Maliciously and Trayterously did send to the said Monsieur le Chese into Parts beyond the Seas there to be delivered to him And that the said Edward Coleman afterward viz. the first day of December in the seven and twentieth year of our said Sovereign Lord the King at the said Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did receive from the said Monsieur le Chese one Letter in Answer to one of the said Letters first mentioned and written by him the said Edward Coleman to the said Monsieur le Chese which said Letter in Answer as aforesaid Falsly Maliciously and Trayterously received the day and year aforesaid at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster aforesaid the said Edward Coleman did falsly trayterously and maliciously read over and Peruse And that the said Edward Coleman the Letter so as aforesaid by him in Answer to the said Letter received into his Custody and Possession the Day and Year last mentioned at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster aforesaid in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did Falsly Maliciously and Trayterously Detain Conceal and Keep By which Letter the said Monsieur le Chese the Day and Year last mentioned at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did signifie and promise to the said Edward Coleman to obtain for the said Edward Coleman and other false Traytors against our Sovereign Lord the King Aid Assistance and Adherence from the said French King and that the said Edward Coleman afterward Viz. the tenth day of December in the seven and twentieth year of the Reign of our said Sovereign Lord the King at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid his wicked Treasons and Traiterous Designs and Proposals as aforesaid did tell and declare to one Mounsieur Revigni Envoy extraordinary from the French King to our most Serene and Sovereign Lord King Charles c. in the County aforesaid residing and did falsly maliciously and trayterously move and excite the said Envoy extraordinary to partake in his Treason and the sooner to fulfil and compleat his Traiterous Designs and wicked imaginations and intentions the said Edward Coleman afterward Viz. the tenth day of December in the seven and twentieth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King Charles the Second of England c. aforesaid at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did advisedly maliciously deceitfully and traiterously compose and write three other Letters to be sent to one Sir William Throckmorton Kt. then a Subject of our said Soveraign Lord the King of this Kingdome of England and residing in France in parts beyond the Seas Viz. at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid to sollicite the said Monsieur Le Chese to procure and obtain of the said French King Aid Assistance and Adherance as aforesaid and the said Letters last mentioned afterward Viz. the day and year last named as aforesaid from the said Parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex aforesaid did falsly and tâ—aiterously send and cause to be delivered to the said Sir VVilliam Throckmorton in France aforesaid against his true Allegiance and against the Peace of our Sovereign Lord the King that now is his Crown and Dignity and against the Form of the Statute in that Case made and Provided Court Upon this Indictment he hath been arraigned and hath pleaded thereunto not guilty and for his Tryal he puts himself upon God and his Country Which Country you are Your Charge is to enquire whether he be guilty of the High Treason whereof he stands indicted or not guilty If you find him guilty you are to enquire what Goods and Chattels Lands and Tenements he had at the time when the High Treason was committed or at any time since If you find him not guilty you are to say so and no more and hear your Evidence Cryer If any one will give Evidence on the behalf of our Soveraign Lord the King against Edward Coleman the Prisoner at the Bar let him come forth and he shall be heard for the Prisoner now stands at the Bar upon his Deliverance Mr. Recorder May it please you my Lord and you Gentlemen of the Jury Mr. Edward Coleman now the prisoner at the Bar stands indicted for High Treason and the Indictment sets forth that the said Edward Coleman indeavouring to subvert the Protestant Religion and to change and alter the same And likewise to stir up Rebellion and Sedition amongst the Kings Liege people and also to kill the King did on the 29th of September in the twenty seventh year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord the King at the Parish of St. Margarets VVestminster in this County compose and write two several Letters to one Mounsieur Le Chese that was then servant and Confessor to the French King and this was to procure the French Kings aid and assistance to him and other Traitors to alter the Religion practised and by Law established here in England to the Romish Superstition The Indictment sets forth likewise that on the same day he did write and compose two other Letters to the same Gentleman that was servant and Confessor to the said King to prevail with him to procure the French Kings assistance to alter the Religion in this Kingdome established to the Romish Religion The Indictment sets further forth that he caused these two Letters to be sent beyond the Seas And it also sets forth that on the tenth of December the same moneth he did receive a Letter from the Gentleman that was the Confessor in answer to one of the former Letters and in that Letter aid and assistance from the French King was promised and that he did traiterously conceal that Letter My Lord the Indictment sets out further that on the tenth day of the same moneth he did reveal his Treasons and traiterous Conspiracies to one Mounsieur Revigni who was Envoy from the French king to his Majesty of Great Britain And his Indictment declares he afterwards did write three Letters more to Sir VVilliam Throckmorton then residing in France to procure the French Kings assistance to the alteration of the Religion practised here in England Of these several Offences he stands hereindicted To this he hath pleaded not guilty If we prove these or either of them in the Indictment you ought to find him guilty Serj. Maynard May it please your Lordship and you Gentlemen of the Jury This is a Cause of great Concernment Gentlemen the Prisoner at the Bar stands indicted for no less than for an intention and endeavour to murther the King For an endeavour and attempt to change the Government of the Nation so well settled and instituted and to bring us all to ruin and slaughter of one another and for an endeavour to alter the Protestant Religion and to introduce instead of it the Romish Superstition and Popery This
as to know your Person and that I have an Opportunity of putting this Letter into the hands of Father St. German â—s Nephew for whose Integrity and Prudence he has undertaken without any sort of hazard In order then Sir to the plainness I profess I will tell you what has formerly passed between your Reverence's Predecessor Father Ferryer and my self About three years ago when the King my Master sent a Troop of Horse Guards into his most Christian Majesties Service under the Command of my Lord Durass he sent with it an Officer called Sir William Throckmorton with whom I had a particular Intimacy and who had then very newly embrac'd the Catholick Religion To him did I constantly Write and by him address my self to Father Ferryer The first thing of great Importance I presumed to offer him not to trouble you with lesser matters or what passed here before and immediatly after the Fatal Revocation of the Kings Declaration for Liberty of Conscience to which we owe all our Miseries and hazards was in July August and September 1673. when I constantly inculcated the great danger Catholick Religion and his most Christian Majesties Interest would be in at our next Sessions of Parliament which was then to be in October following at which I plainly foresaw that the King my Master would be forced to something in prejudice to his Allyance with France which I saw so evidently and particularly that we should make Peace with Holland that I urg'd all the Arguments I could which to me were Demonstrations to convince your Court of that mischief and press'd all I could to perswade his most Christian Majesty to use his utmost endeavour to prevent that session of our Parliament and proposed Expedients how to do it But I was answered so often and so positively that his most Christian Majesty was so vvell assured by his Embassador here our Embassador there the Lord Arlington and even the King himself that he had no such apprehensions at all but vvas fully satisfied of the contrary and lookt upon what I offered as a very zealous mistake that I was forced to give over arguing though not believing as I did but confidently appealed to time and success to prove who took their measures rightest When it happened what I foresaw came to pass the good Father was a little surprized to see all the great men mistaken and a little one in the right and was pleased by Sir William Throckmorton to desire the continuance of my correspondence which I was mighty willing to comply with knowing the Interest of our King and in a more particular manner of my more immediate Master the Duke and his most Christian Majesty to be so inseparably united that it was impossible to divide them without destroying them all Upon this I shewed that our Parliament in the circumstances it was managed by the timerous Councels of our Ministers who then governed would never be useful either to England France or Catholick Religion but that we should as certainly be forced from our Neutrality at their next meeting as we had been from our Active Alliance with France the last year That a Peace in the Circumstances we were in was much more to be desired then the continuance of the War and that the Dissolution of our Parliament would certainly procure a Peace for that the Confederates did more depend upon the power they had in our Parliament then upon any thing else in the World and were more encouraged from them to the continuing of the War so that if they were Dissolved their measures would be all broken and they consequently in a manner necessitated to a Peace The good Father minding this Discourse somewhat more then the Court of France thought fit to do my former urg'd it so home to the King that his Majesty was pleased to give him Orders to signify to his R. H. my Master that his Majesty vvas fully satisfyed of his R. H s. good intention tovvards him and that he esteemed both their interests but as one and the same that my Lord Arlington