Rendezvous to That the said Earl of Argyle recommended the Deponent to Major Holmes That James Steuart contriv'd a way of Correspondence by Cyphers and false Names and sent them over to Holmes and the Deponent for their use and still desir'd him to press for the 30000 l. and did not propose any lest Sum the said Earl saying he had particularly calculated the Expence for Arms and Ammunition c. though Steuart added If something less could be had the Earl would content himself That when the Deponent was ready to ship for England Steuart writ him word there was hope of the Mony That the Day after he arrived here he acquainted Sir John Cockran with the said Earls demands of the Sum of Mony and the Horse and Dragoons That Sir John Cochran carried him to the Lord Russel to whom the Deponent propos'd the Affair but being a stranger had no answer from him at that time That afterwards having met the Lord Russel at Shepard's House where Shepard told him the said Lord was come to speak with him about the Mony the Deponent reiterated to the Lord Russel the former Proposition for 30000 l. and the 1000 Horse and Dragoons the said Lord answering They could not get such a Sum rais'd at the time but if they had 10000 l. to begin with that would draw People in and when they were once in they would soon be brought to more but as for the Horse and Dragoons he could say nothing at present for that behoved to be concerted on the Borders That the Deponent made the same proposal to Ferguson who was much concerned and Zealous in promoting it and told him He was doing what he could to get it effected always blaming Colonel Sydney for driving on designs of his own That the said Deponent met twice or thrice with Melvin Cochran Jerviswood Monroe the two Cambells of Cessnock Mongomery of Langshaw and Veatch where they discours'd of Mony to be sent to Argyle That Monroe Melvin and the Cessnocks were against medling with the English Conspirators as Men that would talk but would not do That therefore it were better for the Scots to attempt something by themselves That Veatch Jerviswood and this Deponent were for accepting the Mony That at one of their Meetings it was agreed one Martin late Clerk of the Justice Court should be sent into Scotland to hinder the Country from Rising till they saw how Matters went in England That the said Martin did go at the Charge of the Gentlemen there met and was directed to the Lairds of Polwart and Torwoodlie who sent back word It would not be so easie a matter to get the Gentry of Scotland to concur yet that afterwards Polwart writ to Monroe That the Country was readier than they imagined That the said Deponent had the Key of the Cypher agreed on in his keeping when a Letter came from Argyle to Major Holms intimating that the said Earl would joyn with the Duke of Monmouth follow his Measures and obey his Directions That for the Decyphering of this he gave the Key to Veatch who was to deliver the Letter to Ferguson and he to the Duke of Monmouth To all this Carstares added in his Deposition of Sept. 18. 1684. That he himself had communicated the Design on foot to three famous English Conventicle-Preachers Griffith Mede and Dr. Owen who he affirmed did all concur in promoting it and were desirous it should take effect which part of Carstares's Oath is the more remarkable because the King solemnly affirms That the Duke of Monmouth in his Confession to His Majesty and his Royal Highness did particularly name those very three Men as conscious of the Plot and withal declar'd in these very words That all the considerable Nonconformist Ministers knew of the Conspiracy An instance that alone if there were not many more such were a sufficient Instruction to all Separatists of what tender Consciences the Men are whom they chuse for the principal Guides of their Consciences Since after all this Mede deposed before his Majesty That he never heard of any Disturbance intended against the Government but that on the contrary he himself had once advised Ferguson upon discourse of some Libel of his then newly made publick That it was not their part to do such things Nay their great Oracle Dr. Owen being examin'd upon Oath before the Lord Chief Justice Jones and being ask'd Whether he had not heard of a Horrid Plot against the Life of the King did not long before his Death take God to witness and subscrib'd to it with his dying Hand That indeed he had heard of such a Plot by the means of the Kings Proclamation but no otherwise But that which still farther undeniably confirms the Scotch part of the Conspiracy with the English was the Confession of William Spence a Scotch-Man and of Major Holmes an English-Man the former being a Menial Servant to the Earl of Argyle the other his long Dependent and Friend a Man active in the times of Cromwel and always disaffected to His Majesties Government Major Holmes being taken in London in the beginning of the Discovery with several of the Earl of Argyle's Original Letters about him and being examin'd confess'd He knew of the Earl of Argyle 's proposing to some principal Men in England That for 30000 Pounds he might he furnish'd for his Expedition into Scotland That the English at last condescended to send him 10000 Pounds That though he had not personally converst with the Great Men who were to raise the Mony yet he had often heard the Duke of Monmouth the Lord Gray the Lord Russel named That he himself was appointed by the Earl of Argyle to convey Letters to and from his Countess and others his Correspondents That he could not Decypher those taken about him but that William Spence could That this Spence went under the Name of Butler and was just then come over in the Packet-Boat from Holland to dispose of the Libel call'd The Earl of Argyle ' s Case This Deposition was given by Major Holmes on June 29. 