a point of Fact Let us therefore resort to the Articles themselves In the 2 d Article it is alledged that he with the rest did most wickedly and traiterously agree conspire and resolve to Imprison Depose and Murther His Sacred Majesty and to deprive Him of his Regal State and Government And then the same Article alledges farther that they did contrive and consult to effect the Murther of the King by Shooting by Poisoning and by Stabbing All these particulars are expressed so that when my Lord said the Articles were therein defective all we can say is that he was misinform'd My Lords there was another Exception taken that this is the Impeachment of another Parliament I must not now repeat how this Point was agreed by both Houses at a Conference But it was then declared upon search of Precedents in all ages that it was the Law of Parliaments which is the Law of the Land that if once an Impeachment by the House of Commons were lodged in the House of Lords tho' that Parliament were dissolved the Impeachment remained in the same state It was the Cause of the Commons of England who only change their Representatives in a new Parliament It has been also objected that this Prosecution ought to have been upon an Indictment As if an Accusation of the House of Commons who are the grand Inquest of the Nation were not as effectual to bring Offenders to Justice as the finding of a particular Jury My Lords I should wonder to hear this Objection made were not my Lord to be easily excused for his knowing the Law no better None who know any thing in the Law would have urg'd such a thing His Counsel I dare say did not suggest this matter to him It is true my Lords when a Peer comes to be Tried by way of Commission or in Parliament when it is not at the prosecution of the Commons there an Indictment is first found in the proper County and brought up before the Peers by Certiorari and upon that they proceed But whether the Party be Peer or Commoner if he be Impeach'd for any Crimes surely no one can deny but that by the constant use of Parliaments the Lords have proceeded to Trial and have given Judgment thereupon without an Indictment found So that this Exception will be of no force at all As for the remaining Objection that there are not two Witnesses to prove any one Overt Act the Kings Person would be in no manner of safety if that Doctrine should be once allowed Conspiring to kill the King is the Treason laid in the Impeachment and the several Overt Acts are so many several Evidences of that Treason Words themselves if they signifie an intention to do an Act and express something to be done in futuro are a sufficient Overt Act a legal Evidence of Treason Then we prove by another Witness not words of encouragement only but offers of money and they are both to the same kind of Treason tho' not to the same Act and at the same time And if there must be 2 Witnesses to every single Act the King of England is not only in a far worse condition than any other Prince but than any one of his own Subjects Treasons may be committed every day with Impunity and unless the Traytors be as great Fools as Villains he shall never be safe from them nor capable of punishing them I must say it and I say it with commiseration to the Condition of this Noble Lord that his Exceptions in Law are as weak as the Answers he has given to our Evidence We hope no doubt in Law remains with you and that we have given your Lordships full satisfaction of the reality of the Plot and a convincing Evidence of the great share which my Lord Stafford had in it and we humbly pray your Lordships Justice Lord High Steward You do not take notice of one thing that my Lord Stafford said this morning That is that the Witnesses are not competent Witnesses because they swore for Money and that is fit to be spoken unto not for the Weight of the Objection so much as for the Satisfaction of the Auditory Sir Francis Winnington My Lords I had taken a Note of that but forgot to mention it If my Lord at the Bar will say they have taken Money to swear that is purely a Matter of Fact which he ought to prove and that which is said and not proved ought to go for nothing let him prove his Case to be so and then we will give him an Answer Lord High Stward My Lord Stafford if your Lordship can prove that they have had Money to swear your Lordship urges that which will be material but if it were only Money to maintain them that sure will amount to no Objection Lord Stafford My Lords I submit it to your Lordships whether Dr. Oats and the rest have not had great Sums of Money besides their Charges 10 l. a week a piece But I desire your Lordships to consider and I appeal to many of your Lordships whether it has not been said that it was a defect in Coleman's and Langhorn's Trials that they did not plead that and if they had pleaded it they must have been acquitted I will name no body but I appeal to your Lordships whether some of you have not said so But I desire your Lordships to admit me to plead by my Counsel if not I submit to you I confess here is a piece of Law that I never heard of before that the House of Commons and your Lordships at a Conference have adjudged it to be the Law of Parliaments that Impeachments shall continue from Parliament to Parliament If you will please to hear my Counsel for me so if not I submit Lord High Steward What would you or can you prove Lord Stafford My Lords Those things that I have given in to your Lordships I desire my Counsel may be heard to Lord High Steward Gentlemen what can you object why he should not have Counsel to argue his Objections in Law Sir William Jones My Lords I do think under favour if a Prisoner in a Capital Cause do desire Counsel he must not only alledge matter of Law to introduce that Desire but that which he doth alledge must be also a matter of some Doubt to the Court For if he do alledge matter which in it self is not Disputable he shall have no Counsel allowed him If your Lordships are not satisfied that it is the Law of your House that Proceedings upon Impeachments do continue from Parliament we cannot answer that it lies in your Lordships breasts it is not what we are to argue because it is a matter that concerns the Law and Rules of Parliaments Is there my Lords any doubt of any other Point that is urged Is there any doubt of this thing whether if one Witness speak to one point of Fact and another to another upon the same sort of Treason but that
