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
Execution and that it was by their instigation and interest that the French King was prevailed with 〈◊〉 banish His Majesty out of France c. From all which the pretended Loyalty of the Papists to his late Majesty and our present Soveraign during his Exile is most evidently detected and by these brief Historical touches that we have given the matter whereof would have swell'd to a vast Volume had it been worthily dilated upon as hereafter if God send leave and opportunity may be done it sufficiently appears how dangerous and insufferable the Principles of the Roman Church and practices of Papists have been and must always be to Princes in general but Protestants especially So that we may fitly shut up these Observations with that Oraculous conclusion of judicious King James in his Speech to both Houses of Parliament Nov. 1605. That as it is not impossible but many honest man seduced with some Errours of Popery may yet remain good and faithful Subjects so on the other part none that know and believe the grounds and School-conclusions of their Doctrine can ever prove good Christians or faithful Subjects CHAP. V. The Preparatory Circumstances at home and abroad encouraging the Papists to this Plot and facilitating their Designe SECT 1. WE have hitherto seen the restless and implacable malice of the Romish Priests and Emissaries continually conspiring and endeavouring by all kind of Arts ever since the Reformation to subvert the Protestant Religion and therewith the Government in these Nations so that we may reckon the Raigns of our late Princes by a Succession of Popish Treasons In displaying whereof we have been the larger as well that the World may take notice that their late damnable Plot was nothing strange or incredible for what wonder is it to hear an Horse neigh to find a Fox crafty or a Tyger cruel or see those concerned in Trayterous and bloody practices whose Doctrines recommend the same as Duty or Merit and who have for so many Ages been inured thereunto as also to satisfie the Reader that the Conspiracy which now threatned us is all of a piece with those under which our Ancestors laboured that 't is still the same Tragedy though the Scenes have been often shifted and the Actors varied according to the different posture of Affairs a continued stream of Treason flowing from the See of Rome which though sometimes interrupted diverted or like the River Arethusa hid under ground yet it perpetually sometimes swifter sometimes slower kept on its course but how and by what accessional Springs Forreign Tides or Domestick Land-floods it came now to swell to so great and extraordinary an Head just ready to ore-whelm us may be worth inquiry To give an exact account of all Circumstances at home and abroad that contributed to the ripening and facilitating of this Plot and which favouring the Design encouraged the Conspirators to push forwards the same at this rather then another time requires more conversation in Court-Intrigues than we dare pretend to But most obvious it is to an ordinary Eye that there were not a few advantages which might much flush their hopes at this Conjuncture and rendred their Design more probable and feizable than at any other moment since the Reformation SECT 2. For as this Plot aim'd not solely at these Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland but was truely Catholick general or universal to root out the Protestant Religion from the face of the earth so no man that considers the present State of Christendome can be ignorant what a vast progress within few years last past they have made in order thereunto The French Kings Arms no doubt are employed chiefly for Conquest and Glory yet 't is as unquestionable that the Jesuits and Court of Rome know how to improve them likewise to their advantage For if we reflect on the late proceedings of the French and their modern Irruption which they made into Holland few years since the manner of the Attempt and Management before and after we may see that haughty Monarch hath plainly taken off his Mask and is to be regarded in this Conjuncture not onely in the same Character as Conquerors of former Ages towards all Estates who had the unhappiness to be adjacent to their Frontiers but that he ought also to be formally look'd upon as the declared Protector of the Tyrannick Designs of the Papacy and consequently the pre-meditated and positive Enemy and destroyer of all the States and People whose Faith is opposite to that Tyranny And though in his Declaration of War against the States-General 27 March 1672. he was pleased to assign no reason but his Glory yet 't is averr'd in print that by his Embassador to the Pope he gave afterwards a more clear Account viz. That he had not undertaken this War but for the Extirpation of Heresie and to the Emperour declared That the Hollanders were a people who having forsaken God and being Hereticks all good Christians were in duty bound to associate for their Extirpation and ought to pray to God for a blessing upon so pious an Enterprise And to other Popish Princes That it was a War of Religion and in order to the propagation of the Catholick Faith Pursuant to which in the Second Article of his Demands afterwards to the Dutch at Vtrecht it is in express words contained That thenceforth there shall be not onely an entire Liberty but a publick Exercise of the Catholick Apostolick Roman Religion throughout all the Vnited Provinces c. And as he hath been thus active to promote Popery abroad so he has been no less busie to destroy Protestants at home having suppressed so many of their Churches contrary to Solemn Edicts put down their Academies made them incapable of any Office or Preferment and by all kind of discouragements and pressures endeavoured to ruine them The Conspirators therefore having such a powerful friend to Abet and Assist them who besides the glorious Rattle of propagating Catholick Religion a specious motive in publick is also obliged by reason of State a more Sacred Tye amongst such Princes to embroil England and Holland by all Arts that in the mean time he may sweep away the Trade of the World chiefly managed by these two and put them both in a condition to be made absolutely his Slaves wherever he should think fit to extend his yoak 'T is no wonder then I say if the Conspirators venture bard with such encouragement to accomplish their Designs in the drudging Secular Butchering part whereof he hath already made so fair or rather monstrously foul an advance Long since have the Jesuits learnt how to shrowd themselves under the ambitious wings of the most potent active Princes and by pretence of promoting their interests to set up their own When in the last Century the Austrian Family was in its ruffling grandeur grasping at Universal Monarchy how entirely did they seem devoted to that House But as soon as it declin'd and the French Monarch by
