says The King the House of Lords and the House of Commons have each particular Privileges And among those which belong to the King he reckons Power of Pardoning After the enumerateing of which and other his Prerogatives His said Majesty adds thus Again That the Prince may not make use of this high and perpetual Power to the hurt of those for whose good he hath it and make use of the name of publick necessity for the gain of his private Favourites and Followers to the detriment of his People The House of Commons an excellent Conserver of Liberty c. is solely intrusted with the first Propositions concerning the Levies of Money and the Impeaching of those who for their own ends though countenanced by any surreptitiously-gotten Command of the King have violated that Law which he is bound when he knows it to protect and to the protection of which they were bound to advise him at least not to serve him in the contrary And the Lords being Trusted with a Judicatory Power are an excellent Screen and Bank between the Prince and People to assist each against any encroachments of the other and by just Judgments to preserve that Law which ought to be the Rule of every one of the three c. Therefore the Power legally placed in both Houses is more then sufficient to prevent and restrain the power of Tyranny c. IV. Until the Commons of England have Right done them against this Plea of Pardon they may justly apprehend that the whole Justice of the Kingdom in the Case of the Five Lords may be obstructed and defeated by Pardons of like nature V. An Impeachment is virtually the Voice of every particular Subject of this Kingdom crying out against an Oppression by which every Member of that Body is equally wounded And it will prove a Matter of ill Consequence that the universality of the People should have occasion ministred and continued to them to be apprehensive of utmost danger from the Crown from whence they of right expect Protection VI. The Commons Exhibited Articles of Impeachment against the said Earl before any against the Five other Lords and demanded Judgment upon those Articles Whereupon your Lordships having appointed the Tryal of the said Earl before that of the other Five Lords now your Lordships having since inverted that Order gives a great cause of doubt to the House of Commons and raises a Jealousie in the Hearts of all the Commons of England that if they should proceed to the Tryal of the said Five Lords in the first place not only Justice will be obstructed in the Case of those Lords but that they shall never have right done them in the matter of this Plea of Pardon which is of so fatal Consequence to the whole Kingdom and a new device to frustrate publick Justice in Parliament Which Reasons and Matters being duly weighed by your Lordships the Commons doubt not but your Lordships will receive satisfaction concerning their Propositions and Proceedings And will agree That the Commons ought not nor can without deserting their Trust depart from their former Vote communicated to your Lordships That the Lords Spiritual ought not to have any Vote in any Proceedings against the Lords in the Tower and when that Matter shall be settled and the Methods of Proceedings adjusted the Commons shall then be ready to proceed upon the Tryal of the Earl of Danby against whom they have already demanded Judgment and afterwards to the Tryal of the other Five Lords in the Tower May 27th 1679. The Narrative and Reasons delivered at the Conference Yesterday with the House of Commons were again read and after a long Debate the Vote of this House dated the 13th of May instant and the explanation thereupon dated the 14th instant were read and the Question was put Whether to insist upon these Votes concerning the Lords Spiritual and it was resolved in the Affirmative But there were present These Dissenters Buckingham Huntington Kent Shaftsbury PR Bedford Winchester Rochester North and Grey Suffolke J. Lovelace Townsend Herbert Gray Stamford Newport Say and Seal L. Wharton Leicester Scarsdale Stafford Derby Delamer Howard Paget Clare Salisbury Falconberg Windsor CHAP. XVIII The Proceedings against Whitebread and the other Four Jesuits ON Friday the 13th of June 1679 was the grand Tryal of Five notorious Jesuits viz. Thomas White aliàs Whitebread Provincial or cheif of the Jesuits in England a comely antient man of a very grave deportment both at his Tryal and Execution William Harcourt pretended Rector of London who 't is thought after the first discovery of the Plot had been beyond the Seas and had the confidence to return hither again where being apprehended in his Lodging near long Acre he was by the Lords and Commons Committed to Newgate on the 8th of May last John Fenwick Procurator of the Jesuits in England John Gavan aliàs Gawen and Anthony Turner Committed first to the Gate-house and thence brought to Newgate There was at the same time Arraigned one James Corker a Benedictine Monk but he pretending he had not his Witnesses ready was put off and happy it was for him who since was acquitted with Wakeman whereas if he had then been tryed 't is most probable it would have prov'd as Fatal to him as the rest Whitebread and Fenwick pleaded that they were tryed before for the same Fact but the Court answer'd That though they were indeed once Arraign'd yet the Jury was discharg'd of them and they not then in any Jeopardy of their Lives and therefore must plead to this Indictment Then the Prisoner made a general Challenge That none should be of their Jury that were of any of the former Juries concerning the Plot Those now sworn were Thomas Harriot William Gulston Allen Garraway Richard Cheney John Roberts Thomas Cash Rainsford Waterhouse Matthew Bateman John Kaine Richard White Richard Bull. Thomas Cox The Proofs were long and consisting in divers particulars As 1. Dr. Oats Swears That the Consult of the 24th of April was by the Order of Whitebread the Prisoner at the See the Tryal of Whitebread c. P. 12. Bar as Provincial and that then the said Whitebread and Fenwick and Harcourt and Turner did all in his presence Sign the Resolve for the King's death 2. That Whitebread after his return back again to St. Omers did say That he hoped to see the King's Head laid fast enough only he had not the manners to give him the Title of King but shew'd his spight by calling his Majesty opprobriously These are those that speak evil of Dignities 3. That in July Ashby alias Timbleby brought over Instructions from Whitebread P. 13. to offer Sir George Wakeman 10000 l. to poyson the King and also a Commission to Sir John Gage to be an Officer in the Army which they design'd to raise which the Witness himself delivered to him the said Sir John 4. That Turner was at the Consult and at Fenwick's Chamber he saw him
by reason thereof hath so often been perpetrated or at least attempted heretofore by the Votaries of that Communion SECT 1. As for Principles of the Church of Rome relating to Government and the Obedience to be paid to Secular Princes where shall we look for them but in the Canons of her Councils the Decretals of her Popes and the publick Writings of her approved and most eminent Doctors In their great and by them acknowledged general Lateran Council held under Pope Innocent the Third in the year of our Lord 1215 it is expressly and Synodically concluded Can. 3. de Haereticis That the Pope may Depose Kings Absolve their Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance Et Terram exponere Catholicis occupandam and give away their Kingdoms to Catholicks And this is received into the Body of the canon-Canon-Law by Pope Gregory the Ninth cap. Excommunicamus 13 Extrav de Haeret. The most famous of their School-men Thomas Aquinas l. 22. q. 12. Art 2. affirms That any man sinning by Infidelity may be adjudged to lose all right of Dominion and therefore so soon as anyone shall for disowning the Faith be judicially denounced Excommunicate ipso facto his Subjects are Absolved from his Government and from any Oath of Allegiance whereby they were bound to him Nay another of their Doctors Dominicus Bannes is yet more hasty for he will have the Subjects discharged from all Obedience even before their Prince is so solemnly pronounced an heretick His words are these Num. 22. pag. 590. Where there is evident knowledge of the Crime Heresie he means that is whatever the Pope and his Priests please to call so the Subjects may lawfully if they have strength sufficient pray mark exempt themselves from the power of their Prince even before the Sentence Declaratory And this Conclusion saith he is followed by Cajetan and is the more common opinion of the Thomists who generally approve thereof If Kings become Hereticks forthwith their Subjects are freed from their Government saith Simancha in his Catholick Institutions a Book printed with great Approbation of Superiors Titul 23. N. 11. Nay less than down-right Heresie will serve turn to out them for Tit. 45. Num. 25. he tells us If a Prince be unprofitable a Crime capable of a large extension or make unjust Laws against Religion or good manners or do any thing to the detriment of Spirituals the Pope may apply a fit Remedy even by depriving such a King of his Government and Jurisdiction Their great Oracle Cardinal Bellarmine de Rom. Pontif. lib. 5. cap. 6. avers That the Pope as chief Spiritual Prince may change Kingdoms and take them away from one to give to another if it be necessary for the salvation of Souls And in the seventh Chapter he advanceth a little further for speaking of Heretical Princes as we know all Protestants are in their sence he says Omnium Consensu possunt ac debent privari suo Dominio It is agreed by all all Roman Catholicks he means That such Princes may nay ought to be deprived of their Dominions So that it seems 't is the Popes duty as well as in his power to do it and of all Roman Catholicks not onely to approve thereof but to be assisting therein Upon this ground Suarez a First-rate Jesuit and one that was thought fit by his Party to Duâ—l the learnedest Monarch in the world in his Book against King James intituled De Fide Catholicâ— adv Angl. lib. 6. cap. 16. num 14. speaks out more fully their Doctrine We must know says he that after the Sentence Condemnatory is given against a King by lawful he means Papal Authority to deprive him of his Kingdom or which is all one when by Sentence he is declared to be guilty of such a Crime as by the Law hath such a Penalty imposed as whatever they list to count Heresie hath by their Canon-Law then he that pronounced that Sentence or he to whom it is committed may deprive such King of his Kingdoms even by Killing him if he cannot otherwise do it But then mark how scrupulous and provident they are that the Trayterous Murther be done methodically and that none but Roman Catholicks be concern'd in the sacred Butchery For thus he goes on If the Pope depose a King yet he may not be killed or expelled save onely by those to whom He shall commit the doing thereof But if he commit the doing thereof to no-body then it belongs to him that is next lawful that is Catholick Successor to the Kingdom or if there be no such Successor or he neglect to do it then the Community of the Kindom provided always it be Roman Catholick succeed in that Right viz. to Expel or Kill such Excommunicated Prince Creswel alias Philopater sect 2. num 160. declares Omnium Catholicorum Sententia c. That 't is the opinion of all Catholicks That Subjects are obliged to Depose an Heretical King Nay to drive the Nail home he there adds Num. 162. Praecepto Divino arctissimo Conscientiae vinculo ac extremo Animarum suarum Periculo Haereticos Principes debent Deturbare That by the Law of God by the most strict Bond of Conscience and at the utmost peril of their Souls they are bound to dethrone and drive out such Heretical Princes Pursuant to this Doctrine of their Teachers it appears Papists may lawfully nay are bound under pain of Damnation to Renounce Resist and Murther their Kings whenever Excommunicated or Deposed by the Pope and are not to account it any Treason to kill such a King after such Deposition For neither is He then a King nor are his people being absolv'd from their Oaths of Fidelity any longer his Subjects Nor is it Murther for their Supream and Infallible Judge Pope Vrban the Second hath clearly resolved and determined it and made it Law Non esse Homicidas qui adversus Excommunicatos Zelo Matris Ecclesiae Armantur cosâ—â— trucidant Gratian Lemma ad 47 cap. Excommunicatorum Caus 47. Quest 5. That they are not Murtherers or Manslayers who being stirred up with Zeal toward holy Mother-Church against persons Excommunicated do any way destroy them Now Simanea tells us Heretici omnes ipso Jure sunt Excommunicati de Excom tit 27. sect 1. fol. 116. Every Heretick stands and is to be reputed as Excommunicated if not de Facto yet de Jure in Law and Right and therefore may be deposed proscribed and murthered And that we may know who they mean by an Heretick Father Creswell in his said Book called Philopater thus resolves the Case Regnandi Jus amittit qui Religionem Romanam deserit Whoever forsakes or does not hold the Religion of the Church of Rome is that Heretick we speak of who is accursed and loses all Right of Dominion Furthermore by a Bull of Pope Paul the Fifth dated Anno 1558 and now inserted in the body of their Law lib. 7. Decret tit 3. de Haereticis Schism cap. 9. All Protestant Kings