Forreign Forces and to surprize seize and destroy His Majesties Navy Forts Magazines and places of strength within this Kingdom whereupon the Calamities of War Murders of Innocent Subjects Men Women and Children Burnings Rapines Devastations and other dreadful Miseries and Mischiefs must inevitably have ensued to the ruine and destruction of this Nation 5. And the said Conspirators have procured and accepted and delivered out several Instruments Commissions and Powers made and granted by or under the Pope or other Vnlawful and Vsurped Authority to raise and dispose of Men Moneys Arms and other things necessary for their wicked and traiterous Designs and namely a Commission for the said Henry Lord Arundel of Wardour to be Lord Chancellor of England another Commission 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 another Commission to the said William Lord Petre to be Lieutenant General of the same Army and a Power for the said William Viscount Stafford to be Paymaster of the Army 6. 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 their Complices 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 Confessions 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 Informations concerning the said Conspiracy and Plot the said Conspirators or some of them by Advice Assent Counsel and Instigation of the rest did incite and procure divers Persons to lie in wait and pursue the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey divers days with intent to Murder 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 Girald and others are fled for the same After which Murder and before the Body was found or the Murder known to any but the Complices therein the said Persons falsly gave out that he was alive and privately Married And after the Body found dispersed a false and malitious Report That he had Murdered himself Which said Murther was committed with design to stifle and suppress the Evidence he had taken and had knowledge of and discourage and deter Magistrates and Others from Acting in further Discovery of the said Conspiracy and Plot For which end also the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey while he was alive was by them their Complices and Favourers threatned and discouraged in his proceedings about the same 7. 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 the Protestants to great Scandal and subject them to Persecution and Oppression in all Kingdoms and Countries where the Romish 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 Viscount Stafford William Lord Petre Henry Lord Arundel of Wardour and John Lord Bellasis and other the Conspirators aforesaid against our Sovereign Lord the KING His Crown and Dignity and against the Laws and Sta tutes 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 all the Commons of England Impeach the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford William Lord Petre Henry Lord Arundel of Wardour and John Lord Bellasis and every of them And the said Commons by protestation saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusations or Impeachments against the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford William Lord Petre Henry Lord Arundel of Wardour and John Lord Bellasis and every of them And also of replying to the Answers which they and every of them shall 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 William Lord Petre Henry Lord Arundel of Wardour and John Lord Bellasis and every of them be put to Answer all and every the Premises And that such Proceedings Examinations Trials and Judgments may be upon them and every of them had and used as shall be agreeable to Lâ—v and Justice and Course of Parliament The Humble Answer of William Viscount of Stafford now Prisoner in His Majesties Tower of London to the Impeachment of High Treason and other high Crimes and Misdemeanors exhibited against him and others to the Right Honorable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament by the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament assembled in the name of themselves and of the Commons of England THe said Viscount saving to himself all advantage and benefit of Exceptions to the generality incertainty and insufficiency of the said Impeachment most humbly beseeching their Lordships thereof to take due notice and thereunto at all times to have a just regard He answereth and saith That he is not Guilty of all or any of the Offences charged against him by the said Impeachment and for his Tryal humbly and willingly putteth himself upon his Peers no ways doubting but that by the Grace of God and their Lordships impartial Justice he shall make his Innocence appear All which he most humbly submitteth unto their Lordships further Consideration Stafford Lord High Steward Gentlemen of the House of Commons be pleased to proceed Then Mr. Serjeant Maynard one of the Committee appointed to manage the Evidence began as followeth My Lords MAy it please your Lordships By the Command of the House of Commons who have imposed upon Us this Task we are here to Prosecute this great Charge against the Prisoner the Lord at the Bar. My Lords There are two Parts that are in this great Charge there is a General which is the Subversion of the whole Nation the King Himself to be Murdered the Protestant Religion to be Suppressed War to be introduced and those other things that are expressed in the Articles This General is charged in particular upon this Lord And my Lords it was in consideration how far it was fit to meddle with this General at this particular Tryal For if this Lord be guilty of such Crimes it will
THE TRYAL OF WILLIAM VISCOUNT STAFFORD FOR HIGH TREASON In Conspiring the Death of the KING The Extirpation of the PROTESTANT RELIGION The Subversion of the GOVERNMENT and Introduction of POPERY into this Realm Upon an IMPEACHMENT BY THE Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament assembled In the Name of Themselves and of All the COMMONS OF ENGLAND Begun in Westminster-Hall the 30. day of November 1680. and continued until the 7. of December following on which day Judgment of High Treason was given upon him With the Manner of his Execution the 29. of the same Month. Dublin Reprinted by Jos Ray at College-Green and are to be sold by S. Helsham Job North Jos Howes and the rest of the Booksellers of Dublin 1681. The TRYAL of William Viscount Stafford Begun in Westminster-Hall November 30. 1680. The First Day WIlliam Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Wardour William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis having been formerly impeached in the House of Lords of High Treason and other high Crimes and Offences by the House of Commons in the Name of Themselves and of all the Commons of England And the House of Commons having sent a Message to the Lords to acquaint them with the Resolution of that House to proceed to the Tryal of those Lords then in the Tower and forthwith to begin with the said Viscount Stafford and to desire their Lordships to appoint a convenient day for the Tryal of the said Viscount Stafford their Lordships did thereupon appoint the 30. day of November 1680. for his Trial And a place in Westminster-Hall having been for that purpose erected the same was as followeth viz. Therein were both Seats and Wool-packs correspondent in all points to those in the House of Lords as also a State placed at the upper end thereof with a Cabinet for the King and whom His Majesty should think fit to attend him there on the right hand the State and the like on the left hand for the Queen and her Followers As also Galleries over head for Ambassadors and others And to the end that the Commons might be fitted with Seats upon this great occasion there were erected for them on each side divers Benches on several degrees extending to the utmost Walls of the Hall At the lower end the Bar whereunto the Prisoners were to be brought being placed on the right hand thereof was a place raised about five Foot wherein the Witnesses were to stand and on the left hand a convenient Room for those particular