The Kings Prerogative of Pardoning Question'd.

[REsolved, That an Humble Ad∣dress be made to His Maje∣sty,* Representing to his Majesty the Irregularity, and Illegality of the Pardon, menti∣oned by his Majesty to be Granted to the Earl of Danby, and the Dangerous Consequence of Granting Pardons to Any Persons that lie under an Impeach∣ment of the Commons of England.]

Here's the Kings Power of Life and Death shaken at the very Root;* and what's the Unpardonable Crime at last, but This among Others!

[That he is Popishly-Affected, and hath Trayterously Conceal'd,* af∣ter he had Notice of, the Late Hor∣rid Plot, or Conspiracy, Contrived by the Papists against his Majesties Person and Government, and hath Suppress'd the Evidence, and Reproachfully Discountenanced the Kings Witnesses in the Disco∣very of it, in favour of Popery, Immediately ten∣ding to the Destruction of the Kings Sacred Per∣son, and Subversion of the Protestant Religion.]

There happen'd no Evil under the Sun in those Days, but the Late Horrid Plot, or somewhat like it, had still a Finger in the Pye: But from Pardoning in my Lord Danby's Case, they pro∣ceeded afterward, to a Bolder Step in my Lord Page  47 Staffords; and to make a Moot-Point of it, whe∣ther the King, by his Prerogative, could so much as Remit, any Part of the Sentence; but Sir W. I. gave his Opinion upon't, in Favour of the Prero∣gative, upon a very Weighty Reason. [This House (says he) lyeth not under any Obligation to Offer at any Opposition, nor concern themselves herein, Especially at This Time, when such a Dispute may End, in Preventing of the Execution of the said Lord Stafford: And therefore I do humbly Conceive you may do well to give your Consent,* that the said Writ be Executed according to its Tenor.]

The Short of the Bus'ness was This; Sentence of Death was pass'd,* in Form, upon my Lord Stafford; and the Kings Writ to the Sheriffs, Commanded only his Head to be Sever'd from his Body. Bethel and Cornish, (the then Sheriffs of Lon∣don and Middlesex) Apply'd themselves by Peti∣tion, to the Lords, to know whether they should Obey the Writ, or Not: The Lords found the Scruples Vnnecessary, and Declar'd [That the Kings Writ ought to be Obey'd.] After this, to the Com∣mons, Stating the Matter under These Four Fol∣lowing Quaeries. (I speak upon the Credit of the Collection of Debates above-mention'd,)

Page  48
• *1. Whether the King, being nei∣ther Iudge nor Party, can Order the Execution?
• 2. Whether the Lords can award Execution?
• 3. Whether the King can Dispense with any part of the Execution?
• 4. If the King can Dispense with some part of the Execution, why not with All?

Upon the Debate, it was, in the Conclusion,* [Resolved, That This House is [CONTENT,] (That is to say; it does VOVCHSAFE, and with MVCH A-DO too) that the Sheriffs of Lon∣don and Middlesex, do Execute William Late Viscount Stafford, by Severing his Head from his Body only.]

The Story of these Insolencies will never be Believ'd in After-Ages; but however, we are up∣on the Foot still, of the (a) [Tray∣terous,* and Execrable Conspiracy for the (b) Imprisoning, Deposing, and Murdering his Sacred Majesty, and the (c) Raising and Disposing of Men, Monys, Arms, and other Things Necessary for their Wicked, and Trayterous De∣signs, and Namely, a Commission for William Vis∣count Stafford, to be Paymaster of the Army.

HEre's a Dreadfull Bus'ness (as the Good Wo∣man said) about this same Trayterous, and Execrable Conspiracy; Pray the Lord it be Page  49 all True at Last; for the Government was Migh∣tily off the Hinges about it; and the Fountain of Mercy, and Power, seem'd to be quite Dry'd-up. The Sheriffs were become the Peoples Officers, and the Commons made Iudges of the Validity of the King's Writ, The Style of Authority, was no longer [We Charge and Command] but Re∣solv'd upon the Question;] and the Power of the Keys, dropt into St. Stephens Chapel.

Parliamentary as well as Pardoning Power Encroch'd upon.

AND that they might not seem Partial to One Prerogative more then Another, They struck at the King's Power of Parliaments, as well as of Pardons; and finding that an Ever∣lasting Parliament Agreed so well with their Pre∣decessors, they had a Months-mind to make Tryal of the Same Experiment Themselves too; as may be seen by the By, in their Parliamentary Ad∣dresses, and Votes, but most Expresly, in the Throng of Popular Addresses to his Majesty, and in the Libel of Vox Patriae; where so many of the Members got themselves Address'd to, in a kind of an Association, to That very purpose. As for Example: In the Address against Sir George Ieffreys; the Earl of Hallifax; and several Votes upon the same Occasion.

[We your Majesties most Duti∣full,* &c. in hopes to bring the Po∣pish Conspirators to speedy Iustice, Page  50 were about to Petition to your Majesty in an Hum∣ble, Dutifull, and Legal Way, for the Sitting of This Parliament, &c.] And so again.

[We, &c. being deeply sensible of the Manifold Dangers and Mischiefs which have been Occasion'd to This your Kingdom by the Dissolution of the Last Parlia∣ment,* and by the Frequent Prorogations of This Parliament, whereby the Papists have been Great∣ly Encouraged to Carry on their Hellish, and Dam∣nable Conspiracies, &c.]

[Resolved, That Whosoever Ad∣vised his Majesty to Prorogue This Parliament,* to Any Other purpose, then in Order to the Passing of a Bill for the Exclu∣sion of James Duke of York, is a Betrayer of the King; the Protestant Religion, and of the King∣dom of England; a Promoter of the French Inte∣rest, and a Pensioner to France.]

What is All This, but Overturning, and Over∣turning? Confusion, like Waves, following One upon the Back of Another; and the Cabal so In∣toxicated with Passion, in the Logick of This Last Vote, that the very Despite of being Defeated, made them Forget their Ordinary Prudence: For the Conclusion is never to be Reconcil'd to the Pre∣misses. All that can be said for This Worrying Vote, is, that they were then in their Last Agonies; for they were That Day Prorogu'd, from the afore∣said 10th of Ianuary, to the 20th, in Order to a Dissolution: And in All Mischievous Creatures, the Convulsions of Death are ever the Strongest: Page  51 But for the Rolls of the Written Addresses of Those Days, they are most of them Peremptory, for Sit∣ting 'till they might be Effectually Secur'd, and That's One Main Condition too, of the Countrys Addresses to their Members; And the Address of Sir Patience Ward, then Lord-Mayor, &c. to his Majesty Himself.

[Your Petitioners were Extremely Surpriz'd at the Late Prorogation,* whereby the Prosecution of the Publique Iustice of the Kingdom; and the Making the Provisions Necessary for the Preservation of your Majesty, and your Prote∣stant Subjects, hath received an Interruption, &c.

They do therefore most Humbly pray,* &c. That the said Parliament may Sit from the Day to which they are Prorogued, untill by their Councels, and Endeavours, Those Good Remedies shall be Provided, and Those Iust Ends Attained; upon which, the Safety of your Majesties Person; The Preservation of the Prote∣stant Religion; The Peace and Settlement of your Kingdoms, and the Welfare of This your Ancient City, do so Absolutely Depend.]

What is This now, but the Counter part of the Bill for Continuing the Parliament, that was Pass'd in Forty One, and Chiefly upon the very Same Pre∣tences too? Viz. That Publique Grievances might be Redress'd, and Iustice done upon Delinquents, before the Parliament should be Dissolv'd: Or in short; The King was [Not to Pro∣rogue, Adjourn,* or Dissolve This Parli∣ament, without Consent of Both Hou∣ses.]

Page  52And there's Another Parliamentary Point, yet to Come, in the Vote of Unqualifying the Members, for the Receiving of any Beneficial Office from the King. 'Tis a kind of a Scandalous Incapacity, for a Subject to fare the worse for his Master's Commissi∣on; And too much in all Conscience, for the Same Men to Tye-up the King's Hands from Any Act of Grace, and Bounty, toward his Subjects, that had before Ty'd-up the Peoples Hands, from Sup∣plying his Majesty. The Vote was This,

[Resolved, That no Member of This House shall Accept any Office,* or Place of Profit from the Crown with∣out the Leave of This House, nor any Promise of any such Office or Place of Profit during such time as he shall continue a Member of This House.]

An Eminent Member that Started This Motion, made it his Observation upon the Long Parliament, [That All Those that had Pensions, and most of Those that had Offices,* Voted All of a side, as they were di∣rected by some Great Officer, &c.] If That Gen∣tleman had taken as much Notice, that the House had but Two sides, and who Voted on the Other; he would have found a Noble Peer, to have Weigh'd against his Great Officer, and the Matter to be no more then the Old Discrimination over again, of [King and Parliament.] It may be a Question now, the Tendency, and Intent of This Touch duly Con∣sider'd, whether they made the King, or the Mem∣ber, in such a Case, the Greater Delinquent of the Two.

Page  53And they were not Contented, here, neither, without a Further Essay upon the Choice of his Majesties Ministers, and Officers of State, War, and Iustice; After the Copy of the Old Nineteen Propositions.

The King not to Chuse his own Officers, and Ministers.

[NO (a) Judges but men of Abi∣lity, Integrity,* and Known Affection to the Protestant Religi∣on: (And They Themselves to be Iudges of the Iudges) Their Offi∣ces, and Salaries, to hold, Quamdiu se bene gesserint, &c. (b) No Lord-Lieutenants, but Persons of Integri∣ty, and Known Affection to the Protestant Reli∣gion, (the Religion of the Associators, that is) No Deputy-Lieutenants, and Justices of the Peace, but so Qualify'd; And moreover, Men of Abili∣ty, Estates, and Interest in their Country: (u•∣der the Same Character still) None to be Employ'd as Military Officers, or Officers in his Majesties Fleet, but men of Known Experience, Courage, and Affection to the Protestant Religion.] (All, Parliament-Proof, still, and of the Same Stamp.] To say nothing of the Habeas-Corpus Bill; and other Encroachments upon the Preroga∣tives of the Crown: for fear of being too too Te∣dious. We'le see next, how they Be•av'd them∣selves in the Bus'ness of the Militia, and the Kings Guards; over and above the Step they made to Page  54 have the Approbation of All Officers, Themselves; After the Blessed Example, still, of Old Forty One: Nay, and in the very Method too; Begin∣ning with an Address for Guards; as follows.

They offer at the Militia, and the Guards.

*[WHereas the Safety and Pre∣servation of your Majesties Sacred Pe•son, is of so Great a Con∣sequence and Concernment, to the Pro∣testant Religion, and to All your Subjects; We do most humbly beseech your Majesty to Command the Lord Chamberlain, and All Other the Officers of your Majesties Houshold, to take a Strict Care that no Vnknown, or Suspicious Persons may have Access near your Majesties Person; and that your Majesty will likewise please to Command the Lord Mayor, and Lieutenancy of London, to Appoint sufficient Guards of the Train-Bands, during This Session of Parliament; and likewise the Lords Lieutenants of Middlesex and Surry, to appoint the Like Guards of the Trained-Bands, in Middlesex, Westminster, Southwark, and other Places Adjacent, as shall be thought Necessary.]

With Honour to That Long, Loyal Parliament; so many of them as Believ'd the Witnesses, had great Reason to Provide against Otes'es Black-Bills, and Mustard-Balls: But They that KNEW the whole Story to be as Arrant a Tale, as Tom Thumb; Those People, I say, had Designs, of Drawing the Militia over to Themselves, by Trepanning the Mul∣titude Page  55 into the Execution of One Cheat, under the Dread, and Belief of Another: And there were Ill men enow got into That Body, to Leaven the Whole Lump: The City of London however, will be Wiser, I hope, in the time to Come, after the better Part of 200000 l. paid for Experience; then to call for Double Guards again, for fear of Popery. But here follows Another Address about the Militia, that goes a little Further, than the Former; Tho' That would not do, Neither.

[May it please your Majesty,

We your Majesties most dutifull,* and Loyal Subjects, the Commons in Parliament Assembled, taking into Consideration the Eminent Dangers Arising to your Majesty, and the Whole Kingdom, from Popish Practices, and Con∣spiracies; and Conceiving that Nothing can so well Resist their Attempts, as some Parts of the Militia; (The Setled Legal Forces of This Kingdom:) [They should have said By your leave, Gentle∣men of the Guards] Actually in Arms, on whom your Majesty may Rely, with the Greatest Confidence, and Security.

We do therefore humbly Desire your Majesty to Command your Lieutenants, and Deputy-Lieute∣nants of the Several Counties of This Kingdom, to Give Order to All their Trained-Bands to be in a Readiness, and Draw together one Third Part of the Respective Militia; and to Continue them in a Bo∣dy for Fourteen Days; and after they are Dis∣miss'd, to Draw up another Part for the same Time, &c.

Page  56The Plot would not Take it seems, in One Par∣liament, and so they Try'd it again in the Next; falling foul, particularly, upon the Kings Guards, in the First Place, and after That, they were All in Post-hast again, for the Raising of the Militia, in these two Following Instances of Vote, and Ad∣dress.

[Resolved, That the Continuing of Any Standing Forces in This Nation,* other then the Militia, is Illegal, and a Great Grievance, and Vexation to the People.] And then.

We your Majesties most Loyal, &c. do most humbly beseech your Majesty,* that your Majesty would be Graciously pleas'd to give Order, that the Militia of London, Westminster, Southwark, the Tower-Hamlets, and the Counties of Middlesex and Surry may Im∣mediately be Raised, and put in a Posture of De∣fence, in such Proportion, and for such time, as your Majesty shall think fit.]

In the Wipe upon the Guards, they had it in their Heads, directly, to Disarm the King; Nay, to Un-king him; (for without the Power of the Sword, he hath No Power at all;) and in fine, to Turn the Point of it, upon their Sovereign: For the Militia, at the Rate that they had Tamper'd the Peoples Minds, and Affections, would have been as Fit for Another Edg-hill Expedition, a∣gainst Charles the Second, as ever it was for That, in the Time of Charles the Martyr.

Excluding and Proroguing, Two Great Points.

