and Crimes therein alledg'd against him acquitted and discharg'd The Earl of Danby having thus put in his Plea to the Articles of Impeachment the Commons referr'd it to the Committee of Secresie to examine the matter of the Plea of the Earl of Danby and to enquire how Presidents stood in relation to the Pardon and in what manner and by what means the same was obtained Who thereupon made their Report That they could find no President that ever any Pardon was granted to any Person impeach'd by the Commons of High Treason and depending the Impeachment So that they presently order'd that a Message should be sent to the Lords to desire their Lordships to demand of the Earl of Danby whether he would rely upon and abide by his Plea or not In the midst of these disputes a business of another Nature intervenes For one Mr. Reading having been accus'd to the Commons for going about to corrupt the Kings Evidence in the behalf of the five Lords in the Tower they presently order'd him to be secur'd and made an Address to his Majesty that he would be pleas'd to issue forth a Commission of Oyer and Terminer for the Tryal of the said Mr. Reading wherein they made the more hast to the end his Tryal might be over before that of the Lords which it was then thought was near at hand Hereupon the Commission was expedited and upon the 24th of this Month the Commissioners met at Westminster-Hall in the Court of Kings Bench. The Commissioners were the twelve Judges of England Sir James Butler Sir Philip Matthews Sir Thomas Orby Sir Thomas Byde Sir William Bowles Sir Thomas Stringer Sir Charles Pitfeld Thomas Robinson Humfrey Wirley Thomas Haryot and Richard Gower Esquires The Prisoner was endicted by the name of Nathaniel Reading for
the Jesuit's Doctrine concerning Kings as believing it conformable to what the best Doctors of the Church have taught But why do I relate the testimony of one particular Prince when the whole Catholic World is the Jesuits Advocate For to them chiefly Germany France Italy Spain and Flanders trust the Education of their Youth and to them in a great proportion they trust their own Souls to be governed in the Sacraments And can you imagin so many great Kings and Princes and so many wise States should do or permit this to be done in their Kingdoms if the Jesuits were men of such damnable principles as they are now taken for in England In the third place dear Country-men I do attest that as I never in my life did machine or contrive either the Deposition or Death of the King so now I do heartily desire of God to grant him a quiet and happy Reign upon Earth and an Everlasting Crown in Heaven For the Judges also and the Jury and all those that were any ways concern'd either in my Tryal Accusation or Condemnation I do humbly ask of God both Temporal and Eternal happiness And as for Mr. Oates and Mr. Dugdale whom I call God to witness by false Oaths have brought me to this untimely end I heartily forgive them because God commands me so to do and I beg of God for his infinite Mercy to grant them true Sorrow and Repentance in this World that they be capable of Eternal happiness in the next And so having discharged my Duty towards my self and my own Innocence towards my Order and its Doctrine to my Neighbour and the World I have nothing else to do now my great God but to cast my self into the Arms of your Mercy as firmly as I judge that I my self am as certainly as I believe you are One Divine Essence and Three Divine Persons and in the Second Person of your Trinity you became Man to redeem me I also believe you are an Eternal Rewarder of Good and Chastiser of Bad. In fine I believe all you have reveal'd for your own infinite Veracity I hope in you above all things for your infinite Fidelity and I love you above all things for your infinite Beauty and Goodness and I am heartily sorry that ever I offended so great a God with my whole heart I am contented to undergo an ignominious Death for the love of you my dear Jesu seeing you have been pleased to undergo an ignominious Death for the love of me Gawen BEing now good People very near my End and summon'd by a violent Death to appear before God's Tribunal there to render an account of all my thoughts words and actions before a just Judge I am bound in Conscience to declare upon Oath my Innocence from the horrid Crime of Treason with which I am falsely accused And I esteem it a Duty I owe to Christian Charity to publish to the World before my death all that I know in this point concerning those Catholics I have conversed with since the first noise of the Plot desiring from the very bottom of my heart that the whole Truth may appear that Innocence may be clear'd to the great Glory of God and the Peace and Welfare of the King and Country As for myself I call God to witness that I was never in my whole life at any Consult or Meeting of the Jesuits where any Oath of Secrecy was taken or the Sacrament as a Bond of Secrecy either by me or any one of them to conceal any Plot against His Sacred Majesty nor was I ever present at any Meeting or