Prince but as a Parricide Will any body say that if the most Christian King continues these Projects it will of necessity behove the Confederates to make use of the same means Would they have Villany punish'd by Villany Or that if great Sums of Money must be given to rid themselves of their Enemies and put an end to the War all at once by destroying the Head of the Party by Assassination will any body deny but that France will sooner want Money then the Consederates or at least that the Princes of the League are not rich enough to constrain the most Christian King to stand upon his Guard in that particular He can lay claim to no Immortality nor to being Invulnerable no more then his Predecessors Henry III. or Henry IV. 'T is true these detestable Ways of Destroying an Enemy by a violent and hasten'd Death by Poyson or Dagger are open to the Confederates as well as for the most Christian King But God forbid that ever any one of the most Serene Confederates should ever have so black a Thought They have study'd another sort of Morality in the School of Vertue Their Piety and the Niceness of their Consciences abhor and detest those Principles which deduc'd their Original from Hell and and which were never preach'd in France but by the JESUITES nor so much as taught ambitious Princes by Matchiavel himself We are thoroughly convinc'd that France sufficiently ingenious to conceal the unlucky untucky Blows which she receives from Fortune will endeavour to escape the Ignominy which this detestable Enterprize will six upon her by a study'd Apology compos'd by some one of her most able and dextrous Ministers Methinks I hear already the Count d' Avaux in one of the Northern Courts and M. Amelot among the Switzers loudly protesting that the most Christian King their Master had no hand in this Attempt but that it was form'd by the JACOBITES in England without ever being communicated to his knowledge But this has been the Language of that Prince in all the preceding Conspiracies witness that of Granval The Court of France laid all the load upon her Ministers and threw all the Blame upon the deceas'd Marquis of Louvois and his Son M. d' Barbesieux All this while the world knows under what a sort of awe the Ministers of France live had they made the least step without the Kings knowledge there would have needed no more to have render'd their Fidelity suspected and to have disgrac'd'em for ever The Ministers of the Court of France are too wary of preserving their Posts to commit such Mistakes there being nothing transacted within that Kingdom with which the King is not acquainted In short if the King of France as he gives out in Foreign Courts had no hand in the late discover'd Conspiracy Whence came that numerous FLEET which of a sudden was Rendezvous'd together in the Ports of Dunkirk Callis Bologne and Havre de Grace Did that Potent Preparation fall from the Clouds So many Troops drawn down together to the Sea-side were they sent to Guard the Coasts of France at a time when the Enemies FLEET was only fitting out half Mann'd and not in a probability of putting to Sea till the end of April What did M. Boufflers and so many French Generals do at Dunkirk For what reason did K. James leave St. Germains For what reason take his leave so solemnly of all the Court and flye to take shipping at Callis To what end the Prayers of Fourty Hours and the publication of a Jubilee Will the most Christian King say that all this was done without his being made acquainted with it K. James having left St. Germains the 28th of February came to St. Denis's where he perform'd his Devotions and after he had begg'd of God in his fervent Prayers to bless his Expedition he sent for a Publick Notary whom he order'd to draw up an Act for the Sum of 500 Thousand Livres which he had borrow'd of certain Merchants for which he gave 'em in Pawn the Queen his Wives Jewels Besides this Sum the most Christian King Orders Six Millions to be paid him forthwith and made him a Present over and above of a little Chest containing a Hundred Thousand Louidores in Specie to defray his Houshold Expences France did not shew him all these Kindnesses for nothing She exacted at the same time real Engagements from the Caress'd Prince that is to say a Contract or Deed acknowledg'd before a Publick Notary by which K. James obliges himself to pay back to the most Christian King after his Restauration not only the Sum lent him for his Passage but all that France had disburs'd for his Support during his abode in that Kingdom The most Christian King I say lends all his Forces to this miserable Prince spares him his best Generals to command his Troops and suffers him to want nothing for the Execution of a Design that was to reseat him upon hi Throne And all this acted in the full view of all Europe But the Enterprize miscarrying the most Christian King Orders his Ministers to tell us That he had no hand in it 'T is not the first time that the Frehch Monarch has talk'd at this rate But the Confederates are no