I. HOLLAND.

YOU may remember, Sir, with what Respects that Protestant State re­ceived and protected your Brother and your self as long as they durst, and what particular Friends your Family found there, who contributed in some measure to your Support, and made what Friends they could for your self and Brothers, when you were by the French King Banished France: But how you have since treated the States-General, by engaging the King your Brother, in two most unjust Wars, to their great Impoverishing, and the Weakning the Protestant Interest: But you dealt with them as you did by all your other Friends and Allies. You no sooner received the Testimony of their Affections, but you forget it; and therefore it was well observed of Kir­ton your old Friend and Fryar, that the only way for a Man to ruin his Fa­mily, was to engage in your Cause and Quarrel. You will do well to call to mind the Heats that you and your Incendiaries created in Holland, and the Animosities you caused, which cost the De Wits their Lives. Several Letters of Coleman's to the Jesuits of S. Omers, do highly magnifie your prudent Con­duct [Page 40] in that Affair; and what was the End of all those Heats and Flames you kindled, but to exasperate a considerable Party of Men against your Nephew the Prince of Orange; nay, your Malice against that Prince did not cease here, but most unnaturally you engaged the King your Brother to aban­don him, and to comply with his and the mortal Enemies of this Nation; which was so unnatural, that an Infidel would not have been guilty of such Ingratitude as your self, if you do but remember how the Prince's Father served yours. Your Malice yet went further; for the Lord Arlington using some Arguments with the King to have a more Regard to his Nephew the Prince of Orange, and the States-General of the United Provinces: What Care on the contrary did you use to prevent any good Intention of the said Lord Arlington towards the said Prince of Orange; and in order to this, you dispatch'd Letters to Ashby the Rector of the English College of S. Omers, and require him to write to the Confessor of the Emperor, to satisfie him that the King your Brother intended no less than the Ruin of the Confederates, especial­ly of the Empire, and of his Catholick Princes under him, and that under­hand he furnished the Hungarian Rebels against his Imperial Majesty, and found them Money to go on with their Rebellion, and that his Design was, not to have any Alliances with his Imperial Majesty but only in Shew, that he might advance his Nephew the Prince of Orange; and in order to that, he had brought him over to the French Interest, which Letter, Sir, I saw, and the Instru­ctions were followed to a Tittle by the Fathers at S. Omers.

In those Letters the States-General were to be acquainted with this. Now, Sir, it is well known, that the King your Brother's being ingaged in the French Interest, was no Secret at the Court at Vienna, nor with the States-General; but that the Prince of Orange was drawn into that Interest, this must be surpri­zing: Therefore, Sir, we might easily see the secret Hatred you conceived a­gainst the Prince and his Cause, and Interest. You and your Conspirators could have been heartily glad of being blest with such an Ally; but be­cause he was true to his Cause and Interest, you by your lying Jesuits did what you could to create a Jealousie in the then Confederate Princes, of the Sin­cerity of the Prince, to the Confederacy, and to the Interest of the United Provinces, in order to his Ruin. These Letters that were sent to the Emperor's Confessor, bore Date, Jan. 4. 1678. Stilo Novo.

Sir, You may not forget the 12 Jesuits that Whitebread the Provincial of the Jesuits sent into Holland to create a Belief in the Dutch, that the Prince of O­range designed no less than the Subversion of the Government of the United Provinces, by procuring his Party to receive and own him as their King, and that it was the Design of the said Prince to assume the Title and Crown of a King, and change their Government, and make a Seisure of their Freedoms. These Jesuits were sent by Virtue of Letters sent from Coleman in your Name, and Money was sent over to be received at Dunkirk, the Sum was 4000 Crowns, to bear the Charge of the Mission into Holland, and the Bills were signed by one Busby a Merchant here in London, the Money being paid in by Sir Allen Apsley; therefore, Sir, it may well be concluded who was at the Head of this Piece of Villany.

[Page 41] In a word, Sir, you see what means you and the rest of your Popish Incen­diaries used to beget in the Dutch an ill Esteem of the Prince of Orange, and to widen the Difference between the Lovistein Party and his Friends; and, if possible, to seduce his Friends, and destroy his Interest, and the Interest of the Protestant Religion: and the best Title the Jesuits of St. Omer's us'd to give him, was Apple-tree Will; at which you were pleased; in the multitude of your witty Thoughts, to laugh, as Coleman us'd to tell us, when ever any Discourse happened concerning the Prince of Orange.

But, Sir, you may say, That he was your Sister's Son, and that at that time you had married your Daughter to him, so that he was not only your Nephew, but your Son-in-Law, What then? How you and your Party used him, when he was your Nephew, the Princes of Europe saw, and the Honest Party of Eng­land resented his Usage, and had Thoughts of you accordingly, yea, and of your Brother to; but you pretend that you had married your Daughter to him. No, Sir, it was neither you nor your Brother married the Lady Mary to the Prince of Orange; it was something else, I had almost said the Siege of Char­leroy, and the Advice of a worthy Minister of State upon the same: But sup­pose you had married your Daughter to the Prince of Orange, and that it was your own Inclination, to which I cannot yet be reconciled in my thoughts, but that after the Marriage you pursued his Ruin with as much vigour as you did be­fore, give me leave to sum up the whole in a few words: You and your Ac­complices resolved, That the Prince of Orange should not become Great, there­fore he must be destroyed; and in order to effect so mighty and so great a Work, all means are used to stir up the Dutch to mutiny against him, upon that Diabolical Suggestion of your Conspirators, That he had designed, and was resolved to subvert their Government, and usurp a Crown and Title of a King: the Emperor is also instigated to create a Belief in the States-General, That the Prince designed the making himself Absolute; and oh how did you and your Party hug your selves with the Expectation of a Breach between him and the States-General, so that his and the whole Protestant Interest might fail in Hol­land.

In truth, when a Man reflects upon this Affair, he would wonder at your Barbarity, and naturally ask this Question, Why should this Prince aim at the Destruction of the Prince of Orange? Was he not his Sister's Son, his Son-in-law? What profit would it be to you to destroy him? An honest-thinking Man would hesitate at these things; but when he considers who it is attempts this, and for what cause, then it naturally follows there was a pretended Cause for such Diabolical Suggestions, and such Barbarous Designs.

You that was his Uncle was converted to such a degree of Zeal, as not to regard any thing in the World in comparison of the Conversion of Heretical Kingdoms, and so your Interests we know were inseparately united to the French King, that it was impossible to divide them: You know that you used all means to secure His Most Christian Majesty's Interest in England, and that for many weighty Rea­sons; one among the rest was, That his and yours prevailing, would give the greatest Blow to the Protestant Religion that ever it receiv'd from its birth; then undoubtedly [Page 42] the Prince of Orange (through God's mercy now our Gracious King) at that time stood within a step or two of the Throne, and being a Protestant, ought in all Policy to be removed, notwithstanding his being your Nephew, and Son-in-law: For what do Men talk of natural Affection amongst Popish Princes? Was you not in a Conspiracy against Charles the Second, when he was at Brux­els, though he was your own Brother, (or else he is basely bely'd?) And was not the Queen, his Mother, zealous in the same Conspiracy, notwithstanding he was her Son? Why then should any Man talk of natural Affection?

Sir, you cannot forget that you had a mighty Work upon your Hands, that was, The Conversion of these Kingdoms, and subduing the Northern Heresie, and that your hopes of it were very great, and that you were zealous, to a miracle, of being the Author of so Glorious a Work: Your mighty Mind, and the Mighty Mind of the French King, were relied upon by the Conspirators; for that also that the Interest of the French King was highly attracted to that of yours. Why then should any wonder at your Passing a Bill of Exclusion upon the Prince of Orange, who the World knew (notwithstanding all your Hellish Suggestions both to the Emperor and States-General) stood ready with all his might to Baffle You, and the French King, and all your mighty Undertakings.

Consider further, That the Interest of the French King was highly attracted to your Interest; and this pleased you and your Party, and so you thought your selves secure: But here was your Nephew and Son-in-law; his Interest was as highly attracted to that of England, Holland, and the Reformed Churches of Europe, to the Support of the Protestant Religion, which You and the French King were to destroy by the Name and Title of the Northern Heresie. I pray then what signifies a Nephew and a Son-in-law in such a Case as this? Can any Man that ever knew you, believe that natural Affection should interpose and prevent your destroying him, since your natural Affection and Bigotry were, and are still no Strangers in England or Holland.

Consider once more, and then I have done with this Point: You may remem­ber, that the French King did most generously offer you the use of his Purse, to assist against the Designs of those that were Enemies to you, and that Mo­narch: Nay, you know he protested, That those that opposed you he should look on them his Enemies; and you did as well protest, That those who opposed him you would look upon them as your Enemies; and it was the Opinion of the French King, that the Parliament of England was neither in his Interest nor yours, and you entirely agreed with him in that Thought of his; so that it was your Opi­nion, that it was necessary for you both to make use of your joint and utmost Credits, to prevent the Success of the Parliaments Evil Designs against you both. What, Designs against you and the French King? Yes, Designs a­gainst you, and the French King; nay, that which is more, a dangerous Plot. Who are the Plotters? And what was the Plot? my Lord Arlington was at work, without ceasing, to advance the Interest of the Prince of Orange, and the Hollanders, and to lessen that of the French King: And that he and se­veral others were endeavouring to break the good Intelligence between Charles the Second, the French King, and your self, wherefore you earnestly [Page 43] solicited the French King to assist with the Help of his Purse, to prevent such Rogueries.

Thus, Sir, you make a Tripple League, and set it up in Opposition to ano­ther: In the one, King Charles, the French King, and your sweet Self are engaged; in the other, the Parliament of England, the States of Holland, and the Prince of Orange, are engaged: The French is to furnish you with Money, which is the Sinews of War, the Parliament are declared Enemies, King Charles stands as a Cypher only; and therefore the French King, and your self, put your selves under the solemn Engagements to perform what was sti­pulated, and strenuously to assist each other against the Designs of your and the French King's Enemies; for that there was a dangerous and desperate Design on foot, to advance the Prince of Orange, and to lessen the French King: And therefore, can any think that it was unreasonable in you, to endeavour to de­stroy him, since his Advancement was of such a desperate and dangerous Con­sequence to the French King, your Self, and Romish Religion? These things duly considered, no Man that hath his Thoughts and Judgment keeping pace with each other, but must from the Premisses rationally conclude, That you and your Incendiaries must have a design of destroying the Prince and his Par­ty, and Protestant Interest in Holland, notwithstanding any Excuses you may make to the contrary, or your Party for you.

II. IRELAND.

Since, Sir, you have not left so good a Name in Holland, as you might have pretended to, it is much to be feared that, upon enquiry, your Name and Me­mory will not be very precious here in Ireland. If you please to give me your Company thither, I'll assure you, if you deserve it, you shall have my good Word from thence, for all the old Favours I receiv'd from you in the Day of your Power here amongst us; but I suppose I shall find sad havock there made by you, and your Plotters, of the Protestant Religion, and of the Civil Rights, Liberties, and Customs of the English and Protestant Interest.

Sir, it pleased King Charles the Second to send the Lord Roberts as his Vice­gerent into Ireland, who was a warm Man, and not at all Popishly affected, and therefore not for your Turn, or one that would gratifie the Conspirators in any one Point of countenancing Popery, and therefore you procured him to be re­moved; so that Ireland was put into such Hands as your Heart and Soul could wish for: For whoever was Deputy, or Lieutenant, your Conspirator, Boyle, an Archbishop, was the Governor; a Fellow, 'tho' of the Communion of the Church of England, yet was a well-wisher to the Romish Mathema­ticks. So Ireland was in a fair way to be Over-run and Ruined to all Intents and Purposes by yours; and the Procurement of the Jesuites.

[Page 44] Upon the Removal of the Lord Robarts, afterwards Earl of Radnor, you re­member who succeeded him, and what Promises was made by this Successor, and what Terms you required from him, and how he complied, and who it was that recommended this new Lieutenant as a Person fit, to all Intents and Purpo­ses, to execute your Designs: These things are worthy of consideration I assure you, for we have considered them; and what could be done in so little time as our King hath had, many of those Abuses have been corrected and amended. This Tool brought the Kingdom of Ireland into a sad condition, by encoura­ging the Popish Recusants, who are the profess'd Enemies to the Protestant Re­ligion, and English Interest; by his, or rather your Encouragement, they grew more Insolent and Presumptuous than before that Tool of a Lieutenant came there, which was of a dangerous Consequence to that Kingdom, and the Pro­testant Religion, and English Interest: And it was like to have proved Fatal to that Kingdom, had it not been in some measure prevented, by the sending in his room that Great and never-to-be-forgotten Earl of Essex, whom you and your Party procured to be Murthered in the Tower, to make the Murther of the Good Lord Russel less difficult.

1. For in the First Place, in the Month of January 1672/3. you procu­red a Commission of Enquiry into Irish Affairs, containing many Powers that were new and extraordinary, not only Prejudicial to the English, whose Estates and Titles were liable to be questioned, but in a manner to Overthrow the King's Acts of Settlement, which Commission you caused to be pursued, to the great Charge and Attendance of many of the Protestants there: And by this means you shook the Peace and Security of the whole Kingdom of Ireland. It is well known, Sir, that you gave the Jesuites great Hopes of making a fair Step to establish the Romish Religion; and old Gray, the Jesuite, in a Letter of Fe­bruary, 1672. exhorts the Fathers at St. Omers to be very thankful to God that he had put it into the Hearts of the King and Duke, to remember the sad E­state of the Catholick Religion in Ireland; and that now there was some Hopes of Establishing it there, since the Lord-Lieutenant was so well disposed towards it, by the especial Care of His Royal Highness.

II. You were pleased to cause the Popish Party to be armed in that King­dom, and some of them were Commanders to others; Instructions were given from Richard Talbot, then your Agent there, by your Order, for those of the Roman Catholick Party to furnish themselves with quantities of Arms; and this, your Conspirators said, were to keep the English in order. This, Sir, can be proved whenever there is occasion. No Man can think, that Sir Ellis Ley­ton, a Papist, that was Secretary to the Government, by your especial Grace and Favour, should not pursue the same Instructions that your Agent Talbot had received: Nay, give me leave to tell you, That your dear Brother was highly engaged to reduce that Kingdom to a Popish Establishment, according to the Agreement he had made with Madam, your Sister, to whom he had promised to begin the Establishing the Roman Catholick Religion in Ireland; and that [Page 45] High-Mass should, in a short time, be sung at St. Patrick's, in the City of Dub­lin, the Metropolis of that Kingdom.

It is true, Sir Ellis Layton was a lewd Fellow; but there was none that did your Business, in jest, so well as he did, for the time of his residence in Ire­land: For under the Notion of Ridiculing the Irish, he promoted every Man that was a Papist, if he had but common Sense, and a Place open. And it is well remembred what vast Quantities of Arms and Ammunition were daily sent from England to that Place, and considerable Quantities both from France and Spain, which your Party used to say, would do more good towards the Establish­ing the Catholick Religion than so many Bibles: And great care, Sir, was taken by you, to secure the poor Irish Catholicks in the North, that the Planters of Ulster, and the Scotch, should give them no disturbance; that is, in plain English, they should themselves stand still, and be peaceably murthered by your Irish Cut-throats.

3. How many Popish Judges, Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Coroners, Mayors, Sovereigns, and Portriffs, were made, by your Princely Care, in that Kingdom! And was this for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion, and the English Interest there? No certainly; it is well known, by several Let­ters of yours to Richard Talbot, and Sir Ellis Layton, that the Reason why you gave such Instructions, was to crush and ruine the Protestant Religion and the English Interest in that Kingdom; for you having Popish Judges, and Popish Sheriffs▪ you would quickly find Popish Juries, and Irish Witnesses to swear any thing against the Protestant Nobility and Gentry that stood in opposition to your Proceedings in that Kingdom: Then, Sir, what Security had a Gentle­man of his Estate, when Judges, Sheriffs, and Witnesses were against him? The many Instances of the Wrongs and Oppressions done to the Protestant English Gentlemen, the Records of your Villainous Court of Claims can tell how they were sworn out of their Estates and Fortunes by your Rogues and Banditti. I am certain that this Point being gained by You, and your Conspi­rators, it proved very Fatal to Ireland.

4. You took great care of the Church too; not of the Protestant Church, but of your Popish Titular Archbishops, Bishops, Vicar-Generals, Abbots, and others, that had Power from Rome to exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, that they should be established in particular. Sir, your old Friend Peter Talbot, the pretended Archbishop of Dublin, and your old Friend James Lynce, Archbishop of Tuam, both of them had been notoriously disloyal to the King your Brother, in that they had long lived in Disobedience to him, and in Contempt of his Laws: But, to cure that, you procured a Pardon for them both, which Boyle the Chancellor passed under the Great Seal, by your special Command and Direction; nay, you hectored your Brother when he was unwilling to pass Talbot's Pardon, and challenged his Promise and Agreement made at Dover, at the Interview, with Madam his Sister and yours: And, Sir, that all things might appear with some Face of Grandeur, a Meeting of all the Popish Arch­bishops, [Page 46] Bishops, Vicar-Generals, Abbots, Priors, and Priests, for the settling and establishing their Clergy, both secular and regular, which was connived at by your Tool of a Lieutenant; upon which the Popish Party grew so insolent, that a Protestant went in danger of his Life amongst them: nay, to preserve their Stock, in many Places they were forced to pay Tythes to the Popish Priest, as well as to the Protestant Minister.

But when the Earl of Essex was sent over, with much difficulty some small Check was put to these insolent Carriages of the Irish Papists; Tuam fled, and Talbot withdrew for a while, or rather absconded themselves, and the Publick Popish Schools were put down, and many secular and regular Priests did de­part the Land: For which, Sir, you hated the Earl of Essex, and Plunket you also despised, because he said, It was not Prudence for Catholicks to live in Contempt of Law; and therefore you may remember how and by whom his end was promoted, and with what zeal you and your Party sent him out of the World; he was of the same Opinion with Cardinal Howard, that in what­soever Business Talbot was engaged, he ever spoiled it, and he was impudent and false to his Party, for which the Jesuites turned him out of the Society; but that he might not in discontent leave the Church of Rome, the General of the Jesuites procured of the Pope that he might be made a Bishop. But this, Sir, I will assure you, That if Talbot when he was taken in Ireland, had been taken in England, he would have done You and your Party a signal Piece of Service; for Coleman had certainly given Evidence with him against you: So that your traiterous Correspondency with France, and Intentions to destroy the Prince of Orange, and the Protestant Religion within these Realms, and all over Europe, would have been so fully detected, that it had been almost impos­sible for you to have escaped the hand of Justice. Of this, Sir, I can give a particular Account, if ever there should be occasion: And Plunket himself gave you such an Item of Talbot's Intentions in that Point, that Coleman's Death was hastened, and Talbot dy'd strangely in Prison, and so you escaped to do more Mischief: And how well you rewarded Plunket for his Good will towards you, is well known; and all to oblige your Cut-throat Jesuits, to whom they were mortal Enemies.

5. On the 26th. of Febr. 1671. It is remembred, that for the better Encouragement of the Irish Papists, and that they might many of them live in greater Bodies together, you procured Letters from King Charles, your Brother, and a Proclamation, to give Liberty in General to all Irish Papists to live in Corporations, against the Act of Settlement; and to be excused from all those Oaths that were required from those who were duly licensed according to the true intent and meaning of that Act: And your Agents, Si [...] Ellys Leyton, and Richard Talbot, were very vigorous to see those Letters and Proclamations put in Execution: Then the Irish flocked into Towns Cor­porate, and other Market Port Towns of that Kingdom, to the great Ter­rour of the English Protestants, and the Disturbance of their Trade. To redress which, how many Petitions were presented, setting forth the Cala­mity [Page 47] the Protestant Interest was exposed to, and what Danger they were in of losing their Trade both at home and abroad; and how they returned without any manner of Redress, but were ridiculed by Leyton, and abused by your Tool the Lord Lieutenant.

It is well known that the Irish Papists (some few only excepted) did not un­derstand Trade, and therefore the End for which they were let in to live in Towns Corporate, and into other Market-Towns within that Kingdom was, that they might over-power the Protestant Party and seize their Effects as they did in the Rebellion: They began in the Year 1641, and that they might get into Offices in those Towns Corporate, to keep the Protestants so much under as would incapacitate them to stand upon their defence, the Irish being well armed, and the English being disarmed by a private Order from your self to the then Lord Lieutenant, which was discovered in the Papers found at Jolliff's house in Weldstreet, in Feb. or Jan. 1678/9, amongst Papers be­longing to Sir Ellys Leyton.

And for two or three Years together, great Inquiry was made by some of your Conspirators, for News out of Ireland; so big they were with the Expectation of a Rebellion there; which certainly had been if it had not been for fear of the Scotch, who were well planted in the North of Ire­land, who with all the Bravery and Resolution that became honest Men and good Protestants to stand by the English, in opposition to the Irish; for which Cause you did use your utmost Efforts to have those Scotch that were so planted in the North of Ireland to be disarmed; but whether at that time your Design took effect I cannot well remember.

6. Furthermore, you to carry on your wicked designs and purposes in that Kingdom for the better establishing of Popery and Arbitrary Power, and dis­couraging of the Protestant Religion and English Interest. You procured Letters of the King your Brother, bearing date, Septemb. 28th. 1672. and upon that Letter so procured, there was an Order of Council of that King­dom, in which Letter, and by which Order, the English Protestants were strictly charged and commanded, upon pain of his high Displeasure, not to prose­cute the Irish Papists, in any Actions whatsoever, for any Wrongs or Injuries committed by them, during the late Rebellion. Nay, Sir, you would not have it called a Rebellion, but you desired it might be called rather the late Troubles, which you could not obtain; and rather than your Teagues should lose the Benefit of the said Letter, you were content to have it called a Rebellion; and the Reason was, you and your Brother too were well satisfied who had a hand in it, and first stirred it up; witness, the Parchments that were found in the Red Trunk in Jolliff's House in Weld-street, and the Letter written in the behalf of the Marquis of Antrim, to your Devilish Court of Claims, in which the principal Author of that Rebellion was made manifest, but that by the Way only.

[Page 48] In that Rebellion, what Murders, Rapines, Thefts, and barbarous Outrages were for some time daily committed by the Irish Papists, upon the poor Pro­testants, some yet alive in both Kingdoms to testifie: And yet, of your tender Care of those Barbarous Cut-throats, you would not have them answer at Law, for any of the aforesaid Villanies, and why? Because what they did, was in Zeal for the Catholick Cause, to which, you by a Miracle was con­verted, insomuch, that for the promoting of it, you had regard neither to Law, or Justice, Sence, or Reason: Nay, some that did sue those Murderers before that damnable Court was set up, were much discountenanced by your Party there, and by your self here in England, if they had occasion to make any Application to your self for any Favour or Kindness.

7. You constituted Richard Talbot Agent from your self to the Roman-Ca­tholicks, and they constituted him their Agent to you from them, for which Talbot had a sufficient Pension to whore and game withal; and, give the De­vil his due, he answered his Trust with all the Care, Fidelity, and Diligence both to you and the Popish Party. Not only so, but you procured for him the said Talbot, a Command in Ireland, as a Reward for his great Services done. Of this Agency of the said Talbot, Dr. Tongue, and Mr. Thomas Jones, your quondam Chaplain, having some clear Proof, they made Application to the King your Brother, and he ridiculed the Business, and said, That Talbot was not only a Blockhead, but was in no manner fit for an Agent for any party, he being also a Man too much addicted to his pleasures; and you met with Jones, and asked him whether he was turned from a Preacher to an Informer, and told him he had pitched upon a very unlikely man for an Agent. Thus was any Truth, that was against Poperty or Papists, brought by any honest Man, hissed of the Stage by your Brother and your self. Sir, I confess you would have used me so when I charged him with a Commission from some body, to be General Governour, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; and the King then told me how Tongue and Jones had been to inform him that Talbot was an A­gent from the Popish Party in Ireland to the Duke, and an Agent from the Duke to the Popish Party, which he rejected as an improbable thing; but the Story I told him was more improbable: I discovered his Agency, and made out that by Letters under the hand of the said Talbot; so that Tongue and Jones were justified, and you did, in a few Years, so justifie that part and so many particulars of my Testimony in that Affair, that your very Passive Obedience Rogues began, when it was almost too late, to look about them: For in time he was General of the Army in Ireland, in the time of the Earl of Cla­rendon's Regency, and after him, to the sorrow of many Unbelievers, he was by you made Lord Lieutenant.

8. Your Conspirators received a Letter from Talbot, the pretended-Arch­bishop of Dublin, wherein it was expressly said, That your Jesuits in Ireland, and others were preparing the Irish Papists to Rise in defence of their Liberties and Religion, and to recover their Estates, and that if the Parliament that was to sit [Page 49] in England, did engage heartily with the King, and the King with them in a War against the French King, that a place or places should be opened to re­ceive the French King's Army in Ireland, whenever his most Christian Majesty should think fit to send one. And by Order from Coleman and the Jesuits in London, the Fathers at the English College at S. Omers, were to advertise the Father Confessor to the French King of the same; and other Jesuits that had an Interest in the French King, and the Fathers of S. Omers were assured that the King your Brother was brought to that state of Security, that if any Male-content among them should not prove true to them and their Design, his Majesty would not give ear to their Information, and therefore prayed them to be diligent, for now was the time or never; and accordingly Messengers were sent to Father La Chaise, viz. Edward Nevil your Confessor, and Wil­liam Busby, to carry the aforesaid Letters to La Chaise, and these did bring home La Chaise's Answer, and withal several Letters that Coleman had written to him upon that Affair in your Name, and by your Command, that bore date in the month of January, as these also did in the month of January 1677/8. some little time before the Parliament sat down: And then, Sir, there was a Pension obtained for Coleman, your diligent Secretary, of 2000 Crowns a Year, and another from Rome, but what that was I do not so well remember: But this is not to be forgotten, that the Fathers of S. Omers had great Assurance of considerable Sums from the Pope, and from the General of the Jesuits, if any Progress were made in that Glorious Attempt.