and the Parliament were both to be lookt upon as very unuseful to their interest That if his R. H. would endeavour to dissolve this Parliament his most Christian Majesty would assist him with his Povver and Purse to have a nevv one as should be for their purpose This and a great many more expressions of kindness and confidence Father Ferryer was pleased to communicate to Sir William Throckmorton and Commanded them to send them to his R. H. and withall to beg his R. H. to propose to his most Christian Majesty what he thought necessary for his own concern and the advantage of Religion and his Majesty would certainly do all he could to advance both or either of them This Sir William Throckmorton sent to me by an Express who left Paris the 2d of June 1674 Stilo novo I no sooner had it but I communicated it to his R. H. To which his R. H. commanded me to answer as I did on the 29th of the same month That his R. H. was very sensible of his most Christian Majesties friendship and that he would labour to cultivate it with all the good Offices he was capable of doing for his Majesty that he was fully convinced that their Interests were both one that my Lord Arlington and the Parliament vvere not only unuseful but very dangerous both to England and France That therefore it was necessary that they should do all they could to Dissolve it And that his R. H's opinion was that if his most Christian Majesty would Write his thoughts freely to the King of England upon this Subject and make the same proffer to his Majesty of his Purse to Dissolve this Parliament which he had made to his R H. to call another he did believe it very possible for him to succeed with the assistance we should be able to give him here and that if this Parliament were Dissolved there would be no great difficulty of getting a new one which would be more useful The Constitutions of our Parliaments being such that a new one can never hurt the Crown nor an old one do it good His R. H. being pleased to own these Propositions which were but only general I thought it reasonable to be more particular and come closer to the point we might go the faster about the work and come to some issue before the time was too far spent I laid this for my Maxim The Dissolution of our Parliament will certainly procure a Peace which proposition was granted by every body I Conversed withall even by Monsieur Rouvigny himself with whom I took liberty of discoursing so far but durst not say any thing of the Intelligence I had with Father Ferryer Next that a Sum of Money certain would certainly procure a Dissolution this some doubted but I am sure I never did for I knew perfectly well that the King had frequent Disputes with himself at that time whether
Popish and extirpate the Protestant Religion I doubt not but this Design in some measure hath been contriving ever since the Reformation by the Jesuits or some of their Emissaries but hath often received interruption so that they have proceeded sometimes more coldly sometimes more hotly And I do think at no time since the Reformation that ever this Design was carried on with greater industry nor with fairer hopes of success than for these last years My Lord You will hear from our Witnesses that the first Onset which was to be made upon us was by whole Troops of Jesuits and Priests who were sent hither from the Seminaries abroad where they had been trained up in all the subtilty and skill that was fit to work upon the People My Lord you will hear how active they have been and what insinuations they used for the perverting of particular persons After some time spent in such attempts they quickly grew weary of that course though they got some Proselytes they were but few Some Bodies in whom there was a predisposition of humors were infected but their Numbers were not great They at last resolve to take a more expeditious way for in truth my Lord they could not far prevail by the former And I wish with all my heart that the Bodies of Protestants may be as much out of danger of the violence of their hands as their Understandings will be of the force of their Arguments But my Lord when this way would not take they began then to consider they must throw at all at once No doubt but they would have been glad that the People of England had had but one Neck but they knew the People of England had but one Head and therefore they were resolved to strike at that My Lord you will find that there was a Summons of the principal Jesuits of the most able Head-pieces who were to meet in April or May last to consult of very great things of a most Diabolical Nature no less than how to take away the life of the King our Sovereign My Lord you will find as is usually practised in such horrid Conspiracies to make all secure that there was an Oath of Secresie taken and that upon the Sacrament You will find Agreements made that this most wicked and horrible Design should be attempted You will find two Villains were found among them who undertook to do this execrable work and you will hear of the rewards they were to have Money in case they did succeed and Masses good store in case they perished so that their Bodies were provided for in case they survived and their Souls if they died My Lord What was the reason they did not effect their Design but either that these Villains wanted opportunity or their hearts failed them when they came to put in execution this wicked Design or perhaps which is most probable it was the Providence of God which over-rul'd them that this bloody Design did not take its effect But these Gentlemen were not content with one Essay they quickly thought of another and there were four Irish-men prepared men of very mean Fortunes and desperate conditions and they were to make the attempt no longer since than when the King was last at Windsor My Lord I perceive by the Proofs that these last Assassinates went down thither but it came to pass for some of the Reasons aforesaid that that Attempt failed likewise My Lord These Gentlemen those wise Heads who had met here in Consultation did then and long before consider with themselves that so great a Cause as this was not to be put upon the hazard of some few hands they therefore prepared Forces Aids and Assistances both at home and abroad to second this wicked Design if it had succeeded as to the Person of the King and if that fail'd then by their Foreign and Domestick Aids and Assistances to begin and accomplish the whole Work of subverting our Government and Religion And here we must needs confess as to the former part of this Plot which we have mentioned I mean the attempt upon the Kings Person Mr. Coleman was not the Contriver nor to be the Executioner But yet your Lordship knows in all Treasons there is no Accessory but every man is a Principal And thus much we have against him even as to this part of the Design which will involve him in the whole guilt of it that Mr. Coleman consented to it though his hand were not to do it Mr. Coleman encouraged a Messenger to carry Money down as a Reward of these Murtherers that were at Windsor of this we have proof against him which is sufficient My Lord Mr. Coleman as a man of greater abilities is reserved for greater Employments and such wherein I confess all his Abilities were little enough There were Negotiations to be made with Men abroad Money to be procured partly at home from Friends here and partly abroad from those that wish'd them well And in all these Negotiations Mr. Coleman had a mighty hand and you will perceive by and by what a great progress he made in them This Conspiracy went so far as you will hear it proved That there were General Officers named and appointed that should Command their new Catholick Army and many were Engaged if not Listed There were not onely in England but in Ireland likewise where Arms and all other Necessaries were provided and whither great Sums of Money were returned to serve upon occasion But one thing there is my Lord that comes nearest Mr. Coleman As there were Military Officers named so likewise the great Civil Places and Offices of the Kingdom were to be disposed of I will not nameto whom at this time more than what is pertinent to the present business This Gentleman such were his great Abilities the trust and reliance that his Party had upon him that no less an Office would serve his turn than that of Principal Secretary of State and he had a Commission that came to him from the Superiours of the Jesuits to enable him to execute that great Office My Lord it seems strange that so great an Office should be conferred by no greater a man than the Superior of the Jesuits But if the Pope can depose Kings and dispose of Kingdoms no wonder if the Superior of the Jesuits can by a Power delegated from him make Secretaries It is not certain what the Date of this Commission was nor the very time when he received it but I believe he was so earnest and forward in this Plot that he began to execute his Office long before he had his Commission for it for I find by his Letters which are of a more early Date that he had proceeded so far as to treat with Father Ferrier who was the French Kings Confessor before he had actually received this Commission You will understand by the Letters which we shall produce what he had to do with him and what with the other Confessor that succeeded
