and upon whom the following Vote passed in the House of Commons December the 24th 1680. Resolved Nemine contradicente That Richard Thompson Clerk has publickly defamed his Sacred Majesty preached Sedition Vilified the Reformation promoted Popery by asserting Popish Principles denying the Popish Plot and turning the same upon the Protestants and endeavoured to subvert the Liberty and Property of the Subject and the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament and that he is a Scandal Reproach to his Function Resolved That the said Richard Thompson be Impeached thereupon Men of this Kidney having made way for its belief We were from this time entertained with a Succession of sham Presbyterian-Plots the first thereof known by the name of the Meal-tub-Plot being happily discovered by Mr Dangerfield both Lords and Commons taking the Alarm did set themselves with double diligence to the Prosecution of the Popish-Plot and to find out ways for the Uniting Protestants and for Easing Dissenters so little had the opinion of a Presbyterian-Plot prevailed within their Walls and the Commons seeing a Dissolution at hand passed these Votes December the 15 th 1680. Resolved Nemine contradicente That a Bill be brought in for an Association of all his Majesties Protestant Subjects for the safety of his Majesties Person the defence of the Protestant Religion and the preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects against all Invasions and Oppositions whatsoever and for reventing the Duke of York or any Papist from succeeding to the Crown January the 7 th 1680. Resolved That it is the Opinion of this House that there 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 to rely upon any other means or remedies without such a Bill is not only insufficient bâ—… dangerous January the 10 th 1680. Resolved That it is the Opinion of this House that the Prosecution of Protestant Dissenters upon the Penal Laws is at this time grievous to the Subjects a weakning of the Protestant Interest and encouragement to Popery and dangerous to the Peace of the Kingdom The next Moment after the passing this Vote the Parliament was prorogued for ten days and quickly after dissolved A new Parliament was forthwith Summoned to meet at Oxford the 21 st of March following but though the place was changed the Conspirators found there most of the Zealous Protestant Members of the Westminister Parliament who came thither animated to prosecute the Popish Plot the Exclusion of the Duke and the Uniting of Protestants by Addresses from those whom they represented whereof take an Instance To the Honourable Sr Samuel Barnardiston and Sr William Spring Baronets Knights of the Shire for the County of Suffolk Gentlemen WE the Freeholders of this County having chosen you our Representatives in the last Parliament in which We had satisfactory demonstration of your Zeal for the Protestant Religion of your Loyalty to his Majesties Person and Government and of your faithful Endeavours for the preservation of the Laws our Rights and Properties We now return you our most hearty Thanks and have Vnanimously chosen you to Represent this County at the Parliament to be holden at Oxford the 21 th of March next and though We have not the least distrust of your Wisdom to understand or of your Integrity and Resolution to maintain and promote our common Interest now in so great hazard yet We think it meet at this time of eminent danger to the King and Kingdom to recommend some things to your Care and particularly We do desire First That as hitherto you have so you will vigorously prosecute the execrable Popish Plot now more fully discovered and proved by the Tryal of William late Viscount Stafford Secondly That you will promote a Bill for Excluding James Duke of York and all Popish Successors from the Imperial Crown of this Realm as that which under God may probably be a present and effectual means for the preservation of his Majesties Life which God preserve the Protestant Religion an the well Established Government of this Kingdom Thirdly That you will endeavour the frequent Meeting of Parliaments and their sitting so long as it shall be requisite for the dispatch of those great Affairs for which they are convened as that which is our only Bulwark against Arbitrary Power Fourthly That you will endeavour an happy and necessary Vnion amongst all his Majesties Protestant Subjects by promoting those several good Bills which were to that end before the last Parliament And that till these things be obtained which We conceive necessary even to the Being of this Nation you will not consent to bring any Charge upon our Estates And We do assure you that We will stand by you with our Lives and Fortunes in prosecâ—…ion of the good Ends before recited This Parliament beginning where the former left and being found to adhere unalterably to the Resolution of rooting out the Plot and of Excluding the Duke as the only adequate remedy for all the threatning Evils to the Kingdom they were after a very few days Sitting upon the sudden Dissolved and followed into their own Countries with a Declaration bearing date April the 8 th 1681 pretending to set forth the â—…ses and Reasâ—… that moved the â—…ng to Dissolve that and the preceedâ—… Parliament bâ—…cally designed to expose and blacken those worthy Patriots and to that end it was ordered to be read in all Churches and Chappels throughout the Kingdom which was readily obeyed To wheadle the Nation till it might be noosed that Declaration according to the mode of that Reign spoke and promised fare tho the train was then laid to blow up our Religion Laws and Liberties It exhorted us that the restless malice of Ill Men who were labouring to poison the People might not perswade us that the King did intend to lay aside the use of Parliaments and declared that no Irregularities in Parliaments should ever make him out of love with Parliaments And that he resolved by the Blessing of God to have frequent Parliaments and both in and out of Parliament to use his utmost Endeavours to extirpate he means Establish Popery †Note this was after his Fathers Copy who by a Declaration in the year 1626. to justifie his Arbitrary way of Leveing Money by way of Loane said that his Occasions would not give leave for the calling a Parliament but assured his People that he intended not to serve himself by such ways to the abolishing of Parliaments and yet the Nation saw not a Parliament from the 3 d to the 16 th year of that Reign vide Rushworth's Collections first Part page 418. This Royal Grace or rather Slander upon one of the three Estates was not only proclaimed from the Readers Desks but was promulgated from both Pulpit and Press five days after the emiting this Declaration
Richard Pagget John Serle John Haines Esquires The King's Counsel were Sr Creswell Levens The Attorney General Mr Ward The evidence of this practice subornation was very clear and full particularly Mr Bedloe witnessed that Reading had often treated with him about mincing his Evidence for the bringing off the Lords and Sr Henry Titchborne and gave him Money at several times and did draw up a Paper of what Bedloe should Swear and did carry it to the Lords in the Tower to be viewed and corrected by them Mr Speke testified that Bedloe had from time to time informed him how the Treaty was carried on that upon the 29 th of March 1679. Mr Speke and VViggins Bedloe's Servant being concealed in his Chamber Mr Reading came and in the first place asked whether any body could hear their discourse and being assured that he was secure and secret he told Mr Bedloe upon his demand what the Lords in the Tower said and what my Lord Stafford said that as to my Lord Stafford he should be sure of the Estate in Gloucester-shire which had been promised to be setled upon him for my Lord had ordered him to prepare a blank Deed which within ten days after his Discharge should be perfected and the rest of the Lords did assure him that after they were acquitted in proportion to the service he did them in lessening of his Evidence he should have a plentiful Reward That Bedloe did then demand to have something under their hands but Reading said that they think that not convenient but I do take their Words and you must take mine and then promised to go to the Lords in the Tower against Munday to prepare and bring him the Instructions from them for his Evidence Mr Speke added that upon the Munday morning he was to watch and see the Delivery of the Paper and did see Reading put it into Bedloe's hand in the painted-Chamber who immediately delivered it to Mr Speke This Paper was all of Mr Reading's writing and being read in Court was found to contain the purport of the Evidence to be given against the Lords and was so ordered that the whole was only hear-say and could no way touch them Wiggins agreed with Mr Speke in the Evidence given of the Transactions