Penal Laws not being for the future to be drawn either into Consequence or Example caused the Original Declaration under the Great Seal to be cancelled in his presence whereof Himself and several other Lords of the Council were Witnesses The Record of which in the Journal was then read Then his present Majesty's Speech on Novemb 9. 1685 to both Houses was read wherein declaring the Necessity of his Standing Army and requiring a Supply for their Maintenance he says Let no Man take Exception that there are some Officers in the Army not qualified according to the late Tests I will neither expose them to disgrace nor my self to the want of them if there should be another Rebellion to make them necessary to me The Commons Journal being then turned to their Address to the King was then read Wherein after they had thanked him for his Care in the suppressing the late Rebellion they acquaint him that they had considered his Speech and as to that part of it relating to the Officers They do out of their bounden Duty humbly represent to him That those Officers cannot by Law be capable of their Imployments and that the Incapacities they bring upon themselves thereby can no ways be taken off but by Act of Parliament That therefore they are preparing a Bill to indemnify them from the Penalties they have now incurred And because the continuance of them in their Imployments may be taken to be a dispensing with that Law without Act of Parliament the Consequence of which is of the greatest Concern to the Rights of all his Majesty's Subjects and to all the Laws made for the Security of their Religion They therefore do beseech him he would be graciously pleased to give such Directions therein that no Apprehensions or Jealousies may remain in the Hearts of his Subjects After this that forecited Clause of the Statute 1. Eliz. was read and then Mr. Serj. Levinz spoke to this effect That the Charge being for a Libel it ought to be consider'd Whether the Bishops did deliver this Paper to the King of which there has been no direct Proof Publishing he would not talk of because there has been no proof of a Publication or supposing they did deliver it Whether this be a Libel upon the Matter of it the Manner delivering it or the Persons that did it He said it was no Libel taking notice of the disingenuity offered the Bishops in only setting forth part and not the whole Affirming that the Subjects have a Right to Petitioning in all their Grievances That this was a Grievance the Bishops petitioned against it being what the Law neither Common nor Act of Parliament allowed of And therefore the Bishops could not be guilty of the Charge Then Mr. Finch spoke briefly again making a Challenge to shew any one Instance of such a Declaration such a general Dispensation of Laws from the Conquest till 1672. Leaving their Cause upon this Point That to suspend Laws is to abrogate them and that to abrogate Laws is part of the Legislature which Power is lodged in King Lords and Commons To which Sir Robert Sawyer added That he found few Attempts of this Nature in any Kings Reign In the Reign of Henry the 4th there was an Act of Parliament that Foreigners should have a free Trade in London notwithstanding the Franchises of the City After the Parliament rose the King issued out his Proclamation forbidding the execution of that Law and commanding that it should be in suspense till the next Parliament yet that was held to be against Law Then he mentioned another Case upon the Statute of 31. Hen. 8. cap. 8. which enables the King by Proclamation in many Cases to create the Law which Statute was repealed by 1. Edw. 6. cap. 12. That very Act reciting that the Law is not to be altered or restrained but by Act of Parliament Then Mr. Sommers of Counsel also for the Bishops mentioned the Case of Thomas and Sorrel upon the Validity of a Dispensation of the Statute of Edward the 6th touching selling of Wine Where it was the Opinion of every one of the Judges and they did lay it down as a settled Position that there never could be a Suspension of an Act of Parliament but by the Legislative Power Affirming that the Matters of Fact alledged in the Bishops Petition had been proved perfectly true by the Journals of both Houses That there could be no Design thereby to diminish the King's Prerogative because he had none such That the Petition could not be Seditious nor stir up Sedition because it was presented to the King in private and alone False it could not be because the Matter of it is True There could be nothing of Malice because the Occasion was not sought the Thing was pressed upon them and a Libel it could not be because the Intent was innocent and they kept within the Bounds set by the Act of Parliament that gives the Subject leave to petition his Prince when he is grieved Here the Bishops Counsel saying they had done Mr. Attorn Gen. spoke for the King Alledging that the Records produced were nothing to the purpose because they were only Matters transacted in Parliament and not Acts of Parliament That be their Libel never so true yet still it was Libellous That though the Subject may petition the King yet not in such reflecting Terms And though Religion was concerned yet ought not illegal Means he made use of That therefore the Bishops ought rather to have acquiesced under their Passive Obedience till the Parliament met which the King had promised in his Declaration should be in November Then Mr. Sol. Gen. in along Speech added That the Bishops had no right of Petitioning out of Parliament and therefore the Proceedings in Parliament which had been produced were not to the purpose Here Mr. Justice Powel expressed his dislike of this Doctrine aside to the Ld. Ch. Justice who concurred with him Going on to prove from the Statute 1 Hen. 4. that there ought to have been no Complaint made till it had come from the Commons in Parliament that the Law continued so till the 3 Hen. 7. where the Grievance was found that Offences in the Intervals of Parliament could not be well punished and then comes the Statute that sets up the Court of Star-Chamber which yet was abolished by the Statute of the 15 Car. 1. That the Proceedings of Parliament produced were no Declarations of Parliament because never passed into an Act and therefore they are Nullities and cannot be accepted of as any Evidence Here again the Ld. Ch. Justice and Mr. Justice Powel discours'd aside saying he thought to impose upon them but they believed not one word he said Then he appealed to the Case in the 2 Cro. 2. Jac. 1. Where it is asserted That the King may make Orders and Constitutions in Matters Ecclesiastical And the Case of De Libellis Famosis which says in the 5th Report If a Person does a thing
