Ends and save Five or Ten Times a greater Sum and so be a good Husband by his Expence and if we did not procure a Dissolution he should not be at that Expence at all for that we Desired him only to promise upon that Condition which we were content to be Obliged to perform first The Second Objection was The Duke did not move nor appear in it Himself To that we Answered That he did not indeed to Mounsieur Pompone because he had found so ill an effect of the Negotiation with Father Ferryer when it came into Mounsieur Rouvigny's hands but that he had concerned himself in it to Father Ferryer Yet I continued to prosecute and press the Dissolution of the Parliament detesting all Prorogations as only so much loss of time and a means of strengthning all those who depend upon it in Opposition to the Crown the Interest of France and Catholick Religion in the Opinion they had taken That our King durst not part with his Parliament apprehending that another would be much Worse Second That he could not live long without a Parliament therefore they must suddenly Meet and the longer he kept them Off the greater his Necessity would grow and consequently their power to make him do what they listed would increase accordingly And therefore if they could but maintain themselves a while the day would certainly come in a short time in which they should be able to work their Wills Such Discourses as these kept the Confederates and our Male-Contents in heart and made them weather on the War in spight of all our Prorogations Therefore I press'd as I have said a Dissolution until February last when our Circumstances were so totally Changed that we were forced to change our Councels too and be as much for the Parliaments Sitting as we were before against it Our Change was thus Before that time the Lord Arlington was the only Minister in Credit who thought himself out of all danger of the Parliament he having been Accused before them and Justified therefore was Zealous for their sitting and to increase his Reputation with them and to become a perfect Favourite he sets himself all he could to Persecute the Catholick Religion and to oppose the French To shew his Zeal against the first he revived some old dormant Orders for prohibiting Roman Catholicks to appear before the King and put them in Execution at his first coming into his Office of Lord Chamberlain And to make sure work with the second as he thought prevailed with the King to give him and the Earl of Ossory who married two Sisters of Myne Heere Odyke's leave to go over into Holland with the said Heere to make a Visit as they pretended to their Relations But indeed and in truth to propose the Lady Mary Eldest Daughter of his R. H. as a Match for the Prince of Orange not only without the consent but against the good likeing of his R. H. in so much that the Lord Arlingtons Creatures were forced to excuse him with a Distinction that the said Lady was not to be looked upon as the Dukes Daughter but as the Kings and a Child of the State was and so the Duke's consent not much to be Considered in the disposal of her but only the Interest of State By this he intended to render himself the Darling of Parliament and Protestants who look'd upon themselves as secured in their Religion by such an Alliance and designed further to draw us into a Close Conjunction with Holland and the Enemies of France The Lord Arlington set forth upon this Errand the Tenth of November 1674. and returned not till the Sixth of January following During his absence the L. Treasurer L. Keeper the Duke of Lauderdale who were the only Ministers of any considerable Credit with the King and who all pretended to be entirely United to the Duke declaimed Loudly with great Violence against the said Lord his Actions in Holland and did hope in his absence to have totally Supplanted him and to have routed him out of the Kings Favour and after that thought they might easily enough have dealt with the Parliament But none of them had Courage enough to speak against the Parliament till they could get rid of him for fear they should not succeed and that the Parliament would Sit in spight of them and come to hear that they had used their endeavours against it which would have been so Unpardonable a Crime with our Omnipotent Parliament that no Power could have been able to have Saved them from Punishment but they finding at his Return that they could not prevail against him by such Means and Arts as they had then tryed resolved upon New Councels which were to out-run him in his own Course which accordingly they undertook became as fierce Apostles and as zealous for Protestant Religion against Popery as ever my L. Arlington had been before them and in pursuance thereof perswaded the King to issue out those severe Orders Proclamations against Catholicks which came out in February last by which they did as much as in them lay to extirpate all Catholicks and Catholick Religion out of the Kingdom which Councels were in my poor opinion so Detestable being levelled as they must needs be so directly against the Duke by People which he had Advanced and who had professed so much Duty and Service to him that we were put upon new Thoughts how to save his R. H. now from the Deceits and Snares of those men upon whom we formerly depended We saw well enough that their design was to make themselves as grateful as they could to the Parliament if it must Sit they thinking nothing so acceptable to them as the persecution of Popery and yet they were so obnoxious to the Parliaments displeasure in general that they would have been glad of any Expedient to have kept it off though they durst not engage against it openly themselves but thought this Device of theirs might serve for their purposes hoping the Duke would be so alarm'd at their proceedings and by his being left by every body that he would be much more afraid of the Parliament than ever and would use his utmost power to prevent its Sitting which they doubted not but he would endeavour they were ready enough to work underhand too for him for their own sakes not his in order thereunto but durst not appear openly and to encourage the Duke the more to endeavour the Dissolution of the Parliament their Creatures used to say up and down That this Rigour against the Catholicks was in favour of the Duke and to make a Dissolution of the Parliament more easy which they knew he coveted by obviating one great Objection which was commonly made against it which was That if the Parliament should be Dissolved it would be said That it was done in favour of Popery which Clamour they had prevented beforehand by the Severity they had used against it As soon as
for to poyson the king When you were to give an account to the Council of the particular Contrivance of the Murther of the King at Windsor with a Reward you did mention one Reward of 10000 pounds to Dr. Wakeman and would you omit the Guinny to expedite the Messenger and that he said that 10000l was too little would you omit all this Mr. Oates I being so tyred and weak that I was not able to stand upon my Legs and I remember the Council apprehended me to be so weak that one of the Lords of the Council said that if there were any occasion further to examine Mr. Coleman that Mr. Oates should be ready again and bid me retire L. C. Just You was by when the Council were ready to let Mr. Coleman go almost at large Mr. Oates No I never apprehended that for if I did I should have given a further Account L. C. Just What was done to Mr. Coleman at that time was he sent away Prisoner Mr. Oates Yes at that time to the Messengers house and within two dayes after he was sent to Newgate and his Papers were seized L. C. Just Why did you not name Coleman at that time Mr. Oates Because I had spent a great deal of time in accusing other Jesuites Just Wild. What time was there betwixt the first time you were at the Council before you told of this matter concerning the King Mr. Oates When I was first at the Board which was on Saturday night I made Information which began between six and seven and lasted almost to ten I did then give a general Account of the Affairs to the Council without the King Then