NO Protestant-Plot: OR The present pretended Conspiracy of Protestants against the King and Government, Discovered to be a CONSPIRACY OF THE PAPISTS Against the KING AND HIS Protestant-Subjects.  
LONDON: Printed for R. let, 1681.  
 bookplate of 1712, showing blazon or coat of arms, of Charles Bruce, Viscount of Ampthill, 3rd Earl of Ailesbury FUIMUS 
The Right Honble. Charles Viscount Bruce of Ampthill( Son and Heir Apparent of Thomas Earl of Ailesbury) and Baron Bruce of Whorleton 1712    

WHILE so many Papers have with impunity and connivance been Printed and dispersed in vindication of the Papists from the Conspiracy whereof they are accused; We do humbly presume, That none but such whose interest it is to have our Religion defamed, and His Majesties innocent subjects destroyed, will be offended at this modest attempt in justification of Protestants from the Crimes and Treasons wherewith they are aspersed. Nor dare we suppose the present Ministers and Administrators of Justice guilty of so great partiality, as to be inflamed against these few modest sheets, after they have tolerated and dispensed with the publication of so many Popish Pamphlets, full of virulence, as well against the Justice and Honour of Parliaments, as inferior Courts of Judicature. And if they have escaped the animadversion of Authority, who have with so little regard to truth written in favour of persons actually condemned, we have reason to believe that our Judges and Magistrates will be far from being displeased, at what is here tendered to them and the World, in behalf of persons that are merely accused. For whereas the asserting the innocency of such as have been legally condemned, may be justly conceived to reflect reproach upon the Justice of the Nation, or at least to leave an imputation of want of wisdom or uprightness either upon the judge or the Jury; the supporting the Loyalty of persons barely accused, can only affect the Credit of the Witnesses by whom they have been charged, and upon whose alone Testimony without any public overt-act of their own, they lie confined. And if they that have appeared as Apologifts for Coleman and the five Jesuits, have been silently don't, notwithstanding their appearing Advocates for the innocency of those men, not only in contradiction to Oral Testimony, but in defiance of Papers and Letters under the hands of the very Criminals, declarative of their Conspiracy and guilt; we may then assure ourselves of fair quarter in managing a defence for those Protestants who have nothing to apprehended or fear from Papers or Letters produceable against them, but stand committed merely upon the Depositions of a few persons whose credit we shall make appear to be too weak to obtain belief.  
Nor is there any thing so obvious to common sense, than that it is more the interest and duty of a Government to have the innocent preserved, than to have the guilty punished. Accordingly they that are trusted with the Supreme Authority, are in many cases empowered to pardon offenders; but it was never seen in any well constituted Society, that Magistrates were authorised to condemn the guiltless. 'tis true, at some seasons, and in some instances, there may injustice be done to the State in forgiving a Malefactor, as when it is to the infraction of the fundamental Laws, or when it interferes with the safety of the Community, or when it may encourage the like attempts in others for the future, or when the pardoning a powerful offender may furnish him with a further opportunity of executing the evils which he had projected and designed; but in condemning a guiltless person there is not only injustice done to him that suffereth, but to the whole State, and every individual in it, both in depriving them of a fellow-member, and in trampling upon the Laws by which their own lives are secured and protected. And whereas one principal end why Criminals are punished, is to frighten and deter others from involving themselves under the like guilt, the executing of an innocent person is the ready way to cause such as are loyal to waver in their fidelity, and instigate them, if they apprehended themselves in danger, to fly to unlawful means for defence and shelter. And by how much any undue ways and methods are taken to make a guiltless person appear an offender, that under the palliation of Law, and with the less public offence he may be destroyed, by so much do all men become jealous of their own safety, as finding that turned into a snare, and perverted to their ruin, which was made and provided for their safeguard and protection. But though the love which Protestants bear to his Majesty, and the obligations of Conscience which they are under to their sovereign by virtue of their Religion, will be effectual to restrain them within the bounds of Allegiance and duty; yet I know not how far it may promote and maintain a misunderstanding between his Majesty and a Parliament, to find a Conspiracy carried on by indigent persons against the most eminent in the Nation, and all endeavours to detect it, either eluded, or resisted and withstood. And were there no other evil consequences to be apprehended to ensue upon the conniving at so execrable villainies as Subornation and Perjury, it becomes both the King, and all that are lovers of the stability of his Throne, to tremble in the belief of those Judgments, which it will provoke the Righteous and Universal governor to inflict upon a Nation, where innocency is no defence against hired and foresworn Rascals.  
And by how much any persons are considerable either with respect to their quality, or the esteem they have in the Nation upon the account of the services which they have done His Majesty or the Kingdom, by so much is it the more dishonourable, as well as prejudicial to the Government, to have them oppressed and destroyed by base and unjustifiable ways. The King is of too much goodness, and a Prince of greater wisdom and more unstained Justice, than that any of his subjects should apprehended or fear any thing illegal from him while he acts free and unconstrained; but how far his Ministers, especially those who have been exasperated by the proceedings of Parliaments, may render his Authority a Cloak to their malice, and make the pretence of his preservation and safety subservient to their revenge, is what we are jealous of. And tho' we would fain persuade ourselves that they are persons of more honour and integrity than to make reprisals upon the Lives of Peers for the injury which they suppose was done them; yet the imprisoning my Lord Shaftsbury upon the credit of Witnesses whose testimony they refused to believe in the case of my Lord Stafford, doth not a little surprise the thinking part of mankind. Now nothing can be more disserviceable to his Majesty, or lessening to the honour of his Government, than to have his Authority abused to countenance a personal quarrel, and his Laws applied to revenge a private offence. Besides, whensoever any come to be destroyed upon the score of a pique, all will judge themselves threatened who concurred in the provocation. And how much may it perplex his Majesties affairs in future Parliaments, to have persons so considerable for their number, as well as their quality, enter into the house under a prepossession that their innocency was not able to defend them from the rage of their Enemies?  
Such is the happiness of the English Government, that as we do always need the care of our Prince, so does he always need the love of his people. And as no King is greater than the King of England when possessed of the hearts of his subjects, and in terms of fair correspondence with his Parliament; so nothing can sooner lose him that love which he ought to have in the hearts of his people, nor perpetuate and heighten differences with his Parliament, than the permitting what was done by the body of that Assembly, to prove an occasion of spleen against a particular person; or the suffering those to fall by sinistrous means, whom the people look upon as having served his Majesty with fidelity, and regarded them with tenderness and compassion. And as no person ever perished in England under the weight of guilt, but the people silently bore his ruin, how much soever they might pity his misfortune; so hardly ever any considerable Peer, of whose innocency the minds of the people were universally possessed, was destroyed and overthrown, but it was attended with some ill effect or other towards the Government, or the Ministers that sat at the Helm, and advised it.  