1683. the very day that Spence being arrived from Holland was apprehended under the Name of Butler Besides this Evidence of Holmes concerning Spence it appears plainly by the Earl of Argyle's own words in several passages of his Letters taken in Holmes's possession especially in that part of the long Letter of the 21st of June which was not written in Cypher That the said Spence alias B. as he afterwards own'd himself for the Man knew his the said Earls Address and how to write to him adding That he could instruct Holmes in this Cypher else he had lost six hours Work Wherefore upon this assurance that Spence could Decypher the Letters he was examined before the King but not confessing any thing material and seeming resolv'd not to do it he was lent into Scotland where he was brought to discover the whole Intrigue acknowledg'd That he himself was the B. or Butler mention'd
the Guards That after the Disappointment he met with the other Conspirators where they discours'd of it and complain'd they had not Arms in readiness That he sometimes made one in the Trayterous Discourses at the Deponents and at the Young-Devil-Tavern That he was present at the Meeting at Trades relating to their escape the Prisoner at the Bar himself then saying God would still deliver the Nations His Letter to Mr. Secretary Jenkins was also produced which he was proved to have own'd before the Council to be his Hand The substance of it being That he was come to Town to lay himself at His Majesties Feet That this was the first Crime he had been Guilty of since the Kings Return and too soon by much now That he was ready to discover to His Majesty all that he knew in England Scotland and Ireland which might be something more than the first Discoverer could acquaint him with especially as to Ireland That his intimacy with a Scotch Minister through whose Hands much of the Business pass'd occasioned his knowing very much and that it was laid very broad or he was mis-inform'd concluding with a proposal that he would follow the Traytors who were fled and give notice what Measures they should take with other the like expressions There was likewise a Paper given in Evidence that was taken about him in Newgate wherein he desir'd Romzey and West to spare him saying They had ground enough to serve the King upon other Men. But as to his private Confession to the King upon his first Examination that was not produc'd against him though in that he had told divers new Particulars of the Conspiracy and named the Men of Quality who had undertaken to raise the several Shires Against all this Walcot's defence only consisted in his own denial of having had any Hand in the Assassination saying He knew well enough if he should have undertaken to charge the Guards whilst others kill'd the King he was equally Guilty with those that kill'd him but that he was sick of the Gout during the Meetings whilst the King was at New-market Moreover that those Witnesses were sufficiently dipped themselves and swore against him to save their own Lives That Goodenough and Rumbald he never knew That the last Meeting at his Lodgings was appointed by Romzey he himself knowing nothing of it That he came accidentally to the other Meetings only to hear News He confessed he heard there was a Design amongst divers great Lords and Gentlemen for asserting Liberties and Properties but that he was not at their Consultations The Sum was That he had heard a great deal of an Insurrection but had no hand in it and therefore his fault could be only Misprision of Treason And as to his Letter he alledged he had only heard what he promised to discover from Ferguson To the most material parts of this Defence it was answer'd by His Majesties Learned Council at Law That there is nothing more just than to make use of some Traytors to Convict others else Treason might be hatch'd most securely That because the Witnesses had been concern'd in the Plot therefore they were to be believed for who should know it but those that were concern'd That better Witnesses could not have been had except the thing had succeeded That the very being at Treasonable Consults and keeping them private is not only Misprision but High Treason And as to his having the Gout West told him he remember'd it very well by a good token that Walcot himself said He was afraid when the time came he should not be able to draw on his Boot But the whole Evidence against Walcot being clear and positive Testimony and what he pleaded for himself being only his own single Affirmation and Negation without any support of Witnesses the Jury immediately brought him in guilty of High Treason According to which Sentence he was Executed on the 20th of the said Month. At the time of his Execution he again acknowled'g what he had told the King and writ to the Secretary of State That the Business was laid very deep he said An Act of Indulgence would do well because the King had a great many Men to take Judgment of He persisted he was to have had no hand in His Majesties Death though he confess'd it was proposed when he was present He declared he did not know that this Conspiracy was older than the August or September before but so old he own'd it was The next Offender that came under the Stroak of Justice was william Hone a Joyner who being brought to the Bar would presently have confess'd himself guilty of great part of the Accusation But refusing to confess all he was requir'd to plead and the next day was brought on his Tryal Then again he desir'd he might retract his Plea and