I went and took Prisoners and before Sunday night I said I thought if Mr. Colemans Papers were searched into they would find matter enough against him in those Papers to hang him I spake those words or words to the like purpose After that Mr. Colemans Papers were searched Mr. Coleman was not to be found but he surrendred himself the next day So that on Sunday I was commanded to give His Majesty a general Information as I had given to the Council on Saturday and the next day again I took Prisoners that night five and next night four Just Wild. How long was it betwixt the time that you were examined and spoke only as to the Letters to that time you told to the King Council or both of them concerning this matter you swear now Mr. Oates My Lord I never told it to the King and Council but I told it to the Houses of Parliament L. Chief Just How long was it between the one and the other Mr. Oates I cannot tell exactly the time it was when the Parliament first sate L. C. J. How came you Mr. Coleman being so desperate a man as he was endeavouring the killing of the King to omit your Information of it to the Council and to the King at both times Mr. Oats I spoke little of the Persons till the persons came face to face L. Chief Just Why did you not accuse all thosse Jesuits by name M. Oates We took a Catalogue of their names but those I did accuse positively and expresly we took up L. Chief Just Did you not accuse Sir George Wakeman by name and that he accepted his Reward Mr. Oates Yes then I did accuse him by name L. Chief Just Why did you not accuse Mr. Coleman by name Mr. Oates For want of Memory being disturbed and wearied in sitting up two nights I could not give that good account of Mr. Coleman which I did afterwards when I consulted my Papers and when I saw Mr. Coleman was secured I had no need to give a farther Account L. Chief Just How long was it between the first charging Mr. Coleman and your acquainting the Parliament with it Mr. Oats From Monday the 30th of September until the Parliament sate L. Chief Just Mr. Coleman will you ask him any thing Prisoner Pray ask Mr. Oats whether he was not as near to me as this Gentleman is because he speaks of his eyes being bad Mr. Oats I had the disadvantage of a Candle upon my eyes Mr. Coleman stood more in the dark Prisoner He names several times that he met with me in this place and that place a third and fourth place about business Mr. Oats He was altered much by his Perriwig in several Meetings and had several Perriwiggs and a Perriwigg doth disguise a man very much but when I heard him speak then I knew him to be Mr. Coleman L. Chief Just Did you hear him speak How were the Questions asked Were they thus Was that the Person Or how often had you seen Mr. Coleman Mr. Oats When the Question was asked by my Lord Chancellour Mr. Coleman when were you last in France He said at such a time Did you see Father le Chese He said he gave him an accidental visit My Lord Chancellor asked him whether or no he had a Pass He said No. Then he told him that was a fault for going out of the Kingdom without a Pass Have you a Kinsman whose name is Playford at S. Omers He said he had one ten years old who is in truth sixteen That question I desired might be asked Then the King bade me go on L. Ch. Just Did the King or Council or Lord Chancellor ask you whether you knew Mr. Coleman or no Mr. Oats They did not ask me L. Ch. Just Mr. Oats answer the question in short and without confounding it with length Were you demanded if you knew M. Coleman Mr. Oats Not to my knowledge L. Ch. Just Did you ever see him or how often Pris He said he did not know me L. Ch. Just You seemed when I asked you before to admit as if you had been asked this question how often you had seen him and gave me no answer because you were doubtful whether it was the man by reason of the inconveniency of the light and your bad fight Mr. Oats I must leave it to the King what answer I made Mr. Coleman he wonders I should give an account of so many intimacies when I said I did not know him at the Council Table Pris It is very strange Mr. Oats should swear now that he was so well acquainted with me and had been so often in my company when upon his accusation at the Council-Table he said nothing of me more than the sending of one Letter which he thought was my hand Mr. Oats I did not say that Pris And he did seem to say there he never saw me before in his life L. Ch. Just Was he asked whether he was acquainted with you for those words are to the same purpose Pris I cannot answer directly I do not say he was asked if he was acquainted with me but I say this that he did declare he did not know me L. Ch. Just Can you prove that Pris I appeal to Sir Tho. Dolman who is â—ow in Court and was then present
himself wrote and counterfeited in the Duke's Name Clerk of the Crown reads the Letter THE 2 d. of June last past his most Christian Majestie offered me most generously his Friendship and the use of his Purse to the assistance against the designs of my Enemies and his and protested unto me That his Interest and mine were so clearly linckt together that those that opposed the one should be lookt upon as Enemies to the other and told me moreover his Opinion of my Lord Arlington and the Parliament which is That he is of opinion that neither the one nor the other is in his Interest or mine and thereupon he desired me to make such Propositions as I should think fit in this Conjuncture All was Transacted by the means of Father Ferrier who made use of Sir William Throgmorton who is an honest man and of truth who was then at Paris and hath held Correspondence with Coleman one of my Family in whom I have great Confidence I was much satisfied to see his most Christian Majestie altogether of my opinion so I made him Answer the 29 th of June by the same means he made use of to write to me that is by Coleman who addrest himself to Father Ferrier by the forementioned Knight and entirely agreed to his most Christian Majestie as well to what had respect to the Union of our Interests as the unusefulness of my Lord Arlington and the Parliament in order to the Service of the King my Brother and his most Christian Majestie and that it was necessary to make use of our joynt and utmost Credits to prevent the Success of those evil designs resolved on by the Lord Arlington and the Parliament against his most Christian Majestie and my Self which of my side I promise really to perform of which since that time I have given reasonable good proof Moreover I made some Proposals which I thought necessary to bring to pass what We were obliged to undertake assuring him That nothing could so firmly establish Our Interest with the King my Brother as that very same Offer of the help of his Purse by which means I had much reason to hope I should be enabled to persuade to the Dissolving of the Parliament and to make void the Designs of my Lord Arlington who works incessantly to advance the Interest of the Prince of Orange and the Hollanders and to lessen that of the King your Master notwithstanding all the Protestations he hath made to this hour to render him service But as that which was proposed was at a stand by reason of the sickness of Father Ferrier so our affairs succeeded not according to our designs only Father Ferrier wrote to me the â—â— th of the last Mâ—â—â—h That 〈…〉 that they had been very well lik'd of but as they contained things that had regard to the Catholick Religion to the offer and use of his Purse he gave me to understand he did not desire I should treat with Monsieur Revigny upon the First but as to the last and had the same time acquainted me that Monsieur Revigny had order to grant me what soever the conjuncture of our Affairs did require and have expected the effects of it to this very hour but nothing being done in it and seeing on the other hand that my Lord Arlington and several others endeavoured by a thousand deceits to break the good Intelligence which is between the King my Brother his most Christian Majestie and my Self to the end they might deceive Us all Three I have thought fit to advertise you of all that is past and desire of you your