him of his Royal Estate Crown and Dignity and by malitious and advised Speaking and otherways declaring their said Purposes and Intentions As also to subject this Kingdom and Nation to the Pope and his Tyrannical Government and to Seize and Share among themselves the Estates and Inheritance of His Majesty's Protestant Subjects and to Erect and Restore Abbies Monasteries and other Convents and Societies which have been long since by the Laws of this Kingdom supprest for their Superstition and Idolatry and to Deliver up and Restore to them the Lands and Possessions now Vested in his Majesty and his Subjects by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm And also to Found and Erect new Monasteries and Convents and to remove and deprive all Protestant Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Persons from their Livings Benefices and Preferments and by this means to destroy his Majesty's Person and extirpate the Protestant Religion overthrow the Rights Liberties and Propertys of all his Majesty's good Subjects subvert the Laws and Government of this Kingdom and subject the same to the Tyranny of the See of Rome And the said Conspirators Complices and Confederates traiterously had and held several Meetings Assemblies and Consultations wherein it was contrived and designed amongst them what ways should be used and the Persons and Instruments should be imployed to Murther his Majesty and did then and there resolve to effect it by Poysoning Shooting Stabbing or by some such like ways and means And to that part of the Impeachment named The better to compass their traiterous Designs Have Consulted to raise Money Men Horses Arms and Ammunition c. The said Lord saving to himself and which he humbly prays may be reserved to him the liberty of answering over and denying all and singular the said Crimes and Offences charged on him saith and humbly offereth to this Honourable House That the Charge of those Crimes and Offences so imposed on him by the said Impeachment are so general and incertain that he cannot possibly Answer thereto or make any just or lawful Defence upon his Tryal For that the said Charge hath no manner of certainty in point of time it being laid only for many years last past which may be for 5 10 20 30 or more years whereby tho' the said Lord knoweth himself to be altogether innocent of any such horrid or detestable Crimes as by the said Impeachment are objected against him Yet 't is impossible for him upon any Tryal thereof to be prepared with his just and lawful Defence by Witness to prove himself absent or in any other place at the same time of such Meetings or Consultations to or for any of the wicked Designs and Purposes in the said Impeachment mention'd as on his Tryal may be suddenly objected against him when he cannot by any care or foresight whatever have such Witness ready as would disprove them if they were certainly charged for any traiterous Design Act or Crime at any time certainly alledged by the said Impeachment Nor is the said Charge in the said Impeachment more certain as to the place of any such Meeting or Consultation laid down in the said Impeachment being only alledged to be in divers places within this Realm of England and elsewhere Which for the Cause aforesaid is so utterly incertain that it deprives the said Lord of his Defence upon his Tryal The incertainties likewise of the number of Meetings and Consultations to the wicked Purposes in the Impeachment mentioned and the not shewing how many times the Lords met and consulted and with whom in particular doth likewise deprive him of all possibility of making his Defence in producing Witnesses For the said Lord being wholly innocent cannot suppose or imagin what Meetings or Consultations either to raise Money or Men for carrying on a Traiterous Design or to any other wicked Intent or Purpose in the said Impeachment mentioned shall or may be objected against him upon the Tryal And 't is as impossible for him to bring Witnesses to prove all the Meetings and Consultations may upon his Tryal be objected against him as a traiterous Meeting or Consultation And where it is in the said Impeachment charged upon the said Lord That he hath uttered Treason by malitious and advised Speaking and other ways declaring the same The said Lord saith That never any traiterous thought entred into his heart and therefore he cannot know any Words or Writing he ever spoke or declared which are now charged upon him as Treason there being no Word or Writing at all specified in the Impeachment whereby the Lord may know how to prepare his Defence against them or this most Honourable Court may judge whether the said Words or Writing are in truth Treasonable or not All which Incertainties eminent and apparent Dangers of the said Lord being thereupon surprized in a Cause of this Consequence wherein his Life and Honour more dear to him than his Life and all else that is dear to him in this World are immediately concerned being seriously weighed and considered by your Lordships He humbly prayeth as by his Counsel he is advised That your Lordships would not put him to Answer the said Impeachment herein above recited till the same be reduc'd to such a compleat certainty that the said Lord may know how to Answer unto and thereby be enabled to make his just Defence accordingly All which notwithstanding he humbly submitteth to whatsoever your Lordships in Justice shall order and think fit And to all other Treasons Crimes and Offences contained mentioned or specified in the said Impeachment the said Lord protesting his Innocency in the great Wisdom and Sentence of this Honourable Court shall always acquiesce Soon after the Lords desir'd to know of the Commons Whether they were ready to joyn Issue who return'd in a short time for answer That they were ready to make good their Charge against the five Lords Thereupon a Message was sent from the Lords to acquaint the Commons That they had made an Order That the five Lords in the Tower should be brought to their Tryals upon the Impeachments against them by that day seven night the Message being deliver'd on the sixth of May and that they had also appointed an Address to be presented to his Majesty for the naming a Lord High Steward as well in the Case of the Earl of Danby as of the other five Lords and that the same should be in Westminster-Hall Upon this the Commons appointed a Committee to search Precedents relating to the Message sent them from the Lords upon whose Report it was found That on the like occasion the Commons had appointed a select Committee to joyn with a Committee of the Lords to consider of the Methods and Circumstances to be observ'd in the Tryal This occasion'd a Message to the Lords to desire a Conference upon the Subject Matter of the last Message relating to the Tryal of the Lords in the Tower There it was urg'd by the Commons that they suppos'd
foot into the stirrup for eternal Bliss Let it suffice then that by this fallacy which they have all laid at the bottom as the Basis of the rest all their preliminary Imprecations and solemn Attestations are nothing but Fourberie and Imposture These were the Acts of Civil Justice in England while the Military Power finds work enough in Scotland to extinguish the Flames of a newly kindl'd Rebellion blow'd up by the common Beutifeus of Christian War Religion and Liberty For by the 7th of this month their Numbers were very much encreas'd which encourag'd several small parties like little streams to bend their course toward the main Inundation On the other side his Majesties Forces were no less vigilant to prevent their meeting To which purpose the Privy Council of Scotland understanding that there was a party got together in Tyvidale with a resolution to march Westward and joyn with the main Body sent the Master of Ross son to the Lord Ross with forty Horse and a hundred Dragoons to Selkerk to attend their motion They were about three hundred Horse and Foot however when they perceiv'd with what a resolution he advanc'd toward them they began to make a hasty retreat Whereupon the Master of Ross observing their fear briskly attack'd them with his whole number who so well behaved themselves that the Enemy was totally defeated leaving sixty six dead upon the place and ten Prisoners the rest being totally scattered Soon after the Earl of Murray's Steward in Downe having intelligence that above a hundred new rais'd Rebels were marching out of Fife to the Rendezvouze got together the Vassals and Tenants of his Lord and having pursu'd the Rebels sixteen miles through the Mountains at last overtook them routed them and took ten Prisoners among whom was one Hinderson who was one of the Murderers of the Archbishop of St. Andrews whereby he forc'd them to scatter and fly into the adjacent Mountains Of which the Lord Elphingstoun having notice he with some Gentlemen under his command pursu'd them farther kill'd some and took above thirty Prisoners and among them two of the name of Balfour and one Hamilton of Kinkell three more of the Murtherers of the Archbishop So that of that party of the Rebels hardly one escap'd being kill'd