Nor do some of those who are so violent in the prosecution of my Lord Shaftsbury, much magnify their wisdom, nor seem to have well consulted their interest in the doing of it. For however long it be since he who would be thought in earnest when he bawleth against Popery, promoted or connived at it, I am sure a certain person within these seven years last past, declaimed against the Court, and the Ministers, with as little respect and decorum in what he said, as he doth now against the Two last Parliaments. And whereas my Lord of Shaftsbury never spake of his Majesty but with the utmost deference; nor of his Ministers, but with that regard which was due to their Character; there is a certain Gentleman in the world, that used to speak both of his Prince and them, in another style.  
And if the Earl of Shaftsbury be guilty of any thing against his Majesty, it is in having been so unhappy as to have heard him spoken of with too much disregard, and under valuation, by a certain Gentleman that now glories in having the chief superintendency of his affairs. It is natural for some people, what interest soever they espouse, to be always violent; and we can the more easily pardon their intemperance against those from whom they have withdrawn by remembrig with what choler and acrimony they used to discourse of them in whose counsels they are now engaged.  
It hath been long observed, that they who in matter of Religion wheel off from one party to another, are the greatest haters, and most implacable Persecutors of the side which they relinquished; but I never heard till now, but men might see reasons to change measures in politics, without being for sacrificing those that cannot shift about to the several points of the State compass, as the wind of Court-favour may happen to sit. Besides, who knows but that the Witnesses, whom some persons do so tenderly embrace and cherish in order to the ruining of my Lord Shaftsbury and others, may not upon the disappointment of the expectations wherewith they flatter themselves, and a frustration of the hopes whereby they have been inveigled, endeavour to atone and make compensation for what they are doing, by accusing such as do at present manage and serve themselves upon them? For whatsoever men may think of the happiness of these fellows who appear as Evidence concerning a Presbyterian Plot, yet when a Parliament comes thoroughly to inspect this affair, and to discover the villainy that runs through it, the courage of these Gentlemen of the Post will fail them, and then to make expiation for their own crimes, they will be sure to load others with guilt.  
Besides, were my Lord Shaftsbury and a few other persons of Quality once destroyed, how easy will it be for some whom I forbear to name, to crush those that are now so instrumental in their ruin. There is a certain Gentleman in the North, as well as one, if not more in the Tower, who have memories tenacious of old injuries, and who are not of a temper very inclinable to forgive. For by how much they would be thought great and generous, by so much will they prove the more averse to pardon such as have allowed themselves to speak of them with contempt, and in a language near to ridicule. And though I pretend not to any great prospect of what is future, yet I dare undertake to foretell, That the day the Earl of Shaftsbury falls, some that do now solace themselves in the thoughts of it, will be found to have supplanted their own standing, and to have surrendered their persons and fortunes to the courtesy and discretion of such whom, they have had the unhappiness to provoke. However, they can never expect that their heads should lie easy upon their Pillows, who seek to purchase their own indemnity, at the price of the Lives of their fellow-subjects.  
But to charge a Conspiracy upon Protestants against the King, is to suppose them fools as well as Traytors. For had they no regard to the obligations of Conscience, yet the respect which they must be apprehended to bear to their own safety, will compel them if they had any love for themselves, to be loyal to his Majesty. And as matters are stated at this day in the world, they must first forfeit their reason, before they can abandon their Allegiance. They are not so silly, whatsoever others think of them, but that they very well understand they hold their Lives as well as their Religion, by no other tenor but the thread of his Majesties life. For they know what they are to hope for from a Popish Successor; and they are not fond to have the miseries which the Protestants suffer elsewhere, transcribed and re-acted here. If we be guilty of a crime, it is our concernedness for the King, and that we are not willing to have another Rival him in his Authority, before he succeed him in his Throne. 'tis our zeal for his Majesties Life, and that he may reign without a Competitor that hath enraged the Papists against us, and makes them restless to destroy us. Such as expect Preferment and Wealth from the next Heir, may be tempted to disloyalty to the Regnant Prince; but they whose all depends upon his safety, will endeavour and pray for his welfare as their own. All the Papists hopes expiring with the Dukes Life, they would fain accomplish their designs in re-establishing their Religion, and grasping the Power of the Nation into their own hands before he die: But our whole concernments being wrapped up in the King, who is likely to live as long as the Duke, it is clearly our interest to have his Majesty outlive him. And whatsoever men talk to the contrary, it is nothing but the Earl of Shaftsbury's zeal to have the King safe in his Person, great in the hearts of his people, and formidable to the Nations about him, that hath created him as many Enemies, as the Happiness of his Majesty, the security of the Protestant Religion, and the Prosperity of England have. Nor is there any Truth that shines with more self-evidence, than that by how much the French, the Papists, and those who are singly devoted to the Duke, are my Lord of Shaftsbury's implacable enemies, by so much is it the Kings interest, and agreeable to the wisdom of a sagacious Prince, to protect him against all their attempts. For by how much the Duke becomes so openly magnified by a daring but unthinking people in the Kingdom; by so much does it concern the King to support and preserve those whose Loyalty will not allow them to suffer any name to sound so loud as his Majesties. And I hope all good Subjects will pardon me, if my concernedness for my Prince, cause me to say what my discretion would instruct me to forbear; namely, That considering how numerous and active the Papists are in the Kingdom, and how many others out of weakness, fear, and from hopes of preferment, immix with them, and cooperate to promote their designs, I am not without direful apprehensions, that from the time they can possess the King that there is a Protestant-Plot, they will bring him to rule his Kingdom pursuant to their instructions, if they will prove so kind as to suffer him to govern at all, though it be but under a Guardianship.  
Nor is it more ridiculous, that there should be a Protestant-Plot, than it is incredible that the Earl of Shaftsbury should not only be in it, but that he should acquaint Mr. Fitz-Gerald, Mr. Smith, and Bernard Dennis, &c. with a design of seizing the King, and altering the Government. For we must either suppose him distracted when he communicated an affair of that hazard and consequence to them; or they are not well in their wits, who believe a person of his wisdom and conduct should commit his life and fortune into the hands of persons who could no ways promote such a design, but might and must be supposed likely to betray it.  