Assistance and Friendship to prevent the Rogueries of those who have no other design than to betray the Concerns of France and England also and who by their pretended service are the occasion they succeed not As to any thing more I refer you to Sir William Throgmorton and Coleman whom I have Commanded to give an account of the whole state of Our Affair and of the true Condition of England with many others and principally my Lord Arlington's endeavours to represent to you quite otherwise than it is The Two First I mentioned to you are Firm to my Interest so that you may treat with them without any apprehension Serj. Maynard Gentlemen of the Jury pray observe that he takes upon him to prepare a Letter And that in the Duke's Name but contrary to the Duke's Knowledge or Privacy for when he had so much boldness as to tell him of it the Duke was Angry and rejected it But in it we may see what kind of passages there are he takes very much upon him in this matter And Mr. Coleman must keep the Secret too Att. General My Lord I have but one Paper more to read and I have kept it till the last because if we had proved nothing by Witness or not read any thing but this This one Letter is sufficient to maintain the Charge against him It plainly appears to whom it was directed and at what time It begins thus I sent your Reverence a tedious long Letter on our 29 th of September I onely mention this to shew about what time it was sent There are some Clauses in it will speak better than I can Sir Tho. Doleman and Sir Phillip Floyd swear who hath confessed and owned it to be his hand writing 〈…〉 I desire the Letter may be read Clerk of the Crown reads the Letter SIR I Sent your Reverence a tedious long Letter on our 29 th of September to inform you of the progress of Affairs for these 2. or 3. last years I having now again the opportunity of a very sure hand to convey this by I have sent you a Cipher because our Parliament now drawing on I may possibly have occasion to send you something which you may be willing enough to know and may be necessary for us that you should when we may want the conveniency of a Messenger When any thing occurs of more concern other then which may not be fit to be trusted even to a Cipher alone I will to make such a thing more secure write in Lemmon between the Lines of a Letter which shall have nothing in it visible but what I care not who sees but dryed by a warm fire shall discover what is written so that if the Letter comes to your hands and upon drying it any thing appears more then did before you may be sure no body has seen it by the way I will not trouble you with that way of writing but upon special occasions and then I will give you a hint to direct you to look for it by concluding my visible Letter with something of fire or burning by which mark you may please to know that there is something underneath and how my Letter is to be used to find it out We have here a mighty Work upon our Hands no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the utter subduing of
as to know your Person and that I have an Opportunity of putting this Letter into the hands of Father St. German â—s Nephew for whose Integrity and Prudence he has undertaken without any sort of hazard In order then Sir to the plainness I profess I will tell you what has formerly passed between your Reverence's Predecessor Father Ferryer and my self About three years ago when the King my Master sent a Troop of Horse Guards into his most Christian Majesties Service under the Command of my Lord Durass he sent with it an Officer called Sir William Throckmorton with whom I had a particular Intimacy and who had then very newly embrac'd the Catholick Religion To him did I constantly Write and by him address my self to Father Ferryer The first thing of great Importance I presumed to offer him not to trouble you with lesser matters or what passed here before and immediatly after the Fatal Revocation of the Kings Declaration for Liberty of Conscience to which we owe all our Miseries and hazards was in July August and September 1673. when I constantly inculcated the great danger Catholick Religion and his most Christian Majesties Interest would be in at our next Sessions of Parliament which was then to be in October following at which I plainly foresaw that the King my Master would be forced to something in prejudice to his Allyance with France which I saw so evidently and particularly that we should make Peace with Holland that I urg'd all the Arguments I could which to me were Demonstrations to convince your Court of that mischief and press'd all I could to perswade his most Christian Majesty to use his utmost endeavour to prevent that session of our Parliament and proposed Expedients how to do it But I was answered so often and so positively that his most Christian Majesty was so vvell assured by his Embassador here our Embassador there the Lord Arlington and even the King himself that he had no such apprehensions at all but vvas fully satisfied of the contrary and lookt upon what I offered as a very zealous mistake that I was forced to give over arguing though not believing as I did but confidently appealed to time and success to prove who took their measures rightest When it happened what I foresaw came to pass the good Father was a little surprized to see all the great men mistaken and a little one in the right and was pleased by Sir William Throckmorton to desire the continuance of my correspondence which I was mighty willing to comply with knowing the Interest of our King and in a more particular manner of my more immediate Master the Duke and his most Christian Majesty to be so inseparably united that it was impossible to divide them without destroying them all Upon this I shewed that our Parliament in the circumstances it was managed by the timerous Councels of our Ministers who then governed would never be useful either to England France or Catholick Religion but that we should as certainly be forced from our Neutrality at their next meeting as we had been from our Active Alliance with France the last year That a Peace in the Circumstances we were in was much more to be desired then the continuance of the War and that the Dissolution of our Parliament would certainly procure a Peace for that the Confederates did more depend upon the power they had in our Parliament then upon any thing else in the World and were more encouraged from them to the continuing of the War so that if they were Dissolved their measures would be all broken and they consequently in a manner necessitated to a Peace The good Father minding this Discourse somewhat more then the Court of France thought fit to do my former urg'd it so home to the King that his Majesty was pleased to give him Orders to signify to his R. H. my Master that his Majesty vvas fully satisfyed of his R. H s. good intention tovvards him and that he esteemed both their interests but as one and the same that my Lord Arlington and the Parliament were both to be lookt upon as very unuseful to their interest That if his R. H. would endeavour to dissolve this Parliament his most Christian Majesty would assist him with his Povver and Purse to have a nevv one as should be for their purpose This and a great many more expressions of kindness and confidence Father Ferryer was pleased to communicate to Sir William Throckmorton and Commanded them to send them to his R. H. and withall to beg his R. H. to propose to his most Christian Majesty what he thought necessary for his own concern and the advantage of Religion and his Majesty would certainly do all he could to advance both or either of them This Sir William Throckmorton sent to me by an Express who left Paris the 2d of June 1674 Stilo novo I no sooner had it but I communicated it to his R. H. To which his R. H. commanded me to answer as I did on the 29th of the same month That his R. H. was very sensible of his most Christian Majesties friendship and that he would labour to cultivate it with all the good Offices he was capable of doing for his Majesty that he was fully convinced that their Interests were both one that my Lord Arlington and the Parliament vvere not