between Mr Bedloe and Mr Reading in Mr Bedloe's Chamber Reading coming to make his Defence offered nothing against the credit of the Witnesses but did in effect confess all they had testified and the whole matter charged in the Indictment and in truth he was the greatest witness against himself as was well observed after he was found guilty by the Right Honourable Sr Robert Atkyns then one of the Judges of the Common-Pleas but soon after thrust out for non-Compliance with Sr Francis North then Chief Justice and is now most deservedly Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and Speaker of the House of Lords The Jury having brought him in guilty he was fined 1000 l. adjudged to a years Imprisonment and to be set in the Pillory upon the munday following for the space of one hour in the Palace-Yard in VVestminster When the late King James ascended the Throne he was a particular Favourite and his Suffering in this matter was well rewarded It may not seem impertinent to present the Reader upon this occasion with so much of Captain Bedloe's solemn Death-Bed Declaration as the Lord Chief Justice North allowed the World to see His Lordship was pleased to acknowledge that he took Captain Bedloe's Examination upon Oath at Bristol upon the 16 th of August 1681. And that he declared that the Duke of York had been so far engaged in the Plot that there was no part that had been proved against any Man that had suffered but he was to the full guilty of it all but what tended to the Kings Death from the trouble whereof the Jesuites had undertaken to deliver the Duke And his Lordship added that Mr Bedloe told him he lookt upon himself as a dying Man and that he must shortly appear before the Lord of Hosts to give an account of all his Actions and that because many persons had made it their business to baffle and deride the Plot He did for satisfaction of the World there declare upon the Faith of a dying Man and as he hoped for Salvation that whatever he had testified concerning the Plot was true and that he had many Witnesses to produce who would make the Plot as clear as the Sun. That the Jesuites had resolved the King's Death and would spare him no longer than he continued to be kind to them And that they resolved to set up an Head for their Cause here whatever came of it and said that if they should slip the opportunity they then had they should never have such another Notes upon the Tryal of Thomas Knox and John Lane for a Conspiracy to Defame and Scandalize Dr Otes and Mr Bedloe thereby to discredit their Evidence about the Popish Plot At the Kings-Bench Bar at VVestminster upon the 25 th of November 1679. The Judges then upon the Bench were Sr VVilliam Scroggs Lord Chief Justice Sr Francis Pemberton and Sr Thomas Jones THe unlucky miscarriage of Reading's attempt to corrupt the King's Evidence or to overthrow the credit of their Testimony deterred not others from prosecuting so pious a work for that is instantly succeeded by the cursed Conspiracy of Knox and of Lane and Osborne the one lately the other at that time a Servant to Dr Otes but Justice overtook them as the following Scheme of their Tryal shews The Indictment being read upon their pleading not guilty the following Jury was sworn Sr John Kirke Kt. John Roberts Thomas Harriot R. Waterhouse Henry Johnson Thomas Earsby Simon Middleton Joseph Ratcliffe Hugh Squire James Supple Francis Dorrington Richard Cooper Esq. The King's Counsel were Mr Attorney General Mr Solicitor General Mr Serjeant Maynard Sr Francis VVinnigton Mr VVilliams Mr Thomas Smith Mr Trenchard For Knox Mr Saunders Mr VVithens and Mr Scroggs For Lane Mr Holt assigned by the Court. The Indictment opened by Mr Trenchard was that whereas Colman Ireland Pickering and Grove conspired to destroy the King and change the Religion Established by Law to introduce Popery and were thereof Convicted Attainted and Executed And whereas the Lord Powis Lord Arundel of VVardour and others were accused of those Treasons and Impeached for the same in Parliament c. The Defendants knowing Mr Otes and Mr Bedloe had given Information of these Treasons to stifle the Evidence and scandalize them did conspire to represent them as wicked Persons and of no credit And the Indictment further sets forth that Knox with the agreement of Lane and Osborne caused Letters to be wrote with contrivance to accuse Otes and Bedloe that they had conspired falsly to accuse the E. of Danby And that Otes had attempted to commit Sodomy with Lane that to effect those wicked designs Knox gave several sums of Money to Osborne and
to wrest from them their undoubted priviledge of chusing Sheriffs I shall take leave to subjoyn a brief account of the Indignities Violence then used towards several of the Chief Magistrates of the City but shall by the way though it comes not in its proper place present the Reader with a Transcript of the New-fashion'd Summons issued by the Lord Mayor upon the extraordinary occasion which then appeared to have Sheriffs of Sr L. Jenkins his Nomination By the Mayor THese are to require you that on Midsummer day next being the day appointed as well for Confirmation of the Person who hath been by me Chosen according to the Antient Custom and Constitution of this City to be one of the Sheriffs of this City and the County of Middlesex for the Year ensuing as for the Election of the other of the said Sheriffs and other Officers you cause the Livery of your Company to meet Together at your Common-Hall early in the Morning and from thence to come together Decently and Orderly in their Gowns to Guild-Hall there to make the said Confirmation and Elections Given this 19th Day of June 1682. Wagstaffe To return to what was last proposed The accustomed day for Swearing the Sheriffs being come the Aldermen were called to Guildhall by Summons from the Lord Mayor as follows Sir your Worship is desired to be at a Cort of Aldermen at Guildhall on Thursday at nine of the Clock in the forenoon in your Violet Gown and Cloke it being the 28th of September Hereupon at that hour six Aldermen viz. Sr John Laurence Sr Robert Clayton Sr Patience VVard Sr Thomas Goold Sr John Shorter and Alderman Cornish went with Mr Papillon and Mr Dubois to Guildhall where Quiney in a very insolent manner came to them and told them he had a command to keep the Hall clear whereupon they demanded whether he did not know them to be Magistrates of the City and could believe his Order reach'd them he replyed that he knew them and they must remove They then said they were summoned and attended in all peaceableness quickly after he accosted them again saying Gentlemen you must withdraw I have a command to require it They then demanded a sight of his Warrant but huffing he said he would shew none to such as they were and then laid hold of Sr P. Ward saying Sr you must remove and in the same manner laid hold of Sr John Laurence pulling him with such violence that he had like to have thrown him down and treating the rest of the Aldermen in that manner they were all forced to retire in this proceeding he was abetted and supported by Mr Wythers Wiseman Nichols Steverton c. then present in Guildhall proper men to be returned to serve upon the Jury in the foregoing Cause The Lord Mayor being come to the Court Mr Papillon and Mr Dubois declared that they were ready and did there tender themselves to take the Office of Sheriffs and to be sworn and humbly prayed the Answer of his Lordship the Court but without condescending thereto the Mayor went to the Hustings calling Mr North and Rich to follow him and there calling them to the Book to be sworn Mr Papillon and Mr Dubois offered themselves to be sworn and Mr Papillon laid his hand on the Book but his Lordship and Sr J. E. Sr W. P. and some other Aldermen commanded them to forbear and keep the Peace and be gone Some of the Aldermen claimed to be heard but the Mayor refused it and proceeded to swear North and Rich whereupon the duely elected Sheriffs with the six Aldermen withdrew protesting against those irregular and arbitrary proceedings Remarks upon the Tryal of my Lord Russell upon the 13 th of July 1683. UPon the Discovery of the Popish Plot the Conspirators finding their measures to be broken as indeed were those of the French King all over Europe they advised King Charles the Second to make use of the Discovery as a Cripple to beg Money of the then approaching Parliament which was immediately to sit for the better effecting thereof the obsequious Clergy were privately instructed to Preach against Popery and to magnifie the Discovery of the Plot this Doctrine was thundered out from the Pulpits till the Dissolution of that notorious Pentionary Parliament Having then found their hopes dash'd new Instructions were given and the Clergy advertised that there was some fear from the Dissenters but yet for a time they were to Preach against Popery but not