Members of the House of Commons which were to manage the Evidence And the Right Honourable Heneage Lord Finch Baron of Daventry Lord High Chancellor of England being by His Majesties Special Letters Patent bearing date the 30. of November 1680. Constituted Lord High Steward for that present occasion upon Tuesday the said 30. of November the Lord High Steward was honorably attended from his House in Queen-street by all the Judges of His Majesties Courts in Westminster-Hall in their Robes as also by Garter Principal King of Arms in His Majesties Coat of Arms and the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod unto whom His Majesty had the day before delivered the White Wand to be carried before his Lordship and about nine of the clock in the morning set forwards in his Coach towards Westminster sitting at the hinder end thereof Garter and the Gentleman who bore the Great Seal sitting both uncovered at the other end one of the Setjeants at Arms with his Mace being placed on the right side the Coach and the Usher of the Black Rod carrying the VVhite VVand on the left side the Judges and his Lordships Gentlemen in several Coaches following after Being thus come to the Stairs-foot ascending to the House of Peers the Judges went up two and two together the Juniors first next the Lord High Steward's Gentlemen after them the Serjeant at Arms with his Mace and the Seal bearer and lastly the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod bearing the VVhite VVand Garter principal King of Arms going on his right hand Then his Lordship alone his Train born by one of his Gentlemen in this manner entring the House of Peers he found all the Lords in their Scarlet Robes also the Bishops in their Rochets and took his place upon the uppermost Woolsack This done and Prayers ended his Commission for Lord High Steward was read And then the Bishops receded and the Lords Adjourned themselves into the new erected a Court in VVestminster-Hall All things being thus in readiness and a large Door-place broken through the upper end of VVestminster-Hall into that Room which was heretofore the Court of VVards Their Lordships passed from their House first into the Painted Chamber then through that called the Court of Requests Thence turning on the left hand into that called the Court of VVards then entred at the Door so broke down as aforesaid into VVestminster Hall and passed through a long Gallery placed between the King's Bench and Chancery Courts into this New erected Court in VVestminster-Hall and proceeded after this manner viz. First the Assistants to the Clerk of the Parliament Then the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery and Clerk of the Parliament after them the Masters in Chancery two and two and the King's Attorney General alone Then the Judges of all Courts in VVestminster-Hall by two and two Next to them Noblemens Eldest Sons After them Four Serjeants at Arms bearing their Maces Next the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod. Then all the Noble Men according to their respective Degrees the Juniors first viz. Barons Viscounts Earls Great Officer viz. Lord Chamberlain of the Houshould Marquesses Dukes Great Officers Lord Privy Seal Great Officers Lord President of the Council Then Four more Serjeants at Arms bearing their Maces After them the Gentleman carrying the Great Seal Then one of His Majesties Gentlemen Ushers daily-waiters carrying the White Wand Garter Principal King of Arms going on his right Hand Then the Lord High Steward alone having his Train born and after him his Highness Rupert Duke of Cumberland a Prince of the Blood This done and the whole House of Peers having taken their Places according to their Degrees the Commons being also Seated on each side and the Managers in the Room appointed for them the Commons being all bare The Lord High Steward after obeysance made towards the State took his place upon the uppermost Wool-sack and thereupon receiving the VVhite VVand from Garter and the Gentleman Usher upon their Knees delivered it to the Usher of the Black Rod who held it during the time of Sitting there Having so done his Lordship said Cryer make Proclamation of Silence Then the Cryer a Serjeant at Arms made Proclamation thus All manner of Persons are straitly commanded to keep Silence upon pain of Imprisonment God save the King Lord High Steward Make Proclamation for the Lieutenant of the Tower to bring the Prisoner to the Bar. Cryer Oyes Oyes Oyes Lieutenant
we find it is no new thing look into all the Nations where the Pope hath any Power or a possibility of hope to gain a Power nothing hath been able to stand in their way but they have broken through all the Bonds of Nature and other Obligations to attain their Ends. Look into Spain King Philip there removed his own Son by what means the Story tells us he was Heir apparent but he was a Protestant and there also the Father puts Fire to his own Daughter because she was a Protestant there a Spaniard goes from Spain into Germany to murder and did murder his Brother for no other cause but because he was a Protestant Leave Spain and go into France what Massacres have been committed there under the colour of a Marriage in Queen Elizabeth's time and before that how many hundred Albingenses and Waldenses have been put to the Sword for Religion Come we to our own Country and look into England what hath been done here when Queen Elizabeth had a Successor of another Religion how many Attempts were there made upon her Person to bring that Successor in When King James came to the Crown let us remember the Gunpowder Treason wherein all the Nation was to be destroyed King Lords and Commons together and in Parliament assembled were then to be a Sacrifice a Burnt-offering though they might call it a Peace-offering for these Gentlemen are for Sacrifices of Blood as Peace-offerings to reconcile us to the Pope If this be made out we think their Principles having produced these fruits in other Ages we may believe they would do so now What has been said as History of former times is not offered as Evidence of Fact to the present Case but induces a probability that what hath been done by such persons may be done by them again But my Lords we shall make it clear and bring it home to this Lord that he hath had his Head his Tongue his Hand his Heart and his Purse in this damnable and horrible Contrivance and Treason for the destroying of the King the Government our Religion and our Nation We shall bring it home to him But my part is only to open the general Conspiracy And indeed my Lords it is an heavy burden on my aged Shoulders considering that the Winter of Infirmity and Age is growing so fast upon me My Lords the particulars concerning this Noble Lord because the Credit of it rests on the Testimony only of one man viz. Mr. Oats whose Testimony being taken by Sir Edmunbury Godfrey a Justice of Peace and kept in writing by him then Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was way-laid and murdered by men of the Popish Religion thereby to suppress the Examination that he had taken This startled and opened the eyes of the world to look about us for farther Discovery lest we should be led as Oxen to the slaughter not knowing whether we went Afterward