Mr. Bedloe had from time to time communicated this Intrigue and from them took his measures of proceeding in it inform'd the House of Commons that they had something of moment lately come to their knowledg wherein they desired the Assistance of the House hereupon it was immediately Ordered That all Persons who were not Members should be put out of the Speakers Chamber and that no Person should be suffered to go out of the House and that the Keys be brought in and laid upon the Table which being done and the business discovered and debated it was Ordered That Mr. Speaker immediately issue out his Warrant against Nathaniel Reading Esquire who being then walking in the Lobby for he had much Practice in Soliciting Causes in Parliament and commonly attended there was taken into Custody and the Secret Committee Ordered to take his Examination which being dispatch'd and Reported the House on the 8th of April made the following Address to the King for bringing him to his Tryal May it please your Majesty WEE your Majesties most Dutiful and Loyal Subjects the Commons in Parliament Assembled having according to our Duty made equiry into the Damnable and Hellish Plot against your Majesties Sacred Person and Government and for the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion have upon examination discovered that Nathaniel Reading Esq hath Industriously and against the Duty of a Loyal Subject held frequent Correspondencies with several Lords and other Persons that stand Committed for High-Treason and also used his utmost endeavours to prevent and suppress your Majesties evidence and as much as in him lay to stifle the discovery of the said Plot and thereby to render the same Fallacious and of no reality and by such undue means to prevent the Malefactors from coming to Justice Therefore We your said Commons do most humbly beseech your Majesty that you will be Gratiously pleased to command That a Commission of Oyer and Terminer do immediately Issue forth for the Tryal of the said Nathaniel Reading for the said Offence that he may be brought to publick Justice Accordingly a Commission was granted and on Thursday the 24th of April Mr. Reading was brought to his Tryal before Sir Francis North Lord Cheif Justice of the Common Pleas and most of the other Judges except the Lord Cheif Justice of the Kings-Bench who was in the Country and several other Persons of Quality in the Commission named at the Kings-Bench-Bar at Westminster When the Jury came to be Sworn Mr. Reading desired the Liberty of a Peremptory Challenge which the Court could not allow he standing Indicted only for a Misdemeanour not Treason then he replied with a great deal of Submission and Eloquence seeming to urge that the nature of the Crime as it was laid was Treason and thence descended to crave the Opinion of the Court whether he might not be Indicted again for Treason for the same matter but in this the Court refused to gratifie him only telling him that the laying of it but as a Misdemeanour was a favour and ought so to be by him accounted and so proceeded to Swear the Jury as follows Sir John Cutler Kt. Joshuah Galliard Esq Edw. Wilford Esq Thomas Henslow Esq Thomas Earsby Esq John Serle Esq Thomas Cass Esq Rainsford Waterhouse Esq Matthew Bateman Esq Walter Moyle Esq Richard Pagett Esq John Haynes Esq The Effect of the Evidence 1. Mr. Bedloe set forth how he came acquainted with Mr. Reading whom he employed in some Concerns See Reading's Tryal P. 15. That he never went about to have him stifle the whole Plot but only to make him easie towards some particular People that he Solicited for to which purpose he would tell him it was not for his safety to run at the whole Herd and if he could do a kindness he should be well gratified 2. That the cheif Persons he Solicited for were the Lord Petre the Lord Powis the Lord Stafford and Sir Henry Titchborn in whose name he promised great Rewards both in money and Estate for shortning the Evidence and bringing them off from the charge of High Treason and particularly that he made him easie towards Whitebread and Fenwick when they were first Arraigned which was to be an Assurance that he would accomplish what he promised and an example what kindness might be done wherein the Witness was willing to comply to carry on the Intreigue with the Lords till it might properly be discovered he esteeming that of greater Consequence then two old Priests whom he might charge further another time 3. He did not know but Reading had laid a Trap for him and therefore discovered these Conferences to Prince Rupert the Earl of Essex Mr. Kirkby and others and Mr. Reading being to give him a meeting at his Lodgings on the 26th of March he had planted one Mr. Speke a Gentleman of good Quality behind the hangings and making an hollow place in the Bed laid his man there cover'd over smooth with a Rugg as if it had been new made that they might over-hear what passed and not be descryed There he agreed to bring the Final Answer of the Lords and told him That he had Authority to draw blank Deedes both for Sums and Estates which they would settle on him and that the Lord Stafford was Felling of Timber to sell to raise money for him c. 4. That the Monday following the Witness and the Prisoner drew up a Paper of what the Witness had to charge the aforesaid Lords with which was carried to the Lords and then return'd by Reading in his own hand writing but minc'd so as not to signifie any thing material against them This paper Mr. Reading own'd and it was read in Court 5. Mr. Speke sets forth the Conference between Mr. Bedloe and Mr. Reading which he over-heard and that Mr. Ibidem P. 28. Reading said The Lord Stafford would settle an Estate in Glocestershire on Mr. Bedloe and Sign and Seal a Deed thereof within ten days after he should be discharged and several other discourses plainly proving the matter of the Indictment too long here to be recited And the same was sworn by Henry Wiggins Mr. Bedloes man 6. Mr. Bedloe swore positively That Mr. Reading had given him several Sums of money amounting in all to 56l or upwards and all to dispose him to this matter To all this Mr. Reading had very little to say in his own defence that was pertinent or material but only endeavoured with a multitude of fine words to cloud the matter and asperse the Evidence yet in the process of his discourse he did in effect own the whole matter of Fact he stood charged with but would have had it beleiv'd that Mr. Bedloe first proposed it to him and that all that he did was not in the least to shorten lessen or stifle any thing of Truth which Mr. Bedloe had to say but only to prevent him from the guilt of Perjury and Innocent Blood c. All which being sufficiently
Coach and Horses in the same Street both Irish men were Engaged in the same Design that Father Gifford promised this Examinate One Hundred Pounds for to carry on the Work and told him He was to have the money from the Church That the said Gifford Clinton Flower and He did use to meet in St. Jame's Feilds in the dark of the Evening and there to discourse of these matters and that the several Informations that he had given to the said Elizabeth Oxley he had from the said Father Gifford He further said That the said Flower and Clinton told him the said Stubbs That they would carry on the said Fire and that they had Fireballs for that purpose and that they would fire other Houses in Holborn at the same time He confessed he was at the Fire in the Temple but was not Engaged to do any thing in it That Gifford told him that there were English French and Irish Roman Catholicks enow in London to make a very good Army and that the French King was coming with 60 Thousand men under a pretence of a Progress to shew the Dauphin his Dominions but it was to plant them along the Coasts at Diep Bulloign Calais and Dunkirk to be presently ready to be Landed in England when there was an opportunity which he doubted not but might be by the middle of June for by that time all the Roman Catholicks here would be ready who were all to rise and with the Assistance of the French Forces to cut off and utterly destroy the Hereticks that then the Papists were to be distinguish't by marks in their Hats and that the said Father Gifford doubted not but he should be an Abbot or a Bishop when the work was over for the good Service he had done who frequently told this Examinate and the said Flower and Clinton That it was no more Sin to Kill an Heretick than to knock a Dog o' th head and that they