Designs have so far prevailed that he hath created many and great Dependents upon him by his bestowing Offices and Preferments both in Church and State. 3. It appearing also to us That by his Influence Mercenary Forces have been levied and kept on Foot for his secret Designs contrary to our Laws the Officers thereof having been named and appointed by him to the apparent hazzard of his Majesties Person our Religion and Government if the danger had not been timely foreseen by several Parliaments and part of those Forces with great difficulty caused by them to be Disbanded at the Kingdoms great Expence And it being Evident that notwithstanding all the continual endeavours of the Parliament to deliver his Majesty from the Councils and out of the Power of the said D. yet his Interest in the Ministry of State and others hath been so prevalent That Parliaments have been unreasonably Prorogued and Dissolved when they have been in hot pursuit of the Popish Conspiracies and ill Ministers of State their Assistants 4. And that the said D. in order to reduce all into his own Power hath procured the Garisons the Army and Ammunition and all the Powet of the Seas and Souldiery and Lands belonging to these Three Kingdoms to be put into the hands of his Party and their Adherents even in opposition to the Advice and Order of the last Parliament 5. And as we considering with Heavy Hearts how greatly the Strength Reputation and Treasure of the Kingdom both at Sea and Land is Wasted and Consumed and lost by the intricate expensive management of these Wicked destructive Designs and finding the same Councils after exemplary Iustice upon some of the Conspirators to be still pursued with the utmost devilish malice and desire of Revenge whereby his Majesty is in continual hazzard of being Murdered to make way for the said D's Advancement to the Crown and the whole Kingdom in such case is destitute of all security of their Religion Laws Estates and Liberty sad experience in the Case Queen Mary having proved the wisest Laws to be of little Force to keep out Popery and Tyranny under a Popish Prince 6. We have therefore endeavoured in a Parliamentary-way by a Bill for the purpose to Bar and Exclude the said Duke from the Succession to the Crown and to Banish him for ever out of these Kingdoms of England and Ireland But the first Means of the King and Kingdoms Safety being utterly rejected and we left almost in Despair of obtaining any real and effectual security and knowing our selves to be intrusted to Advise and Act for the preservation of his Majesty and the Kingdom and being persuaded in our Consciences that the Dangers aforesaid are so eminent and pressing that there ought to be no delay of the best means that are in our power to secure the Kingdom against them We have 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 true Protestant Religion his Majesties Person and Royal State and our Laws Liberties and Properties and we hold it our bounden Duty to join our selves for the same intent in a Declaration of our United Affections and Resolutions in the Form Ensuing THE Association I A. B. Do in the presence of God solemnly Promise Vow and Protest to maintain and Defend to the utmost of my Power with my Person and Estate the True-Protestant Religion against Popery and all Popish Superstition Idolatry or Innovation and all those that do or shall endeavour to spread or advance it within this Kingdom I will also as far as in me lies maintain and defend His Majesties Royal Person and Estate as also the power and priviledge of Parliaments the lawfull Rights and Liberties of the Subject against all Incroachments and Usurpation of Arbitrary power whatsoever and endeavour intirely to Disband all such Mercenary Forces as we have reason to believe were raised to advance it and are still kept up in and about the City of London to the great Amazement and Terrour of all the good people of the Land. Moreover I. D. of Y. having publickly professed and owned the Popish Religion and notoriously given Life and Birth to the Damnable and Hellish Plots of the Papists against his Majesties Person the Protestant Religion and the Government of this Kingdom I will never consent that the said I. D. of Y. or any other who is or hath been a Papist or any ways Adher'd to the Papists in their wicked Designs be admitted to the Succession of the Crown of England But by all lawfull means and by force of Arms if need so require according to my Abilities will oppose him and endeavour to Subdue Expell and Destroy him if he come into England or the Dominions thereof and seek by force to set up his pretended Title and all such as shall Adhere unto him or raise any War Tumult or Sedition for him or by his Command as publique Enemies of our Laws Religion and Countrey To this end we and every one of us whose hands are here under-written do most willingly bind our selves and every one of us unto the other joyntly and severally in the Bond of one firm and loyal Society or Association and do promise and vow before God That with our joint and particular Forces we will Oppose and Pursue unto Destruction all such as upon any Title whatsoever shall oppose the Iust and Righteous ends of this Association and Maintain Protect and Defend all such as shall enter into it in the just performance of the true intent and meaning of it And lest this Just and Pious Work should be any ways obstructed or hindered for want of Discipline and Conduct or any evil-minded persons under pretence of raising Forces for the service of this Association should attempt or commit Disorders we will follow such Orders as we 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 us in the several Countries Cities and Burroughs untill the next meeting of this or another Parliament and will then shew the same Obedience and Submission unto it and those who shall be of it Neither will we for any respect of Persons or Causes or for Fear or Reward separate our selves from this Association or fail in the Prosecution thereof during our Lives upon pain of being by the rest of us prosecuted and suppressed as Perjur'd persons and publick Enemies to God the King and our Native Countrey To which Pains and Punishments we do voluntarily submit our selves and every one of us without benefit of any Colour or Pretence to excuse us In witness of all which Premisses to be Inviolably kept we do to this present Writing put our Hands and Seals and shall be most ready to
is no Security or Safety for the Protestant Religion the King's Life or the Well-Constituted and Established Government of This Kingdom without Passing a Bill for Disabling James Duke of York to Inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging and to Rely upon any other Means and Remedies without such a Bill is not only Insufficient but Dangerous Here 's the Horrid Popish English Plot made the Ground for the Excluding of the Duke and keeping the King short of Mony according to the Intent of the Votes of Ian. 7. 1680. above-mention'd And That 's made the Foundation likewise for the Refusal in the Address before-Cited in the very Syllables of the said Address That your Majesties Sacred Life is in Continual Danger under the Prospect of a Popish Successor is Evident not only from the Principles of Those Devoted to the Church of Rome but also from the Testimonies Given in the Prosecution of the Horrid Popish Plot against Divers Traytors Attainted for Designing to put Those Accursed Principles into Practice against your Majesty There needs no Subtlety of Quirking or Reasoning upon this Case of MONY the Spite of it lying so Open that Every Common Eye sees thorough it and that the Terms the Republican Cabal Treated upon in some of those Parliaments were no other then a Tryal of Skill to see if they could bring his Late Majesty to a Composition for his Crown For the King was to have No Mony but upon Conditions of Disinheriting his Brother and more yet as I shall shew in Due Place Contrary to all the Tyes of Conscience Gratitude Iustice and Prudence And All for fear of a Damnable Hellish Popish Plot. We shall see now how they Dealt with his Majesty likewise in the Matter of Power No Power THE Power of a Prince Exerts it self in the Means of an Ample Revenue to Answer all the Necessities of the Crown to Pay his Troups and to Reward Honourable Services In the Privileges of Sovereign Authority the Love and the Reputation that he has in the Hearts of his People In the Arms of his Militia the Command of his Subjects and the Chearfull Obedience of his Friends They had allready Maim'd and Disabled his Late Sacred Majesty in the First Great Point of his Revenue That which comes-on Next is to see how they dealt with him in respect of his Power of Prerogative in General and as to his Forces both by Land and by Sea in Particular and whether the whole Proceeding was not still Grounded upon the Damnable Bug-bear of the Popish Plot. How they us'd him upon the Matter of his Credit and Friends shall come-on in due Time. But to Proceed now to an Enquiry how they handled him upon the Subject of his Prerogative First in the Case of the Earl of Danby The Kings Prerogative of Pardoning Question'd REsolved That an Humble Address be made to His Majesty Representing to his Majesty the Irregularity and Illegality of the Pardon mentioned by his Majesty to be Granted to the Earl of Danby and the Dangerous Consequence of Granting Pardons to Any Persons that lie under an Impeachment of the Commons of England Here 's the Kings Power of Life and Death shaken at the very Root and what 's the Unpardonable Crime at last but This among Others That he is Popishly-Affected and hath Trayterously Conceal'd after he had Notice of the Late Horrid Plot or Conspiracy Contrived by the Papists against his Majesties Person and Government and hath Suppress'd the Evidence and Reproachfully Discountenanced the Kings Witnesses in the Discovery of it in favour of Popery Immediately tending to the Destruction of the Kings Sacred Person and Subversion of the Protestant Religion There happen'd no Evil under the Sun in those Days but the Late Horrid Plot or somewhat like it had still a Finger in the Pye But from Pardoning in my Lord Danby's Case they proceeded afterward to a Bolder Step in my Lord Staffords and to make a Moot-Point of it whether the King by his Prerogative could so much as Remit any Part of the Sentence but Sir W. I. gave his Opinion upon 't in Favour of the Prerogative upon a very Weighty Reason This House says he lyeth not under any Obligation to Offer at any Opposition nor concern themselves herein Especially at This Time when such a Dispute may End in Preventing of the Execution of the said Lord Stafford And therefore I do humbly Conceive you may do well