it pleased God to bring some of their own Religion and party to make farther Discovery Whereupon several Jesuits Guilty of the Plot were therefore Prosecuted and brought to Judgment and Death After the Murder of Godfrey several Fables were spread abroad as if he were alive and Married as was declared to several Lords others of the party Reported he had Murdered himself but his Body being found it was hard for the party to invent or tell whether he first strangled himself and then run himself through or first run himself through and then strangled himself that was a Dilemma to disprove their Fables touching Godfrey's Murder It then fell out that Mr. Bedlow came as a second Discoverer whose Testimony Concurred with Oats And then there being two Witnesses as is necessary in case of Treason the Design was to take off Bedlow that there should remain but one a single Witness In order to which Reading tempts Bedlow with Rewards to lessen his former Testimony and qualifies that which he had deposed positively was but matter of hear say For which Reading the Instrument in that Design and Attempt was Indicted and Convicted by three Witnesses and suffered accordingly But then this Attempt upon Bedlow failing the next Attempt was to take off Oats his Testimony by charging him with an Infamous offence for which purpose one Knox is imployed who Suborns Lane and Osborn and they Swore it against Oats But on Re-examination Confess the Subornation and Falshood of their Design and Knox and Lane are therefore Indicted and found Guilty Thus when the Treason was discovered the Murder of an Officer of Justice is made the means to hide it and then False and Infamous stories set on Foot of that Officer to hide that Murder and Perjury and Subornation the means to blast the Discoverers These wicked and ill practices we take to be a second reproof of the Plot both in general and particular the Records of which Convictions are here before your Lordships ready to be proved For Cui bono none would do such wicked practices but to hide a greater Sin and worse Designs if possible will be opened and proved by one to whom that is particularly appointed My Lords we speak this that the World may receive Satisfaction we will let our Evidence be all open and publick in the face of the Sun and shew we go not about by private Subornations though there are endeavours to encounter us by such My Lords If we make out these things here is Matter enough for the Satisfaction of the World as to the general Contrivance But my Lords As you sit here as Judges of this Lord the Prisoner at the Bar we must bring it down to particular Persons and we shall do it even to him that those things which were mentioned in General were his Contrivance at least-wise as a man highly deeply guilty of Conspiring the Kings Death and in order to that of raising an Army and the other things that have been opened My Lords I beseech you to pardon me if I have troubled you too long The Particulars were many and I have had little help to prepare it from any body but my self but I submit my self to your Lordships and hope that what is wanting in me will be supplyed by others that follow and I also hope you will find no defect in our Evidence at all whatsoever may have been in the opening of it Then Sir Francis Winnigton another of the Committee appointed for the Management of the Evidence began as followeth My Lords I Shall begin where Mr. Serjeant Maynard ended and confine my self to this Case as it stands before you and to open the particular Evidence relating to the Lord the now Prisoner at the Bar. My Lords I look upon the Cause of this day to be the Cause of the Protestant Religion and I doubt not but that Plot which has alarm'd all Christendom will be so clearly made out in this Tryal that the most malicious of our Enemies will henceforth want Confidence to deny it That the Religion of the Papists
order to this Design Letters came also in June from St. Omers which gave them an account That Father Beddingfield had assured them of the Dukes willingness to comply with them for the advancement of the Catholick Religion My Lords after I had stay'd some time there and had passed through the Country for the business of the Society I found that in the Court of Spain some Ministers of that Court had been very ready to advance Money which Money was returned for England and that the Father Provincial of the Jesuits of Castile by his care and industry had advanced Ten Thousand Pound which was promised to be paid in June following within a Twelvemonth after My Lords in July I received Letters out of England wherein an account was given there to the Fathers in Spain That they were sending them a Mission of Twelve Students Four whereof were to go to Madrid and Eight to Validolid the Conductors of these Twelve Students were one Father Crosse that was his true Name and one Father Mumâ—ord whose true Name was Armstrong These Missioners arrived in December where they had a Sermon preached at their coming by this same Armstrong wherein the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy were declared to be Antichristian Heretical and Devillish in which the Kings Legitimacy was vilified and abused and that his Religion did intitle him to nothing but sudden death and destruction in that he appeared an enemy both to God and Man These were the Contents of that Sermon as near as I remember My Lords after the meeting with several Letters there in July August and September in the Kingdom of Spain it was ordered I should return for England and in the month of November I came for England at which time I had Letters from the Provincial of Castile called by the Name of Padre Hieronymo de Corduba who did in his Letter assure the Provincial in England and the Fathers here That the ten thousand Pound should be paid as I said hefore in June following When I came for England at London I was lodged at one Grigson's that lived in Drury-lane near the Sign of the Red-Lyon and there I lay till I went to St. Omers and by the Provincial and the Consultors of the Province I was ordered a maintenance and it was paid to this man for entertaining of me I went and brought these Letters to this Strange and there was Father Keins lying ill upon Strange's Bed and Keins was saying he was mighty sorry for honest William so they called the Russian that was to kill the King that he had missed in his Enterprize But my Lords this I think good to tell your Lordships they were not so zealous for the destruction of the King till the King had refused Coleman the dissolving of the long Parliament Then they were more intent upon it though they had several times attempted it ever since the Fire of London but when Coleman was refused the Dissolution of the Long Parliament then were they more zealous for the Destruction of the King but the Design for the introducing the Popish Religion they have been carrying on some years before the Fire by those instruments some of whom are yet alive My Lords I left England in November old stile and December new stile for when I came to St. Omers it was as near as I can remember the 9. or 10. of December according to the stile of the place I carryed with me a Packet of Letters from Strange the Provincial and other Fathers that