Consult of theirs where any Proposal was made or Resolve taken or signed either by me or any of them for taking away the Life of our Dread Soveraign an Impiety of such a nature that had I been present at any such Meeting I should have been bound by the Laws of God and by the Principles of my Religion and by God's Grace would have acted accordingly to have discovered such a devillish Treason to the Civil Magistrate to the end they might have been brought to condign punishment I was so far good People from being in September last at a Consult of the Jesuits at Tixall in Mr. Ewer's Chamber that I vow to God as I hope for Salvation I never was so much as once that year at Tixall my Lord Aston's House 'T is true I was at the Congregation of the Jesuits held on the 24th of April was twelve-month but in that Meeting as I hope to be saved we meddled not with State-Affairs but only treated about the Governours of the Province which is usually done by us without offence to temporal Princes every third Year all the World over I am good People as free from the Treason I am accused of as the Child that is unborn and being innocent I never accused my self in Confession of any thing that I am charged with Which certainly if I had been conscious to my self of any Guilt in this kind I should not so frankly and freely as I did of my own accord presented my self before the King 's Most Honorable Privy Council As for those Catholics which I have conversed with since the noise of the Plot I protest before God in the words of a dying Man that I never heard any one of them neither Priest nor Layman express to me the least knowledge of any Plot that was then on foot amongst the Catholics against the King's Most Excellent Majesty for the advancing the Catholic Religion I dye a Roman Catholic and humbly beg the Prayers of such for my happy passage into a better Life I have been of that Religion above Thirty Years and now give God Almighty infinite thanks for calling me by his holy Grace to the knowledge of this Truth notwithstanding the prejudice of my former Education God of his infinite Goodness bless the King and all the Royal Family and grant His Majesty a prosperous Reign here and a Crown of Glory hereafter God in his mercy forgive all those which have falsly accused me or have had any hand in my Death I forgive them from the bottom of my heart as I hope my self for forgiveness at the Hands of God O GOD who hath created me to a supernatural end to serve thee in this life by grace and injoy thee in the next by glory be pleased to grant by the merits of thy bitter death and passion that after this wretched life shall be ended I may not fail of a full injoyment of thee my last end and soveraign good I humbly beg pardon for all the sins which I have committed against thy Divine Majesty since the first Instance I came to the use of reason to this very time I am heartily sorry from the very bottom of my heart for having offended thee so good so powerful so wise and so just a God and purpose by the help of thy grace never more to offend thee my good God whom I love
no less then 2000 l. Sterling by that Desolation In the Year 1676. a great Cabal was held in the English Covent of Benedictine Monks at Paris for the carrying on the great Work of subverting the Protestant Religion and introducing Popery into England For the accomplishing of which Design they could not imagin any means more probable then by continual Fires to weak'n if not utterly demolish the remaining Splendor of the City and Suburbs of London Affirming withall that they would never leave that heritic Heap till they had brought down her Pride by Fire and Py racy These Results being transmitted to their Correspondents in England were here with no less fervency debated and no less sedulous endeavours us'd to satisfie as well their own Cruelty as the longing Expectations of their Brethren in iniquity beyond Sea Of these Consultations the real Effects were those Fires near Limehouse Sept. 18. 1678. at Wapping where Blundell the Jesuit was the Master Engineer and St. Katherines design'd likewise for the burning of the Ships in the River as also in several other places which though they had not that success which they desir'd however shew'd the heat of their Zeal and their Kindness to the Kingdom The same Fate was destin'd for Westminster and that ancient Monunument of our Ancestors Magnificence who never intended that Noble Sructure for the spoil of Loyola's caitif brood This Fire was to have begun its progress near the Palsgrave's-head without Temple-Bar and having baited at the Savoy was to have been driven on again by the Benedictins on both sides of the way to White-hall from whence near the end of the Stone Gallery it was to have been convey'd by fresh Company to Westminster All which grand Contrivance was to have been put in execution in the time of the great Frost in the year 1676. But then it seems they were not well assur'd of the Assistance of the French King of which they were afterwards fully ascertain'd by Le Cheise Confessor to