frequently to profess in plain Terms That if their great Darling the Duke of Monmouth should be squeamish as they worded it in approving and Confirming what had been done in Heat of Blood then he 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 Opprobrious 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 extream 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 be 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 that 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 appears the said Lord was thereafter excluded from their Consultations for having been too lavish with his Tongue in reporting abroad what had been there transacted However it has been proved by unquestionable Evidence that presently after this Aaron Smith did set forth towards Scotland arrived there the Spring of that Year and by some indiscretion had like to have spoil'd the whole business Which to recover and to remove all suspicions
of Rebellion or some extraordinary Commotions Then at last in a tender respect to his Peoples Safety more than to his own was his Majesty constrain'd to awaken his Authority to try what good Effect the Vigour of his Laws would have on those Offenders with whom all his repeated Mercy and Indulgence had so little prevail'd Yet such was then his Majesties hard Fortune so firmly combined were the Disaffected especially by their Prevalent Interest in packing the Juries of London and Middlesex that whilst his Majesty carefully endeavour'd to distribute Impartial Justice to all his Subjects he could not obtain the same Right Himself his Enemies still becoming more numerous and united in those very places where their desperate Enterprises against the Government were likely to be most sudden and pernicious Amongst divers other infamous Examples of this Nature was that of Colledge the Joyner For though the Criminal was so mean a Man and no other ways considerable but for his audacious Forwardness in affronting the Government yet his Majesty with all his Royal Authority could hardly prevail to have him brought to a Fair and Legal Tryal Nor had his Majesty been able at last to procure so much Justice to be done had not the Process been removed into another County where the Rulers of the Faction being less powerful that new and damnable Opinion and Practice of the Lawfulness of Equivocating and even of Perjury for the Good Old cause had not prevailed over the old and honest English Principles of Truth and Honour However though in the end his Majesties Justice got the better at that time yet it was defeated in a greater and more important Instance that of the late Earl of Shaftsbury who had been long and reasonably suspected and in the issue was manifestly discovered to be the chief Author and supreme Manager of all these Trayterous Contrivances against his Majesties Crowns and Life The said Earl his Majesty had formerly pardon'd inrich'd enobled and advanc'd to one of the highest Stations in the Kingdom by a long Succession of manifold Bounties endeavouring to render his Abilities and Experience in Business serviceable to his King and beneficial to his Country Yet so treacherous and undermining was his Genius so unmeasurable his Ambition so impatient of quiet and moderate Courses so much fitter he was to be the Instrument of a Tyrant than the Servant of a Just and Good Prince that after many hainous Infidelities and Offences committed by him and forgiven by his Majesty he was at length necessitated to discharge him his Service yet so as to leave him one of the most considerable Peers in the Kingdom for Title and Estate But his aspiring and revengeful Spirit could not brook so gentle a disgrace Wherefore having deservedly been dismiss'd the Court he presently attempted to set the Country directly against it Immediately he profess'd himself the most zealous true Protestant and the greatest Patriot Thereby slily insinuating his designs into the Heads of all Sects and Divisions in Church and State To them betraying some vilifying others maliciously interpreting all his Majesties Counsels Making those very Consultations and resolutions of State whereof he had been the chief Adviser when he was in Power to be the principal objections against the Government when he was displaced Thus he and his party went boldly on to disturb the publick quiet and to affront his Majesties Authority with the highest Insolence In Words and Writings defaming it as Arbitrary and Tyrannical whilst in Deeds he insulted over it as believing it to be weak and resolving to make it despicable And all this with a secure confidence not only of Indempnity but Success Knowing himself to be under the protection of Juries of his own appointment or approbation And therefore presuming he was far out of the reach of his Majesties just Indignation And so for a time it unhappily proved For being legally indicted of Crimes of the highest Nature though the Evidence against him was cleer and positive some of the Witnesses being the very same Men whose Testimony had been approved of in the prosecution of