do it both to Peter and me too The Emperour Henry the Seventh after the Pope and his Cardinals had long opposed his Coronation and instigated many Enemies against him was at last poysoned by a Monk one of their Creatures in the Sacrament And certainly all the wit and malice of Hell and Rome clubbed together could never have screw'd villany to an higher pitch than these Miscreants did by empoisoning their God as they pretend to believe it on purpose therewith to destroy and Murther their lawful Sovereign Joan Queen of Naples was deprived of her Kingdom by Pope Vrban who consented to her Murther 'T is well known how our King John was intolerably vexed and deprived by the Pope and his Agents and at last poysoned by a Monk as also our Henry the Second about the death of that turbulent Traytor Becket who had occasioned so many uproars in the State was by Popish appointment enforced to submit his Royal Back to the cruel Lashes of the Insolent Monks of Canterbury When our King Hen. 8. denyed and by Law in the 24th and 25th years of his Reign had taken away the Popes Usurped Supremacy though he and the Nation in general still continued in the Communion of the Church of Rome Pope Paul the Third presently Curses and Damns him and all his good Subjects for so is the Title of his Bull Damnatio Excommunicatio Heâ— 8. ejusque Fautorum Complicum The Dannation and Excommunication of King Henry the Eighth and all his Adherents and Favourers And so it might properly be Intituled for therein he not only deprives him of his Kingdom and Territories forbids him and all that should take part with him Christian Burial but also declares him and them Eternally Damned He likewise deprives all the Kings Children born or to be born of Queen Anne and all the Children of his Adherents of their Rights Priviledges and Goods annuls all Oaths and Treaties made with the King and commands all Christian Princes to make War upon him and his people and if they should take any of his Subjects who obey the said King and disobey these his Holinesses Commands then all and every such persons so taken to be Slaves for ever to those that take them with several other horrid Impieties which you may see in Bullario Romano Printed at Lions 1655. Tom. 1. p. 704. Since this Henry the Third of France after various Treasons and Conspiracies of the Sorbonists against him was at last An. 1589. Murdered by Jaques Clement a zealous young Friar on which Assassination Pope Sixtus the Fifth made a Panegyrical Oration in the Consistory and commended the same as a most Heroick and Religious Exploit and the Traiterous Assassinate being killed on the Attempt a Statue of Brass was made for him by the Command of the chief of the League his Picture set up in Churches he was sometimes prayed to by the Title of Saint Jaques Clement And to note the just Judgment of God 't is affirmed that this â—urther was committed in the self-same Chamber a St Clou where a Council had been held Anno 1572. wherein the horrid Massacre of the Protestans at Paris was resolved upon this King then Duke of Anjou being one of the chiefest of that Bloody Cabal See Thuanus l. 51. and Serres p. 789. His Successour the Great Henry the Fourth Grandfather to our present Gracious Sovereign after by a desperate Rebellion and Catholick League against him meerly on the account of his Religion he found himself obliged to declare himself a Roman-Catholick was notwithstanding all that first desperately wounded by John Chastel a Disciple of the Jesuites and by them suborned thereunto in memory whereof a Pillar was erected in Paris to the Infamy of the Jesuites and they banisht the Realm though not long after by their subtilty and Interest they got in again where their mischievous Influence hath not a little contributed towards Enkindling and Fomenting those fatal Flames which for divers years by-past have raged through so great a part of Christendome and particularly that kindness of their Re-admission did not at all abate their malice or secure the Life of that great Prince for afterwards in the year 1610. he was Murdered out-right by Ravilliac formerly a Monk but at that time a Sollicitor who was instigated to that divellish act by the Jesuits as 't is violently presumed as well by the manner of the thing as the constancy of his carriage at death and Confession that he made that he did it onely because the King favoured Hereticks and was preparing to make War against the Pope which was to fight against God c. as also for that he farther acknowledged that he had informed Father d'Aubigny a Jesuite of his intended Murder and shewed him the Knife but it was in Confession and so by their Doctrine not to be revealed and the said d'Aubigny being taken into examination denyed that he knew any thing of it or could have discovered it if it were revealed to him in Confession though he had never so much a mind to it For he protested that God had given him the Grace that as soon as any thing was revealeâ— to him in Confession the presently forgot it 'T is pity Father Garnet had not had such an excuse for his knowledge of the Powder-Treason pretended to be communicated to him the same way CHAP. II. A brief Account of the many Popish Treasons from time to time against Queen Elizabeth SECT 1. THE Insolencies of Popes and Treasons of Papists re-counted in the fore-going Chapter were all against Emperours Kings and Princes that generally owned the Church of Rome whence 't is abundantly apparent to all that are not wilfully blind That Papists of themselves and as such even before the Society of Jesuits was hatcht were a sort of very dangerous Subjects always ready nay oblig'd to Rebel against their Princes though of the same Faith and Religion with themselves when ever the Pope out of Interest or humour should put them upon it being obliged by the principles of their Religion so to do And can it then reasonably be expected that they will ever be Faithful and Loyal to Protestant in their account Heretical Princes especially now the Jesuits have so vastly improved and advanced Maxims of Treason Murther Equivocation c. as if they intended to banish not onely all Obedience to Kings but together therewith all kind of sincere Religion Truth and Moral Honesty between Man and Man out of the World Concerning the good Affection of this Society to Protestant Princes we may take our measures from their own expressions Father Campian a Jesuite and though Hang'd at Tyburn about the year 1581. for High-Treason yet at Rome reputed a famous Martyr and stiled by Ribadeneira in Catalogo Scriptorum societatis Jesu p. 377. in Indice Martyrum Martyr Christi inclytus sui seculi Clarissimus A most renowned and famous Martyr of Christ This holy man was not ashamed to declare in
print in the year 1583. as is attested by Hospinian That all Jesuits in the world had entred into an holy Vow and Covenant any way to destroy all Heretical Kings nor did they despair of doing it effectually so long as any one Jesuit should remain in the World And Father Creswel a bird of the same feather in his Philopater lays down this sweet Lesson Ita informandos quoscunque Catholicos ut oblatâ caedis occasione nullo impedimento se dimoveri patiantur That all Catholicks are to be taught and instructed that when they have an opportunity to kill Hereticks Kings or others 't is no matter they should not spare them nor suffer any impediment to hinder them from the slaughter SECT 2. This is their Doctrine now let us see their Practices here in England ever since the Reformation The Raign of our good King Edward the Sixth was but short whether not shortned by Popish Arts is deservedly questioned and he himself a minor yet during his time there were Rebellions and Commotions in Somersetshire and Lincolnshire for which many were Executed then in Cornwal and Devonshire where above 4000 were slain and taken Prisoners by John Lord Russel Lord Privy-Seal then they Rebelled in Norfolk and Suffolk against whom the Earl of Warwick advanced with an Army and slew above 5000. About the same time there was a great Rising in the North and East-Ridings of Yorkshire but suppressed by the Lord President All these Insurrections were owned to be on the behalf of their Râ—â—â—gion and fomented and abetted by Popish Priests of whom divers were taken amongst the Rebels and deservedly punished SECT 3. To set forth all the Popish Plots Designs and Conspiracies against the Life and Crown of Queen Elizabeth of glorious memory it would be necessary to Transcribe a great part of the History of her Illustrious Reign and therefore we shall take notice 〈◊〉 of some of the most remarkable occurrences of that kind and the true Principles upon and by which they were promoted 1. As to the Original of Recusancy and occasions which rendred the Law against Papists absolutely necessary it must be remembred that from the First to the Eleventh year of the Reign of that Queen Papists generally repaired to our Churches see the proceedings against the Powder-Traitors p. 109. I my self saith Sir Edward Coke have seen Cornwallis Beddingfield and others notorious and zealous Papists at Church making no doubt of Conscience to joyn with us in Prayer But about the year 1569 Pope Pius the Fifth was no sooner seated in the Pontificial Chair but he began practice to justle her out of her Royal Throne to this purpose he employed one Bidolph a Florentine to raise a Faction here and afterwards sent over Doctor Nicholas Morton to promote it engaged the Spaniard to assist the Conspirators and Chapinus Vitellius came privately over on other pretences to observe the success and head the Spanish Troops when they should arrive Pursuant to these Counsels the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland with 4000 Foot and 600 Horse appear in open Rebellion and declare for the Restitution of the Roman Religion but were soon put to slight and Sanders de Schismate Angl. tells us the reason viz. For that the rest of the Catholicks because the Pope had not yet publickly denounced sentence of Excommunication against the Queen so as they did not seem fairly absolved from her Obedience declined to joyn with them by which means they were easily chased by the Queens Forces into Scotland where afterward Northumberland being taken was brought back to York and there faith he happily ended his days by a glorious Martyrdome So usual a thing it is with these Popish Doctors first to excite people to the blackest