should never be drawn into Example or Consequence That the Bishops here had done but what became them as Peers and Bishops in the most decent Manner And that unless this humble Petition so presented may be said to be a malicious and seditious Libel with an intent to stir up the People to Sedition the Jury ought not to find my Lords the Bishops guilty upon that Information Mr. Pollexfen next spoke insisting upon the Illegality of the King's Declaration as setting aside all the Law we have in England almost all being Penal Laws not only those before the Reformation but since especially in matters of Religion And therefore the King's Will not being consonant to Law and not obliging nothing can be done with a more Christian Mind than to inform him of it by way of Petition as the Bishops had done Then Mr. Serjeant Pemberton spoke Affirming that the Bishops had done no more than their Duty to God the King and the Church Denying the Dispensing Power as a thing that strikes at the very Foundation of all the Rights Liberties and Properties of the Kings Subjects whatsoever That the King 's Legal Prerogatives are as much for the Advantage of his Subjects as of himself That these Laws he would by his Declaration suspend are the great Bulwark of the Reformed Religion Intended to defend the Nation against false Religions Particularly the Romish Religion which is the very worst of all Religions a Religion no way tolerable nor to be endured here And yet if this Declaration should take effect all Religions would be let in and even that Religion would stand upon the same terms with the Protestant Religion and all the Care and Statutes that had been against it go for nothing That the Bishops have the Care of the Church by their very Function and Office and are bound to take care to keep out all those false Religions that are prohibited and designed to be kept out by Law and therefore could do no less than they did That our Law did allow the King no such Dispensing Power Instancing in that Check the Parliament had given to it in 1662. But here the Ld. Ch. Justice interrupted him as being what had been spoken to already Then Mr. Serjeant Levinz offered to shew that it has been taken all along as the ancient Law of England that such Dispensations ought to be by the King and Parliament and not by the King alone but he was stop'd enough having been offer'd already Therefore the Bishops Counsel proceeded to prove what had been said and to that end was produced and read in Court the Record of Richard the Second wherein the Parliament gave the King a Power to dispense with the Statute of Provisors which was a Penal Law concerning collating and presenting to Dignities and Benefices of the Church only till the next Parliament declaring withal that it was a Novelty and that it should not be drawn into Example Then the Journal of the House of Lords was produced and his Majesty's Speech to both Houses in 1662 read wherein is this Clause That if the Dissenters will demean themselves peaceably and modestly under the Government his Majesty said he could heartily wish that he had a Power of Indulgence to use upon occasion Whereupon there was a Bill in the House of Lords brought in to enable the King to dispense with several Laws which was read and committed but further than that it went not Which Bill was also read out of the Journal Then the Journal of the House of Commons was produced and a Vote read which passed Feb. 25. 1662. That no Indulgence be granted to the Dissenters from the Act of Vniformity With the Commons Address and Reasons for this Vote wherein was declared That the Act of Vniformity could not be dispensed with without an Act of Parliament The Journal of the House of Lords was again produced and the King's Speech to both Houses on Feb. 5. 1672 read wherein he mentions his Declaration for Indulgence The Journal then of the House of Commons was again produced and the Commons Petition and Address to the King Feb. 14. 1672 was read Wherein they thank him for his Speech And tell him They have considered his Declaration for Indulgence dated the 15th of March last And find themselves bound in Duty to inform his Majesty That Penal Laws in Matters Ecclesiastical cannot be suspended but by Act of Parliament And do therefore beseech him That the said Laws may have their free Course until it shall be otherwise provided for by Act of Parliament Then his Majesty's Answer to that Reply was read wherein he expresses his trouble that his Declaration has disquieted them That he does not pretend to the Right of suspending Laws wherein the Properties Rights or Liberties of any of his Subjects are concerned nor to alter any thing in the established Doctrine or Discipline of the Church of England But his only Design in this was to take off the Penalties and the Statutes inflicted upon Dissenters To which the Commons replied which was then read out of the same Journal That they found his Answer not sufficient to clear the Apprehensions that may justly remain in the Minds of his People by his Majesty's having claimed a Power to suspend Penal Statutes in Matters Ecclesiastical and which his Majesty does still seem to assert in his Answer to be intrusted in the Crown and never questioned in the Reigns of any of his Ancestors Wherein they humbly conceive him misinform'd Since no such Power ever was claimed or exercised by any of his Majesty's Predecessors And if it should be admitted might tend to the interrupting the free Course of the Laws and altering the Legislative Power which hath always been acknowledged to reside in his Majesty and his two Houses of Parliament With an unanimous Consent they therefore again besought him That he would be pleased to give them a full and satisfactory Answer to their Petition and Address and take such effectual Order that the Proceedings in this Matter might not for the future be drawn into Consequence or Example Then the Lords Journal was turned to wherein it waâ— read how that the King communicated this Address to the Lords and desired their Advice And that on March the 8th 1672 He made a Speech to both Houses wherein he tells them That if there was any Scruple remaining in them concerning the Suspension of Penal Laws he here faithfully promised them That what had been done in that Particular should not for the future be drawn either into Consequence or Example After which the Lord Chancellor imparted to them That his Majesty found some dissatisfaction remaining concerning the Officers to be employed abroad but if that bred any Umbrage the King commanded him to let them know That he resolves to give both his Houses full Satisfaction to their Desires And that his Majesty had last Night in pursuance of what he then intended and declared this Morning concerning the Suspension of
Plot being then present how that on December 23 1678. he meeting Mr. Dugdale at Stafford upon business he perswaded him to discover and got him examin'd that day and afterwards more fully the next day After him one Mr. Thomas Mort who had been Page to the Lord Powis deposed that he saw Turbervile at Paris and knew he convers'd with the Lord Stafford whom he knew not and came with him to Diep to go over with him and my Lord for whom they waited a fortnight much to their Inconveniency and therefore he or some of the Company said Cursed is he that relies on a broken Staff alluding to the Lord Stafford's Name That Turbervile then told him if he went to Calice he might go over with my Lord but how he came to know that he knew not but he got another opportunity and so came over Then Mr. Powel a Gentleman of Greys-Inn deposed that he heard him mention his knowledg about the Plot about a Year ago but that he did not think fit then to reveal it for fear of his Brother's Anger and because some of the Witnesses had been discouraged and he was afraid he should be so too Then Mr. Arnold one of the Members of the House of Commons deposed that he knew Mr. Turbervile to be a very civil honest Gentleman and that the reason he discover'd no sooner was he told him because the Witnesses that were come in were in danger of their Lives and were discouraged and as long as the D. of York had so great a Power in the Council and the Lady Powis's Brother in those Parts he lived which his Lordship usually calls his Province he durst not for his Life Then Mr. Hobby being sworn gave a very good Character also of Mr. Turbervile whom he had known four Years Mr. Matthews a Divine being sworn gave him likewise a good Character and that he had often discoursed with him and found him inclinable to come off from the Roman Religion and that he had known him four Years Mr. William Seys being sworn said he never heard nor knew any ill by Mr. Turbervile whom he had known two Years Captain Scudamore deposed much the same as to Mr. Turbervile's Credit Then whereas the Lord Stafford had brought his Servants to prove he had not been lame of so long a time the Lords Stamford and Lovelace deposed that they had observed him lame within less than seven Years which his Lordship excused saying it was only his Wearines And here the Managers resolving to call no more Witnesses urged the Prisoner to sum up his Defence that the Process might be closed But he called Mr. Whitby again asking him if he had not once complained of Dugdale to the Lord Aston telling him he was a Knave Mr. Whitby confessed he told the Lord Aston that Dugdale was a Dishonour to his Family in not paying People their Mony when they came for it But he was told afterwards it signified nothing for that the present Ld. Aston would hear nothing against him Then the Ld. Stafford gave into the Court Wright's Letter who being called owned his hand saying That was one which he was hired to write which intimated as if Dugdale had suborned him to swear false c. Then the Prisoner being urged to conclude he protested his Unreadiness and Weakness whereupon the Court broke up and the Lords sent a Message to the Commons that to morrow morning at 10 they had ordered the Prisoner again to the Bar. The fifth Day SAturday December the 4th 1680. About 10 the Court being sat and the Prisoner call'd upon to sum up his Defence he prayed leave to call a few Witnesses more which after some Debate and his Lordships Weeping was admitted And then the Lord Ferrers was called upon to speak his Knowledg of Southall who said he could only speak by hear-say that he had been an active Man in the late times against the King and is counted a pernicious Man against the Government The Lieutenant of the Tower also was called and testify'd that Dugdale coming to make up his Accounts the Lord Aston desired the Lieutenant to be present who said he did not understand Accounts but would get one that did whereupon Dugdale said he would come another time but never did that he saw or heard of The Prisoner began to sum up his Defence and ended with proposing these five Points of Law 1st That there is no precedent for criminal Proceedings to be continued from Parliament to Parliament as this had been to three 2ly Whether in capital Cases they can proceed upon Impeachment and by Indictment first found by the Grand Jury 3ly There is a defect in the Impeachment there being no overt Act alledged 4ly The Witnesses by Law are not competent because they swear for Mony And not having proved him a Papist whether he can be concern'd as to the Plot in general 5ly That there ought to be two Witnesses to every point Thus concluding the Managers vindicated Mr. Southall's Credit sufficiently by the Depositions of the Lord Brook and Mr. William Leveson-Gower who knew him very well to be an honest able good Man and of the Church of England and an eager Prosecutor of Papists Then Sir William Jones one of the Managers summ'd up the Evidence very largely and Mr. Powle another of them proceeded and Serjeant Maynard answered his matters in Law shewing to the third several Overt Acts as receiving a Commission being at Consults and hiring Persons to kill the King To the 2d That an Impeachment of the House of Commons is more than an Indictment To the 1st That what is once upon Record in Parliament may at any time be proceeded upon And then Sir William Jones spoke again And to the 5th said there needed but one Witness to one Act and another to another where the several Acts as here fall under the same head of Treason And to the 4th that he had not proved and however that what Mony the Witnesses had was for their Maintenance only Sir Francis Winnington spoke also to the same heads And then the Prisoner urged that his Counsel might be heard as to those Points who were Mr. VVallop Mr. Saunders and Mr. Hunt and the first proposed to be handled being the last Mr. VVallop excused himself from speaking to it because it lately had been determin'd in the inferiour Courts Then the Lords adjourned into the Parliament Chamber to consider the Points the Commons staying and returning after about an hour the Lord High Steward declared that it was the Lords Will that all the Judges present should give their Opinions whether the 5th Point was doubtful and disputable or no. Then all the Judges consulted privately together and afterward gave their Opinions in the Negative Seriatim first the Ld. Ch. Justice North the Ld. Ch. Baron Montague Mr. Justice VVyndham Mr. Just Jones Mr. Just Dolben Mr. Just Raymond Mr. Baron Atkins Mr. Baron Gregory Mr. Baron VVeston and Mr. Just Charlton After
which the Court adjourned and the Lords sent a Message to the Commons that they had ordered the Prisoner to the Bar again on Monday morning at 10 a Clock The sixth Day MOnday December 6. 1680. about 11 the Court being sat and the Prisoner at the Bar his Petition was read which was for leave to offer a few things more to clear himself and which the Ld. H. Steward told him the Lords had granted He then said that seeing he had received their Order that his Counsel should not be heard touching the continuance of Impeachments from Parliament to Parliament he desired that he might offer them his own Conceptions concerning that urging that they had not yet declared their own Judgments either as to that or whether they did acquiesce in the Judges Opinions praying that his Counsel might be heard as to the other points protesting his own Innocency and Abhorrency of Treason reading then his Case and repeating his Defence c. After which the Lords adjourned into the Parliament Chamber and the Commons returned to their House and received a Message from the Lords that they had ordered the Prisoner to the Bar to receive Judgment to morrow at 10. The seventh Day TUesday December 7 1680. About 11 the Court being sat the Ld. H. Steward took the Votes of the Peers upon the Evidence beginning at the Puisne Baron and so upwards in order the Lord Stafford being as the Law required absent The Ld. H. Steward began then saying My Lord Butler of VVeston Is VVilliam Lord Viscount Stafford Guilty of the Treason whereof he stands impeached or not Guilty Lord Butler Not Guilty upon my Honour The same Question was put to the rest whose Names and Votes follow Ld. Arundel of Trerice Not Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Crewe Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Cornwallis Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Holles Not Guilty upon my Honour Ld. VVootton Not Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Rockingham Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Lucas Not Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Astley Guilty upon my Honour Ld. VVard Not Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Byron Not Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Hatton Not Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Leigh Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Herbert of Cherbury Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Howard of Escrick Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Maynard Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Lovelace Guilty upon my Honour Ld. Deincourt Not guilty upon my Honour Ld. Grey of Wark Guilty upon my honour Ld. Brook Guilty upon my honour Ld. Norreys Not guilty upon my honour Ld. Chandos Guilty upon my honour Ld. North and Grey Guilty upon my honour Ld. Paget Guilty upon my honour Ld. Wharton Guilty upon my honour Ld. Eure Guilty upon my honour Ld. Cromwel Guilty upon my honour Ld. VVindsor Not guilty upon my honour Ld. Conyers Guilty upon my honour Ld. Ferrers Not guilty upon my honour Ld. Morley Not guilty upon my honour Ld. Mowbray Not guilty