the said King and his Correspondent Mr. Coleman No wonder such hellish Designs were laid by men whose confidence almost exceeded Admiration For though the Plot were in some part at that time discover'd yet did they venture to carry on their Design and kindled a Fire near Limehouse the 18th of Sept. 1678 as is already mention'd which in three or four hours time consum'd and laid level with the ground between forty and fifty Houses and had questionless made a greater devastation had not the active Courage and unwearied Toil of the Seamen put a stop to the fury of the Flames Whence we may be well assur'd that they had resolutely intended the utter desolation of this Antient and Potent City in nothing more unhappy then in the largeness of her Extent had not the discovery of their Treasons and villanous Impieties warm'd them with such another kind of miraculous heat as melted their Cabals yet cool'd the violence of their fiery proceedings The Jesuits had soon the scent which only the smother made in their Noses having a smart Intelligence that Dr. Oates had been in company with a Protestant Minister This startl'd the Provincial Monsieur Whitebread and yet he had the confidence to write to Mr. Bedingfield not to take notice of what Keins it seems the whisperer of the unwelcom News had told him but to proceed in the business of the King and in the whole Affair as before Nay he was so Cocksure as to come to London the third of September The next day the Doctor went to visit him or rather to wait on him by order of his Superiors But then the Scene was alter'd the incens'd and sow'r Provincial chang'd both his Countenance and Behaviour For he not only revil'd the Doctor in words asking him With what face he could look on him that had plaid him such a treacherous trick but entertain'd him with blows and a courteous box o' the Ear for St. Peter may strike as well as teach as being charg'd for having been with the King and a Minister with him However that the Jesuits Trade might still go forward I mean Murder the good natur'd Provincial was willing to be reconcil'd to the Doctor on condition he would discover the Minister's Name and his place of abode to the end they might make him sure for they resolv'd to have kill'd him In the mean time the Doctor was order'd to march and within fourteen days to return to St. Omers and that he might not delude them with a slippery cheat they took upon them to pay for his Coach-hire and Provision upon the Road to Dover and at Calice order'd the Master of the Feathers to pay for his passage to St. Omers unwilling to trust him with so much Money at his own disposal There he was also to stay till farther Order from the Provincial and an excellent Office which was to be Surveyor of the firing of Wapping tak'n out of his hands and committed to the charge and industry of the more trusty Father Blundel But upon the sixth of September at night the Doctor attending at the Provincial's Chamber dore and just ready to go in overheard Monsieur White and some others whom by their voices he conjectur'd to be Mico and one Poole consulting how to dispose of a certain person whom he vehemently suspected to be himself The words not to be omitted were these This man has betraid us and therefore we will give a Coachman Twenty Pound to take him up and carry him directly to Rochester to Esquire Lee ' s house who lives near the Town and from thence to Dover by some by-way because he is acquainted at Sittinborn Adding withal That if they could but get him on the other side the Water they would torment him till he had confess'd to them who it was that had been with the King and had inform'd him of the Business These Words begat in the Doctor a rational fear so that he made all the hast he could down Stairs to avoid the danger and for his better security shifted his Lodging that night The next night as he was returning to his own Lodging for some Necessaries which he wanted the day following he met with one Grigson a Papist who inform'd him That the Jesuits were highly incens'd against him because he had not answer'd their Expectations in being true to them that they were dangerous persons and would ruin him if they could To which he added That he had known their Roguery these twelve or fourteen years The Doctor surpriz'd with this Caution went no further but staid with the said Grigson and lay that night at his Lodging where he had no sooner compos'd himself to rest but one Stafford a Son of Papistical Zeal whom he never knew nor ever in his life provok'd attempted to force open his Lodging but was constrain'd to retreat when he found himself discover'd by the Servants of the House so that from that time forward he grew more jealous of them and