did God good Service in doing what mischeif they could by Firing their Houses That it was well Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was Murther'd for he was their devilish Enemy That Coleman was a Saint in Heaven for what he had done c. That the Examinate was fearful he should be Murther'd for this Confession the said Father Gifford having sworn him to Secrecy and told him he should be damn'd if he made any discovery and should be sure to be Kill'd but gave him leave to take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance because he was an House-keeper and it was necessary that he should stay in Town to help to promote the work of Burning therefore the taking of such Oaths to him should be no sin April the 15th That worthy Patriot Sir Thomas Player giving the House of Commons information concerning this matter of Oxley and Stubbs the Examinations were transmitted to the Lords and the Lords sent them to the secret Committee to make a further inspection and progress therein but they had their hands so full of Business that it was thought fit to appoint a Special Committee for this very purpose before whom the Parties were again Examined and gave them such satisfaction that the House became Suitors to his Majesty that they might both have his gracious Pardon which was granted and a Proclamation but not till the 4th of May set forth Reciting That whereas due Information hath been given that Morrice Gifford a Popish Priest Roger Clinton Derby Molraine alias Flower and several other Persons of the Romish Religion have out of their detestable and barbarous Malice conspired and agreed together to set on Fire the City of London the Suburbs thereof and the places thereunto Adjacent and have in prosecution of such their devilish and wicked Design procured divers Mansion Houses within the said City Suburbs and parts adjacent at sundry times and in divers places to be set on Fire and Burnt The King 's most Excellent Majesty at the humble desire of the Commons in Parliament Assembled doth Command the said Gifford Clinton and Flower who are fled from Justice to render themselves by the 10th of May instant and is pleased to promise 50 l. Reward to any that should apprehend any of them or if any of themselves should come in and discover his Accomplices so as any of them may be taken and Convicted he shall not only have his Pardon but the 50 l. also for each Incendiary As this ingenious Confession of Oxley and Stubbs was a grand Confirmation and undeniable proof of the restless Malice of these bloody Priests so 't is a notable Corroboration of the Truth and sincerity of Mr. Bedloes Evidence for how was it possible if what he says were not certain Truth but only contrived Stories as Papists calumniat How is it probable I say That Stubbs should happen so exactly to accuse the very same man which Mr. Bedloe had done for the Instigator to these barbarous Attempts of Firing for at that time Mr. Bedloe though he had given in such his Informations to the Committee of Secrecy yet had not published the same abroad so that Stubbs could not then have any notice thereof On the 20th of April happen'd an extraordinary Change at Court no less unexpected than grateful to the people who by such alteration of Ministers did hope to find considerable improvements in the management of the publick Affairs for his Majesty having caused his Privy Council to be extraordinarily summon'd was pleas'd by the Lord Chancellor to dissolve them and to declare his Pleasure That for the future their constant Number should be limited to that of Thirty whereof Fifteen to be of his chief Officers who shall be Privy Councellors by their Places Ten others of the Nobility and Five Commons of the Realm whose known Abilities Interest and Esteem in the Nation shall render them without all suspicion of either mistaking or betraying the true Interest of the Kingdom These Fifteen Officers to which the Quality of a Privy Councellor was hereby annext are The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The Bishop of London The Lord Chancellor One of the Lord Cheif Justices The Admiral The Master of the Ordnance The Treasurer and Chancellor or First Comissioner of the Exchequer The Lord Privy-Seal The Master of the Horse The Lord Steward The Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold The Groom of the Stole Two Secretaries of State And that there shall be a President of the Council when necessary and room for the Secretary of Scotland when any such shall be here The Names of the New Privy Council then Establisht were as follows His Highness Prince Rupert William Lord Arch Bishop of Canterbury Heneage Lord Finch Lord Chancellor of England Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury Lord President of the Council Arthur Earl of Anglesey Lord Privy-Seal Christopher Duke of Albemarle James Duke of Monmouth Master of the Horse Henry Duke of New-Castle John Duke of Lauderdaile Secretary of State for Scotland James Duke of Ormond Lord Steward of the Houshold Charles Lord Marquess
said days of Tryal appointed by your Lordships were so near to the time of your said Message that these Matters and the Method of Proceeding upon the Tryal could not be Adjusted by Conference betwixt the two Houses before the Day so nominated And consequently the Commons could not then Proceed to Tryal unless the Zeal which they have for speedy Judgment against the Earl of Danby that so they might proceed to Tryal of the other Five Lords should induce them at this Juncture both to admit the inlargement of your Lordships Jurisdiction and to sit down under these or any hardships though with the hazard of all the Commons Power of Impeaching for time to come rather than the Tryal of the said Five Lords should be deferred for some short time whilst these Matters might be agreed on and settled For Reconciling Differences in these great and weighty Matters and for saving that time which would necessarily have been spent in Debates and Conferences betwixt the two Houses and so expediting the Tryal without giving up the Power of Impeachment or rendring them ineffectual The Commons thought fit to propose to your Lordships that a Committee of both Houses might be appointed for this purpose At which Committee when agreed to by your Lordships it was first proposed That the time of Tryal of the Lords in the Tower should be put off till the other Matters were Adjusted and it was then agreed That the Propositions as to the time of the Tryal should be the last thing considered And the effect of this Agreement stands reported upon your Lordships Books After which The Commons communicated to your Lordships by your Committee a Vote of theirs viz. That the Committee of the Commons should insist upon their former Vote of their House That the Lords Spiritual ought not to have any Vote in any Proceedings against the Lords in the Tower and that when that Matter should be settled and the Method of Proceedings Adjusted the Commons would then be ready to proceed upon the Tryal of the Pardon of the Earl of Danby against whom they had before Demanded Judgment and afterwards to the Tryal of the other Five Lords in the Tower Which Vote extended as well to the Earl of Danby as the other Five Lords but the Commons as yet received nothing from your Lordships towards an Answer of that Vote save that your Lordships have acquainted them that the Bishops have asked leave of the House of Peers that they might withdraw themselves from the Tryal of the said Five Lords with liberty of entring their usual protestation And though the Commons Committee have almost daily Declared to your Lordships Committee that that was a necessary point of Right to be settled before the Tryal