News from IRELAND, TOUCHING THE DAMNABLE DESIGN OF THE PAPISTS in that KINGDOM to Forge a Sham-Plott upon the PRESBYTERIANS: BEING The DECLARATION of WILLIAM SMITH Gent. Maintaining his late EVIDENCE against St. Laurence a Popish Priest, who would have Suborned him to have Sworn the same.  
I Am so well satisfied in my Conscience, that I would not put forth these Lines to a Public view, were it not for that others are concerned: As for myself I value not the Aspersions that any have or can raise against me, because I know my own Innocency to be a sufficient Testimony, maugre all the false, scandalous and lying Reports that have been hatched, or that are now contriving against me; but when I consider that my Credit (which ought to be dearer to every man than his Life) lieth at Stake; and that illaffected Persons, who neither value what they Say or Act, are using their sole Endeavours to render me Ridiculous and a Perjured Person; and also Vent their malicious and reproachful Aspersions on guiltless People; I thought it convenient, in Vindication of myself, and those I shall herein after mention, to demonstrate to the whole World the Abuses done me, lest by a continued Silence, I might give advantage to my Enemies to Proceed in their Villainies. And now I Declare in the Presence of God, that I have No other End in the Writing hereof, than to Justify and Clear myself from the injurious Censures and fabulous Discourses of some Papists, who (as I am Informed) have Reported and given out, that whereas I Swore to an Information against one St. Laurence a Popish Priest, which Business was Tried at the King's Bench Bar, on the 25th day of November last passed, before Judge Jones, who at that time alone Sat Judge of the said Court: and although my Information, and what I then Swore to, was, and is a real truth, yet the Jury found him Not Guilty; I do not allege or say any thing against the said Jury, or any of them, for indeed those I knew of them, are worthy and Eminent Persons; yet no doubt my want of Council to manage the said Trial on my behalf, made it appear otherwise than it was; for let the whole World Judge, whether there was not great advantage on St. Lawrence's side, when he stood by, never spoke one word either pro or con, but had three or four Counsellors all along to Plead for him, and I had no Assistance but that of myself: Not to insist any longer in this nature, I hear since the said Trial, that the abovementioned Papists have spread a rumour abroad, as if I had Recanted all my Proceedings aforesaid, and that I should Confess myself to be heartily Sorry for the same, and that I was set on by others; nay, they presume to confirm it by Reporting that I have sent a Petition to his Grace James Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant General, and General Governor of this Kingdom of Ireland, (to the same effect) and that I should therein Acquaint his Grace, who it was that set me on to Swear against St. Laurence, desiring his grace to give me a Pardon for so doing: all which Sayings are false and very great untruths, for I never did Recant, nor intead any such thing; if I had, I should be the most vile Creature upon the Face of the Earth; in the first place to Swear to a thing, and afterwards deny what I had Sworn to: And as to a Petition sent by me to his Grace, it is easily resolved whether he did receive any such from me, or whether he did ever receive a Petition at all in my Name: 'Tis true, a little before his Grace's last going to Kilkenny, I did employ one to deliver him a Petition, which was not at all delivered, for I have the same still by me; and whether or no that be the Petition discoursed of, I know not▪ but that all People may (If they please) be Satisfied with the Contents of it, I have here Inserted a true Copy of the same, and can bring Credible Witnesses to prove it: the said Petition is as followeth, viz.  

To his Grace James Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant General, and General Governor of the Kingdom of Ireland.  
The Humble Petition of William Smith Prisoner for Debt in the marshalsea of his Majesties four Courts Dublin.  
Humbly showeth,  
THat your Petitioner did lately give in an Information against one St. Laurence a Popish Priest, the Contents of the said Information (among other things therein contained) was, that the said St. Laurence would have Suborned your Grace's Petitioner, positively to Swear to a Presbyterian Plot, which said Business was on the 25th day of November last passed Tried at the Kings-Bench-Bar, and the Jury at their return brought him in not Guilty: whether the fault was in your Petitioners want of Council to manage the business in behalf of your Petitioner, he cannot say; but certain it is, St. Laurence had at the least three Counsellors to Plead for him, notwithstanding your Graces said Petitioner will take it upon his Death, that his Information against the said Priest, was, and is really true; but since the above Trial, some of the Priest's Evidence have grossly abused your Petitioner, by calling him a Rogue, and a Perjured Rogue: Not to enlarge upon the aforesaid matter, he your Grace's Petitioner humbly implores, you will be pleased to order the Marshal of the above marshalsea, to bring him before your Grace, he having a matter of great Moment and Importance to Impart to your Grace, it being a thing which will be Satisfactory to you, (as he humbly conceives) desires his said Request may be Granted:  
And as in Duty bound he will Pray, etc. 