a Pestilent Heresie which has domineered over great part of this Northern World a long time there were never such hopes of success since the Death of our Queen Mary as now in our days When God has given us a Prince who is become may I say a Miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a Work but the opposition we are sure to meet with is also like to be great So that it imports us to get all the aid and assistance we can for the Harvest is great and the Labourers but few That which we rely upon most next to God Almighty's Providence and the favour of my Master the Duke is the mighty mind of His most Christian Majesty whose generous Soul inclines him to great undertakings which being managed by your Reverence's exemplary piety and prudence will certainly make him look upon this as most sutable to himself and best becoming his power and thoughts so that I hope you will pardon me if I be very troublesom to you upon this occasion from whom I expect the greatest help we can hope for I must confess I think His Christian Majesty's Temporal Interest is so much attracted to that of his R. H. which can never be considerable but upon the growth and advancement of the Catholick Religion that his Ministers cannot give him better advice even in a Politick sence abstracting from the considerations of the next World that of our Blessed Lord to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof that all other Things may be added unto him That I know His most Christian Majesty has more powerful motives suggested to him by his own Devotion and your Reverences zeal for God's Glory to engage him to afford us the best help he can in our present circumstances But we are a little unhappy in this that we cannot press His Majesty by his present Minister here upon these latter Arguments which are most strong but only upon the first Mr. Rouvigny's sence and ours differing very much upon them though we agree perfectly upon the rest And indeed though he be a very able Man as to his Master's service in things where Religion is not concerned yet I believe it were much more happy considering the posture he is now in that his temper were of such a sort that we might deal clearly with him throughout and not be forc'd to stop short in a Discourse of consequence and leave the most material part out because we know it will shock his particular Opinion and so perhaps meet with dislike and opposition though never so necessary to the main concern I am afraid we shall find too much reason for this Complaint in this next Session of Parliament for had we had one here from His most Christian Majesty who had taken the whole business to heart and who would have represented the state of our Case truly as it is to his Master I do not doubt but His most Christian Majesty would have engag'd himself further in the affair than at present I fear he has done and by his approbation have given such Counsels as have been offered to his R. H. by those few Catholicks who have access to him and who are bent to serve him and advance the Catholick Religion with all their might and might have more credit with his R. H. than I fear they have found and have assisted them also with his Purse as far as 10000 Crowns or some such sum which to him is very inconsiderable but would have been to them of greater use than can be imagined towards gaining others to help them or at least not to oppose them If we had been so happy as to have had His most Christian Majesty with us to this degree I would have answered with my life for such success this Sessions as would have put the Interest of the Catholick Religion his R. H. and His most Christian Majesty out of all danger for the time to come But wanting those helps of recommending those necessary Counsels which have been given his R. H. in such manner as to make him think them worth his accepting and fit to govern himself by and of those advantages which a little Money well managed would have gained us I am afraid we shall not be much better at the end of this Sessions than we are now I pray God we do not lose ground By my next which will be e're long I shall be able to tell your Reverence more particularly what we are like to expect In the mean time I most humbly beg your Holy Prayers for all our undertakings and that you will be pleased to honour me so far as to esteem me what I am entirely and without any reserve Mon tres Reverend Pere le votre R. Le plus humble plus obeisant Serviteur Several other Letters were read but because of prolixity they are omitted these being most material Attorn Gen. I have done with my Evidence we need no more proof against him Prisoner My Lord I would if your Lordship please very fain ask of Mr. Oates because he was pleased to say he was present with me in May or April whether he knows the particular days of the Months Here Mr. Oates who being tired withdrew to rest himself was called and the Prisoner was asked whether he would speak with Bedloe but he desired not to speak with him Mr. Oates The Consult that was held in May New-stile is April Old-stile it was within a day or two or three of the Consult Pris Where was the Consult Oates It was begun at the White-Horse Tavern then they did adjourn it to several Clubs and Companies and you came two or three days after the Consult to the Provincial's Chamber we then desiring to go out of Town Pris Was you there and who else Oates There was the Provincial and Micho and Strange the Old Provincial and Keins your Companion Pris What day of August was that at the Savoy Oates I cannot Swear the particular day of the Month I cannot so far charge my memory The Result at the Consult in May was that Pickering and Groves should go on in their attempt to assassinate the Person of His Majesty by Shooting or otherwise Mr. Coleman knew of this and said it was a good design L. Chief Just Who was there was Mr. Coleman with them at the Consultation Oates No my Lord but two or three days after the Consultation he was at Wild-House and there he expressed that he approved of it L. Chief Just Did he consent to it Oates He did consent to it Just Wild. Did he use no Words about it Oates He did shew his Approbation of it But in those Instructions that were brought to Ashby he did say it was a very good proposition but he thought the Reward was too little L. Chief Just Did he use any words to declare his assent Oates Two things lie couched in the Question whether your Lordship means the Consult or
at Mr. Francis Fisher's I was there at least twenty days L. Ch. Just Have you any more Witnesses Pris Ans None L. Ch. Just If you have a mind to say any thing more say what you can Pris I can say nothing more than what I have said Positively I say and upon my Salvation I never saw these Witnesses Oates but once and Bedlow never before Sir Francis Winnington his Majesty's Sollicitor General sums up the Evidence as followeth May it please Your Lordship and you Gentlemen of the Jury THE Cause before you I dare adventure to say is a Cause of as great a Nature and includes as great Crimes as ever came to this Bar. It is not a Cause of a particular Treason but ' t is a Treason that runs to the whole the King the Government and the Protestant Religion all are comprehended in it The defence the Prisoner has made is so very short and of so slight a Nature that I shall contract my self very much in what I had to say and only state to the Court and Jury the principal things I rely upon The first Crime laid in the Indictment is the design of killing and destroying the Royal Person of his Majesty The second the subverting of the Government and in doing that the destruction of the Protestant Religion And these Treasons have been punctually proved as well by two Witnesses as by Letters under Mr. Colemans own Hand whereby he corresponded with Monsieur Le Chese the French Kings Confessor as also by the Answers which were sent by Monsieur Le Chese to Mr. Coleman As to the Proofs made by the Witnesses the substance of them is this Mr. Oates swears that in April last Old Style and May New Style there was a General Consult or Meeting of the Jesuites at the White-Horse-Tavern in the Strand and afterwards they divided themselves into several Companies or Clubs and in those Consults they conspired the Death of the King and contrived how to effect it The manner of it was thus as Mr. Oates positively swears That Grove and Pickering were imployed to murther the King and their design was to Pistol him in St. James ' s Park Grove was to have Fifteen hundred Pounds in Money and Pickering being a Priest was to have Thirty thousand Masses which was computed to be of equal value to Fifteen hundred Pounds according to the usual price in the Church of Rome And this Conspiracy and Contrivance Mr. Coleman was privy to and did well approve of the same as Mr. Oates affirmeth upon his Oath So that here is a plain Treason proved upon the Prisoner by his assenting to the Fact to be done the Law not allowing any Accessaries in Treason And this in Law makes the Prisoner as guilty as any of the Assassinates who designed to kill the King with their own Hands If this design should fail Mr. Oates swears that the Conspirators intended a farther attempt upon the Royal Person of the King when be should be at Windsor and four Irish Assassinates were provided by Doctor Fogarty whose Names he would not tell and fourscore Guinneys were provided by Father Harcourt a Jesuit to maintain the Assassinates at Windsor till they should have effected their wicked design While the Conspiracy was thus in agitation Mr. Coleman the Prisoner went to visit Harcourt the Jesuit at his House in Town but finding him not at home and being informed that he was at Wild-house Mr. Coleman went thither and found him there and Mr. Coleman asking what Provision Harcourt had made for the Gentlemen at Windsor Harcourt replyed that there were fourscore Guinneys which then lay upon the Table which were to be sent to them and said that the Person who was in the Room was to carry them To which Mr. Coleman replyed he liked it very well and gave a Guinney out of his own Pocket to the Messenger who was to carry the Money to Windsor to encourage him to expedite the Business But in case the design of killing his Majesty at Windsor should be any ways prevented then there was a further Conspiracy to destroy the King by Poison Mr. Oates swears that in July last Ashby a Jesuit brought instructions to London from Flanders that in case Pickering and Grove could not kill the King at London nor the four Irish Assassinates at Windsor then Ten thousand Pounds was to be proposed to Sir George Wakeman to poyson the King But it did appear by the Letters that passed between White the Provincial here in London and Ashby that Mr. Coleman said he thought ten thousand Pounds was too little and therefore thought it necessary to offer five thousand Pounds more which afterwards was assented to by the Jesuites abroad And Mr. Oates swears he saw Letters from the Provincial at London to the Jesuites at St. Omer signifying that Sir George Wakeman had accepted of the Proposition and received five thousand Pounds of the Money By which Testimony of Mr. Oates it plainly appears that Mr. Coleman the Prisoner at the Bar was privy to the Conspiracy and aiding and abetting to the wicked and damnable design of murdering the King The second Witness is Mr. Bedlow who swears that he was imployed by Harcourt the Jesuit to carry Pacquets of Letters to Monsieur Le Chese the French Kings Confessor and further says he was at a Consult in France where the Plot was discoursed on for killing the King and did bring back an answer from Le Chese to Harcourt in London and swears particularly that on the 24th or 25th of May 1677. he was at Colemans House with Father Harcourt and some other Persons where Mr. Coleman discoursing of the great design in hand said these Words following That if he had a Sea of Blood and an hundred Lives he would lose them all to carry on the design and if to effect this it were necessary to destroy an hundred Heretick Kings he would do it So that here is another positive Oath to an Act of Treason committed by Mr. Coleman in relation to the murthering the King The other part of the Evidence consists of Papers and Letters which generally relate to prove the latter part of the Indictment to wit The Extirpation of the Protestant Religion and introducing of Popery and the subverting of the Government And this appears by a Letter written by Mr. Coleman dated 29. Septem 75. and sent to Monsieur Le Chese the French Kings Confessor wherein he gives him an account of the Transactions of several years before and of the Correspondence between Mr. Coleman and Monsieur Ferrier Predecessor to Le Chese wherein he does also assert that the true way to carry on the Interest of France and the promoting of the Popish Religion here in England was to get this Parliament dissolved which says he had been long since effected if three hundred thousand Pounds could have been obtained from the French King and that things yet were in such a posture that if he had