Treasons and then guild over the deserv'd punishments which they suffer for the same with that specious Title His crafty Holiness was not insensible of the reason of this miscarriage and therefore to prevent the like failure and the better to encourage all his Catholick Vassals to joyn in such pious Rebellion against the Queen he early the next Spring sends forth his Roaring Bull or Sentence of Anathema wherein he first magnifies his own Office and Authority in these Rhodomontado's He that Reigneth on high to whom is given all power in Heaven and Earth hath committed the One Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church out of which there is no Salvation to One alone on Earth viz. to the Prince of the Apostles Peter and to Peters Successour the Bishop of Rome to be governed in plenitude of power c. Sanders 3. de Schism Angl. p. 368. Then having railed a while most Apostolically and called that incomparable Princess Flagitiorum serva the slave of wickedness and villanies he proceeds to Curse her in these words Therefore supported with his Authority who was pleased to place us though unable for so great a burthen in this Supreme Throne of Justice out of the plenitude of Our Apostolick power We do declare the aforesaid Elizabeth being an Heretick and favourer of Hereticks and all her Adherents to have incurred the Sentence of Anathema and to be cut off from the unity of Christs Body and by the Authority of these Presents We do deprive the said Elizabeth of her pretended Right to the Kingdom and of all Dominion Dignity and Priviledge whatsoever And We do Absolve all the Nobles Subjects and People of the said Kingdoms and all others who have in any sort sworn unto her from such Oath or Oaths and all manner of Duty Fidelity and Obedience and do forbid and command them and every of them that they presume not to obey her 〈◊〉 her Commands and Laws those that shall do otherwise to be lyable to the some Curse Id. Ibid. This Bull towards the end of May 1570. was brought over and fixed on the Gates of the Bishop of Londons Palace by one John Felton and Copies of the same sent to the aforesaid Bidolph to be dispersed throughout England Then and not till then it was that those inclinable to the Romish Superstitions did presently refrain our Churches would no longer hear the established Divine Service nor have any more Society with us in Prayer so that Reeusancy so called from their refusing to come to Church which as the word was scarce known till this time so was it not specially or particularly punished by any Law till afterwards in the Twenty third year of the Queen was not in them at first nor can be now for Religion but for acknowledging of and stickling for the Popes usurping power They absent themselves from our Churches not because there is any thing there transacted in it self unlawful or prohibited by the Word of God for then they ought always to have kept away but because the Pope in opposition to the Law of God enjoyning both Obedience to our Governours and Charity and Brotherly Communion amongst each other has forbidden them so to do and this unrighteous siding with the Pope against
before-mentioned Seminarists in disguised Habits into England to dispose Popish Subjects to Rebellion and prepare a Party to joyn the Spaniard at his designed Invasion and these Emissaries were to deal with people in their secret Confessions and Absolve them particularly in private from their Allegiance and Obedience to the Queen so clandestinely that one should not know of the others Engagements which that Bull had done too openly and in general The Doctrines spread and every where inculcated by these Agents in those days are specified by that judicious pair of Historians the Learned Camden in Anno 1581. and the noble Thuanus l. 74. to be as follow viz. That all Princes not professing the Roman-Catholick Faith have lost their Title and Royal Authority and when once Excommunicated are not to be obeyed but ejected out of their Kingdoms which to do was a work of Duty and Merit That the Clergy were exempt from the Jurisdiction of Secular Princes not bound by their Laws That the Pope had the chief and full Power and Authority over all throughout the World even in Civil matters in order unto Spirituals and as far as might be conducive to the good of the Church That the Magistracy of England was unlawful and consequently Null And that whatever since the Bull of Pius the Fifth published had by the Queens Authority been transacted was by the Law of God to be reputed altogether void c. When these pernicious Principles industriously sown and cultivated had taken Root in prejudiced minds there soon followed rank fruits of Treason and Rebellion in desperate Attempts and Resolutions to Kill the Queen As first by Somervil in the year 1583. who being Condemned with Hall a Priest and others his Accomplices by him detected was three days after found strangled in the Prison for fear as was rationally conjectured leâ—t he should have discovered more of the gang Then William Parry a Doctor of Law undertook it the next year encouraged by Palmius a Jesuit Ragazonius the Popes Nuncio in France Cardinal Como and the Pope himself who sent him his Blessing and Pardon of all his Sins as appears in Thuanus lib. 79. All which the said Parry confessed producing the Letter from the Pope written by Cardinal Como and was for such his Traiterous Attempt Executed in March 158â— Soon after John Savage being perswaded by several Priests that it was meritorious to cut off Excommunicated Princes and Martyrdom to die in such an Adventure made a Vow to Assassinate the Queen And anno 1586 as if every year must be guilty of a new bloudy Treason Mr. Anthony Babington a very personable young Gentleman and well-descended espouses the like Resolve on the same Principles re-enforc'd with other Collateral hopes if he escaped the danger suggested by Father Ballard a Jesuit who not onely urg'd the lawfulness and merit of the Action and a Crown of Glory and everlasting Fame thereby to be acquired but also not obscurely insinuated that he might thereby render himself not unworthy a Royal Match with the Queen of Scots by so advantagious a piece of service A most tempting Charm to a youthful ambitious minde Which business the same Thuanus a Catholick Author of unquestionable Veracity tells us was transacted with Mendoza the Spanish Embassador promising to second it with a Forreign Army for obtaining which Paget a Gentleman of an Honourable Family was sent on a Negotiation into Spain whereby all things being provided both at home and abroad St. Bartholomews day as luckily ominous for the succesful Massacre at Paris was agreed upon for giving the fatal blow and a Project framed of making an Association under pretence of fear of the Puritans who were to bear the odiuâ— of the Murther but before that Festival the Conspiracy had taken Air and both Ballard Babington and others being apprehended on their own Confessions were Convicted and Executed on the Twentieth of September yet so eagerly were they set upon designs of Blood that but in January following L'Aubaspinaeus the French Lieger Embassadour here a person entirely devoted to the Guistan Faction did by his Secretary tempt William Stafford a Gentleman likewise of a Noble Family with mighty promises to undertake the same Murder but he declining so horrid a villany himself recommended one Moody as a fit instrument who in Consultation about the manner of doing it proposed the laying a Bag of Gun-powder under the Queens Bed-chamber and secretly to give fire to it whence we may observe that the famous Fifth of November was not the first Popish Treason of that kind but this being divulged by Stafford the said Ambassadors Secretary endeavouring to fly home to France was taken and upon strict examination confest the whole Intrigue the indulgent Protection of Heaven still miraculously bringing to light all their dark and cruel Machinations against the Life of this Pious and unparallel'd Princess SECT 5. The common excuse which Papists make for all the before-mentioned Treasons against Queen Elizabeth is to pretend her Illegitimate and that what they did was to advance the juster Title of Mary Queen of Scots great Grandmother to our present Soveraign Thus in their Apology publisht soon after their Burning of London speaking of these pranks they say It was a question harder than that of York and Lancaster who had most right Queen Elizabeth or Mary Stuart for since the whole Kingdom had Crowned and sworn Allegiance to Queen Mary they had owned her Lagitimate Daughter to Henry the Eighth and therefore it was thought necessarily to follow by many That if Mary was the true Child Elizabeth was the Natural which must then give way to the thrice-Noble Queen of Scots And a little after 'T was for the Royal House of Scotland that we suffered in those days and 't is for the same Illustrious Family we are ready to hazard all c. But this is a most false though subtle insinuating pretence and were not impudence a necessary virtue in any that undertake to be Advocates for Treason we should wonder with what face they can make this Allegation For first The Archbishop of York though a Papist in his Speech at the publishing Queen Maries Death declared That no man could doubt of the justness of the Lady Elizabeths Title to succeed Secondly The whole Kingdom received and owned her more freely and generally than ever they did Queen Mary Thirdly Forreign Princes and States owned her the greatest Monarchs in Europe offering Marriage to her in certain expectation of gaining the Crown by her as Philip the Second of Spain and Henry the Second of France respectively for themselves and the Emperour Maximilian for his Brother Charles Fourthly the Queen of Scots herself did acknowledge her and claimed nothing more than to be Heir to her and so did King James that was her Successour The first that ever questioned her Title was Pope Paul the Fourth who would not acknowledge her nor hear Sir Edward Kerne her Ambassadour for several causes of which the
designed Party perceiving their Treason was openly known and fearing their just reward from some enraged hand desired a Pass to return since the work of killing the King was done beyond the Seas which that they might with less suspicion and more security pass they pretended to Banish them A Noble person of this Kingdom of Sir K. acquaintance told me That he observed him in publick to exclaim against the Hereditary Rights of Kings as a most pernicious thing to a Kingdom saying That oft-times thereby the Kingdom was Governed by Children Fools and Women And hereupon took occasion to traduce the then Prince of Wales now King saying c. The Expressions are so base and foul-mouthed that we dare not out of Reverence to Majesty go on to repeat them from our Author At the same time highly commending Cromwel as one of the ablest men in Europe and Bradshaw that sate as the Kings Judge for a gallant man Thus far that Treatise concerning the credit of which we shall onely say that the Author appears by the Work to have been a man of no vulgar Intelligence or Conversation in those times and all along expresses much Loyalty and Affection to his present Majesty 2. The Reverend and Learned Doctor Peter du Moulin hath long since declared in Print That the Roman Priest is known who when he saw the â—atal stroke given to our Holy King and Martyr flourished with his Sword and said Now the greatest Enemy that we have in the World is gone And that the year before the Kings Murder a select number of Jesuits out of England had a Consult with their Confederates at Paris where this question in writing was by them put to the Faculty of Sorbon then altogether Jesuited That seeing the State of England was in a likelyhood to change Government whether it were lawful for the Catholicks to work that change for the advancing and securing of the Catholick Cause in England by making away