THE Refusal of This Bill, and the Last Re∣fuge (that the King had left him) of Pro∣roguing Parliaments, were Two Terrible Rubbs in their way: For, with the Help of the One, they could have done the Bus'ness of the Roman Catho∣liques, at pleasure, and made as many Reputed, and Suspected Papists of the Rest of his Majesties Subjects, as they found Averse to the Popular De∣sign. And Then, under the Countenance of a Sit∣ting Parliament they had a Thousand Tricks and Devices, by their Printed Votes, Papers, and In∣telligences, to make their Principals Fall down, and Worship them, as the Bulwark of the Protestant Religion; the Heroes, and Patriots of the Common Cause, and the Saviours of the Nation. But the Cunning Snapps of the Faction, finding that the King would not let go his Power of Calling them, and sending 'em away again as he pleas'd; and that Prorogations and Dissolutions were but as Sentence, Page  68 and Execution, to them; They had the Wit to make a Provision of Parliamentary Guards for the Oxford Meeting, under Colour of Securing the Protestant Members from having their Throats Cut there by the Papists: And it is more then Proba∣ble, that if his Majesty had not very prudently, taken Two Steps at a Time, and Dissolv'd them upon the very Spot, and Instant, without the An∣tecedent Ceremony of Proroguing them, they would have found, (under the Colour of a House of Commons yet in Being) Another Game to Play. There had been a Heavy Cry made upon all their Former Disappointments; in Pamphlets, Papers, Discourses, Addresses, upon Surprizing Proroga∣tions; Popish and Amazing Prorogations, &c. which humour they did Notably set forth in an Address to his Majesty of No. 11. 1680.

NOW to Observe a little upon This Lamentably-Complaining Address;* the Old Vein, I perceive, of Popery, and Calamity, Conspiracy, and De∣struction runs quite thorough it: And what Mi∣sery soever, has either Threatn'd or Befall'n the King, the Government, the Church, or the Peo∣ple, is All-Charg'd upon the score of This Al∣mighty Plot, as the First Cause, and Mover of it. And (which was the spite on't) no Averting of Those Impending Miseries, but by the Kings Par∣ting with his Honour, his Crown, Natural Affecti∣on, Humanity, Gratitude, In short, His Ministers, His Friends, His Prerogative, Reas•n, and Iu∣stice. 'Tis Urg'd, that the Councels were Evil and Destructive, that Mov'd his Majesty to a Proroga∣tion, and Then, to a Dissolution of the Foregoing Parliament. How could it be Evil, and Destruc∣tive, Page  71 in the Advising, and not so, in the Doing too? Or what matters it, whether it be done Without Advice, or With it; so long as the Venom of This Address Wounds the King, Equally, under the Cover of his Ministers. The Want of That Ad∣vice, and Resolution, in the Parliament of One and Forty, Cost the Royal Father his Life; and the Son, Probably, upon such a Concession, would not have come-off much Cheaper: Unless it shall be Imagin'd, that he might have found Better Quar∣ter in the House, then in the Field, from the ve∣ry same Persons that were Now in Councell, and Afterwards in Arms against him. It is pretended, that the Commons were ready for the Tryal of the Five Lords, at the Dissolution of the Last Parlia∣ment: Now This was only Bubbling the Multi∣tude; for the Commons Themselves would not Yield to't, unless the Earl of Danby might be Try'd First. But to say All in a word; The King was Vndone if he did Not Prorogue, and the Republicans, if he Did. As to the Possibility of more Witnesses Coming in, it cannot be Deny'd, that, according to the way of Summons that was then in Fashion, the Common Iayles, (nay Newgate it Self, in the Case of Prance) were Consulted for Evidence: and they could not well fail of as many Witnesses, as either Malice, Faction, Countenance, or Reward, could Prevail upon to Forswear themselves; But a [Material Evidence,] it seems, was lost by't. (Bedloe they mean.) A Fellow known for a Blasphemous, Atheistical Wretch; A Thief, a Cheat; and in fine, a Scandal to the very Alms-Basket. Page  72 What a Dismal, [VNFORTVNATE] Loss was This now, of so [Material] an Evidence, (in Good Time) upon the Plot in General! (which Material Evidence in the True Intent of it, is no Other, then a Rogue that would Swear any thing:) But against the Five Lords, they say, in Particu∣lar; And if there had been Five times Fifteen Hundred more of them, he should have Sworn a∣gainst 'em All at the Same Price. I can hardly look back upon the Parting Complement, without Thinking of the Addresses and Declarations of One and Forty, for the making of Charles the First, a Glorious King; they are so Very, Very Alike. But so much for the Bus'ness of Prerogative. And now, for the Other Great Point, the Matter of Exclusion, let the Bill Speak for it self. 'Tis Long; But it Carries the Heart in the Face on't; and 'tis Pity but Posterity should have it Entire.

The Faction were in a Fair way, by This time, to rid their Hands of the King's Roman Catho∣lique Friends; and they were not without their Expedients, and Inventions, to get shut of Reputed,* as well as of Pro∣fess'd Papists; For there needed but an Impeachment, an Address, a Supposition, or an Opinion, to the doing of the Whole Work. The Po∣pish Design, they say, was [Assisted by the Treachery of Perfidious Pro∣testants.*] Now Those Perfidious Protestants made Excellent Reputed Papists. [Re∣puted,] and [Suspected:] By Whom? If by Themselves; the Devil's in People, if They do not Page  77 Win All they Play for, when they have the Shuf∣fling, and the Packing of their own Cards, and Keep-in, or Put-out as they Themselves please.

[Resolved, That All Persons who Advis'd his Majesty in his Last Mes∣sage to This House to Insist upon an Opinion against the Bill for Excluding the Duke of York, have given Pernicious Advice to his Majesty,* and are Promoters of Popery, and Enemies to the King and Kingdom.]

[Resolved, That it is the Opini∣on of This House,* that George Earl of Hallifax, Henry Marquis of Worcester, and Henry Earl of Clarendon, are Persons who Advised his Majesty, ut Supra; and that they have therein given Pernicious Councell to his Majesty, are Pro∣moters of Popery, and Enemies to the King, and Kingdom.] And therefore they Address'd for the Removing of them: And when their Hands were In; Laurence Hyde, Esq and Lewis Earl of Fe∣versham were to be Remov'd from All Offices, and from his Majesties Presence for Ever, and an Ana∣thema Pass'd upon the Advisers of a Prorogation, unless upon a Condition of Excluding the Duke.

I Have Chosen, rather,* upon This whole Matter, to Hazzard an Er∣ror on the Right Hand, then on the Left; and to venture being Over-large in my Au∣thorities, and Proofs, rather than fall Short. So that here is Evidence, more then Enough, of the Snares that were laid for All men of Integrity, and Page  78 Honour, and the Advantages that the Faction in∣tended to make of the Zeal, the Passions, and the Credulity of the Common People. If This Pernici∣ous Advice, in the Case of the Earl of Strafford, and Arch-Bishop Laud, had been given to Charles the first; which the Votes Impute to These Ho∣nourable Persons, in the Case of the Duke of York, it had, most undoubtedly, Sav'd King, Church, and People, (if his Majesty had thought fit to fol∣low it) which were All lost for want of Proroguing, Dissolving, and Asserting the Privileges of the Crown, in That Turbulent Iuncture. Insolent De∣mands, Expostulations, and Propositions, are the Certain Prologue to Insolent Actions: But his Majesty Himself, was too Good to Suspect; and where ever he Trusted any of the Party, he was Betray'd. Briefly, the Case of the Two Last Kings were but too much Alike: Only the Latter, when he had Parted with as much as 'twas possible for him to Spare, and Save the Rest, he Held his Hand: Whereas his Vnhappy Father, gave On, and On, 'till he left himself at Mercy. The Thing that made the Great Noise, was the Bill of Ex∣clusion; but [A King or No King,] was the Truth of the Matter in Issue. They were of [OPINI∣ON,] that these noble Persons did so or so, and upon That Bare Opinion, let fly at the King's Mi∣nisters, Effectually, by Whole-Sale; without any respect to the Measures of Religion, Order, Rea∣son, or State. How many Cart-Loads of Fears, and Iealousies have we had, lest the King should Abuse his Power! And how many Casuistical Whim∣seys Page  79 of Self-Preservation, in case he does: But here was no Right, no Colour, to the Pretence, of so much as bringing That Question upon the Carpet: And the Councell that they Brand for so Pernici∣ous, was, undoubtedly, the most Seasonable, and Saving Advice, upon That Crisis, that could be Given. But to go forward; If they may Exclude the Heir Apparent, for Religion, why not the King Himself too? The Parity of Excluding the Duke, Extending to the Deposing of the Sovereign; and This Doctrine was the very Corner Stone of the Last Rebellion. And Excluding for RELIGION is not All neither; for it Involves a Claim of breaking-in upon the Crown, whether there be any Religion in the Case, or No: For the Conspirators made them∣selves, both Dividers, and Chusers; and Their Single OPINION, was a Sentence in the Case; the very Saying that it was This or That Religion, or Whatsoever Religion they pleas'd, was enough to Make it so. [This House is of OPINION,] went Fifty times further, then [Be it Enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty.]

THis Vnaccountable Stretch of Arrogance, and Vsurpation,* put all Sober Men to a Stand, to Consider, what would be the End, in a Natural, and a Logical Consequence, upon This Proceeding. If a Prince has not the Liberty of Chusing his Own Servants; If he has not the Power of Protecting them; If Subjects shall take upon them to Treat their Sovereign like a Pupil, and turn off his Mini∣sters Page  80 like so many Footmen; because they are of [OPINION] that they give him This or That Advice; and that such Advice is Pernicious; If Matters be thus Manag'd, what's become of the Imperial State of This Government? Here's Opini∣on, (and the Opinion of Subjects too) (without Proof, without Power, without Prerogative, and (shortly) without any Foundation;) Taking up∣on it self to give Laws to the Majesty of a Sole Go∣vernour; and if they could have Carry'd That Point, it would have been as good as a Title Gain'd, in the Account of the Multitude, to the Government of the Three Kingdoms: For nothing less then the Exclusion, would serve their Turn; and the Con∣founding of all Those that were Against That Ex∣clusion: Nay, and That it self, would not have Done, at Last, neither; as we shall see by and by. So that, once for all, having the Modelling, the Iudging, and the Discriminating of the Friends, and Enemies of the State, Themselves, and in their Own Right; (as they pretended) what be∣twixt Associating, on the One side, and Seizing, Banishing, Disarming, Imprisoning, Opining, Su∣specting, Reputing; and the Sweet Comfortable Methods of Swearing, Hanging, and Quarte∣ring, on the Other, there would have been little more for the Conspirators to Do, then to Kill, and Take Possession, and to lay Violent Hands up∣on the King, under the Colour of a Rescue.

Page  81BUt Religion, and Loyalty,* was still the Burden of the Song; A Company of Rogues, to Blunderbuss his Majesty! Burn Protestant Cities, and Massa∣cre Poor Innocent People! This was the Voyce that was Lifted up, and the Outcry, that Caused so much Weeping, and Wailing among us: While the Witnesses, in the mean time, were All-to-be Colonell'd, Doctor'd, Captain'd, and Squir d, for the Credit of the Story. It was a most Re∣markable, and an Auspicious Resolution taken, to set a-part [Gods Day,] for [Gods Cause,] (as it was Blasphemously Christen'd) when they Post∣pon'd the Consideration of the Lord Chancellors Speech, of Apr. 30. 1679. Time after Time, un∣till Sunday the 11th. of May following, which was so Arrant a Forty-One-Banter, that I presently told my Friends, without going to a Wizzard, the very Dunstable Meaning of it; and the Plot-Leaders were so kind to me in That, as well as in Other of my Predictions, that they made a Prophet of me. But I shall have another Touch upon this Particular by and by.

Upon Nov. 8. 1678. They Re∣solv'd upon an Address,* to Desire his Majesty, that there might be [a Particular Prayer, or Prayers Composed for the Cities of London and Westminster, relating to the Plot, and Conspiracy, Contrived, and Car∣ry'd-on by the Papists, against his Majesties Per∣son and Government.]

Page  82Upon Sunday the 10th. following, they Complain'd [That in the Pray∣er,* there was no mention made of the Papists; who (says the Vote) are the Contrivers of These Damnable and Hellish Plots, &c. And they humbly Desire his Majesty to give Effectual Order, &c. After this, and in the Next Parliament, they had Another Tour of Passe-Passe; of the Same Stamp with the Former; which went a Great way toward the Moving of All Those Passions that might be Serviceable to the Project of That Sea∣son: as will be better seen upon the Reading of that Address it self, or, (which is all one) of Another Address for a day of Humiliation on Nov. 25. 1680. in the Following Parliament, which Address is within a very little of Word for Word with the Former.

HEre's just the Style of the Old Blessed Times over again;* when Days of Humiliation were u∣sed to be set a-part for the Kings Success against the Rebells. A Body would have thought by the Solemnity of the Wording of it, that there had been Sword, Pestilence, and Fa∣mine; Earthquakes, and Fire and Brimstone in the Case. Now Every Thing help'd to Move Terror, Iealousie, Mortal Animosities, Indignation, and Transports of Ardent, and of Vindictive Zeal; Even to the Degree, of a Temptation to break through all the Barrs of Duty, Shame, Modesty, Conscience, and Respect: Beside, that upon the making of God Almighty a Party to the Quarrel, Temporal Power, Thrones and Magistrates, are no better Accounted then Dirt under the Feet of Enthusiastique Bigotts. To Conclude; the Ad∣dresses for One Day of Humiliation, should have put the Kingdom, Methinks, upon Petitioning for another, for the Sin of the very Addresses: At least, if the Plot should in the End, Prove False at the Bottom. But after all this Dust and Scuffle now, betwixt Petitioners, and Ahorrers; Page  84 True-Protestants, and Pensioners; Whigg and To∣ry; Observator and Trimmer, there are several more Difficulties yet behind, to be Enquir'd in∣to. It is a Thing Evident, without Dispute, that a Prince Cannot be more Affronted, and En∣danger'd, then by Pinching him in his Revenue; Paring, and Cramping his Royal Prerogative, and Power; Lessening him in his Reputation, and putting him out of Condition of Receiving the Servic•s of his Dutifull Friends; and Those Friends out of Condition to Support, and to Maintain the Honour, and Dignity of their Master. Now all this has been Attempted, and Pursued with the Vttermost Industry, and Bitterness Imaginable. But here was a Dev'lish Plot, it seems, and for That Dev'lish Plots Sake, the Heir of the Crown must be Disinherited, and the Roman Catholiques, in a manner, Exterminated from off the face of the Earth; and no other way in the World to Save our Prince, and our Religion, (as the In∣fallible Oracle of St. Stephens Chappel gives us to Vnderstand) but by a Fair Riddance of all the Kings English Subjects of That Persuasion; which by Pursuivanting, Messengering, Sergeanting, Cooping-up, Squeezing, Rifling, Plundering, and Oppressing, they had well-nigh Effected already: Only the Late King stuck at the Exclusion of the Duke: But however, the Faction had such an Offer made them, by the way of a kind of Com∣position for the Exclusion, as would certainly have put them into the Possession of Their Own Wishes; If they had not been most Providentially Infatua∣ted, Page  85 into the Neglect, or Refusal of it: to the Preservation of the Crown, the Duke, the Royal Line, and the Monarchy it self. And here comes the Expedient.