offer'd to plead Guilty But since he would not own the whole Indictment for Satisfaction of the World the Evidence against him was produc'd Josiah Keeling swore That the Prisoner at the Bar was at the Dolphin-Tavern when several sorts of Arms were agreed on to be provided under the borrow'd Names of Swan-Quills Goose-Quills Crow-Quills That after that Meeting Hone told the Deponent He was to be one of them who were to go down to the Rye to Assassinate the King That he since also told him It would never be well till the Black-Bird and the Gold-Finch were knock'd on the Head explaining those terms to be meant of the King and the Duke To which Witness Hone reply'd in open Court That as to the Black-Bird he own'd it but not as to the Gold-Finch Then West Deposed That Goodenough having told him he would try Hone whether he would attempt on the Duke without the King the Deponent ask'd Hone Whether he had seen Goodenough He answer'd He had and that he had spoken to him about a job for the Duke That at another time also Hone ask'd the Deponent Master shall we do nothing Adding That if the Duke of Monmouth would be true and appear he would bring 50 or 60 Men from the other side of the Water to help to do the Business And that the Deponent demanding what Business He answer'd A brisk Push at the two Brothers That being further question'd What Brothers He said The Captain and Lieutenant which were the counterfeit Names they sometimes used for the King and the Duke Then Sir Nicholas Butler deposed He had known Hone many years and always knew him guilty of plotting contriving and ready for such Enterprises as this particularly that he had proposed taking off the King and the Duke with Cross-Bows from Bow-Steeple whilst they were standing in a House directly over against it on the Lord Mayors Day That Hone confess'd this very thing when examined before His Majesty That he had also acquainted divers Persons that he was to make one to kill the King and the Duke Then Captain Richardson swore That the Prisoner confess'd to Sir Nicholas Butler in his
Copies of it with his Friends whereby it was immediately dispers'd amongst the People the general drift of it being to make odious Insinuations against the Government invidious Reflections on the Ministers of His Majesties Justice and undue Extenuations of his own Fault As to the whole Matter of it Time the best Discoverer and Light of Truth has since shewn it to be full of Enormous Falshoods And for the manner of its Composure it was such as rather became the Subtilty Artifice and Equivocation of some crafty hypocritical Confessor or Presbyterian Casuist than the Noble plainness and simplicity of a Gentleman especially of One who in this very Paper so much boasts of the Sincerity and Candour of his whole Life and of his perpetual hatred of Tricks and Evasions Among divers other notorious Shifts and Prevarications contain'd in it this is observable That in this Paper he declares solemnly he never was at Shepard's in that Company but once as in his Tryal he had affirm'd absolutely he never was there but once whereas besides what Shepard positively swore That he was more than once there and in that very Company the said Lord Russel himself also when he was Examin'd in the Tower by His Majesties Command June 28th confess'd He had been at Shepard 's House frequently which Confession after it was written down read and repeated by himself he in great Agitation of Mind desir'd he might alter it And the Alteration he made was to put in divers times in stead of frequently The Truth of which appears by the Original thus subscribed and corrected by the Lord Russel and by the known Integrity of Sir Leolyn Jenkins Sir Jon Ernly and His Majesties Attorney-General and Sollicitor-General who receiv'd the Examination and have attested the Alteration The Lord Russel likwise in the Printed Speech affirms His intention of going to Shepards was to taste Sherry and in his Tryal he said He staid not above a quarter of an Hour there tasting of Sherry Though presently after in the very same Paper forgetting what he had said he acknowledges He was desir'd to go thither by the Duke of Monmouth upon a business of greater consequence than the tasting of Sherry Which was That the Duke of Monmouth call'd upon him to tell him that the Earl of Shaftsbury and some other hot Men would undo them all if great care were not taken and therefore intreated him to go with him to Shepards To this he adds That when he came thither there were things spoken by some with much more heat than Judgment Things of the same Nature no doubt with those he confess'd to have heard before in the Earl of Shaftsbury's Company which made the Duke of Monmouth himself cry out Did you ever hear so Horrid a thing However all these Treasonable Discourses about making some Stirs as he stiles them the said Lord would fain have had pass only for Misprision of Treason Though it is remarkable that in all those his last Words there is no more sign of his asking Forgiveness of God or the King for his confess'd Misprision than for the High Treason Moreover in the same printed Paper he solemnly avows There was no undertaking at Shepards for seizing the Guards none appointed to view or examine them only that there was some discourse then and at other times about the feasibleness of it adding That several times by accident he heard it mention'd as a thing might easily be done By which and other the like concessions in that Speech he well nigh grants himself Guilty of the Crime whereof he was accus'd since the Judges often affur'd him that those Discourses and Consultations not revealed are High Treason He farther says it was by a