longer to be deluded with Words not will all the Water in the Seine be able to wash away a Crime so black as this which has been committed in the sight of God and all Christendom by the Assassination intended to have been perpetrated upon the Sacred Person of King WILLIAM complotted at Verfeilles the 1st of October in the Year 1695. Let us conclude then that the most Christian King being the Principal Author of this detestable Attempt all the shame of it rebounds back upon his own Person K. James is a feeble and impuissant Prince of himself 'T is true that he was bred in Slaughter and Butchery his whole Life has been a continual Train of Tragical Deaths Attentates and Conspiracies Witness the innocent Blood which he has shed during his abode in England But this Unfortunate Prince notwithstanding the depravement of his natural Disposition and his unbridl'd false Zeal for Religion could have done nothing of himself had not the most Christian King supported him You 'll say perhaps that France is a weary of paying him his Pensions and that She would be glad to be rid of him Let it be which way it will the most Christian King is He that is look't upon as the principal Author of this intended Perpetration an Act which in After-Ages all good Christian Princes will look upon with Horror and which now renders him unworthy of the Gorious Title of most Christian King 'T is a long time that the Council of France had been hatching this Monster which she was about to have brought forth as may easily appear if we reflect upon the Conduct of her Ministers in Foreign Courts For when the Popes Nuncio'd redoubl'd their Importunities to persuade the
his Coronation and of the Publick Entry of the Queen his Royal Consort to give some marks of his Clemency to the Prisoners of the Bastile and to render the Act so much the more August he laid a Design of going in Person To which purpose between three and four a Clock in the Afternoon his Majesty took Coach at the Entrance into the Louvre admitting only the Dukes of Espernon Monthason Roquelaure and three other Lords to go along with him who rode altogether in the Kings Coach the Guards being forbid to follow him That Order and that moment of Time prov'd fatal to the Life of that magnanimous Prince For Ravilliac as he declar'd himself at the place of Execution having a long time before premeditated the Assassination of his Majesty follow'd him to the Street call'd La Rue de la Ferronerie before St. Clements Church-Yard where seeing the King's Coach stopp'd by some Carts and the Monarch leaning toward the Duke of Espernon with whom he was in Discourse the Monster animated by the Devil got up upon the Fore-wheel of the Coach and with his Knife made on purpose gave the King two Stabs into the Breast and bereav'd him of his Life in the midst of his Bravest Generals Both which Blows wore given with that swiftness that they were hardly perceiv'd The first enter'd between his fifth and sixth Rib pierc'd his Heart and reach'd the hollow Vein which being cut that great Prince lost his Speech and his Life both together As for the second it only ras'd the Skin without any more hurt No body saw the Blow Struck so that if the Parricide had but flung away the Knife it could never have been known who was the Author of that detestable Fact Presently the six Lords that were with the King alighted and some sought for the Parricide while others went to help the King but one of 'em seeing he had lost his Speech and that the Blood ran out of his mouth cry'd out The King is Dead Upon which words the People were all in a hurry and such a terrible Despair seiz'd 'em that they threw themselves into the Shops adjoining as if the City had been taken by the Enemy One of the Lords observing the Disorder bethought himself of giving it out That the King was only wounded and that he was fallen into a swoon They call'd for Wine and while they ran to fetch it they pull'd down the Boots of the Coach telling the People That seeing the King was only wounded they would have him carry'd back to the Louvre to be dress't The Queen in her Cabinet receiv'd the doleful Tidings over-whelm'd with sorrow and in a strange Consternation was going to meet the Body of her dear Monarch but being met by the Chancellor he put a stop to her Upon whose approach the Queen all in Tears cry'd out Alas the King is Dead To whom the Chancellor without the least Disorder in his Countenance because the Affairs of the Kingdom then requir'd it Your Majesty must excuse me Kings never die in France And so having persuaded her to return into her Cabinet We must have a care said he least our Tears render our Affairs desperate we must reserve them till another time There are those that weep both for You and Vs 'T is for your Majesty to take care both of Vs and your self We have need of Remedies and not of Tears After such a fatal Stroak which put all France in Mourning it may be said That the Rage of the Jesuites who had the greatest share in the Fact was in some measure assuag'd