NOt to Descant beyond Good Manners, upon this Wonderfull Offer. The Government seem'd, now, Cross or Pile, whether it should Page  88 be a Monarchy, or a Common-Wealth. But all Treating, and Propounding pass'd with them, for Dodging: So that they put-off the Consideration of it, Day after Day, till the 11th. of May following;* and Then, upon a Sundays Uote, they came to a Resolution of having [A Bill brought in, to Dis∣able the Duke of York to Inherit the Imperial Crown of This Realm:] Which was follow'd with the Revenging Vote, in the Tayle on't. Now this was rather a Mockery, then an Answer; and a Proceeding, that had more of Haughtiness, and Insolence, then of Prudence; for it was their In∣terest, to have been more Mannerly and Modest: But their Bus'ness was Matter of Power, and Com∣mand, not Grievance, and Redress; and the Kings Complyances in this Matter, were Worse then Flat Denyals: For the more He Yielded, the Harder They Press'd him; and the Inference was Reasonable Enough, from the Gaining of One thing after Another, by Importunity, to the getting of All, at Last. In short, they had set their Hearts upon the Exclusion; and their Reputations too, were so far at Stake upon't, that the Carrying of That Point, Either way, was a kind of Victory, on the One side, or on the Other. They had said they Would have it; they had Tun'd the People to the Expectation of it, and therefore, Have it they Mu•t: Insomuch, that [More,] any Other way, seem'd Less to 'em: For to be Refus'd, and to sit down with That Repulse would have been to Lose Ground: And they were, upon Page  89 Any Terms, to Uphold the Credit of their Autho∣rity, and rhe Reason of their Demands, as well as the Opinion of their Power Delays are Haz∣zardous, and they were rather for One Kingdom in Hand, then Two or Three, in Reversion, upon the Emprovement of the Project. But they rec∣kon'd without their Host, it seems, for that Bout, and so left the Stage, and the Debate, Re In∣fecta.

UPON the Meeting of the Next Parliament,* they O∣pen'd a little Wider; Declaring in an Address of December, 21. 1680. That, in Truth, the Exclusion A∣lone, would not do the Bus'ness, without an Association to Back it. Nay, and This was not suf∣ficient neither, for [As some further means (says the Same Address) for the Preservation both of our Religion,* and Property, We are humble Suitors to your Majesty, that from hence-forth, Such Persons only may be Judges, &c.] And so it proceeds, to the Purging, and Regula∣ting of Courts of Iustice; the Choice of Lord-Lieu∣tenants, Deputy-Leutenants, and Iustices of the Peace; Military Officers both at Sea and Land: with an Express Exception all this while, to [Men of Arbitrary Principles, and Countenancers of Pa∣pists and Popery, &c.] That is to say; Always Excepted,* the Pernici∣ous Advisers of Proroguing Par∣liaments, and Rejecting Bills of Exclusion: So Page  90 that in fine; the Devil a Dram of Popery, was here to be found, upon the Foot of This Account; nor any thing else, but Sedition under a Masque of Religion, and an Impetuous, Restless Ambition, of getting Sovereign Power into their Own Hands.

NOW the most that can be pretended, in Mitigation of this Violent, and Vnwarranta∣ble Practice, is; that they Meant Well,* perhaps, but fai'ld in their Measures. If there was a Wheel in a Wheel as they say, and One Plot Nurs'd-up under Another, it might be a Thing Started by the By; and only an Advantage made, of an Occasion, Vn∣foreseen, without any Previous Design. My An∣swer is; that This was the Case of Some, but not of Others; And that I hold my self Bound, in Reason, Charity, and Iustice, to Distinguish be∣twixt 'em: That is to say; betwixt the Bare Believers, and the Conscientious, though Mis∣taken Abetters of the Plot, and the Malicious Contrivers, and Promoters of it. Of the Two Former Sorts there were a Great many Worthy Men, and True Lovers of their Prince, their Re∣ligion, and their Country, that upon the first Flush∣ing-up of the Sham, fell most Unhappily into the Snare, and these were Persons, Effectually, so Eminently Loyal, and so Passionately Zelous for his Majesties Safety, and Government, and for the Protestant Religion, that they were e'en the Worse for't again; for their very Character, in Concurrence with Vile Projectors, Patrons, and Page  91 Witnesses, gave a Reputation to the Imposture. Their Passions were so taken-up, with the Horror of the Wickedness, that they did not so much Attend to the Proofs of it; and the Detestation they had for so Hideous a Conspiracy, Blinded their Eyes, that they could not see the Cheat: But Time brought the Truth to Light, and Peo∣ple to their Wits again. This does not hinder, (though so many Good Men were led away at First, by Plausible Appearances) but that the Foundation of This Structure was laid in Hell, and the Treason, Deliberately Pursu'd from One End of the Train to the Other. The Exclusion of the Duke, was no other, then a Dethroning of the King; for his Majesties Prerogative, and his Royal Highnesses Birth-right, were Both Struck∣at in the very Same Address. But whether This was done Wilfully, Spitefully, and with Malice prepense, is Another Question, which I take to be, not only Probable, in Many Respects, but Demon∣stratively Clear, and Certain, in Others.

FIrst as to the Quality of the Two Cardinal Witnesses. It was Low, and Mean, to the Degree of a Scandalous, and a Star∣ving Poverty;* and yet One of'em from a Street-Beggar, and the other from a Iayle, and an Alms-Basket, sets up for the Discovering of a Conspiracy Carry'd on in the Cabinets of Princes; In the Privacies of Cloysters, and Cells, and in the Secret Confi∣dences of men of Honour, of the First Rank; Page  92 what Forces to be Rais'd; What Officers; When, and in What Manner the King was to be Murder'd; the Price of the Villany, and Who and Who to do the Execution. How could any man, whose Patience upon the Surprize of the First Alarum, would but give him leave to Think, tho' never so Litle, of the Tale, and of the Reporters of it, Imagine, that these Scoundrells should ever come within reach, of being Privy to this Plot, even if Every Syllable of it had been True: And that so many Persons of Brains and Fortune, should Trust their Lives, and Estates in the Hands, and at the Mercy of such a Brace of Varlets! Otes at the End of his Narrative, in his List of the Conspi∣rators, reckons up [Nine Benedictines, Three Carmelites, Two Franciscans, Ten Dominicans,* Twenty Five Jesuits, All in England: Two at Liege, Five at Watton, Twelve at St. Omers, Seaven Jesuits more abroad; Twelve Scotch Je∣suits, Eight Secular Persons; two Lay-Brothers, Fourteen Secular Priests in England, which he has but upon Enformation, he says: (as who should say, I dare not venture an Oath upon't.) [Four o∣ther Persons; Beside Seaven and Twenty No∣blemen, Gentlemen, and Officers, that had All, Commissions, whose Names (he says) did not Oc∣cur at Present.] This is a Great Number of Con∣spirators, for One poor Man to give an Account of

As to the Probity of their Life and Conversa∣tion; They came upon the Stage, Recommended for Buggery, Perjury, and Horse-Stealing by Ad∣vance; Page  93 and Notorious, for these Evidencing Qua∣lifications, before-hand. In their Enformations, they Fall Foul, not only One upon Another; but up∣on Themselves too, and Each of them is Felo de se, in his Self-Contradictions. Now this is a To∣pique, that has been Beaten over and over, through∣out the whole Course of the Observators; and a Man might Muster-up, at least Forty or Fifty Cor∣roborating Swearers more, of the Same Stamp.

BUT I am now upon the Subject of the Sub∣borners Themselves, Not the Hirelings; For Those Men, and Matters, would ne∣ver have pass'd Muster,* if there had not been more Care taken to Cover, and Conceal the Perjury, then to find out the Truth. Who were the Great Sticklers for Otes, and his Accomplices, but the very Persons that were the Ring-Leaders of the Late Rebellions? And who but Otes again, at all their Republican Clubs, and Cabals? In short; Nothing could be more Palpa∣ble, then that there was a Confederate Agreement of the Party, in Mediating for the Profess'd Ene∣mies of the Government, and Addressing against the Vnquestionable Friends, and Servants of it. Nor could that Constant Practice have any Other End in Prospect, then the Ruine of the King, the Sub∣version of the Monarchy, and the Introducing of a Common-Wealth. What was the Meaning of their Vote of [Thanks to the City of Lon∣don for their Manifest Loyalty to the King, their Care, Charge,* and Page  94 Vigilancy for the Preservation of his Majesties Per∣son and of the Protestant Religion,] But the Fi∣ring of a Gun to Call for Help, upon the Spring∣ing of a Leake, and no body within distance to Relieve them? And then to follow it the same Morning,* with Another Resolved, [That it is the Opinion of the House,* That James Duke of Mon∣mouth hath been removed from his Offices and Com∣mands, by the Influence of the Duke of York.] And so to [Order an Application to be made to his Majesty from that House, by such Members there∣of as were of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council, to desire his Majesty to Restore the said James Duke of Monmouth to his said Offices, and Commands.] What were These Two Votes, I say, but so much Holy-Water cast away upon the D. of M. and the City; and to do as much as in Them lay, under That Exigence, toward the bringing of the Head, and the Body together: Briefly, they found that One Duke was as Neces∣sary for the King, as the Other was for the Faction, and that was the True Ground of the Bill of Ex∣clusion, and the Vote of Intercession. Ben. Harris was Fin'd, and Pillory'd for One Treasonous Libell; Care (with his Strange Knack) was Fin'd for Another, Every jot as Bad as That; And Brown for Other Libells, the Worst of all Three. And yet These Paltry Libellers found Powerfull Friends, and In∣tercessors: Nay and the very Fining of them for Sedition, was Enter'd upon the Charge against Sr. W. Scroggs, as One Article Ingredient to the Page  95 making up of his Treasons. Now certainly there was something Extraordinary in't, that more then That Number of Noble Lords, should be Declared Pernicious Advisers; Promoters of Popery, and Enemies to the King and Kingdom, for only Ioyning with the King Himself in Opi∣nion against the Exclusion; And that the Same Persons should Arraign the One, that Brought-off the Other: So Mortal a Sin was it accounted, in Those days, to Serve the Crown, and the Royal Family; and so Venial a Slip, to Endea∣vour the Overturning of the Government. I do not remember so much as any One Instance, that Vary'd from This Rule; And never was any thing so Constant, that came by Chance. To give These Political Operators their Due; there was Nothing Wanting to their Purposes, that either Fraud, Industry, Confidence or Hypocrisy could Furnish. They made the People afraid of Infallibility, and Arbitrary Power, and at the Same Time, look'd them in the very Faces, while they Assum'd the One, and Practis'd the Other, Themselves; the Former, under the Au∣thority of [the Wisedom of the Nation;] and the Latter, in the Right of the [Commons of Eng∣land.] For Every Vote was, in Effect, a Sen∣tence of Law, Reason, and Power; Sovereign, Absolute, and without Controll; And it was but saying, that This or That [Is, at This Time,* Grievous to the Subject, a Weak'ning of the Protes∣tant Interest, an Encouragement to Popery, Page  96 and Dangerous to the Peace of the Kingdom, to make the Resolution Authentique, with a Non Obstante, of never so many Laws to the Contrary. If a Vote say, that the King Can∣not (a) Pardon; (b) That Subjects shall not lend him Money; Or (c) That the Refusal of the Lords to Pro∣ceed in Parliament, upon the Com∣mons Impeachments of any Peer or Commoner, for Treason, or any o∣ther Crime, or Misdemeanour, is a Denial of Iustice, and a Uiolation of the Constitution of Parliaments.] Here's the King, Law, and Lords Over-rul'd, and the Votes made Presidents; Cited, and Pleaded, for the Prerogative of the House of Commons, in all the Clubs, or (which is the same Thing) the Peoples Courts of Iustice, throughout the Three Kingdoms: And it could not well be Other, so long as Green-Ribbon-Committees, and Caballs, With∣out doors, had such an Influence upon what pass'd Within; and that the Principal Managers of Otes'es Plot, were the very Oracles that were Consulted for Direction, and Resolution upon All the Conspiracies that were then in Agitation. These Evidences, upon the Transactions of the House it self; drawn from the Prints, that they Them∣selves Order'd to be Publish'd, (and that were Publish'd accordingly) as an Appeal to the Whole World, in Iustification of their Proceedings; and to Prevent False Copies and Reports: These very Pa∣pers Page  97 are the Evidences (as their Unlucky Starrs would have it) that are now Arisen in Iudgment 1against them; and Faithfully Deliver'd-over to Succeeding Times, as the Only Sure Means of Vn∣riddling the Mystery of This Wonderfull Intrigue: And, certainly, No better way to let the Reader into the Secrets of This Affair, then by the Key it self, that was Made, Originally, to the Cy∣pher.