only unuseful but very dangerous both to England and France That therefore it was necessary that they should do all they could to Dissolve it And that his R. H's opinion was that if his most Christian Majesty would Write his thoughts freely to the King of England upon this Subject and make the same proffer to his Majesty of his Purse to Dissolve this Parliament which he had made to his R H. to call another he did believe it very possible for him to succeed with the assistance we should be able to give him here and that if this Parliament were Dissolved there would be no great difficulty of getting a new one which would be more useful The Constitutions of our Parliaments being such that a new one can never hurt the Crown nor an old one do it good His R. H. being pleased to own these Propositions which were but only general I thought it reasonable to be more particular and come closer to the point we might go the faster about the work and come to some issue before the time was too far spent I laid this for my Maxim The Dissolution of our Parliament will certainly procure a Peace which proposition was granted by every body I Conversed withall even by Monsieur Rouvigny himself with whom I took liberty of discoursing so far but durst not say any thing of the Intelligence I had with Father Ferryer Next that a Sum of Money certain would certainly procure a Dissolution this some doubted but I am sure I never did for I knew perfectly well that the King had frequent Disputes with himself at that time whether
we saw these Tricks put upon us we plainly saw what men we had to deal withal and what we had to trust to if we were wholly at their mercy but yet durst not seem so dissatisfied as we really were but rather magnified the Contrivance as a Device of great Cunning and Skill all this we did purely to hold them in a belief that we would endeavour to Dissolve the Parliament that they might rely upon his R. H. for that which we knew they long'd for and were afraid they might do some other way if they discovered that we were resolved we would not At length when we saw the Sessions secured we declared that we were for the Parliaments meeting as indeed we were from the moment we saw our selves handled by all the Kings Ministers at such a rate that we had Reason to believe they would Sacrifice France Religion and his R. H. too to their own Interest if occasion served and that they were lead to believe that that was the only way they had to save themselves at that time for we saw no Expedient fit to stop them in their Carreir of persecution and those other destructive Counsels but the Parliament which had set it self a long time to dislike every thing the Ministers had done and had appeared violently against Popery whilest the Court seemed to favor it and therefore we were Confident that the Ministers having turned their Faces the Parliament would do so too and still be against them and be as little for Persecution then as they had been for Popery before This I undertook to manage for the Duke and the King of France's Interest and assured Mounsieur Rouvigny which I am sure he will testify if occasion serves that that Sessions should do neither of them any hurt for that I was sure I had power enough to prevent mischief though I durst not engage for any good they vvould do because I had but very few assistances to carry on the vvork and vvanted those helps which others had of making friends The Dutch and Spaniard spared no pains or expence of mony to animate as many as they could against France Our Lord Treasurer Lord Keeper all the Bishops such as call'd themselves Old Cavaliers who vvere all then as one man were not less industrious against Popery and had the Purse at their Girdle too vvhich is an Excellent Instrument to gain Friends vvith and all United against the Duke as Patron both of France and Catholick Religion To deal with all this Force vve had no Money but vvhat came from a few private hands and those so mean ones too that I dare venture to say that I spent more my particular self out of my own Fortune and upon my single Credit than all the whole Body of Catholicks in England besides which was so inconsiderable in comparison of what our Adversaries commanded and we verily believe did bestow in making their Party that it is not worth mentioning Yet notwithstanding all this we saw that by the help of the Nonconformists as Presbyterians Independents and other Sects who were as much afraid of Persecution as our selves and of the Enemies of the Ministers and particularly of the Treasurer who by that time had supplanted the Earl of Arlington and was grown sole manager of all Affaires himself we should be very able to prevent vvhat they designed against us and so render the Sessions ineffectual to their Ends though vve might not be able to compass our own which were to make some brisk step in Favour of his R. H. to shew the King that his Majesties Affairs in Parliament were not Obstructed by reason of any Aversion they had to his R. H's Person or apprehensions they had of him or his Religion But from Faction and Ambition in some and from a real dissatisfaction in others that we have not had such fruits and good Effects of those great sums of Money which have been formerly given as was expected If we could then have made but one such step the King would certainly have restored his R. H. to all his Comissions upon which he would have been much greater than ever yet he was in his whole Life or could probably ever have been by any other Course in the World than what he had taken of becoming Catholique c. And we were so very near gaining this Point that I did humbly beg his R. H. to give me leave to put the Parliament upon making an Address to the King that his Majesty would be pleased to put the Fleet into the hands of his R. H. as the only Person likely to give a good Accompt of so important a Charge as that was to the Kingdom And shewed his R. H. such Reasons to perswade him that we could carry it that he agreed with me in it that he believ'd we could Yet others telling him how great a Damage it would be to him if he should miss in such an undertaking which for my part I could not then see nor do I yet he was prevailed upon not to venture though he was perswaded he could carry it I did Communicate this Designe of mine to Mounsieur Rouvigny who agreed with me that it would be the greatest advantage immaginable to his Master to have the Dukes Power and Credit so far Advanced as this would certainly do if we could compass it I shewed him all the Difficulty we were like to meet with and what helps we should have but that we should want one very matterial one Money to carry on the Work as we ought and therefore I do Confess I did shamefully beg his Masters Help and would willingly have been in everlasting Disgrace with all the World if I had not with that assistance of twenty Thousand Pound Sterling which perhaps is not the tenth part of what was spent on the other side made it evident to the Duke that he could not have missed it Mounsieur Rouvigny used to tell me That if he could be sure of succeeding in that Design his Master would give a very much larger Sum but that he was not in a Condition to throw away money upon Uncertainties I Answered That nothing of that nature could be so infallibly sure as not to be subject to some possibilities of Failing but that I durst venture to undertake to make it evident that there was as great an assurance of succeeding in it as any Husbandman can have of a Crop in Harvest vvho sovvs his Ground in its due Season and yet it vvould be counted a very imprudent peice of vvariness in any body to scruple the venturing so much Seed in its proper time because it is possible it may be totally lost and no benefit of it found in Harvest He that mindes the Winds and the Rains at that rate shall neither Sovv nor Reap I take our Case to be much the same as it was the last Sessions If we can advance the Duke's Interest one step forward we shall put him out
