to do it; that fourscore pounds was provided for them. He saw the money: and swears he saw it delivered to the messenger to carry it down. Ireland. At what time was that? wherein he swears the time when this agitation L. C. J. In August there was an attempt first by Pickering and Grove. They then not doing of it four other persons (Irishmen) were hired to do it, and 10,000l. proffered to sir George Wakeman to poison the king. Thus still they go on in their attempts, and, that being too little, 5,000l. more was added. This is to shew you the gross of the plot in general; and also the particular transactions of these two murderers Grove and Pickering, with the conspiracy of Ireland. Bedlow swears directly that in August last, these three and Harcourt, and Pritchard and Le Faire, being all together in a room, did discourse of the disappointment the four had met with in not killing the king at Windsor; and there the resolution was the old stagers should go on still, but they had one Conyers joined to them, and they were to kill the king then at Newmarket. He swears they did agree to do it; that Ireland was at it; and that all three did consent to that resolve. So that here are two witnesses that speak positively with all the circumstances of this attempt, of the two to kill the king, and the confederacy of Ireland, all along with them. Now, I must tell you, there are no accessaries, but all principals, in Treason. It may seem hard, perhaps, to convict men upon the testimony of their fellow-offenders, and if it had been possible to have brought other witnesses, it had been well: but, in things of this nature, you cannot expect that the witnesses should be absolutely spotless. You must take such evidence as the nature of the thing will afford, or you may have the king destroyed, and our religion too. For Jesuits are too subtle to subject themselves to too plain a proof, such as they cannot evade by equivocation, or a flat denial. There is also a letter produced, which, speaking of the consult that was to be the 24th of April, proves that there was a conspiracy Against this, the counsel of the king have among them: Aud, although it is not evidence three that swear it positively and expressly, to convict any one man of them, yet it is evi- That Ireland was here, here is a young maid dence upon Mr. Oates's testimony to prove the that knew him very well, and was acquainted general design. It is from one Petre to one of with him, and with his breaking up of letters; the confederates, and taken amongst Harcourt's and she is one that was Grove's servant: She papers, after Mr. Oates had given in his testi- comes and tells you directly, That about that mony; and therein it is mentioned, That the time, which, by computation, was about the superior had taken care, that there should be a 12th of August, she saw him go into his own meeting the 24th of April, the day after Saint house; which cannot be true, if that be true George's day, which is the very time Oates which is said on the other side; and she does speaks of; and that they were not to come to swear it upon better circumstances than if she town too soon, that the design might not be had barely pitched upon a day; for she must discovered. I would fain know what the sig-have satisfied me well, for what reason she nification of that clause may be. And then it goes farther, That it was to be kept secret, as the nature of the thing doth require; which shews plainly there was such a transaction on foot. But the reason I urge it for is, to shew you that it is a concurrent evidence with Mr. Oates, who had never seen this paper till three or four days after this information was given in, could remember the day so positively, ere I should have believed her: But she does it, remembering her going to my lord Arlington's service, which was a week after the king went to Windsor; which is sworn to be about the 13th of August, and a week before her going it was that she saw Ireland at his own door. What arts they have of evading this, I know not; for as they have turned their learning into subtilty, so they have their integrity too. The study of politics is their business and art, which they make use of upon all occasions; and I find them learned chiefly in cunning, and very subtle in their evasions. So that you see, without great difficulty, a man cannot have from them a plain answer to a plain question. But the fact against them is here expressly sworn by two witnesses; if you have any reason to disbelieve them, I must leave that to you. Sir D. Ashburnham, who is produced to discredit Mr. Oates, says, that when he was a child, there was little or no credit to be given to him, and if the matter had depended solely upon his testimony, those irregularities of his, when a boy, would have staggered his belief. But when the matter is so accompanied with so many other circumstances, which are material things, and cannot be evaded or denied, it is almost impossible for any man, either to make such a story, or not to believe it when it is told. I know not whether they can frame such a one; I am sure never a Protestant ever did, and, I believe, never would invent such a one to take