strange fetch that a design of seizing on the Guards was construed a design of killing the King But that this construction was no such strange fetch Colonel Walcot himself might have inform'd him who both at his Trial and his Execution did with far more Truth and Ingenuity allow that it was the same thing for him to engage the Kings Guards whilst another kill'd him as to kill him with his own Hands Though to put this whole Matter out of question touching that Consultation at Shepards for seizing the Guards His Majesty declares on the Faith of a King appealing also to the Memory of his Royal Highness to confirm the same That the Duke of Monmouth did in express Terms confess this very particular and all the Circumstances of it to His Majesty at the time of his rendring himself Namely That the foresaid debate of surprizing the Guards was at Shepards that the Lord Russel was one of the Persons debating it that the result was the Duke of Monmouth the Lord Gray and Sir Thomas Armstrong should go view the Guards in order to seize them that accordingly they three did go and take a view of them to that end and that the report they made to the same Company at their next Meeting was that the thing might be done if they had any considerable strength But what need any farther Proof of the insincerity of the Lord Russel's last Justification than the foremention'd Deposition of Carstares An Evidence not only by Law unquestionable but such as cannot but be esteem'd by the very Conspirators themselves of invincible strength and conviction Since he was a Man eminent in their Party and one of their principal seducing Teachers And what the said Carstares deposed relating to the Lord Russel His Majesty thinks fit to be repeated here again It was That when he return'd into England out of Holland where he had been to concert matters with the Earl of Argyle for promoting the General Conspiracy the next Day he met with Sir John Cockran and having acquainted him with the Earl of Argyl 's demands of 30000 l. Sterling and the Thousand Horse and Dragoons Sir John Cockran carried the said Carstares to the Lord Russel to whom he proposed the affair but being then a perfect stranger had noreturn from him at that time That afterwards the Deponent met with the Lord Russel accidentally at Shepard 's House where as Shepard affirm'd the said Lord was come to speak with him about the Money before-mention'd That when the other two had done talking Carstares himself desi'd to speak with the Lord Russel and that in his discourse with him having reiterated the former proposition for the 30000 l. and the Thousand Horse and Dragoons the Lord Russel answer'd in these very Words They could not get so much Mony rais'd at the time but if they had 1000 l. to begin that would draw People in and when they were once in they would soon be brought to wore But as for the 1000 Horse and Dragoons he could say nothing at the present for that behoved to be concerted on the Borders By which plain Deposition agreeing with so many other Witnesses it is manifest that when they whom the Lord Russel trusted with Composing his last Speech permitted him
yet they never did nor can long consent in what they shall settle Some were still for retaining a shew of Monarchy though with such Restrictions as would make the Prince little better than a Duke of Venice Others were positively for a Common-Wealth and the entire subversion of the present constitution openly declaring it was their purpose not only to change Names but Things Nay upon this Point some of them doubted not frequently to profess in plain Terms That if their great Darling the Puke of Monmouth should be squeamish as they worded it in Approving and Confirming what had been done in Heat of Blood then be himself should fare no better than the rest when their Swords were in their Hands A sufficient Admonition to all Men of Quality and Estate how hazardous their condition is and how mean their Servitude whilst they are heading popular Tumults tho for a little time perhaps they may seem to others and fancy themselves to have an absolute sway over them But their particular Head of Discourse in which the Conspirators chiefly delighted and were wont in their Meetings most amply to enlarge their inventions was concerning their resolutions of several kinds of vengeance to be Executed on those Eminent Persons of all Professions whom they thought most capable and willing to oppose their Bloody Enterprize In that part indeed their Passion transported them beyond all bounds of common Prudence even to the highest Degree of ridiculous Vanity and extravagant Ostentation of their full assurance to succeed in the dire Attempt Having first Gloried in the Imagination of imbruing their Hands in Royal Blood they scrupled not to profess they would continue the Assassination on all the principal Officers of the Crown and Ministers of Justice and spightfully projected all Circumstances imaginable which they thought might aggravate the Terrour or Ignominy of their Punishment Sir John More the Lord Mayor of the former Year and Sir William Pritchard the Lord Mayor and Mr. North and Mr. Rich the Sheriffs of that present Year were concluded fit to be Murder'd and their Skins stuff'd and hung up in Guild-Hall for a dreadful Warning to Posterity Alderman Cornish or Gould was to be declared Lord Mayor Papillion and Dubois Sheriffs If they refused they were to undergo as bad a fate Some others also were doom'd to the like destiny who might think they deserved well of the Faction by their Moderation But they resolved that Neuters should be treated as ill as their most avow'd Enemies Most of the Judges were to be kill'd for