 Copia Vera.   
Now I refer this to any rational Person, if there be any thing of a Recantation of what I have done in my Proceedings against St. Laurence, (included in the above recited Petition;) but if the Devil has been so prevalent to tempt me to a Recantation, (as they allege) I would willingly know to whom in such manner I have declared my mind; and if any Person will justify it, or whether I gave it in Writing under my Hand; if so, 'tis an easy matter to produce it, but if it can be made appear, I will be content to Suffer the Punishment justly due to those that are guilty in the like kind: Why should I say more of it, when without dispute, had they a real Ground to talk so of me, they would quickly make it apparent, I know, (so great is their Zeal to, and for their Ghostly Father;) they only speak of me as they would have it; they are much mistaken, I'll never Acquit the Guilty, and Accuse the Innocent: I am not for their turn, no, nor to be alured by a plenary Indulgence, nor the hopes of being Sainted by them will not do; Neither am I in the least Related to their Jewish Witnesses, to Swear and Forswear the same again in a day's time, or less: In fine, (No Ego tibi Absolvo, etc.) shall cause me to go from the truth: And here by way of digression, I very well remember some time after the happy Discovery of the Damned and Hellish Popish Plot by Dr. Titus' Oats, etc. I was then held in great Estimation by several Papists in a certain place in this Kingdom, and one day one of their Priests and I being in Company together, I told him that I much admired any Roman Catholic would appear as an Evidence against those of their own Religion: who replied, You know not the mystery of it, time will make you more sensible, and this at last will be fathered upon Shaftsbury and his Gang, meaning the Presbyterians, etc. We had other Discourses at that time, which I shall here omit, till a more apt opportunity; and the rather, since I intent nothing more by this, but only to give a general Satisfaction, that I Swore nothing against the said St. Laurence but what was truth, and from which I will never Recede: For I had rather Perish (nay worse if any thing can be) for truth's sake, than by denying it obtain innumerable Riches: For what shall it profit a man to gain the whole World and lose his own Soul? And although the Papists are pleased disingeniously, as also dishonestly to slander and reproach me, yet do I take but little notice of them, because if we do but look back into their Actions, 'tis easily discovered how many Tricks and Contrivances they have both Studied and Practised, and to no other end, intent or purpose, than to disparage and make Invalid real Evidence, that so they might obscure from being made known their Notorious, Inhuman and Hellish designs: for certain it is, those that Act any thing in Defence of his Majesty, or preservation of the Protestant Religion, or to detect their black Designs, are either brought upon the Stage, and Witnesses Suborned to Swear against them, that they Conspired the Death of the King, and to introduce an Arbltrary Government, etc. Or else they are Barbarously Murdered, as was that Worthy and late English Martyr Sir Edmondbury Godfrey, who for all the Pretensions they have made use of to blind the Eyes of the vulgar sort, by saying he was accessary to his own Death, by running a Rapier through his Body; yet was his Life undoubtedly taken away by those bloody Miscreants: For those that are so Impious to be culpable of such Contrivances, will be so cunning as to Study some Shift or Equivocation to evade it, if their Villainies should come to be called in question, yet let them use all their Shifts, Sham-plots, Subornations, and likewise Employ all the help and Subtlety of their Crafty and King-killing Jesuits, to put the burden and weight of their Diabolical Confederacies upon the poor Protestants; I say notwithstanding all those devices, the Omnipotent God is so just, that in due time he will unmask all their Proceedings, and Paint them and their Rogueries out in their own Colours: in the interim let us content ourselves with this ordinary Grammatical saying, Quicquid sub Terra est in Apricum proferet Etas: 'Tis strange to think what Assurances these Caterpillars of the Earth proposed to themselves for the Extirpation of the Protestant, and Reestablishment of their bloody Romish Religion: and albeit so many of their Fathers have Suffered by the hands of public Justice, the just rewards of their Demerits; yet how confidently do they endeavour to wipe off their too too deep died Guiltiness, by Proclaiming it a Presbyterian Plot, and that the Dissenters of the Church of England were dissatisfied with the Kingly Government, and their old Rebellious tricks of raising a Civil War was beginning again. To that I answer, If it were so, they Condemn the gravest Senators that ever were, and upbraid them with Injustice; I mean the Learned and Judicious Judges etc. of England; for had there been no Popish Plot, Coleman, Langborn, Whitebread and the rest, would not have taken their last Farewells at Tyburn for it: But some Simple Ignorant People will object, that such Learned men as they, would not have wronged their poor Souls just at their going out of the World, by Protesting themselves as free as the Child newly born, from those Crimes they died for, if they knew any thing to the contrary: To such Objections I say thus, that not long since myself and a worthy Gentleman who