to give your Consent that the said Writ be Executed according to its Tenor. The Short of the Bus'ness was This Sentence of Death was pass'd in Form upon my Lord Stafford and the Kings Writ to the Sheriffs Commanded only his Head to be Sever'd from his Body Bethel and Cornish the then Sheriffs of London and Middlesex Apply'd themselves by Petition to the Lords to know whether they should Obey the Writ or Not The Lords found the Scruples Vnnecessary and Declar'd That the Kings Writ ought to be Obey'd After this to the Commons Stating the Matter under These Four Following Quaeries I speak upon the Credit of the Collection of Debates above-mention'd 1. Whether the King being neither Iudge nor Party can Order the Execution 2. Whether the Lords can award Execution 3. Whether the King can Dispense with any part of the Execution 4. If the King can Dispense with some part of the Execution why not with All Upon the Debate it was in the Conclusion Resolved That This House is CONTENT That is to say it does VOVCHSAFE and with MVCH A-DO too that the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex do Execute William Late Viscount Stafford by Severing his Head from his Body only The Story of these Insolencies will never be Believ'd in After-Ages but however we are upon the Foot still of the Trayterous and Execrable Conspiracy for the Imprisoning Deposing and Murdering his Sacred Majesty and the Raising and Disposing of Men Monys Arms and other Things Necessary for their Wicked and Trayterous Designs and Namely a Commission for William Viscount Stafford to be Paymaster of the Army HEre 's a Dreadfull Bus'ness as the Good Woman said about this same Trayterous and Execrable Conspiracy Pray the Lord it be all True at Last for the Government was Mightily off the Hinges about it and the Fountain of Mercy and Power seem'd to be quite Dry'd-up The Sheriffs were become the Peoples Officers and the Commons made Iudges of the Validity of the King 's Writ The Style of Authority was no longer We Charge and Command but Resolv'd upon the Question and the Power of the Keys dropt into St. Stephens Chapel Parliamentary as well as Pardoning Power Encroch'd upon AND that they might not seem Partial to One Prerogative more then Another They struck at the King's Power of Parliaments as well as of Pardons and finding that an Everlasting Parliament Agreed so well with their Predecessors
Study'd and Endeavour'd to Prevent and Avoid are Done on the One Hand and falln upon us on the Other That is to say an Vnruly Zeal has brought us to the Sight of our Error and the man is Blind that does not by this Time Reade his Mistake in his Punishment Without any more ado Hinc Illae Lachrymae But it is My Fortune still to bear the Burden of Other Peoples Faults while They if I may set the Truth against the Vanity Reap the Fruit and the Credit of My Services How have I been Loaden with Reproaches of being Popishly-Affected for Advising the Surest the Fairest and the most Christian way of doing Right Honour and Iustice to the Church of England while Those very People set-up for the Pillars of the Protestant Religion whose Heats and Intemperances have the most Endanger'd it I Write and Speak my Mind with the same Singleness of Meaning and Simplicity of Thought at This Day that Ever I did and I do not find in the Change of my Master any Change in the Tye of my Allegiance I reckon my self Bound by the Laws of God and in Common Decency Prudence and Duty to Preserve a Right Vnderstadning betwixt my Religion and matter of Civil Obedience and Respect The Divine does not Discharge the Subject neither does Christianity pretend to Cross the Measures to Trouble the Peace or to Thwart the Order of Government The Frame of a Political Body is as Nice and Delicate as That of a piece of Clock-work It will hardly endure so much as Breathing upon It must be kept Clean as well as Whole and from Dust or Cankering as well as from Falls and Bruises For Scandal is a Step toward Sedition and the Blackening of a Prince in his Reputation is next door to Drawing Bloud of him A man can hardly make Subjects Think amiss of their Sovereign without Disposing them to Vndutifull Actions too and there are Ways of Calumniating so Artificial and so Effectual that the Greatest Mischief in the World seems to be done Many times for Gods sake and the Irreverence to be Hallow'd by Scripture and by Conscience Common Men will not bear the Assront of being told that there are none but Knaves and Fools of their Opinion But yet at the same Time there will be No Exception taken at Mens Supporting their Own Sense of Things without Falling Foul upon Differing Iudgments The Question is whether I 'me in the Right not whether Another is in the Wrong or No. And 't is the Part of a Sober Man to keep himself within his Own Province 'T is so far from Meritorious Modest Charitable or Discreet for Men that set-up for the Reputation of a Protestant Zeal and Purity to be still Crying-out upon the Comparison Lord we are not as the Idolatrous Perfidious and King-Killing Papists that our Saviour in the Parable of the Phaâ—isee has Expresly set forth for our Instruction his uttermost Abhorrence of those Boasting Services and Vncharitable Devotions Lord I do This and I do That he Cries and Lord I am not as Other Men Are nor even as This Publican Why here 's a kind of a Iustification by Works without either Grace Faith or Good-manners and a Religious Pretext Advanc'd upon the Ruins of Brotherly Love. But as I was a saying can it be Imagin'd that a Prince will bear That from a Subject that One Private Man will not Endure from Another There 's no Libell so Bitter so Moving so Provoking and so Contemptuous withall as the Wounding of a King by a Figure The Addresses of some of his Late Majesties Parliaments were Master-pieces that way Now the thing that I Labour'd upon the Last Great Change of Staâ—e both by Reasoning Industry and the most Pressing Application of Councels and Interest was the doing of All that was Possible to make the People Think Well of the Church of England without Lashing-out against the Church of Rome Especially upon Those Capital Points that are commonly made use of to Transport the Multitude beyond all Terms of Honesty Moderation and Patience Such as Idolatry for the purpose where Every Cobler shall bring ye so many Texts against Idols Put in for a Reformer and make himself Iudge of the Controversy Now upon the Truth of the Matter the Managing of a Religion is in this Case a Political Point as it Influences the Affections of the Common People with a Regard to the Honour of the Prince the Peace and the Well-being of the State. Hard Words upon the Articles of the Sovereigns Persuasion cannot but Glance Hard Thoughts upon his Person And there can scarcely be a Scorn or an Odium Reflected upon the One that does not Reach the Other and Consequently Expose the Publique to a very Great Risque without doing any manner of Good Beside that it is no longer Religion as I have Touch'd upon 't already but a Spice of Faction to Irritate and Whip-up the Mobile into a Violent Aversion for any thing that they do not Vnderstand 'T is a Dangerous Practice to make them the Iudges in the Point for they 'l be taking the Same Liberty with Arbitrary Power that they do with Popery and make themselves Arbitrators in matters as well of State as of Religion and All upon the License and Encouragement of Intermedling in things of Government which they have no Skill in The Lesson and the Advice of Alaham to Heli in a Tragedy of the Lord Brooks falls Extremely pat to This Purpose and I cannot Close-up the Topique Better then with a Passage in 't that I have now in my hand Alaham was upon a Design to Overturn the State He gives Heli his Instructions what to do toward it and the World could not have thought of a Surer or a Readâ—er Way for the Compassing of his End. The Discourse follows Alaham. Misfortune Piec'd grows more Vnfortunaâ—â— And Parents Laws must Yield to Laws of State. Heli. Then see the Means For though the End were Good Yet for a Private man to Change a State With Monarchs Sleights to Alter Monarchy Seems Hard if not Impossible to Mee Alaham. Impossible is but the Faith of Fear To make Hope Easy fetch Belief elsewhere Yet lest These Sparks rak'd-up in Hollow Hearts Should spread and Burn before their Fury show Keep on the Course which you have US'D to go Preach you with Fiery Tongue Distinguish Might Tyrants from Kings Duties in Question bring 'Twixt God and Man where Power INFINITE Compar'd makes FINITE Power a Scornfull Thing Safely so Craft may with the Truth give Light To Iudge of Crowns without Enammelling And bring Contempt upon the Monarchs State Where Streight Unhallowd ' Power has Peoples Hate Glance at Prerogatives Indefinite Tax Customs Wars and Laws all-Gathering Censure Kings Faults their Spies and Favourites Holyness has a Privilege to Sting Men be not Wise Bitterness from Zeal of Spirit Is hardly Iudg'd the Envy of a King Makes People LIKE Reproof of Majesty Where GOD seems GREAT in
I have been Enformed of a Design against my Person by the Jesuits of which I shall forbear any Opinion lest I should say too Much or too Little but I will leave the Matter to the Law. The Commons fell presently to work upon the Plot-Papers the Further and Further Enformations of Titus Otes That Inexhaustible Fountain of Invention and Slander Sir Edmundbury-Godfreys Matters Priest-Hunting and Impeaching And Then came-on the Humour of Seizing Caudle-Cups for Altar-Plate Medals and Guineys for Popish-Trinkets the Burning of our Blessed Saviour in Effigie Playing the Merry-Andrews and Buffoons in Priests-Habits Making Sport with Holy Orders and Holy Things 'till in the Conclusion for fear of Popery they ran-a-Muck as they call it at Christianity it self and bore down Every thing that stood in their Way betwixt This and Hell. There was no Place left for Moderation Sobriety or Councel Truth Iustice Humanity Honour and Good Nature were All Popishly-Affected and never such a Competition betwixt Divine Providence on the One hand and the World the Flesh and the Devil on the Other for the Preserving or the Destroying of a Nation The History of the Interval betwixt Otes'es Damnable Discovery and if the Conceit be not too Trivial the Discovery of Damnable Otes has been the Entertainment of all Peoples Tongues and Thoughts and the Amazement of Christendome no less then the Horrour of All Good Men To see the Foundations of Three Kingdoms Shaken with the Breath of Four or Five Prostitute Mean and Stigmatiz'd Varlets An Imperial Monarchy well-nigh Sunk into a Common-Wealth upon the Credit of Notorious Impostors and Common Cheats An Apostolical Church in danger to be Over-turn'd in the Name of God