and offered to debate the same your Committee always answered That they had not any Power from your Lordships either to conser upon or to give any Answer concerning that Matter And yet your Lordships without having given the Commons any satisfactory Answer to the said Vote or permitting any Conference or Debate thereupon and contrary to the said Agreement did on Thursday the Twenty Second of May send a Message to the Commons Declaring That the Lords Spiritual as well as Temporal had Ordered that the Twenty Seventh of this instant May be appointed for the Tryal of the Five Lords So that the Commons cannot but apprehend that your Lordships have not only departed from what was agreed on and in effect laid aside that Committee which was Constituted for preserving a good understanding betwixt the two Houses and better dispatch of the weighty Affairs now depending in Parliament But must also needs conclude from the Message and the Votes of your Lordships on the Fourteenth of May That the Lords Spiritual have a Right to stay and sit in Court till the Court proceeds to the Vote of Guilty or not Guilty And from the Bishops asking leave as appears by your Lordships Books two days after your said Vote that they might with-draw themselves from the Tryal of the said Lords with liberty of entring their usual Protestation and by their persisting still to go on and give their Votes Proceedings upon the Impeachment that their desire of leave to with-draw at the said Tryal is only an Evasive Answer to the before mentioned Vote of the Commons and chiefly intended as an Argument for a Right of Judicature in Proceedings upon Impeachments and as a Reserve to judg upon the Earl of Danby's Plea of Pardon and upon these and other like Impeachments although no such Power was ever claimed by their Predecessors but is utterly denyed by the Commons and the Commons are the rather to beleive it so intended because the very asking leave to withdraw seems to imploy a Right to be be there and that they cannot be absent without it And because by this way they would have it in their Power whether or no for the future either in the Earl of Danby's Case or any other they will ever ask leave to be absent and the Temporal Lords a like Power of denying leave if that should once be admitted necessary The Commons therefore are obliged not to proceed to the Tryal of the Lords on the Twenty Seventh of this instant May but to Adhere to their aforesaid Vote And for so doing besides what hath been now and formerly by them said to your Lordships do offer you these Reasons following Reasons I. Because your Lordships have received the Earl of Danby's Plea of Pardon with a very long and usual Protestation wherein he hath Aspersed his Majesty by false Suggestions as if his Majesty had Commanded or Countenanced the Crimes he stands charged with and particularly suppressing and discouraging the Discovery of the Plot and endeavouring to Introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical way of Government Which remains as a Scandal upon Record against his Majesty tending to render his Person and Government odious to his People against which it ought to be the first and principal care of both Houses to Vindicate his Majesty by doing Justice upon the said Earl II. The Setting up a Pardon to be a Bar of an Impeachment defeats the whole use and effect of Impeachments and should this point be admitted or stand doubted it would totally discourage the exhibiting any for the future whereby the cheif Institution for the Preservation of the Government and consequently the Government it self would be destroyed And therefore the Case of the said Earl which in consequence concerns all Impeachments whatsoever ought to be determined before that of the said Five Lords which is but their particular Case III. And without resorting to many Authorities of greater Antiquity The Commons desire your Lordships to take notice with the same regard they do of the Declaration which that Excellent Prince King Charles the First of blessed Memory made in this behalf in his Answer to the Nineteen Propositions of both Houses of Parliament Wherein Stating the several parts of this regulated Monarchy he
THE HISTORY OF THE Damnable Popish Plot In its various Branches Progress Published For the satisfaction of the present and future Ages BY The AUTHORS OF The Weekly Pacquet of Advice from Rome Nil erit ulterius quod vestris moribus addat Posteritas LONDON Printed for B.R. L.W. H.C. and are to be sold by Langley Curtiss on Ludgate-hill 1680. TO Both Houses OF THE PARLIAMENT OF ENGLAND Right Honourable Honourable and Worthy Patriots AFter the Gospel in its freedom and restored Purity had for above a hundred years gloriously shone in our Meridian sealed with the Bloud of Martyrs watered with the painful Industry of many thousands of learned pious Divines asserted by the Pens of some and Power of several Illustrious Princes firmly established by so many Laws passed within those venerable Walls whose signal Preservation from the Gun-powder Devastation is enough to inspire every Breast that enters them with just Indignation against the barbarous Treacheries of Rome After the Popish Errours destructive of all Christianity have been so unanswerably confuted their vile Practices so notoriously display'd their horrid Treasons so clearly and miraculously detected who could have thought it possible that these Kingdoms should again have been in danger from the so-oft-defeated Popelings That ever that loathsome baffled Cause should dare lift up its bruised Head to disturb our Tranquility That those groveling Serpents should presume one more to Hiss and spit their Venome to such a perillous degree or that there should be found amongst us any such indifferent Protestants of so absurd irregular Appetites as loathing the Celestial Manna to long for the Onions and Garlick of Egypt or that could be content not only to submit unto but with their own hands endeavour to put about their own Necks that accursed York which our Noble Ancestors with so much Zeal and generous Disdain had shaken off But too plain it is that our own over-great Security the restless Conspiracies of those sworn Enemies of our Peace and the Connivance and base Practices of a too prevalent Faction have within some years past by dark Intrigues and silent Steps so far advanc'd their Hellish Designes as justly to awaken our most serious Apprehensions Their late discovered and still growing Plots are such and so effrontedly carried on that we stand in need of the most prudent Councils and the greatest Zeal and the most active Courage to prevent the accomplishment of their Contrivements viz. the Murder of our King the Extirpation of our true Religion the Violation of our Liberties and Properties and the final Confusion and Destruction of these once-happy Kingdoms The main Policy of these Engineers of Hell is to conceal their Stratagems out-brazen their Villanies and create a Disbelief or at least raise Misrepresentations of their detestable Designes To obviate which and possess all good Subjects with a true sense of Affairs at one entire view and for a small Charge we have in the following Leaves set forth a punctual Summary of their Actings and all Proceedings that have hitherto been had for bringing some of the Conspirators to Justice and to prevent the Mischiefs threatned by the Rest 'T is true my Lords and Gentlemen some Prints have already pretended to give the world such an Account but we conceive upon impartial perusal they will be found not to answer that End The several TRYALS of the Malefactors carefully taken and published by Authority are 't is acknowledged very satisfactory as to the Judicial proceedings but