be put apart and examined one by one which was granted And then William Blathwayt Esq appeared and delivered in a Paper deposing that it was put into his Custody by Mr. Gwyn Clerk of the Council who seiz'd it among others in my Lord Shaftsbury's House and brought them to the Council-Office put them into one of the Rooms look'd the Door and deliver'd the Key to him And being ordered by the Committee of Examinations he fetch'd up the Trunks and Papers into the Council-Chamber and this Paper he took out of a Velvet Bag which was in the great Trunk that was sealed and then opened on July 6. in the presence of Mr. Samuel Wilson and Mr. Starkey who were both appointed by the Lord of Shaftsbury Then Mr. Gwyn being called deposed That on July 2. by a Warrant from the Secretary he searched the Lord Shaftsbury's House for Papers where was a great Hair-Trunk in which were several sorts of them and a Velvet Bag into which he put some loose Papers and sealed up the Trunk and being sent another way he deliver'd it to Mr. Blathwayt That all the Papers that were in the Velvet Bag he had in my Lord's Closet and that nothing was in that Bag but what he had there when he delivered it to Mr. Blathwayt Then Mr. Secretary Jenkins deposed That that was the Paper that Mr. Blathwayt delivered into his Hands in the Council-Chamber with nine more which he had kept under Lock and Key ever since till Monday last when he took them out and being numbred sent them sealed to Mr. Graham who brought them back to him again without any alteration whatsoever The Paper then was read which was to this effect That We the Knights c. finding to the grief of our Hearts the Papists Contrivances against the Protestant Religion the Life of the King and Laws and Liberties of the Nation to set up Arbitrary Power and Slavery And it being notorious that they have received Encouragement and Protection from James D. of York and from their Expectations of his succeeding to the Crown c. And that by his Influences Mercenary Forces have been levied Parliaments unreasonably Prorogued and Dissolved and the Army and Ammunition put into the hands of his Party and the Reputation and Treasure of the Kingdom hereby wasted That therefore they endeavoured to Exclude him from the Succession to the Crown and that failing they have now thought fit to propose to all true Protestants an Union amongst themselves by solemn and sacred Promise of mutual Defence and Assistance in the Preservation of the Protestant Religion the King's Person and State and our Laws Liberties and Properties in a Declaration in the Form ensuing Which was to this effect First The Person swears to maintain the Protestant Religion against Popery Secondly The King's Person and State as also the Power and Priviledges of Parliaments Rights and Liberties of Subjects c. Thirdly That J. D. of Y. having profess'd himself a Papist and given Life to the Plot that therefore he would oppose his or any other Papist's coming to the Crown by all lawful Means and by force of Arms if need so require c. To this end they mutually obliged one another to pursue unto destruction all that oppose the Ends of this Association and to defend all that enter into it And do engage that they will obey such Orders as they shall from time to time receive from this present Parliament whilst it shall be sitting or the major part of the Members of both Houses subscribing this Association when it shall be Prorogued or Dissolved and obey such Officers as shall by them be set over them in their several Counties c. until the next meeting of Parliament c. And that they would stick to this Association during Life c. In witness whereof c. Never a Hand was to this Paper Which being read and briefly descanted upon by the Counsel for the King John Booth was then called forth who deposed That about the middle of January last be was introduced into the Lord Shaftsbury's Acquaintance by Captain Henry Wilkinson a Yorkshire Gentleman an old Royalist and an old Acquaintance of his about some Concern relating to Carolina After which he went frequently to my Lord's House and between Christmas and March four or five times Where he hath heard him sharply inveigh against the Times and thought himself undervalued and feared that Popery would be introduced And that the Oxford Parliament that was then shortly to meet would give the King no Mony unless he would satisfy them in what they would insist upon which he said would be the Bill of the Exclusion and the abolishing the Statute of the 35th of Eliz. and passing a New Bill to free the Dissenters from the Penalties of the Laws which if refused would make a Breach between the King and Parliament whose meeting at Oxford was designed only to over-awe them And therefore that himself and divers Noble Lords and Members of the Commons had considered their own Safety and that he had establish'd a matter of fifty Men Persons of Quality that he believed would have Men along with them and he intrusted Capt. Wilkinson