Here, Sir, you and your Party signalize your selves in several particulars worthy of your being put in mind of, 1. The great Preparations that were made for the Rising of the Irish Papists. 2. That the great Design of Rising, was for the Defence of their Liberties and Religion. 3. You were not certain but that your Brother might engage in earnest with the Parliament for en­tring into an actual War with France. 4. That in case he should, your Con­spirators would let in French Forces into Ireland. 5. That your Brother was brought to such a state of Security, that if any Malecontent amongst you should not prove true to you or your Design, he would not give ear to their Information.

1. The great Preparations that were made for the Rising of the Irish Papists, and this your Agent Talbot was engaged in, and your Secretary Coleman was privy to it, and you too, by the Letters that Coleman wrote by your Order to the said La Chaise, with whom you your self left this Jesuit to cor­respond, Coleman being a Servant to you, and a trusty one too. But there were many Protestants that had their Eyes opened, and made their Ob­servations of the Carriage of your Teagues, how imprudently insolent they had been, and how they were Armed and Countenanced by some in the Government, and therefore they can attest the Truth of this Proposition of mine, and they are Men of unexceptionable Credit. So that if you will try the Merits of the Cause, you may come forth and be heard.

[Page 50] 2. That the great Design of Rising was for the Defence of their Liberties and Religion, and the Recovery of their Estates. You know, Sir, that you were converted to the Religion of the Church of Rome; and you were so zea­lous for it, even to a Miracle, that you regarded nothing in the World in Com­parison of your Religion: And so it was with your Friends here in Ireland; and whilst the English Protestants were uppermost, you had instilled this Principle in them, by your Jesuites, and other Conspirators, that they were but Slaves: And as for those that could not recover their Estates, forfeited by Rebellion, by the dint of Perjury, they must try by the dint of the Sword to destroy the English Protestant Interest; or else they were not only Slaves, but Beggars too into the bargain.

3. They were not certain but that the King your Brother might engage in earnest with the Parliament, in an actual War against France; you know, Sir, he had been but uncertain in his Proceedings with you in this damnable Con­spiracy, for he had broke the Engagements that he had made with Madam your Sister, in the Establishing the Popish Religion in Ireland, and that he had passed the Test Bill in England; and that he refused to sign Coleman's Declara­tion, for the dissolving the Parliament, notwithstanding his solemn Engage­ments to you and your Party to do it; and that he received the Sacrament in his Chappel according to the Usage of the Church of England, though he had received the same but that morning, from Ireland the Jesuit, according to the Rites of the Church of Rome; and therefore neither Teague nor your self were sure of him.

4. In Case he should heartily engage with the Parliament, in an actual War against France, your Conspirators would let in French Forces into Ireland, and so they did when you Trayterously Invaded that Kingdom, and what they did for you then, they would have done as much for you eight or ten Years before. They were zealous for the Popish Religion, and so were you, and your Interests were both one, and they are to this day; I think I need not go further to prove that Point.

5. The King your Brother was brought to such a state of Security, that if any Malecontent amongst you should not be true to you or your Design, he would not give ear to their Information: you know who it was that so governed the King, and led him by the Nose, but you supposed your selves safe: But this remem­ber, that when Information was made of this Hellish Conspiracy, the King your Brother heard it, and the Evidence was so strong, and the Plot made so plain, that he could not gainsay it, he being in every part of it himself, excepting that of his own Life; and was convinced that the Parliament ought to have the Examination of the same put into their hands, which was accordingly done. And what the Parliament, that was within some few days after the Dis­covery thereof to sit, did do, and what Credit they gave to it, and three other Parliaments, you and your Followers cannot forget.

[Page 51] 9. Your Conspirators, the Jesuites from St. Omer's, were made acquainted, by Letters, from those of London, in conjunction with your Servant Coleman, That William Morgan, and one Lovel, Jesuites, were dispatched as Messengers into Ireland, to see how Affairs stood there; and this Morgan's, and his Com­panion's Charges were paid by the said Coleman, who gave them Instructions, in your Name, to encourage the Irish Papists, to defend their Religion and Li­berties: And Coleman, and the Jesuites transmitted 2000 Pound for the Supply of their present Wants; and a Promise of 4000 Pound was, in your Name, made by Coleman, and the Jesuites, in case there should be any Action.

But, Sir, these Messengers, Morgan and Lovel, they went away on the last of January, 1677/8. and returned the latter part of March following, and gave such a melancholy Account of Peter Talbot's lavishing the Money that you had in a special manner entrusted him withal, and not applying the same for the use of the Irish, as you had directed, that it strook a great Damp upon the Minds of your Conspirators here in London: and, That the said Talbot had forged Re­ceipts of several Summs of Money by him pay'd to several of their Officers, though the same were neither pay'd by him, nor yet receiv'd by them; and not only so, but that the Protestants in the North of Ireland were much alarm'd at those Quantities of Arms and Ammunition that were put into the Hands of the Irish Catholicks.

10. Your Conspirators, Coleman, and the Jesuites in London, receiv'd Letters from St. Omers, written from Father Ireland, (not he that was hanged, for his own Name was Ironmonger; but this Man's own Name was Saltmarsh) That Care was taken for the Destruction of the Duke of Ormond in Ireland, he being then Lord-Lieutenant there: And for what Reason? Because he had refused, Sir, to join with you in Breaking the English Interest in that Kingdom; though, Sir, you may remember, that the said Duke was a Person very Obsequious to your Brother, and your Self; and the Reason why you could not get him to engage with you in Omnibus, was his own Safety and Ease. Yet when you acted, by the King's Command, the said Duke never failed you; nor did his Son, the Earl of Ossory, which cost that good Gentleman many a Sigh when he came to dye; for the Business of the Smyrna Fleet, and the Wicked War against the Dutch, stuck upon his Soul to the last Minute of his Life. But I say, Because the Duke of Ormond would not push on every thing you put upon him, he was not for your turn; though, give him his due, he had gone far­ther than his Inclinations lead him, to please your Mind.

11. In the last place, when you took the Crown, you in a short time put the whole Government into the Hands of the Irish Papists, by which means the English Protestant Interest was in great danger to be lost; and the Pro­testant Inhabitants were under the daily Fears, through your Grace and Fa­vour, of having their Throats cut; nay many, daily, by your Cut-Throat Teagues, were, by your especial Direction, basely, inhumanely, and barba­rously murthered. So that some tasted of that Cruelty which others justly [Page 52] apprehended from the Arbitrary Power you set up there: Some of them left the Kingdom, and abandoned their Estates, calling to mind that Cruel and Bloody Massacre which fell upon their Fathers in that Kingdom, in the year 1641. And to crown your Work, you traiterously invaded that King­dom, and called a Number of your Villains together, and christened them by the Title and Name of a Parliament; and what you did by their countenance, many yet alive can tell. But Doctor King, an old Passive Obedience Friend of yours, hath painted you out at large in those particular Carriages of yours, when you, with your French Mirmidons, invaded that Kingdom.

But, Sir, let me tell you, That Great William our King hath endeavoured, and doth still study to bring Ireland into such a State, that the Settlement of the Protestant Religion may there be religiously observed, and the Protestant English Interest may be secured against any Effort of yours, or your Irish Teagues to the contrary notwithstanding.

III. SCOTLAND.

You having play'd your Game so well in Ireland, it will not be amiss to cast our Eye upon that Quondam Ancient Kingdom, and see how you managed there; for as you managed Ireland by a Tool that succeeded the Lord Roberts, so in Scotland You and your Brother acted by Lauderdale, for he brought all the Laws and Liberties of Scotland to the Council-Chamber, bringing all Per­sons and Causes of any moment to your Arbitrary Council, who acted as Lords Paramount without controul; and so zealous were you, by him, to promote and support the French Interest there, that continually new Levies were ma­king in Scotland for the Service of the French King, tho' at that very time we were pretending a French War in England. You remember, Sir, that by your Influence upon the King your Brother, and on the Council of Scotland, you make them use all the diligence that was possible to get an Army there, to be a standing Army in the room of the Militia of that Kingdom, the Militia be­ing not thought fit for your Popish Designs: And the means to effect the same, you pitch'd upon those you judged to be the most effectual; which was, first to Oppress and Enrage the Dissenters: and this could not be better accom­plished, than by disturbing and prosecuting their Meetings, and Religious As­semblies for the Worship of God; which You and your Conspirators did with all imaginable diligence. And you having found out a new way by caution, your Conspirators devised a Bond should be imposed upon every Man they marked out for Ruine, as being Enemies to their Arbitrary Proceedings; which Bond was, That the Landlord should be bound for his Tenant, the Master for his Servant, and the Husband for the Wife, and Father for the Children, not to go to Conventicles: Which you knew many would not do; for that the People of Scotland generally hated Praelatical Government. But this way they [Page 53] thought would so enrage the People, whom they fore-knew would not part with their Meetings, that they doubted not but to force a Rebellion; and there­upon have a fair Pretence to raise Forces for the Security of the Kingdom against restless Meeters and Meetings. Which Design, Sir, You and your Party in that Kingdom did at last effect.

Another Device you and your Conspirators had of seizing the Field-Meetings by the armed Forces, and destroying them both in Bodies and Estates, and drag­ging them to Gaols, and then by whole Ship-loads selling them to the Planta­tions as Condemn'd Men; and Ship-loads coming here for London, they, by one way or another, got their Liberty. Was this of the Bond all? And was the Selling of them all? No: For You and your Conspirators found out ano­ther way, by the Tyranny of Duke Lauderdale; and that was this:

There was a Warrant procured from the Council of Scotland to disarm di­vers Shires and Low-lands of that Kingdom; and when that would not exaspe­rate them, then another Order was procured to order the High-landers, a sort of barbarous Papists, to be armed, and by whole Regiments to come down upon the Inhabitants, spoiling and destroying the whole Country, living amongst them at discretion; and these very High-landers, thus armed, under the pretence of keeping the Peace, had, in their Commission from your Bro­ther's and your Council in Scotland, Authority to live at Free Quarter upon those Inhabitants, which they did divers Months together, to the destruction of the poor People. And all this was to procure a Rebellion at any rate.

But least this should be too general, I will descend to some Particulars, that the thing may be plain, to your Ragged Regiment at St. Germans, and your Hell-born Cut-throat Crew here in England.

• I. I will shew you, in several Particulars, how your Brother and You in­vaded the Rights of the Good People of Scotland in general.
• II. I will give you to remember some Instances of your Brother's, and your Barbarity to particular Persons.
• III. Your Brother's and your way of using your Prisoners.

I. Give me leave to put you and your Conspirators in mind of several Par­ticulars, in which your Brother and you invaded the Rights of the good People of Scotland: And that this Point may be more plain, I will illustrate it in these following Particulars.

1. Your Conspirators in Scotland did most grosly, falsly, and impudently mis­represent to the King your Brother, and your Self, the Condition of the We­stern Counties of the Kingdom of Scotland, as if they had been in a State of Rebellion; tho' it is well known that they had never made any Opposition to the King's Authority; nor did they resist any of the King's Forces, but pa­tiently [Page 54] submitted to the Execution of the Laws: But You and your Conspira­tors purposing to have the King's Authority to carry on your sinister Designs, You, with your Conspirator Lauderdale, and the rest of your Popish Crew, ad­vised the King (who was not difficult in that Point to consent) to raise an Army against the Protestants in Scotland; and a Letter was signed by your Brother, and sent to the Council of Scotland. Upon the Receipt of this Letter, your Conspirators, the Council of Scotland made out Orders for the Raising an Ar­my of about Eight or Nine thousand, the most or which were Popish High­landers: Which, Sir, was so wicked a Contrivance, that the Nobility and Gen­try of the Western Counties did send to Edenburgh, and for the Security of the Peace did offer to engage, That whosoever should be sent, the Laws should be put in execution, and should meet with no Affront; and that they would be­come Hostages for their Safety. Yet this Army so raised by You, and your Conspirators, with the Colour of the King your Brother's Authority, was marched into a Peaceable Country, and did, according to their Commissions, take Free Quarter; and in most Places levied great Summs of Money, under the Notion of Dry Quarters; and did Plunder and Rob the Protestants, of which no Redress could be obtained, though Complaints were daily made of these Barbarities: For your Brother and You were resolved, that nothing should satisfie your Cruelty, but the extirpation of those who did not comply, without reserve, with your Arbitrary Proceedings.

2. That it was apparent, that your Design was not only to destroy those that went to Field-Meetings, but also the whole Protestant Interest; for those that were Field-Meeters, were but tenderly used, in comparison of those who went to Church, who were most quarrered upon, and destroyed; those of the Field-Meeters, parting with their Moneys to be excused as long as they were able; and when those poor Wretches had no more Money to satisfie your dra­gooning Apostles, they were miserably used by them: By which means several Families were Ruined, and brought to starve for want of Bread.

3. The Protestants also were required to subscribe exorbitant and illegal Bonds, which was impossible to be performed by them, which was against the Law of Nature, which is, no Man is bound to impossibilities, viz. That they, their Wives and Children, Servants and Tenants, should live orderly, accord­ing to Law, and not go to Conventicles, or entertain Vagrant Preachers, with several other Particulars; by which Bond, those that signed it were liable to an­swer for all Men's Transgressions that lived upon their Lands: Which was so hard a Case, that Coleman himself thought, that if that did not make them Re­bel, nothing would.

4. That many of the Protestants of that Kingdom, within those Counties, were proclaimed Rebels, and Writs issued forth for the seizing of their Persons, upon their refusing the aforesaid Wicked and Illegal Bond; and the Nobility and Gentry within those Counties, who had been ever faithful to the Crown, [Page 55] and had appeared in Arms for the King, were Discharged upon Oath, and a Proclamation was by your procurement Issued out, forbidding the Nobility and Gentry, upon great Penalties, to keep any Horses above Four pounds Ten groats a Piece.

5. That the Protestant Nobility and Gentry of the Shire of Ayre, at your Instance and Suggestion, were, by the King's Order to the Advocate-General, indicted of High-Treason, and other high Crimes and Misdemeanours. These Indictments were delivered to them in the Evening to be answered by them the next Morning upon Oath, and when they did demand two or three days time to consider of their Indictments, and craved the Benefit of having Coun­sel to advise withal in Matters of so high Concernment, and also excepted a­gainst their being put to swear against themseves in Matters that were Capital; those desires were rejected, and were told they must swear instantly, or be re­puted guilty.

6. Notwithstanding the Imposition of the Oath was illegal; and the deny­ing of Time to consider of their Indictments; and to have Lawyers allowed them to advise withal, had never been denyed to the greatest of Malefactors; nor, indeed, could be by the Laws of that Kingdom, yet for all this, these No­blemen and Gentlemen knowing their Innocency of all that had been charged upon them, did purge themselves by Oath, of all the Particulars that were objected to them, and were thereupon acquitted, and though the Conspira­tors in the Committee of Council used the severest manner of Inquiry to discover any seditious or treasonable Designs, which were pretended as Grounds for marching that Army into those Western Counties, yet nothing ever could be proved. So false was that Suggestion concerning a Rebellion then designed by them, though heartily desired by you and your Conspi­rators.

7. The Oppressions, notwithstanding the Acquittal of those Noblemen and Gentlemen of the said Counties, continuing upon them, they went to Eden­burg, to represent to the Council the heavy Pressure they and their People lay under, and were ready to offer to them, all, that in Law, or Reason, could be required of them, for securing the Peace: The Council being Conspirators with your Vice-Tyrant Lauderdale, I did immediately upon their appearing there, set forth a Proclamation, requiring them to depart the Town within three days, upon very great Penalties. And when the Duke of Hamilton did peti­tion for leave to stay for two or three days longer upon some very urgent Affairs of his own, that was refused him.

8. That when some Person of very great Quality, had declared to the Vil­lain Lauderdale that they would go and represent their Condition to the King, since they could not have Justice from his Ministers. But to prevent that, a Proclamation was set forth, forbidding all the Subjects to depart the Kingdom [Page 56] of Scotland without License, so that the King might not be acquainted with the Condition of the poor Protestants, and that they might not apply to him for Redress though it would have been to little purpose, he, and you, and this Lauderdale being in the Conspiracy to have them destroyed.

2. Give me leave in the Second Place, to remember you of some particu­lar Persons that were Oppressed by you and your Wicked Instrument, the said Duke Lauderdale; they were Persons of great Note, for their Quality and Worth, and their Oppression so great, that the Protestants in Scotland were apprehensive that all Protestants might be, upon the slightest Occasions, brought under the like Oppression; for you, and your Conspirators there managed your wicked Designs and Purposes with all the Dexterity and Dili­gence that Men that had a Mighty Work upon their Hands, and Mighty Minds to go through with it, could do for you and your Party; there being of the Council upon many occasions proceeded to a new kind of Punishment; for those who would not comply with your Villanous Designs of bringing in of Slavery, so that Popery might the more easily be introduced into that Kingdom, viz. Of declaring Men of Publick Trust, whereby the greatest Persons were Robbed of their Honour, and a Stain laid not only upon them but upon their Posterity also; nay, the Parliament it self was Branded with Infamy, by such a Severe and Illegal Sentence by Lauderdale himself in the time of the Lord Middleton's Government, yet he by your Procurement, and the express Command of your Brother King Charles, caused it to be done in the lower Courts.

I will Sir, for the satisfaction of your Bloody Cut-Throats, both here at home, and your ragged Crew at St. Germains, put you in mind of several Instances in which that Ban-Dog Lauderdale, served your Brothers and your wicked Designs and Purposes.

You may remember the Twelve Worthy Protestant Citizens of Edinburgh that were declared uncapable of Publick Trust, against whom no Com­plaint was made as can be made out, against you; but you will say, What was the Cause? Then I Answer, These Men being Magistrates of that Ci­ty, refusing to part with the publick Money of the City to Lauderdale for what Uses you know well enough, they, I say, were turned out, and Con­spirators of your own Stamp put in their Places, and then the Publick Mo­ney was drawn out of the City's Bank at the desire of the Conspirators.

The Provosts of Aberdeen, Glascow, and Gadburgh, were put under the same Sentence for Signing a Letter to the King your Brother, in a Convention of Boroughs, Stating a true Account of their great Oppressions by the Conspi­rators; which Letter was Signed by the whole Body, and the Letter was advised by your Brother's Advocate, as a Letter that had nothing in it which could bring them under any Guilt; yet those were there singled out of the whole Number, and Incapacitated, besides, a high Fine and a long Imprison­ment.

[Page 57] Sir Patrick Hume, since a Peer of that Kingdom, not of your Creation, but of the Creation of our Gracious King that now is: This worthy Person being sent by the Shire of Berwick, to complain of some illegal Proceedings, in Order to obtain a legal Remedy and Redress, which he did only in the Common Form of Law, was also declared uncapable of Publick Trust, besides many Months imprisonment; and since then, he was another time imprisoned for almost one whole Year, and nothing ever was charged upon him.

The Provost of Linlithgoe being complained of, for not furnishing some of your Brother's Forces with Baggage-Horses, was called before the Council, and because he said they were not bound in Law to furnish Horses in such a manner, he was immediately declared Incapable of Publick Trust, and was both fined and imprisoned.

Your Conspirators, as they were diligent, doing yours and the Devils Drudgery, they sometimes out-did themselves to please you; for at one time they incapacitated 50 of the Town of S. Johnstons, upon a very slight Pretence; insomuch that they could not find a sufficient number of Citizens for the Magi­stracy of that Town.

It is well known, Sir, that for your Brother's Service and yours, and for the carrying on of your cursed Designs in that Kingdom of Scotland, several Pro­testants, upon slight, and, oftentimes, upon no Ground, were imprisoned, and sometimes kept Prisoners for many Months, nay Years, though nothing hath been objected to them. Some have been required to enter themselves Prisoners, contrary to the Laws of that Kingdom; a particular Instance you made of Lieutenant-General Drummond, whose great Loyalty could never be forgotten, he was required to enter himself a Prisoner in the Castle of Dunbarton, where he was kept for eighteen Months time, nine of which he was made a close Prisoner; yet nothing was objected to him to give the least Co­lour for that usage.

The Lord Cardross, a Man of great Virtue and Integrity, was for his Lady's keeping two meetings in her House, though he was present at neither of them, fined Eleven Thousand Pound Sterling; and was kept several Years a Prisoner in Edenburgh Castle, and was a frequent and a long Petitioner for his Liberty, and could not find for a long time the least Inclination in any of the Conspi­rators; nay, Application was made to the King, but from your incensing the King against him, his Petition was rejected.

Besides all these illegal Imprisonments, the King your Brother, and your self, had Rogues of a deeper Dye; they were Officers in your Cut-throat Army in Scotland; these carried with them General Warrants for the apprehending of any Person that the Conspirators had a spite to, though under no legal Censure, nor have been so much as cited to appear, which put many of the poor Protestants to very great Fears as also to great Expence (Just, Sir, as your Atterburies and the rest of your cursed Messengers did here in England in the time of your Tyranny.)

[Page 58] Captain Castaires, a notable Villain, and fit for a Dragooning Apostle for the Devil's Service and yours, did intrap one Kirkton an outed Minister of Jesus Christ, into his Chamber at Edenbourgh, and did violently abuse him and de­signed to extorted some Money from him; the Noise of this coming to the Ears of one Baily, Brother in Law to the said Kirkton, he came to the House, and hearing him cry Murder, Murder, forced open his Chamber Door, where he found his Brother in Law and the Captain grapling; the Captain pretended he had a Warrant against Kirkton, and Baily desired him to shew it, and pro­mised that all Obedience should be given to it; but the Captain refusing to do it, Kirkton was rescued. This was only delivering a Man from one of your Robbers according to the Law of Nature. The Captain complained of this to your Conspirators, and the Lord Hatton, with others of the same Kidney, were appointed to examine the Witnesses; and when it was brought before the Council, the Duke of Hamilton, the Earls of Morton and Dumfrize, and Kin­cardin, the Lord Cocheren, and Sir Archibald Primrose, then Lord Register, desired, that the Report of the Examination might be read; but that not serving the Designs of your Conspirators, was denied: Thereupon those Lords delivered their Opinions, That since Castaires did not shew any Warrant, nor was cloathed with any publick Character, it was no Opposition to the King's Authority, in Baily to rescue the said Kirkton: But for this Opinion, the King your Brother, and your self, and Lauderdale, put these Lords out of the Council, and out of all Command in the Militia, and though it could have been made appear that he had no Warrant at all against Kirkton, but procured it after the Violence com­mitted, and it was antedated on design to serve a turn at that time; yet the said Baily was fined 6000 Marks and kept in Prison for a long time; which sort of Proceedings put the poor Protestants under sad Apprehensions.

3. Now, Sir, I pray remember how your Conspirators used the poor Pro­testants when they had them in Prison. There was fourteen Men taken at a Field Meeting, who, without being legally convict of that or any other Crime, were secretly and in the Night taken out of a Prison upon a Warrant signed by the Earl of Linlithgo, and the Lords Hatton and Collington, and were delivered to Captain Maitland, who had been Page to Duke Lauderdale, but after, a French Officer, and was making his Levies in Scotland, and were carried over to the Service of the French King, in the Year 1676.

Your Conspirators in Scotland did, for your Brother's Service and yours, up­on many Occasions proceed to the most unreasonable and arbitrary Fines ei­ther for slight Offences, or for Offences where the Fine is regulated by Law, which they have never considered when the Persons were obnoxious to them. So the Lord Cardross was fined 11000 l. for his Ladies keeping two Meetings in his House, and Baptizing a Child by an outed Minister, without his Know­ledge; the Provost formerly mentioned, and Baily, and many others were also fined without any Regard had to the Law.

[Page 59] 4. Give me leave, Sir, to put you in mind of a fourth Piece of Villany acted by you and your Brother upon the Protestants of Scotland. Your Conspi­rators, by your Brother's Authority, and your Procurement, did several times proceed to take away Gentlemens Dwelling houses from them, and to put Garrisons into them, even in the time of Peace, contrary to all Law, Ju­stice, and Reason. In the Year 1675, it was designed against twelve Protestant Noblemen and Gentlemen, and executed upon the Houses of the Earl of Cal­lendar, the Lord Cardross, the Lady Lumsden, &c. and it was again attempted in the Year 1678, upon the Houses belonging to the Lairds of Chesnock, Blaghan and Rowallane, and they were possessed by Souldiers and declared Garrisons: Nor did it rest here, but your Conspirators sent Orders, and required the Countries about those Houses, to furnish them for the use of your Souldiers, and to supply them with Necessaries, contrary to the Laws of that Kingdom: It was against this, that Sir Patrick Hume, now a Peer of Scotland, applied him­self to the Conspirators to have Redress; and common Justice being denied him, he used a legal Protestation in the ordinary Form of the Law of that Kingdom, and was thereupon kept many Months in Prison, and declared un­capable of all Publick Trusts.