Oats's Plot And the very Original draught of a treasonable Association having been actually found in his Custody yet he could not be brought to a Lawful Trial by his Peers the Indictment being stifled by a shameful Ignoramus and that accompanied with so much Insolence that the very Ministers of his Majesties Justice were in much more danger than the Criminal and hardly escap'd the rude Assaults of his Confederates and Party However from so great a Violation of Common Right and of the Royal Dignity his Majesty gain'd this very considerable Advantage That thenceforth he plainly perceived the main Strength of all his Enemies Arrogance lay in their Extravagant Power to pack the City-Juries For what Treason might not the Earl of Shaftsbury securely Project or Ferguson Write or an Association Act against the Government whilst Goodenough and a setled Club was at hand with their Corrupt Pannels to Indempnifie and if need were to second and applaud their most Villanous Practices Wherefore his Majesty foreseeing how destructive in time the Effects of so great and growing a Mischief would be resolved at length after many Intolerable Provocations to strike at that which he had now found to be the very Root of the Faction This his Majesty and all wise and good Men perceiv'd could be no other ways done than first by reducing the Elections of the Sheriffs of London to their Antient Order and Rules that of late were become only a Business of Clamour and Violence And then to make Inquiry into the Validity of the City-Charter it self which an ill Party of Men had abused to the Danger and would have done it to the Destruction of the Government had they been suffer'd to go on never so little farther uncontroul'd In both these most just and necessary Undertakings the Righteousâ—â—â—â— of his Majesties Cause met with an answerabâ—â—â—uccess First notwithstanding all the Tuâ—â—â—â—uous Riots the Factious Party committed 〈◊〉 â—isturb the peaceable Issue of that Affair y 〈…〉 undoubted Right of the Lord Mayor's Nâ—â—â—â—ating the eldest Sheriff was restored and estabâ—â—â—â—ed And so the Administration of Justice once more put in a way of being cleared from Partiality and Corruption And then a due Judgment was obtain'd by an equal Process of Law against the Charter it self and its Franchises declared forfeited to his Majesty But though this happy Event of his Majesties Controversie with the disaffected part of the City of London was in all Humane probability the only effectual Course to provide for the future Peace and Stability of the Government yet it had like to have proved a present Occasion of its utter Ruine For when so many guilty Persons found that the great Point of the Sheriffs was resetled on its Antient Bottom and the City-Charter it self in hazard of being speedily vacated so that now there would be no farther evasion for them by any pretence of
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 Cockran 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 Melvil Cockran 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 â—â—â—cted to the Lairds of Polwart and Torwoodâ—â—â—â— 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 Holmes 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 affirm'd 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 be 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 Money 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 21 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 sent into Scotland where he was brought to discover the whole Intrigue acknowledg'd That he himself was the B. or Butler mention'd in the Letters That those superscrib'd to West and Robert Thomson were directed to Major Holmes under those false Names That he the said Spence could open the Letters and explain the way of reading them which he did and then justified upon Oath the Explanation he had made to be according to their true sense It happen'd also at the same time whilst Spence was under close Examination that Mr. Gray of Crechie a Scotch Gentleman
compleat Deduction of the said Earl's part in the design'd Insurrection Immediately after the Cyphers this follows in words at large The Total Sum is 128 Guilders and 8 Stivers that will be paid you by Mr. B. Which last Clause was the Rule whereby Mr. Gray found out and Spence discover'd the Decyphering of the whole Letter and it was accordingly done by each of them apart by making eight Columns and placing 128 words in each Column descending as upon view of the Authentick Printed Copies will appear to any Man beyond all Contradiction In short this Letter of the late Earl of Argyle's was known by many of the Privy Council there to be his Hand and his own Lady upon Oath deposed She knew it to be his though she did not know the Contents of it And such is the Account that is to be given of the said Earl of Argyle's Loyalty which he had desir'd might be the only Standard in what sense he would take the Test. Hitherto he had been by Inheritance Lord High Admiral and Justice General of Argyle Tarbat and