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
in Preparation and bringing to Perfection it is our Resolution and we do Declare that in Defence of your Majesties Person and the Protestant Religion we will Stand by your Majesty with our Lives and Fortunes and shall be ready to Revenge any Violence Offered by them to your Sacred Majesty It is to be noted that the Vote was Soften'd in this Address For as it was Worded at first Whoever had Kill'd the King the Papists should have Gone to Pot for 't which Hint did as good as say Get but over This Iobb my Masters and y 'ave done your Bus'ness But the Conspirators found a way however to Supply That Restrictive Distinction by Murdering him Themselves and giving it out that the Papists had done it according to the Evidence of the Republican Conspiracy which says it was so Determin'd if the Rye House Project had Succeeded The Conspirators were to go to several Persons and Ask them Supposing that the Papists should Rise or that there should be a General Insurrection or a French Invasion Are you in a Posture of Defence This was the very Practice and the Imposture in the Case of the Militia the Double-Guards and the Rout they made among the Papists But Keeling a little Lower in the same Tryal puts it into somewhat Plainer English. These Men says he where to be in a readiness and it was Design'd that the Thing should be laid upon the Papists as a Branch of the Popish-Plot Which may serve for an Excellent Commenâ— upon the Present Text. Upon the 15th of Dec. 1680. There was no way with 'em but immediately to Banish All the Considerable Papists in England out of the Kings Dominions And it is to be Suppos'd that they would not have Forgotten his Royal Highness in the Number Especially Considering how Mindfull they were of him in Other Cases Insomuch that there was hardly any thing done by the Conspirators that had Worm'd themselves into the House but for Countenance-sake and to While away Time that had not the Ruine of the Duke and consequently of his Royal Brother in the Bottom of it and they were so Eager upon 't that all they could do without it was to no purpose Resolved Nemine Contradicente that so long as the Papists have any Hopes of the Duke of Yorks Succeeding the King in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto Belonging The Kings Person the Protestant Religion and the Lives Liberties and Properties of all his Majesties Protestant Subjects are in Apparent Danger of being Destroy'd And then follows Another Resolve upon the Necessity of such a Bill Excluding and Proroguing Two Great Points THE Refusal of This Bill and the Last Refuge that the King had left him of Proroguing Parliaments were Two Terrible Rubbs in their way For with the Help of the One they could have done the Bus'ness of the Roman Catholiques at pleasure and made as many Reputed and Suspected Papists of the Rest of his Majesties Subjects as they found Averse to the Popular Design And Then under the Countenance of a Sitting Parliament they had a Thousand Tricks and Devices by their Printed Votes Papers and Intelligences to make their Principals Fall down and Worship them as the Bulwark of the Protestant Religion the Heroes and Patriots of the Common Cause and the Saviours of the Nation But the Cunning Snapps of the Faction finding that the King would not let go his Power of Calling them and sending 'em away again as he pleas'd and that Prorogations and Dissolutions were but as Sentence and Execution to them They had the Wit to make a Provision of Parliamentary Guards for the Oxford Meeting under Colour of Securing the Protestant Members from having their Throats Cut there by the Papists And it is more then Probable that if his Majesty had not very prudently taken Two Steps at a Time and Dissolv'd them upon the very Spot and Instant without the Antecedent Ceremony of Proroguing them they would have found under the Colour of a House of Commons yet in Being Another Game to Play. There had been a Heavy Cry made upon all their Former Disappointments in Pamphlets Papers Discourses Addresses upon Surprizing Prorogations Popish and Amazing Prorogations c. which humour they did Notably set forth in an Address to his Majesty of No. 11. 