5. I must put you in mind how you by your Conspirators endeavoured to kindle a Flame amongst the Scotch; for since you had disobliged so many of them, and had begot such a Disaffection in them against you and your Bro­ther; your great Design was to keep that Disaffection alive, and not only so, but so to increase it, as to make them rise and take up Arms in their own de­fence; therefore in order to this in the Year 1677, April 19. the Letters of your Conspiring Jesuits, to the Procurator-General at Madrid, gave him notice, that your Conspirators at London, the Fathers of the Society, had sent for Scot­land, three Jesuits in Masquerade to give the poor provoked Scots to understand these three things: 1. That all the Miseries, under which they groaned, was from the Bishops and their Clergy, which Doctrine they were inclined enough to believe, they naturally hating the Government of the Church by that sort of Men, as being against the express Word of God, and tending to Tyranny. 2. That there was no other way to recover their Liberty and Religion, but by the Sword; and this was certainly true, for they had made all the humble Ap­plications that could be made by Men, both to the King your Brother and the Council in Scotland, and could find no Redress of their Grievances; for as these Villains were sent to exasperate them on the one hand, so you and your Trai­tor Lauderdale augmented their Miseries on the other hand, and all in Order to make them take up Arms in their own Defence. 3. That the King your Brother was so addicted to his Pleasure, that he neither would nor could take care in that Concern, but left them to be redressed by those that cruelly oppres­sed them; which was as notoriously true: and you wanted not your wicked Instruments to accomplish the great Design you had in hand, of enslaving the [Page 60] Protestants of that Kingdom, so that the Method you took, by your Jesuits, by their Insinuations, and by your Task-masters to oppress them, you did very much incline them, to take up Arms against your Conspirators in their own Defence.

Sir, Your Jesuits in Scotland laid not aside their Attempts there, to make the distressed Protestants rise; for the whole Popish Party was at Work to stir up the Commotion, by them designed, in that Kingdom, as appears by Letters from thence, from your Incendiaries, of the 11th. of August, 1678. Nay, that the Work might take effect, Eight thousand Scots that were of the Romish Religion should be ready, For what? to join with the disaffected Scots: Such Sots you employed, as if the disaffected Scots would join with them. But the Truth of it was, to Pillage and Destroy the Habitations of those that should rise in the Defence of their Lives, Liberties, and Religion; for that was the In­tent, whatever Imaginations your Cut-throat Jesuites had in their empty Nod­dles, that appears in their Pacquet of August the 10th. 1678. directed to John Grove: For you must remember that was your Design, and Lauderdale's, tho' your Jesuites thought, that the poor Protestants might be brought to join with the Popish Party, to make a Commotion there: for when your Secretary peru­sed the Contents, he laughed at the Folly of the Scotch Jesuites, but said, If the Scotch would rise, he cared not with whom they joined; for their Rising was the thing that was desired.

Your Design had its effect; for their Provocations were so many, and their Oppression so great from Lauderdale, and his wicked Party, who were serving your Brother's, and your Popish Designs, to bring that People under a despo­tick Power, and the Insolencies of your impudent Clergy was such, that they could no longer bear; and therefore in the Year 1679. they did raise Forces, and armed them; and by their Declaration they were far from carrying on a Popish Design; for their Design was the Extirpation of Popery, and Popish Prelacy, out of Scotland, which had been a great Grievance to that Kingdom. And because, Sir, you may have forgotten their Declaration, I will give it Word for Word, and is as follows:

‘AS it is not unknown to a great Part of the World, how Happy the Church of Scotland was whilst they enjoyed the Ordinances of Jesus Christ in Purity and Power, of which we have been deplorably deprived, by the Re­establishment of Prelacy; so it is evident, not only to impartial Persons, but to professed Enemies, with what unparalell'd Patience and Constancy the People of God have endured all the Cruelty, Injustice, and Oppression, that the Will and Malice of Prelacy and Malignants could invent, and exercise. And be­ing most unwilling to act any thing which might import Opposition to lawful Authority, or engage the Kingdoms in War, although we have been all along groaning under the Over-turning the Work of Reformation, Corruptions of Doctrine, Slighting of Worship, Despising of Ordinances, the Changing the An­cient [Page] Church-Discipline and Government, Thrusting out so many of our Faithful Ministers from their Charges, Confining straightly, Imprisoning, Exileing, yea, and putting to Death many of them, and Intruding upon their Flocks a Company of Insufficient Scandalous Persons, Confining, Imprisoning, Torturing, Tormenting, Scourging, and Stigmatizing Poor People, Plundering their Goods, Quartering upon them Rude Soldiers, Selling their Persons to Foreign Plantations, Horning and Intercommuning many of both Sexes, whereby great Numbers, in every corner of the Land, were forced to leave their Dwellings, Wives, Children, and Relations, and made to wander as Pilgrims, still in Hazard of their Lives, none daring to Recet, Harbour, or Supply, (though Starving;) or so much as to speak to them, though upon Death-bed, without making themselves ob­noxious to the same Punishments. And these things acted under colour of Law, in effect tending to banish not only all Sense of Religion, but also to extinguish all natural Affection, even amongst Persons of nearest Relations, and likewise groaning under the intolerable Yoak of Oppression in our Civil Interest, our Bodies, Liberties, and Estates; so that all manner of Outrages have been most arbitrarily exercised upon us, for a Tract of several Years past, particularly in the Year 1678. by sending us an armed Host of Barbarous Savages, contrary to all Law, and Humanity; and by laying on us several Impositions, and Taxes, as formerly, so of late, by a Meeting of Prelimited and Over-awed Members in the Convention of Estates in July, 1678. for keeping up of an armed Force, intrusted (as to a great part of it) into the Hands of avowed Papists, or Favourers of them, by whom sundry Invasions have been made upon us, and most exorbitant Abuses, and incredible Inso­lencies committed against us; and we being continually sought after, while meeting in Houses for Divine Worship, Ministers and People frequently appre­hended, and most rigorously used; and so being necessitated to attend the Lord's Ordinances in the Fields, in the most desert Places; and there also of­ten hunted out, and assaulted, to the effusion of our Blood, and killing of some, whereby we were inveitably constrain'd either to defend our selves by Arms at those Meetings, or be altogether deprived of the Gospel preached by Faithful Ministers, and made absolute Slaves: At one of which Meetings, upon the First Day of June instant, being the Lord's Day, Captain Graham, of Claverhouse, being warranted by a late Proclamation to kill whomsoever he found in Arms at Field-Conventicles making Resistance, did furiously assault the People assembled; and further, to provoke, did cruelly bind, like Beasts, a Minister, with some others whom he had found that same Morning in Houses; and several being killed on both sides, they knowing certainly that by Law they behoved (if apprehended) to dye, they did stand to their own de­fence, and continue together; and there, after many of our Friends and Countrymen being under the same Oppression, expecting the same measure, did freely offer their Assistance. We therefore thus inevitably, and of abso­lute Necessity, forced to take this last Remedy, (tho Magistrates having shut the Door by a Law against Application, that whatever our Grievances be, ei­ther [Page 62] in things Civil or Sacred, we have not the Privilege of a Supplicant) do judge our selves bound to dcelare, That these, with many other horrid Grie­vances, in Church and State, (which we purpose to manifest more fully here­after) are the true Causes of this our Lawful and Innocent Self-defence: And we most solemnly, and in the presence of Almighty God, the Searcher of all Hearts, declare, that the true Reasons of our continuing in Arms, candidly and sincerely, are these:’

‘First, The defending and securing of the true Protestant Religion, and Pres­byterian Government founded upon the Word of God, and summarily compre­hended in our Confessions of Faith and Catechism, and established by the Laws of this Land, to which King, Nobles, and People are solemnly sworn and engaged in our National Solemn League and Covenant; and more particularly the Defending and Maintaining the Kingly Authority of our Lord Jesus Christ over his Church, against all sinful Supremacy derogatory thereto, and incroaching thereupon.’

‘Second, The preserving and defending the King's Majesty, his Person and Authority in the Preservation and Defence of that true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdom, that the World may bear Witness with our Consciences, of our Loyalty; and that we have no Thoughts nor Intention to diminish his just Power and Greatness.’

‘Third, The Obtaining of a Free and United Parliament, and a Free and Ge­neral Assembly in Order to the Redressing of our foresaid Grievances for the preventing the eminent Danger of Popery, and extirpating Prelacy from a­mongst us.’

‘This therefore being the Cause we appear for, and resolve, in God's Name, to own, hereby homologating all the Testimonies of faithful Sufferers for the Truth in Scotland these eighteen Years by gone. We humbly request the King's Majesty to restore all things as he found them when God brought him home to his Crown and Kingdoms; and if that cannot be obtained, then we heartily and humbly invite and intreat, beseech and ob­test, by the Bowels of Jesus Christ, all who are under the same Bonds with us, to occur in this Common Cause and Interest; and that they will not stand still and see not only us oppressed but this foresaid Cause ruined, Adversaries proudly and highly insult against God and all good Men, Friends of the Truth discouraged, yea, the Protestant Cause in Britain and Ireland, and even your selves within a little time made a Prey of, or else forced, when we are broken, (which the good Lord prevent) dreadfully to wrong your Consciences. Finally, because we desire no Man's hurt or blood, we request our Country-men, now the standing Forces of this Kingdom, some [Page] of them being our Friends and Kinsmen, not to fight against us, least in so doing they be found fighting against the Lord, whose Cause and Quarrel we are sure he will own and signally countenance, seeing we fight under his Banner who is the Lord of Hosts.’

This, Sir, you know, was the Declaration of these Blessed Servants of God, but you had not filled up the measure of your Sins, and therefore God was pleased to deliver these miserably enslaved wretches into your hands, and they were made a prey to your never to be forgotten Cut-throats; and some of them sealed their Testimony of Jesus with their Blood: You may remember what Havock your Popish Crew made of them both in their Estates and Fami­lies, that Scotland was a Field of Blood, through many Barbarous Murders that you by the Hands of your Party Committed there.

Some of your bloody Crew here, especially the Tyrant Lauderdale, were exceeding glad of the News of these poor Protestants Rising, and your Po­pish Conspirators and their Motly Protestant Admirers and Abettors did prick up their Ears at the News, and concluded the Day was their own. Our English Popish Army was to cut their Throats first, and then the Throats of all English Men that stood in their Way afterwards. And Lauderdale highly valued himself upon this Rising (for Posts came every day to White-hall to bring the News of their Increasing) boasting that now the Fanaticks had shewed themselves in their Colours; and that it was by that strict hand that he had kept over them in Scotland that had been the Cause of their being quiet so long, hoping by this to get Honour for his prudent Management, when all Mankind knows that his Management was with a Design to make them take up Arms: And it was you and he that raised that Devil; but, Sir, you know whom you had appointed to betray them. Sir, you were in Flanders, thither the News was sent to you, not because you were ignorant of the Contri­vance; but it was a Watch-word for your Return: But that you might lay this Devil, which you and your Conspirators had raised, and kill two Birds with one Stone; therefore you pitch'd upon the Duke of Monmouth, that he might destroy the Protestants there, and that his Person might either fall in Scotland, or his Reputation be ruined here at home; therefore by your Advice or rather Direction, he is ordered for Scotland in all hast, for it was the Grief of your Soul to see him the Darling of the Protestants of both King­doms. Besides, Sir, you knew, that if he went Armed into Scotland, without Assent of Parliament in both Kingdoms, by an Act made in the Reign of Charles the F [...]st, was High Treason and therefore the Consequences might be fatal to him every way.

However he went by the general Consent of the Council, and was well re­ceived in Scotland, by Vertue of his Commission given him, and draws the Army in Scotland together and faces these poor Wretches; and indeed, as Matters had been managed in Scotland, it was a great Question if the Forces [Page 64] in Scotland would have been prevailed with, with so little Difficulty to be com­manded to go out against these innocent and oppressed Country-men of theirs, had it not been to go under the Command of the Duke of Monmouth, who marches up to the Enemy, they by their Petition desire Liberty of Religion, and offer to lay down their Arms; it being given out by your Party, that the Duke of Monmouth had a Power of giving them Terms, but that could not be done by him, for your Blood-hounds never intended they should have any Quarter given them, therefore he had not that Power in his Commission, of granting any Terms as was promised him: Nay, if I am not mistaken, after that he had left London, the Instructions that he had to grant Terms were recalled before ever he arrived in Scotland; so that some of our Coun­sellors intended well, and though all things were promised not long before to be acted before their Faces above-board, yet they were mistaken; for all the chief of their Consults were privately acted amongst your Popish Crew, the French Ambassador, and your Priests, at the Duchess of Portsmouth's Lodgings; and to give them a Reputation, the honest Part of the Council sitting as Cyphers, all was done as by an Order of the King and Council.

Well, what then? The Duke of Monmouth engaged with these poor Crea­tures, but your Rogues, and Trickers, and Officers amongst these poor Souls, soon left them, before the Battle was begun; so that the Pains of Reducing them was not very great nor hazardous, and divers of these poor Protestants were murdered upon the place by one Oglethorpe, an eminent Cut-throat, yet alive, notwithstanding they cried for Quarter, which was promised them; but how well that Promise was kept, was seen; many hundreds of them having been murdered in cool Blood, under a Colour of Law as if they had been Traytors: So that the Duke comes home a Victor in the sence of some, and a vanquished Person in the minds and affections of others, who would not, out of Love to him, have had him engaged with such an ill Company of Cut-throats in such a thing in Scotland, they knowing it hazardous in ma­ny Respects; however, for his own Security, he procured his Pardon for that Action. But that Pardon though it was an Act of great foresight in the Duke, yet the Judgment of Heaven pursued him; for as he contributed to the Murder of so many poor Protestants by the Help of Popish Cut-throats, so he himself was murdered, and his Friends, by you and your Popish Cut-throats

It will not be amiss, Sir, to put you in mind of your Cut-throat Lauderdale, of whom you made such use and who complied against his Understanding, Judgment and Conscience (if he had any) with you and your Brother in all those Villainous Acts and Barbarous Inhumanities in Scotland. I will now shew the Opinion that our English Parliament had of that Monster of Mankind.

[Page 65] 1. Remember, Sir, the Address of the House of Commons to the King your Brother, on April 23. 1675. for then they found that some persons in great Employment under that King had fomented Designs against the Interest of the Subject, intending to deprive Great Britain of its ancient Rights and Liberties, that thereby they might the more easily introduce the Popish Religion and Arbitrary Government, to the ruine and destruction of the Subjects thereof, amongst whom they had just cause to accuse, for a promoter of such Designs, the Duke of Lauderdale, because it had been testified in their House by seve­ral Members of Parliament, That in a Hearing before the Council, in the Case of Mr. Pennystone Whalley, who had committed Mr. John James contrary to the King's Declaration of the 15th of March 1671, the said Duke of Lauderdale did publickly affirm, in the presence of the King your Brother, and before several then attending the Board, that the King's Edicts were to be obey'd, for that they were equal with the Laws, and ought to be observ'd; in the first place thereby justifying the said Declaration, and the Proceedings thereupon, and declaring his Inclination to Arbitrary Councels, in terror of all good Protestants. This, Sir, was not all, but they had a farther confirmation of this Opinion by two Acts of Parliament, of a very strange and dangerous nature, which they had found in the printed Statutes of Scotland, the first whereof was in the third Session of the first Parliament held under the King your Brother, Cap. 25. and the other in a second Parliament, Cap. 2. the like had never passed since the union of the two Crowns, and were contrary to an Act passed in the fourth year of the Reign of James the First, your Grandfather, which intended the better abolition of all memory of Hostility, and the dependencies thereof between England and Scotland, and the better repressing the Occasions of Discord and Disorders for time to come; and of a like Act passed about the same time in Scotland; by the force of which said late Acts there was a Militia setled in that Kingdom of Twenty thousand Foot and Two thousand Horse, who were obliged to be in a readiness to march into any part of the Kingdom of England, for any service wherein your Brother's Honour and Greatness might be concerned; and they were to obey such Orders and Directions as they should from time to time receive from the Privy Council of that Kingdom: By colour of which general words the then Parliament did conceive that the Kingdom of England was lia­ble to be invaded upon any pretence whatsoever. And this was done by the procurement of that Lauderdale, he having been all the time of those Trans­actions Principal Secretary of that Kingdom, and chiefly intrusted with the ad­ministration of the Affairs of State there, and he being Commissioner for hold­ing the Parliament at the time of passing the latter of the said Acts, whereby the providing the said Horse and Foot was effectually imposed upon that King­dom, and that extraordinary Power vested in the Privy Council there; so that the Commons of England conceived they had just reason to apprehend the ill Consequences of so great and an unusal Power, especially since at that time the Affairs of the Kingdom of Scotland were managed by the said Duke, who pub­lish'd himself to be a Person of such pernicious Principles; thereupon they pray'd the King your Brother to dismiss him from all his Employments, and for­bid [Page 66] him his Presence and Counsels for ever, as a person obnoxious and dangerous to the Government.

This, Sir, is the Character, and these are the Qualifications of a person that your Conspirators judg'd meet for a man to serve your Cause and Interest; and how near he brought the People of Scotland to the French Government and Interest, I must leave an impartial Reader to judge; he wanted nothing but a King to make an Example of him and all such profligate Monsters of Mankind. But I will give you a second Instance of the good Opinion that the Commons of England assembled in Parliament had of this Varlet; and that is as follows.

2. Upon the 10th of May, 1678, the Commons of England assembled in that Parliament represented to the King your Brother, the deplorable condition the state of the Kingdom, thro' evil Counsellors, which, Sir, you know were your Conspirators, and were designing to overthrow the Protestant Interest in both Kingdoms, and were the Cause why the King your Brother follow'd not the Ad­vice of his Parliament for the redressing of Grievances, amongst whom they reckon'd John Duke of Lauderdale, and pray'd that the King would remove him from his Council and Presence for ever.

3. I hasten to a third Instance of the Opinion that the Commons of England had of the said Duke of Lauderdale; and that was in a Parliament held in May 10th, 1679. They tell the King in their Address, That they found the Kingdoms involv'd in imminent dangers and great difficulties by the evil designs and per­nicious Counsels of some who had been, and were then, actually in high Places of Trust and Authority about the Person of the then King, who, contrary to the Duty of their Places, by their arbitrary and destructive Counsels, tending to the subversion of the Rights, Liberties, and Properties of the People of Great Britain, and the alteration of the Protestant Religion, did endeavour to alienate the Hearts of the People from the then King and his Government, amongst whom they had just reason to accuse the Duke of Lauderdale for a chief promo­ter of such Counsels, and more particularly for contriving and endeavouring to raise Jealousies and Misunderstandings between the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, whereby Hostilities might have ensued, and might have risen between the two Nations. They took notice of the many repeated Addresses of the immediate preceding Parliament; and were much concerned that notwithstand­ing those Addresses they found that Duke Lauderdale, with all his Qualifications, continued in the Councils of the then King, for that the Affairs of the Kingdom required that none should be put into such Employments but such as were not only of known Abilities, Interest and Esteem in the Nation, but also were with­out all suspicion of mistaking or betraying the true Interest of the Nation. Upon these Considerations a new Parliament pray'd the then King to remove him the said Duke Lauderdale from his Employments, and Person, and Councels for ever.

You well know, that in the Month of February 1678, you were banish'd into Flanders, before the meeting of the new Parliament, (for the good King your Brother parted with his old Pensioners, who lowed very loud for want of Fodder, and to save Charges, that stale Parliament was dissolv'd and a new one [Page 67] call'd) whom your Conspirators, by the insight they had in the Elections, knew it would be such a Parliament as was not for their turns; therefore a deep Consult was held, how to make the Nation to believe that they were in earnest; they resolv'd to discover the Plot, and discourage Popery, tho' in truth it was the two things you and your Conspirators aimed at to be still supported. How­ever, to blind the Eyes of Mankind, it was resolved that all imaginable sym­ptoms should be publickly professed, both for the discovery of the Popish Plot, and leaving you and your Conspirators, for you were to absent your self from your Brother, and go beyond Sea for some time, upon these Considerations; the one was, That you being out of the way, might stop the further examination of the Popish Plot, then newly discover'd to the King, who was in every bit of it but that of his own Life; and it had a near relation to your self: And by this means your Conspirators thought to preserve the Chief Conspirator alive and safe. The other was for a gloss, to make Mankind to think that the King your Brother and the Court were such mortal Enemies to Popery, that he would not endure you his Popish Brother near him, for fear of being influenc'd by Popish Councels. But, Sir, you may remember, that your self and Conspira­tors at St. James's were of a different Opinion, some of your Partisans with all their might and skill opposed your leaving the Kingdom, for that it would weaken your Party extreamly, and make persons more bold to come in and give Evidence against you when you were absent than if you were present, and that if you were absent, tho' by the Royal Command of your Brother the King, yet the People would be ready enough to say you fl [...]d for fear, and that it was in effect to own your self guilty. Such Arguments as these were used by your Conspirators, but the Whore Portsmouth carry'd it for your going; therefore a Command was sent to you all of a sudden, That it was your Brother's pleasure you should be gone.

This, Sir, fill'd many with amazement, who knew not for what ends such Counsels had been taken; and it filled others with great Joy, they now belie­ving that the King your Brother, and his Court, would have been purg'd from Popery and his Popish Councels, and the Popish Fabrick, which had been so long a building, would again tumble down, when they saw you that were the chief sup­porter of it had left your station.

Well, Sir, away you go for Flanders, as if you had been going into another World; but your Conspirators were not a whit daunted, but resolv'd to stick as faithfully to you as you had done before to them. And tho' by this depar­ture of yours many of your Conspirators, for whom the Kingdoms were too hot, and who ought to have danced a Gambrel at Tyburn, under the pretence of being your Servants, yet notwithstanding, the hardiest and boldest of your impudent Crew staid behind, and watch'd Affairs at home, letting nothing be done that was material but what was done by your Advice and Direction and theirs; and by your being abroad, they had the opportunity of studying and advising what was fit to be done at home.

This, Sir, I must observe to you by the way, that before you could be pre­vail'd upon to go, you were faithfully promised, that nothing of value or mo­ment [Page 68] should be done or acted without you; nay, the Speech that was to be made at the Opening of the Parliament was concluded on before you went: Yet for all this, at the Meeting of the New Parliament, which was now become almost a Wonder in this Nation, a great panick Fear was struck in all or most of your Crew, and they certainly had so much Fear upon them, from the least to the greatest, that they were even ready to cry Quarter, or at least to offer terms of accommodation, the Nation being in a very great ferment; and your Party, that had rely'd so much upon the mighty Mind of the French King for Mony, began to curse him for driving them upon these Extremities; nay, you your self did not spare to revile him for the same.

The King your Brother happening to be indispos'd at Windsor, which being posted over to you, you return with all speed, and unexpectedly; and being here, you had but a little inclination to return to Flanders again; but the King plea­sing you with some private Resolutions of his, you did submit to return again to Flanders, where you was as coldly received as at first; but your stay was not long there, for the Coast being then clear, you resolved upon returning home, and did accordingly return; and the design, you know, was then to fix the Sham Protestant Plot you and your Conspirators had contriv'd: But that would not keep you in England, for it was resolv'd that you should go to Scotland, to settle the Protestant Religion there, where you receiv'd the sad News of the baffling the Sham-Plot that you and yours had thought to charge upon some Protestants, which made you take new Measures, and you resolv'd to part with a small spell of Mony to get the Parliament prorogued for some longer time, and a greater Sum was pressed from France, but without success; for the Duke of Bucks spoil'd that Design, for which piece of service you owed him a Cake, and was resolv'd, if it had not been timely prevented, you would have bestow'd upon him a whole Loaf. But that by the way.

Well, you arrive in Scotland, I pray how were you receiv'd? with great Joy to your Banditti there: Nay, the most excellent Protestant Bishops receiv'd you with tokens of Welcome, and highly resented the Affront that the Parliament of England had put upon you, when they went about to exclude you, and very honestly declar'd against it; and tho' the Commons of England were so dim sighted, as not to see that the only way to settle the Protestant Religion was by a Popish King, yet they could see it, and declare it as an undoubted Truth. Now, Sir, it was expected that you should admire the Fabrick that your old Friend Lauderdale had so delicately contrived, and in reward of his good Service ad­vance his Interest: No, no, you no sooner got into Scotland, but you were de­signing against Lauderdale, he being the great Instrument of sending you thither, for you never forgave him that Affront; so that after your arrival in Scotland his Interest much dwindl'd away. Thus you rewarded one of your old Friends, who had sold Body and Soul and all to the Devil to serve you and your Cause; he is gone to his place, I fear, in sure and certain expectation of Wrath and Vengeance, for the many Villanies he had committed against the Religion, Laws and Liberties of his Country.

[Page 69] Whilst, Sir, you were in Scotland, you and your Conspirators made your Designs to go on to your full content, tho' much diligence was us'd and pains were taken in the point: and to give you and your Accomplices that which is your due, you never did spare your Pains for the bringing on your wicked De­vices to perfection; and you thought it good Policy and your best way to make sure of something, that if England should be too hard for you, yet you resol­ved to make sure of Scotland: And, to repeal those Laws that were in force, which did debar a Popish Prince from inheriting that Crown, therefore you got a Parliament call'd, and your self made High Commissioner. Upon this you la­bour the Point, for the choice of the Commoners that should be fit for the pur­pose; and to cajole some of the Lords, you entice Hamilton to come into your Interest. You mounted the Throne as High Commissioner, without regarding the Law, or due Qualifications necessary in taking the Oaths, for that was below you: And the King having furnish'd you with Letters, you are admitted into the Council without taking the Oaths: But being got into the House, you carried all before you, and got your Succession to the Crown of Scotland secured by an Act; and you got a Test passed, by which all were to swear not to endeavour to alter that Government either in Church or State; and all such as refused were to lose their Employments. In a word, you made every thing to pass that you and your Crew had a mind to.

As you were a Privy Councillor in that Kingdom, you wheedled in the Duke of Hamilton, and admitted him one of the Council, who was very zealous for the Protestant Religion formerly, but then began to be very cool: And so were the rest of the cajoled Lords, they all put on the Temper that Scotchmen usual­ly are attended withal, that is, to be false to the Cause that is persecuted; for, upon the rising of the Parliament, they suffer'd the poor Dissenters to be squee­zed to death, and suffer'd all imaginable Severities to be used towards them. You succeeding so well in Parliament, you used great Endeavours for a standing Army, under the notion of securing the Peace against those Dissenters and Field Meeters; but tho' you had labour'd hard in that point, yet the Success did not answer your expectation so fully as to give you content.