upon my honour Ld. Viscount Newport Guilty upon my honour Ld. Visc Faulconberg Guilty upon my honour Earl of Conway Guilty upon my honour E. of Berkley Not guilty upon my honour E. of Maclesfield Guilty upon my honour E. of Hallifax Not guilty upon my honour E. of Feversham Not guilty upon my honour E. of Sussex Guilty upon my honour E. of Guilford Guilty upon my honour E. of Shaftesbury Guilty upon my honour E. of Burlington Guilty upon my honour E. of Ailesbury Not guilty upon my honour E. of Craven Not guilty upon my honour E. of Carlisle Guilty upon my honour E. of Bath Not guilty upon my honour E. of Essex Guilty upon my honour E. of Clarendon Not guilty upon my honour E. of St. Albans Not guilty upon my honour E. of Scarsdale Guilty upon my honour E. of Sunderland Guilty upon my honour E. of Thanet Not guilty upon my honour E. of Chesterfield Not guilty upon my honour E. of Carnarvan Not guilty upon my honour E. of Winchelsea Guilty upon my honour E. of Stamford Guilty upon my honour E. of Peterborough Not guilty upon my honour E. of Rivers Guilty upon my honour E. of Mulgrave Guilty upon my honour E. of Barkshire Guilty upon my honour E. of Manchester Guilty upon my honour E. of Westmoreland Guilty upon my honour E. of Clare Guilty upon my honour Earl of Bristol Guilty upon my honour E. of Denbeigh Not guilty upon my honour E. of Northampton Guilty upon my honour E. of Leicester Guilty upon my honour E. of Bridgwater Guilty upon my honour E. of Salisbury Guilty upon my honour E. of Suffolk Guilty upon my honour E. of Bedford Guilty upon my honour E. of Huntington Guilty upon my honour E. of Rutland Not guilty upon my honour E. of Kent Guilty upon my honour E. of Oxford Guilty upon my honour Ld. Chamberlain Not guilty upon my honour Marquess of Worcester Not guilty upon my honour D. of Newcastle Not guilty upon my honour D. of Monmouth Guilty upon my honour D. of Albemarle Guilty upon my honour D. of Buckingham Guilty upon my honour Ld. Privy-Seal Guilty upon my honour Ld. President Guilty upon my honour Ld. H. Steward Guilty upon my Honour Prince Rupert Duke of Cumberland Guilty upon my Honour The Ld. H. Steward then declared that upon telling the Votes he found there were 31 that think the Prisoner Not Guilty and 55 that have found him Guilty Whereupon the Prisoner was brought to the Bar and the Ld. High Steward informing him the Lords had found him Guilty He said God's Holy Name be praised for it confessing it surpriz'd him for he did not expect it and that he had only this to say for suspending of Judgment That he did not hold up his Hand at the Bar which he conceived he ought to have done and that though he was tried upon the Act of 25. Edw. 3. yet there being nothing more in that Act than what is included in the Act of the 13th of this King he ought only to lose his Seat in Parliament which was the Punishment there put down for a Peer submitting to their Lordships and desiring their Judgments 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 re-assumed 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 Then the Commons with their Speaker went back to their House Then the Lords took into Consideration what Judgment was to be given 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 put apart and examined one by one which was granted And then William Blathwayt Esq appeared and delivered in a Paper deposing that it was put into his Custody by Mr. Gwyn Clerk of the Council who seiz'd it among others in my Lord Shaftsbury's House and brought them to the Council-Office put them into one of the Rooms look'd the Door and deliver'd the Key to him And being ordered by the Committee of Examinations he fetch'd up the Trunks and Papers into the Council-Chamber and this Paper he took out of a Velvet Bag which was in the great Trunk that was sealed and then opened on July 6. in the presence of Mr. Samuel Wilson and Mr. Starkey who were both appointed by the Lord of Shaftsbury Then Mr. Gwyn being called deposed That on July 2. by a Warrant from the Secretary he searched the Lord Shaftsbury's House for Papers where was a great Hair-Trunk in which were several sorts of them and a Velvet Bag into which he put some loose Papers and sealed up the Trunk and being sent another way he deliver'd it to Mr. Blathwayt That all the Papers that were in the Velvet Bag he had in my Lord's Closet and that nothing was in that Bag but what he had there when he delivered it to Mr. Blathwayt Then Mr. Secretary Jenkins deposed That that was the Paper that Mr. Blathwayt delivered into his Hands in the Council-Chamber with nine more which he had kept under Lock and Key ever since till Monday last when he took them out and being numbred sent them sealed to Mr. Graham who brought them back to him again without any alteration whatsoever The Paper then was read which was to this effect That We the Knights c. finding to the grief of our Hearts the Papists Contrivances against the Protestant Religion the Life of the King and Laws and Liberties of the Nation to set up Arbitrary Power and Slavery And it being notorious that they have received Encouragement and Protection from James D. of York and from their Expectations of his succeeding to the Crown c. And that by his Influences Mercenary Forces have been levied Parliaments unreasonably Prorogued and Dissolved and the Army and Ammunition put into the hands of his Party and the Reputation and Treasure of the Kingdom hereby wasted That therefore they endeavoured to Exclude him from the Succession to the Crown and that failing they have now thought fit to propose to all true Protestants an Union amongst themselves by solemn and sacred Promise of mutual Defence and Assistance in the Preservation of the Protestant Religion the King's Person and State and our Laws Liberties and Properties in a Declaration in the Form ensuing Which was to this effect First The Person swears to maintain the Protestant Religion against Popery Secondly The King's Person and State as also the Power and Priviledges of Parliaments Rights and Liberties of Subjects c. Thirdly That J. D. of Y. having profess'd himself a Papist and given Life to the Plot that therefore he would oppose his or any other Papist's coming to the Crown by all lawful Means and by force of Arms if need so require c. To this end they mutually obliged one another to pursue unto destruction all that oppose the Ends of this Association and to defend all that enter into it And do engage that they will obey such Orders as they shall from time to time receive from this present Parliament whilst it shall be sitting or the major part of the Members of both Houses subscribing this Association when it shall be Prorogued or Dissolved and obey such Officers as shall by them be set over them in their several Counties c. until the next meeting of Parliament c. And that they would stick to this Association during Life c. In witness whereof c. Never a Hand was to this Paper Which being read and briefly descanted upon by the Counsel for the King John Booth was then called forth who deposed That about the middle of January last be was introduced into the Lord Shaftsbury's Acquaintance by Captain Henry Wilkinson a Yorkshire Gentleman an old Royalist and an old Acquaintance of his about some Concern relating to Carolina After which he went frequently to my Lord's House and between Christmas and March four or five times Where he hath heard him sharply inveigh against the Times and thought himself undervalued and feared that Popery would be introduced And that the Oxford Parliament that was then shortly to meet would give the King no Mony unless he would satisfy them in what they would insist upon which he said would be the Bill of the Exclusion and the abolishing the Statute of the 35th of Eliz. and passing a New Bill to free the Dissenters from the Penalties of the Laws which if refused would make a Breach between the King and Parliament whose meeting at Oxford was designed only to over-awe them And therefore that himself and divers Noble Lords and Members of the Commons had considered their own Safety and that he had establish'd a matter of fifty Men Persons of Quality that he believed would have Men along with them and he intrusted Capt. Wilkinson with the Command of these Men who were to come to Oxford at such a time and if there were any Breach or Disturbance they were to be ready to assist him and those other Persons in his Confederacy to purge the Guards of all Papists and Tories and purge from the King those evil Counsellors which were about him naming the Earl of Worcester the Lord Clarendon the Lord Hallifax Lord Feversham and Mr. Hide now Lord Viscount Hide whom he look'd upon as dangerous Persons and then to bring the King away to London where those things should be established which they designed for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and keeping out of Arbitrary Power and Government Upon which Capt. Wilkinson desired him to be one under his Command and to provide Horse and Arms to which he consented and did so expecting to be sent for after the Parliament was sat they insisting upon the things the Lord Shaftsbury had predicted but the unexpected News of their Dissolution prevented it Then being ask'd when he first discovered this he answered about six Weeks ago and related the occasion and manner of his doing so Next Mr. Edward Turbervile deposed That in February last he waiting upon the Lord Shaftsbury about his getting some Mony and requesting his Letter to the President of the Council to stand his Friend my Lord said There was little good to be had from the King as long as his Guards were about him were it not for whom they would quickly go down to White-Hall and obtain what terms they thought fit And that the Rabble were all of that Side especially the People about Wapping and Aldersgate-Street That the Rich Men of the City would Vote for Elections but they could not expect they should stand by them in case there
Indorsment upon several Bills of Exchange Mr. Cary swore it to be like what came to him for his Hand-writing though he had never seen him write but once but had seen his Indorsment on Bills Mr. Cooke swore he had never seen him write but it was like his Indorsment on Bills which he hath paid and was never called to an account for Mispayment Then Mr. Attorney General directed the Clerk what part of the Libel he should read which accordingly he did and among the rest these particular Passages which were laid in his Indictment viz. The Power originally in the People of England is delegated unto the Parliament He meaning the King is subject unto the Law of God as a Man to the People that makes him King in as much as he is a King The Law sets a measure to that Subjection and the Parliament judges of the particular cases thereupon arising He must be content to submit his Interest unto theirs since he is no more than any one of them in any other respect than that he is by the common Consent of all raised above any other If he doth not like this condition he must renounce the Crown but if he receive it upon that condition as all Magistrates do the Power they receive and swear to perform it he must expect that the Performance will be exacted or revenge taken by those that he hath betrayed And elsewhere was read these Sentence viz. We may therefore change or take away Kings without breaking any Yoke or that is made a Yoke which ought not to be one the Injury therefore is in making or imposing and there can be none in breaking it Also that the general Revolt of a Nation from its own Magistrates could not be call'd a Rebellion And that the Power of calling and dissolving Parliaments is not in the King Much more was read on the same Argument and then the Sheets were shewn to the Prisoner who said he knew not what to make of it and let him give an account of it that did it After which the Record of the Conviction of the Ld. Russel was read the King's Counsel here ending their Evidence The Prisoner then beginning his Defence desired to know upon what Statute he was indicted and being informed it was upon the Statute of 25 of Edw. 3. upon the first Branch for conspiring the Death of the King he argued that the finding of such a Pager in his House could not therefore concern him For though Sir Philip Lloyd did ask him to put his Seal to it yet not till he had been in his Closet and he knew not what he had put into the Bag and therefore he refused to seal it And for his Hand it was easy to be counterfeited And for the Witnesses that he never spake with the D. of Monmouth above three times in his Life and that therefore the Ld. Howard's Testimony was very improbable That however there was only he that witnessed against him whereas there ought to be two to the same thing That the Ld. Howard had said at the Ld. Russel's Trial that he said all he could but that now he had said many things he did not then mention particularly what concerned Mr. Hambden that he was under the Terror of Punishment for Treason whereof he had accused himself and had said that he could not get his Pardon until he had done some other Jobs and till he was past this Drudgery of Swearing besides that he owed him a considerable Sum of Mony and had protested the Prisoner's Innocence That the Paper seemed to be written long since and in answer to Sir Robert Filmers Books c. Urging that conspiring to levy War is no Treason and desired Counsel upon it but the Court would not hearken He urged also that no Man ought to be answerable for what he writes in his own Closet unless he publish it After which he called the E. of Anglesy who declared that being in company with the E. of Bedford when the Ld. Howard came to give him a visit and to comfort him in his Affliction for his Sons being taken he told him he was not to be troubled for that he had a discreet a wise and a vertuous Son and that he could not be in any such Plot and his Lordship might therefore well believe his Son secure for he believ'd he was neither guilty nor so much as to be suspected He proceeded further and said he knew of no such barbarous design and could not charge the Ld. Russel with it nor any body else The E. of Clare declared that the Ld. Howard about a Week before he was taken did say speaking of the Times that if ever he was question'd again he would never plead because he was sure they would have his Life though never so innocent saying he thought the Persecution was begun which Bp. Vsher had prophesied of but he hoped it would be short And for Col. Sidney he did with great Asseverations assert that he was as innocent as any Man breathing speaking much in his praise and bemoaning his misfortune which he thought real because never Man was ingaged more to another than he was to Col. Sidney And speaking of Papers he said he was sure they could make nothing of any Papers of his Then Mr. Philip Howard declared that when the Plot first broke out he met the Ld. Howard at his Brothers house and telling him of it and naming the Persons to him who had confess'd it he said he knew none of them and it amazed him thinking such a thing not possible That advising him then to procure an Address from the discontented Lords to shew their Detestation of the thing as a means to reconcile all things he promis'd him to go about it desiring him to stay till he came back but that he never came back while he was there The next day he found him again at his Brother's house and telling him of the Ld. Russel's being taken he said VVe are then all undone desiring him to go to the Ld. Privy Seal to see whether he was to be taken up for that he doubted it was a Sham-Plot for if it were a true Plot he should fear nothing but being a Plot made upon them no Man was free That he met him a third day at the same Place and found him very melancholy because as he said Col. Sidney was taken he having that particular Obligation from the Colonel that no one Man had from another Then Dr. Burnet declared that the Ld. Howard came to him the day after the Plot broke out and with Hands and Eyes lifted up to Heaven he protested he knew nothing of any Plot and believed nothing of it and said that he looked upon it was a ridiculous thing Joseph Ducas a French Man declared that the Ld. Howard came the day after Col. Sidney was took to the Prisoner's house advising the carrying all the things out of his house where they might be safe And another