or taken The Gentlemen also of Strathern having fallen upon another party of the Rebels marching out of Fife of them they kill'd some and took about forty Prisoners At the same time the Militia and Trained Bands of Edinburgh to the number of four thousand took an oath to be faithful to his Majesty and to venture their lives and fortunes in suppressing the Rebellion These little skirmishes and petty victories could not hinder but that the great Snow-ball still increas'd So that the standing Militia and Heritors of some shires were commanded to their several Rendezvouzes those of the Southern parts near Edinburgh and those of the Northern parts near Sterling To command which Forces his Grace the Duke of Monmouth was commanded by his Majesty to repair forthwith into Scotland in obedience to which Order he arriv'd at Edinburgh the 18th of this Month having rode post all the way for Expedition The next day he went to the Army that lay twelve miles from the City at Moorhead beyond Blackborn and eight from the Enemy And having sent for some provisions which he found wanting from Edinburgh as soon as they arriv'd he resolv'd to march against the Rebels who lay encamp'd behind Bothwell-Bridge in Hamilton-Park they being posted all along the River and the Bridge well barricado'd and lin'd with Musqueteers Accordingly on Saturday the 21st of June in the evening his Grace began his March Major Oglethorp being commanded to lead the Van with five Troops of the English Dragoons and a hundred horse commanded by the L. Hume His Grace follow'd with the rest of the Horse and Dragoons and 300. commanded Foot About break of day the Van came in sight of the Rebels who were all ready drawn up in two Bodies though they had no more notice of the Dukes March than what they had from the light of the Souldiers Matches Major Oglethorp with his party was commanded to march directly toward the Bridge and draw up before it approaching so much the nearer because it was found that the Rebels had barricado'd up the Bridge with Stones and Timber that render'd the pass very difficult The Rebels had posted themselves very advantageously for there was no coming to them but over that Bridge the River Clyd running between the two Armies The Duke drew up the Army in Battle upon the height parallel to the River in full view of the Rebels which being done he went to visit the Dragoons Post about a mile distant Upon the way he was met by an Officer who acquainted him that a Parley had been beaten and deliver'd him a Petition sent from the Rebels and sign'd by Robert Hamilton in the name of Himself and the Covenanted Army in Scotland now in Arms the Contents whereof were That they had lain under great oppression both in their Estates and Consciences which had oblig'd them to have recourse to Arms for their own preservation which they were willing to lay down when the things set down in their Declaration were granted them His Grace admitting of the Parley there came out to him Mr. David Hume one of their Ministers with another Gentleman who being ask'd what they came for Mr. Hume answer'd That they were inform'd that his Grace was a merciful person that took no delight to shed blood and one that had power to do them good His Grace made answer That he should be very glad they would prevent the effusion of blood and to that end he was willing to hear what they propounded To which Mr. Hume reply'd that all their desires were contain'd in their Declaration And being demanded whether he meant the Declaration that pass'd undertheir name and was set up and proclaim'd at Rugland He answer'd God forbid they should own that But the Declaration he spoke of was one they had lately printed a Copy whereof he had with him and desired liberty to read it which being done his Grace told them That he suppos'd they would take it as a great proof of his Clemency and forbearance towards them that he had Patience to hear such a Libell against the Kings Person and Government read quite thorough But that he found no one Article in it that he could possibly agree to and therefore would make them a much shorter proposal which was That if they would immediately lay down their Arms and submit themselves to his Majesties Mercy the Kings Forces should not fall upon them Mr. Hume reply'd that it was impossible to agree to that for that it would be to lay their heads upon the Block Whereupon his Grace advis'd them to consider well what they had to do and to reflect a little whether that number of men shewing him the Army as it was drawn up
careful of himself Thus much for the Preliminaries which give a fair insight into the Age and Series of this detestable Contrivance It will now be requisite to embody the Design and to display the whole Mystery that thereby the Crimes of every Malefactor for I cannot in Conscience call them Martyrs that has hitherto been justly Executed may more clearly appear The grand and general Design then of the Pope the Pious and Zealous Society of Jesuits and their Accomplices and Associates in this as disingenious and raskally as unchristian Conspiracy was to have reduc'd the flourishing Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland to the Romish Religion and under the Papal Jurisdiction To accomplish this the Pope had Entitl'd himself by way of Confiscation and Forfeiture to the Kingdoms of England and Ireland He had sent the Bishop of Casal in Italy into Ireland to make out his Title to that Kingdom and to take Possession in his behalf and had constituted Cardinal Howard his True and Lawful Attorney for the same intent and purpose in England But these fair Vineyards could not be enjoy'd so long as the right owner liv'd and had pow'r to defend his own Inheritance Therefore was the King himself by his Holiness impiously condemn'd and by the Consults of the Jesuits and Priests at London applauded and encourag'd by the Birds of the same Feather abroad dispos'd and destin'd to a lewd Assassination And to make good the Attempt the Papal Force in both Nations was to be Armed and that under Officers and Commanders commissionated by St. Peter's Authority given to the General of the Jesuits at Rome and by him convey'd to the Provincial of the same Order in England In this somewhat mannerly that the King was not to fall alone but to be attended by some of his nearest Relations and choicest Peers of which number was his own Brother if he did not fully answer their Expectations the Prince of Orange the Duke of Ormond and the Earl of Shaftsbury Into Scotland twelve Scotch Jesuits were sent by Order from the General of the Society and had a Thousand Pound given them by Le Cheese the French King's Confessor to keep up the Commotions in Scotland and had Instructions given them to carry themselves like Nonconformists among the Presbyterians the better to drive on their Design The Conquest and Subduing of Ireland was contriv'd and design'd by a general Rebellion and Massacre of the Protestants in that Kingdom for which the Actors had a late Precedent to go by For the carrying on whereof the Pope had been so liberal as to disburse Eight Hundred Thousand Crowns out of his own Treasury And for fear their own Power might not be sufficient there was a French Plot cunningly and a-la-modely interwoven with their English Conspiracies to bring in Foreign Assistance and Correspondencies held for that purpose between them and the King of France's Confessor at Paris But Heaven that saw and with indignation beheld the dark and infernal Practices of them that by acting contrary to all Piety and Virtue were bringing a Reproach and Scandal upon Heaven and Christianity it self would no longer suffer them to proceed in such an Execrable Tragedy A Crime that had it come to Execution Hell would have blush'd and the Devils in union among themselves might have had a prospect of some probability of Mercy beholding men more wicked then they The Discovery then being fully resolv'd upon in the Breast of Dr. Oates he makes his first Applications to Dr. Tongue both for his Advice and Assistance Who upon Monday the 13th of August 1678 acquainted Mr. Christopher Kirkby with the detection of a Popish Conspiracy against the King's Sacred Person and the Protestant Religion shewing him withall the Three and Forty Articles as he had receiv'd them in Writing from Dr. Oates and requesting him not to make the business known at first to any other person then the King himself Many difficulties shew'd themselves in the Management of this Affair which requir'd the more wariness in proceeding So that Mr. Kirkby not finding an Opportunity to speak in private with the King that Afternoon prepar'd a certain Paper to put into his hands the next Morning as he went to walk in the Park His Majesty having receiv'd and read it call'd Mr. Kirkby to Him who then only gave him this short Account That his Enemies had a design against his Life and therefore besought him to have a care of his Person for that he knew not but that he might be in danger in that very Walk which he was about to take desiring withall a more private place for a more particular Account Thereupon his Majesty commanded