but Twenty thousand Pounds sent him from France he would he content to be a Sacrifice to the utmost malice of his Enemies if the Protestant Religion did not receive such a blow as it could not subsist And the receipt of this Letter was acknowledged by Monsieur Le Chese in an answer which he wrote to Mr. Coleman dated from Paris Oct. 23. 75. in which he gives him thanks for his good Service in order to the promoting the Popish Religion Several other Letters have been produced and read which were written by Mr. Coleman to Monsieur Ferrier and others and more particularly one Letter dated August 21. 74. written by Coleman to the Popes Internuntio at Brussels wherein he says the Design prospered so well that he doubted not but in a little time the businesse would be managed to the utter ruine of the Protestant Party And by other Letters he writes to the French Kings Confessor that the assistance of his most Christian Majesty is necessary and desires Money from the French King to carry on the Design But there is one Letter without Date more Bloody than all the rest which was written to Monsieur Le Chese in some short time after the long Letter of September 29. 1675. wherein amongst many other things Coleman expresses himself thus We have a mighty Work upon our Hands no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms and the utter subduing of a Pestilent Heresie which hath for some time domineer'd over this Northern part of the World and we never had so great hopes of it since our Q. Mary's days And in the Conclusion of the Letter he implores Monsieur Le Chese to get all the aid and assistance he can from France and that next to God Almighty they did rely upon the mighty mind of his most Christian Majesty and therefore did hope le Chese would procure Money and Asistance from him Now any Man that considers the Contents of these Letters must needs agree that the latter part of the Indictment to wit the Treason of endeavouring the Subverting the Government and the Protestant Religion is fully proved upon Mr. Coleman the Prisoner at the Bar and that these Letters were written by him and the Answers received he does not deny But all he has to say for himself is that it was to make the King of England great whereas the contrary is most manifest because the Jesuits who love Force and Tyranny always adhere to those Princes that are greatest in Strength and Power For it appears in History that when the House of Austria were in their greatness and like to arrive to the Vniversal Monarchy in these parts of the World the Jesuits all adhered to that House But since the French King hath grown more mighty in Power and Greatness they declined the Interest of the Austrian Family and do now promote the Councels of France thinking that now that King will become the Vniversal Monarch I shall therefore now conclude the Evidence only observing to the Jury that the several Treasons in the Indictment are fully proved The first as to the destruction of the Royal Person of the King by two Witnesses Mr. Oates and Mr. Bedlow the other part of it viz. the subversion of the Government and extirpation of the Protestant Religion by the several Letters which have been before remembred which have not been denyed by the Prisoner to be his Therefore I hope Gentlemen when you meet with Offenders that are guilty of such stupendious Crimes you will do Justice upon them which will be a great Comfort and Satisfaction to the King and all his good Protestant Subjects Serj. Pembert Gentlemen You hear the Crime is of the highest nature it 's the subversion of three Kingdoms and the subduing of that Religion which he defames by the name of Pestilent Heresie It concerns us all to look about us and all the Kingdom when there shall be a Design managed in this manner to destroy our King and to take away our Religion and to enslave us all to the Pope and make us all truckle to the Priests It is wonderful it is capable at this day of so great Evidence there is Digitus Dei in it or else it would be impossible such a thing should be made so manifest All the rest that is said in the Indictment are but Circumstances that declare it There is a strong Evidence of many matters of Fact in this Design which declare the Intention hatched in his Breast for many years together Here hath been a Design to kill the King and he doth not only consent to it but commend it what can be said to his giving the Money to him that was to pay the fourscore pieces of Gold to those Ruffians sent to Windsor and adding 5000 l. to the 10000l for the Doctor that was to poyson the King He denies all No question but a Man that hath had a Heart to design such Contrivances will have the Face to deny it publickly It 's a thing to be acted in the dark but there 's both Mr. Oates and Mr. Bedlow plainly prove it upon him that he consented to the acting the Kings death What 's the Sence of his Letters but to shew his design and to beg the Assistance of France to them in their necessities the whole Current is to destroy our Religion I think you Gentlemen of the Jury have had such Evidence as will satisfie any Man Pris I deny all Mr. Oates his Testimony for his saying to the Council he did not know me because he could not see me when I was as near as the next Gentleman but one but knew me when I spake and I spoke to almost all the matters asked He accuseth me of a thing in August but names not the day Now if there be one Error in his Testimony it weakens all the rest I went out of Town the 10th of August it was the latter end I came home about the middle of Bartholomew Fair the last day of August L. Ch. Just. Have you any Witness to prove that Pris I cannot say I have a Witnesse L. Ch. Just Then you say nothing Pris People cannot speak to a day to a thing they neither imagined or thought of L. Ch. Just I ask your Servant do you know when Mr. Coleman went out of Town Coleman's Serv. In August I cannot say particularly the day L. Ch. Just Do you know when he came home Serv. I cannot remember Just Wild. Where was you the last Bartholomew day Serv. I was in Town Just Wild. Where was your Master Serv. I do not remember L. Ch. Just You say you went out of Town the 10th and came home the last of August you say it is impossible that he should say right but yet you do not prove it Pris I have no more to say but I entered down all my Expences every day in a Book which Book will shew where I was L. Ch. Just Where is your Book Pris At my
Lodging in Vere-Street by Covent-Garden in a Trunck that came by the Carrier that will shew when they were sent L. Ch. Just If the Cause did turn upon that matter I would be well content to sit untill the Book was brought but I doubt the Cause will not stand upon that Foot but if that were the Case it would do you little good Observe what I say to the Jury My Lord Chief Justice his Speech to the Jury upon his summing up of the Evidence Gentlemen of the Jury My Care at this time shall be to contract this very long Evidence and to bring it within a short compass that you may have nothing before you to consider of as near as I can but what is really material to the Acquitting or Condemning of Mr. Coleman The things he is Accused of are of two sorts the one is to subvert the Protestant Religion and to introduce Popery the other was to destroy and kill the King The Evidence likewise was of two sorts The one by Letters of his own hand writing and the other by Witnesses Viva voce The former he seems to confess the other totally to deny For that he confesseth he does not seem to insist upon it that the Letters were not his he seems to admit they were And he rather makes his Defence by expounding what the meaning of these Letters were than by denying himself to be the Author I would have you take me right when I say he doth admit he doth not admit the Construction that the Kings Council here makes upon them but he admits that these Letters were his He admits it so far that he does not deny them So that you are to Examine what these Letters import in themselves and what Consequences are naturally to be deduced from them That which is plainly intended is to bring in the Roman Catholick and to subvert the Protestant Religion That which is by Consequence intended was the Killing the King as being the most likely means to introduce That which as 't is apparent by his Letters was designed to be brought in For the First part of the Evidence All his Great long Letter that he wrote was to give the present Confessor of the French King an Account of what had passed between him and his predecessor By which Agency you may see that Mr. Coleman was In with the former Confessor And when he comes to give an Account of the three years Transactions to this present Confessor and to begin a Correspondence with him About what is it Why the substance of the Heads of the long Letter comes to this It was to bring in the Catholick as he call'd it that is the Romish Catholick Religion and to establish that here and to advance an Interest for the French King be that Interest what it will It 's true his Letters do not express what sort of Interest neither will I determine but they say it was to promote the French Kings Interest which Mr. Coleman would expound in some such sort as may consist with the King of Englands and the Duke of York's Interest But this is certain it was to subvert our Religion as it is now by Law established This was the great end thereof it cannot be denyed To promote the Interest I say of the French King and to gain to himself a Pention as a reward of his service is the Contents of his First long Letter and one or two more concerning that Pention His last