near as I can remember wherein he promised his Catholick Subjects that if he were driven through the Necessity of Affairs to cause a Cessation of Arms it should not be for the Disadvantage of his Irish Catholick Subjects but to let them have a little time to breathe in that they might the better be able to serve him and themselves against the factious English there all which were carried to White-Hall and what became of those Papers then I know not I saw in those Papers several Passes given to those of the Rebels that fled out of Ireland upon the reducing of that Country wherein they shed much of Protestant Blood these were recommended by King Charles the Second to several Ministers of the Court of Spain as Persons that had eminently served his Father in reducing their Country to the Obedience of the Catholick Church and had contributed much to the destroying the English Hereticks that had planted themselves in that Kingdom These things I intimated to the King and thought to have discovered them to the Parliament but the King told me that it would savour of Malice and that my Silence of these things would intitle me to his Favour and that I should never want Besides all this his Highness Prince Rupert did engage me whenever I met with any thing that might reflect upon the King I would be sparing there because the Publication of those things might tend to alienate the King's Heart from the frequent use of Parliaments without which the Kingdom would never rid it self from the apparent Danger of Popery I do further declare that the Jesuits did tell me that the coming over of the Princess Henrietta was in order to the making way for the restoring the Catholick Religion here in England and that the Breach of Peace with the Dutch was by them contrived and by the late King consented to in order to reduce those States to the Catholick Faith and that it was thought fit to begin the publick Exercise of the Romish Religion in Ireland and to grant a General Toleration here in order to which 1600 Priests of all Orders and of divers Nations were sent over and most of them were kept here on a Maintainance for secret Service and others by the then Duke of York in half-pay as disbanded Officers but this being all defeated by Parliament they were much irritated against the King And furthermore the Jesuits acquainted me that the late King had dispatched an Envoy to the King of Poland to engage him in the Catholick League for that now the Catholick Princes of Europe were fully resolved to extirpate the Protestant Religion and that the French King his Majesty of Great Britain and his R. Highness the D. of York were Heads of this League which League his Majesty of Great Britain had not carefully observed but gave way to his impertinent Parliaments but that they might not hinder this good Design the French King had agreed to the Request of his then Royal Highness the D. of York of remitting 300000 l. per annum for 3 Years if by any means the late King might be dispatched out of the way there being no trust to be put in him that was not only unfaithful in all his Promises and Oaths made to them the said Jesuits and Catholicks but was an Apostate from the Catholick Religion and therefore not to be endured any longer This Negotiation was carried on by the Lord Powis the late Earl of Berkshire and Coleman and St. Germaine all which I communicated to his Majesty in private in the Prince's Lodgings in Whitehall who gave me Thanks for not communicating these things to the Parliament and told me that he was fully convinced now of the Reasons and Grounds the Papists had of taking away his Life and the Prince said I pray God your Majesty continue in that Opinion for now you may see that they are a sort of People not to be endured in a Civil Government Good God said the King is this the Kindness that is to be shewed me for all the Favours I have shewed that People At which his Majesty wept This was in the Month of January 167 8 9 or February The Prince then bad me withdraw and sent for me the next day and conjured me not to communicate one word of the Discourse I had with the King for faith he it will neither be safe for the King nor you nor any of us if this should be reported Of which Injunction the Prince heartily repented and so did I of my Promise which I have now published to undeceive my Countrey in their Notions they had of the late King His late Majesty did ever favour the Popish Interest as being the greatest Favourers of Monarchy though I have said that Popery and a Common-wealth were reconcilable and often would instance the Republiques of Venice and Genoa At which his Majesty said that there were the Footsteps of Monarchy even in those Republiques But above all I found his Majesty very zealous of reconciling me to the Popish Interest and told me that if I would engage to him upon the Word of a Minister not to bear any Testimony against those I had accused before the Council but would be ruled by him I should have 10000 l. to buy me an Annuity or a Free-Estate and if I would I should retire to any College in either University and live there quietly urging to me that a Parliament would never gratify me and it was in his Power only to shew me Favour and therefore advised me to be directed by him and it would be impossible for me to miscarry To this I thus reply'd I humbly thank your Majesty for your Grace and Favour and I should willingly accept of your Royal Offer were it not the highest Breach of Trust reposed in me by your Majesty's Commons in this Parliament Besides Sir said I your Nobles in the House of Peers will and all Mankind judg me the worst of Men if I should so basely desert my Cause It 's plainly proved that the Popish Party have a Design against your Majesty's Life and all our Lives Liberties and Religion therefore by the Grace of God I will stand by the Cause to the utmost of my Power to the last Minute of my Life The late King did in the Month of November 1678 in Mr. Secretary Coventry's Lodgings offer me the Bishoprick of Chichester and withal promised me his Favour of advancing me if I would desist the Enterprize as he called the Discovery of the Popish Plot assuring me then that it would not be for his Service because of the Heat it would put the People into and farther told me that the Parliament would forsake me and not do any thing for me and if I had a thought of complying with him I should meet him at the Prince's Lodgings But I went to the Prince and told him what his Majesty had said who when he had heard of it The poor Man said the Prince doth
A TRAGEDY CALLED The Popish Plot REVIV'D Detecting the SECRET LEAGUE Between the Late King James and the French King The POPISH CONSPIRACY to Murder His present Majesty King WILLIAM And the wicked Contrivance for Adulterating the COIN of this Kingdom With many other HELLISH PRACTICES Dedicated to Sir Roger L'Estrange the Fellows of St. John's College in Cambridg Non Jurors and the rest of the Jacobite Crew By a sincere Lover of his Countrey London Printed for the Author 1696. To Sir Roger L'Estrange the Fellows of St. John's College and the rest of the Jacobite Crew Gentlemen THAT your as industriously as maliciously embrace every Occasion of venting your Selves to the Disparagement of our Present happy Settlement is undeniably evident to all Men and hath in no particular been more manifest than in your cherishing and fomenting the loud Clamour under which the Government has of late labour'd upon the account of the diminishing and adulterating our Coin The Consideration hereof led me to reflect upon what I remember I had read in Dr. Oates's Narrative of the Popish Plot and turning to it I there find good Ground to charge to the Account of your Party amongst other the manifold Evils under which the Nation groans that which is now so sensibly felt and highly complained of He there told you what now to our Cost we find fulfilled that one Branch of that Horrid Plot was to adulterate our Money and Plate and that to that end the Conspirators had Bankers Brokers Merchants Goldsmiths and other Traders whom they stock'd and set up with Money of the Jesuits Society The Jesuits then boasted that they were promised to have the Management of the Mint and that thereby they should be made the Judges of good and bad Money and manage the same to the best Advantage for their Cause The Case standing thus Gentlemen why will you be so vile as to criminate the Government for the Mischief which you have brought upon your Countrey Will you persist to out-face the Sun and term that a Sham-Plot which has ever since been cultivated and carried on Consider I beseech you in how many Instances what was laid down in that Narrative has been verified He there told you that King Charles the Second was to be removed by Dagger Pistol or Poison and that that was effected by the last is as little to be doubted as it may now be called into question whether the Coin be adulterated He told you that your Adored Duke was a Papist but your Stupidity or Impudence was such that you denied it to the day that he stept into the Throne Nay not only so but some of you in a Pack'd Jury brought in that Prince Not Guilty and gave him the modest Damages of 100000 l. in an Action against the Doctor for declaring that great Truth then so highly necessary to be known Nay further he not only told but foretold the Misery and inexpressible Calamity which like a Torrent was with that unhappy King breaking in upon these poor Nations and ready to bear down our Religion Laws and Liberties But this also was turn'd into Ridicule by that eminent Guide of the inferiour Clergy you I mean Sir Roger that Beautefeu of an Observator Wherefore I shall upon this Occasion take the Liberty to aggravate the Guilt of the unpardonable Infidelity of your Malignant Faction in the Points before touch'd upon and that not by urging against you that what was then declared has since come to pass but by evincing that at that very day there was laid before you irrefragable Evidence of the Truth of that happy Discovery And this I partly collect from Mr. Coleman's never to be forgotten