For whether it was Loyalty to the King, or hope of reward, that brought them to detect the Popish Plot, every man must needs believe that upon the same Principles and motives they would be always ready to discover a Protestant one. Indigent and desperate fellows have been sometimes made acquainted with a Conspiracy when it was ripe for execution, or they have been transacted with about an Assassination; but that such were ever consulted with in the forming a Projection of so great and dangerous importance, and which required time to perfect, and was to be managed with the greatest conduct; I crave forgiveness, if I say, that I must renounce my reason before I can give credit to it. The Earl of Shaftsbury is known to have been a person of as large an acquaintance, and of as free and universal a conversation with Protestants of the best Quality, and of all Persuasions, as any man in England; and yet we hear of none either of the Communion of the Church of England, or fanatics, with whom he trusted the secret of a design to seize the King; only a few fellows of no Religion,( and most of whom have not bread to eat but what they get by being the Kings Evidence) pretend to have been in the Cabal. We must either believe all others, and many of them the best men in the Nation, so disloyal as that they would conceal a most horrid Plot against their Prince, or we must suppose that there were none in whom this Peer did place a confidence, save a few persons of mean extraction, and debauched lives, either of which are not easy to be digested by an ordinary faith.  
But there is nothing more familiar with the Papists, than when they are embarked in designs against the Government, to raise a noise and clamour of the Conspiracies of Protestants. This hath been their old method, and though they have often missed the advantages which they proposed by it, yet they know not how to find a better, and therefore do still pursue it. They suppose that when the watchfulness of the State is exercised towards one Party, it will thereupon abate and relax towards the other. While a Prince is made believe that he ought to be afraid of those of one side, he will find himself necessitated to place a confidence in those of the other. Let the difference among the Subjects of any King be small or great, as one party decays in his favour, the opposite will always grow and rise. Now a pretence, if received, will as much alarm a Prince, as a reality. For men are not swayed by things as they truly are, but as they appear and obtain upon ●heir belief.  
But that which is most remarkable is, That the Papists never fathered a Conspiracy upon Protestants against the Government, but they were either ready to execute one of their own upon them, or they intended it as a shame to palliate the villainy they were themselves to perpetrate upon their Rulers. Accordingly when they had conspired to depose Queen Elizabeth, and set up Mary Queen of Scots, and were preparing Horse and Arms to accomplish the design, they were taught by Mary her self in her Letter to Babington, to pretend that all that Provision was to defend Elizabeth against the Puritans, who had resolved to Depose her, unless she would submit her self to their Government.  
And had the Gun-Powder Plot succeeded, the guilt and reproach of it was to have been charged upon the Dissenting Protestants. And when they had Massacred so many thousand Protestants in France, they suborned Witnesses to swear that the Admiral with other principal persons among the Hugonot's, had conspired the death of the King and the Duke of Guise; and that the blood which was  shed in the destruction of so many thousand innocent persons, was only drawn in way of self defence, and to preserve the King from perishing by the hands of the heretics. And had not God protected his Majesty from those that were to have assassinated him 1678. the Fanaticks were to have undergone both the odium and punishment of it. Which should make every true English Protestant hearty pray, That while we are hearkening after the noise and buzz of a Presbyterian Plot, we be not overwhelmed and destroyed by a Popish one.  
And if ever the catholics found this Artifice needful, their present circumstances make it extremely necessary. Nor is it material whether the generality do believe it; for if it can but impose itself upon the faith of the easy and the credulous, there are those who know there is no such thing that will serve themselves as effectually of it, as if it were.  
Two things had rendered the Papists obnoxious to the wrath of the people, and the Justice of the Laws, namely, the perverting the next Heir to the Romish Religion, and their being engaged in a Plot to destroy the King, that thereby, for the introducing the Papal Worship, they might accelerate and secure the Duke's ascent into the Throne. And two ways have they endeavoured to avoid the dangers which hung over them, and escape the punishments which they have deserved. One was by fomenting a misunderstanding between his Majesty and his Parliaments, that so they might not only prevent the Popish Plot from being fully detected, but delay the trial of the principal Conspirators. The other was the forging a Presbyterian Plot, that thereby they might run the Kingdom upon a wrong scent, and get their True Plot to be overlook't or forgotten, through the noise of a false one. And if the heats and animosities which do hereupon so universally boil in the Nation, do not influence the next Parliament to issue differences by an Act of Oblivion, they have so ordered matters by suborning the same Witnesses to swear this Sham-Plot, that discovered the real, that they hope they will be no more believed hereafter in reference to a Popish Conspiracy, being found perjured in relation to the Treasons charged upon Protestants. And we are the bolder to charge the Roman catholics for being the Contrivers and Forgers of this Presbyterian Plot, not only because it is of the same stamp and complexion that Mrs Celliers was, and designed to involve the same persons in the guilt of it, which hers did; but because we had the news of it from Rome and Paris, ere ever the tidings of it could fly thither from hence.  
And as the Papists, or such who serve their ends, and act by their Principles, are justly to be esteemed the Authors of this Sham-Plot charged upon Protestants; so they have been forced to support it by Perjuries and Subornations. Truth, especially in witness-bearing, is so indispensably necessary to the subsistence of Societies, that without it there can be no fellowship among men; and this once secluded, Laws, which are both the Bonds and Fences of Communities, become only snares for the innocent. Therefore by the Law of the Supreme Legislator, If a false witness had testified falsely against his brother, the judge was to do unto him as he thought to have done unto his brother. Which being a Law founded upon principles and measures respecting all mankind alike, and not merely calculated for the balance of the Judaick Commonwealth, it were to be wished that greater attendance were paid unto it in the Municipal Laws and Statutes of Christian Nations. The Delatores, who were a kind of Trepans& Informers, being punishable among the Romans more majorum, suffered in a most execrable manner. And tho' by our Law the punishment of Subornation and Perjury be not death; yet it may concern some people to consider, that a Parliament hath sometimes after the commission of a Fact, ordained a severer punishment to be inflicted upon heinous and dangerous offenders, than the Law had before chalked out. 
Rot. Parl. 3. R. 2. N. 18. An. 25. H. 8. N. 26. An. 27. H. 8. N. 36.  The Roman Historian not only observes, That false Informers were only countenanced or connived at in the Reigns of the worst Emperors; but he consigns this to posterity as the blackest character of Tiberius Reign, That Delatores genus hominum publico exitio repertum,& paenis quidem nunquam satis coercitum, per praemia eliciebantur: Trepans and false Informers, who had been always found a public mischief, and whom no penalties or punishments could sufficiently restrain, were then encouraged and emboldened by rewards. The Jesuits have adapted the Maxims of their Morality, to the exigence of their present case, by having pronounced it lawful to slander or defame any man whom the Papists conceive to have done them an injury, or to be an Enemy to their Holy Church. Nor is it strange or surprising, that they esteem it lawful to accuse Protestants falsely, seeing they think it meritorious to kill them as being heretics. And upon this account it might seem but a reasonable desire, to beg that no Papist may be believed against the Life or Credit of a Protestant. And whosoever considers what liberty they give themselves to destroy us, and what a profligate Age we live in, and how many vile and needy persons there be, who are ready for a Reward or Bribe to swear any man out of his Life and Estate; he will, instead of being astonished to find some few accused, wonder that the Prisons are not filled with the best and most loyal of his Majesties subjects, under the imputation of being Rebels and Traitors.  