Letters expound more plainly what was meaâ—t by the French Kings Interest We are saith he about a great work no less than the Conversion of three Kingdoms and the totall and utter subversion and subduing of that pestilent Heresie that is the Protestant Religion which hath reigned so long in this Northern part of the World and for the doing of which there never was such great hopes since our Queen Maries Days as at this time Now this plainly shews that our Religion was to be subverted Popery established and the three Kingdoms to be converted that is indeed to be brought to confusion For I say that when our Religion is to be subverted the Nation is to be subverted and destroyed that is most apparent For there could be no hope of subverting or destroying the Protestant Religion but by a Subversion not Conversion of the three Kingdoms How was it to be done otherwise Why I would have brought this Religion in says he by dissolving of the Parliament I would have brought it in by an Edict and Proclamation of Liberty of Conscience In these ways I would have brought it in Mr. Coleman knows it is not fit for him to own the introducing of his Religion by the Murder of the King or by a Forein Force The one was too black and the other too bloody to be owned And few people especially the English will be brought to save their Lives as he may do his by confession of so bloody and barbarous a thing as an intention to Kill the King or of Levying a War which though it be not a Particular is a General Murder I say it was not convenient for Mr. Coleman when he seemâ— to speak something for himself to give such an Account how he would have done it Therefore he tells us he would have done it by the dissolving of the Parliament and by Toleration of Religion Now I would very fain know of any man in the World whether this was not a very fine and artificial covering of his design for the Subversion of our Religion Pray how can any man think that the Dissolving of the Parliament could have such a mighty influence to that purpose It is true he might imagine it might in some sort contribute towards it Yet it is so doubtful that he himself mistrusts it For he is sometimes for the Dissolving of the Parliament and other times not as appears by his own papers For which we are not beholding to him so much as for any one more than what were found by accident and produced to the King and Council But in truth why should Mr. Coleman believe that another Parliament if this Parliament were Dissolved should comply with Popery That is to say That there should be great hopes of bringing in of Popery by a new Parliament Unless he can give me a good reason for this I shall hold it as insignificant and as unlikely to have that effect as his other way by a General Toleration And therefore next Upon what ground does he presume this I do assure you that man does not understand the inclinations of the English people or knows their Tempers that thinks if they were left to themselves and had their Liberty they would turn Papists It 's true there are some amongst us that have so little Wit as to turn Fanaticks but there is hardly any but have much more wit than to turn Papists These are therefore the Counterfeit pretentions of Mr. Coleman Now if not by these means In what way truly
is the Charge in general of the Indictment We will proceed unto particulars whereby it may appear and whereupon he indeavoureth to accomplish his ends One or two Letters written to Mounsieur Le Chese he is a Foreigner and we have nothing to say to him being Confessor to the French King it was to excite and stir him up to procure aid and assistance and you know what aid and assistance means from a Foreign Prince Arms and other Levies We charge him with it that he did receive this Letter I and received an answer with a promise that he should have assistance He writ other Letters to Sir William Throckmorton who trayterously conspired with him and had intelligence from time to time from him This is the Charge in the Indictment To which he hath pleaded not guilty We will go on in our Evidence I shall but more generally open our method that we intend to take For it may seem strange and is not reasonably to be imagined that a private Gentleman as the Prisoner at the Bar is should have such vast and great designs as this to alter Religion destroy the Government I and destroy the Subjects too in a great measure But 't is not himself alone but he imploys himself for Forreign assistance great Confederacies and Combinations with the Subjects of that King many of whom he did pervert In the course of the Evidence I shall not open the particulars Mr. Attorney I think will do that by and by those that we have occasion to speak of and shall in proof mention to you will be these Le Chese the French Kings present Confessor we have mentioned before him there was one Father Ferryer with whom he held Correspondence That Ferryer being removed by death the Prisoner had an imployment here amongst us by which he gave to Le Chese instructions how to proceed This Gentleman is the great Contriver and Plotter which gives him instructions how to proceed He doth give him an account by way of Narrative how all things had stood upon former treaties and negotiations how businesses were contrived and how far they were gone this he diligently and accurately gives an account of This my Lord doth discover and delineate what had been done before until 1674. My Lord there was likewise Sir William Throckmorton and some others that are Englishmen too there are none of them but what were first Protestants but when they once renounced their Religion no wonder they should renounce their Nation and their Prince too He was gone beyond the Seas several Letters past between them and all to promote and encourage and accomplish this design My Lord there is likewise a consult of Jesuits used too where in express words they designed to murther the King or contrived and advised upon it My Lord there were four Irish men I open but the heads of things sent to Windsor to murther the King this Gentleman received and disbursed money about this business and one Ashby a Jesuit here had instructions from him to prosecute the design and to treat with a Physitian to poyson the King This the Prisoner approved of and contributed to it There were Commissions as I take it delivered from Ferryer or by his hand that came from Forreign powers Sir Henry Titchburn was another that received and delivered Commissions Pompone the French Gentleman he maintains intelligence with him about this business the Titular Arch-bishop of Dublin There 's Cardinal Norfolk by him he had accession to the Pope There was likewise the Popes Nuncio I do not open the transactions of these Iustructions these particulars will be made out not only by Witness Viva Voce and not single only but by Letters of this Mr. Colemans own writing But I offer that to the consideration of the Jury Mr. Oats was the first Man that we hear of that discovered this Treason he was the single man that discovered so many active Agents in so great a Treason as this was and it needed to be well seconded but he being found to be but single the boldness and courage of these Complotters in it grew great thereupon We know what followed the damnable murther of that Gentleman in Execution of his Office so Hellishly contrived and the endeavours that were used to hide it every body knows How many Stories were told to hide that abominable Murther how many lies there were about it but it could not be supprest The Nation is awaken'd out of sleep and it concerns us now to look about us But all this while Mr. Coleman thought himself safe walked in the Fields goes abroad Jealousie increasing and he himself still secure The Letters that are produced go but to some part of the year 75 from 75 unto 78 all lies in the dark we have no certain Proof of it but we apprehend he had Intelligence until 78 That there were the same persons continuing here and his Company increasing here But this I speak but as probable but very exceeding probable that there was other passages of Intelligence between this Person and other Confederates It seems my Lord that this Coleman was aware that he was concerned but God blinded and infatuated him and took away his reason It 's no question but he carried away some of those Papers those that were left behind and are produced he forgot and neglected and by that my Lord those which are produced are evidence against him at this time Surely he thought we were in such a condition that had eyes and could not see and ears that could not hear and understandings without understanding for he was bold and walked abroad and that until this prosecution was made upon him he endeavoured to murther the King change the Government make an alteration of Religion and destruction of Protestants as well as the Protestant Religion And it will be proved by some Letters when they were rejected by the Duke that he sent them in the Dukes name And by this no man will doubt but he is a great Traitor Attorn Gen. May it please your Lordship and you Gentlemen of the Jury The Kings Serjeant hath opened the general parts of our Evidence and we have reason to foresee that our Evidence will be very long and will take up much of your time and therefore I shall spend no more time in opening of it than is just necessary And indeed my Lord Mr. Coleman himself hath saved me much of the labour which otherwise I should have bestowed for he hath left such Elegant and copious Narratives of the whole Design under his own hand that the reading of them will be better than any new one I can make But my Lord some short account I shall give you such as may shew you the course of our Evidence and will make our Evidence when it comes to be given to be more intelligible My Lord It will appear that there hath been for many years last past a more than ordinary design and industry to bring in the