him to wait his return out of the Park At what time calling Mr. Kirkby into his Bed-chamber he commanded him to declare what he knew Mr. Kirkby thereupon inform'd the King that there were two persons that were set to watch an opportunity to Pistol him That his Friend was at hand and ready with his Papers to be brought before him when his Majesty should command In answer to this his Majesty appointed between the hours of Eight and Nine in the Evening at which time Mr. Kirkby and Dr. Tongue attended and being commanded into the Red Room deliver'd the Forty Three Articles or rather Heads of the Discovery to his Majesty who being to go to Windsor the next Morning was pleas'd to promise that he would transmit the Papers into the hands of the Earl of Danby then Lord Treasurer upon whom they were likewise order'd to attend the next day after That day about four of the Clock in the Afternoon they were admitted into the Treasurer's Closet who read the Papers and found them to be of the greatest Concern imaginable The third of September Mr. Kirkby went to Dr. Oates and having receiv'd from him what he had to communicate appointed to meet him the next morning Accordingly the next morning being the fourth of September Mr. Kirkby and Dr. Oates met at what time the latter told the former that Whitebread Provintial of the Jesuites was come to Town and had strucken him and charg'd him with having been with the King and with the discovery of the Plot which he deny'd it being true that he had not seen the King Upon this it was concluded that seeing the discovery was smoak'd Dr. Oates's Information should be sworn before some Justice of the Peace which was accordingly the first time done before Sir Edmund-Bury Godfrey the sixth of September who nevertheless was not permitted to read the particulars of the Information it being alledged that his Majesty had already had a true Copy thereof and that it was not convenient that the business should be communicated to any body else as yet So that Sir Edmund-Bury Godfrey was satisfied without reading them and only underwrit Dr. Oates's Affidavit That the Matters therein contain'd were true Dr. Tong at the same time making Oath that they had been made known to the King In
concluding Conference having agreed to the Bill without further amendments and therefore desir'd the concurrence of the Commons Thus at length the Commons agreed to the amendments made by the Lords and sent a message to acquaint the Lords therewith This was done upon the fourteenth day of this month But upon the sixteenth a Message was sent by the Lords to acquaint the Commons that the night before the Earl of Danby had render'd himself to the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and that being call'd to the Bar they had sent him to the Tower Thereupon a Committee was appointed to prepare and draw up further Evidence against him and such further Articles as they should see cause Soon after his Majesty was pleas'd to dissolve his Privy Council and to make another consisting of no more than thirty persons And for the management of the Treasury and Navy five Commissiones were appointed for the Treasury and seven for the Admiralty Then the Commons took into consideration the disbanding of the Army and having voted a supply of 264602 l. 17 s. 3 d. to that intent they then voted that Sr. Gilbert Gerrard Sr. Thomas Player Coll. Birch and Coll. Whitley should be Commissioners to pay the disbanded forces off But now to return to the Earl of Danby upon the 25th of this month a message was sent by the Lords to acquaint the Commons that the said Earl had that same day personally appear'd at the Bar of their House and had put in his plea to the Articles of Impeachment against him The Articles were these as they were deliver'd into the House of Lords in the name of the Commons of England by Sir Henry Capel December 23. 1678. I. That he had traiterously encroacht to himself Regal Power by treating in matters of Peace and War with Foreign Ministers and Embassadors and giving instructions to his Majesties Embassadors abroad without communicating the same to the Secretaries of State and the rest of his Majesties Council against the express Declaration of his Majesty in Parliament thereby intending to defeat and overthrow the provision that has been deliberately made by his Majesty and his Parliament for the safety and preservation of his Majesties Kingdoms and Dominions II. That he had traiterously endeavour'd to subvert the ancient and well-establish'd form of Government of this Kingdom and instead thereof to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical form of Government and the better to effect this his purpose he did design the raising of an Army upon pretence of a war against the French King and to continue the same as a standing Army within this Kingdom and an Army so rais'd and no war ensuing an Act of Parliament having past to disband the same and a great sum of money being granted for that end he did continue the same contrary to the said Act and mis-imploy'd the said money given for the disbanding to the continuance thereof and issued out of his Majesties Revenues great sums of money for the said purpose and wilfully neglected to take security of the Pay-master of the Army as the said Act required whereby the said Law is eluded and the Army yet continued to the great danger and unnecessary charge of his Majesty and the whole Kingdome III. That he trayterously intending and designing to alienate the hearts and affections of his Majesties good Subjects from his Royal Person and Government and to hinder the meeting of Parliaments and to deprive his Sacred Majesty of their safe and wholsom counsel and thereby to alter the constitution of the Government of this Kingdom did propose and negotiate a peace for the French King upon terms disadvantagious to the Interest of his Majesty and Kingdom For the doing whereof he did procure a great sum of money from the French King for enabling him to maintain and carry on his said traiterous designs and purposes to the hazard of his Majesties Person and Government IV. That he is Popishly affected and hath traiterously concealed after he had notice the late horrid and bloody Plot and Conspiracy contriv'd by the Papists against his Majesties Person and Government and hath suppress'd the Evidence and reproachfully discountenanc'd the Kings Witnesses in the Discovery of it in favour of Popery immediately tending to the destruction of the Kings Sacred Person and the subversion of the Protestant Religion V. That he hath wasted the Kings Treasure by issuing out of his Majesties Exchequer several branches of his Revenue for unnecessary Pensions and secret services to the value of 〈…〉 within two years and that he hath wholly diverted out of the known method and Government of the Exchequer one whole branch of his Majesties Revenue to private Uses without any accompt to be made of it to his Majesty in his Exchequer contrary to an express Act of Parliament which granted the same And he hath removed two of his Majesties Commissioners of that part of the Revenue for refusing to consent to such his unwarrantable actings therein and to advance money upon that branch of the Revenue for private uses VI. That he hath by indirect means procured from his Majesty to himself divers considerable gifts and Grants of Inheritances of the ancient Revenues of the Crown contrary to Acts of Parliament For which matters and things the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons in Parliament do in the name of themselves and of all the Commons of England impeach the said Thomas Earl of Danby Lord High Treasurer of England of High Treason and other high Crimes Misdemeanors and Offences in the said Articles contained And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other accusation or Impeachment against the said Earl and also of replying to the answers of which the said Thomas Earl of Danby shall make to the Premises or any of them or any Impeachment or Accusation which shall be by them exhibited as the cause according to proceedings of Parliament shall require Do pray that the said Thomas Earl of Danby may be put to answer all and every the Premises that such proceedings Tryals Examinations and Judgements may be upon them and every one of them had and used as shall be agreeable to Law and Justice and that he may be sequester'd from Parliament and forthwith committed to custody To these Articles the Earl of Danby soon after put in his Plea as follows The Plea of the Earl of Danby late Lord high Treasurer of England to the Articles of Impeachment and other High Crimes Misdemeanors and Offences Exhibited against him by the name of Thomas Earl of Danby Lord High Treasurer of England THE said Earl for Plea saith and humbly offers to your Lordships as to all and every the Treasons Crimes Misdemeanors and Offences contained or mention'd in the said Articles That after the said Articles exhibited namely the first of March now last past the Kings most excellent Majesty by his most gracious Letters of Pardon under his