and for the sake of Religion by the same Instruments Iayls and Dungeons fill'd with Men of Honour Faith and Integrity upon the Testimony of Pillory'd Pick-Pockets and of the Sink of Mankind The Heir Apparent to the Crown in a fair way too to be Disinherited at the Instance of Felons and Renegades Perjury and Subornation Triumphant and Nothing so Sacred either in Heaven or upon Earth as to be Secure from the Outrages of the Rabble The Faction in short had got a-Head and there was No Resisting the Torrent Now the Fact was Agreed upon at All Hands but as to the Rise the Occasion and the Danger of these Distempers People were Divided Some would have it to be a Popish Plot upon the Kings Person and Government and the Protestant Religion Others would have it to be a Republican Plot against All Three under Another Name but with the self Same Design That is to say of Killing the King Changing the Government Dissolving the Church and rather then fail their Ends to be Compass'd by Fires and Massacres as was Expresly Own'd by divers of the Common-Wealth-Conspirators that were brought to Iustice Some in 1666. and Others in 1683. Certain it is that the Cover of the Four Evangelists never had Fouler Lips laid to 't the Merits of the Cause apart then Those of the Kings Witnesses upon This Occasion And it fell out too huge Vnluckily for Their Purpose that the People that were to be Massacred should break out into so many Rebellions for fear of having their Throats Cut while the People that they swore were to Cut their Throats were either Coop'd-up in Prisons or Gibbeted up and down the Kingdom like so many Vermin in a Cony-Warren without making anyOne Attempt either upon the Person of his Majesty or upon the Peace of his Dominions Nay and to give them their Due without so much as Muttering against the Government under All This Rigour The Cause is now coming to an Issue and the Articles of the Charge Mutatis Mutandis the very Same on Both sides as Perjury Subornation Packing of Witnesses and Iuries Only for Pickering reade Rumbold for Papist reade True-Protestant And so in like manner where the Same Reason holds in Other Cases The Theme that I am now upon is so Copious It has so many Incidents that Necessarily fall into the Story the Matter is of so Great a Consequence to be Clear'd and there is so Great a Variety of Previous and Leading Circumstances in the Nature of Praecognita that require a Place in the Preamble to This Narrative that the Prologue to my Bus'ness has been a great deal longer then I intended But I shall now Hasten to an Impartial Account upon the Two Plots in Question AS to the Proof or Testimony of a Popish Plot we have the Credit of Witnesses Innumerable such as they are both English and Irish But the Foundation of the Whole Fabrick is Otes'es Consult at the White-Horse in the Strand And All the Rest has been but a Superfoetation upon that Original It has been Sworn to be a Plot Iudg'd to be a Plot I know not how many Priests Iesuits and Others have Dy'd for 't as a Plot But in fine Such a Plot it was as no body ever yet saw Any thing Of it or any thing Like it but with Otes'es Eyes which in the Bus'ness of Don Iohn Mr. Coleman and Several Other Instances have been found not be Infallible So that upon the Main Otes'es Plot is the Ground-Work of the Whole And if That Fails All Fails which may nevertheless Be and No Affront to the Believers of it For an Oath may be Good in Law and yet Carry a Man to the Devil upon the Point of Conscience Simpson Tonge proves the Popish-Plot to be only a Contrivance betwixt his Father and Titus Otes NOW as to the Project commonly call'd Otes'es Plot if a man may Speak Truth and Shame the Devil it was not the Doctors Alone but a kind of a Club betwixt Titus Otes and Ezrel Tonge as I have it under the Hand of Young Tonge Himself and upon Other very Good Authorities beside As for the Purpose Your Petitioner doth Protest in the Presence of Almighty God that it is very True that the Plot was Contrived by my Father and Titus Otes when he returned the Second Time beyond the Seas Subscribed Simpson Tonge The Petition to His Late Majesty and the Original I have in My Own Hand As likewise of these Instances that follow Vnder the Pretence of a Popish Plot which my Father first Imagin'd was a-foot and afterwards Otes at his Second Return Swore to be True Their Main and Principal Design was to Disinherit his Royal Highness The first Persons that Manag'd the Plot and were Privy to it were my Father Otes c. This was Address'd to my self Dated from the Kings-Bench Ian. 5. 1681. and Sign'd Simpson Tonge And once again yet When I came from the Vniversity in the Year 77. I found Otes with my Father in a very poor Condition who complained he knew not what to do to get Bread who went under the Name of Ambrose My Father took him home and gave him Cloaths Lodging and Dyet saying he would put him into a way And then he persuaded
they had a Months-mind to make Tryal of the Same Experiment Themselves too as may be seen by the By in their Parliamentary Addresses and Votes but most Expresly in the Throng of Popular Addresses to his Majesty and in the Libel of Vox Patriae where so many of the Members got themselves Address'd to in a kind of an Association to That very purpose As for Example In the Address against Sir George Ieffreys the Earl of Hallifax and several Votes upon the same Occasion We your Majesties most Dutifull c. in hopes to bring the Popish Conspirators to speedy Iustice were about to Petition to your Majesty in an Humble Dutifull and Legal Way for the Sitting of This Parliament c. And so again We c. being deeply sensible of the Manifold Dangers and Mischiefs which have been Occasion'd to This your Kingdom by the Dissolution of the Last Parliament and by the Frequent Prorogations of This Parliament whereby the Papists have been Greatly Encouraged to Carry on their Hellish and Damnable Conspiracies c. Resolved That Whosoever Advised his Majesty to Prorogue This Parliament to Any Other purpose then in Order to the Passing of a Bill for the Exclusion of James Duke of York is a Betrayer of the King the Protestant Religion and of the Kingdom of England a Promoter of the French Interest and a Pensioner to France What is All This but Overturning and Overturning Confusion like Waves following One upon the Back of Another and the Cabal so Intoxicated with Passion in the Logick of This Last Vote that the very Despite of being Defeated made them Forget their Ordinary Prudence For the Conclusion is never to be Reconcil'd to the Premisses All that can be said for This Worrying Vote is that they were then in their Last Agonies for they were That Day Prorogu'd from the aforesaid 10th of Ianuary to the 20th in Order to a Dissolution And in All Mischievous Creatures the Convulsions of Death are ever the Strongest But for the Rolls of the Written Addresses of Those Days they are most of them Peremptory for Sitting 'till they might be Effectually Secur'd and That 's One Main Condition too of the Countrys Addresses to their Members And the Address of Sir Patience Ward then Lord-Mayor c. to his Majesty Himself Your Petitioners were Extremely Surpriz'd at the Late Prorogation whereby the Prosecution of the Publique Iustice of the Kingdom and the Making the Provisions Necessary for the Preservation of your Majesty and your Protestant Subjects hath received an Interruption c. They do therefore most Humbly pray c. That the said Parliament may Sit from the Day to which they are Prorogued untill by their Councels and Endeavours Those Good Remedies shall be Provided and Those Iust Ends Attained upon which the Safety of your Majesties Person The Preservation of the Protestant Religion The Peace and Settlement of your Kingdoms and the Welfare of This your Ancient City do so Absolutely Depend What is This now but the Counter part of the Bill for Continuing the Parliament that was Pass'd in Forty One and Chiefly upon the very Same Pretences too Viz. That Publique Grievances might be Redress'd and Iustice done upon Delinquents before the Parliament should be Dissolv'd Or in short The King was Not to Prorogue Adjourn or Dissolve This Parliament without Consent of Both Houses And there 's Another Parliamentary Point yet to Come in the Vote of Unqualifying the Members for the Receiving of any Beneficial Office from the King. 'T is a kind of a Scandalous Incapacity for a Subject to fare the worse for his Master's Commission And too much in all Conscience for the Same Men to Tye-up the King's Hands from Any Act of Grace and Bounty toward his Subjects that had before Ty'd-up the Peoples Hands from Supplying his Majesty The Vote was This Resolved That no Member of This House shall Accept any Office or Place of Profit from the Crown without the Leave of This House nor any Promise of any such Office or Place of Profit during such time as he shall continue a Member of This House An Eminent Member that Started This Motion made it his Observation upon the Long Parliament That All Those that had Pensions and most of Those that had Offices Voted All of a side as they were directed by some Great Officer c. If That Gentleman had taken as much Notice that the House had but Two sides and who Voted on the Other he would have found a Noble Peer to have Weigh'd against his Great Officer and the Matter to be no more then the Old Discrimination over again of King and Parliament It may be a Question now the Tendency and Intent of This Touch duly Consider'd whether they made the King or the Member in such a Case the Greater Delinquent of the Two. And they were not Contented here neither without a Further Essay upon the Choice of his Majesties Ministers and Officers of State War and Iustice After the Copy of the Old Nineteen Propositions The King not to Chuse his own Officers and Ministers NO Judges but men of Ability Integrity and Known Affection to the Protestant Religion And They Themselves to be Iudges of the Iudges Their Offices and Salaries to hold Quamdiu se bene gesserint c. No Lord-Lieutenants but Persons of Integrity and Known Affection to the Protestant Religion the Religion of the Associators that is No Deputy-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace but so Qualify'd And moreover Men of Ability Estates and Interest in their Country uâ—der the Same Character still None to be Employ'd as Military Officers or Officers in his Majesties Fleet but men of Known Experience Courage and Affection to the Protestant Religion All Parliament-Proof still and of the Same Stamp To say nothing of the Habeas-Corpus Bill and other Encroachments upon the Prerogatives of the Crown for fear of being too too Tedious We 'le see next how they Beâ—av'd themselves in the Bus'ness of the Militia and the Kings Guards over and above the Step they made to have the Approbation of All Officers Themselves After the Blessed Example still of Old Forty One Nay and in the very Method too Beginning with an Address for Guards as follows They offer at the Militia and the Guards WHereas the Safety and Preservation of your Majesties Sacred Peâ—son is of so Great a Consequence and Concernment to the Protestant Religion and to All your Subjects We do most humbly beseech your Majesty to Command the Lord Chamberlain and All Other the Officers of your Majesties Houshold to take a Strict Care that no Vnknown or Suspicious Persons may have Access near your Majesties Person and that your Majesty will likewise please to Command the Lord Mayor and Lieutenancy of London to Appoint sufficient Guards of the Train-Bands during This Session of Parliament and likewise the Lords Lieutenants of Middlesex and Surry to appoint
