Bastard endeavour'd by a Book under the counterfeit name of Doleman by the Approbation of Cardinal Allen and Sir Francis Inglefield to disprove his Title to the Crown but he being in despight of all the Contrivances of the Papal Vermin establish'd on the Throne they shew'd the First fruits of their Loyalty to him they welcom'd him with a Conspiracy contriv'd by Watson and Clark two secular priests but wheedled into that Contrivance by the Jesuites but this scribbling Conspiracy of theirs failing the Jesuites who were unwearied Enemies to the peace of Mankind and are so still they I say commenc'd another Plot and that was one that was to all intents and purposes an evident demonstration of their Principles and a Testimony of their Good-will to the Protestant Interest in England therefore that they might do all their business at once they attempted the blowing up of the King Lords and Commons and were quickned in this Design in two Breves from your Roman Grandsire but you know they were disappointed in that piece of Villany the greatness of which awaken'd the Kingdom to provide against that Party of Men by many wholsome Laws made in the Reign of the said King James your said Grandfather And tho' the whole World stood amaz'd at the blackness of this Conspiracy and many of the Papists in a most hypocritical manner expressed their detestation of the same and of the Principles that produced it but it was indeed because it wanted the success they desir'd yet the Pope and Court of Rome took all imaginable care to have the Traytors magnified and honour'd especially Garâ—et the Provincial of the Jesuites who tho' he confessed under his own Hand that he dy'd for Treason yet his Name was inserted in the Book of their Villanous Martyrs and precious Relicks made of his Bones and his miraculous Picture kept at St. Omer's and a glorious Picture of his set over their Altars And two other Principal Jesuites that escap'd the Halter were by the then Pope caresâ—ed with Preserments at Rome And when upon this occasion the Oath of Allegiance was enacted to be impos'd upon the Subjects of your said Grandfather Pope Paul the Fifth publish'd several Bulls against the said Oath and several of the Româ—sh Communion wrote against it as Becanus and Bâ—llarmin c. Another Instance of their villanous practices was against your Father who tho' he had been a Bosom friend of theirs yet he was not thought sit to live as you may see in Habâ—râ—field's Discovery to Sir William Boswell then your Father's Ambassador at the Hague And who but men of such Villanous Principles could have engag'd your Mother to have fomented that unnatural War in your Father's ancient native Kingdom of Scotland which was the Foundation of the never to be forgotten Civil War in England And wheâ— the King your Father was by the just Judgment of God brought to Prison because he made some Concessions not out of Choice but of Necessity against that party of Men the Jesuites condemn'd him before he was brought to his Tryal and when dead Dr. Gâ—ffe a Priest of the Oratory brandish'd his Sword over his Head saying Now is the Enemy of God fallen But that of the Massacre in Ireland was a bloody demonstration of their Faith and Zeal there was no other reason that ever they could give but that those whom they murder'd were Protestants and that in killing them the Cathâ—lick Cause was promoted for at no time did thâ— Irish enjoy their Estates and the exercise of their Religion with greater peace than when they broke out into that dreadful Rebellion Nor was that Quiet and Security they possess'd the fruits only of a Connivance but the effects of many Acts of Grace which had a little before passed in favour of them They attempted the betraying your Brother in his escape at Worcester and to root out your whole Family if the then Protector would have but given them liberty by a Law they would have murder'd him at Bruxels too to have obliged you with the Crown Is not this Evidence enough against them that they had in conjunction with your self their Head design'd as well to destroy his Person as his Government and our Religion I pray consider this Topick while you are in the peaceable enjoyment of your Apartment at St. Germains before you are forced to take up your Bed and walk 3. A third Witness that appear'd to prove the Popish Conspiracy is the impudent Claims that the Bishop of Rome makes to the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland It is noâ— Sir unworthy of your Observation what your Bellarmine hath written upon that point The King of England â—aith he is subâ—â—ct to the Pope by a twofold Right first by reason of his Apostolick Power and secondly by right of proper Dominion Sir your Rascally Crew do not only plead Henry the second 's submitting his Crown to the Pope but also King John's resigning his Crown to the Pope and receiving it again as a Fee oâ— the Church of Rome And as for Scotland you know that Pope Boniface the Eighth did make a Claim to that Kingdom And at Madrid in the Year 1677 there was a Scotchman that was Robed and call'd the King of Scotland and he in the Jesuites College there resign'd into the Hands of James Lynce the pretended Archbishop of Tuam of the Kingdom of Ireland and took the Crown of the Kingdom of Scotland from the said Archbishop to revive the Claim of Pope Boniface over that Kingdom all which was done by vertue of a Bull from Innocent the Eleventh for that purpose And as for the Kingdom of Ireland it is matter of Fact that Henry the third did swear Homage to the Bishop of Rome for that Kingdom and did oblige himself to pay him Tribute for it in recognition of the Right of that Prelate You may mimp up those Canvas Chaps of yours but it is certain that you promis'd to your Jesuites to hold the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland as a Fee of the Papacy or else they would have made bold to have sent you the same way they design'd to send your Brother and did at last accomplish their Design by your gracious aid and assistance And had Popery been establish'd in England in the time of your gracious Tyranny and had the People been brought under the Soul-sanctifying Conduct of the Jesuits who as they have been true Dragoons to the Chair of Rome in the pervertion of the Nation we should have found how they would have improv'd these Claims for the service of the Romish Antichrist In case any difference should have risen between him and you your Bellarmine tells you roundly That these Kingdoms are the Dominions of the Church of Rome and that the Pope is our natural Lord and that the King at best is but his Vassal And in the time of the Rebellion you cannot but have heard that Innoceâ—t the Tenth did not only claim these three
of the Faith of the Church of Rome that were not of the Faith of the Court of Rome and therefore though they gave all manner of Encouragement to the Romish Religion yet by great Caution and Vigilance they have very much prevented the undermining the Temporal Authority they had over their Subjects Our former Kings of England though they were of that Faith and did countenance their Subjects in that worship yet they would not let them be enslaved by any pretended Papal Jurisdiction but your Villains were blessed with a man that would not only allow the Bishop of Rome his rascally Worship but also allow him to enslave the Nation with a Power he challenged in the temporal Government this your Cut-throats were assured of and therefore they would not in good manners to your great Zeal be in the least behind hand to joyn with you to hasten the Exit of your Brother who would by no means keep pace with them to their horrid Designs and therefore they judged that he was their only Let or Hinderance in compleating that mighty work 3. You was not only a Papist but a bigotted papist and being such you put your self under the Conduct of the Jesuits this Confederacy of yours with those zealous Sons of the Synagogue of Sâ—than could not be otherwise than very fatal to the Kingdom as to its Religion and Government and the person of the King your Brother for you arriving to that Pitch of Zeal and putting your self under their Conduct they in gratitude to you could not but endeavour the hastning your Accession to the Crown of which you were as ambitious as they were zealous and therefore you both joyned to destroy your Brother that was converted to the Religion of Rome but not zealous enough in driving on the Jesuits Designs had you Brother's Zeal been as fierce as yours he might have been cooling his Heels at St. Germains as well as your self and good Company there It was not for want of good will to your Religion but for want of a galloping Zeal which was no ways consistent with his voluptuous Living that you and these villanous Jesuits and the Popish Party conspired his death these were the three Advantages on which your Cut-throat Party did build their Hopes which made your Jesuits in the most considerable part of the Kingdom and in many places abroad to preach their King murthering Doctrine the better to prepare those of their Communion to joyn with you in the Fatal Blow that you and your Council at St. James's had designed to give the King your Brother 6. A sixth Testimony that appeared against you and your Party was the Trayterous Correspondencies that was maintained in order to carry on a Rebellion in Scotland and Ireland for Scotland your Villains took the Advantage of the great Heats that were created in that Kingdom by the dreadful Tyranny of Duke Lauderdale who acted by your Director and used all those Methods that might provoke a Rebellion and your Servant Coleman who had a great Interest in Lauderdale was often with him by which the Jesuits understood what Measures to take and a Party was appointed to incense the Villainous Bishops of that Kingdom against the poor Protestants there whereby their Lives were made very miserable and the Usage of their Ministers who by providence were driven upon the Coasts of England and came to the House of Lords where an Account was given to the Parliament that sat in the year 1678 in the month of December and the Parliament took their Cause into Consideration and dismissed them of their Irons and Thumckins and addressed your Brother against Lauderdale and as you had a Party of men that acted their part with the Episcopal Party in Scotland thus to vex and torment the afflicted Protestants in Scotland so your Jesuits they entertained another party of Rogues of the same Complexion to assocIate themselves with these poor Protestants in order to keep up their Animositie against the Prelatique Party withal urging them that they at that time had a fair Opportunity to vindicate their Liberty and Religion and that it could not be done but by the Sword and whereas that the King had received many of their Addresses yet he was so addicted to his pleasures that he neither would nor could take little or no care of redressing their intolerable Grievances and the great Cause of their ill Usage proceeded even from the King himself by which Sir it appeared their great Design in Conjunction with you was to weaken your Brothers Interest in that Kingdom for they urged that if they did not stir in time they would be put under some Forreign Force which would be more vexatious to them and you found your Design so well that your Jesuits received an Account from Scotland dated Feb. 7. 1677 that all Diligence was used to put the Potestants in that Kingdom of Scotland upon opposing Duke Lauderdale and his Villains and questioned not but that all things should be so ordered that a Rebellion should be raised in Scotland and a little before you went down to Windsor you knew that Messengers were sent down to Scotland to press the poor people to a resentment of the Tyranny they lived under by the Male-Administration of Duke Lauderdale and such that were of the Ministry in that Kingdom and especially since they could not obtain the Liberty of Conscience notwithstanding all their humble Supplications to the King therefore the Sword must do it a Rebellion at last you obtain'd in order to destroy these poor Wretches the Consequence of which was the total enslaving that Kingdom the better to fit it for its Submission to the Romish Religion As for Ireland I have already at large not only in this but in the first Memorial laid open your Practices in that Kingdom 7. Call to mind Colemans Letters and say that you knew nothing of them if you dare there it is said that you had a mighty work upon your Hands no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms Come Sir deal freely was it to be brought about by Arguments from the Scripture no Sir I did never find the Knowledge of the Scriptures abound in the most learned of them all we have scarce a Protestant Cobler but is able to cope with if not to baffle a Romish Priest it could not be that these three Kingdoms could be converted by these sorts of Arguments with which your Cut-throats were little acquainted and their preaching is generally too silly and empty to prevail with Protestants to change their Religion unless some few weak Debauchees and weaker Whores Well you were to convert three Kingdom I pray how was not your Conversion and Conviction by enlightening the eyes of the Protestant Party by a Faggot and by the powerful and irresistible Arguments of the Dagger those Letters of Coleman's tell the world that the design prospered so well that there was no doubt but that it would be managed to the utter Ruine of