1680. IN relation to the Tryalls of the Five Lords Impeached in Parliament for the Execrable Popish Plot we have so far Proceeded as we doubt not but in a short time we shall be ready for the same But we Cannot without being Vnfaithfull to your Majesty and to our Country by whom we are Intrusted Omit upon This Occasion humbly to Enform your Majesty that our Difficulties even as to these Tryalls are much Increased by the Evil and Destructive Councels of those Persons who Advised your Majesty first to the Prorogation and then to the Dissolution of the Last Parliament at a time when the Commons had taken great pains about and were Prepar'd for those Tryalls And by the like Pernicious Councells of those who Advised the Many and Long Prorogations of the Present Parliament before the same was permitted to Sit whereby some of the Evidence which was prepared in the Last Parliament may possibly during so long an Interval be Forgotten or Lost and some Persons who might probably have Come-in as Witnesses are either Dead have been Taken-off or may have been Discourag'd from giving their Evidence But of One Mischievous Consequence of those Dangerous and Unhappy Councells we are Certainly and Sadly Sensible Namely that the Testimony of a Material Witness against every of Those Five Lords and who could probably have Discover'd and brought-in much Other Evidence about the Plot in General and Those Lords in Particular cannot now be given Viva Voce forasmuch as That Witness is Unfortunately Dead between the Calling and the Sitting of this Parliament To prevent the Like or Greater Inconvenience for the Future we make it our most Humble Request to your Excellent Majesty that as you tender the Safety of your Royal Person The Security of your Loyal Subjects and Preservation of the True Protestant Religion you will not suffer your self to be prevail'd upon by the Like Councell to do any Thing which may Occasion in Consequence though we are Assured never with your Majesties Intention either the Deferring of a Full and Perfect Discovery and Examination of This most Wicked and Detestable Plot or the Preventing the Conspirators therein from being brought to speedy and Exemplary Justice and Punishment and we humbly beseech your Majesty to rest Assured Notwithstanding any Suggestions which may be made by Persons who for their Own Wicked Purposes Contrive to Create a Distrust in your Majesty of your People that Nothing is more in the Desires and shall be more the Endeavours of us your faithfull and Loyal Commons then the Promoting and Advancing of your Majesties True Happiness and Greatness NOW to Observe a little upon
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
of Christian Charity suffers them not to Conceal These Things Yet both from his Majesty and the Lord Arch-Bishop some Small Exemplar of Gratitude will be Expected p. 8. These are the very Reasonings and Pretences of Ezrel Tong put into the Mouth of Titus Otes No Figments So help me God No Thought of Gain but Pure Zeal and Christian Charity to work upon the Discoverers But yet some Small Exemplar of Gratitude will be Expected as a matter of Ten or Twelve Pound a Week-Pension for Otes and the Value perhaps of Four or Five times as much more in Presents and Veils A Deanery or some such Trifle for Tong. What is All This but a Flat Contradiction thrown in the very Face of the Pretext It is as Clear as Day that Tong and Habernfeld in All Things Material Walk Hand in Hand thorough the Whole Story But to avoid Idle Repetitions as much as may be I shall in the Next Place make a Short Abstract of Habernfeld's Last and Long Paper of Intelligence and so Finish my Parallel It bears This Following Title And from thence I shall Proceed to the Heads of it The Large and Particular Discovery of the Plot against the King Kingdom and Protestant Religion and to raise the Scottish Wars p. 13. The A King is in Danger of his Life and Crown B England and Scotland to be Subverted The Discoverer of This was Born and Bred in the C Popish Religion being D Fit for the Design p. 13. He was E sent over by Cardinal Barbarini F Troubled in Conscience and G came over to the Orthodox Religion H Reveal'd the Treason to a Friend I Put the Particulars in Writing out of which were drawn K. Articles p. 14. He falls upon the L Iesuitical Off-spring of Cham. p. 15. The M Society are the Conspirators The N Popes Legat is their Chief Patron They hold their O Weekly Intelligences p. 16. Cuneus the Instrument of the P Conjur'd Society He Presents the King with Roman Curiosities Promises but Means it not to Espouse the Cause of the Palatinate p. 17. Offers the Bishop a Cardinals Cap makes use of Court-Instruments and Mediations p. 18. But finding All in Vain Q Ambushes were to be Prepar'd wherewith the Lord Arch-Bishop together with the King should be Taken p. 19. They pass R Sentence against the King and lay hold of the Indignities put upon Prynne Burton and Bastwick and the Scotch Service-Book to stir up the Puritans to a Revenge Some Scottish Popish Lords are sent to Enflame S Scotland by which the T Hurtfull Disturber of the Scottish Liberty might be Slain V An Indian Nut provided by the Society and shew'd to the Discoverer in a W Boasting Manner To Poyson the X King after the Example of his Father p. 21. Hamilton's Chaplain Private with Cuneus A Chaplain of Richelieu's sent over to Assist the Conspiracy A Character given of Sr Toby