to talk of the Plot this humour continued till the Dissolution of the Parliament which met in March 1678. was dissolved in May following 1679. Then they received advice that there was a Presbyteterian as well as a Popish plot this made the Ecclesiastical Drums beat loudly against Dissenters and that work was closely followed till the breaking the Parliament at Oxford in the beginning of the year 1681. When the Conspirators influenced too many of the Pulpits to thunder against the credit of the Popish plot and to insinuate a belief of a Presbyterian Plot which they were all the while hammering and by this art they did at length usher it into the World. The Nobility and Gentry of England to make bold with their own words in their Memorial for our now Gracious King and Queen then Prince and Princess of Orange had been as they therein freely confessed too slow to believe the desperate Popish Plot and had been deluded with the King's Promises to protect and maintain the Protestant Religion and the Laws and Government of England until they saw them all undermined But many discerning this Delusion more early than others did the never to be forgotten Duke of Monmouth Earl of Essex Lord Russel and Colonel Sidney with some other great and valuable Persons who were of that well-grounded Opinion That a free Nation like this of England might defend their Religion and Liberties when Invaded and taken from them under pretence and colour of Law began to bethink themselves how to restore Parliaments to their antient freedom and to deliver the Nation from the fury of that Torrent of Popery which they wisely fore-saw ready to break in and carry all before it At this juncture the Conspirators laid hold of the Information given by Keeling of unadvised and rash Discourses of a very small number of Men nine or ten at the most all Strangers to the Persons and honest Consultations of those great Men before named and they cunningly and maliciously â—…atch'd and work'd it into one piece and emitted it to the World by their Declaration read in all Churches under the name of a Presbyterian or Fanatick Plot which they had long wanted Hereupon a Proclamation pursues the Duke of Monmouth and some others designed for destruction who chose to stand aside out of the reach of the Blood-thirsty Conspirators But the Earl of Essex my Lord Russell and Colonel Sidney would not be overcome by the perswasions of those who invited
Lane and had promised great Rewards to them Then the Cause was opened by that most incomparable Person the honour of the Law old Sr John Maynard now first Lord Commissioner of the great Seal whose Ability Integrity and Desert have kept him from a Seat upon the Benches of Westminster till about the eighty eighth Year of his Age when Heaven set the Law free he spoke to this effect This Cause is of great consequence there hath been an horrid and abominable Conspiracy against the King the Nation our Religion and the Law The first discovery of this Conspiracy came from a single Person who stood single and discouraged a long time and there were endeavours to discourage his further discovery when it stood so Sr Edmundbury Godfrey having taken his Examination then the endeavour was to suppress it and that by no less a wickedness then the barbarous Murder of that honest Gentleman that being accomplished they strived to baffle and defame him when dead All this while he stood single it fell out by the mercy of God that Bedloe made a further discovery and publick Justice has gone upon it Then they attempted to corrupt his Testimony with Bribes and Rewards and Reading who transacted it is attainted of it scelere tutandum est scelus Having gone all these ways they return again to see if they can disgrace and baffle the Evidence of Otes and Bedloe by scandalizing them with foul offences especially Dr Otes and that was thus Knox tampered with Lane a Servant to Otes to accuse him of the Horrid Sin of Sodomy In order to it there were Letters wrote by Osborne who is run away but contrived by Knox. It happens in this case as it did long ago as the Historian told us multi ob stultitiam non put abant multi ob ignorantiam non videbant multi ob pravitatem non credebant et non credendo conjurationem adjuvabant To this Sr Creswell Levens the King's Attorney-General added This is a counter-part of Mr Reading 's Case only it seems in this to differ that it exceeds the Original In the proceeding upon the cause it was proved that Lane upon his first coming to Dr Otes in November 1678 had a design to accuse him as he afterward did of Sodomy a Crime above the common standard of Villanies That he declared whilst he was with the Doctor that he hoped in a short time to get 1000 l. That Lane sent for Sr William Waller that he might confess the whole Contrivance to him declaring that he was pricked in Conscience for the false Oaths he had taken That Lane and Osborne had confessed before a Committee of the House of Lords and also before Sr William Waller and Justice Warcup that they were suborned by Knox to swear falsly against Dr Otes and Mr Bedloe and that he had given them money to do it That Knox made Lane and Osborne swear Secrecy and to stand fast to the Instructions he had given them That he went to the Sugar-Loaf in Pickadilly and took Lodgings for them and lay there with them and promised them Money and Preferment and told Lane that he need not doubt but the Lords in the Tower would acknowledge their Kindness That Lane and Osborne said they were going from Dr Otes that they were sworn Brothers if the one did go the other would and they should get Preferment and have 100 l. per annum and 500 l. in Money As to Knox his endeavours to blast the Testimony of Dr Otes and Mr Bedloe it was proved That Knox endeavour'd to suborn H. Wiggins to accuse Mr Bedloe his Master That he proposed to Thurston a Servant to Dr Otes to be very kind to him if he could find any thing to Swear against his Master That Knox to invite VViggins to betray and accuse Mr Bedloe said The King knows Otes and Bedloe to be great Rogues and when he has got what he can out of them he will hang them up That when Knox Lane and Osborne were Prisoners in the Gate-house for this contrivance Knox offered the Vnder-Keeper a Reward to allow him to correspond by Letters with Lane and gave him three half Crowns desiring him to speak to Lane to stand fast to him and then they should be two against one for he fear'd Osborne had betrayed them about the business of Dr Otes That Knox and Lane and Osborne went to Justice Dewy and Knox told him he was advised to come to him to take an Information against Dr Otes and that they went to Justice Cheyney upon the same errand That Lane had been kept the last Summer at the Lord Powis his house had 10 s. per week allowed him That Knox was to have 30 or 40 l. to carry on the business and that Knox Osborne and Lane were to be rewarded by the Lords in the Tower for their evidence against Dr Otes and Mr Bedloe That Lane being taken Knox sent for Osborne and carried him in a Coach to White Fryers That the Papers relating to the Conspiracy were delivered by Knox to Dangerfield and went about to the Lords in the Tower and afterwards to Nevil alias Paine and were by him amended and then delivered to Knox again The Case appearing so very clear upon the Evidence the Jury without going from the Bar found the Defendants guilty Whereupon they received this merciful Sentence Knox the principal who is now at this day in a better station at Court than ever he was in his Life or could ever have hoped for Fined two hundred Marks to be Imprisoned a year and to be bound to the good behaviour for three years Lane fined one hundred Markâ— to stand once in the Pillory and to be Imprisoned a Year Notes upon the Tryal of John Tasborough and Ann Price for Subornation of Perjury in endeavouring to perswade Mr Stephen Dugdale to retract and deny his Evidence about the Popish Plot with an intent to stifle the further Prosecution of the same At the Kings Bench upon the third of February 1679 before Sr William Scroggs Sr Thomas Jones Sr William Dolben and Sr Francis Pemberton Judges of that Court. The Jury were Thomas Harriot Tho. Johnson Char. Vmphrerile Tho. Earsby Richard Pagget John Greene Edward Willford Richard Bull Joseph Ratclaffe Richard Cooper James Supple George Read. THe suborning attempt of Knox Lane was succeeded by another of the like nature carried on by two Popish Engines Mr Tasborough and Mrs Price which being likewise happily detected they were prosecuted as follows The Indictment was to this effect That Whitebread Harcourt and Langhorne and others were convicted and attainted for Treason and that Dugdale had been a material Evidence against them and the Defendants knowing this and contriving to stifle the evidence of those Treasons did before Harcourts Tryal suborn and endeavour to perswade Dugdale not to give evidence against him and after the Tryal solicited him to retract the Evidence he had given and promised him large Rewards