the Protestant Party Truely Sir Coleman's Letters were such pregnant Proofs of your villanous Designs and his Declaration drawn up and prepared for your Brothers Signature were testimony enough without the Addition of any further Evidence but I will put you in mind of some short Notes of that Saint of yours and then set down the Letters as they have been published for the Satisfaction of Mankind by which Sir it is manifest that by your order under your self he was the great Director of the Affairs of the Popish Party here in these three Kingdoms as you may see by the Correspondence he maintained with the Pope himself by the means of Cardinal Howard and his Correspondence with the Popes Internuncio at Bruxels and Father Sheldon at Doway and the Monks there and with your dear Fathers at St. Omers to whom he gave an exact Account of the debates of your Council at St. James's and of the Affairs of the Government at White-hall â—ay let me tell you that your Brother the King had such an Opinion that when you had obtained a Promise from him of dissolving the Parliament he would have none but Coleman to draw it up but he being of the Opinion of Lewis of France that Princes by no means ought to be slaves to their Promises the dissolving of the Parliament was moved in hopes of gaining Mony from them to supply his Wants he had such an Interest with Lachaise that he did obtain the summ of 20000 l. for himself and 300000 l. for you and the promise of 300000 l. a year till you could bring your designs to bear and an Army was through his Sollicitation promised to be landed in Ireland and England as soon as peace was concluded between the French King and the then confederate Princes as being the time that his most Christian Majesty would be at leasure to assist you in this mighty work of converting these three Kingdoms you know then the dragooning Apostles were to come over to preach here in order to convert us to Romes Religion and the French Government by these â—ou were to do the work with the Assistance of your Cut-throats at home both in England and Ireland Now Sir it will not be amiss that we offer to your Consideration the Letters themselves with which Sir you cannot but be highly pleased since they were the Hopes of your Family if the design specified in them had taken effect first then here is the long Letter that this blessed Saint and Mâ—rtyr wrote to Father Lachaice SInce Father St. Germain hath been so kind to me c. This Letter puts us in mind of the great Correspondence that this Villain held with one Ferrier by your Order in Order to subvert the Laws Liberties and Religion of these three Kingdoms and the said Ferrier going to his place St. Germain a notorious French Jesuit recommended Coleman to Father Lachaice for to renew this Correspondence that did for some time â—â—ase by reason of the death of the said Ferrier there are several things in this Letter that are remarkable as 1. That the sending of the Troop of Horse Guards into the service of the French King and the Care that was taken to send with it an Officer called Sr. William Throgmortoâ— with whom Coleman had a particular Intimacy this was the person that Coleman made choice of by whom he might correspond with Ferrier This Throgmorton was once a dissolute Protestant and being a person but of a mean or a broken Fortune was by Coleman perverted to the Church of Rome and as a reward for his coming over to your Church he was made an Officer in this Troop of Guards but indeed he was rather sent a Spy upon the English Gentlemen and when he died Nevil Pain took that Province upon him and gave an Account to Court and especially to your self as William Throgmorton had done before of their Carriage 2. I observe that the recalling of Liberty of Conscience was fatal to you and your Cut-throats to that you did owe all your Miseries and Hazards and therefore Sir I hope that you will allow me that great Truth which I delivered to you that Liberty of Conscience was the first great Step your Brother and you made to establish the Roman Catholick Religion here for nothing hurts it like the recalling of that Indulgence and making peace with the Dutch provided it had been a good one though Aâ—â—ington when he was Embassadour there perswaded the French King for some time that your Servant Coleman was much out in his Politicks as well as your self 3. That Peace was much to be desired between the French King and the Confederate Princes of Europe and that nothing could procure a good one for the French King but the Dissolution of the then Parliament who tho' they had been laterally by you and your Rogues well bribed to give many an ill Vote yet at last they began like English Men to fly in the Kings Face and roar against Popery especially upon an empty Pocket and if Fortune had not sent them a seasonable shower or two in a Session to cultivate their Inclinations to act according to the bent of the then Court and till this peace was made between the French King and the Confederates little could be done towards the revival of the Catholick Cause after its recovering that fatal stroke by recalling the Liberty of Conscience and setting up that damnable Doctrine of a Protestant State Purgatory which hindred many an honest Apostolical Cut-throat from having a Place at Court but you will say Why should the Dissolution of our Parliament procure a Peace The Reason is plain for the Confederate Princes had unluckily got an Interest in our theâ— Parliament as bad as it was and they depended more upon their Power and Interest they had in that Parliament than in any thing in the world and I will give you a Reason for that because from them the Confederate Princes received the greatest Encouragement to continue the War and so that in case the Parliament were dissolved the aforesaid Confederates would be necessitated to a peace upon the Terms the French King should give which would facilitate his joyning with you in the blessed Conversion of these three Nations and subduing the Northern Heresie that had so long domineer'd in this Northern World so that the Troops of Guards and the other Forces that were sent into the Service of the French were only to learn the way of converting these three Kingdoms and also to the end that they might joyn with your French Apostles in that Work of which you so earnestly desir'd to be the Author and Instrument Of this I said before Coleman by the means of the Earl of Arlington when he did reside at the Court of France was much discourag'd and was forced to leave off for a time to argue the case with the French King by Ferryer and took up the post of railing at Arlington but railing did not do
the said Duke should succeed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm nothing is more manifest than that a total Change of Religion within these Kingdoms would ensue For the Preservation thereof be it Enacted by the King 's most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That the said James Duke of York shall be and is by the Authority of this present Parliament excluded and made for ever incapable to inherit possess or injoy the Imperial Crown of this Realm and of the Kingdoms of Ireland and the Dominions and Territories to them or to either of them belonging or to have exercise or injoy any Dominion Power Jurisdiction or Authority in ihe same Kingdoms Dominions or any of them And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if the said James Duke of York shall at any Time hereafter challenge claim or attempt to possess or enjoy or shall take upon him to use or exercise any Dominion Power or Authority or Jurisdiction within the said Kingdoms or Dominions or any of them as King or chief Magistrate of the same that then he the said James Duke of York for every such Offence shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures as in Case of High Treason And further That if any Person or Persons whatever shall assist or maintain abet or willingly adhere unto the said James Duke of York in such Challenge Claim or Attempt or shall of themselves attempt or endeavour to put or bring the said James Duke of York into the Possession or Exercise of any Regal Power Jurisdiction or Authority within the Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid or shall by writing or preaching advisedly publish maintain or declare That he hath any Right Title or Authority to the Office of King or chief Magistrate of the Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid that then every such Person shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and that he suffer and undergo the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures aforesaid And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if he the said James Duke of York shall at any time from and after the Fifth of Nov. 1680. return or come into or within any of the Kingdoms or Dominions aforesaid then he the said James Duke of York shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures as in case of High Treason And further That if any Person or Persons whatsoever shall be aiding or assisting unto such Return of the said James Duke of York that then every such Person shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer as in cases of High Treason And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That he the said James Duke of York or any other Person being guilty of the Treasons aforesaid shall not be capable of or receive Benefit by any Pardon otherwise than by Act of Parliament wherein they shall be particularly named And that no Noli prosequi or order for stay of Proceedings shall be received in or upon any Indictment for any of the Offences mentioned in this Act. And be it further Enacted and Declared and it is hereby Enacted and Declared That it shall and may be Lawful to and for any Magistrates Officers and other Subjects whatsoever of these Kingdoms and Dominions oforesaid and they are hereby enjoyned and required to apprehend and secure the said James Duke of York and every other Person offending in any of the Premises and with him or them in case of Resistance to fight and him or them by force to subdue for all which Actings and for so doing they are and shall be by Virtue of this Act saved harmless and indemnified Provided and it is hereby Declared That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed deemed or adjudged to disenable any other Person from inheriting and injoying the Imperial Crown of the Realms and Dominions aforesaid other then the said James Duke of York but that in case the said James Duke of York should survive his now Majesty and the Heirs of his Majesty's Body the said Imperial Crown shall descend to and be injoyed by such Person or Persons successively during the Life of the said James Duke of York as should have inherited and injoyed the same in case the said James Duke of York were naturally dead any thing contained in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That during the Life of the said James Duke of York this Act shall be given in charge at every Assizes and General Sessions of the Peace within the Kingdoms Dominions and Territories aforesaid and also shall be openly read in every Cathedral Church and Parish Church and Chappels within the aforesaid Kingdoms Dominions and Territories by the several respective Parsons Vicars Curates and Readers thereof who are hereby required immediately after Divine Service in the Forenoon to read the same twice in every Year that is to say on the 25th of December and upon Easter Day during the Life of the said James Duke of York Which Bill was Read thrice and Passed the House of Commons and upon its being Rejected in the House of Peers behold this Address to the King your Brother The humble Address of the House of Commons presented unto his Majesty upon Tuesday the 21 th of December 1680. in answer to his Majesty's Gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament upon the 15 th Day of the same December May it please your most Excellent Majesty WE your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament assembled having taken into our serious Consideration your Majesty's gracious Speech to both your Houses of Parliament on the Fifteenth of this instant December and do with all the grateful Sence of faithful Subjects and sincere Protestants acknowledg your Majesty's great Goodness to us in renewing the Assurances you have been pleased to give us of your Readiness to concur with us in any means for the Security of the Protestant Religion and your gracious Invitation of us to make our Desires known to your Majesty But with grief of Heart we cannot but observe That to these Princely Offers your Majâ—sty has been advised by what secret Enemies to your Majesty and your People we know not to annex a Reservation which if insisted on in the Instance to which alone it is applicahle will render all your Majesty 's other gracious Inclinations of no Effect or Advantage to us Your Majesty is pleased thus to limit your Promise of concurrence in the Remedies which shall be proposed That they may consist with preserving the Succession of the Crown in its due and legal Course of Descent ond we do humbly inform your Majesty That no Interruption of that Descent has been endeavoured
assured the Fathers of the Society here in England that the then Pope would not be wanting when any considerable progress was made in that undertaking you know what it was and it shall be laid before you in its proper place that you might not fail of the Popes assistance you had Sir Henry Tichhorne whom you constituted an Agent at Rome to negotiate your affairs with the Pope and Cardinal Howard was always ready to do his part but was much concerned to see that you made such use of Peter Talbot who was an impudent false fellow and always spoiled the business in which he was engaged and that the Pope did not much approve of Talbot's being made privy to any thing of weight but alas nothing could wean you from him and therefore it was to no purpose to perswade you but come to the point there was never yet any Conspiracy carried on but that Romish Prelate hath been at one end or another of the same I pray observe Sir what disturbances and fatal mischiefs the claim and exercise of the Papal Authority and Jurisdiction hath occasioned both to Princes and People that were of the Church of Rome therefore you might have reasonable hopes that the Pope would give you his assistance to convert three Kingdoms that had so long groaned under the burthen of Heresie and Schism for certainly when you were pleased to communicate your zeal to accomplish so mighty a work he had the same mighty mind which he expressed by his Tears when he read your Letters not for Grief but for the great Joy that the good old Gentleman had conceived for the great progress you had made in the advancement of the Catholick Religion and withal engaged to write to the French King to persevere in his good intention of furthering so good a work which Letters were carried by Tichborne and were graciously and most humbly received by Lewis your friend who was much encouraged when he saw your Brother and you blest with such an Ally Barrillon acquainted your Brother with the Pope's zeal for his being delivered from the Parliament it is well known that he closes in with every part of the design but that of his own life that your party did not communicate to him lest he shauld have begged their pardon and not have consented to be so far engaged I dare say you could not blame him it is necessary to put you in mind that Coleman made the same propositions to Cardinal Howard as you had done to the French King and he by your direction signified the great sence you had of the friendship of Lewis your Ally and of the great readiness there was in you to make such improvements of that his friendship with all those good Offices that you were capable of all which was by him the said Cardinal to be communicated to the Bishop of Rome nay he pressed the said Cardinal to use his Interest with the Pope to press the French King to engage the King of England if possible to dissolve that Parliament that was so great a Bar to your carrying on your design for the advancement of the Catholick Religion and in order to this work the Pope was accordingly pressed and he wrote to the French King to press the King your Brother to dissolve the Parliament and further to encourage him with the offer of his Purse as he had done to you but the Pope when the Cardinal discoursed him concerning a new Parliament judged no Parliament of England would ever engage in the design of restoring the Cotholick Religion therefore he thought that what was to be done must be without a Parliament and that the French King ought to consider what an advantage it would be to his greatness to be liberal in a work of this importance for whereas an old Parliament hath been hurtful