This Lamentably-Complaining Address the Old Vein I perceive of Popery and Calamity Conspiracy and Destruction runs quite thorough it And what Misery soever has either Threatn'd or Befall'n the King the Government the Church or the People is All-Charg'd upon the score of This Almighty Plot as the First Cause and Mover of it And which was the spite on 't no Averting of Those Impending Miseries but by the Kings Parting with his Honour his Crown Natural Affection Humanity Gratitude In short His Ministers His Friends His Prerogative Reasâ—n and Iustice 'T is Urg'd that the Councels were Evil and Destructive that Mov'd his Majesty to a Prorogation and Then to a Dissolution of the Foregoing Parliament How could it be Evil and Destructive in the Advising and not so in the Doing too Or what matters it whether it be done Without Advice or With it so long as the Venom of This Address Wounds the King Equally under the Cover of his Ministers The Want of That Advice and Resolution in the Parliament of One and Forty Cost the Royal Father his Life and the Son Probably upon such a Concession would not have come-off much Cheaper Unless it shall be Imagin'd that he might have found Better Quarter in the House then in the Field from the very same Persons that were Now in Councell and Afterwards in Arms against him It is pretended that the Commons were ready for the Tryal of the Five Lords at the Dissolution of the Last Parliament Now This was only Bubbling the Multitude for the Commons Themselves would not Yield to 't unless the Earl of Danby might be Try'd First But to say All in a word The King was Vndone if he did Not Prorogue and the Republicans if he Did. As to the Possibility of more Witnesses Coming in it cannot be Deny'd that according to the way of Summons that was then in Fashion the Common Iayles nay Newgate it Self in the Case of Prance were Consulted for Evidence and they could not well fail of as many Witnesses as either Malice Faction Countenance or Reward could Prevail upon to Forswear themselves But a Material Evidence it seems was lost by 't Bedloe they mean. A Fellow known for a Blasphemous Atheistical Wretch A Thief a Cheat and in fine a Scandal to the very Alms-Basket What a Dismal VNFORTVNATE Loss was This now of so Material an Evidence in Good Time upon the Plot in General which Material Evidence in the True Intent of it is no Other then a Rogue that would Swear any thing But against the Five Lords they say in Particular And if there had been Five times Fifteen Hundred more of them he should have Sworn against 'em All at the Same Price I can hardly look back upon the Parting Complement without Thinking of the Addresses and Declarations of One and Forty for the making of Charles the First a Glorious King they are so Very Very Alike But so much for the Bus'ness of Prerogative And now for the Other Great Point the Matter of Exclusion let the Bill Speak for it self 'T is Long But it Carries the Heart in the Face on 't and 't is Pity but Posterity should have it Entire The Bill amended as the House had order'd was read Intituled An Act for securing of the Protestant Religion by disabling James Duke of York to Inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging WHEREAS James Duke of York is notoriously known to have been perverted from the Protestant to the Popish Religion whereby not only great Encouragement hath been given to the Popish Party to enter into and carry on most Devilish and Horrid Plots and Conspiracies for the Destruction of his Majesties Sacred Person and Government and for the Extirpation of the True Protestant Religion But also if the said Duke should succeed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm nothing is more manifest then that a Total Change of Religion within these Kingdoms would ensue For the prevention whereof Be it Enacted by the King 's most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same that the said James Duke of York shall be and is by the Authority of this present Parliament Excluded and made for ever uncapable to Inherit Possess or Enjoy the Imperial Crown of this Realm and of the Kingdoms of Ireland and the Dominions and Territories to them or either of them belonging or to have exercise or enjoy any Dominion Power Iurisdiction or Authority in the same Kingdoms Dominions or any of them And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if the said James Duke of York shall at any time hereafter Challenge Claim or attempt to possess or enjoy or shall take upon him to use or exercise any Dominion Power or Authority or Iurisdiction within the said Kingdoms or Dominions or any of them as King or chief Magistrate of the same That then he the said James Duke of York for every such offence shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures as in case of High Treason And further that if any Person or Persons whatsoever shall assist or maintain abet or willingly adhere unto the said James Duke of York in such challenge claim or attempt or shall of themselves attempt or endeavour to put or bring the said James Duke of York into the Possession or Exercise of any Regal Power Iurisdiction or Authority within the Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid or shall by Writing or Preaching advisedly publish maintain or declare That he hath any Right Title or Authority to the Office of King or Chief Magistrate of the Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid That then every such Person shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and that he suffer and undergo the pains penalties and forfeitures aforesaid And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that he the said James Duke of York shall not at any time from and after the 5th of November 1680. return or come into or within any of the Kingdoms or Dominions aforesaid And then he the said James Duke of York shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer the pains penalties and forfeitures as in case of High Treason and further that if any Person or Persons whatsoever shall be aiding or assisting unto such return of the said James Duke of York that then every such person shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and suffer as in cases of High Treason And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That he the said James Duke of York or any other Person being Guilty of any of the Treasons aforesaid shall not be capable of or receive benefit by any Pardon otherwise than by Act of Parliament wherein they shall be particularly named and that no Noli prosequi
accept and admit any others hereafter into this Society and Association Notes upon the ASSOCIATION THE Reader will find in this Paper of Association All the Lines of the Pretended Popish Plot the Summ of the Whole Cause and of all they Contended for It shews the Modell and Expounds the Meaning of the Design the Manner of Working-it-up and the Degrees of Ripening it for Execution It lays Open the Rise Progress and Drift of a Republican Conspiracy Step by Step Insomuch that a man may Trace out with a Chalk the Entire Course of the Intrigue from the First Broaching of it to the Last Resolution and understand that Resolv'd upon the Question had a Hand in 't as well as Wée the Knights c. And This will Plainly Appear upon Comparing the One with the Other My Next Bus'ness is to lay open the Conformity of Parts and the Harmony of Design betwixt the Proceedings of the House and the Tendence of the Paper of Confederacy and when I have made out That once there will be No Separating the Conspirators in the Votes from Wée the Knights c. in the Association but they must be Both of Necessity Involv'd in the same Plot. The First Clause finds a Hellish Popish Plot agreeable to the Vote of Oct. 31. 1678. The Second finds the Duke of York in the Bottom on 't And so did a Following Vote some Four Days after the Former Whereupon I remember there was a Debate Started for an Address to Remove him It speaks of the Power and Influence of Popish Councells in the Disposing of Offices which is the Main Topique again of the Address of Nov. 29. 1680. And so in the Third and Fourth Clauses it falls upon the Illegal Mercenary Forces Unreasonable Prorogations and Dissolutions The Strength of the Nation both at Sea and Land put into the hands of His Royal Highnesses Party and their Adherents which is no other again then an Extract out of Several Votes and Addresses already mention'd The Fifth takes a General Prospect of the Miserable Condition of the King and Kingdom through the Vindictive Malice of the Papists Which is over and over Inculcated also in Several of their Addresses as in that of November 29. 1680. If so and so We have Freed our selves from the Guilt of That Bloud and Desolation which is like to Ensue And so afterward in that of Decemb 21. 1680. The Question is Put Whether in case the Crown should Descend to the Duke of York the Opposition which may possibly be made to his Possessing it may not onely Endanger the Further Descent in the Royal Line but even Monarchy it self In the Sixth Clause it sets forth that since they cannot Prevail upon the King to Exclude the Duke by a Bill in a Parliamentary-way they Propose a Promise of Mutual Defence and Assistance among All True-Protestants In the Preservation of the True-Protestant Religion his Majesties Person and Royal State and our Lives Liberties and Properties c. These are the Words of the Preamble or Introduction to the Association which are but the very same Thing in Other Terms with the Proposal of Dec. 21. 