the King whom there was no hope to turn from this Heresie Which was answered affirmatively And afterward the same question being transmitted to Rome the said Resolution was likewise approved and confirmed by the Pope and his Council That it was both lawful and expedient for Catholicks by such means to promote that alteration of State But afterwards when the Regicide was so universally cryed down and detested his Holiness consulting his credit commanded all Papers about that question to be burnt in obedience to which order a Roman Catholick in Parts was demanded a Copy which he had of those papers but having had time to consider and abhor the wickedness of that Project refused to deliver it up but shewed it to a Protestant friend of his relating the whole carriage of this Negotiation This passage theâ— Reverend du Moulin aforesaid now Canon 〈◊〉 Christ-Church Canterbury and one of His Majestieâ— Chaplains did seventeen years ago set forth 〈◊〉 print in his answer to a scurrilous Popish pamphleâ— Intituled Philanax Anglicus and there publickly offered to justifie the truth of it if any should 〈◊〉 him to an account for it before Authority but That in all this time they have been afraid or ashamed to do onely soon after the coming forth of his Book the Gentlemen of Somerset-house who were netled one eminent person of them it seems not a little concerned actually in the story instead of having the truth thereof examined privately by interest obtained a Command from the King to the said Doctor that he should write no more Books which Prohibition the Doctor goâ— taken off Anno 1668. See the last Edition of the Doctors Answer p. 60. where likewise p. 64 we have the Testimony of that worthy judicious Gentleman Sir William Morris late Secretary of State who in a Letter to the said Doctor du Moulin concerning this matter hath these words This I may say safely and will do it confidently That many arguments did create a violent suspicion very near convincing Evidences That the Irreligion of the Papists was chiefly guilty of the Murder of that excellent Prince the odium whereof they would now file to the account of the Protestant Religion 5. 'T is notorious that no sort of men truckled more servilely to the late Rebellious Powers they adressed their Petitions to them with the Stile of the Supreme Authority of this Nation the Parliament of the Common-wealth of England First Moderator fol. 59. They affirmed That they had generally taken and punctually kept the Engagement Second Moderator fol. 41. They promised that 〈◊〉 they might enjoy their Religion They would 〈◊〉 the most quiet and useful Subjects of England First Moderator fol. 31. which they proved in these words viz. That the Roman-Catholicks of England would be bound by their own interest the strongâ—â—â— obligation amongst wise men to live peaceably and â—hankfully in private Exercise of their Consciences and becoming gainers by such compassions they could not 〈◊〉 reasonably be distrusted as the Prelatick Parâ—y that were loosers First Moderator fol. 36. 6. 'T is observable That Tho. White a Popish â—riest in the height of Olivers Tyranny set out 〈◊〉 Book Intituled The grounds of Obedience and Government purposely to confirm his usurpation another His Majesties just Tale and perswade people that they were not obliged to assist or reâ—â—ore him Who was it as Doctor Oates says in his Epistle to the King before his Narrative of the Plot printed by Order of the House of Lords â—hat broke off the Uxbridge Treaty but the Romish Interest and Policy with what zeal and Interest did they perswade the Scots in 1650. to impose that upon your Majesty which your Royal Law had forbidden others for the effecting whereof some Thousands of pounds were spent and given by them Where he likewise sets forth how they endeavoured to Betray and Sacrifice His Majesty after his miraculous escape as Worcester And that those who were to pay the 1000 l. promised for his Discovery were no other but Father Joseph Simmonds and Father Carleton Compton both Jesuits and 〈◊〉 whereas Mr. John Huddleston a Priest having 〈◊〉 instrumental in His Majesties Escape for whicâ— good Service he has been always excepted out 〈◊〉 His Majesties Proclamations against Priests and Jesuits several of the Jesuited Crew have often call'd him FOOL for his labour and said that the same was the worst days work that ever he did in his life That there is a Popish Lord not forgotten or unknown who brought a Petition to the late Regicide and Vsurpers signed by above 500 of the principal Popists in England wherein was promised upon condition of a Toleration here by a Law they would jointly resolve to Abjure and Exclude the Family of the Stuarts for ever from the Crown That a whole Convent of Benedictine Monks were Olivers Pensioners to betray His Majesties Secrets and Counsels That the Traitor Manning taken 〈◊〉 discovering such His Majesties Affairs was a Roman Catholick and had Masses sung for him after his 〈◊〉
the revolution of humane Affairs grew more formidable these subtle Steers-men who know how to catch every wind presently shifted their Sails varied their Course though still bound for the same Port viz. The advancing of the Roman Churches power and abandoning those old useless Patrons embark their hopes in the Designs of France thinking though we trust in vain that King may ere long give Laws to all these parts of the World Thus are we threatned with a double Intertwisted Tyranny by the one in Temporals by the other in Spirituals and at the same time a Cursed Design by their Confederate Councils is carried on to enslave both the Bodies and Souls of all the Christians in Europe SECT 3. England and Holland having with fierce and tedious Wars on what grounds and by what Counsels occasioned is not unknown profusely wasted each others Blood and Treasures and the latter being reduced to so low an Ebb that had not providence strangely put an hook into the nostrils of Leviathan at Vtrecht that Republick had been quite subjugated and over-run The same French and Jesuitical Incendiaries in the next place engage the three grand Protestant Princes of the North Sweden Denmark and Brandenburgh likewise in bloody Wars with each other that the Protestant Religion may every where be pluckt down with their own hands and owe its ruine as much to the indiscretion of its Professors as the malice of its Enemies whilst in the mean time the disturbances in Hungary are secretly fomented on one hand and the Emperour exasperated against them on the other so that the poor Souls of the Reformed Religion in those parts lamentably suffer under a two-fold Injustice the ignominy of Rebellion and Cruelty of Persecution Thus was there not a Protestant Kingdom State or Interest in the World besides Geneva and a few Cantons of Switzer-land who likewise have felt not a few drops of the storm but had since the year 70. been most considerably weakned whilst France the present Hector of the Papacy hath so mightily encreased in strength and reputation So that in this respect if ever Rome would re-gain its lost grandeur and entirely Extirpate Heresie as they call it now was the time SECT 4. But then besides these Forreign advantages if we consider the several points they had gain'd at home in England we shall find them much facilitating the work The countenance of two Roman Catholick Queens for divers years and an opinion of the Papists Loyalty Services and Sufferings for King Charles the First which they were never wanting to commemorate and represent through false Opticks to render them more great and obliging though in themselves little or nothing or worse than nothing as before we have proved gave them free Access and welcome at Court as their plausible behaviour and fair pretences large Estates and insinuating Arts gave them reputation in the Countrey and drew over great numbers of their Dependants Tenants and Relations sway'd by Interest to their Communion and many more to a kind of Neutrality and indifference by a too general debauching of the younger Gentry with Principles of Atheism no small part of their Policy for those that were really of no Religion were very fit to comply with theirs To carry on the Intrigue multitudes of Jesuits Secular Priests and Monks of several Orders daily came over without any let or punishment and appeared almost publickly as if in Contempt of Law they car'd not who knew them to be such they said Mass up and down and had their Sermous in English frequently at their pleasure and the Popish Court-Merry-Andrew that Buffoon-Priest Father Patrick who seemed to affect Father Junipers Title of Joculator Christi Christ's Jester as their Book of Conformities p. 106. most prosanely calls him did not a little contribute to the mischief by the great interest he had obtained amongst persons of very high quality by whose influence they afterwards screw'd many of their Party into considerable Offices and places of Trust Civil and Military at Land and Sea being allowed Dispensations to go to Church receive the Sacrament or take any Test the better to colour the matter and on the contrary who ever they thought was of a spirit to oppose their Designs they procured to be turned out and disgraced with the Title of a Fanatick a Rumper or disaffected to the Government This formidable increase of Popery and Insolence of that Party was not unregarded by judicious men but lookt upon as a thing very ominous and of dangerous consequence insomuch that the then Parliament though oft-times thought remiss enough on such occasions could not but take notice of it for on Munday the 29th of April 1678. these following Reasons were agreed to be used at a Conference with the Lords concerning the dangers the Nation is in by the growth of Popery THe House of Commons taking into serious consideration the dangers arising to this Kingdom from the restless endeavours of Priests and Jesuits and other Popish Recusants to subvert the true Religion planted amongst us and to reduce us again under the Bondage of Roman Superstition and Idolatry and finding how great boldness they have assumed to themselves from the great remisness and connivance of His Majesties Officers and Ministers of Justice both Civil and Ecclesiastical whereby so many good and necessary Laws heretofore made against them have not of late times been put in any effectual execution They do therefore think it requisite to apply same remedy to this growing Evil especially at this time wherein the unity of Affections and the mutual confidence between His Majesty and his People dath so much conduce to the preservation of the whole Kingdom And because they have found by experience that all those applications they have sormerly made upon this Subject have not produced any effects answerable to their expectations they have endeavoured to discover the Causes and Grounds thereof which they conceive are principally these 1. The difficulty of convicting a Romish Priest by proving their Ordinations by Authority derived from the See of Rome which makes them more confidently to appear in publick and perform their Offices and Functions without fear of punishment II. That Justices of the Peace are discouraged because those that have been forward in executing the Laws against Papists in such Countries where they do most abound have been turned out of Commission without any apparent cause whilst others who have been Popishly inclined have been continued in Commission or put in de novo III. That in several Countries many Protestant Dissenters have been Indicted under the notion of Popish Recusants and the penalties of the Act levyed upon such Protestant Dissenters when the Papists there have been either totally or for the most part discharged IV. That the Papists do evade the penalties of the Laws by making over their Estates by secret Trusts and fraudulent Conveyances yet receiving the profits of them to their own use and benefit whereas in former times considerable Sums of