to the Catholicks a new Parliament can never be supposed to do them any good therefore the good old Gentleman would by no means hear of a Parliament and so his opinion and yours was much alike but wondered at the Earl of Arlington concerning whom he was pleased to say in his Letter to the French King that he was represented to him to be a good Catholick notwithstanding the heavy charge you brought against him the said Arlington to his most Christian Majesty and withal the Cardinal by the express command from his Holiness did assure you of his Holiness his Friendship and withal he sent you his Benediction And when your design was ripe and almost ready to be put in execution the Fathers were assured that the Bishop of Rome would supply you with a competent summ of Money when he was satisfied that you had made some progress in the mighty work that you had upon your hands and truly Sir it was an expression of very great zeal in the Bishop of Rome if you will consider how he supplied the Emperour against the Male-contents in Hungary tho the Apostolic Chamber was then much in debt as it was a signal manifestation of his zeal to stand by you with his Purse so it is a proof not to be denyed that he was a mighty assistant to you in this mighty work 4. You had the Crown of Spain for your assistance in this mighty work for though Don John of Austria and the then Queen Regent of Spain was at difference about some things in relation to the Government and their own private interests yet they both agreed to joyn with you in this work of changing both the Religion and Government of this Kingdom and Circular Letters were by them both dispatched throughout the dominions of Spain and with some difficulty they raised two hundred thousand Dollars for the service of that part of the design which was to be carried on in Ireland and was paid by some Irish Merchants residing at Galloway at which Coleman was angry and thought that you ought to have had the management of the Money since that you were at the head of the design of restoring the Catholick Religion in the three Kingdoms but you reprehended Coleman since the Merchants there had paid in the Money to the Popish Arbhbishop of Dublin who was ready at your command to transmit the Money whenever you should see iâ— necessary and besides all this your Brother had a great desire at that time to borrow that very Money of you which you could the more readily deny whilst it was out of your power 5. Another support you had for the carrying the mighty work upon your hands was the Crown of Portugal and Russel the English Bishop of Portlegrah pressed the Prince of Portugal to contribute to the carrying on of the great design then in hand and had his Messengers sent about to the Religious of that Kingdom when you had raised for you the summ of fifty thousand pounds and a certain Lady was much concerned that no greater summ could be raised thence since she had prevailed with the Generals of the respective
a sum as 20000. l. sterling which is no very great matter to venture upon such an undertaking as this I would be content to be Sacrificed to the utmost Malice of my Enemies if I did not Succeed I have proposed This several times to Mounsieur Rouvigny who seemed always of my Opinion and has often told me that he has Writ into France upon this Subject and has desired me to do the like But I know not whether he will be as Zealous in that point as a Catholick would be because our prevailing in these things would give the greatest Blow to the Protestant Religion here that ever it received since its Birth which perhaps he would not be very glad to see especially when he believes there is another way of doing his Masters Business well enough without it which is by a Dissolution of the Parliament upon which I know he mightily depends and Concludes that if that comes to be Dissolved it will be as much as he needs care for proceeding perhaps upon the same manner of Discourse which we had this time twelve months But with submission to his better Judgment I do think that our Case is extreamly much altered to what it was in Relation to a Dissolution for then the Body of our Governing Ministers all but the Earl of Arlington were entirely united to the Duke and would have Governed his Way if they had been free from all Fear and Controul as they had been if the Parliament had been Removed But they having since that time Engaged in quite different Councels and Embark't themselves and Interests upon other Bottoms having declared themselves against Popery c. To Dissolve the Parliament simply and without any other step made will be to leave them to Govern what way they list which we have Reason to suspect will be to the prejudice of France and Catholic Religion And their late Declarations and Actions have Demonstrated to us that they take that for the most Popular way for themselves and likeliest to keep them in absolute Power whereas if the Duke should once get above them after the Tricks they have plaid with him they are not sure he will Totally forget the Vsage he has â—ad at their hands Therefore it imports us now to Advance our Interest a little further by some such Project as I have Named before we Dissolve the Parliament Or else perhaps we shall but Change Masters a Parliament for Ministers and continue still in the same Slavery and Bondage as before But one such step as I have proposed being well made we may safely see them Dissolved and not fear the Ministers but shall be Established and stand Firm without â—â—y Opposition for every Body will then come over to us and Worship the Rising Sun I have here given you the History of three years as short as I could though I am afraid it will seem very long and troublesometo your Reverence among the multitude of affairs you are concern'd in I have also shewn you the Present State of our Case which may by Godâ— Providence and good Conduct be made of such advantage to Gods Church that for my part I can searce believe my self awake or the thing real when I think on a Prince in such an age as we live in converted to such a Degree of Zeal and Piety as not to regard any thing in the World in comparison of God Almighty's Glory the Salvation of his own Soul and the Conversion of our poor Kingdom which has been a long time opprest and miserably harrast with Heresy and Schism I doubt not but your Reverence will consider our Case and take it to heart and afford us what help you can both with the King of Heaven by your holy Prayers and with his Most Christian Majesty by that great Credit which you most justly have with him And if ever his Majesties affairs or your own can ever want the service of so inconsiderable a Creature as myself you shall never find any body readyer to obey your Commands or faithfuller in the Execution of them to the best of his power than Your most Humble and Obedient Servant By all this we may see that you were deeply ingaged not only in the Plot in general but also in the particular design of the great work for the not doing of which you were much blamed by Lewis the French King this much affrighted the King your Brother who himself by that great work Judged you engaged with Coleman and the Jesuits to destroy him and was once of Opinion that it was necessary to have secured you but his Opinion was altered and you escaped but iâ— that the two last Years Letters of Coleman had not been by you Stifâ—ed you would have then let the world have seen Four main Points 1. That the Life of your Brother the King was by you and your Cut-throats Judged to be the main Obstruction to the compleating your Designs and whilest he lived all your Affairs would be Embarassed if not Defeated for against his Promise and his Allyance made with Lewis the French King he had recalled Liberty of Conscience passed the Test Bill made Peace with the States General and refused to Comply with his own Word and Promise of Dissolving the Parliament by which the French King would have gained a more Advantageous Peace and would sooner have been in a Condition to have let you have had his Aid as well as his Purse well then it seems your Cut-throats did in some measure appear as despairing of carrying your Point during his Life can you Imagine then that we must not Conclude without the breach of good Manners that you and they were hastening his Death this therefore made the Life of the King more dear to his People and it ought to have made him more careful of his own Safety but that Prince that God designs to destroy is delivered up to strong and strang delusions to the end he may be destroyed for not receiving the Truth that relaâ—â—s to his own Peace and Safety I remember in a Letter of this Colemans to Lachaise upon the Marriage of the Prince of Orange he saith thus That the Catholics of England are sorry for the Match but if things were so managed that he may be removed that stands in the gap the Catholic Religion must needs flourish again in England for as much as his Masters Stedfastness and hearty-Zeal of Accomplishing that great Work was not a whit abated and that he did not question but to remove the main Obstacle in time nay he gave such an Incomium of the Queen's Zeal for the Catholic Religion that she would be brought to any thing and plainly said that it was more than time That the French King should Conclude a Peace to joyn in with them this Sir is no laughing Matter this very Passage gave your Brother such sad Apprehensions in the Princâ—s Lodgings that I thought he would have dyed away but the Prince gave him such Advice as
happy days under his Reign quite blotted out the remembrance of the villanous designs that were carried on in the time of your Grandfather and Father for the destruction of the Protestant interest and furthermore like Court-Parasites flattered him and you stiling your Father the Martyr for England's Church and Government The King your Brother being restored he began to be as Arbitrary as either his Father or Grandfather had been before him and the Kingdom lay under a necessity of submitting to him rather than run into a new confusion and disorder or revile the old ones for the misery they brought upon the Nation The memory of these times were so odious to these Flatterers that if the Parliament took notice of any of their Irregularities or mismanagement of the Government they were presently charged with running back to the Parliament that sat down in the year 1640 and they seeing the King restored without any terms thought it was necessary to form a Council consisting of a number of men that were to meet at Somerset-house in order to get something in favour of poor Catholicks and this was to be a standing Council for that purpose To this Council the Jesuits both at home and abroad were to make their application from time to time as occasion should require and they having such an encouragement as this they could not but reasonably expect some great thing from your Brother because of the Oaths and Protestations he had made to them of restoring their Religion or at least to give them all the Indulgence imaginable till he had an opportunity of setting up that Worship of theirs as the publick Worship of the Nation which they thought must of necessity come to pass the one or the other since he was not restrained by any Preliminaries at his admission to the exercise of his Kingly power this fatal mistake of the Parliament was the cause of much joy to the Jesuits for upon this Courtney within a Fortnight after your Brothers coming in was dispatched away to St. Omers to give them an account of what a prospect they now had of advancing the Catholick Cause and what a Council was pitched upon to meet at Somerset-house to manage the Cause of poor Catholicks in order to their ease in respect of Religion and what preferments several of the leading men of that perswasion were like to have at Court So Sir this was the first encouragement your party received through the want of some necessary restrictions to have put upon your Brother in order to have secured the Nation from Popery and Arbitrary power A second encouragement the Popish party had to oblige men to undertake and engage themselves in their villainous designs against the Protestant Religion and Government of this Nation was your Brothers neglecting the old Cavaliers that if they had any Religion it was that of the Church of England These men had been great sufferers not only upon your Father's account but also upon your Brother's to the ruine of themselves and families indeed they thought and that very justly that upon the Restoration they should enjoy Halcyon days But alas through yours and the advice of old Chancellor Clarendon they were in a worse state than they were before for these poor miserable Wretches having Mortgaged their Estates to redeem their Sequestations the remainder paid the Taxes to the King and the interest of the Mortgage notwithstanding all this they are not at all countenanced by the King who one would have thought should have made them his chief favourites if he had retained one dram of gratitude He had favourites it 's true but none of the old Protestant Cavaliers you will say then who were his Favourites you may remember that his Favourites were those of the Popish party in conjunction with a party of men who knew not his Father but humoured him in his sensual pleasures and they were of the Female as well as of the Male Sex who were a sort of Favourites his Father was not acquainted with nor in short do I find that he had ever any regard for his Fathers memory in that he so basely left those who had not only ventured but lost all in his Fathers service and these men having great Antipathy against the Papists for carrying all before them in the Court at Oxford in your Fathers time were much brow-beaten by these Popish Favourites and they being discouraged were in no capacity to contend the point with that villainous party at Court so that they in your Brother's time carried all before them in spite of fate The poor Dissenters they durst not stir the Bishops severely chastizing them for their severe usage of them in the times of the Civil War and the high Church-party run in with this Popish party as men that had deserved well from the King and whose Religion and theirs was of nearer a kin than that of the Dissenters so that your Popish party having such a Reinforcement from high Church-men were considerably strengthened and taking the advantage of your Brother's neglect of the old Cavaliers who hated them they found by this means so much encouragement as to engage a number of men to undertake with them in their cursed designs 3. A third encouragement the Popish party had upon your Restoration was the great ascendency your Mother had over the King your Brother for she being a Daughter of France inclined him to her side so that he no sooner left Brussels but he quitted Spain and embraced the interest of France and an Alliance with that Crown and she living ten years after his Restoration so fixed this as an habit in him that all his life after he could never get rid of it notwithstanding all the provocations of the French King to the contrary who upon the great inclination there was in your Brother and you to him became a mighty protection to the Popish party By the way Sir give me leave to observe to you that it was a most inhumane thing in your Brother and you to quit the Spaniard who entertained you both when the French had in a most barbarous manner and with all the reproach imaginable expelled you both and joyned with the then Lord Protector against you to ruine you and your whole Family again observe how unjust it was considering what protestations and promises both your Brother and you had made to the Crown of Spain of making and keeping a strict alliance offensive and defensive that you might be revenged of the French King for his false dealing with you yet contrary to all your promises and protestations it is remembred what success the French Ambassador had with your Brother in his negotiations for though he did not make any league with the French against the Spaniard yet he and the French King dealt with the Spaniard as if he had been an open enemy nay Sir that he might not fall short of his respects to his Brother of France he most willingly waved a Treaty