attempt the killing of the same Prelate in the chief street of Edenburgh in the face of the Sun and of all the multitude Who dying for the fact and with an obdurate and sear'd zeal owning and justifying the fact led others so far astray into the violation of the Law of Nature that upon the third of this month deluded Devotion adventur'd to murther the Arch-bishop in the ensuing manner The Arch-bishop it seems was returning in his Coach from a Village in Fife called Kennoway toward the City of St. Andrews it self and was got within two miles of the place near to another small village called Magus There it was that the Coachman having spy'd several Horsemen gave his Lord notice of them and ask'd him whether he should not drive faster But the Arch-bishop not dreading any harm thought it not convenient to mend his pace When they drew near the Arch-bishops daughter look'd out and seeing them with Pistols in their hands cry'd out to the Coach-man to drive on And he had certainly out-driven them had not one Balfour of Kinlock being mounted upon a very fleet horse cunningly got before the Coach into which they had already discharg'd several shot in vain This Balfour finding he could not wound the Coachman because the Coach-mans whip frighted his Horse wounded the Postillian and disabled the fore horses Upon which the rest coming up one of them shot the Arch-bishop with a Blunderbuss as he sate in the Coach while others reproachfully call'd to him in these words Come forth vile Dog who hast betray'd Christ and his Church and receive what thou hast deserv'd for thy wickedness against the Kirk of Scotland While he was in the Coach one ran him through with a Sword under the shoulder the rest pulling him violently out of the Coach His daughter went out fell upon her knees and beg'd for mercy to her father but they beat her and trampl'd upon her The Primate with an extraordinary calmness of spirit said to 'em Gentlemen I know not that I ever injur'd any of you and if I did I promise ye I will make you what reparation you can propose To which they return'd no better Language than this Villain and Judas Enemy to God and his people thou shalt now have the reward of thy enmity to Gods people which words were follow'd with many mortal wounds of which one was a deep one above his eye He labour'd to make them apprehensive that he was a Minister and pulling off his Cap shew'd them his grey hairs intreating them withal that if they would not spare his life yet that they would at least allow him some little time for prayer But their barbarous and inhumane answer was That God would not hear so base a Dog as he was and as to the desire of Quarter they told him That the strokes they were then about to give were those which he was to expect Notwithstanding all which inhumane usage and a shot that pierc'd his body above his right Pap and several blows that cut his hands while he was holding them up to Heaven in prayer he rais'd himself upon his knees and utter'd these few words God forgive you all After which by reason of many gashes that cut his scull in pieces he fell down dead At which time some of the Murtherers believing that they heard him groan return'd saying he was of the nature of a Cat and therefore they would go back and hack him a little better for the Glory of God And so having stirr'd about his brains with the points of their Swords they took an oath of the servants not to reveal their names and then bidding them take up their Priest they rode back to Magus crying out aloud That Judas was kill'd and from thence made their escape All this while at London the Parliament continue their prosecution of the Earl of Danby and in order thereunto the lower House resolve that the Pardon of the Earl of Danby was illegal and void and not to be allow'd in Bar of the Impeachment of the Commons of England Thereupon the whole House with the Speaker went up to the Lords to whom the Speaker made this following Address My Lords The Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament assembled are come up to demand Judgement in their own names and in the names of all the Commons of England against Thomas Earl of Danby who stands by them impeach'd before your Lordships of High Treason and diverse high Crimes and Misdemeanors To which he has pleaded a Pardon which Pardon the Commons conceive to be illegal and void and therefore they do demand Judgement accordingly Thereupon the Lords appointed a short day for hearing the Earl what he could say to make good the plea of his Pardon Nor was his Majesty himself less careful of the safety of the Nation who finding or at least fore-seeing the ill consequences of these continu'd debates thereupon sent a Message to the Commons wherein he desir'd them to secure the Fleet to proceed in the discovery of the Plot the Tryal of the Lords in the Tower and the Bill for securing the Protestant Religion For all which they appointed a certain day of consideration but before they proceeded they made an Address to his Majesty against the Duke of Lauderdale as a person who being in high trusts and employments about his Majesty had by his arbitrary and destructive Counsels tending to the subversion the rights and liberty of of the subject endeavour'd to alienate the hearts of his Majesties good subjects from his Majesty and Government and more particularly had contriv'd and endeavour'd to raise jealousies and misunderstandings between England and Scotland And therefore they most humbly besought his Majesty to remove him from his Counsels both in Scotland and England from all Offices Imployments and places of Trust and from his Majesties presence for ever And to shew that they did not this out of disobedience but affection presently after they declar'd in a full house That in defence of his Majesties person and the Protestant Religion they would stand by his Majesty with their lives and fortunes and that if his Majesty should come to any untimely end which God forbid they would revenge it to the utmost upon the Papists And now the Bill for the disbanding of the Army being compleated and having pass'd both Houses was confirm'd and receiv'd its last consummation by the Kings Royal Assent So that the Commissioners appointed by the house for that purpose had liberty to attend that particular service In the mean time the Commons perceiving that there was a day appointed for the Earl of Danby to make good the plea of his Pardon by Council order'd that no Commoner should presume to maintain the validity of the Pardon pleaded by the said Earl without the consent of the House and that the person so doing should be accompted a betrayer of the liberty of the Commons of England Next day the Earl appear'd and put in his
Petition into the House of Lords wherein he set forth that he was then attending their Lordships according to Order and expected to have met the Council assign'd him by their Lordships but that he had receiv'd a Message from every one of them that they durst not appear to argue for him by reason of a Vote which the house pass'd yesterday Who thereupon order'd that the Petition should be communicated to the House at the next Conference to know of them whether any such Vote were by them made or no. But here arose a new debate concerning the Bishops which much entangled the interest of the Earl of Danby and the other five Lords in the Tower in reference to their Tryals for the Commons would not prosecute the latter before the first nor the first before such and such things were concluded So that it will be necessary to relate the proceedings of both Houses against the Lords which at length happen'd to be the occasion that neither the one nor the other came to their Tryals as was expected The House having pass'd five resolves for the Impeaching Henry Lord Arundell of Warder William Earl of Pomis John Lord Bellasis William Viscount Stafford and William Lord Peter of Treason and several other Misdemeanors the same day five several Impeachments were accordingly carried up to the Lords but they did not desire they should be sequester'd from Parliament and committed to custody because they were at the same time under restraint in the Tower The Impeachments were first in general That for many years last past there had been contriv'd carried on a trayterous execrable Conspiracy and Plot within this Kingdom of England other places to alter change and subvert the ancient Government Laws of this Kingdom Nation to suppress the true religion therein establish'd to extirpate destroy the professors thereof which said Plot and Conspiracie was Contrived and carried on in divers places and by several ways and means and by a great number of Persons of several Qualities and Degrees who acted therein and intended to execute and accomplish the aforesaid wicked and traiterous designs and purposes That the said five Lords together with Philip Howard commonly called Cardinal of Norfolk and divers others Jesuits Priests and Friers and other Persons as false Traitors to his Majesty and this Kingdom within the time aforesaid had traiterously consulted contriv'd and acted to and for the accomplishing of the said wicked pernicious and traiterous Designs and