LIberty and Property hath for ſome Years made an hideous Cry in theſe Kingdoms, and nothing more than the Rights and Priviledges of the Subject is the Pretence of our preſent Deliverers; and doubtleſs it was for the ſake of theſe that ſo many of my infatuated and blind Countrey-men rebelled againſt their Lawful and Injured Monarch, whilſt Religion (Rebellions Umbrage) was made the Covert of the hidden Deſigns of thoſe who have now demonſtratively ſhewn, that they ſought nothing leſs than our Ruine: And that theſe were only Pretences to gain their Ends, the very Blind, although they cannot ſee, yet moſt certainly feel it. Under the like Pretences do our Deliverers ſtill continue to deliver us even from what they pleaſe, that they think will but in the leaſt help to effect what they came for: Under the Notion of the Neceſſity of a War they deliver us from our Money, and from our Traffick and Commerce, by which ſo great a part of the Kingdom is ſuſtained: Under the Notion of carrying it on, they kidnap our young Men, the Flower of our Kingdom, and directly contrary to Law tranſport them; and to ſave their own Forreigners, put them in the firſt Onſets of their Battles, as the Heathens did the Chriſtians of Old, that their Enemies Swords might be blunted with killing them, before they came to encounter them: They exhauſt all our Stores both for Sea and Land, and carry away all our Artillery; and if any Man ſeem but to diſapprove of theſe their Proceedings, under the Notion of Law they murther him: Nay, if they do but ſo much as ſuppoſe him not to be on their Side, he muſt be a Traitor, and no matter what the Law ſays, they ſay he ſhall die.

Can any thing be more plain to demonſtrate this than my preſent Caſe? My ſuppoſed Crime was Printing, and all that the Witneſſes could perſonally ſay againſt me, was, That I was a Man againſt the Government, and had called the Prince of Orange Hook-noſe, though I proteſt I never did; not one of them could ſay, nor did they offer to ſay, that I ever printed the Books of which they accuſe me, or procured them to be printed, or publiſhed any of them, or that the Materials were mine, or that I hired the Room where they were found; but I was an ill Man, and that was ſufficient: By which 'tis plain, that they were reſolved right or wrong to have my Life.

That they deſigned not to Try but to Convict me is as plain; for they refuſed poſitively to allow me Counſel to ſuch Matters of Law, as was never refuſed to any before; and though I cauſed ſeveral Statutes to be read, ſome to prove that there muſt be two Witneſſes at leaſt to the Fact, others, that though there had been two, as there was not one, yet poſitively declared that it was not Treaſon: Nay, the very laſt Seſſion of Parliament was it enacted, That the Printer of Seditious and Treaſonable Books ſhould for the firſt Offence be puniſhed no otherwiſe than not to follow his Trade for three Years, and for the ſecond Offence never to follow it more, and ſuch farther Puniſhment as ſeemed fit to the Court, not extending to Life or Limb. Now though mine (had it been proved) had but been the firſt, yet you ſee contrary and in direct oppoſition to the Law, they make it High-Treaſon: And when the Jury could not agree to find me Guilty, and came down to ask the Court whether the finding theſe Things there, and ſuppoſing them to be mine, ſince it could not be prov'd that I printed theſe Books, or had made any uſe of them, could affect my Life? I ſay, when the Jury ask'd this Queſtion, and the Lord Chief Juſtice Treby told them poſitively, No, it did not; yet withal he told them, That that was not their Buſineſs, their Buſineſs was to find me Guilty of Printing: And while they ſtayed, the Court frown'd upon them to that degree, that the Foreman told them, he was not to be frighted; upon which they publickly reviled them, calling them, ill Men, ill Subjects, and a Pack of Knaves; and ſo terrified them into a Compliance. That this is true, thoſe who were near know too well, although the partial Writer of the Trials hath moſt perfidiouſly publiſh'd not only an unfair, imperfect, and lame Account, but hath alſo ſtuff'd it with downright Untruths and Falſhoods, and left out whatſoever made for me; not ſo much as mentioning the Contradictions of the Witneſſes in what they did ſwear, their ſwearing to ſome things that made for me, and when I took hold of them they denied them, nor hath he in the leaſt told the World of the Judges Over-ruling whatſoever I offered, without giving any other Anſwer than that it ſhould be ſo becauſe they would have it ſo; with many other ſuch Things, which the conſcientious Auditors can teſtify.

And now I pray conſider where is this Liberty and Property? Where the Rights and Priviledges of the Subject? Nay, where the very Laws themſelves? And conſequently where is the Security of any Man? Why, even in the Deliverers Pockets, where your Money is, and where alſo without all doubt, if you look not well to your Selves, your Eſtates ere long will be there likewiſe. What are theſe Proceedings but Arbitrary in a Superlative manner, and ſuch as no Reign ever produced before? Theſe were they you were heretofore only afraid of, being jealous without juſt Cauſe; but now you ſee them actually come upon you. I hope you your ſelves will put a ſtop to them, by laying theſe Proceedings before the Parliament, for had it been ſitting at this preſent theſe Proceedings durſt not have been practiſed; and I pray God to put ſo ſpeedy an end to them, that as I am the firſt, ſo I may be the laſt that may ſuffer by them.

I have hitherto lived a Member of the Orthodox Church of England as by Law Eſtabliſhed, and I declare I now die in the Unity of the ſame: Therefore, according to its Diſcipline, I hold my ſelf obliged to ask Pardon of the whole World, of every particular Perſon whom I have any ways offended; and I do freely and ſincerely forgive every one that has offended me, particularly my moſt falſe and perjured Witneſſes, and among them more particularly Robin Stephens, my moſt unjuſt and unrighteous Judges, and my repenting Jury; and I pray God may not lay this their Sin of wilful Murther to their Charge at the General Bar, where they ſhall appear as Criminals, and not Judges.

MAY the Almighty bleſs, prèſerve, proſper, and reſtore our Sovereign Lord King JAMES, to the juſt Poſſeſiſion of his indubitable lawful Crowns, ſtrengthen him that he may vanquiſh and overcome all his Enemies here on Earth, and crown him with eternal Glory hereafter: And that he may never want Heirs to inberit his Crown, bleſs I beſeech thee, O God, His Royal Highneſs the Prince of Wales, and give him ſuch a Numerable Iſſue, that there may never want one of his Loins to ſway the Scepters of theſe Kingdoms ſo long as Sun or Moon endure▪ Amen. Amen.