We Our Self should assist that Our Commission in Our Person for not being excepted is implyed with the other made by this very Parliament in the 14th year of Our Reign which all Our Subjects or at least many of them were obliged to Swear viz. That the Doctrine of taking up Arms by the King's Authority against His Person was detestable and We soon found that the Design was levelled against the good Protestant Religion of Our good Church which its Enemies had a mind to Blemish by sliding in slily those damnable Doctrines by such an Authority as that of Our Parliament into the Profession of Our Faith or Practices and so expose Our whole Religion to the Scorn and Reproach of themselves and all the World We therefore thought it Our duty to be so watchful as to prevent the Enemies sowing such mischievous Tares as these in the wholsom Field of Our Church of England and to guard the unspotted Spouse of Our Blessed Lord from that foul Accusation with which she justly charges other Churches of teaching their Children Loyalty with so many Reserves and Conditions that they shall never want a distinction to justifie Rebellion nor a Text of Scripture as good as Curse ye Meroz to encourage them to be Traitors whereas Our truly Reformed Church knows no such Subtilties but teaches according to the simplicity of Christianity To submit to every Ordinance of Man for God's sake according to the natural signification of the words without equivocation or Artificial turns In order to which having thought to dissolve that Body which We have these many years so tenderly Cherished and which We are sure consists generally of most Dutiful and Loyal Members We were forc'd to Prorogue Our Parliament till November next hoping thereby to cure those Disorders which have been sown amongst the Best and Loyallest Subjects by a few malicious Incendiaries But understanding since that such who have sowed that Seditious seed are as industriously careful to water it by their Cabals and Emissaries instructed on purpose to poison Our People with discourses in publick places in hopes of a great Crop of Confusion their beloved fruit the next Sessions We have found it absolutely necessary to Dissolve Our Parliament though with great reluctancy and violence to Our inclination But remembring the dayes of Our Royal Father and the progress of Affairs then how from a Cry against Popery the people went on to complain of Grievances and against Evil Councellors and His Majesties Prerogative untill they advanc'd into a formal Rebellion which brought forth the most dire and fatal Effects that ever were yet heard of amongst any men Christians or others and withal finding so great a resemblance between the Procedings then and now that they seem both Broth of the same brains and being Confirm'd in that Conceit by observing the Actions of many now who had a great share in the management of the former Rebellion and their zeal for Religion who by their lives give us too much reason to suspect they have none at all VVe thought it not safe to dally too long as Our Royal Father did with submissions and condescentions endeavouring to cure men infected without removing them from the Air where they got the disease and in which it still rages and increases daily For fear of meeting with no better success than He found in suffering his Parliament to Challenge Power they had nothing to do with till they had bewitch'd the people into fond desires of such things as quickly destroyed both King and Country which in Us would be an intollerable Error having been warn'd so lately by the most Execrable Murther of Our Royal Father and the inhumane Usage which We Our Self in Our Royal Person and Family have suffered and Our Loyal Subjects have endured by such practices And least this Our great Care of this Our Kingdomes Quiet and Our own Honour and Safety should as Our best Actions have hitherto been be wrested to some sinister Sence and Arguments be made from it to scare Our Good People into any apprehensions of an Arbitrary Government either in Church or State We do hereby solemnly declare and faithfully engage Our Royal Word That VVe will in no case either Ecclesiastical or Civil violate or alter the known Lawes of Our Kingdom or invade any man's Property or Liberty without due course of Law But that We will with Our utmost Indeavours preserve the true Protestant Religion and Redress all such things as shall indifferently and without passion be judg'd Grievances by Our next Parliament which We do by God's blessing intend to Call before the end of February next In the mean time We do strictly Charge and Command all manner of persons whatsoever to forbear to talk seditiously slightly or irreverently of Our Dissolving of the Parliament of this Our Declaration or of Our Person or Government as they will answer it at their perils VVe being resolv'd to prosecute all Offenders in that kind with the utmost rigour and severity of the Law And to the end that such Licentious persons if any shall be so impudent and obstinate as to disobey this Our Royal Command may be detected and brought to due Punishment We have Ordered Our Lord Treasurer to make speedy payment of Twenty pounds to any person or persons who shall discover or bring any such seditious slight or irreverent Talker before any of Our Principal Secretaries of State Record I would have the Jury should know the Declaration ends To one of his Majesties Principal Secretaries of State whereof he hoped to be one Att. Gen. This is written in the name of the King for Mr. Coleman thought himself now Secretary of State and he penns the Declaration for the King to give an Account why the Parliament was Dissolved Serj. Maynard The long Letter it appears was to dissolve the Parliament and to make it Cock-sure he provides a Declaration to shew the Reason of it It was done in order to bring in Popery that may appear by the subsequent proof Att. Gen. I have other Evidence to offer to your Lordship which is That Mr. Coleman was not onely so bold as to prepare a Declaration for the King but also out of his own further ingenuity prepares a Letter contrary to the Duke's knowledg for the Duke which before several Lords he confessed and Sir Philip Floyd is here ready to justifie it Sir Phil. Floyd I did attend a Committee of the House of Lords to Newgate who examined Mr. Coleman and told him of the Letter Mr. Attorney mentioneth he then confessed That it was prepared without the Order and Privity of the Duke and when he was so bold as to shew it the Duke the Duke was very Angry and rejected it L. Chief Just He hath been a very forward undertaker on the behalf of the Duke Mr. Att. Gen. I desire the Letter may be read The Copy of the Letter written to Monsieur Le Chese the French King's Confessor which Mr. Coleman confessed he
Lodging in Vere-Street by Covent-Garden in a Trunck that came by the Carrier that will shew when they were sent L. Ch. Just If the Cause did turn upon that matter I would be well content to sit untill the Book was brought but I doubt the Cause will not stand upon that Foot but if that were the Case it would do you little good Observe what I say to the Jury My Lord Chief Justice his Speech to the Jury upon his summing up of the Evidence Gentlemen of the Jury My Care at this time shall be to contract this very long Evidence and to bring it within a short compass that you may have nothing before you to consider of as near as I can but what is really material to the Acquitting or Condemning of Mr. Coleman The things he is Accused of are of two sorts the one is to subvert the Protestant Religion and to introduce Popery the other was to destroy and kill the King The Evidence likewise was of two sorts The one by Letters of his own hand writing and the other by Witnesses Viva voce The former he seems to confess the other totally to deny For that he confesseth he does not seem to insist upon it that the Letters were not his he seems to admit they were And he rather makes his Defence by expounding what the meaning of these Letters were than by denying himself to be the Author I would have you take me right when I say he doth admit he doth not admit the Construction that the Kings Council here makes upon them but he admits that these Letters were his He admits it so far that he does not deny them So that you are to Examine