Letters which were never denied or so much as doubted of which to refresh your Memories take here a few Heads For my part says he I can scarce believe my self awake or the thing real when I think on a Prince in such an Age as we live in converted to such a degree of Zeal and Piety as not to regard any thing in the World in comparison of the Conversion of our Poor Kingdom which hath been a long time oppressed and miserably harassed with Heresy and Schism c. Now as to the Duke's being then link'd with that bloody Tyrant the French King read Coleman again Knowing the Interest of our King Charles the 2d 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 His Majesty the French King was pleased to give order to signify to his R. H. MY MASTER that his Majesty was fully satisfied of his R. H's good Intentions towards him and that HE ESTEEMED BOTH THEIR INTERESTS BUT AS ONE and the same The Rooting out the Northern Heresy and enslaving Mankind That my Lord Arlington and the PARLIAMENT were both to be look'd upon as very unuseful to their Interests Father Ferrier begg'd 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 I communicated it to his R. H. says Coleman 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 Majesty's Friendship and that he would labour to cultivate it with all the good Offices he was capable of doing his Majesty the French King that he was fully convinced their Interests were both one that my Lord Arlington and the Parliament were not only unuseful but very dangerous both to England and France that therefore it was necessary they should do all they could to dissolve it I did communicate this Design of mine to Monsieur Ravigni who agreed with me that it would be the greatest Advantage imaginable to his Master to have the D's Power and Credit so far advanced IF WE CAN ADVANCE THE DUKE'S INTEREST ONE STEP FORWARD WE SHALL PUT HIM OUT OF THE REACH OF CHANCE FOR EVER Then would Catholicks be at rest and his most Christian Majesty's Interest secured with us in England mark that beyond all Apprehensions whatsoever Our prevaling in these things would give the greatest Blow to the PROTESTANT RELIGION here that ever it received from its Birth If the Duke should once get above them ☞ after the Tricks they have play'd with him they are not sure he will totally forget the Vsage he has had at their Hands We have proceeds Coleman here a MIGHTY WORK upon our Hands no less than THE CONVERSION of three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the utter subduing of a PESTILENT HERESY which hath domineered over great part of the 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 to a Miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a Work ☞ 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 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 c. Now Gentlemen might not a Man have concluded that what you then read and find here repeated ought to have weaned your Party at least such of you as pretended to be of the Church of England for I well remember you scoffed at the Name of Protestant from your idolized Popish Successor What I could no King please such Churchmen as you but such AZEALOT as would not regard any thing in the World in comparison of overturning our Religion Could no one content you but a Prince whose Interest was avowed to be inseparably united to that of the Grand Tyrant of the Earth Who declared himself fully convinc'd that PARLIAMENTS were not only VNVSEFVL but very DANGEROVS to the JOINT INTEREST both of England and France None but him by whom the French King's Interest was to be secured in England None but him who undertook to give the greatest Blow to the Protestant Religion here that it ever received from its Birth None but him who should he once get above us after the Tricks we had then plaid him by the way he remembers we have plaid him a worse since WOVLD NOT TOTALLY FORGET the Vsage he has had at our Hands Finally could nothing please you but a King whose MIGHTY WORK as you were forewarned was to be no less than the Destruction of the Nations under the Notion of converting them and who was utterly to subdue our Religion as a PESTILENT HERESY One of whom our inhumane Enemies promised themselves greater Hopes than ever they had since the Death of cruel Queen Mary A Prince whom they boasted was become to a Miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a Work as that of razing the Foundations of the Church of England Could I now believe that I discourse to rational Creatures and not to Brutes void of all Understanding I should hope to make you blush at your past Frenzies if not perswade you to cease doting on your old Bondage and hankering after the Flesh-Pots of Egypt to give over your Murmuring and no longer to foment Jealousies between the King and his People no longer to be throwing in Sparks of Discontent and endeavouring to blow them up into Flames of Mutinies and Rebellions Allow me to remember you in the Words of a loyal and learned Person that God has given our King a People who tho they may sometimes be practised upon to run into Vproars yet Loyalty is so inlaid in their Tempers and annealed to their Souls that the secret Enemies of our King and Peace could never yet make their Earnings out of them nay that God has converted our Danger into our Security that he has made the People not the Terror of the Government but of its Enemies That some ill Men have an ill and envious Eye upon the Throne but they fear the People Mr. Alsop's Thanksgiving-Sermon at Westminster 8 Sept. 1695. Run not then I caution you headlong to Destruction but be advised to consider what you are doing why will you be helping forward your Countries Ruine by labouring to subject it to that mighty Nimrod the securing whose Interest in England was the wicked Design so long since on foot 'T is evident to all the World that you under the Name of TORIES in which you gloried brought Church and State to the very Door of Destruction gave us the dismal Prospect of Slavery in our Persons Consciences and Estates and by your Procurement we beheld every thing that was dear and valuable to us upon the Brink of Subjection to a foreign Power and all by pleading for and adhering to your darling Popish Successor Nay 't is beyond Contradiction clear that you were blinded deluded and beguiled in that Point by the subtile Jesuits those Firebrands of all Europe Now seeing it has pleased God to bless us with the grateful Surprize of a Deliverance from such great Evils will you be perswaded to become a loyal quiet People disposed to Obedience To inforce this upon you as 't is your Interest as well as Duty I shall recount to you what was in vain laid before you when you first ran a madding after Popery and Slavery A sincere Lover of his Country then argued with you to this Effect You were then truly told that those who were for the Duke of York 's Interest were most certainly for these three Interests viz. 1. For the Popish Interest 2. For the French Interest 3. For Tyranny or Arbitrary Government term it as you will and by Consequence against these other three things 1. Against the Interest of the Church of England and the Protestant Religion 2. Against the Interest of England your native Country 3. Against the Interest of Parliaments and so against your own Freedoms as you were Englishmen You were then exhorted seriously to consider these things your Religion your Lives your Liberties your Estates your All being deeply concerned therein 1. You were rightly admonished that if you stood for the Duke's Interest you did undoubtedly so far stand for that of the Pope and would thereby give the greatest Blow to the Church of England it ever had since it was a Church The Matter was thus expostulated with you Can you once imagine that by bringing in a Popish Successor you will not inevitably set up Popery Will such a King think you have so great a Love for another Religion as his own or for those of another Profession whom he esteems Hereticks as for those of his own Nay then will it not naturally follow that he will advance the one and discountenance and depress the other Will it not be the only way to get into Office or Preferment to turn Papist What will the Effect of this be in a little time think you Will it not be a great weakning to the Church of England to have her Members allured and seduced from her and turn'd and kept out of Places of Trust Profit and Honour whilst her Enemies are placed in them Consider further whether in endeavouring to make a Papist Head of the Church of England you do not labour to make her a Monster for if our Head reckon us his Body rotten Hereticks where 's our Body Where will our Church be What Agreement between the Head and the Body Will it not inevitably run into Confusion Shall we have a Father of our Church who by his own Faith stands obliged to destroy her and is bound by the Romish Principles to deal with her