disband the mercenary Forces raised and kept up to advance arbitrary Power but such a mistake may be remitted to Sr F. Wythens and also to that smooth Lord Chief Justice North who in suming up the Evidence to the Grand Jury did wilfully no doubt of it make the same mis-representation of that matter Mr Saunders added that the design of the Paper was pretended to oppose Popery and Arbitrary Power and destroy the Papists which seemed not so much in it self but that their Witnesses would shew who those Papists were that were to be destroyed And now the Witnesses are called who were John Booth a most notorious and scandalous Villain who had been guilty of several Felonies Edward Turbervile and John Smyth an Irish Priest who were manifestly perjured in the Tryal of honest Colledge Brian Haynes John Macnamar Dennis Macnamar Edward Ivey and Bernard Dennis Profligate Irish Witnesses who according to every season had traded in Swearing and Counter-swearing It may suffice to present the Impartial Reader with the Names of these scandalous Fellows for 't would be nauseous to detain him in reading the non-sensical incredible contradictory stuff sworn by them as That the Earl would raise the Kingdom to compel the King to give Haynes a Pardon That the Government was to be changed to a Common-wealth and the Duke of Buckingham to be King. That the Earl should tell Macnamar and Ivey that he would bring the King's Head to the Block That a Person of the Earl of Shaftesbury's extraordinary caution should talk Treason or any thing else with so infamous a Fellow as Haynes for an Hour together in a Cook 's Shop in Ironmonger-Lane It seems here worthy of Observation that the Conspirators clap'd this Noble Lord into the Tower in the beginning of July 1681 but the Term coming on when they must prosecute him or he would be bailed out they were then to seek for English Witnesses to back the trusty Irish so Booth and the rest were rak'd together and Captain Wilkinson one of the honestest Men then or now living was tempted and threatned at a more then ordinary rate to come in to back and credit their Testimony as was evidently made out by his Information which to his eternal honour he published before this prosecution an Abstract whereof I do hereunto subjoyn to evince the cursed practises of those dayes and to mind an ungratful Generation of the merit of that worthy upright Person It may also deserve Remark that the Treasonable discourses Sworn against his Lordship by these Varlets were fix'd by them to February and March before the Instructors of these Witnesses well remembring that that was a time when the Nation was in no small ferment upon the trifling with Parliaments for the introduceing Popery and Tyranry yet most of these Witnesses upon their examination were forced to acknowledge that they gave or rather sold their Informations after my Lord of Shaftesbury was committed in July upon a Warrant for high Treason which Secretary Jenkins who managed this whole Intrigue and the Witnesses thereof gloried that he had the honour to sign I shall here take occasion to declare what I have long believed that the amusing us in England with the Irish Popish Plot did proceed from the depth of the Jesuits Counsels with design to trip up the Heels of their execrable Plot here that they sent us these wretches on that very errand I do also think that the Conspirators then at Whitehall did in the management of this Intrigue over-reach this great and wise Lord the Earl of Shaftesbury and that his zeal to extirpate Popery in both the Kingdoms disposed him to be too credulous in that matter of the Irish Plot at least as to the honesty of the Witnesses thereof But what Man endued with the least grain of Honesty and Sense could ever credit the Evidence against this Noble Peer after the reading Mr Colledge's Tryal and the Information of worthy Captain Wilkinson about this very affair As to the Paper found in the Earl's House and upon which so great stress was laid I shall here note that at this time it was notoriously known even in every Coffee-House that an Association and very probably this now given in evidence had been resolved upon and read in Parliament and the Fore-man of the Grand-Jury who was a Member well knowing that the Plot-Secretary was then of the House of Commons examined him strictly about it but he appeared very reserved and cautions in his answers and could not at first remember that he had heard of the Association but as Town-talk but being closely followed with Questions by the worthy Fore-man he very unwillingly went a little further saying That to the best of his remembrance he was not present in the House at the Reading the Association though 't is notoriously known that he did there make Speeches against it To evince that the project of an Association was no new thing I cannot hinder my self from a small digression to shew that one of this formal Secretary's Confidents Nathaniel Thompson the Popish Printer had published the news of this Association near two Years before this prosecution it is in his Intelligence of December the 9th 1679 in these Words A form of an Association is preparing for People to subscribe for the defence of the King 's sacred Person the present Established Form of Government and the Protestant Religion paralel to that in Queen Elizabeth's time which was afterward confirmed by Act of Parliament This seems to take its Rise from the Resolve of the late Parliament This very Advertisement may be well supposed to put such as were curious to know the transactions of that time to get a sight of the Association so notified to be on foot and 't is very probable that by that means it might as news be handed to the Earl of Shaftesbury and so come to be thrown by amongst his old Papers however had not an upright understanding English Jury interposed it had as certainly destroyed the Honour Estate and Life of this never to be forgotten Noble Lord as the Westminster Carpenter in disguise with his little Presbyterian Band and his eleven Brethren did destroy the brave Colonel Sydney upon the evidence of old loose Papers found in his House enforced with a Maxim in three cramp Words Scribere est Agere as unintelligible in all probality to that pack'd Jury as was the Treatise of that great Man or as the Maxim it self is to learned Lawyers Well to conclude after much contrasting between the Jury and the Court whether the Jury might consider the credibility of the Witnesses which the Chief Justice denyed and Mr Papillon with much tugging having gained a great point of the Court viz. That they were within the compass of their own Vnderstanding and Consciences to give their Judgment Which is in truth no more than the giving them leave to see with their own Eyes hear with their own Ears and judge by their own
viz. April the 13 th 1681. The virulent and envenom'd Pen of L'estrange was set to work upon it and to vilifie the Evidence of the Plot Parliaments nay the Protestant Religion it self Addresses with thanks for the violation of our Rights in the Dissolution and likewise abhorring Parliaments our Bulwark against Tyrany were obtained and most graciously received The Presenters thereof being usually honoured with Knighthood and rewarded with Perferment to places of Trust and Profit By this art the common Cry of a profligate party in every corner of England was Popery is better then Presbytery at least the Papists and Dissenters are equally dangerous if not all one 't is therefore more then time that a Colledge be hang'd against a Pickering And the Nation was almost put besides it self by the doleful Cry of Blood Blood Associations Conspiracies Rebellion Treason and what not that was frightful and terrible Rome it self could not possibly have ordered matters better for the service of Holy Church â—…e Protestant Religion is now mocked â—…rliaments derided the Witnesses of the Plot vilified and the belief of any other then a Presbyterian Plot vanishes This proceeding gave new life and heart to the Popish Conspirators and stroke no small damp upon their Prosecutors of the Witnesses some were bought off and others terrified from their Testimony of which I should recount Instances but that I have dwelt too long upon the fore-going Melancholy Contemplations To proceed therefore to the matter intended and from which I have too long digressed Dr Otes the first discoverer of the Popish Plot being no way shaken but bearing with most undaunted Courage and Constancy innumerable Reproaches and Slanders from the Pulpit and Press nay and from the Stage also Hell it self seemed to be engaged to discredit and batter down the belief of his Evidence Knox and Lane to blast his Reputation were employed to accuse him of an unusual but most hainous Wickedness that Plot not