for that end did most wickedly and traiterously agree conspire and resolve to imprison depose and murther his sacred Majesty to deprive him of his Royal State Crown and Dignity and by malicious and unadvised Speaking Writing and otherwise declared such their purposes and intentions To subject this Kingdom and Nation to the Pope and his Tyrannical Government To seize and share among themselves the Estates of his Majesties Protestant Subjects To erect and restore Abbeys Monasteries and other Convents and Societies which have been long since by the Laws of this Kingdom supprest for their Superstition and Idolatry to deliver up and restore to them the Lands and possessions now invested in his Majesty and his Subjects by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm That the said Conspirators their Accomplices and Confederates had and held several Meetings Assemblies and Consultations wherein it was contriv'd and design'd among them what means should be used and what Persons and Instruments imployed to murder his Majesty and did then and there resolve to effect it by Poysoning Shooting Stobbing or some such like ways and means offer'd rewards and promises of advantage to several Persons to execute the same and hir'd and employed several wicked Persons to Windsor and other places where his Majesty did reside to destroy and murther his Majesty which said Persons accepted such rewards and undertook the perpetrating thereof and did actually go to the said places for that end and purpose That the said Conspirators had procur'd accepted and deliver'd out several Instruments Commissions and Powers made and granted by or under the Pope or other unlawful and usurping Authority to raise Mony Men and Arms and other things necessary for their wicked and traiterous Designs namely to the said Henry Lord Arundel of Warder to be Lord High Chancellor of England to the said William Lord Powis to be Lord Treasurer of England to the Lord Bellasis to be General to the Lord Petre to be Lieutenant General to the Lord Stafford to be Paymaster of the Army That in order to encourage themselves in prosecuting their said wicked Plots Conspiracies and Treasons and to hide and hinder the discovery of the same and to secure themselves from Justice and Punishment the Conspirators and Confederates aforesaid did cause their Priests to administer an Oath of Secrecy together with the Sacrament and upon Confessions to give them Absolutions upon condition that they did conceal the Conspiracy That the better to compass their traiterous Designs they had consulted to raise and had procur'd and rais'd Men Money Horse Arms and Ammunitions and had made applications to and treated and corresponded with the Pope his Cardinals Nuncio's and Agents and with other forreign Ministers and Persons to raise tumults within the Kingdom and invade the same with forraign Forces to surprize seize and destroy his Majesties Navy Forts Magazines and Places of Strength to the ruine and destruction of the Nation That when Sir Edmund-Bury Godfrey a Justice of Peace had according to the duty of his Oath and Office taken several Examinations and Informations concerning the said Conspiracy and Plot the said Conspirators or some of them by the advice councel and instigation of the rest did incite and procure divers persons to lye in wait and pursue the said Sir Edmund-Bury several days with intent to Murder him which at last was prepetrated and effected by them That after the said Murther and before the body was found or the Murther known to any but the Accomplices the said Persons falsly gave out that he was a-live and privately Married and after the Body was found dispersed a false and malicious report that he had Murthered himself Which said Murther was committed with a design to stifle and suppress the Evidence he had taken and had knowledge of and to discourage and deter Magistrates and others from acting in the farther discovery of the said Plot and Conspiracy That of their farther malice they had wickedly continued by many false suggestions to lay the guilt and imputation of the aforesaid Horrid and Detestable Crimes upon the Protestants that so they might escape the punishments they had justly merited and expose the Protestants to great scandal and subject them to Persecution and Oppression in all Kingdoms and Countries where the Roman Religion is receiv'd and professed All which Treasons Crimes and Offences were contriv'd committed perpetrated acted and done by the said Lords and every of them and others the Conspirators against our Soveraign
Lord the King his Crown and Dignity and against the Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom Of all which Treasons Crimes and Offences the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled did in the Name of themselves and of the Commons of England impeach the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis and every of them And the said Commons saving to themselves the Liberty of Exhibiting at any time hereafter against other Accusations or Impeachments against the said Lords and every of them and also of Replying to the Answers which they and every of them should make to the premises or any of them or to any other Accusation or Impeachment which should be by them exhibited as the cause according to course and proceedings of Parliament should require did pray that the said Lords and every of them should be put to Answer all and every the Premises and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments might be upon them and every of them had and used as should be agreeable to Law and Justice and course of Parliament The Articles of Impeachment being drawn up and finish'd and carri'd up to the Lords House the Lieutenant of the Tower was ordered to bring up the Prisoners to the Bar where after they had kneeled awhile they were order'd to stand up and hear their Charge which when they had heard the Lord Chancellor ask'd them what they had to say for themselves letting them know withal that his Majesty would appoint a Lord High Steward for their Tryals Thereupon the Lords impeach'd made several requests in order to their several Defences upon their Tryals and then withdrew for a time After the House had taken their requests into consideration they were called in again and the Lord Chancellor gave them to understand that the several Endictments found against them by the Grand Jury should be brought into that Court by Writ of Certiorari and that they might have Copies of the Articles of Impeachment and should have convenient time given them to send in their respective Answers thereunto All this while the Lord Bellasis had not appeared at the Bar it being sworn that he was so ill that he could not stir out of his bed which reasonable excuse was allow'd for the time Not long after a Message was sent from the Lords to acquaint the Commons that the Lords impeach'd had all except the Lord Bellasis brought up their Answers to the Charge exhibited against them and that their Lordships had sent them the Originals desiring to have them return'd Soon after it was found that the Lord Bellasis had sent in his Answer without Appearance which occasion'd a great Debate Whether by his not appearance he had been Arraign'd or no and whether his Answer were legal The consideration of which business was referr'd to the Committee of Secrecy as also to look into the Answers of the five Lords to consider of the Methods of Proceedings upon Impeachments and to Report their Opinions Which were That the Lord Bellasis being Impeach'd of High Treason by the Commons could not make any Answer but in person And that the several Writings put in by the other Lords which they call'd their Pleas and Answers were not Pleas or Answers but Argumentative and Evasive to which the Commons neither could nor ought to reply That though the Answers of the other four Lords were sufficient yet that there ought not to be any Proceedings against them until the Lord Bellasis had put in a sufficient Answer in person That the Commons should demand of the Lords that their Lordships would forthwith order and require the said Lords to put in their perfect Answers or in default thereof that the Commons might have Justice against them Thereupon it was order'd by the Commons That a Conference should be desir'd with the Lords touching the Answers of the five Lords in the Tower and that the Managers thereof should acquaint their Lordships that they intended to make use of no other Evidence against the five Lords then for matter done within seven years last past desiring their Lordships withal to appoint a short day for the said five Lords to put in their effectual Pleas and Answers to the Articles of Impeachment But e're this Conference could be had a Message came from the Lords to acquaint the House That John Lord Bellasis had that day appear'd in person at the Bar of the House and had put in his Answer to the Articles of Impeachment which they had accordingly sent them The next day came another Message from the Lords to acquaint them That the Lords Powis Stafford and Arundel had appear'd likewise at the Bar and had retracted