I Have by this Time, Trac'd the Likelyhoods of a Deliberated De∣sign upon the King, Church,* and State, thorough all the Steps of Probability, and Strong Presumpti∣on, up to the Highest Degree of Certainty, and Demonstration. Were not All the Violent Asserters of the Duke of Monmouth's Pretended Interest, and the Opposers of the Indu∣bitable Right of his Royal Highness, Embarqu'd in the Same Bottom, of Enmity to the Government, and of Kindness to the Faction? How many were there in Both Houses, that had the Same Hearts towards the King, in a Committee of Parliament that they had afterward, in a Clubb, or in an Army? And still, Otes'es Plot, the Sup∣port of All their Pretences: And what was the Countenance of That Plot, at Last; but that the King was in Danger of being Assassinated by the Papists; and therefore, the Posse of the Three Kingdoms was to be Rais'd, to Prevent that Mur∣ther? Page  98 Now whoever Believes That Story to be True, must of Necessity, draw this Conclusion from it; That the Same People Stickled for the Sa∣ving of the King, at Whitehall, that were for the Killing of him, in the West: That is to say, unless they can Bear the World down, that there was No Rebellion: Or that None of the Leading Members of Either House were Concern'd in't; but for That, there was never any thing made Plainer, then This Affirmative; not onely from the Mouths of their Confederates, but from the Confessions of the very Parties Themselves. For the Truth of This, I may further Remit my self to Divers Proclamations, Declarations, and Other Acts of State, that have been Issued out, by the Or∣der, and Authority of the Late Blessed King, and of his Sacred Majesty that is now in Being. But, as a Supplemental Explanatory to All the Rest; the Paper of Association that was found in the Late Earl of Shaftsburies Closet, (and Prov'd up∣on him, if ever Light it self was made Manifest) That Paper, I say, may serve; without any Vio∣lence to the Text, for a Comment upon All the Dark Passages of That History: for it is, in the Frame, Order, and Matter of it, no other then a Compendious Abstract of the Debates, and Resolu∣tions that had pass'd the Commons upon the bus'∣ness of the Plot, and the Succession: Insomuch that there is hardly a Syllable of any Moment in the One, that is not Answer'd, and Eccho'd, in the Other: and whoever Lick'd it into Form, the Pro∣ject Page  99 was the Cubb of a Close-Committee, and it was kept in Reserve for a Forc'd-Put. The French Holy League was look'd upon, in those days, as a Master-piece; but the Devil was, as yet, a No∣vice. The Scotch, and English Holy League, and Covenant, came an Age Later into the World, and Refin'd upon the French One; and Then, some Forty Year after that, came the Noble Peers Association, that Out-did them Both. But there's no Reading upon't 'till we have the Piece it self Before us, in its own Dimensions, Words, and Colours.

Notes upon the ASSOCIATION.

THE Reader will find in this Paper of Asso∣ciation, All the Lines of the Pretended Popish Plot; the Summ of the Whole Cause, and of all they Contended for. It shews the Modell, and Expounds the Meaning of the Design; the Manner of Working-it-up, and the Degrees of Ripening it for Execution. It lays Open the Rise, Progress, and Drift, of a Republican Conspiracy, Step by Step: Insomuch, that a man may Trace out with a Chalk, the Entire Course of the In∣trigue, from the First Broaching of it to the Last Resolution, and understand, that [Resolv'd upon the Question] had a Hand in't, as well as [Wée the Knights, &c.] And This will Plain∣ly Appear, upon Comparing the One with the Other.

Page  107My Next Bus'ness is, to lay open the Conformi∣ty of Parts, and the Harmony of Design betwixt the Proceedings of the House, and the Tendence of the Paper of Confederacy, and when I have made out That once, there will be No Separa∣ting the Conspirators in the Votes, from [Wée the Knights, &c.] in the Association; but they must be Both, of Necessity Involv'd in the same Plot.

The First Clause finds [a Hellish Popish Plot,] agreeable to the Vote of Oct. 31. 1678. The Se∣cond finds the Duke of York in the Bottom on't: And so did a Following Vote, some Four Days after the Former; Whereupon, I remember, there was a Debate Started, for an Address, to Remove him. It speaks of [the Power, and Influence of Popish Councells, in the Disposing of Offices;] which is the Main Topique again, of the Address of Nov. 29. 1680. And so in the Third and Fourth Clauses; it falls upon the Illegal, [Mercenary Forces;] [Unreasonable Prorogations and Dissolutions;] The Strength of the Nation both at Sea, and Land, put into the hands of [His Royal High∣nesses Party, and their Adherents;] which is no other again, then an Extract out of Several Votes, and Addresses already mention'd. The Fifth takes a General Prospect of the Miserable Condition of the King and Kingdom, through the Vindictive Malice of the Papists: Which is over and over Inculcated also, in Several of their Addresses; as in that of November 29. 1680. If so and so; Page  108 [We have Freed our selves from the Guilt of That Bloud and Desolation which is like to Ensue.*] And so afterward, in that of Decemb 21. 1680. The Question is Put; [Whe∣ther, in case the Crown should De∣scend to the Duke of York;* the Op∣position which may possibly be made to his Possessing it, may not onely Endanger the Further Descent in the Royal Line, but even Mo∣narchy it self.] In the Sixth Clause, it sets forth, that since they cannot Prevail upon the King to Exclude the Duke by a Bill, in [a Parliamenta∣ry-way,] they Propose [a Promise of Mutual Defence and Assistance among All True-Prote∣stants.]

[In the Preservation of the True-Protestant Religion, his Majesties Person, and Royal State, and our Lives, Liberties, and Proper∣ties, &c.]

These are the Words of the Pre∣amble,* or Introduction to the Associ∣ation; which are but the very same Thing, in Other Terms, with the Proposal of Dec. 21. 1680. in the Address it self: Wherein they de∣sire [That his Majesty will be Graci∣ously pleased to Assent to an Act,* whereby his Majesties Protestant Sub∣jects may be Enabled to Associate Themselves for the Defence of his Majesties Person; the Prote∣stant Religion, and the Security of his Kingdoms: Page  109 These Requests (say they) we are Constrained hum∣bly to make to your Majesty, as of Absolute Neces∣sity for the Safe and Peaceable Enjoyment of our Religion.]

So that This Association, is Parliamentary, from Head to foot, and little more in't, then a Working upon Their Modell: Only [Wée the Knights, &c.] Took Leave in One Case, and Ask'd it, in the Other. I speak of the Majority of the House, as it was then Leaven'd, and with Great Honour to the Loyal, and Sober Mixture that was in That Assembly. While the Address above-Mention'd, (in Answer to the Kings Speech of the 15th of the same Month) was under Debate, the Collectour of the Proceedings of That Season, takes upon him to Report this following Passage, of a Speech De∣liver'd in the House, upon That Question.

[I cannot agree, in Pressing the Association-Bill:* For being it hath not yet been brought into the House, we do not well know what will be the Purport of it: And it is not Proper that we should Ask of the King, we know not What, nor Expect that he should Grant us what He can know nothing of: And truly Sir, I think that These Things about the Judges, Deputy-Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace, are Minute Things to be Insisted on, at This Time, Compar'd with Others, which might be Demanded! Queen Elizabeth's Councellours ne∣ver thought Her Safe 'till the Popish Successor was in a Tower; and I am afraid that you will never be Safe, untill you take some such Course, Page  110 that may bring things to an Issue. When you have done That, and Banished All the Considerable Pa∣pists out of England, I think we shall not be in such Apparent Danger as we now are; And seeing This may Probably be Granted, and the Other Bills Not, I humbly Move you to Recommit the Address, that it may be better Consider'd.

And what's the Difference now, in Substance, betwixt the Biass of the Debate, and the Effect of the Resolution? The Exclusion, and Association, were not let fall, because they were Vnequal, and Vnreasonable; but because they were not Attai∣nable; and only in Exchange too, for Other Equi∣valent Expedients: for Such an Imprisonment, and Such a Banishment, would have had the Force of an Exclusion, and an Association, with∣out the Name of it; for the Banishing of All, on the One side, does Naturally Resolve into an Vnion, of All, on the Other.

Now to put All This together; it amounts to no more then what the Prevailing Party in the House, had Propounded, Declar'd, and Resolv'd upon, Before-hand: Only the Kings Peremptory Refusal, put 'em upon the After-Game of Attem∣pting to get That by Force, which they could not Gain by Address; And it is not to be doubted, but the Faction Acted In the House, as well as Out of the House, by the Same Spirit. To say the Truth on't; The Conspirators that Influenc'd These Desperate Designs, were Past Rubicon, long since, and No Retreat left them, but with Halters about their Necks; if Tenderness, and Clemency it Page  111 self, had not well nigh Dissolv'd the Awe of Royal Power, and Iustice; in the Overflowings of That most Gracious Prince's Patience, and Mercy: But when the Ring-Leaders found, that they might Ask any thing, Gratis; they never fail'd of fol∣lowing Denyals with Importunities, and Importu∣nities, with Expostulations; 'till, in the End, up∣on a Full Tryal of their Interest, and Skill, they might come to Settle their Measures. They Rec∣kon'd upon't, that they had Two Strings to their Bow: And that if One Fail'd, they had Another would Hold. They Ply'd his Majesty with the most Reproachfull of Libells, under the Title of Petitions, and Addresses; and, in a Style, and Countenance of Duty, and Respect. When they Miss'd of any thing at First Request, they were sure to follow it with Passion, Instance, Menace, and Clamour: The [Monarchy it Self] could not Stand, without Excluding the Duke; and no way to Prevent the [Bloud that was like to Ensue] but by an Association.* And in Excuse for the Liberties they took, they had recourse to [the Trust Reposed in them, by those they Repre∣sented.] If the King Buckles, he's Lost, by his Own Act: If he Persists in the Negative, there's the Ruine of Religion, and the Three Kingdoms laid at his Door. If he Yields, it must be either; to the Right, and Reason of their Demands, or in Acknowledgment that they are too Strong for him, which is Equally Dangerous, Both ways: To Conclude, what matters it, whether a Prince be Page  112 Lost by Treaty, or by Violence? or whether the People be Gull'd, into a Barefac'd, or into a Plau∣sible Rebellion? But at the same time, the Com∣mon Medium that they Depended upon, to Either End, was the Good Will, and Favour of the Peo∣ple: And there needed no more to Secure That In∣terest; then to put their Shams Plausibly Together: And under the Colour of Zeal, for the Publique, to Draw Credit to the Imposture.

At the First Opening of This Plot, Almost All peoples Hearts took Fire at it, and Nothing was heard, but the Bellowing of Execrations, and Re∣venge, against the Accursed Bloudy Papists. It was Imputed at first, and in the General, to the Principles of the Religion; and a Roman-Catho∣lique, and a Regicide, were made One and the Same Thing. Nay, it was a Saying Frequent in some of our Great, and Holy Mouths; that they were Con∣fident, there was not so much as One Soul of the Whole Party, within his Majesties Dominions, that was not either an Actor in This Plot, or a Friend to't. In this heat, they fell to Picking-up of Priests, and Iesuits, as fast as they could Catch 'em, and so went on, to Consult their Oracles, the Witnesses, (with All Formalities of Sifting and Examining) upon the Particulars of Place, Time, Manner, Per∣sons, &c. while Westminster-Hall, and the Court of Requests, were kept Warm, and Ringing still of New Men Come in; Corroborating Proofs, and Fur∣ther Discoveries, &c. Under This Train and Method of Reasoning, the Managers Advanc'd De∣cently enough to the Finding-out of what They Page  113 Themselves had Laid, and Concerted, before∣hand: And, to give the Devil his due, the Whole Story was but a Farce of so many Parts, and the Noisy Enformations no more then a Lesson that they had much ado to go thorough with; even with the Help of Diligent, and Carefull Tutors, and of many and many a Prompter, to bring them off at a Dead Lift. But Popery was so Dreadfull a Thing, and the Danger of the Kings Life, and of the Protestant Religion so Astonishing a Surprize, that People were almost bound in Duty, to be In∣considerate, and Outrageous upon't; And Loyalty it Self, would have look'd a little Cold, and In∣different, if it had not been Intemperate: Inso∣much, that Zeal, Fierceness, and Iealousy, were never more Excusable, then upon This Occasion. And Now, having Excellent Matter to Work up∣on, and the Passions of the People already Dis∣pos'd for Violence, and Tumult, there needed no more then Blowing the Cole of Otes's Narrative, to put All into a Flame: And in the mean Time, all Arts, and Accidents were Emprov'd, as well toward the Entertainment of the Humour, as to the Kindling of it. The people were first Hayr'd out of their Senses, with Tales, and Ielousies, and Then made Iudges of the Danger, and Conse∣quently of the Remedy: Which upon the Main, and Briefly, came to no more then This. The Plot was Laid, all over the Three Kingdoms; France, Spain, and Portugal, Tax'd their Quotas to't; we were All to be Burnt in our Beds, and Page  114 Rise with our Throats Cut; and no way in the world, but Exclusion, and Vnion, to help us: The Phancy of this Exclusion, Spread Immediately, like a Gangrene, over the whole Body of the Monarchy; and no saving the Life of his Majesty, without Cutting-off every Limb of the Prerogative; The Device of Union, pass'd Insensibly, into a League, of Conspiracy; and instead of Uniting Prote∣stants, against Papists, Concluded, in an Associ∣ation of Subjects against their Sovereign, Con∣sounding Policy, with Religion. By these Steps, the Managers, I remember, proceeded to the In∣strument of the Association, that is now in Questi∣on. They Labour'd, at first, to Sham-it-off; for the Old Queen Elsabeths Association Reviv'd. Se∣condly, That it was only the Copy of a Bill that had pass'd the House of Commons: But when the Matter appear'd so Foul that there was No De∣fending of it, they made use of a Third Shift, to Evade the Danger, and the Scandal, by preten∣ding that there was No such Paper in my Lord Shaftesbury's Closet, any otherwise, then as They that Found it there, Laid it there: And so they Endeavour'd to Turn the Malice, on the One side, into a Trick on the Other. This Last Shuffle was as well Colour'd as the Case would bear; in a Paper call'd. [A Letter from a Person of Quality to his Friend, about Addresses and Abhorrers,] It was an Artificial, Sly Piece, and the Noble Peer more then Suspected to have a Hand in't, Himself▪

Page  115Now as to the First Pretext, (to say nothing of the State-Craft of the Old Association) there was This Difference Between them; The One was to Defend the Queen against any Pretender upon the Suggestion of a False Title; The Other, was a Conspiracy set up against a Iust, and Legal Title; the One was only to Work at a Distance, in Case of such an Occasion; The Other was to Blow-up a Civil War Immediately, for fear of Imaginary Dangers to Come. The One had the Countenance of an Vnion against the Queens Enemies, and With her Allowance, and Consent; The Other, was a Plot upon the Kings Brother: and Against, his Majesties Mind, and Consent. The One was, (in fine) a Limited Association, with Submission to Authority; The Other, a Treasonous Vsurpation, in Defyance, and in Despite of Authority.