besides that many other Collateral passages are most requisite to a true understanding of this voluminous Plot the said Tryals for we know not whose private advantages are swel'd to such a price that every honest man can neither spare money to buy nor time to peruse them With pretence to remedy the latter there was some time since emitted an Abridgment of those Tryals under the Title of THE HISTORY OF THE PLOT though many cannot apprehend how it should deserve that Name since it mentions not one word of the Original Contrivance the Preparatives manner of Discovery and other Remarkables essential to an History but onely epitomizes the Tryals and even of them omits Staley's and Reading's which yet sure had some relation to the Plot. Besides the witty Epistle prefixt seems to drown the Popish Plot with Suggestions of an Imaginary one of the Protestants no less forsooth to be dreaded and yet even the amusing people with such Stories is notoriously a Part of the grand Popish Designe And whereas it tells us That not one material point is omitted most Readers cannot finde the substantial part of Mr. Bedloe's Evidence against Wakeman p. 46. of the Tryal so much as hinted at not to mention the gross Shuffles and Omissions in p. 77. and elsewhere So that had not the Ingenious Mr. Roger L'Estrange in a late Pamphlet intituled The FREE-BORN SUBJECT been pleased to own himself Compiler of that petite History its Author might have lain under Ill Suspitions And yet even there he happens to give but an unhappy Reason for his undertaking that pains viz. Because he found in the printed Tryals MANY gross Incoherences and VERY MATERIAL MISTAKES yet instances but One and corrected too as an Erratum at the end of the next Tryal printed Now though the Gentleman being so well a known Protestant meant no doubt very honestly yet 't is not impossible a scurvy mischief may thence happen For when our Posterity shall urge these Tryals for proof against Papists which certainly was the designe of taking them so curiously and not a little paltry profit how easily may the subtle Villains stop their mouths by alleadging from this Author That no heed is to be given to the said Tryals being so publickly own'd by a person of his Note and late Qualification to be guilty of so many and such very MATERIAL MISTAKES But the Gentleman that discovers so many Errours may be allow'd to make some especially since he was so perplext in the mighty business that he assures us That reflecting upon the Errours of the printed Tryals together with the almost-inextricable difficulty of retriving the Truth out of such a confusion of Tautologies and Forms the Collection being so bulkie too and the Particulars lying so scatter'd it was next to the Work of a RESVRRECTION to set every part in its right place Free-born Subject p. 15. The POPISH COMPENDIUM was the next that attempted any thing of this kinde whose Author in the Preface scandalizes the last-mentioned by saying That he jumpt with him in the same Designe and addes That he has past by or slubber'd over several things which the Parties concern'd may justly insist upon to be of great force in their business This we are sure of The Designe of this Compendium is to vilisie the King's Evidence slubber over the Plot and make people as stupid in Politicks as they would have them in Divinity even to believe contrary both to their Reason and their Senses What we have
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
before or know how he came by it yet he began his Speech with these very words and repeated as much thereof as he had got without book but certainly a man under his Circumstances would never have troubled his mind with a parcel of formal words if the Awe of the Preist or some Absolution on that Condition had not been more prevalent with him than Truth or Conscience the strain of it shewing a malicious Spirit in the Inditer towards the Evidence and Court as it does his uncharitableness towards the Prisoner to impose thus on a poor ignorant dying man And whereas the Papists do generalâ—y report That Berry was always or at least died a Protestant The same is no toriously false for he had many Years been a Papist cheifly led thereunto for Lucre and to get an Employment as he acknowledged to Mr. Ordinary to whom 't is true he declared a little before his Execution That he did not believe many things which the Doctors of the Romish Church teach as necessary to be embraced for Articles of Faith which is no more than what many other Papists will affirm But the said Berry neither in Prison nor at the Gallows would ever disown the Romish Church nor in the least declare himself a Protestant CHAP. XV. The Proceedings in Parliament touching the Plot with the discovery of Mr. Reading's ill practice and the substance of the Proceedings against him for attempting to stifle the King ' s Evidence relating thereunto AT the beginning of March his Majesty sent his Royal Highness the Duke of York a Letter Ordering him to withdraw for some time who thereupon set forwards on the third of March towards Flanders and on the sixth of the same the new Parliament met whom the King entertain'd with a Speech setting forth what had been done in prosecution of the Plot disbanding the Army c. during the interval and concerning the Duke of York's being so withdrawn beyond the Seas his Majesty was pleased to take notice thereof in these words And above all I have Commanded my Brother to absent himself from me because I would not leave the most Malicious Men room to say I had not removed all Causes which could be pretended to influence Me towards Popish Counsels But some unhappy Traverses happened about settling a Speaker which stumbling at the Threshold was even then look'd upon by observing men as an Ominous Presage That little good would be attained or effected by that Assembly though undoubtedly it was composed as of men of the best Estates so generally of the most able Understandings and most publick-spirited Gentlemen that over served their Country in that Capacity To allay and compose these Animosities which were unhappily started by the Treasurer and his Interest purposely to render this Parliament ineffectual which he knew would otherwise prove Fatal to him There was a short Prorogation and then they fell to Business and on the 24th of March 1678. Resolved Nemine Contradicente That this House doth declare That they are fully satisfied by the proofs they have heard that there now is and for divers Years last past hath been an Horrid and Treasonable Plot and Conspiracy contrived and carried on by those of the Popish Religion for the Murthering of his Majestie 's Sacred Person and for Subverting the Protestant Religion and the Antient and well-Establisht Government of this Kingdom And the Concurrence of the House of Lords being desired herein the next day their Lordships sent a Message to the Commons That their Lordships did immediately and unanimously Concur with the House of Commons in the Declaration as to the Plot. Thus have we the Judgment of Two Parliaments in the Case solemnly and publickly declared The same 25th of March One Mr. Sackvile a Member of the House of Commons and Burgess for East Greenstead in Sussex being charg'd by Dr. Oats to have said That they were Sons of Whores who said there was a Plot and that he was a lying Rogue that said it the matter was examined and Resolved That the said Mr. Edw. Sackvile be sent to the Tower and that he be Expelled the House and made incapable of bearing any Office and though the next day on his Knees at the Bar of that House he desired to have the last part of this Sentence remitted yet the House would not Retract what they had done About the same time Mr. Bedloe