were of the Consult for the Province of England to the Fathers at St. Omers wherein Strange did tell them that they had great hopes of their Design taking effect the next year but as yet it would not be effected he said therefore they at London thought it fit to suspend it till they saw what the Parliament would do And he did in the same Letter declare That the Parliament would be about a long Bill that had been brought into the Commons House some Sessions before but he did not Question but that the Catholick Party would evade that Bill And My Lords in that year some time after we had a Letter from our New Provincial whose true Name was Whitebread and his counterfeit Name White This Father writes to the Fathers at St. Omers and therein he does order one Conyers to preach upon St. Thomas of Canterburies Day and he did therein also tell them that he would be as zealous for the carrying on of the Design as his Predecessor had been and a Sermon was accordingly preached at the Sodality Church wherein after he had commended the Saint whose Day they celebrated for his great Vertues declaring how unworthily he was sacrificed he did inveigh against the Tyranny as he called it of temporal Princes and particularly of the King of England and when he came to speak of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy he declared that he looked upon them as Antichristian and Devillish and that it was fit to destroy all such as would countenance them We have done with the year 77. and we come now to January 1678. Lord High Stew. You speak of one Keins who lying upon Stranges Bed said he was sorry honest Will had missed his Enterprize You have not explained who that honest Will was explain that Dr. Oats It was Grove Lord High Steward But about what did he say he was sorry for him Dr. Oats That he had missed his Design Mr. Foley What was that missing of his Design Dr. Oats That he had not killed the King My Lords in January 78. Lord High Steward You mean according to the Foreign stile Dr. Oats Yes according to the Foreign stile My Lords we received Letters out of Ireland and there my Lords we found by the Contents of those Letters that they were as busie in Ireland as we were in England We found there that the Talbots and other persons were very zealous in raising of Forces and were resolved to let in the French King provided that the Parliament should urge the King to break with France My Lords likewise in January as near as I can remember Morgan was sent into Ireland as a Visitor which is something a better place than a Provincial but only it is but temporary for the time he visits and he returns in February or March and gives an account how ready the Irish were to vindicate their freedom and their Religion from the oppression of the English as they called it My Lords in February some were employed to go into some parts of Germany to Liege and to some parts of Flanders to see how the affairs there stood and how their Correspondencies stood to see whether there was not an interruption in the Correspondencies My Lords upon their return they found that the Fathers at Ghent were inclined to take into this business the secular Clergy but the Fathers of St. Omers together with the Provincial did refuse the motion because the secular Clergy were more
to give some Reasons to your Lordships why those Laws that were against them should be repealed as well Protestant Dissenters as those of the Church of Rome and why they should have some kind of Toleration among whom you did permit those of the Romish Religion to appear too I forget their Names And I remember particularly one of the forts of them an Anabaptist I think did urge for a Reason that which is a great truth that they held Rebellion to be the Sin of Whitchcrast I believe it is as bad as any Sin can be My Lords that came to nothing at that time but my Lords I believe that after that all of all Religions had Meetings among themselves to endeavour to get that Toleration which they proposed humbly to your Lordships there I will never deny my Lords that my Opinion was and is that this Kingdom can never be happy till an Act of Parliament pass to this Effect it was my Opinion then and I did endeavour it all I could that the Dissenting Protestants might have a Comprehension and the other a Toleration I acknowledge it to be my Intention and I think it was no ill one for if that be a true Copy of the Commons Votes which is in Print there is some such thing designing there as a Comprehension and I was of Opinion that it were sufficient that such as were of the Church of Rome might by Act of Parliament serve God in their own Houses and privately in their own Way not in publick and that for it they should pay something to the King out of their Estates but truly not much That they should be severely punished if they or any of them did endeavour to persuade any Subject to their Opinion or did come to Court or enjoy any Office whatsoever though it were but that of a Scavenger but that they should pay their proportion to all chargeable Offices That I profess my Lords was my Opinion and I confess to your Lordships 't is so still I was in some hopes that it would have been done in that Sessions because I was afraid it was unlikely to be done at any time else I confess to your Lordships I was heartily and cordially against the Test because it hindred those just and honest things that were for the Good of the Kingdom My Lords there was the first or or the second Day brought into your Lordships House the Record of Mr. Coleman's Tryal and for the Letters in it I do my Lords declare to your Lordships I never read of one of them before but I have read them since they have been in Print And when I read them first cursorily over my Opinion was and is That Coleman's endavouring by Money out of France and keeping off the Parliament to get a Toleration was that which he could not justifie by Law how fat it was Criminal that I do not know I am not so skilled in the Law I think it was not justifiable but he hath paid for it severely since My Lords I do declare that ever since I had the Honour to fit among your Lordships which is now 40 Years for in the Year 1640. I was by His Majesties favour called up a Peer I have valued my self upon the Honour of sitting with you and I do declare when I have sat in this House when your Lordships have desired the King when it was hot weather and unseasonable to put off the Sitting of the Parliament I was never glad of it but sorry when they were prorogued but for a short time This I profess is true and I hope I am no Criminal in it for I do value the Parliaments Sitting to be the only means to keep this Kingdom quiet My Lords 'T is very true by Coleman's Letters and what I have seen in print since I do believe there have been some Consultations for a Toleration and if I had known as much then as I have since I have been in the Tower I had perhaps prevented many things for my Lords I hold England to be a great and an happy Body but it is as other great Bodies are it may be now as you know before it was over-grown or sick it was then and I pray God it be not now but I hold nothing can cure it but that old English Physician the King your Lordships and the Commons in Parliament assembled But if I had