The Second Cavil was as good as a Gagg to ma∣ny People, in That Troublesome Conjuncture; for a Parliamentary Association in Those Days, would have been Sacred, even against both Law, and Gospel; and therefore Those that Believ'd the Flam of its being a Bill that had pass'd the House; (And Consequently Asserted the Reason of the Proceeding) reckon'd upon't, that they had the Wisedom of the Nation on their side, on One hand, as they had, most Certainly, the Folly, and the Madness of it, on the Other. Now This Opinion serv'd for a Protection to All that could be said, in favour of the Project, upon That Text. But the Page  116 Passing of That Bill was a Mistake, for ought that I could ever hear to the Contrary. The King, 'tis True, was Press'd in't, over and over, as the Ex∣pedient, sine qua non, for the Saving of his Life, his Crown, the Protestant Religion, and his People. And it is Obvious to Presume, that they had Re∣solv'd upon the Draught, the Conditions, and the Provision of it, before ever they made any Appli∣cation about it: Beside the Manifest Agreement that was between them, upon the special Matters in Issue. But in One Instance for All. On the 24th. of Nov. 1681. There Sate at the Sessions-House in the Old-Bayly, a Commission of Oyer and Terminer, upon a Bill of Indictment, for High-Treason, against Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury. The Foreman of the Grand-Iury put certain Questions to a Principal Secretary of State, and a Clark of the Councel, that gave Evidence there, about this Paper of Association, which coming from a Mem∣ber of the Last Westminster House of Commons, could not but carry Great Weight. i. e. [Do not you know, Sir, or have not you heard of a Discourse,* or De∣bate, in the Parliament concerning an Association? Do not you remem∣ber in the House of Commons, Sir, it was Read upon Occasion of That Bill?] This Question made many People think, that the Noble Peer, and the Plot-Managers in That House of Commons, were upon the Same Bottom; and that the For∣mer Page  117 was only to Execute, what the Other had Contriv'd; which was no more, in Truth, then the Execution of his Own Purposes, and Designs: For his Lordships Head, Heart, and Purse, were in at both Ends of the Bus'ness.

The Third Evasion was Immediately Blown off by Proofs under Mr. Wilson's Own Hand, over and over, (a Servant of Great Trust in the Fami∣ly) to make Good that the very Paper of Associa∣tions, which was Produc'd at the Old-Bayly, was found in my Lords Closet, according to the Depo∣sitions.

There can be no Doubt in the World, from what is allready said, but that the Knight-Voters, and the Knight-Vndertakers, as to the Bus'ness of the Association, were Both of a Mind; and that there was little Difference betwixt the One and the Other, more then that the One Cut out the Work, and the Other made-it-up. So that if it was an Ill Thing in One, it was so in Both, and whether it was so or not, is now to be Enquir'd into; and first, upon the General.

Page  118THere was a very Loyal Declaration from the Middle Temple, Presented to his Late Ma∣jesty by Mr. Saunders, (afterwards Lord-Chief-Iustice of the King's-Bench) upon This Subject. I cannot bring an Instance, of more Honour, or Greater Authority, toward the Confounding of This Association, then That Paper, nor an Address more Pertinent to My Purpose, or Better Warranted, both in Law, and Reason.

[OVR Sense of That Execrable Paper,* Purporting the Frame of a Trayterous Association, produ∣ced at the Late Proce•dings against the Earl of Shaftsbury at the Old-Bayly, We do therefore Declare it our Opinion, that the same Contains most Gross, and Apparent Treasons, more Manifestly tending to the Ruine of your Majesties Dominions then the Old, Hypocriti∣cal, Solemn League, and Covenant, which they that were Seduced to take, are no more bound to keep, then he that should Swear to Murther his Fa∣ther is Obliged to Commit the Parricide.

And it is most Evident to us, that whoever pro∣moted That Rebellious Association Designed by the said Paper, or Countenanced the Same by Refusing upon the Full Evidence, to find Bills of Indict∣ment against the Authors and Promoters thereof, and thereby as much as in them lay, Preventing their being brought to a Fair Tryal, have, in a Page  119 High Measure, Perverted the Laws: And could have no other Design thereby, then to Vsurp to Themselves, an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Domi∣nion, not only over your Subjects, but over your Majesty also.]

I Shall proceed now to the Dissecting of it, and see, if the Particulars be not as Foul upon the Retayle, as the Whole has been here Represented, in the Lump, and in Gross. The Ground of it is a Popish Plot: The Preservation of the King, Religion, Laws, and People, are set forth to be the Intent of it: So that by an Orderly Exa∣mining of One Thing after Another, it will be Easily seen, how far the Means here Propounded, will Answer the End.

Notes upon the Association.

[WE the Knights, &c.] in the Preface, Signifies, in the Uow, and Promise, [the Major Part either of This Present Par∣liament, while Sitting, or of the Members of Both Houses, Subscribing This Associati∣on, when Prorogu'd, or Dissolv'd.] And what is This Majority to Do now? [To Defend and Assist one Another In the Preservation of the True-Protestant Religion, His Majesties Per∣son, and our State, and our Laws, Liberties, Page  120 and Properties.] And Against Whom, are they to Defend, and Assist: [Against Popish Priests, and Iesuites, with the Papists, and their ADHERENTS, and ABETTERS.] That same [Adherents, and Abetters] goes a Great way; and needs Another Explanation: But what's the Quarrel now? [A most Pernicious and Hellish Plot;] to Destroy All, that the Associators have, by Solemn, and Sacred Promise, Engaged Themselves, to Preserve. And now for the [Adherents, and Abetters;*] There are Several Sorts of them. There are the Plotters Themselves; the Duke of York; the Mercenary Forces, (alias, the Guards;) The Officers that the Dukes Interest has brought in, both by Sea, and Land; and [All that HAVE ANY WAYS Adher'd to Him, or Them:] And [All such as SHALL Adhere unto Him.] So that here is an Association a∣gainst the King Himself, for Adhering unto his Brother; and Consequently, against All the Kings Loyal Subjects; for Adhering to Him, that Adher'd to his Royal Highness; which is only a Degree or Relation of Adherency once Remov'd. But How now is This same Adherency to be Vn∣derstood? What is it that is here Call'd an Ad∣herency? And how far does it Extend? Any man that shall [Séek by Force to Set up the Duke's Pretended Title; or raise any War, Tumult, or Sedition for Him, or by his Com∣mand] Page  121 Or that [upon any Title whatsoever, shall Oppose the Iust and Righteous Ends of This Association;] Or in fine [that shall ANY WAYS Adhere;] (which is an Vnlimited La∣titude; and reaches to Thought, Word and Deed) That Man is an Adherent. Allways Provided, God Save the King, I hope. No No. Without [any Respect of Persons, or Causes] 'Tis against [the Duke of York, or any other, that hath any ways Adhered to the Papists in their wicked Designs:] So that This League is as Particular∣ly Levell'd at the King, for Refusing to pass a Bill of Exclusion, as the Votes of Ian. 7. 1680. was at the Noble Lords there, for Advising the King to Refuse it. Well! Again: And What Course is to be Taken at last, with These Papists and Adherents? Why the Associators will [En∣deavour Entirely to Disband All Mercenary Forces] They will [by all Lawfull Means, and by Force of Arms, if néed so require, Op∣pose the said Duke of York; and Endeavour to Subdue, Expell, and Destroy him, if he comes into England, and All such as shall Adhere unto him.] They will also [with their Ioynt and Particular Forces, Oppose, and Pursue unto Death and Destruction, All such] as aforesaid. But what are these same [Ioynt and Particular Forces,] they speak of? Whence do they Come? Who Raises them? Who Leads 'em? By What Au∣thority, by What Law, is all this done? The People are [To follow such Orders as they shall Page  122 from time to time Receive from This Present Parliament, while Sitting; and the Major Part of it, when Prorogued, or Dissolv'd; and to Obey such Officers, as shall be set over them, by the Authority aforesaid.] And This they do [Knowing Themselves to be Intrusted, to Ad∣vise, and Act for the Preservation of his Maje∣sty, and the Kingdom; and being persuaded in their Consciences, that the Dangers are so Eminent, and Pressing, that there ought to be no Delay of the Best means that are in their Power to Secure the Kingdom against them.]

WHat is all this now, but King,* Monarchy, Par∣liaments, Laws, Liberties and Properties, Cut-off at a Stroke? The Papists Destroy'd, under the Colour of a Plot; the Duke, as the Head of the Papists; the King, as an Adherent to the Duke: The King's Friends, for their Fidelity to their Master; the Laws Over-rul'd by a Uote; The Oath of Allegeance made Void▪ by a Subscription to an Association: Kingly Government Sunk into a Common-Wealth. One Part of the Two Hou∣ses Enslav'd to the Other: And this [Iust and Pious Work, (as they Call it) Is, in the Pre∣sence of God set a-foot for the Preservation of the True-Protestant-Religion; His Majesties Per∣son, and Royal State, Our Laws, Liberties, and Page  123 Properties:] And this to be Pursu'd by the Sub∣scribers [During Life] too, [upon pain of be∣ing by the Rest Prosecuted and Suppress'd, as Perjur'd Persons, and Publique Enemies to God, their King, and their Native Country.] Here's in One Breath, an Oath that Makes them All This, and an Oath that They will Never be O∣ther. This Paper Begins with an Oath, [A∣gainst] a Conspiracy, and Concludes with an Oath [Of] Conspiracy. It begins with an Exclama∣tion against Iesuites, Priests, and Papists, and Ends in the Dissolution of King, Lords, and Com∣mons. Upon the Whole, it speaks, neither More, nor Less, then the Sense, the Design, and (with∣in a little of) the very Syllables of the Votes Themselves: And to say all in a Word; the One is but the Model, or the Minutes of the Other.

THere was likewise found a∣mong my Lord Shaftsbu∣ries Papers (as I have formerly Noted in some of my Writings) a Book of the Several Counties of England,* Ranged in Alphabet; under the Heads of [WORTHY MEN,] on the One side, and [MEN WOR∣THY,] on the Other, which was Intended, and Made use of, for a Discriminating List of the Roy∣alists, and the Republicans. Under the Cypher of [Men Worthy,] was Couch'd the Con•eit of Men Worthy to be Hang'd. Now the Proba∣ble Advantage that they intended to make of Page  124 This Distinguishing Register, (if Rightly Under∣stood) may serve to give some Light to the Dark, and Mysterious Part of the Oxford-Plot, upon the King's Person, The Mercenary Forces, and the Papists Adherents, in the Style of Those Times. By the Virtue of This Roll, and Distin∣ction, at hand, they could, any time, at a Week, or Ten days Warning, Flush-up an Vniversal Plot; Get it Authenticated upon the Oathes of Half a dozen of the Sons of Belial that they had in Pay; Put All the Considerable Men in the King∣dom, into the Catalogue, and File it at last, to the Account of the Conspirators, [whose Names did not Occurr at present,*] to Otes upon his Calcu∣lation of his Narrative. A Thou∣sand ways might have been Contriv'd, by giving a Hot Alarum; to have taken 'em All in their Beds before they were aware: And at the Same time, to Beset the King with Petitions upon their Knees, to give 'em leave to Provide [for the Preservation of his Majesties Person, and Royal State] to the Tune of the Association. There would have been no more Need of Voting the Duke to be Banish'd, or the King's Ministers, to be [Remov'd from his Majesties Councells and Presence for ever;] but there would have been Downright Commitments, and Impeachments; and more Work for One Poor Executioner, then Twenty Dextrous Knaves could have Turn'd their Hands to. Three or Four Home-Oaths, and Page  125 Warrants, Immediately Dispatch'd away for the Seizure of the Conspirators, would have left the Government at Mercy. Nothing can be Clearer, I think, then that the Oxford Plot was a Branch of the Capital Design: And that by the Help of Shaftsbury's List, they might have Infinitely Fa∣cilitated their Work. Now, if it be Reasonable to Believe, that This was a Course to turn to Account; it is As Reasonable to Believe, that they Intended to make Vse of it, and Emprove it as the Best Means they had Before them. There needs no more towards the Satisfying of any man, over and above the Evidence, in the Foundation, and Truth of the Oxford-Design; then to Consider, how the Whole Faction were Startled at the Summons Thither; and the Pres∣sing, the Importune, nay and the Menacing In∣stances of Application to his Majesty that the Mee∣ting might be at Westminster. These Considera∣tions upon the Noble Peer's Book, and the Ox∣ford Conspiracies, may seem to be a Digression; but whoever duly Weighs them, will find that they hang All on a String, and are only Several Members of the Same Plot.

Reflections upon the Whole.