Recusants for Assassinating and Murthering the King and for Subverting the Government and destroying the Protestant Religion by Law Established The same day the Body of Sir Edmund bury Godfrey was Honourably Buried being carried from Old Bridewel attended with a vast number of Persons of Quality Ministers and substantial Citizens to the Parish Church of St. Martin in the Fields wherein he dwelt and there Enterr'd Novemb. 2. A Proclamation promising 20 l. Reward to any that should discover any Officer or Soldier of his Majesties Guards who after taking the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy was perverted to the Romish Religion or should hear Mass On Saturday the 9th of Novemb. his Majesty made a Speech to both Houses of Parliament purposely to give them thanks for the care they took for the safety of his Person in these times of danger assuring them he would joyn with them in all the ways and means that might Establish a firm Security of the Protestant Religion as their own hearts could wish and this not only during his time but in all future Ages to the end of the World Nov. 10. was a Proclamation to confine all Popish Recusants within five Miles of their respective dwellings About this time to Corroborate and confirm Dr. Oates his Testimony it pleased God to work upon the heart of Mr. William Bedloe to come in and make a further discovery He had formerly been as 't is said a Servant to the Lord Bellasis afterwards an Alpherez or Ensign in Flanders and about Michaelmass 1674. was sent for over by Harcourt recommended by the English Abbess at Dunkirk and so by degrees became acquainted with the Jesuits and was at last generally imploy'd as an Agent for them and sent frequently with Letters into Forraign parts whereby he became privy unto several of their Traiterous designs and after the Plot discovered by Dr. Oates he continued amongst them who being somewhat jealous of his revolting did the better to keep him in awe make him constantly twice every week take the See the Tryal of Green c. p. 33. Sacrament and thereupon swear Secresie and to conceal his knowledge of the Plot. Before the Murther of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey Le Fair Pritchard Kains and other Jesuits and Priests treated with him about Killing a Gentleman and said he should have a good Reward but would not discover who it was Afterwards they imploy'd him to Insinuate himself into the Acquaintance of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey which he accordingly did pretending to take out Warrants for the good Behaviour against persons that were not in being but what use they designed to make of such his Acquaintance he knew not But being with them the day before Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey was Murthered at the Gray-hound Tavern the said Mr. Bedloe sent his Boy to his House to desire him to come to them but he happen'd not to be at home else 't is probable they had Poisoned or otherwise Kill'd him then Next day they told him it was to be done that night and that there was to be 4000 l. Reward for doing of it given by the Lord Bellasis which Mr. Coleman had order to pay therefore they engaged him to meet them that night in the Cloisters at Sommerset-House but he fail'd in coming for which Le Fair was angry but told him on the Munday that the business was done without him and then endeavour'd to engage him to help carry off the Body and at this request some Priests shew'd him the Body who then and not before knew it to be Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey When they talkt of carrying him out Mr. Bedloe told him it was yet too early and about 12. would be a better time at which time he would come to them which Le Faire made him promise to do upon the Sacrament which he last took but being much troubled to see their Cruelty he returned no more to them but went to Bristol very restless and disturbed in his mind and at last being convinc'd it was his duty he could no longer forbear discovery but wrote to one of the Secretaries of State and was sent for up and though he had no acquaintance with or to his knowledge ever saw Dr. Oates before and that for a considerable time they were kept with Guards apart and not suffered to have any Correspondence yet he most exactly agreed in the Account he gave of the Plot with what Dr. Oates had set forth both as to things and persons He also gave an account that Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey was Murthered at Somerset-House by the Contrivance of the Jesuits but the particulars he could not fully set forth The 17th of Novemb. upon this new Information received his Majesty set forth a Proclamation for the Apprehension of George Coniers Le Phaire Prichard Symonds Charles Walsh and Biston alias Beeston late Servant of the Lady Bellasis who were thereby required to render themselves and that if they did not so do before the 10th day of Decemb. next a Bill should be presented to the House of Peers for Attainting them of High Treason and further promising 100 l. Reward to any Person that should Discover or Apprehend any of the said Offenders The same Proclamation directs the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance to be tendred to all Popish Recusants or Persons so reputed and if they refuse to bind them over to appear the next Sessions and in case they cannot or will not find Securities then to Commit them And all such Refusers to be Disarm'd and 10 l. Reward promised to any that should discover any considerable quantity of Arms in any Popish Recusants House The 20th of Novem. was another Proclamation promising 20 l. Reward to any person that should Discover and Apprehend any Popish Priest and Jesuit except John Huddleston signally Instrumental in his Majesties escape after the Fight at Worcester Priests belonging to the Queen whose names shall be Enrolled in the Kings-Bench and those that attend upon Foreign Ambassadors the said 20 l. to be immediately paid upon such Discovery and Apprehension and due proof thereof CHAP. IX The Proceedings against William Staley Goldsmith and his Execution for speaking Treasonable words THE late Discovery had so unexpectedly frustrated the designs of the Papists that being therewith enraged they could hardly contain themselves within any bound of patience or moderation but the Traiterous Poison which had long rankled in their hearts began now to blister out at their tongues and since they were prevented from Acting they descended with a kind of Female malice to vent their Resentments in talking and uttering lewd Expressions and Menaces Of this kind of Traitors was William Staley a Goldsmith in Covent-Garden a Strict and Zealous Papist bred beyond the Seas at one of the English Seminaries intended for a Priest in order to which he took the degrees of a Deacon as is related by those that well knew him but afterwards altered his resolutions and began to study Physick in which Art he took his Degree
the University as some report or whether drawn in upon his Marriage as others alleage or to gratifie a Rich Vncle of that Persuasion as a third sort relate it on which or whether on some other occasion different from all these he revolted is not much material but revolt he did to the Roman Church and became a mighty Bigot to advance the same and gain Proselytes He was a Person of rare natural and acquired parts and so well conceited of himself that he once undertook to be one that should manage a Conference concerning Religion against the Learned Doctor Stillingfleet and another Divine of the Church of England which discourse is extant in Print But his Talent lay more in News and Policy than Divinity being for some time Secretary to her Royal Highness the Dutchess of York he was a Leading-man in this Horrid Conspiracy and a prime Promoter thereof by his great Correspondency abroad both at Rome and in the French Court. Concerning the manner of his Commitment an Account is given before Chapt. the 8th On Saturday the 23 of November he was Arraigned at the Kings-Bench Bar the Indictment being very Expressive and Significant we shall for Example sake See Colemans Tryal p. 2. recite part of it viz. That as a false Traitor against our most Illustrious Serene and most excellent Prince Charles by the Grace of God c. his natural Lord having not the fear of God in his heart nor duely weighing his Allegiance but being moved and seduced by the Instigation of the Devil his cordial Love and true Duty and natural Obedience which true and lawful Subjects of our said Lord the King ought to bear towards him and by Law ought to have altogether with-drawing and devising and with all his strength intending the Peace and common Tranquillity of this Kingdom of England to disturb and the true Worship of God within the Kingdom of England practised and by Law Established to overthrow and Sedition and Rebellion within this Realm of England to move stir up and procure and the cordial Love and true Duty and Allegiance which true and lawful Subjects of our Soveraign Lord the King towards their Soveraign bear and by Law ought to have altogether to withdraw forsake and extinguish and our said Soveraign Lord the King to Death and final Destruction to bring and put The 29th of Septemb. in the 27th year of the Reign of our said Soveraign Lord Charles the Second c. at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster Falsly Maliciously and Traiterously proposed compassed imagined and intended to stir up and raise Sedition and Rebellion within the Kingdom of England and to procure and cause a miserable Destruction amongst the Subjects of our said Lord the King and wholly to Deprive Depose Deject and Disinherit our said Soveraign of his Royal State Title Power and Rule of his Kingdom of England and to bring and put our said Soveraign Lord the King to final Death and Destruction and to overthrow and change the Government and alter the sincere and true Religion of God in this Kingdom by Law establish'd and wholly to subvert and destroy the State of the Kingdom and to Levy War against our said Soveraign Lord the King within his Realm of England And that to accomplish these his Traiterous designs and imaginations on the 29th of Septemb. in the 27th year of the King he Traiterously composed two Letters to one Monsieur Le Chese then Servant and Confessor of Lewis the French King to desire procure and obtain for the said Edw. Coleman and other false Traitors the Aid Assistance and Adherence of the said French King to alter the true Religion in this Kingdom Establish'd to the Superstition of the Church of Rome and Subvert the Government of this Kingdom of England c. Reciting his receiving an Answer from Le Chese his Correspondence with Monsieur Rovigni Envoy Extraordinary from the French King and Letters to Sir William Throckmorton in France Concluding in usual form That all this was done against his true Allegiance and against the Peace of the King his Crown and Dignity To this Indictment he pleaded Not Guilty and on Wednesday the 27th of Novemb. 1678. was brought to his Tryal To the Jury Empannel'd he made no Challenges Their Names were Sir Reginald Foster Baronet Sir Charles Lee. Edward Wilford Esq John Bathurst Esq Joshua Galliard Esq John Bifield Esq Simon Middleton Esq Henry Johnson Esq Charles Vmfrevile Esq Thomas Johnson Esq Thomas Eaglesfield Esq William Bohee Esq His Tryal as it held very long so it was managed with all Integrity and Moderation by the Court The Charge against him was made out two ways partly by Witnesses Vivâ voce and partly by Letters and Papers found at his House which he could not deny to be his own hand writing Dr. Oates was the first Witness produced to whom the Lord Chief Justice gave this grave Caution That he See Colemans Tryal p. 17. should speak nothing but the truth not to add the least tittle that was false for any advantage whatsoever mind him of the Sacredness of the Oath he had taken declaring that since the Prisoners Blood and Life was at stake he should stand or fall be justified or Condemned by truth The substance of Mr. Oates's Evidence was 1. That in Novemb. 1677. being brought acquainted with Mr. Coleman by one John Keins then Dr. Oates's Confessor who Lodged at Colemans House he carried some Letters for him to St. Omers in which were Treasonable Expressions of the King calling him Tyrant and a Letter in Latine enclosed to Monsieur Le Chese to whom Dr. Oates carried it from St. Omers to Paris in which there were thanks returned for the Ten thousand pounds by him remitted into England for the Propagation of the Catholick Religion and promising that it should be Imployed for no other purpose but that for which it was sent which was to cut off the King of England as appear'd by the Letter of Le Chese to which this was an Answer and which Dr. Oates saw and read 2. That Coleman was concern'd in the design of taking away the Sacred Life of the King for that when at the Jesuits Consult at the pag. 2. Whitehorse-Tavern in the Strand in April Old Stile and May New Stile and afterwards adjourned into several Companies It was resolv'd that Pickering and Grove should Assassinate his Majesty by Shooting or other means for which the latter should have 1500 l. and the former Thirty thousand Masses which at 12 d. a Mass amounted much what to the same sum This resolve was in his hearing Communicated to Mr. Coleman at Wild-House who did approve thereof and said it was well contriv'd 3. That in August 78. Mr. Coleman was present at a Consult with the Jesuits and Benedictine Monks in the Savoy for raising a pag. 23. Rebellion in Ireland and was very forward to have Dr. Fogarthy sent thither to dispatch the Duke of Ormond by