with the Command of these Men who were to come to Oxford at such a time and if there were any Breach or Disturbance they were to be ready to assist him and those other Persons in his Confederacy to purge the Guards of all Papists and Tories and purge from the King those evil Counsellors which were about him naming the Earl of Worcester the Lord Clarendon the Lord Hallifax Lord Feversham and Mr. Hide now Lord Viscount Hide whom he look'd upon as dangerous Persons and then to bring the King away to London where those things should be established which they designed for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and keeping out of Arbitrary Power and Government Upon which Capt. Wilkinson desired him to be one under his Command and to provide Horse and Arms to which he consented and did so expecting to be sent for after the Parliament was sat they insisting upon the things the Lord Shaftsbury had predicted but the unexpected News of their Dissolution prevented it Then being ask'd when he first discovered this he answered about six Weeks ago and related the occasion and manner of his doing so Next Mr. Edward Turbervile deposed That in February last he waiting upon the Lord Shaftsbury about his getting some Mony and requesting his Letter to the President of the Council to stand his Friend my Lord said There was little good to be had from the King as long as his Guards were about him were it not for whom they would quickly go down to White-Hall and obtain what terms they thought fit And that the Rabble were all of that Side especially the People about Wapping and Aldersgate-Street That the Rich Men of the City would Vote for Elections but they could not expect they should stand by them in case there
Word again That they offered him their Petition to read but he did not think it fit for him to do it and therefore he refused and would not read it but that he went immediately to the King and acquainted his Majesty with it and he commanded him to let them know they might come when they would which he immediately did they said they would go and speak with some of their Brethren that were not far off in the mean time he gave order that they should be admitted when they came and they did in a little time return and went first into the Bed-Chamber and then into the Room where the King was And all this was before they appeared at the Council This was no Evidence Mr. Pollexfen said against the Archbishop because he was not there and nothing had been proved against him as done in Middlesex and for the other 6 Lords the Lord President did not say that this is the Petition that they said they had to deliver to the King Nor did he see them deliver any thing but that is still lest doubtful so that it stands upon Presumption and not upon Proof However the Kings Counsel desired to leave it fairly to the Jury upon this Fact and then therefore the Bishops Counsel desired to be heard in their Defence And First Sir Robert Sawyer in a long and learned Speech told the Jury that the Charge against the Bishops was That they did conspire to diminish the Royal Authority and to this end make a Libel against the King but that the Evidence fell far short of this which only proved that the Bishops in as private and humble a manner as they could presented the Paper to the King which was a Petition to be relieved against an Order of Council which they conceived they were aggrieved by and herein was no Sedition either in the matter or manner of delivering it That it was not to be question'd but that any Subject commanded by the King to do an unlawful Thing or what was against his Conscience might humbly tell the King why he could not obey him And that whereas Mr Attorn Gen. had at first said that the Bishops were not sued as Bishops nor prosecuted for their Religion he could not conceive what they were sued for else the Information being against them for an Act they did as Bishops and no otherwise it being what was their Duty and properly within their Sphere and Jurisdiction That whether therefore they consider'd the Matter of this Petition or Manner of delivering it or the Persons that deliver'd it there can appear no Reason for such an Information against them In the Matter of the Petition he consider'd two Things First the Prayer wherein he shewed there could be nothing of Falsity nor any thing contrary to Law for which reason he said possibly it was left out of the Information as being thought no part of a Libel and so made a deform'd story of it without Head or Tail a Petition directed to no Body and for nothing it being without both Title and Prayer Secondly he considered the Reasons of the Bishops for not complying expressed in it The first whereof is the Declarations of Parliament against the Dispensing Power and the next because it is a Matter of so great Moment and Consequence to the whole Nation that they could not make themselves so far Parties in it For if it be of any effect then by it not only the Laws of the Reformation but of all Religion are suspended and what a mischief that would be to the Church which is under the Care of my Lords the Bishops any one might easily apprehend While Sir Robert was speaking to these things the Ld. Ch. Justice said aside that he must not suffer this They intended to dispute the King's Power in suspending Laws Mr. Justice Powel reply'd to him that they could not avoid that Point because if the King had no such Power which was his Judgment then this Petition could not be Libellous The Lord Chief Justice told him he knew he was full of that Doctrine and because the Bishops should have no occasion to say that he denied to hear their Counsel he would let them talk on till they were weary Then for the Manner of delivering the Petition Sir Robert Sawyer proceeded to shew that from their Evidence it appeared to be in the most private