their pretended Illegal and Arbitrary Judgments and their Skins in the same manner hung up in Westminster-Hall Some of the Principal Abhorrers Addressers and reputed Pensioners in the late Long Parliament under which Titles in their Modern Opprobious Language they had been us'd to comprehend the most steddy Adherents to the Crown and True Sons of the Church of England were to be brought to Tryal and Death The Skins too of those they styled Pensioners were to be hung up in the House of Commons The Church-men they hated and despised in general as Men whose Interest could never be divided from the Crown and of course would fall with it The Marquiss of Hallifax the Duke of Beaufort the Earl of Rochester Sir Leolyn Jenkins the Lord Keeper and divers others who had been His Majesties most faithful Councellors in the time of extreme hazard were nam'd as Men whose Destruction was certain and who could not possibly escape the first rage of the Massacre Particularly it was determin'd the Lord Keeper should be sent to Oxford and hang'd on the same Gallows on which the Infamous College had been Executed In this furious manner they proceeded to lay about them in their common Discourses with all the Infernal Malice that is so agreeable to their Principles and inseparable from them there never having yet been found in all Records of Time any pretended Conscientious Zeal but it was always most certainly attended with a fierce Spirit of implacable Cruelty During all this time as it cannot be imagin'd that either of the Cabals was altogether unacquainted with what the other was doing so it is manifest some of their great Men understood the dark Hints that were sometimes given them of Striking at the Head and Shortning the Work by removing two Persons And also that these Inferiour Instruments proceeded on assurance That when they came to Action they should he Headed by Men of much higher Quality and Condition than as yet openly appear'd amongst them Wherefore of the Debates and Resolutions of their great Council thus much has been already testified upon Oath That shortly after that the Earl of Shaftsbury fled it was thought expedient for the furtherance of the Design projected in his time that a small Select Number of the most eminent Heads of the Party in and about London and Westminster should be united into a close Cabal or secret Council who might have their frequent Assemblies and be ready on all occasions to guide and direct the motions of the Lower Agents The Persons who undertook this Universal care and inspection were the Duke of Monmouth the Earl of Essex the Lord Gray the Lord Russel the Lord Howard Colonel Algernoon Sydney and Mr. John Hambden Junior Besides that Romzey Armstrong Ferguson Shepard and some others were admitted as occasion serv'd on some particular Debates Their first Meeting was in January of thar Year at Mr. Hambden's House Where some general Heads were propounded of things to be resolv'd on in their more mature thoughts As Where the Insurrection should first be made in City or Country or in both at once What Counties were most disposed for Action What places would be most proper for their Rendezvouses What Arms were necessary how to be provided where to be laid in What Mony needful at first to be rais'd and where to be deposited so as to Administer no Ground of Jealousie And by what means the discontented Party in Scotland might be brought into the Confederacy This last was look'd on as the principal Point and deserving their first Direction Wherefore at their next Meeting about ten days after at the Lord Russel's House they began with considering a way of Setling an Intelligence with the Earl of Argyle beyond the Seas and with his Complices in Scotland Upon this a Messenger was Ordered to be sent into Scotland It was committed to Colonel Sydney to choose the Person and to furnish him with Instructions The Man chosen by Mr. Sydney at the recommendation of Nelthrop for his known merits towards the Cause was Aaron Smith The Sum given him to defray his Expenses was Three or Fourscore Guinea's The substance of his Message was to invite up Sir John Cockran the Cambells of Cessnock and some others to treat in London Here the Lord Howard's Information stops For then the Managers seem'd to agree amongst themselves to have no more constant Assemblies till the return of the Messenger Tho since it
and Allegiance His Majesty might justly claim from him upon many more Obligations besides that of being his Subject But it was one of the first and principal Artifices of the Earl of Shaftsbury's Malice after his own disgrace at Court to be reveng'd on the King by afflicting him in so tender a part and by sly Insinuations to wrest from his Bosom a Person who he knew had so great a share in His Majesties Affections This was indeed a Talent peculiar to the Earl of Shaftsbury That of all Men living he could most easily turn himself into all shapes and comply with all Dispositions positions having by long practice got the skill to cover his Hooks with Baits fitting every Humour The Covetous who are no small Number of the pretended Godly Party those he was wont to feed and deceive with hopes of Wealth and new Sequestrations The Ambitious with Praise and Vain-Glory The Nonconformist Zealots with Promises of Liberty in Religion sometimes not refusing to stoop lower and even to serve and assist the Pleasures and Debauches of Men that way inclin'd if he found them any way useful for his purpose Wherefore the said Earl observing in the Duke of Monmouth a Mind rash unsteady and ambitious soon made him an easie Prey to his wicked Subtilty disguised under fair and plausible Colours On the one side