away their lives: Therefore it is left to your consideration what is sworn: The circumstances of swearing it by two witnesses, and what reasons you have to disbelieve them. It is most plain the Plot is discovered, and that by these men; and that it is a Plot, and a villainous one, nothing is plainer. No man of Common understanding, but must see there was a conspiracy to bring in Popery, and to destroy the Protes tant religion; and we know their doctrines and practices too well, to believe they will stick at any thing that may ef fect those ends. They must excuse me, if I be plain with them; I would not asperse a profession of men, as the priests are, with hurd words, if they were not very true, and if at this time it were not very necessary. If they had not murdered kings, I would not say they would have done ours. But when it hath been their practice so to do; when they have debauched men's understandings, overturned all morals, and destroyed all divinity, what shall I say of them? when their bumility is such, that they read upon the necks of emperors; their charity such, as to kill princes; and their vow of poverty such, as to covet kingdoms, what shall I judge of them? when they have licences to lie, and indulgencies for falshoods; nay, when they can make him a saint that dies in one, and then pray to him; as the carpenter first makes an image, and after worships it; and can then think to bring in that wooden religion of theirs amongst us in this nation, what shall I think of them? what shall I say to them? what shall I do with them? If there can be a dispensation for the taking of any oath (and divers instances may be given of it, that their church does license them to do ) it is a cheat upon men's souls, it perverts and breaks off all conversation amongst maukind; for how can we deal or converse in the world, when there is no sin, but can be in dulged; no offence so big, but they can pardon it, and some of the blackest be accounted meritorious? what is there left for mankind to lean upon, if a sacrament will not bind them, unless it be to conceal their wickedness? If they shall take tests and sacraments, and all this under colour of religion be avoided, and signify nothing, what is become of all converse? How can we think obligations and pro. mises between mau and man should hold, if covenant between God and man will not? We have no such principles nor doctrines in our Church, we thank God. To use any prevarication in declaring of the truth, is abominable to natural reason, much more to true religion; and it is a strange Church that will allow a man to be a knave. It is possible some of that communion may be saved, but they can never hope to be so in such a course as this. I know they will say, That these are not their principles, nor these their practices, but they preach otherwise, they print otherwise, and their councils do determine otherwise. Some hold, that the Pope in council is infal lible; and ask any Popish Jesuit of them all, and he will say the Pope is infallible himself, in cathedra, or he is no right Jesuit. And if so, whatever they command is to be justified by their authority; so that if they give a dispensation to kill a king, that king is well killed. This is a religion that quite unhinges all piety, all morality, and all conversation, and to be abominated by all mankind. They have some parts of the foundation, it is true; but they are adulterated, and mixed with horrid principles, and iinpious practices. They eat their God, they kill their king, and saint the murderer. They indulge all sorts of sins, and no human bonds can hold them. They must pardon me if I seem sharp, for a Papist in England is not to be treated as a Protestant ought to be in Spain: And if ye ask me why? I will give you this reason; We have no such principles nor practices as they have. If I were in Spain, I should think myself a very ill Christian, should I offer to disturb the government of the place where I lived, that I may bring in my religion there. What have I to do to undermine the tranquillity and peace of a kingdom, because all that dwell in it are not of my particular persuasion? They do not do so here, there is nothing can quench the thirst of a priest and a Jesuit, not the blood of men, not of any, if he can but propagate his religion, which in truth is but his in excommunicating kings, in deposing them for heresy, and absolving their subjects from their allegiance. And the claim of authority both of Pope and council, is the surest foundation they build upon. I have said so much the more in this matter, because their actions are so very plain and open, and yet so pernicious; and it is a very great providence, that we, and our religion, are delivered from blood and oppression. I believe our religion would have stood, notwithstanding their attempts, and I would have them to know we are not afraid of them; nay, I think we should have maintained it, by destroying of them. We should have been all in blood, it is true, but the greatest effusion would have been on their side; and without it, how did they hope it should have been done? There are honest gentlemen, I believe hundreds, of that communion, who