obtaining and matters being prepared for placing unmasked Popery upon the Throne he was condemned in One Hundred Thousand Pounds for words spoken of the Duke of York and thereupon secured against the desired season for the Conspirators taking their full revenge upon him Upon the 8 th of May 1685. he was brought to Tryal in the Kings-Bench Court upon an Indictment to the effect following viz. that Whitebread Ireland Fenwick Pickering and Grove five Jesuites were Indicted of high Treason for conspiring the Death of King Charles the second and that Ireland Pickering and Grove were Tryed December the 17 th 1678. And that the Defendant gave Evidence that there was a treasonable Consult at the White-Horse Tavern in the Strand the 24 th of April 1678. at which Whitebread Fenwick and Ireland and the Defendant were present and that they there came to a Resolution to Murder the King and that the Defendant carried the Resolution from Chamber to Chamber to be Signed by the Jesuites whereas in truth he was not present nor carried any such Resolution to be Signed and so committed wilful Perjury The Jury upon this Tryal were Sr William Dodson Sr Edmund Wiseman Richard Aley Thomas Fowles Thomas Blackmore Peter Pickering Robert Bedingfield Thomas Rawlinson Roger Reeves Ambrose Isted Henry Collyer and Richard Howard And the Tryal was managed against the Defendant by Mr Attorney General Mr Solicitor General The Recorder of London Mr North Mr Jones Mr Molley and Mr Hanses L'Estrang's Assistant and Brother Burgess in Parliament for Winchester both of them being chosen by the direction of Mr Bernard Howard a noted Papist Brother to Cardinal Howard In the first place Mr Foster one of Ireland's Jury swore what the Defendant evidenced at that Tryal viz. his being at the White-Horse Consult the 24 th of April 1678. Then the King's Counsel produced about twenty Jesuites and Students of St Omers these all testified that the Defendant came to St Omers in December 1677. and went not from thence until June 1678. Whosoever reads this Tryal cannot but observe some things worthy noting as First The rage of the Chief Justice and extraordinary zeal of the King's Counsel both against the Defendant and the belief of the Popish Plot of which more in its due place Secondly The Caresses and tender usage of these Jesuited Sparks both by the Court and Counsel their Evidence was received without the least Interruption not one cross thwarting or doubting question being put to any one of them nay there did not appear so much temper as to permit the Defendant to propose his questions to them which made him with undaunted Courage cry out That his defence was under a very great prejudice and that there was a turn to be served and therefore he was not admitted to ask the Witnesses questions And said I do verily believe That at this rate it is more safe for Papists to be Traytors than for any Protestant to discover a Popish Plot. Thirdly The harmony and uniformity of their Evidence which was so extraordinary that any indifferent Reader must judge that they were instructed by their Tutors before they came from St Omers and had oft conn'd their Lessons by the way for they did to admiration agree in swearing to particular days and to most minute and trivial things as to the day of playing at Nine-Pins of a Ball being stroke over a Wall and the like In the next place to insinuate that the Defendants Evidence was not always true and credited the King's Counsel produced the Earl of Castlemain and Sr George Wakeman who decreed that what he swore against them at their Tryals was false Here the Chief Justice observing the Defendants undauntedness said I wonder to see any one that has the face of a Man carry it at this rate when he hears such Evidence brought against him To which the Defendant reply'd very well I wonder Mr Atturney will offer to bring this Evidence Jefferyes whose Character with King Charles the second was that he had the Impudence of ten Carted Whores in a raving fit retorted such Impudence was never seen in any Christian Nation you are a shame to Mankind to which the Defendant's Reply was No my Lord I am neither a shame to my self nor to Mankind what I have sworn is true and I will seal it with my Blood if occasion be Ah Ah my Lord I know why all this is and so may the World but this will not do the work to make the Plot to be disbelieved things are not to be done by great Noises I will stand by the Truth The Defendant in his defence observed that the Indictment against him was six years after the pretended Perjury That the Witnesses against him were some of those who gave Evidence at the Tryal of the five Jesuites and tho' there were some fresh Witnesses that they did evidence the same thing that was then offered but the Testimony rejected tho' then and also at Langhorn's Tryal sixteen St Omer's youths were brought to falsifie his
Mr Solicitor had shortened his Labour by the pains he had taken to sum up the Evidence to them which he concluded he had without doubt done with all faithfulness to his Master He then proceeds to blacken the Defendant with all the foul Language that Malice could suggest and tells his old Friends of the Jury whose acquaintance with him disposed them to credit him that the Popish Plot was a sham and that under the pretence thereof another black and bloody Conspiracy was carried on Then he magnifies the evidence against the Defendant both from the number of the St Omers Sparks no less then twenty but also their harmony and he affirms that against the credit of their Testimony there was no objection really made but only Impudence that the Defendant had produced but two positive Witnesses that they were likewise positive in their contradiction of one another that they swore according as their humour led them and not according to any remembrance they had of the thing and that he rather believed it because the third Witness Page gave an evidence contrary to both of them how notoriously false these malitious Suggestions are will evidently appear upon the perusal of what these three honest and plain-dealing Witnesses swore Then he comes to the Defendants fourth Witness Mr Walter and positively affirms that he says nothing to the matter for that it did plainly appear the time which he speaks of was about a year and a half before the five Jesuits Tryal which must be in 1677 before the Defendant went to St Omers Mr Solicitor told the Jury that Mr Walter spoke of a year and a quarter before the discovery of the Plot had that been true it had run it back to the year 1677 and to a time before the Doctor went to St Omers His Lordship makes Mr VValter to speak of about a year and a half before the Jesuits Tryal which runs it back to December 1677 and then the King 's celebrated Witnesses and Mr VValter are agreed but Mr Vvalter speaking for himself says the time was near a year and a quarter before the Tryal of the Jesuits which brings us to April 1678. Though the Chief Justice and Solicitor were not agreed in this matter yet they would not quarrel about it provided the understanding Jury would credit either of them against Mr Walter and so serve the turn they aimed at the baffling the credit of the Popish Plot and not allow this Witness to be serviceable to the Vindication of Dr Otes Upon the following day after this Tryal Dr Otes was tryed upon an Indictment for another supposed Perjury but that prosecution being of the Complexion with what is here presented I shall not trouble the Reader with any thing further upon this subject then to present him with the Names of the Jury viz. Sr Thomas Vernon Nicholas Charlton Esq Tho. Langham Esq Thomas Hartop Francis Griffith John Kent George Tory Ano. Hen. Loades Tory Also John Midgley John Pelling Thomas Short and George Peck The Juries having according to the direction of that Man of Blood Jeffryes brought in the Defendant guilty of both the Perjuries Comes the Abhorrer of Parliaments the tender-hearted good natured Protestant Judge VVythens to pronounce the Sentence This very Person Wythens being Counsel for Knox did declare openly in the Court of King's Bench that Dr Otes had served the Nation too well to be vilified in that Court. previous to it he tells the Defendant That no Christian 's Heart can think of the innocent Blood which was shed by his Oath without bleeding That every knowing Man believed and every honest Man grieved for it He proceeds God be thanked our Eyes are now opened You had not one Word to justifie your self from that great and heinous Perjury you were accused of transcendant Impudence The Judgment of the Court inter alia is You shall upon Wednesday next be VVhipt from Algate to Newgate Vpon Friday you shall be VVhipt from Newgate to Tyburn by the Hands of the common Hangman This I pronounce to be the Judgment of the Court upon you and I must tell you plainly If it had been in my power to have carried it further I