puffing up his Youthful Thoughts with a vain Ostentation of Honour and the Temptation of Fame to be gotten by Asserting and Defending his Countries Liberties and Religion always pretended by him to be in imminent danger whilst He was out of place On the other inflaming him with imaginary Suspicions of the Duke of York's irreconcilable Hatred to his Person Which was so far from having any real Foundation that on the contrary His Majesty who best knows does freely here testifie for his dearest Brother in this particular That the Duke of Monmouth till he made himself uncapable of his Friendship never had a more entire or fast Friend about His Majesty and there was scarce ever any Honour or Benefit conferr'd on him but it was obtain'd of His Majesty by his Royal Highnesses Intercession However by such groundless Jealousies and empty Conceits was the Duke of Monmouth insensibly drawn to desert his only true Interest and to give himself over to the Delusions of His Majesties mortal Enemies This the King apparently perceiving and foreseeing how in the Event it would tend to the said Dukes inevitable Ruine His Majesty tryed by all imaginable ways of Kindness to cast forth the Evil Spirit in him and to rescue him out of their Hands At length when no milder course would serve His Majesty required him on his Allegiance to go beyond the Seas and there to remain till his farther pleasure was signified His Majesty still hoping that at so great a distance the Poyson would be lest effectual and that by his absence the said Duke would be kept Innocent of the Treasonable designs which his New Associates were furiously carrying on against the Government But in that expectation His Majesty was unfortunately disappointed The Duke of Monmouth presently shew'd how much his False Friends and Treacherous Flatterers had prevailed over his unwary Youth and how different they had taught him to be from the Obedience which at the same time was practised by his Royal Highness For the said Duke of Monmouth soon return'd into England contrary to His Majesties express Command The discontented Party having thus got him again and made him surer to themselves by this new Affront to His Majesty began now to take new Life and Vigor by his presence With insufferable Boldness and Contempt of Authority shewed him every where to the Rabble Leading him about with insolent Pomp through many Countries openly owning and crying him up as the Head of their Cause the unhappy Young-Man all the white not understanding that he was only a Property By these fatal steps he was was at last brought into the most pernicious Counsels and Undertakings And whilst nothing less was intended by his Tempters but the subversion of all that is well-settled and sacred in Church and State they deluded him into the very same Designs by popular Shews and empty Names of the Protestant Duke the great Champion and Protector of the Privileges of the Subject and the Reformed Religon Which under His Majesty can never want any other Protector nor can ever stand in need of such Champions as many of late have vaunted themselves to be of whole Religion there can be given no better Account than of their Loyalty Such then was the state of things when upon the first breaking forth of this Horrid Conspiracy His Majesty with inexpressible Surprize and Grief Found by undoubted Evidence the Duke of Monmouth very deeply engaged and therefore had but too just reason to put him into a Proclamation among the other Conspirators After that the said Duke had withdrawn himself from His Majesties Justice and so long was become incapable of his Forgiveness In this obstinate defiance the Duke of Monmouth continued till the Outlawry against him and other his Complices began to draw to an Issue Then His Majesty receiv'd from him the first Letter In which His Majesty fancy'd he saw a greater Spirit of Ingenuity than afterwards proved However finding in it so clear and full expressions of the said Dukes remorse for his former Disloyalty to His Majesty and Ingratitude to the Duke of York and so frank Professions of his Resolutions to amend for the future joyn'd with the greatest Imprecations on himself if he should wilfully violate his Promises therein made His Majesty did thereupon immediately return this Answer written with his own Hand that His Majesty might not be wanting on his part to lay hold on any good and probable Opportunity of reducing him to Reason and saving him from utter Ruine If the Duke of Monmouth desires to make himself capable of my Mercy he must render himself to the Secretary and resolve to tell me all he knows resigning himself entirely to my Pleasure This determinate Declaration of His Majesties Will drew from the Duke of Monmouth a second Letter wherein with vehement and pathetick Words he aggravates his Distraction and Torment for having offended His Majesty Confesses Himself in fault betray'd into fatal Mistakes misled into Mischiefs whereof he did not at first in the least suspect the Consequences declares That his Crime appear'd to him in so terrifying a shape that he preferr'd even Death before his present sense of it implores His Majesties Pardon no otherwise but if he may receive it by his Royal Highnesses Mediation professes To speak this not only in outward Form but with the greatest Sincerity in the World resigns Himself to His Majesties Disposal not only now but for the remainder of his Life engages Absolutely to put his very Will into His Majesties Hands for the future which he acknowledges had been so ill a Guide to him in times past concluding That