1680. in the Address it self Wherein they desire That his Majesty will be Graciously pleased to Assent to an Act whereby his Majesties Protestant Subjects may be Enabled to Associate Themselves for the Defence of his Majesties Person the Protestant Religion and the Security of his Kingdoms These Requests say they we are Constrained humbly to make to your Majesty as of Absolute Necessity for the Safe and Peaceable Enjoyment of our Religion So that This Association is Parliamentary from Head to foot and little more in 't then a Working upon Their Modell Only Wée the Knights c. Took Leave in One Case and Ask'd it in the Other I speak of the Majority of the House as it was then Leaven'd and with Great Honour to the Loyal and Sober Mixture that was in That Assembly While the Address above-Mention'd in Answer to the Kings Speech of the 15th of the same Month was under Debate the Collectour of the Proceedings of That Season takes upon him to Report this following Passage of a Speech Deliver'd in the House upon That Question I cannot agree in Pressing the Association-Bill For being it hath not yet been brought into the House we do not well know what will be the Purport of it And it is not Proper that we should Ask of the King we know not What nor Expect that he should Grant us what He can know nothing of And truly Sir I think that These Things about the Judges Deputy-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace are Minute Things to be Insisted on at This Time Compar'd with Others which might be Demanded Queen Elizabeth's Councellours never thought Her Safe 'till the Popish Successor was in a Tower and I am afraid that you will never be Safe untill you take some such Course that may bring things to an Issue When you have done That and Banished All the Considerable Papists out of England I think we shall not be in such Apparent Danger as we now are And seeing This may Probably be Granted and the Other Bills Not I humbly Move you to Recommit the Address that it may be better Consider'd And what 's the Difference now in Substance betwixt the Biass of the Debate and the Effect of the Resolution The Exclusion and Association were not let fall because they were Vnequal and Vnreasonable but because they were not Attainable and only in Exchange too for Other Equivalent Expedients for Such an Imprisonment and Such a Banishment would have had the Force of an Exclusion and an Association without the Name of it for the Banishing of All on the One side does Naturally Resolve into an Vnion of All on the Other Now to put All This together it amounts to no more then what the Prevailing Party in the House had Propounded Declar'd and Resolv'd upon Before-hand Only the Kings Peremptory Refusal put 'em upon the After-Game of Attempting to get That by Force which they could not Gain by Address And it is not to be doubted but the Faction Acted In the House as well as Out of the House by the Same Spirit To say the Truth on 't The Conspirators that Influenc'd These Desperate Designs were Past Rubicon long since and No Retreat left them but with Halters about their Necks if Tenderness and Clemency it self had not well nigh Dissolv'd the Awe of Royal Power and Iustice in the Overflowings of That most Gracious Prince's Patience and Mercy But when the Ring-Leaders found that they might Ask any thing Gratis they never fail'd of following Denyals with Importunities and Importunities with Expostulations 'till in the End upon a Full Tryal of their Interest and Skill they might come to Settle their Measures They Reckon'd upon 't that they had Two Strings to their Bow And that if One Fail'd they had Another would Hold. They Ply'd his Majesty
with the most Reproachfull of Libells under the Title of Petitions and Addresses and in a Style and Countenance of Duty and Respect When they Miss'd of any thing at First Request they were sure to follow it with Passion Instance Menace and Clamour The Monarchy it Self could not Stand without Excluding the Duke and no way to Prevent the Bloud that was like to Ensue but by an Association And in Excuse for the Liberties they took they had recourse to the Trust Reposed in them by those they Represented If the King Buckles he 's Lost by his Own Act If he Persists in the Negative there 's the Ruine of Religion and the Three Kingdoms laid at his Door If he Yields it must be either to the Right and Reason of their Demands or in Acknowledgment that they are too Strong for him which is Equally Dangerous Both ways To Conclude what matters it whether a Prince be Lost by Treaty or by Violence or whether the People be Gull'd into a Barefac'd or into a Plausible Rebellion But at the same time the Common Medium that they Depended upon to Either End was the Good Will and Favour of the People And there needed no more to Secure That Interest then to put their Shams Plausibly Together And under the Colour of Zeal for the Publique to Draw Credit to the Imposture At the First Opening of This Plot Almost All peoples Hearts took Fire at it and Nothing was heard but the Bellowing of Execrations and Revenge against the Accursed Bloudy Papists It was Imputed at first and in the General to the Principles of the Religion and a Roman-Catholique and a Regicide were made One and the Same Thing Nay it was a Saying Frequent in some of our Great and Holy Mouths that they were Confident there was not so much as One Soul of the Whole Party within his Majesties Dominions that was not either an Actor in This Plot or a Friend to 't In this heat they fell to Picking-up of Priests and Iesuits as fast as they could Catch 'em and so went on to Consult their Oracles the Witnesses with All Formalities of Sifting and Examining upon the Particulars of Place Time Manner Persons c. while Westminster-Hall and the Court of Requests were kept Warm and Ringing still of New Men Come in Corroborating Proofs and Further Discoveries c. Under This Train and Method of Reasoning the Managers Advanc'd Decently enough to the Finding-out of what They Themselves had Laid and Concerted before-hand And to give the Devil his due the Whole Story was but a Farce of so many Parts and the Noisy Enformations no more then a Lesson that they had much ado to go thorough with even with the Help of Diligent and Carefull Tutors and of many and many a Prompter to bring them off at a Dead Lift. But Popery was so Dreadfull a Thing and the Danger of the Kings Life and of the Protestant Religion so Astonishing a Surprize that People were almost bound in Duty to be Inconsiderate and Outrageous upon 't And Loyalty it Self would have look'd a little Cold and Indifferent if it had not been Intemperate Insomuch that Zeal Fierceness and Iealousy were never more Excusable then upon This Occasion And Now having Excellent Matter to Work upon and the Passions of the People already Dispos'd for Violence and Tumult there needed no more then Blowing the Cole of Otes's Narrative to put All into a Flame And in the mean Time all Arts and Accidents were Emprov'd as well toward the Entertainment of the Humour as to the Kindling of it The people were first Hayr'd out of their Senses with Tales and Ielousies and Then made Iudges of the Danger and Consequently of the Remedy Which upon the Main and Briefly came to no more then This. The Plot was Laid all over the Three Kingdoms France Spain and Portugal Tax'd their Quotas to 't we were All to be Burnt in our Beds and Rise with our Throats Cut and no way in the world but Exclusion and Vnion to help us The Phancy of this Exclusion Spread Immediately like a Gangrene over the whole Body of the Monarchy and no saving the Life of his Majesty without Cutting-off every Limb of the Prerogative The Device of Union pass'd Insensibly into a League of Conspiracy and instead of Uniting Protestants against Papists Concluded in an Association of Subjects against their Sovereign Consounding Policy with Religion By these Steps the Managers I remember proceeded to the Instrument of the Association that is now in Question They Labour'd at first to Sham-it-off for the Old Queen Elsabeths Association Reviv'd Secondly That it was only the Copy of a Bill that had pass'd the House of Commons But when the Matter appear'd so Foul that there was No Defending of it they made use of a Third Shift to Evade the Danger and the Scandal by pretending that there was No such Paper in my Lord Shaftesbury's Closet any otherwise then as They that Found it there Laid it there And so they Endeavour'd to Turn the Malice on the One side into a Trick on the Other This Last Shuffle was as well Colour'd as the Case would bear in a Paper call'd A Letter from a Person of Quality to his Friend about Addresses and Abhorrers It was an Artificial Sly Piece and the Noble Peer more then Suspected to have a Hand in 't Himself Now as to the First Pretext to say nothing of the State-Craft of the Old Association there was This Difference Between them The One was to Defend the Queen against any Pretender upon the Suggestion of a False Title The Other was a Conspiracy set up against a Iust and Legal Title the One was only to Work at a Distance in Case of such an Occasion The Other was to Blow-up a Civil War Immediately for fear of Imaginary Dangers to Come The One had the Countenance of an Vnion against the Queens Enemies and With her Allowance and Consent The Other was a Plot upon the Kings Brother and Against his Majesties Mind and Consent The One was in fine a Limited Association with Submission to Authority The Other a Treasonous Vsurpation in Defyance and in Despite of Authority The Second Cavil was as good as a Gagg to many People in That Troublesome Conjuncture for a Parliamentary Association in Those Days would have been Sacred even against both Law and Gospel and therefore Those that Believ'd the Flam of its being a Bill that had pass'd the House And Consequently Asserted the Reason of the Proceeding reckon'd upon 't that they had the Wisedom of the Nation on their side on One hand as they had most Certainly the Folly and the Madness of it on the Other Now This Opinion serv'd for a Protection to All that could be said in favour of the Project upon That Text. But the Passing of That Bill was a Mistake for ought that I could ever hear to the Contrary The King 't is True was Press'd in 't over