and humble manner Leave being first asked and then given Then for the Persons he shewed that they did no more than what was their Duty and belonged to them the Act of 1 Eliz. cap. 2. making them special Guardians of the Law of Uniformity and of that other Law in his late Majesties Reign where all the Clauses of 1 Eliz. are revived Now in that Statute of 1 Eliz. there is this Clause And for the due Execution hereof the Queen 's most Excellent Majesty the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and all the Commons in this present Parliament assembled do in God's Name earnestly require and charge all the Archbishops and Bishops and other Ordinaries that they do endeavour themselves to the utmost of their Knowledges that the due and true execution hereof may be had throughout their Diocesses and Charges as they will answer before God for such Evils and Plagues wherewith Almighty God may justly punish his People for neglecting this good and wholsome Law By this he shewed that it was plain that the Bishops upon pain of bringing upon themselves the Imprecation of this Act of Parliament were obliged to see it executed and then when any thing comes under their Knowledg especially if they are to be Actors in it that has such a tendency to destroy the very Foundations of the Church as the Suspending of Laws has it concerns them that have no other Remedy to address the King by Petition about it and 't is the Duty of an Officer or Magistrate to tell the King what is Law and what is not he instancing in Cavendish's Case and another in the time of the Lord Hobbart Next to him Mr. Finch spoke briefly recapitulating the King's Evidence and then shewing that this Petition as well for the Matter of it as Manner of delivering it and the Persons by whom it was delivered was no Libel Particularly that the King 's Regal Authority and Royal Prerogative was no way diminished thereby for that the Declaration was founded upon a Dispensing Power which the King could not have Because a Power to abrogate Laws is as much a part of the Legislature which is only in the King and his two Houses of Parliament as to make Laws and a Power to suspend is equal to a Power of abrogating Laws because they are no longer in being as Laws while they are suspended That this was never attempted but in the last King's time which was took notice of and declared against in Parliament in the Years 1662 and 1672 the effect of which was that His Majesty cancell'd the Declaration and declared that it
should never be drawn into Example or Consequence That the Bishops here had done but what became them as Peers and Bishops in the most decent Manner And that unless this humble Petition so presented may be said to be a malicious and seditious Libel with an intent to stir up the People to Sedition the Jury ought not to find my Lords the Bishops guilty upon that Information Mr. Pollexfen next spoke insisting upon the Illegality of the King's Declaration as setting aside all the Law we have in England almost all being Penal Laws not only those before the Reformation but since especially in matters of Religion And therefore the King's Will not being consonant to Law and not obliging nothing can be done with a more Christian Mind than to inform him of it by way of Petition as the Bishops had done Then Mr. Serjeant Pemberton spoke Affirming that the Bishops had done no more than their Duty to God the King and the Church Denying the Dispensing Power as a thing that strikes at the very Foundation of all the Rights Liberties and Properties of the Kings Subjects whatsoever That the King 's Legal Prerogatives are as much for the Advantage of his Subjects as of himself That these Laws he would by his Declaration suspend are the great Bulwark of the Reformed Religion Intended to defend the Nation against false Religions Particularly the Romish Religion which is the very worst of all Religions a Religion no way tolerable nor to be endured here And yet if this Declaration should take effect all Religions would be let in and even that Religion would stand upon the same terms with the Protestant Religion and all the Care and Statutes that had been against it go for nothing That the Bishops have the Care of the Church by their very Function and Office and are bound to take care to keep out all those false Religions that are prohibited and designed to be kept out by Law and therefore could do no less than they did That our Law did allow the King no such Dispensing Power Instancing in that Check the Parliament had given to it in 1662. But here the Ld. Ch. Justice interrupted him as being what had been spoken to already Then Mr. Serjeant Levinz offered to shew that it has been taken all along as the ancient Law of England that such Dispensations ought to be by the King and Parliament and not by the King alone but he was stop'd enough having been offer'd already Therefore the Bishops Counsel proceeded to prove what had been said and to that end was produced and read in Court the Record of Richard the Second wherein the Parliament gave the King a Power to dispense with the Statute of Provisors which was a Penal Law concerning collating and presenting to Dignities and Benefices of the Church only till the next Parliament declaring withal that it was a Novelty and that it should not be drawn into Example Then the Journal of the House of Lords was produced and his Majesty's Speech to both Houses in 1662 read wherein is this Clause That if the Dissenters will demean themselves peaceably and modestly under the Government his Majesty said he could heartily wish that he had a Power of Indulgence to use upon occasion Whereupon there was a Bill in the House of Lords brought in to enable the King to dispense with several Laws which was read and committed but further than that it went not Which Bill was also read out of the Journal Then the Journal of the House of Commons was produced and a Vote read which passed Feb. 25. 