most endeared Friend Jeffries to this Point at the time when he as Recorder of London pass'd Sentence of Death upon Langhorne and the five Jesuits his words were these Nor is there the least room for the most scrupulous Man to doubt of the Credibility of the Witnesses that have been examined against you And sure I am you have been fully heard and stand fairly convicted of those Crimes you have been indicted for Hearken once more and understand what the same Recorder Jefferies declared upon the Jury's giving their Verdict upon the five Jesuits it was this Vpon a long Evidence a full discussing the Objections made against it and a patient hearing of the Defence they made they are found Guilty And I do think that every Honest Man will say that they are unexceptionably found so and that 't is a just Verdict you have given Bear with me now before I conclude that I am your Remembrancer that in hope of stifling this Plot the Bloody Conspirators barbarously murdered a Worthy Magistrate Sir Edmundbury Godfrey who upon the 27th of Sept. 1678. took Dr. Oates's Information upon Oath and these inhumane Villains allowed him not to survive it above 14 days and I shall lay before you Scroggs's Declaration concerning it as made in the Trial of the five Jesuits While this Gentleman's Blood said he lies upon you it must be yet further told you that in what you did do you have given a Specimen of what you would do We have a Testimony that for promoting your Cause you would not stick at the Blood of Protestants you began with Sir Edmundbury Godfrey but who knows where you would have made an end It was this one Man you killed in his Person but in Effigie the whole Nation It was in one Man's Blood your Hands are embrewed but your Souls were dipt in the Blood of us all this was a Handsel only of what was to follow and so long as we are convinced you killed him we cannot but believe you would also have killed the King We cannot but believe you would make all of us away that stand in the way of your Religion A Religion which according to what it is you would bring in upon us by a Conversion of us with Blood and by a Baptism with Fire God keep our Land from the one and our City from the other To return says Scroggs ☞ The Letter that is found in Harcourt 's Papers does further confirm Mr. Oates in all the great and considerable Matters that he says that there was a Plot that that Plot was called by the name of a Design which was to be kept close and secret and this is an Evidence that cannot lie But after all I know you of the Jacobite Party will upbraid me that notwithstanding such strong Confirmation of all that the Doctor had witnessed and that by Evidence which could not lie it is well known he was afterwards convicted of Perjury So he was and I care not if I digress a little to remind you of the manner of doing it As an Introduction to it the virulent Pen of that Man of effronted Impudence L'Estrange I mean is employed to vilify nor only the Evidence but Parliaments nay the Protestant Religion it self Addresses of Thanks for the Violation of our Rights in the Dissolution of Parliaments were made and most graciously received the Presenters of them being usually honoured with Knighthood and rewarded with Preferment to Places of Trust and Profit I have the Name of one of you at my Tongue 's end but at this time for his Brother's sake I 'll spare him By these and such like Arts it became the common Cry of a profligate Party in every Corner of England Popery is better than Presbytery at least the Papists and Dissenters are equally dangerous if not all one 'T is therefore more than time that a Colledge be hang'd against a Pickering 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 The Protestant Religion is now mock'd Parliaments derided the Witnesses of the Plot vilified and the Belief of any other than a Presbyterian Plot vanishes This Proceeding gave new Life and Heart to the Popish Conspirators and struck no small damp upon their Prosecutors Of the Witnesses some were bought off and others terrified from their Testimony But Dr. Oates being no way shaken but bearing with 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 imployed to accuse him of an unusual but most heinous Wickedness that Plot not obtaining and Matters being prepared for placing unmasked Popery upon the Throne he was condemned in 100000 l. for affirming the Duke of York to be a Papist and thereupon secured against the desired Season for the Conspirators taking their full Revenge upon him The Way being thus prepared for the execution of their Design upon him on the 8th of May 1685. he was brought to Trial in the Court of King's Bench upon an Indictment for evidencing that there was a treasonable Consult at the White-horse-Tavern in the Strand the 24th of April 1678. at which Whitebread Fenwick and Ireland 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 Jesuits whereas in Truth he was not present nor carried any such Resolution to be signed and so committed wilful Perjury I shall here lay down a summary Account of the Proceedings in this Trial and if the Reader be curious to have farther Information therein I refer him to a more ample Relation thereof in the Tract called A Display of Tyranny the first Part printed in 1689. The Names of the Judges then in Court were Lord Chief Justice Jefferies Mr. Justice Wythens Mr. Justice Holloway and Mr. Justice Walcot The Fame of the first will be ever remembred The second was advanced to a Seat upon the Bench for promoting and presenting an Address expressing an Abhorrence to petition for the Calling and Sitting of Parliaments Holloway had been very instrumental in the Murder of brave Stephen Colledge which entitled him to this Promotion And Walcot was a mean Wretch and by consequence a fit Tool to serve the Purposes of that Juncture The Names of the Jury pack'd upon him were Sir William Dodson Sir Edmond Wiseman Richard Aley Thomas Fowle Thomas Blackmore Peter Pickering Robert Bedingfield Thomas Rawlinson Roger Reeves Ambrose Isted Henry Collyer and Richard Howard Every Man then of your own Gang I assure you The King's Counsel were Attorney General Sawyer Solicitor General Finch Recorder of London Mr. North Mr. Jones
dangerous Parliaments whatever ever the fawning Addressers pretended to think together with the Parliament threw off the Doctor and the Popish Plot and taking Sir Roger to his aid made another much more grateful to him in which having served the Interest of the French King and his Brother as long as they had occasion for him he himself at length was removed as useless A Copy of Dr. Oates's Letter to King Charles the Second Nov. 10. 1678. May it please Your Majesty I Understand by Mr. Rogers that it hath been reported to Your Majesty that I should in a certain Company declare that your Majesty was a Papist and that your Majesty was resolv'd to order Mr. Attorney-General to proceed against me for those Words that were reported to your Majesty to be spoken by me viz. That Your Majesty had been reconciled to the Church of Rome ever since your escape from Worcester which I hope your Majesty will not do for your own Honours sake For your Majesty knows that to be true that you were reconciled to the Church of Rome by Father Richard Huddliston that was Uncle to John Huddliston who is excepted in all your Majesty's Proclamations that are issued out against Papists and Priests And also it 's not unknown to some that Your Majesty receiv'd the Sacrament according to the Vsage of the Church of Rome in the Dutchess of Portsmouth's Lodgings by the Hands of Father Ireland and I my self served then at Mass which I have not made Publick because I would preserve your Majesty's Reputation And what Care your Majesty took of the Jesuits when St. Omers became subject to the French King by Conquest as Men on whom the Hopes of England did depend in your Letter to the French King's Governour hath not been made so publick as I must make it if your Majesty continue your Resolution to have me prosecuted As also the Gracious Promise you made to your Royal Sister of restoring the Catholick Religion and not only that but the most Gracious Memorial your Majesty put in to the King of Poland by your Envoy there Your Majesty may judg that the Statute made in the Thirteenth Year of your Reign was only made to bridle the Tongues of your People that they should not dare to say you were a Papist but Sir give me leave to tell your Majesty that there was something else designed in that Act than is there expressed for the late Earl of Clarendon then Lord High Chancellor who was afraid of your declaring your self to be of the Church of Rome procured that Act to pass and that not without Difficulty on purpose to prevent you that you might not declare your self to be of that Communion well knowing that if you did it would tend to the breaking all his Measures and Projects then on foot to serve the Duke of York who had married his Daughter So that if I am prosecuted it 's for speaking the Truth supposing that I had spoke the Words But to undeceive your Majesty I did not speak them but it was that Fellow Blood who will confess to your Majesty that it was he that spoke the Words on purpose for me to second him and you know it was by your own Appointment that he was so bold with your Name and Honour in that particular Sir I must say further hat when I communicated his Traiterous Letter he wrote to me to Secretary Coventry he was brought before that Secretary and confessed he wrote the Letter by your Royal Command to lay a Snare for me and that by your Command he did say the Words that you were reconciled to the Church of Rome And when this came to be publickly talked of Blood was children by your Majesty and went off with the sorrowful Present of 500 Guineas given him by your Majesty as a mark of your Royal Displeasure for such unhand some Carriage to your Majesty and for such a Knavish Trick he endeavoured to put upon me I leave it to your Royal Consideration and shall approve my self Sir Your Majesty's Faithful and Dutiful Subject Titus Oates Novemb. 10. 1678. A Copy of Dr. Oates 's Letter to King Charles II. Oct. 14. 1680. May it please Your Majesty BY Your Majesty's Command Sir Philip Floyd was with me and tells me that your Majesty takes great Offence at my keeping Company with Republicans at the first I did not understand who Sir Philip meant by Republicans which he was pleased to explain to me they were a sort of Discontented Men that were Enemies to Monarchy in general and in particular Enemies to Your Majesty's Royal Person and Government I protested to him I did not keep Company with any such Persons and urged it to him that it would be very ingrateful in me if I should keep Company with Men of those Principles For Sir it 's my Judgment that the English Monarchy as established by Law is that which not only my self but all those I converse withal are for and not only so but are ready to defend with their Lives and Fortunes But this is my Misfortune that because I converse and heartily join with those that are for Liberty and Property and for the Old English Government in opposition to Popery and Slavery and assert the Protestant Religion with that Courage that becomes English-men I and my Friends are judged and deemed by your Majesty to be Men aiming at a Common-Wealth in opposition to Monarchy and your Majesty's Government But for my farther Information I begged of Sir Philip to know who they were and what they were that were thus represented to your Majesty who was pleased to tell me it was Mr. Jenks his Club that I did frequent who met at the Angel and Crown in Threadneedle-street and Mr. Bethel's Club that met at the Queen's-Arms in Newgate-street Your Majesty knows that Mr. Seely a Major of the late Protector 's Army hath oft met there by your own Appointment tho for other ends than I met with that Club at the Angel and Crown at which Club I have been several Times for almost these two Years last past and as I expect to see the Face of God I did neither directly nor indirectly hear any one Word spoken against your Majesty's Government and that the Major can tell if he hath the least Grain of Honesty and Truth left in him Your Majesty knows the end of his coming and we found him out at last to be put upon us to abuse us to your Majesty But blessed be God we never gave any just Occasion to merit that Pension your Majesty was pleased to order him for so great a piece of Service as to be a Spy upon a Dozen or Twenty Honest Men that met together to spend one Hour after they had been wearying themselves in their Callings all the Day and their Discourse usually hath been nothing but about Common Things that Major Seely doth indeed lose his Time and spends your Majesty's Bounty to very little purpose For our