Tho' when we consider the Benefits which they had receiv'd from that Prince and the Signal Proofs of his Clemency which he had given 'em since their being recall'd into France who would have thought this Monarch should have been a Victim to their Fury In the Year 1625. in the Month of May this Prince had given 'em leave to pull down the Pyramid erected before the Palace in the Place where John Chastel was born who had been a Student in their Colledge and was set up for an Eternal Monument of Infamy to the Jesuites who had set 'em on to attempt the Life of this Prince For on the top of the Pillar were to be seen Plates of Marble whereon were Engrav'd in Letters of Gold the Decree of the Court of Parliament against John Chastel and the Jesuites and over the four Corners were set up four Statues of four Vertues There was reason enough to believe That this Monument would have stood many Ages but the King in hopes that the Remembrance of his Favours would have engag'd the Jesuites to live more Christian like for the future out of a Horror which they ought to have had of so many Attempts against his Life commanded the Lieutenant Civil Miron to cause it to be pull'd down and to Erect a Fountain in the same place which was done The more Curious were pleas'd to say when the four Statues were pull'd down among which was the Statue of Justice That Justice had erected the Pillar but that the King's Clemency had pull'd it down On the other side they who abhorr'd the Jesuites Doctrine that Taught the Assassination of Princes made the four following Verses SIR if you needs will blot from Time to come The Memory of th' Assassin Chastel's Doom By Monument pull'd down that Justice did ordain It is but just to have Your * For Chastel with the force of the Blow struck out one of the King's Teeth Tooth again But notwithstanding this and whatever else was publish'd or written against the Jesuites that Monarch persever'd in giving 'em all the marks imaginable of his Goodness and Clemency which lasted till the end of his Life Three Weeks also before he was Assassinated by Ravaillac he sent for the Brass Plate from the Printer John le Clerc which was made in the Year 1595. to the end there might not remain the least Footstep of their Infamy So many Illustrious Proofs of that Princes Love toward those perfidious People plainly demonstrate to us on the one side the natural Inclination of that Prince to do good and on the other the Infidelity and Treachery of those Authors who teach the Art of Assassinating Kings and who were never satisfy'd till they had embru'd their Parricide Hands in the Blood of their Benefactor We must therefore conclude from all that has been said concerning the cruel Assassination of Hen. IV. complotted by the Jesuites and put in execution by the detestable Ravaillac that so long as there are any Jesuites in the world the Art of Assassinating Kings will be taught in the World and that according to this Principle every good Roman Catholick Prince as well as Protestant will be expos'd to the Fury of these Assassinates So that all Monarchs or Soveraigns in Europe who are not the Jesuites Friends or rather who are not the Executors of their execrable Designs or who contemn their Counsels in
offer'd But as for You Monsieur Dauphin 't is hop'd that your Inclinations will not lead you to follow this Great Exemplar We are sensible that you like the deceased Prince of Conde abhor such Treacherous Actions as these unworthy of a great Hero more especially a Christian Prince one day design'd to wear one of the most August Crowns in Christendom All Europe looks upon You as one that will restore that Peace and Tranquility which your Father 's unjust Claims have banish'd from among the Christian Princes If it be the Pleasure of Heaven that ever you come to the Crown we most justly flatter our selves that France was never so happy as it will be then Your Subjects will be deliver'd from the Burthens of a thousand Imposts Trade will be restor'd Arts and Sciences will flourish the Nobility of the Kingdom will reassume their Ancient Splendor the Parliaments and Sovereign Courts will again enjoy that Authority of which they have been despoil'd the Neighbouring Princes will have a plenary Confidence in your Royal Word your Treaties will be inviolable and you will be lookt upon in all the Courts of Europe as a Prince that treads in the Steps of your Illustrious Ancestors and not pursue the Vices of two Monarchs that strike a Horror of their Actions into the Hearts of all the Christian Princes Call to mind Sir the Precepts of the Wise Plato That the Laws have a Power over Kings as well as Subjects So long as you take such Principles for the Rule of your Actions you will be the Love of your Subjects the Glory of your Age and the Greatest King in the World All Europe Sir conjures you to inculcate these Noble Lessons into the young Princes your Sons who are one day to succeed you 't is time to do it but more especially to infuse into their tender years an