made a complaint of harsh usage and discouragements to the House of Commons and upon Oath set forth That going to the Lord Treasurer for some money by virtue of an Order from the Council my Lord took him into his Closet and asked him Whether the Duke of Buckingham or Lord Shaftsbury or any of the Members of the House of Commons had desired him to say any thing against him and to tell him who they were and he would well Reward him and to know if he would desist from giving Evidence against the and the Lords in the Tower c. To which he answered That he had once been an ill man and desired to be so no more To which the Treasurer replied You may have a great sum of money and live in another Countrey as Geneva Suâ—den or New-England and should have what money he would ask to maintain him there But Mr. Bedloc refusing such Temptations his Lordship began to threaten him saying There was a Boat and a Yatch ready to carry him far enough for telling of Tales and after this Guards were as Spies upon him and he very ill used till by an Address to the King the same was remedied and better Care taken And at the same time Dr. Oats declared to the House That one day he being in the Privy Garden the said Lord Treasurer passing by and reflecting on him said There goes one of the Saviours of England but I hope to see him hang'd within a Month all which Complaints as to the Earl of Danby were referred to the Consideration of the Committee of Secrecy We have before Chapter the 13th set forth a kind of Counter-plot laid for opposing and vilifying the Evidence of Dr. Oats and Mr. Bedloe but now we must give an account of another kind of Design still aiming at the same end but manag'd more privately to mollifie aad sweeten Mr. Bedloe in his Evidence and stifle his Testimony by his own consent that it might not fall too heavy upon the Lords in the Tower but this too proved Abortive for though they had chosen a notable Agent for the Work viz. One Mr. Reading a Council at Law famous for his Adventures in the Isle of Axolme yet Mr. Bedloe out-witted him and brought him to deserved Infamy for that corrupt practice for after he had long held him in hand got several sums of money of him procured by a stratagem sufficient Witnesses to prove it out of his own mouth and under his hand and made the Business full ripe Then on the third of April the Committee of Secrecy to whom
greatest hopes of Success against our Religion in the Enemies thereof the Papists are founded in the execrable Designs which they have laid against the Sacred Person and Life of your Majesty which it is not onely our Duty but our Interest with the greatest hazards to preserve and defend We have applyed our selves to the making such provision by Law as may defeat these Popish Adversaries their Abettors and Adherents of their hopes of gaining an advantage by any violent attempts against your Majesty and may utterly frustrate their expectation of Subverting the Protestant Religion thereby in time to come And further to obviate by the best means we can all wicked practices against your Majesty whilest any such Lawes are in preparation and bringing to perfection It is our resolution and we do Declare That in defence of your Majesties Person and the Protestant Religion we will stand by your Majesty with our Lives and Fortunes and shall be ready to Revenge upon the Papists any violence offered by them to your Sacred Majesty in which we have your Majesty will gratiously please to be the more assured as We our Selves are the more encouraged in that the Hearts of all your Majesties Protestant Subjects with the most sincere affection and zeal joyn with us herein But this Zeal of the House of Commons running to so high a pitch touching the Succession together with some unhappy misunderstandings arising between them and the House of Lords concerning the Tryal of the Popish Lords and Earl of Danby as shall be related in the next Chapter His Majesty to allay the same was pleased first to Prorogue and then to put a period to them by a Dissolution of that Parliament by a Proclamation dated at Windsor the 12th of July 1679. But therein graciously declaring that a New one should be called to begin and be holden on Tuesday the 7th which was afwards altered to Friday the 17th of October CHAP. XVII The Proceedings against the Popish Lords in the Tower WE have before related the Commitment of these Lords to the Tower for High Treason after which followed this Vote in the House of Commons in the old Parliament Decemb. 5th 1678. Resolved That the House do proceed by way of Impeachment of High Treason and other High Crimes and Misdemeanours against the Lord Arundel of Warder Lord Powis Lord Petre Lord Bellasis and Viscount Stafford and a Committee appointed to draw up Articles of Impeachment against them Which Vote was Communicated to the House of Lords and the several Lords Charged by several Members in these words The Commons in Parliament having received Information of divers Traiterous Practices and Designs of a great Peer of this House Henry Lord Arundel of Warder have Commanded me to Impeach the said Henry Lord Arundel of Warder of High Treason and other high Crimes and Misdemeanours They have further Commanded me to acquaint your Lordships that they will within a convenient time exhibit to your Lordships particular Articles of the Charge against him Thus standing Impeached they continued in the Tower all the Interval of Parliament and as soon as the next Parliament was settled to Business they forgot not their Lordships For March 20th 1678. it was Ordered That a Committee of Secrecy be appointed to take further Evidence and prepare Articles against the Lords in the Tower who stand Impeached of High Treason and take such further Informations as they shall receive touching the Plot in general and the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and that this Committee have power to send for Persons Papers and Records and that they sit de die in diem and the Quorum to be Three The Articles at last Exhibited were as follows Articles of Impeachment of High Treason and other high Crimes and Offences against William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis now Prisoners in the Tower THat for many Years now last past there hath been contrived and carried on a Traiterous and Execrable Conspiracy and Plot within this Kingdom of England and other places to alter change or subvert the Antient Government and Laws of this Kingdom and Nation and to suppress the true Religion therein established and to Extirpate and destroy the Professors thereof which said Plot and Conspiracy was contrived and carried on in divers places and by several ways and means and by a great number of Persons of several Qualities and Degrees who acted therein and intended to execute and accomplish the aforesaid Wicked and Traiterous Designs and Purposes That the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis together with Philip Howard commonly called Cardinal of Norfolk Thomas White aliàs Whitebread commonly called Provincial of the Jesuits in England Richard Strange late Provincial of the Jesuits in England Vincent commonly called Provincial of the Dominicans in England James Corker commonly called President of the Benedictines Sir John Warner aliàs Clare Baronet William Harcourt John Keines Nicholas Blundel Pole Edward Mico Thomas Beddingfield Bazil Langworth Charles Peters Richard Peters John Conyers Sir George Wakeman John Fenwick Dominick Kelly Fitz Gerald Evers Sir Thomas Preston William Lovel Jesuits Lord Beltamore John Carrel John Townely Richard Langhorn William Foggarty Thomas Penny Matthew Medbourn Edward Coleman William Ireland John Grove Thomas Pickering John Smith