could not be openly won upon to engage in such a design. They will not tell them that the king shall be killed; but they will insinuate unto them, that he is but one man, and if he should die, it were fit they were in readiness to promote the Catholic religion; - and when it comes to that, they know what to do. When they have got them to give money to provide arms, and be in readiness on their specious pretence, then the Jesuits will quickly find them work. One blow shall put them to exercise their arms; and when they have killed the king, the Catholic cause must be maintained. But they have done themselves the mischief, and have brought misery upon their whole party, whom they have ensnared into the design, upon other pretences than what was really at the bottom. A Popish priest is a certain seducer, and nothing satisfies him; not the blood of kings, if it stands in the way of his ambition. And I hope they have not only undeceived some Protestants, whose charity might incline them to think them not so bad as they are; but I believe they have shaken their reFigion in their own party here, who will be ashamed in time that such actions should be put upon the score of religion. I return now to the fact, which is proved by two witnesses, and by the concurrent evidence of the letter and the maid; and the matter is as plain and notorious as can be, That there was an intention of bringing in popery by a cruel d bloody way; for I believe they could never rayed us into their religion. I leave it e to you to consider, whether you have uch evidence from these two men, as xpected in a case of this nature; and r Mr. Oates be not rather justified by stimony offered against him, than discre Let prudence and conscience direct verdiet, and you will be too hard for their ait and cunning. Gentlemen, If you think you shall be long, we will adjourn the Court till the afternoon, and take your verdict then. Jury. No, my lord, we shall not be long, safe, according to law, and they withdrew consider of their Verdict. and the Clerk of the crown spake to the After a very short recess, the jury returne thus: Cl. of Cr. Gentlemen, answer to your name Sir William Roberts. Sir W. Roberts. Here. And so of the rest Cl. of Cr. Who shall say for you? Cl. of Cr. Set William Ireland to the ba William Ireland, hold up thy hand. Look up the prisoner. How say you, is he Guilty the high-treason whereof he stands indicted or Not Guilty? Foreman. Guilty. Cl. of Cr. What goods and chattels, lands o tenements? Foreman. None to our knowledge. Cl. of Cr. Set Thomas Pickering to the ba Tho. Pickering, hold up thy band. Look ups the prisoner. How say you, is he Guilty of th same high-treason, or Not Guilty? Foreman. Guilty. Cl. of Cr. What goods or chattels, lands of tenements? Foreman. None to our knowledge. Cl. of Cr. Set John Grove to the bar. John Grove, hold up thy hand. Look upon the prisoner. How say you, is he Guilty of the same high-treason, or Not Guilty? Foreman. Guilty. Cl. of Cr. What goods or chattels, lands or tenements? Foreman. None to our knowledge. Cl. of Cr. Hearken to your verdict, as the Court hath recorded it. You say that William Ireland is Guilty of the high-treason whereof he stands indicted. You say that Thomas Pickering is Guilty of the same high-treason. You say that John Grove is Guilty of the same high-treason. And for them you have found Guilty, you say, That they, nor any of them, had any goods or chattels, lands or tenements, at the time of the high-treason committed, or at any time since, to your knowledge. And so you say all. Omnes. Yes. L. C. J. You have done, gentlemen, like very good subjects, and very good Christians, that is to say, like very good Protestants: and now much good may their thirty thousand Masses du them. till four in the afternoon. Then the Court adjourned by Proclamation In the afternoon the same day. About five of the clock Mr. Recorder and a sufficieat number of the justices returned into the Court, the judges being departed home; and Proclamation was made for attendance, as in the morning. Then the Clerk of the Crown called for the giving, upon pain of imprisonment : peace about the Court. prisoners convicted of high-treason, and spoke to each of them thus: CL of Cr. Set William Ireland to the bar. William Ireland, hold up thy hand. Thou standest convicted of high-treason; what canst thou say for thyself, why the Court should not give thee judgment to die according to law? Ireland. My lord, I represented all along from the beginning, that we had not time to call in our witnesses to justify our innocence. Recorder. If you have any thing to say in stay of judgment, you have all free liberty to Ireland. We had no time allowed us to Long in our witnesses, so that we could have name, but only those that came in by chance; and those things they have declared, though true, were not believed. say it. Recorder. These things, Mr. Ireland, you did not object before the jury gave their verdict; now they have given their verdict, and found you Guilty, if you have any thing to say to the Court why they should not proceed to judgment according to that verdict, you may speak it; but for these things it