Nor is it a small advantage that our Law hath given them to ruin us, by having made Words Treason. I complain not of the Law, seeing the Legislative Power of the Nation hath enacted it; but it exposeth an honest man to the discretion of every Knave that comes into his company, if they be but inclined upon the account of Civil or Religious Principles, or to be purchased with Bribes, to depose against him.  
It is reported to the honour and glory of Augustus, that though he abridged the Senate and the Romans of their ancient Liberty, yet he always indulged them the freedom of their Tongues. For when affairs across our expectation, and are not suited to our interest, it is some alloy to the passions of men, that they may safely vent their sense and resentments in talk and discourse. There have been always some Laws which were originally intended rather to scar and frighten, than made with a design that men should perish by them.  
What Tacitus says of Felix, is not unworthy of remark, Nimiis remediis delict a accendisse, that he did cause disobedience, by using too severe methods to hinder it. And it is a grave observation which Livy hath concerning Manlius, Remedio seditionem accendisse, that he heightened and inflamed a sedition, by seeking to quench and alloy it by too much rigor. And the modestest censure which Magistrates meet with in such cases, is to use the Historians Phrase, that they are Graviores remediis quam delict a erant.  
However, this is certain that when other overt-acts, besides words, are required to convict a man of Treason, there is always room for a rational defence; nor is it easy for others to be masters of his life, unless the reality and evidence of his crimes proclaim him guilty; but when persons lives depend upon mere words, any two Rogues in the world may destroy such as are altogether innocent, if they have but the impudence to swear home.  
Nor can men persuade themselves to believe, but that the Imprisonment of my Lord Shaftsbury is built upon something which will not abide the Test, when they consider the way and method according to which he hath been all along treated. Before either Coleman or the Jesuits were sent to prison, they were allowed both to know and see the persons who had deposed against them. And it is generally believed, that every English man may demand it as his right. And therefore the refusing it to my Lord Shaftsbury, does seem to intimate either that the Witnesses are not of a credit sufficient to support the Confinement of so great a Peer, or else that it was not convenient to trust their carriages in this matter, as well as the general course of their lives, to an early and exact scrutiny.  
But as if this were not enough to create a suspicion of some undue and indirect dealing in this affair, the refusing to administer an Oath to those that were ready to swear to Indictments of Subornation against the Witnesses, doth exceedingly heighten all mens jealousies. For not to debate about the legality or illegality of this procedure, being obliged till this business do either before this or a higher Judicature come under a review, to acquiesce silently in the judgement of the Court: I shall only say, That as it is the first President of this kind, so the reducing it into common practise, would prove a general obstruction of the Justice of the Law. And to make the receiving of Indictments depend upon the pleasure of the Attorney-General, were to settle on him a more Arbitrary power than the Laws of England have placed in the King himself.  
But should the Witnesses against my Lord of Shaftsbury be guilty of the Subornation whereof they were to have been Indicted, Were it not a crying sin before God, a disparagement to his Majesties Government, and of ill example to Posterity, as well as an injustice to this Noble Peer and his Family, to have him destroyed by their Testimony? Nor could there have fallen out any thing more to the commendation of the Kings Justice, and the vindication of the integrity of his Ministers, than to have left the credit of the Witnesses, being thus aspersed, to the trial and decision of the Law. For should their innocency have appeared after a fair and impartial hearing, it would have wonderfully justified any Verdict that should come afterwards to be found upon their Evidence. Whereas by the course that was taken, most men are become apprehensive of their guilt. And the preventing their being Indicted, will have the same effect upon an honest Jury where any Bills are preferred upon their Testimony, as if they were perjured upon Record.  
What base and villainous arts the Papists will use to destroy my Lord Shaftsbury, is not only evident by their many endeavours to have him stabbed, as hath been deposed by divers persons to whom the Parliament as well as the Nation have given belief, but may be further confirmed by their intercepting Letters directed to his Lordship; and after they had in a Hand as near the Original as they could counterfeit, inserted Treason in them, transmitting them to such as would be sure to acquaint our Ministers with it.  
In brief, there is a certain Gentleman who hath this to recommend him, That he commanded a Regiment of Horse in the late Kings service, and lost all for his and his present Majesties sake, who having July 4th. 1681, written to this Noble Peer about the relieving him against the Gout, with which he useth to be afflicted, had his Letter intercepted; and after an account added to it, That the Author was able to furnish this Earl with Forty thousand men from France to oppose the Duke of York, it was then conveyed to some of the French Kings Ministers, who they supposed would sand a Copy of it hither, as well as improve it to the prejudice of the person that wrote it, who then lived in the French Dominions. And that this is true, will be not only attested by the Gentleman that wrote the Letter, who is now in England, but myself and divers others have seen the Original, which by a strange Providence was returned into the Gentlemans own hands.  
And as this is a fresh argument of the implacable rage which the Papists bear to the Earl of Shaftsbury, so it doth further confirm that there is nothing so villainous which they will not do to destroy this great and zealous Peer, who by his courage, wisdom, and intelligence, hath both withstood and defeated so many of their dedesigns against our Religion, and the safety of the Nation.  
And how much those of the Church of Rome, and such as they can influence and rule, have thirsted after the blood of the Earl of Shaftsbury, and other Honourable Protestant Lords, and worthy English Gentlemen, their instigating Mr. Fitz-Harris and his Wife to father the Treasonable Libel for which he was condemned, upon them, may further serve to demonstrate as well as convince all the honest and sober part of mankind. For Mrs. Fitz-Harris by a Deposition upon Oath, Aug. 15. 1681. not only affirms that her Husband a little before his Execution,  told her what great offers he had made him if he would have at first charged the foresaid Libel upon the Earl of Shaftsbury, and my Lord Howard, but that he also advised her to do it as the only means to save his life, though he protested at the same time that they were wholly innocent. She likewise deposeth, that a certain Gentleman whom I forbear to name, assured her, that she should have what sums of money she pleased, if she would accuse the Earl of Shaftsbury and my Lord Howard as the Authors of the said Libel. Nay Mr. Fitz-Harris himself, the very night before his Execution, wrote a Paper which he ordered to be delivered to his Wife in order to prevent the spilling of innocent blood, wherein he tells by whom he was advised to accuse those Noble Peers, and other Gentlemen of the said Libel, and of having put him upon the discovery of the Popish Plot; and how he had the promise of a pardon to prevail upon him to do it. And he adds in the same Paper, That as he was persuaded to accuse them upon the assurance which was given him of saving his life, so he thought that what he then said would not be so prejudicial as his life might be serviceable. But finding that he was deluded, he declares as before God, that they were innocent, and that he had wronged them in accusing of them. And withal adds, That what he had deposed against the Papists was true; and that he had been only too sparing in accusing great people among them. And that this may not be thought a forgery of mine, I do assure all the world, that the Original Paper of Mr. Fitz-Harris own writing, is in the hands and custody of a certain Magistrate of London, who will be ready to produce it when occasion serves. For he with whom it was at first left, delivered it to Mrs. Fitz-harris, affirming that he could not be at rest till he had done so.  