the Isles and great Master of the Houshold He was by his Majesty put into Places of great Dignity and Trust he was made extraordinary Lord of the Session one of his Majesties Privy Council and one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury And after his Fathers Condemnation for the highest Crimes and his own Forfeiture of his Honour and Estate for Treasonable Expressions in a Letter of his he was restor'd to all his Father possess'd except the Title of Marquiss But notwithstanding all these and many more Obligations of the like nature which he had to his Majesty his fondness of esteem with the Factious People his aversion to Monarchy and hatred of the Royal Family particularly of the Duke of York led him to this height of Ingratitude This and divers other Letters of the like traiterous importance all written with Argyle's own Hand being at one and the same time taken about Major Holmes the Person chiefly intrusted by the said Earl to receive and convey all his Correspondences with England and Scotland it cannot be doubted but very many more Papers of the same dangerous Tenor had been this way interchang'd between him and the English and Scotch Conspirators during the whole progress of the Conspiracy Especially considering that in some of these the Earl of Argyle refers to some Expressions and Propositions which he says he had made in others and there are no such Expressions to be met with in all these Letters that are taken Besides that with the Letters themselves there were also seiz'd about Holmes several Alphabets and a Key of Words whereas of one of the Alphabets there has been as yet no use found in Decyphering and though in the Key there are Eighty new-coyn'd Words yet not above Six of them are made use of in all the parcel of the said Earl's Letters hitherto intercepted However by the Light these Letters gave so well agreeing with several other Intelligences receiv'd from many Hands his Majesties Council of Scotland were abundantly convinc'd that the the Bloody Design had reach'd thither also and therefore immediately order'd the bottom of the Business to be search'd into by a Secret Committee Whereupon Warrants were issued out there to apprehend Walter Earl of Tarras Brother-in-Law to the Duke of Monmouth Sir Patrick Hume Laird of Polwart Pringle Laird of Torwoodlie James Murray Laird of Philiphaugh and Hugh Scot Laird of Gallowshiels all of them being Persons named by Carstares and others as Partakers with Argyle in this Treason as they had been formerly most active with him in endeavouring to disturb the Loyal Proceedings of the Parliament for enacting the Test. Of these the Laird of Polwart and Torwoodlie having been the most busie and so conscious of their greater guilt conceal'd themselves and have hitherto escaped the other three were taken and brought to Edenburg where they freely confess'd upon Oath As did also Commissary Monroe who had been sent thither Prisoner out of England All which Depositions and Confessions they again repeated and confirm'd in the same solemn manner at the Tryal of Mr. William Baillie of Jerviswood The Earl of Tarras without either craving or receiving any security for himself did ingenuously confess That about the time when Sir John Cockran and Commissary Monroe got their Commission from the Carolina Company for London Mr. Baillie desir'd him to speak to Monroe that he might be added to the Commission Telling him that he was resolved to go to London however upon his own charges For that his and their going about the Carolina business was only a Pretence and a Blind but the true design was to push forward the People of England who did nothing but talk to go more effectually about their business That thereupon the said Baillie did settle a correspondence with the Deponent whereby the one was to give an account what past between the Country party in England and the Scotch Men there the other to write back what occurr'd in Scotland That the said Baillie told him the only way to secure the Protestant Religion was for the King to suffer the Parliament to sit and pass the Bill of Exclusion Which the King might be induc'd to do if the Parliament would take sharp and brisk Measures with him That after the said Baillie went to London he did give the Deponent account by Letters how things were in great disorder there but he hoped effectual courses were taking to remedy them That Mr. Robert Martin did come to Mr. Pringles of Torwoodlie in May 1683 and brought the Deponent a Letter from the said Baillie then at London That Martin told the Deponent things in England were in great disorder and like to come to a height but the Country Party were considering of Methods for securing the Protestant Religion That the Scotch-Men at London had ask'd 30000 Pounds but that Argyle was to have 10000 l. which Sum was to be sent by Baillie into Holland to buy Arms and then Argyle was to Land with those Arms in the West-Highlands of Scotland The Earl of Tarras deposed farther That Philiphaugh and he went to Gallowshiels House where they met with Polwart and Gallowshiels That there it was discours'd among them that in case the English should rise in Arms it was necessary so many as could be got on the Borders should be in readiness to deal with Straglers and Seize on Horses and thereafter joyn with those that were in Arms on the Borders of England That then it would be convenient to surprize Berwick Stirling and some other strong places That some Persons should be employ'd to inquire what Arms were in the Country That it was resolv'd every one should speak to and prepare such particular Persons as they could trust not at first in plain terms but indirectly and upon supposition of a Rising in England That there was a Word and Sign to be used among them the sign was by loosing