Army joyn together but to go back and engage those that were already come together which was the reason they did not go over the Bridge Mr. Richard Goodenough deposed that he was beyond Sea with the Duke of Monmouth and that Jones was sent among other Persons to the Lord Delamere to give him notice to be ready and take care he was not seized in Town and that he heard the Duke say that he hoped my Lord Delamere would not break his Promise with him Jones deposed that he went into Holland the latter end of April last and by him Mr. Disney sent a Message to the Duke of Monmouth to desire him to keep to the last Conclusion which he would find in a Letter sent to him by the Crop-hair'd Merchant which Message was that his Friends in England would not by any means have him come for England but that he should continue where he was or if he thought good to go for Scotland they approved of it This Message he deliver'd to the Duke at Amsterdam which put him into a great Passion saying this was Wildman's work who was a Villain and that it was too late to send a Message now for he was resolved for England and Wildman should hang with him or fight for it with him and that he should not think to tye up his Hands by tying up his own Purse Sending another Message by him when he returned for England which was May 22d to Capt. Matthews or major Wildman to desire them to acquaint the Earl of Macclesfield the Lord Brandon and Lord Delamere with his Design of coming for England and that they should repair to their Posts to be ready for him delivering to him a Writing sealed up which he was not to open till he came to Sea which when he opened he found it contained a Signification of the Place wherein was to land and where he was to rendezvous which was Taunton and who were the Persons that were to have notice of it among whose Names was the Lord Delamere's That when he came to London which was May 27th he could meet with neither Capt. Matthews nor Major Wildman who were out of Town and therefore he acquainted Mr. Disney with his errand who promised to take care that it should be delivered Story who was Commissary General under the Duke of Monmouth deposed that on May 28th one Brand told him that the day before Jones was returned out of Holland with a Message to Capt. Matthews but he being absent Disney received it and discoursed that Evening with the Lord Delamere and that my Lord went out of Town that Night with 2 Friends that convey'd him by a By-way through Enfield Chase towards Hatfield That this Brand was kill'd at Keinsham Bridg. That at Shepton Mallot he heard the Duke of Monmouth say that his great Dependance was upon the Lord Delamere and his Friends in Cheshire but he fear'd they had failed him or betray'd him and that he could have been otherwise supply'd but that he had a Dependance upon them Vaux deposed That on May 26th the Lord Delamere sent for him to the Rummer in Queens-street and that the next Night he rid out of Town with him about 9 or 10 a clock at Night and got to Hoddesden about 12 and the next day he brought him to Hitchen and so came back again That my Lord went by the name of Brown and said he was going to see his Son that was sick in the Country Mr. Edlin deposed that on May 27th Mr. Vaux asked him if he would ride with him as far as Hitchen which he promised to do and they set out about 9 that Night and went to Hoddesden one Mr. Brown being in their Company whom he had never seen before but now knew to be my Lord Delamere who told them he was going to see a Sick Child Mr. Panceford depos'd that he was at Mr. Disney's on June 14th last where the Duke of Monmouth's Declarations were a Printing for printing whereof Disney had been Executed and one Joshua Lock was there waiting for some which he said he was to send into Cheshire to one Mr. Brown which he understood to be the Lord Delamere having heard Mr. Disney call him by that Name and Mr. Edlin having told him how he went by that Name when he rid with him to Hitchen But also he had heard that Mr. Vermuyden went also by that name of Brown Mr. Babington deposed that in their Consultations there were Discourses of my Lord Delamere under the name of Brown and once at a Tavern about the latter end of May last when my Lord Delamere was named by one in the Company he was presently catch'd up for it and replied to You mean Mr. Brown That being also at Disney's while the Declarations were a Printing he heard one say a great many of them were to be sent into Cheshire to my Lord Delamere under the name of Brown Mr. Hope Master of the Three-Tuns in Coventry deposed that the Lord Delamere came Post to his House he believed 5 times from the Sunday Sev'night before the Coronation to June 21 following Then Thomas Saxon deposed that on June the 3d or 4th he was sent for by a Man that had but one Hand to my Lord Delamere's House Mere in Cheshire where he came when it began to be dark and was conveyed by the Man that fetch'd him into a lower Room where were my Lord Delamere Sir Robert Cotton and Mr. Crew Offley and they told him that he had been recommended to them by the Lord Brandon who had said he was an honest useful Man and they hoped he would prove so For they had sent to the D. of Monmouth who was in Holland and received an Answer by one Jones which as soon as they had my Lord Delamere came away Post into the Country under another Name and by being conveyed through Moorfields came down to raise 10000 Men for the Duke in Cheshire by June 1. But now they had considered of it and found they could not raise them till Midsummer for that they must have time to raise 40000 l. in that Country to maintain the Men. That they asked him if he would undertake to carry a Message to the Duke that he said he would Whereupon the Lord Delamere gave him 11 Guinies and 5 pound in silver for his Journy After which he hired him an Horse and did deliver the Message That he never had any Concern before with the Ld. Delamere but that the Lord Brandon told him that they must make use of such as he to inform the Country of the time of Rising his acquaintance abounding that way being a publick Trades-man in Middlewich Here the Evidence for the King ceasing the Prisoner was called upon to make his Defence But it beginning to be late the Prisoner begg'd the Court might be Adjourned till the morrow But the Lord H. Steward doubted it could not be done by Law this not being a Trial in full Parliament
Word again That they offered him their Petition to read but he did not think it fit for him to do it and therefore he refused and would not read it but that he went immediately to the King and acquainted his Majesty with it and he commanded him to let them know they might come when they would which he immediately did they said they would go and speak with some of their Brethren that were not far off in the mean time he gave order that they should be admitted when they came and they did in a little time return and went first into the Bed-Chamber and then into the Room where the King was And all this was before they appeared at the Council This was no Evidence Mr. Pollexfen said against the Archbishop because he was not there and nothing had been proved against him as done in Middlesex and for the other 6 Lords the Lord President did not say that this is the Petition that they said they had to deliver to the King Nor did he see them deliver any thing but that is still lest doubtful so that it stands upon Presumption and not upon Proof However the Kings Counsel desired to leave it fairly to the Jury upon this Fact and then therefore the Bishops Counsel desired to be heard in their Defence And First Sir Robert Sawyer in a long and learned Speech told the Jury that the Charge against the Bishops was That they did conspire to diminish the Royal Authority and to this end make a Libel against the King but that the Evidence fell far short of this which only proved that the Bishops in as private and humble a manner as they could presented the Paper to the King which was a Petition to be relieved against an Order of Council which they conceived they were aggrieved by and herein was no Sedition either in the matter or manner of delivering it That it was not to be question'd but that any Subject commanded by the King to do an unlawful Thing or what was against his Conscience might humbly tell the King why he could not obey him And that whereas Mr Attorn Gen. had at first said that the Bishops were not sued as Bishops nor prosecuted for their Religion he could not conceive what they were sued for else the Information being against them for an Act they did as Bishops and no otherwise it being what was their Duty and properly within their Sphere and Jurisdiction That whether therefore they consider'd the Matter of this Petition or Manner of delivering it or the Persons that deliver'd it there can appear no Reason for such an Information against them In the Matter of the Petition he consider'd two Things First the Prayer wherein he shewed there could be nothing of Falsity nor any thing contrary to Law for which reason he said possibly it was left out of the Information as being thought no part of a Libel and so made a deform'd story of it without Head or Tail a Petition directed to no Body and for nothing it being without both Title and Prayer Secondly he considered the Reasons of the Bishops for not complying expressed in it The first whereof is the Declarations of Parliament against the Dispensing Power and the next because it is a Matter of so great Moment and Consequence to the whole Nation that they could not make themselves so far Parties in it For if it be of any effect then by it not only the Laws of the Reformation but of all Religion are suspended and what a mischief that would be to the Church which is under the Care of my Lords the Bishops any one might easily apprehend While Sir Robert was speaking to these things the Ld. Ch. Justice said aside that he must not suffer this They intended to dispute the King's Power in suspending Laws Mr. Justice Powel reply'd to him that they could not avoid that Point because if the King had no such Power which was his Judgment then this Petition could not be Libellous The Lord Chief Justice told him he knew he was full of that Doctrine and because the Bishops should have no occasion to say that he denied to hear their Counsel he would let them talk on till they were weary Then for the Manner of delivering the Petition Sir Robert Sawyer proceeded to shew that from their Evidence it appeared to be in the most private and humble manner Leave being first asked and then given Then for the Persons he shewed that they did no more than what was their Duty and belonged to them the Act of 1 Eliz. cap. 2. making them special Guardians of the Law of Uniformity and of that other Law in his late Majesties Reign where all the Clauses of 1 Eliz. are revived Now in that Statute of 1 Eliz. there is this Clause And for the due Execution hereof the Queen 's most Excellent Majesty the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and all the Commons in this present Parliament assembled do in God's Name earnestly require and charge all the Archbishops and Bishops and other Ordinaries that they do endeavour themselves to the utmost of their Knowledges that the due and true execution hereof may be had throughout their Diocesses and Charges as they will answer before God for such Evils and Plagues wherewith Almighty God may justly punish his People for neglecting this good and wholsome Law By this he shewed that it was plain that the Bishops upon pain of bringing upon themselves the Imprecation of this Act of Parliament were obliged to see it executed and then when any thing comes under their Knowledg especially if they are to be Actors in it that has such a tendency to destroy the very Foundations of the Church as the Suspending of Laws has it concerns them that have no other Remedy to address the King by Petition about it and 't is the Duty of an Officer or Magistrate to tell the King what is Law and what is not he instancing in Cavendish's Case and another in the time of the Lord Hobbart Next to him Mr. Finch spoke briefly recapitulating the King's Evidence and then shewing that this Petition as well for the Matter of it as Manner of delivering it and the Persons by whom it was delivered was no Libel Particularly that the King 's Regal Authority and Royal Prerogative was no way diminished thereby for that the Declaration was founded upon a Dispensing Power which the King could not have Because a Power to abrogate Laws is as much a part of the Legislature which is only in the King and his two Houses of Parliament as to make Laws and a Power to suspend is equal to a Power of abrogating Laws because they are no longer in being as Laws while they are suspended That this was never attempted but in the last King's time which was took notice of and declared against in Parliament in the Years 1662 and 1672 the effect of which was that His Majesty cancell'd the Declaration and declared that it
Penal Laws not being for the future to be drawn either into Consequence or Example caused the Original Declaration under the Great Seal to be cancelled in his presence whereof Himself and several other Lords of the Council were Witnesses The Record of which in the Journal was then read Then his present Majesty's Speech on Novemb 9. 1685 to both Houses was read wherein declaring the Necessity of his Standing Army and requiring a Supply for their Maintenance he says Let no Man take Exception that there are some Officers in the Army not qualified according to the late Tests I will neither expose them to disgrace nor my self to the want of them if there should be another Rebellion to make them necessary to me The Commons Journal being then turned to their Address to the King was then read Wherein after they had thanked him for his Care in the suppressing the late Rebellion they acquaint him that they had considered his Speech and as to that part of it relating to the Officers They do out of their bounden Duty humbly represent to him That those Officers cannot by Law be capable of their Imployments and that the Incapacities they bring upon themselves thereby can no ways be taken off but by Act of Parliament That therefore they are preparing a Bill to indemnify them from the Penalties they have now incurred And because the continuance of them in their Imployments may be taken to be a dispensing with that Law without Act of Parliament the Consequence of which is of the greatest Concern to the Rights of all his Majesty's Subjects and to all the Laws made for the Security of their Religion They therefore do beseech him he would be graciously pleased to give such Directions therein that no Apprehensions or Jealousies may remain in the Hearts of his Subjects After this that forecited Clause of the Statute 1. Eliz. was read and then Mr. Serj. Levinz spoke to this effect That the Charge being for a Libel it ought to be consider'd Whether the Bishops did deliver this Paper to the King of which there has been no direct Proof Publishing he would not talk of because there has been no proof of a Publication or supposing they did deliver it Whether this be a Libel upon the Matter of it the Manner delivering it or the Persons that did it He said it was no Libel taking notice of the disingenuity offered the Bishops in only setting forth part and not the whole Affirming that the Subjects have a Right to Petitioning in all their Grievances That this was a Grievance the Bishops petitioned against it being what the Law neither Common nor Act of Parliament allowed of And therefore the Bishops could not be guilty of the Charge Then Mr. Finch spoke briefly again making a Challenge to shew any one Instance of such a Declaration such a general Dispensation of Laws from the Conquest till 1672. Leaving their Cause upon this Point That to suspend Laws is to abrogate them and that to abrogate Laws is part of the Legislature which Power is lodged in King Lords and Commons To which Sir Robert Sawyer added That he found few Attempts of this Nature in any Kings Reign In the Reign of Henry the 4th there was an Act of Parliament that Foreigners should have a free Trade in London notwithstanding the Franchises of the City After the Parliament rose the King issued out his Proclamation forbidding the execution of that Law and commanding that it should be in suspense till the next Parliament yet that was held to be against Law Then he mentioned another Case upon the Statute of 31. Hen. 8. cap. 8. which enables the King by Proclamation in many Cases to create the Law which Statute was repealed by 