And we are the more inclined to believe this whole Conspiracy wherein the Earl of Shaftsbury and other Protestants are said to be engaged against the King and the Government, is only a malicious piece of revenge upon the zealous Patriots of our Religion; by considering that Justice Warcup, and Mr. Edward Fitz-Gerald, are employed to conduct and manage the detection and discovery of it. There are some men that derive a suspicion upon every thing they meddle with; for though they may be honest by accident, yet the bias of their nature lies another way. As for Fitz-Gerald, besides his being known by all men to be the most infamous person alive, his present confident and impudent Tool Brian Hayns deposed upon Oath against him before Sir G. T. March 6th. 1681, That he had  told him how they were resolved to shame the Popish Plot, and that there was no other Plot but a Presbyterian one. Which is enough to enlighten all men that do not wilfully shut their eyes, upon what design, and in subserviency to what ends this Protestant Conspiracy was invented and laid. Nor will any question but that a person, who after he had come in as a Witness concerning a Popish Plot, and now denies that there is any such thing, may with as much truth, reason and discretion, swear that my Lord of Shaftsbury  told him the race of the Stewards had no more right to the Crown than he had; and that he was resolved to have a Commonwealth in England, as Brian Hayns in the foresaid Deposition informs us from Fitz-Geralds own mouth. And for Justice Warcup, we may learn the honesty and character of the man from this following Order of his Majesty and the Council, bearing date July 21, 1666. The Right Honourable the Lord Arlington, His Majesties Principal Secretary of State, having on Wednesday last made his complaint to His Majesty in Council, that Mr. Edmond Warcup Justice of the Peace for the County of Middlesex, had greatly wronged him in his good name, in treating and negotiating with certain persons for the quitting and indemnifying( in consideration of a sum of money) one of the persons lately summoned by His Majesties Proclamation to repair from beyond the Seas: which Treaty having for several Months been carried on, and managed by the said Mr. Warcup, he had all along falsely made use of the Lord Arlington's Name therein, as privy and consenting to the said Transaction: Whereupon His Majesty having caused the whole matter to be duly examined by certain of the Lords of His Council, and their Lordships having made report yesterday to His Majesty at the Board, That the matter was false and scandalous: It was Ordered by His Majesty in Council, That in Vindication of the Lord of Arlington, and for an example of such unjust and pernicious aspersions brought upon his Ministers and Government, the said Mr. Warcup should be forthwith committed to the Fleet, put out of the Commission of Lieutenancy, and remain for ever banished the Court; his Royal Highness having at the same time declared he would likewise dismiss him his Service. The Lord Arlington being left to take his farther remedy against him at Law, as his Lordship shall think good.  
Now being accordingly turned out of Commission, and committed Prisoner to the Fleet, he was there visited by Sir Th. Cl. to whom he confessed the whole of the Roguery, declaring that if he might be but released, he would for ever forsake all public business. But being upon his submission at the Board, Aug. 17. 1666, and his craving my Lord Arlington pardon upon his knees, discharged from his Confinement, he was soon after, and as the report then went, restored to be a Justice of the Peace by the mediation and influence of a certain Gentleman now in the North. And the good natured Justice being mindful of old kindnesses, is at last glad of an employment as well as an opportunity of testifying his gratitude by compassing the destruction of the Earl of Shaftsbury, whom his Patron& restorer reckons himself disobliged by.  
And that this Protestant Plot, under the guilt whereof they would involve the Earl of Shaftsbury, and many more eminent and excellent persons, is nothing but a forgery of the Papists, conducted and managed by Justice Warcup, and David Fitz-Gerald, with such as they can suborn to support the invention by falsehood and perjury, will further appear by recounting the attacks which they made upon several persons, whom a fear of God and Moral honesty have preserved from becoming instrumental to the shedding innocent blood. Accordingly we are informed by Mr. E. E. who hath approved his Loyalty to the King upon several occasions, and in divers difficult and tempting instances, that both these whom we have name, did deal with him to have corrupted his integrity, and engaged him to have been a witness in this Papal design. For by a Deposition sworn before a Magistrate, Aug. 1. 1681. he declares, That Justice Warcup dealt with him to swear something towards a Presbyterian Plot, and particularly that my L. Shaftsbury intended a Commonwealth, and that he with others were preparing Arms to alter the Government. Tho' both before and since this false and treacherous man hath affirmed to many persons of unquestionable honour and reputation, that he neither knew nor believed any thing of a Protestant Plot, and that being obliged to my Lord Shaftsbury more than to most men alive, he should be the greatest Rascal under Heaven should he disserve him; and that he believed nothing to be true of all that was said against him.  
The same Mr. E. E. deposeth at the same time, that David Fitz-Gerald  told him, He would swear Treason against the Earl of Shaftsbury, and procure others to do the like; and that if he would second him in the said accusation, he should be highly considered. Nay to that impudence was the former mercenary and base man arrived, that he attempted to suborn the person to whom under God the King owes his life and safety, and the Nation its present peace, and the enjoyment of the Protestant Religion. For the Doctor, whose credit and truth have approved themselves before Parliaments, Councils, and Courts of Judicature, assures us, that the forementioned Justice, having  told him that there was a design to take off my Lord Shaftsbury, and having reckoned above five and twenty whom he had brought over to swear a Protestant Plot, and particularly that Mr. Smith, Mr. Dugdale, Mr. Turbervile, and one of the Macknamar's were Evidences against my Lord, for which the first was to have a deanery, the second a place in the Custom-house, the third a Captains place, and the last a Lieutenants; he thereupon entreated him also to join in the Design, promising in the names of the E. of ●. Mr. S. and Sir L. J.( who we suppose will in due time vindicate themselves from the aspersion) that if he would engage, he should have what Promotion he pleased.  
And that this pretended Conspiracy against his Majesty and the government, is all shame in itself, and only formed by the enemies of our Religion, to make us odious to his Majesty, lessen the fury of the Nation towards the Papists, and to destroy such as have any zeal for Protestancy, or the Laws and Liberties of the Land, will receive further evidence and light from the Testimony of those whom, though Warcup and Fitz-Gerald did not immediately inveigle and assault, yet their Emissaries and factors, and such as they had corrupted and brought over, did.  