Mathews p. 22. And an Account of his Intelligences Haunts and Meetings p. 23. The Story of Reade over again p. 24. Iesuits Letters and Meetings And Y All the Papists of England Contributing to the Design p. 25. One Widow Gave Forty Thousand Pound English toward it And Others beyond their Ability in Proportion He follows This with a Ramble upon Several Persons by Name that were dipt in the Conspiracy And further with This Remarkable Discovery The President of the aforesaid Society was my Lord Gage a Jesuit Priest Dead above Three Years since He had a Palace Adorn'd with Lascivious Pictures which Counterfeited Prophaneness in the House but with them was Palliated a Monastery wherein Forty Nuns were Maintained hid in so Great a Palace It is Scituated in Queen Street which the Statue of a Golden Queen Adorns The Secular Jesuits have bought All This Street and have Reduced it into a Quadrangle where a Jesuitical College is Tacitly built with the Hope that it might be Openly finish'd as soon as the Universal Reformation was begun p. 29. To pass a Short Note now upon the Whole The Design upon the A King and B England and Scotland is the General Scope of Otes'es Plot. He pretends to come over from C the Popish Religion No man Fitter for the D Design E sent over F Troubled in Conscience and G Converted The General of the Iesuits at Rome and the Provincial Here did the Parts of Cardinal Barbarini and the Popes Legat. Otes H Revealed the Treason to Tong and I put the Particulars in Writing out of which Tong Extracted K Articles Otes makes M the Society the Conspirators The Provincial serves for N The Popes Legat. The O Weekly Intelligences Grove took an Account of and for Instruments of the P Conjur'd Society Otes'es Narrative has them in abundance The Q Ambushes were laid in St. Iames'es and at Windsor The R Sentence pass'd at several Consults The Rebellion in S Scotland by Irritating the Puritans was Manag'd by Otes'es Missionaries and the King to be Murder'd as the T Hurtfull Disturber of their Liberties Wakemans Poyson was V the Indian Nut and Cuneus's Boasting of it Answers Conyers'es shewing Otes the Dagger in Grays-Inn-Walks Habernfelds Talk of Poysoning the X King after the Example of his Father was Match'd both in the Narrative of Otes'es Plot and Expressly in his Epistle before that Narrative to the Eternal Infamy of the Reporters of it And as Habernfeld Y makes All the Papists of England to be Concern'd in This Conspiracy so Otes in his Epistle and Narrative has made an Vniversal Plot on 't Only we want a Forty-Thousand-Pound Widow to Perfect the Parallel But That Defect is Amply Supply'd in Irish Contributions and Other Secret Services As to the Foolery of the Last Paragraph the Man must be a Great Stranger to London as well as to Common Sense that can look upon it as any other then a most Extravagant Foppery and without any Colour or Coherence After This Large Discovery as the Enformer Pretends comes a Summary in Eleven Heads of the Whole Matter which is only the same over again and is Answer'd over again by the same Parallel Only the 10 th Clause has an Expression in it Worthy of Remarque Some says he of the Principal Vnfaithful ones of the Kings Party are Notify'd by Name Many of whose Names Occur Not yet their Habitations are Known p. 31. Now in Otes'es Muster of the Conspirators it runs Whose Names Occurr at Present Nar. fol. 61. One would have thought they might have Vary'd the Phrase a little But our Modern Discoverers have been much better at Copying then at Inventing Witness This Whole Parallel and the Five Iesuits Letters It must not be Omitted neither that the Order of Politicians which Habernfeld speaks of p. 15. is Learnedly Turn'd forsooth into the Order of POLITITIANI by Otes in his Narrative Art. 53. In Conclusion here 's a Plot Copy'd-out to the Life and the Transcript a most Scandalous and Impious Cheat beyond all Controversy whatever the Original was
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
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
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
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
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