Conversation is so innocent that we are not afraid of ten Seely's or ten Butlers they might freely come and hear what passeth amongst us were they not Persons so infamously Scandalous that it would be enough to have a Man's Credit questioned upon the Exchange to be seen with them But I shall say no more of them they being Your Majesty's Diligent Spies upon several Honest Men in the City In a Word I freely own to your Majesty that I do oft meet with that Club of which Mr. Jenks is a Member at the Angel and Crown and also those that meet with Mr. Bethel at the Queen's-Arms in Newgate-street and also several Gentlemen at the King's-Head at Chancery-Lane-end and if it be their good will to give me the Honour of their Company I do not find any Arguments that Sir Philip hath used will either prevail with me to refrain those Companies or the Character Seely may have given to your Majesty of them or any of them shall perswade me to believe otherwise of them than that they are Honest Worthy Gentlemen that study to serve your Majesty and their Countrey I know Sir Philip to be a very Ill Man and therefore having your Majesty's leave I thought fit to communicate my Answer to your Majesty in writing which I humbly submit to your Majesty as it becomes your Majesty's Humble Subject and Servant Titus Oates Octob. 14. 1680. A Copy of Dr. Oates's Letter to Sir Leolin Jenkins Secretary of State Feb. 22. 1683. Honourable Sir I Have lain long under his Majesty's Displeasure but for what Cause to this Day I know not and am by reason of that forbidden the King's Presence and his Court which I have obeyed and have not been at Whitehall almost these three Years one Time excepted by Order from their Lordships the Commissioners of the Treasury in April or May last I have Business of Importance with the King and Council but am unwilling to come lest I should offend his Majesty or receive some Affronts which I cannot well bear My Request therefore to your Honour is that I may have leave to come and when I have done my Business I may depart without being unkindly dealt withal in the Court So praying your Honour's pardon for this Trouble I shall study to appear Sir Your Honour's Servant to my poor Power Titus Oates A Copy of a Second Letter from Dr. Titus Oates to Mr. Secretary Jenkins Feb. 28. 1683. Honourable Sir I Gave your Honour the last Friday the trouble of a few Lines in which I told you that I had Business of Importance with the King and Council your Answer was I must apply my self to a Justice of the Peace or to the Courts of Justice The Business that I had with the Council is a Complaint against Roger L'estrange Esq who in several Libels of his called the Observator and other Seditious Pamphlets hath as I humbly conceive vilify'd and ridicul'd the Discovery of the Popish Plot and arraigned the Proceedings of the Government upon the same and to give his Libel a Reputation in this his Illegal Course he pretends in one or more of those his Observators that he hath Authority or Leave from some of his Majesty's Ministers for so doing which I cannot believe Your Honour knows that his Majesty was so sensible of the Danger he was in by reason of that horrid Conspiracy That he did not only recommend the strict Examination thereof to his Houses of Parliament but also was pleased to acquaint them how unsafe he was till he searched it to the Bottom besides this three Fasts were proclaimed and kept which the King himself strictly kept and commanded all his Loving Subjects so to do Several have been Executed and several Parliaments have Voted that there was a horrid Hellish Popish Plot. Now all these Things considered I could never have imagined that any private Person would have been so bold with the Government as to use such Reflections upon their Proceedings and call in question the Veracity of that Evidence which was justified by his Majesty's Council and the Parliaments and Courts of Justice I though I should never have lived to have seen the Day that the Plot should be called in Question which the King had owned in his several Proclamations but since it is so I must pray your pardon that I cannot apply my self for Redress in that way and method your Honour was pleased to order for I humbly conceive that it is the Government that is abused and therefore in Conscience and Honour it 's bound to vindicate its Proceedings from such Aspersions as are cast upon them by the said L'estrange and his Confederates I would not use any method or way to injure the worst of my Enemies but hope that the Council will take my hard Usage from L'estrange into serious Consideration and cause him to be Silenced and Reparation to be made to me To that end in this I have sent a Petition to the King and Council which I would have presented my Self if I might have had Liberty to appear at Court in which I pray for Redress I hope God will put it into your Hearts to do me Right In the mean time SIR I am your Honour 's Humble Servant Titus Oates Feb. 28. 1683 4. My Humble Request is That this Petition inclosed may be presented to the King and Council so that I may be in some probable way of having Redress A Copy of Dr. Oates 's Petition To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty And to the Right Honourable the Lords and Others of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council The Humble Petition and Complaint of Titus Oates Sheweth THat your Petitioner according to his Duty and the Allegiance that he owes and is alway bound to pay to your Majesty and the Government established by Law did in the Month of September in the Year 1678 discover a most horrid Hellish Popish Plot against your Majesty's Person the Protestant Religion and Government to the Satisfaction of your Majesty and the then Privy Council as appears by the several Proclamations Issued out by your Majesty's Order with the Advice of your most Honourable Council Which your Petitioner is and will be ready to produce when thereunto Commanded by your Majesty That your Majesty was so highly sensible of the great Danger your Person and your Government were in by reason of that Conspiracy that you were Graciously pleased to proclaim several Solemn Fasts and Days of Humiliation and did will and require your Loving Subjects to join in hearty Prayer and Supplication with your Majesty to Almighty God for a Blessing upon the Discovery and for a farther Discovery thereof and in several of your Majesty's most Gracious Speeches to your Houses of Parliament your Majesty hath been pleased to express how unsafe your Majesty was till the said Plot was searched to the Bottom That several of the Conspirators in that Plot were Apprehended and Committed Indirected and Convicted and Attained and
as a Harlot Consider now are you willing to send your selves Wives Children Fathers and Mothers to be burnt at the Stake for Hereticks Will you yet persist to endeavour to put your Religion once more into the Hazard of a wicked Queen Mary 's Persecution 2. In being for the Succession of the D. of York you are undoubtedly for the French Interest and so consequently against the Interest of England your native Country That he did ever espouse that Tyrant's Interest is evidently discovered and by a Copy of a Letter which was taken amongst his Secretary Coleman's Papers will be yet further evinced tho indeed it was not made out that it was drawn by the Duke's Direction nor could it be expected that Coleman should accuse his Master who flatter'd him to the last Moment of his Life with the vain Hope of a Pardon That Letter was entituled The Copy of the Letter to Monsieur Le Chese the French King's Confessor which Mr. Coleman confessed he himself wrote and counterfeited in the Duke's Name it runs to this Effect The 2d of June last past his most Christian Majesty offered me most generously his Friendship and the Vse of his Purse to the Assistance against the Designs of MY ENEMIES AND HIS and protested unto me that his Interest and mine were so clearly link'd together that those that opposed the one should be look'd upon as Enemies to the other and told me moreover HIS OPINION of my Lord Arlington and the PARLIAMENT which is that he is of opinion that neither the one nor the other is in his Interest or mine I was much satisfied to see his most Christian Majesty altogether of my Opinion so I made him answer the 29th of June by the same Means he made use of to write to me that is by Coleman and entirely agreed to his most Christian Majesty as well to what had respect to the Vnion of our Interests as THE UNUSEFULNESS of my Lord Arlington and THE PARLIAMENT in order to the Service of the King my Brother and his most