Father Le Chese There were two small matters they treated of no less than the Dissolving the Parliament and the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion Nay you will find and you will hear enough when the Letters come to be read that Mr. Coleman made many strokes at the Parliament he had no good opinion of them And we cannot blame him for without all peradventure they had made and I hope ever will make strong resistance against such Designs as these But a great mind he had to be rid of them and he had hopes of great Sums of Money from abroad if it had been to be done that way And it is very remarkable and shews the vanity of the Man he had such an opinion of the success of these Negotiations that he had penn'd a Declaration prepared by him and writ with his own hand to be published in Print up on the Dissolution of the Parliament to justifie that Action with many specious and plausible Reasons As he did this without any direction so he takes upon him to write a Declaration as in the Name of the King without the least shadow of any command to do it so he prepares a Letter also in the name of the Duke and I would not affirm unless I could prove it and that from his own Confession being examined before the Lords upon Oath that he had no manner of Authority from the Duke to prepare such a Letter and when it was written and brought to the Duke it was rejected and the Writer justly blamed for his presumption By this you will perceive the forwardness of this Man And you must of necessity take notice that in his Letters he took upon himself to manage Affairs as authorized by the greatest Persons in the Kingdom yet without the least shadow of proof that he was by them impowered to do it My Lord you shall find Mr. Coleman thought himself above all and such was his own over-weening opinion of his Wit and Policy that he thought himself the sole and supreme Director of all the Affairs of the Catholicks You will likewise perceive that he held Intelligence with Cardinal Norfolk with Father Sheldon and the Popes Internuntio at Brussels And I cannot but observe out of the Proofs that as we shall find Mr. Coleman very ambitious and forward in all great Affairs so he had a little too much Eye to the Reward he looked too much asquint upon the matter of Money his great endeavours were not so much out of Conscience or out of Zeal to his Religion as out of temporal Interest to him Gain was instead of Godliness And by his Letters to the French Confessor Monsieur Le Chese it will be proved that he got much Money from the Catholicks here and some from abroad but still he wanted Money What to do I do not mean the greater sum of two hundred thousand pounds to procure the Dissolution of the Parliament but some twenty thousand pounds onely To be expended by him in secret Service I do not know what account he would have given of it if he had been intrusted with it But that he earnestly thirsted after Money appeareth by most of his Letters My Lord you will observe besides his Intelligences that he had with Father Le Chese and several others one that deserves to be named and that is his Negotiation with Sir William Frogmorton who was sent over into France and there resided a long time to promote these Designs He is dead therefore I will not say so much of him as I would say against him if he was here to be tri'd But my Lord I find in his Letters such Treasonable such Impious expressions against the King such undutiful Characters of him that no good Subject would write and no good Subject would receive and conceal as Mr. Coleman hath done My Lord it may pass for a wonder how we come to be Masters of all these Papers it has in part been told you already There was an information given of the general Design nay of some of the particulars against the Kings Life And without all peradventure Mr. Coleman knew of this Discovery and he knew that he had Papers that could speak too much and he had time and opportunity enough to have made them away and I make no question but he did make many away We are not able to prove the continuance of his correspondence so as to make it clearly out but we suppose that continued until the day he was seized And there is this to be proved that Letters came for him though we cannot say any were delivered to him after he was in Prison But without all peradventure the Man had too much to do too many Papers to conceal Then you 'll say he might have burnt them all for many would burn as well as a few But then he had lost much of the Honour of a great States-man many a fine Sentence and many a deep Intrigue had been lost to all Posterity I believe that we owe this Discovery to something of Mr. Coleman's Vanity he would not lose the Glory of managing these important Negotiations about so great a Design He thought 't was no small Reputation to be intrusted with the Secrets of Forreign Ministers If this was not his reason God I believe took away from him that clearness of Judgment and strength of Memory which he had upon other occasions My Lord I shall no longer detain you from reading the Papers themselves But I cannot but account this Kingdom happy that these Papers are preserved For my Lord We are to deal with a sort of men that have that prodigious confidence that their words and deeds though proved by never so unsuspected Testimony they will still deny But my Lord no denial of this Plot will prevail for Mr. Coleman himself hath with his own hand recorded this Conspiracy and we can prove his hand not onely by his own Servants and Relations but by his own Confession So that my Lord I doubt not that if there be any of their own Party that hear this Trial they themselves will be satisfi'd with the truth of these things And I believe we have an advantage in this case which they will not allow us in another matter namely that we shall be for this once permitted to believe our own Senses Our Evidence consisteth of two parts one is Witnesses Viva voce which we desire with the favour of the Court to begin with and when that is done we shall read several Letters or Negotiations in writing and so submit the whole to your Lordships direction Pris I beg leave that a poor ignorant Man that is so heavily charged that it seems a little unequal to consider the reason why a Prisoner in such a case as this is is not allowed Counsel but your Lordship is supposed to be Counsel for him But I think it very hard I cannot be admitted Counsel and I humbly hope your Lordship will not suffer me
he should dissolve or continue them and he several times declared that the Arguments were so strong on both sides that he could not tell to which to incline but was carried at last to the continuance of them by this one Argument If I try them once more they may possibly give me Money if they do I have gain'd my point if they do not I can dissolve them then and be where I am now so that I have a possibility at least of getting Money for their Continuance against nothing on the other side But if we could have turn'd this Argument and said Sir their Dissolution will certainly procure you Money when you have only a bare possibility of getting any by their Continuance and have shewn how far that bare possibility was from being a foundation to build any reasonable hope upon which I am sure his Majesty was sensible of and how much 300000l sterl certain which was the sum we propos'd was better than a bare possibility without any reason to hope that that could ever be compassed of having half so much more which was the most he design'd to ask upon some vile dishonourable terms and a thousand other hazards which he had great reason to be afraid of If I say we had had power to have argued this I am most confidently assured we could have compassed it for Logick in our Court built upon Money has more powerful Charms then any other sort of reasoning But to secure his most Christian Majesty from any hazard as to that point I propos'd his Majesty should offer that sum upon that condition and if the condition were not performed the Money should never be due if it were and that a Peace would certainly follow thereupon which no body doubted his Majesty would gain his Ends and save all the vast expences of the next Campaign by which he could not hope to better his Condition or put himself into more advantagious Circumstances of Treaty then he was then in but might very probably be in a much worse considering the mighty opposition he was like to meet with and the uncertain Chances of War But admitting that his Majesty could by his great strength and Conduct maintain himself in as good a Condition to Treat the next year as he was then in which was as much as could then reasonably be hoped for he should have saved by this Proposal as much as all the men he must needs lose and all the charges he should be at in a year would be valued to amount to more then 300000l sterl and so much more in case his Condition should decay as it should be worse then it was when this was made and the Condition of his R. H. and of the Catholick Religion here which depâ—nds very much upon the success of His most Christian Majesty â—â—â—ivered from a great many frights and real hazards F. Ferryer seemâ—d to 〈…〉 sensible of the Benefit all parties would gain by this Proposal But yet it was unfortunately delay'd by an unhappy and tedious fit of sickness which kept him so long from the King in the France Comte and made him so unable to wait on His Majesty after he did return to Paris But so soon as be could compass it he was pleased to acquaint his Majesty with 〈◊〉 and wrote to the Duke himself and did me the Honour to write unto me also on the 15th of September 1674. and sent his Letter by Sir William Throckmorton who came express upon that Errand In these Letters he gave his R. H. fresh assurance of his most Christian Majesties friendship and of his Zeal and Readiness to comply with every thing His R. H. had or should think fit to propose in favour of Religion or the business of Money And that he had commanded Monsieur Rouvigny as to the latter to Treat and deal with his R. H. and to receive and observe his Orders and Directions but desired that he might not at all be concerned as to the former but that his R. H. would cause what Proposition he should think fit to be made about Religion to be offered either to Father Ferryer or Monsieur Pompone These Letters came to us about the middle of September and his R. H. expected daily when Monsieur Rouvigny should speak to him about the Subject of that Letter but he took no notice at all of any thing till the 29th of September the evening before the King and Duke went to Newmarket for a fortnight and then only said that he had Commands from his Master to give his R. H. the most firm assurance of his Friendship imaginable or something to that purpose making his R. H. a general Complement but made no mention of any particular Orders relating to Father Ferryer's Letter The Duke wondering at this proceeding and being obliged to stay a good part of October at Newmarket and soon after his coming back-hearing of the Death of Father Ferryer he gave over all further prosecuting of the former Project But I believe I saw Monsieur Rouvigny's policy all along who was vvilling to save his Masters Money upon assurance that we would do all we could to stave off the Parliament for our own sakes that we would struggle as hard vvithout money as with it and vve having by that time upon our ovvn Interest prevailed to get the Parliament Prorogued to the 13th of April he thought that Prorogation being to a day so high in the Spring vvould put the Confederates so far beyond their Measures as that it might procure a Peace and be as useful to France as a Dissolution upon these Reasons I suppose he vvent I had several discourses vvith him and did open my self so far to him as to say I could vvish his Master vvould give us leave to offer to our Master 300000l for the Dissolution of the Parliament and shewed him that a Peace vvould most certainly follow a Dissolution which he agreed with me in and that vve desir'd not the Mony from his Master to excite our vvills or to make us more industrious to use our utmost povvers to procure a Dissolution but to strengthen our Povver and Credit vvith the King and to render us more capable to succeed vvith his Majesty as most certainly vve should have done had vve been fortified vvith such an Argument To this Purpose I press'd Mounsieur Pompone frequently by Sir Will. Throckmorton who returned hence again into France on the Tenth of November the day our Parliament should have met but was Prorogued Mounsieur Pompone as I was informed by Sir William did seem to approve the thing but yet had Two Objections against it First That the Sum we proposed was Great and could be very ill spared in the circumstances his Most Christian Majesty was in To which we Answer'd That if by his Expending that Sum he could procure a Dissolution of our Parliament and thereby a Peace which every body agreed would necessarily follow his Most Christian Majesty would gain his