their former Pleas and had put in their Answers which they had also sent for them to view and consider All which Answers were by the Commons referr'd to the Secret Committee What these Answers were may be easily seen by that of the Lord Petre's here inserted For as their Crimes were the same so their Defences could not vary much either in sence or matter The Lord Petre's Answer to the Articles of Impeachment THE said Lord in the first place and before all other protesting his Innocency c. The said Lord doth with all humility submit himself desiring above all things the Tryal of his Cause by this most Honourable House so that he may be provided to make his just Defence for the clearing of his Innocency from the Great and Hainous Crimes charged against him by the said Impeachment This being prayed as also liberty to Correct Amend and Explain any thing in the said Plea contained which may any ways give this Honourable House any occasion of Offence which he hopes will be granted The said Lord as to that part of the Impeachment that concerns the matter following Namely That for divers years last past there had been contrived and carryed on by the Papists a most traiterous and execrable Conspiracy and Plot within this Kingdom of England and other places to alter and subvert the Antient Government and Laws of this Kingdom and Nation and to suppress the true Religion therein Establisht and to extirpate and destroy the Professors thereof and that the said Plot and Conspiracy was contrived and carryed on in divers places and by several ways and means and by a great number of several Persons of Qualities and Degrees who acted therein and intended thereby to execute and accomplish their aforesaid wicked and traiterous Designs and Purposes That the said William Lord Petre and other Lords therein named together with several other persons therein likewise named and mentioned as false Traitors to his Majesty and Kingdom within the time aforesaid have traiterously acted and consulted to and for the accomplishing of the said wicked pernicious and traiterous Designs and to that end did most wickedly and traiterously Agree Consult Conspire and Resolve to Imprison Depose and Murther His Sacred Majesty and deprive
he challeng'd Dr. Owen and some others in a Letter written in several Languages and that so learnedly that it was deem'd worthy the Consideration of the Convocation by whom he was censur'd as a Jesuit or some other of the best sort of Popish Education and thereupon imprison'd in the Castle Prison in Oxford where he pretended distraction and acted the Madman so rarely to the life that in few days some Friends of his procur'd his liberty He was seen several times running up and down the Streets with his Hat under his Arm full of Stones throwing at every small Bird he saw But e're long he was met by a Minister of the Church of England at the House of a Roman Catholick who there heard him Discourse so gravely learnedly and discreetly that he got not onely into an acquaintance but familiarity with him insomuch that this Gentleman being of Maudlin Colledge he there gave him several Visits in several Disguises But at length being again suspected and in danger of being apprehended he stole away privately for London To which place business calling the same Gentleman about six Months after he was no sooner come to Town but he had notice of a famous Preacher among the Quakers near Charing-Cross and the same day he met Whitebread the great man of Fame going to speak in an old fashion pink'd Fustian Jerkin clouted Shoes his Breeches fac'd with Leather and a Carter's Whip in his hand in that Garb altogether disguiz'd from his knowledge however he knew the Gentleman and spake to him and so they renew'd their acquaintance For that time however they took leave and he went forward upon his intended work but the next day he came to the Gentleman's Quarters in the neat habit of a London Minister and carried him to his own Lodging within the Precincts of the Middle-Temple where he gave the Gentleman a handsom Entertainment and a sight of the several odd Habits in which he disguiz'd himself to the several sorts of people into whose good Opinion he had insinuated himself There the Gentleman saw his Orders from Rome and an Instrument wherein he was assur'd of and had Orders to receive of certain Merchants in Town a Hundred Pound per Annum besides a yearly Pension of Eighty Pound from his Father He pretended to this Gentleman that he was born at Wittenbergh and that his Father's Name was John White and in the Writing he himself was stil'd Johannes de Albis by the Court of Rome He was both Jesuit and Priest in Orders for that to the same Gentleman's knowledge he celebrated Mass in one House in Southwark to more then Forty after which upon the same day he visited several Presbyterians and others The same Gentleman continu'd in his Company for about a Month till he was apprehended and by special Order from the Protector imprison'd in the Tower of London where he lay above six Months No wonder then that he stook closest to the Romish Church for she it seems was his best friend and gave him the fairest Allowance what signifi'd a little Imprisonment for her sake who gave him a hundred pound a year to support him in his tribulation The next day Mr. Langhorn was brought to his Tryal at the same Bar. A Councellor at Law and one who got his bread by that very Law which he was plotting to subvert An imprudent piece of Ingratitude to forego the Law of his Country which afforded him a substantial Employment to catch at the shadow of a Judge Advocate Generals place in treasonable Hopes The general sum of his Charge was High Treason for conspiring the Death of the King and endeavouring an Alteration both in Church and State The particular Charge against him was That in order to the accomplishing as much as in him lay these designs of his he had wrote two Letters to be sent to Rome and St. Omers to procure aid from the Pope and the French King on purpose to introduce a change of the Religion by Law establish'd in the Kingdom and to set up the Romish Religion in the stead thereof That he had wrote two other Letters to one Anderton Rector of the English Colledge of Jesuites at Rome and two others to be sent to St. Omers wherein he undertook to advise the means and ways by which the success of those Treasons might be made to answer their expectations That he had received several Commissions in writing transmitted to him by an Authority that deriv'd it self from the See of Rome which Commissions were for constituting Military Officers to command in an Army which was to effect their Treasons by force That he was privy to all the Consultations of the rest of the Conspirators for carrying on the grand design and that he had sollicited the Benedictine Monks for 6000 l. for the same purpose and had notice from time to time of the Treasons and Conspiracy's of the Confederates To make Good this Charge Mr. Dugdall and Mr. Praunce were both sworn to give a short evidence of the reality of the Design in general Which being done Dr. Oates was sworn to particulars who thereupon depos'd That upon his return out of Spain in November 1677. he brought Letters from Mr. Langhorn's sons the one in the Jesuites Colledge at Madrid the other at Valladolid and that when the Witness told him that he believ'd his Sons would both enter into the Society Mr. Langhorn shew'd himself not a little pleas'd saying that by so doing they might quickly come to preferment in England for that matters would not hold long in England as they were That upon his return to St. Omers he carry'd two Letters written by Mr. Langhorn one to the Fathers another to Mr. Le Cheese the King of France's Confessor as Mr. Langhorn expressed himself in order to our Affairs in England and to the same effect as Mr. Coleman had wrote to him before That not long after he wrote another Letter to the Fathers expressing his wonderful zeal for the Catholic Design declaring moreover that the Parliament began to cool in the business of the Protestant Religion and that therefore speaking of the present Opportunity Now was the time to give the Blow That though he were not at the Consults yet that the Witness was order'd to give him an account from time to time and that upon a pleasing report made by the Witness Mr. Langhorn with Hands and Eyes lifted up to Heaven Pray'd God to prosper them That the Report of the Witness was That the Death of the King was resolv'd upon and that Grove and Pickering were chosen out for the Execution of the Result That at the same time several Parchments were lying upon Mr. Langhorn's Study-Table which he found to be Commissions for the Lords Arundel of Wardour Powis Bellasis and Petre to be Chancellor Treasurer General and Lieutenant General Another for Coleman to be Secretary of State and another for himself to be Judge Advocate of the Army all which had the
