WELL, Sir, you are willing, I ſuppoſe, to vindicate the Execution of your Laws, in every particular, againſt thoſe Roman Catholicks, that were ſacrificed to your Countries Vengeance.

I ſhall give you my Apprehenſions thereof; but if my Vindication be not Satisfactory, I will rather believe it to be my own Weakneſs, than the Juſtice of your Cauſe.

I appeal to any man of Sence, whether there was any Probability, there cou'd be a deſign of taking off the King? That very Act wou'd have alarm'd the People, and conſequently have daſht the Deſign; for upon that Juncture, where had we any Forces in readineſs to eſpouſe our Cauſe, and to alter that Government, which cou'd not be ſubverted, but by Sword? We cou'd not expect any Forreign Aſſiſtance to evade, before your Malitia were Embatteled; and to believe that a Caball of ſome deſigning Heads cou'd execute it, is Groundleſs.

As to the Fact it ſelf, we know that 'tis nothing but what the Principles of your Religion doth enjoyn you to; 'tis reckoned by your Church as Meritorious, and is very conſiſtent with your Conſcience. Now, as to the Probability, why this ſhou'd be executed, 'twas very apparent; your Party had Conſpired to ſham it upon the Presbyterians, and in order to that, you had given Commiſſions, and diſpoſed on Preferment to ſuch and ſuch men, as the Diſcovery of the Meal-Tub-Plot doth very clearly confirm; then where was the need of an Army in readineſs, when you might expect that Juſtice wou'd be done upon the Presbyterians, whilſt you free from Suſpition, might unconcernedly look on the Vertigo of the State? Beſides, if in the end you had fail'd in this, yet at preſent ſuch a general Conſternation had ſeized the Kingdom, that you might eaſily expect ſome Forreign Auxiliaries, before the Diſcovery of your Practices, and the Nation in a Military Poſture; your Church doth authorize and juſtifie the Actions of that Nature; and you have daring Clements, and zealous Ravilliats, that think it their Duty to attempt them.

I confeſs that Mariana doth endeavour to maintain that King-killing Tenet, but it was damned as Pernicious and Ʋnchriſtian by the Church: 'Tis alſo objected againſt Bellarmine; but it was only inſerted into his Volumns by an unknown hand, as is apparent in the Original Copy. But to revert your Aſſertion againſt your ſelf, if Regicide be Authorized by our Church, and Heaven promiſed as a Reward to the Actor, we have Clements in ſtore, that wou'd Aſſaſinate Majeſty upon the firſt Summons or Command; we need not have contrived ſo many ſeveral ſorts of Death, and have ventured the Abortion of our Plot upon the leaſt Miſcarriage. Do you think that Pickering would have had the Patience to have waited for an opportunity ſo long in the Park, when he might eaſily have had acceſs to the King's Preſcence, and might with a ſurer Fate, than an erring Gun, have diſpatcht, and conſequently m 〈…〉 d Heaven? He was unworthy of it, if he durſt not dye for't: The very Laſhes he had upon the account of his Negligence was worſe than the Pains of Death; beſides the Forfeiture of thoſe Maſſes that were promiſed him, upon the Performance.

Our Talent of time is now ſo ſmall, we muſt not employ it in Canvaſſing this Point; let us omit the Opinions of our Church in this King-Killing Tenet, and return to our particulars. Can you imagine, that a Deſign of this nature, wherein no leſs than the Death of the KING, and the Alteration of GOVERNMENT was endeavoured, ſhou'd be communicated to every Papiſt of any Note through the Realm? (as the Depoſitions of the Evidence would perſwade you) Or that Letters ſhou'd be ſent, or Correſpondence kept, in order to that, by the common Poſt? Or, that Sir George Wakeman and Groves, &c. were to have ſo many Hundreds of Pounds for their good Service, and adventure when four Gentlemen that were privy to all the Proceedings, wou'd Aſſaſſinate him for Fourſcore? Or that any of the Conſpirators, which you believe to be ſuch Profligate Villians, wou'd dye and be damned, when they might be prefered upon Confeſſion? or being conſcious to themſelves of the Truth of the Information, that they wou'd not endeavour to make an eſcape, but wou'd skulk about to be ferreted out by Juſtices of the Peace, proſecuted and hanged? Pray reconcile theſe.

Your firſt Suppoſition I anſwer thus, That although you had confided in the generality of thoſe of your Religion, yet you might believe the Oath of Secrecy, you had impoſed upon them, to be ſo Obligatory, as not to be violated by either Fear or Intereſt.

Secondly, You argue an Improbability that ſo great a Deſign ſhou'd be truſted to the duty of the common Poſt; but 'twas apparent, you had ſo far provided, that to prevent the ill conſequence of a Miſcarriage, you had contrived a Character, which none but your Correſpondent cou'd apprehend.

Thirdly, It is no Argument againſt the Probability of the intended Regicide, that the four Aſſaſſines were ſo reaſonable in their agreement, it only argues their great Zeal to your general Intereſt.

Fourthly, Although we ſhou'd be ſo candid, as not to inſiſt upon the Merit your Church aſignes to obſtinacy of that Nature, yet ſome of you, for the very fear of an Injury from their incenſed Party, durſt not betray the Cauſe by Confeſſion. Now, whereas they rather ſtood Tryal, than attempted an eſcape upon the firſt Diſcovery, it might be the Effects of their Impudence, rather than Innocence; they might expect their Deſign wou'd be ſham'd upon the Diſſenters, and ſo prevent that inconvenience to their future Conduct, that wou'd have attended their flight.

Finally, That you have endeavoured this before, if we look back to the fifth of November, we muſt believe; and why there is now more Simplicity and Innocence in your Religion, is unaccountable: We had not only ſufficient Evidence, but other demonſtrating Circumſtances to perſwade us of the Legality of their Tryals and Execution.