Aversion and Abhorrency of the Detestable Principles of their Grandfather condemned by all good men Instil into them this noble Thought of Aristotle He whom the People will not admit for King is a Tyrant so long as they have the Love of the People they will be worthy to wear a Crown This is that which is the greatest Glory of that Prince whom the Most Christian King your Father and his Allie King James would have Assassinated he is passionately belov'd of his Subjects and consequently worthy to be their King This Love it is which assures him of their Fidelity which establishes his Throne and renders it immoveable and which is the Reason that his Subjects will spend the last drop of their Blood for the Preservation of his Sacred Person The want of this Love so necessary for Princes that will Govern according to Law was the cause of King James's Misfortunes and that which renders him the most miserable of Monarchs But would to Heaven that this were the only Stain that renders him odious all the Christian Princes of Europe would then have no reason to upbraid him with the most detestable of all Crimes the meditated Assassination of King William But let us return to the most Christian King If we consider what happen'd upon the Birth of that Prince we shall meet with nothing but what is surprizing All France before that was in great Affliction and all in Tears besought of God an Heir to the Crown After two and twenty Years of Barrenness the Queen-Mother conceiv'd and she brough forth a Successor to Lewis XIII But what Successor A Prince that came into the World with Two Teeth A strange Prodigy and the most surprizing that has happen'd in our days When the Soothsayers of Italy were consulted by Expresses which the deceased M. de Colbert sent thither they answer'd That the Prince newly born with Two Teeth should with One of his Teeth tear his Subjects with the Other the Princes of Europe his Neighbours In a word never was Horoscope better fulfill'd The Commencements of his Reign are full of Prodigies and hitherto the End has been no less surprizing Hardly was he arriv'd at the Age of Majority but he began with reforming the greatest part of his Ministers He despoils the Parliaments and Soveraign Courts of all they had which was most August the Supream Authority He humbled the Nobility of his Kingdom impoverish'd his Subjects by an infinite number of new Taxes He raises great Armies to keep 'em under Submission and Respect He fortifies the greatest part of the Strong Holds in his Kingdom to enslave the whole and serve as Ramparts to his Ambition He le ts loose his Fury against the See of Rome and he alone commits more Attentats against the Soveraign Pontiffs then all his Predecessors together had ever done After these happy Beginnings he studies Machiavel and got him so well by Heart that his whole Reign was but a Tissue of that Author's Precepts He observes 'em to the most minute Maxims and by the help of Mazarin he became so Great a Master in the Art of Reigning that the Bounds of France could no longer contain him There is not any Prince in Europe that has not been a Victim to his Ambition If he makes Alliances 't is only to aggrandize himself by Violation of his Oaths If he declares War 't is unjust because his only Aim is the Invasion of his Neighbour's Dominions If he concludes a Peace 't is only to break it to morrow and that he may have new Pretences to recommence the War In a word there is no Sovereign Prince no Elector in the Empire no Republick in Europe that is not sensible of the Effects of his cruel Domination The present War has thrown its dismal Firebrands into all the Corners of the World All Christendom enjoy'd a profound Peace at what time the most Christian King sent Armies of Incendiaries with lighted Flambeaux in their hands to Fire the most Noble Cities of Germany This dismal Conflagration after it had reduced the Palatinate into Ashes was extended by the hands of M. de Boufflers all along the Rhine the Moselle and thence through all Flanders and Brabant and so over-running like a Mad-man and a Fury all the open Country he burnt all before him sparing neither Churches nor Monasteries All these Cruelties were acted in view of all the Princes of Europe but there was none but King William who applied himself in earnest to stop the Career of France The People of England call'd this Great Prince to their Succour because the most Christian King Reign'd no less in the Three Kingdoms of Great Britain then in France by virtue of the Cruelties which King James his Confederate exercis'd therein King William passes the Sea supported by the hands of Providence he is received with all the Honours immaginable by the Nobility of the Kingdom and by the People The Crown is presented to him and he is desired to accept it which he does after Long Importunities because the present Condition of the Affairs of Europe and the Safety of the Common-weal engag'd