1. Edw. 6. cap. 12. That very Act reciting that the Law is not to be altered or restrained but by Act of Parliament Then Mr. Sommers of Counsel also for the Bishops mentioned the Case of Thomas and Sorrel upon the Validity of a Dispensation of the Statute of Edward the 6th touching selling of Wine Where it was the Opinion of every one of the Judges and they did lay it down as a settled Position that there never could be a Suspension of an Act of Parliament but by the Legislative Power Affirming that the Matters of Fact alledged in the Bishops Petition had been proved perfectly true by the Journals of both Houses That there could be no Design thereby to diminish the King's Prerogative because he had none such That the Petition could not be Seditious nor stir up Sedition because it was presented to the King in private and alone False it could not be because the Matter of it is True There could be nothing of Malice because the Occasion was not sought the Thing was pressed upon them and a Libel it could not be because the Intent was innocent and they kept within the Bounds set by the Act of Parliament that gives the Subject leave to petition his Prince when he is grieved Here the Bishops Counsel saying they had done Mr. Attorn Gen. spoke for the King Alledging that the Records produced were nothing to the purpose because they were only Matters transacted in Parliament and not Acts of Parliament That be their Libel never so true yet still it was Libellous That though the Subject may petition the King yet not in such reflecting Terms And though Religion was concerned yet ought not illegal Means he made use of That therefore the Bishops ought rather to have acquiesced under their Passive Obedience till the Parliament met which the King had promised in his Declaration should be in November Then Mr. Sol. Gen. in along Speech added That the Bishops had no right of Petitioning out of Parliament and therefore the Proceedings in Parliament which had been produced were not to the purpose Here Mr. Justice Powel expressed his dislike of this Doctrine aside to the Ld. Ch. Justice who concurred with him Going on to prove from the Statute 1 Hen. 4. that there ought to have been no Complaint made till it had come from the Commons in Parliament that the Law continued so till the 3 Hen. 7. where the Grievance was found that Offences in the Intervals of Parliament could not be well punished and then comes the Statute that sets up the Court of Star-Chamber which yet was abolished by the Statute of the 15 Car. 1. That the Proceedings of Parliament produced were no Declarations of Parliament because never passed into an Act and therefore they are Nullities and cannot be accepted of as any Evidence Here again the Ld. Ch. Justice and Mr. Justice Powel discours'd aside saying he thought to impose upon them but they believed not one word he said Then he appealed to the Case in the 2 Cro. 2. Jac. 1. Where it is asserted That the King may make Orders and Constitutions in Matters Ecclesiastical And the Case of De Libellis Famosis which says in the 5th Report If a Person does a thing
Sacred Majesty for which he had been Arraigned the day before and pleaded Not Guilty And therefore his Jury being Imparinelled and none of them challenged by him the same was read now to them viz. Sir Philip Matthews Sir Reginald Foster Sir John Kirke Sir John Cutler Sir Richard Blake John Bifield Esq Simon Middleton Esq Thomas Cross Esq Henry Johnson Esq Charles Vmphrevil Esq Thomas Eaglesfield Esq William Bohee Esq To this Indictment Sir Creswel Levins Serjeant Maynard and the Attorney General briefly spoke The Attorney General giving this Account why they chose first to bring this Man to trial That it was to convince those who believed all Designs against the King's Person by any Papist was but a Fiction this Man being a Papist and having said these words even since the discovery of the Plot. And for the proof hereof then appeared William Casters who deposed That on the 14th Instant about 11 a Clock in the Day he saw Stayley with another a Frenchman in a Victualling-house who called for a Pot of Ale and a Slice of Roast-Beef which when it was called for his Landlord said it should be brought him He was in another Room opposite to him both the Doors being open Stayley standing at one Door and he at the other his Face strait towards him and within 7 or 8 foot of him and discoursing with the French-man he heard Stayley twice over in French say The King was a Grand Heretick making his Demonstration with his Hand upon his Breast stamping five or six times with his Foot in great fury That the old Man Fromante his Friend said That the King of England was a Tormenter of the People of God and that Stayley answered again in a great fury He is a great Heretick and the greatest Rogue in the World There 's the Heart and here 's the Hand that would kill him And the King and Parliament think all is over but the Rogues are mistaken Then stamping said I would kill him my self I would kill him my self Then Alexander Southerland deposed that he also was there and perfectly saw Stayley while he Apoke those words which presently he writ down in French as they were spoken And then the Prisoner being gone they enquired his Name and where he live and the next day got him apprehended The third Witnes was one Philip Garret who not understanding French could only depose That being with the other two he heard Stayley speak Whereupon his Captain William Casters cam to him in a great passion and said he could not suffer it he would run upon him he could not be quiet To all which the Prisoner made but a weak Defence relating the manner of his Apprehension and saying That his discourse with Fromante was about the King of France and that he said he would kill himself instead of I will kill him my self alleadging his Loyalty and protesting his Innocence and how that the Witnesses after his apprehension would have had him took it up Then the Statue of Decimo tertio was read and Sir John Kirke one of the Jury who understood French attested that Translation of his words to be true Then the Prisoner's Witnesses were called who were one Anselm the Master of the Cross-Keys in Covent-Garden where the Prisoner was brought when he was apprenhended who deposed That they kept him in his House from 8 till 11 without any Constable Which the Witnesses answered was because they could get no Constable to come along with them without a Warrant from a Justice of Peace and that they sent to White-hall and desired a Guard but the Officer said it was the Constables part Another Witness appeared for the Prisoner who testified that he had often heard him declare much Loyalty to his Prince and an aversion to the Jesuits insomuch that if he knew any of the Persons concerned in this Plot he would be their Executioner himself and that he would lose his Blood for the King But the Ld. Ch. Justice reply'd That was his discourse only when he spoke to a Protestant Then the Prisoner having no more Witnesses nor any thing more to say for himself the Ld. Ch. Justice made a Speech to the Jury setting forth the Treasonableness of the Words and the manner of speaking them and the plainness of the Proof with great zeal against the Jusuits and their Tenants whom he look'd upon as the Foundations of all this Mischief excusing his warmness saying 'T was better to be warm here than in Smithfield and that he hoped he should never go to that Heaven where Men are made Saints for killing Kings The Jury then presently brought the Prisoner in Guilty who said he had nothing more to say so Sentence was pronounced against him to be Hang'd Drawn and Quartered and the same was accordingly executed upon him at Tyburn on Tuesday following being Novemb. 26. It was his Majesty's pleasure because of the Prisoner's seeming Penitence and his Relations humble Petition to suffer his Body to have a decent private Burial But his Friends abusing this gracious Favour with a publick and more than ordinary Funeral Pomp his buried Quarters were ordered to be taken up and to be disposed by the Common Executioner upon the Gates of the City The Trial of Edward Coleman Gent. at the King's-Bench Bar on Wednesday Novemb. 27. 1678. HE then and there appearing having been Arraigned the Saturday before his Indictment was read to the Jury viz. Sir Reginald Forster Bar. Sir Charles Lee. Edward Wilford Esq John Bathurst Esq Joshua Galliard Esq John Bifield Esq Simon Middleton Esq Henry Johnson Esq Charles Vmfrevile Esq Thomas Johnson Esq Thomas Eaglesfield Esq William Bohee Esq His Indictment was for endeavouring to subvert the Protestant Religion and introduce Popery and kill the King Whereto he having pleaded Not Guilty Mr. Recorder Serjeant Maynard and then the Attorney General severally spoke opening the Nature and shewing the heighnousness of the Crimes therein charg'd upon the Prisoner After which the Prisoner praying for a favorable Trial and professing that he had confessed all the Truth in the Examinations that had been made of him in Prison and that he gave over his Corresponding beyond-Seas in 75. Dr. Oates was called forth who deposed That in November last he visiting one John Keins his Father Confessor lodging at Mr. Coleman's House in Stable-Yard Mr. Coleman by him understanding that he was going to St. Omers told him That he would trouble him with a Letter or two thither and would leave them with one Fenwick Procurator for the Jesuits in London Which Letters he carried to St. Omers being directed for the Rector there and was at the opening of them The out-side Sheet was a Letter of News and in it Expressions of the King calling him Tyrant and that the Marriage between the Prince of Orange and the Lady Mary would prove the Traytor 's and Tyrant's Ruin In it was a Latin Letter to Father Le-Chese writ by the same Hand giving
him thanks for the 10000 l. which was given for the Propagation of the Catholick Religion and that it should be imployed for no other Intent and Purpose but for that which it was sent which was to cut off the King which Le Chese's Letter dated in August and which he both saw and read and to which this was an Answer positively express'd That Letter was directed to one Strange then Provincial of the Society in London which Mr. Coleman answered because Strange having run a Reed into his Finger had wounded his Hand and Secretary Mico was ill This Letter he delivered into Le-Chese's own Hand who gave him a Letter in answer to it which he brought to St. Omers and was there inclosed in the Letter from the Society to Coleman He further deposed that in April last Old Stile and May New Stile there was a general Consult of the Jesuits held by virtue of a Brief from Rome sent by the Father General of the Society first at the. White-Horse Tavern in the Strand and afterwards in several Clubs wherein the Death of the King was Conspired Grove and Pickering being imployed to Pistol him in St. Jame's Park for which Grove was to have 1500 l. in Mony and Pickering being a Priest was to have 30000 Masses which at twelve Pence a Mass amounted much-what to that Mony to all which Coleman was privy and in one Letter he writ about it express'd his disire to have the Duke trappan'd into this Plot to murther the King And in case this fail'd there was a further Design lay'd to murther the King at Windsor by four Irish Assassinates provided by Dr. Fogarthy and fourscore Pounds were provided by Father Harcourt a Jesuit and Rector of London for their present Maintainance which Coleman saw upon a Table in Wild-House where he was with Harcourt and gave the Messenger who was there ready to carry them after the Ruffians to Windsor a Guiny for expedition saying he lik'd it very well Yea and if this also should fail there were Instructions brought by one Ashby a Jesuit in July last to London from Flanders to proffer 10000 l. to Sir George Wakeman to Poison the King Which Instructions were seen and read by Mr. Coleman by him copied out and transmitted to several Conspirators of the King's Death in this Kingdom of England that were privy to this Plot. He said 10000 l. was too little and therefore he procured 5000 l. more to be added to it which Sir George Wakeman accepted of and receiv'd 5000 l. in hand with a promise of the Rest as soon as he should have done the Work He deposed likewise that a Consult had been held in the Savoy with the Jesuits Benedictine Monks for the murthering of the Duke of Ormond and raising a Rebellion in Ireland the Pope's Right to that Kingdom being asserted and 40000 black Bills provided to be sent thither for the use of the Catholick Party Coleman being privy thereto and the main Agent therein being heard to say to Fenwick that he had found a way to transmit the 200000 l. for the carrying on this Rebellion in Ireland That he saw likewise several Commissions come from Rome in Mr. Langhorn's Chamber among which was one for Mr. Coleman to be Secretary of State the receipt of which he hath since heard him acknowledg The Prisoner then offer'd something against the Informant from his telling the King when he was examin'd before the Council that he never saw him before Which the Informant obviated by confessing that there and then he did say that he would not swear that he had seen him before his Sight being bad by Candle-light and being then wearied and tired out but that when he had heard him speak he could have sworn it was he but it was not then his Business The other Witness then produced against the Prisoner was Mr. Bedloe Who deposed that he heard Sir Henry Tichbourn say that he had a Commission and that he brought one for Mr. Coleman and the rest of the Lords from the Principal of the Jesuits at Rome by order of the Pope to be Principal Secretary of State And that he was imployed by Harcourt to carry Letters to Le-Chese the French King's Confessor and was at a Consult in France where the Plot was discoursed on for killing the King and did bring back an Answer from Le-Chese to Harcourt in London and on the 24th or 25th of May 1677. he was with Harcourt at Coleman's House where he heard Coleman speak these words That if he had a Sea of Blood and an hundred Lives he would lose them all to carry on the Design And if to effect this it were necessary to destroy an hundred Heretick Kings he would do it The Prisoner then asking Mr. Bedlow if he ever saw him in his life He answer'd You may ask that question But in the stone Gallery in Somerset-House when you came from a Consult where were great Persons which I am not to name here that would make the bottom of your Plot tremble You saw me then The Court then proceeded to other evidence which were the Prisoners Papers and proved the manner of finding them by Mr. Bradley a Messenger and that those which were then produced in the Court were his by the Clerks of the Council and his own Servant Ordering them afterwards to be read The first Paper was a long Letter dated Sept. 29. 1675 sent to Le-Chese wherein he gives him an account of the Transactions of several Years before and of the Correspondence between him and Monsieur Ferrier Predecessor to Le-Chese Asserting that the true way to carry on the Interest of France and the promoting of Popery here in England was to get that Parliament dissolved which says he had been long since effected if 300000 l. could have been obtained from the French King And that things yet were in such a posture that if he had but 20000 l. sent him from France he would be content to be a Sacrifice to the utmost Malice of his Enemies if the Protestant Religion did not receive such a Blow as it could not subsist The receipt of this Letter was acknowledged by Le-Chese in an Answer he wrote to Mr. Coleman and was then read in the Court dated from Paris October 23. 1675. wherein he gives him thanks for his good Service and promises his Assistance in order to the promoting the Popish Religion Then was produced and read a Declaration which Mr. Coleman as Secretary had penned in the King's Name shewing his Reasons for the Dissolution of the Parliament Then also was read a Copy of a Letter written to Le-Chese which Mr. Coleman confessed he himself wrote and counterfeited in the Duke's Name and that when he was so bold as to shew it to the Duke the Duke was very angry and rejected it Several other Letters were read of Mr. Coleman's to Monsieur Ferrier and others and particularly one dated August 21. 1674. to the Pope's Internuncio at Brussels