1662. That no Indulgence be granted to the Dissenters from the Act of Vniformity With the Commons Address and Reasons for this Vote wherein was declared That the Act of Vniformity could not be dispensed with without an Act of Parliament The Journal of the House of Lords was again produced and the King's Speech to both Houses on Feb. 5. 1672 read wherein he mentions his Declaration for Indulgence The Journal then of the House of Commons was again produced and the Commons Petition and Address to the King Feb. 14. 1672 was read Wherein they thank him for his Speech And tell him They have considered his Declaration for Indulgence dated the 15th of March last And find themselves bound in Duty to inform his Majesty That Penal Laws in Matters Ecclesiastical cannot be suspended but by Act of Parliament And do therefore beseech him That the said Laws may have their free Course until it shall be otherwise provided for by Act of Parliament Then his Majesty's Answer to that Reply was read wherein he expresses his trouble that his Declaration has disquieted them That he does not pretend to the Right of suspending Laws wherein the Properties Rights or Liberties of any of his Subjects are concerned nor to alter any thing in the established Doctrine or Discipline of the Church of England But his only Design in this was to take off the Penalties and the Statutes inflicted upon Dissenters To which the Commons replied which was then read out of the same Journal That they found his Answer not sufficient to clear the Apprehensions that may justly remain in the Minds of his People by his Majesty's having claimed a Power to suspend Penal Statutes in Matters Ecclesiastical and which his Majesty does still seem to assert in his Answer to be intrusted in the Crown and never questioned in the Reigns of any of his Ancestors Wherein they humbly conceive him misinform'd Since no such Power ever was claimed or exercised by any of his Majesty's Predecessors And if it should be admitted might tend to the interrupting the free Course of the Laws and altering the Legislative Power which hath always been acknowledged to reside in his Majesty and his two Houses of Parliament With an unanimous Consent they therefore again besought him That he would be pleased to give them a full and satisfactory Answer to their Petition and Address and take such effectual Order that the Proceedings in this Matter might not for the future be drawn into Consequence or Example Then the Lords Journal was turned to wherein it waâ— read how that the King communicated this Address to the Lords and desired their Advice And that on March the 8th 1672 He made a Speech to both Houses wherein he tells them That if there was any Scruple remaining in them concerning the Suspension of Penal Laws he here faithfully promised them That what had been done in that Particular should not for the future be drawn either into Consequence or Example After which the Lord Chancellor imparted to them That his Majesty found some dissatisfaction remaining concerning the Officers to be employed abroad but if that bred any Umbrage the King commanded him to let them know That he resolves to give both his Houses full Satisfaction to their Desires And that his Majesty had last Night in pursuance of what he then intended and declared this Morning concerning the Suspension of
that is Libellous you shall not examin the Fact but the Consequence And therefore if the King hath a Power to make Orders in matters Ecclesiastical and do so if any bring that Power into Question that is Sedition and the Legality or Illegality of the Order ought not to be examined Whence he doubted not but they had here a good Case for the King and that the Jury would give them a Verdict Then Mr. Justice Holloway asking him What the Bishops could have done in this Case if they might not Petition he answered That they should have acquiesced till the meeting of the Parliament At which some People in the Court hissed Adding that it was one thing for a Man to submit to his Prince where he cannot obey him and another thing to affront him this being Libelling with a Witness To which the Ld. Ch. Justice said That he was of Opinion that the Bishops might Petition the King though out of Parliament but not in such a Reflective manner because that would make the Government very Precarious But Mr. Justice Powel told Mr. Sol. Gen. it would have been too late to stay for a Parliament and if the Bishops had disobeyed without Petitioning it would have looked like a piece of Sullenness and they would have been blamed for it as much on the other side Mr. Serj. Baldock then spoke also for the King insisting on the Disobedience of the Bishops to the King who is their Supreme Ordinary they being not commanded to read it themselves but only to distribute them to be read and their giving Reasons for their Disobedience in a Libellous Petition charging the King with an illegal Act reflecting upon his Prudence Justice and Honour in laying his Commands upon them which being done by Bishops and having an Universal influence upon all the People he left it to his Lordship and Jury whether they ought not to answer for it Then Sir Barth Shore the Recorder spoke on the same Side saying He thought the Information proved for that no Answer had been made to it The Answer made being but Argumentative and taken either from the Persons of the Defendants as Peers who could have no right to Petition libellously or from the Form of it's being a Petition which could no more excuse them if it were scandellous than any other The Author of Julian the Apostate having as much right to publish his Book as the Bishops had to deliver this Libel to the King For which comparison he was checked by Mr. Justice Powel who told him