Alexander Knightley, Hold up thy Hand. (Which he did) Thoſe good men that thou ſhalt hear called, and perſonally appear, are to paſs between our Sovereign Lord the King and Thee, upon the Trial of thy Life and Death: If therefore thou wouldſt challenge them, or any of them, thy time is to ſpeak unto them as they come to the Book to be ſworn, before they be ſworn.

Mr. Knightley, I perceive you have a Deſire to ſpeak ſomething; let us hear what you have to ſay.

I humbly beg your Lordſhip's leave, that I may ſpeak before the Jury be called. What I have to ſay, I beg I may have your Leave to read, becauſe I have a bad Memory.

MY Lord, I hope to ſave the Jury and the Witneſſes againſt me a great deal of trouble, and deſign to take up very little of your Lordſhip's time: But in the firſt place I think my ſelf obliged to Thank your Lordſhip for your great Indulgence, in granting me ſo much time between my Arraignment and Trial; the greateſt part of which I have employ'd to appear before the great Tribunal of Heaven.

I ſpeak in the face of the World here, That I am convinc'd I cannot hope to be happy hereafter, without a juſt Abhorrence of, and a ſincere Repentance for that Crime for which I here ſtand Indicted.

And ſince Confeſſion is an eſſential part of Repentance. I do acknowledge I was to have been concern'd in ſome part of the Barbarous Aſſaſſination, and was unhappily ſurprized into a Conſent to Act in it, though in my heart I did abominate the Fact as much as any man living; but under ſome Honourable and Fair Pretences I was drawn in at firſt, and then of a ſudden became ſo far engaged, that by a miſtaken Notion of Honour, I thought I could not retreat without the Infamy of Cowardiſe.

My Lord, I humbly crave your Lordſhip's Permiſſion, to acquaint you, how that ſome time ſince I was brought before ſome of the Lords of His Majeſty's moſt Honourable Privy Council, where I do aſſure your Lordſhip I did freely own and fully diſcover my being concerned in that horrid Deſign; and I here openly confeſs the ſame with that Sorrow and Repentance as becomes a man of Honour and Conſcience.

My Lord, There is one Circumſtance particular in my Caſe, I moſt humbly beg leave to inſiſt upon, and urge to your Lordſhip in my behalf, which is, That it was upon my Confeſſion (as I conceive) that Mr. Harris, now a principal Evidence againſt me, was firſt diſcovered; ſo that my own Confeſſion has been a great means to take away my Life.

I expect after a few words now in this ſolemn Court to receive from your Lordſhip the Sentence due upon the Conviction, from my own mouth, of a Crime for which I cannot in modeſty hope, ſo much above my Deſerts, the King's moſt Gracious Pardon; yet the greatneſs of my Offence does not rob me of all thoughts of Mercy, whilſt I throw my ſelf abſolutely and entirely at His Majeſty's Feet for it; and I humbly beg of your Lordſhip as a Privy Councellor, That you would repreſent my unfortunate Caſe to their Excellencies the Lords Juſtices of England, as an Object of His Majeſty's Favour.

And now, my Lord, I ſhall not detain your Lordſhip and the Court any longer, but my next words Convict and lay me under the Juſt Sentence of Death: So to my Indictment I beg leave to plead Guilty, and throw my ſelf entirely upon the King's Mercy, and do deſire my former Plea to my Indictment may be withdrawn.

If your Lordſhip pleaſe, I deſire the Judgment of the Court to be pronounc'd upon Mr. Knightley upon his Conviction.

Alexander Knightley hold up thy hand; (which he did) thou haſt been Indicted and Arraigned for High Treaſon in Compaſſing and Imagining the Death of the King, and adhering to the Kings Enemies; what canſt thou ſay for thy ſelf, why Judgment ſhould not be given againſt thee to dye according to the Law?

I have nothing more to ſay, my Lord, than what I have ſaid.

Cryer, make Proclamation for Silence. Which was done on both ſides the Court.

O Yez: Our Soveraign Lord the King ſtraitly charges and commands all manner of perſons to keep ſilence while Judgment is in giving, upon pain of Impriſonment.

Mr. Knightly, You are by your own Confeſſion convicted of High Treaſon in deſigning the Murder of the King and the Subverſion of the whole State of England, in promoting an Invaſion from the French, its moſt antient and inveterate Enemies.

It hath appeared before your Arraignment, not only by the Evidence that hath been given at former Trials; but even by the ſigns of the times and the manner of ſome mens actings, that there hath been for ſome years laſt paſt a Train of Plots and Conſpiracies againſt this Government, and when the various means which the Conſpirators did project among themſelves for its ruin proved ineffectual, it was at laſt reſolved among ſome of the Conſpirators to aſſaſſinate the King, as the moſt certain way of accompliſhing their end.