and divers others Jesuits Priests and Fryars and other persons as false Traitors to his Majesty and this Kingdom within the time aforesaid have Traiterously consulted contrived and acted to and for the accomplishing of the said wicked pernicious and Traiterous Designs and for that end did most wickedly and Traiterously agree conspire and resolve to Imprison Depose and Murther his Sacred Majesty and to deprive him of his Royal State Crown and Dignity and by malicious and advised speaking writing and otherwise declared such their Purposes and Intentions and also to subject this Kingdom and Nation to the Pope and his Tyrannical Government And to seize and share amongst themselves the Estates and Inheritances of his Majesties Protestant Subjects and to Erect and Restore Abbies Monasteries and other Convents and Societies which have been long since by the Laws of this Kingdom supprest for their Superstition and Idolatry and to deliver up and restore to them the Lands and Possessions now Invested in his Majesty and his Subjects by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm And also to Found and Erect new Monasteries and Convents and to remove and deprive all Protestant Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Persons from their Offices Benefices Preferments and by this means to destroy his Majesties Person extirpate the Protestant Religion overthrow the Rights Liberties and Properties of his Majesties good Subjects Subvert the Lawful Government of this Kingdom and subject the same to the Tyranny of the See of Rome That the said Conspirators and their Complices and Confederates Traiterously had and held several Meetings
to all other Treasons Crimes and Offences contained mentioned or specified in the said Impeachment the said Lord protesting his Innocency In the great Wisdom and Sentence of this Honourable Court shall always Acquiesce So the Rest Mutatis Mutandis But these Pleas being Judg'd unsatisfactory and illegal they were afterwards forc'd to plead the general Issue And now there were daily expectations of their being brought to Tryal and Scaffolds erected in Westminster-Hall for that purpose but in the mean time the Earl of Danby late Lord Treasurer whom the Commons had likewise Impeach'd for Treason and who had for some time absconded himself did on the 15th of April unexspectedly surrender himself and insisted on his Pardon which the Commons Voted Illegal and thereupon prayed Judgment against him on the Impeachment About this matter and also upon the Question whether the Bishops had a right to sit upon the Lords when they should be brought to Tryal some misunderstandings happened between the two Houses for removing of which and settling a good Correspondence the House of Commons used several Endeavours as by the following Paper may appear THE Reasons and Narrative OF Proceedings BETWIXT THE Two Houses WHICH Were delivered by the House of COMMONS TO THE LORDS At the Conference touching the Lords in the Tower On Munday 26th of May 1679. THE Commons have always desired that a good Correspondence may be preserved between the two Houses There is now depending between your Lordships and the Commons a matter of the greatest weight In the Transactions of which your Lordships seem to apprehend some difficulty in the matters proposed by the Commons To clear this the Commons have desired this Conference and by it they hope to manifest to your Lordships that the Propositions of the House made by their Committee in relation to the Tryal of the Lords in the Tower have been only such as are well warranted by the Laws of the Parliament and Constitutions of the Government and in no sort intrench upon the Judicature of the Peers but are most necessary to be insisted upon that the Antient Rights of Judicature in Parliament may be maintained The Commons readily acknowledg that the Crimes charged upon the Earl of Powis Viscount Stafford Lord Petre Lord Arundel of Warder and Lord Bellasis are of deep Guilt and call for speedy Justice But withall they hold That any change in Judicature in Parliament made without consent in full Parliament to be of pernicious Consequence both to his Majesty and his Subjects and conceive themselves obliged to transmit to their Posterity all the Rights which of this kind they have received from their Ancestors by putting your Lordships in mind of the progress that hath already been between the two Houses in relation to the Propositions made by the Commons and the Reasonableness of the Propositions themselves They doubt not but to make it appear that their aim has been no other than to avoid such Consequences and preserve that Right and that there is no delay of Justice on their part And to that end do offer to your Lordships the ensuing Reasons and Narrative That the Commons in bringing the Earl of Danby to Justice and in discovery of that Execrable and Traiterous Conspiracy of which the Five Popish Lords now stand Impeached and for which some of their wicked Accomplices have already undergone the Sentence of the Law as Traytors and Murtherers have laboured under many great Difficulties is not unknown to your Lordships Nor is it less known to your Lordships That upon the Impeachment of the House of Commons against the Earl of Danby for High Treason and other High Crimes Misdemenours and Offences even the Common Justice of Sequestring him from Parliament and forthwith Committing him to safe Custody was then required by the Commons and denied by the House of Peers though he then Sate in their House Of which your Lordships have been so sensible that at a free Conference the Tenth of April last your Lordships declared That it was the Right of the Commons and well Warranted by Precedents of former Ages That upon an Impeachment of the Commons a Peer so Impeached ought of Right to be Ordered to with-draw and then to be committed And had not that Justice been denied to the Commons great part of this Session of Parliament which hath been spent in framing and adjusting a Bill for causing the Earl of Danby to appear and Answer that Justice from which he was fled had been saved and had been imployed for the Preservation of his Majesties Person and the security of the Nation and in Prosecution of the other Five Lords Neither had he had the Opportunity for procuring for himself that illegal Pardon which bears date the First of March last past and which he hath now pleaded in Bar of his Impeachment Nor of wasting so great a proportion of the Treasure of the Kingdom as he hath done since the Commons exhibited their Articles of Impeachment against him After which time thus lost by reason of the denyal of that Justice which of Right belonged to the Commons upon their Impeachment the said Bill being ready for the Royal Assent the said Earl then rendred himself and by your Lordships Order of the Sixteenth of April last was Committed to the Tower After which he pleads the said Pardon and being prest did at length declare He would relie upon and abide by that Plea which Pardon pleaded being illegal and void and so ought not to Bar or Preclude the Commons from having Justice upon the Impeachment They did thereupon with their Speaker on the Fifth of May instant in the name of themselves and all the Commons of England Demand Judgment against the said Earl upon their Impeachment Not doubting but that your Lordships did intend in all your Proceedings upon the Impeachment to follow the usual Course and Method of Parliament But the Commons were not a little surprized by the Message from your Lordships delivered them on the Seventh of May thereby acquainting them That as well the Lords Spiritual as Temporal had Ordered that the Tenth of May instant should be the day for hearing the Earl of Danby to make good his Plea of Pardon And that on the Thirteenth of May the other Five Lords Impeached should be brought to their Tryal And that your Lordships had Addressed to his Majesty for naming a Lord High Steward as well in the Case of the Earl of Danby as the other Five Lords Upon consideration of this Message the Commons found that the admitting the Lords Spiritual to exercise Jurisdiction in these Cases was an alteration of the Judicature in Parliament and which extended as well to the Proceeding against the other Five Lords as the Earl of Danby And if a Lord High-Steward should be necessary upon Tryal on Impeachments of the Commons the Power of Judicature in Parliament upon Impeachments might be Defeated by suspending or denying a Commission to constitute a Lord High-Steward And that the