is too late. Ireland. My lord, I only have this to say, I desire more time to be heard again, and to call in my witnesses. Recorder. Call the Executioner to do his office. Ireland. There are testimonies, my lord, that I could produce of my loyalty, and my relations fidelity to the king. Recorder. I believe, Mr. Ireland, it will be a shame to all your relations that have been loyal to the king, that you should be privy to the murder of that good king whom your relations so well served; and therefore if that be all that you have to say, it will signify nothing. The Executioner not appearing, the sheriff of Middlesex was called to come into Court, and give attendance, upon pain of 40%. But the Executioner coming in, was, with a reproof from the Recorder for his negligence, commanded to tie him up, which he did. Ch of Cr. Set Thomas Pickering to the bar. Thomas Pickering, hold up thy hand. Thou art in the same case with the prisoner last before thee; what canst thou say for thyself, why the Court should not give thee judgment to die according to law? Recorder. What does he say for himself? Cl. of Cr. Set John Grove to the bar. John Grove, hold up thy hand. Thou art in the same case with the prisoner last before thee, what canst thou say for thyself, why the Court should not give thee judgment to die according to law? Grove. I am as innocent as the child unborn. Ch. of Cr. Tie him up-Which was done. clamations. Criers. O yes! All manner of persons are commanded to keep silence whilst judgment is Recorder. Where is the keeper? Shew me the prisoners, William Ireland, Thomas Pickering, and John Grove. Capt. Richardson. Those are the three. Recorder. You, the prisoners at the bar, you have been arraigned for a very great offence, the greatest that can be committed against any authority upon earth, for high-, treason against your king, with all the aggravotions that possibly can attend so great a crime as that is; for you did not only strike at the life of the best of kings, but you intended the subversion of the best of religions. Whatever you may apprehend, yet all men that will lay their hopes of salvation upon any thing that is fit for a man to lay his hopes upon, which is upon the merits of a crucified Saviour, and not upon your Masses, tricks or trumperies, do abhor the thoughts of promoting their religion by massacring kings, and murdering their subjects. And though we whom you call Heretics, abhor to own any such religion; yet we are not afraid to tell you, and all others who are ensnared into your principles, we will maintain the religion and the government as it is established, with our lives and fortunes. And it is fit that it should be known, that we who live under the government of so mild and pious a prince, and in a country where so good, so moderate a religion is established by law, will not be affrighted by all your murders, conspiracies and designs, from declaring, that they who dare kill kings, and massacre their subjects, are the highest violators, not only of the laws of the land, but of that great law which all good Christians and Protestants think themselves obliged to pay great reverence and obedience to, I mean the law of God Almighty himself. Thus I speak to you, gentlemen, not vauntingly, it is against my nature to insult upon persons in your sad condition; God forgive you for what you have done, and I do heartily beg it, though you do not desire I should; for, poor men, you may believe that your interest in the world to come is secured to you by your Masses, but do not well consider that vast eternity you must ere long enter into, and that great tribunal you must appear before, where his Masses (speaking to Pickering) will not signify so many groats to him, no not one farthing. And I must say it for the sake of those silly people whom you have imposed. upon with such fallacies, that the Masses can no more save thee from a future damnation, than they do from a present condemnation, I do not speak this to you,as intending thereby to inveigh against all persons that profess the Romish religion; for there are many that are of that persuasion, that do abhor those base principles of murdering kings and subverting governments. There are many honest gentlemen in England, I dare say, of that communion, whom none of the most impudent jesuits durst undertake to tempt into such designs; about it, but he must add thereto his poisonou teeth; for fear if the bullet was smooth, might light in some part where the wound migh be cured. But such is the height of some mens malice, that they will put all the venom and malice they can into their actions. I am sure this was so horrid a design, that nothing but a conclave of devils in hell, or a college o such jesuits as yours on earth, could have thought upon. This I remember to you for the sake of them chat are to live, and for the charity I have for you who are to die: For the sake of them that are to live; for I hope when they bear, that men of your persuasion dare commit those these are only to be imposed upon silly men, not upon men of conscience and understanding. And I pray God, as was said lately by a learned gentleman whom we all know, that all