Enformations was directly Felo de se as any Man may Unquestionably satisfy himself upon the Reading of ' em To say nothing of his Rank Absurdities and Palpable Contradictions as they are Expos'd from one End to the other of the Second Volume of Observators 2 ly That Sir W. Iones Himself upon the Stating of the Evidence does more then Tacitly Presume and Acknowledge the Great Vnlikelyhood at least if not the Downright Incredibility of his Testimony 3 ly That it is very Hard to Reconcile the Progress of his Prosecution to the Tenor of his First Report And this Third is the Point that I am in This Place to Pursue with a Charity for All Errors and Complyances upon Misenformation or Mistake It would have been Morally Impossible for the Conspirators of One and Forty ever to have Gain'd their Point upon Charles the First without a Protestation or Covenant to Vnite them as I have Hinted already And the Doctrine of Co-ordination to Head them under the Colour of a Quorum of the Three Estates They could never have brought their Ends about I say without This Beside that after These Two Steps Advanced with Impunity and Success the Work was more then Half-done And over and above the Proportion betwixt the Means and the End the very Attempt of These Encrochements upon their Prince did Manifestly Import a Design of taking the Sovereignty into their own Hands This They Attempted upon Charles the Second in the Association and in the Bill of Exclusion The Former was to Vnite and Strengthen the Confederacy and the Other was to Invade and to Vsurp upon the Prerogative Royal And what had they more to do after Assuming Absolute Power to Themselves and Translating the Allegeance of the People from their King to their Fellow-Subjects which was Expressly the Case of their Association and in Consequence That of the Bill of Exclusion too then to Kill and take Possession Or in a word what could They Propose Less to Themselves by setting These Practices afoot then the Subversion of the State Only for the better Face of the Business Religion is made a Cloak to their Ambition and the Crown to be Secur'd in the Peoples Hands for fear of Popery But let it be either the One way or the Other The Thing was to be done however and whether by an Ambitious Zeal or a Holy Ambition it Comes all to a Case There came out an Octavo in Eighty One under the Title of An Exact Collection of the most Considerable Debates in the Honourable House of Commons at the Parliament held at Westminster the one and Twentieth of October 1680. The several Speeches therein are Introduc'd with the Two First Letters as the Publisher Intends them of the Speakers Name I take the matter as I find it There are many Lew'd things 't is True reported in the Book according to the License of the Times they were said to be Spoken in but I have not as yet met with any Exception to it of Falsity for the matters therein Deliver'd I do not here Propose the Strictnesses of a Methodical Division in a Case where I have Scarce room barely to Name some Few General Heads before I Leave them Here 's a Plot Suppos'd The Being of it Presum'd and the Danger of it taken for Granted Together with a Formal Contemplation of the Rise of it the Operations and the Remedies I find Several Passages in this Book under the Title of Sir W. I. Referring to all these Particulars As for Instance UPON a Report maid by Coll. Birch of the Informations relating to the Irish Plot c. Ian. 6. 1681. Sir W. I. is represented Speaking in These Words Mr. Speaker Sir The Evidence which you have heard at the Bar and the Report which hath been Read as to the Popish Plot in Ireland is not only a Plain Discovery of the Dangerous and Deplorable Condition of the Protestants in Ireland but a Great Confirmation of what Dr. Otes and the rest of the Witnesses have said as to the Plot Here So that Now No Man can have any Excuse for not Believing it but such as are Misled by Others who Know it too well because they are In it I Cannot but observe what a Coherence and Agreement there is in the Carrying on the Two Plots Collections p. 230. In Seventy Five and Seventy Six all the Clergy in Ireland said as Fitzgerard Deposeth that the Duke of York should be King in 1678. c. And doth it not appear by the Witnesses here that they Intended about That Time to Cut-off the King Massacre most of the Protestants and to Conquer Others c. And doth not This Agree not only with Dr Otes'es Discovery but Prances too p. 231. And so he goes on Descanting upon Parallels and Resemblances 'till at last finding that All the Plots Center in the Duke of York he advises a Declaration to This Purpose That the Duke of York's being a Papists and the Expectation which That Party have of his coming such to the Crown have given the Greatest Encouragement to the Popish Plot in Ireland as well as Here. p. 233. This Resolve leads to a Bill of Exclusion without any more ado and Sr W. I. is no less Earnest for an Association-Bill Provided he says it might be made as it should be p. 183. For This Bill says he must be much stronger then That in Queen Elizabeth's Days That was for an Association only after her Death but I cannot tell if such a Bill will Secure us Now the Circumstances we are under being very Different In Queen Elizabeths days the Privy Councellors were All for the Queens Interest and Now for the Successor's Now Most of the Privy Councellors are for the Successor and Few for the King. Then the Ministers Vnanimously agreed to keep-out Popery now we have too much reason to fear there are many that are for Bringing-it-In In Those days they All agreed to keep the Popish Successor in Scotland Now the Major part agreed to keep the Successor Here All which must be consider'd in drawing up the Bill p. 184. He takes a great deal of pains in Another place to shew the Danger and Necessity of Things and it is Observable in the Heat of his Course how he does Effectually Drop the Bus'ness of the Plot and Transferr the Ground of the Exclusion to a Scruple of Religion As to the Danger Sr W. I. says It cannot be Imagin'd that the Great Body of Protestants which are in This Nation will Tamely submit to the Popish Yoak which they will in Time see must be the Consequence of Submitting to a Popish King without some Struggling p. 91. The Safety of the King and Kingdom depend upon it p. 92. And so again By assisting the Popish Faction his Majesty is reduced to Great Difficulties and Trouble in the Administration of his Regal Authority and the Credit Peace and Tranquility of the Nation almost Irrâ—coverably Lost
so Still p. 170. This was a Shot at Random I hope without considering where it would fall for it makes All Men whatsoever without any Exception of Persons to be either Fools or Knaves that were not of the Managers Pretended Opinion I call it Pretended because I look upon it as a Flight of his Rhetorique rather then a Motion of his Conscience And that it was Design'd to work upon the Passions of those that heard him rather then upon their Iudgments This Liberty does not only give every Honest Thinking Man an Honourable Right but puts him upon a Defensive Necessity of Throwing-off that Infamous Character let it Light where it Will and of Rangeing the Fools and the Knaves on the Other side But This is a Sentence however with Two Edges One way he makes People Conspirators and Abetters for not Believing the Plot at a Uenture whether the Supposed Fact be True or False The Other way he makes a General Plot on 't by taking All Into 't that do not Believe it But as to the Proof now of a General Plot If Otes'es Plot falls there Remains No General Plot to Prove upon Colemans Letters are a Particular Matter of a Personal Practice and Vndertaking And His Crime at the Vttermost Stretch of it amounted to no more then a Forward Intermeddling with State-Matters without a Commission I could never find out the least Colour in that whole Proceeding to Imagine any sort of Affinity that Colemans Letter-Plot had with Sir Will. Iones'es pretended Narrative Plot. He had a Plot undoubtedly upon the Fing'ring of French Mony But without any Malice in my Conscience against Either King or Government Sir William Iones draws Inferences from the Jesuits Several Meetings Their Raising of Arms and Gathering of Moneys toward the Execution of their Design fol. 169. Certain Imaginary Commissions to Popish Lords Seditious Sermons and Discourses Ibid. All which is upon Otes'es Bottom still And so my Lord Staffords being at Fenwicks Chamber and his Bolting-out Treasonous Words in Otes'es Hearing against the King fol. 170. The Pages 178. 179 are spent in Iustifying Otes wherein Sir William does not only admit Otes'es Change of Religion but even blesses Providence for 't in these Words I am sure it is happy for us that he Did Change his Religion Without That we had not had the First Knowledge of the Plot nor of many Particulars which he could not come to know but by Occasion of that Change fol. 179. This was a Mighty Mistake for we had the First Knowledge of the Plot from Tonge And then for so great a Man there was as unlucky an Oversight Sir William Iones upon the Summing-up of the Evidence makes Otes to be a Papist though He Himself Swore he was None in the Tryall Nay and he raises Arguments from his Being the Thing that he Swore he was Not and Emproves His Forswearing Himself to the Advantage of his Evidence I desire to know says my Lord Stafford whether Mr Otes was Really a Papist or did but Pretend Otes I did only Pretend I was not Reaâ—â—y One I Declare it fol. 123. The Evidence says Sr W. in another Place is so Strong that I think it admits of No Doubt and the Offences prov'd against My Lord and the Rest of his Partâ— are so Foul that they need no Aggravation The Offences are against the King against his Sacred Life against the Protestant Religion nay against All Protestants for it was for the Extirpation of All Protestants out of These Three Nations I mean not of Every one that is Now so but of Every one that would have Continu'd so Every one amongst us if These Designs had been Accomplish'd must either have Turn'd his Religion or turn'd out of his Country or have been Burn'd in it fol. 186. Here 's a Charge of Treason against every Papist in the Three Kingdoms to a Single Man Every Protestant Throat to be Cut or to fly his Country or to Turn or to Burn. Taking away the Kings Life and the Extirpating of the Protestant Religion by Violence were the Points of the Conspiracy what could be more Incentive toward an Vniversal Tumult What more Repugnant to Christian Charity and to Common Sense then to Build such Conclusions upon the Testimony of Abandon'd Cheats and the Visionary Extravagances of Dreamers of Dreams for such was Tonge most Superstitiously according to the Letter But to carry it further yet All These Pretences have been Detected for a Forgery and a Counter-Plot Prov'd on the Other side to Answer Every Malicious Point of This. What Atonement is the whole World able to make for the Affronts that have been put upon Gods Providence Truth and Iustice upon the Honour of the King the Peace of the Kingdom and the Reputation of the Oppress'd and Injur'd Party But to return to my Point It will deserve one word more now after Otes'es Passing Muster for a Competent and a Credible Witness according to Sr William Iones'es Qualifications and Measures to take a little notice on the other side what it is that he makes to be an Incapacity for a Warrantable and a Creditable Discharge of that Duty 'T is no great Wonder where a Profligate