he gave in this Information first to the House of Lords and afterwards to the Commons upon Oath as by the Narrative thereof Printed by it self more at large appears It may here be noted That afterwards viz. but in August last the before-mentioned Sir Robert Walsh taking advantage of the Liberty of the times adventured to Print some Papers which he pretended to be an Answer to this Narrative but it being found to consist of nothing material but only certain Scurrilous and causeless Reflections on Mr. Everards Person the same upon Complaint was Ordered by Authority to be suppress'd As for other Occurrences the most material were as follows Decemb. 30th The Parliament was Prorogu'd till the 4th of February and before that time viz. Jan. 24th Dissolv'd by Proclamation as aforesaid January the Third was an Order of Council made to Reinforce the Proclamation of the 30th of October To keep Papists out of London and 10 Miles distance January the Eigth A Proclamation Commanding the immediate Return of all his Majesties Subjects who were in any Foreign Seminarles and forbidding any Releif to be sent to them About this time Come in Herefordshire was discovered to be a College of Jesuits and Mr. Stephen Dugdale formerly Servant to the Lord Aston in Staffordshire came in and made a considerable Discovery whereupon on the 15th of January a Proclamation was set forth against Francis Evers aliàs Eurie aliàs Ireland of Tixal in the County of Stafford John Gaven late of Wolverhampton in the same County Vavasor aliàs Gifford late of Boscobel Edward Levison late of Wilnot in the same County All Jesuits and Broadstreet late of Hore-Cross in the same County a Popish Priest being charged upon Oath to be guilty of the Plot and a promise of 100 l. to any that should Apprehend Evers and 50 l. for each of the rest Of these Gaven was soon after taken into Custody and since Executed but the rest absconded January 17th The Judges gave their Opinions in the Points following relating to Recusants May it please your Majesty We have met and considered of the Questions proposed to us and do hereby humbly return our Opinions To the First We are of Opinion That Foreigners being Popish Recusants and exercising ordinary Trades but not Merchants are not excused from taking the Oaths or finding Securities To the Second That Foreigners though certified by Ambassadors to be their Servants except they are menial Servants are not excused To the Third That Foreigners though settled House-keepers being no Travellers or Foreign Ministers Servants are not excused To the Fourth That the King 's Native Subjects are not excused form taking the Oaths by being menial Servants to Foreign Ministers To the Fifth We find no Law that excuses a Feme-Covert being a Papist from taking the Oaths though her Husband be a Protestant To the Sixth That a Popish Recusant having taken the Oaths is not bound to find new Sureties unless upon a new tender of the Oaths he shall refuse to take them All which with great Humility we submit to your Majesties judgment Will. Scroggs Fran. North. W. Mountagu W. Wylde Tim. Littleton Hugh Wyndham Robert Atkyns V. Bertie Fr. Bramston Tho. Jones W. Dolben At the Sessions in the Old-bailey the 16th and 17th of January One John Ayleworth aliàs Adland Committed to Newgate as a Preist on the 23th of Novemb. before was Indicted of High Treason upon the Stat. of 27 Eliz. cap. 2. And upon full Evidence of his having frequently said Mass received Confessions given Absolutions and performed all other Priestly Functions and that he had often appeared in her Majesties Chappel in Priestly Vestments amongst the rest of the Preists he was found guilty and Condemned But his Majesty treading the merciful steps of his Ancestors being most unwilling to punish any for their Religion or that any Preist though even upon this odious provocation of their Parties plotting against his Life should suffer purely for being a Priest or meerly for their presumption and disobedience for coming into his Dominions contrary to that Law was graciously pleased to grant him a Repreive CHAP. XIII A Design of the Papists to suborn Witnesses to oppose and vilifie the Evidence of Dr. Oats and Mr. Bedloe THE Papists finding all their Plot was like to be unravel'd unless some speedy Course were taken to overthrow the Evidence resolv'd to spare no Charge for so necessary a work and to this purpose one James Nettervile an Irish Papish Prisoner in the Marshalscy Tutor'd by Dominick Kelly one of the Priests that Murther'd Sir Edmundbury Godfrey being for some time his Fellow-prisoner and holding some Correspondence with the Lords in the Tower attempted to corrupt and suborn two Gentlemen for great Sums of money to Swear what should be dictated and prescribed unto them to oppose the Testimony of Dr. Oats and Mr. Bedloe and to scandalize them with odious Crimes and charge the Plot on dissenting Protestants as wholy contrived and pretended by them to cut off the Papists that they might the more easily accomplish some ill intentions they had against the King and Government But the Persons they happened to tamper with were of greater worth and integrity than to engage in or conceal so base a Business The one of them was Captain Bury dwelling in Ireland and Son of Sir William Bury of Grantham in Lincolnshire The other Mr. William Brooks one of the Aldermen of Dublin who being in London for the prosecution of their private concerns they were oft times with this Nettervile who had been formerly a Clerk in the Court of Claims at Dublin and did now pretend he could be serviceable to them and knowing that their attendance here had been very chargeable was so far infatuated as to think them profligate enough to entertain such a wicked proposal for money and so broke the matter to them severally the one not knowing of the others being concern'd till after they had both discovered it For about the 13th of January See the Narrative of this design P. 1 2. Nettervile having sent for Captain Bury to the Marshalsey told him in private after some preparatory discourses That there was a Design on foot to amuse those that had Impeached the Lords and those concern'd about the Plot and to turn the Game an other way as he expressed it and that the said Captain might do himself a kindness if he pleased and that if he would prove some certain things against Mr. Oats and Mr. Bedloe and that they held such and such Correspondencies and particularly with Mr. Blood c. he should have 4 or 500 l. The Captain seem'd to adhere to his discourse and learn'd of him that one Russel a rank Papist and an Irish man who Married Madam Rowse the Dutchess of Portsmouth's Gentlewoman was appointed to manage the affair and pay the money and after two or three meetings it was concluded That the money should be put into a third persons hand and that a paper
of Winchester Henry Lord Marquess of Worcester Henry Earl of Arlington Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold James Earl of Salisbury John Earl of Bridgewater Robert Earl of Sunderland one of his Majesties principal Secretaries of State lately made in the room of Sir Joseph Williamson Arthur Earl of Essex first Lord Commissioner of the Treasury John Earl of Bath Groom of the Stole Thomas Lord Viscount Faulconberg George Lord Viscount Hallifax Henry Lord Bishop of London John Lord Roberts Denzil Lord Holles William Lord Russel William Lord Cavendish Henry Coventry Esq one of his Majesties principle Secretaries of State Sir Francis North Kt. Lord Cheif Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir Henry Capel Kt. of the Bath first Commissioner of the Admiralty Sir John Earnley Kt. Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Chicheley Kt. Master of the Ordnance Sir William Temple Baronet Edward Seymour Esq Henry Powle Esq The 30th of April His Majesty made a Speech to both Houses of Parliament wherein he recommended three things to them The prosecution of the Plot The disbanding of the Army and the providing a Fleet which was followed by a larger signification of his Majesties mind by the Lord Chancellor That His Majesty had considered with himself That 't is not enough that his Peoples Religion and Liberty be secure during his own Reign but thinks he ows it to his People to do all that in him lies that these Blessings may be transmitted to Posterity And to the end that it may never be in the power of any Papist if the Crown descend upon him to make any change in Church or State his Majesty would consent to limit such Successor in these points 1. That no such Popish Successor shall present to Ecclesiastical Benefices 2. That during the Reign of such Popish Successor no Privy Councellors or Judges Lord Leiutenant or Deputy Leiutenant or Officer of the Navy shall be put in or removed but by Authority of Parliament 3. That as it is already provided That no Papist can sit in either House of Parliament so there shall never want a Parliament when the King shall happen to die but that the Parliament then in Being may continue Indissoluble for a competent time or the last Parliament Re-assemble c. But it seems all these Provisions were not thought a sufficient Fence for such dear and precious things as Religion and Liberty and that in the progress of their Debates upon this most important Subject they could not resolve upon any certain Expedient of safety less than the Exclusion of his Royal Higness For on Sunday April the 27th 1679. It was Resolved by the House of Commons Nemine Contradicente That the Duke of York being a Papist and the hopes of his coming such to the Crown hath given the greatest Encouragement and Countenance to the present Conspiracies and Designs of the Papists against the King and Protestant Religion And on Sunday May the 11th the better Day the better Deed we use to say but whether it will hold here will be the Question they Ordered That a Bill should be brought in to disable the Duke of York to Inherit the Imperial Crown of this Realm which was brought in accordingly and twice read in the House the preamble thereof being to this effect That forasmuch as these Kingdoms of England and Ireland by the wonderful Providence of God