him to it By that means he gave a deadly Blow to France so much the rather because she little dreamt of such a Revolution Thereupon after that the most Christian King minds nothing but Revenge The Hatred which he had all along for that Prince could no longer be kept within bounds it must break forth and fling about its fiery Indignation And from that day forward his secret Council met with Orders to seek out some way to destroy this Prince as the only Person able to put a stop to his Great Designs So that since his coming to the Crown we may reckon up near 8 Conspiracies only this last exceeded all the rest The Conspirators in this never go about to conceal themselves They walk barefac'd at Noon-day and rely upon the Death of King William as upon a thing that cannot fail ' em After this I leave the World to judge how far the Fury and Resentment of a Prince will go who has sworn the Death of his Enemy I cannot here forbear to recite the words of Salust when he speaks of the Care that Princes ought to take of the Honour of their Dominions of which they ought to be as jealous as of their own Crowns The Duty of Kings says he consists in preserving the Liberty and Honour of a Kingdom But the most Christian King ne're troubles himself for the Honour of France He Sacrifices it with a good will provided his Designs do but succeed Where is that Liberty I would fain know which his Subjects enjoy'd in the Reigns of his Predecessors Are they not all at present Slaves within the Kingdom Where is the Honour of the Kingdom Is it acquir'd by Oppression Cruelty and Tyranny And when it is acquir'd is it preserv'd by the Assassination of Great Princes for whom they have a mortal Hatred If this be true I must acknowledge the Antients to have been very great Cheats for having made us such a Description of the Honour of a Kingdom so far different from that which Lewis the Grand gives us the present Pattern of This Prince pretends to be the greatest Model of Perfection this day in the World But with submission to him the Course he takes is not the way to attain to the Glory of those Great Hero's of which Pagan Antiquity has left us such Noble Exemplars After these Preliminaries let us come to the Particulars of matter of Fact and consider all the Circumstances that accompany'd this Conspiracy so lately discover'd After that we shall examine the Doctrine of the JESUITES which teaches the Art of Assassinating Kings and which they have taught the Authors of the present Conspiracy God by his Providence and the continual care which he takes for the preservation of his Majesty King WILLIAM has so order'd it that several of the Conspirators have discover'd of themselves the following Conspiracy the particulars whereof are These About the end of the month of August in the Year 1695. the most Christian King being at Versailles in a private Conference with K. James concerning the Events of the preceding Campagne the most Christian King out of a peculiar confidence in him told him That he saw no other way in the world to attain a speedy Peace then by labouring his Restoration to the Throne That all the Care which he had hitherto taken to wage War with his Enemies together with the immense Expences he had been at to support it had as yet produc'd nothing effectual Nevertheless that God had so sufficiently prosper'd his Arms by the Advantages he had won till the Death of Marshal Luxemburgh that he had no reason to complain But that which still troubled him and imprinted in his Mind but ill Presages of the Future was the present Union between the Parliament and the Prince of Orange which was so far from abating that it grew stronger and stronger That the Reputation of that Prince and the Forces which the Parliament had granted him would be fatal to the Peace and the Common Interests unless some sudden Course were taken K. James made Answer to the most Christian King That all that he had said was true that he saw but too well and with a deep Sorrow the Prosperity and growing Grandeur of his Enemy That 't was only his fault for that he himself was ready at that very instant to attempt his Return into England if his Majesty thought it convenient Nevertheless that he was asham'd to have so often abus'd his Kindnesses and that he was afraid his Evil Stars that follow'd him where e're he went would frustrate the justest Enterprize that he should undertake That both He and the Queen his Wife besought Almighty God in their most servent Prayers to bless the Arms of his Majesty their Protector and Restorer in whom next to God they plac'd all their Hopes and Confidence To this the most Christian King reply'd That it had not been his Fault hitherto that their Prayers had not been heard but that it was not yet too late and that it behov'd him to lay hold of the savourable opportunity that God had put into his hands to give their Enemy such a Blow as would prove fatal to him Nevertheless that it became him to trust in God and to arm himself with Resolution for the execution of the Enterprize K. James made Answer That he understood what his Majesty meant so that if no