Well, Sir, what becomes of old Lauderdale, your faithful Servant and dear­ly beloved Favorite, for I do not find him in this Parliament? No, he's forced to stay in England, not daring to appear in Scotland, for his Hell hounds were not able to weather the Point, because the Stream run so strong against him (not that you had made any change of his Measures in the Conspiracy against the Protestant Interest and Religion, unless it were for the worse); and very de­sirous you were of getting him into Scotland, and no doubt you would have ser­ved him a Scotch Maiden Trick: Why so? Because that Old Dog had been heard to say, that all you had done in Scotland was nothing, in regard the Oaths were omitted; and, that the Parliament was but a Convention and what you had done was in it self void, and of no effect. These were bloody words, and highly resented by you; and afterwards you had an Eye upon Argyle, who be­gan to snort at the Test; and though he had been a Dog in a String to your Brother and your self, some Qualm came cross his Conscience: He therefore be­gan [Page 70] to make his Interpretations upon it, which were such as cut the Throat of the thing it self: And altho' the Interpretation he gave could be no other than the genuine sence of the thing, and plain to be understood, that it could mean no other than what he intended to take it in, yet it was so much disliked, that he was then to have been made a Sacrifice, under the notion of being guilty of High Treason, only for explaining the Test; he was accordingly seized and li­belled against, and found guilty of the Fact, and he was then in a fair way to have lost his Life for his Ingenuity, but he, with a great deal of dexterity, made his escape, and so saved himself for that time from being murder'd by you and your Cut-throats there.

Scotland, Sir, you bridled and saddled, and brought the Government there to be something like the French Mode, differing nothing but that you had made the Scots the greater Vassals of the two: And the People of that Kingdom cares­sed you highly for the grace and favour of their Vassalage, notwithstanding which, you were not willing to stay any longer there, your Friends advising you by all means to return to England, to secure your Interest in England, you having setled Scotland to your content. And this remember, Sweet Sir, that the Whore Portsmouth, with her Bastard Son, was by your Royal Brother sent to France, to renew the Dover Treaty, in which she was more successful than your Sister of blessed memory, for she was caressed by the French King, and her Ba­stard honour'd as a Prince of the Blood, and she setled a firm Correspondency between Lewis of France and Charles of Great Britain, pursuant to the Treaty at Dover. This you heard of, and you judged the Strumpet was undermining you, and obtaining the Succession for her son, which made you after your arrival at Whitehall more unwilling to return again for Scotland than before; and you pressed the then King your Brother for your stay here; but you were told, that you must return to Scotland, where your stay should be but short; you obeyed, and went by Sea, with your chief Favourite Mumper, who with you was like to have been lost, but you saved your self and the Curr, and lost some Treasure, with a great part of your Retinue, who drank your Health, and went to the bottom. But you arrive in Scotland, and the Mony being lost, your Intentions of having a standing Army there were sunk also.

Your stay was to be short in Scotland, and so shall mine; therefore since I have put you in mind of your bridling and saddling that poor Kingdom, as a Subject and a High Commissioner for King Charles, give me leave to remember you of your Carriage when you pretended to and usurped that Crown as King of S [...]ot­land, for by the Laws of that Kingdom all Popish Princes were uncapable of that Crown: And because of your Omission of the Oaths that were to be by you ta­ken, all that you did in repealing them was null and void, and to no effect; so that those Laws were still in force against you, notwithstanding the aforesaid pretended Repeal; for without those Oaths the meeting together of Lords and Commons was no Parliament, but a Convention, which cannot repeal any Statute there. Upon your taking that Crown, the Earl of Argyle, upon the 20th of May 1685, well knowing how the Protestant Religion must suffer in Scotland, lands in Scotland near a place called Kentire, and on the 21st sent forth his Declarati­on, [Page 71] wherein he tells the Scots, That the End of his coming was the defence of the Protestant Religion, the Laws and Liberties of the Protestants of Scotland against Popery and Arbitrary Government, and therefore he required all persons from sixteen to sixty to come and joyn with him, with Arms and Provisions ne­cessary. One of his sons sent Letters to several Gentlemen upon the same ac­count, so that in few days his Army was encreased to 2500 Men. But, Sir, your Trappan that betray'd the poor Protestants at Bothw [...]ll bridge, 1679, escaping the Gallows, lived to betray this poor Gentleman, in the year 1685. for, instead of shewing him the true way wherein he should have marched, provided Rogues who led him into a bogg, from whence he returning towards Glyde, was fallen upon by some Scots, and taken; and, Sir, by your Arbitrary Order he was basely murder'd at Edinburgh on the 30th of June following.

This man had all along fought in your Brother's Cause and Quarrel, and was an Instrument to betray his Father to your Brother, and was murder'd in the beginning of his Reign after his Return. This man had served your Cause and Interest in Scotland many years, and had run in the same excess of Riot with your Conspirators, but God opened his Eyes to see your base Designs against the Religion and Liberties of his Country, and therefore nothing would satisfie you but his Blood, and the ruine of his whole Family. Well, he is dead, but I must say of him, he deserved better Fortune in the World, and more Favour from your Hands and his that is gone to his place.

Scotland did another time become a Field of Blood; and till it was, you were not contented. But the Scots being weary of these perpetual disappointments, they submitted to your Government, and you then declared, by the Advice of your Villanous Conspirators, especially the damn'd Bishops, that you were clothed with an Absolute Power, and that all your Subjects of that Kingdom were bound to obey you without reserve; upon which you did assume an Ar­bitrary Power both over the Religion and Laws of that Kingdom: From all which it's apparent, what you did when you were Duke of York was in order to compleat the Work when you came to be King James.

These great and insufferable Oppressions of the poor Protestants of that King­dom, and the open contempt of all Law, Justice, Sence, and Reason, together with the sad Consequences that most certainly followed upon it, did put those poor People under great and just Fears, and did thrice make them offer at such lawful Remedies as were Allow'd by the very Law of Nature, tho' it was not with that effect that was desir'd, Lauderdale and your other Conspirators did endeavour to make all men to apprehend the loss of their Lives, Liberties Ho­nours, and Estates, if they should go about to preserve themselves from your great Oppressions by Petitions, Remonstrances, or other means the Law did al­low of: So you did by several Scotch Noblemen and Gentlemen, to their utter ruine; therefore what Obligation you have laid upon the Kingdom in general, or any one Protestant in particular, both before and since your pretended Reign there, I leave it to your self and Conspirators to judge: And therefore blessed be God for delivering that Nation from your Tyranny and Oppres­sion.

IV. ENGLAND.

NOW we have seen your particular Projects that you and your Conspira­tors pursued to ruine Holland, Ireland, and Scotland, I think it will not be unnecessary to put you in mind of the Pranks you and your Party play'd both before and since you usurped the Imperial Crown of this Kingdom, and then you will see whether you can expect that any honest Englishman should ever engage for your return again in Peace to this Nation. Therefore I shall use this method: 1. I shall shew you how far you were engag'd in the Conspira­cy of turning the Civil Government into downright French Slavery, and our Protestant Religion into Popery, before you took the Crown. And, 2. I shall shew you what you contributed to it after. 3. I will shew you the unreasonable­ness of the attempting your return hither: On which Particulars, I hope, you have leisure enough to reflect, and advise about with your worthy Ministry you have attending your person at St. Germains.

I. I will shew you how far you were engaged in the Conspiracy of turning the Civil Government into downright French Slavery, and our Protestant Re­ligion into Popery, before you took the Crown. When God was pleased to restore you and your Brothers, you may remember that you came into a Land flowing with Milk and Hony, for its Plenty, and a well-govern'd Country, for Religion and Virtue. But this agreed not with the Complexion of your Souls, you had another Game to play, and this I found in a Letter of yours from Breda to old Courtney the Jesuite, That you would follow the Directions that Maza­rine had given you, and then you question'd not but to bring the People to re­ceive the Roman Catholick Religion. This, Sir, was your Project, and how you pursued it, let all the World judge. Therefore,

1. Your Conspirators were resolv'd to remove all those who had been emi­nent in Virtue and Sobriety from any Command or Place of Trust in the Go­vernment. I must not forget the Usage of those who had been great Instru­ments in that Work, viz. Two thousand Ministers in one day laid aside, that room might be made for those whose Doctrine should enslave the People, and whose profligate Lives should render Men Atheists enough to be of any Religi­on but of that which was according to Godliness; Make them Atheists, said Mazarine, aad you will soon make them Papists. Nay, the love of Debauchery created such a Prejudice in your Brother the King, against the Marquiss of Ar­gyle, that it was the chief Obstacle to his being pardon'd, for he had reprov'd Charles for offering Violence to a sober Lady in Scotland, in the year 1650, for which Reproof he never forgave Argyle to his dying day. Nay, give me leave to remember you, that when that unfortunate Lord was in Custody, and humbly requested but to speak one word with the King before he was carried for Scotland, to be murder'd, you took upon you to reprove any that should move the King, with this Jeer. That Argyle was one of the Godly Party, it was not for such fellows to see the King: Or to that purpose; and the King your [Page 73] Brother was pleas'd to say, ‘Let my Lord Argyle be content, he shall see the Maiden e're long, his own dearly beloved Invention.’ And nothing was a greater Argument for his Destruction than his Piety.

Sir, I can prove, that those men who were concerned in Judging and Con­demning your Father to death, tho' that was the Pretence or handle you took to have them cut off, yet the great reason why they were not spared was, that if they lived, and as long as they lived they would have been great Obstacles in your way of debauching the People, and that was the reason of their being cut off; for old Courtney being at London, and admiring their demeanour and deportment in their Confinement, gave you an account of their Piety and Devotion. And so did old Hitchcock the Monk; but what Answer you made them was remarkable; your Brother and your self would never have had them excepted, had you not been fully satisfied, that as long as they lived you could have no manner of prospect of settling the Government, and advancing the Catholick Religion; both which have told me of their stedfastness and resolu­tion to the last degree, and could not forbear shedding of Tears when they discoursed that matter to me; and if you remember, it was the weaker part of those men that had their Lives given them; not but that some of them were worthy persons, but they had not arrived to those Experiences of God and true Religion as the others had done, that laid down their Lives in that Cause. But the truth is, I never found many of them had so little Grace as to repent of what they had done.

Nay, your Rage did not cease here; for you, by all the Wrong imaginable, pack'd a Parliament together of greenheaded young Gentlemen, the Sons of some Cavaliers, whose Parents suffer'd in the late War, and so were haters of Dissenters, from whom an Act was obtained to empower Commissioners to displace all Offi­cers that they should judge not to be firm to the King's Interest and Proceedings: By this Knack you had all Justices of the Peace, and Corporation Magistrates, that had been forward in punishing Prophaneness and Ungodliness in their re­spective Places, and had been great Promoters of Religion and Holiness of Life, turn'd out, and in their rooms were put all profane and ungodly Wretches, Swea­rers by, and Blasphemers of the Name of Almighty God, these being Men for your Turn, that you might the more easily enslave, and so pervert the People. And it was come to that pass, that none could have any Employment unless he could swear and damn for the Church, tho' they never came within the inside of one all their days. Of these, Sir, you made most excellent Papists in process of time, or at least Favourers of the Popish Party.

Your Conspirators had an Eye upon the City of London, and therefore, that none might stand in your way of debauching that City, all the sober old Offi­cers of the Army was not to come within 20 miles of it. This was done by the Advice of your old Friends the Priests, who visited all your soured Cavaliers, and your Conspiring Villains, and never left urging to them the danger the Govern­ment was in, till they were disarm'd and banish'd London. 'Tis true, the great Argument was, the Safety of the Government; but the true one was, your making your progress in perverting the People to the Popish Religion; for all [Page 74] Virtue being discourag'd, both in Church and State, they had the fairer op­portunity of proselyting the prophaner part of Mankind to the Religion of the Church of Rome.

I must confess, that some few that were sober men had the fortune to be prefer'd both in Church and State; but what Joy you and your Conspirators conceiv'd when they were remov'd either by Death or Age, is not forgotten. Those Statesmen that oppos'd Popery or Arbitrary Power were soon remov'd, and if they had the hap to dye in their Offices, they could do no more against Popery and Arbitrary Power than tell their Friends what Care you took to bring it in. But this I say, if any were but zealous, he was commonly laid aside as useless and dangerous to the Government, for as long as they lived or continued in Power, you and your Party could not go on so smoothly in your Practices against our Religion, Laws and Liberties.

2. It is well remember'd how your Conspirators carried a Villanous Design of putting on Sham Plots upon Men, in order to take away their Lives and Estates, to the utter ruine of their Families and Posterity for ever. These were so many, that to enter into the Particulars of them would be enough to fill a Volume; but I will therefore reckon these that follow as the Chief of them.

1. If you please, I pray you, Sir, to call to mind the rising of the Fifth-Mo­narchy-men on the 6th of Jan. 1660/1. Who drew in those men to that foolish and wicked Attempt but your old Acquaintance Dr. Goff, and Strange the Jesuite, and Gray, and another Jesuite that went by the name of St. George, and Ashby, that was afterwards Rector at St. Omer's, who counterfeited themselves Fifth Monarchy-men? For an Uncle of mine, one Mr. Thomas Buttivant, was engag'd with them, and had been in the Rising, if the Three hundred Horse had come they promised should joyn Fifteen hundred Foot; and this Buttivant was to have been Commander in chief of the Horse: He was so intimately acquainted with this Gray, that they called Brothers; this Gray I having seen so often with that Uncle of mine, that when I came to be acquainted with the Jesuits, notwithstanding it was so many years after, I found this Gray to be a Jesuite, who had pretended to Fifth Monarchy Principles; and renewing my acquain­tance with him, he told me, That he, and Strange, and others of the Society with this Goff, used to preach to them in Swan-Alley in Coleman-street, and at Mr. Buttivant's House in Cobb's Yard in Petticoat-lane, and that they had drawn in several of those poor Dogs, as they termed them, to be hang'd, but they themselves were protected by you at St. James's, and in Whitehall; and 'tis true, that Gray had the Fifth-Monarchy Notions to a Hairs-breadth. In this Affair the Society were at some Hundreds of pounds charge, for they were liberal of their Mony, and possessed these poor Creatures of your Brother's and your being Papists, and that your design was to destroy the Interest of Christ in the three Nations, and to set up Popery and Slavery, and so drew them into that Folly of Rising, and all with this intent, that they might obtain some severe Laws against the Protestant Dissenters, in order to weaken the Protestant Interest within these three Nations, and boasted very much of your being privy to the whole Design: [Page 75] And, by your Carriage in other Affairs, you will be by all sober Protestants judg­ed guilty of This.

Against such strange Practices the poor Dissenters did at that time, in their Addresses and Declarations to the Government, positively, without any Equivo­cation or Mental Reservation, declare and protest their abhorrence, and dis­avowed all such Principles as might tend to such irregular and disorderly Practi­ses, as tending highly to the dishonour of GOD and the Protestant Religion; yet you and your Jesuites and Priests made great use of this, to beget a disesteem of them in the future Parliament.

2. Another Conspiracy was formed and contrived by you and your Banditti, against Protestants, and this was in November 1661. A doubty Knight of your Friendship forged several Letters from several Ministers of the Gospel about Worcestershire, and several other Counties; and in conjunction with this Villain several Jesuites acted, amongst whom was Father Fitz Patrick and Father Peter Talbot, afterwards the pretended Archbishop of Dublin, and old Courtney; all of these were employ'd by your self, as I have seen in several Letters, wherein they complained of your delaying their being satisfied for that Service: But the Intrigue did not hold Water, tho' several honest men suffer'd Imprisonment for the same. But the Forgers and Framers of this Hellish Conspiracy in this pre­tended Plot had an aim at the rewarding Mr. Baxter for the great Service he did in your Brother's Restauration and yours.

3. Another of the same nature was invented by your Conspirators in Oxford, wherein the Names of several men of note and value, to the number of above a Hundred, whose Lives were design'd to have been made Sacrifices to Hell and Rome; but neither did that Cheat take any other effect than to continue the then Parliament exasperated against poor Protestant Dissenters, as men of restless Spirits, that were always disturbing the Government. So that by these Artifi­ces you did not only find a way to throw them out of their Livings, but endan­ger'd their Lives also.

4. Your Priests and Jesuites not making their Sham-Plots to hold upon the Dissenters, your Conspirators try what they could do with two Pillars of the Church of England, one Hill and Riggs, both highly carress'd by three special Guardians of the Church of England's Interest, that is, old Cosens, old Hinch­man, and Sheldon, three of the Devil's Brokers. These two Villains Hill and Riggs, both Parsons, they pretend to discover a Fanatick Plot, as they call'd it, against the King's, Yours, and old Monk's and Turncoat Brown's Lives, and this Plot was sworn against several Honest Men, for which some lost their Lives; the one got a preferment to a Living, and the other was preferred to eat Salt Beef and Pork and Pease at Sea, and sometimes he acted as a Chaplain in a Ship, with great Promises of being preferred, but God cut him off, whilst Hill slept in a Pocky Skin. Now, Sir, to lay open to you and the whole World the truth of this matter, I pray observe, that this Hill and this Riggs were in your Pay, to be Spies upon the Conversations of several Honest men, as Butler and Seely was afterwards in your Brothers for the same purpose; Riggs and Hill gets into the Company of several Dissenters, and in their hearing did talk at a strange rate [Page 76] against the Government, and what a secret Cabal there was meeting in London for the change of the same; and how that the King your Brother and your self were for introducing Popery and Slavery. But to prevent your Attempts of that sort, the said Riggs and Hill told them, That Arms and Ammunition were pro­vided, and that a number of honest men were left to rise, and defend the true Religion, Laws, and Liberties of the Kingdom; and that Deale Castle and Wind­sor Castle were to be surprized. This sort of Talk they had with some few ho­nest men, who in the Integrity of their Hearts confessed, that they heard Hill and Riggs talk at this rate. Nay, these Devils could not deny, but that they did use this sort of talk, and intimated that they had a License so to do. Not­withstanding these poor Creatures denied that ever they had any hand in any such Conspiracy, nor indeed was any thing proved, but what Hill and Riggs swore they had talk'd to them, yet they were condemn'd and basely murder'd, and their Families ruin'd by your procurement, and Hill and Riggs escaped with Impunity, tho' not without Infamy. Your Jesuites would have courted them both to the Church of Rome; but they appearing to be such Rogues, they were afraid they would be a Disgrace to them, who from their rising up in the World had themselves been a Scandal and Disgrace to the Creation of God.

5. You having some Success in this, your Conspirators would not be idle, but drew in some warm Men into another Conspiracy in the North. The then Sheriff of the County of York, and a great man whose Name I will omit, because he did in part afterwards make England some amends for that piece of Villany, you know, at that time, to please the Court, he was reconciled to the Church of Rome, and no doubt, whilst so, he was a fit Tool to carry on so wicked a Design, which was to discourse of the Oppression the Nation lay under thro' the Duties of Ex­cise, &c. and the disturbance that the Lawyers had made in the Kingdom; That your Brother and you were bringing in of Popery and Slavery, at which these poor Creatures were enflam'd; and being promis'd the supply of Mony, and by the High Sheriff the Assistance of Posse Comitatus, they were drawn in to engage: But alas, it was but a Trappan, they were taken and executed upon the Evidence of some of them that were engaged with them; but how you rewarded that Person of Quality afterwards it is well-enough known. This was another of your Pro­jects, as the Person of Quality you employed hath told to several Friends with great Grief, some of whom are alive to this day.

But not to forget one passage, let me tell you, that you and your Conspirators made at the Tryal of Mr. Alured two Witnesses of one Man; first he appear'd in a strange disguise, with one Eye, and gave his Testimony under one Name, and then withdrew, and appear'd in his common Dress, and gave his testimony by his own Name, and so Alured was murder'd by the Conspirators. This can be prov'd by good testimony.

6. I will give you a short Truth of the Fire of London, how that Eight Men were executed for having a design to fire the City of London on the third of September 1666. And great care was taken to lay it upon the Fifth-Monarchy-Men, and the old Officers of the Army that served under the Parliament, but in truth it was contrived by your self and your wicked Popish Party, and by you [Page 77] and them carried on to destroy that great Protestant City, that with more ease you and your Accomplices might introduce Popery and Slavery among us; for London was the Bulwark of the Protestant Religion and English Liberties, and therefore she must be made a Burnt-Offering to your self and Hellish Popish Crew.

7. Another Instance of your Conspirators shamming their Plots upon poor innocent Protestants, and that is the Case of the Lord Claypool, and by this cast an Odium upon the whole body of Protestant Dissenters: For in the Month of August, just about the time that your Conspirators were to execute their wicked Design to destroy the King, then you deal with Secretary Coventry, to clap up that poor innocent Gentleman, for designing to seize the King as he went to Newmarket; and you had two Witnesses ready at hand to have sworn that Design against him the said Claypool, who was by the Secretary's Warrant arrested for High Treason: But he the said Claypool knowing nothing of the matter, demanded to know his Accusers; that was (according to that Villain's usual way) deny'd him, and he frown'd upon as if he had been the greatest Knave in England next to Coventry himself. Claypool was as stout as that Knave of a Secretary was proud and insolent; and as for Claypool, he would scarce answer any Question, so away he was sent to the Tower a close Prisoner. This startled every one except the Conspirators and my self, who was privy to the whole business, by the repeated Orders Coleman receiv'd from, Sir, your self, for his Prosecution, that when the Blow was given upon the King, it might be charg'd upon the Fanaticks: And to that end Sing and Throgmorton, two virulent Papists, and Butler and Seely, two Popish Spies of your Brother's and yours, both preten­ded Fanaticks, the last, I think, is a Cornish man, and was a Major in the late Protector's Army; so that you and all your Popish Conspirators intended as one Man to revenge the Death of the King on the Dissenting Party, concluding that the Vermin of the Church of England would strike in with the Popish Party, since they hated a Dissenter worse than a Papist, tho' differing from them only in a few scoundrel Ceremonies not worthy to wipe a Porter's Tail withal: There­fore, as a Prologue to that cursed Design, you could not think of a man fitter than this Lord Claypool, he being Son-in-Law to that Lord Protector Cromwell; but you and your Villains were disappointed for a time from destroying the King, for when the true Plot was discover'd, your devilish Witnesses against the Pro­testant Party disappear'd. And so much for Claypool.

8. Another Instance of your implacable Hatred to the Protestants, and of your designing to sham a Plot upon them, was your old and very good Friend Mr. Thomas Blood, whom you and your Brother set upon my self, to bring me into a Conspiracy with Richard late Lord Protector, and him the said Blood, to dethrone your Brother and your self; which, Sir, was a great mi­stake, for your Crimes were so plain and notorious, that an honest man would have thought the Laws of the Land and publick Justice would have reach'd you both without such irregular Methods as these were; but I discover'd the Letter, and the Trappan escap'd for a while, and then God cut him off with Infamy and Disgrace.

[Page 78] 9. I must entreat your patience to remember another Instance, and that is the particular Case of Mr. Thomas Dangerfield, who was maintained by you and your Conspirators with Twelve pounds per week, to invent a Plot against the Protestants, the better to colour or hide your own. What Papers you and the rest of your Conspirators contrived to be put upon the Duke of Buckingham! The Gentleman of his Horse was Mansfield, and he was prepared to be a second Witness against the said Duke, as Dangerfield was suborned to be the first, so that you might have the Blood of that great man, as being one in a Con­spiracy to destroy the King your Brother. But Dangerfield had not been so mindful of his Lesson as he ought, and fixeth himself upon one Mansel, who had been a Retainer to the Earl of Essex, who at that time was carried away with the dissimulation of the Popishly-affected Party, but instead of leaving them in Mansfield's Chamber, left them in Mansel's Chamber. In these Pa­pers there was a List of Noblemen and Gentlemen that were to be sworn against, as being in a Conspiracy against the Life of the King your Brother, and your self, and Church of England: And, to make the World believe that these Pa­pers were not forged, this Dangerfield repairs to Secretary Coventry, your old League-breaker, and informs the Secretary (who was privy to the whole Con­cern) of a dangerous Plot against the Government, and that there were dange­rous Papers in the Chamber of Coll. Mansel, that would make the same out: but the fellow, tho' he had been a Rogue all his days, as God would have it, scrupl'd the Oath; tho' if he had said in Mansfield's Chamber, he should have had a Warrant without an Oath; but mentioning the Name of Mansel, the Secretary was startled, because that Mansel was a Favourite of the Earl of Essex, against whom this Conspiracy was not at first to appear, therefore Coventry would do nothing without an Oath in relation to Mansel, because of the Earl of Essex, who was then actually a Privy Councillor; therefore Dan­gerfield was resolv'd to have the papers brought to light, and therefore gets an Officer or Officers of the Customhouse, to search Mansel's Chamber for pro­hibited Goods, and then these papers were seiz'd: And Mansel hearing of what was done when he came to his Lodging, and that papers of dangerous consequence was found in his Chamber, behind his Beds-head, where he had never laid any, he immediately repairs to the Council, and complains of his usage before Dangerfield had told his Story.

