THat your Petitioner, after a long and cloſe Impriſonment, was on the • 7th day of this moneth, brought by a Guard of Soldiers to the Pallace-yard, upon a Habeas Corpus, directed to the Lievtenant of the Tower, before any Indictment had been exhibited againſt him.

That whilſt he was there detained, a Bill was exhibited and found againſt him; whereupon he was immediately carryed to the Kings Bench, and there arraigned in this ſurprize: He deſired a Copy of the Indictment, Leave to make his Exceptions, or to put in a Special Plea, and Council to fr • me it, but all was denyed: He then offer'd a Special Plea, ready engroſt, which was then alſo rejected, without reading, being threatned, That if he did not immediately plead Not Guilty, a Judgment of High Treaſon ſhould be entred: He was forc't, contrary to Law (as he ſuppoſeth) to come to a general Iſſue, in pleading, Not Guilty.

November the 21th he was brought to his Tryal, and the Indictment being perplexed and confuſed, ſo that neither he, nor any of his Friends▪ that heard it, could fully comprehend the ſcope of it, he was utterly unprovided of all the Helps that the Law alloweth unto every man for his Defence, whereupon he again deſired a Copy, and produced an Authentick Copy of the Statute Eaw. 3. whereby it is enacted, That every man ſhall have a Copy of any Record that toucheth him in any manner, as well that which falls againſt the Kings, as any other Perſon; but could have neither a Copy of his Indictment, nor that the Statute ſhould be read.

The Jury by which he was to be tryed, was not (as he is informed ſummoned by the Bailiffs of the ſeveral Hundreds, in the uſual and legal manner▪ but Names were agreed upon by Mr. Graham, Mr. Burton, and the under Sher • ff, and directions given to the Baliffs to ſummon them, and being all ſo choſen, the Copy of the Pannel was of no uſe to him.

When they came to be called, he excepted againſt ſome for being your Majeſty's Servants, which he did hope ſhould not have been returned, when he was proſecuted at your Majeſty's Suit.

Many others for not being Fre • holders (which Exceptions he thinks are good in Law) and others more lewd and infamou • perſons, not fit to be of any jury; • ut all was over-ruled by the L. C. J. and your Petitioner forced to challenge them peremptorily whom he found to be picked out as m • ſt ſuitable to their In • entions who ſought his Ruin, whereby he loſt the Benefit allowed by rhe Law, of making his Exceptions, and was forced to admit of mechanick perſons, utterly unable to judge of ſuch a matter, as was to be brought before them.

This Jury being ſworn, no Witneſs was produced who fixed any thing beyond Hear-ſay upon your Petitioner, except the Ld. Howard, and ſome that ſwore the Papers, ſaid to be found in his Houſe aforeſaid, a ſecond Witneſs, were written in a Hand like unto your Petitioner's.

Your Petitioner produced Ten Witneſſes, the moſt of them men of eminen • quality, the others of unblemiſht fame, to ſhew the Ld. Hd's. Teſtimony was inconſiſtent with what he had, as in the Preſence of God, affirmed to many of them, an as he ſwore at the Tryal of the Ld. Ruſſel, under the ſame Religious Obligations of an Oath as if it had been legally adminiſtred.

Your P • titioner did endeavovr further to ſhew, that beſides the Abſurdity and Incongruity of his Teſtimony, being guilty of many Crimes which he did not pretend your Petitioner had any knowledge of; and having no other hope of a Pardon, but by the Drudgery of ſwearing againſt him, he deſerved not to be believed: And that ſimilitude of Hands could not be Evidence, as was deliver'd by the Lord Chief Juſtice Keeling, and the whole Court, in the Lady Carr's Caſe; ſo as no Evidence at Law remain'd againſt him.

That whoſoever wrote thoſe Papers, they were but a ſmall part of a polemical Diſcourſe, in Anſwer to a Book written above thirty years ago, upon general Propoſitions, applyed to no Time, or any perticular • aſe▪ th • t it was impoſſible to judge of any Part of it, unleſs the Whole did appear, which did not▪ that the Senſe of ſuch as were produced could not be comprehended, unleſs the whole were read, which was denyed; that the Ink and Paper ſhewed it to be written many years ago, and the Ld. Howard knowing nothing of them, they could have no concurrence with what your Petitioner was ſaid to have deſigned with him and others.

That the Confuſion and Errors in writing it, ſhoul • the ſame had nevet been ſo much as revived, and wtitten in a hand that no man co • ld read over, neither fit for the Preſs, nor could be in ſome yea • s, though the Writer of it did intend it, which did not appear.

That they being only the preſent Crude and private Thoughts of a man, for the exerciſe of his own • nderſtanding, in his S • udy, never ſhewed to any, nor applyed to any perticular Caſe, could not fall under the Sta • u • e • 5 Edw. 3. which takes cognizance of no ſuch matters, and could not by conſtruction be brought under it, ſuch matters being thereby reſerved to the Parliament, as is declared in the Proviſo, which I deſired might be read, but was refuſ • d.

Eight or Nine importent Points of Law did hereupon ariſe▪ upon which your Petitioner, knowing his Weakneſs, did deſire his Coun • i • mi • ht be heard, or reſerved to be ſound ſpecially, but all was over-r • led by the Violence of the L. C. J. and your Petitioner ſo frequently interrupted, that the whole method of his Defence was broken, and he not ſuffered to ſ • y t • e tenth part of what he could have alledged in his own defence; the Jury was hurried into a Verdict which they did not underſtand.

Now foraſmuch as no man that is Oppreſt in England can have any Relief, unleſs it be by • our Majeſty; Your Petitioner humbly prayes, that the Pr • miſes conſidered, your Majeſty would be pleaſed to admit him onto your Preſence; and if he doth not ſhew, that it is for your Majeſty's Honour and Intere • t to preſerve him from the ſaid Oppreſſion, he will not complain though he he left no be deſtroyed.