known any such Design as Coleman's Letters do hint I would not have continued in England My Lords For that damnable Opinion of King-killing if I were of any Church whatsoever and found that to be its Principle I would leave it My Lords this is as true as I can speak any thing in the world I beg your Lordships pardon for troubling you with my impertinencies and hope you pardon it to my weakness My Lords I do profess before Almighty God and before your Lordships my Judges I know no one tittle nor point of the Plot and if I did I hold my self bound to declare it For the present I shall say little more unless the Managers give me occasion if they will reply and make any Objections I desire I may answer them I know the great disadvantages I am under when these Gentlemen who are great Scholars and Learned Men reply upon me who have those great helps of Memory Parts and Understanding in the Law all which I want And therefore I hope your Lordships will dot conclude me upon what they or I have said but will be pleased to debate the matter among your selves and be as well my Counsel as my Judges My Lords when I offer to your Lordships matter of Law I did in no wise admit the matter of Fact Lord High Steward My Lord I cannot hear you Lord Stafford My Lords if your Lordships please that Paper may be read Lord High Steward Deliver your Paper in my Lords cannot hear Lord Stafford I cannot â—eny to your Lordships that what happened to me on Saturday night disturbed me very much Every day since I came â—â—ther there hath been such shouting and houting by a Company of barbarous Rabble as never was heard the like I believe but it was at a distance most of the time and so it did not much concern me But Saturday night it was so near and so great that really it hath disturbed me ever since it was great to day but at a distance if it were not thus I should not offer a Paper to be read I scarce know what I do or say considering the Circumstances I am in Lord High Steward Take my Lords Paper and read it Sir Thomas Lee. My Lords I desire you will please to consider whether this may not introduce a new Custom by reading of this Paper As to what my Lord is pleased to say I am sorry for the occasion that any disturbance should arise to my Lord from the Rabble or any one else I hope his Lordship believes we cannot help nor do we contribute to that
A wicked beginning it was and it had a wicked end For since our Saviours Death and Murder by the Jews never was so execrable a Murder in the World and whoever had an hand in it without an extraordinary Repentance can have no thoughts of Salvation I never could serve the King 't is true but in my desires and I never disserted him in Thought Word or Deed to my knowledg in my life much less did I ever contrive or consent to his Death I do in the presence of God Angels your Lordships and all Men declare I do know no more of the Plot or any such thing than any one here does That those of the Romish Religion had meetings I believe to obtain those ends that I spake of before Coleman went too far how far he was Criminal in it I cann't tell Meetings I say there were but I was never at one of them nor do I know what was done there I do leave it to your Lordships to do Justice as I know you will and with all submission I resign my self up to you Lord High Steward Have you done my Lord Lord Stafford If your Lordships will not allow me Counsel to argue those Points I have done Lord High Steward What say you Gentlemen of the House of Commons Mr. Serjeant Maynard My Lords some thing that my Lord hath spoken hath been resolved against him that is about two Witnesses to each Overt-act some things are not to be disputed about the Law and Course of Parliaments some things were not to be said now because he had said them before My Lords we had concluded our Evidence and he is pleased to take up the time with repeating what was said before For the other matters that my Lord is pleased to discourse of all he says is but his Obligations and how unreasonable it were for him to do it the Question is whether he hath done it or no if he hath his Obligations are an Aggravation of his Crime not an Excuse His Relations his Family and other things are nothing before your Lordships now in point of Judgment nor is there any thing new said to day that was not said before Sir William Jones My Lords I should not add one word further were it not that this Noble Lord is pleased upon his Memory or rather without to say something of me and that was that speaking of the Continuance of Procâ—edings I should say if your Lordships had no President I hope you would make one My Lords I do appeal to your Lordships Memory whether I said any thing like it I utterly deny it nor was there any occasion for it For there was no need of urging Presidents when your Lordships upon a Conference with the Commons did declare it to be the Law of Proceedings in Parliament and did then fortifie iâ— with many Arguments I know my Lords Memory is not very good I 'm sure in this he is very much mâ—staken My Lord hath been pleased to complain he hath received much disturbance and that the Noise and Shouts have been so great that they have occasioned some lâ—straction in him My Lords I am sure his Lordship cannot mean us for I appeal to your Lordships and all that have heard this Tryal whether he hath received the least disturbance or interruption from us or whether we have not treated him with that respect that becomes his Dignity and the Discretion that ought to be in the Managers of the House of Commons But I must needs say that his Lordship hath received distraction from those Friends or Counsel of his that put those many Papers into his Hand for he hath read one after another that do contain the same matter over and over again These I confess were sufficient to distract him or any other that should make use of them His Lordship hath been pleased to go off from the matter of Law to the matter of Fact and backward and forward so that it is impossible to follow him And as to the matter of Fact we shall decline to follow him for though we have not given his Lordship any disturbance yet we submit to your Judgment whether it be Regular or according to the Course of Proceedings when his Lordship hath sum'd up his Evidence and we that are the Prosecutors have concluded ours he should begin that work again which if it should be admitted we were to reply and he might rejoin upon us and so there would be no end of Proceedings And my Lords I hope though this Lord hath had the favour to do it yet it shall not for the future be brought into Example for it will make Tryals endless My Lords for the matter of Law there is nothing that deserves an Answer for though the Law does admit the Prisoner Counsel in matters of Law yet it must be in things doubtful And if there be any thing of that in our Case I submit it to your Lordships I am sure I have heard nothing new but what hath been over-ruled already unless it be a matter of Law which rises upon a matter of Fact and that not proved to wit the Corruption of Witnesses The last day all was said by his Lordship he could say and all said by us that we thought fit to say and now to begin the same matter again I think ought not to be admitted We shall not