Well then, what becomes of this Affair, so foolishly miscarrying in its first birth? I must observe to you, that Dangerfield is called in question; and tho' he had many Friends in the Council, and many that knew the Design well enough, yet the Blunder that Dangerfield made was so great, and his Story hung so ill together, that the Conspirators that were at the Board began to be confounded, and were much dejected that their Tool had succeeded no better; for, besides all his self-contradictions, shrewd proofs were brought against him: Yet notwithstanding the aforesaid blunder, and his being so confronted with Major Richardson and others, Dangerfield was as bold as his Folly was great, and stood in it, that the Papers taken in Mansel's Lodgings were not put there by him, till at last the proof of the Customhouse Officer that searched, and [Page 79] Dangerfield's own words, the Cheat and the Roguery was most manifest; so that the Council, tho' many of them your Conspirators and his intimate Friends, were of necessity obliged to commit him to Newgate, who being there, was still upheld by that Whore Cellier, and the rest of your Conspirators, who had redeem'd him out of Newgate for this very end and purpose, and had forbad him to discover; but some Letters being discover'd, and he being out of all hopes, made his application to the then Lord Mayor to take his discovery; which was done, and upon that Discovery it plainly appear'd who set him on work to frame such a piece of Villany. You were so nettl'd at the Dis­covery, that instead of the Lord Mayor's having Thanks return'd him for his Service to the King and the Nation, that he met with a Check at Court for meddling in that which concerned him not. But by this Trick the Earl of Essex's Eyes were open'd, and he fairly left you and the Council, abhorring such Villanies as never was to be parallel'd in future, nor heard of in past Ages.

Your Sham-Plot thus miscarrying, and the Book found in the Meal-Tub, shewing who they were that was to be sworn out of their Lives falsly, appear­ing, you know, Sir, that you were, with your Accomplices, at a stand; for, Sir, you know that this Villany, if it had been placed with Mansfield, the Duke of Buckingham's Servant, who was to have been a second Witness with Dangerfield, and both these to have been corroborated by Blood, Butler, and Seely, you would have cut off, by a Form of Justice, all such persons as had stood in opposition to your wicked Designs and Practices; so that a new Parliament should have been open'd with the noise of a Presbyterian Plot, therefore you know the Parliament was prorogued for a longer time, and your self forced to part with a small Spell to get this thing done, and the French King pressed for a bigger Seame, which was happily prevented by the Duke of Buckingham.

10. I must beg your Pardon if I put you in mind of another piece of Ro­guery your restless Conspirators undertook; For a new Parliament being to meet at Oxford, in the year 1680/1, they were resolved to welcom that Par­liament with a Protestant Plot in good earnest, to the end with more ease you might bring your cursed Designs to pass. In order to this, it was agreed by your Crew, that Papers containing Treasonable Matters should be got to be written, and lodg'd in the Houses of private men, and shuffled into Gen­tlemen's Pockets at Oxford, and before the meeting of the Parliament they should be seiz'd with such Papers about them; and one Fitz-Harris, who was to be their Tool, was well acquainted with one Everard, that was a Villain much of the said Fitz-Harris's stature or standard; for it was a hard mat­ter to know which was the greatest of the two. This Everard had been countenanc'd by the Earl of Shaftsbury, and therefore the said Everard was judg'd the most fit to joyn with him in the Roguery: And Everard had agreed with this Fitz-Harris to be seized with these Papers about him, when they had dispersed as many of them as would do the business; but those that employ'd these Rascals in this affair were such, that it would [...]ill [Page 80] an Englishman with Confusion to name them. Fitz-Harris had his Instru­ctions from your Brother and Portsmouth, and when Access could not be had to them, then they received them from Nell Wall, a notorious Whore, that from a poor Wench that washed down the Stairs, was made her Mistresses Woman, and privy to the whole Intrigue.

The Writing was drawn up, and much approved by the King your Bro­ther and the Dutchess, and their Approbation signified to this Fitz-Harris by this Whore Nell Wall, and the same told to this Everard by Fitz-Har­ris; but no Mony considerable appearing, unless it were one Thirty pound, Everard discovers this Intrigue to one Smith, commonly call'd Narrative Smith, and Sir William Waller. They are planted in a secret Room, where they might not only hear, but see the Transactions between Everard and this Fitz-Harris; so that Fitz-Harris was apprehended and committed up­on Everard's Testimony, and Try'd and Condemn'd upon the Testmony of Smith, and Waller, and Everard, and fairly Hang'd, that he might not tell Tales. So Shaftsbury and several others escaped that one time from being made a Sacrifice to your Will and Pleasure. The Story, Sir, is too long to be fully repeated, but when any of your Cursed Crew shall Answer this, I shall tell the whole Story at length; but this shall suffice for this Parti­cular.

11. Be pleas'd to remember how many Irish men were suborned to swear against the Life of the said Earl of Shaftsbury, and how diligent your Con­spirators were to suborn others that were of the same stamp for Roguery and Villany; but God, by the Industry and Care of his Friends, deliver'd him; and what these Villains swore against him was so inconsistent with either the Principles or declared Judgment of that Noble Lord, and the Particulars of their Testimony so contradictory one to the other, that the Grand Jury would not return a billa ver a upon the Testimony of these Rogues, tho' the Court used all the indirect methods with that Jury to have the Bill found.

12. Sir, I must deal plainly with you and your Tribe, that my Heart is ready to bleed when I must name to you the Murther of the Earl of Es­sex, whose Throat you procured to be cut that very Morning, that a Way might be made for the Horrible Murther of the Lord Russel, who was by your means basely murder'd by a Form of Law; and the great Collonel Sidney, what Juries of Common Rogues and Villains were pack'd upon them by the contrivance of murdering Rich and North, your two pretended She­riffs of London and Middlesex, Fellows that valued not the Blood of a Pro­testant, but rejoyced that they had made you and your Conspirators drunk with their Blood!

I must not forget poor Stephen Colledge, who was basely murder'd at Oxford by a Sett of wicked Judges, and a Pack'd Jury, at Oxford, whose Blood cries to Heaven for Vengeance against you and your Cut-throat Party.

[Page 81] We have a Cloud of Instances against you and your Party of your suborn­ing Witnesses against Mr. Colt, Mr. Arnold, Sir Samuel Barnadiston, Mr. Covet, Mr. Culliford, Mr. Braddon, Mr. Johnson, Sir Thomas Pilkington, and Mr. Hamp­den, my self and others; what a long and tedious Imprisonment we all suffer'd through the Testimony of your suborned and perjur'd Witnesses. But this may suffice for this second Particular, how you and your Conspirators, from the very time of your being restor'd to your Native Country, which was in the year 1660, to the year 1685, that you took the Crown.

III. A third Project that you and your Popish Crew had on foot was, to ruine our Trade. It was not enough that you fired our Cities, and abused the Professors of the Protestant Religion, by the many Murders that were by you and your Party committed, by the help of your Mercenary Judges and Hackney Jury-men, but you also labour'd heartily to disturb the Trade of the Nation, that you might with more ease enslave it, and bring in Popery upon us. I will but give you only one or two Instances; Many might be given, to your Shame, and the Shame of your Party, if there was any such thing remain­ing with you.

1. The first Instance I shall give you is the countenancing the French King to take so many of our Merchants Ships by his Pyrates and Rovers in our Seas; and several Letters were written by your Secretary Mr. Coleman, to Sir Ellys Leyton, wherein several Merchantmen, whose Owners and Merchants had been obnoxious to you or your Party, by opposing Popery and Slavery; he was by your especial Order to see their Ships and Goods condemned, to the utter undoing of several Families. And your Servant Coleman, when any thing of a Tradesman was mentioned, he used to say, Damn them, they are a sort of Fanaticks that have no Kindness for my Master, or our Religion, and it will be never well till we make them poor, then they will be brought to obey. Nay, Sir, this was your Language too, or else you would never have been so much of the Opinion of the French King, your most Christian Brother.

2. A second Instance is taken from the Letters that were written to the Rector of St. Omers, Richard Ashby, from Thomas White and John Keines, and others of the Society in London, in which Letters from them and others were enclosed Letters to Thomas Stapletoa, then Procurator at Bruxels, to perswade the Father Confessor of Duke de Villa Hermosa, then Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, to inform him the said Duke, That the King your Brother did not intend to assist the King of Spain, but would stand a looker on till he was ruin'd by the French King. Which Letter being not sealed, I saw it; and that in case the Father Confessor to the said Governor should not be ready to comply with the said Stapleton, that Messengers should be forthwith sent to Father Swiman at Madrid, to inform the King of Spain of the said Concern, and to make the same relation of the business to the Popish Archbishop of Tuam, of the Kingdom of Ireland, who was then at the Court at Madrid, that he the said Swiman and the said Titular Archbishop, might jointly give [Page 82] an account of the Motion made or to be made to the said Father Confessor of Duke de Villa Hermosa, and also to advise the Spanish King to seize the Estates of the English Merchants in their several Factories in his Dominions, for that they had endeavour'd to transport their Estates, and did transport them to England, and all, or most part, in the Coin of Spain, to the great Prejudice of the Kingdom of Spain. And for the confirmation thereof, they procur'd Letters from one Fonseca, sometimes an Agent in London, to attest the same, this Fonseca willingly complying with your Conspirators, and sent his Letter to St. Omer's, that the Fathers there might give their Approbation to the said Letter, in order to be sent to the Court of Spain; which Letter was long and large, Attestations therein made against the Merchants of the seve­ral Factories concerning the Matter of Fact before mentioned, and other Letters were dispatch'd to Daniel Armstrong at Valladolyd, and John Cross then at Madrid, in which they were order'd to confirm this Attestation made or to be made by the Fathers in England, and of the English Seminary at St. Omer's, and of the said Stapleton, together with that of the said Fonseca, the abovenamed Spanish Agent, who then lived at Bruges in Flanders. There­fore,

1. In this Villanous Contrivance to disturb the Nation in the Spanish Trade, your Servant Coleman was very active in your Name, and on your behalf, and engaged that your Letter to Villa Hermosa should be pro­cured.

2. It is well known that your Brother and your self were so engag'd with the French King that it was all one to you what became of the King of Spain's Concerns in Flanders; but you were both grieved to see the English Nation enrich'd with the Trade it had with Spain; for, during the time of the Riches and Plenty of England, it would be very diffi­cult for you and your Conspirators to bring in Popery and Slavery upon us.

3. What Agents you make use of to carry on this Wicked Design to ruine Trade! Even Fonseca, that hated the English Nation, and much en­vied her Greatness, and that she might be in a condition to be brought un­der the French Yoke, you tamper with him, that tho' a Spaniard by Nation, yet he was wholly in the French Interest.

3. A third Instance that I shall remember you of, by which you intend­ed to ruine our Trade, and that was in the adulterating, debasing and clip­ping the Coin of this Kingdom. It may be said by you and your Partisans, That it is very hard you should be charged with this vile Act; but, Sir, it can be prov'd, that the Merchants, Goldsmiths, Brokers, Bankers, and the other Traders that the Jesuites dealt with, all was by your Advice and Direction, and that your Servant Coleman had in your Name promised them the management of the Mint: So that your Conspirators were to be the Judges of good and bad Mony, and were to manage the same to the best [Page 83] advantage for your Cause, and several Materials for Coining was provided by Smith your Agent, and lodged at Mr. Longhorn's Chambers in the Temple. And this, Sir, I must observe to you for publick Good, that there hath been few or none that ever hath been executed but hath been of your Religion or Interest. That our Mony hath been abused is notorious. And all this you did in order to impoverish the Kingdom, and destroy its Trade.

4. A fourth Instance of you and your Traytors to disturb the Trade of the Kingdom, was the Fire of London. I have treated of that already. As it was the Habitation for several Thousands of good Protestants, that stood in oppo­sition to Popery and Slavery; and as by the destroying this City you endeavour­ed to weaken the Protestant Interest, so now give me leave to tell you, it was with this design, to ruine the Trade of the Nation; for you know, that Lon­don was the Metropolis and Fountain of Trade, and when she was destroy'd you could not but conclude, that the Trade must be disturbed (with which the other parts of the Kingdom were made happy) through the great devastation that the Fire, that was carried on by your Wicked Instruments, had made.

IV. A fourth Project that you had to accomplish your Wicked Designs, was the Attempt of maintaining of a standing Army, contrary to the Laws and Liberties of England in the times of Peace, and labour'd that point much with the King your Brother, to lay down the legal Force of this Kingdom (viz. the Militia) as useless to the Government; and therefore you and your Party advis'd him to lay them down, and to have Forces in every County un­der Pay, and they were to be your Conservators of the Peace. And, Sir, had the Revenue of the Crown been able to have born the Charge, you your self projected a standing Army, to keep the People in due Obedience. Now, what that due Obedience was, I shall not need to explain to you, for it was a standing Army alamode de France; nay, they were to have the Power of the Civil Watch in the Night, which you said would excuse many ancient useless Men from that Service. And for the accomplishment of your wicked Enter­prize, you advis'd, that the greater part of the Army should consist of French and Irish, and that the Officers of this Army should consist of as many Roman Catholicks as could well be gotten to serve in that Army, and you had several of that sort of Cattel that you kept in half-pay, in readiness whenever your Brother should have agreed to your Advice. It was not for want of Good will, but for want of Mony, that your Design did not then take.

5. A fifth Project that you had on foot to enslave the Nation, and that was, the advising and contriving with your damnable Conspirators the seizure of the Charters, Franchises, and Liberties of the Cities, Towns, and ancient Corporations of the Kingdom. It was, Sir, your self and your Conspirators that invaded the Privileges, and seized on the Charters of most of the Towns that had a Right to be represented by their Burgesses in Parliament, and by over awing some of them, you procur'd Surrenders of them to be made [Page 84] to the King your Brother, by which the Magistrates deliver'd up all their Rights and Privileges, to be dispos'd of at his pleasure, and the pleasure of your self and Conspirators. Upon this you procur'd new Magistrates to be placed in those Places as would carry on your wicked designs and purposes of advancing Popery and Slavery.

6. It was your Advice, together with your Conspirators, that put the late King your Brother to turn out of the Commission of the Peace and the Lieu­tenancy of the Counties, all such who had been zealous for the defence of the Protestant Religion and Liberty, and had appear'd vigorously against Popery and Arbitrary Power, as persons disaffected to the Government both in Church and State, and represented them as Fanaticks, and Favourers of such; by which means you got in Men of Villanous Morals, and such heartily joyned in with your Conspirators, to ruine the Protestant Interest, and to overthrow the Laws and Liberties of England. This was done in the year 1679.

7. Notwithstanding some of your Conspirators represented you as a per­son whose Judgment was for Liberty of Conscience, yet because the Protestant Dissenters appear'd earnestly in the asserting the Laws and Liberties of En­gland, and gave Countenance to the Discovery of the Popish Plot to, King Charles your Brother, who was in it in every part and particular thereof, excepting that of his own Murther; you and your Conspirators stirred up that King to raise a terrible Persecution against those men, by which means you were the ruine of some Thousands of Families, who by the severity of the said Persecution were reduced almost to Beggery, or to live upon the Charity of Friends. Some were forced to fly the Nation, and yet were more loyal under their Pressures and Provocations than your Cut-throat Papists were under their then Caresses and Favours received from your Bro­ther and your self. Nay, a reverend Minister of the Gospel of Christ, who had been very instrumental in your Restauration, yea, and ventur'd his Life for your Brother's Restauration, in the year 1650, you suffer'd to perish in Newgate, as a Reward for so great a piece of Service to your Brother and your self and Family; and for no other reason, but because he could not comply with some Rascally Ceremonies that our Ecclesiastical Vermin had borrow'd from the Church of Rome, to Adorn our Protestant Worship, and because he would not take the Oxford Oath, lay'd upon the Nation to enslave it.

8. Another Project you had for the ruining the Interest of the Protestant Religion, and the Interest of England, was the Advancing of Men that were Enemies to the Protestant Interest into the greatest Places of Trust. As, What a Sett of Villains had you made Judges of the Land, by which means you brought all the Matters of Civil Justice into great Uncertainties, by reason of the Tenour of their Commissions, and the Ignorance of the Rogues you employ'd! Therefore how miserable was the Nation, who were obli­ged to Answer to such Judges that were forced to comply in all things [Page 85] with the Directions that were given by you and your Wicked Cut-throats, or else to be turned out at yours and their Pleasure?

If we look further, you had, in your Brother's time, the disposing of all Military Employments; And how you did shew your Hatred to the Protestant Religion and the English Interest! You did in his time raise a great many Persons to the greatest Military Trusts both by Sea and Land, Strangers as well as Natives; so that by these measures your Conspirators became Ma­sters of the Affairs of the Government of the Nation, and of the course of Justice; and you had all the Church Vermin engag'd with you to subject the whole Kingdom to a despotick Arbitrary power; and all these joyn'd together to execute your wicked Designs, to enslave and debauch the People of the Land.

9. To compleat the Work, that nothing might stand in your way of Establishing your Popish Religion, you murder'd your Brother, who was uncertain in his Engagements in the Conspiracy; for, when he found it was not safe for him to appear in promoting Popery, he soon left you. Or if a Sum of Money could be gotten from a Parliament, he commonly bless'd the Nation with a Proclamation or two against Popish Priests, Je­suites, and Popish Recusants, or pass a Bill or so to the prejudice of the Popish Party; as he did in 1673, when the Test-Bill passed; as also ano­ther in 1678. This obliged you and your Conspirators to hasten his destru­ction, which you had long contrived. You found a fit Tool, and as fit a Dose to do the Work; in it you had your desired Ends, and so you moun­ted the Throne. Which brings me to the Second Point, What you did in or­der to the Ruine of the Protestant Religion and the Government after your ac­cession to the Crown.

II. Your Tyranny was very cruel, but short, yet full of strange and sur­prising Circumstances: It was highly astonishing to see a Popish Prince ascending the Throne, to rule a Protestant Nation, and defend a Protestant Church; but, Sir, you had no such Designs in your Head, for you shew'd what you would do with our Laws, when you could engage your Conspi­rators to dispense with part of the Oaths that you should have taken. It is manifest and notorious, that when you were upon the coming to the Crown you was receiv'd by all the People of England, Scotland, and Ireland as King, without the least opposition, for our Ecclesiastical Vermin had made your way clear by their Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance, and the Divine Right of Succession, and the possibility of preserving the Glory and Grandeur of their Church of England by a Popish Prince, and that there was more danger from Fanaticks than from Papists, and such-like scoundrel Notions.

You cannot but remember, that King Charles your Brother, having recei­ved the deadly Dose your Conspirators had prepar'd for him, on February the 6th, 1684/5, he went to his Place; that very day, Sir, you were proclaim'd [Page 86] King, to the sorrow of all that wish'd well to England, and its Religion, Liberties and Laws: you then appear'd at the Council-Table as King, and by all your Conspirators you was owned and saluted as such, to whom you were pleas'd to make a sort of a Speech, in which you were pleas'd to declare your self to this effect.

THat Since it hath pleased Almighty God to place you in that sta­tion, and that you were now to succeed so Good and Gracious a King, as well as so Kind a Brother, you thought it fit to declare, That you would follow his Example, and more especially in that of his great Cle­mency and Tenderness to all his People: That you had been reported to have been a man for Arbitrary Power, tho' that had not been the only Story that had been made of you: That you would make it your Endea­vour to preserve Government both in Church and State, as it was by Law establish'd: That you knew the Principles of the Church of England were for Monarchy, and that the Members of it had shewn themselves good and loyal Subjects, and therefore you would take care to defend and support it: That you knew the Laws of England were sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as you could wish; and therefore, as you would never de­part from the Just Rights and Prerogatives of the Crown, so you would never invade any Man's Property: And that you had ventur'd your Life very often in the defence of the Nation: And that you would go as far as any Man in preserving it in all its Just Rights and Liber­ties.

This, Sir, is the sum and substance of what you were pleas'd to say at the Council board; and one would have sworn that you would have taken up the Trade of being Speech wright-general to the whole Band of your Con­spirators. I am confident your old Friends the Jesuites, that had been hang'd but a little before, could not have outdone you, though it had been to have saved their Lives. Well, it was a Speech, and how true you were to this Speech you shall judge, and your Conspirators too, if you will but consider.

1. You said, You would not invade any man's Right and Property, and that you would preserve the Nation in its Just Rights and Liberties. And so you did, for you, the next day after your accession to the Crown, publish'd a Procla­mation for the continuing the payment of the Custom and Excise, which were expir'd by the death of the King your Brother for several weeks after. Did not this shew you to be a man for Arbitrary Power, to invade the Pro­perties of a great part of the Subjects of England by your Proclamation; what Value you had for the Rights of the Nation, for whom you had ven­tur'd [Page 87] your Life in a Coiled Cable; and what Regard you had to its Laws, that at your first step in your pretended Government you bring in a Pro­clamation equivalent to those Laws that expir'd as aforesaid, by which the Excise and Customs in the time of the Reign of your kind and loving Brother had been setled and paid.

2. You said, That you would follow the Example of your Brother, in his Clemen­cy and Tenderness to the People of England. What your Brother's Clemency and Tenderness to the people of England was, I am yet to learn. What was his Clemency to his old Cavaliers, that had serv'd both his Father and him in the Wars, to the ruine of themselves and Families, spending their Substance in both their Services, and not so much as looked upon when you were restor'd? After that Sir John Webster, a Merchant, had lent him 150000 l. Sterling, did not he, after much Importunity, reward the said Sir John with the refusal of a Land-waiter's Place, and graciously suffer'd the poor man to starve, as a Reward of his Loyalty? Was not his Clemen­cy such, that within the compass of a very few years all his whole Interest was melted down into a small Regiment of Pimps, Whores, and Bawds, on whom he lavishly confer'd great Honours, and on them he profusely spent the Treasure of the Nation.

Remember, Sir, how his Clemency was extended to those Ministers that brought him home, and to that Party of Men that restor'd him to his Crown and Dignity. Mr. Jenkins is a notable Instance of his Clemency, who ven­tur'd his Life for his Restoration, in that Cause that Mr. Love lost his. What a Tenderness he had for Mr. Jenkins▪ was seen in his murdering him in Prison, notwithstanding all the humble application made to your tender Bro­ther, for his release, in order to preserve his Life.

His Clemency to Sir Henry Vane was admirable, for rather than Vane should not be sent to Heaven, he broke through an Act of Parliament, lest the Martyr should find delay in his passage thither. What can you say of his Clemency to Great Essex, and Noble Russel, whom he basely and barba­rously murder'd? I think that Sir Thomas Armstrong is another Instance of his Clemency. And so you were as good as your word, in following the Example of his Clemency and Tenderness to the People of England.

For upon your entering into the Regal State, you let England have a taste of your Clemency. I must begin with my own Case; I sufficiently tasted of your Grace and Favour after that with the hazard of my Life; I had discover'd a Damnable Conspiracy, carried on by the Popish Party, for the destruction of the King your Brother and the Protestant Religion, and the Go­vernment of the Nation; how you used me let all the World judge, not­withstanding the Credit the Parliament had given me; as you may rememem­ber in the Vote of March 15. 1679.

Resolved, Nemine Contradicente, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled, That they do declare that they are fully satis­fied, [Page 88] by the Proofs they have heard, that there now is, and for divers years last past hath been, an Horrid and Treasonable Plot and Conspiracy, continued and carried on by those of the Popish Religion, for the murdering of His Majesty's Sacred Person, and for subverting the Protestant Religion, and the Ancient Esta­blish'd Government of this Kingdom.

Notwithstanding all your Clemency and Tenderness to the English Nation, produce such a Vote for the Justifying your Reputation in the Nation, and for ought I know, you may perswade your self that the Nation may be en­clin'd to receive you into favour again, and admit your tender Government of them once more.

But to return to the Point. Notwithstanding the Power of Truth and the Credit of this Vote, with what implacable Malice did you and your Banditti pursue me? How often did you attempt to take away my Life by the Testi­mony of False Witnesses? With what Importunity did you prevail upon the King your Brother to withdraw that Protection and Subsistance that the said King allow'd me at the request of several Parliaments, so that I might starve for want of Bread? Nay, to express your Clemency and Tenderness, how warmly did you prosecute me in an Action of Scandalum Magnatum, for speaking this Notorious Truth of you, That you were reconciled to the Church of Rome, and that it was High Treason to be so reconcil'd? And what a noble Verdict a pack'd Jury of your Conspirators, upon the prosecution, brought in against me, of One hundred thousand Pound Damages? And thereupon you generously Charged me in Execution in the Kings-Bench Prison.

And was you afraid that I was Able to have paid the Debt and Charges, and as Willing as Able? Well, to prevent it, you resolv'd that I should not want your Clemency and Tenderness; you therefore, to justifie those Vertues to be inherent in you, you prevail'd with King Charles the Second to give you and your Conspirators Leave to prefer two several Indictments of two pretended Perjuries in my Evidence concerning the Popish Plot, but your Vil­lains would not let the King your Brother live to see those Indictments try'd, therefore they were brought to tryal in your tender Reign. What sort of Witnesses did you produce against me, but those very men that had been in no less than three Tryals prov'd and judg'd to be False Witnesses, the Reli­gion they professed no ways admitting them to be Credible; and therefore, as they were not believ'd when they gave their Testimony without an Oath, so they were not to be believ'd when they were upon their Oaths; for you know, tender Sir, they were of a Religion that could dispense with Oaths, tho' false, for the sake of your Catholick Cause.

These, Sir, were your Witnesses; and you had two Juries of Men that had as large a Faith to believe as the Rogues had Consciences to swear, and so I must averr Juries and Witnesses to be alike, for he is as criminal, and is as much damn'd, that believes a Lye, as he is that makes one and swears it too; for the Rogues your mercenary wicked Judges, and the Villains that were Wit­nesses, and your pack'd Hell-born Jury-men, were all in (as it were) a Confe­deracy, to be reveng'd on me for the discovery of the Popish Plot, and to cast a [Page] Reproach upon the Wisdom and Honour of four successive Parliaments, and upon the publick Justice of the Nation.

Well, Sir, I was convicted, notwithstanding the Witnesses I brought in, who were brow-beaten, abused by that Villain Jefferies, who had neither Law nor Sence, nor Manners, but had the Impudence of Ten Carted Whores; therefore nothing now remained for me but Judgment, which was your own appoint­ing, with the Advice of your twelve Villains that were of the Lambskin Or­der, and others of your Conspirators, as a Mark of your Clemency and Tender­ness towards me. The Sentence was as barbarous and inhuman as it was un­just; for I was to pay to you Two thousand Marks, to be divested of my Cano­nical Habit, and brought into Westminster-Hall with a Paper upon my Head with this Inscription; Titus Dates, convicted upon full Evidence of two Horrid Perju­ries; to stand in and upon the Pillory for two several days; on Wednesday to be Whip'd from Aldgate to Newgate, and on the Friday following from Newgate to Tyburn; and to stand in and upon the Pillory five times every year of my Life, and to remain a Prisoner during Life.