I Shall now pass some Necessary Reflections up∣on the Whole. There never was, perhaps, since the Creation of the World, so much Confu∣sion Wrought, by so Mean, so Scandalous, and so Ridiculous Instruments; Lowzy, Greazy Rogues, to be taken into the Arms of Princes: Porters, and the Coursest of Letter-Carryers, to be made the Confidents of Publique Ministers: Starving Indi∣gent Varlets, that had not Credit in the World, for a Brumigen Groat, and liv'd upon the Com∣mon Charity of the Basket, to be a matter of Se∣ven Hundred Pound out of Pocket, in his Maje∣sties Service; as Otes and Bedloe pretended. Sots, to find Treason, in Words, at length, in Common Post-Letters. The Four Ruffians to have but Twenty Pound a Man, for Murdering the King by Assault, and Sir George Wakeman, Fifteen Thousand Pound, only for Poysoning him, with∣out running the Fifteenth Part of the Risque; Nay and Bedloe, Fifteen Hundred Pound for but Lending a Hand to the Helping away of a Dead Iustice. These, and a Thousand Incredi∣bilities more, must be All Believ'd, or the Wit∣nesses found to be most Damnably Forsworn; Unless it were for the Evidences sake that they had Credit given 'em; for the Matter of 〈◊〉, under Such Circumstances, was Morally Im∣p•••ble to be True; And for the Probity of the Page  127 Witnesses, they were already as well known as the Whipping Post, for a Pack of Swearing, Ly∣ing, Cheating; a Prostitute, and an Abandon'd Sort of Mercenary Villains: And yet such was the Infatuated Credulity of the Common People at that Season, and such the Bold, and Shameless Hypocrisy of the Managers of That Imposture, that there was no Place, for either Truth, or Honesty to Appear. The Inference I draw from This Preposterous way of Proceeding, is, that the Whole Story, from End to End, was a Prac∣tice; that the Suborners of the Perjury, were also the Protectors, and the Patrons of it Both under One: And that they had their Accomplices in the House of Commons, upon This Crisis of State, that play'd the same Game which their Fore-fathers had done upwards of Forty Years before.

I am at a loss, in the Infinite Variety of Mi∣series that I have now before me, Where to Begin. Here's Soul and Body, Life, Liberty, and Estate; Peace of Mind, Religion, Reputati∣on, Charity, Truth, and Iustice; All, in fine, that can be Dear to a Nation, to a Christian, or to a Man; to the Present Age, or to Posterity; All This, I say, at stake, and All these Privileges, Interests, Rights, and Duties, Swallowed up in a Licenti∣ous, and Abandon'd Contempt, and Violation of All Obligations, Sacred, and Prophane.

How many People had we, that under the Temptations of Fear,* Ava∣rice, Malice, Revenge, Envy, Am∣bition, Sold themselves to Work Wickedness: play'd the Hypocrites with God and the King; and Betray'd them Both, under the Masque, of Loyalty, and Religion! How many Instances had we, of people that had no Other Choice before them, but either to Hang, or Damn: and of Per∣sons that made their Election, some the One way, and some the Other! Only so much Money Cast-in on the Swearing-side, as if it had been upon an Estimate, betwixt the Body, and the Soul, to Page  135 make the Scales Even. And so much for Soul and Body. Now to Proceed.

How many Lives taken away by Perjury and Subornation;* And what Security had Any man for his [Life,] when the Kingdom ran as Quick of False Witnesses, as a Cony-Warren of Rabbets, and Every mans Breath lay at the Mercy of a Couple of Reprobated Vil∣lains!

Where was the Free-born Subjects [Liberty,*] When the Kings Witnesses were only the Re-publicans Beagles, to Draw Dry-Foot, to the Door of Every Honest, or but Suspected Honest Man: When Priest-Hunters, and Prince-Hunters, were One and the Same sort of People? What an Intelligence was there betwixt the Evidences, and the Catch-Poles? When Knights of the Post made More Rogues, then the Government had provided Prisons to Receive them: When the English of [Resolv'd upon the Question,] was only [Take him Iaylor.] When Mittimus-es ran without Cause shewn, and Com∣mitments, as Arbitrary as their Keepers-Fees. When men were Taken-up, and Spirited away, without Warrants, and made Slaves contrary to Law.

What Title had any man to his [Estate,*] when a Pair of Affidavit-Sparks, (Match't like Indentures,) could Swear Page  136 him Out on't? When Guinneys pass'd for Popish Medalls; Crucifixes for the Reliques of Supersti∣tion: Choice, and Historical Pictures, in Honour, and Memoriall of the Christian Profession; When These Paintings, I say, went for the Remains of Idolatry? When Ordinary Drinking-Plate pass'd for Chalices; and men were Rifled, Robb'd, and Vndone, by the Basest of Felons, under the Masque of Zeal, and Conscience? This was Undenyably, our Condition, in the Matters of Life, Liberty, and Estate.

*Now to the Next Point, of [Peace of Minde.] What could be more Mi∣serable, then to live in Perpetual Fears, Ielou∣sies, Frights, and Alarums? In fear, for the Kings Life; the Protestant Religion; The Peace of the Government, Tyranny, Popery, Slavery. In Fear for Souls, Bodies, and Fortunes, Fires, Massacres, Portugal-Black-Bills, and Smithfield-Faggots; In Fear of All that it was Possible for us to Lose, or to Suffer; and under an Incurable Ielousie of our Governours, and our Friends, that they meant to Betray us, and to bring All These Evils upon us? And so for Frights, and Ala∣rums. Our Danger was to come from All Quar∣ters of the Heavens. College Searches the Cel∣lars in the Palace-Yard, for fear of Gunpowder. There was the Black-Heath Army; The Purbeck-Invasion; the City-Guards to be Doubled; Shafts∣bury, and Tonge to be Murder'd, as Godfrey was: And what did they say, for All This now? Why! Page  137 the Pulpits are Wise; and They tell of Squibbs, and Fire-Balls, to make Sport for the Philistins. Such a Lord sat up all night, with his Pistols and Blunderbusses about him, for fear of a Rising. The House knew what they Did, when they Voted the Guards to be a Grievance, and the Militia to be Rais'd at a Days Warning. What (Peace of Minde) could there Be; or rather, What Horror of Thought, did not they Endure, that liv'd un∣der the Continual Agony of These Terrours.

Neither were we one jot more at Ease in the Matter of [Religion;*] for they Bely'd the very Religion that they pretended to; and the Practices of the Faction, ran directly Counter to All the Precepts of the Gospel. Trea∣chery was call'd Truth, and Faith. Slander was only Liberty of Speech: Perjury, was Hal∣low'd by the Lips and Credit of a Kings-Evi∣dence. Forgery (if Detected) was but a Mis∣take, Rebellion, a True Protestant Association: A Shamm-Narrative, pass'd for the Discovery of a Damnable Hellish Popish Plot; and the People were Stirr d-up, and Instructed to Hate, and Persecute the Papists, in Despite of the Evan∣gelical Precept, that bids us [Love one Another.] Subornation was Authoriz'd under the Title of Reward; Murder was recommended under the Varnish of Publique Iustice. Atheism was a kind of a Qualification for a man of Interest, in This Matter, because, they were to Talk of God, and at the same Time, make a Mock of the Belief of Page  138 any such Power; and it was Requisite, that the Hardness of their Hearts should be Proof against the Sense of Divine Vengeance, and Iustice. There was no Room left for Christian Charity, when Every Papist was to Suffer for the Principles of his Party; and when they could Make Those Principles to be whatever Themselves pleas'd. In All their Holy Leagues, Vows, Covenants, and As∣sociations, they have This to say for Themselves, that the Hypocrite is of No Religion; and Conse∣quently, that [The lifting up of their Hands unto the Lord,] and their Solemn Promises [In the Pre∣sence of God;] are of No more Force upon people, that do not Acknowledge a God, then the Oath of a Iew upon the Four Evangelists.

*In the Matter of Reputation; How have we Lost our selves, at Home, and Abroad, by Believing Things, (upon Second Thoughts) Incredible, and [Believing] too; upon the Testimony of Known Falsaties, and Blasted Cri∣minals! By setting the Evidence of Common Hire∣lings and Scoundrells, against the Character, the Try'd Faith, Integrity, and Incontestable Loyalty, of Men of Honour! The King, the Queen, the Duke, and so ma∣ny other Illustrious Persons, on the One side, to be Confronted by Miscreants, on the Other; not to be Nam'd in the Same Page! How have we Expos'd the Dignity of our very Profession, to make it a Point of Conscience to work so Great a Villany! An Instance of our Zeal, to Pursue it into so many Barbarous Extremeties; and, which is more then Page  139 All; to cast a Protestant Cover over One of the Lewdest Impieties that ever was under the Sun, and to make it an Impulse of our Religion, which was only a Perjurious Conspiracy of State! It has Lost us to the Present Age thoroughout the Chri∣stian World; for the King receiv'd not so much as one Complement of Gratulation, from any of the Forreign Ministers, for his Deliverance; which would have been Otherwise, if any of them had Believ'd it! It leaves us Expos'd likewise, to Af∣ter-Times; Especially, Considering that so great Care has been taken by Some for the Transmitting of the Imposture; and so Little, by Others, for the Propagating, and Confirming of the Truth.

And now again we are as much Lost in the Offices of Charity, Truth,* and Iustice. This Plot has turn'd Religion into a Fa∣ction; and the Animosity which it has begot in us toward Roman Catholiques, has utterly Extin∣guish'd the Love, and Veneration, we Owe to Chri∣stianity it self.

As to the Next Point;* Truth and Falshood have Chang'd Places; and, according to the Mode of the Times, the very Quality of it is Inverted too. [Truth] is Ridiculing the Witnesses; Invalidating the Plot; Arraigning the Iustice of the Nation; and Popery in a Dis∣guise; whereas Falshood, or Perjury is a Thing to Bless God for; a Miraculous Discovery; a Subject to beg a Pension upon; a Wonderful Service to the Page  140 Protestant Religion; and what was This Plot at last; but a Blasphemous Slanderous Imagination, made up of Lies and Contradictions? as I shall set forth by and By.

*Now, over and above all the Rest; How was the Iustice of the Nation, Abus'd, and Impos'd-upon by the Trumperies of Con∣federacy, and Practice; even to the Confounding of Right, and Wrong; Good, and Evil; and In∣verting the very Order, and Equity of Reward, and Punishment! How many Innocent Men were Clapt-up, and Kept, upon Vnconscionable Expence, 'till all they had left in the World was little enough to Clear the Charge of the Prison: without Any Cause Assign'd; without ever being brought to know their Accusers, or their Accusation; and forc'd to Content them∣selves, (upon their Humble Petition) with the Hope of a Mercifull Vote, in the Conclusion, for their Discharge, [Paying their Fees] without any Reparation; while Suborners, and False-Witnesses, Pester'd the Lobbys Barefac'd, with their Crimes as Open, as if they had been Writ in their Fore∣heads: So Sacred was Villany, and so Hazardous was it for any man to do his Duty. 'Tis true, that upon the First Springing of this Cause, a man might for want of Iudgment, Thought, or Foresight, Charitably, and Innocently enough be Misled, or Mistaken. The Evidence was Positive, and Bold; the Fact Horrid; so many Conspirators of Quality, to Countenance the Tale, and Formalities of the Page  141 Law, in favour of the Witnesses: But yet after∣ward, when the Masque came to be Taken off, and the whole Web of the Villany to be Vnravel'd; the Iustice of the Nation did Then Suffer, I say, in the Opinion of the World, for not doing Immediate Right upon these Miscreants, to a Distracted State, and People: to the Orphans, and the Widows, that these Forsworn Wretches had made, and to the In∣nocent Bloud that cry'd for Vengeance. It gave them some sort of Reputation, to let 'em Triumph so long in their Wickedness; Insomuch, that a Friend of mine Burnt his Fingers in the Case of Otes, even for bringing the Bear to the Stake, at Last. Why This will Destroy the whole Plot, they Cry'd, as if the leaving of a Nest-Egg would have been such a Comfort to the Nation. I speak, in This Place, rather of Publique, then of Private, and Personal Iustice; for the Indignities they put upon the Government, were Infinitely above the Injuries, of here and there a Member of it: for they Swore the Monarchy it self to Death, as well as the Papists. They Embroil'd the Order, and they Vnsettled the Foundations of it. Under Colour of Securing the Kings Person, they Cramp'd his Prerogative; and took away peoples Inheritances for fear of their Religion: How many Incapacities and Disabilities have we seen Created upon the Same Score? Now I take the Reason of the Case,* betwixt a Private Cheat, and a Pub∣lick, to be much the Same. If a man Wins my Money by False Dice, and I can Prove it, I'le have my Money again: and Page  142 why should not this Equity hold as well now, in the Case of a Factions getting any thing from a Govern∣ment, by the Help of False Witnesses. There's a Plot Affirm'd, Warranted, and Sworn. We shall lose our Prince, they Cry, our Religion, Laws, Lives, and Liberties, unless we have such and such Powers put into our hands, to Prevent, or to Disappoint, the Danger. The Yielding, on the One side, is, in Con∣fidence, and upon Condition of such a Desperate Plot, on the Other. Now if there be No Plot, there's No Bargain: Nay, and 'tis a Worse Mat∣ter Yet; if what was Demanded for a Security a∣gainst One Devillish Plot, shall Appear Evidently to be Intended, and Apply'd, toward the Promo∣ting, and the Strengthning of Another. A Lapida∣ry sells me at a Horrible Price, That which He Warrants for a Ruby of the Old Rock; I Buy it of him accordingly. Now if it prove afterward, to be only a Past, or a Doublet; My Remedy is good against him. But shall Equity Relieve a Private Man, in a Cheat of Trade, and will there lye No Relief, for a Whole Politique Body, against a Cheat of State? Especially, where there's Mis∣chief, and Premeditate-Malice, Super-added to the Fraud: That is to say; where the Pretended Means of Preserving the King, are Meant, and Emprov'd for his Destruction. In such Instances as these, Common Iustice requires that Matters may be put into the State they were in, Before; for otherwise, it will lye in the Power of a Brace of Prostitute Knaves, to Swear the Government off the Hinges. To Conclude; This Impious Disso∣lution Page  143 of Faith, and Good Manners, made the King∣dom as Miserable, as 'twas possible to be, without Plague, Sword, Pestilence, and Famine; and All, Charg'd upon the Account of the Papists, by the Patrons and the Instruments of the Opposite Interest.

Upon the whole Matter, we have had Saying, and Swearing,* Abun∣dantly, (and Nothing else) in Af∣firmance of the Popish Plot. Not so much as a Letter, not a Commission Produ•'d, to Help a Lame Dog over the Style; Not so much as One Paper found, upon the Strictest Search of Popish Houses, Lodgings, Boxes and Cabinets (Colemans Letters Excepted) to Countenance the Evidence; Not a Conspirator taken in the Manner; nor so much as One Material Witness in the Cause, that did not Open for Bread and Reward, and Eat the very Price of his Damnation. His Pardon Secur'd him in the False Accusing of Himself, and his Allowance Encourag'd him, in as False a Testi∣mony against Others: Whereas the Proceedings on the Other hand, were only One Continu'd Series of Restless Importunities, Expostulation, Slander, and Tumult.