on the behalf of the Popish party which became wholly yours they owning you for their head your business therefore was to strengthen their interest at Court by having the King your Brother always ready to heap his favours upon them and to enlarge their Interest in the Country by obtaining such Immunities for them as no Protestant Dissenter could ever obtain in all your Brother's Reign notwithstanding they were more quiet under their pressures and provocations than the other were under your Brother's favours and caresses your party before your arrival at your last reconciliation to the Church of Rome had met with these encouragements to engage men in this design I pray Sir let us compare Notes a little and let us see what encouragement you gave those that were ingaged in the design of subverting our Religion and Government give me leave to put you in the mind of these in their order 1. The first encouragement that you gave them you procured them employments in the Government nay if it were a place but of 20 l. per Annum a poor Catholic was preferred before another if he stood in competition with him you did espouse that party with that zeal which put your friend Coleman into a sort of a Religious extasie when he considered what a Prince God had given them who was become to a miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a work of converting three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the utter subduing of a pestilent Heresy which hath domineered over great part of the Northern part of the World a long time and that there were never such hopes as in this time notwithstanding the opposition you were like to meet withal and truly Sir I could not blame Coleman for this rapture of his for the providing for your friends was a good sign of your conversion to that degree of Zeal that Secretary of yours spake of Now Sir the getting of your friends into employments did strengthen their hands that they might be fit for business or else Sir Patrick Trant might have continued in the Black-guard for ought I know to the day of his Death but your conversion converted him not only to your Church but also converted him from being a Black-guard-boy to wear a great name and place I pray Sir to what end was Sir George Ratcliffe to have had a Patent for to be a Baron of England but that the Popish party might be more strengthened in the North that the little ones might be encouraged and their numbers encreased by the protection he might give them in your name you were so successful in this that you boasted to Beddingfield and to others before him that were your Confessors that you did not question but that in a short time you could raise an Army of your Cotholick friends to establish the Catholick Religion Obj. Why might not the Son of Charles the First shew himself greatful to Roman Catholicks and procure them an Interest at Court had not they an universal esteem for their Loyalty to Charles the First and Charles the Second Why in such a heat good Sir where was the Loyalty of your Servant Manning where was the Loyalty of those that petitioned Cromwel for Liberty of Conscience and promising in lieu of so great a favour to destroy your Family alas Sir here is Loyalty for you besides all this behold it was they that had a hand nay a great hand in your Fathers death where was the Loyalty of the Irish murderers that renounced your Fathers Authority after they had performed his Gracious Command of murdering of one hundred and fifty thousand Protestants 'T is true they went into your Fathers Interest but not to serve him but to be protected by him from the Justice the Parliament would have inflicted on them for the wicked War they had in conjunction with that Villain Laude fomented against the Scotch and had also contributed to the same and not only so but had commenced that wicked War of the King your Father against the Parliament of England they were the Authors of our Civil War But Sir suppose they had been great sufferers upon your Father's account was that an argument why they were so well provided for alas Sir if that were an argument why was it not an Argument for the old Cavaliers no they were too generous to engage in any design against the good English Government for they thought that when they engaged with Charles the First that they had fought for the Protestant Religion and Liberties of England and therefore many times wondered the Papists herded with them and were much displeased to see Popish Councils and Councellors perferred before their Faces and they scarce suffered to have the Kings Ear therefore Sir you know well enough these men were not sit for your work and service on the other hand you were sure of the faithfulness of your Popish crew their Religion being security enough to you that they would engage in the design with you and therefore they were to be encouraged These Rogues had not one drop of Cavalier Blood in them no not one drop of any Blood but that of the Whore of Rome the poor Cavaliers were therefore to be starved and these fellows suffered to Revel and Surfeit upon their calamities this was the first encouragement they received from you viz. their Interest at Court 2. Your second encouragement you gave them was the check that you gave to those who opposed them especially the old Cavaliers for Sir you may remember that upon the coming in of the King your Popish party made them themselves very fine nay they resolved that none should be so fine as they but the old Cavaliers were resolved not to be out-done but they would be as fine though they did not live to pay the Taylors but when they showed themselves at Court your Brother and you scarce knew them though the Papists at that time had all the demonstrations of affection shew'd them to the great astonishment of the poor Cavaliers but when they had recovered themselves they fell into a desperate rage with the Papists asking them what they did there and began to arraign them for their former Rogueries but you was pleased to tell one that had signalized himself in your Father's service that it was not for him nor any other to malign the Roman Catholicks who had been your Brother's best friends and therefore we might easily see since that few or none durst appear so against them to suggest any thing that might bring them under the least jealousie lest they should be said to asperse the only friends of the Government and I truly have stood amazed that the little Credit the Papists had got by shrouding themselves under the protection of the King your Father should be so highly improved nay it was scarce credible till the World saw the design in which with you they were engaged then we plainly discovered the reason why they that
thrive since you had the benefit of such admirable assistance so that reasonably you could expect nothing less than the extirpation of the Protestant Religion and the total overthrow of England's Liberties 4. You had a certain Queen that had received very great affronts from you know who her Bed invaded and defiled by a parcel of Whores and it was high time for her to declare her resentments by engaging her self in the Conspiracy especially since Mother Church was to be advanced and Heresie which had so long domineered in these Northern Countries to be extirpated she knew what assistance you had from aboard and therefore Good Lady she would not be behind hand at home especially since she could no otherways be revenged for all the wrong that had been done her She was brought upon the Stage for it but he that was most concerned thought he could do no less in point of Honour to preserve her though it was from the publick Justice of the Nation 5. You had your Female Companion which was pinn'd upon the Nation by the Advice and Counsel of Lewis your Ally who in order to secure your Brother and you to his Cause and Interest adopted her a Daughter of France and was to pay her Portion she was a main instrument to encourage Popery and Slavery and what intercourse there was between you and the See of Rome upon the Marriage with that hopeful piece of Houshold-stuff I have already shewed you in my first memorial the band of Pensioners had such a foresight of the sad consequences of that Marriage that they made many Votes and did Address the King your Brother to prevent the consummation thereof as appears in the Journals of the said Parliament and her carriage when she was Dutchess of York and when she wore the Name Stile and Title of Queen was a sufficient proof of her intentions to advance the design of subverting our Religion and changing the Government and murthering the King the Jesuits your trusty friends can well tell to this day 6. You had the standing Court-Whores that were engaged with you for this let me tell you that whoring and consuming the Treasure of the Nation were Crimes that were to be pardoned but their being State-Whores was the thing that rendered them in their day to be a greater grievance to the Nation for they were put upon your Brother to betray his Councils to Rome and France and it was by their aid and assistance that you compleated that mighty part of converting these Kingdoms by poysoning him for though he was a Papist yet not Papist enough to hold the Throne and what steps you took in his time you took by their assistance and sometimes you met with unexpected delays so that you could not preserve alive the work that was upon your hands and therefore it was resolved that he must dye that the work of the time might go on without contradiction or delay your Jesuits resolved upon it in the years 1676 1677 and 1678 the Whores agreed to it in 1677 8 upon the Marriage of the Prince of Orange with your Daughter 7. You had your Brother engaged with you in the whole design but that of his own life and I suppose you could not expect his consent to that part of the Conspiracy and therefore to prevent his Jealousie of that you forged a plot upon the Dissenting party and began with the Lord Claypoole who was committed to the Tower and you had two of your Popish Cut-throats ready cut and dried to have sworn him out of his life and several others so that you might destroy the King and lay his Death at the door of the Dissenting Protestants and in this Sir you happily failed when I appeared to take your Cause and Design and laid it before the Parliament who were willing to save your Brother's Reputation if it had laid in their power and his Life if he himself had been pleased graciously to consent to it but he would not and therefore through the blessing of God you did his business as effectually as if Sir George Wakeman had done it himself This I put down to shew you that since he would not let the Parliament preserve his life the destroying of which was one of the two good things that ever you did the other was your running away 8. You had our high Church brokers that through their folly and madness against poor Dissenters turn'd Pimps for nay prostituted themselves and their Cause to Rome and France rather than the Honest Party of England should escape the gracious Vengeance you designd for them Did they not to serve your Cause and Interest preach Sedition and villiâ—ie the Reformation promote Popery assert Popish Principles decry the Popish Plot and turn'd the same upon the Protestants and endeavour'd to subvert the Liberty and Property of the Subject and the Rights and Privileges of Parliaments In a word many of these Devils brokers they appear'd to all sober thinking men a very scandal and reproach to their Function And that I may clear this point I will instance in some of them by Name that the World may see these sort of Rogues how they help'd on Popery and Arbitrary Power to which they were by your Brother and you engaged and for the doing of which they had your Brother's Countenance and yours 1. The first I shall bring upon the Stage was old Sheldon a whoring wicked Fellow and in his younger days was as lewd as his Gown could make him It is well known that there was none greater than he and your Servant Coleman none more ready to satisfie your former Dutchess that she might turn Papist without any danger to her Soul This Sir was at your instance And to him 2. We joyn Morley that wicked Bishop of Winton that urged the Dutchess with the necessity of obeying her Husband and that there was but little difference between the two Religions and he hoped to live to see an Accommodation between the Church of Rome and the Church of England 3. Your old Friend Gunning he was a Fellow of rare Principles and of him I shall say nothing he having shewed himself in his own colours in the House of Lords in his time 4. Let me add old Cosins that met with his Friend a Papist after the Meeting at the Savoy upon the Return of your Brother and you to the ruine of the Nation and swore God damn me Old Boy we have sav'd Bell and the Dragon and we will not be long before we make your Church and ours to meet that we may be revenged of these Fanatick Rogues And 5. I will instance in Guy Carlton the Bishop of Chichester that said at the Bishop of Ely's Table in the hearing of Bishop Gulston and Gunning He had rather have Poperty than Presbytery in England for the Difference between the Church of England and the Church of Rome might be composed but it was impossible that ever the Presbyterians and the Church of