of the reach of Chance for ever For he makes such a Figure already that Cautious Men do not care to Act against him nor always without him because they do not see that he is much out-powred by his Enemies Yet is he not at such a Pitch as to be quite out of danger or free from opposition But if he could gain any considerable new addition of Power all would come over to him as to the only steddy Center of our Government and no body would contend with him further Then would Catholicks be at Rest and his Most Christian Majestie 's Interest secured with us in England beyond all apprehensions whatsoever In order to this we have two great Designes to Attempt this next Sessions First that which we were about before viz. To put the Parliament upon making it their humble Request to the King that the Fleet may be put into his R. H's Care Secondly to get an Act for general liberty of Conscience If we carry these two or either of them we shall in effect do what we list afterwards and truly we think we do not undertake these great Points very unreasonably but that we have good Cards for our Game Not but that we expect great Opposition and have great Reason to beg all the Assistance we can possibly get and therefore if his Most Christian Majesty would stand by us a little in this Conjuncture and help us with such a sum as 20000. l. sterling which is no very great matter to venture upon such an undertaking as this I would be content to be Sacrificed to the utmost Malice of my Enemies if I did not Succeed I have proposed This several times to Monsieur Rouvigny who seemed always of my Opinion and has often told me that he has writ into France upon this Subject and has desired me to do the like But I know not whether he will be as Zealous in that point as a Catholick would be because our prevailing in these things would give the greatest Blow to the Protestant Religion here that ever it received since Birth which perhaps he would not be very glad to see especially when he believes there is another way of doing his Masters Business well enough without it which is by a Dissolution of the Parliament upon which I know he mightily depends and Concludes that if that comes to be Dissolved it will be asmuch as he needs care for proceeding perhaps upon the same manner of Discourse which we had this time twelve months But with submission to his better judgment I do think that our Case is extreamly much altered to what it was in Relation to a Dissolution for then the Body of our Governing Ministers all but the Earl of Arlington were entirely United to the Duke and would have Governed his Way if they had been free from all Fear and Controul as they had been if the Parliament had been Removed But they having since that time Engaged in quite different Councells and Embark't themselves and Interests upon other Bottoms having declared themselves against Popery c. To Dissolve the Parliament simply and without any other step made will be to leave them to Govern what way they list which we have Reason to suspect will be to the prejudice of France and Catholick Religion And their late Declarations and Actions have Demonstrated to us that they take that for the most Popular way for themselves and likeliest to keep them in absolute Power whereas if the Duke should once get above them after the Tricks they have plaid with him they are not sure he will Totally forget the Usage he has had at their hands Therefore it Imports us now to Advance our Interest a little further by some such Project as I have Named before we Dissolve the Parliament Or else perhaps we shall but Change Masters a Parliament for Ministers and continue still in the same Slavery and Bondage as before But one such step as I have proposed being well made we may safely see them Dissolved and not fear the Ministers but shall be Established and stand Firm without any Opposition for every body will then come over to us and Worship the Rising Sun I have here given you the History of three years as short as I could though I am afraid it will seem very long and troublesome to your Reverence among the multitude of affairs you are concern'd in I have also shewn you the present State of our Case vvhich may by God's Providence and good Conduct be made of such advantage to Gods Church that for my part I can scarce believe my self awake or the thing real vvhen I think on a Prince in such an age as vve live in converted to such a Degree of Zeal and Piety as not to regard any thing in the World in comparison of God Almighty's Glory the Salvation of his own Soul and the Conversion of our poor Kingdom vvhich has been a long time opprest and miserably harrast vvith Heresy and Schisme I doubt not but your Reverence will consider our Case and take it to heart and afford us what help you can both with the King of Heaven by your holy Prayers and with his Most Christian Majesty by that great Credit which you most justly have with him And if ever his Majesties affairs or your own can ever want the service of so inconsiderable a Creature as my self you shall never find any body readyer to obey your Commands or faithfuller in the Execution of them to the best of his power than Your most Humble and Obedient Servant Att. Gen. That I may make things clear as much as possible you see Here 's a Letter prepared to be sent writ with Mr. Coleman's own hand to Mounsieur Le Chese This Letter bears date the twenty nineth of September We have an Answer to it from Paris October twenty third whereby Mounsieur Le Chese owns the receipt of this And in this answer is exprest Thanks to Mr. Coleman for his long Letter Sir Robert Pray tell how you came by this Letter Sir Rob. Southwell I found this Letter in Mr. Colemans Canvas Bag after we had once looked over the Letters we found it Sr. Phillip Lloyd Examined it And we looked over those Papers very exactly Because the House of Commons were very much concern'd and thought those Papers were not throughly Examined I reviewed them again This Letter was found on Sunday following after the Papers were seized Mr. Att. Sir Rob. Southwell I pray read the Letter in French first to the Court Sir Rob. having read the Letter in French Mr. Attorney desired him to read it in English Sir Rob. read it it in English The Letter was dated Paris twenty third October 1675. and subscribed Your most humble and obedient servant DCL at the bottom The LETTER From PARIS 23. October 1675. SIR THE Letter which you gave your self the trouble to write to me came to my hands but the last night I read it with great
We Our Self should assist that Our Commission in Our Person for not being excepted is implyed with the other made by this very Parliament in the 14th year of Our Reign which all Our Subjects or at least many of them were obliged to Swear viz. That the Doctrine of taking up Arms by the King's Authority against His Person was detestable and We soon found that the Design was levelled against the good Protestant Religion of Our good Church which its Enemies had a mind to Blemish by sliding in slily those damnable Doctrines by such an Authority as that of Our Parliament into the Profession of Our Faith or Practices and so expose Our whole Religion to the Scorn and Reproach of themselves and all the World We therefore thought it Our duty to be so watchful as to prevent the Enemies sowing such mischievous Tares as these in the wholsom Field of Our Church of England and to guard the unspotted Spouse of Our Blessed Lord from that foul Accusation with which she justly charges other Churches of teaching their Children Loyalty with so many Reserves and Conditions that they shall never want a distinction to justifie Rebellion nor a Text of Scripture as good as Curse ye Meroz to encourage them to be Traitors whereas Our truly Reformed Church knows no such Subtilties but teaches according to the simplicity of Christianity To submit to every Ordinance of Man for God's sake according to the natural signification of the words without equivocation or Artificial turns In order to which having thought to dissolve that Body which We have these many years so tenderly Cherished and which We are sure consists generally of most Dutiful and Loyal Members We were forc'd to Prorogue Our Parliament till November next hoping thereby to cure those Disorders which have been sown amongst the Best and Loyallest Subjects by a few malicious Incendiaries But understanding since that such who have sowed that Seditious seed are as industriously careful to water it by their Cabals and Emissaries instructed on purpose to poison Our People with discourses in publick places in hopes of a great Crop of Confusion their beloved fruit the next Sessions We have found it absolutely necessary to Dissolve Our Parliament though with great reluctancy and violence to Our inclination But remembring the dayes of Our Royal Father and the progress of Affairs then how from a Cry against Popery the people went on to complain of Grievances and against Evil Councellors and His Majesties Prerogative untill they advanc'd into a formal Rebellion which brought forth the most dire and fatal