Protestants may be as safe from the force of your daggers, as they are from those of your arguments; for I dare say, that you could sooner murder any man that understands the Protestant religion, than to persuade him to such villanies. And among those many things which prevailed with the honest gentlemen of the jury to convict you of this horrid crime, they could not but take notice, that you (speaking to Ireland) that do pretend to learning, did send into foreign parts that your fellow jesuits should take care publicly to preach, That the oaths of al-outrageous crimes, and justify them by a prinlegiance and supremacy, by which the common justice of the nation is preserved, signified nothing; which is a strong evidence of your design, not only to murder the king, but subvert the government; for surely the most probable way to do that, is to asperse those oaths by which all protestant subjects, those whom you call heretics, lie under an obligation of obedience to their prince. And I think it not unfit to tell you, that you had a great favour showed to you to be tried only for the matters contained in this Indictment; for you that are priests must know, that there is a law in the land, that would have hanged you for your very residence here; for if any subject born in England shall take orders from the see of Rome, and afterwards come into England, and remain there 40 days, such, for that offence alone, are made traitors by act of parliament. But you are so far from being under any awe of that law or submission to it, that you dare not only come to live here in despite thereof, but endeavour what you can to overthrow both it, and the government itself. You dare conspire to murder the king; nay not only so, but you dare make your consults thereof public. You dare write your names to those consults. You dare solicit all your party to do the like, and make all the ties of religion and conscience (that to considering Christians are obligations to piety and charity) as engagements either to act your villanies, or to conceal them. We think no power can dispense with us, whom you call heretics, to falsify our oaths, much less to break our covenant with God in the Holy Sacrament. But you, instead of making that a tie and obligation to engage you to the remembrance of our Saviour, make it a snare and a gin to oblige your proselytes to the assassinating kings, and murdering their subjects. I am sorry with all my soul, that men who have had their education here, and the benefit of the good examples of others, should not only be led into such mischievous principles themselves, but to be of that confidence in their persuasion, as to dare to debauch others also. I am sorry also to hear a layman should with so much malice declare, That a bullet, if round and smooth, was not safe enough for him to execute his villanies by; but he must be sure, not only to set his poisonous invention on work ciple of religion, they will not easily be seduced into your opinion: And out of charity to you that are to die, to persuade you to hearty repentance; for otherwise, I must tell you, thy 1,500l. (speaking to Grove) nor thy 30,000 Masses (speaking to Pickering) will avail but little. And I thought fit to say this also, that it may be known that you have had the full benefit of the laws established in England, and those the best of laws; for such is not the law of other nations: For if any protestant in any place where the Romish religion is profest, had been but thought guilty of such crimes, he had never come to the formality and justice of an arraignment, and to be tried by his peers, permitted to make his defence, and hear what could be said against him; but he had been hanged immediately, or perhaps suffered a worse death. But you are not only beholden to the happy constitution of our laws, but to the more happy constitution of our religion. For such are the admirable documents of that religion we in England profess, that we dare not requite massacre for massacre, blood for blood. We disown and abhor all stabbing; and we are so far from reckoning that he shall be a saint in Heaven for assassinating a prince, and be prayed to in another world, that the Protestant is required to believe, that such as begin with murder, must end with damnation, if our blessed Lord and Saviour do not interpose; nothing that man can do, Papist or Protestant, can save any man in such a case. We dare not say that our religion will permit us to murder dissenters,much less to assassinate our king. And having thus said, let me once more as a Christian, in the name of the great God of Heaven, beg of you for your own souls sake, be not satisfied or over-persuaded with any doctrine that you have preached to others, or imbibed from others; but believe, that no one can contrive the death of the king, or the overthrow of the government, but the great God of Heaven and earth will have an account of it. And all pardons, absolutions, and the dispensations that you who are priests can give to your lay-brother, or that any of your superiors may give to you, will not serve the turn. I know not, but as I said, you may think I speak this to insult, I take the great God of |