it was the Birth-right of the Subject to Petition And that it was as lawful for the City of London to Petition for the Sitting of a Parliament as it was for the Bishops to give Reasons for their Disobedience to the King's Command And if their Petition was reckoned Libellous in saying that what the King had done in Dissolving the Parliament was an Obstruction of Justice what other Construction can be made of the Bishops saying that the King's Declaration is illegal And if they were so severely punished as to lose their Charter for what they did the Bishops ought to have the like Condemnation Then Mr. Serj. Trinder spoke in defence of the King 's Dispensing Power alledging Sir Edward Hales Case which the Ld. Ch. Justice told him was beside the Matter Then he condemned the questioning of the Bishops Counsel of the King's Power by referring themselves to the Declarations in Parliament as if the King's Authority was under the Suffrages of a Parliament that yet no such Declaration was produced they being mistaken and therefore it is in the nature of false News which is a Crime for which the Law will punish them Then the Ld. Ch. Justice summ'd up the Evidence and in conclusion gave his own Opinion that the Bishops Petition was a Libel Then Mr. Justice Powel gave his Reasons why he thought it no Libel and that the King had no Dispensing Power Next Mr. Justice Allybone endeavoured to make out and declared his Opinion that it was a Libel He refused to speak to the Prerogatives of the King as the Ld. Ch. Justice had done before him Then Wine was sent for for the Jury And upon request they were allowed to have along with them a Copy of the Information the Original Petition and the Declarations under the Great Seal But the Journals were not allowed them Mr. Sollicitor saying they were no Evidence Then the Court arose and the Jury went together to consider of their Verdict and staid together all Night without Fire or Candle On Saturday June 30. 1688. about Ten of the Clock in the Morning the Bishops came again into the Court and immediately after the Jury were brought to the Bar. And their Appearance being taken they delivered in their Verdict Not Guilty At which there were several great Shouts in the Court and throughout the Hall Mr. Sol. Gen. taking notice of some Persons in the Court that shouted moved very earnestly that they might be committed Whereupon a Gentleman of Grays-Inn was laid hold on but was soon after discharged And after the shouting was over the Ld. Ch. Justice reproved the Gentleman saying he was as glad as he could be that the Bishops were acquitted but his manner of rejoicing here in Court was indecent he might rejoice in his Chamber or elsewhere and not here Then asking Mr. Attorny if he had any thing more to say to the Bishops He said No. Then the Court arose and the Bishops went away FINIS APPENDIX To the Kings most Excellent Majesty the humble Petition of Algernon Sidney Esq Sheweth THAT Your Petitioner after a long and close Imprisonment was on the 7th Day of this Month brought with a Guard of Souldiers into the Palace-Yard upon an Habeas Corpus directed to the Lieutenant of the Tower before any Indictment had been exhibited against him But while he was there detained a Bill was exhibited and found whereupon he was immediately carried to the King's-Bench and there Arraigned In this surprise he desired a Copy of the Indictment and leave to make his Exceptions or to put in a Special Plea and Counsel to frame it but all was denied him He then offer'd a Special Plea ready ingrossed which was also rejected without reading and being threatned That if he did not plead Guilty or Not Guilty Judgment of High-Treason should be entred he was forced contrary to Law as he supposes to come to a General Issue in pleading Not Guilty Novemb. 21. He was brought to his Trial and the Indictment being so perplexed and confused as neither He nor any of his Friends that heard it could fully comprehend the Scope of it He was wholly unprovided of all the Helps that the Law allows to every Man for his Defence Whereupon he did again desire a Copy and produced an Authentick Copy of the Statute of the 46 Edw. 3. whereby it is Enacted That every Man shall have a Copy of any Record that touches him in any
AN EXACT ABRIDGMENT Of all the TRIALS Not omitting any Material PASSAGE therein which have been published since the Year 1678 Relating to the Popish and pretended Protestant-Plots In the Reigns of King Charles the 2d and King James the 2d LONDON Printed by J. D. for Awnsham Churchill at the Black-Swan in Avy-Mary Lane MDCXC To the Right Honourable HENRY LORD BOOTH Baron DE LA MER of Dunham-Massy Lord Lieutenant of the County-Palatine of Chester one of the Lords of the Treasury and one of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council My Lord THat I presume to present this Abstract to your Honour the just Interest your Lordship hath both in it and its Author is sufficient Apology It must never be forgot what good Service Your Trial though Your own extraordinary Prudence and couragious management thereof did to the Publick in stopping that Sluce of Blood which had unjustly been then opened with a Design which had well-nigh effected to suffocate our Laws and feed their Tyrannical Arbitrary Power For 't is evident the Fanatick Plot then like them that made it afterward disserted the Stage and though your Honour 's undaunted Appearance and powerful Aid have never since as 't is hoped they never will dare to appear amongst us the unavoidable Mischief whence otherwise would have followed most Men now are wise enough to apprehend Your Lordship's Vertues indeed have always from a very early beginning rendred You a no less real Friend to your Country than a formidable Enemy to the mightiest of its Opposers And Your generous Courage hath embolden'd You to express