draw from This Preposterous way of Proceeding is that the Whole Story from End to End was a Practice that the Suborners of the Perjury were also the Protectors and the Patrons of it Both under One And that they had their Accomplices in the House of Commons upon This Crisis of State that play'd the same Game which their Fore-fathers had done upwards of Forty Years before The Earl of Shaftsbury a Busie Man in our Late Troubles BUt after the History of the Wickedness of These People it will be Needfull to look a little into the Woe they Wrought us Or at least to Compute upon the Calamitous Infelicities of That Season and Whence they took theâ—r Rise The Man knows little of the Histoâ—y of Our Troubles that 's a Stranger to the Life Practice and Character of the Late Earl of Shaftsbury who had the Wit in All Changes and Revolutions of State still to Turn Tail to the Weather and Swim with the Tyde And he did This too by Nature as well as by Application for beside the Advantages of a Mercurial Humour a Ready Tongue And a Dext'rous Address he had none of Those Vulgar Barrs upon him of Honour Shame or Conscience to put any Checque to the Impetuous Course of his Ambitious Lusts I am not upon the Story of his Life but it shall serve My Purpose to say that thorough All the Vsurpations from Forty to Sixty he came Sailing down still before the Wind and so from that time forward steer'd by the same Compass ON November 17. 1672. His Lordship being already Chancellour of the Exchequer and one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury was further Advanc'd by his Majesty to the Keeping of the Great Seal with the Title of Lord Chancellour of England And upon the 8th of November 1673. He was Discharg'd of That Commission Upon the Opening of the Parliament Feb. 5. 1672. His Lordship in a Large and Elegant Speech Blesses God and the King as follows LEt us Bless God that he hath given us such a King to be the Repairer of our Breaches both in Church and State and the Restorer of our Paths to dwell in That in the midst of War and Misery which Rages in our Neighbours Countrys our Garners are full and there is no Complaining in our Streets c. Let us Bless God that he hath given This King Signally the Hearts of his People and most Particularly of This Parliament Let us Bless the King for taking away All our Fears and leaving no room for Jealousies for those Assurances and Promises he hath made us Let us Bless God and the King that our Religion is Safe That the Church of England is the Care of our Prince That Parliaments are Safe That our Properties and Liberties are Safe What more hath a Good Englishman to Ask but that This King may Long Reign and that This Triple-Allyance of King Parliament and People may never be Dissolv'd HIs Lordships Matters as yet went Merrily on and his Good Humour kept pace with his Good Fortune But so soon as ever the Wind came about All these Blessings were thrown over the Left Shoulder The Clouds began now to Gather and soon after Discharge themselves in a Storm upon Papists and Publique Ministers In This Mood they brought-on the Bill about the Test whereof Andrew Marvel for the Honour of his Noble Patron gives This Account The Parliament having met the 5th of Feb. 1672. Prepared an Act before the Mony-Bill Slipt thorough their Fingers by which the Papists were Obliged to Pass thorough a New State-Purgatory to be Capable of Any Publique Employment Vpon this Occasion it was that the Earl of Shaftsbury though then Lord Chancellor of England yet Engaged so far in Defence of That Act and of the Protestant Religion that in due time it Cost him his Place and was the First Moving Cause of all Those Mis-adventures and Obloquy which since he lies ABOVE not UNDER IT deserves a Note the Libellous Deduction Marvel gives the World of the Kings Administration of Affairs as well Before as After This Celebrated Exploit of my Lord Shaftsbury's in a flat Contradiction to his Lordships Character of the King and to his Report of the Happy the Safe and the Peaceable State of the Government For whoever reads That Pamphlet will find it only an Artificial Scandal Imposture Cast-out to the Multitude upon set Purpose to make his Majesty Odious to his People One would have thought that the Gaining of the Test-Bill should have set their Hearts a little at Ease but That was not sufficient without calling for Fast upon Fast Raising the Militia Voting down the Guards Enquiring into Publique Grievances c. which being Said and Done with a Noverint Vniversi in the Eyes and Ears of the Nation is all one in many Cases with Ringing the Bells Backward and Firing the Beacons as if the Town were a Burning or an Enemy Landed and as far as Black-Heath in their March to London And all upon the Old and Everlasting Ground of Iealousie and Apprehension still That is to say BECAVSE The Restless Practices of Popish Recusants threatn'd the subversion both of Church and State. The Wheel was now in Motion and they drove like Iehu 'till they Dropt at last into Otes's Bottomless Plot. Shaftsbury had been a long time at the Trade of Fast and Loose and what with Industry Craft Malice and Experience the Fittest Man perchance in the Three Kingdoms to be the Head of a Faction And he was the Fitter for 't because his very Inclination prompted him to Mischief Even for Mischiefs sake It was his Way and his Humour to Tear All to pieces where he could not be the First Man in Bus'ness Himself