There was a Great Stress laid, 'tis True, upon Mr. Colemans Letters; which,* in respect of his Over-busy Intermedling in Mat∣ters of State of so Great Moment; Together with Several Indecencies in the Wording of them, are not, upon any Terms, to be Defended. Who∣ever knew him Well, knew him to be a Forward Zealous Man, in His way; and upon That Conside∣ration, Page  144 I told a Gentleman of Great Honour, and my Particular Friend, the Apprehensions I had (when he was just Taken-up, and before Any of his Papers were Seiz'd) of the Inconveniencies, that his Careless, and Vnwary Way of Writing, and Keep∣ing Papers by him, would bring upon the Whole Party, if they Search'd His Study: For, to be sure, Things would be Interpreted at the Worst. So I Sayd, and so it Prov'd: But it was not upon the Plot of his Letters, but upon the Plot that Otes and Bedloe swore against him, that He suffer'd: So that even supposing the Worst that can be Imagin'd, of his Letters, he Dy'd yet, upon the Oaths of Two Perjur'd Varlets; That is to say; if Otes'es Plot was an Imposture: For, Colemans Plot could have No Relation at all to a Plot that had no Béeing. His Main Bus'ness was, to get Mony, for the Enter∣tainment of his Humour, in an Expensive Train, and Equipage: To that End he Got it; and in That Way he Spent, by much the Greater Part of it. His Pretence was the Gratifying of Members, in order to the Service of the French Interest, and to Try what might be Done, toward the Dissolving of the Parliament, and procuring Liberty of Conscience. [The Subversion and Subduing of the Pestilent Northern Heresie] in one of his Letters to Mr. Le Chaise, was a Rude, and a Dangerous Expression, but not one jot a-kin yet, to his Privity or Appro∣bation, of Groves, and Pickerings Shooting the King, or the Design of the Four Ruffians, that was Sworn against him by Otes; and the 10000 l. to Sir George Wakeman, for Poysoning his Majesty; as was given in Testimony upon the Oath of Bedloe. In fine; Cole∣mans Page  145 Letters were but Brass Grains Cast into the Scale, to help out Light Gold, and to make the Other Evidence Weight.

THese Letters of Mr. Colemans,* and the Somerset-House Gam∣bole upon Sr. Edmundbury Godfrey, I look upon as the Two Stilts of the Crippled-Plot. They have neither Life, nor Sense in 'em. But without many Words in This Place, I have Some Thoughts, and Hopes, of giving the World such an Account of the History of That Fantastical Murder; (That is to say, if my Life, and Health will give me Leave,) as it shall be No longer a Question, how he came by his End. For I have Materials enow by me, upon the Oaths of Vn∣questionable Witnesses, not only to Trace the Mat∣ter of Fact, from End to End, (Bating the Proof of the very Stroke it self) but to lay Open a Great Part of the Practice, in the Manage of the Procee∣ding, for the making of a Popular Cause on't. I shall shew, how Evidences were Stifled, Disguis'd, Re∣jected, Vnfaithfully set down, and as Vnfaithfully Reported: And though the Contradictions of the Witnesses to the Murder, over and above Common sense, and Reason, might serve to Convince All Mortals of the Iniquity of This Iuggle; I shall yet make Those Inconsistencies the Least Part of My Bus'ness. This is enough to say at present; Saving only, that I do no more doubt of his Falling upon his Sword in the place where his Body was found, then I do of Any thing in Nature, which I my self did not see the doing of.

Page  146THat there was a Plot, no man in his Right Wits can pretend to Doubt;* and if Otes'es Narrative was a Sham, it self, there was Some Other Plot in the Setting-up of That Plot: and a Plot that was to be Carry'd-on, under the Cover of the Counterfeit. We cannot find any Trace, or Foot-steps of That same Popish Plot, more then from the Incredible Informations of Incredible Mer∣cenaries: The very Matter, and the Men, be∣ing Equally a Scandal to the Evidence; and the Characters of the Accusers, and the Accused, as Contrary one to the Other, as Light is to Dark∣ness. There's Infamy Oppos'd to Honour; Per∣sidy to Faith; Base to Noble; and in short, the Scum, and Dreggs, of the Nation, for the Accu∣sers, and the very Pillars of the Monarchy, for the Traytors. Let no man say Miracles are Ceas'd; and Swallow This. He that has the Faith to Believe, that so many Prostitute Criminals, be∣came Men of Integrity, and Conscience, all in an Instant; and Believe This too, upon their own Bare Words for't, against the Habitual, and the Persevering Lewdness of their Lives, and Con∣versations, to Prove the Contrary: He, I say, that could Believe This, on the One hand; and Then, that so many Persons of Eminent, and Ex∣emplary Worth, and Dignity, All, in the Same Mo∣ment, should Turn Apostates, on the Other, might as well be Impos'd upon, to Believe, that the Fall'n Angels have Recover'd their Primitive Sta∣tion; Page  147 and that the Glorious Spirits, that have stood Firm ever since their Creation, have now Joyn'd in a Rebellion against their Maker. If a man may Collect any thing, from Strong Pre∣sumptions, and Improbabilities Innumerable, the Principal Abettors of Otes'es Sworn Plot for the sa∣ving of the King, were, Themselves, Conspirators in an Vnder-Plot for the Destroying of him: and there needs no more, for a Final Proof of This, then a Short Summary of what I have Deliver'd allready.

THey did all they could,* to leave the King neither MO∣NEY, POWER, CREDIT, nor FRIENDS: To Strip him both of his Parliamentary, and his Pardoning Prerogative; the Command of his Militia, and the Choice of his Officers. They made it Penal even to Assert his Regalities, or come Near his Person; and when they had gone as far, as the Plot, and Popery would Carry them, they Join'd in an Express League of Association to take up Arms against the King Himself, and to lay Violent Hands upon the Government: So that as they Began with the Ne∣cessity of Excluding the Duke, for fear of the Plot; They Ended, in the Opinion of as Absolute a Ne∣cessity, of Dissolving the Monarchy for fear of the King. By These Methods, they proceeded, from Bad, to Worse; 'till they had pass'd, Gradually thorough all the Degrees of a Seditious Progress, Page  148 from the Hypocritical Pretence of a Tenderness for the Life of their Sovereign, to the Last Perempto∣ry Determination of taking the Crown off from his Head. If either Thought, Word, or Deed, Pro∣ject, Contrivance, or Execution, might pass for the Proof of any thing, here is a Plot under a Plot, made as Clear as Truth it self: A Plot in a Westminster-Committee, as well as in a Kings-Head Club. There was all done by the Plotting Part of them, toward the Ruine of the King, that Spite, Art, and Industry were Able to do. [Wée the Knights, &c.] in the Association, was, in Plain English [We the Conspirators;] for the Members of the Present Sitting Parliament took upon Themselves the Authority of [Subduing, Expelling, and Destroying;] [Issuing out of Or∣ders, and Raising of Forces;] Or in Case of being Prorogu'd or Dissolv'd; [the Majority of the Sub∣scribing Members,] were like Cromwells Major Ge∣nerals again, to Govern in the Counties, Cities, and Burroughs, for which they were Chosen. Now the Bus'ness, had never come to an Association, it seems, if his Majesty would have Hearken'd to his Parliaments; for [the Danger was timely foreseen (they say) by several Parliaments.*] And [Not∣withstanding all the Continual En∣deavours of Parliaments to Deli∣ver his Majesty from the Councells,* and out of the Power of the said Duke of York, Yet his Interest, &c.] [Even in Opposition to the Ad∣vice and Order of the Last Parliament.] And so Page  149 again, [We have Endeavour'd in a Parliamen∣tary-Way, to Barr, Exclude, and Banish him for ever, &c.] [But the First Means of the King and Kingdoms Safety being Rejected, &c.] [We have thought fit to Propose an Vnion of Mu∣tual Defence, and Assistance, &c.] From hence it appears that they Aim'd at the Same Thing upon the Main, in their Votes, and Addresses, that they did in the Association; and that they were Both Govern'd by the same Influence; and that the whole Tract was but the same Conspiracy. So that it is now somewhat a Clearer Case, Who they were that Design'd the Murther of the King, then Who Burnt London (the Opinion of the House, Ian. 10. 1680. notwithstanding) It would be Pleasant enough (if it were not allmost Inhumane to take any Pleasure in a Discourse upon this Subject) to see how direct a Counter-part the Truth of the Story was to the Fiction; for They Themselves were to do all those Things, which they charg'd upon the Papists. There were to be Sham-Plots, Cutting of Throats, and Burning of Towns. How did they Tamper, and Practise with the Witnesses, Bribe, Suborn, Forswear! All these Things were laid at the door of the Papists, while they Design'd, and Did, those very Things Themselves. [Witnesses (says the Address) are Attempted to be Corrupted and not only Promises of Reward,* but of the Favour of your Majesties Brother made the Motives to their Com∣plyance.] Was not this the very Course they took with Otes, with Prance, with Fitz-Harris? and Page  150 briefly, what were All their Mediations for? Their Secret Examinations, Importunities for Reward, Recommendations to Deaneries; and the Good Word of the Committee still, in their favour? What was all This, I say, but the same Saddle set upon the Wrong Horse. [Divers of the most Considerable of your Protestant Subjects have Crimes of the Highest Nature Forged against them;* the Charge to be Supported by Subornation and Perjury, that they may be Destroy'd by Forms of Law and Iustice.] Was not This the very Case of the Duke, the Lords, and other Persons of Ho∣nour, and Quality? Were not the Priests, the Ie∣suits, and the Other Pris'ners upon the Account of the Plot; Outrag'd at their Tryals in the very face of the Bench, by the Scomms, and Execrati∣ons of the Rabble? When the Insolencies of the Mobile, (to the Scandal of That Popular License) made it liker a Bear-Garden, then a Court of Iu∣stice? And then, when False Witnesses had Sup∣press'd, and Out-fac'd the Truth, and Shamm'd the Imposture, both upon Bench, and Iury; the Au∣thority of Four Parliaments is Vouch'd, for the Credit of the Abuse. Nay the Invention was so Pompous a piece of Trumpery, that, Effectually, they made it a kind of Raw-head-and-Bloudy-Bones, to the Common People [We can only Ascribe it (they say) to an Over∣ruling Providence,* that your Majesties Reign is still Continu'd over us; and that we are yet Assembled to Consult the Means of our Preservation:] As who should say; 'tis e'en a Mercy that we have not had Page  151 All our Throats Cut in our Beds, by These Bloudy Papists: When yet all this while, not so much as a Popish Mouse durst peep out of his Hole, for fear of an Evidence, or a Catch-pole; for they had their State-Weazels Ferreting up and down in every Corner.

A Short History of Otes.

AS for Otes now, that was no man of Form, and Ceremony, but according to M. Hunts Quaint Character of him, rather [Incurious,] and [Apert] the said Mr. Otes, I say, never stood upon the Scruple of the Parenthesis in the Revenging Vote, [WHICH GOD FORBID] but like a Son of Thunder, call'd a spade a spade; and by the Dint of Oaths, and Maledictions, Carry'd Three Kingdoms before him. A Plain Blunt Man, they cry'd; He did not love to Mince matters; This was his Character. He was for Freedom of Speech, and so it appear'd, upon the Executing of a Writ of Enquiry, at the Bar of the Kings-Bench at West∣minster, Iune 19. 1684. The Duke of York ha∣ving brought an Action against him upon the Sta∣tute De Scandalis Magnatum: But we'le see some of his Flowers there.

THe Duke of York's a Traytor, (says he) fol. 9. A Rascal,* a Papist; and a Traytor, fol. 17. A Traytor, (again) and in the Plot. 19. He shall be Hang'd, fol. 13. I Page  152 shall Live to see him Hang'd, fol. 16. And Hang'd, fol. 17. We'le have no more regard for him, then if he were a Scavenger of Kent-street, fol 14. I hope to see him at the Barr of the House of Com∣mons, where there are many Better men then He. p. 14, 15. If the Devil has a Place in Hell Hot∣ter then Other, I hope he will bestow it upon him. fol. 18.]

OTes was a Free-spoken Man, we see;* and there's an End on't. His Trust was in That Part of the Parliament, that put their Trust in Him; who were so far from Checking him for These Insolen∣cies, that They Caress'd, and Encourag'd him; And his Evidence, forsooth, Aton'd for his Sawci∣ness: But all Liberties against the Government were at that Time Indulg'd; and whatsoever serv'd either to make his Majesty Cheap, or Odious, was Wellcome to them. What was the Printing of the Votes, Addresses, and Colemans Letters for; but to Expose the King, under the Colour of Enforming the People? They saw how Audaciously Otes Trea∣ted His Majesty Himself, and how he Bely'd his Own Narrative,* by bringing His Royall Highness into the Plot; after a [So help me God] that the Duke was Not in the Plot: Nay, that he was to be Murder'd as well as the King; and that the Iesuits had no hope of Gaining him. Beside a Further Oath at the Lords Barr, Oct. 30. 1678. That he believ'd the Duke Page  153 Innocent. If This Wretch had not been made use of as an Instrument toward the Compassing of his Pa∣trons Ends, he would have been Deliver'd over to Everlasting Infamy, and Exemplary Punishment. So Impudent, and so Blasphemous an Impostor, up∣on the very Point of Morality, and Example, would never have been Endur'd; But his Bus'ness was only to Quest and Spring to his Masters, while they were to Fly at the Game. No man that had not Design'd Ruine, and Dishonour to the Royal Family, would ever have Countenanc'd him at this rate. The very Sufferance did Sufficiently Mani∣fest the Good-Will they had to what Otes was then a doing. Upon the Whole Bus'ness; it is as Clear as Noon day, that the Narrative-Plot was a Cheat; and that [We-the-Knights-Plot,] was a Formal, an Impious, and a Desperate Conspiracy. This is Clear, I say, from the very Acts, and Instruments of the Defenders, and Supporters of the One, and likewise, from the Harmony of their Co-operating Endeavours toward the Accomplishing of the Other. But to come to the Root; the Mother-Plot was the Pretended Consult, at the White-Horse in the Strand; on the 24th of April, 1678. where the Bloudy Resolution was Taken; and the Result car∣ry'd about by Otes, from House to House, as if there had been no more in't, then the Gathering of a Parish-Tax. Take away that Consult, and the Babel lies in the Dust.