end of February last and desired him to get him a Copy of his Master's Papers and take a Journal of his Actions and the Names of the Persons that came to him and that the Lord Treasurer would incourage him for his pains saying That Oates and Bedloe were two great Rogues and that the King knew them to be so and believed not a VVord they said and as soon as he had heard all they could say they should be hang'd Then Mrs. VViggens deposed the same as being present all the time that Knox was with her Son who refused that her Son should consent or go then with him as Knox motion'd to the Lady Danby for assurance of Encouragement and any Place in her Lord's disposal Then Mr. Palmer a Yeoman o th' Guard and one that attended Mr. Bedloe and got VViggens into his Service deposed That Mr. Wiggens made a discovery to him of what Knox had said to him for to acquaint his Master with which he did Then Mr. Thomas Dangerfield deposed That he in June was imployed by the Lady Powis to look after the Prisoners Lane and Knox in the Gate-House and did furnish Lane with Mony and got him bail'd out after which he was entertain'd at Powis-House and then removed and had 10 s. a week allowed him and was clothed That Knox afterward got his Liberty by the means of one Mr. Nevil who was furnished with Mony from the Lords in the Tower for that end From this Knox he received several Papers which were Informations against Oates which he sent to the Tower and thence they were sent to Mr. Nevil to enlarge upon and after to the Ld. Castlemain and then to him again by Mrs. Celier with an Order to draw up an Affidavit according to those Directions and get Lane sworn to the same which he did before Sir James Butler it being about Buggery and then he deliver'd the Papers so enlarged to Knox again Who some time after inform'd the Witness that he had got Osborne sworn also to the same Informations and shew'd him the Affidavit whereof he gave an Account to the Lady Powis who understanding his Poverty order'd him Encouragement and accordingly he has 40 s. from the Witness which he believed came from the Tower as also that 10 s. a Week allowed for Lane An Indictment was hereupon to have been drawn up against Oates by the Advice of Mr. Nevil and this Witness against this Term. Then the King's Counsel moved for the reading of these Information The Justices swore them and then the Information of Knox was read which was a relation how Osborne and Lane brought him the Information against Oates desiring him to assist them in getting them sworn to them A Second Paper was offered to be read but there appearing Scandalous Matter to be in it reflecting on the King the Court thought not fit to suffer any more to be read And so the Counsel for the Defendants were called upon to speak Accordingly Mr. VVithens Mr. Saunders and Mr. Scroggs endeavoured to defend their Client Knox by throwing the Guilt upon Lane and Osborne as if they had induced him in and he only acted for them out of Simplicity and great Innocency And to this end they produced Lane's Mother and Sister to shew that Lane and Osborne applied themselves to Knox first Mr. Holt. and Mr. VVilliams were of Counsel for the Defendant Lane who endeavour'd in requital to throw the Guilt upon Knox as being tâ—â— Inducer making it a Battel Royal where every one has two Enemies to oppose But the Case being clear the Court thought it needless to sum up the Evidences or the Jury to go away from the Bar so laying their Heads together they presently declared them Guilty At which the People gave a great Shout and the Prisoners were taken into the Marshal's Custody The Trials of Lionel Anderson alias Munson William Russel alias Napper Charles Parris alias Parry Henry Starkey James Corker William Marshal and Alexander Lumsden a Scotchman at the Sessions-house in the Old-Baily on Saturday Jan. 17 1679. THese Prisoners then and there appearing their Indictment was for High-treason as Romish Priests upon the Statute of 27 Eliz. cap. 2. David Joseph Kemish who was arraigned with them for the same Offence after he had pleaded was set aside by reason of Sickness Corker and Marshal both pleaded that they had been already tried and acquitted for this Offence but the Court convinc'd them to the contrary it being another Fact The Jury then sworn were John Bradshaw Lawrence VVood Matthew Bateman John Vyner Francis Mayo Martin James Anthony Hall Samuel Jewel Richard Bealing Thomas Hall Richard Bromfield Samuel Lynne To whom the Clerk of the Crown read the Charge against Lionel Anderson all the rest being set away and Roger Belwood Esq opened the Indictment Sir John Keiling pursued the Charge and Serjeant Strode all of Counsel for the King in this Cause managed the Evidence And then Mr. Dangerfield swore against him That when he was a Prisoner in the King's-Bench for Debt this Anderson shew'd him a Letter from the Lady Powis which was to desire the Witness to scour his Kettle which was to confess and receive the Sacrament to be true to the Cause The next day accordingly he went into Anderson's Chamber to Confession and received Absolution and the Sacrament from another to whom Anderson sent him that was saying Mass at that time After which returning to Anderson again he told him that he as a Priest did give him free Toleration to go and be drunk with one Stroude being for the good of the Cause he being to bring over this Stroude to be a Witness for the Lords in the Tower to invalidate Mr. Bedloe's Testimony Dr. Oates deposed that he was a Priest a Dominican Friar that he had heard him say Mass seen him consecrate the Sacrament been at Confession with him and seen his Letters of Orders as a Priest which he confess'd to him he had from Rome and that he was an English-Man and the Son of an English Gentleman Mr. Bedloe deposed That he was a Priest and an Englishman and Mr. Anderson's Son of Oxfordshire and he was told that he had heard him say Mass and seen him administer the Sacrament at some the Embassadors House Mr. Prance deposed That he had heard him say Mass several times at VVild-house and had seen him there take Confessions and give the Sacrament having known him seven Years To this Prisoner pleaded that it had not been proved that he was an English-man tho his Speech betrayed him and confess'd his Father was a Lincolnshire-Man and that he had been countenanc'd by the King and his Council and known to most of the dignify'd Clergy-men and if the Parliament had not been dissolved he had been protected by them for his writing against the Temporal Power of Rome and that he was therefore excommunicated by the Church of Rome and had not said Mass in any Parish Church this ten Years
the third at Charing-cross and in every place some Parcels of her Books to be burnt by the Common Hangman before her Face and a Paper of the cause to be upon the Pillory and she to find Sureties for her good Behaviour during Life The Trials of Thomas Thwing and Mary Pressicks at the Assizes at York on Thursday July the 29th 1680. THen and there the Prisoners appeared having been arraigned and pleaded Not Guilty to an Indictment of High-Treason for conspiring the Death of the King and Subversion of the Government The Jury after 25 challenged by Thwing sworn were Sir George Cook Bar. Thomas Worsley Esq William Caley Esq Roger Lee Gent. John Dixon Gent. George Wray Gent. Henry Pinckney Gent. John Blackston Gent. William Hardcastle Gent. Nicholas Stone Gent. George VVesterby Gent. Charles Tucker Gent. To these the Indictment was read and afterwards opened and the Treasons therein aggravated by the King's Counsel Then Mr. Robert Bolron being sworn deposed that in 1674. he came to live with Sir Thomas Gascoyne and was Steward of his Colepits and in 1675. he turned Papist and about January 1676. Mr. Thwing Father Rushton and several others came to his House at Shippon and did there examine him how he stood affected to the Roman Catholick Religion and whether he was resolved to venture his Life and Estate in it if there were any occasion to which he agreed and resoved to obey his Ghostly Father in all things and Father Rushton his Confessor gave him the Oath of Secresy That in 1677. there was a Consult at Barnborow-Hall Sir Thomas Gascoyne's House in the old Dining-Room Sir Miles Stapleton Sir Thomas Gascoyne the Lady Tempest Thwing Rushton and others being present wherein it was agreed that the King should be killed and Thwing said that if they mist this opportunity of doing it they should never have the like again and the effecting of it would be very beneficial to the Church of Rome And in hopes this would succeed they agreed they would erect a Nunnery at Dolebank but their real Intention was to have it at Heworth within a Mile of York after the King was killed and to avoid Suspicion the Lady Tempest promised them Broughton for the present and Thwing was to be Confessor of the Nunnery for the present That he paid 10 l. to Rushton in Thwing's presence towards killing the King and saw a List in Rushton and Thwing's Hands of Money raised for that purpose He paid 5 l. also to have his Soul prayed for And Thwing told him afterwards that in Yorkshire Lancashire and Derbyshire 30000 l. was raised for the killing of the King and that the List was sent beyond Sea Against Mrs. Pressicks he deposed That in 1678. she told him that she being in London did hear a Woman cry after her Stop the Papist stop the Plotter but she got away and afterwards durst not appear publickly That discoursing with her about the Plot she said Father Harcourt was her Confessor and first engaged her in it and that Pickering told her he was to have killed the King saying she was sorry he did not and that Oates and Bedloe were two Rogues had it not been for them the Plot had not been discovered Telling him the Gun which was to have shot the King was found with Pickering which she believed was the cause of his Death And that she said the King was an Asse and not fit to govern that what Mony the Parliament gave him he spent on Whores and Concubines Then Mr. Lawrence Mowbray deposed That about Michaelmas 1676. there was an Assembly of divers Priests in Rushton's Chamber at Barnborow-hall whereat he was admitted he being one that waited upon Rushton at the Altar and having took the Oath of Secrecy from him and Thwing was there he and Rushton manag'd the Conference wherein they declared the King was an Heretick and excommunicated by the Pope and that he should be killed because he had broke his Promise made to the Jesuits when he was beyond Sea and that it was not only lawful but meritorious to kill him That there was a List of those engaged in the design That he did not accuse Mr. Thwing till his 2d Examination before Justice VVarcup and that he knew nothing against Mrs. Pressicks Then Mrs. Bolron deposed the same against Mrs. Pressicks of what she had said at Mr. Bolron's House as before adding that she said there would never be quiet in England till the Papists had got the upper hand and not left a Protestant and she hoped an Army of Catholicks would be raised to set up Popery Mrs. Bolron jun. deposed the same being then also present One John Hutchinson was present too and deposed the same adding that she said likewise that we should never be quiet till the D. of York was made King Then Thwing urged in his defence that all this was only out of Malice to Sir Thomas Gascoyne's Family to which he was related and called Witnesses Nathaniel VVilson said that about last Michaelmas Mr. Bolron asked him if he could tell any thing of Father Rushton and he told him no then he bid him keep his Secrets and he would give him more than he could earn in seven Years but that unless he could shed the Blood of some of them he should get nothing Then Mr. Lowther the Justice who took Mr. Bolron's Examination the 24th or 25th of June 1679. testified that he did not then mention Thwing Obediah Moor said that about last Candlemas was 12 Months Mr. Bolron told him that Sir Tho. Gascoyne nor none of his Family were concerned in the Plot and that he believed there was no Plot. But in August after he told him he had but equivocated with him in what he said before and that there was a real Plot and if he had sworn a thousand Lies he could have been forgiven them Stephen Tompson testified that Bolron was arrested by Sir Tho. Gascoyne for Debt to whom he was bound with him When the Plot came out he asked Bolron if Sir Thomas was concerned he said no he was as innocent as the Child unborn but afterwards he said if Sir Thomas did sue him he would do him a greater Mischief and that while he intreated Sir Thomas's Forbearance for three Weeks Bolron came up to London and swore Treason against him and as to Mrs. Pressicks Bolron's Grandmother told him she could say nothing against her but Bolron said she must say so and so Then Zachary Thorpe testified that he meeting Bolron in Long-Acre before the last Assizes he told him Sir Tho. Gascoyne was cleared but swore the Jury were Rogues And that he was now going down to the Assizes at York against the Lady Tempest and swore he would ruin them if one thing would not do another should do it And that Bolron would have had him been evidence against Shipton last Assizes But Mr. Justice Dolben knowing this Witness thought his Testimony very improbable William Hardwick
Dissolution of the Long Parliament He came to St. Omers December 9th or 10th N. S. and carried Letters from the Provincial and other Fathers wherein Strange told them he had great hopes of effecting their Design next Year but as yet they could not That they had Letters from their New Provincial VVhite-bread the same Year to order Conyers to preach on St. Thomas of Canterbury's day saying he would be as zealous for carrying on of their Design as his Predecessor had been In that Sermon Conyers after he had commended the Saint and declared how unworthily he was sacrificed did inveigh against the Tyranny as he called it of Temporal Prince and particularly of the King of England Declaring that the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy were Antichristian and Devilish and that it was fit to destroy all such as would countenance them In January they had Letters from Ireland of the Resolution of the Papists there to let in the French King provided the Parliament should urge the King to break with France and of their Zeal to vindicate their Freedom and their Religion from the oppression of the English as they called it In March Letters from England gave account That there had been a very shrewd Attempt made upon the Person of the King and that the flint of Pickering's Gun was loose and his Hand shaking the King did then escape for which Pickering received a Discipline and Grove a Chiding At the latter end of the same Months 1678 came a Summons to a Consutt to which eight or nine came over whereof the Witness was one It began at the VVhite-Horse Tavern where they consulted about some things of the Society and afterward adjourned into particular Societies where they did debate and resolve the Death of the King and that Grove should have 1500 l. for his pains and Pickering a Religious Man 30000 Masses Presently after he returns to St. Omers and after him the New Provincial who ordered him back again to England where he arrived at Dover June 14 meeting there with Fenwick with whom he came to London the 17th Letters arriving just after them wherein were Proposals to be made to Sir Geo. VVakeman for poisoning of the King and that the 10000 l. promised by the Spaniards and received accordingly at the time in London should be offered him Coleman thought it too little Langhorn too much saying he was a narrow-spirited Soul and that he ought to do so great a piece of Service for nothing There was 5000 l. of it paid him as he saw entred in the Books and Father Ashby in July renewed the Proposal of 15000 l. and Fenwick in August gave an account to the Provincial of it's being accepted of In July Strange coming to Town informed him in discourse how the City was fired and how many of those concerned in it were taken and that they were released by the Duke of York's Guard and that all the Order they had for it they pretended was from the Duke In July he discover'd to Dr. Tongue of which the King had Notice 13th or 14th of August and by the 3d of September he was betray'd and exposed to the Vengeance of the Papists whose Plot he had thus Discovered Then to fortify Dr. Oates's Evidence Mr. Dennis was called who deposed That he saw Dr. Oates at Vallidolid in Spain and related what Discourse they had together and how they came acquainted and how