And yet All this while his Faculty was rather a Quirking way of Wit then a Solidity of Iudgment and he was much Happier at Pulling-down then at Building-up In One Word He was a man of Subtlety not of Depth and his Talent was Fancy rather then Wisdom His Arts were Popular and after All his Politiques he was as great an Hypocrite in his Vnderstanding as in his Manners But the Best Incendiary yet upon the Face of the Earth for he had an Excellent Invention and a Protesting Face without either Faith or Truth Now when the Common People are to be Couzen'd One Imposture puts off Another and False Conclusions follow Naturally upon False Premises This is the Brief of his Character from those that knew and understood him Best and a man cannot do Right to the History without giving the Next Age a True Account of a Person that had so Great a Hand in the Confusions of This 'T is with the Mobile as with the Waters the very Blowing upon them makes them Troublesom and Dangerous and in the End to Overflow their Banks His Author sets him forth as the Great Advocate and Champion for the Bill of the Test and makes him Effectually
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
did if it were not that I find his Enformations strengthen'd and Supported by other Concurring Evidences and by the very Tenour of the History of That Season and if it were not likewise that Notwithstanding the Blasted Infamy of his Charaâ—ter and that his Credit was then at Lowest they were Glad yet to make Fair Weather with him without putting him to the Stress of Proving his Enformations which at That time probably might have been made out by Other Hands It may be made a Question perchance in the Next place What Warrant I have for the Vouching of These Papers of Old Tong 's to be Authentique either as Originals or as True Copies To which I can only say that there was a Trunk of Dr Tongs Papers Seiz'd at Colleges which was brought to Me a Long Time after the Taking of them to be Open'd and Examin'd and so they were and Attâ—sted in the Presence of several Justices of the Peace and Other Gentlemen These were the Papers that Simson Tonge says were Taken at Colleges where the Dr Dy'd And it appears from the very Quality of These Papers that there were others of Greater Consequence Convey'd away which Confirms what Simpson Tong says further about the Administration and the Conveying away of the Other Writing The much Greater Part of the Papers in the Trunk were Whimsyes of Project Calculations about Anti-Christ and the Number of the Beast Snaps of Chimistry Political Speculations Rough Draughts of Cases Petitions and Addresses Several Copies of a Sort But among Others there were Abundance of Dirty Fragments of Paper with a Confusion of Minutes and Memorials upon them of Times Dates Places and Persons and Particularly several Passages according to those Circumstances that I find in the Narrative which Manifestly shews that they were ratâ—er Matters Concerted toward the Making of a Narrative and the Adjusting of Articles that might Hang together then any Report of Otes'es upon the Point of Narration and Fact. In One Word These Broken Snaps of Writing were undoubtedly Forgotten or Not Heeded rather then laid up in this Trunk and a man might easily gather from what was Left that there had been a Cull made out of them Before For there was enough remaining as I have said already to give Light to the Subject and Design of Those that were either Remov'd or Destroy'd But the Doctors Hand is as Distinguishable from any Other Character that I ever saw as ever One mans Face was from Anothers One of the Iesuits Letters says Tonge in his Petition is in my Fathers Hand And any man that has a mind to Compare That Iesuits Letter with the Other Papers of the Doctor 's that I have Cited in These Remarques will no longer be able to Doubt that they were Both Written by the Same Hand And This I suppose may pass for a very Reasonable Account both of my having These Papers in my Possession and of the Credit of them CHAP. IX The Design of Tong 's Plot was upon the Duke of York THe Main and Principal Design says Young Tong in one of his Letters was to Disinherit His Royal Highness Popery was the Colour The Duke of York was brought in Consequently as the Head of the Roman Catholiques The Queen not Spar'd and the Late King Himself more then Innuendo'd into the Conspiracy Plain-Dealing Otes gives his Late Majesty a Touch on 't in the Preface to his Narrative And if it be True as it comes from a very Good Hand and I believe it when Bedloe was Press'd to say Whom he saw about the Murder'd Body of Sr Edmundbury Godfrey he did Heroically Declare that he would not Name the Man Nay and though he was Adjur'd to do it by an Eminent Patron of the Cause that is now in the Grave His Answer was Short and Resolute that