it was to take by it the advantage of entring more securely on a pew course of Disobedience The King has thus condescended to set-forth an Impartial Relation of the Beginning Proceeding and Defeat of that whole detestable Conspiracy His Majesty has so long delay'd the Publication of it chiefly in Consideration of many of the Criminals themselves how ill soever ever they may have deserv'd of him For the Law allowing them the space of a whole Year after the Outlawry to render themselves before they were to be look'd on as Men absolutely condemn'd His Majesty was willing to stay till the full time was expired still hoping that some of them would come voluntarily in and stand a Legal Tryal and if possible prove themselves Innocent But since not one of the Persons Outlaw'd has all this while ventured himself on the Laws of his Country His Majesty has now thought it not fit any longer to suppress the Evidence against them And what is here publish'd though it be not near the whole of the Informations given in upon Oath yet will be found abundantly sufficient to Convict every Man of them either of the intended Insurrection or Assassination Both which His Majesty knows are made out with as much clearness of Testimony and strength of indubitable Records as any Humane Affair is capable of What now remains But that His Majesty should engage himself before God and the whole World to make a right use of so great a Blessing as his Deliverance from these desperate Treasons and should with the Authority of a King and with the tender Affection of a true Father of his Country require and admonish all his Subjects of all Parties and Opinions to do the like For himself his Majesty cannot but be deeply sensible he has been now once more preserv'd by the immediate Hand of God and therefore looks on himself as afresh obliged to manifest his Gratitude to Heaven by promoting the Glory of his Preserver in continuing to consult above all things the Welfare of his Church and the Peace and Happiness of this great People committed to his Charge And His Majesty declares he will improve this new Advantage the Divine Favour has so marvellously put into his Hands not in Acts of Severity and Revenge which his Nature utterly abhors but by imitating the Divine Goodness as in a regular Course of strict Justice to all obdurate Impenitents so which he much rather desires in his usual method of Mercy and Kindness to as many as shall give sincere Proofs of Penitence and Reformation of their past Crimes Virtues which His Majesty has too much Reason to believe his and his Fathers Enemies have hitherto been very little acquainted with As for those His Majesties misguided Subjects who after all this persevere to be disaffected to His Government His Majesty has reason to expect that now at length they would be convinc'd by that very Providence which used to be their own principal and best-beloved Argument whenever it seem'd to be never so little on their side and that henceforth they would quietly submit to and follow the same Providence since it has so signally appear'd against them and much more wonderfully declar'd it self for than ever Mr. Sydney had reason to say it had declar'd against His Majesty If there can possibly still remain any well meaning Men in their Party led away by the specious Delusions of good Words abused to the worst things if any such have really thought their Lives and Fortunes Laws and Consciences at any time in Danger under His Majesties Government let them but Remember and consider sadly what was the Issue of the very same Jealousies Murmurs and Tumults against His Royal Father of Blessed Memory whether the first and most eminent Instruments of subverting for a time this Renown'd and ancient Monarchy were not themselves beguil'd by the same methods into the meanest Slavery both Spiritual and Temporal Out of which they were compell'd at last to confess they could be no other wise redeem'd but by returning again into the very same constitution of things they had so unwisely overthrown Or if the Experience of time past so dearly bought can prevail nothing on them let them but seriously reflect on their present Condition Instead of hardening to what wicked and designing Men under the most deceitful Colours suggest to them for Sinister Ends let them guide their Opinions by their own plain and sensible Observation Let them but fairly and indifferently compare the present State of all Nations round about them with their own And then let them refuse if they can to bless God and the King for their inexpressible advantages above all others Whilst dl His Majesties Subjects find they may if they will securely injoy Peace Plenty Liberty and the best Religion why should any Torment themselves or disquiet others with wild imaginations and Fears of future Evils Which nothing can be so ready a way to bring upon them as their own Fears Henceforth therefore let no vain pretence of Liberty and Property once more push them on to the same desperate Designs wherein when they had formerly success which they cannot always promise themselves yet even then it turn'd within a few Years to the Ruine of their own Pretences Let no mistaken Zeal of Conscience seduce them again to Disobedience since the only Obligations of a True Christian Conscience lead all to Obedience none to Rebellion Let them no longer be infatuated by the false Shews and Insinuations of Popularity Rather let them learn once for all who is the only true Patriot what is truly Popular what not Let them know That whoever complies with the common Peoples sudden Humors and changeable Passions against their solid Interest Whoever labours to make the whole Government obnoxious to any single Sect or Party Whoever strives to divide the Country or City from the