Accordingly Mr. L. M. in a Deposition upon Oath, Aug. 25, 1681, tells us, That Mr. ivy, and Bernard Dennis, had endeavoured to persuade him to swear against the Earl of Shaftsbury, my Lord Howard, and others, that they had raised Men, Money, and Arms, to secure and depose the King, if he would not yield to such things as they should desire. And that Mr. John Smith, Justice Warcup's Candidate for the first deanery, and sergeant Jefferies man of known Learning, had also treated with and advised him to swear the Protestant Plot against the same two Noble Persons, and divers others; and that John Macknamar, who by the Justices Order shall have the Reversion of the next Lieutenancy, would have enticed him to swear a Plot against the Presbyterians, namely that they were to seize the King, that there were Horse, Arms and Money raised by the Duke of Monmouth, the Earl of Shaftsbury, and several Citizens of London, to that purpose. It is observable, that whereas my Lord Chief J. North, and Sir George Jefferies knew of no Protestant Plot, but only that Mr. college, who styled himself of that Religion, was guilty of Treasonable insinuations, words& endeavours against his Majesty, yet Mr. Smith, and Mr. ivy had one in lavender for them, which was to be brought upon the Stage as they were to be prompted by the Masters of this new tragic Comedy who stood behind the Curtain, and as they should see rewards Crowning their Service. But how many this OTHERS may include in the Belly of it, passeth my skill to conjecture or foretell, only I hear it is already multiplied in Mr. Smith's Arithmatick to a hundred, and whether it may not Spawn into thousands by the warmth of Cathedral Preferment. I cannot at present tell, but must leave to be discovered and unridled by time.  
Nor is L. M. the only Person whom they that were listed in the Justices Roll of Witnesses, have blab'd the Secret of a Protestant Plot unto, but there is one Mr. Z. to whom they discovered the blessed project from a hope of prevailing upon him to promote the spilling the Blood of Innocents.  
Now this Mr. Z. in a Deposition which he made June 23. 1681. Tells us that Mr. ivy having acquainted him that the King had appointed the F. of H. my L. H. my L. C. and Mr. S. to be a Committee to give assurances of Pardon, and to allow Gratuities to all that would swear against my Lord Shaftsbury, and that there is a Presbyterian Plot▪ he then endeavoured to persuade him to swear High Treason against the said Earl of Shaftsbury, and Mr. Speak the Elder, of Somersetshire, adding it was all one tho' he had never spoken witb them, yet it would confirm what he and others had sworn against them. Truly Mr. ivy approves himself a thankful Person, and in reference to Mr. Speak, hath verified the Proverb, save a Thief from the Gallows and he will cut your Throat. But I shall never wonder that these Fellows have the confidence to swear falsely against Protestant Peers and Gentlemen, having the impudence to speak at this rate of the King and his chief Ministers. And it is to be hoped that His Majesty out of regard to his own Honour, and the Reputation of the Government, as well as out of Justice to his Loyal Subjects, will in due time bring these Miscreants to condign Punishment.  
Moreover, that this Protestant Plot hath no real Foundation, but is merely forged by the Papists, and such as are Pensioners to them; I shall make uncontrolably evident from the very Witnesses that have deposed it. For the silly Rascals have as little Wit, as they have Conscience. And tho' they were so wicked as to Embark in Perjury, yet they have not the Prudence to conceal their Crime.  
1. To some they imparted the motive upon which they engaged in so black an undertaking, as that they would not be neglected and starved. Thus Hayn's acquaints L. M. That his necessitous condition forced him to take desperate resolutions; and to make his Fortune, he would swear a Plot against the Presbyterians; being pleased to add that any plausible thing would be believed against them. Turbervile likewise  told the same Person, that rather than he would submit to want, he would make the Lives of Monmouth, Shaftsbury, and some of the Factious Citizens smoke. It is fairly bid for Bread, but it is withal sad to consider that the Blood of the Greatest, Best, and most useful Subjects in England, must be the price of their Commons.  
2. To others they Communicated the Offers and Terms by which they were tempted. Thus Turbervile  told D. O. That Warcup offered him any thing he would desire, provided he would swear against the Earl of Shaftsbury, my Lord Howard, Mr. Rouse, and Mr. Whitaker. And John Macknamarra confessed to the same Person, to Mr. S. O. Mr. M. B. and Mr. T. P. That the said Justice had tempted and proffered them several Hundred Pounds i● he would recant his Evidence against the Papists, and swear against my L. Shaftsbury. And Mr. Bernard Dennis revealed to D. O. Mr. R. B. and Mrs. M C. that Warcup and David Fitz-Gerrald tendered him great things, if he would depart from his Evidence about the Popish Plot, and swear against the Earl of Shaftsbury, my L. Howard, and others. Yea the Petition which Edward Turbervile, John Macknamarra, William Lewis and Hubart Burk, presented to my L. Mayor, the Aldermen and Commons of London in Common Council, do in effect not only insinuate, but declare the same. Nor doth it only intimate their being tempted to retract what they had deposed against the Papists, but it implies that they were also suborned to charge a Plot upon Protestants. And because tho' the Petition was red upon colleges Trial, yet it was not published in the Printed Narrative; I shall therefore here subjoin so much of it as is pertinent to the present occasion: Namely, that after all the Discoveries of a damnable hellish Popish Plot, the Papists were restless in their endeavours, not only to stiftle and discredit the belief of it, by Tampering and Labouring to corrupt some of the most considerable Witnesses, and Hiring and Suborming most infamous Persons to defame and weaken the Testimony of Others, but also to impute the Plot unto, and devolve it upon the Innocent Protestants: and that the Papists had so far wrought upon the Necessities of some, that for a present supply they had shipwrecked their Consciences.  