This Sentence sounded ill in the Ears of most Men, and filled many with Horror and Amazement, when they consider'd the great Clemency and Tender­ness that you did in your Speech but a little before mention to the Council, and therefore some persons of known worth and quality made application to you to mitigate the Sentence, but were refus'd with the gracious Saying, That I should go through it if I had breath in my body. And then, judging that your Italian Comrade might have this Clemency and Tenderness of yours under her Lock and Key, application was made to her Ladiship, but they found that she was resolv'd upon my Destruction; they return'd home, holding up their Eyes and Hands to Heaven with a Lord have Mercy upon us. Truly, Sir, it was their Good-will to me, but it was their Inadvertency to make any Application to you or your Italian Pugg; for it was the Example of your Brother's Clemency and Tenderness that you were resolv'd to follow.

Since it was so, not only I, but all thinking men, did then judge that your unparallel'd Sentence thus pronounc'd was to murder me; and therefore to justifie the inherent Clemency and Tenderness that you had for a poor English Protestant, the said Sentence was executed with all the Circumstances of Barba­rity, for I suffer'd some thousands of Stripes, by which I was put to unspeaka­ble Tortures, and lay ten weeks under the Chyrurgeons hands. But, Sir, your Malice and Malicious Clemency and Barbarous Tenderness did not cease here; but because I, thro' the great Mercy of Almighty God supporting me, and the extraordinary Care and Skill of a Judicious Chyrurgeon, outliv'd your Cruelty; for such were your tender Mercies to me, you sent some of your Cut-throat Crew, whilst I was weak in my Bed, to pull off those Plaisters applied to cure my Back, and in your most gracious Name they threatned me with all Courtesie and Humanity to destroy me.

Surely, Sir, a Man would have thought that by this time you had given Testimony enough of your Tenderness and Clemency, but I found to my Cost that I was to taste a little more of your Grace and Mercy; for by your own Command I was loaded with Irons of excessive weight, for the space of one whole year without any intermission, and of your Princely Compassion they [Page 90] were not suffer'd to be taken off even when my Legs were swoln with the Gout. Nay, that I might appear to partake of the utmost of your Mercy, I was by your order shut up in the Hole or Dungeon of the Prison, whereby I became impair'd of my Limbs, and contracted Convulsion Fits, to the hazard of my Life. But when you had fill'd up the measure of your Sins, and the Nation came to its self, you were by the just Judgment of God driven out of the Kingdom, and a Parliament freely chosen did sit, observe the Judgment they made of your Grace and Clemency and Tenderness; in order to which read the Vote of the House of Commons June 11. 1689. which was this; Resolved, That the Prosecution of Titus Oates, upon two Indictments of Perjury, in the Court of King's Bench, was a Design to stifle the Popish Plot; and that the Verdicts given thereupon were corrupt; and that the Judgments given thereupon were cruel and illegal. Do you get such another Vote to justifie your Clemency and Tenderness, we will keep a Day for you, tho' through the Blessing of God we may never see your Face again; but if we should, give me leave to tell you, that the old Window of the Ban­quetting House stands in the same place where it did you know when. But lest you or any of your cursed Crew should say, That altho' I tasted not of your Grace, and Clemency, and Tenderness, yet still your Clemency did appear to others that had offended you, this makes me hasten to some other Instances wherein the World may judge whether or no your Tender Mercies were not Cruelty in the highest degree.

2. Give me leave therefore to instance to you of the Usage of the Duke of Monmouth, and those Men that were with him in the West, who did ryse to have deliver'd the Nation from your Designs of Popery and Slavery, which you had for so many years with your Cut-throats carried on with such Success. That Noble Duke was your kind and loving Brother's Son, and your own Nephew, and one that for many years together had been very obsequious to you, and was, tho' ignorantly, in the Conspiracy with you to ruine the Nation, and ven­tur'd his Life in that wicked War against the Dutch, to oblige you and his Fa­ther; but God had no sooner open'd his Eyes, to make a true Judgment of your wicked purposes, but you sought his Ruine, and took all Opportunities to be reveng'd upon him and his Party, which, you know, once was very considera­ble. And when God deliver'd him into your hand, you were pleas'd upon Tower-hill to murder him. This I say because that he being a Peer of the Realm, notwithstanding his pretended Attainder, he ought to have had the liberty of an attainded Peer, that is, to have been heard at the Bar of the House of Lords, and to have shew'd Cause why he should not be executed according to the Te­nure of that Act by which he stood attainded. But you, I conceive, was re­solv'd to have his Blood, and therefore you would not complement him with that piece of Justice which is due to every man that is found guilty of any capital Offence: So that he being deny'd of this piece of Justice, I do affirm, that he by your Clemency and Tenderness was basely betray'd and murder'd.

Well, did the business of the West end so? No, for remember how many of them by your Villanous Kirk were murder'd and hang'd up in cool Blood, without any manner of proceeding according to the form of Law and Justice; and this being taken notice of by your own Crew, that had heard of your pre­tended Clemency and Tenderness, as a thing that would not sound well in the [Page 91] Nation; therefore the remainder were confined, and your Villain Jefferies and his murdering Brethren were sent down to try these poor unfortunate wretches, from many of whom a Confession was extorted upon the Promise of Pardon, and then they were condemn'd and murder'd, they being innocent of what they had confess'd against themselves; others that had been in actual Arms hundreds of them were hang'd in the principal Towns, and their Quarters hang'd up in the Highways, as lasting Monuments of your Grace and Compassion.

And you being glutted with Blood, you then thought of other Punishments for some other of those Offenders; many Men and Women were order'd to be whip'd publickly in the Market-Towns, others had their Estates seiz'd, and a great number were sold into America, to serve all days of their Lives; so that there was nothing but the Voice of lamentation and weeping to be heard. In a word, your Grace, Clemency and Tenderness was such, that several of the Western Counties were made so many Fields of Blood and Butchery: Nay, Sir, those who escaped your Mercy by vertue of your Proclamation, were for­ced to retire to the Woods and desolate places, their nearest and dearest Rela­tions not daring so much as to harbour or relieve them, so that several starved to death, or perish'd with cold for want of things necessary for the preservation of Human Nature: Some fled to the Dutch for shelter, and were not only kind­ly receiv'd, but as civily entertain'd, till you began to have some Shame in you, and pardon'd some, in hopes that they would be of use to you; and others came over with the Prince of Orange, who, by the Just Judgment of God upon you and your Adherents, banish'd you the Kingdom, and the Lords and Commons of England deposed you as useless to God and Man.

But, Sir, this is notorious, that you never entertain'd the least Remorse of Conscience for the murther of these men in the West, for those you pardon'd paid a Price sufficient for their Pardons; or if you gave them Pardon freely, it was to prevent their setting up their Trades in other Countries. And Jefferies your Tool, that you ought to have hang'd, you let him go off with no other Punishment than to be made Lord High Chancellor of England, who also did enrich himself with the Sum of 15000 l. extorted from one person who wanted a Pardon, for nothing else but the not delivering his Country, which he might have done for half the Mony. I am more sorry that Jefferies got the Mony, than for that Gentleman's losing that Sum. Truly, Sir, I was in hopes that the Time of that Villain Jefferies had been come, in which he should not only have paid his Debt to Nature, but to his Faults too; but he is gone to his Place, and thereby he hath sav'd the Hangman a Labour; but had he liv'd, he would in my opinion have been made an Example for all his Villanies that he had committed, both as a corrupt Judge and a trayterous Chancellor.

3. You were pleased in the years 1687 & 1688, to publish a Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, and professed in both the said Declarations, That it was always your Judgment that no man's Conscience should be restrain'd in Matters of Reli­gion. Now, Sir, if that were true, why then did you persecute the Protestant Dis­senters for their Conscience, from Feb. 6. 1684, till the latter end of the year 1686? And if it were not your Judgment, why then did you proclaim Liberty of Conscience as your Judgment? But, Sir, to deal truly in the point, you had a Popish Fabrick to erect, and you wanted Liberty of Conscience to be the Scaffold; [Page 92] and when you had done your business of settling Popery, you would have laid Liberty of Conscience aside, as your Brethren abroad of the Popish Religion have always done. And this was the Clemency your Brother was pleas'd to shew to Dissenters, and afterwards he and you could with great Tenderness suffer them to perish in Prison; and you your self, when you were in the Chair, per­secuted them, to the ruine of some Thousands of Families; you surfeited your self and Party with the murder and ruine of so many Men, and yet you pretend to Clemency and Tenderness. To conclude this particular, your Brother and you made two Declarations for Liberty of Conscience, for no other intent but to cheat the People of England into Slavery and Popery, to the end that you might damn the Body and Soul of the Nation at once. From such Clemency and Ten­derness I trust God hath deliver'd this Nation, and will preserve her under the present Government, all your pretences to the contrary notwithstanding.

4. What shall I say of those worthy persons that you kept in Jayl for the pre­tended Damages of 100000 l. and others of 10000 l. and others for one Fine or another? What shall I say of the Murther of the Lady Lisle, and Alderman Cornish, Mr. Ayliff, and Mr. Nelthrope, and poor Disney? These were Monu­ments of your Clemency and Tenderness.

3. You promis'd in your Speech to the Council, That you would maintain the Church of England as it was establish'd by Law. Nay, I think, if you had not wrong done you, you swore it too at your Coronation. And, Sir, (if you please) call to mind how you kept your Promise and Oath in relation to the Church of England and the Protestant Interest; nay, you gave a reason for your Promise, it being the only Reason that you ever gave in your Life, I will put you in mind of it, Because, said you, Her Members had shew'd themselves Loyal Subjects, and that the Principles of the Church of England had been for Monarchy. Therefore,

1. How did you maintain the Church of England as by Law establish'd? Were there not Laws in force for the preservation of the Church of England, that had been enacted in the Reigns of several Princes that were your Predeces­sors, amongst which Laws, as a security of the Church of England against Popery, ‘That all persons whatsoever, that were advanced to any Ecclesiastical Dignity, or to bear Office in either University, as likewise all Civil and Military Offi­cers, should declare they were not Papists, but of the Protestant Religion, and that by taking the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, and the Test;’ yet you and your Conspirators annulled all those Laws that were made to secure the Protestant Religion against Popery. Was this to defend the Church of England and to maintain Her Laws? I leave it to all men to judge. But you and your vil­lanous Commissioners thought your selves so wise, as to reconcile Contradicti­ons, and therefore you were resolv'd to try your Skill upon the Church and the Nurseries of Learning; which prov'd fatal to you and your Party by the Just Vengeance of Almighty God.

2. Did you not, against express Law, and against the Promise of your main­taining the Church of England, set up an Ecclesiastical Commission, and impower the Persons named in that illegal Commission to take cognizance, and to give ar­bitrary directions in matters Ecclesiastical, in which Commission there was one who profess'd the Popish Religion, and others that were Abettors of Popery and Popish Superstition; therefore to what deplorable condition was the Church of [Page 93] England reduc'd, that a Commissioner for the Church of England's Affairs should publickly abjure the Protestant Religion, by which means he was not only very un­fit, but also uncapable of holding any publick Employment! And did not the Banditti give you such proof of their submission to your Popish Directions you gave them, that they had continued in their Places to this day, had not God of his Infinite Mercy deliver'd us from them and your self? For they were men of an agreeable disposition to have furthered your designs of Popery, notwithstand­ing all your Promises to maintain the Church of England, for they took care that none should be prefer'd that had any zeal for the Protestant Religion; for, if you will be serious in considering who they were that you prefer'd to the Dignities in the Church, and upon what terms, you must own, that they were men of such Morals and Principles, as render'd them a very scandal to that villanous Design that you and your Conspirators were carrying on against the Church of England.

3. I pray, Sir, was the suspension of the Bishop of London another demonstrati­on of your Purpose and Resolution to maintain the Church of England? Let any of your trayterous Crew stand forth and answer for you; Was not that Prelate suspended for refusing to obey an Arbitrary Order sent to him by your Banditti Commissioners for the suspending of Dr. Sharp, now Archbishop of York, for preaching against Popery according to his Office and Calling, without so much as citing the said Dr. Sharp before him to make his defence, or observing any com­mon forms of Process commonly us'd in such cases: The Bishop comply'd with your Suspension, and what damage it was to him he can tell better than I; but it did work for our Good, and hasten'd our Deliverance, but it shew'd that you had but little regard to your Oath and Promise to maintain the Church of England.

4. Another Specimen you gave us of your pious Resolution of maintaining the Ch. of England as by Law establish'd, was the dealing with Magdalen Colledge in Oxford. In the first place you turn'd out the President, who was legally chosen by the Fellows of the Colledge, who, if I mistake not, are sworn to chuse one from among themselves to bear that Office; then you turn'd out all the Fellows for re­fusing to chuse one of your recommendation, without so much as citing them to appear before any Court that could take legal cognizance in that affair, or ob­taining any Sentence against them by a competent Judge; and the only reason you gave for the turning them out, was, because they had refus'd a person that was a Papist, who was not only uncapable by the Laws of the Land, but also by the Sta­tutes of that Colledge, of bearing the Office of a President or Fellow of that Com­munity. And having expel'd both President and Fellows, you put the said Colledge into the hands of Papists, that you might the better maintain the Rights and Li­berties of the Ch. of England as by Law establish'd. But I hope it may be a war­ning to that Community, and to all others of that University, how they advance the Prerogative of the Crown so high, and nourish those two pestilent Doctrins of Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance, and the Divine Right of Succession, les [...] those Doctrins do expose them to a greater Danger than the last.

5. Another demonstration that was given by you of your stedfast Purposes of standing by and maintaining of the Ch. of England, was your proceeding against the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge, 1687. You had a great Favour for one Francis a Benedictine Monk, a Rogue that was fit for any Villany that you could put him upon to act; him you sent to Cambridge to corrupt the Youth there, and no doubt [Page 94] but for his time he did the business for which you sent him. You planted him in Sidney Colledge, where you had placed one Basset a Papist in that House as Master, but your Monk had an Apartment, wherein he perform'd the Office of a Priest according to the Ch. of Rome; but being a Fellow that had taken no Degrees in any University either at home or abroad, you were resolv'd that he should be a Master of Arts in the University of Cambridge; and in order to this you sent a Letter to the said Vice-Chancellor, to admit the said Father Francis to be a Ma­ster of Arts without taking the Oaths; which the Vice-Chancellor refus'd, as contrary to the Law of the Land and the Statutes of the University: Upon this you caus'd the Vice-Chancellor and the Delegates of the University to be summo­ned before your Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs, where that Villain Jeffe­ries, contrary to all Law or Reason, pronounced Sentence, that the Vice-Chan­cellor being guilty of great Disobedience to the King's Commands, and other Crimes and Contempts, should be depriv'd of the Office of Vice-Chancellor, and suspended of his headship of Magdalen Colledge in the said University of Cambridge. Thus, Sir, you were pleas'd to maintain the Ch. of England, by suffering the Lear­ning and Gravity of that University to be trampl'd upon, and by letting in a par­cel of silly, impudent, and illiterate Popish Priests and Fryers, who were to joyn with you in supporting the Protestant Religion, as it was then by Law establish'd. Unless your Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs judg'd that to destroy the two Universities as to Learning, and to break in upon their Laws made to preserve their Communities, would be a means to preserve the Church of England, I cannot but wonder at those extravagant Proceedings in the last years of your Tyranny against them, since they had so highly espoused your Cause when you were Duke of York, against the Sence of the whole Nation.

6. Another Reason you give us to believe that you did design to stand by and support and maintain the Ch. of England, was your proceeding and causing to be summoned before your Ecclesiastical Commissioners all the Chancellors and Archdeacons of England, and requiring them to certifie the Names of those Cler­gymen who had read the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, as well as the Names of those who had refused the same, without considering that the reading of it was not enjoyn'd the Clergy by the Bishops, who are their Ordinaries: So that this was another way you intended (even by these extrajudicial Proceed­ings in your Court of Commissioners Ecclesiastical) to maintain the Liberties of the Ch. of England. This was one great cause why several Persons of Quality both in Church and State refused to be concern'd in this Commission, for they at last clearly saw, that this damnable Commission tended to nothing less than the total Subversion of the Protestant Religion, for you us'd it to no other end and pur­pose than to oppress such persons as were eminent for Learning and Virtue, that should at any time or season preach against Popery & Superstition. And it was God's great Mercy to the Protestant Interest that they did at last see, for sure I am that in the latter part of your Brother's time, and in the beginning of your time, they were given up to such a secure state, and judicial blindness, that the Protestant Re­ligion was in greater danger of being supprest than ever it was since the Reforma­tion, notwithstanding your Promise of maintaining and preserving it.

7. Another Indication of your Care for the maintenance of the Ch. of England was the breaking thro' those Laws which forbid the erecting Churches and Chap­pels [Page 95] for the exercise of the Popish Religion, and also against Monasteries and Con­vents, and more particularly against the Order of the Jesuites; for you did, con­trary to your Oath and Promise made to support the Ch. of England, give out ar­bitrary and illegal Orders to erect Monasteries; and in contempt of the Law you set up several Colledges of Jesuites to corrupt the Youth of the Nation. Nay, Sir, that you might not leave your self without Witness of your stedfast Resolution of maintaining, supporting and defending the Ch. of England, you rais'd up a Je­suite that was in the Popish Plot, in which the death of the King your kind and lo­ving Brother was plotted and contriv'd, and the subversion of the Government both in Church and State, to be a Privy Councillor and a Minister of State: By all which you did evidently shew, that you were restrain'd by no Laws, and there­fore the Ch. of England must perish, you being so well seconded in your Popish Progress by your most excellent Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Affairs. But to conclude this Paragraph, how those Villains that acted in that Commission of yours can look Mankind in the Face, after they have done so many things against all Law, Honour and Conscience, I do not understand: The truth is, those that are yet alive have with the Whore in the Proverbs wiped their Mouths, and say, They have done no wickedness; and, without all doubt, if they might be trusted, would with as great earnestness appear against your Cause and Interest, as they did wickedly in your time espouse it; but they would be such a Reproach to an honest Govern­ment, as would render the best and most honest Cause suspicious, if engag'd in it.

IV. I come now to consider a 4th Passage in your Speech to the Council, where­in you were pleas'd to say, That you had been reported to have been a man for Arbi­trary Power, but you did assure them that you would preserve the Government in Church and State, as by Law establish'd; And That you knew that the Laws of England were sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as he could wish. How you preserv'd the Government of the Church, is plain enough; nothing indeed is more plain than this, that you intended its Destruction and utter Subversion, and that no­thing less would serve your turn, notwithstanding its Principles were for Monar­chy, and its Members had shew'd themselves Loyal Subjects. How fared it then with the State? Surely the Civil Government was preserv'd, since the Laws of England were sufficient to make the King as great a Monarch as he could wish: In truth, Sir, there was but a lamentable account to be given to your more than Glorious Successor of your management of Affairs in the Civil Government, all things were out of order at his accession to the Crown, which you may have for­gotten; therefore, Sir, be pleas'd to remember, in the first place, your Villains of your Council, and of your Ecclesiastical Commission: As they were in a Con­spiracy against the Ch. of England, to turn our Religion into downright Popery, so they were in a Conspiracy against the State, to turn the well establish'd Govern­ment of this Land into downright Slavery, and this not secretly, as if those Rascals were not asham'd of what they did, for they had that matchless Impudence to act in an open and undisguis'd manner; and to carry on your villanous purposes, you and your Accomplices set up the Dispensing Power, by vertue of which you might suspend and dispense with the execution of the Laws at your pleasure: and in or­der to give this devilish Maxim of yours and your Conspirators countenance and credit, you so manag'd that matter, that you obtain'd an Opinion from the Judges, most of which were mercenary Rogues, who declar'd their opinion, That this Di­spensing [Page 96] Power was in the Kings of England; as if it were in the power of these Villains to offer up the Laws and Liberties of the whole Nation to your self, to be dispos'd of by you arbitrarily at your pleasure, and expresly contrary to those Laws that were enacted for the liberty of the Subject.

In order to obtain this Judgment, your Conspirators did before hand examine secretly the Sentiments of the Judges, and procur'd such of them as could not in Conscience concur in so villanous an opinion or sentence to be turn'd out, and o­thers that had neither Law nor Conscience were substituted in their rooms, so that by changing of hands they found out 12 matchless Rogues, from whom you ob­tain'd that wicked Judgment which, if my Memory fail me not, was laid down in these 5 particulars. 1. That the Kings of England are Soveraign Princes. 2. That the Laws of England are the King's Laws. 3. That it is an inseparable Prerogative of the K. of Engl. to dispense with Penal Laws upon necessity and urgent occasions. 4. That the K. is the sole Judge of that necessity. 5. That this is not in Trust given to the K. but 'tis the ancient Remains of the Crown, which ne'r was nor can be taken from him. Give me leave, Sir, to examin these Particulars, and let the world see how you were abus'd, and how you abus'd the Government by the Opinions of these 12 mercenary Rogues.

1. That the Kings of England were Soveraign Princes. What then? Must you by a Dispensing Power do what you list? were you not subject to those Laws which you were sworn to keep? And if you had not fled, might you not have been call'd to an account? Might not the People, from whom you deriv'd your Authority, have had any Power over you? And was it not dangerous both to Church and State to have a Popish Prince so mighty, that no Protestant House of Peers or Commons dare controul him? Truly, Sir, I own that the Kings of England are soveraign Princes, yet the Nation by their Representatives did ne'r allow the Kings of England to do what 12 mercenary Judges should deliver as their Opinions; for, Sir, it was ne'r in­tended when you assumed the Government, that your Will and Pleasure should stand for a Law, for the Laws that support the Grandeur of the Crown limited your Will to Reason, and ty'd your Commands to the Word of God, the Laws of the Realm, and the Weal of the People. And since, Sir, you regarded not these things, but follow'd the Sentiments of your corrupt Judges, your Will was unlawful, and Commands unjust.

The Kings of England always have been, and still are Soveraign Princes, but what makes them so? Is it not the Law of the Land? And doth not the Law set a boun­dary to their Government as well as to the Peoples Obedience? Is there not a mutual Contract between King and People? Now, when any K. shall by a Suspending or Dispensing Power dissolve this Contract, and break in upon our Laws, and overturn the Government, the People cease to be his Subjects, and he to be their King. It is your own case, Sir, by your Dispensing Power you did not only pretend to be above Law, but also that you were not bound by Law; tho' by your Oath you were as much bound to observe the Law as a King, as your People were bound to observe the Laws as your Subjects. But the People of England seeing that it was in vain to expect any Justice or Righteousness from you, (for means of reformation was pro­pounded, but was denied to be comply'd withal) several noble Lords saw them­selves slighted, their Counsels rejected, and the Protestant Religion upon its last Legs, they therefore did implore the help of the Prince of Orange, now our Gra­cious King; he comes over, seizeth your Treasure, your fortified places, Navy, and Naval Stores, and with one Consent of the People of England was made our Sove-L [...]rd and King, and hath his health very well without the help and aid of a Dispen­sing Power; God send him a long and prosperous Reign.

[Page 97] 2. The Laws of England are the Kings Laws; if your Dispensing Vermin did mean by the Laws being your Laws, that is, that you were intrusted with the Conservation and the Execution of them, then we agree with the Rogues; but how doth this Trust reposed in the King, for the time being, intitle him to Suspend and Dispense with these Laws: but if by the Laws being yours they understood that they were your Property, either to Execute or not Execute, ei­ther to keep or break at your pleasure: I pray Sir, to what end were they made, and to what end were you Sworn, to keep and maintain these Laws, why was there the trouble of an Oath to keep the Law? But Sir, here they laid down a notorious falshood, for the Laws of England are the Laws made by King and People as the Rule of the Government of the King on the one hand, and of the Obedience of the People on the other.

3. That it is an inseparable Prerogative of the King of England to Dispense with Penal Laws upon necessity and urgent Occasions, this was laid down as good Law. But Sir, I pray consider, were not all the Laws of England En­acted by the King and the People of England, met in Parliament, for the secu­rity of the Government and of the Subject; how then could these Villains give you a Power of annulling these Laws at your Will and Pleasure, since you could not suspend or dispense with them, but by the same Authority by which they were made? It is true, the King of England, for the time being, may par­don a Punishment that a Transgressor hath incurred, and to which he is con­demned, as in cases of Fellony and Treason, yet it cannot be inferred from hence, with any colour of reason, that you or any other King could intirely sus­pend the Execution of those Laws relating to Fellony or Treason, unless, Sir, your villainous Judges could have proved by any other Authority, than barely their Opinions that you were cloathed with a Dispotick and Arbitrary Power, and that the Lives and Liberties, Honours and Estates of the People of England, did depend wholly upon your good Will and Pleasure, and were intirely subject to you, which must infallibly follow on your having a Power to suspend the Exe­cution of the Laws, and to dispence with them.

It may be Sir, some of your Dispensers may say, That you were not well infor­med when you took the Coronation-Oath to maintain the Laws of the Land, and that you had prejudiced your self greatly by yielding to the Oath, and that you had weakened your Authority too much in submitting your self to the observa­tion of those Laws.