Christian Majesty and that it was necessary to make use of our joint and utmost Credits to prevent the Success of those evil Designs resolved on by the Lord Arlington and the Parliament against his most Christian Majesty and my self which of my side I promised really to perform Of which since that time I have given reasonable good Proof Moreover I made some Proposals which I thought necessary to bring to pass what we were obliged to undertake assuring him that nothing could so firmly establish OUR INTEREST with the King my Brother as that very same Offer of the Help of HIS PURSE by which means I had much Reason to hope I should be enabled to perswade to the dissolving of the Parliament and to make void the Designs of my Lord Arlington who works incessantly to advance the Interest of the PRINCE OF ORANGE and the Hollanders and to lessen that of the King your Master Seeing that my Lord Arlington and several others endeavoured by a thousand Deceits to break the good Intelligence which is between the King my Brother his most Christian Majesty and my self to the end they might deceive us all three ☞ I have thought fit to advertise you of all that is past and desire of you your Assistance and Friendship to prevent THE ROGUERIES of those who have no other Design than to betray the Concerns of France and England also Review this I intreat you and deny it if you can that these Kings were early of one Piece The French King wrote himself to the Duke yet we are to believe it if we will that Coleman counterfeited this Answer and his Royal Highness had not the good Breeding to acknowledg the Receipt of the Letter of so generous a Confederate who offered the Vse of his Purse against the Designs of THEIR ENEMIES We here find the Enemies of the one declared Enemies of the other and the Parliament in the Interest of neither Their joint and utmost Credits are to be made use of to prevent the Success of the WICKED DESIGNS of the Parliament against the French King and the Duke which was to exclude them both the one by the Help of the others Purse is to be enabled to perswade to the dissolving the Parliament and to make void the Designs to advance THE INTEREST OF THE PRINCE OF ORANGE and the HOLLANDERS and to lessen that of the French King which Designs were only an honest Purpose to set Bounds to that impetuous Torrent which then highly threatned to overwhelm this Part of the World To remark no further the French Aid is here craved to prevent THE ROGUISH DESIGNS of an English Parliament against the then LEAGUE WITH FRANCE ☞ To proceed now to the third Head from which we have digressed 3. It was urged upon you that if you were for a Popish King then by Consequence you were for Arbitrary Government and against Parliaments Is it not notoriously known that the Duke bears an implacable Hatred to Parliaments and that none more than he ever set himself against them If then he should succeed his Brother or as the Case at present stands should ever return adieu to Parliaments You are then at best to expect French Slavery and were you to enjoy it alone I am almost provok'd to wish you were now in the possession of it You were thus told what would be the Manner of the King that you would have reign over you and what reason you would find to cry out in that day because of your King Now instead of following the Text and saying the Lord will not hear you in that day I do here observe that all the good People of these Nations are laid under the highest Obligations to praise the Almighty for having heard their Cry in the day of their Distress because of your King and to give us such a Prince as we groaned for such a Prince as we wanted such a Prince whose Interest leads him to espouse the Cause and Interest of the Land which he saw to be visibly betrayed and which our Enemies would at once have ravished from us had not Providence over-ruled them Finding now that I have insensibly launch'd out into this wide Ocean of the Popish Plot I shall take leave to discourse a little further upon that Subject purposing to present my Reader with a concise Abridgment of the History of that transcendent Villany and shall in this place very briefly touch some Points relating to it and to the first Discoverer because my old Friends the Tories did and do impudently deny the Thing or at least extenuate it and falsly suggest that very few were concern'd in it that it was nothing so bad as the World took it to be and that notwithstanding the Votes of divers Parliaments that there was a Plot to murder the King alter the Government and subvert the Established Religion I have met with Insinuations which at first view seem plausible
Beast might be accomplished At the uttering of which words Strange broke out into a great Laughter But said Strange to be short we got 50 or 60 Irish to ply the Work We were also in fee with several Frenchmen who were faithful in the Business Strange told the Deponent that they spent 700 Fire-Balls and when the Fire-Merchants were at work then others were employed to plunder what they could They have communicated what Secrets they can have reveal'd to them of the King which they send over to Le Chese the French King's Confessor This they do by one Smith who daily lurks about Whitehall and in Parliament-time about Westminster-hall and the Lobby And One COLEMAN formerly Secretary to her Royal Highness doth assist this Smith with private Intelligence On the 10th of August the Deponent did meet with Groves who had promised to give him an Account of the Fire of Southwark in 1676 and then told him that he had certain Fireworks made for that purpose and he with three Irishmen his Assistants went to St. Margaret's Hill where they found an Oil-Shop which Groves bragg'd he fir'd He said that Dr. Fogarthy procured the Irishmen for which the Society Richard Strange then Provincial gave them 1000 l. viz. 400. l. to Groves and 200 l. apiece to the three Irishmen and that the Society got at least 2000 l. by that Fire which was also told the Deponent at another time by Richard Strange On the 11th of August the Deponent saw Letters from St. Omers written by Father IRELAND to John Fenwick and Fenwick told the Deponent that if 〈◊〉 lived till Christmass he should see a good Change of Things either that Forty eight the King should be taken from the World or the World especially the little he was concern'd in should be taken from him And ONE THAT WAS A CATHOLICK SHOVLD PLAY SVCH A GAME AS NEVER WAS PLAY'D SINCE THE CONQVEST and Fenwick told the Deponent that this Catholick was the DVKE OF YORK This Plot was to be effected by these Means amongst others By disclosing the King's Counsels to France by Coleman Smith and others By disaffecting his Majesty's Allies Holland Spain the German Emperor and Princes by false Intelligence c. By disturbing Trade By firing and plundering our best Cities and Towns By horrid worse than Jewish Interest Transportation of Trade People Stock and Money ADVLTERATING MONEY AND PLATE To which end they have Bankers Brokers Merchants Goldsmiths and other Traders whom they stock and set up with Money of their Society of which they boast to have 100 thousand Pounds Cash c. I descend now to sum up the whole and descant a little upon some few of the Heads before recounted Great Britain and Ireland were to be reduced by the Sword to the Romish Religion and Obedience In order hereunto the King was to be removed by Dagger Pistol or Poison and they declared 't was high time it were effected And good reason for it He had broke his Word with Madam his Sister in passing the Test-Bill having promised her at the Interview at Dover that nothing should be done to the prejudice of the R. Catholicks And contrary to his Promise to the Papists they remembred his sending the Great E. of Essex into Ireland They well knew also that he had refused to sign Coleman's Declaration for dissolving the Parliament which he had sworn to them to do and that he had been guilty of that never-to-be-forgiven Sin against their Church of receiving the Sacrament in the Church of England and that the same day at Noon on which he had received it in the Morning from Ireland the Jesuit To add no more they knew that they had at hand a more daring Prince who they were assured would stake his Crown for carrying on their Mighty Work The Prince of Orange they had resolved should by no means become Great therefore he must be cut off and in order to effect that mighty and so highly necessary Work Missioners are sent into Holland to stir up that People to mutiny against him upon the wicked Suggestion that he resolved to change their Government and assume a Crown The Emperor is instigated to create a Belief in the States General that that Prince designed to make himself Absolute and they promise themselves that by a Breach between the Prince and States the Protestant Interest would without question fail in Holland Now to reflect a little upon this Matter Why must this Prince be cut off Was he not the Duke of York's Sister's Son 't is yielded What then can we expect that that should avail him No surely for we see his Uncle was converted to such a degree of Zeal as not to regard any thing in the World in comparison of the Conversion of Heretical Kingdoms so his Interests we find were so inseparably united to that of the French King that it was impossible to divide them We are told that by all means the Most Christian King's Interest in England must be secured and that for a weighty Reason viz. Because his and the D. of York 's prevailing would give the greatest Blow to the Protestant Religion here that ever it received from its Birth Then undoubtedly the Prince of Orange who at that time stood within a step or two of the Throne ought in all Policy to be removed You cannot forget that they had a mighty Work upon their hands the Conversion of three Kingdoms and Subduing the Pestilent Northern Heresy They never had such hopes of Success as at that time since the Death of their Queen Mary The Duke was to a Miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so Glorious a Work and they told us they relied upon him and the mighty Mind of the most Christian King and further his Temporal Interest was acknowledged to be highly attracted to that of the Duke 'T is evident they had mighty Work mighty Hopes and mighty Minds employed about it Is it to be admired then that they resolved to pass a Bill of Exclusion upon our Prince who as all the World knew stood ready with all his Might to baffle these mighty Vndertakers Nay further as the French King's Interest was attracted to that of the Duke's so was the Prince's to that of England Holland and the Reformed Churches of Europe or in their words to the Support of that Northern Heresy which these mighty Nimrods were to subdue What signifies a Nephew in such a Case as this But stop a little I pray and take another Reason His most Christian Majesty did most generously offer the Duke the use of his Purse to assist against the Designs of both their Enemies nay he protested that those that opposed the one should be look'd upon as Enemies to the other and withal declared his Opinion that the Parliament of England was not in either of their Interests and the Duke did entirely agree to it and that they were unuseful to both so that in his poor Opinion it was