would swear such things he should have enough to maintain him with his Footboy and sets forth the dictating of the said intended Depositions or Informations by Knox and that they are of the Examinants writing from his mouth and the dropping of the Guinny the taking of Lodgings for them c. The Copies of these Depositions justifying likewise Dr. Oates's sober pious Life and modest Christian Behaviour towards his Servants by giving them good Counsel c. See in the Narrative p. 15 sequentibus 4. This was in the beginning of May last and who would have imagined that after such a plain Discovery and full Confession on Oath of their former Villanies the same persons should have the face to attempt playing over again the same Game But what will not Popish Impudence suggest or desperate Varlets for Money undertake After these acknowledgments they continuing in Prison Mr. Dangerfield who was now come into the Service as you have heard is imployed by the Lady Powis the Lord Castlemain and the rest to keep them still in heart feed them with Money and endeavour to get them out and at last he procured Lane's Liberty and Nevil and his Friend Knox's Then Lane was harbour'd for a while at Powis-house by the name of Johnson and 10 s. per week allowed by that Countess for Diet and thither also Knox repaired to consult how to new-charge Dr. Oates and then the Papers before-mentioned were handed to the Lords in the Tower the Lord Castlemain and Nevil in the Kings-bench to be altered and corrected so as to make them most serviceable for their devilish purpose See Mr Dangerfields Narrative p. 12 13 and 14. 5. After much charge and pains in this kinde having as they imagined brought their Design to some perfection and seeing some of their Intrigues miscarry they resolv'd to push forwards This hoping it might at least slur and scandalize if not ruine the King's Evidence and therefore on the 19th of Novemb. last the said Lane is prevailed with notwithstanding all such his Confessions on Oath to prefer an Indictment against Dr. Oates for attempting to commit upon him the horrid and detestable sin of Sodomy but the Grand Jury by reason of the incoherence and slightness of his Evidence did not think fit to finde it but returned an Ignoramus 6. Hereupon the Dr. to vindicate his Credit and justly to punish such wicked Insolence brought an Indictment of Conspiracy and Misdemeanour against the said Lane and Knox for Osborne absconded and could not then be found which on the 25th of Novemb. 1679. came to be Tryed at the Kingsbench-Bar where upon a full hearing the several matters before-related being evidently proved against them and their Abettors to the entire satisfaction of all the numerous Audience divers Peers of the Realm and Persons of Quality being come thither on purpose to hear the same The Jury found the said Knox and Lane Guilty who immediately were secured but by reason it was so near the end of the Term Sentence according to the practice of that Court in such Cases was deferr'd till the next Term they in the mean time being kept in Custody And since the said Osborne hath been taken in the Countrey and being brought up and Examined hath voluntarily confessed all the before-mentioned Ill Practices and several other notorious Circumstances CHAP. XXIV Some necessary Reflections on several late Popish Libels as the Address to both Houses of Parliament The Cloak in its Colours The new Plot of the Papists to transform Traitors into Martyrs The Compendium of the Plot c. WE conceive we cannot sufficiently discharge this undertaking of giving a satisfactory account of this Popish Plot branched out into so many various sorts of villanies without taking some particular notice of several of their most effronted Pamphlets wherewith they endeavour'd to poyson the minds and dazle the eyes and divide the affections of his Majesties good Protestant Subjects This you have heard was one of their principal projects contrived by the Tower-cabal and Consults of their Priests which most industriously they pursued We shall not waste time in a tedious confutation of all the lies and slanders therein contain'd for that most of them have already particular Answers but shall offer some brief Remarques which may sufficiently antidote the people against their infection 1. Consider the Authors They are written either by desperate Bigots deeply and principally concern'd in the Plot or else by debauch'd mercenary villains kept in pension by the great ones for that purpose Thus Mr. Dangerfield proves the Compendium to be the work of the venomous Pen of the Lord C. The New-plot to be written by Dormer a supposed Priest several others by Nevil who haunting the Play-houses too much and thereby neglecting to scribble so fast as they would have him when he was at liberty some of their Lordships advised that he should be clapt up again and thereby be made more industrious in doing their drudgery Now what credit is there to be given to what such people shall write Can it be imagined that they will make any conscience of venting the most impudent Lies and Scandals who have already plung'd themselves into the most detestable Treasons and whose writings are no more but their own Neck-verses having no way to save their heads but by that ingenuity of their fingers 2. The main scope of all these Libels is to perswade the world that there neither is nor was any such thing as a Popish Plot. Now 't is left to all considerate men in forraign parts which they will chuse to believe the King and the two several Parliaments and all the Judges of the Land who upon notorious evidence of matter of fact have solemnly declared that there is such a damnable Hellish Popish Plot both against his Majesties Life and Government as well as against the Protestant Religion or these wretched Traitors who by fantastick flourishes impudent denials shameful falshoods and surmises would suggest there is none 3. The Mediums they proceed upon which are loading the Kings Evidence with opprobrious language and calumnies and in this Billingsgate-rhetorick the Author of the Compendium hath not his Peer yet have they not at any time been able to prove any of the Crimes with which they charge them but on the contrary their slanders have most fully and satisfactorily been refuted by the several answers and proofs that have been made in justification of the Witnesses integrity and innocency 4. The sly manner and subtle titles whereby they publish these mischievous Libels to insinuate as if they were written by loyal Protestants In many of them pretending a great veneration for the Church of England railing at Presbyterians and suggesting fears and jealousies of ill designs hatcht by them against the Government on purpose to amuse people and cause rancour and divisions amongst Protestants But blessed be God providence hath now laid that part of their villanous malice so bare and naked to the