Sodomite and a Common Knight-of-the-Post passes for a Testis Probus to See a Man of Honour upon tâ—e File for an Infamous Rascal Sir William Iones makes his Exceptions to Mr. Lydcot's Evidence which he gave Concerning My Lord Castlemain Lord Staffords Tryal pag. 115. c. I refer the Reader to the Tryal it self and he will find no need of a Gloss upon the Text to shew him how that Worthy Honest Gentleman was handled in Court by the Manager But He that would more Particularly Enform himself in the Ground of Sir Williams Exceptions must look for his Crime fol. 177. upon Summing-up the Evidence A Man says Sir W. Iones that owns himself the Continual Companion and Secretary of one so Famous in the Popish Party as my Lord Castlemaine is A Man that Pretends he was never out of his Company And a Man that owns that two Years since he was Taking of Notes at a Trial for This Plot Not only for his Curiosity but for his Lord who was Concern'd in the Accusation That This Man should be a Fellow of Kings College seems Strange and 'till it be better Prov'd will hardly be Believ'd Nor will he deserve any Credit From one End to the other of This History of the Pretended Popish Conspiracy the Weight of the Proof still rests upon Otes'es Probity and Reputation and the Whole Frame has nothing more to Support it then Flourish and Noise The Proof and Character of a Licentious and Habitual Dissolution of Manners through the Entire Course of Otes'es Conversation is still Blown-off with one of These Two Banters Set a Rogue to Catch a Rogue That is to say He must be a Party to the Treason to Qualify him for a Testimony The other
61. Order'd to Manage the Fire at the Hermitage 71. To carry the White-Horse Consult from Company to Company fol. 18. And was not Our Discoverer Privy to Wakeman's Poyson Conyers'es Dagger Pickerings Screw'd-Gun and the Silver Bullets The History of the Black-Bills the Pilgrims Ruffians and the Levies of Men and Mony c. Was not Otes privy to a matter of Eighteen Commissions Military and Civil under the Hand of Ioannes Paulus De Oliva by Vertue of a Brief from the Pope as he Swore before the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs One of them to Iohn Lambert to be Adjutant-General to the Army and Nine or Ten of them Deliver'd with his Own Hand Was he not Privy in fine to the Price of the Whole Villany to a Single Six-Pence So that as to the matter of Privity the Privity of Habernfeld and his Principal is quite Out-done by the Privity of Tong and Otes who according to their Narrative and Pretensions were Vndoubtedly Privy to Fifty times more then ever any Two men upon the face of the Earth were Privy to before them The Discoverer says the Preface again was Troubled in Conscience and Therefore Disclosed the Conspiracy Renounc'd That Bloudy Church and Religion though Promised Greater Advancements for his Diligence in This Design Ib. And what was it but Horror of Conscience too if we may believe Oaths either Iudicial or Extrajudicial that made our Converted Discoverers whether Papists Bred-up or Proselyted to Disclose This Popish Treason and to Renounce That Bloudy Religion in Defiance of All Offers of Rewards and Advancement Was not Dugdale to have 500 l. Lord Staffords Tryal p. 43. And to be Sainted Ib. 44. Was not Bedloe to have 4000 l. in the Case of Godfrey Greens Tryal p. 30. And might not Otes and all his Fellows have come in for Their Snips to if their Consciences would have Touch'd But This Plot was Discover'd under an Oath of Secrecy says the Preface and the Discoverer Offer'd his Own Oath too in Confirmation of the Particulars Ib. What was Bedloes Sacrament of the Altar Twice a Week to Conceal the Plot Greens Tryal fol. 33. but an Oath of Secrecy Dugdale took at least Ten Sacraments of Secrecy Sr George Wakemans Tryal p. 10. Otes an Oath of Secresy at Weld-House-Chappel Irelands Tryal p. 28. And then there was Another Oath of Secrecy taken at Fox-Hall too And so for the Rest Our Discoverers did not only Offer but Deliver their Own Oaths in Confirmation of Every Article Habernfeld Discovers Persons Places and Times of Meeting too Ib. And does not Otes Discover the Lords in the Tower and such Others of the Nobility and Gentry as are in the Conspiracy See his Narrative from fol. 61. to the End. Their Priests Iesuits and Papists of All Sorts The Times and Places of their Meetings Even to the Year Week Day Nay and sometimes to the very Hour One while at the Savoy Another while at the White-Horse Russel-Street Weld-Street and the like Well! But Habernfeld's Principal Conspirators are known to be Fit Instruments for such a Design Ib. And are not Otes'es as Fit Instruments as Habernfelds The Principals are most of them Men of Quality Brains Interest and Estate and Consequently better Qualify'd then other People for the Execution of any Mischief they have a Mind to Beside that as 't is a Popish Plot they are not only to be All Roman Catholiques but All made Principals too without leaving so much as One Soul of them to Witness for Another Now as there 's no Means of Clearing them on the One hand saving by Palpable Blunders and Contradictions on the Part of the Accusers So if any of 'em will Swear to the Hanging-up of his Fellows on the Other Hand he is presently made Sacred under the Character of a Kings Evidence and Touch not his Majesties Witness carries more Authority along with it then Touch not the Lords Anointed The Preface says further that Sir W. Boswell and the Arch-Bishop if not the King Himself were fully Satisfy'd that the Plot was Reall Ib. Men may be Satisfy'd in the Reality of a Thing and yet Mistaken about it As we have found many Men in Both Plots that have Seem'd to be Satisfy'd and yet afterward abundantly Convinced that they were Abus'd So that the Belief of a Thing does not Necessarily Inferr the Truth of it but it must be the Work of Time and Scrutiny to Perfect the Discovery Neither do I find Effectually that there was so much Credit given to Habernfelds Plot as is here Suggested A Nemine Contradicente is No Article of my Faith Though it says that There Is and Hath been a Damnable and Hellish Plot Contriv'd and Carry'd on by Popish Recusants for Assassinating and Murdering the King for Subverting the Government and Rooting-out and Destroying the Protestant Religion Commons Iournal Oct. 31. 1678. Though I must Confess they had One Powerfull way of Convincing Men by the Argument of Swearing them out of their Reputations Lives Liberties and Fortunes if they would Not Believe it The Parallel holds thus far Exactly and we 'le see now how it Suites with the Minutes of Habernfelds Letter to the Arch-Bishop which I have made as short as I can for the Readers Ease and for my Own. The Minutes of Habernfelds Letter Beside Expectation This Good Man says Habernfeld speaking of the First Discoverer became Known unto me p. 1. By the same Providence it was that Otes Bedloe Prance and Twenty more of our Plot-Merchant-Adventurers came Acquainted Bedloe Swore to the Lords that he did not know Otes 'till it came out by Providence that he knew him as Ambrose but not as Otes And so Otes to requite his Kindness knew Williams though he did not know Bedloe 'T was such another Wonderfull Providence Bedloes knowing Prance over a Pot of Ale at Heaven after he had Enquired and been Told which was Prance in the Commons-Lobby Damme says Bedloe That 's one of the Rogues that Murder'd Sr Edmundbury Godfrey As to the Scottish Stirs he speaks of p. 1. Otes'es Missionaries Answer Habernfelds Scotch Lords of whom hereafter The Factions of the Iesuits thorough England and Scotland p. 2. and the Discoverers Descant we have in Dr. Beale's Readings to Tong upon them Otes'es Narrative â—its the Adjacent Writing there spoken of Ib. Habernfeld got Free Liberty to Treat Ib. And so did Tong. There must be No Delay says Habernfeld Ib. Make Otes'es Enformation a Record Immediately says Tong And so away goes the One to Sr William Boswell Ib. the Other to Sr Edmund-bury Godfrey And now forward As Some Principal Heads in Habernfeld's Relation were purposely Pretermitted p. 3. So Bedloe shorten'd his Evidence against Whitebread and Fenwick in the Iesuits Tryal and Swore Further after he had Sworn All Before And so did Otes and the rest Purposely Pretermit many things
in Question The Next Point will be how far he was True to his Matter and to Himself without either Stretching Shortning Suppressing or Clashing with his own Testimony but with a Charitable Abatement of and a Christian Allowance still for Humane Frailty The Point in Issue was a Plot or No Plot upon the Life of the King c. So that all Omissions upon That Mortal Article are Mightily to be suspected of Malice and Iniquity where they carry the Face of a Direct Tendency to That Execrable End. CHAP. V. Notes upon Certain Omissions Enlargements Disagreements and Contradictions in the Evidence of Bedloe and Prance concerning the Plot together with the True Reasons Thereof WE have Already given a General and a Sufficient Account in the Last Chapter but one of the Evidences Deliver'd by Bedloe and Prance upon the Subject of the Plot And we are now to take into Consideration the Competency the Fairness the Fulness and the Consistency of Those Depositions In the First Place the Omissions and Enlargements that appear in the several Enformations upon Comparing them One with another Now this is a Point not to be Cleared without References Repetitions and Recitals So that there 's No help for 't but by making them as Few and as Short as may be 1. I find it upon the Lord's Journal that the Monks of Doway gave Bedloe the Sacrament Four Times upon a Charge of Secrecy Nov. 12. 1678. 