England should ever be reconciled At which words Bishop Gulston took offence and departed There were others of the same Kidney but your inferiour Clergy were without number there was your Thompson of Bristol and your rascally Chaplains and others Rogues of a deep dye These I say Sir were your reverend Assistants in the mighty Work upon your hands though they did not foresee the evil Consequences of this their Carriage in reference to the Interest of England both as to its Religion and Government Nay I hope they did not fully see into your Designs if they did you I hope will judge of them according to their Merits 5. You being so well guarded and regarded you were in a little time resolved to set up and shew your self and wicked Party what you would be at but Sir I took pity upon you and would not let you discover your self and therefore I laid it open and the Design of your Pope French King General of the Jesuites and the Society and your Brother and your self which was the reduction of England Scotland and Ireland by the Sword to the Romish Religion and the French way of Government To effect this glorious Design you and your Brother gave the then Pope Authority to entitle himself to the Kingdoms of England Ireland and Scotland to have the absolute Power and Government of the Church In order to this he dispatched his Legate into Ireland and Cardinal Howard was to have come for England and your Brother 's trusty and well-beloved Cuckold and Councellor was to have had a Cardinals Hat and was to have gone for Scotland to have taken Possession of the Ecclesiastical State of that Kingdom in the behalf of the Bishop of Rome the two others were to do the like in England and Ireland Moreover sir by your Brother and you it was contrived and agreed on that the General of the Jesuites should derive a pretended Power from the Bishop of Rome with which Project the French King was highly pleased According to this Project the Bishop of Rome did grant a Commission to the said General of the Jesuites and this Authority the said General did derive to Thomas White the Provincial to issue forth the Commissions of him the said General of the Jesuites and accordingly be with the Counsel of the Jesuites in London did issue forth such Commissions to Captain-Generals Lieutenant-Generals and Colonels Lieutenant-Colonels Majors Captains and the Advocate-General Richard Langhorn and to your Secretary of State Coleman you have a whole List of them in my Narrative already printed and published for your special service altho' not by your Royal Command Further to carry on your wicked Designs your Jesuites by the same Authority consulted concerning your Brother and because he was not a Galloper in your Cause he was by them condemned to death and that was to be executed either by stabbing shooting or poysoning him To this your Servant Coleman was privy and say you know nothing of the matter if you dare to this part of the Conspiracy The Court of Claims in Ireland if they had then been sitting would have declared him Innocent upon your Letter as they did the Marquis of Antrim upon your Brother 's nay Sir if they had carried their Point then you were to have received the Crowns as forfeited by your Brother to the Pope as of his Gift and you was to have been obliged to have such Prelates and Dignitaries in the Church and such Officers in Commands and Places civil naval and military as he had and should commissionate and you had agreed both with him and the French King to extirpate the Protestant Religion and to consent to the Assassination of the King your Brother and to massacre by the help and assistance of the French King the Protestants to Fire our Towns that stood in opposition to these cruel designs of yours You agreed to pardon the Assassines Murderers and Incendiaries and in case you died without Issue male these three Kingdoms were to be made three Provinces of France and become Subjects of that Crown for ever Here your Brother and you were engaged to the French King And that the Prince of Orange might not pretend to the same he was also condemned and designed against by Name by the Proviso and Consent of the Pope French King your Brother and your self and how you appear'd in the Design against him I have already set forth in my first Memorial to you Truly you your self must not have escaped if you had not heartily comply'd to follow such Steps and Counsels as should have been at any time proposed by your Counsellors at St. James's You have here laid before you the design in short and it was a black one God knows and What say you to it now Sir if you will let the little Gentleman of Wales learn to read I have a good Schoolmaster for him he may see here the true Picture of your sweet self which he may spell over by degrees for I would not have the Boy have too much load at a time laid upon him lest he should be disabled from serving the Tyler his true Father with a Hod of Mortar or so in order to its conformable Livelihood 6. Concerning the discovery of this Plot of yours 't is fit a word should be spoken to that point because I believe the revival of this Story will much oblige you and your ragged Crew at St. Germain's and your Saints you have left behind you You may remember that your design prosper'd so well and your damnable Arâ—y were so insolent that notwithstanding the fair pretences your Brother and you used for the keeping them up and your old Parliament briber put your Brother upon the asking of more Mony and no War with France notwithstanding they had so largely paid for the War they had advised to be begun with that mighty Monarch and they consider'd that an Army without a War would be of dangerous and pernicious consequence to the Nation therefore they agreed to this Vote in answer to your Brother's Speech made to them some time before Resolved That the House taking into consideration the state of His Majesty's Affairs and the great charge and burthen His Majesty and the Nation lies under by the Army now in being we humbly are of opinion that if His Majesty pleases to enter into a War with the French King the House is and always will be ready to support and assist in that War but if otherwise then they will proceed to the consideration of providing for the speedy disbanding of the Army And truly dear Sir you could not well blame the Parliament for this Vote for your design in general did to them appear notwithstanding the plausible Arguments your Villains used for the keeping up of that Popish Army tho' you know this disbanding the Army was not the thing you aimed at for you never designed it from the first moment that it was raised for it being Officer'd to your
surrender'd and to aggrandize the Merriment there comes over some great Personages from France and were very much pleased with the Court and the secret Devices suddenly to be put in execution after the next meeting of Parliament was agreed on all was well with you the Whores â—risking about Nell and her Mistris and the rest were as merry as the Maids and all your roguing Banditti hugg'd themselves with the great Happiness they were to enjoy Well Sir I do believe they were merry about their Mouths and they had a great deal of reason for all things went on in a sweet harmony and so it did at Belshazar's Feast till the Hand appear'd writing upon the Wall and then they were all confounded and amazed So it was with you for in the midst of all your Merriment in the Month of August all on a sudden a black Cloud appear'd which did prognosticate a Storm to fall upon you even in the height of all your Expectations and tho' it seem'd to you and your Cut-throats to be but a Triâ—le and small at the beginning yet by degrees it encreased extreamly and that was the most secret Devices of you and your Conspirators for your introducing Popery and Arbitrary Government came in some small measure to be discover'd by an old hearty Friend of yours but you had your Penniworths out of his Carcass for his Service in that particular Well to be plain with you it was my own dear self that makes this modest Address to you and if any one say that ever I gave you one good word in my Life I will be his humble Servant that proves it Before I quit this Point I must answer two Questions that have been ask'd me by several persons 1. What was the Opportunity I had of making this Discovery and 2. Why or to what end I made the Discovery 1. What the Opportunity was that I had of making the Discovery And truly this I must say and take Shame to my self the course I took to get into the Secrets of the Jesuites was no way warrantable from the Word of God for I dissembled my self to be a Papist and yet was none one that pretended Zeal for their Religion and at that time was an avowed Enemy to them and their Religion I have asked God forgiveness and all true Protestants I am sure God hath pardon'd the Sin of his Servant since he had no other thing before his Eyes but the Good of his Country and the Honour of God tho' I confess to do the least Evil that the greatest Good might come of it is unlawful and I am sure there is no true Protestant in England but what will not only forgive my doing that Evil in joyning with the Church of Rome to discover the Designs carried on by you and your Conspirators but will stand by my Truth that I did at that time discover I have reason to bless God for that they have given good Testimony of their Zeal for the Cause of God upon my account and reliev'd my Necessities and visited me when sick and in Prison and were not asham'd of my Chain But I would not have any man to think that tho' God was pleas'd to bless my poor Labours for the good of the Publick to follow my Example in joyning with that cursed Communion tho' his design be never so honest lest God in Justice leave him to the Counsel of their own Wills But it may be you are impatient and therefore I shall hasten to my intended business which is to declare my self fully to you concerning the Opportunities I had of discovering the cursed Intrigues of the Jesuites and the cursed Plot you carried on for the destruction of our Laws Liberties and Religion I must tell you that the acquaintance I had with some considerable Papists in the Year 1670 made me suspect a Design carried on by them to advance their Religion and to pull down ours but I little thought they had a design of murdering the King which in process of time I found out there was one Cotton that was at Mr. Guildford's in Kent this Gentleman was a free-spoken man and would be often tempting me to come over to their Church For said he it will not be long before you must either burn or turn therefore come over to us in time that your Coming may be meritorious This Cotton I in time found out to be a Priest of the Jesuites Order and one that was engaged in the Popish Plot and when I was engaged Sir with your Coleman and the Society I had with him a better acquaintance From him at first I found that the Popish Party had a Design then on foot to promote their Religion and were making what Proselytes they could in order to enlarge their Interest and Power in this Kingdom I from that time had a great desire to get into them to see whither their Designs tended being very fearful that they design'd no less than the total subversion of our Religion and Government for this Cotton had the Impudence to tell me That your Brother was engag'd with you and the Catholick Party to advance your Cause and Religion and was resolv'd to bring in Popery it being a Religion that was most consistent with Monarchy and that your Brother was resolv'd to be like his Neighbour Princes This was in the Year 1670 about Christmas which Discourse I discover'd to Mr. Walter Drury whom I did assist in the Service of his Cure at Sandhurst in the County of Kent and he told me that Mr. Cotton had talked as plainly or rather worse to him but he had sufficiently told him his own so that Cotton was shy of having any farther Discourse with him about those matters and withal Mr. Drury having threatned to complain of him Mr. Cotton did withdraw from that Family and another came in his room In the Year 1672 I was acquainted with one Keimash who used very perswasive Arguments to me to have brought me over to their Church he then frequented Arundel House in the Strand and was a Fellow that had insinuated himself into the acquaintance of several Divines of the Church and bragged That he had reconciled above thirty Ministers of the Ch. of England but I found him a debauch'd lewd fellow and so my acquaintance ceased with him for it was a hard matter unless in a Morning to find him â—ober I found him afterwards to have been Chaplain to the old Countess of Arundel with whom he liv'd several Years under the notion of her Steward In the Year 1672 I left Mr. Drury's Cure and held a Living of my own upon which I resided for some time call'd Bobbing in Kent and from thence I went and serv'd the King at Sea as a Chaplain where I found many difficulties by reason of sickness of Body I refreshed my self at Tangier where was one Gerard an Irish Dominican that upon the first sight of me enquir'd whether the Catholick Religion was establish'd in England
oblig'd the House to send for the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs privately who sign'd Warrants for the apprehending several Popish Lords and committed them to several Prisons about the Town And another Gentleman being under consideration which at last came to an Accusation and an Impeachment for that it was found out by his Letters the Intrigues he held with your Ally for Mony to procure a Peace and deceive the Parliament which Letters were preserv'd and brought into the House by the procurement of a worthy Gentleman since a Peer of the Realm who had wisely kept them against a rainy day upon which many of the open case-harden'd Rogues began to trudge beyond the Seas and some of your Plotters found it too hot for England to hold them for the Murther of Justice Godfrey stuck upon our Stomachs without the least prospect of being digested and several of his Murtherers did travel for fear of being call'd to an account for that bloody piece of Villany or of being in the Plot to murther the King And to give you your due you did bestir your self and that the Journeys of these your Villains might be more easie you had a couple of good-natur'd Rogues that made no Bones to oblige you with a cast of their Office that these Vermin might not be stopt in their way by which they would have endanger'd themselves and you too and lost their Cause in which they had been true Drudges to your Brother and your self You did also take more than special care for the securing a jolly number of Jesuites who were blest with the same Fortune by the Assistance of your aforesaid Hell hounds to get over the Herring pond I commend the Diligence of the English Gentlemen of the House of Commons but the Sons of Zerviah were too many for them for the Ministry at that time of the day to serve you were willing to help their Brethren in Iniquity and as the Parliament were ready to detect the black piece of Villany you and these Rogues were engag'd in the Court and the Conspirators were as diligent to conceal if not on the contrary far to outdo them in supplanting the Discovery Truly to give the House of Lords their due they acted with as much Prudence as the Commons they appointed a secret Committee consisting of five or six Lords and by this Committee whilst it was a secret one and whilst they kept their Examinations private they did discover your sweet self God bless you and the Queen-Dowager to be in the bottom of the Design And the Duke of Buckingham having for some considerable time had a Scheme of the Conspiracy from my self he well understood how to manage the Discovery to a Hairs breadth and he certainly did it with admirable dexterity and committed all men of whom there was the least suspicion by which method several things were discover'd to that Committee which would otherwise