should not have been unwilling to have given Judgment of Death upon you I shall sum up all with the sense of the present House of Commons upon this whole proceeding which take in this Vote Martis 11th die Junij 1689. Resolved That the Prosecution of Titus Otes upon two Indictments for Perjury in the Court of King's Bench was a design to stifle the Popish Plot and that the Verdicts given thereupon were corrupt and that the Judgments given thereupon were cruel and illegal Notes upon the Tryal of Nathaniel Reading Esq for attempting to stifle the King's Evidence as to the horrid Popish Plot upon Wednesday the 24th of April 1679. before the Lord Chief Justice North c. THe Conspirators against our Religion Laws and Liberties being struck with astonishment and the Imprisoned and Impeached Traytors with no small Terror at the most providential and happy accession of Captain William Bedloe's Testimony to the discovery made by Dr Otes of the hellish Popish Plot in which he had stood single much discouraged we do quickly find their thoughts at work how to remove this newly acquired Witness Their way of taking off Sr Edmundbury Godfrey having so highly dis-served their Cause that is not to be again practised therefore the resolution taken in the present case is to tamper with and buy off Captain Bedloe they pitched upon Mr Reading to carry on this Intrigue whose parts and principles did very well qualifie him for such an undertaking but Mr Bedloe being above the reach of very powerful Temptations he very honestly detected the villainous Attempts upon him and the Suborner was brought to Justice as follows The Indictment sets forth the Plot against the King the Government and the Protestant Religion and that Colman Ireland and Grove were tryed condemned and executed for the same That several Lords viz. the Earl of Powis Lord Viscount Stafford Lord Bellasis Lord Arundel of Wardour Lord Petre and also Sr Henry Titchbourn stand impeached of the said Treason That Reading well knowing these things and to obstruct and stifle them and to retard the prosecution of Justice against the Lord Powis Stafford Bellasis Petre and Sr Henry Titchbourn did on their part the 29th of March last solicit suborn and endeavour to perswade Mr VVilliam Bedlooe whom he knew to have given Information of those Treasons against the said Persons to lessen stifle and not to give in evidence the full truth against them and to give such evidence as he should direct and to that purpose did give him fifty six Guineas and promised him other great Rewards to the hindrance and suppression of Justice The Jury were these Sr John Cutler Thomas Cass Joshua Galliard Rains. Waterhouse Edw. Willford Mathew Bateman Tho. Henslow Walter Moil Thomas Earsby
into the bargain but that Mr Justice Pemberton checkt it by holding up his hands in Admiration this persons Crime was the publishing a Book called An Appeal from the Country to the City in which this passage was contained We in the Country have done our parts in chusing good Members for Parliament but if they must be Dissolved or Prorogued when-ever they come to redress the Grievances of the Subject we may be pittied not blamed if the Plot takes effect as in all probability it will Our Parliaments are not then to be condemned for their not being suffered to sit occasioned it But now when we come to Judgments for Misdemeaners on the other side We shall perceive great Compassion and Mercy appearing in that Court indeed Reading who was Convicted for the first attempt upon the King's-Witnesses was adjudged to pay 1000 l. to be Pilloried and Imprisoned for a year and one would have thought that more severe Judgments would have past upon such as should dare to repeat the same Crimes after such an Example but we see the contrary About six Months afterwards Knox and Lane being Convicted of the same Offence accompanied with much blacker Circumstances Knox the principal was only Fined 200 Marks and condemned to a years Imprisonment and to be bound to the good Behaviour for three years And Lane Fined 1â—… Marks and adjudged to stand once in the Pillory and to be Imprisoned a year And now in the Case before us Mr Tasborough a Gentleman of a good Estate who had treated about so great a Villany in the name of the Duke of York was only Fined 100 l. And Mrs Price 200 l. But who can admire at this notorious departure from the rules of Justice and Equality in the assessing of Fines that remembers that the Chief Justice Scroggs did in this very Term declare in open Court in the Case of Dr Jessop a very honest and worthy Protestant of Norfolk that he would have regard to Persons and their Principles in imposing of Fines and would set a Fine of 500 l. on one person for the same offence for which he would not Fine another 100 l. And accordingly Fined Dr Jessop 100 l. for reporting false News as they called it and at the same time Fined the Doctor 's Author of that News a right Tory no doubt only five Marks Now surely will the Reader say this Jessop was undoubtedly a very naughty Man but to undeceive him I can affirm he is as true a Church of England Man as can be found and the bad principle which made him to be thus marked was that he was an avowed Enemy to Popery and true to the Liberties of England and did upon every occasion exert himself to a degree hardly to be equalled by any Gentleman of Norfolk for the chusing deserving men for Knights of the shire and particularly for Sr John Hobart then whom none ever deserved better of that County and whose name will always be remembred there with great Honour For this extravagant Partiality and Injustice in imposing Fines the Court of Kings-Bench was deservedly marked with this Vote of the House of Commons December the 23 d 1680 Resolved That the Court of King's Bench in the Imposition of Fines on Offenders of late years hath acted Arbitrarily Illegally and Partially Favouring Papists and persons Popishly affected and excessively Oppressing Protestants Reflections upon the Proceedings in the Old Baily before the Lord Chief Justices Pemberton and North. November 24 1681. upon an Indictment for High Treason framed against the Right Honourable Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury for conspiring the Death of the King and Subversion of the Government THe Names of the Grand-Jury returned by Sheriff Filkington and Sheriff Shute and who were Sworn upon that occasion were Sr Sam. Barnardiston John Morden Thomas Papillon John Dubois Charles Herle Edward Rudge Humphrey Edwm John Morris Edmund Harrison Joseph VVright John Cox Thomas Parker Leonard Robinson Thomas Shepherd John Flavel Michael Godfrey Joseph Richarson VVilliam Empson Andrew Kendrick John Lane and John Hall. A sort of people called Tories wedded to their own blindness having loudly clamoured of this great Jury I shall here add the names of those who were returned upon the same Pannel Alderman Ellis Mr Mellish Mr Tho. Gardener Samuel Swinnock Mr Ben. Godfrey Mr John Pollexfen Mr John Smith Mr John Gardener Mr Peter Delence Mr Peter Hubland Mr William Ashurst Mr John Deagle Mr Thomas Western Mr Bonnel Mr Gabriel Wheatley Mr Tho. Carpenter Mr L. Baskervile Mr George Marwood Mr John Smith And now let all who know the City of London judge whether a more substantial Pannel in every respect was ever returned to serve at the Old-Bailey The King's Council for the management of this Intrigue were The Attorney General Sr Francis Wythens the Abhorrer of Parliaments And Mr Saunders afterwards the Quo Warranto Lord Chief Justice Mr Graham the Solicitor of all the late Sham Plots upon Protestants and pay-master of corrupt Juries and perjured Witnesses solicited this Prosecution and hence took his first step to such Preferment as enabled him to give Eight or ten thousand Pounds with a Daughter 'T is to be lamented that he hath lived to this day without further Preferment in the way which at that time the then Lord Chancellor promised to honest Captain VVilkinson The magnified Evidence of this horrid Treason and that which the King's Council relying upon begun with was a Paper proved by Secretary Jenkins Mr Blaithwaite and Mr Gwin to have been found in the Earl's House of which such noise has been made in the World by the virulent Observator and the Popish News-Writers as well as from too many of our Pulpits that it may not be ungratful to the Reader to be here presented with the very words thereof which follow The Association WE the Knights c. finding to the grief of our Hearts the Popish Priests and Jesuites with the Papists and their Adherents and Abettors have for several years last past pursued a most pernicious and hellish Plot to root out the true Protestant Religion as a pestilent Heresie to take away the Life of our Gratious King to subvert our Laws and Liberties and to set up Arbitrary Power and Popery And it being notorious that they have been highly incouraged by the