it even with the greatest Hazard in the worst of Times You have done and suffered much I 'me sure Your share for the Publick and your Lordship's last generous Essay hath now made all Men very sensible of it so that your Honour's Fame needs not the Aid of my Breath to blow it further Abroad Only I must crave your Lordships leave to say that I am proud of this Occasion to tender your Honour even so small a Testimony of real Gratitude from one who is a Member of a Family that hath been honour'd with a long and uninterrupted Friendship of Yours not only in Your Father's Time but in Your Lordship 's since May Your Honour go on to dazle and outshine all your Enemies in faithfully serving the best of Princes and the most ungrateful of Nations May Almighty God long preserve your Person and Vertuous Family in Grace Health and Prosperity And may this your Trial be the last that ever may entitle You to the Patronage of the like Abstraction is the sincere Prayer of My Lord Your Honours most Humble and Faithful Servant P. N. TO THE READER AS in these ten or eleven Years last past have happened as wonderful Passages within this our Island as ever History mention'd so are the Records thereof surely very valuable to the considering part of Mankind A Collection whereof thou art here presented with in a Volume that will spare thee both in thy Purse and Time without defrauding thee of the least drachm of any material Information Here thou hast the substance of Forty nine Trials consisting of near seven hundred Sheets of Paper and which bought singly as they were published cost five Pounds or more and which now would be difficult to collect at almost any price carefully reduced comparatively to a small Bulk and Price yet so as to preserve a perfect remembrance of Things and Persons any way materially concerned therein As herein was designed nothing of Reflection so must thou expect only an Abstraction And for the Compleatness and Sufficiency of this I submit to thy Censure after thou hast read what follows I say nothing of the usefulness thereof because none can have so little Concern for the Knowledg and Remembrance of past Transactions as not to be aware of it If it be well done I am sure it cannot be ill took A CATALOGUE of the following TRIALS Abridg'd 1678. The Trials of 1. WIlliam Staley Pag. 1 2. Edward Coleman Pag. 5 3. William Ireland Thomas Pickering and John Grove Pag. 13 4. Robert Green Henry Berry and Lawrence Hill Pag. 19 5. Nathaniel Thompson William Pain and John Farrell Pag. 31 1679. The Trials of 6. Nathaniel Reading Pag. 42 7. Thomas Whitebread William Harcourt John Fenwick John Gavan and Anthony Turner Pag. 50 8. Richard Langhorn Pag. 62 9. Sir George Wakeman William Marshal William Rumley and James Corker Pag. 71 10 Andrew Brommich William Atkins and Charles Kern Pag. 80 11 Thomas Knox and John Lane Pag. 85 12 Lionel Anderson William Russel Charles Parry Henry Starkey James Corker Will. Marshal and Alexand. Lumbsden Pag. 98 13 Sir Thomas Gascoyne Pag. 101 1680. The Trials of 14 Henry Care Pag. 112 15 Elizabeth Cellier Pag. 115 16 Roger Earl of Castlemain Pag. 118 17 John Giles Pag. 123 18 Elizabeth Cellier Pag. 131 19 Thomas Twing and Mary Pressicks Pag. 139 20 William Viscount Stufford Pag. 145 1681. The Trials of 21 Edward Fitz-Harris Pag. 190 22 Oliver Plunket Pag. 198 23 Sir Miles Stapleton Pag. 204 24 Georgt Busby Pag. 209 25 Stephen Colledge Pag. 214 26 Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury Pag. 243 27 Charles John Count Coningsmark Christopher Vratz John Stern and Charles George Borosky Pag. 255 1683. The Trials of 28 Thomas Pilkington Samuel Shute Henry Cornish Ford Lord Grey of Werk Sir Thomas Player Slingsby Bethel Francis Jenks John Deagle Richard Freeman Richard Goodenough Robert Key John Wickham Samuel Swinock and John Jekyll sen the pretended Rioters Pag. 266 29 Capt. Thomas Walcot Pag. 274 30 William Hone Pag. 289 31 William Lord Russel Pag. 292 32 John Rouse Pag. 303 33 Capt. William Blague Pag. 307 34 Col. Sidney Pag. 311 35 John Hambden Pag. 325 36 Lawrence Braddon and Hugh Speke Pag. 332 37 Sir Samuel Barnardiston Pag. 351 1684. The Trial of 38 Sir William Pritchard Plaintiff and Thomas Papillon Defendant Pag. 364 1685. The Trials of 39 Dr. Titus Oates Pag. 372 40 Dr. Titus Oates Pag. 384 41 William Ring Pag. 397 42 John Fernly Pag. 400 43 Elizabeth Gaunt Pag. 402 44 Henry Cornish Pag. 404 45 Henry Baron Delamere Pag. 404 45 Henry Baron Delamere Pag. 410 1686. The Trial of 46 Henry Lord Bishop of London Pag. 424 1687. The Trial of 47 William Ld. Arch Bp. of Canterbury William Ld. Bp. of St. Asaph Francis Ld. Bp. of Ely John Ld. Bp. of Chichester Thomas Ld. Bp. of Bath and Wells Thomas Ld. Bp. of Peterborough Jonathan Ld. Bp. of Bristol Pag. 434 The following Petition and Trials were omitted in the former Collection are now added in the Appendix Col. Sidney's Petition to K. Charles II. Pag. 1 The Trial of Charles Bateman Chirurgeon P. 2 The Trial of John Hambden Gent. P. 10 This may be printed ROB. MIDGLEY June 17. 1689. The Trial of William Stayley Goldsmith at the King's-Bench-Bar on Thursday Novemb. 21. 1678. HIS Indictment was for Treasonable Words against his most