follow his Lordship in that way of Proceedings and hope it shall never fall into Example Sir Francis Winnington My Lords I have only one word to say to your Lordships and that is in relation to the Proceedings of the Commons in this Cause for if the Cause had not been of an extraordinary nature we should have stood upon it that the Prisoner ought not after the Prosecutors had concluded to have taken a liberty of reading and repeating what we had said over and over again We know my Lords there are are a sort of men in the world who are willing to lay hold of any pretences to cavil at our Proceedings and therefore we have let my Lord take all this liberty that so his Party might have no colour of Complaint His Lordship was pleased to say the last day that he had not a Witness more to produce nor a Reason to give as I understood him and therefore he must own that we have been very tender to him in all our Proceedings One thing my Lord insinuates to day which I cannot forbear taking notice of as if we had delayed him which is without cause we had used all diligence in preparing our selves and were soon ready when the King was pleased to let the Parliament sit and therefore it can be no imputation on us and truly if my Lord considers the weight of the Evidence I fear he will think his Tryal comes soon enough now Lord Stafford My Lords I desire to be rightly understood in one thing and 't is only this I did not say the House of Commons shouted at me but the
his right name or addition is likewise a just Cause to arrest the Judgment There is likewise another Question how far it may be valued I know not I submit it as I do all to your Lordships Though I am tried upon the Act of 25 Edw. 3 d. yet there is nothing more in that Act than what is included in the Act of the 13 th of this King And I humbly conceive my Lords by that Act and the last Proviso in it a Peer that is accused and found Guilty of the Crimes therein mentioned is to lose his Seat in Parliament those are the words and since 't is so put down in the Act it is so to be understood and that is all the punishment And I humbly demand your Lordships Judgment upon these points whether it be so or no And humbly demand your Lordships Judgments upon these Points whether it be so or no Lord High Steward Has your Lordship any more to say Lord Stafford No my Lords I submit to your Lordships and desire your Judgment in these Points Then the Lords adjourned into the Parliament Chamber and the Committee of Commons returned to their own House and the Speaker having reassumed the Chair the whole Body of the House went with their Speaker to the Bar of the House of Lords to demand Judgment of High Treason against William Viscount Stafford upon the Impeachment of the Commons of England in Parliament in the name of the Commons in Parliament and of all the Commons of England The Commons with their Speaker went back to their House Then the Lords took into consideration what Judgment was to be given upon William Viscount Stafford and it was moved that he might be beheaded After some debate the Judges were asked whether if any other Judgment than the usual Judgment for High Treason were given upon him it would attaint his Blood The Judges were of opinion that the Judgment for High Treason appointed by Law is to be drawn hanged and quartered and in the Courts and Proceedings below they can take no notice of any Judgment for High Treason but that Then Sir Creswell Levinz the Kings Attorney-General desired to be heard on his Majesties behalf which the House gave leave for him to be who said he knew no other Judgment by Law for High Treason but Drawing Hanging and Quartering if any other Judgment were given it would be prejudicial to His Majesty and be a Question in the inferiour Courts as to his Attainder of High Treason Whereupon their Lordships ordered That the Lord High Steward do pronounce the ordinary Judgment of Death upon the Lord Viscount Stafford as the Law hath appointed in Cases of High Treason And a Message was sent to the House of Commons from their Lordships by Sir Timothy Baldwyn and Sir Samuel Clark Mr. Speaker We are commanded by the Lords to acquaint this House That their Lordships are going presently into Westminster-Hall to give Judgment against William Viscount Stafford Mr. Speaker left the Chair The Committee of Commons appointed for the Management of the Evidence against the Prisoner with the rest of the Commons went into Westminster-Hall to the Court there erected to be present when the Lords gave Judgment of High Treason against him upon the Impeachment of the Commons of England After a short time their Lordships were adjourned into Westminster-Hall coming in their former Order into the Court there erected where being seated and the Lord High Steward being on the Wool-sack attended by Garter principal King of Arms the Usher of the Black Rod Eight of the Serjeants at Arms kneeling with their Maces the Ninth Macer making proclamation for Silence which being done the Lord High Steward gave Judgment upon the Prisoner as followeth Lord High Steward My Lord Stafford THat which your Lordship hath said in Arrest of Judgment hath been found by my Lords upon due Consideration had of it to be of no moment at all It is no Essential part of any Trial That the Prisoner should hold up his Hand at the Bar there is no Record ever made of it when it is done the only use of it is to shew the Court who the Prisoner is when that is apparent the Court does often proceed against him though he refuse to hold up his Hand at the Bar therefore the omission of that Ceremony in this Case is no legal Exception as all the Judges have declared And as to the Proviso's in the Statute of the 13th year of this King their Lordships do find that they are in no sort applicable to this Case forasmuch as the Proceedings against your Lordship are not grounded upon that Statute but upon the Statute of the 25. E. 3. And yet if the Proceedings had been upon the latter Statute the Proviso's therein could have done your Lordship no service at all My part therefore which remains is a very sad one for I never yet gave Sentence of Death upon any man and am extremely sorry that I must begin with your Lordship Who would have thought that a person of your Quality of so Noble an Extraction of so considerable Estate and Fortune so eminent a Sufferer in the late ill Times so interested in the Preservation of the Government so much obliged to the Moderation of it and so personally obliged to the King and his Royal Father for their particular Favours to you should ever have entred into so Infernal a Conspiracy as to contrive the Murder of the King the Ruin of the State the Subversion of Religion and as much as in you lâ—y the Destruction of all the Souls and Bodies in three Christian Nations And yet the Impeachment of the House of Commons amounts to no less a Charge and of this Charge their Lordships have found you Guilty That there hath been a General and Desperate Conspiracy of the Papists and that the Death of the King hath been all along one chief part of the Conspirators Design is now apparent beyond all possibility of doubting What was the meaning of all those Treatises which were publisht about two years since against the Oath of Allegiance in a time when no man dreamt of such a Controversie What was the meaning of Father Conyers's Sermon upon the same Subject but only because there was a Demonstration of Zeal as they call it intended against the Person of the King which the scruples arising from that Oath did somewhat hinder To what purpose were all the Correspondencies with Foreign Nations The Collections of Money among the Fathers abroad and at home What was the meaning of their Governing themselves here by such Advices as came frequently from Paris and Saint Omers And how shall we expound that Letter which came from Ireland to assure the Fathers here that all things were in a readiness there too as soon as the Blow should be given Does any man now begin to doubt how London came to be Burnt Or by what ways and means poor Justice Godfrey fell And is it not