Countenance and Protection given and procured for them by James Duke of York and by their expectations of his succeeding to the Crown and that through Crafty Popish Councils his Designs have so far prevailed that he hath created many and great Dependants upon him by his bestowing Offices and Preferments both in Church and State. It appearing also to us that by his influence Mercenary Forces bave 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 hazard of his Majesties Person our Religion and Government if the Danger had not been timely fore-seen 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 Duke yet his interest in the Ministry of State and others have 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 And that the said Duke in order to reduce all into his own Power hath procured the Garrisons the Army and Ammunition all the Power 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 〈◊〉 Parliament 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 Justice upon some of the Conspirators to be still pursued with the utmost devillish Malice and desire of Revenge whereby his Majesty is in continual hazard of being Murdered to make way for the said Duke'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 of Queen Mary having proved the wisest Laws to be of little force to keep out Popery and Tyranny under a Popish Prince We have therefore endeavoured in a Parliamentary way by a Bill for that 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 perswaded in our Consciences that the dangers afore-said 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 Vnion amongst themselves by solemn and sacred Promise of mutual Defence and Assistance in the preservation of the true Protestant Religion his Majesty's Person and Royal State and our Laws Liberties and Properties and we hold iâ— our bounden Duty to joyn our selves for the same intent in a Declaration of our united Affections and Resolutions in the form ensuing 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 who 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 Majesty's Royal Person and Estate as also the Power and Priviledge of Parliaments the lawful Rights and Liberties of the Subjects against all Incroachments and Vsurpation of Arbitrary Power whatsoever and endeavour entirely 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 Terror of all the good People of the Land. Moreover James Duke of York having publickly propessed and owned the Popish Religion and notoriously given Life and Birth to the damnable and hellish Plots of the Papists against his Majesty's Person the Protestant Religion and the Government of this Kingdom I will never consent that the said James Duke of York or any other who is or hath been a Papist or any ways adhered to the Papists in their wicked Designs be admitted to the Succession of the Crown of England But by all lawful means and by force of Arms if need so require according to my Ability will oppose him and endeavour to Subdue Expel 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 publick Enemies of our Laws Religion and Country To this end We and every one of Vs whose hands are here-under written do most willingly bind our selves and every one of Vs â—nto 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 joynt and particular Forces We will oppose and pursue unto Destruction all such as upon any Title what soever shall oppose the Just 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 least this just and pious VVork should be any ways obstructed or hindred 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 Vs in the several Countries Cities and Burroughs until the next meeting of this or another Parliament and will then shew the same Obedience and Submission to 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 perjured persons and publick Enemies to God the King and our native Country 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 it 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 accept and admit any others hereafter into this Society and Association It is to be observed that this Paper had neither date nor any Hand to it nor did it appear of whose Hand-writing it was but Sr Francis Wythens aggravated the matter saying That tho' the Paper began very plausibly and went a great way so yet in the last clause but one they came to perfect levying of War declaring that they would joyn to destroy the mercenary Forces about London the words by the way were to
Law and to defame the Justice of the Kingdom and to render as well the Witnesses as the Coroner contemptible and to deter others from detecting the Designs of Papists and to induce a belief that Green Berry and Hill were unjustly Executed and that Sr Edmundbury Godfry was Felo de se they did most impiously Compose and cause to be Printed and Published two false Scandalous and Defamatory Libels entituled Letters to Mr Miles Prance and three other Scandalous Libels called the Loyal Protestant and true Domestick Intelligence and did by these Libels suggest that Sr Edmundbury Godfry was Felo de se and did reflect on every of the said Witnesses as if they had contradicted themselves and Insinuate that the Coroner's-Jury did at first declare that he was Felo de se and that the Coroner used much Art and Skill to procure their Verdict to the contrary The Jury which tryed this Cause were Peter Houblon John Ellis William Barret Joshua Brooks Gervas Byfeild Jonathan Lee George Widdows William Sambrooke William Jacomb John Delinee Samuel Bayly and Samuel Howard The Counsel for the King were Mr Serjeant Maynard Mr Solicitor General Sr Francis Winnington Mr Williams Mr Thompson Mr Saunders and Mr Gooding Council for Paine Mr Yalden for Thompson Mr Osborne for Farwell Mr Thompson having opened the Indictment Mr Serjeant Maynard spoke to the Crime and declared it to be as impudent a thing as ever was done in that it scandalized the publick Justice of the Nation undertook to vindicate the Murtherers and to accuse the Proceedings of the Nation and then calling the Witnesses Sr John Nicholas Sr Philip Loyd and Mr Bridgman Clerks of the Council proved that the two Letters set forth in the Information were shewed to the Defendants at the Council and that Thompson owned the Printing both of them and that Farwell owned the carrying the first and Paine the carrying the second to Thompson After reading these Letters in Court Thompson's Intelligence of the 17 th of March 1681 was produced wherein it is contained as follows There is not in the said Letter meaning the said first Letter the least Item or Circumstance but what will be by undeniable Evidence made out to be Truth so that Mr Prance having not as yet vouchsafed an Answer to that Letter he will speedily receive a further Letter relating to that Murther wherein the further truth will be set forth and other Circumstances set out Another of those Intelligences of March 11 th 1681. given in Evidence ran thus Whereas Dick Janeway in this days Mercury promises an Answer to the late Letter to Mr Prance c. This is to give him and all the World notice that such an Answer is impatiently expected by the Author of that Letter who questions not but to prove every tittle of that Letter to the satisfaction of all Mankind and then it proceeds to challenge the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council to inspect the truth of that Letter and says That then the Fraud and Blindness put upon the World in Relation to the Murther of Sr Edmundbury Godfry will be manifestly proved A third of these Intelligences took a further step glorying in an imagined victory in this matter for it sayes Last Wednesday Nathaniel Thompson upon Summons appeared before the Lords of the Council about the Letters to Mr Prance concerning the death of Sr Edmunbury Godfry where he justified the matter and produced the Authors who are ready to prove by undeniable and sub stantial Witnesses c. that every tittle and jot a of these Letters are true And after adds Mr Thompson and the Gentlemen his Friends are to attend the next Wednesday at Council where they do not doubt but that honourable Board will put them into a Method to prove the whole or any particular which their Honours in their great Wisdom shall think convenient to be brought to the Test or Examination An honest English-man can never better express his admiration and detestation of the transcendent impudence of these vile Miscreants then in the Language of the late famous Baron of Wem upon another occasion with a small alteration of Words Good God! whither were we runing when many easie People were so strangely wrought upon by these Impostors and when the villainous and black Designs of some evil Instruments among us were so powerfully abetted and countenanced that they were arrived to this degree of assurance that they could beguile and delude not only some of the Shepherds of our Church of England