the Doctor lent him Mony to defray the Expence of his Journey and sent a Letter by him to Madrid which he heard read and related the Contents of it That he had both heard of and seen Mony collected in Ireland naming the Collectors thereof in the Year 1668 for the encouragement of the French King to bring in an Army thither acknowledging himself to be now a Dominican Fryer and a Papist Mr. Jennison being sworn deposed That in 1678 he had heard Mr. Ireland and Mr. Thomas Jennison his Brother both Jesuits speak of a Design to get a Toleration by bribing the then Parliament by a great Sum of Mony procured from their Party And of securing the Duke of York's Succession by getting Commissions to be granted out to the Papists to be ready to rise upon the Death of the King saying also their Religion could never flourish till the Government was altered to the French Model In June 1678 he heard Mr. Ireland say in his own Chamber That Popery was like to come into England and there was but one stood in the way that it was an easy thing to poison the King and that Sir George Wakeman might easily and opportunely do it In August after be also was at his Chamber and found Mr. Ireland newly come out of Staffordshire being then drawing off his Boots and discoursing of the suddenness of Popery coming into England he tempted the Witness to be one to go to Windsor to take off the King which he refusing Ireland asked him if he knew any Irish Men that were flout and couragious and upon his naming some he took their Names asking him for 20 l. which the Witness owed him saying he should need 80 l. That he had heard his Brother Thomas Jennison in Discourse use that Expression which Dr. Oates hath in his Narrative If C. R. would not be R. C. he should not be long R. C. Interpreting it thus in Latin Si Carolus Rex non esset Rex Catholicus non foret diu Carolus Rex Asserting further That if the King were excommunicated he were no longer King and it were no Sin to take him off and if it were discover'd who did it two or three might suffer but denying the Fact the Matter soon would be blown over That about two Months after the Mustering upon Hounslow-Heath about the latter end of July and before the Discovery his Brother told him of a Design in which the Queen and the Duke and several Lords were concerned and that a new Army would be raised to bring in Popery but he would not tell him more Particulars till he had received the Sacrament of Secresy He told him that one Mr. Oates also a Person newly come over to them was in this Design which Oates he saw the latter end of April or beginning of May in Mr. Ireland's Chamber About the time of Coleman's Trial he heard also one Mr. Cuffil a Jesuit say at his Sister Hall's in Berk-shire in Shinfield-Parish That he thought Mr. Coleman was infatuated upon the Discovery of the Plot to give notice to Harcourt Ireland and Fenwick and the other Jesuits to burn or secture their Papers and yet not to secure his own Then saying also that Bellarmine did draw this Sentence out of the Scripture to favour the Pope's Authority of Excommunicating Depriving and Deposing Temporal Princes Quod Papa habeat eandem potestatem super Reges quam Jehojads habuit super Athaliam and that there were other corroborating Testimonies among the Fathers for it After tins the Records of the Attainder of Coleman
because he did not prosecute the Papists as he thought sufficiently and that he was as deep in the Plot as any Papist of them all and that he had a hand in Sir Edmondbury Godfry's Death That there was nothing to be expected from the King but introducing of Popery and Arbitrary Government That there was no Trust to be put in him but it was the People we must trust to And we must look to arm our selves and that he would Arm himself and be here at Oxford having several stout Men particularly Capt. Chinton Capt. Browne and one Don Lewis that would stand by him in case there should be a Rising which he expected at Oxford if the King and Parliament did not agree Colledge giving Mr. Dugdale in London before his coming to Oxford as much Ribbon as came to forty Shillings with No Popery No Slavery wrought in it to distribute among his Friends in the Country that they might be known by other Persons that would wear the same And that at London being once in a Coffee-House with Mr. Colledge and with some of the Members of the House of Commons a little before they met talking of the Parliament at Oxford and of some Disturbance that was likely to happen there it was then fully agreed that it would be the best way out of every County where the Parliament had the best Interest in the People to leave one in every County that might manage the People And that at Oxford when Mr. Colledge perceived that the King would not yield to the House of Commons he said Let him begin as soon as he would he did not care how soon for their Party was but an Handful to him and his Party meaning the Dissenters calling them the True Protestants and the Church of England only Protestants in Masquerade And that Day the King went out of Town presently after he went Mr. Colledge said to him in the Barber's Shop that is just within the Angel-Inn that Rowley meaning the King was gone the Rogue was afraid of himself he was shirk'd away Then Mr. Dugdale produced some Papers whereof he affirmed that Mr. Colledg had owned himself to be Author as the Letter pretended to be intercepted to Roger Le Strange the Rary-show and Character of a Popish Successor which were read and explained in the Court. And then one Stevens being sworn deposed % % that he found the first draught of the Rary-show in Mr. Colledge's Bed-chamber when he came to search his Papers by Order of Council and that the Printer that printed the Ballad had told him since he had it from him which likewise Atterbury and Sawel affirmed but the Paper being look'd for in the Court could not be found Then Mr. John Smith was sworn who deposed that he was intimately acquainted with Mr. Colledge and that going to dine with him at Alderman Wilcox's he being a Stranger ask'd what the Alderman was and Colledge told him he was a Man as true as Steel and a Man that would endeavour to root out Popery to which he reply'd that that might be done easily if he could but prevail with the King to pass the Bill against the D. of York he answered No No he was mistaken for Rowley meaning the King was as great a Papist as the D. of York and every way as dangerous to the Protestant Interest as was too apparent by his Arbitrary ruling And afterwards in the Tavern where they dined he asking him the second time before the Alderman came what kind of Man he was he said he was one that lived in his Country-house and gave freely to several People to buy Arms and Ammunition to bring the King to Submission to his People adding that he wondred old Rowley did not consider how easily his Father's Head came to the Block which he doubted not would be the end of Rowley at the last And after dinner all departing Colledge told him if he would go with him to his own house he should see how he was prepared with Arms and Provision And soon after dining with him he shewed him his Pistols his Blunderbuss his great Sword his Armour Back and Breast and his Head-piece which was covered as he remembred with Chamlet and was a fine thing Colledge telling him that these were the things which would destroy the pitiful Guards of Rowley that were kept up contrary to Law and Justice to set up Arbitrary Power and Popery And a little before the Oxford-Parliament met he meeting Colledge again and discoursing several things Colledge told him what Preparations the City were making how they were provided with Powder and Bullets and that he would go down to Oxford expecting a little sport there upon the Divisions that were like to be between the King and Parliament and that he would be one that would seize the King if he should seize any of the Members as he expected he would And again meeting the Prisoner after his return from Oxford he told him that he went thither in expectation of some sport but old Rowley was afraid like his Grand-father Jamy and so ran away like to beshit himself And that Fitz-Gerald and he had had a quarrel at the Parliament door of the House of Lords at Oxford that Fitz-Gerald had call'd him Rogue and made his Nose Bleed but before long that he hoped to see a great deal more Blood shed for the Cause And after this when there was a Discourse of disarming the City and that the Ld. Feversham was to come to do it he said That he was well provided and that if Feversham or any Man nay Rowley himself should attempt any such thing he would be the Death of him before any Man should seize upon his Arms desiring him to get Arms for himself too because he did not know how he might make use of them accordingly he had an Armour from him upon Trial which he said cost him 30 or 40 s. but it proving too big he returned it and bought him a new one Next to him Bryan Haynes was sworn who deposed likewise that he had been acquainted with Mr. Colledge ever since March last before the sitting of the Parliament at Oxford For there being a Warrant against him for High Treason he made his Application to Colledg and desired him to go to a certain Person of Honour in England and ask his advice Whether he might not supersede the Warrant by putting in Bayl and carry the Supersedeas in his Pocket Mr. Colledge told him he would go to this Person of Honour for he would do nothing of his own head and he bid him come to him the next day which accordingly he did and asked him what was the result and what advice he had from that Person of Quality he bid him be of good chear that the Parliament would be and sit at Oxford soon and that he should not value the King a pin for that the King was in a worse Condition than either of them and he should see that
he should be call'd to an Account for all his Actions for all the World might see that he did resolve to bring in Arbitrary Power and Popery and that unless he would let the Parliament sit at Oxford since he had called them together and put the People to Charges in chusing them and them in coming down he should be seiz'd at Oxford and brought to the Block as was the Logger-head his Father That the Parliament should sit at Guild-hall and adjust the Grievances of the Subject and of the Nation and that no King of his Race should ever Reign in England after him And unless the King did expel from his Council the Earl of Clarendon cunning Lory Hide the Earl of Hallifax that great turn-coat Rogue that was before so much against the Papists a Rascal whom we should see hang'd and all the Tory Counsellors England should be too hot for him That for this End there was in the City 1500 Barrels of Powder and 100000 Men ready at an hour's warning and that every thing was ordered in a due Method against the sitting of the Parliament at Oxford And that he should see England the most glorious Nation in the World when they had cut off that beastly Fellow Rowley who came of the Race of Buggerers for his Grand-father King James buggered the old Duke of Buckingham Railing then at Judg Pemberton saying Let him try Fitz-Harris if he dare I shall see him go to Tyburn for it I hope a turn-coat Rogue That he was for the Plot whilst he was puisne Judg but now he was Chief Justice he was the greatest Rogue in the World even like one of the Pensioners in the Long Parliament That the Prisoner would moreover have put this Informant upon charging the King With the firing of London and the Murder of Sir Edmondbury Godfry telling him that such and suck Lords should live and die by him and that he needed not to fear but that England should espouse his Cause And discoursing then of the Libel of Fitz-Harris The Devil take me said Colledge every individual Word is as true as God is in Heaven and that if the Informant did not join with Fitz-Harris in his Evidence and charge the King home he was the basest Fellow in the World because he made them Slaves and Beggars and would make all the World so and that it was a kind of Charity to charge him home that we might be rid of such a Tyrant He depos'd further That he also receiv'd a blew Ribbond from Mr. Colledge whom meeting after he came from Oxford he asked Where now were all his Cracks and Braggs for that the King had fool'd them who answered That they had not done with the King yet though they could do nothing then for that no Servant no Man living did know whether he would dissolve the Parliament that Day That he was that very nick of Time at the Lobby of the Lords House and there was a Man came in with a Gown under his Arm and every one looked upon him to be a Tailor and no Body did suspect no not his own intimate Friends except it were Fitz-Gerald that he would Dissolve the Parliament that Day But presently he put on his Robes and sent away for the House of Commons and when he had dissolved them before ever the House could get down he took Coach and went away otherwise that the Parliament had been too hard for him for that there was never a Parliament-Man but had divers armed Men to wait on him and that he had his Blunderbuss and his Man to wait upon him The next Witness against Mr. Colledge was Mr. Turbervile who being sworn deposed That when the Parliament sat in Oxford about the middle of the Week he dined with Mr. Colledge Capt. Brown and Don Lewis Clerk of Derby-House at the Chequer-Inn in Oxford After Dinner Don Lewis went out about some Business and Capt. Brown went to sleep and Mr. Colledge and he fell a talking of the Times and he was observing he thought the Parliament was not a long-liv'd Parliament Whereupon Mr. Colledge answered That there was no Good to be expected from the King for he and all his Family were Papists and had ever been such Then said Turbervile the King will offer something or other by way of surprize to the Parliament Said Colledge I would he would begin but if he do not we will begin with him and seize him for there are several brave Fellows about this Town that will secure him till we have those Terms that we expect from him adding That he had got a Case of Pistols and a very good Sword and a Velvet Cap Giving Turbervile a piece of blew Ribbond to put in his Hat to be a distinction if there should be any disturbance Then Mr. Masters was sworn who deposed That he and Colledge had been long acquainted And that a little before the Parliament at Oxford about Christmass after the Parliament at Westminster at Mr. Charlton's Shop the Wollen-Draper in Paul's Church-Yard discoursing with him about the Government he was justifying of the late Long-Parliament's Actions in Forty He said That that Parliament was as good a Parliament as ever was chosen in the Nation and that they did nothing but what they had just cause for and that the Parliament that sat last at Westminster was of their Opinion and so he should have seen it And that another time he calling him in a jocose way Colonel Colledge bid him mock not for he might be one in a little time Then Sir William Jennings being sworn deposed That Colledge gave him one time a Picture and another time he saw him bring into a Coffee-House a parcel of blew Ribbond with No Popery No Slavery wrought in it and sold a Yard of it there to a Parliament-Man as he took him to be for 2 s. who tied it upon his Sword And that on that very Day the Parliament was Dissolved at Oxford he came to him standing in the School-House-yard telling him Mr. Fitz-Gerald had spit in his Face and that he spit in his Face again and that so they went to Logerheads together and that upon Sir William's telling him his Nose bled he said I have lost the first blood in the Cause but it will not be long before more be lost The Evidence for the King here ending Mr. Serj. Holloway briefly explained to the Jury that the seizing the Person of the King was in Law a compassing and intending his Death as it was worded in the Indictment which therefore they ought so to understand Then Mr. Colledge desired to be resolved these Questions upon the Evidence which he had heard 1. Whether any Conspiracy for which his Indictment was had been herein proved 2. Whether there ought not to be two Witnesses distinct to swear words at one and the same time And 3. Whether any Act of Treason done at London shall be given in Evidence to prove the Treason for which he was now