because he did not prosecute the Papists as he thought sufficiently and that he was as deep in the Plot as any Papist of them all and that he had a hand in Sir Edmondbury Godfry's Death That there was nothing to be expected from the King but introducing of Popery and Arbitrary Government That there was no Trust to be put in him but it was the People we must trust to And we must look to arm our selves and that he would Arm himself and be here at Oxford having several stout Men particularly Capt. Chinton Capt. Browne and one Don Lewis that would stand by him in case there should be a Rising which he expected at Oxford if the King and Parliament did not agree Colledge giving Mr. Dugdale in London before his coming to Oxford as much Ribbon as came to forty Shillings with No Popery No Slavery wrought in it to distribute among his Friends in the Country that they might be known by other Persons that would wear the same And that at London being once in a Coffee-House with Mr. Colledge and with some of the Members of the House of Commons a little before they met talking of the Parliament at Oxford and of some Disturbance that was likely to happen there it was then fully agreed that it would be the best way out of every County where the Parliament had the best Interest in the People to leave one in every County that might manage the People And that at Oxford when Mr. Colledge perceived that the King would not yield to the House of Commons he said Let him begin as soon as he would he did not care how soon for their Party was but an Handful to him and his Party meaning the Dissenters calling them the True Protestants and the Church of England only Protestants in Masquerade And that Day the King went out of Town presently after he went Mr. Colledge said to him in the Barber's Shop that is just within the Angel-Inn that Rowley meaning the King was gone the Rogue was afraid of himself he was shirk'd away Then Mr. Dugdale produced some Papers whereof he affirmed that Mr. Colledg had owned himself to be Author as the Letter pretended to be intercepted to Roger Le Strange the Rary-show and Character of a Popish Successor which were read and explained in the Court. And then one Stevens being sworn deposed % % that he found the first draught of the Rary-show in Mr. Colledge's Bed-chamber when he came to search his Papers by Order of Council and that the Printer that printed the Ballad had told him since he had it from him which likewise Atterbury and Sawel affirmed but the Paper being look'd for in the Court could not be found Then Mr. John Smith was sworn who deposed that he was intimately acquainted with Mr. Colledge and that going to dine with him at Alderman Wilcox's he being a Stranger ask'd what the Alderman was and Colledge told him he was a Man as true as Steel and a Man that would endeavour to root out Popery to which he reply'd that that might be done easily if he could but prevail with the King to pass the Bill against the D. of York he answered No No he was mistaken for Rowley meaning the King was as great a Papist as the D. of York and every way as dangerous to the Protestant Interest as was too apparent by his Arbitrary ruling And afterwards in the Tavern where they dined he asking him the second time before the Alderman came what kind of Man he was he said he was one that lived in his Country-house and gave freely to several People to buy Arms and Ammunition to bring the King to Submission to his People adding that he wondred old Rowley did not consider how easily his Father's Head came to the Block which he doubted not would be the end of Rowley at the last And after dinner all departing Colledge told him if he would go with him to his own house he should see how he was prepared with Arms and Provision And soon after dining with him he shewed him his Pistols his Blunderbuss his great Sword his Armour Back and Breast and his Head-piece which was covered as he remembred with Chamlet and was a fine thing Colledge telling him that these were the things which would destroy the pitiful Guards of Rowley that were kept up contrary to Law and Justice to set up Arbitrary Power and Popery And a little before the Oxford-Parliament met he meeting Colledge again and discoursing several things Colledge told him what Preparations the City were making how they were provided with Powder and Bullets and that he would go down to Oxford expecting a little sport there upon the Divisions that were like to be between the King and Parliament and that he would be one that would seize the King if he should seize any of the Members as he expected he would And again meeting the Prisoner after his return from Oxford he told him that he went thither in expectation of some sport but old Rowley was afraid like his Grand-father Jamy and so ran away like to beshit himself And that Fitz-Gerald and he had had a quarrel at the Parliament door of the House of Lords at Oxford that Fitz-Gerald had call'd him Rogue and made his Nose Bleed but before long that he hoped to see a great deal more Blood shed for the Cause And after this when there was a Discourse of disarming the City and that the Ld. Feversham was to come to do it he said That he was well provided and that if Feversham or any Man nay Rowley himself should attempt any such thing he would be the Death of him before any Man should seize upon his Arms desiring him to get Arms for himself too because he did not know how he might make use of them accordingly he had an Armour from him upon Trial which he said cost him 30 or 40 s. but it proving too big he returned it and bought him a new one Next to him Bryan Haynes was sworn who deposed likewise that he had been acquainted with Mr. Colledge ever since March last before the sitting of the Parliament at Oxford For there being a Warrant against him for High Treason he made his Application to Colledg and desired him to go to a certain Person of Honour in England and ask his advice Whether he might not supersede the Warrant by putting in Bayl and carry the Supersedeas in his Pocket Mr. Colledge told him he would go to this Person of Honour for he would do nothing of his own head and he bid him come to him the next day which accordingly he did and asked him what was the result and what advice he had from that Person of Quality he bid him be of good chear that the Parliament would be and sit at Oxford soon and that he should not value the King a pin for that the King was in a worse Condition than either of them and he should see that