Court Whoever endeavours to enlarge disputable Priviledges to the hazard of known Prerogatives In fine Whoever would pervert Liberty into Licentiousness that Man can never be a True Patriot all that is false Popularity It is indeed equally as Destructive to the People as to the Prince Those Counsels only are and ought to be esteem'd really Popular which proceed on sure and legal Foundations to confirm the Monarchy where it is strong to strengthen and support those parts of it which by length of time may have been somewhat weaken'd and decay'd those Persons only are the True Patriots and design their Countries Good the best and only sure way who make it their Business to keep the King in a condition to protect his People There is no true commendable English Popularity but true English Loyalty Thus much His Majesty vouchsafes to advise all His Enemies and discontented Subjects though even to them he has done all the Good in this World to oblige them not to be so There is one sort of these whom the King acknowledges he once thought he should never have had just Reason to
rank among his Enemies Those Persons His Majesty means who after having well approved their Loyalty to His Glorious Father in the last Age of Rebellion have yet since been either wholly perverted or have very much stagger'd in their due Obedience and Love to himself For them His Majesty declares he would fain still retain His wonted Kindness And if either private Envy or a too Presumptuous Value of their old Merits shall have made them entirely to forget the many vast Benefits and Favours that He or his Father have so liberally conferr'd on them or if the late groundless Rumors of Popery Slavery and Arbitrary Power shall have so far prevail'd as to sour and corrupt Them also yet they might remember that their Generous Loyalty did once before remain untainted and bravely stood the Shock amidst the very same Rumors and Slanders as popularly but as falsly urg'd then against the Government as they have been of late So that either then they were in the wrong or are now and cannot possibly have been both times on the right side Wherefore His Majesty conjures them to look back on the Actions of their former Lives and to make the Honour gotten by them in their Youth for their Courage and Fidelity to the Crown first a reproof then an example to their Old Age. Once for all let them seriously observe that they are come at last to be unfortunately deluded not only by many the very same ill Principles but also by many the very same ill Parties of Men which they once esteemed it their Glory and Conscience to fight against But as for all who still continue the Kings Faithful Friends and Dutiful Subjects His Majesty most willingly takes this occasion to speak to them in another Style His Majesty cannot but testifie to all the World the delightful sense he retains of their unmoveable Steddiness and renew'd Fidelity to him in these late times of extreme difficulty and distraction He cannot suppress within his own Royal Breast his Joy to find the same unshaken Principles and Practices of Loyalty to his Blessed Father still surviving and flourishng in them and inherited by himself with increase And after the unvaluable Mercy of God to him and his Subjects in his most happy Restoration His Majesty cannot but esteem This to have been equall'd by none but That that in so dangerous a Juncture of Publick Affairs he has met with so many unfeign'd Testimonies of Love to his Person and Zeal for his Government from all Degrees of Men in the Nation And if some have swerv'd from their Duty yet His Majesties Indignation and Resentments against them are overwhelm'd by the comfortable remembrance of the far greater and better Number of those who stood by him in the severest Trials So His Majesty has just reason to acknowledge the main Body of the Nobility and Gentry has done So has the whole sound and honest Part of the Commonalty So the great Fountains of Knowledge and Civility the Two Universities So the wisest and most Learned in the Laws So the whole Clergy and all the Genuine Sons of the Church of England A Church whose Glory it is to have been never tainted with the least Blemish of Disloyalty His Majesty cannot here forbear to let the World know what entire Satisfaction he has taken in one special Testimony of his Subjects Affections whence through Gods Gracious Providence the Monarchy has gain'd a most considerable Advantage by means of this very Conspiracy And it is that so great a Number of the Cities and Corporations of this Kingdom have since so freely resign'd their Local Immunities and Charters into His Majesties Hands lest the abuse of any of them should again hereafter prove hazardous to the just Prerogatives of the Crown This His Majesty declares he esteems as the peculiar Honour of his Reign being such as none of the most popular of all his late Royal Predecessors could have promis'd to themselves or hoped for Wherefore His Majesty thinks himself more than ordinarily oblig'd to continue as he has hitherto begun to shew the greatest Moduration and Benignity in the Exercise of so great a Trust Resolving upon this occasion to convince the highest pretenders to the Commonweal that as the Crown was the first Original so it is still the surest Guardian of all the Peoples Lawful Rights and Priviledges In Conclusion His Majesty makes this solemn Declaration to all his Loving Subjects That as by former and late Experience he has found next under God the firmness of his Friends to him has saved his Authority and Life So he is resolved to secure both by his Constancy to his Friends Such as was the Old Loyal Party and as many as have been bred up