Papers that had been charged upon him that they were none of his nor did he ever own them for his nor could he ever make Pictures nor did he ever in his Life and that that very Person whom Mr. Dugdale said he owned he got it to be printed by had denied it before the King and Council Then Elizabeth Hunt the Prisoner's servant appeared who testified That about 7 or 8 Weeks before the seizure of the Papers a Porter brought three Bundles of Papers for her Master in his absence which lay in a Box in his Counting-house a Week or Fortnight before she told him of them And as to Mr. Dugdale that she going to him for Mony he owed her Master after he was in Prison and he not paying her it as he promised she said to him Sir I think 't is very hard that you should keep my Master's Mony from him and yet go and swear against his Life too he said to her There was a great deal of do about his swearing against her Master more than needs but as he hoped for Salvation he did not believe Mr. Colledge had any more hand in any Conspiracy against his Majesty than the Child unborn Mr. Colledge inform'd the Court that this Maid moreover told him in the Tower before he came away that Mr. Dugdale desired to be remembred to Mr. Smith Colledge's Counsel and told her he had nothing against her Master that could touch his Life or an Hair of his Head and that he knew nothing of a Plot against the King and that if he could help it he had as lieve he had given 100 l. he had never spoken what he had Which she own'd for truth and Dugdale then denied evading it by telling the Story another way Then Mrs. Godwin being called appeared who related concerning the Papers that three Messengers coming to search for them on the Saturday after her Brother's confinement and they not finding them she got her Brother-in-law George Spur to carry them away to his House at Busshie to secure them till they should know what they did concern Then Spur being called did not appear Then the Attorny General called for one John Shirland who appeared to be a Man that lived by his Shifts and had been whip'd in Bridewel who swore that Mr. Bolron would have given him 10 l. and an Horse to go down and swear against Sir Miles Stapleton Which Bolron denied Then Smith deposed likewise against Mr. Bolron that he told him as they were traveling that he had as much to say against Colledge as any Body and that if he would speak for him he would evidence against Sir John Brooks for a discourse at Ferry-Bridge Which Mr. Bolron deny'd likewise Then no more Witnesses being called Mr. Colledge began to make his Observations upon the Evidence to the Court Professing his own Innocency as to what had been sworn against him and upon what had been attested for him owning his Zeal for his King Parliaments Church of England and against Popery Relating how he came acquainted with Haynes and the discoveries he made to him of the Popish Plot and of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey's Murder for which the Court interrupted and reproved him as not to the purpose and then he went on to sum up his own Evidence complaining of his close Confinement so that he could not procure that Evidence he otherwise might have done for himself The Statute of Decimo tertio was read to him and then Mr. Colledge very pathetically recommending himself to the Justice of his Jury concluded his Defence Then Mr. Sollicitor General largely summ'd up the Evidence and Mr. Serjeant Jefferies and the Lord Chief Justice did the same Then the Court called for two Bottles of Sack which the Jury divided among themselves at the Bar for their Refreshment in the presence of the Prisoner After which a Bailiff was sworn and the Jury withdrawing to consider of their Verdict the Court adjourned for half an hour and when they returned the Jury brought the Prisoner in Guilty At which there was a great Shout given whereat the Court being offended one Person who was observed by the Cryer to be particularly concerned in the Shout was committed to Goal for that Night but the next Morning having received a publick Reproof was discharged without Fees Then it being about 3 a Clock in the Morning the Court adjourned to 10. At which hour the Court being sat and first Mr. Aaron Smith having entred into a Recognizance of 500 l. to appear the first day of the next Term at the Court of King's-Bench the Lord Chief-Justice after a short speech directed to the Prisoner pronounced Sentence upon him to be Hang'd Drawn and Quartered which was accordingly executed upon him over against the Gate of the Castle at Oxford on Wednesday August 31. 1681. And his Head and Quarters through his Majesty's Grace were delivered to his Relations and by them brought up to London and privately interred The proceedings at the Sessions-House in the Old-Baily London on Thursday November 24. 1681. before his Majesty's Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer upon on the Bill of Indictment for High-Treason against Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury The Grand Jury Sir Samuel Barnardiston John Morden Thomas Papillon John Dubois Charles Herle Edward Rudge Humphrey Edwin John Morrice Edmund Harrison Joseph Wright John Cox Thomas Parker Leonard Robinson Thomas Shepherd John Flavell Michael Godfrey Joseph Richardson William Empson Andrew Kendrick John Lane John Hall THE Lord Chief Justice Pemberton gave the Charge wherein he explained the Nature of Treason particularly from the Statute of the 13th Car. 2. and explained the Validity of two Witnesses and the Jury's present Duty After which a Bill of High-Treason was offered against the Earl of Shaftsbury and Sir Francis Withens moved That the Evidence might be heard in Court Then the Jury desired a Copy of their Oath which the Court granted and then they withdrew After some little time they returned and being called over by their Names The Foreman acquainted the Lord Chief Justice That it was the Opinion of the Jury and they claim'd as their Right that they ought to examine the Witnesses in private But the Lord Chief Justice deny'd that it was their Right but was their Advantage and it was the King's desire it should be publick in which also the Lord Chief Justice North concurr'd and then therefore the Indictment was read wherein the Earl of Shaftsbury was charged with High-Treason for conspiring the Death of the King and subversion of the Government The Jury then desired a List of the Names of the King's Evidence But they were told that they being indorsed upon the back of the Indictment which they were to have out with them it was needless Then they requested to see the Warrant by which the Earl of Shaftsbury was committed but that they being told that the Lieutenant of the Tower kept for his Indemnity could not be granted Then they requested that the Evidence might
should be any Disturbance for they valued their Riches more than their Cause And at Oxford that he heard my Lord say again He wondred the People of England should stickle so much about Religion if he were to choose a Religion he would have one that should comply with what was apt to carry on their Cause Mr. John Smith deposed That he had often both in publick and private heard the Lord Shaftsbury speak very irreverently and slightly of the King saying He was a weak Man an inconstant Man of no firm or settled Resolution easily led by the Nose as his Father was before him by a Popish Queen which was the Ruin of his Father And that the King should declare That the Earl of Shaftsbury was not satisfied to be an ill Man himself but got over the E. of Essex too And that he was the chief promoter of the Rebellion in Scotland which when it was told him that he should send back word to the King That he was glad that the King saw not his own Danger But if he were to raise a Rebellion he could raise another-guess Rebellion than was that in Scotland One time particularly being sent for to the Lord Shaftsburies expressing his jealousy of the Irish Witnesses being drawn over to the Court-Party and retracting what they had said he order'd him to persuade them from going nigh that Rogue Fitz-Gerald maintain'd by the King and Court-Party to stifle the Plot in Ireland Saying also That when he was in the Tower he told some he saw Popery coming in and that it was hard to prevent it And that if the King were not as well satisfied with the coming in of Popery as ever the D. of York was the D. would not be so much concern'd about it as he was Afterwards having executed my Lord's Order one Mr. Bernard Dennis gave in an Information before Sir Patience Ward Lord-Mayor against Fitz-Gerald that he had tamper'd with him to forswear all he had sworn before the Copy of which Information he brought to the Lord Shaftsbury who when he had read it was very well pleased with it and said Mr. Smith don't you see the Villany of that Man and that factious Party and that the King runs the same steps as his Father did before him for that nothing of this Nature could otherwise be done I says he these are the very Steps that his Father followed when he was led by his Popish Queen and the poor Man doth not see his Danger Another time before the Parliament went to Oxford in discourse my Lord was saying to him That there was great Preparations made and a great many gathered together upon the Road between London and Oxford which he said was to terrify the Parliament to comply with the King's Desire which he was sure they never would for that the King aimed to bring in Popery But said he we have this Advantage of him if he offer any Violence to us for we expect it that we have the Nation for us and we may lawfully oppose him for it has been done in former Times and he will meet with a very strong Opposition for all that come out of the Country shall be well Hors'd and well Arm'd and so we shall be all and as old as he was that he would be one that would oppose to his Power and die before he would ever bring in Popery or any thing of that Nature Then Mr. Brian Haines deposed That he had often heard the Lord Shaftsbury vilify the King And that he and Mr. Ivey going to him one day about the Narrative he made of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey's Death he desired him not to expose his Person to the King's Anger because he was sure he would never grant a Pardon to any Man that impeached the Earl of Danby Says he Do not fear if he does not grant you a Pardon he makes himself the Author of the Plot and says he the Earl of Essex the Lord Maxfield and I we do all resolve if you 'l put in a Writing we will go to the King and beg a Pardon of him for you which if he does not grant we will raise the whole Kingdom against him for he must not expect to live peaceably in his Throne it he doth not grant it and this is the best Pretence we can have in the World we are prepar'd to raise Arms against him And after having heard a Pardon could not be had being begg'd for by the two Mr. Godfries he praying my Lord for a little Mony to help him to go beyond-Sea because he was sure he could not be safe in England My Lord told him the King durst as well be hang'd as meddle with him And one Day he being in Conference and giving my Lord an exact Account of Transactions having been a Traveller he asked my Lord What Model of Government was designed if they pulled the King down Says he Do you think there are no Families in England that have as much pretence to the Crown as any of the Stewarts Says he There is the Duke of Bucks that is descended of the Family of the Plantagenets one of the Edwards by his Mother and in her Right he should have the Barony of Ross and has as good a Title to the Crown of England as ever any Stewart had Then John Macnamarra being sworn deposed That he being with the Lord Shaftsbury after his return from the Parliament at Oxford concerning some Provision for the Witnesses he heard him express himself That the King was Popishly Affected and did adhere to Popery taking the same Methods that his Father before him took which brought his Father's Head to the Block and that they would also bring his thither and that he had told some Persons of Quality that this would fall out five Years before And at the same time that he said the King was a Faithless Man and no Credit was to be given to him and that the Dutchess of Mazarine was of his Cabinet-Council who was the worst Woman-kind And that he deserved to be deposed as much as ever King Richard the Second did Then Dennis Macnamarra deposed That he also heard the Lord Shaftsbury say in March or April in his own House Mr. Ivey being present That the King was not to be believe there was no Belief in him and he ought to be deposed as well a King Richard the Second and that the Dutchess of Mazarine was of his Cabinet-Council and he nothing but by her Consent Then Mr. Edward Ivey deposed That being at my Lord's House soon after the Parliament was dissolved at Oxford he heard him speak against the King saying He was an unjust Man and unfit to Reign and he wondred her did not take Example by his Father before him and that he was a Papist in his Heart and intended to introduce Popery And afterwards being with him with Hains he bid Hains to put what he had to say about the Death of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey into writing
all Risings and that he said the Lord Howard was a Man of Luxureant Parts but he had the luck not to be trusted by any Party Dr. Tillotson Duke of Somerset Lord Clifford Mr. Levenson Gore Mr. Spencer and Dr. Fitz-VVilliams spoke as to his Lordship's Conversation And then the Lord Howard being asked by the Jury what he said to the Earl of Anglesey's Evidence owned what the Earl said but that he did it to out-face the Matter and if he said untrue he ought not to be believed on his Oath insinuating that he meant what he said to be meant of a Design of Murthering the King which he did not not believe the Duke of Monmouth or the Lord Russel guilty of Carrying his knife close as he express'd it between the Paring and the Apple After this the Lord Russel made a short Conclusion protesting his Loyalty and Innocence telling the Jury he was in their Hands and pray'd God to direct them Then the Solicitor General summ'd up the Evidence and after him Serjant Jefferies taking Notice of the Earl of Essex's Death as an Evidence of Guilt did the same And the Ld. Ch. Justice deliver'd his Charge to the Jury and then the Court Adjourned till 4 a Clock in the Afternoon when the Jury brought the said Lord Russel in Guilty of the said High-Treason The Trial of John Rouse Gent. at the Old-Baily on Friday July 13. 