Our Accounts Cast-up, whether we have Got, or Lost by the PLOT.

WE are now at the Bottom of This Bottomless Bus'ness, and we should do very well, and like Sober Men, and Good Managers of our Honour, Time, Peace, and Mony, to Compute a little upon matters. So much for Double Guards;— So much for Treating the King's Witnesses;— So much a∣mong Catch-poles;— So much in Pensions;— So much for a Fond to Defray Plot-Charges;— So much in Narratives;— So much in Processions, and Pope-Burnings;— So much to Re-imburse Otes and Bedloe, the Seaven Hundred Pound a Man they were out of Pocket for the Protestant Cause; So much up∣on Well-Affected Elections;— So much in Ignora∣mus Iuries;— but Discounting All this while, for what we have Receiv'd from the Westminster-Insurance-Offices, Page  160 upon the Whole Charge: and in One word; to see at the Foot of the Account, (Pa∣per and Pack-Thrid pay'd for) whether we have Got or Lost by Part'ner-Ship with Otes, and his Adhe∣rents, and Abetters, in This Loyal, forsooth, This Religious, and This English Bloud-Adventure.

IT is not to be Deny'd, (and it is already Agreed) that King,* Na∣tion, and People, have Suffer'd All manner of ways, and in a very Great Measure, too, quite thorough This Period of Otes'es Ad∣ministration; and All for Fear of the Damnable Hellish Popish-Plot: Because, and by Reason of it; and that we were Necessitated to do what we did, to secure his Late Majesty, and his Go∣vernment, against Popish Conspirators; and his Sacred Person, against Poyson, and Silver Bullets. Had it not been for That Damnable Plot, the King had been Safe; The Queen and the Duke, Vntain∣ted; and the People had still continu'd in their Wits and in their Duty. The Popish Lords had been yet at Liberty; the Priests, Iesuits, and the Godfrey-Men, Vnhang'd; The Papists might have had Tolerable Quarter among the rest of the King's Subjects; and the Honour, and Iustice of the En∣glish Nation might have yet stood as Fair in the Esteem of Other Christian Princes, and States, as ever it did: So that upon the Vpshot, what have we now to say, for the Wickedness, the Folly, and the Madness of Those Times, if there was [NO Popish Plot at all,] nor any thing Like it, but Page  161 the Seditious Confederacy of an Ambitious Caball of Iuggling, Canting Hypocrites, to Murder the King Themselves from behind That Stale? What Reparation now, for Innocent Bloud, and Oppressi∣on? What Satisfaction, or What Effectual Repen∣tance, for Those that Preach'd, Pleaded, Suppor∣ted, Assisted (how Innocently soever,) the Credit of that Diabolical Imposture, without making the Churches, the Courts of Iustice, Coffee-Houses, and Other Publique Places, Ring as Loud of their Mi∣stakes, as ever they did of their Invectives, and Clamours? The Misleading of People into a Be∣lief of Falsities, of This Desperate Kind, and Con∣sequence, even though I my self take them to be Truths, is but next door to the Swearing Men in∣to a Belief of That which I Know to be False: That is to say, If, when I come to find My Own Error, I do not Endeavour to set All Those People Right, that I Carry'd out of the Way. The Shame of a Repentance, is not far Remov'd from the Wil∣full, and Deliberate Committing of a Sin. I do not Expect, that My Sermonizing here shall Work upon Those that Shut their Eyes against the Light of Experience, and Example; though One would think that men should be very Wary of Setting That Door Open, over and over again, that had been still the Inlet to all our Former Confusions. If a Thief Breaks into my House at a Garret-Window, I'le provide Better Barrs and Bolts. And Un∣doubtedly, a Government may have a Weak side, as well as a Private Habitation; and there ought to be as much Care taken to Secure a State against Page  162 Political House-Breakers, upon That Quarter where they ever Enter'd Before.

A Caution against the same Cheat over again.

THE President of This Cheat, and Pretext, and the Sense of the Ruinous Calamities, which the Belief of it has brought upon us, should, methinks, Fortifie men against Those Panick Frights; and That Childish Ielousie, and Creduli∣ty, that has Wrought us All This Misery; And it is not to say, that there may be more Reason for This Apprehension at One Time, then at Another; for let the Reason be Great, Little, or None at all, it works the Same Effect upon the Common People, when either the Fear, or the Truth of the Thing, is Vnseasonably, and Vndutifully Expos'd. There may be a Thousand Popular Causes Assign'd, for a Rebellion; but the Whole World can never furnish One Shadow of a Reason for't. The Father of our Present Sovereign, was a Strict Asserter of the Church of England: and his Sacred Majesty that now is, no less, an Asserter of the Communion of the Church of Rome. Now the Difference of Per∣suasion betwixt These two most Gracious Kings, neither Did, nor Does, One jot Operate upon the Matter here in Question: For the very Sham of Po∣pery Cost that Blessed Prince his Crown, and his Life, as a Roman-Catholique, though he was so far from it. 'Tis True; the Suggestion, may Colour Page  163 Better, One way, then Another; but whether it be so, or Not so, 'tis all a Case, as to the Danger, of Troubling the Heads, or the Minds of the Multi∣tude with it, either One way, or T'other. It makes Sovereignty Conditional, and the Loose Multitude Absolute; when the Chief Magistrate shall be An∣swerable to the Rabble for his Religion; and when the Mobile's Opinion shall Stamp That Religion, and say; Let him be of This, or of That Religion, and he Shall be so. They were never Cut out for the Iudging, or the Vnderstanding of Things; But Plausible Disguises and Appearances, have with Them, the Force, and Value of Certain Truths, and Foundations: And 'tis a Hard matter, to bring people out of the Wrong, that are not able to Discern, and to Distinguish the Right.

The Reasons of This Vndertaking.

THis is already an Over-grown Preface; and I must make it yet a little Longer, by Ex∣pounding upon it, (with a respect to the whole Matter before me) and by the Reasons I am to give for the Spinning of it out to This Length. I was gotten a good way into't, with the Design of an Introduction only to my Third Volume of Ob∣servators; and with such a Mixture of Lights, to∣ward the Clearing of Several Matters in Contro∣versy betwixt the World, and my self, as might serve to set any Reasonable Man, Right, in the Naked State of the Question. While I had This in Page  164 my Thought, and my Papers under Consideration; it came into my Head, that there was something Wanting yet, both as to the Vse, and the End that was Aim'd at, in This Publication; and that Notwithstanding the Vnquestionable Truth, and Clearness of Fact, and of Doctrine, that was Re∣ported, and Deliver'd in Those Dialogues, there were still Several Defects, that were Inevitable, under the Circumstances wherein they were Writ∣ten, and as Necessary for my purpose, in Some Degree to be Supply'd. This will Vndenyably Appear to any man that shall but take Notice of the Time, and the Occasion of the Vndertaking.

AS to the Time; the Faction had the Ascendent of the Go∣vernment,* and the Multitude bore down All before them like a Torrent; The Wit∣nesses led the Rabble; The Plot-Managers led the Witnesses; and the Devil Himself led the Lea∣ders: For they were to pass to their Ends, tho∣rough Subornation, Perjury, Hypocrisy, Sacrilege, and Treason. This was the State of Things when I first dipt my Pen into This Subject; And there was no Launching-out, into the Abyss of the Plot-Mystery, without Certain Ruine: but Coasting, and Slanting, Hinting, and Trimming, was the Best Office a body could Perform, in That Season: And the Man had been Felo de se, that should have ta∣ken upon him to search the Vlcer to the Quick, A little Skirting now and then, upon the Narra∣tives; and Bantering, betwixt Iest and Earnest, Page  165 upon the Credit of the Witnesses, gave people, by Little and Little, to Vnderstand, as much as any man could Safely Communicate: But the Founda∣tions of the Plot lay as yet Vntouch'd; The Pa∣trons, and the Vouchers of it, remain'd Sacred; and, for a Long Time, there was no Meddling with a Vote, without burning a Mans Fingers; So that the Source of the Plot lay hitherto in the Bow∣els of the Earth, and (like a Consecrated Fountain) it would have been little less then Sacrilege, to Pud∣dle and Prophane it. But since it has pleas'd God, by a Beam of Providence it self, to Light us into all the Intrigues and Recesses of it, and to Deliver this Nation from the Tyranny of Arbitrary Orders, and Nemine Contradicente's; I thought I could not do better, then to lay hold of, and to Im∣prove this Opportunity of Tracing it from the La∣bourers, and the Iourney-men, to their Principalls; and, in One Word more; to shew the Next Age, Puss in her Majesty, in the Caball it self; and that [Wée the Knights, &c.] Govern'd the Oraculous Delusion from One End to the Other: Beside that 'tis a Thing that has not so much as yet been Of∣fer'd at, by any Other Hand; and All the Rest, without This, amounted to no more then the shewing of Children a Puppet-Play: They hear the Figures Squeak, and see 'em Dance, and Play; but know nothing of the Springs, and Wyres, that give them Motion. So that the Historical Part of This Preamble, is not a Repetition of the Matters Contain'd in the Observators, but a Fair, and a Regular Deduction, in it's Proper Season, of a Ma∣nage, Page  166 and Intrigue, which was at That Time Se∣cret, and not without Extreme Danger to be Laid Open to the Publique.

THere is Another Imperfection, which I reflected upon,* with a regard to the Thrid, and Continu∣ation of the Story; which I could not Attend to, in the Course of Those Observators; for their pur∣pose being only to Encounter Shams, Slanders, Seditious Libels, and Opinions, pro Re Nata, as the Humour, and Bus'ness of the Season Started them; I was not the Master of my Own Bus'ness, but forc'd, to Follow, Turn, or to go Forward, or Backward, as the Freak of the Conspirators Led me; and Briefly; to Accommodate the Biass of my Papers to the Topiques of the Times. In Few Words, they were Design'd for Present Vse; and to Expose the Imposture, and the Cheat, of the Swearers, and of the Matters Sworn, by the Pal∣pable Contradictions of their Evidence, as well by Word of Mouth, as in Writing. But to make some Amends, for the Disorder of Papers that were written only by Snatches, and therefore Excusable for want of a Formal Transition from One into A∣nother, provided they kept the Decorum of a Con∣nexion, every one apart: I thought it might be worth the while, to Draw a more Methodical Ex∣tract of the Plot, out of the Transactions upon the Commons Iournal, and to Range the Members of the Several Divisions, under their Proper Heads; Page  167 which I have done, with All Fidelity and Candour in This Short History.

PEople will be apt to take This now, for only Cold Cabbidge,* three or Four times servd up. [Why we have had Plot enough in the Observators, they'l Cry; There's no body doubts of the Plot; and This is no more, in Effect, then Chewing the Cud upon his Own Papers, &c.] Now This is a Question, as Easily Answer'd, as it is Anticipated. I am here upon the Subject of a Parliamentary-Plot; whereas my Observators kept themselves within the Compass of a Narrative-Plot; neither does the One Interfere at all with the Bus'ness of the Other. As to the Faith, and Iustice of the Dia∣logues, I am perswaded, that there was hardly any thing Considerable, that Pass'd within the Compass of Their Date, and that would Endure a Publique Test, at That Season, which may not be found Expresly, and Punctually, set forth in that Collection; and Those are Particulars, wherein This Additional Supplement does not pretend to Inter∣meddle.

ANd I have yet One Word more to say; if I may, without Vanity, give this Account of my self. From the First Moment of Otes'es Plot coming into the World, I look'd upon it, and Declar'd my Opinion of it, as a Conspiracy in Disguise. I Contracted a Horror for it;* and [Vow'd to make War against Page  168 the Whore and Dragon, of Geneva, and All her Votaries as long as I had a day to Live; and that I would, to the Vtmost of my Power, Discover her Cheats and Villanies.] Learned Authors have Written after Otes'es Copy; and (to give the Devil his Due) This Figure is Borrow'd from a Rhetorical Flight in Titus Otes'es Dedicatory to Anthony E. of Shaftsbury, before his [Popes Ware∣house,] [In the Publication of This Poor Piece, (says he) by many Reviews and Remarques, I have been at some PAINS; and now my Lord it is upon the [TRAVEL.] Your Lordship's Countenance may beget the Countenances of many more Persons of Honour: So that I may not to all Intents and Purposes be Discouraged in this War that I have Vow'd to make against the Whore and Dragon of Rome, and All her Votaries,, as long as I have a Day to Live; and will to the Vtmost of my Power Discover all her Cheats and Villanies.] And so much for my Authority.

BUt, (as I was a saying) I Con∣tracted a Horror for this Vil∣lanous Cheat of a Plot,* from the ve∣ry Spawning of it; and, in the same Instant, an Ambition, above all things under the Sun, to have some Hand in Breaking the Neck on't. From That time to This, I have Barr'd my self the Benefits of Ease, Liberty, Con∣versation, and Effectually, All the Comforts of Humane Life, in Order to This End: And I hope I have not wholly lost my Labor neither. But to Page  169 make short; I found, by Degrees, that the Plot it Self, and the Plot's-Master, Lost Ground. I follow'd the Plot 'till it was Ridiculous; I fol∣low'd Otes to the King's Bench Bar, the Pillo∣ry, and the Carts-Arse. And since that was Over, I have had the Bus'ness of Sir Edmundbury God∣frey in my Eye. 'Tis true, I have No Lease of my Life, and so I cannot Positively Vndertake for't: But there was still Wanting a Parliamenta∣ry Calculation to Finish the Work; which I have here drawn into a very Clear Method, and as Nar∣row a Compass, as the Infinite Variety of Cross-Pur∣poses and Debates would Admit. In One Syllable more; I am an Old Fellow; and if I can but Live to get thorough That Solemn Foppery of Prance's, and Bedloe's Vision, at Somerset-House, I shall Dye in Peace.