died very lately, being together in Company with a Popish Priest, and discoursing this point of those that died in England, (which I just now mentioned) without a general acknowledgement of the Crimes they died for, the said Priest told us, that just before their Executions, they Confess all and every thing to some Father Confessor or other, who immediately Absolves them from all their Sins whatsoever, and gives them power to deny all in public at their said Executions: (the Priest that told me this, was one Vicar Mackaw, and the Gentleman then in my Company Dr. Wyatt) and for so doing they are assured to be Cannonized for Saints, and Recorded as Martyrs in their black Registers at Rome. I presume Persons of Loyal and honest principles, well wishers of his Sacred Majesty and the Protestant Religion, needs not require much time to understand and dive into the mystery of their Endeavouring to throw off the whole Plot upon the Presbyterians, as is aforesaid, by reason 'tis so near of Kind to the usual and Accustomed policies of those sort of Cattle (I mean the infamous famous Jesuits) who aim at nothing so much, as to breed a Dissension betwixt our Dread Sovereign and his Subjects, (which God grant never may be) that they may like Wolves appear in Sheep's Clothing, and inwardly Smile at our Misfortunes, and on a sudden Strike home that blow they have so long desired, nay, endeavoured to Accomplish; but I do not doubt, at least I hope, that the People of England are so firmly grounded in their Loyalty and Obedience to their most Gracious King, and also so sensible of the Miseries that attended them in the late unhappy and unnatural differences, that they will Sacrifice their Lives and Fortunes in the Defence and Right of his most Sacred Person, against all Rebellions and Plots whatsoever. I suppose I need not say anymore at present concerning the Inveteracy of the Papists in general against the Protestants, it being well known in these Times; yet I thought it necessary to Insert this, that by reason of Dean Burges' coming to visit me, and confirm me in the Protestant Religion, they have been pleased since to say, that he was something too busy with me about St. Lawrence's Business, and that they believed he much Encouraged me in it: To such Reports I answer as followeth, viz. The said Dean Burges never came to me but he Discoursed much to the ensuing purpose, That if the Information given in by me against St. Laurence were true, in the Name of God I should go on with it; on the contrary said he, if it be a thing of your own devising, Confess it humbly before God, and ask him Forgiveness, (perhaps he may Forgive you;) if it be a false thing, you will be a miserable Creature; and oftentimes he said, As he would not Encourage me in an unjust Action, so would he not Discourage me in a Just; however mind, you have a Soul which must once render an Account to God for all your Actions both good and bad: And how far the same Dean was from setting me on to form my Information against St. Laurence, let the Reader judge: for I take God to Witness, he knew nothing of it, till after the said Priest was in Custody; and if I am not much mistaken, he was at that time in the Country, (where his Benefits lies.) Another thing of the aforesaid Dean comes afresh into my Memory, viz. He told me several times before he Administered the Blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper to me, that it was better for me to Eat and Drink so much Poison, if I had Injured St. Laurence, and should come to the Table with such Gild upon my Conscience. In the next place these Papists declare, that what I did, was to get my Enlargement, and that I was hired to it by the Presbyterians, which is like the rest of their Aspersions; for God, who knows the Secrets of all Hearts, and before whom I must one day give an Account, well knows that I neither did it in hopes of a Liberty, or any other temporal Reward, nor was I set on, advised to it, or had the least Encouragement from any Soul breathing, but that it was my free and voluntary Act, and that I had no other end in doing of it, than to discharge a good Conscience, and that I may be the better understood, I beseech God that I may never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, nor to enjoy Everlasting Bliss, if ever I saw Mr. Harrison or Mr. Jack the Persons that St. Laurence would have Suborned me to Swear against, from the time of my Creation to this very day, to the best of my knowledge: neither did I ever so much as receive a Letter from them, or either of them. I further hereby Certify and Declare, that I know nothing of any Plot, Contrivance or Design against our most Gracious King, or the Government either in Church or State, but that of the Papists, whose devilish treacherous and bloody Stratagems, I humbly beseech that God in his due time will Convert to their own Destructions. Should I write ten times as much more as is contained in this Paper, it would all be tending to one and the same Effect: therefore I shall conclude; but first humbly Pray the Almighty to send length of Days, Health, Wealth and Prosperity to our Sovereign Lord King Charles, etc. And in Testimony of the truth hereof, I have hereunto set my Hand this  
11th day of February, Anno Dom. 1681. William Smith. Witness, 

George Harrison,  
William Boswell,  
William Stuart,  
Nathaniel Dancer,  
Quintin Moor.     

London, Printed for Richard Janeway in Queens-Head-Alley in Pater-Noster-Row. 1682.