more were requir'd but the forming a new Plot he had Men anow at command provided his Majesty would lay out Money sufficient for the carrying on so great an Enterprize The most Christian King reply'd That all the Forces in the Kingdom were at his Service and that he should desire no other Reward then the honour of having contributed to his Restoration After this first Overture the two Kings agreed upon a day to make choice of the Conspirators which day being the 5th of September 1695. was no sooner come but the Accomplices were call'd one after another to a private Audience given 'em by K. James at St. Germains which at first was only to sound 'em and assure himself of their Fidelity At length K. James having made choice of about seven and forty Persons presented 'em to the most Christian King who assur'd 'em of his Royal Protection and of the Advancement of their Fortunes if the Business succeeded After which they were dismissed till further Order At first there were none but the two Kings and Father La Chaise who were Privy to the Secret For the most Christian King thought it convenient that when the Business was drawn into Form that the Intrigue and Management of it should be left to Father La Chaise To which K. James consented So that the Conspirators had Orders to repair to him two and two at a time for fear of making too much Noise to confer with that Seraphic Priest about the Time Place and Manner of putting the Design in Execution There were some of the Conspirators who offer'd their
and committed to several Prisons All which Acts of State have been so sufficiently publish'd at large that they need not be repeated here After so many Authentic Testimonies which ought to cover with shame the Authors and Contrivers of so Black and Treacherous a Fact all Europe stands amaz'd The Ministers of the Christian Princes assembl'd in the Congress sit astonish'd All the World searches for the Causes that excited the wicked Inclinations of these two Princes But there will be no great difficulty in the discovery of 'em when we consider that the most Christian King has always been a true Jesuite For proof of which we need but read the History of his Reign The Politicks the Maxims the dangerous Opinions and lastly whatever that Order teaches not forgetting the Art of Assassinating Kings have been manifest quite throughout the whole Course of it As for K. James he left England a true Jesuite He has liv'd in France during his Exile one of the same Order and within these two Months he has thought sit to List himself also in the Order of the Dominicans Had the most Christian King taken upon him to read the Determination of the Faculty of Theology in Paris carry'd to the Parliament upon occasion of the re-settlement of the Jesuits in France I am perswaded we should not have seen him so true a Jesuit as now we do Wee shall repeat the substance of it in the same Terms as it is in the Original In the Year 1554. and upon the First Day of December the Venerable Faculty of Theology in Pars after the Mass of the Holy Ghost solemnly said in the Chappel of the Colledge of Sorbonne and Oath taken having four times assembl'd in the same Place to conclude upon the Two Bulls said to have been decreed by our Holy Lords and Popes Paul and Julius III. in favour of those that would be distinguish'd from Us under the Names of the Society of JESUS which Two Bulls the Court of Parliament sent Us by an Usher to be view'd and examin'd For which Reason after we had seriously examin'd and consider'd all the Particulars We are of Advice That this Society in matter of our Faith is of dangerous Consequence erected to trouble the Peace of the Church to subvert the State and Monastick Religion and in two words introduc'd rather for Desolation and Destruction then for Edification This was the Judgment which the Sorbonne made of the Jesuites Doctrine But without looking back so far as the Year 1554. the most Christian King need no more then consider what pass'd in the Year 1610. when Henry IV. was stabb'd by Ravillac certainly he would then abhor that Doctrine which he now upholds with all his Royal Power in the face of all Christendom It deserves to be recited because it makes for our purpose The same Day that the detestable Ravillac was executed in regard that in all the Answers which he gave the Archbishop of Aix and the Predicant Coeffeteau during his Imprisonment for the Parricide he had committed he made use of the Maxims of Mariana and other Jesuites who have written That 't was lawful to kill Kings and Tyrants the Court of Parliament before they condemn'd those infamous Books to be burnt by the hands of the Common Hung-man would have the Determination of the Faculty of Theology and enjoin'd the Dean of the Faculty to call a Convocation in order to give 'em their Opinion whether it were lawful for any one upon any Account or for any Cause whatever to attempt the sacred Persons of Kings and Sovereign Princes Upon which the Faculty assembl'd in the Colledge of the Sorbonne