Effects that ever were yet heard of amongst any men Christians or others and withal finding so great a resemblance between the Procedings then and now that they seem both Broth of the same brains and being Confirm'd in that Conceit by observing the Actions of many now who had a great share in the management of the former Rebellion and their zeal for Religion who by their lives give us too much reason to suspect they have none at all VVe thought it not safe to dally too long as Our Royal Father did with submissions and condescentions endeavouring to cure men infected without removing them from the Air where they got the disease and in which it still rages and increases daily For fear of meeting with no better success than He found in suffering his Parliament to Challenge Power they had nothing to do with till they had bewitch'd the people into fond desires of such things as quickly destroyed both King and Country which in Us would be an intollerable Error having been warn'd so lately by the most Execrable Murther of Our Royal Father and the inhumane Usage which We Our Self in Our Royal Person and Family have suffered and Our Loyal Subjects have endured by such practices And least this Our great Care of this Our Kingdomes Quiet and Our own Honour and Safety should as Our best Actions have hitherto been be wrested to some sinister Sence and Arguments be made from it to scare Our Good People into any apprehensions of an Arbitrary Government either in Church or State We do hereby solemnly declare and faithfully engage Our Royal Word That VVe will in no case either Ecclesiastical or Civil violate or alter the known Lawes of Our Kingdom or invade any man's Property or Liberty without due course of Law But that We will with Our utmost Indeavours preserve the true Protestant Religion and Redress all such things as shall indifferently and without passion be judg'd Grievances by Our next Parliament which We do by God's blessing intend to Call before the end of February next In the mean time We do strictly Charge and Command all manner of persons whatsoever to forbear to talk seditiously slightly or irreverently of Our Dissolving of the Parliament of this Our Declaration or of Our Person or Government as they will answer it at their perils VVe being resolv'd to prosecute all Offenders in that kind with the utmost rigour and severity of the Law And to the end that such Licentious persons if any shall be so impudent and obstinate as to disobey this Our Royal Command may be detected and brought to due Punishment We have Ordered Our Lord Treasurer to make speedy payment of Twenty pounds to any person or persons who shall discover or bring any such seditious slight or irreverent Talker before any of Our Principal Secretaries of State Record I would have the Jury should know the Declaration ends To one of his Majesties Principal Secretaries of State whereof he hoped to be one Att. Gen. This is written in the name of the King for Mr. Coleman thought himself now Secretary of State and he penns the Declaration for the King to give an Account why the Parliament was Dissolved Serj. Maynard The long Letter it appears was to dissolve the Parliament and to make it Cock-sure he provides a Declaration to shew the Reason of it It was done in order to bring in Popery that may appear by the subsequent proof Att. Gen. I have other Evidence to offer to your Lordship which is That Mr. Coleman was not onely so bold as to prepare a Declaration for the King but also out of his own further ingenuity prepares a Letter contrary to the Duke's knowledg for the Duke which before several Lords he confessed and Sir Philip Floyd is here ready to justifie it Sir Phil. Floyd I did attend a Committee of the House of Lords to Newgate who examined Mr. Coleman and told him of the Letter Mr. Attorney mentioneth he then confessed That it was prepared without the Order and Privity of the Duke and when he was so bold as to shew it the Duke the Duke was very Angry and rejected it L. Chief Just He hath been a very forward undertaker on the behalf of the Duke Mr. Att. Gen. I desire the Letter may be read The Copy of the Letter written to Monsieur Le Chese the French King's Confessor which Mr. Coleman confessed he
likewise found Guilty of endeavouring to subvert the Protestant Religion as it is by Law Established and to bring in Popery and this by the aid and assistance of Forraign Powers And I would not have you Mr. Coleman in your last apprehension of things to go out of the World with a mistake if I could help it That is I would not have you think that though you only seem to disavow the matter of the death of the King that therefore you should think your self an Innocent man You are not Innocent I am sure for it is apparent by that which cannot deceive that you are guilty of Contriving and Conspiring the Destruction of the Protestant Religion and to bring in Popery and that by the aid and assistance of Forraign Powers and this no man can free you in the least from And know that if it should be true that you would disavow that you had not an actual hand in the Contrivance of the Kings death which two witnesses have sworn positively against you yet he that will subvert the Protestant Religion here and bring in consequentially a Forraign Authority do's an act in derogation of the Crown and in Diminution of the Kings Title and Soveraign Power and endeavours to bring a Forraign Dominion both over our Consciences and Estates And if any man shall endeavour to subvert our Religion to bring in that though he did not actually contrive to do it by the Death of the King or it may be not by the death of any one man yet whatsoever follows upon that contrivance he is guilty of Insomuch it is greatly to be fear'd that though you meant only to bring it in by the way of Dissolving of Parliaments or by Liberty of Conscience and such kind of innocent ways as you thought yet if so be those means should not have proved Effectual and worse should have been taken though by others of your Confederates for to go through with the work as we have great reason to believe there would you are guilty of all that blood that would have followed But still you say you did not design that thing but to tell you he that doth a sinful and unlawful Act must answer and is liable both to God and man for all the consequences that attend it therefore I say you ought not to think your self innocent 'T is possible you may be penitent and nothing remains but that And as I think in your Church you allow of a thing called Attrition if you cannot with our Church have Contrition which is a sorrow proceeding from Love Pray make use of Attrition which is a sorrow arising from Fear For you may assure your self there are but a few moments betwixt you and a vast Eternity where will be no dallying no arts to be used therefore think on all the good you can do in this little space of time that is left you all is little enough to wipe off besides your private and secret offences even your publick ones I do know that Confession is very much owned in your Church and you do well in it but as your offence is publick so should your Confession be and it will do you more service then all your Auricular Confessions Were I in your case there should be nothing at the bottom of my heart that I would not disclose Perchance you may be deluded with the fond hopes of having your sentence respited Trust not to it Mr. Coleman you may be flatter'd to stop your mouth till they have stopt your breath and I doubt you will find that to be the event I think it becomes you as a man and as a Christian to do all that is now in your power since you cannot be white to make your self as clean as you can and to fit your self for another world where you will see how vain all resolutions of obstinacy of concealment and all that sort of bravery which perhaps may be instil'd by some men will prove They will not then serve to lessen but they will add to your fault It concerns Us no farther than for your own good and Do as God shall direct you for the truth is There are perswasions and inducements in your Church to such kind of Resolutions and such kind of Actions which you are led into by false Principles and false Doctrines and so you will find when you come once to experiment it as shortly you will that hardly the Religion of a Turk would own But when Christians by any violent bloody Act attempt to propagate Religion they abuse both their Disciples and Religion too and change that way that Christ Himself taught us to follow him by 'T was not by blood or violence By no single mans undertaking to disturb and to alter Governments To make hurly burlies and all the mischiefs that attend such things as these are For a Church to perswade men even to the Committing of the highest Violences under a pretence of doing God good service looks not in my Opinion like Religion but Design like an Engine not a Holy institution Artificial as a Clock which follows not the Sun but the Setter Goes not according to the Bible but the Priest whose Interpretations serve their particular ends and those private advantages which True Religion would scorn and Natural Religion it self would not endure I have Mr. Coleman said thus much to you as you are a Christian and as I am one and I do it out of great Charity and Compassion and with great sense and sorrow that you should be mislead to these great offences under pretence of Religion But seeing you have but a little time I would have you make use of it to your best advantage for I tell you that though death may be talkt of at a distance in a brave Heroick way yet when a man once comes to the minute death is a very serious thing then you will consider how trifling all Plots and Contrivances are and to how little purpose is all your concealments I only offer these things to your thoughts and perhaps they may better go down at such a time as this is then at another and if they have no effect upon you I hope they will have some as to my own particular in that I have done my good will I do remember you once more that in this matter you be not deluded with any fantastick hopes and expectations of a Pardon for the Truth is Mr. Coleman you will be deceived therefore set your heart at Rest for we are at this time in such disorders and the people so continually Alarm'd either with secret Murthers or some Outrages and Violences that are this day on foot that though the King who is full of mercy almost to a fault yet if he should be inclined that way I verily believe both Houses would interpose between that and you I speak this to shake off all vain hopes from you for I tell you I verily believe they would not you should have any Twigg