never have come to light and especially about the Murther of Godfrey This Sir struck a mighty Terror into the Hearts of several of your Vermin that made them both fear and tremble and some of them whose Hearts God had touched as you say in your reverend Letter from Rochester began to think of discovering your wicked Designs against the King your Brother and our Religion Laws and Liberties and the Murther of that innocent Magistrate What News next I think it is a Question may be ask'd without your making that sowre Face you will turn my Stomach presently if you do not accept of this Goodwill of mine with a more cheerful Countenance therefore without the Ceremony of making that Fridays Mouth let us go on and let me observe to you that the Nation was in a great confusion and expected nothing less but that you and your Cut-throats would begin your Church-work of converting this Nation by a Baptism of Blood and this great City by a Baptism of Fire and that we might be preserv'd as well from the one as the other the Parliament resolv'd to have the Nation in a posture of defence and to raise the Militia throughout the Kingdom and therefore prepar'd a Bill for that purpose for the Militia to be in Arms for so many days which Bill passed both Houses without difficulty but you and your Hell-born Crew seeing this great Zeal and sweet Harmony between both Houses and that they were resolv'd as well to defend the Nation as to â—ecure us from farther Mischief you by the Advice of your Counsellors who had the Impudence to stay behind made use of this Stratagem to divide your Brother from the Houses and put a stop to the passing the Bill for you were filled with Horror of the Militia's being raised lest your Rogues should be put out of their Traces and be a means to frustrate all your designs After the Parliament was risen you possessed your Brother with the danger of the Bill and whatever he did he should not pass it for it was too great a Trust to be reposed in the People and that it would be of a sad consequence to himself No Sir you were out the true danger would have been yours and not the King 's and your Brother knew it well enough and he therefore was as willing to deny the passing the Bill as you and your Rogues were to have him The Bill being rejected your Brother was troubled at the Parliaments resenting the refusal of the passing so necessary a Bill then he began to wheedle with the Parliament and declar'd that he was ready to assent to any Bill that he should have tender'd to him for the security of the Kingdom by the Militia so that the whole power of calling or not calling continuing or not continuing them together during the time limited was in him and that he might be the sole Judge of the publick Security So we thank'd him for nothing and the business fell Come on then here was by this time a Mess of sad Tydings for here a second Witness appears and brings in a more full Discovery of Godfrey's Murther this Witness was your old Friend Mr. Bedloe who was employ'd or was at least privy to the Intrigue and had been greatly employ'd to carry on the Plot beyond the Seas by the Priests and Jesuites so that now your dear Friend's Testimony was in a most unexpected manner corroborated and confirm'd Upon his coming in you and your Crew were much out of countenance and cast down but it was not for your Party to stand still and therefore to work you go and endeavour to discourage him and cry down his Evidence and to baffle him upon his Knowledge of the Rooms in Somerset-house where the murthered person lay but in good truth it did you no manner of Service for the Parliament was then sitting and the secret Committee of Peers had got his Examination so that by Bedloe's fresh Evidence all but your Conspirators and your self were well pleased And he having been now throughly examin'd both as
if it were so necessary to have it known that your Crew were not men of that Loyalty they pretended why then were not the Witnesses better receiv'd by the King your Brother who the last moment of his Life was satisfied of the Innocency of the Roman Catholicks Truly Sir there were several reasons why the King your Brother it may be might not receive the witnesses so well and believe them as he ought to have done 1. Because he was engag'd in the whole Conspiracy of introducing Popery and Slavery but was not privy to that part which related to his own Life 2. Your Brother lov'd to appear a Prince of Mercy and Clemency tho' he had not one dram of those Princely Virtues but what his meer Cowardice compel'd him to 3. The Nature of the Evidence given 4. The Interest of the Conspirators These you shall have in due time and not before tho' you cry your Eyes out 3 Reason why it was necessary that your Conspiracy should be discover'd was to prevent your coming to the Crown for certainly it could be neither safe nor proper to set a Popish Head over a Protestart Interest especially since you had made so many Attempts upon the Protestant Religion to destroy it and in order to its destruction made such an Alliance with France as I have at large already made out in which I think you are as fully expos'd as your Heart and Soul can wish and therefore Sir I think you noâ— your Party can never blame those Parliaments that intended and attempted your Exclusion when you was Duke of York 4 That I might discharge a good Conscience and that such Malefactors might be brought to publick Justice It is well known Sir that the King your Brother was a Favourer of the Popish Interest as being the greatest Favourers of Monarchy and he was pleas'd himself to offer to reconcile me to that Party and told me That if I would engage upon the word of a Minister not to bear any Testimony against those I had accused before the Council but would be rul'd by him I should have Ten thousand pounds to buy me an Annuity and if I would I should retire to any College in either University and live there quietly urging to me that a Parliament would never gratifie me and that it was in his power only to shew me Favour and therefore advised me to follow his Directions and if I did it would be impossible for me to miscarry To this I thus reply'd I humbly thank your Majesty for your Grace and Favour and I should willingly accept of your Royal Offer were it not the highest Breach of Trust reposed in me by your Commons in this Parliament besides Sir said I your Nobles in the House of Peers must and so will all Mankind judge me the worst of Men if I should so basely desert my Cause It is plain that the Popish Party have a Design against your Majesties Life and all our Lives Liberties and Religion and therefore by the Grace of God I will stand by the Cause to the uttermost of my power to the last minute of my Life I bless God for the Grace of Perseverance I have discharg'd a good Conscience and tho' I was left by your Brother and persecuted by you yet your Villains were some of them brought to publick Justice and made Examples for their many notorious Treasons against the Religion Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom 7. I now come to shew you what Evidence there was to prove this Conspiracy that you were engag'd in for the destruction of the Person of the King and for the bringing in of Popery and Aâ—bitrary Power Your Popish Traytors were so impudent in their ways that there was no manner of difficulty of finding Proof against them had but your Brother and you stood Neuters but you were both equally engag'd with Lewis the French King to bring in Popery and Slavery But that it may appear to all the World that the Popish Plot was not short of being duly proved but on the contrary it was made so plain and evident that the Lords and Commons of England did receive the Proofs and the Evidence upon no terms could be contradicted therefore now I shall produce the Evidence of the Guilt of those who were accused to be concern'd in the same 1. The constant bloody Principles of the Church of Rome was a Testimony sufficient to have convicted them of being guilty of such a horrid Conspiracy for do but remember how that Apostatical Synagogue of Satan will not bear with any Kingdom Common-wealth or Community of Men that differs from them in Matters of Religion and declares against them as Antichristian and Idolaters but those who so declare are immediately pronounced Hereticks and de jure they are excommunicated as such according to the Council of Lateran in the time of Pope Innocent the third and by an Edict of Pope Paul the fourth in the Year of our Lord 1558 and if that be not sufficient you may remember that we are in the Bulla Coena Domini which your Holy Father at Rome causeth to be read every Maunday Thursday and there we are solemnly cursed and thereupon Sir your bloody Party and your self and all other Papists living under the Dominions of Protestant Princes were not only discharg'd from all Allegiance to Protestant Princes but all of you were and still are bound by the strictest Bond of Conscience upon pain of being damn'd to depose such Heretical Princes And Vrban the third hath taught you and them that they are so far from being guilty of Murder that they are obliged to kill any who stand excommunicate and are bound to extirpate Hereticks as they would be esteem'd Christians themselves Nay further do but observe the Bull of Clement the tenth wherein you may if you please see plainly that it is a Crime of the deepest dye for a Roman Catholick to be loyal to a Protestant Prince nay such are publickly cursed in the view of the World so that it is apparent that no Protestant Government can be safe where such a number of Men have a Being and are in any manner countenanc'd Again Bellarmin your great Cardinal tells you in words at length and is so impudently plain that a man of an Irish Understanding may know his meaning his words are these Hereticks are to be destroy'd Root and Branch if it can possibly be done but if it appears that the Catholicks are so few that they cannot conveniently with their own safety attempt such a thing then in such a case it is best to be quiet de Laicis Lib. 3 Ep. 22. Lest upon opposition made by Hereticks the Catholicks should be worsted And from hence Bannes another of the Supporters of your murdering principles hath no other Apology to make for the English Papists why they do not forcibly rise up against a King and his Subjects proâ—essing the Protestant Religion but that they are not powerful enough for such an
Deponent saying your Brother the said Messenger replied we are off that thing now therefore he desired me me not to speak of it to any body afterwards the said Butler came to this Deponent 's Shop and told the Deponent that he had received great Anger in that he had told the Deponent of what Messenger was to Attempt This Deponent further saith that some what above half a year since he heard Mr. Walliston Paston say that young Sir Henry Beddingfield of Oxburrough Hall in Norfolk was to have a Commission form my Lord Arundel for a Troop of Horse in the Army to be raised by the Papists Also about the time that the four Lords that were in the Tower that is the Duke of Buckingham my Lord Shaftsbury the Lord Wharton and the Lord Salisbury that one Mr. Knightly came to me and greatly rejoycing at their Imprisonment said that now is the time for promoting the Catholic Religion because of the difference that was amongst the Lords and that if the Duke of York did but follow the business closely which the Catholics had ground to believe he would they did not doubt but that it would be settled in that juncture of time Your Friend Mr. Prance gave in another Information on the 22. of March which is as follows IN the Month of August 1678 I having occasion to write to a Friend in the Country but could not tell well how to send I went to Mr. Pastons who lodged at one Bambers a Taylor in Duke-street who gave me an Account where to send to him and we immediately fell into Discourse concerning the present posture of Affairs and he bid me not to fear for we should suddenly have better times for in the first place he said that the King was a great Heretick and that the Lord Bellasis and Lord Arundel and Lord Powis and the Lord Petre would have a very good Army for the Deposing of the King and the suppression of the Hereticks and then the Catholick Religion should be established and flourish in this Nation he also said that the above named Lords had given out Commissions already to some Gentlemen in the Country whom he named to me who were Mr. Talbot of Longford and Sir Henry Beddingfield of Oxborow Hall in Norfolk and one Mr. Stone who lives within four or five miles of Kingston upon Thames Also about two years ago one Townley of Townley in Lancashire came up to London with his two Sons whom he was carrying over to Doway he also brought along with him his two Brothers to keep him Company they took Lodgings at Ayries house in Drury-Lane where Fenwick lodged and in a short time two of them went over to Doway with the two Lads and left the other here who in the absence of his Brothers declared very often to my Wifes Brother and to Adamson that when his Brothers came back again from Doway they expected Commissions from the above named Lords for the raising of Men for the Carrying on the Catholick Cause this my Brother and Adamson often told me at Pettleyes in Veres-street where we had a Club very often of none but Papists Now Sir we have given you an account of what Mr. Prance swore before the Parliament concerning the Popish Plot in which you may see your self engaged for you had a business upon your hands and that business was to be followed closely and then the Catholick Religion would flourish and you know to what a degree of Zeal and Piety you were converted as not to regard any thing in the world in comparison of God Almighty's Glory and the Salvation of your own and the conversion of this poor Kingdom which hath been a long time oppressed and miserably harassed with Heresie and Schism nay your Zeal was such That Coleman could sâ—arce believe himself awake when he thought on it I will now put you in mind of what he discovered upon Oath concerning the said Popish Plot at the Tryals of several of your Villains I begin with the Tryals of the five Jesuites where the said Prance did with all chearfulness declare That Harcourt the Jesuit and one of your Councellors at St. Jameses told Prance that there was a design of killing the King and St. Ireland Fenwick and Grove who was one of your Popish Messengers and Firers of the Borough of Southwark told him of 50000 Men that were to be raised for the carrying on of the Catholick Cause and to settle the Catholick Religion which Affair was to be managed by the Five Lords that were for that Conspiracy committed to the Tower who as well as Whitebread were to grant Commissions for Officers nay had actually granted several and to incourage this Prance who though he had but a little Sense yet he had so much as to dread a Civil War told him that he need not fear he should have Church Work enough It will not be unnecessary to make some Observations upon Mr. Prance his Testimony before we come to another and in it here are five or six things worthy of your Consideration 1. Here is expresly sworn That Popery was to be introduced which you know is High Treason your Priests all expected to see the Romish Religion setled and that then all things would do well and your Priests should have fat Parsonages and then all things would go right 2. This Religion was to be brought in by an Army you know that your Dragooning Apostles here might have planted Religion in as an effectual way as they ruin'd the poor Protestants in France 3. Here is the King your Brother declared an Heretick and therefore by your Popish Army to be deposed and by Messenger to be destroyed 4. Here is your selâ— having a work in hand which you were to follow closely 5. Here are your Popish Party all engaged and you at the Head of them 6. Here is all the Incouragement in the World to prevent them from fainting in the Cause for fear of a Civil War they should have Trade enough what can be plainer let all the World judge 4. A Fourth Witness that proved the Popish Plot was the Testimony of Mr. Robert Jenison the manner of his coming in was thus upon the 15th of June 1679 Mr. Chetwind of Westminster who had some Discourse with one Mr. Griffith a Gentleman of Grays Inn about the five Jesuites that had been condemned on the day before and their attempt â—o prove William Ireland alias Ironmonger executed some time before for High Treason to have been in Staffordshire and on his Journey thither from the fifth of August 1678 till the seventh of September following and not to have been within that time in London as I had with others sworn him to have been there between the eight and the twelfth of August and to be returned again thither on the beginning of September whereupon Mr. Griffith told Mr. Chetwynd that Sir Michael Wharton of Beverley in the County of York then a Member of Parliament told him