cannot but judg that they design nothing less than my Ruine in Revenge for that Service I did my Country in discovering their more than abominable and hellish Conspiracy against the Life of the late King the Protestant Religion and the Government as by Law established both in Church and State I thought it my Duty in case of any harder Usage than I have yet met with to put something in Writing which my Friends I hope will publish for the Satisfaction of my dear Country-men for whose Cause I have been a living Martyr exposed to the Rage and Reproach of a Generation of Men who neither fear God nor reverence Man whose Religion is either the worst of Religions or their Morals so debauched that they are fit to be of any Religion except that of Christ Therefore in the first place I do declare my self to be a Protestant of the Church of England as by Law established both in Doctrine and Discipline yet I must confess she stands in need of a further Reformation and it would be happy if that by the Removal of some Ceremonies useless and dangerous a way might be made for a more perfect Union amongst all English Protestants that our Hands might be strengthned against the Common Enemy the Papists in order to the rooting out of Superstition and Idolatry from amongst us that we may avert those Judgments from this Nation that do so highly threaten our total Destruction It hath been the greatest Grief of my Heart to see Protestants contending one with another about the meaner Parts of Religion and Worship whilst the Enemy the Popish Party stands by and adds Fuel to our Flames and nourishes the Quarrel till we have exposed our selves to be devoured by them and have wounded those amongst us who are weak in the Faith I could likewise wish that our dissenting Brethren would lay aside their Scruples in some things and comply with their Brethren in those Ceremonies that are innocent and harmless and not inconsistent with the Word of God and the Law of our great Lord Jesus Christ and that they that can conform for Christ's sake do not persecute their Brethren who through Tenderness of Conscience cannot partake with them in those Advantages that some of them have enjoyed to their Hearts Content Truly I have been so far from being inclined to persecute any for Conscience sake that I would not have had the least Thought of having or advising the Prosecution of Popery or molesting of any that are in Communion with the Church of Rome but that the Religion of Rome is a Conspiracy against God and Christ and Mankind for shew me a Papist that is thorow-paced I will shew you a Murderer of the People of God a Firer of Cities a declared Enemy to the Peace and Tranquillity of the Sons of Men. Now Men that are so united together against God and all Goodness our Religion Lives and Liberties must be rooted out and not suffered to continue amongst a well governed People for they make it their Business to debauch our looser sort of Christians and reproach and calumniate those whose Firmness to their God and the Gospel of Christ renders them Men above their Temptations tho by their Allurements some have been seduced to their Destruction Therefore as for the Popish Religion I do declare that I do detest and abhor it as a Religion whose whole Foundation is Blood Cruelty Murder and Rapine a Religion that stands in opposition to the Rule and Law of Jesus Christ And the Bishop of Rome whom they call Pope I believe to be Antichrist that exalts himself in the Temple of God above God and all that is called God the Son of Perdition and everlasting Wrath. But that which is expected of me is that I do declare my self fully concerning the damnable Plot carried on by the Popish Party for the Destruction of the late King and the Protestant Religion I must confess the Acquaintance I had with some considerable Papists in the Year 1670. made me to suspect a Design carrying on by them to advance their own Religion and to pull down ours but I little thought that they had a Design of murdering the King which in process of time I found out There was one Cotton that was at Mr. Guilfourd's in Kent that was often very pleasingly tempting me to come over to their Church for saith he it will not be long before you must either burn or turn therefore come over in time that your coming over may be looked upon as meritorious This Cotton since I understood to be a Priest of the Society of Jesus and one that was ingaged in the Popish Plot and with him I had a better and more intimate Acquaintance From him at first I found that the Popish Party had a Design of promoting their Religion and making what Proselytes they could in order to the inlarging their Interest and Power in this poor Nation I from that time had a great Desire to get into them to see whither their Designs tended being very fearful that they designed no less than the Ruine of our Religion and Government Nay this Cotton had the Impudence to tell me that the King was engaged with them to advance their Cause and Religion and was resolved to bring in Popery it being a Religion that was most consistent with Monarchy and that his Majesty was resolved to be like his Neighbour-Princes this was in the Year 1670 about Christmass Which Discourse I did discover to Mr. Walter Drury whom I did assist in the Service of his Cure at Sandburst in the County of Kent and he told me that that Mr. Cotton had talked as badly or rather worse to him but he had sufficiently told him his own so that Cotton was shy of having any farther Discourse with hâ—â— about those Matters and withal Mr. Drury having threatned to complain of him Mr. Cotton did withdraw from that Family and another came in his room In the Year 1672 I was acquainted with one Keimash who was very perswasive in his Arguments to have brought me over to their Church he then frequented Arundell-house in the Strand and was a Fellow that had insinuated himself into the Acquaintance of several Divines of our Church and bragged that he had reconciled above thirty Ministers of the Church of England but I found him a debauched lewd Fellow and so my Acquaintance ceased with him for it was a hard Matter unless in a Morning to find him sober I found him afterwards to have been Chaplain to the old Countess of Arundell with whom he lived several Years under the Notion of her Steward In the Year 1672 I left Mr. Drury's Cure and held a Living of my own which I resided upon for some time called Bobbing in Kent and from thence I went and served his Majesty at Sea as a Chaplain where I found many Difficulties by reason of Sickness of Body I refreshed my self at Tangire There was one Gerard an Irish Dominican that
upon the first sight of me required of me Whether the Catholick Religion was established in England this was in the Year 1674. in the Month of April and I told him No Why then said he the Dutch War is to no purpose Why said I was our engaging in a War against the Dutch to bring in Popery Well well saith the Friar you will see in time In some few Days we had notice of a Peace with the Dutch What then said he our great King of France is not at Peace with them and he must do the Work In the Year 1675 I had obtained an Interest with Henry Duke of Norfolk then Earl of Norwich and Earl Marshal of England who was very kind to me upon the Account of my contending earnestly for his Right of Presenting to a Living in the Diocess of Chichester to which Living the then Bishop a turbulent Man pretended a Right of Collating And in the Year 1676 I was made his Chaplain and I call the whole Family of the Norfolk Howards to witness to my Fidelity to him and to his Children tho I am but churlishly used by some of them for my Truth and Fidelity to my Lord and Master but God forgive them for their Ingratitude to me especially Charles Howard who owes me more than I shall mention here but I always had a Thought that Popery rendred a Man incapable of being grateful to his Friend I in the Service of the Duke of Norfolk came acquainted with several Priests and being then resolved upon a strict Inquiry into their Designs against us and our Religion and Laws and Liberties I met with one Berry a Priest that had been a Jesuit but had left that Order through some Discontent and Madness that had seized the poor Wretch as he hath told me He was a Scholar in Cambridg was a Minister in England if he told me the Truth then turned Jesuit and then as before left that Order and became a secular Priest and then came to the Church of England and was a Curate at Berking and since is gone to the Church of Rome again This Berry I found a poor zealous Man whose Zeal was far beyond his Knowledg and he fell upon me to come over to their Church and he brought me acquainted with Mr. Langworth a Jesuit who since is dead as he the said Berry hath told me and with Mr. John Keins a great Jesuit and one Mr. Morgan a Jesuit that lived with the Lord Powis in the Year 1676 1677 1678. till the Plot was discovered where