3. The Garb and Port that the Witnesses are gotten into, as well as the having theit Pockets full of money, and being able to pay their old Debts, do proclaim to to all the world, that they are liberally rewarded for what they have undertaken. But all I shall say in reference to this, is only to beg two things of Justice Warcup, and David Fitz Gerrald, which I do rather crave of them than others, as supposing they are as well the Paymasters for the Witnesses, as the Brokers for the Lives of Protestants. The first is, that they would honestly tell us, at what price they value us, when they drive a bargain for our Blood; and secondly, out of what Treasury they pay the Money which we are sold for. The knowledge of these things will be more useful to us, than may be they are ware off: But if they will not be so kind as to tell us this of their own accord, I hope they will forgive us, if in due time we file a Bill in the Court of Parliament, to make them show by what authority they have driven Bargains concerning the Lives of His Majesties Liege People, and which way two men, the best of which can hardly pay their debts, should be able to purchase the Heads of Peers and Gentlemen. But notwithstanding the Witnesses, which by the most undue means they have been able to muster; yet I cannot perceive but that they will have a hard, if not an impossible Task of it, to gain the Life of my Lord Shaftsbury; Nor hath the Credit of the Evidence been so advanced by colleges Trial, that they should be forward to venture them afresh against this Great and Wise Peer. I pretend not to writ remarks upon the Trial of the man at Oxford, much less to condemn either Judges, Council, or Jury, in reference to that proceeding; but what I have to say is briefly this, that I do not find People much the better prepared to believe the Witnesses a second time, by their acquainting themselves so successfully at the first. For, considering upon what disadvantages the man pleaded, being deprived of his Papers, denied a panel of the Jury, and refused the assistance of any Friend to stand by him, and much more of a solicitor to assist him; I do not see what cause there is to boast of any Reputation acquired by the Verdict brought in upon the Evidence. Indeed the credit of the Witnesses appeared so much weakened, and their Testimony so greatly shaken by the Defence which he made, and the Informations which were given in his behalf, that my Lord N. whom none can Imagine prepossessed in his Favour, is reported to have offered to lay a Wager that he would have been brought in not guilty. Nor is it impossible, but that the Papists might as well procure Suborned Villains to swear falsely against the poor man to hang him, as they have found Rascals to Frame and Publish a shame Speech, whereof he never spoken one word, as his last and dying confession. For, they who have a Liberty to Defame the Dead in so unheard of and barbarous a manner, may likewise have a dispensation to destroy the living by Forgeries and Calumniations. Nor is it so new or monstrous a thing to hire false Witnesses to destroy an Innocent, as to impose not only upon the World, but the Party that suffers his confessing himself in his Exit a Traitor, wnen his last Words were to pronounce himself Guiltless. Nor doth what I say cast any reflection upon the Justice of colleges Condemnation, it only declares the good Nature and excellent Q●alities of the Church of Rome, which being able to legitimate so infamous a forgery against the Dead, may also sanctify perjury against the Living. Courts of Judicature being to proceed as things are sworn and appear upon Cath before them, are not to be charged for shedding Innocent Blood, though the Person cast and condemned, be never so Guiltless, unless the falsehood of the Testimony be detected, and the perjury lie evident before them. But as the World is better informed of the value and complexion of the Witnesses than it was before, so they will find my Lord Shaftsbury a Person of other kind of Parts and Sagacity, than they found the poor joiner.  
And seeing the Witnesses have been hitherto vieu'd only in an imperfect Light, I hope the Gentlemen will not be offended if I draw aside the Curtain and show them in their natural and true Colours. And to begin with Dugdale, we shall be so favourable as to join issue with him as to his Honesty and Reputation, upon the very point where he himself hath openly staged it. For he was pleased to offer at Mr. colleges Trial, see p. 50. That if any Doctor will come forth, and say he cured him of a Clap, or any such thing, he will stand Guilty of all that is imputed to him. Now that which had been imputed to him was that, see colleges Trial. p. 49. he should call God to witness he knew nothing against any Protestant in England, and that being afterwards challenged for appearing to swear against Mr. college, he should say it was long of colonel Warcup, for he could not get his money else. And as what is charged upon him, is so gross and villainous, that it proclaims him a Perjured and Suborned Rascal to all the World, if it be true▪ so providing he stick to his own Proposal, I do affirm in the Face of all Man-kind that it is true. For besides that Dr. Lower and Dr. Needham prescribed unto him for that Disease, Dr. Carey undertook and cured him of it.  
The next person that supports the belief of a Protestant Plot is Mr. John Smith, a Gentleman of so celebrated a reputation, that people do commonly believe it is his Testimony upon which this Protestant Plot doth chiefly bear. We desire therefore to be forgiven, if we have been the more diligent to inquire concerning the credit of the man, being also  told, and that by such as had it from himself, how he can take away the lives of a Hundred, had he but others to join with him. Now his being reported to dissemble both his Name and his country, gives some folk a shrewd suspicion that he is not the person which at first he was supposed to be: For whereas he professeth himself an Englishman, and goes by the name of Smith, there are those that say he is an Irish man, and that his true name is Barrie. 'tis true this signifies not much to us, further than to insinuate, that whosoever goes by a false name, especially when there is no necessity for it, is very likely to have a treacherous heart and a false tongue; and that he who pretends himself to be what he is not, may also both pretend and swear he knows, what he doth not. But of how little moment soever it is to us, it is of mighty consequence to himself, seeing John Barrie may be hanged for his former Treasons, notwithstanding His Majesty hath graciously pardonned John Smith. They also say, that he hath not only sworn to a Hundred Gentlemen, but affirmed and averred to the King himself and his public Officers, that he is the Author of Books which he never wrote a Line of, but obtained another to Pen them, and to allow him the profit and reputation of them. But the misery of it is, that he who passeth secretly for the Author of them is a fanatic, and it is apprehended that there is no hope of bringing him to own them,( especially having been disciplined for one of them by the Council) tho' the safety of his best Friends depended upon i●. For men of that stamp are commonly thought to be timorous, and care not much what befall others, providing they may sleep in a whole skin. And to add but one thing more in reference to this Gentleman, if saying one thing to divers persons of unsuspected credit, and swearing the contrary before a Magistrate, be sufficient to blast a mans reputation, Mr. Smith's Testimony will not signify a rush against my Lord Shaftsbury. For there are many Witnesses ready to depose, and those of good quality and undoubted credit, how they have heard him often say since the Oxford Parliament, that he knew nothing against that Noble Peer.  
Having given this short account of these two, who among all those who have appeared to swear a Protestant Plot are reputed the best, it will not be expected that I should plunge myself into Kennels and Bogue-Houses, as I must needs do should I proceed to embroil and represent the rest. For if felonies, Burglaries, and Robbing of Churches can render men Infamous and Unworthy to be believed, then Hayns, Dennis, Ivy, Turbervele and the two Macknamarra's are for ever debarred the having credit giving to any thing they say.  
Nor let any think that the disbelieving the Witnesses in Relation to a Protestant Plot, will to use Sir George Jefferies Phrase, see colleges Trial, p, 91. trip up the heels of▪ all the Evidence and Discovery of the Popish Plot, seeing we have enough to prove a Papal Conspiracy, were all the Witnesses in their Graves. And it is something strange how men come to endeavour to weaken the credit of Dr Oats, and yet pretend they would keep up the belief a Popish Plot. However, there is no reason to believe men when they affirm things Impossible as well as incoherent, though their word may be taken in reference to matters, which not only carry a probability but include in themselves a Moral certainty. Nor is it just and fair, that rather than such as are turned Rogues should not still be accounted honest, those that have been always Loyal, must upon their word be esteemed Traitors.  