many Years since have been delivered from the Slavery and Superstition of Popery which had despoiled the King of his Sovereign Power for that it did and doth advance the Pope of Rome to a Power over Sovereign Princes and makes him Monarch of the Universe and doth with-draw the Subjects from their Allegiance by pretended Absolutions from all former Daths and Obligations to their lawful Sovereign and by many Superstitions and Immoralities hath quite subverted the Ends of the Christian Religion But notwithstanding That Popery hath been long since Condemned by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm for the detestable Doctrine and Traiterous Attempts of its Adherents against the Lives of their lawful Sovereigns Kings and Queens of these Realms Yet the Emissaries Priests and Agents for the Pope of Rome resorting into this Kingdom of England in great numbers contrary to the known Laws thereof have for several Years last past as well by their own Devilish Acts and Policies as by Counsel and Assistance of Foreign Princes and Prelates known Enemies to these Nations contrived and carried on a most Horrid and Execrable Conspiracy To destroy and Murther the Person of his Sacred Majesty and to Subvert the ancient Government of these Realms and to Extirpate the Protestant Religion and Massacre the true Professors thereof And for the better effecting their wicked Designs and encouraging their Uilainous Accomplices they have Traterously Seduced James Duke of York Presumptive Heir of these Crowns to the Communion of the Church of Rome and have induced him to Enter into several Negotiations with the Pope his Cardinals and Nuntio's for promoting the Romish Church and Interest and by his means and procurement have advanced the Power and Greatness of the French King to the manifest hazard of these Kingdoms That by the descent of these Crowns upon a Papist and by Foreign Alliances and Assistance they may be able to succeed in their Wicked and Uillainons Designs And forasmuch as the Parliaments of England according to the Laws and Statutes thereof have heretofore for great and weighty Reasons of State and for the publick Good and common Interest at this Kingdom directed and limited the Succession of the Crown in other manner than of Course it would otherwise have gone but never had such important and urgent Reasons as at this Time press and require their using of their said Extraordinary Power in that behalf Be it therefore Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same And it is hereby Enacted accordingly That James Duke of York Albany and Ulster having departed openly from the Church of England and having publickly professed and owned the Popish Religion which hath notoriously given Birth and Life to the most Damnable and Hellish Plot by the most gracious Providence of God lately brought to light shall be Excluded and is hereby Excluded and Disabled c. On the 19th of May the House of Commons attended his Majesty with this following Address Most Dread Sovereign WEE your Majesties most Dutiful and Loyal Subjects the Commons in Parliament Assembled do with all humble gratitude acknowledge the most gratious assurances your Majesty hath been pleased to give us of your constant Care to do every thing that may preserve the Protestant Religion of your firm resolution to defend the same to the utmost and your Royal endeavours that the security of that blessing may be transmitted to posterity And we do humbly represent to your Majesty That being deeply sensible that the
Assemblies and Consultations wherein it was Contrived and Designed amongst them what means should be used and what Persons and Instruments should be employed to Murther his Majesty and did then and there resolve to effect it by Poisoning Shooting Stabing or some such like ways or means and offered Rewards and promises of Advantage to several Persons to Execute the same and hired and employed several Wicked Persons to go to Windsor and other places where his Majesty did reside to Murther and destroy his Majesty which said Persons or some of them accepted some Rewards and undertook the Perpetrating thereof and did actually go to the said places for that end and purpose That the said Conspirators the better to compass their Traiterous Designs have consulted to Raise and have procured and raised Men Money Horses Arms and Ammunition and also have made Application to and Treated and Corresponded with the Pope his Cardinals Nuncio's and Agents and with other Foraign Ministers and Persons to raise Tumults within this Kingdom and to Invade the same with Foraign Forces and to surprize seize and destroy his Majesties Navy Forts Magazines and places of Strength within this Kingdom Whereupon the Calamities of War Murthers of innocent Subjects Men Women and Children Burnings Rapines Devastations and other Dreadful Miseries and Mischiefs must inevitably have ensued to the Ruin and Destruction of this Nation That the said Conspirators have procured accepted and delivered out several Instruments Commissions and Powers made and granted by or under the Pope or other unlawful and usurping Authority to raise and dispose of Men Money Arms and other things necessary for their wicked and Traiterous Designs and namely a Commission to the said Henry Lord Arundel of Warder to be Lord High Chancellor of England and to the said William Earl of Powis to be Lord Treasurer of England another Commission to the said John Lord Bellasis to be General of the Army to be raised and the said William Lord Petre to be Lieutenant General of the said Army and a Power to the said William Viscount Stafford to be Paymaster of the Army That in order to encourage themselves in prosecuting their said wicked Plots Conspiracies and Treasons and to hide and hinder the discovery of the same and to secure themselves from Justice and Punishment the Conspirators aforesaid and Confederates have used many wicked and Diabolical Practices viz. They did cause their Priests to Administer to the said Conspirators an Oath of Secrecy together with their Sacrament and also did cause their said Priests upon Confession to give their Absolutions upon condition that they should conceal the said Conspiracy And when about the Month of September last Sir Edmundbury Godfrey a Justice of Peace had according to the Duty of his Oath and Office taken several Examinations and Informations concerning the said Conspiracy and Plot the said Conspirators or some of them by Advice Assistance Councel and Instigation of the rest did incite and procure divers Persons to lie in wait and persue the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey several days with intent to Murther him which at last was perpetrated and effected by them for which said horrid Crimes and Offences Robert Green Henry Berry and Lawrence Hill have since been Attainted and Dominick Kelly and Gerald are fled for the same After which Murther and before the Body was found or the Murther known to any but Complices therein the said Persons falsely gave out That he was alive and privately Married and after the Body was found dispersed a false and malicious Report that he had Murthered himself Which said Murther was Committed with design to stifle and suppress the Evidence he had taken and had knowledg of and to discourage and deter Magistrates and others from acting in the further discovery of the said Plot and Conspiracy for which end also the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey while he was alive was by them their Complices and Favourites threatned and discouraged in his Proceedings about the same And of their further Malice they have wickedly contrived by many false Suggestions to lay the imputation and guilt of the aforesaid horrid and detestable Crimes upon the Protestants that so thereby they might escape the Punishments they have justly deserved and expose Protestants to great Scandal and subject them to Persecution and Oppression in all Kingdoms and Countries where the Roman Religion is received and professed All which Treasons Crimes and Offences above mentioned were Contrived Committed Perpetrated Acted and done by the said William Earl of Powis William Lord Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis every of them and others the Conspirators aforesaid against our Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity and against the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom Of all which Treasons Crimes and Offences the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled do in the name of themselves and of the Commons of England Impeach the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis and every of them And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves that liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusations or Impeachments against the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis and every of them and also of replying to the Answers which they and every of them make to the Premises or any of them or to any other Accusation or Impeachment which shall be by them exhibited as the Cause according to course and proceedings of Parliament shall require do pray that the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis and every of them may be put to Answer all and every of the Premises and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments may be upon them and every of them had and used as shall be agreeable to Law and Justice and Course of Parliament To these Articles of Impeachment the said Lords soon after put in their several Answers as follows The several Answers of William Lord Petre now Prisoner in the Tower to the Articles of Impeachment of High Treason and other Crimes and Offences exhibited to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled Whereas the Lord above named stands Impeached by the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled in the name of themselves and all the Commons in England THE said Lord in the first place and above all other protesting his Innocency The said Lord doth with all humility submit himself desiring above all things the Tryal of his Cause by this Honourable House so that he may be provided to make his just Defence for clearing of his Innocency from the great and hainous Crimes charged against him by the said Impeachment this being prayed as also liberty to correct amend and explain any thing in the