In which deſign you were deeply engaged, and was an active inſtrument in the carrying it on, being ſent to view the ground on both ſides the Water, and with others that were ſent with you reported your opinion, which was the moſt convenient place to attack the King and his Guards.

And tho you did the laſt time you were at the Bar, urge by way of extenuation of your crime, that you being engaged in the Intereſt of the Late King, and thereby ſupported, you was ſurprized into this barbarous deſign, which being propoſed to you, you thought your ſelf obliged in Honour to engage in it; which is ſo far from an extenuation, that it is an high aggravation: For Men of honourable Principles, tho moſt zealouſly diſpoſed to the advancement of any particular Intereſt, yet always deteſt the uſe of baſe and vile means. Therefore when the Aſſaſſination of the King was propoſed, you had an opportunity to have retreated with Honor, and might have refuſed to be further concerned; but you rather purſued this wicked enterprize with great Zeal.

And tho you are by your Profeſſion a Roman Catholick, and may for that reaſon think that your crime is mitigated, becauſe you acted in the behalf of a Prince of your own Religion, which you hoped thereby to introduce. Notwithanſtding all which, your offence is highly aggravated in reſpect of the ingratitude and folly with which it is attended. For there is no Engliſh Papiſt that is Maſter of any property, but it is intereſted in the preſervation of this Government, to which the whole Party of them hath been, and ſtill are continually obliged for its Moderation and Juſtice; for inſtead of being expoſed to the Severity of thoſe Laws to which they are obnoxious, they have had the ſame indulgence in the enjoyment of their Religion, and the ſame protection, and as much benefit in the deſtribution of the Common Juſtice of the Realm, as any other of the Kings Subjects; therefore none of them could ever expect to mend their condition under a French Domination. But the contrary is foreſeen by all conſidering Men; For the Engliſh Papiſt, as well as Proteſtant, would have been reduced to a moſt diſmal ſtare if you had obtained your end.

For it is againſt all the Rules of Reaſon, and the Experience of all Ages, to imagine, that the French King would ſpare Engliſh Papiſts more than Proteſtants; for it is not Zeal to Religion, or Affection to the Intereſt of the Late King that hath excited him to invade England, but it's his Pride and Ambition to conquer the three Kingdoms, and to reduce this to be a Province to France: Indeed the pretence of reſtoring the Late King, and introducing the Popiſh Religion, may ſerve to delude ſome warm and unwary Zealots to engage in his aſſiſtance, who do not conſider, that if they ſhould be ſucceſsful would be as certainly deſtroyed as others, but with more diſadvantage to themſelves. For after they ſhall have ſurvived the Liberty of their Country, have embrued their own hands in their Countrymens Blood, they will be at the Mercy of the Conqueror, who can never think it his Intereſt to truſt them, but will deſpiſe them for being ſuch villanous Traitors to their own Country. Nay rather, theſe Engliſhmen, who by their courage and reſolution ſhall endeavour to defend their Country, tho they ſhould be unfortunately vanquiſhed, will meet with a much better reception, for they will have given aſſurances that they may be confided in, when the others have by ſuch a wicked Treaſon given a demonſtration to the contrary.

There being then nothing to be ſaid that can palliate ſuch a crime as that of which you are convicted; but you having taken a different courſe the laſt time you were at the Bar from what you took at firſt, you have relinquiſhed your Plea of No • Guilty, and have confeſſed the Indictment; I wiſh out of charity to your perſon it was as ſincere as (I think it) it was prudent in you; for after ſeveral Convictions of others that were your Accomplices, you could not be a ſtranger to the Evidence upon which they were grounded, you muſt therefore in all probability have expected to have undergone the ſame fate. If your Confeſſion be a real effect of your Repentance, you will reap the advantage of it in the next world, but what confequence it will have in this I cannot ſay, For the heart of the King is in the hand of the Almighty, which as the Rivers of Water he turneth whitherſoever he will. Live therefore for the time to come in expectation of a ſpeedy Death, and prepare your ſelf to appear before another Judgment Seat; to the making of which important preparation I ſhall diſmiſs you, firſt diſcharging the Court of the Duty now incumbent upon it, in giving that Judgment which the Law hath appointed. And the Court doth award, That you be conveyed from hence to Newgate, the Priſon from whence you came, and from thence you are to be drawn upon a Hurdle to Tyburn; where you are to be hanged by the Neck and while you are alive to be cut down, your Privy Members are to be cut off, and your Bowels to be cut out of your Body and burnt in your view; your head is to be cut off, and your Body is to be divided into four parts, and your Head and your Quarters are to be diſpoſed where his Majeſty ſhall appoint.

And I pray God to have mercy upon your Soul.

My Lord, I am truly ſorry for what I have done, and I humbly thank your Lordſhip, and the reſt of the Judges for your favour to me.