And the late detection of a Sham-Plot in Ireland, which the Priests were forging to ruin the Protestants there, may serve to put it out of all suspicion and doubt, that the Conspiracy sworn against those of that Religion here, is of the same kind, and hammered in that forge. The sum of what we have transmitted from Dublin, of a Plot which was transacting in that Kingdom to this purpose, I shall here subjoin from a larger Copy that was sent the Council the last week; namely, That one St. laurence a Priest, July, 7. 1681. came to one William Smith Gentleman, being then a Prisoner in the Marshalsea of that City, where he had lain about four years, and having bewailed his sad Confinement, promised to procure him Money to set him at Liberty, and put him into a good equipage, providing he would condescend to such things as he should propose. And after Mr. Smith had signified his readiness to comply, if what St. laurence proposed were legal and possible, the Priest proceeded to administer an Oath of Secrecy to him, and afterwards  told him, that to Swear any thing, against a Protestant-Heretick, for the catholic Good, is to do God good Service; and that an Oath taken upon a Protestant Bible, needs no scruple of Conscience nor inward remorse, being all one as to Swear upon Aesop's Fables: And that what he Swore on the behalf of the catholics( especially in these times) tho' never so false, is by a Power allowed from the Pope to every Priest in Orders, fully, clearly, and absolutely pardonned by the Priests Absolution, after Confession made unto him. And therefore that which he desired him to do, was to Swear, that Mr. Parsons, Mr. Jack, and Dr. Harrison, Heretical Ministers in Dublin, had offered to pay his Debts, if he would make A●… davit that there was a Popish Plot; and that a Priest  told him, That the Duke of York was so far concerned in the Plot, that he sided with the Pope and the French King, to introduce the French, to invade the Kingdom of England and Ireland, to put the King to Death, and to murder all the Protestants. And that they would have him further to Swear, He had heard Papists declare they would bring it about to be a Presbyterian-Plot; and to Suborn Witnesses against the Earl of Shaftsbury, the Duke of Monmouth, &c. and bring their Heads to the Block. And then the Priest added such Trasonable things of His Majesty, as I tremble to writ; namely, That the King would easily believe this Information, by reason he would have any occasion to destroy them, being the people that Murdered his Father. The said St. laurence  told him also that he must Swear, That the said Ministers called his Majesty a Papist, and had said, He designed the Destruction of his Subjects, and to establish the Popish Religion in England, and the rest of his Dominions; and that they plainly perceived his Intention was to bring his said Subjects under a Tyrannical Government: And that the said Ministers should further say, That they and their Brethren intended ere this to have had the King in their Power, and to have disposed of him at their pleasure; nay, to have made him shorter by the Head: But failing in this, they were resolved to spend their Lives and Fortunes to make out a Popish Plot. Now says St. laurence, upon your Deposing this, the heretics will be utterly confounded, and we cleared; and all the Presbyterians and other Dissenters will be accused not only of the said Plot, but be reputed Guilty of all the Blood that hath been spilled. And says the Priest, If you will undertake this, you need not doubt for you shall have the Prayers of the Catholick-Church to prosper you; besides, other Witnesses shall be procured to second this your Information, for by Gold or Silver they may be obtained to it. The Priest further added, That the catholic Lords in the Tower had already given large Sums to suborn Witnesses against the Earl of Shaftsbury; and that forty would appear against him, for they were resolved to make it a Presbyterian-Plot. And that upon the said Smith's replying, that he neither knew Mr. Jack nor Mr. Harrison: The Priest answered, He must writ to them, and de●lare, that he had been a lewd and wicked Sinner, and long out of the way; But that God now touching him with an inward remorse of Conscience, he did therefore beseech them, for Christ Jesus sake, to come to him and administer some Spiritual Comfort. And says St. laurence, you may be sure they will come, and when they ●ave been by others seen with you in the house, it is enough for the business, and will turn to the ruin of themselves and many thousands of them, whose Blood, said he, I hope to see spilled by the hands of catholics▪ And, says he, I am certain that in two or three years time, there will not be a living Protestant in England nor Ireland. And that he added further, that when Smith should come into England to testify this, he must profess himself a Protestant, and let none know that he was a catholic; and that he should be dispensed with for so doing.  
Now I suppose this needs no commentary to English Protestants, and besides, the Paper informs, that the Priest acknowledged that it was only a counterpart of what is doing here.  
I am sensible that this just, as well as necessary endeavour of detecting the combination of impudent and indigent persons, acted and influenced by the Papists against the Protestant Religion, and under His Majesty its chiefest friends and asserters, will not only alarm but enrage those who have Sworn against others for money and rewards, to depose at random against the Author from Principles of Malice and Revenge. For to all the other unquestionable proofs of a Conspiracy to destroy guiltless persons, this is as certain and unquestionable argument of it as any, that whensoever they can learn or imagine that any person is to appear against them to lay open their villainies, they immediately charge him with a Plot to seize and depose the King, and alter the Government. Accordingly Mr. Wilmore having been instrumental to find an ignoramus upon a Bill which they had sworn, and being prepared by what they had declared and acknowledged to himself, to enfeeble and take off the credit of the most principal Evidence, he was himself accused of High Treason by them, to prevent and obstruct his Testimony: For as he was never questioned for, neither heard of any thing charged upon him before he was upon that Jury, so he too well learned the temper and character of the men ever after to converse with them. And Mr. Everard, who stood as fair in their esteem as any man alive before his going to Oxford, upon his revealing something there against Justice Warcup and others, and his being ready to have said more if the Court had judged it pertinent to the occasion, and would have had the patience to hear him, had immediately after his return Warrants issued against him, for such High and traitorous crimes as those against whom he is able to inform, thought convenient for their own safety to depose and swear: So that we are reduced into the most woeful circumstances, and brought into the most deplorable condition, that ever people were that have so good a King, and enjoy such excellent Laws for the safety of the Subject: For be we never so innocent, these hired and suborned fellows are ready to swear us guilty, when either obliged unto it for their own preservation, or prompted thereunto by the unseen and hidden managers of the design. And if we be so fortunate as to know of any that can detect the conspiracy against our lives, or lay open the forgery of our accusers, they are instantly informed against upon Oath, and brought into the same hazard with ourselves. Thus Mr. Edward Whitaker was taken into custody the very morning that colleges Indictment was to be preferred at the Old-Bayley, the persons that promoted it being apprehensive he was able to disserve the business they were upon. Which as it hath compelled the Author of these sheets to conceal the Names of many principal persons who can unriddle this whole Mystery, and pull off the disguises and vizors whereby this affair is obscured and conccaled from the knowledge of the world; so there is nothing more desired than that we may have a fair opportunity without the seizure of our Papers, to discover this black and hellish conspiracy, before impartial Judges and an understanding Jury. And for myself, I defy the invention and the malice of all the Witnesses, having not only a testimony in myself of most sincere loyalty to the King and the Government, but having also as many Witnesses of it, as I have had either the honour, or an occasion to be known unto  
FINIS.