forbid the Protestants privately or publickly to Assemble together To proceed to severity of Laws and punishments Here he endeavours to prove this violence lawful Fire and Faggot is reserved to the last But this violence though it must be for the change of all need not be exercised on all Cut off the Leaders and the Multitude will follow the authority of the Rulers Shame will retain some and fear others but a vain security will prevail with most when they know not how to help it Within these few years if he say true above an hundred thousand have been turned to Popery in France and more in Germany nor did ever any of the Princes of Germany that did endeavour to draw over his people to the Catholicks find any Force or Resistance contrary to his Laws Note this all you slanderous Papists that accuse Protestants so much of Rebellion to bide your own Here 's a Jesuites testimony on Record for our vindication He commendeth many smaller helps As 1. Musick to entice people by delight 2. To cause all at their Mariage to profess the Popish Religion and so rather than go without a Wife or Husband they will do it 3. So also to deny Protestants Church-priviledges as Baptism Burial c. Lastly he concludes that where the work must be securely done by degrees the Magistrate may keep the Institution Presentation Confirmation and Examination of Ministers in his own hand and so if he cannot cast them out at once he must cast out the most dangerous that is ablest Protestant Pastours and put over the Churches the disagreeing and those that do not minde matters of Controversie much and those that are addicted to their own domestick businesses worldly men and such as are addicted to the Rulers let him cool the heat of Heresie he means still true Religion and let him not put out the unlearned and so their Religion will grow into contempt And therefore let the Magistrates cherish the Dissentions of the erring he means the Protestant Teachers And let him procure them often to debate together and reprove one another For so when all men see that there is nothing certain among them they will easily yield to the truth he means Popery And this Discord is profitable to shew the manners of those wicked men For from these things the Ruler may take occasion for a Change Let him enquire into the Original of these Accusations and if he finde them true he may punish the Guilty if false he may punish that is cast out the Accusers By either way he weakens the Party and makes room for his Popish Priests to succeed them SECT 3. The same Priviledged Author of the said Fair Warning in page 62. and those following sets forth a Copy of a Letter from Seignior Ballariny to one Father Young found as he testifies in his Study upon his Decease Dated April 16. 1662. Translated out of Italian in English as follows Holy Father WE do here congratulate your endeavours for the Propagation of the Catholick Faith and cease not our Prayers for you Yet we know that in vain we expect a Blessing from above if we do not prudently apply all means here below And now upon that wonderful Revolution in England there must be great alterations in your Councils and Methods although you must aim at one great Designe The obstruction of Settlement especially upon the Fundamental Constitutions of the Kingdome whereunto if things should fall they would be more firm than ever as some things when shaken take deepest root To this purpose you would do well 1. To remove this jealousie raised by Pryn Baxter and other discontented persons of our own having had any design upon the late Factions and set up that prosperous way of fears and jealousies of the King and Bishops You know an enemy is then with success established in his main hold when he is with prudence alarmed elsewhere We may easily break in upon the English Nation through Liberty and Anarchy while they think we are coming in through Government and Order 2. You would do well to make it appear under-hand how near the Doctrine Worship and Discipline of the Church of England comes to us how willingly their Articles would be interpreted in a Catholick sence at how little distance their Common-prayer is from our Mass whereby you may perswade the world that the Protestant Religion is weary of it self and that the wisest and ablest men of that way are so moderate that they would willingly come over to us or at least meet us halfway 3. Let there be that odium by writing and secret Practices raised upon the Factious that the Law may be so intent upon them that you may escape and troublesome persons may be disabled from speaking against you as they used to do being odious in the eye of the Law and the people 4. Let the Power of the King in matter of Religion be decryed or at least let there be an Indulgence promoted by the Factious and seconded by you 5. You may have such insight into the Trade and Treasure of the Nation that you may have the one engrossed between your selves and other discontented Parties and the other stopped so that the inhabitants will for want either endeavour an alteration at home or transplant themselves among us abroad so that we may either joyn with them or they with us in order to the main design 6. It were well if you took all just occasion to make it plain to the people that there is no true Ordination or Succession of Bishops Pastors and Ministers in England and that they who are pretended Bishops and Ministers are either worldly and careless on the one hand or so factious on the other hand that it were well they were removed however it were well the people should be taken off from them by a clear discovery of their unworthyness 7. Father R. would usually say that the best way to work upon the English was to make use of their natural Affections and urge them with this What is become of your Fore-fathers who died in our Religion where was your Religion before Luther 8. We suppose that in England after twenty years Confusion they are at a loss for the Revenue and therefore it were seasonable such a way were proposed that on the one hand might seem very plausible to the King the Nobility and Commons but is indeed very grievous to the People as any alterations in the antient Customes have their advantages for us so especially an alteration in the Revenue which will have that influence upon the people which your suggestions and insinuations cannot have You know what counsel Father P. gave Father E. of Brussels to put the King upon the new way of Imposition by Excise which must be settled by a mercenary Army of Horse and Foot which shall harass the Country Lastly Your method for winning particular persons you know given by our Forefathers is this 1. Be sure to keep the
Respondents part and not the Opponents It 's not so easie to prove as to wrangle against proofs 2. Follow them with certain Questions which the vulgar are not verst in As 1. Where was your Church before Luther or where hath it been visible in all Ages 2. How prove you that you have a true Scripture that is the Word of God among you 3. What express Word of God do the Catholicks contradict 4. How prove you that you have a truely called Ministry that is to be heard and believed by the people 5. By what Warrant did you separate from the Catholick Church and condemn all your Forefathers and all the Christian World 6. If you will separate from the Catholick Church what reason have you to follow this Sect rather than any one of all the rest 7. What one man can you name from the beginning that was in all things of Luthers or Calvins opinions 8. Do you not see that God doth not bless the labours of your Ministers but the people are as bad as they were before what the better are you for hearing them Our hearty Prayers are for your Success And Sir I am yours to command F. B. These were part of the subtle and more innocent Platforms laid by the Jesuites to undermine the Protestant Religion and introduce Popery which were discovered and set forth in Print now almost twenty years ago yet have they still ever since vigorously traced the same methods with mischievous success and without any great opposition till finding all these not enough to accomplish their main work they applied themselves to more bloody and violent Counsels and the hatching of that Master-piece of villany the horrid Plot whereof we have in the precedent sheets given you a summary account which being so far detected nothing but Gods Judgments on these sinful Nations in suffering the spirit of infatuation to possess us can hinder its being prevented The following Transactions happening after the Printing this History be pleased to take a summary account thereof as follows THe 10th of December 1679. was published a Proclamation signifying the Kings pleasure that the Parliament formerly Prorogued to the 26th of January should at that time be Prorogued again to the 11th of November 1680. About this time several persons Endeavouring to promote Petitions and Nine Lords in the names of several other Peers of the Realm actually presenting a Petition to his Majesty for the Parliament to continue to sit on the said 26th of January his Majesty thought fit to publish his Proclamation for the preventing of tumultuous Petitions yet many conceiving such humble Petitioning not to be forbidden by any Law of this Kingdome did proceed therein and on the 20th of December three persons of the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields sending for some others that were promoting such a Petition and having it produced did tear the same for which being carried before a Justice of the Peace since discharged of the Commission they were bound over and the next Sessions a Bill being preferred against them reciting That whereas the subjects and liege people of England by the Laws and Customes thereof have used to represent their grievances by Petition or by any other way And whereas such a Petition reciting the words was prepared and subscribed by many of the Kings Subjects and liege People the Persons indicted being ill-affected and contriving devising and intending as much as in them lay to hinder the sitting of the said Parliament as was prayed in the Petition and also to hinder the Tryal of the Offenders and redress the Grievances therein mentioned did as Rioters and disturbers of the Peace c. with Force and Arms c. unlawfully riotously and injuriously the said Petition being delivered to them at their request and for the subscribing of their Names thereto if they should think fit did tear in pieces in Contempt of our Soveraign Lord the King and of his Laws to the evil Example c. and against the Peace c. Which Bill was found by the Grand Jury And on the 13th of January a Petition was presented to his Majesty by Sir Gilbert Gerrard Baronet Son in the Law to the late Bishop of Durham Thomas Smith Bencher of the Inner-Tempel and eight other Gentleman and Citizens of considerable Estates and Qualities the words whereof were as follows To the King 's most Excellent Majesty the humble Petition of your Majesties most Dutiful and Loyal Subjects Inhabitants in and about the City of London whose Names are hereunder subscribed Sheweth THat whereas there has been and still is a most Damnable and Hellish Plot branched forth into the most horrid Villanies against Your Majesties most Sacred Person the Protestant Religion and the well-established Government of this your Realm for which several of the principal Conspirators stand now Impeach'd by Parliament Therefore in such a time when Your Majesties Royal Person as also the Protestant Religion and the Government of this Nation are thus in most eminent danger Your Majesties most Dutiful and Obedient Subjects in the deepest sense of our Duty and Allegiance to your Majesty do most humbly and earnestly pray That the Parliament which is Prorogued until the 26th day of January may then Sit to try the Offenders and to Redress all our Grievances no otherwise to be redressed And your Petitioners shall ever pray for Your Majesties long and prosperous Reign To this Petition was annexed a Roll of above 100 Yards long containing many thousand Names of many of the most eminent Citizens and Inhabitants in and about London that had subscribed the same His Majesties Answer was to this effect I know the substance of it already and as I am Head of the Government I shall take care of it The Papists though so often bastled resolve still to play a new Game and therefore on the 7th of January John Gadbury Prisoner for the Popish High-Treason as we have before related sent to acquaint the Lords appointed a Committee for Examination that he had something to communicate to them whereupon he was immediately sent for but being perhaps not sufficiently tutor'd he then excused himself that he did not expect to be so suddenly called and therefore desired further time whereupon he was ordered to put what he had to say into writing And on the 9th of January being again examined before His Majesty did declare That about September last Sir Robert Peyton desiring to be reconciled to the Interests of his Majesty and the Duke of York Gadbury acquainted Mrs. Celier the Midwife therewith between whom and Sir Robert there grew an intimate Correspondence and that Sir R. Peyton did then say he should hereby lose a considerable Interest which could put him in the Head of 20000 men in two days time and that could raise 60000 men in little more than a Week And that these people in case the King had died the last Summer at Windsor would have seized the Tower Dover-Castle c. secured the