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 the Lord Russel and by the known Integrity of Sir Leolyn Jenkins Sir John Ernly and his Majesties Atturney-General and Sollicitor-General who receiv'd the Examination and have attested the Alteration The Lord Russel likewise 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 assur'd him that those discourses and consultations not reveald 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 Argyle ' 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 no return 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 desir'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 Money rais'd at the time but if they had 10000 l. to begin that would draw People in and when they were once in they would soon be brought to more 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 to affirm on the word of a Dying Man He knew nothing of any Design against the King or Kingdom either they did grosly prevaricate with him or he with them His Majesty has judg'd it convenient that the whole Proceeding with the Lord Russel should be thus particularly recollected as well that one great Instance for all might be given of the Impartiality and fair course in which the publick Justice was
That the Scotch-Men sent for by Smiths Message did come and staid in Town till upon the Discovery of the Plot they were either taken or absconded By this plain Evidence of the several Stages of Smith's Journy that Treasonable intercourse with Scotland was made out beyond all possibility of Confutation So that from the very time of the Consultations at Mr. Hambdens and the Lord Russel's about sending a Messenger the Truth of Colonel Sydneys undertaking to send one of his naming Aaron Smith for the Messenger of Smith's going to Scotland of the Scotch Mens coming up that were sent for and of their being surprized endeavouring to hide themselves upon the first breaking forth of the Plot all this appears to be indisputably confirm'd and trac'd step by step almost from Day to Day especially if these Newcastle Mens Depositions shall be compar'd with the Testimony that is subjoin'd of two Scotch-Men Thomas Steil and Oliver concerning Aaron Smith's actual arrival in Scotland and what he did whilst he was there at that time The issue was Mr. Hambden was immediately found Guilty of the High Trespass and Misdeameanor and thereupon fined 40000 l. to the King and order'd to give Sureties for his Good Behavior during Life A Punishment that cannot but be esteem'd very moderate considering the Nature of his Crime which nothing but the want of another positive Witness could have made less than High Treason And the King cannot but here take this occasion once for all to give the World Notice of this Infallible Instance of his mild and merciful Proceedings towards the Conspirators For his Majesty does solemnly declare That if he had not granted the Duke of Monmouth's Request That he would not make him a Witness neither Mr. Hambden nor scarce any one Man of all those that were freed upon Bail had escaped Death Not to mention divers others whom the said Duke of Monmouth named as Parties in the Conspiracy that were never yet question'd On the 14th of June 1684. Sir Thomas Armstrong having been taken in Holland was brought to the Kings-Bench-Bar upon an Outlawry against him for High Treason Whereupon the Kings Atturney demanded An Award of Execution Since upon his not appearing when formerly Indicted of High Treason he was now by the course of Law attainted for the same Armstrong being ask'd What he could say for himself alledg'd He was beyond Sea at the time of the Outlawry and beg'd he might be Try'd It was answer'd That after a Record of Outlawry the Judges had nothing to do but to appoint Execution Against this Armstrong urg'd That by the Statute of the 6th of Edward the Sixth the Person Outlaw'd had a Years time to Reverse the Outlawry if he were beyond Sea The Bench reply'd That by the plain words of that Statute none could have the benefit of it but such as within one Year should yield themselves to the Chief Justice of England and offer to Traverse the Indictment upon which the Outlawry was Pronounc'd To this Armstrong pleaded That the Year not being yet out he did now render himself to the Chief Justice But that Plea