the Jesuit's Doctrine concerning Kings as believing it conformable to what the best Doctors of the Church have taught But why do I relate the testimony of one particular Prince when the whole Catholic World is the Jesuits Advocate For to them chiefly Germany France Italy Spain and Flanders trust the Education of their Youth and to them in a great proportion they trust their own Souls to be governed in the Sacraments And can you imagin so many great Kings and Princes and so many wise States should do or permit this to be done in their Kingdoms if the Jesuits were men of such damnable principles as they are now taken for in England In the third place dear Country-men I do attest that as I never in my life did machine or contrive either the Deposition or Death of the King so now I do heartily desire of God to grant him a quiet and happy Reign upon Earth and an Everlasting Crown in Heaven For the Judges also and the Jury and all those that were any ways concern'd either in my Tryal Accusation or Condemnation I do humbly ask of God both Temporal and Eternal happiness And as for Mr. Oates and Mr. Dugdale whom I call God to witness by false Oaths have brought me to this untimely end I heartily forgive them because God commands me so to do and I beg of God for his infinite Mercy to grant them true Sorrow and Repentance in this World that they be capable of Eternal happiness in the next And so having discharged my Duty towards my self and my own Innocence towards my Order and its Doctrine to my Neighbour and the World I have nothing else to do now my great God but to cast my self into the Arms of your Mercy as firmly as I judge that I my self am as certainly as I believe you are One Divine Essence and Three Divine Persons and in the Second Person of your Trinity you became Man to redeem me I also believe you are an Eternal Rewarder of Good and Chastiser of Bad. In fine I believe all you have reveal'd for your own infinite Veracity I hope in you above all things for your infinite Fidelity and I love you above all things for your infinite Beauty and Goodness and I am heartily sorry that ever I offended so great a God with my whole heart I am contented to undergo an ignominious Death for the love of you my dear Jesu seeing you have been pleased to undergo an ignominious Death for the love of me Gawen BEing now good People very near my End and summon'd by a violent Death to appear before God's Tribunal there to render an account of all my thoughts words and actions before a just Judge I am bound in Conscience to declare upon Oath my Innocence from the horrid Crime of Treason with which I am falsely accused And I esteem it a Duty I owe to Christian Charity to publish to the World before my death all that I know in this point concerning those Catholics I have conversed with since the first noise of the Plot desiring from the very bottom of my heart that the whole Truth may appear that Innocence may be clear'd to the great Glory of God and the Peace and Welfare of the King and Country As for myself I call God to witness that I was never in my whole life at any Consult or Meeting of the Jesuits where any Oath of Secrecy was taken or the Sacrament as a Bond of Secrecy either by me or any one of them to conceal any Plot against His Sacred Majesty nor was I ever present at any Meeting or Consult of theirs where any Proposal was made or Resolve taken or signed either by me or any of them for taking away the Life of our Dread Soveraign an Impiety of such a nature that had I been present at any such Meeting I should have been bound by the Laws of God and by the Principles of my Religion and by God's Grace would have acted accordingly to have discovered such a devillish Treason to the Civil Magistrate to the end they might have been brought to condign punishment I was so far good People from being in September last at a Consult of the Jesuits at Tixall in Mr. Ewer's Chamber that I vow to God as I hope for Salvation I never was so much as once that year at Tixall my Lord Aston's House 'T is true I was at the Congregation of the Jesuits held on the 24th of April was twelve-month but in that Meeting as I hope to be saved we meddled not with State-Affairs but only treated about the Governours of the Province which is usually done by us without offence to temporal Princes every third Year all the World over I am good People as free from the Treason I am accused of as the Child that is unborn and being innocent I never accused my self in Confession of any thing that I am charged with Which certainly if I had been conscious to my self of any Guilt in this kind I should not so frankly and freely as I did of my own accord presented my self before the King 's Most Honorable Privy Council As for those Catholics which I have conversed with since the noise of the Plot I protest before God in the words of a dying Man that I never heard any one of them neither Priest nor Layman express to me the least knowledge of any Plot that was then on foot amongst the Catholics against the King's Most Excellent Majesty for the advancing the Catholic Religion I dye a Roman Catholic and humbly beg the Prayers of such for my happy passage into a better Life I have been of that Religion above Thirty Years and now give God Almighty infinite thanks for calling me by his holy Grace to the knowledge of this Truth notwithstanding the prejudice of my former Education God of his infinite Goodness bless the King and all the Royal Family and grant His Majesty a prosperous Reign here and a Crown of Glory hereafter God in his mercy forgive all those which have falsly accused me or have had any hand in my Death I forgive them from the bottom of my heart as I hope my self for forgiveness at the Hands of God O GOD who hath created me to a supernatural end to serve thee in this life by grace and injoy thee in the next by glory be pleased to grant by the merits of thy bitter death and passion that after this wretched life shall be ended I may not fail of a full injoyment of thee my last end and soveraign good I humbly beg pardon for all the sins which I have committed against thy Divine Majesty since the first Instance I came to the use of reason to this very time I am heartily sorry from the very bottom of my heart for having offended thee so good so powerful so wise and so just a God and purpose by the help of thy grace never more to offend thee my good God whom I love
of Monmouth return'd for England where he had that reception from his Majesty which his Valour and Conduct had well deserv'd With him the Series of the History returns also and being arriv'd at London there the first thing remarkable which it meets with is the Dissolution of the Parliament To which purpose the King was pleas'd to issue forth His Royal Proclamation That whereas the present Parliament was lately prorogu'd till the 14th of August the Kings most excellent Majesty being resolv'd to meet his people and have their advice in frequent Parliaments had thought fit to dissolve the present Parliament and that he had given directions to the Lord Chancellor for the issuing out of Writs for the calling of a new Parliament to be holden on Tuesday the 7th of October next ensuing It was now a whole month since Mr. Langhorne had receiv'd sentence of Condemnation All this while he had been repriev'd partly for the sake of his Clyents that he might discharge himself of such business of theirs as he had in his hands partly for his own sake to the end he might have retriev'd himself from the ignominy of his execution by a candid and sincere Confession He had sent a Petition to his Majesty wherein after he had given his Majesty most humble thanks for prolonging his life he further set forth that he was ignorant of the subject of the Earl of Roscommons Letter as also of the Grounds upon which it was written That in obedience to his Majesties commands he had made the utmost discovery he could of the Estates he was commanded to disclose and therefore besought his Majesty to grant him his Pardon or at least to give him leave to live though it were abroad and in perpetual banishment he having as he pretended fully obey'd his Majesties Commands But whether he spake truth or no may be fairly appeal'd to the world For it is impossible to think otherwise but that if he had so fully and sincerely obey'd those Commands which it was thought requisite which no question the insight of a wise and discerning Council well knew he could perform his Majesty so punctual to his Mercy as they who have peculiarly tasted it well can testifie would never have swerv'd in the least tittle from the Grace which once he had offer'd him So that when he saw so much confidence in a dying man as to approach the throne of mercy with so much untruth his favourable eye could not look upon that Canting Declaration which follow'd but as the Speech of a Prosopopoeia hammer'd for him in the Popish Forge By which figure he might have enforc'd his Protestations ten times more solemnly without any disadvantage to his credit among his Confessors Having thus therefore spent a month in plausible prevarications at length the fatal warrant came by vertue whereof he was drawn to Tyburn and there executed according to the Sentence pronounc'd against him As for the Speech which he left as a Legacy to the world believing he should not have opportunity to