careful of himself Thus much for the Preliminaries which give a fair insight into the Age and Series of this detestable Contrivance It will now be requisite to embody the Design and to display the whole Mystery that thereby the Crimes of every Malefactor for I cannot in Conscience call them Martyrs that has hitherto been justly Executed may more clearly appear The grand and general Design then of the Pope the Pious and Zealous Society of Jesuits and their Accomplices and Associates in this as disingenious and raskally as unchristian Conspiracy was to have reduc'd the flourishing Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland to the Romish Religion and under the Papal Jurisdiction To accomplish this the Pope had Entitl'd himself by way of Confiscation and Forfeiture to the Kingdoms of England and Ireland He had sent the Bishop of Casal in Italy into Ireland to make out his Title to that Kingdom and to take Possession in his behalf and had constituted Cardinal Howard his True and Lawful Attorney for the same intent and purpose in England But these fair Vineyards could not be enjoy'd so long as the right owner liv'd and had pow'r to defend his own Inheritance Therefore was the King himself by his Holiness impiously condemn'd and by the Consults of the Jesuits and Priests at London applauded and encourag'd by the Birds of the same Feather abroad dispos'd and destin'd to a lewd Assassination And to make good the Attempt the Papal Force in both Nations was to be Armed and that under Officers and Commanders commissionated by St. Peter's Authority given to the General of the Jesuits at Rome and by him convey'd to the Provincial of the same Order in England In this somewhat mannerly that the King was not to fall alone but to be attended by some of his nearest Relations and choicest Peers of which number was his own Brother if he did not fully answer their Expectations the Prince of Orange the Duke of Ormond and the Earl of Shaftsbury Into Scotland twelve Scotch Jesuits were sent by Order from the General of the Society and had a Thousand Pound given them by Le Cheese the French King's Confessor to keep up the Commotions in Scotland and had Instructions given them to carry themselves like Nonconformists among the Presbyterians the better to drive on their Design The Conquest and Subduing of Ireland was contriv'd and design'd by a general Rebellion and Massacre of the Protestants in that Kingdom for which the Actors had a late Precedent to go by For the carrying on whereof the Pope had been so liberal as to disburse Eight Hundred Thousand Crowns out of his own Treasury And for fear their own Power might not be sufficient there was a French Plot cunningly and a-la-modely interwoven with their English Conspiracies to bring in Foreign Assistance and Correspondencies held for that purpose between them and the King of France's Confessor at Paris But Heaven that saw and with indignation beheld the dark and infernal Practices of them that by acting contrary to all Piety and Virtue were bringing a Reproach and Scandal upon Heaven and Christianity it self would no longer suffer them to proceed in such an Execrable Tragedy A Crime that had it come to Execution Hell would have blush'd and the Devils in union among themselves might have had a prospect of some probability of Mercy beholding men more wicked then they The Discovery then being fully resolv'd upon in the Breast of Dr. Oates he makes his first Applications to Dr. Tongue both for his Advice and Assistance Who upon Monday the 13th of August 1678 acquainted Mr. Christopher Kirkby with the detection of a Popish Conspiracy against the King's Sacred Person and the Protestant Religion shewing him withall the Three and Forty Articles as he had receiv'd them in Writing from Dr. Oates and requesting him not to make the business known at first to any other person then the King himself Many difficulties shew'd themselves in the Management of this Affair which requir'd the more wariness in proceeding So that Mr. Kirkby not finding an Opportunity to speak in private with the King that Afternoon prepar'd a certain Paper to put into his hands the next Morning as he went to walk in the Park His Majesty having receiv'd and read it call'd Mr. Kirkby to Him who then only gave him this short Account That his Enemies had a design against his Life and therefore besought him to have a care of his Person for that he knew not but that he might be in danger in that very Walk which he was about to take desiring withall a more private place for a more particular Account Thereupon his Majesty commanded him to wait his return out of the Park At what time calling Mr. Kirkby into his Bed-chamber he commanded him to declare what he knew Mr. Kirkby thereupon inform'd the King that there were two persons that were set to watch an opportunity to Pistol him That his Friend was at hand and ready with his Papers to be brought before him when his Majesty should command In answer to this his Majesty appointed between the hours of Eight and Nine in the Evening at which time Mr. Kirkby and Dr. Tongue attended and being commanded into the Red Room deliver'd the Forty Three Articles or rather Heads of the Discovery to his Majesty who being to go to Windsor the next Morning was pleas'd to promise that he would transmit the Papers into the hands of the Earl of Danby then Lord Treasurer upon whom they