what these Letters import in themselves and what Consequences are naturally to be deduced from them That which is plainly intended is to bring in the Roman Catholick and to subvert the Protestant Religion That which is by Consequence intended was the Killing the King as being the most likely means to introduce That which as 't is apparent by his Letters was designed to be brought in For the First part of the Evidence All his Great long Letter that he wrote was to give the present Confessor of the French King an Account of what had passed between him and his predecessor By which Agency you may see that Mr. Coleman was In with the former Confessor And when he comes to give an Account of the three years Transactions to this present Confessor and to begin a Correspondence with him About what is it Why the substance of the Heads of the long Letter comes to this It was to bring in the Catholick as he call'd it that is the Romish Catholick Religion and to establish that here and to advance an Interest for the French King be that Interest what it will It 's true his Letters do not express what sort of Interest neither will I determine but they say it was to promote the French Kings Interest which Mr. Coleman would expound in some such sort as may consist with the King of Englands and the Duke of York's Interest But this is certain it was to subvert our Religion as it is now by Law established This was the great end thereof it cannot be denyed To promote the Interest I say of the French King and to gain to himself a Pention as a reward of his service is the Contents of his First long Letter and one or two more concerning that Pention His last Letters expound more plainly what was meaâ—t by the French Kings Interest We are saith he about a great work no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms and the totall and utter subversion and subduing of that pestilent Heresie that is the Protestant Religion which hath reigned so long in this Northern part of the World and for the doing of which there never was such great hopes since our Queen Maries Days as at this time Now this plainly shews that our Religion was to be subverted Popery established and the three Kingdoms to be converted that is indeed to be brought to confusion For I say that when our Religion is to be subverted the Nation is to be subverted and destroyed that is most apparent For there could be no hope of subverting or destroying the Protestant Religion but by a Subversion not Conversion of the three Kingdoms How was it to be done otherwise Why I would have brought this Religion in says he by dissolving of the Parliament I would have brought it in by an Edict and Proclamation of Liberty of Conscience In these ways I would have brought it in Mr. Coleman knows it is not fit for him to own the introducing of his Religion by the Murder of the King or by a Forein Force The one was too black and the other too bloody to be owned And few people especially the English will be brought to save their Lives as he may do his by confession of so bloody and barbarous a thing as an intention to Kill the King or of Levying a War which though it be not a Particular is a General Murder I say it was not convenient for Mr. Coleman when he seemâ— to speak something for himself to give such an Account how he would have done it Therefore he tells us he would have done it by the dissolving of the Parliament and by Toleration of Religion Now I would very fain know of any man in the World whether this was not a very fine and artificial covering of his design for the Subversion of our Religion Pray how can any man think that the Dissolving of the Parliament could have such a mighty influence to that purpose It is true he might imagine it might in some sort contribute towards it Yet it is so doubtful that he himself mistrusts it For he is sometimes for the Dissolving of the Parliament and other times not as appears by his own papers For which we are not beholding to him so much as for any one more than what were found by accident and produced to the King and Council But in truth why should Mr. Coleman believe that another Parliament if this Parliament were Dissolved should comply with Popery That is to say That there should be great hopes of bringing in of Popery by a new Parliament Unless he can give me a good reason for this I shall hold it as insignificant and as unlikely to have that effect as his other way by a General Toleration And therefore next Upon what ground does he presume this I do assure you that man does not understand the inclinations of the English people or knows their Tempers that thinks if they were left to themselves and had their Liberty they would turn Papists It 's true there are some amongst us that have so little Wit as to turn Fanaticks but there is hardly any but have much more wit than to turn Papists These are therefore the Counterfeit pretentions of Mr. Coleman Now if not by these means In what way truly
likewise found Guilty of endeavouring to subvert the Protestant Religion as it is by Law Established and to bring in Popery and this by the aid and assistance of Forraign Powers And I would not have you Mr. Coleman in your last apprehension of things to go out of the World with a mistake if I could help it That is I would not have you think that though you only seem to disavow the matter of the death of the King that therefore you should think your self an Innocent man You are not Innocent I am sure for it is apparent by that which cannot deceive that you are guilty of Contriving and Conspiring the Destruction of the Protestant Religion and to bring in Popery and that by the aid and assistance of Forraign Powers and this no man can free you in the least from And know that if it should be true that you would disavow that you had not an actual hand in the Contrivance of the Kings death which two witnesses have sworn positively against you yet he that will subvert the Protestant Religion here and bring in consequentially a Forraign Authority do's an act in derogation of the Crown and in Diminution of the Kings Title and Soveraign Power and endeavours to bring a Forraign Dominion both over our Consciences and Estates And if any man shall endeavour to subvert our Religion to bring in that though he did not actually contrive to do it by the Death of the King or it may be not by the death of any one man yet whatsoever follows upon that contrivance he is guilty of Insomuch it is greatly to be fear'd that though you meant only to bring it in by the way of Dissolving of Parliaments or by Liberty of Conscience and such kind of innocent ways as you thought yet if so be those means should not have proved Effectual and worse should have been taken though by others of your Confederates for to go through with the work as we have great reason to believe there would you are guilty of all that blood that would have followed But still you say you did not design that thing but to tell you he that doth a sinful and unlawful Act must answer and is liable both to God and man for all the consequences that attend it therefore I say you ought not to think your self innocent 'T is possible you may be penitent and nothing remains but that And as I think in your Church you allow of a thing called Attrition if you cannot with our Church have Contrition which is a sorrow proceeding from Love Pray make use of Attrition which is a sorrow arising from Fear For you may assure your self there are but a few moments betwixt you and a vast Eternity where will be no dallying no arts to be used therefore think on all the good you can do in this little space of time that is left you all is little enough to wipe off besides your private and secret offences even your publick ones I do know that Confession is very much owned in your Church and you do well in it but as your offence is publick so should your Confession be and it will do you more service then all your Auricular Confessions Were I in your case there should be nothing at the bottom of my heart that I would not disclose Perchance you may be deluded with the fond hopes of having your sentence respited Trust not to it Mr. Coleman you may be