These things were much talked of by some of your Bully Conspirators, when they little dreamed of your taking the Air at St. Germains: Nay, some of the Devils Brokers roared this out of their Pulpits by the direction of Old Hodge their guide. But, Sir, I pray, inform me how it could be that you should not be well informed, when you yielded to take the Oath at your Coronation to observe, and keep the Laws of the Land? It is impossible that you should be ignorant of that which all the World knew, and all your Predecessors before you; as it was almost impos­sible that you should not be acquainted with the Oath that you were to take, and the Laws you were to preserve by that Oath. So this, know that you were bound to those Laws immediately upon taking the Oath; and I wonder much that you should be a stranger to the Coronation Oath, and to the Laws by which you were [Page 98] to defend your Government that had been twenty four Years a looker on in the Reign of your Brother. Therefore this Plea is as frivilous, as the Opinion of your never to be forgiven Judges was Impudent and against Law. But this is one of the madest Thoughts that ever you, or your villainous Judges could be guilty of, that it was a blemish to the Sovereign Power of the Kings of England to submit to the Laws. I pray, Sir, What blemish would it have been to your So­vereign Power to have submitted to the Laws of your Countrey, which your Predecessors were contented to acknowledge and observe? You derived your Authority to your self by virtue of the Laws? Why then was the Observation of the Laws such a prejudice to you and your Sovereign Power? But we saw the Laws broken, and you forsworn, and your Subjects deposed you. In this, I am sure, you have found a greater blemish and prejudice, than the observation of the Laws would have been.

But to be short, you may plead for your self and your Judges, That were under a necessity and an urgent occasion. Well, What was that necessity? What were those urgent occasions that could put you upon forswearing your self, and bringing your self under the guilt of Perjury. In truth, Sir, your necessity you lay under, was the subversion of the Protestant Religion, and bringing in Po­pery, and the subversion of the Civil Government, and bringing in Tyranny and Slavery. Is not Perjury a most grievous Offence, but much more grievous when it is voluntarily committed? And then a King committeh Perjury willingly when he doth any thing willingly against the Oath he hath taken, not by force but by freewil, not unadvisedly but with great consideration, not to his hurt but to his advantage, not to perform a thing that was impossible or dishonest, but to bind himself to a condition that is honest and possible too. Now when a King breaketh such an Oath, there can be no colour or pretence of necessity, or urgent occa­sions to excuse his Perjury.

4. That the King of England is sole Judge of that necessity. I never took you so much behind hand in Sense and Reason, but that you might plainly see that this is but a bantre of these Rogues, for they neither stated the necessity and the urgent occasions you had to forswear your self, and never inquired whether any necessity, or any urgent occasions could excuse you from lying under the guilt of Perjury. Then they came off with an impudent lye, and say the King is sole Judge of that necessity. He is sole Judge of nothing but what he is intitled to by the Law; where the Law makes him a sole Judge there I do, and own my self bound to obey him as such. But once more, Sir, Where was this necessity of which you were to be sole Judge? When did it spring? Out of what part of the World? I believe, if you could have convinced the Nation of this necessity, and these urgent occasions, they would not so readily concurred to your going to St. Germains, were your Popish Friends oppressed. And did the necessity arise from thence? If it did, Why did you not tell the Parliament of this Oppression? Were they in want of Places at Court, and Imployments under you, which they could not hold? Truly a great many Protestants went without them, notwith­standing their being qualified. Oh! but the Priests of the Church of Rome were in danger of the Law. I never could yet see that day. If they would be quiet, and the Religion of the Church of Rome was your Religion: Well, if it was, [Page 99] Had you not better to have refused the Crown rather than to have taken it with such Incumbrances and Clogs, as should expose you to such necessities and ur­gent occasions of Perjuring your self, and Damning your Soul, and Ruining of three Kingdoms? It was well you were the sole Judge of the necessity; for if an honest English Parliament had sat in the time of your necessity and urgent occa­sions, they would have made these Rogues have swung for their villainous Advice.

5. That this is not in Trust given to the King, but the Antient Remains of the Crown, which never was, nor can be taken from him; you, nor no King in England, ever had any thing but what you received in Trust from the People of England in Parliament assembled, therefore this was the greatest of Impu­dence that these Twelve ignorant Devils could be guilty of, for what Authority, Power, or Riches, have the Kings of England, but what they received from the Peo­ple: and it is plain the Power and Authority that you received was for the benefit of the People, and not for the ruin and destruction of the Laws you consented to; you were intrusted with the Conservation of them, not to Suspend, or Dispense with them at your will and pleasure.

But what King of England was there, since the pretended Conqest, that was not Sworn to keep the Laws, and defend the Rights and Liberties of the Church and People of England? and who Administred this Oath to them? but one or more, in the behalf of themselves and all the People of England. Your Brother, though bad enough, took the Government as a trust reposed in him by his good People of England, what part was it then that was not a Trust? they trusted him with vast sums of money, they trusted you but with a very little. I pray Sir, would your Scoundril Conspirators but tell me what parts were the Remains of the Crown, and how they came so to be; if they cannot it is all Cheat and Nonsence. By your management (notwithstanding all that might have been said to the contrary, even in your Reign, without the dan­ger of being hanged,) you obtained from your Judges this wicked Opinion. I suppose you were not Idle, but was resolved to proceed according to this Judg­ment of theirs; for you presently invaded the Liberties both of Church and State. I have given you some instances of your Invasion upon the Rights of the People of England, in relation to Matters of the Church. Now let us proceed to see how you carried your self in reference to the Civil Rights and Liberties of the People of England, which brings me to a second Instance of your invading our Civil Rights.

2. As your Brother did begin, and made a very great Progress in, so you went on to invade Priviledges, and to seize the Charters of the Towns that had a right to be represented in Parliament; and by your Tools procured Surrenders of them to be made to you, especially where they were poor, and not able to de­fend them. And a Gentleman that valued himself upon his Oath that he had made to a Corporation, whereof he was a Magistrate, and therefore refused to deliver the same; you rewarded him with a two or three years imprisonment, and had not God interposed, it had been to the ruin of himself, his Wife and Children. By these Surrenders, Sir, you caused all the Magistrates to give up [Page 100] their Rights and Priviledges, to be disposed of at your pleasure, and the pleasure of your Villains the Conspirators; and by this means you placed in several of these Towns Popish Magistrates, notwithstanding their incapacity, or such as were Popishly affected, and willing to concur with you in all your evil Designs and Purposes, assuring your self, that when necessity, or your urgent Occasions should force you to call a Parliament, you might have such a Parliament re­turned as should at once set up Popery and Arbitrary Power. Nay, Sir, our danger in your time, and in the time of your loving and kind Brother, did most (and doth still) arise from those Beggarly and Paltry Borroughs that either are by Charter or Prescription enabled to send Members to Par­liament.

3. That you might not fail in the Counties of obtaining your wicked ends, you gave Orders to Examin all Lords Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace, and all other that were in any Publick Employments, if they would Concur with you in the Repealing the Test and Penal Laws; and those whose Consciences would not permit them to comply with your wicked Designs and Purposes were turned out, and others who you found would be more compliant to you in your intentions, in defeating the End and Execution of those Laws which had been made with so much Care and Caution, to preserve not only the Protestant Religion, but also our Civil Rights and Liberties; and into many of those places you put in Papists, and other persons of Arbitrary Prin­ciples; notwithstanding the Law had incapacitated the former, and the other for want of Reputation and Interest could do their Country but little Service; un­less, like Devils, they could do mischief by serving your Designs, and the Purposes of your Conspirators: so that this Nation was in a deplorable Condi­tion, and must have perished had not God raised up the Prince of Orange, now our King, to come over and deliver us out of your Hands.

4. As your Brother in his time hated the Peoples Petitioning him for the re­dress of their Grievances, and had a Set of Men ready to Abhor and Detest such Popular Petitions, though it was the Subjects Right to Petition the King for the redress of Grievances, under which they groaned in his Reign. So you was pleased to shew your aversness to Petitioning; witness your proceeding against the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the other Bishops, who offered a most humble Petition to you in terms full of Respect, and exceeded not the number limited by Law, in which they set forth their Reasons for which they could not obey a certain Order; which you, by the Advice of your Popish Villains, sent them to appoint their Clergy to Read in their Chruches, the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, they were sent to Prison; and afterwards brought to a Tryal, as if they had been guilty of some enormous Crime, they were not only obliged to defend themselves under this Persecution; but also to appear before four Villains, one Professed Papist, and the other three had not taken the Test, and by Con­sequence were Men whose Interest and Inclination too led them to Condemn them. And the Judges that gave their Opinion in favour of those Prelates were turned out; thus you may see a fourth Instance you have given us of your invading our Civil Rights.

[Page 101] But, Sir, while I speak to you of these things, give me leave to plead with you, What King was there that ever reigned that was too great to be petitioned by the meanest of his Subjects? It cannot be pretended that any Kings how great soever their Power hath been, and how Arbitrary and Dispotick they have been in the exercise of this Power, have ever reckoned it a Crime for their Subjects to come with all submission and respect, in a due number, not exceeding the limits of the Law, to represent Reasons why they could not execute such, or such an Order. Deal freely with the World, send to your Dispensing Rogues, and ask them whether it were one of the remains of the Crown that impowered you to wrest out of the Hands of the Subject this undoubted Right of Petitioning the Prince for theredress of Grieveances?

5. How did you treat a Peer of this Realm? Was he not used by you, and your villanious Conspirators as a Criminal, only because he said, That the Sub­jects were not bound to obey the Orders of a Popish Justice of the Peace? Tho it was evident that such being by Law rendred uncapable of all such Trusts: No regard was due to any of their Orders. This being the security which the People of England had, and still have by the Law, for their Lives, Liberties, Honours and Estates, that they are not subjected to the Arbitrary Proceedings of Papists, that were contrary to Law put into any Imployment Civil or Military. This was another instance of the invasion you made upon us, in respect of our Civil Rights and Liberties, and manifested your self to be a Man for Arbitrary Government in subjecting our Persons and Estates to the Arbitrary Proceedings of Popish Magistrates and Officers under you.

6. You apprehending that the great Remedy of your Grievances, and Secu­rity of our Religion was a Free Parliament; and least you might lie under a ne­cessity of calling one, you and your Accomplices did endeavour to make it im­possible, or at least very difficult to be obtained; for you could not but appre­hend that a Lawful Parliament being once Assembled, would call you and your Villains to an account for all your open Violations of the Law, and for your Plots and Conspiracies against the Protestant Religion, and the Lives and Liberties of the People of England, you endeavoured, under the specious pretence of Liberty of Conscience, first to sow Divisions between the Protestants of the Church of En­gland, and Protestant Dissenters; the Design being laid to engage all Protestants that are equally concerned to preserve themselves from Popish Oppression into mutual Quarrellings. So that by these some Advantages might be taken by you to bring about your Villainous Designs and Purposes, and that both in the Electi­on of Members of Parliament, and afterwards in the Parliament it self; for you could not but see, that if all Protestants did enter into a mutual good understand­ing one with another, and concur together in the preserving our Civil Rights and Liberties, that it would have been possible for you and your Banditti to ac­complish your wicked Ends. What could we expect from you, when you struck at the Foundation of all our Civil Rights and Liberties, in the hindring the Na­tion of the Choice of a Free and Lawful Parliament? For did you not require all Persons, in the several Counties of England, that either were in any Imployment, or were in any considerable Esteem, to declare before hand that they would con­cur [Page 102] in the repeal of the Test and the Penal Laws, and that they would give their Voices in the Elections to Parliament, only for such as would concur in it? such as would not thus pre-engage themselves were turned out of all Imploy­ments, and others who entred into these Engagements were put into their Pla­ces; many of which are Papists, and contrary to the Charters and Priviledges of those Burroughs, that have a right to send Burgesses to Parliament. You or­dered such Regulations to be made as you thought fit and necessary for the assuring your self, and your villainous Conspirators, of all the Members that were to be chosen by those Corporations; and by this means you gave your self, and Tribe, hope to avoid the being called to an account for your Villanies: though it was then, and is still apparent that all Acts made by Popish Magistrates are Null and Void of themselves; so that no Parliament could have been law­ful, for which Elections and Returns had been made by your Popish Sheriffs, and Mayors of Towns; and therefore, as long as the Authority and Magistracy was in such Hands, it was impossible for us to have had a Lawful and a Free Parliament.

You might have known that the Constitution of the English Government and Custom, time out of mind. All Elections of Parliament Men ought to be made with an intire Liberty, without any sort of force, or the requiring the Electors to choose such persons as should be named to them; and the persons thus freely Elected ought to give their Opinions freely upon all Matters that are brought be­fore them, they having the good of the Nation before their Eyes, and following in all things the dictates of their Consciences. Therefore you having usurped an illegal Authority, and resolving upon the utmost Violations of our Laws, you would not give us the least hopes of having our Grievances redressed by a Free Parliament legally called and chosen.

It is true, you would have called one in which all Elections should have been carried by Fraud and Force, and might have been composed of such persons of whom you and your Trayterous Crew would have been well assured, in which all things would have been carried on by their Direction and Interest, without any regard to the Good and Welfare of this Nation, which I prove to you and your Villainous Crew, both at home and abroad. For did you not try the Mem­bers of the pack'd Parliament, that sat down in the Year 1685, to gain them to consent to the repeal of the Test and Penal Laws? And did you not dissolve that Parliament when you found that you could neither by Promises, nor by Threat­nings prevail with these very Members to comply with your wicked Designs; and those who would not comply were branded, as if they were Disturbers of the publick Peace? For you may remember, that though the Prince and Princess of Orange did endeavour to signifie in terms full of Respects and Duty to your self, the just and deep regret all your wicked and ungodly Proceedings had given them; and in compliance to your desires they had signified their Thoughts con­cerning your Repealing the Penal Laws and Test, which though they did it in such a manner that they had just Ground of hope, that they had proposed an Expedient by which the Peace of England, Scotland and Ireland, and a happy Agreement among the Subjects of all Perswasions might have been certainly [Page 103] settled. You and your Hellborn Crew put such Villainous Constructions upon their honest and sincere Intentions, as that you were not ashamed to condemn them both as persons that designed to disturb the Quiet and Happiness of the Kingdom. But, Sir, the people of England always Testified a most singular Af­fection and Esteem for the Prince and Princess of Orange, as persons zealously Affected with, and concerned for the Advancement of the Protestant Religion and Interest; and therefore many of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and many Gentlemen, and other persons of Note, laid our miserable Case before them, and beged their Aid and Assistance. The Prince of Orange upon due considera­tion of our deplorable State, to which we were brought by you and your wicked Accomplices, found that in point of that Duty he owed to God, and in return of the great Value the people of England had for him, that he could no way excuse himself from espousing our Cause or Quarrel in a Matter of such high Conse­quence, and from Contributing to the utmost of his Power, for the maintaining both of our Religion, and our Laws, and our Liberties, and to secure us in the per­petual Enjoyment of all our Rights. Therefore he came over with a Force suffi­cient, which through the Blessing of the Great God, was sufficient to suppress you and your villainous Conspirators.

You know, Sir, that as you and your Conspirators were not only full of Cruel­ty, and Guilty of the greatest Inhumanities and Barbarities. So you and they were full of lies and deceit; for upon the coming over of this Great Prince, you were sensible of the Greatness of your Guilt, and had no great Confidence in your own Forces, which induced you to offer to the City of London some seeming Relief from their great Oppression, you hoping thereby to beguile us of a firm Establish­ment, and full Security of our Laws, Liberties, and Religion; and finding that the Kingdoms Eyes were fully opened, then you and your Hellborn Crew gave out, with as much Mallice as Falseness, that the Prince of Orange intended to Con­quer and Enslave the Nation. No, Sir, the Design of that mighty Deliverer was the security of our enjoying our Religion, Laws and Liberties, and that there might be no danger of the Kingdoms relapsing into the like Miseries for the time to come.

Well, Sir, you remember that the Prince arrives and you fled before him. He no sooner comes but he was bid welcome by all True Protestants. You run away. A Convention was called, and he, to our great Joy, was chosen our King. A Parliament sits down, and his Majesty joyned with them in making such Laws, as have secured us and our All; he Fights our Battles; he Loves our Nation; and we Love our King, and we shall not refuse any thing that may be for his Honour, Greatness, and Content. You are deposed as useless in the sight of God, and driven from amongst Protestants to graze at St. Germains, where you may take your ease till the French King shall be as weary of your Company, as we were of your Wicked and Tyrannical Government. You have made many attempts to be restored; sometimes you Threaten us, at other times you would Flatter us to a second Entertainment; but that is but a foolish thought of your Counsellers at St. Germains, which brings me to the last point of my Memorial, which is to shew you,

[Page 104] 3. The Unreasonableness of your attempting of your Return hither, on which particulars I hope you have leisure enough to reflect, and to advise about with your worthy Ministry you have attending your Person there; but least they should not have Honour and Honesty enough to deal plainly with you, I will lay down Six undeniable Arguments, why it is morally impossible that you should be ever readmitted to reign over us. 1. Because we cannot bind you by the most So­lemn Oaths. 2. Because we are Protestants. 3. Because we are English-men. And, 4. Because we are Free-men. 5. Because we have a King of our own Re­ligion and Judgment, to whom we have sworn Allegiance, who goeth out and in before us, and fights our Battles for us. 6. Because of your Attempt upon the Person of our King, in employing your Traiterous Assassins to murder him.

1. Because we cannot bind you by the most Solemn Oaths; we saw our Laws over-turned, our Liberties seized, our Religion corrupted and subverted, and you Forsworn: The Laws of Nature taught us to provide for the defence of our All which was at Stake. And can any Man think it hard that the Kingdom laid you aside? And we laying you aside for the Breach of your Contract and Oath, made to the People of England; Can you expect that we should in the least be guilty of so base a Compliance, as to submit our selves to the Government of a Man, that by his Abominable Perjury dissolved his own Government? You have time now to consider that Perjury in a King is a most Grievous Offence against God and his Own Crown and Dignity, but much more Grievous when it is vo­lantarily committed: And when a Prince committeth Perjury willingly, when he doth any thing willingly against his Coronation-Oath, taken not by Force, but by Free-will, not unadvisedly, but with great Consideration, not to his Hurt, but to his Advantage, not to perform a Thing Dishonest or Impossible, but that which is both Possible and Honest: For when a Prince (not being forced there­unto by just Fear or irrisistible Necessity) breaketh such an Oath as there can be no colour to excuse his Perjury, it arguing him and convincing him of Fraud and Deceit, and gave occasion to all thinking Men that you had no manner of regard to your Coronation-Oath; so it puts you under an absolute Incapacity of being Restored, since the both Houses of Parliament, upon the breach you made of your Contract, have thought fit to lay you aside, as a Person useless and dangerous to the publick Weal of the Three Kingdoms. Your Pretences therefore to the Imperial Crown of this Realm are very foolish and frivolous, for by the Laws of all Nations, you having been guilty of the most notorious Perjury, you are there­fore Infamous; and the Laws of your own Synagogue say that no Infamous Per­son is fit for the Execution of an Office of Honour and Dignity; a perjured Man is always repelled from bearing witness in any Cause whatsoever, because that being Convicted to have Forsworn himself in one Cause, it is not only a Presump­tion, but a sufficient Proof that he will Depose falsly in another: And this is so true, that altho he hath amended his Life yet he cannot be admitted for a Wit­ness be it either in a Civil or a Criminal Cause. So, Sir, you having once For­sworn your Self in subverting our Religion, Laws and Liberties, by the advice of a parcel of Men that feared not God, nor reverenced Men: How do you think that we can ever trust you again? For if the Nation should be brought under [Page 105] such dismal and deplorable Circumstances, (which God avert) as once more to submit to your Administration of the Government; it would not only be a strong presumptive Conclusion, but Proof that admits of no Objection that you would run again into the same Enormities, if not worse; for I fear, and so do all True Protestants, that by your Crew that you have with you, you are possessed with strange and very vile Opinions: And these are such as have not only in times past, but are still entertained by you, and your villainous Conspirators both at home and abroad, about the Coronation Oath which you took when you entered upon the Administration of the Government of this Realm. And they are these Four, 1. That Subjects cannot receive an Oath of their Prince without the Authority of some Judge; and that a Promise made before no competent Judge can bind any Man, much less a Prince; and they have affirmed that this was your Case. I would have you remember, Sir, that he that administred you the Oath was a lawful and competent Judge, because that Law and the Custom of the Realm had made him so; and therefore to him you Swore, and in Swear­ing to him you Swore to the whole Nation that you would defend their Laws and Liberties. In a word, this Coronation Oath you took was a lawful Oath, and not only so but it was lawfully taken, as well because general Custom hath the force and strength of a Law; for the persons present do stand, and are taken by general Custom to have Power to give and receive that Oath. But a bold Assertor of your Cause was pleased once to tell me that there was no Par­liament in being when you took this Oath; What then? When you took the Coronation Oath there were persons (who upon your taking the Oath) that did take the Oath of Fealty and Homage to you in the behalf of themselves, and all the Nobility, and Commons of England; and this Oath must avail them though absent, as though they were present; and if they were to be bound by the one though absent, then certainly you were bound by yours though they were not present.

2. These wicked Conspirators of yours have Asserted, That Princes being above the Law are not bound to observe Oaths and Contracts, which have their full force and strength from the Law; and that Princes may alter and change their own Laws at their Pleasure. This Doctrine was carefully propogated by your trusty Roger and his inferiour Clergy by your Direction, in order to bring about that wicked Design of yours of Subverting of the well established Government of this Realm, and introducing French Slavery. But, Sir, this you must now know that the Princes of England are not above the Law, and therefore cannot alter them at their Pleasure without the manifest breach of their Coronation Oath. I confess, they may by their Judges interpret the Law in an Interval of Parliament, and in time of Parliaments: The Parliament are the best inter­preters of the Law, and not only so but the Kings of England by and with the advice and consent of Parliament, and by the Authority of the same, may Re­peal and Abrogate Laws as they shall think fit. But what you did was against Laws in force, to the manifest breach of your Oath, and you rendered your self odious to God, and dispenced with those Laws that were for the preservation of Persons, Honours, Estates, and Religion of the People of England; and by [Page 106] this means you dissolved the Government, and for which Cause you were hated of the People; and at last the Kingdom departed from you; you provoked that God that made you a Man, and that People that made you a King.

But, Sir, your trusty Guide Hodge, with his inferiour Clergy, deceived you much, and those who believed this Doctrine, when they taught that your Oaths made to, and contract made with the People of England, had their full force and strength from the Law of the Land; for they had their strength and force from the Law of Nature which binds Kings, Princes, Lords, Priests, and all Men whatever. Therefore, Sir, did you not against the very Laws of Nature break your Contract with the People of England, and the Oath you made to them? Doth not the Law of Nature oblige all Princes to keep their Contracts even with their Enemies? How much more ought you to have kept your Contract with your Friends and People? How could you expect to wear the Name of an honest Man, since that the Laws of Honesty charge Princes to keep their Oaths and Contracts? There is nothing becomes them better, nothing commendeth them more, and nothing that Men require so much at their hands.

In the last place, Princes Oaths to, and Contracts with their Subjects and Allies, are as good as Laws, they have the same force as Laws, they have the same strength and vertue against their Successours which they have against them­selves; nay, let me tell you, that they are of greater strength than Princes Laws; for Laws may be Repealed, but Contracts can never be Revoked; and why so? The Reason is plain, That Laws may alter according to the necessity of Affairs, but Contracts and Oaths can never be Revoked, they admit of no Change, no Alteration; if once perfected they can neither receive Addition, Substraction, Diminution, or Enlargement, they must not be wrested but taken according to the true meaning of King and People. But, Sir, you may say, Why may not Princes break their Oaths, and dissolve their Contracts made with their Subjects at their Coronation? To this I give you this Answer.

Before you had Sworn to maintain our Laws, Liberties and Religion, you were free; and before you made a Covenant with us, you were at your liberty: But when you had Sworn, and when you had perfected your Contract, then of necessity you were bound to keep and perform them; and you could not have added to, or detracted from any thing in such a manner perfected, without the consent of the people with whom you made this Contract; for we were to have been benefited by this Oath and Contract of yours, and not deceived again. If Princes may break their Oaths and Contracts made to, and with their Subjects, How can we deal with such a King? How can we tell when we obey? We must be then at great uncertainties, and so by consequenue we cannot be safe. Fur­thermore, Did it not lye at your door to have preserved your self from Scandal and Fraud? Of which you took no care; therefore you made no Conscience of of your Oaths and Contracts. Again, Sir, we must suppose you to be a reason­able Creature; and if so, we must also conclude you ought to have submitted to Reason, that you might have, at least have had the reputation of a Man, and not be signalized with the Character of a filthy Monstrous Beast. Hence it is that Tyrants, in sacred Writ, are called Beasts, because they will not submit to, [Page 107] nor be governed by the Rules of right Reason. In the last place, Sir, other Men may in their Oaths and Contracts have an Eye to their Profit, but you ought to have had an Eye to your Honour, and to have had an especial regard thereof. Now what can be more Dishonourable in a King, than to break his Word, falsifie his Faith, and violate his Contract? And was not your Word, Faith and Con­tract confirmed by a solemn Oath?

3. There was a third Doctrine that was much promoted by your Conspirators, that although Kings should be strictly bound to stand to their Contracts and their Oaths; yet if they were induced to make a Contract, and to take an Oath in things wherein they were not well informed, or if the Contract and Oath do contain things too much derogating, or diminishing their Jurisdiction or Autho­rity Royal, or if they have made a Promise that may be prejudicial to their Greatness, they may then lawfully break their Contract, Faith and Oath.