and made the following Censure The Censure of the Faculty of Theology at Paris assembled in the Colledge of the Sorbonne against Parricides of Kings IN the Year of our Lord 1610. upon the 14th of June the sacred Faculty being assembl'd and having debated the Question to them put by the Court of Parliament and considering withal that the University of Paris has been always the Mother and Nurse of a most excellent and sound Doctrine That the Publick Repose and Welfare proceeds from Order and that this Order depends next to God upon the Safety of Kings and Princes That it only belongs to the Prince or Politick Power to make use of the Sword That some Years since certain strange seditious and impious Opinions have in such a manner perverted the Minds of several People that they have not dreaded to stain King and Princes with the execrable Names of Tyrants and in pursuance of a Pretence so detestable as also under colour of assisting or advancing Piety Religion or the Publick Good to conspire against their sacred Persons and to embrue their Parricide-hands in Blood so dear and of so high a Value and consequently to open a Gap to all sorts of Wickedness Impieties Persidies Disloyalties Frauds Surprizes Treasons Murders mutual Slaughter of the People Ruin sacking and levelling of whole Towns Destruction of Provinces and flourishing Kingdoms and in a word to an infinite number of abominable Crimes occasion'd by Wars as well Foreign as Domestick Lastly knowing that such Pestilential and Diabolical Opinions at this time render those who are separated from the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church obstinate in their Errours and cause 'em to avoid the Converse of Catholick Monks Doctors and Prelates altho' innocent as if they taught and authoriz'd such pernicious Doctrines For these and such-like Reasons after diligent Examination the said Faculty unanimously and with a fix'd Resolution detest and condemn such strange and seditious Docrines as impious and heretical pernicious to human Society the Publick Peace and Tranquillity and the Catholick Religion In testimony whereof the said Faculty have concluded and resolved to renew their ancient Decree put forth a hundred Years ago by the Advice of a hundred forty and one Divines for the Condemnation of the following execrable Opinion A Tyrant whoever he be may and ought lawfully and meritoriously to be kill'd by his Vassal or Subject whoever he be by any manner of ways chiefly by secret Embuscado's Treasons Flatteries and such-like Artifices notwithstanding any Oath or Allegiance which the Subject may have sworn to the Tyrant nor is it needful that he should wait for or expect the Sentence or Command of any Judge for the prosecution of his Design Mariana Upon which follows the Censure of the Faculty This Proposition taken thus generally and according to the signification of the word Tyrant is an Errour against the Catholick Faith against the Doctrine of good Manners and the Command of God Thou shalt not kill 'T is also against the Doctrine of our Saviour They that take up the Sword shall perish by the Sword Moreover it tends to the utter Subversion and Ruin of all States Kings and Princes in the World It opens a Door to all manner of Impieties Deceits Treasons Violations of Oaths and generally give Subjects a Licence to perpetrate all manner of
the Succession to the Crown adding Expressions injurious to the Circumspection and Prudence of that Princess Quod si molesta fuisset nec illa nec filius ejus regnarent Saying withal That it was the last Order which he had from his Superiours Let us now see the end of the Tragedy The Guises who were the next of kin to Queen Mary and whose Interests were united with the Interests of that Princess and consequently ought to have been inform'd of this whole Negotiation knew nothing of it The Jesuites had so well order'd their Affairs to hinder the Guises from giving 'em any Obstruction by reason that their Aim being to deceive Queen Mary and advance in her Place some Prince of the House of Austria as we have said already thought it more to the purpose to find out new work for the Guises in France that they might not have leisure to mind the Destiny of their Kinswoman In the mean time that great Conspiracy which was lay'd so privately and carry'd on so secretly by the Devices and Artifices of the Jesuites was discover'd at length to Queen Elizabeth by some of the Lords her Friends who had feign'd to be of the Conspiracy Thereupon Queen Mary was accus'd of Conspiring against the Life of the Reigning Queen and Executed and with her fell some of the Lords that had a share in the Plot. And the Jesuite that had drawn 'em into all that Mischief fled out of the Kingdom with all the Precipitation imaginable leaving all those of his Party in a world of Trouble and Confusion Hen. III. of France who was the only Person in whose Power it was to save this unfortunate Princess sent M. de Bellievre indeed to Queen Elizabeth with Orders to be very importunate