flatter'd to stop your mouth till they have stopt your breath and I doubt you will find that to be the event I think it becomes you as a man and as a Christian to do all that is now in your power since you cannot be white to make your self as clean as you can and to fit your self for another world where you will see how vain all resolutions of obstinacy of concealment and all that sort of bravery which perhaps may be instil'd by some men will prove They will not then serve to lessen but they will add to your fault It concerns Us no farther than for your own good and Do as God shall direct you for the truth is There are perswasions and inducements in your Church to such kind of Resolutions and such kind of Actions which you are led into by false Principles and false Doctrines and so you will find when you come once to experiment it as shortly you will that hardly the Religion of a Turk would own But when Christians by any violent bloody Act attempt to propagate Religion they abuse both their Disciples and Religion too and change that way that Christ Himself taught us to follow him by 'T was not by blood or violence By no single mans undertaking to disturb and to alter Governments To make hurly burlies and all the mischiefs that attend such things as these are For a Church to perswade men even to the Committing of the highest Violences under a pretence of doing God good service looks not in my Opinion like Religion but Design like an Engine not a Holy institution Artificial as a Clock which follows not the Sun but the Setter Goes not according to the Bible but the Priest whose Interpretations serve their particular ends and those private advantages which True Religion would scorn and Natural Religion it self would not endure I have Mr. Coleman said thus much to you as you are a Christian and as I am one and I do it out of great Charity and Compassion and with great sense and sorrow that you should be mislead to these great offences under pretence of Religion But seeing you have but a little time I would have you make use of it to your best advantage for I tell you that though death may be talkt of at a distance in a brave Heroick way yet when a man once comes to the minute death is a very serious thing then you will consider how trifling all Plots and Contrivances are and to how little purpose is all your concealments I only offer these things to your thoughts and perhaps they may better go down at such a time as this is then at another and if they have no effect upon you I hope they will have some as to my own particular in that I have done my good will I do remember you once more that in this matter you be not deluded with any fantastick hopes and expectations of a Pardon for the Truth is Mr. Coleman you will be deceived therefore set your heart at Rest for we are at this time in such disorders and the people so continually Alarm'd either with secret Murthers or some Outrages and Violences that are this day on foot that though the King who is full of mercy almost to a fault yet if he should be inclined that way I verily believe both Houses would interpose between that and you I speak this to shake off all vain hopes from you for I tell you I verily believe they would not you should have any Twigg
Popish and extirpate the Protestant Religion I doubt not but this Design in some measure hath been contriving ever since the Reformation by the Jesuits or some of their Emissaries but hath often received interruption so that they have proceeded sometimes more coldly sometimes more hotly And I do think at no time since the Reformation that ever this Design was carried on with greater industry nor with fairer hopes of success than for these last years My Lord You will hear from our Witnesses that the first Onset which was to be made upon us was by whole Troops of Jesuits and Priests who were sent hither from the Seminaries abroad where they had been trained up in all the subtilty and skill that was fit to work upon the People My Lord you will hear how active they have been and what insinuations they used for the perverting of particular persons After some time spent in such attempts they quickly grew weary of that course though they got some Proselytes they were but few Some Bodies in whom there was a predisposition of humors were infected but their Numbers were not great They at last resolve to take a more expeditious way for in truth my Lord they could not far prevail by the former And I wish with all my heart that the Bodies of Protestants may be as much out of danger of the violence of their hands as their Understandings will be of the force of their Arguments But my Lord when this way would not take they began then to consider they must throw at all at once No doubt but they would have been glad that the People of England had had but one Neck but they knew the People of England had but one Head and therefore they were resolved to strike at that My Lord you will find that there was a Summons of the principal Jesuits of the most able Head-pieces who were to meet in April or May last to consult of very great things of a most Diabolical Nature no less than how to take away the life of the King our Sovereign My Lord you will find as is usually practised in such horrid Conspiracies to make all secure that there was an Oath of Secresie taken and that upon the Sacrament You will find Agreements made that this most wicked and horrible Design should be attempted You will find two Villains were found among them who undertook to do this execrable work and you will hear of the rewards they were to have Money in case they did succeed and Masses good store in case they perished so that their Bodies were provided for in case they survived and their Souls if they died My Lord What was the reason they did not effect their Design but either that these Villains wanted opportunity or their hearts failed them when they came to put in execution this wicked Design or perhaps which is most probable it was the Providence of God which over-rul'd them that this bloody Design did not take its effect But these Gentlemen were not content with one Essay they quickly thought of another and there were four Irish-men prepared men of very mean Fortunes and desperate conditions and they were to make the attempt no longer since than when the King was last at Windsor My Lord I perceive by the Proofs that these last Assassinates went down thither but it came to pass for some of the Reasons aforesaid that that Attempt failed likewise My Lord These Gentlemen those wise Heads who had met here in Consultation did then and long before consider with themselves that so great a Cause as this was not to be put upon the hazard of some few hands they therefore prepared Forces Aids and Assistances both at home and abroad to second this wicked Design if it had succeeded as to the Person of the King and if that fail'd then by their Foreign and Domestick Aids and Assistances to begin and accomplish the whole Work of subverting our Government and Religion And here we must needs confess as to the former part of this Plot which we have mentioned I mean the attempt upon the Kings Person Mr. Coleman was not the Contriver nor to be the Executioner But yet your Lordship knows in all Treasons there is no Accessory but every man is a Principal And thus much we have against him even as to this part of the Design which will involve him in the whole guilt of it that Mr. Coleman consented to it though his hand were not to do it Mr. Coleman encouraged a Messenger to carry Money down as a Reward of these Murtherers that were at Windsor of this we have proof against him which is sufficient My Lord Mr. Coleman as a man of greater abilities is reserved for greater Employments and such wherein I confess all his Abilities were little enough There were Negotiations to be made with Men abroad Money to be procured partly at home from Friends here and partly abroad from those that wish'd them well And in all these Negotiations Mr. Coleman had a mighty hand and you will perceive by and by what a great progress he made in them This Conspiracy went so far as you will hear it proved That there were General Officers