This Doctrine was very industriously spread about by your Party, especially by your Jesuits and your Jesuited Papists, and Passive Obedience Men. But cer­tainly, Sir, your Conspirators represented your understanding to be but of Irish Standard, and to be of the same Scantling with their Honesty. Give me leave to ask you this one fair Question, Was you not well informed what you were to do, and what you did promise to do when you took the Coronation Oath to de­fend the Protestant Religion, and preserve and maintain the Laws of the Realm, and by them to govern this great People you took the Charge of? Can any Man think, Sir, that you should be the only Man that was Ignorant of that which all the Nation knew, and what your Grand-father, Father and Brother had done be­fore you? Where, Sir, was the Dishonour or Blemish that might fall upon you, if you had kept your Oath, and made the Laws of the Land the Rule of your Go­vernment? If you had been a good King, you would have delighted to have been bound by the Laws of the Land, and have rejoyced the Hearts of the People of England; and then you would not have at this time have been obliged to France for your Subsistance.

But, Sir, God in his just Judgment gave you up to believe these lies, and therefore you violated those Laws by which you were Sworn to govern, to gra­tifie your Popish Hellborn Crew; they have got you to themselves. We have a King that thinks it no Blemish to his Regal Authority, to maintain and keep our Laws, he judges it no Dishonour to preserve the Liberties of his People, and their Honours and Estates: You have the reward of your Unrighteousness, I wish you much Joy of it.

4. Some of the Doctors and Casuists of your Synagogue of Rome say, that Princes who may dispense with others may give a sufficient Dispensation to them­selves, and so revoke their Contracts and break their Oaths; for that they have Might, and Power, and Authority; there is no Law, no Judge that can com­pel them to keep their Oaths, and observe their Contracts.

It is manifest that you did take upon you to dispense with others, and to give your self a Dispensation too; and we own that we were not then in a Condi­tion to call you to an Account; but you were Admonished very often by the best and greatest of your Subjects, to reform all that was amiss: But after all this [Page 108] Admonition, you did remain incorrigible; then what could we do but make your Actions, Cruelties and Tyrannies, and Perjury known to the World. And we implored the Aid and Help not of the French King, but William Prince of Orange, who came and suppressed you as an incorrigible Oppressor and Tyrant. And your Party appearing bare-faced to murther our King, and invade the King­dom with a Foreign Force, in order to enslave us, will be treated as Villains and Common Rogues, and receive the just recompence of Reward for all their Trea­sonable Conspiracies against our King, and the well established Government of the Kingdom, and the Protestant Religion.

To conclude this point, How detestable and odious hath your Perjury made you, it hath excluded you from that great Honour to which you arrived, and it hath removed you from your native Country; in a word it hath clothed you with so much infamy, that it is impossible for you to attain that Honour, Power and Authority, and Majesty you have lost? And therefore it is highly unreasonable for you, or your Conspirators ever to attempt your Restauration.

2. As your Perjur is an argument why it is not only impossible for you to be restored, and folly for you to attempt it, so in the second place we are Prote­stants; And what can a Popish Apostate do at the head of a Protestant Interest? The Popish Queen Mary she no sooner obtained the Crown, by a Protestant In­terest, but she destroyed that very Interest by which she was advanced to the Throne. This we well remember, Sir; and we need not burn our Fingers again the third time. Suppose, Sir, that we should have so little sense as to try you once more, and should succeed; What Monsters must we appear to the World, a Body of Protestants with a Popish Head? This doth much astonish me, that our little Prick-ear'd Priests of the Church of England have so much admired your Cause, and pleaded it with such earnestness; when as they cannot but conclude that you must of necessity deal by the Church of England, as you would with an impudent Harlot. Your Brother was careless in the maintenance of our Reli­gion, because he was a Papist, though a loose one: And can we otherwise con­clude but you who have at all times, and in all places whereever you have come, shewed your self a bigotted Papist, will not only discountenance the Protestant Religion, but destroy it with all that Zeal that is consistent with the Principles of a perverse Member of the Romish Synagogue. You in the time of your short Tyranny made a sad Havock with the Protestant Religion; and can we expect better usuage from you, seeing you having Seven Devils more within you rage­ing against the Protestant Interest than you had before you left us.

What I say to you in this particular, I speak not without Witness, for it is most certain that you have, and do to this very day entertain a very great avers­ness to any Man that bears the name of a Protestant. Therefore since by your late behaviour, to those whose Principles have led them to espouse your Interest, and have followed you into France, if they have any Sense of their English Liber­ties, and of the Protestant Religion, will abhor the thoughts of your return hither: For if you appear so violent against our Religion now you are under so great an estate of Sufferings; What will your declared Hatred be against Protestants here in England, if we should admit you to reign over us? For if [Page 109] you can presume to that degree of Malice, as to deny your Protestant Tools your Grace and Favour at St. Germains; What can we that are Protestants ex­pect from you whenever you shall return? Do you think that any of us should be so stupid to expect fair Quarter from you, since your very Religion lays you under the necessity of Converting us with a Fagot, and bringing us to your Obe­dience with the dint of a Dagger? Nay, Sir, your Passive Obedience Curs fare not much better, though they saved you from your being prosecuted for your being deeply interested in the Popish Plot, and from being excluded from the Succession to the Imperial Crown of this Realm, and also from being beaten out of the Kingdom by the late Duke of MONMOƲTH. What reason than have we not to believe that you will not only in general invade the Protestant Religion, but also once again attempt the depressing the Church of England? In your short Reign you sent Seven Bishops to the Tower; but if ever you should return I will not excuse the whole Twenty Six from being more hardly used. Upon which consideration I will appeal then, Sir, to your Judg­ment, or the Judgment of your Friends here, or those with you at St. Germains, whether or no it is impossible for you to gain so great a Point as to be received again as a King? And whether it would not be the greatest Folly or Madness in you, or any of your Party to attempt it? For have you any that are with you, that are Protestants, upon a Principle of Conscience, How have you used and treated them (and if they have no better usage from you since they follow you in their Afflictions, and are contented to share with you in your Hardships) as not to enjoy the Liberty of serving God according to their Dictates of their own Conscience? How must it fare with them if you should arrive to that State and Condition, in which you should stand in no need of them? And if so, What can we expect from you that have hated your Person, and do hunt down your Cause and Interest out of the Nation? Therefore the Duty that we owe to Al­mighty God, and the Affection and Zeal we have for the Protestant Religion, will oblige us to pursue you as a Murderer, and an Assassin of the People of En­gland, and a Traytor to the Nation; and those who shall be found fighting un­der your Banner will be used as Banditti and Robbers, and Protestants that shall not have the benefit of Repentance.

3. Consider we are English Men; and that very Consideration might satisfie any Man that will but consult his Reason of the impossibility of your being re­stored to your pretended Right, and of the folly of your many attempt, in or­der thereunto. Had your Interest been an English interest, than your Conspi­rators might have had some colour for their attempt of this Nature; but your Interest is a French Interst, and therefore your Interest that you have espoused is incompatible, or inconsistent with your being restored. Here are two Points that must be considered. 1. That your Interest is a French Interest. 2. That a French Interest is not consistent with your Endeavours after a Restoration; and both these Points fairly proved will justifie the refusal of the Kingdom of Englands admitting you to act, and execute the Office of a King here again amongst us.

[Page 110] 1. Your Interest is not an English but a French Interest; for as you followed your loving and kind Brother in most of his Vertues, so you persued the same Interest that he pursued: For was not the Interest of your Brother, and the Interest of the French King and yours inseperably united? Knowing (saith your Quondam Secretary) the Interest of our King, and in a more particular manner of my immediate Master the Duke, and his Most Christian Majesty, to be so inseperably united; that it was impossible to divide them without destroying them all. Again his Majesty [the French King] was pleased to give Order to signifie to his R. H. my Master, that his Majesty was fully satisfied of his R. H's good Intentions towards him, and that he esteemed both their Interests but as one and the same, and that my Lord Arlington and the Parliament were both looked upon as very unuseful to their Interests. And again Father Ferier begged his R. H. to propose to his Most Christian Majesty what he thought necessary for his own Concern, and the advantage of Religion; and his Majesty would cer­tainly do all that he could to advance both, or either of them.—I commu­nicated it to his R. H. to which his R. H. commanded me to answer, as I did the 29th of the same Month. That his R. H. was very sensible of his Most Chri­stian Majesty's Friendship, and that he would labour to cultivate it with all the good Offices he was capable of doing his Most Christian Majesty. That he was fully convinced that their Interests were both one. That my Lord Arlington and the Parliament were not only unuseful, but dangerous both to England and France, and therefore it was necessary they should do all they could to dissolve it.—I did communicate this Design of mine to Monsieur Ravigney, who agreed with me that it would be the greatest Advantage to his Master, to have the Duke's Power and Credit so far Advanced.—Again, If we can advance the Duke's Interest one step forward, we shall put him out of the reach of Chance for ever.—Then would Catholicks be at rest, and his Most Christian Majesty's Interest secured with us in England, beyond all apprehensions whatsoever.—Our prevailing in these things would give the greatest blow to the Protestant Religion here, that ever it received from his Birth.—If the Duke should once get above them (after all the Tricks they have plaied with him) they are not sure he will totally forget the usage he hath had at their Hands: For my part (saith he) I can scarce believe my self awake, or the thing real, when I think on a Prince in such an Age, as we live in, to be converted to such a degree of Zeal and Piety, as not to regard any thing in the World in comparison of Christ.

These are the Discoveries of your Old Servant Mr. Coleman; but to rivet the Matter, I pray, consider what Discoveries you were pleased to make of the Union of your Interest with that of the French King, which, Sir, will put the Matter out of dispute. Give me leave to put you in mind of your Letter you wrote to the French King's Confessour, wherein you were pleased to own that the Interests of the French King and yours were so clearly linck'd together, that those that opposed the one should be looked on as Enemies to the other; and that the French King had told you that he was of the Opinion, that neither the Lord Arlington, nor the Parliament were in his Interest, nor yours.

[Page 111] 2. As it is as clear as the Day that your Interest is not an English but a French Interest; so now I must tell you in the second place, that your Interest being a French Interest, it will render your return impossible, and the attempt in order to it very foolish and irrational. You know that the English Nation is never safe, unless a check be put upon the growing Greatness of France.

Therefore do but observe the Address of the House of Commons, March 10. 1676, they put the King your Brother in mind of the great Danger that the Nation was exposed to, by reason of the growth of the French King's Power and Greatness. Now any Man that is in the Interest of the French King, his Interest is no ways reconcileable to the Interest of England. 1. As to its Peace. 2. As to its Trade. And the Consequence of both these are the Riches of the Nation, which must be consumed by a Prince that is of an Interest different from that of the People, 'tis true the present War with France hath proved very charg­able to the Nation; but here is our Happiness that we have a King that advanceth the Interest of our Trade, his People and He go Hand in Hand, Their Interests are the same with His, and His the same with Theirs; which to me is an Argu­ment, that when it shall have pleased God, by His Arms, to reduce the French King to Reason, that then no Nation under the Heavens can or will be more happy than the English Nation: But if a Prince shall, instead of pursuing the Interest of his People, pursue their Destruction, by setting up and advancing the Inte­rest of a Foreign Power, his Government cannot stand. This, Sir, was that which lost you your Crown, And can you then expect by that Interest to regain the Crown of England, by which you strangely lost it? Therefore, to conclude this Head, let not your Conspirators think that it is either probable or possible that ever the People of England will ever be brought into a French Interest, or ever admit you to resume the Throne and Government, since that you purely lost it for the sake of that Interest.

Your Scoundrel Abettors here at Home, are such a sort of Animals that the Reformed Nations Abroad are at a stand, and cannot tell what to make of them, their Carriages of late Years have been so unaccountable; and since it hath plea­sed God to put it into the Hearts of most of the Princes of Europe, though of the Romish Communion, heartily to embrace the late Revolution in England, as the last Effort for the Common Liberty of Europe, and have entered into the strictest Alliance with our King (though of a different Religion) to support it; it looks like a Dream to meet with Men that call themselves English Pro­testants embarqued in your Interest, in opposition to the Interest of their Na­tive Countrey.

A little Priest of the Church of England, in a Sermon of his on the Day your Father made his Exit, was pleased to threaten us with an endless War that would be entailed on the Nation; he is a mighty Votary for your Cause and In­terest, notwithstanding his Oath to King William to the contrary. But, Sir, a thousand such Fellows can never reconcile your Interest with that of England, nor would your Restoration put an end to his supposed War; for it is not reason­able to imagine that so many Noblemen and Gentlemen who have associated, and by their Association have engaged to support the Interest and Cause of our [Page 112] King, will tamely submit to your Restoration: Or that King William will ever abandon his Throne, or that its possible that the Common Cause of Europe will ever be suffered to sink in such a manner as to comply with the Pride and Ambiti­on of your Self, or of him whose Cause you have espoused, and whose Interest is the very same with yours: When you were upon the Throne your Aim was to destroy the Interest of England, but we have been too many for you, and the Throne is filled up with one that will maintain and support our Interest, notwith­standing the vain Efforts of your Crew both at Home and Abroad to the contrary. And therefore that Loggerhead of a Cathedral Priest hath not made one single Convert to your Cause and Interest, by the Noise he made of disputed Titles and endless Wars. I will observe this to you that the Rascal hath more Prefer­ment than Learning or Honesty, but what can we expect of an Apostate?

4. We are Freemen, and therefore we can never be supposed ever to admit you, who have always been a Person of Arbitrary Principles, to govern this Nation. You cannot but remember that the English Nation hath a very great Se­curity for its Liberties; and that is the Government it self, with a good King at the head thereof, and that is our present Happiness; for our King Rules not upon the same Terms as your Brother of France doth; for he by Force Usurps that share which his People ought to have in the Government, and for several Ages past hath been in possession of an Arbitrary Power, (which yet no pre­scription can make Legal) and he exerciseth it over the Persons and Estates of his People in a most Tyrannical manner: And this your loving and kind Bro­ther and you aimed at, Witness your Dispensing Power that you took upon you when you ascended the Throne. But our King hath so ordered it, that his Subjects shall retain their Proportion in the Legislature; the very meanest Com­moner of England is represented in Parliament, and is a Party to those Laws by which our King is Sworn to govern himself and his People. 'Tis true you Swore, but you made no Conscience of your Oath, nor did you in the least boggle at the Violation of our Laws; you hated that way of Government which you had solemnly promised to maintain and defend, Witness the Names you used to give the Parliament of England. Now according to the Laws of the Realm no Mo­ney is raised but by common Consent: But you were pleased to raise Money upon the People by your Proclamation. The very Day after you had promised to invade no Mans Property: Now no Man is for Life, Limb, Goods, or Liber­ty, at the Sovereigns Direction; but how soon it would have been had not a pe­riod been put to your Tyranny? For your Sycophant Parasites were very zealous to have delivered up those Priviledges in to your Hands, judging it would not be well with England till you were as Absolute as the Monster of France, by which we might easily understand your Intentions. For, Sir, who knows not that the in­clination of a Prince is best known either by those that are about him, and most Favour with him, or by the current of his own Actions? Those who were nearest to you, and most your Favourites, were your Irish and French Courtiers, and your Popish Priests and Prelates, who these Men stood affected to. Your Discretio­nary Dispotick Power can never be forgotten: No Man but may remember, that in their common Discourse were for advancing your Will and Pleasure over [Page 113] your Subjects to be equal with that of the King of France is over his. This was but a Copy which those Villains had industriously taken from your own Words and Actions. In Scotland you did publickly set up for that Power, and openly declared you would be obeyed without reserve.

The attempt you and your Conspirators made in the time of the Lord Chan­cellor Hyde upon our Liberties, is never to be forgetten; a Bill was prepared to enable the King your Brother in the time of any interval of Parliament, to raise what Money he pleased upon an extraordinary occasion, as the Dutch War was pretended to be. This had taken its much desired effect, had not that Lord Chancellor been awakened by an intimate Friend of his, who, understanding what was doing in the House of Commons, came to him and shewed him what the Consequences were which such an unheard thing would produce; and he using one Argument above all the rest, in telling him he came to his Honour and Great­ness by the Gown, and not by the Sword; and if that Bill passed, he advised him to consider what his Gown, or all the Lawyers Gowns in England were worth, which that Lord Chancellor, though one of the Actors with you to enslave the Nation, being a Man of Sense, had that Honor as to think it no Dishonor to re­treat from that Devilish Invention, which he to comply with your Ambition and Pride had set on foot to destroy us at once: So that Bill, though once read in the House for enabling the King, your Brother, to raise Money at pleasure, was by the Providence of God, and the Prudence of that Noble Penitent Lord drop­ed so far, as that it dwindled into a Bill of 75000 l. not exceeding a Months Tax. No doubt but you had procured this Bill to be dressed in the French Mode for emergent Occasions; yet had it passed in the same manner as you and your Accomplices designed, there would not have wanted emergent Occasions, and extraordinary Services to have given Colour for keeping that Power on foot un­til Dooms Day in the Afternoon.

The French King, whose Example you followed in this particular, got his Power by such a villainous Stratagem; but he hath not been at leisure yet to call his Parliament to dispute that Point. I question not but that your loving Brother and you would have found other Matters of moment, to have diverted you from that way of raising Money; so England must have ta­ken leave of Parliaments for ever, and we must have submitted all we had to your French Discretion. But through the Blessing of Heaven, and the Care of our Legislators, we are delivered not only from your Government and your intended French way of Governing; for we continue to have the same Right (modestly understood) in our Propriety that our Prince hath in his Royalty, and in all Cases where the King himself is concerned we have our just Remedy, as against any private Person in the Nation, in the Courts of Westminster-hall, or in the High Court of Parliament; for his Prerogative is not like that you would have usurped, but what the Law hath only determined. His great Seal, which is the legitimate Stamp of his Royal Will and Pleasure, yet it is no longer currant than upon the Tryal it is found to be according to Law and Justice. The King cannot commit any Man by his own particular Warrant, he cannot be himself a Witness in any Cause whatever, tho your Brother would have been one against me. The Ballance of publick Justice being so delicate, that not the Head only [Page 114] but even the Breath of the King would turn the Scale; nothing is left to the Win of the King, but every thing is subject to his legal Authority; by which means it follows, that as he can do no Wrong, nor can he receive Wrong. But you by your Dispensing Power put your self in a state of Wronging the Nation, and destroying your self and Government; but had you kept to the Measures of an English King, you might have remained to this Day to have been the only intelligent Ruler over a rational People, your Person had been Sacred and In­violable, and whatever Excess had been committed in your Reigh, would not have been imputed to you as being free from the Necessity and Temptations: Your Ministers would have been only accountable for all, and must have An­swered it at their Perils. You had a vast Revenue, and if any emergency of Affair should have appeared, you had at your Call a number of Men to have ad­vised with, a supply would have been readily granted. You were the Fountain of Honour, the disposer of many profitable Places both in Church and State; but this would not serve your turn, for you would not be abridged the Power of injuring the People of England, but against all Law invaded our Rights, and designed nothing so much as enslaving us and our Posterity for ever: And we that have tasted so much of the sweetness of Liberty, and on the other hand have smarted under your short, but cruel Tyranny will never be intangled again with the French Popish Yoke of Bondage, but stand in defence of the King we have chosen, and the Liberty we have recovered as long as we have a Being in this World. Therefore consider with your self the impossibility of your re­turn, to that Government you abused, to the Administration of those Laws you violated, to a Nation that you made a Field of Blood; and if you had remained, for ought I know, England might have been a Howling Wilderness. In fine, then I am sure if you should make any attempt to return it will be in vain, and appear very rediculous.

5. We have Sworn Allegiance to King William, who is of the same Religion and Interest with us, who delivered us out of your Hands and the Hands of your villainous Conspirators, and hath fixed us upon those Foundations, against which France, Rome, nor Hell shall prevail; he hath secured us, our Liberties, Laws and Religion; he hath brought himself and Government to that Perfection, notwithstanding the vexatious War which lies hard upon us, that he is capable of doing good to all Mankind, and he hath totally disabled himself from doing hurt to any; he wants not the French King's Purse, nor his Friendship; he wants not his Interest, for his Interest is his Peoples, and his Peoples his, by which they are so united, that the attempts of your Scoundrel Crew for your Re­storation will be in vain; the Hearts of the Nation are set against you, and for your perfidious dealing both in Church and State the People of England will trust you no more.

Sir, We have Sworn Allegiance to this King we chose in your stead, and we are bound to stand by him; our choise of him was from a Principle of Love to God and the Protestant Religion which he hath asserted. You kept not your Faith with us, and therefore our Allegiance ceased to you, your Actions have been very plain and open, and so pernitious that it was a Wonder of Wonders, [Page] tha [...] we and our Religion have been delivered from Blood and Oppression: And Sir I would let you know that we are not afraid of you and your Adherents, for I believe the Protestant Religion and Protestant King will stand notwithstanding al [...] your Attempts; and if you had brought your French Dragooning Apostles o [...]er to us, yet we would and should have maintained our Ground, and destroyed [...]em and you. We value not your little Two-penny Stuff that you have left [...]hind you to plead your Cause: your impertinent, ignorant Non-juring Clergy-men can never preach us out of love to that Loyalty that we owe to K. William; [...]e have scarce a Williamite Cobler but can baffle them all. These things consi­ [...]ered, How can you ever expect any thing less than that Judgment the Psalmist [...]rays for to be inflicted upon his Enemies? Hath not God already set a wicked Tyrant over you? Have you not been Judged by the Lords and Commons of England, and Condemned? Was not your Reign short? And hath not another taken your Office? In time, Sir, the Judgment may be compleated upon you. There is of your Issue that have had no Hand in our Miseries, and for this Cause our Eyes are set upon them for good, and we shall pray for their long Life: But as for you, that God would cloth you with Shame and Confusion of Face; and that he would upon the Head of our Protestant King let the Crown long florish: And I do not question but God will hear the Prayers of his Faithful Subjects, and will by his means bring the Nation to such a Settlement that our Allegiance will be firm to him and his Successors, notwithstanding all those villainous Attempts that you and that Monster of Mankind your Brother of France, by his and your Traite­rous Accomplices, have made to deprive us of so great a Blessing. Which brings me to a Sixth Consideration.

6. The last Reason I shall give you, why it will be impossible for you to return to the Administration of the English Government, and that all Attempts of that nature will be in vain, because of your late barbarous and villainous Attempt you by your Conspirators have made upon the Person of our King, and your purpose of backing that intended Murder by an unnatural Invasion; you had some that pittied you, but now our Hearts are shut up against you, and are hardned against all your Cursed Adherents: For now your Plot is discovered, and it is a Plot and a Villainous One, nothing can be plainer; no Man of Common Understanding but must see your Conspiracy to bring in Popery and Slavery, and to destroy the Protestant Religion and the Liberties of England. We know, Sir, the Doctrine of your Popish and Non-juring Priests too well, and your wicked Practices; and we are now assured that you will not stick at any thing that may bring your wick­ed Designs about. You must excuse me if I am plain with you, I would not asperse you with hard Words if they were not very true, I should not have been so Hot if you had not been concerned in the late wicked Design of murthering our King, but if you had succeeded it would have been no more than you did to your Loving and Kind Brother; but all this as well as the other is owing to you and your Po­pish Traiterous Crew, who have debauched Mens Understandings, overturned all Morals, and destroyed all Divinity. What shall I say of you and your villain­our Party? What is your Charity such as to destroy Kings? And where was the Humility of insulting over the Nation? The Mystery of Iniquity is revealed, and [Page] you are disappointed: The Nation sees that you are no Changeling as to y [...]r Vices, and you will find that English-men are no Changelings: Therefore it w [...]ll be in vain to make any more attempts to be Restored again for the future.

To conclude this Memorial, Sir, give me leave to tell you that I have thus f [...] laid open the Conspiracy against our Religion and Government, and indeed it wa [...] more than time it should be discovered, for I think here hath been nothing asserte [...] but what hath been and can be made out; we see how the French have been courted by you and your Party; with what Ease have they been assisted, and wit [...] what Difficulty the Dutch, both in your Brothers and your Reign: We see your Brother and you abandon the Prince of Orange, now our King, in compliance with his and the Nations Enemies. How can any Man think upon the French De­predations and Cruelties exercised at Sea upon the Subjects of England without Regret? Call to mind your notorious Treacheries in that Affair: Remember the constant Irregularities and Injustice from term to term of those who should have administred Justice between King and People: Remember the search you made throughout the whole Kingdom to find Men of Arbitrary Principles, that would bow the Knee to Baal in order to their being promoted to all publick Commissions and Employments, and disgracing and displacing all those that durst, in so uni­versal a Depravation, be honest and faithful in their Trust and Offices. We saw to our great Grief the Defection of considerable Persons, both Male and Female, to the Popish Religion, as if they enter'd by Couples, Clean and Unclean, into the Ark of that Cursed Synagogue, not more in order to their Salvation than for their Temporal Advantage and Safety. Sir, the State of Ireland managed by your Brother and you would require a Volume to represent it; and in your Time we could not but observe that all your Affairs and Councils in the Nation tended to a Popish Revolution. And by the Foresight and Civility of the Man of Sin, there was an English Cardinal prepared, like Cardinal Pool, to give us Absolution, Benediction, and to receive us to the Obedience of the See of Rome. It is true your Conspiracy had taken effect had you not met with many Disappointments; but the last Disappointment was the overturn of all your Designs at once, which was occasioned by the Arrival of the Prince of Orange: Guilt made you to flee. The Sense the Nation had of your wicked Intentions, against our Laws and Liberties, caused the People of England to make choice of our Deliverer to reign over us: He is anointed our King, and as God hath set a Crown of pure Gold upon his Head, so we question not but the same God will satisfy him with long Life and Happiness, and that he will give him the Spirit of Wisdom, Knowledge, Zeal and Faithfulness, to do what in him lies to the bringing on the New Heavens and the New Earth wherein Righteousness and Peace shall dwell, by repairing the Breaches and decayed Places that you have made and caused amongst us. And from hence, Sir, remember that though Hand join in Hand, yet the Wicked shall not go unpunished; they are Gods own Words, who hath also declared with the greatest Solemnity, that there shall be no Peace to the Wicked, Isa. 57.21. You have leisure to consider of these things; and so Farewell.