1683. THen and there the Prisoner appearing having been arraigned the day before upon an Indictment of High-Treason for conspiring the Death of the King and subversion of the Government and pleaded Not Guilty he moved the Court but in vain for longer time And therefore the Jury sworn after several Challenges were Robert Beddingfield John Pelting William Windbury Theophilus Man John Short sen Thomas Nicholas Richard Hoare Thomas Barnes Henry Robbins Henry Kempe Edward Raddish Edward Kempe To whom the Indictment being read Mr. Jones and Sir George Jefferies opened the same and then Thomas Leigh was sworn against whom the Prisoner excepted because he had been sworn against as Guilty by two Persons and being acquainted with the Prisoner he was afraid the Prisoner should swear against him and therefore come now to swear against the Prisoner first But this was not allowed to be any Objection Therefore Mr. Leigh deposed that he had been concern'd in this Conspiracy and knew something of it but that he believed Mr. Rouse knew a great deal more for that Goodenough and the Prisoner engaged him in a Design of raising of Men and Goodenough told him the Design was to set up the Duke of Monmouth and kill the King and the Duke of York and that Sir John Moor and the Aldermen were to be kill'd and their Houses plundred and that there would be Riches enough which would serve to maintain the Army That Mr. Rouse told him he could provide Arms for 100 Men and that nothing was to be done unless the King was seized saying we might remember since 41 when the King went and set up his Standard therefore said he we will seize them that they shall not set up their Standard But said he was not for shedding their Blood That he said also it would be convenient to have a Golden Ball play'd upon Black-Heath and to get some Sea-Captains to manage that Affair and said he would engage Ten and he that wins the Ball take it That every Captain should then take his Party and tell them they had other work and then go with Long-Boats and Arms and seize the Tower That he acquainted Goodenough with this and telling him the Charge of the Ball which the Prisoner had told him would be 10 or 12 l. he said if it were 40 l. he would be at the Charge of it all That after he heard he was sworn against Mr. Rouse cut off his Hair and procured him a Wig and lodged hint at his House That he and Rouse and Mate Lee went several times to view the Tower That Rouse told him he had spoke to two Sea-Captains who were willing but one was going to New-Jersey and therefore the Work must be done before he went or he could not assist That while he lay hid at Rouse's House Mr. Nelthrop and Mr. Goodenough directed him to deny all when-ever he should be taken into Custody and if could not touch his Life That they met several times afterwards and had an Account in June last that Mr. Goodenough was in the North raising Men and that the Duke of Monmouth was thereabouts and that a Deliverance should be wrought for all this That the Design was so laid that he was told it was to be done in a Fortnight That they never agreed on a Method to kill the King but that they told him they had 1000 Horse ready in the Country and 500 Horse ready in Town and that the King should be kill'd coming from Windsor That they were contriving to send Arms by Night in Trunks to some private Place where they were to arm themselves in the Night and some brisk Men were to go to VVindsor to know when the King came and give Information and so they were to set upon him in some convenient Place and both the King and the Duke were to be taken off together Mr. Rouse saying Take them off and then no Man can have Commission to fight for them And both to him and in Company Mr. Rouse who had been a Traveller had said That the King was sworn both in France and Spain to bring in Popery and Arbitrary Power in so many Years and therefore it was no Sin to take him off and told him he had it under his own Hand Then Mate Lee deposed That the Prisoner had several times treated with him to get Seamen fitting to make Commanders of Ships some of the King's Men of War that lay at Deptford and VVoolwich for that the Tower and VVhite-hall was to be secured or else they could do nothing Mr. Thomas Corbin deposed That in 1681 he heard the Prisoner say He thought the Session of the Oxford Parliament would be very short But those frequent Prorogations and Dissolutions of Parliament would not avail the King son that what ever he has the Parliament gave him and they may take it away when they please Upon which one bidding him have a care what he said he reply'd The King had forfeited his Crown and had no more right to it than he had Mr. VVilliam Richardson deposed That when the Prisoner was first seiz'd he denied his Name to be Rouse calling himself Johnson The Prisoner's Defence was only a retorting the Accusation upon the Witness alledging That Mr. Leigh first discoursed these Treasons to him which he only listned to to pump out the bottom of his Design that he might discover them Protesting his Innocency and that the words Mr. Corbin testified against him was not spoke of the Parliament but of the Pope and he had been before tried and acquitted for them Saying it
that is Libellous you shall not examin the Fact but the Consequence And therefore if the King hath a Power to make Orders in matters Ecclesiastical and do so if any bring that Power into Question that is Sedition and the Legality or Illegality of the Order ought not to be examined Whence he doubted not but they had here a good Case for the King and that the Jury would give them a Verdict Then Mr. Justice Holloway asking him What the Bishops could have done in this Case if they might not Petition he answered That they should have acquiesced till the meeting of the Parliament At which some People in the Court hissed Adding that it was one thing for a Man to submit to his Prince where he cannot obey him and another thing to affront him this being Libelling with a Witness To which the Ld. Ch. Justice said That he was of Opinion that the Bishops might Petition the King though out of Parliament but not in such a Reflective manner because that would make the Government very Precarious But Mr. Justice Powel told Mr. Sol. Gen. it would have been too late to stay for a Parliament and if the Bishops had disobeyed without Petitioning it would have looked like a piece of Sullenness and they would have been blamed for it as much on the other side Mr. Serj. Baldock then spoke also for the King insisting on the Disobedience of the Bishops to the King who is their Supreme Ordinary they being not commanded to read it themselves but only to distribute them to be read and their giving Reasons for their Disobedience in a Libellous Petition charging the King with an illegal Act reflecting upon his Prudence Justice and Honour in laying his Commands upon them which being done by Bishops and having an Universal influence upon all the People he left it to his Lordship and Jury whether they ought not to answer for it Then Sir Barth Shore the Recorder spoke on the same Side saying He thought the Information proved for that no Answer had been made to it The Answer made being but Argumentative and taken either from the Persons of the Defendants as Peers who could have no right to Petition libellously or from the Form of it's being a Petition which could no more excuse them if it were scandellous than any other The Author of Julian the Apostate having as much right to publish his Book as the Bishops had to deliver this Libel to the King For which comparison he was checked by Mr. Justice Powel who told him it was the Birth-right of the Subject to Petition And that it was as lawful for the City of London to Petition for the Sitting of a Parliament as it was for the Bishops to give Reasons for their Disobedience to the King's Command And if their Petition was reckoned Libellous in saying that what the King had done in Dissolving the Parliament was an Obstruction of Justice what other Construction can be made of the Bishops saying that the King's Declaration is illegal And if they were so severely punished as to lose their Charter for what they did the Bishops ought to have the like Condemnation Then Mr. Serj. Trinder spoke in defence of the King 's Dispensing Power alledging Sir Edward Hales Case which the Ld. Ch. Justice told him was beside the Matter Then he condemned the questioning of the Bishops Counsel of the King's Power by referring themselves to the Declarations in Parliament as if the King's Authority was under the Suffrages of a Parliament that yet no such Declaration was produced they being mistaken and therefore it is in the nature of false News which is a Crime for which the Law will punish them Then the Ld. Ch. Justice summ'd up the Evidence and in conclusion gave his own Opinion that the Bishops Petition was a Libel Then Mr. Justice Powel gave his Reasons why he thought it no Libel and that the King had no Dispensing Power Next Mr. Justice Allybone endeavoured to make out and declared his Opinion that it was a Libel He refused to speak to the Prerogatives of the King as the Ld. Ch. Justice had done before him Then Wine was sent for for the Jury And upon request they were allowed to have along with them a Copy of the Information the Original Petition and the Declarations under the Great Seal But the Journals were not allowed them Mr. Sollicitor saying they were no Evidence Then the Court arose and the Jury went together to consider of their Verdict and staid together all Night without Fire or Candle On Saturday June 30. 1688. about Ten of the Clock in the Morning the Bishops came again into the Court and immediately after the Jury were brought to the Bar. And their Appearance being taken they delivered in their Verdict Not Guilty At which there were several great Shouts in the Court and throughout the Hall Mr. Sol. Gen. taking notice of some Persons in the Court that shouted moved very earnestly that they might be committed Whereupon a Gentleman of Grays-Inn was laid hold on but was soon after discharged And after the shouting was over the Ld. Ch. Justice reproved the Gentleman saying he was as glad as he could be that the Bishops were acquitted but his manner of rejoicing here in Court was indecent he might rejoice in his Chamber or elsewhere and not here Then asking Mr. Attorny if he had any thing more to say to the Bishops He said No. Then the Court arose and the Bishops went away FINIS APPENDIX To the Kings most Excellent Majesty the humble Petition of Algernon Sidney Esq Sheweth THAT Your Petitioner after a long and close Imprisonment was on the 7th Day of this Month brought with a Guard of Souldiers into the Palace-Yard upon an Habeas Corpus directed to the Lieutenant of the Tower before any Indictment had been exhibited against him But while he was there detained a Bill was exhibited and found whereupon he was immediately carried to the King's-Bench and there Arraigned In this surprise he desired a Copy of the Indictment and leave to make his Exceptions or to put in a Special Plea and Counsel to frame it but all was denied him He then offer'd a Special Plea ready ingrossed which was also rejected without reading and being threatned That if he did not plead Guilty or Not Guilty Judgment of High-Treason should be entred he was forced contrary to Law as he supposes to come to a General Issue in pleading Not Guilty Novemb. 21. He was brought to his Trial and the Indictment being so perplexed and confused as neither He nor any of his Friends that heard it could fully comprehend the Scope of it He was wholly unprovided of all the Helps that the Law allows to every Man for his Defence Whereupon he did again desire a Copy and produced an Authentick Copy of the Statute of the 46 Edw. 3. whereby it is Enacted That every Man shall have a Copy of any Record that touches him in any
Years and was always bred so till he travelled towards Rome After him Mr. Dugdale was sworn and deposed That he had been acquainted with a Design of introducing Popery about 15 or 16 Years and that he had seen several Letters from beyond-Sea of Mony Men and Arms being ready to Assist That Collections of Mony were made in the Country and 500 l. paid to him so collected which he paid to Mr. Evers to return to London to discharge an Account count of Arms and Things received from beyond-Sea and for carrying on this Design That he himself had given them an Estate of 400 l. Value and because he knew Mony would be wanting had promis'd an 100 l. more as soon as the Lord Aston and he had accounted for this Design and the praying for his Soul That the King of France had promised his Assistance and the Pope allowed some part of his Revenue for the same purpose That of late he had been at several Consultations wherein the Death of the King was discoursed which was intended to be about November December or January 1678. and saw Letters from Paris which advised that it should be thrown upon the Presbyterians who had killed the old King and were likeliest to be thought to have done this and so they might easily get the Protestants of the Church of England to join with the Papists against them to the weakning of Protestantism and accomplishment of their Design That it was agreed that the Lord Aston Sir James Symons and others should go in October 1678. to dispose of Arms to the value he heard of 30000. l. That after the King had been killed an Army was to have appeared to have cut off all that should escape the Massacre which also was designed That he bad been put upon to make Foot-Races to draw People together that they might the better have Discourses together without suspicion That he saw a Letter from the Lord Stafford to Mr. Ewers to shew that things went on well beyond-Sea and hoped they did so here and that particularly the Lord Stafford was by at a Consult about September 1678. with Mr. Heveningham Sir James Symonds Mr. Vavasor Mr. Petre Mr. Howard and the Lord Aston about the Death of the King and that Mr. Heveningham Sit James Symons the Lord Aston Mr. Draycott Mr. Howard and Mr. Gerard did of his knowledge contribute Mony for carrying on the Plot. That he saw a Letter from Whitebread to give Mr. Ewers a Caution to trust only stout and trusty Fellows no matter whether they were Gentlemen or no for killing of the King and another Letter from Harcourt to Ewers dated Octob. 12. and received the 14th 1678 wherein it was said This night Sir Edmondbury Godfrey is dispatched the reason whereof was Ewer's said because he had shewn himself too eager upon Oates's Examination before him and that therefore the Duke of York sending to Coleman to desire him not to reveal what be knew of the Plot Coleman mistrusting Sir Edmonbury sent word back that it would be never the nearer because he had been so foolish as to reveal all to Sir E. Godfrey who had promised to keep it all as a Secret but that now he feared he would witness against him Whereupon the Duke sent word back again That if he would but take care to conceal he should not come in against him And upon this he was quickly dispatched That be had oft been brought to the Oath of Secresy and the Sacrament and particularly when he withdrew on a Monday about the 18th or 19th of November 1678 from the Lord Aston's when he carried all his Papers and burnt them at a Neighbouring-house because he knew they would discover him and others concerned in the Plot But afterwards understanding such his Promises of Secrecy were better broke than kept he came in to make his Discovery Then Mr. Prance deposed That in 1678 he went to one Singleton a Priest at one Hall's a Cook in Ivy-Lane who told him That he did not fear but in a little time to be a Priest in a Parish-Church and that he would make no more to stab 40 Parliament-Men than to eat his Dinner which at that very time he was a doing Then Dr. Oates was sworn and told how in the Year 1676 he was admitted Domestick Chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk being then a Minister of the Church of England Where he became accquainted with some Popish Priests and was told from one Singleton That the Protestant Religion was upon it's last Legs and it would become him and all Men of his Coat to hasten betimes home to the Church of Rome Having a strong suspicion some Years before of the apparent growth of Popery to satisfy his Curiosity he pretended some Doubts and at last a Conviction by she Jesuits because he observed them most able to inform him and accordingly was reconciled on Ashwensday 1676 7. Soon after Strange the then Provincial told him his Ordination was invalid and he must become a Lay-man then he desiring to be of their Order the Fathers upon a Consultation at Wild-House admitted him and because his Years were not suitable to be a novice they proposed travelling to him to go beyond-Sea and do their Business This he accepted and accordingly went April 1677 into Spain to Validolid having their Letters of Recommendation where he found Letters come from England before him and dated in May wherein was expressed That the King was dispatched which caused great joy to the Fathers but afterwards Letters dated the latter end of May came to certify their Mistake and to desire the Fathers to stifle the News Some Letters he opened also by the way wherein was an Account of a Disturbance designed in Scotland and of the Hopes they had for carrying on the Catholick Cause in England That in June Letters came thither expressing That Beddingfield was made Confessor to the Duke of York whom they hoped would prevail much with him in order to this Design and that Letters from St. Omers dated the same Month gave account That Father Beddingfield had assured them of the Dukes willingness to comply with them That travelling through this Country he found that Mony had been there raised and sent to England and particularly that the Provincial of the Jesuits of Castile had advanced 10000 l. promised to be paid in June following That upon some Missioners arriving there in December one Mumford alias Armstrong preach'd That the Oaths of Allegiance and Sumpremacy were Antichristian Heretical and Devilish vilifying and abusing the King's Legitimacy saying That his Religion intitled him to nothing but sudden Death and Destruction In November he return'd for England and coming into Strange's Chamber there was Father Keins lying ill upon Strange's Bed and Keins was saying He was mighty sorry for honest William so they called Grove that was to kill the King for missing in his Enterprize They being more zealous for killing the King after he had refused Coleman the