with their silly innocent Flocks but even the King and his Privy-Council into the belief of so horrid a falshood and that at a time when not a hidden but a deeply contrived and detected Treason was carryed on amongst us for extirpating our Religion termed the Northern Heresie our Laws and Liberties The Conspirators had a fair Game of it whilst these Fellows were believed and they needed no other means to compleat their design I cannot but say my Blood does curdle and my Spirits are raised to see fellows so impudent as to brazen it out as these monstrous Villains do the blackness of their Souls the baseness of their Actions ought to be lookt upon with such horror and detestation as to think them unworthy any longer to tread upon the face of God's Earth But to return to the matter in hand from which I have digressed It being as aforesaid made out that the Defendants had published that what was testified against the Murderers of Sr Edmundbury Godfry was a lye Mr Saunders and Mr Gooding Counsel for Paine declared it was a rash and unadvised Act but not out of Malice and that he was sorry for what he had done and had offered to give any Satisfaction To whom the Lord Chief Justice replyed To me he said he would make it out by five hundred Witnesses they would make it as plain as the day and Counsellor Thompson added since the last time that was appointed for the Tryal they have printed that they would prove it by sixty Witnesses and were very sorry it did not come on Mr Yalden Counsel for Thompson said that he thought his Client was unfortunately drawn into the business by Paine and Farwell who turn all upon him now Mr Osborne Counsel for Farwell said It was a foolish thing to do as he had done but that his Client said he had several Witnesses who being called it was manifest that Farwell designed to have even then raised a doubt whether Sr Edmundbury Godfry was murthered or not but it appeared that of the eleven or twelve Witnesses he called there was not one but was as much against him as could be for they did plainly evince it that Sr Edmundbury Godfry was Killed and that by Strangling and so confirmed the evidence given against Green Berry and Hill. It being thus manifested that this was a cursed combination to affront the publick justice of the Nation and that done to the end to perswade the World there
neither Law nor President of any Man Tryed by a Jury in a County that were not Freeholders So he had had no Tryal at all and if so there could be no Judgment To this Jefferies replyed that he had had the Opinion of the Court in that matter and that they were unanimous in it And so they were in all murdering work at that day Colonel Sidney then said that there was nothing of Treason in the Words said to be written in the Papers if the nature of the thing were examined To which the Chief Justice retorted There is not a line in the Book scarce but what is Treason The Sentence being passed the Prisoner expressed himself in these Words Why then O Lord Sanctifie I beseech thee these my Sufferings unto me Sanctifie me through my Sufferings Sanctifie me through thy Truth Thy Word is Truth Impute not my Blood unto this Nation Impute it not unto the grand City through which I shall be led unto the place of Death Let not my Soul cry tho' it lies under the Altar make not Inquisition for my Blood or if innocent Blood must be expiated let thy Vengeance fall only upon the heads of those who knowingly and maliciously Persecute me for Righteousness sake Upon the 7th of December 1683. He was Beheaded upon Tower-Hill when he delivered to the Sheriffs Daniel Dashwood a paper the substance whereof is here presented to the Reader Men Brethren and Fathers Friends Country-men and Strangers We live in an Age that maketh Truth pass for Treason I dare not say any thing contrary to Truth and the * * Sheriff Daniel's c. Ears of those that are about me will probably be found too tender to hear it West Romsey and Keeling brought to prove the Plot said no more of me than that they did not know me The Lord Howard is too infamous by his Life and his many Perjuries not to be denyed or rather sworn by himseif to deserve mention and being a single Witness would be of no value though he had been of unblemished Credit or had not seen and confessed that the Crimes committed by him would be pardoned only for committing more This being laid aside the whole matter is reduced to the Papers said to be found in my Closet If I had been seen to write them the matter would not be much altered They plainly appear to relate unto a Treatise written long since in answer to Filmer's Book which is grounded upon wicked Principles equally pernicious to Magistrates and People If he might publish unto the World his Opinion that all Men are born under a necessity derived from the Laws of God and Nature to submit unto an absolute Kingly Government which could be restrained by no Law or Oath and that he that hath the Power hath the Right and the Persons and Estates of his Subjects must be indispensably subject to it I know not why I might not have published my opinion to the contrary without the breach of any Law. I might as freely as he publickly have declared my thoughts and the Reasons of my belief That Magistrates were set up for the good of Nations not Nations for the honour or glory of Magistrates That the Right and Power of Magistrates was that which the Laws of the Country made it to be That those Laws were to be observed and the Oaths taken by them having the force of a Contract between Magistrate and People could not be violated without danger of dissolving the whole Fabrick That few would be so gentle as to spare even the best Magistrates if by their destruction a wild Usurper could become God's Anointed This seems to agree with the Doctrines of the most Reverend Authors of all Times Nations and Religions The best and wisest of Kings have ever acknowledged it King James in his Speech to the Parliament Anno 1603 doth in the highest degree assert it The Scripture seems to declare it If the Writer nevertheless was mistaken No Man for such matters hath ever been referred to the Judgment of a Jury composed of Men utterly unable to comprehend them But there was little of this in my Case The extravagance of my Prosecutors goes higher The Treatise was never finished nor could be in many Years So much as is of it was written long since never reviewed nor shewn to any Man. Whatsoever is said of the expulsion of Tarquin The Insurrection of Nero The Slaughter of Caligula or Domitian c. is applied by Innuendo unto the King. They have not considered that if such Acts of State be not good no King in the World has any title nor can have any unless he could deduce his Pedigree from the eldest Son of Noah and shew that the Succession had still continued in the Eldest of the Eldest Line and been so deduced to him But I was long since told that I must dye or the Plot must dye Lest the means of destroying the best Protestants in England should fail the Bench must be filled with such as have been Blemishes to the Bar. None But such as these would have advised with the King's Councel of the means of bringing a man to death Suffered a Jury to be pack'd by the King's Solicitors and the Under-Sheriff Admit of Jury Men who are not Freeholders Receive such evidence as is above mentioned refuse a Copy of an Indictment or to suffer the Statute of 46 Edward 3. to be read that doth enact It should in no case be denied unto any Man upon any occasion whatsoever over-rule the most important points of Law without hearing And whereas the Statute 25 Edward 3. upon which they said I should be tryed doth reserve unto the Parliament all Constructions to be made in point of Treason They could assume unto themselves not only a power to make Constructions but such Constructions as neither agree with Law Reason or Common Sense By these means I am brought to this place The Lord forgive these Practices and avert the Evils that threaten the Nation from them The Lord sanctifie these my Sufferings unto me and tho' I fall as a Sacrifice unto Idols suffer not Idolatry to be established in this Land. Bless thy People and save them defend thy own Cause and defend those that defend it Stir up such as are saint direct those that are willing Confirm those that waver Give Wisdom and Integrity unto all Order all things so as may most redound to thy own Glory Grant that I may dye glorifying Thee for all thy Mercies and that at the last thou hast permitted me to be singled out as a Witness of thy Truth and even by the Confession of my Opposers for that old Câ—use in which I was from my Youth engaged and for which thou hast often and wonderfully declared thy Self Thus for Innuendo Treasons and by a barbarous prosecution fell this never to be forgotten Champion and Martyr for the English Liberties the honourable and valiant Colonel Algernon Sidney This great Man