there was He and He and a Tall â—lâ—ck Man but he would go no Further So that the King and the whole Royal Family were brought into the Toyle as well as His Royal Highness For Excluding for Popery Involves Deposing and Monarchy it self was to Fall too with his Majesty Witness the Association that was render'd Inseparable from the Exclusion and Carry'd in the Project of it the very Lines and Method of a Common-Wealth Simpson Tong follows the Blow at His Royal Highness with some Particular Names which out of Decency and Respect I shall forbear making Mention of the Lord Shaftsbury c. by whom the Matter was Publiquely and in Truth Carry'd-on But it was no Great Wonder when a Company of Fools had put so many Shams together and given them the Countenance of a Discovery or a Narrative for a Pack of Crafty Blades to Vernish it over afterwards and to put Popular Glosses upon it As to Tongs Aversion to the Duke of York with a Regard both to his Title and Religion the Vein of it runs quite thorough All his Papers where-ever he can but bring in That Subject thougâ— by Head and Shoulders particularly in the Bus'ness of Mr Coleman and in the Cheat of the Five Windsor Letters where he lays the Blasting of That Discovery at the Door of his Then Royal Highness by Possessing his Majesty against the Belief of Bedingfields Letters and over-ruling the Credit of them whereas it is made Sufficiently Notorious already that when the Faction afterward were Audacious and Powerfull enough to â—ress and to Procure his Banishment to Attempt his Exclusion Impeachment nay the making a Traytor of him they had not yet either the Face or the Heart to venture so much as One Syllable of All These Letters into Evidence But One Instance shall serve for All. In Tong 's Iesuits Assassins being the Enformation of One Green a Weaver drawn up and made Parliament-Proof by Dr Tong he brings in a Discourse betwixt One Mr â—oyer and Green a Weaver concerning the Titles of the Duke of York and Duke of Monmouth If there be a Difference says Green between the Duke of York and the Duke of Monmouth and the Parliament do not Settle it I believe that All the Protestants in England will venture theiâ— Bloud before the Duke of Monmouth shall lose his Birthright and We lose the Liberty of Our Religion too Bâ—yâ—r And We will Venture All our Lives and Fortunes on the Behalf of the Duke of York and for the Interest of Our Religion Green. What can You do for You be Nothing to Vs. Boyer Do not you Think so for although we are but Thin here yet there be Many in Other Places and Powerfull Persons too I will raise a Company c. I am now gotten into the Acquaintance of them by whose Assistance I can get a Commission from the Duke of York as well as Another fol. 2. And now comes Tong with a Politique Nota Bene upon 't N. B. This agrees well with Mr Jenisons Relation of a Commission promised Him c. And here it may be Noted by what False Sly and Pernicious Suggestions and
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
him to get acquainted among the Papists and when he had done so then my Father told him there had been many Plots in England to bring in Popery and if he would go over among the Jesuits and Observe their ways it was possible it might be One now and if he could make it out it would be his Preferment for ever But however if he could get their Names and a little Acquaintance from the Papists it would be an Easy matter to stir up the People to fear Popery And again My Father and He Dr. Otes went and Lodg'd at Fox-Hall at one Lamberts a Bell-Founder which House was call'd by the Neighbours the Plot-House And there Otes 's Narrative was Written whereof several Copies were Written very Different from the Other and the Four Jesuits Letters wherein Oates pretended was the whole Discovery were Counterfeits c. To the Instances above I shall Add One More for the Further Reputation of All the Rest which is That when Otes'es Credit ran High and the Faction as Bold as Ever upon May the 15. 1682. I Publish'd This Following Advertisement And it went down without either Check or Controll If any Man Woman or Child will be so Kind and Generous as out of an Affection to the Protestant Religion and the Vindication of Dr. Otes to call Simpson Tonge to a Legal Account for Endeavouring to Destroy the Credit of the said Doctor and his Evidence by Scandalous Reflexions upon Both Roger L'Estrange does hereby offer Himself out of a Zeal to the Publique Good to Furnish Authentique Papers and Memorials toward the Prosecution of the Work. THe Whole Party were as Mute as Fishes after This Publication which they would never have been if they durst have put the Reputation of Otes'es Evidence to the Test. To say Nothing of the Congruity betwixt the Method and the Drift of their Open Proceedings in the Case and the Scope of