Party 10. A great number of Officers that were Papists had been imployed and several under half Pay and many other Things of the like Nature All which Particulars laid before your Brother in this Address justify the Credit the Evidences of the Popish Plot had in Parliament But that I may not leave you so I pray peruse the Address it self it was a Swinger I 'll assure you and much to the purpose The humble Address of the Commons in Parliament assembled Presented to his Majesty Munday the 29th of Nov. 1680. May it please your most Excellent Majesty WE your Majesty's most Obedient and Loyal Subjects the Commons in Parliament assembled having with all Duty and Regard taken into our serious Consideration your Majesty's late Message relating to Tangier cannot but account the present Condition of it as your Majesty is pleas'd to represent in your said Message after so vast a Treasure expended to make it useful not only as one Infelicity more added to the afflicted Estate of your Majesty's faithful and loyal Subjects but as one result also of the same Counsels and Designs which have brought your Majesty's Person Crown and Kingdoms into those great and imminent Dangers with which at this Day they are surrounded and we are the less surprised to hear of the Exigencies of Tangier when we remember that since it became a part of your Majesty's Dominions it hath several Times been under the Command of Popish Governors particularly for some Time under the Command of a Lord impeach'd and now Prisoner in the Tower for that execrable and horrid Popish Plot that the Supplies sent thither have been in a great Part made up of Popish Officers and Soldiers and that the Irish Papists amongst the Soldiers of that Garison have been the Persons most countenanced and encouraged To that part of your Majesty's Message which expresses a Reliance upon this House for the Support of Tangier and a Recommendation of it to our speedy Care we do with all Humility and Reverence give this Answer That although in due Time and Order we shall omit nothing incumbent on us for the Preservation of every Part of your Majesty's Dominions and advancing the Prosperity and flourishing Estate of this your Kingdom yet at this Time when a Cloud that hath long threatned this Land is ready to break upon our Heads in a Storm of Ruin and Confusion to enter into any further Consideration of this Matter especially to come to any Resolutions in it before we are effectually secured from the imminent and apparent Dangers arising from the Powâ—r of Popish Persons and Counsels we humbly conceive will not consist either with our Duty to your Majesty or the Trust reposed in us by those we represent It is not unknown to your Majesty how restless the Endeavors and how bold the Attempts of the Popish Party for many Years last past have been not only in this but other your Majesty's Kingdoms to introduce the Romish and utterly to extirpâ—te the Protestant Religion The several Approaches they have made towards the compassing this their Design assisted by the Treachery of perfidious Protestants have been so strangely successful that 't is matter of Admiration to us and which we can only ascribe â—o an over-ruling Providence that your Majesty's Reign is still continued over us and that we are yet assembled to câ—nsult the Means of our Preservation This bloody and restless Party not content with the great Liberty they had a long time enjoyed to exercise their own Religion privately among themselves to partake of an equal Freedom of their Persons and Estates with your Majesties Protestant Subjects and of an Advantage above them in being excused from chargeable Offices and Employments hath so far prevailed as to find Countenance for an open and avowed Practice for their Superstition and Idolatry without controul in several Parts of the Kingdom Great swarms of Priests and Jesuits have resorted hither and have here exercised their Jurisdiction and been daily tampering to pervert the Consciences of your Majesty's Subjects their Opposers they have found means to disgrace and if they were Judges Justices of the Peace or other Magistrates to have them turned out of Commission and in contempt of the known Laws of the Land they have practised upon People of all Ranks and Qualities and gained over divers to their Religion some openly to profess it others secretly to espouse it and most conduced to the Service thereof After some time they became able to influence Matters of State and Government and thereby to destroy those they cannot corrupt The Continuance or Prorogation of Parliaments has been accommodated to serve the Purposes of the Party Money raised upon the People to supply your Majesty's extraordinary Occasions was by the prevalence of Popish Counsels imployed to make War upon a Protestant State and to advance and augment the dreadful Power of the French King though to the apparent Hazard of this and all other Protestant Countries Great Numbers of your Majesty's Subjects were sent into and continued in the Service of that King notwithstanding the apparent Interest of your Majesty's Kingdoms the Addresses of the Parliament and your Majesty's gracious Proclamations to the contrary Nor can we forbear to mention how that at the beginning of the same War even the Ministers of England were made Instruments to press upon that State the acceptance of one Demand among others from the French King for procuring their Peace with him That they should admit the publick Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion in the Vnited Provinces the Churches there to be divided and the Popish Priests to be maintained out of the publick Revenue At home if your Majesty did at any time by the Advice of your Privy Council or of your Two Houses of Parliament command the Laws to be put in due Execution against Papists even from thence they gained Advantage to their Party while the Edge of those Laws was turned against Protestant Dissenters and the Papists escaped in a manner untoucht The Act of Parliament enjoining a Test to be taken by all Persons admitted into any publick Office and intended for a Security against Papists coming into Employment had so little effect That either by Dispensations obtained from Rome they submitted to those Tests and held their Ofces themselves or those put in their Places were so favourable to the same Interests that Popery it self has rather gained than lost Ground since that Act. But that their Business in hand might yet more speedily and strongly proceed at length a Popish Secretary since executed for his Treasons takes upon him to set a foot and maintain Correspondencies at Rome particularly with a Native Subject of your Majesty 's promoted to be a Cardinal and in the Courts of other foreign Princes to use their own form of Speech for the subduing the pestilent Heresy which has so long domineer'd over this Northern World that is to root out the Protestant Religion out of England and
enslave the Nation This very Article is enough to render you odious not only to the Protestant but also to the Catholick Princes of Europe and all others both High and Low Rich and Poor Jew and Gentile Bond and Free How detestable you must be therefore to God and all good Men I leave it to your Conscience to judg but you have the Wages of your Villany and I wish you all Joy of them Well how do you by this time What think you of this Article It is a Tickler I 'll assure you and it will stand you instead to deliver your self and Party Come what have you to say for your self and Friends If you had but a Grain of Sense you would conclude That you had lived too long since You have out lived the Love and Piety you owed to the Constitution and Laws of your native Country by which it hath been supported these Thousand Years and therefore it was no wonder that your Government hath out-lived you and you most honestly sent to graze at St. Germains to behold the miserable Estate of your Neighbours to which you would have reduced us And you hope notwithstanding all this to be Recalled Alas good Man when I pray you And by whom And to what End Answer any of these Three Questions if you can and then you will do somewhat 1. Do you think that we are afraid of your Plotting and making Parties Cannot you see by this time that your Fools rather Plot as if they had a greater desire to be hanged to prevent their Starving or Rotting in a Jayl for the Debts they have contracted by their riotous lewd Living than to restore you to the Three Kingdoms For assure your self they have applied to wrong Persons and made use of wrong Methods by which means they are taken up for Hawks meat and are hanged though at the same time they are a Reproach to the very Gallows and dye without any manner of Pity 2. Do you imagine that Scotch Robin by cheating my Lady Wilkinson of her Husband's Books may collect out of them Matter enough to perswade the World in his impudent Lying Pamphlets that the Nation ought to restore you again Or do you think that Scribling will ever bring you back since a good Army could not keep you here No nor Sir John Knight's Speech which in Truth was bitter enough to have hanged the Rascal sooner than gained one single Vote for the Business Nay to give them their just due I find that the Pens that in Times past were most busy now lie still which they would not do if they thought Writing would do any good Even the Writing of Scotch Robin hath been of as little Use as his Preaching 3. If Writing will not do do you think that Prating may Truly your Friend Mr. Spit fire hath made a fearful Noise many a fair Time but whether he is your Friend or no I cannot tell If he be surely you need to advise him to carry his Key about him to let your Friends know his Meaning for he is as dark as Mid-night for my part I understand him not nor do many of his Acquaintance and I do not find that he hath made any Convert to your Interest But to deal plainly with you I doubt your Cattel are mistaken in that Spark he is a Grum only and noâ—â— Jaâ—oâ—â—â—e Truly 〈◊〉 him â—e what he will he is of little or no use to any Party that he shall espouse Well you have Mr. Prate-a-pace who glories much in the Name of a Whig Jacobite he runs too and fro compassing the whole City and tattles much for you but I think he exposes himself more than he can enlarge your Interest But recommend me to Rhiming Jack Carryl since he hath lost his Estate he may turn Ballad-Singer it may be that may be of some use to you 4. Can you imagine that Eating and Drinking will do I pray where is the ready Darby for to pay the Reckoning Sir Sweet-face Tell-penny swears by his Book of old Pensioners that there is not a Shilling to be got if you would cry your Eyes out and so the poor Rogues must either hang starve or sell themselves and run away with the Money Nay Sir John Greazy-Guts swears by the Modesty of his young Wife and the Honesty of Squire Bold-face his Neighbour that your Friends must leave that way it being only a Sparkish Frolick and that therefore they must enter into a cheaper way of managing your Matters for though these trusty Cards of yours cannot afford themselves Shillings to swill it at a Tavern yet they are willing to help them to a few Penny-woâ—ch of Farthings to sip at a Coffee-house which will do as much good as Hodges Preaching at Sam 's to his Spiritual Auditors And if you could maintain half a Score of these Fellows to run from Coffee-house to Coffee-house the World might be plagued with their Non-sense but they can never get one Line to recal you though you have been graciously pleased to plant your self within call these Eight or Nine Years And therefore I know no call you will have unless your Irish Understanding be called in question for not putting a Period to your own wicked Life 5. Do you think that Hanging up some of your Cattel might do you any Service Truly then Sir Simkin your old Friend if he will but exert his Talent he can tell how to betray the poor Dogs but what he will turn to do it there I am to seek your Ministry may find some Expedient for this Work And truly it might save your Friends before-mentioned some Charge so that they be the better able to put a travelling Penny in your Pocket when you shall make a Gracious Amble to Rome or some such Place But now I think on 't there will not be any need of their being Betrayed for the Rogues are pretty Pert and since they canot serve you at their own Expence they are resolved to serve you their own way Therefore let them take their own Course without forcing them upon Secrecy in their own Defence For as their Openness can do us little hurt so their ambling from Coffee-house to Coffee-house and picking up Scraps of News Papers can do you little good To conclude all this Memorial You may see what a Sett of Villains you have used and do still imploy to manage with and for you And I think I have set you forth pretty well in your proper Colours and if you will have Patience I will give you another Cast of my Calling For I see you may well set a Fifth Time and your Cloaths will not be the worse for it on your Gracious Back And by that time I have finished my Articles the Nation may see what a Pretty Jewel we have had of James Duke of York FINIS Advertisement WHereas I Titus Oates Clerk Doctor in Divinity now of the Parish of St. Margaret Westminster in the County of Middlesex did in the Year 1685. suffer Two Cruel and Barbarous Whippings by which I lay Ten Weeks under the Chirurgions and had little Hopes of being preserv'd but through the Mercy of Almighty God and the extraordinary Skill of a Judicious Chirurgion I out-liv'd that Barbarous and Inhuman Usage I do certify That James Wass Citizen and Chirurgion of London was the Person that under God saved my Life and none but he For Application having been made to several of his Profession yet none durst to appear to perform that peice of Service for fear of the then Tyrannical Government but he the said James Wass judging himself bound in Conscience to do his Duty in his Profession And I do hereby certify he never had any Reward for that peice of Service from me nor have I been ever Capable of making him any Return for that peice of Service and great Kindness to me in saving my Life in that sad Condition under which I then laboured And I do further certify That the said James Wass did not only at his own Cost and Charge perform the said great Cure but also reliev'd me in my Necessity in a most bountiful Manner and stir'd up several of my Friends to supply me with considerable Sums of Money in the Time of my close Confinement and by reason of my hard Usage in Prison I had contracted much Sickness and Weakness the said James Wass was always ready to attend me without any manner of Reward either for his Medicines or Trouble of Attendance and had not the said James Wass frequently visited me in Prison for ought I know I might have Perished for want Witness my Hand this Ninth of April 1697. Titus Oates