he is now I know not I was by Langworth reconciled to the Church of Rome he was then Confessarius to the Ld Petre and his Family and upon my being reconciled I was brought to Mr. Strange the then Provincial of their Order who admitted me into the Society of Jesus when I was admitted it was resolved by the Jesuits that I should pass the time of my Novitiate abroad in dispatching Business for the Society which I chearfully accepted and therefore accordingly they provided for me When I had paid Mr. Luke Roch Commander of the Biscay Merchant Earnest for my Passage to Bilboa the said Strange then Provincial of the Order gave me 100 Pistols for my Supply in order for my Passage into Spain and for my necessary Expences there and ordered me what Money I should need exhorting me to be as good a Husband as I could for they had great Occasions for Money What Letters they sent by me I have set forth in my Narrative but when I had got a competent Knowledg of the Design I found the great Reason why they would murder the late King was because he had deceived them and in Spain they assured me he had been reconciled to their Church and that upon his Reconciliation the Society in Spain had contributed 3000 Pistols to his Support which was paid in by Father Courtney sometime Provincial of the Jesuits in England I say several Letters written to one Father Knot in which the late King did testify his Zeal for the Catholick Religion and promised to restore it whenever he should come to the Enjoiment of his Right in England and that till he had an Opportunity to do it they should have all the Connivance in the World and if the Case should be so hard with him when he came to the Crown that he could not bring about his Desires to make their Religion to be the Religion of the Government yet they should have an Indulgence that should be equivalent however they should not be excluded out of Offices and Employments under him and that they had his Heart and Soul When I found the late King not inclined to believe that he was to he murdered I did in private tell him these things and that the only reason why they did design to take away his Life was because that he had made such Promises to them and assured them he was theirs and that he was reconciled to the Church of Rome when beyond Sea as I had seen by his own Letters The King commanded me to take no notice of his being reconciled to the Church of Rome and declared to me upon the World of a King that now he did believe they had a Design to murder him acknowledging be had written those Letters I had intimated to his Majesty and withal told me if I had come to him privately and acquainted him with the Plot he could of himself have dashed it and though I designed well yet the Discovery of it had created a Jealousy in the People of him Then I acquainted him with his Letters to the Nuns of Ghent when he borrowed Money of them which they waited for several Years here in England now he in that Letter did declare to them he would restore their Religion when he came to his Right and that was another Reason that provoked the Party against him and that St. Germane a French Jesuit had a hand in the Murder of Killigrew's Man when he lay upon the Couch in his Majesty's Cloak Here the King interrupted me and commanded me to take no farther notice of that Business declaring he knew more than I could tell him in that Affair of Killigrew's Man but withal again repeated the great Jealousy the People had of him and that it was much encreased by ill Men that did labour to possess Peoples Minds against him and said unless an extraordinary Care were taken the Phanatick Party would rebel and very much inveighed against the Dissenters and thought himself in as much danger from them as from the Popish Party That upon the Discovery of several Papers found about January 167 8 9 at one Jolliff a Taylor 's I did observe that the late King Charles the First unless his Hand was counterfeited had commissioned several Irish to rise and withal I saw Instructions given to them to give the English no Quarter and I saw a Letter of his to a Titular Bishop the Bishop of Cassal as
court his own Ruine the most of any Man I know and advised me not to meddle nor make with any thing of that nature for saith the Prince either he will cheat and expose you or if he be real there is an old Wife in the Case who will be set on you to draw you off from the good Work you have begun or perhaps which is worse I do farther declare That whereas I have accused the Lord Powis the Lord Bellasis the Lord Arundel of Warder the late Lord Petre the late Lord Stafford I did nothing but what became a good Christian to Almighty God and a good Subject to my Prince and a good English-man to my Countrey for what I have said or sworn of those Lords is the Truth and nothing but the Truth as I shall answer before God another day the same I declare of all my Evidence I gave in to the King and Council and to the two Houses of Parliament And I do declare to all the World That I have not in the least directly or indirectly for the hopes of Gain or any other Reason inducing me thereunto spoken any thing of any Man that I charged to be guilty of the Popish Plot but those who were guilty and those against whom I bore Testimony at the Old-Baily or at the King's-Bench Court I swore nothing but what was true This I declare as I shall answer it before God in the next World And whereas it hath been reported by the Popish Party and published by Roger L'Estrange in his Pamphlet called the Observator that I swore against the Jesuits because they would not admit me to be of their Society I do declare that that Order did receive and admit me a Jesuit and that they were always the most obliging Persons to me in the World till they found that I had discovered those vile Designs of Murdering the late King and Subverting the Protestant Religion and Government as by Law established both in Church and State and though maliciously they did and do still aver I was never admitted Doctor of Divinity at Salamanca I do declare solemnly to all the World I was admitted Doctor of Divinity at the said University of Salamanca and did all my Exercise for the said Degree that was required of me The Enemies of the Protestant Religion have endeavoured to blast me with many infamous Crimes to render me useless in my Testimony relating to the Popish Plot the Grand Adversary Roger L'Estrange being ready to print in his vile Pamphlet the Observator any thing that might tend to my Disadvantage But I bless God I was never sly in my Conversation so that the several Lies by him printed have been detected and Gainsayers silenced I thought it not inconvenient to let the World know that the late King was a mortal hater of Parliaments for in his Letter to the French King bearing date in June 1676 he wrote thus That if he could be assured of a Pension that might continue he should not continue that way of Governing viz. by frequent Parliaments which at the best was but a clamorous Rabble that took upon them to direct Kings but as he was resolved to be like his Neighbours in Riches and Grandieur so he was resolved to be like them in Religion too This was the Effect and Purport of that Letter a Copy of which was shewed me by John Keynes and Basiâ— Langworth but said Keynes the French King was too old to be cullied out of his Money by a Man that was so uncertain I do in the last place declare That I am ready to seal with my Blood the Truth of my Evidence that I have given in relation to the Substantial Part and Circumstantial Parts thereof I have done no Man wrong that I have charged and as I have done Right to the World in relation to the Popish Plot so I protest I did discharge a good Conscience in the Discovery of that Vile Sham called the Oxford Plot for which poor Colledg was basely murdered there in a form of Law and Justice and that I look on as the worst of Murders I renounce all Anarchical Levelling Principles and detest all the Practices of those who have held and maintain'd those Principles I judging them as dangerous to our English Monarchy as Popery is to the Protestant Religion All this I declare together with my Narrative that is printed to be true April 29 1685. I declare I have signed every Page of these Papers with the Day and Year above-written in the Presence of Sir Robert Thomas Baronet John Arnold Esq and John Dutton-Colt Esq and the same Day I delivered it to them Titus Oates April 29 1685. TO this foregoing Narrative I shall now subjoin Copies of several of Dr. Oates's Letters to King Charles and King James the Second and to divers of the Ministers of State in that time and of his Petition to King Charles and submit it to the Reader 's Judgment whether his undaunted and never to be shaken Stedfastness in adhering to and avowing the Truth of his Discovery his plain Dealing with those Princes his gallant Resistance of the highest Temptations and his just Regard to the Interest and Rights of his Countrey and to the brave Assetors thereof all which are before made evident did not equal the unparallel'd Tortures and heavy Oppression under which he so long groan'd and from which he had no prospect and very little hope of Deliverance Now let the Reader reflect upon the two first of these Letters and wonder if he can when he finds the Doctor thrown off by King Charles I do not say when he sees him out of his Favour for he never had it but as it appears by the foregoing Rerlation of his Troubles what he there gained so I shall here observe what he lost and both by his uncorruptible Integrity This cannot be done but by beginning where he began at his first Discovery That no way pleased the King nor could it for it spoil'd a well-laid Plot to which he was no Stranger save to that part which touch'd his Life therefore that he might stand as far as possible out of the reach of Suspicion he dissembles himself alarm'd presses the searching the Plot to the bottom appoints Mock-Fasts and what not and as to the Doctor assigns him an Apartment in Whitehall allows him daily a Table of six Dishes Wine and every thing proportionable and also 40 s. per Week This was continued till April 1679 then besides the 40 s. his Allowance was changed to 10 l. per Week which he received till Midsummer 1680 when a stop was put to the Paiment thereof But in November following upon the Address of the House of Lords the King gave him 200 Guinea's for his Arrears and ordered him the Allowance of 10 l. per Week which was constantly paid till the Dissolution of the Oxford-Parliament at which time the King taking a Resolution not to be further troubled with unuseful and