named and appointed that should Command their new Catholick Army and many were Engaged if not Listed There were not onely in England but in Ireland likewise where Arms and all other Necessaries were provided and whither great Sums of Money were returned to serve upon occasion But one thing there is my Lord that comes nearest Mr. Coleman As there were Military Officers named so likewise the great Civil Places and Offices of the Kingdom were to be disposed of I will not nameto whom at this time more than what is pertinent to the present business This Gentleman such were his great Abilities the trust and reliance that his Party had upon him that no less an Office would serve his turn than that of Principal Secretary of State and he had a Commission that came to him from the Superiours of the Jesuits to enable him to execute that great Office My Lord it seems strange that so great an Office should be conferred by no greater a man than the Superior of the Jesuits But if the Pope can depose Kings and dispose of Kingdoms no wonder if the Superior of the Jesuits can by a Power delegated from him make Secretaries It is not certain what the Date of this Commission was nor the very time when he received it but I believe he was so earnest and forward in this Plot that he began to execute his Office long before he had his Commission for it for I find by his Letters which are of a more early Date that he had proceeded so far as to treat with Father Ferrier who was the French Kings Confessor before he had actually received this Commission You will understand by the Letters which we shall produce what he had to do with him and what with the other Confessor that succeeded
Father Le Chese There were two small matters they treated of no less than the Dissolving the Parliament and the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion Nay you will find and you will hear enough when the Letters come to be read that Mr. Coleman made many strokes at the Parliament he had no good opinion of them And we cannot blame him for without all peradventure they had made and I hope ever will make strong resistance against such Designs as these But a great mind he had to be rid of them and he had hopes of great Sums of Money from abroad if it had been to be done that way And it is very remarkable and shews the vanity of the Man he had such an opinion of the success of these Negotiations that he had penn'd a Declaration prepared by him and writ with his own hand to be published in Print up on the Dissolution of the Parliament to justifie that Action with many specious and plausible Reasons As he did this without any direction so he takes upon him to write a Declaration as in the Name of the King without the least shadow of any command to do it so he prepares a Letter also in the name of the Duke and I would not affirm unless I could prove it and that from his own Confession being examined before the Lords upon Oath that he had no manner of Authority from the Duke to prepare such a Letter and when it was written and brought to the Duke it was rejected and the Writer justly blamed for his presumption By this you will perceive the forwardness of this Man And you must of necessity take notice that in his Letters he took upon himself to manage Affairs as authorized by the greatest Persons in the Kingdom yet without the least shadow of proof that he was by them impowered to do it My Lord you shall find Mr. Coleman thought himself above all and such was his own over-weening opinion of his Wit and Policy that he thought himself the sole and supreme Director of all the Affairs of the Catholicks You will likewise perceive that he held Intelligence with Cardinal Norfolk with Father Sheldon and the Popes Internuntio at Brussels And I cannot but observe out of the Proofs that as we shall find Mr. Coleman very ambitious and forward in all great Affairs so he had a little too much Eye to the Reward he looked too much asquint upon the matter of Money his great endeavours were not so much out of Conscience or out of Zeal to his Religion as out of temporal Interest to him Gain was instead of Godliness And by his Letters to the French Confessor Monsieur Le Chese it will be proved that he got much Money from the Catholicks here and some from abroad but still he wanted Money What to do I do not mean the greater sum of two hundred thousand pounds to procure the Dissolution of the Parliament but some twenty thousand pounds onely To be expended by him in secret Service I do not know what account he would have given of it if he had been intrusted with it But that he earnestly thirsted after Money appeareth by most of his Letters My Lord you will observe besides his Intelligences that he had with Father Le Chese and several others one that deserves to be named and that is his Negotiation with Sir William Frogmorton who was sent over into France and there resided a long time to promote these Designs He is dead therefore I will not say so much of him as I would say against him if he was here to be tri'd But my Lord I find in his Letters such Treasonable such Impious expressions against the King such undutiful Characters of him that no good Subject would write and no good Subject would receive and conceal as Mr. Coleman hath done My Lord it may pass for a wonder how we come to be Masters of all these Papers it has in part been told you already There was an information given of the general Design nay of some of the particulars against the Kings Life And without all peradventure Mr. Coleman knew of this Discovery and he knew that he had Papers that could speak too much and he had time and opportunity enough to have made them away and I make no question but he did make many away We are not able to prove the continuance of his correspondence so as to make it clearly out but we suppose that continued until the day he was seized And there is this to be proved that Letters came for him though we cannot say any were delivered to him after he was in Prison But without all peradventure the Man had too much to do too many Papers to conceal Then you 'll say he might have burnt them all for many would burn as well as a few But then he had lost much of the Honour of a great States-man many a fine Sentence and many a deep Intrigue had been lost to all Posterity I believe that we owe this Discovery to something of Mr. Coleman's Vanity he would not lose the Glory of managing these important Negotiations about so great a Design He thought 't was no small Reputation to be intrusted with the Secrets of Forreign Ministers If this was not his reason God I believe took away from him that clearness of Judgment and strength of Memory which he had upon other occasions My Lord I shall no longer detain you from reading the Papers themselves But I cannot but account this Kingdom happy that these Papers are preserved For my Lord We are to deal with a sort of men that have that prodigious confidence that their words and deeds though proved by never so unsuspected Testimony they will still deny But my Lord no denial of this Plot will prevail for Mr. Coleman himself hath with his own hand recorded this Conspiracy and we can prove his hand not onely by his own Servants and Relations but by his own Confession So that my Lord I doubt not that if there be any of their own Party that hear this Trial they themselves will be satisfi'd with the truth of these things And I believe we have an advantage in this case which they will not allow us in another matter namely that we shall be for this once permitted to believe our own Senses Our Evidence consisteth of two parts one is Witnesses Viva voce which we desire with the favour of the Court to begin with and when that is done we shall read several Letters or Negotiations in writing and so submit the whole to your Lordships direction Pris I beg leave that a poor ignorant Man that is so heavily charged that it seems a little unequal to consider the reason why a Prisoner in such a case as this is is not allowed Counsel but your Lordship is supposed to be Counsel for him But I think it very hard I cannot be admitted Counsel and I humbly hope your Lordship will not suffer me