Tonge's Private Enformations For the Father and Otes Acted the Same Part before the Commons which Young Tonge said they did betwixt Themselves and the Mortal Malice of the Cabal struck at the Duke of York too just according to the Report of His Papers Insomuch that while His Royal Highness was Wounded for the Pretended Sake of the Roman-Catholiques The Romanists Themselves were likewise to be Sacrific'd for the sake of the Duke of York and Both for the Common Interest of the Change they Design'd After this Preparatory to a General Vnderstanding of the Case here under Consideration it will be Proper and Needfull to set forth what such a Plot Is before I come to a Resolution that This Damnable Hellish Popish Thing of Otes'es was in Truth such a Plot That is to say a Plot upon the Life of the King The Frame of the Government and the Destruction of the Protestant Religion And to This End Parliamentary Uotes will be as Good in Payment I hope as Fox-Hall Narratives and as Current in the Uindication oâ— the Royal Family as the Other were to the Defaming of it The Plot-Faction Design'd the Ruine of the Late King and to Compass it by leaving him neither MONY POWER CREDIT nor FRIENDS WHat 's a Prince I would fain know without MONY without POWER without CREDIT without FRIENDS And what are Those People that Endeavour to Robb and to Strip their Sovereign of All These Necessary Supports Or what can any man do More toward the Execution of the Malice of the Pretended Popish Plot then to enter into a League and to Ioyn in a Conspiracy to All These Execrable Ends If the Project of doing All This may be call'd a Plot If to Labour the Doing of it be to be In a Plot And if This was upon the Wheel and Actually a Doing by Otes and his Confederates and Founded upon His Counterfeit Plot too And if I make All This Out from Publique Acts and Orders as Credible as Records the Question and the Reputation of This Sham is at an End for Ever And so I shall Proceed to the Four Heads above mentioned in Course as they lye No Mony. AS to the Matter of MONY How many Addresses were made by a Prevalent Majority of the House of Commons for Reward to the Discoverers of Godfrey's Murder Five Hundred Pound Reward to Bedloe Dangerfield to be Pardon'd and Rewarded And so for Turberville Bourk Sampson Macknamarra Eustace Commins c. Beside the Horrible Charge of Pensions for the Entertainment of Otes Bedloe Dugdale and Forty more But after all these Expences not a Penny to be either Supply'd by Bill or so much as Borrow'd upon Anticipations unless upon Terms Worse then Death as by These following Votes will Appear Resolved That his Majesty in his Last Message having Assured This House of his Readiness to Concurr in all other Means for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion This House doth Declare that untill a Bill be likewise passed for Excluding the Duke of York this House cannot give any Supply to his Majesty without Danger to his Majesties Person Extreme Hazzard of the Protestant Religion and Vnfaithfulness to Those by whom This House is Intrusted Resolved That whosoever shall hereafter Lend or Cause to be Lent by way of Advance any MONY upon the Branches of the King's Revenue arising by Customs Excise or Hearth-Mony shall be Adjudged to Hinder the Sitting of Parliaments and shall be Responsible for the same in Parliament Resolved That whosoever shall Accept or Buy any Tally of Anticipation upon any Part of the Kings Revenue or whosoever shall pay such Tally hereafter to be Struck shall be Adjudged to hinder the Sittings of Parliaments and shall be Responsible therefore in Parliament In the Address of Decem. 21. 1680. The Commons Insist upon the Excluding of the Duke of York and an Act of Association Or otherwise see what Follows Without these Things the Allyances of England will not be Valuable nor the People Encourag'd to Contribute to your Majesties Service From hence it does abundantly Appear that his Late Majesty was Driven upon Expence and Hinder'd of Supplys by All Arts and Shifts Imaginable and the Readiest way of finding to what End All this was done will be to look into the Grounds and Reasons of their so doing The Lords sent down a Vote to the House of Commons for their Concurrence Declaring that their Lordships were fully Satisfy'd that there was a Horrid and a Treasonable Plot Carry'd-on by the Papists in Ireland Unto which Vote the Commons Agreed with an Addition in Manner Following This House does Agree with the Lords in the said Vote with the Addition of These Words That the Duke of York being a Papist and the Expectation of his Coming to the Crown hath given the Greatest Countenance and Encouragement thereto the Irish Plot that is as well as to the Horrid Popish Plot in This Kingdom of England Resolved That it is the Opinion of This House that there