will be so foul a Consequence that a Loyal Heart must tremble to consider it I should not have trotbled your Majesty had your Ministers taken my Complaint into Consideration and tho I was not thought worthy of being heard by them yet by their leaves I humbly conceive your Majesty's Proceedings have been so just and good in the executing of those that were in that Hellish Conspiracy that they deserve to be vindicated from these foul Aspersions cast upon them by Roger L'estrange and his Popish Crew and altho by unjust Reports and Misrepresentations I am out of your Majesty's Favour yet I may say if Oates had not been Loyal your Majesty had not been in the Land of the Living whatever the Popish Crew have suggested in their scurrilous Pamphlets against me for discovering their impious Designs against your Majesties Person and the Protestant Religion I sent a Petition to Mr. Secretary Jenkins but could not be heard and I have written to several of your Council but can have no Effects of my just Complaints though I am left to starve yet I may say I have deserved better of the Government than to live in danger of being knockt of the Head as I go along the Streets and for no other Crime but that of the 28th and 29th of September 1678 if I must perish for serving your Majesty and the Government I humbly pray that I may perish quietly and starve in Peace and not be put into a Bear 's Skin in order to be worried to Death by Popish Dogs whose Religion is nothing else but a Cistern of Immorality and their Immorality Treason in the highest Degree Therefore let any Man shew me a Papist and I can shew a Man that is or must when commanded by his Priest be a Traitor especially such a Papist who hath been bred and instructed in the Protestant Religion and is reconciled to the Synagogue of Rome such a Papist I hate and I trust in God to see such ruined unless that Vengeance be prevented by timely Repentance None Sir hath been used like me and this L'estrange hath as I am informed threatned to write against me till he hath writ me out of the World what the meaning is of such an Expression I humbly leave to your Majesty to consider I have in this inclosed a Petition to your Majesty and question not but you will be graciously pleased to take my sad Case into serious Consideration Sir from my Heart and Soul I love your Majesty and the Government established by Law and have I am sure given your Majesty as great Demonstration of my Loyalty and Duty as any one Subject you have in your three Kingdoms and therefore be pleased to give me leave to put your Majesty in mind of the sad Fate of Alphonso the late King of Portugal and how his Ruine was brought about your Majesty knows the Story better than I can express it and a Word is enough to so wise a Prince as your Majesty hath appeared to be I will not trouble your Majesty any farther but that God the King of Kings may bless your Majesty with a long Life and a happy Reign over us is and ever shall be the daily Prayer of SIR Your Majesty's most Dutiful Loyal and Obedient Subject and Servant Titus Oates London April 12. 1684. A Copy of Dr. Oates's Letter to King James the Second Aug. 12. 1688. May it please Your Majesty I Have no Friend that can attend your Majesty with my Petition or else I should not have made my Application to you in this Way it not being usual for Subjects to address themselves in such a Manner to their Prince Necessity drives me to it for contrary to all Law and Humanity I am miserably oppressed by Mr. Ellis the Marshal of your Prison of the King's-Bench who hath within a few Years last past declared himself to be of the Communion of the Church of Rome upon which together with his Authority I humbly conceive he takes Liberty thus to oppress me to revenge himself and those of that Communion upon me He kept my Servant from me tho it 's well known that by reason of my long and miserable Imprisonment I am lame and not able to help my self He stops all People at the Gate from coming at me by which means I must perish because no Succour can come at me unless Care be taken by your Majesty that a stop be speedily put to his Arbitrary Cruel Usage of me I humbly conceive the Causes of my Imprisonment do not lie before him His Business is to keep me in safe Custody and not to oppress me He demands Ten Guineas of me for Civility-Money which is not his due to receive nor in my power to pay for which he threatens me with Irons the Truth is the whole City crys out Shame of his manner of dealing with me and the more because of his Religion I am certain those of the Communion of the Church of Rome pretend to more Humanity than any other People but his Usage of me shews him rather a Turk than a Christian there will be loud Crys against him either at Term or in Parliament for his many Extravagancies in the Execution of his Office What the Causes of his base Usage of me are I humbly beseech your Majesty may be heard Face to Face before Sir Richard Allebone or in such a way as your Majesty shall think fit for at the present I am under great Apprehensions of being murdered by him which you may prevent if you please All which is humbly submitted to your Majesty by Your poor Prisoner Titus Oates Aug. 12. 1688. I am much impaired in my Health and I have done that which a good Subject ought to do so that if I am murdered my Blood will not lie at my Door but at their Doors that should do me Justice for Favour I expect none nor would I be so Ill a Man as to desire any but I cry aloud for Justice that I may not be murthered by a Man who imagines he may do good Service to those of the Romish Church to ruine me while I am in his Custody Therefore once more I pray for Justice POST-SCRIPT HAving affirmed in the foregoing Tract that both the Juries which found Dr. Oates guilty were Men of the same Gang and Kidney to explain my meaning therein I say that most if not every of them were Disciples of L'Estrange and by consequence Tories Children of Passive Obedience Abhorrers of Parliaments Addressers against them Betrayers of Charters and Anti-Exclusioners Nor could it possibly be otherwise for there was at that day a select List of about 200 such Men and no others packt to do the Court's Drudgery as will evidently appear by reading over the Names of the Grand and Petty-Juries which pass'd upon the never-to-be-forgotten Lord Russel Alderman Cornish and Mrs. Gaunt in the second Part of the Display of Tyranny I observe there is not found amongst them one of the Jury which was returned by our Bethel and Cornish and which brought in that honourable Ignoramus upon the Indictment against the Earl of Shaftsbury and I may well say that was in every respect the greatest Jury that was ever returned in England Out of this List were every of the Doctor 's 24 Jury-men pickt and every Man of the first Jury were in the Pannels which North and Rich packt upon my Lord Russel and nine of them were also return'd upon Alderman Cornish and Mrs. Gaunt of the second Jury four were returned upon my Lord Russel Alderman Cornish and Mrs. Gaunt three more upon my Lord Russel singly and the other five upon Alderman Cornish and Mrs. Gaunt divers of them actually served on those Juries and most of those who did not were challenged That I may now set the bloody Tragedy of that day in its true light and shew whence this accursed Practice of packing Juries sprang I shall transcribe a noted Prediction of one of the Guides of the hair-brain'd Tories Heraclitus Ridens who foretold soon after the unhappy Election of Sir John Moore to be Lord-Mayor that at or before 1683 they should have Juries for their turn And then talking to the Whiggs about Hanging told them They must come to 't and they should come to 't I conclude with another very remarkable Prophesy of the Guide of the Inferiour Clergy he at the very Juncture when it was resolved that North and Rich must be Sir John Moore 's Sheriffs foretold the direful Consequences thereof in his Observator of May 20 1682 Number 140 in these words If it should please God to send us SEASONABLE SHERIFFS and fair play for OVR MONEY there are set a foot so many Titles in competition for the Gallows that it would be a hard matter to settle their Claims and say who should go first And in his Observator of May 27 1684. he told us whom he esteemed his Seasonable Sheriffs He says Prithee Whig wilt thou set THEIR CORNISH and BETHEL THEIR PILKINGTON and SHUTE against our NORTH and RICH our DANIEL and DASHWOOD and say which of these Sheriffs are the likelier Men to juggle Protestants out of their Lives Had the poor depressed Whig in that day answer'd the Trepaning Tory this ensnaring Question it had been at the hazard of his Head But now being warranted by Parliament so to do I say that my Lord Russel and Alderman Cornish were barbarously murdered as was good Mrs. Gaunt under pretence and colour of Law which as my Lord Russel well observed is the worst sort of Murder and this I think was juggling Protestants out of their Lives with a witness I also say by the same warrant that the Prosecution of Dr. Oates for Perjury was a Design to stifle the Popish Plot and that the Verdicts against him were corrupt and the Judgments cruel and illegal and all this was accomplished by the same Set of Jury-men Thus to gratify Sir Roger to whom I pay no small deference I have set our Bethel and Cornish our Pilkington and Shute against their North and Rich their Daniel and Dashwood and shew'd him not only who were the likeliest Men to juggle Protestants out of their Lives but who they were that actually did it and so I bid him adieu Imprimatur R. L'S FINIS