2. And again That Bedloe Demanded of Mr. Gage the Rector of the English College what they would do with the King. He Answered They would keep him well in a Convent 3. Bedloe then Demanded who should Govern in Chief He told him there should be a Tender made to ONE of the Crown if he would Acknowledge it from the Church but they did believe he would not Accept of it and then the Government should be left to some Lords that the Pope would appoint which Lords he would not tell me but said I should know it from the Monks at Paris Lords Journal Ib. 4. He says again in the same Deposition as is Already hinted in the Third Chapter Who were to Govern Who Told him so Ten Thousand from Flanders to Land at Bridlington-Bay The Lord Powes Petres c. to Rendezvous in South-Wales with Another Army and They to Ioyn Twenty or Thirty Thousand more that were to Land at Milford Haven from the Groin in Spain which Army was to be RELIGIOVS Men and PILGRIMS from St. Jago in Spain c. Lords Journal Ibid. 5. Forty Thousand Men ready in London Beside Those that would on the Alarum be Posted at Every Ale-House Door to have Kill'd the Soldiers as they went out of their Quarters 6. Le Phaire told him also that when any Plotter was taken up he should be kill'd before he was brought to his Tryal or the Prison Burnt 7. And That Guernsey and Jersey were to be surpriz'd by a Power from Brest and other Places of France and that several French Ships have layn in and about the Channel All This Summer upon the same Occasion 8 And further Le Phaire Pritchard c. as before had often told him that there was not a Roman Catholique in England that was not Privy to the Design and had not Received the Sacrament from their Father Confessors to be secret and assistant to the carrying of it on To Pass a Note or Two upon the Particulars above they are of so great Importance to be Thoroughly Sifted and made out that the Plot it self the Credit and the very Being of it stands or falls upon the Truth or Falsity of these Enformations But the Stress does not lye so much upon True or False as whether this be the Whole Truth or Not For All these Heads and Circumstances of the Story upon the Lords Iournal and the Four Evangelists over and above are utterly Forgotten in the Evidence upon the Tryal of the Pris'ners Now if Bedloe Deliver'd the Whole Truth at First how came he afterwards to Enlarge his Evidence But to Expound this Riddle now he swore before the Lords to the Generals only of Otes's Plot for Otes himself was not yet Resolv'd upon the Particulars So that which way soever Titus Led William was bound to Follow and the Point of his Oath in Westminster-Hall was not Levell'd at the Plot it self but at the Persons of the Pretended Conspirators Now to trace Things in order as they lye before us We hear Nothing of Four Sacraments The Convent The Tender of the Crown and the Pope's Resolution upon 't The Ten Thousand and the Twenty or Thirty Thousand the Pilgrims and the Religious The London Forty Thousand The Posting of People at Ale-House Doors The Killing of Plotters or the Burning of Prisons The Surprizing of Guernsey and Iersey Every Roman Catholique of Quality under a Sacrament to serve the Design We have not one Syllable of All this in the Printed Tryals though upon the same Oath and froâ— the same Lips that swore to the Whole Truth upon the Lords Iournal But here 's the Scheme of Otes's Plot yet upon the whole Matter And then for the Tender of the Crown as it is Pointed at in the Third Article it is so exactly the Drift and the Case of a Whimsey set forth in Otes's Narrative only in other Words viz. The Pope hath ordered says Otes That in case the Duke of York which is the ONE he speaks of will not accept these Crowns as forfeited by his Brother unto the Pope as of his Gift and settle such Prelates and Dignitaries in the Church and such Officers in Commands and Places Civil Naval and Military as he hath Commissioned as above Extirpate the Protestant Religion and in Order thereunto Ex post Facto consent to the Assassination of the King his Brother Massacre of his Protestant Subjects Firing of his Towns c. by Pardoning the Assassins Murtherers and Incendiaries that then HE be also Poysoned or Destroyed after they have for some time abus'd his Name and Title to strengthen their Plot Weakned and Divided the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland thereby in Civil Wars and Rebellions as in his Fathens Time to make way for the French to seize These Kingdoms and totally ruine their Infantry and Naval Force Otes's Narrative p. 64. This Paragraph comprizes in few Words a General View of the whole Project and it was but Swearing so many Men to such and such Parts and Offices in this Fiction of a Conspiracy to Compleat the Reputation of the Discovery that is to say some were to have Publique Charges and Commissions Others to carry on the Massacres Murthers Assassinates Poysoning and Conflagrations And after the Digesting of the Treasons they could not well fail of Discovering the Traytors especially when the same Oath that made the One made the Other It is not to be Imagin'd that Bedloe upon his repeated Oaths before the King and the Lords could Honestly forget so many remarkable Instances of
Evidence upon the Tryals are Expresly Calculated as I have Already observ'd for the Destruction of the Pris'ners And This is not All Neither for Bedloe lyes much opener in his Disagreements and Contradictions then he does in his Omissions and Supplements though it is Manifest well-nigh to a Demonstration that all his Capital Oaths were Apply'd only to the Serving of a Turn And so I shall go on with him upon the two Latter Points He swears before the Lords that the Army of Twenty or Thirty Thousand Men who were to Land at Milford Haven from the Groin was to be Religious Men and Pilgrims from St. Iago in Spain Lords Iournal Nov. 12. 1678. But then in Langhorn's Tryals He Swears That they had provided in Spain under the Notion of Pilgrims from St. Jago some Irish Cashier'd Soldiers that had left their Country some for Religion and some for their Crimes and a great many Lay-Brothers whom they had procur'd and gathered together under the Notion of Pilgrims to be ready to take Shipping at the Groin to Land at Milford-Haven There to meet my Lord Powis and an Army that he was to raise in Wales to further this Design fol. 20. In a Deposition before the Lords he swears himself to have been of the Church of England till within These Two Years That by Perswasion and Promises from the Jesuits he was drawn over to them Lords Iournal Nov. 8. 1678. But upon the Tryal of Ireland he Swears That he had been Five Years almost Employed by the Society of Jesuits and the English Monks at Paris to carry and bring Letters between them c. Fol. 37. In the Tryal of Coleman Being Interrogated what he had seen or heard touching any Commission to Mr. Coleman he gives This Answer In particular I know not of any Commission directed to Mr. Coleman I do not know any thing of it but what Sir Henry Tichborn told me that he had a Commission and he brought a Commission for Mr. Coleman and the rest of the Lords from the Principal Iesuits at Rome by order of the Pope c. fol. 41. The Title of it I do not know because I did not See it But then in Langhorn's Tryal being asked where he saw Certain Commissions there in Question His Answer was This Sir Henry Tichborn did Shew me Three Commissions in Paris sign'd by the General of the Order and Seal'd with the Iesuits Seal Not to Multiply Instances One more upon This subject shall serve for All. Sir George Wakeman was to come to his Tryal on the 18 th of Iuly 1679. The Five-Iesuits-Tryal as they call it having been on the 13 and 14. of the Iune before And it was then High Time to Adjust their Matters towards That which was to Follow. The Evidence that was given by Bedloe at the Iesuits Tryal of Iune 13 14. concerning the Queens being in a Practice with Sir George to Poyson the King gave occasion to a further Examination of him before the Council on the 24. of the same Month which was Introduced with a Preface remarkable and in These following VVords truly Copy'd and strictly Examined from and by the Original every Page Attested by his own hand At the Council Chamber Iune 24. 1679. MR. Bedloe being Call'd in and Sworn is told that his Majesty had appointed This Council to know the Bottom of all That Danger that might Concern his own Person and in Particular what he could say touching the Queen's being in any Measure Privy to it And if she were Concern'd therein the Danger was so much the Greater as she is near to his Majesty so that it would not without the Vtmost Peril be Conceal'd by any Yet that if he had any New Matter to declare the Concealment of it should not be Penal unto him And therefore that he should upon his Allegeance speak out Fully and Plainly without respect to any Person whatsoever which he might do with All Freedom and Safety And not only for what Concern'd the Danger of the King's Life but the Plot in General against the Government and the Murder of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey After the Flam of the Chappel-Gallery-Consult and the Cambray-Adventure he comes to his Point and Deposes that Sir George Wakeman coming to Harcourt's Chamber with a Complaint that they had not kept Touch with him Harcourt told him he had not so much reason to Complain for he was provided for and thereupon went and took a Paper out of his Cabinet which for a While he held in his hand telling him he had been at Whitehall to Fetch that Paper and thereupon read it to them and it was a Bill for Two Thousand Pounds written by the Queen's order Council Chamber Iune 24. 1679. The Deponent further sayth that when Harcourt shewed Sir George Wakeman the said Bill he said This indeed is something but when shall I have the rest Harcourt Answer'd he should have Five Thousand Pounds in Due Time and also Ten Thousand more and that the Two Thousand Pounds was only for his present Supply And sayth that Pritchard told him afterward that it was for Poysoning the King and Harcourt likewise owned the same Ib. And saith that when Harcourt shew'd the said Bill for Two Thousand Pounds to Sir George Wakeman in the Deponents Presence Sir George asked Harcourt who this Deponent was To which Harcourt replyed he is one we have Entrusted not in so great a Work as Yours but in a Work next to That by which he supposes was meant the Death of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey Ib. We shall now see how his Depositions before the Councill as to this Point Agree with the Evidence he gave at the Five Iesuits and Langhorn's Tryal Sir George Wakeman he says received a Bill of Exchange from Mr. Harcourt and he was told here is a Bill of Exchange for 2000 l. as part of a greater Summ To which Sir George Wakeman Answered that 15000 l. was a small reward for the setling of Religion and preserving the Three Kingdoms c. Five Jesuits Tryal p. 35. And after he had given Sir George Wakeman the Bill Sir George Wakeman open'd it and Read it Ib. And then in the next Page says Bedloe I did only see the Bill out of Mr. Harcourt's hand but it was Read There only by Sir George Wakeman In fol. 36. Sir George Wakeman Receiv'd the Bill of Exchange from Mr. Harcourt he Read it Himself Folded it up and went and Received the Mony. Note here that before the Council HARCOURT Read it but in the Iesuiss Tryal WAKEMAN only Read it In the former the Two Thousand Pounds was for Sir Georges Present Supply In the Latter it was as Part of a greater Summ. In the Former Sir George seem'd well enough Content with the 15000 l. In the Latter he thought it too Little. Nay in fol. 35. Sir George open'd it which Implyes it was Then Folded and yet fol. 36. Sir George Wakeman Folded it up not Folded it up Again But Barely