not being admitted because he did not yield himself according to the sense of the Act but was brought a Prisoner and so could have no Advantage of the Proviso in the Statute Armstrong alledg'd That the same Favour had been lately granted to another meaning Holloway who though he was in the same Condition of Outlawry yet was offer'd to take his Tryal if he pleas'd It was answer'd That was done out of the meer Grace and Favour of the King who if his Majesty thought good might extend the like Favour to him also But that was not the business of a Court of Justice they were only to take care to satisfie the Law Moreover the Kings Atturney acquainted the Court That the Prisoner at the Bar deserv'd no sort of Indulgence or Mercy from the King not only for that when he was seiz'd beyond Sea Letters of fresh Communication with Foreign Ministers and other People were taken about him but also because it appear'd to his Majesty by full Evidence positively given That after the Disappointment of the Meeting at the Rye by Gods Providence in the Fire at Newmarket Armstrong was one of the Persons that actually engag'd to go upon the Kings hasty coming to Town and to destroy him by the way as he came Then was he order'd to be Executed June the 20th At the place of Execution he likewise deliver'd the Sheriffs a Paper wherein he continued to Object against the legal Course of the Proceedings upon him complaining That with an unordinary roughness he had been condemn'd and made a President though Holloway being also Outlaw'd had his Tryal offer'd him a little before As to the new Evidence against him which the Kings Atturney mention'd at the Kings-Bench he only answer'd it by a bold and flat denial affirming upon his Death He never had any Design against the Kings Life nor the Life of any Man both which may be easily allow'd to be equally true But to evince the contrary as to the Kings Life it will be sufficient to set down the very words of the Lord Howard's Deposition together with the Testimony of Colonel Romzey which the Kings Atturney had then ready to produce amongst many other old and clear Proofs to convince him of designing the Kings Destruction The Lord Howard having first confess'd some Discourse between the Duke of Monmouth and himself in October of 1683 wherein the said Duke had proposed the falling on the King at Newmarket goes on in these words Upon Reflection I am apt to think that from this time and not before the Design of way-laying the King in his return to London was first meditated And I am the more confirm'd in this Opinion from the Consideration of the Behaviour of the Duke of Monmouth and the Lord Gray who seem'd to be very big of expectation of some great thing to be attempted upon the Day of the Kings coming from Newmarket upon which Day as I have before observ'd Sir Thomas Armstrong was not be found till the Kings Coaches were come into Town And I do verily believe he was to have Headed the Party This very Particular the Lord Howard gave in upon Oath among his first Confessions to his Majesty Nor can any Man think it sufficient to invalidate the Truth of this that Armstrong in his last Paper calls it a base Reflection affirming He could have prov'd it to be a manifest Falshood considering that Colonel Romzey also upon notice of Armstrong's being taken made Oath in these very words Sir Thomas Armstrong did come to me the Sunday-Night after the Fire at Newmarket and told me That he just came from Ferguson and that notwithstanding the King and Duke were to return so soon yet Ferguson did not doubt to have Men ready by that time to do the Business and desired me to go with him to Ferguson's Lodging in his Coach
which I did When I came there Ferguson told me the same but that they wanted Money Upon which Sir Thomas desired me to Lend some and he would see me Repaid and added That if he had been in Stock he would have done it himself After this the King could not think himself in the least bound to go out of the way of the Law for shewing any distinguishing Act of Grace to Sir Thomas Armstrong especially when it is manifest there was scarce a Man living who had more Personal obligations to his Majesty than he had and yet no Man had made more ungrateful returns for them than he had done Nor could his Majesty forget how many other Persons and some very near his Majesty Sir Thomas Armstrong had been the Chief Instrument of perverting Upon which account his Majesty had reason to look on him as the Author of many more Treasons besides his own There is now scarce any thing material left unmention'd relating to the Proof either of the Assassination or Insurrection but what may be readily supplied by any intelligent Reader out of the Original Records of Informations and Confessions whereof by his Majesties Command there are Copies annext to this Narration for an Authentick Confirmation of its Truth Only the King is pleas'd that a more particular account should be given than has been hitherto made Publick of the Duke of Monmouth's rendring himself of the Reasons then