were likewise order'd to attend the next day after That day about four of the Clock in the Afternoon they were admitted into the Treasurer's Closet who read the Papers and found them to be of the greatest Concern imaginable The third of September Mr. Kirkby went to Dr. Oates and having receiv'd from him what he had to communicate appointed to meet him the next morning Accordingly the next morning being the fourth of September Mr. Kirkby and Dr. Oates met at what time the latter told the former that Whitebread Provintial of the Jesuites was come to Town and had strucken him and charg'd him with having been with the King and with the discovery of the Plot which he deny'd it being true that he had not seen the King Upon this it was concluded that seeing the discovery was smoak'd Dr. Oates's Information should be sworn before some Justice of the Peace which was accordingly the first time done before Sir Edmund-Bury Godfrey the sixth of September who nevertheless was not permitted to read the particulars of the Information it being alledged that his Majesty had already had a true Copy thereof and that it was not convenient that the business should be communicated to any body else as yet So that Sir Edmund-Bury Godfrey was satisfied without reading them and only underwrit Dr. Oates's Affidavit That the Matters therein contain'd were true Dr. Tong at the same time making Oath that they had been made known to the King In
setting up a Pardon to be a Bar against an Impeachment defeats the whole use and effect of Impeachments and should this point be admitted or stand doubted it would totally discourage the exhibiting any for the future Whereby the chief Institution for the preservation of the Government and consequently the Government it self would be destroy'd And therefore the case of the said Earl which in consequence concerns all Impeachments whatsoever ought to be determin'd before that of the five Lords which is but their particular case And without resorting to many Authorities of greater Antiquity The Commons desire your Lordships to take Notice with the same regard they do of the Declaration which that Excellent Prince King Charles the I. of blessed Memory made in this behalf in his Answer to the nineteen Propositions of both Houses of Parliament Wherein stating the several parts of this Regulated Monarchy He says The King the House of Lords and the House of Commons have each their particular Priviledges And among those which belong to the King he reckons Power of pardoning After the Ennumerating of which and other his Preaogatives His said Majesty adds thus Again that the Prince may not make use of this High and perpetual Power to the hurt of those for whose good he hath it and make use of the Name of public Necessity for the Gain of his private Favourites and Followers to the Detriment of the People the House of Commons an excellent preservative of Liberty c. is solely entrusted with the first Propositions concerning the Levying of Mony and the Impeaching of those who for their own ends though countenanc'd by any Surreptitiously gotten Command of the King have violated the Law when he knows it which he is bound to protect and to the protection of which they are bound to advise him at least not to serve him to the contrary And the Lords being entrusted with a Judiciary power are an excellent Skreen and Bank between the Prince and People to assist each against any encroachments of the other and by just Judgment to preserve the Law which ought to be the Rule of every one of the three c. Therefore the Power plac'd in both Houses is more then sufficient to prevent and restrain the Power of Tyranny c. III. Untill the House of Commons have right done them against this Plea of Pardon they may justly apprehend that the whole Justice of the Kingdom in the Case of the five Lords may be obstructed and defeated by Pardons of the like nature IV. And Impeachments are virtually the voice of every particular Subject of this Kingdom crying out against Oppression by which every member of that Body is equally wounded And it will prove a matter of ill consequence that the Universality of the People should have occasion minister'd and continu'd to them to be apprehensive of utmost danger from the Crown from whence they of right expect Protection V. The Commons exhibited Articles of Impeachment against the said Earl before any against the five other Lords and demanded Judgment upon those Articles Whereupon your Lordships having appointed the Tryal of the said Earl to be before that of the other five Lords and now having inverted the said Order gives a great cause of doubt to the House of Commons and raises a jealousie in the Hearts of all the Commons of England That if they should proceed to the Tryal of the said five Lords in the first place not only Justice will be obstructed in the case of those Lords but that they shall never have right done them in the matter of this Plea of Pardon which is of so fatal Consequence to the whole Kingdom and a new device to frustrate the public Justice in