very Obsequious to the Strumpets that were about him yet do but observe what Credit the Parliament of England gave the Witnesses and that through the Power of Truth and Energy that was in the Testimony they gave 1. Upon the Testimony they received from me when I was a single Testimony upon the first of November 1678 the Lords and Commons past this Vote viz. Resolved Nemine Contradicente That upon the Evidence that hath already appeared to this House that this House is of Opinion that there hath been and still is a Damnable and Hellish Plot Contrived and Carried on by the Popish Recusants for the Assassinating and Murthering the King and for the Subverting the Government and Rooting out and Destroying the King To which Vote the Lords agreed Nemine Contradicente 2. The Lord Chancellour Finch that famous Tool reported upon the 28th of November 1678 the effect of a Conference desired by the Commons that upon hearing of the Testimony of Mr. Bedloe and my self that they were in an Amazment when they considered in what danger the Person of the King your Brother was and his Government whereupon they prepared an Address to be presented to the King your Brother to which they desired the Concurrence of the House of Lords and they had the Concurrence of the House of Lords in the said Address and it was accordingly presented to the said King on the 29th by both Houses so that you and your Villains may see that the Discovery of the Popish Plot was not so small a Matter as you would seem to make of it 3. Observe the Address of Parliament on the 21st of March 1679 in which the Parliament did lay before the King your Brother the great Sence they had of the sad and Calamitous Condition of this Kingdom occasioned chiefly by the Impious and Malicious Conspiracies of the Popish Party who had not only Plotted and intended the Distruction of the King your Brother but the total Subversion of the Government and the true Religion established amongst us and therefore they Prayed that a Day might be set a part for Fasting and Prayer and accordingly a Day was set apart but I suppose though you knew of that Day you nor none of your Villains ever kept it 4. Observe the Vote of the 24th of March 1679 Resolved Nemine Contradicente by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and by the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled That they are fully satisfy'd by the Proofs that they have heard that there now is and for divers Years last past hath been a horrid and Treasonable Plot and Conspiracy contrived and carried on by those of the Popish Religion for the Murthering of his Majesties Sacred Person and for the Subverting of the Protestant Religion and the ancient and well established Government of this Kingdom To which Vote Sir give me leave to remind you of the Impeachment of the five Popish Lords upon which Impeachment the Lord Viscount Stafford was tried and found Guilty and suffered the Pains of Death as a Traytor to the King and Kingdom and so fully satisfyed was the Parliament of the Integrity and Truth of the Witnesses that they intended to have proceeded against the rest of the Traytors that none of them could have escaped the Justice of the Nation had not they been dissolved in a most Arbitrary manner 5. Observe the Proceedings of the Parliament against Nathaniel Reading Esq who Corresponded with the Lords in the Tower that stood Impeached for the Popish Plot in their Address to the King your Brother upon the 8th of April 1679 in which they set forth the Inquiry they had made into the Hellish Design that was carried on by the Papists against the Person and Government of the King your Brother and upon Examination they found that he the said Reading had used his utmost endeavours to prevent and suppress the Kings Evidence and as much as in him lay to stifle the Discovery of the said Plot and and thereby to render the same Fallacious and of no Reality and by such undue Means to prevent the Malefactors from coming to Justice therefore they prayed that a Commission of Oyer and Termâ—er might be issued forth for the trying of the said Reading for that Offence Reading was tried and was found Guilty and therefore would have you take notice of what was said by the then Lord chief Justice North when he gave Judgment upon the said Reading I will tell you says he your offence is so great and hath such a Relation to that which the whole Nation is concerned in because it was on attempt to baffle the Evidence of that Conspiracy which if it had not been by the mercy of God detected God knows what might have befallen us all by this time and still the Parliament have it under their Consideration how to prevent any farther mischief by it but this Villain of a Cut-throat had the grace to join with your Brother and you to stifle it as I shall shew you in the next Part of this your sweet Picture 6. Observe the Address of the House of Commons upon the 14th of May upon the Assurance that the King your Brother had given the then Parliament of his constant Care to do every thing that might preserve the Protestant Religion and Government they did upon the said Assurances represent to the King your Brother the deep Sense they had of the state of Religion and shewed the King that the Papists by their Designs against his Person and Government which the said Parliament was resolved to defend gave themselves hopes of Success therefore the Parliament were resolved to apply themselves to the making such Laws as might defeat those Popish Adversaries of their Hopes of gaining any Advantage by any Attempt they should at any time Form against the Person of the King your Brother 7. Another Instance of the Credit the Discovery of the Popish Plot had you may see in this Address of the House of Commons to the King your Brother The ADDRESS to his Majesty from the Commons Saturday Nov. 13 th 1680. May it please your most Excellent Majesty WE your Majesty's most loyal and obedient Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament assembled having taken into our most serious Consideration your Majesty's gracious Message brought unto us the Ninth Day of this instant November by Mr. Secretary Jenkins do with all Thankfulness acknowledg your Majesty's Care and Goodness in inviting us to expedite such Matters as are depending before us relating to Popery and the Plot. And we do in all humility represent to your Majesty that we are fully convinced that it is highly incumbent upon us in discharge both of our Duty to your Majesty and of that great Trust reposed in us by those whom we represent to endeavour by the most speedy and effectual Ways the suppression of Popery within this Kingdom and the bringing to publick Justice all such as shall be found guilty of the horrid and damnable Popish
Plot And though the Time of our Sitting abating what must necessarily be spent in the chusing and presenting a Speaker appointing grand Committees and in taking the Oaths and Tests appointed by Act of Parliament hath not muâ—h exceeded a Fortnight yet we have in this Time not only made a considerable Progress in some Things which to us seem and when presented to your Majesty in a Parliamentary Way will we trust appear to your Majesty to be absolutely Necessary for the Safety of your Majesty's Person the effectual Suppression of Popery and the Security of the Religion Lives and Estates of your Majesty's Protestant Subjects But even in relation to the Tryals of the Five Lords impeached in Parliament for the execrable Popish Plot we have so far proceeded as we doubt not but in a short Time we shall be ready for the same But we cannot without being unfaithful to your Majesty and to our Country by whom we are intrusted omit upon this Occasion humbly to inform your Majesty that our Difficulties even as to these Tryals are much encreased by the evil and destructive Counsels of those Persons who advised your Majesty first to the Prorogation and then to the Dissolution of the last Parliament at a Time when the Commons had taken great Pains about and were prepared for those Tryals And by the like pernicious Counsels of those who advised the many and long Prorogations of the present Parliament before the same was permitted to sit whereby some of the Evidence which was prepared in the last Parliament may possibly during so long an Interval be forgotten or lost and some Persons who might probably have come in as Witnesses are either dead have been taken off or may have been discouraged from giving their Evidence But of one mischievous Consequence of those dangerous and unhappy Counsels we are certainly and sadly sensible namely That the Testimony of a material Witness against every of those Five Lords and who could probably have discovered and brought in much other Evidence about the Plot in general and those Lords in particular cannot now be given Viva voce Forasmuch as that Witness is unfortunately dead between the calling and the sitting of this Parliament to prevent the like or greater Inconveniences for the future we make it our most humble Request to your Excellent Majesty that as you tender the Safety of your Royal Person the Security of your Loyal Subjects and the Preservation of the true Protestant Religion you will not suffer your self to be prevail d upon by the like Counsel to do any thing which may occasion in Consequence though we are assured never with your Majesty's Intention either the deferring of a full and perfect Discovery and Examination of this most wicked and detestable Plot or the preventing the Conspirators therein from being brought to speedy and exemplary Justice and Punishment And we humbly beseech your Majesty to rest assured notwithstanding any Suggestions which may be made by Persons who for their own wicked Purposes contrive to create a Distrust in your Majesty of your People that nothing is more in the Desires and shall be more the Endeavours of us your faithful and loyal Commons than the promoting and advancing of your Majesty's true Happiness and Greatness In which the Parliament laid before the King your Brother these following Particulars 1. The grateful Sense they had of his Care in his Message to them by Jenkins his Secretary inviting the Parliament to expedite the Matters that were then before them relating to Popery and the Plot. 2. That they were convinced that it was a Duty incumbent upon them to suppress Popery and to bring to Justice all such as should be found Guilty of the horrid and damnable Popish Plot. 3. That the King by his frequent Prorogations and Dissolutions of his Parliaments had rendered the Tryals of the Popish Lords more difficult by reason that a material Witness was dead 4. That the Person of the King your Brother was not safe till the Criminals in the Popish Plot were brought to Justice 5. That notwithstanding the wicked Suggestions of your self and villanous Party they were resolved to be true and faithful to the King your Brother 8. Observe the Address of the House of Commons to the King your Brother on the 29th of Nov. 1680. upon the Message he sent to the House of Commons about the Affair of supplying Tangier in which they laid before the King these following Particulars worthy of your remembring 1. They laid before the King that since Tangier had become part of his Dominions it had been formerly under the Command of Popish Governours but more particularly it had been for some time under the Command of a certain Lord that stood impeached by Parliament and a Prisoner in the Tower for the execrable and horrid Popish Plot. 2. That the Supplies sent thither were made up of Popish Officers and Irish Papists and that the Popish Party there were the Persons most countenanced and incouraged 3. The restless Endeavours of the Popish Party within this Kingdom to introduce the Romish Religion and to extirpate the Protestant Religion 4 The Assistance they had received from some perfidious Protestants in the Approaches they made for the Compassing their Designs viz. The Devil's Brokers and their nasty Passive Obedience Vermine that it was a Wonder of Wonders they had not dispatched old Pious for some time before 5. That the Popish Party made use of their being discharged from Offices by their not taking the Test to give themselves up to the practising their Idolatry and Superstition without controul in many Parts of the Kingdom and great Swarms of Priests and Jesuits had resorted hither in order to carry on the Plot and exercised their Jurisdiction and had been daily tampering to pervert the Consciences of the Subjects of England and the Judges and Justices of the Peace that had opposed them were in disgrace and turned out of the Commission in contempt of the known Laws of the Land and if they could not corrupt Men they attempted nothing less than to destroy them 6. That several Papists to serve a Popish Turn had not only taken the Oaths but subscribed the Test and held the Offices themselves or else there were those put in that were so favourable to the Popish Interest insomuch that Popery had rather gained Ground since the making the Test Act than lost 7. The Correspondences that your Secretary held with Cardinal Howard and the Courts abroad 8. That when the Plot began to be discovered the Popish Party began to smother it by the Murther of a Justice of the Peace within one of the King's Palaces 9. That the Papists reckoned the Life of the King your Brother the only Obstacle in the way and having you in their Eye whom they had gained to their Religion and Interest they were resolved to begin with the Assassination of the King your Brother and to carry it on with the Murther of the Protestant