for the Life of Queen Mary which he was to outward Appearance while underhand for Reasons of State and in pursuance of the King 's private Orders he persuaded the Queen to cut off her Head as the Common Enemy of their Persons and Kingdoms the Crime being sufficiently prov'd The Dissimulation of Hen. III. in this Affair was grounded upon important Reasons which concern'd his Person and the Tranquility of his Kingdom For that Mary being the next Heir to the Crown England should she have hapned to succeed Queen Elizabeth the Guises who were irreconcilable Enemies to Hen. III. and Counsellors of Queen Mary their Kinswoman would have favour'd that Princesses Party against him if they did not make use of all the Power of England to engage him in a fatal War for the Guises were already too powerful in France So that good Policy-requir'd that Prince to take all the Precautions imaginable for keeping fair with Queen Elizabeth and preserving her Alliance However it were the Jesuites were still the first Instruments of the death of that Princess while they sacrific'd her Life in hopes of raising a Foreign Prince to the Throne But what is there which they have not now done to raise K. James to the Throne Did they not find a way to sacrince King Charles his Brother and to cut him off by Poyson What is there which they leave unacted against King WILLIAM How many Attempts how many Conspiracies and reiterated Plots against the Sacred Person of this Illustrious Prince And all to raise to the Crown of England a Furious Bigot full of Transport and in a word a sanguinary Priest more Jesuite then King The most Christian King is very ill advis'd to seek the having a share in an Action so treacherous and so odious as that of complotting with the Jesuites and K. James the Death of a Prince who now Reigns with so much Glory the meanest of whose Actions will deface or at least ecclipse whatever was perform'd of most remarkable famous under the Reign of Lewis the Great Witness the Parallel that might be made between their Lives and their Actions between which without question there would be a vast Difference were they to be display'd to the World without Passion or Prejudice But let us pursue these Assassinators of Kings to the end we may shew to what excess of Rage and Fury the Diabolical Art and Infernal Doctrine which they have taught in the world is able to Transport ' em In the Year 1605. which had like to have prov'd fatal to all England by the Destruction of the Prince and all the Nobility of the Kingdom at the same time A Blow so much the more deadly and terrible because it was not lookt for nor so much as dreamt of in the midst of that Peace which England then enjoy'd Nevertheless the Misfortunes threaten'd by that detestable Conspiracy vanish'd by the Discovery of it so that it was not attended with any Catastrophe unless it were what turn'd to the Confusion of the Actors who were to have play'd that Bloody Tragedy I shall not insist upon the Circumstances of this Infernal Plot as being so well known to all the People of England It may be only said That this was one of the Jesuites Master-pieces to have blown up not only the Soveraign Monarch himself for a single Blow would not then serve their Turn but all the Royal Family and all the Nobility of the Kingdom The Quintessence of Jesuitical Machination which struck with Horror not only the English Monarchy but fill'd with Consternation and Detestation of the Fact all the Foreign Courts of Europe Insomuch that the Jesuite Baldwin being accus'd by his Accomplices to have been one of the Principal Contrivers of that dreadful Conspiracy and afterwards apprehended at Frankendale in Germany was from thence carry'd to Heydelberg and thence by Order of the Elector Palatin sent with his Hands and Feet bound into England The King was also so sensible of his Escape that he made a Speech to the Parliament upon the importance of the Discovery wherein he set forth the great Danger from which God had preserv'd his Sacred Person the Queen his Wife his Children and lastly all the Nobility of the Kingdom whose Blood was to have been all intermingl'd and blended together in a moment What then remains my Lords and Gentlemen said he but that we imitate the great Captain Scipio who finding himself accus'd by the Tribunes of the People for having laid out the Publick Treasure in a War against the Carthaginians This is a Matter of nothing said he content your selves that I have won the Victory and let us all ascend the Capitol to return Thanks to the Gods for it Let us do the same my Lords and Gentlemen Let us not give way to a Pagan but let us return Thanks to God whose mercy shines over all his Works In like manner does King William exhort all his good and faithful Subjects who are interested in the Preservation of his Sacred Person to return Thanks to Heaven for having deliver'd him from so imminent a Danger But what wonders of Providence do we not behold in the Discovery of a Design so deeply laid for for the Destruction