Parliament Which Reasons and Matters being duly weigh'd by your Lordships the Commons doubt not but your Lordships will receive satisfaction concerning their Propositions and Proceedings And will agree That the Commons neither ought nor can without deserting their Trust depart from their former Vote communicated to your Lordships That the Lords Spiritual ought not to have any Vote in any proceedings against the Lords in the Tower c. This Narrative and the Reasons being deliver'd as is already mention'd were the next day read and debated and then the Lords read their own Vote of the 13th of May and their Explanation thereupon and the Question being put whether to insist upon those Votes concerning the Lords Spiritual it was Resolv'd in the Affirmative Eight and twenty of the Lords dissenting What the issue of the dispute would have been is not here to be disputed but this is certain that while both Houses were thus contesting His Majesty himself put an end to their Debates For that very day being come in His Royal Robes into the House of Lords and seated in His Throne the Commons also attending His Majesty was pleas'd to give His Royal Assent to A Bill for the better securing the Liberty of the Subject A Bill for reingrossing of Fines burn'd in the late Fire in the Temple And A Private Bill concerning Charles Dale of Rutlandshire Esq And then having intimated His Resolution to the two Houses to Prorogue them till the 14th of August The Lord Chancellor Prorogu'd them accordingly by His Majesties Command Little else of moment was done this Sessions onely the House of Commons having order'd a Committee to inspect the Miscarriages of the Navy upon their report of the Heads of an Information against Sir Anthony Deane and Mr. Pepys Members of the House they were both by Order of the House committed to the Tower by virtue of which commitment they still remain under Bail Presently after the Prorogation of the Parliament came the News of the Rebellion that was broken out in the West of Scotland where they Proclaim'd the Covenant and set up a Declaration of which the substance was That AS it was not unknown to a great part of the World how happy the Church of Scotland had been while they enjoy'd the Ordinances of Jesus Christ in their Purity and Power of which we had been deplorably depriv'd by the reestablishment of Prelacy So it was evident not only to impartial Persons but to profess'd Enemies with what unparallell'd Patience and Constancy the People of God had endur'd all the Cruelty and Oppression that Prelates and Malignants could invent or exercise And that being most unwilling to act any thing that might import Opposition to lawful Authority though they had all along been groaning under Corruptions of Doctrine slighting of Worship despising Ordinances Confining Imprisoning Exiling their faithful Ministers Fining Confining Imprisoning Torturing Tormenting the poor People Plundering their Houses and Selling their Persons to Forraign Plantations whereby great Numbers in every Corner of the Land were forc'd to leave their Dwellings Wives and Children and to wander as Pilgrims none daring to Supply or Relieve them nor so much as to speak with them upon their Death-beds for fear of making themselves obnoxious
concluding Conference having agreed to the Bill without further amendments and therefore desir'd the concurrence of the Commons Thus at length the Commons agreed to the amendments made by the Lords and sent a message to acquaint the Lords therewith This was done upon the fourteenth day of this month But upon the sixteenth a Message was sent by the Lords to acquaint the Commons that the night before the Earl of Danby had render'd himself to the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and that being call'd to the Bar they had sent him to the Tower Thereupon a Committee was appointed to prepare and draw up further Evidence against him and such further Articles as they should see cause Soon after his Majesty was pleas'd to dissolve his Privy Council and to make another consisting of no more than thirty persons And for the management of the Treasury and Navy five Commissiones were appointed for the Treasury and seven for the Admiralty Then the Commons took into consideration the disbanding of the Army and having voted a supply of 264602 l. 17 s. 3 d. to that intent they then voted that Sr. Gilbert Gerrard Sr. Thomas Player Coll. Birch and Coll. Whitley should be Commissioners to pay the disbanded forces off But now to return to the Earl of Danby upon the 25th of this month a message was sent by the Lords to acquaint the Commons that the said Earl had that same day personally appear'd at the Bar of their House and had put in his plea to the Articles of Impeachment against him The Articles were these as they were deliver'd into the House of Lords in the name of the Commons of England by Sir Henry Capel December 23. 