moving his Majesty to grant him his Pardon and of what happen'd immediately upon it which occasion'd the said Dukes final Disgrace and Banishment from his Majesties presence As to the late Earl of Essex's Murdering himself in the Tower some few Days after his Imprisonment there His Majesty cannot think it becomes him to descend to any particular Justification of his own or his Ministers Innocency in that Calamitous Accident Though his Majesty is not Ignorant that divers most Malicious Pamphlets have been lately spread abroad in English and other Languages which with an unparellell'd Impudence have accus'd several Persons of eminent Virtue and Honour about his Majesty not sparing even his Royal Highness nay scarce freeing the King himself from being Personally Conscious of so Base and Barbarous an Action But after the Truth of the whole matter has been carefully examin'd and asserted by the Coroners Inquest whose proper Business it was and after Braddon has suffer'd the Punishment of the Law for Suborning even Children to bear false Witness in the Case and after the Notoriety of the Fact and all the Circumstances of it have been so clearly made out that there is not a Man in all England of an honest Mind or sound Sense who does in the least doubt it his Majesty disdains to enter into dispute with every Petulant Scribler or to answer the villanous Suggestions and horrid Calumnies contain'd particularly in the Libel call'd The Detection and in the Epitome of it the one written by Ferguson the other by Danvers both infamous Men and mortal Enemies to his Majesties Government and Person Yet his Majesty cannot but think it deserves Observation That when the late Earl of Essex had so many considerable Relations and Alliances with divers the greatest Families in the Kingdom and when neither his Lady nor Brother nor any one of all his Numerous Friends and Noble Kindred who were most nearly concern'd did ever express the least Jealousie of foul dealing or ill practise upon the said unfortunate Earl and when all Mens Eyes are open'd and scarce a Man of their own Party has any scruple in his Thoughts about that Business yet that now at last their old Advocate of Treason Ferguson should come forth in Print to out-face so clear a Demonstration of Truth and should try still to turn the Envy of that unhappy Stroak on the Court and the King and his dearest Brother It cannot but seem a prodigious Confidence and Presumption that Ferguson should be their chosen Champion in this Cause The Man who by so many Depositions stands Outlaw'd and Convict of having had the greatest share in the blackest part of the Conspiracy The Man in accusing whom almost every Witness both Scotch and English consented so that his Crimes have been proved by more than Twenty plain Evidences particularly the Duke of Monmouth himself having confess'd to his Majesty That in all their Debates Ferguson was always for Cutting of Throats saying That was the most Compendious Way That this very Ferguson should so far make good his own words at parting when he vow'd He would never be out of a Plot as long as he liv'd That now in his Banishment under the load of so many undeniable Treasons he should still appear as the great Patron of the Old Cause and should presume he can impose on the World in a matter of Fact so fully try'd so clearly prov'd and determined What can be a greater Impudence than that Ferguson should still expect that he could make any Man living believe the King himself or the Duke of York could ever be induced to practise his Compendious Way on the Earl of Essex However from this one instance the King hopes the World will judge how most Injuriously and Barbarously he has been used by his Adversaries in their other Libels against him in most of which it is well known the same venemous Pen was employ'd As for the deplorable end of the said Earl his Majesty freely owns there was no Man in his Dominions more deeply afflicted with it than himself His Majesty having been thereby deprived of an extraordinary Opportunity to exercise his Royal Clemency and to testifie to all his Loyal Subjects and Old Friends how highly he valued the Memory and Sufferings of the Lord Capel Next himself his Majesty thinks he is also bound in common Justice to declare That his entirely beloved Brother was most tenderly concern'd and griev'd at that lamentable Effect of the Earl of Essex's Despair His Majesty being best able upon his own knowledge to vouch for the Duke of York That he never deserv'd ill of the said Earl and was always most readily inclined for both their Fathers sakes to have forgiven whatever ill the Earl of Essex had done to him Now touching his Majesties Pardoning the Duke of Monmouth and what followed upon it the King is pleased this Account shall be given The World needs not be told with what extraordinary regret to his Majesty the said Duke was of late Years perverted from that sense of his Duty 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 fly 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