apparent by these Instances that such is the frantick Zeal of some Bigotted Papists that they resolve No means to advance the Catholick Cause shall be left unattempted though it be by Fire and Sword My Lord As the Plot in General is most manifest so your Lordships part in it hath been too too plain What you did at Paris and continued to do at Tixal in Staffordshire shews a settled purpose of mind against the King and what you said at London touching Honest Will shews you were acquainted with that Conspiracy against the Kings Life which was carrying on here too And in all this there was a great Degree of Malice for your Lordship at one time called the King Heretick and Traytor to God and at another time you revil'd him for misplacing his Bounty and rewarding none but Traytors and Rebels And thus you see that which the Wise man forewarn'd you of is come upon you Curse not the King no not in thy heart for the Birds of the Air shall reveal and that which hath wings will declare the matter Three things I shall presume to recommend to your Lordships consideration In the first place Your Lordship now sees how it hath pleased God to leave you so far to your self that you are fallen into the snare and into the pit into that very pit which you were digging for others Consider therefore that God Almighty never yet left any man who did not first leave him In the next place Think a little better of it than hitherto you have done what kind of Religion that is in which the Blind Guides have been able to lead you on into so much ruin and destruction as is now like to befall you In the last place I pray your Lordship to consider That true Repentance is never too late A devout penitential sorrow joyn'd with an humble and hearty Confession is of mighty power and efficacy both with God and man There have been some of late who have refus'd to give God the Glory of his Justice by acknowledging the Crimes for which they were condemned nay who have been taught to believe that 't is a mortal Sin to confess that Crime in publick for which they have been absolv'd in private and so have not dar'd to give God that Glory which otherwise they would have done God forbid your Lordship should rest upon Forms God forbid your Lordship should be found among the number of those poor mistaken souls whom the first thing that undeceives is Death it self Perhaps your Lordship may not much esteem the Prayers of those whom you have long been taught to miscal Hereticks But whether you do or no I am to assure your Lordship That all my Lords here even they that have condemned you will never cease to pray for you that the end of your life may be Christian and Pious how Tragical soever the means are that must bring you thither And now my Lord this is the last time that I can call you My Lord for the next words I am to speak will Attaint you The Judgment of the Law is and this Court doth Award That YOU go to the place from whence you came from thence you must be drawn upon a Hurdle to the place of Execution When you come there you must be hang'd by the Neck but not till you are dead for you must be cut down alive your Privy-Members must be cut off and your Bowels ript up before your Face and thrown into the Fire Then your Head must be severed from your Body and your Body divided into four Quarters and these must be at the disposal of the King And God Almighty be merciful to your Soul Prisoner My Lords I humbly beseech you give me leave to speak a few words I do give your Lordships hearty Thanks for all your Favours to me I do here in the presence of God Almighty declare I have no Malice in my Heart to them that have condemned me I know not who they are nor desire to know I forgive them all and beseech your Lordships all to pray for me My Lords I have one humble Request to make to your Lordships and that is my Lords That the little short time I have to live a Prisoner I may not be a close Prisoner as I have been of late but that Mr. Lieutenant may have an Order that my Wife and Children and Friends may come at me I do humbly beg this Favour of your Lordships which I hope you will be pleased to give me Lord High Steward My Lord Stafford I believe I may with my Lords leave tell you one thing further That my Lords as they proceed with Rigour of Justice so they proceed with all the Mercy and Compassion that may be And therefore my Lords will be humble Suitors to the King that He will remit all the Punishment but the taking off your Head Prisoner Weeping My Lords your Justice does not make me cry but your Goodness Then the Lord High Steward broke his Staff and the Lords adjourned into the Parliament Chamber and the Commons returned to their House and the Prisoner with the Ax born before him with the Edg towards him it being carried contrarily during his Trial was sent back to the Tower His Majesty afterwards ordered the Lord High Chancellor to issue out under the Great Seal of England the following Writs for Executing the said late Viscount Stafford the first being to the Lieutenant of the Tower to deliver him on the Twenty ninth of December 1680. between Nine and Eleven a Clock in the Forenoon at the usual place without the Tower-Gate to the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex and the other being for them then and there to receive him into their Custody and to lead him to the usual place upon Tower-Hill and there to cause his Head to be cut off and severed from his Body Which Writs were in Form following CAROLUS Secundus Dei gratia Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Rex fidei defensor c. Locumtenenti Turris nostrae London salutem Cum Willus Vicecomes Stafford per Communes Regni nostri Angliae in Parliamento assemblat ' de alta proditione necnon diversis aliis criminibus offensis per ipsum perpetrat ' commissis impetit ' fuit Ac superinde per Dominos Temporales in praesenti Parliamento nostro convent ' triat ' convict ' debita juris forma attinct ' fuit morti adjucat ' existit Cujus quidem Judicii executio adhuc restat facienda Cumque praedictus Vicecomes Stafford in Turri nostra London sub custodia tua detent ' existit Precipimus tibi per presentes firmiter injungendo mandamus quod in super vicesimum nonum diem instantis mensis Decembris inter horas nonam undecimam ante Meridiem ejusdem diei ipsum Vicecomitem Stafford usque locum usualem extra portam Turris predictae ducas ac ipsum Vicecomitibus Civitatis nostrae London Middlesex adtunc