utter it by word of mouth it was nothing but an absolute denyal of what had been so clearly prov'd against him 'T is true 't was farc'd with strange imprecations and solemn Asseverations of his Innocency But how true those Protestations were he himself discovers by a bold untruth that unmantles the fallacy of all the rest For what man of reason can imagine it possible that his Majesty or the Council should think his attainted life so considerable as to turn his Priests and for his dear sake to take upon them the office of the Ministry to convert him from Popery 'T was very likely indeed that they should offer him Great Advantages Preferments and Estates after the judgement was against him to make him forsake his Religion as if the King had wanted a Judge Advocate for his Guards But when he could not beg a Banishment he was resolv'd to bespatter that favour of life which was offer'd him only to be ingenuous in the farther discovery of the foul design wherein he was engag'd but neither for his parts or endowments Not long after Sir George Wakeman William Rumley William Marshall and James Corker Benedictine Monks were brought to their Tryals at the same Bar. The Jury were Ralph Hawtrey Henry Hawley Henry Hodges Richard Downtin Rob. Hampton Esquires William Heydon John Bathurst John Baldwyn Will. Avery Esquires Richard White and Thomas Waite Gent. The Charge against Sir George Wakeman was that whereas there was a design among several of the Popish party to subvert the Government of the Nation by altering the Laws and Religion therein establish'd and taking away the life of his Majesty he the said Sir George had undertaken to do the latter by Poyson That for that piece of service he was to have fifteen thousand pounds of which sum he had already receiv'd five thousand pound in part And that for a further gratuity he had accepted of a Commission to be Physician General of the Army That he receiv'd the Commission from the Provincial of the Jesuites in England and that he read it kept it in his possession and agreed to it with a design to have enter'd upon his employment so soon as the Army should be rais'd To make good the Charge Dr. Oates was sworn and depos'd That he saw a Letter of Sir George Wakemans written to one Ashby a Jesuite then under his directions at the Bath wherein after he had given him the prescriptions he was to observe he sent him word that he was assur'd of a certain person that was to poyson the King That he was present when Ashby offer'd him the 10000 l. in the presence of Harcourt and Ireland to poyson the King That he refus'd it not in abhorrency of the crime but because as he said it was too little for so great a Work That afterwards five thousand pound more was offer'd him as he was credibly inform'd by the order of the Provincial Whitebread But that he certainly saw the Prisoners hand to a receipt in the entry book at Wild-house for five thousand pound part of the said fifteen thousand pound Mr. Bedlow depos'd That he was in Harcourts Chamber where he saw Harcourt deliver to Sir George Wakeman a Bill of two thousand pound which was charg'd as he suppos'd upon a Goldsmith near Temple bar And that Sir George upon receipt of the Bill told Harcourt that if the Bill were accepted he should hear from him suddenly That the Bill was accepted and the money paid by the Confession of Sir George to the Witness That the said 2000l was soon after made up 5000 l. and as Harcourt told this Deponent all upon the same accompt and in part of the 15000 l. Sir George pleaded to all this that he had been left at liberty twenty four days after he had been before the Council and that upon Dr. Oates's being sent for to the House of Lords to repeat his Evidence against Sir George he
and from thence in his Barge to Deptford where after he had taken a view of a new Third-rate Frigat call'd the Sterling Castle he proceeded on to Sheerness and so forward to Portsmouth where he safely soon after arriv'd by Sea and having made a short stay in the Town return'd again by Land to Windsor August 1679. Soon after his return his Majesty was seiz'd by a fit of sickness which though Heaven kind to three Kingdomes was pleas'd not to suffer to grow upon him yet the short continuance bred no small terrour and consternation in the hearts of all his Loyal Subjects The City soon took the sad Alarm and immediately deputed two Aldermen to attend his Majesty during his sickness of whose attendance he was pleas'd to accept till the danger was over His Royal Highness the Duke of York also receiving the unwelcome news hasten'd out of Flanders to Windsor But in a short time these affrights were happily over September 1679. In the mean time Mr. Jenison had been several times examin'd and at length made publick a Narrative containing a farther discovery of the Plot with a confirmation of the truth of the Kings Evidence which Ireland had so fairly ventur'd at his death to invalidate at the expence of his Salvation Thereupon his Majesty was pleas'd to publish a Proclamation against the four Ruffians who were design'd to have murder'd him at Windsor Wherein he summon'd them by the names of Captain Levallyan .... Karney Thomas Brahall and James Wilson to render themselves before the twentieth day of October next or else to suffer the extremity of the Law with promise of a hundred pound to any person that should apprehend or discover any of them While the King continued at Windsor upon the noise of the Duke of York's being return'd several Citizens of whom the Chamberlain of London was the chief alledging their jealousies and fears arising as they said from the Dukes encouragement of Popery and the continu'd practices of the Enemies of the Protestant Religion made their applications to the Lord Mayor desiring that the guards of the City might be doubled His Lordship gave them thanks for their care and zeal and told them that he could not answer their desires of himself but that he would summon the Lieutenancy together which being done though neither Sir Thomas Player nor other person appear'd and the address of the absent Gentlemen being debated it was concluded that there was no necessity to put any farther charge upon their fellow Citizens at present as was desir'd till more urging causes of danger appear'd which was the determination of that grand affair But the City it self had a nobler design For the Lord Mayor and Aldermen having the week before order'd two of their members to attend the King at Windsor humbly to desire leave to wait on his Majesty to congratulate his happy recovery from his late indisposition they accordingly went in a full body toward the middle of this month with a fair Retinue to Windsor Where being introduc'd into the Royal presence the Lord Mayor set forth the exceeding joy of the City and of all his Majesties Protestant Subjects for so great a blessing declaring withal the happiness they enjoy'd in his Majesties most excellent Government and his preservation of the publick Liberty Property and above all the Protestant Religion To which his Majesty was pleas'd to return for answer That he had ever a high esteem of his City of London and would never omit any opportunity of giving them the marks of his kindness assuring them that he would employ his care to maintain them in peace and secure them in their properties and in the Protestant Religion and then admitted them to the Honour of kissing his hand After that his Majesty retiring out of the Royal Presence my Lord Mayor was ask'd whether he with the Aldermen would not wait on the Queen and Duke of York To which his Lordship answer'd that he had done all that was in his Commission but that he was heartily glad he had done so much as being with the rest of his brethren transported with an extraordinary joy to behold his Majesty in so good a condition of Health After the Ceremony was over the Lord Maynard by his Majesties Order entertain'd the Lord Mayor and Aldermen at a splendid Dinner which being done they return'd home the same night highly satisfy'd with the favour and treatment they had receiv'd On the 17th of this month His Majesty return'd to London with the Queen and Duke of York whereupon the Lord Mayor immediately gave order for the ringing of the bells and making bonfires which was perform'd with all chearfulness and joy by the Inhabitants Soon after that is to say upon the 27th of this month his Grace the Duke of Monmouth took shipping in one of his Majesties Yachts for Holland and the next day his Royal Highness the Duke of York departed for Flanders Whose said remarkable Departures out of this Land may well suffice to give a memorable conclusion to the story of these few last years wherein the Transactions have been so various and worthy observation that the like have rarely happen'd in a Kingdom notwithstanding all these violent underminings of her Tranquillity still bless'd with Peace and which the prayers of all good Men implore from Heaven may still continue so under the protection of a merciful God and Gracious King FINIS * Fairly promis'd when he was going to be hang'd Swear and Forswear But the main Secret to betray forbear