1678. I. That he had traiterously encroacht to himself Regal Power by treating in matters of Peace and War with Foreign Ministers and Embassadors and giving instructions to his Majesties Embassadors abroad without communicating the same to the Secretaries of State and the rest of his Majesties Council against the express Declaration of his Majesty in Parliament thereby intending to defeat and overthrow the provision that has been deliberately made by his Majesty and his Parliament for the safety and preservation of his Majesties Kingdoms and Dominions II. That he had traiterously endeavour'd to subvert the ancient and well-establish'd form of Government of this Kingdom and instead thereof to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical form of Government and the better to effect this his purpose he did design the raising of an Army upon pretence of a war against the French King and to continue the same as a standing Army within this Kingdom and an Army so rais'd and no war ensuing an Act of Parliament having past to disband the same and a great sum of money being granted for that end he did continue the same contrary to the said Act and mis-imploy'd the said money given for the disbanding to the continuance thereof and issued out of his Majesties Revenues great sums of money for the said purpose and wilfully neglected to take security of the Pay-master of the Army as the said Act required whereby the said Law is eluded and the Army yet continued to the great danger and unnecessary charge of his Majesty and the whole Kingdome III. That he trayterously intending and designing to alienate the hearts and affections of his Majesties good Subjects from his Royal Person and Government and to hinder the meeting of Parliaments and to deprive his Sacred Majesty of their safe and wholsom counsel and thereby to alter the constitution of the Government of this Kingdom did propose and negotiate a peace for the French King upon terms disadvantagious to the Interest of his Majesty and Kingdom For the doing whereof he did procure a great sum of money from the French King for enabling him to maintain and carry on his said traiterous designs and purposes to the hazard of his Majesties Person and Government IV. That he is Popishly affected and hath traiterously concealed after he had notice the late horrid and bloody Plot and Conspiracy contriv'd by the Papists against his Majesties Person and Government and hath suppress'd the Evidence and reproachfully discountenanc'd the Kings Witnesses in the Discovery of it in favour of Popery immediately tending to the destruction of the Kings Sacred Person and the subversion of the Protestant Religion V. That he hath wasted the Kings Treasure by issuing out of his Majesties Exchequer several branches of his Revenue for unnecessary Pensions and secret services to the value of 〈…〉 within two years and that he hath wholly diverted out of the known method and Government of the Exchequer one whole branch of his Majesties Revenue to private Uses without any accompt to be made of it to his Majesty in his Exchequer contrary to an express Act of Parliament which granted the same And he hath removed two of his Majesties Commissioners of that part of the Revenue for refusing to consent to such his unwarrantable actings therein and to advance money upon that branch of the Revenue for private uses VI. That he hath by indirect means procured from his Majesty to himself divers considerable gifts and Grants of Inheritances of the ancient Revenues of the Crown contrary to Acts of Parliament For which matters and things the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons in Parliament do in the name of themselves and of all the Commons of England impeach the said Thomas Earl of Danby Lord High Treasurer of England of High Treason and other high Crimes Misdemeanors and Offences in the said Articles contained And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other accusation or Impeachment against the said Earl and also of replying to the answers of which the said Thomas Earl of Danby shall make to the Premises or any of them or any Impeachment or Accusation which shall be by them exhibited as the cause according to proceedings of Parliament shall require Do pray that the said Thomas Earl of Danby may be put to answer all and every the Premises that such proceedings Tryals Examinations and Judgements may be upon them and every one of them had and used as shall be agreeable to Law and Justice and that he may be sequester'd from Parliament and forthwith committed to custody To these Articles the Earl of Danby soon after put in his Plea as follows The Plea of the Earl of Danby late Lord high Treasurer of England to the Articles of Impeachment and other High Crimes Misdemeanors and Offences Exhibited against him by the name of Thomas Earl of Danby Lord High Treasurer of England THE said Earl for Plea saith and humbly offers to your Lordships as to all and every the Treasons Crimes Misdemeanors and Offences contained or mention'd in the said Articles That after the said Articles exhibited namely the first of March now last past the Kings most excellent Majesty by his most gracious Letters of Pardon under his